BACKGROUND

When we started our work with Koffee Kup, the company had just ended a hectic summer season.  Seasonal peaks had become extremely difficult, as bakeries were already running 24/7 and production still was unable to keep up with demand.  Bakery employees were being asked to work seven days a week with little or no time off, for stretches of twelve to sixteen weeks in a row.  Lack of time off had led to low employee retention, and managers blamed turnover as the cause of poor quality and reduced production. Much of the interest in looking at scheduling was being driven by the need to improve employee work-life balance through predictability of work schedules.  Another challenge was that stale product returns for the fiscal year 2017 climbed to 10% of sales, a number that was unsustainable.  

The team at Koffee Kup asked for our scheduling expertise to solve their high overtime costs on the weekends, and to improve employees' schedules to help with retention. As customers continued to drive demand, Coleman Consulting Group began the analysis of the sales depots’ schedules and performance to understand if any changes could be made with the existing company model.  We analyzed sales and found that most bread is purchased by consumers between Thursday and Sunday, so when the Koffee Kup delivery team was dropping orders on Mondays, the store shelves were indeed empty.  As a result, the bakeries ramped up production and their workers were working long hours on the weekends to fill the grocery shelves on Monday. But in reality, having the freshest products on the shelves for the busiest days should have been the focus. Working a Monday - Friday schedule was more ideal for employees, and would yield happier customers enjoying fresher product.