Imagination and Association

We are not linear thinkers. While our reading and writing is linear, but out thinking and assimilating the world around us is multi-dimensional – its full of ideas and images and is constantly evolving.
As designers, we all need to be able to put our thoughts down on paper. For every design exercise we gather a lot of information. Being able to put this knowledge on paper in a visual exercise frees the thinking and helps begin engaging in the design exercise and this is a continuous process.
If we look at the research material on great thinkers and philosophers such as Leonardo da Vinci, Pablo Picasso, Thomas Edison, Charles Darwin, they all use a combination of images, words, and diagrams to record and explore their ideas.

Diagrams Graphically Construct our Knowledge

Diagramming can become an essential tool for working in a team. It enhances creativity and problem solving, gives value to our ideas, and organizes thoughts. It frees the mind and helps us excel at what we do, by enabling us to better structure our thoughts, and to express our ideas more clearly. The evolving diagram becomes a vehicle to take us from our unresolved state to a more organized state. In the process we learn to analyze the information that we collect and represent it for discussion in a clear structured manner.

Diagrams are a visual thinking tool that helps us put our thoughts down with color, words, lines and rhythm. Whatever we need to think about more effectively and exercise our imagination. They help us to organise our thoughts. Its an image with network of associations.
Visual diagrams help in problem solving, creativity, management and scheduling. Once having put these thoughts down in a diagrammatic manner, it helps to be structured and confident in sharing, developing and creating concepts. It allows continuity and development in your work.

Tools for Diagramming

Use all the tricks and of the trades that a graphic designer would use for creating an advertisement: Lines, images, visual metaphors, colours to convey ideas. Remember that it is not a drawing exercise but rather an effort to convey ideas, and, importantly, to stay focused on the message:
• Free-form, as well as geometrical figures to segregate your thoughts
• Linear graphics to make connections within the thoughts.
• Colour provides intensity and focus for visual retention
• Various Fonts and sizes of the letters
• Words and short-hand notations to clarify our ideas
• Thinks of images to reflect our ideas
• Construct associations to enrich this visual diagram
In short, diagramming allow us to better convey our ideas. Seeing everything interrelated in one place gives a comprehensive picture.

Some tips for effective diagramming:

• Begin small
• Make sure there is a theme or a concept
• Don’t make it too neat, allow flexibility to develop/grow
• Categorize and isolate ideas
• Make connections between these thoughts and ideas
• Use visual metaphors
• Sequential content for timeline development

3 months into 2020 and it feels like apocalypse already…

‘Coronavirus’, the Grim Reaper for markets… The Covid-19 Pandemic has created an avalanche effect on global markets. Since the outbreak, Global markets have witnessed a blood bath. Dow Jones, Nifty 50 and S&P 500 are few among many Exchanges that have dropped of 30% or more. So much so that BSE on 27th  March closed at 26,000 points, the lowest in 4 years. There is a lot of chatter around economies heading towards a recession, as global markets continue the ‘bearish’ trend.

What does it mean for the Economy?… During the Spanish Flu of the early 1900s, India’s GDP was -10%. Surely we won’t witness a scenario like that again, but the $ 5 Trillion economy Goal seems something of a daydream as consumption isn’t likely to rise anytime soon. The economic situation might worsen even more as many Indian cities are halting work. Even sectors with a sizable contribution to the Economy like tourism, entertainment, and hospitality are coming to a standstill.

The FY is almost ending… India needs a coordinated fiscal action and monetary stimulus to overcome this crisis. India needs relief measures like tax rebates, debt repayment holidays, extended due dates and deferment for EMI payment. 

Tax relief in this time of crisis… countries around the world are implementing emergency tax measures to support their economies under the Covid-19 threat. China has reduced its VAT from 3% to 1% and a few European countries have implemented major tax relief measures. Tax deferrals, income subsidies for affected workers, & debt repayment holidays are a few important measures. USA has extended the tax deadline by 90 days.
Tax-Relief is still emerging as an ‘option’ in many countries. But every country is trying its best to implement the best possible relief measures for its citizens.

What about our daily life?… In most countries, daily life as we know has come to a standstill. Let’s not forget the disruption Covid-19 has caused. More and more countries are in a Lockdown, people are told to self-quarantine and mass gathering has been banned.  

And Finally, Stay safe… The Government has maintained that there is no evidence of community transmission of COVID-19. All the patients that have been confirmed have acquired the disease during their international travel.

Regardless, it is advisable to avoid public areas & keep washing your hands. Cover your mouth and noses while sneezing or coughing.

