Process Flow Analysis

In the Context of
LittleField Technologies
Game

Ardavan Asef-Vaziri
Pipeline Inventory & Max-WIP, LittleField Technologies. A. Asef-Vaziri. 2
One Machine Per Station; Theoretical Flow Time (ThT)
 I will review some of the Process Flow and Little’s Law concepts in the
context of Littlefield Technologies (LFT) game.
 Contract  Flow unit. Machine  Resource unit, Station  Resource pool.

 Minimal flow time, or theoretical flow time (ThT): The minimal time required
to produce a flow unit.
 Minimal inventory or pipeline inventory (Ip): The minimal inventory required
to produce a flow unit. Min-WIP.
 The Maximal inventory or Maximal Work in Progress (Max-WIP) to regulate
WIP to achieve the expected flow time (T).
 Ensure that I or WIP remains less than (but not much less than) Max-WIP.

 The time in the waiting lines (Ti) vs in processes (Tp).

 The number of flow units in the waiting lines (Ii) vs in processes (Ip).
Pipeline Inventory & Max-WIP, LittleField Technologies. A. Asef-Vaziri. 3
The Situation- Not the Same Numbers as in Your
Game
Where is the bottleneck?
The station with the highest
utilization.
c=1 c=1 R=5.5
Station 2. Rp1=8/day Rp1=6/day
Compute Rp
c=1
Tp=24/8=3 c=1
Tp=24/6=4
U=R/Rp U= 0.6875
0.6875 U= 0.916667
0.916666
Rp=R/U
5.5 U Rp/ dy Tp in dy Tp in hr
Sta-1 0.6875 8 0.125 3
Sta-2 0.916666 6 0.167 4
Sta-3 0.55 10 0.1 2.4

Compute unit load (Tp) at each

station c=1
Rp = c/Tp Rp1=10/day
c=1
Tp=24/10=2.4
Tp =c/Rp U= 0.55
U= 0.55
c=1 in all stations  Tp=1/Rp day
Pipeline Inventory & Max-WIP, LittleField Technologies. A. Asef-Vaziri. 4
Capacity & Theoretical Flow Time (ThT)
Compute Capacity of this System (Rp).
Capacity of the system = Min(8,6,10) = 6 per day.
Compute Theoretical Flow Time (ThT)
ThT is the minimal time that we need to produce a product.
ThT = 3+4+2.4 = 9.4 hours or 9.4/24 = 0.39 day.
ThT does not depend on the number of machines (c) or throughput(R).
ThT depends on each machine's capacity and the operations' routing. As long
as there is no change in the capacity of machines and the routing of the
operations, ThT is always 9.4.
ThT is the absolute minimal flow time. Flow time (T) is much greater than the
ThT.

Pipeline Inventory & Max-WIP, LittleField Technologies. A. Asef-Vaziri. 5

Pipeline Inventory (Ip or Min-WIP)
Pipeline inventory (Ip) is the Min-WIP the system needs to operate.
Compute pipeline inventory: Procedure 1- Little’s Law.
RT = I, R = 5.5/day, and T = 9.4/24 day. Or, R= 5.5/24 per hour, and T= 9.4
hours.
RT = I  I = 5.5(9.4/24) = 2.15 flow units. Ip = 2.15.
Compute pipeline inventory: Procedure 2- Utilizations.
R=5.5/day, U1= 0.6875, U2= 0.55, and U3 = 0.916666.
When U=0.55, on average, 0.55 flow units are with the resource unit.
The pipeline inventory is I= U1+U2+U3.
Min-WIP  I = 0.6875 + 0.55 + 0.9167 = 2.15. Ip = 2.15.

