Deming Prize 2007

Recently I read on the Curious Cat blog about the Deming Prize for 2007. This prize was awarded to Rane (Madras) Ltd., a company based in India. Being a manufacturing professional, involved in process improvement, I got interested in the statistics provided by this post, which claims that in last 8 years, 14 of prestigious Deming Prizes have been awarded to companies in India. Being curious, I did some search and found that it is indeed true. In last 7 years, 14 Deming Application Prize have been awarded to manufacturing companies in India. This shows their commitment to quality and a recognition of Indian manufacturing industry at global level. Companies in these countries are no longer using older machinery and processes as perceived in west. They are now using sophisticated production techniques and quality management processes to achieve world-c;ass quality products.

My current company is also sourcing parts from other countries and we are having problems in getting the desired level of quality in various products. Most of these products include castings and sheet metal assemblies. Products from China have numerous casting defects whereas products coming from India lack the desired machining quality. These issues result in internal reworks which affect the productivity and scraps which are a nightmare to supply-chain. This is the hidden caveat behind outsourcing and we got to live with it.

Click here to see the list of Deming Prize winners from Union of Japanese Scientists and Engineers (JUSE) website.