Beyond Barriers March 2013

Volume IV. Issue V. mArch 2013

Dear junctionites,

With March, another financial year comes to an end. It has been a mixed year. The economy did show some signs of revival but in the end it was a dampener. According to Fitch Ratings, the recovery in financial market conditions has not been matched by the real economy so far. In fact, it says that Q4 saw the weakest quarterly GDP growth in the eurozone and the US since the 2009 recession.

This has prompted Fitch to revise downwards its growth forecasts in its latest quarterly Global Economic Outlook. It forecasts a global growth of 2.2% in 2013 and 2.8% in 2014 based on market exchange rates, down from 2.4% and 2.9% in its previous outlook.

Fitch has revised down its forecast for both 2013 and 2014 and now expects GDP to contract by 0.5% in 2013, followed by 1.0% growth in 2014, while unemployment will remain above 12% until 2014. India of course cannot remain insulated and for India too, Fitch has revised downwards its previous growth forecast to 6%.

We have also had a rather tame Budget this year. India Inc. called it a “responsible” Budget. They felt the Budget was growth-oriented and aimed at attracting more investments. The Budget indeed aims at a higher growth rate for inclusive and sustainable development and to revive manufacturing. Taxing the super-rich was also a first step of its kind.

The fact remains that we as a country are treading cautiously. While still remaining largely insulated from the economic turmoil, we are keen to keep it that way and we know that inclusive growth is the only way to real development. That is what the Budget indicates and that is where our priorities should lie.

At mjunction, we pride ourselves on seizing opportunities when we identify them, even while focusing on our core strengths. The coming year we resolve to stick by this guiding light – build on our strengths and develop new ones. We are not looking for dramatic turnarounds. We are looking for a steady but sure and safe climb. And that will come with sound policies, which are being chalked out by an efficient team.

The award for Best use of CSR Practices in IT industry for ejunction is encouraging and heartwarming. I want to congratulate the entire team of ejunction, the volunteers and the coordinators for the achievement. It also reaffirms our faith that we are on the right track. However, the last thing mjunction has

ever done is to rest on its laurels. And with CSR it will be making no exception. We plan to do more and make vast improvements. But again we want to do it surely and steadily.

I had the honour and the privilege of being the chief guest at the Tata Social Enterprise Challenge final session at IIM Calcutta. It was a joint initiative of the Tata Group and IIM Calcutta, to find and reward India’s most promising social enterprises. Every time I have the opportunity to meet and interact with such social champions, I never cease to be amazed by their grit, their determination and their mindsets which compel them to think differently. Their calling of giving back to society is something we can only admire and of course, support. What we can do is contribute in our own small way.

A word about the CSR activities of the Tata Group would perhaps not be out of place in this context. Long before the term was coined, the group was the frontrunner of CSR activities in our country. From the very inception of the group, it has practised the ethos of “giving back to the people what you have earned from them”. And that precisely will be the principle of the new Companies Bill which is currently in the process of being passed by Parliament. That will make it compulsory for companies of a certain size to spend 2% of their profits towards CSR activities. That will add a completely new dimension to the activity, but I would like mjunction to do its CSR with a heart, rather than just meet certain requirements. I believe that alone can bring success and satisfaction.

Let us all be united in that mission.

Regards,Viresh Oberoi

mArch 2013Volume IV Issue V

WHAT’S INSIDE

ej clinches CSR award 2Social champions honoured 3

‘IT will continue to play an integral role’ 4Rourkela hosts 6th MET 5Travelogue: An European sojourn 6

Client Speak 7The basics of TOC 8Featured junctionites 9Foundation day at mj 10

Writing the TBEM application 11Spot awards and new faces 12Mixed Bag 13Branch picnics 14

Annual sports 14mj @ Tata Steel founders’ day 15Photo contest &Quiz Corner 16

BEYONDBARRIERS

From the MD

TM


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FROM THEEDITOR’SDESK

DesignDebal Ray, Sobhan Jas

For suggestions, feedback and queries, please write to [email protected]

Copyright: All rights reserved. No part of this publication can be reproduced or copied in any form or by any means without the prior permission of mjunction services limited. Please inform us if any copyright has been inadvertently infringed.

Disclaimer: This document is for information purpose only. Certain information herein has been acquired from various external sources believed to be reliable. While we have taken reasonable care to compile this report, we in no way assume any responsibility for any error or discrepancy in regards to information contained herein. Readers are requested to make appropriate judgement without any prejudice or compulsion.

Visit our Corporate website at www.mjunction.inVisit our Corporate blog at www.awwb.blogspot.com

Dear Readers,

The Sunday Times has reported that according to a new study, good-looking male workers can earn 22% more than their plainer colleagues doing the same job. What is more surprising is the fact that good looks do not result in increased salaries for women.

The research was conducted by Andrew Leigh, a former Economics professor at the Australian National University and Jeff Borland of the University of Melbourne. Interestingly, Leigh has said that although he believed that good-looking women may be paid more too, the study did not demonstrate this.

Rather strange but interesting deductions and just goes to show that there is no saying how the human mind may work!

Strange also that one may think of conducting such studies when obviously more serious issues stare us in the face. One of the biggest problems is perhaps that of intolerance. Even as I write this, the Boston bombing has already taken lives and injured several people. Investigations will follow for sure and maybe justice will prevail. However, it seems like a never-ending saga of intolerance all over the world. Nearer home, we have hooligans desecrating a prestigious seat of education in a shameful act of mindless attack.

How are we expected to concentrate on basic issues like hunger, employment, literacy and healthcare when we can barely tolerate each other? How can we nurture and cherish when all we think of is revenge?

All we can do perhaps is to make a difference in our own small way and as clichéd as it may sound, remember that age-old and golden saying of charity beginning at home. And here charity does not necessarily mean doling out alms. Can we make a small beginning by just being tolerant of the person next to us and respecting his point of view?

As I present to you mjunction in its various hues during the last quarter, let us all take a small pledge of tolerance.

Regards,

Madhuchanda DasguptaEditor

mj u n c t i o n ’ s Corporate Social R e s p o n s i b i l i t y

(CSR) initiative, ejunction, won the award for the Best use of CSR Practices in IT industry on the February 18, 2013, at the World CSR Congress ceremony held in Taj Lands End, Mumbai.

There were six other leading Indian IT companies that were shortlisted for the award in this category along with mjunction. The award was given by Dr Saugata Mitra, chief people officer & group head HR, Mother Dairy Fruit & Vegetable Pvt. Ltd. and Dr Sanjay Muthal, managing director, NuGrid Consulting Pvt. Ltd, at an award ceremony.

The World CSR Congress aims to recognise and encourage organisations for their CSR initiatives on World CSR Day. The other organisations that were nominated in various categories for the award were Coca Cola, Hewitt Packard, Hindustan Construction Company, Hindustan Petroleum Corporation, Kirloskar Brothers Ltd, Tata Motors, SAIL, Reliance and Microsoft, to name a few.

ejunction is an initiative aimed at benefiting the financially challenged and underprivileged sections of society by training them in Basic Computer and Communication Skills, with the objective of enhancing their skill sets to make them employable. ejunction strives to make society self-sufficient by empowering the less privileged with employable skills, thereby making them independent.

ejunction was also adjudged National Winner in the Corporate ‘Employee Volunteering Programme of the Year’ category at the prestigious ‘Apeejay India Volunteer Awards 2011’ (AIVA) held in New Delhi on September 25, 2011.

ejunction clinches CSR award

Team mjunction receiving the award for Best use of CSR practices in IT industry at the World CSR Congress Awards, 2013


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Social champions honoured

The Tata Social Enterprise Challenge, a joint initiative of the Tata Group and IIM Calcutta, held its final session at IIM Calcutta on February 24. It was the culmination of a national level challenge to find India’s most promising social

enterprises.The mjunction managing director Mr Viresh Oberoi was the chief guest at the final

session and gave away the award to the winner Ms Neha Juneja, co-founder and CEO of Greenway Grameen Infra, who developed a smart stove that burns biomass fuel more efficiently, reducing fuel consumption by 65% and smoke emission by 70%.

