Operations Management: An Integrated Approach, 5th Edition

Solved Problems

(See student companion site for Excel template.)

• Problem 1

Bluegill Furniture is a small furniture shop that focuses on making kitchen chairs. The weekly dollar value of its output, including finished goods and work in progress, is $14,280. The value of inputs, such as labor, materials, and capital, is approximately $16,528. Compute the total productivity measure for Bluegill Furniture.

• Before You Begin:

In this problem you are being asked for the total productivity. Recall that it is simply the ratio of total output over input.

• Solution

• Problem 2

Bluegill has just purchased a new sanding machine that processes 17 chairs in 8 hours. What is the productivity of the sanding machine?

• Before You Begin:

In this problem you are being asked for machine productivity, which is a partial productivity measure.

• Solution

• Problem 3

Bluegill has hired two new workers to paint chairs. They have painted 10 chairs in 4 hours. What is their labor productivity?

• Before You Begin:

Remember that you should compute the labor productivity of both workers combined.

• Solution

• Problem 4

On average, Bluegill produces 35 chairs per day. Labor costs average $480, material costs ...