The Gujarat Co-operative Milk Marketing Federation Ltd. has emerged as the top scorer in the service category of the prestigious IMC Ramkrishna Bajaj National Quality Award - 2003. The Certificate of Merit was presented at a glittering ceremony held at Mumbai on March 11 by the Governor of the Reserve Bank of India, Dr. Y. V. Reddy.

According to Shri B. M. Vyas, Managing Director, GCMMF, this recognition has once again reiterated GCMMF's commitment to quality and excellence. The biggest strength of GCMMF is the trust it has created in the minds of consumers regarding the quality of its products. GCMMF and its brand Amul stand for guaranteed purity for whatever products it produces, he added.

GCMMF has bagged this award for adopting noteworthy quality management practices for logistics and procurement. Over the years, it has established an efficient supply chain that penetrates even the remotest corners of the country. The information systems of the Federation are comprehensive and include details on product quality, delivery performance, supplier quality, disaster recovery and all essential commercial areas, the citation reads.

The Ramakrishna Bajaj National Quality Award is based on framework and principles almost similar to the Malcolm Baldrige Award that is given by the President of the United States to businesses - manufacturing and service, small and large - and to education and healthcare organizations that apply and are judged to be outstanding in seven areas: leadership, strategic planning, customer and market focus, information and analysis, human resource focus, process management, and business results.

Mr. B M Vyas receives the Qimpro Gold Standard Award
Qimpro Platinum Standard, the highest individual honour, has in recent years been awarded to Chandra Mohan, Aditya Birla, Deepak Parekh, F C Kohli, Dr J J Irani, Azim Premji, and Kumar Mangalam Birla. Qimpro Awards are recognized by the ASQ and the Institute of Quality Assurance, UK