G-Shock, staying true and consistent to regular watch releases has come back once again in may 2012 with the release of the  G-7900RF-1JF ‘Rastafarian’. Now this piece is so legit and will be a must for me and for many individuals like myself that are avid fans of the “Rasta Movement“. Keeping the needs  of search and rescue teams in mind when developing the watch, it’s design is built tough to handle any session thrown your way.  Shock resistant, water resistant and low temperature resistant it takes a little more to break this piece of hardware down. Keep yo eyes on the prize with this one cause I’m sure they will sell out fast!

And now for some Irie beats…

@DomNewestraAmor y Paz

Not only do luxury watches tell the time, they add colour, class and prestige to one’s wardrobe. Over the years, they have advanced in technology. in this report, JANICE NKOLI IFEME gives you tips on how to buy a good watch

Whether one is going for a job interview, a party or to entertain clients, a classy watch will enhance one’s dressing. a quality watch is a possession that one would treasure for a long time. Find the right one for the right occasion and dress. One could go for a sporty, casual or formal watch, depending on the occasion.

Sporty watches are for everyday use, such as work and recreational events while trendy ones are for special occasions such as black-tie events and weddings.

In 1920, wristwatches became an integral part of fashion and trend. gone were the days when watches were typically put in the pockets. This trend started during World War I by the soldiers in combat zones; and that was just a humble beginning. Soon, the gold luxury watches took the world by storm. Subsequently, other luxury brand watches were introduced by leading watchmakers to match the pace of development.

Brands such as Citizen, Fossil, Bulova, Movado, Seiko, Rolex and Omega make quality watches for men and women, ranging from fashionable leather and steel casuals to elegant dress watches.

These days, watches have advanced in technology and are no longer just to tell the time; they are made for other purposes which stand them out.

A common technology is the Quartz technology, which was developed in 1969 and popularised in 1980. they pass vibrations through a quartz crystal, creating a signal that is extremely precise. After being introduced to the world, the technology was in such high demand that several watch brands that had not adopted it, went out of business.

Many watch fanatics stick with high cost brands such as Rolex and Omega. The watches are simply made better on an entirely different level. for instance, Rolex’s patented oyster case is literally the most highly-sealed watch case available.

If desired, you could take it to a specialty shop just to get it open. these watches also contain less inner parts. yet, they have vastly more precise funcionalities than any other common watch on the market. they last nearly forever and many times, are constructed with real gold, titanium, ceramic, and even diamond accents. Rolex is branded to signify style and builds its brand around golf, also denoting class. The leading stars in sports always opt for Rolex or Cartier watches because they have been branded as status symbols.

Citizen watches are powered by their patented eco-drive technology: solar powered watches that get their energy from sun and synthetic light. you would not need to wind them or change their battery.

Some also include chronograph, a stopwatch feature that can be used to time events. in field applications, they are used primarily in yachting, aeronautics and auto sports.

Seiko’s kinetic self-winding technology means you will not need to indulge in the ritual of turning a dial to re-wind your watch.

Fossil watches are always a prime choice for casual work days or Friday nights. they range from circular to square shapes and come in a line of rugged stitched leather cuff

Seiko’s flight Alarm watch, with a 42 mm wide dial, features flight industry-precise chronograph functions: 60-minute stopwatch, 12-hour basis alarm, international time and a bi-directional rotating slide bezel within coin-edged stainless steel.On the borderline between sport and dress, it is self-winding and solidly built with a scratch-proof sapphire crystal, stainless black steel 42 mm case and bracelet, as well as date, leap year and hourly clocks.

With a handsome rectangular case and Roman numerals, Seiko Coutura watch dress features a brass Cabochon case with hardlex scratch-proof crystal, a black leather strap with matching gold-tone buckle clasp and is water resistant.

Fossil Decker watches for men are strictly sporty and come with a signature olive green canvas and a dial that fuses both digital and analog timekeeping.

A watch collector, Mr Adamson Dike, noted: a $100 watch and a $1,000 watch will both work the same, but the $1,000 watch is built to last. it is also precise enough to never deviate within minutes of keeping the time, as less expensive watches always do in the long run. Generally, the old adage,’ you get what you pay for is true’.

“You pay for the brand name, but you also pay for the quality that particular company has worked so hard to attain, to earn writing that amount on the price tag. That’s why your $25 Timex lasts a few years and the $2,700 Omega Seamaster watch lasts your entire lifetime”, he added.

Internet merchant, Amazon has an array of luxury watches to be purchased on line. several malls such as Ikeja City mall, The Palms, Mega Plaza and City Mall, Onikan have wrist watch stores for male and female.

About the term water-resistant

Water-resistant is a term vaguely stamped on watches, though most people are not sure if it should be taken literally. in general, it gauges the water depth/pressure level that a watch can survive in, but it does not gauge the depth in which water will enter the watch’s internal parts (which most people commonly confuse the term with). As a rule, do not dunk your watch under water, unless it is actually waterproof, or specially made for diving purposes.

Women’s luxury watches

The vivid changes in wrist watches trends for women have been deduced from top luxury watches brands such as Tissot, Sector, Seiko, Rolex, G-Shocks and Rado, among others. With so many options to choose from, buying the luxury brand watches for her has also become overwhelming. So, a guide on women’s luxury watches trends is necessary while shopping for the best luxury watches.

