Product details

A manufacturing manager has been asked to develop an estimate of the production cost of a therapeutic wrist exerciser prototype. Automated assembly was possible long-term, but a manual assembly and test procedure was necessary until the product was firmly established. Teams of students can be asked to develop an assembly process for the new product using either an assembly line or single operator configuration. Hands-on experience in job design can be provided to the students. Students must use job design and work measurement methods to estimate overall product cost and propose alternative prototype designs that might reduce assembly costs. The performance of the two process configurations can be compared during an in-class student demonstration. Subsequent discussion can focus on the challenges of work design for an assembly line or single operation configuration, along with the quality, cost and management challenges implicit in each.