Development of a proposal for a quality standard in the school footwear line

Abstract

Companies in the footwear industry in El Salvador, particularly micro, small and medium-sized companies, face situations that make them less competitive, such as: quality problems of raw materials (leather), components (soles, laces, insoles, linings) and finished products. Having limited sources of these resources, the lack of supply of qualified human resources, the lack of access to technology and, finally, difficulties in accessing markets and funding sources, affect their work within the sector. With base on the above context, an applied research was formulated to identify the elements that impact the quality of the production of school footwear in El Salvador, in order to propose a reference quality standard for its increase and competitiveness of this item. For this, eleven quality tests were carried out on raw materials, components and finished product. As a result, a proposal for quality standards was generated for producers and suppliers of raw materials,components and finished products in the line of school footwear. This facilitated the validation tests of these standards by conducting and analyzing trials on national samples of raw material, component and finished product. This allowed the sector involved to ensure and improve the quality of its production; Thus contributing to innovate and increase the added value for the industry, allowing it to become more competitive.