How Toyota became # 1

Highly recommended.

Throughout the book, the emphasis is on simple principles such as 'removal of waste', austerity, quest for quality and most importantly- continuous efforts for improvement.

Skeptics like me did find a lot of 'hail the great Toyota stuff' but with the book's title, you won't be surprised.

Some stuff about the 'Toyota culture' that stuck on long after I had finished the book . Some of these are:

Zero tolerance for waste: Examples are plenty

Zeal for improvement: No matter how good your process is, there has to be a better way to do it- that's what everyone in this corporation swears by. This philosophy ensures that change becomes a religion.

Worrying all the time: Achievements are somewhat downplayed and there is always talk of the problems the company faces. The American leadership gave a very honest insight how different it was for them in their initial days not to blurt out their acheivements at Toyota.

Calculated moves: There's no need to start on how much research Toyota does before starting a new project. The objective is: Take your time to plan well, but once decided- move fast. All products we see in the markets are a hit. Our Indian Qualis is a perfect example: Toyota looked at the market and said- ok we need a competition for the Tata Sumo. They didn't bother to develop a new vehicle or bring their elite offerings. They simply revived their two decade old Qualis and the rest is history. A couple of more pages added to Toyota’s success stories.

The book tries to convince you that Toyota America is a very 'American' company with a Nascar racing team to prove it (haha). However in the later part the author mixes up and says how deeply rooted Toyota's value system is and how great the Toyoda family is. I had a feeling that Toyota America is suffering from an identity crisis??!!

Success stories of the Prius and the Camry are a treat for the car loving population.

Besides knowing about the Toyota way, you might start thinking about implementing Toyota practices in real life.

Munching miles: Shivasamudram..

'It eez ae louvlee weathaeer today. I hope it stays dees way..' Inspector Jack Clouseau's voice kept ringing whenever I looked up at the sky. The time was 7am and dark clouds and chilly winds greeted my bike this morning.

Since Vikram and I had vowed to make a road trip (a month + had passed since the last one), turning back was not an option. Our vow meant that we'd go alone if need be. And so it was. Today it was just Vikram, Manisha and me. Shivasamudram beckoned. The driving conditions were perfect: Sub 20 temperatures that kept the engines cool and slightly wet tarmac to take the excess heat off the tyres. Optimum grip was attained thanks to adequate speed and the cool surface conditioning the tyres. Within 40 minutes, we were out of Bangalore on the Kanakpura highway beyond the NICE road.

In a little less than 3 hours, we were at the Gaganchukki falls. The odo told us that we had covered 140Kms. The view is just spectacular. This is the first place I've been to in Karnataka where there is something in the name of 'tourist infrastructure'. Not much- just a loo, a boundry wall and a small resort. But compared to the plight of other remote n lovely places wee've been to, this is a lot.

The resort has a small restaurant and a play area. This is home to several creatures as well.

"We drove 140 Kms just for this??!!"- Vikram

From the moment I started, I was convinced that we would be drenched in the rains at least once today. However, we were fortunate to have been to places AFTER they had had their spell of showers.

On our way back, we thought of the milestone pointing to Talakad we had seen earlier. Having covered around 140 KM's without any sign of fatigue, we though we should visit this place as well. Hence, we took the left a couple of KM's away from Sivasamudram.

This is when we came across the most treacherous terrain we've ever driven a set of 2 wheels on. Having gobbled up 140 KMs in something less than two hours, the assumption was that we'd cover the 20 Kms in half an hour. However, the terrain (note that I don't call it road or path) tried to throw us around. We treaded at around 10-20Kmph and any attempt to waver from these limits meant near-fall/skid experience. The slush and the ups n downs made driving a bigger challenge. After covering a couple of Kms, we spotted habitation and asked the village folk how far it was and if roads were any better ahead. ‘5kms ahead, roads are wonderful’- came te reply. Like fools, we decided to drive on. The cars that were following us had already turned back. In the next hour of adventure, the so called wonderful roads were nowhere to be found even when we reached our destination.

