Quality Control Scheme Selection with a Case of Aviation Equipment Development

Abstract

Due to the complex outsourcing characteristics of aviation equipment development, one key issue is how to coordinate quality and cost decisions during development. This article focuses on the quality control plan selection from the multilevel perspective and builds a multilevel algorithm. Considering a complex research and development (R&D) project involving an integrator (client, tier 1 in a supply chain) and a contractor (tier 2 in a supply chain), this study builds two models by taking two different kinds of decision sequences into account. In the first case, the client moves first (i.e., the client makes decision first) while the contractor is the first mover in the second case. Two objectives are considered: the quality improvement rate and the resource cost. The results show that it is not necessary for the client to be the first mover in the decision-making process when alternative plans show no obvious difference in both the quality improvement rate and resource cost. In addition, because of the transitivity of quality objectives and resource constraints, the component quality from lower level will take effect on upper-level quality. Moreover, we find that the client, as the first mover, has a marked impact on the total quality improvement rate of the project only when alternative plans show obvious differences in either the quality improvement rate or the resource consumption. Our study offers insights on the importance of exploring the relationship of decision sequences on quality plans for a project manager.

Keywords:

• Quality Plan Selection
• Aviation Equipment Development Project
• Optimal Multilevel Decision
• Decision Sequence
• Modularity

EMJ Focus Areas:

• Operations Management Program & Project Management

Acknowledgements

This work of Dr. Liangqing Feng is partially sponsored by National Natural Science Foundation of China under Grant number 71862025.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Liangqing Feng

Liangqing Feng is a Professor and Head of the Department of Industrial Engineering, Nanchang Hangkong University. He received both his Master in Business Administration and Ph.D. in Management Science and Engineering from the Nanchang University. His major areas of research and expertise are quality management, logistics and supply chain management, and sustainability. He is a 2016 Outstanding Young Scientist awarded by Jiangxi Science and Technology Department.

Dali Huang

Dali Huang is currently a Ph.D. student in the College of Management and Economics at Tianjin University in China. She is also a joint Ph.D. student in the Leavy School of Business at Santa Clara University in the United States. Her areas of interest are quality management and project management.

Mingzhou Jin

Mingzhou Jin is a Professor and the Associate Head of the Industrial and Systems Engineering Department at the University of Tennessee. He also directs the Institute for a Secure and Sustainable Environment. He received his Master’s and PhD from Zhejiang University and Lehigh University, respectively. He has conducted research in the areas of Operations Research, Data Analytics, Supply Chain Management, Environment, and Sustainability. He is an Institute of Industrial and Systems Engineers (IISE) fellow.

Wenchuan Li

Wenchuan Li is an associate professor at the Department of Industrial Engineering, Nanchang Hangkong University, since 2011. He graduated from Chongqing University and got a doctoral degree in 2011. His research focuses on internet of manufacturing things, logistics and supply chain management.

Zhen He

Zhen He is a Professor in College of Management and Economics, Tianjin University, China. He received his PhD in management science from Tianjin University in 2001. He was awarded as Changjiang distinguished professor and outstanding young scholar of National Natural Science Foundation of China. He is also an academician of International Academy for Quality. He has published more than 100 papers in the area of Quality management and quality engineering. His research interests include quality management, statistical quality control.

Andrew J. Yu

Andrew J. Yu is an Associate Professor at the University of Tennessee. He had worked as a Supply Chain and Logistics solution architect and consultant for six years. He had also worked as a faculty at Shanghai Jiao Tong University, Louisiana State University and Southern Methodist University. Dr. Yu’s main research interests are in the areas of Supply Chain and Logistics Management, Maintenance Planning and Scheduling, Data Analytics and Data Science, and Systems Engineering.