Carbon footprint calculator

This is a good exercise that can be done in the classroom  or any gathering of adults to create awareness of carbon footprint, CO2 release, climate change and its control.

http://www.cleanindia.org/carbon/ClimateChange.htm   - carbon footprint calculator in the Indian context..

I calculated mine for the Indian context and the footprint comes to roughly 13 T for the family..

Imagine there are 300 m families and if each were to produce at least 2T  CO2 every year on an average (upper limit), Indian population would be contributing about six hundred million tonnes of CO2 to the atmosphere every year.

It is said that all over the world about 6 billion tonnes of CO2 is being released every year of which logistics and transportation account for about 3.2 billion tonnes of CO2.

Industries also contribute heavily to the CO2 emissions. Understanding its impact is an uphill task. Industries do take up CO2 capping measures already. Unless we understand that sustainability is the key to our existence and not profits, we cannot expect to make radical changes in the system,.

ge..

MDP on employee engagement, alliance

By prof Ramdoss and team

Are Americans still ready to pay more for Apple than other Chinese products ..?

For years Apple has beguiled the American public bringing issues of prestige, status, pride, nationalism etc to the fore in selling Apple phones to its people saying it is an American product. Especially when manufacturing in US was at a low ebb, Apple helped to bring back patriotism and a false sense of pride that it is not that dark after all ..

But US public has now got to realise that they have been enmasse taken for a ride by Apple and Apple justifiably is having the last laugh, laughing all the way to the Bank.

US public now have come to realise that Apple is as much Chinese as Lenovo, or Huawei or Haier .. With Chinese quality improving and expressing itself impeccably in iphones and ipads, there is no looking back or looking down on brand China.

In my interactions with a person on branding of iphones and how Americans still believe it segregates them from the less advanced people of the world just based on the status and prestige symbol of carrying an apple product, though functionally it is still equal or less than some of the latest and best smart phones in the market, the brand image of Apple is diminishing as the people have come to realise that it is 'also' a Chinese product.

The brand image of a Rolls Royce or a Mercedes still has some image in the eyes of the people, but not the Apple brand, basically because these cars still continue to be handcrafted or manufactured in their country of origin and not in any low cost manufacturing site with a sole intention to boost profits. (It is still not clear whether Americans do believe that they have lost the edge and do not have the manufacturing prowess to make any high-tech product, quality wise or cost wise still in US..)

This short sighted approach of Apple is going to do them damage in the long run.. It does not matter whether one has $ or $1000  or $120 billion as liquid cash. If one has a loss making organisation like Apple in the next few years, the money is going to be a great botheration. From the high pedestal of innovative thinking and high branding, it is going to have fall like a kite, because right from Steve Jobs, their focus was on short term profits and returns.

For a person who is unable to gauge the changing equations and scenario in the world, this writing may look a bit upsetting.  But the truth can never be hidden ..

george..

Carbon credits .. some basics ..

The modern day supply chain has many interesting things to look around for. The most important and most immediately applicable ones are things related to Carbon emission into the atmosphere. We know Carbon emissions (greenhouse gases) lead to a warming of the earth leading to climate change. The least we want to .. A lean supply chain would also look at releasing lesser carbon-dioxide into the atmosphere thereby reducing the impact of global warming and climate change.

We come across some interesting terms in this regard. I thought of putting them for the easy understanding of my friends. They are

Carbon  footprint, Carbon credits, Carbon offsets, Carbon trading, Carbon sinks, Carbon capture, Carbon retirement etc..

Carbon foot print is the amount of CO2 that is released into the atmosphere.

Carbon credits is the final tradable commodity that can purchase off the shelf and continue damaging the environment without worrying about its implications. A carbon credit is a generic term for any tradable certificate or permit representing the right to emit one tonne of carbon dioxide or the mass of another greenhouse gas with a carbon dioxide equivalent (tCO₂e) equivalent to one tonne of carbon dioxide. (wikipedia)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XUGVcc02BUM

Carbon offset is the carbon savings we make at one place to be consumed by releasing CO2 at some other place. There is no buying and selling involved , only accounting of the CO2 saved at one place and the CO2 produced at another place. MRF tyres in India have energy farms which generate electricity in South Tamil Nadu which is fed to the power grid, which the company can use in Chennai or Arakkonam or Tirunelveli etc when they need. The Carbon credits gained at the wind farms are offset by the Carbon released at the tyre plants. The beauty is one is free to utilise the main resource, in this case electricity generated and consumed at different places, as also the benefits of Carbon savings accrued from using zero pollution technology of wind power at the source in another place of consumption where such zero pollution technologies cannot be used.

