'SMEs Must Focus on Ensuring Quality Standards'

An Industry Awareness Programme on “International Equivalence of Accreditation and its Benefits to Industry” was  organized by World Association for Small and Medium Enterprises (WASME) in association with National Accreditation Board for Certification Bodies (NABCB),a constituent Board of Quality Council of India (QCI),New Delhi.

VIZAG: The programme was held on 16^th September, 2016 at Vizagapatam Chamber of Commerce and Industry, Visakhapatnam.Sri G. Veera Mohan, Hony.Secretary, The Vizagapatam Chamber of Commerce and Industry as Guest of Honor

Mr. P.L Haranadh, the Deputy Chairman of the Visakhapatnam port trust, said investment in quality would yield rich dividends, but the MSMEs should be provided financial support and other kinds of support to adopt zero-defect, zero-effect model. "The goods and services should be defect-free, and there should be zero effect on environment. Environmental standards are the most crucial," he said

In her welcome address, Ms. Sampa Banerjee, Executive Director of WASME, Noida, thanked the NABCB for their initiative to organize this Programme in Visakhapatnam because of its potential growth in various sectors and the necessity to conform to international standards of quality.  While highlighting the status of SMEs in the state of Andhra Pradesh and Telangana, she urged SMEs to improve their performance and completive edge through implementing compliance, conformity assessment and best practices of Certification and Accreditation.

Anil Jauhiri, the CEO of the National Accreditation Board for Certification Bodies (a board of the QCI), said quality standards played an important role in increasing the competitiveness of the Indian industry and boosting exports. "It is now necessary for the smaller units to go in for certification and adoption of standards to make the Make-in-India campaign a success," he said.

Mr. R.N Bhattacharya, the General Manager in the Visakhapatnam steel plant, said that in the past customer satisfaction was sufficient, but "now the motto is customer delight, and therefore more stringent standards are needed now to survive in the market."

In technical session, three presentation were made including “Voluntary Standards and Regulations” and “International Equivalence of Accreditation & its Benefits to Industry” by Mr. Rajesh Maheshwari, Joint Director, NABCB, on “Systems Certification: Guidance on Selection of Certification Bodies” by Ms. Rajalakshmi Subrahmanyam, Lead Assessor, NABCB.

Through presentations the participants were provided with significant information and knowledge of various system standards implementation for achieving the   competitiveness of their business and expand their business.

Mr.D. Madhusudana Rao, Managing Director of TEAM Industrial Consultancy Services Pvt.Ltd., Visakhapatnam, Member of WASME, thanked NABCB, QCI and WASME for the programme.  He also thanked all the participants who evinced keen interest to know the implications of this programme. He offered special thanks to The Vizagapatam Chamber of Commerce and Industry and the Andhra Chamber of Commerce but for whose untiring efforts the programme would not have seen so many participants