Int. J. Services and Operations Management, Vol. X, No.

Y, xxxx 1

Realising leadership in Indian market by Deming

awarded original equipment manufacturing industry
through TQM

Pardeep Gupta* and Ankesh Mittal

Department of Mechanical Engineering,
Sant Longowal Institute of Engineering & Technology,
Longowal, Sangrur, Punjab, India
Email: pardeepgupta24@gmail.com
Email: ankeshmittal07@gmail.com
*Corresponding author

Abstract: The attempt of this paper is to investigate how different

approach used for implementing total quality management (TQM) in a tyres
manufacturing industry facilitated for realising leadership in the Indian market.
The other aims of the study are to investigate the key issues faced by the
industry before initiating TQM and examine the benefits gained after TQM.
The industry was facing some critical business issues since 1996 such as low
productivity, financial crisis and low market share. To defeat these issues, the
industry leadership adopted TQM for improving its business performance in
2008. The TQM implementation remained successful and as a result, it gained
top market position, the customer satisfaction score improved to 81 from 75,
market share enhanced by 19.1% and employees participation increased by
73.5% in a period from 2009 to 2016. Finally, the industry received the
Deming Prize in 2017 because of significant improvement in organisational
performance.

Keywords: total quality management; TQM; Deming Award; operational

excellence; continuous improvement; business model.

Reference to this paper should be made as follows: Gupta, P. and Mittal, A.

(xxxx) ‘Realising leadership in Indian market by Deming awarded original
equipment manufacturing industry through TQM’, Int. J. Services and
Operations Management, Vol. X, No. Y, pp.xxx–xxx.

Biographical notes: Pardeep Gupta is working as a Professor in the

Mechanical Engineering Department at Sant Longowal Institute of Engineering
& Technology Longowal, Punjab, India. He obtained his BE and ME degrees
from the PEC, Chandigarh, in 1989 and 1997, and PhD from NIT, Kurukshetra,
in 2004. His areas of interest include quality and reliability engineering, total
preventive maintenance, TQM, industrial engineering, conventional and
non-conventional metal machining, and optimisation techniques. He has
published more than 100 research papers in various national and international
journals of repute and conference proceedings. He has more than 30 years of
industrial, teaching and research experience.

Ankesh Mittal is a PhD Research Scholar pursuing his PhD in the Mechanical
Engineering Department at Sant Longowal Institute of Engineering &
Technology Longowal, Punjab, India. He completed his BTech and

Copyright © 20XX Inderscience Enterprises Ltd.

2 P. Gupta and A. Mittal

MTech degrees from the Chitkara University, Punjab and Thapar University,
Patiala, in 2013 and 2015, respectively His areas of research are total quality
management and production engineering. He has published 12 papers in
national and international journals of repute and conference proceedings.

1 Introduction

Indian manufacturing industry is facing fiercely global competition to attain sustainability

and competitiveness. It is the right time that Indian industry must focus on attaining
world class standards of its products and services in term of quality, cost and delivery for
its survival in the global market. As per the present competitive scenario, manufacturing
organisations need to supply high quality and cost effective products in the market. A
large number of manufacturing organisations have started implementing different
business improvement tools and approaches such as total quality management (TQM),
total productive maintenance (TPM), just in time (JIT), lean, Six Sigma, etc. to gain
competitiveness and remain ahead of others (Luthra et al., 2017; Ellis et al., 2019). TQM
is usually recommended as one of the most significant strategies for an organisational
development. Implementation of TQM resulted into improvement in performance
parameters like productivity (P), quality (Q), cost (C), safety (S), delivery (D) and morale
(M) of the organisations as well as it boost the confidence and skill level of the
employees (Seth and Tripathi, 2005; Karia and Asaari, 2006; Prajogo and Cooper, 2010).
The implementation of TQM practices in organisations helps in gaining business
competitiveness and provides an improvement in their performance, both operational and
financial (Muchiri and Pintelon, 2008; Antunes et al., 2018; Majumdar et al., 2019).
The Union of Japanese Scientists and Engineers (JUSE) introduced the quality award
namely Deming Prize in 1951 to advance quality control in Japan (Dahlgaard, 2006).
Deming Prize is awarded to those if there is a significant improvement in quality,
enhancement in productivity, cost reduction, increased sales and profits after
implementation of TQM approaches by total employee participation and organisational
commitment. Deming 14 principles, highlighted that quality enhancement cannot take
place without organisational changes directed by the senior leadership. Presently,
32 Indian companies have demonstrated many successes on this front by winning
Deming Prizes and CEAT India Limited is one of the privileged industries which
received Deming Prize in 2017. CEAT founded in 1958 is one of India’s leading tyre
brands and the flagship company of the RPG GROUP. Driven by the principle of helping
the world move safely and smartly, CEAT provides world-class products and services
across 100+ countries.

