Helmet Color Code

Helmet Color Code

Color	Image	For
White		Managers, Engineers, Supervisors and F oremen
Blue

Electricians, Carpenters and other technical operators apart from civil workers GreenSafety Officers RedFire Fighters YellowLaborers BrownWelders and workers with high heat application GreySite Visitors

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Safety Signs, Symbols and Colour Codes – a simple guide

A safety and/or health sign is ‘information or instruction about health and safety at work on a signboard, a colour, an illuminated sign or acoustic signal, a verbal communication or hand signal.’  These terms are all detailed in guidance to the regulations.


Colour

	Meaning or Purpose	Instruction & Information	Intrinsic Features	Example
RED	Prohibition/Danger alarm	Dangerous behaviour; stop; shutdown; emergency cut-out devices; evacuate	Round shape; black pictogram on white background; red edging and diagonal line; red part to be at least 35% of the area of the sign
YELLOW or AMBER	Warning	Be careful; take precautions; examine	Triangular shape; black pictogram on yellow background with black edging; yellow part to be at least 50% of the area of the sign
BLUE	Mandatory	Specific behaviour or action e.g. wear personal protective equipment	Round shape; white pictogram on blue background; blue part to be at least 50% of the area of the sign
GREEN	Emergency escape; first aid. No danger	Doors; exits; escape routes equipment and facilities Return to normal	Rectangular or square shape; white pictogram on green background; green part to be at least 50% of the area of the sign
RED (fire-fighting signs)	Fire fighting equipment	Identification & location	Rectangular or square shape; white pictogram on red background; red part to be at least 50% of the area of the sign

Work Aprons

National colour coding scheme

for

hospital cleaning materials and equipment

Red

Bathrooms, washrooms,

showers, toilets, basins

and bathroom floors

Blue

General areas including

wards, departments, offices

and basins in public areas

Green

Catering departments, ward

kitchen areas and patient

food service at ward level

Yellow

Isolation are

Helmet Color Code

Helmet Color Code

Color	Image	For
White		Managers, Engineers, Supervisors and Foremen
Blue		Electricians, Carpenters and other technical operators apart from civil workers
Green		Safety Officers
Red		Fire Fighters
Yellow		Laborers
Brown		Welders and workers with high heat application
Grey		Site Visitors

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BOILER (ENGINEERING DESIGN GUIDELINE

INTRODUCTION

Scope

This guideline provides guidance in how to design a boiler. This design guideline can
assist engineers to understand the basic design of boiler with a suitable size, material and
heat of combustion.
The choice of boiler and distributor design is crucial to give the best performance of
boiler. Good performance of boiler is influenced by the maximum the heat absorbed and
minimum heat loss. The design of boiler may be influenced by factors, including process
requirements, economics and safety. All the important parameters use in the guideline
are explained in the definition section which help the reader more understand the
meaning of the parameters or the term used.
The theory section explains how to calculate sizing and selection of a boiler. This
guideline helps the reader to understand about heat balance concept. The application of
the boiler theory with the examples will make the engineer understand boiler
fundamentals and then be ready to perform the actual design of the boiler.

General Design Consideration

A boiler is any closed vessel in which for any purpose, steam is generated under pressure
that is greater than atmospheric pressure. It includes any economizer used to heat to the
water fed to the boiler, any super heater used for heating steam, and any pipes and fitting
connected to the equipment.
The boiler system comprises of a feed water system, steam system and fuel system. The
feed water system provides water to the boiler and regulates it automatically to meet the
steam demand. The steam system collects and controls the steam produced in the boiler.
Steam is directed through a piping system to the point of use. Steam pressure is
regulated using valves and checked with steam pressure gauges. The fuel system
includes all equipment used to provide fuel to generate the necessary heat.
There are several different chemical approaches used to treat boilers and their
selection and performance depend upon many factors. Some of these include:

1. Feed water characteristics.
2. The type and reliability of external treatment.
3. Boiler type.
4. Boiler pressure and heat flux.
5. Steam load and variations in load.
6. Waterside condition of the boiler and current and long-term goals of the program
such as cleaning up scale or maintaining present conditions.
7. Steam purity requirements.
8. Regulatory restrictions such as FDA requirements, other health and safety
concerns, or process restrictions.
9. Feed, testing, and control needs or restrictions.
10. Economic considerations.
11. Boiler room layout and number of boilers.

Boilers can be classified by several criteria

1. Utilization - is utilized to produce steam for electrical power generation. Normally
have large capacity, high steam parameters, and high boiler efficiency. There are two
type boilers: industrial boiler and marine boilers.
a. Industrial Boiler is utilized to produce steam for electrical power generation.
Normally have large capacity, high steam parameters, and high boiler efficiency.
b. Marine Boiler is utilized as a source of motive power for ships. Normally compact
general shape, lighter general weight, and mostly fuel oil fired.

2. Steam / Water Circulation.
a. Natural Circulation Boiler – the circulation of the working fluid in the evaporating
tube is produced by the difference in density between the steam / water mixture in
the risers and water in the down comers.
b. Forced Multiple Circulation Boilers – the circulation of the working fluid in the
evaporating tube is forced by means of a circulating pump included in the
circulation circuit.
c. Once Though Boiler – no drum, the working fluid passes through the evaporating
tubes only under the action of the feed water pump.
d. Combined Circulation Boiler – the system includes a pump, back pressure valve,
and a mixer in the circuit. At starting the back pressure valve is opened and the
boiler operates as a forced multiple circulation boiler.

3. Pressure
a. Low to medium pressure (< 10 Bar) – used as industrial boilers, normally has
natural circulation.
b. High pressure (10 – 14 Bar) – used as utility boilers, normally has natural
circulation
c. Super high pressure boilers ( > 17 Bar) – used as utility, can be natural or forced
circulation. The prevention of film boiling and high temperature corrosion should
be considered.d. Supercritical pressure boilers (> 22.1 Bar) – used as utility boiler with large
capacity once through or combined circulation. The prevention of film boiling and
high temperature corrosion should be considered.

4. Heat Source
a. Solid Fuel Fired Boiler – Typically low cost. The components of fuel and the
characteristics of the ash are important factor for boiler design.
b. Fuel Oil Fired Boiler – Has higher flue gas velocity and smaller furnace volume.
c. Gas Fired Boiler – Natural Gas is utilized with higher flue gas velocities and
smaller furnace volumes.
d. Waste Heat Boiler - Utilizing waste heat from any industrial process as the heating
source.
 
5. Tube Layout
a. Fired Tube Boiler – Flue of hot gas is flowing inside the tubes. Water is contained
inside the shell. Normally for small capacity boilers.
Fired tube boilers consist of a series of straight tubes that are housed inside a
water-filled outer shell. The tubes are arranged so that hot combustion gases flow
through the tubes. As the hot gases flow through the tubes, they heat the water
surrounding the tubes. The water is confined by the outer shell of boiler. To avoid
the need for a thick outer shell fired tube boilers are used for lower pressure
applications. Generally, the heat input capacities for fired tube boilers are limited
to 50 mbtu per hour or less, but in recent years the size of fired tube boilers has
increased.
Fired tube boilers typically have a lower initial cost, are more fuel efficient and are
easier to operate, but they are limited generally to capacities of 25000 kg/h and
pressures of 17.5 kg/cm2
b. Water Tube Boiler – Water is flowing inside the tubes. Flue or hot gas is flowing
inside the furnace or shell. Normally this is for large capacity boilers.
Water tube boilers are designed to circulate hot combustion gases around the
outside of a large number of water filled tubes. The tubes extend between an upper header, called a steam drum, and one or lower headers or drums. Because
the pressure is confined inside the tubes, water tube boilers can be fabricated in
larger sizes and used for higher-pressure applications.
Typically, the tubes should be greater than 5 mm in diameter and should be space
so as to allow plenty of room for a flame path between them. Increasing the
number of tubes may not increase the boiler's ability to generate steam. The inner
surface of the outer casing is insulated with a ceramic sheet.
Most modern water boiler tube designs are within the capacity range 4,500 –
120,000 kg/h of steam, at very high pressures. Many water tube boilers are of
“packaged” construction if oil and /or gas are to be used as fuel. Solid fuel fired
water tube designs are available but packaged designs are less common. The
features of water tube boilers are:
• Forced, induced and balanced draft provisions help to improve combustion
efficiency.
• Less tolerance for water quality calls for water treatment plant.
• Higher thermal efficiency levels are possible.

