Concurrent engineering: an application in the hospitality industry

Summary form only given. One of the trends in today´s business environment is that of teams. One system for implementing teams is concurrent engineering. Several methodologies have been developed to utilize and manage concurrent engineering principles in the manufacturing industries. Process value estimation methodology (PVE) allows management to target processes that are ripe for reengineering and prevents cost reduction that decreases value. design for assembly (DFA), is another technique that increases the value of product by optimizing design through cost reduction focusing on the assembly process. Our study attempts to apply the PVE and DFA reengineering methodologies to the restaurant industry. We do this by exploring the product/process methods used in the restaurant industry and their relation to the product/process methods used in manufacturing. Questionnaires were distributed randomly to 150 Alien County restaurants and were to be answered by management respondents only. Although we rejected our hypothesis that the PVE and DFA methodologies are readily transferred to the service industry, it is clear that the reengineering techniques currently adhered to resemble some aspects of both methodologies. This discovery suggests that perhaps the service industry, or the restaurant industry, may want to define its own set of methodologies based on the unique criteria involved in redesigning or creating service-related processes/products