2 Literature review

In the recent past, a good number of research articles have been published on the
implementation of TQM in both manufacturing as well as service sector. Manupati et al.
(2019) emphasised that the advancements in manufacturing organisations are now
focusing towards reducing the cycle times, lead times and different manufacturing costs
so as to timely deliver the cost effective products to the customers. This trend has led
 Realising leadership in Indian market by Deming awarded OEM industry 3

companies to exploit newer manufacturing principles which concentrate deeply on the

reduction of the cycle times and manufacturing costs. Some researchers point out that
TQM is a very influential methodology for improving the efficiency, flexibility and
business competitiveness in order to meet the customer’s requirements. Kipper et al.
(2019) proposed a method of support for the improvement of management of companies
through the integration of processes with the strategic planning guidelines. The method
was developed from the combination of a strategic management methodology based on
performance indicators and process management in order to perform in a more effective
and competitive management. TQM is the process of practicing the quality tools and
techniques to improve the quality of processes and products (Zeng et al., 2015; O’Neill
et al., 2016). TQM has been turned out to be a universal theme for manufacturing
organisations in the 21st century. Kumar and Sharma (2018) defined TQM as both a
philosophy and a set of guiding principles that represent the base of an endlessly
improving organisation. TQM builds up a tradition of continuous improvement by top
management commitment through total employee involvement and perceptive of
customer demands (Besterfield et al., 2003; Basu et al., 2020; Gupta and Mittal, 2020).
Under TQM, the companies used to deploy some of the statistical and management
tools for enhancing organisational capabilities. Singh et al. (2018) studied the
implementation of TQM in Indian industries and its influence on the organisational
performance. Bolatan et al. (2016) revealed that technology transfer and good
performance has a positive and strong impact on the implementation of TQM approach in
industry. Rokke and Yadav (2012, 2015) conducted a study on the challenges and
barriers that prohibit the organisations from achieving the desired success and revealed
that why some of the prominent industries remained unable to sustain this business
management technique. Sawant et al. (2018) presented a cost effective and do-it-yourself
approach used to design and implement a quality management system for smaller
organisations. The study also proposes an effective continuous improvement and system
maintenance plan after implementing the quality system.
Most of the researches on TQM have revealed that policy management (PM), daily
work management (DWM), cross-functional management (CFM), quality management
and total employee involvement are the chief enablers during the TQM implementation
(Samson and Terziovski, 1999; Sila, 2007). The success of TQM implementation in any
organisation is completely dependent on the key enablers/contextual factors such as PM,
DWM, QM, TEI, etc. (Zhang et al., 2011). In TQM deployment, PM plays a major role in
achieving improvements with regard to quality, cost, profitability, productivity and
competitiveness. PM is a methodology looked after by top management for achieving
systematic, continuous improvement within an organisation by following the P-D-C-A
loop (Witcher and Butterworth, 2001; Witcher, 2003; Oakland, 2011). Friday-Stroud and
Sutterfield (2007) and Yang (2020) elaborated that practicing DWM is necessary to align
the efforts of the whole plant towards the realisation of its vision. DWM should be
accomplished by all the employees working at different levels and functions. The CFM
encourages the involvement of one section of the organisation with other departments and
promotes team work approach (Hackman and Wageman, 2018). Gupta et al. (2018)
demonstrated the usefulness of TQM in enhancing the business performance of the Indian
manufacturing industries. TQM helps organisations to improve their productivity, market
share, quality, cost and competitiveness through total employee involvement (Douglas
and Judge, 2001; Modgil and Sharma, 2017; Kumar and Sharma, 2018).
4 P. Gupta and A. Mittal

