For a company of your choice, select an important service process. Describe this process briefly. What is the volume of output produced by this process? What is the level of customization provided by this process? What type of flow pattern would be appropriate for this process - flexible, intermediate, or line flow?
What is the level of customer contact in this process? Rate each of the dimensions of customer contact on a 1-5 scale and develop a total customer contact score. What is the level of process divergence? Based on the above analysis, what process structure would you choose - front, hybrid, back office?
Identify the order qualifiers and winners for the process. For each competitive priority, discuss whether your choice of process structure represents a suitable fit. In light of any tradeoffs you identify, discuss why the process structure you have chosen is still appropriate.
What level of resource flexibility is appropriate for the process? What level of labor skills and flexibility are employed in the process? What type of process equipment is utilized - general purpose, special purpose, automated, etc.? What mix of capital vs. labor intensity is appropriate? At what points in the process does customer involvement occur, and to what extent? Is the customer involvement appropriate for the process?
Discuss the "strategic fit," i.e., how well the major process decisions above tie together.
The XYZ Bank prides itself on its superlative customer service. Its ads are constantly urging potential customers to switch from the big, impersonal banks, and experience banking like they have never experienced before. Customers, in turn, expect a very high level of hand-holding. The order qualifiers and order winners are ...
When a customer enters the bank and asks to open a line of credit, a loan specialist immediately jumps into action and gives the customer the red carpet treatment. Most customers come in person; they don' t care to talk to a phone, or interact with an online form. The loan specialists spend a considerable amount of time walking the customers through the different aspects of the line of credit. Typically, a loan specialist handles only 4 customers per day. It is a low volume process. On the other hand, customization is very high. Each line of credit is custom tailored to the particular customer's requirements. Our customers are so unique that we can't just slap together standard credit reports, home appraisals, etc. Rather, our loan specialists go to a great deal of trouble to thoroughly assess each customer's personal situation, and craft a loan specially for those circumstances.
Looking at the five customer contact dimensions, the process is highly visible to customers. Even the loan specialist's computer screens are not hidden from the customers' view. The customers play a very active role in determining the final product they want. They can also throw the process for a loop by asking really weird questions, seeking all sorts of advice, etc. And so on ...
The loan specialists are very highly trained, both technically and in people skills. The equipment they use is quite generic, usually just a desktop computer connected to a printer. There is a little bit of fancy software involved, but it's developed in-house and pretty basic. Sometimes, the loan specialists also use a coffee machine to brew fresh coffee for customers. The process is highly labor intensive. The customer is involved in pretty much every step of the process. In fact, sometimes it can get to be a nuisance when customers insist on grabbing the computer keyboard to try their own "what-if" analyses.
For a company of your choice, select a process that uses some kind of equipment. Describe this process briefly. What type of equipment - general vs. special purpose - is used for the process? Discuss whether the equipment choice is appropriate for the volume of output that the process produces, and given the extent of line vs. flexible process flows. What is the relationship with the competitive priorities of the process?
For the above process, discuss how the choice of equipment is affected by the cost structure - i.e., fixed vs.variable costs. Explain how you would apply the concept of breakeven analysis for choosing between equipment with different cost structures. Provide some sample calculations to demonstrate how you would use breakeven analysis. Discuss whether the company's equipment choice is appropriate given the cost structure.
For a company of your choice, select a flexible flow process. Describe this process briefly. Identify the major resources employed in this process, such as people, workstations, departments, etc. Draw a diagram to represent the current layout of the facility, possibly a block diagram.
Identify the amount of work flow - materials, employees, customers, etc. - occurring between each pair of resources. Is the distance between each pair of resources appropriate in view of the work flows? Besides work flows, are there other reasons why some pairs of resources need to be placed closer together? Is the distance between each pair of resources appropriate in view of the above reasons?
Are there any tradeoffs in the above requirements? Do any resources have special constraints regarding their placement? Are there any reasons why some resources should not be placed close together? Is the placement of resources appropriate in view of the above requirements?