ES3A7- Case Study 2 Mountain X Bicycle Company specializes in manufacturing alloy and carbon Fiber frames for its mountain bike product lines. The company's primary focus is on the Trailblazer
ES3A7- Case Study 2
Mountain X Bicycle Company specializes in manufacturing alloy and carbon Fiber frames for its mountain bike product lines. The company's primary focus is on the Trailblazer model, an alloy-framed bike produced both to stock and order . However, the production numbers are not meeting the target, and there's a concern about the capacity to fulfill the demand. The key strategic challenges faced by Mountain X revolve around production capacity. Company receives order on a daily, weekly, and monthly basis which is used by the operation management department to do the weekly forecast plan. The current capacity of the assembly line is approximately 28 bikes per day, resulting in a shortfall in meeting the daily customer demand. Aluminum Procurement The alloy bike frames begin as extruded aluminum tubes. Mountain X currently procures tube stock from vendors every two weeks, obtaining enough material to produce a two-week supply based on the contractual minimum quantity. The batch size is 500 tubes, providing 15 days' worth of stock once cut to length . Mountain of bringing extrusion in-house with capital equipment is being discussed to reduce reliance on external suppliers. Production Processes Trailblazer frames pass through seven production processes from raw tube to finished bike (details are available in Table 1). Equipment age and standalone configurations result in excessive downtime during changeovers between models and sizes. Painting capacity and quality issues also constrain overall output and must be addressed before increasing volumes. ES3A7- Case Study 2 Table 1. Process followed in the company Process Description Cycle Time Setup time/ Change over End Inventory Cutting Chops tubes to length 2 min/cut 1 min 150 tubes Mitering Tubes mitered 45° 4.5 min/frame
7 min 40 frames
Welding
Tubes welded
together
7 min/frame 3 min 45 frames
Finishing
Areas ground
smooth
9 min/frame 2.6 min 38 frames
Painting Powder coated
12.5
min/frame
5 min 26 frames
Printing Graphics and decals 10 min/frame 5 min 30 frames
Inspection Check for defects 10 min/frame 12 min ?
Assembly
Frames +
components
15 min/bike 2 min 28 bikes
*Note: After inspection there is a 19% defect rate due to quality issues.
*Calculate the number of items in the inventory with the available data after the inspection.
After inspection the end products is shipped on a weekly basis to the customer.
Next Steps
As the production engineering lead, you have been tasked by the COO to
assess Mountain State Value Stream Map for the overall process that includes all the process steps and calculations based on the data provided in the case study [20% of the total for this assignment] ES3A7- Case Study 2 2. Identify issues in the current state and propose improvements for the future using lean concepts discussed in the lectures [20% of the total assignment] 3. An equipment Layout Diagram for the process that makes efficient use of space whilst allowing access for both operators and maintenance. This must implement the principles of layout for lean operation. I expect to see a unique solution. Use of Visio is welcomed but not a requirement. However, if you create a layout by hand then it should adopt an engineering style, use drawing instruments (ruler and compass where appropriate) and be clear. Provide brief [20% of the total for this assignment] Note: In the Current VSM diagram clearly present the calculated production lead time and processing time in the current state and also the production lead time (in days) at each process in the manufacturing cell?