The most significant objective of TQM deployment is to raise the customer

satisfaction if any organisation wants to achieve sustainable competitive improvement
(Khalili et al., 2018; Hilman et al., 2019). In TQM, customer satisfaction is considered as
most desirable issue for better business results (Brah and Lim, 2006). Sadikoglu and
Zehir (2010) emphasised that TQM is a systematic quality improvement methodology for
an organisation with an aim to improve business performance in terms of quality,
productivity, customer satisfaction and profitability; and continuously improve all the
processes of an organisation by involving total employees to achieve high customer
satisfaction at the competitive price.
Many researchers reported that numerous tangible and intangible benefits were
gained by a good number of process and manufacturing industries in India by
implementing TQM philosophy. The implementation of TQM in industry is not always
thriving however there are good numbers of examples of its failure across the country.
Therefore, there exists a gap in understanding the TQM philosophy and its
implementation procedure by Indian TQM practitioners and industry. Another gap in the
current TQM literature is on defining the relationship between TQM approaches and
organisational performance with regard to manufacturing industries. Most of the studies
on TQM are available with regard to selected industries such as chemical, engineering,
automotive, heavy machinery, electrical engineering and electronics. A very few studies
are available in the context of original equipment manufacturing (OEM) companies.
Hence, this paper aims to signify the implementation of TQM in a tyres manufacturing
industry for regaining its lost market position and subsequently realising leadership in the
Indian market.

3 Research objectives

The purpose of this paper is to examine and demonstrate the effectiveness TQM
implementation in one of the leading OEM industries and enumerate the main benefits
achieved through an empirical study. There might be quite a few ways available in front
of organisations to achieve its vision but the challenge is to follow the right path. Further,
our research aims to study the deployment of TQM principles and identify which
combinations of the organisational TQM approaches and capabilities remained helpful in
improving business performance. Exploring the use of different tools and techniques
under different TQM principles and deriving organisational learnings with the successful
TQM implementation are also the key aspects of the research in this paper.

4 Research methodology

A conceptual case study research methodology has been used in this research paper on
using TQM by OEM Indian industry for realising leadership in the Indian market. The
literature on TQM with specific reference to practices and happenings in Indian industry
has been examined to identify the key issues. To prepare the study, the required
information and primary data has been collected after having discussion with concerned
industry officials associated with TQM committee. The secondary data related to reports
and result sheets has been collected from websites of the industry and The Union of
Japanese Scientists and Engineers (JUSE). An analysis was performed to identify how
 Realising leadership in Indian market by Deming awarded OEM industry 5

each of the identified TQM approaches influences the business results. A brief study has
been prepared covering the methodology used for TQM implementation, deployment of
different TQM principles, investigate their impact, overall achievements and the learning
of lessons from this case study.

5 Implementation of TQM at CEAT India Ltd.

CEAT India Ltd. is a leading tyre manufacturing industry of India competent to provide a
variety of tyres for both commercial as well as passenger vehicles in India and abroad
since 1958. The industry is having four operating plants which are situated at Bhandup,
Nashik, Halol and Nagpur. The two oldest manufacturing plants of CEAT India Ltd. are
located at Bhandup and Nashik, which due to large number of breakdowns were unable
to meet the daily planned production. The other two new plants at Halol and Nagpur were
provided with state-of-art infrastructure utilising latest technology. The overall industry
was facing low productivity, low customer satisfaction, inadequate on time delivery,
financial issues, low market share, more complaints, no presence in truck and bus radials
(TBR) and negligible presence in passenger car radial (PCR). The following were the
challenges faced by the company:
1 Operating profits used to fluctuate as a result of inability to fix correct selling price
because of variation in raw material costs.
2 In the pre-TQM period, profit before tax (PBT) % used to vary up to 8.5%.
3 Lack in leadership in the domestic market in any product category. The company
was predominantly a truck and bus category player with 8% market share possessing
4th rank in the country.
4 Poor profits caught up CEAT’s capability to spend adequately on maintaining the
machines in old plants leading to frequent breakdowns and thus further causing
increase in manufacturing costs.
5 High debt equity ratio also remained one of the issues for the poor business
performance.
The industry decided to implement TQM as a business improvement tool for gaining
organisational performance as encouraged by the successful implementation of TQM in
other Indian industries. Thus in 2008, they realised that there was a need to restructure
the management system and therefore started implementing TQM so that the market
position and financial health of the industry shall improve. CEAT’s management strategy
was designed to counter specific challenges around productivity, quality, profitability,
market share, costs, etc. The industry started implementing TQM system as a new
manner of thinking, executing and managing its organisational performance. The main
objectives of TQM implementation in the industry were to become a customer centric
organisation, significantly improve plant performance, and elevate people capability
while establishing a culture of continuous improvement. TQM implementation in CEAT
is categorised in three phases and the different strategies carried out for the attainment of
the vision of the company and to achieve its business objectives are presented in Table 1.
6 P. Gupta and A. Mittal

