Logistics and Supply Chain Management - Essay Example

Download file to see previous pages 1. Discuss why customer service is important in logistics and supply chain management.
2. Definition in relation to logistics and supply chain management.
3. Need for customer service.
4. Why is it important?
5. Nature of customer service.
6. Satisfaction and service quality
7. Current state/research in logistics
8. Give an example of a UK based company or a multinational coop that has implemented a good customer service
9. How has it helped them?
10. Supported by evidence.
11. What have we learned from all?

Logistics has evolved from just having the right products in the right places at the right time. It is now more a function of quality, customer satisfaction, and speed, which are essential to beat the competition. Customers are now more demanding than they were a decade ago, as they themselves are driven by competition. Customer service now means providing value for retaining customers over a lifetime. And customers would remain with a company only if it promises the best customer service in the industry.

Customers are more open today about their feelings about a company. Companies can easily measure customer satisfaction and locate loopholes in their operations that are leading to a lower level of customer satisfaction. Surveys, questionnaires, and interviews of customers about their reasons for satisfaction/dissatisfaction with the company can be compiled and analyzed for answers. Besides, knowing what exactly customers want would also lead to lower inventory levels, which means lower costs. Today, there are also contact centers with competent personnel who can uplift customer service to a different level. These contact centers help to “humanize” the company-customer relationship which has been eroded by the use of machines for communication. All in all, customer service helps to integrate a company’s logistics activities at an optimum level.

Above all these, integration with customers is being recognized as a key factor that would determine the rest of the factors. This is the main basis for the onset of 4th and fifth-party logistics across the world today.

"Customer service is a process for providing significant value-added benefits to the supply chain in a cost-effective way". In fact, customer service can be a key differentiating factor for companies that are focused on creating value for customers.

Customer service in the logistics sector can be determined by two kinds of variables: variables related directly to the physical distribution service and variables related to other functional units. Good customer service contributes absolutely to customer satisfaction, customers’ attitudes, and the market share of the firm.

In the logistics scenario, there are several terms that translate into effective customer service. It is a function of determining 1) what the customer wants and 2) the customer’s responsibility to service changes. These can be related to all aspects of customer interaction like materials handling, packaging and design, order processing, and production scheduling.

The Three-Dimensional Model
Customer service in the logistics arena can be represented in a three-dimensional pyramid comprising of three major strategies: inventory strategy, transport strategy, and location strategy. (Dr. M. Mathirajan, IIS, Bangalore)

Inventory is one of the key measures of customer satisfaction. The Item Fill Rate (IFR), which is the percentage of time that a customer can get the item they want, is one of the indicators. The higher the IFR, the higher is the possibility of a customer being satisfied by the company, as the company would ideally have the item the customer seeks in its inventory. This part of the customer service chain can be maintained by strategies like the deployment of inventories and inventory level control.

Transport strategies are just as important for effective and efficient customer service. Determining the ideal modes of transport, carrier routing and scheduling, size of the shipments, frequency of the shipments, and consolidation are some of the strategies in this sphere. ...Download file to see next pages Read More