Supply Chain response to Customer Quality expectations
Customer needs drive Supply Chain to design its Products & Services. Over the years, customer quality needs have become tighter and tighter. Supply Chain, particularly the Supply side of Supply Chain, has initiated control measures to meet the new standards of performance.(e.g. from "Percentage" to "Parts Per Million" was a dramatic shift) Consistency of Quality is an extremely important measurement. Consistency in outcome is predominantly a function of "Processes & Systems". In Indian organizations, particularly the SME sector, the customer organizations demand of consistent high quality it often met with Supply side being stressed to meet those expectations. An example which I bumped into the other day offered a point to reflect on this phenomenon. A few years ago, when a customer bought an agri product, e.g. Watermelon, customer expectation of the product quality predominantly hinged on the "Appearance" (Red in colour) and Taste (sweet...