Table 1 CEAT strategies and objectives for the vision attainment

Phase/period Objectives Strategies

Introduction 1 Improve working conditions of 1 Initiate ‘Muri’ reduction projects
(2009–2011) plants
2 Upgrade quality assurance 2 Initiate training programs for the
system knowledge and skill development
of workers, employees and
supervisors
3 Improve delivery performance 3 Establish cross-functional
of the industry management (CFM) team for
enhancing manufacturing quality
4 Create harmonious relations
with employees and operators
Development 5 Implement TQM across all 4 Roll out TQM initiatives in
(2012–2015) functions and levels manufacturing for improving
processes and products
6 Expand QA across the value 5 Commence improvement
chain initiatives like 5S, Kaizen’s, QCC
and QIPs
7 Extend CFM to new product 6 Establish management diagnosis
development system
Consolidation 8 Improve the product quality 7 Capability building on advanced
(2016–2018) levels proactively problem solving methods such as
QCC and QIPs
9 Enhance analytical capability 8 Establish review system using
of the organisation input and output parameters for all
functions
10 Further extend/strengthen 9 Extend management diagnosis
improvement systems from function level to
cross-function level
11 Continue to upgrade the TQM
implementation system

5.1 Vision formulation

The first step of TQM implementation is vision and strategy formulation of
organisational. SWOT analysis and brain storming sessions were conducted with help of
senior and middle level manager and inputs were taken from internal as well as external
customers, suppliers and dealers. The company set its vision, i.e., “To provide better
value to every passenger and goods carrier in the nation through economical and
technologically advanced tyre solutions” and accordingly proposed some key objectives
related to customers, plant performance and continuous improvement. The vision
of TQM deployment and its objectives were communicated to all the stakeholders of
the industry using posters, banners, calendars, pocket planners and conducting
communication sessions to create better awareness to align the complete organisation
with it.
 Realising leadership in Indian market by Deming awarded OEM industry 7

5.2 TQM framework development

A structured and integrated TQM implementation framework was developed in 2012 and
the same was implemented throughout the company to realise its vision as presented in
Figure 1. The TQM framework is in the form of a house that offers directions and
guiding principles to the complete organisation in performing different improvement
practices in accordance with TQM principles and achieves the desired targets through
continuous improvement.

Figure 1 TQM model of CEAT Ltd.

Business excellence

Customer centric business goals based on vision and mission

Management system
 Policy management
 Daily work management
 Cross-functional
management
Development system
 Skill development
 New product development
 Supplier development
 Utilisation of IT
Improvement system
 Kaizens
 Quality control circles
 Quality improvement
projects
 Quality control story

Involvement (human resource management)

Trust building, participation, boosting employee morale

The three major TQM principles such as management, development, and improvement
were implemented through systematic and strategic planning to achieve financial and
non-financial business improvements as presented by Figure 2. The involvement of
employees is the foundation of the TQM house. The various TQM initiatives under the
TQM pillars with the total employee participation were performed which are discussed
briefly in next sections.

