Operation Network Analysis: College Assignment Solution, 2020

This document presents a comprehensive solution to an operation network assignment, addressing key concepts in operations management. The solution begins with a Gantt chart analysis and calculates makespan, machine idle time, and waiting time. It determines job delivery times and identifies the bottleneck department. The solution also calculates machine utilization. Furthermore, the assignment includes a project network analysis, determining ES, LS, EF, and LF using forward and backward passes. The critical paths within the project network are identified. The document references relevant academic papers to support the analysis. This solution is ideal for students studying operational management and project management. Desklib provides this and other resources to assist students with their coursework.

Running head: Operation Network
Operation Network
Student’s name
Institutional affiliation
Date

Operation Network 2
Q1. ANSWERS
Q1.A). Gant chart
Solution
Machine
/ hour
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18
A
1 1 1 2 2 2 2
4 3
B 1 1 3 3 3 3 3 3 4 4
C 2 2 4 4 4 4 1 1 3 3 3
Q1B). Answer
Make span
The total production period
6 + 8 + 1 + 3 =18

Operation Network 3
Q1.c). Machine idle time can be obtained by subtracting the total number of the actual hour
worked from the standard hours (Waldherr, Knust, & Briskorn, 2017).
Solution
Machine A
18 – 9 = 9Hours
Machine B
18 – 10 = 8 hours
Machine C
18- 11 = 7 Hours
Total idle time for whole process
9 + 8 + 7 = 24 hours.
The company has paid for this period, but no return is gained.
Q1. D) Waiting time
Solution
Job 1 = 4th and 7th = 2 hours

Operation Network 4
Job 2 = 3rd only = 1 hour
Job 3 = 1st – 6th, 13th and 15th = 8 hours
Job 4 = 1st – 2nd, 7th, 9th – 12th = 7 hours
Q1. E) Job delivery for each job
Solution
Job 1 = 7 working hours + 2 waiting hours = 9hrs
Job 2 = 6working hours + 1 waiting hour = 8hrs
Job 3 = 10 working hours + 8 waiting hours = 18hrs
Job 4 = 7 working hours + 7 waiting hours = 14hrs
Q1. F) Bottleneck department
Solution

Operation Network 5
Since machine C is useful to all jobs one, two, three, and four, therefore it is the most
crucial department. On its breakage, it will affect the whole chain. Consequently, the
bottleneck department is Machine C (Shams & Hasan, 2019).
Q1. G) Machine utilization
Solution
= total hours of the processing time divided by total hours
Total hours of the processing time = 7 + 6 + 10 + 7 = 30
Total hours = 18 + 18 + 18 = 54
30 divided by 54 = 0. 555
0.555 * 100 = 55.5 %
Question 2
Q2. A) Project network
Solution
The project network has assumed the following paths and stages
E

Operation Network 6
A
BD G
C
F
Q2.B) Determining ES, LS, EF, and LF using forward pass and backward (Lu, Liu, & Ji,
2017)
E
A
BD G
C
F
1
2
3
4
5
1
2
3
4
5

Operation Network 7
Forward pass and backward pass
2
ES-
3
E=4 EF-
7
ES-0 A=
3
EF-
3
LS-
3
LF-
7
4
LS-0 LF-
3
ES-
7
EF-
12
1 ES-
3
EF-
5
G=5
LS-
7
LF-
12
LS-
3
B=
2
LF-
5
ES-0 EF-
5
ES-
5
D=
2
EF-
7
LS-0 C=
5
LF-
5
LS-
5
LF7 5
ES
5
EF-
11
3 F=6
LS-
6
LF-
12
KEY
Forward Pass
Backward Pass

Operation Network 8
Q2. C) The critical path (Romero et al., 2017)
Solution
The network has four main paths
Path one
A-E-G
Forward pass = 0 free float
Backward pass= 0 free float
Path two
C-D-B
Forward pass = 0 free float
Backward pass= 0 free float
Path three
C-F
Forward pass = one free float
Backward pass= 1 free float
Path four
A-B-D-G
Forward pass = 0 free float
Backward pass= 0 free float
The network has three critical paths
Path 1, 2 and 4

Operation Network 9
References
Lu, M., Liu, J., & Ji, W. (2017). Formalizing a path-float-based approach to determine and
interpret total float in project scheduling analysis. International Journal of Construction
Management, 17(4), 251-263.
Romero, K., Conrado, D. J., Corrigan, B., Tsai, K., Ahmadi, M., Macha, S., . . . Muglia, P.
(2017). The Critical Path for Parkinson’s Consortium: Understanding Motor Disease
Progression through Quantitative Medicine. Paper presented at the MOVEMENT
DISORDERS.

Operation Network 10
Shams, A. T., & Hasan, K. (2019). Identification, mitigation of bottleneck by capacity addition,
and economic analysis for copper cable production process: a case study. Journal of
Applied Research on Industrial Engineering, 6(2), 97-107.
Waldherr, S., Knust, S., & Briskorn, D. (2017). Synchronous flow shop problems: How much
can we gain by leaving machines idle? Omega, 72, 15-24.