Speaking on the occasion, Mr Oberoi said, “I am honoured to be here today and delighted to see such excellent work. Tata Social Enterprise Challenge is a framework provided to make sure that ideas grow and this is really something that is outstanding.”

Mr Oberoi also gave away the award to wHallie Sue Cho and Greg D Tao, MIT alumnus and co-founders of nine- month-old start-up Ottoclave, who were declared runners up, and who have developed an affordable autoclave using a simple pressure cooker and a talking cycle monitor in local language, providing easy sterilisation to reduce surgical infection.

Mr Viresh Oberoi awarding Ms Neha Juneja, co-founder & CEO, Greenway Grameen Infra

Best practices of laptop use

� If your laptop is not in use for a week or more, please remove the

battery from the laptop. That way, the laptop remains totally free from power.

� To get better battery life during travel, reduce LED/LCD brightness, switch off the wi-fi, switch off the Bluetooth if not in use, keep no CD in the CD drive if not in use, and keep your thumb drive in your pocket if not in use.

� Do not eat or drink near the laptop as even a little of any liquid can create a short circuit.

� Never switch off your laptop by holding down the power button for 2 to 3 seconds as this can result in data loss.

� Do not expose your laptop to jerks and shocks as this reduces the life of the laptop by 20% to 30%.

� Do not be on the move with a laptop on standby. � If you want your laptop to work again after a certain time span,

keep it on standby by simply putting the LCD/LED panel down as this automatically puts the laptop on standby. When it is running on battery, booting consumes lot of battery energy.

� Once you shut down the laptop, give a minimum of 30 seconds for the next switch on.

� Do not operate the laptop on bed because the air circulation ventilation holes get blocked and laptop internal temperature rises. Such prolonged use may bring down the life of the laptop by 50%.

� Most of our laptops stop working because of the adaptor power socket which does not get a good grip in our AC mains socket and continuously creates self sparks which are very harmful for any sophisticated digital electronics device.

Contributed by Surya Bhushan, Technology

As a policy, mjunction continues to provide more and more thrust

on knowledge enhancement, skill development as well as development of soft skills. These sessions have been appreciated by junctionites across the board and it will be a constant e n d e a vo u r to meet their expectations.

“The session on Negotiation Skills has been very helpful and such programmes should be a regular feature”

–Harjinder Singh, CCO, Ludhiana

“The Stress Management session was good. I would recommend that this training be imparted to all colleagues at the branches”

–S. Raghavendra, CCO, Chennai

“The Stress Management session was a good programme and good initiative taken by the company”

–Devashish Jha, CCO, Delhi

“The CRM training was very useful & effective for me. Also, the Stress Management training which I attended in Kolkata had a practical approach”

–Praveen Kumar, CCO, Delhi

“The training on Negotiation Skills was very good as we can implement these when we go to meet the customer”

–Javed Islam, CCO, Baroda

“The session on Negotiation Skills was good where we learnt a lot about client and customer handling. CRM was also an excellent programme in which we learnt how to efficiently handle the client”

–Nirmal Ghosh, CCO, Delhi

pA technical training session in progress

t Junctionites at a stress management training session

Knowledge and skill development

Two very interesting sessions were organised which included talks by eminent speakers – Mr. Joe Madiath from Gram Vikas, Ms Radha Basu from Anudip Foundation, Mr Arunachalam from Jayashree Industries and Padma Bhushan D. R. Mehta ,

Founder & Chief Patron BVMSS ( Jaipur Foot).


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As one of the largest e-commerce companies in India, especially a leading e-marketplace for steel, what did you get right at mjunction? How did IT fit into your overall organisational strategy?To begin with, what we got right was that we had a clear objective behind incorporating the company. At the time of the dot com boom, it was a common thing for many businesses to open up a dot com shop. However, as a joint venture of SAIL and Tata Steel, we believed that IT and web commerce has the potential to transform the entire business landscape and bring much value to enterprises. Before inception, the two companies researched on the e-commerce space to set up a venture together to bring about greater liquidity on the online platform and share the technological costs. It started growing rapidly as an innovative concept and customers across industry verticals as they witnessed greater process efficiencies at a fraction of the cost as against the traditional platform. We gradually diversified from steel and coal to venture into a range of e-commerce services in selling, procurement, finance and knowledge services across diverse industry verticals.

Being in the IT and internet-enabled commerce space, we have always focused on leveraging the latest available technology for growth, cost-efficiency and innovation. From that perspective, we have always had a strong technology backbone and we did this by developing internal competencies and get the best value out of our investments. IT is used at every level in the organisation. It is viewed both as an enabler and a catalyst for business transformation. The internet will continue to enable companies like us to innovate in many ways in the future.

What distinguishes mjunction from its competitors?Our flexible business development model distinguishes us from our competitors - who mostly focused on fulfilling very high targets. From the beginning, our company has been flexible in its approach. We carefully listen to our customers, identify their pain points and redesign the processes to solve their pain areas. We were able to deliver greater results in terms of transparency and efficiency, lower costs right from inception. As a result, our clients always enjoyed our services and entrusted us with larger volumes. The other advantage we have is that we operate on both the buying and selling side of the supply chain. As we always explored the latest technologies, we ensured that all our services are built on a common platform. This allowed us to take advantage of common technology infrastructure and in turn made us profitable.

In your long entrepreneurial journey, what are the key lessons you’ve learnt which you think other C-suites should know? What is your leadership style?There are several things I’ve learnt both from my successes as well as my failures. First of all, I believe to be able to achieve something different, you need to move out of your comfort zone and explore endlessly. The story

of the Spaniards burning their boats after landing in Mexico is a big lesson in business. If you are going to achieve something, have the heart, attitude and dedication to accomplish it. Also it is desirable to be a self starter and be able to solve problems yourself. I remember, when I started mjunction, we did not rope in consultants from outside and relied on inhouse expertise. The strategy worked out remarkably for us. There were times we failed as well, but it is important to learn from your mistakes, avoid those mistakes and move on with gusto.

As far as my leadership style is concerned, it keeps changing from time to time and from situation to situation. For example, when the company started, we were just a team of six striving to grow in a competitive marketplace. It was then that the style was more participative. Later, when we became a much bigger entity and started expanding our horizon, recruiting a lot more people, the style changed and became more delegative. What remains the same gaining the trust and confidence of your employees in whatever style you adopt.

What kind of CIO do you prefer – a technology focused or a business savvy CIO? And do you think CIO and IT leaders should be part of boardroom discussions?The CIO’s core activity revolves around technology. So I prefer my CIO to have a strong technology background, is focused on process efficiency and cost reduction. However, he should deliver IT initiatives to drive business value – which is a critical component to stay competitive.

The CIO like other CXOs should be a part of the boardroom as he should discuss how the business can benefit from his technology expertise. In our company, the CIO is certainly part of the boardroom discussion like every other CXOs including the chief marketing officer and the chief financial officer. That’s because they are all part of the same management team and are expected to discuss strategies and make decisions being a part of the same organisation.

Going forward, how do you plan to innovate with IT?We have some aggressive expansion plans for the domestic market as well as we will expand our footprints in Europe. Currently, we garner 2-3 per cent revenue from the European market. We plan to reach a 50 per cent mark in the next 1-2 years. And for all these new initiatives, IT will continue to play an integral role. Until now we were using IT to bring about more transparency and efficiency in the organisation and we were much successful in doing so. Now we feel the need to take it one step ahead. We plan to deploy analytics that can help us make better, faster decisions and automate processes. We have been using mobile and social media to strengthen our B2B operations. Now we are looking to consolidate our B2C business with the help of new and emerging technologies. Our team is working on a cloud computing project which will also become live in the coming months. As a company, we have always believed in leveraging the latest technologies, especially in the online space and we will continue to do so.

