Earlier quoted context omitted.
It's taboo in the Western world, too.
Where in the western world?
America, for one. Sure its too a lesser degree, but taboo still.
An Indian Inventor Disrupts The Period Industry
101–110 of 153 posts
Re: An Indian Inventor Disrupts The Period Industry
#102Wait a minute... According to the article and his website the machine costs $2,500 each, can produce 2 napkins per minute and requires 746W of power. Each machine employs a crew of four people. A full scale industrial machine is claimed to cost $500K and, from a quick bit of google-ing can produce 350 napkins per minute and requires about 80KW of power. Each machine seems to be operable by a small team of five or so,…
> 175 low cost machines @131KWh in household settings: USD $37 per day.
> Industrial machine @80KWh in industrial setting: USD $52.87 per day.
> The industrial machine cost a little more to run (power) but it produces 175 times more product per machine.
Wait a minute here, you multiplied the electrical cost per cheap machine by 175 since it makes 175 times less, then compared the cost of the 175 times more, then claimed it made 175 times less, but you already adjusted it to be 1 to 1. Are you double compensating here?
Re: An Indian Inventor Disrupts The Period Industry
#103Wait a minute... According to the article and his website the machine costs $2,500 each, can produce 2 napkins per minute and requires 746W of power. Each machine employs a crew of four people. A full scale industrial machine is claimed to cost $500K and, from a quick bit of google-ing can produce 350 napkins per minute and requires about 80KW of power. Each machine seems to be operable by a small team of five or so,…
That's some great points. Thanks for the effort to lay out the costs involved. It's a good point to consider how there are often good reason for doing things the way we have been (caveats about this situation not withstanding).
Re: An Indian Inventor Disrupts The Period Industry
#104Wait a minute... According to the article and his website the machine costs $2,500 each, can produce 2 napkins per minute and requires 746W of power. Each machine employs a crew of four people. A full scale industrial machine is claimed to cost $500K and, from a quick bit of google-ing can produce 350 napkins per minute and requires about 80KW of power. Each machine seems to be operable by a small team of five or so,…
Great analysis, missed a huge point though. A fraction of an industrial machine makes zero napkins. Your analysis is spot on, the problem can be solved more efficiently with a large scale production. The capital expenditure cost however is similar (43M vs 50M). You point out they huge disparity in labor costs $25M vs .09M but labor is 'free' in India (which is to say there is so much of it available that the price is…
...but labor is 'free' in India...
His numbers for labor cost, namely $1/hour, are in the ballpark of free. It's probably a bit high (I'd guess something closer to 15-35rs/hour), but not unreasonable.
Re: An Indian Inventor Disrupts The Period Industry
#105Wait a minute... According to the article and his website the machine costs $2,500 each, can produce 2 napkins per minute and requires 746W of power. Each machine employs a crew of four people. A full scale industrial machine is claimed to cost $500K and, from a quick bit of google-ing can produce 350 napkins per minute and requires about 80KW of power. Each machine seems to be operable by a small team of five or so,…
> 175 low cost machines @131KWh in household settings: USD $37 per day. > Industrial machine @80KWh in industrial setting: USD $52.87 per day. > The industrial machine cost a little more to run (power) but it produces 175 times more product per machine. Wait a minute here, you multiplied the electrical cost per cheap machine by 175 since it makes 175 times less, then compared the cost of the 175 times more, then clai…
This is correct; there is some double compensation.
746W per machine => 7.46KWh per day. Multiply by $0.03 USD/KWh (=1.5 INR) to get $0.22/day or $0.00022 per napkin, slightly cheaper than the industrial solution. In other words, the household machines are about half as efficient with power but their cheaper rates on power more than compensates.
In terms of overall efficiency, other factors like raw materials, transportation, etc. are likely to dominate--the power expenditure is small for both options.
Re: An Indian Inventor Disrupts The Period Industry
#106Earlier quoted context omitted.
Great analysis, missed a huge point though. A fraction of an industrial machine makes zero napkins. Your analysis is spot on, the problem can be solved more efficiently with a large scale production. The capital expenditure cost however is similar (43M vs 50M). You point out they huge disparity in labor costs $25M vs .09M but labor is 'free' in India (which is to say there is so much of it available that the price is…
...but labor is 'free' in India... His numbers for labor cost, namely $1/hour, are in the ballpark of free. It's probably a bit high (I'd guess something closer to 15-35rs/hour), but not unreasonable.
When the bottom billion in India make around $1-$2 a day, his estimate is off by about an order of magnitude.
Re: An Indian Inventor Disrupts The Period Industry
#107Earlier quoted context omitted.
I think wealthy Indians are better than empowered Indians.
So India can be like Brazil with its massive income inequality?
It would be wonderful if India achieved the same wealth distribution as Brazil. Some people would become richer and no one would become poorer.
http://economix.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/01/31/the-haves-and-t...
Re: An Indian Inventor Disrupts The Period Industry
#108The world needs more people with empathy who are willing to put themselves in the shoes of others. Brilliant story. Thank you for posting it.
You're welcome. I'm glad that the HN readership has helped share this story with people who might have missed this and who are interested in these true individuals.
Re: An Indian Inventor Disrupts The Period Industry
#109Re: An Indian Inventor Disrupts The Period Industry
#110Earlier quoted context omitted.
...but labor is 'free' in India... His numbers for labor cost, namely $1/hour, are in the ballpark of free. It's probably a bit high (I'd guess something closer to 15-35rs/hour), but not unreasonable.
When the bottom billion in India make around $1-$2 a day, his estimate is off by about an order of magnitude.
India has 1B people and a GDP per capita of about $1400/year, making it a mathematical impossibility that the bottom billion earns $1/day.
The minimum wage in India is 115rs/day, or 11.5rs/hour with a 10 hour workday, so it wouldn't even be legal to pay 5rs/hour (an order of magnitude less than the 50rs/hour algoshift postulated).
Assuming the machine operators earn a median Indian wage, assuming 8 hour days, 6 days/week, 52 weeks/year, their wage will be 28rs/hour.