Apple Inc: Product Development & Total Quality Management

 BUSI2113 - Production & Operations Management

Yorkville University, Canada
Agenda

 Company Background
 Apple’s Product Development Process
 Pros of Apple’s Product Development Process
 Cons of Apple’s Product Development Process
 Apple’s Total Quality Management
 Pros of Apple’s Total Quality Management
 Cons of Apple’s Total Quality Management
 Conclusion
 Introduction

 Product development can be described as the process of taking products or services from conception
stage within the company to the market or the consumers. The process involves a series of steps
ranging from generation of an idea to the introduction of a product to the market or launching of the
product (Heizer, Render, & Griffin, 2017).
 Apple has the most successful design process for product development which starts with the generation
of the idea and sharing the idea with the product development team all through to launching of the final
products.
 Apple is also known for their high set of standards in quality management. This has lead Apple to have
a strong system of Total Quality Management (TQM).
 Company Background

 Apple Computer Inc. was founded Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak, on April 1st back
in 1976 (Richardson, 2008).
 Main aim of the company was to change the way people viewed computer
technology as a sophisticated technology by making computers as small as possible
to be portable and user-friendly.
 For many years, Apple Inc. has pioneered ways through the computer industry and
has been the most successful company in product development in history. This has
majorly been driven by the company's creativity culture that has seen the company
produce an exciting and valuable product for their customers.
 The company has a dynamic and continually changing business plan that makes
it the most successful company in the industry.
 Apple’s Product Development Process
● Form a separate organization of applicable
employees: Segregated from the rest of the
company by secrecy agreements and sometimes
physical barriers.
● Design of new product: Engineers will create the
first stage of product design
● Products are reviewed: Executive team meets
weekly to go over every product that the company
has in process.
● Production Begins: The engineering program manager (EPM) and the global supply manager
(GSM) oversee the production of the product.
● Once a product is made, it is redesigned, built and tested again: Once Apple is done
building a product, it redesigns the product and sends it through the manufacturing process
again, explaining the various versions we may see leaked. This is a 4-6 week process.
● Finished product is packaged and sent to retailers.
Advantages of Apple’s Product Development

 Apple’s ability to develop innovative products that share

the same operating system, software and applications
which minimizes the risk, timescale and costs of product
development.

 Simple, yet brilliant design style allows for user-friendly

interface which enables easy navigation opening up their
target market to all generations.
 Allows the company to introduce a stream of new
products and stay ahead of competitors.

 Apple’s innovative strategy of developing products that

complement each other strengthens customer loyalty and
helps build a barrier to competition (Innovation
Excellence).
Cons to Apple’s Product Development Process
Employee Empowerment:

● Apple’s push method vs. collaboration between departments and

employees fails to empower their employees in all levels of the organization.

Inspection:

● Inspection process lacks, and as a result, defective products are reaching the markets.

Continuous Improvement:

● Products have remained quite similar in recent years besides minor changes in their product
development, yet prices still tend to rise for their products.

Building Long-Term Relationships:

● Negatively impacting consumer relationship with product malfunctions, software issues, and
hacking.
 Apple’s Quality Management
● Apple is known for their rigorous quality standards and controls.
● Apple Inc.’s Senior VP for Operations coordinates with eight other Senior VPs to ensure
compliance with the company’s quality standards (Rowland, 2019).
● Known for their focus on the quality management within different areas of the business,
including product design and development, retail, marketing, online sales, industrial design, and
human resource management.
● Apple uses a holistic approach in ensuring
quality to address this decision area of
operations management.
 Advantages to Apple’s TQM
● Apple’s Total Quality Management (TQM) system keeps their employees satisfied and
motivated, therefore, higher retainage and less turnover.
● Motivation comes primarily from communication at the public forums and effective meeting
among the employees.
● Enables the company to bring all the stakeholders together.
● Able to reduce variability, providing the consistency that customers value. This creates customer
loyalty and earns their continued business (Gartenstein, 2019).
● The principles of the system allows Apple to establish an open culture of innovation and trust.
● Reduces the wastage of the whole supply chain management as Apple is able to make a balance
between the responsiveness and efficiency by taking into consideration the principles of TQM
(Assignment Help 4 Me).
 Disadvantages to Apple’s TQM
● Closed ecosystem pressures development cycle.
● Increased in-house responsibility putting a lot of pressure on employees.
● Lowered pace of innovation.
● Increased pressure on development.
● Leadership issues.
● Tim Cook struggles taking over from Steve Jobs.
 Conclusion
● Apple Inc. has the most successful product development and design process irrespective of the
sophisticated design and processes.
● Apple’s Total Quality Management has allowed the company to have the highest set of standards
in all aspects of their business including product design and development, retail, marketing,
online sales, industrial design, and human resource management.
● In order for an active business to sustain success, they must continue to invest in the
improvement of their products and overall quality management.
● Although Apple has some areas for improvement in both their product development and quality
management, the company still remains one of the
leading top competitors in the industry.
References
● Assignment Help 4 Me. (n.d.). Total Quality Management of Apple Inc. Retrieved from:
https://assignmenthelp4me.com/article-total-quality-management-of-apple-inc-459.html
● Gartenstein, D. (2019, January 28). Advantages & Disadvantages of Total Quality Management.
Chron. Retrieved from:
https://smallbusiness.chron.com/advantages-disadvantages-total-quality-management-strategies-22160
.html

● cHeizer, J., Render, B., & Griffin, P. (2017). Operations Management. (2nd Canadian ed.). Don Mills,
Canada: Pearson Education, Canada.
● Richardson, A. (2008). Apple Computers: This Month in Business History (Business Reference
Services, Library of Congress). Retrieved 13 December 2019, from
https://www.loc.gov/rr/business/businesshistory/April/apple.html
● Rowland, Christine. (2019, February 19). Apple Inc. Operations Management: 10 Decisions,
Productivity. Panmore Institute. Retrieved from:
http://panmore.com/apple-inc-operations-management-10-decisions-areas-productivity