Design quality: a key to improve product quality in international production network

Abstract

In many industries, enterprises are seeking to improve product quality, cut costs and shorten the concept-to-market time. With the development of supply chain management methodology, it is indispensable for companies to make the best of outside resources and collaborate with their partners on the supply chain in order to improve their end-product quality. The design phase is crucial for product quality improvement since design quality is a key determinant on the final product quality. This article provides insights into poor quality of design and manufacturing and the impact of design and manufacturing on final product quality. Based on our research, we present a quality relationship model showing our interpretation of the leveraged relationships between design, manufacturing and product quality, and explain the uses and limitations of the model. Finally, two cases from the toy and automobile industries are analysed to illustrate the formula. We test the proposed quality relationship using survey data collected from toy and automobile industries and find support for the model.

Keywords:

• product quality
• design
• manufacturing
• impact factor
• quality relationship model

Acknowledgements

This study was supported by Project of Chinese Public Service Platform for Science and Technology Management (06DZ22924) and Project of Design Chain–Supply Chain-Management (DC-SC-M).