Product Quality Level Research Articles

The impact of visionary leadership on product quality from the perspective of quality assurance managers in small and medium-sized companies: the mediating role of continual improvement

PurposeA review of relevant literature supported the need to examine the nature of the relationships (if any) between visionary leadership, continual improvement and product quality. This study examined the relationship between visionary leadership and product quality and investigated the mediating role of continual improvement in the relationship between visionary leadership and product quality.Design/methodology/approachVisionary leadership, continual improvement and product quality were measured through a questionnaire developed based on a theoretical framework derived from the literature and distributed to quality assurance managers in small and medium-sized companies in the engineering, electrical and information technology sectors in Jordan.FindingsThe results indicated that the levels of visionary leadership, continual improvement and product quality are good and more from the perspective of quality assurance managers in these companies. The results also indicated that there is a positive, statistically significant relationship between visionary leadership and continual improvement and between continual improvement and product quality. Moreover, the results indicated that the relationship between visionary leadership and product quality is partially mediated by continual improvement. This indicates that there is a direct, positive and statistically significant relationship between visionary leadership and product quality.Originality/valueTo the author’s knowledge, this is the first study that examined the relationship between visionary leadership, continual improvement and product quality and investigated the mediating role of continual improvement in the relationship between visionary leadership and product quality. This study concluded that visionary leadership is the driver of all improvement initiatives and activities, which in turn improve the final products. The study contributes to the literature by revealing that visionary leadership leads to continual improvement and thus product quality, supporting the sequential relationship between them. Accordingly, the study provides useful theoretical insights and practical implications.

An Evaluation of Sentinel-3 SYN VGT Products in Comparison to the SPOT/VEGETATION and PROBA-V Archives

Sentinel-3 synergy (SYN) VEGETATION (VGT) products were designed to provide continuity to the SPOT/VEGETATION (SPOT VGT) base products archive. Since the PROBA-V mission acted as a gap filler between SPOT VGT and Sentinel-3, and in principle, a continuous series of data products from the combined data archives of SPOT VGT (1998–2014), PROBA-V (2013–2020) and Sentinel-3 SYN VGT (from 2018 onwards) are available to users, the consistency of Sentinel-3 SYN VGT with both the latest SPOT VGT (VGT-C3) and PROBA-V (PV-C2) archives is highly relevant. In past years, important changes have been implemented in the SYN VGT processing baseline. The archive of SYN VGT products is therefore intrinsically inconsistent, leading to different consistency levels with SPOT VGT and PROBA-V throughout the years. A spatio-temporal intercomparison of the combined time series of VGT-C3, PV-C2 and Sentinel-3 SYN VGT 10-day NDVI composite products with an external reference from LSA-SAF, and an intercomparison of Sentinel-3 SYN V10 products with a climatology of VGT-C3 resp. PV-C2 for three distinct periods with different levels of product quality have shown that the subsequent processing baseline updates have indeed resulted in better-quality products. It is therefore essential to reprocess the entire Sentinel-3 SYN VGT archive; a uniform data record of standard SPOT VGT, PROBA-V and Sentinel-3 SYN VGT products, spanning over 25 years, would provide valuable input for a wide range of applications.

Dynamic game research of food agricultural products supply chain based on blockchain traceability technology

