Operations Management: Arnold Palmer Hospital and Hard Rock Cafe

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Introduction

Operations in Hard Rock Café and Arnold Palmer Hospital are “the activities performed repetitively to create value in products and services by transforming inputs into outputs.” This paper seeks to compare the operations management practices of Arnold Palmer Hospital and those of Hard Rock Café.

This paper seeks to carry out an analysis of the two organizations with the main theoretical concepts of operations management. Hard Rock café has an international presence in approximately forty different countries with about a hundred and ten outlets.

Operation process

In terms of operations management, Arnold Palmer Hospital is one of the largest hospitals in terms of capacity in the United States. The hospital cares for women and children and is equipped with about four hundred and thirty beds in two major facilities. The hospital covers about 676 thousand square feet in downtown Orlando, Florida.

The hospital has employed over two thousand staff and serves entire central Florida. The hospital offers a wide range of medical services. The hospital has a history of caring for risky pregnancies and maternal intensive care to patients from all parts of the United States. The new facility of Arnold Palmer Hospital is designed with a circular layout.

This layout is unique and gives the hospital a maximally efficient layout. The layout provides a patient focused surrounding to offer effective services to patients (Aloysius 2011, p.17).

APH is a level one trauma hospital and a regional leader in specialized baby treatment. Being a regional leader, the massive facility accommodates a lot of expectant mothers and consequently, a lot of babies are born in the facility. The hospital’s intentions are to hire and maintain a dedicated and sincere staff offering the highest quality care.

The staff ensures there is a patient focused flow and function; this is one of the guiding principles (Schilling 2008, p.76). Arnold Palmer Hospital has managed to improve the service levels of its patients. This has been packaged with reduced costs of operations. The hospital has enhanced innovation and has employed the latest technologies in its facilities.

Arnold Palmer has managed to further reduce the operational costs by redesigning the procedures and by use of technological applications. Among this was the project of building a multiyear project for the new facility which was successfully achieved. This was a development from preceding years when Arnold Palmer used to operate in one facility.

The design and construction of the new center have indeed improved the strength of Arnold Palmer’s supply chain. The hospital has benefited from economies of labor sharing and capital investment; some of the physicians serve in both facilities although more support staff had to be hired.

The expansion strategy also turned out to be effective in terms of additional expenses. In addition, Arnold Palmer Hospital initiated a project with the intention of cutting down operational expenses. Arnold Palmer Hospital has also established a plan to advance the efficiency of its support staff; this is aimed at giving patients unique services when they are waiting for services from the doctors.

This plan ensures that patients are comfortable and are not suffering from any pain. The hospital has established a file management staff to ensure there is improved management of patient’s information (Schilling 2008,p.188).

Comparatively, Hard Rock Cafe provides unparalleled services which are reasonably priced to its clients. Unparalleled services include the delivery of quality service. For instance, the immortal rock and roll music identifies Hard Rock as a unique organization (Martin 1992,p.78).

The music is played with an exceptional level of sensibility. Hard Rock Café has a reputation and a history of being successful in the music industry. The notion of an American dinner started in England and has then become a lifestyle (Heizer and Render 2005, p.45).

The development strategy for the organization started in 1982 when Hard Rock Café decided to come up with its own outlets internationally. Hard Rock outlets were established in various parts of the United States including Boston, Chicago, Los Angeles, San Francisco, New York, Chicago, Washington, Dallas, and in Orlando Florida. In 1988, Hard Rock Café t relocated its headquarters to Orlando, Florida.

Other outlets were established in France and Germany at Paris and Berlin respectively. The pioneers of the organization ultimately sold its interests in Hard Rock UK to Mecca Leisure. This was later purchased by The Rank Group which continued expanding the organization in the UK. Later, it acquired the American and Canadian branches to strengthen its global presence.

Presently, the organization is significantly established with approximately 138 outlets in over 42 nations in the world. Hard Rock Café is currently a well felt global brand and has established its brand in Asia including China and Malaysia in Shanghai, and Kuala Lumpur respectively (Hal Corp 2010, p.12).

Comparing Operations Management Strategies of the Two Organizations

In Arnold Palmer Hospital and at Hard Rock Café end customers are people. The only difference is the nature of services sought from the two organizations. In Arnold Palmer Hospital, people seek to get medical care which is a necessity; at Hard Rock Café, people seek to get hospitality and entertainment services.

The hospital fits in a unique group of six hospitals in the US which specialize in children and women. Due to its unique services and specialized treatments, the hospital has earned a reputation of being one of the best among the six.