Elegant and unique ladies luxury watches remain a great accessory on defining style. there are many designs and varied colours available in the luxury brand watches range for women, which have redefined elegance.

The jewellery wristwatches

To satisfy women’s love for jewellery, the modern watchmaker has fused the fine craft of watch making with the shimmer of jewellery to create elegant collection of jewellery wrist watches for her. Fashionable ladies use them in their formal and casual attires in prestigious manner.

Fashionable collection of the clasp bracelet watches are still in vogue.

Strap and chain

The detail range of chain and strap are well-liked by women of all age bracket.

If you are the fashionable belle willing to get a watch with exquisite features, then a chronograph watch is the right watch for you.

Caring and maintaining luxury wristwatches

Because of their high quality and durability, many people assume that luxury watches require little or no maintenance. Many have used their precious timepiece in some very inappropriate ways and have paid dearly for it by inadvertently damaging it. below are tips on how to keep your timepiece in excellent condition.

Take off your wristwatch if you are in a situation in which you will be working around substances that could be harmful to it, such as chemicals or steam.

If you want to go for a bath, do not go with your wristwatch. This is because any of the chemicals that you use in the shower like soaps and shampoo, could damage it.

You should take your watch for servicing every two to five years. This rule is especially true for mechanical watches because they have oils that lubricate the inner parts, which dry up over time.

Do not touch the wheels or bridges of your watch with your fingers. it could lead to rust. Also, do not use your mouth to blow air inside the movement; moisture (your saliva) can be introduced and no matter how minute the amount, it will lead to rust.

If your watch is magnetised, do not take it near a magnetic source or it will become very erratic and may even stop working entirely.

Do not wind your watch too often as this will quickly wear out it’s mechanical parts. when manually winding your watch, do it slowly and continuously, you will feel it resisting when it is fully wound. when you feel the resistance leave it alone, you could damage it if you persist. do not forget to take it off your wrist before you wind it.

Use fresh water to thoroughly rinse your watch after swimming, to wash off the chlorine from the pool or salt from the sea.

Some watch crystals are made of acrylic or mineral crystals which make them easy to scratch, making them to have blurry screens. Avoid having the crystals coming in contact with surfaces and do not place them upside down in any situation or place heavy objects on them.

Watches that have sapphire crystals are usually scratch-resistant but do not have them come in contact with diamond jewelleries because diamond can easily scratch them and sapphire crystals will break off easily when it is hit by a hard object. you can use polish on the crystals to give it a very clean look.

World of Watches – Discount Watches

World of Watches is pleased to announce that it is among the top 100 of the nation’s online retailers of discount brand name watches. from Invicta and Technomarine to Armani and Lucien Piccard, World of Watches has the perfect style—and price—for all.

Hollywood, Florida (PRWEB) may 16, 2012

World of Watches has long been one of the leading online retailers of women’s and men’s discount watches. more and more shoppers are learning that they too can own men’s watches and women’s watches from some of the world’s most famous designers. The reason shoppers keep coming back for more? they never have to pay full price. What’s more, customers don’t pay shipping on domestic orders. so it comes of no surprise that World of Watches has announced that it is among the top 100 online retailers in the world for discount brand name watches.

The vast product inventory at World of Watches features over 90 watch brands and thousands of options on styles from popular brands such as Invicta, Stuhrling, Swiss Legend, Lucien Piccard, Swiss Army watches, Technomarine, Armani watches, Croton watches, Jacques Lemans and Christian Bernard. in addition, the online retailer also carries an extensive array of designer jewelry and sunglasses. The huge variety of stock is discounted for exceptional savings up to 91% off. no other retailer on the web can brag such astonishing low prices.

From dress watches to casual watches to sports diver watches, WorldofWatches.com has the selection priced to sale quickly. some of the most popular styles with shoppers right now are I by Invicta, Stuhrling Original watches, Swiss Legend Karamica, Dufonte by Lucien Piccard, Swiss Army Victorinox watches and Technomarine diamond watches. Ladies in particular love Armani watches for women and watches by Christian Bernard jewelers. And for the guy looking for a great deal, Croton watches for men and Jacques Lemans watches for men.

It’s the huge selection of discount brand name watches that bring shoppers to WorldofWatches.com, but it’s the customer service and added bonuses that keep shoppers coming back for more. Firstly, customers can talk to a sales representative by phone every day of the week and can contact customer service by email 24 hours a day, every day. secondly, all orders are sales tax free (unless ordered within Florida). And the best bonus for last: free shipping on all domestic orders, with an option to upgrade to 2-day shipping for only $5. Few retailers can afford the customer service bonuses and the impressively low prices that World of Watches can offer its shoppers.

There is always a great deal on discount watches at World of Watches with several sales events from special holidays and brand name spotlights. For even more information on one of the world’s top 100 watch sites, check out the World of Watches blog or even tune in to WOW TV from 6-9PM EST on DirectTV an Dish Network to see the top picks from the CEO. There is always time for World of Watches.

About World of Watches

World of Watches is an award-winning website that has been selling watches to tens of thousands of satisfied customers since 2003. in both 2007 and 2008, Inc. Magazine selected worldofwatches.com as one of America’s 500 Fastest Growing Companies in its annual Inc. 500 list. World of Watches gives customers a superior shopping experience with:

• Free Shipping on all domestic orders
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To get the latest buzz and inside scoop, visit our blog and follow World of Watches on Facebook and Twitter.

