A computer-integrated framework for global quality chain management

Facing increasing pressure from customers to achieve greater responsiveness and reliability, as well as the current trend of globalization, many companies are considering global supply chain management as the core of their business strategy. This global tendency brings new challenges to traditional quality management approaches. It requires moving from the past focus of “my quality” to an emphasis on “our quality.” A new concept called global quality chain management (GQCM) is raised in this paper to figure out the principles, approaches, mechanisms, and processes involved in global quality management. In order to support GQCM, a computer-integrated and Internet-based system called the global quality chain management system (GQCMS) is proposed, with which the distributed partners in a global quality chain can cooperate as a whole. This paper outlines the overall framework of the GQCMS and presents the result of the Phase 1 development, known as the QQ-Enterprise system.