Monday, 27 June 2016

Swachh campaign focus on national treasures

In an endeavour to widen the scope and awareness about Swachh Bharat Mission among the citizens and communities, the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change (MoEF&CC) has decided to organise its thematic Swachh campaign in National Parks, Wildlife Sanctuaries, Tiger Reserves and Zoos, which attracts lakhs of visitors, especially youth and children from across the country. The programme outlines were presented by the Ministry officials during Swacchhta Pakhwada (fortnight) from June 1-15. The Protected Areas (PAs) are spread over approximately 1.61 lakh sq. km and about 32 lakh visitors come annually to the Tiger Reserves alone. Delhi Zoo has about 25 lakh visitors annually. Though cleanliness is a standard management practice for PAs and MoEF&CC extends assistance to States on this aspect also, as per the Action Plans proposed by the States, the campaigns were designed to focus on sensitising the visitors and tourists on issues such as solid waste management, prevention of littering and overall cleanliness of the park and surrounding areas.


Communications in that have been sent to all Principal Chief Conservators of Forest, Chief Wildlife Wardens, Director of Delhi Zoo, Central Zoo Authority, Wildlife Institute of India,   National Tiger Conservation Authority, Wildlife Crime Control Bureau and other agencies associated with the Wildlife Wing of the Ministry. Further, in order to extend the scope of Swachhta Campaign to include waste management concepts and recent regulations, a specific mandate of this Ministry, special drives were also launched in 10 select Protected Areas to sensitise the visitors on the regulatory regime for waste management. In particular, segregation, transportation and processing of wet waste at source as well as segregation of bio-degradable waste from other type of wastes were demonstrated.


Apart from that, World Bank will also assist Centre to begin a cleanliness drive at country’s 10 iconic places that attracts heavy footfall. The drive will be guided and supervised by foreign experts in order to keep the campaign at par with global standards. These 10 iconic places include Ajmer Sharif in Rajasthan, Chhatrapati Shivaji Terminus in Maharashtra, Golden Temple in Punjab, Jagannathpuri Temple in Odisha, Kamakshi Temple and Meenakshi Temple in Tamil Nadu, Tirupati in Andhra Pradesh, Taj Mahal and Manikarnika Ghat in Uttar Pradesh and Vaishno Devi in Jammu and Kashmir. The government is planning to begin cleaning drive at these 10 sites to set the bench mark of cleanliness standard for visitors and locals. Officials at ministry of Environment will lay down a roadmap for site-specific programme.  


 


 



Swachh campaign focus on national treasures

World Bank to assist cleanliness drive

World Bank will assist Centre to begin a cleanliness drive at country’s 10 iconic places that attracts heavy footfall. The drive will be guided and supervised by foreign experts in order to keep the campaign at par with global standards. These 10 iconic places include Ajmer Sharif in Rajasthan, Chhatrapati Shivaji Terminus in Maharashtra, Golden Temple in Punjab, Jagannathpuri Temple in Odisha, Kamakshi Temple and Meenakshi Temple in Tamil Nadu, Tirupati in Andhra Pradesh, Taj Mahal and Manikarnika Ghat in Uttar Pradesh and Vaishno Devi in Jammu and Kashmir. The government is planning to begin cleaning drive at these 10 sites to set the benchmark of cleanliness standard for visitors and locals. Officials at Ministry of Environment will lay down a road map for site-specific programme.  



World Bank to assist cleanliness drive

Wednesday, 22 June 2016

Manipal University student designs train toilet

 


Manipal University student Vinod Anthony Thomas, a tenth  semester student of Faculty of Architecture won  the second prize in  a competition of the Indian Railways organized  by Research Designs and Standards Organization, Lucknow. The competition was for designing waterless and odorless toilets in trains. The jury comprising  experts from  the Railways, industry and academia/research fields announced the results on June 14.


