A report on ASQ India and QCI's 8th Regional Quality Conclave

The 8th Regional Quality Conclave for propomotion of Quality in India was organized on 18 October in Bangalore. The conclave was organized by The American Society for Quality, South Asia (ASQ), Quality Council of India (QCI), and the National Board for Quality Promotion (NBQP).

The theme of the event was Quality through innovation and technology.

Several eminent speakers shared some excellent work over the day.

The session was inaugurated by Mr K C Mehra a Tata Group doyen and torch bearer of Quality from his days at Tata Steel. At a young age of 80, Mr Mehra left everyone else at the conclave mesmerized by his energy, attention, and passion for quality. He stayed with us for the day and had a question and words of encouragement for almost all speakers.

Part of the inaugural session were Dr Ravi P Singh, Secretary General of QCI who addressed us via a video message. Mr C K Biswas, CEO of NBQP then shared how this event was planned and what more to expect from NBQP.

Mr Anindya Sarangi, Director of ASQ India and South Asia then shared his vision for the event.

Mr Mehra regaled the over 250+ audience with anecdotes from his over 50 years in Quality. He encouraged the audience to be not satisfied with ‘just ok’ quality and push for design, innovation, and technology for better quality.

Session 1 was focused on Quality through technology and was moderated by the ever smiling Manikandan Murugesan.

Ashu Bhatia, from DRDO shared how technology is being used in Defense project with examples from development of Air Defense systems. What was striking is that Defense organizations also operate in project mode, much like most IT firms.

Vinod Venkatesh of Bosch spoke about customer focus. He explained how customers will judge us but fans will forgive and encouraged the audience to focus on building fans. In the era or increasing online sales, quality is even more important as customers check reviews before buying.

Prakash Venkatean of Essae Chandran group then shared how medium and small scale enterprises can and are focusing on quality. He went on to explain that the path to a customer driven organization is usually similar across companies. What is to be done is simple and known.

Dr Aravindan of Syngene then furthered the concept of customer centricity and shared how focus on Expeirence, Value, and Lifecycle is required.

Session 2 was moderated by the energetic Anish Cherian of Harman group and was focused on quality through innovation.

Ravi Arora of the Tata Group and an author of two books on Innovation opened the session and our minds on how failed projects can be used to spark innovation in the subsequent projects. He also explained the difference in how using the same chisel differently can lead to improvement or innovation. I urge all of you to check www.tatainnoverse.com for some innovation challenges.

Shashi Bhushan of TCS then shared how a focus on overall business outcome is more important to drive. We should not localize innovation to just technology but also use/apply it for Business 4.0. His session included the concepts of Digital Twin and Digital Threads.

Blessen Philip of 3M showcased the powerhouse of innovation his company is. He emphasized how brands need to work on feelings and emotions in design. He also gave an overview of the 3M innovation program.

Session 3 was focused on quality in Manjunath Makam of Michell Bearings. He is also a past chair of Bangalore LMC.

Anil Kumar of Britannia Industries shared several automation practices from the food processing industry.

Manoj of Bharat Electricals Limited shared how a focus on vision and process has made BEL a leader in its field. BEL’s vision to focus on quality through technology and innovation has powered it through several decades now.

Sundarraman G of Wipro Automation shared how factory Automation was being used across Wipro’s 30+ factories and some of its clients. His presentation gave us a glimpse in the high tech world of factory automation and how it is much more than Robots.

Session 4 was moderated by young entrepreneur Mr Jamshid and focused on startups. This was perhaps a fitting finale to the days events. All speakers disrupted the pattern of the day in a pleasant and learning friendly way.

Madhu Madhavan of QSutra and a serial entrepreneur woke up the audience in his inimitable style and explained how disruption is already here and we need to embrace it now.

Christopher Raj spoke about his take on success of startups and how one needs to follow a model yet break it.

Achuta Jois then shared an example laden approach on starting a startup. Having done it himself he had several anecdotes.

Gauravendra Shukla, founder of Talentbridge Technologies shared two innovative products that his company makes in the field of learning and collaboration. He shares some tips on how one should focus on solving a problem that could impact a large number of people.  

Naresh of 7 Steps Business Consultants and part of the organizing team conducted a qui through the day and prizes were given out at the end of the day. Each participant also received a certificate.

The event was wrapped up with a vote of thanks from yours truly. ??