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Operations Management > Queueing, Waiting And Understanding Demand > Flashcards

Queueing, Waiting And Understanding Demand Flashcards

1
Q

What is a queue?

A

A line of people or things waiting to be processed

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2
Q

Queues lead to what?

A

Waiting.

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3
Q

Define the term “wait” in OM

A

It is the time spent before a process begins or finishes - i.e. waiting to receive your cup of coffee or waiting to be served.

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4
Q

What is a “queue” in OM?

A

It is the physical manifestation of a wait. Queues can be physical or digital.

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5
Q

Why do queues need to be managed?

A

Queues need to be managed as unmanaged queues can lead to Balking or Reneging

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6
Q

What is demand latency in OM?

A

Demand latency is the prevalence of demand to go away. DL has an inverse relationship to switching costs. If switching costs are high, then DL is low and if switching costs are low then DL is high.

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7
Q

What are “switching costs” in OM?

A

These are the costs that the customer has invested in the process. If SC is lower than the perceived value received, the customer will either renege or balk at the process.

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8
Q

Define “satisfaction” in OM

A

Heineke (93) model of customer satisfaction states that the customer is satisfied when performance meets or exceeds expectations.

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9
Q

Customer expectations are usually influenced by 4 common factors. Name them.

A

Recommendations, prior experience, advocacy and branding

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10
Q

Define “balking” in operations.

A

Balking is when the customer does not enter the process in the first place and decides to go somewhere else.

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11
Q

Define “reneging” in OM

A

Reneging is when the customer decides to leave the process after entering it. For example, leaving a restaurant before the service order is completed.

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12
Q

Define Independent Demand in OM

A

Demand for a finished product that is not dependent or has any relationship with demand for another item. Usually influenced by trends, seasonality or outliers.

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13
Q

Define dependent demand in OM

A

Demand for component parts as part of a supply network. It is correlated with the demand of another product.

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14
Q

What is IAT in OM?

A

Inter Arrival Time or IAT in OM is the average amount of time interval between requests for new goods or services. Considers the average and also whether they are uniform or skewed.

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15
Q

What is base demand in OM?

A

Can be predicted or forecast using historical demand detail (for example - base demand for electricity in the UK). Fulfilled by stable and scaled capacity, is planned and fulfilled using core resources.

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16
Q

What is delivering base demand suitable for?

A

Lean practices and six sigma

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17
Q

Define surge demand in OM

A

Typically not forecast using historical data. Requires a flexible and responsive operation.

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18
Q

Why is surge demand more expensive to deliver?

A

a) additional staff costs
b) additional capacity that may have low average utilisation
c) additional planning activities required

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19
Q

What are the CCAAS determinants of DL?

A

C - Customer Tolerance of Queues (customer)
C - Customer Associated Importance (organisation)
A - Availability of Alternatives (customer)
A - Ability to defer demand (organisation)
S - Switching costs (customer)

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20
Q

Waiting is a by-product of what?

A

Increased queue length.

21
Q

To deal with queues, what 3 things does an operations manager need to understand?

A

A) Nature of demand
B) Demand Latency
C) Impact of not serving demand within a timescale

Use the example of the A&E department.

22
Q

What are the key questions to consider when assessing switching costs?

A

A) How much does it cost (in £ and time) for a customer to switch?

23
Q

What should an organisation do if the customer’s switching costs are low?

A

Minimise queues and waiting.

24
Q

How should an organisation respond if there are alternatives for the customer?

A

Try and offer internal alternatives to the requested demand.

25
Q

Give an example of an organisation deferring demand (in the context of DL)

A

Call centre re-routing demand by diverting to an online channel.

26
Q

What are the key considerations for customer associated importance?

A

A) How important is the operation to the customer?

B) How important is the customer to the operation?

27
Q

Outline the model of customer queueing behaviour as set out by Heineke (93)

A

Satisfaction = Perceived Performance - Expectation

28
Q

What is the generic model of customer queueing behaviour?

A

Expectation - Performance - P minus Expectation - Satisfaction - Attitudes - Intentions - Future behaviour

29
Q

What SCC affects customer expectations?

A

S - Switching Costs
C - Customer Associated Importance
C - Customer tolerance to queues/waiting

refer to the generic model of customer queues

30
Q

What are the 2 approaches to managing queues?

A

A) Re-engineer the process to reduce waits

B) Manage the queue

31
Q

What is the COSTA and 3 Us Maister (85) principles to designing queueing and waiting systems?

A

C - customers just want to get started
O - Occupied waits feel shorter than unoccupied waits
S - Solo waits aren’t as good as group waits
T - The value of the product or service to the customer
A - Anxious waits are longer than calm waits
U - Unexplained waits are longer than explained waits
U - Uncertain waits are longer than certain waits
U - Unfair waits are longer than equitable waits

32
Q

why is demand management important?

A

With effective demand management, your operation will fail.

33
Q

What are the 5 things to consider when developing a response strategy to demand?

A

A) the work content for each unit of demand
B) whether the demand can be stored
C) whether we can stockpile in advance of demand - i.e. create inventory in advance
D) tolerance of customers for waiting - performance objective of speed
E) whether responding immediately is mandatory or a value added activity

34
Q

What is the shape of demand?

A

It is a broad description of the casual forces that create the demand

35
Q

What are the three things that influence demand patterns?

A

A) Trends

B) Seasonality

C) Special Events/Outliers

36
Q

Draw the components of demand figure

A

Draw the figure

37
Q

What are the influences on trends?

A

Exogenous factors like economic pressures, legislation, market maturity and tech disruption.

38
Q

What are the influences on demand seasonality?

A

6 influences

A) Climatic (accounts for 80%)
B) Festive
C) Political
D) Financial
E) Social 
F) Behavioural
39
Q

What are the 2 categories for considering demand?

A

A) Dependent Demand/Independent Demand

B) Base demand and surge demand

40
Q

What is dependent demand?

A

This is when the demand on the operation is correlated to another (often predictable/controllable) production event - usually inside a supply network. Forecasting demand is therefore relatively straight forward

41
Q

What is independent demand?

A

Usually arises from a range of complex and uncertain sources. Limited forward visibility in these cases.

42
Q

What is base demand?

A

Stable and predictable load on the operation

43
Q

What is surge demand?

A

Increments above and beyond the base load. Use the electricity market example.

44
Q

How are base demand deliveries typically met?

A

Through operations that are:

A) Focused on economies of scale
B) High utilisation
C) Mass/Line operations

45
Q

How is surge demand typically delivered?

A

Agile, lean operations that are more responsive.

46
Q

What are the two things that influence your demand response strategies (i.e. technologies and resources mix)?

A

a) Shape of demand

b) difference between base and surge demand

47
Q

What kind of operations are inter arrival times useful for?

A

Service operations where there is a greater need to match demand and capacity in real time.

48
Q

What is inter arrival time?

A

The time between new requests for goods and services.

Operations Management (9 decks)

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