The role of automation and labor in determining customer satisfaction in a telephone repair service process

Telephone repair process and performance relationships are modeled using a structural equation approach. The basic structure of the causal model is a function of process flow. The data analysis and modeling approach advocated here can be applied to any manufacturing or service process that has a recurrent process flow and good internal and external performance data. Our primary objectives are to define quantitatively (1) how the performance of repair persons dispatched to the customers' premises is related to automatic testing and repair, and (2) how internal process performance is linked to external customer satisfaction. A secondary objective of this article is to explain briefly some of the practical problems of modeling process-level performance relationships. Results indicate that the structural equation models are statistically significant and have a meaningful interpretation. Examples of ‘what if’ scenarios using these structural equation models are presented to help managers predict customer satisfaction levels given certain process performance improvements, set standards of performance, and better understand the interdependencies between labor and automation resources in this telephone repair process.