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Companies are starting to pay their supply chain managers more and more. It’s proof that these positions and the extensive knowledge the people who hold them need, are becoming more valuable to companies than ever. According to the latest survey from the Institute for Supply Chain Management , the average salary for a supply chain professional working in market intelligence is more than $139,000 in 2017. That’s up more than 4 percent over the previous year. This is at a time when American wages in general are stagnating. Supply chain executives still don’t serve in many C-suites. But this position is a competitive advantage for modern companies. Supply chain employees need to be able to manage people, keep dozens of different departments and suppliers organized, and incorporate changing technology for their companies’ benefit. Companies are increasing salaries for supply chain managers industry-wide. Expertise in this field is valuable enough to companies that they’re willing to pay for it. Related: The “Amazon Effect” and the Changing Parcel Landscape Companies Need High-Quality Supply Chain Employees “Supply chain management” didn’t exist as a job title until a few decades ago. But the position is fast evolving, and becoming more critical to companies’ survival. First, supply chain managers have to effectively manage within their companies. They need to bring together diverse departments from design to customer service to IT, and understand each one’s needs and abilities. Then, they have to interface with external companies responsible for manufacturing, packing and shipping. That would be challenging enough for even a highly trained manager. But what’s more, each component of the supply chain is rapidly evolving. Tariffs impact manufacturing and product development options. Warehousing and shipping are continually evolving as certain processes become more efficient through big data and algorithms, and others become automated altogether. Generally, globalization and automation are continually making supply chain networks more and more complex, meaning companies need good logistics and supply chain management more than ever. Companies need supply chain executives who know how to negotiate with many managers at once. Not only do they need to get the best deal on raw materials, they need to ensure their manufacturer can process those materials and so on. Further, supply chain professionals need to know how to prevent supply chain disruptions. Though most manufacturing-based companies keep some inventory on hand, breaking one link in the supply chain can quickly decimate production capacity and by extension, corporate profits. Scott Luton, managing partner with TalentStream LLC, a recruitment firm that works with large and midsize manufacturers and logistics firms told The Wall Street Journal “Companies want professionals who know how to negotiate and get those bottom-line savings…There is a huge emphasis being placed on finding talent that gets global trade and global enterprise.” Supply Chain Management Requires a Diverse Skill Set Supply chain managers are no longer simply managers, although they need to know how to negotiate and manage crises to keep production humming. Today’s companies are now willing to pay more for supply chain executives with information technology skills, as more supply chain processes become automated. These leaders like those in many corporate sectors, need to know how to collect and analyze data to improve processes. The promises of big data also make IT experience valuable. The Institute for Supply Chain Management survey showed that certifications increase salaries significantly. The average professional with no certifications made about $109,000 in 2017. One or more certifications boosted salaries to about $123,000. Those working in market intelligence saw salaries rise to $139,000, suggesting that those skills are particularly valuable. As the pace of production and delivery accelerates in the e-commerce economy, supply chain managers need market intelligence skills. They must analyze consumer needs, understand how their market is evolving and pivot to meet those demands. They may need to incorporate cutting-edge technologies including artificial intelligence to streamline processes. And they certainly need to know how to analyze data and make predictions. As costs rise in the globalized economy—import and export duties, transportation costs, labor costs, and more—supply chain managers play critical roles in maintaining companies’ bottom lines. If they can keep costs down on the ground, the savings can trickle up to corporate profits. That makes higher salaries worth it. Supply Chain Management Requires Creative Leadership Supply chains have dozens of moving parts, and it’s likely that a few of them are in the hands of outside contractors. As such, supply chain budgets quickly become confusing to those who aren’t deeply familiar with them. That means the supply chain can be a company’s greatest source of inefficiency, but also its greatest opportunity for savings. Organizations with efficient supply chains based on good relationships with their partners, can quickly cut costs and streamline production. Great supply chain managers can stay on top of evolving regulations, technologies and contracts. They can identify problem areas and inefficiencies and target them for improvement. Good relationship management is critical for making those changes. Amid all this demand for great supply chain management, however there’s not much supply. Supply chain programs are gaining popularity at universities, but as America’s Baby Boomers retire, companies are struggling to fill jobs that require deep specialization. Many Baby Boomers developed over decades in their roles. To head off that challenge, companies are focusing not only on hiring but on retaining supply chain professionals. It can take a year or more to train a new employee for a narrowly focused analytics or management position. Then, companies need to keep those workers in house. That’s most easily done by raising their wages. It’s obvious to executives that great supply chain leaders increase company value. But with a dearth of skilled managers for the foreseeable future, experts believe supply chain salaries will continue to rise—maybe even faster next year.

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The COVID-19 pandemic has upended normal life and many supply chains. Between hoarding (such as toilet paper), unexpected demand surges (such as yeast, for baking), and spot supply shortages (because of factories or warehouses closed due to infection or mandate), some products are in short supply. The most tragic examples, of course, involve shortages of ventilators, personal protective equipment, and pharmaceutical supplies required to care for people infected with the coronavirus. When disaster strikes, suppliers, original equipment manufacturers, and retailers may find that they cannot offer all their products or fulfill all their customer orders. They must decide who gets what. But how? Get Updates on Transformative Leadership Evidence-based resources that can help you lead your team more effectively, delivered to your inbox monthly. Please enter a valid email address Thank you for signing up Past disruptions reveal the ways companies on both ends of the supply chain have handled such challenges, both in terms of the tactics they employed and the considerations they used for their decisions. These examples illustrate the diverse approaches executives can use to determine who gets what. Six Tactics for Managing Supply Shortfalls The main tactics executives have chosen for prioritizing products and customers when they are unable to fulfill all orders involve some type of allocation. Regardless of the specific approach employed, there are always competing priorities that have to be taken into account, leading to the need for careful consideration. Favor the most important customers. During several disruptions to microelectronics supplies over the past 25 years, the largest PC makers, including HP, Dell, and Apple, were high on suppliers’ priority lists. Differentiated allocation policies favor some customers while impeding others. A related allocation criterion is to direct supplies to the highest-margin products and customers. For example, General Motors scrambled to find scarce materials in 2011 after a trifecta of disasters — an earthquake, a tsunami, and a nuclear meltdown — hit Japan and devastated factories there. In GM’s crisis room, “Project J” had supply chain professionals scouring the globe to find sufficient parts to keep all of the company’s car factories running. Despite the frantic search, at one point GM could not find enough airflow sensors for its trucks. The team decided to prioritize full-sized trucks over small trucks because the larger vehicles were both more profitable and had smaller retail inventories. Maximize short-term revenues. Economists often argue that a well-designed auction improves economic efficiency by allocating scarce resources to those who can create the greatest value with that resource. (This is the usual justification for government auctions of electromagnetic spectrum.) Moreover, high prices after a disruption encourage more-flexible buyers to forgo the scarce commodity, thereby conserving supplies for those who have no other options. The danger in auctions is that customers may perceive them as price gouging. In the wake of the flooding that inundated the plains in Thailand and devastated an industrial cluster of electromechanical parts suppliers and hard-disk makers in 2011, Seagate Technology became the No. 1 disk-drive maker, taking the crown from its more disrupted rival, Western Digital. Because Seagate could not replace all the lost supply, it decided to auction some disk drives to the highest bidder. Seagate also used the threat of these auctions to compel customers to sign long-term agreements. However, customers perceive auctions during a disruption — despite their theoretical appeal — as profiteering. Indeed, after the flood receded and Western Digital recovered, it took back the lead. Unfortunately, the COVID-19 pandemic has given rise to cases of naked profiteering by suppliers of needed medical supplies. Treat everyone equally. Some companies insist on “fair” or uniform allocations of volume for commercial, cultural, or legal reasons. With a uniform allocation policy, all products or customers get identical treatment, such as the same fraction of ordered volume or the same change in prices. After the 2011 Fukushima nuclear disaster, many Japanese companies gave every customer the same fraction of their orders. Likewise, Intel, as a large supplier in the PC industry, generally uses a similarly uniform allocation approach to avoid the appearance of favoritism. But being fair isn’t easy when customers try to game the system by artificially inflating their orders. To combat this, some companies allocate product based on a portion of pre-disruption historical order volumes. With COVID-19, many retailers have implemented fixed-volume allocations, such as limiting all shoppers to two cartons of eggs. Shape demand. In several instances of PC parts shortages, Dell raised the price of computer configurations that required scarce parts. The company, though, balanced those price hikes with lower prices on other machines that used more plentiful parts — and promoted these more readily available machines. This balance of pricing changes can help manage a shortage without damaging customer relations. Such demand management is akin to the revenue management practices used by airlines to fill their seats — allowing price-sensitive leisure travelers to buy some tickets while reserving other seats for customers who will more readily pay higher prices. Alter products. Rather than raising prices or cutting off customers, some companies turn to reformulating their products. Intel, for example, diluted some of the chemicals used in chip making during the 2011 crisis in Japan, but the company followed a strict quality control protocol that enabled it to maintain its manufacturing yield and chip performance. Alterations that result in quality downgrades, however, are risky. In February 2013, the boutique distillery Maker’s Mark faced a shortage of its premium bourbon. The distiller decided to add “a touch more water,” diluting its spirits from the historic 90 proof to 84 proof. Outrage ensued. “My favorite bourbon is being watered down so they can ‘meet market demand,’” one superfan, called a brand ambassador, told Forbes. “I’ll help lower their demand by not buying any more.” The company quickly reversed its decision. Take care of the vulnerable. Customer vulnerability may sometimes be a consideration, especially if the quantities required to keep a customer from going under are not large. Verifone, a maker of credit card processing equipment, wasn’t a large customer for the electric motors made scarce by the same 2011 floods in Thailand mentioned above, but the company’s absolute dependence on these motors led suppliers to fulfill its (small) orders. Similarly, during COVID-19, some retailers are catering in special ways specifically to vulnerable customers, such as by giving the elderly their own early morning shopping hours to get to freshly restocked shelves first. Weigh the Scope and Time Horizon As companies consider their options for dealing with supply shortages, they need to consider both the scope of the analysis and its time horizon. How will their choices play out for both themselves and their customers in the short and long terms? (See “What Drives Resource Allocation During a Supply Shortfall?”) The scope of the analysis can be driven by the impacts on the company itself (profits, market share, reputation) or the impacts on customers (survival, ethics, long-term value, growth opportunities). The time horizon can focus on maximizing near-term outcomes (survival, quick financial returns) or include long-term effects (strategic goals or focus). So how does a supplier pick the scope and the time horizon to consider first? Clearly, executives in companies fighting for survival have a fiduciary duty to maximize their companies’ short-term financial outcomes and bias the decisions accordingly. In contrast, executives enjoying a strong balance sheet and good credit have the luxury of more options, including making long-term decisions with an expanded scope of how the decisions could align with customers to promote growth. The comfort of working from a position of strength enables stronger companies to pursue their values and strategic imperatives. There can be an upside to a supply interruption: Many companies decide not to “let the crisis go to waste” and use the disruption to implement reorganizations that would have been difficult to carry out in regular times. By the same token, some companies use the crisis to cull products, channels, or customers that are underperforming or that no longer align with the strategic direction of the organization. Of course, any customer divestiture should be handled with care, because other customers may defect, fearing they are going to be next. Regardless of the weakness or strength of a company going into a disruption, properly managing who gets what can help it suffer the least damage from supply interruptions. In the end, well-deliberated decisions about tactics, scope, and time horizon can help a company come out ahead.

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There is concern that the internet is playing an increasing role in self-harm and suicide. In this study we systematically review and analyse research literature to determine whether there is evidence that the internet influences the risk of self-harm or suicide in young people. An electronic literature search was conducted using the PsycINFO, MEDLINE, EMBASE, Scopus, and CINAHL databases. Articles of interest were those that included empirical data on the internet, self-harm or suicide, and young people. The articles were initially screened based on titles and abstracts, then by review of the full publications, after which those included in the review were subjected to data extraction, thematic analysis and quality rating. Youth who self-harm or are suicidal often make use of the internet. It is most commonly used for constructive reasons such as seeking support and coping strategies, but may exert a negative influence, normalising self-harm and potentially discouraging disclosure or professional help-seeking. The internet has created channels of communication that can be misused to ‘cyber-bully’ peers; both cyber-bullying and general internet use have been found to correlate with increased risk of self-harm, suicidal ideation, and depression. Correlations have also been found between internet exposure and violent methods of self-harm. Internet use may exert both positive and negative effects on young people at risk of self-harm or suicide. Careful high quality research is needed to better understand how internet media may exert negative influences and should also focus on how the internet might be utilised to intervene with vulnerable young people. Citation: Daine K, Hawton K, Singaravelu V, Stewart A, Simkin S, Montgomery P (2013) The Power of the Web: A Systematic Review of Studies of the Influence of the Internet on Self-Harm and Suicide in Young People. PLoS ONE 8(10): e77555. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0077555 Editor: Antonio Verdejo García, University of Granada, Spain Received: April 3, 2013; Accepted: September 4, 2013; Published: October 30, 2013 Copyright: © 2013 Daine et al. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited. Funding: The authors have no current external funding sources for this study. KD completed the work as part of a master’s degree. KH, VS and AS are employed by Oxford Health NHS Foundation Trust. KH is an NIHR Senior Investigator. PM and SS are employed by the University of Oxford. Competing interests: The authors have declared that no competing interests exist. The media has received considerable attention for its possible role in contributing to suicide through contagion, predominantly in youth , . While initial attention focused on newspapers, TV and films , , , increasingly attention has turned to the internet , , because it is accessible, affordable in most countries, and largely unmonitored. Despite concern about its negative impact, the potential support provided by the internet should not be overlooked . Acceptance, alleviation of loneliness and shame, and creation of intimacy from internet sources may be factors that mitigate destructive desires. The internet may provide a bridge for vulnerable adolescents, giving them instant access to social networks and providing the anonymity to create or discard identities. Yet it is only speculation whether the internet is providing a safe haven, or a space where dangerous behaviours are normalised and encouraged. Adolescence can be a time of turmoil, with high levels of stressful circumstances, developmental issues, and psychopathology, and hence of self-harm . Self-harm, defined as intentional self-injury or self-poisoning, irrespective of type of motivation or extent of suicidal intent , usually begins and becomes most frequent between the ages of 13 and 15 years, particularly in girls . Suicide is the second most common cause of death for young people worldwide and the most common cause in females aged 15–19 years . Internet use increased globally by 566.4% between December 2000 and June 2012 . The freedom afforded by online discussion and activity may enhance the potential for the internet to exert positive and/or negative effects on users’ psychological health . Vulnerable adolescents, susceptible to bullying, victimisation and social exclusion, may be most at risk of the negative influences of the internet. There has been much speculation and media reporting about suicide contagion and suicide pacts originating from the internet. Although there is strong evidence indicating that suicide contagion is a significant phenomenon , , direct associations with internet use are unclear. Previous research has focused on how the internet is used by suicidal people and what information is available , , . Studies are, however, often rapidly outdated, and may be speculative and not systematic, or reliant on evidence from single case studies. An analysis of current evidence is needed in order to better understand the type of influence that the internet may have on young people at risk for self-harm or suicide, and to directly inform future intervention and prevention research. We have therefore conducted a systematic review of current empirical evidence on possible influences of internet use on the risk of self-harm or suicide in young people under the age of 25 years. Specifically, our aim was to identify the extent of evidence about both negative and positive influences of the internet on the risk of self-harm and suicide in young people. This review adheres to the guidelines detailed by the Cochrane Collaboration Handbook for Systematic Reviews . An electronic literature search was conducted on December 26th 2011 for all articles printed between 1991 and 2011, in the English language. 1991 was chosen as the starting date for the review as August 1991 was the date on which the internet was made available as a public service. (http://www.slac.stanford.edu/history/earlyweb/history.shtml). The databases searched were PsycINFO, MEDLINE, EMBASE, Scopus, and CINAHL. The following terms were searched for in titles, abstracts and subject headings to maximise sensitivity: ‘Internet’, ‘blog’, ‘online social network’, ‘website*’, ‘chat room*’, ‘online forum*’, ‘virtual’, ‘cyber*’, ‘web site*’, ‘facebook’, ‘twitter’, ‘myspace’, ‘bebo’, ‘online’, ‘world wide web’, ‘chatroom*. ‘Self harm*’, ‘selfharm*’, ‘suicid*’, ‘distress*’, ‘self injur*’, ‘emotion*’, ‘problem*’, ‘suicidal behaviour’, ‘suicidal ideation’, ‘attempted suicide’, ‘self-injurious behaviour’, ‘self mutilation’, ‘automutilation’, ‘psychological stress’ ‘Adolescen*’, ‘child*’, ‘teenager*’, ‘young person*’, ‘young adult*’, ‘young people*’ In the first stage of screening reference titles (n = 4,313) were manually screened by one reviewer (KD). Titles that clearly had no relevance to the study were discarded; and all discarded titles were confirmed by a second reviewer (PM). Duplicates were removed and the remaining titles with abstracts (n = 1830) were divided between five reviewers for screening, with all titles screened by KD. Studies were forwarded to the second stage of screening if they met the following criteria: published paper in journal or book; population was young people below age 25 (young adults); and included use of the internet by individuals who experienced suicidal ideation, self-harm, or were suicidal. Papers forwarded to the second stage of screening (n = 225) were categorised by two reviewers according to the criteria in Table 1. Any discrepancy between categorisation was resolved through group consensus. Papers in category 1 (n = 16), i.e. that investigated the internet and self-harm or suicide and reported empirical data in a sample under the age of 25, were forwarded for detailed analysis of their methodology and content. Quality was assessed according to the Critical Appraisal Skills Programme . This programme assesses in detail the following aspects: population studied (e.g. how representative the population is, whether there are clear inclusion and exclusion criteria, and presence of any biases); data collection (e.g. whether the methods are clearly described, use of validated instrument, inter-observer and intra-observer biases); study design (e.g. appropriate methodology which is clearly stated); and results (e.g. whether the results are clearly outlined, confounding variables are accounted for and conclusions reflect the analysis). A quality rating for each paper of low, medium or high was obtained using these quality standards. Method of Analysis The papers were grouped into three categories according to the methodology used: qualitative, quantitative or mixed methods. A data extraction sheet, developed by the authors, was used to record specific findings, identify themes, and ascertain potential biases, limitations and weaknesses. The data extraction sheets and quality ratings were double checked and any inconsistencies were clarified by consensus of all the reviewers (all authors). The data extraction sheets were then examined systematically to identify the results. The studies were amalgamated and grouped according to their perceived influence, either negative or positive. A flowchart for results of the search strategy is detailed in Figure 1. Whilst many of the papers that passed the first screen were of some relevance, only 16 papers reported primary empirical data and were forwarded for data extraction. A total of 14 studies were reported in the 16 papers included in the review. The characteristics and content of these papers are summarised in Table S1. Six studies were from the USA, two from the UK/Ireland and one each from Germany, Israel, New Zealand, China, Japan and Korea. The methodology was predominantly quantitative, this approach being used in nine studies, a qualitative approach in two studies, and mixed methods in the remaining three. Quality of Included Studies The quality of the included studies, using rigorous quality assessment and ratings, varied, with eight of the 14 studies being rated as high quality (Table S1), two rated as medium quality and six rated as being of low quality. Almost all the studies relied on subjective data from self-reporting in the form of questionnaires on and off line and semi-structured and structured interviews. Those studies that did not use this form of data collection were observational studies that analysed “posts” left on forums; these had the least potential for bias. Several studies were limited to active users, such that the results are not necessarily generalisable to passive users , , , , , . Three of the four qualitative studies report on the same dataset , , and also did not acknowledge the likely impact of forum moderation by the authors themselves. Criteria for the removal of posts that were deemed ‘triggering’ or ‘challenging’ were also not defined. The authors of one of these studies generalised their aim to explore what young people who self-harm think about online discussion forums, yet the results were specific only to the population that used forums, not the general population of young people who deliberately self-harm as stated (19). Some studies lacked clarity concerning whether the influence of the internet was positive, negative or neutral , , , . Furthermore, the use of validated outcome measures was limited and sometimes the measures selected did not enable the interpretation of internet influence . Despite limitations, it should be noted that often studies were highly innovative and employed novel methodologies to gain access to a vulnerable and hard-to-reach population , . For example, in one study in-depth semi-structured interviews were conducted via email to enable a less intrusive mode of response . Furthermore, five of the studies included a study population of over 1000 participants , , , , . In reporting the findings we have grouped these into studies providing evidence of positive influences and those showing negative influences, with the specific type of media use described within each category. Positive influences are defined as results indicating perceived alleviation or reduction of psychological distress, including reduced suicidal ideation and actual or attempted self-harm. Negative influences are defined as results which reported or interpreted psychological distress, self-harm or suicidal ideation of any kind. This includes cyber-bullying, which was reported in two of the papers. It should be noted that some findings from the studies cannot easily be categorised as negative or positive. They require further investigation to understand if they may act as moderators or mediators of distress. They may not be either of these, but may help to clarify the influence of the internet on the risk of suicide and self-harm in young people. Internet use is described in relation to the use of internet forums, or general internet use including information websites, media articles, blogs and static non-interactive media. Any deeper categorisation was prohibited due to lack of reference to specific types of internet media in the results of the studies. Seven studies reported positive influences of internet forums, including four qualitative studies, two mixed methods studies and one quantitative study. Internet forums are a type of community , with membership created by participants through narratives and discussions promoting opportunity for involvement . Primary objectives of forum users are to develop relationships and connect with others , and to seek empathy and support rather than advice . Of 3219 posts on an internet forum informal support was the most common type of exchange (28.3%) . Forums have also been used to meet people with similar problems and more generally as a coping mechanism , , . The total number of posts created and received in the first two months of forum use was associated with lower levels of distress in the third month . Evidence was found for reinforcement of positive behaviours, including congratulations on not cutting, support for efforts not to self-harm, and encouragement to see GPs for help . However, there was no consensus amongst participants that forums prevented a reduction in self-harm or that membership increased the likelihood of self-harm . Forum anonymity was emphasised as beneficial and preferable, and participants reported that more knowledge could be gained from forums than from information sites. In two studies potentially positive influences of other internet media were found. In one it was suggested that youth reporting self-harm may be using the internet to connect with others and that this may alleviate psychological distress . In the other, evidence was presented that some participants viewed interactive media as a form of support . In five studies there was evidence of negative influences of internet forums. In one study self-harm appeared to be discussed in a routine and potentially normalising manner . Safety and empathy were key themes but not the prevention or reduction of self-harm. In another study, forum content regarding the concealment and effects of self-harm accounted for 9.1% (n = 292) of the total posts analysed . There was also an association between sharing self-harm techniques and negative attitudes towards disclosure. Involvement for destructive reasons was endorsed by 14.5% (n = 24) of forum users and 18% (n = 30) stated that finding a suicidal partner had some relevance to them . Discussion forum use was significantly associated with increases in suicidal ideation whereas social networking site use was not . It was also noted that hopelessness was related to increased forum use. In the last of the studies in this category, although lower levels of distress were correlated with forum use, participants overall did not report a decrease in distress and some participants showed signs of worsening distress . Negative influences of other internet media were found in seven studies. General internet use appears to be a source of exposure to both suicide and self-harm, with 59% (n = 429) of participants in one study saying they had learned about suicide from an online source . Of 15 adolescents who had carried out violent acts of self-harm in New Zealand, 80% had been exposed to suicide or self-harm-related material on the internet, and of 34 who self-harmed by cutting 73.5% had been exposed to such material . In another study, suicidal ideation was significantly associated with searching online for information about suicide . Adolescents who self-harm appear to have higher rates of internet use than other adolescents , and internet use or online gaming exceeding five hours per day was associated with suicidal ideation and planning . Moderate or severe addiction to the internet was associated with increased risk for self-harm , and increased levels of addiction were related to increased depression and suicidal ideation . We found two quantitative studies focused on cyber-bullying and self-harm. In one study it was suggested that cyber-bullying may have a significant influence on self-harm, and that this association may be mediated by negative emotions . In the second study, cyber-bullying also appeared to increase rates of attempted suicide for both victims and perpetrators, with rates increasing by 1.9 and 1.5 times respectively . Forms of cyber-bullying occurred most often via email (18.3%), instant messaging (16.0%), MySpace (14.2%), and chat rooms (10.0%). We have conducted what is to our knowledge the first systematic review of empirical evidence on potential influences of the internet on adolescents at risk of self-harm or suicide. This is clearly an area of research that is in its infancy, with just 14 studies meeting the criteria for this review. Of the included studies, eleven were conducted in Western countries, the remaining three being from Asia. The predominant research methodology was quantitative. The methodology in just over half of the studies was of high quality, with nearly half of the studies having low or medium quality methodology. Greater heed was paid to studies of higher quality. The results indicate both positive (9 studies) and negative influences (12 studies) from the internet, with some studies reporting both negative and positive influences. Specifically, some users of online forums perceive them as supportive communities that provide a means of coping , , , , , . Equally, use of online forums can be associated with feelings of hopelessness and increases in suicidal ideation , and it is unclear whether forums alleviate distress , . Interactions on online forums may reduce the threshold for self-harming by normalisation of the behaviour . More general internet use seems to be a source of exposure to suicide and self-harm material, and higher usage rates appear to be associated with increased depression, suicidal ideation and self-harm. In assessing the results it is important to consider the focus of the study, the quality of the methodology and the methods used, all of which may influence the results. Of the nine studies reporting positive influence seven of these related to internet forums rather than general internet use. It may be easier to access young people who are using an internet forum, indeed three of the papers refer to one dataset relating to an internet forum which was created by the researchers. Only two of the studies reporting positive influence used purely quantitative methodology: the others used qualitative (five) or mixed methods (two). This was in contrast to the studies reporting negative findings, where eight out of twelve employed quantitative methods. Interestingly, the qualitative studies reporting negative influences also reported positive influences, perhaps highlighting a greater range of perspectives from the qualitative studies. Of note, the quantitative studies mainly appeared to be of high quality, an important factor to take into account when assessing the mostly negative influence reported in these studies. Muehlenkamp similarly found that the specific methodology used in studies influenced prevalence figures for self-harm behaviour reported in adolescent populations. Only English language publications were included. We did not examine the grey literature or contact experts in the field to find additional studies, thus there may be some publication bias. Much of the research was focused on the use and influence of internet forums. It is important to note that internet forum users are a self-selecting population, and the extent to which the internet attracts adolescents with elevated distress levels and susceptibility to its negative effects is unknown. Furthermore, it is difficult to investigate the effects of internet forums on passive users, who may comprise a notably different group of adolescents. Validated outcome measures were rarely used, which limits the ability to interpret significant results and draw clear conclusions . It is important to highlight that while in several studies associations between specific types of internet use and self-harm, suicidal ideation and hopelessness were identified, it was not possible to disentangle cause from effect. For example, while more extensive internet use was found to be associated with self-harm, this does not mean that internet use caused the self-harm. On the other hand, it would be difficult and unethical to manipulate internet use and examine its effects on self-harm. Implications for Future Research More rigorous research is needed to clarify the positive and negative influences of the internet on young people at risk of self-harm and suicide focusing on the mediating and moderating factors, in order to harness the benefits and minimise the negative impact. Research concerning online forum users included primarily female samples. The potential impact of gender should be investigated in future research, to determine the extent to which effects may vary between the genders. The association between internet use and violent methods of self-harm , and the impact of exposure to self-harm and suicide material online , should be further investigated. It is unclear which form of internet media may be most influential. For example, more violent or graphic imagery might have greater effects on psychological processes but currently this is unknown. Future research could have important implications for informing policy regarding internet censorship to reduce exposure to harmful materials. There are no known online interventions to date that specifically target young people at risk of self-harm or suicide. Given the suggestion that adolescents who self-harm are frequent users of online forums , future research should investigate possible interventions that could utilise this online medium to minimise the risk of self-harm. The purpose of this review was to analyse the empirical evidence to date on the possible influence of the internet on the risk of suicide or self-harm in young people. The dynamic and rapidly evolving nature of the internet means that research will always lag behind actual developments. The internet appears to have potential to exert both a positive and a negative influence on vulnerable young people. The internet may normalise self-harm, provide access to suicide content and violent imagery, and create a communication channel that can be used to bully or harass others. Conversely, the internet is also used as a support network and a coping mechanism, and can connect people who are socially isolated. Detailed enquiry about internet use should be included in clinical assessment of young people at risk of self-harm or suicide. This is particularly important given evidence that exposure to others who are self-harming is a major risk factor for self-harm , , , the fact that such exposure may occur through the internet, and that exposure to self-harm and suicide on the internet may be associated with potentially more dangerous methods of self-harm . This review highlights the fact that the internet is dynamic and driven by its users; its accessibility and increasing use suggest that it could be an effective mode of intervention delivery. For example, interactive forums run by healthcare workers may be a possible strategy for informing and supporting young people to minimise the risk for self-harm. Included studies: characteristics, methods, aims, outcomes and quality. The authors thank Professor John Powell and Dr. Joanna Adams for their suggestions at the beginning of the study. Professor Keith Hawton is a National Institute for Health Research Senior Investigator. Conceived and designed the experiments: KH PM. Performed the experiments: KD KH VS AS SS PM. Analyzed the data: KD PM. Wrote the paper: KD KH VS AS SS PM. - 1. Becker K, Mayer M, Nagenborg M, El-Faddagh M, Schmidt MH (2004) Parasuicide online: Can suicide websites trigger suicidal behaviour in predisposed adolescents? Nord J Psychiatry 58: 111–114. - 2. Hawton K, Williams K (2002) Influences of the media on suicide. Researchers, policy makers, and media personnel need to collaborate on guidelines. BMJ 325: 1374–1375. - 3. Bollen KA, Phillips DP (1982) Imitative suicides: a national study of the effects of television news stories. Am Sociol Rev 47: 802–809. - 4. Phillips DP, Leysna M, Paight DJ (1992) Suicide and the media. In: Maris RW, Berman A, Maltsberger JT, Yufit RI, editors. Assessment and prediction of suicide. New York: The Guilford Press. 499–519. - 5. Schmidtke A, Hafner H (1989) Public attitudes towards and effects of the mass media on suicidal and deliberate self-harm behavior. In: Diekstra RFW, Maris R, Platt S, Schmidtke A, Sonneck G, editors. Suicide and its Prevention. Leiden/New York/Copenhagen/Cologne: E.J. Brill. 313–330. - 6. Alao AO, Soderberg M, Pohl EL, Alao AL (2006) Cybersuicide: Review of the role of the Internet on suicide. Cyberpsychol Behav 9: 489–493. - 7. Durkee T, Hadlaczky G, Westerlund M, Carli V (2011) Internet pathways in suicidality: A review of the evidence. IntJEnvironResPublic Health 8: 3938–3952. - 8. Duggan JM, Heath NL, Lewis SP, Baxter AL (2012) An examination of the scope and nature of non-suicidal self-injury online activities: Implications for school mental health professionals. School Ment Health 4: 56–67. - 9. Hawton K, Saunders KEA, O’Connor RC (2012) Self-harm and suicide in adolescents. Lancet 379: 2373–2382. - 10. Hawton K, Hall S, Simkin S, Bale E, Bond A, et al. (2003) Deliberate self-harm in adolescents: a study of characteristics and trends in Oxford, 1990–2000. J Child Psychol Psychiatry 44: 1191–1198. - 11. Rodham K, Hawton K (2009) Epidemiology and phenomenology of nonsuicidal self-injury. In: Nock MK, editor. Understanding nonsuicidal self-injury: Origins, Assessment, and Treatment. Washington DC: American Psychological Association. 37–62. - 12. Patton GC, Coffey C, Sawyer SM, Viner RM, Haller DM, et al. (2009) Global patterns of mortality in young people: a systematic analysis of population health data. Lancet 374: 881–892. - 13. Internet World Stats: Usage and population statistics (2012) World internet usage and population statistics June 2012. Available: http://www.internetworldstats.com/stats.htm. Accessed 2013 Jul 3. - 14. Haw C, Hawton K, Niedzwiedz C, Platt S (2013) Suicide clusters: a review of risk factors and mechanisms. Suicide Life Threat Behav 43: 97–108. - 15. Gould MS, Wallenstein S, Kleinman MH, O’Carroll P, Mercy J (1990) Suicide clusters: an examination of age-specific effects. Am J Public Health 80: 211–212. - 16. Szumilas M, Kutcher S (2009) Teen suicide information on the internet: A systematic analysis of quality. Can J Psychiatry 54: 596–604. - 17. Higgins JPT, Green S, editors (2011) Cochrane Handbook for Systematic Reviews of Interventions Version 5.1.0 [updated March 2011]: The Cochrane Collaboration. Available: www.cochrane-handbook.org. - 18. Critical Appraisal Skills Programme UK (2012) Critical Appraisal Skills Programme Making sense of evidence. Available: http://www.casp-uk.net. Accessed 2012 Jun 6. - 19. Jones R, Sharkey S, Ford T, Emmens T, Hewis E, et al. (2011) Online discussion forums for young people who self-harm: User views. Psychiatrist 35: 364–368. - 20. Smithson J, Sharkey S, Hewis E, Jones RB, Emmens T, et al. (2011) Membership and boundary maintenance on an online self-harm forum. Qual Health Res 21: 1567–1575. - 21. Smithson J, Sharkey S, Hewis E, Jones R, Emmens T, et al. (2011) Problem presentation and responses on an online forum for young people who self-harm. Discourse Studies 13: 487–501. - 22. Baker D, Fortune S (2008) Understanding self-harm and suicide websites a qualitative interview study of young adult website users. Crisis 29: 118–122. - 23. Barak A, Dolev-Cohen M (2006) Does activity level in online support groups for distressed adolescents determine emotional relief. Counselling and Psychotherapy Research 6: 186–190. - 24. Whitlock JL, Powers JL, Eckenrode J (2006) The virtual cutting edge: the internet and adolescent self-injury. Dev Psychol 42: 407–417. - 25. Collings SC, Fortune S, Steers D, Currey N, Hawton K, et al.. (2011) Media influences on suicidal behaviour: An interview study of young people in New Zealand. Auckland, New Zealand: Te Pou o Te Whakaaro Nui, The National Centre of Mental Health Research, Information and Workforce Development,. - 26. Mitchell KJ, Ybarra ML (2007) Online behavior of youth who engage in self-harm provides clues for preventive intervention. Prev Med 45: 392–396. - 27. Eichenberg C (2008) Internet message boards for suicidal people: A typology of users. Cyberpsychol Behav 11: 107–113. - 28. Lam LT, Peng Z, Mai J, Jing J (2009) The association between internet addiction and self-injurious behaviour among adolescents. Inj Prev 15: 403–408. - 29. Hinduja S, Patchin JW (2010) Bullying, cyberbullying, and suicide. Arch Suicide Res 14: 206–221. - 30. Messias E, Castro J, Saini A, Usman M, Peeples D (2011) Sadness, suicide, and their association with video game and internet overuse among teens: Results from the Youth Risk Behavior Survey 2007 and 2009. Suicide Life Threat Behav 41: 307–315. - 31. Kim K, Ryu E, Chon MY, Yeun EJ, Choi SY, et al. (2006) Internet addiction in Korean adolescents and its relation to depression and suicidal ideation: A questionnaire survey. Int J Nurs Stud 43: 185–192. - 32. Dunlop SM, More E, Romer D (2011) Where do youth learn about suicides on the Internet, and what influence does this have on suicidal ideation? J Child Psychol Psychiatry 52: 1073–1080. - 33. Katsumata Y, Matsumoto T, Kitani M, Takeshima T (2008) Electronic media use and suicidal ideation in Japanese adolescents. Psychiatry Clin Neurosci 62: 744–746. - 34. Hay C, Meldrum R (2010) Bullying victimization and adolescent self-harm: Testing hypotheses from general strain theory. J Youth Adolesc 39: 446–459. - 35. Muehlenkamp JJ, Claes L, Havertape L, Plener PL (2012) International prevalence of adolescent non-suicidal self-injury and deliberate self-harm. Child Adolesc Psychiatry Ment Health 6. - 36. Madge N, Hawton K, McMahon EM, De Leo D, de Wilde EJ, et al. (2011) Psychological characteristics, stressful life events and deliberate self-harm: findings from the Child & Adolescent Self-harm in Europe (CASE) Study. Eur Child Adolesc Psychiatry 20: 499–508. - 37. O’Connor RC, Rasmussen S, Hawton K (2012) Distinguishing adolescents who think about self-harm from those who engage in self-harm. Br J Psychiatry 200: 330–335. - 38. Hawton K, Rodham K, Evans E, Weatherall R (2002) Deliberate self-harm in adolescents: self report survey in schools in England. BMJ 325: 1207–1211.

