The definition of buffering is described as a storage area between stages of an ongoing process or a finished process.
The similarity of how people wait in queues in a service operation and in a manufacturing operation is as follows;
An example of a service operation that requires queuing is the transport service, Airlines for instance; what is similar between a manufacturing operation and this service operation is the storage area (departure), passengers are required to queue for ticket and immigration check and then they wait in the departure hall in order for other required stages of the process to be carried out, which might also lead to favorable decision or likewise. Buffering inventory in this case are,
• Ticket check prior to
• Boarding prior to
• Maintenance check prior to
• Weather report prior to
The block/starve that may occur in this kind of service is the issue of bird-cast, unfavorable weather and so on, and this will lead to changing the time the service is suppose to be rendered.
The slightest differences between manufacturing buffering inventories and service buffering inventories are;
1. Service buffering inventories involves humans, unlike manufacturing operation that involves static entities.
2. In Service operation entities are dependent on the provider. In service operations customer reaction to a situation may be at a disadvantage to the firm’s revenue intake. For example they are two eateries in the same vicinity but the one prefer by the customer is eatery A, so he/she goes to eatery A but because the queue and the time frame of rendering the service in eatery A is not favorable to the customer, he/she changes option due to choice and timing and goes to eatery B. the bottleneck in eatery A is probably the time it takes for the chef to respond to an order and therefore the time it takes to take an order is more shorter to the time to respond to an order.
3. In manufacturing operation buffering inventories are allowed to work independently, whenever a bottleneck occurs between stages it leads to block/starving and the rate of output will be negative to input. For instance a bottling company, stage 1 wash the bottles, stage 2 filling lines…
In most cases it is automated but operators are always required, if by any means a breakdown occurs, stage 2 will be starved to death, and work in that section will be suspended.