摘要：This article describes new concepts and methods that have successfully been applied to manage quality in a complex medical supply system. It introduces and integrates the concept of wholism, a method called Dialogue, and nonlinear techniques and describes how these approaches are used in combination to improve management of the supply chain. The research problem focused on a continuing inability to increase product availability from a moderately high 95 percent toward an exceptional 100 percent. The research design involved implementing a performance feedback tool for members of the supply chain. The tool revealed the difference between changes in actual and perceived performance and was used to drive discussions on supply chain improvement. The results of this intervention include improvement of product availability, cost reductions in rework, waste and expedited freight charges and important changes in culture from a part-centric view to a collaborative, wholistic view of the supply system.
