6/18/2012

企業如何達成分析決策的方法:DELTA

本書 (1) 延續前一本書 Competing on Analytics,說明如何達成該目標的五個步驟,分別為

Data: The prerequisite for everthing analytical 
Enterprise: Integrting across organizational silos 
Leadership: The deciding DELTA factor
Targets: Picking your spots for analytics
Analysis: Managing Scarce and valuable talent

第一章根據 Competing on Analytics 中的架構,將企業使用分析能力的狀況分成五個階層,分別為

Analytically impaired
Localized analytics
Analytical aspirations
Analytical companies
Analytical competitors

附錄中的 2 頁表格針對如何進階到高一階層的工作,分別說明 DELTA 中必須準備的事項。

書的第二部份則是說明如何維持該狀態,分別為

Embed analytics in business processes
Build an analytical culture
Review your business comprehensively
Meeting challenges along the way
Toward more analytical decisions and better results

達成的關鍵?

The key challenges are no longer technological or analytical; they have more to do with simply making managers familiar with the concepts and the process. (2) 

(1) T.H. Davenport, J.G. Harris, and R. Morison, Analytics at Work: Smarter Decisions, Better Results, Harvard Business Press, 2010.

(2) T.H. Davenport, How to Design Smart Business Experiment, Harvard Business Review, 2009.

6/12/2012

餐廳 1010 湘的服務系統

天下雜誌報導瓦城泰統的內部餐點管理 (1),可惜我們無從接觸;不過,其服務系統有很大的改善空間。 

我們用餐的地點是新光三越西門店 (2),四個人點四道菜,1500 元左右 (3)。

首先,其位置的安排太近,所以桌距小。不知道是不是這個因素,導致服務生從我們的左邊上菜。根據打工學生的描述,這並不是標準的作法。況且,餐桌旁的走廊一直有服務生站著,所以應該有時間從正確的位置送菜。


第一道的青菜很快就到了,但是第二道卻等很久,只好玩起假裝夾菜的遊戲。中餐要配飯,所以時間間隔很重要。正如 Bill Darden 所說的 "not everybody's a gourmet, but everybody can tell time."。解決的方法之一 (Meal Pacing) 見此 (4)。

第三道上菜時,太太正在夾菜,服務生沒有任何的表示,例如等一下或者說對不起,就直接從手的上方放下菜來。

(1) 2011-11 天下雜誌 484期,科技業寒冬 賣漢堡比賣電腦賺,『以瓦城泰統旗下餐廳為例,流程、管理已經落實到每個環節,可以快速複製、成長。辣炒牛肉的牛小排要剁多細、一道孜然排骨要透過 100 多道標準化程序,讓每位廚師都烹調出同一味。瓦城泰統董事長徐承義說,公司早期開始就詳細規範,訂定 KPI,21 年後終於可以快速複製菜色、有展店的爆發力。』

(2) 我對美食沒有研究,因此只將食物分成三等級 -- 好吃、普通、不好吃。1010 湘屬於好吃。

(3) 我們吃得少,到王品集團的陶板屋或原燒也是差不多這個金額。但是,王品集團都沒有看到這些問題。另外,根據在百貨公司設櫃的親戚說明,百貨公司會抽取 3 成營業額當管理費;王品集團則是租店,連鎖店也多;所以兩者成本不太一樣。 

(4) 該文章並沒有說明其詳細的內容。不過,基本的問題是在眾多的限制下 (例如先到先服務、出菜間隔),決定眾多訂單的順序,以最小化顧客的平均等待時間;屬於生管的多機排程問題,在製造業有許多的類似應用,學術界也有很多的討論和研究。瓦城泰統已經有流程管理,所以可以得知每一道菜的準備和料理時間;用餐的尖峰時間,廚房非常繁忙,所以應由資訊系統 (中的演算法) 來決定準備的順序與間隔。

餐廳集團 Darden Restaurants 的供應鏈管理

CEO Clarence Otis, "We're very analytic"

包括 多品牌的 Darden 集團,2011 年共有 1,894 間餐廳。Fast Company 的報導中,描述其成功的一些方法。

在品牌經營上,瞭解顧客的需求,並且營造出配合該品牌主題的用餐環境。以 Olive Garden 為例

Over the past year, Darden's 22-member customer-insight team invited 16 million customers across its six chains to answer guest-satisfaction questionnaires.

