For the Past Two Years, Mountain High Bike Company Used

For the past two years, Mountain High Bike Company used suppliers from India, Japan, and Malaysia to provide them with precision parts for its custom bikes. There was only one problem: the quality of the parts from all locations lacked precision and consistency. Skilled technicians complained that as many as three out of five parts had to be discarded due to imperfections. The quality control manager convinced the owners to partner with a slightly higher-priced company in Omaha, Nebraska, which utilized _________________ to test samples of product components for deviations in quality and precision, prior to sending them to Mountain High Bike Company. The bike company realized savings in both time and money.

A) statistical process control
B) just-in-time inventory control
C) lean manufacturing
D) flexible manufacturing