Question

Why do you think many manufacturing companies do not focus on manufacturing quality and supplier quality?

replay to this two people, did you agree with them or not.

1. Mass Production

I think many manufacturing companies are focused on producing standardized products with a lot of automation. This is called mass production. These types of manufacturing processes do not mainly focus on quality aspects since they want to produce more goods in a lesser time. They concentrate more on productivity and efficiency which means to get the maximum number of outputs in a lesser number of inputs. Since all of the products produced looks the same it is not customized so quality is not key. Also the supplier quality doesn't matter much because quality will not be an area of much concern to the company. Also, suppliers would be providing raw materials in big quantities hence it will be hard to check the quality of each an every item. So a mass producing company will not focus on manufacturing quality and supplier quality since they are more focused on producing maximum number of products in a very short time as possible.

2.

Public and Shareholders

For publicly held companies, it is the shareholders that decide who stays and who goes in terms of CEO's and the like. If it comes down to either improving quality or improving profit margins, companies are likely going to go with the latter in order to please their shareholders and possibly increase dividends paid out to them. This also ties into the public opinion where, if a manufacturer can get away with using substandard materials without anyone noticing, why would they use more expensive material that yields the same result? They wouldn't. However, if word gets out that this material is the cause of a horrible result (example: bad steel and buildings) then that just makes the shareholders angry.

It is all about what the company can get away with without anyone noticing, both the public and the shareholders. If they can afford to cut corners, they will, because bigger profits mean better image and happier shareholders.

Answer 1

The first opinion misses the most important candidate here, the customer. It is the goal of the organisation to produce in huge quantity to reduce the cost per unit, but if the mass produced commodities are of no use for the customers owing to their poor quality, they will simply not sell and the customers will switch over to competition in no time. Now, all mass produced stuff will lie on shelves and cost will be incurred in keeping it, only to be sold at a fraction of price, leafing to losses. The loss of reputation will prevent new customers from adding up, and since existing ones are gone, there is no business.

The second opinion again misses the fact that the option of be fooling the customers and other stakeholders is a non sustainable alternative, which can make the company profitable in short run. Eventually, its tricks will come out in open, and the loss of face in front of customers,along with penalties and cost of lawsuits will make the sales dwindle and would lead to huge losses, both financially and reputation wise. The shareholders would no longer be happy as they have put in their money for sustainable profits, not for one time gain and losing all of it altogether.