Supplier quality development: A review of literature and industry practices

Managing quality of suppliers is of prime importance in supply chains to minimise costs arising due to poor-quality products and services. Supplier quality development (SQD) is a strategic quality development activity for increasing quality, reliability and efficiency of suppliers. This paper reports results of review on the academic literature and industrial practices on SQD in order to find main concepts, steps, prevalent methodologies, tools and techniques, and best practices. We reviewed 177 papers from years 1980–2013 including 22 company manuals for conducting this study. The proposed review assists readers in developing a better understanding of SQD, involved processes and their key elements, tools and techniques used, challenges in supplier quality management, best practices from academics and industry, and open research problems in SQD that require detailed investigation.