Good Business Sense

Developing Good Business Sense
BUS 210
03/02/2014

The three companies I have chosen to observe are a sales call center, Tom Thumb grocery store, and Arby’s fast food restaurant. The input of a call center is the entering of the each customer’s information including their name, address, and billing information.   The input for a Tom Thumb grocery store is the inventory order of more products to refill the shelves and overstock. For the Arby’s restaurant the input is entering of a customer’s orders. Operations for a call center will begin with a sales call, the order is sent to the production department and then to the shipping department. For Tom Thumb, operations start with the ordering of products from many different distributors. Once customers pick the products they want to purchase, the front end of the store that includes cashiers and grocery handlers complete the order. The operations at an Arby’s are a form of production line operation. Once the order is placed with a cashier, the cooks prepare the order down the line and return the completed product to the cashier. The call center output is the shipping department that sends the customer’s orders to the correct shipping address. Tom Thumb output is the cashiers that scan and total all of the products that the customer has chosen to purchase. Arby’s output is the cashiers that hand the completed order to the customer.
The call center and Tom Thumb will both use a flexible production operating system to better serve the customers. Both will have mass produced products available for customers but will also have several small batched production items available as well. Arby’s uses a mass production operating system. All of their products are the same in every store and are needed in mass quantity at every location. The employees are organized in different ways in all three companies. The call center’s organization is focused on sales and shipping. Employees answer the incoming phone calls; enter the...