1) Draw a system blueprint for the process of a customer coming in and eating in the conveyor belt sushi restaurant. Start with the consumer flow. (15 points)
The consumer flow consists of the customer, who may be seated on a table or the counter that is served by the conveyor belt is able to choose from the food on display. If the customer sees a dish he/she likes or is interested in, he/she simply picks the dish from the conveyor belt. The conveyor-belt sushi restaurant was a very innovative idea that was greatly executed and is a system that works. It brings out freshly made sushi to the customer while eliminating the need to use servers. The system however uses touch screens, which allow the customer to make special orders, in the case where whatever he/she wants is not already pre-made and on the conveyor belt. The touch screens link the customer to the chef in the kitchen, who can know which table or counter number has ordered for a particular dish. Once the customer has made an order, the dish is prepared and delivered. Once done eating the customer stacks his or her plates and is billed based on what he or she has eaten.
The key environmental elements are the availability of seating space in the restaurant, the ambience of the restaurant, the temperature within the restaurant, as well as background music.
The key supporting processes, which would enable this service to work, include the payment system and the chef in the kitchen responsible for handling customer orders.
2) Decide what the key features of this process are that make it capable of high speed, high quality, low cost delivery of a very perishable, often expensive food. (10 points)
The key features of the process that will make it capable of high speed, high quality, low cost delivery of a very perishable, often expensive food included:
- Conveyor belt tracks that are of low friction in order to ensure that it glides easily
- A hygienic design of the conveyor belt surface that ensures that the sushi does not get contaminated while on the conveyor
- A conveyor speed drive that can allows for the speed of the conveyor to be varied
- An excellent payment system that bills customers and receives payments
a. You might analyze key dynamics of this process on which you can judge its effectiveness:i. Wait-times (locations of unwanted waits)
- When a customer is looking for available seating
- When a customer is making an order for the type of sushi, he or she wants
ii. Reliability (the percent likelihood of a flow occurring)
iii. Flow time (the time it takes for a task or flow to execute)
The flow time is 80 minutes from the point that the customer enters into the restaurant and leaves. The times for each process are outlined below.
Walk into restaurant – 1 minute
Customer finds available seating – 5 minutes
Customer finds sushi on the conveyor – 10 minutes
Customer makes an order – 4 minutes
Order is delivered – 20 minutes
Customer easts and stacks plates – 30 minutes
Billing, payment and customer leaves – 10 minutes
iv. Responsibility (the resources assigned) The responsible parties within the process are:
1. The Staff at the restaurant
2. The chef
3. The waiter
v. Fidelity (the degree to which a process step* (adds value in achieving the key business outcomes of the overall activity
The fidelity of each step is as outlined below.
Walk into restaurant – 25%
Customer finds available seating – 10%
Customer finds sushi on the conveyor – 25%
Customer makes an order – 10%
Order is delivered – 20%
Customer easts and stacks plates – 5%
Billing, payment, and customer leaves – 5%
b. Discuss the key features and analyze how they will affect the above effectiveness measurements.
The key features identified are:
- Conveyor belt tracks that are of low friction in order to ensure that it glides easily – this will reduce the amount of time that the customer takes to select sushi from the conveyor.
- A hygienic design of the conveyor belt surface that ensures that the sushi does not get contaminated while on the conveyor – This will help to preserve the freshness of the sushi.
- A conveyor speed drive that can allows for the speed of the conveyor to be varied - this will reduce the amount of time that the customer takes to select sushi from the conveyor.
- An excellent payment system that bills customers and receives payments – This will help in improving the amount of time taken to bill and process customer payment.
3) Consider how technology can be used in this process. Discuss how you are seeing technologies being applied or can be applied to innovate the service blueprints at restaurants today. (15 points)a. What technology has been or can be applied in the process?
Technology that has been applied to this process include:
- The payment system
- An automated conveyor belt system
- RFID tags
- An automated ordering system
b. Which steps or processes can be improved by using technology?
The ordering of sushi not on the conveyor can be enhanced by installing an automated ordering system. RFID tags can be used to enhance order delivery to the correct table. Lastly, a payment system will improve the amount of time taken to bill and process customer payment.
c. Draw another system blueprint to reflect the changes you suggest.
