International Journal of Science, Engineering and TechnologyAuthors: Prashant Hasmukhray Solanki
Abstract: Indian micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs) face pressure to improve product quality while also lowering their environmental footprint, yet most existing schemes deal with the two goals in isolation. The Zero Defect Zero Effect (ZED) scheme, cleared by the Government of India under the 12th Five-Year Plan, brings both into a single certification framework. Drawing on the official guidelines [2] and the accompanying model document [3], this paper studies four aspects of ZED: the structure of fifty parameters across five maturity levels; the calculation that turns level marks into ratings from Bronze to Platinum; the three-stage assessment and subsidy arrangement; and the governance role of the Quality Council of India (QCI). Indian evidence on zero-defect practice is confined to case studies, and one of them [5] is examined to illustrate the enterprise-level outcomes against which a ZED-type programme could be judged. The paper makes no claim that ZED certification causes better performance, because the sources reviewed contain no controlled or multi-firm data. It raises design questions on scoring granularity, self-selection and consistency among assessors, and offers an indicator set and a research agenda for empirical validation.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.23562546
