Enigma Solution

You may have heard of, the use of statistical process control and statistical quality control to reduce defects in manufacturing from a few percentage points to ppm (parts per million) levels. At the heart of this is good application of statistics. The stereotype of a statistician is a serious chap, quite boring and often speaks in a language that appears alien to most people. Every organisation should avail the services of a good statistician even if on a part time basis. Most statisticians are also well versed in a complimentary subject called Operations Research (OR), which is an interdisciplinary branch of applied mathematics that uses methods such as mathematical modelling, statistics, and algorithms to arrive at optimal solutions even to complex problems. The raw material for a statistician is data. Most organisations do not collect any data leave alone collate it and hence for them meaningful analysis is not possible. We were fortunate to be introduced to Mr.SB Deo. H...

Attending a talk of great leaders, an America-phile (lover of America) was narrating to us natives the power of American leadership and why we should replicate it. The speaker said several useful things and some I did not agree with particularly when alluding to Henry Ford's management and leadership style. Here is why we should not admire Henry Ford's leadership and management style. Henry Ford is considered to be a legend of sorts. He was instrumental in the introduction of a revolution called mass production. Initially hailed as the most efficient way to manufacture goods, mass production churned out millions of near identical products at significantly lower costs from a process called craft production. While craft production employed highly skilled workmen with a few apprentices was highly rewarding both financially and emotionally, the products were terribly expensive. On the  other hand mass production employed large numbers of unskilled workmen in a manner that  co...