The management of Burgermeister fast-food franchise wants to provide hamburgers quickly to customers. It has been using a process by which precooked hamburgers are prepared and placed under hot lamps. These hamburgers are then sold to customers. In this process, every customer receives the same type of hamburger and dressing (ketchup, onions, mustard). If a customer wants something different, then a “special order” must be cooked to the customer’s requirements. This requires the customer to wait several minutes, which often slows down the service line. Burgermeister has been receiving more and more special orders from customers, which has been slowing service down considerably.
a. How would you describe the present Burgermeister service delivery system?
b. How might you use just-in-time principles to provide customers quick service, yet still allow them to custom order their burgers?