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In India, liberalization, privatization and globalization have been a boon for the customers. However they are double-edged sword for the Indian Industry. It poses a challenge of unlimited opportunities for the efficient industries, and have the threat of closure for the inefficient ones -GROW OR GO!!
Our ex- Chairman, Late Mr. J.R.D. Tata accepted this challenge and decided to adopt the time tested model adopted by industries of U.S. to drive improvement in Tata group of companies After his passing away, Mr. Ratan Tata carried the mantle forward and instituted an award for excellence in Tata group of companies, naming it as JRD-QV award, which is given to the best company in the group every year, provided it attains a minimum acceptable level
What does this award stand for? In simple words, the progress of the companies on the path of all round excellence is measured on the platform of TBEM questions and core values, and the company earning the highest score gets the award for the year.
This model, called TBEM, gives a set of core values embedded in high performing organisations (close to "ideal"), and through a set of questions in all facets of management; asks the companies to describe how they imbibe these core values in their operations and have thus improved continuously.
Any organisation needs a farsighted and strong leadership to guide it on the right path into the unknown horizons of time. It first decides what the organisation wants to be in future (VISION) and how to achieve it (MISSION). These dreams are based on the expectation of the stakeholders (shareholders, customers, employees, suppliers and the society). Since the employees are the ones who will turn the dreams into reality, they communicate and explain them to the employees, encouraging them to achieve theses goals together. They motivate their capacities to innovate and encourage them to fulfill the expectations of all the stakeholders. Another major task of the leadership is to ensure that the organisation is moving in the right direction and at the right pace. For this they review the progress regularly; and are scanning the business environment for new opportunities of growth, averting dangers, strengthening the strengths and bucking up the weaknesses.
For all this to happen, they have to decide the actions for the future. What return would we give to our investors, has to be decided. For meeting these expectations of the investors, what products will be required to be sold, how much and in which markets has to be determined. We also have to find the attributes of the products, which will attract the customers in face of competitors' offerings, to our products in terms of quality, consistency, price, service and delivery. We therefore need to make marketing, operational, R&D, Human Resources, financial strategies, prepare action plans in each and fix time bound targets, responsibility and milestones for them.
Setting targets are fine, but till we establish the needs and expectations of the customers; and make our products capable of fulfilling them; these targets will remain a distant dream only. We therefore listen to the voice of the customers; and learn lessons about the product attributes that will satisfy and delight the customers. We also maintain good relations with them, help them in doing their business better, resolving any complaints they have. Having done these, we need to find out how satisfied our customers are with our products to come back to us and recommend us to others.
Who makes good products acceptable to the customers? The employees, of -course! It is therefore essential for any organisation to exploit this resource in the best possible manner. They should be well versed in what they do, help each other to improve and make the best quality products at the least cost. They should be trained not in one but many skills, so that they can be fully utilized, and can help each other, work as a team. Their innovative capabilities must be fully developed and utilized; to the benefit of both- the employees by fulfilling their desire to grow and the organisation by helping to achieve its objectives. They need to have a safe, clean and healthful environment to work and expect facilities and services to make their lies better. After all, they are one of the stakeholders too! The satisfaction, well-being and motivation levels therefore need to be measured, analysed and improved upon.
The quality and performance of products and their price depend on their design and the design of processes used in their manufacture. The design of products and processes is therefore of great importance, and must consider the productivity, cost, cycle time, incorporation of latest technology etc. For the production process to be effective and efficient, they have to be backed by a number of support services e.g. maintenance, finance, etc.; and support services e.g. I.T., supply chain management etc. These processes should therefore be effective, efficient and be performed at the least overall cost.
We have talked about continuous progress in these fronts. However, only results are the true measure of progress and only when improvements in all the areas support each other; can the organisation can be said to be moving on the path of excellence. Measurement of progress made in all these areas therefore the right barometer for the organisational health. All the data and information should therefore be collected over past few years and a favorable trend in results will establish our progress and its rate in our journey to excellence. The taste of the cake is in eating!
For JRD_QV award, companies submit a write-up, describing their ways of working in the above areas and the results of the work so done. The planning and implementation of the ways of working have a maximum 550 points, whereas results have 450 points; making a total of 1000 points. In processes, if the "evaluation and improvement" of the processes is embedded, the score goes beyond 50%. Similarly, if the results are benchmarked and are one of the best in class, more than 50% marks can be expected. All this means that a company getting more than 50% score or more, it is self-driven on the path of excellence, and will continue to improve.
"In year 2004-05, TRL got 505 points, and was thus counted among the
companies who promote business excellence actively.
We are now mapping all our processes, will review
them and embed the vital step of "evaluating
and improving" of our processes after each
cycle;
and thus will continue our journey in excellence,
scoring ever-higher score. . Till now, only Tata
Steel,Tata Consultancy Services and Tata Motors
have crossed the level of 60% to win the JRD-QV
award in 2001, 2004 & 2005 respectively. There
is no reason why TRL cannot be among the first
5 companies to win this award in the next 2-3
years!!
Let's now ponder about the role of each employee in our journey to excellence.
We have seen that the Senior leaders have set
the direction of the future (coming 10 years)
of the company- i.e. turnover of Rs. 1000 Crores
by 2011-12.and evolved functional strategies (e.g.
marketing, operation, R&D, H.R., financial,
commercial etc.) to achieve this target. Responsibilities
and resources are given to the concerned functional
heads to enable them to achieve and exceed the
targets set in their strategies.
These functional heads (EVPs, GMs, CMs etc.)
work with their employee teams to achieve these
long and short-term targets. They break down the
targets into monthly and daily targets ( e.g.
production, productivity, yield, sales etc.).
These targets are made keeping the needs /expectations
of the internal/external customers (those who
receive the fruits of the employees' efforts).
For example, targets of grinding unit of a production
department are made to meet the expectations of
the mixing unit. Hence, if each of us can meet
all our targets set; and satisfy /delight our
internal/external customers, the functional and
organisational targets will be achieved, and we
shall be moving fast on our journey to excellence.
Our processes will be more efficient and will
be improving continuously through periodic evaluation
and improvement.
You must have wondered, if TBEM is so powerful a tool, why bother with all the other efforts going on in the company- Value Engg., Work Simplification, Quality circles, ISO, TOP, SRS, WOW etc.? However, if now you carefully examine these efforts, you will find that they are only supplementing various aspects of TBEM. Every one of these initiatives aim at making the best possible quality products continuously at the least possible cost (and hence at a reasonable price to the customer) at the right time; thereby attracting and retaining ever larger number of customers; increasing turnover and profit and enabling the organisation to take better care of its shareholders, employees and the support the society around it.
So come, let's join hands to satisfy and delight our customers, and take TRL through the fast track of our journey to excellence.
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