Lecture operations and supply chain management chapter 7: service processes

Learning Objectives Describe the characteristics of service processes and how they differ from manufacturing processes..  Understand waiting line queuing analysis..  Model some comm

Service Processes

Chapter 07

Learning Objectives

 Describe the characteristics of service

processes and how they differ from

manufacturing processes.

 Classify service processes.

 Explain service blueprinting.

 Understand waiting line (queuing) analysis.

 Model some common waiting line situations and estimate server utilization, the length

of a waiting line, and average customer

wait time.

Operational Classification of

Services

Service Organization Design

 Services cannot be stored in inventory

 In services, capacity becomes the

dominant issue

 Waiting line models provide a powerful mathematical tool for analyzing many

common service situations

Virtual Services – The New

Role of the Customer

 Pure virtual customer contact - companies

enable customers to interact with one another

in an open environment

 Second Life

 Mixed virtual and actual customer contact -

customers interact with one another in a

server-moderated environment such as product discussion groups

 YouTube

 WikiPedia

Service Blueprinting

 The standard tool for service process design is the flowchart

 A unique feature of the service blueprint is the distinction made between the high customer contact aspects of the service and those

activities that the customer does not see

 Fail-safing involves using the service blueprint

to identify opportunities for failure and then

establishing procedures to prevent mistakes from becoming defects (poka-yokes)

 Poka-yokes - procedures that block the

inevitable mistake from becoming a service

defect (“avoid mistakes”)

 Poka-yokes are common in factories

 Many applications of poka-yokes to services

 Warning methods (e.g steps that lead to mistakes trigger a reminder)

 Physical or visual contact methods (e.g parts can

only fit together in the correct way)

 The Three T’s

1 Task to be done

2 Treatment accorded to the customer Tangible features of the service facility

Waiting Line Problems

(Queues)

 A central problem in many service settings

is the management of waiting time

customer satisfaction and throughput

 When people waiting are employees, it is

easy to value their time

 When people waiting are customers, it is

more difficult to value their time

Practical View of Waiting

Lines

Managing Queues

Queuing System Analysis

 The source population – who are your

customers?

 Exponential

 Poisson

 Constant

 Arrival patterns (steady or seasonal)

 Size or arrival rates (individuals or groups)

 Degree of patience (will they wait?)

Queuing System Factors

line? How do you decide which customer to serve next?

rate and how much does it vary?

 Single channel, single phase

 Single channel, multiphase

 Multichannel, single phase

 Multichannel, multiphase

Service Time Distribution

 Constant

individual customers (automatic car wash)

 Variable

Exiting the Queuing System

 Customers who have been served have two possible futures

patients rarely return for a repeat operation)

prone to breakdowns may require new service immediately after leaving the service center)

Computer Simulation of

Waiting Lines