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How can picking and packing errors be reduced? If you’re looking to reduce your picking and packing errors, here are some areas to start: - Streamline Your Pick Path. - Redesign Your Workflow. - Integrate New Technology. - Improve Your Warehouse Layout. - Use a Visual System. - Track Your Error Rates. How do I become a faster picker? Order picking strategies for a warehouse - Best order picking strategies, tips and tactics. - Check the pick while at the slot using automation. - Tactics to minimize selector walking. - Ensure 100 percent product availability. - Touch picked items only once. - Segmentation of frequently picked items. - Eliminate pick-and-pass line picking. How can I improve my speed and accuracy? Tips to increase your accuracy in the Verbal Ability section More than regular ability and perusing speed you need a procedure to pick the correct entries, read them well, answer questions accurately and above all skip questions. Is order selector a hard job? The hardest part of the job can be the lifting and standing for long hours. If you are physically fit then that will be a benefit because it is physically demanding. What is pick accuracy? KPI Details. Order Picking Accuracy is an indicator of the controls set in place in order to ensure that shipments to customers contain the correct goods or materials. What is the job description of shipping and receiving? Shipping and Receiving workers are responsible for keeping records of all products shipped and received in a company. They pack the goods in shipping containers, develop mailing labels and shipping documents and ensure that all orders have been filled correctly. Performing unpacking of shipment deliveries. What skills are needed for shipping and receiving? Shipping and Receiving Qualifications/Skills: - Scanning and sorting incoming and outgoing stock. - Receiving, stocking, and stacking. - Pulling, packing, and loading. - Good written and verbal communication skills. - Strong sense of time organization and urgency. - Able to work independently and within a team. What is picker packer experience? Picker and Packers (also known as Pick Packers) usually work in retail, logistics, wholesale or manufacturing warehouses and distribution centres. ‘Pick’ refers to choosing and picking up the items on the order form or ‘picking slip’, while ‘pack’ refers to packing the order and getting it ready for transportation. What is order picker? An order picker or orderpicker is defined as a person or a piece of equipment used to pick and deliver material needed for filling orders from storage. Is voice picking hard? The voice picking technology system may be difficult for some people to learn, be comfortable with and return to higher productivity. Develop training materials and processes. How long will each person need? Be sure to provide plenty of hands-on use in the training. What is an order selector duties? Order selectors locate and select specific items within the warehouse to fulfill customer orders. Prepare Orders. Order selectors operate forklifts and machinery to stack items on pallets and prepare orders for shipping. What do online pickers do? A picker would get the products ready for the customers for online shopping adding tjem to the trolley ready to be sent off. How do you improve warehouse performance? Five simple ways to improve warehouse efficiency - Maximise and optimise all available space. Rather than expand the footprint of your warehouse, consider better use of vertical space. - Lean Inventory. Adopting lean inventory for your warehouse is just as important as it is in manufacturing. - Adopt enabling technology. - Organise workstations. - Optimise labour efficiency. How can I be a good packer? From efficiency to attention to detail, here are some of the top skills you should seek when hiring pickers/packers this fall. - Procedural Knowledge. - Attention to Detail. - The Ability to Operate Warehouse Vehicles. - Experience with Organization. How do you improve order picking accuracy? How to Improve Order Picking Accuracy - Make sure you’re tracking your order accuracy rates. - Start by evaluating your picking and packing process. - Post individual and/or group error rates. - Incentivize employees to improve rates. - Weigh everything. - Automate document insertion. What do you put on a resume for a warehouse job? Warehouse worker skills that should be included on a resume include organization, planning, time management, inventory control, equipment maintenance, teamwork, documentation, and data entry, and attributes listed should include dependability. What is a shipping job duties? Shipping Associate Job Duties: Prepare orders by processing requests and supply orders; pulling materials; packing boxes; placing orders in delivery area for pickup. ● Coordinate with all departments to fulfill specific and ongoing inventory and shipping. needs. ● How high do order pickers go? between 9 feet and 35 feet How can you improve warehouse picking speed and accuracy? Ways to Improve Order Picking Accuracy and Productivity - Maintain Product Slotting. - Batch and Cluster Order Picking. - Touch Order Items Once. - Use Different Storage Strategies. - Use Pick-to-Light and Put-to-Light Indicators. - Product Kitting and Assembly. - Choose Different Order Picking Types. What is a packer job description? Most packers work in a warehouse environment, preparing finished products for packaging and shipment. Typically, a packer will be assigned to a specific area, retrieve the items needed from the inventory, check that they are in good condition, wrap them securely, and pack them for shipping. How can I improve my shipping efficiency? Improving Your Warehouse and Shipping Efficiency - Understand and Measure Costs and Processes. You can’t fix what you don’t know is broken. - Employ Technology. - Get the Basics Right by Labelling Properly. - Reduce Options and Organize. - Look for Cheaper Alternatives. - Synchronize the Physical Movement of Stock. - Understand Staff Motivators. How are pick rates calculated? e.g. “real” pick rate is 95, and “real” pick time (7-10:45) is 3.75 hours. 95*3.75 =356 items picked and your system will therefore show pick rate of 356/10 = 35.6. Is shipping and receiving a hard job? While a shipping and receiving role may or may not involve heavy lifting, it does include a lot of movement. Essentially, shipping and receiving jobs tend to keep your moving. Depending on the environment, it can also be fast-paced work, making the positions much more active than some people would expect. How can I be a good order selector? Warehouse order picking tips - Organize with popular items in mind. “ - Get to know the importance and functions of picking processes. “ - Take a second look at your most basic organizational tools. “ - Focus on improving travel times. “ - Increase productivity by focusing on ergonomics. - Choose your picking strategies wisely. “ What does pick to zero mean? An agreed number of packets (consumer packs) are picked in the warehouse and made ready to be transported. Pick-to-zero is dividing the packets between the different, separate shops. For order picking in general, space is always needed for warehousing, order picking and handling. What is the job title for packaging? A Packager helps ensure that manufactured items are ready for shipment by placing them into containers, sealing and labeling the items, and preparing the item for transport. Another common name for this position is Product Packager. Is Pick packing easy? Pick packing work is a great option for people who want to work, but have little to no previous experience or formal training/education, as the tasks you are required to perform can be easily taught to you. What is the best working zone for picking and packing? Manual order picking above shoulder height is a high risk activity compared with working within the Best Working Zone between shoulder and knee.

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Global Logistics—September 2013 UPS‘s recent announcement that it will expand its presence in China with the addition of two new contract logistics facilities in Chengdu and Shanghai is indicative of the country’s growing consumer base. The two centers will provide distribution and warehousing solutions to shippers who want to reach customers within China. The expansions follow the opening of two UPS healthcare facilities in Shanghai and Hangzhou during 2012. The non-bonded DCs in Chengdu and Shanghai are strategically located in close proximity to international airports and major road networks. Built with capabilities to support a diverse range of Chinese industries—primarily high-tech, industrial manufacturing, aerospace, and retail—customers will also have connectivity to UPS’s global IT platforms for distribution and post-sales support. The new facilities are considered a major part of UPS’s efforts to develop a national distribution network in China, and strengthen the company’s overall portfolio of international capabilities. Increased government spending on infrastructure, and more involvement from the private sector in key projects through public-private partnerships, are catalyzing growth in India’s logistics sector. Currently valued at $125 billion, that figure will approach $200 billion by 2020, according to Sarvey Sathyanarayana, India’s minister of state for road transport. India’s logistics sector is projected to grow 10 to 12 percent annually for the next three years. Generating skilled labor, implementing technology, and improving infrastructure are three keys to success. These efforts are a positive sign, given India’s poor record on transportation. The government recently accelerated various road projects around the country in an effort to break through notoriously slow bureaucratic bottlenecks. Who says globalization is dead? While the trend toward supply chain decentralization has become a common strategy for multinationals looking to increase demand responsiveness and reduce total logistics costs, sometimes global control takes precedence. One example is Marine Harvest, the world’s largest producer of farmed salmon. To improve product pricing and traceability, the Norwegian seafood company is deploying logistics technology provider Infor‘s process management and supply chain systems. With production and farming facilities located in Norway, Scotland, Ireland, Canada, and Chile, and operations spanning three continents and 23 countries, Marine Harvest has begun a complete business process reengineering project designed to move away from a decentralized, regional structure to a global business template. By integrating Infor M3 with Infor Supply Chain Planning, Marine Harvest hopes to improve visibility into future demand from three to six weeks to three years. Marine Harvest will deploy the process and supply chain applications in a phased roll-out. The final site is expected to go live in April 2014, with a goal of driving growth by improving demand visibility. U.S. imports of solar panels from China have slowly been on the rise in 2013, after increased duties last year caused a freefall in imports. Even with the recent increase, imports of solar panels are still down more than 70 percent year over year. Source: Zepol Corporation

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Unfortunately, a crisis is something that can happen to any business. Sometimes it’s insignificant and doesn’t attract media attention, but that’s not to say that more serious crises do not develop frequently. A crisis can take the form of a prominent employee scandal, a natural disaster, or even just a vicious rumour that catches the attention of the media. You can’t always avoid getting into hot water; the best thing you can do is prepare for possible consequences and eliminate sources of issues. For example, a CEO can create a dedicated team – a group of employees who constantly work on preventing dramatic events by planning out the different outcomes and their response situations. Whatever the crisis, an official issued statement is something they all have in common. Stakeholders will be waiting for an explanation and some kind of update on the situation, and that’s where a holding statement distributed to stakeholders comes into action. Remember the following tips in case the unthinkable happens to you… 1. Use key messages, verified information and don’t get defensive The primary purpose of communications during a crisis is to inform about the 5Ws: “who, what, when, where, and why.” Use the 5Ws to guide the structure of your comms. Sure, in many cases information is limited – that’s why you need to promise the audience that more information will be released as soon as you have it. Don’t make defensive remarks, as they can seriously ruin the credibility of your business, as can speaking prematurely before you know the full picture. 2. Define and isolate the actual problem No one expects a disaster, so when it strikes it’s very easy to become overwhelmed and distracted. As a result, you might miss important information related to the actual issue or problem at hand. For example, if a company is facing an employee scandal, you need to investigate and identify whether it was caused by an inappropriate organisational policy, sexual harassment, human error, or something else. At this point, you might also consider consulting with a legal professional who can identify potential implications of certain phrasing or words. Here’s an example of a problem: I want to inform you about an accident that occurred yesterday that affected all employees of the marketing department. An inappropriate conduct of one of the marketing analysts undermined the safety of the staff, which is the first concern of the organisation. We take all accidents of this nature very seriously… 3. Produce at least three key messages Key messages will become the basis of the statement. Say you have limited details on an accident, you can build your communication around the facts: This afternoon, federal regulators have sent me an official statement notifying that the vice president of our company is suspected of insider trading. This key message clearly shows that you weren’t notified in person, so you cannot possibly know all facts related to the event. All questions thus should be redirected to the federal regulatory body that initiated the investigation. One key message, however, is not enough even when you don’t know everything. So, to add the message above, the following could be used: Our company agrees to cooperate with the official investigation to provide all necessary information that could reveal the truth. The third key message could be: To ensure that the vice president cannot access any sensitive information related to the company, it was decided to restrict his access privileges as soon as possible. 4. Present negatives in a broad context This technique is often used by businesses to minimise the impact of the bad news. It can be used to describe an accident that did not have a profound impact on the organisation. For example, if an employee of a writing company that provides essay tips insulted a customer in some way, you can write that the company was able to deliver thousands of other people with good experiences. You can also try to isolate the event by stating that it is very rare for your customers to experience problems while dealing with the customer service. Words to use include in your crisis statement are: “isolated event” and “very rare.” Negative words to avoid are “another issue” and “frequent mistakes.” 5. Express empathy and take action It’s not wise to create a gap between the company and the public or employees by using negativity. A better idea is to express empathy and eliminate that gap, via a spokesperson. The empathetic writing includes words like “we appreciate,” “we understand,” and “we acknowledge.” A word of caution: don’t try to use “many people face similar issues” and “accidents like this happen.” If you want to emphasise that the organisation is addressing the problem, do it! If an employee is suspected of setting fire in a warehouse that belongs to the organisation, for example, don’t just state this fact but also inform that you are already working closely with local authorities to find out what happened. Don’t jump to conclusions and admit that the organisation will be conducting an investigation to determine the involvement of the employee. Words like these attract journalists in need of fresh news. It’s better to admit that your organisation is doing everything to resolve the concern and minimise the damage to the building. Phrases to use in the statement include “taking appropriate measures,” “taking immediate action,” and “working closely with the authorities.” 6. Be honest The last tip in this article is perhaps the most important one. Honesty is the best policy because it helps to avoid phrases that damage credibility and reputation. If your organisation is to blame for an accident, then admit it in the statement. Many people will immediately recognise lies if they see them there. Also, never try to hide any information. If you do, this could be bad news for your organisation. If they find you you’ve been lying, get ready for some serious criticism. So, if you are at fault, admit it without blaming anyone else and say that your organisation is committed to being open and transparent. Where to from here? Want more information on facing a PR challenge while you're in the midst of it? For the past 20 years, John Pushkin has been solving PR challenges of every kind, with a special emphasis on the very worst kind—brand crisis. His firm, Pushkin PR is based in Denver, and we asked him to share his experience with crisis communications and the careful, strategic approach he's known for in getting brands back from the brink. Read his advice. For a complete guide on crisis management, using the data-driven insight every PR professional should have at their disposal, read our ebook on managing—or better yet, preventing—crisis. Go on Record — For Now and for Later Cheyenne Frontier Days (CFD) is the world’s largest outdoor rodeo and Western celebration, so it is frequently the target of social media campaigns from anti-rodeo groups that accuse the event of animal abuse. Groups will contact local media demanding that CFD respond to their claims. Like many rodeos, CFD’s first instinct has been to refuse to respond. Why bother to argue with people who already mistrust you? My firm, Pushkin PR, uses media intelligence dashboards to monitor social channels and alert our clients when a response is warranted. Having an awareness of the negative chatter allowed us to help CFD draft responses to media questions and develop content illuminating all the animal care steps they take to prevent and treat injuries. Now, instead of getting a one-sided story, anyone interested in the issue heard CFD’s point of view. https://www.pushkinpr.com/our-work/case-studies/cheyenne-frontier-days-cfd Know When to Step In Cheyenne Animal Shelter faced an onslaught of online criticism from local residents after an unfortunate situation that started when a stray dog was dropped off. As with most municipal animal shelters, unclaimed animals are put up for adoption if no one claims them after a certain period of time. A few days after this dog was adopted, it attacked and killed some livestock, and state law requires animals that attack people or livestock be euthanized. Friends of the original owner began an online petition and a flurry of social media posts claiming that there was no proof the dog had killed livestock and accused the shelter of preventing the original owner from reclaiming the dog. The Shelter posted a statement on its Facebook page detailing exactly what happened, and we continued to monitor for negative posts using Meltwater. Choosing to not respond but keeping a close eye on chatter was an effective strategy until a local radio station posted a news story on its website that included misleading statements it had gathered from social media: http://kgab.com/cheyenne-animal-shelter-defends-decision-to-euthanize-dog/ Now we were faced with a situation where a media outlet posted a news story, including unverified claims they obtained from random social media posts. At this point, we determined that a response was necessary to protect the organization’s reputation and ensure accurate information was available, so we sent a statement to the station’s news director responding to the false claims. So, How Do You Know When to Respond and When to Not To? So how do you know if and when you should respond? Answering these questions is a good start. - Has there been damage to your organization’s reputation? As Warren Buffet famously pointed out, it takes 20 years to build a reputation but five minutes to ruin it. It can also take years to repair a damaged reputation once it’s been tarnished. So if there’s been damage to your reputation, most crisis communications pros would counsel you to respond quickly, decisively, and transparently. - Would a reasonable person expect a responsible organization to respond? In most crisis communications situations, the answer to that question is obviously, yes. So the question then becomes not should we respond, but how should we respond? - Is public opinion about you being shaped by inaccurate statements or slanderous claims? If the answer is yes, it could be time to address that negative sentiment by clearly stating the facts. Ultimately, the only way to know if you should respond or not is to listen. There are plenty of social media monitoring tools available to help you do this. Pushkin PR uses Meltwater to continually monitor social media chatter for our crisis communications clients. We are able to get daily reports and real time alerts when we need them, which allows us to instantly notify a client about anything that may require a response. While we don’t recommend getting into online shouting matches, we do believe that it is always important for any organization to protect its brand reputation. Don’t let five minutes ruin what it took 20 years to build, and don’t let it take years to repair the damage to your brand once it happens. Knowing whether to respond or not is not always simple. But the answer will become much clearer if your first step is to listen. Want to learn how Meltwater can help your company with crisis communications? Fill out the form and we'll get in touch.

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Is your company suffering from Lost Opportunities in Cost Savings and Revenue Growth? Currently (and in the past), Companies focus their Quality efforts in Manufacturing and Engineering. Certainly this makes sense in that you must design and produce good products (and services) in order to generate revenue and profit. But what about the rest of the organization – Purchasing, Legal, Sales, Marketing, HR? Is Quality just for Manufacturing and Engineering, and in many cases, only a select few within these functions, or are there reasons to broaden the focus of Quality to include more of the organization? The direct answer is YES. By broadening the reach of quality to involve all functions within an organization, or an enterprise wide quality model, everyone is responsible for quality and therefore cost savings, revenue growth, safety enhancements and efficiencies and effectiveness can come from everywhere and anywhere in the organization. In multiple industries – Manufacturing, Automotive, Healthcare, Food and Beverage, Education, Government and others, most organizations only have a few “Quality Experts” or a small “Quality Department” that are tasked with increasing quality and blamed for quality problems. When Quality is expanded to include all functions, everyone becomes accountable and responsible for Quality but the benefits don’t stop there. Expanding Quality to include everyone gets everyone in the action of saving money, increasing revenue, improving safety and increasing efficiency and effectiveness – and this isn’t “extra work”, it’s the work that should be done “all the time.” Expanding Quality also creates positive cultural growth by involving everyone. Everyone speaks in the language of Quality – People, Safety, Cost, and Time and everyone understands the tools and methods of Quality so “plug and play” project leaders can take on projects both within their areas of expertise and outside of them. So how do you determine if your organization may have an opportunity to improve quality beyond Operations, Manufacturing and Engineering? Simply ask a few people: “Who is responsible for Quality”? If they say “not me” or “the Quality Department is in Building #2,” well, you just may have found your opportunity to improve cost savings AND revenue growth.

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Different entities in a supply chain network operate in a highly interdependent environment when it comes to improving performance of the network in terms of objectives such as delivery performance, quality assurance and cost minimization, etc. In this research, an attempt has been made to evaluate the supplier performance by adopting evolutionary fuzzy system owing to the linguistic nature of the attributes associated with the suppliers and manufacturing units. The proposed methodology offers consistently good performance when applied to a variety of standard problems related to evaluation of supplier's performance available in the literatures. Jain, V., Tiwari, M.K. and Chan, F.T.S. (2004), "Evaluation of the supplier performance using an evolutionary fuzzy‐based approach", Journal of Manufacturing Technology Management, Vol. 15 No. 8, pp. 735-744. https://doi.org/10.1108/17410380410565320 Emerald Group Publishing Limited Copyright © 2004, Emerald Group Publishing Limited

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Comparison of Spares Logistics Analysis Techniques for Long Duration Human Spaceflight Weck, Olivier de MetadatosMostrar el registro completo del ítem As the durations and distances involved in human exploration missions increase, the logistics associated with the repair and maintenance becomes more challenging. Whereas the operation of the International Space Station (ISS) depends upon regular resupply from the Earth, this paradigm may not be feasible for future missions. Longer mission durations result in higher probabilities of component failures as well as higher uncertainty regarding which components may fail, and longer distances from Earth increase the cost of resupply as well as the speed at which the crew can abort to Earth in the event of an emergency. As such, mission development efforts must take into account the logistics requirements associated with maintenance and spares. Accurate prediction of the spare parts demand for a given mission plan and how that demand changes as a result of changes to the system architecture enables full consideration of the lifecycle cost associated with different options. In this paper, we utilize a range of analysis techniques – Monte Carlo, semi-Markov, binomial, and heuristic – to examine the relationship between the mass of spares and probability of loss of function related to the Carbon Dioxide Removal System (CRS) for a notional, simplified mission profile. The Exploration Maintainability Analysis Tool (EMAT), developed at NASA Langley Research Center, is utilized for the Monte Carlo analysis. We discuss the implications of these results and the features and drawbacks of each method. In particular, we identify the limitations of heuristic methods for logistics analysis, and the additional insights provided by more in-depth techniques. We discuss the potential impact of system complexity on each technique, as well as their respective abilities to examine dynamic events. This work is the first step in an effort that will quantitatively examine how well these techniques handle increasingly more complex systems by gradually expanding the system boundary.

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There were days when the Supply Chain was considered to be part of Marketing. But, now Supply Chain Management is considered an essential aspect of every business. Multiple business aspects come under the umbrella of the Supply Chain. It’s not just about delivering the goods. But, Supply Chain consists of all the tasks included from purchasing raw material, processing it into the final product, and delivering the final product. Not only this, nowadays, it is also concerned with getting feedback from customers and giving them responses. Supply Chain Strategies must be formulated according to business. A business might require a more agile supply chain. However, sometimes quality is what matters more than agility. There can be numerous other Tips and Tricks for Expanding your Startup. Owing to the current conditions of the market, and after COVID-19, online businesses have grown to a high extent. Nowadays, people are more interested in buying online. This has made companies think more about their Supply Chain Strategies. List of Effective Supply Chain Strategies The business giants have adapted different sorts of Supply Chain Strategies, few proved to be worth using while others caused them just a big budget. Out of those, we have separated a few strategies that you can implement in your business. 1. Collaborative Planning, Forecasting, and Replenishment (C.P.F.R.) Strategy An equilibrium between the three metrics can be effective for the supply chain. All the relationships with suppliers, distributors, or retailers must be made carefully by forecasting the demand and supply requirements. Furthermore, the strategy should be made in accordance with the business needs and customer segmentation. The strategy was formulated by business giant, Unilever. The adoption of the zero-inventory strategy by retailers, which calls for the optimum use of cross-docking and dispersion in warehouses, is largely to blame for the convergence. To maximize asset use, reduce inventory, and boost efficiency, Unilever created collaborative planning, forecasting, and replenishment (C.P.F.R.) partnerships with specific retail clients. 2. Supply Chain Modernization With the digital trends being drastically changed, there emerges a dire need of adapting modern Supply Chain tools for better results. Demand and supply prediction and forecasting have become crucial and to know the customer’s interest and market fluctuations, you need to adopt the latest technologies. As Internet of things (IoT) networks, DevOps and Artificial intelligence (AI) technologies have improved, SCM teams are now better able to respond swiftly and automatically alter their supply chains to fit predicted demand. Automation and faster delivery time is one of the Top Core Benefits of DevOps. The building of unified data models that are supplemented by outside sources is made possible by more businesses migrating their data and apps to the Cloud and utilizing ERP systems. This is enabling a new degree of planning precision and predictive power that was not possible only two years ago. 3. Outsourcing Business Functions Another useful strategy could be outsourcing some of the supply chain functions and thus focusing more on the key business functions. This way you might save cost and additional hassle. By contracting with third-party logistics (3PL) organizations, many businesses may reduce their fulfillment expenses. They do away with infrastructure installation, work management, and continuous maintenance by doing this. The acquisition of warehouse space, replenishment of shipping goods like labels, cartons, and pallets, and management of overhead expenses like utilities and rent will all be handled by third parties. Best of all, as their footprint grows, e-commerce businesses may become more flexible. But again, this might can ruin your brand image if the third party involved does not perform well. 4. Vertically Integrated Supply Chain The strategy requires you to be involved in every step of the supply chain i.e. from acquiring raw material to delivering a finished product. For this purpose, you need to align the four macro operations of plan, source, make, and deliver. A highly centralized logistics system will be required that gives the company the ability to efficiently manage and arrange its extensive network. Also, all supply chain operations must be accessed according to four metrics: operational safety, rates of on-time delivery and order fulfillment, supply chain cost as a whole, and financial success in terms of cost-effectiveness. The strategy was implemented by Starbucks in a way that they perform every supply chain function themselves i.e. from harvesting coffee beans to delivering coffee to their customers. Starbucks is able to achieve a high level of efficiency and responsiveness, two factors that are crucial to the success of its business. This is made possible by its streamlined supply chain structure, management tools, and use of digital technology. 5. Improve Warehouse and Orders Storage space is one of the first places businesses should optimize to boost their efficiency because it accounts for 15-20% of the cost of each order. Studies on space usage can identify potential fixes. For instance, businesses should make use of all vertical space, combine all shipments of the same item into one spot, and make an effort to make warehouse lanes wide enough. Remember that before making modifications, you might need to look into your fire code. Companies may improve worker productivity, lower inventory mistakes, and eliminate safety concerns by updating their warehouse floor layouts. Segment the plan into different zones for goods-in, shipping, and returns to make the most of every square inch of available space. Picking time can be decreased using strategies like creating cross aisles or shorter aisles. 6. Sustainable Supply Chain Last but not the least, businesses should ponder upon having a more sustainable supply chain. Owing to hazardous carbon emissions from the vehicles, the production unit should be kept closer to the warehouses and distribution units. Also, you should promote green products at every business level whether it is primary, secondary, or, tertiary. The best supply chain strategies are those that cater to less damage to the environment and more benefit to customers. In a Nutshell Supply Chain Strategies must be made with careful analysis of the business. There are many other strategies that you can adopt depending upon your business nature, but try to incorporate sustainable means into your supply chain for saving the environment as well.

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Production Batches are similar to Production Orders except they are not driven by manufacturer. Production Batches are essentially a production project (standard or by sales orders). Orders to manufacturers, service providers, and material suppliers can be created from here. On the Production Batches list, you can see these elements: Name - project name Status - 3 statuses: created, in production, complete Received - similar to production orders Received column Use Production Batches to manage your product's raw material and manufacturing services orders. Creating Production Batch To create a Production Batch, Select Production Batch from your left, vertical menu Click the plus sign (+) in the center of your screen if it is the first one or the plus sign (+) in the upper right of your screen for future Production Batch Orders. Note: Unlike Production Orders, you will not see a Manufacturer. Select your Season, Warehouse and enter your "Due Date" Select "Standard" if you are producing for your inventory and not against any specific Sales Order. Or, select "Sales Order" if you want to specify which Sales Orders you want to produce the Production Batch. Then, click the "Create Production Batch" button at the bottom. In the example above, we selected 5 Sales Orders with a number of products, our Production Batch only created two line items (Figure 2) because those Sales Orders contained only those two products. The quantities for all 5 Sales Orders were combined. At the top of the screen (Figure 3), you can specify a Project Name for your Batch. This text will appear on your Production Batch listing later and help you identify the purpose of the batch. Also, feel free to use the drop down menu from the cogwheel to Apply a blanket discount or Edit the quantities on your Production Batch. When you are done, click the "Next" button to move forward with your batch. The second section on the screen shown in Figure 3 has 3 tabs: Materials / Services These tabs are not clickable. You will move between these tabs by using the "Next" and "Previous" buttons. The remainder of this document will discuss each tab. The first tab, "products" were created for you automatically if you selected "By Sales Order". If you did not select "By Sales Order", you would click the "plus sign" to add them as shown in Figure 4. Manufacturing Materials & Services For the Products listed on your Production Batch (Figure 2), you must have already specified your product's raw materials and manufacturing services (Figure 5) within your products. As an example, for the product B0016 that we are including in our Production Batch (Figure 2), we have configured those raw materials and services previously under the B0016 Product. We specified "Sewing" as a Service "Common" to all variations as well as "Soft Silk" and "Sound of Joy 2" raw materials. And, we have added our Raw Materials (raw silk and zipper materials) to the color variations. These are illustrated in Figure 5. If your Raw Materials and Services for your products were setup correctly under "Manufacturing" for your product, when you click the "Next" Button from the Products tab, you will be taken directly to the Materials/Services for this Production Batch; see Figure 6. If you did not have materials defined, you will be taken directly to the 3rd tab labeled PO. See next section of this document for instructions on the PO tab. On the Materials/Services screen of your production batch, you can modify your quantities, suppliers and even change the fee for your services from a unit price to a "flat fee" as desired. Creating Production or Purchase Orders Once you have validated your Materials/Services (Figure 6) and click "Next" button on the Materials/Services tab or if you did not have Materials/Services defined, you will be taken to the PO tab where you can create Production or Purchase Orders for each supplier (Figure 7). As shown in Figure 7, all materials and services will be grouped by Supplier and Manufacturer with "Create Purchase Order" or "Create Production Order" next to each. Click on the "Show More" link to the right of the product details of what will be ordered from each vendor. Note the "Not Assigned Products/Materials" section (Bottom of Figure 6) of your order. For those items, re-validate you have raw materials, services or vendors/suppliers defined correctly. If the Vendor (Supplier) is the same for some materials and services, they will be added together in the same Purchase order. Specifically, if the Service has the same Vendor (Supplier) it will be included in the Order with the materials. If the Supplier is different, there will be a separate Order for the Services. Once you have validated all information is correct, click "Create Purchase Order" or "Create Production Order". As you create the Purchase or Production Order for each line item, you will be taken directly to the Purchase or Production Order Order. From there, you can make changes or click "Confirm Order". And, you have a quick path back to your Production Batch using the link in the bottom of the header section so that you can continue creating orders for your line items: After Confirming your Purchase Orders and/or Production Orders using the Confirm button on the top right as illustrated in Figure 8, you can select Purchase Orders or Production Orders from your main, left vertical menu to see all the Purchase Orders and Production Orders associated with your Production Batch Order as demonstrated in Figure 9: Click on the "Number" to see the Purchase Order and from within the Purchase Order, you can easily navigate to your Production Batch. Receiving Deliveries/Complete Orders As you receive Products from your Production manufacturers, you will need to Create Deliveries. And, for your supplies or services on Purchase Orders, you will still need to mark those as "Complete". And both must be "Checked In" so that your inventory is adjusted accordingly. Once this is done, you are ready to move on to the "Next Steps" of creating your Production Batch Material Pick Tickets. See Product Batch Material Pick Tickets Knowledge Article Also, see Material Inventory Knowledge Article

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Read the CAE Supplier Code of Conduct to understand how our values, integrity and compliance extend throughout the supplier ecosystem. CAE was proud to host its first Virtual Panel Discussion on Diversity & Inclusion in the workplace. The objective of the event was to bring awareness to CAE suppliers on the importance of diversity and inclusion as well as supplier certification. Cloé Caron, David Acco and Silvia Pencak discussed the importance of #diversityandinclusion in the workplace and the value of Supplier Diversity Certification. With 19,000 suppliers and close to $2 billion in annual purchases, CAE recognizes its social responsibility as a prime contractor. We have been working diligently to set up and execute purchasing policies that align with our commitment to diversity and inclusion (D&I) and reducing our carbon footprint. We strive for having a diversified supply chain while joining the innovative movement to responsible and inclusive purchasing. Our objective is to meet our obligations, while being a corporate citizen and maintaining CAE’s competitiveness. Following an invitation, a new potential supplier will be requested to complete a form, including pertinent documentation, and submit it accordingly. A rigorous internal review process is conducted based on the information provided, resulting in the approval or rejection of the supplier. This process is under the responsibility of CAE’s Global Strategic Sourcing department. A potential supplier may be requested to complete and/or provide documents such as the following: - Non-disclosure Agreement - Controlled Goods Certification or Directorate of Defense Trade Controls (DDTC) registration - Health & Safety Policy - Quality Survey and/or Quality Certification - Environmental Policy or certification - Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) The Terms and Conditions differ from one country to another. The Purchase Order indicates the proper selection. Ces conditions sont variables selon le pays. Le bon de commande indique celles qui s’y appliquent. Los Términos y Condiciones difieren de un país a otro. La Orden de Compra indica la selección adecuada. De INKOOPORDER VOORWAARDEN kunnen per land verschillen. De toepasselijke versie wordt aangegeven in de inkooporder. Documents and Templates Following an invitation to become a supplier to CAE, the seller is requested to complete a new supplier request In fiscal 2016, we became a signatory of the United Nations Global Compact and began integrating its 10 principles into our CSR approach. One of our first actions was to update our master agreement and request for proposals (RFP) templates in accordance with the UN Global Compact and the United Kingdom Modern Slavery Act. These documents now include compliance with laws prohibiting human trafficking and the use of child or forced labour. Vendors are now also required to confirm that their code of ethics/business conduct aligns with our Code of Business Conduct commitments. They must demonstrate their social and environmental commitment and provide any related certifications. One of our next steps in aligning with the UN Global Compact is to develop a companywide Human Rights policy. Seller shall support CAE in its obligation to conform to Section 1502 (the Conflict Minerals Statutory Provision) of the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act (the “Act”). Seller shall not use Conflict Minerals originating from the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) or Covered Countries in, or to produce Goods delivered to CAE, or in performing Services or Works in favor of CAE. “Conflict Minerals” and “Covered Countries” have the meaning ascribed to such terms in the Act. In those limited circumstances where CAE’s product documentation or Specifications specifically call for the use of a Conflict Mineral or the PO is for the supply of solder containing tin, the following shall apply: (i) Seller whose Goods or Works contain Conflict Minerals that are necessary to the functionality or production of the Goods or Works manufactured or contracted to be manufactured shall adopt policies and establish systems to procure these minerals from sources that have been verified as “DRC conflict free”, (ii) Seller of such Goods or Works shall provide supporting data on its supply chains for Conflict Minerals to CAE on the EICC (Electronic Industry Citizen Coalition) Conflict Minerals Reporting Template. This report must be approved by CAE. Traceability data shall be maintained for 5 years minimum, (iii) Seller shall perform “Reasonable Country of Origin Inquiries” (RCOI) to ensure it has traceability throughout its supply chain to establish the origin of Conflict Minerals to designate one of the following sources or exemption: (a) the smelter (tin, tantalum, tungsten), or refiner (gold); Seller shall ensure that purchased metals originate from smelters validated by Seller as “DRC Conflict Free”, (b) scrap or recycled, or (c) the rule exempts any Conflict Minerals that are “outside the supply chain”. Conflict Minerals are outside the supply chain if, by January 31, 2013, they have been fully smelted or refined; or they are located outside the Covered Countries, and (iv) if, based on its RCOI, the Seller determines that its Conflict Minerals did originate from a Covered Country or has reason to believe that such minerals may have originated in a Covered Country and are not from recycled or scrap sources, it is required to develop and report to CAE what measures it will take to minimize the risk of purchasing “Not DRC Conflict Free” conflict minerals in the future. This report must be approved by CAE. Seller agrees and shall ensure that Counterfeit Parts or supporting counterfeit documentation are not delivered to CAE. “Counterfeit Part” means a suspect part identified as a copy or substitute without the legal right or authority to do so or a part whose material, performance, or characteristics are knowingly misrepresented by a supplier in the supply chain. The intentional or unintentional use, incorporation, or delivery of Counterfeit Parts or counterfeit work is strictly prohibited. This includes it being provided either as an end item deliverable or as a component or subcomponent of an end item deliverable pursuant to these Terms and Conditions or under a PO. Seller shall maintain a documented system (policy, procedure, or other documented approach) that ensures traceability of all components, and shall provide copies of such documentation for its system to CAE upon request. If Seller furnishes CAE with any Counterfeit Part, CAE shall have the right to impound such items, and Seller shall promptly replace such items with items acceptable to CAE. In such case, Seller shall be liable to CAE for all costs relating to impoundment, removal, replacement and proof of physical destruction. CAE may withhold payment for any Counterfeit Part and may turn such items over to governmental authorities for investigation. This “Counterfeit Deliverables” clause applies whether Seller is a distributor that purchases parts with the intention to sell and redistribute them back into the market or not and whether the parts are obtained from original equipment manufacturers or contract manufacturers (typically from excess inventories), from other independent distributors or otherwise.

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All About Multimodal Transport and Shipping There are four main shipping modes employed: air, ground, sea, and rail. Each poses unique benefits and limitations that make it suitable for different transportation and shipping applications. Some freight shipments—such as long-distance or international ones—require the use of multiple modes to reach the final destination. For these situations, multimodal transport is an ideal solution. Multimodal transport—also referred to as multimodal shipping or combined transport—refers to a single contractual agreement between a contracting company and a shipping company that involves the use of more than one transport mode to move goods. Below we provide an overview of the process, outlining some of the top benefits and comparisons to alternative methods. Top Three Benefits of Multimodal Shipping Compared to other shipping methods, multimodal shipping offers numerous advantages, including: Lower Shipment Costs Although shipping companies involved in multimodal transport agreements—also known as multimodal transport operators (MTOs)—remain responsible for freight throughout its journey to the delivery point, they may subcontract out to other carriers to help bring the shipment to its final destination. Their relationships with these companies allow them to negotiate better rates, resulting in lower shipping costs for the contracting company. MTOs need to maintain open communication with any and all subcontracted carriers for multimodal transport to work properly. However, the contracting company only needs to interface with the MTO. By choosing multimodal transport for their shipping needs, they eliminate the need to contact several different parties in the event of an issue. In general, a single call to the MTO is all that is necessary to initiate the identification and resolution of any problem with the freight shipment. New shipping and transportation regulations, such as the Electronic Logging Devices (ELD) Mandate, have imposed limitations on the amount of time a single carrier can spend moving freight. As multimodal shipping employs more than one mode of transport—generally with one picking up where another left off—cargo can continue on its way to the final destination with little to no interruptions without breaking regulations. Multimodal Shipping vs. Intermodal Shipping Both multimodal shipping and intermodal shipping employ the use of more than one transport mode to bring freight to the delivery point. Beyond this shared characteristic, they remain distinct shipping methods. With multimodal shipments, the contracting company forms an agreement with a single shipping company for all modes of transport. On the other hand, with intermodal shipments, the contracting company forms separate agreements with different carriers for each mode of transport (e.g., one for rail transport, one for truck transport, etc.). While both are viable transport options, they are appropriate for different situations. For example: Multimodal shipping offers the convenience of an all-inclusive shipping solution. The contracting company does not need to manage contracts with multiple companies, reducing the amount of time and money spent on communicating and coordinating with all interested parties. Additionally, they can rely on the shipping company to keep track of freight and ensure it gets to its final destination on time and on budget. Intermodal shipping allows for greater flexibility. As the contracting company makes individual contracts with each carrier, they can choose ones with the lowest rates to reduce overall shipping costs or specialized equipment and capabilities to accommodate unique requirements. Additionally, they can also interrupt or redirect shipment at any point during the transport to suit changing needs. Which of these shipping methods is ideal depends on the contracting company. Their logistics team needs to analyze their shipping needs and determine which of the two best fits their requirements and restrictions. Some of the factors to consider include total time and money investment, environmental impact, and cargo specifications. Contact the Freight Transportation Experts at Satellite Specialized Transportation Today Multimodal transport is a convenient shipping method that, when employed properly, allows for lower shipping costs, better communication, and faster delivery. For all multimodal transport needs, turn to the experts at Satellite Specialized Transportation. Equipped with over thirty years of transportation industry experience, our team has the knowledge and skills to get cargo where you need it when you need it. For additional information about our shipping capabilities, visit our About Us page or contact us today. To get pricing details, request a quote.