Hard Rock Café benefits from international brand recognition due to its versatile operation management strategy. The company has derived a lot of success due to its reputation for quality ( Barrows and Powers 2008, p.16). Hard Rock Café stands for quality in production and through superior product design. Product design is based on the euphoria that revolutionized the world about thirty years ago.

By mentioning Hard Rock, customers able to associate it with Rock ‘n’ Roll and its fans get extremely excited (Martin 1992, p.3). The organizations headquarter in Orlando employs approximately four hundred employees. More than 3500 meals are served daily; the outlet’s menu is modified occasionally due to changes in market trends and consumer’s preferences.

Arnold Palmer Hospital receives patients from all over the fifty states in the US. The hospital has also admitted and cared for international patients from over a hundred countries. Surveys indicate that the hospital has achieved patient satisfaction scores to be ranked among the top 10% of the best hospitals in the US. Ninety-five percent of patients would recommend others to Arnold Palmer Hospital.

One of the main tasks handled by the hospital is the delivery of babies. Initially, the hospital was constructed with 281 beds and an annual capacity of about six thousand births. The population of the locals was rising steadily and the hospital was serving both local and international patients. In essence, the hospital needed to expand to cater for its developing market. However, the expansion achieved an annual capacity of over ten thousand births.

The expansion plan included eleven story building opposite the main facility. Expansion strategy was one of the most successful achievements made by the hospitals’ operations management. A team was established with a mandate to study all the boundary conditions surrounding the expansion plan. To come up with an implementation plan, various factors were assessed.

Some of these factors included the specific forecasts, services to be retained in the original facility and services to be transferred to the new facility. Other important factors included staff requirements, machines and equipment requirements, accounts and legal requirements.

The budget was estimated at $100 million and the project was to be implemented in stages. Ultimately, the hospital managed to achieve a facility that can handle an annual birth of 13500 babies.

The ultimate objective of the hospital is to offer high quality and special services to its patients. The hospital has established an all inclusive and technical way of getting feed back from patients. The patients are given an opportunity to judge the services offered by the company. The most distinguishable feature of the hospital is its ability to satisfy its patients.

The hospital values the views of its patients and their families; this information is used to strategize improvement plans. The hospital allows its workers to reward any patient (about $200) who complains about any form of dissatisfaction from the hospital’s services. The hospital offers high quality and clean food to its patients; other services include good responsiveness and courtesy.

Quality Management

The quality of services at Arnold Palmer Hospital is the biggest source of pride for the hospital. The management team is also a major contributor to the good reputation of the hospital. The hospital currently faces a high number of patients visiting the hospital. Quality in management could is enhanced by increasing the number of staff per patients requirements (Ajami and Marca 2007,p.2).

The hospital’s staff undergoes periodic training to improve their skills. The hospital is considered one of the best centers for traumatic cases; the hospital’s staff is trained occasionally to improve its skills in dealing with traumatic cases (Heizer and Render 2005, p.67).

The ultimate objective of the hospital is to offer high quality and special services to its patients. The hospital has established an all-inclusive and technical way of getting feed back from patients. The patients are given an opportunity to judge the services offered by the company.

The most distinguishable feature of the hospital is its ability to satisfy its patients. The hospital values the views of its patients and their families; this information is used to strategize improvement plans.

The hospital allows its workers to reward any patient (about $200) who complains about any form of dissatisfaction from the hospital’s services. The hospital offers high quality and clean food to its patients; other services include good responsiveness and courtesy.

The hospital has adopted a technique dubbed “just in time.” Medicines are given at nurses’ quarters using dispensing equipment. This machine monitors the patient’s utilization and after related charge of every patient.

Relatively, the staff at Hard Rock is composed of Rock ‘n’ Roll enthusiasts; it has an exceptional understanding of music. This improves their relationship with their clients; the clientele can identify with the company’s employees.

Employees undergo periodic training to enhance their engaging personalities. The organization’s motto of loving all and serving all ensures all customers are given the necessary courtesy.

Hard Rock Café is not an ordinary food joint; it prides itself for specialized services and unique high-quality offerings ( Barrows and Powers 2008,p.6).

Operations Strategy

Both Arnold Palmer Hospital and Hard Rock Café apply logical decision-making tools plan for their operations. Both Arnold Palmer Hospital expanded its facility to handle more patients and to cater for the increased demand of its services.

