Resource Allocation: Linear Programming

Any continuous improvement program's ultimate purpose is to satisfy the client. The clients are the final consumers of the process output for the McDonald's case study. Customers rely on the restaurant's food to satisfy their bodily hunger demands. The customers would suffer if the production was halted or delayed since they would have to wait a long time for their meals or they would have to move to the next restaurant that was open. The company would lose clients to other businesses like KFC and Subway. The process output in this instance cannot be changed for another. However, the organization can stall the customer by providing drinks as they await their meals.

The stakeholders at McDonald's franchise include the owner, suppliers, and the company employees (Mubark). The owner of the franchise is a key stakeholder as he is the founder of the business. The owner depends on the success of the process as it is the one that is supporting all the other stakeholders. In an instance where the process delays entirely and eventually fails and the customers move to the other competitors, the owner of the franchise would not be able to pay his staff, suppliers and the landlord of the premise which they are operating. When the owner is unable to meet his /her obligations to the other stakeholders, it may end up in the business failure. Consequently, it might force the founder to cut on expenses such as firing some staff, reduce the number of supplies procured.

The suppliers also depend on the process’ success to gain their income. In a case where the suppliers deliver the supplies late, this will consequently lead to a delay of the process output which might also result in suspension of their compensation. Sometimes if the delay causes the customer to migrate to the competitors, the organization then reduces the size of procurement which directly affects the supplier’s payment.

The company employees depend on the success of the process for their employment. More client satisfaction will attract high customer turnout which directly translates into high returns for the company. Consequently, the employees will benefit by keeping their jobs, gaining bonuses and even salary increment. In an instance where the employees delay the process output to the customers, the clients become dissatisfied with the service and may move to either KFC or Subway. Losing out on clients will directly reduce the revenue of the organization. As a result, the employer will be forced to cut down on the workforce to reduce the operating cost.

The touch points of the McDonalds outlet includes the receiving ingredients, customer reception, order taking, food preparation, serving, and payment. The touch points involve the different service employees. For instance, the procurement officer is the one who is responsible for receiving all the ingredients and supplies. The servers perform three tasks in the process. First, they usher in the customers, take their orders, and serve their meals. The chef, on the other hand, is essential in the process output as he is the one that prepares the meals. The customer then makes their payment to the organization for their service through the cashier. Overall every stakeholder contributes in their merit to ensure that the team meets its goals. Therefore every role of the stakeholders is equally important as they are dependent on the process output and customer satisfaction to gain compensation for the services rendered.

PART 2 Scheduling: The Traveling Salesman Problem

The change champion in McDonald’s restaurant is the quality assurance manager. The continuous process champion leads the CPI in the restaurant through sponsorship by formulating the mission, vision, strategic plan and pays attention to the product output before the customer receives the product. The change champion ensures that there is a CPI steering committee (Department of Defense United States of America, 2006). The CPI champion also plays the role of ensuring that he provides all the necessary resources to the steering committee, support teams, and workgroups. The change champion furthermore, monitors and evaluates the process while ensuring the operation is sustainable.

The steering committee for the process improvement will aid the champion to create the vision and stresses the importance of the concept to the restaurant’s success. The committee members for the steering committee includes the individuals stipulated in the six sigma program which consists of the black belts, executive sponsors, master black belts, champions, green belts and process owners (Grey Campus, n.d.). The black belts of the six sigma program are individuals who have mastered the techniques, principles, practices, and techniques of the Sigma program; to ensure that the organization has maximum cost reduction and improve their profits. The black belts at McDonald's include the marketing department as they ensure there are significant financial improvement and customer benefits (Grey Campus, n.d.).

The executive sponsors on their part are the ones responsible for setting the priorities and the direction of the organization. The team comprises of leaders that provide communication, and guidance and direct the company’s goals and objectives. For the case of McDonald’s outlet, the executive sponsor will comprise all the departmental heads of the process touch points such as the head chef, the head of the service, procurement officer, and the restaurant’s accountant (Grey Campus, n.d.). The master black belts of the six sigma program are the black belt instructors, they train and mentor the other black belts on the principles of positive financial impact and significant customer benefits on the projects (Grey Campus, n.d.). For the case of McDonald's the master black belts are individuals who have continuously demonstrated skill through substantial cost reduction mechanism and at the same time ensured customer satisfaction through their creative initiatives. Champions and process owners provide the necessary resources to support the continuous process improvement program (Grey Campus, n.d.). They usually work together with the black belts to ensure that the top management is continuously aware of the status of the ongoing process improvement. Green belts are individuals with little experience of the organization’s process and therefore require constant guidance in the process. In McDonald's the greenbelts include the new employees and the interns in the group.

