Excersize Eight

An example of a project for our company is when we hold competitions. Holding competitions is a huge responsibility and takes a lot of work. A competition is when other gyms (usually 5 others) come to your gym and hold a state competition where you compete against other athletes. There are countless tasks that must be completed. The list of jobs are as follows: meet coordinator, entry fee collector, door prize organizer, judges, score card holder, computer program workers, coaches, announcers, cleaners/ equipment movers, goody bag organizers, ordering trophies and the list keeps going. But, there are many jobs that must work hand in hand with others. If not working like a well oiled machine then, the meet will not go smoothly. We do not use Gantt charts, however we use something similar. I simply make a list of jobs for people, and they are totally in charge or handling that task, but no official Gantt chart is used. The only software we use, is two different computer programs. One program deals with organizing the athletes, by age group and level, the other deals with scores, and team scores to determine the winner. The only recommendation I have for our company is to start using Gantt charts, because I feel that it would help us in coordination. I recommend this after only taking this class, because I have a better understanding of these management aspects now.

Quality Control

Our company uses two different types of quality control. For our classes and teams we use statistical process control. We do so by testing skills and periodically going over certain drills before the student can use them in competition. If any problem is seen with a specific student, then they will stop at the point they are at and we will diagnose why they are doing a certain skill wrong. Every coach will keep records on a spreadsheet of progression with periodic reviews.

Also, we use continuos improvement. We do this on all equipment, by before every class, we inspect the equipment and check for any malfunctions or defects that can potential pose a threat to any student or instructor. If something is found, it is immediately closed and a new one is ordered that day.
We do not use any charts for continuos

Exercise 5, Quality Dimensions

Quality of Design: our classes are all designed to meet specific needs. There are specific classes just for floor exercise and there are specific classes just for bars training. We also, match up coaches that will work the best with each style class to give each student the best that we can.

Quality of conformance: We make sure that when we say a class will do its best to help a child learn a new skills we hold to it. Our coaches will work exclusively with a student if needed to better help them.

Availability: We make sure there is always space available. If we get more demand for the amount of coaches we have, we simply will hire another coach. Also, we do our best to have the best front desk operations so if there is a question then it can be answered easily.

Field Service: we do not actually warranty actual products, but if you are not satisfied with your class we will let you try a new class for one week for free. Also, we will do our best to set you up with a one on one instructor that will help you best.

Exercise 4

1. The tangible service (explicit service)
-our tangible service are the actual gymnastics lessons taught by instructors. These are one on one or a 1:2-9 ratio or classes with a hands on class full of demonstrations and spotting. This is the key to our service due to our demand being mostly wanting gymnastics lessons with instructors.
2 The intangible or psychological benefits of the service (implicit service)
- our intangible service is the benefits the students get out of their lessons. They get strength, discipline, balance, and agility from the training. These are characteristics that help produce quality citizens and will help each and every one of them throughout their lives.
3. The physical goods (facilitating goods)
-we really do not have any facilitating goods, because we are not retailing or selling anything.
In the service matrix we fall into the category of; Standard with options, using moderately repeatable sequence. Customers have some decision making power. We do so because our set classes are somewhat repeated being that the same class may be offered to many different age groups and for both sexes. Also, there may be classes that are standard, but have options such as advance or intermediate. Also, these type of options give the customer decision making power, but with some guidelines.
The types of customer contact is, mainly children in the classes, and the parents dealing sith the front desk and people in the office. Once in a while there will be a one on one parent coach discussion. The response is always different depending on the question or type of encounter. They can range from someone angry about the cost, a parent telling an instructor they have done a swell job. Also, there can be a discussion over which class the children should be in, where a trial can take place, and also, about behaviors, or maturity in certain classes. We do not use self serve. Our focused operation is to have every child benefit from our classes in a safe, healthy fashion. Also, we do offer a sort of focused customer relation, when we offer private lessons. We support employees very well, with good benefits to full time employees, and allowing the employees to work out for free as they want, when they are off the clock.
Our service recovery and guarantees are: we allow any student to make up a missed class at their convenience. Also, we take time to individually handle any problem and guarantee our customers satisfaction. Lastly, we make sure our students will be happy with free trial classes.

