Too good to be economical or too economical to be good?
Do you still remember the good old days when the customer waited patiently for the ordered item and only demanded that it was flawless and durable? In today’s age of online shopping, where you can have the items you order on your desk within 24 hours, things are a little different.
The good production quality of the article has become so self-evident that the logistical quality is the exclusion criterion. In other words, the customer receives the desired item in the exact quantity requested in the shortest possible time and on the specified date. And woe betide you if not! Then the customer simply goes to the competition, which delivers the almost identical item on time – even if it costs a few cents more.
Manufacturers therefore plan the quality of the article into the production process as early as the development and production stage so that they produce as few rejects as possible. Nevertheless, they will not be able to avoid a certain reject rate in order to keep production costs within reasonable limits.
Logistical quality walks a similarly fine line. This also needs to be planned into the value chain from the outset. Of course, you want to be as ready to deliver as possible, but this costs a lot of stock that you have to build up, finance and manage, and therefore ongoing costs that can make the item uneconomical. 100% delivery capability is just as uneconomical as 100% good parts. But in order to remain economical, a small percentage of orders must be allowed to wait. If you deliver the appropriate quality and perhaps even reward the customer with a small discount for their patience, it will pay off for both of you.
