Operations Management

Well I'd be thinking about about my current profile of Operations Officer. I thought that this profile may more of relate to the manufacturing process and production related things in the beggining. But, After spending some 8 odd months in this sort of profile, I am convinced about the diversity of the profile -

Overall enterprise process Management

OM can be applied to a varieties of industries such as - retail, materials, supply chain logistics, IT or consulting to make

1. The process efficient.
2. Optimising the costs
3. Aligning the processes with the wider and broader purpose the company ....ie increasing Mkt Share and the Profits along with customer satisfaction.


So, what I intend to learn from my profile are

1. supply chain management and productivity techniques
2. specialized knowledge in process improvement and systems improvement
3. Inventory Management
4. Human Resource Management for smooth operations.

On fringe, I also want to learn the following
1. Use of IT for efficient OM
2. Optimisation Techniques and their real time applications.

My Comment on Pak site

So, much of nonesense was being written on a pak website that I could not resist putting in my comments ......

I felt it as my moral responsibilty

Hi to all friends,
Well I am new to the discussions but let me state some facts
1. Aryans, which the Hindus says are there ancestors came from the Eurasia to rule South Asia present Afganistan+Pak+India+Bangla+other subcontinent Burma, thailand et all.
( To correct you all pakis and indi’s)…..abt history
they used to worship idols ….its true ….refer the greek gods….
2. In this process they replace the original indians to the south.
3. This race was in constant touch with others mainly and that civilization was known as “Indus valley Civilizations”……other mesopotamia et were comtemporary
4. After some unfortunate events - Quake / flood they fled to all around.
- some went to Europe again - later crishtianity erosed- some to muslims- some remained back they later on converted to jains, budhs…et all- some remained hindus
5. Hitler vowed to unite the pure Aryan blood ………
All of us know he had his eyes over Eurasia and India as these are the only pure Aryan Blood.
Hitler gave the name - swatika - a name used by the hindus for the religious purpose.Hitler wanted to vipe out the non Aryans
6 Hindus have a lot of simmilarities with the world hitler wanted……
Do hindus want the same world …….NO NO
7. Muslim religion was started on a percieved wrong note of plunders and conquest but they were aimed at freeing people not ill motives
Prophet concieved the religion in a very pure form - Islam is as pure as its teaching
Islam is a great religion ……
Unfortunately diluted later on …….by the caliphites and teh ill rulers
they spreaded hatered later on ………messing up the whole meaning of islam……
religious extremist ….blackmailed people to follow a path of hatred to keep their leaderhsip intact
some body rightly pointed out - IF YOU KEEP 10 MUSLIMS IN A ROOM , YOU WILL GET 100 VERSIONS OF ISLAM
Islam need to be purified
Do indians and pakis want to get blackmailed again. …..by their oppurtunits…..army, politicians …and religious leader………
Stilll you want to fight……..- . fight with our common enemy POVERTY and CORRUPTIONand yes the Britishers …..not for revenge but for welfare. of the third world problems….
FOLLOW GANDHANIAN PRINCIPLES……….HE WAS LEADER FOR BOTH THE COUNTRIES……

a very ridiculous link

Of all the stuff on web, i have found a link that stands true to the subject
http://www.pakistanlink.com/nayyer/12192003.html
The writer is so much biased by the muslim supermacy and prospects that he sort of claims that by 2050 the following parts of the world will be ruled by muslims again....
1. France ( repeat of some ....old adventure)
2. Whole western europe
3. China
4. Russia

and yes the most ridiculous 5. Israel

India Managed the crisis better

Well a very nice article about Indian Economy robustness and the reasons behind it.......
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/12/20/business/20nocera.html?_r=2&pagewanted=1


One of the biggest reason - Strong regulations to check speculative activities and profiteering.


BUT STOP A MIN - WAS BAD FINANCIAL REGULATIONS A REASON OF FAILURE FOR US - I BEG TO DISAGREE

A little more about Atul Punj

A little more about Atul Punj

His second generation moved into manufacturing truck bodies, industrial insulation materials and air conditioners (in partnership with Fedders Corp.).

He bid to construct a 100-mile oil pipeline between Mumbai and Pune for state-owned Hindustan Petroleum. The pipeline was eventually completed two years later but had racked up losses that the group could ill afford. He got its first overseas break as a sub-contractor to PT Trihasra Bimanusa Tunggal, an Indonesian firm with Suharto family ties that had the contract to build a 130-mile pipeline for Pertamina, the state-owned petroleum firm.

