Operations and Quality Management Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Operations and Quality Management - Assignment Example Visibility: It is perhaps not very necessary for the kitchen and preparation areas of the restaurant to be highly visible to the customers. Medium visibility would be an ideal option in this case. However, since the entire kitchen is "on display" to the customers, there is a high degree of visibility. Variation: There will be a fairly high variation in demand for the dishes at the restaurant. Thus, Yo! Sushi will have to establish corresponding operations to match the variations in demand. There should be a constant check on the demand and other factors should be adjusted accordingly. Yo! Sushi's operations signify that is has a "service shop" process type for the food production based on customer demand. Keeping into view the 4V Profile of the restaurant, this process type complements the profile more than contradicting it. The only setback is that there are a moderate number of transactions and thus the applicability of the service shop process type would be slightly off the mark. However, the other characteristics conform to the 4V profile and complement it. The combination of a cell layout, product and functional layout strategy at Yo! Sushi's makes it very efficient and resilient for change. It is quite optimized and there are few, if any, chances for a change that would make it more effective. For one, the cell layout strategy means that there are tables categorized into cells for each group of 4-6 people that the conveyor belt also caters to. Secondly the product-layout strategy is due to the fact that there is a conveyor belt mounted to the central zone of the restaurant running across it catering to the customers. There is a combination of an assembly line and a fixed-cell layout buffering concept in the kitchen and dining areas making the design suitable for flexible operations. The functional layout is overlapping the cell and product layouts and thus the existing layout of Yo! Sushi is quite comprehensively designed and is in no need of change for the better. The existing technology to process menus and automated handling of demand is a first-class example of how the layout is effective and that there are no changes needed at the moment. The job design is greatly affected by the 4V profile and the aspects of the layout implemented at Yo! Sushi. The fact that there is a great deal of emphasis on quality and flexibility, there is a corresponding effect on the job design: the menu attendants are expected to be flexible and carry out tasks beyond a specific well-defined horizon. They are expected to be aware of the processes in and out of the kitchen in order to make up for any absentees or to complement the short-comings of a particular process or person. The health and safety implications also