Customer Responsiveness

The term Quick Response (QR) was applied in the late 1980s to the objective of moving consumer products through the supply pipeline and onto retail store shelves much faster and more cost-effectively. It denotes a particular set of logistics manage­ment tools and techniques intended to get the right goods to the right place at the right time, and in the right quantities and configurations, to meet consumer demands. The goal is to mini­mize lost sales while reducing inventories and costs. QR incor­porates the underlying principles of the Just-In-Time philosophy, adding specific technologies and standards to make the pipeline process as seamless and as cost-effective as possible.

The Quick Response movement developed out of the efforts of a number of major retailers and their key suppliers who recognized the need and the advantages of working together much more cooperatively. Their initial efforts were aimed at improving the interchange of vital business information to reduce costly redun­dant steps in the handling of materials through the supply chain and to speed replenishment of goods as they are sold.

The Voluntary Inter-industry Communications Standards organi­zation (VICS) was founded early in the QR movement, to identify and encourage standardized use of the strategic technologies required to support Quick Response. Two foundational technol­ogies were singled out: automatic identification (specifically bar coding) and electronic communication (EDI). They extended bar coding well beyond its use in capturing Point-Of-Sale data (to help control the flow of merchandise and materials throughout the supply pipeline), and developed useful standards to let Electronic Document Interchange become the mechanism for rapid, accurate information exchange among the QR Partners.

Quick Response takes the ideal of Business Trading Partnerships (from JIT) and extends it in several ways. The business partner­ship between a customer and vendor is actually consummated by the linkage of key elements of their businesses. EDI and bar codes are the basic communication media for this linkage.

Both partner companies gain from the clear, unambiguous, and fast communication of vital information via EDI between and within their organizations. And bar coding of goods being sent from supplier to customer allows fast, accurate movement of the goods, with reduced clerical effort and cost. It's a definite Win/Win situation.

The use of standardized EDI and bar coding as basic communi­cations and movement-control media is an important cement for the QR Trading Partnerships. They are, however, just tools to be used to accomplish the real QR objectives (see Table 1).

Table 1. Quick Response Objectives

1. Improve responsiveness to the consumers' demands: move information and materials through the supply chain as fast and efficiently as possible, to meet the demands of the consumer while achieving profit objectives.

2. Develop mutually beneficial, value-added trading partner­ships throughout the supply chain as the primary means to improving the effectiveness of the chain.

3. Improve the processes employed by each of the trading partners in the chain to raise quality levels, reduce waste, reduce costs, and provide for maximum responsiveness, efficiently and cost-effectively.

Induce internal changes at all levels of the supply chain, linking technology with business functions and procedures and integrating the QR philosophy into all business functions (manufacturing, sales, finance, administration, clerical, etc.)

Note that these objectives also give some insight into the kind of outstanding benefits obtainable from Quick Response.

QR is no longer just for retailers and their suppliers. All manu­facturers should consider developing Quick Response capabili­ties, both to delight their customers with improved service and to delight themselves with the operational efficiencies and bottom-line results.

Lean Six Sigma Consulting   World Class Manufacturing   
Balanced Scorecards  Strategic Tactical Planning  
Supply Chain Inventory Management  Principles of Total Quality Management
  Manufacturing Process Improvement