The Stage is Set Yet Again! Honoring the Best in Manufacturing Excellence

Frost & Sullivan to Host the Fourth Annual India Manufacturing Excellence Awards and Manufacturing Summit 2007

T
he benchmark in Manufacturing will be set once again, at the 2007 edition of Frost & Sullivan's most awaited 'India Manufacturing Excellence Awards (IMEA),' which aims to recognize and applaud efforts of Indian manufacturing companies towards achieving excellent-to-world-class manufacturing status.

With Mr. Vikram Kirloskar, Vice Chairman, Toyota Kirloskar Motor Limited and Chairman & Managing Director, Kirloskar Systems Ltd, Bangalore, honoring the awards ceremony as the Chief Guest, this high-profiled awards night will see CEOs, CXOs of leading business houses all under one roof, to celebrate the spirit of manufacturing excellence in India.

Frost & Sullivan received an overwhelming 140 requests for assessment for IMEA 2007. Applicants were asked to assess themselves on a 30-point checklist and send 50 key matrices, which define their business performance. Based on the self-assessed checklist and matrices, facilities were short-listed for site visits. During these site-visits, facilities were assessed on 14 factors such as Layout and MHS, Focus on Customers, Safety and Environment, Supply Chain, Quality Systems, Operational Flexibility, amongst others. These factors are globally known to reflect facilities' progress towards flexibility and leanness and are associated with manufacturing excellence. They are scored on maximum of 1200 points. A stringent evaluation process based on the above model was followed to select the award recipients.

Both, Large Enterprises and Emerging Enterprises (defined as SMEs or with turnover less than INR 100 Crore), will be presented with Platinum and Gold awards across sectors such as Automotive, Automotive Ancillaries, Engineering, Chemicals, Pharmaceuticals and Healthcare, Metals and Process. The award recipients will be conferred titles based on the recommendations of the Jury Panel.

This year, the Jury comprised Dr. R A Mashelkar, Jury Chairman; Mr. Shyam Bang, Executive Director, Jubilant Organosys; Mr. K V Shetty, Managing Director, IP Rings and Director, India Pistons; Mr. Pravin Chaudhari, Director (Supply Chain), Kansai Nerolac; Dr. N Ravichandran, President (Operations), Lucas TVS; Mr. V K Magapu, CEO, L&T Infotech and CIO, L&T Mr. Rajeev Srivastava, GM - Enterprise, Microsoft Corporation; Mr. Sourav Majumdar, Bureau Chief, Deputy Executive Editor, Financial Express, Mumbai.

According to Raghavendra Rao, Director, Manufacturing and Process Consulting Group, Frost & Sullivan, "Until last year, Frost & Sullivan presented Platinum, Gold and Silver awards. Each of these had a specific qualifying score serving as a cut-off (on a total score of 1100). Of all the categories, time has come for India Manufacturing to raise its bar for Automotive and Engineering - a thought shared across the board, by all the esteemed Jury members present. Hence, this year, for these two sectors Frost & Sullivan will be felicitating facilities only in the Platinum zone, thereby reflecting its commitment to create a benchmark for the manufacturing fraternity. We hope that in 2008, other sectors will follow suit."

IMEA 2007, scheduled to be held on December 7th, 2007, at Hyatt Regency, Mumbai, would be preceded by the 'India Manufacturing Summit,' which focuses on sharing best practices observed during the assessment of facilities. Covering topics such as Supply Chain and Logistics Excellence, Leveraging Lean Concepts towards Operational Excellence, Safety Practices, Integrating IT to leverage manufacturing systems control, amongst others, this summit will provide an ideal platform for knowledge exchange and business networking.

Microsoft is the partner for this year and Auto Monitor, Chemical Weekly, The Financial Express, Industrial Automation, Industry 2.0, Logistics 2.0, NDTV Profit and Search are the official Media Partners.

About Frost & Sullivan

Frost & Sullivan, the Growth Consulting Company, partners with clients to accelerate their growth. The company's Growth Partnership Services, Growth Consulting and Career Best Practices empower clients to create a growth focused culture that generates, evaluates and implements effective growth strategies. Frost & Sullivan employs over 45 years of experience in partnering with Global 1000 companies, emerging businesses and the investment community from more than 30 offices on six continents. For more information about Frost & Sullivan's Growth Partnerships, visit http://www.frost.com.