OPERATION MANAGEMENT IN ASIA

CASE #1

BY
KAAN HANCER

3D140110

NAPASORN R.

3D140119

VITHITHIYA R.

3D140120

KAIWIT R.

3D140121

ZHU YUYAN

3D140132

JULY 2 2015

CASE WEEK 1: An employment verification agency

Figure 1. Process Flow Diagram of application verification.

As shown in Figure 1, there are three assembly lines which are divided according to the type of
applications: consulting position, staff position, and internship position. The first assembly line is
consulting position. This line consists of 4 steps: filing(P1), contacting former colleagues(P2), contacting
former employers(P3), and sending confirmation letter(P5). The second assembly line is staff position.
This line composes of 3 steps: filing(P1), contacting former employers(P3), and sending confirmation
letter(P5). The third line is internship position. It consists of 3 steps including filing(P1), Grade/school
analysis(P4), and sending confirmation letter(P5).

In order to reduce the number of workforce, lead time, set up time, WIP inventories, and cost, we
adopted 3 types of SERU: divisional seru, rotating seru, and yatai. Our ultimate goal is to achieve supertalent seru or Yatai.

DIVISIONAL SERU

Figure 2. Three divisional Serus

As shown in Figure2, we decomposed the assembly line into 3 divisional serus: consulting, staff, and
internship. Seru 1 is divided into 2 sections. Task P1 and P2 are performed in section 1 by the first
worker. Task P3 and P5 are performed in section2 by the second worker. Seru 2 is divided into 3
sections. Task P1 is performed in section 1 by the first worker. Task P3 is performed in section 2 by the
second and third worker. Task P5 is performed in section 3 by the fourth worker. Seru 3 is divided into 3
sections in which task P1 in section 1, task P4 in section 2, and task P5 in section 3 are performed by only
one worker.
Each seru is divided into different number of sections and staffed with different number of workers. As
for seru1, we have 2 workers perform 4 tasks as required minutes of working time is 120 and the
capacity of 2 workers is 120 minutes. Thus, using 2 staffs is sufficient to satisfy the requested workload.
For seru2, we have 4 workers perform 3 tasks since using 4 workers will be able to fulfill the requested
workload, which is 220 minutes. On the other hands, if we have 3 workers perform 3 tasks, the capacity
wont be enough to satisfy the requested workload. Lastly, as for seru3, we have only 1 worker perform
all 3 tasks as the requested workload is 52 minutes whereas the capacity of one worker is 60 minutes.
Thus, using only one staff is sufficient to satisfy the requested workload.
Figure3.
Seru 1: consulting division

capacity demand implied(min./hr consultin utilization(

time(mins./appl.)number of workers)
g
%)
file
3
1
60
69
contact persons
20
115
contact emp
15
1
60
51
confirm letter
2
85
Seru 2: staff division

File
contact emp
confirm letter

number of
time(mins./appl.) workers
3
15
2

capacity demand implied(min./hr) staff

utilization(%)
1
60
33
55
2
120
165
137.5
1
60
22
36.67

Seru 3: internship division

File
grade
confirm letter

number of
time(mins./appl.) workers
3
1
8
2

capacity demand implied(min./hr) Interns utilization(%)

60

52

86.67

In conclusion, using divisional saru can reduce the number of workforce from 9 to 7. As a result, cost will
also decrease. In addition, divisional seru can help reduce the capacity from 540 minutes to 420
minutes, which is closer to the ideal capacity required,392 minutes.

ROTATING SERU
Within the same division in Figure2, each worker performs all tasks from start to finish. Note that all
workers are completely cross-trained. An example can be seen in Figure4.
Figure 4. Rotating Seru

SEUPER-TALENT SERU or YATAIS

Here, we aim to convert the flow of our HR case work into the form of Yatai which is the ultimate form
of Seru. By breaking down the work flow into one-person organization, the work flow would then

transform from a 5-process work flow with multiple staffs responsible for each process into a 9
standalone Yatai. Each Yatai is a fully functional entity that could perform the tasks from P1 to P5 all by
itself.
There are many benefits from dismantling long workflow process into Yatai. Firstly, the problem of
bottleneck can be eliminated. In typical work flow situation similar to our HR case, the performance or
the process capacity of the entire system is limited by bottleneck workers or the process with the lowest
efficiency. However, with each Yatai working independently from each other, even though the
performance of the bottleneck worker is still the lowest, the other 8 yatais can still work faster and
better thus supplementing the efficiency and productivity of the whole system. Secondly, the process
would require less number of staffs if Yatai formation is introduced. The ideal capacity required for the
entire process is 6.53 staffs (392 minutes working time) whereas the current workflow require as many
as 9 staffs( 540 minutes working time). Yatai formation could help cut the cost of the staffs and improve
the efficiency of the system up to 27.4% ( (540-392)/540 ). Lastly, Yatai formation further excelled in
term of flexibility compared to Rotating Seru or divisional Seru as each yatai only comprises of one
person which allow the breaking up and forming up of new yatai to be much simpler.

540 [min/hour]

392