Quality Planning for the Manufacturing Supply Chain

Batson, Robert G;McGough, Karen D

The Quality Management Journal; Jan 2006; 13, 1; ABI/INFORM Research
pg. 33

Quality Planning for the

Manufacturing Supply Chain
ROBERT G. BATSON AND KAREN D. MCGOUGH
THE UNIVERSITY OF ALABAMA
2006, ASQ

QualiZJ' as a suppz1 chain performance measure bas

110! been adequately e.\plored in either the supply
cbain or quality management literature. P!amzing for
qualiZJ' in the manufacturing supp(1 chain requires a
context, and begins uith documented customer needs.
An original schematic model depicting the interrelationsbip betueen strategic production pla1111i11g a11d
strategic supply cbain planning prol'ides Ibis context.
Another result is a listing of the departmental customers for the manufacturing supp(1 chain and their
respectil'e needs. The quality requirements for each
supplied part or module. derived from these needs.
should become critical criteria in supplier selection
and other sourcing decisions ll'ben starti11g up a neu
plant. Although supply chains are being created today
using planning processes that focus primariz1 on logistics and production planning. dril'en by cost and
schedule considerations. the autbors argue that there is
a need to formally ''jJlan qualiZJ' in" as uell.
Key l/'Ords: quality function deployment. quality
planning. strategic production planning. strategic
supNJ' chain planning. supp(J' chain management

INTRODUCTION
The manufacturing supply chain uses production
and delivery processes to provide raw materials, parts,
and subassemblies to the point of product assembly.
More generally, "A company's supply chain comprises
geographically dispersed facilities where raw materials, intermediate products, or finished products are
acquired, transformed, stored, or sold and transportation links that connect facilities along which products
flow" (Shapiro 2001). Chopra and Meindl (2001) list
four main drivers that determine the performance of a
supply chain: inventory, transportation, facilities, and
information. When planning a supply chain, these
four main drivers have to be evaluated and optimized
in terms of flexibility, delivery performance, cost, and
quality. Quality is a supply chain performance measure that has not been adequately explored in either
the supply chain or quality management literature.
Miller (2002) says, "We need the same (or better) levels
of planning and communications with key suppliers
as we have enjoyed inside the organization, in order
to meet or exceed end-customer expectations for cost,
lead times, quality, and demand flexibility." The
focus of this article is planning for quality in the
manufacturing supply chain.

Supply Chain Quality

Management
In Juran (1989), quality management is defined as
the application of the managerial processes of Juran's
Quality Trilogy: quality planning, quality control,
and quality improvement. The planning phase of
supply chain quality management is the activity of

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Quality Planning for the Manufacturing Supply Chain

identifying supply chain customer needs and analyzing
and developing a sourcing strategy to meet those needs.
The focus is on identifying the supply chain customers
and assessing the needs of these customers. The output
of this phase is a set of quality-related requirements, at
the original equipment manufacturer (OEM) and
each supplier, for production and delivery subsystems.
The derived quality requirements for each supplied
part or module should be critical criteria in supplier
selection and supplier plant site selection decisions
during the sourcing process. Without quality planning,
these quality requirements are subordinated to cost
and schedule, and may even be taken for granted.
At least two assembly industries, automotive and
electronics, "have institutionalized quality management practices into the way their business is conducted," according to Choi and Rungtusanatham (1999).
Strategic quality planning and the method of advanced
product quality planning (APQP) are two examples of
common practices in the automotive industry. But
when OEMs establish new plants as part of their
strategic plan, they need to apply strategic supply
chain quality planning to minimize quality-related
problems at production start up.
The control phase of Juran's Quality Trilogy, as
applied to the supply chain, involves evaluating supplier
performance and acting to bring supplier performance in line with expectations, expressed both in
technical specifications and business-related documents and verbal understandings. The improvement
phase of Juran's Quality Trilogy, applied to the supply
chain, has an objective of developing a supply chain
that acts as a single, well-performing entity. Showing
the supplier the effect of poor quality on product costs
and sales may be necessary to stimulate action by the
supplier. Once the need for improvement is known,
some problems can be solved by the supplier, while
others may require joint quality improvement teams
(Batson 2002).
It has been found that the responsibility for supplier
quality lies mostly with a company's purchasing
department. Purchasing departments have shifted their
focus from transaction to process management, and
are now facilitators of the sourcing process. One of the

activities required to facilitate the interface between

suppliers and end users is quality planning. Gryna
(1988) mentions that joint quality planning that
occurs after the supplier has been selected should
include joint economic planning, joint technological
planning, and joint managerial planning. Quality
planning that occurs before supplier selection is "the
activity of identifying customer needs and analyzing
and developing a sourcing strategy to meet those
needs" (Donovan and Maresca 1999). In this article,
the authors identify the customers for the manufacturing supply chain and their categories of need, and
show how quality planning may be viewed as a key
activity within strategic supply chain planning.

