Industry 4.0-Current Industrial transformation with automation: Reality or Myth

Article by: Ms. Priyanka Roy, Student Batch-2017-19, Calcutta Business School

In the world of digitization, every sector of the industry has undergone significant transformation in every facet of their operations. With the development in Information and Communication Technology (ICT), over last two decades, industries have been confronted with disruptive changes in technology and their impact on business operations. We are experiencing Industry 4.0 now, which broadly entails human-machine interaction in managing business operations. Experts say, “We are at the tipping point of the fourth industrial revolution”. Some of key aspects of industry 4.0 include Augmented Reality, 3D printing, and collaborative robots etc. In addition, organizations are flooded with humongous amount of data generated at every node of their supply chain in the form of structured, semi-structured, and unstructured format. Question is how one can cope up with this pace of technology change and leverage it for business growth. Here comes the debate: Is Industry 4.0 a reality that can be implemented and generate business results or it is merely a myth? Before getting into the central discussion, let us first discuss briefly about Industry 4.0.

Industry 4.0 also known as the fourth Industrial Revolution is the current trend in manufacturing industries. In short it means incorporating the smart technologies in manufacturing industries, improving the process, optimizing the productivity in order to venture a new business model. With the introduction of IoT, cloud computing and other advanced technologies in manufacturing and production industry there would be a huge transformation where systems would communicate with each other in an intelligent way. It’s a process where humans will stop working and all communication will work between computers.

Industry 4.0 is going to have a significant impact on the ease of doing business in India. The impact will be seen in higher demand of skilled labor, reducing the centralizing process as well as the change over time, more direct customer relationship, reduction in the breakdown time due to conditional maintenance. The day to day activities of the workforce will be replaced by automated robotics.

A lot of research has already been done in this field and manufacturing industries have already started to implement it .The automobile industry is specially seen at implementing the Industry 4.0.Companies like BMW, Bosch etc. implemented Industry 4.0 to focus on their production .Similarly companies like Daimler, IBM, Universal Robots implemented Industry 4.0 in order to focus on production planning, logistics, improving customer value through engineering etc. The best example of the implementation of the Industry 4.0 could be seen in Siemens Electronic Works facility in Amberg, Germany. The whole operation is maintained by smart machines which coordinate everything from the manufacturing line to the global distribution of company’s product.

Industry 4.0 is creating enormous opportunities not only in the global level but national level as well like Make in India, Digital India and Skill India. The objective of Make in India is to make India a manufacturing hub in the world and in this process Industry 4.0 is going to help India in ensuring its spot in the Digital World. Skill India aims at upgrading the skills of the workforce so that they meet the requirement for the industries and would be able to work with the upgraded technologies. A considerable portion of Indian manufacturing industries operates with their plants with limited automation as they are not willing to invest on new technologies and focus less on product innovation. This is a major challenge for Indian Industries. India should work faster in adopting Industry 4.0 in order to become one of the Industry 4.0 leaders of the world. Indian companies have already started adapting business strategies to implement Industry 4.0 like Maruti Suzuki, Tata Motors, Bajaj, Renault etc. They are using robots in their assembly lines, production line for welding and painting etc.

The application of those new technologies will involve a number of challenges. The challenges include lack of knowledge, capabilities, funding etc. The objective of the first step is to understand the technologies and to implement them. For a successful implementation of Industry 4.0 Data Security and system integrity are the prerequisites. In order to integrate the entire supply chain from supplier’s end to customer further to customized production the advanced factory uses automation. In order to maintain integrity within the whole network each machines and personnel need to be verified and communications must be highly protected to protect from unauthorized access, attack, fraud etc. After the implementation of new technologies like Internet of Things (IoT), Cyber-Physical Systems (CPS) in the manufacturing field the integration of real and virtual worlds will reach the next level. Industry 4.0 enables machines, devices and people to connect anywhere, anytime and at any place.

References-

Ø Nardello, M., Madsen, O., and Møller, C. The Smart Production Laboratory: A Learning Factory for Industry 4.0 Concepts.

