Question 1
5S is the business model that supports the improvement of working environments, concept of business and leads to increase in quality and value (i.e. the final goals of a company). 5S is the acronym of five Japanese words, such as Seiri (sort), Seiton (order), Seiso (cleanliness), Seiketsu (standardization), and Shitsuke (sustainability) (Gürel, 2013). It can be used effectively in the hotel setting. For instance, in the context of kitchen of a hotel Seiri refers to the organization of working stations and equipment. The purpose is the reduction of wastages and losses i.e. apprentice throw away the wastages in the kitchen like expired vegetables and fruits and other things. In addition, unnecessary equipment, materials and coking tools are stored to keep essential items. It contributes to less hazards and confusion to interface with creative work (i.e. high quality food and catering). In relation to Seiton, the focus of chefs and apprentices is to keep kitchen in order. Food preparation tools and equipment and material (vegetables, fruits, and spices, etc.) need to be systematically arrayed for the easiest access.
Seiso in the hotel setting (kitchen) is related to cleanliness and removal of garbage and dust, etc. The cleaning personal in the kitchen area are responsible to keep kitchen clean and neat. Before and after food preparation and serving, the work area, equipment and crockery need to be cleaned and restored to their places. Seiketsy is applied in the hotel setting (kitchen) to keep control and consistency. Everyone in the hotel’s kitchen and housekeeping department for laundry have certain responsibilities to be performed like cleanliness, food preparation, serving, and order monitoring, etc. Everyone has to follow set duties in an effective manner under the rules and regulations. Last but not the least, Shitske is applied as the concept of maintaining discipline in the hotel’s kitchen by providing training to chefs, apprentices, and housekeeping employees to perform duties in an effective manner on daily basis to achieve sustainability (Michalska and Szewieczek, 2007).
Question 2
Costs of Poor Quality
There are some direct and indirect costs of poor quality. Direct costs of poor quality include prevention cost and appraisal cost under controllable poor quality cost. Prevention cost includes quality planning in relation to test, inspection, education and training of employees, and reviews of design, etc. On the other hand, the appraisal cost includes test and inspection and auditing processes. Moreover, resultant poor quality cost includes internal error cost and external error cost. Internal error costs are changes in design, re-inspections, and repairing, etc. In addition, the examples of external error costs are sales returns and handling of complaints (Harrington, 2007). Indirect poor quality costs are customer-incurred costs (e.g. reduction in productivity due to low season and time and costs spending to return defective product), customer-dissatisfaction cost and loss of reputation cost (Chua and DeFeo, 2006).
Example of Brand
McDonald’s is the example of brand in fast-food industry, who messed up with their quality especially in Asia. Consequently, the sales of the company reduced in China as one of its suppliers identified the use of expired and contaminated chicken and beef. In addition, it lost its reputation in Japan because of customer’ reporting of finding plastics chunks and tooth in the food. Due to poor quality of food and hygiene the company faced criticism, bad reputation and reduction in sales (The Economist, 2015).
Taguchi Loss Function
It is a calculation tool that is used in engineering and quality control to evaluate the quality loss in relation to a project or product/service relative to optimal quality level. The managers can use it to manage quality. The loss function is L=K* (Y-M) ^2, where L is the final value of function, Y is the target, M is the mean, and K is constant. By using loss function, managers can calculate the quality loss which suffers an analyzed characteristic of their product in relation to quality target. If L is zero for company’s analyzed characteristic in the product, it means the value is the required target. However, if L is more than zero the managers understand that they are moving away from the target. In turn, they can make assessment of quality losses in terms of economic units and take remedies to minimize the losses (Roy, 2001). In this way the managers can use Taguchi Loss Function for quality management.
Question 3
Lean manufacturing is the continuous improvement process that enhances value-added, decreases necessary support and eliminates waste in manufacturing processes (Shah and Ward, 2003). In addition, Just-in-Time (JIT) refers to the idea of business excellence that is achieved by eliminating waste in every aspect of an organization (Krar and Gill, 2003). The companies take advantages of these systems to achieve competitive edge. For instance, JIT is implemented in the companies by three stages like Kanban, Production planning, and Global management philosophy. In first stage of JIT as shop floor control, inventory is scheduled via shop floor using Kanban. In second stage, production is planned by focusing on rule of receiving production material as needed. In third stage, actual costs are used (Epps, 1995).
