
A potato chip is a delicate thing Fragile A pound of pressure will crush it So when you’re making potato chips you need to have a system If you aren't careful instead of potato chips, you’ll end up with potato chip crumbs.
The Jays company in Chicago was a producer of a variety of snack products one of which was potato chips The company is now owned by Snyders. Nonetheless there is much to be learned from a description of Jay’s operations.
To avoid the tendency of potato chips to crush into crumbs Jays used a system of conveyor belts, radial filling chutes and gently vibrating slides where masses of chips a yard deep were gently moved through the process.
The process started with the arrival of semi-trailers full of potatoes usually about a dozen a day.
The potatoes were separated into big and small sizes big potatoes for big chips that go into large bags and small potatoes for small chips for lunch-size bags.
Computers keep track of everything, shunting potatoes to 15 000-pound holding bins Each bin feeds into a pipe containing a turning screw—a version of the ancient Archimedes screw used to pump water-that moves the potatoes from the bin to conveyor belts, to where they are washed and skinned—the skin scrubbed off by metal bristle brushes.
No machine can detect if a potato is rotten inside So a pair of human inspectors gave the potatoes a quick squeeze as they moved along a conveyor and removed those likely to have rot.
The cleaned potatoes were sent into high-speed chippers—spinning brass rings, each with eight blades inside straight blades for straight chips, ripple blades for ripple chips.
The blades cut the potatoes but cutting dulled the blades so every three hours the line had to be stopped so that the blades could be replaced.
The raw chips spent three minutes cooking in hot com oil, when was constantly circulated and filtered Then they were salted and any flavorings such as barbecue were added.
After the chips were fried, there was another quality check, in which workers removed burned and deformed chips out of the masses passing by.
The chips also were laser-inspected Chips with dark spots or holes were removed by a puff of air that knocked them off the line into a discard bin.
The discards-about 3 percent of production-were gathered up and used Starch was drawn out and sold to cornstarch makers, the rest went to hog feed.
Getting the chips in the bags was another challenge. You can't just fill up bags and seal them, the chips would be smashed. Rather, a conveyor poured chips-gently-onto the central hub of a large, wheel-like device, where the chips scattered into 15 buckets that were essentially scales A computer monitored the weight of each bucket to assure there would be just the right amount to fill a 14-ounce bag The bags were packed into boxes that read 'HANDLE LIKE EGGS.’
While not exactly perishable, potato chips do have a shelf life of about eight weeks only one day of which is spent at the plant.
Do you feel that Jays is overdoing it with its concern for quality? Explain.

Want to see the full answer?
Check out a sample textbook solution
Chapter 10 Solutions
Loose-leaf for Operations Management (The Mcgraw-hill Series in Operations and Decision Sciences)
- How can businesses integrate Petri Net modeling with Little's Law to enhance supply chain resilience, especially in unexpected disruptions such as supplier delays or demand fluctuations?arrow_forwardLearning Activity 5: Expansion in Global Markets Discussion Questions: Bubble (or “boba”) tea is a milky tea containing chewy tapioca balls. It is has gained huge popularity in markets across Asia and is now also in North America and Europe. In your view will the recent exponential growth continue, and will it be at the expense of other drinks such as traditional black or green tea or coffee? Can global markets continue to support its growth, and what age group is mainly targeted?arrow_forwardDyson, a high-tech home appliance maker, has cut ties with Malaysian supplier ATA IMS Bhd following an audit of the company's labour practices and allegations by a whistleblower. ATA is already under US investigation over forced labour allegations. Dyson has terminated its contracts and is in talks with its customer over the audit findings. ATA, which produces parts for Dyson's vacuum cleaners and air purifiers, tumbled 30% to its lowest since April 2020. The termination is a significant blow for Malaysia, a major electronics manufacturing hub, which has faced scrutiny this year over claims of abusive working and living conditions. Dyson terminated the relationship with six months' contractual notice, hoping it would give ATA the impetus to improve and enable an orderly withdrawal in the interests of the workers they employ. Former ATA worker Dhan Kumar Limbu was beaten by police in Malaysia after sharing information about conditions at the factory with activists. ATA denied all…arrow_forward