‘IT will continue to play an integral role in our organisation’

The founder CEO and managing director of mjunction services ltd, Viresh Oberoi, spoke to CXOtoday on how the company has always moved beyond its original charter and diversified its business in an innovative manner by constantly leveraging the latest technologies.

We bring to you excerpts from the interview:


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The sixth M o v e m e n t for Efficiency

and Transparency (MET) conference was held on January 25, 2013 at Rourkela in association with SAIL Rourkela Steel Plant.

The conference saw an enriching panel discussion on the subject of ‘Efficiency and Transparency - the key to an ever flourishing society’ wherein change

leaders like Mr Phanindra Sama, Co-founder & CEO, redbus.in; Mr Dhruv Lakra, Founder

& CEO, Mirakle Couriers; Mr Himanshu Tayal from the Hole-in-the-wall project and Ms Urmi Basu, Founder, New Light India, participated. Mr G.S. Prasad, CEO, Rourkela Steel Plant and the mjunction CEO & MD Mr Viresh Oberoi addressing the audience on the subjects of Efficiency and Transparency.

The conference was attended by senior officials of Rourkela Steel Plant, members of Rourkela Chamber of Commerce and other people from diverse backgrounds of the city of Rourkela.

Introducing MET to the audience, Mr Oberoi spoke about how the idea of such a platform came into being and how it has gathered momentum since its launch in Kolkata in August 2011. He spoke about the journey of MET and said that our ultimate goal is to catalyse and inspire achievements of the speakers in civil society.

Mr Prasad said that mjunction has been striving through its businesses to usher in transparency and efficiency in the operational system and MET could not have arrived at a more

opportune moment. He said that he believes MET will play a leading role in promoting the idea and execution of efficiency in the system and will persuade people to embrace it in their day-to-day lives.

Rourkela hosts the 6th

Join the Movement for Efficiency and Transparency

Join the group

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an european sojournSagarika Bhattacharya, coaljunction

The visions of an enticing trip to a faraway land lay before me as I headed to catch a flight from Delhi for a long planned vacation to Copenhagen, Denmark to meet my sister accompanied by my family

leaving behind the long awaited Durga Puja celebrations in the midst of all the gaiety, cheer, and festivities on the ‘Navami’ day.

With a stopover at Doha, starting at 2.30AM, we landed around 4PM (Copenhagen time) and reached her home on the Nørrebrogade street. Her house was representative of the typical Danish architecture with old brick walls designed to keep the cold and snow at bay, large windows, designed to give a wholesome view of the street that it overlooked, yet meticulously hidden from public view, walls covered in red leaved creepers and an inner garden full of amusement rides for kids and sprawling greens for the elderly to walk on. We had been travelling for nearly 24 hours and were exhausted beyond measure but all the weariness escaped in anticipation of the week-long Europe trip that had been planned for us.

Next morning we went for a stroll by the nearby lake. The paths around the lakes are popular with strollers and joggers. It was a great view; beautiful autumn setting with sun all day, though it was a bit chilly. Copenhagen is a cyclists’ paradise. Came weekend and we headed for Paris. We discovered the original sightseeing tour of Paris with Les Cars Rouges Open Top Double Decker bus. It was a guided hop on-hop off tour. All that we needed to do was to plug into our headsets and get engrossed in the history of a beautiful city.

Splendid architecture and the grandeur of Notre Dame left us spellbound. We spent hours exploring and marvelling at the masterpieces at Louvre museum. There was a beautiful bridge over the Seine River known as the lovers’ bridge where couples tie locks engraving their names on it as a symbol of their undying love swearing by the river. The panoramic view of the city from the top of the Eiffel Tower was well worth the amount paid. Champs-Elysées famous for its cinemas, cafés and luxury stores was a nice place. At dusk, the spectacular lighting turned the newly-restored glass roof of the main hall of the Palais Garnier into a fairy tale palace. Paris in the night is just magical. Taking a tour of Paris by boat is unparalleled as we could admire the succession of prestigious monuments and learn history along the way, plugging in our audio-guide.

For hundreds of years, Paris reigned as the world’s undisputed capital of literature, culture and cuisine; the city of love, fashion, and so much more. It is rightly said that Paris is the city that takes too many lifetimes to really experience. After spending two days there we felt that we’ve barely scratched the surface. Our next destination was Geneva from where headed for Interlaken by train. Truly we felt we were in Switzerland which is considered to be the most fascinating and inviting tourist destination that entices thousands of tourists from across the globe; some say it is simply irresistible while some say it is paradise on earth.

The next morning at Interlaken, we woke up to see a white blanket of snow that had delicately fallen on our balcony. It was a spectacular sight – grey mountains, snow-capped peaks and river flowing by. We left for Jungfraujoch on the Jungfrau Railway which is at a height of 3,454 metres and is popularly known as the “Top of Europe”. The Jungfrau Region is one of the most beautiful and accessible alpine regions in the world. We saw the Ice Palace and the Ice Cave and also ventured outside to walk on the permanent snow of the Jungfrau Plateau. God has indeed been very generous while doling out splendour and beauty to this heavenly place which is lovingly known as the ‘heaven in world’. Next day we

went around Interlaken with the Mobility Passes. As we relaxed by the Lake of Thun, we immersed ourselves in the magical mountain world. We did miss out on the adventurous nerve-racking paragliding, air diving and thrilling white water rafting sports since it became impossible for us to convince our doting parents on the safety aspect of the sport.

After basking in the beauty of Switzerland, we started yet another memorable phase of our journey as we took a flight to Basel. Basel is a picturesque city with old buildings, narrow streets and a lot of interesting history. It is known as a European culture centre. It shares a dual border with France and Germany. The Tingueli museum was indeed one of its kind. A cable ferry across the Rhine River was irresistible but due to extremely cold weather we decided to give it a miss. After a one day stay in Basel we returned to Copenhagen.

Returning from that amazing trip it was now time to see Copenhagen in detail. Strong smell of pop corn, cotton candy, traditional rides and cozy lights everywhere; this was what Tivoli, the quintessentially Danish theme-park was all about. An impressive view of the Oresund Bridge and across the waters to Sweden from the Amager strand beach was remarkable. We took the 60-minute guided Canal Tour at Nyhavn. The water bus sails along and takes us through parts of the old city and passes many of the most famous sights. We crossed the incredibly famous Little Mermaid which falls into the category of iconic statues. The changing of the guards each day at noon at Amalienborg, the Royal residence was indeed spectacular while the Rosenborg and Hamlets Castle with all their majesty stood apart.

We visited the Louisiana museum which has an extensive collection of modern and contemporary art and is acknowledged as a milestone in modern Danish architecture. There is a magic that comes with sunsets which added to the glory and splendour of the illuminated Opera House where we saw a piano concert. We hit the city’s shops at Strøget popularly known as the walking street. It was fun to take in the local free entertainment by watching some of the many street performers who obviously know a good thing when they see it---a captive crowd who will reward their performances with a few Danish Kronor tossed into a hat or even violin case. It was wonderful to take in the sights and sounds of the vibrant city.

A ferry of 20 mins takes you across another country. The thought itself was enough to create excitement while we decided to experience it ourselves as we made plans to visit Sweden. The 20-minute ride was enjoyable. It was extremely chilly as the cold winds brushed against our faces but it not dither us from enjoying the ferry ride from the top of ship from its deck. One of the oldest

cities in Sweden, Helsingborg is both charming and incredibly scenic. Time flew by and it was

time for us to return to India. They say: 'when you really want something with your heart, the whole universe conspires to give it to you'. With this small yet wonderful trip, I actually lived one of my many dreams.


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Client Speak

Mr Saranathan Srinivasan, Mr S. Raghavendra and Mr K. Sivakumar of

Chennai helped us in price discovery of smoke dust through an online

forward auction. It was a new concept for us and the team helped a lot

through customer meets, training them in auction procedures and reducing

their apprehensions. The auction was a success with a 45% increase in

price. There was heavy bidding and the mjunction team deserves credit

for that.

