[Sat Nov 22, 2003 3:36 pm]

Fruit processing plant at Mao
http://www.e-pao.net/GP.asp?src=7.12.221103.nov03

I have been trying to find out more info for some time on vacuum seal plastic bag packaging after encountering a processed bamboo shoot packet from japan in the asian stores. These packaging is ideal for storing much of our food items like soibum, hawaizar and ngari as they are smell proof and has a very long shelf life even in room temperature. So investing in one of this equiptment for a low tech manual mcahine is a good business for the outside manipur resident population that wants to carry and also store these smelling and perishable food.

It may also be a cost effective hygenic business idea for the local market. The best thing is that foreign country residents will be able to carry these goods from manipur and clear the strict quarantine requirments. since some of our local products are pretty unique there could even be an export potential to the asian communities overseas if the cost can be kept low and production done in high volumes. I have been trying to research the cost of the machine and packaging material but have not had much luck.

Do indian products have vacuum sealed plastic bags that can store otherwise perishable items at room temperature ? CAn the plastic bags and vacuum sealing machine sold in india or do we need to import/smuggle it from thailand through burma ? If you own one of these in manipur and sell these food items only for the outside manipur resident market, it could still be a profitable business idea. But we need to find out more about the plastic bag as that is more thicker special one.

[Tue Nov 25, 2003 9:26 am]

Now, I came to know from your description that what you saw was not a vacuum sealed bamboo shoot product. It was a canned product using retortable plastic pouch instead of tin container.And there is no preservative inside the packet.It is not the question of vacuum filling machine.

We have the best preservationtechniques and packaging methods which have been followed since time immemorial for storing of such traditional products.

[Mon Nov 24, 2003 3:43 pm]

That was very informative. The packaging I saw was bamboo shoot in some marinade so it had liquid. I am sure there is some preservatives but it was the vacuum sealing of a liquid product that was impressive. Dry packaging of our ngari, soibum or hawaizaar is an easier option but the wet product will preserve much more flavour. Can you please do some research and provide us the cost of the cheapest, and manual operative vacuum sealing machine in india and links to them if it exist.

Once it suceeds we can invest in bigger machines and try exporting to overseas asian grocery stores. The crucial point is the cost of the plastic bag. WE have to see if the running cost of the special plastic bags is going to be inhibitive for the cheap cost of these products we are packaging.

That is why I thought smuggling the plastic bag rolls from thailand to china may be cheaper. We do not need any printing on the packaging. The next step forward on this idea is the costing as the preservatives is straight forward.

[Tue Nov 25, 2003 2:29 pm]

http://www.danozdirect.com.au/?cid=72||&number=FSAVERN&variation=&aitem=17&mitem=96

http://www.grabthisoffer.com/foodsavercompact2/foodsavercompact2.html

This is the vacuum sealing product that people overseas can see advertised on tv and is the simplest option to start with for low volumes or as a pilot. However the catch is their proprietary plastic bags. We need one where the bags are not only readily available in manipur but are very cheap as the food items we are trying to package are very cheap.

Actually there will even be a market for the packaging machines themselves if they can be smuggled in from china as it cost about 6000 Rs.

[Tue Nov 25, 2003 1:59 am]

The preservative information is not exactly rocket science which we can easily get hold of from anywhere on the internet. The important issue is of first investigating the business viability in terms of machinery and running costs which is very manipur and india dependant information.

Another important investigation is of procuring loans under the various indian govt schemes which I raised a long time ago. The MD web site project can encompanss all this.

[Sun Nov 23, 2003 6:47 am]

I have been planning this for sometime but since quite a few overseas membbers plan to go home I thought you guys can try it out. The idea is to use a cheap GPS system to plot a street directory for imphal. It is a cheap project that needs a little software and memory investigation but I am sure the freeware software exist for this.

I think it is just a matter of driving in a bike or car with the GPS reading being picked up at a fast scan rate on a laptop with a synchronised audio recording saying at what time you were on which street/leikai so that later the GPS coordinates can be mapped to a leikai street.

You can do a trial test and then if you are enterprising enough there is big money and name to be made by compiling our first street directory with a simple and cheap idea.

Just do a google search for the plotting software. The GPS kit itself is a very cheap and can be bought from any electronics/outdoors shop.

[Tue Nov 25, 2003 2:29 pm]

Also on the idea of a GPS based street directory , I wonder what the govt uses to survey and record the property boundary details on the patta. Offhand I am not sure about the error margin for public GPS system but I am sure it will give a much more accurate property boundary record than the one used today.

