Very often, we buy a product or service without considering about it too much because we are sure that it will meet our expectations. It is a trust born out of long usage and/or periodic positive reinforcement from people. Interestingly, all this while, the company that offers this product or service has been understanding your evolving needs, listening to your feedback and refining their offering. This interplay is about Trust on one side, and Quality on the other, the foundation of a long and fulfilling association.
In our context, our quest for Quality is all about understanding and listening to our clients and delivering projects that certainly meet their expectations, even better if we can successfully exceed them. Recently, a newly formed IC that has been on a remarkable turnaround mode, won two major projects in the Middle East. What is heartening is that both these were repeat orders from the respective clients.
There is no better way to reward our quality. Five of our projects have won L&T Construction’s Timely Delivery award and they could have delivered only if they had their quality systems and processes in place. Four more of our projects have won the Quality Award for 2024, giving ample proof that quality is deeply embedded in the way we execute our projects.
However, it cannot only reside in just 9 projects. Our Quality theme for the year, Ensuring Reliability by Innovation & Quality that encapsulates our mission of combining innovation with rigorous quality measures to ensure reliability in everything we do, must be more widespread running through every project that we are executing. It should be our collective mission to instil and keep alive in our clients, customers, consultants, partners, prospective employees and, the people at large who experience our projects, an abiding trust in our ability to deliver nothing but the best.
That we are serious about Quality is reflected in our association with IFQM (Indian Foundation for Quality Management), underscoring our commitment to find innovative ‘Indian ways’ to create sustainable value for our customers and the society at large.
Listening to clients is key
Successful project delivery depends a lot on managing customer expectations for which it is imperative to understand them by ‘listening’ to what they are saying, internalizing their stated and unstated requests/demands. Often, although we hear a client’s feedback, we continue to do what we think is right resulting in a mismatch between expectation and delivery. Never forget that we are executing their project and that their ownership is always greater than ours. Of course, we need to share our opinion and make ourselves heard but after a point it becomes more important to deliver than to win your argument.
Winning and maintaining a client’s trust is crucial in this scenario, for then they value our point of view and are convinced that we are just as passionate about the project as they are. That is a critical inflection point when clients start to see us as worthy partners and that is more than half the battle won. Involving them from word ‘go’ and collaborating with them right from the designing and planning phases, ensure that everyone remains on the same page, and clearly communicates that we co-own the project with them. This trust can, however, only be built on the bedrock of quality. Quality, therefore, is never an option; it is a necessity.
Our robust Quality Management System, with its comprehensive set of procedures, guidelines, and best practices, has been so designed to ensure that every project we execute meets with client expectations, covering every aspect of project management and execution including pre-construction planning, in-depth risk assessments, material selection, partner onboarding, worker mobilization, and onsite supervision. We cannot go wrong if we all follow our QMS to the ‘T’.
Our tech adoptions should hold us in good stead
Our suite of tech solutions, fuelled by the AI revolution, are already driving our quest for Quality across several sites, be it BIM for precise planning, visualization, coordination and reducing rework or geospatial technologies to save time and costs in surveys, or even using smart, automated equipment. As our clients become more demanding, and we work on more complex projects to even more stringent timelines, widespread adoption of technology will be the key differentiator to enhance efficiencies, productivity and delivery.
Our digital transformation has always been about seeking and finding solutions for unique and specific problems faced at sites and therefore is relevant and beneficial for every project that we execute hence adoption must be 100%.
Quality is our collective responsibility
Quality is about doing the right things when no one is watching and therefore it is also a mindset. An orientation to do only that is acceptable, about readily adopting best practices, rigorous audits and a relentless focus on getting into granular details. It is said that God lies in the details, and it holds true more with projects for the more we are on top of the details, the better our chances to deliver. Our Quality Council has been instituted to standardize and drive Quality across our organization. Let’s together re-commit ourselves to delivering nothing but the best.
All the best!
S N Subrahmanyan
Chairman & Managing Director, Larsen & Toubro