6. Boiler Layout.
 There are three basic designs: A, D and O type. The names are
derived from the general shapes of the tube and drum arrangements. All have steam
drums for the separation of the steam from the water, and one or more mud drums for
the removal of sludge.
a. Type A - have two mud drums symmetrically below the steam drum. Drums are
each smaller than the single mud drums of the type D or O. Bottom blows should
not be undertaken at more than 80% of the rated steam load in these boilers.
Bottom blow refers to the required regular blow down from the boiler mud drums
to remove sludge and suspended solids.
b. Type D is the most flexible design. They have a single steam drum and a single
mud drum, vertically aligned. The boiler tubes extend to one side of each drum.
Generally have more tube surface exposed to the radiant heat than other designs.
c. Type O - have a single steam drum and a single mud drum. The drums are directly
aligned vertically with each other, and have a roughly symmetrical arrangement of
riser tubes. Circulation is more easily controlled, and the larger mud drum design
renders the boilers less prone to starvation due to flow blockage, although burner
alignment and other factors can impact circulation.

7. Packaged Boiler.
 It comes as a complete package. Once delivered to the site, it
requires only the steam, water pipe work, fuel supply and electrical connections to be
made for it to become operational. Packaged boilers are generally of shell type with
fire tube design so as to achieve high heat transfer rates by both radiation and
convection. The features of packaged boilers are:
• Small combustion space and high heat release rate resulting in faster evaporation.
• Large number of small diameter tubes leading to good convective heat transfer.
• Forced or induced draft systems resulting in good combustion efficiency.
• Number of passes resulting in better overall heat transfer.
• Higher thermal efficiency levels compared with other boilers.
 
Parts of Boilers
 
Boilers equipment consists of drums, shell, headers, tubes, baffles and economizer.
Below are discuses those parts.

1. Drums, shell and headers

Boiler drums, shells or header are used to collect steam or hot water generated in the
boiler and distributes it as necessary within the boiler tubes. These components must be
strong enough to contain the steam that is generated and to mechanically hold the boiler
tubes as they expand and contract with changes temperature. The shells of fire tubes
boilers may be reinforced by the use of stays to hold the boiler heads in place. These
components are generally fabricated with welded seams and connections.
 
2. Boiler Tubes

Boiler tubes carry water, steam, or flue gases through he boiler. Boiler tubes are installed
by expanding or welding them into seats in the drums or headers. The ex pander is
slipped into the end of the tube; it consists of a tapered pin which fits into a cagecontaining small rollers. The pin is turned with a wrench or motor, forcing the rollers out
against the tube and simultaneously moving into the tube.
 
3. Baffles

Baffles are thin walls or partitions installed in water tube boilers to direct the flow of gases
over the heating surface in the desired manner. The number and position of baffles have
an effect on boiler efficiency. A leaking baffle permits gases to short circuit through the
boiler. Heat which should have been absorbed by the water is then dissipated and lost
further more tube may be damaged. Baffles maybe made of iron castings, a sheet metal
strips, brick, tile, or plastic refractory. Provision must be made to permit movement
between baffle and setting walls while still maintaining a gas tight seal.

4. Gage glass, Gage cocks.

Each boiler must have at least one water gage glass. If the operating pressure is 400 psig
or greater, two gage glasses are required on the same horizontal line. Each gage glass
must have a valve drain, and the gage glass and pipe connections must not be less than
½ inch pipe size. The lowest visible part of the gage glass must be at least 2 inches
above the lowest permissible water level, which is defined as the lowest level at which
there is no danger of overheating any part of the boiler during operation. For horizontal
fire tube boilers the age glass is set to allow at least 3 inches of water over the highest
point of the tubes, flues, or crown sheet at its lowest reading. A valve drains to some safe
discharge point.
Each boiler must have three or more gage or try cocks located within the visible length of
the gage glass. Gage cocks are used to check the accuracy of the boiler water level as
indicated by the gage glass. They are opened by hand wheel, chain wheel, or lever, and
are closed by hand, a weight, or a spring. The middle cock is usually at the normal water
level of the boiler, the other two are spaced equally above and below it. Spacing depends
on the size of the boiler.

5. Sootblowers

A sootblower is a device which is designed to blast soot and ash away from the walls of a
furnace or similar piece of equipment. Sootblowers operate at set intervals, with a
cleaning cycle that can vary in length, depending on the device and the size of theequipment which needs to be cleaned. Soot blowers function to keep combustion
particles from sticking to boiler tube banks within the boiler tower.
The basic principle of the soot blower is the cleaning of heating surfaces by multiple
impacts of high pressure air, steam or water from opposing nozzle orifices at the end of a
translating-rotating tube. A traveling lance with nozzle jets penetrates the narrow
openings in the boiler tube banks to blast the tubes clean. The tubes must be kept clean
to allow optimum boiler output and efficiency. A common application at oil, coal or multifuel
source power plants is retractable or rotary soot blowers
The primary elements of the typical soot blower should be:
(1) A nozzle-especially selected for each application.
 (2) A means to convey the nozzle-conveying mechanism includes the lance tube, carriage and drive motor.
(3) A means to supply blowing medium into the nozzle-poppet valve, feed tube, packing gland and lance tube.
 (4) A means to sup-port and contain the lower component -- a canopy type beam with a two-point
suspension.
(5) Con-trols-integral components protected by the beam to control the blowing cycle and supply power to the drive motor.

6. Economizer

Economizers are used to recover heat from the boiler flue gases and thereby increase
boiler efficiency. The heat absorbed by economizer is transferred to the boiler feedwater
flowing through the inside of the economizer tubes. Continuous tube construction is
common. Bare tubes are used for coal fired boilers and fin tubes or extended surface for
gas and oil fired units. Extended surface on natural gas fired boiler may use up to 9 fins/in
and for heavy oil fired 2 fins/in.
Economizers are usually arranged with gas flow down and water flow up that helps to
avoid water hammer. Economizers should be equipped with three valve bypass on the
water side to allow bypassing water at low boiler loads and minimize economizers
corrosion.
Stacks or chimneys are necessary to discharge the products of combustion at a
sufficiently high elevation to prevent nuisance due to low-flying smoke, soot, and ash. A
certain amount of draft is also required to conduct the flue gases through the furnace,
boiler, tubes, economizers, air heaters, and dust collectors, and the stack can help to
produce part of this draft. The height of the stack necessary to:

a. Stack construction. Stacks are built of steel plate, masonry, and reinforced
concrete. Caged ladders should be installed. All stack guys should be kept clear of
walkways and roads and, where subject to hazardous contact, should be properly
guarded. Stacks are provided with means of cleaning ash, soot, or water from their
base, the means depending mainly of the size of the stack.

b. Flues and ducts. Flues are used to interconnect boiler outlets, economizers, air
heaters, and stack. Ducts are used to interconnect forced-draft fans, air heaters,
and wind boxes or combustion air plenums. Flues and ducts are usually made of
steel. Expansion joints are provided to allow for expansion and contraction. All
flues or ducts carrying heated air or gases should be insulated to minimize
radiation losses. Outside insulation is preferred for its maintainability. Flues and
ducts are designed to be as short as possible, free from sharp bends or abrupt
changes in cross-sectional area and of adequate cross-sectional area to minimize
draft loss at the design flow rates.

