Butler’s idea was to have his stores located in shopping malls where customers could shop while they waited an hour for their glasses to be made. The total concept of eyeglasses in an hour was new and many doubted the company would succeed. Despite these doubts, the company’s sales totaled two million dollars in its first year drawing investors and opening more stores (http://www. Lancaster. Com/LLC-us/about-Lancaster). After thirty years in the industry, Lancaster has become a household name operating stores throughout the United States, Puerco Rich, and Canada.
Lancaster success can be credited directly to its operating strategy which has en to provide a full range of services under one roof to make eyeglass shopping a fast and friendly one stop experience. Lancaster operations strategy is successful because of the company’s focus on innovation and with providing a unique customer experience throughout its thirty years of operation (http://www. Lancaster. Com/LLC-us/about-Lancaster).
Lancaster operations strategy is supported by their mission statement which is on being the best by creating customers for life by delivering legendary customer service developing and energize associates and leaders in the world’s est. place to work crafting perfect-quality aware in about an hour delivering superior overall value to meet each customer’s individual needs (Collier & Evans, 2013). Lancaster offers a wide range of products and services for the whole family including designer frames, sunglasses, and contact lenses.
Independent Doctors of Optometry to provide vision care services and on-site optical labs to make and fit eyeglass lenses. Independent Doctors of Optometry offer personalized career in a patient-friendly environment utilizing the latest equipment like the Optima which digitally performs a retinal exam in under a second without elating the eyes. Lancaster is able to offer “custom crafted glasses in about an hour” through its use of innovations and cutting edge technology.
Lancaster optical labs use state of the art technology like their new Anti- Reflective coating machine that coats lenses with a special film that helps relieve eyestrain by eliminating glare from computers and night driving as well as repelling dust and smudges to make caring for and cleaning your glasses easier. Features like these have enabled the company gain a competitive advantage in an industry where discount eyeglass retailers offer low prices in exchange for inferior quality, an a-la-carte menu of features, and considerable wait times which often exceed two weeks pick-up time for glasses. (http://www. Newscasters. Com/LLC-us/about-Lancaster). 2. Analyze how operation management activities affect the customer experience. Select two (2) operation management challenges and provide the solutions for confronting them. With Lancaster operations management activities include facility layout and design, technology selection, quality management, resource and capacity management, process design, service encounter design, and sustainability. With Gerard to facility layout and design Lancaster stores are usually located in high-traffic areas, they are spacious, open, and clean with merchandise professionally displayed.
This gives the customer a sense of quality when they enter a store. Technology selection with the use of state of the art eye examination and optical lab equipment allows customers to receive quality career and lenses without typical waiting periods. Lancaster focus on quality management gives the company the confidence to offer a no excuses, no explanations 30-Day Unconditional Guarantee which allows the customer to get a placement or refund if they are not satisfied with their glasses.
With resource and capacity management Lancaster have to ensure that there stores have adequate labor, equipment, and materials in order to fulfill their one hour promise to deliver eyeglasses. Process design is tied into the choice of technology that Lancaster utilizes as far as the equipment along with the quality of the materials, frames, and lenses used to produce eyeglasses and contact lenses. Service encounter design refers to having a highly trained and professional staff to create quality aware and meet the individual needs of ACH customer.
With Lancaster, sustainability is the company’s ability to successfully duplicate its design concept in a market filled with discount retailers offering similar services. Perhaps the most serious operation management challenge faced by Lancaster is economic sustainability due to competition from low cost chains and retailers. Optical chains such as America’s Best Eyeglasses and Contacts offer discounted contact lenses and two pairs of eyeglasses with an eye exam for $69. 99 (h http://www. Americanizes. Com/shop/default. Asp? K=Branched+Broadsheet & tm_so =278).
Discount retailer like Wall-Mart have also opened their own vision centers which offer customers everyday low prices while accepting many types of vision insurance (http://www. Walter. Com/cap/1078944). One way of confronting this challenge would be for Lancaster to offer alternatives to their one hour service time for customers who are willing to wait longer periods for their glasses. This would reduce the cost to the customer without sacrificing quality. Another operation management challenge facing Lancaster is process design and utilization of technology.
With the use of so many high-tech machines and equipment used to produce eyeglasses and contact lenses, cost of this technology is definitely a concern for the company. With all locations using this technology to provide one hour service to customers the company has to ensure that the equipment and machinery is being properly utilized. One way of confronting this challenge is by only offering one hour service at specific Lancaster locations. This would free up valuable resources which would allow the company to invest in other areas to help manage sustainability. 3.
Examine Lancaster value chain and evaluate its effectiveness to operations in terms of laity, value creation, and customer satisfaction. With regards to the quality of Lancaster value chain the company is very effective in delivering high quality products to their customers through the use of quality materials, innovative technology, and a highly trained and professional staff. Lancaster value creation process starts with providing quality career for their customers through eye examinations to detect any vision problems customer currently have or are at risk of developing.
It continues with using the information gather from the eye examination to make glasses, contact lenses, or ungulates for the customer based on the results. This involves helping the customer choose a suitable frame and features for their aware. Then highly trained staff utilize the optical lab to make the customer’s aware to their individual specifications. Finally, upon completion of the aware the customer is fitted to ensure quality and satisfaction. Lancaster provide customer satisfaction by offering a customer benefits package that sets the industry standards.
First, customers receive all their career services on-site using the most advanced technology in the business. Second, professional and highly rained staff assist customers to meet their individual needs. Third, a state of the art lab provides the technology to provide customers with their aware in about one hour. Finally, Lancaster offers customers a 30-Day Unconditional Guarantee to have their aware replaced or refunded with no questions or explanations. 4. Determine the different types of performance measurements that can be used to measure Lancaster service-delivery system design.
Select at least two (2) types that can be applied and provide justifications for the selection. The types of performance measurements that can be used to measure Lancaster service-delivery system design are customer and market, quality, time, flexibility, and innovation and learning. One performance measure I would apply to Lancaster is customer and market. Since Lancaster is highly focused on customer satisfaction and they spend so much time and money on ensuring customer satisfaction, this would be a good way to measure how good a job their customers think they are doing.
Another performance measure I would apply to Lancaster is time. Since one of the company’s major selling points is a wait time of about an hour I think that this would be a good measure to see owe often they actually deliver on that promise. This would be a good indicator on if the company is achieving its vision which is at the core of their success. 5. Examine the different types of technologies applied to Lancaster service operations and evaluate how the technologies strengthen the value chain.
Lancaster uses both hard and soft technology in their service operations however, they mostly apply hard technology in the way of manufacturing. Lancaster uses highly specialized equipment and machinery to perform eye examinations and make lenses. These technologies strengthen the value chain y allowing Lancaster to offer one hour service to their customers. This technology creates a setting where the customer can watch their eyeglasses being made which makes the customer feel like they are a part of the actual process adding overall value and satisfaction.
Lancaster uses soft technology in their computer software and information systems to control the flow of information in the form of prescriptions, billing and storage of customer data. This technology strengthens the value chain by ensuring that customers receive the correct products, are billed correctly, and it helps to facilitate returns and placements that are crucial with Lancaster 30-Day Unconditional Guarantee with no excuses or explanations.
