Reference no: EM133786616

Read the case below then answer the following 7 questions:

Value Stream Mapping: A Case Study of Fastener Industry

Case - Situational Analysis at Donut café

In order to enhance the effectiveness and productivity of their in-store, online and/or supply chain operations, many retailers have adopted operational excellence programs based on Lean principles, methods and tools to improve performance, productivity and customer satisfaction. They seek the systematic adoption of proven methods and tools that will allow them to continuously identify and eliminate waste factors from their value streams or processes.

You work at a premium café that specializes in donuts and coffee. You offer top-quality Italian coffee and chocolate beverages, complemented with a wide range of premium donuts.

The main problems with the operations of the store located in an upscale mall in Dubai is long queues, which can be overwhelming for the customers. During peak hours, it may take up to 90 minutes for a customer to purchase two to three food items; hence there is an urgent need to reduce the queues attributable to the long waiting times.

Turnover by the customers who line up, pay for and step out of the store should also be addressed at the soonest possible time. Lines should be assessed along with the food production processes, particularly the rotation of the available variants. The problem is demand is high and supply is low along with long queues and waiting times. In fact, social media sites are teeming with negative comments.
This café is located on the second floor of the mall, along with the same strip as various restaurants and coffee shops. Collectively, there is high foot traffic for the location, ensuring more customers.

It is worth noting that there is a high number of people who have committed to line up and wait, and those who have chosen to wait in line will have to stay there for 30 minutes just to get their orders. Upon entering the store, the customer will see the freshly made baked donuts are placed in the glass display section. The customer is then greeted with the queue leading to the display section where someone will take their orders. If the order is readily available from the display, the staff packs the donuts in a box or prepares the same for dine-in. Once the order is prepared, it is placed in the line to the cashier for payment. The cashier then bills the customer and hands over the food after payment. In the event that the food ordered are not available on the display counter, the customer is informed that their order ill take up to 30 minutes to prepare. If the waiting time is acceptable to the customer, the order is prepared and the customer is given a token number to identify their orders.
The store setup consists of one big station divided into three sections. The donut section, starting with the glass display fronting the customers welcomes customers at the entrance. The glass display counter is followed by cash counter #1. After the donut display section is the entrance door for the staff, followed immediately by cash counter #2, and finally the coffee section. The store floor area provides limited seating space for customers who are either waiting for their orders or dining in to enjoy their orders.
On regular days, two bakers are stationed at the dressing counter: one is on standby at the donut prep area, and the other one works on the dressing table, going back and forth with donut trays. Another employee is in charge of both the coffee station and the food station. Finally, the remaining baking staff works at the back-end where they prepare food for use. Among the front-line staff, two employees are tasked to manage the display area, taking orders from the customers and packing or plating them accordingly. Two other front liners manage each of the cash counters. The remaining front liners rotate between taking orders and other tasks, as needed, which includes cleaning and helping with bringing the food to the dressing area.

The store hours are from 9:00am to 1:00am, but the staff come in as early as 6:00am to prepare the store for the day's business. Donuts that were kept for forming the previous night are fried the next morning, such that by the time the store opens to service the customers, these fried donates are already available. Simultaneously, at 6:00am, another set of bakers start the tabling work with kneading and forming of dough. The donuts are at the heart of the business and is largely responsible for the popularity of the café.

Based on the sale of donuts from the display area, the master baker instructs his team of bakers to prepare which variety of donut is to be produced from thirty-two (32) different variants One baker takes a tray from the oven and dresses it accordingly with each tray capacity of twelve (12) donuts. The prepared donuts generally come in two (2) different shapes, the ring and the shell. If the donut is a shell, it is first punched using a long tube and cream is injected inside through a pastry bag. After filling, one side of the donut is dipped in different sauces, such as chocolate and caramel. Next, toppings like chips and crushed almonds are drizzled on the top of each donut. Finally, the donut is transferred to the glass display trays in the display area after dressing. Sometimes, the donuts are made to rest in a temperature-controlled cabinet so that the chocolate is soaked well. If the donut is ring-shaped, then the punching and cream filling is not required, resulting in reduced dressing time.
During peak hours-that is, on evenings and on the weekends-the average customer arrival rate and demand is as per the table below:
Customer arrival per hour (x) 38 [order/hr]
Average order size (O), [doz] 1.87 [doz/order]
Donut demand (λ), [doz/hr] 71 [doz/hr]

The donut topping area is limited such that no more than two (2) bakers can occupy the space; otherwise, the area will be congested. When a third baker joins the dressing, the efficiency will be negatively affected. In addition, all three bakers cannot simultaneously work on the dressing. As soon as one baker finishes dressing and places the tray in the oven or the display area, the other baker starts dressing another batch. The counters are designed in such a way that there is very little space between the display rack and the dressing station. During peak hours, there is a tendency for staff to bump into each other while moving from one place to another. Management admits that the space available in the area is too little; hence, the presence of more than one staff member in the area may obstruct the flow. Under ordinary conditions the back-end operations starting from tabling to frying the donuts-do not cause any delay in the production process. Only under exceptional circumstances, such as breakdown of any machinery, can there be a possible shortage of fried donuts. Bulk orders can also cause some shortage, although this is an unusual event.

The target of the café is to improve the customer turnover (i.e., long waiting lines) and enhance the system by identifying operation roadblocks and applying Lean Thinking for customer satisfaction. Lean approach provides the practical recommendations that may be directly implemented or immediately applied to the current service system.

Question: Map the current state using your pencil.