Brief Description of the Failure
The failure occurred during the annual tech week, characterized by excessive product demand. The company received many orders through the online retail platform that needed to be fulfilled within three days for each order. Luckily, the company has sufficient stocks, but several customer complaints were filed regarding the delivery of damaged products. Jiang (2022) indicates that such problems increase negative reviews. The company had to conduct a proper investigation to establish the root causes.
Dissection to Root Cause (Forecasting, Inventory, Information, Other Considerations)
The outcome of the investigation revealed that the warehousing department received a huge volume of orders. The rate of demand and delivery did not match up, leading to an increased backlog of orders. The problem was that the company had not conducted proper forecasting to estimate the accurate demand and adequately prepare to handle the sales spike. When the tech week was launched, there was exceptionally high demand, leading to increased customer orders. The warehouse got packed with items awaiting delivery, leading to a huge backlog that needed to be cleared. Items were lumped together after being prepared and ready for delivery. In the process, some items got damaged, and others were broken up, and this could not be noted since they were ready for delivery. The customer could discover the problem, leading to a fulfillment failure.
The Fix So It Never Happens Again
The problem required immediate fixing, and the best approach entailed improving the warehouse’s setup. Even though the company had not expected a spike in orders, it was considered that the organization of the floor plan had to be adjusted to avoid fulfillment failures in the future. The company introduced rack labeling and proper slotting to ensure that ordered items were well placed in the warehouse (Jiang, 2022). Clear pick paths were created, and proper lighting was installed to support movement in picking orders due for delivery. Cleanliness was enhanced to avoid scattering of items, which helped make a difference in increasing efficiency.
Reference
Jiang, D., Li, X., Aneja, Y. P., Wang, W., & Tian, P. (2022). Integrating order delivery and return operations for order fulfillment in an online retail environment. Computers & Operations Research, 143. Web.