CALGARY
Protesters call for police defunding, trans rights at afternoon rally

Author of the article:Alanna Smith
Publishing date:Aug 30, 2020 • 

Hundreds came out to march in the Defund the Police national protest along with Black Trans Lives Matter and DefundYYC, with the support of Idle No More through downtown Calgary on Saturday, August 29, 2020. PHOTO BY DARREN MAKOWICHUK /Postmedia

Several hundred Calgarians rallied in solidarity with people in cities across Canada to defund the police and redistribute funds into community supports.

The local rally began at Sien Lok Park in Calgary’s core on Saturday afternoon before participants marched through the downtown streets to city hall — pausing at busy intersections with their fists in the air while chanting “Black Lives Matter,” “Black Trans Lives Matter” and “No justice, no peace, no racist police.”

Calgary’s weekend rally was organized by Defund YYC and the local Black Lives Matter chapter, with support from Idle No More and the Land Back movement.

“We don’t want to abolish the police department. We want to defund the police department and the reason for this is Calgary has one of the richest police departments in the whole country,” said Kay Layton, executive director of the Black Lives Matter chapter in Calgary.

“Money equals power and, as we can see, police have been abusing their power.”

The annual policing budget in Calgary exceeded $400 million last year.

While Calgarians took to the streets so did hundreds of others in cities across the country, including Toronto, Montreal, Ottawa, London and Moncton, drawing attention to police brutality and systemic racism.

We’re here at Sien Lok Park for today’s #DefundThePolice national protest, taking place in cities across Canada. @calgaryherald @calgarysun #yyc pic.twitter.com/3TJgL6S5K4— Alanna Smith (@alanna_smithh) August 29, 2020

The nationwide rallies came just days after Jacob Blake, a Black man from Wisconsin, was shot multiple times by police there, further igniting outrage in the U.S. and elsewhere.

The incident involving Blake is the latest in numerous high-profile cases and killings where Black people have been the subject of police brutality. Layton said “it’s been a rough year” before talking about a video recording of Blake being shot.

Hundreds came out to march in the Defund the Police National Protest along with Black Trans Lives Matter and DefundYYC, with the support of Idle No More through downtown Calgary on Saturday, August 29, 2020. PHOTO BY DARREN MAKOWICHUK /Postmedia

“We ain’t even over George Floyd. We ain’t even over Breonna Taylor. We ain’t over Michael Brown. We ain’t over Trayvon Martin and Tamir Rice. We ain’t over Sandra Bland,” he said.

“Every time we get to the point where we’re wiping our tears off our face, some bulls–t like this happens again and we have to come out here and fight for freedom again.”

The Calgary march coincided with the Stonewall March and Rally organized by Rights for All Refugees in Canada (RARICA NOW) to support LGBTQ rights.

RARICA founder Abedayo Katiiti led much of the protest speaking about the importance of celebrating and protecting Black trans lives.

“Stonewall means fight back,” said Katiiti at city hall, holding a Black Panther figurine. “Black trans lives matter. We are a group of people who are committed to centring and serving the most marginalized members of our communities leaving nobody behind.”

The Stonewall uprising took place in New York City in 1969 after police raided a bar that served the city’s gay, lesbian and transgender community which sparked a series of demonstrations.

“This laid the foundation for the (continued) reclaiming of Pride and centring the queer, trans, Indigenous, Black, people of colour voices in restoring the radical and (anti-oppressive) roots of the queer revolution,” said Katiiti.

Hundreds came out to march in the Defund the Police National Protest along with Black Trans Lives Matter and DefundYYC, with the support of Idle No More through downtown Calgary on Saturday, August 29, 2020. PHOTO BY DARREN MAKOWICHUK /Postmedia

Other participants shared their personal experiences, spoke about solidarity with other movements, drew attention to ongoing issues of racism that impact Black and Indigenous people and the importance of ongoing allyship from white people.

Speaker Faisal Kirumira said: “The question today is not if we defund the police, what will happen to the police? The question is if we do not defund the police what will happen to the Black lives being lost? If we do not defund the police, what will happen to the Indigenous lives being lost?”

LJ Joseph, vice-president of Calgary’s Black Lives Matter chapter, said people can find more information about the defund the police movement at blacklivesmatteryyc.com or defund.ca — where pre-composed emails and social media posts are available to send to local politicians.

There were some agitators present at the Saturday rally but the protest remained peaceful.

Hundreds came out to march in the Defund the Police national protest along with Black Trans Lives Matter and DefundYYC, with the support of Idle No More through downtown Calgary on Saturday, August 29, 2020. PHOTO BY DARREN MAKOWICHUK /Postmedia

Hundreds attend Calgary protest to defund police and support Black trans lives

Nationwide protests scheduled in multiple Canadian cities to defund police

CBC News · Posted: Aug 29, 2020

Demonstrators hold signs at a rally in Calgary calling for police to be defunded. (CBC)

Hundreds attended a demonstration in Calgary today in conjunction with a nationwide effort to defund the police and redistribute those funds into community initiatives.

The rally, which was organized by the Defund YYC group and the Black Lives Matter chapter in Calgary, began at 1 p.m. at Sien Lok Park in southwest Calgary before demonstrators marched to city hall for a rally that started at 2:30 p.m.

LJ Joseph, vice-president of Calgary's Black Lives Matter chapter, said Defund YYC had partnered with Black Trans Lives Matter, which had already planned to hold a rally Saturday before the nationwide protests were scheduled.

"First, we want people to rally behind Black trans lives, because they matter," Joseph said. "And then, obviously, the police sometimes aren't keeping them safe, and that's why it's important for them to have this defund movement behind them."

ANALYSIS The complexity and the urgency behind calls to defund the Calgary police

Defunding the police, Joseph said, means redistributing funds from policing into underfunded social programs. Calgary's police budget is funded by more than $400 million each year.