Problem Statement
Although supply chains are being created using planning processes that focus primarily on logistics and
production planning and scheduling, there is a need
to "plan for quality" in supply chain operations. A
definition and concept of supply chain quality is
needed, followed by a method that could be used by a
corporation during the early stages of establishing a
new manufacturing plant to plan for quality in the
supply chain supporting the plant.

Research Objective and Scope

The scope of this research is restricted to the earliest
planning stages for a manufacturing supply chain,
which will serve a hypothetical OEM manufacturer of
an assembled product. While it is necessary to discuss
strategic production planning, the focus of this
research is strategic supply chain planning and,
in particular, the quality aspects that have received
little attention. An original schematic model depicting the interrelationship between strategic production
planning and supply chain planning is developed.
Then, an original listing of the OEM's departmental
customers and their needs is developed. These needs
are the input for supply chain quality planning to
be conducted in parallel with other supply chain
planning activities depicted in the model.

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Quality Planning for the Manufacturing Supply Chain

LITERATLiRE REVIEW
In the introduction, the authors reviewed Juran 's
Quality Trilogy and planning for supplier relations.
When applied to the supply chain, the trilogy implies
that effort expended on planning for quality in supply chain operations will more than pay for itself in
avoidance of costly controls and unnecessary
improvement activities. Planning for supplier relations helps establish the informational, contractual.
and other business relationships between customer
and supplier, but does not assure good quality-the
processes embodied in joint quality planning and
Juran's Quality Planning Roadmap are needed. Joint
quality planning enhances communication between
the customer and supplier, and results in cooperative
decisions that optimize overall supply chain costs.
As mentioned previously, there are three areas of joint
quality planning: joint economic planning, joint
technological planning, and joint managerial planning. These are fully explained by Gryna (1988).
Juran's Quality Planning Roadmap (see Figure 1)
can be applied to derive quality-related requirements
for production and delivery subsystems, at both
the OEM and supplier plants, to be demonstrated in
this article.

ISO 9001 Production

Realization
ISO 9001 defines product realization as that "sequence
of processes and subprocesses needed to achieve the
required product or service." Clause 7, Product
Realization, contains Clause 7.1 "Planning of product
realization," which states that the organization shall
plan and develop the processes needed for product
realization. Clearly, the manufacturing supply chain is
a system of such processes. In ISO 9001, a document
specifying the processes of the quality management
system and the resources to be applied to a specific
product, project, or contract, can be referred to as a
quality plan.
Quality plans in ISO 9001 may refer to raw materials, modules and parts, or the final assembly. Quality

Figure 1 Juran's quality planning roadmap .

Subject matter of planning

ldent;fy ; ..tome"

list of customers
Discover customers' needs

Customers' needs (in their language)

r..,.,1+ need
Customers' needs (in our language)
Develop product features

Product features

Develo~

pn><e"

Process features (process ready to produce)

Transfer to operations

plans include supply chain considerations such as

quality requirements, inspection equipment, packaging, and product identification, handling, and delivery.
Therefore, OEMs certified to the ISO 9001 standard
may provide for some aspects of supply chain quality
planning in their existing processes. If certification
extends to their first-tier suppliers, there is a basis for
confidence that much of what the authors term
"strategic supply chain planning" and quality planning in that context, are occurring.
The six-step models of strategic production and
supply chain planning presented in the next two
subsections of this article constitute generic models
of a planning method for two key product realization
systems: the production system and the supply chain.
The level of detail to be presented in these sections is
restricted to the assembled product and its modules
(subassemblies).

