Research Methods and Statistics (Report) Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Research Methods and Statistics (Report) - Essay Example That is, communication must be determined based on the different dimensions that surround this concept, which include, among others, the ability of the disabled individual to communicate through speech and nonverbal communication, as well as understand communication from other people, or as the message is being transmitted to him/her. When the dependent variable is clearly determined and defined-that is, effectively operationalized-the authors will be able to state the generalizability of the results of the study in terms of communication, and specifically in the context of the participants' experiences as individuals with either learning or physical disabilities. 2) While communication is just one facet of the variable engagement level, engagement level as a dependent variable was also not clearly stated in the article. In this particular variable, the measures through which communication was identified as such was not only restrictive, but are also limited or few in scope. Identifying engagement level of the self in terms only of rocking and hand-flicking are simple measures that do not cover the entirety of the measure, 'engagement level in terms of the self.' The article left the reader wondering whether the engagement levels were only identified in the terms reported by the authors, or whether there are other measures that they used to quantify engagement levels, and in effect, establish the quantitative relationship between engagement levels and response vis--vis the participant's immersion to hydrotherapeutic environment. In effect, what this observation demonstrates is that engagement level does not translated to communication only, b ut also an understanding of the activity and corresponding physical action that the individual has given in response to a specific communication prompt. 3) The article reported an increase in the engagement levels of the participants once they have been immersed or exposed to the hydrotherapeutic environment. Although there has been an increase in the engagement levels, three contentions to these findings can be observed. The first contention is that the reported increase in engagement levels are not reliable because of the questionable operationalization of the variables used for the study. Secondly, the study did not also report whether these increase in engagement levels are significant relationships or not. This is a crucial point that must be established in the article, since the increase in engagement levels of the participants will cease to be relevant and important if the reported percentages and increases are not significant in relation to the participants' immersion to the hydrotherapeutic environment. In effect, because the relationship established in the article were not clarified as whether significant or not, the effect and influence of the independent variable from the dependent variables loses its importance, rendering the study and its findings insignificant for the readers. 4) The design of the research study itself should have used a time-series experimental design, comparing the participants' performance during and after the time they have been exposed

Hepatoprotective Effect of Unani Formulation in Rats

Hepatoprotective Effect of Unani Formulation in Rats A study of hepatoprotective effect of unani formulation (Qurs Rewand) in rats. ABSTRACT Aim of study: To evaluate hepatoprotective effect of Unani formulation (Qurs Rewand). Materials and Methods: The study was conducted on adult Wistar albino rats of either sex weighing 150-200 g. Animals were divided into five groups of 6 animals each – I (Plain control), II (Negative control–CCl4 treated group), III (Sylimarin treated group), IV and V (UPF treated groups). Hepatotoxicity was induced by single administration of CCl4 (2ml/ kg I.P., 1:1 in liquid paraffin) in group II, III, IV V on 7th day of treatment. The UPF was administered in a dose of 50 mg/kg and 100 mg/kg, once daily, orally for 7 days in group IV and V respectively. Silymarin was administered orally in the dose of 100 mg/kg body weight, once daily for 7 days in III group and served as standard control. On the 8th day all the animals were sacrificed and the blood was collected. Serum was separated for biochemical estimations. The serum was estimated for ALT, AST, bilirubin, alkaline phosphatase, total protein and TBARS. Histological study of liver was done. Results: The mean serum ALT, AST, bilirubin, alkaline phosphatase, and TBARS were decreased significantly as compared to CCl4 treated group.While total protein was increased significantly as compound with CCl4 treated group. The histological study showed signs of recovery and regeneration in damaged liver cells as compared to CCl4 treated group. Conclusion: The study demonstrated significant hepatoprotective activity of Qurs Rewand (Unani Polyherbal formulation). Key words: Unani Polyherbal formulation, carbon tetrachloride, hepatoprotective activity and Silymarin Introduction Qurs-e-Rewand is a Unani polyherbal preparation (Table-1)[1] frequently prescribed by the physicians of Unani medicine in the management of liver diseases such as infective and other hepatitis.[2,3,4] Rubia cordifolia Linn (Rubiaceae) and Agrimonia eupatoria Linn. (Rosaceae) have been scientifically evaluated for their hepatoprotective effect[5], but the compound as a whole has not been studied for its described properties. Therefore present study has been undertaken to investigate its hepatoprotective effect against CCl4 induced hepatotoxicity in albino rats. The damage produced by CCl4 is described to be similar to the pathological changes seen in infective hepatitis and in many other liver diseases.[6] The liver function test was used to assess the extent of liver damage and the protection induced by the test drug. Since CCl ­Ã‚ ­Ã‚ ­Ã‚ ­4 is reported to damage the hepatocytes mainly by inducing lipid peroxidation, therefore thiobarbituric acid reactive substance (TBARS) test wa s employed to study the antioxidant property of the test drug with a view to underline its mechanism of action.[7] Silymarin (100 mg / kg) was used as the standard hepatoprotective agent to confirm the integrity of the test system and also to compare the efficacy of the test drug as, it has been used in the treatment of chronic or acute liver disease, as well as protecting the liver against toxicity.8] The hepatoprotective properties of Silymarin have been related to the inhibition of lipid peroxides formation or scavenging of free radicals.[9] Histological study was conducted to observe the structural status of cell matrix liver. Materials and Methods The study was conducted in the Department of Ilmul Advia, Ajmal Khan Tibbiya College, AMU in collaboration with the Departments of Pharmacology and Pathology, Jawaharlal Nehru Medical College, AMU, Aligarh, after obtaining permission from Institutional Ethics Committee. Test drug procurement and identification: All the ingredients of UPF were procured from Dawakhana, Tibbiya College, AMU, Aligarh and were identified by comparison for its macroscopic and microscopic characters with authentic specimens of above mentioned at Department of Ilmul Advia, Ajmal Khan Tibya College, A.M.U. Aligarh, U.P. India.(Voucher specimen No. are given below). Botanical NameVoucher specimen No. Rheum emodi Wall Sc-0098/09 Rubia cordifolia Linn Sc-0097/09 Creteria lacca Sc-0096/09 Apium graveolens Linn Sc-0095/09 Feoniculum vulgare Mill Sc-0094/09 Agrimonia eupatoria Linn Sc-0093/09 Preparation of extract: All the ingredients (Table 1) were coarsely powdered before subjection to extraction. The hydro-alcoholic extract of all the ingredients was prepared using by Soxhlet apparatus, in which they were continuously extracted for 6 hours. The extract was filtered by Whatman No. 1 filter paper and evaporated on water bath at 40 600C until it dried completely. The prepared extract was stored in the refrigerator for further use. The dose of the test compound formulation for albino rats were calculated by multiplying its clinical doses described in Unani literature with conversion factor 7.[10] Drugs and Chemicals CCl4, n-butanol, acetic acid (Thomas Baker Pvt. Limtd. Mumbai), sodium dodecyle sulphate, thiobarbituric acid (Otto Kemi Mumbai), 1, 1, 3, 3-tetraethoxypropane (Sigma USA), Silymarin (Sigma-Aldrich, Germany), Folin’s reagent (CDH, Mumbai), AST, ALT, Billirubin, Alk.Phos. and Total Protein estimation kits (Span Diagnostic Ltd, Surat). Animals Thirty Wistar albino rats of either sex, weighing 150-200 g were divided into five groups of 6 animals each. The animals were kept under standard laboratory conditions. Commercial diet pellets and water were given ad libitum. The room temperature was maintained at 25  ± 10 C. Treatments Group I (Plain Control): Distilled water orally in the dose of 1ml /kg, daily for 8 days. Group II (Negative Control): Distilled water orally in the dose of 1ml /kg, daily for 7 days. Group III (Standard): Silymarin in dose of 100 mg / kg daily for 7 days. Group IV V (Test Groups): Extract of Qurs-e-Rewand in the dose of 50 mg/kg and 100 mg/kg respectively suspended in distilled water daily for 7 days. On the 7th day the animals of all groups except those in group I were administered carbon tetrachloride i.p. along with their routine treatment and 24 hours later (on 8th day) all the animals including in group I were sacrificed.[11] Collection of Samples The blood was collected and was kept for 30 minutes without disturbing. The serum was separated by centrifugation for 15-20 minutes at 5000 rpm. The sera of each animal of all groups were estimated for, ALT AST [12], bilirubin[13], alkaline phosphatase[14], total protein[15] and TBARS[16], which are index of lipid peroxides.[17] Histological Examination The liver of rats of all groups was removed immediately and fixed in 10% formalin.[18] The tissue was processed and sections were cut. The slides were prepared and stained with haematoxyline and eosin stain and the histological changes were observed by photomicroscope under high power magnification. Statistical analysis The results are presented as means  ± S.E.M. The data were statistically compared for determining significance of difference by one-way ANOVA test, followed by pair-wise comparison of various groups by LSD. The analysis was carried out by using the software of the website, www. analyseit.com. P Results Biochemical Parameters A highly significant increase in levels of serum ALT, AST, bilirubin, alkaline phosphatase was observed in CCl4 treated rats while total protein was found significantly decreased as compared to control group. There was significant reduction in all biochemical parameters and significant increase in total protein after oral administration of test drug at two different doses (P4 treated group (P Histological Examination Group I: There were central blood vessels and radiating cords of hepatocytes as well as the vascular sinusoids with no evidence of fatty changes, necrosis or inflammation. (Fig.1) Group II: There was centri-lobular (acidophilic) necrosis and vascular congestion. (Fig.2) Group III: There was mild vascular congestion and peri-vascular infiltrate of mono nuclear cells and fibroblast. No fatty degeneration was observed. (Fig.3) Group IV (50 mg/kg): There was vascular congestion and peri-lobular hydropic degeneration of hepatocytes (In high magnification only vascular congestion). (Fig.4) Group V (100mg/kg): The slides showed well preserved hepatic architecture. There was no fatty degeneration, only mild vascular congestion and peri-vascular infiltrate of mono nuclear cells and fibroblast and regenerating hepatocytes were observed. The hepatic architecture was found similar to that observed in group III. (Fig.5) Discussion The findings of the present study demonstrated that the test drug (Unani formulation) lowered the biochemical markers of liver function as well as the lipid peroxide towards normal. The histological findings also indicated protective response by bringing the derangement of liver cell matrix to very near to normalcy. Thus the remarkable reduction in CCl4 intoxicated biochemical markers by test drug extract, supplemented by commensurate histopathological findings of rat liver sections indicated hepatoprotective effect of this herbal formulation. The likely mechanism of hepatoprotective response appears to be the anti-oxidant property. Carbonterachloride has been widely used for inducing hepatic damage due to free radical formation during its metabolism by hepatic microsomes.[19] The clinical features of carbontetrachloride induced hepatic damage resemble that of acute viral hepatitis.