The Olive Garden brand is built around the notion that guests are treated like family, but Pickens knows that isn't likely to happen unless employees feel like family too. 

Pickens starts every meeting with Olive Garden senior executives by reading letters from customers and employees -- a woman's description of her celebration at Olive Garden after having survived cancer; ...

Olive Garden executives began tying everything to this mythical Italian family, adopting the tagline, "When you're here, you're family." New locations were designed to suggest Italian farmhouses, with a large family-style table, modeled on one in a Florentine trattoria. Then executives formed a partnership with actual Italians: Olive Garden's Culinary Institute of Tuscany (CIT)."

在產品開發上,朝向更健康的菜單。

Darden is in the process of altering the Red Lobster recipe -- a big risk -- to serve healthier food and improve sluggish sales.

In March, Men's Health dubbed Red Lobster "the best sit-down chain in America." When a magazine devoted to fitness sings the praises of a restaurant that has been known for all-you-can-eat fried shrimp, things are moving in the right direction.

Darden has been experimenting with what COO Madsen calls "stealth health" since it opened the first Seasons 52 in 2003. With 60 wines by the glass, entrées with no more than 475 calories, and desserts so mini they're served in shot glasses, ...

海鮮的供應問題,重視環保和加拿大政府合作孵育龍蝦

Even before scientists predicted in 2006 that world fish stocks could collapse by 2048, Darden had begun removing endangered wild fish, such as Chilean sea bass and orange roughy, from its menus and using its clout as one of the world's largest buyers to push the industry toward sustainability. To promote fish farming and to set standards to minimize its environmental impact, Darden cofounded the Global Aquaculture Alliance, a nonprofit trade association that partners with governments and NGOs.

The North American lobster harvest fluctuates every year, but demand continues to grow. So two years ago, Darden began sponsoring an experiment to boost the population. Scientists working with the government of New Brunswick, in Canada, catch pregnant lobsters and care for their offspring until they're mature enough to burrow into the ocean's sandy bottom, then release the tiny animals into the wild. Then Darden waits and hopes -- for six years or more. 

還有集中採購,和數字化的管理

These days, Roger Bing, vice president of seafood purchasing, and his team travel the globe buying seafood -- again without brokers -- in more than 32 countries, often contracting with fish farms for set yield at a set price.

It is studying Wal-Mart to "understand the components of cost" with its vendors and become a better and more informed negotiator, says senior vice president Barry Moullet, whose group purchases $2.4 billion of goods a year from 1,500 suppliers. It's hedging wheat purchases, much the way airlines purchase fuel. An automated ordering system will eventually replenish a restaurant based on electronic-tagged inventory and guest-traffic forecasts. 

在顧客的需求預測上,使用自家研發的軟體 Guest Forecasting 以精準預估,可以降低人力和食物成本

Patti Reilly White, 53, chief information officer, leads the 170-person team at Darden that introduces order and predictability to this volatile business.

On a Thursday night in April, Erin Harvell, the culinary manager at the Olive Garden in Wayne, New Jersey, reviews the week's forecasts in a tiny office off the kitchen. They're within 1% to 4% of the actual turnout. The biggest gap -- 630 guests instead of 660 -- was on a rainy night. Guest Forecasting spells out the appropriate staffing and food preparation -- how many fettuccine Alfredo orders to expect, how much sauce to make in the morning. Over the past two years, Darden has reduced unplanned hours by more than 40% and trimmed excess food costs by 10%. 

由於大部份的餐廳不接受訂位 (1),所以分享該地區的餐廳資訊,以便告知排隊的顧客到其他分店用餐

This summer, she's launching another project to share wait times across restaurants so that a hostess can steer customers to nearby Darden establishments that aren't as busy. The next logical step, White says, would be to give customers online access to that information. 

在美國,通常是點個人套餐,然後幾乎一起出菜 (2)。在內部流程管理上,採用 Meal Pacing 以達到此目標 

In the kitchen, cooks are hustling, directed by a program called Meal Pacing that White's team introduced across the company two years ago. Traditionally, an expediter would try to ensure that meals for a given table were ready at the same time so the shrimp entrée didn't sit at the window getting cold while the 14-ounce steak was still on the grill. Meal Pacing displays the optimal work flow for each party on eight screens in the kitchen and monitors each station's progress, with color-coded warnings when one falls behind. The screens also show if the staff is meeting Darden's one-minute rule: Food should arrive at the table within one minute of being ready. 