Carbon trading is the process whereby one saves CO2 emissions and create Carbon  credits which is soldl in the market to other players who have no option but to buy them as their pollution potential is more than pollution prevention potential for their organisational / business needs.

Carbon source : anything that generates more carbon than it absorbs

Carbon sinks : anything that absorbs more carbon than it releases

Carbon capture and storage (Carbon capture and sequestration) : is the process of capturing waste CO2 from large sources, transporting it to s site for storage where it will never enter the atmosphere, usually a geological underground formation.

Carbon Retirement : involves taking out Carbon credits from circulation so that there is no way that amount of CO2 will ever enter the atmosphere.

ge..

Shinkari melam in Kerala culture..

Shinkari melam , a traditional South Indian drum / percussion ensemble is played differently in the north and South. In the north it is three or four lines of drummers. Panchari melam is another version of this played in North Kerala around Trichur, Trippunithara etc.. .

Shinkari elam is related to Panchavadyam which has edakka, shudhamadhalam and timila (diff kinds of drums) , elathalam (cymbal) and kombu (trumpet). Sinkari melam does not have the kombu or trumpet..

Shinkari melam at a traditional Orthodox church in South Kerala, Mepral Tiruvalla side http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gJhkMabzmuE is played between two teams and gives a sort of competitive spirit and reaching peak of enjoyment. 

Shinkari melam ( called Pancharimelam)  in North Kerala, Irinjalakuda, Trichur at a Catholic church festival ..  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ET_wo4H-8Yc

Eventough traditionally it is the drum ensemble at temple festivals, it is very hewrtening to see it being played in church festivals too. It shows how much integrated Kerala culture of 2000 years is with the religious belief.

A Panchari melam with actor Jayaraman and Mattanur Sankaran kutty .. http://www.yuvog.com/play/Arts/Panchari_Melam__Jayaram_With_Perumana_and_Mattannur

ge

PSLV C20 - another great success, another feather on our hat ..

http://www.ndtv.com/video/player/news/fromndtv/266099

http://www.indianexpress.com/news/pslv-launch-asteroidhunter-smartphone-on-board-satellites/1079683/0

Google Nexus one android phone with 4 apps in space ..

Kunhikrishnan in command ..

The proud success story ..

40 years of Indian space story ..

ge..

Rock engravings of Kerala..

As different from other parts of the country, rock engravings in Kerala are rerlatively young. The oldest rock engravings found are in the Wayanad area ( it is not known whether there were engravings in other areas too, but over thousands of years of human growth and civilization all traces have been either lost or destroyed.

Edakkal in Wayanad have rock engravings of the mesolithic age ( ie. 10,000 to 4000 BC).

Here is an image  ..



This was discovered around 1911 AD. This is to be contraseted with the rock engravings done on Laterite rocks in Usgalimal near Rivona on the banks of the Kushawati river which is of the Paleolithic area ( ie 30,000 to 20,000 BC).

The Paleolithis, mesolithic and neolithic are beasically of the stone age ( lithos - stone in Greek) . The Paleolithis was before agriculture started and from mesolithic age, agriculture started. The stone age ends around 4000 BC when the copper age / bronze age / iron age etc started..

ge..

Any difference between a hospital and a wellness centre ??

These days we see proliferation of holistic medicine centres, (also known as wellness centres).

The importance of hospitals to treat some of the surgeries, diseases and infections cannot be belittled. Only allopathic medicine has a treatment to that because they have carried out research in this area for hundreds of years and have thoroughly un derstood the human anatomy and microbial distributions in the body.

No one system of medicine offers cure to all maladies / diseases affecting the human body.  Even though neurology has developed well in allopathy, it has not developed as much as to treat comfortable diseases of the spine the central nervous system. Any damage to the nervous system is irreversible and is life threatening.

