Development and Implementation of Lean Service Tools and Techniques in India Post Mail Service – A Case Study

Abstract

Purpose of the Study: The primary role of the post office is collecting, scanning, sorting, transmission; and delivery of mail with consistent, speed, and security. The Indian postal service has taken a significant role in sorting and transporting the mails throughout the countries. Though the degree of the sorting process varies from country to country, the ultimate aim is to make letter-sorting a fully customized one. For example, developed countries such as the USA, Japan are using the automatic sorting machine to increase their delivery speed, whereas, in India, sorting is being done manually because of abundant labor availability. The processing, transmission, and delivery of mail are the core activities of the postal department. In India, daily mails are collected from almost 5,79,595 letterboxes and are processed through a network of 389 mail offices by roads, rails, and airline transportation. In this research, we proposed implementing lean service concepts for productivity enhancement in a service enterprise at the Indian Postal Head Sorting Center - National Sorting Hub (NSH), Mangalore. Recently, NSH has worked on the Mail Network Optimization Project (MNOP) to improve the standardization and operational processes in terms of mail processing, transmission, and delivery. Methodology: Successful lean tools that have been used in manufacturing industries were adopted for the service industry and applied here. VSM is one of the graphic visual tools to find the broad and complete representation of an organization used for better understanding and interventions in operations. Facility Layout Design (FLD) using MCDM Methods: There were many problems which have been identified in the existing layout such as, backtracking of mails while handling a high volume of articles during the current process flow, poor working environment which causes discomfort during regular working hours and employees are not agreeable for a long working hours, sorting the mail is challenging for the postal employees, the whole process is time consuming, the present production delivery articles are not satisfactory as compared to the target. This study attempts to rectify the problems by modifying the layout and improving operational performance using MCDM methods. The critical parameters for selecting the optimal layouts are lean service, working environment, and ergonomics. The MCDM methods such as AHP, TOPSIS, Fuzzy TOPSIS, GRA has been used for finding the optimal layout considering quantitative andiv qualitative data. The postal administrations had spent almost INR 2 Lakhs for implementing the selected optimal layout. Implementation of Lean Service Tools and Techniques: Applicable lean service elements are incorporated in NSH, manual sorting centre, and in eliminating waste by taking suitable courses of action. Here, the cellular approach (Nagare cell) was used to reduce the walking distance in the sorting section. Reduction in cycle time and employees shoulder pain was taken care of by executing fixed scanner; 5S for housekeeping concepts for everything; everything in its place. Visual management was utilised for visualizing the objects in the workplace. Single piece flow was adopted for reducing the backtracking of the mails. Workload balancing was availed for maintaining load uniformity while distributing to all the employees by using systematic scheduling and careful analysis. Findings: The impact of the change and adherence to the recommendations were monitored continuously. After twelve weeks, an audit of the effect performed, and the following were observed. Cycle time had reduced by 15.13% from 371 sec, flow speed had increased by 11.36% from 590, individual article processed per person had increased by 11.36% from 8620. Lean Service Assessment: The impact of the lean system on operational performance has been assessed in mail service operations in India. Measuring operational performance in mail service operations is a big challenge in the postal service industry. Hence, a cross-sectional survey was conducted and the relationship and impact of Lean Service Practices (LSP), Lean Workplace Environment Practices (LWEP), and Lean Social Practices (LSoP) was measured on operational performance in India post service industry. Findings: The results indicate that there is a strong correlation between LSP (r = 0.728), LWEP (r = 0.722), and LSoP (r = 0.654) and operational performance. Significant impact has been observed on LSP (β = 0.484) on Operational performance, then LWEP (β = 0.387) and followed by LSoP (β = 0.182) on operational performance. The practical effect of the findings of a lean service system has been implemented for enhancing the operational performance of the business. Simulation Techniques and Taguchi methods: This study aims to present an innovative method in designing Lean Service Systems (LSS) in India's post-service industry, using Taguchi and simulation to reduce the system's complexity; using logic and systematic building blocks simulation models developed from LS elements through Arena software. Five control factors considered for the system's performance were takt time, process ratio, production lead time, value-added time, and inventory. The simulation used for imitating the real model guides thev future production system and the Taguchi method used for the robust system to determine the optimal parameter values. Postal Sustainable Design by Quality Function Deployment (QFD): The need of the hour today is to incorporate sustainable principles to the public postal service facilities to withstand in the market. Here, the objective is to develop a model to explore the Quality Function Deployment (QFD) concept and technique to be incorporated in India post service operations. It aims to support sustainability by finding customer factors (queries) that affect Service Quality (SQ) design/dimensions. This survey was helpful, to understand how India's post can remain strategically sustainable for the next few decades. This study improves QFD tools for the postal service quality design known as the House of Quality Sustainable Design (HOQSD) model. This model highlights and bolsters the sustainability principles and performs the integration of customer priorities, information, and their knowledge.