***** This article is about the Supplier development policies of Toyota and its implementation in Indian context.It's not about "Just in Time" production method.
It is said that God is always right.
You cannot question God ,because he is the ultimate truth.
I have been facing a similar situation since I joined my company.
Since the first day I have been hearing ....Toyota....Toyota....Toyota and in between it's Japan....Japan...Japan.
True that Toyota is the best automobile company of the world.Its the most efficient and profitable and a benchmark for the rest of the world to follow.
But is it right to assume that Toyota is the God of manufacturing and its policies will be successful in every region and situation of the world.
We underwent a training on supplier management and was told that Toyota indeed is the God.Any question which questioned the applicablity of Toyota policy was frowned upon by the Trainer.It was like we were children being taught what is right and what is wrong.
I hate this type of attitude. I hate those who try to shape my thoughts but refuse to discuss the issues openly.I didn't get the chance to discuss the applicabity of Toyota's supplier development policies in totallity in India in the training and I want to discuss it here.
The world always worships rising SUN.Few decades back it was the big three ie...GM,FORD and CHRYSLER who were the role models for the manufacturing.They were worshiped and imitated.They were arrogant and refused to change with time.Time got ahead of them and the result is for every body to see.
No theory or practice can be said to be the best for all times.They need to be changed with time to be in snyc with the current world.Otherwise they are doomed. Similarily,no theory or practice can be said to be applicable at every place in the same way.What has been successfull in Japan can be a sure shot success in India or US.Even in Japan ,what has been successful for Toyota may not bring same results for Honda or Nissan or Mazda.There is nothing absolute in this world.Every thing needs to be customized according to time and place.
Japan is a diffent type of place.It's society defies every conventional theory of interaction in a society.Honest to the core,hard working to the extreme and faithfull to an absurd limit......its citizens could be a role model for the world.And like Jews ,the Japanese have the sympathy of the whole world for being a victim of the nuclear bomb.In addition to this the Americans till now wanted to prevent the re-militrization of Japan at any cost.Even if it means giving it undue advantages in trade and commerce.The result was that in 1960's and 70's the Japanese would export every thing to America and Europe giving almost no duties.The Japanese govt subsidized every export oriented industry and the world looked the other way.
The Japanese govt have always promoted co-operation among its industries and the industries have welcomed the government interference happily.This is against the spirit of free market practise. Rest of world actively discourages the co-opeartion between big companies to prevent unfair trade practices.The companies too loathe the interfernce of govt in their activites.This has resulted in a huge advantage to the Japanese companies.Such a practice in any other part of the world will lead to the formation of cartels and result in trade manipulation.It will also lead to increased inefficiency in the companies because of govt interference.After all the companies work according to the market demands whereas govt woks on the public demand. I don't need to write about the Indian govt.Instead of economics they will try to enforce their agenda of social justice if given sufficient command over the industries.
The culture of Japan too suits the policies of Toyota.The Japanese are extremely loyal to their companies and the companies return the loyality by ensuring life time employment and many other benefits unheard of in our world.Lay offs are unheard of in japan.The electronic company Sony was in deep financial trouble but it has so far refrained from any worker lay offs.
The spirit of co-operation among the Japanese is praise worthy.They will extend helping hand to even their compititors who are in trouble.Honesty runs in their blood.Have u ever heard of a scam in Japan.The Japanese society is honest and they will do their job with full honesty.
Till now japanese have sold every thing to the world ,but they simply refuse to consume anything produced by others.This is the reality.An average Japanese will go for a costly and poor quality Japanese product rather than a cheap and high quality forign product.This irrationality in behaviour is because of nationalism which runs deep in their blood.
It is in this backdrop toyota has evolved its famed toyota manufacturing system.
Does that situation prevails in India.Only an insane person will say ..yes.
We are very different from Japan.Our mental state and physical infrastructure are completely different.Forget a life employment,our automotive companies throw out their line staff every six months to prevent IR issues.Forget co-operation between the vendors and OEMs.Here even ancilliary units and OEMs are suspicious of each other.Forget employee loyality,here the management and the labour unions behave as if they are enimies of each other.
Neither our company's scale of operation nor our govt policies are similar to Toyota and Japanese govt.
There could be two ways of bringing in the improvement in the companies.One could be by encouraging compitition among them.Tell every one fight it out in the market and the fittest will survive.The weak and the unfit will be out of the market sooner or latter.They will merge with the better performers or will be aquired by them.
The other way could be by co operation.Let the companies co operate and teach the weaker and inefficient ones how to improve.On principle its very egaliterian and right.But the sad truth is that nature has not made us to behave in such a way. Nature allows survival of the fittest only.Be it in the jungles or in the market.Any other policy deviaiting from it cannot be sustained in the long run.The communist realized it after 70 yrs of experimentation.
