Operations Management and Quality Control Sample

Operations and Quality management 1

TABLE OF CONTENTS

1. Introduction........................................................................................................3

1.1 A few words about the company...................................................................3

2. Operations Management and Objectives............................................................4

2.1 Operations....................................................................................................4

2.1.1 Manufacture Food..................................................................................4

2.1.2 Supply Drinks.........................................................................................5

2.1.3 Service Customers.................................................................................5

2.2 Typology of Operations.................................................................................6

2.2.1 Manufacture Food 4Vs Profile.................................................................6

2.2.2 Supply Drinks 4Vs Profile........................................................................6

2.2.3 Service Customers 4Vs Profile................................................................7

2.3 Profile of the three Operations – Diagram.....................................................7

3. Company Strategy and Corporate Objectives.....................................................8

3.1 Company Strategy........................................................................................8

3.2 Company Objectives.....................................................................................8

4. Process Design.................................................................................................13

4.1 Process’ Types............................................................................................13

4.2 Process’ Map...............................................................................................14

4.3 Process’ Supply Network.............................................................................15

4.4 Operations’ Location...................................................................................16

5. Process Layout, Technology and Job Design.....................................................17

5.1 Process’ Layout...........................................................................................17

5.2 Technology in Place....................................................................................18

5.3 Job Design...................................................................................................19

6. Capacity Planning and Control..........................................................................21

6.1 Scheduling Type..........................................................................................21

6.2 Forecasting Demand and measuring capacity............................................21

7. Inventory and Supply Chain Planning and Control............................................23

7.1 Inventories..................................................................................................23

7.2 Supply Chain...............................................................................................23

8. Enterprise Resource Planning and Lean Operations.........................................25

8.1 Materials Requirements Planning (MRP) and Enterprise Resource Planning

(ERP).................................................................................................................25

8.2 Lean operations and JIT techniques............................................................26

9. Quality Planning and Control............................................................................27

9.1 Quality Characteristics................................................................................27

9.2 Quality Control System...............................................................................28


10. Performance Measurement and Operations Improvement..............................30

10.1 Performance measurement.......................................................................30

10.2 Importance-Performance Matrix................................................................31

11. Project Planning and Control...........................................................................33

11.1 Project Description....................................................................................33

11.2 Stakeholder Analysis.................................................................................34

11.3 Objectives of the project...........................................................................35

11.4 Work Breakdown Structure (WBS).............................................................35

11.5 Project Organization..................................................................................36

Gantt Chart...........................................................................................................36

11.6 Communication Plan.................................................................................37

REFERENCES.........................................................................................................38


1. Introduction

1.1 A few words about the company

“Ellinikes Diadromes” and “EllOinon” are the two restaurants under Voskarides

Chain Restaurants Ltd implicated with Greek kitchen.

With a small budget but accompanied with big dreams, a young couple started

the company in 2001 by creating “Ellinikes Diadromes”.

What was their vision? “To gain a place in the hearts of their customers who look

for a warm place to enjoy quality meze and there self!”. They fought hard to

achieve their dream and they did well. 2007 found them opening their second

restaurant “EllOinon”. “EllOinon” offers the same quality food as “Ellinikes

Diadromes” but this time investing a little more in entertainment and adding live

music.

Work and human resources are now doubled. Each restaurant has its manager

who reports to the director and they, along with the rest of the staff, work as a

team embracing the vision of the owners.


2. Operations Management and Objectives

2.1 Operations

Keeping a restaurant involves both manufacturing and service operations. Since

each restaurant keeps its own kitchen the provision of fresh ingredients, the

preparation of food, are daily tasks the staff is required to accomplish.

Furthermore, hosting, servicing of customers, cleaning, marketing and planning

are important operations that contribute to the company’s success.

2.1.1 Manufacture Food

The food preparation within a restaurant is one of the most important operations

taking place. Fresh ingredients from vegetables to meat arrive daily from different

suppliers in the restaurant. These ingredients are used by the kitchen staff to

prepare the dishes for the night. The quantity and variety depends on the day.

Usually Mondays and Tuesdays are less demanding days so food is adjusted

accordingly and some of the ingredients are transformed into food and some

other are stored for the next day. Food dishes should be of standard quality every

day so all ingredients must be available and chefs’ abilities should also be of a

committed standard.

2.1.2 Supply Drinks

INPUT

Transformed Resources:Ingredients

Transforming Resources:Kitchen Staff

Kitchen EquipmentRecipesStorage

OUTPUTOUTPUT

Food Dishes

MANUFACTURE


Besides food, drinks and especially a big variety of wines are also available to the

customers. These are not manufactured in the restaurant. They are just changing

owner, from suppliers to the restaurant and from the restaurant to the customers.

2.1.3 Service Customers

Service is the most important operation in the restaurant and the most complex

one. It starts from the time someone answers the phone for a reservation and

finishes to the time someone says goodnight to the customer and closes the door

behind him. The change of state of a customer with expectations to a satisfied

customer is so complex since each customer’s needs, mood and evaluation

criteria differ.

