ME F316 Manufacturing Management Tutorial 1

25/08/2023 Name: ID No: Section:

1) Chuck Sox makes wooden boxes in which to ship motorcycles. Chuck and his three
employees invest a total of 40 hours per day making the 120 boxes.
a) What is their productivity? b) Chuck and his employees have discussed
redesigning
the process to improve efficiency. If they can increase the rate to 125 per day, what
will be their new productivity? c) What will be their unit increase in productivity per
hour? d) What will be their percentage change in productivity?

a) Productivity = 120/40 = 3 boxes/hour

b) New productivity = 125/40 = 3.125 boxes/hour
c) Increase in productivity per hour = 0.125
d) Percentage change in productivity= 0.125*100/3 = 4.17% [2M x4 = 8M]

2) Charles Lackey operates a bakery in Idaho Falls, Idaho. Because of its excellent
product and excellent location, demand has increased by 25% in the last year. On far
too many occasions, customers have not been able to purchase the bread of their
choice. Because of the size of the store, no new ovens can be added. At a staff
meeting, one employee suggested ways to load the ovens differently so that more
loaves of bread can be baked at one time. This new process will require that the ovens
be loaded by hand, requiring additional manpower. This is the only thing to be
changed. If the bakery makes 1,500 loaves per month with a labor productivity of
2.344 loaves per labor-hour, how many workers will Lackey need to add ? (Hint:
Each worker works 160 hours per month.)
%rise =25
production = 1500 per month
productivity = 2.344 per labor hour
no. of labour hours = 639.9 per month
production to meet rise in demand =1875 per month
no. of labour hours = 800 per month
increase in no. of labour hours = 160 per month
Working hours for each worker = 160 per month
No. of workers needed to add = 1 [2M]
(Or can be calculated based on the increase in number of loaves and correlating
productivity with that)

3) Hard Rock brings the concept of the “experience economy” to its cafe operation. The
strategy incorporates a unique “experience” into its operations. This innovation is
somewhat akin to mass customization in manufacturing. At Hard Rock, the
experience concept is to provide not only a custom meal from the menu but a dining
event that includes a unique visual and sound experience not duplicated anywhere else
in the world. This strategy is succeeding. Other theme restaurants have come and
gone while Hard Rock continues to grow. As Professor C. Markides of the London
Business School says, “The trick is not to play the game better than the competition,
but to develop and play an altogether different game.” * At Hard Rock, the different
game is the experience game. From the opening of its first cafe in London in 1971,
during the British rock music explosion, Hard Rock has been serving food and rock
music with equal enthusiasm. Hard Rock Cafe has 40 U.S. locations, about a dozen in
Europe, and the remainder scattered throughout the world, from Bangkok and Beijing
to Beirut. New construction, leases, and investment in remodelling are long term; so a
global strategy means special consideration of political risk, currency risk, and social
norms in a context of a brand fit. Although Hard Rock is one of the most recognized
brands in the world, this does not mean its cafe is a natural everywhere. Just as taste in
music changes over time, so does Hard Rock Cafe, with new menus, layouts,
memorabilia, services, and strategies. Special consideration must be given to the
supply chain for the restaurant and its accompanying retail store. About 48% of a
typical cafe’s sales are from merchandise. The Hard Rock Cafe business model is well
defined, but because of various risk factors and differences in business practices and
employment law, Hard Rock elects to franchise about half of its cafes. Social norms
and preferences often suggest some tweaking of menus for local taste. Hard Rock
chefs are modifying the menu from classic American burgers and chicken wings to
include higher-end items such as stuffed veal chops and lobster tails. For instance,
Hard Rock focuses less on hamburgers and beef and more on fish and lobster in its
British cafes. Because 70% of Hard Rock’s guests are tourists, recent years have
found it expanding to “destination” cities. While this has been a winning strategy for
decades, allowing the firm to grow from one London Cafe to 145 facilities in 60
countries, it has made Hard Rock susceptible to economic fluctuations that hit the
tourist business hardest. So Hard Rock is signing a long-term lease for a new location
in Nottingham, England, to join recently opened cafes in Manchester and Birmingham
—cities that are not standard tourist destinations. At Orlando’s Universal Studios, a
traditional tourist destination, Hard Rock Cafe serves over 3,500 meals each day. The
cafe employs about 400 people. Most are employed in the restaurant, but some work
in the retail shop. Cafe employees include kitchen and waitstaff, hostesses, and
bartenders. Hard Rock employees are not only competent in their job skills but are
also passionate about music and have engaging personalities. Cafe staff is scheduled
down to 15-minute intervals to meet seasonal and daily demand changes in the tourist
environment of Orlando. Surveys are done on a regular basis to evaluate quality of
food and service at the cafe. Scores are rated on a 1-to-7 scale, and if the score is not a
7, the food or service is a failure. At the same time, Hard Rock is adding a new
emphasis on live music and is redesigning its restaurants to accommodate the
changing tastes. Hard Rock has become the world’s leading collector and exhibitor of
rock ‘n’ roll memorabilia, with changing exhibits at its cafes throughout the world.
The collection includes 70,000 pieces, valued at $40 million. In keeping with the
times, Hard Rock also maintains a Web site, www.hardrock.com , which receives
over 100,000 hits per week. Hopefully, repeat business from locals will smooth
demand and make Hard Rock less dependent on tourists.
1. Identify the strategy changes that have taken place at Hard Rock Cafe since its
founding in 1971.
2. As Hard Rock Cafe has changed its strategy, how has its responses to some of the
10 decisions of OM changed?
3. Where does Hard Rock fit in the four international operations strategies (Hint:
outlined in Figure 2.9)? Explain your answer.

