Customer service requirements

What exactly is good customer service Ask 20 people, and you will get 20 different answers a prompt response to a question, a statement calculated correctly, a friendly reassurance that things will work out, work done on time, a knowledgeable technician at the other end of the line, extra help in negotiating with a third party, and so on. Delivering good customer service requires the following ... 

Site selection is the next logical step after the strategic distribution network planning, which analyzes the company s distribution network and develops facilities requirements and customer service requirements based on the warehouse strategic master plan. Site selection is the microanalysis of the company s needs, and through the use of a structured approach, where criteria are identified, sourced, quantified, weighted, and evaluated, it enables the company to see what the best choice is for expansion or relocation. 

We can now relate the above off-shelf availability requirement to the standard customer service requirements expressed in terms of response times, W , the time it takes to fill a customer order (of type m e 9ll). Suppose the required service level of type m demand is... 

Over the past years, to effectively manage the volatility in demand, companies across a wide range of industries (e.g., automobile, fashion, etc.) have adopted demand-driven supply networks, using the pull of actual customer demand, rather than the push of available supply, to manage their network of suppliers, materials and components from manufacturing to distribution to improve supply chain efficiency while simultaneously meeting customer service requirements. 

Customer service (e.g., expected service packages, order fill rate goals, customized service requirements for sales and delivery, etc.)... 

Communicating customer service requirements Customer requirements understood by key managers Requirements understood by customer-facing personnel All requirements understood at contacts points Operating procedures posted at workstations... 

A service organization exists to interact with customers and to satisfy customers service requirements. For any service to be provided, there has to be a customer. Without a customer, and interaction between customer and the service organization, the objective of providing service cannot exist. 

In Chapter 8, we distinguished service and transport from manufacturing and supply operations with the use of system structures. We repeated Wright and Race (2004, p. 4) who say that A service organization exists to interact with customers and to satisfy customers service requirements. For any service to be provided there has to be a customer . Without the input of the customer the service cannot be provided. Rom the clients point of view, where in some service industries such as law and accounting time charged is calculated on 6-minute blocks (10 units per hour), the cost of the service is not cheap. Customers are becoming price conscious and thus service industries across the board are under pressure to reduce costs and at the same time to provide a accurate and fast service. 

Although the overwhelming majority of the company s sales are to the mass merchants, the company could not neglect its smaller customers, who are mostly specialty, niche retailers. The order profiles, shipment characteristics, and other customer service requirements for these smaller customers also had to be developed. The large customer shipments are truckloads and frequently multiple truckloads. Small customer shipments are typically LTL or parcel quantity shipments. The needs of both had to be accommodated by the facility design. 

The basic purpose of logistics cost analysis is to provide managers with reliable information that will enable a better allocation of resources to be achieved. Given that the purpose of logistics and supply chain management, as we have observed, ultimately is concerned to meet customer service requirements in the most cost-effective way, then it is essential that those responsible have the most accurate and meaningful data possible. 

Network design models should be structured such that the resulting supply chain netwoik maximizes profits after tariffs and taxes while meeting customer service requirements. The models discussed earlier can be modified to maximize profits accounting for taxes, even when revenues are in different currencies. If is the revenue from seUing one unit in market j, the objective function of the capacitated plant location model can be modified to be... 

It is also a guideline to ensure product quahty through the suitabihty of the manufacturing equipment, air and water quahty, sanitation, insect and rodent control, and housekeeping. The FDA periodically sends inspectors to audit chemical companies who manufacture bulk pharmaceutical chemicals or inactive ingredients called excipients to ensure conformance. Whereas GMP conformance ensures that the product meets pharmaceutical quahty standards, it does not ensure conformance to customer-service-related requirements. 

As stated in Chapter 1, ISO/TS 16949 harmonizes the quality system requirements of the automotive industry in the USA, Germany, France, and Italy. It does not contain all automotive quality system requirements. All participating organizations have customer-specific requirements in addition, which may be issued separately or included in individual contracts for the supply of products and services. 

Do delivery systems support 100% on-time deliveries to meet customer production and service requirements ... 

Notwithstanding the guidance given below under Evaluation and selection of subcontractors, this requirement does not relieve you of the responsibility for ensuring the quality of subcontracted parts, materials, and services. Therefore, it would be unwise to place orders on a customer-specified subcontractor without first going through your evaluation and selection process. You can obviously take some short cuts but don t make assumptions. The customer will not be sympathetic when you are late on delivery or your price escalates. If you find a subcontractor that can meet all your product/service requirements at a lower price you can submit details to your customer for approval. 

In restructured electric markets, the vertical electric monopoly vill no longer be the sole provider of electricity. The generation, transmission, distribution, and customer service functions will be separated. The upstream generation function will be competitive, allowing new, any power producer to produce and sell electricityin any service territoi"y. The transmission and distribution functions will continue to be regulated, but will be required to allow access to power suppliers and marketers. This separation or unbundling of the industi"y is necessai"y to provide nondiscrimina-tory access for all suppliers of electricity. Customers will have their choice of electric suppliers. 

To reach its standards, Millipore positions itself with a deep understanding of its customers research and manufacturing process needs. Once this is achieved, it can offer the tools, technologies and services required. 

Standby power - Power during system outages is provided by a distributed generation system until service can be restored. This is used for customers that require reliable back-up power for health or safety reasons, companies with voltage sensitive equipment, or where outage costs are unacceptably high. 

Quality System (QS) Formalized business practices that define management responsibilities for organizational structure, processes, procedures, and resources needed to fulfill product/service requirements, customer satisfaction, and continual improvement. 

Congress responded to concerns about impurities in drugs by passing an act that requires the U.S. Customs Service to inspect and stop from entry any adulterated drugs imported from overseas. 

The level of technical service support provided for a given product generally tracks in large part where the supplier considers their product to be located within the spectmm of commodity to specialty chemicals. Technical service support levels for pure chemicals usually provided in large quantities for specific synthetic or processing needs, eg, ammonia (qv), sulfuric acid (see SULFURIC ACID AND SULFUR TRIOXIDE), formaldehyde (qv), oxygen (qv), and so forth, are considerably less than for more complex materials or blends of materials provided for multistep downstream processes. Examples of the latter are many polymers, colorants, flocculants, impact modifiers, associative thickeners, etc. For the former materials, providing specifications of purity and physical properties often comprises the full extent of technical service required or expected by customers. These materials are termed undifferentiated chemicals (9),... 

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