REVIEWER (SUMMARY FROM READING MATERIALS 4, 5, 6, & MODULES 4, 5, 6)

Total Quality Management

All business management principles unanimously agree on the importance of quality. One can measure the success of
an organization from the quality of its goods and services. Managers strive to maintain the highest quality standards to
meet their market competition.

Total Quality Management (TQM) is a management framework based on the belief that an organization can build long-
term success by having all its members, from low-level workers to its highest ranking executives, focus on improving
quality and, thus, delivering customer satisfaction.

Importance of Quality Management

Quality is one of the most important factors determining the success of a business. Customers always consider the
quality of a business’s goods and services while purchasing them. In fact, in some cases, quality gets prominence over
price as well.

Good quality of products always gives every organization a strong edge over its competitors. It also rewards the
business with customer patronage, word of mouth and goodwill. It is because of these benefits that total quality
management has become so important.

Reasons like these have lead to quality certification standards becoming so important these days. Companies often
display their ISO certification rankings in advertisements to earn goodwill and gain customers.

Total Quality Management

American management consultants are largely responsible for introducing the entire system of total quality
management. These include experts like Edward Deming and Joseph Juran. Their research helped Japanese industries
rebuild their economy after World War II.

With the emergence of newer ways of doing business, the importance of quality management has only increased. Its
principles have seen tremendous change over time under modern service-oriented economies.

Previously, only business entities took quality management seriously. These days, however, even governments and
NGOs focus on quality management. This shows that apart from consumers, even common citizens can be the focus of
quality management.

Another thing one needs to understand is that quality management does not relate to just production-related functions.
Other managerial activities like planning, organizing, controlling, etc. also require quality standards.

Principles of Total Quality Management

Total quality management (TQM) helps an organization improve its internal functioning and customer satisfaction. The
entire system of TQM rests on the following basic principles:

1. Management of quality is possible

2. Processes are the problem, not people

3. Look for the cure instead of treating symptoms

4. Each employee is responsible for quality management

5. Quality should be measurable

6. Quality improvements must keep happening

7. Quality helps in the long-term

TQM is not a quick fix that can cure quality defects immediately. It is a long-term investment that often shows results in
the future only. Managers must keep an open mind and long-term vision while implementing it.

Testing prototypes is a quality checking method that relies on realworld testing by employees and their families, or by
potential customers selected from the general public.

Failure or Stress Testing is one of the most common quality check methods for industrial products. This testing
can include subjecting the products to extreme temperatures, submerging electronic devices in water, and
crushing or dropping products.

https://www.toppr.com/guides/business-management-and-entrepreneurship/recent-trends-in-management/total-quality-management/

Ergonomics can roughly be defined as the study of people in their working environment. More specifically, an
ergonomist (pronounced like economist) designs or modifies the work to fit the worker, not the other way around. The
goal is to eliminate discomfort and risk of injury due to work. In other words, the employee is our first priority in
analyzing a workstation. Officially:

“Ergonomics (or human factors) is the scientific discipline concerned with the understanding of the interactions
among human and other elements of a system, and the profession that applies theory, principles, data and methods
to design in order to optimize human well-being and overall system performance.”

Workplace Hazards Series: Ergonomic Hazards

How to spot the ergonomic safety hazards in your workplace before they harm your employees

Ergonomic hazards are factors in the environment that can harm the musculoskeletal system. There are Injuries that are
caused by strain placed on the body from ergonomic hazards and aren’t always immediately obvious, making these
hazards difficult to detect. In this post from our “Workplace Hazards” series, we’ll take a look at how you can identify
ergonomic hazards and remove them your workplace.

How to know if something is an ergonomic hazard

• Improperly adjusted workstations and chairs

• Frequent lifting

• Poor posture

• Awkward movements, especially if they are repetitive

• Using too much force, especially if it’s done frequently

Ergonomic hazards are often a result of the way a space is designed, meaning that planning ahead and thinking about
how employees interact with their work space is crucial.

Questions to ask about ergonomic hazards when assessing your workplace

• What kinds of repetitive tasks are my employees performing?

• Have workstations and chairs been adjusted according to employee height?

• Do our workstations encourage employees to use proper posture?

• What kind of strenuous activities are employees engaged in throughout the day?

• How much force are employees exerting while working?

https://ehs.unc.edu/workplace-safety/ergonomics/
https://safetylineloneworker.com/blog/workplace-hazards-series-ergonomics https://www.google.com/search?
q=ergonomics+in+the+workplace&rlz=1C1CHBF_enPH912PH912&tbm=isch&source=iu&ictx=1&fir=w87uuKuTEgeV4M%252Cb4xjgHp_Q380DM%252C_&vet=1&usg=AI4_-
kRAduf6gfTjlOCLLO0jZDZ9DvC29w&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwjQ1LXT7bLsAhWEF6YKHeBYAYQQ_h0wBHoECBsQCg&biw=1163&bih=554#imgrc=aBPSphctBD2opM

The Four Best Practices for Optimal Warehouse Layout

Deciding how to design a warehouse layout is a step of vital importance—it can make or break the productivity, safety,
and overall success of a warehouse. The layout of a warehouse needs to maximize available space, allow for limited
travel time, provide easy access to product, and create a safe work environment. While it can be challenging to design a
layout that fits all needs, proper analysis of business objectives and practices, as well as a dedication to safety and a
cultivation of productive procedures, can help you come up with a design that is optimal for success.

