Monique Food Processing Company

Monique Food Processing Company produces light snacks that can be heated in a microwave. The following steps are included in the process:

Steps   Description                                                  Capacity (Units/Hour)

1          Prepare food                                                        200

2          Measure and place in plastic pouch                     175

3          Prepare cardboard box                                        200

4          Insert pouch into box                                          300

5          Shrink-wrap box                                                 200

What is the system capacity, and which is the bottleneck department?

How much slack (unused capacity) is available in other departments?

How much system capacity can be gained by adding capacity to the bottleneck?

What are the key factors that determine when to add capacity?

Why would an organization want to reduce its capacity?  

Make and include calculations