Value chain crucial in achieving world standard products: Ravi Uppal

Bangalore, Nov 18 (UNI) Companies offering a quality value chain can succeed as split task, where each partner focuses on a particular area, creates opportunities for innovation and hence a better end product, ABB Ltd Vice-Chairman and Managing Director Ravi Uppal said today.

Addressing delegates on the concluding day of the three-day 14th Quality Summit 2006 organised by CII, he said that with customers looking for value, outsourcing had become extremely common, almost as basic as a business practice. There was almost a never-ending list of services and tasks that could be outsourced.

''The complete landscape of the business horizon is undergoing tremendous change, with suppliers taking a lot more responsibility.

They have redefined the value chain,'' he said.

Citing the example of aircraft major Boeing, which do simple assembly and do not go into manufacturing intricacies, Mr Uppal said work subcontracted to people, who highly specialise in specific areas, would result in manufacture of better products.

''Quality is not something that is a static parameter, but rather a dynamic parameter. It is very important that we keep all our systems tuned in a way that we could address quality in a dynamic setting. Quality should be viewed from the aspect of the whole value chain as it is applicable to every single part of the value chain from logistics to final delivery,'' he said.

Innovation had become a way of life and was a key component of value offering. This was the biggest challenge that the industry in India was facing today, where we need to bring in a new cultural change. ''Every company must have an innovation budget and leverage the power of information technology in their businesses,'' he added.

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