Proceedings of the 6th European Conference on Industrial Engineering and Operations Management

Lisbon, Portugal, July 18-20, 2023

System Improvement on Late Delivery Service of

Online Delivery Business
Ivy Mar J. Ramos
Faculty at Industrial Engineering Department, College of Engineering
Bulacan State University, City of Malolos,
Bulacan, Philippines
[email protected]

Gian G. Cayabyab, Erika Beatrice DC. Garcia,

Chabelita B. Panao, John Miguel B. Yandan
Industrial Engineering Department
Bulacan State University
City of Malolos, Bulacan, Philippines

Abstract

In this paper, the researcher observed the delivery performance of a local "delivery service business." Upon
observation, it shows that considerable numbers of late delivery are the central problem, and the study addresses it by
determining the leading root cause that highly contributes to the problem. The researchers manually recorded raw data
used in this study upon observing the company's daily operation in the set time frame. Also, the administration was
interviewed and customer feedback was gathered. In analyzing the ultimate root cause of late delivery, different root
cause analysis tools were used in this study: a fishbone diagram for the general root causes, a five whys analysis, and
a scatterplot diagram for determining the primary root cause. Results from the RCA tools concluded that delays caused
by the store are the root cause that highly contributes to the late delivery of the business. For the recommendation, the
study designed a new delivery process to minimize the number of delays caused by stores and to increase the success
rate in meeting the customers' expected arrival time. This study used a mixture of quantitative and qualitative design.

Keywords
System Improvement, Delivery Time, Late Deliveries, Delay, and Online Business.

1. Introduction
The start of the Covid-19 pandemic in the Philippines brought a huge panic to the Filipinos, especially when the whole
island of Luzon was put on lockdown. As the people had been staying home for quarantine, boredom hit most of them,
leading to different new ideas and unique concepts of doing the usual activities during the period. One of the most
popular ideas was starting a food delivery service business that everyone wanted because it would allow them to get
the food they wanted without leaving their houses. Although this concept existed even before the pandemic, the
quarantine protocols and the fear of people going outside braced this business.

The delivery service business was one of the businesses that became popular during the pandemic in the Philippines
(Arreaola, 2020). This study examines a delivery service business that started to operate in March 2020 in Plaridel,
Bulacan, with a small growing group of friends and eventually expanded with the support of local stores. It expanded
its scope and now caters to more municipalities and cities in Bulacan. It now offers services such as PasaBuy Food,
PasaBuy Package Delivery, PasaBuy Pa-ANGKAS, and PasaBuy Paybills.
The food delivery service starts when a customer contacts them through the business's Facebook page. The page
automatically sends the list of services they offer whenever a customer visits the chat box. These options let the
customer choose what services they want. After choosing the Food Delivery Service, the system sends an order request
format containing the name of the stores, list of orders, name of the order, address, nearest landmark, contact number,

© IEOM Society International

790
Proceedings of the 6th European Conference on Industrial Engineering and Operations Management
Lisbon, Portugal, July 18-20, 2023

and alternative contact number. On the other hand, the process begins as soon as a customer sends this order request
message.
Subsequently, the admin confirms first if they have available riders. The admin will send a confirmation of the order,
and if no changes should be made, the order will be assigned to a rider. As the rider comes to the store, there are still
two things to be assured of: the store is open, and orders are available. Following the assurance of these two, the rider
will send the total cost of orders to the customers and will then deliver the order to the given address. The customer
should pay the rider for the total cost, including the delivery charges, while the rider takes proof of delivery. In some
instances, when the order is incomplete, the customer sends a message to the Facebook page and the admin tracks the
assigned rider. The rider and admin will coordinate with the customer. If the business (rider, admin, or system) turns
out to have committed a mistake, the rider will go to the store again to buy the missing order, and the team should
settle the issue.

The initial data collection revealed that businesses had encountered low customer satisfaction because of late
deliveries, early deliveries, miscommunication, and problems with delivery. These problems are classified as caused
by traveling the food or service (including delays from the stores, road interruptions, and rider/customer factors) or
by the management and coordination between the customer and the business. The late and early deliveries are caused
by traveling the food, while the miscommunication and the problem with the delivery fees are under management and
coordination. After an initial investigation, it was discovered that the most common problem is late deliveries, wherein
the common causes of delays are divided into four areas: Management, Act of Nature Events, People (Riders &
Customers), and Process Technology (See Figure 1).

