Wild Dog Coffee Company Process Improvement Plan PDF

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Running head: PROCESS IMPROVEMENT PLAN: WILD DOG COFFEE COMPANY 1Process Improvement Plan: Wild Dog Coffee CompanyThe Coffee Quality Improvement ProjectAugust 2020Table of Contents Introduction Process Identification Ergonomics Metrics Procedure Purpose (of the procedure) Analyze Performance Data Va...

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Running head: PROCESS IMPROVEMENT PLAN: WILD DOG COFFEE COMPANY

Process Improvement Plan: Wild Dog Coffee Company The Coffee Quality Improvement Project August 2020

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Table of Contents Introduction Process Identification Ergonomics Metrics Procedure Purpose (of the procedure) Analyze Performance Data Variation References Appendix A Appendix B

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Process Improvement Plan: Wild Dog Coffee Company Introduction The expansion of the coffee industry and social adoration has created demand and driven growth for the United States Coffee Production market (United States Coffee Production Market: High coffee consumption and premium product sales will aid growth: Coffee Production in the US - Industry Market Research Report, 2014). This expansion has been amidst global recession, rising unemployment, and waning consumer confidence (United States Coffee Production Market: High coffee consumption and premium product sales will aid growth: Coffee Production in the US - Industry Market Research Report, 2014). The social impact of major coffee brands has developed strong brand loyalty and contributed to high margins and revenue growth (United States Coffee Production Market: High coffee consumption and premium product sales will aid growth: Coffee Production in the US - Industry Market Research Report, 2014). This creates an environment for the potential expansion of successful locations and the ability to further increase revenue through process improvement. Process Identification The Wild Dog Coffee Company’s brewing and assembling processes will remain similar between locations; however, preparation workflow can be improved to create a leaner system of processes. Before processes can be improved, an examination of workplace ergonomics must be evaluated to determine workflow and reduce non-value added steps. The Coffee Quality Improvement project was initiated to develop a process to improve efficiency and effectiveness at the Wild Dog Coffee Company. This project includes coffee preparation and order delivery. The Coffee Quality Improvement plan describes how the preparation process will be analyzed in order to continually monitor and improve production efforts. The process improvement plan lays out the necessary steps to identify, measure, and implement the necessary process improvements for Coffee Quality Improvement and streamline its creation through workflow ergonomics. Ergonomics “Ergonomics is the scientific discipline concerned with the understanding of the interactions among humans and other elements of a system, and the profession that applies theoretical principles, data and methods to design in order to optimize human well-being and overall system performance” (Coelho, 2010, p.1). Implementing ergonomics reduces musculoskeletal disorders, increases productivity and reduces the number and severity of workrelated injuries (Ergonomics, n.d.). Baristas who dole out lattes, Americanos, and cappuccinos are unlikely culprits of workplace injuries; however, 73% of baristas report low-back pain, 68% report shoulder pain, with most also reporting neck, upper back, wrist, elbow, and knee pain attributed to their occupations (Blackwell, 2014, p.1). A 2011 study conducted in Spain found that 71% of occupational illnesses were related to a lack of ergonomic optimization (SanchezLite et al., 2013, p. 8). In an effort to reduce occupational illness and streamline the espresso assembly process, a thorough evaluation of the ergonomic optimization of the second location will identify areas of improvement to reduce employee fatigue, frustration, injuries, and increase productivity and product quality. To create lean processes and optimize the ergonomics of the

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coffee production process, an examination of the current process is required. The identification of non-value added steps will identify areas for optimization. Appendix A outlines value added and non-value added production steps. Metrics: Process metrics will be used to guide the process improvement efforts and ensure that acceptable improvements have been created and measured. Metrics will be measured regularly in order to implement a cycle of continuous improvement. The metrics will monitor the performance of the processes in place to ensure improvements increase value or identify potential areas of improvement. Metric Annual Work Place Injuries Order Delivery Time # of Order Mistakes