Cancer also follows the same path. There is no known cure in allopathy, though research is being conducted to find different ways and means to treat this disease. Is it truly a viral infection as in cervical cancer or has any genetic twist to it etc needs to be  understood in detail.

Where allopathy fails, all other streams of medicine especially Ayurveda, Homeopathy, Sidha, Yoga etc.. picks up. Actually what these systems of medicine do is offer placebos and a sense of wellness, which is actually playing with the mind. The scientific efficacy of these streams of medicine, conventional is yet to be proved scientifically with instances of universal applicability, repeatability etc..

http://www.thehindubusinessline.com/industry-and-economy/all-narayana-hrudayalayahospitals-soon-to-have-wellness-centres/article3490578.ece

The Hindu news about wellness centres to be established in all Narayana Hrudayalayas is a very comforting fact, in thqt the public need not be under the quacks operting in these alternate streams of medicine taking patients for a ride.

george easaw ..

Diff between successful people and others..

Azim Premji - a model billionnaire ..

It is a good act from Azim Premji, to have earlier donated $  2 billion for philanthropy and now another $ 2.5 billion, In total about Rs 21,000 crores of money for the Azim Premji Foundation.

http://george-easaw.blogspot.in/2010/12/azim-premji-makes-2-billion.html 

Years back when Wipro was just making its presence in the Indian ITES market, I happened to listen to him speak at the IIT Bombay convocation in 2000 or 2001. A great experience .. He spoke of his Stanford Uty days and how he had to quit it all and return to India on his fathers death as there was no one to manage the family business of Western India Products (WIPRO) of selling vanaspati and bulbs.

Today he has surprised us all by pledging this $2.5 b. 

He realises that the money he makes actually belongs to the society and momentarily it is out of some people's pockets and is in his pocket, the next moment it is out of his pocket too. Very pragmatic thinking. He is just the momentary keeper of society's wealth. 

May all the other rich men in the country too realise that the money handed over by the society to them for safe keep is returned back to society and not for any selfish, underworld dealings bringing misery, pain and suffering to them and the masses,.

The greatest good you can do for another is not just to share your riches but to reveal to him his own. - Benjamin Disraeli 

Through the Azim Premji foundation, Azim is carrying out the second message ..

george..

george..

Spate of events in the Vatican ..

The sudden announcement of abdication of papacy by former Cardinal Joseph Vatzinger and present Pope (Latin papa and Greek papas, meaning father) Benedict XVI, the 265 th in line after St. Peter, has shocked the 1.16 billion (largest and the oldest organisation in the world) Catholic community across the world. Never in the past 6 centuries had a pope abdicated his throne..

Was it the infirmities of old age or the infighting between Vatican's Secretary of State and the most powerful of Cardinals, Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone and his arch rival, former Secretary of State of Vatican and present Dean of the College of Cardinals which will elect the new pope, Cardinal Angelo Sodano, both from Italy itself and the influence of the worldly Roman curia, the church's central administration, what must have prompted Cardinal Vatzinger to keep himself off from the action and plan to retire to Mater Ecclesiae Convent in the Vatican itself is a question to which the Vatican will have to give an answer soon enough..

Will the new pope be a much younger Cardinal in the sixties age group or will be another octogenarian or septuagenarian, has to be seen ..? Where is the Catholic church headed to in the 21 st century ?? All these questions will be answered by the collegium to meet soon ..

Will it lead to a change in their attitude to the more ancient, less materialistic, less organised Oriental or Eastern Orthodox churches, either a more benevolent or tough view, initiating any talks on unity of churches etc will depend on who takes charge ? Does it give hope to Christendom in general ?

Reports from Italy point to heavy rumours of the ganging up of gay Vatican insiders and the power centres inside the Vatican leading to a position of helplessness for Benedict XVI being the reason for his giving up the position. http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2013/feb/21/pope-retired-amid-gay-bishop-blackmail-inquiry

The Catholic Church and Vatican have become states in themselves, the suspected role played by Vatican bank in money laundering to other countries, ie. the dirty linen will definitely be washed in public, given the free flow of information in todays world. The  paper from Italy quotes the 6 th and 7 th commandments being violated inside Vatican, of stealing and committing adultery as responsible for this spate of unrest.

