Nirvana

IEEE Spectrum published a brilliant article titled “The New Economics of Semiconductor Manufacturing” focusing on applying Toyota Production System (TPS) principles to improve efficiency and production capacity.

The TPS is briefly summarized as

(1) highly specify activities,

(2) clearly define the transfer of material and information,

(3) keep the pathway for every product and service simple and direct, and

(4) detect and solve problems where and when they happen, using the scientific method.

Authored by Clayton M. Christensen (author of “The Innovator’s Dilemma”) et. al. the article elaborates on the TPS principles as applicable to semiconductor fabs with real examples and the results gained by the changes.

To cut costs by 12%, increase production capacity by 10% and lower cycle time by 67% in six months without additional investment is astounding to say the least.

Highly recommended to read !

Thanks to my FIL for forwarding this article to me.

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After months of deliberation, I registered for the 2008 PGCBM business management program being offered by XLRI via Hughes Globalnet. I was shortlisted for the interview and I am fairly hopeful that I will get in. Classes start in May and the course is 14 months long, I am looking forward to being in a classroom (virtual anyway) again!

I drove down to Vythiri Resorts at Wayanad this weekend along with my friend’s family, it was a great drive and we had a good time at the resort amidst nature. Kerala boasts of beautiful, picturesque places lush with green forests and lakes. Throw in the ayurvedic massages and great climate, it’s a great tourist place to unwind.

I sprained my foot while playing basketball and the doc confirmed that it’s a hairline fracture that will take couple of months to recover. Funny, I have never had a fracture before.

Wildly waiting to watch Coen brothers’ latest movie, currently reading Calvin and Hobbes, Osho’s self-awareness and First Things First by Stephen Covey.

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Effectiveness must be learned as an executive is paid for being effective asserts Drucker, the management guru.  Effectiveness is the ability to get the right things done and is a habit, a complex of practices that have to be acquired. Outlined below are the steps that could make you more effective according to his book “The Effective Executive” ( A soft copy of this book is also available at Asiaing)

• Record where the time goes (Know thy time) and analyze the executive’s time (pruning of unnecessary activities) - this action alone will make a man more effective. He needs to be able to dispose of time in fairly large chunks for maximum effectiveness.  Identify the time wasters which follow from lack of system or foresight. A crisis that recurs a second time is a crisis that must not occur again. The recurrent crisis is simply a symptom of slovenliness and laziness.

• Focus outwards on your contribution to the organization with concern for results rather than efforts and stress on responsibility.  Think through who uses your output and what the user needs to know. Focus on contribution supplies four basic requirements of effective human relations : communications, teamwork, self-development and development of others.
  • What is the most important contribution I can make to the performance of this organization?
  • What self-development do I need? What knowledge and skills do I need to make the contribution and what standards do I have to set myself?

• Making strengths productive - integrate individual purpose and organization needs appropriately.  One has a pretty good idea whether one works better in the morning or at night. One knows whether one works best by making a great many drafts or one meticulous session.
  • What are the things that I seem to be able to do with relative ease ? To be effective he builds on what he can do and does it the way hr has found out works best. One feeds the opportunities and starves the problems.

• First things first and one thing at a time.  Identify priorities by
  • Picking future as against the past
  • Focus on opportunity rather than on problem
  • Choose your own direction
  • Aim High, aim for something that will make a difference.

• Effective decision concerns with rational action. Effective decisions do not flow from consensus of facts but from clash and conflict of divergent opinions.

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