Quick response

manufacturing
• QR is a state of responsiveness and flexibility in which an organization
seeks to provide a highly diverse range of products and services to a
customer/consumer in the exact quantity, variety and quality, and at
the right time, place and price as dictated by real-time
customer/consumer demand.
• The concept of QR is based on a Japanese concept – Time Based
Competition (TBC)
• It was developed by Rajat Suri in Late 1980s
Why Quick Response?

• Emphasis on the reduction of internal and external lead time

• Shorter lead times
▫ Improve quality
▫ Reduce cost
▫ Eliminate non value added waste within organisation
• QR eliminates dysfunctional variability like, rework and changing due
dates
Principles of QR

• Lead time reduction

• Focus on manufacturing enterprise
• Focus on implementation and sustainability
• New material planning and control approach
• Manufacturing Critical path time
4 Rs Of Quick Response

• Responsiveness : Responsive operation systems of the supply chain

 Information management
 Partnership between supply chain members
 Manufacturing flexibility
 Effective inventory management
 Strong logistic system
• Reliability :
▫ Conformance to consumer expectations
▫ Delivering the promised product
▫ TQM
• Resilience :
▫ Managing the weaknesses of the supply chain
▫ Recovering quickly from unexpected disturbances
• Relationship :
▫ Developing positive supply chain relations through collaboration and
information sharing
▫ Performance depends on alliances and relationships
▫ Helps to deal with changing market conditions
 QRM PRINCIPLES

• Singular focus on lead time reduction

• Focus on manufacturing enterprises
• Clarification of the misunderstanding and misconceptions managers have
about how to apply time-based strategies
• Companywide approach reaching beyond shop floor to other areas such as
office operations and the supply chain
• Use of cellular organization structure throughout the business with more
holistic and flexible cells
• Inclusion of basic principles of systems dynamics to provide insight on
how to best reorganize an enterprise to achieve quick response
• New material planning and control approach (POLCA)
• Specific QRM principles on how to rethink manufacturing process and
equipment decisions
• Novel performance measure
• Focus on implementation and sustainability
• Manufacturing Critical-path Time (MCT) metric to measure lead times
Benefits of QR implementation
Supplier’s benefits
▫ Reduction of buying mistakes
▫ Minimization of stock holding
▫ Quick tracking of merchandise
▫ Higher stock turn
▫ Improvement of cash flow
▫ Betterment of customer service
▫ Very high level of profit
▫ Enlarged competitive advantages
Retailer’s Benefits :
▫ Improvement of planning systems
▫ Quick access to sales information
▫ Easy tracking of products
▫ Security of getting more orders
▫ Improvement of manufacturing systems
▫ High volume of production
▫ Higher sales
▫ Good profit margin
▫ Enhanced customer satisfaction & loyalty
1. Lower working capital - Since raw material and finished goods inventory is
minimised, working capital is decreased. This places the firm in a better strategic
position to utilise their resources and capital.
2. Better position to increase market share - The increased responsiveness will
hopefully attract new clients and allow the firm to capture a larger percentage of the
market.
3. Increased inventory turns - Since the production system is triggered by demand,
smaller batches are produced, inventory decreases, and the number of inventory
turns increases. Many inefficient manufacturers currently have large amounts of
capital tied up in inventory; therefore, their inventory turns are low.
4. Reducing the cost of quality by minimising rework - Cellular manufacturing places
more responsibility and accountability on specific production teams which inherently
increases the quality of the product. It is much easier to pinpoint defects since the
problems are directly traceable to certain teams or members. This has a positive
impact on the quality of products.
Issues of Quick Response
Manufacturing
1. Increased reliance on suppliers - QRM requires a solid relationship with one’s raw
material suppliers. To react to demand, a manufacturing firm must closely partner
with suppliers that will quickly accommodate the firm’s production schedule.
2. Large variations in demand - If a manufacturing company competes in a market
that has large fluctuations in demand, QRM may not be the most appropriate
business enabler.
3. Change Management - It can be very difficult to implement QRM in a
manufacturing environment. QRM is a business enabling philosophy that pushes
authority down to lower levels and therefore, changes the roles and responsibilities
of the employees.
• QR in apparel supply chain
• • In recent years, consumer demands have diversified and the
duration of acceptance of the products has decreased, and thus, the
lifetime of the product has considerably reduced.
• • The concept of QR was introduced in textile and retail sectors to ▫
reduce inventories ▫ shorten cycle times ▫ respond rapidly to changing
consumer demands.
Companies Promoting Quick
Response Manufacturing
• Seagate Inc in Singapore and San Francisco.
• British Aerospace at Filton (UK)
• Marconi Communications (Italy)
• Roxspur Plc.
• Cummins Diesel Engines (UK)
• General Electric
• Toyota
• Ford
•