Raising a bank guarantee for $2.6 million (20% of the total contract amount of $13 million) was a nightmare as he couldn't provide any security collateral. The banks he approached showed him the door. Ten days short of the deadline a banker at ICICI Bank agreed to provide the guarantee, accepting Atul's word as collateral. Punj executed the Indonesian project six months ahead of schedule, making enough money to wipe out its accumulated losses. "That's when our journey really started," says Atul

Great People do commit mistakes
However, hubris led Atul into another misstep. While building a fiber-optic network for telecom firm Bharti Airtel, he latched on to Internet services, which were just taking off in India. Atul admits that he was lured by the prospect of making a quick buck. Borrowing $50 million from ICICI Bank in 1999, an amount equivalent to Punj Lloyd's revenues that year, he set up Spectranet, an ISP.

A mistake of evaluation
January 2000 Nomura Securities offered to buy Spectranet for $350 million, boosting its offer to $550 million in August. Atul was set to make a killing, but a month later the technology bubble burst and Nomura backed out of the deal.

I was with Punj Lloyd at this time
Punj was once more on the brink. "We'd run out of cash and were leveraged to the hilt. Through it all, Atul kept smiling so we never felt that we were going under," recalls Luv Chhabra, Punj Lloyd's director of corporate affairs.

And .........The rest is History

Regrouping, Atul turned his attention back to construction. Again luck and timing worked in his favor as markets like Kazakhstan and Libya opened up, drawing in the world's oil majors. Punj Lloyd made early inroads into those countries, initially securing modest contracts as a subcontractor to big firms like Bechtel and Kellogg Brown & Root (nyse: HAL - news - people ) (now KBR). "Today we can compete with the global majors," says managing director Vimal Kaushik, a 38-year Punj veteran.

In a bid to unlink Punj from the notoriously volatile energy sector, Atul has expanded into infrastructure, a crying need in India. Punj has built highways, ports and elevated railroads. In June it forged a partnership with Singapore Technologies Kinetics to make defense equipment.

Atul has set a tall target for Punj: to be among the top five engineering and construction firms by 2012 in the markets in which it operates. (It now is only a fourth the size of Larsen & Toubro.) Age seems to have tempered him a bit, though. "We've had some serious tailwind behind us in recent years, but this is a real stretch goal," he acknowledges. "So when I come to the office every morning, I try to remind myself: This is your first day on the job."

One of my Hero - Atul Punj

Well I worked with Punj Lloyd for 2 years and I was really impressed with the growth the company was making in all feilds such as HR, IR, Technical Competency Improvement and what not .......i think it was moving ahead in the value chain in almost all aspects of business.





Following is an interesting peice of article, I found about Atul Punj

http://www.forbes.com/global/2008/1222/035_2.html

SWOT

Strength

Extensive Experience of 7 years
Diverse Experience in various domains – Projects, Operation, Marketing, Retailing


Weakness

Opportunities

Doing internship in India and China
China Guanghua School of Management, Peking University
(PEKING), Beijing
• • Chinese University of Hong Kong (CUHK), Hong Kong
• China Europe International Business School (CEIBS), Shanghai
India • Indian Institute of Management, Ahmedabad (IIMA),
Ahmedabad
• Indian Institute of Management, Bangalore (IIMB), Bangalore
Indian School of Business (ISB), Hyderabad

Singapore • Nanyang Business School (NBS), Singapore
• National University of Singapore (NUS), Singapore
Leveraging CFP

Corruption - A Stigma to India

The one thing I want to change in India - Corruption

Corruption has been one of the pervasive problems affecting India. It takes the form of bribes, evasion of tax and exchange controls, embezzlement, etc. The economic reforms of 1991 reduced the red tape, bureaucracy and the Licence Raj that had strangled private enterprise and was blamed for the corruption and inefficiencies. Yet, a 2005 study by Transparency International (TI) India found that more than half of those surveyed had firsthand experience of paying a bribe or peddling influence to get a job done in a public office.

The chief economic consequences of corruption are the loss to the exchequer, an unhealthy climate for investment and an increase in the cost of government-subsidised services. The TI India study estimates the monetary value of petty corruption in 11 basic services provided by the government, like education, healthcare, judiciary, police, etc., to be around Rs.21,068 crores. India still ranks in the bottom quartile of developing nations in terms of the ease of doing business, and compared with China, the average time taken to secure the clearances for a startup or to invoke bankruptcy is much greater.