 


 


The toilet designed by Vinod  does away with problems in the existing system of disposal of human waste on the tracks. His project also mentions that the existing model of toilets are not subjected to effective flushing resulting in the accumulation of dirt and therefore the foul smell.


 


 


His design is meant to replace the system of flushing toilets with water by a conveyor system carrying waste in hermetically sealed pocket to a large collection bin to store waste and is run manually by a crank wheel. The bin has been designed in a way to reduce the amount of waste by way of decomposition and forced ventilation (evaporation of water).


 


 


Meanwhile, stepping up efforts to make environment better, the Railways has set a target to install bio-toilets in all coaches to ensure the entire rail network as zero discharge zone by 2019.


 


 


According to the action plan, the Railways will install 1.40 lakh bio-toilets in about 55,000 coaches in the next three years.  About 37,000 bio-toilets  have already been installed  till now.


 


 


 



Manipal University student designs train toilet

Tuesday, 21 June 2016

ToolBox, Telescopic handle and Connector System

ToolBox,-Telescopic-handle-and-Connector-SystemUK-based VERMOP’s Scandic X system has flexible attachments that suits all kinds of floor and surface cleaning. Its telescopic handle can be adjusted simply to various working heights. Compactly retracted, it is stored tidily in the toolbox. With the unique Scandic X connector system, all VERMOP appliances, and accessories from all the major manufacturers, can be attached simply and securely to the handle.


FEATURES


  • The Scandic X telescopic handle can be adjusted simply to various working heights, from 80cm length for mirror cleaning to 171cm for overhead work.

  •  With the unique Scandic X connector system, all VERMOP appliances, and accessories from all the major manufacturers, can be attached simply and securely to the handle.

  • The clever Scandic X toolbox offers flexible attachment for all appliances.

APPLICATION AREA


  • Surface cleaning

  • Floor cleaning

  • Window cleaning

 



ToolBox, Telescopic handle and Connector System

SAVING $12M IN SIX YEARS

Aval-Sethi,-Head-–-Supply-Chain-Management-&-Procurement,-Asia-&-Integrated-Facility-ManagementIn a country where procurement is still graduating as an extended admin function, JLL has added a whopping $12 million through savings in procurement over the last six years. Aval Sethi, Head – Supply Chain Management & Procurement, Asia & Integrated Facility Management, in an exclusive interview with Mohana M, reveals the successful implementation of technology-driven supply chain management and procurement strategies and his most-favourite “OneSource Platform”.


How successful are the integrated procurement strategies in FM today? Is there a different strategy of procurement at different levels of the supply chain?


Yes, and no, both. Yes, because procurement is normally broken up into a number of steps. At the base level, procurement is very transactional in nature, focusing around day-to-day requirements. At the mid-level, it could be procurement at the manager level focussing on localized purchase for the facility or could be at the pan-India or pan-regional level looking at a larger base. However, at the next level, it is more around building strategy for the organization, focussing on value addition, consolidation with suppliers the buyer, building supplier relationship, grooming and developing suppliers to meet requirements and becoming partners to the organization.


At the chief officer level, procurement takes a different approach, as it involves working with stake holders – mostly from business orientation – it could be your clients or the CFO or other people in the business. Procurement involves understanding and meeting their requirement.  At every level, there is a distinct flavour to procurement.


As far as monitoring of the whole process is concerned, it largely depends on the structure with proper delegation of responsibilities at various levels. There will be an objective check for each person with designated and specific deliverables. However, stronger organizations will have a stronger governance workflow to make sure that people are aligned and fulfilling what is expected of them.



“It is very important today for procurement professionals at any level to be in line and knowledgeable about their business; its needs and how it is changing. So whether it is the chief procurement officer or head of procurement, he or she can therefore mould the ‘procurement organization’, as it has become a backbone to the organization. The CFOs today are realizing that procurement does contribute directly to the bottom line. Thus, rather than the transactional or a knee jerk reaction to event or event based procurement, if the ‘procurement organization’ knows the plan of the business, they can strategize and delivery exceptionally well to the requirement.“

How have you been successfully integrating different procurement strategies at different levels through the years?


