How Kansei Engineering, Kano and QFD can improve logistics services

In the period of 2004 to 2014 there was a significant growth of employment in the logistics sector in Indonesia. This reflects a rapid rise in the need for logistics activities to support outsourcing. Because there is strong competition in the sector, logistics services should be able to deliver both cognitive and affective customer satisfaction. Studies in logistic services have been mainly focused on service gaps, an aspect related to cognitive satisfaction in customers. Many studies have been conducted to evaluate logistics service quality using SERVQUAL and the Kano model. However, these are insufficient in addressing all aspects of logistics provision. Hence, a deep understanding of customer affective need (known in Japanese as Kansei) is required, to provide competitive advantage by modeling more comprehensive customer experiences based on perceived logistics services. This paper proposes a combined model of Kansei Engineering, Kano, and quality function deployment (QFD), which it is hoped will generate more innovative ideas for improvements related to customer emotional satisfaction and customer delight. A case study in supporting logistics services has been chosen to validate the proposed model, and a survey through face-to-face questionnaires involving 157 customers was carried out. The model was then validated, and through the House of Quality (HoQ) concept, some innovative improvement ideas are proposed. They include the use of apps for order confirmation and cancellation, the integration of Google Maps into the ordering system, pre-order booking, and a bilingual feature in the transaction menu. Thus, from a practical implication point of view, it is hoped that this study will provide guidelines to the managers of logistics services companies in capturing, measuring and analyzing customer emotional needs (Kansei), with respect to the service attributes which are highly significant to Kansei aspects.