

Chic-ken Rulez is a food vendor at the state fair that only sells complete box meals which includes a sandwich
(chicken or turkey), fries, and drink. Customers walk up to the counter at Chic-ken Rulez and place an order.

The counter employee enters the order into the system which is displayed on several screens for all other
employees to see the items that need to be made. In the kitchen sandwich makers assemble the selected
sandwich once it displays on the order screen. The fry master will cook, salt, and scoop the ordered fries into
a cup. Meanwhile, the employee that took the order, will prepare the requested drink. Once the sandwich and
fries are complete, they are place in a window where the counter employee places all items in a box and
delivers it to the customer. Taking the order and entering it into the system takes 5 minutes. Once entered,
the display screens instantly show the items to be made. The counter employee then takes an average of 3
minutes to make a drink. On average, it takes sandwich makers 8 minutes to complete a sandwich and place
in the pick-up window. The fry maker takes 12 minutes on average to complete a cup of fries and place in the
pick-up window. It takes the counter employee 10 minutes to box all items and hand to customer for
delivery. All times listed are flow times for each activity and include the effects of waiting.

Draw a process map/flowchart for the above process and Label it Process #1 in a text document (.pdf, .doc,
.docx, or .rtf).
Chic-ken Rulez wishes to improve the process by reducing the time to deliver a meal box. Customers
often make an order and leave the counter area to find seating. This is the root cause for delivery times
being so long because on average a customer's meal order is called 3 times before it is actually picked
up which completes delivery.

To reduce the process time, Chic-ken Rulez is going to provide customers with a miniature plastic
chicken with a GPS tracker inside at the time of the order. The order process is the same except now
the box and delivery activity will be two separate activities. Delivery is now performed by food runners
that use a handheld device to locate the GPS plastic chickens, collect the plastic chicken for re-use, and
deliver a customer’s ordered meal box.

It now takes 2 minutes to box a meal. Based on preliminary tests, the average time to locate a GPS
plastic chicken and deliver a meal box in the food area takes 7 minutes.

Draw a process map/flowchart for the above modified process and Label it Process #2 in the same text
document as your Process #1 map/flowchart.
Attach your text document that contains both Process #1 & #2 here.

Selected Answer: Q1.docx

Response Feedback: [None Given]
 Question 2
4 out of 4 points

Chic-ken Rulez is a food vendor at the state fair that only sells complete box meals which includes a
sandwich (chicken or turkey), fries, and drink. Customers walk up to the counter at Chic-ken Rulez and
place an order.

The counter employee enters the order into the system which is displayed on several screens for all other
employees to see the items that need to be made. In the kitchen sandwich makers assemble the selected
sandwich once it displays on the order screen. The fry master will cook, salt, and scoop the ordered fries
into a cup. Meanwhile, the employee that took the order, will prepare the requested drink. Once the
sandwich and fries are complete, they are place in a window where the counter employee places all items
in a box and delivers it to the customer. Taking the order and entering it into the system takes 5 minutes.
Once entered, the display screens instantly show the items to be made. The counter employee then takes an
average of 3 minutes to make a drink. On average, it takes sandwich makers 8 minutes to complete a
sandwich and place in the pick-up window. The fry maker takes 12 minutes on average to complete a cup of
fries and place in the pick-up window. It takes the counter employee 10 minutes to box all items and hand
to customer for delivery. All times listed are flow times for each activity and include the effects of waiting.

Complete parts a thru d below:

a) What is the flow time of the process?

[a] minutes
b) What is the process flow time if the company bought an automatic potato slicer and could reduce the
amount of time it takes the fry master to make a cup of fries to 7 minutes, instead of 12?

[b] minutes
c) Instead of the change listed in b, assume the sandwich assemblers streamlined their sub process and
could make a sandwich in 5 minutes, instead of 8. What is process flow time now?

[c] minutes
Using the original times listed in the question. Chic-ken Rulez wishes to improve the process by reducing
the time to deliver a meal box. Customers often make an order and leave the counter area to find seating.
This is the root cause for delivery times being so long because on average a customer's meal order is called
3 times before it is actually picked up which completes delivery. To reduce this process time, Chic-ken
Rulez is going to provide customers with a miniature plastic chicken with a GPS tracker inside at the time of
the order. The order process is the same except now the box and delivery activity will be two separate
activities. Delivery is now performed by food runners that use a handheld device to locate the GPS plastic
chickens, collect the plastic chicken for re-use, and deliver a customer’s ordered meal box. It now takes 2
minutes to box a meal. Based on preliminary tests, the average time to locate a GPS plastic chicken and
deliver a meal box in the food area takes 7 minutes.

d) What is the flow time of this redesigned process?

[d] minutes

Specified Answer for: a 27

Specified Answer for: b 23
Specified Answer for: c 27
Specified Answer for: d 26
Correct Answers for: a
Evaluation Method Correct Answer
Exact Match 27
Correct Answers for: b
Evaluation Method Correct Answer
Exact Match 23
Correct Answers for: c
Evaluation Method Correct Answer
Exact Match 27
Correct Answers for: d
Evaluation Method Correct Answer
 Exact Match 26
 Question 3
Needs Grading

Jeff and his roommate are in the cake baking business. When they receive an order over the internet,
Jeff prepares a bowl and mixes cake batter according to the order (takes 6 minutes). He then pours
the batter into a baking pan that holds 1 cake (2 minutes). His roommate then puts the cake pan in
the oven and sets a timer (1 minute). Cakes bake in the oven for 9 minutes and then are cooled
outside the oven on a rack for 5 minutes. Finally the roommate takes 2 minutes to box the cake and
then collects payment from the arriving customer (1 minute).