Six years back when I joined JLL, the focus was more on FM delivery and meeting client requirements. A structural change was brought about in 2009 when one of the big contracts required extensive delivery through of a lot of procurement. It gave me an opportunity to actually build up a robust structure to improve the business given my background and knowledge on procurement. It was literally like a green field dream project!


Over the years, the same structure has evolved to include changing requirements and expectations. However, at JLL, in the last 2-3 years I have moved procurement from being just a functional support entity into a more entrepreneurial based function, bringing giving more value addition to the business.  From that perspective, I started looking at vendor consolidation, relationship building, value engineering, e-based program for our suppliers, different revenue streams within the supply chain and adding more to bottom line directly through efficient supplier management. We have evolved our supplier segmentation model which is a pyramid structure where the strategic suppliers sit at the apex. The model is structured around how we develop our suppliers and bring about those strategic suppliers to add value to our business. It has been a very evolving and pro-active structure in supply business chain.

Today, I have the privilege of being a member of the IFM executive committee and know where the business is headed, what the future is and what we are planning to do. Therefore, I am proactively involved and am able to bring up the procurement organization to readily deliver to business as required.



“This year we introduced technology and created a catalogue management tool that completely integrated ‘procure to pay’ on the platform. The robust approach reduces time to book, time to process and time to supply.“


What changes have you experienced in workplaces today and how do those contribute to procurement management?


The whole concept of a workplace is changing today. The ‘CRE’ trend surveys show higher degree of focus on technology, smarter workplaces and enhancing employee experience. Today in an age of technology, we have mobile devices, tablets and laptops which literally connect us 24×7. The new age employee of today works comfortably with technology and demands e – tools to provide information.


Today with net penetration, being present in the property and working, per say, has lost its relevance, because with internet connectivity one can be located anywhere and work from there. I can be on the road, sitting in my car, home or anywhere else and work. Even offices today have moved away from the traditional setting to a smart workplace concept. Offices are wi-fi enabled and one can see people sitting on sofas or easy chairs at the lounge or cafeteria with their laptops.


As more and more organisations are moving to an ERP environment bringing in work order automation, we are now also looking to have access to real time information about the supplier out on delivery – whether they have delivered the material or how correct their delivery has been through smart phone applications. But, at the same time, this has also created pressure on the skills of the people engaged in such services. If they do not have the mind-set or if they do not fit in the framework of technology or are unfamiliar with internet and net connectivity, then it is a big struggle for them.


Hence, there is a need for people with a project driven mind-set for dealing with multiple aspects of deliveries. For example, suppliers will have cross functional category expertise and the person delivering should be able to communicate well across those categories.



“We create the framework of supplier management program whereby the site team and the local operations teams manage the relationship, the work and the performance of the suppliers.“

Is there a customised software in procurement management?


Of late, many of our clients have been expecting me, as a procurement head, to address and take away a lot of their challenges faced in dealing with ad-hoc and transactional requirements at the facility or with buying of materials and supplies. While there are a number of technology platforms available off the shelf but none that offers end to end solutions to what we need in a Real estate FM environment. This prompted me to sit back and think: as strategic partners to all these businesses, how can we address the speed and bring more value to clients. We created a new business model and started procurement services for a few of our clients last year. This year we introduced technology and created a catalogue management tool that completely integrated ‘procure to pay’ on the platform. The robust approach reduces time to book, time to process and time to supply and creates a supply chain environment that is purely driven by performance. The platform provides visibility and governance, and also links in our suppliers, our staff and the client on a single platform. We created what is branded as “One Source”


