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 OM5 C7 IM

OM5 Chapter 7: Process Selection, Design, and Analysis

Discussion Questions

1. What type of process—project, job shop, flow shop, and continuous flow—would most
likely be used to produce the following? Explain your reasoning.

a. Apple iPads – flow shop (assembly line)

b. Weddings -- project
c. Paper – continuous flow
d. Tax preparation -- job shop for complex returns or at least hybrid job/flow shop for
simple EZ returns

2. Provide some examples of customer- and provider-routed services that you have
encountered that are different from those described in this chapter. Can you identify
any improvements to these processes?

Customer-routed examples include: visiting a bookstore, checking in a major

convention hotel, health clubs, Club Med, surfing the Internet, museums, taking a
cruise, parks, vacations, etc. They offer the customer broad freedom to select from
many possible routes (pathways) through the service delivery system.

Provider-routed examples include: Federal Express, simple on-line will, CNN

Headline News, most fast food restaurants such as McDonald’s, blood tests at a
lab or hospital, automatic teller machine (ATM), credit card authorizations,
movies, newspaper dispenser (there is no customer discretion or freedom in
how to obtain the newspaper), checking in Motel 6, dentist cleaning teeth. They
constrain customers to follow a very small number of possible routes
(pathways) through the service delivery system.

FYI--To simplify things we only have two choices in OM but in the original research
articles (Collier and Meyer) there is a third choice: co-routed services such as playing
golf (must go hole 1 to 18 but otherwise the customer can do his/her own thing), bank
checkbook services, consulting, some medical and estate services, Scottrade on-line
services, H&R Block’s tax service, etc. This might come up in class and is similar to
hybrid processes in the product-process matrix.

3. List some common processes that you perform as a student. How can you use the
knowledge from this chapter, such as identifying bottlenecks, to improve them?

Example student processes include: studying for a test, applying for a student loan,
writing a term paper, applying for US citizenship, paying rent or automobile loans,
moving into or out of the dorm or apartment, reserving a U-haul, using it, and its
return; establishing credit, planning a wedding, etc.

Simply identifying the process is the first step followed by recognition of C7 concepts

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like: customized versus standard, four types of proc2esses, provider or customer

routed, the hierarchy of work (task, activity, process, value chain), flowchart, process
boundary, value- and non-valued-added, reengineering, utilization, bottlenecks, and
processing or flow time.

4. In Section 5 we listed several questions to ask in order to identify and analyze

improvements in a process. Can you think of others?

The questions listed in the chapter, Section 5 include:

• Are the steps in the process arranged in logical sequence?
• Do all steps add value? Can some steps be eliminated and should others be added in
order to improve quality or operational performance? Can some be combined? Should
some be reordered?
• Are capacities of each step in balance; that is, do bottlenecks exist for which
customers will incur excessive waiting time?
• What skills, equipment, and tools are required at each step of the process? Should
some steps be automated?
• At which points in the system (sometimes called process fail points) might errors
occur that would result in customer dissatisfaction, and how might these errors be
corrected?
• At which point or points in the process should performance be measured? What are
appropriate measures?
• Where interaction with the customer occurs, what procedures, behaviors and
guidelines should employees follow that will present a positive image?
• What is the impact of the process on sustainability? Can we quantify the carbon
footprint of the current process?

Other example job and process related questions students might cite include:
1. How much time does it take to process the good or service?
2. Where are service management skills needed in the process? Do we do a good job
of training for these types of skills at these points of customer contact?
3. Should we continue working on continuous improvement or is a more radical
reengineering approach required to make this process competitive?
4. What are the root causes of defects, errors and service upsets in each job and the
process?
5. What is the cost per unit of output (i.e., cost per unit or transaction, etc.)?
6. How is the process affected by global sourcing?
7. Should the process be split into one or more parallel stages?
8. What process tasks should be performed by teams?

5. What sustainability issues are present in the example restaurant order fulfillment
process example (Exhibits 7.6 to 7.11)? What other restaurant processes need to
include sustainability criteria in their design and day-to-day management?

Sustainability refers to an organization’s ability to strategically address current

business needs and successfully develop a long-term strategy that embraces

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opportunities and manages risk for all products, systems, supply chains, and
processes to preserve resources for future generations.

Sustainability can be viewed from three perspectives: environmental, social, and

economic. Exhibit 1.6 is best suited to provide a framework to answer this question on
the board with student inputs. Many students take their first jobs in the restaurant
business so expect some interesting issues, examples, and solutions.

Exhibit 1.6 Examples of Sustainability Practices

Environmental Sustainability
• Waste management: Reduce waste and manage recycling efforts
• Energy optimization: Reduce consumption during peak energy demand times
• Transportation optimization: Design efficient vehicles and routes to save fuel
• Technology upgrades: Improvements to save energy and clean and reuse water in
manufacturing processes
• Air quality: Reduce greenhouse gas emissions
• Sustainable product design: Design goods whose parts can be recycled or safely
disposed of

Social Sustainability
• Product safety: Ensure consumer safety in using goods and services
• Workforce health and safety: Ensure a healthy and safe work environment
• Ethics and governance: Ensure compliance with legal and regulatory requirements
and transparency in management decisions
• Community: Improve the quality of life through industry-community partnerships

Economic Sustainability
• Performance excellence: Build a high-performing organization with a capable
leadership and workforce
• Financial management: Make sound financial plans to ensure long-term
organizational survival
• Resource management: Acquire and manage all resources effectively and
efficiently
• Emergency preparedness: Have plans in place for business, environmental, and
social emergencies.

Clearly, restaurant purchasing/sourcing, energy use, facility design, emergency and

disaster plans and training, food inspections, employee safety, animal rights (see
Chapter 4, Section 6.1 on McDonald’s and sustainability), waste management such as
cooking oils, water and air quality, and so on.

Problems and Activities

(Note: an asterisk denotes problems for which an Excel spreadsheet template on the
CourseMate Web site may be used.)

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1. Research and find an example of a process and/or value chain improvement initiative
where sustainability is included in the analysis. Write a short paper (maximum of
two typed pages) describing the initiative similar to the chapter description about Alfa
Laval.

One objective of this “green” assignment is to get students motivated w/r to OM.
Students should write something similar to the example of Alfa Laval in the chapter
introduction.

2. Carbon dioxide emissions associated with a one-night stay in a hotel room are
calculated at 29.53 kg of CO2 per room day for an average hotel. If your hotel’s 102
rooms are all occupied for two days during a college football game, how much CO2
did the guests and hotel release into the atmosphere? What work and leisure
activities and processes in the hotel generate CO2 emissions? Provide three
examples. Explain.

CO2 released = (102 rooms/night)(2 nights) = (204 room days)(29.53 kg of CO2/room

day) = 6,024.12 kgs or at 1 kilogram = 2.2046 pounds then 13,281 pounds of CO2.
Example hotel processes that directly or indirectly release carbon dioxide into the
atmosphere include:
• Laundry services
• Air conditioning and heating
• Vending machines
• Room/cleaning//elevator service
• Building and equipment energy use
• Kitchen/meals/restaurant
• Televisions/fireplace/wi-fi
• Spa/pool/exercise room
• Trash storage and removal
• Security systems (energy use, vehicles, etc.)

