By R. Natarajan, Managing Editor & Publisher

November is celebrated as the World Quality Month in recognition of the key role played by quality professionals in achieving excellence through quality. To commemorate this, the National Institution for Quality and Reliability (NIQR) has organised a topical seminar on the subject wherein speakers from sectors like Education, Automotive, Healthcare, IT & Metrology enlightened the audience on the advancement in quality of products and service and how quality gives them an edge over competition. The conference held in Chennai on November 26 attracted veterans from the Quality Circle.

Mr. Raj Srinivasan, Chief Executive Officer & Mentor, National Institution for Quality & Reliability (NIQR), introduced all the speakers who have come from different industry sectors and thanked them for their esteemed presence.

Mr. S. Muralishankar, President, NIQR, and Managing Director, Super Auto Forge Private Ltd., welcoming the gathering at the seminar on ‘Quality – An Integral Part of our Life!’

Mr. S. Muralishankar, President, NIQR, and Managing Director, Super Auto Forge Private Ltd., in his welcome address, said today Quality has lot of expectations and being a one and only national apex body for Quality Movement, NIQR plays a major role in these aspect. Tamil Nadu being the Detroit of India where most of the automobile companies are situated, NIQR has established its headquarters in Chennai serving the members across India.

Mr. S. Rajasekaran, Chairman of the Committee on NIQR-Dr. V. Krishnamurthy Medal for Manufacturing Excellence for MSMEs, and Managing Director, ACE Software Solutions Pvt. Ltd., shared the details about the Medal and its eligibility.

Mr. S. Rajasekaran, Chairman of the Committee on NIQR-Dr. V. Krishnamurthy Medal for Manufacturing Excellence for MSMEs, explaining the theme of the Medal.

Dr. V. Swaminathan, Senior VP, NIQR, in his video message from the US, gave a detailed presentation on Germination of the Medal and the Legacy of Dr. V. Krishnamurthy, who was the driving force behind the success of several public sector undertakings including BHEL, SAIL and Maruti Suzuki.

Mr. Mukundan M.S., Assistant Vice President – Production Support, Hyundai Motor India Ltd., in his special address, said it was in the 19th Century, the evolution of transportation started with rail transport. Later in the 20th Century, the engine-driven road transportation came into force and today there is a lot of connectivity in the mobility world.

Referring to his company, Hyundai, it was in 1967 the evolution started in South Korea and now it has become the largest integrated plant in the world with 5 manufacturing units in one location. In India, Hyundai Motor India Ltd. (HMIL) has its headquarters in Gurgaon, manufacturing plant in Chennai and R&D Centre at Hyderabad. The company has 2,449 touch points across India. In 2021, HMIL has been recognised as the fastest automobile manufacturer to reach 10 million car sales and out of the last 9 years, 6 years Hyundai brand has won ‘India Car of the Year’ recognition.

Mr. Raj Srinivasan showcasing the miniature model of the medal to the delegates.

In quality and reliability, India is the land of diversity and hence for Hyundai quality is the destination. This has been very well proved by HMIL by way of exporting the cars produced in India to 85 countries. Currently, HMIL plant in Chennai rolls out one car per minute with high quality standards. Very recently, the parent company Hyundai has developed an autonomous van fuelled by hydrogen and it is on trial in many of the roads in Korea.

Mr. Sameer Mehta, Vice Chairman, Mehta Hospitals, made a presentation on ‘Quality in Healthcare’ and how it is very important for our daily life.

Mr. K. Subramanian, Global Head-Delivery Excellence, Tata Consultancy Services Ltd. (TCS), in his presentation, said TCS, a Tata Group company, is the world’s second largest IT solution provider with 6,16,171 total workforce consists of 157 nationalities all over the world. In the Latin America region alone, TCS has 50,000 employees and it is one of the testimonials for TCS global recognition.

Mr. P. Gnana Gurupatham, General Manager – Operations, Unicorn (Bangalore) Pvt. Ltd., receiving the nomination form of NIQR-Dr. V. Krishnamurthy Medal for Manufacturing Excellence for MSMEs from Mr. Sameer Mehta, Vice Chairman, Mehta Hospitals.

Many of the customers who come to TCS, stay with them for 20 years and above due to the trusted brand of TATA and its commitment. It serves over 10,000 clients covering all industry segments. The company also closely works with automobile manufacturers for the development of new models. Even a lot of Government institutions are ably managed by TCS and inspire the customers. For the last 9 years, TCS has been rated No.1 in customer satisfaction as per the private survey.

Dr. Venkatesh Balasubramanian, Head, Centre of Excellence for Road Safety (CoERS), Indian Institute of Technology (IIT Madras), shared his views on ‘Integrating Quality in Education’.

NIQR top management team with the speakers from left to right are Mr. Manoj K. Sundaram, Head of Business Development, Industrial Quality Solutions, Carl Zeiss India (Bangalore) Pvt. Ltd., Mr. Raj Srinivasan, Chief Executive Officer & Mentor, National Institution for Quality & Reliability (NIQR), Mr. S. Rajasekaran, Chairman of the Committee on NIQR-Dr. V. Krishnamurthy Medal for Manufacturing Excellence for MSMEs, and Managing Director, ACE Software Solutions Pvt. Ltd., Mr. S. Muralishankar, President, NIQR, and Managing Director, Super Auto Forge Private Ltd., Mr. Sameer Mehta, Vice Chairman, Mehta Hospitals, Mr. Mukundan M.S., Assistant Vice President – Production Support, Hyundai Motor India Ltd., Mr. S. Shanmugasundaram, Vice President, NIQR, and Site Quality Director, Alstom, Mr. C.V. Gowri Sankar, Secretary, NIQR, and Mr. K. Subramanian, Global Head-Delivery Excellence, Tata Consultancy Services Ltd. (TCS)

Mr. Manoj K. Sundaram, Head of Business Development, Industrial Quality Solutions, Carl Zeiss India (Bangalore) Pvt. Ltd. of ZEISS Group, and the major sponsors of the event, highlighted the increasing focus on emerging innovative trend in many areas. Basically, the parent company Carl Zeiss is a 175-year technology driven company from Germany spending 13% of its total sales revenue on R&D. As an innovative company, its products are primarily used in the quality and metrology department. 80% of the micro chips are manufactured by Zeiss and it clearly indicates the company’s leadership in the segment. So far it has installed 1000 units in Chennai alone covering various segments from ‘energy to emotion’. Among the various segments, automotive is one of the major sectors of business which drives the growth of the company. The company is also currently working on the development of several new products to meet the growing trends in the electric vehicle segment. The success of the company lies in the delivery of highest precision engineering products with a mantra of ‘Driving Future – Technology Today’.

Mr. C.V. Gowri Sankar, Secretary, NIQR, proposed a vote of thanks.