We have to choose which way we want to go.
Toyoyta's policy are good but a lot of deliberation needs to be done on the how to Indianize it.
Its implementation in the Japanese form is nothing but an invitation to trouble.
Saturday, February 16, 2008
Saturday, February 09, 2008
The necessity of being rich
"Always remember that money is not everything,but make sure that you have made a lot of it before talking such non sense"
- Bill Gates.
A very practical quote from a person who has the maximum amount of one of the most controversial things in this world....that is money. Deng Xiaoping once said..." Its glorious to be rich". Now the spiritual gurus say that lust for money is the source of maximum unhappiness in this world.In my friend circle also I always hear friends saying that money is not very important in life,but I never had any shame in accepting that I want to be rich ....rich beyond imagination. Many times it gives an impression that I am a materialistic person and I have lust for money. Yeah I want to have lot of it ,but never had the lust for money.
Afterall who is right "Deng Xiaoping or the spiritual gurus".I my opinion none of them.Both represent the extreme side of the veiws. Money definitely is important. In economy it is the means through which you can buy the things you want.Having moneys means having the ability to buy material things and services. The more money you have ..the more material possesion you can aquire.And the truth is that for a good quality life you need many of those much maligned material things.True that love and happiness are the two most important things that make up a good life.
You need someone whom you can live for...you need a family whose happiness will make you happy many times over.You need affection from your friends and relatives.All these are the main things which make a life happy.These things cannot be bought using money.You cannot purchase true love..you cannot purchase affection.But...but having money means you have enough energy left to love your loved ones.You don't have to worry for the basic needs of your family. Money gives you the power to fullfil those desires of your loved ones which your love alone cannot fullfill.
First of all money enables you the access to best of all the necessary things one needs in life,be it the best education,the best medical treatment ,a nice house etc etc.
We are a social animal and others veiw of us is also important to us.I hate to accept it but except for a very minusicule minority ,every one cares for others opinion about them.And the way how society looks at you is in a major way decided by the amount of money,power,name and fame you have.Thats the way this society works and it will do so in milleniums to come.Because this is how nature has made us. Its in the instinct of every creature to be in awe and fear of the powerful.In case of humans it is the money,name ,fame which translates into power.Unlike animal,physical strenght have little meaning for us. Having money gives you a status in the society ,it gives you many friends ( most of them not true friends,but still you need them ). And most importantly it gives you the confidence to deal with the society on your own terms.It gives us a sense of secuity which helps to keep your mental frame positive.You don't need to worry about the material things.
Whatever I have written may be awkward to many,but you would better understand my point if you look for examples around yourself. My short life have given me my fair share of happiness and sorrow.I have closely interacted with many persons. Some of them really affluent and some in dire financial constraints. And I have seen the difference money brings in our personal and social life. The society behaves like a chamelion.....only going after the rich and trying to get away of the not so rich......and it quickly changes colour when the not so rich becomes rich. You suddenly find that people who avoided you now want to befriend you. Money brings with it a very enhanced social acceptability.And no one can deny this. The way society behaves with you cannot be decided by the love and affection you shower on them. If you are really good with everyone but sadly you are poor.....sorry friend.. people will like you but they will never be comfortable with you .....never accept you as their own.
One thing I have always believed is that if you want to help someone,you should be capable of doing that.You can change the life of those around you and of whole humanity in a much more effective way if you have the power ,influence and money.Today Bill gates is changing the life of millions of persons with his foundation and he has not changed his life style much.He still enjoys a good life.There are mllions of people who want to change the world,who have left their cozy jobs and lifes to venture into villages and war torn area but none of them have done what the money of Bill melinda gates foundation has done.Even to be a philanthrophist you need money.
I have no hesitation in accepting that money has got lot of importance in life and I fully endorse the quote of Bill Gates..... " Money is not everything but make sure that you make lot of it before saying such a non sense ".
The question which always comes in my mind is how much... few lakhs...a couple of millions...few billions..or ...few trillions.Very difficult question to answer.The problem is that with money the law of diminshing marginal utility doesnot apply.Its upto you to decide how much is sufficient.What I feel is that no amount is sufficient but with a condition that in earning more and more of it neither you nor your loved ones should suffer.
Money does not have diminshing marginal utility but it has a break even point. A time comes when the happiness which money brings ( to you and your loved ones ) with it gets outweighed by the unhappiness and lonelyness bought by the effort you put in earning that money. That break even point is different for every one.
Lee Iacocca never worked for more than ten hrs a day but still is one of the most success CEO ever.In his auto biography he has declared his hatred for those who run after money and neglect their family and themselves.But he also declared his love for money.But common people get bogged down by work very quickly......for them its always better to go slow when the breakeven point comes.
