SRF tyre cord business bags Deming Prize

The tyre cord business of the Arun Bharatram-promoted SRF Ltd has won the Deming Application Prize instituted by the Japanese Union of Scientists and Engineers (JUSE).

Named after Deming, the man who taught the Japanese about quality, the Deming Prize is valued as recognition of outstanding practice of TQM (total quality management) in the pursuit of the strategic objectives of a company.

The Deming Prize is awarded through a rigorous process. A diagnosis is carried out in the year prior to the application for the prize.

Detailed documents of the company are examined by Japanese counselors in TQM. A business that qualifies at this stage is subjected to a rigorous on-site examination by a group of TQM experts from Japan.

SRF is the first tyre-cord company in the world to win the prestigious Deming Application Prize. JUSE is spearheading the TQM initiative in Japan.

"It is a high recognition of the role played by TQM in realising the strategic intent of the industrial synthetic fibres division of SRF Ltd, a company official added.

SRF Ltd has four plants in its industrial synthetics division: while two are located in the south, one is at Gwalior and another one at Dubai. Between the four plants, SRF Ltd has the capacity to make 40,000 tonnes of tyre chord annually.

In the past, Indian companies like Sundaram Brake Linings, a member of the TVS group, and Rane Brake Linings have bagged the award.