Figure 1. Fishbone Diagram for Late Deliveries in a Food Delivery Service Business
However, according to its overall reviews, the most common problem of the business is late deliveries. This problem
was confirmed by its management team: the deliveries took longer. Thus the customer’s waiting time was also
increased. Moreover, the data from their operations on October 2021 shows that with an average delivery time of 41
minutes, only 59% of their deliveries have achieved the Expected Time of Arrival (ETA), which is a 20-30-minute
time allowance set by the business after the order confirmation (see Figure 2).

© IEOM Society International

791
Proceedings of the 6th European Conference on Industrial Engineering and Operations Management
Lisbon, Portugal, July 18-20, 2023

On-time Late Success Rate

70 80%
60 70%
60%

NO. OF ORDERS
50
50%
40
40%
30
30%
20 20%
10 10%
0 0%

Figure 2. Success Rate of Deliveries in terms of delivery time

Based on the feedback of customers and reviews through the social media page, this problem brought low customer
satisfaction, which reflects the decision of customers to choose other delivery service businesses. Also, the
examination shows the root cause of late deliveries are the delays in food preparation by the stores, factors related to
riders/customers, and road interruptions. The researchers focus on further investigation of the problem and possible
solutions to meeting the expected time of deliveries as a way to improve the delivery system.

Figure 3. Problem Encountered by Food Delivery Service Business

1.1 Objective of the Study
General Objective
The main objective of the study is to improve the delivery performance of the observed "delivery service business" to
further satisfy the customers by reducing the number of late deliveries by identifying the ultimate root cause that
highly contributes to late delivery. This study used root cause analysis tools, compare the outcomes to obtain an
accurate result, and design a new process flow of the delivery service that eliminates the observed main root cause.

The researchers observed the order cycle time from the time and process when the admin of the "delivery business"
confirms the order until the customer receives the product. The study mainly focuses on its general objective, which
is improving delivery performance by reducing the number of late deliveries. To improve delivery performance, the

© IEOM Society International

792
Proceedings of the 6th European Conference on Industrial Engineering and Operations Management
Lisbon, Portugal, July 18-20, 2023

root causes of the delays in deliveries must be investigated, weighed down, and determined correlation and the 'most
impact’ root cause of the late deliveries. Researchers looked and dug into identifying the different factors that might
have a significant effect on the delivery time process of the service business and plotted these identified factors using
a fishbone diagram that can be further narrowed down using two other root cause analysis tools: 5 whys and scatter
plot diagram. Also, to further assess these identified root causes, descriptive statistics are shown for the raw data gathered
at the beginning of this study.

Specific Objective
A delivery business that runs through online transactions is to be observed in this project. The target output by the end
of this project is to analyze and identify the main root cause that highly contributes to late deliveries using different
root cause analysis tools and design a new process flow as a recommendation for this study. Specifically, the study
aims to:

Identify and list down overall root causes of late deliveries of the orders using a fishbone diagram to easily narrow
down these root causes.Investigate the main cause contributing to the late deliveries in quantitative and qualitative
form for a more precise result by performing a five whys analysis and scatter plot diagram.
o To delve into the problem deeply and understand the ultimate cause of late deliveries.
o To show a strong relationship between the problem and the potential cause of late deliveries.
To propose a new delivery system flowchart that resolves the identified main root cause in the previous results.

To attain a higher success rate in meeting the expected arrival time of customer deliveries after applying the proposed
recommendation. The current process success rate obtains 59% success rate, and this study targets a 70% success rate,
the minimum success rate of on-time deliveries for starters and small businesses (Keller, 2020).

2. Review of Related Literature

Online Food Delivery

The COVID1-19 pandemic has remarkably strengthened the use of technologies and the Internet. Businesses and
establishments took advantage of social media and other means of communication to overcome the physical challenges
and to adapt to the quarantine guidelines. This response to the pandemic has been noticeable, especially when the
government and health sectors encouraged the people to limit outside activities and choose to prioritize contactless
means to acquire their needs, such as food and medicines. Thus, online service delivery, particularly for food delivery,
has been popular and eventually had an important part during the pandemic. Online food delivery is a process where
customers order food online while the store prepares the order, and the rider delivers it to the customer. Bates et al.
(2019) explain that due to the shift to online services, many entrepreneurs started delivery service businesses to provide
customers with a suitable, fast, and reliable delivery service of foods and beverages provided by their food service
partners. Along with this, online food deliveries can provide easier access to ordering food by not risking the
customer's safety (Li et al. 2020).