The Right to Information Act (2005) and equivalent acts in the states, that require government officials to furnish information requested by citizens or face punitive action, computerisation of services and various central and state government acts that established vigilance commissions have considerably reduced corruption or at least have opened up avenues to redress grievances. The 2006 report by Transparency International puts India at 70th place and states that significant improvements were made by India in reducing corruption.

The Entreprenueral Gust

The other day , I came to know about my senior, who had a million dollar firm in the silicon valley, I was filled up with joy and enthrillment. But more than that, I was filled with the sense of the feeling - " If he can , I can ".

well, Is it a mere comparison or simply a reflection..........

Guangdong Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) Terminal, China

Found a very good source on net......

http://www.hydrocarbons-technology.com/projects/guangdong/


Enclosing the same for benfits of all........

Order Year2002Construction Started2003Project TypeLiquefied Natural Gas (LNG) terminal and pipelineLocationGuangdong Province, ChinaEstimated Investment$900mCompletionPhase 1 - on stream June 2006; Phase 2 - 2008Production and AimSupply of cities and power stations around the Pearl River delta and Hong Kong with five million tons a year of LNG by 2008Full specifications
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

This project involves the construction of China's first Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) terminal and associated high-pressure gas pipelines to supply Guangdong Province with 3.3 million tons of LNG a year (four billion cubic metres a year of natural gas) by 2008.

Guangdong province is currently the largest importer of Liquefied Petroleum Gas (LPG) in China and the new LNG terminal is expected to impact greatly on the LPG market and other fuels currently used in the Province.

The project was first launched in 2002 and is due to be constructed in two phases. Phase 1 was completed in 2006 (first LNG was onstream by the end of June 2006) and Phase 2 by 2008. The project is in joint development and is shared by:

China National Offshore Corporation (CNOOC) - 33% share
Guangdong Province consortium (includes Shenzen Investment Holding Company, Guangdong Electric Power Holding Company, Guangzhou Gas Company, Dongguan Fuel Industrial General Company and Foshan Municipal Gas General Company) - 31% share
British Petroleum Amoco - 30% share
Hong Kong Electric and Light Company - 3% share
Hong Kong and China Gas Corporation - 3%
Jones Day were the advisors on the project. The project will cost an estimated $900m to construct.

LIQUEFIED NATURAL GAS CONTRACTORS AND CONSTRUCTION
The Feasibility Study Report (FSR) was submitted to the National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC) of the Provincial Government in April 2003. The Environmental and Social Impact Assessment (ESIA) was carried out by Atkins of Hong Kong. The FSR and budget were passed by the Provincial Government during the second quarter of 2003, allowing the appointment of contractors for the Phase 1 construction to be started.

Early site preparation by CNOOC was underway in May 2003 with the cooperation of the Shenzen Planning Bureau, Land and Resources Bureau, Construction Bureau and the Logistics Department of Guangdong Military Zone. The Front End Engineering Design (FEED) contract was awarded to Halliburton KBR and JGC Corporation of Yokohama, Japan. The conceptual design was carried out by MW Kellogg Ltd in London, UK.

The STTS Group, a French / Italian joint venture comprising Saipem, Technigaz and the engineering companies Tecnimont and Sofregaz, was awarded the Engineering, Procurement, Construction (EPC) lump sum turnkey contract for the project. This contract is worth $240m with Saipem receiving a 60% share worth $145m.

FIRST PHASE

The first phase of the project involves the construction of the LNG import terminal, two LNG storage tanks, regasification plant, the associated marine engineering works and a 300km trunkline system. The LNG terminal is being constructed at Ping Tou Jiao on the Dapeng Peninsula in Dapeng Bay. The trunkline is being constructed on the eastern side of the Pearl River delta to supply Pingshan, Dongguan, Guangzhou and Foshan.

"The project will cost an estimated $900m to construct."The trunkline has two lateral branch pipelines to connect to two new gas fired power stations and three recently converted oil fired power stations in China. In addition there is a lateral pipeline to deliver LNG to a gas fired power station owned by Hong Kong Electric and Light Company and also to the Hong Kong and China Gas Corporation.

SECOND PHASE

The second phase will see an increase in the capacity at the LNG terminal and the extension of the trunkline by a further 182km past Foshan to supply other cities in the Pearl River delta, including Zhuhai, Zhongshan, Jiangmen and Heshan.

