Littlefield Labs free essay sample

98 | Buy Machine 1 | The utilization of Machine 1 on day 88 to day 90 was around 1. | Should have bought it earlier, perhaps around day 90 | 133 | Buy Machine 3 | We bought Machine 3 in view of the decrease in revenue and sudden spike in queue number in step 3. Initially we were reluctant to buy it earlier since we thought we cannot recoup the fixed cost | Should have bought earlier, probably around day 100 when utilization reached 1 | | Change prioritization of Machine 2 to Step 2 | After buying machine 3, we thought that step 3 would be much faster than step 1, thus the next step (step 4) can afford to wait. | | | Change the prioritization of Machine 2 to FIFO | We wanted revenue to increase badly. | | 166 | | We realized that we should have purchased Machine 2 but it was too late. If we were to purchase Machine 2, there would not be enough time to cover the cost of the new machine with our revenue. | We should have bought around day 119, when utilization rate was approximately 0. We will write a custom essay sample on Littlefield Labs or any similar topic specifically for you Do Not WasteYour Time HIRE WRITER Only 13.90 / page 80-0. 85. | III. Summary of mistakes and lessons learnt Lesson 1: We were being reactive, not proactive by trying to solve the current problems that emerged. We should have been more forward-thinking and be prepared to deal with the different situations that may happen to the demand instead of waiting until the demand spiked up. That led us to being unprepared and unsure of what to do when we are faced with a problem. As the result, the damage has already been done when we realized that we need to change our system. Lesson 2: We never accounted for the high fluctuation. When it is stated that the demand will be on linear rate, we assume that the demand will be linear, instead of fluctuating up and down. As the result, our system was only prepared for the mean demand. . Lesson 3: We should have sold the machines at the end. Lesson 4: We did not use any models for our purchase decisions. Instead, we used more of our own gut feeling by looking at the current problems (utilization rate or demands and revenue). It proved that it may not be accurate all the time. This method also tends to make us reactive instead of proactive. Lesson 5: We based our decision making such that we would only react when the utilization rate is getting too high, usually around 0. 9 – 0. 95. The rationale was that as long as the utilization rate did not hit 1, the queue in that station / machine would not be too high. However, that was not the case. Furthermore, high utilization rate also gave us too little buffer time for us to react to change in demand on time. Lesson 6: We did not list out the different scenarios we would have if we were to adapt FIFO or give priority to Step 2 or Step 4. If we did that, we would have a clearer picture of what we action we should be taking. (im not really sure about this what is it about? ) IV. Conclusion We should have better preparation and act more promptly by buying machines earlier, so we can catch up with the demand. We need to predict accordingly to the guide given to us and plan our moves before we see any change in demand. In conclusion, we should be more proactive by analyzing the past problems and not only reacting to the current problems. As a team, we also need to be more decisive on our actions undertaken.