A boiler must meet operational safety; generation of clean steam or hot at the desired
rate, pressure, and temperature; economy of operation and maintenance; and
conformance to applicable codes. To meet these requirements, a boiler must have the
following characteristic

1. Adequate water or steam capacity
2. Properly sized steam / water separators for steam boilers
3. Rapid, positive, and regular water circulation
4. Heating surfaces which are easy to clean on both water and gas sides
5. Parts which are accessible for inspection and repair
6. Correct amount land proper arrangement of heating surface
7. A furnace of proper size and shape for efficient combustion and for directing the
flow of gases for efficient heat transfer

General rules for boiler (energyefficiencyasia.org)
 
1. 5% reduction in excess air increases boiler efficiency by 1% (or 1% reduction of
residual oxygen in stack gas increases boiler efficiency by 1%).
2. 22 °C reduction in flue gas temperature increases the boiler efficiency by 1%.
3. 6 °C rise in feed water temperature brought about by economizer/condensate
recovery corresponds to a 1% savings in boiler fuel consumption.
4. 20 °C increase in combustion air temperature, pre-heated by waste heat recovery,
results in a 1% fuel saving.
5. A 3 mm diameter hole in a pipe carrying 7 kg/cm2 steam would waste 32,650 litres
of fuel oil per year.
6. 100 m of bare steam pipe with a diameter of 150 mm carrying saturated steam at 8
kg/cm2 would waste 25 000 litres furnace oil in a year.
7. 70% of heat losses can be reduced by floating a layer of 45 mm diameter
polypropylene (plastic) balls on the surface of a 90 °C hot liquid/condensate.
8. A 0.25 mm thick air film offers the same resistance to heat transfer as a 330 mm
thick copper wall.
9. A 3 mm thick soot deposit on a heat transfer surface can cause a 2.5% increase in
fuel consumption.
10. A 1 mm thick scale deposit on the waterside could increase fuel consumption by 5
to 8%.
 
Boilers are equipped with safety devices to minimize the risk of low water and explosion
related damage. A typical oil or gas fired boiler safety control system includes the
following components:
 
1. Low water fuel cutoff switch
2. High steam pressure or high water temperature switch
3. Flame scanner
4. Gas supply high pressure switch
5. Gas supply low pressure switch
6. Combustion air flow switch
7. Purge air flow switches
8. Fuel safety shutoff valves with closed-position switches
9. Fuel control valves with low-fire position switch.
10. Manual valves , cocks, strainers, and traps
11. Atomizing steam or air switch(es)
12. Atomizing steam or air shutoff and control valves
13. Low oil pressure switch
High furnace pressure switch ( for boiler with induce draft fans)
14. Fan motor switch(es)
15. Control logic.

DEFINITIONS

Ash – Incombustible matter in fuel

Baffle – A plate or wall for deflecting gases or liquids

Boiler Horse Power (BHP) – The evaporation of 34 ½ pounds of water per hour from a
temperature of 212F into dry saturated steam at the same temperature. Equivalent to
33.472 Btu/h

Burner – A device for the introduction of fuel and air into a furnace at the desired velocities, turbulence and concentration to establish and maintain proper ignition and combustion of the fuel.

Bypass – A passage for a fluid, permitting a portion or all of the fluid to flow around certain heat absorbing surfaces over which it would normally pass.
 
Blow down - The removal of some quantity of water from the boiler in order to achieve an acceptable concentration of dissolved and suspended solids in the boiler water.

Coal – Solid hydrocarbon fuel formed by ancient decomposition of woody substance under conditions of heat and pressure.

Combustion – The rapid chemical combination of oxygen with the combustible elementsof a fuel resulting in the production of heat.

Continuous Blowdown – The uninterrupted removal of concentrated boiler water from a boiler to control total solids concentration in the remaining water.

Control, Safety – Control (including relays, switches, and other auxiliary equipment used in conjunction therewith to form a safety control system ) which are intended to prevent unsafe operation of the controlled equipment.

Corrosion – The wasting away of metals due to chemical action in a boiler usually caused by the presence of oxygen, carbon dioxide, or an acid.

Damper – A device for introducing a variable resistance for regulating the volumetric flow of gas or air.

Drum – A cylindrical shell closed at both ends design to withstand internal pressure.
 
Drum Head – A plate closing the end of a boiler drum or shell.
 
Dry Steam - Either saturated or superheated steam containing no moisture
 
Economizer – A heat recovery device designed to transfer heat of the products of
combustion to boiler feed water.
 
Excess air - The extra air supplied to the burner beyond the air required for complete
combustion. Excess air is supplied to the burner because a boiler firing without sufficient
air or “fuel rich” is operating in a potentially dangerous condition.
 
Feed water – Water introduced into a boiler during operation. It includes make-up and
return condensate.
 
Feed water Treatment – The treatment of boiler feed water by the addition of chemicals
to prevent the formation of scale or eliminate other objectionable characteristics.
 
Flue gas temperature - The temperature of the combustion gases as they exit the boiler.
The flue gas temperature must be a proven value for the efficiency calculation to be
reflective of the true fuel usage of the boiler.
 
Fuel – A substance containing combustible matter, and used for generating heat.

Gage Pressure – The pressure above atmospheric pressure.

Gross calorific value (GCV) - The amount of heat liberated by the complete combustion,
under specified conditions, by a unit volume of a gas or of a unit mass of a solid or liquid
fuel, in the determination of which the water produced by combustion of the fuel is
assumed to be completely condensed and its latent and sensible heat made available.
 
Heat Balance – An accounting of the distribution of the heat input and output.

Lagging – A covering, usually metallic to protect insulating material, on boiler, pipes or
ducts.

Leakage – The uncontrolled quantity of fluid which enters or leaves through the enclosure
of air or gas passage.

Make-Up – The water added to boiler feed to compensate for that lost through exhaust,
blow down, leakage, etc.

Nozzle – A short flanged or welded neck connection on a drum or shell for the outlet or
inlet of fluids; also projecting spout for the outlet or inlet of fluids; also a projecting spout
through which a fluids flow.
 
Saturated Steam – Steam at the pressure corresponding to its saturation temperature.
 
Sediment – Matter in water which is in suspension and can be removed by gravity or
mechanical means. Non-Combustible solid matter which settles out at the bottom of an oil
tank; a small percentage is present in residual fuel oils.
 
Soot Blower – A mechanical device for discharging steam or air to clean heat absorbing
surfaces.

Stack – A vertical conduit to discharge combustion products to the atmosphere.

Steam – The vapor phase of water substantially unmixed with other gases.

Superheat – To raise the temperature of steam above its saturation temperature, the
temperature must be in excess of its saturation temperature.

Superheated Steam – Steam at a higher temperature than its saturation temperature.

Saturated steam: It is the steam, whose temperature is equal to the boiling point
corresponding to that pressure.

Stack temperature is a measure of the heat carried away by dry flue gases and the
moisture loss. It is a good indicator of boiler efficiency.

Tube – A hollow cylinder for conveying fluids.

Turndown - The ability of the boiler to achieve a wide range (from low to high) of output.
The higher the turndown the wider the range of output capabilities.

