This Business quality management assignment is given in East End College of Business and Computing for the course of Computing and System development. In this role of quality computing systems for Apple's success has been described.

Task 1: Different approaches to quality management

Examine the concepts of quality in your chosen organization

Description of the Organization

Steven jobs established multinational software company (APPLE) in 1976 in California. Apple is famous for designing mobile phones, computer software and media players. Apple products are sold all over the world through direct or online sales. Steve jobs didn’t follow the traditional approach in designing products, but follows the temperamental approach. Apple Company has managers who handle different areas of product development. Apple‘s team members follow the leadership approach. This leadership quality helps in getting result motivated employees. Apple’s product development standards are set by Steve Job and need to be fulfilled (Perry, 1997).

Definition of QM      

Quality Management is a management technique which deals with the change in the definition and treatment of quality in the product development. It is used to keep check on the things that came in the today’s market. It helps in ensuring better customer service in every stage of product development

Customer-supplier interfaces are the core of QM both externally and internally, and the number of processes is present at each interface. Quality management is created by commitment to quality, the good quality message communication, and the determination of the need to change the culture of the organization. Foundations of QM support the management functions of the people, processes and systems in the organization.

Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs

• It basically helps managers introspect about the needs and motivation drivers of the employees.
• This is in pyramid shape depicting various levels and uses of psychological and physical needs.
• Physiological needs, Safety and Security needs,Social needs, Self-esteem needs, and Self-actualization needs

Usage of Quality management by Apple

Quality is defined as a measure up to which a product can fulfil its expectations. Now days -durability, maintainability and usability of a product are the main expectations of the customer.

Four main processes needed for Quality management are

• Plan
• Do
• Check
• Process is described using P-N-D-A cycle. Planning and preparation is included in the Plan process. Action and executing the plan is included in the Do process. Analysis, inspection and monitoring are used to measure the system check process. With assessment, valuation and analysis, action is required to solve the problem (Youssef, 1995).

Adaption of the QM process in the software industry to ensure the software quality assurance (SQA) process (Finn, 1994). The software quality assurance process is utilized to achieve quality in the software engineering process. The software quality assurance process involves following activities:

• performing product analysis,
• designing,
• coding techniques
• tools used to perform the system development at each stage
• testing the systems to monitor documents and make necessary changes to them;
• employ various software engineering development standards
• Tool to review the product.
• SOFTWARE QUALITY ASSURANCE also includes audit the quality of software to ensure that the standards are met.
• Software engineering production mechanism is broken to analyse the performance.
• Confidence of the customer in their products is the criteria that need to be met to promote the company’s development

The keys of successful QM ensure products of high quality. This helps in the motivation of the company’s personal productivity and performance.

Task 2: Benefits of quality management

(a) Identify and evaluate the application of quality systems and scheme for organization of your choice

Quality systems for Apple Organization

Products manufactured by Apple have quickly earned a brand loyalty and brought iPhone revolution in the market. 85% of customers who own an iPhone will purchase another iPhone as per the report. Sales of the phones during the 1st quarter of 2013 were 63% to current phone users and 37% were sold to those customers who were using other brands (Linzmayer, 2004).

Apple products continue to improve with each version. The competitors Apple products seem to be struggling as they are the market leaders of innovation in new technology. Change in today’s mobile technology helps in providing a huge competition now days. If we see the last 5 years growth of Apple, the telecommunications industry profits and revenue has been grabbed by Apple Company. By 2012, an iPhone sale has exceeded 19 million units. Apple iPhone introduces a multi-touch interface in the market. Apple’s iOS operating system was highly user friendly. Apple has introduced various new versions of the iPhone till now that were coupled with a new and improved iOS.

Overview of apple products based on the QM

The main products of Apple are as below: -

• Apple’s iPhone - The first iPhone was introduced at the Macworld conference in 2007 by CEO Steve Jobs. The phone was a conglomeration of a Smartphone combined with internet access. It ran on a simpler version of the Mac OS X. various apps used by phone are Google Maps and weather. There were Safari browser capabilities. Various features of iPhone are touch-screen, internet, mail, music player, Wi-Fi and Bluetooth. When the iPhone 5s was released in 2014, total 3 million iPhone units were sold.
• Apple Software – OS X operating system is used by various products of Apple.
• Apple’s iPod- apple launched its first digital player in the year 2001. It has the portability feature. It is the leader in the music players market. By the end of SEPTEMBER 2013, 220 million iPods were sold out. Various products were developed to fulfil the requirements of users.
• Apple’s iPad - The first iPad was launched by Apple in the beginning of 2010. Features of iPad are that it had touch screen interface, ran on iOS, did word processing, view images, music player, could read newspapers and magazines. Apple’s iPad is the media hyped tablet. Mobile safari was used to surf the web. The App store is used to download various paid and free apps (Goodman, 1994). It had the facility of accessing the internet through 3G or Wi-Fi. Fourth generation iPad was launched in 2012.By the end of 2012; there were 25 billion apps that were downloaded from App Store.

QM for the Product improvement

• Product quality
• Reduction of product cost
• Product robustness
• Understand ability and reliability of product
• Visibility and supportability of the product.