Amit Sen, DGM (F&A/Mktg), SAIL Refractory, Salem

Three reverse auctions conducted by mj for shell and tube type heat

exchanger, wastewater plant and skid mounted acid heating system

deserve special mention as they resulted in significant savings. We

recognise the effort put in by Ms Panchali Bhattacharya, Mr Satyajit

Biswas and Ms Payel Misra in execution of the auctions.

V.K. Mathur, DGM I/C (MM), SAIL RDCIS, Ranchi

mjunction has successfully conducted an auction of precious metals and

completed the process within a fortnight. We would especially like to

mention the contributions of Mr K. Manivasagan, Mr Somnath Mukherjee

and Mr Rajib Nayak in the auction.

S.K. Chhabra, GM, Marketing, SAIL Rourkela

For the first time, SAIL Bhilai offered plate cutting Cat-B for a forward

auction and thanks to the mjunction team we achieved good realisation

value. This was possible due to the support of your team, mainly Mr

Madhurendra Kumar and Mr Niraj Kumar Vaishnaw.

R.K. Tewary, DGM (M&BP), SAIL Bhilai

We would like to recognise the efforts of Mr Sunil Kr Choudhury, Mr Rohit

Saharan, Mr Sharat Kumar Karn and Mr Dipankar Das in the successful

procurement of steel short via EPS. We received 100% participation from

vendors.

R.K. Bisi, AGM MM (Purchase), SAIL Rourkela

We want to acknowledge the efforts made by Mr Keshab Chandra Mandal

to ensure a quick reverse auction of an important tender. We look forward

to such cooperation in future too.

Anup Kr. Ghosh, AGM Contracts, SAIL ISP Burnpur

The reverse auction of 150 tons of urea through the mjunction team

resulted in a savings of 2.31% over our last procurement price. We would

like to appreciate the efforts put in by your Kolkata and Chennai teams.

A.K. Roy, DGM I/C (MM), SAIL, Salem Steel Plant

This is to convey thanks and appreciation for the excellent services of Mr

Madhurendra Kumar and his team to the long products group of Bhilai.

Neeraj Mittal, AGM (M-LP) & Branch Manager, SAIL Bhilai

The delivered transaction value of goods and services e-sourced by JSPL

through mjunction has seen significant year-on-year growth for more than

five years now. We have derived immense value from their services in

terms of fulfilment of our evolving expectations. The services of mj have

thus been extended beyond Raigarh. The proactive support of the CRM

team, especially Prosenjit Banerjee and Rupendra Nath Chakraborty has

gone a long way in building and cementing this relationship.

Manoj Kr. Bhatt, DGM (Purchase), JSPL Raigarh

The efforts put in by Ms Subarna Gupta of financejunction in propagating

the dealer finance scheme to SAIL Retail deserves appreciation. It is an

area which is catching up very fast.

Pritam Saha, AGM (M-Retail), NR, SAIL

The mjunction publications add value and good insights. The editorial

board and the team deserve to be lauded for the good work.

D.P. Deshpande, Executive Director, Tata Metaliks

Steel Insights has helped us to stay in touch with the world of steel, take

informed decisions and improve our knowledge.

Sushanta Ganguli, Chief Sales Manager (East), Tata Steel

The mjunction team at Bokaro has been dealing with end-to-end

cases in a very speedy and transparent manner. This has led to

reduction in lead time. Mr Saroj Kumar Anand has played a significant

role in achieving this.

S.P. Singh, DGM (Purchase), SAIL Bokaro

We participated for the first time in a Bokaro auction and would like

to recognise the efforts made by Mr Saroj Kumar Anand in making

us understand the whole process.

Supriyo Roy, Branch Manager, Kirloskar Electric

mjunction prides itself on being a customer-centric company. Our clients, whether they are our vendors, bidders or subscribers, are at the heart of the work that we do everyday. We bring to you some voices of our customers.


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Theory of Constraints (TOC) is a management philosophy and an approach in determining the limiting factor in the

flow of any system, and developing solutions to overcome these limitations to reach the milestones in a way that will achieve the buy-in of all the key stakeholders.

Any for-profit organisation typically will have three goals of making money, having customer satisfaction and having satisfied employees. Among these, the most measurable is making money. In case of a hospital, the focus is on having healthy patients.

However what is common to both these disparate systems is a flow that needs to be managed to achieve the goal. There is a flow of work in a commercial enterprise focusing on projects while in a hospital there is a flow of people. Similarly, for a manufacturing organisation, there is a flow of products to be managed.

Having toyed with the idea of the exact definition of TOC (Theory of Constraints) experts arrived that the real motive and deployment of TOC in any organisation is to develop FOCUS – it’s not a choice.

TOC as a body of knowledge has seen significant development and expansion over the last two decades. There are three broad components that make up the body of knowledge. These are:

Five Focusing Steps Normally in organisations, it appears that there are many aspects that are constraining the flow. A careful analysis will indicate that there are a few (many times just a single) points that constrain the flow. A firm belief in TOC is that there are only a very few points constraint the flow in any system and a solution can be created to significantly impact the flow. The steps are:• Identify the system constraint• Decide how to exploit the system constraint (S)• Subordinate everything else to the above

decision

• Elevate the system’s constraint(S)• Maintain progressive equilibrium

Having talked about CONSTRAINT(S) it is important to note that NOT EVERYWHERE can there be a constraint. There may be obstacles but we need to carefully analyse what is stopping us to grow more, grow exponentially. Hence Focus is the key. If we FOCUS on 50 different things at the same time, it is quite natural for us to complete none. The choice is ours – To extract the juice from what we started to attain our DESIRED RESULTS or wander around just to optimise resources and achieve nothing.

Throughput AccountingThis deals with defining the goals and measures needed to succeed in the new paradigm. The three TOC measurements are:

Throughput (T): The rate at which the organisation generates goal units. E.g. For-profit organisations Throughput is money

Throughput: Sales - Totally variable cost (raw material + commissions, etc.)

Operating Expenses (OE): All the money an organisation spends in generating the goal units. For all organisations, operating expenses is money.

Operating expenses: the money an organisation constantly pays, even if production were to stop for a while e.g. rent, salaries, insurance, etc.

Investment (I): All the money tied up in the organisation E.g. buildings, plant and machinery, finished goods, raw material, receivables, etc.

In order to make money, many of the decisions will have to be looked from a throughput world. The following examples give a sense of the differences between the traditional paradigm and the suggested paradigm.

Cost world v/s Throughput worldAn organisation can be viewed as a chain, a collection of links (different departments in an organisation).

The Cost world: The prime measurement is the weight of the chain (cost incurred in managing the departments)

So, reduction of weight of one link by ‘x’ kg and another link by ‘y’ kg, the weight of the chain will be reduced by ‘x + y’ kg. Therefore, global results = sum of local results.

The only way to achieve good global results is to achieve good local results everywhere. Hence, to reduce the overall costs, one should reduce costs in all the departments.

Throughput world: The Prime measurement is the strength of the chain (throughput generated by the organisation)

The only way to increase the strength of the chain is to identify the weakest link and strengthen it, increasing the strength of the other links will not impact the chain's strength

Good global results 'is not equal to' sum of good local results.

Hence, to improve organisational throughput, only way is to get achieve greater output from the slowest department, improving all the other departments will not have any effect on the throughput.

Thinking ProcessThere are eight broad thinking process tools that can be used at arriving at any solution.

UDE Evaporating Cloud (EC): Any unresolved problem can be defined as an unresolved conflict. The way to resolve a conflict without comprise is to identify an erroneous assumption behind the conflict.

Current Reality Tree (CRT): The current reality of any system can be determined by identifying the undesirable effects faced by the company and by explaining by the logical cause of effect.

Core Conflict Cloud (CCC): The core conflict of the system can be defined three UDEs creating a generic conflict cloud. This conflict actually creates the current reality. The erroneous assumption can be challenged.

