Managing quality decisions in supply chain

Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to develop an optimization model to better allocate cost of quality (COQ) in the supply chain (SC). In addition, the paper provides a roadmap based on COQ that allocates limited given budget among the SC entities.

Design/methodology/approach

This paper presents a comprehensive SC model while introducing six different scenarios, where each scenario minimizes fixed costs and COQ of the SC.

Findings

The results showed that the highest portion of the COQ should be allocated at the retailer echelon while the lowest portion should be kept at the manufacturer echelon. The findings also presented that the retailer should always maintain the highest quality level (QL) compared to the manufacturer and supplier.

Originality/value

Considering prevention, appraisal and failure (PAF) cost model, this research defines the tradeoff among PA, F costs, QL and material flow in the SC network; no work has been published regarding integrating PAF, QL and material flow into SC modeling.

Citation

Alglawe, A., Kuzgunkaya, O. and Schiffauerova, A. (2020), "Managing quality decisions in supply chain", International Journal of Quality & Reliability Management, Vol. 37 No. 1, pp. 34-52. https://doi.org/10.1108/IJQRM-09-2018-0255