Ensuring 24X7 Uptime in an Economic Downturn

Posted on September 14, 2011 by

Capital expenditure, executive travel, company sponsored sports matches are some things that vanish during times of economic downturn. Investments in many other critical areas are also cut down.  While cutting investments has a definite short term impact, cutting those in electrical technician or maintenance related areas may create functional deficiencies in the long term.

But budget constraints are a hard fact. How does one ensure a 24X7 uptime without denting the finances?

In-house or Outsource? 

Today, there is an increasing trend of outsourcing non-core tasks and sometimes even shifting core maintenance jobs to contract basis. Most companies respond to the downturn by bargaining harder with the contractor. This approach offers only a short-term solution and is often unsuccessful when it comes to maintaining 24X7 uptime.

 

 

 

 

 

Economic downturns demand that employees at all levels take-up a greater responsibility. But greater responsibility without the competency to handle the work at hand can be fatal. Use of competency mapping approach for in-house technicians offers a robust solution.

Competency is defined as the combination of knowledge, skills, and abilities that when effectively applied, produce a successful performance in a defined function or activity. Competencies are observable, measurable, and can be developed to reinforce competitive advantages and future performance.

Competency Grid of Technicians

Effectiveness of any technician, in-house or the one on contracts, can be measured on the basis of two factors – how quickly one is able to locate the problem and how effectively one solves the same. Most technicians pick their skills through ‘on the job’ learning. ‘On the job’ learning is not exhaustive and thus leave serious gaps in performance of a technician.

Preparing a detail competency grid of in-house and technicians and those working on contract based on the factors mentioned above will help understand the gaps in maintenance early on.

For example, after preparing this grid one may realize that there are very few or no technicians with hands-on experience on servicing complex generator synchronizing systems. Even minor problems with these systems may directly impact the production and hence 24X7 uptime is all the more critical.

A focused training that provides targeted instructions as well as application to specific practical problems can be taken up. Such focused training exercises will help to improve the cost discipline of the maintenance department as a whole.

An Inventory of Technician Competencies 

While the costs of technicians in maintenance are low, with a direct impact on critical business operations (ex. production), even a small failure can spiral into a huge losses.

Such losses may have a serious impact on the overall business in times of sluggish economic environment.

Maintaining an inventory of technician competencies can also help to decide in what needs to be outsourced and what to expect from outsourced resources. It can help to move away from the current model of ‘x’ people are required to maintain ‘y’ machines to a more efficient and effective skill driven staffing model.

 

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Flexible Electricity – Introducing Virtual Power Plants

Posted on August 30, 2011 by

India’s Power sector faces a number of challenges. Generating enough power to match the increasing demand, distributing power, especially in remote areas, controlling power theft… the list can go on. Obviously, the solutions to all these challenges also have to be different.

In this newsletter we discuss the concept of Virtual Power Plants, which could provide an interesting solution to a few critical challenges faced by India in the area of Power.

The Problem of Peak Demand

Consumers don’t ask for permissions before starting an electrical device. If consumers are to be supplied power with stable voltage and frequency, the power generated at any instant has to be kept close to the load imposed. The power plants have to continuously forecast the load that could be imposed on it at different times of the day. Again the consumption varies according to the climatic conditions by daily, hourly and even shorter time frames like in case of festivals.

At the power plant this means always maintaining some reserve capacity to match the peaks in demand. This additional power has to always come from burning coal or oil as there is little control over sources like wind or solar when it comes to stepping-up power generated. Virtual Power Plants are emerging as a solution to the problem of generating additional power to match the peak demand.

Virtual Power Plants – An Effective Solution

Today, relying solely on grid power might be suicidal. Back-up Power generation is inevitable.

Many companies are shifting to cogeneration, CHP (Combined Heat Cycle Power), DGs etc. to meet their power requirements. A Virtual Power Plant turns this back-up power generation capacity distributed at multiple locations to meet the peaks in demand. VPP involves participation from a large number of small players from different areas each with his own power generation capacity.

A Virtual Power Plant is a centrally controlled IT network that is connected to remotely distributed power generation sources. In case of a rapid rise in demand the central grid creates an electronic trigger for the centralized system.

