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I have a 3 step process. Step A takes 20 min, Step B : 60 min, Step C : 20 min

Steps in production of output "news nuggets" is as below:

Step A : Do Secondary Research

Step B : Analyse the data, Generate Insights, Arrange Information

Step C : Check Grammar, Formatting & convert to PDF

3 Step Process for resource allocation

My Questions:

  1. Is my calculation of crew size correct ?
  2. What step is the constraint and why?
  3. Manual calculation as in the excel (attached) makes Step C as constraint.
  4. What is the best way to allocate resources.PS: The flow is assumed to be constant
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Gupta
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    Your question needs more details. – Alexandre Frias Oct 13 '19 at 05:30
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    Hi RKapoor, welcome to OR.SE. In your second question by “constraint” did you mean bottleneck? Also I think you need to re-write or at least explain your 3rd and 4th questions. – Oguz Toragay Oct 13 '19 at 07:21
  • Yes, mean bottleneck by constraint. – Gupta Oct 13 '19 at 11:47
  • If you see the attachment, I have tried simulating the actual and tried to allocate units to people in step A (one resource), Step B(3 resource), step C(one resource). I thought this allocation will create good flow.i.e there will be no units waiting at any point of time. But I could see units waiting at step C. Then in 2nd sheet I added a resource at step C. All this I did manually. Is there a more scientific \ analytical way of doing resource allocation in steps – Gupta Oct 13 '19 at 11:52
  • @RKapoor yes you can use one of many simulation software (for example simio-which is commercial but I think you can find some online simulators as well) to simulate your system. In addition, you can model the problem as an LP which gives you the optimal number of resources that you need to use in each step to minimize the waiting time in the bottleneck. – Oguz Toragay Oct 13 '19 at 18:51
  • @RKapoor you can also try this link https://www.anylogic.com/s/download-free-simulation-software-for-education/ – Oguz Toragay Oct 13 '19 at 18:54
  • Thanks @Oguz Toragay. I have tried to use simul8. Will post update here. How to formulate it as a LP problem. Any hints in this direction will be appreciated. – Gupta Oct 14 '19 at 15:45
  • I infer from your comment that cycle time by takt time doesn't give optimal solution to flow. Am I concluding correctly ? – Gupta Oct 14 '19 at 15:47

1 Answers1

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Your "cycle times" are round numbers. (20 min, 60 min, 20 min respectively). Are these numbers measured and observed cycle times, or are they allocated time for the task?

If you are seeing work build up, then the actual work likely varies from your planned time. What is the actual time? Measure the time of each actual cycle - plot them on a run chart. Look at how much variation there is.

The more variation there is, the more you have to "pad" the resources. If you have to pad the resources to get the work done, then this is likely what is happening.

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