When Things go wrong in Supply Chain , Logistics and Shipping !

The true measure of customer service is what supply chain partners do when something does wrong

So if you are a retailer, and out of stock on a particular product. Then, of course, a customer orders it. What do you do? When a certain outdoor gear retailer was faced with an out of stock that would disappoint a customer, an employee went shopping on a competitor's website, purchased the item with a personal credit card, and shipped it to the customer.

Supply chain managers understand the crucial role that logistics and shipping plays in providing good customer service. When it's business as usual, and you have good controls and procedures in place, customer service levels are adequate to keep everyone happy. But the true measure of customer service is what your team members, carriers, and supply chain partners do what is required when something goes really wrong.

You can work with world’s leading carriers that provide great service, you can implement technology that provides the visibility and capability to redeploy assets and reconfigure your supply chain, and you can rely on a talented pool of internal logistics and supply chain team members to enable good customer service. But great customer service comes down to the people who are working behind the scene and behind the systems, and their personal commitment to satisfying customers.

Narrating a recent experience from a USA based LSP - logistic service provider: One in particular, involving critical shipments moving by truck, stands out. Even though an advance ship notice was issued, when connections arrived to meet the truck, the goods were not on it. With the customer's deadline at risk, the LSP deployed a team driver to drive all night, tracked this reshipment truck in transit, met it on the road, and arranged for a crossdock at 3 a.m. to transfer the shipment onto the new vehicle. But by the time, the LSP team accomplished all this, the hours-of-service rules kicked in, and the driver timed out. While the driver sat at a truck stop for the required rest period, the LSP team refused to give up. They called every carrier they could, but no one could deliver the critical shipment the rest of the way.

After some creative brainstorming, the team hired a tow truck to move the truck from the rest stop to the waiting crossdock, which stayed open to meet the delivery—and the customer's deadline.

The technology was there: the trucks were tracked and the staff had full visibility to the shipments. But, technology did not have the idea to deploy a tow truck to move a critical shipment to its final delivery.

Another example : The LSP was ordered to send a container for export stuffing, well past office hours. The LSP then called up various carriers only to be given a response – please call us tomorrow. One of them agreed to release the container, The deadline was met by the LSP.

This is just one example of what people can do when everything else fails. They take 24/7 ownership of customer service issues. They exhaust every possible concept and idea. They do whatever it takes to keep their customer commitments.

Latest technology and equipment are great for enabling standard customer service. But when things go wrong, it's people who drive extraordinary customer service.