Inventory

In our business inventory is not a very big part. We are a service company therefore, do not produce finished goods from raw materials. Our “finished goods” are satisfied customers and athletic children. Most of our inventory comes from our office, where we constantly deal with bills, spreadsheets and documents. So its crucial that we always have paper, ink, etc in stock. These are basic in most businesses, and we also find these items crucial. For our paper, we have a stack of unopened packages, and when there are two packages left I have placed a reminder on top of the second to last package saying to get more paper. This is an easy way for us to never run out of paper. With the ink in our printer and copier, the computer or machine gives us a warning when we need to reorder, so basically that is fool proof for reordering. Another crucial item that we need is chalk for the bars. Every age or level student needs to use chalk on their hands when on bars. Chalk is sold in boxes of 100 pieces or only nine pieces. I always purchase the box of 100 because there are many times that we use two pieces a day. Usually I just look at the box and if we get below 20 blocks of chalk then I reorder, because it may take two weeks sometimes for the new package to arrive and we cannot afford to be open without chalk, due to injury possibilities. Other than that all we need is simply amenities, such as paper towels, soap, toilet paper, tissues and such. All these items are purchased in bulk with no specific reorder points. These are not ordered, but bought from local stores, so if we get low on the product, it can be replenished within an hour if needed. As you can see having a service business such as our gymnastics school holds much less inventory than some production type companies. Those are all the inventory items that we go through on a day to day basis.

What type of product flow do they use?

The product flow of our company would be characterized as a Batch operation. It would because it uses a process layout type of process for the services provided. Very close to the example in the book of the high school with different subject and classes is exactly how our company is run. We offer different classes, or different age and skill levels, and you choose.

http://dcgymnastics.net/joga_html.html

What type of customer order do they process?

The customer order that comes closest to our services would be the MTO (make to order). This is so because, we offer plenty of classes that the customer can choose from, but classes can be customized very much. If you want a class of all friends or a class designated to learning one or two certain skills, then we can do that for you with no problems.

http://dcgymnastics.net/Schedule_html.html

Which cell do they fall into in the process characteristics matrix?

It would fit into the cell 2B which is the Batch/ make to order cell.

What are some of the factors influencing their process selection?

The factors influencing process selection are Market condition, Capital requirement, Labor and Technology. Market condition for us depends on the demographics, because we need to know how many children and what type of incomes the families have, to decide how to market and how much to charge. The Capital requirement is easy, because we just need to figure out how much it will take to cover the building lease, the electric bill, and payroll. Labor is easy, we only hire enough people to cover the classes that we have and one full time manager, and one full time front desk worker. Technology is not something that comes into affect too much with us, because the equipment we have is all up to date, and if something became outdated, or broken we would just have to buy a new piece of equipment.

http://dcgymnastics.net/gymphotos_html.html

Can they adopt any of the mass customization methods discussed?

We really cannot adopt any of the mass customization methods.

All the links are to photos or charts relating to the subject.

Company Description

http://dcgymnastics.net/Home_html.html
Our company is DC Gymnastics School located in Hillsborough, NJ. I, Tim Rizzon, am the Manager and head coach of this school. They have been working on providing the best possible learning experience to children for the past 20 years. They offer a variety of classe, from mommy and me tumble time type classe, to elite national level competition teams. They also, offer birthday parties, cheerleading camps, private (one on one) lessons, and holding competitions. They sponsor lots of events at local schools and events, where we can set up a vendor table to advertise. There are many types of management that are involved. I have to manage employees, keep track of scheduling of classes, and make sure the facilities stay clean and constantly check equipment. Also, we go through a lot of supplies, such as tape, chalk, mats, soap, and general necessities, this is where inventory comes into play. Also, I must manage the students, make sure they go into the correct class, and make sure each one is progressing on his or her own level. So they are a great company that provides a service to the community. There are many aspects of this company that require management as well.