A tip- there's nothing much here- a temple and the banks of Cauvery. But you can visit this place if:

1. You are a fan of motocross rallies and dirt bikes

2. You have a quest for adventure that touches the boundary of madness.

I think we fall in the second category and enjoyed it in spite of the blows taken by our backs and arms.

We crossed the treacherous terrain once again to come on the state highway. By now our stomachs were communicating their state of hollows. Since the Kanakapura highway has no places to eat, we decided to get on the Bangalore-Mysore state highway (SH-17). In our attempt to reach this, I took the advice of some scheming auto-wallahs in Maddur district. On their advice, we took a turn to land up on the 'Mysore road' 5Kms later, the sun made a brief appearance and made me realize that the direction in which we are headed isn't right. We stopped at a fuel pump since this was the only place where we could expect to find a human. We fuelled and our fears were confirmed. We had been sent on the wrong track. So after a detour of 12 Kms we got back to the SH-33 again and to Mandya in half an hour. The road got terrible again and we had to stop to stretch for a while.

Reaching Maddur and getting on the majestic Bagalore-Mysore SH brought a smile on everyone's face. Immediately we sped to 100Kmph and stopped at the Maddur CCD.Thereafter, we stopped at the Mc-Donalds for more food before continuing to Bangalore. We reached home around 6pm.

The Pulsar 200 looked battle worn on the exterior, but the heart was ready to munch more miles.

AweFome flick!!

A big thanks to Vishal Bharadwaj for giving the Indian population a chance to use their own brains for a change. His abnegation from explaining all facts explicitly: is a mark of respect for the audience. You are expected to put the pieces together on your own and figure out what's happening- especially the gang wars and the drug deal-gone sour in the first half.

This does come with the charm of the 70's. There's lot of masala and the dhan te nan tune will never leave you once you have seen this flick. The corrupt police personnel, gang wars remind you of old thrillers like Don, Shaan, etc. Remember those times? There was actually thrill in the classic mysteries. Kaminey treads in that path while bringing alive the street life of Mumbai. The dizzy hand-held camera coupled with 70's tunes create spectacular scenes. When talking about masala; It has everything- twins, runaway couple, gangsters, corrupt cops, wily politicians and some sense as well. The last Bollywood flick starring sense I can remember is Luck by Chance & Delhi-6.

Saif uncle's Love AajKal, Dostana etc. fail to convince you on the lifestyle and success of the characters. The usual story is: First of all, conveniently take all characters abroad, then give them a super hep vague profession-immensely successful architect, immensely successful designer, immensely successful banker, immensely successful businessmen (yes- immensely successful Indians is a must). All the 'trivial' problems of life like earning a livelihood, limited vacation are taken care of automatically and the entire focus is on more 'important' stuff like relationships, love, traveling a zillion miles with friends, beating up baddies (doesn't everyone do this everyday?), etc.

The movie discussed here portrays characters that do not seem larger than life or out of their ecosystems. The gullible cash starved- NGO worker Guddu lives in a run down hostel room with a shared bath. The 'Jai Maharashtra' politician (Amol Gupte) lives in the narrow Mumbai lanes and convinces you on his background and poor know-how. Somehow, the director has ensured that the characters seem real and the audience can connect with them easily.

While I won't make this a spoiler by giving you some of the story, I have to mention about the Bengali brothers. The maniacal shooter trio seem to be straight out of Counter strike. One particular part even makes you feel like you are in a role play shooting game. The role played by the youngest is spectacular and hats off to Chandan Sanyal for bringing this character alive. The funky hair-do ensures that you will not be seeing his face ever; I had to google to find out about this guy..

@All- Muft fee thif movie..

*For those who like this movie and enjoy reading- Shantaram is a must read.

New Home!

There been quite some change in our life ever since we moved here. We actually look forward to heading home instead of loafing around after work.

The drawing-dining and the kitchen are phenomenally large. Partly because we don’t have much stuff to fill in.

This is my bed. Before you point out, yes I accept there is a bed- mattress size mismatch. No, my brain has not gone cuckoo. We got the bed from the owners which could not house our previously bought mattresses very well.