Pipeline Inventory & Max-WIP, LittleField Technologies. A. Asef-Vaziri. 6

Flow Time, Max-WIP, WIP, R and Rp
Suppose the average number of units inside the system (I or WIP) is 19.2
contracts.
Compute the flow time. R = 5.5, I = 19.2.
T = 19.2/5.5 = 3.5.
Suppose we must deliver the product under 3 days. Otherwise, the revenue
of $800 linearly goes down and reaches zero if we deliver after 5 days.
Therefore we lose 800[(3.5-3)/(5-3)] = $200 and collect $600 per contract.
Compute the Max-WIP to guarantee a Lead Time = 3 days for a Capacity
= Rp = 6.
We use Rp and Max-WIP to regulate the relationship between R and WIP.
We use Rp(T) = Max-WIP to regulate RT= WIP.
To estimate Max-WIP, we set R = Rp and T as 3 days.
Pipeline Inventory & Max-WIP, LittleField Technologies. A. Asef-Vaziri. 7
Max-WIP & WIP, A Balance between T and R
Rp(T)=Max-WIP
6(3)= 18 = Max-WIP.
We know R<Rp and WIP<Max-WIP.
The average inventory (WIP) computed inside the model is always less than
the Max-WIP that we compute to set.
RpT=Max-WIP is always a reasonable estimate for RT=WIP.
We compute T = Max-WIP/Rp as a surrogate for T=WIP/R.
This is to prevent T > 3.
Suppose our current Max-WIP =100. Should we change it to 18?
Not Immediately.
We need to look at lead time and revenue. If they are fine, we then look at
WIP.
Pipeline Inventory & Max-WIP, LittleField Technologies. A. Asef-Vaziri. 8
Max-WIP, Input, Output, Lead Time, Revenue, and
WIP

Pipeline Inventory & Max-WIP, LittleField Technologies. A. Asef-Vaziri. 9

Max-WIP & WIP, A Balance between T and R
Do not make any change if WIP is less than your Max-WIP= 6.
When WIP gets close to your Max-WIP=6, or even slightly exceeds it, then
replace 100 by 6. In the previous graphs I have used 6 period moving
average to decide.
Check both sides. Two edges of a slippery roof.
If WIP > 6, then T>3  you will not collect the entire Revenue of $1200.
If WIP << 6, then while T<3 and you collect full $1200 (or any other number
that is related to this contract) your R could be <<Rp.
We need to look at WIP, Lead time, and Revenue. If they are fine, we will not
touch the current Max-WIP =100.
When WIP gets close to 5, 6, 7. Then we replace Max-WIP =100 by Max-WIP
=9.
Note that it is better to produce 6 units at $1150 and make 6(1150-600) =
Pipeline Inventory & Max-WIP, LittleField Technologies. A. Asef-Vaziri. 10
Input, Output, Lead Time, Revenue, and WIP
c=3 c=3 R=16
U=0.666667 U = 0.888889
Rp = 16/0.666667 = Rp=16/ 0.888889 = 18
Rp1 = 24/3 = 8/day
24 Rp1=18/3=6/day
Tp= 24/8 =3 hrs Tp=4 hrs

Where is the
bottleneck?
U = 0.888889
Capacity  Sta-2
of Stations?
c=2
Capacity of each machine? U=0.8
Unit load (Tp) of each Rp=16/0.8 = 20
machine? Rp1=20/2 =10
Tp=24/10 =2.4

Pipeline Inventory & Max-WIP, LittleField Technologies. A. Asef-Vaziri. 11

Several Machines-Theoretical Flow Time, and Pipeline
Inventory
Compute Theoretical Flow Time.
ThT= 9.4 hours or 9.4/24 = 0.39 day.
Theoretical flow time does not depend on R and it does not depend on c.
Theoretical flow time depends on Rp and routings. It is always 3+4+2.4 = 9.4.
Computer Pipeline Inventory (Ip or Min-WIP).
Pipeline inventory (Ip or Min-WIP) shows the flow units that are with the
processors (not in the buffers).
Little’s Law. RTp = Ip.
Ip= 16(9.4/24) = 6.267
Compute the pipeline inventory using utilizations.
3(16/24)+3(16/18)+2(16/20) = 2+2.667+1.6 = 6.267.

