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Winners of the Deming Prize and AOTS

he 2008 Deming Prize award ceremony was held on November 12, 2008 at Keidanren Kaikan in Tokyo, Japan. The Deming Prize is one of the highest awards in the world presented to an individual, group, company, or organization that has achieved outstanding results in the application or study of Total Quality Management (TQM). The winner of the Deming Application Prize for 2008 was the Indian company Tata Steel Limited, which to date has availed itself of AOTSs training programs including Management Training Program. In this KENSHU magazine, as well as introducing the Deming Prize, we would like to consider the benefits and significance of AOTS training activities by presenting some of the winners of the Deming Prize over the past few years that have availed themselves of AOTS training programs.

2008 Deming Prize Winners

The Deming Prize for Individuals Japan: Mr. Masahiro Sakane, Chairman of the Board, Komatsu Ltd. The Deming Application Prize India: Tata Steel Limited, Mr. B Muthuraman, Managing Director

In 2008, the Deming Application Prize was awarded to Tata Steel Limited, a company operating in India. Tata Steel Limited was the first steel plant in India, established in 1907 in Jamshedpur as The Tata Iron and Steel Company, and today is one of the worlds leading steel companies. Tata Steel Limited has been awarded the 2008 Deming Prize in recognition of its continuous initiatives in quality control. Since the time of its predecessor, The Tata Iron and Steel Company, Tata Steel Limited has devoted itself to continuing education in quality, corporate management, production control, and a range of other fields, sending its employees to Technical Training Program, Management Training Program, and other courses conducted in Japan by AOTS for many years. Looking back at the companies that have been awarded for the Deming Prize in the past, these include many overseas companies that have actively participated in the AOTS training programs. Owing to space constraints, we cannot introduce all of them here, but some of the prize winners from the past few years are listed in Table 1 and Table 2. Taking the prize winning companies in 2007 as an example, of the four non-Japanese companies to win the Deming Application Prize, the Quality Control Award for Operations Business Units, and the Japan Quality Medal*, three have sent their executives and managerial staff to participate in Management Training Programs con-

Table 1: The Deming Prize Winners

Deming Application Prize GC Dental Products Corp. (Japan) Brakes India Ltd., Foundry Division (India) Mahindra and Mahindra Ltd., Farm Equipment Sector (India) Rane Brake Linings Ltd. (India) The Siam Refractory Industry Co., Ltd. (Thailand) Sona Koyo Steering Systems Ltd. (India) Thai Paper Company Ltd. (Thailand) CCC Polyolefins Company Ltd. (Thailand) Indo Gulf Fertilisers Ltd. (India) Lucas-TVS Ltd. (India) Siam Mitsui PTA Company Ltd. (Thailand) SRF Ltd., Industrial Synthetics Business (India) Thai Ceramic Company Ltd. (Thailand) Hosei Brake Industry Co., Limited (Japan) Krishna Maruti Limited, Seat Division (India) Rane Engine Valves Limited (India) Rane TRW Steering Systems Limited, Steering Gear Division (India) Nishizawa Electric Meters Manufacturing Co., Limited (Japan) Sanden International (Singapore) PTE Limited (Singapore) Sanden International (U.S.A.), Inc. (USA) Asahi India Glass Limited, Auto Glass Division (India) Rane (Madras) Limited (India)

2003

2004

2005

2006 2007

Table 2: The Deming Prize Winners

For Operations Business Units 1995 1996 2002 2003 2007 Nissan Motor Co., Ltd., Murayama Plant (Japan) Nissan Motor Co., Ltd. Tochigi Plant (Japan) Hi-Tech Carbon GMPD (India) Birla Cellulosic, Kharach-A Unit of Grasim Industries Ltd. (India) Reliance Industries Limited, Hazira Manufacturing Division (India)
: Companies that have participated in AOTS training programs

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Table 3: Record of companies awarded the Deming Prize in 2007 who dispatched employees to AOTS (year 2000 onward)
Reliance Industries Limited Year of Dispatch 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 Fields Covered by Courses Attended (No. of Participants Dispatched) Production Management (1), Quality Management (2) Environmental Protection (1) Quality Management (1) Quality Management (1) Quality Management (4), Corporate Management (4) Quality Management (5), Corporate Management (7), Management of Technology (1) Production Management (3), Quality Control (1), Corporate Management (4) Production Management (3), Quality Management (6), Quality Control (2), Corporate Management (3) Quality Management (4), Quality Control (2), Production Management (1), Corporate Management (2)

Mahindra & Mahindra Limited Year of Dispatch 2000 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 Fields Covered by Courses Attended (No. of Participants Dispatched) Production Management (5), Management of Technology (3) Corporate Management (3), Intellectual Property (2) Production Management (4), Quality Management (2) Corporate Management (2) Production Management (2) Corporate Management (2)

