Savvy manufacturing companies know that efficient operations, low costs, and high quality are good, but none of that matters if you can’t make your customers happy. Customers don’t have to play by your rulebook, and their requests constantly evolve to become more complex to deliver. That’s why the top tier of manufacturing companies recognize the need for adaptability and agility—not only in their people and processes but most especially in their supporting business systems.
Here’s a look at how the role of customer service representative has changed over the years, and why traditional ERP no longer meets the changing needs of customers.
Basic Responsibilities
Customer service reps are responsible for communicating with the customer, including processing orders and order changes. Even though today many orders are entered by the customer themselves or by using technology such as EDI, somebody is still responsible for ensuring that the order has been entered correctly and that the customer has received acknowledgment with a realistic delivery date. In some companies, customer service reps are also responsible for checking prices and validating configurations. Slotting order deliveries into the production schedule and communicating changes in demand or requested delivery dates also falls to customer service. The job requires tact, attention to detail, the ability to make quick decisions, and the talent to juggle multiple responsibilities.
Historical Methodologies
Up until the late 1970s to mid 1980s, customer service was very much a manual job. Most orders were placed over the phone, although some came in via fax or EDI. EDI used to be called “sneakernet” in many companies, because the order was received by the EDI system and then a customer service rep printed it out and either typed it on a multi-part form or later in the time period, entered it into an early iteration of an order management system. In the manual form era, every customer change order required the entire order to be retyped on a multi-part form which was then distributed to various interested departments. In many cases, the volume of orders and change orders was so great that departments such as inventory management or production planning ignored them, relying on a person in the role known as “expeditor” to provide a heads up when the customer asked for confirmation that the order would ship on time.
Customer service reps were often responsible for working with a specific group of customers. The groups were usually assigned alphabetically rather than by order volume or product line, because it was very hard to perform this type of analysis manually—there were no spreadsheets.
Recent Methodologies Using Traditional ERP
ERP systems made the customer service rep’s job easier. Change orders usually required only minor changes to the original order, and the system promulgated the changed data to other departments such as manufacturing, tooling or design that needed the insight to plan their own work.
Since MRP often had little to no insight into the actual sales orders that created the demand, tracking down production orders that corresponded to specific sales orders could be difficult or impossible unless the order was a custom or configured product. Even then, common components and sub-assemblies were difficult to identify and prioritize. Running MRP and planning programs was slow and time consuming, sometimes requiring an entire night or weekend, so data was always delayed.
Shipping departments still had to print out the hard copies of customer orders in most cases to use as packing slips, and this occasionally led to shipping incorrect quantities, wrong delivery dates or even shipping to totally different addresses than the customer needed. The customer service rep’s job was to straighten this mess out and soothe the irate customer.
Next Generation ERP Methodologies
Today, adaptive ERP solutions are more tightly integrated than ERP solutions of the past, especially when it comes to managing customers. When customers process a change order, the ERP solution knows specifically which production orders or jobs are earmarked for the order. Because running planning and MRP programs is so much faster today than it used to be, companies may see the changed priorities on the shop floor immediately once the changes have been entered.
Customer service reps can focus on ensuring that customer orders are delivered on time and in full, or in cases where that simply isn’t possible, they have the insight to proactively advise customers of the changes along with new delivery information.
Being a customer service rep still requires tact and analytical skills, but with an adaptive ERP solution, the information is readily available in a format that allows rapid accurate action based on facts rather than guesswork. As a result, both the customer service reps and the customers are far happier with the company’s performance.
Is Your Company an Adaptive Manufacturing Enterprise?
If your customer service team looks at every change and every glitch as an opportunity to delight your customers, you’re an adaptive manufacturer and you need an ERP solution that supports your efforts. Learn more about how an adaptive ERP solution can help you thrive in turbulence and support your customer requirements by visiting our website.