Ø Industry 4.0 and India's Automotive Industry. 2nd Automotive Forum & Awards – Theme Paper

Web 2.0 for Libraries and Information Centres: What, Why and How?

Article by : Mr. Atanu Ganguly, Assistant Librarian, Calcutta Business School

What is it?

Web 2.0 is very commonly described as sites which are using participatory and collaborative technologies. The term Web 2.0 was coined by technology commentator Tim O’Reilly who tried to define it as follow: “Web 2.0 is the network as platform, spanning all connected devices; Web 2.0 applications are those that make the most of the intrinsic advantages of that platform: delivering software as a continually- updated service that gets better the more people use it, consuming and remixing data from multiple sources, including individual users, while providing their own data and services in a that allows remixing by others, creating network effects through an architecture of participation and going beyond the page metaphor of Web 1.0 to deliver rich user experiences”. (Source:http://radar.oreilly.com/2005/10/web-20-compact-definition.html)

The analysis of the above definition gives the following main points:
1. Strategic positioning: The web as a platform
2. User positioning: You control your own data
3. Democracy of expression: Less techno-savvy users can express their talent and work.
4. Core competencies: Software upgrades happens without knowledge of users, architecture of participation/sharing, remixability of data source and data transformations and compatible to use in computer as well as other modern devices like iPods, PDAs, cell phone etc.

The characteristics are as follows:

· Software is hosted online and is provided as a service
· People participates in social communities, creating rich environment
· The masses determine what is valuable
· Authentic content created by the user community is what has value
· Simple, lightweight applications with low learning curve
· The perpetual beta, software as a service
· Applications for Web, desktop, gadgets, mobile device iPods etc
· Control relinquished in favour of distribution and sharing
· Application functionability and data is stored
· Web sites include AJAX, mapping, WYSWING editors, drag-and-drop functionality etc.
· Groups, collaborations and mingling.

Why it is used?
The world of knowledge is vast and people residing in each and every corner have diversity in culture, social status, education and economical background. With the development of Web 2.0 they have found a place where they can interact, participate and share their common area of interest. It’s like a professional and amateur co-existing in a same platform. To make it clear “why it is used” we can make a simple distinction of the scenario of when Web 2.0 was not there and when Web 2.0 has captured the empty place through the Seven Principles of Tim O’Reilly as beautifully given in the figure below:



Figure-1

The benefits for libraries are as follows:

1. This application helps libraries to build their web tools like blogs, knowledge repository, podcasts, and custom search engines without computer programming skills.

2. It helps the libraries to get connected with the users through comments, ratings and reviews in blogs and wikis.

3. It makes the libraries to participate in knowledge communities, social networking and virtual communities

4. The tools assist libraries to work in partnership with team members from distant libraries or staff located at different areas.

How it is used?

The Web 2.0 has become popular and we have seen it has revolutionized the user participation. It has made the non-technical person also contributing regardless of their background or position. The most common Web 2.0 tools which has put our self in an age of participation are as follows:

Ø Blogs- It is also know as web blog actually is online journal on web site where articles are been posted in a chronological manner. Libraries use this to promote the services, events happening and latest acquisition of books and other resources, database information etc. They can also give case studies on various issues related to library functions and even demonstrate some innovative ideas practiced or may be implemented for betterment.

Ø Wikis- It is a collaborative space created online where many users can work on a shared project. It is a social publishing which removes barriers like time, place and technical knowledge. Libraries itself is a storage of knowledge in a organized and ready for disseminated form. With this technology librarians can capture and provides information for their patrons.

Ø RSS- Really Simple Syndication is a method of technology which enables the publishers distributes news and other contents on the Web. It is directly deliver to the user. Libraries provides their patrons with library news, events, updates related to special interest like new book release, database subscription, journal & magazine alerts, due date of return of library items, movies reviews, music album launch, etc.

Ø Photo sharing- Online photo sharing through sites like Flickr, PhotoBucket, Webshots etc. are becoming popular as users can rate them, review them and share them making a huge collection of personal, cultural and historical digital photo collection on the web. Libraries in the present digitised environment can share images of new book cover, library events, guided tour, photos of library staff and even innovative works which can serve as a useful marketing effort.

