Creating, Operating & Maintaining Systems -- Nature's way

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The Central Question & Its Answer

I loved solving this problem and loved this story. It gave me the fundamental enlightenment into systems and their behavior.

The central question that arises from this case is: What happens when we push any system away from its equilibrium position?

Once any system is pushed away from its equilibrium position, which we do by performing work, it tries hard to come back to its equilibrium position.

In order to do that any system will respond in only three ways:

a) It dissipates energy in form of vibrations (through oscillations, resonances, damping)

b) It dissipates energy in form of heat (through flow turbulence, energy waves)

c) It dissipates energy to self destruction in form of wear (self destructs to converts matter from one state to another to dissipate energy)

And it utilizes all the three methods simultaneously and in different ways at any given time as soon as any system is pushed away from equilibrium.

This is Nature's way to maintain equilibrium. That is her unique way to operate and maintain any system. She does that instantaneously with little or no delay but never reserves the action for a later time.

Restating the Famous 2nd Law -- the heart of the Issue 

Can we understand such universal system behavior through the famous 2nd law of thermodynamics?

We know from 2nd law that while we can convert heat energy to work we can't convert all work to heat energy. Something must be lost. This we call 'entropy'. Though it is useful the famous law only tells us what a what a system can't do.

It does not tell us what a system can do. But what does a system actually do? Can we now restate the famous law in another way?

When we push any system from its equilibrium position the system would utilize all its resources and relationships between its different elements to come back to the equilibrium as soon as possible and try to maintain that state with the minimum dissipation as possible, failing which, it would either change the quality of motion or self destruct itself if allowed to continue in an undesirable state of motion.

These properties to vibrate, dissipate and wear out (different forms of dissipation and self destruction) are inherent properties available in all matter that respond creatively in a self organizing manner at all times simultaneously to the application of energy in form of work imposed on any system or matter to create ongoing emergent properties. Nothing can be stored for something to happen at a later time. It can only be delayed at best.

Hence Energy and Matter are interdependent on each other to create myriad self organizing patterns, where each pattern reflects and represents the system's condition at any given point in time and its desperate effort to come back to its equilibrium position and maintain itself in that position. It would try to do so in many creative ways. It is the source of all creativity, which I suspect is true for all living and nonliving matter even for human beings.

Creativity is expressed through dissipation (turbulence) and self destruction (resonance & wear).

For machines we can see such possible patterns through vibration signatures, pictures of heat flow patterns (thermograms) and distribution of worn particles of matter (ferrograph).

In business we see such patterns through patterns like production work flows, inventory and cash flows and losses. While the work done on the system is the flow of orders.

All these system patterns contain two vital information that aids our understanding.

The patterns represent state or condition of the system at any given time, which I call the 'emergence' or the present condition. This is caused by the interdependent play of system elements -- the relationships between different elements and resources, which I call the essence. Hence, any pattern must exhibit the relationships that cause the emergent behavior of a system and must depict the emergence itself. For example, a vibration signature must contain the emergence and the essence.

A Simple Summary:

1. Work creates the condition for a system to move away from equilibrium (creation of possibilities). Dissipation maintains the system at equilibrium (maintenance through various creative possibilities). Destruction breaks down the system or degrades it if the system is unable to reach the equilibrium quickly enough (death, change of quality of motion or breakdown to various possible states).

2. Dissipation is done through flow turbulence, vibration, damping and dissipation of heat.

3. Destruction is basically done through force amplification, resonnance and wear and conversion of matter from one state to another.

4. Both proceed in macro and micro states where the present state is not quite similar to the previous. The transformation proceeds in its own time creating its own time scales a gross understanding of which can be obtained from trends over time. Though with such time trends tentative but generally inaccurate short term predictions are possible; accurate long term predictions of a system's behavior is never possible .

5. Why is it not possible to predict? Because both 'dissipation' and 'self-destruction' (an ultimate form of dissipation) are extremely creative processes. Both create new states in motion. We just don't know what would be created when. But while dissipation creates new states by maintaining the motion; destruction creates new states through cessation or slowing down of motion.

