Kantha Industries Essay Example

Kantha Industries Essay Example Kantha Industries Essay Kantha Industries Essay TITLE OF CASE: Stagnation in Growth of Kantha Industry STATEMENT OF PROBLEM: Whether the organization should go out of the village for marketing or organize exhibitions within the village. THE CASE: * 50 year old small scale industry in West Bengal. * Main products: Leather, textile and other handworks like Kantha stitch. * Employs 350 workers, out of which 72 are women. They work in groups of ten with monthly income of 400-800 Rs. * Products perceived as a luxury goods and not necessity. * Currently, the source of income is through exhibitions in nearby towns and cities. Major market being Kolkata. SCOPE: Considered merits and demerits of both alternatives as below: ALTERNATIVES: 1. Village exhibitions: Merits – Overall expenses of setting up an exhibition will reduce. Employment will be generated. Promotion tourism in and around the village. Subsidies from the Government will promote the industry further. NRIs will be a major customer base. Unique identity of the place and product. Demerits – There’ll be a loss of current customer base that is the nearby towns and cities. Revenue will be reduced as once it goes out of village, its price shoots up. 2. Organize exhibitions outside: Merits- greater revenues as exhibitions are targeted at the cities and towns where demand exist. Demerits- Expenses of organizing exhibitions so up. RECOMMENDATION: To run both alternatives parallel for some time and in the long run do away with exhibitions outside the village once the village exhibitions seems feasible and profitable. CONCLUSION: The organization should continue marketing out of village via exhibitions along with exhibitions within the village and then slowly after gaining popularity or doing good business it can continue with the exhibitions within the village and try for handicraft retailers and traders. EXECUTIVE SUMMARY: kantha-stitch industry in West Bengal, which is a specific kind of decorative embroidery done only by the rural people of Bengal, has emerged as a highly lucrative industry, operating as an informal sector in India. However the people who create the exquisite patterns, after labouring for days, however, receive meagre remuneration and no recognition for their art. The main cause is that these products are not necessity rather a luxury or status symbol. So people in villages cannot afford it. The sales in cities and towns like Kolkata is better but not at all at a comfort zone. The main reason being the lac of promotion. The income mainly comes from the exhibitions which absorb a lot of capital investment. So this case study provides a decision making problem of whether to go out of the village for marketing or to organize exhibitions within village. For the analysis both the possibilities have been considered and merits and demerits of each have been analysed. Ultimately the conclusion which was reached of running both alternatives parallel for some time and in the long run do away with exhibitions outside the village once the village exhibitions seems feasible and profitable.

Willis Carrier and the Invention of Air Conditioning

Willis Carrier and the Invention of Air Conditioning I fish only for edible fish, and hunt only for edible game, even in the laboratory, Willis Haviland Carrier once said about being practical. In 1902, only one year after Willis  Carrier graduated from Cornell University with a Masters in  Engineering,  his first air conditioning unit was in operation. This made one Brooklyn printing plant owner very happy. Fluctuations in heat and humidity in his plant kept causing the dimensions of his printing paper to alter and create misalignment of the colored inks. The new air conditioning machine created a stable environment and, as a result, aligned four-color printing became possible – all thanks to Carrier, a new employee at the Buffalo Forge Company who started working for a salary of only $10 a week. The â€Å"Apparatus for Treating Air† The â€Å"Apparatus for Treating Air† was the first of several patents awarded to Willis Carrier in 1906. Although he’s recognized as the â€Å"father of air conditioning,† the term â€Å"air conditioning† actually originated with textile engineer Stuart H. Cramer. Cramer used the phrase â€Å"air conditioning† in a 1906 patent claim he  filed for a device that added water vapor to the air in textile plants to condition the yarn. Carrier disclosed his basic Rational Psychrometric Formulae to the American Society of Mechanical Engineers in 1911. The formula still stands today as the basis in all fundamental calculations for the air conditioning industry. Carrier said he received his â€Å"flash of genius† while he was waiting for a train on a foggy night. He was thinking about the problem of temperature and humidity control and by the time the train arrived, he said he had an understanding of the relationship between temperature, humidity and dew point. The Carrier Engineering Corporation Industries flourished with this new ability to control the temperature and humidity levels during and after production. Film, tobacco, processed meats, medical capsules, textiles and other products gained significant improvements as a result. Willis Carrier  and six other engineers formed the Carrier Engineering Corporation in 1915 with starting capital of $35,000. In 1995, sales topped $5 billion. The company was dedicated to improving air conditioning technology. The Centrifugal Refrigeration Machine Carrier patented the centrifugal refrigeration machine in 1921. This centrifugal chiller was the first practical method for  air conditioning large spaces. Previous refrigeration machines used reciprocating piston-driven compressors to pump refrigerant through the system, which was often toxic and flammable ammonia. Carrier designed a centrifugal compressor similar to the centrifugal turning blades of a water pump. The result was a safer and more efficient chiller. Consumer Comfort Cooling for human comfort rather than industrial need began in 1924 when three Carrier centrifugal chillers were installed in the J.L. Hudson Department Store in Detroit, Michigan. Shoppers flocked to the â€Å"air  conditioned† store. This boom in human cooling spread from department stores to the movie theaters, most notably the Rivoli Theater in New York whose summer film business skyrocketed when it heavily advertised cool comfort. Demand increased for smaller units and the Carrier Company obliged. Residential Air Conditioners Willis Carrier developed the first residential â€Å"Weathermaker† in 1928, an air conditioner for private home use. The Great Depression and  World War II slowed the non-industrial use of air conditioning, but consumer sales rebounded after the war. The rest is cool and comfortable history.