Tip-Top-Markets-Case-Study_group_bsm405_cityu

Group number: 4

City University of Seattle

BSM 405 – Operation Management

Instructor, Joshua Dwight

Mar 4rd, 2019

 Group members: Nguyen Minh Hoang        

    Ha Tuan Anh        

    Tran Viet Trieu

     Nguyen Hoang Kien

1. Executive Summary

The case study: Tip Top store which is a chain of supermarkets from the southern United States. However, Karen Martin- manager of one of the Tip Top supermarkets found out a large number of customer ‘s complaints record. All of those records particularly are on the last nine Tuesdays.

On July 15, after Karen had collected the reports and analyze the data, some of effective changes have been applied followed by a decrease in the stock complaints. The problem with checkout pricing has been solved.

To improve the supermarket’s performance included the customer service, there will be some recommendations were made based on collected data. For analyzing purpose, the writer will use a check sheet, a Pareto diagram, and run chart. After that a cause-and-effect diagram for the leading category will be constructed.

1. Data Analysis

1. Check sheet

“If any company wants to identify the problem, simple way is using a check sheet” (Stevenson, 2012). The reason is users is able to gather and analyze the data through its format. As can be seen from the table, there are seven types of complaints: Out of stock, Product expired, Check out problems, Cutomer services, Technical problems, Surround environment, Emergency problem. In the bottom of the data sheet, the total number of customers complained for the last 8 weeks of Tuesdays is 184.

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1. Run chart

The run chart like a tool often is used to serve for the purpose of following result in the period of time. According to run chart of Tip Top Markets, it provides the tendency of complaints from June 1st and July 27th.

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Furthermore, the average rate of the complaints with reasons is indicated during 9 weeks as a table below:

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1. Pareto diagram

Obviously, it is fairly reasonable to analyze data according to the Pareto diagram. “Pareto analysis is a technique for focusing attention on the most important problem areas” (Stevenson, 2012).

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Then, we will analyze the two Pareto charts which taken place before and after July 15th to see whether there is any progress after collecting the complaints and solving them. Obviously, we want to know whether there is any advancement after surveying the complaints and measure them.

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Clearly, it is easy to notice that there was a significant decrease in complaints of customers from before July 15th to after 15th. Typically, out of stock still remained the highest level in two term. Interestingly, the complaints for customer services steadily decreased by approximately 10 times from 40 complaints to 4 complaints. Furthermore, there also was a substantial decrease in expired product to reach about 1 complaint in the period of the after July 15. Other complaints also experienced the consideration decrease such as technical problems, surround environment, emergency problem.

After that, I will calculate both cumulative frequency and cumulative percentage to make them become more outstanding. Next, I will build the Cause-and-effect diagram by those results.

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1. Cause-and-effect diagram

The Cause and Effect diagram is given with the aim of analyzing issues through the causes of it. According to William J Stevenson (2012), this kind of diagram helps discover the root cause of an issue through a structured approach. With this diagram, we can see through the root of the problems as well as the causes of that root.

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Diagram of low quality of products and customers service

 From the information that Karen Martin, manager of one of the stores, has provided, it can be said that the fist outstanding problem that customers most complain about is the low quality products and customer services. According the complaint record, the customers mostly complain about the quality of the products such as fish smelled funny, meat spoiled, milk past sell date, bread not fresh, etc. The two causes around this problem are that the supermarket sold the expired products and the products are not moderated carefully before being sold. Beside, the temperature deviation is also a major cause of product deterioration. It can be denied that the store have a huge problem around the products. The second problem is that the problem of equipment and technology. The customers also complain a lot about the technology and the equipment of the store. The most complaint were about the paying devices that have the overcharged, double charged or some other charging errors. The customer complaint also focus on the temperature system, the sound system and the lighting system. Lastly, the problem with no less serious is the employees. The customer most complain about their attitude and the way they work. Training staffs should not be ignored, especially the cashiers. The attitude and professional level of the employees is a part that helps the store to raise their reputation.