#IHI Just when you thought it was safe to have breakfast, the oatmeal chronicle offers another chapter.In the post below, Joe Wright offered the following suggestion:
Two fixes that require no extra labor, and no new equipment:
1. don't serve oatmeal
2. do serve oatmeal, but use tapered soup bowls instead of those vertical-side breakfast bowls.
The problem as you laid it out previously was the bowls being too small for the ladle, right?--so you can change the ladle size or the bowl size. Easier to change the bowl size, because the hotel should have tapered-side bowls for soup or salad already without having to purchase, store, and maintain new bowls, new ladles or a new oatmeal dispensing system. In fact, if they can be washed quickly between breakfast and lunch services it means that the inventory is being used more efficiently as the bowls will be used 2x-3x/day rather than once, as with these breakfast bowls.
Given the low cost of oatmeal relative to other breakfast options, even if this might lead to guests taking a slightly larger quantity of oatmeal on average, it would still likely be worth it.
So imagine my surprise when, this morning, I see a waiter bringing a tray of larger bowls for use by the oatmeal servers. I say, "Those will be easier." He says, "Those are the backups, in case we run out of the smaller ones."
Snatching defeat from the jaws of victory. The solution was not only evident, but actually presenting itself.
Wow, this has lessons on so many levels!
ReplyDelete1. The hotel needs to hire Joe as a consultant. (:
2. The backup bowls solution imitates the reaction of medical personnel to implement the first fix they think of instead of analyzing the situation. 5 minutes of actual thought would have turned on the lightbulb.
3. The customer (ahem, patient?) is disempowered here by being both a captive of the 'solution' and having no voice to suggest a better one.
4. 'Snatching defeat from the jaws of victory' is a priceless synopsis of the situation.
5. Many other lessons I am not seeing - why a formal analytical process involving many heads is necessary in these situations.
nonlocal
They will only be able to put half the number of the larger bowls in the dishwasher. Make the oatmeal a little thinner and use a ladle with a pouring-type outlet that will hold enough to fill the small bowl to about 80% with one shot.
ReplyDeleteProcess change is hard because people are mired in habits or "how things are done". Breakfast bowls are for breakfast,dammit!
ReplyDeleteIt is hard to break out of the groove of a current process, even when a better solution is right in front of you, and at now extra cost.
The oatmeal chronicles have been riveting. Good story, would read again.
Maybe the kids at Cornell's Hotel & Restaurant Management school need to read "Cheaper by the Dozen"!
ReplyDeleteDoes anyone still teach that book???
What's your address so that I can Fed-Ex you a smaller ladle?
ReplyDeleteGood lord, this problem is so much easier to solve that having an employee man the station or bringing in humongous bowls.
Albeit it personal taste, but I'd rather have thinner oatmeal *and* a batch of good stuff to add to it (raisins, berries, 'nana slices, nuts, ...) than thick goopy stuff. I'm a little late to this party, but I've thrown my oatmeal at the virtual wall!
ReplyDeleteIt's certainly better to come up with ideas that don't cost money and don't "throw people at the problem." I saw Marriott throwing people at the problem here AND at the parking garage. As a large batch of attendees (including me) were leaving at 2:40 PM today, there was quite a line of people waiting to get out of the garage (many of us paying by credit card at the exit tollgate).
ReplyDeleteThey had a Marriott employee attending what was supposed to be an automated machine (I'm sure in case there were any problems). It's got to be considered waste when you have automation that requires attending by a person. I've seen this in a lot of hospitals - labs and pharmacies come to mind, where automation doesn't lead to productivity improvement!!
Great event though, as many nits as we pick. Thanks for your leadership role in organizing, Paul!
This all well and good, but when you have to paint a canvas creating IHI the visual Concept, you just grab a bagel and a banana and be done with it. ;)
ReplyDeleteIt was a pleasure to meet you in person...
Of the solutions offered, replacing the ladle with one that is of a more appropriate size seems the easiest, cheapest and possibly fastest. How many oatmeal stations are there? Are we talking about 10 ladles total? A quick trip to the local dollar store would probably solve this problem. As the manager of the food service, that's the solution I would have chosen.
ReplyDeleteThat said, putting on my hospital administrator hat, if you did decide to replace the ladles and you were working under the constraints I wrestle with on a regular basis these are the potential pitfalls I can see:
1) Use of the new ladle would have to be discussed with the union to make sure they are comfortable with this kind of change in the standard equipment.
2) The safety officer and infection control would have to examine the ladle and make sure it meets all OSHA, EPA, and infection control guidelines.
3) The ladle would have to be approved by upper management to make sure it fits with the branding, messaging and position of the company.
4) A policy and procedure for the new ladle would have to be written and approved by the food service management and hotel exec committee.
5) All staff would have to be trained to use the ladle, pulling them away from their usual work. This would be required even if only a small number of staff actually had to use the ladle.
6) You might have a national contract with a vendor that prevents you from buying your ladle at the dollar store and requires that you buy the ladle they offer. This “approved ladle” would have to be shipped to you from their manufacturing plant in Yuzbekistan because that’s the only place they are making ladles in the month of December. Also, each one costs $100.
7) The ladle could be backordered because of widespread ladle demand at this time of year.
8) Because of the change in policy/procedure you could have an increase in employee injuries because of their lack of familiarity with the new equipment. This might, under extreme circumstances also result in an increase in dispensing errors with negatively impacted the customer’s breakfast experience.
It's certainly better to come up with ideas that don't cost money and don't "throw people at the problem." I saw Marriott throwing people at the problem here AND at the parking garage. As a large batch of attendees (including me) were leaving at 2:40 PM today, there was quite a line of people waiting to get out of the garage (many of us paying by credit card at the exit tollgate).
ReplyDeleteThey had a Marriott employee attending what was supposed to be an automated machine (I'm sure in case there were any problems). It's got to be considered waste when you have automation that requires attending by a person. I've seen this in a lot of hospitals - labs and pharmacies come to mind, where automation doesn't lead to productivity improvement!!
Great event though, as many nits as we pick. Thanks for your leadership role in organizing, Paul!