6. The play of dissipation and self destruction creatively create complexity, chaos and uncertainty that is full of possibilities (various states). This creates patterns.

7. In patterns we look for similarities in dissimilarities and dissimilarities in similarities. That increases our choice.

8. Hence, it is up to us to choose amongst the sets of possibilities that are favorable for our intended purpose that lend meaning of our existence and work.

9. The beauty of such possibilities is that it creates disorder through order and creates order through disorder. 

10. In simple terms, such order and disorder are produced by Vibration, Heat and Wear that co-exist in any system creating the interdependent play of motion, which is the central theme of creation, maintenance, renewal and death. This provides the self organizing principle of any system that self organize itself into various states. Though Vibration, Heat and Wear are simply different manifestations of the same emergent behavior we tend to see and examine them separately, which we need not do at all.

Making it Useful: (Unity in Diversity)

How useful are these concepts of Nature illustrated through the story?

1. It unifies the whole of engineering

2. It describes the fundamental properties of any system. It would be true for any system -- living or non-living, machines or industrial or management systems.

3. It helps us to create or design new self organizing systems

4. It helps us to maintain systems and prolong the usefulness of any system for a long time.

5. Design, Operation and Maintenance do not exist independently. They are simply different perspectives of the same issue and are to to be tackled simultaneously.

6. It helps us to change the output of a system by changing the relationships (without redesigning systems) to something more favorable.

7. Repeated and frequent self destruction of a system would indicate that the system is no longer useful for its purpose.

Conclusions:

1. Trans-disciplinary and not multi-disciplinary approach is needed to create, operate and maintain systems.

2. Designers, Operation Personnel, Maintenance Personnel, Marketers, Business Managers and Leaders, Artists, Teachers etc can all gain from this understanding & insight.

3. In short, this is the fundamental story of life as we know it.

I dedicate this blog post to my Guru Mr. Tim Henry, the former Chairman of WM Engineering, a consulting wing of the University of Manchester, U.K.

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WHEN I WAS IN....

 

A group of soldiers “trots” through the walkway of the army cantonment area. Returning after finishing their “clerical duties “at the cantonment office. A Major turns up at the corner in an olive color SUV Maruti Gypsy. With full of confidence and dignity he rests his left hand at the window sill. That is the custom which one has to follow. The senior always sits by the side of the “driver”. If his senior would have been there then the Major would have taken the pains of driving himself. The vehicle zooms past the group. Major tilts his head and sees the soldiers through the corner of his Rayban sunglasses. The soldiers stop their movement. Stands in attention till the vehicle goes by leaving behind a cloud of dust so as to make them cough. The Major feels satisfied. His ego, self-esteem, and the discipline of the forces, everything is in order. He comes back to his government accommodation. The driver opens the door for his “master”. The major’s wife looks on from the balcony. She feels her father had done the right thing in getting her married to an army officer. What an authority her husband commands. He may not be able to carry out with the same amount of authority during their infrequent love sessions but any how it doesn’t matter. So long as there are retinues of government paid workers to help them in their daily cores, it doesn’t matter.  Once “Major Sahib” had confided to his wife the main cause of his poor and erratic love life.  It is the Defense Ministry. Had he been not posted to Siachin Glacier when he was the Captain, every thing would have been complete. The extreme cold had taken away everything, well almost everything.

 

After few years the Major gets a promotion. He is transferred to Arunachal Pradesh. The frequent transfer is almost ruining the education of his son. They want him to become a “high level government bureaucrat” and not an army officer like his father and grandfather. “Actually my son is not wired to become an army officer, he is physically weak”. The Major would often tell his colleagues at the army club after gulping down half a bottle of subsidized defense canteen whisky. So he sends his only son to a boarding school in Ajmer (Rajasthan). Yah, now he will get the best of the world. His son will now rub shoulders with the peers of politicians from India, Bangladesh and sometimes Nepal. Sons of erstwhile Maharajas of Rajasthan, Gujarat and Chhattisgarh all Royal family will now be his friends. The very thought that his son will move around with the “elite class” of people gave him the evasive “satisfaction”.

