Achieving and exceeding customer satisfaction at Milliken

Abstract

Describes how Milliken’s European Division became a customer‐focused, total quality driven management business. Highlights changes in management and organizational culture since 1981. The company now sees quality management as the responsibility of all staff. It has developed a flatter organization, with correspondingly larger spans of control and responsibility and authority exercised at much less senior levels. There are stronger relationships with both customers and suppliers, with a much smaller supplier base. Just‐in‐time manufacturing has been adopted to respond quickly to short‐term changes in demand while keeping work‐in‐progress stocks at the lowest possible level. The company encourages a culture of continuous improvement and, above all, of understanding and then meeting the needs of the customer.

Citation

Jeanes, C.F. (1995), "Achieving and exceeding customer satisfaction at Milliken", Managing Service Quality: An International Journal, Vol. 5 No. 4, pp. 6-11. https://doi.org/10.1108/09604529510796430