Description
PREVIEW
You have started a golf club manufacturing company that will make sets of clubs for men and women. In this
case, you will use Excel to determine how many sets of men’s and women’s clubs to produce.
PREPARATION
• Review spreadsheet concepts discussed in class and in your textbook.
• Complete any exercises that your instructor assigns.
Complete any part of Tutorial D that your instructor assigns, or refer to Tutorial D as necessary.
Review file-saving procedures for Windows programs, as discussed in Tutorial C.
• Refer to Tutorials E and F as necessary.
BACKGROUND
You worked for a large golf club manufacturer for a decade. You developed your own ideas for how clubs
should be made, so you have started your own golf club manufacturing company. Your company will focus on
regional sales. You plan to make a high-quality product that sells for less than the national brands.
You think that clubs should be sold in sets, not individually. A set of your clubs has two “woods” and
eight “irons.” Your sets do not include a putter, the club used when the ball is on the green near the hole.
Sets of clubs are designed for men and for women. Men’s clubs are typically longer and heavier than women’s
clubs, and have some other differences.
A golf club has two main parts called a head and a shaft, which are made separately and then assembled
to make the finished club.
Irons are typically used for shots into the green from 180 yards or less. The heads of irons were onee
made from actual iron, but a modern iron’s head is made from different metals. (Again, you will use stainless
steel.) Your clubs will include eight irons, including a pitchiné wedge, a sand wedge, and irons numbered 4
through 9.
In the past, club shafts were made from wood, but today a variety of materials are used, including steel,
titanium, and graphite. The end of the shaft that the golfer holds has a grip, which is generally made of
rubber or leather. You will use graphite and rubber, respectively.
Each club has a different loft, which is the angle that the faee makes with the ground. Woods have little
loft to allow the golfer to hit the ball low and long. Your driver will have 10 degrees of loft and your 3-wood
will have 15 degrees of loft. A 4-iron has 23 degrees of loft, and its shaft is almost as long as a wood’s. A typi-
cal male golfer can hit a 4-iron shot 170 yards. Your 9-iron has 41 degrees of loft and a short shaft; a golfer
typically hits a 9-iron shot higher in the air than a 4-iron and not as far, but probably with greater accuracy.
The sand wedge has 55 degrees of loft and a heavy head; it is used to blast the ball from green-side sand
traps. A pitching wedge has 45 degrees of loft and is used for precision shots close to the green.
Your clubs will be manufactured in a three-step process:
1. Investment casting
2. Tube drawing
3. Assembly
Each of these steps is described next.
Investment Casting
You have a master die of the club’s head. Molten metal is poured into the die and allowed to harden. Woods
are actually hollow and more complex to make than irons. More time is needed to cast a wood’s head than an
iron’s head.
Tube Drawing
A metal tube of the desired length is heated and drawn through a die to give the tube a tapered shape—widest
at the grip end and narrowest where the shaft meets the club head. The process is repeated for each shaft
until it has the desired tapering.
Assembly
The narrow part of the shaft is inserted into the head and bonded with a strong adhesive so that the face of
the club head lies “square” when on the ground. That is, the face lies perpendicular to the ball’s intended line
of flight. If the angle is not correct, shots will go awry!
The grip is then molded onto the other end of the shaft. Finally, the club is scanned and X-rayed for
quality control.
You have acquired the machinery needed for each manufacturing step. The processing times required at
each step are shown in Figure 9-1.
Tube Drawing
Set of men’s clubs
Investment Casting
42
Assembly
FIGURE 9-1 processing times (in minutes) for sets of clubs
Approximately 42 minutes of machine processing time are required to east the 10 clubs in a men’s set.
Women’s club heads are smaller than men’s. Only 38 minutes of machine processing time are required to cast
the 10 clubs in a women’s set. The shafts for men’s clubs are longer than women’s, so tube drawing for men’s
clubs requires more processing time than women’s clubs. The assembly times are the same for each kind of
club set.
The amounts of machine processing times available in a year are shown in Figure 9-2.
ASSIGNMENT 1: CREATING A SPREADSHEET FOR DECISION S
In this assignment, you will produce spreadsheets that model the business decision. In Assignment IA, you
will create a Solver spreadsheet to model the base ease production decision. In Assignment 1B, you will
create a second Solver spreadsheet to model the extension case production decision.
In Assignments 2 and 3, you will use the spreadsheet models to develop information needed to
recommend the best production mix. In Assignment 2B, you will document your recommendations in a
memorandum. In Assignment 3, you will give your recommendations in an oral presentation.
Your spreadsheets for this assignment should include the following sections. You will be shown how to set
up each section before entering cell formulas. Your spreadsheets will also include decision constraints that
you will enter using the Solver.
Changing Cells
Constants
• Calculations
Income Statement
Assignment IA: Creating the Spreadsheet—Base Case
A discussion of each spreadsheet section follows. You will learn how to set up each section and learn the logic
of the formulas in the sections’ cells. When you enter data in the spreadsheet skeleton, follow the order shown
in this section, The spreadsheet skeleton is available for you to use; you can choose to type in it or not. To
access the base ease spreadsheet skeleton, go to your data files, select Case 9, and then select GolfSets.xlsx.
Changing Cells Section
Your spreadsheet should include the changing cells shown in Figure 9-3.
