IntroductionBharat Electronics Limited (BEL) was set up at Bangalore, India, by the Government of India under the Ministry of Defence in 1954 to meet the specialized electronic needs of the Indian defence services. Over the years, it has grown grown into into a multimulti-pro produc duct, t, multi-t multi-tech echnol nology ogy,, multi multi-un -unit it compan company y serving the needs of customers in diverse fields in India and abroad. BEL is among amo ng an el elit itee gr grou oup p of pu publ blic ic se sect ctor or un unde dert rtak akin ings gs wh whic ich h ha have ve be been en conferred the Navratna status by the Government of India. The growth and diversification of BEL over the years mirrors the advances in the electronics technology, with which BEL has kept pace. Starting with the manufacture manufacture of a few communication communication equipment equipment in 1956, 1956, BEL went on to produce Receiving Valves in 1961, Germanium Semiconductors in 1962 and Radio Transmitters for AIR in 1964. In 1966, BEL set up a Radar manufacturing facility for the Army and inhous housee R&D, R&D, whic which h has has been been nurt nurtur ured ed over over the the years years.. Manu Manufa fact ctur uree of Transmitting Tubes, Silicon Devices and Integrated Circuits started in 1967. The PCB manufacturing facility was established in 1968. In 1970, manufacture of Black & White TV Picture Tube, X-ray Tube and Microwave Microwave Tubes started. started. The following following year, facilities facilities for manufacture manufacture of Integrated Circuits and Hybrid Micro Circuits were set up. 1972 saw BEL manufa manufactu cturin ring g TV Transmi Transmitte tters rs for Doorda Doordarsh rshan. an. The follow following ing year, year, manufacture of Frigate Radars for the Navy began. Under Under the govern governmen ment's t's policy policy of decent decentral raliza izatio tion n and due to strateg strategic ic reasons, BEL ventured to set up new Units at various places. The second Unit of BEL was set up at Ghaziabad in 1974 to manufacture Radars and Tropo communication equipment for the Indian Air Force. The third Unit was established at Pune in 1979 to manufacture Image Converter and Image Intensifier Tubes. In 1980, BEL's first overseas office was set up at New York for f or procurement of components and materials. In 1981 1981,, a manu manufa fact ctur urin ing g facil facilit ity y for for Magn Magnes esiu ium m Mang Mangan anes esee Diox Dioxid idee batteries was set up at the Pune Unit. The Space Electronic Division was set
up at Bangalore to support the satellite programme in 1982. The same year saw BEL achieve a turnover of Rs.100 crores. In 1983, an ailing Andhra Scientific Company (ASCO) was taken over by BEL as the fourth manufacturing Unit at Machilipatnam. In 1985, the fifth Unit was set up in Chennai for supply of Tank Electronics, with proximity to HVF, Avadi. The sixth Unit was set up at Panchkula the same year to manufacture Military Communication equipment. 1985 also saw BEL manufacturing on a large scale Low Power TV Transmitters and TVROs for the expansion of Doordarshan's coverage. 1986 witnessed the setting up of the seventh Unit at Kotdwara to manufacture Switching Equipment, the eighth Unit to manufacture TV Glass Shell at Taloja (Navi Mumbai) and the ninth Unit at Hyderabad to manufacture Electronic Warfare Equipment. In 1987, a separate Naval Equipment Division was set up at Bangalore to give greater focus to Naval projects. The first Central Research Laboratory was established at Bangalore in 1988 to focus on futuristic R&D. 1989 saw the manufacture of Telecom Switching and Transmission Systems as also the setting up of the Mass Manufacturing Facility in Bangalore and the manufacture of the first batch of 75,000 Electronic Voting Machines. The agreement for setting up BEL's first Joint Venture Company, BE DELFT, with M/s Delft of Holland was signed in 1990. Recently this became a subsidiary of BEL with the exit of the foreign partner and has been renamed BEL Optronic Devices Limited. The second Central Research Laboratory was established at Ghaziabad in 1992. The first disinvestment (20%) and listing of the Company's shares in Bangalore and Mumbai Stock Exchanges took place the same year. BEL Units obtained ISO 9000 certification in 1993-94. The second disinvestment (4.14%) took place in 1994. In 1996, BEL achieved Rs.1,000 crores turnover. In 1997, GE BEL, the Joint Venture Company with M/s GE, USA, was formed. In 1998, BEL set up its second overseas office at Singapore to source components from South East Asia.
The year 2000 saw the Bangalore Unit, which had grown very large, being reorganized into Strategic Business Units (SBUs). There are seven SBUs in Bangalore Unit. The same year, BEL shares were listed in the National Stock Exchange. In 2002, BEL became the first defence PSU to get operational Mini Ratna Category I status. In June 2007, BEL was conferred the prestigious Navratna status based on its consistent performance.
VISION, MISSION, VALUES AND OBJECTIVESVISION: - To be a world-class enterprise in professional electronics.
MISSION: - To be a customer focussed, globally competitive company in defence electronics and in other chosen areas of professional electronics, through quality, technology and innovation.
