SERVICE PROCESS
The service process refers to how a service is provided or delivered to a customer. Delivery system is a creative process. it begins with a service concept and strategy to provide a service. In order to achieve these objectives, various alternatives must be analyzed and identified before a decision is made. Designing a service process involves issues such as location facility, design and layout for effective design and layout for effective customer and work flow, procedure and job definitions for service providers, extent of customer involvement, measures to ensure service quality, equipment selection and adequate service capacity.
According to C. Lovelock there are 7 operational issues, which have to be considered while designing the service quality process.
i) In order to achieve economies of scale and perform consistently the— operation people would prefer to process in a batch while the marketing would prefer to cater to individuals so that the customer feels as being treated specially.
ii) The decisions on designs and facility layout should satisfy the objectives of both
iii) Operational people are interested to improve the productivity as the cost of production per unit will reduce.
iv) Operation people want a standardized service since it keeps the cost lower and is easy for implementation. On the other hand the marketing people prefer customization to match customers’ needs.
v) Manage the queues in such a way that it is possible to use the available space.
vi) Operational employees feel that the job design should minimize error and standardize tasks, making efficient use of approach.
vii) The operational personnel lie to manage capacity in such a way that wasteful under-utilization will not take place.
Planning
The following strategic decisions and design elements must be considered in the Service planning process.
- Basic Technological Decision.
- Conversion/Materials Decision.
- Specific Equipment Decision.
- Process Flow Decision:
i) Blue prints.
ii) Flow charts.
iii) Front and back Office.
iv) Layouts.
v) Benchmarks.
5) People Decision.
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