The Indian Industries Association (IIA) and the Quality Council of India (QCI) have joined hands to improve the competitiveness of the small scale industries in Uttar Pradesh.
“We have taken up this venture with the objective of closing the gap between the current and expected levels of quality as defined by international manufacturing standards,” IIA president Parveen Sadana said.
Sadana today held a meeting with QCI Secretary General Girdhar Gyani in New Delhi to plan joint activities for instilling the practices of quality production, maintenance and management amongst the manufacturers.
The course modules include Quality Control Tools, Total Productive Maintenance, IT-enabled supply chain management, Quality Management Standards, Metrology and Measurement Assurance, 5S and Kaizen and Basic Lean Manufacturing.
These are components of National Manufacturing Competitiveness programmes initiated by the Ministry of Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs).
IIA will organise these programmes in all its chapters during the next 4-6 months.
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“In these troubled times for the industry, it is imperative for MSMEs to gain knowledge of quality tools & technology, which would enable them to upgrade products and services and hence improving their competitiveness in international arena,” Sadana added.
There are almost 100,000 small scale and medium units in UP and the state ranks fourth in India in the number of small units.
The SME sector accounts for almost 60 per cent of the total industrial output in the state. The financial crisis has adversely affected SME units, especially engaged in export to the US and European markets.
UP’s exports mainly comprise leather goods, carpets, textiles, agro products, brassware and auto parts.
Some of the SME clusters in UP include, sports goods (Meerut), glass work (Shikohabad/Ferozabad), leather footwear (Agra), pottery (Lucknow), locks (Aligarh), carpets (Bhadohi/Varanasi), etc.