Leadership Practices to Strengthen Virtual Team Cohesion

The business model of today is changing. Brick-and-mortar companies are slowly being replaced by virtual teams who operate with nothing but laptops, cell phones, cups of joe and chocolate filled croissants (sugar free, of course) in the nearest coffee shop.

If you’re a business founder, working virtually makes sense. There’s no overhead, you don’t have to worry about arriving late to the office (since there isn’t one) and when you replace full-time hires with individual contractors (1099s), you save yourself a ton of money in providing healthcare. However, there’s a flip side to this, an understated challenge that lurks below the surface of day-to-day activities: leadership. After all, if leadership is authentic self-expression that instills value in others so much that it compels them to act, how does one do this over Skype? 

Leading a team isn’t easy, and doing so remotely is much more difficult because now the human factor is absent. You have to fight to inject personality into the mix and remind the team that they are just that -- part of a T-E-A-M.

When leading a virtual team, your actions must be much more calculated because it’s easy to lose context through cyberspace. In other words, the message sent is not always the message received (how many “funny” texts have you sent that didn’t land?) so communication requires even more diligence. Communicating must become a habit.

If you’re leading a virtual team, keep these six practices in mind to strengthen team cohesion:

1. Focus on the process, then the goal

In a brick-and-mortar company, you have the luxury of stopping in colleagues offices, calling them on the phone or running into them at the coffee mess. Not so when a thousand miles apart. Just as you outline the tasks you want accomplished for the day, identify how you will communicate and with whom. The more video, the better, because it humanizes everyone involved.

2. Check in daily

I hate this saying, but it’s true: perception is reality. If you were to pit two hypothetical subordinates against each other where one checks in with you daily and the other every few days, the perception is that the former is working harder than the latter. However, the truth is you just don’t know.

To eliminate (or at least reduce) this cognitive bias, have each team member check in with you daily to state his or her tasks and what they’re tracking on. It's always better to over-communicate than to under-deliver.

3. Share objectives daily

Team members need to know how their individual behaviors align toward the overall objective(s). That way, they can make their own course corrections along the way without having the boss weigh in upon every decision. 

4. Post yesterday’s achievements

This is not to be confused with a forced ranking system. By posting yesterday’s accomplishments, each member can see how their own individual efforts map against everyone else’s. They can also see who needs help, because at the end of the day, success is being measured by what the team accomplishes, not individual merit. 

5. Have a weekly video teleconference

Despite the distance between teammates, you can still personalize communication through video teleconferencing (VTC). Host a weekly VTC just so team members can see each other’s mugs and make sure there is a human on the other end.

6. Don’t worry about motivation.

Yes, I said it. The question “how do you motivate people” has plagued researchers for decades. Here’s my take (take it for what it’s worth): Motivation, by definition, is the internal desire to succeed, which means you don’t motivate people -- they motivate themselves. What you can do, however, is immerse those people in the right environment that facilitates individual drive and talent.

Regards 
Mohammad Arif
Email: arif.aasia@gmail.com
Mobile:+91 9178075915

Hiring Next Generation Hydraulic Engineers,,,,,!

Technology is evolving faster than ever. As the industries adapts to ever-changing product and machine design, Majority of industries are counting on engineers to continue developing better ways to bring more productive, more efficient machines to market and new ideas to the industry.

As the industry evolves, roles that were once 100 percent mechanical are becoming more blended between mechanical and software or electronic roles. Twenty years ago, Industries looked mostly for traditional mechanical engineers; today, They increasingly looks for mechatronic engineers – those who possess strong skills not only in mechanical domain, but equally so in the embedded controls, software and electronics spaces to better serve the movement towards smarter machines.

This industry evolution has also seen the engineering profession transition from focusing primarily on the work behind the machines to serving as a knowledge resource for people and companies. Today’s engineers must have the technical know-how, but also be able to communicate, collaborate and work well in a team – especially with customers. An engineer with a great idea still needs group input and expertise to turn it into reality.

As much as a strong engineering education and effective communication skills will launch a career - the ability to continuously learn will keep it going. As engineers, we work to envision the future through our product plans and technology road maps, but where we will be 5 or 10 years from now is truly unknown. The ability to learn and adapt as the world becomes more dynamic and as technology changes more rapidly than ever is absolutely required for continued success.