PurposeFood quality and safety issues have always been imperative topics discussed by people. The anti-tampering of blockchain technology and the transparency of information make it possible to improve food traceability and safety quality. How to effectively apply blockchain traceability technology to food safety has great research significance for improving food safety and consumer quality trust.Design/methodology/approachThe paper aims to analyze the differences in product quality levels and market participants’ profits before and after the use of blockchain-driven traceability technology in the food agricultural product supply chain (SC) in the dynamic game frameworks of supplier-led and retailer-led modes, respectively, and explores the willingness, social welfare and consumer surplus of each member of the agricultural product SC to participate in the blockchain. Besides, We investigate the SC performance improvement with the mechanism of central centralized decision-making and revenue-sharing contract, compared to the SC performance in dynamic games.FindingsThe results are obtained as follow: The adoption of blockchain traceability technology can help improve the quality of food agricultural products, consumer surplus and social welfare, but the application and popularization of technology is hindered by traceability technology installment costs. Compared with the supplier leadership model, retailer-led food quality level, customer surplus and social welfare are higher.Research limitations/implicationsHow to effectively apply blockchain traceability technology to food safety has great research significance for improving food safety and consumer quality trust.Practical implicationsFood quality and safety issues have always been hot topics discussed by people. The anti-tampering of blockchain technology and the transparency of information make it possible to improve food traceability and safety quality.Social implicationsThe research results enrich the theories related to food safety and quality, and provide a valuable reference for food enterprises involved in the decision-making exploration of blockchain technology.Originality/valueBased on the characteristics of blockchain technology, the demand function is adjusted and the product loss risk of channel members is transferred through a Stackelberg game SC composed of agricultural products suppliers and retailers.Highlights:•We introduce two features of blockchain: quality trust and product information tracking.•The willingness of each member of the supply chain to use blockchain for product traceability was explored.•The overall traceability effect of the retailer-led blockchain is better than that of the manufacturer-led blockchain.•The cost of blockchain technology is a barrier to its adoption.•Blockchain brings higher consumer surplus and social welfare.

Analisis Pengaruh Kualitas Produk dan Kualitas Pelayanan Terhadap Kepuasan Pelanggan Sule Tailor Karawang

This study aims to evaluate the impact of Product Quality and Service Quality on Customer Satisfaction at Sule Tailor. The evaluation of customer and production data over the last three months indicates a decline, triggering the need for more intensive investigation into the elements contributing to customer satisfaction. In this context, a more comprehensive understanding of marketing management, Product Quality, and Service Quality becomes the focus. This study adopts a descriptive verificative quantitative approach to verify the hypothesis concerning the impact of Product and Service Quality on Customer Satisfaction. The findings of this research show that both product and service quality and consumer satisfaction levels recorded Cronbach’s Alpha values exceeding industry standards, indicating that the measurement tool used has a high level of reliability. Initially, the data distribution was not normal; however, after adjusting for extreme values, the distribution became normal. There was no evidence of excessive correlation between the Product Quality and Service Quality variables. The multiple linear regression analysis results indicate that both Product and Service Quality significantly affect Customer Satisfaction. Based on the coefficient of determination, it can be explained that about 37.5% of the variation in Customer Satisfaction is caused by the Product Quality and Service variables. It was confirmed through testing using the F-test and T-test that there is a significant relationship between Product Quality and Service Quality.

The optimal product-line selling mode in online platforms

The burgeoning success of online retailing has prompted numerous manufacturers to sell their product lines through digital platforms. Despite this trend, the optimal product-line selling mode for both manufacturers and online platforms remains ambiguous. This study aims to address this uncertainty by developing an analytical model. In this model, a manufacturer offers a product line consisting of two quality-differentiated products. Concurrently, an e-tailer (online platform) provides both the first-party and third-party modes, catering to consumers with heterogeneous preferences for product quality. The analysis reveals that when the high-quality product's quality level is sufficiently low, the manufacturer achieves maximum profit by wholesaling the high-quality product with the first-party mode but directly selling the low-quality product via the third-party mode; otherwise, the manufacturer maximizes profit by directly selling both products via the third-party mode. For the e-tailer, when the high-quality product's quality level is moderate, he can gain the highest profit by encouraging the manufacturer to wholesale both products with the first-party mode. However, when the high-quality product's quality level is sufficiently low (high), the e-tailer can obtain the highest profit under the case where the manufacturer sells the high-quality product via the third-party (first-party) mode but distributes the low-quality product with the first-party (third-party) mode. The intuition lies in the competition dynamics and the double marginalization effect under different selling modes.

Stock exchange operations as a tool for increase in the level of economic security of the enterprise