[Tue Nov 25, 2003 1:59 am]

Here is a link for the GPS street directory idea ..
http://www.wavelengthstudios.com/mtnbike/gpsmapstutorial/index.htm
The GPS idea is not to provide realtime digital GPS navigation but to use it ONCE to plot a PAPER street directory ! It is to use a simple GPS device to record the coordinates of the street as you drive or cycle along. The laptop is to automate this recording process instead of writing it on paper.

Once this coordinates are collected, it is a simple process of plotting a 2 dimensional street directory that can be printed and sold by any entrepreneur. It is a very simple and cheap business idea. Hopefully the street map will enable the state govt to name each leikai lanes and have a house number for mailing.

I can't believe that we use just the family name and a leikai to address mails today to manipur ! This is going to fail once we have more nuclear families moving residences. Also having a street directory and corresponding names of leikai lanes will make giving travelling directions easier than those we use today.

This simple cheap project besides the financial jackpot has the potential to transform our society and be a big publicity scoop for our MD group which is essential to get more credibility, participation and attract funding from our population and government.

[Tue, 25 Nov 2003 15:56:46 -0000 ]

I get your idea now. Sounds okay but you need a sattelite-version map also for the eventual mapping and getting a well-define street maps. ISRO or similar group must be having one such map for our region, if the state department for space & research (if there is one) do not have.

For the GPS system, it is upto you to choose whether you use laptops or Pocket PC. However, according to a recent survey, it has been found that iGPS-CF GPS receiver from Pharos have been the most reliable GPS system (95% reliable). If you have a bluetooth based PPC with CF card slots (you could use external jackets). That way you can eliminate all cables which can be very troublesome sometimes.

There are third party softwares for PPC to retrieve and plot the coordinates, similar to the one you had mentioned. This eliminates even the use of laptops. That means, all you need is a small PDA with this GPS system inserted in the device's CF slots and you can carry the device around in your trouser's pocket anywhere, anytime.

Another thing is that this iGPS-CF is a compact small accessory for PPC and this module costs less than the set of equipments mentioned in the site you mentioned. It is priced around US $ 249/- or so. The complete set of toolkits mentioned in your site is US $ 300. The toolkits do not eliminate cables and external batteries.

However, one sad thing when using bluetooth based communication from the GPS enabled PDA is that it entials the use of bluetooth enabled laptops as well. You could use "Bluetooth Null Modem" for data connection. The beauty of this is that there are no cables involved - everything wireless. But then again, if you obtain a software that can plot directly from the PDA, this issue never arise. Such softwares are available in the market.Compact, light, extensible and cost-friendly. This is what iGPS-CF with PPC can offer. TOM-TOM navigational softwares have also been deployed on iPAQ 5450 series.

I work mostly on PPC with Bluetooth and trust me, it is lot better without the nasty wires.

[Wed Nov 26, 2003 11:39 am]

Good on you ! It is a simple technology and simple idea that even a non IT person can implement with a little instruction and acquiring the very affordable hardware. I have had this idea for almost a year now and now felt I have been sitting on it for too long and depriving others so I decided to push it out so someone can implement the project and hopefully make some money for himself too.

There are a lot of such good ideas that many members are sitting on currently I am sure but remain unimplemented because of their not being in a position to implement it.

What we need more than the technology or cable connection details is the person in manipur or for that matter anywhere in the north east who can implement the project so we can have a street directory and also expose a freely available GPS service and technology and idea that can spawn off developments in other fields too. It is the gathering of street data by someone cycling or riding through the streets of the leikais that is the main task.

If somehow we could coordinate this with many people each cycling through their leikai street and uploading the data to us, we can chart out the final composite street directory here and then use a POD facility in manipur to distribute freely or at a cost.

Once this street directory data is there, setting up a real time GPS navigation system too is a small task as the software for it will be a standard one, even available as freeware, which works off this street directory coordinate data. The GPS navigation system one may argue is redundant in a small place like the north east but there is no harm in providing that if it cost almost nothing.

This could be an excellent rewarding project for the engineering students or even school science projects in manipur and a big confidence booster for them to BRAG about and the GPS navigation hardware can be funded by the college/school or the science and technology department (I think we have the science and tech dept in our membership). But if someone wants to take it up as a commercial venture it can be all done by just a single person over a few months.