Sunday, February 7, 2010

1411 What is So Significant about this Number? If You Don't Know, Now is the Time to Get to Know !

News

China wakes up, calls for protection of tigers


China sentences tiger killer to 12 years in jail: report

 

I am going to write this blog in Red, because the matter to address is serious and today, like all days to follow will be important for the character of India and a shame that we will suffer if this number declines.


This is the number of tigers that remain.
I have always grown up with cats at home as a child and teenager and understand their behaviour very well. They are seemingly aloof, but personally loving, they are very clean and neat, dignified, find their own food and don’t beg. They have healthy habits - basking in the sun, have a clean body, alert and playful.


I know many who do not like cats and some who hate them.


I have made it a point not to hate those who hate cats, because I say "god forgive them for they know not"!


But when it comes to the tigers, that are cats after all, are equally loveable from a distance, admirable, and wondrous in their ways. All they ask is to leave them alone. If tigers are gone, so will all forest, deer will devour all there is to be eaten. Tiger also guards the forest, denying easy access.


The only living animal the tiger could not understand and conquer is MAN. Man kills for pleasure and illegitimate money.


I recommend Life Imprisonment for poachers, without parole. China has begun it. What are we waiting for?


I am too far removed to physically or legally or legislatively impact the Tigers directly. But I am going to start a mail campaign o the PM of India just asking him to personally take charge of this.


God bless the animals, 1411 of them. We will live at peace if we can see them grow, but if they decline, and vanish, I would say that I have failed at least in this one act in this birth.

Friday, February 5, 2010

How Big is the Kitchen?

Have you ever considered this?


When you go to a restaurant to have a meal, and get a good one, at an acceptable price, well served by pleasant waiters, have you ever thought, “I wonder how big the kitchen is?”
Well, unlikely.
When you go to an ATM to draw money, and you get the cash, and return home, have you said, “let me thank the IT head of the ATM bank, for enabling the cash withdrawal?”.
Unlikely.
Well in the service industry, all support services get relegated to the background, commoditized, taken for granted, and is a silent provider.

However, if the meal on the table had too much salt, and tasted unpalatable, you would surely ask, “hey can you call the chef?”, “what kinda kitchen do you run?”

Retail supply chain is about the same. You may have the best warehouse, fastest trucks, the most efficient people, but unless you can get the 6 R's (Right -Product, time, price, place, quantity, quality), correct every time, the consumer will want to see your kitchen!
Well this has a lot of implications.
Going forward supply chain equations are going to change.
As chairman of ECR India (Efficient Customer Response), I had initiated a Common warehousing project with TCI. Where FMCG suppliers could have common warehousing and hence save a lot of cost. But the pilot failed because the top FMCG companies in India were not prepared to share their plans with common logistics provider. This was since over 50 years, FMCG companies, have built their competitive advantage through distribution reach.

The next 24 months will change it all. Logistics and supply chain in India is going to change because of 2 reasons - GST (Common tax code will allow free movement of goods across the country) and the Golden Quadrilateral. There will emerge experts in this area who will consolidate the volumes and commoditize the Supply chain. FMCG companies will have the (uncomfortable) opportunity to concentrate on Product development (which is woeful at this point), and Understanding the Consumer.

Retailers and FMCG companies will have to accept the emergence of a new entity in the chain, the supply chain service provider. Who is this?
The Supply chain service provider will do the following

• Have fewer warehouses than the current retailers
• Have warehouses built with lesser cost and hence will have higher ROIs and hence have to opportunity to provide A grade service at lower cost
• Have better strategic locations along the golden quadrilateral
• Have larger and faster trucks, paying lesser permit fees
• Have the state of the art software in warehouse management systems
• Will consolidate volumes across all sorts of commodities, and hence have optimized return logistics.

Hence retailers and FMCG will have to rely on other ways of driving competitive advantages.
OTIF (On Time In Full) will be taken for granted and no one will ask to see the Kitchen !