In this article, we will consider a research at one of the most very helpful luxury timepieces for men. often, a observe could possibly be the only product of jewellery that the dude will wear. A observe defines a man’s research and tone. So which luxury observe may you purchase and how is it possible to have oneFake Rolex Watches of the most very helpful price? Let’s possess a look.

If you are actually strolling the mall, you will invariably see small boutique observe stores with wonderful watches. timepieces will be the one sort of jewellery that are advertised for guys as well as for women. Sure, guys suit on bracelets and ordinarily wedding ceremony rings however the principal jewellery staple for just about any dude could possibly be the watch.

How ordinarily can you see extremely effective guys within of a extremely regular watch? the solution is never. effective guys suit on luxury, masculine, and ordinarily sporty watches. These timepieces support define and compliment their character.

Many individuals believe that the severely wonderful observe for just about any dude runs to the a massive quantity of dollars. while that is occasionally true, it is certainly feasible to acquire quality, elegant, character defining timepieces for much lower than $1,000.

The vital will be to purchase the timepieces online. there is invariably a observe store over the net featuring that observe which you saw using the center at an extremely much reduced price. for instance, you will ordinarily take place throughout a observe over the net for $1,000 that is featured on the center for $2,500. that is straightforward economics. the over the net store does not should spend to the space on the mall, the cache of location, as well as the price tag of presence. So, while you see that observe on the mall, confirm its price tag over the net past for you purchase on the brick and mortar store.

So, let’s consider a research on the 5 biggest luxury observe deals which you can take place throughout over the net for this xmas holiday Season.

Tag Heuer rules the luxury observe school for men. that is merely because their collection of timepieces is elegant, masculine, sporty and priced much better compared to other brands. their TAG Heuer Replica Mont-Blanc WatchesMen’s Silver Aquaracer Watch, supplied on the center for much more than $1,500, could possibly be experienced much more compared to xmas time period for $850. the Aquaracer is Tag’s most effective product collection and merely appears stunning. Tag Heuer also provides their TAG Heuer Men’s automated Aquaracer observe at brilliant holiday savings. by method of a comparable Aquracer product line, this Tag Heuer observe carries a traditional research and feel. It is readily available precise now at a benefits of much more than $1,000.

The Omega collection of men’s timepieces defines class, style, and an athletic research for just about any man. their attribute choice is recognized since the James link collection. there are two Omega timepieces readily available this xmas time period at drastically decreased prices: the Omega Men’s Seamaster 300M “James Bond” automated Chronometer observe as well as the Omega Men’s Speedmaster automated Chronograph Watch.Replica Rolex Watches any man’s character is enhanced with one of those timepieces on his arm.

Finally, we provide the crème-de-la-crème of men’s watches: the Rolex. Rolex has defined men’s timepieces for generations. When a dude carries a Rolex, it speaks volumes. the Rolex dude is not working to climb the ladder of success, he has succeeded. you can take place throughout specific deals this time period for the Rolex Submariner signature brand.A. Lange & Sohne watches,Cartier Watches,Chopard Watches,Christian Dior Watches:here we offer all kinds of watches,no matter male or female ,different styles ,you can make a good choice ,low price,high quality ,hurry up,keep the rarely opportunity.

The Substance—Albert Hofmann’s LSD (Switzerland/Germany)

This polished history shows how a single molecule changed North American society in the 20th century’s second half, altering the state of whatever it touched: religion, politics, art, medicine, warfare.

It’s a story that’s been told many times before, but The Substance is concise, finely made, and presided over by the very man who discovered LSD’s cosmos-rattling effects back in 1943: the Swiss chemist Albert Hofmann, stunningly alert and eloquent here, despite being interviewed shortly before his 100th birthday.

In effect, the entire kaleidoscopic tale unfolds here under his gaze. It starts with Hofmann’s first, inadvertent trip (when he accidently dosed himself while doing research on blood-circulation medicine) and ends with truly moving accounts of the role now played by psychedelics in the treatment of anxiety and depression in patients with terminal illnesses.

On the way, we witness LSD’s strange arc through society, its euphoric revelations and serious bummers. Psychiatric researchers in the ’50s hail it as a wonder drug, before bizarre, often terrifying experiments by the CIA try it out as a tool for brainwashing, and the U.S. Army tests it as a potential weapon for rendering enemies temporarily insane. (Footage of American soldiers attempting and failing to march in formation while ripped on acid provides welcome comic relief from the darkness being toyed with.)

Inevitably, we arrive at the unique blend of idealism and fatuous self-promotion that was Timothy Leary, and watch the drug’s reputation crash along with the hippie movement itself—much to Hofmann’s disgust. It’s been a long time since Haight-Ashbury became just one more gentrified neighbourhood, but the effects of the bad trip that took place there over 40 years ago still linger.

DOXA presents The Substance—Albert Hofmann’s LSD on May 8 at 3:45 p.m. at Pacific Cinémathèque.

Watch the trailer for The Substance—Albert Hofmann’s LSD.

