TOTAL QUALITY MANAGEMENT
This seeks to improve the quality of an organization’s output by eliminating defects, that is, by introducing systems that prevent defects from occurring in the first place. It also engages all employees in the effort toward continuous improvement. It focuses on all aspects of organizational quality rather than just manufacturing quality and encompasses the entire organization. The approach is also characterized by the development of standards such as ISO 9000 and accreditation of organizations to these standards by accreditation bodies.
LEAN MANUFACTURING
This approach seeks to reduce all forms of waste across the total organizational system in order to increase value. It identifies seven forms of waste: transportation, inventory, motion, waiting time, overproduction, unnecessary processing, and defective products. The approach encourages organizations to identify and remove waste that reduces value within their processes by using techniques such as continuous improvement, pull systems, total quality, flexibility, waste minimization, and an integrated supply chain.
SUPPLY CHAIN MANAGEMENT
This approach focuses on managing the flow of materials and information across the entire value chain, from supplier to customer. This encourages organizations to enhance integration with suppliers and customers and establish longer-term relations. It also enhances processes by reducing overall cost and increasing value added and responsiveness to the end customer.
ENTERPRISE RESOURCE PLANNING
This approach integrates all information and processes of an organization into one holistic system. This usually relies on large software systems that facilitate the identification and planning of all necessary resources and activities across the organization in order to deliver the product or service to the customer. Such systems help identify the bottle- necks and waste within the organization’s processes and support the work of other approaches such as supply chain management, just-in-time, and lean manufacturing.
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20 PART I