Jamshedpur, Oct 08, 2008 : In a unique honour, Tata Steel has become the first integrated steel plant worldwide, outside Japan, to be conferred with the Deming Application prize for Excellence in Total Quality Management for the year 2008.

The award was announced today by the Deming Prize Committee, instituted by the Japanese Union of Scientists and Engineers (JUSE), the apex body spearheading TQM movement, a Tata Steel press release said here. The formal award ceremony will take place on November 12 in Tokyo, the release said.

While expressing satisfaction over the accomplishment Tata Steel Managing Director B Muthuraman said "no other activity made us think so deeply about our business and relationships than the process of applying for the Deming prize." Muthuraman dedicated the recognition to the employees of Tata Steel, its customers and business partners who have consistently imbibed the spirit of continued improvement and demonstrated a teamwork leading to several laurels in the last 20 years.

The prize, instituted in December 1950 in honour of W Edwards Deming was originally designed to reward the Japanese companies for great strides in quality improvement and now it is also applicable to non-Japanese companies.

Worldwide 160 companies including 15 Indian ones, primarily from the automotive sector, have won the Deming Application prize since it came into being.