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Suppose that you wanted to monitor the time it takes to complete the process that your group chose from Discussion #2 (Question 1): 2a

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Suppose that you wanted to monitor the time it takes to complete the process that your group chose from Discussion #2 (Question 1): 2a. How would you collect the data? 2b. Which control chart will you use? Why? 2c. Discuss what might cause such out-of-control conditions as a trend, shift in the mean, or cycles in your control chart. QUESTION 1 : 1. Choose one of the processes in this list to answer the following questions: Fillling a pizza order. 1a. Draw a flowchart for the process your group chose. 1b. Depending on the process your group chose, identify the points where something (people, information) waits for service or is held in work-in-process inventory, the estimated time to accomplish each activity in the process, and the total flow time. 1c. Evaluate how well your process worked and what might be done to improve it. 1d. Identify 2-3 sources of errors from your process. Develop some poka-yokes that might prevent them.

 

As indicated in the flow chart included above the point where (people, information) wait for service are:

•             Immediately Following the Pizza Order

•             While the Pizza is Baking/Status Update

•             While the Pizza is being packaged and delivered

The estimated time to accomplish each activity in the process is as follows:

•             Placing Pizza Order          = 3 Minutes                                      

•             Initiating Bake Request = 3 Minutes

•             Baking Pizza = 12 minutes

•             Pizza Packaged/Boxed =3 minutes

•             Pay for your order/collect payment = 3 minutes

•             Pizza Delivered (Pick Up) = 2 minutes

•             Pizza Delivered (Car Delivery) =20 Minutes

The total flow time for filling a pizza order process is 25 minutes for in-store order and pickup and 45 minutes for order and car delivery to home.

 

1(c). This process of ordering a pizza is broken down into detailed time-specific actions. Customers may wait for service at three different points in the process. While the current process is effective and efficient, there are opportunities for improvement, such as reducing the delivery time for car delivery, providing more detailed status updates, and implementing customer feedback to improve customer satisfaction. Overall, time management will be key when improving the efficiencies of a Pizza shop, but many external factors can improve satisfaction.

1.    Reducing the delivery time for car delivery by optimizing the delivery process. Implementing a logistics system would be the first improvement that could be used to help satisfaction. This system could provide the fastest routes, potential hazards, or bundle opportunities. Pizza stays hot for an extended period inside a well-insulated carrier. The system could alert the driver before leaving if there is an opportunity to bundle the delivery because it could ensure the pizza would stay warm. Lastly, is a quality improvement for the car delivery employees by offering benefits around their vehicles. Providing incentives for having a full gas tank on arrival or obtaining special deals with automotive shops would help with delivery times. The delivery car is crucial for the pizza to arrive within the time constraints, and if that car breaks down, it will lead to an inevitable bad review.

2.    To compete with the major competitors, you can provide a customer portal with crucial information regarding their orders. Providing more detailed status updates to customers, such as informing them when their pizza is being placed in the oven, when it's being boxed, and when it's on its way for delivery. This can also be used to increase the performance efficiency within the pizza-making line. In these systems, it needs to produce analytical time metrics so that every day, week, and month this could be reviewed to see where they can improve time internally.

3.    While improving is a small part of the time, it is a major part of the customer's experience when they pay for their food. Working in food service, I can attest to the number of times there have been errors with the POS (Point of Service) system or the customer's payment. Including online or easy-to-use kiosk payment to the customer could help improve the 3 minutes or at least maintain this standard by incorporating these options. Lastly, integrating an easily comprehendible pricing model can help the ordering process for the customer. Pricing a pizza at $17.34 for a medium and $23.92 for a large can be difficult for customers when making financial decisions in the ordering process. Clear prices such as $20 or $25 can help the customer comprehend and decide on the best pizza to order.

