Mr Jaswant Worah, Mr Sandipan Chakravarty as well as Mrs Kanchan Singh and Mrs Lata Raina are honoured by Mr Muthuraman

This line provides a sense of the journey of excellence at Tata Steel. The company, which is the first steel plant in the private sector in the country, has remained steadfast in its quest for quality through its almost century long history. From 1907, when it was located where the best iron ore resources are found in the country, till today when its umbrella project ASPIRE - ASPirational Initiatives to Retain Excellence -is taking it faster and faster towards achieving greater and greater business excellence, Tata Steel works to achieve business excellence everyday.

"In our journey to become an outstanding company in the world, we must grow very fast - faster than what our mindsets thought only a few years ago - that is the kind of growth we aspire for, and in this journey, our partners, customers, suppliers, the people with whom we work in the marketplace, all are important." - Mr B Muthuraman

The company’s Quality Month celebration was held in November last year. The Awards ceremony for the activities undertaken during the Month was held on February 2, 2004. During the evening, 23 awards in nine categories were conferred on 90 recipients including company employees, partners, suppliers and customers.

“Excellence at Tata Steel required a quantum jump for it to catch up with the rest of the world. It requires us to think out-of-the-box and to break new ground,” was the guidance provided by Mr A N Singh, Deputy Managing Director, Corporate Services, to all the award winners and invitees at the function.

Among the innovative initiatives undertaken by the company during the year was the “CD Handshake”. Each department made a set of two CDs to visually communicate with the customer and supplier department about their process flow, product requirements and expectations. The CDs also enunciated the initiatives udertaken to improve product quality and enhance customer satisfaction.

“Tata Steel has changed and developed,” Dr T Mukherjee analysed for the benefit of all. “If there is a will to achieve, the gestation period from an inspiration, to an idea, an aspiration, and its implementation is short, and one can move towards achievement.” Further, he believes, “the restlessness to achieve is now simmering all over the company and among the stakeholders.”

Dr T Mukherjee (right) congratulates Mr H Jha

Quality Month had seen a plethora of related activities across the company including an on-the-spot quiz covering over 6000 shopfloor employees, an Online Quality Quiz, which registered over 400 hits a day, a national level seminar on excellence in education, assessment of 22 hubs and stock points, Quality Circle competition as well as the “BE Fair - Passion for Customers” in which 23 divisions of the company participated. The Fair attracted over 5000 visitors.

Mr Manzer Hussain (left) receives an award from Mr A N Singh

The Quality Month awards for Tata Steel’s business partners were bestowed by the Managing Director, Mr B Muthuraman, whose address provided valuable insights into the business excellence process that the company should follow.