The Bellandur lake is a heavenly site every morning. Contrary to my inhibitions, we do not have a mosquito problem. The maintenance people fog the area and that must be keeping those stinging maniacs at bay.

Morning view from my balcony :)

The services are pretty good and I have to complement the security and maintenance guys. The lighting is magnificent at night often making the area look like it's more expensive than it actually is. Construction quality: definitely the best. Priced like DLF's, Unitechs but your money gets better stuff here.

Praddy & Bugga

I liked the house the first time I saw it but when we saw the club-house, there were no second thoughts. All three of us knew instantly that getting this facility at this price is sort of a lottery.

A world class tennis court, 2 gymnasiums, an indoor badminton court (particularly proud of this one), a squash court, TT Table library and a swimming pool. I guess I'll let the pictures do the talking.

Am loving my life ever since I moved here. Though a lot of work has to be done: My Squash forehand is borrowed from Tennis’ and the badminton backhand is a disaster. I hope with time and practice, I’ll set it right ;)

America, Deutschland- strike back!!

My heart aches everytime I see articles like these. Though I do like Randy Cohen's pieces, this one in particular is not entertaining for emotional motorists.

http://ethicist.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/06/08/dont-sell-hummer-kill-it/

There's a lot of noise about how inefficient and wasteful the American trucks and European sedans are. I do not have much to say to counter that. True: Hummer, GM Tahoe, Masserati and Ford F-150's may be called something close to ecological disasters. On the other hand the Japanese and the Koreans are the heroes of the day coming up with more sane cars that saved the day with their miles per gallon/ kilometres per litre figures.

They say on that in the last decades, GM, Ford, Chrysler have been focused on the short term profits. Which is why they made big cars/ trucks for bigger profits. So being focused on a long term strategy and defining new markets (refer to Toyota Prius) is the thing to do eh? Learn from the Japs they say- the way they develop vehicles based on market requirement; sometimes even defining a new market.

I beg to differ here. I love the Jap production and management techniques: zero inventory, reduction of waste and the zeal to improve. My earlier post does tell you that I would buy a high performance Jap street car if I had the money.

However, I do not believe in the sustenance of this model for long. It lacks one big thing: Creativity..

Definitely, these guys have been creative coming up with high quality and high performance engines. They did use lot of their brains to 'kaizen' all waste.

Despite this, the Japanese have been unable to come out with a product that is 'Revolutionary and crazy'. Try this simple exercise:

1. Look at the Ford logo and think of their fantasy products:

Mustang, Ford F-150, Ford GT, Land Rover (once upon a time) are some you dream to have.

2. Clear your mind and start with GM or Chevrolet

Humvee, Corvette, GMC. Pontaic GTO might be there in your thought process.

3. BMW

The legendry M-5, the Z8, the 5 series

4. Chrysler

Dodge Viper (grab the life by its horns!!), Jeep Wrangler

5. VW

Who are we kidding??!! Any Porsche!! 911, Boxster: anything.. Audi R8, the Lamborghinis as well..

6. Mitsubishi

You'll come up with only the Lancer Evo/ Spyder

7. Toyota

Lexus?? Nah.. That’s a very good car but not exciting enough..

So in all- Nothing. The MR-2, Celica were considered to be failures by the great company itself.

Right: nothing. Though all their cars have been masterpieces and have redefined quality and performance, none have the 'wow/ oomph' factor. Practically built for practical people.

If you get my point, you'll see that these tough times have been good for ones who are sensible. Kindly note that there is some level of insanity that comes with creativity. It's difficult to expect a piece of art from Toyota, Isuzu, Honda. Difficult to realize today, but I assure you we do need some of that 'insanity' for a better future.

Historically, Japanese manufacturers have emulated and improvised whatever's been created on the other side of the world. For eg- GM and Ford were the leaders in hybrid engine development, but Toyota and Honda had the guts to develop and sell Prius and Insight respectively: at loss propelling the brands to unimaginable heights.

