Maintenance and Reliability Best Practices for Dominos Pizza - Case Study Example

Name : Course Name : Instructor’s Name : Date of Submission : Case Study: Domino’s Pizza. This paper is going to use the internet and workplaces to research the concepts of best practice, risk assessment, performance analysis, maintenance strategies, condition audit, scheduled activities, cost-benefit analysis, work order, compliance and disposed assets. Short answers will be provided to explain the concepts and techniques that have been mentioned above. Facilities management involves managing and guiding the operations and maintenance of buildings, infrastructure in the community and precincts on behalf of the owners of these properties. It is a practice that arose from the need to manage property on behalf of others. Facilities Managers all over the world are under pressure to conduct their duties efficiently while at the same time lowering the costs involved. This paper will explain how best practice can be applied in the building services industry. The case study used to explain the questions in this paper is Domino's Pizza. Best practice can be provided to the building services industry through a Facilities Manager. A Facilities Manager is responsible for organizing, controlling and coordinating operational management of buildings and premises to ensure efficient and proper operation of all the physical aspects of the property. This enables him to create and sustain a safe and productive environment for the residents thereby delivering services successfully. Facilities Managers also improve financial performance by managing assets properly (Ramesh and Smith, 2009). They maintain the property value through dealing with various contractors or suppliers who maintain and upgrade the buildings. They ensure that services such as cleaning and security are provided to the residents. They make sure that the tenants pay their rent on time and that failure to do so will lead to tenants being charged with a fine (Ramesh and Smith, 2009). To ensure that there is sustainable development, Facilities Managers continue their professional development by studying further in order to maintain their professional competence. Facilities managers are expected to have at least two years minimum experience in the field with a Diploma in facilities management or a Degree from a related field. Furthering their education increases their competency which equates to improved management efficiency and productivity. An example of risk assessment is seen in food preparation and service delivery at Domino’s Pizza. Many risks arise in restaurants which include possibilities of fire outbreaks, food poisoning or accidents that may involve getting burnt while cooking or falling on sharp kitchen utensils (Roughton et al, 2008).Risk assessment in this case would be done by identifying such hazards and how they are likely to occur. The people likely to be affected by the hazards are identified and controls are put in place to eliminate or reduce the occurrence of these hazards or people getting injured. If previous controls existed, they are continuously modified to increase the rate of occurrence of accidents. The necessary actions to be taken are noted and given first priority in the execution. All this is then shared to all the employees at Domono’s Pizza so that they are well informed of potential hazards. The risk assessment is then monitored and evaluated against previous assessments to increase efficiency. All businesses are different and therefore the Manager needs to think through the controls required for the hazards present in that particular business (Roughton et al, 2008). Therefore, risk assessments are not the same different businesses. Education and training programs nowadays are made without a correlation to the specific performance needs. However, workplaces and areas of conducting businesses require that work done must be directly linked to performance objectives. If not so, then there will be wastage of resources. A performance analysis is done as a preliminary analysis of situations to come up with possible solutions to existing performance problems. The steps in a performance analysis include understanding the business and its objectives, values and challenges. The difference between the optimal and actual performance levels should be documented. This documentation should state why and how there is a challenge in achieving optimal performance. The documentation must show the benefits that will be achieved if the challenges to performance are eliminated. It will also show potential losses that might occur if the problem is not fixed (Silverstein, 2007). A cause analysis is then conducted to determine the causes, obstacles and enablers of the problem. This includes finding asking questions like “What has caused the problem?”, “What will prevent or make a solution much easier?” (Silverstein, 2007). Focus is then aimed at key resources, results and facts. Not everyone is reached in an initial analysis. Facts are obtained through records, observations and experiences. Many maintenance strategies are employed in workplaces. Preventive maintenance is used in helping to keep the cost of production and production under control. It is used as a means to extend the amount of time that a structure, machine or equipment is used productively. The main aim is to prevent unnecessary repairs in equipment or malfunctions in the workplace and save on costs. At Domino’s Pizza, preventive maintenance can be done by ensuring no metal food containers are used in microwaving food. Condition-based maintenance is a preventive maintenance strategy that is based on monitoring of parameters or performance and subsequent actions (Ramesh and Smith, 2009). Sometimes electricity might not be present thus an alternative method of food preparation is used. If electricity is not available at