SCHOOL OF BUSINESS, PUBLIC POLICY AND SOCIAL

ENTREPRENEURSHIP

AMBEDKAR UNIVERSITY DELHI

THE AKSHAY PATRA FOUNDATION

CASE QUESTIONS

SUBMITTED TO: SUBMITTED BY :

Dr. ANSHU GUPTA PRATEEK SAINI
NAVEEN KUMAR
SAIF UL ISLAM 1
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 Q1. Understand the Quality issue at TAPF.
Ans. Following are the types of quality issues at TAPF :

To Reduce the cooking cycle time

Time is an important aspect in the food delivery which becomes a challenge
delivering the food in time.
Delays in carrying food to faraway schools
It was a challenge for TAPF to carry the food to faraway schools. However they have
done the decentralization of food making but they are facing a problem of chefs in the
remote areas.
Key performance indicator (temperature, no. of deliveries made before afternoon)
This is also one of the major challenges for TAPF as the temperature of the food and
number of deliveries to be made within the time are a key performance indicator for
quality at TAPF.
Cooking to Consumption time should not exceed 6hrs
This tells that the time from cooking to consumption should not reach more than 6
hours which means that cooking cannot be started early than 6 a.m. in the morning.
Lack of road infrastructure in rural India
Infrastructural issues were also there with delivery in the rural areas stopping TAPF
from delivering quality services.
Setting up large kitchen facility in difficult locations
It was important that decentralization of food making should happen in order to cover
the wider region and work towards the fulfillment of the long term vision of TAPF.
Centralized and decentralized kitchen had different raw material procurement
mechanism
The procurement of material was also a challenge as it was very difficult maintaining
a quality standard in the food made at TAPF.
Recipes and food preparation techniques varied
The standard recipe and preparation technique were also a challenge for TAPF as
there needs to be a standard technique to be implemented in all the food production
facilities
How to standardize the process

Conformance to quality
Safety in food preparation and in delivery processes and quality inspection of raw
material
In order to ensure safety in food preparation and delivery process all the processes
like washing of vegetables and roti making machine needs to be safe and inspected at
regular intervals.
Customization of meal to local taste and preference
If TAPF wants to achieve its long term vision of catering to the larger region possible
it needs to keep in consideration about the local tastes and preferences of the children.
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Q2.Using the information given in the case define the Supplier(s), Input, Process(s), Output(s)
and customers for the organization. What insights you obtain from this.
Ans. At TAPF if we do the SIPOC analysis we can take the following information about suppliers, inputs,
processes, outputs, and customers :
(i) Suppliers : The suppliers at TAPF were School as they are providing the children for eating food,
suppliers were the raw material suppliers like vegetable, wheat and rice vendors. Other suppliers can be
utensil providers, milk providers. Besides that as they were procuring from the government so the
government was also there supplier.

(ii) Inputs: Inputs at TAPF can be raw materials like vegetable, flour, rice, pulses, curd, milk,
utensils etc. Other inputs can be machinery, building, spare parts, electricity, water supply, and
direct labor skilled and unskilled both that is involved in the production at TAPF.
(iii) Processes: Processes at TAPF can be material procurement, storage,, cooking preparations,
washing utensils, vegetable soaking, packaging and delivering.
(iv) Outputs: Output at TAPF can be the cooked food which is delivered to the students and
other output can be the waste from the processes such steam from cooking etc.
(v) Customers: The customers of TAPF can be the students,, schools, deliverymen,, drivers,
waste handlers, labor contractors, government etc.

Q3. For the demand data given in the case, what is the total cooking time for Sambar and Rice?
Ans. Calculation of total cooking time for Sambar

Cooking time for 1 batch of sambar = (3+6+2+2+22+4+30+5+2+1+16+1+23+5)minutes

= 122minutes
Qty. of rice needed in 1 day = 16800 liters
Qty. of rice in 1 batch = 8400 liters
No. of batches in a day = 16800/8400
= 2 batches
Time taken to produce 1 day rice = 2* 122
= 244 Minutes
= 4 hours 4 minutes
Total cooking time for Sambar is 244 minutes or 4 hours 4 minutes.