What about the rest? Should Arnold Schwarznegger swap his Hummer for a Toyota Yaris/ Nissan Micra?? Detriot big 3, German beauties: we need you guys to give us something crazy and spectacular to drool on!! Cleanse your insides and get back to what you have always done: defining the future of automobile..

With this, I wish all the best to the Chevy Volt, the 2010 Mustang and the Focus. Hope these products help the companies to restore their lost glory.

With Alan Mulally running Ford and Jim Press (former MD of Toyota America) hopping on to Chrysler, I pray for speedy recovery of the giants.

2 vs. 4

A recent get together of colleagues (all of us who joined together a year back) at an event brought me to date with a lot of happening stuff. Since I'm working in a different location from the rest, I was oblivious to new i10's, A-Stars, Corsas and Chevys filling up the parking lot at the HQ.

In Bangalore, I always considered cars as a handicap. Cars do protect you from the sun, rain, pollution etc but I feel paralyzed in a traffic jam (something not so uncommon in Bangalore). With my bike, I can always come up with a Plan B- Squeeze through, bounce up the pavement (I hate doing but it is still an option at critical times), unbeatable 0-60 acceleration to beat the traffic between two consecutive signals. Considering a drive of 2 hours, having 2 wheels less saves you some 30 minutes.

Though cognizant with all this, some thoughts crept into my mind. As everyone started heading back from Unwind island to our office, it was just Varun and I on my bike. Everyone else had 4 wheels. I couldn't help thinking for a while- is my financial planning any good? Has it been wise the way I have divided my funds to my savings, home, travel and my lifestyle? Should I be thinking about a car? I rubbished such thoughts as sense returned from it's brief vacation.

However, I had no clue that someone (possibly the Almighty had decided to teach me a lesson) wanted to purge whatever was left in my brain regarding this issue.

As I headed home one evening, I was cruising at usual speeds (60-70) on the outer ring road. I love the OOR: well planned, connects most of Bangalore pretty well and is maintained pretty well. Though it costs a few KMs more for your destination, my bike stays in the top gear and I end up saving considerable time and fuel.

This fateful day, I hear an engine gunning at full throttle. A look in the side view mirrors reveal a Wagon-R closing in. The whine of the 1.1litre engine becomes louder. Then I look up ahead at the empty road and think 'Ok, two can play this game'. Deploying the clutch I shift two gears down and open the throttle. 70- gear 4; I see the Wagon R almost next to me (it had attained higher speed before I started accelerating). 85- gear 5; now my competition is losing out as I increase my lead. At 100- a new nemesis challenges me: the crosswinds of Bangalore. I bend

down gradually till my chest touches the fuel tank. Now, the front fairing and windshield are cutting the air for me. The heavy chassis of the 200 and the broad rear tire instill confidence like none other at these speeds. In fact this was one of the primary reasons why I did not go for the number flaunting Apache.

Now that the Wagon-R is at a considerable distance, I see the light about 700m ahead of me switch to red and I switch off my engine (yes, I do want a mileage of 41-42 along with performance). The race is considered to be over. My bike rolls to stop eventually and the speeding Wagon-R overtook me somewhere in between resorting to last moment braking at the traffic intersection.

From the signal, I took a turn and entered the service lane. I cruised easily towards my home. A screeching sound and honking on my right was hard to ignore and I turned my head. I see the same golden Wagon-R whirring it's engine to grab my attention. The dude driving it looks at me and leaves the steering wheel. He holds up his fists in a biker stance, twists the mock throttle and bends down the way I do at high speeds on my bike. In all- replaying everything I had done some minutes back. He smiles and gives a thumbs up sign, a mock salute before shifting up perfectly and roaring ahead. He does a mini drift and speeds away at the next turn.

Though I stick to my limits and rules in the service lane, there is nothing that stops the smile coming up on my face. A recognition from a skilled driver is a big mark of respect for any driver or rider. Had he waited for me to come up? He took the effort to catch me and grab my attention. Why? God knows. Though I ride rest of my way sensibly, my heart does scores of wheelies!

It is after I reach home that I put the recent events together. I step out of my balcony, look up the sky to point out that the message has been received and acknowledged..