Village Volvo - Service Operation Management

SERVICE OPERATION MANAGEMENT

VILLAGE VOLVO CASE ASSESSMENT

IBT3

Angela(鄭惇方) 04572513

Bella Natasha Diego 04910433

Citra (張如意) 04910380

Christy (陳麗文) 04910451

Hansen 04910460

Wendy(趙成美) 06910714

1. Distinctive Characteristic Service

Simultaneity services are unique because they are usually provided and consumed at the same time in the same location. Because of the characteristic of simultaneity, customers have strong expectations about how a service will be provided, which can lead to disappointment if their expectations are not met. To make sure both the services and the satisfaction of the “Village Volvo” customer, they make the service management as the main point of contact by making the customer to understand the preliminary diagnosis, and advise the customer of any unexpected problems and costs, they will also notify the customer when the vehicle is ready for pickup. CCDV (Customer Care Vehicle Dossier) are created to file record history of each vehicle or customers. Besides the interaction with the customer they also make sure the car is well-fixed. The small worn-out parts that have been replaced are put in a clean box inside the car and make sure the car is clean to gain customer satisfaction. In this way their services and marketing are inseparable since if the customer are satisfied, the marketing will spread from mouth to mouth automatically. That is why customer experience are important for the Village Volvo company.

Perishability  If a car does not sell today, it can be stored and sold the following day or at some other time in the future. Services, on the other hand, are often perishable, meaning that unused capacity cannot be stored for future use or sale. This can be manage by matching the supply and demand. In this case “Village Volvo” is using appointment as a way to make sure their expense of mechanic and their services will not go to waste. By looking how many appointment that they have for that day, they will determine whether they should operate with fewer mechanic or adding up more staff.

The second thing they also have the “drop-in” times (3 to 5 PM Wednesdays and 8 to 10 AM Thursdays) for quick, routine jobs such as tune-ups and buyer checks of used cars. In this way they will get smooth demand so the customer will always coming in and they got fix time for their services.

Intangibility is the invisible service effort facilitated by Village Volvo to satisfy customers. The Village Volvo itself served as an intangible service since it is created to provide out of period Volvos with reparation that is reasonable in cost and quality service. The one-of-a-kind tailored service give prospective customers more varied choices especially for their expired warranty Volvos. The owner experienced 22 years of training and experience with local Volvo dealers.

Village Volvo involvement in environment sustainability service extending beyond their customers by developing network of other service providers to assist in recycling used parts and waste products.

Heterogeneity is a customer involvement in the delivery process. The results that’s being delivered by a request from the customer.

In the Village Volvo we can see many healthy heterogeneity involved in this matter. It is written that the owners provide clients with a custom car service. This service is a little bit different than the routine service. Custom car service lets the customers repair or fix the specific problems about their car. Because every problems might be different they suggested to schedule the appointment first, so the mechanic and the customer can discuss the matter and maybe take a quick drive to understand the concern together.

Customer participation in the service process is when the mechanic and the customer are discussing about the concern. The owners even make special time between 5-6 p.m. and 7-8 a.m. for the customer to do consultations about their car. Because they believe it is better to discuss about the problem first before the work is done.