The process improvement support team provide training to the staff members concerning the improvement project (Department of Defense United States of America, 2006). For the case of the McDonald’s outlet, the support team members are also the members of the steering committee. They trail the staff on the importance of continuous improvement to the staff members. The support team works closely with the work groups to ensure that they eliminate any obstacles to the improved performance of the outlet (Department of Defense United States of America, 2006). The process workgroups are the ones that facilitate the implementation of the process improvement. They usually analyze the current situation, identify the approaches to improve the shortcomings and seek permission to execute the changes.

PART 3 Process Scheduling: PERT-CPM

For the CPI at McDonald's, multiple performance-related measures will be used such as the financial indicators, operational indicators, and competitive indicators. These measures indicate the viability of the outlet's performance. Consequently, the CPI needs to collect data on the customer’s feedback on the services, the amount of revenue that they receive, and the operational cost

Data Collection

For the customer feedback and attitudes towards the service they received. The organization can devise a Likert scale with few questions where the clients will be able to fill in their opinions about the services they received. For instance, the Likert scale can range from one to five. (Where 1 = very poor service, 2 = poor service, 3 = satisfactory, 4 = good service and 5 = excellent service). The questionnaire would also ask the customers what they think they would like improved in the service delivery.

In McDonald's the company uses a system for ordering and sales. In the system one can be able to see the day to day sales up to one year. By using this method, the organization could identify the key indicators which will enable the restaurant to determine the sales estimates, demand forecast and determine the working hours for the staff. At McDonald’s they also use an automated system of procurement. Therefore, there is a record of supplies which will assist the outlet in determining the operational costs.

Determining the Success of the improvement

The organization will employ the following measures to evaluate the success of the process improvements. For instance to determine the impact of the developments in the operational performance the outlet will look at the increase or reduction in customer complaints, the customer retention rate, and decrease of service delivery time (Kamar, 2014). For instance, a reduction in the customer complaints will indicate that the customers are getting excellent service and thus the process improvement program needs to continue. Also, an increase in the number of retention customers suggests that the customers like the facilities and product in the outlet compared to the organization’s competition.

The restaurant can also evaluate the competitive performance by looking at the reduction in operations and process variability, reduction in the service defect rate, and the sustainable competitive advantage (Kamar, 2014). A reduction in process variability will mean that the continuous process improvement is on the right track. Also, if the company can maintain a sustainable competitive advantage over KFC and subway would imply that the process improvement is viable and needs to be continuous to ensure that the McDonald outlet does not lose clients to their competitors.

The outlet will also look at the financial performance to evaluate whether the process improvement has the desired success. For instance, they will have to see if there is an increase in profitability, whether there is a reduction in the operational and quality cost, and if there is an improvement in the sales. An increase in profitability will mean that the process improvement is useful. Also, a reduction in the operational and quality cost signifies that the process is efficient and it succeeded in minimizing waste.

A successful continuous Process Improvement is sustainable and should continue throughout the project to ensure that the business stays relevant in the market. Also to ensure that the process out satisfies the customer needs.

References

Department of Defense United States of America. (2006). Continuous Process Improvement Transformation Guidebook. Washington DC: Department of Defense United States of America.

Grey Campus. (n.d.). Six Sigma Roles and Responsibilities. Retrieved Decemebr 20, 2017, from Grey Campus Website: https://www.greycampus.com/opencampus/lean-six-sigma-black-belt/six-sigma-roles-and-responsibilities

Kamar, A. M. (2014, December). Six-Sigma Application in the Hotel Industry: Is It Effective for Performance Improvement? Research Journal of Mangement Sciences, 1-14. Retrieved December 10, 2017, from http://www.isca.in/IJMS/Archive/v3/i12/1.ISCA-RJMS-2014-096.pdf

Miller, G. (2017, February 17). Continuous Process Improvement is a Vital Ingredient in the Recipe for success. Retrieved December 10, 2017, from Pilot Software Website: http://www.pilot.co.za/continuous-process-improvement-is-a-vital-ingredient-in-the-recipe-for-success-1.html

Mubark, M. M. (n.d.). Bon Appetit Restaurant Project. Retrieved December 10, 2017, from Slide Share Website: https://www.slideshare.net/mazenmohammedbdwi/resturant-stakeholders