Acceptable Mean Value 40% 2.47 minutes 16/day

Upper Control Limit 70% 3.43 minutes 24/day

Lower Control Limit 20% 1.55 minutes 4/day

“Process metrics are standard measurements that are used to evaluate and benchmark the performance of business processes” Spacey, 2017). Measurements for each metric will be taken for every iteration of the of the production process. These measurements will be gathered in a control chart to ensure that the process parameters fall within the acceptable ranges. The project team will use the metrics and process configurations to determine areas within the processes where improvements can be made. Annual Work Place Injuries The first metric tracked in the new location is annual work place injuries. This metric will allow a comparison between the current stores ergonomic design and the new stores ergonomic designs ability to reduce work place injuries. Current statistical work place injuries are near 70% based on market evidence (Blackwell, 2014, p. 1). The new stores ergonomic setup should reduce or eliminate workplace injury created by repetition and awkwardly postured positions. The expected acceptable mean value is an annual injury rate of 40%, which is based on new employee training and inexperience causing the majority of work place injuries. Tracking the annual frequency of work place injuries will clarify if the new ergonomic design is less injuryinducing than the current design. Order Delivery Time The second metric tracked in the new location is order delivery time. This metric will measure the amount of time it takes to deliver a beverage, starting from the time the order is placed and stopping when the order is placed in the customer’s hand. An evaluation of 50 iterations of beverages ordered at the original location indicates a minimum delivery time of 1.55 minutes, a mean delivery time of 2.47 minutes, and a maximum delivery time of 3.43 minutes. This information indicates that the ideal target delivery time is 2.47 minutes per order at the current location. The new ergonomic design will create improved access to equipment,

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ingredients, and storage creating reduced movement and a quicker production process. This metric will be tracked by time stamps maintained electronically. The start of this metric will begin when an order is placed by the customer and completed when the barista completes the order and places the beverage in the customer’s hand. This metric will improve the customer experience and satisfaction, leading to increased customer loyalty and revenue. Number of Order Mistakes The third metric tracked in the new location is the number of order mistakes. This metric will measure the amount of mistakes made throughout the work day. Mistakes in customer orders are inevitable; however, monitoring this metric will allow the Wild Dog Coffee Company the ability to distinguish between workstation design inefficiencies and human error. With this data the determination can be made if additional training is required to reduce human error and if the new ergonomic design is more or less efficient than the current design. The initial target metric will be to have less than 16 mistakes made per day with an upper level limit set at 24. If the upper level limit is hit, an immediate evaluation needs to be had to determine the root cause of excessive mistakes. As information is gathered and mistake frequency is recorded, metric levels will be altered. Tracking this metric will allow for the monitoring of the production line efficiency. Procedure The Coffee Quality Improvement project consists of two processes which comprise the overall production process: brewing and assembly. Brewing consists of the extraction of water from coffee beans through the use of pressure to extract flavor from the coffee bean. Assembly consists of assembling the brewed coffee with order requests in a cup to protect the integrity and quality of the extraction. As part of the process improvement plan, the brewing and order assembly process boundaries have been established below: Brewing:      

Start – the brewing process starts immediately upon an order being placed. Completion – the brewing process is complete once the water has been extracted and placed in the coffee pot for holding. Inputs – the inputs for the brewing process are: roast flavor selection, bean grind, and water extraction Outputs – the outputs for the brewing process are: flavored water extracted from the coffee bean and the order number. Data Required – the data required for the brewing process is: bean roast flavor, coffee type selection, quantity of product needed. Process Owner – Master brewing barista.

Assembly: 

Start – the assembly process starts immediately once an order is placed by a customer.

PROCESS IMPROVEMENT PLAN: WILD DOG COFFEE COMPANY     

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Completion – the assembly process is complete once the brew is combined with order requirements and the beverage is handed to the customer. Inputs – the inputs for the assembly process are: order cup size, order flavor, and customer name. Outputs – the outputs for the assembly process are: an assembled (completed) cup of coffee with a customer name and completion signature from the barista. Data Required – the data required for the assembly process is: flavor added, customer name, and order size. Process Owner – Master assembly barista.