The problem of increasing the level of economic security of the enterprise is relevant for enterprises in market conditions of business, which are characterized by a high level of instability. However, in today's conditions of increased instability and increased threats, it is necessary to further deepen the study of the problem in order to find new effective tools for increasing the level of economic security of the enterprise. Exchange transactions are among such instruments. The main components of economic security, which can be positively affected by stock exchange operations, are financial, marketing and production. Prospects for the use of stock exchange operations to increase the level of financial security of the enterprise: operations on the commodity exchange, the purpose of which may be the purchase of production stocks and the sale of products of own production, will allow forecasting the level of expenses and the level of income both by cost and by the time of formation, which has a positive effect on the effectiveness of cash flow management, accordingly, has a positive effect on the level of solvency of the enterprise; operations on the stock market allow you to effectively attract financial resources to ensure the operation of the enterprise, and can also be used for the placement of equity securities of the enterprise and the effective search for co-owners; operations with futures and option contracts with a sufficient level of professional knowledge of the company's specialists will allow to provide the company with production resources and sell the company's products on the most favorable terms. The impact of stock exchange operations on marketing security: the stock market is an effective source of sales of products, within which it is possible to enter into contracts for future supply with a clearly established price level and terms of performance; due to the concentration of potential counterparties, it is possible to increase the volume of sales of the company's products; thanks to the desire to reach the level of the exchange standard, the tendency to increase the quality of products and their competitiveness is ensured; from the point of view of brand development, exchange transactions can have a negative impact, because during exchange trading, depersonalization of products and counterparties and maximum standardization are characteristic. The impact of stock exchange operations on production safety: an increase in the level of product quality to the level of the stock exchange standard, uninterrupted provision of the production process with raw materials and materials, thanks to which downtime can be reduced, the rhythm of production increased and the level of utilization of the production capacity of the enterprise. Therefore, the positive impact of stock exchange operations on the vast majority of functional components of the enterprise's economic security allows to increase its level and achieve the fulfillment of tasks related to increasing the level of competitiveness of the enterprise and ensuring the stability of business conditions.

Effects of Using Laser Technology for Cutting Polymer Films.

In connection with the need to obtain a properly made and cut material and the appearance of the surface layer, new manufacturing technologies were used for tests, namely the laser cutting technology. This article describes the laboratory stand built for the purpose of research, as well as the possibility of using laser cutting on several sample materials (polymer films), together with an indication of the results obtained. The idea was to elaborate on the cutting technology that will be proper for manufacturing the desired type of spacers for ion-exchange membranes separating while maintaining the required level of product quality and chemical purity. The latter criterion was the basic one, due to the scope of use of the manufactured elements. This article also describes the problem encountered during the construction of the stand or during the research. The last part of this article describes the further steps of the research that will be carried out in the future along with a discussion and summary of the research performed. It is important from the point of view of the development of production technology, but also because of the characteristics of materials for the production of surface layers and coatings resistant to mechanical or thermal wear used in industry. The introduction of innovative solutions is also aimed at studying the improvement of the economics of the production of materials that are significant, in particular, for small- and medium-sized enterprises.

Research on the marketing strategy of agricultural product community e-commerce

With the continuous progress and development of the “global e-commerce era”, China's community e-commerce of marketing environment of agricultural products is growing rapidly. At present, the level of e-commerce development in various regions of China is not balanced, resulting in farmers in many regions still lacking marketing awareness of community e-commerce. Through the analysis of the current status of China's e-commerce development of agricultural products, this study found that there are existing problems such as: the imbalance of agricultural products e-commerce development scale in various regions, the difficulty of agricultural products logistics and distribution, the uneven quality level of agricultural products, the lack of community marketing awareness among merchants, and the gap in e-commerce talents. Based on the content marketing theory, this paper draws research conclusions and puts forward suggestions for optimizing community e-commerce marketing.

Global value chain participation, trade cost and benefits of timber industry

The purpose of this paper is to explore the effect of global value chain participation (GVCP) on the gains from trade and trade costs of the timber industry and reveal the underlying influence mechanism. The GVCP Index, Novy (2011) method, and WWZ Value Added Decomposition method have been used to measure the degree of global value chain participation, trade costs, and gains from trade of the timber industry, respectively. The results show that the export gains from trade of the timber industry featured inter-annual sustainability. Further, GVCP, has an insignificant impact, suggesting that the industry’s degree of GVCP is limited. While the current trade cost and policy barriers to forest product trade harm it. And the cost of export trade has a strong lag effect on gains from trade. The increase of current trade costs reduces the short-term benefits; but in the long run, the trade costs and benefits show a synchronous growth trend. To maintain and enhance its competitiveness, therefore, the industry will have to change the GVCP degree and mode of the timber industry, reduce short-term trade costs, and improve the quality and legitimacy certification level of timber products.