"I understand that people are thinking, well, if you take money away from police, there will be less police and more crime," Joseph said. "But if you take police off of certain programs and put them back on patrol, you don't need more cops. We're not asking for you to dismantle the police."

The City of Calgary is set to meet with the Calgary Police Service on Sept. 10 to discuss how to address systemic racism.

LJ Joseph with Black Lives Matter says she'll be waiting to hear what comes of the city's meeting with Calgary police next month. (CBC)

Other rallies were scheduled today in cities such as Montreal, Toronto and Ottawa. Saturday's rallies came the same week as the shooting of Jacob Blake, a Black man who was shot by police in the back seven times as he attempted to enter his vehicle in Kenosha, Wis.
It will take 'a miracle' for Wisconsin man shot by police to walk again: family lawyer

Saturday's Calgary event was also held with the support of Idle No More and the Land Back movement.

"Land Back is an integral movement with the aim to end colonialism which supports anti-Blackness and oppression," organizers said in a release.

"The defund the police movement aims to reorganize society to support humanity rather than simply interrupt crime caused by the lack of community support."

Partway through the march, protesters took a knee and raised a fist in solidarity.

The organizers behind Calgary's event asked participants to practice physical distancing, wear a mask and use hand sanitizer.

Aug 30, 2020 8:36 AM MT

Federal education funding still in limbo days before Alberta back-to-school

Author of the article:Jason Herring Publishing date:Aug 30, 2020 •

Education Minister Adriana LaGrange updates Albertans on the school re-entry plan for the 2020-21 school year. PHOTO BY CHRIS SCHWARZ /Government of Alberta


There is still no timeline for when school authorities will be able to access Alberta’s share of the $2 billion in federal funding pledged last week to support provincial school reopening plans.

The Alberta government said it had not yet received any of its $262.8 million cut of the funding announced Tuesday by Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, with school districts in the province only days away from welcoming back students for the fall semester amid the COVID-19 pandemic.

“Given that the funding was suddenly announced on Tuesday, officials are still working out details on how this funding will be distributed to Alberta’s school authorities,” said Colin Aitchison, press secretary to Education Minister Adriana LaGrange, in a statement.

“At this point I cannot give a timeline as we have not received the funding from the Federal Government yet.”

Alberta’s contentious school re-entry will see most students in the province return to the classroom in the coming days.

The Calgary Board of Education will have its first day of classes Tuesday, with the Calgary Catholic School District opening its doors to students the following days. Both districts are staggering re-entry to help students adjust to new measures, which will include masking, one-way corridors and socially distanced drop-offs.

The federal funding in Alberta equates to about $354 per student. It is expected to come in two instalments, with the first arriving this fall.

Trudeau said Wednesday provinces have broad discretion on how to spend the money, given education is a provincial jurisdiction.

"The Federal dollars would equate to about $354 per student". 128,000 students expected to attend the #WeAreCBE this year. $45 million+ would help us address rising costs due to #COVID19. #ABCovid19 #abed #yycbe #ableg #abpoli https://t.co/Z0kXHwzFTa— Julie Hrdlicka (@julie_hrdlicka) August 27, 2020

Alberta NDP Opposition education critic Sarah Hoffman said Saturday there should be no excuse from the provincial government for not starting funding distribution to local school authorities.

She cited Ontario, where provincial officials provided a breakdown of how they would use their funding the same day as the federal announcement, as proof the Alberta government should have been able to set a plan in motion more quickly.

“I think it’s reprehensible that they have been sitting on this funding. They should have funded improved learning and working conditions when they closed schools more than five months ago. They should have had plans in place,” Hoffman said.

“For the province to stand in the way of those federal dollars being able to reduce risk for kids when they go back this week is dangerous. … The province should immediately give this money over to the school authorities who are actually working with kids.”

Hoffman added even if there is a delay in cash flow from the federal government, she thinks the UCP government could alert school boards of how much money they will have to spend so they can begin hiring additional teachers.

To date, Alberta has spent $10 million in school re-entry, directed towards personal protective equipment for schools. They have otherwise instructed school boards to use reserve funds totalling about $363 million province-wide to pay for costs related to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Aitchison said the province will ensure school districts have resources necessary to facilitate a safe return to school, including by potentially adjusting the provincial school re-entry plan.


He added school authorities would be able to use funding for expenses related to COVID-19 including facilitating online learning, teaching and substitute costs, transportation and increased cleaning.

Bankrupt Hertz seeks $5.4M in govt bonuses

MAX GRANT AUG 30, 2020 

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Just months after Hertz World wide Holdings Inc. shelled out $16.2 million in excess pay back meant to maintain executives from leaving as the coronavirus pandemic decimated the vacation business, the automobile rental enterprise would like to move out $14.6 million additional in bonuses.

Prior to filing for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in Could, the company laid off 1000’s of staff while handing out retention bonuses or “stay fork out” to leaders.

HERTZ Sold $29 MILLION IN Stock Just before SEC STEPPED IN

At the starting of the month, the firm elevated $29 million, offering its possible worthless inventory before regulators at the Securities and Exchange Fee elevated thoughts.

Motor vehicle exiting the vacant car or truck rental spot at Hertz«s Motor vehicle Rental Parking location at Miami Intercontinental Airport (Image by: Kike Calvo/Universal Photographs Group by way of Getty Photos)

In accordance to a Saturday report in The Wall Road Journal, retention payments are just about unachievable for executives after a company documents for individual bankruptcy.

Despite the fact that Hertz is concealing considerably of the details about which workforce will get the hottest round of dollars, Chief Fiscal Officer Jamere Jackson resigned this month and forfeited his stipend.

Styled as “incentive” bonuses in courtroom paperwork submitted Thursday, the new spherical of payouts would have to be approved by the judge overseeing Hertz’s bankruptcy.

