Customer service policy is an on-going process of increasing both the quality and number of links between the manufacturing organization and the customer. The whole emphasis in today’s service intensified businesses are to increase a series of both human and information based technological relationships between customer and the organization so that better customer services and satisfaction to the customer can be realized.
Manufacturing/logistics issues at the interface for better customer service are as follows
- Forecasting Demand: Product forecasting in the short to midterm contribute to the process of ensuring the availability of stock for customers. This includes the use of distribution requirements planning wherever appropriate. For the longer term, forecasting at the product group level is crucial for manufacturing capacity and flexibility decisions
- Customer and Supplier System: Organizational systems will need to be directly related to the issues of how to bind the customer more tightly to the organization and how effectively integrate suppliers into the overall supply chain with the objective of enhancing customer oriented service
- Plant Configurations: Both cost structure and service levels impact heavily on location, nature and operating performance of manufacturing facilities, central warehouses and branch warehouses. In the longer term, and in conjunction with other factors (systems, supplies), the plant/branch configuration is a major structural input to reducing overall supply chain costs
A need for reorganization of the logistics (supply chain) network from supplier through to customer will be required, once the associations between manufacturer and the customer and manufacturer and the supplier are complete, for two reasons
- Technology available, particularly information technology, will allow certain plant/branch configurations, previously ruled out, to be feasible
- The cost of the network will be required to reduce (in real terms) continuously
A key feature of this process will be the requirement of involving in an appropriate manner both customers and suppliers. This will be new ground for many organizations and will force a re-evaluation of values and mission in some circumstances.
