In: Operations Management
A local restaurant is concerned about their ability to provide quality service as they continue to grow and attract more customers. They have collected data from Friday and Saturday nights, their busiest time of the week. During these time periods about 75 customers arrive per hour for service. Given the number of tables and chairs, and the typical time it takes to serve a customer, they figure they can serve on average about 100 customers per hour. During these nights, are they in the zone of service, the critical zone, or the zone of non-service?
The restaurant is in "critical zone" during these nights. As per the rule of thumb rule for service capacity, if the capacity is below 70% then they are in Zone of service, if the capacity is between 70-100% then they are in critical zone and if the capacity is beyond 100% then they are in the zone of non-service. In the above scenario, the average number of customers that can be handled is 100 and during Friday and Saturday nights the number of customers that arrive is 75 which is about 75 % capacity. Hence they are in the critical zone.
So as per definition, If customer arrive faster then they are expected there will be long wait time and poor service for customers, this is known as Zone of Non-service. The best operating point is around 70% of maximum capacity and is known as the zone of service. Anything between 70-100 % is a critical zone. In this zone, although the customers are processed through the system the service quality declines.