Toyota Kirloskar Motor Stood First & Won CII’s Best Kaizen Award

Toyota Kirloskar Motor (TKM) was honored with “Best Kaizen Award” by Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) at the 30^th Kaizen Conference and Competition held at the India Habitat Centre, New Delhi on May 16^, 2017. Toyota was awarded under the “Breakthrough” category, for initiating innovative practices to reduce energy consumption at the paint booth in the company’s world-class manufacturing facility at Bidadi in the state of Karnataka. The award winning technique involved the use of a psychrometric controller method, ideated and executed internally, to regulate temperature and humidity which eventually led to reduced energy consumption.

TKM, as an environmentally committed corporate, implements various eco-initiatives in its manufacturing operations, effectively contributing to establish HARMONY WITH NATURE. This award recognizes such energy-efficient methodology implemented to meet vital eco-challenges.

More than 65 companies participated in the category which recognizes improvement in equipment effectiveness with an emphasis on proactive and preventative maintenance in production line, markedly increasing plant output whilst increasing employee morale and job satisfaction.  The Toyota team has stood  first successfully clearing this Kaizen competition held at zonal level (North Region Level), going on to compete to be the “Best of Best” Kaizen Champions at the National level which is scheduled to be held during Sep ’17.

Total Productive Maintenance (TPM) system at TKM ensures overall synchronization of machines / equipments, processes and employees through smooth integrity of Production and Quality systems that add business values to an organization. Our Toyota philosophy focuses on the relentless problem solving involving people & developing the Kaizen Culture.

On receiving the award, Raju B Ketkale, Senior Vice President - Toyota Kirloskar Motor said “We are honored to receive the award as an acknowledgment to our dedication for continuous improvement in efficiency and production quality. The commitment to go above and beyond building just word-class cars and following a more sustainable production process with minimal environmental impact is deep rooted in the Toyota culture.

As a socially responsible automobile manufacturer, Toyota is proud to play a vital part in promoting a greener and healthier future. We do not limit such responsible practices to our plant, but also integrate & impart our best practices by engaging dealer supplier partners, thereby enhancing the overall effectiveness of operations.

Our employees have ample exposure to global technologies with best-in-class technical training & hands-on experience to meet the global standards and also adopt innovative technologies, he added.”

CII Kaizen Conference & Competition is a renowned platform that honors best practices and continuous improvement of processes in the fields of manufacturing, engineering, supporting business processes, and management across industry verticals, aiming to share best practices of different corporates and to enhance individual’s capability. Every year a total of 4 winners are selected from under four categories (Restorative, Renovative, Innovative & Breakthrough) to carry the best kaizen award in the form of a trophy.

Infosys Annual Report 2017 Available Online for ADS holders

Infosys has today announced that as in the previous years, it will furnish its annual reports to its American Depository Shares (ADS) holders on its website in lieu of physical distribution.

Accordingly, the Annual Report on Form 20-F for the year ended March 31, 2017 filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) on June 12, 2017, together with the Indian Annual Report filed with the Indian Stock Exchanges (BSE/NSE), is available on the Infosys Limited website at www.infosys.com. The financial statements included in the Annual Report on Form 20-F have been prepared in accordance with the International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS) as issued by International Accounting Standards Board.

As allowed under New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) rules, the Company will not circulate physical copies of the Annual Report on Form 20-F or the Indian Annual Report to ADS holders. However, in compliance with NYSE rules, physical and email copies of Infosys' Annual Report on Form 20-F and the Indian Annual Report will be made available, at no cost, to ADS holders on request. Interested ADS holders may request for physical or email copies by writing to "The Company Secretary" at Infosys' registered office at Electronics City, Hosur Road, Bangalore - 560 100, India.

TechGig Wins Guinness World Record Beating USA, China to Create the Biggest Programming Event

TechGig has proven that India is at the Top of the Global IT Industry, having won the Guinness World Record for the country by beating the likes of the USA and China to create the biggest programming event of the world!

“TechGig Code Gladiators 2017” was organized by TechGig to identify the top competitive programmers and technology enthusiasts across India and the rest of the world. The contest registered 2,09,111 participants with the maximum participation from Bengaluru, India.

The Guinness World Records citation declares “The largest computer programming competition was organized by TechGig (India) in Bengaluru, India on June 9, 2017”.

While presenting the World Record to TechGig, the Guinness officials stated that TechGig had attracted 81,641 unique submissions from programmers at Code Gladiators 2017 and the previous record was set in 2012 by Baidu Online Network Technology (Beijing) Co., Ltd. (China) which had attracted 30,634 entrants. That is 167% of what Baidu holds!

