Classes at Armed Service Corps HQ ..

I have now finished the fourth of a series of classes on Inventory management and Supply Chain management to serving Officers of the Defence at the Armed Service Corps HQ staff college, Bangalore.

It is great to interact with these gentlemen, the Colonels and Lt. Cols at these sessions lasting one and a half to two hours.

And it is still great to get the feedback which says the session was Excellent. Of 17 senior serving defence officers who attended one of these sessions, I got a 12 excellent and 5 Good feedback.

What more does one need ??

ge..

Genchi genbutsu - what is this ?

The Toyota House

An idea from the Economist on Genchi genbutsu ..

Go to the workplace and see for yourself, so there is no selective filtration of communication and missing out on pertinent information which could help to identify the problem and prevent its recurrence.

The Toyota Way !!

The beauty of Genchi Genbutsu is the stress on the non-recurrence of the problem. If the problem cannot be resolved straightaway, the problem is escalated to the top management, top management also comes to the shop floor and investigates the occurence.

Problem Solving simplified ..

Let us not forget the main stress during the whole exercise, to identify the problem and  prevent its recurrence by identifying the root cause and eliminating it..  When Toyota had a problem of falling market share in India, the Toyota top management in the country, resorted to  Genchi Genbutsu exercise. The whole top management were on the roads in different cities and industrial towns of the country to find out why Toyota vehicles were not selling.

About 70% of Toyota components in India are imported. Except for the engine, gear box and transmission, (which constitutes 70% of value of an automobile), the rest 30% is manufactured in India with the help of local manufacturers. This explains the reason for the high costs of Toyota automobiles on Indian  roads. (part of a Genchi Genbutsu exercise)

Indians are the smartest customers in the world, in the sense that they look for the most affordable quality, need not essentially be the best, but at a very affordable cost. More than end products they are constantly on the look out for solutions. The "Jugaad" culture, where any make shift arrangement that can serve a function and meet a need, thus is very popular. Brands and Brand names rarely matter to a majority of Indians looking for value, sheer VALUE, nothing else.

The cost vs performance / value comparison is always topmost in Indian customer's minds, be it the customer in the busy village market looking for items for his house during the day or the big industrial customer looking for raw materials / products.

If the function of moving from point A to point B can be achieved by an automobile that serves the purpose with moderate safety and speed at lower costs, Indians would embrace such a solution. All other major players in the Indian market have indigenous production capacity. High initial cost of ownership was the reason why Toyota was pushed out of the Indian market, even though it has global reputation for quality and low total cost of ownership during the whole life of the vehicle.

I believe Toyota is working on solutions to start the production of critical engine and gear box in-house within India at the earliest, so that it can bring out cars of high quality, moderately priced and be able to capture the market.

george..

Andons relevance ..

Andons  ( www.wikipedia.com)

The centrepiece is a signboard incorporating signal lights to indicate which workstation has the problem. The alert can be activated manually by a worker using a pullcord or button, or may be activated automatically by the production equipment itself. The system may include a means to stop production so the issue can be corrected. Some modern alert systems incorporate audio alarms, text, or other displays.

An Andon system is one of the principal elements of the Jidoka quality-control method pioneered by Toyota as part of the Toyota Production System and therefore now part of the Lean approach. It gives the worker the ability, and moreover the empowerment, to stop production when a defect is found, and immediately call for assistance.

Common reasons for manual activation of the Andon are part shortage, defect created or found, tool malfunction, or the existence of a safety problem. Work is stopped until a solution has been found. The alerts may be logged to a database so that they can be studied as part of a continuous-improvement program.

Supply chain ppt

https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1_qiJ_MhSyUuiJYoPQu5pBi3kN6d5C_lES12SeF8D9S8/edit?usp=sharing

Sincere regards,

George Easaw

restoration of Democracy in North America ....

