Industry Directions Describes How Suppliers in Emerging Economies Can Avert a Crisis with Quality Management

Industry Directions Inc. today published a new paper, The Quality Imperative: Averting a Crisis for Suppliers in Developing Countries, that outlines the high risk of a crisis in customer confidence facing suppliers in emerging economies and describes a way to prevent this by delivering quality products with proof of process compliance.

Cummaquid, MA (PRWEB) April 10, 2008 -- Industry Directions Inc. today published a new paper, The Quality Imperative: Averting a Crisis for Suppliers in Developing Countries, that outlines the high risk of a crisis in customer confidence facing suppliers in emerging economies and a way to prevent this by delivering quality products with proof of process compliance. With stories of product and material recalls from China and other low-labor cost countries, buyers may begin to re-think their global sourcing choices if these suppliers do not act quickly to improve not only their quality, but the transparency of their operations.

When labor costs are low, some companies assume they can just throw people at this problem. As companies in emerging economies grow rapidly, their costs, complexity, competition and rate of change also rise. Adding even skilled employees cannot fix the quality threat, and may even exacerbate it. Employees with no standard guidance may jeopardize the supplier's ability to comply with government safety and environmental regulations such as Restriction of Hazardous Substances (RoHS) and Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment (WEEE) directives.

Clearly, suppliers need to build in quality, and manufacturing execution systems (MES), particularly those with quality functionality integrated, can support that effort. The paper also lists six major characteristics that companies should look for in selecting MES.

This paper is available on the Industry Directions Inc. web site for free download by interested parties. The work was underwritten by Camstar Systems, a leading provider of MES for medical device makers, semiconductor, electronics and solar cell companies.

About Industry Directions
Industry Directions is an industry analyst firm that conducts research on the business processes and enabling technologies used in manufacturing value networks in specific vertical industries. These industries include every type of manufacturing, from pure process industries such as oil and gas to batch process such as food and pharmaceuticals to discrete such as automotive, electronics and aerospace, to mixed mode industries such as consumer durables. Areas of focus include supply chain, business-to-business, production, lean & other improvement initiatives, enterprise management, product lifecycle management and performance management. To learn more, visit: www.industrydirections.com.

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