Product improvement cycle includes (Hinton, 2000)

Quality parameters followed by the company

The technique used by the management team to build a system having good quality products and processes is known as Quality management (QM). The main technique used by the QM is that all employees of the company are responsible for the phases of production and quality of the end product. The management units of Apple should all be aware of this technique to produce products of good quality.

Various practices found in the Apple Company according to McKone are:

• product design for multipurpose usage
• process management
• suppliers Quality management
• interaction with the customer
• Feedback  from customer
• Information sharing
• Leadership
• Planning
• Training in Cross-discipline
• Employee interaction

The needs of the end user dictate the Philosophy of quality management. To obtain the highest quality product Continuous focus on improvement of processes is needed. The good Quality product helps in the development of company (Panteghini, 2004). To improve the quality of the product, the entire system is needed to be improved. Number of aspects that ensure the success of QM is as follows:

1) Quality improvement– It is the combined effort of both the management and the personnel in the company that should work together in teams on quality. When quality of the product is poor Employee’s empowerment needs action

2) Customer expectations – Expectations of the customer for the quality are met to fulfil the technical requirements.  Good quality products are demanded by the customers. Improvements in the management and the process should be aimed at satisfying their needs. 3)Layout of the Process -Process layout should be such so as to improve efficiency and movement of resources by arranging machinery and equipments according to the need and requirements of an effective Design plan. According to the Toyota Production System and Lean Manufacturing ideologies, the production line should be designed in such a way so as to eliminate waste during transportation of the material and managing inventory. The Process layout of the Apple Inc is such that the machinery on the shop floor is arranged according to the process they are a part of. For example, if on a shop floor you are doing spray painting, then in a process type of layout all the machinery that is needed to complete the job of spray painting will be placed in the vicinity (Linzmayer, 2004). The product to be spray painted will move on a conveyor belt and all the operations will be performed on that in the sequence of the machine location.

(b) Use the input-output model to examine the operating system of your organization

• Management of various activities which are linked to each other
• Usage of resources is managed for transforming inputs to output.
• Apple produces various products such as iPhone, iPad, and all the other I-products that will help in leading the world's media business
• One of the top wealthiest company in this space as of now
• Growth of Apple, Inc. is faster than any other company.
• Revenue rate is exceptional in the last 4-5 years. Sometimes the revenue increases many-folds year on year
• Apple's previous CEO - Steve Jobs, had brought a revolution in the mobile software and hardware business.
• Apple just keeps hitting new records in its revenue, that revenue almost doubled since the last three years (Goodman, 1994).

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Task 3: Quality control and service improvement

Assess role of communication and the various communication methods that related to your organization.

Various standards

• Quality system introduced in 1987 by International Organization for Standardization in Geneva (Reid, 2001).
• Revised in 1987 and 2000
• Ensuring that materials, products, processes, and services are fit for their purpose.
• Technical specifications to be used as rules, guidelines, or definitions of characteristics
• To improve the quality of the product
• Quality of operations needs to be improved continuously to meet needs of customers and stakeholders.
• Develop confidence among various stakeholders like management, employees, clients, and shareholders and motivate them to fulfil the quality requirements

ISO 9000: Standards

• ISO 9000:2000, Quality Management Systems – Fundamentals and Vocabulary
• ISO 9001:2000, Quality Management Systems - Requirements
• ISO 9004:2000, Quality Management Systems – Guidelines for Performance Improvement

Structure of ISO standards

Five major sections:

• Requirements of the system -Establish a document for the quality management system.
• Management Responsibility -Management Commitment, Client Focus, Planning, Administration, Management Review.
• Management of the Resources -Provision of Resources, Work Environment, Human Resources (Wu, 2004).
• Product Realization - Realization Processes planning, Processes related to clients, Purchasing, Planning & Development, Control of Measuring/ Monitoring Devices and Service & Production Operations
• Data Measurement -Planning, Control of Nonconformity and Improvement

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ISO 9000 characteristics

• Leadership enables fulfilling customer requirements.
• Quality objectives are needed to be set and planned.
• Identification of process
• Management of process
• Analysis of the process.
• Measuring satisfaction of the customers
• Analyze the data
• Collection of data
• Usage of data.
• Effectiveness of the system to be improved regularly.

Timeline for development of ISO standards

The benefits of ISO certifications:

• Quality management system documentation
• Variation Reduction
• Helps in developing  and expanding business
• Customer audit needs to be reduced and eliminated.
• Increased profitability
• Cost reduction

Problems of certification

• Application cost
• Maintenance cost
• Time of the application
• Maintenance time
• Internal expertise
• Executive commitment
• Registration selection process

Task 4: Quality management and organizational performance

(a) Examine the principles of quality management

Principles of QM

• It follows the long term future success approach through customer satisfaction.
• It involves the participation of employees of an organisation in improving the process, the product and the culture
• It achieves ‘QM’ throughout the organisation rather than for a product only
• Continuous training for the improvement in the product
• Understanding the current processes before beginning the improvement
• Product quality is the business of everyone
• Statistical approach for the product development
• Resource and Information sharing
• Communication barriers need to be eliminated

(b) Identify and discuss the quality systems and processes and how they impact on the overall performance of your chosen organization.