The catalogue module enables client to view the products, their description and price, and then to place order and buy online, just like an e-commerce. A list of 16 product categories was identified starting from stationery, water, tea & coffee consumable, painting, repairs and maintenance, electrical & plumbing consumable, carpet, carpet shampooing and so on. These were high sale categories of the client and the client can simply log into www.jllonesource.com and place the order on the catalogue. At the backend, each of these products is ascribed to a supplier who is localized to a particular site of the client so this simplifies taxation and enables there is work order automation. Once the supplier is ready to deliver the product, he is able to generate a delivery receipt, fill in the details based on the work order and deliver the goods at the site. We enable each supplier with a smart-phone app, where they can choose the work order against which they deliver, take a photograph of the delivery receipt and upload it through the smart phone app on to the technology platform, as a confirmation against the work order. The moment the delivery receipt is uploaded, there is a three-way matching on the platform. It automatically generates an invoice to the client. The finance department validates the invoice and sends it off to the client for payment. Not only that, it also integrates the delivery with an inventory module for our FM’s at sites. department file. Thus, the delivery that is completed at the site is uploaded automatically into the inventory module of the site. We provide best in class Business Intelligence tools providing clients with customised MIS and Dashboards where the client can view the entire inventory on site. They can understand their consumption pattern and fix budgets for sites accordingly. At the client end, there is a lot of visibility and governance and it reduces theft cases or misappropriation of stock. This way the client, the suppliers and the JLL staff work on one platform.


How do you get your suppliers on board?


We have got a very strong prequalification criteria to identify suppliers. The first one is obviously their financial standing. The second is assessment of risk. The risk factors also include checks pertaining to legal issue or any complaint, any labour court cases or any other criminal or civil court proceedings. We go back to some of the clients for feedback on suppliers’ performance and look at their long standing history of presence in the market and service to various clients.


The supplier, thus assessed and taken on board, is first introduced to the smaller part of our business for may be three to six months and subjected to at least two rounds of quarterly evaluation of performance and delivery. If Once our team grades the supplier well, we then consider an upgradation. We work on a supplier segmentation model – a pyramid– which is broken down into three parts. The base of the pyramid is occupied by all our registered suppliers who want to work with JLL and are pre-qualified. This is a sizeable chunk of about 3,000 vendors that we have on the system today.


As we upgrade the suppliers, they move into the next level, which is the preferred supplier network comprising those who have gone through a few rounds of performance evaluation. Some of these suppliers, based on their hunger for more business, their approach and how they can come up in their performance reviews, are moved up to the Strategic Partnership Program. This pattern applies to all the vendor partners and service providers. 


However, there are also suppliers who may move directly as preferred or as strategic suppliers based on the kind of business they have been doing, the size of their entity, the volume of business in terms of financial background and standing, and the need of business. For example, a global company like Kimberley
Clarke could directly be brought on board as a strategic supplier and we may also set up a contract across Asia Pacific with them.



“Compliance today is a very big focus area. For example, in a manpower based contract at a site, out of the required 10 housekeeping boys, only eight turn up because two were not available at the salary structure set by the client.“

What are the challenges confronted with supplier management?


Out of the entire supply base we have, there are many suppliers who are localized and work for a specific city or a specific client type. The supply chain professionals are not present in every city, so the operations team that is dealing with the suppliers has to manage them. We create the framework of supplier management program whereby the site team and the local operations teams manage the relationship, the work and the performance of the suppliers.


On a few occasions there are misses in between, either the suppliers are not managed correctly or the communication is not clear between the supplier and the operations team and so on. Slowly, the commitment goes down, the approach and the responsibilities are not defined and there are certain gaps that tend to come in. While at the central level, we qualify a supplier capable of meeting all requirements, at the ground level at the delivery end, the supplier starts to struggle because the KRAs have not been set, there are no defined SLAs and no KPI’s are set. Resultantly, a good supplier who could have done well, is now becoming a struggling supplier in the system. The first challenge is to continually engage with the site team and explain the importance of building a supplier relationship and setting up very clear guidelines and rule sets for the suppliers.