Rane (Madras) Limited Year of Dispatch 2000 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 Fields Covered by Courses Attended (No. of Participants Dispatched) Production Management (1) Production Management (1) Production Management (2) Production Management (6), Corporate Management (1) Production Management (6) Production Management (4), Corporate Management (1) Production Management (1) Production Management (2)

ducted in Japan by AOTS, mainly in areas such as quality control (see Table 3). Mahindra & Mahindra Limited, which since the 1990s had been actively implementing the Management Training Program received at AOTS, was awarded the Deming Application Prize in 2003, since which time it has continued to implement its AOTS training programs in its improvement activities. Reliance Industries Limited also sends its employees each year without fail to various Management Training Programs, as well as availing itself of Overseas Training Programs. Below is a message received by the AOTS New Delhi Office from the Hazira Manufacturing Division of the company, which received

the Quality Control Award for Operations Business Units in 2007. The Company also sent its employees to the AOTS Management Training Program in 2008 after winning the Prize, with the goal of improving even further. You might be aware that Reliance Industries Limited Hazira, with support from AOTS, has won the 2007 Deming
NOTE

Award, The Quality Control Award for Operations Business Units. However this is not the end of the journey. We still have to strive hard to win the highest award. The fact that the winning companies of the Deming Prize utilized AOTS training programs may be regarded as evidence that many companies make continued efforts to improve by implementing the qual-

* : The Japan Quality Medal was created to commemorate the first International Conference on Quality Control (ICQC), held in 1969 in Tokyo, with the purpose of further developing quality control. A company or a division of a company that has been practicing TQM continuously for three years or more (including the award year) after it has received the Deming Application Prize may apply for the Japan Quality Medal. When it is recognized that an applicants implementation of TQM has evolved and improved substantially beyond the level at the time it won the Deming Application Prize, the company is awarded the Japan Quality Medal.

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Table 4: The Deming Prize Winners

Deming Prize for Individuals 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 Mr. Noriaki Kano Mr. Katsuya Hosotani Mr. Yotaro Kobayashi Mr. Matabee Maeda Mr. Shiro Fujita Mr. Shoji Shiba Mr. Tadashi Yoshizawa Mr. Akira Takahashi* Mr. Hajime Sasaki Mr. Yoshinori Iizuka Mr. Masayoshi Ushikubo

*: deceased : Individuals who have lectured in AOTS training programs in the past

ity control methods learned on the AOTS training program after returning to their countries upon completion of the training program. AOTS is delighted that its training program enables Japanese skills and management techniques to be steadily redeployed to participants countries and that continuous improvement activities by

participating companies leads to the award of prizes such as the Deming Prize. The Deming Prize for Individuals is also awarded to leading experts on quality and entrepreneurs in Japan, and the prize winners include many people who have cooperated enormously as lecturers on the AOTS training courses (see Table 4 for some of those prize winners during the past decade). The 2008 Deming Prize for Individuals was awarded to Mr. Masahiro Sakane, Chairman of the Board, Komatsu Ltd. AOTS has benefited hugely from the cooperation of Mr. Sakane, who lectures at its Management Training Program (EPQM Course: The Executive Program on Quality Management). AOTS enjoys the tremendous cooperation of experts and company individuals who are active in every field, not only for training courses related to quality, but for all our courses. We are striving to ensure the provision of ever more practical and effective training to participants, so that they may take back to their countries ample expert knowledge and techniques acquired in Japan and implement these fully in their workplace. This will, we believe, result in the devel-

opment of the home countries of AOTS training course participants.

In Closing
We introduced the Deming Prize, an award given for quality in the KENSHU magazine this time. AOTS hopes that all companies that participated in AOTS training programs will implement the knowledge and techniques acquired to further enhance their level of activity and development. On the subject of quality in particular, we hope that this magazine will trigger interest in entering for the Deming Prize, and that individuals from just a few more companies will work toward the goal of improving quality even further, with the aim of one day becoming a Deming Prize winner. Finally, we would like to express our appreciation to the Union of Japanese Scientists and Engineers (JUSE) for its cooperation in preparing the article below. Please refer to the JUSE website for information in respect of the Deming Prize: http://www.juse.or.jp/e/index.html We hope this would provide you with useful information on future activities.

What is the Deming Prize?

r. William Edwards Deming (1900-1993), one of the foremost experts of quality control in the United States, came to Japan in 1950 at the invitation of the Union of Japanese Scientists and Engineers (JUSE). During this visit, Dr. Deming held a series of seminars in Tokyo and Hakone, lecturing on the basics of statistical quality control to executives, managers, engineers, and researchers from Japanese industry, providing great impetus to the growth of quality control in Japan. In 1951, the JUSE established the Deming Prize funded by the royalties from the transcript of Dr. Demings lectures, to commemorate Dr. Demings contribution, which provided the principal foundation for disseminating statistical quality control in post-war Japan and raising Japanese products to the highest global standard, as well as to promote the continued development of quality control in Japan. The Deming Prize eventually became the highest award in the world for TQM. Screening, administration, and

awarding of the Deming Prize is carried out by the Deming Prize Committee, consisting of TQM experts from industry and academia. Administration of the Deming Prize Committee is carried out by the JUSE. Currently, the JUSE bears the entire expense of maintaining the Deming Prize. The three categories of the Deming Prize are described below: The Deming Prize for Individuals Annual award given to those who have made outstanding contributions to the study of TQM or statistical methods used for TQM, or those who have made outstanding contributions in the dissemination of TQM. For individuals or groups. The Deming Application Prize Annual award given to autonomously managed organizations or divisions of organizations that have achieved distinctive performance improvement through the application of TQM in a designated year. The Quality Control Award for Operations Business Units Annual award given to operations business units of an organization that have achieved distinctive performance improvement through the application of quality control/management in the pursuit of TQM in a designated year.

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