Buyer & Business Orientation

Toqum

Total Quality Management, built whole — so every defect caught before shipment is margin you keep, not margin you've already spent.

Toqum covers the complete inspection process end to end, and makes it easy to run by integrating your information, keeping the data transparent, and automating the analytics — so QA time goes into fixing problems, not compiling reports.

Buyer / Merchandising Brand QA Supplier QA Administrator
01 — What Toqum Means

A culture where quality runs on its own

Toqum takes its name from Total Quality Management — the belief that quality isn't a department, it's a habit built across everyone who touches the order. That habit doesn't come from more inspection. It comes from training people, staying engaged with them, following up on what they've learned, and building controls that catch what slips — until quality stops needing to be chased, and starts running on its own.

TQM·01
Complete Inspection Coverage

Every stage from raw material to pre-shipment held in one continuous process — quality built into the flow, not policed at the end of it.

TQM·02
Supplier Capability Building

Training, engagement and follow-up turn every supplier QA into someone who can catch a defect themselves — not someone waiting to be caught out.

TQM·03
Data Transparency

Every number traces back to the piece, the process and the person behind it — the control that makes accountability automatic, not occasional.

TQM·04
Automation Through Analytics

DHU, trends and cost impact calculate themselves the moment data comes in — the last mile that lets quality run on its own, instead of you running after it.


02 — The Buyer's Math

A defect gets more expensive the longer it travels

This is the oldest rule in quality management, and it's still the one that decides your margin: what costs one unit to fix at inspection costs many times more once it reaches a claim, and far more once a retail customer finds it first.

Stage 01

Caught Pre-Shipment

Flagged on the floor, against the piece, the process and the inspector — fixed before it ever leaves the factory.

Stage 02
10×

Caught as a Claim

Discovered after shipment. Now it's a claim, a chargeback, an escalation thread, and a delay in payment.

Stage 03
100×

Found by the Customer

A return, a refund, a bad review, and a dent in the retail relationship — the most expensive place to learn anything.

Known as the 1:10:100 rule of quality cost — every module in Toqum exists to keep you at Stage 01.


03 — In Brief

Production data you already trust

You already know DHU — defects per hundred units, reported as a plain figure rather than a percentage, since it's a ratio of two different variables. Toqum keeps it accurate at the order, line and supplier level, and connects it to everything downstream: which claims came from which DHU spikes, and which suppliers are trending the wrong way before a claim ever lands.

The number itself isn't new. What's new is that it now sits next to the cost it's creating — and the evidence trail to prove it.

Inspection Ticket · Sample View
Checked
9,760
DHU
3.5
Open Claims
2
Caught Pre-Ship
342
DHU IS A RATIO, NOT A PERCENTAGE

04 — Proof, Not Paperwork

Every photo knows where and when it was taken

Inspection photos in Toqum carry a GPS pin and a timestamp the moment they're captured — at the line, at the inspection point, or on the piece itself. No uploading from a gallery, no "which factory was this from again."

That matters most the moment a defect turns into a dispute. A geo-tagged, time-stamped photo is evidence a supplier can't argue with and a buyer doesn't have to chase down — it settles who inspected what, where, and when, without a single email thread.

The same photo becomes the first exhibit if the issue escalates into a claim, so nothing has to be re-collected under pressure.

Photo Record
Location
Line 4, Unit B
Captured
On Inspection
GPS + TIMESTAMP, LOCKED AT CAPTURE

05 — Claims & Escalations

When something does go wrong, the clock starts here

A claim isn't a side conversation anymore — it's a record with a timeline, an owner, and a cost.

1

Claim Logged

Raised against the exact order, style and supplier, with the geo-tagged evidence already attached.

2

Escalation Routed

Sent straight to the right owner — supplier QA, brand QA, or admin — instead of sitting in a shared inbox.

SLA CLOCK STARTS ON LOG, NOT ON REPLY
3

Resolved & Costed

Closed with a resolution and a recorded cost — chargeback, rework, credit — so it feeds straight into supplier scoring instead of getting forgotten.


