There are many standards being used nowadays to help improve the performance of an organization. Starting from ISO, Six Sigma or even TPM. Many companies claim to practice one of those standards and improvement method, one way or another. However, not many gets certified and even less that actually embodies the culture well. Easiest of all, arguably, is an ISO certification. ISO needs tonnes of documentation with the hope that the documentations allow standardization of work. New employee can simply breeze through the training by following the process and quality manual. Process will be alright by following the standards and documentation provided.
Yet, although so many files and stacks of documentations are produced, efficiency and productivity of a company may not be improved. It's simply due to the lack of employee's involvement. Many times, certification is a mere certificate. No souls is injected into it. Employees turn out to be ignorant. After all, human generally dislike adding work into their already existing burdensome job. Very few people loves adding documentation to their daily job. It's useless, right? Well, that's the challenge. Unless those standards and certification can be inculcated and grafted well into the company's culture, nothing will result from the certification except the additional work, useless type of job. Unless the top management understand and practice the documentation step, nothing can be done to improve the religiosity of the bottom level worker in adhering to the standard.
The top management needs to clearly understand why standards are made and processes are to be followed. Only after having a strong desire to implement the system and an almost zealotry understanding of the system that top management should preach the goodness of it to the lower level guys. Those guys down there, the ones arguably working their asses off, need to see the usefulness of the system. They need a lay man term and PROOF that those documentation can help them to achieve higher productivity, improve their skills, shorten their waiting time, improve their values, and so on. Only by then that standards are useful.
Tuesday, June 19, 2007
Monday, June 18, 2007
Vehicles in Indonesia
Guess how many cars and motorcycles in Indonesia.... There are 30 cars per 1,000 people and 10,2 people per motorcycles. Indonesia's motorcycle density is number four in Asia. The bike density in Jakarta even reach 2.8 people per unit. Both numbers are based on the industry association respectively.
No wonder the air in Jakarta is so polluted. Hahahaha... there are just so many cars and motorcycles. No wonder that the environmental ministry wants to stop new vehicle sales. Anyway, he must be thinking wildly when he suggested to stop vehicle sales. Hehe.. it's going to stop a bulk of the country's industry if it happened. What the government really need to do is to tidy up the corruption before even doing other things. There are just too many underage drivers with "valid" license and cars giving out black fume. The entire transportation needs an overhaul before other things.
Even highway construction (read: infrastructure) easily spur higher vehicle sales in Indonesia (read: central java highway is coming up). Noone knows how terrible the construction quality will be though :P The country still has a long way to go in everything.
No wonder the air in Jakarta is so polluted. Hahahaha... there are just so many cars and motorcycles. No wonder that the environmental ministry wants to stop new vehicle sales. Anyway, he must be thinking wildly when he suggested to stop vehicle sales. Hehe.. it's going to stop a bulk of the country's industry if it happened. What the government really need to do is to tidy up the corruption before even doing other things. There are just too many underage drivers with "valid" license and cars giving out black fume. The entire transportation needs an overhaul before other things.
Even highway construction (read: infrastructure) easily spur higher vehicle sales in Indonesia (read: central java highway is coming up). Noone knows how terrible the construction quality will be though :P The country still has a long way to go in everything.
Morning and mood
No wonder so many people dislike working... it must be because that they commute every morning and night. There is less than 5 smiling people out of 50-80 people per MRT car in Singapore. Hehehe.. many are asleep with tired looks (in the morning!) or just put on gloomy face. I find it better to start my day by smiling in the MRT. It starts a beautiful day because you feel happier hehehe... Well, at night when I commute back home, I saw the same thing in the train... I feel sad for those people. Cheer up! Don't ruin your life by not smiling :D creases is hard to tighten.
Friday, June 15, 2007
Advertisement
I went for some morning walk and an ads captured my attention. It said " ..........naturally (insert noun)". Well, let's not talk about a particular ads but let's dissect the food and beverage's advertisement business for a while. That ads I saw talk about the food being naturally .... On a glance, it indicates that the food has a property inherent to its growth condition, i.e. the properties are obtained not after processed, right? Nah.... I personally don't think it's that simple. The company after all, does not elaborate how does the property is obtained "naturally". If the property is obtained after a certain processing which is designed to produce that characteristic, won't the property be called as natural of the food? As in.. yeah, right, this particular chemical process is used to process the food and the intention is to generate a certain property in the food. The property is the food's "natural" characteristic right? right???
Well, that's how many of us would think. :) But I were to use the same argument, salted fish is also natural. After all, you simply need to salt the fish, let it dry in the air. Tadaa... salted fish, "naturally" processed right? So, I can call it "naturally" beneficial for consumption regardless of whether the processing has this side effect or that side effect. After all, the word beneficial can point to all kind of benefits.
The advertisement business has grown to a humongous business. It's regarded as essential to all business sectors. Every big business has advertisement. Advertising agencies go all out to lure corporations and the agencies promise to increase the profits of the corporations by many fold through the so called marketing effort. Perhaps, in one way, due to the huge amount of money involved, words are being used in a certain manner with the intention to lead customers to think in a certain manner. Of course, all are done regardless of what is the real thing offered by the product, not even considering the short- or long- term bad side effect that can be produced after consuming that product.
