Aiming at improving power supply service quality to meet customer's satisfaction, this paper suggested an applicable model used to identifying service items, by employing QFD concept and recent research on power supply quality appraisal. Combining existing research result of perception theory with classification of power supply service, a house of quality (HOQ) was built to realize requirement transition from customers’ demand to service requirements. Then, an empirical analysis was made, using investigated result of Evaluation of Power Supply Enterprises’ Service of State Grid Corporation of China in 2007. In the end, results show that this method is useful for identification of service items which needed to be improved on the first priority, and is consequently helpful for management decision making
With the development of market economy and reform of power industry, the role of power supply
enterprises are transformed from the managers of electricity production and utilization into operators of
electricity production and service providers of electricity customers. In this context, power enterprises
must gear to the market, deepen the reform and strengthen services, then firmly establish the management
philosophy of development as the main line and quality services for the purpose, setting up a new
corporate image with a new look of service in order to gain the market and promote development. At
present, how to provide the best services, and how to solve the short-board problem of current service, are
the important issues placed in front of the superintendents of power enterprises.
The evaluation work is to find services concerned by users, and thus, to identify key areas to be
improved. Actually, all aspects (or factors) associated with customer’s satisfaction should be improved,
especially those problems which got low scores (or poor performances) in evaluation. However, it is
necessary for power enterprises to determine the importance of each service link (or factor) to make the
best quality improvement decisions, from which can enterprises use resources effectively and achieve the
effect of overall consideration, prioritization and multiplier.The existing methods for analyzing service improvement mainly include AHP, SERVQUAL
evaluation scale, the Boston matrix analysis method and other methods. In China, all industries have
viewed service quality as key factors affecting development of enterprises, and made different
explorations in theory and practice. Based on the analysis for managerial practices of power suppliers, an
evaluation system for material suppliers of Electric Power Bureau was established by combining with
BOCR ideas from four aspects, including benefit, opportunity, ability and risk, and an empirical research
was also made by fuzzy AHP [1]. Literature [2] established an index system for service recovery quality
of power enterprises, and further determined the index weight by using the modified fuzzy AHP. This
system not only quantified the remedial quality of customer perception, but also took the uncertainty of
thinking into account. Besides, according to the characteristics of power consumption, customers can be
divided into industrial customers, residential customers and other customers for empirical analysis. Based
on the results, power enterprises can divide the remedial objects into two categories, i.e. residents and
non-residents, to implement service recovery [3]. Drawing lessons from existing SERVQUAL scale
applied in general services, combined with administrative management theory and practical features of
our government, a government service quality evaluation scale with high reliability and validity has been
developed by using Factor Analysis and Principal Component Analysis method. This scale contains six
dimensions of 29 question items. The research found that the government service quality can be assessed
from six aspects, including the willingness, efficiency, indemnificatory, empathy, information and
tangibility of the government services [4]. Liu yanhua(2008) defined customer’s satisfaction as a starting
point, combining with basic processes of quality improvement, he built continuous quality improvement
model based on customer satisfaction by using system engineering and continuous improvement of
thinking methods [5]. Besides, relevant improving directions and priority of service quality management
were determined on the basis of the importance-service level strategy matrix method [6]. Managers got
the best direction to arrange service improvement program by making a joint analysis based on several
hypothetical service situations firstly, then using the fitting result to get a satisfaction Response Surface
Model of service property function, thus to locate present service level in the steepest ascending path
along the direction of response surface and maximize customer satisfaction [7].
Aiming at improving power supply service to meet customer’s satisfaction, this paper suggests an
applicable model used to modify power supply service quality based on QFD concept. The model
suggested here will find the service items which should be improved preferentially through quantitative
analysis, which will help relevant departments making better decision.
21st Century is the century of quality, thus, quality is one of the major ways of achieving the success
in the market with fierce competition. Current market is a customer-oriented buyer’s market, where
customer satisfaction has become quality strategy for enterprises. Meanwhile, formation and realization
of product quality are no longer confined to an enterprise in supply chain environment. Service
improvements in current power utility need listen to the voice of customer continuously, and then fully
develop users’ demands and improve customer contentment with basic points of power service concerned
by customers. And only in this way can pertinent measures be proposed to improve service pattern and
increase the core competence and social image. These various and complicated power utility businesses
pose a major embarrassment for service improvement, thus, how to define the emphasis and priority of
service pattern improvement becomes the major problems which the current power utility faces. In the
situation of business growth and limited resources, how to make the best decision to solve service
problems is of great realistic meaning.
During the process of achieving customer demands, QFD method is able to help each functional
department to formulate applicative implementing measures, and make them work together. Customer
demands, request for design/management of power supply service, design object and evaluation on rivals
are synthesized by applying QFD method to identify prioritized service measures improvement, which
can make sure not to define improvement goals blindly. Therefore, this method provides a new direction
for quality service improvement.