06 — Everything Else, In One Record

The full system

This is the integration doing its job: a claim, a defect, or a photo logged in one module shows up automatically in the rest — no re-entry, no reconciling, no separate spreadsheet to keep in sync.

MOD·01
Retail Feedback Loop

Store and customer returns, complaints and reviews route back to the exact style, PO and supplier they came from.

CLOSES THE LOOP TO STAGE 03 COST
MOD·02
Defect & Root Cause Log

Every defect is tied to a piece, a process and a cause, so patterns surface instead of one-off blame.

INTEGRATED WITH CLAIMS & TRAINING
MOD·03
Andon Comms

Chat, voice and video with your team or a supplier, logged straight against the order in question.

ONE THREAD, NOT FIVE TOOLS
MOD·04
Training & Certification

Video, reading or podcast courses, tested and scored against a yardstick your admins set — where capability actually gets built.

MOD·05
CQB Certification Track

The path a supplier QA climbs to become a brand's Certified QA — defined by your administrators.

MOD·06
Supplier & Team Directory

Every person invited, their role, course history and certification status, in one profile.

MOD·07
Admin Grading Console

Set the pass mark for every test and decide which courses count toward which certificate.

MOD·08
Quality Control Dashboard

Live production, checked-quantity and defect graphs, correct at every level — order, line, supplier.

ANALYTICS CALCULATED AUTOMATICALLY

CQB
CERTIFIED

Certified QA of Brand

CQB is reserved for supplier QAs working dedicated on a brand's orders — the people your quality standard actually depends on once product leaves your own floor.

Your administrators decide which courses, in which combination, earn CQB status, and at what level a QA is certified.

Brand Quality Systems Root Cause Analysis Project Management Conflict Management Ethical Behaviour Feedback Training

07 — The Assistant, and the Whole Comms Line

Meet Andon

On a factory floor, an andon cord stops the line the moment something's wrong. Inside Toqum, Andon is where that moment gets handled — not just answered.

Andon isn't only an AI assistant. It's the line to your team and your suppliers, built in:

  • Chat — message a supplier or teammate directly against the order, claim or defect in question.
  • Voice calls — talk it through without leaving Toqum for a phone line no one logs.
  • Video calls — walk a line issue live with a supplier, camera on the actual piece.
  • Ask Andon — get an answer built from your own data, from a DHU spike to how close someone is to CQB.
Andon CHATCALLVIDEO
What's the open claim value on Supplier 04 this month?
Two open claims, combined value flagged at Stage 02. Both trace back to stitching defects on Style 2201 — same root cause both times. Want me to start a video call with their QA?
Yes, and pull the geo-tagged photos into the call.
Done — both inspection photos and the claim timeline are loaded. Calling now.

08 — Getting Started

Your first session in Toqum

What to do first depends on your role. Each list below is the shortest path to a working view of the system.

Buyer / Merchandising

  • Open the Buyer Cost view and check open claim value by supplier.
  • Review the Retail Feedback Loop for return reasons trending on live styles.
  • Ask Andon for a cost summary before your next supplier review.

Brand QA

  • Set your default supplier and date range on the dashboard.
  • Review DHU by supplier and flag outliers.
  • Check the Root Cause Log for repeat causes on active styles.

Supplier QA

  • Accept your invitation and complete your candidate profile.
  • Start your assigned training track — video, reading or podcast.
  • Track your progress toward CQB from your profile page.

Administrator

  • Set the grading yardstick for each test before candidates are invited.
  • Define which course combinations qualify for CQB, and at what level.
  • Review the Directory weekly for expired or pending certifications.
System Status: Go

The cost of not knowing is always higher than the cost of finding out.

Toqum doesn't just watch your quality data — it puts a cost next to it, catches it in one place, and gives you the evidence before anyone has to argue about it.

Protects marginEvery defect kept at Stage 01 is a claim, a chargeback and a return you never had to pay for.
Closes disputes fastGeo-tagged evidence and a logged escalation clock mean fewer arguments and faster resolutions.
One system, not fiveInspection, claims, training, certification and comms — no more switching tools to piece the story together.