Lean Management Strategies: Marriott International Case Study Report

This report provides an in-depth analysis of how Lean techniques can be implemented at Marriott International to improve its workplace processes and supply chain efficiency. The report explores the benefits of adopting Lean methodologies, such as reducing costs, improving quality, and enhancing customer satisfaction. It focuses on specific Lean techniques, including the identification and elimination of waste, the implementation of Just-in-Time (JIT) practices, and the application of Optimized Production Technology (OPT) and the Theory of Constraints (TOC) principles. The study examines how Marriott can streamline its operations, enhance its logistics, and create a continuous flow of value for its customers. The report also highlights the importance of adapting to customer needs and continuous improvement to maintain a competitive edge in the hospitality industry. Through this study, it can be concluded that the techniques like JIT and OPT have higher impact on humans than on things.

Table of Contents
Introduction................................................................................................................................1
Adopting of Lean process in the workplace and the supply chain: Use of Lean techniques.....2
Adopting of Lean process in the workplace and the supply chain: JIT Practices......................2
Adopting of Lean process in the workplace and the supply chain: OPT and TOC principles. .3
Conclusion..................................................................................................................................4

Introduction
Lean techniques is one of the interesting concept which affects the profitability and efficiency
of an organization. It is based on the important philosophies such as,
 Identify and continuously reduce wastages
 Improve the products and services offered to the customers
Some of the advantages of adopting lean techniques within an organization are as follows:
 The transaction cost of the company is reduced.
 There is an improvement in sales
 There is a reduction in the cost of production
 The quality of products and services are improved
 The organization becomes flexible to incorporate the needs of its customers
 The inventory and work in progress is reduced significantly
 The lead time of the company gets reduced.
 It helps in simplifying the scheduling
 Lean techniques is known to improve space utilization within the company
 The communication within the company is improved
 The delivery time is improved significantly.
The company which has been chosen for analysis is a service based company which need to
adopt some process and practices of Lean management to achieve the above indicated
benefits (Bautista & Fortuny-Santos, 2016). The company is Marriott International which is a
multinational organization with the aim to provide quality services to its customers.

Adopting of Lean process in the workplace and the supply chain: Use of Lean techniques
 At the initial stage, the company should identify the importance of the service to the
end customers.
 The next stage involves, the steps which add value to the product and services should
be clearly identified eliminating the steps which does not add value.
 At the next stage, the company should create a continuous flow of the sequence of the
activities which allow the smooth flow of service to the customers. For example, there
should be a sequential process of the customer enquiring at reception of the hotel to
the stage when he is escorted to his room without any breaks.
 After the flow has been established, the customers should be able to experience value
from the next activity. They should be aware of what is the next stage of activities.
This should be a routine procedure for the attendants and customers (Hadi-Vencheh &
Yousefi, 2018).
 After all the value streams have been identified, the steps which create wastage are
removed. The entire process is repeated again until the perfection has been reached.
Adopting of Lean process in the workplace and the supply chain: JIT Practices
For an organization operating in the hospitality industry, it is important to develop a
framework which identifies, categorises and prioritises the lean techniques within the supply
chain. Based on the findings from various research, Kaizen and JIT are some of important

lean practices used by organizations. Thus aspects like, on-time delivery from the suppliers,
on-time service to the customers and an effective system of improvement would be the
important lean techniques for the supply chain of a hotel. Just in time practices of inventory
management controls the materials used in the production process, warehouse and to the end
customers (Mishra, 2017). This helps to significantly reduce the need to store huge amount of
materials within the warehouse.
As indicated in the image above, through proper implementation of JIT techniques, the
various process of the company would not spill over one another and the organization would
receive less complaints.
Another area of the hospitality industry which require reduction in wastage is the logistics
along with the supply chain. Thus an efficient logistics management system, would help a
hotel to build sustainable competitive advantage. Through the use of logistic management
strategies, Marriott International can not only improve the quality of its services to the
customers but also reduce the wastage considerably.
Adopting of Lean process in the workplace and the supply chain: OPT and TOC principles
One of the techniques of developing production strategy is through Optimised Production
Technology which indicate new methods of management of products and services. It is based
on the idea that the goal of any organization is to earn profits at the present and future periods
(Sarcos, 2017). This impact all the segments of the business.
The aim of Optimised Production Technology is to bring an increase in ‘throughput’ which is
the rate at which an organization generate through the sale of goods and services. This
technology helps in reduction in the inventory handling and operating expense. Based on this
concept, a ‘bottleneck’ would be a situation when the capacity of an organization is less than
the demand experienced in the market. It is a type of constraint which prevents in expansion

of the business. The improvement would involve increasing the ‘throughput’. Bottlenecks can
easily be identified in an organization.
In the above image, the operation C represent bottleneck within a company. Operation A is
running at full capacity which indicate that there would be an inventory build-up in front of
B. Operation B is running at full capacity, which mean that there would be massive inventory
build-up in front of C (Ventura & Radhakrishnan, 2002). Thus any form of improvement in A,
B or D will not help in improvement in the ‘throughput’. The only area for improvement
would be C which can improve the entire process meaningfully.
Operation C should therefore be protected for any loss of output. Such a decision is not easy
for an organization and therefore there should be a balance between the flow and capacity. In
the case of Marriott International Hotel, each process matter for the services offered by the
company. These process also involves people which require proper management.
Conclusion
Through this paper, it can be concluded that the techniques like JIT and OPT have higher
impact on humans than on things. In the above example, the techniques of lean procedure has
been used to improve the service delivery to the customers.

References
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