In Santa’s workshop, preparations are in full swing: gifts from all the different workshops arrive on a conveyor belt at the gift wrapping station, where the elves wrap them up.
But there is a problem. When large, heavy gifts coe onto the conveyor belt, it kepps stopping. With small, light gifts, it sometimes runs too fast, so that the elves can’t keep up. This results in an ever-growing pile of unwrapped gifts accumulating in front of the wrapping station.
The elves sit down together and think about a solution. They come up with four ideas:
Elf Lametta suggests hiring three additional elves. They would take heavy packages directly from the conveyor belt and bring them to the packing station, so the belt wouldn’t have to stop. With light packages, they would help with the wrapping and the packing process could continue as normal.
Elf Jingles suggests installing a packing cycle controller. This measures weight and packing capacity and automatically adjusts the belt speed. For heavy gifts, the speed is increased so that large gifts no longer remain stationary, and for small, light gifts, the speed is reduced so that gifts no longer pile up.
Elf Packli believes that the elves simply need to adapt to the alternating speed. If a gift needs to be removed from the conveyor belt, an elf runs over and does it. That’s how it has worked so far.
Elf Chillo doesn’t want to change anything; if gifts get stuck or piles form, it’s not their fault. The gift invention workshop needs to come up with uniformly large and heavy gifts. That way, nothing needs to change at the gift packaging workshop.
Which of the elves has the best solution to their problem?
a. 🧝♂️👥📦 Elf Lametta – The best solution is to hire three additional elves.
b. ⚙️📏🎛️ Elf Jingles – The best solution is to use a packing cycle controller.
c. 🏃♂️⏱️🔄 Elf Packli – The best solution is for the elves to adjust their speed.
d. 🙅♂️🏭📐 Elf Chillo – The best solution is to change the gift invention workshop.
Related control theory topic: feedback control and its alternatives