2.2 Typology of Operations

From what has already described above, all Operations are similar in a way that

transform input resources into output products and services aiming at the very

INPUT

DrinksStorage

Cava

Suppliers

OUTPUTOUTPUT

Satisfied Customers

SUPPLY

INPUT

Customers with ExpectationsKitchen StaffHosting Staff

FoodSuppliers

TechnologyInformation

OUTPUTOUTPUT

Satisfied Customers

Service


end to satisfy the customers. However, these operations differ in terms of Volume,

Variety, Variation in Demand and Visibility.

2.2.1 Manufacture Food 4Vs Profile

Not all the foods are prepared in high volume. Preparation takes place up to

some point but the final quantity is upon customers’ request. Each Kitchen staff

member has his own place and performs accordingly.

A lot of Variety exists since food prepared includes from salads, cold dishes and

casserole food to grilled and marinated meat. There is a lot of flexibility but at the

same time, each ones job in the kitchen is unexpected.

As far as Variation is concerned, although it is of medium to high levels trying to

satisfy as much the customers as possible, it is not very much high since it would

not then meet some quality standards.

Visibility is rather low since manufacturing is done in the kitchen where

customers have no access. They are only informed on the basic ingredients of

each food and the time it needs to be ready. Of course the result is visible to the

customers!

2.2.2 Supply Drinks 4Vs Profile

Volume is medium and depends on the drink since there is no big storage place

to store them.

A lot of Variety exists since there is no deal for exclusivity. Wines are in even

bigger variety since Restaurant’s wine list is very rich.

Variation is not very high. Most of the drinks are served as coming from

suppliers and changes or mixtures are not usual.

There is also medium to high Visibility since providers of drinks are known and

most of the times are written on the label. Customers order and receive the

product as such and there is nothing much further for the customers to know.

2.2.3 Service Customers 4Vs Profile

Volume of customers served is more than medium. There is no ability to serve

everybody the same time so customers’ arrival time is as much possible

scheduled.


Variety here is as higher as possible. Customers are so different between them

and the members of the personnel need to have very good communication skills

so as to identify how each of the customers can be satisfied and try their best.

Variation applies in the same way as variety described above.

Visibility is also high since variety is high and customers’ satisfaction and

tolerance is upon their perception.

2.3 Profile of the three Operations – Diagram

Manufacture Food

Supply Drinks

Service Customers

LOW VOLUME HIGH

HIGH VARIETY LOW

HIGH VARIATION LOW

HIGH VISIBILITY LOW


3. Company Strategy and Corporate Objectives

3.1 Company Strategy

As stated in the introduction, the vision of the company is to gain a place in the

hearts of their customers by offering them hospitality, quality meze and a warm

place to enjoy themselves.

Based on this vision, the company’s strategy is to focus on the customer. It offers

high quality food in reasonable prices and an excellent service so as the

customers to feel like they are in an exceptional place that they want to visit

again.

Listening to its customers’ voice and evaluating their comments and observations

tries to improve and at the same time be innovative and gain competitive

advantage in the long term. Recognizing and showing appreciation to its

customers is also very important for the company’s strategy.

Recognizing and showing appreciation to its personnel is equally important for the

company since it knows that the good customer service is depending on each of

the employee’s performance

3.2 Company Objectives

Company’s Objectives is to satisfy different Stakeholders’ objectives in the

greatest degree possible. What kind of things the company wants to do in order to

satisfy its customers, employees, suppliers, community in relation to the

Manufacturing, Supplying, Servicing operations are described in terms of Quality,

Speed, Dependability, Flexibility and Cost.

Quality

Quality describes the degree to which the food manufactured, the drink supplies

and the service satisfies customer requirements. Concerning the Food

Manufacturing, there are some standards set for the ingredients used and recipes

that the kitchen staff should follow to perceive a standard quality. No pre-cooking

is used and depending on the food, there is specific time between cooking and

serving the food so as the taste wont change.


Drinks supplied are stored to the fridge and the rest of them to the storage room.

Since the storage room is not very big, drinks are not received in volumes and a

weekly check is needed so as to make sure that there isn’t any stock shortage.

Regarding wines that are even more sensitive, the quality is preserved by

ordering smaller quantities that can be saved in the special cavas with the correct

temperatures for Red or White wine accordingly.

Quality in Customer Service is achieved by having a sufficient number of hosting

staff so as to be able to serve customers needs. Staff speaks Greek fluently and

English so as to be able to communicate efficiently. Additionally they know that if

customer complaints for something they must try to comfort him and if necessary

to transfer the complaint to the manager or director.

Speed

Speed in Food Manufacturing ranges depending on the demand. If there is

maximum request for a specific dish or if there are a lot of customers arriving and

ordering the same time affect negatively speed. Preparation is done for an

average amount of dishes so as the maximum delay to be within 20 minutes.

Drink supply is not including any transformation before offering it to the

customers that’s why is fast. Unless there is something unexpected preventing

the supply of drinks from the suppliers, the supply is taking place on a weekly

basis which is convenient.

Service of customers depends again on the number of customers coming in the

Restaurant simultaneously. Usually this is managed during the reservation by

asking the arrival time of the customers. Customers are sited immediately and

the starters are served. The rest of the food is served partially in meze style and

the whole service procedure may take from 20 minutes to one hour accordingly.

Dependability

Food Management is providing for the standard foods included in the menu.

Rarely something is omitted and when it happens something seasonal replace it

just to give to the customers an alternative. Customers are invited to order from

the previous day something they very much need to have on their table so as to

try and have it ready for them.