New challenges and opportunities turn up every day, and an engineers must be able to build on what they know and use it to learn and create new solutions. Learning how to learn may sound silly, but it is critical as engineers drive the future of the industry 

While a master’s degree is not required in the hydraulic engineering space, it can serve as another step in this learning and growing process. Pursuing an advanced degree after completing undergraduate coursework further develops continuous learning habits and demonstrates a thirst for additional knowledge to potential employers. Whether a master’s degree is pursued immediately following a bachelor’s degree or after a few years of work experience is a personal choice, but an ambitious engineer should consider additional learning opportunities whenever needed. 

Hydraulic-specific educational opportunities are, unfortunately, hard to find. In the United States/European countries/ROW, undergraduate engineers rarely have the option to specialize in hydraulics and frequently only learn about fluid power as part of another class. It is nearly impossible to find a new graduate who already knows the ins and outs of hydraulics. Until more schools and universities provide these courses and training, young engineers pursuing hydraulics careers will need to be prepared to spend the first few years learning the fundamentals while executing projects.

As the hydraulics workforce ages and a large number of employees approach retirement eligibility, there is concern across engineering fields of an impending shortage of qualified engineers. An industry frequently perceived as old, dirty and stagnant, the hydraulics industry may be hit particularly hard as older workers retire and younger workers choose different fields of study. In response to this looming shortage of trained engineers, Industries should create Technical leadership development programs that allow new engineers to work with a mentor on a number of different projects that support them in developing a stronger specific knowledge-base of skills that will support the rapidly expanding hydraulics engineering industry.

When hiring new talent, not just look today, but look into the future. Will this person be able to learn and adapt? Do they aspire to grow beyond the currently available position, whether into management or into a deep technical expert? Do they possess the constant learning needed for success in science and technology fields?

Considering these questions, what can current students do to set themselves apart? First, seek real life experience. Whether through internships, co-op work programs or academic research projects, find a role that involves real products and solving real problems. Build something and test it in a lab – figure out how to make it work. Consider getting involved in student organizations that participate in design competitions. Whichever avenue you choose, find something that gives you first-hand experience delivering on a timeline and within a budget. These experiences help students making the transition from school to work – taking knowledge from the classroom and applying it to real life problems.

Ultimately, many of the technologies we have today were little more than 20 years ago. Who knows what opportunities and challenges we will have 20 years from now?

Today we see glimpses of the future in emerging technologies like wireless communications, pervasive sensing, advanced learning algorithms, additive manufacturing, and automated machine functions. It will be exciting to watch as the next generation of engineers drive the future of the industry, incorporating these advancements – and even newer technologies that have yet to be discovered, engineered and brought to market.

Thanks a Million

Arif Mohammad

Mob: +91 9178075915, Whatsapp:+353 86 781 9993, Skype: mohammed.arif2601

Arif Bio,,,,!

I am a global executive and Technology leader with great sense of business skill with more than 17 years of international experience in the industry.

I have started my career as an Engineer in leading company in India Wipro and moved up in ladder and became first young Engineering Manager, then  joined a larger USA corporation Terex as Senior Manager Engineering, contributed significantly towards the success of the start-up center in India and same time gained experience working with Terex globally. Worked with engineers in USA, Europe, China and Visited more than 100 hydraulic cylinder/component suppliers for evaluation and selection process to approve them for Terex as potential suppliers for hydraulic products and then moved to Ireland as Green card holder and joined Burnside as CTO, Now back India and joined back Wipro and playing multi functional role.

Hydraulic Cylinder Industry:

I can say now proudly that I am well conversant with hydraulic cylinder industry and its business, have good market intelligence on global hydraulic cylinder business, worked closely with products, understand the market, Worked both side of the coins, with OEMs and Cylinder manufacturer hence understand the product demands well, being a cost champion developed SMART costing, a purpose build hydraulic cylinder Should costing,  where a cost engineer can estimate what should be the cost of the cylinders, having work with various geographical location, helped me to build this unique costing tool.

Flexibility is my key strength and it advanced me in my career. I always believed, if you want to succeed, you have to be expert in something. I remember of started my hydraulic career as CAD design engineer, working with AutoCAD those days, way back 2000 and understanding a bit on product knowledge and developed interest on application, machines, materials and with no time in 5 years I became a young Engineering manager and since then no looking back. Today I enjoy holding many tags as Technology leader, Cost champion, Business development, NPD leader, CFT leader, Technology collaborator and many,,,,!

