Designing Predictive Analytics Frameworks for Supply Chain Quality Management: A Machine Learning Approach to Defect Rate Optimization

Efficient supply chain management (SCM) is essential for enterprises seeking to enhance operational efficiency, reduce costs, and mitigate risks while ensuring product quality and customer satisfaction. Addressing quality concerns within the supply chain proactively helps minimize rework, recalls, and returns, leading to significant cost savings and improved profitability. This study presents a machine learning (ML)-driven predictive analytics framework designed to forecast defect rates and optimize quality control processes. The research leverages a dataset sourced from a real-world fashion and beauty startup, hosted in a public repository. The framework employs advanced ML algorithms, including extreme gradient boosting (XGBoost), support vector machines (SVMs), and random forests (RFs), to accurately predict defect rates and derive actionable insights for supply chain optimization. Results demonstrate the effectiveness of predictive analytics in improving supply chain quality management, enabling enterprises to proactively reduce defect rates, minimize costs, and optimize return on investment (ROI). The proposed framework is designed to be scalable and transferable, ensuring adaptability across various industries, including fashion, e-commerce, and manufacturing. These findings underscore the economic and operational benefits of integrating machine learning into supply chain quality control, offering a data-driven, proactive approach to achieving high-efficiency, high-quality supply chain operations.