Due Date: Nov. 26, 2002 at 5:30
p.m.
Objective: To build your flow chart construction skills
Instructions: Read the following dialog between a consultant (Lamar
Industrial Engineering alumni) and a shipping and
receiving person Lars Ulrich (on weekends, drummer for Metallica). Based on this conversation, develop an
"As-Is" flow chart describing the receiving process and an
"As-Is" flow chart describing the shipping process. Each activity in the flowchart should
identify the person responsible and the time required to complete. You may use the symbols we discussed in class
or define your own.
If you additional questions for Lars, please
send e-mail to my address and I will forward the message to him. The response will be posted on the class web
site for everyone to see and benefit from.
Format: All Labs will have the following content areas:
1. Cover page with “Flow Charting Exercise 1” as the
title, course #, your name, and date
2. Flow chart Exercise 1 instructions (including this
page copied from web page)
3. All deliverables identified clearly and listed in
order
4. All text and diagrams should be in electronic format
5. Bound with a single staple in upper left corner (use
notebooks or binders only if the report will not staple because it is too big)
Deliverables:
1. Flow chart of "as-is" receiving process
(20 points)
2. Flow chart of "to-be" (Improved)
receiving process (20 points)
3. Identify problems with current process (15 points
4. Identify improvements you have made to the process
(15 points
5. Identify expected benefits of your improvements
(20 points
6. Appearance of project (clarity and organization)
and conformance to format. (10 points
Consultant: Good afternoon, thanks for your time today.
Lars: Hi, what's up?
Consultant: We're trying to improve the shipping and receiving
process. We are trying to reduce the
time required to receive and ship products so we can handle an increase in
production later this year. Basically,
we are trying to make your job easier!
What is the basic flow of receiving?
Lars: Well, I do pretty much everything in receiving. I am the receiving
department!
Consultant: So, can you please tell me what you do for a
specific order of material? Just track an order through your process.
Lars: The materials and components come in and I look to see if there is room
in the warehouse for place the shipment [TRI(1,2,3)]. If there is room, I tell Michael to unload
the pallets into the warehouse [TRI(30,90,120)]. If there is not enough room in the warehouse,
(which happens about 10% of the time), I look in the trailer [TRI(1,2,3)]. If there
is room in the trailer, I tell Michael to unload the pallets there [TRI(45,100,150)]. If
both places are full, Michael unloads the pallets in the parking lot [TRI(30,80,110)].
Consultant: Then what?
Lars: I pull the packing list off the box or pallet TRI(.5,1,1.5)
and look for a receiving folder for the order TRI(.5,1,1.5). If we have a folder ready, I check that the
shipment is complete TRI(2,5,10) and if it is, sign
the freight bill TRI(.5,1,1.5). Then
Michael and I unpack the shipment TRI(120,240,360). While unpacking the shipment, we verify that
contents of the shipment matches the packing list for each pallet TRI(1,3,5).
Consultant: What if a
receiving folder is not ready?
Lars: If a receiving folder is not ready, I research the buyer, meaning I
call several people in the building to determine who ordered the material TRI(5,10,15). After I
find the person, I build a receiving folder TRI(3,6,8).
Consultant: What is the
delivery driver doing while you are researching the buyer?
Lars: He/she is waiting until I complete the research because I will not
accept an order we did not have paperwork for.
We have been shipped product we never ordered and it takes forever to
get the whole mess resolved.
Consultant: So after you
verify that contents of the shipment matches the packing list for each pallet,
what do you do next?
Lars: I take the PO and match the product description on the packing list to
the product description on the PO TRI(1,3,5). About 80% of the time they do. If not, I have
to get Adrian and we both get the privilege of informing production management
of a problem TRI(10,15,25). Adrian then calls the
vendors resolve the problems with the 20% of items that do not match. With the 80% that do match, I register receipt
of material of our newly installed and perfectly running inventory control
system TRI(1,2,3). With the inputs of the signed
freight bill, packing list after I verify it, and the log in the inventory
control system, I then send receiving documents to accounts receivable TRI(1,3,5). Fifty percent of the items are sent to
inspection TRI(1,2,3); Twenty-three percent are placed in inventory TRI(1,2,3);
Four percent go straight to production TRI(1,2,3); and three percent are sent
back to the vendor due to problems TRI(1,2,3). That's about ALL I do!
Consultant: What if the
shipment is not complete?
Lars: Well, most of the time the shipment has a problem. I'd say about 80% of the shipments have some
sort of problem. If the shipment has a problem, I get Adrian to call the vendor
and try to get the problem resolved.
Consultant: What types of
problems do you have with the shipments?
Lars: It could be lots of things like a
missing part, the wrong part, a broken part, too much of a part or not enough
of a part. Then sometimes they over
charge us, but they never undercharge us.
Some vendors are a real pain in the neck. Most of time, Kirk (on
weekends, lead guitar for Metallica) is trying
to get a credit for a missing part, wrong part, or broken part. If they send us too much, we just keep it. If
we get the wrong part, we send it back. All of this could take TRI(10,15,20) minutes depending on how many parts we are
dealing with and the vendor. Some vendors are better than others.
Note: For the purpose of this project assume the customer pays the invoice as
soon as they get the invoice!