The impact of digital transformation on the quality and safety level of agricultural exports: evidence from Chinese listed companies

Enhancing the quality and safety of exported agricultural products and improving export competitiveness is the key to establishing enhanced competitive advantages in agricultural products, developing a trade powerhouse and realising high-quality development of agriculture. This paper uses the data of Chinese listed companies and Chinese Customs from 2007 to 2016 to discuss the effect and mechanism of digital transformation of enterprises on the quality and safety level of export agricultural products by using the staggered differential method. The study shows that (1) Enterprise digital transformation effectively improves the quality and safety of exported agricultural products, and this result holds after endogeneity, placebo and multiple robustness tests; (2) Heterogeneity analyses reveal that the quality and safety effect of enterprise digital transformation is greater for exporting to developed countries’ markets, non-state-owned enterprises and enterprises in the eastern region, in addition to bulk agricultural products and consumer-oriented agricultural products; (3) Mechanism analyses shows that enterprise digital transformation raises the quality and safety of exported agricultural products through technological innovation, product tracing, information sharing and quality assurance effects.

SWOT ANALYSIS OF THE ACTIVITIES OF ADIDAS-UKRAINE DURING THE ESCALATION OF MILITARY ACTIONS IN UKRAINE

The topicality of the topic lies in determining the perspective of adaptation of enterprises to the challenges dictated by military actions, including the annexation of business territories, destruction of fixed assets, migration of workers, constant risk to life and health. The main idea of the work is to develop recommendations for the private sector to continue working in Ukraine after a full-scale invasion, in order to provide the population with jobs, high-quality goods and services, and faith in the bright future of the state. The war caused troubles and cataclysms in the domestic economy as a whole and in the market of consumer goods, in particular, because a large part of trading points, shops, pavilions was destroyed and cannot be restored. Significant minus factors of the profitable activity of the private sector are the annexation of territories led to the usurpation of the fixed assets of trade enterprises, including; decrease in the number of the workforce – personnel of organizations; decrease in demand for clothes and accessories of popular brands, due to changes in values and financial capabilities; mass migration of potential consumers of the sports goods and services market; the lack of profits causes the predominance of the expense part of the balance sheet and, accordingly, the unprofitability of the activity; withdrawal from the consumer goods market of companies with a higher level of prices and product quality. The war also necessitated the reorientation of production to military lines, and therefore goods and services for civilians are not a priority; forced closure of shops, warehouses, sales points in the aggressor country; growing consumer sensitivity to the enterprise's business policy, the level of its assistance in achieving victory; and increased the global need to help the population, even in the face of the prospect of bankruptcy and withdrawal from the country's consumer market and increased tax pressure. And, in the end, it led to a decrease in the possibilities of receiving state orders, grants, subsidies, quotas.

Increasing the Income of SMEs in Indonesia through the Power of Quality and Education

This study explores the impact of product quality and the educational level of small and medium enterprise (SME) owners on SME income in Sidoarjo Regency, Indonesia. Using a quantitative approach with survey data from 52 SMEs, the analysis via SMARTPLS4 reveals that both product quality and education significantly influence SME income. The findings suggest that enhancing product quality and investing in education can lead to higher SME income, providing valuable insights for SME owners and policymakers to support economic growth in the region. Highlight: Impact: Product quality and education level significantly influence SME income. Method: Analyzed 52 SMEs in Sidoarjo using SMARTPLS4. Recommendation: Improve product quality and education to boost SME income. Keyword: SMEs, product quality, education level, income, Sidoarjo Regency

Online reviews and spillover effects in the dual-channel supply chain: A choice strategy of sales format

We investigate strategy choice of sales format considering online reviews and the spillover effect in a dual-channel supply chain. Generally, online and offline consumers read online reviews before purchasing, and thus offline retailers will be subjected to the spillover effect of online reviews. We develop joint product quality and service level decision models in reselling and agency selling with online reviews and the spillover effect. There are some interesting findings: first, the optimal service level and product quality increase with online reviews and spillover effect. Second, counterintuitively, the spillover effect of online reviews benefits not only the offline retailer and manufacturer but also the online retailer in some circumstances. Moreover, the win-win sales format for the manufacturer and online and offline retailers exists in some circumstances. Finally, it is interesting to find that consumers’ channel preference in the agency sales format is more important than in the resales.

