1) Summary: A Summary title with around 12 lines summary of the case.

2) Objective: An Objective title with around 7 lines the objective of the case. 3) Analysis: An Analysis title with around 60 lines case analysis.

4) Recommendations: A Recommendation title with around 7 lines your recommendation.

In analysis section, in addition to your own analysis, provide detailed answer to the three questions at the end of each case. For each question, start with the question number as title (e.g., Question 1)

Here is the case:

Copper Kettle Catering Copper Kettle Catering (CKC) is a tull-service catering company that prowides planning horizon. Customers book dates and choose menu items weeks or services ranging from box lunches for picnics or luncheon meetings to large. months ahead of time, wedding, dinner, or office parties. Established as a lunch delivery service for CKC's food preparation facilities support both cperations. The physical otlices in 1972 by Wayne and Janet Williams, CKC has grown to be one of the facilities layout resembles that of a job process. Five major work areas consist largest catering businesses in Raleigh, North Carcina. The company divides of a stove-oven area for hot tood preparation, a cold area for salad preparacustomer demand into two categories: delver only and deliver and serve. Ition, an hors d'oeuve preparation area, a sandwich preparation area, and The deliver-only side of the business dolvers bowad meals consisting of an assermbly area where deliver-only orders are boved and deliver-and-serve a sandwich, salad, dessert, and fruit. The menu for this service is limited to orders are assembled and trayed. Three walk-in coolers store foods requiring six sandwich selections, three salads or potato chips, and a trownie or fruit refrigeration, and a large pantry houses nonperishable goods. Space limitabar. Grapes and an orange slice are inckuded with every meal, and iced tea tions and the risk of spolage limit the amount of raw materlals and prepared can be ordered to accompany the meals. The overall level of demand for this food items that can be carried in inwontory at any one time. CKC purchases sarvice throughout the year is tairty constant, although the mix of menu items desserts from outside vendors. Sorne deliver the desserts to CKC: others delvered varies. The planning horizon for this segment of the business is require CKC to send someone to pick up desserts at their tacilities. thont: Customers usually call no more than a day ahead of tme. CKC requires The scheduling of orders is a two-stage process. Each Mondey, Wayne customers to call delver-only orders in by 1000AM, to guarantee delivery and Janet develoo the schedile of deliver-and-serve orders to be procossed the same day. each day. CKC typically has muliple deliver-and sene orders to fill each doy of The deliver-and-serve side of the business focuses on catering large the weck. This level of demand aliows a cortain efficiency in the preparation of parties, dinners, and weddings. The eotensive range of menu items includes muaiph orders. The dellver-only orders are schedulod day to day, owing to the a full selection of hors tooeuves, entrees, beverages, and special-request short-order lead times. CKC sometimes runs out of ingredients for deliver-only iterns. The demand for these services is much more seasonal, with heavier menu items because of the llmited inventory space. demands occurring in the iste spring-early summer for weddings and the late Wayne and lanet have 10 full-time employees two cooks and eight food fall-eaty winter for holiday parties. However, this segment aso tas a longer preparation workers, who also work as servers for the delwer-ard sene orters. In periods of high demand, they hire additional part-time servers. The the middle of a large office complex to serve the lunch trade and competes position of cook is specialized and requires a high degree of training and with CKC on cost. skill. The rest of the employees are flexible and move between tasks as Wayne and lanet Williams are impressed by the lean systems concept. needed. especially the ideas related to increasing flexbility, reducing lead times, and The business environment for catering is competitive. The competitive lowering costs. They sound like what CKC needs to remain competitive. prioities are high-quality food, delivery reliability, flexibility, and cost-in that However, the Williamses wonder whether lean concepts and practices are order. "The quality of the food and its preparation is paramount," states Wayne transterable to a service business." Willams. "Caterers with poor-quality food will not stay in business long." Quality is measured by both freshness and taste. Delivery reliability encom- QUESTIONS passes both on-time deivery and the time required to respond to customer 1. Are the operations of Copper Kettle Catering conducive to the application orders (n effect, the order lead time), Flecibility focuses on both the range of of lean concopts and practices? Explain. catering requests that a company can satisty and menu variety. Recently, CKC began to notice that customers are demanding more 2. What, if any, are the major barriers to implementing a lean system at menu flexiblity and taster response times. Small specialty caterers who Copper Kette Catering? entered the market are targeting specific well-defined market segments. One 3. What would you recommend that Wayne and Janet Willams do to take example is a small caterer called tunches-R.US, which located a tacility in advantage of lean concepts in operating CKC