How many more butlers will face the Vatican's wrath ?? Time will tell ..

ge..

Entrepreneurship opportunities in Warehousing Facilities .. IIMM - P Vishwanathan at Alliance ..

Yesterday there was an invited talk by Mr P Vishwanathan, founder member of the Bangalore chapter of Indian Institute of Materials management on Logistics, Inventory and Supply Chain management in Alliance University for the sem 2 Operations stream students.

The speaker was very experienced in all areas of Logistics and Supply Chain Management, conventional, except may be in retail management. His experience in the different areas was great learning for the students. 

A typical large warehouse ..

One of the interesting aspects of the discussion yesterday was on the entrepreneurship opportunities in Supply Chain management.

The immediate answer that came up was warehousing. To increase their distribution capabilities, manufacturers and 3PL and 4PL providers are looking for warehousing opportunities. Having vital and crucial warehouses in important towns and cities of India will help big manufacturers and distributors to plan to spread out their inventory across the country.

By setting up and managing a warehouse, entrepreneurs can help the national economy and industry in general to improve the supply chain link.

Here are some pointers on how to go about setting up a warehouse..

http://www.ehow.com/how_4884168_set-up-warehouse.html 

How to setup a distribution warehouse, many useful links..  http://www.ask.com/ans?qsrc=2987&o=102338&oo=102338&l=dir&gc=1&q=How+To+Set+Up+A+Distribution+Warehouse 

The most important points generally to look out for are the following :

•  design a efficient layout of the warehouse with enough planning for receipt, dispatch and storage areas, 
• facility for FIFO movement of inventory, 
• enough space for employees to relax,refresh, rest and move around, 
• proper ventilation or not depending on the material, 
• cold storage facilities, 
• material handling facilities inside the warehouse like forklifts, 
• overhead cranes if planning a large facility and for loading and unloading from trucks, 
• proper lighting
• power connection
• security.
• Pollution control / prevention measures
• Networking with local authorities and govt departments, police 

Taking prior permission from the local authorities, complying with rules and regulations, regarding pollution, insurance to guard against pilferage and loss, natural calamities etc, contact with labour contractors or workers Unions to provide labour and employees at short notice, power etc are steps in this process..

george..

What is Simplex in the Simplex Method in Linear Programming of George Dantzig ..

Simplex is a tetrahedral space of n-dimensions ( from wolfram mathworld ) or in other words a multi-dimensional space.

Ever since Linear Programming was developed by the Russian mathematician Leonard Kantorovich, A Russian Jew, in 1939 and the Simplex Method developed by George Dantzig while at UCB in 1947, Operations Research and Simplex method has been a main staple diet in all Quantitative courses in all universities around the world.

Leonard Kantorovich ..

Prof. George Dantzig

In India, even management students have to study the LPP and Simplex method to clear the course on Quantitative techniques.

The sad part is we remember Prof George Dantzig for the Simplex Method but rarely Leonard Kantorovich as the father of Linear Programming ..

A doc proclaiming the greatness of the mathematician, Kantorovich ..

The incident is a proof that academic apartheid existed in the field of higher education, where Russian mathematicians were not given enough importance by the Western mathematicians, for a long time. He was finally recognised in 1975 with  Nobel Prize for Economics. CIA dossier on Kantorovich ..

Prof George Dantzig's original book on Linear Programming, considered as the Bible of LP ..

george..

Kohinoor and Elgin marbles..

Kohinoor before Queen Victoria got it polished in 1850.

Kohinoor Diamond (108 carats), originally Syamantaka of 5000 years history, was never sold, only gifted (Ibrahim Lodhi to Mughal emperor Babur around 1600 AD) or stolen (from Punjab by East India co. around 1848 AD ) and gifted to Queen Victoria in 1850 AD. It had more than value then money could buy, tht may be the reason why around 1500 AD when it changed hands it was said to be worth half of all work output in the world. ie half the global manufacturing GDP around that time.

Likewise the Elgin marbles (450 BC marble sculpture by Phidias) stolen from the Parthenon and Acroplis in Athens, Greece by Thomas Bruce, Earl of Algin and brought o London in 1814 AD is in London museum.

