ES3A7- Case Study 2

Mountain X Bicycle Company specialises in manufacturing alloy and carbon Fiber frames for

its mountain bike product lines. The company's primary focus is on the Trailblazer model, an

alloy-framed bike produced both to stock and order. The factory operates a single 9 hours a

day with two 10-minute break and one 40-minute lunch break. The company has 20 working

days in a month. The current monthly demand for the Trailblazer is 800 bikes. However, the

production numbers are not meeting the target, and there's a concern about the capacity to

fulfil the demand. The key strategic challenges faced by Mountain X revolve around

production capacity.

Company receives order on a daily, weekly, and monthly basis which is used by the operation

management department to do the weekly forecast plan. This forecast is then sent to

supervisors to commence the daily production. Similarly weekly and monthly purchase order

is sent to supplier.

Assembly Line

Trailblazer bikes are assembled on a paced line with an assembly time of 15 minutes per bike.

The current capacity of the assembly line is approximately 28 bikes per day, resulting in a

shortfall in meeting the daily customer demand.

Aluminium Procurement

The alloy bike frames begin as extruded aluminium tubes. Mountain X currently procures tube

stock from vendors every two weeks, obtaining enough material to produce a two-week

supply based on the contractual minimum quantity. The batch size is 500 tubes, providing 15

days’ worth of stock once cut to length. Mountain X has faced reliability issues with some

vendors, leading to periodic stockouts. The possibility of bringing extrusion in-house with

capital equipment is being discussed to reduce reliance on external suppliers.

Production Processes

Trailblazer frames pass through seven production processes from raw tube to finished bike

(details are available in Table 1). Equipment age and standalone configurations result in

excessive downtime during changeovers between models and sizes. Painting capacity and

quality issues also constrain overall output and must be addressed before increasing volumes.

ES3A7- Case Study 2

Table 1. Process steps followed in the company

Process Description Cycle Time

Setup time/ Change

over

End

Inventory

Cutting

Chops tubes to

length

2 min/cut 1 min 150 tubes

Mitering Tubes mitered 45°

4.5

min/frame

7 min 40 frames

Welding

Tubes welded

together

7 min/frame 3 min 45 frames

Finishing

Areas ground

smooth

9 min/frame 2.6 min 38 frames

Painting Powder coated

12.5

min/frame

5 min 26 frames

Printing Graphics and decals 10 min/frame 5 min 30 frames

Inspection Check for defects 10 min/frame 12 min ?

Assembly

Frames +

components

15 min/bike 2 min 28 bikes

*Note: After inspection there is a 19% defect rate due to quality issues.

*Calculate the number of items in the inventory with the available data after the inspection.

After inspection the end products is shipped on a weekly basis to the customer.

Next Steps

As the production engineering lead, you have been tasked by the COO to assess Mountain X's

operational constraints and provide recommendations for improvement to meet the demand.

Your report should address the following questions:

1. Develop the Current State Value Stream Map for the overall process that includes all

the process steps and calculations based on the data provided in the case study [20%

of the total for this assignment]

ES3A7- Case Study 2

2. Identify issues in the current state and propose improvements for the future using

lean concepts discussed in the lectures [20% of the total assignment]

3. An equipment Layout Diagram for the process that makes efficient use of space whilst

allowing access for both operators and maintenance. This must implement the

principles of layout for lean operation. I expect to see a unique solution. Use of Visio

is welcomed but not a requirement. However, if you create a layout by hand then it

should adopt an engineering style, use drawing instruments (ruler and compass where

appropriate) and be clear. Provide brief [20% of the total for this assignment]

Note: In the Current VSM diagram clearly present the calculated production lead time and

processing time in the current state and also the production lead time (in days) at each process

in the manufacturing cell?

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