Wet Steam - Saturated steam which contains moisture

 

Demonetisation nightmare

The effects of what is commonly known as demonetisation are now fully playing out. But what we get to see is the impact in the proximate areas – largely the urban centres where the media has been able to reach out.

As time passes, we will begin to see how agricultural markets are collapsing, trucks are getting stranded and economic activity is slowing down. We are told that this is okay, we need to bear this in the interest of the nation. This argument is false for a large part. While it may affect people having unaccounted wealth, it disproportionately affects the honest tax payer.

The importance of currency is in its fungibility or interchangeability. All other assets are specific assets – they have a way of identifying ownership. From a mobile phone to a motorbike, there are identity markers that establish the ownership of the asset. Currency is owned by the bearer, which gives it the nature of fungibility. The sudden move by the government is making a fungible asset into a specific asset, even if it is for a short period, by identifying currency with the bearer’s identity and income. The ridiculous act of applying indelible ink on somebody who has swapped old currency with the new ones undermines the basic nature of currency. There is a difference between income, which is to be accounted and taxed, and holding of currency, which is a medium of transaction.

By making each citizen to stand in the queue and asking them to account for currency and prove that this holding is a result of a legitimate means is as ridiculous as taking a declaration from each driver that s/he has not jumped any signal while driving. The currency bears the promise of the government. This move has broken that promise – the promise to pay the bearer a sum written on the currency and signed by the RBI governor.

The government is now the biggest defaulter in the country for not honouring the promise, even if it is for a brief time. A loan that is not repaid when it is due is a default. The RBI is defaulting on its promise by not paying the bearer the amount. It is bad enough not to honour that commitment for a brief period on the currency, but to deny access to what is obviously “accounted” money kept in a demandable deposit in the bank in a form that is convenient to the customer is evil, sinister and immoral.

Let us for a moment assume that people who voluntarily stand in the queue for movie tickets, in temples for ‘darshan’ or for a bottle of alcohol should be willing to stand in the line to get their own money to wear a badge of patriotism and nation building. The question is: How long? When do I earn my badge of patriotism and nation building?

For anybody doing elementary math, the dimensions of the crisis should have been evident from the word go. There are two aspects to the preparation that was needed to be handled for an operation of this size: Was the replacement currency printed and adequately in stock to be released into circulation? Was the network and logistics ready to handle this in the shortest possible time?

The answer on both the counts is a resounding ‘no’. Saumitra Chaudhuri, former member of the erstwhile Planning Commission, has shown calculations to indicate that the printing and distribution could take all the way up to May 2017 to replace the stock that was removed with a single announcement. Is six months a fair period to stand in queue for demonstrating our patriotism? And at the end, do we actually get the denominations that are liquid enough to carry on the day-to-day transactions?

The distribution logistics – assuming the currency supply is in place – is currently working to full capacity and breaking down. We can see this at bank branches and ATMs.

The government machinery surely was not ready to launch this “surgical strike”. Assuming that there is enough supply of currency, just the replacement of the massive amount of currency would take four months in the least – a figure that can be easily calculated based on the first few weeks’ performance numbers put out by the banks. This is a terrible implementation strategy.

Effects of bad planning

And the effects of bad planning and implementation are there for everyone to see. There have been deaths. The agricultural sector, which has been reeling from consecutive droughts, is going to see a man-made disaster. Farmers are unable to sell their produce and the trucks are unable to transport the stocks. This has implications on food availability and food prices in the medium term.

While celebrating the opening of Jan Dhan accounts, the financial inclusion drives and technology roll out, all of which were helping the poor, we suddenly find that a migrant worker is unable to deposit money in his wife/father/brother’s account because a cash deposit to another account has to be accompanied by an authorisation.

The cash stashed away by a poor housewife is struggling to find an outlet because she does not have identity papers or a bank account. The government is at a loss and it is evident in its constant flip flop. Finance Minister Arun Jaitley said that the limit of Rs 4,500 for exchange of currency across the counter was not a one-time limit, but because of logistics, the banks may choose to make it a one-time limit. The next we hear is that it is indeed a one-time limit to be identified with indelible ink. Then the limit is reduced to Rs 2,000.

Now, we hear that petrol pumps will dispense cash against swiping of debit cards, a good move because it addresses, though minimally, the distributional logistics. While all this can be tinkered on a day-to-day basis, it does not address the basic problem – that there is not enough currency to circulate. Secrecy was the word and the weapon used by the government to justify the mess. Now, we know that the veil of secrecy ensured that there was no sane advise or inputs to the decision makers. No wonder the situation is in a mess.

The shortage of currency and the resultant mess is turning out to be an opportunity for operators and touts to cash in on the asymmetry reigning in the market place. Is the current `surgical strike’ providing opportunities for generating further unaccounted income? That is the worst irony.

(The writer is a visiting faculty at the Centre for Public Policy, IIM-Bangalore)

The demonetisation

Falling sales since demonetisation has alarmed CEOs, who want to save cash till the economy recovers.
The Indian corporate sector, looking forward to a rate cut on Wednesday, is facing a double whammy of high interest rates and falling sales due to demonetisation.
Chief executive officers said they would now wait to take investment decisions till the economy improves, by April next year.
"The credit policy comes in the most unusual of circumstances and the Reserve Bank of India's decision to keep rates unchanged reflects all the current uncertainties. The US Fed's pending decision and the OPEC (Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries) meeting seems to have weighed in heavily, beside the unprecedented effect of demonetisation," said Harsh Goenka, chairman, RPG Enterprises.
"A rate cut, however, is not too far off, as it becomes increasingly unavoidable with inflation being contained and a lot of cash within the banking system. I would expect it to happen sooner than later,” Goenka added.
Harsh Mariwala, chairman of consumer products maker Marico, said a rate cut would have acted as a balancing factor at a time when consumer and retail activity has been impacted due to demonetisation.
"It will now be a slow process of recovery as remonetisation pans out," he said.
The demonetisation of Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 notes came at a wrong time for the private sector, which wasn't investing in new projects anyway.
Falling sales since demonetisation in the past one month has alarmed CEOs, who want to save cash till the economy recovers.
The real estate, advertising and consumer durables sectors, and two-wheelers, cars and tractor sales are the worst hit.
Rakesh Biyani, joint managing director, Future Retail, said as so much money had gone out of the system, it had become a worrying factor.
"I hope the government would give some stimulus to boost demand," he said.
CEOs of real estate companies, who were expecting a rate cut of 25 to 50 basis points, are a disappointed lot.
"It is a disappointment for all the industries including real estate. For developers to cut prices, their cost of funding should come down first," said Rajeev Talwar, CEO at DLF, the country's largest developer.
The RBI's decision (of not cutting rates) will accentuate the liquidity conditions of property developers, barring a few large ones, Talwar said.
"Most of the small- and medium-sized companies have already asked for restructuring of their loans," he said.
Niranjan Hiranandani, managing director, Hiranandani Communities, said things were not looking up anyway for the sector and the RBI's decision wasn't going to help the sector.
"The RBI governor was saying they have cut rates by 175 basis points, but banks have not passed on the rates. The realty sector needs a booster," Hiranandani added.
"A rate cut could have been encouraging at this moment," Shishir Baijal, chairman & managing director, Knight Frank India, said. "It is disappointing that the RBI decided against it. We were expecting a 25-basis point cut, which could have given an impetus to the beleaguered real estate sector."

PATENT REGISTRATION IN INDIA (STEP BY STEP)

If you are filing patent on your own, without help from patent agent, then it can cost much lesser as only fees you are paying is government fees for patent filing and prosecution.

Here is how you will need charges as per stages in patent filing. We are assuming you have hired a patent professional in helping you with patent filing, which is recommended and makes this all patenting efforts worthwhile with his experience and expertise in techno-legal writing.

