RAJAGIRI CENTRE FOR BUSINESS STUDIES

Circuit Board
Fabricators Inc
Case Analysis
Group 10

Group Members
Don Mathews George
Mano Mohan
Kiran Ravi
Rohan C Abraham

Executive Summary (word count 104)

The following analysis will address the process flow structure, the capacity of the process,
losses of the process, short and long-term recommendations for improvement
opportunities.

Operations Management

Circuit Board Fabricators, Inc. is a small manufacturer of circuit boards located

in California near San jose. Large computer companies such as Apple and HewlettPackard hire Circuit Board Fabricators to make boards for prototypes of new
products. On a highly-productive day, the plant produces about 700 circuit boards,
but was designed to run 1,000 boards per day. CBF has hired a consultant to
discuss the reasons why they are not able to produce 1,000 boards per day as
created. The following analysis will address the process flow structure, the capacity
of the process, losses of the process, short and long-term recommendations for
improvement opportunities.

Case Analysis (word count 733)

RAJAGIRI CENTRE FOR BUSINESS STUDIES

Operations Management

In this case the main problem is bottleneck. In any system bottleneck cannot
be rectified completely. It will shift from one process to another. If we look at here,
currently the bottleneck is with Clean and Coat process. As a result the system can
produce only 726 boards (boards x minimum of capacity per day of each process,
60.56 x 12.00). If we increase the capacity of Clean and coat, then what will happen
is that bottleneck will shift to some other process. So what we have to do is start
from back. That is first determine the capacity that we need, here what we need is
1000 per day. In order to produce 1000 boards per day, the minimum capacity per
day of each individual process has to be 16.66 (that is 1000 divided by 60)
Now we got the minimum capacity has to be 16.66. Next step is to increase
the capacity per day of all the processes which are below 16.66. So we have to
check which all are that processes, they are Load (15.13), Clean (12.00) ,
Coat(12.00), Expose(15.63), Load (15.13), Final Test (14.48). So only by considering
all these factors and increasing their capacity, the desired output of 1000 boards per
day can be achieved.

RAJAGIRI CENTRE FOR BUSINESS STUDIES

Operations Management

CBF Inc. uses a workcenter process flow structure, one of the four major
process flow structures identified in the text. A workcenter process flow structure is a
production of small batches of a large number of different products.. Further,
workcenter process is a flexible operation that has several activities through which
work can pass.
The impact of the losses in the system is quite extensive. It is stated that 15%
of the board are typically rejected during an early processing inspection along with
an additional 5% rejected during the final testing. This results in a production order
increase of 25%. Ultimately, the first inspection should not be a bottleneck of this
process and there should not be any rejected boards in the final inspection.
A short-term solution may be to extend the work day so that 8 production
hours are optimized during a 5 working day week. If this solution produces results,
then this could be a possible long term solution. Another possible production hour
solution would be to incorporate 4 10-hour working days. Again, the number of
boards produced would quickly determine if this is indeed a long-term solution.
One of the most important recommendations would be to add another
machine or two throughout the process, especially at the beginning of the board
fabrication. Another long-term recommendation would be to take into consideration
where more automation could be used in place of human manual work. This would
decrease the amount of waste, therefore, decrease the percentage of increase of the
size of order, in turn, shortening the overall time of the entire job shop process flow.
Reduction of the main bottleneck, the initial inspection time duration will seriously
increase the overall production of the boards within the facility to meet the 1,000 per
day goal.
Identify the top three process improvement opportunities
As examined, the top three process improvement opportunities include:
1. A change in the total amount of hours worked by the employees (either
extend hour per five day work week or work 4 10-hour days to prolong the process
flow.)
2. Incorporating additional machines, eliminating manual labor work and
human error
3. Change of layout in particularly the bottleneck in the first inspection station
Establish performance requirements (quality, time, cost, customer
satisfaction) for process improvement.

RAJAGIRI CENTRE FOR BUSINESS STUDIES

Operations Management

With CBF Inc., producing high-quality circuit boards is extremely important

and when there are fewer wasted boards, this will save time and money in the longrun and also continue to reach closer to the goal of 1,000 boards per day. It is also
stated in this case, that high-quality customer service must be supplied by CBF.
Sloppy work and missed deadlines cannot be tolerated.

Adding hours to the working day may increase the costs in regards to salary
pay, but if the increase in production hours meets the goal, it will be worth the cost,
as more jobs can be produced and fewer defective boards are thrown away. The
cost of additional machines may also tie up operational costs, but in the long run, a
more automated system will also leverage CBF in providing the high-quality turn
around service needed to keep a competitive advantage.

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