 

 Once our Major had now become a “Major General”. His son had graduated in Humanities stream. He became successful in the “Indian Civil Services” examination after a third attempt. His ranking was low so he got into allied services. He became an IOFS (Indian Ordnance Factory Service) officer. He did not like it, neither his father. Who will tackle all those dirty factory workers and deal with those “stupid Unions”. Major had an idea. He will now use his clout and “high connection” to transfer his son to a cushy desk job with an added incentive of going “abroad”. He goes to Delhi --- The Seat of Power. Catch hold of his long lost friend who now heads an intelligence department. The Major’s son gets a deputation from his parent department without attending a single day in the office. What fun? Really if one has connection he can do wonders in India especially in government departments.

 

 

After few years the Major retires from his blotch free, scandal free, scam free army service. He was given a ceremonial send off. He vacates his government accommodation and moves to his 2,700 sq ft Gurgaon flat near Delhi. My goodness what a flat. At the 14^th floor and fully secured. Just one has to buy vegetables in the compound. What facilities? What amenities?

 

The Major son got married through a matrimonial website. Beautiful girl and an equally glamorized wedding ceremony ala Bollywood style. The 2,700 sq ft flat was too small to accommodate two families meaning four members --- Major, his wife, his son and his daughter-in-law. Well they are “wired” like that.  His son moved on to Pahargunj Railway officers’ accommodation. The Major’s daughter-in-law is from the Railway Officer’s cadre. What a match.

 

With no retinue of paid government workers the Major’s wife was having a lot of problems. With a limited income and most of the money wasted in buying a posh flat the Major has a financial crisis. He cannot ask for help from his son. He kept on wondering what to do. His cell phone starts ringing. It was call from the Prime minister’s Office. They want him to be the next Governor of Nagaland. He was speechless and breathless. After all it is a reward for his unquestioned loyalty to a particular political party. He moves to Kohima.

 

 

After five years he comes back to Delhi. Now he is Retired Major General and ex Governor of Nagaland. The brass name plate at the main door of his flat speaks more than what has been inscribed in it. He is a satisfied man. Everything in life has been accomplished. Well almost everything. But why aren’t his colleagues, friends, relatives and the other flat owners in his building are not coming to him to spend some time with him. Are they jealous of him or they are too scared of him that he has become unreachable and unapproachable for them.

 

 

Every morning he gets up and dresses himself in white T, white shorts, white socks and white sports shoes. He never misses the baton and his dog. He jogs for a while in the “secured compound” of the building. Only a few days back three commandos used to guard him like a shadow but now only his dog follows him. Passersby look at him not in awe but with compassion.

 

Last heard the Major’s wife committed suicide. Now he is not alone but staying with his dog and remembering fond memories---- When I was in ---------.

Lessons Learned:

1. The old mindset of command and control, hierarchy, manipulation, politics, subservience is clearly behind us now.

2. The new mindset would tend to see things differently - the Picasso way. Treat people differently. Collaborate to create value. Identify with contribution not ranks.

3. The new would be in the mode of continual renewal unlike the past that somehow agreed to have no discernible public face. They depended on others to give them titles and badges to continually live in the past.

Motto: The King is Dead: Long Live the King.

Main contributor: Sitendu Illustrator: Rishi

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The Birth of an Era

This is a fine pictorial representation of the history of the world's GDP.

It provides us with interesting riddles.

1. What is the new era that is coming up, beginning 2011?

2. What would be the characteristics of this new era?

3. What traits one must develop to engage in this new era?

Please comment.

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NANO, NANO ----NOT TO BE SEEN AT ALL

 

Its 09.45 Hrs. A young chap hardly out of his teens, dressed in Tata Motors T- shirt comes up with a folding, easily dismantled kiosk and waits patiently in front of the main door of State Bank of India (SBI), Belghoria Branch. The collapsible gates are closed as banking hours will start from 10.00 Hrs. There is a crowd of people mostly elderly people raring to go inside. He talks something to the security guard in a hurried tone which I could hardly hear. The security guard nods and let him go inside. I also tried to shove my way through the crowd to go inside. The security stops me and barks --- “WAIT”, its 09.50 Hrs, and the bank will start functioning from 10.00Hrs. I thought there is no use of arguing with the security; let me wait for another 10 minutes.

