What are the advantages and disadvantages of shorter dining times?

Benihana Simulation
Report Instructions:
In this simulation, students explore the principles of
operations and service management while working through a series of challenges
set during a single evening at a busy Benihana restaurant (6PM -1030 PM).
Customers start in the bar area for drinks and then move into
the dining room where chefs prepare the food right at the table. Each
simulation challenge examines a particular aspect of the restaurant operation
beginning with the effect of batching customers from the bar into the dining
room. Other challenges examine the effect of redesigning the bar area, reducing
dining time. The final challenge requires students to consider the lessons
learned in the previous challenges to design a strategy that maximizes
utilization, throughput, and total profit for the evening.
The simulation is single player but the report is a team effort.
Each student in the team needs to allocate 60-90 minutes to complete all
challenges. In the team report you should address specific questions related to
the challenges as specified in the deliverables section below.
Access the simulation through the HBP course pack. The Prepare
section of the simulation includes How to Play features, which provide the user
information about how to engage with the simulation. The simulation is designed
to be very simple to begin. The simulation will be set to OPEN Saturday
at noon, you can start at anytime.

Deliverables:
Your final report should include the following elements:
Format: Include a one-page executive summary. The body of the
report should address the elements below, and is limited to 6 pages font-12.
Number of exhibits is not limited.

Batching Customers (challenge # 1)
·
Explain how batching
affects throughput and why.
·
What is the best
decision regarding batching customers? Why (support rationale through reference
to performance metrics). What are the potential disadvantages of batching?
Designing the Bar (challenge # 2)
·
Is having a bar a good
idea? Why? What is the function of the bar?
·
What should be the
size for the bar?
Dining Time (challenge # 3)
·
What factors affect
the length of time customers will dine at the restaurant? What is the level of
control management has over these factors?
·
What are the
advantages and disadvantages of shorter dining times?
·
What is the optimal
dining time across an evening?
Complex forms of batching (challenge # 5)
·
What was the best
batching strategy across the evening? Why?
·
What affects the
effectiveness of batching?
Designing your best strategy (challenge # 6)
·
What is the best
combination of decisions in order to maximize profitability at the restaurant?
·
Discuss the
implications of your strategy both for short-term and long-term profitability
of operations.
Applying Lessons learned to Healthcare
·
What are some ‘lessons
learned’ that can be applied in an healthcare setting? Provide three specific
examples, identifying lesson learned and illustrating application.
Exhibits (no limit, indicate the scenario)
·
Please include
relevant screens from the simulation noting detail on your performance
·
Please include any
relevant analysis of performance data to justify recommendations
·
Other exhibits you may
consider relevant

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