Ø Podcasting- It is series of audio recording or episodes which can be access through subscription mode. It helps people to get automatic updates via RSS feed. It may contains images, video or text files. Libraries are creating, using and subscribing to various podcasts on subjects according to user recommendations. It has been utilised as a learning opportunities for professional development.

Ø Mashups- It is hybrid web application that combines distinct set of data and their function ability from a separate source to create something new in form. It is free-for-alls which gives diverse information and serve as a guide. Libraries have started to explore there are endless possibilities like locating information for the users.

Ø Social Cataloguing- Cataloguing are not now only done by trained professional social cataloguing websites now help users to create personal catalogues of their book, CD, DVD, game collection etc. and share them. The largest of the social cataloguing web sites is “LibraryThing”. Others in this line are “Shefari”, “Listal” and “Gurulib”. Libraries are using this as a tool for cataloguing new titles which help them to reach the numerous people in the community. It helps to establish an authentic source of information through web portals of library and full OPAC systems.

Ø Video sharing- Through various web sites like YouTube, Metacafe and Revver online video sharing has been popularised as it is free of charge and user friendly. Libraries are using these to promote their programs and services like guiding library collection, user awareness, library guide tour, to make visibility felt among the community.

Ø Social Bookmarks- Social booking focus on managing and sharing information. It enables user to retrieve their searches in future in an online space. It has great advantage as they are not stored locally in user’s desktop but rather accessible from any online devices. Libraries using social bookmarks help the users to get reader’s advisory sources, web resources list and subject guides. 

The General and the King

Article by : Prof. Partha Saha, Associate Professor, Calcutta Business School

The Koshal army led by General Kumar Tikendrajit was retreating. Retreat was fast and furious. It had to be. Two neighbouring states, Koshal and Karnavati were locked in bitter battle for supremacy for the last two decades. There were lots of border skirmishes between the two states. Battles were mostly non-decisive. See-saw battles between two armies raged for long period. But this time Koshal army crossed the river Koel to attack Karnavati, hoping to take the enemy by surprise. But they were mistaken. The army of Karnavati was fully prepared due to advance warning from their superior spy network. The result was a disaster. Koshal army was completely routed. King Virendra Devvarman of Koshal, who was leading Koshal army from the front was mortally wounded. Later he succumbed to his injuries. Almost three quarter of Koshal army perished in the battle. The Koshal army, defeated and devastated, had no option but to retreat at full swing. However they were pursued by the marauding adversaries. Both armies were running on their horses. Only silver line for Kumar Tikendrajit was that his adversaries were half a day behind and they were unlikely to overrun him in a hurry.

Kumar Tikendrajit and his men quickly reached a forest. They were to navigate the forest to reach the banks of river Koel. Their only salvation lies in crossing the river Koel and stepping into the soil of Koshal. But the forest terrain was treacherous. It was full of marshy wetland, lakes, quicksand, small rivers covered by thick dense trees. Many wild animals like tigers, lions, cheetahs, wild boars roamed freely inside the forest. Wetlands were infested with snakes and reptiles. Even in the daytime it was difficult for the Koshal army to progress as beams of sunlight peeked through the foliage. The terrain was unknown and there was absolutely no compass to guide them. Kumar Tikendrajit and his army were moving slowly through the forest. At every step soldiers were cutting their way through the jungle with axes and machetes. Soldiers are cutting through the undergrowth, clearing it out, while Kumar Tikendrajit and his lieutenants were watching close-by. Suddenly there was wild shriek and screaming. Seven of his men were drowning in the quicksand along with their horses. The army stood helpless watching the men and beasts slowly sinking into the sand. Later five of his men were bitten by cobra and died almost instantaneously. Cry and wailing of soldiers was also attracting the attention of the spies of Karnavati army who had a base-camp near the forest. They despatched two of their quickest horses and ablest men to inform the pursuing Karnavati army. Karnavati army were making quick advances to capture or slaughter the remnants of their adversaries. Now Karnavati army knew the exact locations of their enemies and their movements in the jungle. The noose around Tikendrajit and his men were tightening.