The brewing process is controlled by an automated system connected to the ordering system. Water is connected directly to the espresso machine and an automated self-feeding coffee bean container is connected to the grinder. A grinder is connected to each espresso coffee brewer. When an order is placed by the customer is sent directly to the machine that will create the espresso coffee. The steps that the barista will take to complete the order are streamlined by this automation. The first step taken by the barista is collecting the customer label from the printer located next to the cups. Step two is placing the label on the correct sized cup. Step three is placing the cup under the brewing station for the pouring of the espresso coffee. Step four is adding ordered flavor to the cup of espresso coffee. Step five is placing a lid on the cup and step six is handing the cup of espresso coffee to the customer. Purpose (of the procedure) Efficiency and productivity are vital to selling large quantities of coffee at low prices to meet required costs and ergonomics can greatly increase revenue by making workers and workspaces more productive (How to Run Your Own Coffee Shop, 2019, p. 2). The purpose of this procedure is to incorporate automated systems, which will streamline processes, create consistency, remove human error, and reduce customer wait times. Automating the process will enhance the customer experience by increasing brew consistency, reducing wait times, and developing standardization. Analyze Performance Data Performing statistical process control techniques creates the ability to achieve and maintain a process distribution that does not change in terms of mean and variance (Krajewski et al, 2019, p. 117). To determine if products and services are meeting their design specifications, a process capability analysis can be completed. Process capability analysis is used to determine if design specifications are within nominal value, or target, and tolerance given an allowance above or below a nominal value (Krajewski et al., 2019, p. 117). The original Wild Dog Coffee Company location produced a 50 beverage iteration chart with times of completion. Using the process capability index and ratio, a determination of defective outputs relative to the upper and lower specifications can be evaluated quantitatively to determine of a process is capable (Krajewski et al., 2019, p. 117).

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Histogram Number of Iteratons at each Time

4.5 4 3.5 3 2.5 2 1.5 1 0.5 0 1.5 1.6 1.7 1.8 1.9 2 2.1 2.2 2.3 2.4 2.5 2.6 2.7 2.8 2.9 3 3.1 3.2 3.3 3.4 3.5 More Minutes to Complete Beverage

The process capability index measures how well the process is centered and if variability is acceptable (Krajewski et al., 2019, p. 117). This process is concerned with how well the process distribution is centered relative to specifications and checks to see if the process average is at least three standard deviations from the upper and lower specifications (Krajewski et al., 2019, p. 117). The process capability index is expressed as: Cpk and the formula for calculation is: x´ −Lower Specification Upper Specification− ´x , Cpk=Minimum of 3σ 3σ ¿ The process capability ratio is the tolerance width divided by six standard deviations (Krajewski et al., 2019, p. 118). The process capability ration is used in conjunction with the process capability index and if a process is capable, it will have a process distribution whose extreme values fall within the upper and lower specifications and be plus or minus three standard deviations (Krajewski et al., 2019, p. 118).The process capability ratio is expressed as: Cp, and the formula for calculation is: Cp=

Upper Specification−Lower Specification 6σ

A process capability ratio is only calculated if the process capability index are unacceptable (Krajewski et al., 2019, p. 118). If the ratio is acceptable, the focus should be on centering the process; if the process is not acceptable, the focus needs to be on reducing variability in the process until it passes the test (Krajewski et al., 2019, p. 118). Process Capability Results Cpk = 0.52 Cp = 0.53

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4.5

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1.5 1

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0 9 5 6 2 8 0. 0. 1. 1. 1.

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Probability Mass Functon f(µ,σ)

Frequency (Iteratons)

Process Capability

Frequency 3 Sigma Limits Tolerance Limits Probability Mass Function

Values (Minutes)

