Original Research

Assessing construction material manufacturers’ warehouse processes from a customer satisfaction perspective

Polycarp O. Alumbugu, Winston W.M. Shakantu, Ibrahim Saidu
Journal of Transport and Supply Chain Management | Vol 15 | a529 | DOI: https://doi.org/10.4102/jtscm.v15i0.529 | © 2021 Polycarp O. Alumbugu, Winston W.M. Shakantu, Ibrahim Saidu | This work is licensed under CC Attribution 4.0
Submitted: 26 June 2020 | Published: 25 March 2021

About the author(s)

Polycarp O. Alumbugu, Department of Construction Management, Faculty of Engineering, The Built Environment and Information Technology, Nelson Mandela University, Port Elizabeth, South Africa
Winston W.M. Shakantu, Department of Construction Management, Faculty of Engineering, The Built Environment and Information Technology, Nelson Mandela University, Port Elizabeth, South Africa
Ibrahim Saidu, Department of Quantity Surveying, Faculty of Environmental Technology, Federal University of Technology, Minna, Nigeria

Abstract

Background: The objective of warehouse processes is to satisfy customer’s desires and requirements whilst using house, equipment and labour effectively. However, in Nigeria studies have revealed operational problems in warehousing and a lack of customer satisfaction in the delivery of construction materials.

Objectives: The aim of this study was to evaluate the level of customer satisfaction with the delivery of construction material from the manufacturers’ warehouses to customers or other terminals, with a view to improving the operations.

Method: This article adopted a case study research design method in which quantitative data were collected and analysed. The target population was the North-Central geo-political zone of Nigeria. A total of 32 construction material manufacturers were purposively selected from the zone. The observation and measurement approaches were adopted for data collection. A total of 72 customers’ orders were observed and recorded to be representative of deliveries from the sampled (n = 32) manufacturers’ warehouses to other terminals. A customer quintile benchmark metric was also adopted for analysis and for comparing field results with best practices.

Results: The findings revealed that the involved construction material manufacturers’ warehouse processes, were suboptimal and ineffective in terms of perfect order completion and total order cycle time. These results indicated major opportunities for improvement.

Conclusion: This article concludes with providing construction material manufacturers with information about their warehouse processes that might help to ensure that the construction material arrives at its final destination in optimal quality, time and cost.


Keywords

construction materials; warehouse process; customer satisfaction; effectiveness; construction

Metrics

Total abstract views: 3645
Total article views: 4041


Crossref Citations

No related citations found.