Sundaram Brake gets Deming award

By Our Staff Reporter

CHENNAI, OCT. 12. Sundaram Brake Linings (SBL), a member of the TVS group and a leading manufacturer of friction materials, has been awarded the Deming Application award for the year 2001 by the Deming prize committee of Japanese Union of Scientists and Engineers (JUSE), the apex body in Japan spearheading the quality movement in Japan.

In an informal chat with presspersons on Thursday, Mr. K. Mahesh, Chairman and Managing Director of Sundram Brake Linings, outlined the various steps his organisation had taken to achieve this prestigious award. He said the award would be formally presented to the company in Japan in mid-November.

Mr. Mahesh said his company was the first friction materials manufacturer in the world to receive the Deming award. The award was thrown up for non-Japanese companies only in 1984 and SBL was the fifth company outside Japan and the second Indian company to receive this award. The award was in recognition of the all out effort made by SBL to apply the total quality management (TQM) practices in all its activities.

Mr. Mahesh said SBL began its quality journey nearly 14 years ago and had taken many pioneering steps to introduce new steps and systems in the company. It had also been implementing 'Lean manufacturing practices' based on the Toyota production system for the past two years. This resulted in improved productivity and it enabled the company to supply the production just in time. The drive to achieve the production in total quality management had forced the company and its employees at all levels to be constantly on a learning mode.

Mr. Mahesh said the latest award was one more step in the ongoing efforts to become a global player in friction materials. The company exported only 49 per cent of its turnover to 55 countries. SBL also pioneered the introduction and promotion of asbestos free brake linings in India and this was the largest exporter of asbestos free heavy-duty brake linings from India. The company was also committed to protect the environment and had obtained the ISO 14001 certification for environmental management system as a proof of that commitment.

Send this article to Friends by E-Mail

Section  : Business
Previous : Maran inaugurates India Centre in Singapore
Next     : Govt. convenes meeting to revive textile exports