IMPROVE QUALITY OF SERVICES THROUGH "POKA YOKE" METHOD

Quality of service is very important for service businesses, especially in very competitive businesses.  Various dimensions of service quality must be considered in the provision of costs that must be incurred for the service fees received.  Currently the application of quality management in the industry that is demanded to be a major need, needs to compete in a dominant market in the global market.  Current consumer demands for services provided have increased.

The conventional concept of looking at the quality of goods and / or services is only determined by the conformity of the product to the specifications (quality standards) that have been set.  At present the new concept of quality (modern) states that quality is a degree of ability of a product to provide satisfaction to the wearer, For this reason, service providers are obliged to maintain that the work, treatment and physical aspects of providing services (The Three T's: Task, Treatment and Tangible) are applied properly and carefully by all employees of the company.  At the same time, customers must also provide an appropriate response at the preparation stage (Preparation), when the service process (Encounter) or finished service (resolution) or the so-called PER Dimension

There are five groups of characteristics used by customers in evaluating service quality as follows: tangibles, reliability, responsiveness, assurance, and empathy.  Tangibles relate to the physical aspects of services, including physical facilities, human resources that provide services, communication facilities, layout aspects.  Physical appearance and HR greatly determine consumer interest in services to be delivered as well as a bona fide impression of a service company.  For example in transportation services, the quality of services depends a lot on the means of transportation used and the human resources that operate the transportation.  Reliability or reliability, namely the ability to provide the promised service immediately and satisfactorily.  For consumers there are two related aspects, namely what is promised and what is delivered.  This relates to aspects of the time and contents of the service package offered.  Responsiveness or responsiveness, namely the desire of staff to help customers.  Every company must compete to make quality products at low cost.  The strategy is to always make improvements to achieve zero defects by implementing a defective deterrent system called Poka Yoke.

Poka Yoke is a Japanese word meaning to prevent human error.  Poka Yoke is a prevention system designed to prevent mistakes before they become defects.  With the application of this system, quality will be created when it is processed (Built in Quality) and in the end can eliminate Quality Inspections.

In manufacturing companies that have automated equipment and factory machines, work based on computer programs that have been integrated with the relevant equipment and machinery.  With a computerized program, it will be able to prevent the defects of defective products that may be produced by the relevant equipment and machinery that have been programmed to be controlled and executed by the switcher.  If the output produced has characteristics or sizes that are different from the standard programmed on the machine, the switcher will work and stop the production process.  With such a work system, the possibility of passing a defective product is detected early and the mechanism of action prevents defects (fail-safe-action).

 In the service sector, customers generally take part in the production of requested services, so automation as in the manufacturing process is certainly difficult.  But with the working principle of fail-safe, it can also be applied with the fail-safe method of poka yoke which has been explained previously. Fail-safing using poka-yoke must be supported by two parties, the service provider (server) and the service user (customer  ).  From the server side, the defective activity is achieved through the Three T's principles approach including Task, Treatment and Tangibles.  Whereas on the customer side, the deterrent uses the process approach to service provision activities including preparation, encounter and resolution activities.

The deterrent process of service providers according to the 3-T principle can be explained as follows:

 a.  Poka-Yokes task

 Some mistakes that employees may make in carrying out their duties are (a) inaccuracies in carrying out the task, (b) incompatibility with customer requests, (c) errors in handling the order of orders and (d) tasks are completed very slowly.  In an effort to prevent errors in customer service, for example injustice in customer service at a bank that uses the rules of first come, first service, then every customer who arrives must be provided a queue number. At the airport, in an effort to prevent the passage of prohibited goods, then  baggage and carry-on luggage and passengers must pass through the service door provided by airport security.  The sensor will detect and give a signal sound or red light.  Thus the poka-yokes task can be done manually or using an automatic tool

 b.  Poka Yokes Treatment

     Relating to mistakes that occur during interactions between service providers and customers during the service process.  The mistake can be in the form of (a) a mistake in understanding the desires of the customer (b) a mistake in listening to the customer's order and (c) an unsympathetic reaction from the service provider.  For example, in a service at a shopping center, a customer asks a salesperson something, because the message delivered is unclear, (is it because of a different intonation or a rather fussy customer), then the salesperson misunderstands and ends up giving an unsympathetic reaction.  This mistake can be avoided by preparing friendly, sympathetic and flexible human resources.  The key factor here is the quality of human resources.

c.  Poka-Yoke Tangibles

    Relating to the quality of the physical facilities of a service company, both in terms of condition and appearance.  Some of these errors: (a) cleanliness and layout of facilities (b) control of environmental factors (c) correctness and legibility of documents (tickets or receipts).  (d) employee appearance.  For example, to ensure that employees appear clean, neat and cheerful, uniforms are provided and in the dressing room a mirror, comb or powder is provided, to enable them to reflect before appearing to serve customers.  To ensure that garbage is not thrown away, every waiting room is provided with an accessible and adequate amount of trash. When viewed from the customer side, efforts are prevented in each of the following service phases:

 a.  Poka Preparation -Yoke

    With regard to mistakes made by customers (a) carrying material that is wrong / prohibited, (b) not understanding its role, (c) not using services properly.  For example, airplane passengers carry prohibited goods, goods are not packaged properly, do not understand how to bording.  The customer must also know what role is played during the transaction.  To help customers understand the applicable procedures and service rules, in front of the receptionist a flowchart is attached with an explanation.

b.  Poka-Yokes Encounter

    Related to mistakes made by customers during the service process, such as (a) not remembering the order of the process and supporting documents (b) not following the system flow.  Errors in following the flow of the system cause customers to go back and forth and (c) fail to follow the instructions that are supposed to be done.  Passenger aircraft do not follow flight attendant instructions so that passengers uphold the back of the seat, install a seat-belt and lock the table, so that when landing the passenger staggered and hit the seat.  (d) wrongly anticipating satisfactory completeness of requirements.  The customer forgot to deposit the warranty card discount to the dealer, making it difficult to get service.

 c.  Poka-Yoke Resolution

   Mistakes made by the customer after receiving service.  Errors can be in the form of (a) not signaling for service errors.  For example, hotel companies, hospitals give questionnaires to be filled with customers about how the quality of service received, but customers do not fill it, even though customers feel the service is not good, so the company considers the service is good.  (b) do not learn from experience, so that the possibility of further mistakes can occur again, (c) failure to adjust expectations, too high expectations for service with certain costs. Can be concluded as follows:

 a.  Service products delivered to customers must meet the required quality characteristics so that they can satisfy the customer

 b.  The process of quality service operations must be supported by both parties (role sharing) between service providers and service users.  The service provider is obliged to keep The Tree T's (Task, treatment and tangibles) applied properly and carefully by all human resources of the service company.  At the same time (especially for high service contact), customers or consumers must also provide an accurate response at the stage before the service (preparation), when the delivery (encounter) and after the service (resolution)

 c.  Poka Yokes is a useful method to produce quality services, so that it will satisfy consumers, because quality services are produced through the cooperation of service providers with customers. Then in the process of service delivery it is necessary to integrate the deterrent process or poka yokes with The Tree T’s and PER Dimension