Tata Steel India becomes the first integrated steel company in the world, outside Japan, to be awarded the Deming Application Prize for excellence in Total Quality Management. The company won the award for the year 2008. The award was announced today by the Deming Prize Committee instituted by the Japanese Union of Scientists and Engineers (JUSE), the apex body spearheading the quality movement (Letter enclosed for your reference). The formal award ceremony will take place on November 12, 2008 in Tokyo.

Mr. B. Muthuraman, Managing Director, Tata Steel, while expressing satisfaction over this accomplishment said, “No other activity made us think so deeply about our business and relationships than the process of applying for the Deming Prize. Total Quality Management (TQM) is a fundamental way of managing business and every organization can gain from institutionalizing the culture necessary to win this prize." He dedicated this recognition to the employees of Tata Steel, its customers and business partners who have consistently embraced the culture of continuous improvement and demonstrated a great teamwork leading to several recognitions in the last 20 years since the TQM journey started at the Steel Company in 1988.

About Tata Steel
Established in 1907 as Asia's first integrated private sector steel company, Tata Steel Group (including Corus) is the world’s sixth largest steel producer with a crude steel capacity of over 28 million tonnes. It is now the world’s second most geographically diversified steel producer, with operations in 24 countries and commercial presence in over 50 countries. The Tata Steel Group with a turnover of USD 33 billion in 2007-2008 has over 82,700 employees across four continents. For further information, please visit www.tatasteelindia.com

About Deming Application Prize
The Deming prize, established in December 1950 in honor of W. Edwards Deming, was originally designed to reward Japan companies for major advances in quality improvement. It has grown, under the guidance of Japanese Union of Scientists and Engineers (JUSE) and is now also available to non-Japanese companies. The prizes are awarded to an individual or company and other operating organizations, factories located outside Japan. The Union of Japanese Scientists and Engineers (JUSE) are the administrators of the process and the examiners are typically university professors with areas of expertise in quality management. Worldwide, 160 companies have won the Deming Application Prize since the time it was instituted. Of these 160, 15 companies are Indian, primarily from the automotive sector. For results of Deming Application Award, please visit the website - http://www.juse.or.jp/e/deming/prizelist2008.html

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