Operations Management: Benihana

Based on the best-selling Benihana of Tokyo case, this simulation covers fundamentals in service and operations management.

1. Call customer service at 1-800-545-7685 (1-617-783-7600 outside the U.S. and Canada) and request educator trial access.

2.If you adopt the simulation, you will be given a specific link to give your students.

3.Students access the simulation using the link you provide to them. Each student can pay for individual use online via credit card, or your institution can pay for all students in a single payment.

Theprocessofsamplingandadoptinganyofouronlinesimulationsissimple:

Simulations re-create real-world settings to reinforce student

learning. Flexible administrative options let professors

set learning experiences for a range course levels, from

undergraduate to specialized graduate courses. Each simulation

includes a detailed Facilitation Guide, “how to play” video

overview, as well as recommendations for class play and debrief.

Can be used in class or as homework. Ideal for undergraduate

and MBA classes in Operations Management, Service

Management, and Strategy.

Student Comments:

“ I like that everything was separated so users can see the

marginal or incremental effect of each change in operations.”

“ It was effective to see each variable’s impact on metrics and

then be able to put them all together in a complete strategy.”

“ It helps you understand the flow of the restaurant and visualize

the impact on sales of the different adjustments. This was a

great way to see how changes in the system affect revenues.”

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Benihana

OperationsManagementSimulationfor courses in:

operations management

service management

strategy

by W.EarlSaSSEr,Jr. and riCardOErnST

EducatorsregisteredonourwebsitereceivefreeEducatorCopiesandTeachingnotes.appLy noW: educatoraccess.hbsp.harvard.edu

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includedwithallsimulations:

Detailed Facilitator’s Guide covering �learning objectives, administrative

features, and setup options

Video assets �

Debrief-ready results in graphical form �

Teaching Note guidance for �comprehensive debrief

Operations Management Simulation: Benihana

analyzeprepare

Challenge 2: Design the Bar

© 2008 Harvard Business Publishing. All rights reserved.

log out version 8 (pre-release) Developed in partnership with Forio Business Simulations. For help, contact Harvard Business Publishing Customer Support.

challenge 1 challenge 3 challenge 4 challenge 5 design your best strategychallenge 2

view detailed description

Summary Scenario 2 Scenario 3 New Scenario

Decisions

Runs Results for Run 1

Batching Customers Bar Seats

Use Batching

No Batching 55 bar seats 14 tables

7 87

Click any row to view the run detail.

6:00 6:30 7:00 7:30 8:00 8:30 9:00 9:30 10:00 10:30

Customers in Bar Customers in Dining Room

Summary Financial Customers Lost ServedRun with Animation Generate 20 Runs

Run Profit Lost Cust. Drinks Dinners

Average

Min

Max

Run 1

$354

$354

$354

$354

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42

42

42

155

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Operations Management Simulation: Benihana

session setupclass summary

introvideo

viewusers

uploadusers

sessionsetup

Session Setup

Session Info

Open simulation to students

Session Name (visible to students):

Session Description (visible to students):

Simulation AssumptionsAdjusting bar capacity changes number of tablesAdjusting bar capacity leaves tables constant

Hitotsubashi ICS, Service Management, Term 3

10 scenarios

Save Session Setup Cancel

Select Student Challenges

1 Batch Dining Room Customers

2 Design the Bar

3 Change Timing of Dining Experience

4 Boost Demand with Advertising and Special Programs

5 Used Different Types of Batching at Different Times

6 Design Your Best Strategy

Design Your Best Strategy OptionsLimit students to

© 2008 Harvard Business Publishing. All rights reserved.

log out Developed in partnership with Forio Business Simulations. For help, contact Harvard Business Publishing Customer Support.

Students work through a series of challenges, including:

1. Batch Dining Room Customers: Choose whether or not to move customers from the bar to the restaurant in a batch process to affect throughput.

2. Determine Bar Size: Optimize the number of seats in the bar to impact capacity utilization and throughput in the restaurant.

3. Change the Dining Time: Experiment with shorter or longer dining times to evaluate impact on capacity utilization and throughput.

4. Boost Demand with Advertising and Special Programs: Manage demand variability by instituting marketing programs.

5. Use Different Types of Batching at Different Times: Determine which batching strategy is most appropriate at which time.

A final capstone challenge requires students to design their best integrated operations management strategy for the restaurant.

Developed in partnership with Forio Business Simulations

Authored by:

Ricardo Ernst, Professor, McDonough School of Business, Georgetown University

W. Earl Sasser, Professor, Harvard Business School

Simpleadministrationtoolsallowprofessorstoconfigurethesimulationandaccessreal-timestudentresultsforclassdiscussion.

Thesimulationdashboardallowsstudentstoteststrategiesforoptimizingthroughput,capacityutilization,andotherdriversofoperatingperformanceintherestaurant.

Students prepare once (with how-to video, summary, and restaurant information).

The Summary tab allows students to compare data points from all scenarios within a given challenge.

Students can view one night’s flow of customer traffic through the restaurant or run 20 iterations with one click for statistically relevant results.

The Results tab provides detailed financial and customer data for a chosen night.

The animated restaurant diagram illustrates customer flow through the restaurant, based on students’ decisions, over the course of one night.

stuDent DasHBoarD

A comprehensive Teaching Note covers:

n How to analyze capacity, demand rates, cycle time, and throughput in a service operation.

n How batching strategies improve throughput and the importance of increasing capacity at bottlenecks.

n How to minimize or eliminate demand variabilities (cyclical, stochastic, batch size, and service time).

n How to optimize across multiple variables in an operation and ensure consistency in the overall operations strategy.

n The Teaching Note also includes classroom-ready PowerPoint slides for use in class discussion.

Professors can view a short video covering administration tools.

The Class Summary tab offers real-time student performance data and ranks students based on their “best strategy” profitability. This data forms the basis of a rich class discussion.

OperationsManagement:Benihanaapproximateseattime:90minutesProduct#2653

aDministration screen

Within each challenge, students can create multiple scenarios to compare different operating strategies.

Within each scenario, students set decisions before running a simulated evening in the restaurant to evaluate impact on operating system performance.

Data can be exported to Excel for detailed analysis.

The Session Setup tab offers simple configuration options and user management tools.