In the proposal, the chief executive officer and 13 other prime managers of Hertz Corp. would share as much as $5.4 million, Bloomberg noted Saturday.

If the decide enables a 2nd bonus spherical, the Journal notes that Main Govt Paul Stone — who took the title and a $700,000 “retention bonus” in May well — could be entitled to an further $1.6 million.

Hundreds of workforce beneath Stone could also be presented money below the incentive plans, with executives and senior administration obtaining payments in the variety of $10,000 to $15,000.

Although “retention” bonuses had been banned by Congress 15 a long time ago, individual bankruptcy lawyers began crafting incentive programs to maneuver all around the ban.

General performance benefits have because been routinely permitted — in a lot of cases, over the protests of federal individual bankruptcy watchdogs.

In 2020, the CEOs of GNC Holdings Inc., Ascena Retail Group Inc., Personalized Brands Inc., J.C. Penney Co., Neiman Marcus Group Ltd., and other companies have acquired this kind of payment under equivalent situation.

Mars dust devil! Curiosity rover places Red World twister (photos)

MAX GRANT AUG 29, 2020 0 COMMENTS

 On Aug. 9, 2020, NASA’s Curiosity Mars rover photographed a dust devil swirling through Gale Crater. The twister is relocating from remaining to appropriate, at border amongst the darker and lighter slopes.  (Graphic credit score: NASA/JPL-Caltech)

NASA’s Mars rover Curiosity has noticed a dust devil swirling through the parched Red Earth landscape.

Curiosity photographed the dust satan on Aug. 9, capturing a spectral feature dancing along the border amongst dark and light-weight slopes inside of Mars’ 96-mile-large (154 kilometers) Gale Crater.

It truly is no shock that these dry whirlwinds, which we also get in this article on Earth, are cropping up inside the crater these times, Curiosity team users explained.

“It’s nearly summer in Gale Crater, which places us in a interval of robust floor heating that lasts from early spring through mid-summertime,” Claire Newman, an atmospheric scientist at the Arizona-based mostly enterprise Aeolis Analysis, wrote in a mission update on Wednesday (Aug. 26). (Gale lies about 4.5 levels south of the Martian equator.)

Linked: Wonderful Mars pics by NASA’s Curiosity rover (most recent images) 

“More robust floor heating tends to produce stronger convection and convective vortices, which consist of speedy winds whipping all-around small force cores,” Newman wrote. “If all those vortices are solid sufficient, they can raise dust from the floor and become noticeable as ‘dust devils’ that we can impression with our cameras.”

Dust devils are usually very faint, so Curiosity shots normally will have to be processed prior to the attributes are visible, Newman extra. But the Aug. 9 whirlwind showed up even in the uncooked, unprocessed rover imagery.

READ  Microorganisms on the outdoors of the Worldwide Place Station survived for several years in the vacuum of place

Curiosity’s recent pursuits have bundled research of such dust devils, working with the rover’s cameras and its onboard weather conditions station, Newman wrote. But the $2.5 billion mission’s principal science do the job focuses on the evaluation of Martian rock and soil to master additional about the planet’s local weather evolution and its previous ability to aid lifestyle.

Soon just after landing inside Gale Crater in August 2012, Curiosity’s observations allowed experts to ascertain that, billions of yrs back, the space hosted a likely habitable lake-and-stream process. In September 2014, the auto-size robot attained the base of Mount Sharp, which rises 3.4 miles (5.5 kilometers) into the Martian sky from Gale’s heart. At any time considering the fact that then, Curiosity has been climbing by way of the mountain’s foothills, studying the lots of rock levels for clues about how the Pink Earth altered in excess of time.

Curiosity has noticed dust devils on Mars before, and so have the rover’s robotic cousins. NASA’s Possibility and Spirit rovers photographed the capabilities, for example, and the agency’s Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter has specified us birds-eye sights of the alien twisters.

Mike Wall is the author of “Out There” (Grand Central Publishing, 2018 illustrated by Karl Tate), a guide about the search for alien existence. Abide by him on Twitter @michaeldwall. Abide by us on Twitter @Spacedotcom or Facebook. 

TOYOTAIZATION REDUX

When the Toyota Way Meets Industry 4.0

The real message here is: "adopt and adapt technology that supports your people and processes."

Jeffrey Liker
AUG 27, 2020

Society has reached the point where one can push a button and be immediately deluged with technical and managerial information. This is all very convenient, of course, but if one is not careful there is a danger of losing the ability to think. We must remember that in the end it is the individual human being who must solve the problems.
—Eiji Toyoda, Creativity, Challenge and Courage, Toyota Motor Corporation, 1983

In the 1990s Toyota’s principles of production equipment became “simple, slim, and flexible,” which some people might interpret as “go slow and be cautious in adopting new technology.” In today’s age of lightning speed technological change, particularly in the digital world, I believe that would be a mistake. The real message here is: "adopt and adapt technology that supports your people and processes." The starting point is this: where are real needs that technology can address to help achieve your goals? This is a question of pulling technology based on the opportunity, instead of pushing the technology because it is the latest fad.

This simple lesson grows more relevant every day. It seems clear to me that technology in the digital age can support lean thinking. The key issue is to avoid the temptation to buy and implement the latest gee-whiz digital tools, and instead to thoughtfully integrate technology with highly developed people and processes.

Toyota’s largest supplier, Denso, has made remarkable progress in adapting real time data collection, the Internet of Things (IOT), and data analytics to support lean systems and amplify kaizen. At the center of Denso’s approach is people, and their ability to sense reality and think creatively. Denso demonstrates that technology has the greatest potential when there is a culture of continuous improvement and the people are highly developed.