And, of course, the vehicles that supply the hotel (vendors), airport transport, and
customer vehicles all contribute to the release of CO2 into the atmosphere. Ask your
students, “How can we reduce this release for say, hotel laundry services?” “How
can we design “green hotel processes?” Can we design “green hotels?” Can we
plant more trees on the hotel site? Can we paint the hotel roof white to reflect (not
absorb) the sun’s rays and heat?

OM must now analyze costs, time, quality AND sustainability in process and
value chain design!

If you Google “green hotels” you will get over 2 million hits such as the partial
example below:

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And in a nod to the wishes of its environmentally concerned membership, AAA has
added an "eco" icon to its 2010 Tour Books for hotels, motels, and other lodging
facilities. The AAA Eco Program identifies - and in turn, promotes - AAA-approved
lodgings that are certified by designated government and private programs. Clearly,
eco-conscious meeting and leisure travelers are putting their dollars (and their Euros,
yen, pesos and rupees) toward travel-related businesses with a focus on sustainability,
and their preferences can no longer be disregarded. And not only are those travelers
coming down on the side of green, but so are federal, state and local governments.

"In the hospitality industry, we're seeing a wave of new government mandates stating
that employees can only stay in or host meetings in green hotels," said Ray Hobbs, a
member of EcoRooms & EcoSuites' Board of Advisors and a certified auditor for
Green Globe International. "But there are only twenty three states with official green
certification programs, and the industry is still attempting to find the certification
process that best serves its needs."

For example, in 2007, Florida Governor Charlie Crist signed an executive order
mandating that all state meetings and conventions be held in designated green
facilities whenever possible. With the stroke of a pen, Governor Crist started a
veritable stampede of hoteliers scrambling to earn green certification for their
properties - and achieve a competitive advantage when jockeying for state business.
The mandate, while welcomed by environmental advocates in Florida, put a serious
strain on the state's excellent green lodging certification program, which has since
been nearly dismantled by drastic budget cuts. And Florida isn't alone.

3. Draw a flowchart for a process of interest to you, such as a quick oil-change service, a
factory process you might have worked in, ordering a pizza, renting a car or truck,
buying products on the Internet, or applying for an automobile loan. Identify the points
where something (people, information) waits for service or is held in work-in-process
inventory, the estimated time to accomplish each activity in the process, and the total
flow time. Evaluate how well the process worked and what might be done to improve
it.

This question helps students see processes from a larger perspective and better
appreciate the need for improvement and better design. Show their flowcharts in class
on overheads or as power points and let them explain the process, how it works,
performance metrics, etc.

4. Design a process for one of the following activities:

a. Preparing for an exam
b. Writing a term paper
c. Planning a vacation

The instructor should expect a simple flowchart with 3 to 10 activities possibly with
feedback loops. Make sure the students understand a group of tasks define a
workstation and the process map (flowchart) should be at the work station level. For

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many students this will be the first time they have organized their thinking about how
things are accomplished so be patient. Ask them questions such as (1) Where does the
process start and end? (2) Why does the process exist? (3) Can you identify the
bottleneck? (4) Is the bottleneck labor or equipment constrained? (5) Is there a "line
of visibility" in their flowchart? (6) Are there alternative ways to define how work
gets done?

5. A 30,000-seat college football stadium is used 18 times for games, concerts, and
graduation ceremonies. Each event averages four hours and assumes the stadium is
full for each event. The stadium is available 365 days a year from 6 am to midnight.
What is stadium (seat) utilization using Equation 7.1? Can you think of one or two
other assets that have such low resource utilization?

Utilization (U) = Resources Used/Resources Available (Eq. 7.1) [Notice: the

focus is stadium “seat” utilization)

= (30,000 seats/visit)(4 hours/visit)(20 visits/year)

(30,000 seats/visit)(365 days/year)(18 hours/day)

= 2,400,000 seat hours/year

197,100,000 seat hours/year

= 0.0122 or 1.22% Stadium seat utilization (very few assets have

such a low utilization; global manufacturers such as GE or Honda
could never justify such a low utilization; only in “USA Sports
Nation” )

6. The demand for intensive care services in an urban hospital is 11 patients per hour on
Mondays while intensive care nurses can handle 4 patients per hour. What is nurse
(labor) utilization if five intensive care nurses are scheduled to be on duty for
Monday? What are the advantages and disadvantages of this resource schedule for
Mondays from the patient’s and management’s perspective?

Use Equation 7.2 and notice all equation inputs are in the same units of measure!

Utilization (U) = Demand Rate/[Service Rate*Number of Servers] (Eq. 7.2)

U = (11 patients/hour)/[(4 patients/hour/nurse)(3 nurses)] = .91

The planned nurse utilization is close to100% so any delays or longer emergencies
will probably result in patients waiting for service. If you assume sufficient capacity
of exam rooms, equipment, and doctors, then the bottleneck may very well be nurse
capacity. Management may like this situation because nurse staff capacity is almost
adequate, customers won't have to wait too long, and nursing labor costs are lower.

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7. A telephone call center uses three customer service representatives (CSRs) during the
8:30 a.m. to 9:00 a.m. time period. The standard service rate is 2.0 minutes per
telephone call per CSR. Assuming a target labor utilization rate of 80 percent, how
many calls can these three CSRs handle during this half-hour period?

Service rate = 2 minutes/call or 15 calls/30 minutes/CSR

Utilization (U) = Demand Rate/[Service Rate*Number of Servers] (Eq. 7.2)

0.80 = DR/[(15 calls/30minutes/CSR)(3 CSRs)

DR = 0.80*45 = 36 calls/30 minutes

For all of these problems emphasize that students must get all variables in the same
units of measure “before” plugging numbers into the formula! Not doing this is a
common mistake; for example, mixing up minutes and hours.

8. What is the implied service rate at a bank teller window if customer demand is 43
customers per hour, two bank tellers are on duty, and their labor utilization is 90
percent?

Service rate = ??

Utilization (U) = Demand Rate/[Service Rate*Number of Servers] (7.2)

0.90 = 43 customers/hour/[SR*(2 tellers)]

2*(.90)SR = 43 customers/hour
1.8 SR = 43
SR = 23.88 or approximately 24 customers/hour/teller

9. Refer to Exhibit 7.7 and recomputed the total value-added and non-value-added time
and cost given the following new information. If a restaurant uses iPads to place
orders and notify waiters when the customer’s order is ready, the time on the order
board (now an electronic order board) decreases from 5 to 1 minute, and the prepared
order wait time decreases from 5 to 3 minutes. How might speeding up the order and
delivery process affect customer satisfaction? Explain.

