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OPERATIONS MANAGEMENT EXAM Prof. Alberto Portioli Staudacher, Marco Taisch, Matteo Rossini February 14th, 2025 LEAN Exercise (13 points) BioPlasticWaves s.r.l., founded in 1964, is a leading company in Italy in the bioplastic packaging industry. The company produces both standard and customized bioplastic packages. The core product family is composed of 24 standard variants: 12 different colors and 2 different shapes. Customers request all variants of standard p ackages every day . As for customized packages, the company produces them based on customer requests where they can customize the shape and/or color. The range for th ese customized ( special) packages is unlimited, and every unit is unique (different from all other units) . The weekly demand for packages is 500 units/week with some variability (+/- 10%). The daily demand is divided in to 90% standard packages and 10% special packages. Customers send orders for standard and special packages every day, and they request to receive the order s of standard packages the same day, while they are willing to wait up to 10 days to receive the orders of special packages . The company deliver s customized packages twice per week , while standard packag es every day. The company works on different shifts (8 hours per shift, with 2 breaks of 15 minutes per shift) 5 days per week. The production system is composed of four stages decoupled by stocks: • Molding: molten plastic is injected into molds to shape the packag e. This is a fully automated process that needs a setup every time the shape is changed. One operator supervises the machine. • Finishing: burs or imperfections are removed at this stage to achieve a good finishing for the package. This is a fully automated process that needs a setup every time the color is…