HOMEWORK 4 PREPARATION

Questions 1 through 17 of homework 4 will be drawn from the following set of

questions.
Use as much time as you need and have available while working out the answers to
these problems.
You CANNOT submit your answers from this page. When the item entitled
Homework 4 Points opens, you can submit your answers and make any corrections and
changes that you feel are appropriate. The dates when Homework 4 will be open can be
found on the Master course schedule. You will be allowed 1 hour to submit the answers in a
format similar to the Module tests.
I STRONGLY SUGGEST THAT YOU WORK ALL OF THESE PROBLEMS AND
KEEP A COPY OF THE QUESTIONS AND YOUR ANSWERS. IT WILL BE VERY
HELPFUL WHEN YOU ARE DOING THE TWO PARTS OF HOMEWORK 4 FOR POINTS
(17 QUESTIONS IN TEST FORMAT AND AN 8 POINT PAPER) ALSO KEEP A COPY OF
QUESTION 18.
Question 18 of Homework 4 will direct you to prepare a short discussion of you
analysis of this situation. The paper will be submitted as an e-mail attachment.

Situation
The United Air Cleaner Company (UACC) is located 325 miles from an assembly plant
operated by the Big Truck Manufacturing Company (BTMC). BTMC is one of several
companies that manufacture heavy duty trucks for the US military using a standardized
design supplied by the DOD.
The air cleaners manufactured by UACC are cylindrical stainless steel cans with a
ceramic filter inside. On the truck, air is drawn in through a pipe at the top of the metal
cylinder, through the filter, and out from the bottom of the cylinder to be fed to the engine.
The cylinders are 15 inches in diameter and 19 inches in length, as shown in the illustration.

The filters are currently packaged in RSC style boxes made of 3/16 inch thick C-flute
corrugated. The corrugated boxes weigh 2.00 pounds each and cost $2.50 each. The
filters are shipped to the BTMC plant by a common carrier in truck load lots. The trucks that
are used to transport the filters from the UACC plant to the BTMC plant are rectangular vans
with inside measurements of 96 wide x 96 high x 32.5 long and have the capacity to carry
5,000 pounds (2.5 tons). The truck expenses (fuel, driver and other expenses to operate a
truck) total $1.85/mile. The distance from the UACC plant to the BTMC plant is 325 miles.
The filter units weigh 32 pounds each. The boxes and filters must be stacked in the truck
with the 19 dimension of the filters vertical. A load cannot include single boxes or partial
pallet loads.
There are two packaging systems which the company is studying for shipping the filters to
BTMC.
Single use system: The completed boxes with the filters are stacked (1, 2 or 3 high) on
48 x 40 x 7 (high) wooden pallets and stabilized with metal banding and stretch
wrap. The weight of the stretch wrap and banding is negligible. The pallets weigh 50
pounds each and cost $20.00 each. The pallets, corrugated boxes, and other
packaging is loaded onto the truck at the UACC plant and discarded after being
unloaded at the BTMC facility. To facilitate loading the truck, a space clearance
(minimum) of 1 is required between adjacent pallets in the cross truck direction, and
between pallets and the sides of the truck. In a similar fashion, vertical clearance of at
least 2 is required between the top of the upper pallet load and the top of the truck.
No space is required between pallets and the front or back of the truck or between
pallets in the lengthwise direction of the truck.

Reusable packaging system: The company has received a proposal from a new
supplier to adopt a reusable packaging system. The new system would consist of
collapsible rigid plastic foam boxes that have outside dimensions of 48 x 48 x 42
(height, including an integral 6 high pallet), 1.5 thick walls, and an empty weight of
115 pounds. For the return trip, the box portion can be folded down onto the pallet to
form a unit that is 48 x 48 x 12. The plastic containers cost $145 each and can be
reused 15 times. The corrugated boxes are not required when the reusable containers
are used, but some (negligible) dunnage and banding may be used. Also, no weight
can be stacked directly on the filters since they will not be protected by the corrugated
board. The empty plastic containers would be stored at the BTMC plant until a full
truck load has been collected to be returned to UACC. To facilitate loading the truck,
the same clearance requirements apply as were described for the single use system
above.

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Answer the following questions.
1. What are the horizontal outside dimensions of the closed RSC corrugated box in the
single use system?
2. What is the height of the closed RSC corrugated box in the single use system?

3. Should the flutes in the side walls of the RSC corrugated boxes run vertically or
horizontally?
4. How many of the pallets (maximum) will fit in one layer on the truck
5. How many of the boxes with filters (maximum) will fit in a single layer on a pallet?
6. What is the weight (pounds) of a pallet with 1 layer of boxes and filters?
7. What is the weight (pounds) of a pallet with 2 layers of boxes and filters?
8. What is the weight (pounds) of a pallet with 3 layers of boxes and filters?
9. What is the height of a pallet with 1 layer of closed loaded boxes?
10. What is the height of a pallet with 2 layers of closed loaded boxes?
11. What is the height of a pallet with 3 layers of closed loaded boxes?
12. Will the truck load be limited by weight or volume when the single use packaging system
is used?
13. How many of the pallets loaded with filters in corrugated boxes can be loaded onto the
truck when the filters are stacked in 1 layer on the pallets in the single use system?
14. How many of the pallets loaded with filters in corrugated boxes can be loaded onto the
truck when the filters are stacked in 2 layers on the pallets in the single use system?
15. How many of the pallets loaded with filters in corrugated boxes can be loaded onto the
truck when the filters are stacked in 3 layers on the pallets in the single use system?
16. How many of the filters in corrugated boxes can be loaded onto the truck when the filters
are stacked in 1 layer on the pallets in the single use system?
17. How many of the filters in corrugated boxes can be loaded onto the truck when the filters
are stacked in 2 layers on the pallets in the single use system?
18. How many of the filters in corrugated boxes can be loaded onto the truck when the filters
are stacked in 3 layers on the pallets in the single use system?
19. To the closest dollar, what is the total cost of boxes, pallets, and truck for one trip from
UACC to BTMC in the single use system, transporting the maximum number of filters
allowed?
20. What is the cost ($/per filter) for packaging and transport when the corrugated box, single
use system, is used?
21. How many of the loaded returnable containers will fit in one layer on the truck?

22. How many filters can be loaded into one of the reusable containers?
23. How many (maximum) of the loaded reusable containers can be loaded onto the truck?
24. Is the truck load limited by weight or volume when the reusable packaging system is
used?
25. How many filters can be loaded onto the truck if the re-usable containers are used?
26. How many of the collapsed containers can be loaded onto one of the trucks for the return
trip to the UACC plant?
27. How many loaded trips will be made to accumulate the containers for the first return trip?
28. What is the total cost to deliver a load of filters using the returnable container system?
29. What is the cost per filter when using the returnable container system?
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Last question on Homework 4 (8 Points)
Write a short paper (no more than 1 page), as follows: Discuss and estimate the cost
per filter if the single use system is used or if the reusable system is used and explain which
system should be selected. Justify your answer. Economics must be included, but other
(non-fictional) factors may also be considered. Submit the paper as an E-mail message or
attachment using the Angel system. The due date is the same as for the rest of Homework 4.
The grade will appear in a separate location in your grade book.