ES3A7- Case Study 2

Mountain X Bicycle Company specialises in manufacturing alloy and carbon Fiber frames for
its mountain bike product lines. The company's primary focus is on the Trailblazer model, an
alloy-framed bike produced both to stock and order. The factory operates a single 9 hours a
day with two 10-minute break and one 40-minute lunch break. The company has 20 working
days in a month. The current monthly demand for the Trailblazer is 800 bikes. However, the
production numbers are not meeting the target, and there's a concern about the capacity to
fulfil the demand. The key strategic challenges faced by Mountain X revolve around
production capacity.
Company receives order on a daily, weekly, and monthly basis which is used by the operation
management department to do the weekly forecast plan. This forecast is then sent to
supervisors to commence the daily production. Similarly weekly and monthly purchase order
is sent to supplier.
Assembly Line
Trailblazer bikes are assembled on a paced line with an assembly time of 15 minutes per bike.
The current capacity of the assembly line is approximately 28 bikes per day, resulting in a
shortfall in meeting the daily customer demand.
Aluminium Procurement
The alloy bike frames begin as extruded aluminium tubes. Mountain X currently procures tube
stock from vendors every two weeks, obtaining enough material to produce a two-week
supply based on the contractual minimum quantity. The batch size is 500 tubes, providing 15
days’ worth of stock once cut to length. Mountain X has faced reliability issues with some
vendors, leading to periodic stockouts. The possibility of bringing extrusion in-house with
capital equipment is being discussed to reduce reliance on external suppliers.
Production Processes
Trailblazer frames pass through seven production processes from raw tube to finished bike
(details are available in Table 1). Equipment age and standalone configurations result in
excessive downtime during changeovers between models and sizes. Painting capacity and
quality issues also constrain overall output and must be addressed before increasing volumes.








ES3A7- Case Study 2

Table 1. Process steps followed in the company
Process Description Cycle Time
Setup time/ Change
over
End
Inventory
Cutting
Chops tubes to
length
2 min/cut 1 min 150 tubes
Mitering Tubes mitered 45°
4.5
min/frame
7 min 40 frames
Welding
Tubes welded
together
7 min/frame 3 min 45 frames
Finishing
Areas ground
smooth
9 min/frame 2.6 min 38 frames
Painting Powder coated
12.5
min/frame
5 min 26 frames
Printing Graphics and decals 10 min/frame 5 min 30 frames
Inspection Check for defects 10 min/frame 12 min ?
Assembly
Frames +
components
15 min/bike 2 min 28 bikes
*Note: After inspection there is a 19% defect rate due to quality issues.
*Calculate the number of items in the inventory with the available data after the inspection.

After inspection the end products is shipped on a weekly basis to the customer.
Next Steps
As the production engineering lead, you have been tasked by the COO to assess Mountain X's
operational constraints and provide recommendations for improvement to meet the demand.

Your report should address the following questions:
1. Develop the Current State Value Stream Map for the overall process that includes all
the process steps and calculations based on the data provided in the case study [20%
of the total for this assignment]
ES3A7- Case Study 2

2. Identify issues in the current state and propose improvements for the future using
lean concepts discussed in the lectures [20% of the total assignment]
3. An equipment Layout Diagram for the process that makes efficient use of space whilst
allowing access for both operators and maintenance. This must implement the
principles of layout for lean operation. I expect to see a unique solution. Use of Visio
is welcomed but not a requirement. However, if you create a layout by hand then it
should adopt an engineering style, use drawing instruments (ruler and compass where
appropriate) and be clear. Provide brief [20% of the total for this assignment]
Note: In the Current VSM diagram clearly present the calculated production lead time and
processing time in the current state and also the production lead time (in days) at each process
in the manufacturing cell?





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