The case presented six total quality principles emphasized at the corporate level by Digitex. Discuss how suppliers, through their performance, can impact each of these principles. 7. Digitex aggressively establishes local sources of supply using long-term contracts (from life of product to two to four years) where appropriate. What are the advantages of using local sources of supply? Why does the company rely on longer-term contract agreements?

8. When needed, the company uses site, group, or corporate assistance teams to help suppliers adopt JITQC principles. Discuss the advantages to Digitex of using cross-functional specialists to help develop supplier capabilities.

9. Discuss the different types of supplier development support that a buying company might be able to provide to a supplier.

10. Distant suppliers use the forecast and agreed-upon shipment authorization windows to schedule their shipments to Digitex. Local supplier shipments are triggered by Digitex consumption using release mechanisms such as a kanban process and flow directly to the production point of use. What is the advantage to Digitex of having shipments triggered by consumption (i.e., a JIT system) versus using forecasts to schedule shipments?

11. Information systems are a major part of Digitexs sourcing strategy. Discuss how Digitex uses information technology when executing its sourcing strategy.

12. With JITQC, Digitex works to integrate suppliers directly into its JIT, total quality control, and employee involvement strategies. The company then measures each suppliers progress and shares the results during supplier performance reviews. What benefit does the measurement of supplier performance provide to Digitex? What benefit does performance measurement provide to the supplier?

13. What is the value of regularly scheduled performance reviews between suppliers and Digitex?

14. How does Digitex promote continuous supplier improvement through its performance measurement system?

15. Explain the statement Performance measurement supports the supplier selection process at Digitex.