Challenges:

I had dream to do well in global hydraulic cylinder market. I started working with getting a professional engineering recognition from Engineering Counsel of United Kingdom, joined for Chartered Engineering (CEng) and hounred with this prestigious award in 2011. This was like dream cum true for me, and had many accolades from within industries. Then I worked for my Chartered Manager which I got awarded in 2012 from Charted Management Institute, well knows as CMI UK, the both the awards shaped my career afterwards!

Joining with Terex Global R&D center, India as a 1^st employee for the start-up center, believe me, it was not easy decision, I love challenges, and it’s my passion and decided it would be a good one to take it . Started the center with 2 direct employees and 40 service engineers and less than 4 years of time, moved to 200 employees supporting more than 20 Terex sites globally. It was like significant growth for the center, have been awarded with many accolades like Best employee of the year, Best cost saver, Global Asset, Collaborator etc.,,,,!

New Beginning in Ireland:

It was 2013 and I started a new beginning in Ireland where I moved with my family to join Burnside as Chief Technology officer (CTO).  It was the time when I was in peak of my career; I knew the journey would not be so rosy. I was the first professional senior leader from outside going to work directly with directors and functional leader, the company was mainly driven by skilled base and that was limited with few workers. I had broad spectrum of competencies which I wanted to capitalise as much as possible. It was great experience to work with them, my whole priority was to give a corporate touch and show them what a OEMs look in potential suppliers. Trust me, my first job to make a proper visiting card and corporate power point presentation which represents company value, brought up lots of systems, standard documents like Material specification, FMEA, NPD, Costing process, Design calculation etc.,,,,! It was new team, new culture, however Great journey to be with and Great success and satisfaction. I excelled what I did and organisation will cherish forever.

I believe on doing things differently, I mean adding value for the company thru process & products where it remains forever. It’s my moto and philosophy of work.

Engineering and Technology is my passion, when your work becomes your passion, then nothing can stop you…..! it’s my believe and I live with it.

Skills

My objective behind coming up with Bio,,, is to capture all my journey , expertise, and experience and bring them together so I can precisely make others understand.

Technical know-how: about 17 years of experience in the industries gave me extensive knowledge of Engineering. Selection of right material based on application, determining force flow within the material, calculation of various stress for components, tubes & rods , right choice of seal, suitable manufacturing process, many more,,,,,

Quality leader: have driven many quality programmes to improve product and process quality, ensuring all development tasks meet quality criteria through test planning, test execution, quality assurance and issue tracking. Ensure the team is focusing on process quality to reduce in process rejections. Keep raising the bar and standards of all the quality process with every project.

NPD leader: worked thru product development and developed NPPD process where every stage of the development reviewed thru defined process. The process involves from handing over from costing team until engineering sign off thru field and in house validation. A purpose build NPPD process developed for hydraulic cylinder development.

Benchmarking of products: the key to any new product development start with correct benchmarking process, a set of defined area to be looked for while carrying out benchmarking exercise.

Cost Champion: being a cost champion understands the costing of cylinders, developed SMART Costing, and designed for hydraulic cylinder. The beauty of SMART costing is, one can verify both technical and commercial both in this tool and moreover, the programme will throw key figures for comparison like price/kg, material cost % Vs Selling price, Manf. Cost % Vs selling price, previous cylinder selling price Vs current one,,,, many more. The overview sheet is like A4 sheet to be reviewed by Directors/Sr. sales leader without going thru detailed costing.

Material expert: My Design, Application and R&D background had developed interest and one step forward to understand material very closely, I could say today, for hydraulic cylinder business, I have gained tremendous material knowledge and treasured them for developing a better product. Not only material but material process selection to get desired properties. Developed 200 pages of Material book for Best cost countries. International working experience has helped to know materials equivalent in Europe, USA, and China.

Supply Chain: have worked very closely with suppliers of forgings, castings, tubes, rods in India, Korea, China, Europe, USA and developed supplier qualification process, gained expertise on cost for various commodities, tons of references of qualified suppliers for hydraulic cylinder business.

