Today‘s customers expect zero defects with just-in-time (JIT) delivery from their suppliers, for the specified quantities, as a matter of standard practice. More importantly, customers expect companies to help them know what they need in terms of quantities and quality now, and for the future. No other change process adds long-term value as quickly as zero defects. Companies failing to embrace this quality culture face difficult challenges. To achieve this level of performance requires tremendous focus in an organisation and throughout its supply base. Business models around the world are changing dramatically from the "Source Local" to the "Source Anywhere and Build Anywhere" model (Cummins, 2008: 19). Companies have shifted away from a hierarchical, one-dimensional, supply chain entity to a fragmented network in favor of strategic partnerships with external entities. Many businesses facing such models are experiencing challenges and, if not managed correctly, can find themselves struggling to compete in this new landscape. Thus, when price concessions are so stringent, quality has to suffer. To reduce costs, suppliers are forced to seek less expensive ways to produce parts and components. Does this mean the use of different, less expensive materials? Does this mean less skilled labor? Does this mean production shortcuts? Or does this mean that suppliers just bite the bullet and pay the price? Once all the costs have been extracted from the supply chain, the only thing left to suffer is quality. The underlying objective of this research is to investigate the impact of delivery performance for a selected part at General Motors South Africa. In order to develop a research strategy to deal with, and solve, the main problem, the following research questions have been identified: a) What can be learned from literature about the impact of quality costs? b) Why is this specific part a suitable candidate for a cost investigation? c) What are the processes involved if a defect occurs? d) How can the cost be estimated? e) What effect does poor supplier quality have on productivity? This dissertation aims to investigate the problems and challenges General Motors South Africa are facing pertaining to the delivery performance of a selected part. The dissertation will also strive to highlight the impact of poor supplier quality on productivity and the related cost implications. Conclusions and recommendations will furthermore be outlined.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:netd.ac.za/oai:union.ndltd.org:nmmu/vital:8793 |
| Date | January 2011 |
| Creators | Blouw, Andrew Christopher |
| Publisher | Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University, Faculty of Business and Economic Sciences |
| Source Sets | South African National ETD Portal |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Thesis, Masters, MA |
| Format | xv, 136 leaves, pdf |
| Rights | Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University |
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