THE PRODUCTIVITY CHAMPION
The concept of productivity is not a straightforward one for everybody, and so is the case with an otherwise commonly used term – Value. Prof. K.R. Chari, who got wedded to the idea of ‘value’ (as against cost and price) sometime in the 1970s, and used it extensively through his practice of something called value engineering, has now been conferred the ‘National Productivity Champion-2021 for India’ award by the Asian Productivity Origination (APO), Tokyo.
The Asian Productivity Organization (APO) is an intergovernmental organization established in 1961 to increase productivity in the Asia-Pacific region, through policy advisory services, acting as a think tank, and undertaking smart initiatives in the industry, agriculture, service, and public sectors. The National Productivity Councils or Centers in 21 member-countries provide the wider APO network in the region.
APO confers Productivity Champion Awards at national and regional levels, once every five years. Individuals who have contributed significantly to advancing the productivity movement in the Asia-Pacific region are eligible for the regional awards, and those in a specific member economy of the APO are eligible for the national awards. The National Productivity Champion Award for India, now conferred upon Prof. K. R. Chari, was declared on 8th June, 2021.
Prof. Chari worked with the National Productivity Council of India in various capacities, starting as an Industrial Engineer, and rising to the level of a Regional Director. In 2009, he joined academics as a Professor of Operations Management at the Birla Institute of Management Technology (BIMTECH), Greater Noida, India, and left the institution in 2021 while functioning as the Dean of student welfare.
Having provided expert services to hundreds of organizations and having trained thousands of professionals over the past five decades, Prof. Chari is a multifaceted management guru and academic, whose name is closely associated with Value Engineering. His services in the industrial sector in India have helped a large number of organizations in enhancing productivity. He has also done assignments for the United Nations Environment Program.
During his stay in NPC and BIMTECH, he has made significant contributions in the area of waste recycling and circular economy, and worked passionately in bulk industrial waste recycling. He has been instrumental in developing innovative applications for various bulk wastes such as rice husk ash, waste oils and lubricants, marble dust and waste agricultural biomass.
A detailed account of Prof. Chari’s accomplishments can be heard from the program FINDING VALUE in the TALK DIRECT section of Lead Digest.
(Image courtesy: K.R. Chari)