The non-value added order wait time is now (1 minutes/order)(1hr/60 min)($5/hr) =

$0.083 (instead of $0.417)

The non-value added order prepare time is now (3 minutes/order)(1hr/60

min)($60/hr) = $3.00 (instead of $5.00)

Total Revised Time = 20 minutes (VA time) + 4 minutes (NVA) = 24 minutes

(instead of 30 minutes)
Total Cost = $11.67 (VA Cost) + $3.08 (NVA Cost) = $14.75 (instead of $17.087)

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Therefore, introducing technology into this restaurant ordering process has reduced
non-value added time and costs. In the spirit of continuous improvement, the next
initiative is to try to reduce VA times and costs using better procedures, equipment
(ovens), and operating practices.

10.* An express checkout line at a grocery store takes an average of 3 minutes to ring-up
a customer’s order. On average 4 customers are in the checkout line. What is the
average number of customers per hour that are processed in the checkout line?

WIP = R* T
4 = R*(3 min)
R = 1.33 customers per minute, or 60(1.33) = 80 customers/hour

The Excel template Little’s Law may also be used to solve this problem:

11.* An accounts receivable manager processes 200 checks per day with an average
processing time of 15 working days. What is the average number of accounts
receivable checks being processed in her office? What if through information
technology she reduces the processing time from 15 days to 10 days to 5 days? What
are the advantages and disadvantages of adopting this technology? Explain.

WIP = R* T = (200 checks/day)(15 days) = 3,000 checks

WIP = R* T = (200 checks/day)(10 days) = 2,00 checks
WIP = R* T = (200 checks/day)(5 days) = 1,000 checks

The new information technology dramatically speeds up the process and

simultaneously lowers the average number of checks (WIP) in the office. Processing
more checks faster means more cash sooner in their accounts!

The Excel template Little’s Law may also be used to solve this problem. The first
calculation is shown below:

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12.* A manufacturer’s average work-in-process inventory for Part #2934 is 750 parts.
The workstation produces parts at the rate of 225 parts per day. What is the average
time a part spends in this workstation?

WIP = R* T
750 parts = (225 parts/day)(T days)
T = 750/225 = 3.33 days

The Excel template Little’s Law may also be used to solve this problem.

13. Marion Health Clinic sees patients on a walk-in basis only. On average, 10 patients
per hour enter the clinic. All patients register at the registration window with a
registration clerk (RC), which takes 3 minutes. After registration, but before being
seen by a nurse practitioner (NP), the registration records clerk (RRC) pulls the
patient’s records from the records room, which takes 6 minutes. At his or her turn,
each patient then sees a NP, who checks weight, temperature, and blood pressure.
This work activity takes 5 minutes. The NP determines if the patient must see a
doctor (MD) or can be handled by a Physician’s Assistant (PA). There is one MD,
one PA, one NP, one RRC, one BC, and one RC in the system at the current time.
The NP sends 40 percent of the patients to the PA and 60 percent to the MD. The
PA takes on average 6 minutes per patient whereas the MD takes 15 minutes. After
the patient sees the PA and/or MD, the patient pays the bill or processes insurance
information with the billing clerk (BC), which takes 5 minutes per patient. Then the
patient exits the process.

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a. Draw a process flow diagram, label everything, and place the times and
percentages given in the problem on the diagram. See the following.

Example computation: RC Regr Clerk @ 3 minutes/record or 10 records/hour.

Then 10/20 is 50 percent average labor utilization rate. MD is 6/4 = 150%, etc.

Notice that in the base analysis, the RRC is at 100% labor utilization (10/10) and
the MD is overloaded at 150% (6/4) planned (100% actual) utilization. If 2 MDs
are used, their utilization drops to 75% (6/(4*2)).

b. What is the throughput in patients per hour of each stage in the process?

Assume one person per stage MD = 4 patients/hour, NP = 12 patients/hour, PA =

10 patient/hour, BC = 12 patients/hour, RRC = 10 patients/hour, and RC = 20
patients per hour.

c. What are the labor utilization rates for the MD, NP, PA, BC, RRC, and RC? Are
these values appropriate? If not, how might you redesign the process? Where is the
bottleneck?

Assume one person per stage MD = 150%, NP =83.3%, PA = 40%, BC =83.3%,

RRC = 100%, and RC = 50%. The bottleneck is MDs. The labor utilizations are
too low for RC and PA, and too high for MDs. One expensive way to improve
total process throughput is to use 2 MDs instead of 1 with a utilization of 75%.

d. The PA often discovers the patient should see a MD so the patient is sent to the
MD after seeing the PA 50% of the time. How does this change affect your answers
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to the questions above?

The demand for MDs is now 8 patients/hour instead of 6 so with 1 MD on duty

the utilization = 200%; with 2 MDs on duty it is 100%; and with 3 MDs it is 67%.
It may also be a good idea to eliminate the PA position if they must refer 2 more
patients to the doctor.

14. The Wilcox Student Health Center has just implemented a new computer system and
service process to “improve efficiency.” The process flowchart and analysis
framework is also provided. As pharmacy manager, you are concerned about waiting
time and its potential impact on college students who “get no respect.” All
prescriptions (Rxs) go through the following process:
Assume that students arrive to drop-off Rxs at a steady rate of two Rxs per
minute, with an average of one Rx per student. The average number of students in
process (assume waiting and being serviced) at each station is: DROP-OFF—five
students, PICK-UP—three students and PAY CASHIER—six students.

The fill Rx station typically has 40 Rxs in process and waiting on average. Because of
this perceived long wait, 95 percent of the students decide to come back later for
pick-up. They come back an average of three hours later. If the students choose to
stay, each name is called as soon as the Rx is filled and the student then enters the
pick-up line. Assume that the system is operating at a steady state.

People and information flow with the assumption of 1 Rx per student.

Demand (arrival) or throughput rate = 2 Rxs/minute

This is not an easy problem but it illustrates you must flowchart both people
and information (Rx here) flows to do a good process analysis.

a. What is the average time a student spends in the pharmacy if they stay to pick-up

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their Rx? You may want to use the worksheet below.

WIP and R are given in problem and T is computed. For example, T = WIP/R = 40/2
= 20 minutes for filling Rxs.

b. How many minutes does the student spend in the pharmacy if he or she picks-up the
Rx 3 hours later (i.e., the student goes home after dropping the Rx off)?

2.5 + 1.5 +3.0 = 7 minutes

c. What is the average time in minutes that all students spend in the pharmacy?

0.95(7 min.) + 0.05(27 min.) = 8 minutes

d. What is the average time in minutes that the Rx spends in the process? Count time
from entering the drop-off line to completing payment.

0.95(7 min + 180 min) + 0.05(27 min) = 177.65 + 1.35 = 179 minutes

Note that the Rx must wait until pickup.

15. A manufacturer of air conditioner compressors is concerned that too much money is
tied up in its value chain. Average raw material inventory is $50 million and work-in-
process (WIP) production inventory is $20 million. Sales are $20 million per week
and finished goods inventory averages $30 million. The average outstanding accounts
receivable is $60 million. Assume 50 weeks in one year. The value chain is shown
below:

a. What is the total flow (process) time of a throughput dollar? (Hint: Use a WIP =
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 OM5 C7 IM

R*T format and table as shown in Problem # 14 to organize your solution.)

