Quantitative Analysis of Supplier Quality Surveillance Practices in EPC Projects

AbstractThis study was funded by the Construction Industry Institute (CII) to investigate effective supplier quality practices that can reduce rework associated with supplied components in engineering-procure-construct (EPC) projects. The motivation was to analyze how the level and amplitude of inspection in different stages of a supply chain (from fabrication to mechanical completion) affect the resulting quality of products as measured by the number of nonconformances (NCs) found in its different stages. Quantitative data were collected using an instrument used by CII member organizations to submit data on actual purchase orders and analyzed using the Mann-Whitney (M-W) test on the nonparametric set of data obtained. Following the statistical analysis, interviews with subject matter experts, face-to-face presentations, and sharing of reports with the research team were used to clarify questions, interpret the data, and validate conclusions. The results provide insights regarding where inspection is most...

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