Quality Keeps You In Business

How important is quality today to the industry vis-a-vis a decade ago?
NB Quality is taking the top priority in most of the industries. Today it is not only a need for growth, but also the bottom line for survival. Many corporates and even SSIs are aware that if their quality does not match international standards, they will not last long. About 10 to 15 years back, many did not look for quality, neither the manufacturer nor the consumer. But with customers becoming more and more demanding, we are now adapting to their quality needs. Earlier, quality was a nice-sounding word and was given lip service. There was a chalta hai attitude. All that has dramatically changed.
SL Earlier quality was limited only to products. Today, it has penetrated every segment, be it services, documentation, education, etc. Form the shop floor, it has moved to the boardrooms. Today quality is a part and parcel of any business plan.
With so many quality awards, was there a need for another award?
NB We wanted to have a national quality award, which would not only recognize quality achievements of Indian companies, but also become a great quality process for all companies At a time when Indian companies were getting international exposure, we wanted Indian companies to focus on quality. This is when IMC took the initiative and the Bajaj family is grateful to Shri Pravinchandra Gandhi to have recommended that this award be named in memory of Shri Ramkrishna Bajaj. His focus was on quality even in the days of licence raj. He was particularly concerned with ethics in Business and started the Council for Fair Business Practices 25 years back.
Our award is not just another award.

In RBNQA the process is most important, the trophy is only an end result.
We have created guidelines and criteria, which are of international standards and help companies in evaluating their own quality improvement efforts.
SL I would like to only add that when we started giving this award there were not many awards. To be precise, there were only two awards. We also wanted to customise international standards for Indian companies. The spin-off was if you won an award or not, you still gained by putting in practice a model for excellence. We made it an action-oriented award.
What exactly is involved in the process?
SL The whole process generally takes 9 to 10 months. There are numerous stages involved right from submitting your application to consensus review, site visit review to feedback reports, announcement of awards to awards ceremony.
NB The process starts right from writing an application, which is again a quality process. Then examiners are trained. Mr Lulla has trained over 200 examiners.

They in turn help in reviews, site visits, preparation of feedback reports, etc. It is a massive process because of which many believe it is the best award (smiles).
What are the cost economics?
NB This is the best part. Fort a nominal amount (for manufacturing and service organizations Rs 2.5 lakh and for small business it is Rs 75,000) the company gets the process, guidance from trained examiners, a feedback report that enables the applicant to make a road map. There is no doubt that this is a dramatically inexpensive consultancy.
SL I believe the money is not an issue. Today, companies fear whether they will be able to submit a good application as a lot of work is involved even in preparing the application. In fact, we have a two-day training course on how to write an application. The whole process is of discovering and rediscovering oneself.
You have another award, IMC Juran Quality Medal.
SL This is awarded to an individual who has contributed to enhancing the quality image of India. Some of the past winners are FC Kohli, Dr Irani, Dr Mashelkar, etc. The award has been named after Dr J M Juran, the man who taught Japan how to manage quality. I have known him for more than a decade. It has been a great privilege that he has consented to lend his name to this award.
What are your future plans?
NB We want our award to stand out as the most prestigious one in the country. We also aim to keep improving the quality of our examiners as well as increasing their number.
SL We are looking at the possibility of making this an international award.