Maruti to establish excellence centre

New Delhi: Market leader Maruti Udyog Limited has announced the setting up of a 'centre for excellence' in collaboration with its suppliers. The centre will provide consultancy and training support to Maruti's suppliers and sales network to enable it to achieve global standards in quality, cost, service and technology orientation.

It will work closely with Maruti's partners to implement world class practices like TQM, TPM and TOPS (team oriented problem solving techniques). The centre will also train Maruti employees in quality related issues. The Maruti Centre for Excellence was formally inaugurated last week, with a contribution of Rs10 crore by Maruti to the corpus. The centre has been registered as a 'not for profit' society.

According to Jagdish Khattar, Maruti Udyog's managing director, "Maruti is committed to achieving global standards in quality, cost, service and technology and customer orientation. For this, our suppliers have to be upgraded to world class levels. The centre will support our partners in this regard, including smaller units which may not be exposed to world class quality practices".

Several Maruti dealers and suppliers have the ISO 9000 certification. A few leading suppliers have also implemented TPM, TQM and 'lean management' practices with the help international consultants.