1. What type of process flow structure is CBF using?

CBF Inc. uses a job shop process flow structure, which is one of the four major process

flow structures identified in the text. A job shop process flow structure is a production of small

batches of a large number of different products. Further, job shop process is a flexible operation

that has several activities through which work can pass. In a job shop, it is not necessary for all

activities to be performed on all products, and their sequence may be different for different

products.

2. Diagram the process in a manner similar to Exhibit 5.15.

Operation Setup/
No. Rate. Pc. Hr
No hr
Order Acceptance
1
Engineering
NCMachine
2
Programming
3 Board Fabrication
a. Load Fabrication 5 0.33
b. Clean Fabrication 0.5
c. Coat Fabrication 0.5
d. Unload Fabrication 0.33
e. Expose Fabrication 15 1.72
f. Load Fabrication 5 0.33
g. Develop Fabrication 0.33
h. Inspect Fabrication 0.5
i. Bake Fabrication 0.33
j. Unload Fabrication 0.33
k. Drilling Fabrication 15 1.5
l. Copper Fabrication 5 0.2
m. Final Test Quality 15 2.69
 Assurance
4 Shipping

3. Analyze the capacity of the process?

The capacity of the flow process is at an imbalance. It takes a lot of time just to load and

unload the circuit boards. There is a significant amount of manual labor in this flow process in

which human error must be taken into consideration. It appears that some of the stations may be

run by an inefficient amount of operators. Lastly, with 6 employees on 6 machines for the final

inspection, the end of the process should not take as long as it does.

4. What is the impact of losses in the process in Inspection and Final Test?

The impact of the losses in the system is quite extensive. It is stated that 15% of the board

are typically rejected during an early processing inspection along with an additional 5% rejected

during the final testing. This results in a production order increase of 25%. Ultimately, the first

inspection should not be a bottleneck of this process and there should not be any rejected boards

in the final inspection.

5. What recommendations would you make for a short-term solution to CBFs problems?
 A short-term solution may be to extend the work day so that 8 production hours are

optimized during a 5 working day week. If this solution produces results, then this could be a

possible long-term solution. Another possible production hour solution would be to incorporate 4

10-hour working days. Again, the number of boards produced would quickly determine if this is

indeed a long-term solution.

6. What long-term recommendations would you make?

One of the most important recommendations would be to add another machine or two

throughout the process, especially at the beginning of the board fabrication. Another long-term

recommendation would be to take into consideration where more automation could be used in

place of human manual work. This would decrease the amount of waste, therefore, decrease the

percentage of increase of the size of order, in turn, shortening the overall time of the entire job

shop process flow. Reduction of the main bottleneck, the initial inspection time duration will

seriously increase the overall production of the boards within the facility to meet the 1,000 per

day goal.