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Quality: the wheel comes full circle

CHENNAI: Time was when too many people chased too few cars available in the market place. Time was also when too many aspiring engineers queued up to a few available colleges. Getting a car and gaining an admission into an engineering institution was a privilege given only to a few. Things have changed since then.

The wheel has come a full circle now. Today, car companies are chasing buyers. And, aspiring engineering students have the option to pick the institution where they want to study. Well, people nowadays seek only quality products and quality institutions.

What is quality? For many, quality is fitness for use. For N. Ravichandran, CEO of Lucas TVS, however, quality is never a fixed dimension. “Quality is always a moving dimension,” says he. Quality is a relative term. “What was good yesterday is not so today. What is good today will not be so tomorrow,” he reasons in his keynote address at Q Quest, the 10th national-level conference on quality management, organised jointly by Anna University, AU-TVS Centre for Quality Management and Students Quality Club.

“Quality can be achieved only through people,” he says. Look at Brahadeeshwar Temple, the Taj Mahal et al. How could in those days somebody who had no idea about quality techniques and tools or inputs from quality gurus like Deming and Ishikawa achieve such outstanding heights in the quality of products they created?

“They have done so through sheer desire and application of mind,” he adds.

Mr. Ravichandran lays stress on dedication, devotion and perfection.

Kazuo Minnagawa, Consul-General of Consulate of Japan, feels that Indians are becoming more quality-conscious.

Indians are now showing the world how 5 ‘S’ can make drastic difference in a country’s progress.

Though, Japanese were pioneers of 5 ‘S’, Japan now looks up to India, he says.

Mr. Minnagawa has lauded the efforts of Mr. Ravichandran and K. Narashiman, Director of AU TVS CQM, for their efforts to improve the industry- university interface.

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