Total Quality Management in the Global Supply Chain

Abstract

This chapter provides an overview of the importance of total quality management in supply chain management. It provides a summary of the evolution of quality and how supply chain management fit into the evolution. It then discusses the importance of quality for each entity of the value chain and how the reduction of variability along the entire supply chain is critical to optimum delivery performance. The latter sections of the chapter discuss how quality and continuous improvement tools and methodologies can be mapped with supply chain management strategies to optimize the performance of the entire supply chain.