Virtual Tours – Chapter 17 (Waiting Line Analysis for Service Improvement)
Pal’s Sudden Service (http://www.palsweb.com/html/2001timeline.html)
Pal’s Sudden Service is a 2001 Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award winner in the small business category. It is a privately owned, quick-service restaurant chain with 17 locations within 60 miles of Kingsport, Tennessee. It was the first restaurant to win the Baldrige Award. This site is not an actual tour of one of Pal’s restaurants but an interesting “timeline” that details the restaurant’s history from its start in 1951 to the present. The timeline includes photos and text descriptions of the openings of all Pal franchises and product introductions.
1. What type of waiting line model is found at Pal’s drive-thru restaurants?
2. What waiting time do you think is acceptable at a drive-thru restaurant?
3. From the “Competitive Edge” box in chapter 3 of the text, what is the average order speed at Pal’s and at its best competitor?
4. What influence does Pal’s name have on customers’ expectations regarding waiting time?
5. What type of things associated with a customer order have an effect on waiting time that are beyond Pal’s control?
6. How does Pal’s drive-thru only concept affect speed of service?
Port of Seattle (http://www.ody.org/explore/container_shipping_01.htm)
This site is a text and photo tour of the Port of Seattle. There are a series of 9 photos and accompanying (brief) text descriptions dealing with loading container ships. Also included are shipping statistics for the port.
1. What type of waiting lines might be encountered at the Port of Seattle?
2. What waiting line model could be used for ships waiting to dock?
3. What is the average service rate for a crane operator to unload containers at the Port?
4. What percentage of the containers arriving at the Port of Seattle leave Seattle by rail? How do the containers get to the rail yard and what waiting lines might occur there?