Continuous Improvement - Filling The "Black Hole"

It's been called the "Black Hole" and it describes the huge amount of time between a customer ordering a truck and picking up delivery of his truck in a time span that seems to be an eternity. Regardless of demand, most truck manufacturers typically take from six to12 months before delivery can be fulfilled. At some point in this process, the customer will repeatedly call the dealership to determine the status of his delivery.

You can compound this length of time when the customer is requesting a straight truck with a highly customized body for his commercial business needs.

A position that is very suitable at the dealership to facilitate filling the Black Hole is the continuous improvement coordinator or green and or black 6Sigma / Lean practitioners. 

Upon completion of this module, individuals holding the position of a Continuous Improvement Coordinator or 6Sigma representative, will learn to work closely with the truck sales representative and the customer waiting on delivery of his truck to educate the customer of the many advantages and perquisites available at the dealership. Typically, these "touches" are proactively scheduled to fill the "Black Hole."