Loading and Unloading Docks

The docking area can create a lot of congestion in the warehouse, so it is important to create a spacious and well-
defined area that fits the needs of your incoming and outgoing processes. The loading and unloading areas should be
separated from the other areas as much as possible, to allow for ample room for movement of the incoming stock. Since
you will have an idea of how much product will be coming in and out of the warehouse, you should use this knowledge
to inform your decision on how much space and how many docks are necessary.

A docking station is a specific point around or within a building where transport vehicles park for loading or unloading.
The docking station is mostly located in a warehouse. Within the warehouse, the design of the docking area vary
based on the type of truck to be accommodated.

Reception

The reception area will require an adequate amount of space for employees to appropriately inspect incoming
inventory. Since the reception area is the next step for incoming stock, when deciding how to design the warehouse
layout, it is necessary to plan for enough space to avoid any congestion between these areas.

The reception area is where incoming inventory is processed as it comes in. Here, the warehouse team identifies,
inspects, and documents all incoming items for logistical purposes. Once a shipment is “officially” received, the
warehouse team will determine the optimal storage space for the inventory.

Storage

The storage system will depend on the type of product you carry. Of course, you will want to expertly make use of
vertical space to increase possible capacity. In order to maximize all that is available to you, you can use vertical space
by either stacking product or using racking units.

You should also determine whether any like-items will be commonly shipped together. These should be placed near
each other to, again, cut down on travel time and allow for more productivity.
Warehouse Area - a location that includes the location where products/supplies are stored and are usually not ready for
transport.

Storage area - the place where the goods are deposited and is one of the most complex areas of the warehouse. It is
important to know the rotation needs of the items in the warehouse and the type of goods.

Picking

Depending on warehouse needs and operations, a separate picking area may not be necessary or productive—the
picking may simply be done in the storage area. A separate picking area may be needed when outgoing product needs
to be arranged or configured in a different way than they were stored.

Warehouse picking and packing - the process of preparing an order, where the products are selected and collected from
different places in a warehouse (aisles, shelves, etc.) and then organized before being packed and then sent to the final
recipient.

The warehouse dispatch area is the space in the facility where all the goods arranged in the order preparation area are
packaged for subsequent sending to the customer.

Define the Flow

As you are determining how to design your warehouse layout, it is important to establish the movement path early on.

A one-way flow is regarded as the most efficient and safe movement path in a warehouse. This could be a straight line,
or a clockwise or counterclockwise path. Regardless, a one-way flow helps to ensure safety and eliminate congestion
in the warehouse.

https://www.delrecruiters.com/the-four-best-practices-for-optimal-warehouse-layout/

*Reduce Packaging Materials

Redesign the product packaging to ensure it uses the minimum amount of materials. Try to incorporate reusable or
recyclable packaging content.
Buy products in bulk as it will have reduced packaging.

Establish a Preventative Maintenance Schedule

Although wear and tear is a normal occurrence in any manufacturing process, if regular maintenance is not performed,
your business will end up wasting a lot of time and money on seriously damaged equipment.

https://bizfluent.com/list-6634103-quality-checking-methods.html
https://www.fishbowlinventory.com/blog/2018/01/31/8-effective-ways-to-reduce-manufacturing-waste/
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tKVJEAgbGVI

Workforce Planning is the process of analyzing, forecasting, and planning workforce supply and demand, assessing gaps,
and determining target talent management interventions.

Workforce Planning ensures that an organization has the right people - with the right skills in the right places at the right
time - to fulfill its mandate and strategic objectives.

Ergonomics & Work Methods

Work methods are the physical actions employed to perform a task. Evaluating and modifying work methods to prevent
discomfort and injury is one of several components of an effective ergonomics program. Work methods are also called
work practices.
Ergonomics programs include analysis of work methods to ensure that safe practices are being used for job tasks.

Training and work practice controls are then implemented to ensure that proper methods are used to reduce employee
exposure to ergonomic risks.

Ergonomics - an applied science concerned with designing and arranging things people use so that the people and things
interact most efficiently and safely.
— called also biotechnology, human engineering, human factors.

https://hr.nih.gov/workforce/workforce-planning#:~:text=Workforce%20Planning%20is%20the%20process,to%20fulfill%20its%20mandate%20and
https://www.workplacetesting.com/definition/1619/work-methods
https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/ergonomics

The layout of warehouse is the foundation of the efficiency in your operations.

From inventory management to order fulfillment, your warehouse layout design will either streamline your business processes or slow them down.
Location Strategy
Being in the right location is a key ingredient in a business's success. If a company selects the wrong location, it may have inadequate access to
customers, workers, transportation, materials, and so on.

A location strategy is a plan for obtaining the optimal location for a company by identifying company needs and objectives, and searching for
locations with offerings that are compatible with these needs and objectives.