Q1. Carbondale Casting produces cast bronze valves on a 10-person assembly line. On a recent day, 160 valves were produced during an 8-hour shift.
a) Calculate the labor productivity of the line.
b) John Goodale, the manager at Carbondale, changed the layout and was able to increase production to 180 units per 8-hour shift. What is the new labor productivity per labor-hour?
c) What is the percentage of productivity increase?
Q2. George Kyparisis makes bowling balls in his Miami plant. With recent increases in his costs, he has a newfound interest in efficiency. George is interested in determining the productivity of his organization. He would like to know if his organization is maintaining the manufacturing average of 3% increase in productivity per year. He has the following data representing a month from last year and an equivalent month this year:
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LAST YEAR
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NOW
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Units produced
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1,000
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1,000
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Labor (hours)
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300
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275
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Resin (pounds)
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50
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45
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Capital investment ($)
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10,000
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11,000
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Energy (BTU)
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3,000
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2,850
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Show the productivity percentage change for each category and then determine the improvement for labor-hours, the typical standard for comparison
Q3. Kleen Karpet cleaned 65 rugs in October, consuming the following resources:
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Labor:
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520 hours at $ 13 per hour
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Solvent:
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100 gallons at $5 per gallon
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Machine rental:
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20 days at $50 per day
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a) What is the labor productivity per dollar?
b) What is the multifactor productivity?
Q4. Charles Lackey operates a bakery in Idaho Falls, Idaho. Because of its excellent product and excellent location, demand has increased by 25% in the last year. On far too many occasions, customers have not been able to purchase the bread of their choice. Because of the size of the store, no new ovens can be added. At a staff meeting, one employee suggested ways to load the ovens differently so that more loaves of bread can be baked at one time. This new process will require that the ovens be loaded by hand, requiring additional manpower. This is the only thing to be changed. If the bakery makes 1,500 loaves per month with a labor productivity of 2.344 loaves per labor-hour, how many workers will Lackey need to add? (Hint: Each worker works 160 hours per month.)
Q5. Refer to question 4. The pay will be $8 per hour for employees. Charles Lackey can also improve the yield by purchasing a new blender. The new blender will mean an increase in his investment. This added investment has a cost of $100 per month, but he will achieve the same output an increase to 1,875) as the change in labor-hours. Which is the better decision?
a) Show the productivity change, in loaves per dollar, with an increase in labor cost (from 640 to 800 hours).
b) Show the new productivity, in loaves per dollar, with only an increase in investment ($100 per month more).
c) Show the percent productivity change for labor and investment.
Q6. In December, General Motors produced 6,600 customized vans at its plant in Detroit. The labor productivity at this plant is known to have been 0.10 vans per labor-hour during that month. 300 laborers were employed at the plant that month.
a) How many hours did the average laborer work that month?
b) If productivity can be increased to 0.11 vans per labor-hour, how many hours would the average laborer work that month?
Q7. Given the activities whose sequence is described by the following table, draw the appropriate activity-on-arrow (AOA) network diagram.
a) Which activities are on the critical path?
b) What is the length of the critical path?
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ACTIVITY
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IMMEDIATE PREDECESSOR(S)
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TIME (DAYS)
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A
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-
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5
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B
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A
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2
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C
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A
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4
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D
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B
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5
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E
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B
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5
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F
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C
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5
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G
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E, F
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2
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H
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D
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3
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I
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G, H
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5
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Perform the forward and backward passes to solve question 7.