This system then automatically puts-on various sources connected to it to meet the rise in power demand. All this power is pooled into the grid and supplied to consumers during peak demand.

The Real Advantage of going Virtual

There are two prominent advantages of VPP participants: One it earns revenue from an unutilized asset that is back-up power generation capacity. Second, it is mostly observed that while these back-up capacities are thoroughly tested they often tend to fail while taking the load. As a part of VPP, these back-up power equipment run from time to on full load conditions. VPP thus enables both better utilization and maintenance.

The concept of VPP is relatively new. A UK based company Flexiticals connected to the National Grid is a live example of Virtual Power Plant. With an ability to monitor and manage power at consumer level, VPP create an unique opportunity to lower the power consumption on need basis. For example, if a thousand home in a locality are incentivised for turning off the lights or lowering their power usage when needed can solve the peak demand problem. Both these aspects of VPP offer interesting opportunities.

Virtual Power Plants in India

The concept offers very promising opportunities in a power starved and vast country like India. Virtual power plants can be effective in managing the peak demand for power and avoid at least some power-cuts. The excess back-up power capacity of the industries/ an industry cluster can be used to power-up the nearby villages through existing grid.

Use of Diesel Generators as a reliable source of power is rising in the industries. In the IT/ ITeS industry the backup power will bring business to standstill. Now imagine with use of VPP a department in a company is intimated about the need to cut down on power consumption. Machines that are not required at that moment can be shut down, lights switched off (wherever possible). Low hanging opportunities for reducing power cuts could be implemented quickly to alter the demand in power.

For more information on Virtual Power Plants read the articles mentioned below:

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The Story of Winning….

Posted on August 15, 2011 by

We will celebrate 65th Independence Day this 15th August 2011.

For the last few years, Independence Day has also come to mean being inundated with SMS wishes, ‘special independence day offers’. We are made to witness same debates in media on the ‘state of country after ‘X’ years of independence year after year.

With all the above every 15th August makes us think about one thing in particular – how have we done as a country? As we watch, think, argue with friends, we try and assess if the ‘glass is half full, or half empty?’ It’s a tricky argument, especially when there are enough stories to support both the sides. Could we, as a country, have done better?

Some people have not just thought about it but tried to be a solution through their actions. ‘Vayam‘ (We in Sanskrit) is one such team working in the tribal areas of Thanne and Nasik district.

On the occasion of this Independence Day, we share with you an inspiring story of change.

We all are aware about flagship program of Government National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (NREGA). While the program has brought employment benefits to a large number of poor families, it has also been in the news for some wrong reasons. This story is about the fight of villagers to achieve their rights under NREGA in tribal areas of Thane and Nasik. Thanks to Milind Thatte, a volunteer at Vayam who contributed this story for e-power:

The Story of Winning – by Milind Thatte

NREGA, as implied by the name is about right to work. It has a provision that if someone demands work, it must be assigned to him within 15 days. Villagers in tribal areas are mostly unaware of this clause.

Usually, their procedure to get new work assigned under NREGA was to apply and wait endlessly at the mercy of Officials.  Other workaround was – approach a political party representative, who then used to call a few of his ‘contacts’ and get a new project. The interaction with officials or party workers also meant standing before them like a criminal, facing the abuses and even paying some bribe.

Vayam helped the villagers to learn about the law. Armed with the knowledge of the 15 day clause, Villagers could now pressurize Gramsevak or Tahasil office for speedy assigning of work. However, in spite of cooperation from the Gramsevaks a few villages were still not able to get new projects through NREGA. Vayam volunteers along with the villagers used information to their advantage and got the officials to assign new projects.

Right Information at the Right Time 

Central government has a website for NREGA. This site has a record of every laborer’s family. Any citizen can access the details on the site like – the number of days for which work was awarded in previous year, the amount paid to the laborer etc. Using the network of friends from the city, Vayam team in villages found information about four-five families in a village and took the printouts of these records. The prints reached the villages only to create turmoil.

While the NREGA records showed that a payment of Rs. 30,000, the laborer’s family had actually received just Rs. 8,000-10,000. The family which was supposedly given Rs. 74,000 on paper had earned just Rs.12,000-13,000 in reality. In case of some families, payments (on paper) were done to people who were already dead.