In some other cases in spite of the best efforts of the site and operations teams the supplier just does not perform to expectation. The supplier is so transactional in his approach that he may not have an inclination to improve performance. The supplier is provided opportunities to improve but there are many cases where eventually the supplier has to be replaced.


Compliance today is a very big focus area. For example, in a manpower based contract at a site, out of the required 10 housekeeping boys, only eight turn up because two were not available at the salary structure set by the client. Consequently, some of them start doing overtime, which has its limitations under the labour law. Beyond a limit it becomes noncompliance, but the client expects 100% deployment. Thus, you engage the service provider to ensure 100% attendance, but the supplier is not able to pay overtime beyond permissible limits or meet the shortfall or get the client to increase salary for boys. It becomes a kind of a conflict within the site, where again the blame sometimes goes to the supplier who is unable to deliver what has been contracted. 


The second challenge is in getting trained and skilled manpower. There is so much of shortage, especially where skills are not really admired – nobody wants to be a toilet cleaner or to be seen with the broom – we find all types of people without much training coming in. How to ensure that the manpower engaged is skilled and comes up to the speed is a challenge being faced by our people on some sites.


How different is it when it comes to procuring cleaning products?


Normally, the entire manpower and material or cleaning supplies are bundled into the contact of the housekeeping vendor and we do not directly buy cleaning chemical or consumables. However, I have identified good suppliers and brought them as strategic partners on board on negotiated terms and conditions. In the cleaning segment, we have Diversey Care-Sealed Air and Schevaran Laboratories Pvt. Ltd as strategic partners for cleaning chemicals. As part of the contractual obligation, they conduct random audits and check some sites to ensure that the right chemicals are being used in the service delivered. They also train the housekeeping staff on proper dilution ratio for chemicals, put up charts & literature or posters on sites and make pocket cards available to janitorial staff for easy referral. This again could be in local languages, as not all will be familiar with Hindi or English. Thus, the responsibility of the partner does not end with just supplying. I have brought them into the work environment to have a higher stake in ensuring that what they are supplying is actually being used correctly and in the right method and also in creating awareness programmes. 



It has been a great journey and I have seen procurement changing over the years. But, we still have a very long journey to undertake and we are heading the right way. There is a lot of talk around the value that procurement brings in. But, in India, there is a big shortcoming as we do not find good procurement staff today in the market. Procurement has never been in the focus and it has been someone from the admin team actually moving in and taking up the procurement role. He does not understand procurement nor the story behind the negotiation, the type of negotiation, the element of psychology and how that plays a role in good negotiation with a supplier. Unlike in the US or in Europe, where supply chain is taught in school and colleges, in India we do not really have a structured way of education in supply chain. Skill set is a challenge and this is something that really needs to be addressed to reduce this skill gap for procurement.”

What are the changes you have brought about in procurement and what more changes do you perceive?


I am changing the colour of procurement into being more entrepreneurial. Procurement as a traditional function will no longer exist in the next five years. It will become more of a document management function, which essentially means somebody is giving you a purchase requisition, you go out to your pre-approved and contracted vendor for a quotation, send it to the requester and on approval issue a purchase order. This is very transactional in nature and will probably peak as more and more technology comes on board. In order for the function to grow it has to now step away and be more entrepreneurial, a business partnership to reach out to the client and to assess what more can be done to bring in additional revenue and more profitability.


Thus, the One Source platform that I spoke about earlier could potentially become the game changer in the industry. What we have created is end-to-end B2B consolidation across the length and breadth of the categories that we require in corporate, CRE, FM or property structure. Whether it is repair and maintenance, supply of material or consumable or ad-hoc buying or ad-hoc request, everything is dealt with on this one integrated platform.


