Process Improvement Plan for a Company - Special Academic Support

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Work planning is an extremely important part of the success of any company; therefore, managers and owners should pay close attention to improving internal and external aspects of business. The reason for this is that the amount of this income is directly influenced by the rational use of all types of resources. First of all, one of such resources is labor, because the quality of customer service depends on the competent personnel and their work schedule. Moreover, the use of technology should also be taken into account since it can seriously lessen the burden on the employees and raise their productivity level. In this improvement plan the process of espresso beverage preparation and delivery will be analyzed. In addition, several recommendations will be provided based on the results of this research.

Accessing the Steps for the Process

The following flowchart demonstrates the steps of the espresso brewing process.

Documenting and Evaluating the Process

Metrics

One of the most important metrics that assess the effectiveness of the coffee shop is order delivery time. Fast delivery is a factor that will allow winning the trust of customers and, therefore, establishing on the market. A delay at any stage of service is could be a serious blow to the image of the establishment. In addition, order delivery time should be short since the taste of coffee depends on its hot temperature. The most appropriate time would be up to 3-4 minutes. It becomes shorter during peak hours when there is a long queue of customers who are waiting for their coffee.

Another important metric of evaluating the performance of the coffee shop is the customers satisfaction. It seems clear that companies should strive to meet their customers needs at the highest standard possible. Satisfied customers usually come back and buy more, and also they share their experiences with friends and family. In addition, in the future they would be willing to pay to buy beverage from the coffee shop that they trust. Thats why when owners attract new customers, they have to stick to them. Therefore, the company should regularly review the customer satisfaction metrics.

Conducting satisfaction surveys is a good way to start measuring customer loyalty to understand how comfortable they are at a coffee shop. According to the researchers, customer satisfaction is customers achievement response, it means fulfilling customers expectation above certain standards (Shin et al., 2015, p. 50). Clients can express their opinion in a variety of ways. When they are happy, they may not say anything at all, but come back again and again to buy or use even more. High-level issues are included in most customer satisfaction surveys and can be covered by asking questions. For example, the website of the coffee shop can have a poll that would ask what is the clients overall impression of the company. Moreover, it should also ask about the likelihood that a client will buy a beverage again. Another good question would be about the likelihood that a client will recommend the coffee shop to a friend or colleague. In other words, it would be helpful to create a feedback system that will allow clients to leave their opinion on service and judge customers satisfaction by the results.

Procedure

The process on preparing an espresso beverage was briefly described in the flowchart above, however, each step should also be described in detail. First of all, customer submits the order and the barista begins to prepare a hot beverage. The cups should be clear and hot since the temperature of espresso depends on how warm they are. The coffee machine should also be prepared and turned on. For instance, the holder must be warmed up and cleared of coffee grounds.

When the barista makes sure that everything is ready for the preparation of the order, he or she begins to work on it. Coffee beans are put in the grinder, then the appropriate dose of coffee is distributed by the barista in the portafilter of the coffee machine. The importance of these steps cannot be overestimated since researchers state that grinding level slightly affected the quality of coffee, whereas the preparation method significantly influenced all incup attributes (Derossi et al., 2018, p. 3198). Therefore, the barista should pay close attention to this process since it significantly affects the taste and the customers satisfaction. The correct dosage usually would be 7-9 grams of coffee per serving.

After that the barista puts the appropriate amount of coffee in the holder under pressure. This process usually goes through two stages. The first step is when the barista applies slight pressure (5 kg). He or she taps the back of the tamper on the holder in order to shake the coffee crumbs off the filter. Then the second step begins, when the barista applies more pressure (20 kg). Then the rim of the holder should be cleaned from coffee residues. Only then the barista inserts the portafilter into the group head with coffee and immediately turns on the water supply; thus, the process of coffee brewing begins. In order to ensure the correct aroma and density of the drink, the extraction time should be 20-30 seconds. As a result, the barista should get a portion of espresso 25-35 ml. Within 10 seconds of preparation the beverage should be served to a customer. Moreover, the barista should politely suggest getting a snack for coffee. After delivering the order the barista must shake the used coffee grounds out of the holder, wipe it with a napkin and replace it.

Purpose of the Procedure

Espresso is the basis for many popular coffee beverages; that is why it is important to know the rules and learn how to work with coffee grounds, grinder and a brewing machine. The main goal of the procedure is to provide customers with a hot and delicious espresso that would satisfy their needs and motivate them to come back again for another cup. For this reason, producing a high-quality product should be a top-priority of the coffee shop. This purpose could be achieves through a constant development, training and independent study of making espresso.

Analyze the Data for the Process

As for evaluating the capability of the process, it would be safe to assume that the process is centered. This outcome is based on calculations from data on beverage service times, which was collected from the ordering processing system that tracked 50 different beverage preparation events. This information suggests that the average time of the order delivery is 2-3 minutes, which is appropriate for espresso. Nevertheless, in some cases this metric deviates from the norm and despite the fact that it is insignificant, it would be helpful to reduce this time. The reason for this is the fact that since the delivery time can be longer during peak hours and long queues, the optimization of the process should improve the situation and decrease the risks of customers dissatisfaction.

