Convenience

layout
The physical
configuration of
facilities, the
arrangement of
equipment within
facilities, or both
product layout
A physical
configuration of
facilities arranged
around the product;
used when large
quantities of a single
product are needed
process layouts
A physical
configuration of
facilities arranged
around the process;
used in facilities that
create or process a
variety of products
Chapter 15:
Managing Operations, Quality, and Productivity
4 6 3
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AT YOUR SERVICE
How to Get2 a Human
Submitted for your consideration: the frustration
associated with customer-service call centers and
automated phone menus—interminable waits, unan-
nounced hangups, and endless transfers. Upon even
the most casual recollection, two contradictory facts
should emerge: On the one hand, a company’s mar-
keting department will spend hundreds of millions of
dollars to “communicate” with you; on the other
hand, the same company’s customer-service depart-
ment acts as if it were saving hundreds of millions of
dollars by refusing to communicate with you through
the medium of the human voice.
It’s a paradox that’s by no means lost on the humani-
tarian
website
www.gethuman.com,
which
was
founded by technology entrepreneur Paul English. “I’m
not anticomputer,” avows English. “I’ve been a program-
mer for 20 years. I’m not anticapitalist. I’m on my fifth
start-up. But I am antiarrogance. Why do the executives
who run these call centers think they can decide when
I deserve to speak to a human being and when I don’t?”
A lot of people, of course, complain about corporate
call centers, but most of us mutter under our breath,
put our faith in the redial function, and prepare to be
reasonably civil to the next voice we hear. We have,
however, neither Paul English’s tech skills nor his
industry credibility. First, he started castigating cus-
tomer call centers in his blog, and when that didn’t
work, he decided to take action. Conducting his own
investigations, calling on friends who work in corporate
IT departments, and collecting tips from simpatico
strangers, English set up a website with the modest
goal of “changing the face of customer service in the
United States” The centerpiece of GetHuman.com is
an alphabetized “cheat sheet” that tells you how you
can bypass a given automated call-center system and
talk to a live service representative. All you have to
know is how to press the buttons on your phone.
Can’t get served by CompuServe? Press 1211 without
waiting for the prompts. Getting zero satisfaction from
Net-Zero? Try ###, then 32.
R
IA
Novosti/Alam
y
Most large businesses use call centers to handle ordering and customer service and follow-up. In
recent years, there has been a trend toward automating call centers to lower labor costs.
Frustrations with dealing with automated call centers, though, may lead to unhappy customers and
lower customer loyalty.
(
continued
)