Supply chain quality management: An investigation in the Chinese construction industry

Abstract

Recently, in China, the issue of poor quality construction has drawn much public attention. This problem is related not only to poor quality control on the part of the construction firm, but also to the use of inadequate materials and inexperienced subcontractors, that is, to poor quality assurance in the construction supply chain. The purpose of this article is to examine supply chain quality management (SCQM) in the construction industry. Using a case-study approach, this research focuses on a Chinese medium-sized private enterprise in order to determine the most efficient way to conduct a high-quality project when collaborating with material suppliers and subcontractors. To this end, we replicate and extend the SCQM practices to help develop a more refined SCQM conceptual model relevant to the construction industry. Based on the different perspectives of managers and engineers, two frameworks are presented to illustrate (1) the correlation between SCQM and purchasing function (PF), and (2) how to work with material suppliers and subcontractors; the proposed models also show how these aspects will influence and control the quality of projects. Although constrained by the limitations inherent in case-study methodology, this article consolidates the work in one particular area of supply chain management. It also succeeds in meeting two core challenges, namely to explicate the interaction between SCQM and PF, and to provide guidance to construction firms on how to deal with SCQM issues with material suppliers and subcontractors.