Service Process Problem-Solving Based on Flow Trimming

Abstract

Since entering the era of the experience economy, consumers’ attention gradually turns toward gaining a pleasant service process experience. This study addresses the service process problem, aiming to discover the root cause of the service process problem and solve it by analyzing the service touchpoints flow delivery process. A method for solving problems in the service process based on flow trimming is proposed. The trimming method and the stochastic dominance rule are applied to the field of service design, which provides new concepts for service process problem solving. The flow is taken as the entry point of the proposed method. First, a flow model of problematic service touchpoints is constructed based on the service blueprint method to visualize the flow delivery process. Then, service process trimming rules are proposed and used as guidance to trim flow disadvantages, and resource analysis is employed to obtain specific programs. Finally, the stochastic dominance rule is used to rank the programs and select the optimal program. Problem solving in the medical treatment service process was taken as an example to trim the fundamental flow disadvantages of problematic service touchpoints. A series of programs were obtained and the optimal program was selected for presentation based on the stochastic dominance rule, which verified the feasibility of the proposed method.