Remarkably, customers are increasingly turning to the Internet to purchase a wide range of goods and services.
However, there are still some people who disagree with using this process. Since older generations are not tech-savvy
or may have inhibitions regarding online activities, many unemployed people and a lesser number of employed people
still prefer offline buying or the traditional way. Gupta et al. (2019) explicate that customers prefer online buying to
offline buying for a variety of reasons, including convenience, quickness, and the availability of a larger selection of
products.

The Philippines has already introduced online food delivery services even before the pandemic. Even international
online service delivery has already entered the country, dominating the food delivery business. However, problems
affecting online food delivery in the Philippines have not yet been specified. In 2020, the significant difference in the
number of users of online food delivery and restaurant-customer delivery jumped to 2.4 million and 7.8 million,
respectively. It indicates that analyzing problems in online food delivery will have a greater impact on the Philippines'
evolving industry even more if problems that cause dissatisfaction of customers are resolved. Conclusively, this
research focuses on online delivery services to consider a large number of internet users for two reasons: (1) online

© IEOM Society International

793
Proceedings of the 6th European Conference on Industrial Engineering and Operations Management
Lisbon, Portugal, July 18-20, 2023

buying will still be increasing due to the ongoing pandemic that also exposed the world to use the technology more
often, and (2) that technology will never be eliminated.

Delivery Time
Based on the survey of the problems perceived in online deliveries, most online shoppers ranked that the main problem
they usually face is the late delivery of parcels (Rahendran & Wahab 2019). According to Bitkom (2013), customers
have a higher report of negative experiences regarding delivery delays. It is said that this problem should be prioritized
by online delivery providers to give their customers better service. Furthermore, the findings showed that the
customers are even willing to pay an additional 10-20% cost, higher than the standard delivery, for a faster delivery
service. A study by Handoko (2016) and Saad (2020) revealed that delivery service had a favorable effect on online-
customer satisfaction. Saad also disclosed in a research study that delivery time, service quality, price, and condition
of food delivered are the main factors of customer satisfaction when it comes to ordering food online. In support of
this result, research revealed that timely Delivery and shipping have the highest value to customers' satisfaction.
However, a study regarding the problems contributing to late deliveries in the Philippines has not yet been reported.
Moreover, analyzing untimely deliveries is important to address improvements and solutions to the most common
problem of all online food delivery businesses.

Conclusively, the delivery time of online food orders is getting more relevant compared to other factors that a customer
considers in ordering online. The problems perceived by online customers are related to delivery rather than the
product itself (Eurobarometer, 2013). In this case, the customers always come back to their prior reason for ordering
online: to receive the food faster and without further hustle.

Many studies looked at the factors affecting online food delivery services. Researchers have studied how delivery
issues, as well as product quality, affect the overall service of a delivery business. However, there has not been a lot
of attention given to the relationship between factors affecting late deliveries and their relationship to delivery service,
specifically, if late deliveries, which develop a secure attachment of customers to the delivery business, possess a
significant part of online delivery performance.

Standard Delivery Time

Even before the pandemic, people love to shop and order online because of the benefits it gives to them. There is an
observable exponential growth in online marketplaces, mainly as it gives convenient opportunities to buyers.
Currently, many people are becoming aware of the importance of online shopping due to the Covid-19 emergency we
are facing (Prajapati, 2021). Mid-March since they locked in many parts of the country, everyone is jumping on online
delivery services due to the threat of the virus. Several restaurants were forced to shut down, and some have managed
to shift their business model and go digital to survive in this pandemic. In this new normal, many business offer
deliveries using apps which is very convenient to use by millennials. As Llena Arcenas said, a manager at San Miguel
Foods Culinary Center, "More businesses will go digital, particularly food restaurants, and that is why resto meal kits
and the availability of their proprietary ingredients will be their creative divergence from regular food takeout or
delivery." Quarantines and Work-From-Home setup also served as a trigger in more food consumption as people "all-
day snacking, indulgence, and home cooking or opt for deliveries" (Garcia 2021).

According to the survey conducted by U.S. Foods, people are increasingly turning to apps for food delivery, with the
average person having two food delivery apps and using them three times per month. About 70% of orders in a
restaurant are generated online through online delivery services. Also, the survey found that most people don't want
to wait long for their food, with 31% expecting their deliveries at their door within 30 minutes. On average, 40 minutes
is the longest waiting time for customers (Lardieri 2019).

Several studies have already explored the critical factors in eCommerce Buying Decisions, the theory of planned
behavior to explain the intention to use online food delivery services, and preferences on delivery options that can
influence customer satisfaction. They have often looked at the impact of these factors regarding the satisfaction and
success of the business, but they have not sufficiently explored the impact of late deliveries and having standard
delivery time on customer satisfaction. For instance, are there significant relations between providing an expected
time of delivery to the customer's satisfaction?