1) Identify the strength and opportunities and how it drove the changes like starting
as classic American restaurant and converting to a theme chain in tourist
destinations. Later how it added stores, live music concerts, hotels and casinos and
finally opening in cities which are not tourist destinations. Discuss how these
 changes were aligned to its SWOT analysis
[2M]
2)
1) Location: London to multi location globally; tourist locations to non-tourist
locations
2) Product design: Hard Rock’s tangible product is food and like any tangible
product it must be designed, tested, and “costed out.” The intangible product
includes the music, memorabilia, and service.
3) Quality: Complex quality measures, adjusting to local norms. The case
mentions the quality survey as an overt quality measure, but quality can be
discussed from a variety of perspectives—hiring the right people, food
ingredients, good suppliers, speed of service, friendliness, etc.
4) Process: changes added when retail merchandise started. The process can be
discussed from many perspectives: (a) the process of processing a guest, to
their seat, taking the order, order processing, delivery of the meal, payment,
etc., (b) the process of how a meal is prepared , (c) some subset of any of
these.
5) Layout: Little discussion in the case, but students may be very aware that a
kitchen layout is critical to efficient food preparation (Kitchen changes for
menu changes: Hamburger to Lobster) and that a bar is critical in many food
establishments for profitability. The retail shop in relation to the restaurant and
its layout is a critical ingredient for profitability at Hard Rock.
6) SCM: Adding new items to menu: adding retail merchandise : adding local
items in menu: Addition and changes to supply chain. Although not discussed
in the case, students should appreciate the importance of the supply chain in
any food service operation. Some items have very long lead time and contracts
are signed months in advance.
7) Inventory: Hard Rock, like any restaurant, has a critical inven-tory issue that
requires that food be turned over rapidly and that food in inventory be
maintained at the appropriate and often critical temperatures. But the
interesting thing about Hard Rock’s inventory is that they maintain $40
million of memora-bilia with all sorts of special care, tracking, and storage
issues.
8) Human resources: Expansion in location, food, facilities and programmes
means more talent required; chef, staff, retailers, artists coordinators and so
on. Seeks people who are passionate about music, love to serve, can tell a
story. This OM decision is a critical ingredient for success of a Hard Rock
Cafe and an integral part of the Hard Rock dining experience.
9) Scheduling: Because most Hard Rock Cafes sales are driven by tourists, the
fluctuations in seasonal, daily, and hourly demands for food are huge. This
creates a very interesting and challenging task for the operations managers at
Hard Rock. [18M]