Durum Wheat in India

Durum Wheat

Wheat, is a staple food of many nations, societies and communities. It is consumed by people in many ways. The historians point out that Wheat is cultivated as main source of food since prehistoric times by the tribes in temperate zones.  

Wheat belongs to the family of grasses, and are tall (an average height of 1.2 metres or 4 feet). It has slender stalks leading to spikes with bundles of grains at the top. The leaves of the wheat plant resemble  those of grasses and matures for yields roughly in six to eight months.  

Species of wheat are classified based on the number of chromosomes found in its  vegetative cell. Three series of wheat species are chosen for cultivation i.e. the diploid, or einkorn, containing 14 chromosomes; the tetraploid, or emmer, containing 28 chromosomes; and the hexaploid, containing 42 chromosomes.  

Durum wheat belongs to tetraploid and is of importance to India in the current scenario. Durum wheat is (Latin durum, "hard") is known by its name because of the hardness of the grain (it is the hardest of all wheat). Internationally, Durum is grown in north-central regions of the United States, Australia, eastern Europe, etc. India cultivates relatively lesser quantities of Durum. Indian States having dry and hot environments (such as Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, etc.) are suited for durum cultivation. However, only less than 5% of the Indian cultivation produces durum wheat.

Durum Semolina is the major raw material for commercial produced dry pasta (spaghetti, macaroni, etc. ), and also for many kinds of soups, stuffings, gruels, cereals, puddings, pastries, etc.  The use of wheat to produce pasta was described as early as the 10th century by Ibn Wahshīya of Cairo.

In India Durum wheat can go well with the slogan of “Make in India”, companies need to develop finer quality semolina from durum wheat. Companies such as Shree Kailash Grain Mills of Indore are taking efforts to bring the durum wheat products to international standards and they have two national brands Golden Bhansi kesari rava and Golden Bhansi daliya of premium quality.  

India has the potential to emerge as a super producer of foods. 

Long term Benefits of Business Facilitation

After 18 months of the conclusion of DNA (business  strategy correction workshops), the General Manager who took substantial interest in the growth of the company (Gatiman Auto Pvt. Ltd., Indore} commented that, after the DNA program (which took about more than 20 half day sessions spread across 18 months) people have started or understood the importance of taking ownership. 

Compliance to supply schedule increased significantly and is consistently above 95% as against 75% previously. Before the DNA program only 40% compliance was reported by the customer, but now in the year 2014, the OEM customer is thinking of making Gatiman the single source supplier. By implications of single source supplier are many not just the economic benefits; it also means that the OEM customer has unwavering faith and trust in the supplier. The Gatiman has made its competition irrelevant by winning the status of single source supplier. 

Another important achievement due to the DNA program is that the company has begun to focus on developing specialty product  of its own. The product development has reached design stage in September 2014.

On the organisation and people front, the top team has begun to care for the business. Previously the top team was not integrated and were working in departmental silos. Now there are six members who work together for the business. Recently, one decision was taken to stop using "big oven" in the painting section, instead a small oven was installed . This step is saving Rs. 3 lakhs per month (lesser consumption of power). The identification of the loss and decision to go for smaller oven wouldn't have happened unless the top team work with business orientation.   

The General Manager also confessed that, one of the full time director was reluctant to express his opinion and make decision. Now the same director is communicating assertively and takes bolder decisions. The company Gatiman Auto is in a better shape to take on new business. The value of business facilitation, DNA workshops and the strategy correctional activities are getting proved in longitudinal measures.   

Value of Focus in Business

For sustainable profits for a business, satisfaction of customer needs is critical. In spite of the efforts by an organization not all customers value its services in the same way. Most organizations have a tendency to, serve all its customers in the same way; such an approach leads to  stress on  scarce resources, reduction in profit margins and inability to utilize opportunities  to increase customer satisfaction. It is very important for every organization to understand what it’s customers value and plans ways to provide those values. The complete organization must orient its resources to deliver what its customer value. Hash Solutions of Kochi has realized this principle in last three months. The top team of Hash Solutions (Sijas Pocker, Dilip Ravindran, Muhammed Shabeer, and Snehal Babu) has decided to discontinue some of its services in the light of this realization.

Having focus helps an organization to reach its goal faster because all of energies are directed towards one channel.  Hash Solutions is preparing to provide tailor made solutions for installing and maintain Networking, Security and Tele-communication systems sourced from multi-vendor organizations. While standardizing the implementation of IT based networking and security solutions, Hash Solutions have decided to focus on vehicle tracking solutions. The services will be launched soon.

SME Apex Survey (SME competitiveness) completed in Indore and Bengluru

The survey to assess the competitiveness of Indian SME is underway, More than 25 business owners were interviewed in two cities Indore and Bengluru, Interesting information is gathered, and it is astonishing to note that inspite of the business acumen and leadership SME are under-performing. India could be a world economic power if the SME performs better.    

Hash Solutions' new venture in GPS

The Hash Solutions, the Kochi based, data tracking and data mining company, with its punch line 'humanizing technology' has completed a large portion of their product development "GPS based solution". The product is expected to be  launched before the end of this year. 

The GPS - Global Positioning System  is associated to space technology, where a space-based satellite will capture and provide location and time information regarding a marked object with a receiver, anywhere on the Earth.  The marked object must have an unobstructed line of sight to many GPS satellites that receives signals from the receiver device. Now, the GPS technology provides various benefits to a common man and small businesses. The GPS solutions can be accessed by any business organisation for a fee of few hundred rupees per month  

The small  and young team of Hash solutions is determined to imagine, think differently and work hard to achieve the business success.  

At present the Hash Solutions has business interests in software projects, ERP solutions, CCTV and security systems and IT Infrastructure maintenance Services. This is small but potential company.  

contributor: Sasikanth R Prabhu, Business Facilitator, Marg Atreya consulting

SME Apex Research have Begun!

The research to understand the competitiveness of the SME has begun using simple assessing tools made at Marg Atreya Consulting.

The research uses four tools to study the competitiveness of the SME top management. Leadership level, Business contribution level, Business focus and Business culture.