Ceat bags prestigious Deming Prize

Another Indian company has bagged the Deming Prize – considered to be the Oscar award for quality in manufacturing. The company is tyre major Ceat.

Confirmation of the news came when RPG Group chairman Harsh Goenka's tweeted: "CEAT wins the global Deming award - the global Oscars for Quality. Proud of the CEAT team. Celebrations galore!"

With this, the RPG Group company joins the elite list of other Indian winners of the Deming Prize such as Mahindra & Mahindra (tractor division), Rane Brake Lining, Rane Madras, Lucas TVS, RSB Group, National Engineering Industries, Ashok Leyland's Pantnagar plant.

Commenting on the achievement, Anant Goenka, managing director, Ceat, said: “We are delighted and honored to receive the Deming Prize. It is a significant milestone and testimony to our journey of quality and customer-centricity. All activities and processes are geared towards enhancing customer satisfaction and we are working hard to enhance these processes.”

The felicitation ceremony will take place in Tokyo on Wednesday, November 8, 2017.

The Deming Prize and its criteria
The Deming Prize was established in 1951 by Japanese Union of Scientists and Engineers (JUSE) to honour W Edwards Deming, who contributed greatly to Japan’s proliferation of statistical quality control after World War II.

The selection procedure of the winner involves a tedious process. It is a very intense and time-consuming effort both for the company and the examination body. The Deming Prize Committee views the examination process as an opportunity for ‘mutual-development’, rather than an ‘examination’.

The applicants are not provided with any criteria or issues to be addressed. They are expected to identify and address important issues based on the business objectives which in turn allow quality methodologies to be further developed. Every factor such as the applicants' attitude toward executing Total Quality Management (TQM), their implementation status and the resulting effects are taken into overall consideration before the final winner is decided.