Drinks supply has higher dependability since the only factors affecting

dependability is the suppliers that are paid on time so as to feel responsible for

the delivery time.


Customer Service is something customers can depend on. Staff is trained to listen

to the customers and their needs and react always having in mind that their

needs come first.

Flexibility

Food Manufacturing is standard in terms of the kind of plates that are offered with

maybe space for a slight differentiation according to the customers’ request.

Volume however can change according to the number of customers every night.

Although is not usual, Drinks supply process can also change in terms of changing

suppliers or add new suppliers in the list.

Customer service is able to change according to the customer. Sometimes

customers need to sit in a specific way or bring their own drink or change

something in their order or even change the speed plates are served.

Cost

Cost is affected by all factors above. Ingredients used for the Food Manufacturing

are rather expensive since some products (like feta) are Greek and meat used is

always fillet. Additionally what is manufactured and not sold during the night is

thrown away increasing the cost in case of wrong estimations. Kitchen equipment

used is also expensive and repairs and depreciation also affecting cost.

Bought in materials for Drink Supply is not excessively ordered but are needed to

be in stock, drinks and especially expensive wines which must be kept in

appropriate temperatures.

Money is spending on employing and training staff. The volume of work is not

easily estimated each night since not all customers make reservation before

coming. However an important number of staff is needed to be there anyway.

Polar Diagrams

Although this restaurant is not primarily competing on price, keeping cost down is

important since it reflects to the customers and their satisfaction. The primary

concern is to keep Quality in high levels. Speed is again not much of concern but

Dependability and Flexibility are.

Each operation’s performance is illustrated in the following Polar diagram and is

compared to the required performance

COST


Manufacture Food process is very close to the required performance. The only

two factors that are a bit away is the cost and the speed. This happens usually

when the request for production is increased and the speed cannot be retained as

the required one. When the opposite happens, this means to have fewer requests

than the expected, leads to waists in terms of ingredients and human resources.

Supply Drinks process is almost as the required one. The good relationship with

the suppliers helps to eliminate the problem with the small storage room and

have the requested supplies on time keeping Dependability, Speed and Quality to

the set standards. Cost can be considered in better position since with the second

restaurant’s opening, the better prices were achieved.

COST

SPEED DEPENDABILITY

QUALITY FLEXIBILITY

SPEED DEPENDABILITY

QUALITY FLEXIBILITY

COST

SPEED DEPENDABILITY

QUALITY FLEXIBILITY


Service Customers operation is obvious that needs improvement in terms of

cost. Much attention was given to quality and the other factors that affect quality

that influenced cost negatively.

Corporate Objectives

Although in general the actual achievements of operations are close to the

expected objectives of the company, it is noticeable that every operation

influences the other and all affect at the end the customer and his/her perception

for the restaurant. Chasing improvement in each operation reflects to the

customer who is the most important asset of the Restaurant.


4. Process Design

Process Design is interrelated to product and service design and should reflect to

their objectives. Usually when high Volume is required, low variety can be

produced and vice versa. This is the reason that many process types exist and

each process of the ones used in “Ellinikes Diadromes” may belong to different

type.

Very important during a process design is to also take account of “green issues”.

Protecting environment is vital.

4.1 Process’ Types

“Ellinikes Diadromes” deal both with Manufacturing and Service processes.

Process Types regarding Manufacturing brake into the following Categories:

Regarding Manufacturing Food process, the process type is Batch. As has been

already stated in the 4 Vs Analysis, the Volume is not very high since Variety is

also important.

Services Process Types brake into:

High

Variety

Low

Project

Jobbing

Batch

Food Manufacturing

Mass

Continuous

Low Volume High


Supply Drinks process is of Service Shops process Type. As described in 4Vs

analysis, it has more Variety and less Volume.

Customer Service is also of Service Shop Type. However, as described in 4Vs its

Variety is more than its Volume but Volume is also a bit high. If this is not

carefully measured and controlled, cost will be affected.

4.2 Process’ Map

The scope of mapping processes is to find the relation between the activities the

process has.

Drinks Supply process starts with ordering the drinks receive them and store them

until a customer requests for a drink and one of the staff serves it.

Food Manufacturing starts with the preparation before customers arrive. Kitchen

staff uses the ingredients, equipment and compared to the information regarding

night’s reservations, prepares the food at some level. After the orders from the

customers arrive, the kitchen staff prepares the appropriate food and gets it

ready to be served.

Customer Service starts from the time the Hosting Staff Takes a reservation and

arranges the tables before customers’ arrival. When customers arrive, they sit

Professional

Services

High

Variety

Low

Low Volume High

Mass Services

Service Shops Supply Drinks Customer Service


them, take their order and send it to the Kitchen Staff. Until the Food gets ready,

they serve the drinks and wait. After serving, they try to keep the customers

happy until they leave and cleaning starts.

The fact that all activities wait for the customer and then process shows that the

focus is on Quality and Speed and not that much on Cost.