[20] The mechanism of producing hepatic damage by CCl4 depends on reductive dehalogenation of CCl4 catalyzed by cytochrome P450 in the liver cell endoplasmic reticulum leading to the generation of unstable complex of CCl4 radical. This trichloromethyl radical reacts rapidly with O2 to yield trichloromethyl peroxy radical which is reported as a highly reactive species. Qurs-e-Rewand appers to exert its hepatoprotective effect by inhibiting lipid peroxidation mediated by CCl4, due to its antioxidant activity as it decreased the lipid peroxide significantly in TBARS test. The test drug further appears to exert hepatoprotective effect due to its effect against cellular leakage and loss of functional integrity of the cell membrane in hepat ocytes i.e. they possess membrane stabilizing property, indicated by significant decrease in AST, ALT, Alk. phosphatase and lipid peroxidation. The biochemical as well as histological observations demonstrated dose dependent protective action of the extract against the liver damage. The extract in dose of 100mg/kg caused greater response. The biochemical markers were found significantly lower and retention of hepatic architecture, reduction in fatty degeneration and necrosis were more marked in this group than the group treated with 50mg/kg. The overall hepatoprotective effect produced by the 100mg/kg was sientifically equal to standard drug Silymarin. Further, quite interestingly the animals treated with Qurs-e-Rewand showed regeneration of hepatocytes, which provide an indication of high clinical and therapeutic value. The protective effect demonstrated with regard to liver function (Biochemical markers), lipid peroxidation and structure (Histological study) provides conclusive proof that the test drug possesses hepatoprotective activity. The present study provides scientific support and validation to the Unani claim regarding the hepatoprotective activity of the test drug. The study also provides the interesting information that Qurs-e-Rewand promotes hepatocellular regeneration, so it may be useful in diseases where liver damage is extensive such as chronic hepatitis and cirrhosis. Conclusion: it can be concluded that both the doses of test drug (Qurs Rewand) possess significant hepatoprotective activity against acute hepatic damage induced by CCl4. Further, the mechanisms and activities of compound drug require more study to understand the hepatoprotective mechanism. REFERENCES Table 1: Ingredients of Qurs-e- Rewand Botanical Name (Family) English Name Quantity (in gm) Rheum emodi Wall (Polygonaceae) Rhubarb 17.5 gm Rubia cordifolia Linn (Rubiaceae) Indian Madder 10.5 gm Creteria lacca (Coccoidea) Lac 10.5 gm Apium graveolens Linn (Apiaceae) Celery 3.5 gm Feoniculum vulgare Mill (Umbelliferae) Fennel 3.5 gm Agrimonia eupatoria Linn (Rosaceae) Agrimony 3.5 gm Table 2: Effect of test drug (Q.R) and Silymarin on biochemical parameters of liver function in CCl4 induced toxicity. Values are Mean à ¯Ã¢â‚¬Å¡Ã‚ ± SE; n = 6; x = against plain control, y = against CCl4 (2 ml/kg), z = against standard (Silymarin) (100 mg/kg); a = against Q.R. single dose (50 mg/kg), b = against Q.R. double dose (100 mg/kg); 1 = P Group I Fig. 1: Section of rat liver showing central blood vessels and radiating cords of hepatocytes as well as the vascular sinusoids (H E stain High power) Group II Fig. 2: Section of liver showing centrilobular (Acidophilic) necrosis, and vascular congestion and marked congestion of portal vessels (H E stain, High power) Group III Fig. 3: Section of liver showing mild vascular congestion and peri-vascular Infiltrate of mono nuclear cells and fibroblast (H E stain, High power) Group IV Fig. 4: Section of liver showing vascular congestion (H E stain, High power) Group V Fig. 5: Section of liver showing mild vascular congestion and peri-vascular infiltrate of mono nuclear cells and fibroblast and regenerating hepatocytes (H E stain, High power)

Exploring Rest Cure Therapy in The Yellow Wallpaper -- Yellow Wallpape

Exploring Rest Cure Therapy in The Yellow Wallpaper Rest was used as a cure for neurasthenia, but did it really work? "The Yellow Wallpaper" explores the concept of rest cure therapy and its effectiveness on a woman patient. The best-known doctor for treating neurasthenia was a highly regarded neurologist named Silas Weir Mitchell (Kivo 8). Women from all over the world traveled to the United States to be treated by Silas Weir Mitchell (5). Rest cure therapy included secluding the patient from family and friends and complete physical and intellectual rest (5). Many women who followed Mitchell's treatment plan returned to their families cured, but there were some women whose symptoms became worse after being treated by Mitchell or after being restricted to bed rest. Many women did not benefit from rest. In "The Yellow Wallpaper," Jane, the protagonist, is put on bed rest after giving birth to her baby. She is prescribed bed rest from her doctor and husband, John (6). John secludes her from family and friends by renting a rundown country home for the summer (6). She is to have total bed rest while at the country home. John said that Jane "was to have perfect rest" (Gilman, 14). As the summer progresses, Jane's condition becomes increasingly worse, and she begins to hallucinate. She thinks that she sees things moving on the yellow wallpaper in the room that she is staying in. Jane says, "The pattern does move-and no wonder! The woman behind shakes it!" (23). The therapy causes Jane to retreat into madness (Kivo 6). Jane's madness becomes apparent when the woman behind the wall and Jane start to tear all the yellow wallpaper from the walls of the room (25). Jane's condition deteriorate... ...herapy. Rest cures did not always work on all women. There were some patients like Jane who became worse while others like Addams and Gilman had to find their own ways of suppressing or curing their depression. Depression, or neurasthenia, was not always curable and has affected many people all over the world. While rest cures were the most common cure for depression, sometimes this procedure was not effective. Works Cited Gilman, Charlotte Perkins. "The Yellow Wallpaper." The Harcourt Brace Casebook Series in Literature. Ed. Carol Kivo.Forth Worth: Harcourt Brace, 1998. 13-27. Kivo, Carol, ed. "The Yellow Wallpaper:" The Harcourt Brace Casebook Series in Literature. Forth Worth: Harcourt Brace, 1998. 2-12. Poirier, Suzanne. "The Weir Mitchell rest cure: doctor and patients." Women's Studies. 1983 10(1): 15-40. <Galileo online>

Mcdonalds

Introduction The organisation we are going to look in this assignment is McDonalds. McDonald’s is the leading global foodservice outlet with more than 33,500 local restaurants serving approximately 69 million people in 119 countries each day. More than 80% of McDonald’s restaurants worldwide are owned and operated by independent local men and  women. http://www. aboutmcdonalds. com/mcd/investors/company_profile. html McDonalds has developed its operation to a very high level of efficiency over years it has been operation.One main reason is that McDonalds keeps innovating its current process design, flows, data capture, and interactions between sections, resource allocation, process technologies and its supply chain. By looking at McDonalds, we have witnessed a culture of change due to the innovative ideas McDonalds has been coming up all the time. This company not only innovate in its operation and food production process, but it innovate every single aspect of the bu siness from physical evidence, management to the customer service.McDonalds has been working for ages on its QSC, that is quality, service and cleanliness, but they have even changed this to QSC&V where V stands for value which once again shows they do not hesitate to change. Current Process Design – Batch Processes The current process design at McDonalds would be Batch Processes McDonald's uses a batch process to cook its burgers. Adopting batch process means that the speed of delivery relies on the speed and experience of the staff working at the moment. Burgers at McDonalds are cooked on a large platen, in batches of 8 for Hamburgers, 6 for Quarter Cheese and 4 for Big Macs.Two or more batches may be cooked at one time and they can happen on various stages of cooking. This makes it important that a crew of McDonalds is required to manage the grill solely during busy time. The burgers are hand dressed which again need one crew to work on that station on busy times. When the re are two batches being done in different stages of cooking, the speed is vital to keep the production moving. Interaction between departments At McDonalds, the restaurant is divided between different sections which ould Kitchen area, indoor service area, drive thru and the dining area known as the lobby. By observing the day to day activity at a McDonald’s restaurant, you would notice that every most of the sections are related to each other, which means one section rely on the second section. For example, the service area can not finish an order until kitchen supply service with a burger. The interaction between areas (departments) could be better understood when we look at the layout observation that would follow. At McDonalds there is no individual department by its own that we can do an observation on.As service and kitchen area closely related in McDonalds, we would like to concentrate on the Service and Kitchen area as an observation. Areas at McDonalds chosen for obs ervation †¢ Kitchen †¢ Indoor Service Area In McDonalds Restaurant the layout in the kitchen has been designed in other to ensure speedy preparation of quality food in less time. It also designs its layout keeping in mind the health and safety, increased visibility by customers, minimised supervision. Another factor that is considered is the cost of production which also depends on the layout.McDonalds Layout – these are the main areas at McDonalds Kitchen – McDonalds restaurant Layout – Product Layout McDonalds have a product layout as we can see they have a standardise operation and repetitive  assembly  of their  products. With this layout design they are able to have a better synchronization even on the different activity line, have a better control and product planning become easier. In this type of layout, even less skill level staff can work where one particular person who will be performing the operation. There are only few changes done r arely due to standard production line up.In this layout the flow of material take place smooth and continuously. Kitchen Layout – Product Layout Steps of production – Division of Labour At McDonalds, there is a high degree of division of labour. In order to produce one hamburger, 4 staff will be required based on a McDonalds kitchen layout, where each staff will perform a particular task in making the burger as mentioned below. If we look at the production of a Hamburger based from the above diagram, its production would starts at point 1 which is the Toaster, where the buns are toasted for 35 seconds by one person working only at the toaster.During quite time they may perform two or more tasks, but at busy period, they would perform one task. After the buns have been toasted, it goes to the next level of production which is point 2 at the Dressing Table where a second person would dressed the toasted buns from the condiments already stocked up on the dressing table wh ich would take 45 seconds. At the same time the dressing starts, the person at the grill at point 3 place the frozen burger patty on the grill which is automatically set for 45 seconds. By the time the meat is ready after the 45 seconds on the grill, the dressing would be finished as well.Then the dressed toasted buns is moved from point 2 to point 3, that’s mean from the dressing table to the side of the grill where the cooked meat patty will be placed on the dressed buns. The Hamburger will then be moved to point 4 which is the production display cabinet, where the person working at the production control at point 4 will wrap the hamburger after having check for quality standards. Staff working on the service area at point 5 will then take the hamburger from the production display cabinet at point 4 to complete their order to give to the customers.Please note that other burger will also follow the same process going from point 1 to point 5. Also McDonalds has been separated in two sections which are the Beef products cooking area and Chicken products cooking area, where the process is almost the same on both side. Production on chicken side also starts at point 1. At point 1A, frozen chicken are cooked at stored directly at point 3 for assembly, this step can also take place in between production. At point 1B the buns are toasted and dressed at point 2 and the same flow continues. The Precedence diagram for the production of a hamburgerThe total production time would be 1 minutes 30 seconds for a burger to reach service. Volume variety The epitome of high volume variety hamburger production is MacDonald’s, serving more that 52million customers in more than 100contries counties round the world each day. The volume variety dimension is at the heart of its service and thus has very important implications for the way MacDonald’s operations are organized. MacDonald’s has instinctively grasped the underlying idea of through put time and thus, applied it in its Speedee Service System.The restaurant operating scheme they developed has been widely adopted and refined over the past half century. The ethos of the assembly line remains at its core. The grills at McDonald's have big steel hoods that swing down and grill hamburgers on both sides at once. The burgers, chicken, French fries, and buns are frozen when they arrive at a McDonald's. Service – At MacDonald’s the customer maximum waiting time is usually three minutes and thirty seconds and staff are advised to alert the manger for assistance if there are three or more customers per line.The new process demands that customer’s maximum line time should be 2minutes Thus, using Little’s law, Through put time = WIP x Cycle time Cycle time = Throughput time WIP Cycle time for the process = 3. 