Sweatshops

I've had the pleasure to design a few sessions of mass production, we lovingly and mockingly call them 'sweatshops'. Yes that word is wildly inappropriate, but we use it, so i use it.

Deco: Lights building sweatshop

Goal: About 200 LED light bars need unboxing, a plug needs to be attached and a special film needs to be applied on top. Raw resources (input): roll of the film, C14 plugs, LED lights. Tools: 6x basic screwdriver, hobby knives, 3x spraybottle with soapy waters.

Station 0, management

1 or 2 people

monitor mental and physical health of team
provide drinks to team
take away trash, resupply stations
take away filled boxes, count number of lights in box, write on box, tape box shut

Station 1, disassemble C14 plugs

2 people BEFORE sweatshop starts

Take apart C14 plugs with screwdriver, sort parts in separate trays -> trays go to

Station 2, cutting film

2 people begin before sweatshop

cut film from roll to desired length
cut sheets of film to strips
Add peeling strip on corner

Station 3, unboxing

4 people in parallel

unbox the light -> move down the line
get the bracket out from the cartboard packaging -> Samla bin
trash -> trash bin

Done? People assist other stations

Station 4, C14 attachment

4 people in parallel

Mount C14 plug
Test light with available C13 cord -> if working move down the line. If not working, put aside, fix last.

Station 5, Film application

2 people

spray soapy water
apply film
make dry -> light goes in box

Event: Goodie bag

We're getting goodie bags! This sweatshop is still being designed, but this is an early braindump Raw materials (input): Paper bag with handles, 5x sponsored goodies, empty boxes (at least 2x the current shipping volume of the bags) Tools: MCH Logo stamps (about 8), sealing tape + tapeholder

Math: 3600 bags in 4 hours. Packing takes about 30 seconds per bag. So 1800 work-minutes in 240 minutes. We'd need at least 7,5 packing stations to do this. Estimate we'll actually want 10 stations to compensate for unknown slack. 10 stations need 20 stamped bags per minute supplied to them. Assuming 15 seconds of picking up a bag, stamping it, letting it dry. So 1 person can do 4 per minute. So we need 5 people on the Stampede. On the output side we're producing 20 bags per minute. Packing it in boxes should be doable at a rate of 10 per minute, so we'd need 2 or 3 people on packing stuff in boxes. And then a final person to tape the box and write down the number of items in the box.

Station 0, Management

1 or 2 people

monitor mental and physical health of team
provide drinks to team
take away trash, resupply stations
take away filled boxes, count number of bags in box, write on box, tape box shut

Station 1, the Stampede

5 people

get bag
stamp bag, nice and straight
pass bag -> down the line

Station 2, the Filling

10 people

get stamped bag
add the 5 items to bag
pass bag -> down the line

Station 3, the Packing

3 people

get filled stamped bags
add bags to box, fill to X amount
pass box -> down the line

Station 4, the Sealing