The benefits that companies achieve include reduction in short-term costs, lead times, and manufacturing costs and improved working capital and product quality (Krar and Gill, 2003). Moreover, Sealy is the example of manufacturer that uses lean manufacturing to be profitable during recession and to be cost-efficient. The company uses lean manufacturing by making every widget in a continuous flow instead of unfinished batches. It produces only the ordered quantity by customers and safe billions of dollars in inventory. Moreover, the company uses this concept by implementing six sigma approach. Six sigma is used to reduce defects and process variations and to speed up process and increase efficiency (El-Haik and Al-Aomar, 2006). The main advantages of lean manufacturing include lack of material handling, movement and dirt on the product. In short period of time, the manufacturers reduce inventories and workforce and implement new cost efficiencies to be profitable (Hubbard, 2009).
References
Question 1: Reference
Gürel, DA 2013, ‘A conceptual evaluation of 5S model in hotels’, African Journal of Business Management, Vol. 7, No. 30, p. 3035. http://www.academicjournals.org/journal/AJBM/article-full-text-pdf/A9D5C5220281
Michalska, J and Szewieczek, D 2007, ‘The 5S methodology as a tool for improving the organization’, Journal of Achievements in Materials and Manufacturing Engineering, Vol. 24, No. 2, pp.211-214. http://ww.journalamme.org/papers_vol24_2/24247.pdf
Question 2: Reference
Chua, RCH and DeFeo, JA 2006, Juran's quality planning and analysis: For enterprise quality, Tata McGraw-Hill Education, India. https://books.google.com.pk/books?id=WzMgnlMKgi8C&printsec=frontcover&dq=Juran%27s+quality+planning+and+analysis:+For+enterprise+quality&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwjmhI3DkLHMAhXKwBQKHcy7CMwQ6AEIGTAA#v=onepage&q=Juran's%20quality%20planning%20and%20analysis%3A%20For%20enterprise%20quality&f=false
Harrington, HJ 2007, Resource management excellence: the art of excelling in resource and assets management, Paton Professional, USA. https://books.google.com.pk/books?id=tPQSjc7SXXwC&pg=PA1&lpg=PA1&dq=Resource+management+excellence:+the+art+of+excelling+in+resource+and+assets+management&source=bl&ots=2X-ApMbgPj&sig=AjzFWljCNQrTop7eTlyo8hQ9PwU&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwiTicXOkLHMAhVCuRQKHfv-DFIQ6AEIGjAA#v=onepage&q=Resource%20management%20excellence%3A%20the%20art%20of%20excelling%20in%20resource%20and%20assets%20management&f=false
Roy, RK 2001, Design of experiments using the Taguchi approach: 16 steps to product and process improvement, John Wiley & Sons, USA. https://books.google.com.pk/books?id=6zq3c3FaCq8C&printsec=frontcover&dq=Design+of+experiments+using+the+Taguchi+approach:+16+steps+to+product+and+process+improvement&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwitr4_dkLHMAhXK7xQKHednD7AQ6AEIIjAA#v=onepage&q=Design%20of%20experiments%20using%20the%20Taguchi%20approach%3A%2016%20steps%20to%20product%20and%20process%20improvement&f=false
The Economist 2015, Why McDonald’s sales are falling [Online] Available at: http://www.economist.com/blogs/economist-explains/2015/01/economist-explains-7 [Accessed April 28, 2016]
Question 3: Reference
El-Haik, B and Al-Aomar, R 2006, Simulation-based Lean Six-sigma and Design for Six-sigma, John Wiley & Sons, USA. https://books.google.com.pk/books?id=cs7pTyWwc1cC&pg=PA24&dq=six+sigma+lean+manufacturing&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwiI3Nalj7HMAhXDOhQKHXxXDQEQ6AEIUzAH#v=onepage&q=six%20sigma%20lean%20manufacturing&f=false
Epps, RW 1995, ‘Just-in-time inventory management: implementation of a successful program’, Review of Business, Vol. 17, No. 1, p.40. http://www.freepatentsonline.com/article/Review-Business/17976867.html
Hubbard, G 2009, Lean manufacturing helps companies survive recession [Online] Available at: http://usatoday30.usatoday.com/money/industries/manufacturing/2009-11-01-lean-manufacturing-recession_N.htm [Accessed April 28, 2016]
Krar, SF and Gill, A 2003, Exploring advanced manufacturing technologies, Industrial Press Inc., USA. https://books.google.com.pk/books?id=TGkfsC77pdwC&pg=PT336&dq=jit+definition&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwjAtfyehbHMAhXLaxQKHXBJABEQ6AEIIDAB#v=onepage&q=jit%20definition&f=false
Shah, R and Ward, PT 2003, ‘Lean manufacturing: context, practice bundles, and performance’, Journal of operations management, Vol. 21, No. 2, pp.129-149. http://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/viewdoc/download?doi=10.1.1.459.9984&rep=rep1&type=pdf
