molding eng. ass. welding stamping welding start end FA stamping Problem 5.4. The Process Flowchart from Problem 4.4 2 min 1 min 3 min molding eng. ass. welding aut. molding machine 1 engine assembler 1 molding operator 1 min 3 min stamping welding 30 min start continuous welding machine end FA 1 welder 2 min stamping 10,000lbs press 10 final assemblers 1 press operator 7 min seat ass. 2 seat assemblers
Unable to meet demand for this bike, Honda wants to increase throughput. A team member suggests cross-training the engine and seat assemblers. This suggestion should not be implemented because these resources are non-bottlenecks and therefore do not impact system throughput. We suggest increasing bottleneck capacity by decreasing welding times by design or process improvements. Other options are buying another welding machine and adding another welder, outsourcing some welding.