Operations Management & Total Quality Management Vocabulary

Vocabulary flashcards covering essential terms and concepts from the lecture on Operations Management and Total Quality Management.

Operations Management

Administration of business practices that convert resources into goods or services as efficiently as possible to maximize profit.

Total Quality Management (TQM)

A company-wide approach focused on continuous, incremental improvement of processes, products, services, and culture to meet or exceed customer expectations.

Quality

The degree of excellence of a product or service—its ability to satisfy stated or implied needs (ISO 8402-1986).

Transcendent Approach

Views quality as innate excellence—absolute and universally recognizable (“you know it when you see it”).

Product-Based Approach

Defines quality objectively through measurable attributes or ingredients of the product.

User-Based Approach

Holds that quality lies in the eyes of the customer; the best product is the one that most satisfies individual preferences.

Manufacturing-Based Approach

Sees quality as conformance to specifications established during design and production.

Value-Based Approach

Evaluates quality relative to cost; the best value is the “best-buy” product, not necessarily the highest quality item.

Quality of Design

Minimum characteristics a product or service must have to satisfy customer requirements identified through market research.

Quality of Conformance

Extent to which a produced product or delivered service meets the design specifications.

Quality of Performance

How well the product functions for the customer, combining design quality and conformance quality.

Organizational Level Quality

Quality requirements that revolve around fulfilling both internal and external customers’ needs at the whole-company level.

Process Level Quality

Quality focus on cross-functional processes that create the products or services most important to customers.

Performer / Job / Task Level Quality

Quality defined for individual tasks, including customer requirements, measurement methods, and performance standards.

Custom-Craft Paradigm

Quality paradigm where each unit is built exactly to customer demand using skilled craftspeople and basic tools.

Statistical Quality Control Paradigm

Mass-production paradigm emphasizing statistical process control and sampling to reduce scrap and cost.

Total Quality Management Paradigm

Paradigm combining mass production, statistical methods, and strong customer and supplier involvement to deliver low-cost, high-quality products.

Techno-Craft Paradigm

Socio-technical paradigm using high process flexibility and customer-aided design/manufacturing to build customized units quickly.

Cost of Quality

Method for determining resources spent on preventing, appraising, and remedying poor quality (internal and external failures).

Prevention Costs

Proactive expenses to avoid defects, such as training, process capability analysis, and preventive maintenance.

Appraisal Costs

Costs of measuring and monitoring quality, including inspection, testing, audits, and equipment calibration.

Internal Failure Costs

Expenses from defects found before delivery, e.g., rework, scrap, downtime, and retesting.

External Failure Costs

Costs due to defects discovered by customers, such as warranty claims, recalls, returns, and loss of goodwill.

Customer Focus (TQM)

Principle that customers ultimately define quality; aim is to meet or exceed their expectations.

Total Employee Involvement

Engagement of every employee in pursuing common quality goals and improvements.

Process-Centered Approach

TQM focus on understanding and improving processes to achieve quality outcomes.

Integrated System

View that quality connects all functions—suppliers, internal processes, and customers—into one coherent system.

Strategic & Systematic Approach

Embedding quality improvement into the organization’s strategic planning processes.

Continual Improvement

Ongoing pursuit of better performance in processes, products, and services.

Fact-Based Decision Making

Using data and analysis to guide quality decisions rather than intuition alone.

Communication (TQM)

Open, transparent information sharing to support change and quality improvement.

Ethics

Principles of right and wrong that guide behavior; foundational to TQM culture.

Integrity

Honesty and strong moral principles—doing the right thing even when unobserved; key to trust in TQM.

Trust

Belief in the reliability and good intentions of others; essential for teamwork and customer loyalty.

Joseph M. Juran

Quality guru known for the Quality Trilogy of planning, control, and improvement.

Quality Trilogy

Juran’s framework: Quality Planning, Quality Control, and Quality Improvement.

Walter A. Shewhart

“Grandfather of Quality Control,” creator of the PDCA/PDSA cycle and control charts.

PDCA / PDSA Cycle

Plan-Do-Check (Study)-Act cycle for continuous process improvement.

Armand Feigenbaum

Introduced Total Quality Control concept and classified quality costs (prevention, appraisal, failures).

Kaoru Ishikawa

Developed company-wide quality control in Japan and the Cause-and-Effect (Fishbone) Diagram.

Fishbone Diagram

Visual tool for identifying root causes of quality problems (also called Ishikawa diagram).

Genichi Taguchi

Quality expert who emphasized robust product design and defined quality as societal loss from variation.

Taguchi Loss Function

Concept that deviation from target specification causes a quadratic loss to society, even within tolerance limits.

Shigeo Shingo

Contributor to modern manufacturing; advanced JIT, SMED, and Zero Quality Control concepts.

Just-In-Time (JIT)

Production system that delivers materials exactly when needed, reducing inventory and waste.

Single Minute Exchange of Dies (SMED)

Technique for rapid equipment changeover, targeting times under 10 minutes.

Zero Quality Control (ZQC)

Approach that uses error-proofing (poka-yoke) devices to eliminate the possibility of defects.

Masaki Imai

Founder of the Kaizen Institute; popularized the Kaizen philosophy of continuous improvement.

Kaizen

Japanese concept of continuous, incremental improvement involving everyone in the organization.

Toyota Production System (TPS)

Lean manufacturing system emphasizing JIT, Kaizen, and respect for people.

5S System

Lean tool for workplace organization: Sort, Set In Order, Shine, Standardize, Sustain.

Sort (Seiri)

Remove unnecessary items from the workspace to eliminate clutter.

Set In Order (Seiton)

Arrange and label needed items so they are easy to find, use, and return.

Shine (Seiso)

Clean the work area regularly to spot problems and maintain equipment.

Standardize (Seiketsu)

Establish consistent procedures and schedules to maintain the first three S’s.

Sustain (Shitsuke)

Develop discipline and habits to keep 5S practices in place over time.

Red Tagging

Temporary labeling of uncertain or unneeded items during the Sort step for disposition decisions.

Statistical Process Control (SPC)

Use of statistical methods, such as control charts, to monitor and control process variation.

Supplier Partnerships

Collaborative relationships with suppliers to ensure quality inputs and continuous improvement.

Empowered Employees

Workers given authority, skills, and information to identify and solve quality problems.

Continuous Improvement

Unending effort to enhance products, services, or processes through small, incremental changes.