Analysis

Total Quality Management

Total Quality Management Refers to a philosophy or way of thinking that stresses three principle actions for accomplishing high levels of process performance and quality, they are:

vCustomer Satisfaction     vEmployee Involvement    vContinuous Improvement

vCustomer Satisfaction

In order to achieve customer satisfaction these 5 things should be met, (Conformance to Specification, Value, Fitness for Use, Support, and Psychological Impressions.) The following are how Taco Bell upholds the TQM model.

Conformance To Specification

Conformance to specification relates to consistent quality, on-time delivery and/or delivery speed. The processes and services at Taco Bell are required to adhere to certain specifications and methods. Taco Bell is required to follow to the same corporate standards and regimens in order to maintain the same level of quality with all other Taco Bells alike. A prep guide is followed daily providing an estimated amount of hot and cold items that need to be prepared for certain times. Once the items are brought out and prepared, temperatures of every item are taken to ensure quality. These items then have a certain expiration time (Most are 4 hours), at which time they should be discarded and new prep should be used. Each item on the menu has a certain recipe (although customizable), that an employee must follow in order to create the same level of quality each time that product is delivered to a customer. Taco Bell also emphasizes quick delivery speed, while providing consistent quality.

Value
The amount of value a product or service possesses depends on the customer's expectations of the product prior to purchasing it.  Because value is measured by the customer, Taco Bell can not access this information on their own and therefore they offer a way so that customers can provide their feedback to improve on their processes if needed. These feedback measurements are provided on the back of every receipt, in the form of an online survey, known as VOC, Voice of the Customer. 

Fitness for Use

Fitness for use refers to how effective a design plan is for developing a good or service; and focuses on how that plan should fit the purpose and simulate certain conditions of producing the product. For external customers, a design plan example would be the manner in which Taco Bell uses different wrappers to identify different products easily. Another design plan at Taco Bell is one that benefits both the customers and employees. It begins with the placing an order, then proceeding to the order pick up counter area, and providing a drive-thru for customers who do not wish to leave their car to get their food.

Support

Support is referred to the maintenance of a product or service after the customer has received it. Taco Bell defines support as the employees’ ability to openly tend to a customer whom has already been served needing assistance whether it is to remake an item or provide any missing condiments at the self-service counter for the customer. .

Psychological Impressions

Psychological impressions refer to the atmosphere, images, or aesthetics of the facility in which a customer receives a service or product. The atmosphere at Taco Bell resembles that of a modern Mexican restaurant. The employees are a big part of psychological impression greeting customers with a smile and friendly voice. Taco Bell has started to ask customers their names when placing their orders so that when their food is given to them they are called by their names instead of just a number, as it was previously. This process makes the customers feel valued and appreciated. 

vEmployee Involvement 

Employee involvement includes 2 concepts, organizational culture as well as teamwork.

Organizational Culture

Organizational culture or developing a proper culture refers to the relationship of the internal customers (employees or team members) that rely on other employees. In order for the external customer to be properly satisfied, all-participating internal customers must be satisfied.  Therefore, when a customer places an order at Taco Bell, it begins with the internal customer taking the order. Assuming that the customer provided their order correctly, in order for the next employee to be properly satisfied the order must be taken correctly by the previous employee and now worked correctly by the present employee and so forth. But the organizational culture goes beyond the team members, as these specific internal customers must be satisfied by the management.  Dale Richards is just one of the managers that need to satisfy her internal customers by ordering an adequate amount of inventory and the correct inventory needed.

Teamwork

Taco Bell emphasizes the importance of teamwork to its management as well as team members. Team Members work directly with each other to provide the excellent speed and quality that Taco Bell requires. Communication among each other saves time and prevents error. 

vContinuous Improvement

Continuous improvement signifies the constant effort to continually seek ways of improving processes. Taco Bell is constantly testing and changing procedures to improve the overall customer experience. The improvement sometimes comes in the form of making a process simpler or easier for the team members who are providing the service for the customers. 

Performance Measurement:

                              Customer Operations Review and Evaluation (CORE)

• Customers want a consistent and distinctive experience. CORE delivers against the companies brand standards, which usually means happier customers and likely more sales.
• The CORE also provides an assessment of how the restaurant team is performing against operating standards.
• CORE focuses on issues that are important to customers and how to execute the companies operating standards correctly. 
• CORE is performed by Steritech, an outside vendor, that is hired by Taco Bell to ensure proper quality and performance.

Inventory:

• Taco Bell uses the Periodic Review System as a means of inventory control. The Inventory is ordered and received in fixed intervals. 

• Inventory is ordered on Tuesdays by 3:00p.m. to be delivered early Thursday mornings and ordered again on Fridays by 3:00p.m. to be delivered early Monday mornings. 

• Having two separate Inventory delivery dates in one week allows Taco Bell to reduce it's holding time of perishable goods to just 3-4 days but increases the Transportation Cost from the supplier.

• Some Safety Stock Inventory is usually held to ensure that operations are not disrupted due to any increase in demand of a product causing a shortage of Inventory for that product.

Taco Bell uses McLane Foodservice Distribution company as its supplier of Inventory.

Lean Systems: 5's 

Process Analysis: 

With the introduction of the Taco Bell App (available on every smart phone), customers can now place orders through their app. In Drive-Thru once the customer arrives at the ordering display, the cashier confirms the order with the customer, then it is prepared. If the customer chooses to come inside they simply check in the order on their phone, prior to arriving, and their food is prepared and ready for pick up when they arrive.