Question

7.) Robert produces 300 units of a product per hour and 30 units are needed to fill a container. It takes 15 minutes to receive the materials needed from the previous workstation. The company currently uses a safety stock of 10 percent. Determine the number of kanbans needed between Robert's station and the previous process.

8.) Consider the information from Problem 7. Determine how the number of kanbans and the inventory level will be affected if the time required for Robert to receive the material increases to 30 minutes.

I need help with question number 7 and8, please. There are answers posted but have one 6 Kanbans and others 3. So I'm not sure which one is the right answer. Question number 8, no one has answered that question which is related to question number 7. Please help

Answer 1

7)

Number of kanbans = ( (Demand rate x Lead time) + Safety Stock) / Size of the container

Demand rate = 300 units per hour

Lead time = 15 minutes = (15 / 60) hour = 0.25 hour

Safety stock = 10 percent = 0.10 x ( 300 x 0.25) = 7.5 units

Size of the container = 30 units

Therefore,

Number of kanbans = ((300 x 0.25) + 7.5) / 30 = ( 75 + 7.5) / 30 = 82.5/ 30 = 2.75 = 3 ( Rounding off)

8)

Lead time = 30 minutes = 0.5 hour

So, Safety stock = 0.10 x ( 300 x 0.5) = 15 units

Therefore,

Number of kanbans = ((300 x 0.5) + 15) / 30 = ( 150 + 15) / 30 = 165/ 30 = 5.5 = 6 ( Rounding off)

The number of kanbans and safety stock has increased with an increase in lead time.

Hence, with the increase in lead time, the number of kanbans and inventory level shall increase.