A case on re-engineering the work order system in a container shipping company

Abstract

Victory is an international shipping company providing services to the Asia-Pacific area with an extensive number of container depots. The company has to maintain a stable supply of containers to meet spontaneous shipment demand. The regional maintenance and repair (M&R) team is responsible for the control of technical requirements and repair standards of the containers. The regional M&R office will use a contract survey service if it has a query on a repair request. The traditional way of approving repair request by using fax and telephone results in a large amount of paper work. Information lag has an adverse effect on container readiness. We use a case study of a container shipping company to illustrate that a knowledge-based work order system can enhance the maintenance capability of inventory management. Through the example of building a communication platform, the company can gain knowledge of different trading parties, making better forecasts and strategic plans.

Keywords:

• Service operations
• Activity management
• Mobile inventory
• Logistics
• Knowledge-based system

Acknowledgement

The authors acknowledge the support offered by Central Grant of The Hong Kong Polytechnic University under Project Number: G-YA19.