A salient objective of any business is to deliver the next-generation services, which are geared to propel growth. This article focused on throwing light by elaborating on the ways and means to increase the service levels. Wherein the ultimate thrust is on taking your business to the next level, which would accelerate growth. We aim to help you find ways for doing this in supply chain and operations management. The article is divided into two parts:
- supply chain
- operations management.
- Increasing the service level in the supply chain
Businesses get often trapped in viewing supply chain in narrow boxes, for instance, as though it relates to only domestic and or export sales. As a result, they define their strategic functions in terms of freight, warehouse, etc. operations. In short, in the process, they miss the ‘value proposition,’ which has to be on the customer. In other words, it has to revolve around them and not what business does. And this is what would differentiate you from your competitors. An important one of them, with which you can achieve this is, by improving the service levels and we explain this with the following:
a. Improve supplier performance
The suppliers have a responsibility to deliver quality items for which collaboration at the service levels is essential. Towards this, meaningful metrics as the completion of orders in full, in an accurate manner and on time are the ones that you need to concentrate.
b. Improve the supply chain visibility
The supply chain is more about clarity and not mechanical tracking. Tracking may be about the containers or the pallets (the physical goods), but the real challenge lies in managing the customers. Your technology has to tuned towards that, and again it has to concentrate on collaboration. Metrics without a human touch may not stand the scrutiny of supply chain practices at all times. In effect, this means establishing and sustaining a healthy supply chain relationship, which allows for two-way communication between all the stakeholders. It should contain additional metrics of performance and above all, provide a platform for conflict resolution.
- Increasing service levels in operations management
Principally, labor is the most significant component in terms of cost that drive operations management. It is necessary to match the service requirements to that of the customers’ expectations and needs. Some of the specific deliverables here would be:
a. Improving service process management
Service processes are dynamic for the reason they continually change concerning the needs of businesses and customers. They call for continuous improvement. Continuous improvement requires the identification of means that could standardize across the customers and geographies.
b. Managing the workforce
- If labor is the chief factor, their productivity forms a significant part in service operations. To optimize this critical component, you need to first calculate the total labor needs across all the locations. In a bottom-up manner, which is pinpointing the labor drivers and creating a model for determining the task times and frequencies. Once done, you can apportion the hours between full time/part-time, etc., based on which the compensation structure could be worked out.
- The objectives of Kaizen from strategic planning to implement supply chain and operations management techniques are to bring about improvement to your business operations. In this respect, the takeaways of this article are:
- In increasing the level of service, transparency has to maintained at all stages, from production to delivery.
- It is necessary to identify areas where the technology would be purpose-driven. It means, instead of structuring your process around technology, the processes that are causing the sub-standard performance needs to identify. And the software solutions would have to center around to fit in where they are required.
- High quality and cost-effective services at the operation management require paying attention to service level labor requirements. Service process, workforce management, and a compensation structure are the levers, which the administration must take into account to improve the cost and quality of operations.
- It is an excellent idea to establish a supply chain and operations management council comprising leading your management team, who would be able to align the supply chain services to overall objectives of your organization.
Keywords: SERVICE, SUPPLY, Operations Management, Service Level, PROCESS, BUSINESS, LABOUR, IMPROVE, Supply Chain and Operations Management, service process
