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OSCM Case - Pizza USA

This document outlines an exercise where students take on the roles of customers and managers of Pizza USA to design a pizza delivery process. As customers, students list important attributes of pizza delivery and as managers, they combine customer lists, categorize items into headings, and list process design requirements along with measures to ensure each requirement is met. They then design a pizza delivery process flowchart to meet the requirements. The goal is to illustrate how difficult it can be to translate customer wants into deliverable products and processes to consistently deliver in a cost-effective way and connect management to business outcomes.

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Nguyen Chi
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107 views4 pages

OSCM Case - Pizza USA

This document outlines an exercise where students take on the roles of customers and managers of Pizza USA to design a pizza delivery process. As customers, students list important attributes of pizza delivery and as managers, they combine customer lists, categorize items into headings, and list process design requirements along with measures to ensure each requirement is met. They then design a pizza delivery process flowchart to meet the requirements. The goal is to illustrate how difficult it can be to translate customer wants into deliverable products and processes to consistently deliver in a cost-effective way and connect management to business outcomes.

Uploaded by

Nguyen Chi
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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Case: Pizza USA: An Exercise in Translating Customer Requirements into Process Design

Requirements
A central theme of contemporary operations management is focus on the customer. This is
commonly understood to mean that if a company does focus on its customers and if it is able to
consistently deliver what the customer wants in a cost-effective manner, then the company
should be successful. The hard part is to be able to truly understand what the customer wants.
Translating what the customer wants into a deliverable product (meaning some combination
of goods and services) and designing a set of processes that will consistently deliver the
product in a cost-effective manner are every bit as difficult. Finally, connecting the
management of these products and processes to obtain desired business outcomes of the
organization is a further challenge. The following exercise will try to illustrate how difficult all
of this can be.
The Setting
Pizza USA is a chain of pizza restaurants that currently offers sit-down and take-out service.
Many customers have said they would buy more pizzas from Pizza USA if it offered a delivery
service. This exercise is in two parts. In Part I, you play the customer. In Part II, you play the
manager at Pizza USA who is responsible for developing the pizza delivery process design
requirements.
Part I: Customer.
To start with, you have to think like a customer. This should be easy since you probably have
experience with ordering pizza to be delivered. Put that experience to work! Make a list of the
attributes of pizza delivery that are important to you AS A CUSTOMER!
As we said, this should be easy. Right? Or is it? In devising your list, consider the following:
- What must a pizza delivery service accomplish so that you are reasonably satisfied?
- Beyond your being reasonably satisfied, what could a pizza delivery service do that
would make it really unique and create a differential advantage? In other words, what
could a pizza delivery service do that might cause you to ALWAYS order from one
particular service (and, perhaps, to pay more for the privilege)?
Part II: Manager.
Now, put on your “Pizza USA manager’s hat.” For this part of the exercise, you will be teamed
with some other students.
First, using the lists of all of your team members, create a master list. Next, try to group the
items on your list under a series of major headings; for example, “condition of the delivered
pizza” or “quick, on-time delivery” or “order accuracy,” and so on. Finally, make a list of the
“pizza delivery process design requirements” that your pizza delivery process will have to
meet. As you do this, think about measurable standards. In other words, what would you
measure in order to ensure that your process is operating effectively and efficiently? Why do you
think that these measures will be useful?
Here’s an example of how a part of this analysis could go. One customer requirement may be
that the pizza should be hot when it is delivered. The fact is that as soon as the pizza comes out
of the oven, it starts to cool. So, how could you keep the pizza from dropping below some
minimum temperature before you hand it to your customer?

Questions
1. Make a list of pizza delivery attributes that are important to you as a customer.
2. Combine your list with the lists of a few other class members and categorize the items under a
series of major headings.
3. Make a list of pizza delivery process design requirements. Associate with each requirement a
measure that would ensure that the process meets the requirement.
4. Design a process that meets your requirements. Describe it by using a flowchart similar to that
shown in Exhibit 9.5.
https://fr.scribd.com/presentation/141875333/PIZZA-USA-An-Exercise-in-Translating-Customer
-Requirements-into-Process-Design-Requirements-pptx

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