LANXESS India bags the IMC Ramakrishna Bajaj National Quality Award 2010

LANXESS India, the specialty chemicals company, won the IMC (Indian Merchants Chamber) Ramakrishna Bajaj national quality award 2010 in the ‘manufacturing category’. This is the highest category of award for quality from an Indian industry body and has been conferred for LANXESS operations at its manufacturing site in Nagda in Madhya Pradesh. The award was received by Mr. Neelanjan Banerjee, Senior Vice President – Basic Chemicals and Senior Executive Director, LANXESS India, at a ceremony held in Y B Chavan auditorium. The chief guest at the ceremony was Shri K Sankaranarayanan, Governor of Maharashtra who also handed over the award to the winners.

Last year, LANXESS India received the ‘Outstanding Achievement Trophy’ in the manufacturing category of the IMC Ramakarishna Bajaj Award 2009, which is only second in rank. Leading industry players like Godrej & Boyce manufacturing Company, Marico Limited, Sterlite Industries were also awarded in the manufacturing category.

The LANXESS Nagda operations are a part of the business unit basic chemicals which forms part of the advanced intermediates segment of LANXESS.
The products manufactured at the Nagda site are supplied to all the major markets globally, catering to more than 500 customers in more than 50 countries worldwide, servicing a wide range of application segments like agrochemicals, pharmaceuticals, dyestuff, flavors and fragrances and coatings among others. The main products manufactured are benzyl chloride, benzyl alcohol, benzaldehyde, benzo trichloride, benzyl acetate, cinnamaldehyde, benzyl benzoate, thionyl chloride, sulphuryl chloride and sulphur dichloride.

The site has adopted state-of-the-art technologies for process and people safety, environmental protection and quality and is ISO 9001, ISO 14001 and OHSAS 18001 certified.
The site has delivered outstanding results with a constant focus on quality and customer satisfaction. Some of the key success factors are customer satisfaction, consistent product quality, people and asset productivity, growth through innovation and good corporate citizenship.

The company has also initiated many corporate social responsibility programmes in the area of education and development of children that benefit the local community in the region. In addition, enhanced communication, transparency and a large number of people initiatives has fostered teamwork, innovation and a performance-driven culture which have resulted in this coveted award.

Dr. Joerg Strassburger, Managing Director and Country Representative of LANXESS India said, “This is indeed a proud moment for our site at Nagda and for LANXESS India. It speaks volumes about our efforts towards improving quality, maintaining safety and bringing about sustainable development. I sincerely thank IMC Ramakrishna Bajaj trust for recognizing our efforts through this award.”

Banerjee added, “On this occasion, I would like to applaud the efforts of all employees who strived to achieve and maintain the level of excellence in quality that we have been honored for. I heartily congratulate the entire Basic Chemicals team in India for our success.”

The IMC Ramakrishna Bajaj national quality awards have been recognizing excellence in Indian organizations, with awards bestowed upon different categories like manufacturing, service, education and health care. Since the inception of the awards in 1996 more than 400 organisations have been introduced to the IMC RBNQA performance excellence model which is based on the Malcolm Balridge criteria. The award criteria emphasize openness and transparency in governance and ethics, the need to create value for customers and the business and the challenges of rapid innovation and capitalizing on the knowledge assets. It is one of the most prestigious quality awards in India and the chairman of the panel of judges this year was Mr. Mukesh Ambani, Chairman - Reliance Industries. Other members of the panel of judges were Mr. Uday Kotak, Executive Vice-Chairman and Managing Director, Kotak Mahindra Bank Ltd, Prof. Rupa Shah, Former Vice Chancellor, SNDT Women’s University; Dr. Anil Khandelwal, Chairman, Baroda Pioneer Asset Management Co Ltd, and Mr. Shailesh V. Haribhakti, Chairman, BDO Consulting Pvt Ltd.

At LANXESS, it is a constant endeavour to improve quality through innovation and continuous improvement, while minimizing the impact on environment. Safety of people and protection are accorded the highest priority and are an integral part of the LANXESS work culture as well as of all products and processes at LANXESS worldwide. The site at Nagda truly represents our core values which form the driving factors for growth in the organization.