Process Improvement in Restaurants’ Commissary Through Pro Model Simulation

In highly competitive food industries, operational efficiency and customer satisfaction are important for sustainable business growth. This paper focuses on identifying the bottlenecks in the workflow, assess the unnecessary or redundant process and develop practical, low-cost technological and layout-based interventions in the restaurant's commissary. The goal of this study is to enhance both efficiency and effectiveness, ensuring that the customer satisfaction is achieved not only by the product quality but also the time efficiency and consistent service using Pro Model Simulation. The simulation modeled both the current and proposed workflows, focusing on producing fresh wings. Results revealed that by implementing a redesigned layout and redistributing tasks among workers, processing time for 88 crates of chicken wings was reduced from 12 hours to 5 hours 58.33% improvement. These findings underscore the value of simulation tools in optimizing food production systems by improving efficiency, reducing labor costs, and enhancing overall productivity. The proposed layout and process standardization are practical, low-cost solutions that can be readily adopted by the commissary to support its growth and customer satisfaction goals. The study recommends investing in a first-in, first-out (FIFO) rack system to optimize inventory management, ensure constant product movement, prevent spoilage, and maximize overhead freezer space. This should facilitate efficient dispatching and reduce the need for cumbersome crate stacking. Future works should include a holistic analysis of the other processes involved in the facility, such as chicken breast processes, ergonomics of the facility, and cost-benefit analysis of the changes to evaluate return of investment. Keywords: Process Optimization, Layout Analysis, ProModel Simulation, Time and Motion Study, Food Processing