5 =1. 2 minute 3 Thus a customer should emerge from the process every 1. 2 minute on average. On the other hand, given that management requires every cu stomer to be served in every two minute, Thus the number of servers required = 2 = 2 1. 2 Hence, 2 server would be needed to serve three customers in two minutes. Every second counts.Each delay, bottleneck and unnecessary step reduces output and highlights the need for efficient workflow processes. McDonald’s has embraced the importance of managing processes, by ensuring that every second is accounted for in the making of each product. Service time is critical to McDonald’s success, as McDonald’s tries to increase customer satisfaction within the competitive fastfood industry. The plan to get food to customers quicker, and keep increasing the market share that McDonald’s won in the recession, means that each second really does matter. Process Mapping Ordering a meal at MacDonald’sTo order a meal at MacDonald’s usually it takes six service steps. (1) Greet the customer (2) Take the order (3) Receive payment (4) Assemble the order (5) Present the order (6) Thank the customer and invite them to return On the other hand work flow process will take the following shape Take order Take payment Preparation begins Customer waits Packaging and inspects If the right items are placed Customer takes food Technologies at McDonalds Today various organization are using technology is the main tool through which not only increased the efficiency level but also increase their profit and growth.In current scenario various innovative companies are thanking that how we will improve our speed and efficiency level to satisfy the customer demands. Due to market changing trends and new innovation in market, compel the operations of the organization to reshape their layout process and strategy to overcome the 21th century demand and challenges. MacDonald is the world leading innovator organization in current scenario. But there is no doubt that currently McDonald faces various challenges and problems.Today McDonald have the huge challenge that h ow to increase the speed to deliver quick food. And how McDonald will beat the queue? There are various organizations which are currently using different methods and equipment to deliver excellent service. [pic] As part of McDonald’s ever-increasing process development, the company is testing a self-serve kiosk in Europe, which may prove popular with diners seeking to customize meals and limit their time in queues. The downside may be the time needed to read the screens of choices.McDonald’s Director of operations and POS technology, Laurie Gilbert, said that the system is easy to learn and may cut as much as 10 seconds off the current workflow. Approximately 5,000 restaurants out of the company’s 32,000 locations are trialling the new software. McDonald’s currently aims to serve most customers within 90 seconds of taking their order. In order to speed up times at drive-through windows, staff at the McDonald’s Innovation Centre spent years incorpor ating an automated soda fountain that fills cups as soon as an order is placed into the workflow.When this same crew discovered that hot drinks needed more milk, they added refrigerated storage below the McCafe coffee makers to speed up efficiency. These two improved services have led to the processing of as many as five extra cars per hour in the drive-through queue. Cooking instructions are not only printed in the manual, they are often designed into the machines. A McDonald's kitchen is full of buzzers and flashing lights that tell employees what to do. At the front counter, computerized cash registers issue their own commands.Once an order has been placed, buttons light up and suggest other menu items that can be added. Workers at the counter are told to increase the size of an order by recommending special promotions, pushing dessert, pointing out the financial logic behind the purchase of a larger drink. While doing so, they are instructed to be up -beat and Recommendations Th ree improvements that can be introduced in McDonalds Even though McDonalds has always looked forward towards innovation, there are still some areas of improvement on which I would like to discuss below.McDonalds has two main channel of delivering food to its customers. One is from counter and the second one is Drive Thru. The always busy counters and a huge number of cars spending around 3 to 5 minutes in the drive thru has forced a part of the fast food market not to eat in McDonalds. McDonalds should be coming with concrete solution to get people serve quicker than before. Front Counter Service – Self Ordering kiosk – In every McDonalds outlet In every restaurant the self ordering kiosk should be introduced.Here customers can save the queue and instead order their food from self-ordering boots, that is they enter which ever food they like from the menu and pay to the machine and obtain an ordering number and wait for their number to be called at a collection point. T he advantage from this method would saving the decision and ordering time people take at the till and making people wait behind. Even having 4 kiosks would be quicker than 4 tills as ordering time will be save, and the staff who was suppose to take an order, can actually assemble the order in the meantime customers are ordering by themselves.The factors that would make this happened would be a high investment from McDonalds. Whereas there will the issue of staff retraining, time for customers getting used to it and more importantly, the McDonalds staff to be able to make this system possible in much quicker way compared to till system. – Online ordering This method is can work with conjunction with the 1st system discussed above. Customers can place an order online and they can spend as long as they wish in selecting the right food they wish to buy and they can just bring the order number at the restaurant to pay for their order.They only need to go to a counter or self-servi ce kiosk to pay using the code. Yet again, customer do not need to queue for long as the decision time and ordering time no more exist at the restaurant. So the 2 minutes in line time will be eliminated. From ordering online, I have not recommended that people can the facility to pay for their food online and receive a code which can be presented at a counter of kiosk. Reason behind that would be, if customers pay online, McDonalds would not know what time the foods will be collected.This will result into cold food being left waiting and as per the policy of McDonalds, the food should be wasted after 10 minutes holding time. This would also increase the food waste, thus increase cost. This can only happen if McDonalds adopt this process in all its outlets which in return will allow customers to see this as an standard and get used to it. Drive Thru – Fast lane and Online ordering Drive Thru at McDonalds is another main area of the restaurants from which McDonalds is making mo re than 50% of its sales per day.The main problem in the drive thru is that more and more people are driving in the McDonalds drive thru per hour to buy their fast food. This is resulting in longer service time because every extra second a car has to wait for the next cars to get served; in return it is increasing the queuing time, thus creating a bottle neck. As suggested above for eat in customers that can order online and use their order number to pay at counters or use in a self-service kiosk, the same method could be applied for drive thru customers.Instead of ordering on the arrival to the drive thru, customers can present their order number and pay at the cashier on drive thru. This will certainly reduce the total experience time. Even customers have order online they will still need to wait in the queue together with those cars that have ordered place their order on drive thru. In this situation, to keep the online customers move quicker, a fast lane can be introduced. Actua lly in the all the new drives thru at McDonalds, there are two lanes which allow customers to place order in any lane of their choice.But by introducing the fast lane, one of the lanes can be used for online customers, which would definitely make the process quicker. Kitchen Kitchen is one of the important parts of McDonalds that have a direct impact on the quality and speed. The longer kitchen takes to get a burger to service, the longer it takes a customer to get served. To have fresh food served all day long, it depends on the way dressing condiments and other raw food are used and stored. At McDonalds, the shelves lives of products are vital.That’s means, the holding time of raw products. For example, cheese is kept on the dressing table for only 2hours and fresh onions are kept for 1 hour. After the holding time of the condiments has elapse, kitchen staffs have to restock the kitchen with fresh stock. This process is a time consuming process and during busy time it becom e very difficult and complex. Kitchen staff could have used that time in producing burgers at the busy times. – Automated stocking up of dressing tableOur proposal to that situation would be to have automated stocking up of the dressing table by having the containers of condiments to automatically flip upside down discarding the out of holding time condiments under the dressing table bins. On the other hand fresh condiments could be automatically poured on dressing table containers. The condiments to go on the dressing table can be kept in a built-in cooler over the dressing table. This proposed system would eliminate the whole hourly stocking up; in fact just few heavy stock-up of the dressing table built cooler can maintain stock for the whole day. Automated dressing In the current situation, crew in McDonalds normally dress each burger manually even though a maximum of 8 burger buns can be toasted at the same time in one toaster. Here I would suggest special trays with 8 s mall holes that can keep the buns in one place until the final process. As the buns has been toasted, they should be taken out and place in an automated condiment dispenser, for example for a Ham Burger, the automated condiment dispenser will dispense ketchup, mustard, onion and pickle, all one by one.This saves someone from dressing each and every burger manually. Moreover all the burgers will be dress to the same standard and with exact amount of condiments. Here the food coast can be easily managed and even labour cost. Factors that would make this happen would be a good planning from the McDonalds managements. This will cost very high as completely new equipment should be introduced. The factor that could hinder this project would be a high maintenance cost, as they should be calibrated regularly in order to have proper amount of condiment dispensed. Training cost would also be high.And the most important would be to decrease the number of staff as work will be automated. Refere nces: http://www. mcdonalds. com/us/en/food/food_quality/trends_innovation. html http://www. forbes. com/2007/08/31/christensen-innovation-mcdonalds-pf-guru_in_cc_0904christensen_inl. html http://www. financetwitter. com/2011/05/mcdonalds-new-buying-experience-touch-screen-kiosk. html http://foodbelfast. com/2011/05/mci-robot/#. UKVlpocz35S http://alison. com/topic/learn/1312/24838/operations-management-strategies/operations-management-strategies-facilities-layout-planning http://www. llfreepapers. com/print/McDonalds–Burger-King/3827. html ———————– Office Toaster For Ham Burger Buns Toaster QtrCheese Dressing Table Ham Burger /QtrChesse