PROCESS FLOWCHART

This is an operational process of a fast food restaurant. The activities of this business are
divided by functional units. The whole process is divided into different functions. There are five
main functions:
Operator
Who takes the order from the customer, makes a receipt hands it to customer and passes the
order to the order provider.
Order provider
Customer places
order
Employee takes the order
and makes a receipt
Who takes the order and sends it into the kitchen to any available one of the six cooks.
Cook
There are six cooks, initially there were two but as demand increased so did the need for more
cooks to increases the speed. They are trained after bein hired, to cook with hyiene and
!uality strictly followin the procedures for each meal to ensure the consistent ood tastin,
ood !uality food.
Cashier
Who takes the receipt the operator has iven the customer and takes the payments from the
customer. "e stamps the receipts so the delivery man knows the payment has been made and
can ive the customer his meal.
#elivery man
#elivery man checks the receipt for the stamp and checks the order number and passes the
respective order to the customer.
$%&'(T)
&s the cooks have been trained before hirin to teach them all the !uality standards and
procedures to ensure the customers never have anythin to complain about reardin the
!uality of food. %sin the hihest !uality of inredients and the hihest measures of hyiene in
cookin procedures is one of the values tauht in trainin the cooks.
*ot only the cookin staff but all the staff includin the cashier, the operator, the delivery uy,
the order provider, the cleanin staff all have been trained to treat customers with hih deree
of politeness and respect, makin sure the customers leave satisfied and willin to come back.
+'E,(-('(T)
(nternally the flexibility is ensured by copin with specific demands of the customer as efficiently
as possible. (f a customer wants their burers well done with extra sauces, the staff is flexible
enouh to cope with these normal re!uests and even with the uni!ue demands of the customer
by makin sure it is carried to the cooks and fulfilled. &s the operator has the only one task of
takin orders thus it is ensured that he will make sure all the specifications the customer
demanded in his order is fulfilled.
Externally the flexibility is ensured by fulfillin any demands related to seatin arranements or
hue orders.
#E.E*#&-('(T)
#ependability is ensured by makin sure the customers et their products on time and the way
they want it. The process is divided functional wise to ensure that the customer doesn/t have to
wait a lon time instead he waits a short time in the three !ueues so actually usin a
psycholoical trick on customers. They don/t mind waitin a short time in !ueue because they
will et their turn !uickly and then they are actually kept busy in the process so they don/t
reali0e the time it/s takin for the meal to prepare because by the time they reach the delivery
uy their meal is ready. The internal process is so smooth that the customer is kept in !ueues
until his meal is prepared. The staff is trained to react to delays by ivin each other non verbal
sinals which helps other react by either enain the customer in conversations or offerin
them compensations or samples etc.
1.EE#
The cooks prepare the meal with top speeds and 2 cooks ensure that the meals are prepared
swiftly and handed over as !uickly as possible.
CO1T
The efficiency of the staff ensures max customers and thus max revenues. 1atisfied customers
throuh speedy service and hih !uality meals and flexibility and dependability ensure that they
will come back brinin more business. (t is a known fact that securin a customer is cheaper
than creatin a new customer. #ue to efficiency of the staff the costs are cut by perfectin the
operational process. (f the costs are low than hiher profits and all the stakeholders benefit.
Their dependability means the suppliers are happy with them and ives them ood rates and
speedy delivery. The division of labor ensures economies of scales as each staff member
becomes more and more efficient in his re!uired task.
3E) WE&3*E11E1
& lot of labor is bein used for tasks which could be done with half the amount of labor.
& lot of functions. 1ome of them could be removed to make the process more efficient.
$uestion 4
IMPROVED PROCESS FLOWCHART
( would suest the followin chanes in the process:
(nstead of the customer ivin the order to operator and then takin the receipt and
5oinin a second !ueue and oin over to the cashier and then makin the payment, (
suest combinin both steps to eliminate one unneeded worker and the unnecessary
waitin the customer has to do in the second !ueue. (f there are a lot of customers than
the waitin can put the customer in a bad mood which would decrease his satisfaction
and because the cashier can do both tasks there is no need for that extra worker. Even
thouh the old process is tried to be run at the max efficiency yet there were troubles
with the timely delivery of food and the waitin.
The technoloical innovations has completely made these tasks into 5ust a few clicks.
The meal deals are iven numbers and the prices and data are stored on the computer/s
database. &s soon as the cashier enters the customer/s meal deal number, the
computer prints out the price and token number on to the receipt. The cashier prints out
two of these receipts, handin one of the receipt to customer and the other to order
taker. The cashier then takes the payment from customer and asks him to wait.