She asks whether she needs to slow down for me. I assure her that she needs to drive as fast as she always does; I am timing her drive. When she stops, I will note it on my clipboard. And at the end of the week the data on my clipboard will change her job and possibly cost her two employees. Lynch, then, has reason to be suspicious, but she is not. she tells me I remind her of her former brother-in-law. this is a good thing, she says.

Photographs by Hollis Bennett for Bloomberg BusinessweekLynch is in charge of six people in the 50,000-square-foot warehouse serving the main plant of the Heat Transfer Products Group in Scottsboro, Ala. HTPG, with 473 employees, makes parts for industrial refrigeration units and does about $100 million a year in revenue. It had been a small, forgotten part of a larger company when in 2010 it was purchased by Monomoy Capital Partners, a private equity group that manages about $700 million in investments. Monomoy specializes in buying medium-size manufacturers and making them more efficient.

The word “efficiency” hovers over the private equity industry: Find enough of it, and you will end up making some jobs superfluous. “Efficiency” has given private equity partners a reputation as hatchet men. It gets things thrown at them on shop floors when they show up to take ownership. And it has dogged the presidential campaign of Mitt Romney, the former head of Bain Capital.

To buy a company and sell it at a profit requires a complex skill set: financing, restructuring, negotiating new leases and labor contracts, and, of course, “operations,” the term private equity uses for “making things.” Improving operations can mean parachuting in a consultant or a former chief executive officer as an adviser. Monomoy goes further. It occupies a plant floor like heavy infantry, with yellow tape, label makers, and overwhelming force.

Photographs by Hollis Bennett for Bloomberg BusinessweekIn part, Monomoy does this through a series of two-week “boot camps.” Four times a year, the firm pulls about 20 managers from the manufacturers in its portfolio and sends them to one of its plants to suggest—and carry out—efficiencies. in February it invited me to Scottsboro. Not as an observer. As a participant.  My boot camp starts on a Monday at a training room in the main plant at HTPG. behind the wall, a machine on the plant floor stamps out copper parts. at intervals it sounds like a diesel truck downshifting over a steel plate next to your head. John Stewart, who built and runs Monomoy’s operations group, is telling us what we’ll be doing. He spent most of his career at Toyota Motor (TM), where he started as a 19-year-old on the night shift in Georgetown, Ky. He trained in Japan, then got promoted all the way to general manager of Toyota UK. at several different plants, he ran the Toyota Production System, a philosophy of manufacturing efficiency that touches a company’s every person, object, and motion. TPS made popular the Japanese concept of kaizen, or continuous improvement.

Monomoy has adopted Toyota’s system. five of the seven people in Stewart’s operations group spent time on the line at the Toyota plant in Georgetown, among them Mike Bray, also in the training room. Bray, tall and goateed, runs the boot camps for Monomoy. He uses the word “kaizen” as a transitive verb and as a noun with an indefinite article, as in “We’re going to kaizen this” and “We ran a kaizen on it.”

Toyota’s system is not new to America, but it can be disruptive, and it rests on a sometimes alien obsession with cleanliness and order. Stewart, Bray, and the rest of the operations team apologize for the system even as they ruthlessly carry it out. Their accents, their dress, their turns of phrase all say: we are going to upend your workday, but it happened to us once, too. We’ve swung a hammer. we like Wildcat basketball. It’s going to be OK.

Stewart starts with cleaning. Seri, seiton, seiso, seiketsu, shitsuke. “I don’t like to use those words now that I’m not at a Japanese company,” he says. they translate nicely into five English s’s, too: sort, straighten, sweep, standardize, sustain. Deb Farrister, sitting next to me, nods her head quietly. Farrister works as a team leader on the main plant floor at HTPG. she wears grandma readers and has a bright-red ponytail. She’s worked at HTPG for 11 years. in the past two years seven boot camps have made their way through the company. The five s’s have happened to her already.

At the table next to me and Farrister sits Justin Hillenbrand. He is a Monomoy founding partner, and it was his idea to hire Stewart, but this week he’s a camper like me. All three of Monomoy’s partners, along with the seven employees not in operations, have graduated from at least one boot camp. this is Hillenbrand’s fourth. Monomoy has even run a boot camp at its headquarters in Manhattan, identifying several hundred distinct steps in its dealmaking process and increasing threefold the number of prospects it can consider in a year.

Bray divides us into four groups of five and assigns each a station at the plant. I will be at the warehouse across the street, working with Farrister. Before we head over, she leads the warehouse team out of the training room and onto the main plant floor for a tour. she runs the station at HTPG that builds the V-series—15,000-pound refrigeration parts that, among other things, help make ice in skating rinks. Stewart walks behind us, shaking hands and chatting with workers on the line. “It’s clean,” I tell him, looking around at the plant. “It’s clean now,” he says. I ask Farrister what it was like when the Monomoy boot camps started rolling through in 2010. “Hoo-ee,” she says, remembering. “Hoo. Ee.”

Stewart explains that since buying HTPG, Monomoy has moved roughly 15 tractor-trailer loads of machines and inventory off the floor and consolidated into the same space an entire plant from Yuma, Ariz. Copper tubing and sheet metal had been stacked between stations; you can now see clear across the plant’s 200,000 square feet. Before Monomoy, stations had “pushed” parts forward, simply making them at will and keeping them to be used down the line as needed. The plant now “pulls” product, starting with the day’s orders from customers and building components on demand. Excess inventory wastes capital and hides problems, says Stewart. I will hear that often this week.