Future Reality Tree (FRT): Once the erroneous assumption is challenged, this leads to a future reality of predictable desirable effects.

Negative Branch Reservations (NBR): However there may be still negative effects even after the erroneous assumption is challenged. Injections are identified to prevent the creation of these negative branches.

Pre-requisite Tree (PRT): This thinking process starts with the identification of the implementation obstacles that we expect to encounter and we create Intermediate Objectives (IOs) verbalised as outcomes. To complete the process, the Intermediate Objectives need to be sequenced. The PRT does not ignore the obstacles but they are used as the main vehicle for building the sufficiency and sequence of the roadmap.

Strategy & Tactics (S&T): This is a logical cause effect map for a full implementation.

The Basics of TOC The Theory of Constraints (TOC) is a management philosophy devised by Israeli physicist Dr Eliyahu M. Goldratt. Though TOC has largely facilitated companies in the distribution, MRO, projects environment significantly, we at MJ decided to apply the TOC principles of Thinking Process tools and techniques to our business. We first need to understand the basic concepts of the theory and then ask ourselves honestly: Have we really implemented it in totality or have we ALSO implemented it amongst many other things? Kankan Paul takes us through the fundamentals of the TOC concept, which is all about driving business results.

Decision Traditional (Cost) Paradigm Throughput Paradigm

Investment in a faster machine

Cost of new equipment = Rs 2 LakhTime saved per part = 5 minNo of parts needed in a year = 60000Direct Labour Cost = Rs 8 per hourOverhead factor = 2Cost saved per hour = 8 + 4*8 = 40 Rs per hourMoney saved per year = 40*5*30000/60 = 2 LakhReturn on Investment in 1 year Decision = Invest

First, Check whether this machine is the bottleneck or notCase A: The machine is a non-bottleneck. So, increasing its speed further will not help the co. in producing and selling more partsThe additional throughput generated = 0Decision = Do not Invest

Case B: The machine is a bottleneck - the one choking the flow of products.The additional no. of units that can be produced and sold because of this faster machine = 5000 nosSales Price = Rs 300Throughput % = 50Additional throughput = 5000*150= 7.5 LakhsReturn on investment in less than 4 mothsDecision = Invest

Other DefinitionsFor-profit organisations, where Throughput and Operating expenses are both defined in terms of money, we can defineNet profit = T – OE; RoI = (T - OE)/I; Productivity = T/OE; Investment turns = T/I


9

It was a dream come true for Rashmi Pathak when she left her hometown of Kanpur in June

2005 to pursue her academic career, to fulfill her dreams, to become self-reliant and independent. A commerce graduate from Kanpur University and an MBA with dual specialisation in IT & Marketing from IIMM Pune, Rashmi’s search of finding her own identity has been a mixed journey.

Her continuous striving to seek her own identity has been a mish-mash of experiences as was to be expected. However, each and every one of them – good, bad, sad and ugly – has helped her to become the person she is today. In fact, they have acted as garnishes as her personality flowered and she became herself.

Rashmi’s journey with mjunction began on July 9, 2007, when a batch of five management trainees joined the Tata Centre office. The stint began with nearly a month-long visit to all SAIL plants as well as Tata Steel, after which the next five months were spent in training with all business units. In January 2008, she was absorbed in the centralised business development team (CBDT) for her “on-the-job training”. Soon after in April 2008 at the time of her confirmation, CBDT was separated into business development teams for the respective business units. In Rashmi’s case, it was buyjunction.

Rashmi started her work as backend support for the business development team, where her work included making proposals, MoUs, work orders, making presentations,

case studies and finding spend of the target companies. However, she was always fascinated with the other spectrum of the work which included visiting clients, giving presentations and achieving the target of acquiring new clients.

Rashmi still remembers her first assignment of acquiring Bridge and Roof, a public sector undertaking in 2008, for three pivotal projects, followed by Adhunik Group as a new client in September 2009. Gontermann-Peipers (India) Limited (GPIL) in July 2010, has been significant in her list of achievements as this account was subsequently handed over to her as a customer relations manager (CRM), which was a dream profile for her. In May 2011, she was given the responsibility of Monnet Ispat as a CRM, which is her present profile.

Rashmi says her journey here has been strewn with numerous challenges, number of failures, countless improvements and unforgettable achievements. She prefers to describe her ethos in the words of the great poet Late Harivansh Rai Bachchan: Mehnat karne waalon ki kabhi haar nahi hoti, which translates to: A hard worker will never face failure.

Rashmi puts a lot of stress on work-life balance and believes only a happy family life can lead to a successful professional life. She says she has been fortunate to have always received her family’s support, whether her parents or her husband. Without that, Rashmi says, whatever success she has achieved would not have been possible.

mjunction gave Rashmi the opportunity to continue with the organisation after she got married, and relocated her on request to Delhi in May 2011.

It has been a wonderful learning experience till now for Rashmi and she hopes it stays that way.

Suman Mallik joined mjunction way back in July 2005 as a management trainee after

completing his MBA in Marketing and Finance. He says he chose mjunction from among a host of other offers, and has not regretted his decision till date.

After an induction period where the batch visited all SAIL and Tata Steel plants, Suman joined the business unit of buyjunction and one of his first projects was the launch of the procurement magazine Sourcing Insights. After having spent some time in the pre-auction, auction and post-auction teams, Suman was also part of the industry report making team of buyjunction. It is after this, that he was handed the challenging task of starting buyjunction operations at the IISCO Steel Plant.

Suman set up the Burnpur operations from scratch. He will always remain grateful to the then buyjunction head Mr Binny Mathews as well as Mr Shantanu Chakravarty (DGM MM ISP then and ED MM DSP now) for supporting him in the initial period. In FY07, buyjunction operations began in Burnpur and Suman still remembers the first product he handled – calcined petroleum coke!

Since there was no office space initially, he was given a small place to sit with a table in the marketing department of ISP, and gradually with the full support of senior ISP executives, reverse auctions were initiated, which clocked significant revenues in the first year itself. Suman considers this to be one of his biggest achievements in mjunction.

In the next three years revenues were the highest at any individual SAIL plant at that point of time. The biggest challenge was to do reverse auctions beyond the traditional materials management area to areas like projects, contracts (Works & Non Works) & township.

Initiation to projects was also a big challenge, but with the support of his seniors, it got off to a good and successful start. Another high point of Suman’s stint in Burnpur was the inauguration of the mjunction office there.

Suman tied the knot with Gargi in January 2007 and that marked the beginning of a new phase in his life. Gargi has been a comforting partner for Suman who has stood beside him in all situations. He says her calmness and patience gave him the strength to face a lot of challenges. The birth of baby Abhinav has been one of the happiest events in Suman’s life. Abhinav changed the meaning of his life – he is his best friend, and a source of all his strength and smiles.

After four years in Burnpur, Suman moved to the Kolkata office where he was handed a fresh set of challenges. With the constant support of especially Mr Vinaya Varma and Mr Indranil Chaudhuri, Suman was able to meet all expectations that were bestowed upon him.

Travelling is one of Suman’s passions and he cherishes his vacations to Darjeeling, Dooars, Sikkim, Himachal Pradesh and Mandarmani. He feels mjunction offers a perfect work-life balance and he spends his spare time reading books and newspapers, watching television, listening to music and watching movies.

Whatever he has achieved in mjunction would not have been possible without the support of his seniors and he looks forward to many such enriching experiences.

FEATURED JUNCTIONITES

Rashmi Pathak

Philosophy of life: Nothing is end of the world

Source of inspiration: Parents

Strengths: Optimistic, focused, determined

Weaknesses: Emotional

Likes: Nature

Dislikes: Corruption & crimes against women

Hobbies: Experiments with cooking and home decoration

Favourite movie: Skyfall, 3 Idiots, Rockstar

Favourite filmstar: Aamir Khan, Ranbir Kapoor

Favourite music: Ghazals and old songs

Dream travel destination: Throughout the globe

Favourite food: Punjabi, Chinese

Favourite singer: Ghulam Ali, Bhupen Hazarika, Sonu Nigam

Vision for yourself: Wants to become a synonym for perfection

Favourite quote: Dreams are the foundation of life

Your comments about mjunction: Best platform for ambitious people

sUmaN maLLik

Philosophy of life: To have faith in God as he is the best Judge to guide you, and give your best to whatever you are doing.

