Research Paper on Supplier Quality Management

Introduction

Measuring and tracking the costs inquired due to poor quality of the products supplied is an important attribute of supplier management which helps to avid huge loses that are at times exaggerated. Tracking the quality of products and services supplier cannot be eliminated in any organization considering the fact that none of the supplier is perfect and are bound to make some mistakes from time to time. The metrics of cost suffered due to poor quality helps to prepare the charge backs that are made on the suppliers. This is also a chance to make it known to the suppliers that their performance is being monitored to make them improve on their conduct.

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Matters to do with supplier management are always challenging and thus the management of various organization are bound to keep frequent checks on the systems used on supply chain management to find for opportunities that are available to help optimize the systems. This involves introducing new control method and regulation to try and change the normal way of doing things as an effort to improve on both quality and efficiency. The new changes are made in such a way that the suppliers find it easy to adopt them while at the same helping they cut down their expenses.

Using a collaborative approach is a good way through which an organization can help solve the available supply chain issues that might be identified. This requires that an organization establishes internal processes that bare use to engage the suppliers such that they are always informed of the errors they make and suggesting to them what is required of them. In line with this, there is a need to come up with both corrective and preventive actions to help minimize the constant issues that are identified to affect the relationship of suppliers with the management of a given organization.

Change in Emphasis and Supplier Base Reduction

The process that is involved in supplier base reduction is a planned one and this not done in isolation. This is one of the many concepts that are involved when re-engineering a given supply chain for the purpose of reducing the inventory that is used at any one time. A lot of attention is made to make sure that the changes that are involved succeed to give the very best to the customers in terms of quality and prices of the services and products that are involved (Partovi, 2013). The process involves setting annual targets that are necessary to supplement the effective planning and production processes that are used within a given organization. Despite the fact that planning and production might be done in the right manner, failing to optimize the chain supplier techniques that are used might produce some challenges in the future that might lead to some losses (Azadi and Saen, 2011).

Article Reflection

The article by Glenn Wheaton elaborates on suitable ways through which suppler performance management can be optimized. It is indicated that there is a need for every organization to manage and quantify its supply chain risks as this is the only way that organizations are bound to become successful in the future (Epiqtech, 2018). It is a fact that most organizations are aware of the existences of these risks but they are always reluctant to involve effective measures to help them keep safe from them. Success of an organization is a factor of how well such an organization is able to respond to the available risks. The article touches on evaluation of suppliers as a good way to check for the available risks and thus reducing the supplier base is a good way an organization can manage its suppliers. This is a chance for the management of the organization to engage suppliers to discuss on their past performance which helps them to make changes that allow them to avoid mistakes they might have done in the past. This is a chance for businesses to engage suppliers to help identify certain products that require incorporation of new technologies to improve both on their marketability and quality.

Depending on the type of business that is being carried, the management may opt to reduce the supplier base to have enough time to select intended suppliers. A given business or organization might intend to recruit suppliers who are ISO certified and thus it requires time to look and analyze the various suppliers who might be willing to do business with them. This is a chance for a business to reduce the cost involved in traveling to meet so many suppliers, most of which might not have the required qualifications (Ehrgott, Reimann, Kaufmann and Carter, 2011).

Chapter 7: Supplier Evaluation and Selection

The chapter elaborates on suitable ways that an organization can use to select suitable suppliers to meet its goals in terms of quality. Dual-sourcing is more preferred than single-sourcing for most businesses and organizations as a good way to reduce the number of available risks (Handfield et al, 2016). This does not mean that a business cannot trust a single supplier but it should be natural disasters at times occurs and might disrupt the supply chain procedures of a given supplier. Use of dual-supplier services is a good way to respond to such disasters which are unpredictable in most cases. A business is thus able to use a second supplier should the main or the trusted supplier fails to deliver the intended product due to some unavoidable reasons. It is important that suppliers understand all the details that are important for the buyers to help them perfect in their roles to make sure that they involve processes that ensure timely delivery of products. This is a chance to identify special needs that the buyers are looking for and making sure that such needs are fully attended to make sure that the establish a good working relationship (Burt, Petcavage, and Pinkerton, 2011).

Conclusion

It is important that the selection process is done in a professional and ethical manner that make sure that critical attributes are considered and that selection and recruitment are done at the right time. This helps to make sure that the operations of a given business are not affected in any way. Despite the fact that they are general ways that are recommended selecting the suppliers that a certain business should use, the overall process is subject to the available policies that are used within a given organization. The fact that different organizations have different policies means that the selection policies are bound to be different although some similarities might be identified.

Reference List

Books

Azadi, M. and Saen, R.F., 2011. Developing a WPF-CCR model for selecting suppliers in the presence of stochastic data. OR Insight, 24(1), pp.31-48.

Burt, D.N., Petcavage, S. and Pinkerton, R., 2011. Proactive purchasing in the supply chain: The key to world-class procurement. McGraw Hill Professional.

Ehrgott, M., Reimann, F., Kaufmann, L. and Carter, C.R., 2011. Social sustainability in selecting emerging economy suppliers. Journal of business ethics, 98(1), pp.99-119.

Yue, J., Xia, Y. and Tran, T., 2010. Selecting sourcing partners for a make-to-order supply chain. Omega, 38(3-4), pp.136-144.

Handfield, R. B., Giunipero, L. C., Giunipero, L. C., Handfield, R. B., Patterson, J. L., Monczka, R. M., & Monczka, R. M. (2016). Purchasing and supply chain management.

Article

Epiqtech.,2018. Effective Supplier Performance Management by Epiq Tech. [online] Available at: http://www.epiqtech.com/supplier-performance-management.htm [Accessed 12 May 2018].

Journals

Kannan, D., de Sousa Jabbour, A.B.L. and Jabbour, C.J.C., 2014. Selecting green suppliers based on GSCM practices: Using fuzzy TOPSIS applied to a Brazilian electronics company. European Journal of Operational Research, 233(2), pp.432-447.

Partovi, F.Y., 2013. Selecting suppliers for a long-term relationship. International Journal of Management Science and Engineering Management, 8(2), pp.109-116.