Hyatt Place Redesign

Hyatt Place has done some very interesting things with their new hotels. Think no front

Mobile Food Trucks

Mobile food trucks have become quite the 'thing' in big cities.  Basically, people buy an old truck or cart, pick out something to make and start selling.  What's also sort of fun is that they can let people know where their truck is going to be parked or what specials they're going to offer by posting it in on Twitter or Facebook.   Think about the implications this has on operations.  Does this have an impact on the number of products that they can offer?  How can they ensure food and service quality?  Do you think that this is something that will lead to a sustainable competitive advantage? Take a look at this video and see what you think.

The 'Lean' Starbuck's

Starbuck's has applied lean principles to streamline its coffee-making process.  Result?  Higher profit, more throughput, happier employees!  To find out more and to see how it works go to   Starbucks goes lean.  They have a great interactive set of slides that illustrate what Starbuck's did.

Who needs room keys??

This one is from Nick.

Who needs a room key when you can get into your room with your mobile phone?   This is a technology which is going to become more common in the future.  You don't need to make keys, it's 'greener', guests don't have to go to the front desk--there are all sorts of implications.

OpenWays is being tested at a few Holiday Inns.  What implications do you think this has for the hotel of the future?

Lean Principles at Palm Beach Restaurant

Palm Beach Restaurant is located at One Fullerton in Singapore.  They were having quite a bit of problem with porcelain bowl breakage primarily because they were stacking too many bowls in their cabinets.  They used lean principles to figure this out, and then did some simple things to change their kitchen and storage design.

Result:  major drop in breakage.  Other restaurants (i.e. Red Box Karaoke) have used similar principles with great results.  For more information, please see this story.

Lean Principles in Health Care

OK, this isn't a hospitality example, but it's a great use of lean principles.   A hospital in Washington State is using lean principles to keep their medical supplies in order.  This has improved quality and their ability to make sure they can have the right equipment available for patients.

 
Take a look at this NY Times article!

Some other interesting iPad applications

Here are some interesting iPad applications that Alex Sigeda (MMH 10!) sent me:
http://www.thetransitcafe.com/site/the_wrap/archives/2010/07/ipad_takes_the_1.php



The opportunities for streamlining processes with this and other mobile technologies are really amazing.

Automated Wardrobe at Resorts World Sentosa (Singapore)

This example is more for their internal operations:


With thousands of crew members from the Casino, Universal Studios, restaurants and hotels, Resorts World Sentosa has installed the automated wardrobe system in order to facilitate the retrieval of the crew members' uniform.

Every crew member will be allocated 1 slot where they hang their uniform in the clothing bag. The bag (the blue one on the left) has a microchip installed. The uniform has a microchip sewn onto the uniform as well. This microchip is unique for all crew members and is linked to their employee pass.

When they need to retrieve their uniform, they will go to the door and punch in their password and scan their card. The system then recognises the employee pass and password (which is linked to the microchip) and the coveyer belt will move the entire rack of clothes and the correct clothing bag will stop right at the door. The door then automatically opens for the employee to retrieve his uniform, change into it, and put his own clothes in the clothing bag.

When they knock off from work, the same procedure follows so that they could retrieve their own clothes to change into.

As their uniform has the microchip sewn into it, after it has been washed, the wardrobe department just has to scan the uniform to locate the conveyer belt it belongs to and hang it back onto the rack.

Each wardrobe department has at least 5 doors so facilitate the hundreds of people who start/finish their shift at the same hours.

Hajime Robot Restaurant in Bangkok

Another one from Gail!  It's a Japanese barbaque restaurant in Bangkok that uses robots to cook and deliver the food.  Yes, a gimmick, but also an interesting look at how things might work in the future.   Take a look at the video!

Payment at Starbucks

This is one that Gail Sirikantaporn (MMH 10) sent me.   

Basically, there's an iPhone app (here's the link!) that allows you to pay for purchases made at Starbucks located in Target stores.  Very interesting--makes you wonder how payments at restaurants will occur in the future!  

Great source of service ideas

I get a periodic online newsletter called Springwise which has all kinds of great ideas in it: some for services and some for products. Here is the link to the Springwise archive for F&B ideas: www.springwise.com/food_beverage/ There is also a category for travel and tourism.

What's the Wait?

What's the Wait? is an iPhone app that allows users to type in how long the waiting time is at restaurants they are at and also to search for restaurants (and see their waiting time). I don't know how used this is, but it's pretty interesting. It allows customers to gain more control over their waiting time since they know in advance what it will be (and can possibly change their mind).

Tune Hotels

Here's another one I love. I know that many of you have heard of this, but I doubt that many people in the US have. Basically, the interesting thing here is how Tune Hotels decided to compete on the basis of cost. In order to do that, it first needed to understand what customers wanted (cheap, safe, good location, clean, good bed, nice shower) and then design a product that would meet those needs. What's also interesting here is that they are as far as I know, one of the first hotel companies to really unbundle their different services.

UrbanSpoon

This is an interesting one that I came across the other day when I was looking for innovative uses of mobile technology in hospitality.  UrbanSpoon has an iPhone application that lets people select restaurants, view reviews etc.).  They've recently launched an iPad application so that restaurants can accept reservations, maintain their reservations book and manage their tables.   And, it's only $99/month (the app is free) plus $1 per cover.  Very interesting.

Urbanspoon Rez from Urbanspoon on Vimeo.

Interesting Examples Needed!

I'm going to be teaching a required undergraduate course in Operations Management this fall and am looking for some interesting examples to use in class.  If you come across any particularly innovative service delivery systems, interesting uses of technology, interesting ways of managing the wait or just anything, please post it here.  Also, I'd love to hear what you've been doing with some of the things we talked about in class.  Photos, links and videos would be fantastic to have as well!

I will do my share and start posting some of the things I've come across here as well.

Thanks in advance for your help.