Dilemma at Indian Coffee House: Bottlenecks and Recommendations

Running head: Dilemma at Indian Coffee House 1
Question 1
The Flow Chart Diagram showing the service at Dilemma at Indian Coffee House
Call from client
How can I help you?
Order placement
Client places Order
Production process
Communicate to the client
Check availability Ask questions
Take order
Feedback
Service delivered/Food at the
table
Client waits for the order Bottleneck
Bottleneck

In the flood chart above, we have different stages of client processing. The first thing
is that the client makes a call to the firm. The customer care will receive the call and ask how
he or she can be helped. This is the first contact in which the clients will expect that the entity
will handle them politely. The first response that the client might influence the perceptions of
the client. If the reception does not act respectfully to the client, then such customer may opt
out.
Once the customer’s calls and call received, it is upon the customer care to ask
clarification questions to ensure that all issues are apparent. For example, the quantity of the
meals that the client requires. Generally, the customer care desk needs to record the
description of the meals or the nature of services that the customer requires. This is important
in ensuring that the kind of services delivered is customer specific.
The next step is for the client to make the order. It is upon the customer desk to
forward the information to the relevant teams. For example, the customer desk can contact
personnel in the kitchen and deliver the client’s description. This is critical in ensuring that
the client’s demands are provided as required by the customers. This is part of the customer
relationship strategy to serve the specific customer needs.
The customer manager must check the availability of the product or the services that
are needed by the client and reply to the client. It is essential that the manager provides an
update to the client about the availability of the product to ensure that they are aware of what
to expect from the firm. Keeping in touch with a customer is a technique that ensures that the
client is relaxed and avoid issues of jittery in the process of meal preparation. Therefore, this
is paramount in satisfying customer needs.
The kitchen personnel is supposed to speed up the process to ensure that the client
receives the services within the minimum time possible. In some cases, lead time could be

high and thus affecting the satisfaction levels of the clients. Take, for example, if each client
waits 20 minutes more before being served, this is going to raise complaints and erodes the
customer confidence levels. It is then upon the management of the facility to ensure that the
services delivered to the customers are timely. This is a competitive strategy used by
companies to increase their customer loyalty.
Once the order is ready, then it is served to the client. However, since the service has
taken too long before it is finally delivered to the customer, then this affects the quality of the
services received by the customer. This explains the reason why the customers complained
about the time that the personnel in the Indian Coffee House (ICH) to serve them. This is one
of the service elements that is affecting the quality of services received by the customers.
Consumers always seek quality services. The quality of service encompasses the speed of
delivering the services to the customers in the organization.
The feedback provided by the clients is essential in improving the services delivered
to clients. Companies use customer relationship management (CRM) to manage the needs of
clients and ensure that the services offered are matched their needs. With high levels of
competition in the market, there is a need to provide customized services. When the
customers are able to receive the services that they are in requirements, then they will be
happy. This approach shall promote customer loyalty. In the long, Indian Coffee House (ICH)
will then increase the company’s market share.

Question 2
a). Define the term “Bottleneck” in terms of operations management.
In operations management, different processes are involved in manufacturing and
service delivery processes. However, these processes can be affected by a limited capacity
known as a bottleneck. A bottleneck is limiting factor which reduces the production capacity
in a whole production system (Rohani & Zahraee, 2015). This is going to ensure that there is
limited production in the organisation or the production process. This is the reason why
managers strive to eliminate bottlenecks that constraints the production systems.
The bottleneck is one of the critical factor or elements that affects the value of
services delivered. Take for example, if the kitchen produces 30 units of products per 15
minutes while the waiters take only 25 units per every 15 units. Then there will be a
difference of 5 units between the service delivery and production. This is a bottleneck as the
company is unable to deliver all of the 30 units that are produced at that time. This is a
constraint that must be improved by the management to ensure that the production is
efficient. In that case, the administration must work out to ensure that these constraints are
eliminated in the firm otherwise the output will decrease.
b). Identify and list as many bottlenecks in the ICH process as you can (Max 12) in the order
of the delay imposed in the process, i.e. the longest delay first.
Inventory shortages
The Indian Coffee House organisation also depends on the demand forecasting to
procure products for production. In case of emergencies, the firm does not have the inventory
that can serve the needs of all of the clients. Due to customer surge, the Indian Coffee House
could not have enough inventories that can match the increasing customer demands (Schuster
Puga, Minner, & Tancrez, 2017). It is essential that an organisation have enough safety stock