2. Quality Crisis Management: Compromise is not an Option

[1] The Inception of DOJO at DNKI

Overview of Systematic Approach to inculcate Quality Sense

When it comes to quality, compromise is not an option. That's what the upper management of DNKI (DENSO Kirloskar Industries Pvt. Ltd.) believed when they faced a major setback in 2011. The company resumed its efforts to restore quality following the DENSO methodology, when Quality Issue occurred.

DNKI started working on Quality Issues to re-achieve Quality through DENSO Way

In 2009, factory expansion began to accommodate major project of Toyota - ETIOS. Launched in 2010 Dec, Etios gave a boost to the morale and hopes to DNKI for expanding the business in INDIAN market. However, this happiness was short lived as we got 2 Major Field claims for the newly launched vehicle in Sep & Dec’ 2011.

1st Field claim: Sep’ 2011 – Early corrosion in Evaporator and Condenser due to Tube Clad Material reverse by supplier, which resulted in leakage. Further, another issue of electric fan screw loose problem.
Back-to-back 2 issues of Vehicle to call back put DNKI on a highly embarrassing situation. The management recognized it as a big blow to the brand image of DENSO “Quality Must” Philosophy.

Identifying the Root cause

Management conducted deep analysis to find the root-cause and identified that it was Material Change at Supplier end without discussing with DN management, and secondly the manpower to do the Quality Check is not skilled.
In case of Electric Fan issue, it was the sensing skill to use the Air Driver was lacking and no understanding of full function of the product. Though there was a skill training available, there was no “DOJO” and DNKI operates with 70% flexible manpower.

Turnover of manpower was leading to some trained and some not as there is no DOJO. So, in quest of attaining “0” Quality issue DNKI started full-fledged DOJO. For over the last 7 years DNKI Dojo is one among the best in the Toyota Group of Companies at Bengaluru and benchmarked to improve their DOJO.
Further, to improve the Supplier quality, DNKI studied their system and improved their quality standards by deep penetration by sustained effort. With the current robust Quality Management System, we have been managing our Quality standards up to customer satisfaction and we have been receiving awards from most of the customers like TKM, Honda, Maruti Suzuki and BMW.

It is important to mention the special contribution from across sections of IGC, OGCs and DNJP members that made our success in a short time. We also started ESC (Early-Stage Control) to ensure issues identified well in advance. In fact, this initiative got us a citation from TKM namely ‘Self-Reliant Supplier’.

Treading Through the Tough Times by Standing Firm and Together

While the company fixed this issue, the company got to another issue of Financial Crisis, as we had to replace to customers with free of cost. The amount of financial loss was considerable and as per Indian Companies Act, DNKI would have been announced as “sick unit”, However, we received timely infusion of capital with support of DNJP was a great boost.

Despite the challenges, DNKI did not give up. They took a proactive approach to improve quality, and the DOJO program was a major step in the right direction. The company learned that compromise is not an option when it comes to quality. By investing in consistent training and enhancing their quality standards, DNKI was able to recover and emerge as a self-reliant supplier, earning the trust and admiration of their clients.

Back to a Strong Future