QS-4

Balloons Aloha Case Study

Susie Davis owns Balloons Aloha and must fill balloons with helium and assemble them into certain configurations today for six major parties. Her six customer jobs all need to use the same helium tank (that is, the single processor), and she was wondering what might be the best way to sequence these jobs. Client (job) number 5 is Balloons Aloha's top customer. Her assistant store manager, Lee Sailboat, wants to process them in sequential order (i.e., 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, and 6). Because the balloons lose air quickly, the company waits until the day of the parties to fill them and then the workload is hectic. Business is booming and growing about 15 percent per year in their new store location. The job processing time estimates are as follows:

The company fills the balloons on the day of the party, so the workload is hectic.

Michael Newman/PhotoEdit

Job	1	2	3	4	5	6
Processing time (min.)	240	130	210	90	170	165
Due dates (6 a.m. to midnight in minutes from opening)	240	360	480	240	720	780