SOUTHERN REGION

WORKSHOP ON "POKA YOKE": 19TH APRIL 2001, HYDERABAD

The third, in a series of Workshops on "Poka Yoke", was organised in Hyderabad. The programme was successful with 34 participants as were the earlier two programmes conducted in Chennai and Bangalore.

The programme was conducted by Mr D Manivannan, Sr Manager, TPM, Sundaram Clayton Ltd. who shared his company’s experience on how "new thinking" was initiated - an essential if "Poka-Yoke" was to be practised to rapidly eliminate customer complaints and internal failures.

Mr S D M Rao, Executive Committee Member of ACMA and CMD, Samkrg Pistons and Rings Ltd gave the welcome address and inaugurated the programme. He thanked Mr Manivannan and Sundaram Clayton for all their support and said that one of the most important contributors to cost, are the errors and defects in operation. POKA YOKE, which means human error prevention, aims at simple and practical methods to eliminate defects and errors sometimes due to attitude problems or lack of application of the mind to modify existing systems.

KOREA MISSION: 14-19 MAY 2001

A 17 member mission led by the southern Region Chairman, Mr C Narasimhan, returned in the month of May, from a specific tour of Hyundai Motor Corporation and its Vendors in Korea-a highly valuable tour in terms of learning and information. This Mission began with a visit to HMC in Ulsan which manufacturers Elantra and Coupe.

At the very beginning, it must be stated that without the assistance of Hyundai Motor Corporation Korea and India, this outstanding programme to HMC and its vendors in Ulsan and nearby locations, would not have been possible. ACMA (SR), sincerely thanks all concerned, for their support, co-operation and hospitality.

The last 3 Years has seen global players in the vehicle and component sectors set up shop and cater to both domestic and overseas demands. The WTO Agreement has brought in an influx of auto parts. The component sector faces stringent norms re-quality, cost, delivery and environment- customers demand 100 ppm quality; reduction in costs ranging from 2-7% every day; delivery of minimum twice a day with this demand going up and the requirement of Environment Management System. To survive these challenges, world class status must be achieved- while some component manufacturers have, others have not.

The objective of this Mission, therefore, was to benchmark against some of the Best Manufacturing Practices adopted by the Hyundai Motor Company and its Suppliers and get first hand exposure on how optimum levels of Quality are achieved.

April 1997- Mission led by then ACMA President Mr. K Mahesh had done an extensive tour of Korea visiting 2 Korean giants, one being Hyundai Motor Corp., & its Suppliers.