But with an increasingly competitive environment, a need was felt to create a critical mass of visionary leaders to steer the manufacturing sector into the new era of excellence.
[citation needed] Hence, VLMP was developed by the National Manufacturing Competitiveness Council in collaboration with the Ministry of HRD, IITs, IIMs and CII as a flagship program to develop Leaders in Manufacturing under the Indo-Japan Cooperation Agreement, signed by Honb’le Dr. Manmohan Singh, Prime Minister of India and His Excellency Mr. Shinzo Abe, Prime Minister of Japan, in December 2006.
The program was structured under the guidance of Professor Shoji Shiba, a renowned international expert in the manufacturing sector and a recipient of the Deming Prize.
Prof. Shiba has been associated for more than a decade with the very successful Leaders for Global Operations (LGO), erstwhile LFM, at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), USA.
Various modules on Supply Chain Management, Customer-centric approach, Lean methodologies, New Product Design & Development, SAP ERP, ISO 9001: Auditor training and some high-end technology related courses like Advanced Materials, Robotics, Ergonomics are being taught in IIT-Kanpur and IIT-Madras campuses.
The final term at IIM-Calcutta puts special emphasis on Leadership and Change Management with a key focus on building an Entrepreneurial and Innovative culture.
[citation needed] The program's learning methods are an assortment of regular class discussions, case studies, group work, live presentations and action-learning opportunities like management games and short consultancy assignments.
“Japan East Asia Network of Exchange for Students and Youths“ aka JENESYS, a multimillion-dollar initiative by the Japanese Government, was created to promote solidarity among the young generation of Asian countries.