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While communication is the backbone of a successful supply chain, it’s one of the biggest challenges businesses face. (After all, it’s easy to get lost in endless trails of emails and calls made both internally and externally with supply chain partners.) This often results in late orders, shortages, missed deliveries, increased shipping costs, and missed or tighter deadlines. (Oh! And let's not forget the unbudgeted costs of fixing any of these issues.) Miscommunication is frustrating not only for your procurement department but for everyone involved—including your external supply chain network. It has a domino effect that hinders every person from pro-actively executing their part. With only 22% of companies having a proactive supply chain network, what can you do to ensure effective communication? Dig deeper to find out what causes a communication breakdown internally. Luckily for you, we’ve done the leg work to provide you with the foundation of where the problem might be. It all comes down to your processes, your people, and your technology. What is a supply chain? According to Investopedia, a supply chain refers to the network of people and organizations involved in producing a product or service and delivering it to the end consumers. That’s everyone who either sources raw materials, creates the product, or delivers it to consumers. However, supply chain management deals with the flow of all necessary product information and raw and finished goods from procurement to customers. (Including the costs related between you and your business partners.) There are many moving parts involved in all of the processes, and each supply chain stakeholder has a role to play in ensuring the finished product reaches the intended market. This includes warehouses and logistical organizations. The whole supply chain process starts from designing the product you wish to create. Then, it moves to the procurement of the raw materials stage to manufacturing, distribution—via your offline and online sales channels, retail partners, or resellers—and finally, to your customers. Any breakdown in communications between these parties has a knock-on effect on the rest of the supply network. For example, if there’s a miscommunication when your procurement team orders materia/s, the supplier will deliver the wrong material. That means manufacturing will stall, and so will distribution. Your product will not be distributed to the retail centers in time, and it won’t reach customers at the desired time. That’s an unmet customer demand, which can result in customer dissatisfaction and loss in customer loyalty, sales, and desired revenue. Now, let’s dig into the challenges (and solutions) from the three core elements mentioned: 1. Communication breakdown in your processes The communication flow will be strained if your internal communication processes are poorly defined, managed, or understood. For instance, what happens when your procurement personnel needs to make a new order for raw materials or components? - What are the processes they need to follow to complete the new order? - How do you communicate with every party involved in these processes? - Where do teams document the entire exchange of the process from point A to B? - Was the order made by a staff member, or can another employee complete it? - How do they communicate challenges in the order process with you? - Where can you, as the business owner, check whether the process was followed? - What is the process you follow to help mitigate any potential risks? These are the kind of questions you need to ask and find answers to. Do some digging, and ask your teams for feedback on their challenges regarding internal processes and how they’re implemented. Failing to do so will lead to further communication breakdowns. And, ultimately, bigger and costlier problems that you could’ve easily avoided by simply clearly defining, streamlining, and implementing the internal communication processes. 2. Communication breakdowns in your people The people in your organization, particularly the teams involved in the upstream communication chain, can make or break communication. You can put the best processes in place, but communication gaps will be visible if your people don't follow them. Each person has their own set of preferred communication methods, but following standardized communication methods is important in business operations. It’s a way to ensure that errors, inconsistencies, misunderstandings, and miscommunications are reduced and can be solved as aptly and timeously as possible. It also lessens external stakeholders' frustrations. So, again, have discussions with your people. Ask them a set of questions that will enable you to figure out where the problems lie. - Do your teams understand the internal communication processes? - Are they trained enough to put them into practice internally and externally? - Have they noticed any communication silos? - Do people know where to go when tasks are being bottlenecked? - Do people have the right communication tools to use effectively? - What motivates or discourages people from following the processes set? The answers will give you insights into how your people feel about processes. 3. Communication breakdowns caused by your technology Technology tools play a huge role in various aspects of business operations, and communication is no exception to that. The challenge with technology tools is that there are so many of them. In most cases, they either do not work as well as they should, do not meet what they promise to do, or overlap in functionalities. Take Excel spreadsheets, for example, they’re not a great tool to use for the effective supply chain management. But studies found that 67.4% of supply chain managers use Excel spreadsheets as a management tool. In other cases, some supply chain tech tools can be very complicated to a point that your people are unable to use them effectively, which means that you need to hire someone with the skills needed to use the tool. That’s an extra expense you may not have the budget for. When you’re searching for tools to add to your ecommerce tech stack, for example, you have to choose ones with features that will help improve communication. For example, a tool that allows your teams to work together seamlessly and provides trackable communication. Don’t choose a tool just because your competitors use it; you have to understand how it will benefit your business. You have to consider whether it will help streamline your communication internally and externally—and if your teams can use them with little guidance. At the end of the day, the tools you put in place should ease stress and save you time, effort, and unnecessary spending on extra costs. It should work with you, not against you. Improve internal and external communication flows with Plytix One of the best multichannel commerce tools is a product information tool that does what it promises to do and much more! A tool that centralizes product information in a single location eliminates the risks of siloed product data. Plytix PIM is exactly the kind of product content management software that can help you solve a host of communication challenges. In addition to centralizing your product content, Plytix enables your teams to work collaboratively as you can add as many users as needed without any extra costs. You simply set user roles with custom permissions, and everyone has access to the same information. Plytix is a PIM for ecommerce that enables seamless enterprise resource planning (ERP) connection so that you can view inventory data and product data for your shop in the same dashboard. As you can see, a PIM complements your supply chain management efforts. For more information, download this FREE ebook on how a PIM and ERP work together!

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Although some management analysts work for the corporate that they’re analyzing, most work as consultants on a contractual foundation. Ascension staff have raised considerations about how Google would possibly use its entry to patients’ private data on the electronic system, the source told Business Insider. Only 11 % of the small business house owners we surveyed mentioned they use automation of their marketing, and just one- quarter use a CRM software. Nevertheless you may nonetheless build a business as a web-based journey information to assist shoppers and groups uncover the very best presents on journey decisions. Management is a strategy of planning, choice making, organizing, leading, motivation and controlling the human resources, financial, bodily, and information sources of an organization to achieve its targets in an efficient and effective method. The initiative, referred to as , will work in partnership with AI start-ups and corporations developing AI products to create new tools and develop expertise within the space. Fusion Media wish to remind you that the information contained in this website isn’t necessarily real-time nor accurate. Employment of management analysts is projected to develop 14 percent over the following ten years, much quicker than the typical for all occupations. Companies with trucking fleets, for instance, are creating new B2B businesses renting out idle vehicles by the day or the hour. To be able to advance to extra senior positions, management analysts will need to have on-the-job expertise, typically not less than 5 years. On Monday, after market opened, bulk deal information revealed that the ace investor had finally purchased stake within the personal sector lender signalling that the big bull had religion within the monetary position of the financial institution. By embracing these instruments and tactics, small businesses can develop and thrive in an more and more digital world. Along with being experts in their specific fields, profitable consultants are wonderful at making oral shows and have good personnel management abilities. We requested Management Analysts how satisfied they are with their job. You’ll assemble a business as a proofreader or editor for varied businesses, authors and different shoppers who wish to ship you their work on-line.

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CircuitWest: The Search for Audiences Handbook The Search for Audiences handbook is a tool for helping presenters (venues) build audiences. It details the research techniques CircuitWest and its participating members used for 12 Western Australian presenters in its projects involving focus groups (qualitative) and, in some cases, surveys (quantitative). It provides an overview of the main factors that influenced audience behaviour across the studies, as well as details the research questions posed and research respondents’ feedback. It also provides recommendations regarding strategies for audience development. In July 2018, the Government of Western Australia funded CircuitWest to deliver grants, training, planning, facilitation and support for research into audience development across 12 regional towns and cities. Development of the project was prompted by feedback from presenters across WA based on a need to grow and better engage audiences, particularly in light of declining audience numbers across the sector. The project provided one-off support for discrete audience development projects aiming to encourage new approaches to increasing audience numbers through in-depth research, listening to audiences engaged with presenters, collaboration with presenter-partner organisations and information from non-audiences who were not attending performances. The project supported new research projects and innovative thinking with the following aims: - to create new strategic approaches to audience development; - to learn how to promote products, works or organisations to new audiences in novel ways; - to diversify and/or increase earned revenue streams through listening to audience - to achieve business-objective growth based on insight into audience barriers; - to deliver feedback for program development; and/or; - to provide information pertaining to audience development for future marketing activities. The handbook covers several key areas: - the art of gathering - target audience - community needs - the mystery

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Recent events, such as the COVID-19 pandemic, have shown how small airports (general aviation (GA), non-hub, and small-hub commercial service), which have limited resources and expertise, are often ill-prepared to address airport disruptions. Airport disruptions are situations that impact staffing, financial and information technology (IT) resources, infrastructure, facilities, and supply chain shortages. Specifically, these airports have challenges with effective coordination and integration of contingency planning (operational and business continuity, emergency response, financial sustainability and resiliency). Research is needed to help small airports benefit by integrating all aspects of contingency planning to sustain operations and build resiliency. The objective of this research is to develop guidance to assist small airports to effectively integrate plans for operational and business continuity, emergency response, financial sustainability, and resiliency to respond to airport disruptions. Considerations for development of the guidance should include at a minimum: Identification of existing and available reports and resources that would assist in development of a reference library; A sampling of case studies at a variety of relevant types and sizes of small airports and other industry entities (e.g., rail, highways, ports, utilities) that reflect best practices of integration; Identification or development of tools (e.g., flow charts, checklists, decision trees) that will assist in the integration; Flexibility for integration with respect to event complexity, airport size, and its resources (internal and external); and A process for conducting a cost benefit analysis of integration. STATUS: RESEACH IN PROGRESS

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What is Lean? Enhancing value for the customer is the essence of “Lean”. This means delivering what the customer needs, when it is required and at the best possible price. Lean offers a structured methodology that maximises value for the customer through the elimination of waste from an organisation’s activities. Lean examines the entire value stream. The value stream is described as the sum of all activities completed by an organisation to produce a product or to deliver a service. The elimination of waste is a key underlying principle of Lean. It requires moving away from the traditional approaches to process improvement and instead focusing on the product or service provided to the end-customer. A culture of continuous improvement is key to any organisation’s sustained success in the elimination of waste. Instilling this culture is done by considering three aspects of the business: PURPOSE PROCESS AND PEOPLE. An organisation’s Purpose will be to thrive and grow. This will only be achieved by continuously providing value to its customers. Reviewing where the business is now versus where it needs to be is necessary; a gap analysis. Having defined the organisations purpose, the next step is to define the Processes which will enable it to achieve its purpose, i.e. the steps which will maximise customer value most efficiently. Looking across the value stream; examine all process steps, see which add value and which do not. Eliminate all unnecessary steps if possible and if not look at how they can be streamlined. People will be required to drive these processes. Consider what skills and training is required to enable them to perform the processes at the required level to enable customer satisfaction. Involve them in the improvement process; use their experience to drive day-to-day problem solving thus resulting in continuous improvement. The implementation of Lean in an organisation typically leads to a number of benefits including an increased rate in: - Customer satisfaction - Return Business - Job satisfaction - Response to customer demands Similarly, with the introduction of Lean, there is a reduction in: - Cost to provide a product/service - Time to market - Cycles times - Customer complaints - Stress for stakeholders Lean is the perfect business model for a company who is goal driven and seeks to eliminate waste from their workplace. Emphasis is put on the experience of the customer which ensures satisfaction. Identification of value versus waste from the customer’s perspective is a key principle in Lean. Waste is defined as “any activity which does not add value to the product or service provided for the customer”. The customer is the person who pays for the product or service. In relation to providing value to customers Lean considers the following: - Would the customer pay for the activity? - Was the product or service transformed or improved by the activity? - Was it done “Right-First-Time”? If the answer is no, then value is not being added. This questioning must be continuously applied to ensure that all waste is made visible and the improvement opportunity is maximised. By interrogating processes within your organisation, you can reach the full potential of your organisation. Lean provides a structure to companies that want to make it to the next level in business. It is an effective system that ensures the best result out of your resources. By implementing Lean, you can be certain that nothing is holding you back, allowing your company to thrive and grow at the pace it deserves. By maximising the value of your business, it proves itself invaluable to your customers who rely on excellent service. This increases customer satisfaction, which in turn increases revenue, which leads to a successful organisation. Implement Lean to ensure your company blossoms into a string, rewarding, and prosperous organisation.

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Purchasing, manufacturing, distribution and sales - every sub-process of the internal supply chain has its own goals. The purchasing department, for example, wants to keep inventory low, while the production team strives to use its resources efficiently. At the same time, distribution attempts to optimally spread products across the network and the sales team is focused on a high level of service for its customers. If the overall view of the internal supply chain process is missing, conflicts are inevitable and an optimal performance cannot be achieved. A smooth and integrated supply chain planning process can only be achieved when all factors are integrated into a single, comprehensive plan stretching across all divisions.

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Although China Logistics Service Company can relate to a vast number of things in a commercial setting, logistics is generally only the coordination of the movement of people and things so that everything moves smoothly. However, the transportation of goods from one location to another is the most frequent application of the word logistics in today’s commercial world. For instance, a company that sells goods will typically contract a third-party logistics services provider to make sure they transport the goods from the manufacturer to the retailer where customers can buy them. What Exactly Are Logistics Services? A company that sells products must figure out how to deliver those products to customers. Even these companies sell the goods online, and they must still be transported from A to B, typically by way of shipping service. If you run a one-person business, you could go to the post office with each item, but eventually, you’ll want to switch to a shipping company. As you expand, things will become a little more challenging because you’ll frequently be dealing with shipments utilizing multiple carriers. Providers of logistics services step in to help with that. They specialize in organizing the commercial shipment process, ensuring that goods get to their destinations as quickly as possible. What Function Does Logistics Serve? Getting a product from the maker to the client involves several elements. It might first go to a warehouse where it waits for a send order. But regardless of whether it spends time in the warehouse, the next step is a vehicle or a plane that transports it to a store or a mail carrier so people can receive it. However, getting about might be challenging, mainly if the weather causes delays. Transportation services are coordinated by logistics companies to keep things moving forward. For instance, if a customer doesn’t have enough product to fill an entire truck, a logistics provider may arrange to mix that customer’s shipments with another customer, carefully planning the route of the truck picking up both orders to minimize delays. Technologies Used in Logistics In the majority of states, logistics businesses handle goods both domestically and internationally. Thanks to modern technologies, suppliers can now better control the process. Professionals in the field can use logistics software to plan the optimum route, even tackling the challenges of bundling many shipments into a single truckload. Thanks mainly to the advanced analytics already included, today’s systems even make it simple to track overall productivity. As a result, analytics is becoming increasingly significant as organizations look for a provider who can provide them with a continuous picture of their supply chain. What Is an Ocean Freight Forwarder? A freight forwarder is a person or business having the skills necessary to get your cargo from point A to point B safely and efficiently. Freight forwarders act as middlemen who are familiar with every step of the convoluted transportation process and can make sure that your goods arrive at their destination, even though they typically do not own the trucks, ships, or airplanes required to transfer your cargo. Sea freight, also referred to as ocean freight, is one of the oldest established methods of shipping products over international borders. Additionally, it might be a fantastic choice for sending personal items. While sea freight is more cost-effective for companies and people seeking a cost-effective delivery solution, air freight is better suited for the transportation of time-sensitive items. Evereast Logistics provide Sea Freight FCL Services with various transit times using our connections with all the main shipping lines, allowing customers to generate precise estimates and keep expenses within their budget. You can obtain these contract rates through email to compare prices after we secure them in advance. How To Use Sea Freight Forwarding Services to The Full Extent? - Be prepared: Shipping cargo by sea requires more time than shipping it by air. Other elements to take into account are public holidays, inclement weather, and other things that cause delays. Lack of planning may result in unwise choices that cost you money and reduce your margins of profit. - Greater quantities: It is almost always equated to more reasonable delivery costs for maritime freight, especially when sending goods to distant locations. - Protect your items: Properly package your goods to reduce the chance of damage during transit. It should be no surprise that ocean prices are lower than air rates. However, tradeoffs do exist. You might want to seek elsewhere if speed is essential to you. Air shipments arrive in a matter of days; however, ocean cargo takes over a month. Another aspect to think about is reliability. Unlike freight ships, which frequently take longer than anticipated to embark, aviation shipments follow a fairly strict schedule.

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Volume 3 begins with an introduction to which are added four chapters focused on modeling and flow simulation in an environment in 2 or 3 dimensions (2D or 3D). They deal with different cases taken from situations found in the field. A conclusion comes close this third book: - The different software used in this third volume - Computer simulation of discrete flows - Mixed flow simulation - Flows in 3D and the evacuation simulation - Flows in 3D for conveying and storage The conclusion discusses the future developments of the software and their integration into society. At the end of each volume is a bibliography and a list of web links. There is also a glossary explaining some abbreviations, acronyms and some very specific terminology of logistics and operations research. Keywords: introduction; book ix; discrete; computer simulation; flows; map; resort; statement; extendsim software; parameters; principal; definition; allocation; simulation; example; extendsim, Industrial Engineering / Project Management, Industrial Engineering / Project Management

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When making the selection of key performance indicators or KPIs in a company, a thorough analysis of the objectives pursued as an organization, their context, and how each process will contribute to achieving them must be done. Standards such as ISO 9001 require you to generate data and define indicators for all processes, in this case you must pay special attention to those that affect the level of customer satisfaction by introducing quality indicators, such as “Delivery Time”, “Complaints Received”, “Qualification in Satisfaction Survey”, etc. When the key performance indicators don’t reach the goal, they usually have repercussions beyond the responsible process itself and you have to solve these breaches as soon as possible, I give you 5 reasons that could be occurring in your company why you are not complying with your key performance indicators or KPIs. Table of Contents 1- The goal of the KPIs is unattainable This point is the first that you must analyze, many times top management defines goals that are too ambitious thinking that it will generate motivation in those responsibles, but the opposite ends up happening. While the goals that are defined for the key performance indicators should provide a challenge that leads to continuous improvement of the process at each evaluation period, it is also important to maintain an attainable figure within its capabilities. 2- The root cause of non-compliance of the KPIs is not properly defined When you are analyzing why they are not reaching the desired goals, always make sure to do an adequate root cause analysis just as you would when you make a report of corrective actions or non-compliance audit within the ISO 9001 quality management systems. Use tools such as the 5 whys, Ishikawa diagram, etc. Even the simple act of brainstorming with those involved will give you a much broader picture of why the goal is not being reached. 3- Those responsible for the processes involved don’t participate in the resolution of the problem. As I just mentioned in the previous point, you must handle the resolution of the non-fulfillment of the objective as a corrective actions. Commonly, full responsibility for the resolution of the problem is assigned to the leader of the process that has failed but remember that the ideal is to work within a process-based approach, as required by ISO 9001. With this in mind you will realize that all processes are connected, some more closely than others, and what happens in a process affects the others, so when a breach occurs all those involved must participate both in determining the root cause as well as in the problem solving. This involvement of various processes is even more apparent when it comes to the company’s quality indicators. 4- Lack of training and communication of results to staff It is likely that staff are not sufficiently aware of the importance of obtaining data in their processes or of how key performance indicators or KPIs and quality indicators affect both the level of well-being of the company and that of the customer. If they don’t have a clear perception of why the measurement of the performance of the processes is being carried out and the control implemented in them, it will be difficult for them to commit to obtaining data and solving problems when objectives and goals are not reached. In this case, the only option is to provide training to the staff until there is real awareness, in turn, the result of the reviews should always be communicated to all the staff involved in the process, thus increasing their level of participation and commitment. 5- The review period is not adequate When you define the key performance indicators, you must establish the period in which the data will be analyzed to know if they are reaching the indicated goals. This review period must be adequate, since if it’s very short you will not give the process the opportunity to reflect the results when you implement corrective actions and if you define it too long you will lose control over it when you perform the analysis. Evaluate with the person in charge, the capacity and objectives of the process to be able to define an adequate analysis period that can reflect results when improvement actions are implemented. One more reason… There is no participation of top management The support and participation of top management is essential for any management system to function properly, not in vain the ISO 9001 standard has a specific requirement in this regard in order to ensure an adequate level of quality and customer satisfaction. Without the involvement of top management, it will be difficult to properly monitor the evaluation of processes and the strategy to follow when a process doesn’t reach its goals. For this reason, it’s important that you include those responsible for top management in all dynamics, since the initial training to define the indicators and each results review, thus you will obtain a greater commitment to them in the improvement strategy. The use of software for the management of key performance indicators or KPIs will greatly facilitate this point since it will make it more convenient for top management to monitor and implement corrective actions in case of non-compliance.

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Communication is a vital aspect of building a successful business. An effective communication process ensures that information flows seamlessly between departments and amongst the various teams on time and in a form which will allow them to achieve individual, departmental, and organizational goals and objectives. While communication in varied forms and frequency is essential for all departments, it is extremely crucial for the executors of the organization’s plans and strategies – the Logistics Department. Why is communication important for Logistics Information interchange plays an important role in creating a cost-effective and agile logistics management process. It ensures that tasks are completed and transferred from one point to the other seamlessly and without delay. For example, the sales department needs logistics data to analyze orders that have been shipped, customer service needs information to update shipment status, and the accounts section requires the data to cross-check transporter invoices. The procurement team needs information from logistics when new vendors are to be hired or old contracts are due for renewal. The other functions of the supply chain also have to collaborate or communicate with the logistics team to get their work done. In addition to the internal information requirements, vendors such as carriers, warehouse operators, and 3PLs also need to exchange information with the logistics team on a daily basis to ensure that the company’s products are delivered at the right time to the right place at the right cost. What are the features of an effective process for Logistics? It should be in writing: Written communication is important as it minimizes the scope to misinterpret or forget the message. Today, written communication is the most common form of business communication. Since emails and all forms of messages across multiple platforms can easily be sent to multiple recipients situated across offices, countries, and continents, it is essential for all professionals to develop effective written communication skills and to encourage the same in all employees. A clear, concise, and consistent message is the hallmark of effective communication. It should follow the 3 C’s: A clear, concise, and consistent message is the hallmark of effective communication. A clear message ensures that there is no ambiguity in what needs to be conveyed. Conciseness ensures that the message is brief, but includes all important information. And, consistency in language, format, mode of delivery ensures that the receiver does not waste time in understanding the message. In logistics, given the fact that a lot of the work is time-bound, marking the right team or person on the email is of utmost importance. It should be sent to the right recipients: More often than not information is lost in the organizational hierarchy because it is not addressed to the right person. In logistics, given the fact that a lot of the work is time-bound, marking the right team or person on the email is of utmost importance. It conveys urgency appropriately: Many executives are in the habit of marking all their emails as “urgent” to ensure that it gets immediate attention from the receiver. While this practice is great to ensure that important and critical communication does not get missed, however, if all communication is urgent, it becomes difficult to prioritize tasks. It also dilutes the meaning of the word. In such instances, the receivers take up the tasks in the priority that they think is correct. Hence, it is crucial to mark only communication or tasks that are the top priority as urgent and not all communication. It should provide clear timelines: The delivery or timeline for getting a response or the task being assigned should be clearly mentioned in the communication. This will help the receiver gather information, plan, and execute the requirements mentioned in the message and avoid unnecessary delays. It should be transparent and reliable: Interdepartmental conflicts, organizational politics, and cutthroat competition encourage employees to keep information from their counterparts or colleagues. This creates chaos, confusion, and mistrust which in turn affects the execution of tasks. It is thus important that the organizational culture promotes transparent communication and sharing of reliable information. It should be real-time: Logistics is a fast-paced function and information exchange also needs to be equally quick. Hence, information such as a change in freight rates, loading lists, customer orders, etc. needs to be verified and relayed to the next person as soon as it is received. Apart from these things, queries asked in relation to a task or process should be addressed promptly or the receiver should at least provide a timeline by when the sender may expect an answer. Technology Integration: In this digital age, just getting the written communication right is not enough to ensure the successful implementation of business plans. Organizations must also integrate the technologies, backend systems and processes that are used by different departments to ensure that information flows seamlessly and without manual intervention from one function to another. For logistics which is an intensely data-oriented function, this integration is crucial. For logistics which is an intensely data-oriented function, this integration is crucial. It will help reduce manual data entry, delays due to incorrect system entries, and speed up the process. Digital records of all the transactions or logistical activities will also make it easier to get reports, analyze performance, find outliers, and standardize the process across different geographies and vendors. When designing or buying technology or outsourcing the process to a vendor, it is essential to understand if this technology will be able to integrate with other systems that your organization uses with ease and at least cost. An organization’s logistical communication process can be complete only when all the above elements are present and interlinked via common technology. BlueGrace’s proprietary TMS (Transportation Management System) is designed to put the power of easy supply chain management and optimization back in your hands. BlueShip® 4.0 offers cutting-edge tools for strong reliability and quick performance. Many of our customers prefer to integrate their systems or ERPs such as SAP or NetSuite directly with our BlueShip platform. Our IT integrations team will work closely with your staff to complete the connection between systems. Not only will this simplify your freight but it will provide mountains of usable data to build measurable KPIs and continuously improve your program. Speak to a BlueGrace expert, or contact us at 800.MYSHIPPING.

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Logistics in large parts of Southeast Asia is not only complicated, but also expensive. recipient wants to solve this problem with a platform that not only lets customers book trucks, but also uses algorithms to determine the best route based on location, truck loads and even the weather. The company announced today that it has raised a $70 million Series C led by Gobi Partners and SPIL Ventures with participation from returning investor Inspire Ventures. This brings the company’s total since its inception in 2015 to $109 million. The high logistics costs mean consumers end up paying higher prices, said founder and CEO Tom Kim. “From our point of view the market is number one, the inefficiency in trucking and freight transport has driven up costs significantly. Imagine you are in California, Los Angeles, and you are shopping for a pair of Nike shoes. What proportion of these sales costs is spent on logistics, transport and warehousing? The answer is very well documented. It’s about 8%. If you buy the same Nike shoes in China, the answer is around 15%. And if you buy the same Nike shoes in Indonesia, Thailand or the Philippines, the answer is much closer to 25%, maybe even over 30%.” The company says it has grown its gross transaction value by 3.2 times over the past 24 months and will surpass $100 million this year. It currently has 500 employees and 100,000 drivers on its platform. Deliveree is currently available in Indonesia, the Philippines and Thailand. It mainly focuses on large trucks that move trade goods or large items. Kim said it is more searched than other logistics companies, according to Google Analytics. These include goods sixGo Box, Kargo Tech and Logical in Indonesia; Mober, Inteluck and TheLorry in the Philippines; and Giztik, TheLorry and Ezyhaul in Thailand. Kim added that the logistics war is particularly heated in Indonesia, where many logistics startups like Waresix have received funding. “There’s a lot of startups and breakthrough technology being built in space here, and it’s definitely a very active market,” he told TechCrunch. “There are all these well-known players like Waresix or even Kargo Tech. The Philippines and Thailand are also interesting and great markets, but there are fewer players in the logistics space, especially freight, truck and freight.” One of the problems Deliveree solves is the inefficient use of trucks. For example, trucks deliver a load of goods but then return empty to the warehouses. However, if it’s part of Deliveree’s system, businesses can book it to ship goods on the return journey. This makes better use of the money spent on fuel, time and dispatch teams. “In Thailand, the Philippines and Indonesia, there’s an insane amount of empty trucks driving around because everyone has their own corporate fleets,” Kim said. “They only deliver in one direction and the truck comes back empty. This even applies to long-distance shipping, when you’re sending goods from a warehouse to a facility in another city. Same thing happens: you send the truck full one way and it comes back, sometimes hundreds of miles, empty.” Deliveree solves these problems with a dynamic marketplace that Kim says currently has tens of thousands of customers and suppliers, including a combination of independent drivers and trucking companies. The marketplace’s technology combined with its volume can identify customers on a truck’s journey in both directions, so it rarely runs empty. The marketplace aggregates demand and determines optimal routes to keep trucks full. Kim said that prior to Deliveree’s launch, a usage rate of 40% to 50% was considered above average. However, with Deliveree’s marketplace, trucks can achieve up to 80% utilization thanks to Deliveree’s internally generated dataset, which has been in the works for five years. “Even though it’s far from perfect, it’s getting smarter every day because we make thousands of bookings every day, and it’s able to make more accurate predictions about the length of the booking, the day of the week, the time of day, and even the weather. Those are all things that have drastic long-term implications,” Kim said. This also means that the warehouse has shorter queues as Deliveree’s algorithms can predict loading and waiting times. Most companies have their own fleets, which means they need to hire dispatch teams, admin teams, security teams, parking lots, and security guards. It’s still the most prominent way, Kim said, and involves a lot of overhead for the companies. Kim said his argument in introducing Deliveree to companies was that they could deleverage their balance sheets and book trucks on an asset-light basis. That means they only pay for trucks when they need them. When the pandemic struck, many companies saw their revenue decline, and Kim said that led to greater adoption of Deliveree as they attempted to increase revenue. This growing adoption of Deliveree as more businesses looked for ways to save money and turn their fixed costs into variable costs. The courier monetizes by charging the customer a fee and splitting it with the carriers. The standard supplier ratio is 80% to the independent truck driver or trucking company and a 20% commission to the company. In a prepared statement, Kay Mok, Managing Director of Gobi Partners, said: “Post-pandemic, we are moving into an inflationary environment plagued by supply chain issues. Deliveree has built the best technology platform for customers, enabling them to optimize and reduce the total cost of ownership for the logistics and shipping company.” Deliveree is smoothing Southeast Asia’s bumpy logistics landscape – TechCrunch Source link Deliveree is smoothing Southeast Asia’s bumpy logistics landscape – TechCrunch

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Despite how little consideration has been given to the golf industry in terms of yield management issues, both practical and theoretical, it is surprisingly close in nature to several industries that already take full advantage of such tools and processes. In fact, upon disposing of perishable commodities and high variable demand, yield management can revolutionise the industry as it has many others. By factoring-in consumer behaviour many industries have achieved the maximum amount of profit from a perishable resource, examining these behaviours to best entice and target the consumer. The idea being to coordinate timing, price and consumer patterns to achieve the best return – all of which requires the right software in place. We have enhanced Concept 2.9.8 R7 not only with new advanced new features like Group bookings for Spa – but also with Yield Management for Golf. The improved functionalities in the new version provide complete process integration and optimization…and demonstrate the needs in both industries to improve their capability and expedite booking processes. Yield management tools have already been used by forward-thinking industries to maximise their revenue, so let us now look at how this was done and, more importantly, how this relates to the golf industry – including the types of demand that should be considered when formulating a golf yield management matrix. Perhaps our first consideration should be the hotel and airline industries. As stated by Kimes (2000), the golf industry is easily comparable to either industry, both of which have frequently applied yield management principles through software tools – facilitating analysis and, consequently, increasing revenue generation. It should be noted that the adoption of such successful systems considers the facility limited capacity, the analysis of predictable demand, perishable inventory, as well as the customer price sensitivity, costs and pricing variables, and demand which is variable and uncertain. (Kimes, 1989; Cross, 1997) Applying these considerations to the golf industry begins to demonstrate the efficacy of yield management within it. Indeed, from an analytical point of view, the golf business disposes of limiting factors to their continuous operation. These factors include the type of capacity constraints that can be measured: these would include the size of the golf courses, the number of holes or the available hours of daylight operation. These constraints can then be somewhat reduced by various measures; filling up tee times to capacity, efficiently arranging the sequence of order that holes can be played, or, during the summer season, extending capacity due to the increasing daylight. Again, in similarity to, say, the hotel industry, analysis of the golf industry identifies two types of predictable demand: customers that make bookings and those who arrive to play without making any type of arrangement. Although these demands may be predicted, golf course and yield managers should have at their disposal an effective and powerful software system that is able to track previous arrivals and trends to develop efficient and effective strategies. This is where Concept Golf Premium can prove invaluable, allowing a course or yield manager to determine which of these demands will be the most profitable – and so which to target and respond to. As we have seen, the hotel and airline industries provide useful models for applying yield management to golf courses and businesses – but we can also use them to compare how yield management examines revenue. Other comparable industries using yield management calculate their revenue or contribution by time-based inventory unit, the airline industry, for example, determines revenue per available seat mile (RevPAS), hotels by available room night (RevPAR), restaurants by available seat hour (RevPASH)… in such a manner golf courses can calculate their revenue per available tee time (RevPATT). Continuing the model, as a unit of revenue calculation RevPATT’s availability is affected by both controllable and uncontrollable factors. Controllable factors would include, for example, the length of a round of golf, the dispatching rule, or the tee time interval, with uncontrollable factors including the number of hours of daylight exposure or weather conditions. With so many comparable industries successfully employing yield management software, and looking at how well the golf industry fits into the model these industries present, it is little wonder that there is tremendous buzz within the golf industry about tee times pricing and yield management. Forward-thinking golf courses and managers are eager to employ yield management tools with an integrated software solution. Concept Golf Premium caters for all the software needs of a golf operation from tee time management to web bookings, with complete yield management tools to help your team employ the same processes that have worked so well for the world’s leading hotels, airlines and restaurants. This article was originally written by the Concept team. It has been moved here as part of the Shiji Group family of hospitality technology brands.

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Petrochemical leaders are finding they have a lot in common with other market sectors as they sit on the various COVID-19 task forces overseen by the Resilient Louisiana Commission. Rhoman Hardy, vice president of Shell U.S. – Gulf Coast and co-chair of RLC’s Energy Task Force, says some unexpected benefits have sprung from these forced interactions that began in mid-April, all for the purpose of developing plans for safely reinstating business-related activities. Hardy’s group, one of 15 such task forces, is comprised largely of the oil and gas, refining and petrochemical industries, and electric utilities. A separate Manufacturing Task Force addresses chemical plant and manufacturer issues. “There has been a lot of sharing of best practices, since there is significant overlap among these groups,” Hardy says. “That will have huge benefits now and in the future.” The Greater Baton Rouge Industry Alliance Inc. has also developed written guidance to assist industry with COVID-19 preparations. Connie Fabré, GBRIA president and CEO, says her group held as many as seven meetings and partnered with members, contractors, trade associations and consultants to create the guidelines. “A compilation of all the good information shared from these meetings will be helpful to industry as they begin bringing back more workers,” Fabré says. By no means is Louisiana’s industrial complex starting from a blank sheet of paper, as most of the larger plants have had pandemic plans in place for years. Still, nothing could have prepared them adequately for COVID-19. Scott Whelchel, Dow’s global chief security officer, says his company’s pandemic response and recovery plan was first created in the early 2000s and has been periodically updated in response to other threats such as H1N1 and the Swine Flu. Whelchel began coordinating COVID-19 response efforts at Dow’s Asian Pacific sites as far back as January. “In some respects we were better prepared in the U.S. as a result,” he adds. “We were in an advanced state of preparation from a communications and procurement standpoint, in regards to masks, sanitizing agents, etc.” Dow Louisiana also empowered local site teams to operate more efficiently in order to reduce manpower levels. “We developed guidance that could be locally executed, regionally managed and corporately aligned and supported,” Whelchel says. “We wanted to let our people adapt and give them the ability to locally execute. We didn’t want to provide them with a set of guidelines that were rigid and inflexible.” In the process, Dow Louisiana used local data and other publicly available information from surrounding parishes to determine staffing levels and other protocols. A big move to virtual Hardy says Shell’s Geismar plant is operating at about 40% of normal staffing levels, while not reducing hours for vital operators and other crafts. Virtual meetings have been key to Shell’s strategy. “We have a structure of daily meetings to manage the facility using Skype and Microsoft collaborative tools,” he adds. “Before (COVID-19), our default would have been to do things face to face, so moving to virtual meetings was a change for us.” That will likely pay big dividends long after the pandemic. “This has expanded and opened our eyes to the capabilities of these tools,” Hardy says. Dave Mihalik, BASF Geismar’s environmental, health, safety, medical & security services director, says virtual meetings have become routine over the last two months. About 50% of BASF’s employees currently work from home and use virtual tools such as video conferencing. This “new normal” has created opportunities for the plant to become more efficient and effective. Some practical measures at BASF Geismar include self-quarantine measures, monitoring of impacted personnel by the site medical department, limited contractor and vendor services and restricted access to control rooms and other operational areas. Additionally, temporary partitions and barriers have been installed within workspaces and face-to-face meetings are limited to only a small number of participants. BASF also disinfects and deep cleans work areas, and staggers lunch times to minimize group sizes, among other things. While some early adjustments were necessary to BASF’s health and screening protocols since February 2020, “we now have the screening process down to a routine, due in large part to employee volunteers who stepped up to assist.,” Mihalik says. Through it all, BASF has maintained normal operations. “Although we have response plans in place for a variety of scenarios, I don’t think anyone could’ve guessed the dramatic change in routine we all have faced over the last eight to 10 weeks,” he adds. “In some cases, the innovative ways people have adjusted their procedures to the new social distancing practices have actually improved productivity.”

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Max Franke of the German print-on-demand company epubli says that many German publishers are too risk averse and controlling when it comes to ebooks, and as a result they miss out on opportunities. They take too long to bring new products to market, he says, and take the wrong approach to DRM and social media. German has a very rich vocabulary for describing power relationships. Obrigkeitsgläubigkeit — belief in authorities — is a problem for the book business, especially when it’s hard for publishing industry leaders to accept that digitization has changed everything, that authors now have the opportunity to successfully distribute and market their books without a publishing house and to become brands of their own. Prof. Gottfried Honnefelder, Chairman of the Börsenverein (the German book industry’s lobby group) said at the Buchtage Conference in June, scoffing at the challenge presented by self-publishing: “What’s new out there that we cannot do? Use the channels of communication and distribution in a new way? Without a publisher? Without a bookstore?” There’s just one thing he forgets: now, the author is in control. The author has the opportunity to distribute and communicate effectively. Publishers’ challenge is to adapt their royalty terms and to offer solutions that provide real marketing benefits for authors. Some players do in fact overestimate their market power and refuse to adapt to the new requirements. Read the full article at Publishing Perspectives. (Photo: Paul McMahon)

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It is easy for miscommunication to happen after a data breach. There could be many people working on the incident and those people may document differently and without guidance, critical facts could be lost due to inconsistent or ineffectual documentation procedures. This can make it difficult for incident response teams to understand the relevant facts of the matter. Here are some guidelines in documenting a breach. It can be very helpful to start with a timeline. Discuss the incident with those who first noticed it and those who validated that there was an incident. Put the time of the reported incident and the validation on the sheet and then add the events that led up to the incident. Keep adding events to the timeline as you progress and this will help show the incident flow and help you determine the cause and effect of the incident. Review the timeline with the incident response team and receive feedback. The timeline can be used similar to a murder board in a police investigation. Post the known facts and their times on the wall in the incident briefing room and then tack on new facts to it as you progress. You can do this digitally as well if the team is not all in one place. Next, record the facts only. Don’t let personal opinions creep into the log. Documented assumptions can lead the incident response team in the wrong direction. They can also be detrimental if legal action is taken as part of the investigation as these documents could be part of the discovery process. The National Institute of Standards and Technology’s (NIST) Computer Security Incident Handling Guide suggests that teams should have a person designated as the documenter while another person performs tasks so that the critical facts are not left out. Lastly, don’t jump to conclusions. There could be many explanations given the available data so care must be taken to eliminate available options. Determine what data you will need to eliminate an option and then seek that out. Keep track of the possible scenarios and their underlying criteria and whether those criteria have been proved or disproved.