Source of inspiration: My parents

Strengths: Perfectionist & fulfils commitments

Weaknesses: Trusting people too easily

Likes: Simplicity & truthfulness

Dislikes: Breaking promises and trust

Hobbies: Travelling, reading and watching movies

Favourite movie: Anand

Favourite filmstar: Soumitra Chatterjee & Aamir Khan

Favourite music : Bengali music

Dream travel destination: Kashmir

Favourite food: Bhapa Ilish

Favourite singer: Anupam Roy

Vision for yourself: Enjoy your life to the fullest and give happiness & help to all you can.

Favourite quote : “The biggest risk in life is not to take one”

Comments about mjunction: An innovative and open company where you are free to achieve your dreams.


10

Junctionites gathered at the Pride Hotel with their spouses on the evening of February 2, to mark the Foundation Day celebrations of mjunction. The evening began with the managing director Mr Viresh Oberoi lighting the inaugural lamp

along with Dr Tehnaz J. Dastoor.A highlight of the evening was recognising junctionites who had completed 10

years and five years with the organisation. The awards were given away by Mr Oberoi. It was a nostalgia-filled moment when the chief people officer Mr Korak Saha and chief - finance & accounts Mr Rajarshi Chattopadhyay, gave away the certificate to Mr Oberoi for completing ten years with mj.

This was followed by a musical evening presented by junctionites. The participants were Abhijit Bhattacharjee, Abhishek Kar, Abhishek Majumdar, Anirban Mondal, Chandreyee Roy, Moutushi Bhattacherjee, Nandita Mitra, Payel Misra, Priyanka Acharya, Sanchari Majumder, and Sudipa Das. Subhajyoti Roychowdhury and Puja Chakraborty were the comperes for the evening.

Cocktails, dinner and dance wrapped up the evening.

Jay Mangal SahChandrasish Dasgupta

Sudipa DasChiranjib Dutta ChaudhuriRakesh Kumar Dubey

R ViswanathanSatya Vani Burra

Rajarshi Chattopadhyay

Md. Anamul Haque

Anoop MishraDebashish DasSuvajit Chakraborty

Madhuchanda Dasgupta

Nilanjan Nandan

Arusha DasSubhankar Deb Roy

Sameer IngoleSubhankar GuptaDebmalya DeyDamayanti Ganguly

Debasish SarkarTania Chakraborti

Amit DasSomnath Mukherjee

Subroto Mukherjee

Indranil KarakAalia BakshSandeep Banerjee

Sudipta Mukherjee

Viresh OberoiUjjal Bhattacharya

Vinaya VarmaVed Prakash

Mihir GandhiKorak Saha

Kaushik SarkarK. Senthilnathan

mj Foundation Day


11

The TBEM Application Writing Workshop is an annual organisational activity which is conducted during the month of March. Like previous years, the application writing team set off to the foothills of North Bengal on March 1. The Tata Business Excellence Model

(TBEM) is a quality framework designed with inputs from the Malcom Balridge National Quality Foundation. This model was customised in the 1990’s and adopted by the Tata Group as an internal quality framework. An annual assessment is conducted by Tata Quality Management Services (TQMS) and in order to participate, each applicant company needs to write an application based on a book of criteria questions called the Reference Manual. This book has detailed questions on seven sections: Leadership, Strategic Planning, Customer Focus, Measurement Analysis, Workforce Focus , Operations Focus and Business Results. These sections are called “categories” in the TBEM parlance and carry specific scores which total up to 1,000 points. The performance of an organization is classified in score bands of 100 points, each of which has a descriptor.

The team This year’s application writing team this year consisted of 13 junctionites. Five of the team members represent the senior management at mjunction and the average experience of the team members within mjunction is more than five years. It is essential that the application team comprises members who have considerable experience within the company, represent the business and support functions and by virtue of their intellect and experience, as well as through exposure and authority, possess a holistic understanding of the organisation.

The task The whole application team is categorised into seven groups of two each, representing each category of the TBEM Framework. Each category team writes its own chapter based on the Reference Manual and presents it to the entire group, which is then validated based on accuracy of information, relevance and contemporaneity and scrutinised through the TBEM framework of approach, deployment, learning and integration. All business results related to a particular chapter are also discussed and listed. This activity takes eight to 10 hours. At the end of the day the entire team arrives at a consensus on the content and the presentation of information within a chapter. The suggested corrections are incorporated by the team on the same evening and the chapter is finalised. This routine is repeated for all the chapters. The last day of the workshop is kept for establishing all linkages in process and results chapters.

The venueThe entire task of writing the application is an intensely cerebral exercise which can be done best in an environment devoid of external disturbances. A natural setting also helps to create a relaxed atmosphere conducive to better productivity. A place away from home ensures team bonding which is essential to arrive at a logical conclusion on intellectual matter. Keeping these factors in mind, this outbound exercise is always conducted outside Kolkata. This time the team went to a place called Chalsa, which is 70 km north east of Siliguri. Set amidst gently sloping verdant tea gardens, the place was ideal for such a workshop.

The way forwardAfter nine days of gruelling validation sessions, the team is back with the completed process categories. The results section is also finalised with the list of results frozen. The data is being collected by the team of BE SPOCS led by the results team. By May 30, the application of mjunction for FY 13 will be ready for submission. The external assessment will be conducted sometime between August and November 2013. We aspire to reach a score of 550 for FY13.

Writing the TBEM applicationSuvajit Chakraborty, Business Excellence

Father of Ethics: Chanakya

Chanakya (350-275 BC), also known as Kautilya or Vishnugupta, was born in Pataliputra, Magadh (modern Bihar), and later moved to

Taxila, in Gandhar province (now in Pakistan). He was a professor of political science at the Takshashila University. He had made his mark as an economist and had written a treatise on economics (Arthashastra) under the pen name of Kautilya. He was probably known more for his integrity and honesty than anything else. He was the Prime Minister of the Emperor Chandragupta Maurya.

One day in the court of Chandragupta Maurya, a servant entered Chanakya’s chamber, and announced: “My Lord, Vishwadutta, the ambassador of the Royal Court of Takshashila awaits your audience.” Chanakya rose from his seat to welcome Vishwadutta, and this gesture of courtesy did not escape Vishwadutta’s notice.

Vishwadutta and Chanakya made their way into the meeting room, and Vishwadutta presented Chanakya with gifts of jewels and precious stones. Chanakya, however, asked his servants to take them to the state Treasury. He said: “These gifts are for Chanakya the Prime Minister. Since they are given to me due to the post I hold at the grace of my King, they belong to my king.”

The discussions began thereafter and before they realised, daylight ebbed away and darkness fell. Chanakya did not want to leave the discussions midway, so he invited Vishwadutta home where they could wind up their remaining issues and also have a meal. “It will be my honour,” Vishwadutta said, as he accepted the invitation.

When he reached Chanakya’s house, the palanquin halted before a small house. Chanakya welcomed him and offered him a glass of warm and scented milk. As Vishwadutta looked around the room, there were twelve lamps placed around the room. Filled with fragrant oil, there were wicks around which the flame danced. Placed next to each lighted lamp was an unlit lamp.

For the next one hour, they discussed the armoury and other state needs. After an hour, Chanakya said: “That brings us to the end of our talks. Now we can talk of personal matters and relax.”

Chanakya went inside the house and returned with a jug of wine and two goblets which he placed before them. After that, as Vishwadutta looked on, Chanakya went about putting out the twelve lamps that were lit one by one and lighting the unlit ones beside each of them. Only after he finished did he pour out the wine for Vishwadutta.

