One aspect of facilities layout for Mcdonalds is that whencustomers come into th

Question

One aspect of facilities layout for Mcdonalds is that whencustomers come into the building, they can line up in one ofseveral lines and wait to be served. In contrast, customersat Wendy's are asked to stand in one line that snakes around thefront of the counter and to wait for a single server. a. What is the rationale for each approach? b. Which approach do you favor from (1) a customer'sperspective and (2) management's perspective? Explain. One aspect of facilities layout for Mcdonalds is that whencustomers come into the building, they can line up in one ofseveral lines and wait to be served. In contrast, customersat Wendy's are asked to stand in one line that snakes around thefront of the counter and to wait for a single server. a. What is the rationale for each approach? b. Which approach do you favor from (1) a customer'sperspective and (2) management's perspective? Explain.

Explanation / Answer

a. What is the rationale for each approach?
The approach used at McDonalds in which customers wait in severallines is consistent with the push or conventional manufacturingapproach. As one comes into McDonalds it is clear that they havebeen, and are building inventory in each of the specific bins thatthey use for, let’s say, Big Macs, fish sandwiches, regularhamburgers, etc. Having inventory at predefined levels keeps theproduction process going. The motivation to use the traditionalproduction method is to sustain a certain level of inventory toreduce the time the customer has to wait for an order. Notice inMcDonalds that hot lights are used to keep the sandwiches warm. Onegoal of this approach is that customers perceive that they can gettheir sandwich very quickly due to the inventory of sandwichesalways on hand. On the other hand, Wendy’s uses more of apull or JIT system. As you enter into Wendy’s, notice thatyou cannot really observe any sandwich inventory building up. Theidea in forming one line is that each person has the perception(and often the reality) that each sandwich is made on the spot.This procedure is designed to show customers how fresh thesandwiches are. The motivation to use a just-in-time approach is toimprove the quality of the food and to reduce waste by eliminatingthe need to throw out food that has been sitting too long. Asprocessing time and setup costs drop, the organization can movecloser to just-in-time, reducing the waste and quality problemsthat arise with batch production. b. Which approach do you favor from (1) a customer'sperspective and (2) management's perspective? Explain From a customer’s perspective, it does depend on whatone favors. If a customer goes to a fast food restaurant, his orher goal is to get food quickly. On any particular day, thecustomer may be in a great hurry and wish to run in and run out ofa fast food establishment. Having multiple lines at a place likeMcDonalds may be very appealing as far as the perception of thespeed with which one can get a meal (compared to a single line atWendy’s). On another day, perhaps having a meal made freshlyon the spot, without any “warming” time under hotlights is more appealing than the speed of getting the food. Ofcourse, one may simply like the taste of one company’shamburgers over another’s. From management’s perspective, apart from taste,competing in selling hamburgers may depend on other variables suchas the speed with which an order is filled versus tailoring theproduction process to individual taste. The traditional pushproduction process can lead to a lot more waste than the JITsystem, because if a batch of hamburgers is made and demand drops,the quality of the food deteriorates and often has to be thrownout. However, if the line at Wendy’s is very long andcustomers begin to get impatient, the freshness of the food maybegin to lose its appeal.

Related Questions

Navigate

• Browse (All)
• Browse O
• Subjects

---

---

Integrity-first tutoring: explanations and feedback only — we do not complete graded work. Learn more.