LittleField Technologies Report 
MA4850 – SUPPLY CHAIN AND LOGISTICS MANAGEMENT
Littlefield Technologies Report
Littlefield Technologies is a job shop which assembles Digital Satellite System receivers. The assembly process is carried out at 3 stations via a four step processes. Station 1 is board stuffing station whereby the first step is executed. The first step consists of mounting the components onto PC Boards and soldering them. The digital components are then briefly tested at the testing station which is station 2 in the second step. Station 3 is the tuning station. In the third step, key components are tuned at the station 3. The boards are sent back to station 2 in the fourth step for a final testing before delivery to the customer. Every receiver passes final test. Our team is required to manage the capacity of the factory in response to the complex demand pattern. Our team’s aim is to maximise the company revenue by optimising utility in every station of the assembly process.
Our initial strategy was to remain passive with the ordering of the machine because it was essential for us to observe the trend in order to forecast the demand before purchasing the machine. At the same time, this strategy would give us more time and demand information in order for us to make a more holistic forecasting. Since the demand was expected to grow at an approximated linear rate, a linear equation i.e. Y = MX +C with C = 0 was used to estimate the slope to forecast the demand trend. This led us to make our first purchase on Day 88 at station 1. However, due to a miscalculation and hesitation, the purchase was made too late as the utilization of machine at station 1 had already been maximised at 1.0 on Day 50. The company suffered a loss on Day 55 with a fairly linear trend until the machine at station 1 was bought. It was observed that at Day 88, station 2 and 3 remained under utilised, indicating that the service time in station 1 is higher than in other station. The drop in our revenue indicated
Littlefield Technologies Report
Littlefield Technologies is a job shop which assembles Digital Satellite System receivers. The assembly process is carried out at 3 stations via a four step processes. Station 1 is board stuffing station whereby the first step is executed. The first step consists of mounting the components onto PC Boards and soldering them. The digital components are then briefly tested at the testing station which is station 2 in the second step. Station 3 is the tuning station. In the third step, key components are tuned at the station 3. The boards are sent back to station 2 in the fourth step for a final testing before delivery to the customer. Every receiver passes final test. Our team is required to manage the capacity of the factory in response to the complex demand pattern. Our team’s aim is to maximise the company revenue by optimising utility in every station of the assembly process.
Our initial strategy was to remain passive with the ordering of the machine because it was essential for us to observe the trend in order to forecast the demand before purchasing the machine. At the same time, this strategy would give us more time and demand information in order for us to make a more holistic forecasting. Since the demand was expected to grow at an approximated linear rate, a linear equation i.e. Y = MX +C with C = 0 was used to estimate the slope to forecast the demand trend. This led us to make our first purchase on Day 88 at station 1. However, due to a miscalculation and hesitation, the purchase was made too late as the utilization of machine at station 1 had already been maximised at 1.0 on Day 50. The company suffered a loss on Day 55 with a fairly linear trend until the machine at station 1 was bought. It was observed that at Day 88, station 2 and 3 remained under utilised, indicating that the service time in station 1 is higher than in other station. The drop in our revenue indicated