Grill Ham Burger Grill Quarter Cheese 1 2[pic] 3 Product Display Cabinet 4 Service DriveThru 5A 5B Dressing/ Assembling Table Toaster Chicken Buns Chicken Products Fryers 1B 2[pic] Cooked Chicken Holding Cabinet 3 4 1A Toaster 1 35 secs Dressing2 45 secs Display 4 10 secs Grill 3 45 secs 1 35 Seconds 2+3 45 Seconds 4 10 Seconds Mcdonalds Introduction The organisation we are going to look in this assignment is McDonalds. McDonald’s is the leading global foodservice outlet with more than 33,500 local restaurants serving approximately 69 million people in 119 countries each day. More than 80% of McDonald’s restaurants worldwide are owned and operated by independent local men and  women. http://www. aboutmcdonalds. com/mcd/investors/company_profile. html McDonalds has developed its operation to a very high level of efficiency over years it has been operation.One main reason is that McDonalds keeps innovating its current process design, flows, data capture, and interactions between sections, resource allocation, process technologies and its supply chain. By looking at McDonalds, we have witnessed a culture of change due to the innovative ideas McDonalds has been coming up all the time. This company not only innovate in its operation and food production process, but it innovate every single aspect of the bu siness from physical evidence, management to the customer service.McDonalds has been working for ages on its QSC, that is quality, service and cleanliness, but they have even changed this to QSC&V where V stands for value which once again shows they do not hesitate to change. Current Process Design – Batch Processes The current process design at McDonalds would be Batch Processes McDonald's uses a batch process to cook its burgers. Adopting batch process means that the speed of delivery relies on the speed and experience of the staff working at the moment. Burgers at McDonalds are cooked on a large platen, in batches of 8 for Hamburgers, 6 for Quarter Cheese and 4 for Big Macs.Two or more batches may be cooked at one time and they can happen on various stages of cooking. This makes it important that a crew of McDonalds is required to manage the grill solely during busy time. The burgers are hand dressed which again need one crew to work on that station on busy times. When the re are two batches being done in different stages of cooking, the speed is vital to keep the production moving. Interaction between departments At McDonalds, the restaurant is divided between different sections which ould Kitchen area, indoor service area, drive thru and the dining area known as the lobby. By observing the day to day activity at a McDonald’s restaurant, you would notice that every most of the sections are related to each other, which means one section rely on the second section. For example, the service area can not finish an order until kitchen supply service with a burger. The interaction between areas (departments) could be better understood when we look at the layout observation that would follow. At McDonalds there is no individual department by its own that we can do an observation on.As service and kitchen area closely related in McDonalds, we would like to concentrate on the Service and Kitchen area as an observation. Areas at McDonalds chosen for obs ervation †¢ Kitchen †¢ Indoor Service Area In McDonalds Restaurant the layout in the kitchen has been designed in other to ensure speedy preparation of quality food in less time. It also designs its layout keeping in mind the health and safety, increased visibility by customers, minimised supervision. Another factor that is considered is the cost of production which also depends on the layout.McDonalds Layout – these are the main areas at McDonalds Kitchen – McDonalds restaurant Layout – Product Layout McDonalds have a product layout as we can see they have a standardise operation and repetitive  assembly  of their  products. With this layout design they are able to have a better synchronization even on the different activity line, have a better control and product planning become easier. In this type of layout, even less skill level staff can work where one particular person who will be performing the operation. There are only few changes done r arely due to standard production line up.In this layout the flow of material take place smooth and continuously. Kitchen Layout – Product Layout Steps of production – Division of Labour At McDonalds, there is a high degree of division of labour. In order to produce one hamburger, 4 staff will be required based on a McDonalds kitchen layout, where each staff will perform a particular task in making the burger as mentioned below. If we look at the production of a Hamburger based from the above diagram, its production would starts at point 1 which is the Toaster, where the buns are toasted for 35 seconds by one person working only at the toaster.During quite time they may perform two or more tasks, but at busy period, they would perform one task. After the buns have been toasted, it goes to the next level of production which is point 2 at the Dressing Table where a second person would dressed the toasted buns from the condiments already stocked up on the dressing table wh ich would take 45 seconds. At the same time the dressing starts, the person at the grill at point 3 place the frozen burger patty on the grill which is automatically set for 45 seconds. By the time the meat is ready after the 45 seconds on the grill, the dressing would be finished as well.Then the dressed toasted buns is moved from point 2 to point 3, that’s mean from the dressing table to the side of the grill where the cooked meat patty will be placed on the dressed buns. The Hamburger will then be moved to point 4 which is the production display cabinet, where the person working at the production control at point 4 will wrap the hamburger after having check for quality standards. Staff working on the service area at point 5 will then take the hamburger from the production display cabinet at point 4 to complete their order to give to the customers.Please note that other burger will also follow the same process going from point 1 to point 5. Also McDonalds has been separated in two sections which are the Beef products cooking area and Chicken products cooking area, where the process is almost the same on both side. Production on chicken side also starts at point 1. At point 1A, frozen chicken are cooked at stored directly at point 3 for assembly, this step can also take place in between production. At point 1B the buns are toasted and dressed at point 2 and the same flow continues. The Precedence diagram for the production of a hamburgerThe total production time would be 1 minutes 30 seconds for a burger to reach service. Volume variety The epitome of high volume variety hamburger production is MacDonald’s, serving more that 52million customers in more than 100contries counties round the world each day. The volume variety dimension is at the heart of its service and thus has very important implications for the way MacDonald’s operations are organized. MacDonald’s has instinctively grasped the underlying idea of through put time and thus, applied it in its Speedee Service System.The restaurant operating scheme they developed has been widely adopted and refined over the past half century. The ethos of the assembly line remains at its core. The grills at McDonald's have big steel hoods that swing down and grill hamburgers on both sides at once. The burgers, chicken, French fries, and buns are frozen when they arrive at a McDonald's. Service – At MacDonald’s the customer maximum waiting time is usually three minutes and thirty seconds and staff are advised to alert the manger for assistance if there are three or more customers per line.The new process demands that customer’s maximum line time should be 2minutes Thus, using Little’s law, Through put time = WIP x Cycle time Cycle time = Throughput time WIP Cycle time for the process = 3. 5 =1. 2 minute 3 Thus a customer should emerge from the process every 1. 2 minute on average. On the other hand, given that management requires every cu stomer to be served in every two minute, Thus the number of servers required = 2 = 2 1. 2 Hence, 2 server would be needed to serve three customers in two minutes. Every second counts.Each delay, bottleneck and unnecessary step reduces output and highlights the need for efficient workflow processes. McDonald’s has embraced the importance of managing processes, by ensuring that every second is accounted for in the making of each product. Service time is critical to McDonald’s success, as McDonald’s tries to increase customer satisfaction within the competitive fastfood industry. The plan to get food to customers quicker, and keep increasing the market share that McDonald’s won in the recession, means that each second really does matter. Process Mapping Ordering a meal at MacDonald’sTo order a meal at MacDonald’s usually it takes six service steps. (1) Greet the customer (2) Take the order (3) Receive payment (4) Assemble the order (5) Present the order (6) Thank the customer and invite them to return On the other hand work flow process will take the following shape Take order Take payment Preparation begins Customer waits Packaging and inspects If the right items are placed Customer takes food Technologies at McDonalds Today various organization are using technology is the main tool through which not only increased the efficiency level but also increase their profit and growth.In current scenario various innovative companies are thanking that how we will improve our speed and efficiency level to satisfy the customer demands. Due to market changing trends and new innovation in market, compel the operations of the organization to reshape their layout process and strategy to overcome the 21th century demand and challenges. MacDonald is the world leading innovator organization in current scenario. But there is no doubt that currently McDonald faces various challenges and problems.Today McDonald have the huge challenge that h ow to increase the speed to deliver quick food. And how McDonald will beat the queue? There are various organizations which are currently using different methods and equipment to deliver excellent service. [pic] As part of McDonald’s ever-increasing process development, the company is testing a self-serve kiosk in Europe, which may prove popular with diners seeking to customize meals and limit their time in queues. The downside may be the time needed to read the screens of choices.McDonald’s Director of operations and POS technology, Laurie Gilbert, said that the system is easy to learn and may cut as much as 10 seconds off the current workflow. Approximately 5,000 restaurants out of the company’s 32,000 locations are trialling the new software. McDonald’s currently aims to serve most customers within 90 seconds of taking their order. In order to speed up times at drive-through windows, staff at the McDonald’s Innovation Centre spent years incorpor ating an automated soda fountain that fills cups as soon as an order is placed into the workflow.When this same crew discovered that hot drinks needed more milk, they added refrigerated storage below the McCafe coffee makers to speed up efficiency. These two improved services have led to the processing of as many as five extra cars per hour in the drive-through queue. Cooking instructions are not only printed in the manual, they are often designed into the machines. A McDonald's kitchen is full of buzzers and flashing lights that tell employees what to do. At the front counter, computerized cash registers issue their own commands.Once an order has been placed, buttons light up and suggest other menu items that can be added. Workers at the counter are told to increase the size of an order by recommending special promotions, pushing dessert, pointing out the financial logic behind the purchase of a larger drink. While doing so, they are instructed to be up -beat and Recommendations Th ree improvements that can be introduced in McDonalds Even though McDonalds has always looked forward towards innovation, there are still some areas of improvement on which I would like to discuss below.McDonalds has two main channel of delivering food to its customers. One is from counter and the second one is Drive Thru. The always busy counters and a huge number of cars spending around 3 to 5 minutes in the drive thru has forced a part of the fast food market not to eat in McDonalds. McDonalds should be coming with concrete solution to get people serve quicker than before. Front Counter Service – Self Ordering kiosk – In every McDonalds outlet In every restaurant the self ordering kiosk should be introduced.Here customers can save the queue and instead order their food from self-ordering boots, that is they enter which