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5.3 Lean production & quality management (HL)

Unit 5.3 - Lean production and quality management (HL only)

Learning outcomes

This section of the IB Business Management syllabus examines two vital aspects of operations management for HL students: lean production and quality management.

Lean production is a philosophy or organizational culture about streamlining production processes in order to increase efficiency and reduce waste. Quality means that a product is fit for purpose, i.e. the good or service meets or exceeds the needs of its customers. It is about achieving customer satisfaction. Approaches to quality management include quality control (QC) and quality assurance (QA).

Consider the case study below and discuss the likely impact such product recalls are likely to have on the company in question.

Case Study - Apple recalls Beats speakers due to fire risk

In June 2015, Apple called for its customers of its Beats loud speaker system to stop using the device and to return these for inspection due to potential fire risks. The speakers sell for around $380 but the batteries were prone to overheating. Reports included a burn to a consumer's finger and damage to another consumer’s desk. The product recall included over 230 000 units of Beats speakers sold in the USA.

The US Consumer Product Safety Commission reported that "Apple has received eight reports of incidents of the speakers overheating, including one with a burn to a consumer's finger and one with damage to a consumer's desk."

Apple offered to fully reimburse customers upon proof of purchase. The company bought Beats Electronics for $3 billion a year earlier in 2014.

Source: adapted from BBC News

The learning outcomes (or assessment objectives) for this section of the HL IB Business Management syllabus are:

  • The following features of lean production (AO1):
    • Less waste
    • Greater efficiency
  • The following methods of lean production (AO2):
    • Continuous improvement (kaizen)
    • Just-in-time (JIT)
  • Features of cradle to cradle design and manufacturing (AO2)
  • Features of quality control and quality assurance (AO2)
  • The following methods of managing quality (AO2):
    • Quality circle
    • Benchmarking
    • Total quality management (TQM)
  • The impact of lean production and TQM on an organization (AO3)
  • The importance of national and international quality standards (AO2)
Teacher only box

Note to teachers

The following assessment objectives (learning outcomes) have been removed from the new syllabus (first exams 2024). Please bear this in mind when using or referring to resources such as past IB examination questions and mark schemes.

  • Kanban (AO2)
  • Andon (AO2)

Also, note that the following learning outcome has changed from an AO1 in the previous syllabus to an AO2 in the new guide:

  • Features of quality control and quality assurance (AO2)
InThinking Business Management resources

Click the hyperlinks below to access the InThinking resources for this particular section of the IB Business Management syllabus.

Return to the Unit 5 - Operations management homepage

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