Perceived quality deficiencies of demand information and their consequences

Abstract

This paper focuses on the quality of demand information exchanged between customers and suppliers in supply chains. The first sub-purpose of the study is to describe the level and consequences of information-quality deficiencies of order and forecast information received by suppliers from their main customer. The second sub-purpose is to describe and compare the characteristics of companies and information with high and low information quality. The paper is based on a survey of Swedish manufacturing industry with 219 respondents. The results indicate that forecasts are considered deficient in terms of reliability, conciseness, timeliness and credibility while orders are considered deficient in terms of reliability. Further, companies with high levels of information-quality deficiencies were characterised by less active information management, and used less advanced planning software.

Keywords:

• survey
• information quality
• demand information
• manufacturing planning and control