A Quality Approach for the Management of the Pipeline

Quality Awards granted for outstanding achievements in developing and deploying new ways and means to effectively upgrade the company's performance are an emerging phenomenon in Western industry. This article describes a quality approach in the area of physical distribution, i.e. the application of fishbone diagrams to improve pipeline performance. This approach has proven to be valuable as a device for logistics quality improvement. It is regularly used by Philips as a vehicle to enhance the understanding of the operational partners involved in pipelines and as a tool to start improvement actions among them.