Farrister nods again as Stewart speaks. she doesn’t nod like an employee. she nods like a believer. “It’s the best thing that’s happened to this plant,” she says. at her station, a boot camp team removed the clutter, ran time studies, created more space to work, defined a precise job for everyone, and improved productivity from two units per shift to five units a shift. “People are nicer now,” she says. “It used to be so stressful. You’re searching for parts, trying to get sheet metal, everyone’s at each other’s throat. It’s not as stressful now.”

Stewart leaves us with a koan, passed on from his mentor at Toyota. “TPS is the best way,” he says. “The best way is TPS.” Whatever the right thing to do is, that’s the right thing to do. Simple.  Tuesday morning at 7, the five members of my boot camp team start tracking the first shift at the warehouse, and I start following Judy Lynch. an office near the loading bay contains three computer desks, a calendar from a supplier, and a fax machine, which prints out orders from the plant across the street. Lynch often notices the orders first, so I begin tracking her “picks,” her trips to the warehouse floor to fill orders from the plant.

Mike Bray is in charge of the boot camp team in the warehouse. He watches as seri, seiton, and seiso begin around him. Lynch’s staff takes turns on a scrubber, a machine the size of a ride-on lawn mower that sucks up rubber dust. “A kaizen from last year,” says Bray. It leaves a wet trail, in which it slowly becomes apparent that the concrete floor was once finished with a glossy sealant. Craig Sanders, a boot camper from Oneida, the iconic flatware company, which Monomoy bought in November 2011, knows how to drive a forklift. He starts moving unused inventory to the back of the warehouse—400-pound copper spools and packs of seven-foot-long stands left over from the Yuma consolidation.

In 2010, Monomoy cut 86 workers from HTPG’s payroll in Scottsboro. Then a funny thing happened. A year of boot camps has helped the company beat industry lead times, the weeks that pass between sale and delivery. On-time delivery ran at 72 percent before Monomoy bought the plant; so far for 2012 it’s at 96 percent. Deb Farrister’s V-series now take two weeks to build, a quarter of the industry average. in 2011 sales grew by 10 percent. And overall, since Monomoy bought HTPG in 2010, head count is up in Scottsboro and sales are up 19 percent.

It’s a bright picture, clouded somewhat by the 150 jobs lost in Arizona when Monomoy closed the Yuma plant. If you add Yuma into the head count, the net loss at HTPG is about 75 people. The partners at Monomoy are not saints, and people are expensive. But if you cut costs through head count alone—and not by improving operations—you have to just pray the economy goes your way. to survive, you cut people. to grow, you cut waste.

The Toyota Production System recognizes three kinds of waste, muda, mura, and muri. Translation: movement that creates no value, overburdening people or machines, and inconsistent production. People are easy to find on a cash-flow statement. Muda, mura, and muri all add drag on capital just like a day’s wages, but they hide on the plant floor.

I begin bird-dogging the fax machine in the warehouse office, pouncing when orders arrive from the plant. Paul Griffin, one of Lynch’s forklift drivers, gets an order, and I follow him on a pick with my stopwatch. He heads down an aisle, craning his neck to find a crate. He starts talking about Carrier (UTX), the heating and cooling company that used to own HTPG, and Vijay Inbasagaran, the plant’s old director of operations. “Vijay,” says Griffin, “he brought the kaizen.

Bray sees waste in the copper stacked at the loading bay. He knows it makes sense to leave it there—the plant turns over its stock of copper 13 times a month—but it bothers him to see so much inventory. Bray is sometimes on the road four and a half days a week. Usually he drives the boot camp truck, which contains supply carts for making signs and cleaning, a computer workstation with a printer, and a toolbox so spotless and so comprehensive that, he says, “Nascar would be proud.” He’ll show it to the maintenance staff at a plant and tell them, “If your toolbox looked like this, my machine wouldn’t be down.” by which he means Monomoy’s machine. Bray is a type-A obsessive masquerading as a good ol’ boy.  Monomoy’s headquarters is on the 17th floor of a building in midtown Manhattan. in the early 2000s, Justin Hillenbrand, Daniel Collin, and Stephen Presser were turning companies around for KPS Capital Partners when they noticed an opportunity. with larger companies they found more capital chasing fewer deals, and the market tended to be more efficient. by “efficient,” read: harder to make money in. on the lower end of the middle market, however—companies bringing in $100 million to $150 million in revenue—they could double, triple, and sometimes even quadruple Ebitda (earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortization).

“There’s always a disproportionate amount of underperforming businesses when you’re looking at the smaller end of the spectrum,” says Collin. Smaller businesses are more exposed to market fluctuations and have more trouble raising money in capital markets. over time, better managers leave for larger companies. Although the businesses are small, it’s a huge market, he says; in North America there are more than 150,000 companies this size.

In January 2005 the three left KPS and started Monomoy. they visited hundreds of plants. The better-performing companies consistently used some form of the Toyota Production System. The partners began to realize that the traditional private equity approach to operations—putting a former CEO on a company’s board—wouldn’t work for some of their purchases. “You could have the best CEO in the world,” Hillenbrand says, “but in a manufacturing company profits are made on the floor.”

