Donner Case Final

Donner Case Analysis
By
19PGDM00B001 ABHINAV JHA
19PGDM00B005 Aravinthraajan B.R.
19PGDM00B009 Gautam K Sanu
19PGDM00B013 Anandakrishnan Nair
19PGDM00B017 Pratik P Dhake
19PGDM00B021 Swarojit Sharma

Introduction
The case is about a PCB manufacturing firm named Donner Co. Donner company prints CBs for
a variety of Electronics Manufacturers. The company founded in 1985, Headed by Plummer,
facing operational issues which are reflected in its financials. This report gives an insight on the
problems faced by the firm and also provides possible suggestions.
Process flow Diagram

Information Flow
(In the above figure “----“ lines signify possible suggestions to improve information flow)
Profit & Loss statement (Exhibit 1)

If we look at exhibit 1, we see in the year 1985, Donner and Co. was in loss of 2.8% with -$6.9 the
company had a profit of 0.5% and 2.8 % respectively for 1986 and Jan-July 1987.With a huge drop in
profits from August 1987 to September 1987 from $14.8 to $3.1(10.29% to 2.5%).It is mainly due to
operational problems as stated.
The company works on make to order principle for planning premises in process design.
Problems with Operational efficiency

 No specific bottleneck, the bottlenecks keep moving throughout the process.
The changing bottle neck is due to varying order size, different circuit designs for different
customers, 4 day rush orders and idle times of the machines.
 One fourth of the job orders were delayed due to changes in specification, as communicated
over phone calls from Customer Engineers, cumulative delays were as much as 2 weeks.
 The promise of 4 day delivery for urgent rush orders is a contributing component for varying
bottlenecks.
Problems with Productivity

 Several machines are having more idle time than expected.
 There is no set mechanism for allocation of work to workers.
 Due to variations in size and designs of the boards, leading to workers sitting idle, the workers
are shifted from one operation to another which resulted in fall of the product quality.
 The total standard labor statistics doesn’t reflects the time required for the time spent
reworking or were returned by the customers.
Issues with quality and delivery

 As well evident from the increase in rejection rate from 1% to 3%, the product quality has
declined. This may be due to migration of workers on frequent basis from one operation to
another.
 Shipments have been delayed by 9 days on an average.
 Because of company shipping policy of clearing all work possible out of the shop prior to the
month end. Fewer shipments were made in the first half of each month than in the second,
which results in piling up of deliverables.
Suggestions
For drilling, during image transfer either CNC Drill or Manual drill is to be used but we should know
where the Break even is, when to use CNC and when to use Manual Drill.
To find the break even, let the number of circuit boards be n.
For Manual the total time required is=15+0.08*n*500
For CNC Drill the total time is=240+0.004*n*500
15+0.08*n*500=240+0.004*n*500
n=5.92 as full circuit boards are made it is equal to 6.
So if order size is greater than 6 CNC drill will be used otherwise manual should be used.
Similarly,
For Profiling, Punch Press and CNC Router let the number of boards be n.
So, For Punch Press the total time required is =50+1.0*n
For CNC router total time required is =150+0.5*n
So for break even
50+1.0*n=150+0.5*n
N=200
So for profiling, order size greater than 200 use CNC router otherwise punch press.
2) The Dry Film Photo Resist where the bottleneck
Run
Setup time 1 panel 8 panel 50 100
Process time panels panels
Panel Prep 5 0.2 5.2 6.6 15 25
Laminate &
Expose 20 2 22 36 120 220
Develop 20 0.2 20.2 21.6 30 40
Clearly the bottleneck in DFPR is Laminate and Expose suitable measures, must be taken to ensure that
the order size is not greater than the capacity.
3) As stated earlier thatmake to order (MTO) model is followed in the Company. Also evident from the
case that the purchasing agent takes one or two days to locate the raw material at lowest price. This can
be evaded with the help of Exhibit 4 which gives us an idea about the most used type of raw material.
As obtained from exhibit 4, materials tagged A, C, D are repeatedly used for most orders which can be
stocked in the inventory. Following Assemble-to-Order (ATO) process design to reduce the total
production time elapsed.
4) Diane Schnabs, the expeditor had direct communication with purchasing agent, due to which the
supervisor Flaherty was deprived of any prior information about the raw materials contained in the
purchase order. This can be avoided by sending a copy of purchase order to the supervisor and the
purchasing agent simultaneously.
5) Workers should have clearly defined roles, which will lead to increase in their working expertisein
turn optimizing the production process, reduction in rejection rate and preventing job starving.
6) Company policy should be modified to address clearing of shop at the end of each month. Suitable
time frames must be implemented which will reduce irregularities in number of shipments per weeks.

Donner Case Final

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Donner Case Analysis

19PGDM00B001 ABHINAV JHA

19PGDM00B005 Aravinthraajan B.R.

19PGDM00B009 Gautam K Sanu

19PGDM00B013 Anandakrishnan Nair

19PGDM00B017 Pratik P Dhake

19PGDM00B021 Swarojit Sharma

Process flow Diagram

Profit & Loss statement (Exhibit 1)

Problems with Operational efficiency

Problems with Productivity

Issues with quality and delivery

To find the break even, let the number of circuit boards be n.

For Manual the total time required is=15+0.08n500

For CNC Drill the total time is=240+0.004n500

n=5.92 as full circuit boards are made it is equal to 6.

For CNC router total time required is =150+0.5*n

So for break even

2) The Dry Film Photo Resist where the bottleneck

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