The hospital has also bought and installed new automatic equipment in its new facilities. The hospital’s major assets are its human resource and the hospital equipment. The hospital has an opportunity of lowering the costs of its services by improving the operations strategies.

A lot of operation strategies have changed since Hard Rock established its operations in UK. The company has applied global expansion strategies to cover more than forty nations. Major employees at Hard Rock Cafe include chefs, hostesses, waitresses and bartenders.

The organization is constantly increasing its live music business and is improving its outlets to keep in pace with the dynamic preferences and tastes of customers. Hard Rock earned the title of the best in collecting and showing rock ’n’ roll memorabilia.

Hard Rock earned this championship after Eric Clapton hung his guitar on Hard Rock’s wall. The organization has accumulated over a thousand pieces with an estimated market value of 40 million USD. At present, Hard Rock maintains a website on which over 100 thousand hits are recorded every week.

As part of its operation strategies, Hard Rock Café operates a weekly television program to update, inform and entertain its fans (Hard Rock 1998,p.1).

SWOT Analysis

Hard Rock Café

Strengths: the organization has a reputation of producing high quality products. Products are prepared in London in a unique, conventional and English style.

Weaknesses: the organization sells high priced products that can only be afforded by financially capable individuals. This has reduced the scope of the market for the organization’s products.

Opportunities: the organization produces unique products and offers unique services. The services offered by the organization are not available elsewhere; this is a good opportunity for the company.

Threats: negative developments, changes and trends in the music industry may affect the market already dominated by the organization.

Arnold Palmer Hospital

Strengths: the hospital is widely acknowledged for its high quality medical care. The hospital is well equipped with powerful equipments and talented doctors and support staff. The success of the expansion plan was marked by the eventful completion of the new facility; this has strengthened the hospital.

Weaknesses: the hospital experiences a high turnover of staff; this affects the provision of medical services. Sometimes, the hospital suffers from inadequate funding; this is worsened by poor economic conditions.

Opportunities: the hospital’s new facility has added more opportunities since the hospital is able to handle more patients. Conducive working environment and availability of committed staff enable the hospital to perform well nationally.

Threats: financial challenges threaten operations at Arnold Palmer Hospital.

Forecasting at Arnold Palmer Hospital and Hard Rock Café

The contemporary world of business has experienced an advent of Information Technology (IT); this has drastically transformed the global business arena. Both organizations have success accounts attributed to the adoption and implementation of IT technologies.

IT technology emphasizes on automation of processes and procedures that were traditionally performed manually. One of the most outstanding elements that have accelerated to the growth of Arnold Palmer Hospital is its forecasting competence.

It is now possible to predict failure or success in operations at the hospital facility. The hospital has employed experts who are responsible for optimizing all procedures in the hospital. The team of experts is responsible for the implementation of forecasting techniques to get rid of drudgery on the hospital’s floor.

The experts assist the hospital staff to utilize IT technologies to optimize their file storage capacities in IT systems. The IT system captures most of the information, stores it and retrieves it for forecasting purposes.

The captured information is analyzed using statistical tools and predictions can easily be made about the future or the expectations of the hospital ( Byers 2004, p.13).

Comparatively, Hard Rock uses ‘Point of Sales Terminals’ (POS) established at all its outlets. In Hard rock Café, forecasting is employed by several means; first, a considerable number of transactions are detected and stored by the POS machines in all the organization’s outlets.

Information detected and stored in POS is assessed to ascertain its application and to project the sales for the upcoming periods. Forecasting is employed in managers’ assessment; this is achieved by studying the amount of sales in outlets under the jurisdiction of the specific managers.

The performance of specific managers can be easily detected; top performers are rewarded accordingly. The method is used by the top managers to make informed decisions about the performance of Hard Rock Café.

Operations and Productivity

Both organizations exhibit a high degree of performance; this implies their operations have important effects on day to day, short term and long term performance. Arnold Palmer Hospital is operated under one brand and offers its services to women and children.

The hospital enjoys economies of scale and scope with improved marketing benefits. The hospital has adopted IT technologies and improved hospital designs (Heizer and Render 2005, p.76).

APH can improve its operation process by use of hospital operation software that is able to maintain an effective hospital database.

Volume and variety affect the hospital due to occasional occurrences like accidents; the hospital is forced to handle a lot of casualties unexpectedly. However, there are customized services and facilities for handling multiple fatalities.