With the Internet of Things catching up, it will also create tracking mechanics for every element It has been a great journey and I have seen procurement changing over the years. But, we still have a very long journey to undertake and we are heading the right way.  There is a lot of talk around the value that procurement brings in. But, in India, there is a big shortcoming as we do not find good procurement staff today in the market. Procurement has never been in the focus and it has been someone from the admin team actually moving in and taking up the procurement role. He does not understand procurement nor the story behind the negotiation, the type of negotiation, the element of psychology and how that plays a role in good negotiation with a supplier. Unlike in the US or in Europe, where supply chain is taught in school and colleges, in India we do not really have a structured way of education in supply chain. Skill set is a challenge and this is something that really needs to be addressed to reduce this skill gap for procurement.” of the supply service. Today, we have technology that allows our staff to use bio-metric devices mark their attendance. In our case, instead of waiting for the vendor to reconcile attendance and provide his invoice, we are providing giving actual attendance to the vendor based on bio-metric reader output to raise his invoice on.


Thus, Procurement is going to lead the change in technology and the way we do business. As we move forward, the entrepreneurial mind-set is expected to understand finance, taxation and the business itself. Now with this overview of different functions, the day is not too far off when we can see procurement
leaders actually becoming CEOs or Managing Directors of companies because they know exactly how the business operates, they know their supply bases and costs, understand their finance numbers very well and therefore, can run their businesses much easily.


What has been the contribution of procurement to the bottom line during your tenure?


In the last six years, I have contributed close to $12 million to the JLL bottom line in India.


For a company of that size and scale and with that kind of value and benefit in hard dollar savings coming to the bottom line, it is a great story.


 



SAVING $12M IN SIX YEARS

Cleanliness & Custom in Culinary Culture

Cleanliness and hygiene has been a part of the Indian culinary system from age-old times. However, with time, this natural habit has become a forgotten heritage requiring a refresher course today. P. Soundararajan, Corporate Executive Chef of Mahindra Holidays and Resorts India Ltd and General Secretary of the Indian Federation of Culinary Associations, discusses ways to revisit and revive best practices in an interview with Vijayalakshmi Sridhar.



P. SoundararajanSoundararajan’s journey in the culinary field began at the Taj Hotel kitchen in New Delhi. Ever since, he has served at many hotel chains, organised several festivals and has been instrumental in getting recognition and accolades for his contribution towards culinary advancement. In December 1997, he joined Mahindra Holidays and Resorts as its Corporate Executive Chef and is continuing till date. He was pioneer in introducing the concept of waste management such as composting, Herb / kitchen garden, use of recyclable materials. He has been honoured with several national and international awards and is the recipient of the Golden Hat Award (2004) and SICA Golden Star Chef Award (2008) from the South India Culinary Association for two decades of Continuous contribution to the profession. In his 30 plus years of experience, Soundararajan has witnessed the evolution in the industry.

Cleanliness and hygiene has been imbibed into the Indian culture since the Harappa and Mohenjo Daro times. “Cleanliness is equally important when it comes to food and its preparation. Cooking, though a clumsy and multi-taskoriented process, needs to be carefully handled to ensure that the resulting product is palatable and contains no foreign material.”


Chef Soundararajan has been working towards establishing a thorough culinary system in the country, replete with the time-honoured cleaning and hygiene tenets that have been practiced for centuries in India. “It is important to revive the forgotten hygiene practices of yesteryears.”


The necessity is more pronounced today mainly because those getting into the culinary profession no longer possess the natural touch for cleaning. “One of the reasons could be the exposure to various others cultures and foods.” In fact, almost all star or good hotels have a scheduled cleaning regime and are well equipped with modern day cleaning products and processes. “In commercial establishments, cleanliness in systems and well-cooked and well-presented food that is brought to the table and it instills confidence in the consumers’ minds.”


