Supply Chain Management

1. List and describe the eight key supply chain processes and the relevant quality assurance concerns associated with the eight key processes.

Customer relationship management builds the basis for good customer relationship. In the long term, the business can make more customized products and services to suit their clients better. This ensures that the quality of products and services is constantly up to date with the needs of the clients. Quality goes hand in hand with the relationship the business has with the clients.

Supplier relationship management is the relationship between a company and its suppliers. This is beneficial to both the supplier and the company because a close relationship will enable both parties to formulate a better trading system that will benefit both ends of the business. The company will also be informed of changes in the production systems.

Customer service management is the company’s point of interaction with the clients. For a company to attract customers even before earning their loyalty, the management of the interaction has to be well done. The sales and marketing departments at this point run point on the company’s performance. They are responsible for taking the customers feedback on the quality of services and products offered by the company. The two departments are sometimes merged to ensure better information is collected on the ground about the company’s performance and ultimately the quality of the company’s services and products.

The order fulfilment in chain supply is the process where a company has to formulate the systems of the company to suit the customer’s needs. The management of demand involves monitoring the demand patterns in such a way that, when a product drops in demand, the company knows why and how the situation can be turned around. This will ensure that if the demand drops because of quality, the company can rectify the situation by changing the supplier or refunding the customers. Proper demand management also means that a company can predict the consumption [patterns of their clients.

Demand management is the system that gives the company the ability and disposition to satisfy the needs of the clients with the available supply. The company at this point is the go-between for the company and the clients. The company has the responsibility for ensuring the goods being supplied are of good quality on behalf of the customers from the supplier.

Manufacturing flow management is a system that is controlled by the producers using the information from the company’s assessment of the market situation. This means that the whole system has to work together so that the producer puts together the best possible combination of raw materials to create the best quality products. In the long term, the customer is assured of quality products from the company.

Product development and commercialization is key in supply chain management. The product has to be introduced to the market to test the market. The product development stage of the chain supply system sets the quality standards. This portion of the supply chain management has to link with the customer service management to ensure that the clients get quality and the producer makes profit.

Returns management is the process of handling the profits or losses from the production and chain supply system. Returns management team of the company finds way of handling the faulty products. It changes the production system by applying the lean-six sigma quality improvement policy. 

2. The requirements for achieving process integration for the eight key supply chain processes. You may list and briefly discuss such issues as barriers, facilitators, critical to quality factors (CTQs) and performance metrics (measures). 

The requirements for achieving process integration for the key chain supply processes are diverse and important to consider in designing the best practice of a company by the management. The integration of the key supply chain processes is an important issue. Customer relationship is tied to the customer service management and order fulfilment. These processes are integrated by the help of a good sales and marketing team as well as a keen purchases management. The purchases management department also has to be well verse with the supplier. This means that the supplier relationship management is important. Product development is also affected by the demand. The demand of goods guides the producer on the quantity and quality of goods to be produced. The product development and commercialization can only be effective when the supply chain is seamlessly integrated. The producer will supply the company with a new products and the company will advertise it. The success of this product will depend on the joint effort of the chain in ensuring this customer’s loyalty is gained.

The barriers to effective integration has everything to do with management. When the management of one of the stakeholders in the supply chain is not working to woo the customers and satisfy their needs, the integration will fail. For instance, when a company fails to take back goods that the clients have reported to be faulty, the producer will never know there is a problem with their work. It will also loose the company clients. The company could also delay in delivering the products in demand by the clients. The clients will seek a more reliable product to substitute and just like that the producer will make losses. The communication lines in the supply chain have to be to notch.

The company supply chain has to take into consideration the individual performances. For instance, the company has to take into consideration the quality of customer relationship they maintain with their clients. At the same time, the company has to maintain a good relationship with the supplier. This kind of an environment will be reflected in the company’s growth and loyalty among the consumers. The producer can also measure their performance by factoring in their progress in terms of returned products. When the return of products reduces to almost none, it means that the company is doing a good job in producing goods that satisfy the needs of the consumer. Proper integration helps the shareholders in the chain to eliminate the barriers and improve on quality for the benefit of the client.

3. Develop an argument of the importance of the topic to supply chain quality assurance. For example, you might look at scorecards and dashboards and how their visibility tools can be used to promote quality among suppliers and customers.

Customer satisfaction is the most important part of a supply chain. This is because without the customer, the chain is practically useless. The customer presence is what makes the producer innovate production methods. It is also the same customer presence that guides the producer in developing the right quality of products. The supplier on the other hand takes cue from the company that is in direct contact with the customer to know whether the producer is doing a good job for the customers or not. The supply chain is a mix of all that goes into delivering products to the customers from raw materials. 

The company has to device a method of monitoring the customer satisfaction levels being achieved by the company operations. It is easy for the company to do so by developing channels of monitoring the customer satisfaction levels. The clients have to be made part of the company quality assurance team. This can be done by having the customers rate a service or product offered by the company upon purchase by way of conducting a survey. The concerns raised by the clients on services or goods should be taken seriously by the management especially where the concerns touch on quality. The type of survey a company conducts on the quality as per the client’s perspective can be designed in many ways, among them being the open ended questionnaires or the usual closed questions. 

For instance, the Likert scale is very detailed in giving the company the real feel of what the client thinks. The lower the score a client gives the harder it is to get them to change their poor perception of the business. This scale gives very accurate results on the performance of the company as seen by the customers.  The company has to take into consideration the fact that a customer that is not impressed by the company’s operations will often tell the experience to more people as opposed to a client who was satisfied by the company. The company has to ensure that the number of disgruntled customers is a small as could be. The handling of customer concerns is also important. A company should invest in training the employees on the best practices for handling complaints by clients. The treatment a client gets makes a big difference. A client who feels like the company was not keen on handling their problem is less likely to be loyal as opposed to one who raised concerns and the company responded promptly and politely.