也使用數字管理食材

Leftover ingredients are refrigerated in day-stamped plastic bags, and anyone using an outdated item is fired on the spot. 

在 CEO 的主導下,子集團間相互學習,以達成綜效

Now Otis is pushing a new tactic: no-holds-barred sharing of information between brands.

On a Tuesday morning in April, the presidents of three of the largest restaurant chains in the country slip into an unmarked white van in Orlando, Florida, and embark on an unprecedented mission -- sharing their latest trade secrets. 

At the last stop on the morning tour, the presidents of Olive Garden, Red Lobster, and LongHorn do what you expect restaurant executives to do: chow down. Over steaks and salads at LongHorn, they talk shop at a back table in the dining room, dissecting things customers don't notice. Red Lobster's faux-wood floor tile, which lasts longer than real wood and is less slippery. Olive Garden's stone exterior, which requires less upkeep than painted wood. LongHorn's layout of food-prep and storage spaces, a small improvement that saves valuable time. 

(1) 接受訂位的優點很多,但是文章中卻沒有說明不接受訂位的原因。

(2) 根據台灣的用餐經驗,點個人套餐時,常常發生其中幾個人已經吃完,卻還是有人的餐點還沒有到。點中式合菜,前一道菜已經吃完,下一道菜卻等很久。

6/06/2012

拖地板

一切都從『好神拖』開始說起。 

因為家中房間是木頭地板,所以家中拖地大都由媽媽負責。

二年前,朋友送了一組『好神拖』給我們,小朋友便開始了他們的做家事生涯。一開始,小三的兒子把它當成玩具玩,總聽得到拖把急速旋轉所產生的漱漱聲;如果有一條布落在旋轉盤之外,則是咚咚作響。

一開始時兩人分工,也就是說,弟弟先掃地、再換姐姐拖地,下週後對調。弟弟年紀小,加上天女散花式的掃地方式,達不到姐姐的要求,兩人總是吵得不可開交。後來改成單人負責,隔週對調;並且加上記錄表,以免因考試週忘記而吵鬧。

有一回,朋友來到家中聊到此事,直說回去一定要買個『好神拖』。

前幾天,媽媽已經預告,暑假期間將由小朋友輪流洗衣服。看來我們要『好命了』。

兒子:安全、家庭、工作是人生的順序 ...

昨晚,小五的兒子正在寫讀書心得的作業 (1)。

兒子:我們有沒有因為天災或其他因素,而必須暫時住在其他的地方,例如旅館?

我:我們很幸運,沒有。如果假設我們要重新油漆家裡,算不算?

兒子:不可以。

於是,兒子摸摸頭,開始聊一些我們之間相處的問題。

我:你的功課還沒有寫完,等你完成我們再聊。

兒子:安全、家庭、工作是人生的順序,所以我們要先處理第二問題,我才有辦法寫功課。

我:誰教你的 ...

兒子:我自己想的。

現在的小孩都在想這些人生的道理?還是功課真的令人頭大?

(1) Lois Lowry, Number the Stars, Laurel Leaf, 1998.

6/02/2012

第三次工業革命

製造的數位化將改變我們的世界 (1)。 

根據設計者的三維圖檔,利用創新的三維列印 (three-dimensional printing) 技術,將層層的物質『列印』出來,以成為三維的實體,例如機械元件、F18 戰鬥機的導風管 (air duct)、GE 的醫療器材、皮膚、食物等等,而且重量輕、成本較低,使得小量多樣的客製化 (mass customization) 生產變得可能 (2)。

文中也探討奈米科技和碳纖維的影響,例如 Formula 1 賽車和 BMW 的車體。另外,為了更貼近市場的需求變化,有些公司開始將生產線從中國搬回母國,Boston Consulting Group 估計 

"in areas such as transport, computers, fabricated metals and machinery, 10-30% of the goods that America now imports from China could be made at home by 2020, boosting American output by $20 billion-55 billion a year." 