Cameron has shown total insenstivity to the feelings of a nation by refusing to part with both. (one of the Elgin marbles displayed here..) How long can Britain hold on to artefacts it has stolen from other parts of the world and clings on steadfast ??

george..

TOULOSE Business school students at Alliance, 18 feb 2013.

Stunning photo of kerala countryside ..

Talk on Toyota Production System - Takashi Tanaka at Lean Summit, UK.

Interesting talk 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jJuryU-OEBc

ge..

Loss of face for David Cameron ..

Why British PM David Cameron's apology for the British Raj of 300 years in India does not matter to India..  We have gone past that age and cannot brood over what happened, 200 years back, we have much serious things to ponder over now, like how to overtake China, how to ensure good governance within the country and so on..

 Why should Britain aplogise to India now for the con acts of their ancestors over 300 years ?? The first time in the history of the world that Britain, a former colonial power, is apologising to one of its largest and richest colonies ..

Oh.. what a shame ..!!

It is public knowledge why this late realisation of guilt .. just sheer opportunism, what not !!  loss of face and self-respect for UK .... Shows the poor intelligence in having grasp of contemporary international affairs .. The matter was not even worthy of being reported in Indian papers .. Just trashed ..!!

“I cannot conceive of a greater loss than the loss of one's self-respect.” ― Mahatma Gandhi..

http://www.firstpost.com/world/why-cameron-apologising-for-raj-wont-mean-much-to-india-629419.html

We know why Cameron is in India just after a week of French President Francois Hollande's visit .. To persuade the Indian govt not to finalise and if possible thwart the deal for the 126 nos. fighter jets on French Dassault Rafele jets for $ 20 billion, and ( maybe also to ask Indian govt not to blacklist Agusta Westland, which has violated terms of supply of AW 101 choppers to India - for offering bribes .. )  .. :)

The British economy is ready to slip into a triple dip recession, after its economy recessed at 0.3% in the last quarter of '12. Perhaps, it may never recover ..

This is how The Economist of Feb 16, 2013, gave the brief..

Cameron in the Mughal Durbar at Delhi with the emperor Dr. Manmohan Singh and his Begum Sonia Gandhi

george..

Evolution of data storage..

Pelicans arrive in Andhra from Siberia..

To escape the harsh winter in Siberia, a group of cranes, of the group of pelicans and painted storks every year arrives from Siberia, flying a distance of over 5000 miles or 8000 kms. And every year they do not go to any other place than Telineelapuram ,Sri Kakulam dist in Andhra.

It is very difficult to tell what makes the biological and geographic clock of the cranes to behave so strangely. They come with clock work precision, lay their eggs, nurture the young ones and all of them together fly back to Siberia by end March, another 8000 kms.



Great are the works of God and nature !! Image courtesy The Hindu..

ge..

Oscar Pistorius ... bad day for athletics ..

The world media is discussing about this shootout of his girlfriend, Reeva Steenkamp in Pretoria early yday morn..

What made this great athlete to shoot at his girlfriend, known to be a very gentle character ..

All the work of a life time is wasted by a moment of indecision ..

Pic shows him coming out of the Police station .. and at the 2012 London Olympics..

courtesy Zee News and First Post..

ge..

Senkaku islands dispute between China and Japan ..

The dispute over five islands privately held by Japan which has passed over to Japanese govt has raised much hue and cry in both the countries over the past few months..

hope this does not precipitate into a state of confrontation between the two Asian powers, lest it pull the economic development of Asia down.. I am sure if not all, at least some of the Western forces would like to see that happen.

(photo courtesy Guardian UK)

ge..

Micromaxx 1.2 GHz, quad core, 1GB RAM, 8 Mp cam 3G Phablet at 14 K..

Micromaxx, the Indian mobile phone manufacturing company from Gurgaon Haryana has brought out one of the best and low cost 1.2GHz, quad core phablets in the market.. Called Canvas HD it is a great offering from the 12 th largest mobile phone company of the world with annual revenue of about $370 million.

Read more on Micromaxx... from wikipedia.. At 1280 x 720 p resolution ( better than Apple i5 at 1136 x 640 p) and 294 ppi density ( Apple i5 at 320 ppi) , the pictures are great in Android 4.1 Jelly Bean .