First, review the calculations below. If we add the flow times for each process
in the value chain we obtain .05 + .02 + .03 + .06 = .16 years or 8 weeks. R
= ($20m/week)(50 weeks) = $1,000m/year). This problem applies Little’s
Law to a supply chain.

b. What is the average dollar inventory in the value chain?

$50m + $20m + $30m + $60m = $160m

c. Which of the major stages—raw materials, WIP, finished goods or accounts

receivable—is the best candidate for freeing up dollars for the air conditioner
manufacturer?

Clearly, accounts receivable ties up $60m in cash and takes on average .06 years or 3
weeks to process and collect the money. The fact is a dollar tied up in accounts
receivable is just as valuable as a dollar tied up in production or inventory.

d. What is the target level of average accounts receivable inventory if management

can reduce the time a dollar spends in accounts receivable inventory (processing and
collections) by one-half by improving the accounts receivable process?

WIP = R*T or $1,000m/year*.03 year = $30m instead of $60m. This improvement

initiative frees up monies for other purposes or to reduce cash flow and debt needs.

e. What else does this flow time analysis problem demonstrate?

38% (3/8) of the total flow time and total cash to operate the business ($60m/$160m)
is due to accounts receivable.

This post-production service is a good place to start improving value chain

performance. Revisit Exhibit 2.3 to see what other post-production services might be
relevant. Also, look at the pre-production services and think about their impact on
total value chain flow time. This is an example of applying Little's Law to a value
chain.

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Case Teaching Note: Hopewell Hospital Pharmacy

Overview

Hopewell Hospital is trying to reduce costs yet maintain high quality. There are many
opportunities for errors in writing and filling an Rx in a hospital pharmacy and this case
focuses, in part on that issue. The case cites national studies on hospital pharmacies found
error rates ranging from .01 percent (1 in a 1,000) to 15 percent (15 in 100).

The focus of the case is on job and process design and "how to organize and group
work?" Instructors might want to assign other (extra) questions to focus student attention
or at least pose during class (see teaching plan).

Case Questions and Brief Answers

1. Draw the process flowchart including processing times and capacities per step, and
total time per prescription.

Since process steps (stages) are in series this is a relatively easy assignment. See Excel
diagram and computations later in this teaching note. Students normally do great
flowcharts. The numbers in the OM4 case have changed from previous OM editions!

2. As a baseline measure for one time period, what is the labor utilization if 30
prescriptions arrive between 8 a.m. and 9 a.m. on Monday and four or five pharmacists
are on duty doing all seven steps? (You do not have the data to evaluate staffing levels
by hour of the day for Monday.)

See answers on spreadsheet that follows. We use Equation 7.2 here. If 4 pharmacists
does all steps then Utils = 121.3% or if 5 pharmacists do all steps Util% = 97%.

3. Clearly identify two other ways to group and divide the work among the medical
technicians and pharmacists, compute labor utilizations, and discuss the advantages
and disadvantages of each job and process design option.

The case questions are general so expect a wide variety of student options. The idea is
to get then to think in depth about job and process design and how one might group
work and what are the advantage and disadvantages. Three possible job/process design
options are:

(1) Process Design Option A -- All work (steps 1 to 7) done by pharmacists.

Advantages - one process and Rx owner, higher quality and less opportunity for errors
(no handoffs), job enlargement

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Disadvantages - no benefit from job specialization, highest skill level (pharmacists)

doing some lower skill work

The spreadsheet analysis indicates with 4 pharmacist utilization is 121% and with 5
pharmacists utilization is 97%. You might also discuss with the students that the times
per workstation activity might be reduced (work faster) and that would free up staff
capacity.

Also, note that if you group all work and one pharmacist fills a RX from A to Z, the
bottleneck at Step 5 does not matter. Only if each step (stage) is discrete (like an
assembly line) would the BN matter and then total process output is constrained.

(2) Process Design Option B -- Assign steps 1 and 7 to medical technicians and steps
2 to 6 to pharmacists.

Advantages - lessen workload on pharmacists labor pool, all that is legally required

Disadvantages - chance of more opportunity for error

With Option B utilization is 96.2% with 4 pharmacists and 92.3% with 5. Notice that
the service rate went from 6.19 Rx/hour to 7.8 Rx/hour assuming this option.

(3) Process Design Option C -- Assign steps 1 and 7 to medical technicians and group
steps 2 to 4 and steps 5 to 6 and assign to pharmacists.

Advantages - more job and pharmacists specialization, may become more efficient
(learning curve)

Disadvantages - since the two pharmacists workstation are now interdependent must
be staffed at all times, not sure about impact on quality, uneven assignment of work
Step 2 to 4 Workstation utilization with 2 pharmacists is 92.6%. Step 5 and 6
workstation with 2 pharmacists is 100%.

4. What are your final recommendations?

• Option A with 5 pharmacists and a utilization of 97% is best in terms of quality

control but probably not labor costs.

• Option B is probably second best with 4 pharmacist's utilization of 96.2% and

lower labor costs. Here, we assign steps 1 and 7 to technicians and steps 3 to 6 to
pharmacist. The risk is one person doesn’t do the entire job so the opportunity for
errors increases. Students may justify other options.

• Pharmacy must comply with all legal requirements.

• Pharmacy software should check patient history and for medicine conflicts and
allergies.

15
 OM5 C7 IM

• Adopt an electronic prescription system so no hand-written Rxs and no waste of

time in paper-based RX system.
• Hire good medical technicians and provide extensive training.

Other case questions you might use during class discussion or assign prior to case
write-up are as follows.

1. What is range of service upsets severity in this case situation?

Degree of Service Upset Severity

Low High

No effect Upset Stomach Sick Shock Death

2. What is the #1 competitive priority for this hospital pharmacy process?

• Quality is #1 -- zero errors, minimize opportunities for errors, process and customer
ownership assigned, etc.
• Both medication and service quality are highly dependent on the job and process
design.

3. Would you rather have one pharmacist handle your prescription from A to Z or
can these tasks be assigned to different pharmacists?

For goods-producing assembly lines job specialization has many advantages (we
cover assembly line balancing in Chapter 8) but in this professional pharmacy service
it may not be advantageous.

4. Does this process have to be organized in series?

Basically, yes. Not much latitude for parallel workstations given the work and quality
control requirements.

5. How can software technology help ensure quality? (Pharmacy software checks
thousands of drug interactions and recalls while a human does not have this memory
capability).

6. What sustainability issues are there in a hospital pharmacy? Everything from

waste disposal of radiation medicines to employee safety to free medicine for the
disadvantaged.

Teaching Plan
You can use the four case questions and the five extra questions to create a good case
discussion depending on how much time you wish to allocate to the case. If you teach

16
 OM5 C7 IM

this case on the board it can take up to one hour (drawing process stages, putting up
each option with numbers and advantages and disadvantages, address a few of extra
questions, etc.). You can also have student teams present this case and then lead the
discussion.