"Its always glorious to be rich ,but its more important to love ,be loved and happy."
- Naman Sinha
I think last line of mine is more important than the quote of Bill Gates which is there at the begining of the blog.
- Bill Gates.
A very practical quote from a person who has the maximum amount of one of the most controversial things in this world....that is money. Deng Xiaoping once said..." Its glorious to be rich". Now the spiritual gurus say that lust for money is the source of maximum unhappiness in this world.In my friend circle also I always hear friends saying that money is not very important in life,but I never had any shame in accepting that I want to be rich ....rich beyond imagination. Many times it gives an impression that I am a materialistic person and I have lust for money. Yeah I want to have lot of it ,but never had the lust for money.
Afterall who is right "Deng Xiaoping or the spiritual gurus".I my opinion none of them.Both represent the extreme side of the veiws. Money definitely is important. In economy it is the means through which you can buy the things you want.Having moneys means having the ability to buy material things and services. The more money you have ..the more material possesion you can aquire.And the truth is that for a good quality life you need many of those much maligned material things.True that love and happiness are the two most important things that make up a good life.
You need someone whom you can live for...you need a family whose happiness will make you happy many times over.You need affection from your friends and relatives.All these are the main things which make a life happy.These things cannot be bought using money.You cannot purchase true love..you cannot purchase affection.But...but having money means you have enough energy left to love your loved ones.You don't have to worry for the basic needs of your family. Money gives you the power to fullfil those desires of your loved ones which your love alone cannot fullfill.
First of all money enables you the access to best of all the necessary things one needs in life,be it the best education,the best medical treatment ,a nice house etc etc.
We are a social animal and others veiw of us is also important to us.I hate to accept it but except for a very minusicule minority ,every one cares for others opinion about them.And the way how society looks at you is in a major way decided by the amount of money,power,name and fame you have.Thats the way this society works and it will do so in milleniums to come.Because this is how nature has made us. Its in the instinct of every creature to be in awe and fear of the powerful.In case of humans it is the money,name ,fame which translates into power.Unlike animal,physical strenght have little meaning for us. Having money gives you a status in the society ,it gives you many friends ( most of them not true friends,but still you need them ). And most importantly it gives you the confidence to deal with the society on your own terms.It gives us a sense of secuity which helps to keep your mental frame positive.You don't need to worry about the material things.
Whatever I have written may be awkward to many,but you would better understand my point if you look for examples around yourself. My short life have given me my fair share of happiness and sorrow.I have closely interacted with many persons. Some of them really affluent and some in dire financial constraints. And I have seen the difference money brings in our personal and social life. The society behaves like a chamelion.....only going after the rich and trying to get away of the not so rich......and it quickly changes colour when the not so rich becomes rich. You suddenly find that people who avoided you now want to befriend you. Money brings with it a very enhanced social acceptability.And no one can deny this. The way society behaves with you cannot be decided by the love and affection you shower on them. If you are really good with everyone but sadly you are poor.....sorry friend.. people will like you but they will never be comfortable with you .....never accept you as their own.
One thing I have always believed is that if you want to help someone,you should be capable of doing that.You can change the life of those around you and of whole humanity in a much more effective way if you have the power ,influence and money.Today Bill gates is changing the life of millions of persons with his foundation and he has not changed his life style much.He still enjoys a good life.There are mllions of people who want to change the world,who have left their cozy jobs and lifes to venture into villages and war torn area but none of them have done what the money of Bill melinda gates foundation has done.Even to be a philanthrophist you need money.
I have no hesitation in accepting that money has got lot of importance in life and I fully endorse the quote of Bill Gates..... " Money is not everything but make sure that you make lot of it before saying such a non sense ".
The question which always comes in my mind is how much... few lakhs...a couple of millions...few billions..or ...few trillions.Very difficult question to answer.The problem is that with money the law of diminshing marginal utility doesnot apply.Its upto you to decide how much is sufficient.What I feel is that no amount is sufficient but with a condition that in earning more and more of it neither you nor your loved ones should suffer.
Money does not have diminshing marginal utility but it has a break even point. A time comes when the happiness which money brings ( to you and your loved ones ) with it gets outweighed by the unhappiness and lonelyness bought by the effort you put in earning that money. That break even point is different for every one.
Lee Iacocca never worked for more than ten hrs a day but still is one of the most success CEO ever.In his auto biography he has declared his hatred for those who run after money and neglect their family and themselves.But he also declared his love for money.But common people get bogged down by work very quickly......for them its always better to go slow when the breakeven point comes.
"Its always glorious to be rich ,but its more important to love ,be loved and happy."
- Naman Sinha
I think last line of mine is more important than the quote of Bill Gates which is there at the begining of the blog.
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