Table of Contents

1.) Introduction 2
2.) Process Analysis 2
3.) Process Flow at National Cranberry Cooperative 4
4.) Installing a Light Grading System 5
5.) Decreasing the truck waiting time 6
6.) Bag pack or Bulk Pack 8
7.) Conclusions 9

1.) Introduction
This case analysis looks at the two primary problems at the receiving plant no. 1 (RP 1) faced by National Cranberry Cooperative during the cranberry harvesting period, viz. 1) too much waiting period for trucks before they unload berries at the RP1 and 2) too much overtime costs. There is also a secondary problem regarding grading of process berries. Half of the berries graded top quality are actually not top quality and do not deserve extra premiums paid on the top quality …show more content…

When the processing starts at 11 am the wet berry processing rate would be 600 bbls/ hr (since they are bulk packed) while arrival rate is still 1050 bbls/hr. The trucks carrying wet berries would continue to queue up to 7 pm.
Total qty of wet berries received at RP1 in a 12-hr shift = 18000*(70/100) = 12600 bbls
Qty received in 1st four hours (starting from 7.00am) = 1050*4 = 4200 bbls
From 11.00 am to 7.00 pm, 8*600 = 4800 bbls will be processed.
Unprocessed qty. = 12600 – 4800 = 7800 bbls (which includes 3200 bbls in temporary bins). Amount left in trucks = 7800 – 3200 = 4600 bbls.

The trucks will continue unloading up to 4600/600 minutes after 7 pm that is up to 2:40am. Unprocessed qty of 7800 bbls will require (7800 / 600) = 13 hrs over and above the 8 hr shift, for getting processed.

For peak season, if we start the processing of berries from 7.00 am itself, we can have additional 4 hrs, as compared to usual start time of 11.00 am. Wet berries will be accumulated at rate of 1050 (i.e. arrival rate) – 600 (i.e. wet berries processing rate) = 450bbls/hr. For 12-hr shift of trucks depositing wet berries, we have total inventory of wet berries = 12*450 = 5400 bbls.

Again we will find the estimated total waiting time for all the trucks as follows:
Out of 5400 bbls, temporary bins will hold 3200 bbls and 2200 bbls will be present in trucks. Total waiting time for trucks = (2200/600) = 3 hr 40 min. While, unprocessed berries will require time =