Alyssa Nicole Senatin

Gail Elisha Reyes

Gabriel Rañola
Emanuel Cabildo Vallejera
IE 3 THX

A MINI-SYSTEMS DESIGN OF B&B LAUNDRY PRO

THE PROBLEM

The B&B Laundry Pro is an establishment that serves a growing need of people to outsource
their cleaning tasks out of their busy lifestyles. Clothes are consecutively washed, agitated,
rinsed, dried, and if the customer chooses, ironed for an affordable price.

Problem Statement
However, this laundry shop fails to use its resources efficiently which leads to unpunctuality in
delivering their customers’ orders. Orders sometimes take more time to be processed resulting to
an unsatisfied customer.

Why-Why Analysis
● Why do the orders don’t meet the deadline?
● Why do orders sometimes take more time than expected to be processed?
● Why are clothes processed slowly?
● Why should orders be processed in Krus Na Ligas and not in Area 2?
● Why are there only a few employees?
THE PEOPLE

Vision
B&B Laundry Pro aims to provide an exceptional laundry service with an affordable price. It
strives to offer a laundry service that is customer-oriented, efficient and effective. The
establishment aspires to offer a fast and convenient laundry service to its valued customers.

Mission
B&B Laundry Pro aims to offer high quality laundry services through an economically efficient
and effective process. With a very strategic location, the establishment can hold quick and
exceptional laundry service. The establishment aims to produce employees who are
accommodating and very lenient in holding orders.

The employees of the laundry shop are summarized and shown in the table below.

Employees Job Description

Manager Manages the overall operation of the laundry shop

Store personnel Receives and processes orders

Washer 1 In charge of entire cleaning process

Washer 2 In charge of entire cleaning process

Washer 3 In charge of entire cleaning process

Washer 4 In charge of entire cleaning process

Washer 5 In charge of entire cleaning process

The entire process is segregated into two venues: (1) receiving at Area 2; and (2) processing at
Krus Na Ligas. The former is where orders are received and segregated per customer, and it
managed by 1 person. The latter is where the cleaning process of the clothes take place (washing,
drying, ironing, folding), and it is managed by 6 people.

Based on the number of orders they receive per day, it would be optimal to increase the number
of employees, specifically those in charge of the cleaning process and the delivery of washed and
unwashed clothes. The cleaning process must also be divided among the washers instead of
having one washer assigned to process one set of clothes. The delivery of clothes must also be
done by a minimum of 2 people, wherein one person is assigned to deliver the unwashed clothes
while the other the washed clothes. These adjustments are presented in order to ensure continuity
of all processes of the laundry shop.

Organizational Culture
The B&B Laundry Pro is primarily characterized through their culture, which prioritizes, among
other things, teamwork, stability, its outcome and the people it services. The establishment is
rule-oriented, predictable and could be considered to be bureaucratic in its essence; it is heavily
dependent on a team of several people who are able to efficiently and effectively do different
jobs at once, in order to produce an outcome within a given deadline. Furthermore, apart from
the number of products generated in time, the success of the establishment may be qualitative in
nature: contingent on their customers’ satisfaction, which, should they fail to satisfy, would lead
to a lower demand for their service.

This laundry shop must be dependent instead on people who can complete one task each
efficiently and effectively, since dividing the cleaning process is optimal. Thus, they should be
able to communicate effectively among themselves to promote teamwork and stability of the
whole process.

THE PRODUCT

The product of their laundry process are sets of clean, neatly folded clothes contained inside a
thin plastic sheet for better handling, as shown in the picture above. If a particular order is to be
ironed, the clothes are suspended with clothes hangers. In order to prevent confusion between the
customers’ orders, they are tagged once they are received. Furthermore, a date is stamped on
each set to ensure that the orders that came in first will also be processed first.

The target market of this establishment are the students, professors and other customers that may
be living in dormitories or residences inside UP Diliman. Since they are busy handling their
stress in academics, only a limited amount of time is allotted for them to worry about their
laundry.

Minor improvements may be done in order to improve the product, such as better detergent and
fabric softeners to be used to appeal to the customers’ sense of smell, and better ironing and
folding to ensure the safety and care for the customers’ clothes. The punctuality may be
improved by division of labor, as stated earlier, and by changing the location of the processing
unit, which will be discussed later.

THE PLACE

The receiving branch of the establishment is located in Area 2, about one to two blocks from the
first store in the area, which makes it a strategic location in increasing its number of customers
out of convenience; all of the jeeps in UP Diliman pass by Area 2, and it is within walking
distance to several dormitories in UP, i.e. Kalayaan, Molave and Yakal Residence Halls.

Something notable regarding its location is its proximity to other laundry shops, which could
either be beneficial or detrimental to their market demand, depending on the customers’
perception of better service. In order to possibly mitigate this, the establishment has ensured that
its price range is on par or lower than the other laundry services.
 Figure 1. Layout of the receiving branch in Area 2, UP Diliman

The facility itself is a small place without an effective form of ventilation, which brings about
discomfort to their customers whenever they place their orders. The restricted space limits the
amount of orders that can be taken and released at a given time.

