Johnson & Wales University Providence, Rhode Island

Final Project – 7-Eleven Retail stores

A Research Project Submitted in Partial Fulfillment Of the Requirements for the Culinary Degree

Course: Operation Management – MGMT 5575

Salima El Boulaaidi
Nijati Halimulati
Md. Masud Reza

November 21th, 2013

TABLE OF CONTENT
Introduction………………………………………………………………………………3
I. Design of Goods & Services………………………………………………………..…4
Delayed Customization: Current & Recommendations
Modularization: Current & Recommendation
Automation/Reduced Customer Interaction: Current & Recommendation
Moment of truth
II. Quality……………………………………………………………………………… 8
Fishbone diagram for 7-Eleven franchise
The Fishbone analysis of 7-Eleven Company: The 4 Ps
III. Process analysis…………………………………………………………………… 13
Process Flow Chart, Time function Mapping and Value stream mapping
7-Eleven Processes structures and interpretations
IV. Process Strategy: Theory of Constraint…………………………………………….16
Major constraint and issues
Recommendations to improve the throughput
V. Layout strategy……………………………………………………………………...18
Current layout issues in 7-eleven stores.
Recommendation and benefits of improving the layout
VI. Human Resources and Job ergonomics……………………………………………. 21
Current ergonomics concerns in Seven-Eleven
Recommendations
VII. Supply chain………………………………………………………………………24
Pictographic of 7-Eleven supply chain
Recommendation by using TOCA
VIII. Conclusion…………………………………………………………………….…...28
References……………………………………………………………………….............29
Introduction
We have chosen 7-Eleven Company, which is a big part of an international chain of convenience stores since 1927. It is primarily operating as a franchise, is the world's largest operator, franchisor, and licensor of convenience stores with more than 50,254 outlets surpassing the previous record-holder, McDonald's Corporation. 7-Eleven branded stores under parent company Seven And I Holdings Company are located in 16 countries with its largest markets being Japan with 15,000 stores, the United States with 8,200 stores, Thailand with 6,800 stores, Indonesia, Canada, the Philippines, Hong Kong, Taiwan, and Malaysia (History, n.d., para 7). 7-Eleven Japan runs all 7-Eleven franchises worldwide and is headquartered in Tokyo, Japan. 7-Eleven in the U.S.A has its headquarter, One Arts Plaza building in Downtown Dallas, Texas. In 2012, the total revenue of 7-eleven Corporation was US $84.6 billion (History, n.d., para 15). The main products that all 7-eleven’s stores in the U.S. sell are coffee, sandwiches, Slurpee beverage, Big Gulp beverage Cup, prepared foods, gasoline, dairy products, various beverages (History, n.d., para 17).

I. Design of Goods & Services

Delayed Customization
According to Van Hoek’s “Postponement means delaying activities in the supply chain until customer orders are received with the intention of customizing products, as opposed to performing those activities in anticipation of future orders” (2001)
According to Van Hoek, the Board of Directors of CSCMP and a co-author of the best seller Logistics Management and Strategy textbook, companies tend to implement postponement in order to increase the performance of both efficiency and responsiveness in the operational level. Companies voted that using delayed customization is crucial in order to raise delivery reliability, improving speed of delivery, improving inventory cycle times, lowering logistics cost, lowering obsolescence risk and improving product customization (2000)
Current
In fact, researches categorized delayed customization into three categories. First, Time postponement which means delaying the forward movement of goods until customer orders are received. Second, Place postponement which