Vishwadutta could not contain his curiosity. “You put out the lamps which were giving us light. And you lighted the other set of lamps. Why?” he asked.

“When you came to my house, we first discussed matters of the state and during that period, I used the first set of lamps which have been provided to me by the state for state purposes. After we finished official discussions, you are now my personal guest and so I am now using the second set of lamps. The oil that I use for the first set of lamps is provided to me by the state for state purposes and for the second set, I use oil that I have purchased from my own income. As long as we were discussing matters of the state, it was ethical to use oil provided by the state. But when we are sitting as friends, there is no reason why the state should be burdened with the expense of the oil.”(Contributed by Sanchita Bandyopadhyay, HR)


12

MIXED BAG

New faces

HEARTIEST WELCOME

TO ALL

Bidding Adieu by Mahadev Das of buyjunction

Digitally created “Radha Krishna” on Paintbrush by Piyush, son of Rajkumar Mitra of buyjunction

Utsab: The digital painting Contributed by Mukul Sarkar, autojunction

Anirban Mondal, Marketing B2C

Return to Innocence

New Year Journey

A New Dawn, New DreamsBid Adieu to memories grimPast Time of wars and bloodshedMay a New World takes shapeOn the root of Humanity and Prosperity

May Jingle Bells summon pure passionMay united minds destroy evil obsessionSafety and Tranquillity should be the goalMust stop stalkers from taking their tollUnited we prosper, divided we whimper..

On New Year united let us take an OathTo turn ominous ‘13’ into ‘Treasure Trove’..Food and free thought for every oneLet poverty & violence sing their Swan Song..Hurdles to be tossed, no time to be lost…

Spot AwardsJANuARYAbhijit Roy, FMS-ITAbhishek Sen, CJAbul Kalam Azad, MJAlia Baksh, CJAmit Bhansali, F&AAmit Kumar Das, MJAnamul Haque, F&AAngana Das, ICApurba Singha Dey, F&AArijit Ghosh, MJArijit Paul, CJArunesh Bharti, MJArup Chatterjee, MJAvik Das, CJBacchu Paul, AdminBikram Pal, F&ABiswajit Ghosh, MJCapt Rama Shankar, AdminChanakya Gupta, BJ1Debmalya Dey, MJDev Prakash Mishra, BJFarida Dak, MJGautam Rakshit, MJImtiaz Ahmed, CJJaita Bose, MJ

K.Manivasagan, MJKamlesh Ghode, MJMadhurendra Kumar, MJMd Sufi Alam, Support StaffMd. Feroz, FinanceMonalisa Biswal, BJ1Moutushi Roy, IAMukesh Kumar Singh, BJNabaruna Paul, MJNiraj Vaishnaw, MJPiyush Sircar, BJ1Prateek Bose, CJRajat Dhall, MJRajib Nayak, MJRajkumar Bhattacharyay, AdminRicha Khanna, TechS. Shankar, MJSagarika Bhattacharya, CJSanjoy Gopal Singha, MJSaroj Anand, BJ2Sayantan Dutta Chowdhury, CJSnehasish Banerjee, MJSomnath Mukherjee, MJ

Soumi Srimani, BJ1Souvik Ghosh, CJSrijan Datta, CJSubha Roy, ICSubhashish Mukherjee, FJSubhra Sarkar, BJ1Sudeshna Majumdar, BJ1Sudipta Mukherjee, MJSukhen Chowdhury, AdminSumit Jalan, MjedgeSupriyo Mullick, F&ASurya Bhushan, TechSusant Das, MJTanmoy Ray, MJTarak Sengupta, Support Staff

FeBRuARYAditi Paul, MDOAmit Bhansali, F&AAmit Kumar, BJ2Anup Chand Lal, MJArun Mahapatra, MJArup, Support StaffAyan K Paul, Tech

Aaditya RajAnindita Nag NandiAnisha MajumdarPiya NandiRinku Ghosh

Sandeep NarnawareSharmita GhoshSoumen DasSowdeep BiswasSuryadipta Chakraborty

Debal Ray, MJEdge (Editorial)Debashish Roy, FinanceDibyan Mukherjee, MJDilip Singhal, F&ADipak Barua, AdminHarendra Kumar, BJ2Jaita Bose, MJJamsheed Daver, VJK. Manivasagan, MJK.M.Singh, MJKallol Ghoshal, TechM K Badrinarayan, MJMihir Gandhi, Corp. MktngMohammad Feroz, FinanceMoshahar Bayen, TechMunesh Agarwal, ProcParomita Sen, HRPramod, Support StaffPrasenjit Majumdar, TechPratyusha Dan, TechRajashri Saha, TechRajat Dhall, MJRajib Nayak, MJRaju, Support StaffRanjan, Support StaffRaunak Bose, MJRudra Prasad Nag, FJSabyasachi Ghosh, BJ2

Saikat Burman, TechSamrat Moulik, AdminSangeeta Kesh, BJ2Sangrilla Mahapatra, BJ2Saswati Nandy, MJSharat Kumar Karn, BJ2Snehasish Mohanty, BJ2Somnath Mukherjee, MJSourav Dihidar, TechSourav Tiwary, BJ2Subhashish Mukherjee, FJSudip Sanyasi, ProcSupriyo Mullick, F&ASurajit Das, AdminSusmita Panda, AdminSuvadeep Banerjee, ProcTanmoy Ray, MJVikram Prasad, MJ

MARCHAbhishek Majumdar, F&AAmit Banerjee, CJArghya Ghosh, F&AAsiya Zaki, CJBaisakhi Dutta, TechBikram Pal, F&ADebashish Roy, F & ADebasis Datta, F&AGautam Das, F&AImtiaz Ahmed, CJ

Jaydev Sen, AdminJyoti B Mallick, TechKaushik Mitra, CJMd Feroz, FinancePrabir Ghosh, TechPradipta Chakraborty, F&ARoshni Saha, TechSabysachi Poddar, F&ASantanu Guha, TechSaumyabrata Paul, F&ASayantan Dutta Chowdhury, CJSoma Gupta, AdminSourav De, VJSourav Dihidar, TechSourav Ganguly, Corp AccountsSourav Mitter, MJSubhajit Dutta, TechSubhashish Mukherjee, FJSubrata Saha, F&ASudipta Kumar Das, TechSujay Dhar, TechSumanta Ghosh, TechSuvadeep Banerjee, ProcTamajit Pain, MjedgeTanmoy Ghole, BJ2Trailokya Ganguly, F&A

Creative Nook


13

MIXED BAG

Mousumi Dey of buyjunction ties the knot with Sujoy

Beginning of a new innings: Rimi Ghosh of buyjunction and Rakesh

Holy matrimony for Riti Mukherjee of buyjunction and Joydip

Wedded bliss for Suman Biswas of buyjunction and Srijita

Nuptial knot for Rajib Kumar Nayak of metaljunction and Pinky

Susmita Paul of buyjunction and Gaurav take the holy vows

Dipannita Chakraborty of metaljunction was blessed with little angel Anushka

Jija Dutta of buyjunction becomes proud mother to Abhisree

Kenisha, the little princess of Debashree Sengupta of straightline

wedding bellswedding bells

The newbornS


14

Branch picnicsThe Mumbai, Chennai and Burnpur branches went for picnics in the January to March quarter.

They unwinded over good food, picturesque locations and of course good company.The Mumbai team held their branch picnic on March 2 at the Essel World & Water

Kingdom of Borivali. Junctionites Prashant Jha, Sudhakar Dandu, Vishwanath Pandey, Rajesh Addakula, Venkatesh Vangari, Ashish Pawar and Mangesh Shirwadkar attended the picnic.

The Burnpur team had their picnic on February 2 at Nehru Park. It was a chilly morning as the team descended on the lush green picnic spot beside the river Damodar for a whole day of fun and frolic. The gastronomic delights added to the charm

of the picnic.The Chennai branch got a bigger break as they celebrated

their branch award with a picnic to Mahabalipuram and stay at the Beach Resort on February 16 and 17. The highlights included refreshing swims at the Resort swimming pool, local sightseeing, a gala dinner with cocktails and even a game of carrom on Day 1! Day 2 started with a walk on the beach for some and also included a friendly cricket match. For the Chennai team, these two days were the ideal escape from the humdrum of daily life.

