How can you use quality control to identify and correct problems in your supply chain?

FMEA is a highly versatile tool that can help us identifying risks and making quality control plan. As a first step, it is crucial to map our entire supply chain process into a detailed process flow. From each process step, understand how significant the impact would be to our customer if failures happen in this particular step (Severity). Next, assess how frequently the failure might happen (Occurrence), and how robust our system is in detecting the failure (Detection). Repeat the process for all process steps and calculate the risk priority number (RPN). Set a threshold for RPN. Any process step with RPN higher than the threshold requires immediate action to either reduce the failure frequency, improve the detection, or both.

In the ever-evolving world of supply chain management, ensuring the consistent quality of products or services is paramount. By implementing a robust quality control system, you can pinpoint and rectify issues in your supply chain, ultimately enhancing customer satisfaction.

First & foremost, make quality function as part of SCM team to avoid conflicts. Enquiry document should always contain qap & quality requirements so that the supplier & seller is aware Consider/provide timeline for quality inspection during order delivery finalisation Last & final, review the documents or get the inspection done by product expert

Quality Function Deployment (QFD) is a methodology used in supply chain management to align product or service features with customer requirements. It helps prioritize and translate customer needs into specific engineering characteristics, facilitating better decision-making throughout the supply chain process.

As product-owner you need to clearly specify what you want in terms of requirements. This will make quality control team and suppliers to have the parameters to plan all they need to do to achieve the result and at the end confirm all in accordance. The requirements may determine where and which suppliers would be able to provide the quality you pursue in your product, in your project, in your job, whichever you handle in your deliverable portfolio.

Assessment of key suppliers is very important activity of the SCM group . Any growing company needs to have a strong focus for development of vendors and also identifying the probable new entrants . Improving the quality must me a way of life . If there is coercion or any forcible acceptance the very purpose of the Quality is lost . It should strat from the shop floor and a ownership should be there all across the organisation . Unless we work on these lines Quality remains a nightmare. Its a human tendency that all of us try to improve the situation , however what lacks is vision , direction , understanding etc. Check and balance is must to improve the situation and attain higher levels of quality achievement.

To assess suppliers in the supply chain, consider factors like: 1. **Quality:** Evaluate the quality of their products or services against your standards. 2. **Reliability:** Assess the supplier's ability to consistently deliver on time and meet deadlines. 3. **Cost:** Analyze the overall cost of products or services, including hidden costs like shipping and handling. 4. **Communication:** Evaluate how well the supplier communicates and responds to inquiries or issues. 5. **Financial Stability:** Check the financial health of the supplier to ensure long-term stability. 6. **Ethics and Compliance:** Assess their adherence to ethical business practices and compliance with regulations.

1. **Performance Metrics:** Track key indicators like lead times and on-time delivery. 2. **Technology Integration:** Employ tools for real-time process visibility. 3. **Data Analysis:** Regularly analyze data for insights and optimization. 4. **Supplier Performance:** Evaluate suppliers to maintain standards. 5. **Inventory Management:** Monitor levels, turnover, and storage costs. 6. **Risk Assessment:** Identify and plan for potential risks in the chain. 7. **Customer Feedback:** Gather insights to improve processes. 8. **Continuous Improvement:** Foster a culture of ongoing enhancement. 9. **Cost Control:** Regularly review and manage overall costs. 10. **Compliance Check:** Ensure adherence to regulations and standards.

Define quality standards. Evaluate and audit suppliers. Implement incoming and in-process inspections. Conduct product testing and sampling. Use statistical process control. Perform root cause analysis. Implement corrective actions. Maintain open communication with suppliers. Keep detailed quality documentation. Embrace continuous improvement.

In todays Geopolitical situation one should not put everything in one basket . The role of SCM manager has become more critical in the entire value chain to keep the business up and running. In this context the diversified supply chain plays a important role . The more diversified with regards to the geographical positioning the better it is . Hence the vendor evaluation is important and check and balance to be adopted to introduce new and improve existing vendors. Strong database and analytical tools are essential for assessment of the performance of the vendors based on defined parameters . Clear SOP to be established right in the beginning to avoid any biased analysis being done during the course of the analysis.

Many businesses are still caught in the vicious circle of reacting to problems and putting out fires, rather then predicting issues and proactively working towards eliminating relevant root causes. Even though process monitoring is in many cases integral part of business management, it is still largely focused on Reacting rather than Predicting and Preventing. Evolving technologies such as generative AI, IoT asset monitoring and cloud-based integrated systems are game changers. They allow far more agile decision-making than decades ago. Not to mention having more realistic and holistic view of end-to-end value chain. In this sense, monitoring processes becomes part of collaborative effort, supported by smart processes, assets and systems.

Using these essential RCA tools for analysis and troubleshooting is essential. Also, custom tools built by the industry experts for a specific industry are much more effective and efficient. Like for example, using RedX as statistical tool for complex problem solving inside GM.

RCA tools can be largely deployed to find root-cause of quality escapes but it can also be extended to find root-cause of inspection problems as well.

Whether you opt for 8D, DMAIC, practical problem solving or FACTUAL as your problem solving methodology. The framework must be robust with a clearly defined scope and treated as a mini project. The project include the right people, be time managed with movement to subsequent stage passing through a simple check.

Totally agree. Also adding that the organisation shall consider linking the improvements activities to incentives to motivate mass contributions.

Kaizen has its roots in the renowned Japanese automobile manufacturer, Toyota. The concept emerged as a fundamental principle of Toyota's production system, often called the Toyota Production System (TPS). Over time, the success of Toyota's approach led to the widespread adoption of Kaizen principles in various industries worldwide. The benefits of Kaizen include increased productivity, improved quality, reduced costs, and heightened employee engagement. Kaizen is widely used in manufacturing and various industries globally to foster a culture of continuous improvement and innovation, by encouraging teams to assess and refine their practices to achieve sustained progress regularly.

Try to follow these....Make rules for how good things should be, check stuff when it arrives, keep an eye on how it's made, use numbers to spot problems, figure out why things go wrong, always trying to get better.....work closely with suppliers, and listen to customers to find and fix any problems with the stuff we make.??

Well, Excellent leadership skills and team orientation on the need to be consitent with production of standard quality is important as well. At times, personnels feel non challant on need to be consitent with standardized processes well outlined. Sufficient training, orientation and re-orientation of personnels could also serve as constant reminders.

In my experience, communication is key. Going in both directions to and from the supplier. Quality often is stuck in the middle of this communication. Being the voice of the supplier to internal stakeholders, and being the voice of the customer to the supplier. I think this creates a situation where the old adage "the customer is always right" isn't necessarily true any more. My most successful quality experiences have been with suppliers we had partnered with and treated like we were all on the same team. A key to this is proving good and bad feedback. Too often quality only reaches out when bad things happen. I preferr to talk to my key suppliers once a week minimum, good or bad, just to check in.

Having the right quality control system is very important to identify program within supply chain and at the same time drive an effective process With right quality system, there will be a systemic process for business to assess, monitor, and proactively manage the quality of products and processes in the supply chain and Mohit are against any program within the value chain and this will create more consistent supply chain, reduce cycle and lead times, and improve on-time delivery

Some defects will appears after a short time using the products, or some times, in the production line, we aware about low qaulity of parts. In this time, the main problem is managing production cost and quality control together. And we have to find an optimum soloution.....