Stage 1: invention disclosure

This is initial phase when you disclose your invention to the patent professional (patent agent) by signing a Non disclosure agreement. Here you should submit each know fact about your invention, description diagrams and experimental results (if any). Hold nothing back.

Stage 2: Novelty search (patentability search)  

The professional charges at this phase range from (Rs 10,000 to Rs.20,000 )

In this phase, patent professional performed an extensive search for prior art in all possible databases for patent, articles, thesis etc... And builds a patentability search report based on closest prior art found for your invention.

Stage 3: Decide to file patent application

On reviewing the patentability search report and discovered closest prior arts for your invention you can take a decision whether to go ahead with patent application filing.

Your invention needs to have “inventive step” as compared with existing prior art to be able to qualify for a patent. The inventive step is achieved when your invention has either ‘technical advance’ or ‘economic significance’ or both over existing prior arts.

When you decide to go ahead with patent filing next step is writing patent application also called as patent drafting.

demonetization - Impact

 Prime Minister Narendra Modi handpicked a trusted bureaucrat, little known outside India’s financial circles, to spearhead a radical move to abolish 86% of the country’s cash overnight and take aim at the huge shadow economy.
Hasmukh Adhia, the bureaucrat, and five others privy to the plan were sworn to utmost secrecy, say sources with knowledge of the matter. They were supported by a young team of researchers working in two rooms at Modi’s New Delhi residence, as he plotted his boldest reform since coming to power in 2014.
When announced, the abolition of high-value banknotes of Rs500 and Rs1,000 came as a bolt from the blue.
The secrecy was aimed at outflanking those who might profit from prior knowledge, by pouring cash into gold, property and other assets and hide illicit wealth.
Previously unreported details of Modi’s handling of the so-called “demonetisation” open a window onto the hands-on role he played in implementing a key policy, and how he was willing to act quickly even when the risks were high.
While some advocates say the scrapping of the banknotes will bring more money into the banking system and raise tax revenues, millions of Indians are furious at having to queue for hours outside banks to exchange or deposit their old money.
Labourers have also been unpaid and produce has rotted in markets as cash stopped changing hands. Not enough replacement notes were printed in preparation for the upheaval, and it could take months for things to return to normal.
With India’s most populous state, Uttar Pradesh, holding an election in early 2017 that could decide Modi’s chances of a second term in office, there is little time for the hoped-for benefits of his cash swap to outweigh short-term pain.

Credit: http://www.livemint.com

Modi has staked his reputation and popularity on the move.
“I have done all the research and, if it fails, then I am to blame,” Modi told a cabinet meeting on 8 November shortly before the move was announced, according to three ministers who attended.

Direct line to Modi

Overseeing the campaign, with support from the backroom team camped out at Modi’s sprawling bungalow in the capital, was Adhia, a top finance ministry official.
The 58-year-old served as principal secretary to Modi from 2003-06 when he was chief minister of Gujarat state, establishing a relationship of trust with his boss and introducing him to yoga.
Colleagues interviewed by Reuters said he had a reputation for integrity and discretion.
Adhia was named revenue secretary in September 2015, reporting formally to finance minister Arun Jaitley. In reality, he had a direct line to Modi and they would speak in their native Gujarati when they met to discuss issues in depth.
In the world’s largest democracy the demonetisation was revolutionary: it called into question the state’s promise to “pay the bearer” the face value on every banknote.
At a stroke, Modi scrapped money worth Rs15.4 trillion, equal to 86% of cash in Asia’s third-largest economy.
The idea is backed by some economists, although the speed of its implementation is widely seen as radical.

“One is never ready for this kind of disruption - but it is a constructive disruption,” said Narendra Jadhav, a 31-year veteran and former chief economist of India’s central bank who now represents Modi’s party in the upper house of parliament.
Modi, in his TV address to the nation, cautioned that people could face temporary hardship as replacement Rs500 and Rs2,000 notes were introduced. Calling for an act of collective sacrifice, he promised steps to soften the blow for the nine in 10 Indians who live in the cash economy.

‘Biggest, boldest step’

Immediately after the address, Adhia sent a tweet: “This is the biggest and the boldest step by the Government for containing black money.”
The boast harked back to Modi’s election vow to recover black money from abroad that had resonated with voters fed up with the corruption scandals that plagued the last Congress government. Yet in office, he struggled to keep his promise.
Over more than a year, Modi commissioned research from officials at the finance ministry, the central bank and think-tanks on how to advance his fight against black money, a close aide said.
He demanded answers to questions such as: How quickly India could print new banknotes; how to distribute them; would state banks benefit if they received a rush of new deposits; and who would gain from demonetisation?
The topics were broken up to prevent anyone from joining the dots and concluding that a cash swap was in the offing.
“We didn’t want to let the cat out of the bag,” said a senior official directly involved. “Had people got a whiff of the decision, the whole exercise would have been meaningless.”

Under Adhia’s oversight, the team of researchers assembled and modelled the findings in what was, for it, a theoretical exercise.
It was made up of young experts in data and financial analysis; some ran Modi’s social media accounts and a smartphone app that he used to solicit public feedback.
Yet for all the planning, Modi and Adhia knew they could not foresee every eventuality, and were willing to move swiftly.
The announcement caused chaos, with huge queues forming at banks when they reopened after a short holiday.
New Rs2,000 notes were hard to come by and barely any new Rs500 notes had been printed. India’s 2 lakh cash dispensers could not handle the new, smaller, notes and it would take weeks to reconfigure them.
Filling ATMs with the Rs8 trillion in new banknotes that the finance ministry reckons are needed to restore liquidity to the economy is even trickier.
In a best-case scenario, in which India’s four banknote presses churned out new Rs500 and Rs2,000 notes designed to replace the abolished ones, it would take at least three months to hit that target.

Secrecy paramount

Secrecy was paramount, but clues had been left.
Back in April, analysts at State Bank of India said that demonetization of large-denomination notes was possible.
The Reserve Bank of India, the central bank, also disclosed in May that it was making preparations for a new series of banknotes that were confirmed in August when it announced it had approved a design for a new Rs2,000 note.
The printing presses had only just started turning when the media finally started to run with the story in late October.
“The plan was to introduce it around November 18, but there was a clear sign that it could get leaked,” said one person with direct knowledge who, like others interviewed by Reuters, asked not to be named due to the sensitivity of the matter.
Some officials in the finance ministry had expressed doubts about scrapping high-value notes when the idea came up for discussion. They now feel resentment at the secrecy in which Adhia rammed through the plan on Modi’s orders.
They also say the plan was flawed because of a failure to ramp up printing of new notes ahead of time.
Other critics say the Adhia team fell prey to a form of “group think” that ignored outside advice.
In the words of one former top official who has worked at the finance ministry and central bank: “They don’t know what’s happening in the real world.” Reuters
Credit: http://www.livemint.com

'Demonetization'

BREAKING DOWN 'Demonetization'

There are multiple reasons why nations demonetize their local units of currency. Some reasons include to combat inflation, to combat corruption, and to discourage a cash system. The process of demonetization involves either introducing new notes or coins of the same currency or completely replacing the old currency with new currency.
In 2016, the Indian government decided to demonetize the 500- and 1000- rupee notes, the two biggest denomination notes. These notes accounted for 86% of the country’s cash supply. The government’s goal was to eradicate counterfeit currency, fight tax evasion, eliminate black money gotten from money laundering and terrorist financing activities, and promote a cashless economy. By making the larger denomination notes worthless, individuals and entities with huge sums of black money gotten from parallel cash systems were forced to convert the money at a bank which is by law required to acquire tax information from the entity. If the entity could not provide proof of making any tax payments on the cash, a tax penalty of 200% of the tax owed was imposed.
In 2015, the Zimbabwean government demonetized the Zimbabwean dollar as a way to combat the country’s hyperinflation that was recorded at 231,000,000%. The 3-month process involved expunging the Zimbabwean dollar from the country’s financial system and solidifying the US dollar, Botswana pula, and South African rand as the country’s legal tender in a bid to stabilize the economy.
Another example of demonetization occurred when the nations of the European Monetary Union adopted the euro in 2002. In order to switch to the euro, authorities first fixed exchange rates for the varied national currencies into euros. When the euro was introduced, the old national currencies were demonetized. However, the old currencies remained convertible into euros for a while so that a smooth transition through demonetization would be assured.
The Coinage Act of 1873 demonetized silver in favor of adopting the gold standard as the legal tender of the United States. The withdrawal of silver from the economy resulted in a contraction of the money supply, which subsequently led to a 5-year economic depression in the country. In response to the dire situation and pressure from silver miners and farmers, the Bland-Allison Act remonetized silver as legal tender in 1878.