At this point of Tikendrajit realized that they were circling in the jungle in a haphazard manner. With his own sword he cut the branches of two trees and wrote his name in the trunk of both of them. After two hours he came back to the same spot. This time Tikendrajit began to sweat. The full import of the situation suddenly dawned upon him. His enemies now knew his exact location, thanks to their spy network. The advancing army of Karnavati were coming closer and closer at every passing hour. Karnavati spy network was watching his every movement. The forest landscape was unknown. He was slowly losing his men due to attack from wild beasts and reptiles. To top it all he was not sure of the correct escape route, to reach river Koel. Probably surrender was the only option. But the Karnavati army, known for ruthlessness, was unlikely to take any prisoner, he mused.

At this point Tikendrajit spotted a cavalry man coming from the other side of the forest. He was a man in his early thirties. Grave but with a noble countenance he possessed a remarkable feature. First thought that came to Tikendrajit’s mind was that the person might be a spy of Karnavati army. General’s men intercepted the stranger and he interrogated him personally but found out that the young cavalry man, named Vikramjit, was a complete stranger. Out of sheer desperation Tikendrajit narrated his predicament to Vikramjit. The rivalry and war between Koshal and Karnavati, the defeat and the flight of Koshal army, their flight into jungle, everything was told to Vikramjit. Finally the general begged to Vikramjit, if he could lead them away from danger, to the bank of river Koel. Vikramjit told to the general “You want to go to river Koel. Why don’t you find out the route by yourself.” “We tried but we don’t know the path; we are circling round the forest. By this time we are completely surrounded by the enemy,” a desponded Tikendrajit replied. Vikramjit dismounted from his horse and looked around. He spotted a tall coconut tree and began to climb up. He reached the top of the tree, surveyed the whole landscape quickly and then climbed down. Then Vikramjit rode on his horse and commanded the army “Follow me.” The whole army followed without a murmur. After three hours of rapid flight the army reached the river Koel, crossed the river and reached Koshal. As the throne was vacant following king Virendra Devvarman’s untimely death, the grateful general Tikendrajit then persuaded Vikramjit to ascend the throne.

The ecosystem in which management of an organization operates can be compared to the treacherous forest terrain in which Kumar Trikendrajit found himself. There are two or more players in a marketplace offering same goods and services. There are intense rivalries. Management and workforce often find themselves boxed into difficult corners due to sudden change of the business environment. Management under excessive pressure often resorts to cliché solutions, which compound the problems. Sometimes they try to find escape routes but find themselves embedded into a maze, just like general Tikendrajit and his men were circling round the forest without success. The general was lucky to spot the future king, in the avatar of Vikramjit, who led them out of sure destruction by asking right questions and showing the escape route. The escape route could only be found by surveying the landscape from the top, as Vikramjit did. The solutions were always within reach but only a true leader could ask the right question and suggest out-of-the-box solution as Vikramjit did.

The difference between management (exemplified by Kumar Trikendrajit) and leadership (represented by Vikramjit) is striking : Management is doing things right. Leadership is doing the right things. Management excels in keeping intact bottom line: how does an organization survive in a certain industry(s). Leadership focuses on top line: in which industry(s) the organization should operate. Management shows efficiency in climbing the ladder of success; Leadership judges whether the ladder is leaning against the right wall. It is not very often that we see the happy combination of leadership and management in a single individual/organization.

It goes to general Tikendrajit’s credit to spot the leader in the form of a complete stranger Vikramjit, asking for his guidance and following him unquestionably when the latter showed him the escape route. Perhaps fear of impending disaster and merciless persecution by the enemy allowed him to see the light at the earliest!

Bharat Petroleum – Technical Analysis

Article by : Prof. Tamal Dutta Chaudhuri, Principal, Calcutta Business School

In this post, we will look at a few technical indicators and understand whether Bharat Petroleum Corporation Limited is a good buy on Tuesday, 26.12.2017.

