ISQ Annual Conference 2008 -2nd and 3rd December 08, Epicentre Gurgaon

The 5th ISQ Annual Conference 2008 was held at Epicentre Gurgaon on 2nd -3rd Dec08.
The theme of this year being the "Great Journeys in Quality", the event showcased stories of large successful corporations having attained excellence through Quality management based approaches.

The conference’s unique format attracted a total of 178 delegates, including guests, from across industry sectors, a highly encouraging number in the context of the current economic scenario. SRF Limited, an industrial fabrics, chemicals and polymers major, was the key sponsor of the conference..

Mr Ajay Shankar, Secretary, Department of Industrial Policy and Promotion, Ministry of Commerce and Industries Government of India, was the Chief Guest. The event began with award presentations to honor and recognize exceptional contributions made by the Gurus, business leaders and practitioners in the field of Quality and business excellence in India.

The Dronacharya Award was conferred on Prof Noriaki Kano- Honorary Chairperson ANQ. Prof Kano, a luminary in the field of Quality Management has made significant contribution to India over the last several years through his work of teaching and counseling in the field of quality management.

The Jamshedji Tata Award was awarded to Mr B Muthuraman, CMD Tata Steel for creating an enduring legacy of building people with holistic quality to accomplish challenging goals in an uncertain socio-economic environment at the international stage that would serve the Tata Group and the Indian society for many years to come.

The recipients of the Ashoka Award were Mr K J Davasia, Director MIQ and Mr R Srinivasan, Managing Director RAS Transformation Technologies for their outstanding role in promoting Quality Management Practices, constancy of purpose, determination and setting an exceptional example to achieve outstanding results in their organizations.

Prof. Kano delivered his keynote address on “Three Level Thinking of Quality and Integrated Quality Management Procedure”, describing “attractive quality creation” as the third stage in the evolution of quality, together with specific methods for grasping the current level of quality through a PDCA approach, and a roadmap for moving upto the third level.

The four indepth case studies highlighted decades long business excellence journeys of giants from across the world, each one a market leader with global operations in their respective fields.

Mr Avneesh Gupta- Chief TQM, Tata Steel presented his organisation’s hundred year success story, laying emphasis on their Quality Philosophy called Aspire and their strategic, operational and people focus, with their unique activities of Customer value management and Retail value management – systems which enabled them to win the coveted Deming Application Prize in 2008.

Mr Tetsuji Ohashi of Komastu Japan, spoke at length on the “Komatsu way”, covering extensively the Komatsu Engineering Standards, origin of the QC story, top management constancy and workplace involvement, as key elements of a long transformation journey from the 1950s into becoming a strong world class organization.

Mr BR Suresh from Bosch India presented his company’s three pronged strategy to enhance the Process, Product and People Quality and now an impetus on innovation in the quest for organizational excellence in the long successful innings. The constancy of principles enunciated by Robert Bosch and evolution of key quality systems were highlights of the journey.

Mr Vikram Jaisinghani from the Industrial Engines business of Cummins talked about the evolution of the Cummins Operating System, highlighting the Total Quality System ( TQS ), a cross-functional business system as the core of the framework to provide customer support excellence.

Mr R Srinivasan, in his Ashoka award acceptance presentation, recounted a personal account of his journey at Widia and his challenges in creating a world class organization in the machine tools industry.

Mr N Ramanathan President ISQ presented the “Q for E“, emphasizing the need to consider the earth, ecology and environment in our pursuit of business, and the emerging role of quality professionals to create and lead this transformation.

Mr Janak Mehta, Chairperson Elect ANQ, presented the ‘INQ Rationale” for the need to integrate activities through formation of the Indian Network for Quality.

The next ISQ Annual conference was announced to be held on 4th Dec 2009 at Delhi, and the 8th ANQ Congress to be hosted by ISQ in Oct 2010. Participants enthusiastically volunteered to contribute through serving on various committees leading upto the ANQ Congress, thereby strengthening the activities of ISQ.