Figure 2 TQM framework deployment

Improvement
system
Financial
Management outcomes
system
Organisational
TQM performance

Development
system
Non-financial
outcomes
Involvement
(HRM)
8 P. Gupta and A. Mittal

5.3 Management system initiatives

The purpose of performing management system initiatives was effectively and efficiently
manages the QCDSM objectives and strategies. This system used enablers like, PM,
DWM, CFM, etc. to align the efforts of the whole organisation towards going for
continuous improvement. These initiatives have the abilities to improve, maintain and
transform the organisation to gain excellence in terms of quality, cost, profit, etc. for
remaining competitive in the present scenario.

5.3.1 Policy management

Policy development and deployment process was the first step and the most important
part of the TQM planning system. This process took six months in carrying out policy
formulation. The operational and business processes of the industry have undergone
numerous changes and modifications based on the review results and internal
management diagnosis of the last four years. Policies defined at the company level were
deployed through the senior leadership level to the respective functions. In addition to
these, policy objectives were also identified at functional levels which were deployed by
the functional heads. The progress of the policies was reviewed by the top level
management on regular basis. Gap analysis used to be discussed by top management and
then countermeasures were taken. Policy directions and guidelines used to be reviewed
and revised if required.

5.3.2 Daily work management

DWM commenced with defining basic responsibility of all the individual employees
working at different levels and their functions and roles on daily basis. The DWM is
practiced by all workers/employees and functions with team approach as per new
guidelines. In CEAT, DWM activities were performed by using a standardised format
(role template) which outlines the role and reviews the key process indices (KPIs) to be
attained by all concerned persons. During TQM deployment, 1,144 managers used
186 unique role templates. These role templates got reviewed from time to time for the
conformance of the pre-defined objectives. All issues were analysed and after that
irregularities used to be discussed in DWM meetings to further resolve them. Severe
problems used to be addressed through quality improvement projects (QIPs). Success of
daily management is looked upon in terms of number of standards revised/created
every year. Standards in the form of work instructions, SOPs, manuals, and training
modules were created or revised as per requirement. Finally, the industry developed
4,406 standards within a period of four years from 2014 to 2017.

5.3.3 Cross-functional management

In order to achieve the targeted quality, cost and delivery parameters with highest impact
on customer satisfaction, cross-functional councils/teams for product development,
delivery management and quality assurance were formulated for the overall improvement
of the system of the organisation. The different councils established in the industry, their
purpose and the key systems developed are presented in Table 2.
 Realising leadership in Indian market by Deming awarded OEM industry 9

Table 2 CEAT CFM

Council
Council Council chair Purpose Key systems development
secretariat
Quality Executive Head QA Formulating 1 Supplier quality
assurance director improvement assurance
(QA) operations impacting 2 Manufacturing quality
satisfaction quality assurance
policies customer
3 Customer complaints
management
Delivery Sr. vice Head Design and Order booking system
management president supply implement an
(DM) manufacturing chain efficient delivery
control system
(DCS)
Product Executive Head Prepare Stage gate system
development director marketing development
(PD) technical through planning
Product roadmap Product lifecycle
strategic management

5.4 Development system initiatives

The purpose of performing development system initiatives was to effectively and
efficiently manage the improvements in quality, cost, delivery, profit, etc. The following
development initiatives were implemented in the industry for the development of human
assets, processes and products.

5.4.1 Skill development

Skill building and review system were the two main initiatives started by CEAT for the
TQM culture development in the organisation. For the skill building purpose, the basic
awareness courses started with the new employee induction program where 100% people
were covered. Specific TQM training programs conducted by both internal and external
faculty were organised to accelerate and building higher level of capability in the
employees to contribute in problem solving effectively and efficiently. The training has
resulted in gaining significant improvement in terms of quality, cost and delivery
parameters and sustenance of results by the industry.
A strong review process was initiated under the supervision of Management
Committee, right from the shop floor up to sales locations. The Management Committee
Meetings (MCM) used to be held on regular basis and this served as a backbone for
alignment of all the goals/priorities and focus at all levels. Policy objectives were
reviewed at the MCM level, while operational aspects were reviewed by the Operating
Committee (Op-Com) Team.