Obviously, the realization of how much money was siphoned-off in their name by Government Officials angered the villagers. Officials from concerned government departments were shocked and turned restless. In order to curb the source providing information to tribal villagers they threatened Vayam volunteers. When volunteers did not pay any heed to the threatening, the same officials tried to ‘settle’ the matter with bribe.

Vayam volunteers told them that the matter can be sorted but entire village has to be taken into confidence.

About 10-12 villagers and the government officials sat down in an open space. “If our village is awarded two cement dams and a nursery as work under NREGA we will return all printouts”, said the villagers. The officials agreed, in fact they had no choice, and villagers won. (ofcourse, villagers were aware that the printouts could be obtained whenever they wanted the information)

We can win, and if need be we can win again – villagers now had the confidence.

It’s a small win…just about five villages. Not a significant achievement compared to the magnitude of the problem. This is not something unusual as well. And this makes such wins absolutely achievable. One has to learn the law, organize, move ahead intelligently and have a strong will power.

The names of villages, volunteers, government officials have not been included in the story, because we believe this fight is not about a particular village. This is a fight we all have to face….. and win.

We stay in tribal villages. People who could not clear  SSC/ HSSC exams, coming from poor families and searching employment after the farming season in rains is over – are our volunteers.

Even we wanted our democratic rights. But how do we fight to get them?  Swords? Guns?

Fighting with Guns and Swords in our own country was not acceptable to us. And we chose not to block roads, raise slogans, or do a rally.

But we decided that if we have to fight the law it has to be fought with a law …..and so we set out to learn and use the law. We did it and we won.

You can reach Milind Thatte at vayamindia@gmail.com. To know more about Vayam‘s work please visit www.milindthatte.com

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Project Premortem

Posted on July 30, 2011 by

“A project is complete when it starts working for you, rather than you working for it.”

We are proud to introduce this new section @ e-power focused on Project Management.

Today, our work, short or long term in every area is better viewed as a part of some Project rather than just a ‘job’. Personal and professional goals too, are better seen and planned as Projects, otherwise they are just wish lists.

The art and science of effective project planning, management and execution is critical to an individual’s success. This section will focus on sharing some out-of the box, unconventional but practical ideas on project management. We hope our efforts will help you to plan, manage and execute projects better.

Project Premortem 

Typically, people spend huge amount of time and efforts to analyse the cause of failure, after the project execution. In premortem, people brainstorm by imagining different factors for project failure, before the project launch.

A research conducted in 1989 by Deborah J. Mitchell, of the Wharton School; Jay Russo, of Cornell; and Nancy Pennington, of the University of Colorado, found that prospective hindsight – imagining that an event has already occurred helps to improve the ability to correctly identify future outcomes by almost 30%.

Premortem helps to improve the ability to see-through the risks, slip-ups in planning beforehand and can drastically reduce the probability of project failure.

Premortem Advantage 

Often project planning is done by a small team of experienced professionals. This team has a somewhat detached view of the project. The plan is then communicated to people who are expected to implement the project. The plan could be highly exhaustive and excellent. But because people implementing the project did not get an opportunity to participate in developing the plan, there is a tendency to not own the project plan.

Premortem brainstorming in projects solves this problem in two ways. One, it enables all the teams to participate in the process of project planning. The discussions will be extremely helpful in critical assessment of the plan from all aspects.Two, it facilitates a precious analysis of reasons of project failure without actually carrying the burden of failure.

Conducting Premortem 

Gather the team and explain the concept of premortem to every team member. Communicate the objectives and rules for the discussion. (Rules could be about imagining scenarios that are practical etc.). Allocate about 1-2 hrs depending on size and complexity of the project. While it is advisable to include as many team members as possible, limiting the number below 20 is advisable for fruitful analysis.

Start by announcing the failure of the project. Get everyone to imagine that they are in future. This could be achieved by simple gestures like putting a future date on the whiteboard in the room etc.

Ask different teams and each member within the team to make a list of all possible, but practical reasons why they think the project failed. Get teams to make their list exhaustive overall but the individual points should be exclusive of each other.