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Quality Planning for the Manufacturing Supply Chain

STRATEGIC PRODUCTION
PLANNING
OEMs use market research and competitive analysis
to identify a new product to be produced and sold.
Product form, function, and performance dictate the
capabilities required at the OEM plant site. Demand for
the product by location in the worldwide market often
dictates potential locations if a new plant is warranted.
This is because plant location determines distribution
cost directly, and often influences sales volumes and, to
some extent, unit manufacturing cost. As stated by
Bowersox, Closs, and Cooper (2002), "The unique
nature of each manufacturing process and the market
served limit the practical range of alternative strategies."
Because the production department at the OEM is the
major customer for the product's supply chain, the
authors are interested in this subsection and the next in
describing strategic production planning and strategic
supply chain planning. In the next section, they propose a model that depicts the interlocking nature of
these two elements of strategic planning.
Bowersox, Closs, and Cooper (2002) state that
"The most common manufacturing strategies are
make-to-plan (MTP), make-to-order (MTO), and
assemble-to-order (ATO)." Because MTP strategies
exploit economy of scale that results from long production runs, and these strategies are not appropriate for
OEM equipment manufacturers, the authors focus on
MTO strategies. ATO product finalization is performed
in distribution warehouses; "Product components are
manufactured in anticipation of future customer
orders; however, products are not fully assembled or
customized until a customer's order is received"
(Bowersox, Closs, and Cooper 2002). Dell Computers
is an example of a company that has succeeded with
an ATO strategy. All automotive OEMs follow an MTO,
market-pull production strategy today.
Just-in-time (JIT) techniques have naturally been
highlighted in recent textbooks on supply chain
management. Terms such as JIT purchasing, JIT
delivery, and JIT production are common and well
understood. Bowersox, Closs, and Cooper (2002)
state, "The objective of JIT is to time-phase activities

so that purchased materials and components arrive at

the manufacturing or assembly point just at the time
they are required for the transformation process." Akey
point in a JIT supply chain is that the nodes and links
in the chain are organized and scheduled in such a
way that the timing requirements are met, even though
the demand for components and materials depends on
the finalized production schedule at the OEM.
Regarding quality of supplies and logistics, Bowersox,
Closs, and Cooper (2002) observed:
"It is necessary to deal with suppliers who have

high and consistent levels of quality, as their components will go directly into the finished product.
Absolutely reliable logistical performance is
required and eliminates, or at least reduces, the
need for stocks of materials. JIT concepts have
evolved from MTP manufacturing to accommodate MTO and ATO manufacturing as well."
The previous statement provides a rationale for
this study of supply chain quality planning, because
planning is the avenue to "high and consistent levels
of quality" in the product, and to "absolutely reliable
logistical performance." The authors assume a JIT
environment at their hypothetical OEM and in the
required first-tier suppliers' delivery processes.
Furthermore, if supplied components or modules are
preidentified to a specific customer's equipment item,
the authors call the delivery process just-in-sequence.
The term modular design means that the OEM
consciously designs the product for assembly by joining major subassemblies known as modules. These
subassemblies are manufactured off-site and are
delivered to the OEM in a just-in-sequence manner to
match the sequence of final products being produced.
Modular design and assembly offers cost and time
savings, and is typical of OEM automotive manufacturing. The authors assume their hypothetical product
is modular in design and use the term "module" to
mean a major subassembly, ready to install in the
product.
The model of strategic production planning the
authors developed in this research includes the following
steps:

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Quality Planning for the Manufacturing Supply Chain

1. Identify product to be manufactured and sold

2. Forecast demand quantity: by location of customer

sale or by options to be requested
3. Group product components into modules for
potential outsourcing
4. Conduct a make-to-buy decision for each module
5. Identify quality requirements and delivery quantities and schedules for each module
6. Synthesize a product assembly and delivery model,
using the flows of respective modules to the OEM
plant as submodels.
The sixth step links the supply chain function of
providing required modules from external sources with
the production function of delivering finished products
to customers on time, and exactly as they ordered. As
Bowersox, Closs, and Cooper (2002) observed: The
efficient and effective coordination of manufacturing
strategy with the procurement of materials and components ultimately relies on logistics ... logistics link
the supplier base with manufacturing processes.
The next section reviews strategic supply chain
planning, and provides a six-step process for this planning that the authors' research suggests must be carried
out in parallel with strategic production planning. This
parallel (or concurrent) planning provides the best
opportunity for seamless integration, high-quality
supplies, logistics and products, and minimum cost.

