Six Sigma Project

INCREASING THE EFFICIENCY OF

THE CLOSING PROCESS AT

SLOOPY'S DINER

April 8th, 2015 Seonghui Kim / Mengfan Wu / Linzi Zhang / Baozheng Ge

Table of Contents

Executive Summary ……………………………………………………………………………3

1. Define Phase………...………………………………………………………………………4-5

2. Measure Phase………………………………………………………………………………6-7

3. Analyze Phase……………………………………………………………………………….7-9

4. Improve……………………………………………………………………………………..9-10

5. Control…………………………………………………………………………………….….11

Appendices………………………………………………………………………………..…12-31

Appendix 1. Problem Statement………………………………………………………..……...12

Appendix 2. Gantt Chart ………………………………………………………..……..………13

Appendix 3. Value Stream Map………………………………………………..……..……….14

Appendix 4. Project Charter………………………………………………..……..…….….….15

Appendix 5. Affinity Diagram………………………………………………………..……......16

Appendix 6. CTQC Tree………………………………………………………..……..……….17

Appendix 7. Baseline Chart………………………………………………..……..………...18-20

Appendix 8a. Sub – Value Stream Map (Kitchen)…………………………………..…….... 21

Appendix 8b. Sub – Value Stream Map (Dishwasher)………………………………..……...22

Appendix 9a. Fishbone Diagram (Kitchen)…………………………………..……..………...23

Appendix 9b. Fishbone Diagram (Dishwasher)………………………………..……..………24

Appendix 10a. 5 Whys (Kitchen)……………………………………………..……..…………25

Appendix 10b. 5 Whys (Dishwasher)…………………………………………..……..……….26

Appendix 11a. FMEA (Kitchen)…………………………………………..……..……….……27

Appendix 11b. FMEA (Dishwasher)…………………………………………………..……....28

Appendix 12. Baseline and Pilot Chart ………………………………………..……..……….29

Appendix 13. Implementation Plan…………………………………………..……..…………30

Appendix 14. Control Plan………………………………………………..……..……….….....31

Executive Summary

A student team did a project with Sloopy’s Diner during the 2015 spring semester. The

purpose of the project was to make the closing process more efficient and validate the standard

operating procedures for the closing process because the student employees were not able to

leave the restaurant until 1:00 AM, which is the expected closing time of the project sponsor.

This could cause two serious consequences, on top of employee’s burnout syndrome: inability of

student employees to be attentive in class and increasing labor costs to the restaurant. In the

Define phase, it was noticed that though other parts were done before 1:00 AM, the kitchen and

dishwasher parts could not, so those two parts became the project focus. Through the Measure

phase, all of the critical to quality characteristics were identified, and a baseline chart was made

to compare expectation level and performance. This showed that the kitchen and dishwasher

closing processes could not satisfy the expectation. In the Analyze phase, some of the problems

and root causes could be found for the closing processes of the kitchen and dishwasher areas by

using a Value Stream Map, a Fishbone Diagram and the 5 Whys technique. In the Improve

phase, by using brainstorming and lean tools, recommendations were made and piloted for the

kitchen and dishwasher areas, and these solutions were found to be effective in reducing the time

of the closing process:

Increasing the frequency of daily grill cleaning

Making a location to store towels to clean grills in the kitchen

Assigning a specific area for separating all types of dishes and tools

Using a fan to dry out the wet floor

Increasing cooperation between dishwashers and bussers

Define

1) Problem Statement

Recently, management at a university dining restaurant, Sloopy’s Diner, identified a

problem with its closing time process. According to the problem statement (Appendix 1), the

closing process at Sloopy's Diner in the OSU Student Union takes too much time, which can

cause serious consequences such as employee turnover, employee fatigue and student

employees’ inability to be attentive in class. Moreover, employees working overtime burdens the

restaurant with increased labor costs. As seen in Appendix 1, the success rate of finishing the

closing process within sixty minutes was 16.67% compared to a target of at least 50%. The

sponsor expected two outcomes from this project: a more efficient closing process and validation

or revision of standard operating procedures for the closing process.

