Critical Analysis On Apple Quality Management

Question

Task: Present a business report on an organisation of your choice. You are present two key business areas in which the company excels and address at least one business area which the company is criticised for. You are to include minimum of 4 references as per the Harvard Anglia referencing guidelines.

Answer

Executive Summary
The study on Apple quality management is focused on explaining about How Apple INC. works well with their mobile industry bringing day to day innovative application, features and new design layout for their iPhone. Apple Inc. developed in 1976 created a strong foundation for its mobile, computer and hardware applications attracted a lot of global market and global customers. It was studied that the company excels in their Apple quality management, iPhone design and product management along with proper layout and capacity processes. In was also seen that Apple Inc. faced controversy with their iPhone when they disagreed to install Google voice in their store. Thus overcoming the controversy, it formulated certain recommended steps that showed management path towards success.

1. Introduction
Apple Inc.- Formulating New Era for Mobile phones
Apple Inc. founded by “Steve Jobs, Ronald Wayne and Steve Wozniak” is known as an “American multinational industry” founded in year 1976 to develop as well as sell Wozniak Apple 1 Personal computer. The study on Apple quality management signifies that the industry named as Apple Computer Inc. grew to be a multinational company which modifies, develops, and sells consumer software, electronics along with online services throughout the world. Having its headquarters in Cupertino, California, Apple is considered to be in big four technological company along with Google, Facebook and amazon. Apple Inc. incorporates 132,000 employees as of 2018 statistics. According to 2018 reports, Apple revenue rose to 265.595 Billion US dollars, gained operational income approximately of 70.898 billion US dollars and achieved total income of 59.531 US dollars. The industry lays a major emphasis on quality and social responsibilities through standards of a proper management system. Its corporate Mission is changing over the time. “Apple designs Macs”, known as best personal computer besides iWork, professional software, iTunes and iPods leads a digital music revolution.

Mobile phone Industry
The Mobile industry is considered as a changing landscape which influences the possibility a business can drive and achieve of. It follows the current trends of changing markets and business environment. It reinvents the mobile technology with its revolutionary layouts and designs that define the future and technology trends of mobile era as well as computing technologies. Mobile industry enumerates its corporate and organizational outputs. In 2019, sales of Mobile phones declined a bit while on other hand, current sales value were increased a bit despite of inflation. The mobile phone industry in 2023 will be in full fledge with release of 5G technology that will become fully commercial. Additionally Apple, Samsung, Oppo are going to offer third generation technology of 5G-enabled smartphones that will encourage many customers to upgrade a bit.

2. How the company excels at Apple quality management?
Apple quality management is a significant part of iPhone operational management and decision area that focuses on and emphasizes quality control and standards. Apple Inc senior Vice president for operations management coordinates with another Vice president of Apple for ensuring compliance with their iPhone quality standards and quality management. Quality management is described as the act of overseeing products and services that are desired to maintain an excellent level. It acts as a determination that ensures internal standards and guidelines help in reducing errors and flaws. The main aim is to focus on activities that encourage the improvement of organizational quality, its internal operations and outputs (Papp 2018). It helps Apple's iPhone to meet its end to end operations and maintains good product sectors for customer markets.

Apple Inc. is known for its high-quality management standards that permeate various areas inside the business which includes a loom for product design control, Retail, development and market control. It even focuses on resource management, inventory quality, and industrial designs to ensure and propose a holistic approach for improving its quality standards to offer high and good products to customers (Chen and Ann 2016). Effective Apple quality management keep its employees motivated and satisfied the great motivation source among employees is via communication at public discussion or through effective meetings.

Besides product reliability, proper design, quality control and customer satisfaction; senior VP considered communication to be a key element of quality management within an organization. The management team of Apple Inc uses four basic quality management tools like Histogram, Cause and effect charts, control charts and Pareto diagrams to focus on their quality management. With implementation of this responsibility, Apple has successfully controlled and reduced waste of supply chain management and also been able to create a balance between efficiency and responsiveness of products and services. With Apple quality management, the company can reach its corporate goals and objectives (Lockamy III 2017). Their main focus to maximize profit for their shareholders and giving back to customer’s best quality service is achieved via TQM. It helps management to review innovative quality improvement solutions in their mind that gives the best result and contributes less harm to society and ecology. With TQM, leadership is also improved where leaders understand employee needs. With quality management, proper training is organized for product quality development to train employees and provide them a deeper insight of their work they need to perform.

