National Development through Quality Improvement in Indian Context

National Development through Quality Improvement in Indian Context

Dr. Manoj K Patel

Nomadic community began its path to industrialization when people in professions of glovers, tailors, fletchers, barber-surgeons, tanners, needle makers, turners, skinners, butchers, bakers, and brewers started planned production and maintained inventory for their input materials and finished goods, basically for earning their own livelihood in a systematic and planned manner. Subsequently, craftsmen of identical kind and type started congregating, and they started living and working in the same street or localities for mutual benefits like bringing down hardship, efforts, and cost of production for identical produce. This process then thus gave rise to business concepts. This was the first visible phase on growth of civilization and industrialization.

      Consciously, here in this article, we are keeping only the industrial and innovative revolutions in scope for the present discussion. Religious and civil revolutions are kept at bay so as to keep the present discussion focused.

So, coming back to the mainstream, when people started inhabiting nearer to natural resources like rivers and plain lands; the concept of villages followed by states and nations came into formation. Boundaries are drawn and thus nations formed. Each nation developed its own production and manufacturing. Systems and procedures got developed. Governments started giving training and developments to its people for the holistic development of nations in terms of economic growth. Financial structures developed and nations focused to manufacture better quality of products compared to others so that they can sell it to other nations and develop economic progress of their own nations spiraling further growth. So the competition got set in.

       Continuous developments in the areas of the populace then gave rise to regions that outperformed others in the form of excellence in their produces. Countries like Japan, German, South Korea, and now; undoubtedly the best and fastest; China incessantly grew faster than the speed of adoption of their innovations by the consumers. Innovative products are getting produced for the masses at the speed of thought. Countries like India are trying its best to keep the pace with China but in reality are not able to be anywhere nearer to it. Even copy-pastes have not become possible for Chinese products. China is now spearheading innovations and the implementation of innovations in quick cycle times? Be it in road constructions in most un-accessible terrains, train lines in glacier-covered areas, fireworks, steel production, toys for children for all the countries, mining machineries, power plant machineries, railway networks, electronic products, and what not. The challenge China is giving to the entire world in each and every front is truly admirable. And now whether a country accepts it or not, China’s innovation to implementation to commercialization is simply unbeatable, at least as of now.

Language is no barrier to innovation and making business successful. Advancement and innovation understands only the language of brain cells and attitudes both of which are totally intangible internal life processes. While China is galloping in product innovations and business successes we are not able to do so and mostly we are busy in preparing and conducting class room case studies that where we are and how we would catch up with the pace of China. We are highly expressive in terms of vocabulary use and very skilled in camouflaging our limitations through rhetoric. On the contrary Chinese, South Koreans, and Japanese are silent in nature and they use simple words to express themselves and their products. In fact quality of their products speaks for them. Words are not required to be used. They are focussed. I shall narrate a small incident encountered by me. Last year, I was on a visit to a fertilizer manufacturing industries in South Korea. As soon as the representative received me in the Incheon airport and we were voyaging towards their factory, as a matter of fact I asked general questions like how is their relationship with the North Korea and the US. Very hesitantly my S Korean companion replied something and soon added saying that – could we instead discuss business.

Such is the FOCUS for work and business for them and the point I admired that only because of such needle point focus, they are in a position to produce better quality fertilizer than us in India who is trying to buy it from all the way S Korea.

Cost competitive and efficient Coal base Power Plants are supplied to India with technology, technical know-how as well as plant and machineries. It is another example of quality and technological superiority proved with Chinese products.  

No comparison intended of course, but introspection is required as to where and why we are losing the pace which basically began for the entire human race at the same points of time throughout the globe. Japan superseded with respect to quality and quality concepts, not only in classrooms but in workplaces. We in our countries are still struggling to put concepts like 5S and Kaizen as an industrial culture. There are some aspects which we need to embrace very quickly either by choice or may be by compulsion to keep ourselves in the sphere of visibility. We need to strictly work on: innovation, team work, R&D, eliminating complacency, eliminate classroom seminars with workplace trainings, and minimum good shop floor practices like 5S and Kaizen, both in word and work. Quality first and manufacturing next, and finally both quality and quantity together or NO QUALITY NO PRODUCTION ought to be our national Indian agenda.