Supply chain quality will always have something to do with supply chain management.
The root causes of a process in most cases are always associated with things that are managed.
Without addressing management issues, there is virtually no progress that can be expected in the quality of any process output.
Supply chain is defined as the process of mapping outputs from the its original sources of raw materials to the actual manufacturing then down to the final output and its distribution from the source location to the consumer's end.
The main problem that a lot of managers encounter when facing issues on supply chain quality is distribution.
This does not only deal with the actual distribution of the final output of products.
It starts form the original source of the raw materials.
Without raw materials to work on, there will be no inputs in the process to come up with the desired final product.
One way of addressing this is through outsourcing.
Many companies do not focus now on things that can be addressed by other companies that specialize on the same product or service.
For example, a company may not even focus on the actual manufacturing of their product.
What they focus on is their technology and on ways to improve it.
What they do is they partner with other companies that can give them the raw materials.
Then they distribute their raw materials to several plants-also outsourced-and these final products are outsourced again to trucking industries that specialize in logistics management.
It is of essence that strategy is practiced here.
The fault of many managers in charge of supply chain quality is that they are reactive, not proactive.
What happens is that they are just being tactical in their approach in solving problems instead of strategically putting processes in place.
The difference is that if one is tactical, he simply addresses problems that already exist in the organization.
Whereas, if the manger is strategically putting processes in place, the problems would have not occurred at all.
This is similar to the old adage that prevention is better that cure.
One should realize that one of the outstanding efforts that need focus is outsourcing partnership.
As mentioned earlier, gone are the days in which companies take all the responsibilities of the supply chain.
People should also not confuse supplies as only applicable to goods, as this is also applicable in terms of services, such as customer service phone or email support.
The nature of supply here is the number of customers served within a specified period of time.
And this is often measured in terms of service level.
Now, the outsourcing industry has boomed that one company simply has a lot of options.
The gist is that people will manage parts of your business for you while you concentrate in developing newer and better technological and advanced approaches to increase business.
In summation, the supply chain is mandated by the existing processes that are in place.
Managing this aspect of the business should not be done solely by the company, but outsourced efforts should be seriously considered to have an ideal and effective supply chain quality.