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An Experimental Research on Closed Loop Supply Chain Management with Internet of Things Abstract. Closed loop supply chain (CLSC) optimization is integration of forward and reverse logistics activities. The importance of CLSC management is increasing by legal regulations, limited energy resources and environmental- financial problems that growing in recent years. However, reverse logistics part of the CLSC is a flow type which is more difficult to made predictions, planning and controls by reason contained uncertainties. This stage, Internet of Things system reduces related uncertainties by providing all the life information of the returned product and substantially attenuates planning of reverse flow activities. In this study, a CLSC is considered that meets demands of the sales&collection center both new and remanufactured product. Manufacturer has three options (refurbishing, disassembly and disposal) to assessing returned products. A mixed integer linear programming model is proposed for a single type of product is completely modular (automobile, computer, telephone, etc.). The model meets customer's products and components demands based period, maximizes profit consist of different sales revenues and total cost (total production, purchase, transportation and disposal costs) and determines how to evaluate all returned products. The proposed model has been verified with the aid of a numerical example by solving in GAMS software and its performance reviewed with experimental studies. Keywords. Closed loop supply chain optimization, Internet of Things, Mixedinteger linear programming, Returned product management. JEL. L80, L86, Q55. Akçalı, E., & Cetinkaya, S. (2011). Quantitative models for inventory and production planning in closed-loop supply chains. International Journal of Production Research, 49(8), 2373-2407. doi. 10.1080/00207541003692021 Amin, S.H., & Zhang, G. (2013). A multi-objective facility location model for closed-loop supply chain network under uncertain demand and return. Applied Mathematical Modelling, 37(6), 4165-4176. doi. 10.1016/j.apm.2012.09.039 Beamon, B.M., & Fernandes, C. (2004). Supply-chain network configuration for product recovery. Production Planning & Control, 15(3), 270-281. doi. 10.1080/09537280410001697701 Fleischmann, M., Beullens, P., Bloemhof-Ruwaard, J.M., & Wassenhove, L.N. (2001). The impact of product recovery on logistics network design. Production and Operations Management, 10(2), 156-173. doi. 10.1111/j.1937-5956.2001.tb00076.x Fleischmann, M., Bloemhof-Ruwaard, J.M., Dekker, R., Van der Laan, E., Van Nunen, J.A., & Van Wassenhove, L.N. (1997). Quantitative models for reverse logistics: A review. European Journal of Operational Research, 103(1), 1-17. doi. 10.1016/S0377-2217(97)00230-0 Govindan, K., Soleimani, H., & Kannan, D. (2015). Reverse logistics and closed-loop supply chain: A comprehensive review to explore the future. European Journal of Operational Research, 240(3), 603-626. doi. 10.1016/j.ejor.2014.07.012 Gu, Y., & Liu, Q. (2013). Research on the application of the internet of things in reverse logistics information management. Journal of Industrial Engineering and Management, 6(4), 963-973. doi. 10.3926/jiem.793 Guide Jr, V.D.R., & Van Wassenhove, L.N. (2009). OR FORUM-the evolution of closed-loop supply chain research. Operations research, 57(1), 10-18. doi. 10.1287/opre.1080.0628 Guide, V.D.R., Jayaraman, V., & Linton, J.D. (2003). Building contingency planning for closed-loop supply chains with product recovery. Journal of Operations Management, 21(3), 259-279. doi. 10.1016/S0272-6963(02)00110-9 Gupta, A., & Evans, G.W. (2009). A goal programming model for the operation of closed-loop supply chains. Engineering Optimization, 41(8), 713-735. doi. 10.1080/03052150902802242 Ilgin, M.A., & Gupta, S.M. (2011). Performance improvement potential of sensor embedded products in environmental supply chains. Resources, Conservation and Recycling, 55(6), 580-592. doi. 10.1016/j.resconrec.2010.05.001 Jayaraman, V. (2006). Production planning for closed-loop supply chains with product recovery and reuse: an analytical approach. International Journal of Production Research, 44(5), 981-998. doi. 10.1080/00207540500250507 Jindal, A., & Sangwan, K.S. (2014). Closed loop supply chain network design and optimisation using fuzzy mixed integer linear programming model. International Journal of Production Research, 52(14), 4156-4173. doi. 10.1080/00207543.2013.861948 Jun, H.B., Kiritsis, D., & Xirouchakis, P. (2007). Research issues on closed-loop PLM. Computers in industry, 58(8), 855-868. doi. 10.1016/j.compind.2007.04.001 Kannan, G., Sasikumar, P., & Devika, K. (2010). A genetic algorithm approach for solving a closed loop supply chain model: A case of battery recycling. Applied Mathematical Modelling, 34(3), 655-670. doi. 10.1016/j.apm.2009.06.021 Kiritsis, D. (2011). Closed-loop PLM for intelligent products in the era of the Internet of things. Computer-Aided Design, 43(5), 479-501. doi. 10.1016/j.cad.2010.03.002 Krikke, H., Bloemhof-Ruwaard, J., & Van Wassenhove, L.N. (2001). Design of closed loop supply chains: a production and return network for refrigerators. Rotterdam, The Netherlands: Erasmus Research Institute of Management (ERIM). Kumar, S., & Craig, S. (2007). Dell, Inc.'s closed loop supply chain for computer assembly plants. Information-Knowledge-Systems Management, 6(3), 197-214. Kutup, N. (2011). NesnelerinInterneti; 4H Her yerden, Herkesle, Her zaman, Hernesneilebağlantı. 16. Türkiye’de İnternet Konferansı inet-tr’11. Min, H., Ko, C.S., &Ko, H.J. (2006). The spatial and temporal consolidation of returned products in a closed-loop supply chain network. Computers & Industrial Engineering, 51(2), 309-320. doi. 10.1016/j.cie.2006.02.010 Ondemir, O., & Gupta, S.M. (2014a). A multi-criteria decision making model for advanced repair-to-order and disassembly-to-order system. European Journal of Operational Research, 233(2), 408-419. doi. 10.1016/j.ejor.2013.09.003 Ondemir, O., & Gupta, S. M. (2014b). Quality management in product recovery using the Internet of Things: An optimization approach. Computers in Industry, 65(3), 491-504. doi. 10.1016/j.compind.2013.11.006 Ondemir, O., Ilgin, M.A., & Gupta, S.M. (2012). Optimal end-of-life management in closed-loop supply chains using RFID and sensors. Industrial Informatics, IEEE Transactions on, 8(3), 719-728. doi. 10.1109/TII.2011.2166767 Özceylan, E. (2013). Demontaj hattı dengeleme problem içeren kapalı çevrim tedarik zincirlerinin bulanık ortamda modellenmesi ve optimizasyonu (Doctoral dissertation, Selçuk Üniversitesi Fen Bilimleri Enstitüsü). Özceylan, E., & Paksoy, T. (2013a). A mixed integer programming model for a closed-loop supply-chain network. International Journal of Production Research, 51(3), 718-734. doi. 10.1080/00207543.2012.661090 Özceylan, E., & Paksoy, T. (2013b). Fuzzy multi-objective linear programming approach for optimising a closed-loop supply chain network. International Journal of Production Research, 51(8), 2443-2461. doi. 10.1080/00207543.2012.740579 Özceylan, E., Paksoy, T., & Bektaş, T. (2014). Modeling and optimizing the integrated problem of closed-loop supply chain network design and disassembly line balancing. Transportation Research Part E: Logistics and Transportation Review, 61, 142-164. doi. 10.1016/j.tre.2013.11.001 Pagell, M., Wu, Z., & Murthy, N.N. (2007). The supply chain implications of recycling. Business Horizons, 50(2), 133-143. doi. 10.1016/j.bushor.2006.08.007 Paksoy, T., Bektaş, T., & Özceylan, E. (2011). Operational and environmental performance measures in a multi-product closed-loop supply chain. Transportation Research Part E: Logistics and Transportation Review, 47(4), 532-546. doi. 10.1016/j.tre.2010.12.001 Pazhani, S., Ramkumar, N., Narendran, T.T., & Ganesh, K. (2013). A bi-objective network design model for multi-period, multi-product closed-loop supply chain. Journal of Industrial and Production Engineering, 30(4), 264-280. doi. 10.1080/21681015.2013.830648 Pishvaee, M.S., & Torabi. S.A. (2010). A Possibilistic Programming Approach for Closed-loop Supply Chain Network Design under Uncertainty. Fuzzy Sets and Systems, 161(20), 2668–2683. doi. 10.1016/j.fss.2010.04.010 Ramezani, M., Kimiagari, A.M., Karimi, B., & Hejazi, T.H. (2014). Closed-loop supply chain network design under a fuzzy environment. Knowledge-Based Systems, 59, 108-120. doi. 10.1016/j.knosys.2014.01.016 Salema, M.I.G., Barbosa-Povoa, A.P., & Novais, A.Q. (2007). An optimization model for the design of a capacitated multi-product reverse logistics network with uncertainty. European Journal of Operational Research, 179(3), 1063-1077. doi. 10.1016/j.ejor.2005.05.032 Salema, M.I.G., Póvoa, A.P.B., & Novais, A.Q. (2009). A strategic and tactical model for closed-loop supply chains. OR spectrum, 31(3), 573-599. doi. 10.1007/s00291-008-0160-5 Sheu, J.B., Chou, Y.H., & Hu, C.C. (2005). An integrated logistics operational model for green-supply chain management. Transportation Research Part E: Logistics and Transportation Review, 41(4), 287-313. doi. 10.1016/j.tre.2006.04.004 Visich, J.K., Li, S., & Khumawala, B.M. (2007). Enhancing product recovery value in closed-loop supply chains with RFID. Journal of Managerial Issues, 19(3), 436-452. Yang, G.F., Wang, Z.P., & Li, X.Q. (2009). The optimization of the closed-loop supply chain network. Transportation Research Part E: Logistics and Transportation Review, 45(1), 16-28. doi. 10.1016/j.tre.2008.02.007 Zeballos, L.J., Gomes, M.I., Barbosa-Povoa, A.P., & Novais, A.Q. (2012). Addressing the uncertain quality and quantity of returns in closed-loop supply chains. Computers & Chemical Engineering, 47, 237-247. doi. 10.1016/j.compchemeng.2012.06.034 Zeballos, L.J., Méndez, C.A., Barbosa-Povoa, A.P., & Novais, A.Q. (2014). Multi-period design and planning of closed-loop supply chains with uncertain supply and demand. Computers & Chemical Engineering, 66, 151-164. doi. 10.1016/j.compchemeng.2014.02.027 Zhiduan, X. (2005). Research on the Flexibility in Logistic Systems. Chinese Journal of Management, 4, 441-445. - There are currently no refbacks. Journal of Economics Bibliography - J. Econ. Bib. - JEB - www.kspjournals.org Copyright © KSP Library

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Web 2.0 i difusió de la recerca Type of work: Seminar Categories:Digital Literacy | Information Society | Open Access | Social Media & Social Software Abstract:Buzzword or not, the Internet is changing and the so-called Web 2.0 applications might mean new ways to work in the research-education-diffusion field (i.e. the University field). This presentation’s goal is raising a reflection and showing a “good” practice in difusion of research, after Ismael Peña’s experience in the area of Public policies for development and ICT4D at the Open University of Catalonia and the use of blogs, wikis and other tools in his ICT4D personal portal. Observations:Presentation given in Barcelona, March 10th, 2006 in the homonimous seminar organized by the Faculty of Law and Political Science at UOC. Available in the following languages: Web 2.0 i difusió de la recerca (1.11 Mb) Web 2.0 and diffusion of research (1.11 Mb) Related reference: Peña López, I. & Córcoles, C. (2006). “Web 2.0 and diffusion of research”. In ICTlogy, April 2006, (31). Barcelona: ICTlogy.

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“A resilient supply chain is as much about being able to fight recovery battles in the here and now, as about being able to secure a strategic advantage in times of crisis that competitors won’t have the ability to replicate.” David Irvine, MD, Siecap. WHERE TO PUT YOUR FOCUS The high-risk reliance of global supply chain on a few critical nodes, single sources of supply, tiny tier 3 producers or rational jurisdictional behaviour has been significantly elevated in the public consciousness as a direct consequence of the COVID-19 pandemic. Yet warnings relating to the fragility of the global supply chain were apparent long before January 2020. The 2011 Japan earthquake and its disruption to tier 2 automotive suppliers had ramifications all the way to Detroit and Cologne. Cyclone Debbie in March 2017 significantly impacted coal production in the Bowen basin and drove a significant and lasting spike in metallurgical coal prices. The 2019 disruptions by the Iranian government to the tanker trades in the Gulf drove a corresponding spike in crude oil prices. Perhaps these were not of the scale of COVID-19, but each in its own way flagged how exposed a global trade-based economy such as ours is. The collective failure to plan for a major global disruption event, and more specifically how to structure supply chains to respond, has been a failure of emphasis for many. This now demands the need for change, by giving greater weight to the design of resilient supply chains. Refocusing on supply chain resilience will serve not just as a key risk management strategy but will assist organisations in meeting their legislated obligations in other business critical areas. A live example of this is the 2018 Modern Slavery Bill and the approaching September 2020 deadline for organisations to provide their initial set of Modern Slavery Statements indicating the way they will address modern slavery risks in their supply chains and operations’ “COVID 19 is proving to be the black swan event that is demanding organisations reconsider and reengineer their supply chains for greater resilience.” David Irvine, MD, Siecap. THE 2020 SUPPLY CHAIN LANDSCAPE Our supply chain operations have evolved significantly over the last thirty years. First, as tariff barriers were eliminated, then following the 2001 admission of China to the WTO, and more recently the increasing series of bilateral regional trade agreements that have been put in place with Australia’s major trading partners. These have transformed the way we source, manufacture and deliver. These impacts have been most evident within manufacturing, with a sector decline from 14% of GDP in 1990 to around 6% today. This decline has been driven by businesses moving operations offshore or shifting to global sourcing. Parallel to these shifts, the role of the supply chain has become more critical. In addition, rapid improvements in communication and technology enable the provision of the support needed for the further incorporation of emerging sourcing points. However, this changing environment brings added risks arising from the need to accommodate international jurisdictional complexity and counter seasonal challenges in the context of our sub scale market and global economic pressures. And while it is true that businesses have in many ways adapted to these challenges, it has largely been a response borne of short-term necessity and often developed through a narrow prism of internal need. After all, who really had the time to sit back and take a whole-of-system view of how the risks would combine and magnify in an exponential manner? In response to our own observations and what our clients are relaying, Siecap has formed a view of five trends that demand focus, given their potential to further shape supply chains over the next five to ten years. Recent circumstances have reinforced the relevance of these trends and the elevated urgency to develop appropriate strategies: - Service and Resilience - Ecommerce and M-Commerce - Blockchain, Data Management & Analytics - Sustainability and Assurance 5 SUPPLY CHAIN TRENDS THE NEED FOR VISIBILITY WITHIN THE SUPPLY CHAIN The common thread between the now heightened requirement for Service/Resilience (1) and Sustainability & Assurance (5) is the need for visibility across the layers of an organisation’s supply chain. This means knowing; - - where goods and materials are coming from, - who is making them, - who they in turn are reliant upon, and - what conditions are associated with their production? These are all core questions needing answers. Indeed, recent events have exposed how little is understood about these questions within the global supply chain. The focus on low cost sourcing has gone hand-in-hand with a limited understanding of supply chain risks. This is illustrated in the findings of a worldwide survey conducted by freight company Geodis. It indicated that only 6% of companies have full visibility of their supply chains despite their high dependency on global suppliers. In 2019 Siecap worked closely with Australia’s leading Agricultural Chemical company to develop a solution for a comprehensive global visibility platform. At its core, this platform will provide the capability of tracking, in near real time flows, the supply and regulatory risks associated with the company’s domestic manufacturing and distribution business. Responses to these five trends necessitate additional outlays, but consumers, it appears, are prepared to bear the costs, particularly regarding sustainability and assurance. MIT researchers have found that consumers are willing to pay 2% to 10% more for products that are associated with greater supply chain transparency. This is significant, particularly when failure to achieve such transparency comes with a devastating impact on the most vulnerable participants or communities connected to global supply chains. - the 2013 Rana Plaza factory collapse in Bangladesh killed over 1,100 people and severely affected mass market clothing retailers; - the use of Rohingya slave labour in the Thai seafood industry and the deforestation and destruction of habitat in Malaysia and Indonesia reflect negatively on the moral integrity of global supply chains. The legislative response to such horrific events and practices has seen the Modern Slavery Act 2018 being passed in Australia. It is designed to cast a spotlight on these practices and drive their elimination. Essentially, a company must now describe: - its structure, operations and supply chains; - the potential modern slavery risks in its operations and supply chains; and - the actions taken to address the risks, including due diligence and remediation |The common thread and first step for creating an assured and resilient supply chain is understanding an organisation’s operation. This can be achieved through increasing visibility and using the resultant understanding to determine risk exposure.| THE EFFECTS IN HEIGHTENING FOCUS The effects of virus containment measures have led to industrial production in China declining by 13.5%. According to Dun & Bradstreet, this has directly impacted five million companies globally through their chain - based suppliers. The production disruption has been immediate and devastating. This disruption has upturned the key supply chain pillars of supply and demand management and is at a level beyond the previous contingency measures businesses have developed. Companies are now urgently focusing on better understanding their supply chains’ risk areas as they strive toward building more resilient and assured supply chains. IN THE SHORT TERM When restating a business’s purpose, a good start is keeping front and center that the design of any supply chain starts with the end in mind and the nature of the markets to be serviced. The ability to set and deliver a repeatable service promise is the success measure. At its core ‘the promise’ consists of two elements ‘availability’ and ‘delivery’ with the third element ‘recovery’ being triggered as ‘necessary’. This is taking the form of a reconfirmation of purpose as they undertake longer term restructures. - Availability: Ensure Availability of the required products, in the right place at the right time - Delivery: ensure the network structure and transport operating model is set up to achieve the required lead times - Recovery: as acting quickly to respond to the effects of supply disruptions. This may include finding alternative suppliers, extending lead times, suspending or limiting new customer orders, renegotiating customer contracts |However, operational recovery alone does not provide for a long-term solution and indeed may not always be effective in terms of service or cost. This is where the fourth pillar ‘resilience’ comes into play| BUILDING SUPPLY CHAIN RESILIENCE A LONG-TERM STRATEGY Resilience is about developing strategic contingency plans. These plans would be identified through gaming potential scenarios and then used to develop effective countermeasures to mitigate the risks that can threaten your business. Supply chain resilience as a concept is not new, with companies like Pepsi Co, and Procter & Gamble successfully implementing such strategies since 2012. Toyota has invested significantly in supply chain resilience by collaborating with its partners and creating supply chain maps that visualise the networks for each of its product components. If disaster strikes, the company can quickly identify which components are at risk and therefore trigger plans to reduce dependence on the impacted provider. Even well-prepared companies can be at risk if they do not formulate a whole-of-network view. Recent events have led to the realisation that a resilience strategy that may be no different to your competitor’s may not afford the anticipated degree of protection. Indeed, this realisation may be the most important first step you can take on the journey to building supply chain resilience. This is reinforced by a recent study by the Henry Jackson Society that identified that ‘Australia is strategically dependent on China across 595 categories of goods. This compares to the US at 414 and Britain at 229’. The Siecap view is that supply chain resilience is underpinned by three critical elements. 1. SUPPLY CHAIN TRANSPARENCY & RISK Supply chain transparency is considered the most important factor in achieving supply chain resilience. It is all too common that companies who sell finished goods only have information on production and shipment schedules relating to their Tier 1 suppliers. This leaves them significantly disadvantaged if the lower tier suppliers fail or the company losses access to them. In an everchanging environment, supply chain transparency provides the required information about various entities including inventory, forecasting, logistics, transportation, and distribution. It elevates the understanding as to the risks posed to your supply chain. The benefits of achieving this supply chain transparency include: - Performance and Compliance Improvement: greater visibility over your supply chain may help you identify opportunities to reduce lead time, boost efficiencies or reduce waste - Risk Reduction: thorough understanding of your supply chain can help identify issues early, so that action can be taken - Quality control: Changes or improvements may add value to the end product or ensure it meets the standards expected. To achieve visibility companies must: - recognise the process of their supply chain; - identify the primary functions of their supply chain; - figure out the secondary and supporting functions of their supply chain; - frame risks around key categories, products, geographies, jurisdictions and business models; and - develop a mechanism to dynamically track and review flows and the risks associated with those flows. Achieving supply chain transparency gives organisations the capability to identify areas of material, resource and reputational risk and avoid such traps as being complicit with supporting modern day slavery. |“Supply and demand disruption can come in many forms with the ‘lean’ supply chain highly exposed to risk”.| 2. OPTIONS & SUPPLY CHAIN AGILITY Only once visibility and risks have been documented can options to mitigate supply shocks be developed for testing, evaluation and execution. What COVID-19 has demonstrated is that these options should consider key areas such as: - supply diversification; - investment in emerging providers; - bringing back onshore critical functions; and - investing in technology and analytics. Traditional supply chain network flows and functional capability must be challenged through rigorous scenario testing. What this also means is the incorporation of cost-based risk overlays to ‘lean’ supply chain and ‘just-in-time’ inventory management solutions that have been exposed by the crisis. Supply chain agility is about a company’s having the ability to thrive in a changing and unpredictable business environment. To achieve supply chain resilience, a company must develop a supply chain that incorporates networks capable of rapidly responding to changing conditions. In order to achieve this, businesses must: - identify or develop alternate suppliers and duel/multi-sourcing options; - foster flexible manufacturing that can produce multiple products; - adopt a more risk-based approach to holding and staging of inventory across the network; - embrace technology in developing systems to capture events and respond swiftly; and - build access to on-ground intelligence that can interpret events and initiate the appropriate response to unfolding situations. Achieving supply chain agility allows companies to quickly minimise risk through the diversification of their supply base. Sectors such as pharmaceuticals or agricultural chemicals that rely heavily on raw material inputs from China immediately felt the impacts of COVID-19 supply disruption. Spreading raw ingredient production to other countries will successfully mitigate trade based risk exposure. 3. SUPPLY CHAIN COLLABORATION & CONTROL By establishing collaborative partnerships, organisations can work together during catastrophe and mitigate risk. Organisations can achieve this by: - enhanced integrated business planning, achieved by collaborative planning through all tiers of the supply chain to communicate more meaningful information more readily; - matching customer demand and supplier capabilities through collaboration; and - accessing supply chain demand, supply and inventory data and capacity constraints across the network. If companies cannot sell inventory due to a global softening of demand, it will tie up working capital in holding and handling inventory. Through supply chain collaboration, companies can better understand inventory requirements through periods of prolonged product disruption. This will assist them to consider risks, not just costs. Supply chain control is an organisation’s ability to change policies throughout the supply chain to react to changes in the market. By being able to execute change, companies can prevent disruption due to regulation, legal and social issues. In order to achieve this companies, need the ability to: - develop products with appropriate levels of safety stock that is continually aligned to the realities of supply and demand; - protect end-to-end product flow; - establish adequate regulatory controls; - develop key performance metrics, data capture and management systems to report on the attainment of the measures; - Increase capability and control of internal processing and value add tasks through automation and high-tech manufacturing The federal government has established the COVID-19 Coordination Commission to identify how business, including manufacturing, can thrive in a post-COVID-19 world. Mr. Neville Power, the executive chairman of the National COVID-19 Co-ordination Commission, told Sky News “the sector must embrace high tech, flexible manufacturing that is modern and attracts a sort of investment we need." "In the early days, post pandemic, we will have a low dollar, disrupted supply chains which create opportunities for local manufacturing" COVID-19 has been the black swan event that has shone a spotlight on the innate weakness contained within today’s offshore supply chains. This exposure should provide the impetus to apply an organisations energies to address these long-term structural weaknesses. By developing ‘resilience’ capability as opposed to ‘recovery’ skills, companies will no longer be corralled by the limitations of the trend to ultra-lean practices that have driven global supply design over the past two decades. Mapping supply chains, achieving visibility, costing, developing agile options and collaborating with others will allow organisations to ride out the shocks of the future.

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Bachelor of Commerce degree is designed to let students improvise an organization’s productivity by advancing their statistical skills. They are trained to critically evaluate analytical problems for the identification and resolution of complex problems through self-directed research. Communication of different ideas in both written and oral formats in diverse and multicultural environments would be improved. It helps them to gain proficiency in the use of appropriate information technologies effectively from diverse sources. This blog will take you through some of the career opportunities that you can avail after pursuing a degree in commerce: E-commerce consultants: The professionals in this domain develop an online marketing strategy in collaboration with the IT department to establish site analytics. They supervise e-commerce marketing teams and create graphs to track product sales and monitor the development of tailored marketing campaigns. Researching and identifying potential affiliates to formulate the ways to optimize user experience is a part of their job. They maintain contact with the IT department to ensure the system security and knowledge of best practices in marketing to create strategic plans. Accountant: A career as an accountant is also an interesting option for many graduates. An accountant analyzes and researches the accounting data to provide financial information and prepares reports to maintain financial security by following internal controls. They compile liability, asset, and capital account entries by analyzing the account information and document the financial transactions by compiling account information. Customer relations managers: The role of a customer relations manager is to maintain profitable relationships with its key customers by resolving their complaints efficiently and quickly. They oversee the relationship with customers by keeping them updated on the latest products in order to increase sales and expand the customer base by up and cross-selling. Conducting business reviews using CRM programs to understand the key customer individual needs and to address them in a timely manner. E-commerce trade analysts: E-commerce analysts collaborate with the IT department to evaluate the accomplishments of an organization’s online presence. They report changes by analyzing customer reviews, online sales, and rankings to make well-informed advertising decisions. They also track a company’s advertising campaign results, search engine ranking, web analytics, and branding across a website. Financial Risk Manager: The experts in this domain make recommendations to reduce the risk by implementing an insurance strategy. They work with traders to calculate the risk associated with specific transactions. Forecast and monitor market trends by considering the proposed business decisions and research to assess the severity of the risk by liaising with underwriters. Logistics managers: Logistics managers are involved in planning and managing transportation, logistics, customer services, and warehouses to check whether they comply with the laws and regulations. They maintain metrics to analyze the data and evaluate performance to implement the strategic mechanisms for improvements. They liaise with fraud detection managers and negotiate with manufacturers, retailers, suppliers, and consumers to meet productivity, cost, timeliness targets, and accuracy. Financial Analyst: A financial analyst analyses the financial data to prepare reports on the above and communicate the insights to the management for exploring various investment opportunities. They develop financial models, initiatives, and policies to provide a financial forecast that may improve financial growth. They evaluate the financial performance to identify the trends by consulting the management team to develop long-term commercial plans. The scope of bachelor of commerce degree is just not limited to particular subject expertise but encompasses a wide range of industries. With a degree in bachelors of commerce, you will be able to critically evaluate new research findings, ideas, theoretical frameworks, and methodologies in a specialized field of study to recognize and understand the ethical responsibilities of individuals and organizations in a society.

