Technology may not be a great contributor for the foreseeable future, instead, operational excellence can help grow the economy, especially with the dominant contribution of manufacturing, said L Ganesh, Chairman, Rane Group.
Last November, Ganesh was conferred with the prestigious Deming Distinguished Service Award for his outstanding contributions in disseminating and promoting Total Quality Management (TQM). Alongside, Apollo Tyres Chennai plant was also awarded Deming Prize for the organisation.
Notably, Ganesh became the third Indian and fifth globally to be bestowed with this award. The other Indian personalities who received the Deming Distinguished Service Award include Venu Srinivasan, Chairman Emeritus, TVS Motor Company and Janak Mehta of TQMI.
On Tuesday, the National Institute of Quality and Reliability (NIQR) felicitated Deming Prize awardees of 2022. Addressing a gathering, Ganesh said the geopolitical conditions had created an opportunity for India and, therefore, the country should capitalise on this; TQM could be a powerful tool to accomplish this feat.
For Rane Group, the TQM journey began as a reaction to competition fuelled by globalisation. Many global OEMs came to India, and even several vehicle makers began looking at sourcing components from India. While it enhanced opportunities, alongside it increased the severity of competition in the country.
Initiatives the group took earlier were on individual functions, and the results were incremental and insignificant. These developments in the industry called for retrospection among senior management. He said it was a watershed moment when Prof Yasutoshi Washio addressed the group in December 1999 as it “completely changed our approach, changed what we had thought about ourselves and the management philosophy,” he said.
“We have built customer confidence in India and globally; we saw growth, largely contributed by the quality movement. The business grew significantly during the period, from $53 million to more than $750 million, with exports growing from $7 million to $175 million today. However, the group faced several challenges during the journey, beginning with many within the organisation from all levels not believing in TQM. Besides, there were challenges in oral & written communication to express problems, consensus and perseverance.
For any organisation, aligning mission goals is key, and TQM catalyses significantly, he said, adding that the quality journey made “the group think that the value of people is more than what we think. TQM taught us facts and not opinions matter,' he said. He strongly advocated that such quality initiatives are quintessential for the Indian industries to move forward. He asserted that introducing TQM and winning Deming Prize is much easier than sustaining the practices.
Speaking at the event, Thomas Mathew, Unit Head, Apollo Tyres Chennai Plant, said that even though TQM was initiated at all the plants of Apollo, the Chennai plant adopted it faster because of the average group of employees, which is at 28 today.
The plant began practising the quality concept from the beginning, and within 14 months of the groundbreaking, the plant rolled out the first passenger car radial (PCR) tyre. Today, it makes about 16,000 passenger car radial tyres and 12,000 truck and bus radials (TBR) per day. Among many other benefits, the key results of practising TQM include field complaints in TBR dropping by 72%, maintaining zero ppm for PVR from FY20 at the OEMs and creating a global benchmark for safety.
Delivering his special address, R Sivanesan, Past-President, NIQR, said quality, cost and delivery are key parameters for sustainable business. While Rane Group believed in delegating people with responsibilities, Apollo has continuously improved its products while protecting the environment. Focussing on customer-centricity will help the business grow, he added.
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