2. Digitalization in Supply Chain Quality Management: The Power of Knowledge Creation

This chapter demonstrates the benefits that supply chains and operations management acquire when quality management is investigated dynamically within the context of digital transformation. To do so, we link the benefits of investing in quality as a matter of decreasing the marginal production cost. For example, design quality allows firms to design more efficient products, translating into cheaper goods for consumers. We adopt a knowledge accumulation and management approach, which is typical of digital transformation. For example, artificial intelligence systems have the characteristic of learning. This process can be managed through a dynamic equation characterized by memory and depending on the quality investments. Therefore, the design quality dynamics play the role of knowledge accumulator. The results attained are of significance for both practitioners and theorists. The chapter shows the economic benefits obtainable when considering quality management as a digital supply chain issue and further reveals the effectiveness of investigating it by means of dynamic tools.