Operations Management and Productivity sample essay

Part 1: Case Analysis
Since its grand opening in London on June 14, 1971, the Hard Rock Café (HRC) has been known for their musically-themed restaurants. Today, the company has more than 130 locations in over 40 countries, proving itself as an international success (Hard Rock Café, n.d.). To sustain its’ growth and reputation, each restaurant must implement strategies using the ten critical decisions of operations management. Service and Product Design. Each restaurant establishes its’ food menu as well as entertainment in a manner that will attract customers to their location. Management ensures that the physical appearance and ambiance of the restaurant reflects the values and scenery that customers have come to expect from HRC.
Quality Management. Management ensures quality by operating within HRC’s established standards, as well as employing a sufficient number of qualified staff. In addition, the proper supervision and management of staff is necessary.
Process and Capacity Design. HRC’s restaurant managers meet consumer demands for service by making sure each building is large enough, properly staffed, and adequately equipped.
Location. HRC restaurants are in locations that are easily accessible, near popular local attractions, and in large population centers.
Layout Design. Each restaurant’s design is adequate to meet the large customer demand of HRC. In addition, each restaurant’s space is structured to provide space for its’ various activities (ie. dinning, retail, musical performances).
Job Design and Human Resources. HRC’s management is required to delegate work, such as operating retail or dining, as well as measuring productivity and adjusting the work environment to attend to the requests of customers.
Supply-Chain Management. Restaurant management must communicate appropriately with suppliers to ensure materials are available and delivered effectively and efficiently.
Inventory, Material Requirement Planning, and JIT. Managers at HRC are required to prepare for consumer consumption by controlling inventory, ordering and managing materials to reflect customer requests.
Intermediate and Short-Term Scheduling. Appropriate scheduling of staff is necessary to guarantee sufficient help based on both restaurant and retail demands. HRC management must evaluate productivity needs and schedule employees proportionally.
Maintenance. HRC’s management must implement a maintenance plan to check equipment and safeguard against potential issues.

Productivity of kitchen and wait staff can be determined by measuring how many customers are served on an hourly basis based on the number of staff working.
To improve kitchen staff productivity at Hard Rock Café, the critical decision area of job design and human resources should be the focal point. Having the right amount of employees, with the right skills, doing the right job will allow work to be done more efficiently, therefore improving productivity.

Part 2: Calculating Productivity
If C.A. Ratchet usually works an eight hour day and it takes him two hours to diagnose and fix each auto problem, he is able to serve four customers a day (His daily productivity is four.).
If he purchases a computer to assist him with diagnostics, his daily productivity would increase to seven (He would be able to service seven customers per day.). With the computer he is now able to serve three more customers than he was able to without the computer.
Using the computer, C.A. Ratchet’s productivity has increased 75%.

REFERENCES

Hard Rock Café. (n.d.). Corporate. Retrieved on April 29, 2009 from www.hardrock.com/corporate/history/

Render, B., Heizer, J., & Amer, B. (n.d.). Case Assignment. Retrieved on April 2009