How can you balance quality service with efficient logistics and operations?

It is obvious when we mention that knowing customer expectations does not translate into actions and the reality of our daily lives. The expectation of having the best and the cheapest with immediate availability and delivery is not the maxim of all customers, but the reliability of the entire experience matters, and more than we consider. Agile deliveries within expectations and deadlines are combined with experience at the time of acquisition, in the services provided during and after the sale, the details are as important as knowing your customer's name (yes, believe me, many don't even know the name of the customer).

Understanding your guests' needs and desires during their stay at your establishment is crucial, but there's one key factor that can immediately foster customer loyalty and generate referrals: creating memorable guest interactions. This is because people remember their holiday or visit mostly through their encounters with others. Engaging in genuine, interesting and friendly conversations with your guests can significantly exceed their expectations of your hospitality, which will not only ensures repeat business but also results in positive referrals. I can attest to this based on my two-year experience running a B&B in France.

Identify areas where processes can be simplified and streamlined to improve efficiency without sacrificing quality. This could include automating certain tasks, implementing standardized procedures, and utilizing technology to track and manage logistics. Implementing a robust logistics and operations management system can help improve efficiency by providing real-time visibility into inventory levels, order processing, and transportation logistics. This can help reduce errors, improve accuracy, and speed up the overall process.

La logística es una función estratégica que puede aportar valor a los clientes y al negocio. Es necesario comprender las necesidades y expectativas de los clientes, tanto actuales como potenciales, y ofrecerles soluciones personalizadas, flexibles y eficientes. para lograr su satisfacción, fidelización y recomendación. Estos aspectos pueden mejorar la competitividad, la productividad y la rentabilidad de la actividad logística, así como generar confianza y reputación entre los clientes. En definitiva,la logística es un factor clave para el éxito de cualquier negocio de hospitalidad, y que requiere de una visión integral, orientada al cliente y alineada con los objetivos y valores de la empresa.

I believe one of the more efficient plans that perhaps many 3 or 4PL's are leaning toward is contracting e- commerce (Amazon) annexation in the DC footprint. As I see more DC's try to customize pick quantities down to the case level, to try and be more customer conscience. I think of it like having instacart picking orders in a DC.

First things first. It very necessary to have a well defined process. Audit comes only after a well defined process is established, audit is for verifying and not implementing a process. While addressing the Quality Expectations of a customer it is equally important to ensure any other customer is not affected.

Visualisation by use of Material & information flow learns where critical steps in the process are situated & will guide to optimise your workflows.

Esto implica la eliminación de desperdicios, errores y retrasos en cada etapa de su negocio. Para llevar a cabo esta tarea, existen herramientas valiosas a su disposición, como diagramas de flujo, listas de comprobación, procedimientos operativos estándar o software especializado que le permiten mapear y mejorar sus flujos de trabajo.

Evaluate your logistics and operational processes to identify areas for improvement. Look for bottlenecks, inefficiencies, and unnecessary steps that can be streamlined or eliminated. Use tools such as process mapping and lean methodologies to optimize your workflows.

Provide comprehensive training to your employees to ensure they have the necessary skills and knowledge to perform their tasks efficiently and effectively. Empower them to make decisions and resolve issues promptly, reducing the need for unnecessary escalations and delays.

Coaching and Motivation are critical. Ask for ideas from the person you’re coaching, acknowledge and encourage great ideas the individual comes up with. If they are off course, throw out some ideas for them to choose from. Once they select one, continue to draw out their ideas so they feel like they own part of the process/concept. When you have collectively decided, congratulate and encourage along the way. Check in frequently at first and as you see them gaining confidence, congratulate and encourage and back away so they feel empowered and appreciated. The more you do this the more empowered and motivated they become.

Many strategies have been suggested, however, one other thing that needs to be put in place is the feedback mechanism from customers. The logistics operation is a client based service, a well-defined mechanism would be vital to ascertain the customers' satisfaction, perspectives and opinions; and then proffer solutions where there are complaints.

Good Operational Procedures are key to empower members & eventually train the staff. Creation of Job Instruction Sheets will ensure your trainers to focus on key items in the process & like this deliver high quality. Empower the trainers to create JES SOP's and you'll see the ownership will be taken by the team.

Es fundamental la búsqueda de un equilibrio entre la excelencia en el servicio y la eficiencia operativa, paraa eso se necesita la capacitación y empoderamiento de su personal. La clave radica en proporcionarles las habilidades, el conocimiento y los recursos necesarios para que desempe?en sus funciones de manera efectiva y eficiente. Esto implica preparar a su equipo para ofrecer un servicio de calidad y, al mismo tiempo, equiparlos para abordar cualquier desafío o solicitud que puedan enfrenta

In my 15 plus years experience driving operational excellence within a number of logistics operations I have found that nothing beats face to face communication when it come to engaging people and getting buy-in for change. To get people (be it management or operational staff) to trust you and follow your new direction they need to see you in person. This is because 55% of communication is nonverbal, 38% vocal and only 7% words.

Off course, the effecient logistical operations facilitate the essential aspect of effective coordination and collaboration among diverse stakeholders within the supply chain. From suppliers and manufacturers to distributors and retailers, these operations ensure seamless teamwork, minimizing delays and disruptions for optimized outcomes. This coordination leads to improved communication, increased visibility, and better decision-making throughout the supply chain.

In order to create collaboration, targets & measurement tools need to be super clear. Therefore key is to measure effective KPI's and work with these; discuss on regular basis & create action lists + define owners.

Any action taken in process KPI's need to lead to improvement/contribution to the main objectives. Like this meetings can be very effective & efficient if all are focussed on status, target, improvement & action generation with owner.

I can imagine an extremely intuitive software developer out there to initially propose a seamless, let's say read only platform bridge for all the Manhattan, Blue Yonder, SAP, Oracle, Peoplenet, McLeod, Red Prairie, you name it ERP,TMS,WMS,YMS, RF...Bridge all these platforms(Read only) then establishments can tailor analytics to make clean comparisons of top root cause detractors or better than anticipated results. We all usually know the questions, I find it depressingly difficult to clearly define the real factors that drive the KPI's or immediately resource orchastration. Fast forward to tailored dashboards that can help make logical business alternatives. If that synthetic recommendation is superceded general questions can be learned.

Quality in the hospitality industry is of very high importance to the organization and at the same time, defines success and business growth. To reach a high level of balanced quality service with efficient logistics and operations, it takes building trust between the customer and the organization. It can be done in many ways, and one of them is by implementation of efficient communication, and by listening to the customer's voice.