Lowering Costs & Eliminating Waste

Quality Improvement The author of this report is asked to answer to two major sets of questions. The first pertains to McDonald's and their need to focus on quality. Specifically, there will be a discussion about how they define and quantify quality and how companies like McDonald's must go about satisfying the consistent and unyielding expectations of customers. The other main discussion point will be regarding how a meat processing plant would go about process reengineering.

The subject of process reengineering will be evaluated as an improvement strategy and the benefits that it will bring the company. While some may assert that focusing too much on quality and process can actually weigh down a company and end up being a waste of time, there is a need for it and it should be done when necessary. Analysis The assignment question makes it clear that quality is defined as a consistent conformance to what a customer generally expects.

With a company like McDonald's, this would be true not only at an individual location but also at other locations as well. This can be a tad difficult for a company like McDonald's given that many (but not all) of their locations are individually owned and operated by franchisees. However, those franchisees are held to a high standard. Indeed, there is the expectation that a Big Mac ordered in Los Angeles, California should match perfectly to a Big Mac ordered in Miami, Florida.

At the same time, the outcomes and quality within a single store must remain the same as well. This means that regardless of the store, regardless of who is manning the grill and prep stations and regardless of what time of day it is, that Big Mac should be made in the same manner no matter what.

This comes down to the equipment being calibrated and checked properly, the people making the sandwiches being trained and monitored to ensure that they are doing their job correctly and that the ingredients involved are of consistent quality and are stored properly (Bengtsson, Bardhi & Benkatraman 2010). Of course, many have assailed McDonald's for their overall quality of service and their food quality.

There have been jokes and media stories about how a hamburger can be left in the same place for years at a time and it will not change in any demonstrable way (Peterson 2015).

However, while there is perhaps the suggestion that McDonald's can and should upgrade their food sourcing and preparation methods, they are exceedingly consistent and they do quite a good job at providing for and enforcing the same consumer experience at all locations despite the fact that the locus of control on each location is quite diffused rather than localized (Kaufmann, Soler, Permesly & Cohen 2015). As for the meat processing plant and process reengineering in general, process reengineering is a fairly developed and advanced step for a firm to take.

Indeed, the two general approaches when it comes to changing to procedure are incremental updates and an entire revamping of how things are being done, with the process being the true example of process reengineering. Process reengineering is something that should not be taken lightly but it should be done as needed because sometimes the wheel does need to be reinvented, so to speak. For example, carmakers could eschew the assembly line that is prolific and normal for the auto industry.

However, they dare not do so because making cars any other way (at least for now) would be lunacy. Similarly, cars were entirely put together and assembled by hand. However, robots do a lot of the work nowadays because the consistency and speed in which those machines do their work absolutely cannot be replicated by humans because humans would inevitably be slower and would make more mistakes (Farughi, Alaniazar & Mousavipour 2014). A meat processing plant is no different.

If a change needs to be made and it's a fairly basic and easy one, it should be made if it speeds things up, lowers costs or otherwise helps the business without putting consumers or workers in danger. Along those same lines, a complete re-do of the way things are done may be called for if the process being used at present is clearly broken. The advantages to realizing and identifying problems as they exist is quite clear.

There will a one of or a combination of higher quality, less waste, more productivity, lower costs, higher margin and so forth. Any major changes should be thought out carefully before putting into place and the results of the changes should be measured and verified after the fact to ensure that the expected results are the ones that actually end up happening, or at least close. There will likely always be some sort of gap between expectations and what really happens.

However, so long as the process is thought out well and measured properly ahead of time, there should be at least some major alignment between what is believed to be the benefits and what actually occurs (Borgianni, Cascini & Rotini 2015). Conclusion Quality control/consistency and process re-engineering are the hallmarks of any good business. Whether it be manufacturing, customer.