Industry-focused product assembly is performed in cells that combine human and
robotic assemblers, according to a strict assembler-to-order policy. Product assembly
cells are flexibly designed so that each can:
•Change from one product group to another in one day, during which day the cell is not available for production (group changeover)
The distinct pace at which cells can be operated is to assemble one WorkPal every 20 minutes. Depending on the pace and the WorkPal, a cell has to be staffed according to the Table below.
Note that Business is planning a concerted launching of new product groups in the forthcoming years. This means you may assume that all products launched in a given year form a new product group,with pace-related staffing planned according to the above Table.
According to Business, for planning purposes, you are to assume:
•Each human assembler costs 40$/hour in regular time, with a 1.5 extra cost factor for overtime;
•It has a policy of guaranteeing each human assembler a yearly minimum of 1500 hours of paid work to each;
•Each mobile robotic assembler costs 3,000$/month
;•Each group-specific cell, with its tooling, jigs,workstations and buffer devices, costs 200,000$ to implement, 40,000$ a year to maintain,and 250$/day to operate (beyond the cost of assemblers, and not charged when cell is not used in a day);
•It has a policy of having the factory working 10 hours a day, 7 days a week, with usual shifts of 35hours a week per human assembler, extendable by up to 5 hours a week through overtime;
•Due to quality issues, there is to be a 3% product reject rate during first-year production after product launch, then 2% in the 2nd year, 1% in the 3rd year, and a stable 0.5% afterward;
•Daily cell efficiency is to be between 80% and 88%;
•Weekly cell reliability is to be between 75% and 100%;
*Task 3*: Product Resource and Production Planning
Given the demand satisfaction capacity requirements plans you have elaborated in task 2 to support a 99% OTS service level, you are to develop resource plans over the five-year planning horizon for product assembly cells, human assemblers and robotic assemblers. In order to so achieve you are to provide plans for production of products.You are to aim for resource plans expected to minimize induced costs while achieving the targeted OTS performance.
Validate your results by extending the simulator you designed for task 3 so as to take into consideration your resource plans, exploiting it to daily generate production schedules and to assess OTS performance.
Perform a sensitivity analysis on the impact of:
•Service level targets ranging from 95% to 99.9%;
•Group changeover time capability respectively changed to one hour assuming an extra investment of 100,000 $ per cell.
