The Deming Prize Award Ceremony was held at the Keidanren Kaikan in Otemachi, Tokyo in November 12, 2008. Brief introduction of the award winners is as follows.

The Deming Prize for Individuals

	Mr. Masahiro Sakane, Chairman, Komatsu Limited While assuming a heavy responsibility to manage Komatsu Limited, Mr. Sakane has been appointed to prominent positions in various Japanese quality-related bodies such as Keidanren, the Japan Federation of Economic Organizations. Through his distinguished career, Mr. Sakane advocated the importance as well as the effectiveness of TQM and displayed leadership in its dissemination and development. The management reform Mr. Sakane practiced, known as DANTOTSU Management, made a profound impact on corporate top management and business people toward recovery of manufacturing industry. Such valuable contributions by Mr. Sakane to enhance quality in the industrial arena received a high reputation.

The Deming Application Prize

	Tata Steel Limited (India) Tata Steel Limited (Tata, hereafter) initially launched small group activities and suggestion system which have been practiced for years. By newly incorporating policy management and daily management, as well as positioning them in the core of their TQM activities, Tata has accelerated deployment of their activities to achieve managerial objectives. The Deming Application Prize was awarded to Tata due to the recognition and accomplishments as follows. First, Tata links business strategy and TQM closely in a cooperative manner, focusing on quality. By using TQM as a tool to achieve the strategy, Tata has enjoyed positive effect on improving the quality of product/service, enhancing brand value, and increasing production volume. Second, Tata has successfully implemented various projects, in order to correspond with a rapid growth of Indian industry, such as the construction of new shaft furnace, and enlargement of facilities for quantitative expansion. Third, plentiful efforts can be seen in the improvement activities, mainly by small group activities, to enhance problem solving capability at Gemba, shop floor. Record of these activities is all compiled in a database that is being actively utilized. Under the strong leadership of Managing Director, Mr. B Muthuraman, Tata has made company-wide effort with an aim to improve their TQM activities that resulted in steady increase in their business performance.

	Winners expressed full of joy in their remarks. The Deming Prize for Individuals and the Deming Application Prize were awarded to the winners by Mr. Fujio Mitarai, chairman of the Deming Prize Committee. The Nikkei QC Literature Prize was awarded to the winners by Mr. Tsuneo Kita, President, Chief Executive Officer, Nikkei Inc. As a representative of the guest of honor, congratulatory address was delivered by Mr. Toichi Sakata, Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports and Technology of Japan. We wish a brilliant success in the future to all the winners.