Background Information on Diversified Manufacturing Inc Problem
The organization in question is the Diversified Manufacturing Inc. based in Denver, Colorado, the company deals with a variety of electronic and other materials used in engineering and medical applications. Once the company sells the machines, their customers need maintenance and repairs. There are field technicians who are employed to move to respective clients performing the repairs. DMI derives a lot of revenues and profits from these field repairs and maintenance exercises.
This has led the company to establish a national service center. This is where customers call when they need any of DMI’s services. The call-takers receive information from clients and enter it in the company’s computers. If possible, the call-takers help the customers fix the problem. However, in most cases this information is transferred electronically to DMI’s regional dispatch center. The dispatchers assign the call to a field technician depending on their location and training. It is now upon these techs to call the client and arrange on their arrival. On finishing with one client, they are supposed to call the dispatcher to be assigned another call.
Various problems have emerged because of this system. Sometimes the technicians do not have the parts they need to conduct a repair. They have to wait until the parts are dispatched to the customer for them to continue with their work. They would also dispose some valuable materials instead of returning them to the company. Other problems experienced include long response times and decline in the number of technicians. Competition has also been experienced with the entry of Japanese competitors who use technologies that are more sophisticated. As a result of these problems, the management has assembled together a re-engineering team whose duty is to come up with a better process to handle a service call. The main challenge remaining is what vision should drive the team.
Work Cited
Schroeder, Roger. Susan, Goldstein & Johnny, Rungtusanatham. Operations management:
contemporary concepts and cases. Boston: McGraw-Hill Irwin, 2008. Print.