It beats Samsung with its galaxy grand at 21.5K and Apple i5 at 53K. the strange thing is that all of them have displays and base boards from Samsung, Processors from ARM Snap dragon.



Samsung is from South Korea while Micromaxx is from India and Apple from China. Beware of Chinese quality ( it is really becoming omproving, I have a Huawei Ascend phablet ) not the hype by Apple of its mediocre Chinese goods..

ge..

Top 10,20 and 50 corporates of world, sector wise, 2012 data..

I have been collecting the distribution of the top 10, 20 and 50 organisations pof the world based on revenue and was looking at how they are distributed. (based on 2012 data) Source wikipedia..

Analysis :


1. Oil and Gas are the top companies of the world, but their share of top companies fall from top 10 70% to top 20, 50% and top 50, 36%.


ge..

Logistics industry CO2 contribution..

Can we reveal assets and educational qualifications of our Sabha Managing committee.. ?

Some true and uncomfortable questions ..

Are we having the right people to lead the Malankara Orthodox Church into the new century ?? This is a very pertinent question being raised by all sensible and concerned people in the church today, across ages, geographies and timezones. With the goings on in our sister churches, it is all the more important that we choose the right educated people to lead us into the future, lest we fall into the same morass which befell them.

I know I will be cold shouldered here because of many vested interests .. But still I should not have the guilt when my grandchildren ask me, why I never tried my level best to save the Malankara Orthodox church from the vultures .. We cannot forget the simple fact that the Malankara Orthodox church has a great following of 35 lakh believers from the middle class and upper middle class of Indian society.

To increase the level of confidence of the believers in the church, we need to do some basic exercises aimed at improving the transparency of administration.

Point 1: Will the Sabha Managing committee or the church take the initiative to come out with the assets and educational qualifications of the Malankara Sabha Managing Commmittee members ?

It will be a great service to the believers of the Malankara Orthodox church and will be a bold exe rcise in openness of the church and its laity..

Point 2 : There are a lot of questions being asked whether private vested interests are ruling over common societal interests. Among the youngsters this is a bit muted now but will morph into a roar at the right time, by when things may go out of control.

Point 3: We need to introspect, are we really going after building the church in its purest sense, serving the poor or as is the rest of the world, swimming with the tide and make as much physical assets and bank deposits, make hay while the sun shines, black or white, as time permits. I know of a very prosperous Orthodox church in central Kerala, where about Rs 50 lakhs, collection from the believers, was just floating for meeting daily expenses without either being put in a fixed deposit or dispensed to the needy... They have sumptuous lunch and breakfast on important church festival days and kanji/gruel on lent days, but no help for the needy community .. Where are we heading to ?

Point 4  : There are many instances where church money has been squandered away by some smart contractors / priests, putting up a pious face with the High priests and buttering them. Do we have enough of checks and balances to ensure that such events do not recur and church funds are not misused ..?

Are we after real estate as the Catholic church did and is now facing charges of paedophile priests and what not .. ?

Point 5 :When we go back for the final appraisal of our acts of commission and omission in front of God, will these acts of acquiring real estate and bank deposits find a special mention??  as do acts of kindness and piety at helping the less-fortunate members of our society, irrespective of caste, colour, creed or belief ..

There are believers and a small minority of priests who are pained at these recent developments, but they have been silenced or prefer silence to action as the vested interests are a strong mafia which even the Priests cannot fathom or act against.

Point 6 : It is highly possible that no action will come out of this concern expressed by a small believer sitting in some part of the country, because the rot is so deep. But if this can stir the conscience and minds of some of the believers and permit a level of decency, self-discipline, spirit of questioning and self control in the church and its leaders, that will be a great success indeed ...

---------------------------

It is a matter of great pride that our Treasurer from Laity, Muthootu George is  the new entrant to the billionnaire club of the world of 2012, 55 th from India and the second from Kerala after Kris Gopalakrishnan of Infosys. ( Don't ask me how the money was made..). In God's  presence what matters ?? Even after two thousand years of Jesus and the teachings from the Holy Bible, we revere tax and money collectors !!