“A little bit to our credit,” he says, “we’re pretty good at the other stuff, the financial restructuring, the lease restructuring, the union negotiations, the commercial side. But we recognized that in order to improve operations you needed someone on the ground.” The partners began bringing candidates to a plant that eventually became part of Compass Automotive Group, which they also own. It already had a Toyota-like system in place. The first several candidates thought the business was fine. Not John Stewart. “When John came in,” says Hillenbrand, “he tore the place apart.”  After a day at the warehouse on Tuesday, my time studies are sloppy. I have crossed out and marked over rows of steps; everyone picks differently. Mike Bray explains that the first kaizen is the worst. There is no process when you start to create a process, so it’s harder to isolate the steps that add waste.

I have determined, however, that the time between an order’s arrival and the moment a worker starts a pick averages just shy of 13 minutes. I point out to Bray that the faxes sit in the office while the forklifts move on the floor, so nobody sees them arrive. He says the problem is worse than that. If the plant is working as it should, Judy Lynch should know at the start of the day what needs to get trucked over. now there are orders when the shift starts, orders on the fax, and “hot” orders, which the plant follows up with a phone call.

Bray proposes that we turn the fax machine into a “bat phone.” we will install it on the end of a row just inside the loading bay and rig it to a photo sensor and a rotating green light to summon the forklifts. I have discovered a muda: movement that creates no value, in this case movement between the office and the warehouse floor. I am as proud as a toddler. I ask Bray whether we should get a handheld inventory scanner for each forklift, too. “Well, we don’t even know yet how many forklifts we need,” he says. I am kaizening ahead of myself. “Most of what forklifts do is just drive.” more muda. The scrubber is still circling. more seiso.

On Wednesday the warehouse boot camp team runs more time studies and feeds them into spreadsheets. we all have hunches, and these hunches need to be confirmed. around 9 p.m. a maintenance crew arrives to install the bat phone. we are almost done for the night, and the warehouse boot camp gathers as maintenance finishes up. I place a sheet of paper in the tray. The sensor sees it. The green light begins sweeping in circles, 10 feet in the air. I raise my hands in triumph. I have moved a fax machine. I have created an efficiency. I have completed a kaizen.  Thursday morning we’re back in with the first shift to make sure our big ideas are working. Joe Meinke has trouble getting used to a new layout. He works the FedEx station at the warehouse, shipping out smaller replacement parts to customers. “It’s like I kinda got my insides ripped out,” he says. Two boot campers have been tracking Meinke this week, and by Thursday morning one of two boxing tables at the station is gone, along with a chair and an extra stand that dispenses bubble wrap. Tape on the floor shows him where to stack boxes. A square is marked “trash can.”

I walk to the bat phone and begin running time studies. we have placed the tray at elbow height for someone driving a forklift, and drivers can grab the order without climbing out. 0:19. 2:13. 4:28—the new time from the arrival of a fax to the start of a pick averages 2:20. I have reduced the cycle time for a pick by about 10 minutes. this took four days. in one warehouse. at one plant. The Toyota Production System is like a diet. It is not hard to grasp. It is hard to do.

A group of boot campers has gathered with Farrister at the UPS station. they are talking about Monomoy’s demanding reporting requirements for their own plants. “I get it,” says Farrister. “I invest a million dollars, I’m going to see what happened.” I ask her how Monomoy is different from Carrier, the company that used to own the plant. “They talk to you,” she says.

“Scrubber’s all tore up,” says a member of Lynch’s team. Indeed, the scrubber has finally been driven into the ground. It sits by a loading door, bleeding gray fluid. Before it expired, it excavated near the UPS desk several lines of tape on the floor from a previous attempt at a kaizen, back when the plant was owned by Carrier. A square from that prior effort is marked “trash.”

Before I leave Scottsboro, John Stewart walks me around the main plant, as before stopping to chat with line workers. Some have his personal cell number, and use it. When he gets to a new plant, he looks at hands; if they are not moving, something is being wasted. He looks at forklift loads; if they are not full, something is being wasted. Stewart believes that if you can get costs down, there’s no reason not to make things in the U.S. Offshoring carries political risks and incurs supply-chain costs, he says. It can prove difficult to teach culture to a foreign workforce. “You make investments in people,” he says. “We believe that North American manufacturing deserves to exist.”

This is the language of a union leader, not a private equity executive. later that day, I talk to HTPG’s union steward and try without success to get her to say something bad about Monomoy. After several tornadoes touched down in Scottsboro last year, Monomoy’s partners sent everyone at the plant whose houses were hit a Home Depot gift card for $500. yet Monomoy is not a charity. It sells its acquisitions when it is done with them.

Justin Hillenbrand is on the floor, too, wrapping up his boot camp. at his station, which assembles small condensers, five boot campers have kaizened away an entire production shift. they have created a “kitting area,” a single spot for parts delivery, so a worker doesn’t have to look for them to build a new condenser. at the Scottsboro plant, about one in three cars and one in five persons display in some way the colors of the University of Alabama. Hillenbrand, who grew up in new Jersey, is wearing a Crimson Tide T-shirt. He’s taking John May, HTPG’s CEO, through the week’s results. that is: A partner in a private equity firm is showing an executive at an acquisition a set of changes that he, personally, has made to the production line.

