CAS-2: Capacity Determination

• Installed capacity and bottlenecks (§§4.3, 4.6, 5.1, 5.2)
• Practical and normal capacity (§§4.1, 4.8, 5.3, 5.5)
• Utilisation, idle and excess capacity (§§4.2, 4.4, 4.5, 6)
• Disclosures (§7)

Chapters

1. How many uniforms could we make? · Find the slowest step: it decides the whole line (§§4.3, 4.6, 5.1, 5.2, 5.4)
2. A normal month · Leave the flood year out and find the usual output (§§4.1, 4.8, 5.3, 5.5)
3. Used, idle or excess · How much of the unit did Selvi use this month? (§§4.2, 4.4, 4.5, 4.7, 6, 7)
4. Spot the mistakes in the capacity note for the bank · Find them before the bank does (§§5.2, 5.5, 6.2)

Key terms

• Installed capacity and bottleneck (§§4.3, 4.6, 5.1, 5.2, 5.4): Installed capacity: the most the unit can make, by the maker’s figures or a technical study. Bottleneck: a step where work piles up and holds back the whole line. If a machine is added, removed or changed, work it out again from that date.
• Practical and normal capacity (§§4.1, 4.8, 5.3, 5.5): Practical capacity: installed capacity less the stoppages you can expect and cannot avoid (servicing, holidays, changeovers). Normal capacity: what is reached on average over several periods in normal conditions.
• Utilisation, idle and excess capacity (§§4.2, 4.4, 4.5, 4.7, 6, 7): Utilisation: actual output as a % of installed capacity. Idle capacity: how far actual falls short of installed. Excess utilisation: how far it goes above. Say how you worked it out, what changed, why use was low and what that cost.