Lean techniques are valuable in the service industry

1. Lean Practices in the Service Industry
FrankRzeznikiewicz
Building a work cell can be confusing and difficult for someone with limited
experience. Lets first define a work cell. It can be a manufacturing cell, a service cell
or a retail cell. Most of what is described in academia is the manufacturing cell. The
rational is that most of academia knows how to invoke the theories of lean
manufacturing and the standardization of work. For the purpose of this article, I
will describe some of the well know attributes and theories and how they apply to
the service arena. Lets take an example in the restaurant business. The work cell
can be defined as the person that greets the customer, the taking of an order, and
the production of food and the closing of the event.
The hostess commonly looks at a map where table are circled and they determined
what is open for seating. They may casually look at server’s load but very little
efforts are placed in efficient deployments. Events that will improve efficiency are
the size of the groups seating, the time that the previous party was seated, and
finally an estimate on the time term of each seating. Let me explain the subjective
rating in more detail. If the restaurant is a group of football fans declared by their
jerseys, one could assume that in a sports bar or restaurant the term of the seating
will be lengthier. This is opposition to those with a very young child that will
probably get restless with too long of a stay.
Let’s look at the following seating booths:
1
In :8:20
4 People
Regular
Stay
2
In :7:35
5 People
Long Stay
3
In :7:45
2 People
Short Stay
4
In :7:55
6 People
Long Stay
5
In 7:13
6 People
Long Stay
6
In 8:10
6 People
Long Stay
7
In 8:22
3 People
Short Stay
8
In :7:45
5 People
Reg Stay
9
In :7:16
6 People
Long Stay
10
In :7:14
6 People
Long Stay
11
In :7:05
6 People
Long Stay
12
In :7:45
6 People
Long Stay
13
In 8:26
4 People
Long Stay
14
In :7:55
3 People
Reg Stay
15 16 17 18

2. 19
In 8:15
4 People
Regular
Stay
20
In :7:25
4 People
Short stay
21 22 23 24
You can observe how the proper placement of people can result in efficiency. The
object of a restaurant process is to turn tables, balance server workload and provide
good service. Because the mix of people with the in the upper right quadrant being
served by the peach coded server ( tables 5,6,11,12) are all long stays the server will
be under-tasked and will not get the same turns and tip volume as the others. In
addition, the red coded server (tables 1,7,13,19) is inefficient as her customers were
all seated within too short of a timespan and customers will be demanding service
concurrently. The best efficiency will be the seating of the blue coded server (tables
2 ,8,14,20) as there is a variety of occupancies at tables (more people require
longer service time) and the customers were staged at intervals so that their time
demand will be different. A simple coding of patrons with colored markers an
erasable sheet will suffice. The coding does not need to be exact but proper seating
will allow maximum seating efficiency.
The taking of the order should be simplified. Most menus are standard and there
always can be a preprinted menu list where a server can check off an item and
options. Table orders should always be taken in a specific order, clockwise or
counterclockwise, and should always start from a specific point, such as left seat
nearest server first. This allows zero error for interpretation of the order and
allows anyone to deliver the food. In a perfect work every server would have an
electronic pad to directly input the order to the kitchen. However, the cost of
implanting this could be more than a facility could afford.
The processing of food should be standardized in some manner so that appetizers
do not show up at the same time as the meal or after the meal. In addition, an order
should be completed at the same time for a table so that all customers receive
product simultaneously. Order processing can be divided into class of food,
processing time, food segmentation etc. The primary goal is to assure that there is
standard work that assures food is delivered for an order at the same time without
judgmental interventions. Standard work can be created in some fashion by the
preparers of the food and the serving staff. One of the key initiatives for this effort is
the regrouping of the team on a regular timeframe to assure that all staff can
contribute to any standard work changes. Visual systems can be employed to assure
that the standard work is consistent and handoffs can occur without continuous
verbal communications.
Finally, a series will determine how the food gets delivered to the customer. The
delivery should be able to be completed by anyone in the staff as the orders were

3. consistent and systemic to a seating chart. There are many other details that need
to be defined and explained, but the purpose of this paper was to describe how
value stream analysis, work cell and flow analysis, and standard work definition can
be completed for any industry to improve its efficiency. Always believe in
continuous improvement and hold regular reviews where operators of the cell may
give their inputs and receive improved operational methodologies.