Conclusively, similar to mentioned studies, this research will be focusing on online food delivery services because it
is relevant to the present and future trends and development of the whole world. The Philippines have already started

© IEOM Society International

794
Proceedings of the 6th European Conference on Industrial Engineering and Operations Management
Lisbon, Portugal, July 18-20, 2023

to adopt this system of online services, and the current advantages showed ideal improvement in Filipino lives. To
create greater improvement, the researchers aim to conduct a study in the delivery service business to further
investigate the underlying problems. It was found from many types of research that delivery time has always been a
factor affecting overall customer satisfaction in this specific service industry. However, there was a lack of attention
to further analyze what are the causes of late deliveries. Also, there is insufficient information regarding the impact of
late deliveries on the customer's satisfaction. These gaps in research support and fuel this study to analyze the online
delivery service and create system improvements.

3. Methodology

3.1 Research Design

This study is a mixture of quantitative and qualitative design. The data to be used are the exact and accurate
information directly coming from customers, admin, and riders' experiences which are posted, stored, and captured
by Facebook and Messenger applications. During the collection of data in operations, all data entering the application
are recorded. However, the data still undergo a comprehensive review to separate the bad data (incomplete data,
outside the Plaridel, and cannot be counted due to errors) and good data (data that are complete, within the Plaridel,
and there is no error).

3.2 Research Variables

The collected data are used to answer the identified problem by giving values to this research's variables. These
variables are the following:

General:
Delivery time
Conceptual: The amount of time it takes for goods to arrive at the receiver's address.
Operational: The success rate is computed by summarizing the total number of successful or "On-time" deliveries by
dividing the total number of deliveries of the business.

Customer's Satisfaction
Conceptual: Customer's contentment and gratification with the products, services, and capabilities.
Operational: Measured by the number of complaints recorded through social media posts and messages.

Specific:
Late deliveries
Conceptual: The delayed deliveries on the part of the delivery service.
Operational: Calculated by the number of deliveries that failed to meet the expected delivery time.

A delay caused by store

Conceptual: Store's problem in terms of time preparing orders.
Operational: The number of cases in which the rider reported delays to delivery due to the store's preparation of orders.

Riders/Customers
Conceptual: The person who delivers the order and people who request the delivery service.
Operational: Incorporated with the number of cases the rider and the admin reported delays to delivery due to riders
and/or customers.

Road Accident/Traffic
Conceptual: The events in which at least one person is injured or killed and that can cause traffic or disturbance on
activities on roads such as public transportation.
Operational: The occurrence of road problems that caused delays in delivery service, reported by the riders.

3.3 Sampling
To conduct a thorough discussion and examination to evaluate the problem in the business, the researchers recorded
the data from two groups of sources: management team and business page reviews, as well as the operations team and
operations platform, used. The data from the management team and business page reviews collected are the reviews

© IEOM Society International

795
Proceedings of the 6th European Conference on Industrial Engineering and Operations Management
Lisbon, Portugal, July 18-20, 2023

from the business page and the complaints of customers. On the other hand, data from the operations team and
operations platform used are the number of orders per day, the time order was made, name of riders, name of stores,
address of the recipient, expected delivery time, delivery fee, the time order received, and the number of orders per
rider.

3.5 Research Procedure

The rationality of the topic and a secure source of data have been initiated first before the approval of the topic.
Afterward, a research plan was made to create the flow of the project. The collection of data was then established by
recording the data from operations and some information from interviews (See Figure 4). Then, the quantitative data
are analyzed and interpreted with the use of descriptive statistics, while the qualitative data are examined by the
researchers by reviewing related literature and comparing it to the quantitative results.

Start A

Record the data from the

Determining what information business's social media page
is to be collected

Analyze the initial data

Determining what data is
needed
Prepare questions for the
management team
Setting a timeframe for data
collection
Record the response of the
management team
Join the group chat for
operations
Consolidate the collected data

Record the data from operations

End

Figure 4. Process Map for Collecting Data in a Food Delivery Service Business

4. Results and Discussion

This chapter shows further analysis of data collected using the descriptive, correlation, and why-why analysis as
stronger evidence and support that the problem exists and determines which root cause is the most determinant. This
chapter aims to provide the qualitative and quantitative approach to identifying the main root cause of delays in the
deliveries of the "delivery business." This study uses a quantitative method in performing correlation analysis and
qualitative tools to test the different factors identified by the researcher and highlight what particular predictors highly
influence the dependent variable.