5.4.2 New product development

New product development (NPD) at CEAT was a cross-functional activity, which played
a significant role in achieving the company’s vision. The aim of NPD was to manufacture
10 P. Gupta and A. Mittal

and supply ensure ‘first time right’ products and also ensure that the products meet the
ever-evolving national and international regulatory standards. The CEAT NPD process
was a structured five stage process and it covered entire product life cycle of the product
from new platform development, size extension, OEM product development and
continuous product improvements. After achieving good results as per the Vision of
2016, the new Vision 2021 was rolled out identifying focus product categories, their
development strategy and key objectives.

5.4.3 Supplier development

Under TQM, the organisational focus has shifted towards enhancing the supplies from
outsourcing with a purpose to increase in-house production capacity. In 2011, top
management decided to expand their suppliers’ capacities and capabilities. TQM
initiatives were taken up at major outsourcing units. More new outsourcing partners were
added as part of TQM strategy to increase outsourcing production. Through various TQM
initiatives, capabilities at outsourcing units have improved along with the overall vendor
rating.

5.4.4 Utilisation of IT
Information technology was an important enabler for CEAT and responsible for
delivering competitive advantage for business. IT system enables business to execute
strategies and provides the necessary backbone for process controls and automations.
CEAT business applications give 360-degree coverage of its 1,145 plus internal and
4,500 plus external customers. It supported multiple business applications covering
2,500 plus users. Information technology platform and its integrated digital initiatives
open up doors for future business and new markets.

5.5 Improvement system initiatives

Different improvement tools and techniques as mentioned below were implemented for
the continuous improvement purpose.

5.5.1 Kaizens
All improvements under TQM were carried out involving all the employees of all levels
with the collaborative participation approach. Just-do-it and why-why Kaizens were
performed to encourage participation by all in improvement activities. Only implemented
suggestions were considered as Kaizens. Best Kaizens were recognised and rewarded.

5.5.2 Quality control circles

Quality control circles (QCC) activities mainly deals with the work-place specific
problems which otherwise cannot be addressed by PM and CFM. QCC-based
improvements were conducted by the workmen and associates operating on the shop
floor. The QCC teams prioritise problems from a pool of problem bank, created for
chronic issues under the preview of DWM, and work towards improving the QCDSM
parameters in their workplace.
 Realising leadership in Indian market by Deming awarded OEM industry 11

5.5.3 QIPs/quality control story

QIPs or quality control story (QC story) is basically seven-step problem solving
methodology and used to solve critical and chronic issues affecting the key KPIs in
QCDSM spectrum in any function. These are generally taken up by CFTs. The results of
each QIP after deployment were tracked for three months from closure date to check for
sustenance. In depth analysis of the improvements, standardisation and horizontal
deployment throughout the plant used to be done to gain the excellence in operational and
business processes.

5.6 Involvement approach

To motivate all the employees of the industry and building participative work culture, the
TQM initiatives were implemented to meet the following aims.

5.6.1 Trust building

As an outcome of various TQM activities, there has been a fully revolution in the
two plants at Bhandup and Nashik, where the situation has changed from an unfriendly
environment to a secure and friendly workplace. A system was introduced to record
employee complaints and resolve them before they become big irritants has been very
effective in developing this trust.

5.6.2 Participation
Employee satisfaction was reflected by improvement in the workmen engagement score.
The outcome was visible in the increase in the total employee involvement score with
the passage of time. TQM involvement scores were calculated on monthly basis and
published in TQM report.

5.6.3 Boosting employee morale

Employee morale was enhanced introducing different internal rewards and appreciation
schemes. Best QIP projects were presented during special review meetings, where
employees were awarded by senior management. Participation in external competitions
for best QIP projects is also permitted for the encouragement of concerned employees.
The top management used to conduct management diagnosis across the company on a
periodic basis to assess the effectiveness and acceptance of the TQM implementation.

6 Results after the implementation of TQM principles

Since the adoption of TQM in 2008 at CEAT, the company has continuously improved
its manufacturing performance, profitability and market position. Now, CEAT ranked
highest in India in the category of original equipment manufacturer. The implementation
of TQM in CEAT was remained successful and delighting the customers. Some of the
salient features and key achievements of CEAT during the TQM journey are mentioned
below:
12 P. Gupta and A. Mittal

 Continuous improvement in the satisfaction of all stakeholders.

