Today started off with a visit from the national press from New Delhi, India. They wanted to do a session with us to hear our interpretations of India and answer any questions we had. One key point they told us was that there were no restrictions on the press in India. I found this interesting because although in the United States they will not publicize the restrictions the government has on the press, I am confident restrictions exist judging by the news we get compared to the truth. The press also reinforced what I have felt in India which is that many of the locals are very kind towards Americans, and do not have any anti-American views as many would assume. Following the session with the national press, we heard a lecture from Professor YK Shriram on “HR and Business-a symbiotic relationship”. Going into it, I thought I would be bored because of the HR class I took at Carlson and the fact that my older sister is in HR and she gave me a great amount of information on the topic. But I was proved wrong, because Professor Shriram put a whole new spin on the topic by looking at it from an Indian perspective. Some interesting points he said were: -that out of the 3 million graduates India produces every year only 300,000 are employable, -In manufacturing sector, employees work 6 days a week and in knowledge sector, employees work 5 days a week, and –that although you can’t discriminate against gender in India unless job requires differently, you can against age because it is unprotected. It was a very enlightening lecture that I think will be interesting to share with my sister.
Following class, we took a cab to TVS Motors, Inc. The road was filled with pot holes and other kind of gaps causing the ride to be very bumpy (picture showed above of road). This made me think of how important an infrastructure is when deciding to do business in another country, and how if India wants to bring more businesses here it has to work on improving its infrastructure; especially if it wants to stay competitive with China. Once we arrived at TVS Motors we heard a couple of presentations on the company that were very interesting. Some key points were that all their inventory materials turn over 72 times a year, they produce 3000 2 wheelers a day,(second to China in the amount of 2 wheelers produced), they export to over 40 countries (exporting is around 10% of total output), and factory employees get paid $250 (10,000 rupees) a month. These facts show how India is a growing economy that definitely has the potential to be an intense global competitor in the motor industry in the coming years.
After the presentation we took a tour of the factory that compared to yesterdays at Axle’s Automated Limited looked immaculate. It looked like a showroom rather than a factory. Unfortunately, we could not take our cameras with us inside, so I will describe it in as much detail as possible to paint you a picture. They had flower pedals as light switches, plants all over the factory, and portraits of the ocean, mountains, and spacious green fields at the employee’s workstations to keep the employees in a nice state of mind and to increase their productivity. They also had various signs regarding TQM(total quality management) and TPM (Total Product Management) to motive the employees to perform their best. One interesting thing they had that you would not see at a typical factory was a safety booth that looked like it belonged at a science museum or fair rather than a factory. The booth went over common safety hazards at a factory and the effects you get if you do not follow the safety tips. Every time an employee breaks a safety tip, they have to go to the safety booth walk through it and sign a sheet saying what they learned from it. I think it is a really good management technique. Another thing that was interesting was a machine that carried the engine from one part of the room to the other that was controlled by gravity alone. The tour guide said the gravity machine idea came from a suggestion by a supervisor that has really greatly improved efficiency. They have a great employee suggestion program at TVS Motors Inc. in which employees can be compensated up to $50 per suggestion (2000 rupees). As you can tell from me rambling on, I really enjoyed this site visit.
Following the site visit, me, Drew, Felix, and Nancy went to experience the real India by stopping at what else: Pizza Hut. Attached is a picture below just in case you do not believe there is one here. I hate to sound repetitive but this one again shows how the world is definitely flattening. The reason I think Pizza Hut especially demonstrates this flattening of the world is because India’s culture is not big on eating red meat. In fact, they treat cows as sacred and holy figures. For example, when we were driving there the driver told us how drivers always stop as cows cross the street because of the fact that are considered holy in India. Anyways back to the flattening of the world, the pizza we order contained pepperoni which was 100% pork. A restaurant in India offering 100% pork would be unheard of 50 years ago. I really felt like I was in America when eating at Pizza Hut once again showing how globalization is hitting India hard.
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