Question: Where would you place salt production in the product-process spectrum? Please explain. a drying process. This process is run continuously for about sixweeks at a time. Initially, salt is produced at the rate of 45 tonsper hour. But the rate of output decreases due to scale buildup,so that by the sixth week, output is only 75 percent of the initialrate. At that point, the process is halted to perform maintenanceon the equipment and remove the scale, after which salt produc-son, the salt is judged to be contaminated, it is diverted to anonfood product.Checking the quality of the cans is done primarily by visualinspection, including verifying the assembly operation is correct,checking filled cans for correct weight, inspecting cans to see thatlabels are properly aligned, and checking to see that plastic pourspouts are correctly attached.The equipment on the production line is sensitive to misshapenor damaged cans, and frequently jams, causing production delays.This greatly reduces the chance of a defective can getting throughthe process, but it reduces productivity, and the salt in the defec-tive cans must be scrapped. The cost of quality is fairly high, owingto the amount of product that is scrapped, the large number ofinspectors, and the extensive laboratory testing that is needed.tion resumes.The salt is stored in silos until it is needed for production, or it isshipped in bulk to industrial customers. Conveyors move the saltto each of the four dedicated production areas, one of which isround can production. (See diagram.) The discussion here focusesexclusively on round can production.Round Can ProductionAnnual round can production averages roughly 3.8 million cans.Approximately 70 percent of the output is for the Morton label,and the rest is for private label. There are two parallel, high-speedproduction lines. The two lines share common processes at thebeginning of the lines, and then branch out into two identical lines.Each line is capable of producing 9,600 cans per hour (160 cansper minute). The equipment is not flexible, so the production rateis fixed. The operations are completely standardized; the only vari-able is the brand label that is applied. One line requires 12 pro-duction workers, while both lines together can be operated by 18workers because of the common processes. Workers on the lineperform low-skilled, repetitive tasks.The plant produces both the salt and the cans the salt is pack-aged in. The cans are essentially a cylinder with a top and a bot-tom; they are made of cardboard, except for a plastic pour spoutin the top. The cylinder portion is formed from two sheets of chipboard that are glued together and then rolled into a continuousProduction Planning and InventoryThe plant can sell all of the salt it produces. The job of the produc-tion scheduler is to distribute the salt that is stored in the silosto the various production areas, taking into account productioncapacities in each area and available inventory levels of thoseproducts. A key consideration is to make sure there is sufficientstorage capacity in the silos to handle the incoming salt from brineproduction.Equipment Maintenance and RepairThe equipment is 1950s vintage, and it requires a fair amountof maintenance to keep it in good working order. Even so,breakdowns occur as parts wear out. The plant has its owntool shop where skilled workers repair parts or make new partsbecause replacement parts are no longer available for the oldequipment. OPERATIONS TOURMORTON SALTIntroductionMorton Salt is a subsidiary of Morton International, a manufacturerof specialty chemicals, air bags, and salt products. The Mortonsalt-processing facility in Silver Springs, New York, between Buf-falo and Rochester, is one of six similar Morton salt-processingfacilities in the United States. The Silver Springs plant employsabout 200 people, ranging from unskilled to skilled. It producessalt products for water conditioning, grocery, industrial, and agri-cultural markets. The grocery business consists of 26-oz. roundcans of iodized salt. Although the grocery business represents arelatively small portion of the total output (approximately 15 per-cent), it is the most profitable.tube. The glue not only binds the material, it also provides a mois-ture barrier. The tube is cut in a two-step process: it is first cutinto long sections, and those sections are then cut into can-sizepieces. The top and bottom pieces for the cans are punched froma continuous strip of cardboard. The separate pieces move alongconveyor belts to the lines where the components are assembledinto cans and glued. The cans are then filled with salt and thepour spout is added. Finally, the cans are loaded onto pallets andplaced into inventory, ready to be shipped to distributors.QualityQuality is checked at several points in the production process.Initially, the salt is checked for purity when it is obtained fromthe wells. lodine and an anti-caking compound are added to thesalt, and their levels are verified using chemical analysis. Crys-tal size is important. In order to achieve the desired size andto remove lumps, the salt is forced through a scraping screen,which can cause very fine pieces of metal to mix with the salt.However, these pieces are effectively removed by magnets thatare placed at appropriate points in the process. If, for any rea-son, the salt is judged to be contaminated, it is diverted to anonfood product.Checking the quality of the cans is done primarily by visualinspection, including verifying the assembly operation is correct,checking filled cans for correct weight, inspecting cans to see thatlabels are properly aligned, and checking to see that plastic pourspouts are correctly attached.Salt ProductionThe basic raw material, salt, is obtained by injecting water intosalt caverns that are located some 2,400 feet below the surface.There, the salt deposits dissolve in the water. The resulting brineis pumped to the surface where it is converted into salt crystals.The brine is boiled, and much of the liquid evaporates, leavingsalt crystals and some residual moisture, which is removed ina drying process. This process is run continuously for about sixweeks at a time. Initially, salt is produced at the rate of 45 tonsper hour. But the rate of output decreases due to scale buildup,so that by the sixth week, output is only 75 percent of the initialrate. At that point, the process is halted to perform maintenanceon the equipment and remove the scale, after which salt produc-tion rocumoc

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A product-process spectrum is a tool that visualizes the synchronization of the product to the…