Read more: Demonetization Definition | 
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Boiler refractory material

The main purpose of refractory material that is used inside a marine boiler is to contain the heat generated by burning of the fuel in the furnace. It is therefore important that these materials have insulating properties and are able to withstand high temperatures.
Boiler refractory material should have sufficient mechanical strength and should be able to withstand various forces like

1)      Weight of adjacent brickwork.
2)      Vibration action.
3)      Cutting & abrasive action of frame.
4)      Flue dust.

The material should be able to expand and contract uniformly with tempearture change without cracking. Economically, it is not possible to use a single refractory in the boiler and thus different types are used to together after ascertaining that they are able to withstand the temperatures they are subjected to.
The materials from which the refractories are made are classified into three groups :

1)      Acid materials which consists of clay, silica, quartz, sandstone, gamister.
2)      Neutral material which consists of chromite, graphite, plumbago, alumina.
3)      Alkaline or Base material which consists of lime, magnesia, zirconia.
Special care is to be taken while choosing the refractory material and it must be insured that the acid and alkaline material are kept apart as under high temperatures the two react with each other to form salt, which reduces the effectiveness of refractory.
For installation, the refractory material is available in two forms:-

1) Firebricks
The material is formed into bricks and these bricks are then fired at high temperature in special kilns.

2)      Monolithic Refractory
These refractory are supplied in unfired state and installed in the boiler. They are then fired in place or when the boiler is put into service. This type of refractory can be divided into :-

a) Mouldable Refractory
This type is used when direct exposure to radiant heat takes place. It must be pounded in place during installation.

b) Castable Refractory
This type of refractory is placed where there is no direct exposure to radiant heat for e.g behind water walls. It is installed in manner similar to building concrete.

c) Plastic Chrome Core
This type is bonded with the clay and is used in contruction of studded water walls. They can withstand very high temperature but have a very low mechanical strength. These are pounded onto the steel studs and welded to the tube. These studs provide addition strength and means of attachment for the refractory.


Precautions to be taken during and after installation of refractory
1)      To prevent undue stresses in the refractory material ample space should be provided for expansion. It is made to ensure that the these spaces does not get blocked in any way  and cause refractory to break off from attachment and bulge out, with danger of possible collapse.
2)      Refractory material determines the time required for raising steam. So greater amount of refractory slows down the steam raising process to prevent damage to refractory.
3)      Air dampers or checks should be closed as soon as boiler is shut down preventing cold air impingement on the hot refractory.  This impingement causes surface flaking which is commonly known as  

Spalling. Spalling causes reduction in wall thickness of the refractory.
4)      Flame impingement should be avoided on the refractory as this causes build up of carbon deposit on the surface. The carbon penetrates into the refractory and damages the same.
5)      Impurities in fuel like vanadium and sodium salts react with refractory material to form molten slag, which runs down to the furnace floor. This causes reduction of wall thickness and building up of this slag interferes with the shape of the flame. Thus impurities should be prevented from entering the boiler.

Boiler Refractory Material

What Is The Purpose Of Refractory Material?

A commercial boiler must be durable in order to handle chemicals, heat and pressure. One component that lends strength to the equipment is the boiler refractory.

The refractory is the heat-resistant material that lines high-temperature furnaces and reactors and other processing units, including commercial boilers. While refractory must be able to stand up to thermal stress, it also must be able to undergo physical wear and corrosion that comes from chemicals in the boiler. Refractory materials can be used to fill gaps and openings in a boiler, or to line parts of the boiler. They can also protect wall tubes that are inside fluidized bed, cyclone-fired or refuse-derived fired boilers.

Boiler refractories are required for heating applications above 1000°F. In general, two types of refractories exist: brick- or fire-shaped, and monolithic.

Materials in a Boiler Refractory

When assembled, many boiler refractories look like construction bricks, but other boiler refractory linings are made from plastics, castables, gunning mixes or ramming mixes—or both of those put together. Typically a boiler refractory comes from a natural or synthetic material—most are non-metallic. They can be comprised of compounds and minerals such as fireclays, bauxite, silicon carbide, zirconia, chromite, alumina, dolomite, or magnesite.

When a refractory is properly made and installed, it can save about 5% to 7% of fuel costs.

Is Your Refractory Causing Problems?

One of the main reasons that commercial boilers are inefficient or shut down can be due to refractory failure. Discovering why a refractory material fails can include many different factors, such as the following:

• It does not match the environment
• It does not align with the fuel being burned
• It may have been stored, mixed, installed, or cured improperly
• It did not match with the environment after fuel was burned

The material may fail due to excessive temperatures, thermal shock, or the boiler. It also may not operate properly if edge is broken or there is a hole in the material. Additionally, something as simple as moisture in the fuel could cause refractory problems.

To find out if the right refractory material is in your boiler, facility managers can calculate the base-to-acid ratio in order to determine the environment that the material was in.

Early Career Job Interview Tips

This post is based on what I have observed over a number of years in the industry.

It is more relevant to an engineering professional and to an early career scenario, that is, when one is seeking an employment immediately after graduating (or professionals with about 1 to 3 years of experience). However, it also holds significance for more experienced professionals too.

A face to face personal interview is the defining criteria during a selection process by any company, big or small. In an early career scenario, the number of positions available are typically lesser compared to the number of eligible candidates. Hence, how you perform during a personal (face to face) interview has a significant impact on your chances of being selected.

An early career scenario is also where a candidate’s exposure to industry and his/her maturity levels are on the lower side, and also, there could be a gap between the skills which the candidate has acquired and what industry expects.

So, I am writing this article to build a basic awareness on how to go about preparing for your interview so that your probability of success is higher. 

What is the expectation from a fresh engineering graduate?

The fundamental understanding of the concepts, ability to apply fundamental concepts to simple practical situations, and most importantly, building a confidence in the interviewer(s) that you have the right capability, aptitude, and attitude to get on to a fast learning curve and be a good team member.

In current times, organizations are becoming global, and there is an increasing dependence on telephone, e-mails, and facilities like video conferencing for carrying out business. Hence, communication has become a very important factor. Along with right technical skills, you must also demonstrate good communication skills and willingness to work as part of a larger team. So ability to read, write, and speak good English is very important, because English by far is the most common language across globe.

The knowledge of engineering tools is necessary for working out solutions. But for a fresh engineering graduate, it is not expected that he/she should have hands-on ability to use engineering tools. However, a basic level of awareness about various important and relevant tools, and how engineering computations are done using these tools will certainly help.  Eventually, it gets down to a good fundamental understanding, and if one can demonstrate that, it is generally presumed that learning and applying engineering tools will happen as a natural progression.

