Characteristics of Well Designed Service Systems

Production and Operations Management

1. Consistent with the organization mission

2. User friendly
3. Robust
4. Easy to sustain
5. Cost effective
6. Value to customers
7. Effective linkages between back-office operations
8. Single unifying theme
9. Ensure reliability and high quality
10. Consistency.
11. Up-to-date
Challenges of Service Design
Production and Operations Management

• Variable requirements
• Difficult to describe
• High customer contact
• Service cannot be inventoried
• Service – customer encounter
Phases in Service Design
Production and Operations Management

• Conceptualize
• Identify service components
• Determine performance specifications
• Translate performance specifications into design specifications
• Translate design specifications into delivery specifications
Service Blueprinting
Production and Operations Management

• A useful tool for conceptualizing a service delivery system

 simultaneously depicting the service process, the points of customer contact,
and the evidence of service from the customer’s point of view
• used in service design to describe and analyze a proposed service

• Major Steps in Service Blueprinting

 Establish boundaries
 Identify steps involved
 Prepare a flowchart
 Identify potential failure points
 Establish a time frame
 Analyze profitability
Service Blueprint Components
Production and Operations Management
Express Mail Delivery Service
Production and Operations Management
Truck Truck
Packaging
CUSTOMER EVIDENCE
PHYSICAL

Packaging
Forms Forms
Hand-held Hand-held
Computer Computer
Uniform Uniform

Customer Receive
Customer
Gives Package
Calls
Package
(Back Stage) (On Stage)
CONTACT PERSON

Driver
Picks Deliver
Up Pkg. Package

Customer
Service
Order

Airport Fly to
Dispatch Unload Load
Fly to
SUPPORT
PROCESS

Receives Sort
Driver & On
& Loads Center Destinatio Sort Truck
Load on
Airplane
n

Sort
Packages
 Overnight Hotel Stay
Production and Operations Management

Bill
EVIDENCE
SUPPORT PROCESS(Back Stage) (On Stage) CUSTOMER PHYSICAL

Desk
Hotel Cart for Desk Elevators Cart for Room Menu Delivery Food Lobby
Exterior Bags Registration Hallways Bags Amenities Tray Hotel
Parking Papers Room Bath Food Exterior
Lobby Appearance Parking
Key
Arrive Give Bags Call Check out
Go to Receive Sleep Receive
at to Check in Room Eat and
Room Bags Shower Food
Hotel Bellperson Service Leave
CONTACT PERSON

Greet and
Process Deliver Deliver Process
Take
Registration Bags Food Check Out
Bags

Take
Take Bags Food
to Room Order

Registration Prepare Registration

System Food System
Example of Service Blueprinting
Production and Operations Management

Standard Brush Apply Collect

execution time Buff
shoes polish payment
2 minutes
30 30 45 15
secs secs secs secs
Total acceptable
execution time
Wrong
5 minutes
color wax
Clean Fail
shoes point Materials
Seen by
(e.g., polish, cloth)
customer 45
secs

Line of Not seen by

visibility customer but Select and
necessary to purchase
performance supplies
Reliability
Production and Operations Management

• Reliability: The ability of a product, part, or system to perform its

intended function under a prescribed set of conditions
• Failure: Situation in which a product, part, or system does not perform
as intended
• Normal operating conditions: The set of conditions under which an
item’s reliability is specified
 A regular car is not to be driven at 250 kmph
• Reliability is a Probability, that the product or system will:
 Function when activated
 Function for a given length of time
Improving Reliability
Production and Operations Management

• Good component design improve system reliability

• Production/assembly techniques
• Testing
 To figure out defectives / weak units
 Dell tests each computer’s electric circuitry after the assembly
• Redundancy/backup
 Exactly why your car has a spare tire
• Preventive maintenance procedures
 Medical check-ups to discover potential diseases
• User education
• System design
System
Production and Operations Management

• a collection of components or subsystems assembled to perform a

specific task.
• Typical System Structures:
 Series System
 Parallel System (Redundant System)
 Combined Series-Parallel Systems
• Representations of System Structure
 Reliability Block Diagram
 a logic diagram representing the arrangement of components
Series Systems
Production and Operations Management

1 2 n

RS = R1 R2 ... Rn
Parallel Systems
Production and Operations Management

RS = 1 - (1 - R1)*(1 - R2)...*(1 - Rn)

Series-Parallel Systems
Production and Operations Management

C
RA RB RC RD
A B D
C

RC
• Convert to equivalent series system

RA RB RD
A B C’ D

RC’ = 1 – (1-RC)(1-RC)
Parallel Networks
Production and Operations Management

• Parallel components – all must fail for system to fail.

B
• R = 1 – (1 – RA) (1 – RB) (1 – RC)…
 (n components) C
Components in Series
Production and Operations Management

Part 1 Part 2

R1 =.90 R2 =.87

Both parts needed for system to work.

RS = R1 x R2 = (.90) x (.87) =.783

Some Components in Parallel
Production and Operations Management

R1 =.93 R2 =.90

RBU =.85

System has 2 main components plus a BU Component.

First component has a BU which is parallel to it.
For system to work,
Both of the main components must work, or
BU must work if first main component fails and the second
main component must work.
Review: (Some) Components in Parallel
Production and Operations Management

Rs = A x B
= .9895 x .90
= .8906
Example: Reliability Diagram
Production and Operations Management

Determine the reliability of the system shown

.90 .92

.98

.90 .95

The system can be reduced to a series of three components

By collapsing parallel components

0.98 1-(0.10)(0.10) 1-(0.05)(0.08)

0.98 x 0.99 x 0.996