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Assessing information quality in manufacturing planning and control processes
Mattias Gustavsson
Starke Arvid AB, Ljungskile, Sweden, and

Assessing information quality 325
Received 16 January 2008 Revised 1 October 2008 Accepted 13 October 2008

¨ ¨ Carl Wanstrom
Division ofLogistics and Transportation, Chalmers University of Technology, Gothenburg, Sweden
Abstract
Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to define dimensions for describing information quality deficiencies and to describe forecast and customer order information quality deficiencies on various manufacturing planning and control levels. Design/methodology/approach – The purpose is fulfilled through thefollowing steps: firstly, a literature review on information quality in manufacturing planning and control processes is conducted and the dimensions for describing information quality deficiencies are identified and defined, secondly, three case studies are presented in order to describe the phenomena in the companies’ various manufacturing planning and control levels. Findings – A gross list of tendimensions were defined from the literature and used in describing information quality deficiencies in forecasts and customer orders of three different cases. Originality/value – Information quality deficiencies in manufacturing planning and control processes has been the subject of little research so far, despite the fact that the studied processes are extensively dependent on the input information. Thecontribution lies in the defined and exemplified dimensions for describing information quality deficiencies as a first step towards an information quality assessment model for manufacturing planning and control. Keywords Information research, Quality, Manufacturing systems, Production planning and control, Case studies Paper type Research paper

Introduction Information used in manufacturing planningand control (MPC) processes is shared between customer and supplier, or internally, in order to facilitate the tasks of the MPC system, to fulfil demand by using a minimum of resources (Vollmann et al., 2005). The planning decisions determine how well resources are utilized and demand is fulfilled (Wacker and Sheu, 2006). MPC processes require and manage large amounts of information, areinformation intensive and thereby highly dependent on information quality (IQ). For example, the IQ of a customer order has a direct impact on planning for customer order fulfilment (Heikkila, 2002), exemplified by order changes and speculations due to low credibility. Furthermore, late arriving information can force a company to reschedule which requires resources, and information arriving in anon-compatible format can create unnecessary use of resources in reworking the format. Consequently, resource efficiency and demand fulfilment are dependent on IQ.

International Journal of Quality & Reliability Management Vol. 26 No. 4, 2009 pp. 325-340 q Emerald Group Publishing Limited 0265-671X DOI 10.1108/02656710910950333

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Information problems are mainly analysed and discussed byusing one dimension of IQ, for example low or high accuracy (Lee et al., 2000; Xie, 2002; Dejonckheere et al., 2004). In MPC literature, several authors use multi-dimensional approaches when discussing IQ, expressed as availability, accuracy and effectiveness of communication (Coyle et al., 1996), complete, correct and timely information (Mattsson, 2002), timely and accurate information (Lambertet al., 1998; Bernard, 1999), or lack of sharing and accuracy of information (Chopra and Meindl, 2004). Assessing IQ deficiencies, as well as causes and consequences by using one, or a few, dimensions of IQ in this manner might result in lack of nuances and too high aggregation level for applicable improvement suggestions. More nuanced empirical research in the area is limited. However, at least...