Figure 1 shows that there is a clear upward channel formation and prices should hit Rs.570 levels. There is some money to be made. The linear regression line is also upward sloping indicating that Rs.550 level is achievable. However, note that we are at the end of 7 waves, and there should be a technical correction - so get in fast and get out fast.

Figure 1

Given the price movement, understandably, in Figure 2 the price is climbing along the upper band of the Bollinger Band. The price has just crossed the 0 MACD line and is marginally overbought. It is also giving a buy signal. However, RSI is quite high around 70, but a bit of a bull steam is left.

Figure 3 is interesting. The Parabolic SAR line is starting to catch up with the series indicating some upward rise in prices. Stochastics, however, a bit broad based on a 10 day period, has already given a sell signal. The upward rise is losing steam.

Momentum in Figure 4 has shown a short break and Mesa Sine Wave is signaling a sell.

Figure 2

Figure 3

Figure 4

Grauer & Weil: A Small Cap Multibagger

Article by : Mr. Sayan Satvaya, Student 2016–18 batch, Calcutta Business School

The only Indian company and one of the few in the world which is into the business of complete corrosion-protection solutions across various industries. Some of its prime clients are ISRO, Bhabha Atomic Research Centre and HAL. It is also registered with global brands like Rolls Royce and domestic airline GoAir. This company caters to industries like infrastructure, automobiles, hardware, jewellery, oil and gas and other heavy industries. Its products also find usage in nuclear, defence and space sectors.

The stock was trading at Rs. 5/- in 2012 and currently it is trading at Rs. 71/-. It has multiplied investor’s money almost 14 times in last five years. It’s current market capitalization is Rs. 1620 crore. The company’s revenue has grown from Rs. 336 crore to Rs. 444 crore in last five years. Some other financial ratios are highlighted below:


The current PE ratio is 28 compared to Industry PE of 58. The stock had a good run in last few months and may face consolidation for the time being. However, it is expected that the revenue and profitability growth will remain consistent in the next few years and hence, the stock should test Rs. 220/- level by 2022.



Disclaimer: The recommendation and advice are of my own opinion. Please do your own research for confirmation. 

CRM Experiences in Indian Companies

Article by : Dr. Suman Kumar Dawn, Associate Professor, Calcutta Business School

Indian companies are on a journey to become more customer-centric. In today’s commercial world, practice of dealing with existing customers and thriving business by getting more customers into loop is predominant and is mere a dilemma. Customer Relationship Management (CRM) is the strongest and the most efficient approach in maintaining and creating relationships with customers. Customer relationship management is not only pure business but also ideate strong personal bonding within people. Increased competition, margin pressures and demanding customers are forcing companies to look at CRM in a big way. Companies those are likely to deploy CRM solutions in the future are pharmaceuticals, BPO, retail, FMCG, healthcare, airlines and the government. Manufacturing is also showing potential for CRM deployment with a focus on maintaining relationships with dealers and helping them enhance their sales and service capabilities.

“Segments with increasing competitive pressures and high-value sales will deploy sales force automation systems. Support-oriented organisations are the next big gainers if they deploy CRM. A typical example of this would be IT resellers and systems integrators, since they need both sales and service to remain competitive,” says Rajeev Mittal, Director, Small and Medium Solutions and Partners, Microsoft India.

Quality, consistency and customised care to the patient help the healthcare service providers to retain the patient as well as the entire family for their lifetime. “CRM technology is implemented to minimise cost and time in healthcare, and ultimately enhance the customer relationship,” says G Radhakrishnan Pillai, Head, IT, SRL Ranbaxy.

