Service Operations Management - Talent Drycleaners Case Study Essay

Service Operations Management - Talent Drycleaners Case Study - Essay Example The company has an adequate capacity utilization amount, a standard turnaround time, and a profitable return inherent in its added collection store located in Oshodi. Additionally, the paper will conduct an analysis that seeks to illustrate why Talent Dry-cleaner’s current operational state is limited as far as potential growth while also setting up the stage for making recommendations. The recommendations will be aimed at suggesting that the company hires extra staff, and extend the time of work with the objective of realizing an increased number of average drop-offs handled every day. SERVICE OPERATIONS MANAGEMENT- TALENT DRYCLEANERS CASE STUDY Introduction Eze owns a dry-cleaning business, Talent drycleaners and Stain Clinic, which has been operational for two years after he branched off from his former employer to start his own business. The major reason for starting a new business laid, in the opportunity, to open a dry-cleaning operation in a heavily populated area, Anth ony Village, which had no dry-cleaning facility. Talent Dry-cleaners relied heavily on client referrals during and after its inception, as well as an awareness campaign complete with customized caps and t-shirts. When funding hampered any further campaigns, he turned to handbill distribution, although this approach was not satisfactory in pulling in large volumes of customers. Recently, he became aware that quite a number of his clients were moving to the outskirts of Lagos, especially the Lekki-Epe axis. Additionally, Eze also began to feel the effect of proliferating dry-cleaning outfits stationed in Anthony Village. This forced him to slash billing charges thrice within one month. Within this competitor base, the key competitive variables included a variety of service, high response levels, delivery time, quality of service, and price. Some outfits had also adopted business differentiation by instituting cloth delivery and amendment in an effort to improve responsiveness. At the moment, Eze has to develop new strategies that will enhance profitability via moving to new markets, improve throughput and turnaround time, as well as efficient capacity utilization. Problem Statement Talent Dry-cleaners finds itself in a position where it has the best service quality available, but potential growth is hampered by severe limitations, especially the lack of funding. Analysis One of the reasons why Talent Dry-cleaners is facing limitations in its growth has to do with capacity utilization. Capacity can be defined as the ceiling or upper limit on the load, which can be controlled by an operating unit that is the upper limit on the output rate (Schneider, 2010). The basic questions that Eze should ask when considering this angle include the kind of capacity needed, the amount of capacity needed, and when the capacity is needed. While there are several definitions for capacity, none of them is applicable universally. Design capacity is defined as service capacity or max imum output rate that a facility operation or process is designed for. Effective capacity is the design capacity fewer allowances such as maintenance and personal time while actual output is the actual output rate achieved, which cannot be more than effective capacity (Schneider, 2010).