© IEOM Society International

796
Proceedings of the 6th European Conference on Industrial Engineering and Operations Management
Lisbon, Portugal, July 18-20, 2023

4.1 Results

4.1.1 Descriptive Statistics

Data were first analyzed in descriptive statistics, which were completed using Minitab 19 to further observe the basic
features of the data in the study, which is shown in Figure 5. Descriptive statistics were presented by: Measure of
Frequency and Measures of Central Tendency (Mean, Median, Mode). Based on the results in Figure 8, it shows that
the average of late deliveries has a high mean value of 41.11, and the number of total delays caused by the store is the
next high mean value, 18.71. Late delivery of orders are those that failed to meet the expected time of arrival (ETA)
of orders and deliver beyond the given time expected by customers.

Figure 5. Descriptive Statistics for Late Deliveries, Store Delays, Rider/Customer, and Traffic
4.1.2 Five Why Analysis
Five Why Analysis developed by Sakichi Toyoda, is a widely used technique as it is one of the most effective tools
for root cause analysis of a certain problem in a qualitative form but still based on facts. This study was used to analyze
the main root cause of late deliveries without the use of any inferential or statistical tools and just basic data. It is
primarily conducted in this study to identify a solution to the problem, which is late deliveries, and find its exact root
cause. This analysis is supported by the previous data gathered from interviews and other means and averages
computed.

© IEOM Society International

797
 Proceedings of the 6th European Conference on Industrial Engineering and Operations Management
Lisbon, Portugal, July 18-20, 2023

Numerous counts of dissatisfied customers by the delivery service provided by this observed "delivery business" due to
DEFINE THE late deliveries.
PROBLEM

PRIMARY
CAUSE
Why is it happening?
1
The expected time set by customers for their order/s to arrive isn't met by the business.

Why is that?
2 The current delivery process lacks systemization and order in these unexpected
situations.
Why is that?
WHY IS THIS
A 3 The management is not well equipped to schedule riders and maximize the delivery
PROBLEM? time, and also in handling these unexpected events that cause delays in the deliveries.
Why is that?
4 Unexpected events like long waiting times of riders in the stores and the management
don't have a plan for it. Many idle riders and just waiting in the store.
Why is that? ROOT CAUSE
NOTE: If the final "Why" has no 5 Long waiting times of riders are due to delays caused by the stores, like
controllable solution, return to the unprepared orders or long queue lines, and the management/admins didn't have a
previous "Why."
countermeasure for this unexpected, but it is very common to occur situations,
especially in the "delivery business."

CORRECTIVE
PARTY RESPONSIBLE
ACTION
The management of this "delivery business" should have a countermeasure and
CORRECTIVE address the DelayDelay that comes from store delay and design a new delivery The Management and
ACTION TO
TAKE
process flow and some applicable recommendations that will particularly resolve this Riders of the "delivery
observable main root cause of late Delivery that comes from store factor as it business."
contributes to customer dissatisfaction.

Figure 6. Five Why Analysis

4.1.3 Scatterplot Diagram

After the descriptive and five why analysis, a quantitative method is used to determine the correlation of each
independent variable to the dependent variable. In Table 1, each factor is represented in a scatter plot diagram which
shows the behavior of points depending on the variable, and each dot on the scatterplot represents a day from the data
set. All root causes are on the x-axis, while the dependent variable is on the y-axis. The location of these points depends
on both respective independent and dependent scores. All plots are considered to have a form of linear relationship
but differ in a huge to a straight line. Among the four plots, store delay has a clearer path or line, which means store
delay is the most correlated factor in late deliveries. The data points trend upward that reveals a direct correlation
between late deliveries and store delay because as one variable increases, the other one also increases.

To further prove, a linear regression is also completed to determine the coefficient of determination value of each
variable that will tell how strong the correlation is. The coefficient of determination, or R2, is a score of how well
changes in x predict changes in y in the recorded data. The Closer to 1 the R2 is, the more predictable the data is.
Based on the result of the analysis, store delay has the highest value of R2 out of all the variables tested.

