Chapter 5 - Service Processes

Front 1

High & Low Degree of Customer Contact

Back 1

the physical presence of the customer in the system and the percentage of time the customer must be in the system relative to the total time it takes to perform the service

Front 2

Service Blueprint

Back 2

the flowchart of a service process emphasizing what is visible and what is not visible to the customer

Front 3

Poka-Yokes

Back 3

Procedures that prevent mistakes from becoming defects

Front 4

Queuing system

Back 4

Consists of three major components</b>:

-The source population and the way customers arrive at the system

-The serving systems

-HOW customers exit the system

Front 5

Arrival Rate

Back 5

the expected number of customers that arrive each period.

Front 6

Know Formulas! and when to use them

Back 6

pg. 123

Front 7

High degree of customer contact

Back 7

more difficult to control and more difficult to rationalize than service organizations with LOW customer contact

the customer can affect the time of demand, the exact nature of the service, and the quality, or perceived quality

Front 8

Designing Service Organizations

Back 8

can't inventory services

must meet demand as it arises (capacity is dominant issue)

what capacity should we aim for?

Front 9

Service System Design Matrix

Back 9

<b>6 Common Alternatives</b>

Mail Contact

Internet & On-site Technology

Phone Contact

Face-to-Face tight specs

face-to-face loose specs

face-to-face total customization

Front 10

Production Efficiency is lowest with...

Back 10

face-to-face customer contact.

but the sales opportunity is greater

Front 11

Virtual Service

2 Categories of Contact

Back 11

<b>Pure virtual customer contact</b>: enables customers to interact with one another in an open environment
-Ebay

<b>Mixed virtual and actual customer contact</b>: customers interact with one another in a server-moderated environment
-Youtube
-Wikipedia

Front 12

Service Blueprint (flowchart)

Back 12

unique feature of the service blueprint is the distinction between the high customer contact aspects of the service (part the customer SEES) and those activities the customer cannot see.

Line of visibility within flow chart

Front 13

Poka Yoke (Avoid Mistakes)

Back 13

Procedures that block the inevitable mistake from becoming a service defect.

examples:
-electronic switches that halt production if a mistake is noticed
-kitting parts so that correct amounts are used
-checklists to ensure the right sequences of steps are followed

Front 14

Poka Yokes can be applied to service organizations as well

Back 14

true

Classified into warning methods, physical, or visual contact methods and by the 3 T's

Task (was the provided service quality?)

Treatment (customers treated courteously?)

Tangible (Environment features)

Front 15

Poka Yokes for service organizations

Back 15

examples

-height bars in amusement parks
-indented trays for surgeons to make sure nothing gets sown up in the patient
-take a number systems
-beepers on ATMS to remind people if they left their card
-reminder calls for appointments
-

Front 16

Waiting lines are NOT a fixed condition of a productive system but are to a very large extent within the control of the system management and design

Back 16

True

Front 17

Suggestions for managing Queue

Back 17

Segment Customers

Train servers to be friendly

Inform your customers of what to expect

Try to divert the customers attention when waiting

Encourage customers to come back during slack periods

Front 18

Queuing System

Back 18

<b>Consists of 3 major components:</b>
-The source population and how the customer arrives at the system

-The servicing system

-The condition of the customers exiting the system (back to source population or not?)

Front 19

Customer Arrivals

Back 19

arrivals may be drawn from a FINITE or INFINITE population

distinction is important bc the analyses are based on different premises and require different equations for their solution.

Front 20

Finite Population

Back 20

refers to the limited size customer pool that will use the service and at times form a line

Front 21

Lecture

Back 21

-

Front 22

Manufacturing Activity

Back 22

<b>What could be done to fix the system</b>

Reduce variance in the system

Pace the line in some way (balance)

Add more capacity at workstations 2-6 (parallel work stations--split the tasks to reduce bottlenecks)

Front 23

Reading

Back 23

-

Front 24

Infinite Population

review pg. 108-109

Back 24

large enough in relation to the service system so that the population size caused by subtractions or additions to the population does NOT significantly affect the system probabilities.

Front 25

Distribution of Arrivals

Back 25

<b>Constant Arrival</b>
distribution is periodic with exatly the same time between successive arrivals. Really only found in productive systems with machine control.

<b>Variable (random) Distributions</b>:
Most common.

When looking at a service faciliity we can look at them from 2 viewpoints:

1. analyze time between successive arrivals to see if the times follow some statistical distribution. Usually assume exponential distribution.

2. we can set some time length (T) and try to determine how many arrivals might enter the system within T. Usually assume that the number of arrivals per time unit is Poisson distributed.

Front 26

Exponential distribution

Back 26

A probability distribution often associated with interrarrival times

Front 27

Poisson Distribution

Back 27

A probability distribution often used to describe the number of arrivals <b>during a given time period.

Front 28

Remember!!

Back 28

the time BETWEEN arrivals is <b>exponentially distributed</b>


The <i>number</b> of arrivals PER UNIT OF TIME is Poisson distributed

Front 29

Arrival Characteristics
fig. 5.8

Back 29

Distribution

Pattern

Size of Arrival

Degree of Patience

Front 30

Arrival Patterns

Back 30

ARRIVALS AT A SYSTEM are far more controllable than is generally recognized.

The simplest of all ARRIVAL-CONTROL devices is the posting of business hours.

some service demands are uncontrollable like ER visits--but can be managed by good communication

Front 31

Size of Arrival Units

Back 31

A SINGLE ARRIVAL may be though of as ONE unit (whatever that may be, 12 eggs, 1 person, 100 shares of stock etc.)

a BATCH ARRIVAL is some multiple of a single unit.

Front 32

Degree of Patience

Back 32

Patient arrival is someone who waits as long as necessary unitl the service facility is ready to serve him or her.

<B>2 Classes of IMPATIENT ARRIVALS</B>

1. survey the facility and the length of the line and then decide to leave immediately (BALKING)

2. arrive view the situation, join the waiting line and then after a given amount of time leave. (RENEGING)

Front 33

The QUEUING System Factors

Back 33

<b>Length</b>
-Infinite potential length--line that is very long in terms of the capacity of the service system
-Limited line capacity caused by legal restrictions or space characteristics (complicates waiting line computations and distributions (because they can return to the population))

<b>Number of lines</b>:
-Multiple lines: refers to the single lines that form in front of 2 or more servers or to single lines that converge at some central redistribution point (can cause shift in lines)

<b>Queue Discipline</b>:
a priority rule or set of rules for determining the order of service to customers waiting in a line. Most common is first come first serve (FCFS)

Front 34

There are 2 Practical problems in using any rule

Back 34

Ensuring customers KNOW and FOLLOW the rule

Ensuring that a system exists to enable employees to manage the line

Front 35

Service Rate

Back 35

The capacity of a server measured in number of units that can be proccesed over a given time period.

Front 36

Line Structures
review pg 113

Back 36

Single Channel, Single Phase
-one person barbershop

Single Channel, Multiphase
--Teller's windows in a bank, checkout counters

Multichannel, Single Phase
--two or more services are performed in the sequence, admission of patients into a hospital
Multichannel, Multiphase

Mixed:
-Multiple to single channel structures (lines that merge into one for single phase service as at a bridge crossing where two lanes merge into one)

-alternative path structures (two structures that differ in directional flow requirements.

Front 37

Exiting the Queuing System

Back 37

Low probability of re-service

Return to source population

Front 38

Waiting Line MODELS

Back 38

-

Front 39

KNOW EXHIBIT 5.10 & 5.11

Back 39

Study them and walk through Example 5.1

it will be on the midterm