The import capacity of the terminal will then be increased by a further two million tons of LNG a year to five million tons a year. It is expected that the LNG transmission system will also be also be able to accommodate a further 1.5 billion cubic metres of natural gas a year expected from reserves in the South China Sea. The second phase supply contract is still out to tender and was not due to be awarded until late 2006.

LIQUEFIED NATURAL GAS SUPPLY CONTRACT FOR THE FIRST PHASE
Bids were invited for the supply contract for the new LNG terminal in Guangdong province from September 2000 by the Provincial Government. The supply contract was awarded to North West Shelf Venture (NSW), an Australia-based consortium, in August 2002. The export deal is worth AU$25bn over the supply period which has been set at 25 years (3.3 million tons a year).

The consortium includes Woodside Energy Ltd (the operator), BHP Billiton (North West Shelf) Pty Ltd, Japan Australia LNG (MIMI) Pty Ltd and Shell Development (Australia) Pty Ltd. All members of the consortium hold an equal share of the concern. It is likely that CNOOC (oil and offshore gas producing unit) will seek to acquire a participating interest in the North West Shelf Venture.

The fulfilment of this supply contract will require NSW to construct additional processing trains and a second trunkline from the North Rankin A platform to shore in Western Australia.

"Guangdong province is currently the largest importer of LPG in China."There are three existing processing trains at the Karratha LNG liquefaction plant on the Burrup Peninsula, each with a capacity to produce 2.5 million tons a yar of LNG. A fourth is being constructed with a capacity of 4.2 million tons a year, which should come onstream in mid 2004. A fifth train is also now planned. The combination of the fourth and fifth trains will more than double the output of the Karratha plant.

NSW will ship the LNG in conjunction with two Chinese partners, COSCO and China Merchants. This will require three new LNG transport vessels. NSW currently has a fleet of eight vessels to serve existing customers with a ninth under construction by Daewoo of South Korea. The construction of three new LNG vessels will be commissioned in due course.

LNG Boom in India

IN 2003, NTPC dropped deals at around 4-5 per MBTU

It was summarily turned down as an "overpriced" and "unviable" offer. Less than three years later, potential buyers from India -- including those who passed on the $4.5 offer -- are scrambling to buy LNG even at $7 or $8. It's a steal at that price: countries like Japan and South Korea are buying LNG at $11 and $20.

It's taken just three years to turn the market dynamics of the LNG industry on its head. With demand in India and China growing at 6-7 per cent a year, suddenly LNG is a suppliers' market.

But it's no party for suppliers, either. Between buying gas at respectable prices from producers across the world and India, to selling them to customers like power plants and fertiliser companies at a profit-generating rate, the suppliers have their work cut out.

This isn't a temporary situation. Natural gas is a clean fuel and given the rising costs of emission control equipment, Indian power generators are increasingly switching from coal-fired to gas-fired plants. As are auto makers.

Good Bye - Maharashtra

While boarding the plane at Mumbai Chatrapati Shivaji Airport, I was boarding a new life........

Operations Officer - Loni LPG Plant.

Well this was a deep sea change for me.....Lot of advises and well wishes of ppl are there with me....

Stir frying

Why Chinese companies have multiple Accounting systems

China, of course, is legendary for its lack of financial transparency, and has actually brought financial misappropriation to an art form.

While the numbers vary, estimates suggest that some 20% to 30% of all loans extended have actually been diverted for re-deposit or for “stir-frying” purposes.
Re-depositing is the practice of obtaining loans at extremely low interest rates and depositing them in the issuing bank to earn a profit in higher-yielding bank accounts.

“Stir frying” is the Chinese slang term for putting the money into Chinese markets in an attempt to manipulate share prices and profit. But most of the money has come back and remains “performing” at least to date.

In a related wrinkle, a hugely disproportionate amount of money (at least, by Western standards) is loaned out on a long-term basis, only to be paid back a month later. While this creates havoc with asset matching, this helps the borrowing company look more financially active than they are and presumably appear sounder at the same time. Asset matching, in case you are not familiar with the concept, refers to the practice of having long-term loans extended against long-term assets, and short-term loans extended against short-term assets.

When long-term funds are lent against short-term assets, or vice versa, there is a “mismatch. India has its own stories of mismatches. Reliance has very well used the same techniques to fund its mega projects.

