Achieving world-class supplier quality

Not long ago, most North American and European companies believed that how they influenced and managed suppliers made little difference in their overa ll performance. This perception changed, however, when global competitors s howed that working with suppliers could create competitive market advantage s in cost and cycle time reduction, on-time delivery, and access to product and process technology. Nowhere has the benefit of progressive supply chai n practices become more evident than in supporting product and service qual ity, which remains a core requirement for competing successfully on a globa l basis. This article addresses the increasing importance of suppliers, par ticularly in supporting product and service quality requirements, and prese nts a series of questions concerning how well purchasing and sourcing activ ities contribute to total quality It also provides a profile of organizatio ns that are best positioned across four enabling areas to pursue advanced s upplier quality related activities.