This project has been performed at Volvo Car Customer Service in Gothenburg, Sweden. The output from the study will support Volvo to secure the Just-In-Time delivery of referrals for the after-market. The scope was limited to referrals from pre-planned orders, which occurs when there is no availability in the distribution centre where the orders were placed.
Volvo’s main warehouse in Europe is the Central Distribution Centre, which process referrals. The warehouse had an ongoing organisational change during this study. The concern was that the change would not lead to optimal conditions for processing referrals for different markets. It was therefore important to preserve the market knowledge in order to maintain a reliable referral service.
A qualitative study was used and the information was gathered primarily through semi-structured interviews. Literature was studied both initially and continuously through the study. Analysis of the literature, current situation and data collection generated ideas for possible ways of securing the referral process and improvements. Benchmarking and Workshop was also performed in order to obtain further ideas.
Source: University West
Authors: Allgurén, Olivia | Patama, Sanna