Boom-time bonanza

23 December 2003

This year's Deming list is monopolised by Indian companies — five out of eight. V Jagannathan talks to the people behind these enviable honours

Venkatachari Jagannathan
23 December 2003

Chennai: Indian companies seem to be in the favourites list of Deming Awards. This year's Deming list is nearly monopolised by Indian companies — five out of eight. The other three are also from Asia.

The five winners of this prestigious honour (termed as the Nobel prize in the world of manufacturing), awarded by the Union of Japanese Scientists and Engineers (Juse), include Rane Brake Linings, Mahindra & Mahindra (farm equipment and tractor division), Brakes India (foundry division), Sona Koyo Steering Systems, and Grasim Industries (Birla Cellousic, Kharach unit).

While the first four companies got the Deming Application Award, Grasim Industries' unit got the Quality Control Award for operations business units. It is not just winning a medal. Indian companies have got their names etched in the record books. For instance, Mahindra's tractor unit is the first tractor unit in the world to win the Deming (See: Rich harvest).

Similarly, Rane Brake Linings became the world's second brake lining manufacturer to become a Deming company. The first one was also an Indian company — TVS group's Sundaram Brake Linings in 2001.