Wally’s Widget Warehouse takes orders from 7 A.M. to 7 P.M. The manager wants to analyze the process and has provided the process flow diagram shown below. There are three steps required to ship a customer order. The first step is to take the order from a customer. The second step is to pick the order for the customer, and then they have to pack the order ready for shipping. Wally promises that every order placed today gets shipped tomorrow. That means that the picking and packing operations must finish all orders before they go home.
Customer Orders Picked Orders Wait for hippe Custome Order Taker Pick Orders Pack Orders 110 Customers/ hour 75 Customers/ hour 50 Customers hour
Wally wants to figure out the following.
a. What is the current maximum daily output of the process assuming that no one works overtime? (i.e., meaning all three operations work a 12-hour shift)
b. How long (in hours) will the picking and packing operations have to work to finish all the orders that were taken if we have a day where the order taker works at his maximum capacity? (Round your answers to 1 decimal place.)
c. Given b, what is the maximum number of orders waiting to be picked?
d. Given b, what is the maximum number of orders waiting to be packed? (Round your intermediate calculations to 1 decimal place.)
Management is considering doubling the packing capacity (from 50 to 100 orders per hour). Please answer the following based on that change.
e. How long will the picking and packing operations have to work if we have a day where the order taker works at his maximum capacity? (Round your intermediate calculations and final answers to 1 decimal place.)