Eyeing the potential to streamline and shave up to two weeks off the time needed to execute equipment installations, Dublin, Ohio-based Wendy's International is using an online project management system from Expesite to manage the replacement of grills in all 6,100 of its company-owned and franchised stores.
The system connects Wendy's store managers, district supervisors, engineers and facilities management personnel. It permits them to share in digital form among themselves and with equipment vendors and certified installers such information as the availability of new grills and the parameters that might govern the selection of one approved model over another. All interested parties using the software are notified of important updates and role-relevant developments via e-mail or other means.
Wendy's intent in deploying the Web-based system was to avoid many of the problems operators typically encounter during major equipment rollouts, according to Dave Smith, the chain's manager of engineering development systems. Among such problems have been delivery delays caused by inaccurate or missing kitchen configuration data and operational interruptions stemming from ill-timed deliveries.
"We also wanted to ensure that our grill manufacturer would produce enough units to allow the installs to proceed smoothly, rather than too few or too many," Smith reported. Cost savings was not a factor, Wendy's sources indicated.
Smith said partnering with Columbus, Ohio-based Expesite in this case made sense for Wendy's because the company had worked with that vendor on other projects since 2001 and could leverage the learning curve from those endeavors. The chain also employs Expesite's online system to manage its new store construction and store remodeling initiatives. In this capacity, Smith explained, the application serves as a central repository for everything from blueprints and planograms to menu board specifications and photographs. Through a partnership between Expesite and research firm Claritas Inc., another component of the system assists Wendy's in identifying new store sites in tandem with market research and demographic data gathered by the latter organization.
Smith described the grill install application as a hub through which all activity pertaining to equipment replacement is documented and rendered accessible in real time. "Essentially, we're talking about Web-based collaboration," he said.
Wendy's use of the system starts with its team of about 30 certified independent installers, who survey each store to see what model of grill and style of vent hood best suits it based on a written checklist devised by the operator. On returning to their offices, installers log on to a password-protected website and key in the data they have collected. The system automatically builds an order for the appropriate equipment, which then can be viewed online by the vendor involved as well as by that vendor's ancillary suppliers. Eleven vendors — seven grill and four ancillary — presently have access to the system.
Once a vendor has indicated that an order is complete, that information is logged into the application. A team of scheduling coordinators uses such data to slot in installs. Store and regional managers, as well as Wendy's facilities and engineering personnel, tap into the system to track equipment order status and scheduled installation dates, as well as to keep informed of any problems. Installers also update the status of individual jobs as they're completed.
To date, Wendy's has utilized the application to handle grill installs at 2,800 sites, with additional stores coming online regularly as the operator works toward an unspecified completion date. Expesite representatives said all of the company's modules are available to Wendy's for "a few thousand dollars chainwide, per month"; adding the software tools to handle the grill installation management process cost an additional one-time fee running "somewhere in the low four figures," the representatives added.
Smith said the system indeed has reduced the interval between the time that grills and related equipment is ordered and the time they're installed by up to two weeks. Access to the central data repository enables manufacturers to plan production runs in accordance with individual stores' needs. It also permits installers and Wendy's scheduling coordinators in each region to formulate schedules more efficiently, with the knowledge that equipment requisitioned for a given store is really ready to be deployed there.
"Having all of our information in one place and everyone on the same page has really minimized aborted installs, too," Smith observed. "Stores aren't receiving the wrong equipment at the wrong time — like in the middle of the lunch rush on a day they weren't prepared for it — or waiting in vain for it or the installer to arrive on a certain day. And there isn't any finger-pointing or a lot of 'he said/she said'-type debates."
He added that the application also makes it easier for store managers to schedule employee training on the new equipment. "Knowing what's going to happen [and] when, means training doesn't happen too far in advance or at the last minute," he asserted.
Smith conceded that Wendy's did, despite its previous experience with Expesite, need to provide additional end-user training centered on this particular project management module. Although the system is menu-driven, many installers were not accustomed to specifying equipment in automated fashion. Store and regional managers also requested assistance in learning the ropes. The vendor conducted hands-on, in-store training sessions for these installers and Wendy's personnel alike.
Wendy's also experimented with the concept of outfitting installers with hand-held units for entering orders, job progress updates and other information into the system but ultimately opted against doing so. "Frankly," Smith said, "we were worried about such intricate data getting lost if it wasn't written down. And the installers themselves told us they preferred the clipboard method," wherein data are recorded manually and keyed into the system via the Expesite website at the end of each day
Expesite officials said bakery-café chain Tim Hortons, which already employs the collaborative tool to manage new store construction, is considering following Wendy's lead in putting it to use for equipment rollouts.
