Boston Beer Company Executive Summary

Boston Beer Company’s (BBC) new hard soda product, like all products, will have a process cy-cle time*. Due to a layered production process, all components require review to accurately esti-mate a cycle time. Chart #1 presents the time in hours for each step of the process’s estimated cycle time (ECT) of 360 hours. The “soda” and “alcohol” processes occur concurrently. Cycle time associates with takt time* as an operator’s cycle time is coordinated with the takt time of the product being produced (Russell & Taylor, 2014). Estimated takt time (ETT) is calculated as follows: Available Minutes for Production* / Required Units of Production = ETT (Rosenthal, 2010). If the average working day has 480 total minutes (i.e. 8 hours*60 minutes) where a total of 45 minutes are spent by prep, breaks and shutdown/clean-up, a worker has 435 “available minutes” . If consumer demand requires 30 units of production (i.e. a six-pack) per day, then the ETT is 14.5 minutes (i.e.

In short, “lean” means eliminate waste, and may be roughly organized into three buckets: flexibility increases, flow smoothness, and continuous improvement (Russell & Taylor, 2014). Table # 2 provides detailed elements of lean management. BBC may apply three principles to combat any adverse effects on cycle time: supplier networks, quality at the source and total productive maintenance* (TPM).
Table #3: Aspects of Lean Supplier Networks
Long-term Supplier Contracts
Mixed loads and Frequent Deliveries
Standardized, Sequenced Delivery
Locating in Close Proximity to Customer
Synchronized Production
Supplier Certification

Precise Delivery