1(d). Communication & Input errors: People make mistakes. Miscommunication between customers, staff, and delivery drivers can result in incorrect orders or missed deliveries, leading to dissatisfaction and the potential loss of customers. This can also be similar between the customer and the online ordering system. If someone needs to include the correct house address or location, this can decrease customer satisfaction and delivery times for this customer and customers in the queue. A poka-yokes could be integrated into the ordering process to have confirmations in place. For the online order, an auto-generated email sends the address with a link to fix the address once the customer notices through text or email. Baking Errors: The pizza may need to be baked to the correct specifications, such as cooking temperature, sauce selection, or incorrect toppings, which can also result in customer dissatisfaction. It would be great to have sensors at the end of the baking process to analyze the order made to the order placed, but this could be very costly. Implementing the poka-yoke of a post-baking checklist that validates each order correctly can help improve baking errors. This ensures that each pizza is baked to the correct specifications, improving the overall customer experience and maintaining the business's reputation. Lastly, the systems are only as good as the user, so implement proper training for any new employee so they know how to use each poka-yoke.

2. Stated by the textbook, by definition, inventory management consist of anything that must deal with the possible sale and other assets that are needed to meet the customer’s wants and needs (Collier & Evans, Pg. 331). A small computer shop would face many inventory management issues. How would the computer technician foresee the future part that is needed to fix the customer’s computer. Having the right part in stock would be a big issue for the computer shop because they would never know what part they would need to repair the computer. Another issue would be keeping the right inventory in storage. If the shop holds the wrong part too long, it could mean a waste of space and a loss of money. Instead of holding a useful part, the shop would be wasting space. This asks the question of, what would be a useful part to store and what would be a waste of space? A computer repair shop cannot carry every single computer part because not everything would need to be repaired. How can the shop keep the right inventory on demand? That would be something that the computer repair shop would need to figure out. A computer fan is an essential part of a computer. It keeps the computer from overheating when in use. The fans can give out at any point during the computer’s lifespan, so the computer repair shop would need to make sure to keep their inventory in stock, just in case that ever happens to a customer’s computer. The best system to use to keep track of the computer fans would be in a fixed-order quantity system. “In a fixed-quantity system (FQS), the order quantity or lot size is fixed; that is, the same amount, Q, is ordered every time” (Collier & Evans, Pg. 340). The computer fans will hold a unique SKU number and any time that SKU number drops below a certain amount, the wholesaler would be notified to ship out another round of computer fans to the shop. This will help save time from ordering and counting inventory. It will help save time by allowing the technician to work on more computers instead of counting computer fans. 

3. A business can use four facility layouts: process, product, fixed-position, and cellular. A process facility can be described as a layout where unfinished goods go from one station to another. A product facility benefits a company that needs to complete large volumes of a specific product. The fixed-position facility is the layout where the product stays in one place meanwhile the parts and workers move accordingly. The final facility is the cellular facility; this can be described as the facility where work is done through small teams.

Furthermore, our group would recommend a cellular facility layout for a computer repair shop after researching. The cellular design would work best for the shop, with the idea that the computer can be worked throughout the small teams. Each team will work in an area containing all equipment and parts needed to repair the computers. Along with working in the same place, each team will also have the same responsibilities of working on all stages of the repair. The layout can be set up in a U shape since each team will be comprised of similar duties and will use identical parts and equipment to complete each job. To continue our research, we also discovered that this layout could have advantages and disadvantages.

Advantages of a cellular facility:

1.) The teams working in the same area, using the same parts and equipment, and working together can result in the most time-efficient repair method.

2.) Each team contains members that are fully trained to complete all phases of the job. The team will also organize their parts using a group technology method, categorizing parts into related manufacturing needs. A team that can work the entire process and be equipped with organized parts leads to increased productivity while minimizing costs.

Disadvantages of a cellular facility:

1.) Locating employees with the skills necessary to do all parts of the job. Each potential employee must also be able to work in a group setting.

2.) The space must be large enough for each team to work together. It must also be able to store the proper parts and equipment needed and, most importantly, be displayed in an organized method for each team to work to its full potential.

In conclusion, the cellular facility would be our computer repair shop's most effective and efficient method. As each team member works on the part of full of the repair, we can commit to quicker turnaround times for each customer. The goal for each repair is to perform the best work by our fully trained employees and to get it back to the customer as quickly as possible.

 

References

Pratap, Abhijeet. “The Four Types of Production Facility Layout.” Blog.notesmatic, Abhijeet Pratap, 6 Mar. 2023, https://blog.notesmatic.com/the-four-types-of-production-facility-layout/.

Collier, D. A, Evans, J. R. 2021. Operations and Supply Chain Management. Cengage.