National Cranberry Cooperative
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Answer the following questions:
Develop a process flow diagram for processing cranberries (both wet and dry). Show the capacities at the different stages.
What are the sources of variability affecting NCCs operations?
The rate at which the growers truck arrive for unloading.
The cranberry mix rate ( % of Dry vs % of Wet) cranberries arriving at the plant
The drying capacity is a bottleneck operation for processing wet cranberry at 450- 600 bbls/hr.
The number of hours that the operation is running.
The amount of bulk vs finish vs bag cranberries.
The capacity of the storage bins, and the finish processing vs freezers storage capacity.
Suppose that a peak harvest-season day involves 18,000 barrels of berries, 70% of them wet harvested, arriving uniformly over a twelve-hour period from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m.
If 18,000 barrels of berries arrives each day and 70% are wet then 450 bbl per day would be dry and 1050 bbl would be wet.
Would trucks have to wait to unload?
Yes trucks carrying wet berries will have to wait to unload during the day because the incoming (arrival rate 1050) is greater than the processing rate (600). The trucks arriving with dry berries will not have to wait because the processing rate is greater than the arrival rate.
When during the day would trucks be waiting?
If the maximum storage capacity is use the storage wet berries then the total storage capacity available is 3200 bbls. Let assume that all storage was empty and available in the morning at 7am. Trucks delivering wet berries would have to start waiting after 10:05 am as the bins would be full. (3200/1050 = +3.04 hours)
How much truck waiting time would you expect?
The rate at which wet berries will be arriving will be (18000 * 70% /12) = 1050
The rate for processing the berries is based on the bottleneck operation
The dryers capacity is 600 bbls/hr
After the bins are full the trucks will have to wait( 2200 bbls/ 600 bbls) which equals 3.4 or 3 hours and 40 minutes.
What is the maximum number of trucks waiting during the day?
The maximum number of trucks waiting will be 62.