Spread awareness, stay safe and take individual responsibility!

Machine learning (ML), which typically uses observations or data, is a type of artificial intelligence that allows an algorithm, system or piece of software to learn and adjust, allowing technology to be taught over time in an attempt to improve operations.

Modern international supply chain generates vast amounts of data, which can be analyzed, and the findings can be used to enhance the supply chain management. ML helps to discover the implicitly existing patterns in the supply chain data by relying on algorithms, without needing manual intervention. The algorithms, usually based on constraint-based modeling, iteratively query data to find the core set of factors with the greatest predictive accuracy. Thus, the new knowledge and the insights from ML are revolutionizing Supply chain management in numerous ways.

The dysfunctional nature of the behaviors across the procurement-supply chain relationship is leading to undesirable outcomes such as uncompetitive pricing, supply shortages, excess in slow-moving inventory, and delivery delays. Consider for example the case of cost reduction where it overshadows the need for high-quality materials and products. Another case of risk aversion where it allows larger suppliers to capture more business while excluding more qualified small and midsize providers from the selection process. ML algorithms make it easier for the procurement and supply chain organizations to achieve a close-knit, family-like relationship that balances market opportunities with competitive challenges.

Mentioned are the ways in which ML algorithms can benefit these two entities of the supply chain management system.

Use case #1: Predictive contract consumption and compliance

Visibility into purchasing contracts and their statuses – such as start and end dates, supplier requirements, designated materials, and current consumption rates – all are a critical part of optimizing the supplier relationship and ensuring business continuity. Establishing contractual trust requires active monitoring and alignment of performance against terms to ensure compliance on both sides and to restart contract negotiations before expensive expedites become necessary.

Contract consumption and compliance that leverage machine learning algorithms enable procurement specialists to automatically predict the date of the contract’s full consumption. The buyer can now identify contracts that should be renegotiated at the appropriate time, handle potential suboptimal conditions proactively, and avoid poorly negotiated prices and terms due to past contract overconsumption.

Use case #2: Predictive analytics for stock in transit

Companies that issue and receive goods need to monitor the status of their in-transit materials and items so they can fix emerging delays or issues before they happen.
Through ensuring that each order is delivered on time, the organization can avoid speeding manufacturing production across the supply chain, reducing excessive payroll and logistics
Expense.

With integrated machine learning available in a mobile app, warehouse managers, dock employees, and drivers can access an overview of open shipments and goods movement based on predictive models, prebuilt automation triggers, and analytics based on real-time data. In turn, the process of forecasting stock in transit arrival is streamlined, automated, and responsive – leading to logistics planning and scheduling that are on-time, efficient, and reliable.

Use case #3: Automated supply assignment sourcing

Increasing the automation of the procurement of supply assignments eliminates the need for manual interactions while obtaining products with the best price, the quickest delivery time and the best quality. When an internal source of supply is not available, the program must automatically create a bidding case. In this case, artificial intelligence serves as a human buyer and sends an invitation to tender to a certain list of preferred suppliers.

Machine-learning algorithms assign the right source of supply to orders by using pattern recognition on historical data, even when a clearly defined origin is not present. Over time, the algorithms learn how to make decisions based on factors such as price, supplier evaluation score, and delivery time.

Use case #4: Intelligent creation of catalog items for free-text purchases

Proposing the creation of a new catalog item can yield many benefits. By reducing the number of one-off purchases based on the unique description from requests, better buying decisions and standardization of products can be made. These so-called “free-text” purchases are the ad-hoc descriptions that each requestor might use.

By using machine learning algorithms that look through the “free text,” requests can be compared against historical description patterns to recommend the addition of a product or service to the catalog. This enables prices for more than one-off purchases to be negotiated. New materials are made available in the catalog automatically if there is high user demand.
The advantages of controlling the free-text creation of new catalog items are potentially game-changing. Procurement areas can increase process efficiency, accelerate purchase-order creation, drive error-resistant transactions, and ease the handling of goods and services from the internal catalog.

Use case #5: Intelligence assisted purchase requisition processing

Although non-automated supply chain requisitions are expensive from a process and resource perspective, they are sometimes necessary. Operational purchasers are facing long lists of open purchase requisitions from several sources – and they need a fast, efficient, and error-free way to handle all of them.

Machine-learning algorithms address this common challenge by recommending the best ways to process the purchase request. By optimizing requisition purchasing, the system suggests possible bundles, the most appropriate request for quotation document to be created, ways to avoid a specific exception in the future, and corrections for the right product category. The operational purchaser reviews the data to process the open purchase requisition with little effort.

