For the last seven years he has been visiting India regularly to further the movement. He also helped set up the TPM Club, in collaboration with the CII, in 1998. The club already has 115 members consisting of manufacturing companies, cement and chemical plants and FMCG manufacturers. In the Capital again last week, Yamaguchi addressed the CII-sponsored second TPM Deployment Seminar on May 14-15, 1999 -- and spared time for a freewheeling discussion on where TPM is bound in India. Excerpts from an exclusive interview:

On the relevance of TPM in India

TPM or total productive maintenance is a competitive strategy, aimed at enhancing the productivity of men, machines, material and maintaining that level consistently. Thiscan be achieved by involving people across all levels and functions of management. It is based on the zero-loss concept, the intention being to cut down all losses and achieving high levels of productivity.

So TPM is very relevant in India today, with the increasing cost pressures. The recognition of the importance of achieving a competitive edge is growing, a fact proved by the CII-promoted TPM Club, which already has a membership of 115 companies. Two members -- Vikram Cements and Sundaram Fasteners -- are pioneers of the movement in India and have also won TPM awards.With the number of members increasing, we're now planning regional meetings at different venues instead of holding the quarterly meetings only at Chennai. To streamline functioning and be more cost-effective, a cluster of five companies has been set up, under the leadership of Maruti. The team will visit one company every month, alongwith members of the other companies also.

On the key process needed for effective TPMimplementation

TPM starts with a change in attitude of the top management, which has to initiate, support, drive and achieve zero breakdowns, zero quality defects, and zero accidents by strengthening workers' skills and attitudes.

On whether TPM will sit easy on Indian shopfloors

TPM is the strategy for the future. Worldwide, it has become the accepted thing to do. In India also, things will only get tougher for industry, and there will never be a repeat of 1995. So everyone has to bring down costs and TPM is a very powerful strategy to achieve that. Already, I see marked changes in many Indian companies. Earlier there was a huge gap between the management and workers, but this is gradually dwindling. There is a greater closeness, a sense of camaraderie and cooperation. The feeling of `this is not my job' is going.

On the other changes he has perceived

In the seven years that I have been visiting India, I have observed a definite attitudinal change in corporates. Where once manycompanies were happy to consider themselves `big,' (in size) today they are not content to be just that -- a more pressing concern is whether they are competitive in their cost structures. Perhaps it is the wave of liberalisation, the whiff of competition that has forced them to change focus.

More and more, they are displaying the desire to survive, grow and benchmark services and products and not just rest on their status of being `big.'

On how TPM can offer competitive advantage

Big is not a measure of competitiveness any more. Take the example of the Ambassador. It was `big' till Maruti came along and dislodged it. Similarly, Bajaj was content with its long waiting periods, till competition came along. This is exactly where TPM steps in and can be used as a strategy.It is the key to cost reduction. From the TPM point of view, Indica's strategy of delaying its launch was the wrong strategy to follow. Quick response, reduction of lead time is the key to achieving a competitive edge in afast-changing market scenario. Sony is a good example of a company that does not believe in delaying the launch of its products.

On the impact of TPM on labour

Streamlining and cutting down job-time will lead not to retrenchment, but redeployment, and training staff for different kinds of jobs. So there is a diversification into more products and setting up of more lines, instead of retrenchment. Manpower costs in making products goes down, but redeployment of manpower leads to more output. In Sundaram Fastners, for example, there was no reduction of manpower.

Another way of handling potential trouble is by dealing with the unions upfront and working on incentive schemes, delineating every worker's output and making them part of the entire process.