A feasibility study of using machines in sauce manufacturing: a case study

Currently, the factory for Suki-Yaki sauce production in the case study has been using workers in every step of the process. The process is very time consuming and now the production rate almost exceeds the time limit, while the market demand is constantly increasing. The owner of the organization wishes to purchase machines to aid the production, reducing the time and also improving the quality as well. However, a machine is a large investment and each machine must be custom -made varying the cost considerably. In this research, we propose to using plant simulation to predict the production capacity for comparison of future capacity of each machine. The objective of this research is to study the economic value of the investment between automatic machines and workers. Growth rate and prediction of production volume display the demand of each years from 2020-2025. Break-even point was used to consider to the case of using a filling and a packing machine. Finally, considering the Net Present Value and Internal Rate of Return to determine the profit that using both the filling and packing machine can provide. Results are the demand in 2020 is greater than the current capacity. A filling and a packing machine can increase a capacity greater than a demand in 2020-2025 at the same growth rate. As a result, NPV and IRR provided the profitability of a projected investment as positive.