Tata Chemicals (TCL) realises that you can't do today's job with yesterday's methods and be in business tomorrow. To achieve and sustain global standards, the company has made continuous improvement its focus, and business excellence its daily endeavour.

Operating India's largest and most integrated inorganic chemicals complex at Mithapur, as well as the country's most energy-efficient fertiliser complex at Babrala, TCL is the market leader in two of its key products — soda ash and branded salt. The company has seen a steep 17-per cent growth in sales this year.

Before it is a far more challenging goal, the JRD QV Award. "Our focus is not just on a number," says Vivek Talwar, corporate quality head, Tata Chemicals, "but on processes that make continuous improvement." Crossing the coveted 600 mark, he feels, would be a reality check that the company is moving in the right direction.

Aware that a chain is no stronger than its weakest link, TCL has taken a conscious decision to apply for the Tata Business Excellence Model (TBEM) as an enterprise and not as separate strategic business units (SBUs). "Applying for TBEM as a single enterprise requires a strong alignment and integration across our various units, and would create a stronger organisation," explains Talwar. "This would enable us to rapidly replicate pockets of excellence," he feels.

The phosphates business is a new entity, a result of the merger of Hind Lever Chemicals Limited last year. Tata Chemicals plans to bring the business on board the common TBEM application soon. "Over the last three to four years," says Talwar, "we have been doing frequent and honest diagnoses of our work. I feel that quite often we are over-critical of ourselves, but that's a good thing since it makes people seek improvements." Talwar wants the company to do better in terms of benchmarking. "Babrala is a world-class fertiliser plant. We need to benchmark ourselves with other world class fertiliser plants on many more aspects than we do at present," he believes.

The foundation of excellence is built on processes. The TCL management aims to have a structured enterprise-wide process model, which would involve mapping its 1,000 or so processes. Talwar believes that when departments take ownership for their own processes, it moves the organisation away from being person-specific and towards being systems oriented. "We are now working on improvements to this process, as a result of our learning over last year," he says.

The company is deploying high-end quality tools to help it respond to business challenges faster. The 'quality function deployment' or QFD tool helps identify and cater to the needs of customers across all segments, as well as track performance vis-à-vis competitors. Talwar feels that this should result in higher customer satisfaction and loyalty.

A more structured learning process is also in the making. TCL launched an IT-enabled knowledge management (KM) process last year. It has developed an interesting and unique methodology, encouraging its employees to share 'stories' that can build a repository of tacit knowledge. Tata Chemicals believes that its KM system is a Group benchmark in the making.

The company regularly taps into the knowledge and best practices of other Tata Group companies. A compilation of knowledge on best practices that can be implemented by the company is being worked on by the quality systems people and the company's external assessors.

These assessors play a vital role in benchmarking. Talwar wants many more of them, "even though the percentage of external assessors to the total management cadre at Tata Chemicals is already about the same as the best in the Group". He plans to ramp up their number in the next two years.

The company's in-house business excellence training programme has a carefully selected aspirational acronym, BEST (Business Excellence Stewardship Training). It utilises the latest TBEM application of the company as a case study. The module looks at the participants and the organisation as customers and, in the best traditions of process design, has provided features that address their needs. "What is heartening is that a number of non-management cadres are also clearing BEST, which means TBEM is permeating through the entire organisation," says Talwar proudly.

The company has deployed several innovative initiatives. Unnati, a total employee involvement programme focussed primarily on the non-management cadre, empowers workers on the shop floor to take ownership of their areas and work on continuous improvement. Manthan, is a cost-reduction programme with a bottom-up approach that uses the creativity and energy of employees and stakeholders, to address four critical areas - purchasing, manufacturing, micro-marketing and the supply chain.

Umang uses theatre to create awareness, commitment and organisational transformation. It communicates the message in an energising, emotional, participative and 'fun' manner, and has been used to spread the message of KM, TBEM, code of conduct and cultural pillars across the enterprise.

Over the last three or four years, TCL has made tremendous progress, in its performance, financials, processes and customer focus. "We have simultaneously taken up a very large number of initiatives. Organisational transformation is the most significant sentiment that we encounter across the enterprise," Talwar declares. But Tata Chemicals has already raised the bar higher; it's got its sights on the JRD QV Award and on becoming a world-class chemicals conglomerate.