Raja Shembekar, vice president of Denso’s North American Production Innovation Center, is the chief architect of their use of the Internet of Things (IOT). As a starting point Raja benchmarked other companies thought to be leaders in the technology. He found a lot of what he came to call “IOT wallpaper” with little real application. Cool-looking displays, but no real problem solving. He concluded that Denso needed to take charge and lead their own effort, starting with treating the Battlecreek, Michigan plant as a pilot site. He built a small team, with about half IOT experts, and half shopfloor people like quality managers who were good at software. Together, they started to work on real problems identified at the gemba.

As one example they have huge brazing ovens needed to make aluminum heat exchangers. It is critical to keep the temperature constant throughout the oven and they do this with twelve expensive fans each the size of a table. If a single fan stops, it take 12 hours to cool the oven down from 700 celsius, 12 hours to replace the fan, and 12 hours to bring it back up. With tiny sensors on each fan and an IOT system they can monitor the condition and alert maintenance when there is any degradation, long before a shutdown. In one case, Denso data scientists reported to maintenance that a fan was going to fail in 58 hours and they should replace it. Raja explained: “Maintenance did not believe it. But we asked them to change it anyway. They took the fan out. Half the blades on the fan had disintegrated. They were totally shocked that they had no idea this was happening and we could provide that prediction.”

In another example they focused on direct aid to the operator of an automated assembly process with robots. We are used to the idea of operators filling out a control chart with upper and lower control limits and taking action before the process is out of control. This system continuously develops a control chart in real-time. When observing we noticed a few minutes early that the process was headed out of control and the operator made an adjustment quickly fixing the problem.

A more ambitious project that cuts to the heart of TPS is automated standardized work support. Raja found a Stanford professor working on “motion technology.” A camera videos a person and can in real time analyze the data with AI, for example chunking actions into work steps. Raja saw the potential for revolutionizing standard work and collaborated with the professor who now has a thriving company. The output will be familiar to those experienced with standardized work—steps and times versus takt, operator balance charts, and in effect real time auditing that identifies deviations from the standardized work. The analyst does not have to spend time creating all these sheets and can call up all cases where there was a line stop, or all cases where there was a certain type of deviation from standard, and go back and watch the video. What was the operator actually doing at that point? This technology is getting broad interest from around the world—including from Toyota.

Does the Technology Deskill, Replace, or Enhance?

A key question going back to when I first started studying the impact of computer-integrated technology in the 1980s is: does the technology deskill, replace, or enhance? And the answer then and now is that it depends on management philosophy. Consider two different approaches: mechanistic and organic. From a mechanistic perspective, the value of technology is clear—replace people, monitor those remaining, and control them with clear instructions on what to do. Implement the technology quickly and broadly to remove the unpredictable human element.

From an organic-systems perspective, the value of the technology is very different. When combined with highly developed people motivated toward goals of serving customer and helping the company, it can multiply kaizen—faster and better.

Raja made it clear what side of the fence he was on. Denso’s focus was not on using the technology to eliminate people, though he had no doubt that over time there would be a need for fewer people in the factory. While there would be cases where a closed-loop technical system diagnosed and automatically corrected problems, there would be plenty of issues that required human ingenuity and intervention. In fact, Raja is convinced that the skill requirements of the people need to grow.

“We will always need people, but their skill level needs to be completely shifted over time. The technology provides data that allows the associate and the team leaders at the gemba to provide a far higher level of decision making. In the past they would just fill out the paperwork, but by the time they did all that they had either no time or energy to really comprehend the data. If they want to see trends from say five days ago or across people, that just wasn't there. What this has provided is what we now call fast PDCA. We can’t afford to have PDCA that takes 3 weeks anymore. We want a PDCA done before the end of that shift.”

At Denso in Japan, they operate on the belief that IOT does not cut people out of the loop, but rather provides superior information to people about the process. The power of big data and artificial intelligence is to give the operator information just-in-time that they previously could only guess at. But Denso expects the operator to use that information creatively to find the root cause and solve the problem through kaizen. Denso calls this “collaborative creation and growth of human, things, and equipment.” One irony might come out of this. Historically, a major role of industrial engineers was to reduce the number of workers needed. Now, the technology might enable the workers to the point they can eliminate the industrial engineers.

Balancing Adoption of the Latest Technology with Effectiveness

Toyota is a technologically advanced company and has been for decades—shut down its computer systems and you shut down the company. But Toyota is not interested in being trendy and making adoption of new technology an end onto itself. Just as Toyota refuses to schedule parts made in one department to be pushed onto another, Toyota refuses to allow an information technology or advanced manufacturing technology department to push technology onto departments that do the value-added work of designing and building cars. Any information technology must meet the acid test of supporting people and processes and prove it adds value before it is implemented broadly. And then the ownership for introducing the new technology falls on existing management. They will run it, they will be responsible for meeting the targets, so they should lead the introduction.

The problem as I see it is that people living in the computer software world seem to believe if they can do a demonstration based on a simulated example, it should translate seamlessly into solving real problems in the outside world. That is the thinking that got companies in trouble back in the 1980s. And it was the situation that Raja of Denso encountered in the 21st century when he was exploring Industry 4.0 software. I was skeptical before talking to Raja about the bold concept of a fully-automated factory with everything run by internet connections, big data, and AI--and Raja confirmed my suspicions that it could be a lot of smoke and mirrors. On the other hand, I also was awakened to the strength of the technology. I am now convinced it is real and it includes the technologies missing from early failed attempts to computerize the factory in the 1980s. It seems they were not completely wrong about the potential, but just early.

It also became clear in seeing what Raja has been doing at Denso’s plant in Battle Creek that Industry 4.0 is not a disruptive force that makes TPS irrelevant, but rather can be an enabler that builds on TPS culture and thinking. After all, the Internet of Things necessarily includes things. And if the things are poorly designed, poorly laid out, and poorly maintained software will not solve the problem.

