Question

Ten years ago, Antonio was appointed the director of logistics for a significant company dedicated to the online sale of office supplies. So far, work in the logistics area had been executed excellently, but for some months they have begun to detect some irregularities that have caused the discomfort of customers.

Among the main problems detected we find:

• Orders sent to a client were incomplete, which implies that a second package must be sent with the items missing.
• Poorly sealed packages that sometimes open during the journey.
• The most fragile products are often not protected and arrive broken or damaged to the customer.
• Delivery to the client takes a few days.
• Even, once, customer addresses have mixed, sending one customer someone else's orders.

Following these problems, with the consequences that bring, Antonio decides to reorganise the logistics department. To do this, he asks for help to design the processes and tasks that must be executed during the reception, preparation and sending of orders to customers.

solve

1. The logistics department is organised into three main areas: reception, preparation and dispatch of orders. Divide all the work and tasks that are carried out in the department of Antonio, so that each area has specific tasks and activities. Besides, establish the objectives that you intend to achieve with each of the detailed processes.
2. Focus on a specific area (reception, preparation or shipment) and design the diagram with the processes and tasks that make up this area.
3. In the diagram, it represents the parallel processes, as well as alternative trajectories and inspection points, to avoid the problems presented in the statement.
4. Based on the objectives set in question 1, which review indicators would you use? And how would you use them? Justify your answer and give several examples of what you would measure with the selected indicators.

Answer 1

Based on the diagrams that have been attached along with for the Reception, Packing and Shipment, the following review indicators and inspection points would be as follows:

- Reception:

In this task the process flow was to check of verify the integrity of the order from the customer. And if attributes of the order are good then the information can be entered in the system and send to the next department which is the preparation department. But at the same time if there are some bad or missing attributes, the same should be denied and a mail detailing the failure and reason should be send to the customer. A confirmation mail should also be send to the customer when the same has been passed to the preparation department.

The keep review indicator here is with respect to the verification of the attributes of the order so as to ensure that there are no missing factors with the same.

- Preparation:

Here the review indicators are the creation of the list for picking the same with respect to the category they belong to. This is an area of double check as the attributes were once checked in the reception. If all the items are available then the same shall be picked and made ready to be passed to the shipment. If only part items are available the same can either be packed and shipped with exception or cancelled in whole.

- Shipment:

Proper labeling of the order is one of the key review indicators here as there was problem of receiving other orders and not the client’s orders. So there should be a proper check on this so as to ensure that the order reaches the correct customer. And handing over of the shipment and arrival/handing over of the same to the customers should be taken care of by the company itself and should not be missed out.

In fact the company can make proper policies for the labeling of the order, shipment policies which should only take 2-3 days and be finished within the give n time scale. They should also have proper actions and consequences in place which should be taken when there is a deviation from the standards.