GLOBAL SUPPLY CHAIN MANAGEMENT

MO255

NIKKI WONG XIAO XUAN
NORTHUMBRIA UNIVERSITY

(2897 Words)

Executive Summary

The objective of this report is to develop Singapore as a premier global hub port and international maritime centre, and to safeguard Singapore strategic maritime objectives. Research for this report includes evaluating the application on Lean and Total Quality Management (TQM) in logistics and supply chain networks to achieve Maritime Port Authority (MPA) objectives such as quality of service, competitiveness, reliability and efficiency.

The major findings shows that lean implementation improves processing times achieving more work in less staff time and bringing services up to standard. (Radnor, Walley, Stephens, & Bucci, 2006). It also changes the focus of management from optimizing separate technologies, assets, and vertical departments to optimizing the flow of products and services through entire value streams that flow horizontally across technologies, assets, and departments to customers.

Lean helps to eliminate waste along entire value streams, instead of at isolated points, creates processes that need less human effort, less space, less capital, and less time to make products and services at far less costs and with much fewer defects, compared with traditional business systems. Also, it requires keeping far less than half the needed inventory on site, results in many fewer defects and produces a greater and ever growing variety of productions.

TQM Management can be a tool to support and create synergy for inducing a more competitive market among companies. Total quality management (TQM) may be considered as a management approach to long term success through continuous improvements in customer satisfaction and other business objectives relating to cost reduction and reduce time to