The difference between Denso and companies that are creating electronic wallpaper seems to be a matter of mindset. Denso starts with the problem and then builds the social and technical systems to help address the problem. It builds on its existing culture of disciplined execution and problem solving. Without this, companies are left to throwing the technology at the wall and hoping it sticks. The principles of TPS will not disappear from a company like Denso, but the way the factory operates under TPS + IOT will be very different.

I was fascinated by the IOT technologies I saw at Denso, but in the back of my mind I could not help but guess at the concerns of Toyota Production System. TPS is about forcing people to think deeply to solve problems. Will computer systems make us lazy thinkers? How can we marry the powerful information coming out of the computers with the creativity of people in developing and testing ideas for improvement?

I was encouraged by Akio Toyoda’s thoughts. It is clear he sees the possibility of combining the best of the new technology with the creativity of thinking people In a recent speech he said:

“Two concepts -- automation with people and Just-in-Time -- are the pillars of the TPS. What both have in common is that people are at the center. I believe that the more automation advances, the more the ability of the people using it will be put to the test. Machines cannot improve unless people do, too. Developing people with skills that can equal machines and senses that surpass sensors is a fundamental part of Toyota's approach.”

This article is from the upcoming revised edition of The Toyota Way, Second Edition (due out October 2020), which includes Principle 8: Adopt and Adapt Technology that Supports your People and Processes. It originally appeared in the Lean Post, the blog of the Lean Enterprise Institute, and is used with permission.

Don't Let Complexity Disrupt Your Product Delivery Process

New survey shows growing importance of digital transformation as manufacturers pivot to meet needs within digital economy.

Peter Fretty
AUG 28, 2020

As the digital economy progresses, manufacturers are embracing the importance of leveraging digital data-based technologies. One of the key aspects of succeeding within a digital economy is the ability to rapidly design, develop, produce and deliver the products an evolving marketplace demands. Of course, just because the digital economy is all about delivering an easy seamless experience, that does not mean it is easy to delivery, even with today’s advanced technologies.

Gocious, a product decision analytics platform that harnesses data for manufacturers to get to production faster, recently conducted a survey spotlighting the growing urgency for digitally transformed product configuration. And the result paint a pretty clear picture. Roughly 60% of manufacturers surveyed report 6 months or longer to plan and develop one product, and 62% have initiatives in place to reduce the product launch cycle time. However, less than 10% of manufacturers are using product definition tools to help automate, visualize or analyze product configurations.

Unfortunately, complexity is a common concern. Specifically, half of the survey respondents say they have 10 or more products in their product line with a growing number of product variations adding complexity to product release cycles. Adding to the complexity, on average 43 people are involved in production definition process with an average of 33 people needed for product approvals.

Gocious CTO Maziar Adl tells IndustryWeek, they were surprised by the low number of organizations adopting new ways to reduce their time to market during a moment when the speed of change is rapidly increasing due to the Industry 4.0 evolution.

“It was also interesting to see just how many people are involved in approving a product release. Based on both of these instances, we can see more clearly how more collaboration is necessary even early-on in product development,” he says. “Additionally, we were surprised to see the number of people using tools that are more specifically tailored to delivering software solutions, compared to manufactured products. To me this indicates that people want better solutions than the traditional spreadsheet approach and are prepared to compromise on capability to get what they want.”

The key takeaways? Digital transformation is happening, and some manufacturers are ill prepared to face the challenges of being left behind, explains Adl. “Many are too comfortable and need to look more closely at the massive need for acceleration within their internal digital transformation journeys. Manufacturers need to find ways to become more agile in delivering product. Things are shifting much more quickly than before,” he says.

According to Adl, prior to releasing ideas for build and detail design, manufacturers should first look at early stages of product line definition and planning to reduce waste and complexity. “If a manufacturer is not in control of their product complexity, then any initiatives that may be considered to shorten delivery time cycles will not have as much of an impact as they could. A lack of complexity management can ultimately create waste,” he says.

THE ART OF CRAFTWORK

The Unnecessary Crisis in the American Workforce

Somehow the notion that a four-year college is for everyone has entered the national zeitgeist, but it’s just not true.

Ken Rusk
AUG 28, 2020

For several decades, the supply of skilled blue-collar workers has been shrinking, while demand rises. According to the U.S. Department of Labor, as of July 2017, a record 6.8 million jobs that require skilled laborers were left unfilled. Many of them are manufacturing jobs. The National Association of Manufacturers reports that a skills gap has caused about a half-million manufacturing jobs to remain open, and consulting company Deloitte predicts that by the end of this decade, as many as 2.4 million manufacturing jobs may go unfilled, putting $454 billion in production at risk.

While these numbers were reported before the coronavirus hit and unemployment has jumped to record levels in virtually all industries, scientists and economists agree that our economy will recover. When it does, for a successful reboot, we’re going to need skilled blue-collar and manufacturing workers more than ever.

Skilled workers learn and improve upon their abilities over time, and use their hands for something more than just fingers on a keyboard. The description applies to independent contractors – carpenters, plumbers and electricians – but also to those on the factory floor – welders, machinists, machine operators, CAD draftspeople, and mechanical engineers.

There are numerous explanations for the shortage of workers in this segment of the economy. It starts with social pressures that encourage younger generations to avoid skilled trades in the first place. It’s the perpetuation of the ludicrous idea that the only path toward financial success includes a four-year college degree. That thinking ignores the fact that there are millions of young people who don’t have the inclination to spend their working life at a desk looking at a computer screen, or to emerge from schooling with staggering debt.