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Table of Contents Table of Contents1 Introduction. Decisions and Accounting. 2 Aircraft development. 6 Airport Receivables & passenger fees collection. 8 Airlines Bodies participation. How ARC uses Ratio analysis to protect members10 Fuel hedging – Cost saving or Gamble? 13 Collective bargaining, financial statements on the bargaining table. 15 In-house or Outsource services – Caribbean Airlines Case – M&E & Revenue Accounting16 How do Airlines use CM and CVP? 19 Fleet change and fleet type24Critical Analysis; what does the accounting information mean – Low cost airlines26 Bibliography28 Appendices29 1. The Aviation industry29 2. IATA enhancement Financing services29 3. Airline Reporting Corporation, Carrier Financial Statement29 Introduction. Decisions and Accounting. The aviation industry has been for the last decade one of the most dynamic industries in the world. The business structure of the aviation industry has evolved into one in which each major stakeholder can have a distinct impact on its fortunes. The aviation industry is not only the airline companies, it also includes airports that are either managed by regulatory government bodies or private companies, the cargo and express freight and package delivery companies, Passenger and Ramp handling companies, customer reservation system providers, aircraft manufacturers and aircraft leasing and financing companies, just to name a few of the major player.Recently the aviation industry has come to born some new players in recent years the push towards globalization and improvements in worldwide IT infrastructure and airport security requirements due the drug trade and terrorism, such and revenue accounting providers, outsourced aircraft maintenance and airport security and training providers. Appendix 1 presents a breakdown of the aviation industry. Before we dive further into any analysis, let’s understand three important elements of our topic. 1)Decision making 2)Information 3)Accounting A decision is a choice, a choice between available alternatives.Decision making is the process of identifying problems and opportunities and resolving them (Daft 1993). The key word in the last sentence would definitely be process. The decision making process can illustrated below (Daft 1993) One of the key ingredients to this process is information. Information is data that are meaningful and alter the receiver’s understanding of events and facts (Daft 1993). For information to be useful it must have certain characteristics. It must be of good quality, which is the source data must be accurate and reliable. It needs to be timely.The sooner you have information on events, the faster it can be used in the decision making process. There would be no use to information on situations that have gone and cannot be changed. Completeness is a must for information, incomplete information in the decision process can lead to a non-optimal decision. The information must also be relevant. It should pertain to the problem at hand. It should not contain information that the user does not need for the present decision as this would slow down the decision making process as the user has to sort out for information relevant to the situation.Accounting as described by the American Accounting Association is as following: “the process of identifying, measuring and communicating economic information to permit informed judgements and decisions by users of the information” (tutor2u. net) Accounting is generally split into two areas, Financial accounting and Management accounting. Financial Accounts: geared toward external users of accounting information Management Accounts: aimed more at internal users of accounting information Although there is a difference in the type of nformation presented in financial and management accounts, the underlying objective is the same – to satisfy the information needs of the user. Below briefly looks at the differences. It is also understood in producing accounting information that is useful; it should have the following characteristics. a. Understandable – information in such a way that it will be understandable to users. b. Relevance – must assist a user in the context of making a decision c. Consistency – consistent treatment of similar items and application of accounting policies d.Comparability – compare similar companies in the same industry group. e. Reliability – information that is presented is truthful, accurate, complete and capable of being verified f. Objectivity – information is prepared and reported in a “neutral” way. Aircraft development. When we think of aviation, an aircraft flying high is the first picture that comes to mind and what not a better place to start an assessment of accounting information for decision making. Aircraft development is a major cost investment with cost running into the billions of US dollars.The current major aircraft manufactures are Boeing Corporation, Airbus and Bombardier. This process involves capital budgeting accounting that provides decisions of whether the development project will be feasible. However what is going to highlighted here is the importance of analysis of financial statements, are on development projects. Lets go back into the early 1970’s and assess how poor financial analysis on the development of the Lockheed Tristar three engine wide body aircraft by Lockheed Corp and Roll-Royce Plc lead to the demise of an aircraft that in its era was technologically ahead of it’s time. It illustrates the importance of a healthy balance sheet and cash flow statement. Ratio analysis has become the standard to benchmark strong financial position and performance. Somehow both Lockheed and Roll-Royce forgot that liquidity was the backbone for business survival. They both went into an arrangement that was financial suicide. Based on a request in 1966 by American Airlines to development a medium range jet with a 300 plus passenger capacity, Lockheed started development of an aircraft that on completion was the Lockheed Tristar . The development of the engines was to be designed and built by Roll-Royce Plc in UK (www. pbs. org). Development cost meant for Lockheed investing in increased inventory and building up funds in Work in Progress inventory as they started work in building aircraft and so too was Roll-Royce. This must have looked well for their current ratio as these values would be classified as current assets (current asset/current liabilities). But an analysis of their acid-test ratio (cash equivalents/current liabilities) would have shown their investment with no corresponding cash inflow was leading to detrimental liquidity problems.Cash flow analysis must have been showing cash outflows on investing activities and no cash inflows on operation activities. Roll-Royce was the first in this project to be driven into bankruptcy, from liquidity problems before any planes could take to the air. This only worsens Lockheed situation since no aircraft can be sold without an engine. Lockheed and Royce were the first major cases of Government bails outs in the aviation industry. The British government demanded the project on Roy-Royce side could only be completed by Lockheed proving that it was financial sound, obviously they could not.US congress provided a US$ 250 million dollar loan to Lockheed and the first Tristar flew in November 1970. Unfortunately for Lockheed the economy had slowed down and sales demand fell. It never saw a health return on assets (ROA) which included the development cost on the Tristar. By 1981 it had loss over US$2. 5 billion on its commercial aerospace line and eventual discontinued it (Greenwald et al 1981). Today’s manufactures have learnt from Lockheed experience. Most aircraft development are handled different and it is based on expression of interest and cash deposits on orders.This helps protect manufactures from the liquidity issues associated with development cost and sales on completion. These deposit on the balance sheet off-set the effect of inventory and work in progress on liquidity analysis. Airport Receivables & passenger fees collection. Airports have made considerable investments in airport upgrades over the years. Runway upkeep, runway extension and parking spaces to encourage bigger capacity aircraft, improved cargo facilities, invested in automated gateways and added concourse. To recover these cost airports charge landing ees, concourse fees and passengers or facility charges to airlines. Over the years many airports have seen it more difficult to collect on their receivables. The accountants looks at the balance sheet and the financial analysis shows slower receivables turnover rates (net credit sales/average net receivables) and longer number of days in accounts receivable (number of days in business year/accounts receivables turnover), indicating longer periods in collecting on outstanding receivables. This then translates into cash flow management problems.The Airports unfortunately are in the receivable business, it’s just how the process works. Most fees charged by the airports are by per passenger or per landing, there are calculated monthly after all aircraft have landed and passengers have de-planed and en-planed. Now the painful process of tracking down payments begins. Uncertain times brings with it risk the airline industries has been in constant state of uncertainly, therefore the risk of an airline or number of airlines having months of unpaid invoices, is highly likely.Airport Authority of Trinidad & Tobago (AATT) has taken the decision to avoid the cash flow issues and cost associated with lower receivable turnover and below acceptable quick-ratio by enrolling in the International Air Transport Association Enhancement & Financing Services (IATA E&F services). IATA E&F services as outlined in appendix 2, has become the tool for many airports to manage billing, receivables, and cash management (IATA. org).It does come at a cost to AATT to have IATA E&F services generate invoices and settle payments; however the cost of the corresponding risk of non-settlement on collecting is offset by such prudent decisions. Grantly Adams Airports in Barbados has also made the decision to go the same route as AATT to settle their passenger charges. Again these relatively small airlines main source of cash inflows or revenues are from these charges to airlines.Therefore it is important that they constantly manage the efficiency of their credit & collection management, if they have to source funding for expanding and regular upkeep of the terminal and runways out of operating activities. Airlines Bodies participation. How ARC uses Ratio analysis to protect members Airlines bodies are an integral part of the aviation industry, their services facilitating the efficient functioning of the airlines industry, Airports, Travel agents and Global distribution systems providers (those are the companies behind the reservation systems).With hundred of members with interlaced financial transactions it is imperative that systems to monitor financial adherence be implemented. Let’s look at how Airline Reporting Corporation (ARC) has used a quarterly reporting system utilising ratio analysis to ensure financial compliance by members. But why is this process so important? Airlines bodies like ARC allow for the effective function of the airline industry. ARC is the reporting body for all travel agents in the USA.They are responsible to ensure that all ARC registered travel agents make payments collected on tickets sales to them and they then distribute these funds to the respective airlines. But ticketing rules have a little catch to it. Since on many occasions a passenger may need to travel on two airlines to reach they destination, however ticketing rules dictate that the first travelled airline will receive all the cash for the full trip and the other airlines then have to bill the first airlines for their funds. Exciting isn’t it?It meant that ARC has a direct responsibility to ensure that each airlines member is financial stable and what better means of assessing information to make a decisions on each member than to use some ratio analysis. This is done by making it compulsory for each airline member submit quarterly a Carrier Financial Statement, see appendix 3 The statement requires each member to complete information on there quarterly financial statements. The form then evaluates an airline performance based on eight (8) ratios and standard performance for each one.Lets examine what each ratio is seeking to determine and evaluate. 1. Net Profit margin percentage – This seeks to examine what percentage of revenue will end up as profit of loss. Therefore a high positive percentage will indicate a profitable operation and a high negative percentage will indicate. The standard is actual negative 5%, and the environment and market conditions of the airlines industry has many making a loss, specifically at off peak periods. 2. Cash Flow as a Percent of cash expense – Here they evaluate how healthy you cash position is.This helps ARC examine how much of the revenue is really been banked cash and not sitting in a receivable for collection. Since profit is Revenue less expenses, your Net profit margin and this ratio should move in the same direction. 3. Ratio of cash and short term investment to cash flow – Here this ratio look to see if you have enough cash flow to put aside a little to earn interest to help your net line. 4. Number of days cash flow expense in cash and short term investments – an evaluation must be done as to how fast your expenses burn the cash you receive for sales. . Cash and short term investments as a percentage of current liabilities – What this does is look at what percentage of cash can cover your current liabilities. Now the reason for this analysis has to do with the factor that the largest portion of airlines’ current liabilities is its unearned transportation revenue (UTR), which is in short a sale of tickets not yet flown by the passenger. In most cases the passenger can have the ticket refunded, therefore ARC would wish to examine if an airline can settle such refund claims. 6. Current Assets as a percent of current liabilities – A standard working capital percentage used across various industries to examine liquidity 7. Ratio of operating revenue to current liabilities – Interesting little ratio here, but ARC wants to uncover how much of the revenue generated is link to you increasing your liabilities. For instance maybe you have not been paying you invoices, such as landing fees or lease. So you could be showing a profit, but have problems managing your payables. 8. Percent of debt to debt plus equity – A gearing ratio that tells of your mix of financing. Any airline that fails four (4) ratio will have to increase there cash reverse with ARC, in most cases this is done by holding that amount of travel agent sales collected. Airlines who do not submit timely statements will also have their cash reserve increased Fuel hedging – Cost saving or Gamble? Fuel cost to the airline industry has historical been between 10 -15% of operating cost (Airlines. org). As such senior management have always been concerned about any significant increase in price that would upset this delicate relationship with cost.Monthly management accounts for an airline would clearly define all the elements of fuel cost. The total fuel cost for the month, the total fuel in US gals uplifted per month, the average price paid per US gals and what percentage of total cost fuel cost is. Airlines implement many methods to offset increases in fuel cost which many include, fare increases, fuel surcharges, flight plan changes and fuel hedges. Fuel hedges became a very popular method in the early 1990’s as the price of fuel started to make a steady increase along with the price of oil. Airlines understood that the only way to really control your cost movement and not affect price increases to the customer was to get into hedge agreements to lock into fixed fuel prices. Airlines like Southwest Airline Corp. boasted about how their successful hedging programme ensured continued profitability, whilst those not hedged saw the pressures of rising fuel prices resulting in losses. The true nature of hedging is as much a decision tool for cost saving as it is an accounting gamble that can turn into a loss.The president of Air France-KLM, Jean-Cyril Spinetta, had this to say about hedging (Ezard 2008), “We hedge to avoid too much volatility, but we take the risk of paying more than market price. ” The historical increase in oil and fuel prices which started in late 2007 and peaked about June 2008, saw all the major airlines jumping on the hedging train, even start up Caribbean Airlines out of Trinidad & Tobago was getting a hedge from the Government of Trinidad & Tobago. All the energy analyst and futures traders around the world were predicating increases until the end of 2008.Every airline CEO and CFO were being halted for their efforts to secure hedges to stop the flow of losses. But then something started to happen from July 2008 into August 2008 and before anyone could adjust. A recession in all the major economies in the world, and the price of oil and fuel came tumbling down. By March 2009 the price of Oil was on average US$40 per barrel, about US$100 per barrel less than June 2008. Many airlines were locked into hedge contract between $100 – $120 per US gal, the hedge decision did not pay off. Below is a snapshot of the losses that some major airlines will incur based on their hedge decision (Dunn 2009);The decision to hedge will still be a tool used in the airlines industry as the accounting data of increasing operating tells you that action must be taken, however it would be up to each airline management to determine the level of risk and how it may affect them in the future. Collective bargaining, financial statements on the bargaining table. The airlines industry is both capital and labour intensive and as such employee cost, once fuel cost is below certain prices is the largest cost item for an airline. The personnel in the airline industry are also heavily unionized. In 2008, according to Unionstats. om (airlines. org/jobs), an estimated 46. 4 percent of all workers in U. S. air transportation (passenger and cargo airlines) were covered by collective bargaining agreements, versus 8. 4 percent of all U. S. private sector employees. After the World Trade centre attacks on September 11, 2001, the airline industry faces challenges never seen before. Decreased passenger demand, increased security cost, a new gulf war, SARS and rising fuel prices to contend with. There was fall out and a number of airlines started to declared bankruptcy, United Airlines being the biggest in US to file.But many used this process as a means to go after the unions and demand wage and benefit concession from employees. Armed with the company’s financial statements at the bargaining table airlines executives had balance sheets that showed insolvency and profit and loss statements with losses, pointing out reducing employee cost was the only means to survive. Employees in the airline industry know they have leverage, scab labour can’t come in and fly aircraft or operate handling equipment or use reservation systems to manage and check in passengers. The airlines knew that strikes just added to the cost.Financial statements showing cost and number of employees per aircraft gave the airlines a real performance measure to bargain with. Analysis of the financials brought realization to the state of the industry financially and most of the unions conceded with pay cuts and concession to benefits such as work hours and turn around time frames. Many of the new collective agreements included profit sharing schemes. Airlines also bargained to write-off balance sheet liabilities such as accrued vacation as part of employee concessions. In-house or Outsource services – Caribbean Airlines Case – M&E & Revenue AccountingManagement accounting is one of the most important decision making tools in the airline industry. Cost management in uniquely tied to pricing and profitability and therefore management have constantly looked at methods to reduce cost. It’s the process of examining each cost element and understanding what drives the cost up or down, what is variable and what is fixed over activity levels. Outsourcing of services has become possible as certain companies have technical and operational advantages that allow them the do activates as a lower unit cost. It may be because of labour cost in that region, better employee productivity, lower financing cost or better utilization of assets. Whatever it may be, airlines seek to tap into these services to save on operational cost as internal cost analysis measures that current cost of the in-house activity is more that the outsourced cost. We can assess to two decisions made by Caribbean Airlines Limited that centre on outsourcing and use of management accounts, carefully considering why it is important that all information of cost be included on your management accounts, and understand for which purpose the management accounts model was built. One of the restructuring decisions on the closing of BWIA International Airlines and starting of the new legal entity Caribbean Airlines Limited was to outsource the passenger revenue accounting function. The decision was taken on the basis of the cost per passenger on the revenue accounting department of BWIA, that being total cost for Revenue account cost centre divided by number of revenue passengers (revenue accounting cost/ # of passengers) was most than the cost per passenger of a selected revenue accounting outsource provider.However there was a lack of understanding of the outsource provider model in which costing was provided. The costing model was based for low cost airlines that had most if not all there purchases online and by credit card. Hence the promise to save cost and reduce headcount was solely on this assumption. The model on BWIA side was also misunderstood, revenue accounting cost centre cost included not only passenger revenue accounting cost, but it also included sales report auditing cost, refunds processing costs and cargo revenue processing cost.The decision to outsource from the provider has cost Caribbean Airlines twice as much as it did in BWIA. Management accounting data is only as good as for the use it was intended for, any assumption that it can be applied to all scenarios could lead to an incorrect decision. On the other hand one of the major decisions in Caribbean Airlines Limited was to bring back the heavy maintenance of aircraft in-house. After years in BWIA of having this done by Delta in the US after attempts in BWIA showed to be more expensive in-house, a proper analysis of the management accounts information was done.The analysis showed that the labour cost was killing them, due mainly to overtime cost in a unionized workforce. Caribbean Airlines offered an opportunity, no unions. Per hour labour rates were also lower than Delta. So why is it costing us more? The over time hours was the cause of the variance. An analysis of the hours showed that if we changed the work hours to 12 hour shifts at increased fixed salaries, more productive hours at a fixed rate can be used in costing the heavy maintenance. It has allowed the successful return of the heavy maintenance function at a lower cost back in-house for Caribbean Airlines. So here we had a situation in which the management accounting cost model was fully understood and the appropriate decision made. How do Airlines use CM and CVP? Of all the accounting information, contribution margin (CM) and cost volume profit (CVP) analysis is the heart of the strategic and tactical management decisions of the airline industry. It impacts the following decisions; A. Market share retention B. Route expansion and reduction CM and CVP analysis starts with your understanding of variable cost, those that change with activity and fixed cost, those that do not change over an activity and or capacity level. It involves transforming your income statement as illustrated below. And this can be further analysed by route as show below This is the heart of using accounting information to analyse strategic and current tactical decisions. Lets take market share retention. Aggressive competitors on a routes MIA & FLL as illustrated above, have decided to use price wars (offering reduced market fares) to lure customers and gain market share. Management has also decided to “fight fire with fire” and also reduce price, however the accounting information is telling us that this decision is not benefiting the company.The fare price offered in the price war does not give a positive contribution to your overhead. In fact the more flights you offer at this market price to more you add to your total net loss. Here the management team must decide on which is more important from a strategic direction, market share or operating profitable routes. Maybe getting data on the price elasticity of the market can help in the decision on increasing price and how much of the market share you will really lose. Route expansion and reduction decisions are also made easy with CM analysis.Look at route JFK, YYZ & CCS where we have positive contributions. Maybe we should start reducing the frequency of flights of the negative contribution routes where the aircraft type used is possible to switch on the positive contribution routes. Most airlines who strategic objectives are to fly profitable routes would make the tactical decision to reduce capacity (number of flights) or stop operating the route, since negative contribution is transferred into increased net loss. This was the case of Airlines Canada termination of services to Trinidad.The price was to low and cost was too high to make a contribution on the service to Trinidad, but the service to Barbados continued as the price offered on the route was higher, even with the same cost structure as flying to Trinidad. CVP analysis is used to get more detailed analysis of the situation. It’s a little complicated as is involves the calculation of Available seat miles (ASM) and Revenue seat miles (RSM) to calculate your load factors, especially as there is accounting information involving multi-sector flights on the same aircraft.Your cost of operating involves cost linked to the cost of operating the aircraft and cost related to the passengers on the aircraft. So you may have negative contribution per flight because of the load factor. Therefore airlines decide on measures to increase load factor to increase contribution and profitability on routes. Two decisions they usually make are to reduce flights, hence making less seats available and using aircrafts with less seating capacity. This would eliminate the effect of variable aircraft related cost and improve what is know in the industry as break even load factors, as the same travel demand is supplied with less apacity. It is a tool that has made the low-cost airlines sector successful in managing there operation. Fleet change and fleet type Fleet replacement is the one decision that involves a mix of both financial accounting information and management accounting information. Whether aircraft would be obtained by finance purchase or operating rent, it involves a process of heavy capital budgeting analysis, management accounting costing and balance sheet analysis to manage cash needs for a fleet replacement project and efficient inventory management.Capital budgeting is the process of planning and assessing the value of decisions that lock finances and resources of a company into the long term. We find the management accounting information is needed to cost the future benefits of a fleet renewal. These benefits cost come in the form of increase revenue and savings and can include; a. Reduced annual maintenance cost b. Increased revenue form an aircraft with more seating capacity. c. Fuel saving from efficiency of aircraft engines d. Lower inventory requirements We also need to understand the cost of implementing the fleet change such as; a. New training cost for crew and maintenance personnel b. Handling rates for type of aircraft c. Hanger upgrades. Maintenance tools upgrades From this information the capital budgeting process is further developed to determine Net Present Valves (NPV), pay back periods and internal rates of rates (IRR), so various fleet type options can have such analysis and management will then determine what is the best selection criteria on choosing a new fleet. Healthy balances sheets are also part of the fleet change process. Do you currently have excess stock for the old fleet?Can it be sold at the current book value? Will I have to take an impairment loss? These questions must be answered. How does my debt service coverage ratio, free cash flow and gross profit ratio affect by ability to negotiate financing terms? There are many airlines presently that would like to change fleet; however they can’t get the financing or low aircraft rent rates. Fleet change planning also includes the process of cash management for the process, improving current and quick ratios, receivables turnover and inventory turnover all becomes part of the liquidity process if investing in new aircraft.Critical Analysis; what does the accounting information mean – Low cost airlines The best way to conclude this discussing would be to give a critical perspective of this topic, since I have been a presenter of accounting information. The most important concept to remember is the accounting information is the result of decision making and external market factors. For instance the average price on your financial statements for a given route is a factor of internal pricing and seat management decisions as well as customer buying decisions.Also cost reflected on your financial statements are also a result of spending decision, but also the effect of market forces and competition that make handling rates, landing rates and wages lower or higher depending on which region in the world you are. The term low cost airlines was coined about ten years ago, it emerged from the selling prices and cost structure of airlines that operate by selling low fares and have low operating cost. The accounting information of the low cost airlines has so much to do with the market of operating that have created a model of operation. That is to say that market forces have allowed for the low cost structure to evolve. The effects to have BWIA, Air Jamaica, Liat and now Caribbean Airlines pattern the low cost structure has been a frustrating process. But should the focus of making the decisions be on becoming more like another business model based solely on comparison of accounting data, such as employee cost per aircraft and total cost per passenger mile. Should we not focus on taking advantage of the market information that do not always manifest itself in the accounting process, such as positioning, brand loyalty and customer service.Its accounting data based on model, realized from market forces and not solely on unique decision making. For instance low cost airlines have lower employee cost due to the factor that there operate in markets and cultures where passengers have embraced the internet. Therefore the need for large reservation staff is not but eliminated. Accounting information should be used to manage and plan. Historical information used to develop meaning full and achievable budgets and used to control and monitor decision implementation.Adam Pilarski, Senior vice-president at Avitas inc, a leading aviation consulting company had this to say about the use of low cost accounting information (Airline Finance 2009), “Low cost means lowest cost for a given business model. Some airlines have a model built on simplicity…other have a necessarily complex system with different aircraft types, various classes of service, interlining and connection, etc. Those airlines still pursue efficient cost controls but remember their primary mission. There is no way a legacy airlines airline can achieve cost of a true low cost carrier.Neither should it try. They should have efficient cost controls to achieve the highest possible profits supported by good revenue. ” Bibliography Daft, Richard L. Management Third Edition 1993, Chapter 8. Managerial Decision Making Tutor2u. net. http://tutor2u. net/business/accounts/intro_accounting. htm PBS. org Chasing the Sun. http://www. pbs. org/kcet/chasingthesun/planes/l1011. html Greenwald, John, Jerry Hannifin-Washington, Joseph J. Kane-Burbank. Catch a Falling TriStar. http://www. time. com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,925159,00. html IATA. rg. IATA’s Enhancement & Financing Services. http://www. iata. org/ps/financial_services/enhancement. htm Airlines. org. energy/fuel. http://www. airlines. org/economics/energy/ Ezard, Kerry. Hedge Your bets. Airline Business September 2008 Dunn, Graham. Airlines Take another fuel hit. Airline Business March 2009-11-15 Airlines. org/jobs. http://www. airlines. org/economics/labor/ Airline Finance Journal 2009 Appendices 1. The Aviation industry 2. IATA enhancement Financing services 3. Airline Reporting Corporation, Carrier Financial Statement

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DIGITIZATION OF WASTE MANAGEMENT PROCESSES Numerous gains can be achieved by optimizing and automating processes at the waste disposal center, for example, in the area of dumpster rotation requests and service quality measurement. Rotation of dumpsters on demand: gain in efficiency! In many waste disposal facilities, requests for rotation are made by telephone. This method wastes the time of the applicant as well as the receiver, who must be reachable. The risk of error or dispute is also very high. With the Smilio A terminals, this operation can be fully automated: - The applicant presses the button corresponding to the full bucket. - The receiver receives a text message, an email, or even an automated call, indicating the requested operation and its location. - The request is archived and can be consulted at any time in the cloud, by both the provider and the requester. - As an option, the applicant can validate the request when it has been made, or this validation can be done by the provider on the box (by magnetic key ring). Measurement of user satisfaction User feedback is a valuable tool for measuring service quality. Rather than conducting occasional surveys that require staff to ask questions or distribute paper questionnaires, Skiply offers a simple and automated solution: place a wireless terminal at the entrance or exit of the waste management center. A 2 question terminal (waiting / service) will allow you to measure in real time. It is also an effective tool to mobilize staff around user satisfaction. Our expert pack includes the terminal and services for a period of 3 years (renewal at the end of the 3-year period: 9.90 EUR / month)

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Candidates seeking to develop skills directly associated with warehouse management as well as those seeking to manager the wider supply chain functions but require an understanding of the warehouse component. The aim of this module is to examine Warehouse and Transport Management as an interface in Supply Chain Management and to develop the knowledge necessary to fulfill Logistics and Supply Chain strategies. Based on an interactive approach to learning, Warehouse and Transport Management studies the business environment as it impacts on internal operations and emphasizes lean management practices for improving performance and savings on costs. This module also analyses the strategy of outsourcing for Supply Chain efficiencies and the implications of the latest Technology, including Digitalisation. The course begins: 19th November 2022. Warehouse and Transport Management is an increasingly important and complex component in global supply chains, with trends toward near shoring, postponement and transhipping, warehousing today is much more than a short term storage or an inventory buffer. As a result the skills of good management of a warehouse and associated transport are key to the management of an efficient supply chain. Some test cards: CSV is any 3 digits; date is any future date.

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11 Mar Supply Chain Modeling 101 – The Basics How does a physical product go from being a mix of materials and ingredients spread across the world, to ending up in the hands of your customer as a new product? We have a simple answer for a complex process: this all happens through the supply chain. Due to the complex nature of logistics, a lot of planning and organization goes into managing supply chains. Think about it: How do you know where to source the material? What is the most efficient shipping route? What is the fastest way to get to the doorstep of the target customer? How do you plan for seasonal goods and services? Answering those questions comes down to the strategy component of logistics called supply chain modeling. In this article, we’ll define supply chain models and tell you about the six most common types. Supply chain modeling is a process used to plan and optimize supply chain routes. Companies use supply chain modeling to develop strategies for getting products, supplies, or resources from one place and state to another. A supply chain can be extremely complex. Rather than progressing without a plan, or trying to imagine the supply chain variables in their heads, businesses take a high-level view to logistics by creating supply chain models using specialized software. By putting the details of their route into a program, they can find ways to cut costs, increase shipping speed, and reduce the amount of energy or other resources required for getting their products from one destination to the other. There are several forms of supply chain models. Each one caters to a different business or logistics priority. That’s why it’s always important to begin with a simple question: What are you optimizing for? The continuous model is designed for businesses that need an ongoing, continuous supply of scheduled material. The priority here is a predictable supply chain that is seldom interrupted. The best examples of companies in the continuous model business are food and beverages. Fast food chains, for example, don’t require much change. They provide a consistent menu on a daily basis to customers. Therefore, they need a consistent supply chain to ensure burger patties, chicken nuggets, and fries are always available to customers. The fast model prioritizes an efficient supply chain. It’s used by companies needing to follow or set short-term trends. At the beginning of the pandemic, masks became a sudden and necessary trend across the world. Companies using a fast model could be first to market with masks while demand was high. The efficient model is designed for companies looking for the best cost to improve their margins. Every dollar saved on developing and shipping a basic consumer good, like paper towels, means another dollar profit for a business in a competitive space. According to the Institute of Defense and Business, “There are four components a supply chain must have to be considered an agile model: virtual integration, process alignment, a network base and market sensitivity.” The agile model exists to be flexible. As demand or seasons come and go, businesses can easily and efficiently reduce or increase supply in the market. Like the fast model, the agile model is also ideal for businesses that rely on riding trend waves. The custom-configuration model is designed for companies offering variability in their products. Most computer companies, for example, offer multiple styles, graphics cards, and memory capacities per computer. A consumer is able to decide which specs they’d like, and then the company ships the computer containing those exact specs to the end user. This sort of variability is foundational to the custom-configuration model. A flexible model is ideal for companies with planned changes in demand. In this supply chain model, companies can stock shelves based on the ebb and flow of regular seasons. Athletic stores may carry tennis racquets all year around. But in areas where it snows, these stores may plan to carry fewer racquets during winter, and instead stock their shelves with ski gear. This type of planned supply chain variability is standard in the flexible supply chain model. The above supply chain models are helpful for understanding how supply chains work. But most businesses don’t simply select one. It’s better to take a step back, consider your business goals, and then determine what you’d like to prioritize for. Most likely, you won’t settle for just one supply chain model. You will take elements of a few categories to design a custom model that matches your target budget, speed, and flexibility requirements.

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Logistics Operations can be a component of a prosperous corporation. It includes a complete collection of routines and strategies geared towards meeting the requirements of the different phases working in the offer sequence. It is an interdisciplinary subject managing the organized handling of physical tools in virtually any firm. It calls for the research, choice, recognition and good application of economical ways to improve the company efficiency and obtain utmost gains. Logistics supervision is essentially the act of logically handling the investment, safe-keeping and movements of raw carried out, parts and materials products (the similar info generally flows and also their spots) in the whole life routine in the merchandise and its particular delivery. It therefore features a number of exercises like arranging, organizing, analyzing tasks of all the persons within the chain and work movement, tracking action, allocation of labor and material expenses, creation of financial constraints and monitoring products and finalized merchandise. It takes complete familiarity with freight expert services, delivery techniques, legal guidelines, other and customs pertinent restrictions having an effect on the travel of merchandise. Logistics has to be elastic in framework and improvement. It ought to be adaptable in order to reach quick imbalances sought after for the solution and become competent at adapting easily to these types of changes. It will provide theset and digesting, and storage space of data in regards to the source sequence. In an effort to perform those activities properly, a storage place must be appropriately structured. In fact, the particular procedure of logistics managing is a fitness in arranging: the creation of a warehouse strategy, the setting up of logistical back links, the servicing and development of structure, as well as supply of adequate internal regulate service and systems solutions. In addition, a chance to collect and retail store facts, organize distributing sources, review and utilize facts, and use the correct details to put into action changes, are common necessary for successful warehouse administration. On top of that, every one of these activities ought to be undertaken promptly and with plenty of accuracy and reliability. In an effort to put on the theories and ideas of logistics administration, businesses really need to develop proper options and abide by-through steps. At the primary part, corporations can set up a framework regarding their targets in connection with supply and satisfaction. The structure may include phrases like solutions presented, amount of complete models supplied, volume of storage units vital for delivery, and techniques of settlement and shipping, among others. These phrases and processes may help put in priority the supply in addition to help suitable organizing of linked facts. After the organization includes a platform in place, it could start to clearly define the several stages within the supply chain. At this time, anyone can assess the performance of every section, establish changes and shortcomings, established limited-time period and long-term targets, and identify approaches to integrate every one of these things in the unified whole. This is when logistics control software programs can play a substantial function. It assists in the automation of logistics procedures, assists in forecasting upcoming need, and makes it possible for quick aggregation and expressing of products information. With all the software, you can have updated products data and will predict your profits determined by famous records. Your companies, for his or her portion, can simply perspective your present supply requirements, predict your demand from customers, which will create different purchases depending on this kind of information. Another level within the give chain could be the transportation of uncooked supplies on the ultimate level. An important component in travelling having charges are the energy ingested because of the motor vehicles utilized to transportation those things. By integrating the Logistics Administration Program, you can obtain true-time updated information about fuel prices, which you can use to employ tactics linked to energy maintenance, discount rates and other such activities. You could also use these program applications to cut down and examine the prices connected with customer support. A serious problem with many businesses is simply because they usually do not often deliver consumers with the absolute best client service experience. You can actually appraise the full satisfaction amount of employees, recognize locations where support services is lacking, and put into practice remedial calculates. During your final spot, it may possibly not be possible to maintain a fleet of motor vehicles to transport those items, by including Logistics Administration Application. You can actually avert a real condition by employing alternatives related to Logistics Operations Software. You can actually ascertain the optimal quantity of automobiles to get carried at anyone time, as reported by the characteristics of your respective business and finalized vacation spot. In case that there are actually any bottlenecks inside the shipment method, it is possible to promptly remove these types of problems by the installation of Logistics Administration Software. Eventually, another primary aspect of Logistics Supervision is warehousing. In today’s current society, it is actually quite difficult to record the variety of goods that are needed in a variety of steps of your making, procurement along with logistics approach. You may get reliable details with regards to the location of shares, the storage area and syndication of products and solutions, and the condition of share and merchandise in transit, by making use of Logistics Supervision Software. You can easily observe the action of goods during the deliver chain avoiding bottlenecks from the total approach. Thereby, Logistics Control Application offers a strong foundation for productive logistics surgical procedures. If you enjoyed this post and you would certainly such as to obtain more facts concerning courier dispatch software kindly go to the web page. Proceed your research for additional similar posts:

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When it comes to lean manufacturing, communication is key. In fact, lean manufacturing relies on efficient and effective communication in order to succeed. Communication is essential for transferring information between team members and ensuring that everyone is on the same page. By improving communication, lean manufacturing can benefit your business and help you achieve improved efficiency and productivity. In this blog post, we’ll discuss lean manufacturing benefits and how it can help improve communication in your business. What Is Lean Manufacturing? Lean manufacturing is a system that helps businesses eliminate waste and achieve higher levels of efficiency. The lean philosophy is based on the following principles: - Identifying value from the perspective of the customer - Creating value through a continuous flow of products and services - Managing and reducing wastes The goal of lean manufacturing is to create more value for the customer while simultaneously reducing waste. In order to achieve this, lean manufacturing relies on efficient communication between team members. Lean Manufacturing Benefits There are many benefits that come with lean manufacturing, including: - Increased communication and collaboration among team members - Improved quality - Reduced costs - Increased productivity and efficiency As you can see, lean manufacturing comes with a number of benefits that can be extremely beneficial for your business. Not only does it help improve communication, but it also helps improve quality and increase productivity. How Does Lean Manufacturing Increase Communication? Now that we have discussed the basics of lean manufacturing and some of the benefits, let’s discuss how lean manufacturing can help increase communication. As we mentioned before, lean manufacturing is based on the principle of creating value through a continuous flow of products and services. In order to achieve this, team members must be able to communicate effectively with each other. By improving communication, lean manufacturing can help reduce waste and improve efficiency. In lean manufacturing, there is a strong emphasis on teamwork and collaboration. This means that team members must be able to communicate effectively in order to work together efficiently. By improving communication, lean manufacturing can help your business achieve its goals. Increase in Manufacturing Technology A key staple of lean manufacturing is fast, reliable, new technology. By utilizing the latest technologies, businesses can improve communication and achieve a higher level of efficiency. Some examples of lean manufacturing tech include: - Real-time data collection and analysis - Automated reporting - Cloud-based collaboration tools These technologies can help improve communication by providing team members with the ability to share information and work together in real-time. In conclusion, lean manufacturing is a system that helps businesses eliminate waste and achieve higher levels of efficiency. The lean philosophy is based on the following principles: identifying value from the perspective of the customer, creating value through a continuous flow of products and services, managing and reducing wastes. To learn more about lean manufacturing benefits and how to implement it in your business, reach out to a representative from VersaCall today. We’ve helped dozens of businesses reduce waste, improve communication, and increase their productivity and we’d love to help you too.

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The future of big retail The pandemic lockdown has forced businesses to rethink modes of distribution and introduce automation in response to an increase in online shopping for essential items. Qube and Goodman Group have welcomed the opportunity to expand operations with some of Australia’s biggest retailers. Integrated port and logistics provider Qube is at the forefront of driving automation in our own backyard with its Moorebank intermodal terminal in Sydney. Qube’s management announced that they had secured a 20-year lease with Woolworths for the automated warehouses that are expected to transform the company, automating their supply chain and drastically reducing their distribution costs. Qube will fund construction of a 40,700 square metre national distribution centre, and a 34,600 square metre regional distribution centre at a total cost between $420 to $460 million. It is due to be completed in 2023 and 2024, respectively, with both expected to be running at full capacity by 2025. It will receive upwards $30 million in annual rental revenue under initial 20-year leases. The deal with Woolworths will see that its major suppliers will likely seek space in the terminal. “Woolworths’ long-term commitment will reinforce the commercial appeal of this nationally important infrastructure and freight project,” Qube managing director Maurice James says. Woolworths is planning to invest $700-780 million in the technology and fit-out of the new distribution centres. Morningstar senior equity analyst Adrian Atkins says: “This is a large investment, even for a company as big as Woolworths, which we think shows it is embracing Moorebank’s vision and potential. These high-tech, mostly automated distribution centres should be able to process huge amounts of goods, thereby maximising use of Moorebank’s rail terminals. “Woolworths’ commitment supports our positive view on Moorebank which is based on expected supply chain costs savings of up to 15 to 25 per cent for tenants.” The terminal located on the Southern Sydney Freight Line and will have a direct connection to Port Botany which will alleviate congestion and drive efficiencies in the distribution supply chain. Woolworths chief supply chain officer Paul Graham says: “Cutting-edge automation will build tailored pallets for specific aisles in individual stores – helping us improve on-shelf product availability with faster restocking, reducing congestion in stores, and enabling a safer work environment for our teams with less manual handling. “The new facilities will also help progress our localised ranging efforts, with the ability to hold many thousands more products centrally than we can in our existing facilities.” UBS analysts say that despite this, the shares have outperformed around 20 per cent since the raising and have reduced its recommendation to neutral with the stock now trading in line with its valuation. Amazon, who also has a distribution centre in Moorebank NSW, announced plans for a new warehouse in Brisbane on a site owned by Goodman Group. The new centre will be the same size as two rugby league fields and will house over 500,000 products including the most popular items purchased by Queenslanders on Amazon. The centre will benefit small and medium-sized businesses who use Amazon’s fulfilment services to supply customers across the country. Local sellers will soon be able to send their products to the centre where Amazon will then pick, pack and ship orders to customers, provide customer service support and manage returns on behalf of the seller. According to the Australian Financial Review, Amazon is setting up a mega facility in Western Sydney and searching for another bigger space in Melbourne. It is reported that Amazon will occupy a 190,000 square meter multi-level fulfilment centre at Goodman Group’s Oakdale West Estate in Kemps Creek. The fulfilment centre in Brisbane, along with its centres in Sydney, Melbourne and Perth, will allow Amazon to handle current and future customer demand and speed up delivery to customers across the country.

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Also have strings management ‘s the handling of the entire production flow of a good otherwise services to maximize top quality, beginning, customers feel and you may profitability What makes supply chain administration important? Productive supply strings administration expertise remove rates, waste and amount of time in the supply cycle. The practical was an only-in-go out also provide strings where shopping transformation automatically signal replenishment instructions in order to manufacturers. Retail shelves can then getting restocked nearly as quickly as tool is available. The easiest way to then boost about techniques will be to become familiar with the knowledge of likewise have chain couples to see where further advancements can be produced. By analyzing mate investigation, this new CIO post describes about three scenarios in which energetic supply chain administration expands value for the supply chain duration: Determining possible troubles. Whenever a buyers instructions so much more product compared to the brand is also submit, the customer is whine regarding worst services. By way of study data, suppliers might be able to invited the dearth till the consumer is actually troubled. Enhancing rates dynamically. Seasonal factors provides a finite shelf life. After the year, these products are generally scrapped or offered during the strong offers. Airlines, lodging and others which have perishable “products” generally speaking to switch rates dynamically to meet request. That with analytical app, similar forecasting process is improve margins, even for tough goods. - Raising the allotment away from “open to vow” directory. Analytical app devices help dynamically allocate resources and you may schedule performs in line with the conversion process anticipate, genuine sales and you may promised birth off recycleables. Providers is also show a product beginning go out in the event the order is actually place – notably reducing wrongly-filled requests. The supply chain is considered the most apparent “face” of your own business to possess customers and customers. The greater and effective a organization’s supply strings government are, the higher it protects its organization profile and you will much time-term durability. IDC’s Simon Ellis about Road to a distressing Also provide Strings? describes what’s also have strings government because of the distinguishing the five “Cs” of your own active also have chain management of the near future: Connected: Opening unstructured studies away from social networking, prepared data from the internet of One thing (IoT) and a lot more old-fashioned study sets available by way of old-fashioned ERP and you will B2B consolidation products. Cyber-aware: The production strings need solidify its expertise and you will protect him or her out-of cyber-intrusions and hacks, that needs to be an enterprise-large concern. Cognitively allowed: This new AI platform becomes the present day also have chain’s control tower from the collating, coordinating and you will performing decisions and you can actions over the chain. Every likewise have chain was automatic and mind-understanding. - Comprehensive: Analytics prospective need to be scaled with studies in real time. Insights might possibly be total and you may punctual. Latency try inappropriate regarding supply strings into the future. Of numerous likewise have organizations have begun this action, that have contribution inside the affect-centered business sites on a nearly all-day higher and big work underway to bolster statistics potential. Development from supply chain management When you’re yesterday’s supply stores have been worried about the new supply, way and cost out of physical assets, the present also provide organizations go for about treating data, items included into the selection. Progressive also provide chain management assistance go for about more than simply when and where. Likewise have strings management influences device and service quality, delivery, costs, consumer feel and ultimately, profitability. Once the has just due to the fact 2017, a typical also provide chain accessed fifty minutes so much more study than five years earlier. not, lower than a quarter of the info is are reviewed. This means the value of vital, time-painful and sensitive research – for example factual statements about environment, abrupt labor shortages, governmental unrest and you will microbursts in demand – should be forgotten. Progressive supply chains make use of massive amounts of information generated by chain procedure consequently they are curated from the analytical experts and you may data researchers. Coming likewise have strings management and also the Enterprise Financing Think (ERP) possibilities they manage might run optimizing the new usefulness off this data – taking a look at it in real time with reduced latency.

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The tech industry is usually chasing the most recent excitement phrase, one of which is “value stream administration”. Having said that, value stream administration is just not just a excitement phrase. It truly is a exercise that is enabling some corporations to leapfrog some others. In accordance to the DevOps Institute, “Price StreamManagement is a new strategic and operational method to the details seize, analysis, planning, and implementation of effective modify in just the main cross‐functional or cross‐company processes needed to accomplish a certainly lean organization.” Interestingly, it turns out that “lean” is the operative word simply because value stream administration requires value stream mapping. In accordance to GoLeanSixSigma.com, “Value Stream Mapping is a method for identifying and eliminating waste from a course of action [that] visually maps the circulation of steps, hold off, and details needed to deliver a products or provider.” Almost speaking, value stream mapping and administration bridge the hole in between what an outcome organization would like to accomplish and how that outcome is achieved. It also offers insight into what’s performing, what is just not and why. “Price stream administration elevates DevOps and DevSecOps into a strategic course of action administration part that complements tactic in a massive way,” said Jeff Kavanaugh, lead writer of The Are living Enterprise. “The pandemic confirmed that the corporations that experienced invested in their source chains and value stream administration were in a position to pivot rapidly simply because they have plenty of composition in spot that they could modify some parameters.” Parsing the phrase “Price” is no matter what the small business would like to deliver which advantages the organization, its buyers and/or personnel. Arguably, computer software builders and IT have been striving to assistance the small business satisfy its goals by means of laptop or computer-similar technologies for a long time. Having said that, more than time, it turned apparent that waterfall processes were turning into way too sluggish and inefficient to fit the accelerating speed of small business. As a result, agile computer software improvement, DevOps, and CI/CD emerged with just about every enabling even more rapidly computer software delivery cycles. While computer software teams and IT have usually attempted to provide small business value by accumulating requirements or making person stories, you can find been a lack of visibility and collaboration in between the products entrepreneurs who reside in the small business and the people making people solutions. So, there was no constant “stream,” only tribes. Price stream administration permits businesses to prolong agile ideas and an ethos of constant improvement out to the small business, equally of which are crucial in today’s period of digital transformation. With digital transformation, the small business and IT ought to get the job done collectively as a one, cohesive unit. “In the close, all that issues is final results and final results are a operate of the suitable intersection of small business priorities, technologies capabilities and rising technologies,” said Sanjay Srivastava, main digital officer at international professional services company Genpact. “Price stream mapping enables you to [incorporate] people items so you can do it, replicate it, and scale it. But the underlying part is you’ve obtained to recognize the area of the dilemma set perfectly and you have to be pretty conversant in the rising technologies to discover that intersection.” Finally, the “administration” piece of value stream administration requires details for selection-producing simply because as administration expert Peter Drucker after said, “If you won’t be able to measure every portion of your small business, you won’t be able to handle or improve it.” Having said that, to start off making use of details correctly, one ought to begin with a speculation to show or disprove. “It truly is all about connecting folks collectively and producing guaranteed that we have a superior set of metrics that enable us to measure and recognize how effective the small business selection is and how successful we are on the delivery and functions aspect,” said Jean Louis Vignaud, head of ValueOps at semiconductor and infrastructure computer software answers supplier Broadcom. “When you hook up people small business initiatives down to the get the job done builders are executing, builders recognize what they are executing and why they are executing it.” Enabling small business agility If 2020 taught corporations everything, it was the need for extreme organizational agility and resilience, equally of which value stream administration can help aid. “Software program is considerably a lot more strategic to the organization as portion of digital transformation. [As evidence], you hear corporations expressing, ‘We’re not an airline, we’re a computer software corporation,” said Mitch Ashley, CEO and managing analyst at ASG. “If computer software is hugely critical to the small business, but how do we know what’s occurring? How do we know we’re going to get what we imagine we’re going to get?” Price stream administration enables the small business and IT to recognize what’s occurring as it can be occurring so course corrections can be produced, as important. Meanwhile, details is currently being generated and gathered that can assistance the organization consistently strengthen, whether or not it can be in a position to recognize causes and consequences far better or the price and time it requires to establish a widget. “In a hyper-competitive planet, you have to just take a lot more dangers,” said Ashley. “Now you can employ items like feature flags simply because of your capability to enable and disable [application capabilities]. You can say in this marketplace, we’re going to go take a look at a new functionality or possibly we’re going to take a look at the same functionality implemented in two or a few diverse ways and measure the value that we’re receiving or not.” In addition, the shared visibility permits a lot more effective collaboration and shared comprehension during the value chain. “You want to track exactly where you might be introducing value and hitting bottlenecks or problems during the course of action so you can have an open conversation about exactly where we are these days compared to exactly where we want to be tomorrow,” said Mike Downard, director of functions at Silicon Mountain Systems. Assistance from the leading ranges of the organization is also critical. “[Price stream administration] requires a lot of participation so if we failed to have that, I imagine it would have been considerably a lot more challenging for us to accomplish,” said Downard. “Persons are at the middle of any course of action.” Price stream administration is just not a new idea, but digital transformation has produced it crucial for a lot more kinds of corporations. As 2020 shown, turning into digital is important for survival. The accelerated level of modify necessitates businesses to turn into exceptionally agile, and to do that, the small business and IT ought to function in sync. Price stream administration can help. Abide by up with these posts on IT tactic and innovation: 11 Means DevOps Is Evolving Weighing Uncertainties of Transformation in the Experience of the Long run Electronic Transformation: How Leaders Can Stand Out Innovation Accelerates For the duration of the Pandemic Lisa Morgan is a freelance author who addresses massive details and BI for InformationWeek. She has contributed posts, stories, and other kinds of written content to different publications and web pages ranging from SD Occasions to the Economist Clever Device. Recurrent places of protection include things like … View Full Bio Far more Insights

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The sudden outbreak of COVD19 has released a world of uncertainty. Dealing with this disruption has been a challenge for businesses of all sizes. It is difficult to envision next month let alone next year! How do you move ahead in this case? These few guidelines can help businesses plan their actions through the pandemic and beyond - Respond: Response to the crisis situation and manages business continuity During the crisis situation for most of the businesses the priority has been crisis response and focusing on health, safety, essential services, getting adjusted to remote work culture, and managing workforce remotely. - Recover: Business disaster recovery and emergence The recovery process for most businesses is to focus on dealing with the immediate demands of the crisis, planning about new normal. Return and rethinking work, workforce & infrastructure. - Move Forward: How an organization prepares for and moves ahead with the “new normal” The following critical actions will help businesses to transition from response to recovery and moving on with the new normal: - Review what has worked, what are the lessons learned, and what has been missed in the response—Analyzing the situation - Reassure the employees and stakeholders that their wellbeing and focus on their physical, psychological, and financial concerns—at home and in the workplace is your first priority - Restructure and redeploy key functions, operations, and the workforce to maximize potential and contribution for rapidly evolving organizational priorities - Rethink work, workforce, and workplaces to leverage experiences of the COVID-19 response and the opportunity to accelerate the future of work Building Resilience is no more a choice The above actions can help businesses to associate the crisis response to the new normal and to create the foundation to move forward in the aftermath of the crisis. But first, you need to resolve exactly where and how the crisis has affected your existing business model and where the risks and opportunities lie as a result. Putting together a Risk management team for establishing a protocol for identifying significant disruptions, evaluate their importance for the business continuity, and given the highly disrupted environment, creating a sustainable strategy is of utmost importance. An adaptive business continuity strategy combined with necessary tools and techniques, periodic reviews so it can respond quickly to the inevitable changes will help your business become more resilient and prepare you to move forward into the new normal.

