An Evaluation of Vehicle Component Procurement on the Performance of Road Transportation, A Study of Public Bus Transit, Ghana

Abstract

Road transportation is anessentialtransit medium for development and economic growth in developing countries. Procurement of vehicle component partshas serious impact on the performance of the road transport industry. Shortage and unavailability of technically specified and quality vehicle component parts resulting in broken down transit buses tend to affect the overall management of public bus transit system.We use the public transit system in Ghana as a typical case study in the West African sub-region. Data gathered through questionnaires, interviews and observations and the adoption of a hybrid form of Just-In-Time (JIT) and Total Quality Management (TQM) supply chain management systemsfor procurement procedures revealed some results. The study findings outlined ineffective procurement practices as contributing to the difficulties in shortage of vehicle component parts. Difficulties relating to poor provision of technically detailed parts specification, inaccurate purchased quantities, delivery delays and dysfunctional supplier relationships, amongst others. Proposed recommendations are measures of enforcing on the procurement function and strengthening of communication within procurement stages, information flow and improvement in the use of fully electronic computerized data management in the procurement and inventory systems.