Customers Waiting in Lines - Service Operations - Yolanda Williams
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The document provides an extensive overview of service operations, focusing on the management of waiting lines and customer interactions. It discusses service delivery systems, strategies for service response logistics, and the psychological aspects of waiting, along with queuing theory and its practical applications. The importance of managing perceived waiting times and maintaining customer satisfaction are emphasized, highlighting various strategies to enhance the customer experience while waiting.
Customers Waiting in Lines - Service Operations - Yolanda Williams
- 1. Service Operations and Waiting Lines Yolanda Williams Operations Mgmt
- 2. An Overview of Service Operations Service Response Logistics Waiting… Discuss the psychology of waiting. Laws of Service. Describe how queues are managed. Describe the essential features of a queuing system. Purpose and Objectives
- 3. 3 What are services? Many services are pure services, offering few or no tangible products to customers. Others may have end products with a larger tangible component (e.g., restaurants & repair facilities). Customers are often involved in the production of the service. Services may provide state utility - they do something to things owned by the customer (e.g., store supplies & repair machines).
- 4. 4 More on Services Services cannot be inventoried. Services have high levels of customer interactions. Services are decentralized due to inability to inventory & transport services
- 5. 5 Service Delivery Service delivery systems (a continuum) with mass produced, low- customer contact systems at one end and highly customized, high-customer-contact systems at the other. Front of the House Back of the House
- 6. 6 An Overview of Service Operations- Cont. Service Strategy Development: 1. Cost LeadershipStrategy-The Low Cost Provider – May require large capital investment in automated, state-of-the art equipment and significant efforts in the areas of controlling and reducing costs. 2. DifferentiationStrategy- Service that is considered unique. Differentiation is created as companies listen to customers. 3. Focus Strategy- Serve a narrow niche better than other firms
- 7. 7 Service Response Logistics Service Response Logistics (SRL) The management and coordination of the organization’s activities while a service is being performed for customers. 1. Service capacity The number of customers per day the firm’s service system is designed to serve. 2. Distribution channels Distribution channels involve traditional methods & new channels that incorporate new Internet technologies 3. Service quality Customer satisfaction--depends on ability to deliver what customers want, meet customers’ perceptions and satisfying customers varying expectations. 4. Waiting times
- 8. Psychology of Waiting That Old Empty Feeling: Unoccupied time goes slowly A Foot in the Door: Pre-service waits seem longer that in-service waits The Light at the End of theTunnel: Reduce anxiety with attention Excuse Me, But I Was First: Social justice with First Come First Serve queue discipline They Also Serve,Who Sit and Wait: Avoids idle service capacity
- 9. Cultural Attitudes “Americans hate to wait. So business is trying a trick or two to make lines seem shorter…” The NewYorkTimes Standing in line – at the bank, the market, the movies – is the time-waster everyone loves to hate. Stand in just one 15-minute line a day, every day, and kiss goodbye to almost four days of idle time by year’s end.—Kathleen Doheny
- 10. 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 Stoplights JunkMail Missing Objects Housework Waitingin Line In a life time, the average Americanwill spend-- Years We are waiting…
- 11. Approaches to Controlling Customer Waiting Animate: Disneyland distractions, elevator mirror, recorded music Discriminate: Avis frequent renter treatment (out of sight) Automate: Use computer scripts/ voice prompts to address 75% of questions Obfuscate: Amusement park/ Airport staged waits
- 12. Waiting… Waiting in lines does not add enjoyment Waiting in lines does not generate revenue Waiting lines are non-value added occurrences
- 13. Cost to provide waiting space Loss of business Customers leaving Customers refusing to wait Loss of goodwill Reduction in customer satisfaction Congestion may disrupt other business operations Implications of Waiting Lines
- 14. 14 What is a Queue? A queue is a waiting line. A queuing system involves customers arriving for service who sometimes have to wait. Queuing analysis provides: Summary measures for assessing a queuing system in terms of customers and time. A way to balance the costs of providing service and costs of congestion.
