Quality management in logistics services: A comparison of practices between manufacturing companies and logistics firms in Australia

Abstract

This study investigates the status of quality management practices in logistics and compares the extent of quality practices between manufacturing and logistics companies in Australia. Using a sample drawn from two published databases, Australia's Top 500 companies and firms enlisted as members of Logistics Association Australia, the study examines the extent to which quality management practices are adopted, the impediments to implementation of quality improvement processes, the quality management tools employed, and the methods used to measure customer expectations in manufacturing companies and logistics firms. The results show that the most important component that identifies quality in logistics is ‘on-time delivery’. The primary obstacles for not implementing quality programs in logistics firms are ‘changing corporate culture’ and ‘training and education of employees’, whereas, ‘establishing employee ownership of the quality process’ and ‘changing the corporate culture’ are the two most significant impediments for the manufacturing companies. Overall, the findings indicate that the application of quality practices in manufacturing companies is more extensive than the logistics firms. The Pearson chi-square test is conducted to find the significant differences between the two categories of organisations.