A local fast-food restaurant processes several customer orders at once. Service clerks’ cross paths, sometimes nearly colliding, while they trace different paths to fill customer orders. If customers order a special combination of toppings on their burgers, they must wait quite some time while the special order is cooked. How would you modify the restaurant’s operations to achieve competitive advantage? Because demand surges at lunchtime, volume flexibility is a competitive priority in the fast-food business. How would you achieve volume flexibility? What are the potential downsides of relying too heavily on automation and standardization in this industry? What data would you want to gather, if any, before making recommendations?

Practical Management Science
6th Edition
ISBN:9781337406659
Author:WINSTON, Wayne L.
Publisher:WINSTON, Wayne L.
Chapter12: Queueing Models
Section: Chapter Questions
Problem 59P
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A local fast-food restaurant processes several customer orders at once. Service clerks’ cross paths, sometimes nearly colliding, while they trace different paths to fill customer orders. If customers order a special combination of toppings on their burgers, they must wait quite some time while the special order is cooked. How would you modify the restaurant’s operations to achieve competitive advantage? Because demand surges at lunchtime, volume flexibility is a competitive priority in the fast-food business. How would you achieve volume flexibility? What are the potential downsides of relying too heavily on automation and standardization in this industry? What data would you want to gather, if any, before making recommendations? 

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