Cuong Manh Nguyen
Operations Management
Prof. Keith Poirior
National Cranberry Cooperative
National Cranberry Cooperation (NCC), founded by growers of cranberries, is an
organization processing and marketing berries. National Cranberry Cooperation is one of
the largest cooperatives. It had operations in many potential areas of North America:
Massachusetts, New Jersey, Wisconsin, Washington, Oregon, British Columbia, and Nova
Scotia.
National Cranberry is ready to take some changes in order to increase efficiency in its
operation. Even though NCC spent $100,000 last winter for a fifth dumper at Receiving
Plant #1 (RP1), overtime costs were still high and waiting time to unload process were too
long. Walliston, the superintendent, suggests that NCC should buy two new dryers and
convert our dry berry holding bins in order to solve those problems. However the
equipment and installation lead times are in excess of six months so NCC has to move
quickly.
Process Fruit Operation:
1. Process Fruit Receiving: Bulk Trucks carrying the process berries arrive randomly
trroughout the day at the Receiving Plant 1 (RP1) with average delivery was 75
bbls. Before unloading, sample is taken for making an estimate of the weight of the
clean, dry berries and to determine the percentage of unusable berries. At the time
the trucks are weighed, the berries are graded according to color using color picture
as a guide.
2. Temporary Holding: After step 1, the truck moves to one of the Kiwanee dumpers
for unloading. Some truck had to wait up to 3 hours because the holding bins
became full. Each of the five conveyers takes the berries to the second level of the