“Consumers pay for hygiene which comes at a cost. If cleanliness is not on the agenda, people will walk away even without  telling,” says Chef Soundararajan. Hygiene also brings in recognition. Mahindra’s Pondicherry resort is the first to receive the BHC (Branch Hygienic Code) Certification after Chef Soundararajan advocated hygiene practices at the premises. He believes that the elaborate SOPs of these certifications, that cover all areas and aspects, inculcate hygiene in the employees’ minds and routine. “We need to bring in a system to instill these  even in places which are yet to receive certification to enable to get certified in due course.”


Behind Mahindra’s 45 resorts is Chef Soundararajan’s idea and planning. He works right from conceptualizing the cuisine, working with the project team for establishing facilities, training, pre-opening and launching and of course setting the hygiene regime. Post launch, he provides continuous training and monitoring too.


Cooking in resort kitchens is much different than commercial kitchens of hotels.  Right from the quantity prepared to the inventory stocked is much less. For the three courses of meals prepared each day, Chefs strive to make it interesting, healthy & hygienic and safe too. The food prepared is more like home food – low on oil and spices. The quantity prepared too is much less and the inventory is about a week old. “In fact, most resorts don’t even have cold rooms. Everything is prepared al fresco,” he explains.


Best Practices


A staunch hygiene advocate, Soundararajan drives fool proof practices at Mahindra. Hand hygiene is something that most kitchens emphasise, mainly because not all food gets prepared using appliances or get eaten using forks and spoon. If it were to make a choice of cooking with clean hands or appliances, which would be it be? “It varies, depending on the kind of stuff you cook and present. When it comes to eating, the Indian culinary heritage always calls for use of hands so the entire process is coordinated and enjoyed thoroughly. It is flexible too. If it is a dosa you eat with hand. If it is a salad, you prefer using a fork. Spoon and fork are superficial and civilized additions to cooking and eating. Same applies to use of gloves. When you handle different kinds of food, gloves turn out to be more unhygienic and in such a context, using hands or appliances would be the best.”


Whether the food is cooked with appliances or using hands, kitchens tend to get messy with the food remains generated while cooking. While most of the cleaning happens post preparation, Chef’s kitchen has a thumb rule. “I believe in attributing equal importance to cooking and cleaning. A ladle in one hand and a towel in another would be the protocol in my kitchen.”


Most properties, invest in good processes and training, but the challenge lies in making people follow it to the T. “It is a human tendency to skip the routine. Suddenly, when I inspect, the table may not be clean. Ultimately, at the end of the day, it all depends on individual attitudes and willingness to follow certain set practices.”


Food Waste


Besides, cleaning practices, Chef Soundararajan’s training focuses on zero or minimum waste. Waste is created only if the quantity of consumption is not clear. However, even a well planned portioning may not contribute to waste reduction in certain cases. For example, even though the standard a la carte items have standardized portions, preplanning is not possible in case of a buffet that has many varieties of food. Even if smartly planned, at least 10% gets wasted. In such times, while recycling is the saving grace, “the best way to minimize waste is to create awareness among customers”. As a practice, most restaurants send food waste to various agencies for recycling or to the piggery.


Hygiene Reward


Culinary hygiene is a winning trait that is bound to take chefs to places. Being a member of the jury in international, national and global culinary competitions such as International Culinary Challenge, Sri Lanka FHA Salon Culinaire at Singapore, Chef Contest of the National council, and Nestle Young Chef of the Year contest held at Mumbai, India, Chef has seen how cleanliness and hygiene are evaluated in these competitive platforms. Right from personal hygiene, how well the contestants clean the vegetables, fruits and also their cooking platforms after every process and how well they store cooked food are marked.


Being a member in the WACS education committee and secretary in IFCA helps him identify and create the right platforms to promote deserving talent and active idea sharing among the fraternity. The biennial National Culinary Congress now called as the International Chefs Conference has inspired six congresses that has been bringing together Chefs nationwide.