Somehow the notion that a four-year college is for everyone has entered the national zeitgeist, but it’s just not true. Having never graduated college myself and enjoying the American dream through a blue-collar life, and knowing many people in the same boat (some in yachts, actually), there is definitely another way – a way that doesn't include staggering debt. Even before the pandemic, $1.5 trillion was owed by more than 44 million borrowers, and nearly 40% thought it would take more than a decade to pay off their student debt. The pandemic has obviously exacerbated this situation further.


The momentum against working with one’s hands begins early in a child’s life. Just look around your neighborhood and you’ll see one explanation right before your eyes. Instead of children playing outside, they’re inside using only thumbs on a game console. Remember when every back yard had a treehouse, built by the neighborhood kids, or a fort with sticks and stones? They had to actually pick up a tool and learn to use it.

But we can’t blame the Nintendos and the Xboxes of the world for this crisis in the American workforce. A more immediate concern is that many skilled tradespeople are aging out of the labor force. Estimates indicate that for every skilled person entering the workforce, there are five who retire. Many skilled trade companies are family-owned, some passed on from an earlier generation. But most of today’s youth aren’t nearly as interested in a blue-collar life that would keep that company in business, or even lead them toward a skilled manufacturing job.

One way blue-collar industries are trying to mitigate shortages is by recruiting women, whether it’s reaching out to high schools, Sunday schools, or the Girl Scouts. More and more employers are offering flexible hours so moms can be with their children at school drop-off and pickup times, as well as twelve-hour Saturday and Sunday shifts that allow one parent to work while the other takes care of the children. Fortunately, technology has, in many cases, made brains more important than brawn. In Virginia, Barbara Gaskins is the lone woman in her 17-person rotation that operates a CRMG cantilever, a 70-foot-tall machine that reaches over four sets of railroad tracks to load and unload 500 boxes a day, some weighing 30 tons. Gaskins does it all in an office, controlling the action with two joysticks and 30 buttons.

The current pandemic will only increase the need for skilled workers. Ramping up production of personal protective equipment, but also more sophisticated devices like ventilators and COVID-19 virus and antibody tests, is importnat. And once a vaccine is ready, production of the literally billions of doses that will be needed is going to necessitate the labor of skilled people who know what they’re doing.

The most promising solution is for local employees to target young people by sponsoring apprenticeships and encouraging high schools to teach practical skills. Remember when every high school offered shop classes where students learned how to hammer a nail, weld a pipe, and fix a car? For many students, this was their first exposure to the kind of hands-on experience that ignited a blue-collar or manufacturing career. A 2019 report by the research arm of the Commercial Real Estate Development Association acknowledges that a declining public-school focus on vocational education has exacerbated a shortage of entry-level workers, and suggests that businesses must do a better job of investing in the training and recruiting of high school students and recent graduates. And according to a comprehensive report published by consulting firm Bain & Company, “If we want everyone’s kid to succeed, we need to bring vocational education back to the core of high school learning.”

Apprenticeships, on-the-job training, and vocational programs at community colleges are all ways young people can be taught blue-collar and manufacturing skills. These are also paths that lead to a successful life. According to the U.S. Census Bureau, only a third of adults 25 and older have a bachelor's degree or higher, and you can’t tell me that the other two-thirds are living in poverty. In fact, I can promise you they are not.

Savvy businesses are demonstrating to prospective employees that skilled entry level jobs in manufacturing, for example, can be the start of a long-term, lucrative career. These efforts can reinvigorate the American dream for a new generation of young people, while helping businesses access the talent and capabilities they need.

At a community or technical college, young people who have already found their passion, whether it’s fixing or building things or soldering two pieces of metal together, can refine their skills. That allows them to do what they love, rather than take courses that don’t interest them and will be forgotten minutes after the final exam. Amazon recently announced it will be spending $700 million to retrain about a third of its workforce in an effort to improve the technical expertise of its entry level coders and data technicians. PayPal founder Peter Thiel has established a fellowship which offers $100,000 apiece to 20 young people each year to skip college and pursue a business idea while being mentored by the Foundation’s network of founders, investors, and scientists. And Apple CEO Tim Cook recently spoke of a “mismatch” between the skills people are acquiring in college and the ones demanded by modern businesses. He noted that about half of Apple’s new hires in 2018 did not have a four-year degree. The current economic turmoil brought on by the pandemic will end, but the growing need for skilled workers will not.

Fortunately, this crisis in the American workforce is also an opportunity for millions of Americans. Does a young person really need a bachelor’s degree to become a web designer, carpenter, welder, or any of a dozen other lucrative professions? The internet makes researching alternatives easier than ever. You want to become a a CNC (Computer Numerically Controlled) operator? Many CNC operators are trained on the job or as an apprentice, but certificate programs are also offered through vocational schools, community colleges, and commercial trade schools.

There’s a general sentiment that blue-collar workers or manufacturing workers struggle from paycheck to paycheck and are unable to reach financial security for themselves and their families. I can tell you firsthand, this is absolutely untrue. A blue-collar or skilled manufacturing career provides the opportunity to work hard, make a good living, and if you want, maybe even the opportunity to be your own boss. Any blue-collar passion can turn into a business, and in today’s world, the costs of opening your own have never been lower. It’s going to take a long time (if ever) before the supply of carpenters or plumbers or stonemasons is greater than the demand. Law degrees and business majors may be a dime a dozen, but those who know how to operate a saw or a jackhammer, use an excavator, or repair a liquid filling machine are not. According to last year’s Harris poll of blue-collar workers, the vast majority—86%—are happy with their jobs, and 85% believe their lives are headed in the right direction.

For centuries, great men and women have built America from the ground up, mostly with their bare hands. From those early settlers to today’s modern worker, one thing remains consistent -- the ability to put down any tool we used, wipe the sweat from our brow, and to revel in what we were called on to create. The demand for skilled laborers is not a passing trend. For every toddler with a smartphone, there is going to be a need for people who know how to do things, build things, to design the most efficient procedures. Smartphones can do a lot, but they can’t oversee manufacturing, motivate a crew, or perform assembly or critical repairs. It’s time to celebrate the blue-collar worker!