 

Its 10.00 Hrs. We were let in. There is a mad scramble to go inside and go to the nearest teller counter. Every one wants to be the FIRST in the queue. I ended up standing behind five people. Meanwhile the young chap from Tata Motors had set up the kiosk, fixed up the banner of Nano car, stacked up all the pamphlets and hand bills of the Nano car. The Tata motors in an understanding with the SBI are ready to give a soft loan to sell the “people’s car called Nano costing one lakh rupees.” The banner says it all. “You pay only an EMI of Rs 1833/- and get the dream car”.

 

The young chap is ready behind the kiosk. He arranges for a molded red plastic chair. Helps himself a bottle of water from the “Aquaguard Cooler”. He gives a hawk eyed look at the customers standing in front of the teller counters probably to interact with the first potential customer of the day. More people come trooping in inside the bank --- young executives, pensioners, housewives, children, not so young ladies with their husbands, college goers and businessmen, almost every one.

 

Meanwhile my position in the queue became 3^rd. I was happy to calculate in my mind that it will take another 10 minutes as the lady at the counter usually disposes of each customer within five minutes. The young chap still waits. No one ever bothered to come up to him and ask him about the people’s car and the formalities needed for a “soft loan”.

 

My turn at the counter came. I got the receipt and started walking back towards the main door. Suddenly it dawned on me to check how many people really come to the Nano kiosk to look up the details. I quietly place myself comfortably at the row of benches placed opposite the kiosk and observe without showing him that he is being observed.

 

10.45 Hrs. Not a single potential buyer came to the kiosk. None bothered to gather the pamphlets/ leaflets which we all Indians are used to. The curiosity wasn’t there. Slowly frustrations were showing in his face. With nothing to do now he starts fiddling with his cell phone, trying to make some imaginary calls like most of us do to ward off undue stares from strangers.  Its now almost 21/2 hrs the bank had opened. No one has shown the eagerness to buy the “people’s car””. With all the free campaign done by the political parties and the media hype before the birth of Nano why people are not coming to buy their “very own affordable car’’?

 

I stretched my legs as I was also feeling uneasy. The question was hammering inside me. Why this state of affairs with the poor Nano when car sales are up in India as the present quarter of the year states. Then I remember some advertisement in the newspaper. A realtor gave an offer that if you buy our flat we will give a Nano car free. Then there was another offer which was by a furniture maker which runs like this” buy our bedroom package and get a Nano car free”. Last heard, that no one was buying their products. I also remember Prof B Saha of the famous Indian Institute of Management, Kolkata (IIM) predicting in 2008 that soon Indian roads would be overflowing with Nanos and we would all be overwhelmed by jams and congestions. City planners and administrators would be facing a tough time redesigning things. Nothing of that happened.

 

What happened? What went terribly wrong? Why Nano car is dying in its infancy? Remember the Maruti 800 from the Suzuki stables. It sold like hot cakes. Every one wanted to have a piece of it and they still want to have it. It doesn’t matter that the company had stopped Maruti 800 production.  Why there is an aversion to this cheap people’s car when people are ready to buy bikes costing Rs. 80,000/-? Is it bad design? Is it the looks? Does it feel unsafe? Well something is terribly wrong Mr. Ratan Tata! There are many reasons which Mr. Tata will not be able to see with his opaque vision.

 

Lesson Learnt:

 

1. Business Strategy is not number crunching. Things that matter are not measurable.
2. Making things cheap does not always attract customers, especially cars
3. Design Matters!! Proportions matter!! These attract.
4. Reliability matters!!  
5. We can’t predict anything in the long term.

 

Motto:

 

Cheap, Beautiful and Reliable stand a better chance. A compromise in any aspect spoils the chances of success. It is still a chance because nothing can be predicted in the long term.

 

This blog post has been contributed by my colleague Mr. Sitendu De. Grateful.

