Content area
The current study suggests potential improvements in one of the most important back-office activities, order processing, in a large company. Once an order is placed by a customer, the waiting time includes order processing time, manufacturing time, and delivery time. There is vast empirical literature on improvements in manufacturing and even delivery processes; however, order processing is an under-explored area and this study intends to contribute to filling this gap. It describes the development of two tools targeting two different order processing related issues. The first tool aims at reducing order processing lead times, which increases customers’ satisfaction. Regarding the second tool, its goal is to improve the communication procedures in an order processing department.
This research was based on a company that uses mainly a make-to-order production system. The investigation was carried out during a curricular internship. Data were collected mainly with semi-structured interviews and observation (direct and participant), but also through document analysis, archival records, and physical artifacts.
The tools that are presented in this study were both implemented by the case company. The first tool is expected to reduce order processing lead time by 82% for 8,6% of the orders. The second tool improves the current communication mechanisms by reducing the number of emails sent by 10%, which affects positively the attentiveness and productivity of the employees responsible for order processing
Other researchers or companies with similar problems may find this study useful since they can adapt these tools to their processes. Moreover, they can use the same framework that was used in this study to collect and analyze data, towards developing their own tools.