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Step 3: Identify Causal Factor(s)
In consultation with Pizza Crunch’s management team, you decided to include five of the six standard factors, namely Materials, Manpower, Machinery, Methods and Milieu in your evaluation.
You presented the focus group with the problem statement, ‘Why have the customer complaints increased drastically on Saturdays and Sundays on quality of the product?”, which you then decided to get them to discuss.
The team decided to start with MANPOWER and assessed if and how this could be a reason for customer dissatisfaction?” The group shared the following reasons:
•“Main chefs are always on the preferred weekend leave roster, leaving relatively new chefs to handle the weekend volumes.”
•“Unauthorized absences on weekends are putting pressure on the restaurant employees.”
MATERIALS was the next causal factor considered.
The Procurement Team offered the following possible reasons:
•“Unavailability of fresh peppers, basil leaves and sweet corn due to local vegetable markets being shut over the weekend-forcing the team to buy these items in advance, which in turn impacts freshness..”
•“Sub-standard processed meat supplied by an auxiliary supplier over weekends”.
On MACHINERY, the chefs complained that:
•“There was an inadequate number of ovens to handle weekend spikes in customer demand.”
Under MILIEU, the social media team pointed out that the
•“Our outlets are located close to a sports stadium as a result of which footfalls increased drastically over the weekend, putting a strain on the infrastructure.”
For METHODS, the chefs pointed out that
•“Crazy Cheesy Crust Pizza, Three Cheese Stuffed Crust Pizza, and BBQ Sauce Pizza are required to bake at 200 degrees Celsius for 15 minutes. To cope with the increased demand though, they increase the temperature to 250 degrees and reduce baking time to 10 minutes. The resulting preparation, though not bad, lacks the signature well-done finish that results from the former setting. The latter setting leaves the cheese overcooked and rubbery, but it’s the only way to manage the store on weekends, all things considered.”
What was also available as a data point was the frequency of some of these causal statements. For example, the shift rostering data and oven usage stats were readily available.
The team found that no incidents of sub-standard meat delivery by the auxiliary vendor were ever logged. It was also unclear if the baking protocols were altered, with management approval. Management agreed to undertake the task of recording these incidents too. We’ll see how important this data is and how it was used effectively for solutioning in a course titled “Isolating the Problems You Must Prioritize to Solve.”