“It is amazing that TechGig was able to obliterate the previous record by a margin of over 160% - a record set by Baidu which had stood undisputed for half a decade. This record is dedicated to all our participants, clients and teams. I further acknowledge the support and enthusiasm of the top management of our sponsors and clients, whose words of encouragement were instrumental in garnering this record-breaking participation. We have received very good feedback on the success of this event and plan to roll-out more such initiatives on an expanded canvas across industries and geographies,” said Ramathreya Krishnamurthi, Business Head, TechGig.

This world record competition, included contestants from across the planet, while most the participants were from India, top three other countries were United States of America, United Arab Emirates and United Kingdom.

Round 1 of the open contest was held from 20th March to 07th May 2017 during which registered participants were asked to submit their entries remotely from their homes on the dedicated Code Gladiators section of TechGig.com.

Basis their performance in Round 1, Semi-Finals were held online from 10th May to 24th May, 2017 for participants who had successfully cleared the first round of the Open Contest. At this level, participants had to solve the Semi Final challenges within 8 hours.

The final competition was held offline in Bengaluru, India and TechGig Code Gladiators 2017 concluded on June 9, 2017 with a Grand Finale, where Guinness Officials declared this victory for Indian IT.

Portea Medical Expands Digital Health Initiatives for Physiotherapy with Physitrack

Portea Medical, India’s leading home healthcare provider, has expanded its digital health initiatives with the launch of a project in collaboration with patient engagement solution, Physitrack. 

Under the initiative, Portea Medical’s physiotherapy patients around India can access customized video-based exercise programs prescribed by Portea physiotherapists, educational content, clinical questionnaires, as well as consult with Portea physiotherapists via their smartphone, tablet or computer through the Portea App which been integrated with PhysiApp from Physitrack.

This allows physiotherapists from Portea Medical’s team to provide more precise care based on detailed insights and influence patient recovery in real-time using outcome measurements via the telehealth feature available on the Physitrack platform. 

“Ensuring our patients are able to heal quickly and completely in the comfort of their homes, is a key focus area for us at Portea. The collaboration with Physitrack will help in better adherence to treatment plans and translate into improved health outcomes for our patients. The integration between Portea’s EMR and Physitrack means our physiotherapists can provide remote support when required. It also ensures data integrity between the two platforms,” said Runam Mehta, Business Manager, Medical Services at Portea Medical.

”Innovation plays a key role in how Portea delivers healthcare and this partnership expands our digital health initiatives,” she added. 

Marijn Kortekaas, Partner and Program Director Asia Pacific at Physitrack: “Portea’s holistic approach aroundimproving patient outcomes andcreating a more efficient workflow for its physiotherapists is truly ground-breaking. In addition torolling out digital home exercise provision, patient education and outcomes reporting,delivered via our integrated Telehealth feature, Portea also integrated its EMR system with Physitrack to create significant time-savings for its physiotherapists. We are very excited to be partnering with Portea on this project.”

Strong Research, 330+ Patents Makes Tejas Networks IPO Attractive but Risks Abound

Tejas Networks Ltd’s IPO worth up to Rs 776 crore opens on Wednesday, June 14, in which the company plans to raise up to Rs 450 crore through a fresh issue of equity shares, while the existing stakeholders would get the rest via an offer for sale.

Bangalore-based Tejas Networks, which makes products for optical fibre and data networks, may be an attractive bet for a long term investor willing to ride out a few potential risks to the stock. While the company’s continuous efforts on research & development and investments in technological innovation are at the core of its strength, the same R&D spends and breakthroughs in technology may pose significant risks to the its business going ahead. Here’s are the top factors one must consider before buying into the Tejas Networks’ IPO:

Issue details: Tejas Networks will issue 1.75 crore fresh shares with the proceeds amounting to Rs 450 crore at the top end of the price band going to the company. Existing shareholders will sell another 1.27 crore of their own equity shares through an offer for sale. The total issue size is 43.41% of the total equity capital. The company also plans to issue shares to anchor investors ahead of the IPO, and depending on the subscription to it, may reduce the size of the public issue. The price band for the IPO is set at Rs 250-257, and the lot size is 55 shares.

Issue strength: Tejas Networks designs, develops and sells products to telecommunications service providers, internet service providers, utility companies, defence companies and government entities in India and over 60 other countries. The company is well-poised to take advantage of the growth in the communication industry due to its end-to-end portfolio of optical networking products, SMC Research said in a note.

Tejas has a strong focus on innovation, with 313 of its total 607 employees engaged in research and development, primarily aimed at expanding high growth segment product portfolios. The company outsources its manufacturing to electronic component manufacturers. It also has a decent intellectual property portfolio with 326 patent applications and 47 granted patents.

Further, Tejas Networks is also expected to benefit a lot from the government’s preference for sourcing from domestic suppliers in the push for Make in India and Digital India, and also due to security implications involved in using electronic network communication products.