Ken Rusk is a blue-collar entrepreneur who runs Rusk Industries in Northwest Ohio. He is the author of the book Blue Collar Cash: Love Your Work, Secure Your Future, and Find Happiness for Life (Dey Street Books, July 28, 2020). See him at KenRusk.com KenRuskofficial on FB and Instagram.

Explainer: The Why and How of Disposing Electronic Waste

29/08/2020

Featured image: A scrap dealer piles up discarded TV sets before dismantling them at a scrap yard in Ahmedabad, India, July 2, 2020. Photo: Reuters/Amit Dave

SEJAL MEHTA

What do you do with your e-waste? The answers would possibly range across a wide spectrum – from ‘what is e-waste’, ‘office IT vendor’ and ‘collection boxes’ to ‘we just dump it in the dustbin’ or ‘hoard it in a cupboard.’ It would appear that disposing of e-waste effectively (or at all) is not a priority because, unlike our natural waste, it doesn’t really get in the way.

How much e-waste are we generating and why should we worry about it?

Simple answer: because we’re quickly reaching up to the brim with it.

According to a 2019 United Nations report, titled ‘A New Circular Vision For Electronics, Time for a Global Reboot’ consumers discard 44 million tonnes worth of electronics each year; only 20% is recycled sustainably.

The Global E-Waste Monitor 2020 shows that consumers discarded 53.6 million tonnes worth of electronics in 2019 globally, up 20% in 5 years.

India generated 3.2 million tonnes of e-waste last year, ranking third after China (10.1 million tonnes) and the US (6.9 million tonnes). Following the current growth rate of e-waste, an ASSOCHAM-EY joint report, titled ‘Electronic Waste Management in India’ estimated India to generate 5 million tonnes by 2021. The study also identified computer equipment and mobile phones as the principal waste generators in India.

With COVID-19 keeping people indoors, the usage is only getting higher; and without proper intervention, it is likely to be over 100 million tonnes by 2050.

Also read: Photo Story: How E-Waste Workers in Delhi Jeopardise Their Health to Earn a Living

What happens if we don’t recycle?

Two things – from dumpsters, it either goes to landfills or travels down in unregulated markets.

Ashley Delaney is Founder at Group TenPlus, a Goa company that manages the collection of electronic waste. “An ordinary circuit board from a mobile or laptop contains roughly 16 different metals,” says Delaney. “Most informal sectors will probably be able to retrieve a couple of metals and landfill the rest. Hazardous chemicals like mercury, which are used to extract these metals, leach into the soil, which will be damaged forever. If you find discarded batteries, tube lights, CFL bulbs, chances are the soil around them will be barren. Simply put – composting sites have fungus growing around it, despite being a ‘waste space’. But look around a dumpster, e-waste will ensure that nothing natural will grow around it, not even grass.”

Once the quantities increase, the leaching of metal finds its way to everything around that space, even food. When e-waste travels to our oceans in large quantities, it contaminates water with gaseous or liquid toxins, which we can’t even see. A study led by SRM University, Tamil Nadu, found that soil from informal electronic recycling sites that recover metals showed high levels of contamination across Mumbai, Delhi, Kolkata and Chennai.

Why should we recycle e-waste?

The point of extracting metals and plastic from e-waste is to use them towards making more electronics. This is not as easy as it seems. These metals are difficult to extract – the UN report puts the total recovery rates for cobalt at 30% (despite technology existing that could recycle 95%). It’s used for laptops, smartphones, and electric car batteries, and recycled metals are two to 10 times more energy-efficient than metals smelted from virgin ore. The way forward to ensuring a sustainable chain in manufacturing and recycling is to build effective reuse methods.

This is also vital because the key elements in most electronics – rare earth metals – aren’t exactly rare as their name suggests, but are definitely hard to obtain, at least locally. The latest forecasts show that e-waste’s global worth is around $62.5 billion annually, which is more than the GDP of most countries. It’s also worth three times the output of all the world’s silver mines.

Also read: ‘Unsustainable’: Global E-Waste Monitor Report Cites India’s Problem Among Others

Is my local kabadiwala (scrap dealer) a good option?

Short answer: no.

When you give your e-waste to an unauthorised waste-collector, you’re contributing to the chain of unregulated markets, which accounts for handling over 95% of e-waste generated in India. These markets attempt to extract metals from devices to sell them onward, but possibly with fewer skills per metal and the necessary safety standards.

“There are thousands of informal dismantling and recycling units – Dharavi in Mumbai, Meerut, Moradabad, Seelampur in Delhi, and many more,” says Pranshu Singhal, Founder, Karo Sambhav. “These spaces engage in open-air burning of wires to extract copper, use cyanide-based acid to extract metals – at great harm to themselves and the environment around them.”

Once they extract copper from a product –it finds its way back into the secondary market, whatever part of the world it might end up. The challenge primarily is the practices that are deployed.

A 2018 documentary Welcome to Sodom explores the almost dystopian, shocking world of the Agbogbloshie dump in Ghana, where life revolves around toxic waste, versus a hope of a healthier life. The site says, “Every year about 2,50,000 tons of sorted out computers, smartphones, air conditions tanks and other devices from a far away electrified and digitalised world end up here, shipped to Ghana illegally.”

Reports show that e-waste workers suffer from stress, headaches, shortness of breath, chest pain, weakness, and dizziness and even DNA damage. There is a body of research, the report cites, that shows “a significant risk of harm, especially to children who are still growing and developing. Individual chemicals in e-waste such as lead, mercury, cadmium, chromium, PCBs, PBDEs, and PAHs are known to have serious impacts on nearly every organ system.”

