Case Study > Sof-Optics Case. University Of Chicago MGMT

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Sof-Optics, Inc. 1. Draw a process flow diagram for Sof-Optics.

Pdf attached 2. What are the problems facing Sof-Optics? Where in the process are the problems most severe? What would you guess is the resource bottleneck of the system?

Sof-Optics is having issues with its Customer Service Department. They are having issues hiring and retaining CSRs. Additionally, they are having issues with customer wait times. Customers who wait too long are irate and yell at CSRs. This makes CSRs not like their job and quit. Also, once a CSR quits it takes 6 months to get one up to speed to answer 159 calls/day. Moreover, once a customer has a bad experience it will be hard to get them to return.

The problems are most severe in the Customer Service Department where multiple customers are experiencing delayed calls, which end up in some abandoning the call all together.

The bottleneck is likely the New Account Creation and Status Check calls as they both take up the longest time on average.

3. What are your ideas for improving the system? (be creative!)

Sof-Optics could add more lines so customers can at least be on hold instead of getting a busy signal.

Additionally, they could have one rep who just answers the phone to tell customers they will be with you shortly or give an estimated wait time that is longer than it will actually be. Customers like to know they are being served and are happier when they have an estimated wait time and end up getting served before this. These changes could lower the number of angry customers, allowing work for CSRs to be better, thus allowing Sof-Optics to hire the full number of CSRs they want. Moreover, the majority of calls come in between 10am-2pm, which results in more/longer delays as well as more abandoned calls.

This timeframe coincides with CSR’s lunch time breaks. Sof-Optics could strucute more shifts to start at 10am with lunch breaks not until after 2pm. Sof-Optics could also automate status checks to free up CSRs. Finally, they could have sales reps create new accounts for customers they sign, which could lower the number of new account calls coming in.

4. In the following exercise we analyze the capacity and utilization of the Customer Service Department. a. Estimate the capacity (in calls/hour) of a Customer Service Representative (CSR). Justify your calculation.

27.55 calls per hour. As seen in the math below, if we take the average time in seconds of a call based on the percent and length of each type of call, we get the seconds it takes for a call on average by a CSR. Then if we take seconds in an hour of 3600 and divide it by the 130.65 seconds/call, it results in 27.55 calls/hr of the capacity for a CSR. Math: Based on percent of incoming calls and seconds per type of call 60%(85 seconds) + 15%(120 seconds) + 15%(220 seconds) + 5%(450 seconds) + 3%(125 seconds) + 2%(120 seconds) = 130.65 seconds/call on average

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3600 seconds/130.65 seconds per call = 27.55 calls/hr b. We view Sof-Optics call center as a G/G/c/K queuing system, in which customers can renege (abandon) the system, as described in Chapter 3, “Cycle-Time Management” of The Operations Quadrangle course packet (see Canvas). Let λ represent the rate of calls approaching the system; λren is the rate of which customers renege and leave the queue before being served; λbalk is the rate at which customers balk (receive a busy signal) upon trying to enter the system and λeff is the rate at which customers are served. i. Write an expression relating λ, λren, λbalk, and λeff. λ – (1164.3+884.7+136.3)/12hrs = 182.11 calls per hour λren – 136.6 calls/12hrs = 11.36 calls per hour λbalk – 884.7/12 = 73.73 calls per hour λeff – 1164.3/12 = 97.03 calls per hour ii. Consider the busy period from 10 am to 2 pm, and suppose that λ = 3 calls per minute over that period. Using the data in Exhibit 8, what are λren, λbalk, and λeff? (Note: The first column in Exhibit is the number of calls that actually reach a CSR.) λren – 86.3 calls/4hrs = 21.575 calls per hour = .36 calls per minute λbalk – 477/4 = 119.25 calls per hour = 1.99 calls per minute λeff – 524.7/4 = 131.12 calls per hour = 2.19 calls per minute

c. Using the data in the case, construct a table that computes the effective utilization of the CSR’s for each half-hour of operation, defined as: Effective utilization measures the fraction of workers that are busy, on average. What accounts for the fluctuations in effective utilization over the course of the day?

The fluctuations in effective utilization are due to CSR’s going on 15-minute breaks or taking their lunch breaks throughout the day. This means while there may be 8 CSR’s working during the day, when they are on a break they aren’t being fully utilized. Additionally, if CSRs have a call that takes longer than usual, it limits their ability to reach their capacity of calls per hour. Moreover, some CSRs have only been there for a month and some have been at Sof-Optics over a year. With this difference in experience, some CSRs can handle more calls than others so the actual capacity of each work can vary based on experience.

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