Machine learning: A win-win for procurement and supply chain operations

As these five uses cases prove, procurement and supply chain organizations cannot afford to operate independently from each other. No matter how efficiently these functions run in their own domain, the overall business will inevitably experience suboptimal performance and unnecessarily wasteful practices.

Machine learning can prove to be a bridge the risky divide between the procurement and the supply chain operations and make it a win-win situation for both. It will not only help to ensure that their strategic goals are fully aligned but also help to protect the bottom line, reputation and future growth of the business.

It’s a Sunday morning, you wake up and slide your feet into your Crocs slippers, walk up to the washroom to squeeze out a sparkling whitening Colgate toothpaste. You grab your Starbucks coffee mug and wear your Nike shoes…. you are all set to hit the gym in your Honda car!!! Wow….. So many brands in just a few minutes….. Brands, brands and more brands, our life revolves around them. But, if we rewind the scene and go back to the first scene, you see the most powerful brand in the washroom mirror…. “YOU”!!! Yes, you read this right…. YOU are a brand…. clothes, cars, accessories, watches alone do not make you powerful, what makes you powerful is YOU.

You need to ask yourself few questions – Why should someone hire me? Why should someone have lunch with me? Why should someone walk up to me to talk to me? How am I different from others? What are my strengths? Once you have the answers, you have created your own personal brand. Some people are purely lucky; they are at the right place at the right time. For majority of the people, they have to build themselves from the scratch. Technology plays an extremely important role in personal branding. College students need to necessarily build their personal brands if they are looking for job opportunities. Recruiters nowadays depend upon Google searches, specially looking up the Facebook profile of the prospective candidates, LinkedIn profiles and other social media platforms to shortlist and evaluate their prospective candidates. Therefore, one needs to be very careful and particular about the kind of content that is posted on their personal accounts and the kind of comments they write.

Creating your own personal brand cannot happen in a day, just like Rome was not build in a day! It is a process which needs to be nurtured everyday, every moment very carefully. The first step in this process is “self discovery”. You need to find out what your expertise is, what are you good at, what makes you different from others, what makes you stand out in a crowd. Just like brands have their own identity in  the form of logos, you need to find out your identity in this big crowd. The most important and critical aspect of creating your personal brand is to step out of your comfort or I would call it, your “safe zone”.

Are you ready to take this bold step and take a leap of faith to create the most powerful brand, the brand christened “YOU”!!

Choosing an institution of higher education may seem like a daunting task to some. After all, it is what decides the direction of one’s career. All those years at school lead to this very critical decision. A lot is at stake. The life ahead is based on this single decision. But it will not be tough, if the students make the decision prudently. Based on my experience in higher education, I have identified a few important factors which if kept in mind while making this choice, will make the task easier for parents and students.

Firstly, one needs to see the legacy of the Institution. It adds to the credibility and tell us about the trust parents would have had on this University all these past years. It should add value to the degree for the student.

Secondly, the quality of education offered is of utmost importance. The same can be gauged through two ways – faculty and curriculum. The faculty make a great impact on the delivery and learning in the classroom. There must be adequate number of qualified (PhD) and experienced full-time faculty, who are passionate about teaching. A globally bench-marked programme curriculum ensures that the student fits in world-class organizations. If the institution offers global exposure and a cross-cultural environment, it is an added advantage.

Thirdly, there should be proper student mentoring. Most of the students feel lost, or directionless when they enter a campus after class XII. The hand-holding given during school seems to be missing, as a result leading to students being dis-oriented. There are only a handful of institutions who have the process of attaching a dedicated faculty mentor to each student in their campus. For the parents, this is a great initiative to keep a track of their ward’s progress.

Fourthly, a strong industry interface with ample placement and internship opportunities should be present. One’s career after college depends majorly on these. Internship support by the Institution goes a long way in helping students to make their future career choices. Also, many students opt to take up employment after their graduation to get experience before pursuing higher education.

Lastly, some more important factors should be considered for convenience and to enhance the experience, like the location of the Institution. It should ideally be near the corporate hub of a metropolitan city offering plenty of exposure, opportunities, live projects and most importantly, reducing travel snarls. The infrastructure and facilities provided by the institution enhances the experience. The campus life through events, clubs and societies should enable holistic development of the students.

By keeping all these factors in mind, one can choose the right institution of higher education for the perfect experience of learning and development after school.