A Study on Quality Management Tools Preferred by Operation and Supply chain managers

This paper reports the results of a comparative study of quality management practices and tools adoption by operations and supply chain managers. A survey was administered to both types of managers in Madhya Pradesh. Performing a Kruskal Wallis analysis, we found support for the hypothesis that operations and supply chain managers approach quality management differently. We found that those who identified themselves as supply chain managers utilized and emphasized quality tools and values to a greater extent than those who identified themselves as operations managers. The tools emphasized by supply chain managers included benchmarking, complaint resolution, design for the environment, ERP, supplier development, focus groups, and supply chain management We found that operations managers tend to manage supply chains through procedural methods such as ISO 9000 and supplier evaluation. Supply chain managers tend to be more collaborative, emphasizing supplier development and complaint resolution. We found that both types of managers adopted on the job training, data analysis, supply chain management, customer relationship management, project management and surveys.