On a pleasant winter morning of January 12, mjunction held its annual sports at the Gitanjali Stadium. The managing director Mr Viresh Oberoi led the oath taking ceremony in the morning. Junctionites thronged the venue with their spouses and children. Several

events marked the day-long event and junctionites participated on behalf of their respective teams – Transparency, Innovation or Efficiency. Special events were organised for the spouses and the children too. All children were given gifts.

The 4x100 metres relay race in which both men and women junctionites participated, was a high point of the event as was the tug of war. Team Innovation emerged the final winners on the basis of points scored in the respective events. A sumptuous lunch was part of the attractions.

Fun and gaiety marked the Mumbai branch picnic

The Chennai branch live it up at Mahabalipuram

The Burnpur branch picnic underway


15

Cricket feat

The mjunction boys put up a brave fight at the CCFC Merchants Cup

2013 as the team ended up among the top four teams out of over 70 corporate teams in Kolkata.

Despite a shaky start, the team still made it to the Winners Plate, helped by some power hitting in the group stages by the opening batsmen. This stroke play helped the team qualify for the Winners Plate based on a higher net run rate. In the knock out stage mjunction overcame strong opposition from teams like PWC, Idea Cellular and Future General Insurance to qualify for the semi-finals.

Though the team lost to eventual champions Berger Paints in the semi-finals, it was a huge step in the right direction.

Congratulations to the team which was ably captained by Danish Zahir Ismail and mentored by Jamsheed Hosi Daver. The other team members were Abhilash Chatterjee, Imran Mannan, Satyajit Biswas, Biplab Biswas, Avijit Mitra, Sukesh Jha and Archi Choudhury.

mj partners golf tourney

mjunction proudly partnered the ‘Golf for Hope’ initiative by Hope Foundation. The golf tournament and the fundraising event were held at Tollygunge Club on March 21. The event brought together Irish and

Indian aids to join hands and help Hope extend their reach to the numerous kids living on the streets and slums of Kolkata.

Lensman par excellence

Sudipta Biswas of metaljunction won the second position in the National Geographic Holiday Photo Contest

category out of 45,000 nominations.An annual contract with the National

Geographic is part of the award, which also includes other goodies.

Congratulations Sudipta. May you keep pursuing your passion and win more such accolades.

mj@Tata SteelFounder’s Day

mj u n c t i o n participated in the Tata Steel Founder's Day celebration at Jamshedpur

on March 3. The celebration was attended by several dignitaries like Mr Cyrus Mistry, Mr Ratan Tata and Mr H.M. Nerurkar.

The mj float and team was led by Mr Ashish Goel and Mr Anup Chand Lal from Jamshedpur.

Trainees recognised

Ms Sagarika Bhattacharya and Mr Harshad Jalan were adjudged the Best

Executive Trainee and Promising Executive Trainee respectively at the end of their nine-month probationary period. They were among a group of 12 executive trainees who joined mjunction in FY13 and were confirmed into the services of the company.

At the end of nine months, their performance and competency was assessed based on the scores obtained from theory and project based evaluation at the end of 2.5 months of induction, their performance in the various BU/FUs to which they were allocated and their involvement in various employee engagement activities

during this period. Ms Bhattacharya and Mr Jalan accepted their awards from the vice-president Mr Vinaya Varma.

Quiz crown for mj

mjunction services limited, represented by Debashish Mukherjee and Abhishek Kar, won the 19th edition of the Royal Bengal Corporate Quiz, organised by Round Table India 12, at the

ITC Sonar on January 13, 2013. The quiz was hosted by renowned quiz master Derek O’ Brien.

Twenty-nine corporate teams participated in the event. The quiz witnessed a nail-biting finish all the way down to the last question as mj edged past the Tata Crucible 2012 Nation Champion team from TCS Chennai.

Congratulations, team mj!

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16

The advent and bloom of spring formed the theme for the Photo Contest this time, and we called it

the “Colours of Spring”. We are pleased to announce that Anirban Mondal of Marketing B2C has been adjudged the winner of the contest by our esteemed judges. Anirban wins 150 straightline points.

Beyond Barriers congratulates Anirban and thanks all the participants.

Candid Shots

QUIZ CORNERIt is time to do a knowledge check once again. Mail your answers

to the quiz to [email protected], and you stand a chance to win 150 straightline points.

The winner of the last quiz is Sourav Bhowmick of financejunction. Congratulations Sourav.

The winner of this quiz will be declared after conducting a lottery among the all-correct entries. The decision of the quizmaster in this respect will be binding and final.

Here go the questions:1. Who is returning to the stage after a long gap of 20 years playing

the role of Willy in a stage production of Arther Miller’ s Death of a Salesman?

2. X, formerly known as Arkyd Astronautics, is an American company which was formed in November 2010,and reorganized and renamed in 2012. Their stated goal is to “expand Earth’s natural resource base by developing and deploying the technologies for asteroid mining. Identify X.

3. In 2003, three students from the Aalto University School of Science, participated in a mobile game development competition at the Assembly demo party sponsored by Nokia and HP. A victory with a real-time multiplayer game called King of the Cabbage World compelled the trio to set up their own company. How is this company known today?

4. This is the brain child of Aditya Bakshi, the son of a general in the Indian Army. The purpose of this series is to glorify our war heroes. The first issue is titled Yeh Dil Mange More and tells the tale of Capt Vikram Batra and costs Rs 65. Which series is this?

5. This brand has not spent a single rupee on advertising since its launch in the mid 50s. It has innumerable number of pages and groups devoted to it on Facebook, one of them run with the abbreviation “Comrade”. It is the largest selling brand in the world in its category. Name it.

6. The Solar Electric Light Company, India or SELCO India is a for-profit social enterprise based in Bangalore, India. SELCO India has played an instrumental role in improving living

standards of poor households in rural India especially in the state of Karnataka through solar energy based interventions and low smoke cook stoves. In recognition of the services towards reduction of the gap in access to energy, SELCO India has been awarded the prestigious Ashden Awards (also known as the Green Oscars) twice, in years 2005 and 2007. SELCO India was founded in 1995 by which Magsaysay award winner?

7. X was involved in the development of the web feed format RSS, the website framework web.py,and the social news site Reddit, in which he was an equal partner after a merger with his Infogami company. X also focused on sociology, civic awareness and activism. In 2010, he became a research fellow at Harvard University’s Safra Center for Ethics. He founded the online group Demand Progress, known for its campaign against the Stop Online Piracy Act, and later worked with the activist groups Rootstrikers and Avaaz. He also worked as a contributing editor to The Baffler. He was very much in the news this year. Identify him.

8. This campaign has been scripted by Prasoon Joshi, Sambit Mohanty, Rahul Mathew, Vineet Mahajan and Akshay Kapnadak of McCann India. The film has been directed by Shujaat Saudagar of Boot Polissh Films with music by Amit Trivedi. Name the campaign.

9. X was an Italian economist who studied the inequality of incomes. He was immortalized by Joseph Juran who stumbled upon his work while studying quality issues. Name X.

10. X is a female rabbit cartoon character, designed by Robert McKimson and is the former girlfriend of Bugs Bunny who was used for merchandising purposes beginning in the late 1960s. Why is X in the news in India nowadays?

Sounds of spring by Anirban Mondal

Compiled by Debashish Mukherjee, Corporate Accounts

The answers of the last quiz are as follows:1) Barack Obama; 2) Mitt Roomney; 3) Huawei; 4) Life of Pi;5) Piscine Molitor; 6) Captain Gopinath; 7) Suzlon; 8) Inox Wind; 9) Haier; 10) Sensex

Beyond Barriers March 2013

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Transcript of Beyond Barriers March 2013