2) Gantt Chart and Value Stream Map

Before the project began, the project was scheduled for each of the DMAIC phases by

using a Gantt Chart (Appendix 2). Time was distributed for each phase, and tollgate reviews

were planned to discuss whether the project proceeded well or not. Moreover, it was necessary to

figure out what exactly happened in the closing process of Sloppy’s because the problems in the

problem statement looked too broad. In addition, making an operational definition for the closing

process was significant because the restaurant did not have any defined standard time. After

discussion, the closing process time of Sloopy’s was defined as time elapsed from12:00 AM

until the closing process was completed. With this definition, a Value Stream Map was made to

show patterns or bottlenecks. As seen in Appendix 3, Sloopy’s has five parts, including host,

dessert/cashier, servers, dishwasher and kitchen, so the process time of each part was measured

to determine which areas took much longer than others. After measuring the time and drawing

the map, the areas of the kitchen and dishwasher seemed to have more problems compared to

others because the other processes were done within 60 minutes. When it came to the dishwasher

and the kitchen, they took 69 minutes and 72 minutes, respectively. Solving the problems in

those areas would significantly impact the result of the project.

3) Project Charter

To determine what problems had to be resolved for this project in detail, a project charter

was created (Appendix 4). The student employees at Sloopy’s were considered the project

customer, and the project scope was narrowed into the dishwasher part and the kitchen part based

on the value stream mapping. From this project, it was expected that Sloopy’s would improve the

speed of the closing process and also reduce soft costs, such as overtime for time worked past

1:00 AM.

4) Voice of Customer and CTQC’s

In the Define phase, it was important to understand what the customers wanted, so the

student employees and the manager were interviewed to learn what they wanted for the closing

process. The results were organized by using an Affinity Diagram (Appendix 5). The responses

from the employees were sorted into the kitchen line and dishwasher line, and each represented a

need on the Critical to Quality Characteristics (CTQC’s) Tree (Appendix 6). For example, the

diagram showed that the time for cleaning grills was important in making the closing process

efficient. Measuring data related to cleaning grills became important in the Measure phase.

Measure

1) Operational Definition of CTQC

According to the data the student team collected about closing shift clock-out time, the

student team found out that there were two main areas that often delayed the closing process,

which were the kitchen line and the dishwasher line. In order to correct the problems in these

three sections, the student team developed a CTQC Tree for each of them (Appendix 6). The first

one dealt with the efficiency of the closing process in the kitchen line. To achieve this, the area

needed to have the grill tables and floor cleaned within the appropriate time, all equipment

turned off and all required tools flipped and dated. In order to have the grill table and floor

cleaned within the appropriate time, the kitchen staff had to finish cleaning corners, grills, tables

and expo line shelves before 1:00 AM. For all the equipment to be turned off, the kitchen staff

needed to turn off grills, reach-ins and the extractor before cleaning them. For the required tools

to be flipped and dated, basically the drawers and top of line needed to be flipped and dated to

guarantee their future usage.

The dishwashing area then needed to have an efficient closing of the dishwasher line. To do

this, the dishwashing area had to have a rapid delivery of dirty dishes, well-prepared washing

conditions and an appropriate dishwashing speed. For rapid delivery of dirty dishes, servers were

required to bring all the dishes from the kitchen to the washing area by 12:14 AM. Also, bussers

were supposed to take the clean dishes from the dryer within 1 minute and 20 seconds in order to

have a faster turnover. For well-prepared washing conditions, dishwashing staff needed to set the

water temperature for each sink at higher than 180 °F and should go through an entire bottle of

dish cleaner and sanitizer each day to ensure adequate cleaning quality. For appropriate

dishwashing speed of, the dishwashing area required seven servers and one busser at the same

time. In addition, the people in charge of the dishwasher had to do maintenance for the

dishwashing machine and sink once a week to keep the dishwasher in good operating condition.

2) Baseline Performance

To measure baseline performance, the student team collected the clock-out times for the

kitchen staff, dishwasher staff, server, host, dessert staff and student manager during a 28-day

period, and that clock-out data was used to draw a baseline chart (Appendix 7). Sixty minutes

was used as the upper limit because, according to the operational definition, the closing process

started at 12:00 AM and should be completed by 1:00 AM, which meant a 60-minute time frame.

