One day a young boy named “Finance” read a thank you note from his Uncle “Blast Furnace” which was filled with immense gratitude honoring his father “Innovation”. He got curious and asked his father as to why Uncle Blast furnace (BF) was filled with so much of gratitude? Innovation said, Son, three years ago there was a major crisis in the steel industry and the income of Uncle BF had drastically fallen. As result of the crisis Uncle BF could not afford to continue with his lavish lifestyle. During the hey days, Uncle BF was leading an extremely luxurious lifestyle which included consuming high iron content stuff and also relying on neighboring Karnataka for his consumables. Unfortunately, the situation was not that rosy since some of the furnaces were undergoing a slow death owing to the crisis and melt down. Uncle BF was worried about his survival and approached me for guidance.
After introspecting, I realized that Uncle BF’s lifestyle had to be pruned to ensure he does not succumb in this race of the fittest. I advised that he immediately change his food habits and rely more on local food which would immediately give him an edge of 20% saving. It was a tough decision as it meant lowering his standard and of course tougher to remain afloat given the economics of the market. I walked the tight rope with him in his endeavor to remain healthy and kicking. The various parameters that prevented him consume the local food were thoroughly analyzed and advised him to change his hearth volume so that he could accommodate additional slag generated due to use of low grade material which also resulted increase in distance between the tuyres and tap hold thereby reducing the turbulence near hearth area.
To ensure better and efficient cooling of his body to counter internal thermal fluctuation which can occur while consuming low grade material it was suggested to increase cooling member layers and monitored the body condition regularly and provided indicators and software so that he can take corrective action in case of an incidence.
That apart, many small changes were done in the functionality, operations and processes of Uncle BF. Uncle BF could withstand all the changes that were systematically imposed which resulted in replacement of 90% of his material consumption by locally available low quality material and managed to give a competition to his peers and survive in the tough times and indeed and example that “Necessity is the Mother of Invention”. He was extremely grateful for the guidance and handholding in the difficult moments and compensated me which returns I have now transferred to my son “Finance”.
Lessons Learned
- Sometimes the smallest step in the right direction ends up being the biggest step of our life
- Highly passionate team with clear focus always brings synergy and success
- Creative power of human being is unlimited and it connects logical solutions to any defined problem
- Change is necessary when survival is under threat
- Empowered teams bring success without any fear of failure Innovation is doing the things differently