ever food they like from the menu and pay to the machine and obtain an ordering number and wait for their number to be called at a collection point. T he advantage from this method would saving the decision and ordering time people take at the till and making people wait behind. Even having 4 kiosks would be quicker than 4 tills as ordering time will be save, and the staff who was suppose to take an order, can actually assemble the order in the meantime customers are ordering by themselves.The factors that would make this happened would be a high investment from McDonalds. Whereas there will the issue of staff retraining, time for customers getting used to it and more importantly, the McDonalds staff to be able to make this system possible in much quicker way compared to till system. – Online ordering This method is can work with conjunction with the 1st system discussed above. Customers can place an order online and they can spend as long as they wish in selecting the right food they wish to buy and they can just bring the order number at the restaurant to pay for their order.They only need to go to a counter or self-servi ce kiosk to pay using the code. Yet again, customer do not need to queue for long as the decision time and ordering time no more exist at the restaurant. So the 2 minutes in line time will be eliminated. From ordering online, I have not recommended that people can the facility to pay for their food online and receive a code which can be presented at a counter of kiosk. Reason behind that would be, if customers pay online, McDonalds would not know what time the foods will be collected.This will result into cold food being left waiting and as per the policy of McDonalds, the food should be wasted after 10 minutes holding time. This would also increase the food waste, thus increase cost. This can only happen if McDonalds adopt this process in all its outlets which in return will allow customers to see this as an standard and get used to it. Drive Thru – Fast lane and Online ordering Drive Thru at McDonalds is another main area of the restaurants from which McDonalds is making mo re than 50% of its sales per day.The main problem in the drive thru is that more and more people are driving in the McDonalds drive thru per hour to buy their fast food. This is resulting in longer service time because every extra second a car has to wait for the next cars to get served; in return it is increasing the queuing time, thus creating a bottle neck. As suggested above for eat in customers that can order online and use their order number to pay at counters or use in a self-service kiosk, the same method could be applied for drive thru customers.Instead of ordering on the arrival to the drive thru, customers can present their order number and pay at the cashier on drive thru. This will certainly reduce the total experience time. Even customers have order online they will still need to wait in the queue together with those cars that have ordered place their order on drive thru. In this situation, to keep the online customers move quicker, a fast lane can be introduced. Actua lly in the all the new drives thru at McDonalds, there are two lanes which allow customers to place order in any lane of their choice.But by introducing the fast lane, one of the lanes can be used for online customers, which would definitely make the process quicker. Kitchen Kitchen is one of the important parts of McDonalds that have a direct impact on the quality and speed. The longer kitchen takes to get a burger to service, the longer it takes a customer to get served. To have fresh food served all day long, it depends on the way dressing condiments and other raw food are used and stored. At McDonalds, the shelves lives of products are vital.That’s means, the holding time of raw products. For example, cheese is kept on the dressing table for only 2hours and fresh onions are kept for 1 hour. After the holding time of the condiments has elapse, kitchen staffs have to restock the kitchen with fresh stock. This process is a time consuming process and during busy time it becom e very difficult and complex. Kitchen staff could have used that time in producing burgers at the busy times. – Automated stocking up of dressing tableOur proposal to that situation would be to have automated stocking up of the dressing table by having the containers of condiments to automatically flip upside down discarding the out of holding time condiments under the dressing table bins. On the other hand fresh condiments could be automatically poured on dressing table containers. The condiments to go on the dressing table can be kept in a built-in cooler over the dressing table. This proposed system would eliminate the whole hourly stocking up; in fact just few heavy stock-up of the dressing table built cooler can maintain stock for the whole day. Automated dressing In the current situation, crew in McDonalds normally dress each burger manually even though a maximum of 8 burger buns can be toasted at the same time in one toaster. Here I would suggest special trays with 8 s mall holes that can keep the buns in one place until the final process. As the buns has been toasted, they should be taken out and place in an automated condiment dispenser, for example for a Ham Burger, the automated condiment dispenser will dispense ketchup, mustard, onion and pickle, all one by one.This saves someone from dressing each and every burger manually. Moreover all the burgers will be dress to the same standard and with exact amount of condiments. Here the food coast can be easily managed and even labour cost. Factors that would make this happen would be a good planning from the McDonalds managements. This will cost very high as completely new equipment should be introduced. The factor that could hinder this project would be a high maintenance cost, as they should be calibrated regularly in order to have proper amount of condiment dispensed. Training cost would also be high.And the most important would be to decrease the number of staff as work will be automated. Refere nces: http://www. mcdonalds. com/us/en/food/food_quality/trends_innovation. html http://www. forbes. com/2007/08/31/christensen-innovation-mcdonalds-pf-guru_in_cc_0904christensen_inl. html http://www. financetwitter. com/2011/05/mcdonalds-new-buying-experience-touch-screen-kiosk. html http://foodbelfast. com/2011/05/mci-robot/#. UKVlpocz35S http://alison. com/topic/learn/1312/24838/operations-management-strategies/operations-management-strategies-facilities-layout-planning http://www. llfreepapers. com/print/McDonalds–Burger-King/3827. html ———————– Office Toaster For Ham Burger Buns Toaster QtrCheese Dressing Table Ham Burger /QtrChesse Grill Ham Burger Grill Quarter Cheese 1 2[pic] 3 Product Display Cabinet 4 Service DriveThru 5A 5B Dressing/ Assembling Table Toaster Chicken Buns Chicken Products Fryers 1B 2[pic] Cooked Chicken Holding Cabinet 3 4 1A Toaster 1 35 secs Dressing2 45 secs Display 4 10 secs Grill 3 45 secs 1 35 Seconds 2+3 45 Seconds 4 10 Seconds Mcdonalds Introduction The organisation we are going to look in this assignment is McDonalds. McDonald’s is the leading global foodservice outlet with more than 33,500 local restaurants serving approximately 69 million people in 119 countries each day. More than 80% of McDonald’s restaurants worldwide are owned and operated by independent local men and  women. http://www. aboutmcdonalds. com/mcd/investors/company_profile. html McDonalds has developed its operation to a very high level of efficiency over years it has been operation.One main reason is that McDonalds keeps innovating its current process design, flows, data capture, and interactions between sections, resource allocation, process technologies and its supply chain. By looking at McDonalds, we have witnessed a culture of change due to the innovative ideas McDonalds has been coming up all the time. This company not only innovate in its operation and food production process, but it innovate every single aspect of the bu siness from physical evidence, management to the customer service.McDonalds has been working for ages on its QSC, that is quality, service and cleanliness, but they have even changed this to QSC&V where V stands for value which once again shows they do not hesitate to change. Current Process Design – Batch Processes The current process design at McDonalds would be Batch Processes McDonald's uses a batch process to cook its burgers. Adopting batch process means that the speed of delivery relies on the speed and experience of the staff working at the moment. Burgers at McDonalds are cooked on a large platen, in batches of 8 for Hamburgers, 6 for Quarter Cheese and 4 for Big Macs.Two or more batches may be cooked at one time and they can happen on various stages of cooking. This makes it important that a crew of McDonalds is required to manage the grill solely during busy time. The burgers are hand dressed which again need one crew to work on that station on busy times. When the re are two batches being done in different stages of cooking, the speed is vital to keep the production moving. Interaction between departments At McDonalds, the restaurant is divided between different sections which ould Kitchen area, indoor service area, drive thru and the dining area known as the lobby. By observing the day to day activity at a McDonald’s restaurant, you would notice that every most of the sections are related to each other, which means one section rely on the second section. For example, the service area can not finish an order until kitchen supply service with a burger. The interaction between areas (departments) could be better understood when we look at the layout observation that would follow. At McDonalds there is no individual department by its own that we can do an observation on.As service and kitchen area closely related in McDonalds, we would like to concentrate on the Service and Kitchen area as an observation. Areas at McDonalds chosen for obs ervation †¢ Kitchen †¢ Indoor Service Area In McDonalds Restaurant the layout in the kitchen has been designed in other to ensure speedy preparation of quality food in less time. It also designs its layout keeping in mind the health and safety, increased visibility by customers, minimised supervision. Another factor that is considered is the cost of production which also depends on the layout.McDonalds Layout – these are the main areas at McDonalds Kitchen – McDonalds restaurant Layout – Product Layout McDonalds have a product layout as we can see they have a standardise operation and repetitive  assembly  of their  products. With this layout design they are able to have a better synchronization even on the different activity line, have a better control and product planning become easier. In this type of layout, even less skill level staff can work where one particular person who will be performing the operation. There are only few changes done r arely due to standard production line up.In this layout the flow of material take place smooth and continuously. Kitchen Layout – Product Layout Steps of production – Division of Labour At McDonalds, there is a high degree of division of labour. In order to produce one hamburger, 4 staff will be required based on a McDonalds kitchen layout, where each staff will perform a particular task in making the burger as mentioned below. If we look at the production of a Hamburger based from the above diagram, its production would starts at point 1 which is the Toaster, where the buns are toasted for 35 seconds by one person working only at the toaster.During quite time they may perform two or more tasks, but at busy period, they would perform one task. After the buns have been toasted, it goes to the next level of production which is point 2 at the Dressing Table where a second person would dressed the toasted buns from the condiments already stocked up on the dressing table wh ich would take 45 seconds. At the same time the dressing starts, the person at the grill at point 3 place the frozen burger patty on the grill which is automatically set for 45 seconds. By the time the meat is ready after the 45 seconds on the grill, the dressing would be finished as well.Then the dressed toasted buns is moved from point 2 to point 3, that’s mean from the dressing table to the side of the grill where the cooked meat patty will be placed on the dressed buns. The Hamburger will then be moved to point 4 which is the production display cabinet, where the person working at the production control at point 4 will wrap the hamburger after having check for quality standards. Staff working on the service area at point 5 will then take the hamburger from the production display cabinet at point 4 to complete their order to give to the customers.Please note that other burger will also follow the same process going from point 1 to point 5. Also McDonalds has been separated in two sections which are the Beef products cooking area and Chicken products cooking area, where the process is almost the same on both side. Production on chicken side also starts at point 1. At point 1A, frozen chicken are cooked at stored directly at point 3 for assembly, this step can also take place in between production. At point 1B the buns are toasted and dressed at point 2 and the same flow continues. The Precedence diagram for the production of a hamburgerThe total production time would be 1 minutes 30 seconds for a burger to reach service. Volume variety The epitome of high volume variety hamburger production is MacDonald’s, serving more that 52million customers in more than 100contries counties round the world each day. The volume variety dimension is at the heart of its service and thus has very important implications for the way MacDonald’s operations are organized. MacDonald’s has instinctively grasped the underlying idea of through put time and thus, applied it in its Speedee Service System.The restaurant operating scheme they developed has been widely adopted and refined over the past half century. The ethos of the assembly line remains at its core. The grills at McDonald's have big steel hoods that swing down and grill hamburgers on both sides at once. The burgers, chicken, French fries, and buns are frozen when they arrive at a McDonald's. Service – At MacDonald’s the customer maximum waiting time is usually three minutes and thirty seconds and staff are advised to alert the manger for assistance if there are three or more customers per line.The new process demands that customer’s maximum line time should be 2minutes Thus, using Little’s law, Through put time = WIP x Cycle time Cycle time = Throughput time WIP Cycle time for the process = 3. 