1 Running head: LEARNING CURVE THEORY

Flowchart for a Process Kevin L. Jackson OPS/571 March 16, 2011

LEARNING CURVE THEORY

Learning Curve Theory A learning curve is a line displaying the relationship between unit production time and the cumulative number of units produced (Quality Management, Chapter N4). When sustaining an efficient and profitable business the learning curve can be extremely useful within any organization. This will permit a business to improve any areas of concern throughout the full business. Allowing for better decisions and more familiarity of how the process needs to be. In Marios Pizza Simulation, Mario opened up a pizza parlor in Palm Springs, CA in 1950, with his wife. This pizza parlor is located in an indoor mall where there are a lot of prospective customers. Mario is becoming concerned with the increased amount of time that his customers have to wait. The customers are getting frustrated and there are numerous cases of customers leaving without making a purchase. In order for Mario to keep all of his customers happy and to continue to bring in new customers, there must be some major changes made. The waiting time must be reduced, down from 9 minutes. When a customer has to wait longer than 8 minutes they become restless and anxious, according to the Pizza Store Layout simulation. Marios Pizza Parlor needs to ensure that they have a process implemented that will maintain a balance between the demand for service and the capacity of the system to provide the proper service to the customers. With these two corrections to the business, Mario can be closer to having a very profitable business. The learning curve concepts can be very useful for a small business like Marios. In the existing process at Marios Pizza Parlor, the learning curve concepts can be applied in several ways. This concept that was found on the Federal Aviation Administration website was very helpful in determining the correct process to choose in the pizza simulation. While going through

LEARNING CURVE THEORY the pizza simulation, I was able to persuade Mario and his customers by sticking with this learning curve idea. In this simulation I compiled some process performance data, which is as follows: I had to choose whether or not to change the current serving staff, cooks, and the amount of 2

person and 4 person tables to have to provide the optimal service without cutting into the profits. Week 3-4 Tables for 2
Utilization %

Tables for 4
Utilization %

Work Staff 2 Cooks 4 Servers

Total Cost/Day
$

Profit
$

84.91

97.11

2,218

1,418

5-6

80.19

89.63

2 Cooks 4 Servers

2,231

1,685

7-8

77.57

83.09

3 Cooks 5 Servers

3,009

2,061

This table shows that the correct decisions have been made because the profit went up each period, which means that the customers must be satisfied and are willing to spend money. The correct number of employees and the correct number of tables makes for an easier more profitable work day In conclusion, the current process at Marios Pizza Parlor isnt a bad process by any means. The process should be updated to better serve their customers and to ensure higher profits. The most important goal for any organization is to make as much money as possible without sacrificing too much along the way. I have discussed the changes that I would make to Marios Pizza Parlor if I was in fact Marios only nephew that he was going to give the pizza parlor. I have shown that I could make this business thrive and grow as well as keeping all the

LEARNING CURVE THEORY customers satisfied, especially those that have been around for years. References Nicholas J. Aquilano, Richard B. Chase, and F. Robert Jacobs. (2005). Operations Management for Competitve Edge (11th Edition ed.). New York: The McGraw-Hill Companies. Richard B. Chase, F. Robert Jacobs, Nicholas J. Aquilano (2006). Operations Management for Competitive Advantage, 14ed. McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc.

University of Phoenix. (2010). Process Control and Problem Solving. Retrieved from University of Phoenix, Pizza Store Layout Simulation, OPS571- Operations Management course management.