Pipeline Inventory & Max-WIP, LittleField Technologies. A. Asef-Vaziri. 12

R ≤ Rp & WIP ≤ Max-WIP Leads to Expected T
Given the requirements of completing a contract in 0.5 days, on
average how many flow-units can be allowed in the system?
RpT=Max-WIP is a surrogate for RT=WIP.
Rp=18, T=0.5.  18(0.5) = Max-WIP = 9.
Max-WIP = 9  WIP<9.
Rp = 18  R<Rp.
Under these conditions we deliver in T ≤ 0.5 day.
When you compute Max-WIP using Rp and T, we should also pay attention to
the other side of the problem, we do not want average WIP to be much less
than our Max-WIP = 9.
If we set Max-WIP = 9 and WIP is 4, our T is smaller than 0.5 but our R is also
less than what we can actually produce.
Do not reduce your Max-WIP to 9 until WIP gets close to 8, 9, 10.
Pipeline Inventory & Max-WIP, LittleField Technologies. A. Asef-Vaziri. 13 13
T, ThT, Ti, and Tp
If the average inventory WIP = 7.8, and throughput R = 16. Compute
the flow time.
16T=8.8  T = 8.8/16 = 0.4875 days or 11.7 hours.
How long a flow unit spends in the waiting lines?
T = Ti+Tp  Ti= T-Tp
Ti = 11.7-9.4 = 2.3 hrs.
Compute number of flow units in the waiting lines.
I = Ii+Ip  Ii = I-Ip.
Ii= 7.8- 6.27 = 1.53.
Suppose the are a total of 40 contracts inside this system. Compute
the flow time
RT=I  16T=40  2.5 days.
Pipeline Inventory & Max-WIP, LittleField Technologies. A. Asef-Vaziri. 14
T, Tp, Ti, I, Ip, Ii, Cycle Time, Takt Time, Flow Time
How long each load spends in waiting lines?
2.5(24)-9.4= 60-9.4 = 50.6 hours.
How many flow units are in the waiting lines?
40-6.27= 33.73.
Compute Cycle Time and Takt Time for R= 16/day and Rp=18 per day.
CT=1/18 days = 24(1/18) = 1.333 hours.
TT= 1/16 days = 24(1/16)= 1.5 hours.

Pipeline Inventory & Max-WIP, LittleField Technologies. A. Asef-Vaziri. 15

 More Practice

These commutations are not associated to any specific LittleField

Technologies game. They serve a prototype example. Please do your own
computations for the game that you are playing.

Ardavan Asef-Vaziri
3, 3, and 2: Capacity, Theoretical Flow Time, and
Pipeline Inventory
Given the requirements of contract-2 to complete a job in one day, on average
how many flow-units can be inside the system?
R=17, T=1, RT=I  17(1) I= 17
On average how many flow units are with processors  Ip=17(9.4/24)= 6.66
How many flow units are in the waiting lines? I =Ii+Ip  17 = Ii + 6.66  Ii =
10.34
How long a job spends in the waiting lines
Procedure-1. T=1 day, ThT= 9.4/24=0.39167 Day  Ti= 1-0.39 = 0.61 day or
14.6 hrs.
Procedure-2. R=17, Ii=10.34  Ti= Ii/R = 10.34/17 = 0.61 day or 14.6 hrs.
Compute Cycle time. CT=1/Capacity = 1/Rp = 1/18 days = 24(1/18) hours =
1.33 hrs.
Compute takt time. TT= 1/Throughput = 1/R = 1/17 = day  24(1/17) hours =
1.41 hours. R is always <=Rp & TT is always >=CT
Pipeline Inventory & Max-WIP, LittleField Technologies. A. Asef-Vaziri. 17
Theoretical Flow Time, Capacity & Pipeline
Inventory
Estimate the maximum WIP inventory (Max-WIP) if we are on contract-2.
That is a flow time of less than 1 day to earn $1200 per job which goes to zero
if the flow time exceeds 3 days. We refer to it as (1, 1200, 3).
R (capacity)= 16 per day, T=1 day.
RT=I 16(1)=16, set Max-WIP to 16.
On average how many flow-units are in the waiting lines?
I =Ii+Ip  16 = Ii+6.267  Ii = 9.733
How long a job spends in the waiting lines
Procedure-1. T=1 day, ThT= 9.4/24 = 0.391667 Day
Ti= 1-0.392 =0.608 days
Procedure-2. R=16, Ii=9.733  Ti= Ii/R = 9.733/16 = 0.608 days = 14.6 hours
Pipeline Inventory & Max-WIP, LittleField Technologies. A. Asef-Vaziri. 18
Utilization, Inventory, Flow Time, Little’s Law
Suppose Max-WIP in the game is set to 22, and average WIP is 20. That
means on average there are 20 contracts either in the waiting lines or on
the machines. Compute the Flow Time ?
RT=I
16T= 20
T = 1.25 days
How long a job spends in the waiting lines
T=1.25(24) = 30 hrs
T=Tp+Ti
30=9.4+Ti
Ti= 20.6 hrs
Compute the ratio of the flow time to the theoretical flow time.
T/Tp= 30/9.4= 3.19
Pipeline Inventory & Max-WIP, LittleField Technologies. A. Asef-Vaziri. 19
Implied Utilization
Can this system handle 20 contracts per day?
The system cannot even handle 18 orders per day because when utilization
get close to 100%, flow time increases exponentially.
At 18 contracts per day, U1=18/24= 0.75, U2=18/18=1, U3=18/20=0.9.
Besides Station-2, utilization of Station-3 also is a sign of warning.
To handle 20 contracts per day, since capacity of the system is 18 contracts
per day.
Implied Utilization =20/18 = 1.111
d) If the firm wishes to process all the contracts, how many machines of each
type are needed?
# of Station-1 machines required = 20/8 = 2.5
# of Station-2 machines required = 20/6 = 3.333
# of Station-3 machines required = 20/10 = 2
Pipeline Inventory & Max-WIP, LittleField Technologies. A. Asef-Vaziri. 20
Resources
We need 2.5, 3.33, and 2 resource units.
That is 3, 4, and 2.
The utilization of station 3 is scary. High utilization, in presence of variability,
leads to long waiting lines.

