INTRODUCTION
Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to answer the question: Is process improvement important to achieving transportation excellence?
Background: This paper is the fifth module of the course. For it I will use information I've found in articles provided on the course disk as well as information found throughout the internet via search engines.
DISCUSSION
Within industry today, there are a variety of organizational transformation initiatives which are designed to have organizations focus on both the needs of their customers and the processes within the organization which enhance quality customer service and nurture life-long customer loyalty. The organizational benefits of such an approach include: expanded market share, increased productivity, customer responsiveness, and profitability (Krenek, 1997). Over the years, these initiatives have become known as: "Total Quality Management"(TQM), "Continuous Quality Improvement," "Business Process Improvement," "Reengineering," "ISO 9000" and new to the list, "LEAN"...to name a few.
Elements of philosophy, principles, strategies, and tools provide the conceptual framework and practical applications that are necessary in order to strengthen interdependent work relationships (Harps, 2003). But conceptual framework and practical application alone do not guarantee success within organizations today. Success is measured one customer at a time, through their perceptions, as a result of their experience in being provided with products, services and information, which are provided by every interdependent department within the organization.
Logistics has been (for the most part) something that most companies just do.
As a discipline, logistics h ...