 Improved customer satisfaction score considerably.
 Transparent and open working culture of the company, which attracts the current
generation of employees.
 Two new plants established in the Indian tyre industry.
 Developing puncture safe motorcycle tyres – breakthrough NPD.
 Complete transformation of the old plants took place with the help of high level of
employee involvement in improvement activities.
 Increased market presence in domestic as well as international market (tyres are now
being sold in European markets).

Figure 3 Improving customer satisfaction score

Customer satisfaction score

82 81
80 80
80 79
Satisfaction score

78
78 77
76
76 75

74

72
FY09 FY10 FY11 FY12 FY13 FY14 FY15 FY16

Figure 4 New product launched in last five years

No. of NPD launched

120 107

100
72 77
No. of NPD

80 62
53 50
60
40
19
20
0
FY11 FY12 FY13 FY14 FY15 FY16 FY17
No. of NPD Launched

It is noteworthy to point out that the tyres manufactured by it are having the additional
advantages such as structurally more durable by 2% than benchmark, overload durability
and performance is in line with benchmark, fuel efficiency of vehicles improved by 2%
to 6% in case CEAT tyres are used, and tyre life is 5% to 7% better than benchmark.
After the implementation of TQM initiatives at CEAT India Ltd., improvement in
customer satisfaction, increase in number of new products launched, percentage
 Realising leadership in Indian market by Deming awarded OEM industry 13

participation of employees and sales volume improved as presented by Figures 3 to 6 and

as a result, the company got Deming Prize in 2017.

Figure 5 Employees participation in last five years

Employees involvement in improvement activities

100 92
91
90 84
% participation ratio

80

70
58
60 53
50

40
FY13 FY14 FY15 FY16 FY17

Figure 6 Improvement in number of tyres sold

No. of tyres sold (Mn units)

30 26.2
25 21.8

20 17.3
13.2
15 11.5
8.8 9.3
10 7.3

0
FY09 FY10 FY11 FY12 FY13 FY14 FY15 FY16

7 Conclusions

The implementation of TQM principles at CEAT India Ltd. assisted in emerging out from
the business crisis and to remain customer focused and go on improving in terms of
quality, cost, delivery, etc. The industry gained 1st market position from the 4th rank
within a period of three years after TQM deployment. Predominantly, stupendous
tangible and intangible benefits were achieved such as the warranty claims come down
by 95%, breakdown hours reduced by 80% in old plants, number of accidents reduced by
95%, workers absenteeism reduced by 66%, total employee participation increased by
92%, net sales has grown by 12%, return on capital employed (ROCE) improved by
16.4%. Value creation for stakeholders has enhanced manifolds and customer satisfaction
index reached to 83.
The deployment of innovative NPD initiative played a major role in achieving the
company’s vision. The upgraded products as per the customer requirements were
introduced into the market after incorporating improvements based on market feedback
14 P. Gupta and A. Mittal

and gaps brought out through benchmarking. This initiative resulted for increased sales
volume, higher turnover and more profit. After TQM sales revenue increased from
25.3 to 62.1 (rupees in billions), PBT increased from 0.3 to 4.1 (rupees in billions),
overall tyre production increased from 91 million to 178 million within the period from
2009 to 2018.
As a result of significant improvement in the operational and business performances
of the industry, CEAT received the Deming Prize in 2017. The Deming Award further
helped the industry to enhance the brand equity of the company. After TQM, all the
stakeholders viz. customers, employees, suppliers, dealers have started working for the
company with zeal and sincerity. These aspects helped the company to rapidly scale-up
continuous augmentation in Indian as well as global tyre market. An empirical study on
the success story of TQM journey in realising leadership in Indian OEM industry is
instinctively of good academic importance. An empirical investigation of exploring the
key issues faced by the company before TQM and the benefits achieved after TQM
implementation will be of great help to the TQM practitioners and researchers to promote
similar TQM approaches in Indian industries. There is a good scope to further explore the
relationship between the TQM maturity and the improvement in organisational
capabilities.

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