Please complete all three (3) cases below.
Case 1 (30 marks / approximately 750 words):
Lum Pharmacy is the only location one can obtain prescription drugs from. With the limited options of where one can buy the prescribed drugs the pharmacy is a very busy place. The local technical university sent its operations management class to observe the average customer experience and record it according to the specific steps an average customer experiences. The following was the final class listing:
1. Customer arrives.
2. Customer takes a ticket.
3. Customer waits at a comfortable chair location.
4. Customer is called to the pharmacy window.
5. Customer hands the pharmacist the prescription.
6. Customer returns to the waiting area until his/her prescription is called.
7. Customer’s number is called.
8. Pharmacist hands the prescription over and provides guidance and advise on how
to take the drugs.
9. Customer travels to the cashier line.
10. Customer waits in line to pay for the prescription.
11. Customer pays for the prescription.
12. Customer leaves.
A. Create a service blueprint (i.e. drawing the process flow) of the procedure.
(10 marks)
B. Identify two opportunities for improving the overall process.
(20 marks / approximately 1,000 words )
Case 2 (30 marks / approximately 750 words)
Aki had just called a meeting of the Technical Institute Programs and Music Committee to order. “Okay, okay, everybody, quiet down. I have an important announcement to make,” he shouted above the noise. The room got quiet and Aki started again, “Well, everyone wanted a big J-rock band for the concert. We have scored on Despairs showing up.”
Everyone in the room cheered and started talking excitedly. Aki stood up, waved his arms, and shouted again, “Hey, calm down, everybody, and listen up.” The room quieted again and everyone focused on Aki. “That is the good news, the bad news is they will be here in 21 days.”
The committee groaned and seemed to share Dai’s feeling when he shouted “No way, man. It can’t be done. Why can’t they put it off for a couple of weeks so that we can prepare better?”
Aki answered, “They’re just starting their new tour and are looking for some warm-up concerts. They will be travelling near here for their first concert date in Tokyo and saw they had an email from us, so they said they could come now-but that’s it, it’s now or never.” He looked around the room at the solemn faces. “Look, you guys, we can handle this. Let’s think of what we have to do. Come on, perk up. Let’s make a list of everything we have to do to get ready and figure out how long it will take. So somebody tell me what we have to do first!”
Hisao shouted from the back of the room, “We have to find a place, you know, get an auditorium somewhere. I’ve done that before and it could take anywhere from 3 to 9 days but it should probably take 4.”
Aki yelled, “Okay, that’s great, go for it. What’s next?”
Ichiro added in, “We need to print tickets and quick. It could take only a day if the printer isn’t busy but it could take up to 5 days if it is. I would say it will take 3 days to obtain the tickets. But we don’t want to print the tickets until we know where the auditorium will be.”
Aki and Hisao agreed, “Right, get the auditorium first, and then print the tickets.”
Kenta identified that they would need to make hotel and transportation arrangements for the band and their entourage while they were here. “But we’d better not do that until we get the auditorium. That way if we can’t find a place for the show, everything else falls through.” He continued, “Depending on where we are looking, it could take as few as 5 days or as many as 12 days to book the room. I would say plan for 8 days.
Kin jumped in, “We also need to hire a company to set up the stage, take it down, run the lights and microphones, etc. Finding the right company may take 4 to 13 days but I think I can get it done in 5. But first, I need to know the location, in case the auditorium has prior agreements in place.”
“How about advertising?” Juor asked.
Kazuo seconded the need, saying, “Yes, advertising is going to be critical. We need pre-show advertising, and a press conference for the band when they are here. That means we need to contract a PR firm – that will take anywhere from 2 to 4 days, so let’s plan on it taking 3.”
Juor added, “We can start that now as the location should be identified before we have them ready to go to work.
“What else?” asked Aki.
Hisao identified the stage that must be set up, someone has to check the lighting, etc., before the show, and estimated this would take at least 3 days, but depending on location it could take 6 days, adding, “I think we can really finish in 4 days.”
“We also need to start selling tickets,” Kin pointed out. “If we do a good job of advertising, they could go in a day, but sometimes it takes up to 8 days to sell out. I think the ticket office always plans on it taking 4 days to sell out this type of concert.”
Aki added, “Yes, but we need to know where the show will be, the tickets must be printed, and the PR firm must be working.”
Kenta joined back in, “We then hold a press conference prior to the concert. We need to book the press room, notify the press, and tell them when we are going to hold the press conference. We want it in the same hotel where band is staying, so we need to have the rooms booked.”
Aki agreed, but added, “We also want it close to the concert date, so let’s say we must have the stage set up, as well as all tickets sold out. I think putting together the press conference will take 2 days at least, but it could take up to 5 days if unexpected things happen; I think we can pull it off in 3 days, assuming that the other three things are done and we can focus on this.” Everyone thought this was a workable plan.
Based on the input provided, develop a program evaluation and review technique (PERT) schedule, and determine the expected duration, activity variance, early start, early finish, late start, late finish, slack, project variance, and probability that everything will be ready for the concert date.
Case 3 (40 marks / approximately 1,500 words)
Bob Raines and Megan Waters own and operate the Rainewater Brewery, a micro-brewery that grew out of their shared hobby of making home-brew. The brewery is located in Whitesville, the home of State University where Bob and Megan went to college.
Whitesville has a number of bars and restaurants that are patronized by students at State and the local resident population. In fact, Whitesville has the highest per capita beer consumption in the state. In setting up their small brewery, Bob and Megan decided that they would target their sales toward individuals who would pick up their orders directly from the brewery and toward restaurants and bars, where they would deliver orders on a daily or weekly basis.
The brewery process essentially occurs in three stages. First, the mixture is cooked in a vat according to a recipe; then it is placed in a stainless-steel container, where it is fermented for several weeks. During the fermentation process the specific gravity, temperature, and pH need to be monitored on a daily basis. The specific gravity starts out at about 1.006 to 1.008 and decreases to around 1.002, and the temperature must be between 50 and 600F. After the brew ferments, it is filtered into another stainless-steel pressurized container, where it is carbonated and the beer ages for about a week [with the temperature monitored], after which it is bottled and is ready for distribution. Megan and Bob brew a batch of beer each day, which will result in about 1,000 bottles for distribution after the approximately three-week fermentation and aging process.
In the process of setting up their brewery, Megan and Bob agreed that they had already developed a proven product with a taste that was appealing, so the most important factor in the success of their new venture would be maintaining high quality. Thus, they spent a lot of time discussing what kind of quality-control techniques they should employ. They agreed that the chance of brewing a “bad”, or “spoiled,” batch of beer was extremely remote, plus they could not financially afford to reject a whole batch of 1,000 bottles of beer if the taste or colour was a little “off” the norm. So they felt as if they needed to focus more on the process control methods to identify quality problems that would enable them to adjust their equipment, recipe, or process parameters rather than rejecting the entire batch.
Describe the different quality control methods that Rainwater Brewery might use to ensure good-quality beer and how these methods might fit into an overall quality management program