I don't really think those advertisement method is going to work for any much further. Nowadays people are educated and organic food sales is on the rise. Perhaps in their heart, those buyers of organic food realize that they can't really take the advertisement claim as it is any more. Perhaps. Nevertheless, advertisement that relies on word play itself won't gain true loyalist. Temporary supporter won't earn a company long term profit. Sadly, that's the focus of companies in general nowadays. I do think that the shift of mindset is needed if a company wishes to drive itself to the future world. Smart consumers enquire and think more. Unless you really talk about the truth and really provide those claim in reality without any word play, true follower won't be gained.
I admire a drink company called Nudie, from Australia. I am attracted by the way they advertise and thus gain true loyalist and follower. I do admit I haven't even drank their product. I only read about them in a branding book. However, I do believe that their product is really offering what it is that the product can offer, that's without even me drinking it! Their advertisement is just so frank and it thus let the consumer connect with the company. People feel connected to the brand. The branding WORKS!! People claim "addiction" to the brand.
This is what a particular label in their product said:
"What is a nudie smoothie?
Fresh fruit blended with pro-biotic yoghurt made from the milk of blissfully happy cows. (You’re probably thinking: ‘Where’s the fruit in the vanilla & honey one?’) Well, apart from 1/2 an apple, employed for its friendly nature*, the fruit is the vanilla bean! Clever, hey. Tall Tim (nudie creator with the big brain) knows that vanilla is the only edible fruit in the orchid family. (Nice bit of trivia to keep up your sleeve for awkward silences on first dates.)
Each nudie smoothie contains good stuff like calcium and protein, all camouflaged in a tasty, sometimes brightly-coloured** drink.
Some other interesting facts about nudie smoothies:
That's how a company market itself, that's the future of advertisement. And NYDC (a cafe) also seems to market their stuff using the same method. After all, having used no to little vegetables, the cafe never claims that its product is good for physical health and fat-free and healthier or whatsoever. But teenagers (and often adults) still frequent the place. After all, we love to eat and we want to indulge ourselves at least once in a while. Hm.. I write too much.
Well, that's how many of us would think. :) But I were to use the same argument, salted fish is also natural. After all, you simply need to salt the fish, let it dry in the air. Tadaa... salted fish, "naturally" processed right? So, I can call it "naturally" beneficial for consumption regardless of whether the processing has this side effect or that side effect. After all, the word beneficial can point to all kind of benefits.
The advertisement business has grown to a humongous business. It's regarded as essential to all business sectors. Every big business has advertisement. Advertising agencies go all out to lure corporations and the agencies promise to increase the profits of the corporations by many fold through the so called marketing effort. Perhaps, in one way, due to the huge amount of money involved, words are being used in a certain manner with the intention to lead customers to think in a certain manner. Of course, all are done regardless of what is the real thing offered by the product, not even considering the short- or long- term bad side effect that can be produced after consuming that product.
I don't really think those advertisement method is going to work for any much further. Nowadays people are educated and organic food sales is on the rise. Perhaps in their heart, those buyers of organic food realize that they can't really take the advertisement claim as it is any more. Perhaps. Nevertheless, advertisement that relies on word play itself won't gain true loyalist. Temporary supporter won't earn a company long term profit. Sadly, that's the focus of companies in general nowadays. I do think that the shift of mindset is needed if a company wishes to drive itself to the future world. Smart consumers enquire and think more. Unless you really talk about the truth and really provide those claim in reality without any word play, true follower won't be gained.
I admire a drink company called Nudie, from Australia. I am attracted by the way they advertise and thus gain true loyalist and follower. I do admit I haven't even drank their product. I only read about them in a branding book. However, I do believe that their product is really offering what it is that the product can offer, that's without even me drinking it! Their advertisement is just so frank and it thus let the consumer connect with the company. People feel connected to the brand. The branding WORKS!! People claim "addiction" to the brand.
This is what a particular label in their product said:
"What is a nudie smoothie?
Fresh fruit blended with pro-biotic yoghurt made from the milk of blissfully happy cows. (You’re probably thinking: ‘Where’s the fruit in the vanilla & honey one?’) Well, apart from 1/2 an apple, employed for its friendly nature*, the fruit is the vanilla bean! Clever, hey. Tall Tim (nudie creator with the big brain) knows that vanilla is the only edible fruit in the orchid family. (Nice bit of trivia to keep up your sleeve for awkward silences on first dates.)
Each nudie smoothie contains good stuff like calcium and protein, all camouflaged in a tasty, sometimes brightly-coloured** drink.
