Question: Consider a workstation with 11 machines (in parallel), each requiring one hour of process time per job with c2e = 5. Each machine costs $10,000. Orders for jobs arrive at a rate of 10 per hour with c2a = 1 and must be filled. Management has specified a maximum allowable average response time (i.e., time a job spends at the station) of two hours. Currently it is just over three hours (check it).
Analyze the following options for reducing average response time.
a. Perform more preventive maintenance so that mr and mf are reduced, but mr/mf remains the same. This costs $8,000 and does not improve the average process time but does reduce c2e to one.
b. Add another machine to the workstation at a cost of $10,000. The new machine is identical to existing machines, so te = 1 and c2e = 5.
c. Modify the existing machines to make them faster without changing the SCV, at a cost of $8,500. The modified machines would have te = 0.96 and c2e = 5. What is the best option?