In all organizations, supply chain management plays the pivotal function of ensuring that products and services are availed whenever they are required in a manner that will sustain the increasing number of products that need to be availed in the market.
Such sustainable ways require incredible observation of quality standards in the supply chain operational strategies that are deployed by an organization. This paper proposes a research on how quality can be factored in a supply chain for use by Maersk, which is a case example of organizations that deploy quality supply chain management strategies.
The selection of Maersk for discussion of quality in supply chains management is driven by the findings that the company is able to execute its supply chain functions in highly effective and efficient ways. In fact, Maersk has managed to ensure on- time arrival of its cargo together with cargo departures at accuracy levels averaging at 90 percent.
It has also been able to deploy recent technologies in cargo clearing and forwarding among other methodologies that have enabled the organization to supplement its daily activities in helpful and competent ways. For an organization engaging in logistics and supply chains, increasing the number of products and service lines complicates the supply chain strategies so that it becomes hard to have an efficient tracking of all services and goods from the place of origin to their place of delivery.
Therefore, increase of the products and service lines has the effect of compromising the quality of supply chains. Maersk is one of the organizations that handle a wide range of products and services while at the same time observing and maintaining quality as a competitive strategy. This aspect makes Maersk an outstanding case example to study quality in supply chain management.
To investigate the aspect of quality in supply chain management at Maersk, the research will discuss various supply chain and logistics solutions that are provided by the company. According to Strachowski, these solutions include “customized solutions for integrated supply chain management, warehousing and distribution, custom house brokerage, air freight, as well as NVOCC services through their subsidiary DSL Star Express” (Para.3).
To enhance these activities, Maersk continuously develops various technological solutions to boost the quality of its service delivery. Such technological solutions enable customers to have a quick access and capacity to track their merchandise while in transit.
On the other hand, various technologies for logistics and supply chain management enable Maersk to develop mechanisms for analysis of its logistics and supply chain management strategies in the effort to optimize its supply chain activities. Optimization refers to the reduction of costs and time for delivery of products and services offered by the company.
Hence, discussing quality in logistics and supply chains at Maersk cannot be realized without paying attention to the discussion of recent technological innovations to enhance efficiency of service and cargo delivery.
Through discussion of quality using Maersk as a benchmark, the main research aims at realizing two fundamental objectives. Firstly, a discussion on quality aesthetics in products and services handling will be initiated. Secondly, the research will provide a basis for detailing the growth of Maersk coupled with its effects on the global economy, particularly in setting benchmark for efficient and effective logistical and supply chain management strategies.
To realize this goal, the research will discuss operations strategies deployed by Maersk such as product quality, mechanisms of supply chain cost reductions, quality security, and quality sustainability by showing how all these aspects of quality are controlled.
Works Cited
Strachowski, Nicole. IBM and Maersk Logistics provide real-time cargo monitoring for global supply chain optimization, 2005. Web.