National Cranberry Case Study

National Cranberry Case Study

Introduction

The National Cranberry co-op is looking at issues in the receiving plant (RP1), and the case focuses on two main problem areas. First there is a long wait time for trucks unloading their cranberries, and second is the high overtime cost. Inaccurate grading of the cranberries is another issue talked about in the case, as the inaccurate grading of the cranberries leads to an added premium on cranberries that do not meet up to the top quality grade (3) standards.

RP1 Challenges

As stated the main areas of concern are in the wait time for the unloading of trucks, the high overtime cost and unstable production amounts of cranberries, as the production of cranberries has been increasing due to water harvesting methods.

Capacity

Based upon the information provided we can determine the current capacity for dumping contents from trucks is an average time of 7.5 minutes per truck, with 10 minutes being the max and 5 being the min. Along with a physical dumping capacity per of 3000 bbls/hr.

The combined bin holding capacity is 7200 bbls with a breakdown of:

* 250*16 = 4000 bbls (bins 1-16)

* 250*8 = 2000 bbls (bins 17-24)

* 400*3 = 1200 bbls (bins 25-27)

Destoning and Dechaffing both have a hourly capacity of 4500 bbls. The jumbo separators have an hourly capacity of 1200 bbls. Drying capacity is 600 bbls/hr total.

Possible Solutions

Tackling the main problem area is top priority, and we can see based upon the overtime hours and wait times, that the truck unloading is the main point needing to be addressed. Here are some steps to solve the issues at hand:

* Peak days = 8 hour shifts to be started at 7 am

* 7am start for All plant operations instead of 11am

* Substaintal reduction in wait time of trucks from an estimated 511 hours to approximately 127 hours.

* By implementing the 8 hour shifts with earlier operations start time, the 22 hour daily limit for plant operations can still be...