How Jaguar used lean methodology to improve operations ..

Jaguar is one of the iconic car manufacturer from UK that has had tough times over the past four decades.

Sensing problems, Jaguar was up for sale and was bought by Ford. Later Ford sold it to Tata from India. While Jaguar was with Ford, they tried a partly successful implementation of lean in their Jaguar S line at Castle Bromwich plant in Birmingham. While Jaguar was with Ford they successfully implemented lean. Probably due to mismanagement and high input costs for Ford, they had to finally sell it to Tatas.

Looking at the lean implementation, what were the salient points behind the successful lean implementation in Jaguar? I am listing out four points which is a great learning for organisations around the globe looking for lean implementation. Refer to this case ..

1. Bringing change in the working culture and organisation structure

2. Matching supply to demand by incorporating Just in Time inventory policies

3. Visual management and visual control

4. Open Information centre.

5. Ownership of work and formation of work teams

My recent purchase, a GREEN Samsung Refrigerator

It was indeed with some hesitation that I gave away my perfectly working old design 27 year old Tata brand Voltas 300 litre refrigerator couple of weeks back to an orphanage in Tumkur. I checked up in Amazon for a replacement. My daughter suggested a 250 L capacity 2 star double door refrigerator from Samsung through Amazon. After some thought and some days dillydallying, we went ahead with the purchase.

Samsung is one of the largest white goods manufacturer of the world, at #15, it is the second largest electronics manufacturer of the world after Apple. The looks of the modern refrigerator that works on digital inventor technology is killer type. At least 5 ft tall, it is very convenient to handle, open, place items and retrieve them from the refrigerator.

I am perfectly satisfied. The good thing about it was the dashing looks, compact frame. There are no exposed refrigerant tubes behind. A 2 star energy rating indicated it uses a max of about 243 electricity units (Kwh) annually, ie running expense of about INR 2000 annually. 

The ergonomically designed handles fused into the body, the product overall design and final finish is simple superb. Being a value addict and a tough value master, unless I find great value in the purchases, I do not go ahead with them. Regarding this purchase, I am extremely satisfied. Having worked in the industry and having worked with 200 Ton industrial scale chilling plants in the tyre industry, I know this purchase of a 0.25 Ton refrigerator is chicken feed. In addition there is a 10 year warranty on the compressor and no need of an analogous voltage stabiliser.

Unlike the standard single-speed compressor, which is either off or operating at full speed (typically about 3,600rpm), the digital inverter compressor is almost always on, but can operate at different speeds – from 1,100 to 4,300rpm. This ensures high efficiency and consistent temperature inside the refrigerator. It also results in significant cost savings, a reduced carbon footprint, less noise and a longer lifespan for the compressor. The digital inverter compressor is one of the most important innovations in the history of refrigerators and food preservation and Samsung has led the way. www.samsung.com

But the extent to which Samsung has made the product extremely customer attractive and given fantastic finishes, I can only say they are doing a good job. South Koreans are no doubt, doing a satisfying job in India and they are bound to grow even further, be it mobile phones, white goods like refrigerators, washing machines or even automobiles from Hyundai. Tata recently trounced Hyundai to be the second most popular and largest automobile brand in the country.

The customer obsession in this product is extremely gratifying. The looks are extremely stunning. My friend has the same 7 year old model in his home, working perfectly fine. A big thanks to Amazon for having given a 12 % discount on the price and delivered the product without any damage in the best condition in two days. And Amazon charged me just INR 22,300/= ..

Should Kerala govt follow up the K Rail project ?

K Rail project is a railway project that is being claimed will help Kerala to reduce the travel time from Kasargod in north to Trivandrum in the South. 

K-Rail is a government-proposed speed-rail corridor collaboration between Kerala Govt and Department of Railways Govt of india, connecting Kasaragod in the north and Thiruvananthapuram in the south. K-Rail promises a 200 km per hour speed, and is expected to cover a distance of 529.45 km in less than four hours — at present it takes the Indian Railways 10-12 hours to cover this distance                                                 www.moneycontrol.com

Most of the people of Kerala I spoke to are tooth and nail opposed to the project. All media are against the project. E Sridharan, the metro man of India, who is considered to be the father of railway projects in India is opposed tooth and nail to this project - unprofessional project management and incapable technical expertise.

Inexperienced professionals are heading the project. The project said to cost INR 64,000 crores and to be completed in 3 years, can never be completed as the Kerala CM only has inexperienced professionals in key positions in the organisation running the project. 

There is total lack of transparency as to the environmental damage, the undisclosed Detailed Project Report (DPR) etc. Simply said, a project of this type, the railway engineering professionals of Kerala are incapable to manage and execute. This people say is just a ploy by the CM Pinarayi Vijayan to start huge financial irregularities, corruption and to push the state into eternal state of debt. 

When the most sincere Metro man of India E Sridharan sir says the project is infeasible in Kerala, given the Madhav Gadgil report that mentions Kerala has a very precarious environmental balance, such projects should not be followed up. 

If Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) is supporting that is with an eye to sell their technology and reap gains, with total disregard to the delicate environmental balance in the state, post the floods of 2018 and 2020. Hope the obstinate CM understands the gravity of the situation and pulls out of the project at the earliest not letting any unnecessary expenses on the state.

The people of Kerala do not want the citizens to be further pushed into a virtual economic spiral of debt, decay and degradation of the state. Starting a mammoth project of this size and expense, without proper planning and with an eye on the commissions behind the work allocation, the people smell inefficency and corruption in this project.

As a responsible citizen, I feel the project is being attempted to be executed with total disregard to the environment and this project should not permitted to be executed given the delicate environmental balance in Kerala. It is true we need projects to develop, but do it with transparency and include available international experts, not local party sympathisers who will waste public money and bring disrepute to the state. The CM should work for the development of the state.

George.

Simple ways for detoxing yourself ..

When one hears of the word detoxification, what comes to our mind is the dictionary definition which says that detoxification is the process of removing toxic substances (either from human body or other substances)

An interesting article which I happened to read of late is one at getpocket.com (click here) which talks of simple two steps of detoxification.

They are 1) getting atleast 7-8 hours of sleep and 2) drinking lots of water.

By getting enough sleep, we give enough rest to all our organs to revive after functioning for good 15-16 hours a day. It helps our brain to revitalise, our muscles to get oxygenated and take enough rest before starting another day of full activity.

Drinking lots of water helps our body remain hydrated, remove the acidic content in our intestines and flushes out along with the fibrous food we take, the digested material, enabling free movement of the bowels, ensuring healthy bowels. Every night before I go to sleep, for many years I have been sincerely following the habit of taking two glasses of water. Of late when I get up, my wife also feeds me two glasses of hot water with jeera or methi, that again helps cleanse the digestive tract. 

Besides these two steps, I also engage in good personal exercises like walking a least 2-4 kms daily, always climbing stairs wherever possible and not taking the lift, ensuring a healthy heart.

Anybody who follows these steps I can ensure good health will follow.

George

Recent family pic ..

A homoeo cure for low back ache

Over exertion during the final stages of my PhD thesis at IIT Bombay from 1998 to 2004 and sitting for long periods of times without exercising, probably led to the start of my low backache in 2003 immediately after submission of my pre-synopsis in May 2003.. While I am perfectly healthy in all other aspects of my life, the low backache, it affects the Sciatica nerve, has been bothering me. On recurrence of symptoms, I took Ayurveda treatment in May 2007, Allopathic treatment in 2011 and 2015.

Most recently I had a recurring bout due to cold weather in November 2021.  Incapacitated and on bed, this time I called my sister-in-law, Shirley, a homoeo doctor practicing in Kochi. She prescribed the medicine Rhus Tox to be taken every two hours, besides Arnica daily thrice and Ruta, daily once.

Surprisingly I should say, the pain disappeared and of late I also have added confidence that I have got the correct medication and can emerge healthy out of this seventeen year ordeal against low back ache. 

Besides my daily back stretching exercises, I continue the best exercise for the human body walking, (have even given away a good car and use an 8 year old Nano of my son) have also started daily exercising using  Resistance rubber tubes for back stretching and  Abdomen muscle building roller wheels through Amazon India. So far, so good ..

The problem with such issues is that one tends to lose the self confidence they have in themselves. Over seventeen years, I always felt a missing piece that kept going off my hands, but this time , I am bent on regaining it. 

 

I have regained the lost confidence of all these years and can focus on regaining the lost seventeen years of my life ..

George 

iD fresh business model ..

It is great to see iD fresh has come a long way. They have set up a INR 50 crore plant in Anekal.

In the processed food industry which is bound to have excellent growth in the coming decades.

Food processing is the transformation of agricultural products into food, or of one form of food into other forms. Food processing includes many forms of processing foods, from grinding grain to make raw flour to home cooking to complex industrial methods used to make convenience foods. Wikipedia

Click here  for a Harvard uty doc on why processing of foods is done, the different types of processed foods, advantages and disadvantages etc .

Idfresh idli dosa vada batter does not have any added preservatives and has to be used within 3-4 days and is to be stored in controlled refrigerated environments. Storage and transportation is a problem which prevents the massive growth of this business model. 

 

Processed food is any food that’s altered during preparation to make it more convenient, shelf-stable or flavorful. Some foods are much more processed than others. 

 

There are lots of discussions on what foods are better - minimally processed ones or the maximally processed. Without any extra reasoning, it can be concluded, if you read the following passage.  

Minimally processed food vs heavily processed food

A bagged salad or pre-cut green beans technically count as processed, but it’s only minimally processed because its natural state hasn’t changed. 

In other words, it looks pretty much the same as you’d find it in nature. Bottled water is minimally processed.

A box of macaroni and cheese or a microwavable dinner or biriyani on the other hand, are considered heavily processed (also called ultra processed) because they’ve been chemically altered with artificial flavors, additives and other ingredients. A bottle of coke or Pepsi on the other hand is heavily processed - ihsfna.org

George