Second Annual Contest: The SM Market You have just been hired as a consultant by Sid Model of SM Market. Sid started a small meat and fish market several years ago in a suburban community with the concept of providing high- quality fresh meats and fish at a reasonable price. The first store has been a tremendous success; at the request of his customers, he recently expanded the store by adding a deli counter. The deli offers a wide range of pre-made side dishes as well as sandwiches for the lunch crowd. This addition appears to have been a success, but Sid is having difficulty staffing the counters due to the high variability in customer arrivals. Since Sid is considering opening several new stores in the upcoming year and possibly franchising his market concept if the stores continue to be successful, he has decided to hire a consultant to evaluate his staffing needs. Not only will this allow him to minimize his expenses, but it will provide the basis for his cost estimates in opening new stores. The addition of the new deli counter has caused a few problems and has been the source of numerous customer complaints about the long lines. This was partially due to the layout of the store. In order to expand the business, Sid purchased an adjacent store for the new deli counter. In effect, it is two separate stores with a connecting doorway. This resulted in two lines forming, one at each counter, and resulted in some customer confusion. Although he realized he had a problem, he was unable to develop a logical and inexpensive solution. Shortly after this, Sid was contacted by a local university looking for short-term IE projects. He welcomed the chance to have a group of IES examine his operation in the hope that they could provide some insight into how best to operate his store. After some observations and talking to customers, Sid and the IE students decided that the biggest problem was the customer perception that other people were jumping ahead of them in line and being served first. In order to eliminate this problem, Sid installed two customer number devices, one for each counter. Now, when customers enter the single entry door, they must choose which line they wish to enter. They walk approximately 20 feet to obtain a customer number, then another 20 feet to enter the appropriate line at the counter they have chosen. Customer numbers are called sequentially and customers wait for their numbers to be called before they are served. If customers want to make purchases at both counters, they must follow this procedure at both counters. It has been observed that these customers tend first to enter the line at the counter with the fewest number of people waiting and then proceed to the second counter. If customers do not identify themselves when their numbers are called, they must take a new number in order to be served. This method resolved a temporary problem of customers taking a number from each line and then assuming that they would be served as soon as they arrived at the second counter which caused the customers in that line to feel that these customers were getting preferential treatment.