Godrej & Boyce has won the CII Kaizen Award in the Large Scale category, while Ukay Metal Industries bagged it in the MSME segment. To create an awareness of the Kaizen Practices in the Indian industry, Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) had organised the 8th CII Kaizen Competition, which was participated by 128 teams from various companies from Maharashtra.

"Kaizen activity" is one of the benchmarked tools that not only enhances the growth of any organisation, but also uplifts the morale of the employees, setting a good example of "employer-employee relationships", as it calls for collaboration, commitment and teamwork from top to down. Kaizen involves setting standards and then continually improving productivity, quality, safety, delivery and morale and reduction of maintenance and manufacturing cost. These can range from a very small improvement (leading to few hundreds of Rupees saving) to a very large improvement (leading to crore of Rupees saving). Usually Kaizen's ideas are given by the people from the shop floor. Normally Kaizens require little or no investment and at times lead to substantial savings or productivity improvement."

The Winners - In Large Scale Companies category:

• First - Godrej & Boyce Mfg Co Ltd (Electrical & Electronics Division), Mumbai
• Second - Vishay Components India Ltd, Pune
• Third - Mahindra & Mahindra Ltd, Plant-I, Nashik

The Winners in Small & Medium Scale category:

• First - Ukay Metal Industries Pvt Ltd, Nashik
• Second - S I Interpack Ltd (Unit-4), Nashik
• Third - Sharda Motor Industries Ltd, Nashik