Training


Bringing awareness to cleanliness through proper teaching methods on the how-tos and what-tos is the best way to crack this ignorance. Students entering the culinary colleges need to be taught culinary arts along with cleanliness. Hygiene should be a part of food preparation.


Creating a world class culinary training to cater to and compete with the changing global requirements is Chef Soundararajan’s dream. “We require talent which can be nurtured through all round training.” A recent resounding defeat faced by Indian chefs at the Bocuse d’Or International Culinary Challenge and a bronze medal in the pastry challenge have further fortified his efforts towards training. Also in the last two years, very less young talent has entered the profession. “The industry needs young, passionate and committed people.”



Cleanliness & Custom in Culinary Culture

Keeping down costs with accurate dispensing

With the enormous amount of price pressure and competition in the cleaning industry, organisations are constantly looking for ways to decrease overheads while remaining competitive.


WHEN IT comes to dosing and dispensing, a common misconception is that the purchasing price of a unit is one of the most important factors to consider in maintaining healthy margins. But in reality this often only has a minor impact over the long-run. Looking at the bigger picture, including the costs and benefits of a unit over its entire lifecycle is where impacts on bottom lines are usually felt the most — across the entire supply chain, from  to end users. Latest innovations in chemical dispensing technology are helping ensure both cleaning performance and healthy margins, for chemical manufacturers and end users alike.


One of the most important factors to consider in keeping down costs, while optimising revenue, is the ongoing accuracy of a dispensing unit. One common problem with a lot of dispensing equipment is that over time the level of chemical being dispensed drops off as parts wear out. This can lead to a number of problems. The immediate effect is that, quite simply, when the level of chemical being dispensed drops below the required amount per use, less chemical will be dispensed. This results in decreased cleaning performance, making hygiene and cleanliness standards impossible to maintain.


Ironically, while the amount of chemical being dispensed is actually lower, the end result can be chemical wastage, as garments or surfaces need to be cleaned more than once – overall using even more chemical than should have been dispensed in the first place. This not only makes the jobs of cleaning operatives more difficult, but also means increased labour costs, as time is spent on re-cleaning.


A drop-off in the level of chemical being dispensed by a unit can cause problems for chemical manufacturers too. Firstly, it damages customer loyalty, as operators lose trust in products that don’t get the job done the first time. This can result in unsatisfied customers and ultimately lost contracts. Secondly, to remedy the issue of chemical drop-off, maintenance is required. These costs can quickly add up. For example, if a peristaltic tube wears out, the call out cost may only be £50, but multiply that by hundreds of installed units and that’s a lot of money and time that needs to be spent on maintenance.


Modern automated dosing and dispensing systems can help optimise these expenses by ensuring the efficient use of chemicals with every use, reducing operator time and guaranteeing cleaning performance.  There are a number of technologies available on the market to regulate the level of chemical being dispensed.


Hydro Systems is the industry leader in venturi, which it has perfected over years of experience working with this technology. The incoming water stream is restricted by a nozzle, while the speed of the outgoing water is decreased by the inverted funnel shape at the bottom of the venturi. The result is a vacuum in the middle, where the chemical is sucked into the water stream. The amount of chemical introduced is regulated by interchangeable metering tips that restrict chemical flow into the water stream.


Hydro’s venturi technology enables dilution accuracy, meaning the right amount of chemical is mixed each time – ensuring cleaning performance is maximised.  The device does not require external electricity, batteries, pumps, or air and instead runs off ordinary water pressure available in most buildings.


Thanks to the continual investment in innovation within the industry, state-of-the-art dispensing systems are answering the industry’s challenges, by providing well-designed, high quality dispensing equipment that ensures consistently good performance over the life of a system and helps keep down costs.   Greater investment in design and engineering has meant dispensing systems have become more versatile and accurate, which is leading to bottom line results.


Mark Fitzgerald
Regional Sales Manager MEA
Hydro Systems



Keeping down costs with accurate dispensing