Figure 1: Apple incredible sales in 21st century
(Source: Weforum.org, 2020)

3. Apple Inc. excels at service and goods design, process and capacity design
Apple Inc. is one of the unique industries that have been leading the market through its innovative product design and creative layout. For decades, Apple Inc. iPhones have attracted a lot of teenage and adult users which helps management to unveil their innovative iPhone products to market for strengthening their competency in respect to other industrial appliances and manufacturers. In Apple Inc, iPhone designers are respected with excellence and royalty. New iPhone ideas are inbuilt with initial sketches and product development. Start-up gets created with pixel-perfect prototyping where Apple's iPhone production process is implemented. This is where the company excels in Apple quality management (Coughlin 2016). Their ANPP process mainly looks after their unique iPhone design in details and process design maps which are coordinated between engineers to develop the product. Apple process in iPhone design is handled by various organizational components and design officials. Peer design meetings are conducted, both by global Supply manager and Engineer product manager that handle production details to ensure in best result and quality products. Thus this area is a part of Apple Inc. excellence (Tseng et al. 2016). For example, production and development of the iPhone involve iPhone Hardware engineer as well as senior VP for design and engineering department. The coordination reflects the proper corporate structure of Apple where system interaction is important to ensure output is quite successful and achieves for better technologies.

When mentioned about capacity and process design, Apple takes a comprehensive approach in its operational area by maximizing its workforce for both design and development (Lin et al. 2018). Apple provides directions with its “Suppliers code of conduct” for ensuring companies providing goals towards a better innovation. The process facilitates to optimize capacity and process efficiency. Thus this concept is considered to be a high operational and decision-making region for iPhone makers. This directly will initiate business efficiency, cause improvement in their daily activities. Their HR department also ensures strategies to support maximum workforce for iPhone development. Additionally, in order to maintain the Apple quality management, the company works with suppliers which provide efficient and adequate sell of parts for their iphones in operational management. 

Figure 2: Product development process in Apple INC.
(Source: Design.org, 2020)

4. Apple Inc. is criticised at its Anti-competitive behaviour
Apple Inc. was caught under controversy over preventing iPhone users to use Google voice by not putting it on the setting of their design layout. Declined to use Google voice applications, Apple mentioned that the Google application was altering its functionality. So with Google installation, no voice was routed in iPhone’s “Native application visual voicemails” but they were routed via Google application which was running in users devices (Wu 2016). Thus controversy was created all around. FCC started their investigation on Apple’s decision of denying their user to install the Google Voice application from Apple store. Thus this controversy was high.

Figure 3: Sales drop in case of Apple iPhones
(Source: Bbc.com, 2020)

5. Recommendations

1. Apple Inc. can include more information about their corporate philosophy, employees, and images among business markets to get a catch of more potential customers. It can inbound information about its product details, latest innovation, and new launches to encompass customer’s sight and future markets of business.
2. Apple can make the vision more concise. Instead of mentioning details about values and beliefs, there can concise their corporate vision to make it easier for employers to understand and incorporate and apply it in their daily work duties.
3. To attract more customers and target market, the company must come up with products having between Apple quality management, process design and capacity design that will make technology easy for customers. Samsung, Xiaomi, LG, Nokia are coming up with new products at affordable prices. Thus Apple Inc. must follow new pricing strategy to make more visible, attractive and affordable to use.

6. Conclusion
The report on the study of Apple quality management can be summarised to state that Apple must incorporate certain steps to improve its mobile market especially the iPhone market by putting control over controversy and difficulties. As the iPhone is their most important product, the company must initiate steps to improve product quality, management, layout design for good customer attraction. The company has to get good hold open its mission and vision statement that can clear objectives for employees.

Reference list
Bbc.com, 2020, The drop in Apple iPhone sales, Apple quality management available at: https://www.bbc.com/news/business-48110709 [accessed on 19.12.2019]

Chen, C.M. and Ann, B.Y., 2016. Efficiencies vs. importance-performance analysis for the leading smartphone brands of Apple, Samsung and HTC. Total Quality Management & Business Excellence, 27(3-4), pp.227-249.

Coughlin, T., 2016. Apple, Inc. v. Samsung Electronics Co.: Economics of Design Patent Trolling. Cardozo Arts & Ent. LJ, 35, p.209.

Design.org, 2020, Apple product development process, available at : https://www.interaction-design.org/literature/article/apple-s-product-development-process-inside-the-world-s-greatest-design-organization Apple quality management [accessed on 18.12.2019]

Lin, W.S., Harris, B.T., Phasuk, K., Llop, D.R. and Morton, D., 2018. Integrating a facial scan, virtual smile design, and 3D virtual patient for treatment with CAD-CAM ceramic veneers: A clinical report. The Journal of prosthetic dentistry, 119(2), pp.200-205.

Lockamy III, A., 2017, July. An examination of external risk factors in Apple Inc.’s supply chain. In Supply Chain Forum: An International Journal (Vol. 18, No. 3, pp. 177-188). Taylor & Francis.

Papp, J., 2018. Quality Management in the Imaging Sciences E-Book. Elsevier Health Sciences.

Tseng, H.W., Tang, Y. and Morris, B., 2016. Evaluation of iTunes University courses through instructional design strategies and M-learning framework. Apple quality management Journal of Educational Technology & Society, 19(1), pp.199-210.

Weforum.org, 2020, rise of Apple Inc. in 21 st century, available at : https://www.weforum.org/agenda/2019/05/apples-incredible-21st-century-growth/ [accessed on 21.12.2019]

Wu, F., 2016. No easy answers in the fight over iPhone decryption. Apple quality management Communications of the ACM, 59(9), pp.20-22.