© IEOM Society International

798
Proceedings of the 6th European Conference on Industrial Engineering and Operations Management
Lisbon, Portugal, July 18-20, 2023

Table 1. Scatter Plot Diagram for the Identified Root Causes of Delays in the Deliveries

Variables R R2 = Plot

Store Delay 0.8627 0.7443

Rider/Customer 0.6585 0.4336

Road 0.6883 0.4738

Accident/Traffic

Not Indicated: Others 0.8197 0.6719

4.2 Discussion
The results from the correlation analysis and five why analysis in accordance with the results from fishbone analysis
and descriptive analysis that conclude store delay is the most determinant factor that affects late deliveries. The
analysis revealed that this factor has the strongest relationship to late deliveries having the highest R2, according to
Pearson Correlation, and the highest mean among all the factors identified. Even though traffic and rider/customer

© IEOM Society International

799
Proceedings of the 6th European Conference on Industrial Engineering and Operations Management
Lisbon, Portugal, July 18-20, 2023

factors do not strongly correlate with late deliveries based on analysis, these two variables can still be considered as
contributors to the problem but with the least amount of impact compared to what the store delays have created.

The correlation analysis revealed that the rider/customer and traffic have R2 lower than the store delay, which means
these variables are not the most determinant factors in late deliveries. Using the Pearson correlation coefficient's
assumptions, the store delay and the total count of not indicated factors has r > 0.7, which tells us they have a strong
relationship in late deliveries. However, since the Not indicated factors are the sum of factors not specified, it is treated
as a group of two or more factors that produce a strong relationship. Only the late deliveries have a strong relationship
with the dependent variable. Besides, this research proves its essence by providing a higher R2 value even when
compared to the "Not indicated: Others" factor.

With all of these, the research produced a data-based defense for investigating the highest determinant root cause of
the problem. The outcome reveals that the most important independent variable is the delay caused by the store. This
root cause must have an appropriate solution to cater to the largest portion of late deliveries. Therefore, targeting this
predictor will give a satisfactory delivery service to customers in terms of delivery time.

5. Recommendation
The identified main root cause in this research was used to undermine a specific area of concern. Being store delay is
the most determinant factor of the problem, solutions and alternative to it are discussed below. Recommendations
were presented with the corresponding evaluation to examine their possible impact. With the result from the analysis,
the generated recommendations rely on the reduction of time in the overall delivery time. The recommendations are
having a new and improved ordering process and a proper delivery update. Further improvements that support the
main goal of solving the problem are indicated respectively.

Improved Order Processing

A recommendation to reduce the delay caused by the stores is improved order processing wherein placing of an order
is done by calling the stores' hotline number to determine beforehand the waiting time for the preparation of orders.
As we recall on the current process, all the orders received on their FB page will then be checked and reviewed by the
admin in charge of it. The admin will then designate those orders to the riders through their group chat, and the riders
will then travel directly to the stores for ordering, which results in a long waiting time for the rider in the store as some
food orders are just being prepared after ordering. In this proposed improved process of order, after receiving the order
assigned to the rider by the admin, the rider will first call the store's hotline number to place the order and ask how
many minutes its preparation time is before traveling directly to the store if it is ready for pickup.

Delivery Updates
To produce higher customer satisfaction, improving the delivery updates is also recommended. Delivery updates are
messages from the business to its customers regarding the status of the orders. These updates can be used to help the
customer track and estimate the arrival of the Delivery as well as address the problem of having immediate concern
and miscommunication between the admin, riders, and customers. Moreover, it can lessen the worry of customers
about their orders and may notify them also when the delivery has encountered some delays. Table 2 shows the
different delivery updates.

New Process Flowchart

Unlike the current service, the proposed process includes more specified actions that will boost the system's
improvement (See Table 2). Through a phone call, the rider should check if the store is open, and if the orders are
available, then make an order. As a support to the business's improvement, coordination and responsiveness are
included in the new process. The responsiveness of the business is an important part of tracking the delivery.
Therefore, updating them through reliable ways will give them more service satisfaction. Following this, the rider will
send the delivery status to the customer to inform them about the expected delivery time and the total amount of
payment of the order, wherein the expected delivery time considers the delays the store asked for. Most stores,
especially fast-food chains, inform their customer about the possible waiting time. Considering the waiting time
announced by the store will help to create a more accurate delivery time. Another delivery update is the alert which
may also be proof or a record that the time has arrived at a specific time. At last, sending a feedback form is included.