You can conclude this case discussion by pointing out that

• How you group (organize) work affects resource utilization, waiting time, cost, and
quality—it does matter—that is, OM does matter!
• Rx ownership is important w/r to the tradeoffs between costs, quality control, risk,
and liability.
• Job and process design is important for any functional area of a business.
• Operations expertise is required to make good job and process design decisions.

17
 OM5 C7 IM

Hopewell Hospital Pharmacy Total

Step Time
1 Step 2 Step 3 Step 4 Step 5 Step 6 Step 7 per

Rx
min/Rx 0.5 1.3 1.4 1.0 3.2 0.8 1.5 9.70

6.19
Capacity 120.0 46.2 42.9 60.0 18.8 75.0 40.0 (60/9.7)
(Rx/Hour) BN
JOB & PROCESS DESIGN -- OPTION A
If you assume all work can be grouped together than one pharmacist has a capacity of 6.2 Rxs/hour
or one RX every 9.7 minutes. Four pharmacists have an average utilization of 121% so not feasible.
Here, 5 pharmacists have an average labor utilization of 97% if they do all work.

JOB & PROCESS DESIGN -- OPTION B

If 4 pharmacist do all the work except Steps 1 & 7 (assigned to medical technicians) then it takes 7.7 minutes/Rx

or 6.1 Rxs/hour. The revised pharmacist utilization 96.2%. If 5 pharmacist are assigned under these job and
process design assumptions then utilization decreases to 92.3%.

JOB & PROCESS DESIGN -- OTHER

If we assume the medical technicians can do Steps 1 and 7 and Steps 2 to 6 can be combined then we have
several job and process design options. For example, if we combine Steps 2 to 4 the total time is 3.7 min/Rx. For steps
Steps 5 & 6 the total time are 4.0 min/Rx. See utilization computations below when demand rate = 30 Rxs/hour.

18
 OM5 C7 IM

Using Equation 7.2

If 4 pharmacist do all
the If 5 pharmacist do all the If 4 pharmacist do all the If 5 pharmacist do all the
work then: work then: work except Steps 1 & 7 work except Steps 1 & 7
then then

Arrival Rate
= 30 Arrival Rate = 30 Arrival Rate = 30 Arrival Rate = 36
Service Rate Service Rate
= 6.19 = 6.19 Service Rate = 7.80 Service Rate = 7.80 (60/7.7)
No. Phar = 4.00 No. Phar = 5.00 No. Phar = 4 No. Phar = 5

Utils % = AR/[SR*#] Utils % = AR/[SR*#] Utils % = AR/[SR*#] Utils % = AR/[SR*#]

Utils % = 121.3% Utils % = 97.0% Utils % = 96.2% Utils % = 92.3%

Using Equation 7.2 and Grouping Steps 2 to 4 and Steps 5 & 6

If 2 pharmacists are assigned If 2 pharmacists are assigned How to best group work and define the jobs in
Steps 2 to 4 then
service Steps 5 & 6 then service the pharmacy process? Two types of jobs - pharmacists
rate = 60/3.7 = 16.2 Rxs/hour. rate = 60/4 = 15 Rxs/hour. and medical technicians. Students must consider
labor utilizations (and therefore indirectly costs) and
the
Arrival Rate
= 30 Arrival Rate = 30 opportunity for errors (quality).
Service Rate Service Rate
= 16.2 = 15.0
No. Phar = 2 No. Phar = 2 Given quality and cost considerations the best option
if probably use 5 pharmacists to do all steps. As long
Utils % = AR/[SR*#] Utils % = AR/[SR*#] as the students use sound logic and see the job and
Utils % = 92.6% Utils % = 100.0% process design issues, we grade them high.

In this job and process design - 2 pharmacists do Steps 2 to 4,

2 pharmacists do steps 5 and 6, and the medical technicians do
Steps 1 & 7. Too many handoffs; increased opportunity
for error; too risky w/r to liability, service upsets, errors, etc.

19
 OM5 C7 IM

20
Another random document with
no related content on Scribd:
 By Alfred Tennyson

My good blade carves the casques of men,

My tough lance thrusteth sure,
My strength is as the strength of ten,
Because my heart is pure.
The shattering trumpet shrilleth high,
The hard brands shiver on the steel,
The splinter’d spear-shafts crack and fly,
The horse and rider reel:
They reel, they roll in clanging lists,
And when the tide of combat stands,
Perfume and flowers fall in showers,
That lightly rain from ladies’ hands.

—From “Sir Galahad.”

OPPORTUNITY
By Edward Rowland Sill

This I beheld, or dreamed it in a dream:—

There spread a cloud of dust along a plain;
And underneath the cloud, or in it, raged
A furious battle, and men yelled, and swords
Shocked upon swords and shields. A prince’s banner
Wavered, then staggered backward, hemmed by foes.

A craven hung along the battle’s edge,

And thought, “Had I a sword of keener steel—
That blue blade that the king’s son bears—but this
Blunt thing—!” he snapped and flung it from his hand,
And lowering crept away and left the field.

Then came the king’s son, wounded, sore bestead,

And weaponless, and saw the broken sword,
Hilt buried in the dry and trodden sand,
And ran and snatched it, and with battle-shout
Lifted afresh, he hewed his enemy down,
And saved a great cause that heroic day.

THE FIRING LINE

By Joaquin Miller

For glory? For good? For fortune or fame?

Why, he for the front when the battle is on!
Leave the rear to the dolt, the lazy, the lame,
Go forward as ever the valiant have gone;
Whether city or field, whether mountain or mine,
Go forward, right on to the Firing Line.

Whether newsboy or plowboy, cowboy or clerk,

Fight forward, be ready, be steady, be first;
Be fairest, be bravest, be best at your work;
Exalt and be glad; dare to hunger, to thirst,
As David, as Alfred—let dogs skulk and whine—
There is room but for men on the Firing Line.
Aye, the place to fight and the place to fall—
As fall we must, all in God’s good time—
It is where the manliest man is the wall,
Where boys are as men in their pride and prime,
Where glory gleams brightest, where brightest eyes shine,
Far out on the roaring red Firing Line.

HOW OSWALD DINED WITH GOD

By Edwin Markham

Over Northumbria’s lone, gray lands,

Over the frozen marl,
Went flying the fogs from the fens and sands,
And the wind with a wolfish snarl.

Frosty and stiff by the York wall

 Stood the rusty grass and the yarrow:
Gone wings and songs to the southland, all—
Robin and starling and sparrow.

Weary with weaving the battle-woof,

Came the king and his thanes to the Hall:
Feast-fires reddened the beams of the roof,
Torch flames waved from the wall.

Bright was the gold that the table bore,

Where platters and beakers shone:
Whining hounds on the sanded floor
Looked hungrily up for a bone.

Laughing, the king took his seat at the board,

With his gold-haired queen at his right:
War-men sitting around them roared
Like a crash of the shields in fight.

