Saturday 15 May 2010

Quality standards in India

Some 20 years ago, the family decided not to buy factory-made British beds, side-board, dining table etc and to buy Indian hand-made products and import them into Britain instead. Because we were not there to oversee the actual packing, the products all arrived soaked and warped. The seller in India was a renowned one, and he worked with a British importer...!

Just a few weeks ago, my son, on a visit to India, decided to buy a nice tailored bespoke jacket. After repeated failures to get the jacket ready at promised times, the jacked was eventually ready just before he flew out, but still needed some last-minute adjustments as is often the case. So he had to leave without his jacket. I was visiting India last week, and picked up his jacket for him. You can imagine his disappointment (and mine) when he reported that the adjustments had not been done as instructed and that the jacket is not up to what it was promised to be.

Our quality standards in India may have improved for some things, but they are still not up to scratch. What is lacking is a work ethic that knows how to work backwards from having made a promise, to having the processes and commitment to deliver on the promise - on time. We either take on too much, or we don't have mastery of processes.

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