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Fish & Rice - A Fishy Twist in the Tale

To a Bengali like me nothing in the world is more delicious than a plate of fish and rice. We just love it. The variety is simply endless and the different ways this delicacy may be cooked and presented are simply mindbloggling. Well, you can never feel the excitement unless you start enjoying this delicacy.

But do fishes have any deeper connections with rice than the obvious connection on the dining table?

I did not realize this connection till I was traveling down a state highway last week to visit one of my clients in the state of Chattisgarh, which lies in the eastern part of India. The land was undulating but had patches of lush green paddy fields here and there. Elsewhere, though the recent monsoon has left its bright green cover it wasn't fertile to grow paddy.

Why was that? Isn't it a waste of land? Why such vast tracts of land don't bear paddy that might have helped some of the farmers grow in that region?

I was curious to find out an answer to this vexing problem of livlihood. So I started looking for some patterns in what I saw. Soon a pattern emerged from what I observed. Quite close to the few paddy fields there were ponds both big and small.

"So, is there a relationship between the ponds and the paddy fields?" I asked my knowledgeable co-passenger, Shri Vishnoo Dubey, General Manager, Technical Services, Grasim Cement, who was traveling along in the same car.

He replied excitedly, 'Yes, there is a deep connection between the ponds and the paddy fields. I heard about this from my friend - a well known scientist who studies ecology.'

The mystery deepened. I was dying to know the truth. 

He then revealed a fascinating secret of Nature. During heavy monsoon, which signals the beginning of the paddy season (since paddy needs standing stagnant water to grow), the ponds overflow and the fishes, who are by that time ready and eager to mate literally jump out of the pond and enter the nearby paddy fields as soon as the ponds and the nearby paddy fields are connected. They then mate with fishes from other ponds and spawn eggs in the shallow, calm and relatively undisturbed water. Soon thousands of baby fishes are born. They feed on the mosquito larvae and other small pests that also hatch in the stagnant water. The bigger fishes feed on the baby fishes. Mother fishes try to protect their babies from harm. A great drama is enacted. It is intensely engaging. Some survive, some are eaten and many die in the process. This goes on for a few months and then after three to four months a few sharp showers follow. This signals the fishes to go back the ponds. The late Sept/early October showers create the passage between the paddy fields and the ponds and the fishes gladly swim back to the comforts of the deeper waters till the next monsoon when this big drama would be repeated. The paddy does not need the stagnant water any more. The water is released and the paddy grows to display its beauty swaying in natural melody in the gentle autumn breeze. Soon the paddy is cropped and it is a time for celebration marked by the two great celebrations of India -- the Durga Puja and Deepavali.

I sat stunned in awe and shock as he completed the story! I marveled and contemplated about the beauty of natural systems  -- the beauty of movement, birth, renewal and development not cancerous exponential growth we are so used to in our industrial unsustainable societies. 

But what was the connection/relationships between this big drama of the fishes and the fertility of the paddy fields? There are many which are as follows:

1. The fish waste and the masses of dead fish actually fertilize the land through 'nitrogen fixing' while the baby fishes grow in relative safety and cool shade of the growing paddy. This rejuvenates the land, makes it sustainable year after year and help the unhindered growth of the paddy.
2. The presence of fish in the paddy water changes the PH of the water and makes it most suitable for growing paddy (rice). It decides the taste and the neutrient value of rice.
3. The fish eat on the parasites and fungus that would have otherwise spoiled the crop. They also save human beings by controlling the population of the deadly mosquitoes by eating on the larvae. And much more.
4. It also controls the size of the fishes when they go back to the ponds. How is that? Scientists tell us that when males of any species increase their reproductive effort with unfamiliar mates -- a phenomenon known as the 'Coolidge effect' takes place. So, when male fishes regularly try to mate with new females throughout their lives, they spend less time looking for food and more time pursuing females. This increases the chance of the baby fishes to grow without being attacked by too many predators. The scientists further tell us that males living with unfamiliar females also grow more slowly and to a smaller adult size and tended to die sooner. In contrast, males living with a single partner ate regularly, grew steadily and lived longer. Well the promiscuity of fishes helps in a critical way. The ponds can't accommodate too many large fishes and the resources can't sustain them for long. The balance between resources and the fish population is automatically maintained by males fishes running after many female fishes to mate -- perfect sustainable solution. I could now relate as to how 'Helen of Troy', 'Cleopetra', 'Draupadi' and other beauty queens of human history helped to contain and prune human population at regular intervals. That is quite a sustainable solution! Though told in jest, exponential population growth can't make any society sustainable. 

