A Quality and Partnering-Based Model for Improving Supply Chain Performance

This study proposes a Supplier Quality Affiliation (SQA) approach that is integrated into a mixed integer programming Strategic Supply Chain Management (SSCM) model for overall improvement of the supply chain business process. A pool of acceptable quality and high quality suppliers are affiliated using multi-dimensional quality attributes for the supplier operation parameters in the SQA model. Based on the pre-defined partnering attributes, the SQA model next identifies a select group of high quality suppliers that can be converted into partners. The outcome of the SQA model is then integrated into the SSCM model for ensuring input quality while providing several options for overall business gains of the supply chain members, which include suppliers, manufacturers, and retailers. Applicability of the SQA model is investigated using a real world case study and the SSCM model is illustrated with a numerical example using random data. A Quality and PartneringBased Model for Improving Supply Chain Performance