Case Assignment 6
1. How and where is the variability likely to incur in the system?
Oliver’s diner became an instant hit when opened as it was successful with waiting lines at peak periods.
However, it soon became a problem because several customers would complain about the long queues
and longer expected waiting times. We believe there are many variabilities in the operating system, some
of which are foreseen, and some are not. For example, in the hours of operation, the highest number of
customers comes between 11 am to 2 pm for lunch and 5 pm to 9 pm for dinner. It can also be seen that it
was happening the same on the weekends as well from 6:30 pm onwards. Therefore, it can be expected
that some days it would not have the same crowd or there can be more on vacations or less due to the
weather conditions or traffic. So, it cannot be expected that customers’ arrival which leads up to the
availability of tables. Also, there are a few employees working in the diner -10 people, which can also
incur variability, as there will be days when an employee can take a leave due to any reason leading to the
schedule of employees at Oliver diner can create problems in operations.
2. How will variability affect the performance and the customer experience?
Every employee has a designated task and the number of customers coming on a busy schedule can affect
the overall performance and customer experience, absence of an employee can disrupt the operations in
the system. For example, only one host/cashier became ill, and that was an important position that would
host the customers to seat and handle the payments. So, we can see that there was only 1 person for this
position leaving the diner understaffed and no one to take the position. Therefore, it will take one person
to cover that position, let’s assume one of the servers is handling that position for a day, which will
burden the other servers to manage the customer thus it will affect their performance and time. Thus, it
will directly affect the customer experience because the time taken by 3 servers to do general duties
which used to do by 4 servers requires more time to clean a table and set it up for the next group, which
will create more waiting times for customers. Hence it will decrease the performance of staff and
customers’ experience.
3. What is the capacity utilization of each resource for lunch?
According to the case, the hours of lunch are 11 to 2 pm. As shown in Exhibit 2 of the document that the
capacity utilization rate for lunch according to the number of chefs is 115 percent. This capacity
utilization rate has been calculated by dividing the number of minutes available by the number of minutes
a chef required to ready a meal. The resulting number is then multiplied by the number of chefs available
such as 3.5 (3 full chefs and 50 percent time of Oliver that he has spent in the Kitchen) chefs. The
capacity utilization rate for lunch according to the number of chefs is 115 percent which is showing the
overloaded situation of the restaurant based on the current situation.
4. What is the capacity utilization of each resource for dinner?
The hours of dinner are 5 to 9 pm. Oliver’s dinner does not utilize all its resources. As shown in Exhibit 2
of the document that the capacity utilization rate for lunch according to the number of chefs is 95
percent. The capacity utilization rate indicates that the restaurant did not perform well according to its
full-seat occupancy rate.
5. Where are the bottlenecks? What is the overall capacity of the system?
The main bottleneck would be the kitchen section as it has the longest time per meal processed, and the
overall capacity of the chef is 84 meals per hour which are lower than all other functions of the restaurant.
This point was supported by the fact that the kitchen had around 20 orders waiting to be prepared.
The system can accommodate 90 users at once. The bottlenecks happen at peak times, like the weekends.
Customers may encounter longer meal waits and big lines to get a table during peak hours. According to
Oliver, it takes the host one minute to seat guests and another to settle the payment at the end of the
dinner. Oliver calculates that serving one table takes an average of eight minutes, even though the servers
interact with the guests at various moments throughout their eating experience. The average preparation
time for a meal is 10 minutes, and chefs may prepare four meals at once, which works down to 2.5
minutes per meal. Bussers need roughly two minutes to clean a table and prepare it for the upcoming
group of diners. From the time diners sit down until their table is ready for the following group of guests,
according to Oliver, it takes 75 minutes. Customer dissatisfaction may result from these bottlenecks'
negative effects on the customer experience.
6. What action would you take? Suggest some recommendations for Olive Peters.
Based on the article, Oliver should take the following action to improve his operations and customer
service. First, invest in restaurant pagers to allow customers waiting for a table to explore other nearby
Main Street retail establishments. Secondly, install a display board to inform those in the queue of daily
specials, freshly baked pies, and other helpful information. Also, consider taking reservations to eliminate
waiting for a table. In addition, replace individual seating with upholstered or wooden booth bench
seating to reinforce the diner’s retro style further. Oliver should also consider increasing staffing levels to
reduce the time it takes to turn over tables. Customer feedback should regularly be viewed to identify any
other areas of improvement. Finally, they should investigate implementing a customer loyalty program to
reward regular customers.
