Advanced Manufacturing Systems (MVS4A11-MVSMCA4)

Semester Test #2

Date 09th May 2022

Time 180 min
Marks 100

Internal Examiner: Prof JR Ren

External Moderator: Prof. SZ Du

Notes
1. Answer ALL questions.
2. This paper contains 8 questions.
3. Number all answers according to the numbering in question paper.
4. Make sure that you understand what the question requires before attempting it.
5. No pencil work will be marked. Please use pen for parts to be marked.
6. Answer all questions in English.
7. Explain answers and give all the necessary steps – simply giving the answer is
not sufficient.
8. Late submission penalty: a 5% reduction from the actual mark achieved.
9. Submit into Blackboard system, NO EMAILS!

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Question 1 – Production Capacity (10)

A plant has fifteen machines and currently operates two 8-hr shift per day, 5 days per week, 48
weeks per year. The fifteen machines produce the same part each at a rate of 50 pc/hr.
(a) Determine annual production capacity of this plant.
(b) If the plant were to operate three 8-hr shifts per day, 6 days per week, 50 weeks per
year, determine the annual percentage increase in plant capacity.

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Question 2 – Work-in-process and Utilization (10)

A knife manufacturing company produces 71 928 pieces per day. The average process time per
workstation is 20 minutes.
a) Calculate the critical work-in-progress (WIP) items, that is the level in which a line
having no congestion would achieve a maximum throughput.
b) If the optimal capacity of the plant presented in the Question is 3040 pieces of knives
per hour, calculate the utilization level of the plant.

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Question 3 – Factory overhead & Corporate overhead (10)

Suppose that all costs have been compiled for a certain manufacturing company for the most of
recent years. The summary is shown in the table below. The company operates two different
manufacturing plants plus a corporate headquarters. The company will use those rates to predict
the following year’s expenses.
(a) Determine the factory overhead rate for each plant.
(b) Determine the corporate overhead rate.

Expense Category Plant 1 Plant 2 Corporate

Headquarters
Direct labor R2 100 000 R2 440 000
Materials R2 800 000 R3 800 000
Factory expense R3 045 000 R4 400 000
Corporate expense R33 000 000
Totals R7 945 000 R10 640 000

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Question 4 – Transfer Functions of pH Water Sensor (10)

During calibration, a pH water sensor emits a current of 4 mA at 0 pH value, and 20

mA at 14 pH value. Assume the transfer function of this pH water sensor is a linear
relationship between pH range of 0 and 14.
(c) Determine the transfer function of this pH water sensor.
(d) Determine the waste pH value that is corresponding to a current output of 9 mA.
(e) Determine the current output that is corresponding to a pH value of 11.

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Question 5 – Analysis of single-model assembly lines (10)

A total of 100 000 facial masks must be produced in a workshop during a particular 20-
hr week. The facial masks are of 20 different types, and each type is produced in its
own batch. Average batch quantity is 500 masks. Each batch requires a setup and the
average setup time is 3.0 hr. The average machine cycle time to produce a mask is 3
min. Availability on the mask machine is 80%. How many mask machines are required
during the week?

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Question 6 – Manufacturing lead time (10)

In a batch production plant, a certain batch of parts is routed through seven machines in batch
sizes of 300 units. The setup and operation times for each machine are given in the table below.
The average nonoperation time per machine is 24 hr. Determine manufacturing lead time to
complete one batch, assuming the plant runs 8 hr/day, 5 days/wk.

Machine 1 2 3 4 5 6 7
Setup time (hr) 5 3 2 3 2 3 3
Operation time (min) 6.5 4.6 3.3 2.6 2.8 5.2 5.3

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Question 7 – Determining the Sigma Level of a Process (20)

The inspection department in a cell phone final assembly plant checks cell phones
coming off the line against 25 features that are considered critical-to-quality for
customer satisfaction. During a one-month period, a total of 15,666 cell phones were
produced. For those cell phones, a total of 1,055 defects of various types were found,
and the total number of cell phones that had one or more defects was 320. Determine
(a) the number of defects per million opportunities and corresponding sigma level, (b)
the number of defects per million and corresponding sigma level, and (c) the number
of defective units per million and corresponding sigma level.

Question 8 – Inspection or No Inspection (20)

A batch of 1,000 parts has been produced and a decision is needed whether or not to
100% inspect the batch. Past history with this part suggests that the fraction defect rate
is around 0.03. Inspection cost per part is R0.23. If the batch is passed on for subsequent
processing, the damage cost for each defective unit in the batch is R8.00. Determine:
(a) batch cost for 100% inspection.
(b) batch cost if no inspection is performed.
(c) What is the critical fraction defect value for deciding whether to inspect?

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(d) Given the data from the preceding problem, sampling inspection is being considered
as an alternative to 100% inspection. The sampling plan calls for a sample of 80 parts
to be drawn at random from the batch. Based on the operating characteristic curve for
this sampling plan, the probability of accepting the batch is 96% at the given defect rate
of q = 0.015. Determine the batch cost for sampling inspection.