UNIVERSITY OF SUNDERLAND
FACULTY OF TECHNOLOGY
SCHOOL OF ENGINEERING
MODULE CODE: ENX300
MODULE TITLE: Manufacturing Systems Design
MODULE ASSESSOR: Dr Ken Robson
TITLE OF Individual Assignment (Group work is not
ASSESSMENT: allowed!)
This assignment contributes 30% to your
final module mark.
PLEASE READ ALL INSTRUCTIONS AND INFORMATION CAREFULLY.
Please ensure that you retain a duplicate of your assignment. We are required to
send samples of student work to the external examiners for moderation purposes. It
will also safeguard in the unlikely event of your work going astray.
THE FOLLOWING LEARNING OUTCOMES WILL BE ASSESSED:
• To be able to critically appraise the various sub-elements of the Lean/JIT
methodology and their linkages
IMPORTANT INFORMATION
You are required to submit your work within the bounds of the University Infringement
of Assessment Regulations (see Student academic integrity at
https://sunderlandac.sharepoint.com/sites/cs_Academic-
Registry/SitePages/Academic-Misconduct.aspx
Your work may be subject to checks for originality.
Where you are asked to submit an individual piece of work, the work must be entirely
your own. The safety of your assessments is your responsibility. You must not permit
another student access to your work.
Submission Date and Time From 17 June to 23 June 2024, submit one time
only.
Submission Location CANVAS
1
Question 1
Instruction: Handwriting is allowed. The file must be submitted at “submission details” in
Canvas. You must write your Name and Sunderland Student No. on the cover page.
a) The Spodleigh Bicycle Company have developed a new bicycle called the ‘Speedster’.
This is manufactured mainly from carbon fibre materials which means the cycle is
exceptionally light and fast (See Figure Q1a - parts view). The marketing department
at Spodleigh are very excited about this new product and want to market it as soon as
possible. To facilitate this, they have produced a sales forecast for the new bicycles
and this is shown in Table Q1a(ii). The challenge for the Manufacturing group is to
design an assembly line configuration and determine, which option is most efficient
given the predicted sales forecast. Assuming staff work a 40 hour week for 48 weeks
per year you are required to determine the following:
i) Design a product layout (Long thin) for the assembly operation which meets
the requirements of the 1st quarter production (15 Marks)
ii) Using this layout, how many people are required to manufacture/assemble the
product? What is the balance loss and potential output of this arrangement?
(6 Marks)
st
iii) If a ‘short fat’ layout is used in the 1 quarter, how many people would be
required to assemble the products? What is the balance loss and potential
output of this arrangement? (8 Marks)
iv) Which layout is needed to meet the increasing demand in Year 1 and why? ( 6 m a r k s )
v) What are the advantages and disadvantages of both ‘long thin’ and ‘short fat’
layouts? (15 Marks)
Q1a Component parts of the new ‘Speedster’
2
TASK ELEMENT TIME (secs)
A Fit bearing hub for crank 14
B Fit front forks 14
C Mount wheels 9
D Attach the chain wheel to the crank 5
E Attach the chain wheel and crank to the frame 9
F Mount pedals 3
G Attach saddle 9
H Attach chain 10
G Fit handle bars 9
I
Fit Brakes 5
J 12
Fit stickers and inspect
K 12
Pack into box
Table Q1a(i) Standard time for each task and build sequence
3
T a
Y
1
2
3
4
b
e
s
n
r
t
le
P e r io d
a r 1
t
q u a r t e r
d
q u a r t e r
d
q u a r t e r
h
q u a r t e r
Q 1 a ( ii) S a le s f o
U
9
1
1
2
r
n it s
8 0 0 0
4 0 0 0
4 0 0 0
3 0 0 0
e c a s t
0
0
0
Y e a r 1
Question 2
Instruction:
⚫ You must TYPE your answer by computer, using 'Times New Roman', font size 12pt. Only
MS Word format is accepted. Image file is not accepted. The MS Word file must
be submitted at “assignments” in Canvas.
⚫ The expected Word count and references for each part should be: 400 – 600 words
plus 2-3 Harvard references.
⚫ You must type your Name and Sunderland Student No. on the cover page.
a) The Directors of Spodleigh Bicycle Company are considering the introduction of Lean
Manufacturing to the plant but have number of queries about the concepts involved. As a
result they have requested that you write a short report which clearly explains the
following:
(i) What is the difference between ‘push’, ‘pull’ and ‘Theory of constraints’ approaches to
planning and control? Explain using diagrams, highlighting the pros and cons of each.
(15 marks)
(ii) What is ‘level scheduling’? and what might be the pre-requisites before we can
introduce it?
(Explain using diagrams where necessary)
(10 marks)
(iii) Will the ‘Autocratic’ culture of the company fit with the philosophy of ‘Lean’? What
is the ‘Lean Philosophy’ in relation to people ? and what ‘working practices’ need to
be put in place in order to move to a Lean environment?
(10 marks)
(iv) Recommend and describe a tool or technique which can be used to analyse and improve
the performance of ‘Spodleigh’ manufacturing systems e.g. Rank-order clustering,
Ishikawa diagrams, value stream mapping etc. and explain its basic principle, how it
would be applied, the potential benefits and inhibitors to implementation
(15 marks)
[TOTAL 50 marks]
End of Assignment
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