Impact of Quality management on the success of Apple Inc.

Apple’s main production partner is Foxconn. The senior executive at Apple had told Foxconn to strictly follow quality assurances to ensure that problem was not found in other iPhone5s units.  This quality assurance technique does not pass through the production process. The desirable result will increase the metal bands. However the manufacturing cost of these phones will be more .This results in the slowing down of delivery to the consumers.

iPhone 5 devices are being made in the Foxconn factory in Zhengzhou, where the strict measures for quality control were followed that result in a strike by workers. Foxconn employees work on a National public holiday.

Quality control is an important aspect for Apple Company. The poor quality assurance will result in dramatic effects upon company’s reputation.

• Vision of the AppleCompany

According to the company’s website, the vision of the Apple Company is that Apple is

Committed to provide the best personal computing knowledge to clients and

Professionals all around the world with the help of its software and hardware offerings.

• Mission of the AppleCompany

According to the company’s website, the mission of the Apple Company is that it is the only company who designs the best personal computers in the world, which has features of OS X and professional software. Apple brings revolution in the digital music market by introducing iPods all around the world. Apple has introduced its revolutionary iPhone which has App Store, and iTunes. Apple iPhone is the mobile media future and iPad is the future of computing devices.

• Values of Apple, Inc.’s

According to the company’s website, the values of the Apple Company are that

• Believe in making simple but not complex products
• Believe in controlling the technologies that are used for designing the product
• Participation in markets to make a significant contribution
• Believe in rejecting thousands of projects to make them really focus on the important products
• Believe in collaboration of our groups, which allow us to bring innovation in the market

Reflective review

• Lack of super-efficient processors which are used by other rivals is the disadvantage of the Apple Company.
• The organization provides unchangeable batteries which creates problems for the end users when batteries are expired. As a solution, they should provide changeable battery system.
• In the customer’s care prospect, the company is doing its job very well. Also replacement of products if quality is not meeting user’s satisfaction.
• Step by step analysis is required to maintain quality needs which should not be ignored and customers are always helpful to give feedback for the next product.
• Apple’s main production partner is Foxconn. The senior executive at Apple had told Foxconn to strictly follow quality assurances to ensure that problem was not found in other iPhones.
• iPhone 5 devices are being made in the Foxconn factory in Zhengzhou, where the strict measures for quality control were followed that result in a strike by workers. Foxconn employees work on a National public holiday.
• Quality control is an important aspect for Apple Company. The poor quality assurance will result in dramatic effects upon company’s reputation
• Apple is famous for designing mobile phones, computer software and media players.
• Features of iPad are that it had touch screen interface, ran on iOS, did word processing, view images, music player, could read newspapers and magazines. Apple’s iPad is the media hyped tablet. Mobile safari was used to surf the web. The App store is used to download various paid and free apps (Goodman, 1994). It had the facility of accessing the internet through 3G or Wi-Fi
• In-depth analysis was conducted to fulfil the study objectives in order to understand the reasons behind the low competitiveness level of the UK companies against international Mobile companies operating in UK.
• The QM concepts aimed to gain understanding of QM implementation among end-users, project managers and the project supervision team
• Analysis of the QM data proved that efforts in space of time measurement, cost effectiveness and efficiency at implementing quality standards can further determine the quality failure in the UK Mobile companies.
• The research helps to investigate the implementation of QM, its benefits, the impact on profitability, market share, and quality services from Customers, empowering-users, and business stakeholder’s perspectives in the UK

• Apple brings revolution in the digital music market by introducing iPods all around the world.
• Apple products seem to be struggling as they are the market leaders of innovation in new technology. Change in today’s mobile technology helps in providing a huge competition now days.
• Products manufactured by Apple have quickly earned a brand loyalty and brought iPhone revolution in the market.
• Quality Management is a management technique which deals with the change in the definition and treatment of quality in the product development
• Apple products are sold all over the world through direct or online sales. Steve jobs didn’t follow the traditional approach in designing products, but follows the temperamental approach.
• Apple Company has managers who handle different areas of product development.
• Apple‘s team members follow the leadership approach. This leadership quality helps in getting result motivated employees.

References

• Perry, M., Le Heron, R., Hayward, D. J., & Cooper, I. 1997. Growing discipline through Quality management in a New Zealand horticulture region.Journal of Rural studies, 13(3), 289-304.
• Hinton, M., Francis, G., & Holloway, J. 2000. Best practice benchmarking in the UK.Benchmarking: An International Journal, 7(1), 52-61.
• Smith, S. 1988. Ten compelling reasons for QM.The QM Magazine, 1(1).
• Finn, M., & Porter, L. J. 1994. QM self-assessment in the UK. The QM Magazine, 6(4), 56-61.
• Youssef, M. A., & Zairi, M. 1995. Benchmarking critical factors for QM: part II–empirical results from different regions in the world.Benchmarking for Quality Management & Technology, 2(2), 3-19.

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