Discussion Forum 2
Benjamin Kim
Liberty University
MGMT 501 – Executive Leadership and Management
Operations Management
Operations management covers a broad umbrella of topics having to do with the
production of a company’s goods or services. This encompasses matters upstream as well as
downstream. Starting from the upstream, this includes areas like supplies, research and
development, allocations – both budgetary and resources, and many other areas. Then moving on
to the production, covering manufacturing and other areas. And finally wrapping up with the
downstream, entailing transport and distribution, supply chains, and inventory.
Three Concepts
Toyota Production System (TPS)
Total quality management (TQM) is a critical technique to successful operations
management. Based upon the work of W. Edwards Deming, TQM is a cycle of continuous
improvement, with the purpose of striving for perfection (Satterlee, 2018). Two popular methods
of TQM are the Toyota Production System (TPS) and Six Sigma. TPS, also referred to as lean
manufacturing, aims to “efficiently produce quality products through the elimination of waste,
inconsistencies and unreasonable requirements” (Satterlee, 2018, p.225). This being the goal of
the TPS method, most of the concepts that exist in the TPS method have to do with efficiency
and waste, relating to costs, time, labor and even systems.
In its use, TPS has produced results “in terms of performance, especially when we come
to inventory reduction, customer satisfaction, lead time, and waste reduction in general”
(Chiarini, Baccarani, &Mascherpa, 2018, p.425-426). However, it also been seen to grow in its
