'India has to be built by Indians, not FDI'

Importance of Total Productive Maintenance application stressed

Indian companies should focus on the global market for future growth. They need to have the right vision and tools like Total Productive Maintenance (TPM) to achieve competitiveness and generate economic power for the nation, said Suresh Krishna, chairman and managing director of Sundram Fasteners.

Addressing the inaugural session of the 6th TPM national conference, a two-day event organised by the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII), Krishna called upon the Indian companies to think big and leverage the cost arbitrage which the country has in the manufacturing sector by adopting TPM.

"Today, the global market recognises only economic power, which has to be generated and sustained by the Indian firms. Total Productive Maintenance is the best tool to achieve this. India has to be built by Indians, not by foreign direct investment," said Krishna.

He stressed that it was extremely important for the companies to realise that TPM was not a goal or strategy, but an important tool to achieve business goals. "The more skillfully you approach it, better would be the results", he added.

Stating that a lot of vision had gone into the successful companies in the global market, he called for a major shift in the mindset and attitude to consistently and properly inculcate the values of TPM in India.

He also emphasised that awards didn't make excellent companies. "Instead of getting obsessed with awards, the companies must focus on acquiring the knowledge and implementing TPM consistently", he urged.

The four ingredients for achieving and sustaining excellence in TPM include the organisation's vision, its ability to communicate, its skill in setting a goal and realising the goal, he added. He called upon the companies to have a long term common vision, shared by the entire workforce.

Highlighting core values of TPM, Kinjirou Nakano, executive vice-president and board member, JIPM Solutions Company Ltd, Japan, said that India was leading in TPM application and many companies which had already implemented TPM, were moving to Level 2. "TPM is not just about implementation, but sustenance and maintenance are also crucial factors," he added.

Stating that grooming people was the key for sustaining and maintaining the TPM excellence, he recommended companies to ensure that people were also expanding their horizons as they grew.

Surinder Kapur, chairman, TPM Club India and chairman and managing director, Sono Koyo Steering Systems, said that about 30 Indian companies received the award for excellence in TPM in 2005 and over 50 companies had kick started the TPM practices during the current year.

N Srinivasan, director general, Confederation of Indian Industry, asked the Indian companies to focus on 7Cs - change, complexity of the change, challenges, competition, competitiveness, customers and creativity.