4.3 Process’ Supply Network

The network of supplier and customer operations that are related to the “Ellinikes

Diadromes” processes are illustrated in the following diagram:

C

C

C

Kitchen Manufacturing Food

Customer Service

Drinks Supply

Second-tier Suppliers

First-tier Suppliers

First-tier customers

Second-tier customers

Ellinikes Diadromes

Wineries

EquipmentManufactures

EquipmentRetailers

Drink Suppliers

Drinks Company

ProducersMarket

Suppliers

End Customers

End Customers

Party Organizers


4.4 Operations’ Location

Operations Location is fundamental for its functionality. If it is accessible to the

suppliers and customers, how big it is, how much it costs are some basic

questions to answer when choosing a location.

“Ellinikes Diadromes” is located in the main road of Aglantzia. The area is well

known of hosting taverns since 1970 and has a lot of visitors. Its capacity is

around 100 people and although is easily accessible to suppliers there are only 10

parking places just outside the restaurant.

Rental prices and community fees are normal. However citizens of Aglantzia were

very close and “Ellinikes Diadromes” although not easily, finally gain the respect

of the community.

Direct SupplyInformation


5. Process Layout, Technology and Job Design

5.1 Process’ Layout

How the position of the transforming resources of a process is, leads to the

process layout. Although this is an expensive procedure for the company can long

term save it from lost operating time and customer dissatisfaction.

The diagram below illustrates where each of the Restaurant processes belong,

compared to their Volume and Variety profile:

From the time the Customer is sited in the restaurant he doesn’t need to move

around since his food, drink and anything else he needs comes and find him. This

puts Customer Service process in Fixed Position Layout. Although Fixed Position

Layout refers to Professional Services and not to Service shops, however, this is

done in the Restaurant since not all of the customers arrive at the same time and

the Hosting personnel are enough to satisfy them. When a restaurant is serving

“meze” type of food the philosophy is to sit and enjoy the food slowly.

When the customer’s orders goes into the kitchen, the Food Manufacturing

process continuous where each of the Kitchen staff is doing the necessary

preparation. The layout for this process is Functional. According to what the order

High

Variety

Low

Fixed Position Layout

Functional Layout

Cell Layout

Product Layout

Low Volume High

Regular Flow more important

Regular Flow more feasible


includes, it may go firstly to the salad preparation and then to the barbeque or

directly to the barbeque or through every section of the kitchen.

Finally, Drinks supply process belongs to Product Layout. Drinks firstly arrive to

the Restaurant, they are stored accordingly to the appropriate fridges and when

the customer request so they are served in the correct temperature. Although

Product Layout refers to high Volume and Low Variety, the Drink Supply has

unlimited time to be completed so product Layout is applicable. Drinks arrive

during the day and by the time a customer is requesting them they are already in

the right temperature.

5.2 Technology in Place

The Restaurant is using Information and Customer Processing Technology in

terms of MIS, DSS, Cash Machines and security cameras.

Information regarding reservations is stored so as regular customers to be

recognizable. At this point it would be better to also store some of the customer’s

preferences like a special food he likes or a specific table so as to be able to serve

him and not disappoint him with any shortage.

Reports are also available from the cash machine that is saving the orders. These

reports can give a hint when reordering stock is necessary, what plates more

customers prefer and if there is any seasonality in the business.

Security Cameras are used in terms of security from thieves and for observing

Kitchen personnel from the outside and manage the order flow. The director can

also connect from his mobile phone and observe what is happening when he is

away and knows when something goes wrong.

A lot of improvement may occur in this field. For example the use of internet is

necessary for improving reservations, marketing tools and communication with

the other restaurant of the chain.

Inventory Management may also improve by the regular use of reports and

observation of sales.

Making Reservation as easy as possible and keeping records on customers

preferences, leads to a better preparation of the Restaurant place and Food


Manufacturing. Staff needed will be available and offer the level of quality service

the Restaurant wants to keep and Dependability and Speed will also improve.

Inventory Management will lead to less stock shortages and better Quality and

Customer Satisfaction.

5.3 Job Design

Job positions within a Restaurant entail:

Kitchen Staff: Chef, Sue Chef preparing Salads, fries, first courses,

Barbeque Staff, Dish washers

Hosting Staff: Hostess, Waiters, Barman

Cleaners

Managers

The nature of work requires a lot of par time personnel. Kitchen Staff is mainly full

timers working daily. However there are two part timers that work on Fridays and

Saturdays that work increases and can also work in the place of any of the other

kitchen staff in case of an emergency. This gives some flexibility in terms of hours

and skills. Every person has his tasks but is required to know the basics of his

colleagues’ job so as to be able to help him and of course understand the

difficulty level of the others job and improves team working. Chef is responsible

for the whole coordination

Hosting Staff is mostly part timers. However the role of the Host is done by the

Manager who also has the whole responsibility of the serving process. This is very

good in terms of working hours flexibility but it needs a lot of personnel training to

improve performance and behavior. Although waiters have the authority to decide

to treat something or suggest something to the customers when they feel is

necessary they also need to refer to the Manager so as to keep him informed and

he can control the right use of empowerment.

Cleaners work a few hours before the opening of the restaurant to prepare the

place. They are part timers and work only for a few hours. Everybody is

responsible to make a general cleaning at the end of the night to their station.

Job design can be improved in terms of taking into account the desire of the

individuals to fulfill their own needs for personal development and self esteem.