This kind of short-term/long-term mismatch is actually surprisingly common in many Asian markets - including China - because it’s a strategy that can help a company obtain still more funding, especially during times of high growth. The rough equivalent in U.S. terms would be a person who borrows money even though he or she may not need it and then pays it back in an attempt to boost his or her personal credit rating.

The lending crisis in the United States was the result of two things:

Derivatives contracts that were unmonitored.
And improperly categorized risks unseen by both management and regulators alike.
Here in China, however, the real danger stems from lending driven by guanxi, or “connections.” [Although the West defines guanxi as "connections," that's actually something of an oversimplification; some sociologists have actually likened it to "social capital." But even that doesn't capture all of the nuances that make the Asian culture so fascinating to watch and study.]

Because the social concept of "face” is so important in Asian cultures, there has historically been a tendency to lend money on a preferential basis to favored clients based on nothing more than the connection between lender and borrower - regardless of actual credit worthiness.

China’s bankers are learning quickly, however. Beijing is keenly aware that many banks may not have been properly checking the creditworthiness of their borrowers, so the government has taken steps to implement stricter lending requirements even as it has increased the amounts of lendable cash available.

While many Western executives claim to have been surprised by the credit crisis, I find it interesting that many of China’s bankers seem to be anticipating a credit crunch of their own. Indeed, a recent survey by China Orient Asset Management Corp. of 333 banking officials - including 89 risk-management officers - found that more than half the respondents expected their bad loans to rise in 2009. Additionally, nearly 40% of the respondents expected sharp increases in non-performing loans within the first half of the year.

Yet, few bankers expect Beijing to turn off the lending spigots anytime soon. While Beijing could certainly do so, it wouldn’t be in its interest to cut back on new loans, or to change the rules when it comes to stimulus-driven-lending programs - at least not for the time being. After all, there’s just too much riding on China’s ability to maintain a high rate of economic growth.

Beijing remains optimistic it can hit its growth targets, although “caution” is becoming the watchword around here. And as long as the growth imperative remains in effect, consumers and businesses here can have every expectation that the money will continue to flow from the banking faucet - even if an increasing percentage of that credit is destined to turn into “bad.”

But that’s okay: Government perhaps want its companies to just earn money.

Micheal Jackson

He will remembered forever by his fans like me.....

Retailing in India - Entry of Wal Mart

Indian Telecom giant Bharti and World’s retail gaint Wal Mart are eyeing the $400Bn Indian retail sector. Only 5% of the sector is with the organized players. Whopping 95% is still unorganized.

So, they are eyeing a market of 380 billion dollars. They have appointed Technopak Consultancy as their advisors.

But there is a catch here. Already a lot of problem are being faced by the already existing players. The margins have really shrunk for them. Some of them are on the verge of extinction. Subhiksha, a well established player, is in dire financial situation.

Following are the challenges before the new joint venture between the 2 players.

1. Vastness of the Supply sources. – Food grains from Punjab and Spices from south India covering a distance of 3000 kms. Remember just 10 years back India was importing some 20 percent of its wheat requirements not because it produced less but because it found it cheap to import the same from Australia than moving it from Punjab and Haryana.

2. Resistance (Mentally ) to a foreign Player. :- Just remember what happened the KFC in south India when the launched their chain there. There was a lot of ill word and hatred spread against it in both the print and electronic media.

3. ROI- well the biggest question yet to be answered in the big projects are those related to the ROI. How they will be able to justify the ROI among such a tough competition from already established players. Location is very important in this business and its very important to have locations of high footfalls, which are unfortunately already occupied. Also it’s very uneconomical to have crowding of a particular place.
4. Competition from the unorganized sector: - People from unorganized sector is bound to be there. Currently they are operating on very high profit margins. But with increased competition they are bound to reduce their margins and put up a great with new players.


Now what should be their strategy.

India specific strategy.
1. Focus on select few markets and select few products instead of putting up a broad front of products.
2. Dynamic Supply Chain :- India is a dynamic and growing economy and hence rigid supply chains will falter soon. See how fast Pune has grown as a manufacturing hub and gugaon as service hub.
3. Recruitment :- Focus on training more than giving perks.
4. Buy / Produce decision :- Very critical and depends on location to location.

Facility Management

FM is a concept, which I am agresssively following now a days.

Nagaon COCO Meet

Pishore Police Station

OCF Function

6 nos of RO's