Xpresso Lube
CASE: XPRESSO LUBE
1. Describe Xpresso Lube’s service package? * Supporting facility: Xpresso Lube has a fixed amount of operational capacity because it has a limited number of service lifts – two to be exact. Other components of its supporting facility are tools and equipment, an equipment storage area, a spacious waiting room, chairs, a service counter, street access and parking. * Facilitating goods: oil, filters, auto parts, coffee, snacks, cups, napkins, sugar and milk. * Information: for regular customers a reminder card could be sent for routine maintenance. * Explicit services: a car with new oil and filter, maintenance checks of the car, and a cup of coffee. * Implicit services: trust, a feeling of not “getting screwed,” a feeling of keeping the car maintained, the satisfaction that comes from taking care of one’s car, the good feeling that comes from recycling the old oil, a caffeine lift, and the satisfaction of drinking good coffee while you wait.
2. How are the distinctive characteristics of a service operation illustrated by Xpresso Lube?
* Customer Participation in the Service Process: Customers bring their car to Xpresso Lube and wait for the oil change. Customers are invited to inspect the car while on the lift to observe other needed repairs. * Simultaneity: Using the coffee shop as a pleasant diversion allows Xpresso Lube to partially reduce the need for immediately working on arriving cars. Providing a shuttle service to nearby University and State Capital would further allow scheduling oil changes. * Perishability: the number of car lifts at the shop limits Xpresso Lube’s capacity. This oil change business also owns an auto repair facility next door so the two businesses can deploy mechanics between them to best utilize labor capacity.
* Intangibility: When an oil change is done in a typical pit, the customer cannot actually see the process and, after the service, the car’s
1. Describe Xpresso Lube’s service package? * Supporting facility: Xpresso Lube has a fixed amount of operational capacity because it has a limited number of service lifts – two to be exact. Other components of its supporting facility are tools and equipment, an equipment storage area, a spacious waiting room, chairs, a service counter, street access and parking. * Facilitating goods: oil, filters, auto parts, coffee, snacks, cups, napkins, sugar and milk. * Information: for regular customers a reminder card could be sent for routine maintenance. * Explicit services: a car with new oil and filter, maintenance checks of the car, and a cup of coffee. * Implicit services: trust, a feeling of not “getting screwed,” a feeling of keeping the car maintained, the satisfaction that comes from taking care of one’s car, the good feeling that comes from recycling the old oil, a caffeine lift, and the satisfaction of drinking good coffee while you wait.
2. How are the distinctive characteristics of a service operation illustrated by Xpresso Lube?
* Customer Participation in the Service Process: Customers bring their car to Xpresso Lube and wait for the oil change. Customers are invited to inspect the car while on the lift to observe other needed repairs. * Simultaneity: Using the coffee shop as a pleasant diversion allows Xpresso Lube to partially reduce the need for immediately working on arriving cars. Providing a shuttle service to nearby University and State Capital would further allow scheduling oil changes. * Perishability: the number of car lifts at the shop limits Xpresso Lube’s capacity. This oil change business also owns an auto repair facility next door so the two businesses can deploy mechanics between them to best utilize labor capacity.
* Intangibility: When an oil change is done in a typical pit, the customer cannot actually see the process and, after the service, the car’s