Lessons Learned:

1. Sustainable systems are cooperative and not competitive. We see here how the fishes, paddy and the Mother Earth cooperate with each other to create a sustainable solution for years. Why don't we get into networked cooperative systems rather than trying to do it all alone by leveraging financial powers only and competing fiercely? My understanding is that the old industrial age systems would soon be dismantled to give birth to an age of Creative networked cooperative economies. And what a difference in power it would make. The power of one to many or many to many network is 2 to the power n whereas the power of no network is just 1.
2. To go against natural cycles and living only means unnatural and unsustainable living -- living without a purpose and damaging life. For example, teenagers are usually active in the night and their brains wake up usually by noon. But we keep forcing them to attend schools early in the morning when their brains are practically asleep in an effort to discipline them. We don't care about how much they actually learn. We just want them to be on time every time -- a legacy of the industrial age -- get rid of the body clock and conform to the mechanical clock of false discipline of time in everything we do even if it is without results.
3. The cycle of birth, death, renewal must be accepted as the most natural process for the sustainable society. After the 2008 economic crash or depression, the Obama administration thought that the giant relics of the industrial age can't be allowed to die. So they thought it to be a good idea to inject millions of tax dollars into these ailing firms as aid so that the few jobs these corporations sustained could be saved. But what happened? The firms were saved but job situation did not improve. It is actually grew worse. Public dollars were wasted in vain. Their death might have generated unexpected emergence of other economic possibilities that might have actually improved the situation. But societies with industrial mindsets can't accept surprises and death and therefore continue to do the wrong things in the right way. Without death there can't be any renewal. Soon Japan would be struggling with the heavy burden of an old and ailing population that would drain the resources to develop the potential of the younger generation.
4. Balance between the prey and the predator is a key to a sustainable economy -- it limits size and turnover. The tragedy is that we constantly try to live in very simple predictable environments rather than learning to adapt to complex environments full of uncertainty and possibilities. To do that we go after predators (sometimes assumed) and try to wipe them off. Wrong. It is never the 'survival of the fittest' as we have had been forced to believe. It is always the 'elimination of the weakest'. In nature, the predator like a lion is not bothered whether it preys upon the best buffalo or the next best buffalo. Any buffalo would be good enough for dinner. Usually lions would attack the weakest and perhaps the oldest buffalo in the herd -- elimination of the weakest. Because that is not only easy but also systemic for the overall development and sustainability of the delicate ecology. But as human beings we are always aiming at the best and probably the costliest. We try to measure and evaluate people, companies and things and try to go for the best. What an irony! Such decisions would destroy us for good and it would happen soon if we don't choose to change course.
5. Growth vs Development. Nature is not much concerned about growth. Because growth is always exponential, which means the resources to sustain would soon run out in no time. It therefore, looks at ways and means to contain the size and turnover. Not too many fishes in the same pond. Not too many big fishes in the same pond. So, it finds ingenious ways to achieve the delicate balance. When would as humans learn this trick from nature and act consciously?
6. Sustainable solutions emerge naturally in a local setting that is most suitable to that locale. 'One size fits all' and 'global solutions' would never work. Imagine using fertilizers in place of fishes. Would it have done the same tricks nature achieves? It won't. The local interdependence is to be carefully understood to boost development. Supposedly 'global solutions' or 'best practices' that have worked well elsewhere ironically does not work 'everywhere'. 
7. Productivity is always limited by resource capability and can't be boosted by artificial means. Productivity for the sake of productivity is downright meaningless. It can only grow as per the available resource capability of a place. It depends on the collective consciousness and wisdom of the people involved. And it is an organic process that grows at its own pace over time. Artificially trying to achieve productivity benchmarks, achieved elsewhere, by any means within a record time is simply not sustainable. We falsely believe that productivity is based on machines and technology. It is true to some extent but that is not the full story. It is also based to a greater extent on the capability of human beings to interface with the technology. And building collective consciousness, capability and wisdom does not happen overnight. Hence without continuous training and eduction in systemic understanding no industry can ever think of improving its coffers.
8. Restoration and adaptation rate are vital ingredients to success. Imagine a person who does not sleep and works all day long. He/she would soon become a lunatic and unfit for society. Restoration is closely linked to adaptation rate. If the rate of change goes past the rate of adaptation a system is capable of, it would soon be broken (lunatic) and would cease to be sustainable any further -- just like a person who goes without sleep for days.

