Quality Goods From Suppliers
The quality of what you produce depends heavily on the quality of what you start with. In Total Quality Management, quality therefore extends beyond your own walls to your suppliers, who are treated as partners rather than as interchangeable sources of the cheapest parts.
Questions you may have include:
- Why do suppliers affect your quality?
- How do you ensure suppliers deliver quality?
- Why favor partnership over lowest price?
Inputs determine outputs
Defective materials or unreliable components make defects almost inevitable, no matter how good your own processes are. Improving incoming quality is one of the most effective ways to improve final quality.
Ensuring supplier quality
Companies qualify suppliers before relying on them, agree on clear specifications, and monitor performance over time. Sharing quality standards and feedback helps suppliers meet requirements consistently, which reduces the need for heavy incoming inspection.
Partnership over price
W. Edwards Deming argued against awarding business on price alone, because the cheapest supplier is often the most expensive once defects, delays, and rework are counted. TQM favors longer-term relationships with fewer, trusted suppliers, working together to improve quality and reduce total cost.
Summary
Because inputs determine outputs, suppliers are part of your quality system. Qualify and monitor them, share clear standards, and build cooperative, long-term partnerships rather than buying purely on price — an approach that lowers total cost and raises quality.