Loud rose laughter and lusty cheer,

And gleemen sang loud in their throats,
Telling of swords and the whistling spear,
Till their red beards shook with the notes.

Varlets were bringing the smoking boar,

Ladies were pouring the ale,
When the watchman called from the great hall door:
“O King, on the wind is a wail.

“Feebly the host of the hungry poor

Lift hands at the gate with a cry:
Grizzled and gaunt they come over the moor,
Blasted by earth and sky.”

“Ho!” cried the king to the thanes, “make speed—

Carry this food to the gates—
Off with the boar and the cask of mead—
Leave but a loaf on the plates.”
Still came a cry from the hollow night:
“King, this is one day’s feast;
But days are coming with famine-blight;
Wolf winds howl from the east!”

Hot from the king’s heart leaped a deed,

High as his iron crown:
(Noble souls have a deathless need
To stoop to the lowest down.)

“Thanes, I swear by Godde’s Bride

This is a cursèd thing—
Hunger for the folk outside,
Gold inside for the king!”

Whirling his war-ax over his head,

He cleft each plate into four.
“Gather them up, O thanes,” he said,
“For the workfolk at the door.

“Give them this for the morrow’s meat,

Then shall we feast in accord:
Our half of a loaf will then be sweet—
Sweet as the bread of the Lord!”

—From “The Shoes of Happiness and Other Poems.” Copyright by

Doubleday, Page & Co., and used by kind permission of author and
publisher.

HOW THE GREAT GUEST CAME

By Edwin Markham

Before the Cathedral in grandeur rose,

At Ingelburg where the Danube goes;
Before its forest of silver spires
Went airily up to the clouds and fires;
Before the oak had ready a beam,
While yet the arch was stone and dream—
There where the altar was later laid,
Conrad the cobbler plied his trade.

II

Doubled all day on his busy bench,

Hard at his cobbling for master and hench,
He pounded away at a brisk rat-tat,
Shearing and shaping with pull and pat,
Hide well hammered and pegs sent home,
Till the shoe was fit for the Prince of Rome.
And he sang as the threads went to and fro:
“Whether ’tis hidden or whether it show,
Let the work be sound, for the Lord will know.”

III

Tall was the cobbler, and gray and thin,

And a full moon shone where the hair had been.
His eyes peered out, intent and afar,
As looking beyond the things that are.
He walked as one who is done with fear,
Knowing at last that God is near.
Only the half of him cobbled the shoes;
The rest was away for the heavenly news.
Indeed, so thin was the mystic screen
That parted the Unseen from the Seen,
You could not tell, from the cobbler’s theme
If his dream were truth or his truth were dream.

IV

It happened one day at the year’s white end,

Two neighbors called on their old-time friend;
And they found the shop, so meager and mean,
Made gay with a hundred boughs of green.
Conrad was stitching with face ashine,
But suddenly stooped as he twitched a twine:
“Old friends, good news! At dawn to-day,
As the cocks were scaring the night away,
The Lord appeared in a dream to me,
And said, ‘I am coming your Guest to be!’
So I’ve been busy with feet astir,
Strewing the floor with branches of fir.
The wall is washed and the shelf is shined,
And over the rafter the holly twined.
He comes to-day, and the table is spread,
With milk and honey and wheaten bread.”

His friends went home; and his face grew still

As he watched for the shadow across the sill.
He lived all the moments o’er and o’er,
When the Lord should enter the lowly door—
The knock, the call, the latch pulled up,
The lighted face, the offered cup.
He would wash the feet where the spikes had been;
He would kiss the hands where the nails went in;
And then at the last would sit with Him
And break the bread as the day grew dim.

VI

While the cobbler mused, there passed his pane

A beggar drenched by the driving rain.
He called him in from the stony street
And gave him shoes for his bruisèd feet.
The beggar went and there came a crone,
Her face with wrinkles of sorrow sown.
A bundle of fagots bowed her back,
And she was spent with the wrench and rack.
He gave her his loaf and steadied her load
As she took her way on the weary road.
Then to his door came a little child,
Lost and afraid in the world so wild,
In the big, dark world. Catching it up,
He gave it the milk in the waiting cup,
And led it home to its mother’s arms,
Out of the reach of the world’s alarms.

VII

The day went down in the crimson west

And with it the hope of the blessed Guest,
And Conrad sighed as the world turned gray:
“Why is it, Lord, that your feet delay?
Did You forget that this was the day?”
Then soft in the silence a Voice he heard:
“Lift up your heart, for I kept my word.
Three times I came to your friendly door;
Three times my shadow was on your floor.
I was the beggar with bruisèd feet;
I was the woman you gave to eat;
I was the child on the homeless street!”

—From “The Shoes of Happiness and Other Poems.” Copyright by

Doubleday, Page & Co., and used by kind permission of author and
publisher.

PICKETT’S CHARGE
By Fred Emerson Brooks

When Pickett charged at Gettysburg,

For three long days, with carnage fraught,
Two hundred thousand men had fought;
And courage could not gain the field,
Where stubborn valor would not yield.
With Meade on Cemetery Hill,
And mighty Lee thundering still
Upon the ridge a mile away;
Four hundred guns in counterplay
Their deadly thunderbolts had hurled—
The cannon duel of the world!
When Pickett charged at Gettysburg.

When Pickett charged at Gettysburg,

Dread war had never known such need
Of some o’ermastering, valiant deed;
And never yet had cause so large
Hung on the fate of one brief charge.
To break the center, but a chance;
With Pickett waiting to advance;
It seemed a crime to bid him go,
And Longstreet said not “Yes” nor “No,”
But silently he bowed his head.
“I shall go forward!” Pickett said.
Then Pickett charged at Gettysburg.

Then Pickett charged at Gettysburg;

Down from the little wooded slope,
A-step with doubt, a-step with hope,
And nothing but the tapping drum
To time their tread, still on they come.
Four hundred cannon hush their thunder,
While cannoneers gaze on in wonder!
Two armies watch, with stifled breath,
Full eighteen thousand march to death,
At elbow-touch, with banners furled,
And courage to defy the world,
In Pickett’s charge at Gettysburg.

’Tis Pickett’s charge at Gettysburg:

None but tried veterans can know
How fearful ’tis to charge the foe;
But these are soldiers will not quail,
Though Death and Hell stand in their trail!
Flower of the South and Longstreet’s pride,
There’s valor in their very stride!
Virginian blood runs in their veins,
And each his ardor scarce restrains;
Proud of the part they’re chosen for:
The mighty cyclone of the war,
In Pickett’s charge at Gettysburg.

’Tis Pickett’s charge at Gettysburg:

How mortals their opinions prize
When armies march to sacrifice,
And souls by thousands in the fight
On Battle’s smoky wing take flight.
Firm-paced they come, in solid form
The dreadful calm before the storm.
Those silent batteries seem to say:
“We’re waiting for you, men in gray!”
Each anxious gunner knows full well
Why every shot of his must tell
On Pickett’s charge at Gettysburg.