- 15. Queue Theory Queuing theory: Mathematical approach to the analysis of waiting lines. Importance of Queuing Analysis: Servicing customers can be costly. Retail environments are plagued with customer congestion. Managing that has benefits. Goal of queuing analysis is to minimize the sum of two costs Customer waiting costs Service capacity costs
- 16. Components of the Queuing System Customer Arrivals Servers Waiting Line Servicing System Exit Queue or
- 17. The Queuing System Queue Discipline Length Number of Lines & Line Structures Service Time Distribution Queuing System
- 18. Essential Features of Queuing Systems Departure Queue discipline Arrival process Queue configuration Service process Renege Balk Calling population No future need for service
- 19. Queue Configurations Multiple Queue Single queue Take a Number Enter 3 4 8 2 6 10 12 11 5 7 9
- 21. Examples of Line Structures Single Channel Multichannel Single Phase Multiphase One-person barber shop Car wash Hospital admissions Bank tellers’ windows
- 22. Waiting Realities Inevitability of Waiting: Waiting results from variations in arrival rates and service rates
- 23. Customer Service Arrival Pattern Arrival Pattern Constant Variable Example: A part from an automated machine arrives every 30 seconds. Example: Customers arriving in a bank.
- 24. Service Pattern Service Pattern Constant Variable Example: Each part takes exactly 30 seconds to make. Example: People spending time shopping.
- 25. Waiting Realities Economics of Waiting: High utilization purchased at the price of customer waiting. Make waiting productive (salad bar) or profitable (drinking bar).
- 26. Queuing Analysis Optimum Cost of service capacity Cost of customers waiting Total cost Cost Service capacity Total cost Customer waiting cost Capacity cost= +
- 27. Assume a drive-up window at a fast food restaurant. Customers arrive at the rate of 25 per hour. The employee can serve one customer every two minutes. Assume constant arrival and service rates. Determine: A) What is the average utilization of the employee? Queue Analysis Example
- 28. = 25 cust / hr = 1 customer 2 mins (1hr / 60 mins) = 30 cust / hr = = 25 cust / hr 30 cust / hr = .8333 A) What is the average utilization of the employee?
- 29. 29 Managing Wait Times - Quantity Consists of the management of actual waiting time & perceived waiting time. Need to know: Average arrival rate of the customers Order in which customers will be serviced Average service rate of providers How long will customers wait Ways to make customers wait even longer without lowering their perceptions of service quality
- 30. Laws of Service – Perception Maister’s First Law: Customers compare expectations with perceptions. Maister’s Second Law: Is hard to play catch-up ball. Skinner’s Law: The other line always moves faster. Jenkin’s Corollary: However, when you switch to another other line, the line you left moves faster.
- 31. 31 Managing Wait Times - Quality Managing Perceived Waiting Times Often, demand exceeds expectations & capacity. Keep Customers Occupied Start the Service Quickly Relieve Customer Anxiety Keep Customers Informed Group Customers Together Design a Fair Waiting System “Underpromise & Overdeliver”
- 32. Other Quality Approaches Reduce perceived waiting time Magazines in waiting rooms Radio/television In-flight movies Filling out forms Derive benefits from waiting Place impulse items near checkout Advertise other goods/services
- 33. Remember Me I am the person who goes into a restaurant, sits down, and patiently waits while the wait-staff does everything but take my order. I am the person that waits in line for the clerk to finish chatting with his buddy. I am the one who never comes back and it amuses me to see money spent to get me back. I was there in the first place, all you had to do was show me some courtesy and service. The Customer
- 34. Topics for Discussion Suggest diversions that could make waiting less painful. Give a bad and good waiting experience, and contrast the situations with respect to the aesthetics of the surroundings, diversions, people waiting, and attitude of servers. Suggest ways that management can influence the arrival times of customers. What are the benefits of a fast-food employee taking your order while waiting in line? Are there any benefits to making the customer wait?