Book
For job shops with a busy front office
Customers keep emailing to ask, where's my part?
A customer emails to ask where their order is. Someone stops what they're doing, walks the floor or checks the board, and writes back. Then the next email comes in, asking the same thing about another job.
Sound familiar?
- The same customer asks again before the week is out, because the last answer was a guess.
- Answering a status email means walking out to the floor to look.
- Buyers want a ship date, and you're not sure the schedule is right.
- The person answering these is the same person who should be quoting.
What it costs you
- Every status check pulls someone off real work, and over a week they add up.
- Customers who can't get a straight answer start to doubt your dates.
- Bad news shows up late, after the part is behind and the customer is upset.
- Your front office is busy all day and still falls behind on quotes and invoices.
Why it keeps happening
- Order status lives on the floor and in people's heads.
- The schedule isn't current, so even the office has to go ask.
- Customers hear nothing until they ask, so they ask.
- Nobody owns telling a customer when a job slips.
Common questions
Why do customers keep asking about their orders?
Because they don't hear anything until they ask. If updates only go out when someone has time, customers fill the quiet with emails and calls.
Is this a front office problem or a scheduling problem?
Often both. The office takes the question, but the answer lives on the floor and in the schedule. If the schedule is off, every answer is a guess.
What exactly do you build?
It depends on how you work today; we figure that out on the call.
Related shop bottlenecks
See all shop bottlenecks, or go back to the home page.
Tell me who answers the status emails
Status checks are busywork, and that kind of work can now come off your front office's plate. Every shop tracks jobs its own way, so the fix gets fitted to yours.
Pick a time to talk with me, Kevin Kirchner. Tell me who answers those emails today and where they go to find the answer.