Ergonomic factors that can be noticed in the establishment immediately include the location of
the receiving area of the store. It is placed in front and has an opening large enough for the
clothes from the customers to fit and is also fitted with grills to protect the store personnel. The
plastic containers for the clothes are put just behind the store personnel for easy access and
storing of the clothes. Bad ergonomic design of the establishment are the locations of the shelves
for the clothes storage which when full can block the way of the personnel making it hard to add
additional clothes. Lastly, the front of the store is too cramped, making it hard for customers to
line up properly and making it very uncomfortable for them to have a place when the queue is
long.
The processing unit must be located near the receiving facility in order to minimize the time
wasted by the delivery of clothes. This will also lessen the possibility of having delayed orders,
thus leading to lesser unhappy customers.

Figure 2. Proposed improved layout of receiving and processing branch located in Area 2, UP Diliman

The layout of the establishment can be improved by allocating more space to the back of the
store which can be made into a storage room for the clothes. A path can be added going from the
back of the store to the front for easier transport of clothes to and from the store and the
processing site.

One improvement that could be made for the ergonomics of the establishment is by moving the
shelves for the clothes to a higher location and make use of the space above. Also, the queue can
be made to occupy the front space efficiently so the orders will have an easier time to be
processed by the personnel and crowd control can be executed.
THE PROCESS

The receiving and tagging of orders done at the receiving branch is managed only by one person,
the store personnel. Everything from weighing of orders. packing for delivery to the processing
area at KNL and giving of orders to the customers is handled by the single personnel stationed at
the branch. Meanwhile, the processes related to the washing and drying of clothes up to the
delivery of clothes to and from the Area 2 and KNL branch are handled by the employees at the
KNL branch.

With the said process, some are considered to be wasteful of resources of the establishment that
may be used for better services. These include the waiting time from the delivery of clothes after
being processed in KNL. The distance of the two establishments from each other make
transportation a big hassle for both the customers and the establishment. This layout of the
establishment can be fixed by placing the two processing sites together in one compound, with
long-term thinking in mind. Also, placing too many people at the KNL branch to help with the
overall cleaning process of the clothes can at times lead to idle employees. Not everyone can be
utilized to dry the clothes or iron them since a large bottleneck is the washing part of the process.
A solution to this is to add more washing machines, therefore allowing more clothes to be
washed since it takes longer to wash the clothes than actually drying them.

On an average, the establishment has provided that around 150 to 200 customers can be
processed in a single workday. This is due to multiple transportation times during the day. But
with the limitations of the equipment and the drying time of clothes, these optimistic numbers
drop to around 100. These limitations are not only set by the machinery but also with the number
of personnel.

A single washing machine can handle up to 50 of customers’ loads a day. With the three
machines of the establishment, a maximum of 150 can only be processed, only a few more
depending on the workload of the personnel. Thus, the workers are at times underutilized due to
the machines’ restriction. If the numbers of workers are increased while increasing the number of
machines by one or two, then all of the personnel can be fully utilized to their optimal
perfomance.

The deliveries mentioned above is a transportation waste and can be minimized to none at all. As
mentioned earlier, it is better to have the processing unit near the receiving facility.

The queues are present due to the inefficiency of the receiving process. In order to reduce this,
the receiving speed must be faster, or another person can be added to help. More queueing space
and ventilation can also be added in order to reduce negative feedback from the customers.

THE INTEGRATION

Short-term recommendations: (1) better division of labor among washers; and (2) better cleaning
process. These can be done immediately by commanding the washers and switching detergents
when bought. Proper observation of the effectivity of each individual with his task, which could
then be followed by an accurate allocation of work with his performance rating. Further
allocation of unfinished work to those who remain idle or have idle times. This will arise in
minute changes regarding their speed in processing.

Medium-term recommendations: (1) addition of employees for delivery and receiving; and (2)
change of receiving facility layout. An increase in the number of employees would lessen each
individual’s burden, and should, in effect, increase their performance rate. Furthermore, a change
in the receiving facility layout towards one that would hasten the process of returning back the
clothes would be of great help. As was observed from the industry, it takes a significant amount
of time for them to locate the correct order per customer. Both of these would hasten the total
time it takes to receive and give back the orders. However, money will be needed in order to
push through with this recommendation, and it will take a few months in order to fund for these
changes.
Long-term recommendation: change in location of processing unit. Because the processing unit
is in KNL, not only does this take travel time, it is also an added burden to the expenses. Should
the processing unit change to one in UP as well, it would make significant difference in both the
travel time and expenses. However, money is also an issue, and the new location itself. Time will
be needed to look for a location, build a unit, and transfer all the machines needed for the
cleaning process. It will take more than a year to finish this task.