Improving the Management and Operational Success of the Third Party Logistics Industry in Taiwan: Application of Fuzzy Quality Function Deployment

The main purpose of this paper is to illustrate the application of the fuzzy quality function deployment (FQFD) approach to identify the technical requirements for improving the management and operational success of a third-party logistics (3PL) industry. First, the questions of “what” the key success factor (KSF) needs may be and “how” the technical requirements should be made are emphasized on a house of quality matrices. Then, to effectively grasp the inherent fuzziness of human judgments and preferences, the systematic steps using FQFD are proposed. Subsequently, an empirical study of 3PL industry in Taiwan is utilized to demonstrate the systematic steps. This study’s results show that the five major technical requirements for improving the management and operational success requirements of 3PL industry are: (1) professional capability of service personnel, (2) complete information system, (3) good customer communication network, (4) superb technology and management skills, and (5) operational process optimization capability. In addition, this study also provides suggestions concerning the top five technical requirements for improving management and operational success in meeting KSF needs. These can be considered to be the key points for the operation and management planning of companies in the 3PL industry.