As I walk with Stewart, I notice tape on the floor that reads “Top brazing cart #1.” It does not contain anything that looks like it might be a brazing cart. I see oil and water on the floor, too. A cart labeled “closing cart” is a mess. I point these out to Stewart. “TPS is an ideal state,” he says. “We’re trying to get from a B-minus, C to a B-plus. we don’t have to hold this long enough to get to Toyota quality to get significant value.” I ask him whether this should worry a potential buyer. HTPG CEO May—and Farrister, a team leader on the line—both seem dedicated to the system. yet on the plant floor, I can already notice it beginning to slip in places. Investors “aren’t going to look at it like that,” says Stewart. “They’re looking at financials. They’re looking at 12 months of value.”

Practiced this way, private equity is not slash-and-burn liquidation, extracting money from capital. It’s not overleveraging, making profits off dividends paid out of unsustainable loans. Private equity, the way Monomoy does it, is a castle in the sand, a brief victory for order in the constant slide toward entropy. we walk past the electrical-box assembly station. A broom leans against a machine. above it, a shadow board, painted to show where tools belong, reveals an outline where the broom should hang.

Daniel Radcliffe looked thoroughly spellbound sitting in the front row of Radio City Music Hall last night for the NFL Draft.

The “Harry Potter” star put away his quidditch gear to attend the event, as he has become a football fanatic. the actor, who has starred in two Broadway plays in the past two years and recently wrapped principal photography in the city on the beat generation film “Kill Your Darlings,” says that he roots for the Giants.

DANIEL RADCLIFFE’S a PING PONG MASTER

When Nylon magazine asked Radcliffe earlier this year what he did in the average non-working day, he said, “I read, I play Madden on Xbox, I check and revise my fantasy football team as well as doing a lot of the search about the NFL. I love the NFL. I’m obsessed.”

Oleg Nikishin/Epsilon/Getty Images Daniel Radcliffe sat in the front row of the NFL Draft yesterday.

He later explained, “When I was doing ‘Equus,’ I got into football. Boomer, who was one of the crew, basically christened me a Giants fan. Then somebody started a fantasy league and that was it. I [bleeping] love it. It’s a great sport.”

Radcliffe waited patiently last night until the end of Round 1 before the Giants claimed running back David Wilson of Virginia Tech with the 32nd pick. but the star no doubt took careful note of the previous picks, as well, to boost his fantasy league prospects next season.

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4/26/2012 – South side Leader      

By Maria Lindsay

Knudson Jewelers has a selection of musical Seiko wall clocks, shown below, that include moving pieces. Zable beads with a silver bracelet and black rope necklace, shown above, also are available at Knudson Jewelers. Photos: Maria Lindsay LAKEMORE — Knudson Jewelers has been located for more than 60 years at 1500 Canton Road in the Tri-County Plaza.

The business was purchased by David Kaisk in 1993, and he now serves as president of the company.

Kaisk said the jewelry store is a full-service business, offering both products and services.

Products available at Knudson Jewelers include the Valina bridal collection, Zable jewelry and Kameleon.

The Valina line consists of ladies matching engagement and wedding rings that can be customized.

Kaisk explained couples can select any diamond size and shape, mix white gold and yellow gold, as well as rose gold and platinum to any ring set they choose.

“we can do just about anything the bride wants with this line,” he added.

Zable jewelry includes beads, bracelets, necklaces and earrings, and Kaisk said it is popular with customers.

Kameleon offers a full line of interchangeable sterling silver jewelry, he said.

In addition, the store has a varied selection of Citizen and Pulsar watches, as well as Seiko wall clocks.

“the Melodies in Motion selection of Seiko clocks offer a nice variety of music and movement,” Kaisk said.

Knudson Jewelers also does jewelry repairs, sizes rings, repairs and replaces diamond settings on rings, repairs watches, replaces batteries and fixes clocks that are not working.

“we are known as the watch whisperer because we can take care of watches and clocks that others have been unable to,” said Kaisk.

Knudson Jewelers also offers personal engraving on a variety of items.

The business is open Mondays, Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Fridays from 10 a.m. to 5:30 p.m., Thursdays from 10 a.m. to 6:30 p.m. and Saturdays from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m.

For more information, call 330-784-7431 or visit the business on Facebook.