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Suppliers and eCommerce managers are all too familiar with coordinating with logistics hubs, yet there is still a lot of ambiguity surrounding these facilities. Find out what exactly occurs in a logistics hub and how they function to optimize your supply chain. What is a Logistics Hub? Logistics hubs act as linking points that facilitate the efficient flow of goods. Contrary to what most people think, logistics hubs aren’t only used for storage. They’re also the center for the manufacturing, assembly, labeling, organization, coordination, separation, distribution, and transportation of goods for national and international transit. As businesses become more complex and expand into the global platform, you can only imagine the number of operators, workers, services, goods, and data that go in and out of logistics hubs. Typically, logistics hubs house offices, storage facilities, warehouses, distribution centers, trucking, and shipping services. Understanding Logistics Management Logistics management plays a vital role in organizing and implementing policies and regulations to create a seamless workflow, from order fulfillment up until customers receive their parcel. With the management of tangible resources and consumable items also comes the management of incoming logistical data, including warehousing, materials handling, inventory, packaging, transportation, and security. To efficiently handle the supply chain, most logistics operators will use software or AI to analyze data and optimize logistics operations. Logistics management focuses on two functions: inbound (internal operations) and outbound (flow from the point of origin to consumption). Flow of Logistics Management A logistics management network will involve several points of distribution. These may include additional intermediaries and vendors, but the main linking points are: - Suppliers or manufacturing center - Distribution centers - Warehouses and storage facilities - Transportation facilities - Destination point (consumer or commercial retail location) For goods to efficiently and seamlessly move along this path, it is necessary to apply the four main types of logistics management. The good news is that you don’t have to figure it out on your own! With the help of logistics experts and expert freight platforms like GoShip.com, it is possible to achieve smooth-sailing logistics operations. 1. Supply and Inventory Management Quality logistics companies will have state-of-the-art inventory management software to help coordinate, plan, and procure raw materials to complete logistics tasks. This also involves transportation, storage, and inventory of goods at each stage of the logistics process. 2. Distribution and Transportation This involves the movement of stored materials to their predetermined destination, including loading, unloading, and inventory of stock and how they are used. Generally, this type of logistics management will control the movement of stock from a warehouse to the retail stores that distribute the goods to the public. 3. Production Logistics The main goal of production logistics and management is to distribute supplies to forward production. This will also involve storage, transportation, and testing to achieve positive customer feedback and capital efficiency. 4. Returns and Reverse Logistics This type of logistics management concerns reclaiming goods and materials, such as when a customer seeks to return a product and requests a refund. How GoShip.com Can Offer Streamlined Logistics Solutions Unlike your regular logistics operators, GoShip.com partnered up with the best freight shipping carriers and services in North America to cater to each client’s precise needs and goals. You can rest assured that each of these shipping companies uses the best methods and latest technology to deal with warehousing, inventory, distribution, transportation, and data analysis. The truth is, you don’t have to know everything about logistics and shipping operations. Leave it to the experts to safely and efficiently handle your goods from order fulfillment up until you get a 5-star review for customers. With the help of logistics management experts, it is possible to achieve customer retention and satisfaction. This can ultimately drive up revenue by saving on operational costs through proper organization of the supply chain.

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The word fulfillment center means the packing of warehouses. It helps the employees with the large packing and shipping. It is also considered an online business for storing things that are important for people without carrying space. Inventory management is also considered a large problem in many stores, but it is very important for the experience of the customer. The fulfillment center can help the inventory management for the storage of things for making work in other areas. What is the major problem for the management? The major problem in the stores is overselling. When the customer can order the things the fulfillment center can complete their needs. The out course fulfillment can control all the management. This can send emails to the customers after sending the item. What does the fulfillment do? The fulfillment center is a service that gives the ship products to the customers. It is according to the email, addresses of the customers. It is called a fulfillment center because it can contain all the fulfillment orders of the customers. How do centers make money? Long-term fees do it after the process of customer orders. Properties of fulfillment centers: - Beneficial for brands of E-commerce. - Also, receive inventory - Also, serve external customers - Doing work fastly to give products to customers - Also doing the process of packing What is the cost of a fulfillment center? The cost of the fulfillment center includes the sum of all the expenses that may be packing, picking, shipping, and other products. Best fulfillment services: - The ship Bob - An Amazon FBA - The Red stag fulfillment Managing of fulfillment center: - By the process of tracking - For the use of cross-docking - By collecting data What is tracking? The tracking means your activities, steps, and the device that may be chosen yourself. This can give a picture of how much you move day by day. What is cross-docking? It is the process of unloaded material from the supplier to the customer with no difference and storage between them. What is collecting data? Data collection means collecting and analyzing data by various techniques. The data may be in the form of formats, links, etc. The fulfillment center can control all the business at a low price. It can manage all the fulfill needs of the customer in the way like packing, shipping, and so on. Suggestions: How does an Amazon fulfillment center work?

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Module 4 – Case Case Topic: Nissan Motor Company Ltd.: Building Operational Resiliency Please thoroughly review the case details from the reference below. This is a very interesting case giving you the real world information on the various aspects of operational decisions. Save your time - order a paper! Get your paper written from scratch within the tight deadline. Our service is a reliable solution to all your troubles. Place an order on any task and we will take care of it. You won’t have to worry about the quality and deadlinesOrder Paper Now William Schmidt, David i-Levi “Nissan Motor Company Ltd.: Building Operational Resiliency†MIT Sloan Case. MIT Sloan School of Management. Case: 11-116, 2013 If the hyperlink above doesn’t work directly (you don’t need to register to MIT site), please copy the link below to your browser to open the case page: https://mitsloan.mit.edu/LearningEdge/operations-management/nissan-motor-company/Pages/Nissan-Motor-Company.aspx Japan’s March 11, 2011 Great TÅhoku earthquake and tsunami was among the most damaging natural disasters on record. This case examines the organizational structure and operational decisions that allowed Nissan Motor Company to recover from the disaster more rapidly than its peers. In doing so, Nissan was able to increase production and capture market share from its slower-to-recover competitors. - The case identifies several aspects of the Nissan response that were particularly beneficial. Expand on the points made in the case to identify the potential costs and benefits of these actions. - What else could Nissan have done to prepare for and respond to the disaster? Try to articulate the costs and benefits of your suggestions. - What could Nissan have done to assess the risk of disruption in their supply chain? - How did Nissan’s product line strategy help or hurt its ability to respond to and recover from the disaster? - Use the information provided in the Background readings. Please do any additional research as necessary. - Review the information in the case study and become familiar with the details - There is no set response to the case questions so don’t hesitate to think outside the box. - It is essential to provide a well written paper with detailed analysis. READ the information provided by the resources and references on the Background page. Understand the importance of supply chain management and its link to operations strategy. NOTE: Cite the references in the Background, as well as additional references you use in your case paper. The report should be 5–6 pages and submitted by the module due date.

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3rd party Logistics Providers are companies that assure shoppers of outsource by delivering companies as well as their Superior know-how in logistics and management. 3rd party logistics vendors or firms that specials with logistics and management causes it to be uncomplicated for organizations to aim on their own major goals without the need to worry about transportation of products or end line of productiveness in addition to distribution. Like stated, 3rd party logistics suppliers will keep an eye on and be answerable for warehouses, transportation of goods, and Procedure so that businesses will not have to worry about these elements. These corporations would also have to contemplate market place trends to satisfy buyer’s needs and needs; Furthermore, it has to produce programs 国际货运物流公司 and adaptations for unique businesses in order to strike for revenue. Most of all, these companies should be closely conscious of shipping assistance prerequisites for services. Most third party logistics companies include up other providers dealing greatly with efficiency, Procedure, transportation, and also other expert services working with integrating portions of the provision chain which then causes it to be quite a bit a lot easier and effortless for organizations to emphasis and to go away these factors to those corporations which have been Innovative and ensured. Products and services Like explained earlier mentioned, third party logistics companies deliver providers working with transportation, Procedure, and mainly just about anything that entails logistic administration. Third party logistics companies are well educated and so are skilled with logistic administration which ensures prospects and organizations their safety and is something which will decrease pressure and can greatly enhance top quality in other regions of company. Other services include: four. Precise packaging 5. Stability method six. Advices and strategies seven. Managerial strategies and suggestions Kinds of 3PL Vendors You’ll find various types of 3PL suppliers which have various Careers and responsibilities to reinforce good quality and to observe and deal with all parts of logistics administration. There are actually freight forwarders, courier organizations, together with other corporations that offer services managing transportation and deliveries. The 4 most important groups and features of third party logistics suppliers include things like: 1. A standard 3PL provider: these companies perform regular and essential jobs for example decide on packing, warehousing, and distribution of products. two. Support developer: these providers will present shoppers Highly developed worth-additional services which include tracking and tracing, cross-docking, distinct packing, and offering a singular stability technique.

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Critical Purpose is a new term to define an approach that emphasises the key deliverables. On every project there are a small number of critical questions that must be answered if success is to be achieved. The goal is to isolate these critical success factors and to remove the uncertainties as soon as possible by producing some tangible output that can be dependably validated and indisputably verified. Critical Path technique identifies the longest path through a project which defines the shortest possible time to complete the project, according to the estimates of how long each activity will take and the interdependencies between activities. Critical Chain methodology concentrates on rare resource, thus giving it more of a cost focus. By planning around the key constraint and reallocating resources, pressure is reduced on bottlenecks. Critical Purpose will make people think of agile development methods. However, the word agile can conjure up an image of agitation. The risk is that it over-emphasises reactivity; people may think that if they conceal their intentions, they will be able to make things up as they go along. Rapid prototyping, risk-based, test-driven, user-centred and team-based are all terms that are used for agile development and each of them emphasises one aspect, whilst in practice the use of one technique makes the others vital. If you develop the test plans at the beginning of the project, then you are going to need models and prototypes to test many of the assumptions. If you build a plan around prototype reviews, then you will need workshops to facilitate the decision making process. If you focus on risks, then you are going to need the presence of the team and subject matter experts. If you prioritize the requirments then you need to involve users. In fact, of course, you need all of these. It is reassuring to think that if you do one of them, it pulls the others. ‘Critical purpose’ is a term that covers all of these approaches, at least as well as agile because it does not lead people to think that they can decide everything at the last minute, or on their own on their way to work, or without informing anyone of their reasoning.

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Order processing - EPC flow chart This business process modeling (BPM) event-driven process chain (EPC) diagram sample illustrates the order processing flow. "Order processing is a key element of Order fulfillment. Order processing operations or facilities are commonly called "distribution centers". "Order processing" is the term generally used to describe the process or the work flow associated with the picking, packing and delivery of the packed item(s) to a shipping carrier. The specific "order fulfillment process" or the operational procedures of distribution centers are determined by many factors. Each distribution center has its own unique requirements or priorities. There is no "one size fits all" process that universally provides the most efficient operation." [Order processing. Wikipedia] The EPC flowchart example "Order processing" was created using the ConceptDraw PRO diagramming and vector drawing software extended with the Event-driven Process Chain Diagrams solution from the Business Processes area of ConceptDraw Solution Park.

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Owing to the numerous advantages of this technology, the continuous development of monolithic constructions have been made possible. The complexity of structures using this technology have been made possible thanks to the use of modern shuttering, the production of high quality concrete mixes carried out by professional concrete-mixing plants and efficient logistics supporting investment projects. The weakest element in organisation of these works is the supply of reinforcing steel, an expensive resource which is consumed in large quantities thus requiring extensive logistical planning. On the basis of their professional experience, the authors of this paper present their analysis of logistical models for supplying construction sites with reinforcing steel. Using the AHP method, they carry out a multi criteria evaluation of possible supply systems. Then, applying decision inventory theory models, they determine control quantities leading to logistic system optimisation according to the selected criteria.

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Implementing advanced technology into an organization can be a complicated process. Often times customers seeking new technology are some of the most complex because their needs are multi-faceted and could last long after an initial consultation. Having a plan to work with complex customers can be a boon to your sales team. See the following article from The Street for more on this. Decisions about buying and implementing technology can be the most challenging, and the larger the organization, the more complex the decision becomes. Information technology, finance and other departments have to be "sold" on the benefits, and once sold they have to decide whose budget pays the bill. Anyone trying to introduce new technology into a system or business with complex organizational processes, multiple levels of decision-makers and strict budgets — and the principle is universal, not limited to technology — can find it challenging. Getting to "yes" in a sale requires a thorough understanding of the prospective customer organization. This often means reaching frontline users, the true customers of the product, and educating them on the features and benefits of your product. Once you have the end user on board, you must move up the decision tree to administrators, IT departments and curriculum designers or business content groups. The sales process becomes a multiprong, multiphase effort to reach the key decision-makers with information relevant to their needs and perspectives. As someone providing new technology, you must think like the customers by addressing the rewards and risks they see as inherent in adopting innovations. There are many stakeholders who will be evaluating the decision upfront (and after the sale) to determine if the investment will generate the return they desire. If you promise improved effectiveness, efficiency, better performance and increased success, you had better deliver. This week I spoke with Seth Weinberger of Innovations for Learning, a Chicago nonprofit bringing hand-held devices into classrooms to make teachers more efficient in providing students with materials, content and access to curricula. It isn’t easy to implement technology into school systems. Just like major corporations, they are usually structured so technology acquisition is separate from other decision-making; for schools, that separation typically means technology and curriculum decisions are not integrated. Innovations for Learning must truly understand their customers, from the decision-makers and processes, to their mission, objectives and budget constraints. Five ways to make your sales efforts more effective: 1. Understand the customer. Understand their needs, objectives, decision-making processes and funding levels. 2. Identify the benefits to the customer at each decision point. IT departments need to be able to integrate technology into their current systems, control costs of acquisition and ongoing support costs. Users of your product or technology want to know how it will "get the job done." 3. Understand the organizations issues and constraints. If a customer has limited funds, trying to sell them high-end, high-dollar solutions won’t work. Demonstrate to the organization cost-effective and budget-friendly solutions. Remember that the sale of your product, service and technology is about what the customer wants to buy, not what you want to sell. 4. Build relationships. Sales success is about making a connection to the customer and seeing through the customer’s eyes. A quick sale is always nice, but taking the time and making the effort to support the client’s decision-making process may translate to more sales in the long run. Most organizations are looking for a lifetime customer, not a one-hit, one-time customer. The secondary benefit of relationship selling is that the customer will often refer you to friends, colleagues and other organizations. Referrals count for a lot. 5. Don’t rush the steps. It would be nice to be able to jump over certain stages or steps in getting a deal. You may want to speed up the client’s decision-making process. But going faster doesn’t necessarily mean you will get to the sale any sooner. In fact, high-pressure sales and ignoring the customer processes may just leave you with a lost opportunity. Patience is often the best sales tool an organization can have. The easiest way to speed up the purchase decision is to understand your customer and their process for deciding. When you understand the customer, you will know how to close the sale. This article has been republished from The Street. You can also view this article at The Street, a site covering financial news, commentary, analysis, ratings, business and investment content.

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WSD 2018 (18. 9.) On September 18, 2018, at the University of Ljubljana, the Faculty of Social Sciences hosted a Web Survey Day (WSD) event for the seventh time. WSD is an event organized by CDI since 2012 and is attended by more than 200 users of the online survey tool 1KA (www.1ka.en) and other users of online surveys. Therefore, the target audience is everyone who is interested in the latest achievements and trends in the methodology of online surveys. In the introductory speech, dr. Vasja Vehovar, head of the Centre for Social Informatics, presented some global trends in online surveys, where he highlighted the problem of recruiting the general population and also closed populations, mainly due to the question of privacy or underperformance of cooperation. He also presented guidelines for the development of the 1KA tool in the future. In the second lecture of the plenary part of the event, dr. Benjamin Lesjak from the Institute for Legal Solutions of the Information Society (IPRID), Datainfo.si, presented the problem of online surveys and the GDPR regulation. He pointed out some concrete examples of dilemmas or issues that, in the light of tough legislation on privacy (GDPR), are encountered in a specific field of online surveys. The second part was followed by the introduction of the 1KA tool, where three thematic seminars were held in parallel, where the members of the CDI presented the different functionalities of the 1KA tool. Gregor Čehovin conducted a seminar called ‘A systematic overview of the main functionality of the 1KA tool’ which was intended for beginner users. Miha Matjašič and Katja Zrim conducted a seminar for advanced users and presented the ‘Advanced and new functionalities’ of the 1KA tool. Peter Hrvatin presented several different ways of customized use of the 1KA tool at the seminar ‘Installation, Integration, API and Custom Adjustments’. In addition to thematic seminars, the Methodological seminar was conducted simultaneously by dr. Nejc Berzelak. At the seminar, he presented some principles and trends related to online surveying as a method of data collection. Materials of individual lectures WSD 2018 are available for registered users >> (only in Slovenian language) Below are some photos from the event:

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Successful products go through a predictable 5-stage life cycle from introduction to decline. It’s important for CPG companies to get the most from their products at every stage of that cycle. The product life cycle describes the process a product goes through from development to retirement. All businesses need to manage the product life cycle effectively if they want to be successful, but this is especially important for companies that deal with consumer packaged goods (CPG) products, such as clothing, cosmetics, electronics, and seasonal items. Past sales history is typically not a reliable indicator of future demand for CPG products, and companies that deal with these products need to embrace strategies to optimize their life cycles. This guide looks at the life cycle stages for CPG products and examines strategies businesses can use to meet the challenges of each stage, and improve the length of the life cycle. The Life Cycle of CPG products Successful products, including CPG products, go through five different stages during their lifetime. Keep in mind that not all products go through all five stages — products that are not successful often jump straight from introduction to decline, for example. But successful products that have some shelf longevity tend to see their development and popularity progress through these stages over time: - Development: Often lasting years, this stage includes ideation, research, building, and refining the product. - Introduction: Once the product has been developed, it gets introduced to consumers through marketing to build brand awareness. - Growth: If their products meet a need and strike an interest with consumers, companies work to increase their market share as their sales and profits increase. - Maturity: Companies with CPG products in this stage tend to shift their focus from building to maintaining market share. - Decline: Revenue decreases due to increased competition, industry innovation, and changes in consumer preferences. Determining where CPG products are in their life cycle is not always straightforward. An increase or decline in sales or demand doesn’t always signify a change in the life cycle stage. The typical life cycle curve only serves as a rough guide to long-term product demand and life cycle placement. To be successful, companies that work with CPG products need tools that can help them make effective forecasts of product demand and life cycle development. They must also be proactive about meeting the specific challenges of each stage of the product life cycle. Developing a Minimum Viable Product The main risk of the development stage is that companies incur costs without collecting revenue. To move CPG products through this phase as quickly as possible, companies may want to prepare a minimum viable product for launch. This step accelerates the time to profit and allows companies to create a build-measure-learn-feedback loop. They build a minimum viable product, measure its success with customers, learn from their potential customers, and integrate the feedback into future development of the product. The risk of taking this approach is that companies may dilute their brands if they release subpar products. Businesses need to balance the desire to shorten the research and development stage with the need to create the best products possible. A Strong Marketing Strategy Nearly 80% of new consumer products fail during the introduction stage, and this is often due to insufficient marketing support. Although the introduction phase starts to bring in profits, sales are typically low during this stage. To safeguard profit margins, businesses should leverage market research to reduce costs or focus on increasing market share through innovation to reach the maturity phase more quickly. Improving the Customer Experience After a successful introduction phase, consumers know about your product and should be ready to buy. But if you want your market share to grow, you need to offer a high-quality customer experience. To move through this stage successfully, businesses need to invest in customer service and support. Ideally, they should implement a formal feedback process and have strategies in place to implement feedback in effective ways. Businesses cannot expect to ride the wave of consumer demand through the growth stage and into product maturity. Instead, they need to pay close attention during this phase or risk skipping growth and moving to decline. Staying in Growth Mode During the Maturity Stage Companies that reach the maturity stage need to maintain their commitment to growth and implement strategies that will help them stay in this stage as long as possible. Keep in mind that some products don’t leave this stage for decades. At this point, distribution channels should be set, but they need to be continually optimized. Companies need to focus on differentiation and diversity during this stage. The competition is well aware of the potential, and they will sweep in and steal market share if a business’s products fail to stay enticing. Companies need a flexible product management framework, and they may even want to dedicate specialists to lengthening the life cycle of their products. Avoiding the Decline Phase Dips in revenue don’t necessarily signal a move to the product decline stage. CPG companies need to be able to spot the differences between down cycles due to seasonal factors and revenue declines due to a loss of market share. Overcoming Short CPG Product Life Cycles Beyond techniques that help optimize each stage of the product life cycle, CPG companies may want to look at strategies that can help overcome the notoriously short life cycle for CPG products. Orienting CPG inventory management around agility can help significantly. Companies that deal with CPG products should build and design rapid-response supply channels that can quickly react to shifting demand. They may also consider direct-to-consumer websites that facilitate the ability to launch new products at a faster pace by going over the retail channel. Contact Logility for help optimizing the life cycle for CPG products At Logility, we can help you improve customer satisfaction, gain greater visibility into sales patterns, and understand more about the impact of demand patterns on your supply chain. To learn more about life cycle planning and meeting the other challenges of working with CPG products, contact us today. Vice President, Product Marketing Lachelle Buchanan is the vice president of product marketing at Logility, where she leverages over 15 years of experience in unifying the expertise of product development teams with the market insight of sales teams for successful new product introductions. After spending half her career in marketing and the other half in supply chain, Lachelle is most passionate about bringing teams together to solve complex supply chain challenges and delivering value for customers. Owing to a passion for advanced Sales & Operations Planning, Lachelle has Oliver Wight certifications in Integrated Business Planning (Advanced S&OP), Demand Management, Integrated Supply Chain Management and Product & Portfolio Management.

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We have accumulated decades of practical experience, assets and deep customer relationships, and have become one of the important roles in the supply chain of the industry in providing major resources. Supply chain integration is no longer an unfamiliar term for modern managers. Supply chain refers to the supply and demand network composed of raw material suppliers, manufacturers, wholesalers, retailers and final consumers involved in product production and circulation. In this network, each trading partner is both a customer’s supplier and a supplier’s customer. It has a solid foundation for a large amount of demand and supply capacity, as well as a high-quality corporate management model that has passed various certifications. The basic framework and methods for enterprises to organize their resources and manage production activities in order to achieve their business objectives. Typical modern enterprise management models and methods include: enterprise resource planning, manufacturing resource planning, just-in-time production, sophisticated production, individual production by category, and optimized production Technology, supply chain management, enterprise process reorganization, agile virtual enterprise, etc.

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Project quality management chapter 8 discussion All of these factors affect quality planning because they will drive the requirements that need to be met to ensure quality. What are the main processes included in planning project quality management? There could be several errors — misspelled name, wrong address, calculation error, etc. What are the three main categories of outputs for quality control? This is usually prepared at the end of the plan-writing process 2. A business plan is a written statement of the business goals and objectives, and the steps to be taken to achieve them Identify and briefly explain the different sections in a business plan 1. Omnidirectional b. What types of jobs are available related to quality assurance, and what qualifications are required for those jobs? Describe typical benchmarks associated with a college or university. A wider scope of what quality is and isn't has been developed to provide benchmarking criteria for businesses. Normal Distribution and Standard Deviation Table Managed: Management collects and uses detailed measures of the effectiveness of project management. New York: McGraw-Hill, , p. Chapter 8 - Project Quality Management 14 Sample Cause-and-Effect Diagram Chapter 8 - Project Quality Management 15 Sample Cause-and-Effect Diagram Possible causes of staff leaving before the end of a project They may include environment, ambition, career prospects, satisfaction variety, challenges, recognition , remuneration basic pay, benefits - car, health, pension. It requires an organization-wide commitment Six Sigma organizations have the ability and willingness to adopt contrary objectives, like reducing errors and getting things done faster It is an operating philosophy that is customer-focused and strives to drive out waste, raise levels of quality, and improve financial performance at breakthrough levels 12 Examples of Six Sigma Organizations Motorola, Inc. Motorola, Inc. Discuss three suggestions for improving information technology project quality that were not made in this chapter. Normal Distribution and Standard Deviation Table Process adjustments. Could most of these problems have been avoided? Project success is more predictable, and cost and schedule performance is improved. Abbreviated: There are some project management processes and systems in place to track cost, schedule, and scope. The organization has not defined systems and processes, and project success depends on individual effort. With the high market competition, quality has become the market differentiator for almost all products and services. The advantages of purchasing a two-wheeled trailer for each of the stores to use for delivering Super Gyms are none at the moment because the bumpers on the newest autos cannot accommodate the trailer hitches, therefore, the two-wheeled trailers could not be used. Six Sigma is uniquely driven by close understanding of customer needs, disciplined use of facts, data, and statistical analysis, and diligent attention to managing, improving, and reinventing business processes. There could be several errors — misspelled name, wrong address, calculation error, etc. This took place during a time when quality was not uppermost in the minds of business organizations worldwide. Quality Control. Tridirectional 3. Quality is an important factor when it comes to any product or service. Ad-Hoc: The project management process is described as disorganized, and occasionally even chaotic. Motorola, Inc. Project success is more predictable, and cost and schedule performance is improved. Tool used include project charter, requirements, Voice of the Customer data. How have experts such as Deming, Juran, Crosby, and Taguchi affected the quality movement and today's use of Six Sigma? Cavanagh, The Six Sigma Way. In order to rebuild its economy after the Second World War, Japan focused on quality improvement, making it a national imperative. Quality might change along the stages. Pointing out the cost of poor quality will give motivation to companies and increase their desire for quality. Project quality management chapter 8 discussion Ad-Hoc: The project management process is described as disorganized, and occasionally even chaotic. You are setting up a WLAN for an insurance agency. Describe three types of software that can assist in project quality management. Ad hoc b. Chapter 8 - Project Quality Management 14 Sample Cause-and-Effect Diagram Chapter 8 - Project Quality Management 15 Sample Cause-and-Effect Diagram Possible causes of staff leaving before the end of a project They may include environment, ambition, career prospects, satisfaction variety, challenges, recognition , remuneration basic pay, benefits - car, health, pension. Home Essays Project Quality Management Quality projects have been used to meet customer expectations instead of only company needs. Testing Tasks in the Software Development Life Cycle Types of Tests A unit test is done to test each individual component often a program to ensure it is as defect free as possible Integration testing occurs between unit and system testing to test functionally grouped components System testing tests the entire system as one entity User acceptance testing is an independent test performed by the end user prior to accepting the delivered system 18 Figure There is a new or renewed interest in the field of project management because there are constantly new technologies coming out that are used in many different fields and success is dependent upon proper management. How have experts such as Deming, Juran, Crosby, and Taguchi affected the quality movement and today's use of Six Sigma? How do functionality, system outputs, performance, reliability, and maintainability requirements affect quality planning? based on 82 review

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This book describes a variety of quantitative methods that are vital to planning and control in the operations of the industrial world, from suppliers to manufacturing plants to distribution centers and to the dealers and stores. The topics include: forecasting, measuring forecast error, determining the order quantity, safety stock, when and how much inventory to replenish, all this for individual items and for a distribution network where the items are housed in multiple locations. Further quantitative methods are: manufacturing control, just-in-time, assembly, statistical process control, distribution network, supply chain management, transportation and reverse logistics. The methods are proven, practical and doable for most applications. The material in Elements of Manufacturing, Distribution and Logistics presents topics that people want and should know in the work place. The presentation is easy to read for students and practitioners. There is little need to delve into difficult mathematical relationships, and numerical examples are presented throughout to guide the reader on applications. Practitioners will be able to apply the methods learned to the systems in their locations, and the typical professional will want the book on their bookshelf for reference. Everyone in professional organizations like APICS, DSI and INFORMS; MBA graduates, people in industry, and students in management science, business and industrial engineering will find this book valuable.

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Affordable, effective communications and marketing products to drive sales, raise brand awareness and achieve organizational goals Do you have a Crisis Communications Plan in place that effectively communicates what to do and how to communicate your message in the event of a crisis? It is one of the four primary tools of an effective Crisis Management Plan. - A crisis communications plan - Prevention and risk management - Roles and responsibilities - Possible scenarios Crisis Communications Plan Your Crisis Communications Plan is part of your crisis management plan, which identifies risks before they turn into tragedies, minimizing unfavorable media coverage, customer dissatisfaction, any harm to stakeholders, and facilities security. What to expect from your crisis communications plan? Your Crisis Communications Plan: - supports the Crisis Management Plan - outlines roles and responsibilities for communications in the event of a crisis - frames and develops messages - provides values-based messaging - addresses how to respond to bad reporting - strategizes for effective press conferences What are your risks for a crisis? An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure – crisis management begins with crisis prevention. Every organization faces difficulties, controversies and risks, and your crisis communications plan should carefully consider foreseeable situations and have protocols in place with how to communicate with all stakeholders, including staff members, customers, investors, community members, family and the media. This begins with identifying potential risks and managing them before they spin out of control, and ensuring stakeholders are informed of any risks, and clearly articulated protocols are communicated that ensure those risks are minimized. An effective crisis communications plan minimizes risks and prevents crises before they occur. And in the event of a crisis, provides a communications plan and outlines roles and responsibilities to navigate out of the crisis, with attempts at minimizing any harmful impacts. Let’s get started! Get the full-time marketing and communications department you know you need, for less than the price of a part-time employee. Gain access to a full suite of marketing, communications, fundraising, sales and branding products and services. Contact us to start today with developing a strategic plan that helps you reach your marketing and communications goals by visiting this link.

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Project logistics refers to specialized freight moves that are oversized, heavy-lift or hazardous. Moving over dimensional, overweight or toxic cargo is a complex job that involves heavy shipping equipment and moving project materials to work sites, facilities and construction stations whether on- or off-highway. Over dimensional freight is any item that exceeds one or more of the standard legal size criteria for the state. While these measures vary, the general guideline for parameters is 53’ long 8’6” wide, 13’ 6” tall on the trailer. Shipments that exceed these parameters are considered over dimensional and requires a permit before being moved. To haul project cargo economically and efficiently, there must be attended to every detail, constant communication and collaboration throughout the entire supply chain process. Common Examples of Project Cargo An Inbound Logistics article says that project logistics yields a significant time of planning for billion-dollar projects, and there aren’t any shortcuts. Each project move introduces new challenges and generates inventive designs. Finding a 3PL that can handle such a multifaceted shipping project is critical. Shippers rely on 3PLs to handle the specifics of the cargo, route, and mode, plus understand its needs for budgeting, planning, handling, execution, and delivery. Planning the transport of oversized, overweight, and hazardous cargo takes knowledge, experience, and confidence. 3PL experts understand the government regulations, handling strategies and the overall situation, which is key to success. When it comes to shipping project cargo, transportation and logistics demands are distinctive to each situation. At PLS, we are able to determine the best routes, equipment, and timeline for your cargo. Our team is familiar with shipping oversized, specialized shipments. For one client, PLS moved equipment weighing more than 252,000 pounds. The trailer used to move the equipment had 72 tires and two additional tractors that pulled and pushed the equipment. Shippers with project cargo can overcome transportation hurdles and reduce freight spend with automated transportation management. Partnering with a 3PL and using a TMS helps shippers maintain on-time delivery, improve service and avoid disruptions, gain new carrier partners, consolidate invoice and improve dock controls, among other benefits. Continue reading how this PLS client reduced freight spends through automation.

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The phrase scheduling details control is probably the most complex and vast grounds in all of enterprise. Many different approaches and ways are participating, and the end result is an entirely system that need to be flexible adequate to adapt to adjusting market place situations and also the goals and methods of individual companies. Logistics has become the most essential things in a business’ good results. Without, the probabilities for achievement might be unbelievably thin. In case you loved this informative article and you would love to receive more info about courier dispatch software i implore you to visit our internet site. What on earth is recommended by Strategic planning Management? To put it very simply, Strategic planning Management describes the process of preparing how products are bought,stashed and taken, and obtained to their best spot. Strategic planning can also include identifying probable marketers and providers and determining their efficiency and availability. Most of these exercises are in the provision chain management, which details a scientific method of accomplishing the planning methods was required to successfully move merchandise from their preliminary options with the logistics to your last buyers. A large purpose while in the logistics supervision is played by the genuine inward bound activities on the business. With regards to firms, these things to do are generally referred to as Strategies Preparing and Preparation. Over these actions, departments for example output, marketing and advertising, revenue and organizing and after-purchase assistance fix are all concerned. There’s also bodily Strategies Control groups for all these various well-designed groupings: product sales, advertising and generation after-sales support and service. One of many reasons logistics functions, then, is to effectively provide items to buyers and sustain higher degrees of customer satisfaction. It is also essential in order that goods are provided in time, in the needed transport night out, plus the correct the labels. If one of those parts of thriving planning managing is ineffective, goods would possibly not achieve their spots by the due date or may very well be provided from the inappropriate range or wrapping. An additional crucial purpose that these Strategic planning Administration groups participate in necessitates transportation of goods from other preliminary sources with their destinations. Now and again, this travel may include path transport or flights. But in many cases, the travelling does not involve almost any function, and therefore the submission facilities should have the capacity to provide a selection of alternatives to the clientele in an effort to give to them the service that they need. And in individuals cases when submitting focuses can not provide these choices, an arriving planning managing workforce should really let them have an index of selections which can be used in their don’t have. Distribution centers also are one more space wherein Statigic planning Supervision squads should succeed. When merchandise is moved by using a supply core, the procedure consists of a lot of skill involving the shipping and delivery team, the receiving team, the warehouse, plus the transfer facility on its own. Occasionally, the supply centers their selves carry out an expert, in which case the Scheduling details Control group would produce handling the pass of materials throughout the distribution archipelago. A few cases, however, the submitting facilities on their own shall do this purpose, in which particular case the Strategies Administration workforce would also get involved in choosing the cargo of goods from your supply facility to your client. Once more, in both situation, the Statigic planning Administration crew is in charge of providing a prompt reply to the question of ways the products on hand has been handled. As we discussed, there are various of difficult chores engaged when delivering things thus to their locations. In order to employ a productive strategies control method, the scheduling details supervisors need to ensure how the many aspects of the supply usually do not fail to work jointly, though normally, accomplishing this involves a great deal of coordination among the different business units of property. Somebody who is inbound vehicles firm fails to get results the purchased coal for the location, next the overall shipping program will likely be damaged, like price the unprocessed trash would essentially promote for, by way of example. He’ll almost certainly merely say to the client that he or she has received a reduced product or service and that he won’t work with that corporation. In a nutshell, the Scheduling details Managing team is the central aspect of any prosperous supply chain, if the purchaser is provided with things that aren’t around his requirements or which are not up to his liking. In addition, they be certain that the procedures relating to the businesses will not fail jointly, nevertheless not only do they be sure that a variety of aspects of the provision chains function adequately. Ideally, these downline should all come from the exact same educational background experience level, as well as being knowledgeable about many enterprise pursuits. In a nutshell, Planning Control specialists have to be professional in not only one, but numerous company subjects and then employ a various clubs the ones within thetravel and Logistics, provide snowchains, and crm domains. If you beloved this report and you would like to obtain extra facts concerning how you can help kindly pay a visit to our web site. Much more tips from advised editors:

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INCREASED LOAD FACTOR AND SUSTAINABLE LOGISTICS – INTERACTIONS BETWEEN A TRANSPORT BUYER’S AND FREIGHT FORWARDER’S SYSTEM Övrigt konferensbidrag, 2012 In order to contribute to a sustainable logistics system, there is a need for actions that not only improve one part of the system, but improves the system as a whole. This means e.g. focus on the interaction between logistics and transport systems, as well as analyzing the overall environmental effects. To increase the load factor in vehicles is on the agenda due to both environmental and economic reasons. However, how actions at different actor’s setting interact and influence the load factor is scarcely analyzed in literature. The aim of this article is to investigate how actions in the area of packaging, loading and booking in the transport buyer’s system affect load factor in the freight forwarder’s system. A case study has been performed, studying the outgoing goods flow from the central warehouse of a large retailer. The basis for the data collection has been interviews and transport data from internal statistics in both the transport buying company and the freight forwarder involved in operating the transports. A survey investigating load factor measures at the vehicles before departure to three of the districts are complementing the statistical data. Findings and Originality: Increased load factor are shown in both the transport buyer´s and freight forwarder’s system although the freight forwarder is required to consolidate a larger goods flow in order to see positive effects on the vehicle as a whole. The up-to-date load factor observations show a high potential to increase the load factor by a increased consolidation rate in the freight forwarder’s system as well as to work with offering differentiated lead times to the end customers in the transport buyer´s system. A framework describing how to increase load factor in the freight forwarder’s system is presented consisting of load factor indicators, measures and interacting variables. In order to see the effect on traffic levels, changes in routing in the freight forwarder’s system needs to be further investigated. The framework is unique in that sense that it describes ways of increasing load factor from a more holistic way, three levels of load factor indicators are related to each other as well as including interactions with the transport buyer’s system. In order to develop long-term strategies towards sustainable logistics, actors in the logistics system require knowledge about the complexity of the problem and the interdependencies of their actions. The mapping of actions and its effects shown in this paper is contributing to a more holistic view of the concept of load factor having a clearer connection to actors’ environment and its contribution to a sustainable logistics system.

