Introduction
BrightView Company is a family business that provides plumbing services to both residential and commercial buildings. The founder Mr. Brent Moore aimed to achieve business concepts in estimation, customer service, efficient operation, and timely delivery in plumbing activities. The company employs local contractors to take up plumbing orders received by the company. Mr. Louis Moore identified specific challenges after joining the business concerning inefficient customer service relations, incomplete contract orders, failure to meet customer demands, and a reactive inventory system. These challenges led to the development a new business model that would solve inventory department issues and satisfy customer demands.
The business model consisted of warehousing and an inventory process. Procurement of parts directly from manufacturers would increase profits on parts and flow of plumbing activities in fulfilling orders. Employment of customer service representatives to schedule appointments, service technicians to order parts and equipment, and a warehouse clerk to track inventory manually and through the management software are among the changes effected in the new business model.
Consultancy and Problem-Solving Process
Several challenges ensued the business operations due to gaps that led to its inefficiency. The issues include the lack of arrangement and shelving procedure in the warehouse, causes a delay in fulfilling work orders, and customer dissatisfaction. Inadequate personnel in the warehouse such that any absenteeism cause disruption in tracking the inventory. There is a discordant relationship between the customer service representatives, service technicians, and warehouse clerk thus communication barrier. A report of contractors taking parts from the warehouse without consultation and updating the inventory transaction system. There have been complaints by customers concerning the postponement of scheduled appointments causing the company to make losses in compensation. The management of inventory and forecasting is inaccurate due to the need for double entries.
As a consultant hired to solve the company’s issues, I would employ the Flawless Consultancy process to mitigate the challenges. It is crucial to understand the role played in influencing decisions in the company by employing technical, interpersonal and consulting skills. Consulting in BrightView Company would occur in five phases to successfully effect change in operations. The first step is to set meetings with the company managers to identify the challenges faced, to define the expectations, to determine what is required in the consultancy process and the way forward. The second step is to plan for the projects that will effect changes such as to identify the type of data needed, the duration, and the data collection methods crucial in assessing the actual situation. The third step is to provide feedback and obtain an authorization on the actions to be taken, recognizing that the client must be involved in determining the best course of action and the ultimate goals. The fourth step is the engagement and implementation of suggested changes through activities such as awareness, sensitization, training sessions, new company designs, and increased monitoring of company activities.
The fifth and final phase involves measuring and assessing the company’s accomplishments and success. Block and Nowlan (1981) indicate that the last phase of consultation work would be evaluating the changes made in the company within the allocated time in terms of achievement of goals and effectiveness. If the changes to the company organization require implementation in another segment to achieve better results – there is an extension of the contract. If the results of specific crucial actions are not yet conclusive, the process is recycled, and a new contract is awarded to a consultant. However, if there is an extreme success or moderate to high failure in the new designs’ effectiveness, the consultants’ contract is terminated.
The process taken in solving the warehousing challenge in BrightView Company involves the formulation of step-wise projects. The first project involves the analysis of the parts inventory list to validate the master inventory parts list and report on quality variances by stock items to solve the issues in accounting for inventory. The next project involves the redesign of the warehouse to achieve organization. This project consists of forming alternative models, determining shelving and storage requirements then assessing the cost implications of each model to recommend the best design.
Conclusion
An analysis of the warehouse inventory process is undertaken to document the current purchasing, forecasting, customer project part allocation, and receiving procedures. This project aims to solve incomplete transactions for all parts removed from storage, maintaining an accurate record of inventory stored in service vehicles, and accurately monitor stock used in service delivery for effective customer pricing. Interviews are done to evaluate the employee’s issues and suggestions for best practices. This project analyzes the quantity variance report and the inventory quantity patterns then document the findings derived. A new inventory process integrates the best practices, the successful current procedures, and recommendations. Van Aken and Berends (2018) state that implementing the new strategies involves the managers’ authorization, training of personnel on the revisions made, purchase of necessary shelving and storage equipment then redesigning the warehouse. An orientation session of the redesigned warehouse is done to achieve awareness of the changes made.
References
Block, P., &Nowlan, J. (1981). Flawless consulting: A guide to getting your expertise used. Pfeiffer.
Van Aken, J.E., & Berends, H. (2018). Problem-solving in organizations. Cambridge University Press.