КРЕАТИВНИЙ МЕНЕДЖМЕНТ ЯК ІНСТРУМЕНТ ПІДВИЩЕННЯ КОНКУРЕНТОСПРОМОЖНОСТІ ПРОДУКЦІЇ ПІДПРИЄМСТВ

In the course of writing this article, an in-depth analysis of the theoretical aspects of creative management as a tool for increasing the competitiveness of enterprises' products was carried out. The article is aimed at highlighting innovative approaches to management and the creative process that contribute to effective management and stimulate the development of enterprises in the current global market environment. The essence of the concepts of creativity and creative management and their impact on the quality and innovativeness of products in the market are investigated. The place and state of innovative development in the global market environment of Ukraine, including the indicator of creative results of national enterprises, are studied. The principles of creative management, which ensure the competitiveness and sustainability of enterprises in the market, are generalized. Key creative management strategies that ensure a high level of product quality are identified. It is substantiated that the intensification of creative processes solves the production and economic challenges of enterprises, facilitating their adaptation to changing market conditions and improving product quality. The article analyzes the role of consumers in shaping product quality and reveals how their requirements and choices influence the choice of a creative management strategy. It is determined that the successful implementation of creative management requires an integrated approach and active interaction of all stakeholders of the enterprise. It is established that creative management not only contributes to raising the level and standards of product quality, but is also critical for strengthening the market position of an enterprise.

Long-term assessment and analysis of the radiometric quality of standard data products for Chinese Gaofen-1/2/6/7 optical remote sensing satellites

The first Chinese Gaofen (GF) remote sensing satellite was launched in August 2013 and has been in orbit for more than 10 years, providing a rich variety of image product data for remote sensing applications in various industries, with other remote sensing satellites of the GF series. To ensure the reliability of the information generated via remote sensing applications, all remote sensing images must undergo systematic quality evaluation. The quality of GF satellites is evaluated almost comprehensively during in-orbit testing at the early stage after launch; however, the remaining evaluations of product quality including geometric or radiometric calibrations are performed only annually. Thus, long-term systematic image quality evaluations are lacking, and the quality level and long-term change trends of the image products are unknown. These deficits have introduced uncertainty in the application of these products. This study aimed to establish a radiometric quality evaluation index framework for GF satellites to comprehensively measure the radiometric quality of GF image products. Multiple types of sample data, such as uniform field, knife-edge target, and radiometric calibration field data with different reflectance features, were acquired globally. Four core indexes, namely, the relative radiometric correction accuracy (RRCA), absolute radiometric correction accuracy (ARCA), modulation transfer function (MTF), and signal-to-noise ratio (SNR), were used to analyze and evaluate the long-term radiometric quality of the images from four GF optical remote sensing satellites: GF1, GF2, GF6, and GF7. The four GF satellites had high SNR and RRCA but low dynamic MTF and variable ARCA for different reflectance features. For example, the average SNRs for the four satellites reached 42.66, 43.91, 44.33, and 47.46 dB; the average RRCA (@root-mean-square errors) values reached 1.6%, 1.0%, 1.6%, and 0.1%; the average MTF values (at Nyquist frequency) of the panchromatic bands were only 0.15, 0.12, 0.07 and 0.04; and the difference in ARCA for different reflectance targets was approximately 10%. In the long time series, the SNRs for each sensor of the four GF satellites were high and stable for high-reflectance features, whereas the RCA and SNR values for low-reflectance features and the MTF of the sensors fluctuated in a cyclic manner. Meanwhile, large dynamic fluctuations and episodic image quality problems occurred at certain local time points, which must be considered during practical applications. The findings presented here will lay a foundation for the in-depth application of GF images.