5 =1. 2 minute 3 Thus a customer should emerge from the process every 1. 2 minute on average. On the other hand, given that management requires every cu stomer to be served in every two minute, Thus the number of servers required = 2 = 2 1. 2 Hence, 2 server would be needed to serve three customers in two minutes. Every second counts.Each delay, bottleneck and unnecessary step reduces output and highlights the need for efficient workflow processes. McDonald’s has embraced the importance of managing processes, by ensuring that every second is accounted for in the making of each product. Service time is critical to McDonald’s success, as McDonald’s tries to increase customer satisfaction within the competitive fastfood industry. The plan to get food to customers quicker, and keep increasing the market share that McDonald’s won in the recession, means that each second really does matter. Process Mapping Ordering a meal at MacDonald’sTo order a meal at MacDonald’s usually it takes six service steps. (1) Greet the customer (2) Take the order (3) Receive payment (4) Assemble the order (5) Present the order (6) Thank the customer and invite them to return On the other hand work flow process will take the following shape Take order Take payment Preparation begins Customer waits Packaging and inspects If the right items are placed Customer takes food Technologies at McDonalds Today various organization are using technology is the main tool through which not only increased the efficiency level but also increase their profit and growth.In current scenario various innovative companies are thanking that how we will improve our speed and efficiency level to satisfy the customer demands. Due to market changing trends and new innovation in market, compel the operations of the organization to reshape their layout process and strategy to overcome the 21th century demand and challenges. MacDonald is the world leading innovator organization in current scenario. But there is no doubt that currently McDonald faces various challenges and problems.Today McDonald have the huge challenge that h ow to increase the speed to deliver quick food. And how McDonald will beat the queue? There are various organizations which are currently using different methods and equipment to deliver excellent service. [pic] As part of McDonald’s ever-increasing process development, the company is testing a self-serve kiosk in Europe, which may prove popular with diners seeking to customize meals and limit their time in queues. The downside may be the time needed to read the screens of choices.McDonald’s Director of operations and POS technology, Laurie Gilbert, said that the system is easy to learn and may cut as much as 10 seconds off the current workflow. Approximately 5,000 restaurants out of the company’s 32,000 locations are trialling the new software. McDonald’s currently aims to serve most customers within 90 seconds of taking their order. In order to speed up times at drive-through windows, staff at the McDonald’s Innovation Centre spent years incorpor ating an automated soda fountain that fills cups as soon as an order is placed into the workflow.When this same crew discovered that hot drinks needed more milk, they added refrigerated storage below the McCafe coffee makers to speed up efficiency. These two improved services have led to the processing of as many as five extra cars per hour in the drive-through queue. Cooking instructions are not only printed in the manual, they are often designed into the machines. A McDonald's kitchen is full of buzzers and flashing lights that tell employees what to do. At the front counter, computerized cash registers issue their own commands.Once an order has been placed, buttons light up and suggest other menu items that can be added. Workers at the counter are told to increase the size of an order by recommending special promotions, pushing dessert, pointing out the financial logic behind the purchase of a larger drink. While doing so, they are instructed to be up -beat and Recommendations Th ree improvements that can be introduced in McDonalds Even though McDonalds has always looked forward towards innovation, there are still some areas of improvement on which I would like to discuss below.McDonalds has two main channel of delivering food to its customers. One is from counter and the second one is Drive Thru. The always busy counters and a huge number of cars spending around 3 to 5 minutes in the drive thru has forced a part of the fast food market not to eat in McDonalds. McDonalds should be coming with concrete solution to get people serve quicker than before. Front Counter Service – Self Ordering kiosk – In every McDonalds outlet In every restaurant the self ordering kiosk should be introduced.Here customers can save the queue and instead order their food from self-ordering boots, that is they enter which ever food they like from the menu and pay to the machine and obtain an ordering number and wait for their number to be called at a collection point. T he advantage from this method would saving the decision and ordering time people take at the till and making people wait behind. Even having 4 kiosks would be quicker than 4 tills as ordering time will be save, and the staff who was suppose to take an order, can actually assemble the order in the meantime customers are ordering by themselves.The factors that would make this happened would be a high investment from McDonalds. Whereas there will the issue of staff retraining, time for customers getting used to it and more importantly, the McDonalds staff to be able to make this system possible in much quicker way compared to till system. – Online ordering This method is can work with conjunction with the 1st system discussed above. Customers can place an order online and they can spend as long as they wish in selecting the right food they wish to buy and they can just bring the order number at the restaurant to pay for their order.They only need to go to a counter or self-servi ce kiosk to pay using the code. Yet again, customer do not need to queue for long as the decision time and ordering time no more exist at the restaurant. So the 2 minutes in line time will be eliminated. From ordering online, I have not recommended that people can the facility to pay for their food online and receive a code which can be presented at a counter of kiosk. Reason behind that would be, if customers pay online, McDonalds would not know what time the foods will be collected.This will result into cold food being left waiting and as per the policy of McDonalds, the food should be wasted after 10 minutes holding time. This would also increase the food waste, thus increase cost. This can only happen if McDonalds adopt this process in all its outlets which in return will allow customers to see this as an standard and get used to it. Drive Thru – Fast lane and Online ordering Drive Thru at McDonalds is another main area of the restaurants from which McDonalds is making mo re than 50% of its sales per day.The main problem in the drive thru is that more and more people are driving in the McDonalds drive thru per hour to buy their fast food. This is resulting in longer service time because every extra second a car has to wait for the next cars to get served; in return it is increasing the queuing time, thus creating a bottle neck. As suggested above for eat in customers that can order online and use their order number to pay at counters or use in a self-service kiosk, the same method could be applied for drive thru customers.Instead of ordering on the arrival to the drive thru, customers can present their order number and pay at the cashier on drive thru. This will certainly reduce the total experience time. Even customers have order online they will still need to wait in the queue together with those cars that have ordered place their order on drive thru. In this situation, to keep the online customers move quicker, a fast lane can be introduced. Actua lly in the all the new drives thru at McDonalds, there are two lanes which allow customers to place order in any lane of their choice.But by introducing the fast lane, one of the lanes can be used for online customers, which would definitely make the process quicker. Kitchen Kitchen is one of the important parts of McDonalds that have a direct impact on the quality and speed. The longer kitchen takes to get a burger to service, the longer it takes a customer to get served. To have fresh food served all day long, it depends on the way dressing condiments and other raw food are used and stored. At McDonalds, the shelves lives of products are vital.That’s means, the holding time of raw products. For example, cheese is kept on the dressing table for only 2hours and fresh onions are kept for 1 hour. After the holding time of the condiments has elapse, kitchen staffs have to restock the kitchen with fresh stock. This process is a time consuming process and during busy time it becom e very difficult and complex. Kitchen staff could have used that time in producing burgers at the busy times. – Automated stocking up of dressing tableOur proposal to that situation would be to have automated stocking up of the dressing table by having the containers of condiments to automatically flip upside down discarding the out of holding time condiments under the dressing table bins. On the other hand fresh condiments could be automatically poured on dressing table containers. The condiments to go on the dressing table can be kept in a built-in cooler over the dressing table. This proposed system would eliminate the whole hourly stocking up; in fact just few heavy stock-up of the dressing table built cooler can maintain stock for the whole day. Automated dressing In the current situation, crew in McDonalds normally dress each burger manually even though a maximum of 8 burger buns can be toasted at the same time in one toaster. Here I would suggest special trays with 8 s mall holes that can keep the buns in one place until the final process. As the buns has been toasted, they should be taken out and place in an automated condiment dispenser, for example for a Ham Burger, the automated condiment dispenser will dispense ketchup, mustard, onion and pickle, all one by one.This saves someone from dressing each and every burger manually. Moreover all the burgers will be dress to the same standard and with exact amount of condiments. Here the food coast can be easily managed and even labour cost. Factors that would make this happen would be a good planning from the McDonalds managements. This will cost very high as completely new equipment should be introduced. The factor that could hinder this project would be a high maintenance cost, as they should be calibrated regularly in order to have proper amount of condiment dispensed. Training cost would also be high.And the most important would be to decrease the number of staff as work will be automated. Refere nces: http://www. mcdonalds. com/us/en/food/food_quality/trends_innovation. html http://www. forbes. com/2007/08/31/christensen-innovation-mcdonalds-pf-guru_in_cc_0904christensen_inl. html http://www. financetwitter. com/2011/05/mcdonalds-new-buying-experience-touch-screen-kiosk. html http://foodbelfast. com/2011/05/mci-robot/#. UKVlpocz35S http://alison. com/topic/learn/1312/24838/operations-management-strategies/operations-management-strategies-facilities-layout-planning http://www. llfreepapers. com/print/McDonalds–Burger-King/3827. html ———————– Office Toaster For Ham Burger Buns Toaster QtrCheese Dressing Table Ham Burger /QtrChesse Grill Ham Burger Grill Quarter Cheese 1 2[pic] 3 Product Display Cabinet 4 Service DriveThru 5A 5B Dressing/ Assembling Table Toaster Chicken Buns Chicken Products Fryers 1B 2[pic] Cooked Chicken Holding Cabinet 3 4 1A Toaster 1 35 secs Dressing2 45 secs Display 4 10 secs Grill 3 45 secs 1 35 Seconds 2+3 45 Seconds 4 10 Seconds

