Kamm Industry

Introduction

This case describes the study of carpet production by Kamm Industries, the production rates of different type of carpets and the cost associated with it. Kamm industries is one of the leading carpet producers and the company needs to plan the production schedule for 15 different type of carpets required for the next quarter consisting of 13 weeks. The company can produce carpets using two types of looms they own-15 Dobbie looms and 80 Pantera looms. While Pantera looms produce standard carpeting, Dobbie looms can produce customized carpeting with the incorporation of designs and corporate logos into the carpeting. The company operates 24 hours a day, 7 days with a downtime of 2 hours a week due to routine maintenance. The company can also subcontract any portion of the order at a fixed cost per yard.

The various costs incurred by the company involves production cost and subcontracting cost of carpeting. In order to meet the demand, the production schedule needs to be managed for the next quarter along with subcontracting. The study’s objective is to provide an optimal production plan with minimum total cost associated with it. This case provides the solution for minimizing the total cost taking into consideration the constraints associated with it.

Following are the various scenarios:

Scenario

Objective

Constraints

Scenario 1 (base case)

Minimize total cost

Production should meet the demand. Total production time used should not exceed available time

Scenario 2

One of the Dobbie machine broke down

Scenario 3

Additional Dobbie machine was purchased

Scenario 4

One of the Pantera machine broke down

Scenario 5

Additional Pantera machine broke down

Scenario 6

Order 2 for carpet were eliminated

Assumption 1

Cannot subcontract more than 15,000