If one has an experience of one or two years, it is expected that candidate should have a fair understanding of relevant engineering tools. In what scenario a certain engineering tool is used, how to set up a problem, how to choose a solver, how to obtain and process result, and how to interpret results – a certain understanding of all these aspects will make a good impression on the interview panel. But again, I would like to re-emphasize – it is always the fundamental understanding and ability to think through clearly which is far more important. 

So what does the interview panel looks for?

The interviews are conducted in quite a friendly and informal environment, and they normally last for about an hour. Most likely, the interview panel (or the interviewers) will put in a fair effort to make you feel comfortable and relaxed, so as to reduce the level of your nervousness, and creating an atmosphere where they can bring out the best from within you.

The interview panel tries to explore what you know, and how good you can put across your views. In parallel, they also try to assess the relevance of what all you are talking and the way you are talking, to their goals and objectives. Your answers should be precise and brief, without missing out on important points, and if you are courageous enough, don’t hesitate to go to a blackboard or a whiteboard and explain your views with the help of equations or a figure. 

You must understand that emphasis is not on trying to assess what you don’t know. The questions are drawn from what you have written in your resume and your initial discussions with the interview panel, so normally they are familiar to you. The emphasis is more on your ability to listen and understand the question, and then answer accordingly. It is about testing your fundamental understanding, ability to apply your fundamental understanding to simple practical situations, your communication, and the confidence you build in terms of your ability to learn new things and grow your skills.

The interview panel may also pose a few situation based questions to test your behavioral skills, like your ability to work in a team, your ability to extend cooperation to others or to seek cooperation from others, how to make way forward in difficult or ambiguous situations, ability to take a decision, ability to learn something new all by yourself or with minimal hand holding, ability to learn from mistakes and implement lessons learnt for future works and such similar aspects.

There could be a written test before the personal interview and the results of written test could be used in two ways; (a) weed out the candidates who haven’t done well and interview only those candidates who have attained a minimum standard in the written test, or (b) have a certain weight for the written test and a certain weight for the interview while working out the final interview results. 

Preparing for the interview:

• Read the Job Description (JD) very well. Clearly understand the nature of job and all the technical and behavioral competencies that are required for the job.

• Review the website of the company and build a high familiarity with the company in terms of its lines of business, nature of work undertaken, its people, its customers, and its reputation etc.

• Brush up your concepts and have full clarity and understanding about your projects.

• Try to consolidate things like your course work, your seminars and projects, and various other events which will help you to build a relevance to the given JD.

• If you were to do your seminars or projects all over again, how you could have done better?

• Think of situations where you didn’t know much or there wasn’t much clarity or not much support was available to you – so how you moved forward and on what basis did you take decision?

• Have some understanding of various products as well as existing and emerging technologies in your area of study.

• Think as if you are the most eligible candidate for that job and with that, build a picture in your mind, correlating you and your skills with regard to what is required for that job.

General tips: 

• Answer various questions clearly and loudly enough so that all the members of the interview panel can hear you clearly. Don’t speak too fast.

• If you are on phone with a person within India (or outside of India), it is all the more important to be loud and clear while expressing yourself.

• Don’t interrupt a panel member when he/she is speaking something,

• Listen to the question properly, and if you haven’t understood a question or comment clearly, don’t hesitate to ask again.

• Try to give brief and precise answers.

• If you don’t know the answer, admit that you are not in a position to answer this question, rather than keep talking (or explaining) without really building clarity. May be interview panel will give you some hints and if that encourages you, then try using the hint to answer the question. But if you are not sure, it is always recommended not to make an attempt to answer that question as it might lead to a difficult or embarrassing situation.

• If you go off track while answering a question, chances are a panel member may interrupt you. So, try to catch hints in such situations.

• At the end of the interview, the panel will quite likely give you an opportunity to ask any question that you may have.  In such a case, this could be your opportunity to know more about the role, the nature of work, work culture, what support company provides for learning and development, and what is expected from a person who is joining fresh out of college or with limited experience.  But limit your questions and don’t keep asking. Ask only the relevant questions because the panel has to interview lot more candidates other than you.

• Don’t ask questions like “how I have done in the interview” or “will I be selected”.

• Discussion on salary aspects is generally not the responsibility of an interview panel. So, don’t bring in any aspect related to salary, unless asked specifically about it.

• Whenever you have a salary discussion, don’t get too specific about a particular salary. Instead project a balanced picture where learning, building your skills, and contributing to the company should be the primary drivers, and a fair compensation in line with company standards is what you are looking for. If you find salary rather low, you may negotiate, but keep in mind, it is the opportunity to start your career and build your professional competence which is more important.

• Wear decent formal shirt and trouser with leather black or brown shoes. Have a neat and sober appearance. No flashy combinations.

Typical Questions: 

1. Could you please take us through your resume or could you please tell us about how your career has progressed from the time you have joined the engineering college:

2. How your education has matured you, has enhanced your skills, and has prepared you to take on a professional career.

3. Any engineering domain is a vast field – so is there something specific that interests you and why?

4. There could be questions on the relevant course work you have done, what was the content of those courses, and there is every possibility that panel member may ask few basic questions based on those course contents. The questions could be direct, and at times, you might be required to apply your basic understanding to a practical situation, for example, a certain fault has occurred in a mechanical system – what could be the reasons for that fault and how it can be rectified?

5. Most likely, there will be a discussion on your project, and it could include aspects like:

• The objective of this project and why you chose this project

• Whether it was an individual project or a team project

• If it was a team project, what role you played?

• Did you take decision that influenced the course of this project?

• Did other team members have good confidence and regards for your views and your decisions?

• Technical aspects of the project – could lead to an in-depth discussion. So build a good and clear technical understanding of your project and all the steps required from problem definition to problem solution (problem definition, literature review, problem formulation, obtaining results and interpretation of results). Key findings of this work.

• Did this work lead to any publication. If yes, you should be able to summarize that publication.

• Failures you faced, how you overcame them, and what you learnt from the failures.

• If you were to do this project all over again, how you will do it better?

6. If you are slipping on pre-agreed schedule, how you will go about managing it?

7. If you face some unexpected problem during the course of executing a project, what actions you will take to get over this problem?

8. Why are you particularly interested in joining our company?

9. If you are changing the job (after working elsewhere for a year or two), the panel may ask reasons for that and how joining the new company will fulfill candidate’s aspirations.

10. Presume that you have completed a project and your next project is of similar nature – so what improvements can be expected?

11. What are your career goals and where you see yourself in two years from now?

12. What are your plans for higher education?

13. Your two or three strengths.

14. Your two or three weaknesses (or opportunities for improvement). How you can improve on them?

15. If selected, how soon you can join?

16. Would you like to ask us any question?

 

Note:

How to answer the question - Could you please take us through your resume? 

• Start with your interest in pursuing a career in engineering, how you got admission to engineering college, and why you selected that particular branch.

• Talk about relevant courses, about your seminars, and project work.

• You should also include any extra-curricular activity.

• Having completed your degree (or now that you are about to complete), add one or two sentences on what you aim to do and what brings you to this interview.

• The people with experience can talk about their projects and various other learning that are relevant to this job and why they are looking for a career move.

• This question basically gives you the allowance to relax, and build an initial familiarity with the interview panel. Typically, don’t take more than 5 minutes for answering this part.

 

In the early career years, the focus should be on building a strong technical expertise, by way of strengthening your existing skills and adding a few new skills. Focus on your planning, execution, communication, and presentation. Learn to write good technical reports. Strive to build a good reputation, that is, you do your work well, in time, and correct first time. A lot of you may aspire to take on engineering manager or engineering leadership roles, but that is for the later part of the career. The first three to four years should be all about building a strong technical base.