My Experience in Islam Worship Essay

My first visit to Islam worship as I recall happened three years ago through a Muslim friend who invited me to observe their worship. Prior to my first visit, I often hear through a loud speaker something like an utterance but also seem like a song coming from a Mosque not so far from where I live. Of course, every religion has their own way of expressing their faith but I should say Islam is quite unique in a sense that worshippers demonstrate deep sense of respect and devotion to Allah. Islam was born in the City of Mecca around 570 A. D. through the prophet Mohammad. Esposito (2002) noted that in the sixth century, â€Å"Mecca was emerging as a new commercial center with vast new wealth but also with a growing division between rich and poor, challenging the traditional system of Arab tribal values and social security†(p. 7). According to Esposito, it was this time and social condition in which prophet Mohammad preached the message of Quran â€Å"which formed the basis for the religion we know as Islam calling all to return to the worship of the true God and a socially just society† (Esposito 2002, p.  7). Like Christianity, Islam religion has a fundamental claim of its origin from the Bible. Muslims also believe that God sent revelations first to Moses, then to Jesus. Esposito aptly stated that Muhammad is not considered the founder of the new religion of Islam but like the biblical prophets who came before him, he was a religious reformer (p. 7). Mohammad himself according to Esposito claim that he did not bring a new message from a new God but called people back to the one true God and to a new of life they had forgotten or deviated from. Islam’s claim for biblical origins can be traced from Quran’s abundant references to stories in the Old and New Testaments which included Adam and Eve, Abraham and Moses, David and Solomon, Jesus and Mary. Esposito pointed out that Islam and worship of Allah—the Arabic word for God was a return in the midst of a polytheistic society to the forgotten past, to the Abraham’s monotheist faith. During my first attendance to Islam worship, one thing that I noticed was that they bowed down with their face almost if not touching the ground. As far as I am concern, there is no religious organization doing the same, not even the Jews who had probably the most profound concept of worship. Though I am quite aware of this manner of worship, I was really intrigued how they had developed such way of expressing their faith and humiliation before God. I found that for Islam, the meaning of worship is more than just rendering sincere service, or showing reverence for Allah. Abdul-Rahman (2003) emphasized that worship â€Å"implies total submission and complete obedience to Allah’s commandments both in utterances and public actions, whether explicit or implicit and in private or public† (p.  331). As I observed the way Muslims conduct themselves in public worship, their manner proves they indeed a deep devotion and submission to Allah. According to the teachings of Quran, bowing down of heads during worship and during prayer is part of the distinction of the followers of Mohammad who is the messenger of Allah. The Quran teaches, Muhammad is the messenger of Allah. And those who are with him are severe against disbeliever, and merciful among themselves. You see them bowing and falling down prostrate, seeking bounty from Allah and his good pleasure. The mark of them is on their faces from the traces of prostration. This is their description in the Tawraat (Torah) [al-Ahzaab 33:40] (As cited by Abdul-Rahman, p. 177). On my visit at a Sunni Muslim Mosque, I noticed that contrary to other non-Sunni Muslims, the manner of prayer and worship of the Sunni Muslims are a little bit different as they would stand, kneel, or prostrate when worshipping or praying. However, what was intriguing in their manner of worship was that when they prostrate themselves in prayer and worship, they face in the direction of Mecca. Although the concept of this practice was not new as during Israel’s Babylonian captivity in 570 BC, Prophet Daniel was thrown into the lions den for praying three times a day â€Å"facing Jerusalem† (Daniel 6: 11). For Muslims both Sunni and non Sunni, praying facing Mecca is one way of showing devotion to Islam because Mecca is Muslims holy city. O’Brien (2007) noted that Muslims pray five times a day while facing Mecca (p. 135). Even in Muslims five pillars of faith, pilgrimage to Mecca is considered as one of the five pillars that a devout Muslim should experience. While this tradition may be viewed by non Muslims as naive yet apparently, it reflects their devotion and loyalty to their religion. It shows that Muslims are faithful to their beliefs and tradition and to the founder of Islamic religion and Mecca serves as the symbol of their spiritual unity. When somebody visits a mosque for the first time, what he would likely to see are people chatting quietly or napping on the carpets and are praying and reading the Quran. But what could be more surprising perhaps is the main prayer or worship area, which is just a large open space with no pews or benches. Most of us are used to see pews and benches and expensive as well as sophisticated church facilities such as organ, drum set, piano and all church equipments adorning the main worship hall once we are inside the church either Christian or Roman Catholic Church. In Islam, although mosque is the sacred space for individual and congregational worship and it serves as places for prayer, meditation and learning yet unlike most Christian churches, the space is devoid of any equipment as Muslims simply bow down or kneel when they come to pray or worship. The interior of the mosque is simple and austere. There is no altar and no sanctuary, and there is even no clergy to deliver sermons nor are there any seats. Visitors to Sunni mosque can observe worshippers may stand, bow, kneel, or prostrate themselves, but they do not sit in the House of God. The rational behind all this, according to Bernard Lewis and Buntzie Ellis Churchill (2008) is that â€Å"the act of worship includes prostrations, to the point where the worshipper’s forehead touches the ground† (p. 40). Lewis & Churchill (2008) described their observation of the Muslim prayer and worship in mosque as follows: To participate in the ritual prayers, Muslims must be ritually pure. This is accomplished by means of ablutions, the manner and sequence of which are specifically regulated. To preserve the purity of the floor on which the worshipper prostrates himself, it is forbidden to enter the mosque wearing shoes or boots. These must be left at the entrance, and the worshipper—or, fro the matter, visitor—must enter barefoot or with special slippers provided at the entrance. The need to for purity precludes the participation or even the presence, during the prayers, of non-Muslims (p. 41). Aside from empty space, first time visitor to Mosque could also observed that there were no liturgies, but all prayers and recitations of verses from Quran. However, conversing with any mature Muslim, one could learn that Muslims perform worship five times daily. Speaking of worship, Browen (993) observed, â€Å"The rituals begin with ablutions, after which the worshipper, either alone or in congregation, performs two, three, or four rak’a or worship cycles in the direction of Mecca. Each the worshipper executes a fix sequence of movements (Standing, Prostrating, kneeling, sitting), each accompanied by a fix Arabic recitation† (p. 291). The recitations according to Browen include praises of God, affirmations of his oneness, a general request for divine guidance, and, at the beginning of each cycle, two or more verses from Quran. I could affirm this observation because during my own visit to Sunni Muslim worship, I personally witness how they demonstrate their devotion to Allah. In comparison to worship perform in most Christian churches; I could say that Muslim worship is deeply grounded on loyalty, devotion and reverence to God. In Christian churches, we could not deny that most of us are looking for comfort and even for entertainment once inside the church. We cannot bear long hours of worship service particularly on listening to the preaching of the word of God. Most of us we enjoy the singing of joyful Christian music but felt board during most of the service hours. In Muslim worship, one can observe that everyone sincerely performs worship to Allah. Browen pointed out, â€Å"Worshippers may also add petitionary prayers to the recitations. Worship should be performed five times daily: at first light, noon, mid-afternoon, sunset, and night† (p. 291). The Friday noon worship consists of a sermon and two worship cycles, and should be performed in congregation. It also has a prayer leader and a sermon giver. But one of the most notable things for the first timer in mosque worship is that one will find that worshippers are either all men or all women. This is perhaps common in all mosque worship. The reasons for this were quite obvious. Not much about their customs but about the physical nature of the prayer in which worshippers stand shoulder to shoulder, foot to foot, and which require the position of prostration. Haddad, Smith & Moore (2006) noted the arguments on the separation of men and women during worship in Mosque. Citing statements from Muslim women, Haddad, Smith & Moore wrote, â€Å"Very few Muslim women say that they want to worship side by side with men† (p. 63). â€Å"I don’t want men to look at me like that and be distracted from their attention to God, nor do I wish to look directly at the rear parts of men during prayers† goes the arguments. In some sense, this separation of sexes is a little different from other religions that also practiced separation of sexes during worship. Most religions practicing the separation of sexes are concern merely about the setting arrangements and not entirely excluding women in the same area, whereas worship in mosque gives preference on men at the main worship area, thereby promoting men’s supremacy over women. Haddad, Smith, and Moore stated, â€Å"When space is severely limited, women may find themselves worshipping in less desirable areas such as hallways or basements† (p.  64). My visit in Sunni Muslim worship, although there might only be very slight if none at all, differences between Sunni and non-Sunni Muslims, greatly impressed me because I realized how zealous are the Muslims in their faith in God. I realized that their motives of worshipping God are plain and simple but the manner they worship demonstrates how deep their devotion to Allah is. Their effort to focus their attention to God is admirable as they cannot be perhaps equaled by today’s worship both by Catholics or Christian worship. Many will find Muslim women’s clothing for example as weird and burdensome, but most Muslim women prefer wearing their hijab in order to avoid seducing men by their physical form. For most Muslim women, styles of clothing made exactly what they are expected to be â€Å"a model for her gender and her faith. To sum up my observation, the worship I had seen was full of unfamiliar religious observance yet they all reflect profound expression of faith in God which is diminishing in many Christian worship today. Abdul-Rahman, M. (2003) Islam U. K. MSA Publicatin Bowen, R. J. (1993) Muslims Through Discourse USA: Princeton University Press Haddad, Y. , Smith, J. I. & Moore, K. M. (2006) Muslim Women in America USA: Oxford University Press Esposito, J. L. (2002) What Everyone Needs to Know about Islam New York: Oxford University Press Lewis, B. & Churchill, B. E. (2008) Islam USA: Wharton School Publishing O’Brien, M. E. (2007) Spirituality in Nursing USA: Jones & Barlett Publishers

Understanding The Great Gatsby First Line and Epigraph