This can be done by training them in fields like wine tasting or rotate them in the

position of the host or kitchen coordinator respectively. However, is very difficult

to balance control and commitment and all these improvements should be done

with a lot of control so as not to have a reflection on the Quality customer

expects.

Transparency is also important to exist within the Restaurant so as people to feel

part of the company and know what is happening without making guesses or

wrongly misunderstand situations that may feel them with anxiety.


6. Capacity Planning and Control

6.1 Scheduling Type

Forward scheduling appears for Drinks Supply process. Drinks are ordered and

stored as soon as possible without waiting the request of the customer to provide

them.

On the contrary, Food Manufacturing process is a backward scheduling. This

means that since the restaurant is opening at 8pm Kitchen staff starts preparing

at 6pm so as to be ready at 8pm. When the order arrives in the kitchen, the food

preparation has a sequence. Salads are served but the rest of the food on the

order is prepared a few minutes before its serving.

Customer service process is of forward scheduling since all processes start after

his arrival and when his order is given. There is no specific due time. Depending

on his order the deliver time is within logical time frames.

Customers may have a reservation before coming or ask for specific menu and

time to be served or they may arrive unexpectedly and wait to be served. The

first case belongs to Externally Oriented Scheduling (customer specifies when the

activities start in the restaurant) whereas the Second to Internally Oriented

Scheduling (customers wait for their turn to be served).

6.2 Forecasting Demand and measuring capacity

Forecasting demand is a key input to capacity planning and control. The first year

of a restaurant’s life is a little difficult to forecast since it still tries to create its

clientele and stabilized in the market.

After that year, forecasting is more accurate. Demand in a Restaurant is affected

by seasonality. In terms of Drink Supply is noticeable that Beers are mostly served

during summer whereas wine is preferred during winter.

Festive Times like Christmas increase Customer Reservations and especially

parties so staff must be prepared to respond without affecting the Quality and

dependability of Customer Service. On the other hand, holidays that lead to long


weekends affect negatively the demand. Also there is daily and weekend demand

fluctuations.

Experience and yearly observations help in forecasting. That is why reporting is

very helpful to make some conclusions. Observing the whole market is also very

important. As for example the financial crisis that now affects the whole world is

expected to affect Cyprus too within 2009.

Maximum capacity of the Restaurant is estimated to 120 customers. However

forecasting is very important to maximize the capacity as much as possible. For

example if some of the reservations are made for 8pm there is the ability to book

that table also at 10pm with the risk to have it available or not. This entails the

risk to jeopardize the quality of the Customer Service offered but if is done in

reasonable risk margins is not so unpleasant. Consulting the forecasting again, it

is expected that during weekdays the maximum capacity won’t be needed so

better scheduling of resources (Human Resource, Ingredients etc) should be done

for not wasting them.

The better the planning is the less the control needed. This is why is essential to

forecast and estimate capacity and resources effectively so as to take the correct

decisions as it is the part time personnel that can also work overtimes when

needed or the use of marketing tools and other to increase demand when

necessary.


7. Inventory and Supply Chain Planning and Control

7.1 Inventories

The purpose of retaining inventories is to be able to satisfy the customers’

demands. However, the objective is to have inventory for the customer

satisfaction but it should be kept in a cost efficient way.

Supply Drinks process keeps inventories of refreshments, water, juices alcoholic

drinks and wines. The storage room is not very big so the inventories kept cannot

be much. Refreshments and drinks with expire date should be in a level that won’t

cause any risk to expire. Wines also must be kept in special cavas so inventory

cannot be high because it has the risk of taste change.

At this point concentration should exist on wines inventories and especially the

expensive ones that cannot risk loosing and they represent money sitting idle.

Inventories kept for Food Manufacturing include vegetables, meat and cheese.

The most sensitive is the vegetables but since the inventory is kept in low

volumes so as to have fresh ingredients daily does not include much of risk. Meet

and cheese is delivered every two days so again there is no need to store much of

volumes.

Although the reordering procedure could be automatically it is currently manually.

Every Monday there is a manual check in the store and decision of products and

quantity of reordering is decided. This is an easy procedure and works effectively

because the volume of orderings is not very high so there is no confusion.

7.2 Supply Chain

Supply Drinks process chose its suppliers based on the following factors in

sequence of importance: Quality Record (since this is the main objective of the

company), Delivery Speed (since he storage room is not very big and delivery on

time is important for delimiting shortages) and cost performance (although

customers look for quality they are not willing to accept overprices so is a factor

to consider).


Food manufacturing process is a doing everything in-house process. The supplies

involve row materials that the Kitchen staff develops into their final form ready to

serve.

Food ingredients suppliers are standard and limited. Those who achieved to fulfil

the standards required by the restaurant are close associates that retain close

relationship. Suppliers of drinks though are more. The variety is bigger so the

suppliers are chosen to be more having though a close relationship but no

exclusivities. As regards to the wine market, the manager is open to innovations

and new entrants either from the existing suppliers or even new ones.


8. Enterprise Resource Planning and Lean Operations

8.1 Materials Requirements Planning (MRP) and Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP)

Materials Requirements Planning is useful for the Food Manufacturing Process and

Supply Drinks process since are the two processes that entail stock keeping that

affects Quality, Dependability and Speed offered to the customer.