The second improvement ( would suest is combinin the 5obs of order provider and
delivery uy. &s the orders are receipts which he sticks on a board for the first available
cook to pick up, he actually is free most of the time which is a waste of resources, of
time, money and human labor. &s the completed meals are put on the kitchen window
lede, the order provider picks them up and calls the token number on top and hands it
to the customer with the appropriate token number. With practice it will all become a
smooth coordinated system.
#ue to this chane, the meal reachin the customers will be hotter than before because
the customer is handed over the meal as soon as it is prepared instead of waitin for the
customer to et done payin the cashier and 5oinin the third !ueue and then aain
waitin for the customers before him6her to pick up their orders first.
-&77(E71 TO (8.'E8E*T&T(O*
+irst, it is the layin off the four workers which is oin to be a sliht hurdle. *o one likes
to hand out the bad news to their employees. -ut the manaer would have to be very
emphatic and explain to the workers why they are bein fired and if possible find some
other openin in other departments for them.
The second difficulty could be explainin the new duties to the workers and explainin to
them why the chanes are necessary and removin any hostilities they feel aainst the
firin of their possible friends or aainst the chanin of the duties. The manaer would
have to be very helpful, tolerant and understandin at this stae.
The third difficulty would be customer/s resistance to chane so sin boards with clear
indications should be put up around the restaurant.
1everal rehearsals should be done so the workers et into practice and to avoid any
errors.
&nother barrier could be that not all of the staff or employees aree with the chane so
for that all the advantaes and disadvantaes should be placed and explained to them
and if they still don/t aree then o ahead with the chane anyway.
&nother barrier could be the leal barrier, for firin the workers the leal paperwork and
other codes should be kept at attention knowin any mistake and they could be used to
file a suit.
$%&'(T)
&s there is no chane in the cookin process or the cooks or any chane whatsoever related to
the kitchen so the !uality of food will remain same. (n fact the meal reachin the customers will
be hotter than before because the customer is handed over the meal as soon as it is prepared
instead of waitin for the customer to et done payin the cashier and 5oinin the third !ueue
and then aain waitin for the customers before him6her to pick up their orders first.
&lso the !uality of service will improve due to the decrease in waitin time for the customer
puttin the customer in a better mood.
+'E,(-('(T)
(nternally the flexibility is ensured by copin with whatever demands the customer makes but
there will be no chane in that as maximum product flexibility was ensured always for the
customer. -ut volume flexibility has increased because before due to all the customers waitin
for the customers before them to et their orders, thus a hue order meant all the customers
behind that customer waited for the order to be completed before they ot a chance to pick up
their orders but now the customer with the lare order can be kept waitin while 9 of the cooks
et to the bi order and the other 9 cooks can deal with the reular orders, thus the customer
doesn/t have to wait a lon time in the waitin room for the lare order to be fulfilled.
#E.E*#&-('(T)
#ependability is ensured by makin sure the customers et their products on time and the way
they want it. The new process cuts out the waitin in !ueues so that the customers et their
meals hot and without waitin a lon time and the computeri0ed instructions on receipts means
the cooks know if the customers want anythin extra in their meals and what exactly they want
and make sure they fulfill it exactly the way the customers want it. (n the old process the order
taker would shout out the meal orders and the instructions, thus some instructions were missed,
the computeri0ed system insures this doesn/t happen.
1.EE#
The speed with which the cooks prepare the meals was incredible but due to the waitin the
customers were not receivin their meals on time thus the new process has improved speed
considerably. The updated software has allowed for the speed with which the order is taken, the
receipt made and payment taken to increase incredibly. 1o overall the speed of the whole
process has increased dramatically.
CO1T
The new efficiency of staff ensures the shortest time is taken to deal with each customer which
means that the !uantity of customers that can be dealt with has increased thus brinin in more
profits. &s four workers were laid off thus the labor costs has reduced. The increased speed,
dependability, flexibility and !uality of service all has in their own ways reduced costs. 1uch as,
increased speed due to the new software has reduced the opportunity cost of the wasted time.
The dependability has increased meanin the costs of wasted time, customer dissatisfaction
and the cost of cluttered restaurant has all reduced. These hidden costs actually have a hue
effect on the whole ambience of the restaurant ivin it the feelin of an efficient system rather
than a cluttered unorani0ed mismanaed system. The new process has iven the workers time
to breathe and they are much more relaxed and satisfied with their 5ob which in turn means
customers see happy and smilin workers which ives in turn makes the customers feel ood.
