P O SUBASH PHOTO (TWO OF MY PHOTOGRAPHS P O SUBASH)

The above as a student of Sathya Sai Arts Science and Commerce College...the sign on the photograph is of Shri D Narender who was the principal at that time and used to teach English very well.





The photograph below is the one when I graduated from REC Calicut.

Economies and their various Sources

There are various kinds of economies in this world...let me see if  I can identify ten    of them;

ECONOMIES OF SCALE

This is a very often spoken about Economy. As the scale increases the cost of manufacturing per product comes down.This is the essence of  Fordism where larger quantity mass manufactured resulted in lesser per capita costs. Economies of Scale appears to be one of the larger ethos on which the economies of countries operate.Larger the population the better for a country that can benefit from scale economies.

ECONOMIES OF SCOPE

This kind of an economy can be attributed to high capital involvements ...Instead of making capital investments any bulk equipment can be shared among few constituents.This creates economies.In my view point a family is an ideal setting where economies of scope can be seen in abundance. What is the meaning of Economy? it simply means you get in simple terms commercial benefits accruing due to certain specific environmental realities.

ECONOMIES OF SHAPE

Such Economies exist from shapes and sizes of equipment's that are largely transitory in nature or in a kinetic situation. For example fuel economy of a car comes r is dependent on the shape of the car. Design might involve more complex situations and technologies and the word shape would just refer to peripheral appearance  All economies have a very distinct characteristic in that they are marginal every day benefits that add into a large scale outcome over-time.

ECONOMIES OF RELATIONSHIPS

Economies of relationships are the economies that follow as a result of long standing and harmonious relationships. Relationships can be of very different kinds but largely commences as a  transactional  one and finally graduating into a strategic one there by giving economic advantages of various sorts in the bargain largely evolving from the rules of comparative advantage. In simple terms if the relations between two countries is one of harmony there will be various kinds of economies that emerge from Relationships.

ECONOMIES OF  ROUTE

Routing by itself will single handedly dictate Economies in the world of today and it will only intensify with time. Increasingly humanity is on a trail of exploring shorter routes between points on the globe. The principle of routing is that a shorter route and a better route always exists between any two points. The world of tomorrow depends largely on Economies of route. Good routing improves temporal  and spatial proximity.

ECONOMIES OF TECHNOLOGY

A  simple example of  Economies of Technology is the use of Deisel engine in a car as against petrol engine.Technologies and their research contributes to Economy..and technologies keep changing frequently.Appropriate Technology is a terminology coined to indicate any given technology that is apt under a given set of circumstances.

ECONOMIES OF METHODOLOGY

Methodology is a series of steps that are used in any process that involves "state" conversion. There can be many different methodologies for any given situation and some methodologies are more economical than the other given some environmental conditions at any point of time. the essence of "Economies of methodology" is that appropriate methodology must be utilized vis-a-vis the situation.

ECONOMIES OF  DESIGN

Design is a very important component of life and a logical activity and note that any design cn be improved and with that comes economies of various kinds like power saving and saving of space. Design requires ingenuity and is a formal branch of study and experience.

ECONOMIES OF GEOGRAPHY

Any activity conducted at different geographical locations have different economies and returns by the very nature of the location and would add up to what is called  Economies of Geography.Over a period of time operations must be activated at zones of highest geographical economies.

ECONOMIES OF PARTNERSHIP

Economies of Partnership is similar to a Doubles tennis match where the burden of executing some job is shared in some proportion between partners who work in unison and some understanding. Economics of Partnership is a symbiotic relationship and can exixt within organizations and among organizations.

ECONOMIES OF  INVESTMENT

Economies of Investments occur when the investments for a particular venture were created when the given conditions were not of high demand but demand picks up very quickly in a short period of time and the entry barrier for any new investor is very higher..there is Economies of Investment.There can be many examples of Economies of Investment.

ECONOMIES OF MATURITY

There are many ways to look at Economies of Maturity. Whenever a product becomes old and is still operational with some minimum investments into its maintenance we have economies of maturity. A forty year old car which is running has a market value which is the fraction of a new car but the very fact that the car does the work it should be doing the Economies of maturity is the difference between the price of a new car and the price of the old car which is phenomenal.

Seized Vehicles outside Police stations in Bangalore

There is a sad sight outside the various police stations of Bangalore city...an array of decaying cars and scooters all fastened to each other possibly seized by  the police for various kinds of violations. Many of these vehicles appear to have been here for a very long period of time.

Something has to be done about his large scale social wastage and some kind of legal policy must be created  so that many of these vehicles would be exited from this state within a certain period of time and not rot unprofitably at these locations.

Across the country there must be vehicles amounting to thousands of crores lying in such a pitiable state. For me I am concerned about the effort that went into manufacturing them and the various spare parts they personify and what a social waste it is to keep them idle.

On top priority some approach must be adopted to set them free dealing with the issue on a case-by-case basis and the concerned police stations given the onus of doing something logical with these vehicles so that they don't create economic waste in the manner in which they do today.

NIT Karnataka Suratkal REC Suratkal

NIT Suratkal has a spcial place in my heart..and it will always have a place. I still remember the corridors of this institute and the wait outside during the selection process and in a nail-biting finish I got an opportunity to enter the chamber of the selection committee and say i would go to Calicut REC to study Electrical Engineering..What a relief at having got a seat and the admission order from this place. Mr. Mahadevan was the principal at this time.I must specially register the courteous behavior I got from the administrative staff at this place.

Among all the NIT's in India it is said that this NIT stands out and is the best..may be I cannot vouch for it because I was never a formal student here..but the Campus stands out as a precious jewel vis-a-vis any campus in the country in its design and orientation and NIT K Suratkal please accept my appreciation for your meticulous efforts  at maintaining such a campus. Splendid in its design...immaculate in its disposition..authentic in its posture...and flawless in its maintenance.

