Zee Business MSME SUMMIT SEASON 2 focuses on ‘IMPROVING QUALITY & SUSTAINABILITY’ of MSMES – Top takeaways from discussion
- August 24, 2022 8:02 am
In today’s day and age, the dimensions of businesses are changing and there is growing emphasis on quality while companies compete against each other for gaining market share. In the changing world order, there are challenges but at the same time there are opportunities for higher growth. In light of this, the entrepreneurs associated with Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs) must explore all avenues to make their growth strategies. This will ensure that their path to growth is better than before.
The MSMEs have a significant role toward the economy of this country. Their contribution to India’s Gross Domestic Products (GDP), employment and exports is also immense.
Under the current circumstances and to understand the prevailing challenges in greater details, we are brainstorming on different themes in the Zee Business MSME NATIONAL SUMMIT Season 2. This session discusses ‘Improving Quality & Sustainability’. In the show, issues including capacity building, kaizen, total quality management, lean manufacturing and ZED certification were discussed by industry captains to provide guidance to the MSME businesses.
The programme was hosted by Saurabh Manchanda, SME Editor Zee Business and in the discussion Dr Ramanand N Shukla, Director, Quality Council of India; D P Goel, Co-Chair, MSME Committee, PHDCCI; Arnab Chakraborty, National Director, UNCTAD; Empretec India Foundation, took part.
D P Goel, Co-Chair, MSME Committee, PHDCCI emphasised on the need to increase quality of products to remain competitive in today’s times. He said that a positive change is now being seen in the sector. He said that global markets are now open for the Indian businesses. After the pandemic, the economic activity has grown significantly. The people are become more aware on the quality front. The view is also changing towards work. He said that if the small businesses are able to motivate their staff, achieving better quality will not be a very difficult task.
Goel also gave his views on waste mitigation. He said that productivity will be improved and there will be less wastage if there is a stress on achieving good quality from the beginning itself. This will also save time and improve the quality of products.
The companies must provide in-house training to its staff to prevent wastages, he further said.
On ZED certification, Dr Ramanand N Shukla Director, Quality Council of India said that the council has made ZED model very easy for the MSMEs. He said that the results from this scheme are very encouraging. Almost 12500 registrations for ZED certification have been done in a very short span, he added. He said that it was a very important step in light of global developments. In the discussion he informed how the world was looking at India in respect of the supply-chain efficiencies. He said that it was very important for the MSMEs to ensure high quality in their products. This was the reason why ZED certification was re-launched after simplifying it. It was done so that MSMEs could evaluate themselves and see where they stand in term of quality and how they can further improve the quality and their capacities.
Shukla said that ZED certification has been implemented in two phases. In the first stage, which is also the current phase, stress is being put on manufacturing. In the second phase, emphasis will be given to MSME sector. ZED certification will be implemented for the entire MSME sector.
Another expert Arnab Chakrabortty National Director, UNCTAD Empretec India Foundation spoke about the importance of Japanese business philosophy Kaizen saying that the philosophy is tried and tested and is useful for learning and practice. It will be interesting to see how small and medium enterprises have benefitted using this technique. He said that Kaizen or any other management philosophy will be successful if not just the businesses, but buyers and the entire value chain adheres to the principles of the philosophy.
On Total Quality Management or TQM Chakrabortty said that if any business focuses on implementing the principles of TQM, they will not need any external office to ensure quality. He said that the compliance burden will change into approval and then be part of the nature and practice for the employees.