When the interviews are conducted for the mid to senior level positions, there is a greater element of discussion towards candidate’s ability to understand the requirements and flow it down to the team, technical supervision and mentoring, manage projects from a planning, execution and delivery perspective, and managing quality aspects like cost, schedules, defects, lessons learnt etc. The discussion could also include aspects like building competency and competency frameworks, creating knowledge base, ability to support new business initiatives, and engage/interact with existing or potential customers.

Most of the engineering companies tend to have a bifurcation in terms of career progression, that is, a technical career progression and a managerial career progression. This typically happens six to seven years later from the entry level, and an employee is normally given an option to choose a career path. The nature of interview may change based on your career aspirations, and if you are seeking a managerial position, there could be additional discussions on people management, performance assessment, budget, profitability, and day to day operational issues.

Quotes for the Day

Quote 1: विश्वास करना एक गुण है, अविश्वास दुर्बलता कि जननी है।

Quote 2: अपने प्रयोजन में द्रढ विश्वास रखने वाला एक सूक्ष्म शरीर इतिहास के रुख को बदल सकता है।

Quote 3: शांति का कोई रास्ता नहीं है, केवल शांति है।

Quote 4: आँख के बदले में आँख पूरे विश्व को अँधा बना देगी।

Quote 5: जो समय बचाते हैं, वे धन बचाते हैं और बचाया हुआ धन, कमाएं हुए धन के बराबर है।

Quote 6: केवल प्रसन्नता ही एकमात्र इत्र है, जिसे आप दुसरो पर छिड़के तो उसकी कुछ बुँदे अवश्य ही आप पर भी पड़ती है।

Quote 7: विश्वास को हमेशा तर्क से तौलना चाहिए. जब विश्वास अँधा हो जाता है तो मर जाता है।

Quote 8: पहले वो आप पर ध्यान नहीं देंगे, फिर वो आप पर हँसेंगे, फिर वो आप से लड़ेंगे, और तब आप जीत जायेंगे।

Quote 9: व्यक्ति की पहचान उसके कपड़ों से नहीं अपितु उसके चरित्र से आंकी जाती है।

Quote 10: ख़ुशी तब मिलेगी जब आप जो सोचते हैं, जो कहते हैं और जो करते हैं, सामंजस्य में हों।

Quote 11: मौन सबसे सशक्त भाषण है, धीरे-धीरे दुनिया आपको सुनेगी।

Quote 12: सत्य एक विशाल वृक्ष है, उसकी ज्यों-ज्यों सेवा की जाती है, त्यों-त्यों उसमे अनेक फल आते हुए नजर आते है, उनका अंत ही नहीं होता।

Quote 13: विश्व के सभी धर्म, भले ही और चीजों में अंतर रखते हों, लेकिन सभी इस बात पर एकमत हैं कि दुनिया में कुछ नहीं बस सत्य जीवित रहता है।

Quote 14: कोई त्रुटी तर्क-वितर्क करने से सत्य नहीं बन सकती और ना ही कोई सत्य इसलिए त्रुटी नहीं बन सकता है क्योंकि कोई उसे देख नहीं रहा।

Quote 15:  क्रोध और असहिष्णुता सही समझ के दुश्मन हैं।

Quote 16: पूंजी अपने-आप में बुरी नहीं है, उसके गलत उपयोग में ही बुराई है। किसी ना किसी रूप में पूंजी की आवश्यकता हमेशा रहेगी।

Quote 17: अपनी गलती को स्वीकारना झाड़ू लगाने के सामान है जो धरातल की सतह को चमकदार और साफ़ कर देती है।

Quote 18: निरंतर विकास जीवन का नियम है, और जो व्यक्ति खुद को सही दिखाने  के लिए हमेशा अपनी रूढ़िवादिता को बरकरार रखने की कोशिश करता है वो खुद को गलत स्थिति में पंहुचा देता है।

Quote 19: यद्यपि आप अल्पमत में हों, पर सच तो सच है।

Quote 20: जो भी चाहे अपनी अंतरात्मा की आवाज़ सुन सकता है। वह सबके भीतर है।

Quote 21: गर्व लक्ष्य को पाने के लिए किये  गए प्रयत्न में निहित है, ना कि उसे पाने में।

Quote 22: मैं मरने के लिए तैयार हूँ, पर ऐसी कोई वज़ह नहीं है जिसके लिए मैं मारने को तैयार हूँ।

Quote 23: मैं सभी की समानता में विश्वास रखता हूँ, सिवाय पत्रकारों और फोटोग्राफरों के।

Quote 24: सत्य बिना जन समर्थन के भी खड़ा रहता है, वह आत्मनिर्भर है।

Quote 25: सत्य कभी ऐसे कारण को क्षति नहीं पहुंचाता जो उचित हो।

Quote 26: मेरा धर्म सत्य और अहिंसा पर आधारित है। सत्य मेरा भगवान है, अहिंसा उसे पाने का साधन।

Quote 27: मेरा जीवन मेरा सन्देश है।

Quote 28: जहाँ प्रेम है वहां जीवन है।

Quote 29: ऐसे जियो जैसे कि तुम कल मरने वाले हो। ऐसे सीखो की तुम हमेशा के लिए जीने वाले हो।

Quote 30: जब मैं निराश होता हूँ, मैं याद कर लेता हूँ कि समस्त इतिहास के दौरान सत्य और प्रेम के मार्ग की ही हमेशा विजय होती है। कितने ही तानाशाह और हत्यारे हुए हैं, और कुछ समय के लिए वो अजेय लग सकते  हैं, लेकिन अंत में उनका पतन होता है। इसके बारे में सोचो- हमेशा।

Quote 31: एक कृत्य द्वारा किसी एक दिल को ख़ुशी देना, प्रार्थना में झुके हज़ार सिरों से बेहतर है।

Quote 32: भगवान का कोई धर्म नहीं है।

Quote 33:  मैं किसी को भी गंदे पाँव के साथ अपने मन से नहीं गुजरने दूंगा।

Quote 34: पाप से घृणा करो, पापी से प्रेम करो।

Quote 35: मेरी अनुमति के बिना कोई भी मुझे ठेस नहीं पहुंचा सकता।

Quote 36: प्रार्थना माँगना नहीं है। यह आत्मा की लालसा है।  यह हर रोज अपनी कमजोरियों की स्वीकारोक्ति है। प्रार्थना में बिना वचनों के मन लगाना, वचन होते हुए मन ना लगाने से बेहतर है।

Quote 37:  सात घनघोर पाप: काम के बिना धन;अंतरात्मा के बिना सुख;मानवता के बिना विज्ञान;चरित्र के बिना ज्ञान;सिद्धांत के बिना राजनीति;नैतिकता के बिना व्यापार ;त्याग के बिना पूजा।

Quote 38:  हंसी मन की गांठें बड़ी आसानी से खोल देती है।

Quote 39: कुरीति के अधीन होना कायरता है, उसका विरोध करना पुरुषार्थ है।

Quote 40: आप आज जो करते हैं उस पर भविष्य निर्भर करता है।

Quote 41: आदमी अक्सर वो बन जाता है जो वो होने में यकीन करता है। अगर मैं खुद से यह कहता रहूँ कि मैं फ़लां चीज नहीं कर सकता, तो यह संभव है कि मैं शायद सचमुच वो करने में असमर्थ हो जाऊं। इसके विपरीत, अगर मैं यह यकीन करूँ कि मैं ये कर सकता हूँ, तो मैं निश्चित रूप से उसे करने की क्षमता पा ल