fibers in less time and at lower prices. Conner had already been called on the carpet at corporate headquartersover output levels that were significantly below the budgeted numbers. The business cycle containedpredictable seasonal variations. That meant building inventories that would be carried for months, tying upscarce capital, a characteristic of most continuous processes. Monthly shipments would look bad. Year-to-dateshipments would look even worse because of machine breakdowns and lost output to date. Conner knew thatsomething had to be done to develop machine reliability. Capacity on demand was needed to respond togrowing foreign competition. Unreliable production equipment was jeopardizing the company's TQM effort bycausing process variations that affected both first-quality product yields and on-time deliveries, but no oneseemed to have the answer to the problem of machine breakdowns.The maintenance department operated much like a fire department, rushing to a breakdown with a swarm ofmechanics, some who disassembled the machine while others pored over wiring schematics and still othershunted for spare parts in the maintenance warehouse. Eventually, they would have the machine back up,though sometimes only after working through the night to get the production line going again. Maintenancehad always been done this way. However, with new competitors, machine reliability had suddenly become amajor barrier to competing successfully.Rumors of a plant closing were beginning to circulate and morale was suffering, making good performance thatmuch more difficult. Beth Conner knew she needed solutions if the plant had any chance of survival.Discussion Questions1. Can Smith and Hensen do anything to improve performance?2. Is there an alternative to the current operations approach of the maintenance department?3. How could production make up for lost output resulting from scheduled maintenance?4. How could maintenance mechanics be better utilized?5. Is there any way to know when a machine breakdown is probable? Worldwide Chemical CompanyJack Smith wiped the perspiration from his face. It was another scorching-hot summer day, and one of the fourprocess refrigeration units was down. The units were critical to the operation of Worldwide ChemicalCompany's Fibers Plant, which produces synthetic fibers and polymer flake for a global market.Before long, Al Henson, the day-shift production superintendent, was on the intercom, shouting his familiarproclamation that "heads would roll" if the unit was not back on-line within the hour. However, Jack Smith, themaintenance superintendent, had heard it all before-nothing ever happened as a result of Henson's tempertantrums. "Serves him right," he thought. "Henson is uncooperative when we want to perform scheduledmaintenance, so it doesn't get done and equipment goes down."At that moment, however, Henson was genuinely furious over the impact that the breakdown would have onhis process yield figures. Meeting with plant manager Beth Conner, he was charging that all the maintenancedepartment did was "sit around" and play cards like firemen waiting for an alarm to send them to a three-alarmblaze across town. The "fix-it" approach to maintenance was costing the plant throughput that was vital tomeeting standard costs and avoiding serious variances. Foreign competitors were delivering high-qualityfibers in less time and at lower prices. Conner had already been called on the carpet at corporate headquartersover output levels that were significantly below the budgeted numbers. The business cycle containedpredictable seasonal variations. That meant building inventories that would be carried for months, tying upscarce capital, a characteristic of most continuous processes. Monthly shipments would laook bad. Year-to-dateshipments would look even worse because of machine breakdowns and lost output to date. Conner knew thatsomething had to be done to develop machine reliability. Capacity on demand was needed to respond togrowing foreign competition. Unreliable production equipment was jeopardizing the company's TQM effort bycausing process variations that affected both first-quality product yields and on-time deliveries, but no oneseemed to have the answer to the problem of machine breakdowns.The maintenance department operated much like a fire department, rushing to a breakdown with a swarm ofmechanics, some who disassembled the machine while others pored over wiring schematics and still othershunted for spare parts in the maintenance warehouse. Eventually, they would have the machine back up,though sometimes only after working through the night to get the production line going again. Maintenancehad always been done this way. However, with new competitors, machine reliability had suddenly become amajor barrier to competing successfully.

1) Smith and Hensen need to cooperate with each other to solve the problem. As mentioned, Hensen is…

Answered: 1. Can Smith and Hensen do anything to…

6th Edition

ISBN:9781337406659

Author:WINSTON, Wayne L.

Publisher:WINSTON, Wayne L.

Chapter2: Introduction To Spreadsheet Modeling

Section: Chapter Questions

Problem 20P: Julie James is opening a lemonade stand. She believes the fixed cost per week of running the stand...