The capability index and capability ratio are useful in the valuation of current processes and the determination if processes are meeting acceptable standards of performance. Centered The Wild Dog Coffee Company’s current espresso production process is not centered and gaining insight into the current performance metrics can help determine what processes should be monitored and tracked to facilitate improvement. 3-Sigma Performance The process capability must be compared to a critical value to judge whether a process is capable (Krajewski et al., 2019, p. 117). A company striving to achieve three-sigma performance will use the critical value for the ratio of 1.0 and processes producing services or products with less than three-sigma performance will have values less than 1.0 (Krajewski et al., 2019, p. 117). The Process Capability chart shows that most of the iterations fall within three-sigma; however, it is not capable of meeting the three-sigma criteria because the upper and lower times are outside of three-sigma. This indicates the need for consistency and indicates the likeliness of bottlenecks, which slow down efficiency in the production system. Variation No two services are the exactly the same, which creates variation in processes (Krajewski et al., 2019, p. 106). It is important to identify variations and minimize them because frequent variation impacts customers (Krajewski et al., 2019, p. 106). The Wild Dog Coffee Company’s espresso production process likely has variation in many different areas. Variation can occur between baristas making the same cup of coffee, if machines are not cleaned between types of coffee grounds being brewed, if ingredients are old or new, if the coffee is burnt or fresh, and if the grind is not the same for a specific type of coffee. Many of these variations can be controlled through automation, which removes the human factor from the process.

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References Blackwell, T. (2014, May 28). Barista blues; near-epidemic of back pain among coffee shop workers. National Post Retrieved from http://library.capella.edu/login?qurl=https%3A %2F%2Fsearch.proquest.com%2Fdocview%2F1530277086%3Faccountid%3D27965 Coelho, D.A. (2010). Human Factors and Ergonomics – a growing discipline with multiple goals. International Journal of Human Factors and Ergonomics. Research Gate. Retrieved from: https://www.researchgate.net/publication/224831556_Human_Factors_and_Ergonomics_ a_a_growing_discipline_with_multiple_goals Ergonomics. (n.d.). United States Department of Labor Occupational Safety and Health Administration. Retrieved from: https://www.osha.gov/SLTC/ergonomics/index.html How to run your own coffee shop (2019). . New York: Newstex. Retrieved from http://library.capella.edu/login?qurl=https%3A%2F%2Fsearch.proquest.com%2Fdocview %2F2320843979%3Faccountid%3D27965 Krajewski, L.J., Malhotra, M.K., & Ritzman, L.P. (2019). Operations Management (12th Ed). New York, New York: Pearson. Sanchez-Lite, A., Garcia, M., Domingo, R., & Sebastian, M. A. (2013). Novel ergonomic postural assessment method (NERPA) using product-process computer aided engineering for ergonomic workplace design. PLoS One, 8(8) doi:http://dx.doi.org.library.capella.edu/10.1371/journal.pone.0072703 Spacey, J. (2017). 8 Types of Process Metric. Simplicable. Retrieved from: https://simplicable.com/new/process-metrics

PROCESS IMPROVEMENT PLAN: WILD DOG COFFEE COMPANY United States coffee production market: High coffee consumption and premium product sales will aid growth: Coffee production in the US - industry market research report (2014). . Chatham: Newstex.

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Appendix A: Current Value Added and Non-Value Added Steps Value-Added

Non-Value Added

Time Breakdown

Walk to Freezer 4 Seconds Get Coffee 4 Seconds

Value Added The activities that physically change the product and adds important information that is required to meet the customer needs.

Walk to Grinder 4 Seconds Grind Coffee 30 Seconds Walk to Storage 3 Seconds Get Filter 4 Seconds Walk to Espresso Machine 4 Seconds Install Filter 3 Seconds

Value Added Install Filter 3 Seconds

Walk to Grinder 3 Seconds

Walk to Grinder 3 Seconds Retrieve Ground Coffee 5 Seconds

Retrieve Ground Coffee 5 Seconds Walk to Espresso Machine 3 Seconds

Walk to Espresso Machine 3 Seconds Load Ground Coffee 3 Seconds

Load Ground Coffee 3 Seconds

Select Brew 2 Seconds Remove Coffee Pot 3 Seconds Place Coffee Pot on Warmer 2 Seconds

Non-Value Added

Select Brew 2 Seconds

Remove Coffee Pot 3 Seconds

Place Coffee Pot on Warmer 2 Seconds

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Appendix B: Additional Areas of Improvement

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