Operations Design & Management: Audit Report
Order Description
1500 words.

Utilising OPERATION DESIGN methodologies of LEAN and SIX SIGMA and VALUE STREAM MAPPING / ANALYTICAL TOOLS / SYSTEMS / PRACTICES / OPERATIONAL PROCESSES.

Audit report on the function of a local cafe.

Demonstrate an understanding of how the operation supports or hinders the attainment of the organisation’s objectives, but also identify any outstanding operational problems, and make recommendations for improvement, focused at Board level.

The scenario:
• Café X is the only café in a quiet neighbourhood. Customer base is approximately 150 on a Saturday/Sunday morning between rush hour of 9.00am to 12.00noon, and business working days at the same time of 50 customers. The café has a loyal customer base and weekend visitors. Sat/Sun are operated by 7 staff, weekdays are staffed by 3 people. 2 staff are owner/operators at all times.
• There’s no flow in the floor plan, and no seating plan, so orders are often confused and typically take 25 minutes to fill. And, 8 minutes for a takeaway coffee. Customers line up usually for 7 minutes to make an order, because they don’t have access to the menu until they reach the front to pay before seated, whilst waiting in line they are bumping into seated customers. Café is licenced to seat 50 customers. Rush hour holds 45 comfortably, as 50 is not manageable. Groups of family want to stay and linger longer but can’t due to capacity.
• Overall recommendations is to improve the floor plan, flow of kitchen and barista areas, specific job allocation for each staff member. Place numbers on tables, orders are correct. Menus and ordering at tables. No-one is bumping into each other. Improve the ordering time. Simplify the menu.
• Compare and contrast with a successful café at the same times to review process flow and design. Who are operating with half the number of staff, and smaller floor plan.

Criteria & Marking:
Operational Audit Reports is to assess the ability to demonstrate the level of analysis and problem-solving required for higher grades.

The audit must concentrate on the operational aspects of the Café.

While there may be marketing or strategic issues involved, it is clear the DESIGN NEEDS FOCUS and PROCESS FLOW NEEDS IMPROVEMENT to improve the capacity and inputs and outputs of the café.

The aim of the assignment is not only to demonstrate an understanding of how the operation supports or hinders the attainment of the café’s objective of fast, friendly, efficient service, but also to identify any outstanding operational problems, and make recommendations for improvement.
Operations Design: Audit Report

The report should include the following:
• Executive Summary:
o Brief one-page overview of the study together with your findings/recommendations, justification, and implementation plan. – 200 words
• Introduction:
o Introduce the case study including why this topic is relevant to the performance of the business.
o You need to specify the objectives and scope of the audit.
o You also need to identify the stakeholders, the methodology you will use, any data you need to collect, and how that will be analysed – 150 words.
• Conduct of the study:
o Outline what you did, who you spoke to, and any other sources of data that were used. Include a brief description of the business or organisational objectives and context including its method of obtaining competitive advantage.
o Detail what you found.
o Include any literary research you found relevant to the topic – 350 words.
• Analysis of the processes or operations involved:
o Compare and contrast with best practice.
o Identify any problems encountered.
o Did anything go wrong?
o Identify the risks: Explain the risks if this issue is not adequately addressed by the organisation – 350 words.
• Recommendations:
o What recommendations are you making to the Board?
o Justify these in terms of corporate strategy, cost/benefit, mandatory activities or processes.
o Ensure your recommendations are doable.
o Include an implementation plan (give the board something to recommend that is justified, doable, and includes a way forward) – 350 words.
• Conclusion:
o put the study into perspective, in the context of the objectives, demonstrating whether or not they have been met. – 100 words.
• References:
o List any articles or websites explicitly referred to in the report APA referencing. 10 references.