Conduct a brainstorming discussion on how the most dominant reasons for failures could have been avoided. The discussion will bring everyone on the same page with regards to reasons for failure and thus channelize energy to think solutions that will help to complete project in time. This also helps to identify ‘soft’ issues related to miscommunication, trust deficit or any pre-conceived notions formed due to past experience within the teams/ departments.

Create a cross-functional team to update the initial project plan. Incorporate steps to mitigate the risks with respect to reasons for project failure identified during the discussion.

Premortem incentivizing dissent and immediately exposes the practical risks in project plan. The process of project premortem is also found to improve the commitment of teams responsible for project execution while also improving upon the objectivity in post-project analysis.

Links to a few other articles, on the same topic, that you may find interesting to read:

 

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Separate Green from the Greener…

Posted on July 11, 2011 by

These days it has become quite fashionable to ‘be /go / buy green’.

Most companies have launched programs to build a green element in their products. Mostly, it is about energy use or efficiency.

‘Green’ has also become a buzzword in marketing.

There are two types of companies today – ones that have a genuine intent and passion for building ‘Green’ products and those that use ‘Green’ only as a marketing gimmick. In future, we can expect almost every company claiming their product to be green in some or the other way. With huge ambiguity in the claims to be Green, it is really difficult to assess the products.

 

Also, there is an urgent need to look beyond the obvious. That is considering other factors in addition to energy efficiency while comparing two green products or technologies.

In this newsletter we discuss a simple framework and parameters that could be used while comparing green products with each other.

Hope this will help you to separate the green from greener and the later from the greenest.

Product Operation

  • Energy efficiency is most widely used as parameter as of now. With rising energy prices this is bound to remain as a dominant parameter even in future. Add-ons available to further improve energy efficiency will always be an advantage.
  • Check if the maintenance requires any special treatment involving material hazardous for environment. Avoid products with short life cycles, unless they are made from renewable material.
  • Check for any by-products or pollutants produced during operations that could be harmful to the environment.

Manufacturing Process

  • Consider the difference between manufacturing processes. Check for energy intensiveness of the manufacturing process. Avoid products with high energy consuming manufacturing processes.
  • Look for any waste material or hazardous by-products produced during the manufacturing process.

 

Raw Materials

  • Use of renewable raw material in products is always an advantage. Use of material with rare or scarce availability in nature will earn a low rating on the green scale.
  • The processes used in extraction of raw materials, its handling, storage and transportation and its Impact on the environment should be considered.

Disposal and Recycle

  • Ease, safety and costs of an environmental friendly disposal are key considerations.
  • Scope for recycling the product or material used in the product is also an important factor.

A broader canvas of analysis, with most, if not all, the parameters above is necessary for an exhaustive assessment of green products. While it could be difficult to get information on some of the parameters during the purchase process, thinking beyond just the energy efficiency is a must to ensure green future.

 

 

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Monsoon Gateways Near Pune

Posted on June 20, 2011 by

We have a love and hate relationship with the rains. While we think of problems like traffic jams, water logging and power cuts in rains, all this evaporates with the smell of the earth soaking in the first raindrops.

In the last monsoons, we discussed technical issues like maintenance of your electrical systems etc. in e-power.
This monsoons, we bring to you, couple of cool places that are a ‘must visit’ during rainy season. So step out, enjoy the rains and get refreshed.

Zenith Waterfall

This place has gained lot of appreciation and popularity in the last 2-3 years. The main attraction is over 500 ft. deep, seasonal waterfall. One has to trek for about 2 kms through the stream of water flowing down the mountain to reach the waterfall. The feel of forceful, roaring waterfall is unforgettable.

The place is about an hours drive from Khopoli near Mumbai.

 Zenith Waterfall – View Detail Map

 Watch the Video

The place does not have many eateries around and may be crowded on the weekends.

Koraigad

First few showers of the monsoons wraps this five century old fort in lush green grass and trees. The trek is light with the best part being a walk on the fortification walls. The view down the hill is simply mesmerizing. Watching the rain clouds gliding through the fort is experiencing nature at it’s best.

With abundance of tiny waterfalls on the way up to the fort and a scenic view of backwaters of Mulshi dam, Koraigad is an ideal gateway to free-up body and soul. A steaming hot cup of tea or a glimpse of a rainbow (if you are lucky) just adds to the bliss.

