This study examined the effects of TQM practices on employee productivity mediated by job satisfaction in Indonesia's defense industry using PT Pindad as an example. High employee productivity reflects sought-after product quality-a crucial, desired aspect in this industry, considering that the product's function is closely related to human life. For business entities, such productivity is vital because it is part of the internal economic affairs of a company that shapes the profitability measure. The study also measured the mediating effect of Job Satisfaction (Z) in the causal relationship between TQM Practices (X) and Employee Productivity (Y). For this purpose, questionnaires were distributed to 160 permanent employees. Then, partial least squares (PLS) were employed to test the proposed hypotheses. The results showed that variable Z (Job Satisfaction) mediated the effect of variable X (TQM Practices) on variable Y (Employee Productivity), with a p-value = 0.004 < 0.05. Further, variable X (TQM Practices) significantly affects variable Y (Employee Productivity) and variable Z (Job Satisfaction), as evident from their respective p-values (0.000 < 0.05).