STRATEGIC SUPPLY CHAIN

PLANNING
Strategic supply chain planning involves the longterm decisions about a company's supply chain.
These are decisions on how a company's overall
internal and external linkages are organized, not just
one with one supplier. For example, Shapiro (2001)
presents a "Framework for Manufacturing Strategy
Formulation." In this model, he sees product competitiveness as resting on supply chain design, in addition
to product cost and differentiation (long recognized as
the two key dimensions along which firms compete).
In fact, since supply chain design in part determines
the unit manufacturing cost, and because product

quality is a source of differentiation, the authors' focus

on strategic supply chain planning for quality is timely. Shapiro (2001) defines supply chain design as
"decisions regarding the facilities owned and operated
by the company, and the company's relationship with
its suppliers."
The model of strategic supply chain planning
developed in this research incorporates the following
six steps:
1. Define capabilities required of the OEM plant

2. Identify OEM plant site and production rate

3. Define capabilities for each module supplier,
including production rate
4. Select supplier for each outsourced module
5. Simultaneously select supplier locations, mode of
module transportation from supplier to OEM, and
shipment frequency
6. Synthesize a network model of the flow of modules
from first-tier suppliers to OEM, using the OEM
assembly schedule as the driver
There are three planning approaches to this problem:
the operations research (OR) approach, the network
simulation approach, and the quality planning
approach.
The OR approach uses optimization algorithms to
identify the optimal network structure, using OEM
total cost of supplies as the objective function. A
mixed integer linear programming model is used to
formulate the problem. The output of this model will
determine which warehouses, factories, and suppliers
will be chosen, their locations, and the mode of transportation between them, among other decisions. This
provides a minimal cost network capable of meeting
product demand, production and delivery efficiency,
and other management constraints. The deterministic
solution to the decisions listed in step 5 provides the
network structural details.
Anetwork simulation model predicts how a certain
supply chain design will operate under specific conditions over time. This allows for different supply chain
design alternatives to be evaluated, with random
processes (probabilistic events over time) included to
add realism and dynamics. Therefore, step 6 is the

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Quality Planning for the Manufacturing Supply Chain

Figure 2 Parallel strategic planning processes for production and the supply chain.
Identify product to be assembled and sold

Define capabilities required at the OEM plant

Forecast demand quantity

By location of customer sale
By options

Identify OEM plant site and production rate

Group product components into modules for

potential outsourcing

Define capabilities for each module supplier,

including production rate, quality, and cost
thresholds

Make or buy decision, for each module

Select supplier for each outsourced module

Identify delivery schedule and quality

requirements for each module

Simultaneously, select supplier locations,

mode of module transportation from supplier
to OEM, and shipment frequency

Synthesize a product assembly and delivery

model, using the flows of respective modules
as submodels

"
Synthesize a network of the flow of modules
from first-tier suppliers to OEM, using the
OEM assembly schedule as the driver

place where risks and uncertainties in the supply

chain can have their individual and combined effects
measured, discerned in the performance statistics
provided by a well-planned simulation experiment.
Supply chain designers can propose actions to mitigate
these effects and test them using a revised simulation.
Persson and Olhager (2002) evaluated alternative
supply chain designs using simulation with respect to
quality, lead times, and cost. One objective of their
simulation was to "increase the understanding of the
interrelationships among these and other parameters,
relevant for the design and operations of a supply
chain." The optimal model depicted how costs depend
on quality levels and lead times, and how lead time is
a function of quality levels and the supply chain
structure.
Neither of these approaches specifically tackles the
quality planning aspect of strategic supply chain management. When applying quality planning in addition
to the two planning approaches mentioned previously,

additional quality-related issues are surfaced. Though

the OR and network simulation approaches can
determine the best solution with regard to cost, time,
demand, and so forth, they do not explicitly plan to
meet customers' needs and quality standards. Without
quality planning layered over existing supply chain
planning approaches, the result might be an efficient
supply chain, but one that cannot deliver on quality
expectations without the addition of extensive controls
or improvements. Quality planning approaches, such
as Juran's Quality Planning Roadmap, highlight
th ~se issues to supply chain planners at the time
supply chain structural and logistics decisions are
being made.