Location strategy

Hard Rock café enjoys a good international presence in about forty nations with over a hundred and ten outlets. The company uses inventory management methods to keep a wide and high priced collection of rock ‘n’ roll memorabilia. Both organizations have benefits of location; they have a customer focused strategy.

The hospital is located at Orlando, Florida in a 431 beds capacity in two facilities. The hospital employs approximately two thousand workers. The hospital is only level one trauma facility in Florida (Barrows and Powers 2008,p.86).

Layout strategy

Hard Rock Company uses the layout planning methods to create the inside of its outlets. The company emphasizes on the retail outlook of every outlets; this where the company generates most of its income.

Hard Rock Company is able to collect data using the POS machines. This data is evaluated using statistical tools to determine how resources should be distributed.

The new facility of Arnold Palmer Hospital is designed with a circular layout. This layout is unique and gives the hospital a maximally efficient layout. The layout provides a patient focused surrounding to offer effective services to patients.

The traditional layout was highly ineffective; the nurses spent most of their time trekking to the hospital facility. The current design includes a nursing quarters at the middle of a ten bed round pod. All patients’ rooms are within fourteen feet from the center of the pod.

The neonatal rooms have also been redesigned to improve the comfort. The new layout consists of semiprivate rooms which are very quiet. A good layout design is imperative for a successful patients’ care (Aloysius 2011, p.15).

Inventory management

Arnold Palmer Hospital inspects its equipment and facilities two times annually. In comparison, Hard Rock Café is able to benefit from quantity discounts when customers purchase goods in bulk. The hospital has adopted a technique dubbed “just in time.”

In the hospital, medicines are given at nurses’ quarters using dispensing equipment. This machine monitors the patient’s utilization and after the related charge of every patient. The drugs’ dispensing equipment is refilled every night depending on the demand and instructions given by doctors (Aloysius 2011,p.188).

The Just in Time strategy has also been employed in the section of custom surgical packs. These are sterilized covers, throwaway plastic trays and gauzes; these are specified in every operational procedure.

The JIT technique is used to deliver and to pack the packs. This implies that they are packed in converse order. The packs are also huge in size, costly and must be kept sterilized. Decreasing the inventory and handling while keeping them clean from infection is a huge challenge to the hospital.

Hard Rock uses inventory management practices in keeping a wide and a costly collection of rock and roll memorabilia (Hard Rock 1998,p.25). Various methods of inventory scheduling and management are applied to establish the best possible amount of food to keep at the stores.

By using such techniques, the organization is able to take advantage of quantity discounts and the purchased products shelf lives (Ajami and Marca 2007,p.32).

Conclusion

After looking at the operations of Hard Rock and Arnold Palmer Hospital, it is evident that the operations management procedures have an important effect on every day, temporary and permanent operations and scheduling of both organizations.

The managers in charge of operations at both organizations employed logical decision-making tools to choose, the locations of the organizations both qualitatively and quantitatively. Both HRC and APH have a production feature and a service feature in their operations.

Both organizations offer specialized services; APH targets women and children, HRC targets rock fanatics. Both are successful organizations with unique offerings; HRC is a global market leader while APH is a regional market leader.

I have learned that offering unique products and services distinguishes an organization and contributes to its success. APH receives patients from outside its locality; I would suggest the hospital to consider expanding nationally.

References

Ajami, R & Marca , M 2007, The Global Enterprise: Entrepreneurship and Value Creation, Routledge Press. London, UK.

Aloysius, S E 2011, Arnold Palmer Hospital for Children, Commun, Orlando, FL.

Barrows, C & Powers, T 2008, Introduction to the Hospitality Industry, John Wiley & Sons, Hoboken, NJ.

Byers, J F 2004, Patient Safety: Principles and Practice, Springer Publishing Company, New York.

Heizer, J & Render, B 2005, Operations management, Pearson/Prentice Hall, New York.

Hal. Corp. 2010, Hard Rock: Boss Eband Guitar Play-Along, Hal Leonard Publishing Corporation, London, UK.

Hard Rock 1997, Hard Rock Cafe: Marketing Research Study, Brigham Young University, Marriott School of Management, Brigham.

Hard Rock 1998, November 18, Hard Rock Cafe Cranks Up the Volume By Launching Its Music-Oriented Internet Site, .

Martin, R 1992, March 16, Hard Rock Hits Planet Hollywood with Copycat Suit, Nation’s Restaurant News, pp. 1-3.

Schilling, L 2008, Implementing and Sustaining Improvement in Health Care, Joint Commission Resources, Washington, DC.

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