Case: Creature Care Animal Clinic (A) It has been three years since Dr. Julia Barr opened Crea- ture Care Animal Clinic, a suburban veterinary clinic. Dr. Barr thought that by now she would be enjoying having her own practice. She had spent many years in college and worked to save money in order to start a business. Instead, she felt overwhelmed with business problems that were facing the clinic. She thought to herself. "I don't produce anything. I just provide a service doing something I enjoy. How can this be so complicated?" Company Background Dr. Barr opened Creature Care Animal Clinic as a veteri- nary clinic specializing in the care of dogs and cats. The clinic was set to operate Monday through Friday during regular business hours, with half days on Saturday and extended hours on Wednesday evening. Dr. Barr hired another full-time veterinarian, Dr. Gene Yen, a staff of three nurses, an office manager, and an office assis- tant. Both doctors were to work during the week and rotate the shift for Wednesday evenings and Saturdays. A similar schedule was set up for the nurses. The office manager worked during regular business hours, and the assistant worked on Wednesday evenings and Sat- urdays. Dr. Barr set up this schedule based on a clinic she had observed as a resident and thought it sounded reasonable. Since the clinic was small, Dr. Barr did not have a formal system of inventory management. All physicians and nurses were allowed to place purchase orders based on need. Initially this system worked well, but after a few months problems started developing. Frequently, there was excess inventory of certain items, and in many cases there were multiple brands of the same product. Sometimes medications passed their expiration dates and had to be thrown away. At the same time, the clinic often unexpectedly ran out of stock of certain supplies and rush orders had to be placed. On one occasion, the clinic ran so low on bandages that the assistant had to be sent to the local drugstore. Dr. Barr continued to rotate with Dr. Yen for cover- age on Saturdays and Wednesday evenings. However, demand was increasing so rapidly on Saturdays that one doctor was not enough to provide needed cover- age. Also, the Friday afternoon schedule was usually so packed that the staff frequently had to stay late in the evening. At the same time, there was little demand on Wednesday evenings and Dr. Barr found herself work- ing on paperwork on those evenings, while the nurse and office assistant performed menial office tasks. Case Questions 1. 2. Identify the operations management problems that Dr. Barr is having at the clinic. The schedule Dr. Barr set up worked well at the clinic where she was a resident. What are some of the rea- sons why it might not be working here? 3. Identify some of the reasons why the clinic is having inventory problems. 4. 5. What should Dr. Barr have done differently to avoid some of the problems she is currently experiencing? What suggestions would you make to Dr. Barr now?