MODEL DEVELOPMENT
Based on the discussion in the previous two sections,
this section integrates the two six-step strategic planning processes into a model (see Figure 2), showing

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Quality Planning for the Manufacturing Supply Chain

how closely linked supply chain planning is to production planning. Interfaces that carry information
across the boundary between the two processes are
shown as arrows. The parallel, interdependent nature
of the two processes is evident. Viewing the direction of
the cross-boundary arrows clearly shows that production planning decisions (for example, plant location,
make-or-buy) drive supply chain planning. This same
relationship, where production plans drive supply
chain plans at the tactical and operational levels, has
been noted by others.
Hicks 0999) has observed that "Supply chain
planning problems encompass industrial production
process design, inventory control policy, transportation management, supply procurement, and demand
planning ... Although the first step of enterprise analysis is to reduce the problem to a manageable size by
examining only one aspect (link) in the supply chain,
it is now common knowledge that. .. simplifying the
supply chain planning problem, or reducing it to
parts, often renders the analysis itself moot. It is the
complexity and interdependence of the operational
links that result in the areas of interest for the typical
industrial decision maker."
Hicks 0999) goes on to propose a four-step
methodology for using optimization, simulation, and
robust design technologies in strategic supply chain
planning. Step 1 concerns itself with the proposed
supply chain's structure, with structural elements
such as products, sites, shipments, transportation
assets, machines, and workers. He proposes network
optimization as a tool, and an "optimal" supply
chain structure as a result of step 1 then states, "In
order to predict exactly how a proposed supply chain
design will operate, the design must be simulated in
step 2." These two steps match the last two steps the
authors have indicated in the strategic supply chain
planning model of Figure 2. The only difference is
that the authors are not prescribing network optimization and network simulation as the tools to plan
quality into the supply chain. In fact, the authors
believe Juran's Quality Planning Roadmap (or its
Japanese-originated equivalent, quality function
deployment (QFD)) is the best tool. This will be
demonstrated in the next section. Hicks goes on to

recommend policy optimization and design for

robustness to complete his four-step methodology.
These methods optimize network behavior and minimize risk due to uncontrolled factors. Considering
risk in supply chain design has been described before.
There is a paper by Davis 0993) in which risk factors
in supply chain management are described, for
example, the variation in delivery times, quality, and
condition of supplier parts. The paper addresses
strategic issues in that entire product families at
Hewlett-Packard were reevaluated for uncertainty in
their supply and distribution chains. The methodology
could be adapted to start-up of new manufacturing
supply chains.
Shapiro's (2001) view of strategic supply chain
planning, like Hicks' 0999), ignores quality planning. Shapiro states, "Once the options associated
with the supply chain design have been identified, the
company must quantify and integrate them (with
marketing and production strategies) when analyzing its supply chain strategy." He believes that supply
chain modeling incorporates concepts from several
management disciplines:
Strategy formation and the theory of the firm
Logistics, production, and inventory management
Management accounting
Demand forecasting
Operations research
The relevance and application of each of these is
discussed in Shapiro's text (2001). The research
reported here focuses on the role of quality management, and, in particular, quality planning, in supply
chain strategic planning.

QUALITY PLANNING APPLIED

TO THE MANUFACTURING
SUPPLY CHAIN
An organizing model for supply chain strategic plan-

ning was introduced in the previous section. Here, the

authors illustrate how to layer quality planning steps
over the supply chain planning activities depicted in

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Quality Planning for the Manufacturing Supply Chain

Figure 2, by flowing down quality requirements as
each strategic decision about the supply chain is
made. This will be done using a series of interlocking
matrices, as suggested in Juran's writings and similar
to QFD, the Japanese-originated equivalent of Juran's
Quality Planning Roadmap. QFD "is a method for
structured product planning and development that
enables a development team to specify clearly the
customer's wants and needs, and then to evaluate
each proposed product or service capability systematically in terms of its impact on meeting those needs"
(Cohen 1995).
In order to begin the requirements flow down
process, a few assumptions must first be made. These
are:
Discrete-part assembled product
MTO manufacturing strategy
JIT production and delivery system
Product consists of modules, many produced by
tier 1 suppliers.

