Felicitation of Deming Prize winners 2022 & Presenting of NIQR Fellowships
NIQR Headquarters organised a Felicitation function for Deming Prize winners 2022 on 28th February 2023 at the Raintree Hotel, Teynampet, Chennai. NIQR chose this platform of industry captains to confer NIQR Fellowship to select NIQRiyans considering the immense contribution made by them in the past several years towards promotion of Quality and Reliability amongst the various sectors like Manufacturing, Service and Academia.
Mr. S. Muralishankar, National President, NIQR welcomed the Deming Prize winners, dignitaries, industry captains and participants, stating that it is a tradition in NIQR to felicitate Deming Prize winners every year. Congratulating Mr. L. Ganesh, Chairman, Rane Group, he added it is not a surprise as three of the group companies have already got Deming awards. He congratulated Apollo Tyres, Chennai Plant mentioning that practicing TQM philosophy from day one in their greenfield factory led them to get the Deming Award. He extended his warm welcome to the NIQRiyans being awarded the NIQR Fellowship and their family members. (for full speech)
Dr. A. Sanjeeva Rao, Past National President NIQR introduced Mr. L. Ganesh, Chairman, Rane Group – Deming Prize for Individuals, Deming Distinguished Service Award for Dissemination and Promotion (Overseas).
Addressing the audience, Mr. L. Ganesh, third Indian and fifth globally to be bestowed with this award, emphasised that 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; 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 fueled 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 the Deming Prize is much easier than sustaining the practices. (for full speech)
Mr. R. Sethuraman, National Vice President NIQR, introduced Mr. C. Thomas Mathew, Unit Head, Apollo Tyres Chennai Plant, Apollo Tyres
Mr. Thomas Mathew expressed his happiness that even though TQM was initiated at all the plants of Apollo, the Chennai plant adopted it faster because of the average age of employees, which is at 28 today.
The plant began practicing 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 tyre and 12,000 truck and bus radials (TBR) per day. Among many other benefits, the key results of practicing 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. (for full speech)
Dr. V. Swaminathan, Senior National Vice President NIQR and member of Selection Committee for NIQR Fellowship, explained about the nature and scope of NIQR Fellowship and elaborated on the selection criteria. (for full speech)
The following NIQRiyans accompanied by their family members were awarded the NIQR Fellowship by the Chief Guest and other dignitaries.
Mr. Ajay Tomer, former Executive Director – Corporate Planning at Maruti Suzuki and Chairman, NIQR Delhi NCR Branch
Dr. K. S. Babai, Secretary of the Meenakshi Sundararajan Engineering College, Kodambakkam and National Council Member, NIQR
Mr. C. V. Gowri Sankar, former TQM Head, Ashok Leyland Ltd, Ennore and National Secretary, NIQR
Dr. V. M. Gunasekaran, Director and Principal Consultant of Arise & Shine Associates and National Executive Council Member, NIQR
Mr. N. Jagannadha Rao, Quality Consultant and EC member, NIQR Chennai Branch
Mr. K. R. Mohan Ananthanarayanan, Former DH VSSC and Senior Vice Chairman NIQR Trivandrum Branch
Mr. S. Murugan, Management Consultant and Vice Chairman NIQR Chennai Branch
Mr. V. Raghavan, Consultant, TAO Consulting Systems India (P) Ltd., and National Treasurer, NIQR
Mr. S. Rajasekaran, Group Managing Director of Ace Group of Companies and former National President, NIQR
Mr. R. Ramkumar, Chemical Engineer and NIQR Life Member
Mr. K. Sridharan Balaji, former Plant Director Ashok Leyland, Ennore and Past National Secretary of NIQR
Dr R. Srinivasan, Management Advisor and former Chairman, NIQR Chennai Branch
In the acceptance speech, Mr. S. Rajasekaran, on behalf of all Fellow Members thanked the organisers for the honour.
Mr. Shanmugasundaram, Vice President, NIQR introduced the Chief Guest, Mr. R Sivanesan, Past President, NIQR.
Delivering his special address, Mr. R Sivanesan 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. (for full speech)
The event was coordinated and managed by the CEO & Mentor of NIQR, Mr. Raj Srinivasan, who hosted the event as the Master of Ceremonies.for full speech)