Canondale is a bicycle manufacturing firm that makes high-end lightweight road, recreational, and mountain bikes as well as riding apparel. Total quality management (quality control) and rigorous quality standards are essential to Canondale. Quality control takes place through a testing lab, which does frame impact tests and structural and performance testing to meet French, British, and ISO standards and obtains data used to evaluate the strength of the bikes. Quality control is not limited to the lab, however.

Quality is built into the bicycles by the workers rather than through a specific quality control manager inspecting the bikes. Control at the organization is generally decentralized. Employees on the assembly line are empowered to pull bikes off the assembly line if they see a defect. This streamlines operations by building quality control into every bicycle made.

To increase quality control and to keep dealers happy, assembly is done in-house. The bikes are assembled in the United States very close to the designers, so that the production managers and designers can share a common culture and communicate effectively. For more information about Canondale, visit its website at http://www .cannondale.com/bikes/index.html.

Questions

1. Why does Canondale's survival depend on its innovation and quality control ?

2. Why is it important for Canondale to meet international standards when making its bikes?

3. Why is it an advantage to have assembly done very close to the design center?