Who Are the Customers for

the Supply Chain~
The first step in the Juran quality planning process
is to determine "Who are the customers?" This section
discusses the customers of the supply chain and how
they relate to the supply chain. The customers of the
supply chain are: production, purchasing, production
planning and scheduling, supplier quality engineering, logistics personnel, and the plant manager or
president.
The main customer of the supply chain is the
production department. This department consumes
what the supply chain delivers. The production
department is responsible for assembling the product.
It cannot complete products unless all supplies (for
example, modules and parts) arrive on time, in the
right quantity and type, with perfect quality, and are
ready to use in assembly.
The purchasing department is another customer
of the supply chain. This department identifies the
possible sources of the parts needed to be supplied.

From those sources, the best source is selected and

becomes the sole supplier for that part. Once the supplier has been selected, the purchasing department
negotiates and enforces the terms of the contract with
the supplier. Purchasing may also advise the supplier
on the selection of their plant site.
Production planning and scheduling (PP&S) is
responsible for informing the suppliers of what exactly
is needed and when it is needed. PP&S personnel are
often involved in logistics planning, coordination,
and control. PP&S often tracks inventory location and
quantity, whether in transit or in stock (off or on site).
They may select the mode of transportation and
source (for example, truck line) of transportation of
supplies.
Supplier quality engineering (SQE) interprets
quality requirements to each of the suppliers. They
assure that suppliers can produce acceptable quality
at the rate of production and that packaging and
handling do not affect the quality of supplied parts.
SQE tracks the quality of delivered parts and investigates issues with delivered parts that cannot be
assembled, or fail in assembly.
Logistics personnel include the logistics system engineers or planners, cross-company logistics personnel,
internal logistics personnel, packaging engineers, the
maintainers of parts' containers and racks, and,
finally, the internal conveyance engineers. Crosscompany logistics personnel are people such as drivers,
loaders, and unloaders. Internal logistics personnel are
the packaging, unpackaging, and conveyance personnel (for example, drivers). The conveyance engineers
are those responsible for the design and installation of
the means of conveying parts and materials within
the plant.
Finally, the plant manager or president is a customer of the supply chain. For the OEM, the plant
manager or president is a customer because the aforementioned functions listed report to him or her, and
affect the plant's success. As for the supplier, he or she
is a customer because timely and safe delivery of his
or her production output depends on the supply chain.
Once the supply chain customers and their needs
have been determined (see Appendix), it is up to the

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Quality Planning for the Manufacturing Supp Iv Chain

OD1 user of the authors supply chain planning

model (see Figure 2) to apply Juran 's Quality

Planning Roadmap (or QFD) to derive and document
the quality requirements that should influence key
decisions. such as:
OEM plant site location

OEM production and delivery system design

Supplier selection and plant site location
Supplier production and delivery system design
Strategic supply chain quality planning, which
determines and documents quality requirements in
parallel with other supply chain planning activities,
naturally supports such sourcing and site selection
decisions.

CONCLUSIONS
The objective of this research was to create a method
that could be used by a corporation during the early
stages of establishing a new manufacturing plant, to
plan for quality in the supply chain supporting the
plant. The focus was strategic supply chain planning,
especially the quality aspects that have received little
attention. An original schematic model was developed,
depicting the interrelationship between strategic production planning and strategic supply chain planning.
Then, following juran's Quality Planning Roadmap
approach, supply chain customers and their needs
were documented for the first time.
REFERENCES
Batson, Robert G. 2002. Getting started in a supplier improvement
initiative. 2002 ASQ 56th annual quality congress proceedings.
Milwaukee: American Society for Quality.
Bowersox, Donald J., David J. Closs, and M. Bixby Cooper.
2002. Supply chain logistics management. Boston: McGrawHill/Irwin.
Choi, Thomas Y., and Manus Rungtusanatham. 1999.
Comparison of quality management practices: Across the supply
chain and industries. Journal of Supply Chain Management 35,
no. l.
Chopra, Sunil, and Peter Meindl. 2001. Supply chain management:
strategy, planning, and operation. Upper Saddle River, N. J.:
Prentice-Hall, Inc.

