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Are You Making Waves?

6 February, 2016 by James Lawther 8 Comments

All operations have the same problem… They all have times when they are busy and times when they are slack.  Feast or Famine. It is the way of the world: If you sell Christmas crackers it will always be busy in October If you run a gym you will always have a rush in January […]

Filed Under: Blog, Operations Analysis Tagged With: capacity, mura, supply and demand

Rule 3: There is Always More Work than People

19 June, 2015 by James Lawther 3 Comments

more work than people

The rules so far: Prioritise the work Don’t make your customer wait This would be OK but for Rule 3 which states that: There is always more work than people. This rule can be expressed in many ways: You never have enough time There is always more you could do You never have enough money Demand […]

Filed Under: Blog, Operations Analysis Tagged With: backlog, gemba, supply and demand

A Stitch in Time…

19 November, 2014 by James Lawther 4 Comments

Stitches

Running a customer service centre is hard It is a constant battle, trying to minimise cost and maximise customer service. But we all know the game, we get employed to play it: Squeeze your head count down as far as you dare Ride the variations in customer demand Manage the backlog Set up a turnaround […]

Filed Under: Blog, Operations Analysis, Tools & Techniques Tagged With: abandon rate, call centre, capacity planning, customer focus, service improvement, supply and demand

Call Centre Forecasts: Don’t Waste Your Time

5 November, 2012 by James Lawther 15 Comments

call centre forecast

Every call centre has them; bad days. Call volumes are higher than expected and staff don’t show up.  The result is a mile long queue of frustrated customers; a group of deeply fed up agents and a set of supervisors running around futilely trying to “manage” the situation. A bad day. The post-mortem If the […]

Filed Under: Blog, Operations Analysis, Tools & Techniques Tagged With: abandon rate, call centre, forecast accuracy, supply and demand, volatility

Surge Planning: I Hate the Snow

17 January, 2012 by James Lawther 1 Comment

Surge Planning

It was cold this morning Freezing It is going to snow, maybe not today or tomorrow, but soon Snow is a mixed blessing, great for sledging but for some of us, it’s a work disaster Pipes freeze People fall Cars won’t start Boilers fail If you happen to be in the game of mending pipes […]

Filed Under: Blog, Operations Analysis Tagged With: capacity, capacity planning, risk assessment, supply and demand, surge capacity

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