June 02, 2008
On Contractors, Customer Service, and Airlines
Editorial
Howard W Penrose, Ph.D., CMRP
President, SUCCESS by DESIGN
http://www.motordoc.com
Comments:
As an update on the electrician subcontractor issue on the home project, the electrical contractor lost their Sears contract and there were internal repercussions that will not be discussed in this venue. However, Sears, the contractor, made right and everything has come together as hoped, with a few things that need to be tidied up. Other than this one thing, an overall good experience.
The customer service aspect and project management aspect of Sears was exceptional. When the project started the sales staff was knowledgeable and straight forward. They did not promise things they could not deliver, and when they delivered, they added (ie: upgrading windows, etc. after the contract was signed, for no additional cost) and improved. They sent out the subcontractors to review the job and take all measurements, were clear about what they would or would not do and what our responsibilities were. The project manager and sales staff treated us as if we were their most important customer and kept us up to date almost daily, listened to any concerns, and addressed them immediately. In the beginning, the sales staff asked a few indirect and casual questions related to pets, plants, etc. and when the job was complete a surprise delivery of plants arrived. The contract was very exact, including pricing, and outlined expectations on both sides. The key was that there was no additional ‘negotiations’ or compromises when it came to customer satisfaction. The project was even completed a week early, in spite of the one issue. And in at least one case we had signed off on work being completed and found a few things after that were immediately addressed, even after payment was received.
Overall, from the initial encounter with their website and phone contact (USA based, I might add), to their sales staff, to the project manager, to a majority of the sub-contractors, and being kept as part of the whole program, the entire process was exactly the way you would hope customer service and quality would be performed.
I guess my only problem is that this is now the exception when it should be the norm. Which leads us into the next topic, the airline industry and the cost impact of delays on both the airlines and passengers.
I have mentioned, in the past, the potential economic impact of flight delays. It just so happens that the Congressional Joint Economic Committee has just released a report, dated May 22, 2008, on the economic impact of flight delays in 2007. According to the report “Your Flight Has Been Delayed Again: Flight Delays Cost Passengers, Airlines, and the US Economy Billions in 2007:” (the following is quoted from the May 22, 2008, press release ‘Schumer Releases Report Detailing Over $40 Billion in Costs of Flight Delays to Passengers, Airlines, and US Economy as Memorial Day Travel Season Approaches”)
- The total cost of domestic air traffic delays to the US economy was as much as $41 Billion for 2007 including higher airline operating costs, lost passenger productivity and time, and losses to other industries.
- Delayed flights consumed about 740 million additional gallons of jet fuel totaling $1.6 Billion extra in fuel bills.
- Passengers were delayed by a total of 320 million hours, when accounting for padding in airline schedules. Almost 20 percent of total domestic flight time in 2007 was wasted in delay.
- Flight delays were longest during summer vacation months. Flight delays during the months of June, July and August averaged approximately 414,000 hours of delay per month. Flights during December – the height of holiday traveling – totaled almost 438,000 hours of delay.
- Seventy-eight percent of flight delays in 2007 occurred before take-off, with 58 percent at the gate, and 20 percent during the taxi to the runway.
- 94 percent of all flight delays were caused by other flights arriving late, national system delays, or carrier delays [included in these three are maintenance delays – more as I complete review of the study and the data] (less than six percent of delays were due to security or extreme weather).
I will repeat the last part of that last point: less than six percent of delays were due to security or extreme weather, combined. Yet, as I have stated in the past, weather is the PERCEIVED reason for almost all delays.
An interesting lesson: perception and reality are not always the same thing.
I am going to return to this in the near future. This is perhaps one of the most important points in how we see our industry. Our perceptions are built based upon what we see, hear, and experience. When we are bombarded by continuous information, we begin to believe that some fallacies such as: rotor bar failures are a major issue; variable frequency drives will always cause winding failures and bearing fluting; and, mechanical faults are a majority of motor failures, are accurate.
Here is the statement that I leave you with: much of what we believe concerning our industry, communication, maintenance/management communication, maintenance concepts, existing maintenance processes, and much of what is touted by a variety of industry materials and experts are based upon incorrect premises.
Sometimes you just have to take a small step back and look.