If the clock-out time spots were above 60 minutes for a certain process, the process was

considered unstable and needed to be improved. As seen in the appendix, there were 12 time

spots in the kitchen area and 24 spots in the dishwasher area exceeding the time standard set

previously, which meant that the rest of the project needed to focus on the kitchen and

dishwasher areas.

Analyze

1) Sub - Value Stream Map

The Value Stream Map (Appendix 8a) for the kitchen area indicated a bottleneck of kitchen

cleaning grills because it took much more time than other sub-steps. In addition, the Value

Stream Map (Appendix 8b) for the dishwasher area indicated that the dishwashing bottleneck

was due to the busser taking a long time to collect dried dishes.

2) Fishbone Diagram

Based on the baseline performance and the data from the measurement phase, the student

team quantified the relationship between the root causes and the problems in the kitchen and

dishwasher areas. First, there were some significant issues that affected the time it took to clean

the grills:

• Location to pick up towels was far from the grills

• Inconsistent cleaning skill

• Last customer order too late

• Too many greasy and sticky leftovers on the grills (Appendix 9a)

Second, there were some significant issues that prevented the close-out time for dishwashers

from being within one hour:

• Slippery floor

• Machine closed down constantly

• Inefficient collection of table wares

• Busser’s motion waste

• Busser need to re-clean tableware (Appendix 9b)

3) 5 Whys

Through the 5 Whys technique (Appendix 10a), four root causes were discovered. The

primary cause of extensive cleaning time for grills was that the original scheduling system of

Sloopy’s allowed student employees who did not have closing shift experience to take the

closing shift. The second cause was having no time limit for ordering. The other two causes

were the location of storing the towels for cleaning the kitchen, which was too far from the

kitchen, and having no cleaning standard for the grills during cooking.

Moreover, three major problems were found through the 5 Whys technique for the

dishwasher (Appendix 10b) that affected the ability of the dishwashers to finish the closing

procedures within one hour. The first problem was unorganized tableware. The root cause of an

unorganized tableware collection was having no specific stacks to sort cooker. The second

problem was motion waste of the busser. The root causes of the busser’s motion waste were

water coming out when the dishwasher used a nozzle to clean the dishes, which made the floor

too slippery for the busser to walk; nothing was drying out the wet floor and the arrangement for

a kitchen tools shelf was too far away. The third problem was tableware cleanliness. The root

cause of this was that there was no clean place to put the dirty dishes.

Improve Phrase

After identifying the relationship between the process of input (X) and the process of

output (Y) and figuring out the main factors delaying the clock-out time, the improvement phrase

was aimed to brainstorm, select, and pilot solutions.

In the kitchen area, before implementing the solutions, the student team used the Failure

Modes and Effects Analysis (Appendix 11a) to identify the potential problems that might occur

during implementation and to address the responding corrective actions. For instance, taking a

long time to clean the grills was a failure and directly affected the clock-out time. Potential

causes to the failure could be the distance from towel storage location to the working area,

ordering food that requires the use of grills and the accumulation of greasy and sticky leftovers

on the grills. Recommendations were limited to ordering foods that require the use of grills

before 11:30 PM, increasing the frequency of daily grill cleaning to reduce the accumulation of

greasy leftovers and assigning a fixed location to store clean towels. After confirming whether or

not these suggestions were possible to implement, Sloopy’s decided to accept the

recommendations of increasing the frequency of daily grill cleaning and assigning a fixed

location to store towels. To reduce the time spent cleaning the grills, morning shift kitchen

employees were expected to clean the grills during down time, and the kitchen manager was

directed to assign a specific space to keep towels so the employees could get them easily and

quickly. As you can see in Appendix 12, those implemented solutions could help the employees

leave the restaurant before 1:00 AM.

