Setting up a global world class quality (WCQ) framework to audit manufacturing quality, a special group to monitor product quality and developing a customer-centric approach: these are some elements of an aggressive makeover at Tata Motors Ltd (TML).

For the last three years, a quiet transformation has been happening within the company, and the Zest and the just-launched Bolt are the first products to emerge from the new organisational strategy.

To shed its image as a maker of stodgy passenger cars, the company plans a pipeline of products with eye-catching designs and features such as multi-drive gasoline engines, infotainment systems that operate on voice commands, cruise control and keyless entry — all normally seen in high-end cars. Tata Motors has chalked out a prospective product road-map till 2020.

“The WCQ framework has been modified to our requirements, and currently both our plants in Pune and Sanand have crossed level 2,” explains Girish Wagh, Senior VP, programme planning and project management, for passenger cars. “Outside experts do the WCQ audit and we have every intention of moving up the 5-level ladder,” he adds. A separate group, the Forward Model Quality (FMQ), has been created to implement improvements on 14-15 parameters. This was executed under the guidance of quality expert Wolfram Liedtke, a former director of Jaguar Land Rover (JLR). “This ensures critical quality-related aspects are addressed and is a key aspect we learnt from Jaguar Land Rover,” says Wagh.

Coordinated design

The focus on quality extends not only to its own assembly line, where robots ‘man’ stations, but also at the suppliers’ end, where new processes have been put in place to ensure higher quality of components.

Another major change is the design and styling aspect, which is now a coordinated team effort across India, Italy and the UK. A few years ago, TML acquired a majority stake in Trilix, a design studio in Italy, and set up a new one in UK, independent of JLR.

“Earlier, this was done in Pune, but we have recruited a lot of people in Italy and the UK,” Wagh says, adding that trendy, youthful designs will help bring in the younger customer, and be an important effort in changing the brand’s perception.

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