If  I were to compare NIT Calicut and NIT Suratkal  there are many similarities. Both have a highway intersecting the institute; both are away from town; both have magnificient buildings but NIT Calicut has higher clustering. The differences would be that NIT Suratkal is on a sea shore..the hostels and the academic buildings are more displaced in NIT Suratkal and NIT Suratkal has well maintained and ordained gardens and to my observation NIT Calicut  might be marginally larger than NIT Suratkal.

When on visits to this place I take special pleasure at sipping tea watching the sea from the tea shop atop the main building of NIT Suratkal and also on entry to the main lobby I find some sayings of Nehru prominently written which adds to the posture of this college and may be NIT Calicut must follow suit to put such sayings at the entry point of the Main Building.....note that institutes of these kinds would not have come into existence had it not been for the vision of people like Nehru.The last time I was at this place atop the main building I happened to interact for quite some time with a professor of Applied Mechanics , a Keralite with a doctorate in Applied Mechanics. I don't recall his name fully well may be it was mr. Hari Kumar. 

NIT Calicut must put some efforts at creating gardens of the like seen in  Suratkal which would add to the aura and ambiance and such an effort is long overdue.

Any one who is reading this and would like to know how to reach NIT Suratkal then the following would be of use.

Suratkal is a village some 15 kilometers from the city of Mangalore on the Mangalore-Udupi highway. Mangalore is around 08 hours by bus from Bangalore and 24 hours by bus from Mumbai.When at Mangalore take buses that go to Udupi preferably from the private bus stand. NIT Suratkal is not exactly at Suratkal village but the next stop which is the hostel gate and the stop that follows this is the main gate stop. Once you are at this place do not forget to sip tea or have a cool drink atop the institute and take a quiet look at the sea and one would feel a combination of leisure and business at this place.

PENCIL SKETCH MADE BY ME RECENTLY

YULIA SUKACH 

Min Cao

P O SUBASH in 2010

Pivot and Rotate method of Facilities Design in Operations Management

Facilities design is an important component of    Operations Management and sometimes a neglected one but  "Facilities Design" forms an important component for successful Operations of any facility. Very often no principles are used around which facilities are designed and one of the simpler ways is to copy the facilities design of some established enterprise. Facilities design might some day come under the ambit of  intellectual property regime and designs may be patented to prevent duplication.

Sometimes I try to study the Facilities Design of the ITI complex itself and find it somewhere an ultimate embodiment of an excellent facility Design.....possibly the facilities designed around a central Circle around which concentrically many facilities have been located from hospital to school to auditorium, the factory itself , the co-operative society and the residential quarters. There is symmetry and harmony and appreciation to the persons who conceived such a complex very astute and rational in its composure.

The challenge of   Facilities Design may pose several questions and designs can be drastically different and to my observation there are two components to a facility design that largely emanates from "statics of an Operation" and  "dynamics of an operation". Statics of an operational environment is when the load factor of the Operations facility is below Optimum and the Dynamics of an Operation is when the facility is operating at near peak. An Airport may have six runways and when only two or less run-ways are being used we are in the static mode as against say five and more are in use when we are in the Dynamic mode. Improper facilities design can hamper an operations facility in the dynamic mode when the facility has to face the brunt of peak or near peak performance.

One of the principles that can be used as a logic or a safe bench mark for facility Design is the Pivot and Rotate approach. Note that any facility must have some inherent lee-way or scope for expansion also called 'Enhancement".

What is basically the Pivot and Rotate approach..it is just one of the algorithms around which Facilities Design can be conducted. There might be others but this approach may also form a logic around which facilities may be designed. Two drivers form the key around which facilities are designed namely " Location criticality' and  ' Nearness criticality.'


Let me just explain this with a simple example of say a Hospital which has five entities say;

namely  OT . CONSULTING ROOMS, CASUALITY. WARDS; and  X-RAY

Generally speaking organizing these facilities can be conducted in a variety of ways but some algorithm must be applied.

OT is location critical...so is Casualty. So within the given area these facilities must be given locational priority and all the other entities are thereafter fixed and then  say the X-Ray must be close to Casualty and it is rotated and brought close to it and similarly any other nearness criticalty is considered for example the Consulting rooms and X-Ray. There might me some norms too that drive the way entities are placed in relation to each other but before long this procedure gives a rational facilities design.

My experience with TERI

In the early 1990's on taking a stroll on the Palace road I noticed an office of TERI  the Tata Energy Research Institute and visited its Regional Director. Energy and its research were always dear to me and I thought of making an application for a post..I having graduated in Electrical Engineering that too from a Regional Engineering College a few years ago found an energy research organization apt to do work and contribute in.

The regional director gave me the address of Mr. R K Pachauri  who was the director and I promptly made an application the response for which came almost instantly and I was asked to appear for an interview at the palace Road office which I did promptly. Note that Mr. R K Pachauri was later a nobel laureate .

But what followed at the interview left me baffled..an attempt by a bunch of people to prove that I simply knew nothing...a rapid fire session of a myriad of question in quick succession with very limited opening for me to comment on anything or respond with poise.Before long I made out that he has won and I had lost not withstanding my keenness for energy or my aptitude for some kind of research or my back ground and education in electrical engineering and in all possibility a not so encouraging note must have reached the head-office of TERI..and needless to say i was out.

When I  look back I feel bemused at the way the interview was held..a pin-pointed predetermined approach to prove I was simply not good. I have faced such interviewing procedures at many other organizations too..but some how this incident dawned on my mind and I thought of recording it as it forms some component of my experience in life and  Bangalore.