Supplier Audit: Have visited more than 100 hydraulic cylinder/component manufacturing companies around the world for assessment to choose the best for supply of cylinders. Developed ETM (Engineering, Testing and Manufacturing) process for carrying the audit for the supplier selection. It’s an extensive audit tool where one can assess supplier thoroughly.

Quality Check: Drawing quality check is my strength, understanding of GD&T, detailed design parameters, surface finish requirements are key for any good products. Have expertise on hydraulic detailed design check and review. Developed micro and macro level check sheet to run thru development at various stage of the development.

R&D activities: Success of new products heavily depends on many R&D activities, conceptualise many life cycle tests for hydraulic cylinders static, dynamic, pulsation, with side load, with artificial environment and many more…!

What I could Support/ play role:

·      Majority of the project success are depends on how successfully technical parts being handled, being multi skilled and in deep product knowledge, it will develop better confidence with customer and CFT team (engineering, sourcing and service team)

·       As I have lead many CFT team in the past, Integration of costing, sales and design team could be a great step towards making success story.

·       Have good application knowledge/Machines functions, so can guide team to have optimised design, “Design to Cost”

·  Work with sales/business development team on new market/new product/new geography

·        Develop new customer, support/joining hands with sales/business development team

·    Understand the cost structure of Europe, USA and India, could support sales and costing team globally

·       As a cost champion, I could add more value to the costing and micro analysis

· As I have seen many small, medium and large size hydraulic companies in Europe/USA/China, there is always possibility to tie up/M&A/JV with them, can support on this activities.

·  Have played key role on start-up, have good experience so could be an added advantage when it comes for starts up. I believe, every growth needs to have starts up, whether its product start-up/process start up or company

·    Oversee all technical feasibility of the RFQs before going to costing team/design team

Thanks a Million
Regards
Arif
Mob: +91 9178075915, Whatsapp: +353867819993, Skype: mohammed.arif2601

Are we ready to face EU REACH regulation???

What is REACH regulation?

Registration, Evaluation, Authorisation and Restriction of Chemicals (REACH) is a European Union regulation dated 18 December 2006. REACH addresses the production and use of chemical substances, and their potential impacts on both human health and the environment.

 For many years hard chrome plating (HCP) was an industrial standard process/mainstay of industrial coating for wear and corrosion protection, but due to the European REACH regulations the application of hard chrome plating will be highly regulated after 2017. So 2017 is not too far ! Depending heavily on HCP rods and safeguarding EU and US regulations mean chrome plating is incurring rising costs, extensive regulation and more paperwork. Under EU REACH, HCP use will be severely restricted and could be banned. A search has been led by the aerospace industry to find suitable alternatives.

 When it comes to hydraulic cylinder, hard chrome plating piston plays critical role for making cylinders and there is no doubt, its the best process available as on today, However the hexavalent chrome salts used to produce HCP pose extreme health and environmental hazards.

 A number of other alternatives to HCP are available including thermal spray, in particular high-velocity oxy-fuel (HVOF) and emerging processes such as electroless nickel composite plating, explosive bonding, electrodeposited nanocrystal line cobalt-phosphorus alloys and physical vapour deposition (PVD) coatings. To date, HVOF and other spray coatings have been considered the best available alternative to HCP. Though HVOF is available and used in critical application, it’s a complex process and needs more care, as it’s a spraying process, the microstructure depends on numerous factors hence highly skilled, automated booth required so more investment and process cost.

 Many researchers are working to come up with real time alternative to HCP which would be better and less complex, keep watching and look for Intelligence coating process which will meet critical technical requirements.

 Look for the following key technical parameters when selecting alternate process to HCP for piston rod for hydraulic cylinder

• Micro cracked coating- this will provide better lubrication,
• Do not go for crack free coat- not good for hydraulic cylinder piston rod
• Suitable coating thickness(25 micron ++)
• Hardness HV 850-1000
• No Wax after coating
• Look for uniform coating,
• Look for Rating 10 NSS/ASS/CASS
• Ask for SCAB (Simulated Corrosion Atmospheric Breakdown) tests according with EN ISO 11474

 Look for the following processes, they are going to be real time solution to HCP, and I called them Intelligence coating

• Nano crystalline cobalt-phosphorus ,  nCop
• Hardide
• AS3P

Thanks a Million
Regards
Arif Mohammad
Mob. +91 9178075915, Whatsapp: +353 86 781 9993, Skype: mohammed.arif2601