A study on the national automotive cluster towards developing customer and supplier relationship / Mohd. Zakwan Mohd. Zabidi

The Customer and Supplier relationship is now well documented in literature related to quality management. This concept which is derived largely from the manufacturing environment, has been widely introduced and accepted in the automotive industry. Suppliers and customers as a team in ‘partnership’ can simultaneously reduce cost and improve efficiency. Cost reduction and improve efficiency are vital to the success of any business, and the close co-operation between suppliers and customers are definitely essential pre-requisites for success. Therefore, the study was carried out to measure the relationship between customer that is Proton and its vendors. In analyzing this, the researcher has identified five factors to be analyzed. There are level of research and development, partnership, attitude towards quality, technical collaboration and open communication.