We need 3, 4, and 3.
We have 2, 3, and 2.
We may buy one machine for each of the three stations. In that case,
utilization of the three stations are as follows.

Rp1 c Rp R U
S1 8 3 24 20 0.83333
S2 6 4 24 20 0.83333
S3 10 3 30 20 0.66667

Pipeline Inventory & Max-WIP, LittleField Technologies. A. Asef-Vaziri. 21

100% Utilization is a High Risk
Imagine a freeway where all cars driving exactly 65 and the distance between
pairs of cars in 1”. As long as everyone has a speed of exactly 65 – no
variability- that is fine.
What happens if one hits the break? How long does it take to clean the
freeway?
Do cars pass freeway easier when utilization is 1 and they are moving bumper
to bumper, or when 50% of the freeway is empty, U = 0.5, or when U = 0.25.
Never make U of all the sub-processes or activities, and not even a single sub-
process = 1
Consider cross taring and pooling to reduce the utilization of the bottleneck.
Up = Throughput/Effective capacity of a resource pool = R/Rp
Capacity utilization of the process
U = Throughput/Effective capacity of the bottleneck resource pool.
Pipeline Inventory & Max-WIP, LittleField Technologies. A. Asef-Vaziri. 22 22
Input, Output, Lead Time, Revenue, and WIP
6.0 5.9 12.4
0.5542 1115.165 2.92 2.0324 0.4886 0.494 0.2346
day Input Lead Time Revenue OutpUT WIP U1 U2 U3 Ave6dInputAve6dLeadAve6dRevenue
Time Ave6dOutpUT
Ave6dWIP
1 2 0.33 1200 1 0.54 0.33 0.13 0.09 #N/A #N/A #N/A #N/A #N/A
2 2 0.36 1200 2 0.56 0.23 0.19 0.15 #N/A #N/A #N/A #N/A #N/A
3 1 Input
0.53 Ave6dInput
1200 1 0.78 0.26 0.36 0.16 OutpUT
#N/A #N/A Ave6dOutpUT
#N/A #N/A #N/A
12 4 0 0.36 1200 1 0.04 0 8 0.04 0 #N/A #N/A #N/A #N/A #N/A
5 2 0.46 1200 1 0.71 0.33 0.29 0.1 #N/A #N/A #N/A #N/A #N/A
7
10 6 1 0.39 1200 2 0.53 0.16 0.23 0.14 1.333333 0.405 1200 1.333333 0.526667
6
7 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0.35 1000 1.166667 0.436667
8
8 2 0 0 0 0.27 0.16 5 0 0 1 0.29 800 0.833333 0.388333
6
9 2 0.53 1200 3 1.53 0.49 4 0.57 0.26 1.166667 0.29 800 1.166667 0.513333 8
10 3 0.41 1200 4 1.43 0.49
3
0.49 0.29 1.666667 0.298333 800 1.666667 0.745
7
WIP Ave6dWIP
4 11 1 0 0 0 0.28 0.16 0.04 0.08 1.5 0.221667 600 1.5 0.673333
12 3 0.38 1200 3 0.93 0.41 2 0.34 0.16 1.833333 0.22 600 1.666667 0.74 6
2 13 3 0.64 1200 2 1.6 0.43 1 0.73 0.24 2.333333 0.326667 800 2 1.006667
5
14 2 0.36 1200 3 0.71 0.33 0.22 0.16 2.333333 0.386667 1000 2.5 1.08
0 0
15 1 0.47 1200 1 0.9 0.29 0.45 0.16 2.166667 0.376667 1000 2.166667 0.975 4
16 6 0.39 1200 5 2.14 0.9 0.34 0.35 2.666667 0.373333 1000 2.333333 1.093333 3
17 2 0.95 1173.21 3 2.3 0.33 0.79 0.21 2.833333 0.531667 1195.535 2.833333 1.43
18 Lead
1 Time
0.36 Ave6dLead
1200 2 Time 0.64 0.24 0.24 0.16 Revenue Ave6dRevenue
2.5 0.528333 1195.535 2.666667 1.381667 2

