Workload Balancing

Digital Imaging (DI) produces photo printers for both the professional and consumer
markets. The DI consumer division recently introduced two photo printers that
provide color prints rivaling those produced by a professional processing lab. The DI-
910 model can produce a 4" X 6" border-less print in approximately 37 seconds. The
more sophisticated and faster DI-950 can even produce a 13" X 19" border-less print.
Financial projections show profit contributions of $42 for each DI-910 and $87 for
each DI-950

The printers are assembled, tested, and packaged at DI's plant located in New Bern,
North Carolina. This plant is highly automated and uses two manufacturing lines to
produce the printers. Line 1 performs the assembly operation with times of 3
minutes per DI-950 printer and 6 minutes per DI-910 printer. Line 2 performs both
the testing and packaging operations. Times are 4 minutes per DI-910 printer and 2
minutes per DI-950 printer. The shorter time for the DI-950 printer is a result of its
faster print speed. Both manufacturing lines are in operation one 8-hour shift per
day.

Perform an analysis for Digital Imaging in order to determine how many units of each
printer to produce. Prepare a report to DI;s president presenting your finding and
recommendations. Include (but do not limit your discussion to) a consideration of
the following:

1. The recommended number of units of each printer to produce to maximize the

total contribution to profit for an 8-hour shift. What reasons might management
have for not implementing your recommendation?

2. Suppose that management also states that the number of DI-910 printers
produced must be at least as great as the number of DI-950 units produced.
Assuming that the objective is to maximize the total contribution to profit for an 8-
hour shift, how many units of each printer should be produced?

3. Does the solution you developed in part (2) balance the total time spent on line 1
and the total time spent on line 2? Why might this balance or lack of it be a concern
to management?

4. Management requested an expansion of the model is part (2) that would provide a
better balance between the total time on line 1 and the total time on line 2.
Management wants to limit the difference between the total time on line 1 and the
total time on line 2 to 30 minutes or less. If the objective is still to maximize the total
contribution to profit, how many units of each printer should be produced? What
effect does this workload balancing have on total profit in part (2)?

5. Suppose that in part (1) management specified the objective of maximizing the
total number of printers produced each shift rather than total profit contribution.
With this objective, how many units of each printer should be produced per shift?
What effect does this objective have on total profit and workload balancing?