VALUES: - Putting customers first. - Working with transparency, honesty & integrity. - Trusting and respecting individuals. - Fostering team work. - Striving to achieve high employee satisfaction. - Encouraging flexibility & innovation. - Endeavouring to fulfill social responsibilities. - Proud of being a part of the organization .
OBJECTIVES: - To be a customer focussed company providing state-of-the-art products & solutions at competitive prices, meeting the demands of quality, delivery & service. - To generate internal resources for profitable growth. - To attain technological leadership in defence electronics through in house R&D, partnership with defence/research laboratories & academic institutions.
- To give thrust to exports. - To create a facilitating environment for people to realize their full potential through continuous learning & team work. - To give value for money to customers & create wealth for shareholders. - To constantly benchmark company's performance with best-in-class internationally. - To raise marketing abilities to global standards. - To strive for self-reliance through indigenization
Quality PolicyWe are committed to consistently deliver enhanced value to our customers, through continual improvement of our products and processes.
Quality Objectives ·
Effective and efficient design and development process, considering the present and future needs of customers.
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Enhanced customer satisfaction by on-time delivery of defect free products and effective life cycle support.
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Continual upgradation and utilization of infrastructure and human resources.
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Mutually beneficial alliances with suppliers. Continual improvement of processes through innovation, technology and knowledge management.
Evolution of Quality Management System in Bharat Electronics : Right from its inception in 1954, Bharat Electronics has understood the varying levels of quality and reliability requirements of its customers and has been striving to enhance their satisfaction level. The company has developed and improved Quality Systems and Procedures over the years. Starting with an inspection oriented Quality system during the initial years, the company shifted its focus towards MIL-Q-9858 Quality Management System during the early Seventies.
During the Eighties, a number of initiatives were taken to improve the Quality Management System. They included release of documented QA manual; promotion of participative culture in the organization; launching of QC Circles & Suggestion Scheme, etc.
Introduction of TQM Bharat Electronics adopted the Total Quality Management (TQM) philosophy in the year 1990 under the acronym 'TORQUE' which stands for Total Organisational Quality Enhancement. TORQUE is based on the premise that the quality of products and services is not only the responsibility of the production/shop floor personnel, but other support services also who have a role to play in meeting and exceeding our customers? expectations through supply of quality products and services. Some of the critical business performance indicators like transactional cycle time, manufacturing yield, inventory turnover ratio, customer complaints, QCC presentations, quality cost, etc are monitored on a monthly basis through SAP and corrective actions are initiated for continual improvement. Starting from 1993, all Units / SBUs / Divisions of the company have been certified for ISO 9001 Quality Management System and ISO 14001 Environment Management System. Seven Units / SBUs (Ghaziabad, Panchkula, Kotdwara, Hyderabad, Military Communication, Electronics Warfare & Avionics and Export Manufacturing) are also certified for AS 9100 Aerospace Standards. The Central Software Development group of the company has CMMi Level 5 certification.
Thrust areas of TORQUE a.
Continual improvement of products and processes through deployment of Six Sigma methodology.
b.
Key processes stabilization and capability improvement through Statistical Process Control (SPC) techniques.
c.
Reduction of cycle time in all transaction areas.
d.
Improvement in quality of design through DFSS projects.
e.
Employee motivation and empowerment through self certification, QCC and Suggestion Schemes.
f.
Introduction of lean manufacturing concepts to achieve on-time delivery.
g. Customer satisfaction surveys to measure and improve satisfaction level of customers.
Business Excellence The company has adopted CII-EXIM Bank Business Excellence Model to improve its overall strategic and operational excellence. Adoption of this Model since 2002 has helped the company in understanding the expectations of various stakeholders and in enhancing their satisfaction level. The company has achieved the level of 'Commendation for Strong Commitment to Excel' and is striving to reach higher levels of excellence under the Model.
Bharat Electronics Quality Institute A Quality Institute has been created in 1999 by the company to impart education / training to the company's officers, customers and suppliers on various facets of quality management. Regular training programs are conducted for all employees of the company. Courses on topics such as Six Sigma, design for Six Sigma, reliability & maintainability, lean manufacturing, SPC, Project Management, etc are conducted regularly at the Quality Institute.
Standardisation Standardisation & Quality are two inseparable parts of the TQM process and they play a complementary role. A Corporate Standards Department established four decades back has evolved more than 4000 standards on drafting, materials, systems & procedures, manufacturing processes, quality & workmanship, etc. These standards have provided effective support in design, manufacturing, vendor development and process standardisation.
Quality Assurance Facilities The company has established state-of-the-art test facilities like environment test chambers, high altitude test facilities, bump & vibration test facilities, calibration facilities for electronic test instruments, EMI / EMC test facilities, etc. The calibration facility is certified as per ISO 17025 standard by NABL. Facilities for Highly Accelerated Life Testing (HALT), Highly Accelerated Stress Screening (HASS) and Multiple Environment Over Stress Testing (MEOST), combined environmental testing (Thermal & Vibration) are established for enhancing product reliability. Reliability & statistical software tools are used by the company to demonstrate, predict and measure quality and reliability characteristics and parameters of products during design, development, manufacturing and life cycle stage.