Currently the MRP used is provided by the DINO Ordering System. Each customer

order is entered in the system and along with historical data combines orders and

forecasts. However this planning system is not correctly used at the moment

since data are not entered systematically and there is no systematic use of the

reports and their results.

Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) is the development of MRP. This system

consists of software modules that aim to integrate different functions within the

business to achieve its objectives. Currently there is no ERP used in the restaurant

and although its benefits are significant its cost is extremely high for a restaurant

like “Ellinikes Diadromes”. After a research on the internet, these are some

samples of the cost of some modules: $15,000 for inventory management,

$10,000 for Financial Modules and around $150,000 for HR Modules

(2020Software.com).

To achieve Trust and Transparency within the organisation may be used some

other means like monthly meetings with the Heads of each section and inform

each other. The correct use of existing MRP will offer an important guidance to

these meetings. Maybe an in-house development for the inventory management

will reduce manual effort with less cost.

A more intelligent ERP should be considered again after a possible future

expansion of the company.

8.2 Lean operations and JIT techniques


Lean operations means to move towards the elimination of all waste in order to

develop an operation focused on its objectives and at low cot. JIT approach (just in

time) is the technique to achieve Lean operations since it means to meet demand

instantaneously with perfect quality and no waste.

Food Manufacturing process is pretty much following the lean philosophy. The

process eliminates waste since it starts producing main dishes after the

customers’ request. A little to no waste exists in this backwards procedure since if

there is no request for a dish it is not prepared.

Sometimes something that seems like a disadvantage it may be the greatest

advantage. This is the case with the kitchen used in “Ellinikes Diadromes”. At the

beginning seemed a bit small to host Food Manufacturing. However, due to its

size, things were positioned in such a way to be easily accessible avoiding

unnecessary movements, no unnecessary things are put in the place and

everyone can successfully respond to his duty keeping his section clean during

and after work.

This process also makes use of JIT techniques by using many small and simpler

machines than one machine doing everything. In the case of a restaurant this

means to have different mixers for different foods, have separately the oven from

the frits reducing the danger of malfunctions, increasing flexibility and giving the

ability to kitchen staff to work simultaneously.

The need for using fresh ingredients doesn’t allow high amounts of inventory for

the Food Manufacturing process. The same happens for Drinks Supply process

due to the small storage room. However, things are changing so the whole

process should always seek for a continuous improvement.


9. Quality Planning and Control

Quality of a product or service may be defined in many different ways. It may be

the hours of continuous work or the good taste of a food or the good brand name

of the manufacturer. The issue is to understand what the quality characteristics

set by the producer is and what is the gap between them and the quality

characteristics a customer wants in different levels.

9.1 Quality Characteristics

Food Manufacturing process is designed to prepare the food in a format ready to

be served to the customers. The Functionality for food produced is primarily to

feed people ordering it. Above its Functionality, how well the food is presented in

the plate and what smell reaches customers affect its Appearance. The time it

takes to be served and the ingredients used complete Reliability characteristics of

the food. Although the food is prepared at the appropriate temperature, some of

the plates are better to be consumed within some specific time limits before their

taste changes whereas some others can be consumed whatever time without any

taste changes. This characteristic describes Durability of the food depending on

its kind. In any case that the food does not satisfy customers’ expectations it can

be Recovered either by changing something on the cooking or ingredients or even

replace it with a new plate. Staff involved in the Food Manufacturing has the

appropriate knowledge to prepare the Food required and the coordinator makes

sure the Contact between the staff to be consequential.

In the case of Drinks Supply quality characteristics are easier to define. The

Functionality is to supply customers with the appropriate drink whereas the

Appearance has to do with the way the drink is served and its smell. Reliability

characteristics are to have the drinks mentioned in the menu available and under

the correct temperature conditions whereas Durability is defined by expire date

on some drinks or the period of wine maturity. Recovery is easily made by

replacement of old drinks with new ones from the suppliers when reaching their

deadline. Suppliers’ knowledge and specific people’s involvement in the supply

chain characterize Contact.

Customer Service Functionality is to make sure that customers feel comfortable

and have everything they need to enjoy their night. Appearance applies more to


the waiters that have a neat, tidy look. Although people differ between them, all

waiters need to keep their promises to the customers and follow the standards of

the restaurant in terms of service way and time. Customer Service Duration is the

same with the customer duration in the restaurant. Finally Contact is

characterized by waiters’ knowledge of the food served and the needs of the

customers.

9.2 Quality Control System

Acknowledging that a Quality Control System is very important to exist in order to

achieve good quality and providing the same product and service daily “Ellinikes

Diadromes” assigned some standards that should meet and some checks before,

during and after each process. Although the system in place is more like manual

check, there are some measures used and quality standards.

Attributes Standards Variables StandardsFresh Ingredients Not >2 days Enough quantity for

every food preparation?

More amounts during weekends than daily

Good Taste? Unless cust ask for a variation, based on the recipe

Time from ordering to service food

Within 20 min

Food served on time set or on time cust request it?

Within 20min and according to cust. Request

In case of increased demand, can the production increased accordingly?

Increased 10min of normal time production

Is it the correct temperature?

Equipment correctly set on the right temp.

Is the variation of drinks acceptable?

95%

Drinks served in the correct mean and temperature?

99%

Customers Feel well served?