1.6 19 2 0.42 1200 1 0.6 0.33 14000.2 0.08 2.333333 0.491667 1195.535 2.5 1.215 1
20 3 0.36 1200 2 0.79 0.33 0.3 0.16 2.5 0.491667 1195.535 2.333333 1.228333
1.4 1200 0
21 2 0.73 1200 2 2.41 0.48 0.92 0.24 2.666667 0.535 1195.535 2.5 1.48
1.2
22 4 0.77 1186.4 4 2.27 0.59 0.79
1000 0.25 2.333333 0.598333 1193.268 2.333333 1.501667
1 23 4 0.63 1200 3 2.72 0.71 0.81 0.33 2.666667 0.545 1197.733 2.333333 1.571667
800
0.8 24 5 0.68 1200 4 2.39 0.53 0.68 0.29 3.333333 0.598333 1197.733 2.666667 1.863333
25 4 1.07 1155.08 1 6.87 0.93 600 1 0.26 3.666667 0.706667 1190.247 2.666667 2.908333
0.6
26 2 1.51 893.06 7 5.01 0.33 400
1 0.3 3.5 0.898333 1139.09 3.5 3.611667
0.4 27 1 0.61 1200 3 0.73 0.16 0.2 0.24 3.333333 0.878333 1139.09 3.666667 3.331667
0.2 28 4 0.35 1200 1 1.47 0.52 0.47
200 0.16 3.333333 0.808333 1141.357 3.166667 3.198333
29 3 0.67 1200 3 1.45 0.36 0.52
0
0.16 3.166667 0.815 1141.357 3.166667 2.986667
0
30 4 0.58 1200 5 3.82 0.9 0.79 0.52 3 0.798333 1141.357 3.333333 3.225
31 3 0.82 1200 3 2.04 0.49 0.72 0.19 2.833333 0.756667 1148.843 3.666667 2.42
47 5 0.44 1200 4 2.41 0.89 0.65 0.33 3.5 0.485 1200 3 1.671667
48 11 0.87 1194.4 5 6.48 0.99 0.99 0.47 4.666667 0.563333 1199.067 3.666667 2.593333
49 5 0.86 1173.13 6 7.56 1 0.99 0.44 5 0.611667 1194.588 3.666667 3.376667
50 5 1.36 982.99 6 7.41 1 1 0.48 5.5 0.791667 1158.42 4.333333 4.52

Pipeline Inventory & Max-WIP, LittleField Technologies. A. Asef-Vaziri. 23