Contents

• Introduction 2
• Traditional Operations Management & Quality Control 3
• Lean Production 5
• Just in Time Approach 5
• Jidoka 6
• TQM 7
• Six Sigma 8
• Lean Production, TQM & Six Sigma – A Comparison 9
• Integration - Lean Production, TQM & Six Sigma 10
• Conclusion 10
• References 12

Description

Quality is an essential attribute of a product or a service. Good quality is appreciated by customers in what they consume. The traditional operations management and quality control have addressed the issue of delivering quality products to the customers very well. Quality control is an important organizational process. Quality control is not just done to deliver quality product or service to the customers. Quality control is also done to ensure specifications and parameters of the product requirements are met according to regulatory bodies. The traditional approach to quality management is that of checking quality of the end product or service. However, of late, quality management has taken a different dimension altogether. Globalization and increased costs have put more pressure on quality management. The desired output of the quality management in the contemporary times is not just a quality product or service but also about reduced costs, waste reduction, recycling, increased efficiency, reduced redundancy and so many similar resource utilization measures. Some of the latest quality management approaches and methods are Six Sigma, TQM or total quality management, Jidoka etc. Quality management is part of operations management. operations management is the management of differing organizational processes in a manufacturing or production firm. Lean production is the latest trend in the manufacturing industry where costs are reduced while the quality is still maintained. In lean production wastage is reduced to minimum. This paper discusses operations management, lean production, total quality management, Six Sigma theoretically and as applied to a manufacturing industry.