Bottlenecks and batching in dragon fruit jam production

Author

Kwan Eng WEE, Singapore Management UniversityFollow
Sin Mei CHEAH, Singapore Management UniversityFollow

Publication Type

Case

Publication Date

7-2021

Abstract

GSH Conserves was an artisanal jam producer in Singapore that specialised in using tropical fruits, such as dragon fruit, lychee, mango, etc., to handcraft high-quality jam in small batches. Founded in 2013 in a home kitchen, the demand for GSH Conserves jam and bottled fruits had grown organically through word-of-mouth over the years.

In 2016, GSH Conserves moved to a new factory that could cater to a larger production capacity in order to meet growing demand. However, Edwin Lim, a partner at GSH Conserves, observed that his workers and equipment were often idle. He had to examine the company’s current operations, identify inefficiencies and suggest improvements. How would the increase in demand and production batch sizes affect production capacity? Would adding resources help to eliminate bottlenecks? How can he redesign the production process to enhance efficiency without affecting product quality?

This case is developed to provide a simple operational example of how demand patterns shift the bottleneck in production lines. Key aspects of this case are the inclusion of multiple flow units in a process, and the impact of batch sizing on resource capacity in processes with fixed setup times.

Keyword(s)

Process analysis, Process design, Capacity planning, Resource allocation, Production, Production processes

Discipline

Operations and Supply Chain Management | Sales and Merchandising

Data Source

Field Research

Industry

Food and beverage sector

Geographic Coverage

Singapore

Temporal Coverage

2016

Education Level

Executive Education; Postgraduate; Undergraduate

Publisher

Singapore Management University

Case ID

SMU-21-0010

Comments

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• Teaching Supplement 1 (SMU-20-0010TS1)
• Teaching Supplement 2 (SMU-20-0010TS2)

For purchase of the case and supplementary materials via Harvard Business Publishing, please access the following links:

• The Case (SMU-20-0010)
• Teaching Note (SMU-20-0010TN)
• Teaching Supplement 1 (SMU-20-0010TS1)
• Teaching Supplement 2 (SMU-20-0010TS2)

Additional URL

https://cmp.smu.edu.sg/case/4926