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A Business Impact Analysis (BIA) is a process which is carried out to assess how an interruption or sudden stoppage of the critical operations of a business, due to an unforeseen accident, emergency or disaster would have an impact on that business. It is necessary, when creating an organization’s business continuance plan, to know what a BIA is and how it should be performed. Many project managers, especially those who have not been heavily involved in risk assessment or disaster recovery planning, can find themselves asking “What is a business impact analysis?” when asked to add a BIA to their disaster recovery plan. If you’re finding yourself in the same situation, here we’ll explain everything you need to know about business impact analysis. What is a Business Impact Analysis? There are several components that make up a BIA and the best way to approach the creation of a BIA is by systematically going through each of them. The elements that need to be considered: - Each critical business process - What emergency or accident could disrupt them - What the impact would be on the business - How the effects can be ameliorated - Identify Critical Business Processes There are certain functions of a business which are more important than others, without which the organization ceases to function in an effective way. These are known as “critical business processes”. For example, an online clothing retailer could deal with its accounting department all getting the flu for three days or its distribution centre being snowed in for a week, but if its online sales portal got hacked and went offline for a day it could break the company. The first two emergencies are bad and will cause huge delays, but the latter event would cause the company to stop functioning. - Note the events (i.e. accidents or emergencies) that could stop or disrupt them With each of the critical processes there are certain events which they will be vulnerable to at varying degrees. To create an effective business impact analysis, it is important to identify these and to rate the level of risk for the event occurring. For example, for the online clothing retailer’s sales portal, a malicious hack, power cut, or server issues would be major risks, whereas weather or the price of wool would not. - Assess the impact this disruption would have on the business For each accident, emergency or disaster, how much it will affect the business will vary. At this stage it can be good to list all the possible effects and their estimated extent, such as: - Lost sales: $30,000/day - Cancelled orders: $15,000/day - Lost customers: 60% reduction in normal daily traffic - Overtime: $3,000 - Outsourcing: $2,000 This can help to give a better idea of how much such an event will cost, so as to better evaluate the value of a prevention plan. - Estimate the time the disruption will last for Some emergencies, such as a virus or system crash are in your hands, while others, like a local power cut, are not. For each of the possible disruptions, estimate how long they are expected to go on for, which could range from half an hour for a power cut to several days for a crashed server. - Create a plan for how these effects can be lessened The business impact analysis forms part of your disaster recovery plan so it is important to also brainstorm solutions to each of the events disrupting your critical processes. Some crises can have their chances of occurring lowered to basically zero, while with others the best that can be hoped for is damage limitation. To ensure all of your important project documents, such as the business impact analysis and disaster recovery plan, are easily accessible for all project stakeholders, Clarizen’s cloud-based software is the perfect solution.

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|This page in a nutshell: Steps may be taken to reduce or repair dead external links.| Like most large websites, Wikipedia suffers from the phenomenon known as link rot, where external links become dead, as the linked web pages or complete websites disappear, change their content, or move without HTML redirection. This presents a significant threat to Wikipedia's reliability policy and its source citation guideline. In general, do not delete cited information solely because the URL to the source does not work any longer. Tools, procedures, and processes are available as outlined in this document.

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Using the optimum combination of key drivers, capabilities and services, we have the ability to implement a complete range of customizable solutions for our customers. Global Program Management The objective of global program management is to systematically and strategically coordinate the functional groups and tactics within Prime Group and across the companies within the supply chain, for the purposes of improving the total flow of materials from suppliers to end users. Global Program Management means: - Strategic planning - Effective Time Managemnt - Anticipation of the next move - Weighing the risks - Evaluating and knowing the alternatives Supply Chain Management The objective of supply chain management is to synchronize the requirements of our customers with the flow of materials from suppliers to achieve a balance between high customer service, low inventory and low unit cost. The three major areas of a supply chain management are: - Supply Chain Strategy and Design - Supply Chain Planning - Supply Chain Operation Prime Group maintains its own inhouse freight forwarding clearing agency. Prime Group has been serving gulf and International clients for the last 18 years with repeated success. Direct Client Fulfillment The Prime Group can implement a customized solution because of our unique integration of all the necessary resources, processes and facilities. - Customer Order Cycle - Replenishment Cycle - Procurement Cycle - Manufacturing Cycle Built-to-order enables our customers demand to be filled directly from production resulting in lower inventory costs and a more efficient supply chain. We have the capabilities to manage these processes on-site. This strategy requires having specific processes in place to create the ability to deliver highly customized products at the lowest total costs. The core of mass customization is the ability to increase product variety and customization without increasing costs. The key to mass customization is to standardize early portions of the production process and to postpone the task of differentiation until the last possible point in the supply chain network. Customers are now demanding highly customized products and services. The niche markets are becoming the markets. Mass customization requires rethinking and integrating: - The product design - The manufacturing processes - The delivery processes - The configuration of the entire supply network to deliver products - Light manufacturing in distribution centres to support final customization steps. The benefits of mass customization are: - Lower total cost - Improved customer satisfaction - Competitive advantage - Flexibility under changing market conditions - Broader product lines - Higher quality products - Higher profits - Avoidance of forecast errors - Avoidance of purchasing delays The positioning of inventory and the location, number and structure of manufacturing and distribution facilities must be designed to provide three capabilities: - Flexibility and responsiveness to customized orders - Cost-effective delivery of basic product to customization facilities - Flexibility and responsiveness to deliver finished goods quickly For optimum results, mass customization needs to be considered all along the value chain-development, production, marketing and delivery. The Prime Group is uniquely positioned to provide an Optimum Mass Customization Solution thanks to our own supply network and resources. The optimum solution is obtained by concentrating the manufacturing of critical modules at low-cost sites to achieve maximum economies of scale, while combining some light manufacturing in regional distribution centers to support final customization steps. The Prime Group has the capabilities to customize products in our locations to more efficiently deliver the products to specific markets.

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With vast swathes of the population working remotely and living under lockdown conditions as a result of the global COVID-19 pandemic, the world has never been so dependent on telecommunications. Vodafone is playing a major role in keeping people and organisations connected. To do so, it has relied on a robust strategy that enabled it to overcome significant challenges to its supply chain. Hicham Nehme, a Head of Supply Chain, explains that the Vodafone supply chain has been very much proactive rather than reactive, beginning a process of stringent crisis planning as early as December. First, the company identified four pillars for supply chain management (SCM) resilience: employees, customers, suppliers, and emergency planning. "After identifying these,” says Nehme, “we had a much greater understanding of how to manage the crisis.” This process involved recognising the difficulties that employees may be experiencing in adapting to work from home; ensuring customers are getting the best possible service now that telecommunications are so essential to daily life; understanding its supplier profiles so that it is prepared for potential problems with sourcing and, finally, building a complete end-to-end strategy based on these points.The latter would enable Vodafone Qatar to move from crisis mode to business as usual. SCM coordinated with each department on the local level, and with VPC on the group level, to determine what the biggest problems would be and what actions should be taken to solve these, both in the short and long term. SCM strategy has revolved around being prepared - and anticipating scenarios rather than dealing with the fallout. For example, in January it bulk ordered stock to ensure it would have six or more months of supply delivered by March. It planned ahead in case of shortages that would lead to price increases, and signed three-year contracts with all its suppliers. "When the pandemic started, the first question was how can we import from China, and we generated tens of scenarios looking at how we could do this,” notes Nehme. “Now the whole world is locked, and the situation has changed to: ‘how can we import from the rest of the world’? It's important to learn from previous crises and manage change using new technology." As a result the company has started using entirely virtual marketplaces such as Amazon. Another key point is not being heavily reliant on just one territory, such as China. "I believe China will face a lot of problems in the coming years because of what people believe to be the cause of the pandemic. We don't yet know how big companies that operate in China like Apple will react, but we need to prepare so the supply chain remains continuous and sustainable," Nehme explains. "There are a lot of different opinions out there, but I think business needs to be spread across many countries, not centralised in one area." The COVID-19 pandemic has highlighted how essential digitalisation is. "Digital tools are not a privilege anymore," Nehme explains. "They're being used all over the world during this crisis. We've moved from attending school to e-learning, and doctors are giving medical advice through Skype and Zoom. We know the whole world will change after this, and the most important aspect is digital transformation, now a main part of any company. "Every organisation must have at least a vision for digital transformation" Nehme adds. “For the supply chain in particular, digitising operations can improve speed and reliability, from how fast products can be manufactured to how promptly order fulfilment and delivery to the final destination can be made. But to implement digital transformation well it's also crucial to pay attention to the organisation's structure and how this will change. That’s why any successful digital transformation starts from the top, from the leaders, and works down to the employees." While data analysis is becoming increasingly useful, it will play an even more important role in the future, along with blockchain and AI. "We're now using data analysis more than ever before to forecast," Nehme explains. “This is enabling organisations to look at potential impacts on projects and profitability.” Technology aside, he shares that strong partnerships are also essential to success. "If companies act like solo endeavours they will fail. Organisations depend on their surroundings and their suppliers to build technology and share knowledge." Considering those suppliers, Nehme explains that the crisis has led to a redefining of what a partnership can be. "It's led us to reevaluate our suppliers based on how they react during the crisis, and whether they were available when we needed them," he affirms. "How you react towards a crisis and how you support your organisation when it needs you, is the most important part of the supply chain." Among the company’s suppliers and partners are those in the telecommunications industry such as Hayat Communications, on whom Nehme has counted for many projects. In the same industry, HATCOM Telecommunications is another strategic partner with whom Nehme has worked across many projects. Looking ahead, Nehme envisages the independence of supply chains: "For countries like the US or Europe, the first thing that they face is a lack of supply chain planning. They have the capability but they don't have the tools or the materials, so they'll have to find new ways to bring in new materials and new products", he says. "We're going to see supply chain organisations working separately and becoming businesses. The most important thing for any country right now is securing food, medication and medical equipment for their people. They don't need someone sitting behind a desk telling them their balance sheet has dropped. The most important thing now is how to survive, and to survive you need a supply chain."

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planning is an essential activity that determines the success or failure of a project and must be given adequate time. it is a hierarchical representation of tasks that define, organise, and display the work to be done on a project. they are a useful method of communicating progress to the customer, the management and the project team(s). the project plan should be approved according to the appropriate approval procedure that is normally dependent on the size and risk of a project and the the business procedures. it enables the progress of a project to be monitored consistently. it is the project manager’s responsibility to integrate the planning of testing. the project manager is responsible for monitoring, controlling and reporting at the project level. this section is used to provide a brief description of the current status of the project. a milestone should be an event of significance to the project which is critical to progress and attainment of which represents a major achievement. this section is to notify the project board of issues that have been formally raised but which are not yet resolved. this section is to notify the project board of the use of resources against plan. this category will contain entries concerning amounts for the cabling of the buildings of the particular project and is not included in (hardware) or (turnkey solution) above. in the early stages of a project, where costs are all estimates, contingency will be included within the overall estimates and this category is left blank. it is the project manager’s responsibility to adjust the formula manually in order to ensure correct totals. it is inevitable that there will be changes during the lifetime of a project and the project manager is concerned with the management and control of changes so that impact to the project may be minimised. it is also extended to include the tracing of requirements through to non-software deliverables, such as training and documentation. the primary purpose of this assessment is to document best practices and lessons learned for use on future projects. project deliverables are the outputs that result from the workflow of a project. in addition, project deliverables encompass both the end products of a project and the various output components that allow projects to run efficiently. product-oriented deliverables are project deliverables that clients and stakeholders expect to receive at the conclusion of a project. in most cases, product-oriented deliverables relate to the purpose behind a project and its expressed goals. project deliverables, project milestones and process deliverables are all distinct elements associated with the workflow of a project, its inputs and any outputs. throughout projects, most process deliverables correspond to the generation of a specific project deliverable. the team uses process deliverables to produce each of these project deliverables and eventually reach project milestones. from here, the team can achieve the project milestone of blueprint approval and move forward with additional processes in order to produce more deliverables, like the roof and the finished house, and ultimately achieve their intended goals. 5 major outputs and deliverables 5.1 initiation 5.2 planning 5.3 execution 5.4 monitoring and control 5.5 progress control 5.6 quality control 5.7 change there is a distinction between project and product deliverables. project deliverables are such outputs as the project plans, project reports difference outputs/deliverables projects should identify their main products (i.e. end products) to deliver the expected result. these main, outputs and deliverables examples, outputs and deliverables examples, project outputs and deliverables, project deliverables examples, output vs deliverable. is that deliverable is (business|management) the tangible end product; that which will be delivered while output is (economics) production; quantity produced, created, or completed. outputs, deliverables, outcomes, objectives, goals and benefits. at the most basic level, projects undertake work to create value for the customer (or a project deliverable is any specific output element that’s a result of deliberate work done during the project. a deliverable must be deliverables can be tangible or intangible in nature. for example, in a project focusing on upgrading a firm’s technology, a deliverable may refer to the, project deliverables, key deliverables, what is the output of planning, deliverables meaning in business, project deliverables template, project deliverables checklist, categories of deliverables, examples of project deliverables in healthcare, measurable deliverables examples, project deliverables example pdf. what are examples of deliverables? what are 3 examples of deliverables? what are the outputs of a project? what are deliverables? When you try to get related information on output deliverables, you may look for related areas. outputs and deliverables examples, project outputs and deliverables, project deliverables examples, output vs deliverable, project deliverables, key deliverables, what is the output of planning, deliverables meaning in business, project deliverables template, project deliverables checklist, categories of deliverables, examples of project deliverables in healthcare, measurable deliverables examples, project deliverables example pdf.

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The process of handling production and operations is called production control. The entire procedure is typically directed and watched from a creation control room. Production control is an important part www.manufacturersresourcegroup.com/manufacturing-control-planning-and-resource-production of any developing process. Should you be unsure what production control is, continue reading for some significant facts. Ultimately, production control ensures that the process is successful, standardized, and productive. Here are a few ways development control may help your business. And remember: it’s not only on about checking and saving production info. Production control includes preparing and using various creation operations. It can help companies coordinate their plans and reduce inventory while guaranteeing quality and range at the right time. Several benefits of production control solutions are that they support streamline creation schedules, decrease operating costs, and allow industries to screen production more closely. The process of creation control involves a series of activities with a logical, “step-by-step” composition. First, that begins while using the overall technique. Second, it plans the production output from the factory all together. Third, that plans the output of various processing departments, which includes raw materials, factors, and done goods. In the long run, production control helps you achieve profitability. That ensures that requests are shipped within agreed upon times and quantities. Furthermore, that ensures that the costs of finished products go beyond the costs in the inputs. To do this, production control must determine and correct any problems or perhaps inefficiencies from the manufacturing process. Finally, production control will save you money and make best use of productivity. It will likewise help you control inventory costs and distinguish areas intended for improvement. And, it will help you want for development.

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Last month, you promised to comment on some of the major impacts that COVID-19 has had on businesses and their supply chains. So go ahead. Spill. Thanks for the reminder. With many aspects of American life getting back to “normal,” it’s tempting to want to put memories of the pandemic far, far behind us. Even so, we can’t lose sight of the fact that COVID-19 has altered many of the ways that supply chain professionals have typically gotten things done, including: - Just-in-time is out of time. Anyone who struggled to find items like toilet paper and face masks in the spring of 2020 knows that having some amount of inventory on hand is now seen as an asset rather than a liability. Look for new inventory management solutions to come into play that allow companies to balance the needs of both their customers and their investors, including maintaining higher amounts of safety stock. - Less office work, more home work. Despite the fact that many of us CAN return to the office, most people aren’t as keen on that idea as you might think. Remote work and hybrid work (part office/part home) will remain popular with many current and potential employees, many of whom now view the ability to work from home as a right instead of a privilege. - Less reliance on offshoring. Offshore manufacturing plants and the elongated supply chains they created paved the way for a lot of additional uncertainty for many businesses, especially during the early days of the pandemic. In light of that, don’t be surprised to see more companies electing to nearshore at least some of their production going forward. Like it or not, COVID-19 was the ultimate stress test — one that we shouldn’t forget anytime soon. Smart leaders in each business sector should take this opportunity to examine how strong their supply chains really were and to honestly assess what needs to change. Only then can they do an effective job of vaccinating their businesses against the next Big (and Bad) Thing.

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Most press will consent that business stories are in-depth information pieces that focus on business issues. The subject may be questionable, so it’s essential to research the subject thoroughly and interview multiple sources. You’ll want to provide multiple perspectives, not just you. Despite the term, it’s too little to just survey the news; additionally important analyze the circumstance. In addition , produce sure the content is interesting and fresh. The very best enterprise memories are not always paid a lot more than assigned experiences, but they are a wonderful way to hone the journalistic norms of behavior and improve your news verdict. They do necessarily successers.com/business-start/ pay more than assignment testimonies, but they’re a great way to exercise your credit reporting skills and make your news judgment. For example , you may want to write a content about as to why people be dressed in less clothes in gratifying weather. Additionally, you might want to look into why more people have tattoos. In my junior year, That i knew of of only 1 person using a tattoo, nevertheless, there are hundreds. In addition to reporting in business, business stories could be investigative or feature portions. To begin the story, you have to find a subject matter that is interesting to you personally and possesses a large audience. Get out of your dorm room and commence speaking with strangers each and every day. It’s also helpful to eavesdrop in conversations at school, to help you hear what individuals have to say. For anybody who is interested in writing about a local trouble, consider checking out a social issue.

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What is the difference between manufacturing operations and service operations? While manufacturing operations focus on producing goods and storing them at a warehouse before delivering them to customers, service-providing operations facilitate simultaneous production and consumption of services. What is the difference between service and manufacturing? In general, manufacturers have a standardized way of producing goods. Goods are produced en masse in a factory or warehouse-type environment. One finished product is generally the same as the next. Service Industries include those industries that do not produce goods and instead provide services. What are the similarities between service and manufacturing operations? The similarities between manufacturing and service operations are given the following: Manufacturers do not just offer products, and service organizations do not just offer services. Both types of organizations normally provide a package of goods services. What do you mean by service operations? What is Service Operations? Service operations is responsible for developing a service strategy and working with customer success, customer support, and customer experience teams. The goal of the team is to help scale a business’s customer service organization. What are the major differences between manufacturing and service organizations? DIFFERENCES BETWEEN MANUFACTURING AND SERVICE ORGANIZATIONS First, manufacturing organizations produce physical, tangible goods that can be stored in inventory before they are needed. By contrast, service organizations produce intangible products that cannot be produced ahead of time. What are the three key differences between service and manufacturing organizations? There are five main differences between service and manufacturing organizations: the tangibility of their output; production on demand or for inventory; customer-specific production; labor-intensive or automated operations; and the need for a physical production location. What are 3 significant differences between service and manufacturing operations? Why are manufacturing important in operations management? Manufacturing operations management ensures that the physical equipment and the user interface of a business work harmoniously for the benefit of the company. A manufacturing system provides a platform where human and automated activities are blended in real-time. What is the relationship between service and manufacturing? Services have enabled manufacturers to take advantage of cutting edge technologies and become more productive. Services have also enabled manufacturers to grow the value of their operations from the initial stage of designing their products to the final stage of getting their products to their customers. What are the similarities and differences between manufacturing and services organization explain? Similarities between Manufacturing and Service Both types of organizations normally provide a package of goods services. Generally, service organization cannot inventory their outputs, but manufacturing firms that make customized product also cannot inventory their output. How do service operations differ from manufacturing operations? Manufacturers do not just offer products,and service organizations do not just offer services. What is the difference between manufacturing and services? – Production is people-oriented – Interpersonal skills dominate – Education will dominate – Service results are subject to more variation What are examples of service operations? Look inward. The biggest hurdle–and why it’s first on this list–is culture. Is a restaurant a service or manufacturing business? With this in mind, you can now classify the restaurant to be in the service business. Basically, the restaurant is in the foodservice industry. You will be purchasing raw materials and with the skills of competent cooks and service crew, you can deliver/serve tasty foods.

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LINE OF BALANCE TECHNOLOGY OFFICE OF NAVAL MATERIAL WASHINGTON DC Pagination or Media Count: Line of Balance is a technique for assembling, selecting, interpreting and presenting in graphic form the essential factors involved in a production process from raw materials to completion of the end product, against a background of time. It is essentially a management-type tool, utilizing the principle of exception to show only the most important facts to its audience. It is a means of integrating the flow of materials and components into manufacture of end items in accordance with phased delivery requirements. It relates actual status of the elements of a production program to planned progress. It identifies those elements which are lagging prior to delay in delivery of the end item. Its basic use is to measure the current relationship of production progress to scheduled performance and to predict the feasibility of accomplishing timely deliveries. It is extensively used by the Navy as a reporting medium or as a means of communication with the contractor. - Administration and Management - Manufacturing and Industrial Engineering and Control of Production Systems

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Holiday parades will be marching down many U.S. city streets during the next six weeks, with millions of revelers expected to attend. And while these are historically joyous occasions, safety is a top concern for businesses located near the festivities—especially considering the high-profile violence that has recently dominated headlines. Rezwan Ali, risk solutions group head of security at Falck Global Assistance, which advises companies about security, safety and travel risks, spoke about the challenges and best practices faced by businesses and employees located near parade routes. Risk Management Monitor: How are companies responding to the rise in low-tech terrorism and violence? Rezwan Ali: Companies have become more aware of the need for crisis management. Recent terror events in cities such as Paris, London, Las Vegas and New York have shown companies that duty of care is much more than just health and safety – it is knowing where your employees are traveling and aiding them if affected by terror or violent events. As companies become more globally oriented, their employees are required to travel more, which expands the company’s duty of care responsibility and creates a need for travel risk management. In recent years, there has been an increase in the demand for travel risk management, which originates in a company’s acknowledgement of providing duty of care services to travelling employees to mitigate the possible impact of attacks on the business, its reputation and employees. RMM: What steps can businesses take to prevent disruption? RA: The best way to mitigate disruption caused by terrorism is to be prepared at both the business and individual level. On a business level, companies should implement a crisis management process and a contingency plan. A crisis management process includes appointing a crisis management team and training the organization using various scenarios. The contingency plan provides guidelines on how to maintain business as usual when a crisis occurs and works in parallel with the crisis management process. On an individual level, training can provide employees with tools to cope with stressful situations and alleviate the impact of an incident. When employees know how to manage demanding situations, the effect on the company will also be minimized. RMM: How can businesses located near a parade route or major event protect their employees? RA: All businesses should have emergency and evacuation plans, which can be applied in the event of emergency. These plans should cover procedures for evacuating the office, safe areas and roles and responsibilities. Businesses located in areas identified as potential targets for terror attacks should incorporate specific emergency measures related to terrorism into their plans. They should also ensure that all employees know and understand that the emergency plans exist. These plans could include guidelines for what to do should a terror attack take place outside the office, as well how to react in the event of an active shooter. It is crucial that these plans and procedures are trained, exercised and tested. Having an office in an area prone to various incidents requires the company to be informed of relevant developments. Sound intelligence can alert the company of an event, enabling quick initiation of applicable plans. Many companies use their network to provide intelligence or rely on local media to provide alerts. Regardless of the information, it is important to use trustworthy sources to ensure validity. The company can choose to develop a trigger system that determines whether the alert should activate any emergency procedures. RMM: How likely is it that someone will be a victim of terrorism or violence during a large event? RA: Although terrorism has severe consequences, the likelihood of being a victim of terror is low when compared to other risks such as traffic accidents and illness. The impact of a traffic accident on the individual can still be high, while the impact on the business will be minimal, in most cases. What makes terror so dangerous is not likelihood, but the fear of it happening. Terror literally means “fear,” and it is the uncertainty and severity of terror that is pivotal for how we perceive it. Employees may express a somewhat irrational fear that must be addressed and taken seriously by the company, as it affects the employee and his/her work.

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CISCC is a coordinated effort of more than 35 diverse industry trade associations to advance uniform, national polices that strengthen the country’s supply chains and ensure the timely flow of critical goods. “The coronavirus has brought our country’s supply chains to life for consumers and policymakers, demonstrating what can happen when even just a small component of these complex networks is interrupted,” said Bryan Zumwalt, executive vice president of public affairs at the Consumer Brands Association. “The way we do business will inevitably evolve, and it’s the Council’s goal to ensure these issues are on the forefront of lawmakers’ minds, instead of an afterthought.” The CISCC will share information with federal, state and local officials regarding the importance and operations of critical supply chains, as well as provide recommendations and suggested best practices. It also will leverage the experience and resources of its members to engage federal, state and local governments to find solutions when there are potential breakdowns. The council also will serve as a forum across industries to anticipate, spotlight and address future supply chain challenges. The coronavirus pandemic highlights the vast, complex networks involved in getting products to store shelves. CBA research reveals it has caused production volume to increase across the consumer packaged goods (CPG) industry, yet 85% of CPG companies are still concerned about their ability to meet consumer demand. The Consumer Brands Association has worked with federal and state agencies to implement common-sense policies throughout the crisis, including greater flexibility for truck weight limits and truck driver hours of service and with the U.S. House of Representatives to launch the bipartisan Congressional Supply Chain Caucus. The association has called on for a White House Office of Supply Chain to coordinate supply chain efforts across the federal government and is working closely with the U.S. Department of State on international supply chain and trade challenges. The CISCC executive committee that will lead its priorities and initiatives include John Bode, Corn Refiners Association; Kim Cooper, North American Millers’ Association; Ross Eisenberg, American Chemistry Council; Jon Gold, National Retail Federation; Dawson Hobbs, Wine & Spirits Wholesalers of America; Rachel Jones, National Association of Manufacturers; Kelly Knowles, American Bakers Association; and Tom Madrecki, Consumer Brands Association.

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For Chinese K12 online education companies, this June has been unnervingly quiet. In usual times, the months before summer break are the busiest as companies enter a fierce battle to recruit customers. However, tightening regulation targeting the online education industry since early this year has led to layoffs and a fall in share prices of leading K12 companies. On social media, entering the online education industry in 2021 is teased as “Joining KMT in 1949” – a reference to entering the soon-to-be-defeated Kuomintang at the end of the civil war – suggesting concerns over the looming industry slump. However, a closer examination of the crackdown suggests that there are multiple considerations behind tightened policies: the move came as a necessary step to regulate a market trapped in vicious competition, a response to negative public opinion, as well as an attempt to boost births. As a result, the future may not be as gloomy as expected. The Chinese online education industry took off with the development of 4G and live streaming technology on mobile devices. In 2014, Internet giants including Alibaba, Baidu, and Tencent entered the market one after another. In the following five years or so, Tencent invested in more than twenty online education startups, including the unicorns-to-be VIPKid and Yuanfudao, while Baidu-backed Zuoyebang grew into one of the largest K12 online tutoring platforms in the country. The COVID-19 pandemic and the ensuing lockdown that lasted for almost the entire first half of 2020 pushed the industry into a fast lane. Online education companies raised as much as $11.7 billion in 2020, surpassing the total amount raised in the past decade, although 80% of the capital had flowed to the top five players in the industry. Trapped in a vicious cycle With the influx of hot money, online education companies began a fierce race for market share, with most of the funding being spent on advertising instead of product research and development. A report by Questmobile estimates that at its peak in the summer of 2020, ad placements in the online education industry could reach $10-12 million a day. Top players fell into a cash-burning competition. “I don’t think the current business model is sustainable. You have to spend two bucks before you can earn a dime, and once the capital flow stops, few in the industry would stand it,” Michael Yu, founder of New Oriental said on the 2020 China Entrepreneurs Forum. Yet there seems to be no exit. Companies compete to see who raises and spends more money, only to gain a very small advantage. To some extent, Chinese online education companies fell into a similar situation in which their customers — Chinese students — are trapped: if you do not go to after-school tutoring when everyone else is, you will fall behind. If you do not raise money and spend it on marketing when everyone else is, you will lose the customer. Surges in capital flows to the sector eventually led to a backlash against the industry itself. Tao Chenyi, a former K12 online educator, said on a podcast last week that the industry had followed a relatively healthy path in its early days. “There weren’t that many KPIs for teachers to finish, and companies were willing to invest in products to win customers.” Things changed in recent years with the massive flow of capital into the industry. “Leading companies seem not to care about what happens next after students have paid their course fee. Everyone’s focus is on how to get more market share.” Zhang just quit her job as a course designer at Aixuexi, a relatively small online education provider with Beijing students as its major target group. She pointed out the struggle small companies experienced. “To be honest, many companies were trying hard to make awesome products. The problem is, as you sit there improving product quality, others have already captured the market.” When asked about her opinion of the industry, Zhang noted that firms tend to market their products so as to make them appear indispensable or advantageous for children – an irresistible bait for parents. “If there is a piece of trash on the floor, normally we would ask the kid to just pick it up so the floor gets clean. Internet education companies would tell you that the kid must develop the so-called ‘telescope mindset’, or the ability to look ahead and plan ahead, to be able to pick that trash up, instead of kicking it aside.” Zhang thinks these fancy concepts not only make things unnecessarily complicated for pupils, but they also create anxiety among parents, luring — if not threatening — them to buy more courses. Such sales strategies create anxieties and may bring more customers, but some less sophisticated tactics only anger customers. Sun Jing, the mother of a 7-year- old, complained to Pandaily that after purchasing a trial course with only 9.9 yuan from Zuoyebang, she received endless calls urging her to buy more. “They are the most dedicated salesmen I have ever met”, teased Sun. After about a month, she had had enough, and blocked the number. According to Beijing Sunshine Big-data Research Institute, in 2020, negative feedback about online education counted for more than 70% of all education-related feedback. As someone who genuinely loves teaching, but experienced huge disillusion after entering the industry, Tao Chenyi sensed the upcoming industry storm long before her peers. “Promoting courses for higher student retention rate is fine. After all, the commercialization of education is the hard fact now. What I can’t accept is the way they do it”. She then referred to a widely criticized scandal where a sales manager encouraged a low-income parent from rural Guizhou to apply for personal loans. It is behavior like this, Tao added, that will inevitably ignite public discontent and lead to tougher regulations. The storm came as the Chinese government finally decided to tighten the screws on an e-learning market that had gone too far with its cash-burning race and increasing customer complaints. In January 2021, China’s Central Commission for Discipline Inspection published an article titled “Online Education at the Vortex of Capital“, pointing to the rapid influx of capital into the industry and accusing online-education companies of false advertising and fomenting anxiety through excessive ad placement. This move might also have been a response to a scandal where four top K12 companies, Yuanfudao, Zuoyebang, Gaotu, and Qingbei, were found to have hired the same actor — as a math teacher, English teacher, and university professor respectively — to promote their products. Even so, a month later, Yuanfudao still made its way to the Chinese New Year’s Gala, and the frequent appearance of online-education ads on CCTV (China Central Television) as part of the “Brand Strengthen Nation Project” (品牌强国) remained untouched. A teacher at a leading K12 company told Pandaily that few of her colleagues had anticipated the crackdown until March 2021, when rumors about a government ban on pre-school tutoring began to circulate, leading to shocks in the stock market. The rumor did not just come out of thin air. Early that month, in a meeting during the “two sessions”, President Xi Jinping himself referred to the online education industry as a “social problem”, and called for related departments to take action. A few representatives from the education sector also raised similar concerns. On May 10, the State Administration for Market Supervision fined Zuoyebang and Yuanfudao $390,000 each for false advertising. Immediately afterward, the regulatory authority in Beijing’s Haidian District, an area notorious for intense competition among school children, issued a list of new rules to rectify online education companies’ advertising activities. Content that may cause anxiety was banned, including topics such as “changes in examination syllabus” and “increased difficulty of exams”; terms including “enrolment rate”, “distinguished teachers”，and “elite schools”, are banned too. On June 1, the newly-revised Minors Protection Law came into effect. New regulations prohibited all tutoring institutions from teaching preschoolers elementary courses, confirming the previous rumor. K12 companies reacted fast. U.S.-listed online education company Gaotu (previously known as GSX) cut its Early Head Start project for children aged 3 – 6. The company’s CEO Larry Chen said in an internal meeting that “with the new Minors Protection Law, we have just woken up to the fact that what we are doing is illegal.” Sources say Chen was optimistic about the market when the project was launched in October 2020. More than mere market regulation The release of a guideline known as “shuangjian”, or “dual burden reduction”, on May 22 suggests the crackdown is not going to end with mere market regulation. “Shuangjian” aims to reduce the dual burden Chinese students face from both schools and after-school tutoring institutions. New rules forbid the latter from assigning homework to students, and all classes must end by 9 p.m. As a matter of fact, in the past four decades since the reform and opening process began, the Chinese government issued 42 policies regarding students’ academic pressure. An average of one burden-reduction campaign each year also indicates the short-lived nature of such policies. Referring to the local high school admission rate (a brutal 50%), middle-school student Wang Xuejie expressed her doubts about burden-reduction policies. “Even if the government closed all tutoring institutions, studyholics would find ways to study more and harder”. Man Hui, a teacher from Nanjing, is also pessimistic about the clampdown in terms of its effectiveness. “So long as the exam-oriented system exists, there will always be demand.” “When public opinion becomes negative as people voice their unhappiness about students’ heavy workload, the authority will come up with a policy to appease the public. But no one cares how effective the policy is”, commented Chu Zhaohui, a researcher at the National Institute of Education Sciences. Indeed, the current clampdown on online education was launched precisely in the context of heated public discussion about the phenomenon known as “neijuan” (involution), a term Chinese young people use to describe the hyper-competitive atmosphere found almost everywhere in China, from classrooms to offices. In a popular TV drama A Love For Dilemma, a parent describes the way he sees “neijuan”. Imagine a theatre where everyone is watching a show. Suddenly, one person stands up. Others also stand up in order to see the stage, and those sitting behind them stand up too until in the end everyone is still watching the same show, but standing. No one is willing, or dares to sit down, but everyone is exhausted. Ironically, the TV drama was in fact sponsored by Zuoyebang, an online education company promising to help students to win in the endless race. The “neijuan” phenomenon, coupled with the high cost of raising a child, has deterred many Chinese couples from having babies. Against the backdrop of the recent “three-child policy”, tightened regulation of after-school tutoring institutions in general reflects the authorities’ attempt to reduce the cost of having offspring. But with the college entrance exam remaining in place, and few other options available for middle-class students — not to mention those from rural areas — such an attempt is likely to be futile. What the future holds In retrospect, the Chinese government’s approach to online education has been supportive for the most part since the beginning of the industry. For one, online education is taken as part of China’s modernization project. In 2010, the Ministry of Education published a ten-year plan aiming to promote the “Internet + Education” model. In 2014, State Council simplified the administrative procedure for higher education institutions to provide distance learning services. In April 2018, MOE issued yet another document in support of the online education sector. For another, at least in its early days, online education carried the hope of bridging the rural-urban gap in educational resources, a long-standing social problem in China. In 2018, China Youth Daily reported the significant difference distance learning had made for students in rural areas. The article soon went viral on Chinese social media, and triggered public discussion about the role of the Internet in improving educational equality. But the high hopes laid on Internet education by the state as well as the public were predicated on the premise that online education would remain a social benefit and within the scope of government regulation. Early signs of state intervention came in July 2019, with the release of an “Opinion on the Regulation of Online Tutoring Platforms”. It states that online education companies must not employ teachers from public schools, and all employees must have teaching credentials. Although, in September 2019, another document explicitly encourages online-education companies to “expand financial channels”, and strengthen industry self-regulation. COVID-19 pandemic accelerated the growth of the Chinese online education market; it also interrupted the slowly proceeding state regulation of an emerging industry. When the inevitable intervention came, it came fast and fiercely. Online educators are cautious when making predictions. Zhao, a former employee of Yuanfudao, holds that state intervention might help drag the industry out of the current vicious cycle. “Those in the industry always hope for the best. But there is the possibility that the crackdown will continue, and with the increasing customer acquisition cost but reduced capital inflow, there might be little room for survival. ” Having faith in the combination of new technology and education, Zhang believes that there is still a vast market for online education, and the industry can’t just collapse all at once. “But the policy may need to be more specific than simply banning ‘distinguished teachers’ in advertisements. We need people who understand education to provide more insightful guidance here.”

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We help industrial enterprises effectively manage production processes by introducing modern methods and tools for managing the production system. Using international practice and industry experience, our specialists continuously work on the development and improvement of their own methodologies and models of production management based on elements of modern business concepts, including “lean production”, the theory of constrains and 6 sigma. The methods and approaches we propose allow industrial enterprises to significantly increase the efficiency of their operations by freeing hidden production reserves and eliminating processes that do not create value. Achievement of such results becomes possible due to: - assessing the state of production technology and determining the optimal technical and organizational decisions based on analytical data; - synchronization of the main and supporting production processes, taking into account their complexity; - improving the equipment maintenance system; - formation of production culture of a precautionary nature; - increasing the degree of controllability and transparency of the production process by introducing visualization tools and rational organization of work areas; - the introduction of methods of “built-in” quality, aimed at reducing the time to perform operations.

