How much would that increase weekly average output

Assignment Help Operation Management
Reference no: EM133399007

Case: Bonaire is a small Dutch island off the coast of Venezuela, best known for its scuba diving and flamingos. Bonaire's only export is salt, produced by solar evaporation in a single facility, called Bonaire Salt (BS), in the southern portion of the island. Bas Tol, a representative from a large international conglomerate, is visiting Bonaire because his company is interested in buying Bonaire Salt. He met with Bart Snelder, the manager of Bonaire Salt, to discuss its operations.

Bart laid out on the table a map of the facility showing 16 different pans. Each pan is a rectangular area about 350 meters by 300 meters. The pans are filled with sea water, which evaporates over time, leaving a thick layer of sea salt. Half of the pans are dedicated to making "brine"-water with a high salt content (25 percent by weight rather than 3.5 percent, which is typical of sea water). The brine from those pans is pumped into the other eight pans to complete the process. To be specific, each of those eight pans is flooded with brine for 43 weeks. At the end of those 43 weeks, the pans are dry and there is a 30-centimeter-thick layer of salt covering the entire pan. At that point, the salt is harvested.

Harvesting is done with bulldozers that scrape the layer of salt in the pan. Dump trucks carry the salt to a central area where the salt is stored in large outdoor conical piles. A large conveyor is used to transport the salt from those piles to a pier next to the facility so that the salt can be loaded onto a ship for transportation to markets around the world.

A single bulldozer can complete the harvesting of a pan in 10 weeks. Multiple bulldozers can be used to harvest and the harvesting time is proportional to the number of bulldozers. For example, Bonaire Salt currently has two bulldozers, so on average it takes 5 weeks to harvest a pan when both bulldozers work continuously on the same pan. They have plenty of dump trucks, so the availability of trucks does not constrain the process.

Each of the eight pans yields about 40,000 tons of salt per harvest. (A ton is 1000 kilograms.) The conveyor system can load a ship at the rate of 20,000 tons per week. The storage area can accommodate 15 cones. Each cone can be 18 meters high and 40 meters across, holding about 9600 tons of salt.

Bas notes that at the current time Bonaire salt sells for about $25 per ton on the market. Before his company can formulate a bid for Bonaire Salt, he needs to do some calculations to better understand both the current output of Bonaire Salt and the potential output from the facility.

Question 1. Given current operations, how much salt can Bonaire Salt produce per week on average (in tons)?

Question 2. Bart suggests that it could increase output if it purchases another bulldozer. If it did, what would be its average weekly output of salt (in tons)?

Question 3. Bas has another idea for increasing output. He suggests that it could divide each of the eight producing pans it has in half, to make 16 producing pans. Bas assumes that this could be done without losing much productive area, meaning that two of the smaller pans can yield as much salt as the combined larger (current) pan. Even under that optimistic assumption, Bart doesn't think it would increase average weekly output because it wouldn't change the amount of area actually producing salt. Who is correct?

Question 4. A third idea for increasing output was also discussed: Add more producing pans. Based on a map of the land around the facility, Bas believes it probably could add three more producing pans of the same size as the eight current ones (and there would be enough capacity in the brine-producing pans to support these three additional producing pans). How much would that increase weekly average output of Bonaire Salt?

Reference no: EM133399007

Questions Cloud

What are competitive forces that shape business organisation : What are competitive forces that shape business organisation strategy financial statement of armstrong and bilar companies
Is there something that you hadnt realized before : whats your insights you have taken from corporate culture, Governance and Ethical leardership and Is there something that you hadn't realized before
Freshii is youngest franchising business : Freshii is the youngest franchising business on this list, but it is by far not the least.
Describe the face of a person of your choice from : Describe the face of a person of your choice from two points of view: using objective language; and using subjective language. features and describe
How much would that increase weekly average output : How much would that increase weekly average output of Bonaire Salt - what would be its average weekly output of salt (in tons)
Explain how the quotation fits into those arguments : give a brief outline of the author's main arguments and explain how the quotation fits into those arguments Philonous: Shall we therefore examine which of us
What two conditions intensify biased reactions : What two conditions intensify biased reactions and List two things that combat implicit bias - What are two things you have caught yourself doing on auto-pilot
What are risks associated with providing financial services : What are the risks associated with providing financial services such as those of a trustee? Classify each risk as (1) high, (2) medium, or (3) low
What is the thesis of the tedtalk : What is the thesis (main idea) of the TedTalk? Write it in one sentence. What are three main points from this TedTalk?

Reviews

Write a Review

Operation Management Questions & Answers

  Book review - the goal

Operations Management is about a book review. Title of the book is "Goal". This book has been written by Dr. Eliyahu Goldartt. The book has been appreciated by many as one of those books which offers an insight into the operations and strategic capac..

  Operational plan in hospitality enterprise

Operational plan pertaining to a hospitality enterprise is given in detail in the solution. The operational plan is an important plan or preparation which gives guidelines regarding the role and responsibilities of each and every operation at all lev..

  Managing operations and information

Recognise the importance of a strategic approach to the development and deployment of organisational information systems. Demonstrate an understanding of the importance of databases and their integration to the organisation's overall information mana..

  A make-or-buy analysis

An analysis of the holding costs, including the appropriate annual holding cost rate.

  Evolution and contributor of operations management

Briefly explain Evolution and contributor of Operations management.

  Functions and responsibilities of an operations manager

A number of drivers of change have transformed the roles, functions and responsibilities of an operations manager over recent years. These drivers have not only been based on technological innovations but also on the need for organisations to develop..

  Compute the optimal order quantity

Compute the Optimal Order quantity of DVD players. Determine the appropriate reorder point.

  Relationship to operations practice in the organisation

Evaluate problems in operations and identify approaches to overcoming them. Critically evaluate operating plans and identify areas for improvement. Justify, implement and evaluate changes to operations in line with modern approaches.

  A make or buy analysis

Develop a report for Figi Fabricating that will address the question of whether the company should continue to purchase the part from the supplier or begin to produce the part itself.

  Prepare a staffing plan

Prepare a staffing plan showing the change of your unit from medical/surgical staffing to oncology staffing.

  Leadership styles in different organizations

Ccompare the effectiveness of different leadership styles in different organizations

  Risk management tools and models

Be able to understand the concept of risk, roles and responsibilities for risk management and risk management tools and models.

Free Assignment Quote

Assured A++ Grade

Get guaranteed satisfaction & time on delivery in every assignment order you paid with us! We ensure premium quality solution document along with free turntin report!

All rights reserved! Copyrights ©2019-2020 ExpertsMind IT Educational Pvt Ltd