Decision Sciences Journal
Volume 30, Number 4
Fall 1999
An Analysis of the Production Line versus the Case Manager
Approach to Information Intensive Services
Uday M. Apte
Edwin L. Cox School of Business, Southern Methodist University,
Dallas, TX 75275-0333, email: uapte@mail.cox.smu.edu
Cynthia M. Beath
MSIS Department, CBA 5.202, The University of Texas at Austin,
Austin, TX 78712-1175, email: cbeath@mail.utexas.edu
Chon-Huat Goh
School of Business–Camden, Rutgers University, Camden, NJ
08102,
email: cgoh@crab.rutgers.edu
Abstract. The production line approach has been beneficially
used in manufacturing companies to yield consistent-quality standard
products at relatively low cost. For this reason, service firms
have also employed this approach, which embodies a division of
labor, sequential flow processes, and standardization of services.
Today’s customers, however, are demanding customized services
and shorter cycle times—outcomes that the production line
approach finds difficult to achieve. An alternative process design
proposed for information intensive services is the emerging “case
manager” approach, in which all the steps required to deliver
a service are performed by a single information technology-enabled
individual. This paper uses queuing theory to compare the waiting
time performance of the production line and the case manager
approaches. This comparison shows that when the number of process
steps under the production line approach is relatively large,
the relative efficiency of the case manager is sufficiently high,
system utilization rate is moderate, and the size of staff downsizing
is small, the case manager approach is preferred. Critical issues
for the design of enabling information technology are then discussed.
The paper concludes with suggestions for future research on the
case manager approach.
Subject Areas: Case Manager Approach, Information Intensive
Services, Information Systems, Process Choice/Design, Production
Line Approach, Queuing Theory, and Reengineering Service Operations. |