OYO Rooms has in a very short time emerged as India’s leading branded network of hotels offering standardized stay experiences at a competitive price. Millions of web and mobile visitors every month turn to OYO to book a room at more than 7000 hotels in 200+ cities. According to Vishal Jain – VP of Growth & Marketing at OYO told that OYO has been using a full 360-degree view of guest-interactions to drive sales in both online and offline channels. For this, OYO has deployed Blueshift, with its advanced ability to ingest and process many data sources from online and offline activity, quickly segment specific audiences and operate in real-time across multiple channels. This has helped us build a better user experience spanning mobile and email. Offline and call centre bookings can now be coupled with each customer’s online behaviour to deliver relevant recommendations as well as price-drop alerts that are customised for the individual. Following tie-up with Blueshift, OYO was able to rapidly launch campaigns delivering more than 50 million personalized messages per month, across various channels such as email, mobile notifications and SMS.

Pizza Hut recognises frequent callers and the context of their call enabling the customer to be routed to the agent who best fulfils their requirements, where it is a new order, changes to an existing order or a status enquiry on an existing order. Pizza Hut operators access up to-date information on its outlets in the catchment area , enabling them to select Pizza Hut store that fulfils the customer order quickest , thereby meeting it commitment to deliver hot pizza quickly. The new service using IT offered by Hindustan Unilever was intended to be friendly and personal. For this, an innovative communication route was adopted. The entire service was branded as “Infra Jini” to give users an Idea of the friendly and personal nature of the service. “This little “infrastructure genie” gave the service a personal touch and was popularised by means of posters and mailers. The Infra Jini is also present on the desktops as a clickable icon , which took the user to the website from where he could log a call online. Taj Hotels provide the “frequent customer “with much higher luxury facilities at no extra cost. Cross word bookstall allows its customers to go through any book without any compulsion to purchase the book. Airtel customers in Mumbai are given a special feature along with their connection which helps them to perform the famous Siddhi Vinayaka pooja by simply sending a sms nicknamed vpuja51.

CRM benefits:

i. CRM obtains better customer satisfaction.

ii. Servicing, marketing, and selling products to customers can be carried out in an organized and systematic way.

iii. Better services to customers can be done through improved understanding of issues and this in turn helps in increasing customer loyalty and decreasing customer dissatisfaction.

iv. Receive continuous feedback from your customers regarding your products and services.

Club Mahindra’s Holiday Experience profilers (HEP) aim to provide instant response to customer feedback at its resorts. The HEP’s are touch screen kiosks set up at the company’s resorts in Goa, Munnar and Binsar. Club Mahindra is probably the only timeshare company with a TV campaign and the only such company in India to have a toll free number for reservations. Club Mahindra has launched an initiative called cruise gallery, which is a tie up with an American company, International cruise and Excursions, to provide its members all-inclusive cruises to popular destinations worldwide.

Coca-Cola India says it trains consumer response coordinators (CRCs), who in turn train their sales teams to understand and implement its global systems. According to Sunil Gupta, Vice-President, Public Affairs, Coca-Cola India, the CRM system generates daily, weekly, monthly and annual reports that keep the management aware of routine and evolving consumer concerns, with management reviews undertaken routinely. Similarly, Chennai-based FMCG company CavinKare Pvt Ltd, meets up with identified members of consumer panels once a quarter for every brand in its portfolio to take first level feedback on user experience or to test a hypothesis based on feedback from the sales force. A consumer durable brand like Videocon or BPL or LG and Style SPA has a number of product categories and could attempt cross selling these products to appropriate consumers who have tried out one products of the brand.

Carlo M. Donati, Chairman & Managing Director of foods major Nestle India, whose consumer-end CRM-driven initiatives include setting up `affinity groups' like the Maggi Club, the Nestle Kitchen in partnership with Online Shopping, Rediffmail, Latest India News, Business, Bollywood, Sports, Stock, Live Cricket Score, Money, Movie Reviews, and Cook-n-Serve interactive cooking demos. Dabur India, which is also now toying with the idea of setting up call centres with toll-free numbers or interactive Web sites or both. "The problem of the consumers being too many and too scattered remains. But we do recognise that CRM is an emerging industry trend, the effort would be to provide a platform to the consumer to get closer to the company and encouraging her to offer solutions, feedback and suggestions,'' observes Sunil Duggal, Chief Executive Officer, Dabur India.