Some other interesting facts about nudie smoothies:
- They are all 98% fat free
- There’s no water in a nudie smoothie
- There are also no colourings, no flavourings, no preservatives, and no added sugar
- They come in bottles with a silver cap (it’s the nudie cows’ favourite colour, and Tall Tim likes happy nudie cows)
- They are made from Australian dairy products and a multicultural mix of Australian and imported fruits
- They really wake you up in the morning, better than a very loud rooster right outside your window
- They do not contain grass (although we can’t say the same about the nudie cows"
That's how a company market itself, that's the future of advertisement. And NYDC (a cafe) also seems to market their stuff using the same method. After all, having used no to little vegetables, the cafe never claims that its product is good for physical health and fat-free and healthier or whatsoever. But teenagers (and often adults) still frequent the place. After all, we love to eat and we want to indulge ourselves at least once in a while. Hm.. I write too much.
Wednesday, June 13, 2007
Biofuel
Biodiesel industries in Germany is reported to be collapsing. I personally don't think that this so called environmental friendly fuel will take off. Consider this, basically the biofuel are more or less also uses the same engine as the normal fuel (i.e. gasoline and diesel). The keyword bio merely refers to the fact that the fuel is produced from something biological as in plants. Therefore, it is argued that the plants has helped to absorb carbondioxide and the absorption will offset the carbondioxide produced by burning the fuels produced by the plants.
The hidden challenge of biofuel is to find plants that do not take as much land plots to grow AND plants that do not originate from foodstocks. So far, ethanol is used as a mixture with the fuel. However, ethanol is made of sugarcane, corns, and some other foodstocks. Therefore, its production compete with the provision of the foodstocks. Why are we using foodstocks to produce oil while many people in the world are still starving? It's beyond my understanding.
Some scientists then discovered that certain non food stock plants (I forget the name) can be used to produced biodiesel. One thing that was forgotten is that those plants need land to grow. There is of course then a huge risk that forest is cleared to supply the industry with the raw material. Well.... forest cleared = less tree to recycle the carbondioxide. So, where's the environmental friendly portion? It's as if earth is still abundant with forests and lands are cheap. People seem to drive like a racing horse with blinder. The ensuing side issues are often forgotten.
Unless a viable raw materials that does not infringe direct human needs (foods, lands) are found, biodiesel investment will implode upon itself soon. It's not sustainable at this moment. It's a mere hype. My opinion is such.
The hidden challenge of biofuel is to find plants that do not take as much land plots to grow AND plants that do not originate from foodstocks. So far, ethanol is used as a mixture with the fuel. However, ethanol is made of sugarcane, corns, and some other foodstocks. Therefore, its production compete with the provision of the foodstocks. Why are we using foodstocks to produce oil while many people in the world are still starving? It's beyond my understanding.
Some scientists then discovered that certain non food stock plants (I forget the name) can be used to produced biodiesel. One thing that was forgotten is that those plants need land to grow. There is of course then a huge risk that forest is cleared to supply the industry with the raw material. Well.... forest cleared = less tree to recycle the carbondioxide. So, where's the environmental friendly portion? It's as if earth is still abundant with forests and lands are cheap. People seem to drive like a racing horse with blinder. The ensuing side issues are often forgotten.
Unless a viable raw materials that does not infringe direct human needs (foods, lands) are found, biodiesel investment will implode upon itself soon. It's not sustainable at this moment. It's a mere hype. My opinion is such.
Newstand sellers and newspaper delivery man
So, newspaper brought the old men together and they just sit in the companion of each other. Words rarely exchanged but they seemed content at the companionship of each other. :D
What do you think?
Words don't need to be exchanged for feelings to be communicated between people with shared interest. Hehe..
What do you think?
Words don't need to be exchanged for feelings to be communicated between people with shared interest. Hehe..
Honda and sedan
Wow, Honda City, Accord, Jazz, and CR-V are really tough to beat in Indonesian automotive market. (http://www.mobilku.com/cgi-bin/index.cgi?p=6003&id=7013). Those models have reigned in their respective segments for a real long time. CR-V takes as many as 49% of the market share for SUV. Amazing. CR-V used to decline in market share when Nissan X-Trail was launched but the new CR-V launched early this year help CR-V to bounce back to the lead. On the other hand, despite Jazz having been launched for some time, its image as being a trendy city car has helped it to stay on the lead. Honda City boasted a i-DSL engine which is fuel efficient while having relatively larger torque.
Nevertheless, Toyota rules in the automotive market with its highly popular Toyota Kijang. After all, floods are occurring more and more often in Indonesia and the road condition in Indonesia remains pathetic (i.e. lots of holes). MPV is indeed very useful in those two conditions. Haha.. There are some complains about Toyota Kijang getting higher and higher in price though. Hehe... Indonesians are price sensitive as well. It might be good to consider that. The multiple variants strategy has worked so far so good for Toyota Kijang though. I hope they manage to keep the lowest priced variant one as low price as possible. :P
Nevertheless, Toyota rules in the automotive market with its highly popular Toyota Kijang. After all, floods are occurring more and more often in Indonesia and the road condition in Indonesia remains pathetic (i.e. lots of holes). MPV is indeed very useful in those two conditions. Haha.. There are some complains about Toyota Kijang getting higher and higher in price though. Hehe... Indonesians are price sensitive as well. It might be good to consider that. The multiple variants strategy has worked so far so good for Toyota Kijang though. I hope they manage to keep the lowest priced variant one as low price as possible. :P
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