The Swiss Army Knife is arguably the most recognizable and popular knife on earth.  It didn’t happen by accident. The famous multi-tool pocket knife was designed by an expert who owned a cutlery workshop in Switzerland. his name was Karl Elsener and with the help of his mother, Victoria, he founded a company that recently celebrated its 125th Anniversary.It’s easy to get confused when we use the term “Swiss Army” to describe a specific knife or watch, since the companies that make (or made) these products were not actually named “Swiss Army.” The nickname was used to describe knives that were actually sold to the Swiss Army in the late 19th century.  because they needed a lot of knives, they hired two companies, Victorinox and Wenger, to meet the demand.  Regardless of the maker, they were all commonly called “Swiss Army” knives.However, it is important to note that only Victorinox (named for Karl Elsener’s mother) are legally allowed to use the words “Swiss Army” on their knives and watches.  It is for this reason that the company is considered by most to be the original “Swiss Army” supplier, even though they don’t sell under that brand name.why watches?The Swiss have been making quality timepieces for over four centuries now. they are responsible for the first watch guild and for quartz technology, as well as many other innovations.  but why would a company that had had such remarkable success with one particular product suddenly change gears?  that is not an easy question to answer.Victorinox made knives and nothing but knives for over a century. It was not until 1989 that the original Swiss Army watch was introduced.  The most reasonable explanation is that the world watch market left something to be desired, at least in the opinion of the Victorinox.  Let us not forget that the Quartz Revolution transformed horology forever in the early 1970s.The new technology displaced or destroyed many of the old guard. even by the late 80s, watchmaking was still in a transitional period. there were companies that catered to upscale shoppers, like Cartier and Rolex, and those that sold to the common man, like Timex and Casio. but there was very little in the middle for folks who wanted durable, attractive watches at competitive prices.  Victorinox Swiss Army decided to meet this need.The company did hedge its bets a bit. It produced two separate brands that included the Swiss Army name. The first was Victorinox Swiss Army and the second was simply sold as Swiss Army.  both brands grew rapidly and the famous company soon amassed a catalogue over 100 different models.  As these watches caught on with consumers, the company slowly phased out the models with “Swiss Army” on their dials in favor of those with the label “Victorinox Swiss Army.” It is now quite uncommon to find an unused model with the former label.  Like many other popular watchmakers, Victorinox has expanded its product line to include collections that appeal to certain kinds of customers or needs.  they now offer dress watches in their Vivante and Alliance lines and sporty models in their Infantry and Chrono Classic collection.  The company even produces high-end mechanical collections like Alpnach and Ambassador for true watch aficionados.  Most Swiss Army timepieces from Victorinox are somewhere in the three to five hundred dollar range, making them moderately-prices watches.  in other words, they aren’t Rolexes and they aren’t Timexes, which is exactly what they were going for when they introduced their first watch.  And speaking of their first timepiece, let us take a moment to discuss the original Swiss Army watch.first offered in 1989, the original Swiss Army watch is still a popular model in the company’s growing catalogue. there are several reasons for this. Price is undoubtedly a consideration.  With more upscale collections, the price of the average Swiss Army model is rising. but the original remains one of their most affordable models.  It can generally be found for only around $175, which is about half their prices of most of their other watches.What makes it great?Classic designs never go out of style. The original Swiss Army watch from Victorinox features an easy to read analog display with a durable water-resistant nylon mesh and leather strap that closes with a stainless steel buckle.  It counts minutes and hours in traditional and military time.  The watch hands are black with luminous tips, which make them easy to see in low-light conditions.  like many Swiss Army watches, their original has a scratch-resistant mineral crystal cover that protects it in up to 100 meters (330 feet) of water.find Victorinox Swiss Army watches at competitive prices from watch sellers on the internet.

Hollywood, Florida (PRWEB) May 08, 2012

World of Watches, a leading online retailer of designer watches for men and women, offers over 75 brands to choose from at deeply discounted prices. This week, World of Watches announced the start of its inventory spring-cleaning clearance event. During this once-a-year sale, select brand name watches will be offered at up to 90% off. Also, in a special hub of Worldofwatches.com, 200 styles of watches will be offered under $200.

As summer styles sprinkles in, spring styles are slowly on their way out. April showers are over and, as the mercury climbs, shoppers are back out doors again. while customers can still shop on the go, World of Watches is also bringing deeper savings to entice its busy customers this summer. for example, limited quantities of spring brand name watches will be marked down by up to 90% off the recommended retail price.

Some popular brands featured in the sale include, Swiss Legend, Invicta, Red Line, Swiss Army watches, Jaques Lemans, Armani watches, Lucien Piccard and Stuhrling. Watch collectors will want to take advantage of the spring clearance sale today, before these limited styles are gone forever.

World of Watches has an extensive inventory of discount watches and has a style for every shopper and a price to suit every budget, with a one-day sale boasting 200 watches for $200 or less. Indeed, World of Watches adheres to their belief that whether a customer is shopping for fun or for a gift, there’s no need to break the bank.

Choose from popular styles from brand name watch manufacturers like I by Invicta, Dufonte by Lucien Piccard, Stuhrling Original watches, Swiss Army Victorinox watches and Technomarine diamond watches. Other stunning mens watch brands and womens watch brands include Croton, Christian Bernard and Rotary. World of Watches ensures shoppers can buy luxury timepieces that express individuality with attention to quality and refinement, at some of the lowest prices on the Web.

World of Watches is committed to offering the best of the best when it comes to passing along savings to their customers and always guarantees free shipping on domestic orders. In addition to the deep discounts on brand name watches, WorldofWatches.com boasts a top-notch shopping experience that’s utterly flawless on every tech device.

About World of Watches

World of Watches is an award-winning website that has been selling discount watches to tens of thousands of satisfied customers since 2003. In both 2007 and 2008, inc. Magazine selected worldofwatches.com as one of America’s 500 Fastest Growing Companies in its annual inc. 500 list. World of Watches gives customers a superior shopping experience with:

• Free Shipping on all domestic orders

-100% Satisfaction Guarantee

• low Price Guarantee
• 30 Day Money Back Guarantee

To get the latest buzz and inside scoop, visit the World of Watches blog and follow World of Watches on Facebook and Twitter.