Domino’s Pizza and an electric cooker was used, the run-to-failure strategy can be used whereby the electric cooker can be replaced by a gas cooker which is more convenient so that food preparation continues. Condition audits evaluate, benchmark and continuously improve the workplace conditions of employees. In this restaurant, the conditions that were audited included wages and hours of work, health and safety risks the workers are exposed to, racial discrimination, harassment, and waste emissions (Secord , 2003). The process of conducting condition audits is broken down into two stages. Stage one assesses the business’s policies and procedures against standard requirements in order to identify any shortcoming before the second audit is done. The first stage consists of auditing the management system documentation to ensure all the standard requirements have been met. The conditions of the work area, its location and processes are done in stage one. For Domino’s Pizza, the preparation area should be in a sanitary area and not close to toilets (Secord , 2003). Maintenance activities are critical. They ensure continuous productivity and maintain competitiveness in the business. Scheduling is done to keep the working environment and its conditions reliable and safe. Maintenance activities at Domino’s Pizza are scheduled differently than other work places. The restaurant is cleaned every evening before it is closed for the day. This ensures a clean and sanitary working environment the next morning. Other maintenance activities include cleaning and repairing equipments used in preparation of food. Faults that were detected are corrected during hours when the restaurant is not in operation (Ramesh and Smith, 2009). The process of maintenance at Domino’s Pizza is carried out during closed hours before customers come in. A cost-benefit analysis is a technique used to estimate and add up the benefits in form of money equivalents (Silverstein, 2007). This enables people to determine whether the costs of incurring those benefits are worthwhile. A good example of the cost-benefit analysis is seen where the Domino’s Pizza manager wants to increase the size of the business. The benefit of increasing the size of the business is that the sitting capacity will be increased therefore the flow of customers coming in to buy food will also increase. However, there will be a cost that will be incurred in extending the size of the business like buying new chairs and tables for the increased number of customers. The benefit of having increased flow of customers and the cost of acquiring this benefit is analyzed. The benefits must be more than the cost in order for the expansion to take place. Work orders are handled by creating a workflow process. A good example Domino’s Pizza is a situation whereby the preventive maintenance work is evaluated and different priorities are given to the work orders. For instance, if the preventive maintenance work to be done has a high priority, it is forwarded to the manager for review and approval (Silverstein, 2007). Keeping the refrigerator clean and ensuring no sharp objects are packed together with food in the fridge will prevent puncturing of the fridge hence maintaining it for future use. This is a high priority work order as it enables smooth running of the food business by ensuring the food does not go bad. The first step in conducting a work order is to determine the priority of the work at hand (Secord, 2003). If it is of low value then it is stopped and it exits the main process. If it is of high priority it is reviewed and analyzed for approval. During review, the cost of processing the work order is considered. If the cost is affordable, the work order is assigned to a person or a group of people for processing (Secord, 2003). There is the necessity to carry out compliance training in a workplace to ensure that employees know the behaviors that are acceptable in the workplace. Employees in the case study chosen have continued to breach regulatory and legislative standards. For instance, some of them do not wear dust coats or aprons. Others do not shave their beards or wear something to cover their hair on their heads. This is unhygienic. A compliance strategy that is ethical is then developed to show the employees and the customers the importance of wearing appropriate attire while handling food. If employees do not comply, then a fine is given (Ramesh and Smith, 2009). Assets to be disposed include those assets that are depreciable and were purchased to aid in conducting the business process effectively. They include computers, furniture and equipment among other assets. Assets in a business can be disposed through sales, donations or trade-ins. In the case of abandoning assets, the owner will incur a loss if the asset was not fully depreciated and a tax benefit may be realized. Trade-ins are not taxable events since they are only treated as an exchange. The process of asset disposal begins by identifying the assets for disposal followed by implementation of designed disposal strategies. The asset disposal is then evaluated. Assets can also be disposed off with the aim of gaining returns from the sales made from assets that were not fully depreciated (Ramesh and Smith, 2009). Work cited Gulati, Ramesh, and Ricky Smith. Maintenance and Reliability Best Practices. New York, NY: Industrial Press, 2009. Print. Roughton, James E, and Nathan Crutchfield. Job Hazard Analysis: A Guide for Voluntary Compliance and Beyond : from Hazard to Risk : Transforming the Jha from a Tool to a Process. Amsterdam: Elsevier/Butterworth-Heinemann, 2008. Internet resource. Secord, Hugh. Implementing Best Practices in Human Resources Management. Toronto: CCH Canadian, 2003. Print. Silverstein, Barry. Motivating Employees: Bringing Out the Best in Your People. Pymble, NSW: HarperCollins e-books, 2007. Internet resource. Read More