Cohen, Lou. 1995. Quality function deployment: how to make QFD

work for you. Reading, Mass.: Addison-Wesley Longman, Inc.
Davis, Tom. 1993. Effective supply chain management. Sloan
Management Review 34, no. 4: 35-46.
Donovan, John A., and Frank P. Maresca. 1999. Supplier relations.
In Juran's quality handbook, 5th ed., ed. J.M. Juran and A. Blanton
Godfrey. New York: McGraw-Hill.
Gryna, Frank M. 1988. Supplier relations. In Juran's quality control
handbook, 4th ed., ed. J. M. Juran and Frank M. Gryna. New York:
McGraw-Hill.
Hicks, Donald A. 1999. A four-step methodology for using simulation and optimization technologies in strategic supply chain
planning. 1999 Winter Simulation Conference Proceedings,
Volume 2. Atlanta: Institute of Industrial Engineers.
Juran, J. M. 1989. Juran on leadership for quality: an executive
handbook. New York: The Free Press.
Miller, Charles R. 2002. Competing through supply chains: the
rise of integrated supply chain management. Journal of the
Reliability Analysis Center l 0, no. 3: l -4.
Persson, Fredrik, and Jon Olhager. 2002. Performance simulation of supply chain designs. International Journal of Production
Economics 77, no. 3: 231-245.
Shapiro, Jeremy F. 200 l. Modeling the supply chain. Pacific
Grove, Calif.: Duxbury.
Simchi-Levi, David, Philip Kaminsky, and Edith Simchi-Levi.
2000. Designing and managing the supply chain: concepts,
strategies, and case studies. Boston: McGraw-Hill/Irwin.
BIOGRAPHIES
Robert Batson is a professor of industrial engineering at the

University of Alabama (UA), where he teaches and performs

research in quality engineering and operations research. In 21
years at Alabama, he has held research contracts and grants
worth more than $2 million with organizations such as BellSouth,
Mercedes-Benz, NASA, Army Materiel Command, and the FAA.
Prior to joining UA, he worked for five years as a systems engineer with Lockheed Corporation. He received a master's degree in
mathematics from Florido State in 1974, and two degrees from
Alabama in 1979: a doctorate in mothemotics and a master's
in industrial engineering. Botson is o Registered Professional
Engineer in California, and an ASQ Fellow. He can be reached
by e-mail at rbatson@coe.eng.ua.edu .
Karen McGough is a research engineer with the Naval Surface
Warfare Center in Panama City, Fla. At the time of this research,
she was a graduate research assistant in industrial engjneering
at the University of Alabama, where she received the master's
degree in industrial engineering in 2004, and a bachelor's
degree in mathematics in 2002. She may be contacted by e-mail
atkaren.mcgough@navy.mil .

www.asq.org 41

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Quality Planning for the Manufacturing Supply Chain

APPENDIX
Supply Chain Customer Needs
The following is an original list of the needs for each
customer in terms of the supply chain.

Production Needs
Modules/parts/fluids needs:

Meet specifications (form, fit, finish, function)

Are identifiable
Available when needed, and in sequence if required
Available in right quantity and type
Are undamaged by shipment or handling
Are essentially ready to use
Containers/pallets/racks needs:

Compatible with material handling systems within

production
Compatible with space allocated for parts within
the plant
Do not contribute to supply damage while in use

Actual arrival time of orders

Back orders and their status
Lost orders and their status
Returned orders and their status
Containers/pallets/racks needs:

Location of each, and under control of whom?

Properly identified
Undamaged or damaged properly repaired

Logistics (Internal and External)

Needs
Unit loads compatible with transportation
equipment
Unit loads compatible with material handling
equipment
Transportation equipment with driver, at right
location at right time
Material handling equipment with automatic
controller or driver
Pick-up and delivery schedule, with description of
the cargo

Protective packaging/wrapping needs:

Easy to remove prior to assembly

Supplier Quality Engineering

Needs

Easy to dispose of or recycle

Quality requirements for each module/part/fluid

Prevent damage/deterioration of parts in transit or

inventory

Production Planning and

Scheduling Needs
Modules/parts/fluids needs:

Location of each order, under control of whom?

Completeness of each order
Estimated arrival time of orders

Amethod of measuring conformance to requirement

Amethod of sorting, labeling, and tracking defective
units
An advanced product quality plan for each part

Apre-production acceptance plan for each part

Traceability of a defective module or part to lower
levels in supply-chain, methods and materials
used, and so on.

42 QMJ VOL. 13, NO. 1/ 2006, ASQ

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