Hybrid Method as Solution to Reduce Product Return in Food Companies: Hybrid Method as Solution to Reduce Product Return in Food Companies

Product returns are one of the challenges for business people in the manufacturing sector, which occurs because consumers are attracted to the products they produce. In recent years, it has been identified and reported that returns on food products have also increased drastically. This has serious health and economic consequences for both the company and society. Product returns are also a big challenge for a food company PT. XYZ. This company gets a very high number of products, so it suffers a huge loss. Product returns at PT. XYZ because the food products sold exceed the expiration date. A high number of products can affect the business goals of a company. To overcome this problem, the author aims to identify the company's business processes to find out the causes. The method presented here is a hybrid method, that is, composed of three methods, namely Root Cause Analysis (RCA), Lean Thinking methods and Fuzzy Takagi-Sugeno. Identification of the causes of product problems in the business process of PT. XYZ uses RCA and Lean Thinking methods. This study also provides recommendations for new business processes at PT. XYZ using Lean Thinking and Fuzzy Takagi-Sugeno. The results of the business process recommendations were tested at PT. XYZ for 57 days and resulted in a decrease in the number of product returns.