此舉也方便設計和製造的緊密結合,例如 MIT 和製藥廠 Novartis 的合作,貨櫃大小的實驗生產線將生產時間從 300 降到 40 小時。如果技術持續地進步,美國生產的太陽能板價格將和中國的價格接近。

除了郭董的富士康外,文中還報導了Miniwiz (小智研發) 的 POLLI-BER -- 『結合回收塑料與廢棄農業物再製而成的新一代回收複合材料』。

對個人和企業的影響?因為三維印表機越來越便宜,將產生個人化的製造革命 (personal manufacturing revolution);例如 All together now 中描述的公司 Quirky 和 Shapeways 一樣,因網路的方便,可利用眾多網友的點子開發新產品,然後利益均分。Peter Weijashausen 說明其影響為

"The first is speed to market: Shapeways had covers for iPads on sale just four days after Apple first launched the device in 2010. Second, the risk of going to market falls to almost zero because entrepreneurs can test ideas before scaling up and tweak the designs in response to feedback from buyers. Some Shapeways products go through 20-30 iterations a year. And third, it becomes possible to produce things that cannot be made in other ways, usually because they are too intricate to be machined."

未來的世界中,機器人將輔助人類更有效地工作;而不變的是研發突破性的材料和提出有創意的商品。

(1) Economist 的專題報導 The third industrial revolution。第二次工業革命是指福特汽車大量製造 (mass production) 的組裝線 (assembly line)。

(2) 客製化的產品,例如助聽器;也可以用來生產產品的備料。

6/01/2012

台灣的博士班學生人數

驚人! 

今周刊 第 775 期報導 國科會「五十七K」補不了教育部大漏洞 
 
(1) 到底台灣一年生產多少博士?根據教育部統計,台灣目前有一六○所大學、一六一○個博士班,在學的博士生人數為三萬四一七八名。二○一○年(九十八學年)博士畢業生人數為三七○五名。而一九九六年的博士班畢業人數僅一○五三名,這十五年來,本土博士大幅成長超過二.五倍(以文法商為主的政大增幅僅七七%)。明明博士已經供過於求了,但今年教育部核可的博士班招生人數更創下七九○○名的歷史新高紀錄。

(2) 台灣為什麼會製造這麼多博士?回溯到○二年,當時政府要發展「兩兆雙星」重點產業,因此教育部針對這四大產業廣設碩、博士班。「兩兆」指的是半導體及影像顯示產業,「雙星」則是生技製藥與數位內容。十年過去了,兩兆產業似乎僅剩下晶圓代工端得上檯面,雙星至今還是載浮載沉,產業聚落無法成形。但這些因應政策大量增生的博士該何去何從? 

經濟學人 (Economist) 也報導國際上類似的問題 Why doing a PhD is often a waste of time 

(1) But universities have discovered that PhD students are cheap, highly motivated and disposable labour. (陳東升教授: 講難聽一點,我們以後可能會被罵,是踩在學生身上,在享受資源。)

(2) One OECD study shows that five years after receiving their degrees, more than 60% of PhDs in Slovakia and more than 45% in Belgium, the Czech Republic, Germany and Spain were still on temporary contracts. Many were postdocs. About one-third of Austria's PhD graduates take jobs unrelated to their degrees. In Germany 13% of all PhD graduates end up in lowly occupations. In the Netherlands the proportion is 21%. ((博士) 阿龍參加的是二○○九年七月在台北舉行的中華電信特考。)

(3) In one study of British PhD graduates, about a third admitted that they were doing their doctorate partly to go on being a student, or put off job hunting. (台灣也是,大學畢業找不到 (好) 工作,就繼續念碩士;碩士畢業找不到 (好) 工作,就繼續念博士。)

(4) One Ivy-League president, asked recently about PhD oversupply, said that if the top universities cut back others will step in to offer them instead. (台灣也是,連頂尖名校的博士班錄取率都已經是 100%,減招的速度還是很慢)

高中和大學學習的比較

王秀槐教授演講的部份內容 

高中學習習慣 (考試導向) 
學習取向:老師、參考書整理好,只負責吸收 
學科學習:理科練習、文科背誦 
閱讀習慣:一本教科書全部背、全部是重點 
英文閱讀:精熟單字、細讀 

大學學習要求 (求知導向)
學習取向:自己搜尋、自己統整
高層次理解:分析、綜合、應用、判斷
閱讀習慣:很多書、掌握要意 (提出問題)
原文書:提綱挈領、掌握要義 (1)

(1) 以我的數學課程 (二上) 管理數學,(二下) 作業研究為例,除了作業外,英文的課文內容各 300 頁。真的有人讀完?當然有!