Executive Shirt Company
Memo
To: Mr. Dwight Collier, General Manager – Executive Shirt Company, Inc.
From:
CC:
Date: September 10, 2013
Re: Custom Shirt Production Planning
Introduction
Mr. Collier, per your request, I have analyzed Executive Shirt Company’s current production process in addition to evaluating both Mike and Ike’s recommended processes for custom shirt production. Elements considered during this analysis included: Process types, cycle time for the processes, process efficiencies, and costs. Each element is key to identifying the best course of action for Executive Shirt Company, Inc. in regards to the addition of custom shirt production.
Process Types Currently Executive Shirt Company uses a batch shop process, where multiple functional areas perform similar tasks. For example: all of the sewing areas are sewing all components of the shirt. This type of process performs well in this production setting due to the fact that one operation isn’t dependent on another to perform its task (outside of the initial cutting phase). More so, one individual’s sewing performance doesn’t hinder another from sewing their batch of shirts. Mike adopted this process type in his proposal for the addition of custom shirt production; however, Ike took a linier concept (more assembly line focused) for his proposal where operations are performed according to the progressive tasks to construct a shirt. For example: the cuff operation cannot be performed until the sleeve operation is completed. Within Ike’s process, each operation is dependent on the prior to complete its task before the next operation can commence. This causes issues when one operation begins to slow, causing idle time.
Cycle Time It is important to identify the cycle times for each operation in a specific process (see Appendix A-1), given it will allow us to determine the bottleneck – which defines the throughput for the entire process. For the current shirt production process for Executive Shirt
To: Mr. Dwight Collier, General Manager – Executive Shirt Company, Inc.
From:
CC:
Date: September 10, 2013
Re: Custom Shirt Production Planning
Introduction
Mr. Collier, per your request, I have analyzed Executive Shirt Company’s current production process in addition to evaluating both Mike and Ike’s recommended processes for custom shirt production. Elements considered during this analysis included: Process types, cycle time for the processes, process efficiencies, and costs. Each element is key to identifying the best course of action for Executive Shirt Company, Inc. in regards to the addition of custom shirt production.
Process Types Currently Executive Shirt Company uses a batch shop process, where multiple functional areas perform similar tasks. For example: all of the sewing areas are sewing all components of the shirt. This type of process performs well in this production setting due to the fact that one operation isn’t dependent on another to perform its task (outside of the initial cutting phase). More so, one individual’s sewing performance doesn’t hinder another from sewing their batch of shirts. Mike adopted this process type in his proposal for the addition of custom shirt production; however, Ike took a linier concept (more assembly line focused) for his proposal where operations are performed according to the progressive tasks to construct a shirt. For example: the cuff operation cannot be performed until the sleeve operation is completed. Within Ike’s process, each operation is dependent on the prior to complete its task before the next operation can commence. This causes issues when one operation begins to slow, causing idle time.
Cycle Time It is important to identify the cycle times for each operation in a specific process (see Appendix A-1), given it will allow us to determine the bottleneck – which defines the throughput for the entire process. For the current shirt production process for Executive Shirt