Title: Value stream mapping in shared service centres to enhance efficiency of order fulfilment process

Authors: Kai-Uwe Schaefer; Puteri Fadzline Muhamad Tamyez; Gusman Nawanir

Addresses: Divisional Logistics Chassis Systems Control, Robert Bosch GmbH, Robert-Bosch-Allee 1, 74232, Abstatt, Germany ' Faculty of Industrial Management, Universiti Malaysia Pahang, Lebuhraya Tun Razak, 26300, Gambang, Pahang, Malaysia ' Operations and Supply Chain Management Research Cluster, Faculty of Industrial Management, Universiti Malaysia Pahang, Lebuhraya Tun Razak, 26300, Gambang, Pahang, Malaysia

Abstract: The objective of this study was to evaluate the order fulfilment process (OFP) in a regional shared service canter handling intra-company sales and purchase orders as well as the transportation activities of a multinational enterprise (MNE). The study examined both strategic and operational sub-processes of order fulfilment and plans to identify wastes undermining the process efficiency using an adapted value stream mapping (VSM) methodology. Data was collected from 11 order managers through interviews and observations and analysed by using VSM. This study revealed that the root causes of inefficiencies were a lack of business process automation and utilisation of existing system technology as well as a significant deficiency in alignment among supply chain stakeholders. This study contributes to close existing gaps in theoretical research on order management by providing empirical basis from a chemical MNE and showing the application of VSM in the administrative settings.

Keywords: lean administration; value stream mapping; VSM; order fulfilment; automation; shared services.

DOI: 10.1504/IJSCOR.2023.134469

International Journal of Supply Chain and Operations Resilience, 2023 Vol.6 No.1, pp.1 - 25

Received: 15 May 2021
Accepted: 19 Feb 2022
Published online: 24 Oct 2023 *

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