Dharavi is one of the top hubs in India for the informal recycling of e-waste. Studies have shown that even the water there is acidic and the fumes are causing health problems. As Delaney says, “Don’t go to a kabadiwala – you’re handing him a knife to either kill himself or someone else with it.”  

India generates about 3 million tonnes (MT) of e-waste annually and ranks third among e-waste producing countries, after China and the US. 

Photo: ITU/R.Zaveri/Flickr.PIN IT

What are India’s laws to manage e-waste?

India is the only country in Southern Asia with e-waste legislation, with laws to manage e-waste in place since 2011, mandating that only authorised dismantlers and recyclers collect e-waste. There are now 312 authorised recyclers in the country.

The E-waste (Management) Rules, 2016 (effective from October 2016) mandated collection targets and transferred responsibilities to the producers – Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR). This put the onus on the brands to ensure that waste was brought back in. These targets were relaxed in 2018.

Also read: Basel Convention’s Plastic Ban Amendment a New Step Against Waste Colonialism

Karo Sambhav’s Singhal understood the importance of early-stage success after the regulations were passed. The e-waste movement had begun finally in India and without quick effects, it would lose momentum. Having worked in the sustainability space before – at Nokia and with Thomas Lindquist (who coined the EPR concept), Singhal launched Karo Sambhav.

“We work with waste collectors and aggregators and help them get formalised – ensure everyone has pan cards, bank accounts and give invoices, and ensure that waste is traceable,” he said. This was also the time of demonetisation, GST – policies that pushed unregulated extractors to align themselves to a collection centre. As far as businesses were concerned, data sets, transaction records allowed transparency and a trail for the trajectory of e-waste.

Why don’t we see more outreach about recycling our waste?

While our conversations around sewage and garbage segregation are targeted and goal-oriented, the quiet crisis literally taking up 70% of our landfills gets very little talk time, especially from the brands themselves.

‘The idea behind the waste management rules was not just to ensure waste is collected and recycled responsibly but also that manufacturers start to include sustainable methods,” says Priti Mahesh, Chief Programme Officer at Toxics Link.

“Right now, the manufacturing chain is scattered – parts for an item come from one country, the battery from another, the assembly happens in a third. So even collection and extraction are a bit ambiguous and so is the financial cost. This system is flawed. The deposit refund scheme (where there is some refund on the return of a product) is available, but not mandated. In a price-sensitive market, with no penalties attached, a brand is unlikely to make a product more expensive to factor this cost in when a competitor won’t,” she added.

In the current setting, she says, it requires extra effort, costs and infrastructure for not much in return, so most brands are not ready to take financial responsibility. That leads to a dangerous loop. Consumers are met with enough advertising the world over that urges them to buy more, but how many brands are using ad space to remind you to be mindful of this global crisis?

According to Delaney, some brands avail of the deposit refund scheme, but don’t advertise it. “Say you return your car battery to the company and are delighted when they offer you Rs. 400 discount in exchange for a new one. What they’re not telling you is they’re refunding what is due to you; it is not a discount – but Indian jugaad.”

The solution lies in creating a circular economy of electronics, says a report from the World Economic Forum. The products need to be designed so that they can be reused, durable, and safe for recycling. The producers should also have buy-back or return offers for old equipment and plans to incentivise the consumer financially. The report also advocates a system of ‘urban mining’ by strengthening the extended producer responsibility provision.

What can a consumer do? The 4 R’s

Reuse: Use your gadgets for longer. The upgrade to a new electronic item should ideally happen for necessity, not style. If you’re okay to use second-hand electronics, do so.

Repair: Ensure repair policies exist. Ask for them.

Recycle:

Talk to the brand: The best and most effective longer-term situation, which might require some persistence on your part, is talking to the brand. The requests to some established brands for comments on this story were met with either silence or a refusal to comment. But if enough consumers ask for what practices are in place, it will become integrated in the way a brand communicates with us – through retail and advertising. Even if you buy at a mall, a chain, or a small retail store, ask what is the return/ recycle policy. If you don’t understand the answers, call the brand.

Most brands have collection details on their websites. Use them. Think beyond phones and laptops, be mindful of all electronics – batteries (car, gadget both), speakers, tubelights, it’s easy to throw these in the trash. Don’t.

Collection boxes: Even if you’re using collection boxes that brands have set up in the vicinity, call and ask what is happening to the waste in the bins.

Also read: How Are India’s Plastic Waste Imports Increasing?

Research: “I’d add one more R here – research,” says Suchismita Pai, Head of Outreach at Swach, Pune. “Almost everything is biodegradable in its own time. What you need to look for is something that is bio-compostable within a reasonable span of time. Check on the box of a new product for e-waste instructions. It’s always there, read it. Every manufacturer has a toll free number. Use it.”

Registered collection organisations: If you’re using registered organisations in your city, ask them about their methods, recyclers, and where the is waste going. A simple google search will yield results in your city, you can start with the ones in this story (Group TenPlus, Karo Sambhav, Swach, Toxic Links — and ask them for alternatives in your cities. Because, not every ISI marked product is authentic. A good brand will always have transparency.

But ultimately, brands will have to accept the onus of supporting customers through this. “Organisations like ours do collection drives, outreach campaigns, but ultimately our reach is limited,” says Singhal. “India is a country of billions. The brands that sell you the product have the largest presence. E-waste will need to be integrated into how brands communicate constantly with us in the future. India generated 3 million tonnes already and it will only rise exponentially.”

Singhal accepts that while we have already come a long way, these are early stages. India is far from establishing strong structures and maturity of processes in the business structure and that the need for high investment in recycling infrastructure is paramount. In the meantime, consumers can give e-waste as much attention as they would to their daily garbage. A mind-set shift might be the start of a circular vision.

This article was originally published on Mongabay.