APPLYING THE LEARNING CURVE THEORY
Applying the Learning Curve Theory The development of any organization is hinged on components such as technology, structure, documents, procedures and human resources. Viable competitive advantage on any given organization is acquired through organizational learning processes. The processes of attending to clients and preparing orders in Mario¶s pizzeria may be evaluated under the learning curve theory. Mario has the task of improving the service to its clients by reducing the waiting time and queue length while maximizing the benefits of the operation. As a conventional individual, Mario wants to improve the operation while maintaining the business. In the food service industry, the crux of the business is portrayed by customer service, the waiters, the cooks and chefs, the kitchen workers, and the quality food itself. During the first phase of the process modification, only the arrangement of tables was changed, ending with 10 tables for four and 8 tables for two. This modification reduced the waiting time from 9 minutes to 5.87 minutes and the average queue length to 2.54. Profits increased and the loss of sales was reduced. The deployment of the workers was not too high, leaving space for attending more clients. Mario was pleased with this modification since no workers lost their jobs and experience was was further conserved inhouse. After the new arrangement of tables, the equipment and technology used during the attending of clients and preparation of food was evaluated. The manual ovens were eliminated and one conveyor oven was purchased. A new system to take orders and transmit them automatically and wirelessly to the kitchen was implemented. These modifications reduced the waiting time to 4.49 minutes, profit increased and the loss of sales reduced.

APPLYING THE LEARNING CURVE THEORY. Mario was pleased with the changes since more customers were visiting the pizzeria and the process was able to handle them. Mario was thinking about growing the operation and the opportunity came when the location next door was available. Mario needed to decide if renting that space and expand the operation or modifying the current layout and add a takeout service.The best option is to rent the space next door. This modification to the businessincreased the capacity by adding seven tables of four and four tables of two, reducedthe waiting time to 3.33 minutes and increased the profit. It also increase the loss of sales but Mario was pleased with the overall result, considering this loss of sale a smallcost of the operation when compared to the opportunity of keeping all the knowledgeand experience of the human resources.The waiting time, queue length, profits, costs and loss sales are the performancemetrics identified during the process. These metrics reflected the impact andeffectiveness of the process modifications. As the modification process wasprogressing, these metrics provided the necessary business performance information todetermine whether the improvement processes was on the right track or not.Through the modification of the service process and store layout of Mario¶spizzeria, the operation was improved and turned into a more profitable one. Knowledge,a critical component for the sustainable competitive of any organization, was protectedduring the process. The human resource remained untouched, assuring the knowledgeand experience acquired through time. The technology used during the process wasimproved, preparing the business for future growth.