© IEOM Society International

800
 Proceedings of the 6th European Conference on Industrial Engineering and Operations Management
Lisbon, Portugal, July 18-20, 2023

It is an important step for the business to know their customer's satisfaction. However, it is not forced on the side of
the customer to answer the form.
Table 2. Comparative Analysis for the Current and Proposed Process

Comparative Analysis
Areas Current Process Proposed Process
The rider goes to the store and makes The rider will order from the store through a
a. Order processing
an order phone call first before going to the store
The rider will go to the store while the order
b. Waiting time The rider waits for the order in the store
is being processed by the store.
Confirmation of orders and sending
c. Order Notifications Confirmation of orders
expected delivery time
Sends total delivery amount and expected
d. Delivery Status Sends total amount of delivery
delivery time
e. Delivery Alerts Depends on riders Standard step; Should not be eliminated
Business's page rating; Voluntary; some Sends encouragement messages for
f. Feedback Collection
customers are unaware of it feedback through direct messaging

6. Conclusion
Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, global travel restrictions and stay-at-home orders have been implemented in different
countries, causing the most severe disruption to the global economy. People need to innovate and create ways to sell
their products to make their business alive, and, in some countries, restaurants can operate under takeaway/delivery
sales (Gossling et al.,2020). Faced with this dire situation, characterized restaurants were forced to increase, diversify,
or adapt new sales channels such as food delivery apps (FDAs). (Gossling et al.,2020). In this manner, customers have
the option to purchase food in the comfort of their homes and save more time and effort since there is no requirement
to stand in long queues to pay and risk their health in physical stores. They can buy food through food delivery
applications and pay using online credit and debit cards or cash upon delivery. The delivery time in a food delivery
business is a crucial factor since it is one of the strong predictors of customer satisfaction in buying foods online, as
well as the service quality, price, and condition of food delivered (Saad, A. 2020). Food delivery businesses must aim
to provide convenience, accessibility, and exceptional service to promote a good company image that will surely
attract more customers in the future.

Through the observation of their daily operation as well as interviews on the management of the business itself, overall
root causes are compiled and listed using a fishbone diagram. It shows that management, natural events, people (rider
and customer), and process technology are the four general root causes of late deliveries of the business. To further
highlight the ultimate root cause of late deliveries, different root cause analysis tools are used: the five why analysis
and scatterplot diagram. The results obtained in the five why analysis concluded that the main root cause of late
deliveries is the delays caused by store factors and that the management of the business should have countermeasures
for it. It also results in another tool used in this study which is the scatterplot diagram, that delays caused by stores
have a more linear relationship and a highly correlated factor with late deliveries.

Focusing on the delay caused by the store as the main root cause of the late deliveries as concluded in the root cause
analysis performed, researchers proposed several recommendations to particularly solve store delay. The
recommendation proposed by the researchers is designing a new delivery system flow to particularly reduce the late
delivery caused by store factors. This new delivery system proposed includes riders calling the store first to place an
order through the store's hotline number, and delivery updates wherein adding communication between riders and
customers to update them if there would be delays or other unexpected situations. Through these delivery updates,
wherein customers will be updated to unexpected delays caused by the store, a tentative 30 minutes are added to the
customer's expected time of arrival of their orders, wherein it is the tentative maximum delay of their order. This store
delay includes the preparation of orders, long queue lines, etc. A feedback form is also proposed to be answered by
customers at the end of the service. Getting customer feedback can further improve the service provided by the
business. An additional recommendation is having an application on the smartphone to have a clear record of the

© IEOM Society International

801
Proceedings of the 6th European Conference on Industrial Engineering and Operations Management
Lisbon, Portugal, July 18-20, 2023

management and also clear communication between rider and customer, as it has many features like timely updates
of their order that will further satisfy customers. But it will only be materialized if the business acquires a programmer
to create the app and more importantly, the business has a budget allocated for it.

