Value Chain Engineering: Analysis of Complaints and Recommendations

This study analyzes the root causes of grievances in the supply chain of an electronics distribution company. It provides recommendations to improve the process of stock keeping and minimize complaints. The study includes data analysis, category wise complaints, customers, complaint types, product family, and complaints by CSR staff.

Running head: VALUE CHAIN ENGINEERING
Value chain engineering
Name of the Student:
Name of the University:
Author’s Note:

1VALUE CHAIN ENGINEERING
Executive Summary
Objective of the Study
Complaints analysis
Depiction of top 3 complaints and providing the appropriate solution
Methodology
Deductive and exploratory research followed by data of complaints from 719 customers. The
secondary research is conducted with depicting the findings of the data analysis as per the
previous literature.
Findings
“Poor Packaging, damaged products and poor response from CSR staff are the top three
contributors of the complaints”. The main reason for the complaints are enlisted as fraud for
“tampered barcode, inaccuracy in order picking and delivery, unskilled employees, improper
layout of the warehouse”.
Conclusion
The primary recommendations have suggested the improvement plan for the warehouse.

2VALUE CHAIN ENGINEERING
Table of Contents
Executive Summary...................................................................................................................1
Introduction................................................................................................................................3
Background................................................................................................................................3
Methodology..............................................................................................................................3
Data Analysis.............................................................................................................................3
Category wise complaints......................................................................................................4
Customers...............................................................................................................................4
Complaint types.....................................................................................................................4
Product Family.......................................................................................................................5
Complaints by CSR Staff.......................................................................................................5
Discussion and Findings............................................................................................................6
Recommendations......................................................................................................................7
Conclusion..................................................................................................................................8
Bibliography...............................................................................................................................9

3VALUE CHAIN ENGINEERING
Introduction
The aim of the study is to address the issues in the “supply chain for an electronics
distribution company”. The discourse of the study has discussed the root causes of the
grievances and shows some of the recommendations of which will be conducive in improving
the process of stock keeping.
The assessment of the complaints has been investigated with the “root cause of the top
three complaints”. For ensure minimum complaints operational issues has been also
investigated. The recommendations to the improvement process will be able to improve the
supply chain of the overall process and give competitive edge to the organization.
Background
In the recent times, there has been several grievances received by the company. It has
created a database for storing the details of the complaints. The analysis of the database has
been used for summarizing the “antecedent root cause of the complaints”. The solutions
proposed will be helpful in minimizing the number of complaints and ensure satisfaction of
the customers.
Methodology
The extraction of the database is comprised of the 7”19 complaints between 19th Jan
and 29th May, 2015”. In addition to this, the analysis will be done for the relevant RCA.
Secondary research will be conducive in stating the solution for the root cause.
Data Analysis
The data analysis reveals that there were 15 grievances raised from the PF15 in May.
Moreover, for product family PF9 the customer C9 drafted complain regarding wrong

4VALUE CHAIN ENGINEERING
product. There were on an average 8.40 complaints for family PF9 which was initiated in
every month in 2015, from January to May.
Category wise complaints
Customers
The complains as per the top three customers are listed below as follows:
 “Customer C6 raised 1.39% (10) of the total complaints”
 “Customer C3 raised 1.39% (10) of the total complaints”
 “Customer C4 raised 1.11% (8) of the total complaints”
Complaint types
The top three complaints types are listed below:
 “Packaging accounted for 150 (20.86%) of complaints”
 “Damaged accounted for 115 (15.99%) of complaints”
 “Poor Response accounted for 108 (15.02%) of complaints”

5VALUE CHAIN ENGINEERING
Product Family
Top three complaints regarding Product Family are listed below:
 “PF10 accounted for 62 (8.62%) of complaints”
 “PF12 accounted for 55 (7.65%) of complaints”
 “PF6 accounted for 52 (7.23%) of complaints”
Complaints by CSR Staff
Top three complaints of CSR staff are
 “P5 raised 91 (12.66%) of complaints”

6VALUE CHAIN ENGINEERING
 “P4 raised 90 (12.52%) of complaints”
 “P8 raised 85 (11.82%) of complaints”
Discussion and Findings
Unskilled Employees
The distribution centre employees have been discerned to be lacking the required skill
for working in a large DC especially for electronic items.
Improper warehouse design and layout
The design of the warehouse is discerned to be “unorganized, which increases labour
costs”.
Unsuitable warehouse environment
The warehouse environment is damp due to the seepage from the roof and broken
windows and doors. This has caused weakening of packaging material and electronic items.
Equipment Breakdown

7VALUE CHAIN ENGINEERING
The improper planning for the maintenance equipment has caused unforeseen outages
ensuing in cost overruns.
Barcode fraud
The third party is seen to control the operational process of distribution centre. In this
case the third party in several instances has altered barcodes on products resulting in faulty
deliveries.
Theft
The loss of items is mainly seen to be taken into consideration for the theft by
“insiders” and “outsiders.” The existence of both legitimate and illegitimate people in the
warehouse is evident in the DC area.
Absence of automated order picking
The manual handling of the orders has led to poor service and increased labour costs
from the distribution centre.
Recommendations
An in-depth analysis of the issues in DC have depicted that there is need for the
preparation of an actions plan to ensure swift response in situations of emergency. The
organization needs to document the main equipment’s at the “warehouse and create a process
flow for their annual maintenance”. DC should ensure the availability of the suitable number
of extra equipment’s, which will be able to ensure proper upkeep in the warehouse and also
del with the replacements if needed.

8VALUE CHAIN ENGINEERING
Conclusion
The different types of the depictions made in the analysis has highlighted on
“customers, of product family, raised by CSR staff” as the three major contributors for the
complaints. These are seen to distributed as per the type of the compliant. The various types
of the learnings from the search of previous literature has depicted that, that the various types
of the grievances may be addressed with a little effort. Moreover, the proposed modifications
will be able to significantly contribute to the “efficiency of the Distribution centre”.

9VALUE CHAIN ENGINEERING
Bibliography
Anand, V., Lee, S. and Prabhu, V.V., 2014, September. Energy-aware models for
warehousing operations. In IFIP International Conference on Advances in Production
Management Systems (pp. 390-397). Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg.
Andrejić, Kilibarda, Popović, Milan, Milorad, Vlado, (2015). LOGISTICS FAILURES IN
DISTRIBUTION PROCESS. In Logistics International Conference. Serbia, 21-23 May
2015.
Makafui R. Agboyi, David Ackah. (2015). The impact of warehousing on customer
satisfaction. World Wide Journal of Multidisciplinary Research and Development. 1 (5), 9-
20.
Sharmi Duncun. (2015). Warehouse Operations: The Heart of the Customer Experience.
Shamsuzzoha, A.H.M., Ehrs, M., Addo-Tenkorang, R., Nguyen, D. and Helo, P.T., 2013.
Performance evaluation of tracking and tracing for logistics operations. International Journal
of Shipping and Transport Logistics, 5(1), pp.31-54.
Sustainable Development: The Role of Industrial Engineering, DIMEG Edizioni, Bari.
Wambua, B.J., Okibo, W.B., Nyang’Au, A. and Ondieki, S.M., 2015. Effects of Inventory
Warehousing Systems on the Financial Performance of Seventh Day Adventist Institutions: A
Case of Adventist Book Centers (ABC), Kenya. International Journal of Business and
Management, 10(4), p.259.
Zhou, W., Piramuthu, S., Chu, F. and Chu, C., 2017. RFID-enabled flexible
warehousing. Decision Support Systems, 98, pp.99-112.