- Question content area Part 1 Oakwood Hospital is considering using ABC analysis to classify laboratory SKUs into three categories: those that will be delivered daily from their supplier (Class A items), those that will be controlled using a continuous review system (B items), and those that will be held in a two bin system (C items). The following table shows the annual dollar usage for a sample of eight SKUs. Fill in the blanks for annual dollar usage below. (Enter your responses rounded to the nearest whole number.) Part 2 Rank the SKUs in descending order on the basis of their annual dollar usage and fill in the table with the ranked SKU's percentage of dollar usage. (Enter your responses rounded to two decimal places.)arrow_forwardSam's Pet Hotel operates 51 weeks per year, 6 days per week, and uses a continuous review inventory system. It purchases kitty litter for $13.00 per bag. The following information is available about these bags: > Demand 70 bags/week > Order cost $58.00/order > Annual holding cost 30 percent of cost > Desired cycle-service level = 80 percent >Lead time 4 weeks (24 working days) > Standard deviation of weekly demand = 15 bags > Current on-hand inventory is 320 bags, with no open orders or backorders. a. Suppose that the weekly demand forecast of 70 bags is incorrect and actual demand averages only 45 bags per week. How much higher will total costs be, owing to the distorted EOQ caused by this forecast error? The costs will be $ higher owing to the error in EOQ. (Enter your response rounded to two decimal places.)arrow_forwarda. The average aggregate inventory value of the product if Ruby-Star used vendor 1 exclusively is $enter your response here. (Enter your response as a whole number.) b. The aggregate inventory value of the product if Ruby-Star used vendor 2 exclusively is shown below. c. How would your analysis change if average weekly demand increased to 160 units per week? The aggregate inventory values are shown below.arrow_forward
- a. What order quantity should be used? lures. (Enter your response rounded to the nearest whole number.) b. What reorder point should be used? (Enter your response rounded to the nearest whole number.) c. What is the total annual cost for this inventory system? (Enter your response rounded to two decimal places)arrow_forwardOakwood Hospital is considering using ABC analysis to classify laboratory SKUS into three categories: those that will be delivered daily from their supplier (Class A items), those that will be controlled using a continuous review system (B items), and those that will be held in a two bin system (C items). The following table shows the annual dollar usage for a sample of eight SKUS. Fill in the blanks for annual dollar usage below. (Enter your responses rounded to the nearest whole number.) SKU Unit Value Demand (units) Annual Dollar Usage 1 $1.10 30,000 $ 2 $0.02 125,000 $ 3 $0.20 65,000 S 4 $0.02 1,100 SA 5 $1.40 150 SA 678 $4.10 900 $ $0.80 350 $ $0.55 80 EA $arrow_forwardDyson, a high-tech home appliance maker, has cut ties with Malaysian supplier ATA IMS Bhd following an audit of the company's labour practices and allegations by a whistleblower. ATA is already under US investigation over forced labour allegations. Dyson has terminated its contracts and is in talks with its customer over the audit findings. ATA, which produces parts for Dyson's vacuum cleaners and air purifiers, tumbled 30% to its lowest since April 2020. The termination is a significant blow for Malaysia, a major electronics manufacturing hub, which has faced scrutiny this year over claims of abusive working and living conditions. Dyson terminated the relationship with six months' contractual notice, hoping it would give ATA the impetus to improve and enable an orderly withdrawal in the interests of the workers they employ. Former ATA worker Dhan Kumar Limbu was beaten by police in Malaysia after sharing information about conditions at the factory with activists. ATA denied all…arrow_forward
- Question 4 (25 Marks) Discuss how developing internal performance measures to track the performance of supplier development, can create efficiency for Pick n Pay.arrow_forwardLeadership and people Earlier this year, Pick n Pay actioned the first priority of the plan: the introduction of a new, simplified and seasoned leadership team with proven track records. The team has already implemented strengthened structures, including establishing regional trading areas with local decision-making, with clear sight of strong long-term succession Each operating region now has a regional buying team and store management team in place to meet specific customer needs particular to that region, while also increasing staff training and productivity for an overall improved store experience. Reset the store estate To create a more sustainable supermarket business, the Group is resetting its store estate to minimise losses by creating a smaller but more profitable Pick n Pay store estate. The plan is to leverage the strength of its multi-format model with strategic conversions to lift store profitability: selected Pick n Pay stores will be converted to Boxer, where customer…arrow_forwardQuestion 3 (25 Marks) Elaborate on how Pick n Pay could use information technology and ERP systems across the company and their suppliers to improve their operating model? Question 4 (25 Marks)arrow_forward
- MarketingMarketingISBN:9780357033791Author:Pride, William MPublisher:South Western Educational PublishingContemporary MarketingMarketingISBN:9780357033777Author:Louis E. Boone, David L. KurtzPublisher:Cengage Learning
- Purchasing and Supply Chain ManagementOperations ManagementISBN:9781285869681Author:Robert M. Monczka, Robert B. Handfield, Larry C. Giunipero, James L. PattersonPublisher:Cengage LearningManagement, Loose-Leaf VersionManagementISBN:9781305969308Author:Richard L. DaftPublisher:South-Western College PubPractical Management ScienceOperations ManagementISBN:9781337406659Author:WINSTON, Wayne L.Publisher:Cengage,



