Quality in India: Looking Back. Looking Forward.

In the days when historians assumed that history began with Greece, the Greek historian Herodotus recorded the first known reference to cotton grown in India.  “Certain wild trees bear wool instead of fruit, which in beauty and quality excels that of sheep; and the Indians make their clothing from these trees”.

Arab travelers in Ninth Century India reported that “In this country they make garments of such extraordinary perfection that nowhere else is their like to be seen …. sewed and woven to such a degree of fineness, they may be drawn through a ring of moderate size”. But weaving was only one of the many handicrafts of India.  Europe looked up to Indian expertise in almost every line of manufacture: wood-work, metal-work, bleaching, dyeing, tanning, soap-making, glass-blowing, gun powder, fireworks and cement.  Much of the gold used in the fifth century BC, came from India.

Ashoka’s famous many-pillared hall in his palace at Pataliputra was partly dug out by archeologists about a century ago. Dr Spooner, of the Archaeological Department of India, in his official report, stated that this was “in an almost incredible state of preservation; the logs which formed it being as smooth and perfect as the day they were laid, more than two thousand years ago”.  He further added that the “marvellous preservation of the ancient wood, whose edges were so perfect that the very lines of jointure were indistinguishable, evoked admiration of all those who witnessed the experiment.  The whole was built with a precision and reasoned care that could not possibly be excelled today……. In short, the construction was an absolute perfection of such work.”

The art of tempering and casting iron developed in India long before its known appearance in Europe. Vikramaditya, for example, erected at Delhi (circa 380 AD) an iron pillar that stands untarnished after sixteen centuries.  The quality of metal, or manner of treatment, which has preserved the pillar from rust or decay, is still a mystery to modern science.

Centuries later, the industrial revolution taught Europe to scale up manufacturing operations more economically, and the Indian industry faded into obscurity – being unable to stave off the competition.

The incredible growth of world-wide competition in the past fifty years – led at different times by the American, German, Japanese, Korean and Chinese companies – has shaken modern business to its very core.  The prime mover for the success of these companies has been reliability engineering and customer focused management. People around the world currently have access to the best possible products at continually decreasing relative costs.

What will it take for companies in India to work “faster, better, cheaper, and different” compared to companies in Korea and China?

I am part of ASQ’s Influential Voices and this post is in response to ASQ’s Blog: A View from the Q.