$%E1T(O* 9
1teps6 Tasks
:. Close the restaurant for the time period it takes to implement the chanes. Call a staff
meetin and explain the improvements to them. 'isten to what they have to say and take
suestions and deal with issues anyone has.
4. Order :; chairs online to set up the waitin area.
9. Call an (T technician and hire him for 4 days to et the new software on the computer
and train the workers.
<. Train the cashiers on how to take order. -ecause we have updated software which he
needs to learn how to use. The trainin will take 4 days maximum.
=. Explain the task to order providers and take them throuh the steps
2. Chane the setup of the counter to ad5ust to the new process.
>. 1et up the waitin area.
?. Call a staff meetin and clear any issues anyone has.
@. 7eopen the restaurant
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A&*TT T(8E '(*E
CO1T .'&*
1pendin On &ctivity Cost6unit *umber of units Total cost
(mprovin process 3eepin business
closed
@;;6day :; @;;;
"irin technician +or updatin
software and trainin
>.=6hour 4< :?;
Orderin :; chairs 1ettin up waitin
room
9;6chair :; 9;;
Total cost of improvin process @<?;
7(131 (*BO'BE#
The revenue improvement due to process chane is not much compared to what we
expected.
Customers don/t adapt to the chane
1ystem could cease or become faulty
1taff doesn/t adapt well
Waitin room concept fails due to shortae of chairs
The staff doesn/t learn or cope with new technoloy well.
"ostile or insecure and scared staff
#ue to much noise token numbers miht not et heard
7(13 CO*T&(*8E*T
The revenue improvement due to process chane is not much compared to what we
expected.
There was duplicity of work bein done in the old process because we are eliminatin all that
wasted resources, there is bound to be profits. The salary of < workers is bein saved every
month. Even if nothin else we are savin that amount at all costs. The speed and !uality of
food due to speed has improved which is bound to have improved revenues. (f even then there
is no chane in revenues that means marketin strateies have to be used to increase sales.
Customers don/t adapt to the chane
We can always set up posters to help uide the customers in the new setup. The workers can
uide them as they are trained to be helpful. +ind new ways to keep them entertained and
comin back so as to distract them from the chane. 'ucky draws or scratch cards.
1ystem could cease or become faulty
The technician is available 4< hours every day, ready to come any minute he is called. "e can
also ive instructions on the phone for minor problems. There is a spare system in manaer/s
office which can be hooked on for emerencies. The workers can already be trained on how to
react to such a situation and they should know enouh about the system to know what to do if
so and so problem occurs and how to deal with it.
The 1taff doesn/t adapt well to the new process
Trainin sessions can be arraned at any minute. Counselin hours with the manaer are can
be fixed every day for anyone who needs to talk, has suestions or complains or any kind of
issue. The manaer can o around askin people and findin out throuh the rape vine if there
are issues he should know of and then takin immediate actions to deal with them. "e should
make rounds fre!uently and notice employees and their work and help them if he thinks they
are doin somethin wron.
Waitin room concept fails due to shortae of chairs
Extra chairs can be arraned from inside the office on short notice and then more chairs can be
ordered online any minute. Or interestin posters and fun facts can be taped to the walls so
customers don/t mind standin waitin for their meal.
The staff doesn/t learn or cope with new technoloy well.
Trainin sessions with a trainer can be setup as soon as a worker faces difficulty. The
technician is a friendly, warm and helpful person who is easy to learn from. "e is friendly with
everyone and everyone has his contact information so if any problem is faced the workers can
themselves call him or the manaement can be consulted who in turn will contact the
technician.
"ostile or insecure and scared staff
#ue to the workers fired, there could be an insecurity felt by the workers. The fear of bein laid
off or fired if need arises. Their hard work means nothin can be oin around in their minds
because the workers who were fired were hardworkin workers and yet they were fired. These
kinds of thouhts brin animosity and hostility in the workers and loyalty towards the
manaement disinterates.
That is why the manaement needs to bond with the staff and explain clearly to them that what
happened was an exception and not a habit. The staff should have picnics and field trips etc
with the manaement to help them bond and loyalty and trust to build up which in turn would
help create a warm and helpful, healthy environment in the workplace.
#ue to much noise token numbers miht not et heard
(n that case already a microphone/s arranements should be made 5ust in case the need arises,
they should know from where to et one at what cost and how lon it takes for it to arrive. &nd
the staff should know how to plu in, install and use the device as !uickly as possible and how
to store it aain when not in use.