Peanut Butter Sandwiches

[pic]

Brad Reynolds
Joel Curl
Aaron Smith

Boise State Manufacturing Company

October 16, 2007

Executive Summary In the process to build a better peanut butter cracker sandwich we have made a production process to make a better sandwich that can be produced at a fast rate and for very little money. During a pilot run many errors were found that needed to be improved upon but we have come up with a few ideas. First we needed to change the duties of one of the operators. Second we needed to change the speed of the process. By doing this we feel that the production can produce a higher profit.

Introduction In an effort to create a delicious healthy snack for kids a pilot production run was completed for peanut butter & cracker sandwiches. This pilot run was held in order to perfect the process of the sandwich making procedure and to better see the flaws in the manufacturing process. It was also held in order to find out what must be done in order to profit from this business. The peanut butter and cracker sandwich is a delicious snack for all who like peanut butter. It will provide a healthy snack for young and old alike.

Data Our production process involved three operators in an assembly line technique. The three operators were titled Operator #1 (Op1), Operator #2 (Op2), and Specs Operator (Spec). Op1 had the primary duty of starting the process. This person was in charge of obtaining one cracker and placing the correct amount of peanut butter onto the center of that cracker (see Fig 1). [pic] Fig 1 A dollop of peanut butter

The peanut butter was placed on the cracker using a simple melon baler as a spoon (see

Fig 2).

[pic] Fig 2 The common melon baler

This was done to be able to put the correct amount of peanut butter on every time with repeatable results. Op1 would then pass the started sandwich on to Op2 and start a new sandwich. Op2 was in charge of completing the sandwich by placing another cracker on top of the peanut butter and pressing down on the top cracker in order to make the sandwich a completed sandwich (see Figs. 3,4). This operator was also in charge of checking to make sure that there was no overflow of peanut butter off the edge of the sandwich. [pic] Finally the Specs Operator would receive the sandwich and was in charge of checking that the cracker met all specifications. In other words this operator was the quality control operator of the system. Each sandwich would be placed on the scale to check for weight. Spec would then check one out of every five sandwiches in order to be sure the height of the sandwich met specifications. Spec’s final duty was to place the finished sandwiches into the bags at ten sandwiches per bag. If at any point during the process the sandwich broke or for some reason didn’t meet standards, the operators were instructed to toss out the defective material and start over. This was done so that no time was wasted trying to fix mistakes. For a more detailed view of each operator’s individual duties see the flowcharts in Appendix 1. The Specs Operator’s primary job was to check for quality assurance. We wanted to have someone checking the sandwiches during the process so that we could be sure that all the sandwiches were meeting the required specifications. Along with meeting the specifications we also had to make sure that each operator followed proper food handling techniques. This includes washing hands before hand, wearing gloves before handling the food, and working on a clean work table (table was covered with wax paper). During their training we instructed each operator on safe handling technique and their individual job duties. In order to make one single sandwich you must include the price of the crackers ($0.02 per cracker), the peanut butter ($0.003 per gram), and the plastic bags for the finished product ($0.009 per bag @ 10 sandwiches/bag). Knowing that it takes two crackers to make a sandwich and that it takes approximately 4 grams of peanut butter, and that it takes 1/10 of a bag per sandwich, it costs approximately $0.0529 for a single sandwich. You then have to add in products used.
|Item |Cost of Item |
|Melon Baler |$2.02 |
|2 knifes |$2.00 |
|Plastic Gloves |$0.06 |
|Wax Paper |$1.49 |
|Total |$5.57 |

The final thing included was the hourly pay for the production operators at $15.00/hour. The pilot run was only ten minutes long so each operator was paid $2.50. For the pilot run we ordered the following
|Item |Amount Ordered |Cost of Single Item |Total |
|Crackers |180 |$0.02 |$3.60 |
|Peanut Butter |360 grams |$.003/gram |$1.08 |
|Plastic Bags |9 |$.009/bag |$.081 |
|Total | | |$4.82 |

In all the production costs of this pilot run was $17.89. After the pilot run we found that our income was only $4.20 which gave us a total loss of $13.69. This however included some excess inventory. We ordered five sleeves of crackers but only used 2.5 sleeves and likewise with the peanut butter we had about half of it left over. After all was said and done, we had a yield of 28 good sandwiches in ten minutes, and 3 bad ones.

Discussion After observing the operators from the pilot run we observed a few changes that we would like to make in the process that would hopefully change the outcome and instead give us a profit instead of a loss. First we would like to change the responsibilities of Op2. This operator was given too much down time in the process. This person had to sit and wait for the first operator to finish putting the peanut butter onto the cracker before he/she could do anything. We would like to propose joining the jobs of Op1, and Op2 into one job. We still feel that it would be best to operate with three people though. Now instead of passing from operator 1 to 2, the Operators would make a complete the sandwich and then pass the sandwich on to the Specs Operator. This person would then check two sandwiches at a time instead of just one. We feel that this would double production. We didn’t make a profit in the pilot run, but we do feel that if we made the first and second operators do the sandwiches at the same time that they would produce twice the yield.

Conclusion While doing a pilot run for the manufacturing of peanut butter cracker sandwiches we found out many things. We found that we weren’t making near enough sandwiches to make a profit. We also found that our costs were growing faster than the income and therefore would make us go broke if we didn’t change. We feel that by changing one of the operators’ duties we can change the yield to make a profit that would benefit the company.