Understanding The Great Gatsby First Line and Epigraph SAT / ACT Prep Online Guides and Tips There’s a reason why magazines regularly put together lists of the greatest first lines in all of literature: book openings make a huge impression on readers.How a book starts helps us orient in the world that the book is creating. First, it gives us our first idea of the narrator, and the type of narration we’re going to encounter. Will it be a breathy first-person confession? Or a cool and detached third-person observation? Second, it introduces the setting, letting us know where and when the story takes place - which is very important for modulating reader expectations. What we think about two people kissing in prim and proper Victorian England will be very different than what we think about the same couple in modern day Canada. So what does the beginning of The Great Gatsby reveal? Read on for the meaning of this work’s epigraph, its opening line, and its beginning paragraphs. Article Roadmap Analyzing the epigraph ofThe Great Gatsby Exploring the meaning behind The Great Gatsby's first lines Understanding Nick as a narrator from The Great Gatsby's first paragraphs Quick Note on Our Citations Our citation format in this guide is (chapter.paragraph). We're using this system since there are many editions of Gatsby, so using page numbers would only work for students with our copy of the book. To find a quotation we cite via chapter and paragraph in your book, you can either eyeball it (Paragraph 1-50: beginning of chapter; 50-100: middle of chapter; 100-on: end of chapter), or use the search function if you're using an online or eReader version of the text. The Epigraph Poem of The Great Gatsby The novel is prefaced by this four-line poem: Then wear the gold hat, if that will move her; If you can bounce high, bounce for her too, Till she cry "Lover, gold-hatted, high-bouncing lover, I must have you!" - Thomas Parke D'Invilliers First, let’s analyze the poem, and then we can talk about who this D’Invilliers fellow is. â€Å"Then Wear the Gold Hat† In the most basic sense, the poem is a piece of advice. We know this because the first words, â€Å"then wear,† make it sound like we are hearing the middle of a conversation. Someone has been complaining about his romantic problems with a specific â€Å"she,† and the poem’s speaker is answering with some tips on what to do. The advice the poem is: go out of your way to impress her with your wealth/status (â€Å"gold hat†), and with your derring-do (â€Å"bounce high†). Whatever you can possibly do to attract her attention is worth it if she ends up won over, because then she will be insatiable (â€Å"I must have you†). Of course, this image of a ‘gold-hatted, high-bouncing lover’ is clownish at best and completely absurd at worst. The poemechoesthe novel's plot and characterizations: Gatsby’s approach to winning over Daisy is exactly that of the gold-hatted, high-bouncing lover, desperate totry anything - including buying a giant mansion next door and throwing weekly parties in the vague hope that she would show up. The idea of putting on a hat as a way of burnishing your image is exactly what Gatsby has done in adopting his â€Å"Oxford man† persona, and relates to the way he is sometimes described as an actor or charlatan. (Nick calls Gatsby a "turbaned "character" leaking sawdust at every pore" (4.31), while owl-eye glasses party guest compares Gatsby to David Belasco, a famous theater producer in Chapter 3). At the same time, the clear mockery of the image of this lover points to the craziness of Gatsby’s obsession and the absurdity of his monomaniacal quest for Daisy’s heart. There is no dignity in the approach the poem recommends, as there is none in Gatsby’s as well. This idea is further reinforced when we consider that Fitzgerald originally wanted the novel to have a more satiric flavor (check out our article on The Great Gatsby'stitle for more details). The poem also connects with novel through the character of â€Å"she,† who stands in for Daisy. It's important to note that the "she" in the poem is someone to impress and win over, and not someone to learn anything about. Just like Daisy in the novel, the poem's "she" is a prize or an objective rather than a person. Thomas Parke D’Invilliers Guess what? There is no such poet as D’Invilliers! Fitzgerald made him up, and made up this poem as well. In fact, D’Invilliers is a minor character in This Side of Paradise, Fitzgerald’s earlier novel about Princeton. In that book, the main character befriends D’Invilliers, who is a talented poet - but whose poems tend to ignore the problematic or unpleasant aspects of reality. Here, the assumed name and invented persona of this poet also tie into the Gatsby journey, playing into the novel's key theme of the mutability of identity. James Gatz transforms himself into the glamorous Jay Gatsby, andthis poet is a cover identity for Fitzgerald. So,D’Invilliers was based on the Fitzgerald's buddy, poet John Peale Bishop. Couldn’t the real guyhave written something to be Fitzgerald’s epigraph? The Great GatsbyFirst Lines This is how Chapter 1 of this novel begins: In my younger and more vulnerable years my father gave me some advice that I’ve been turning over in my mind ever since. â€Å"Whenever you feel like criticizing any one,† he told me, â€Å"just remember that all the people in this world haven’t had the advantages that you’ve had.† (1.1-2) Let’s take the Great Gatsby first lines apart in a variety of ways. What We Learn About the Narrator The first thing we figure out is that the story is going to be told in the first person (meaning it’s narrated by an â€Å"I† voice who is a character in the story and who is present at the events he describes). The second thing we see is that there is at least onetime shift in the narration. Nick is older now, but is looking back on youth and a more â€Å"vulnerable† time. There are several different ways to interpret this vulnerability, especially before we have read further: this narrator may be vulnerable to being hurt by others, to being influenced by bad surroundings/people, or maybe even to taking his dad’s advice at face value. We also get our first clue into Nick’s background: he comes from money, education, and breeding (â€Å"advantages†), which will allow him to fit in reasonably well in the old-money East Coast world that he will encounter in the novel. The Advice Given to Nick by His Father We discover that Nick has had a hard time connecting with his dad’s advice. It’s interesting that he tells us about this difficulty before he actually tells us the advice itself - almost as if he would like us to read this bit of parental wisdom with the same ambivalence and grain of salt that he himself has. Exactly why he has been â€Å"turning it over in his mind† is not spelled out, and again could be for a variety of reasons: Nick may wonder when and where it’s applicable, useful, true, or even whether he can actually stick to it. The â€Å"advice† from his father seems really more like a dig at Nick. The phrase â€Å"whenever you feel like criticizing anyone† makes it sound Nick often judges other people’s behavior and actions without considering context or circumstances. This tells us one of his main weaknesses - and it’s a pretty significant one considering Nick is going to be the eyes through which we see all the other characters! How Nick’s Father’s Advice Shapes How Nick Tells The Story Unlike the novel’s epigraph, which really is advice on what to do, Nick’s father’s words seem more like either a criticism of Nick’s bad habits or even a warning of some kind. In other words, the dad's-advice-framing-narrative makes the novelinto a reverseAesop’s fable, where the moral comes first and is followed by the story that proves the rule. Primarily, this â€Å"advice† puts a big barrier between Nick and â€Å"all the people in this world† because he has had â€Å"advantages† that they haven’t. So what are these advantages? the kind of wealth that classifies Nickas â€Å"old money† (we learn that the Carraways have been a prominent family for several generations) a sense of morality and emotional groundedness that Nick calls "the fundamental decencies is parcelled out unequally at birth† (1.3), snobbishly implying that he is ethically above most other people This means that during the rest of the novel, this snobbishness and this tendency to dismiss everyone else as being inferior is something to watch for in Nick’s description of other people and events. Gotta love that Nick’s dad is basically like, â€Å"Maybe check your privilege every once in a while, son.† The Novel’sFirst SixParagraphs Nick spends the first paragraphs of the novel encouraging us to trust him and to believe in his impartiality and good judgment. Instead of launching into the plot of the story he's about to tell, Nick instead spends a significant chunk of time explaining his family background, giving us a quick bio of himself up to the point of the summer of 1922. In other words, the first six paragraphs of The Great Gatsby are devoted to establishing Nick as both an interesting character and a relatively objective narrator. Should we accept everything he says at face value? Nick as a Narrator The main question we have to ask ourselves is: is Nick's first-person narrator reliable or unreliable? On the one hand, Nicksets himself up as an objective outsider. He comes from the Midwest, a place of morality and stability, compared to the wild East that has replaced the Wild West as the siteof moneymaking and excess lawlessness. And he talks about his father’s advice making him â€Å"inclined to reserve all judgments† (1.3), which makes him an ideal confidant (â€Å"I was privy to the secret griefs of wild, unknown men† (1.3)). But on the other hand, Nicksaysthat his tolerance and neutrality isn’t infinite (â€Å"After boasting this way of my tolerance, I come to the admission that it has a limit† (1.4)). So which do we believe? Is he a neutral observer? Or a secretly judgmental critic? The fact that even this early on we have two competing descriptions of Nick reveals that he is an unreliable narrator. In other words, his opinions, biases, and agenda will color the way he tells us the story. Our job will be to tease out which parts are â€Å"fact† and which parts are just a â€Å"Nick’s eye view.† Nick as a Character We also learn that writing the novel is Nick’s way of grappling with the meaning of a story in which he played a part – like a form of psychotherapy. The experience he is telling us about has caused Nick to leave the East Coast jaded and disappointed. He comes â€Å"back from the East [feeling]that I wanted the world to be in uniform and at a sort of moral attention forever; I wanted no more riotous excursions with privileged glimpses into the human heart† (1.4). Because we are listening to a story an older and wiser Nick is telling us about this formative summer, the mood is already elegiac (in other words,mournful) and sad. The summer that he is telling us about was formative, and for Nick, the novel is a coming-of-age story. It’s not surprising that Chapter 1 ends with feelings ofregret and yearning for the unreachable, culminating with the crucial image of Gatsby stretching his hands toward the unreachable Daisy. Nick’s self-reflection here is somewhat muddy. The Bottom Line How a book starts cluesus in to the novel's narrator andsetting. The Great Gatsby starts with an epigraph poem advising a disappointed lover to impress a woman until she can no longer resist. This is a mocking short summary of Gatsby’s undignified and increasingly desperate approach to winning over Daisy. The poem’s ostensible author is actually a character from one of Fitzgerald’s other novels. The first lines of The Great Gatsbyshow us afirst-person narrator, and atime shift in the narration. Nick’s father’s advice seems criticizes Nick for beingjudgmental and snobby - something we need to watch out for in Nick’s description of other people and events. The first few paragraphs of the novel set Nick up as a character and a narrator. He is an unreliable narrator: either an objective outsider or an intolerant observer. The story is a coming-of-age narrative for Nick, who is telling us about the summer of 1922as a therapy session to grapple with a formative experience. What’s Next? Explore the rest of Chapter 1: it’s plot, most important quotations, connections to the novel’s larger themes, and the main events for each character. Learn more about Nick Carrawayto see whether he lives up to his promise of objective observation, and what it is that so disappoints him about his time on the East coast. Consider how the unreliable first-person narratoraffects our understanding of the novel’s events, settings, and other characters. Get an overview of the whole novel: its plot, characters, themes, symbols, motifs, and all the other analysis that we have put together to help you make sense of what you’re reading.