Case Study in Operations Management

1. From your knowledge of restaurants, from the video, from the Global Company
Profile that opens this chapter, and from the case itself, identify how each of
the 10 decisions of operations management is applied at Hard Rock Cafe.

At Hard Rock Caf, these 10 decisions are applied to ensure that the brand, company reputation,
and financial targets are met, as follows.
a. Service and Product Design. Hard Rock Caf applies service and product design decisions
to maintain the Hard Rock ambiance and image. Managers assess different attributes of
target markets and make some slight modifications to the products and services. Still,
these products and services consistently follow the Hard Rock Caf brand image.
b. Quality Management. Hard Rock Caf applies quality management by maintaining a
specific quality assessment role for the operations manager. The manager uses the firms
quality standards to identify issues and weaknesses. Recommended changes are then
applied to ensure compliance.
c. Process and Capacity Design. Hard Rock Cafs process and capacity design refers to
internal business processes and the target capacity of facilities. Internal business
processes include food preparation, order routing, reservations, and others. The target
capacity of Hard Rock Caf facilities is based on the condition of the local markets. The
company applies process and capacity design decisions to maximize capacity utilization.
d. Location. Hard Rock Caf decides on the location of its businesses based on market and
industry analysis. Market research is applied to determine if the market can support a
Hard Rock Caf. Industry statistics are used to determine if expanding the firm through
additional Hard Rock Caf locations is feasible.
e. Layout Design. The company decides on layout design by assessing the expected influx of
customers and the nature of business operations in facilities. Hard Rock Caf themed
restaurants, casinos and hotels have different layout requirements. The companys
operations managers apply layout design for efficient workflow in the limited space
available in these facilities.
f. Job Design. Hard Rock Cafs job design decisions are reached and applied through an
analysis of needs and expectations of the company and its employees. The
appropriateness of job design is evaluated based on employee feedback and company
standards. The companys operations management is focused on optimizing workers
person-job fit, while making it easy for employees to do their jobs to maximize efficiency.
g. Supply Chain Management. Hard Rock Cafs supply chain management decisions are
based on market demand, variety of suppliers, and inventory management costs, among
other factors. The supply chain management decision is applied through the operations
manager and location manager.
h. Inventory Management. The company applies inventory management decisions through
inventory management software. Hard Rock Cafs operations management uses
 demand fluctuations and historical records to predict changes needed in the inventory.
The inventory is then adjusted accordingly.
i. Scheduling. Hard Rock Caf makes decisions in scheduling by evaluating current
operations effectiveness. The schedules must satisfy capacity requirements. Also,
operations managers disseminate planned schedules to staff and use their feedback to
make adjustments. The adjusted schedules are then applied to ensure flexibility and
resilience of the business.
j. Maintenance. Maintenance decisions at Hard Rock Caf are made and applied based on
a comparative evaluation of assets and the firms standards. For example, the company
has standards on how much equipment wear and tear is allowed before the equipment
needs repair or replacement. Hard Rock Caf also has standards and policies on how
maintenance should be conducted involving qualified personnel.

2. How would you determine the productivity of the kitchen staff and wait staff at
Hard Rock?

Hard Rock Caf determines the productivity of the kitchen staff and wait staff through a set
of well-defined quantitative and qualitative criteria that reflect performance. Some of the
quantitative criteria used in operations management at Hard Rock Caf are as follows:
a. Kitchen staff productivity: The number of orders that the kitchen staff fulfills within Hard
Rock Cafs standard allotted time versus the number of items ordered by the customers
b. Wait staff productivity: The number of orders that the wait staff serves or delivers within
Hard Rock Cafs standard allotted time versus the number of items ordered by the
customers
c. Kitchen and wait staff productivity: The total number of staff members versus the total
number of orders fulfilled in a day
d. Kitchen and wait staff productivity: The number of late or unfulfilled orders per day
versus the total number of orders for that day