Materialism has crept into our church like a cancer and is eating the very roots of spirituality and hitting at the foundation of the church. Why ? Because of materialistic people and businessmen, devoid of much learning and education, sitting in these managing committees, by nomination by the High Priests .. Their aim is to see a strong, materialistic church, not a spiritually strong one.. The very existence of this great church is doubtful as the foundation is getting eroded day by day ..

The aim of this exercise is to understand whether we have the right leaders from laity, honest and pious, not practicing politics in the committee, willing to put up with dissent and questioning, with real intention to see that we remain the same spiritual church our forefathers for generations toiled for and not a materialistic one..

Though I am not optimistic that this will find a common chord with the people who matter, I am reminded of this quote ..  

It is hard to fail, but it is worse never to have tried to succeed  - Theodore Roosevelt.

Luke 21: 1- 4 says,

[21:1] As he looked up, Jesus saw the rich putting their gifts into the temple treasury. [2] He also saw a poor widow put in two very small copper coins. [3] "I tell you the truth," he said, "this poor widow has put in more than all the others. [4] All these people gave their gifts out of their wealth; but she out of her poverty put in all she had to live on."

Faith or (black) money, which has true relevance in our church ?

Let us not squander a great cultural and spiritual heritage which we have inherited over twenty centuries ..

I am reminded of the words of the late Geevarghese Mar Osthathios Thirumeni of Niranam, " Pattu vasthram dharichone, shubhra vasthra dhaariye, Laasarine marakkalle, Laasarine marakkalle .. "

Peace be unto you all !!

george..

A citizen ...

Red bull performance at the Aero India show 2013 ...

Enjoy your coffee..

K J Yesudas and Shreya Ghoshal ..Surumaeyye ..

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oQQchfTN8HQ

ge..

$ 1 million bionic man ..

Artificial limbs, head, brain, heart, lungs , pancreas etc..etc..

watch the video here ..http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pQn6ioXUpDk&feature=player_embedded

http://www.medgadget.com/2013/02/uk-roboticists-build-rex-the-bionic-man-with-video.html

ge.

At Carl Zeiss IMT centre, Bangalore ..

With Product Development Manager Mounesh ..

Brand India summit, Bangalore .. 5 feb..

 

 

 

 

 

 

Rebranding India Summit, collage of snaps ..

Playing the beer distribution game ..

Team A seriously discussing their SC strategies !!

SC team C

SC team D

SC team B

SC team A

The third floor seminar hall was venue for the MBA Operations group at Alliance Uty Beer Distribution game on 4 th Feb 2013.   

The first two rows were the two retailers, the next row the wholesalers, the next the Distributors and final row the Manufacturer.

Four Supply Chains A, B C and D competed .. and the supply chain with the lowest cost was A ..

Besides cost we also recorded and analysed the variance of the orderts received and orders placed at each entity to capture the now well famous BullWhip effect on variance amplification along the supply chains..

A big thanks to Prof Mihir Dash, Prof Raju Gundala and the class reps Vishal and Alena for making this a reality and a great success with loads of learning  today in the class.. !! Now I am waiting for students to submit their reports of the game and the learnings ..

Notes from some of my earlier experiences playing the game at XIME, Bangalore.

Playing the game ..

Learnings from the game ..

My paper on the beer game .. pdf

ge..

African proverb on ecscaping being outrun ..

"Every morning in Africa, a Gazelle wakes up. It knows it must run faster than the fastest lion or it will be killed.

Every morning a Lion wakes up. It knows it must outrun the slowest Gazelle or it will starve to death.

It doesn't matter whether you are a Lion or a Gazelle... when the sun comes up, you'd better be running." 

 

           - African Proverb  quoted by Thomas Friedman in his book - The World is FLAT ..

 

This is the crude reality of the present day world.

If a country is not agile enough, it runs the risk of being overrun by its competitors. Not only the mild and meek Gazelle has competitors, even the mighty Lion too has competitors. ie. if the gazelle is to survive it should run faster than the fastest lion to avoid being eaten by it.. For the Lion too, in order to prevent being starved it has to outrun the slowest gazelle.

US, the largest of these Lions is finding the competition tough with China and India following it making it work still harder for its prey and outrun the smaller countries like in Europe Africa etc..

