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The QCDIP mantra at the AV Birla group
Namrata Singh
New Delhi, Nov 21: Yes to standards; No to abnormalities. The Rs 25,200-crore Aditya Birla Group is making this a way of life in all its group companies, says the group president (world class manufacturing) AM Singhvi. The Group has adopted, what it calls `QCDIP'-quality, cost, delivery, innovation and product -- as its mantra, towards this end.``Abnormalities are not sent by God. They are the result of employee lapses. To improve QCDIP, the first and foremost thing is to identify the root-cause of an abnormality,'' said Singhvi, during a presentation at the CII Quality Summit `99, on the "World Class Manufacturing (WCM)" initiative at the AV Birla Group, where the employee strength is 1.4 lakh. The company has adopted a three-step methodology to implement this. Singhvi elaborated on these as: Form teams for specific areas of ownership. This is done by dividing the business into overlapping, crossfunctional, multiskilled, self-competing teams.
Equip the teams with tools and techniques ofthe WCM programme including all problem solving techniques in their specific areas of responsibility.
Visual competition to generate fire in the belly and a strong urge to win. Total visibility of process through process performance boards, QCDI boards and abnormality management boards. ``The strategy is to focus on sustainability, and not just involving tools and techniques,'' said Singhvi, adding that simplicity is the watch-word here.Teams are required to set their meeting agenda which is generally covered in three steps: maintaining ideal or near-ideal standards; problem solutions for identifying and eliminating abnormalities; and continuous improvement. ``We need to equip teams with the right mindset, values, beliefs and attitudes to bring about WCM in the Group,'' said Singhvi. Copyright © 1999 Indian Express Newspapers (Bombay) Ltd.
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