For the dishwashing area, too much time spent cleaning dishes could be a failure (in

Appendix 11b) for the project. To solve those problems, the student team suggested assigning a

specific area for separating all types of tableware, relocating the kitchen tools shelf, using a fan

to dry out the floor, machine maintenance and increasing cooperation between the dishwashers

and the bussers. Sloopy’s selected and implemented the recommendations except for relocating

the shelves for kitchen tools because this change could inconvenience the daytime workers. In

order to implement the solutions, the restaurant had the managers be responsible for assigning a

specific area for collecting different tableware items. In addition, the busser was responsible for

turning on a pan for the entire work process. Moreover, the manager and dishwashers were

responsible for taking charge of regular checks on the machine and had to make sure that the

water temperature was high enough to adequately clean and sanitize the dirty dishes. Within

three days of following the implementation plan (Appendix 13), Sloopy’s could reduce the

closing process timeframe in the dishwasher area as you can see in Appendix 12.

Control Phase

With selected and implemented solutions from the improvement phrase, it is necessary to

monitor the changes to keep the improvements after the project ended. Therefore, in order to

control the improved process, a Control Plan Chart (Appendix 14) was made.

To keep this improvement in place, the employee manager should update the clock-out

data biweekly to see whether there are days when the employees are not able to leave the

restaurant before 1:00 AM. Moreover, the manager should be informed by the employees of

problems arising in the kitchen line and the dishwasher line. It was also suggested that the

manager should post the data on the employee bulletin board and in the employee changing room

to make the student employees aware of the improvements and let them be motivated by the

graph.

Appendix 1

Problem Statement

Project name: Increasing the Efficiency of the Closing Process at Sloopy's Diner - Ohio Union

Project Sponsor: Jason Crowe, Operations Manager

Process Owner: Matt Morselli, Closing Assistant Manager

Problem or opportunity statement: The closing process at Sloopy's Diner in The OSU Student Union takes too long. The consequences of this problem can include employee turnover; employee fatigue and inability to be attentive in class; and, increased labor costs. During a sample period from January 11th to February 5th, the closing process was completed in < or = to 60 minutes by 16.67 % of the time compared to a target of 50 %.

Intended outcomes: More efficient closing process. Validation or revision of standard operating procedures for the closing process.

Appendix 2

Gantt Chart

Appendix 3

Value Stream Map

Appendix 4

Project Charter

Project Name: (1) Business/Location: (2)

Team Leader: (3) Champion: (4)

Project Description/Mission: (5)

Problem Statement: (6)

Business Case: (7)

Deliverables: (8) Goals/Metrics: (9)

Process & Owner: (10)

Project Scope Is: (11)

Project Scope Is Not:

Key Customers: (12) Expectations: (13)

Milestones: (14) Completion Dates: (15)

Project Start: 1/16/2015

Define Phase 2/16/2015

Measure Phase 2/23/2015

Analyze Phase 3/9/2015

Improve Phase 3/23/2015

Control Phase 3/30/2015

Project Completion:

4/23/2015

Expected Business Benefits: (16) Explanation

1-Time Annual

Hard Cost

X Soft Cost

Revenue

X Speed

Compliance

Intangible

Team Members: (17)

Matt Morselli

Expected Resource Needs (Internal/External): (18)

Restaurant Map Clock out times

Staffing at Sloopy's Number of employees on each position

Risk Assessment: (19)

Prepared By: (20) Date (Last Revision): (21)

David Kim 2/2/2015

PROJECT CHARTER

Increasing the Efficiency of the Closing Sloopy's Diner

Seonghui Kim / Mengfan Wu / Linzi Zhang / Baozheng Ge Jason Crowe

Shorten the current closing time and increase the efficiency of workers during closing shift

The closing process at Sloopy's Diner in The OSU Student Union takes too long.

The consequences of this problem can include employee turnover; employee fatigue and inability to be attentive in class; and, increased labor costs.

During a sample period from January 11th to February 5th, the closing process was completed in < or = to 60 minutes 16.67 % of the time

compared to a target of 50 %.

The late closing time can include employee turnover; employee fatigue and inability to be attentive in class; and, increased labor costs.

Make clock out times earlier Clock out times

Decrease the labor requirement Labor requirement

Quantify

Closing process / Matt Morselli

Dishwasher, Prep, and Kitchen Line of the Sloopy's closing process

Host, Casher, Dessert, Servers Line of the Sloopy's closing process

Student Employees at Sloopy's Diner Finish closing prcoess ealier

Appendix 5

Affinity Diagram

Appendix 6

CTQC Tree

Appendix 7

Baseline Chart

0

10

20

30

40

50

60

70

0 5 10 15 20 25 30

Closing Time of Student Manager

0

10

20

30

40

50

60

70

80

90

100

0 5 10 15 20 25 30

Closing Time of Dishwasher

Appendix 7

Baseline Chart (Cont.)