Yes 100% Level of help offered by waiters

4.5 with maximum the 5

Are there any complaints?

0 complaints

Custs feel they treated satisfactory during a complaint?

Yes 100%

Currently there is a coordinator in each section that is responsible to check quality

offered. For example the kitchen coordinator must check the ingredients’

freshness before the manufacturing starts. During manufacturing, the time order

was received is shown on each order and he makes sure to serve food within the


appropriate time limits. Before serving the food each person tests it to make sure

it is served correctly. This test is done only to complicated foods and the rest are

tested by appearance (well cooked and presentation).

The host is responsible to sit customers and make sure they are comfortable.

During their stay, the waiters are responsible to make sure they are served

correctly and the host ask them if they are satisfied with what they are getting.

Customer service standards are very high since is a big part of the quality the

restaurant seeks to offer to its customers.

The improvement needed in this system is to write down the findings of the above

tests. By now the personnel is following the standards set and tries the best

possible. However, by writing down daily and observing the findings from time to

time may find out that the “best possible” is not enough or in the long term may

find out that some mistakes happen constantly in a certain area or during a

certain period of time. The correct follow up will provide better long term

continuation.


10. Performance Measurement and Operations Improvement

All operations, no matter how well managed, are cable of improvement. To

improve an operation however is important to measure its performance as good,

bad or indifferent first.

10.1 Performance measurement

Unfortunately the company is not using any software for Balanced Scorecard or

Benchmarking for the operation’s performance measurement. It is undertaking

some typical measures every working night that include writing down the Order

Lead Time, Percentage of orders delivered late, Amount of variation requests and

how many of them were achieved and in how much time, resource utilization and

average cost per operation hour. All these are done manually and some times are

omitted.

A kind of Internal Benchmarking is done between the two Restaurants and

improves operations. Sometimes staff is changing working place if his abilities are

noticed to be useful in the other restaurant and people can gain something from

each other.

Performance Benchmarking cannot be avoided since all operations are related to

each other. Customer service operation cannot exist without Food Manufacturing

and Drink Supply. All these are related between them in terms of speed, quality

etc and must retain the same standards.

Competitive Benchmarking also exist with continuous research on competitors

especially where visibility is high. Although is not so easy, all employees should

feel responsible for benchmarking, share ideas, adopt and improve operations

with main aim to improve as a whole.

The existence of automation adds structure and discipline to implementing the

Balanced Scorecard system, helps transform disparate corporate data into

information and knowledge, and helps communicate performance information so

is something good to consider.


10.2 Importance-Performance Matrix

When an operations needs improvement it is significant to note down a list of its

important aspects and their performance. The Importance-performance Matrix

then shows in which Priority zones these aspects fall and if an urgent action is

needed or not.

Food Manufacturing operation

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9

A) Quality of Ingredients XO

B) Delivery Dependability X O

C) Food Flexibility X O

D) Delivery Speed O X

E) Cost O X

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9

Customer Service operation

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9

A) Quality of hosts (polite, smiley, caring) XO

B) Communication with customers X O

C) Delivery Dependability XO

D) Communication between staff X O

E) Delivery Speed O X

F) Cost O X

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9

x Importance rating

o Performance Rating


F

1 A) A)

2 B) B)

3 E) C)

4 D) C)

5 E) F) D)

6

7

8

9

x 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

As Importance Performance Matrix shows, most of the aspects for both operations

appear in the appropriate area. However aspect D) Communication between Staff

seems to be at the edge of urgent action whereas C) Food Flexibility and E),F)

Cost are at the edge from Appropriate to Improve zone.

Although improvement is necessary, it should be more in the form of Continuous

improvement. None is within the urgent action zone which might require

Breakthrough Improvement. Small changes like training of staff and grow

teamwork between them will improve aspect D. Additional kitchen equipment

may be added (like steamer) that will improve flexibility asked by customers who

want to change some fried food with steam food.

This procedure must be continuous so as possible changes in the Matrix to come

into managers’ attention early that will move towards improvement. Any

Breakthrough Improvements are considered very drastic but in case they are well

supported are welcome and may lead to innovation.

E

A

B

D

C

Good

Performance against

competitors

Bad

Low Importance for customers High


11. Project Planning and Control

As seen from the previous analysis, the most important task to improve is the

Communication between the staff within Customer Service Operation. This task is

one of the most important parts since it may affect the quality of service, the

delivery speed and also the Food Manufacturing process that works in parallel

with Customer service.

11.1 Project Description

The endeavour is to improve the communication between the staff, both hosting

and kitchen staff aiming to implement a positive change within the whole

restaurant. The main change is to make the staff working as a team regardless of

their job duties. Starting from directing the staff towards the vision of the

company and offering additional trainings are the first steps towards the goal. As

much better the people know their job the better they can do it and feel

comfortable with themselves without feeling threatened. Get familiar with each

others job and wherever possible use rotation so as to find out the difficulties

each job has. This will eliminate excessive complaints for the others’ delays or

even give birth to new ideas for improvement.

Moving one step further and to technology part, hosting staff should be trained to

use the existing automated ordering system so as to avoid mistakes when

transferring orders/information from the customer to the kitchen. Improvement on

the automation used so as to allow the entrance of useful information like

customer’s preferences regarding his sitting and food or how often he visits the

restaurant or even if he had any complaint in the past. This information will be

available to all the staff for customer’s better service and for the staff knowing

how to treat him either they can see him or not.