When will the rest of the world help the native Indians of North America and the original owner of that land to regain their land, honour and self-respect which had been forcefully (and/or deceitfully) taken from them by the immigrant settlers from across the world for the past 237 years .. Won't the injustice be undone one day ?? - Movement for Restoration of Democracy in North America (MRDNA) 

Creating an awareness of this basic violation of fundamental human rights of the American Indians by generations of immigrants (and conveniently being sidelined by the learned, cutured and ethically conscious immigrant community) it is hoped will prick their conscience ..

There is a higher court than courts of justice and that is the
court of conscience. It supercedes all other courts.- Mahatma Gandhi

ge..

IT spending forecasts in 2013 ..

Worldwide IT spending forecast^[37] (billions of U.S. dollars)

Category	2012 spending	2013 spending
Devices	627	666
Data center systems	141	147
Enterprise software	278	296
IT services	881	927
Telecom services	1,661	1,701
Total	3,588	3,737

courtesy wikipedia ..

Almost 46% spending will be in the area od telecom services, communications etc..

Cloud and enterprise software applications will grow.

Only 18% will be from hardware while 82% spending will be on software and services.

Click here for the 2013 IT report from WEF ..

ge..

Suitable HR policies in the defence forces..

These days I am taking classes for the defence officers who are on the verge of retiring from the forces after serving the country meritoriously and selflessly for about 20 years. The classes are meant to make them industry ready to take on the challenges of the modern outside industrial commercial, competitive world.

One striking point which comes to my mind is - Is this ithe right time to give them these basics of competitiveness, HR policies, Operations mechanisms and production systems. Would it not have been better if these skills were imparted to them early on in life when their faculties were more receptive to such new ideas ?

These officers, who are very well behaved and extremely disciplined could be used for many of the government's developmental activities.

I have been reading through Amartya Sen and Jean Dreze'  'An uncertain glory' by Penguin Allen lane. In it Sen talks of the desperate state of the schools and primary education in the country. My one suggestion is , if the needy of these are taken up for monitoring some of these schools and gainfully employed will it not be a great service for the country ?

ge..

Raghuram Rajan, new RBI Governor ..

As everyone predicted Dr Raguram take over as Reserve Bank of India Governor from Sept. 2013.

A matter of great pride for IIT Delhi ('85), IIM A ('87) and MIT ( '91) , his alma maters ..

Another link ..

george..

Why is BCCI scared of RTI and Govt control ?

Board of Control for Cricket in India claims to represent the sport in India and selects the national team which represents the country in major tournaments and tours abroad and within India.

They use funds collected by selling tickets to the public to watch the matches played by the Indian national cricket team,

They get tax exemption with respect to their revenue every year.

Wherever Indian team plays or India hosts tournaments, all the sites are exempted from paying the mandated taxes and levies even though they use and exploit public resources to the hilt, like the airport, roads, stadia etc..

When the common man's resources, your and mine tax money is being deployed for neatly and comfortable conducting the matches played by the Indian national cricket team, why should a national team selection body show any apprehension at auditing its accounts, policies and practices.

When the Bombay HC has negated the findings of the discriminatory 2 member panel constituted by the former president of BCCI to enquire allegations  against hm and his son-in-law of corruption and game fixing, why should the BCCI en masse, in one voice support the move to challenge the Bombay HC order in the Supreme Court ?

Has it got anything to do with the past Chairman trying to cover up his past misdeeds or the whole BCCI gang covering up their lakcadaisical running of the organisation and the whimsical, extravegant spending and dividing of the loot ?

when the SC dismisses the plea citing ulterior motives on the part of BCCI to cover up its misdeeds, BCCI would have reached the nadir of unpopularity and earned the distrust of the people.

India cannot wait for these jokers to take the country for a ride. It has to move on and move it will.

george..

The Guard - 2001 unique Malayalam film ..

This the first and the only movie in the world wtih just one actor from start to finish ..

The entire film is the story of a govt. forest guard Appukuttan Nair (starring Kalabhavan Mani) who joins for his first duty in the forests of idukki, Kerala.

Good one.. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XoTAjegHI1w

george..