The Indian and Chinese forays into Africa and Antartica to capture colonies to supply raw materials and demand to fuel its vast Industrial machinery back home is indeed just a repeat of the scenario when the European colonialists of the 18 th and 19 th century went around the world colonising countries.

The smaller Europen and African countries is also finding the going tough as it has to compete with these giants and outrun them to prevent being eaten by them.

The cruel reality and predicament of these countries.

Will the same fate befall India and China when in the next and third wave of revival, two to three hundred years from now, African countries will start colonising India, China, Europe and the Americas ??


Wishing every country the best in this race for survival ..


ge ...

3 D Printing ...

A National Geographic video ..

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yw_KUDbWXeo 

This is the future of manufacturing.. Being able to manufacture custom made parts from the comfort of our homes with infinite variety ..

ge..

Toyota visit on 1 Feb 2013.. Ten points to some great learning ..

I happened to visit Toyota at Bidadi, Bangalore yesterday, 1 Feb 2013 to assess the progress of my MBA PG students doing internship at Toyota from Dec 5 '12 until Feb 10 '13. The visit also helped me to get the feedback from Toyota Engineers / Managers on what they feel are the grey areas we need to address regarding Industry Internship programmes and help the students do a finer job.

While interacting with students, some points struck me with great force and I shall explain them here for others. These are ther same ones which we happen to read in either the Toyota way, Toyota talent or any other Toyota related article / book. You also need to realise that this is the impression of Toyota culture after just seven weeks of exposure to the Toyota way of working among the MBA students. We can just imagine how impressive are some of the characteristic traits of the Toyota culture !!

Point 1. The discipline the students have imbibed from Toyota is a lesson of a life time. Discipline makes no job or peak unsurmountable. It builds a level of confidence that cultivates a culture to slowly tackle attack the problem or goal, how hard and tough it be.

Point 2. Hard work and not smart work counts in Toyota. One can get to understand the Toyota culture and its benefits only by immersing oneself in it and interacting with others on the shop floor and outside for long periods of time. Toyota employees at Bidadi Bangalore on an average spend 12 - 13 hours on the job daily for six days a week.

Point 3. Planning. Some body was telling me the other day, TOYOTA has three reasons for its success, one is PLANNING, second is PLANNING and the third one is also PLANNING. They plan even to the nearest hour and minute of the day .. My students were taken aghast when in the second week of their training they were asked to plan for the remaining period of their internship for every hour and minute of the day, six days a week. This insistence on PLANNING, has made them realise the importance of utilising time effectively and productively, making them more mature and wiser in the process..

Point 4. Practicing Safety  : While crossing roads, Toyota has a very special way of doing it. With your index finger point to the left and follow it with your head, then to the right and finally if the road is clear, point it straight, to cross the road. Safety as a way of life is imbibed in all actions and processes on the shop floor and outside.

Point 5. The great care and concern shown by Toyota employees to others who are learning. Hand holding employees with great care. It is a great Learning Organisation. They encourage learning at all levels. Only Learning can bring in excellence at all levels, one of the basic tenets of a Lean Organisation.

Point 6. There are no great specialists on the shop floor nor great individuals. But Toyota believes in making great individuals out of ordinary skilled people taken from the surrounding areas. There are no great specialists, but very talented and able multi skilled workers.

Point 7. The total absence of any politics on the shop floor makes the environment very cordial to personal growth and enrichment.

Point 8. There is no demarcation between workers and Management staff. They even have food from the same mess hall on two floors. The camaradere on the shop floor is something to be learned.

Point 9. Processes are fixed and rigid, one cannot change it without getting sanction from the highest authorities, sometimes in Japan. The need to stick to fixed processes and procedures ensures that deviations are practically nil and thus compliance and quality of the output is very high.

Point 10. The Management staff and executives are about 70% of the time found to be engaged in meetings and discussions, striving to arrive at consensus, than confrontation and conflict. The good point in this is while encouraging employees to think critically and improve the process, there is no negative energy, only positive energy floating around on the shop floor.

george..

Super pic...

3D Printers to Replace Kitchens | It Thing!

http://itthing.com/3d-printers-to-replace-kitchens