Faircloth Financial specializes in home equity loans, where customers can take out a loan against the equity they have in their home. The current process is as follows:
• The customer downloads the application from the web, fills it out and mails the application to Faircloth
• If there are any problems with the form, a customer sales rep calls up the customer and reviews the problems. It may take 1-2 days to contact the customer. After getting ahold of the customer resolving the issue can take anywhere from5-30 minutes. If the customer needs to fill out or sign additional forms, it can take 5-7 additional days to mail the form and get it back from the customer.
• Every Monday, the CSR's take a batch of completed, correct applications to the loan officers. This means that if a correct application comes in on Tuesday the soonest it gets in front of a loan officer is the next Monday.The Loan Officers then take 2-3 days to process the batch of loans based on information on the forms and information available from credit rating bureaus Customers are advised by email and regular mail regarding the final decisions
A) Map out the existing process and identify rework loops and delays in the process What causes these and what is the impact on cycle times? How might this affect the customers' willingness to do business with Faircloth?
B) What changes might you recommend to redesign the process with the needs of the customer n mind? Imagine the "perfect process" and base your recommendations on that.