Innovations in small scale industries: *
The economic development need not register only aggregate growth but also
should be characterized by a distributed nature of rowth. Micro and small
for entrepreneurial development. Democracy can be sustained best if there
are large number of actors contributing to the growth instead of only few
mega large corporations. Unfortunately, the clout small scale industries
need is seldom proportionate to their contribution to the economic and
social development. One way in which small scale industries associations
can become competitive is by collaborating among themselves to learn from
each other. Their competition should be at global level supplemented by
cooperation at local level. The cooperation should not only be at the
managerial level but also at the worker level. Innovations by workers and
users can be a major driver for transforming locally cooperative and
globally competitive edge of MSME. Let me share a few examples of creative
ways in which problems are being solved by small entrepreneurs.
Two years ago, Prof. von Hippel from MIT was traveling with me to meet
creative farmers and entrepreneurs. On the way, Mahesh Patel of GIAN took
us to meet Mr.Shrinand Palshikar of SKP Bearing Industries in Surendnagar.
innovation. In one of the processes, he had to grind small about an inch
long pins in a machine wetting them in oil. He needed a medium to clean
They tried various materials but the surface quality could not be
maintained. Few workers (Laxikant Mazi, suresh Panara and Amiya Ranjan , from the Panchamahals, familiar with hulled corn
could be used for the purpose. It worked perfectly fine. It was
non-abrasive and absorbed the oil very well. It is possible that many
other industries might be facing similar problems and such a solution
might not have occurred to them. Farmers in dry regions might get more
income from the hulled cob of corn rather than from the grain
itself. Every industry would have workers who would be equally
at different levels in the state or central level. SRISTI would be very
happy to hear from other entrepreneurs who have come across creative
examples of such workers so that we could recognize them and create new
role models of innovations from below.
It is equally creditable that Mr.Palshikar has also taken initiative for
replicating a windmill originally developed in Assam by Mehtar Hussain and
Mushtaq Ahmed and modified by GIAN for salt workers. More about it next
time.
Anil K Gupta
