20 YEARS OF TQM PRACTICES AT INDUS MOTOR COMPANY LIMITED
By: Muhammad Ilyas Suri
INTRODUCTION & ABSTRACT
Adviser and Board Member – Indus Motor Company Ltd Past Chairman QPSP & Ex Chief Coordinator Citizens Foundation Karachi,PAKISTAN. Indus Motor Company was conceived and incorporated in 1989. The automobile industry was one among the regulated sectors and hence Government of Pakistan approved the project to be a joint venture enterprise within prescribed limits. Indus rolled out its 1st car in February 1993. I was fortunate to lead the project from its inception. It provided me an opportunity to work with Toyota Group, the leading automobile manufacturers already poised to take No.1 position globally.
Fortunately too, Indus was a green field project and the vision of its sponsors was to establish the business using best practices. In this backdrop, the in-house manufacturing facilities, marketing, sales and after sale operations and all down stream operations and services had to be put in place to deliver results of the right quality and at the right pace. These were;
- Plant facilities and infrastructure built on Toyota specifications at competitive.
- Cost Merit based systems for acquiring human resources and their training,
- Network of local suppliers and parts manufacturers in order to achieve local contents complying with GOP regulations as well as Toyota Standards
- Long term plan for raising level of local industry to increase their input, supporting objectives and goals of GOP and promote technology transfers in strategic areas.
- Network of 3S dealers backed up by dealership employees’ training.
All these deliverable were challenging but perfect fit for TQM paradigm. We did not, perhaps succeed in implementing Deming’s 14 point agenda completely, we certainly applied most of it and achieved positive results.
After 1993 this joint venture company moved forward making its mark in almost every sphere of the business. It faced uncertainties, challenges and threats of varied nature & magnitude helping it become stronger and more dynamic.
In my presentation I will particularly dwell on two areas firstly development of company culture and secondly development of local manufactures, our key partners in technology and progress.