Analysis of The Quality of Plastic Sack Products using the Statistical Quality Control (SQC) Method

PT. XYZ is a PT work unit manufacturing company. Perkebunan Nusantara I Regional 4 is engaged in the plastic sack industry which produces 2 products, namely outer bags and inner bags. The research carried out aims to determine and measure the level of product quality and provide appropriate product improvement suggestions for quality control problems in plastic sack products in PT. XYZ. The method used is Statistical Quality Control (SQC). Based on the results of research on Statistical Quality Control (SQC), there are 5 production stations and there are each type of defect at each production station. The defects that affect product quality are 14,541 kg of holey film defects, 13,849 kg of uneven threads, 22,706 kg of outgoing threads, 17,876 kg of jagged webbing, 10,186 kg of misprinting, 8,846 kg of faded colors, 11,323 kg of inner holes. , and opened seal of 3,206 kg. There are suggestions for improvements that can be proposed for each defect by adjusting the factors in the fishbone diagram.

Sales mode selection and blockchain technology adoption decisions in a platform supply chain

In recent years, some large-scale e-commerce platforms have established blockchain systems (BSs) to improve consumer product quality trust degrees (QTDs). However, whether the BSs work eventually depends on the upstream manufacturer strategic decision on whether to join the BSs to provide product quality information authentication. The impacts of the platform sales mode selection between the agency and the reselling modes on the manufacturer blockchain technology (BT) adoption decision are examined, and the equilibrium strategy combinations between the platform sales mode selection and the manufacturer BT adoption decisions are obtained. Furthermore, the impacts of the platform and the manufacturer strategic decisions on the product quality decision are analyzed. The results show that the manufacturer may have more incentive to join the BS under the agency mode than under the reselling mode. In addition, the manufacturer should set a higher product quality level under the agency mode than under the reselling mode, after joining the BS only if the unit BT adoption cost is low. Finally, the QTD, the quality improvement cost and the unit BT adoption cost determine the equilibrium strategy combinations. The double marginalization effect in the channel and the platform channel power advantage are used to explain the above findings. Several extensions are provided to verify the robustness of the results and to broaden the applicability of the model and method.

A study of production outsourcing strategies of dual oligopoly manufacturers based on quality investments

Introduction: Self-production and outsourcing are two important production strategies for manufacturers, and the production capacity and investment capacity of manufacturers and suppliers play a decisive role in the quality of products. This study aims to analyze the manufacturer’s best production strategy and the drivers of outsourcing in the context of quality.Methods: This study constructs production outsourcing game models for duopoly manufacturers, examines the trade-offs between self-production and outsourcing when suppliers have the ability to invest in quality, explores the requirements and implications of outsourcing and compares the differences between “one-to-one” and “one-to-many” outsourcing structures.Results: First, outsourcing can reduce the level of product quality and that a necessary condition for manufacturers’ outsourcing is a strong advantage in the supplier’s production costs. Second, duopoly manufacturers may face a prisoner’s dilemma as a result of outsourcing. Finally, compared to two independent suppliers, outsourcing to a common supplier can increase the level of product quality by exploiting the centralization effect and increase the firm’s profits when the market’s competition intensity is low.Conclusion: First, the production strategy balance of duopoly manufacturers is closely related to the outsourcing structure, production efficiency and investment efficiency. Second, duopoly manufacturers choose outsourcing may fall into the prisoner’s dilemma, and outsourcing has the risk of quality reduction.

Analysis of Energy Consumption of Robotic Welding Stations

Analysis of the energy consumption of industrial robots during the implementation of a technological task can increase efficiency and minimize production costs, as well as extend the service life of robots, taking into account the rational use of energy sources. An important challenge in designing sustainable production processes is the selection of energy-saving technological equipment supporting the work of robots. Additionally, optimization of robot program codes, including parameters and robot movement paths, determines the energy efficiency of the robotic station. Welding is one of the most popular areas of process robotization due to its ability to increase production efficiency and improve the quality of part assembly compared to manual work. In these studies, an exemplary process of robotic welding of aluminum alloy parts was designed, analyzed, and optimized with an orientation towards sustainable development guidelines. This work also presents a review of current publications discussing the authors’ contribution to achieving energy efficiency in robotic welding processes. The purpose of this analysis is also to indicate directions for the development of future research work in order to minimize energy consumption in production processes with an appropriate level of product quality and increase production efficiency.

Methods and indicators for assessing the level of product quality

The article discusses the goals and features of product quality assessment, the methods used for this, and the indicators being verified. How can you understand that a product is of high quality? From the author’s point of view, this can be done using analysis methods that will provide objective information for the consumer about the characteristics of the product, its safety and properties.