Global Supply Chain Quality and International Quality Standards Essay

Global Supply Chain Quality and International Quality Standards
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Global Supply Chain Quality and International Quality Standards
The management of quality in the realm of globalization is crucial than never before. The dynamics in globalization demands innovative strategies when dealing with a concept of quality. Quality has been an issue of concern, and many strategies have been geared toward quality improvement. Various regions, for example, U.S, Japan, and Europe have adopted unique quality improvement approaches. The quality practices in these regions are by several factors that include culture. This paper will summarize the Baldrige process as practiced in the U.S, Japanese quality practice, the European way of managing quality and cultural aspects.
The Baldrige Award is an assessment mechanism tool and serves leverage upon which quality improvement is initiated. Organizations that meet the Baldrige criteria are usually given awards referred to as ‘the Malcolm Baldrige Award.’ This approach to quality management is commonly applied in the U.S. The Baldrige process is open to small and large firms in the manufacturing sector, health care, education, not-for-profit, and service sectors. The key areas that are subjected to assessment through the Baldrige process include human resources, finances, results, operations, strategy, customers, and leadership (Foster, 2012). The outstanding element in the Baldrige award is the result or outcome that constitutes a key performance indicator.
The organizations that require the Baldrige award must first establish its eligibility determination. The Baldrige award applies ordinarily to U.S firms. Eligibility determination can be achieved via mailing to the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST). When eligibility is established, the firm presents a completed application to NIST, which reviewed by the Baldrige examiners (Foster, 2012). Each item is evaluated and scored by judges; it is finalized by consensus. After consensus on scoring, the judges make a site-visit determination. Only firms that get scores satisfactorily are granted site visits; the organizations that meet site visit qualifications are classified as ‘Baldrige qualified.’ The crucial outcome of the Baldrige process is the feedback that is given to applicant firms. The feedback is presented as part of the evaluation process. The feedback is useful in the identification of existing gaps in the firms and is used as leverage to initiate improvement in the processes and systems.
The Japanese concepts of quality assurance tend to stem from the automobile industry. Japan is an epicentre of global reference of quality and has used quality to gain a competitive edge over the world. In contrast to the Baldrige award, Japan has the Deming Prize, which is used as a parameter of quality. The Deming was found in 1951 by the Japanese Union of Scientists and Engineers (Foster, 2012). The Deming Prize focuses on process rather than outcomes, as observed in the Baldrige awards (Foster, 2012). In contrast to the Baldrige process, which is more general and managerial, the Deming Prize is more prescriptive. These differences that exist between the Deming Prize and Baldrige Awards define the uniqueness of Japanese ways on quality processes. Thus, the Japanese appear to assume a unique pathway on quality approaches that are characterized by efficient, clean, and waste-free processes. Some of the critical Japanese quality approaches include lean production, lean as philosophy, Japanese Total Quality Control, visibility, in-process inspection, Total involvement Workforce, The Five S’s, and preventive maintenance (Foster, 2012).
Lean production is a philosophical viewpoint on lean manufacturing and may take two dimensions. First, lean production is aimed at eliminating anything that does not add value to customers. Secondly, there is the optimization of quality processes through continual quality improvement. The Japanese spheres of quality are laced with philosophical undertones; the organization can adopt lean philosophies that can be actualized through discipline. If desirable quality improvements and lean productions are enshrined in company practices and beliefs, success becomes imminent. Reducing costs and maintaining quality emanates from the lean production philosophical underpinning of Toyota. Japanese tend to embrace a focus on every aspect of any process using total quality control. Attention to detail is deeply entrenched in Japanese culture. Another aspect of quality in Japanese culture is visibility; Japanese prefer to expose problems, weakness, and fragilities in process, rather than to hide such challenges (Foster, 2012). The exposure of the issues enables the firms to chart ways of addressing them. Visibility facilities inventory reduction since excess work-in-process is likely to get laden with hidden problems. Another visibility approach is andon, also referred to as warning li...