White Paper Improving QoS at a Barbers Shop

Murtaza A. Mandviwala Mohammad Ali Jinnah University Assignment for Services Marketing April 18th, 2012

Abstract
Sharif Hair Dresser (SHD) is an old barber shop located near Pakistan Chowk, Karachi. Mohammad Sharif Usmani, being a barber himself started it in 1988 with a small space and only one barber-chair. Today, after 24 years he has four other barbers working for him. Plus, he set aside a small portion for his son to sell cosmetic items. However, we will not consider the cosmetic shop in our study as our core focus is concentrated on waiting queue improvements and service quality maintenance. At SHD, there are 6 barber chairs, 4 of them are occupied while 2 remains vacant. It takes each barber around 30 minutes on average to give a haircut. The old guys with very little hair need only 15 minutes, and fussier customers can take as much as 45 minutes. Installed Capacity Operating Capacity Utilization rate 6 chairs 4 chairs 66%

SHD opens up at 10 in the morning and gets fully operational in 30 minutes. Observations drive that a customer arrivals initiate at 10:30 am each morning and it keeps going on with an average interval of 10 minutes for each arrival. To save us from complex calculations, we have divided a workday into three equally timed shifts of 3 hours (1:30pm-2:30pm is a Lunch/Namaz Break). In each shift, 24 customers can be served by 4 barbers. This results in an operating capacity of 72 customers per day. Shift Time Hours Worked Ideal Workload (Customers) 10:30 am 01:30 pm 3 24 02:30 pm 05:30 pm 3 24 05:30 pm 08:30 pm 3 24 TOTALS 9 72

Average Time/Customer Capacity of Barber/Day Number of Barbers Total Operating Capacity/Day

30 minutes 18 customers 4 72 customers

Our observation ranks location to be the main reason behind SHDs waiting queues. It stands in the midst of a highly populated residential area. Men tend to visit the barber shop majorly after evening in weekdays and in morning on weekends. This trend seems to be constant with every barber shop located in residential vicinity.

Challenge
SHD was facing serious waiting queue issues. Managing customers created a great dilemma for SHD seeking to improve profits from their operations. On one hand, customers dislike waiting intensely. They felt they were waiting too long for a haircut. They either left the line prematurely or not return next time when they needed a haircut. Higher demands were experienced mostly on Fridays and Sundays. This caused long waiting lines at SHD. A week-sample of customer arrivals was taken for trend analysis, these are its findings: Number of Customers Wednesday Thursday Friday 10 22 49 9 6 20 31 39 36 50 67 105 72 72 72 22 5 -33 Vacant Vacant Queue
Operating Capacity

Day 10:30 am - 01:30 pm 02:30 pm - 05:30 pm 05:30 pm - 08:30 pm Total Customers Operating Capacity Under/Over Utilization Status

Monday 10 14 22 48 72 24 Vacant

Tuesday 9 11 12 32 72 40 Vacant

Saturday 26 10 53 89 72 -17 Queue

Sunday 59 34 30 123 72 -51 Queue

Total Customers 140 120 100 80 60 40 20 0 Monday Tuesday Wednesday

Thursday

Friday

Saturday

Sunday

As this graph suggests, SHD faces under utilization of its facility on Monday till Thursday (Vacant denotes empty seats). However, from Friday onwards the demand rises sharply which causes waiting queue hence compromising service quality and customer satisfaction.

Solution
After a thorough study of the trends and statistics, these solutions are proposed to SHD;

A. Workforce Mobility
Our 3-shift breakup concluded that the mid shift of 02:30pm 05:30pm was being substantially underutilized. With a capacity of 168 customers per week, only 104 customers arrived in that time slot. More than 60 minutes were wasted daily by each barber waiting for customers to arrive. Time Slot/Shift 10:30 am - 01:30 pm 02:30 pm - 5:30 pm 05:30 pm - 08:30 pm Total Customers/Week 185 104 223 No. of Barbers 4 4 4 Total Capacity/Week 168 168 168 Under/Over Utilization 17 -64 55

It is advised that SHB should only operate with 3 barbers in the underutilized shift to reduce vacant time. They can either hire a part-timer or shift the resource to last shift. SHB is most likely to find a junior/trainee willing to work in evenings after his college/school. This will help them cater high demand in comparatively low wages. Time Slot/Shift 10:30 am - 01:30 pm 02:30 pm - 5:30 pm 05:30 pm - 08:30 pm Total Customers/Week 185 104 223 No. of Barbers 4 3 5 Total Capacity/Week 168 126 210 Under/Over Utilization 17 -22 13

B. Psychological Approach
A qualitative approach can also complement the mathematical model to reduce waiting time and improve service quality. SHB with a typical waiting time of 30 minutes can change the focus of their service from just giving a haircut to providing 30 minutes of relaxation from the hustle and bustle of normal life. They can install a small TV set (keeping this in a budget of PKR 5000) to run first-run movies in the middle of the barbershop, provide a large variety of new magazines/newspapers etc. The moral of this approach is that the physics of the waiting line system can be moderated to change the rules of the game by managing customers expectations.