As for calculating whether the performance is capable at 3-sigma, Wild Dog Coffee Company needs think about its capability index. This metric cannot be considered steady since the difference between the minimum (1.55 minutes) and the maximum (3.43 munities) amount of time for espresso preparation is significant. This factor allows one to conclude that the process is not capable, therefore, it needs to be improved in order to increase efficiency. In addition, since the company wants to open a new location, the process of espresso preparation needs to be tested even though it will remain the same. In this way, the owners can examine whether the improvements have brought good outcomes.

Cause and Effect of Variances

There are many different factors that could influence the beverage preparation process, including manpower, management, method, machine and materials. The order delivery time will be longer because there would not be enough staff at the moment, which will affect customers satisfaction level. Furthermore, with lesser people it would be more difficult to handle the amount of supplies, which can also lead to mistakes in performance. The technology also has a serious impact since in the case where espresso machine work inefficiently, baristas will have difficulties while trying to complete the orders. The quality of beverages will also suffer significantly, increasing the risks of customers dissatisfaction. That is when a role of a manager becomes important since making sure that all equipment is available to the staff is one of the primary tasks. The importance of the method also cannot be overestimated since there are many ways to prepare espresso. Implementing a more optimized technique into the process can affect the taste of beverage and shorten the delivery time.

Recommendations

There are many ways that could seriously improve the process of espresso preparation. For example, order submission and delivery are carried out by using wireless technologies, through the waiters smart phones. Such a system allows them to speed up the service. As researchers state, orders may be injected into the system at the optimal time based on a number of data points including current kitchen fulfilment times and the customers location (Elliot & Priya, 2017, p. 743). The visitor sees the menu, calls the barista or makes the order by placing it in the app. The order is sent wirelessly to the barista and he or she prepares a beverage. After completing the order, the barista sends a notification to a customer. As a result, both the client and the barista save valuable time. In addition, the service speed is increased with a relatively small number of staff, so this principle of managing a coffee shop has good prospects. In general, the introduction of an electronic system significantly increases the speed of customer service and reduces the likelihood of errors of personnel. For this reason, the quality of service and transparency of the business for its owners can be significantly improved. Such a system even allows clients to get rid of problems that are connected with paying in cash and related problems. The baristas can also benefit from this since they would be free of the burden of searching for a change, making sure that there would be no mistakes in managing cash registers. Therefore, improving the electronic system of taking order has serious benefits.

Another recommendation would be providing more training for the staff. There is no doubt that without good education it would be difficult to make a good beverage. The owner can invest in fancy equipment, work with great coffee bean providers, and have the best technology in the world. However, in the case where the baristas do not know what they should be doing, the quality of coffee would be questionable. That is why the baristas need to be trained in the technical aspects of extraction and espresso preparation. However, this is not the only aspect that they need to learn well. What they really have to do is memorize the process of preparation. In other words, when they do something, they have to start doing it the same way all the time. A streamlined workflow will enable baristas to work more efficiently, giving them more time to focus on their drink; moreover, it will form positive habits.

The baristas should reach the stage where certain actions, such as cleaning the portafilter after each cup, will be performed automatically. As a consequence, performing the same actions each time will also improve stability. Furthermore, it is important for the barista to reach the skill level when certain steps of the process are done automatically. An inexperienced barista may be able to cope with a slow work flow, but will make a huge effort to act quickly and efficiently when it is busy. As a result, he or she will either make a mistake, or waste time double-checking everything while trying to remember the recipe or asking for help.

Baristas must be able to rely on their equipment, knowing it will make their job easier and support them in making consistently good coffee. It is very important that the equipment is able to accurately respond to commands, is taken care of and is constantly updated to meet modern requirements. Before investing money into buying new coffee machines, the owners should pay attention to a number of different factors.

For instance, the professionals should make sure that it is ergonomic. If its convenient to use, baristas are more likely to use it in the same way all the time, which will certainly reduce the order delivery time. Moreover, the coffee machine should be easy to learn and use. It should be durable and work without any mistakes during the long shift. Moreover, the good equipment is easy to clean for both experienced baristas and amateurs. The reason for this is that poor cleansing will reduce quality, consistency, and safety of the hot drinks. In other words, equipment that is difficult to clean will reduce efficiency. Even small differences in the mechanism have a big impact on the workflow.

References

Derossi, A., Ricci, I., Caporizzi, R., Fiore, A., & Severini, C. (2018). How grinding level and brewing method (Espresso, American, Turkish) could affect the antioxidant activity and bioactive compounds in a coffee cup. Journal of the Science of Food and Agriculture, 98(8), 3198-3207.

Elliot, D., & Priya, D. E. V. (2017). U.S. Patent Application No. 15/117,743.

Shin, C. S., Hwang, G. S., Lee, H. W., & Cho, S. R. (2015). The impact of Korean franchise coffee shop service quality and atmosphere on customer satisfaction and loyalty. The Journal of Business Economics and Environmental Studies, 5(4), 47-57.

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