Reference no: EM132222455

The Calm Seas Cruise Ship Line wants to analyze the method used by its stewards to clean each of the passenger cabins on its ships. The current method used by a steward to clean one cabin is the following. First the steward knocks on the cabin door with his right hand to determine if the room is empty. Given no response, the steward reaches for his master key in his pocket, unlocks the door, opens it slightly and yells “housekeeping.” If there is still no answer, he walks into the room to look around. After looking around, he goes back out into the hallway, and pushes his cart into the room. He then goes back into the hallway for his vacuum cleaner and carries it into the room. His first cleaning step is to vacuum the room and adjoining bathroom. He then strips the bed linen, puts it into the hamper on his cart, goes back into the hallway and walks down to the closet where the fresh bed linens are kept. He picks out a set of linen, carries them back to the room, and proceeds to make the bed. Next, he walks into the bathroom, picks up the used towels and carries them out to the cart hamper. He then goes back into the hallway and walks down to the same closet as before to obtain fresh towels for the room. He brings the towels back and places them onto racks in the bathroom. From his cart, he obtains fresh soap items for the bathroom. His final cleaning step is to pick up any trash items that may have been left in the room by the passengers.

(a) Identify some of the principles of motion economy that are violated in this method.

(b) Besides the principles of motion economy, what other deficiencies in the method can you identify?

(c) What recommendations for improvement in the method would you make?