Process Improvement Plan: Wild Dog Coffee Company

Develop a 7-page process improvement plan for a provided scenario or a business and process
of your choice, using data to support your recommendations.
This portfolio work project, a process improvement plan, will help you demonstrate
competencies in process documentation, process analysis, and process improvement.
For this assessment, choose either Option 1 or Option 2. You do not need to do both.
You will apply one of these scenarios in the Requirements below. Both options will be
graded using the same scoring guide.
Option 1
Wild Dog Coffee Company, a locally owned company with a single coffee shop location,
serves a wide selection of espresso products, small breakfast and lunch menu items, and
a limited evening menu. The company is planning to expand the business by adding an
additional location. While different menu items may be tested at the new location, the
espresso beverage preparation process will remain exactly the same. The company
wants to ensure that the espresso beverage preparation process is documented and
refined before the move.
Option 2
Select a business and process of your choosing. Note: It is recommended that you use
the same business for each assessment in this course. Before choosing a company, read
all three of the assessments thoroughly to ensure the following:
• The company fits the assessment requirements and you have access to the
information needed to complete the assessment.
• The business information is disclosed in the assessment for faculty’s reference.
• You can distribute the business data without disclosing confidential information.
• Option 1
• You are one of three owners of Wild Dog Coffee Company. Your background is
primarily in operations. Your business partners’ backgrounds are in marketing and
sales. While they are working on the external aspects of the business that will
bring customers in, you are focused on making the internal customer-facing
processes as efficient as possible. You are preparing an analysis and
recommendations that will help manage a core process improvement for the
successful opening of a second location.
• Option 2
• Your boss, a director, has tasked you with a process improvement project. She is
relying on you to prepare an analysis and recommendations that can be presented
to the executive team of the company.
Include the following in your process improvement plan:
• Assess the steps for a selected process.
o Develop a flowchart showing the process’ steps. You may include as many
steps as are relevant for your selected scenario.
o If using Wild Dog Coffee Company, show the steps for preparing an espresso
beverage (for example, latté, cappuccino); there are two steps that must be
included: (1) order is submitted and (2) beverage is handed to the
customer. Hint: You may want to visit a local coffee shop to observe the
beverage preparation process.
• Prepare a procedure documenting the selected process. At a minimum, the
procedure must document the following for your selected process:
o Metrics. Identify at least two metrics that will be useful in determining how
well the new process is performing. Be sure to identify the target value of the
metric and how you will measure it.
 For Wild Dog Coffee Company, it could be how well the beverage
preparation process is performing. A third metric is already identified
for you: order delivery time. (This is the time between when the order is
submitted and the time the beverage is handed to the customer.)
o Procedure. This section describes each step of the process.
 For Wild Dog Coffee Company, your procedure should be titled,
“Espresso Beverage Preparation Process.” Be sure to include order
submittal and handing the beverage to the customer as part of the
procedure.
•
o Purpose (of the procedure). This section describes what the procedure is
intended to do.
• Analyze data for process changes for a selected process. Respond to the following
questions:
o Is the process centered? Provide the results of your calculations and the
rationale for your decision by thinking about the process capability.
o Is the process capable at 3-sigma? Provide the results of your calculations
and the rationale for your decision by thinking about the process capability
index.
o Is the process in statistical control? Provide the appropriate numbers and
the rationale for your decision using a control chart for individuals.
o For Wild Dog Coffee Company, analyze the Beverage Service Times
[XLSX] Download Beverage Service Times [XLSX]data. This data is for 50
beverage preparation events and was collected using their order
processing system. Each individual order gets a time-stamp when it is
placed and again when the beverage is handed to the customer. The senior
barista thinks the beverage delivery times should range between 2 and 3
minutes. The known process standard deviation, which has been calculated
on an on-going basis, is 0.5903 minutes.
• Analyze the cause and effect of process variances.
o Brainstorm possible sources of variation to create a cause-and-effect
diagram to help analyze potential sources of variation in the espresso
beverage preparation process at Wild Dog Coffee Company or for your
selected business’ process. Your diagram must include at least four of the
“6 Ms” (that is, management, manpower, method, measurement, machine,
materials).
• Recommend quality and customer service improvements for a selected process.
o Detail the results of your analysis for Wild Dog Coffee Company or your
selected business’ process to substantiate your recommendations.
Requirements:
• The process improvement plan is to be a minimum of 7 pages, not including the
title, reference, and appendix pages.
• Use a process improvement plan template of your choice.
Related company standards:
• The process improvement plan is a professional document and should therefore
follow the corresponding MBA Academic and Professional Document Guidelines
(available in the MBA Program Resources), including single-spaced paragraphs.
• In addition to the title and reference pages, include the following in the appendix:
o Flowchart.
o Procedure.
o Detailed results of order delivery time analysis.
o Cause-and-effect diagram.
• Use American Society for Quality (ASQ) data analysis tools and 2-3 additional
scholarly or academic sources where applicable.
• Use APA formatting for citations and references.
By successfully completing this assessment, you will demonstrate your proficiency in the
following course competencies through corresponding scoring guide criteria:
• Competency 1: Analyze how operations management theories and models effect
the development and delivery of products or services to the marketplace.
o Assess the steps for a selected process.
• Competency 2: Use logistics and supply chain management tools to manage the
distribution of products and services.
o Prepare a procedure documenting a selected process.
• Competency 3: Use data to evaluate the effect of operations management
decisions on organizational goals.
o Analyze data for process changes for a selected process.
o Analyze the cause and effect of process variances.
• Competency 4: Evaluate the effectiveness of operations management strategies to
achieve quality and customer service goals.
o Recommend quality and customer service improvements for a selected
process.
• Competency 5: Communicate business needs, opportweekies, and strategies with
multiple stakeholders.
• Write coherently to support a central idea with correct grammar, usage, and
mechanics as expected of a business professional.