Best Practice: Replicating Mohali’s Quality Movement

24 April 2004 | Source: The Financial Express
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What started in a cluster group in Punjab is now percolating to other parts of north India
There is a quiet and unnoticed quality movement which started in the industrial town in Punjab, Mohali which is slowly taking roots in some of the other parts of north India. Championing this are Chandra Mohan is former chairman of Punjab Tractors and currently, promoter-CMD of Twenty First Century Battery Ltd, Mohali and Suresh Lulla, managing director of Mumbai-based Qimpro Consultants.

Speak to some of the companies who have gained inputs from this, the underlying message is that the approach to an issue is more process oriented and analytical. Manish Bagrodia, managing director of Winsome Yarns Ltd said the exposure to global quality guru Dr Joseph Juran’s TQM was theoretical awareness but it was only after attending the sessions that the practical application of the theory came to fore. Similar are the views of KS Ramsinghaney, CEO of Max Speciality Products based in Chandigarh. And the benefits of the session have been multifold for Sachit Jain, executive director, Vardha-man, who said that problem solving skills have been upgraded with more emphasis on data collection and analysis. “Also any benefits has a positive effect on the morale of the employees which has gone up,” said Mr Jain.

‘The initiative has to be driven from top as they have to be convinced about its effectiveness’ - Chandra Mohan, Promoter-CMD, Twenty First Century Battery

The Beginnings
With competitive pressures piling up, the formal foundation of Mohali Industrial Association-TQM Foundation (MIA) was laid in the year 2003. And sandwich TQM programme is what MIA offers to companies. The sandwich TQM workshops have been tailored with the help of Suresh Lulla.

The name, explained Mr Chandra Mohan stems from the fact that the programme is spread over four sessions, with each session comprising of two or three days of training. In all it is spread over a period of six months. Each session would have a cluster of five to six companies. “It involves getting the CEOs of the respective companies to be participate in the session. The reason being that the top management have to be convinced about the effectiveness of the concept. The initiative has to be driven from the top,”  said Mr Chandra Mohan. Mr Lulla’s mandate is to train the companies who take part in each session.

“It is just not training but also application of what has been taught to them. In the next session, there is a review of the progress made and then the process is taken forward, All the sessions happen in a time span of six months,”  said Mr Lulla. The teams at the end of the sessions make a 20 minute presentation on their TQM projects in front of a jury to compete for the Qimpro Rolling Gold Trophy.

“we have been able to point the recurring problems. We are also able to lessen our losses now” - Manish Bagrodia, MD, Winsome Yarns

Implementing The Programme
As the CEO of Max Speciality Products, which is part of Max India Ltd, Mr Ramsinghaney was one of the four employees who took the lead from the company last year. Apart from Mr Ramsinghaney, the Works Manager, Quality Assurance Chief and Personnel Manager were part of the first team. After the initial sessions, the team came back and formed a quality council, who identified areas of improvement. The idea was that the four will act as facilitators and help other employees. “We selected four to five people with highest potential and made them project leaders. They are also the people who are bearing the brunt of a problem plaguing that unit. The project leader picks up a cross functional team and together they set out to find solutions to problems identified by the quality council,” explained Mr Ramsinghaney. For example, if the task of cutting down the packing costs is proposed by the quality council to the project group, then the group goes back and identifies the cost centres and whether any measures will help in cutting the cost within a time frame. The report is presented before the council for  approval.

“The strategy here is to make the group collect data on a problem systematically and priorities it accordingly They should be able to attack the area of major concern because that will solve the problem. That’s what is the basis of TQM – collect, analyse, go back to the people who are affected by it, get their feedback and then brainstorm,” said Mr Ramsinghaney.

And at Max Speciality Products the number of facilitators have risen to six and there are six projects at various stages. “The first phase of six projects will be completed by June and then we will start ten more projects, which will cover around 100 employees in the company” he said.

Similarly for Mr Bagrodia of Winsome Yarns Ltd, the advantages of implementing this programme was the real time application. The TQM initiative which began in 2002 with 12 people being sent for the sessions from two companies, Winsome Yarns and Winsome Textile Industries has now been taken to 75 people, who have been initiated to TQM. And true to what Dr Juran had said about manufacturing companies being more receptive to TQM because of the nature of process, Mr Bagrodia said that TQM has been applied in the manufacturing facility at Derra Bassi in Punjab and Baddi in Himachal Pradesh. “On account of the projects undertaken, recurring problems have come down as we have been able to pin point the problem areas. We have been able to lessen our losses and that will reflect on our bottomline,” said Mr Bagrodia.

‘TQM is just not a training but also application of what has been taught. There is a review of the progress made’ - Suresh Lulla, MD, Qimpro Consultants

The Road Ahead
Mr Chandra Mohan said with the formation of Punjab Technical University’s Gyan Jyoti School Of TQM, the canvas will be much wider. The school, which will begin short term courses on TQM from May 12 this year. “The school is much more broader and subsequently MIA-TQM foundation will be merged with the Gyan Jyoti. So far around 20 companies have benefitted from the Sandwich TQM workshops and many of them are progressing steadily on various projects,” said Mr Chandra Mohan.

CREDITS: Rajiv Banerjee, The Financial Express
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