References
15 Essential Features of Food Delivery Apps. (2021, September). Retrieved from IdeaUsher, 2021:
https://ideausher.com/blog/food-delivery/features-of-food-delivery-app/
Arreola, R. (2021, July 28). Retrieved from KPMG: https://home.kpmg/ph/en/home/insights/2020/07/the-new-
normal-of-increased-online-business-transactions.html
Batra, B. (n.d.). 7 Advantages Of Using A Mobile Ordering App For Your Restaurant. Retrieved from RestLabs:
https://www.restolabs.com/blog/7-advantages-using-mobile-ordering-app-your-restaurant
Chang, T., Wysk, R., and Wang, H., Computer-Aided Manufacturing, 3rd Edition, Prentice Hall, New Jersey, 2006.
Cook, V., and Ali, A., End-of-line inspection for annoying noises in automobiles: trends and perspectives, Applied.
Acoustic, vol. 73, no. 3, pp. 265–275, 2012.
Filipino entrepreneurs ride the wave of food deliveries during a pandemic. (2021, February 9). Retrieved from
BusinessWorld: https://www.bworldonline.com/filipino-entrepreneurs-ride-wave-of-food-deliveries-
during-pandemic/
How to Use a Scatter Plot for Root Cause Analysis. (2021, February 25). Retrieved from EASE Blog:
https://www.ease.io/how-to-use-a-scatter-plot-for-root-cause-analysis/
Hong, C., Choi, H., Choi, E.-K., & Joung, H.-W. (2021, August 22). Factors affecting customer intention to use
online food delivery services before and during the COVID-19 pandemic. Retrieved from PMC US
National Library of Medicine, : https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8443068/
Impact of Late or Inaccurate Deliveries Can Be Disastrous, Study Shows., Retrieved from
SupplyChainBrain: https://www.supplychainbrain.com/articles/14912-impact-of-late-or-inaccurate-
deliveries-can-be-disastrous-study-shows, 2012.
Jones, M., Optimal lean strategy, Available: http://www.iienet.org/Details.aspx?id=xxx, May 21, 2011.
Keller, A. (2020, July 17). THE LOGISTICAL LOWDOWN COMPLIMENTS OF YOUR TRUE-BLUE LOGISTICS
CREW. Retrieved from Keller Logistics Group: https://blog.kellerlogistics.com/importance-of-industry-
standards-on-time-delivery?fbclid=IwAR0TjKc1YjPjx2lQ0jvrXkdSCWLr59iQtGl91mipXkA-
sD15Xi5syvTyjlE
Khadem, M., Ali, A., and Seifoddini, H., Efficacy of lean metrics in evaluating the performance of manufacturing
system, International Journal of Industrial Engineering, vol. 15, no. 2, pp. 176–184, 2008.
Lardieri, A. (2019, July 30). Survey: People Willing to Pay More For Food Delivery. Retrieved from U.S.News:
https://www.usnews.com/news/national-news/articles/2019-07-30/survey-people-willing-to-pay-more-for-
food-delivery
Mohd Yusof, Z., Mohd Yusof, F., & Mohd Yusof, Y. , Determinants towards Food Delivery Service through
E-Commerce in Pasir Gudang Area. Journal of Modern Education Review, 622-631, 2016.
Pandian, A., and Ali, A., Automotive robotic body shop simulation for performance improvement using plant
feedback, International Journal of Industrial and Systems Engineering, vol. 7, no. 3, pp. 269–291, 2011.
Prajapati, V. (2021, January 22). Why Do People Shop Online? Retrieved from TechPrevue:
https://www.techprevue.com/reasons-prefer-online-shopping/
Saad, A. , Factors affecting online food delivery service in Bangladesh: an empirical study. British Food
Journal, pp. 535–550, 2020.
Yi, T. , FACTORS POSITIVELY AFFECTING CUSTOMER SATISFACTION OF LINEMAN FOOD
DELIVERY'S CUSTOMERS IN BANGKOK. Master of Business Administration, p. 112, 2020.
Zhou, N., & Lee, L.-C., A NEW MODEL FOR ONLINE FOOD ORDERING SERVICE BASED ON
SOCIAL NEEDS IN A SHARING ECONOMY. International Journal of Social Sciences, pp. 925–937, 2019.
Zoleta, V., . [Battle of the Brands] Foodpanda vs. GrabFood: Which Food Delivery Service is Better?
Retrieved from Moneymax, 2021. : https://www.moneymax.ph/personal-finance/articles/foodpanda-vs-
grabfoo

© IEOM Society International

802
Proceedings of the 6th European Conference on Industrial Engineering and Operations Management
Lisbon, Portugal, July 18-20, 2023

Biographies

Ivy Mar Ramos is an ASEAN Engineer and a Professional Industrial Engineer. He earned Master of Business
Administration degree in Bulacan State University. He conducted various studies focusing on Process Improvements,
Operations Management and Methods Engineering. He also acquired solid experience in Strategic Process
Management and Quality Assurance. Ramos is currently the Executive Director of Strategic Management and
Development and an Associate Professor in a State University handling Industrial Engineering courses such as
Methods Engineering, Engineering Economy, Marketing and Strategic Project Management.

Gian G. Cayabyab is a graduate of Bachelor of Science in Industrial Engineering at Bulacan State University. He is
a former Assistant Director for Activities at PIIE Northern and Central Luzon Student Chapter.

Erika Beatrice DC. Garcia holds a Bachelor of Science in Industrial Engineering from Bulacan State University.

Chabelita B. Panao is a graduate of Bachelor of Science in Industrial Engineering at Bulacan State University. She
is a former President at Philippine Institute of Industrial Engineers-National Student Chapter.

John Miguel B. Yandan is a graduate of Bachelor of Science in Industrial Engineering at Bulacan State University.
Yandan is a Certified Six Sigma White Belt and a Safety Officer 1.

© IEOM Society International

803