Calculation of total cooking time for Rice

Cooking time for 1 batch of rice = (2+2+5+2+15+2+2) minutes

= 30minutes
Qty. of rice needed in 1 day = 7 tonnes
Qty. of rice in 1 batch = 0.875 tonnes
No. of batches in a day = 7/0.875
= 8 batches
Time taken to produce 1 day rice = 8* 30
= 240 Minutes
= 4 hours
Total cooking time for Rice is 240 minutes or 4 hours.
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Q4. If the food has to be delivered by 12 noon at the farthest school from the Vasanthapura
kitchen what are the lower and upper specification limits for the first batch of Sambar. If cooking
start at 5:00 am in the morning what is the sigma score for sambar cooking with std. dev = 10
min.
Ans.
Delivery timing = 12 noon
Time taken in Transportation to farthest school in VK hills area (distance is 43 km) = 4 hours
Time taken in Packaging and Loading = 30 minutes
Upper limit to the cooking-to-consumption time = 6 hours
Thus, Dispatch timing = Delivery timing transportation time
= 12 noon 4 hours
= 8:00 am
Specification limits for the first batch of Sambar
Lower specification limits = Dispatch timing - Time taken in Packaging and Loading
= 8:00 am - 30 minutes
= 7:30 am
Upper specification limits = Delivery timing - Upper limit to the cooking-to-consumption time
= 12 noon 6 hours
= 6:00 am

Calculation of Sigma Score for Sambar Cooking

Standard deviation = 10 min.
Cooking start timing = 5:00 am
Cooking time for one batch of Sambar = 122 minutes
Timing when first batch of sambar is cooked = Cooking start timing + Cooking time
= 5:00 am + 122 minutes
= 7:02 am
Mean timing = (Lower control limit + Upper Control Limit)/2
= (6:00 am + 7:30 am) / 2
= 6:45 am

Z= (7:02 am 6:45 am) / 10

= 17 / 10
= 1.7
Z score= 0.4564

Q5. Use exhibits 8 and 9 to identify the means for reducing the cooking cycle time?
Ans.In exhibits 8 and 9 if we take the 80-20 principle of ishikawa then we are able to identify the
following causes for reducing the cooking cycle time:
i. Non availability of vessels- It is found as a major cause contributing to 16% but this was not visible
in the process. So there should be use of more vessels and the time for washing can be taken care and
food can be dispatched faster.
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ii. Quality of toor dal- this is also a main factor as it can lead to delayy in cooking if the quality of
toor dal is not right. thus quality of toor dal should be maintained by procuring it from an assured
supplier.
iii. Less manpower- The shortage of manpower is always a problem for a production company here
in this case also adequate manpower is necessary for reducing the cooking time.
iv. Usage of cold water- The usage of cold water is also a cause for the delay in the cooking time so
there can be a scope of improvement if already hot water can be used if it does not hamper the
quality of rice.
v. Poor steam quality- The quality of fuel also represents the time taken for cooking the food so the
steam which is used in cooking should be improved.
vi. Complex packing- There is a scope of improvement in the packaging which can be simplified to
reduce the packaging and loading time.
vii. Design of cauldron- The cauldron can also be redesigned whose steam can be used for other
purposes.
viii. Guest visiting during production- Guest should be allowed after cooking process is finished as it
leads to unnecessary delay due to distraction.
ix. Less area in kitchen- Kitchen area needs to be improved in order to increase the efficiency in the
long term as when the resources are scarce it leads to delay in time and increase in cost.

Q6. What strategies should TAPF use to orient and motivate the unskilled workers of the kitchen
on the quality aspects.

Ans. Following are the strategies TAPF should use to orient and motivate the unskilled workers
of the kitchen on quality aspect:

Value the employees

Let the staff know that they are valuable this can be done by acknowleding the staff and
appreciating them. they can give awards like star of the week etc. or any annual
recognition awards. The employees should be given incentives on the basis of their
regularity etc. The employees should be given other benefits like medical facilities and
education to their children.
.
Train the employees
TAPF should invest in their employees by training them and increasing in their skills this
will benefit not only the organization in the productivity but also it gives them a greater
sense of purpose. It also leads to more connectedness of the employees with the
organization.
Openness to listen the demands of the employees
The top management should be open to demands of the employees and must regularly
take feedback if they need any improvement in the working or if they are facing any
problem.
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Q7. What are the barriers to quality improvement at TAPF?
Ans. The barriers to quality improvement at TAPF are:
Lack of Funds
The funds are important and fundamental to any step towards quality improvement which
are a barrier to implementing all the quality improvement aspects at the TAPF
Limited Capacity
TAPF has a less space at kitchen which is acting as a barrier in increasing the
performance of the cooking cycle time.
Lack of appropriate training
There were no training programs for making the employees skilful in the task they
perform so lack of training is also acting as a barrier to cultural quality.
Cultural rigidity
There was a cultural barrier to the quality improvement as the mentality of employees
and top management still needs to be more open to quality improvement.

Lack of assurance by suppliers

The production quality at TAPF was very much dependent on the input they recive from
the suppliers so there was a barrier in the form assurance and safety from the suppliers
side for the supply of standardized and quality product.

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