1. Draw a process flow chart for the above business process. Attach this as a word document or an
image.
Selected Answer: Q3.docx
Response Feedback: [None Given]
 Question 4
1 out of 4 points

Jeff and his roommate are in the cake baking business. When they receive an order over the internet, Jeff
prepares a bowl and mixes cake batter according to the order (takes 6 minutes). He then pours the batter
into a baking pan that holds 1 cake (2 minutes). His roommate then puts the cake pan in the oven and sets a
timer (1 minute). Cakes bake in the oven for 9 minutes and then are cooled outside the oven on a rack for 5
minutes. Finally the roommate takes 2 minutes to box the cake and then collects payment from the arriving
customer (1 minute).

Each cake order is composed of a two tier cake (2 cakes). Also Jeff and his roommate can only perform their
assigned activities and cannot perform the other's. Although the mixing bowl can hold batter for two cakes
at one time, assume the oven can only hold one cake pan at a time. As mentioned above, pouring batter into
each pan takes 2 minutes, both cakes must be cooled before boxing, and each cake is put into the box
separately one on top of the other.

a. Determine theoretical flow time from the order thru payment. Assume no waiting over the
entire process.
[a] minutes
Now consider the effect on flow time given the following alternatives:

b. Buy a second oven that can bake one cake pan (plus existing oven cooking 1 cake pan).

[b] minutes
c. Replace oven with one that can hold two cake pans at the same time (still 9 min bake).

[c] minutes
d. Replace oven with a faster convection oven that can bake one cake pan in 6 minutes (instead of 9).

[d] minutes
Specified Answer for: a 45
Specified Answer for: b 31
 Specified Answer for: c 30
Specified Answer for: d 38
Correct Answers for: a
Evaluation Method Correct Answer
Exact Match 36
Correct Answers for: b
Evaluation Method Correct Answer
Exact Match 28
Correct Answers for: c
Evaluation Method Correct Answer
Exact Match 30
Correct Answers for: d
Evaluation Method Correct Answer
Exact Match 30
Response Feedback: See the Pizza Pazza example in Flow Time lecture video for help.

 Question 5
Needs Grading

Compare/contrast service encounters at two fast-food restaurants (or other type of restaurant) that
are competitors. Try to go to each place around the same-meal time throughout the week to compare
the service process (briefly describe the 2 processes). Provide rough estimates for the average flow
time, theoretical flow time, and the flow-time efficiency. Use little’s law or direct observation. You can
spend 30 minutes in the restaurant, count the number of flow units entering the service line (double
it to get flow units/hr. or R) and then determine the avg. number of customers in line over the 30
mins to determine I or you can track 5 customers from the time they enter the line to the time they
get processed and avg. the 5 values. This provides Flow time. From here you can use the same
principles to determine the remaining values. Finally, discuss the quality of customer service at both
establishments and compare the two processes to one another.

Note: May want to convert to minutes instead of hours or you will have time in decimal values. 1000
words or less (keep your answer concise and to the point).

Selected McDonalds
Answer: Process: Enter Establishment -> Wait in line (5 mins) -> Place order and pay (2 mins) ---
Kitchen receives order -> (At this point I can see the fries prescooped and ready to serve,
but waiting on the actual burger) -> Kitchen assembles burger and places in ready window
(5min) -> Employee bags order and calls out order number (1 min) -> Order received
(END)
 Theoretical Flow Time: 6 Minutes
 Average Flow time - 13 Minutes
 Flow time efficiency = 6/13 = 46.15%
 Flow units enterig service line = 19 P/hour
 Avg # customers waiting in line = 3 Customers
 Flow time = (12 mins) (8mins) (4 mins) (10 mins)(9 mins) = 8.6 minutes
 Quality: Quality of the food was not very good. Based off the taste, it clearly was prepared
ahead of time and assembled on order. The service was fairly quick however.
 Chick-fil-a
Process; Enter establishment -> Wait in line (5 minutes) -> Place order (2 minutes) ->
Counter employee fills drink (1 minute) -> (it was difficult to gauage from here since they
have their kitchen away from customers sight) -> Food assembled (8 minutes) -> Order
bagged (1minute) -> Emplloyee locates employee and directly delivers to customer (1
minute)
 Theoretical Flow Time: 10
 Average Flow time - 18 Minutes
 Flow time efficiency = 10/18= 55.55
 Flow units enterig service line = 13 P/hour
 Avg # customers waiting in line = 3 Customers
 Flow time = (9mins) (13mins) (12mins) (14 mins)(11 mins) = 11.8 minutes
 Quality; The quality of the food was a big improvement from McDonalds. The food was hot
to touch, and had to cool down before I could eat it - which I didn't mind since it meant it
was fresh. The hospitality was also something to note.
McDonald's process is clearly designed around speed and quantity. Their food is cooked
before their customer even orders it, then is assembled upon order. This is reflected in the
customer service and taste. At Chick-Fil-A, the process is designed around delivering not
only a product, but also an experience. Although it took more time, the food was fresher,
and the service was very personal.