Koraigad – View Detail Map

Kunda Mala

Kunda Mala, literally means a string of ponds. Kunda Mala is still a relatively unknown paradise. It has numerous ponds around the entire stretch which get filled during the rains.  Hidden in the interiors of Talegaon, this place is ideal for a Saturday afternoon in heavy rains.  Take a dip or just sit along the water gushing through the rocky terrain, visiting Kunda Mala is an ideal  family weekend gateway.

Kundmala is around 10 kms from Dehu. Cadbury India factory at Induri in Talegao is one of the landmarks.

Kund Mala – View Detail Map

Nighoj – the natural water park

Nighoj is a small sleepy village near Shirur (70 Km from Pune). The river Kukadi flows near the village temple forming deep canyons. The canyons have created deep and beautiful chain of potholes. In summer, the river level goes down and one can see a chain of small ponds. Towards end of monsoons or early winter the whole canyon looks like a series of miniature waterfalls.

To reach Nighoj take a left after Ghodnadi at Shirur.

Nighoj – Veiw Detail Map

 

 

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Jaitapur – Ticking Bomb or Panacea to Power Problems

Posted on June 1, 2011 by

The previous newsletter highlighted views on various paradigms of developments in context of the Jaitapur agitation. In this newsletter we discuss the broader canvas on which the Jaitapur nuclear power plant project should be assessed.

It is difficult to allay the fear of nuclear technology failing under catastrophic situations like earthquakes or recent tsunami at Fakushima. But the only way to allay those fears seems to be to take the risks and develop safer technology.

 

Jaitapur: Ticking Bomb OR Panacea to Power Problems (Download Report)

Views For Jaitapur

Views Against Jaitapur

Common Sense and Nuclear Technology V/s Coal Based Power

Praful Bidwai Against Use of Nuclear Technology

Seth Godin, a marketing guru brings a very unusual perspective to the whole issue of risks in nuclear technology. On one of his blog he writes “Do you have an opinion about nuclear power? About the relative safety of one form of power over another? How did you come to this opinion? Here are the stats, A non-exaggerated but simple version of the data: For every person killed by nuclear power generation, 4,000 die due to coal, adjusted for the same amount of power produced… Praful Bidwai in one of his articles mentions Jaitapur reactors will release 52 billion litres of water daily into the sea at a temperature 5 °C hotter than the sea. Construction of the project and transmission systems will inevitably damage this unique ecosystem, including its flourishing agriculture, fruit cultivation (crowned by the alphonso, the world’s best-known mango), and fisheries, thereby devastating 40,000 livelihoods. Further he adds that, Data collected by the Geological Survey of India has suggested that there have been over 92 quakes in 20 years, the biggest of them being 6.2 on the Richter scale.

Sharad Pawar On Nuclear Energy and Catostraphic Fears

Vivek Monterio – Konkan Bachao Samiti

On avoiding the Fear of catastrophe while adopting nuclear technology Sharad Pawar says, “One has to see how to overcome natural calamities. It is wrong to stop forces of development. We have not stopped construction of houses because of earthquakes. Lakhs of homes were destroyed in Latur earthquake. We rebuilt many more.” “All along experts had tried to convince us that Chernobyl was just an exception. Now, with what has happened in Japan nobody can say that nuclear power is safe and clean. We have not raised new questions. But the truth is that the questions we raised were ignored. What has happened in Japan has only increased the determination of the people to oppose the Jaitapur project. People across the board will now be asking questions about safety.”

 

 Beyond Jaitapur…..

Issues like Jaitapur highlight the void in the Indian democratic system. In the time to come we not only have to solve the challenge thrown up at Jaitapur but also prepare ourselves for developmental challenges that could be larger and more complex than Jaitapur.

As a long term solution we need a system that enables participation of people in choosing their developmental paradigm. As technocrats, our role will be to improve the awareness of science and technology related issues in the society. Above all, as opposed to violent agitations or court cases stretching over decades we need to develop a faster and mature mechanism to arrive at consensus.

Let us hope and work to arrive at a win-win situation for all the stakeholders involved in Jaitapur nuclear power plant, at the earliest.

 

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