Question:

Using the DOWNTIME acronym (also referred to as TIMWOODS or 7 deadly wastes), identify as many wastes in the current VSM, explaining the reasons for your assessment in each case. The purpose of this is getting the student to critically analyse what waste exists and why some wastes have a greater impact on customer satisfaction than others. Again, this should be supported with relevant theory on the topic of waste within a process.

Curl Up \& Dye (Business Case Study) Business: Hair Salon offering all services including hair styling, cutting, colours etc Location: Medium-sized town, 3000 residents. Competition: 2 other salons within 7km, offering similar services. Background: Curl Up \& Dye is a relatively successful service business. It has been in operation for 8 years, opening its doors in 2014. Since then, it has grown from a staff of 4 to 7 employees. It has increased its business by 20% in the 8 years it has been operating. However, recent customer surveys suggest that customers are no longer fully satisfied with the service of the salon. Complaints range from long waiting times, not good value for money, cutting services rushed and limited availability of appointments. This is a big concern for the owners as their plan is to undertake a large expansion, which includes moving to a larger premises, recruiting more staff, both fully qualified and apprentices, increasing the service offering to mobile hair dressing for events such as weddings, all of which will require a significant financial investment. Having gathered data for 2 years now on customer satisfaction in a sporadic manner, the general consensus is that, while the customers are returning, they are not always completely satisfied with the service they are getting. One customer feedback read: "Having waited 2 weeks for my appointment, I felt like leaving the salon at one point as I was left waiting so long at each step along of the process. My appointment was for 11am, I was checked in on time, gowned up quickly and then I waited 20 minutes for my stylist. She was very apologetic, and I could see that she was extremely busy running between clients. Then I had to wait a further 15 minutes to get my hair washed. Finally at 11.45 am, my cutting service began. That part was good, although I felt the stylist was so busy, she was distracted by the other customers entering the salon, knowing she was already quite behind with her list of clients. When she finished cutting my hair, she went off to find someone to dry it. That was the point where I almost left, as my hair was nearly dry by the time someone was eventually found that was free to do it, at 12.45pm. I left the salon at 1.30pm and while I was very happy with the cut and style, the experience was ruined by all the delays at each stage along the way". At the same time, staff retention was beginning to pose a problem as many of the staff felt that they were over-worked, rushing through their clients as they always seemed to be behind schedule. Staff morale was quite low as consequence. Training and upskilling were encouraged, but there never seemed to be the time to undertake it. Another area that required focus is the inventory management of towels, shampoos, colours and merchandise for sale to customers. The receptionist was responsible for the management of this inventory. There were stockouts in some products, particularly the products that are available for customers to purchase, long lead-times to replenish others and excess of others. In order to ensure that the expansion would yield a good return on investment the salon owner, along with the staff, knew that it was critical for them to understand how the salon was actually operating, where the gaps were and how they could be fixed. They decided to call in some lean experts to observe the running of the salon on a day-to-day business and identify what the main issues were and propose a plan to fix them. The experts got to work documenting what each staff member was trained to do, observed average waiting times and then talked to the customers to get a better understanding of the type of service they expected and what they felt worked well. Staff breakdown - 1 receptionist, who also manages the inventory for the salon, 2 trainees who could wash hair and 1 of whom could also dry hair, 4 stylists, only 2 of whom were trained in colour, but all 4 were trained in cutting and styling. 1 of the stylists was also the salon expert on up-styles and was allocated to events such as weddings, balls etc. Customer demand for wash cut and blow-dry services is 32 appointments per day. The owner is hoping to increase this to 42 after the expansion. Opening hours - Sunday and Monday closed. Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday - 9am until 6pm (closed for 1 hour for lunch, 1pm2pm ). Friday and Saturday 8.30am to 8.30pm (staff have two 15 -minute breaks and one 30 minute break during these days, so presume that capacity is reduced for 1hr in total on these days). The main processes involved in providing a cutting service to the customer: 1. Check in at reception -1 minute 2. Getting gowned and seated -2 minutes 3. Consultation with stylist -10 minutes 4. Washing of hair -7 minutes 5. Cutting -20 minutes 6. Drying - up to 20 minutes 7. Pay, check out and follow up appointment booking, if required -5 mins. For colour appointments the timing is as follows: 1. Check in at reception -1 minute 2. Getting gowned and seated -2 minutes 3. Consultation with colour stylist -10 minutes 4. Application of colour -20 minutes 5. Waiting for colour to set -45 minutes 6. Stylist to check progress -4 minutes 7. Washing out colour -7 minutes. 8. If cut is included, you need to add in 20 minutes. 9. Drying - up to 20 minutes 10. Pay, check out and follow up appointment booking, if required -5 mins. However, the average visit by customers was taking much longer than this, with considerable waiting times between each stage being observed. 1. Waiting to be checked in - average 5 minutes 2. Waiting to meet the stylist - average 15 minutes, sometimes 20 . 3. Waiting to get hair washed - average 10 minutes 4. Waiting for stylist to return to cut - average 7 minutes 5. Waiting for hair to be dried - average 9 minutes 6. Waiting for stylist to return and check the cut - average 8 minutes 7. Waiting to pay and exit - average 6 minutes. Colour services follow a similar pathway, but the times varied depending on what was required, highlights, full head etc. On analysis the split is 60% wash, cut and blowdry and 40% colour, wash, cut and blow dry. For the purpose of this exercise, base all calculations and demand for wash, cut and blowdry services. Management feel that if this service is improved, then the learnings can be applied to colour and styling services too