Nat Cran

54

Davis−Heineke−Balakrishnan: Fundamentals of Operations Management, Second Canadian Edition

5. Process Measurement and Analysis

Text

© The McGraw−Hill Companies, 2007

5

Chapter Objectives

G

Process Measurement and Analysis

Faster Service Has Benefits and Costs

Illustrate how all activities within an organization are actually processes that need to be managed. Present the various measures of performance that can be used to evaluate a process. Show how process analysis can provide managers with an in-depth understanding of how a process is performing, while at the same time identifying areas for improvement. Present the concept of service blueprinting and illustrate how it is used to evaluate processes within a service environment. Introduce the concept of business processes and show how they are providing managers with a broader perspective for managing their organizations. Present the concepts of benchmarking and reengineering, and show their roles in creating world-class operations.

G

S

aying “HimayItakeyourorderplease?” takes only one second for the drive through

greeter at Wendy’s Old-Fashioned Hamburgers. This is two seconds faster than Wendy’s guidelines and illustrates the effort fast food chains are putting into speeding up their drive-through pick-up windows. Cars spent on average 150.3 seconds at the leader in this category, Wendy’s, which made it 16.7 seconds and 21 seconds faster than McDonald’s and Burger King respectively. Yet, far from resting on its laurels, Wendy’s is working hard to reduce this time even further. Why this emphasis on reducing process and waiting times? The drive-through business has been growing at a faster rate than on-premise sales. Since the growth in the number of new restaurants is slowing, the big chains are focusing on this newer battleground, drive-through sales. Using product development, employee retraining, and new technology, McDonald’s, Burger King, Arby’s, Taco Bell, and others...