’Tis Pickett’s charge at Gettysburg:

What grander tableau can there be
Than rhythmic swing of infantry
At shouldered arms, with flashing steel?
As Pickett swings to left, half-wheel,
Those monsters instantly outpour
Their flame and smoke of death! and roar
Their fury on the silent air—
Starting a scene of wild despair:
Lee’s batteries roaring: “Room! Make room!!”
With Meade’s replying: “Doom! ’Tis doom
To Pickett’s charge at Gettysburg!”

’Tis Pickett’s charge at Gettysburg:

Now Hancock’s riflemen begin
To pour their deadly missiles in.
Can standing grain defy the hail?
Will Pickett stop? Will Pickett fail?
His left is all uncovered through
That fateful halt of Pettigrew!
And Wilcox from the right is cleft
By Pickett’s half-wheel to the left!
Brave Stannard rushes ’tween the walls,
No more disastrous thing befalls
Brave Pickett’s charge at Gettysburg.

’Tis Pickett’s charge at Gettysburg:

How terrible it is to see
Great armies making history:
Long lines of muskets belching flame!
No need of gunners taking aim
When from that thunder-cloud of smoke
The lightning kills at every stroke!
If there’s a place resembling hell,
’Tis where, ’mid shot and bursting shell,
Stalks Carnage, arm in arm with Death,
A furnace blast in every breath,
On Pickett’s charge at Gettysburg.

’Tis Pickett’s charge at Gettysburg:

Brave leaders fall on every hand!
Unheard, unheeded all command!
Battered in front and torn in flank;
A frenzied mob in broken rank!
They come like demons with a yell,
And fight like demons all pell-mell!
The wounded stop not till they fall;
The living never stop at all—
Their blood-bespattered faces say:
“’Tis death alone stops men in gray,
With Pickett’s charge at Gettysburg!”
 Stopped Pickett’s charge at Gettysburg
Where his last officer fell dead,
The dauntless, peerless, Armistead!
Where ebbed the tide and left the slain
Like wreckage from the hurricane—
That awful spot which soldiers call
“The bloody angle of the wall,”
There Pickett stopped, turned back again
Alone, with just a thousand men!
And not another shot was fired—
So much is bravery admired!
Pickett had charged at Gettysburg.

Brave Pickett’s charge at Gettysburg!

The charge of England’s Light Brigade
Was nothing to what Pickett made
To capture Cemetery Hill—
To-day a cemetery still,
With flowers in the rifle-pit,
But no one cares to capture it.
The field belongs to those who fell;
They hold it without shot or shell!
While cattle yonder in the vale
Are grazing on the very trail
Where Pickett charged at Gettysburg.

Where Pickett charged at Gettysburg,

In after-years survivors came
To tramp once more that field of fame;
And Mrs. Pickett led the Gray,
Just where her husband did that day.
The Blue were waiting at the wall,
The Gray leaped over, heart and all!
Where man had failed with sword and gun,
A woman’s tender smile had won:
The Gray had captured now the Blue,
What mortal valor could not do
 When Pickett charged at Gettysburg.

—Copyright by Forbes & Co., Chicago, and used by kind

permission of author and publisher.

“INASMUCH....”
By Edwin Markham

Wild tempest swirled on Moscow’s castled height;

Wild sleet shot slanting down the wind of night;
Quick snarling mouths from out of the darkness sprang
To strike you in the face with tooth and fang.
Javelins of ice hung on the roofs of all;
The very stones were aching in the wall,
Where Ivan stood a watchman on his hour,
Guarding the Kremlin by the northern tower,
When, lo! a half-bare beggar tottered past,
Shrunk up and stiffened in the bitter blast.
A heap of misery he drifted by,
And from the heap came out a broken cry.

At this the watchman straightened with a start;

A tender grief was tugging at his heart,
The thought of his dead father, bent and old
And lying lonesome in the ground so cold.
Then cried the watchman starting from his post:
“Little father, this is yours; you need it most!”
And tearing off his hairy coat, he ran
And wrapt it warm around the beggar man.

That night the piling snows began to fall,

And the good watchman died beside the wall.
But waking in the Better Land that lies
Beyond the reaches of these cooping skies,
Behold, the Lord came out to greet him home,
Wearing the hairy heavy coat he gave
By Moscow’s tower before he felt the grave!

And Ivan, by the old Earth-memory stirred,

Cried softly with a wonder in his word:
“And where, dear Lord, found you this coat of mine,
A thing unfit for glory such as Thine?”
Then the Lord answered with a look of light:
“This coat, My son, you gave to Me last night.”

—Copyright by Doubleday, Page & Co., New York, and used by

kind permission of author and publisher.

THE MAN UNDER THE STONE

By Edwin Markham

When I see a workingman with mouths to feed,

Up, day after day, in the dark before the dawn,
And coming home, night after night, through the dusk,
Swinging forward like some fierce silent animal,
I see a man doomed to roll a huge stone up an endless steep.
He strains it onward inch by stubborn inch,
Crouched always in the shadow of the rock....
See where he crouches, twisted, cramped, misshapen:
He lifts for their life;
The veins knot and darken—
Blood surges into his face....
Now he loses—now he wins—
Now he loses—loses—(God of my soul!)
He digs his feet into some earth—
There’s a moment of terrified effort....
Will the huge stone break his hold,
And crush him as it plunges to the gulf?
The silent struggle goes on and on,
Like two contending in a dream.
 —Copyright by Doubleday, Page & Co., New York, and used by
kind permission of author and publisher.

TO GERMANY
By George Sterling

Beat back thy forfeit plow-shares into swords:

It is not yet, the far, seraphic dream
Of peace made beautiful and love supreme.
Now let the strong, unweariable chords
Of battle shake to thunder, and the hordes
Advance, where now the famished vultures scream.
The standards gather and the trumpets gleam;
Down the long hill-side stare the mounted lords.

Now far beyond the tumult and the hate,

The white-clad nurses and the surgeons wait
The backward currents of tormented life,
When on the waiting silences shall come
The screams of men, and, ere those lips are dumb,
The searching probe, the ligature and knife.

II

Was it for such, the brutehood and the pain,

Civilization gave her holy fire
Unto thy wardship, and the snowy spire
Of her august and most exalted fane?
Are these the harvests of her ancient rain
Men reap at evening in the scarlet mire,
Or where the mountain smokes, a dreadful pyre,
Or where the warship drags a bloody stain?

Are these thy votive lilies and their dews,

That now the outraged stars look down to see?
 Behold them, where the cold prophetic damps
Congeal on youthful brows so soon to lose
Their dream of sacrifice to thee—to thee,
Harlot to Murder in a thousand camps!

III

Was it for this that loving men and true

Have labored in the darkness and the light
To rear the solemn temple of the Right,
On Reason’s deep foundations, bared anew
Long after the Cæsarian eagles flew
And Rome’s last thunder died upon the Night?
Cuirassed, the cannon menace from the height;
Armored, the new-born eagles take the blue.