0

10

20

30

40

50

60

70

80

90

0 5 10 15 20 25 30

Closing Time of Kitchen

0

10

20

30

40

50

60

70

0 5 10 15 20 25 30

Closing Time of Server

Appendix 7

Baseline Chart (Cont.)

0

10

20

30

40

50

60

70

0 5 10 15 20 25 30

Closing Time of Dessert Shop

0

10

20

30

40

50

60

70

0 5 10 15 20 25

Closing time of Host

Appendix 8a

Sub – Value Stream Map (Kitchen)

Appendix 8b

Sub – Value Stream Map (Dishwasher)

Appendix 9a

Fishbone Diagram (Kitchen)

Appendix 9b

Fishbone Diagram (Dishwasher)

Appendix 10a

5 Whys (Kitchen)

Why? Why? Why? Why? Why?

Sloopy’s doesn’t always have skillful

student employees for closing

process.

some of student

employees who take the

day’s closing shift have

never experienced

closing process.

student

employees

schedule their

closing shift by

themselves

regardless of their

experience.

the scheduling

system enables

them.

the scheduling

system manager

did not consider

about the above

fact when

he/she made the

system.

they turn off the grill too late

last customer made

orders too late

there is no time

limit for ordering

Sloopy’s only

consider about

customer order

but not the

efficiency of

closing process

they have to spend certain time to get

the towels to clean

the distance from the

location for picking up

the towels to the kitchen

is too long

they store towels

in a same location

there is too much greasy and sticky

food on the grill

the food is accumulated

during cooking time.

employees don’t

clean them

frequently.

there is no

standardized

process to clean

during cooking.

Problem: cleaning grill takes too much time

Appendix 10b

5 Whys (Dishwasher)

Problem: unorganized tableware collection

Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why?

busser cannot finish collecting dried

dishes with sufficient pace

too much motion waste

between conveyor and

tools shelf

different types of

cookers placed in

one stack

dishwasher did

not sort cookers

well

server stack

cookers in no

order

no specific stacks

to sort cooker

Problems: Motion of Busser is too much.Why? Why?

Too much water coming

out when dishewasher

nozzling

Nothing dry out wet floor

Why? Why?

time wasted on some dirties need to

re-cleaned tablewares

busser hesitate to place

need to re-cleaned

tablewares to stack or

sink or original dirties.

maybe affect

dishwasher's

washing

prosesures

no clear place to

put need to

recleaned

tablewares

Problem: Tableware cleaness

Shelf for kitchen tools not handySetting for kitchen tools

shelf is too far away

Floor too slippery

Appendix 11a

FMEA (Kitchen)

Process StepPotential Failure

Mode

Potential Failure

EffectSEV

Potential

CausesOCC

Current Process

ControlsDET

RPNCRIT

Action

recommend

ed

Responsibi

lity

Location to

pick up

towel is far

from grill

10N/A

10600

60

Put towel in

the location

near the

grills

closing shift

manager

Last

customer

order late6

Late night Meau8

28836

Stop accept

customer

order after

11 pmservant

greasy &

sticky stuff8

N/A8

38448

Clean grills

once per

shiftchef

Non

consistent

skill to clean6

N/A6

21636

At least one

experienced

staff in

closing shift

closing shift

manager

6Clean Grills

Clean grills take

too much timeDelayed closing time

Kitchen Line

Appendix 11b

FMEA (Dishwasher)

Process StepPotential Failure

Mode

Potential Failure

EffectSEV

Potential

CausesOCC

Current Process

ControlsDET

RPNCRIT

Action

recommane

d

Responsibi

lity

Emloyee turnoverMessed up

schdule7

N/A10

56056

well-

organized

closing shifts

for

employees closing shift

manager

employee fatigue

and work inefficiencyToo tired

7N/A

10560

56Water break dishwashers

&bussers

inability to be

attentive in classToo tired

7N/A

10560

56

Decrease

closing up

time

dishwashers

&bussers

increased labor costs

Overwork

require extra

pay

7

Pay overtime

work with 12 hrs

maximiun limits

10560

56

Decrease

closing up

time

closing shift

manager

Tableware

collection anf

cleaning

Cleaning

tablewares take

too much time

8

Dishwasher

Appendix 12

Baseline and Pilot Chart

Appendix 13

Implementation Plan

Date:

