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CII plans PCMM certification to India Inc

Fakir Chand in Bangalore

The Confederation of Indian Industry is planning to introduce the global People Capability Maturity Model certification to the Indian manufacturing and processing sectors in collaboration with the US-based Carnegie Mellon University, Pennsylvania.

Though the Software Engineering Industry (SEI-CMM) certification at all the 5 levels has been a norm with the Indian IT software firms, the traditional manufacturing and processing companies have all along been eyeing only ISO 9000 and ISO 14000 certifications for benchmarking their operations with their global peers.

CII Institute of Quality chairman K N Shenoy told rediff.com in Bangalore on Wednesday that the proposal would be taken up at the upcoming 10th Quality Summit next week to work out the modalities.

"CII will initiate discussions with Dr Bill Curtis, who is the principal architect of the PCMM certification. In order to become globally competitive, the time has come for India Inc to benchmark itself with global players for a pie of the international market," Shenoy stated.

The PCMM certification will involve evaluation of Indian manufacturing companies at all the 5 levels that will audit their quality standards spawning procurement, production processes, training of human resources, accounting and marketing.

"CII will evolve a mechanism to get its member companies in diverse sectors certified at the PCMM level on the lines of SEI-CMM certification, awarded to Indian software firms.

The CII Institute of Quality feels that the PCM model will be equally applicable to the Indian manufacturing and processing sectors. We will be working out the economics of going for such certification at the three-day Quality Summit, being held in Bangalore from November 14," Shenoy disclosed.

In view of the high costs involved in the PCMM certification process, the CII is thinking of a cluster approach to the audit evaluation procedures so that companies with generic products or processes will be able to pool in their resources to avoid overlap and minimise certification costs.

According to CII Institute of Quality deputy director general N Srinivasan, the objective of the CII's discussions on the PCMM certification process with Dr Curtis and UK Institute of Quality Assurance president-elect Jim Speirs is to see how the internationally accepted model can be made relevant to the Indian manufacturing sector.

"The PCMM is a roadmap for implementing workplace practices that continuously improve the capability of its people. Since it cannot be achieved in a day, the PCM model introduces its 5 levels in stages, bringing about transformation in the organisation culture by equipping it with best practices to attract, develop, organise, motivate, and retain its workforce," Srinivasan asserted.

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