Visakhapatnam, Sep 21 (KNN) Recognizing the key role played by quality standards in the global market, an industry awareness programme in ‘International Equivalence of Accreditation and its Benefits to Industry’ was held here.

The programme was recently organized by World Association for Small and Medium Enterprises (WASME) in association with the National Accreditation Board of Certification Bodies (NABCB), a body under Quality Council of India.

Addressing the event, Anil Jauhiri, CEO, NABCB, said quality standards played an important role in increasing the competitiveness of the Indian industry and boosting exports.

"It is now necessary for the smaller units to go in for certification and adoption of standards to make the Make-in-India campaign a success," he said.

P.L Haranadh, the Deputy Chairman of the Visakhapatnam Port Trust, said investment in quality would yield rich dividends, but the MSMEs should be provided financial support and other kinds of support to adopt zero-defect, zero-effect model.

"The goods and services should be defect-free, and there should be zero effect on environment. Environmental standards are the most crucial," Haranadh said.

In her address, Sampa Banerjee, Executive Director of WASME, Noida, highlighted the status of SMEs in the state of Andhra Pradesh and Telangana and urged SMEs to improve their performance and completive edge through implementing compliance, conformity assessment and best practices of Certification and Accreditation.

R.N Bhattacharya, the General Manager in the Visakhapatnam Steel Plant, said that in the past customer satisfaction was sufficient, but "now the motto is customer delight, and therefore more stringent standards are needed now to survive in the market."

The participants were also provided with significant information and knowledge of various system standards implementation for achieving the   competitiveness of their business and expand their business. (KNN Bureau)