Finally a bonus scheme may be considered although is one of the most difficult

tasks within a company. A bonus scheme that aims to improve team working

should be carefully designed so as to serve a team task. For example each

employee will receive a point if the night he was working the whole service went

smoothly without any problems or complaints or he receives no points if the

opposite exists. At the end of each month he will receive a bonus amount based

on his points.


11.2 Stakeholder Analysis

Before applying the project it is important to study its environment, meaning its

stakeholders. The people who may influence or are influenced from the whole

project are firstly the employees (staff), the Customers, the managers, the

software suppliers and the competitors. Their power-interest is shown on the

following grid and is explained:

Keep Satisfied

Customers

Manage Closely

Staff, S/W Suppliers,

Managers

Monitor

Competitors

Keep Informed

Staff is a high power and high interest stakeholder since is the one who will be

affected directly by the project’s changes. Although changes are for the best they

should be convinced and make it work.

Customers are of high power but low interest. They are directly affected by the

changes but they are not responsible to make them happen.

Managers are also of High power and high interest since they are affected by the

whole change and at the same time they have to convince the rest of the staff to

follow.

Competitors although important, they are of low interest and power since they

cannot affect the whole project but they should be surely monitored.

Finally software suppliers are also of high interest and high power since they are

the people to help achieve the upgrade and of course train the staff to use it.

High

Stakeholder Power

Low

Low Stakeholder Interest High


11.3 Objectives of the project

To be able to assess project’s success there must be clear, measurable and

quantifiable objectives.

The purpose of the project is to have staff doing his job well and when necessary

help his colleagues doing their job correct too.

The end result is to have a smooth communication between kitchen staff and

hosting staff both satisfying the customer needs.

The success criteria is to have daily information flow within all sections, to have

the bonus for each employee at the end of each month and the cost for this not to

exceed the €3,000

11.4 Work Breakdown Structure (WBS)

To be more manageable, the project is broken into smaller portions as follows:

Improve Staff Communicati

on

Automate Information

Flow

Introduce Bonus

Scheme

Educate Employees

Upgrade system

Send ReportsMeasure job

doneCalculate

BonusRotate

between jobs

Weakly meetings

sharing job details

information

Train Employees


11.5 Project Organization

In this case, the owner of the project is the Director and Owner of the company.

He is also holding the Project Manager Position and under him are the two team

leaders who are the coordinators of the Kitchen and Host accordingly.

Under the Kitchen coordinator is the kitchen staff (sue chefs, barbecue men) and

under the Host coordinator are the sommelier, waiters and cleaners.

Gantt Chart

Activity Week1 Week2 Week3 Week4 Week5 Week6

a) Upgrade S/W

b) Train Employees

c) Prepare Reports

d) Prepare Bonus Scheme

e) Rotation - Education

The estimated time to fulfil the project is six weeks. Starting from the S/W

upgrade and when finished continue with the employees training.

Preparing reports are done simultaneously with the S/W upgrade since they are

part of it.

Bonus Scheme starts on week 2 when the employees can start the Rotation -

Education. This happens because as the employees are rotating may have also

some suggestions for the Bonus Scheme Improvement.

These are organized like this having in mind that there is a relatively short

amount of employees that can work simultaneously.

11.6 Communication Plan


Last but not least is the communication plan. To achieve all the above, everybody

in the company must be involved. Communication between all is crucial to

exchange opinions, problems, worries, suggestions.

Starting with a first meeting with all the staff present where the vision of the

company will be shared is essential. This will make people feel part of the change

and embrace it. Discussion and idea sharing will lead to team forming with

competent managers assigned and of course with the Directors commitment to

support.

At this stage a definition report should be prepared describing the project and its

aims. This report will be available to any member of the staff require it.

Regular weekly meetings between the manager and his team or the manager and

the Director will be the second stage to follow the project evolvement and

exchange any improvements necessary readjusting the project plan.

Above all, a committee formed with members of both teams will be responsible to

monitor the project’s progress. This is the committee that will evaluate if each

step of the project is being completed successfully and give the go ahead for the

next stage. Everybody involved should bear in mind that the better the planning

the less the control needed.

More automation will help spreading knowledge easier within the company so as

everybody to feel part of a team and to want the improvement. This along with

education and bonus scheme will provide staff teamwork and better

communication between them. As a result, the customers will enjoy a better

quality service in an enjoyable environment.


REFERENCES

Operations Management (N.Slack, S. Chambers, R.Johnston)

2020Software.com

http://www.2020software.com/search/Restaurant%20Building%20Costs

%20Software/functions/

Strategy Map Balanced Scorecard strategic planning Software

http://www.strategymap.com.au/default.htm

Management Library

http://www.managementhelp.org/ops_mgnt/ops_mgnt.htm

http://www.managementhelp.org/ops_mgnt/ops_mgnt.htm

http://www.strategymap.com.au/default.htm

http://www.2020software.com/search/Restaurant%20Building%20Costs%20Software/functions/

http://www.2020software.com/search/Restaurant%20Building%20Costs%20Software/functions/

Documents

Operations Management and Quality Control Sample