The qualitative criteria for determining kitchen staff and wait staff productivity at Hard Rock
Caf are based mainly on subjective judgment of managers, staff members, and customers. For
example, operations managers use customer complaints and comments to qualitatively monitor
kitchen staff and wait staff productivity.
Hard Rock Caf uses these quantitative and qualitative productivity criteria to assess specific
performance aspects of the kitchen staff and wait staff. The company also combines these criteria
to develop a broader perspective on the productivity and performance of the kitchen staff and
wait staff. These quantitative and qualitative criteria guide productivity decisions at Hard Rock
Caf.
3. How are the 10 decisions of OM different when applied to the operations manager
of a service operation such as Hard Rock versus an automobile company such as Ford
Motor Company?
Hard Rock Cafe
Service and Hard Rock Caf products food, it must be
Product Design designed, tested, and costed out, the
menus have to be reviewed. H.R.C.
products intangible products too
including the music, memorabilia, and
the atmosphere and service.
Quality The quality survey is an over quality
Management measure (7 in a scale of 7 to make a
success). The quality may include: hiring
the right people, (passionate about
music for example), food ingredients
(importance of food research), good
suppliers, speed of service, friendliness,
etc.
Process and The process of dealing with the guests
Capacity Design (more than 100 000 a day): giving a seat,
take the order, deliver the meal, receive
the payment, etc., the process of how of
prepare the meal (sandwiches, salads,
burgers, sides, entrees, desserts) is
important too.
Location The location is a major long-time
decision, H.R.C. narrow the search from
country (political risk, currency risk,
social norms, business practices) to city
and the precise street corner to attract
people, traditionally located in tourist
location. H.R.C. is established into 52
countries.
Layout Design The kitchen layout is critical to efficient
food preparation and flows, the bar
layout is critical for profitability, all of
these for revenue maximum. The
lighting, sound, screens contemporary
music and circulations paths are
designed to expose customers to
merchandise for sale. The retail shops are
carefully integrated into restaurant
Ford Motor Company
The car of Ford Motor Company are
designed, tested, and coasted out too
by the engineers and operations
managers. There are model specific to
Europe and United States. F.M.C. does
design of cars, flexible fuel, vehicle,
electric vehicles
As an auto plant, quality may take the
form of measuring tolerances, the
wear on the car after kilometers
traveled and after many test. The crash
tests are other measures to qualify the
resistance of the car.
Ford Motor Company uses assembly-
line process. An arrangements of
workers, machines, and equipment in
which the car being assembles passes
consecutively from operation to
operation until completed. Since
August, 2010 Ford begins using WiFi to
install its Sync Software easier on
assembly lines.
An automobile company such as Ford
Motor Company may want to go to
location that will minimize fixed or
variable costs: proximity to raw
materials, locations where wages are
low, locations where there is skilled
labor, locations closed to the areas
where are destined the specific
models.
An automobile assembly plant is
organized on an assembly line
criterion. Assembly lines are designed
for sequential organization of workers,
tools or machines, and parts. The
motion of workers is minimized and
the parts or assemblies are handled
either by conveyors or motorized
vehicles. In an assembly line, car
 layout. Every restaurant have a unique assembly is split between several
design customizing to the local country stations, all working simultaneously.
they are in. When one station is finished with a car,
it passes it on to the next.
Human Human resources are a support center Ford Motor Company focuses in hiring
resources, Job for the employees: following them, manufacturing skilled people such as
design helping them, training them H.R.C. engineers or workers. In the case of
seeks people passionate about music, workers involved in the assembly line,
who love to serve and can tell stories. they are modestly trained because
This is one of the reasons of the success they often do the same task.
of dining experience in H.R.C.
Supply-chain H.R.C. work with qualified suppliers to The ability of suppliers to contribute to
Management ensure fresh meals. There are contracts design and low cost may be a critical
with meal suppliers signed 8 months in factor in the modern auto plants such
advance. Some items like leather jackets as Ford Motor Company. Moreover,
have a 9-month lead time. many suppliers of automobile
manufacturer establish itself near the
manufacturer to reduce the costs and
implement the Just-In-Time process.
Inventory H.R.C. as any restaurants has t inventory Auto plant such as Ford Motor
Management foods (turn over, temperatures). As retail Company need to do inventories with
shop H.R.C. has to inventory the JIT procurement techniques used. JIT is
merchandises. But, there is also an an inventory strategy that strives to
inventory system that allows to know improve a businesss return on
where are more 70 0000 pieces (for more investment by reducing in-process and
than 40M$) of rock-and-roll memorabilia associated carrying costs.
in the 133 cafes world-wide in 52
countries which they replace every 5 to 7
years in different cafes.
Scheduling H.R.C. fir uses a specific method to Ford Motor Company is more
prepare work schedules in the 23 concerned with scheduling material
departments for over 600 people. than peoples. The scheduling is based
Scheduling varied according to different on building various models from
factor: the current sales, the sales for modules to forecast.
prior year, the seasonality (sales are
driven by tourists, the fluctuations in
seasonal, daily, and hurly demand for
food are huge), the community events
and the trend of the past couple weeks.
Maintenance The quality and control are the keys to Maintenance is critical in a plant using
success: the cafes must open every day assembly line because if part of the line
for business. The kitchen, the bar, the doesnt work, all the plant is paralyzed
shop must open every days. Menu review and down times are very expensive,
and the help of the surveys are parts of because of high fixed and variable cost.
the maintenance too, the maintenance
of memorabilia is done in Orlando.