Wait not thy lords the avenging, certain knell—

One with the captains and abhorrent fames
The echoes of whose conquests died in Hell?—
They that have loosened the ensanguined flood,
And whose malign and execrable names
The Seraph of the Record writes in blood.

IV

From gravid trench and sullen parapet,

Profane the wounded lands with mine or shell!
Turn thou upon the world thy cannons’ Hell,
Till many million women’s eyes are wet!
Ravage and slay! Pile up the eternal debt!
But when the fanes of France and Belgium fell
Another ruin was on earth as well,
And ashes that the race shall not forget.

Not by the devastation of the guns,

Nor tempest-shock, nor steel’s subverting edge,
Nor yet the slow erasure of the suns
Thy downfall came, betrayer of thy trust!
 But at the dissolution of a pledge
The temple of thine honor sank to dust.

Make not thy prayer to Heaven, lest perchance,

O troubler of the world, the heavens hear!
But trust in Uhlan and in cannoneer,
And, ere the Russian hough thee, set thy lance
Against the dear and blameless breast of France!
Put on thy mail tremendous and austere,
And let the squadrons of thy wrath appear,
And bid the standards and the guns advance!

Those as an evil mist shall pass away,

As once the Assyrian before the Lord:
Thou standest between mortals and the day,
Ere God, grown weary of thine armored reign,
Lift from the world the shadow of thy sword
And bid the stars of morning sing again.

—Copyright by A. M. Robertson, publisher, San Francisco, and

used by kind permission of author and publisher.

TO THE WAR-LORDS
By George Sterling

Be yours the doom Isaiah’s voice foretold,

Lifted on Babylon, O ye whose hands
Cast the sword’s shadow upon weaker lands,
And for whose pride a million hearths grow cold!
Ye reap but with the cannon, and do hold
Your plowing to the murder-god’s commands;
And at your altars Desolation stands,
And in your hearts is conquest, as of old.
The legions perish and the warships drown;
The fish and vulture batten on the slain;
And it is ye whose word hath shaken down
The dykes that hold the chartless sea of pain.
Your prayers deceive not men, nor shall a crown
Hide on the brow the murder-mark of Cain.

II

Now glut yourselves with conflict, nor refrain,

But let your famished provinces be fed
From bursting granaries of steel and lead!
Decree the sowing of that deadly grain
Where the great war-horse, maddened with his pain,
Stamps on the mangled living and the dead,
And from the entreated heavens overhead
Falls from a brother’s hand a fiery rain.

Lift not your voices to the gentle Christ:

Your god is of the shambles! Let the moan
Of nations be your psalter, and their youth
To Moloch and to Bel be sacrificed!
A world to which ye proffered lies alone
Learns now from Death the horror of your truth.

III

How have you fed your people upon lies,

And cried “Peace! peace!” and knew it would not be!
For now the iron dragons take the sea,
And in the new-found fortress of the skies,
Alert and fierce a deadly eagle flies.
Ten thousand cannon echo your decree,
To whose profound refrain ye bend the knee.
And lift into the Lord of Love your eyes.

This is Hell’s work: why raise your hands to Him,

And those hands mailed, and holding up the sword?
 There stands another altar, stained with red,
At whose basalt the infernal seraphim
Uplift to Satan, your conspirant lord,
The blood of nations, at your mandate shed.

—Copyright by A. M. Robertson, publisher, San Francisco, and

used by kind permission of author and publisher.

PAULINE PAVLOVNA
By T. B. Aldrich
(Scene: Petrograd. Period: The present time. A ballroom in the
winter palace of the prince. The ladies in character costumes and
masks. The gentlemen in official dress and unmasked, with the
exception of six tall figures in scarlet kaftans, who are treated with
marked distinction as they move here and there among the
promenaders.
Quadrille music throughout the dialogue. Count Sergius Pavlovich
Panshine, who has just arrived, is standing anxiously in the doorway
of an antechamber with his eyes fixed upon a lady in the costume of
a maid of honor in the time of Catherine II. The lady presently
disengages herself from the crowd, and passes near Count
Panshine, who impulsively takes her by the hand and leads her
across the threshold of the inner apartment, which is unoccupied.)
He. Pauline!
She. You knew me?
He. How could I have failed? A mask may hide your features, not
your soul. There’s an air about you like the air that folds a star. A
blind man knows the night, and feels the constellations. No coarse
sense of eye or ear had made you plain to me. Through these I had
not found you; for your eyes, as blue as violets of our Novgorod, look
black behind your mask there, and your voice—I had not known that
either. My heart said, “Pauline Pavlovna.”
 She. Ah, your heart said that? You trust your heart then! ’Tis a
serious risk! How is it you and others wear no mask?
He. The Emperor’s orders.
She. Is the Emperor here? I have not seen him.

He. He is one of the six in scarlet kaftans and all masked alike.
Watch—you will note how every one bows down
Before those figures; thinking each by chance
May be the Tsar; yet none know which is he.
Even his counterparts are left in doubt.
Unhappy Russia! No serf ever wore such chains
As gall our Emperor these sad days.
He dare trust no man.

She. All men are so false.

He. Spare one, Pauline Pavlovna.

She. No! all, all!

I think there is no truth left in the world,
In man or woman.
Once were noble souls.—
Count Sergius, is Nastasia here to-night?

He. Ah! then you know! I thought to tell you first.

Not here, beneath these hundred curious eyes,
In all this glare of light; but in some place
Where I could throw me at your feet and weep.
In what shape came the story to your ears?
Decked in the teller’s colors, I’ll be sworn;
The truth, but in the livery of a lie,
And so must wrong me. Only this is true:—
The Tsar, because I risked my wretched life
To shield a life as wretched as my own,
Bestows upon me, as supreme reward—
O irony!—the hand of this poor girl.
Says, “Here I have the pearl of pearls for you,
Such as was never plucked from out the deep
By Indian diver, for a Sultan’s crown.
Your joy’s decreed,” and stabs me with a smile.

She. And she—she loves you.

He. I know not, indeed. Likes me perhaps.

What matters it?—her love?
Sidor Yurievich, the guardian, consents, and she consents.
No love in it at all, a mere caprice,
A young girl’s spring-tide dream.
Sick of her ear-rings, weary of her mare,
She’ll have a lover—something ready made,
Or improvised between two cups of tea—
A lover by imperial ukase!
Fate said the word—I chanced to be the man!
If that grenade the crazy student threw
Had not spared me, as well as spared the Tsar,
All this would not have happened. I’d have been a hero,
But quite safe from her romance.
She takes me for a hero—think of that!
Now by our holy Lady of Kazan,
When I have finished pitying myself, I’ll pity her.

She. Oh, no;—begin with her; she needs it most.

He. At her door lies the blame, whatever falls.

She, with a single word, with half a tear,
Had stopt it at the first,
This cruel juggling with poor human hearts.

She. The Tsar commanded it—you said the Tsar.

He. The Tsar does what she wills—God fathoms why.

Were she his mistress, now! but there’s no snow
Whiter within the bosom of a cloud,
No colder either. She is very haughty,
For all her fragile air of gentleness;