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.