Are leaders, marketers, trainers and educators and all those who influence our societies in one way or the other listening to Mother Nature?

The art work of the fish was done by my 6 year old nephew, Rishi. I thank him for his networked contribution.

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The 'AND' is in the 'NOW'.

This is a story of two competing cement plants operating with similar state of art technology to produce high grade cement catering to similar but highly competitive markets. 

However, the quality of cement that is produced is highly dependent on the quality of limestone mined from a limestone quarry.

In this respect the limestone deposit of Cement Plant A was considered to be inferior as compared to the limestone mine of Cement Plant B. Therefore, Plant B was supposed to produce better quality cement. These two mines and their plants were separated by about 200 kms and people thought that this is what determined the difference in the quality of the limestone in the respective quarries. 

The comparison of quality was based on the usual analysis of Ferrous content, Silicate, Aluminate and Carbonate as is usually done in laboratories of cement plants around the world. And in all respect the quality of limestone of Plant B, determined in this fashion was vastly superior to that of Plant A.

But there was a surprise!

 

The quality and strength of cement produced by Plant A was much superior to that of Plant B. This went against conventional wisdom and immensely puzzled the cement technologists of Plant B forcing them to wonder as to how this might be possible.

But this 'surprise' emergence made the management of Plant A much happier since they could now sell their product at a premium to happy customers who brought in more customers through word of mouth. Soon their customer base and their reach exceeded that of Plant B. Within a few years they could create their unique brand identity in the market. Their cement, which looked more blackish in color, was called as 'black rock' by admiring customers and civil engineers.

The seemingly inferior quality of Plant A's limestone mines did not seem to matter at all. And happy times for them continued and they expanded their operations.    

 

Many years later, while researching more in depth, the researchers found that the limestone deposit of the so called inferior mines (Plant A) had a trace amount of boron while the limestone deposits of Plant B had no boron content. Instead, it contained trace amount of barium. So they understood that while boron gave the cement (of Plant A) superior strength; barium made the bonds weaker (of Plant B) though all other constituent of limestone mines of Plant A were really inferior to that of Plant B. That relationship alone explained the difference in quality of cement produced by the two plants.

 

Lessons:

1. The relationship between the parts causes the system properties to emerge. 

2. The emergence is always in the form of a pattern. And it defines the purpose of the system. It might be desirable or undesirable and it need not follow our definition of an intended purpose. 

3. Relationships are more important than the parts. And relationships form the essence that produces the emergence. 

4. One strong relationship can overshadow other weaker relationships and the emergence can come up as a winner.

5. Another way to describe such relationship that forms the essence is by the word 'AND'.

6. 'AND' a small change in the relationship causes dramatic changes in the output or emergence.

7. Therefore the root cause (or the essence) of an emergence always lies in the NOW (as relationships evolve). A cause can't lie in the past or be lost or hidden from our senses and understanding. So, we need not look beyond or look into the past to explain what happens now in form of an emergence. It is easy to find a root cause provided one searches intently for the AND in the NOW. We need not go any further.

Summary:

1. The AND is in the NOW. 'AND' is the essence and the cause of the emergence.

2. System Thinkers must be aware of it to understand the cause of system behavior. 3. Design Thinkers must take care of it to create dramatic competitive advantage.

4. The concept also serves the issue of Sustainability in a great way. 

5. Strategy, Decision Making & Improvement plans are to evolve on emergence.

 

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