Read how inefficient swivel chair operations and manual business processes were transformed into an automated Held Order Tracking System, enabling significant cycle time improvements.
Product orders are sent to ‘hold’ due to processing issues within the supply chain. These held orders are a key cause of delayed shipments and subsequent customer dissatisfaction. Therefore, it is imperative that companies be able to identify, qualify, and resolve such orders in a manner as timely as possible. Additionally, it is crucial to remove the root causes of orders being flagged for a hold to reduce the likelihood of preventable repeats and improve order fulfillment performance.
This case study explores how The Phoenix Group® enabled one of their clients to improve performance within their primary order fulfillment supplier’s operations through an automated held order tracking system.
The Challenge: Decrease Held Order Frequency & Resolution Time
The client’s goal was to reduce the frequency and cycle time of held orders processed by their order fulfillment supplier, but they’d have to overcome several challenges to accomplish this:
- Orders were managed through a suboptimal email process that entailed multiple stakeholders and fractured communications.
- The process to qualify hold reasons was overly complex and counterproductive.
- Held orders were ineffectively reported and tracked.
- KPIs were nearly impossible to measure and trend, hindering efforts to establish and maintain responsibility and accountability.
An overhaul of their methods and procedures to manage held orders was required, and a digital transformation solution would become the instrument to deliver the results they desired.
