The IMC Ramkrishna Bajaj National Quality Award has become one of the most sought-after awards in the country. Chandragupta Amritkar goes through the process involved in obtaining the coveted award.
I can assure you that if at all there was an award in which quality had to be judged and the quality medal to be given for the process that is followed, the IMC RBNQA will be a hands-down winner. - Dr R A Mashelkar, DC - CSIR, New Delhi
The last few decades have seen more and more Indian companies taking steps to improve the quality of their products and services in order to remain competitive globally, The trend is slowly changing as even SSIs and various institutes are striving for better quality not just to remain competitive globally, but to enable improved production and systematic management.
While there are many quality awards, one award that is gaining popularity is the IMC Ramkrishna Bajaj National Quality Award (RBNQA), Instituted by Indian Merchants’ Chamber (IMC) in 1997, the award has seen major Indian companies, including Birla Group and Reliance Group, competing for it Today, the RBNQA criteria are being used by hundreds of organizations around the country to evaluate their progress towards becoming the best in their fields.
Established way back in 1907, Indian Merchants’ Chamber is today an apex body of trade, commerce and industry in the western region of the country. In the pre-independence era, it made vital contributions to the national struggle for industrialisation of the country. In recognition of this unique role, Mahatma Gandhi, Father of the Nation, had kindly consented to be the honorary member of this chamber, IMC is the only chamber, which enjoys this rare privilege.
The IMC represents over 3,000 companies, firms and professionals, including 190 associations, representing different trades and industries.
A Quality Cell has been set up by the chamber to meet the needs of members who are experiencing a major quality transformation in order to face global competition. In order to promote quality awareness and practices in Indian industry and recognize quality achievements of Indian companies, IMC set up the IMC Ramkrishna Bajaj National Quality Award and the IMC Juran Quality Medal.
The IMC Ramkrishna Bajaj National Quality Award has three application categories - manufacturing, service and small business.
Explaining the award process, Dr Geeta Bharadwaj, Executive Director, IMC Quality Cell - who administers the entire award process - said, “It is a matter of great satisfaction that the IMC RBNQ Award process has multiple benefits to Indian industry. The sharing of best practices by winners, the examiners, who develop into a pool of quality experts, the companies, which field these examiners enabling self-assessment, and, last but not the least, the applicant company all benefit from this process. In fact, every applicant has expressed that the very process of writing the application has been a learning experience. It has given them great insight into the working of their own company, the strengths and the weaknesses. The information provided in the application is so comprehensive that quite often the document is also used as an induction manual to new entrants.”
IMC Ramkrishna Bajaj National Quality Award (IMC RBNQA)
IMC RBNQA has been named after the internationally famed industrialist Shri Ramkrishna Bajaj who was essentially a product of the freedom movement. Brought up under the personal guidance of Mahatma Gandhi and Acharya Vinoba Bhave since his childhood, he participated in the freedom struggle and spent more than three years in jail. He was particularly concerned with ethics in business, espoused business self-regulation and promoted consumer welfare. He was the president of several prestigious organizations like FICCI, Indian National Committee of the International Chamber of Commerce and IMC. He was chairman and founder member of various industry and trade organizations like the Council for Fair Business Practices and the National Centre for Quality Management, established to promote quality consciousness and popularize quality movement in the country.
The IMC Quality Cell, under the guidance of the IMC Award Committee, administers the award process. It conducts the following training programmes: IMC RBNQA Executive Briefing (half day); Understanding the IMC RBNQA Criteria and Process (two days) and IMC RBNQA Certified Examiner for Quality Management (four-and-a-half days).
IMC Ramkrishna Bajaj National Quality Award Trust, comprising Of prominent leaders from Indian companies as trustees, has been created to foster the success of the programme. The trust selects the winners based on the recommendations of a panel of judges. The board of advisers is the advisory body on the award to the IMC. The board is appointed by the IMC and consists of distinguished leaders from all sectors of the Indian economy. The board evaluates all aspects of the award programme, including the adequacy of the award criteria and processes. An important part of the board’s responsibility is to assess how well the award is serving the national interest. Accordingly, the board makes recommendations to the IMC regarding changes and improvements in the award programme.
There are seven criteria of the RBNQA, which are in turn subdivided into 19 parts. The seven categories are – leadership, customer focus, strategic planning, information and analysis, human resource focus, process management and business results.
IMC Juran Quality Medal
“Quality is a personal responsibility. Individuals make quality happen!” Keeping this in view, IMC Juran Quality Medal is given every year to an individual who has contributed to enhancing the quality image of India.
The award has been named after Dr J M Juran, the man who taught Japan how to manage quality. He is a visionary and has pioneered seminal contributions in the field of quality management worldwide. Considered as one of the living gurus of quality, he agreed to lend his name to quality awards for individuals in India.
Dr J M Juran, Founder and Chairman Emeritus of Juran Institute, has made a far reaching impact in getting quality implemented. In recognition of this, Emperor Hirohito and President George Bush have conferred awards on him. The Ramkrishna Bajaj National Quality Award Trust has accordingly marked out an additional category entitled IMC Juran Quality Medal.
This medal is presented annually to an individual who has contributed to enhancing the quality image of India. The selected individual will serve as a role model for any combination among ten well defined criteria.
Nominations are invited for this lifetime achievement award. The Award Committee short - lists nominations on the basis of the criteria and with detailed bio-data, places in a comparative format before the Judges. The previous year’s Juran Quality Medal Winner is the chairman of the panel of judges which comprises distinguished persons from the field of industry, academia and consultancy organizations. The award is announced, the winner is informed and a citation and a medal are conferred.
INTERNATIONAL ASIA PACIFIC QUALITY AWARDS
Only companies that have won Quality awards at a national level in their respective countries are eligible to apply for the International Asia Pacific Quality Awards. A highly qualified panel of Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award examiners reviews all applications for this award. This year Indo Gulf won the award. As a winner of IMC RBNQA 2001, they had participated in the competition. It’s the first company in India that has achieved such recognition at international level. A year earlier, Thai Acrylic Fibre, Thailand had won the award. They had also won the IMC RBNQA in 2000. This means that for two consecutive years an IMC RBNQA winner has won the International Asia Pacific Quality Award. “With this triumph the IMCs Quality Award enters among the most qualified Quality Awards within the Asia Pacific Region, which gathers 3/4th of the world population and 2/3rd of its territory,” says Josefco Gonzalez Prado, Chairman, International Asia Pacific Quality Award Executive Committee.
The evaluation process is of international quality and this is noticeable as some of the past winners have gone on to win international awards. Mr P H Sakhalkar, Adviser, IMC Quality Cell, says “It is heartening that the winners of the IMC Ramkrishna Bajaj National Quality Award for the past two years have also been winning the International Asia Pacific Quality Award. The applications of Thai Acrylic Fibre Company Limited, Thailand, and Indo-Gulf Fertilizers Limited, Lucknow, were assessed by Malcolm Baldrige Assessors in the US and declared top scorers in the manufacturing category. This offers itself as an authentic international benchmark for our IMC RBNQA evaluation process.”
CREDITS: Business Newsweek