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April 2023 - If A One-Time Process Feature Does Not Work, Should You Fix It?

Bill’s Building Blocks - If A One-Time Process Feature Does Not Work, Should You Fix It?

Long before the current banking crisis my New Jersey bank was merged into a larger financial banking group. The transition weekend was widely advertised, and all current bank clients were sent detailed information about how seamless the merger would be.  Everything went smoothly until it didn’t. One previously existing connection to another external bank was broken and not reestablished. When I manually reconnected the two banks and tried to withdraw a test amount, the transfer failed.  Overnight my account at the new bank was suspended! Calls to the help desk took 45 minutes with maddening music and little communication of expected waiting time. When a banking representative finally answered the phone, my question was above her pay grade. Her wait time to connect with a supervisor was equally as long. She could neither give me her supervisor’s phone number nor call me back at my phone number.  The next day I reached a supervisor who “fixed the problem” and explained it was a timing issue.  My second attempt at a trial transfer also failed. Finally the transfer issue was resolved by realizing the routing number was for a wire transfer, but this was an ACH transfer. Don’t even think about sending me a customer satisfaction survey! Since withdrawals could also be made with a debit card or by check, was it worth spending so much time to fix this one-time process feature?

When a single customer’s delivery goes off the rails, is it worth spending time to determine and fix the root cause of the issue?  After all there will be other customer’s orders to get right. Well, maybe not, if the dissatisfied customer communicates on social media to other potential customers!  Where would you look to find and fix the root cause?

• Order Capture – Is product, quantity, and delivery information captured correctly?
• Cash Payment – Is there a credit hold on the customer’s payment?
• Inventory Availability – Is the product in inventory or must it still be built?
• Inbound Logistics – Are parts inventory shipments international or domestic? Are the logistics connections predictable and reliable?
• Product Build – Are lower-level materials and production capacity available?
• Outbound Logistics – Is the product shipment domestic or international? Is the logistic connection predictable and reliable?
  
  

When a single customer’s delivery goes off the rails, is it worth spending time to determine and fix the root cause of the issue?  Absolutely!

©2023 William T. Walker, CFPIM, CSCP-F, CLTD-F, CIRM has 42 years practitioner experience mostly with Hewlett-Packard, authored Supply Chain Construction and Supply Chain Architecture, and teaches Supply Chain Engineering at NYU Tandon in Brooklyn. He is a 40+year ASCM member and APICS E&R Foundation past president. email: [email protected]