Introduction
The case study discusses Caesars Casinos, which has multiple locations in the United States and worldwide. The company aims to improve customer satisfaction by providing them with a better gambling experience without additional operating costs. It also aims to reduce the waste produced and make employees’ jobs easier.
The company’s stakeholders include employees, who have direct involvement in its outcomes and performance. Another key stakeholder is customers, as the service quality impacts them and generates revenue. Investors are also stakeholders, as they help the company maintain its operations by providing money and loans. Therefore, all stakeholders directly influence the company and are impacted by its performance.
Problem Statement
The problem that Caesars Casinos is trying to solve is increased competition and decreased revenue due to macroeconomic changes. Additionally, the company embraced a customer-focused strategy, which required continuous customer service improvement (Hyver et al., 2014). The problem is that the company does not allow enough money to be invested in growth and development to increase customer satisfaction. The issue also affects the stakeholders as they receive less money due to the drop in company revenue. Employees work fewer hours; customers do not receive excellent service; inventors do not receive their returns.
Resources
The company has wasted its resources and time, which hinders its development. As part of the lean operations implementation process, every area of operations was examined and subjected to change. Therefore, the company had issues with efficient resource management, which resulted in increased operational costs and poor quality. Combined, these factors led to worse quality of customer services and inefficiency in employee activities.
SWOT Analysis
Strengths
- Customer-oriented business culture.
- Multiple business locations, as the strategy can be tested at one location and then implemented in others.
- Employees are actively involved in change-management initiatives.
- Senior management encourages improvement and change.
Weakness
- Middle management resilience to change.
- A short period for change implementation.
- No additional plan in case of failure.
Opportunities
- Get existing and past customers’ feedback using surveys.
- Communicating changes implemented to the customers.
- Ensure cross-training for employees to reveal their skills and talents.
- Reduced waste.
Threats
- Economic downturn.
- Online gambling opportunities.
- Generation change.
- Competition.
Data and Graphical Presentation
The data presented in the case shows that introducing lean operations improves the company’s performance. The graphical representation of the improvements can help identify areas that need changes and adjustments. The areas that were a concern in the company were sandwich production time, 5S inventory, polishing silverware time, and chip replacement. Therefore, those categories are milestones that indicate the efficiency of changes implemented. The data shows that the company’s performance significantly improved after implementing lean operations.
Sandwich Production
The graph above shows that the average time for preparing a sandwich decreased by 11 minutes. Before lean implementation, it took 28.5 minutes compared to 18.2 minutes after. This also resulted in a decrease in the total time that employees need to make several sandwiches by 36%, which indicates improvements. Additionally, 39 out of 40 sandwiches after lean implementation were produced faster than before, which shows a significant success of the strategy.
5S Inventory
Graph 2 shows a significant decrease in 5S inventory after the implementation of the lean operations. The bar chart indicates that the weekly 5S inventory amount has dropped from $836.89 to $624.00, a 25% decrease. The total inventory decreased by 25% over the 17 weeks, showing consistent improvements. Therefore, implementing lean operations positively impacts the company’s inventory management.
Polish Silverware
The graph below presents the impact of the changes on the average time spent polishing silverware in the company. It shows that the average time decreased by more than twice after the implementation of the lean operations. The overall time that employees spent polishing silverware after the implementation of the lean operations decreased by 55% as well, which shows the initiative’s success in terms of performance.
Chip Replenishment
Graph 4 represents the data on the impact of the lean operations on chip replacement time. The graph shows a slight improvement in chip replacement time after the implementation of the lean operations compared to the previous situation. The overall time of chip replacement has dropped by 3%, indicating a consistent positive change. The average time decreased from 10.37 minutes to 9.97 minutes. The graph indicates the overall success of the change in the category.
PDCA Cycle and Implementation
The solution that was identified targets waste management gaps in employee engagement, transportation, and time management. These problems lead the company to decreased quality of customer service, a drop in customer satisfaction, and reduced revenue. A continuous improvement best practice that can be applied to the solution is the implementation of lean principles across all facilities. It will help create a culture of efficient waste management, which will lead to better customer satisfaction without additional costs.
- Plan. To implement the lean practices across facilities, the company needs to use the solution implementation experience in Tunica. Therefore, a team of experienced and motivated managers should be formed to examine various areas of operations and target waste management issues. Then they will develop a plan to improve performance in the particular area by implementing the lean practices. For the team to be able to apply the changes, it is required to have Kaizen events, which will help them learn the process of lean principles implementation. The plan will support organizational effectiveness by reducing waste and increasing customer satisfaction.
- Do. To test the solution, the company needs to choose specific areas to monitor the success of implementing lean practices and compare their performance before and after the change. The company may try the solution in three or four areas that cause the most acute waste management problems. The time required for operations in these areas should be compared to spot the impact of the solution implementation. Customer satisfaction, waste management efficiency, and revenue growth indicators should be monitored and analyzed.
- Check. The solution can be measured by creating graphs showing differences in time and money wasted before and after implementation. The data can help determine the change’s overall positive or negative influence on a company’s performance. The information obtained allowed us to identify positive improvements after the implementation of the solution, which signifies the success of the strategy.
- Act. The solution targeted specific areas of waste management problems in the company. As presented in the graphs, the average time required for various operations was consistently reduced across all the categories. The result of the change management activity is positive as it brought the desired changes after the implementation, leading to improved quality of customer services and reduced waste. Overall, the implementation of the solution has a positive impact on the company’s performance.
Reflection
The company successfully implemented continuous improvement practices and developed a culture of efficient waste management. Senior leadership managed to encourage and engage employees in a change implementation process, which significantly increased the efficiency of the initiative. Better customer satisfaction leads to higher revenue and employee bonuses, which ensures continuous motivation for them.
I would involve employees more in the lean operations initiatives during the change. The company can train employees to identify and manage waste management issues to promote organizational effectiveness. For example, employees can take courses on the lean principle to manage their waste, which would result in overall quality improvement.
Adjustments
The company can focus more on making the chip replenishment procedure more efficient, as the impact of the lean principles on it was mild. The solution was successful in other areas, so a new one is not required. However, the company may look closer at the operations that have not been significantly impacted by the change to improve efficiency and ensure continuous change.
Conclusion
Caesars Casinos’ experience of implementing lean operations in Tunica proved the techniques and tools successful in managing the waste management problem. The solution helped the company improve customer service quality, resulting in better customer satisfaction. Implementing the solution can potentially lead to revenue growth due to higher income and reduced costs, which completely addresses the company’s problems. The company can then invest more money in growth and development, strengthening its competitive advantage in the market.
References
Hyver, N. L., Hirch, B., & Brown, K. A. (2014). Implementing LEAN operations at Caesars Casinos. Thunderbird School of Global Management.