Supporting Facility and Process Flows

Question 1

This part will identify the process bottleneck, flows capacity, and cycle time. The part will examine whether the initial process flow can hold the capacity of 50 patients.

Activity	Description	Cycle Time, Sec.
1	Receive Prescriptions	24
2	Type Labels	120
3	Fill Prescriptions	60
4	Check Prescriptions	40
5	Dispense Prescriptions	30

                                                                 
 
In                                                                                                                                           Out

According to the analysis above, the Cycle time for the entire procedure equals 274 seconds (4.5 minutes). This particular cycle Time engages five employees. According to the above illustration, the Bottleneck which according to Fitzsimmons (131) limits production seems to be Activity 2. In this activity, typing labels seem to be the slowest operation of the process and have a 12 seconds Cycle Time. The process, on the other hand, has a capacity of 30 patients every hour.

Bottleneck	Activity number 2
Process Cycle Time	Bottleneck Cycle Time=120 seconds= 2 minutes
Current Capacity	1/CT= (60 minutes/hour)x (½ minutes) =30 patients

Question 2.

The below-enhanced layout (process flow) will let the system to handle 50 patients every hour. In this layout, four individuals are involved including two pharmacists and two technicians. The answer will also explain how the layout can be improved, it will also identify bottleneck, cycle time, and the flow capacity per hour.  In his work, Alodan et al. (100913) define cycle time as a period used to complete a recurring task. In many ways, the reduction of cycle time contributes to the firm’s output. Other benefits linked to such a reduction include increased productivity and customer satisfaction. In this scenario, reducing the CT of activity will use two technicians where activities 1 & 2 will be combined. Combining activities 3, 4, and 5 will be done through the help of two pharmacists. The intent will be to reduce the CT of activities 3 and 4, which will improve the layout process flow in the end.

                                                                                                      
In                                                                           Out

In                                                                             Out

                        Cycle Time                 Cycle Time
                           = 72                           = 65

Activities 1 and 2 are combined with the intent of reducing the CT, as argued earlier. In this case, the CT activities are reduced from 144 seconds to 72 seconds, with help from the two technicians. A difference of 72 seconds, which is by half, will largely benefit the firm in customers’ satisfaction. Also, activities 3, 4, and 5 are combined to reduce CT activities. Similar to activities 1 and 2, combining activities 3, 4, and 5 reduces the CT activities from 130 seconds to 65 seconds. Like 1 and 2, a difference of 65 seconds, which is also by the half, will positively contribute to the firm. The reduction is through the help of the two pharmacists. The bottleneck in this layout is activities 1 and 2 with the CT of 144 seconds. 

Bottleneck= Combined activities 1 and 2

Process CT=Bottleneck CT=combined CT which is 72 seconds= 1.2 minutes.

The firm’s correct capacity=1/CT= (60 minutes/hour) x (1/1.2 minutes) = 50 patients per hour.

The above product layout will largely improve the capacity from 30 patients to 50 patients per hour.

Question 3

Apart from saving on personal costs, the arrangements have other benefits, including reducing the waiting time for patients to receive prescriptions. The pharmacy waiting list largely discourages patients. As seen in the process above, the initial process flow could handle only 30 patients at ago. With the improvement made by the layout, it will effectively handle 50 patients and also at a shorter period.  As argued by Alam et al. (834), the firm’s overload where patients are kept for long to receive their prescriptions is correlated with patients’ dissatisfaction. Such dissatisfaction may not only affect the patient’s experience but may also affect the firm’s reputation. In this case, the pharmacy will be able to provide effective services where services will continue getting better. In some cases, patients get tired of the long waiting lists, and they may choose to go and find services elsewhere.

With an effective product layout, employees will also continue working effectively and efficiently. According to a study by Alam et al. (840), process layouts are also flexible. When a hospital, a pharmacy, or any other organization comes with one, they get in a position to handle various activities in the shortest time possible, as evident above. Furthermore, employees will get time to do other important stuff that will end up benefiting the pharmacy. When employees are overburden, they may end up making errors, and in a pharmaceutical company, medication errors may cause a lot of harm. Such processes also motivate employees. With such layouts, employees can handle a couple of activities instead of the boredom they face doing the repetitive work day in day out.

Works Cited

Alam, Shoaib et al. “Reducing Pharmacy Patient Waiting Time.” International Journal of Health Care Quality Assurance, vol 31, no. 7, 2018, pp. 834-844. Emerald, doi: 10.1108/ijhcqa-08-2017-0144.

Alodan, Arwa et al. “Studying the Efficiency of Waiting Time in Outpatient Pharmacy.” Methodsx, vol 7, 2020, p. 100913. Elsevier BV, doi:10.1016/j.mex.2020.100913.

Fitzsimmons, James A, Mona J. Fitzsimmons, and Sanjeev Bordoloi. Service Management: Operations, Strategy, Information Technology. New York: McGraw-Hill, 2014. Print.