Risks: A bulk of Tejas Networks’ business comes from very few clients, with the top five of clients contributing to about 60% of its overall revenue in the last financial year 2016-17. On the other hand, while the company is at the forefront of the technological innovation at present, it faces steep competition from global giants which operate on far larger scale, and are equally serious about innovation and R&D. In this area, the R&D, which is the company’s strong area, may hurt its financial position in terms of future write-offs.

One-of-its-kind: The nature of Tejas Networks’ business makes it unique in the sense that it does not have listed peers in its segment for comparison of valuations. At the upper end of the price band, the stock is valued at a P/E multiple of 29.29 times pre-IPO, and at 36.4 times post-IPO.

Manipal Varsity Makes Head Way with Significant Shift to Green Energy

The Managing Director, MESCOM, Mangaluru, Chikkananjappa on Tuesday inaugurated solar roof top PV plant at the indoor sports complex. With that, Manipal University now has eight buildings with roof top solar plants. This has helped the University to achieve 55% of energy-demand from a green source. It may be mentioned here that Manipal University is ranked the second green campus in the country.

“This substantially reduces dependence on conventional energy sources, thus mitigating carbon emissions and making a significant shift towards sustainable energy use,” said Dr H.S Ballal, Pro Chancellor Manipal University in an interaction with Chikkananjappa after the inauguration. MESCOM MD was appreciative of the initiatives being taken by the University to reduce pollution by using more and more of the solar energy.

 “Manipal University has partially shifted from the conventional energy use to renewable energy use and sourcing. This is being achieved by installing solar photovoltaic rooftop systems on the buildings with a total installed capacity of 817 kilowatts peak (kWp) connected to grid for self-use generating 12 lakh units on average per annum,” said Derrick Joshua, Environment Executive of Manipal University.

Shridhar Rao, Executive Engineer (Electrical), Energy Lead Auditor and MR said, “This translates to carbon emission equivalent (Co₂e) reduction of 984 metric tonnes. It substantially reduces dependence on conventional energy sources, thus mitigating carbon emissions and is a shift towards sustainable energy use. Adoption of the combined strategy achieves Co₂e emission reduction of 25,320 MT per annum”.

Paul John Single Malts Wins Big at ‘Icons of Whisky India 2017’ Awards in New Delhi

Paul John Single Malts, the great Indian Single Malt Whisky bagged three top honours at the Icons of Whisky India Awards 2017 – Best Master Distiller India for Michael D’Souza, The Best Indian Single Malt Whisky as well as the venerated World Whisky Brand Ambassador of the Year 2017 for Mr. Paul P. John. The brand whisked away the highest number of wins at the global awards ceremony thus making it one of the world’s top whisky brands to watch out for.

Speaking on the accomplishment, Paul John, Chairman of John Distilleries said, “We are truly overjoyed. Whisky Magazine’s Icons of Whisky awards is a celebrated awards ceremony across the globe. Being honoured by them across significant spheres of whisky making is a testament to our efforts towards producing world-quality whisky.”

The prestigious ‘Icons of Whisky’ Awards recognises the contribution of whisky brands in the industry from around the world and celebrates the winning brand’s dedication in delivering exceptional work across categories. Winning the eminent awards, from among an assemblage of some of the most expert whisky producers and distillers from around the world, made it a landmark victory for the Indian brand.

The special ceremony, to felicitate the brand on its achievements, took place yesterday at ITC Maurya in Delhi and was hosted by, none other than, Sandeep Arora, Editor, South Asia, Whisky Magazine.

Brought to the world from the sultry coasts of Goa, the Paul John Single Malts are made from carefully chosen indigenous ingredients including 6 row barley from the foothills of the Himalayas. Moreover the tropical climate of the region provides the ideal temperature and ambiance for the whisky to mature to perfection.

John Distilleries first launched the Paul John Single Malt whisky in the United Kingdom in 2012. Ever since, its success in this sphere has been invincible. It didn’t take much time for experts from across the globe to take notice of the exceptional single malt whisky, further opening doors to some of the biggest, internationally recognized awards for the brand.

Paul John Single Malt Whisky reached its milestone moment when it was rated ‘Liquid Gold’ by Jim Murray’s Whisky Bible –  the world’s leading whisky guide that professionally analyses the finest whiskies from around the world. Whisky Guru Jim Murray grades these whiskies on a score of 100. These scores are reflective of four key criteria that they are judged on – nose, taste, finish and balance and are each scored for out of 25. The Paul John Single Malt Whisky was graded a spectacular 94.5 and was described as "the smoke, through serious maturation, has now moved into a stunning structured herbal nature with lavender and mint... such a brilliant mouth feel... a sublime peated malt from India."

The exclusive range of Indian Single Malts by Paul John are now available in 30 countries including Europe, UK, USA, Australia, Canada, New Zealand, Asia, Duty Free Shops (Dubai, Qatar, Singapore and Bangalore) and was recently introduced in the Indian markets including Delhi, Bangalore, Mumbai, Pune, Chandigarh, Pondicherry, Daman and Hyderabad.