3/29/2015

ActionTasks

Who is Responsible

Target Completion

Date

Actual Completion

DateAnticipated Results

Actual Results

Make a space to put bins for towel

Kitchen Employee (Full Time)

Store towels in the binsKtchen Employees (Student)

Train student employeesM

att Morselli

3/26,29,30/20153/26,29,30/2015

ActionTasks

Who is Responsible

Target Completion

Date

Actual Completion

DateAnticipated Results

Actual Results

3/26,29,30/20153/26,29,30/2015

3/26,29,30/20153/26,29,30/2015

3/26,29,30/20153/26,29,30/2015

3/26,29,30/20153/26,29,30/2015

3/26,29,30/20153/26,29,30/2015

3/26,29,30/20153/26,29,30/2015

3/26,29,30/20153/26,29,30/2015

3/26,29,30/20153/26,29,30/2015

3/26,29,30/20153/26,29,30/2015

3/26,29,30/20153/26,29,30/2015

3/26,29,30/20153/26,29,30/2015

3/26,29,30/20153/26,29,30/2015

3/26,29,30/20153/26,29,30/2015

Corporation more

3/26,29,30/20153/26,29,30/2015

3/26,29,30/20153/26,29,30/2015

3/26,29,30/20153/26,29,30/2015

Finished the closing process at 12:51, 12:49, 12:45 on Mar 26, M

ar 29 and Mar 30

Reducing time to adjust each other's

working paceReduced time of the closing process by 7.8 minutes of average

Terminate machine close-outs

More efficiently cleaning dirties

3/26,29,30/2015

Reducing time to clean tablewares

More efficiently walking

N/AN/A

Train student employees

ensure busser and dishwasher

work as a pair for one semester

employee manager

busser

N/A

employee manager

employee manager

Ensure fan turn on for entire work

process

N/A

Implem

entation Plan(Increasing the Efficiency of the Closing Process at Sloopy's Diner - Ohio Union)

Reduce culmulated

greasy and sticky

leftovers on grills

Reducing time to clean the grills

Set up a fixed location

to store towelsReducing time to clean the grills

3/26,29,30/2015

Ensure fan location not disturb

busser

Clearly assign area for seperating

tablewares

3/26,29,30/2015

Afternoon shift kitchen

employees3/26,29,30/2015

3/26,29,30/2015

Use fan to dry out

Machine maintainance

N/A

Date: 3/29/2015 Implem

entation Plan

Clearly assign specific

area for seperating all

types of tableware

Ensure technicians regularly check

on machine

Relocating kitchen tools

shelf

employee manager and

dishwasher

Clean grills during non-high time

Morning shift kitchen

employees3/26,29,30/2015

Corporation between

dishwashers and

bussers

Ensure water temperature high

enough to clean dirties

Appendix 14

Control Plan

OrganizationThe Sloopy's

LocationUnion

Revision Level1

Date 4/2/2015

Key ProcessMeasurement

Target OrWho Collects

When IsWhere Is The

Reaction Plan

CharacteristicMethod

SpecificationAnd Charts Data

Data CollectedChart Located

Which vital signs of the process

will be monitored.

How are the key

characteristics measured?

How do we know if the process is

performing as intended?

Who is responsible to collect the

data - including backups to cover

absences?

What is the schedule and

sampling plan for data collection?

Data should be accessible to

those running the process to allow

quick feedback.

Corrective Actions - What should be done with mistakes or system

failure?

Time of cleaning grills

Time of organizing and

cleaning in dishwashing

Control Plan

clock out time of

kitchen employees

If the clock out time is

before or equal to 1 am,

the process is performed

as intended

Manager of student

employeesWeekly

Changing room and picture

board

Report to the manager -> Analyzing the cause of mistakes

(special cause) -> retraining the employees to prevent

mistakes