QUALITY MANAGEMENT

Quality Management in Business

Quality Management In Business

Task 2

Wal-Mart is one of the world's largest and most successful retail businesses which is considered as among the top most because of its quality management and control systems that mostly revolves around their supply chain practices. Wal-Mart in the pursuance of world-class quality continues to add various practices in its system and pioneers use of disparate technology in ways that are favorable for quality enhancement and improvement. This shape the world class quality management and inspection services that are followed by Wal-Mart to ensure their profitability and customer satisfaction.

Wal-Mart first pioneered the use of RFID technology that improved its Quality Management System by heaps. The benefits of Continuous Improvement and Quality Management at Wal-Mart cannot be denied under the circumstances of its diversified portfolio, which without any doubt posits significant challenges and thus are difficult to manage. The volume of products and cargo that they handle regularly requires extensive Quality Management Strategies and as a result of this they have moved beyond the computerization of individual stores aided by small billing machines to the use of central billing systems so as to cater record-keeping more easily and conveniently. Wal-Mart has modified the use of technology to enhance their billing methods and storage functions and associated facilities.

Then Wal-Mart changed the way they were using technology to exploit it in the avenue of inventory management and logistics. It is required to maintain hundreds of warehousing and distribution facilities across the world so for the quality of the services to be ensured as being of enhanced value and to make sure that the customer is satisfied, Wal-Mart moved from the use of Bar Code to Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) technology (Mujtaba & Maxwell, 2007). It ensures improved quality management and the benefits of it are evident in the effectiveness with which it meets the demand of retailers and subsequently the customer as well. RFID required lesser human intervention as compared to that of Bar Code technology and thus whenever the inventory is going to last in any of the facility across the world, the order is automatically placed. Therefore, customer does not face any difficulty finding out what they want as the stocks do not last since order is placed way before the stock has ended.

Through the employment of Continuous Improvement and Quality Management practices, customer gains value for the money they are spending at Wal-Mart. With the employment of optimal model revolving around both; efficiency and flexibility, Wal-Mart makes sure that they have all the right products in the right place and at the right time in addition to the selling of the products at lower than the market rates (Drew, 2011).

Wal-Mart's such Quality Management Practices as mentioned above makes it able to follow strategies as Everyday Low Pricing (EDLP). Thus it can be said that indirectly it is their Quality Management Practice because of which customer choose to shop from Wal-Mart for they offer the lowest and below ...