The Hindu Business Line : BHEL quality circles to take part in global meet

Three Quality Circles of BHEL, one each from company’s Haridwar, Hyderabad and Tiruchi units will participate in the next International Quality Circle Convention to be held in Beijing.

As a prelude, the Hyderabad and Tiruchi units will make their presentations at the Inter-Unit Quality Circle Convention 2007 here on Friday. Over two decades, the number of Quality Circles in BHEL has grown to 998 and the members account for 27.4 per cent of the company’s workforce.

The company is looking forward to involving all the employees, including those in non-manufacturing areas into improvement activities over the next five years.

‘High confidence’

Delivering the keynote address on the occasion, the Executive Director of BHEL, Tiruchi Complex, Mr R.N. Misra, said that the Rs 80,000 crore order book of BHEL, to which a new order gets added every week, reflects the high confidence that customers repose in the company.

In the open economy, BHEL could allay misgivings by prevailing over multi-national companies in wresting projects and subsequently turning out to be the lone bidder in tenders. The BHEL is now into the new phenomenon of negotiating rates. The company is living up to the nation’s faith, Mr Misra said, emphasising that power projects should be commissioned in time to meet customer expectations.

Mr Misra said the quality movement has been gaining momentum and that a realisation has set in among employees registering achievements through synergy by working in teams that the sense of self-esteem, satisfaction and fulfilment surpass the motivation that money provides.

Inaugurating the convention, Mr M.L. Sah, Executive Director, Power Sector, Eastern Region, said the concept of Quality Circle has taken firm roots in the power sector ushering in a sense of involvement among employees. As winners, the members of Quality Circles are the company’s brand ambassadors, he said, calling upon the 183 delegates belonging to 27 competing Quality Circles across various BHEL units in the country to give a new direction through their creativity and positive mindset.

Mr A.V. Krishnan, General Manager, Corporate Quality, informed that the challenges lie in according Quality Circle focus on niche areas, including workmanship safety, storage, and preservation.