Kristen’s Cookie Case
Case Answers

Global Operations
Hult International Business School
Module B, 2012-13
Suneel Udpa
January 21, 2013

1. 26 minutes assuming that the system is completely empty. If we receive a call anytime at or after the Mix&Spoon stage, it'll take us 26 + additional 10 minutes. This includes 8 minutes at the Mix&Spoon stage and a 2 minute wait to finish baking the previous batch. Therefore, it would take us 36 minutes to fill a rush order. (Please refer to Table 1.0 on page 4 for details).

2. At a steady state we'd be able to produce 6 (process capacity) x 4 (hours) = 24 dozen per night. At a starting state, assuming that 1st dozen takes 26 minutes, and we move into a steady state of production, we have 4 hours or 214 minutes (out of 4 hours) left, enabling us to produce 22 dozen cookies total.

3. For each dozen, I would spend 8 minutes working on it, and my roommates would spend 4 minutes. Hence, I would spend 176 minutes per shift and my roommate would spend 88 minutes per shift (with 22 dozen at a starting state). At a starting steady state, I would spend 192 minutes and my roommate 96 minutes.

4. We can in fact offer discounts to our customers who order more than one dozen cookies due to the time we save in the Load&Bake stage of production. Since we are able to produce up to 3 batches in the Mix&Spoon stage, our calculations would be as follows:

6 minutes to Mix and an extra 2 minutes to spoon for each batch. 30% of our time is spent in the Mix&Spoon stage, so:

1 Dozen = 8 min
2 Dozen = 10 min
3 Dozen = 12 min

For 2 Dozen:
16-10/16 = 4/16 = 25% M&S Savings = 7.6% Total Process Savings
For 3 Dozen:
24-12/24 = 12/24 = 50% M&S Savings = 15% Total Process Savings

In the absence of other cost data, we are unable to make relevant cost assumptions and draw conclusions as to how much of a discount we can