Compare and Contrast of the Three Approaches to Operations Improvement (Essay Sample)

OPERATIONS IMPROVEMENT
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Competition among businesses is rising every day. This is coupled with constant innovation as people embrace new ways of doing things for successful business operations. Moreover, customers' behaviour is constantly transforming. This change is witnessed by their preference for various quality goods and services that they require to be delivered affordably at the right time and place. Therefore, managers in service and manufacturing industries strive to lower operation costs while improving service or product quality. Businesses enhance their operations by adopting various methodologies. Some of these approaches include lean, total quality management (TQM), business process re-engineering (BPR), and waste elimination. Therefore, this paper will compare and contrast the approaches cited above and discuss their role in creating efficiency in organisations.
Similarities
The similarity between TQM, lean, and business process engineering involves their aim to improve operations through enhancing the quality of work, service, or product. The approaches intend to reduce the cycle time in service and product delivery. The concepts also aim to promote client satisfaction. This is achieved by meeting all the customer's expectations. Besides, the human element is considered essential in all approaches. The goal is to ensure that business operations are efficient. The human element refers to practices that all individuals, from the senior management to junior staff, have to engage in. In addition, the three approaches focus on the complete change of an organisation's technique to work.
Effect of TQM, Lean, and BPR on Operations Performance
Total Quality Management
TQM involves managing quality at all operation stages from the beginning to the end of a process. This approach's primary concern is to enhance customer satisfaction by focusing on clients and continuously meeting their needs. TQM ensures that the business eliminates efficiencies to achieve exemplary performance (Ozaki, 2003). The approach also aids in producing and delivering quality goods and services. This is besides minimising wastage, rework, and stock requirements through a stable production process. The concept further reduces the cost of production by emphasising on less wastage and time of production (Syduzzaman et al., 2018). In addition, it facilitates employee training, information management, and supplier relationship (Sinclair and Zairi, 2001). The performance approach in TQM includes quality leadership, human resource training, effective strategy, information resources, and social as well as environmental impacts (Sahney et al., 2004).
How Lean Leads to Improved Operations
According to Marshall and Farahbakhsh (2013), lean is an approach that ensures an organisation’s series of activities and business solutions help eliminate waste. The operations also lead to the final product's value addition. In other words, lean supply chain is a way of thinking. For instance, various wastes were present at the National Health Service System. The first one was transport waste. This type results in increased time taken to move a patient from one point to another. It may contribute to the sick individual getting depressed or even losing their lives. Therefore, lean thinking will help the organisation create emergency rooms near the entrance to enable faster movement of patients to treatment points. Another type of waste present at the facility is excessive inventory. Overstocking items results in wastage of resources which can be helpful in other areas. The excess inventory further increases production costs.
NHS has used lean thinking to solve the problems by maintaining minimum and maximum stock levels at all times. In addition, there is a proper labelling system for quick retrieval of items from stores. Another identified type of waste is motion-related. This kind could result due to improper location of items or poor storage design. Unnecessary movements make workers waste time, leading to increased waiting time.
Another type of waste involves waiting time, which reduces the quality of service or product delivery due to delays. In the case of an emergency, the patient might feel excessive pain or even die. The hospital reduces waiting time