Operations and Production Management(Reference chapter 2 William J. Stevenson-2007, ninth edition)Problems and Solutions1. Suppose that a company produced 300 standard bookcases last week using eight workers and produced 240 standard bookcases this week using six workers. In which was productivity higher? Explain.

Ans: Productivitylast week = standard bookcases produced as output / labor= 300/8= 37.8 sbc/worker

Productivity this week = standard bookcases produced as output / labor= 240/6= 40 sbc/worker

The ouput of this week shows that it has higher productivity than last week. This answer can be improved.

2. The manager of a crew that installs carpeting has tracked the crews output over the past several weeks, obtaining these figures.WeekCrew sizeYards Installed

14960

23702

34968

42500

53698

62500

(a) Compute the labor productivity for each of the weeks. (b) On the basis of your calculation, what can you conclude about crew size and productivity?Ans: (a) Productivity= Yards of carpet installed/ crew size=960/4= 240 yards/number of crew.WeekCrew sizeYards InstalledLabor productivity

14960240

23702234

34968242

42500250

53698232

62500250

(b) Probably even-sized crews are better than odd-sizes and a crew of 2 seems to work best amongst the others. 3 (a) Compute the multi-factor productivity measure for each of the weeks shown. (b) What do the productivity figures suggest? Assume 40 hour weeks and an hourly wage of $12. Overhead is 1.5 times weekly labor cost. Material cost is $ 6 per pound.

WeekOutput (units)WorkersMaterials (lbs)

130,0006450

233,6007470

332,2007460

435,4008480

Ans: (a)

WeekOutput (units)Worker cost

12*40Overhead cost

Materials costTotal costMFP

130,00028804320270099003.03

233,600336050402820112202.99

332,200336050402760111602.89

435,400384057402880124802.84

Week 1- 12*40*6 =2880= worker cost

Week 1- 12*40*6 =2880* 1.5=4320= overhead cost

Week 1- 450*6 = 2700=material cost

Week 1- 2880+4320+2700=9900 total cost

Week 1-MFP=output (units)/(labor+materials+overhead)=30000/9900= 3.03 unit per dollar input (c) Multi-factor productivity dropped steadily from a high of 3.03 to about 2.846. A manager checked production records and found out that a worker produced 160 units while working 40 hours. In the previous week, the same worker produced 138 units while working 36 hours. (a) Compute the workers productivity. (b) Did his productivity increase, decrease or remain the same? Briefly explain.(a) Current productivity= produced units as output/ labor hour=160/40=4 unit per hour

Current productivity= produced units as output/ labor hour=138/36=3.83 unit per hour

(b) Growth productivity= Current Period Productivity Previous Period Productivity

Previous Period Productivity

Growth productivity=4-3.83/3.83=0.044Thus there was an increase of 4.4 % in productivity.

PAGE 5