Part A:
A number of the technological developments in manufacturing are now in use in services. An example of this is the use of wireless tracking systems - although they were originally used by manufacturing firms to track or locate their inventory, similar systems are found in service organisations. Select any 5 new technologies, and explain how they are used in service organisations to improve their business processes.
Part B:
The administrator of the Life-Time Insurance Company HMO, Ms. Taylor, was anxious to solve potential problems before their new clinic opened in Austin, Texas. In Buffalo, New York, where the original clinic is located, the pharmacy had been extremely busy from the beginning, and long waiting times for prescriptions to be filled presented a very real problem.
The Buffalo HMO pharmacy was modern, spacious, and well designed. The peak time for prescriptions was between 10 A.M. and 3 P.M. During this period, prescriptions would back up, and the waiting time would increase. After 5 P.M., the staff would be reduced to one pharmacist and one technician, but the two had no trouble providing very timely service throughout the evening.
Ms. Taylor became acutely aware of the long waiting times after several complaints had been lodged. Each stated that the waiting time had exceeded 1 hour. The pharmacy is staffed with five persons on duty until 5 P.M. Ms. Taylor personally studied the tasks of all the pharmacy personnel. She noted the time required to accomplish each task, and her results are listed below. The prescriptions were filled in an assembly-line fashion by two technicians and three pharmacists, and each person performed only one task.
Draw a simple process flow diagram and attempt the following questions:
a. Identify the bottleneck activity, and show how capacity can be increased by using only two pharmacists and two technicians.
b. In addition to savings on personnel costs, what benefits does this arrangement have?
c. Explain if you could further improve the overall process time and efficiency. In your answer state what additional resources, if any, would be needed or if lesser resources will be required.