Venu Srinivasan conferred Deming Award for TQM

Venu Srinivasan, Chairman of TVS Motor Company and Sundaram Clayton, has been conferred the prestigious Deming ‘Distinguished Service Award For Dissemination and Promotion Overseas’, at a ceremony held in Tokyo today.  He becomes the first industrialist from India to receive prestigious award for his contributions in the field of Total Quality Management (TQM).

The Deming Prize is the highest award for TQM in the world.  Deming ‘Distinguished Service Award for Dissemination and Promotion Overseas’ is given to individuals who have made outstanding contributions in the dissemination and promotion of Total Quality Management (TQM) and is sponsored by Japanese Union of Scientists and Engineers (JUSE). Candidates of this award require recommendation from the members of the Deming Prize Committee, and whose primary activities must be limited to outside Japan.

Accepting the award, Mr Srinivasan said: “I am truly honoured by the recognition conferred upon me by the prestigious Deming committee and JUSE. This stands as a testament for me and all my colleagues and associates who have worked hard to implement Total Quality Management at Sundaram-Clayton and TVS Motor Company since 1989.  It gives us reassurance that we are working in the right direction and reinforces our commitment towards TQM. Our relentless efforts for past three decades of pursuing supreme quality and excellence to customer satisfaction has borne rich dividends for us. Today, our products and processes are synonymous with quality in over 60 countries across the globe.”

He added, “This journey has been a fruitful one and we will continue to institutionalise TQM as a way of life. It is our belief that sustainability across stakeholders and community will not only help the industry and society to unlock potential, but will also help future generations to lead healthy and prosperous life. I would like to express my gratitude by dedicating this honour to Prof Kurahara, Prof Washio, and Prof Tsuda for their active mentoring, our customers, partners and our employees for their commitment towards this long journey.”

Mr Srinivasan has an engineering degree from the College of Engineering, Chennai and a Master’s Degree in Management from the Purdue University, USA. In recognition of his contribution to management, he was conferred with 'Doctor of Management' by his alma-mater, Purdue University in 2014.

As the past president of CII and chairman of the National Committee for Quality, Mr Srinivasan played an active role in accelerating TQM promotion. Over 100,000 practicing managers were trained on TQM methods, and till date, 36 Indian companies have won the Deming Prize with India becoming the second largest country to have Deming prize winners.  Progress of the CII cluster for TQM promotion inspired the Auto Components Manufacturers Association (ACMA) too. The ACMA cluster was established to create community for learning and implementation of TQM to improve customer satisfaction, quality focus, 5S, daily work management and Total Employee Involvement for continuous improvement.

Sundaram Clayton was awarded the Deming Prize in 1998 and Japan Quality Medal in 2002. SCL was the first company in India and fourth company outside Japan to receive the coveted Deming Prize.  In 2002, TVS Motor Company was conferred the Deming award for "having achieved distinctive performance improvement through the application of Total Quality Management.”

Also read: Dr Pawan Goenka conferred FISITA Academy of Technical Leadership Award 2019

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