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Resilience is surely the topic of the hour, particularly in Sri Lankan tourism circles following the Easter attacks. Sri Lanka was in fact an example drawn up at the recently concluded Asian Resilience Summit held in Kathmandu, Nepal. Organised jointly by the Global Travel and Tourism Resilience Council and the Nepal Tourism Board, the summit is the first in what is hoped to be a continuous series of resilience-focused events to be held in Asia over the coming years. Australia’s Market Development Facility (MDF) was at the summit in May, looking for insight on how best to continue our work in supporting Sri Lanka’s tourism recovery. The program works in tourism and related sectors in Sri Lanka. The summit presented a wealth of information on building resilience in tourism, driven by Nepal’s rebuilding efforts following the devastating earthquake of April 2015. We share below four key areas which could be of use to Sri Lanka’s tourism sector: some of this can be applied to the post-crisis context, while other insight would be useful for future crisis management. Crisis communication is a business best practice that can be planned for in advance, as well as implemented during an actual emergency. It is a layered approach on how to build a narrative around a potential or ongoing crisis and applies to a set of actions taken during and after the crisis, and the steps required to ensure that the message coming out of your organisation is exactly what you want it to be. There is no real way to predict the nature or exact timing of a crisis – natural or manmade. However, having a plan in place helps. For this, a business can look at: - The actual message – What will you say? While there is no real way to predict an emergency, the business can prepare the type of message that can be communicated in the case of one and decide on who would deliver it (e.g. CEO, Head of Corporate Communications, General Manager, PR rep). There is also value in having a backup plan if the designated person is unavailable - Timelines – When will you say it? An established communication timeline can provide guidance during crisis, keeping in mind that regular official communication from the business can help reinforce the message. Here, the narrative would differ according to the ‘stage’ of the crisis – during or after. It is also important to determine what stage of the event is to be considered the ‘end’ of a crisis to determine the flow of the narrative - Action – Who will do/say what? Clearly earmarking responsibilities prevents the spread of rumour and the possibility of the narrative being ‘hijacked’ by untrained/unprepared actors When deciding on who will speak to the public or media, consider: I. Are they the most credible person(s) to deliver the message? II. Are they trained and capable of conveying the message effectively under duress? III. Is there a suitable alternative in case they are unable to be reached during a crisis? IV. What channels will they use to disseminate the message? Most of the time, during an actual crisis, an organisation will not have immediate resources, clarity and capacity to formulate a communications strategy, but having an actionable plan should allow them to respond. During the crisis, the business’s communication should ideally focus on: - Transparency – All stakeholders need to hear the same message. Ensuring the key players (management, greater staff, clients) are in the loop will ensure message consistency and avoid it being diluted. It will also prevent to some degree the spread of misinformation from your own key players - Integrity/Credibility – The key to ensuring your message is at the top of the conversation during a crisis is to be both on the offensive (by tackling and correcting misinformation) and the defensive (by sticking to the agreed upon message you would like to share and by providing evidence where possible) - Dual role – Your message should focus on being able to inform people of what is going on and set expectations of how the situation is being handled Social media in a crisis Although people still refer to traditional media (TV, newspapers and the radio) as the initial point of information during a crisis, this is shifting towards social media, where user interactions and real-time updates are valued over official channels, especially in the face of conflicting messages being shared ‘officially’. With the proliferation of social media comes the threat of ‘fake news’, where bad actors use crisis situations to spread misinformation with varying motives. Investing in and using social media analytics can be useful in this space. Analytics tools can help identify topics being discussed, types of users discussing these topics and the locations of the discussions. Using this information would allow you to cater your message to specifically target and counteract the impact of false narratives or misinformation. Post-crisis communication is a crucial step towards the next stage, resilience marketing. Resilience marketing is a post-crisis step taken to communicate that normalcy has been restored and that a destination is safe for tourists. The most successful instances of resilience marketing put the customer in the forefront of communicating this; this is especially effective in a social-media-savvy world, where user-generated content has a huge impact on customer perceptions. This positive feedback can also be used to turn a destination post-tragedy into an opportunity; a good example of this is the Jianchuan Earthquake Museum in Cheng Du, China, which contains some of the most valuable cultural relics from the devastating 2018 Sichuan earthquake and preserves many ruins and quake-relief items. This establishment is now a crucial tourist stopping point for both local and international travellers. The Vegas example When a lone gunman opened fire on a crowded concert on the Las Vegas strip in Nevada in 2017, public perception of the popular tourist destination took a bad hit. However, Las Vegas tourism stakeholders made a concerted effort to counter this and return Vegas to its former glory through a well-crafted marketing campaign. nStakeholders saw that social media users were circulating several fake photos of the incident. They used this trend to gather positive stories and narratives of solidarity with the victims, which they then circulated on social media channels - The post-crisis message marketed was strongly that an incident cannot be allowed to define a destination - Stakeholders acknowledged those who had been there for them during the good times and thanked them for being there during the bad as well – building a link between the community and destination and establishing trust - In a bid to show that normalcy had returned, organisers went ahead with the planned annual Las Vegas Marathon a month after the shooting Engaging the community for resilience While communication and marketing are effective tools to craft public perception and build more resilient business models, tourism is an industry that is deeply embedded within local communities, and so it is meaningful community engagement that can assist considerably in helping the sector grow into a stronger version of itself. Reducing the barriers of interaction between the local community and visitors can greatly aid in building resilience. This is in general frowned upon by formal businesses, as it is seen as a possible threat to revenue streams, and most tourism businesses feel that Corporate Social Responsibility suffices; however, being willing to share the actual business with the community is a crucial step towards long-term resilience. Positive effects of community engagement include: - Allowing travellers to experience local life and culture, which adds authenticity to the overall travel experience. This is especially valuable as industry trends shift towards experiential tourism - Creating a personal connection between travellers and community, which is a powerful peace building tool to foster understanding between different cultures - Encouraging community members to offer tourist-targeted goods and services that may not be offered by traditional accommodation or tourism providers (e.g. souvenirs, local cooking classes). This could potentially create new jobs and bring in additional income for the community, strengthening the overall tourism ecosystem Engaging the community in tourism also results in including a wide group of people, occupations and industries in the value chain. This has the side-effect of diversifying a destination’s tourist offering – and in turn creating a stronger tourism ecosystem that can absorb shocks better because it caters to different audiences and markets. Using data is a tourism best practice, even in periods of relative normalcy. However, it is an essential resilience-building tool in a post-crisis context. Multiple data sources are now readily available to tourism businesses – ranging from official published statistics to online travel portal analytics. This data is invaluable when investigating whether information on offerings is easily accessible for those seeking it and whether the online infrastructure is in place to book travel. Kenya and the shifting model The Kenyan capital of Nairobi has seen several terrorist attacks in the past few years, most recently and notably the January attack on a hotel. However, the attacks did not receive overt media attention and travellers, too, showed less reluctance to travel to Kenya. This was a result of the general traveller profile shifting to that of Free Independent Travelers (FITs) who evaluate information and make decisions independently and are not reliant on tour operators. Moreover, it is an example of how travellers are moving from ‘official’ narratives to social media content. Travel marketing is undergoing a seismic shift from marketing destination to marketing experiences, with organic word-of-mouth marketing influencing other like-minded travellers. Travellers use online information, social media content and personal experience to make travel destinations. In this context, data is key. Analysing the traffic on and around a destination means a business can effectively craft and channel its product and its marketing. Digging deeper, TripAdvisor recommends that, beyond looking at traditional traveller demographics, businesses should try to identify the intent behind purchasing decisions. This allows the business to fine-tune its current offering and/or create products in parallel that would capture their attention in addition to what they were initially seeking. The trend in tour package travel is shifting towards dynamic tours where destinations, accommodation and activities are selected by the tourist themselves and not necessarily the tour operator. In conclusion, investing in the staff and management training, data tools, and promotions and marketing required to build resilience no doubt presents a challenge to the Sri Lankan tourism industry, especially in its current fragile state. It can be strongly argued, though, that it is an investment worth making. Embedding resilience in business models can only have a positive pay-off for Sri Lankan tourism in the long run.

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How to Write Meaningful Retrospectives In this article, we’ll break down how to elevate the 7 key elements of a retrospective to produce more meaningful retrospectives. Originally published on Failure is Inevitable. One of the foundations of incident management in SRE practice is the incident retrospective. It documents all the learnings from an incident and serves as a checklist for follow-up actions. If we step back, there are 7 main elements to a retrospective. When done right, these elements help you better understand an incident, what it reveals about the system as a whole, and how to build lasting solutions. In this article, we’ll break down how to elevate these 7 elements to produce more meaningful retrospectives. 1. Messages to stakeholders Incident retrospectives can be the core of your communication with customers and other stakeholders, post incident. We talk a lot about how retrospectives function best when they involve input and feedback from all relevant stakeholders. That doesn't necessarily mean squeezing tons of folks into one meeting or sending out one long pdf to a large group without thoughtful considerations. The best example of this is distinguishing between customer stakeholders and internal team stakeholders. Customers should be kept in the loop and assured that a resolution is imminent or has already come, but they probably don't need to know (or shouldn't know) the minutiae. Communicating retrospectives to stakeholders requires empathizing with how they use your services. Describe the incident in the context of what matters most. But don’t beat around the bush, either — you don’t want to come across like you’re hiding or downplaying the impact. Simple, factual statements such as “if you use service x to do y, you lost that ability for 12 hours” is enough to convey your understanding. Once you’ve established the impact, start to regain trust. Reassure stakeholders about relevant things that didn’t go wrong. In the aftermath of an incident, stakeholders could be worried that there are other problems that weren’t reported. Explicitly state that there wasn’t any data lost, or private information made public, or any other relevant concerns. Share your action plans with stakeholders too. They may not have the context to understand the details of your solution, but you can explain the impact your plan will have. Be direct to convey your confidence. Again, simple statements work great: “the outage was caused by insufficient server bandwidth. A new process will automatically expand bandwidth in response to increased load. This will alleviate an incident like this in the future.” This is the language of scientific research, which removes personal pronouns from the prose. It’s a great way to keep statements simple, avoid finger-pointing, and remain factual and ideally data-driven. By expanding your message to stakeholders in this way, they’ll understand that their pain has been understood, and addressed systematically and enduringly. 2. Monitoring context In more technical retrospectives, generally for study by internal development teams, it’s useful to include any monitoring data your system captures at the time of the incident. Did the incident occur during significant traffic? Did it also lead to slowdowns in other areas of the system? This information can lead to helpful revelations. But you can go even further with this data! Include long-term baseline measurements for these metrics to provide a standard. You might notice that some metrics follow a pattern that accounts for anomalies during the incident. Don’t mistake coincidence for causation. Also note where your monitoring data was insufficient. Can you think of any metrics that, if you were capturing them, could have tipped you off about the incident earlier? One of the main goals of the retrospective is to drive systemic change. Look for these opportunities to improve your monitoring system. 3. Communication timelines Hopefully you have a tool to easily build a communication timeline from Slack, MS Teams, or whatever else you use to chat. It’s important to know what steps were taken, how long they took, and when breakthroughs were made. Include information about what roles people played and what tasks they were assigned. However, it’s also important to see where miscommunication occurred. Did people do redundant work? Were some tasks or steps forgotten or skipped over? Were there misunderstandings about expectations? Note these issues blamelessly. It’s not someone’s fault if they overlooked something; they were doing their best in a stressful situation. That’s why you need policies and procedures to cover the gaps. Investigate these issues to develop policies that would prevent them. Inevitably, your war room discussion will have some chatter. You probably want to make an “all-business” retrospective that leaves out anything irrelevant, and that’s likely the right move for retrospectives that will be seen by external stakeholders. For internal retrospectives, though, this extra expression can be valuable. It’s good to see how people were feeling during an incident, when they felt stress and relief. It can open up thinking about the human side of incident response, and makes the retrospective more fun to review later. 4. Contributing factors A big part of the retrospective is uncovering why the incident happened. Without determining that, you can’t make systemic changes to be stronger for next time. The key to making meaningful and enduring changes is to dig deep. Techniques such as the five whys can help you find the causes behind causes. Illustrating it with tools like the Ishikawa diagram can make it easier to understand. When digging for these factors, be holistic. Don’t just think about technical issues, but dive into problems with training, headcounts, stress, personal factors in engineers’ lives — anything that could have impacted how people work on your system. Pulling in management and other teams into these discussions could be necessary when reflecting on major incidents. Of course, all this investigation should be done blamelessly. Assume everyone’s good faith and best intentions. If a mistake was made, look into what information or safeguards could have prevented it. Settling for punishing an individual will prevent you from making major systemic improvements. 5. Technical analysis This is a section mostly for your engineering teams. If there’s factors in here that should be understood by non-engineers, be sure to provide that information and its impact somewhere else in the retrospective report. Here, you should be detailed enough that future engineers can get useful information when resolving future, similar incidents. As you did with monitoring data, you should include information about how the code should work, and how it usually works. This context is important, as the intended function of the code may have changed by the time someone reviews it. You should also discuss how future development is expected to impact code in production. Knowing how the code is expected to run in production allows you to be keenly aware when incidents occur. 6. Followup actions This is one of the most important parts of the retrospective. All of your learning about why the incident happened should transform into actions. Find ways to change the factors that lead to the incident. The retrospective can act as a hub for tracking these items. As you review the retrospective, check and make sure they’re progressing. The followup actions don’t just have to address the direct causes of the incident. This is also an opportunity to improve your incident response policies, your tools of measuring the impact of incidents (like SLOs), your monitoring setup, even your retrospective standards! You can never be too holistic when solving problems. To motivate people to work on these followup tasks, include some context. Summarize why each action was chosen after the incident. Also discuss the impact it will have in preventing future incidents. No one wants to spend time responding to the same, or similar incidents over and over. It’s not only soul-destroying for the team, which can quickly lead to burnout. It’s also not good for business. You should include enough information that people will understand the importance without having to reread the entire retrospective. Including a narrative summary of the incident is often overlooked. It won’t contain any new information, but it’s still useful. All of this information can be overwhelming, so use this part of the retrospective as a way to make the incident approachable for future study. Think about it in terms of a story. You start with describing things as they should be. Then you introduce the problem and how it disrupts the norm. Walk through the experience of the affected customers as well as the team that was tasked to solve the issue. You cover what they tried, what worked, and what they learned. Rather than details, you should focus on impact in this section. How severe was the incident, and what made it so? When studying the incident later, many details will be irrelevant to the current system. However, understanding how people responded when things went very poorly will always be a useful lesson. Retrospectives play a huge role in documenting the details of an incident and its response. Not only that, a meaningful retrospective has the power to drive transformative change. If you find it challenging, break things down into gradual steps. Rather than trying to implement drastic change over night, take your time working through it, piece by piece. Get similar stories in your inbox weekly, for free Share this story: If you are still determining which option to implement DevOps is good for you or …

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Whether you’re in to product design, software executive, construction or any type of other sector, there is definitely usually even more than 1 way to get facts done. In terms of projectmanagement, both most prolific methods meant for getting elements done are definitely the classic waterfall style of project supervision as well as the cutting edge kid upon the engine block, perspicace job control. To decide which is best just for the needs you have, you need to establish a tough comprehension of the advantages and limitations of every type of project control strategy. In this article we browse the what is numerous regarding the two disciplines, and compare and contrast side simply by side the huge benefits and limitations of every single. Design project managing mimics the typical work flow procedure in any processing or building project since it is a sequential process. All the stages takes place in remoteness, and when complete, the team begin the following level in the collection. Waterfall task management relies upon thoughtful record keeping. This means we have a sharp newspaper trek to follow along with, permitting the process to be sophisticated and increased in the future. From the outset, the consumer will have a clear idea of what can be going to happen during project delivery. They are going to be aware of approximately what the price, timescales and size of the project will probably be, and will include a great idea of what to expect in the end. Once a stage in the procedure is over, at this time there is simply no way to return back and change tasks without scrapping the whole entire job and beginning once again. The entire method depends on solid primary requirements; in cases where these are flawed then the job is condemned to failing from the outset. The product is created in stages and only examined fully towards the end, meaning issues may end up being hence ingrained worth item that they are unattainable to clear out. Finally, this kind of job operations isn’t going to enable changes to the brief, hence if the consumer realises they should alter the short half method through, surrenders will want to become made in terms of budget and timescales. Agile was once recommended seeing as the perfect solution to many with the problems in waterfall job management. Rather than following a routine of stages in isolation, this method is dependent upon a great phased way to the project delivery. Project clubs start off using a very simple idea of where they are going, and in that case work on highly discreet web template modules in short ‘sprints’. At the end of every sprint the modules are tested to seek out any drive or imperfections and customer feedback is gathered prior to the up coming sprint occurs. Plenty of improvements may be made after primary plans are developed, actually rewrites and major adjustments are nearly expected. This makes it easier to add features and keep abreast of changes in the industry, possibly while the job will be sent. Regular evaluating ensures weaknesses happen to be outlined early on, that means that the item can end up being looking forward to introduction faster and is very likely to be a quality product. Using this method requires a good project director to keep tasks upon track and balance out creativeness with task delivery requirements. Since of the haziness of the unique project strategy, the last product can often end up being wildly different to what was at first designed. Deciding on a scheme The two strategies of project management both have their as well as place, plus the one which in turn ideal the needs depends entirely on your own specific simple. When you know what a final product should be and are generally self-assured the consumer will never have to change the range half approach through, design project managing is the friend. Even so in cases where quickness of production is even more crucial than the quality of the finished item and the client wants to be ready to modify scope part way through, agile allows for more overall flexibility and is certainly one of the things just about every job director should know regarding. To learn more reading in this article acquadinamica.it .

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COVID-19 vividly underscores the vulnerability of global manufacturing operations and supply chains. The disruption in our supply chains will hamper manufacturing for months and perhaps years. As we reopen and rebuild our economy, we must focus on sustainable manufacturing operations that are pandemic adaptive, resilient, and secure. Strengthening and securing manufacturing must be a top priority for our nation (1). While the U.S. has lost its leadership position in critical sectors, we have not lost our ability to innovate. We now face a tremendous opportunity for pervasive strategic overmatch via technology innovation inserted into our manufacturers. Our supply chains need to be PURE: Pandemic Adaptive, including operational modes that accommodate pervasive physical (social) distancing and remote work, Usable and accessible to everyone (e.g., soldiers, factory workforce, engineers), Resilient, agile, and able to withstand physical-world challenges such as pandemics, electrical grid failures, and cyber-attacks; and Economical so resiliency and security are maintained at all levels of the supply chain including small and medium sized manufacturers. Emphasizing this, on April 16, 2020, G7 leaders agreed to coordinate the reopening of their economies after the coronavirus pandemic and to ensure "trusted supply chains (2). It is apparent that many nations will consider how to ensure trust in supply chains and how they can achieve self-sufficiency in times of peril. The first step is to undertake a nationwide effort to strengthen and diversify our supply chains and manufacturing operations. We must diversify and digitally integrate supply chains to make them more robust, resilient, and responsive. As summarized in Foreign Policy (3) a new report by Dun & Bradstreet (4) calculates that 51,000 companies around the world have one or more direct suppliers in Wuhan and at least 5 million companies around the world have one or more tier-two suppliers in the Wuhan region. A limited number of primary suppliers cannot be relied upon. Rather multiple trusted suppliers, dispersed globally including the U.S., should be cultivated to respond to emerging needs. In the digital age, our supply chains and their operations need to embrace the digital thread (i.e., a communication framework that connects traditionally siloed elements in manufacturing processes and provides an integrated view of one asset throughout the manufacturing lifecycle). Thus, we create innovation pipelines that can be accelerated, decelerated, or repurposed quickly in response to national priorities. The end result is a flexible factory with built-in innovation serving to propel U.S. manufacturers to global leadership (1). We recommend implementing stockpile and inventory diversity in new ways and for an orchestrated effort to develop guidelines that a) recognize necessary raw materials, b) ascertain essential designs, templates, and data needed, c) identify the critical elements of physical infrastructure that are needed, and d) aggregate the technical expertise and manufacturing capabilities that can be deployed upon an emergency. This nationwide effort should also develop a plan for mobilizing these different stockpiles, inventories and the logistics associated with quickly ramping up production under emergency conditions. It must also consider the elements needed, the quantities, and the modes of secure storage. Identify, stockpile, and secure critical raw materials in a nationally orchestrated infrastructure including private companies. It is economically and technologically disadvantageous to stockpile finished products, especially if unused. Rather, we should establish the priorities necessary to respond to disruptions such as those in health, finance, trade, and cyber domains. This effort should also provide recommendations to the legislative and executive branches of the federal government for critical raw materials and infrastructures. Identify and digitally inventory designs, data, and templates needed for rapid scale-up. Digital designs that electronically represent a complete product can be updated continually to incorporate new innovations so that state-of-the-art systems and capabilities are immediately deployable. These designs, data, and templates will need to be cybersecure to protect U.S. intellectual property. Identify the critical facilities and machines needed for rapid deployment and inventory these in a federal digital infrastructure capable of rapidly and securely connecting OEMs and suppliers. A federated approach should produce recommendations on the type and number of critical facilities and machines that are needed to quickly ramp up highly-automated production. Inventorying this infrastructure ensures that we know where the necessary assets are located and how we can aggregate them upon need for maximum efficiency. Identify the technical expertise and manufacturing capabilities needed to rapidly execute the scale-up of production operations needed for critical manufactured goods. These assets are inventoried in the same centralized digital infrastructure along with facilities and machines, and thus, these assets can be aggregated and mobilized for maximum efficiency. In essence, we need to create flexible factories coupled with nationally inventoried raw materials, digital designs, infrastructure, and expertise that can be rapidly deployed and activated on demand. Build a digitally integrated and secure manufacturing ecosystem. Companies are scrambling to produce more respirators and the current pandemic highlights the need for a digitally integrated manufacturing ecosystem. Automotive companies have made valiant efforts to change their production lines from cars to respirators. This is not unlike efforts during WW II, when car factories churned out bombers for the war effort. However, these factories must be able to pivot their operations in a few days or weeks at most, rather than months or years. There are three critical factors needed to accelerate respirator production. First, the components that are needed must be obtained from the supply chain. That supply chain must be able to take the digital designs of the various components and scale up production to meet the demand. Second, a location must be ready to receive components, assemble them, and test and validate the final product. Finally, and perhaps most overlooked, there must be a highly capable workforce that can be trained to assemble respirators rather than automobiles. Only with a digitally integrated supply chain, an assemble/validation facility, and a well-trained flexible workforce, are we able to produce critical products like respirators. When a respirator ships, it would have a “digital passport” certifying that every component was made to specification and that the assemble system performed to all requisite standards. We now have a supply chain and manufacturing process that is “rooted in trust”. Expounding on this example, it is not necessary to have a large stockpile of respirators, stored in warehouses, ready for distribution. Storage of complex products like respirators is costly, respirators degrade over time and become outdated when brought into service. Rather, manufacturers must rapidly manufacture new respirators when needed. For those components that can be readily made, one might simply stockpile the tooling to make the components. For example, molds for polymer parts could be stockpiled rather than the parts. When the parts are needed, the molds could be rapidly brought into service. Taking this concept one step further, the digital designs of the molds could be digitally stockpiled, such that the molds can be rapidly manufactured via either traditional processes or next-generation technologies such as 3D printing (additive manufacturing). Ultimately, parts that lend themselves to digital inventorying will be stored in a “cyber warehouse”, and those that are not easily and rapidly manufactured will still be stockpiled. Examples of parts that could be digitally inventoried are the specialized connectors used in a respirator, whereas components such as motors might be physically stockpiled. Over time, as manufacturing technology advances, even more complex components such as motors or elements of the motors might be digitally inventoried. Another example of the use of a digital manufacturing ecosystem is the production of a single set of complex components such as turbine blades. Such blades are used for a variety of products including aircraft, helicopters, windmills, and even gas turbine engines used on M1A2 Abrams main battle tanks. Situations can arise where significant quantities of these blades are required. For example, deployment of any of these systems in a desert environment can significantly accelerate turbine blade wear due to abrasive sand. One solution to producing such blades in a rapid fashion is to 3D-print them. While 3D printing is a relatively new technology, results in printing turbine components are very promising. To print such blades, a file containing the “print” information must be securely transmitted to the manufacturing facility. During manufacturing, information related to that specific part’s fabrication can be stored in the parts own “digital passport.” Such a digital passport will travel with the part in a secure manner such that when the turbine blade arrives at its destination, the blade is fully certified and the process used to manufacture it completely documented. Hence, when the technician installs the blade in the aircraft’s jet engine, that blade is known to be genuine (not counterfeit), manufactured to specifications, and has not been tampered with. Again, the entire process becomes rooted in trust. Pursue manufacturing innovation with security guarantees. To enable innovation and competitiveness in advanced manufacturing, and to protect U.S. innovations and assets, we must secure our supply chains and manufacturing operations. A “pandemic adaptive manufacturing architecture” (PAM architecture) is necessary to support integrated orchestration of individual manufacturing automation systems so that local PURE manufacturing standards are practiced. Parts must be genuine and certified to precise specifications. Equally critical is protecting manufacturing facilities from cyberattacks that could hamper our manufacturing capabilities. Any of these scenarios could prove disastrous in either harming our people or curbing the ability to respond to an emergency. Furthermore, such a secure digital manufacturing infrastructure also helps us protect our designs and innovations. This PAM architecture must introduce sound cryptographic techniques to transform the physical identities of parts and products into robust digital credentials, or digital passports. A cyber-physical ledger infrastructure for the entire supply chain can be developed to record operations on each artifact and maintain its digital passport. With the advent of digital, machine, and expertise inventories, we can create, upgrade, and sustain flexible factory manufacturing operations to efficiently, effectively, and rapidly scale-up production. Thus, an innovative PAM digital architecture enables pandemic adaptive, resilient, and trusted supply chains. These concepts are applicable to turbine blades, respirators, and other manufacturing sectors (e.g., bio pharma and vaccine production). It is important that the vaccines developed by our nation’s researchers can be scaled up to hundreds of millions and even billions of people. Each vaccine must be genuine, produced to the exact formula, and not tampered with. Vaccine producing facilities will benefit from a well-conceived digital architecture to become secure and significantly more efficient, flexible, and resilient. Creating and maintaining physical, digital, and expertise stockpiles enables distributed modular manufacturing and quick pivots on the factory floor in response to pandemics. Instantiations of these processes can be performed in integrated facilities that currently exist in universities, Department of Energy (DOE) National Laboratories, and private companies. Performing these instantiations allows the analysis of the trade-offs between the granularity for stockpiling and the production cycle time. Critically, by inventorying the basic building blocks for physical and digital elements, we construct the basis for a root of trust in both the physical and cyber worlds. Thinking further past this single instantiation model, this integrated-facility approach creates a pathway to spin up new products and capabilities. The digital monitoring of the supply chain provides the ability to actually reprogram everything and adapt the granularity to the current state of the entire supply chain network – and this reprogramming can be done in hours. We are “automating the automation.” The PAM architecture will also be intelligent in self-monitoring and learning about past and ongoing operations, supplies, and demands; predicting and raising alarms about "the unexpected" (e.g., supply shortage, quality-degradation, or manipulation); and proactively proposing supply chain re-purposing/re-routing plans that minimize cyber, physical, economical risks and disruptions. These innovations require a coordinated approach that includes universities, DOE National Laboratories, private companies, entities like the National Center for Manufacturing Sciences, and existing Manufacturing Innovation Institutes. A federally orchestrated response is needed immediately to strengthen U.S. manufacturers, protect vital assets, and propel U.S. manufacturers to sustained competitiveness. As Bob Dylan prophetically stated in The Times They Are A-Changing, “for he that gets hurt, will be he who has stalled”. Let’s not stall, let’s take the initiative. Howard D. GrimesUniversity of Texas at San Antonio1 UTSA Circle, San Antonio, TX 78249Email: email@example.com: 509-432-4652www.utsa.edu Thomas R. KurfessOak Ridge National Laboratory2350 Cherahala Blvd, MS 6470Knoxville, TN 37932Email: firstname.lastname@example.org: +1-865-576-5733 Gabriela F. CiocarlieStanford Research Institute International333 Ravenswood AveMenlo Park, CA 94025Email: email@example.com: 646-693-0930 Dongyan XuPurdue UniversityDepartment of Computer Science & Center for Education and Research in Information Assurance and Security656 Oval Drive, West Layfayette, IN 47907Email: firstname.lastname@example.org: 765-494-6182 Lisa StramaNational Center for Manufacturing SciencesPresident and CEO3025 Boardwalk Avenue, Ann Arbor, MI 48108Email: email@example.com: 800-222-6267 Connect With Us

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Crisis management and business continuity are business concepts that revolve around the essential functionality of a company or corporation. Crisis management is a company strategy to deal with system-wide crises that threaten the business. Business continuity is an ongoing process that ensures a business is functional and accessible, both for workers and for customers. When a problem rears its ugly head, good crisis management and business continuity plans can prepare a business to deal with the issue and ensure that customer service and company functionality are impeded as little as possible. Many businesses face crises; natural disasters, workplace violence, market crashes, and public relations disasters can all throw a once-efficient organization into total chaos. In order to survive threatening situations, it is important for a business to have contingency plans available for a variety of difficult problems. Though safety of employees and customers is often the first concern of crisis management, the preservation of business continuity is usually the second most important issue at hand in a crisis. The relationship between crisis management and business continuity works in both directions. In planning for crisis contingencies, a business must create a plan for how the business will function as the crisis occurs. Some considerations may include the use of automated systems or websites for customers, remote and redundant facilities, and reserve funds to sustain a company through a monetary crisis. Business continuity can help crisis management by analyzing the market and function of a business and forecasting potential areas where a crisis may be most likely. Some business experts suggest that crisis management and business continuity plans both benefit from a consistent management program. Periodically, both types of plans need to undergo review and assessment to ensure that they are accurate to the times and understood by workers. Some experts suggest a continual cycle of reviewing, adapting, training, and implementing crisis management and business continuity strategies. Keeping both systems up-to-date and open to improvements helps ensure that training stays fresh and all employees are on the same page. Generally, a company that undergoes a crisis will have a better chance of survival if it does not appear to be floundering around in confusion about what should be done. One of the best ways to maintain a public reputation of confidence and aptitude is by ensuring that customers undergo little or no inconvenience as a result of the issue. By maintaining business continuity throughout a crisis, companies can reassure customers, employees, and the market, and may even pick up a few reputation points for being able to meet a challenge with a cool head.

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What is it about? The article is about 10 types of wastes (core manufacturing, support services waste and stress, waste) link to lean tools and the effects. This research limelights the negative and positive influence of lean tools on the waste in a business process. Photo by Jonathan Borba on Unsplash Why is it important? In a manufacturing setup normally the manufacturing wastes such as overproduction; waiting; transportation; over processing; inventory; movement; and defective products; human health, and space are focused. This article lists nine other types of wastes and its connection to lean tools and practices. This is the first study that connects the set of lean tools to various wastes in business processes. The results can provide a new approach to take remedial steps on lean tools that increase waste Read the Original This page is a summary of: Waste reduction using lean tools in a multicultural environment, Journal of Cleaner Production, August 2020, Elsevier, DOI: 10.1016/j.jclepro.2020.121681. You can read the full text: The following have contributed to this page

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Title: Disruptive innovation for the base of the pyramid market - a case study on China's Shanzhai cell phone industry Authors: Jianghua Zhou; Yunhuan Tong; Jizhen Li Addresses: University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Haidian, Beijing, China. ' Tsinghua University, Qinghua West Road, Haidian, Beijing, China. ' Tsinghua University, Qinghua West Road, Haidian, Beijing, China Abstract: This paper explores how firms can initiate disruptive innovation in the Base of the Pyramid (BoP) market. Based on the extant literatures on BoP and disruptive innovation, this paper adopts case study methodology and analyses the process of disruptive innovation of Shanzhai cell phone industry. Combining qualitative data with grounded theory, this paper finds that the structural disruption and the functional disruption of technology influence different factors of the business model of companies and the integration of disruptive technology with business model innovation is necessary for firms to initiate disruptive innovation. The companies with disruptive innovation can leverage the BoP-oriented small- and medium-sized enterprises and the existing industry system to fulfil the disruption process in the BoP market. The findings of this paper contribute to the research both on disruptive innovation and on BoP markets. Keywords: disruptive innovation; BoP market; business model innovation; China; base of pyramid market; cell phones; mobile phones. International Journal of Innovation and Sustainable Development, 2012 Vol.6 No.4, pp.392 - 419 Received: 13 Jan 2012 Accepted: 10 Jun 2012 Published online: 06 Dec 2012 *

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IT disaster recovery training Business Continuity and IT Disaster Recovery Blogs IT DISASTER RECOVERY TRAINING Disasters can strike without warning at any time crippling an organization’s ability to not only do business, perhaps even communicate internally, externally and all of the above. The most evident problem during any disaster is the break in communication or ability to share important data. The company’s internal network may be completely down, making it impossible for remote employees to access. Also throw in the breakdown in communication with suppliers, vendors, and strategic partners. Customers also may not be able to access the company’s website, imagine if some kind of disaster hits during the peak of the holiday period when sales are expected to be highest. If bad luck rears its ugly head, the worst case scenario can indeed be a nightmare, that’s why it’s important for companies to adopt IT disaster recovery training. To ensure a higher likelihood of successful results when recovering from disaster recovery, planning and preparation is essential. After all, if there is no plan in place, you and your employees may be simply winging it. Without a plan, there is no focus and direction, during emergency, that’s not a good recipe. Joint planning is important for all internal and external stake holders. When it comes to IT disaster recovery, training is vital. The causes could range from man made or natural disasters, cyber attack or human error. During attack, every department involved needs to be on the same page. IT disaster recovery training will help your organization develop a blueprint to navigate its way through any emergency. Any major disaster can affect the entire company’s existence, never mind bottom-line for the fiscal year. Joint planning between the key internal and external stakeholders needs to take precedence, it can no longer be considered an afterthought. Joint planning needs to take center stage. From the president to the ground-level support staff, everybody needs to understand the hierarchy of protocol. Anybody involved in any direct or contingency response teams need to understand their specific roles during times of disaster recovery where every single minute counts. IT disaster recovery training will help you put your organization in the best situation to handle whatever challenges come its way. IT disaster Recovery is the ability of a company to respond to a disaster or an interruption in services by implementing a disaster recovery plan to stabilize and restore the organization’s critical functions. Our training provides a detailed analysis of the most important concepts to grasp. IT disaster recovery entails data recovery, disaster recovery process, business continuity and contingency planning. It also focuses on the concept of Business Continuity planning that helps to provide security and resilience to the organization. Employees need to know the plan effectively well before any disaster hits. Not only does an effective plan need to be put in place, it also needs to be tested and analyzed with the key players concerned before the actual emergency happens. There needs to be a logical framework in place that promotes constant improvement via frequent action review. It needs to be proactive with the goal of demanding high performance from the key players involved. During disaster recovery, every moment is critical. Sign your organization up for IT disaster recovery training today. 1. 3-day CBRM (Certified Business Resilience Manager) is a comprehensive, all-in-one, 3-day Business Continuity Planning and Management Training and Certification course which is designed to teach practical methods to develop, test, and maintain a business continuity plan and establish a business continuity program. 2. 3-day CBRITP (Certified Business Resilience IT Professional) his is a comprehensive training on how to assess, develop, test, and maintain an information technology (IT) Disaster Recovery Plan for recovering IT and telecommunications systems and infrastructure in the event of a disaster or business disruption. The training provides a step-by-step methodology to ensure a reliable and effective IT disaster recovery and continuity plan consistent with the industry’s standards and best practices. 3. 2-day CBRA (Certified Business Resilience Auditor) It provides 2 days of intensive, Business Continuity Audit training to enable students to determine the effectiveness, adequacy, quality and reliability of an organization’s Business Continuity Program. Students will learn an audit methodology to evaluate compliance of Business Continuity and IT Disaster Recovery Programs with the current industry’s best practices and standards including: - ISO 22301: Business Continuity Management Systems – Requirements - NFPA 1600: Standard on Disaster/Emergency Management and Business Continuity Programs - ITIL v4: Information Technology Infrastructure Library

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The characteristics of aviation logistics enterprises 2021-06-20 15:32:25 In addition to the profitability and self-financing characteristics of general enterprises, aviation logistics enterprises also have the economic characteristics of aviation logistics, mainly including economies of scale and network economy And scope economics. 1) The economies of scale of aviation logistics companies assume that an airline only sets up a base in one city (that is, where the company is located), and only one aircraft performs round-trip flights from that city to another city, and each flight can reach a satisfactory level. Load factor (actual load/capable load). In one day, with the increase in the number of round-trip flights, the company's fixed costs (mainly including the fixed assets invested in the establishment of the flight base, the purchase of aircraft and maintenance equipment, and the salary expenditures other than flight personnel) will gradually be diluted, and the average cost will be gradually diluted. The curve will gradually decrease. 2) The network economy of the aviation logistics industry The network economy of the aviation logistics industry means that as the airline's route network expands, the density of flights on each route it provides increases, the load factor increases, and the passenger transfers through the network center. Increasing revenue and decreasing average cost due to the shortening of flight time. If an airline establishes a route network covering a wider area and more cities connected, the economics of this kind of network will be more obvious. When the route network spatially surpasses the effective operating range of a single airline, in a larger market, or between multiple regional markets, the interconnection between each airline network center will form an even larger network of. The interconnection between network nodes has further improved the convenience of air transportation, promoted the rapid expansion of market capacity from both demand and supply, and saved the total cost of the entire industry. This is the network economy of the aviation logistics industry. . The network economy possessed by the industry can synergize and amplify the network economy of a single airline, and further expand the network coverage of a single enterprise. In this sense, there is an interdependence between airlines' network economy. 3) The scope economy of air logistics companies If we regard the transportation services provided by air transport companies on different routes as different products, then a company is generally a supplier of multiple products. When an enterprise provides transportation services on multiple routes, it will show obvious economies of scope, that is, as the routes increase, the traffic volume on each route will increase correspondingly, and the total traffic volume will increase at an increasing rate. , So as to reduce the cost of unit product on each route.

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- junio 27, 2011 - 13:00 - ZLC, Lecture Room 221, Zaragoza (Spain) Assistant Professor of Operations Management Faculty of Management Sabanci University, Istanbul, Turkey Hybrid Simulation/Analytical Models for Reverse Logistics Network Design of a 3PL The assessment of the impact of recent environmental legislations on the treatment End-of-life Vehicles and Waste of Electrical and Electronic Equipment has demonstrated that companies are currently using recycling-oriented approaches. This recycling-oriented approach requires the design of a Reverse Logistics (RL) system rather than the design of closed loop system that is plausible for a remanufacturing-oriented approach. The reverse logistics activities in these systems involve collecting end-of life products, testing/sorting and redistribution of the sorted products for legitimate recovery options. A major distinction of these systems entails supply uncertainty in timing, quantity and quality of the end-of life products. In this study, we consider a manufacturer that has strategically decided to outsource the company specific RL activities to a third-party logistics (3PL) service provider. Given the locations of the collection centers and reprocessing plants, the RL network design of the 3PL involves finding the number and places of the test centers under supply uncertainty associated with the quantity of the returns. Hybrid simulation/analytical modeling, which iteratively uses mixed integer programming models and simulation, is a suitable framework for handling the uncertainties in the stochastic RL network design problem. We present two hybrid simulation/analytical modeling approaches. The first one is an adaptation of a problem-specific approach proposed in the literature for the design of a distribution network design of a 3PL. The second one involves the development of a generic approach based on a recently proposed novel solution methodology. In the generic approach instead of exchanging problem-specific parameters between the analytical and simulation model, the interaction is governed by reflecting the impact of uncertainty obtained via simulation to the objective function of the analytical model. The results obtained from the two approaches under different scenario and parameter settings are discussed. (Joint work Ali Cetin Suyabatmaz and Guvenc Sahin, Faculty of Engineering and Natural Sciences, Sabanci University) F. Tevhide Altekin is an Assistant Professor of Operations Management at School of Management, Sabanci University. She received her B.S., M.S. and Ph.D. degrees in industrial engineering from Middle East Technical University. Her research focuses on assembly and disassembly line design, production planning and design of reverse logistics networks. Her work on disassembly line balancing and capacitated lot sizing problem with setups has been published in International Journal of Production Research and OR Spectrum. Currently, she is interested in solving stochastic assembly/disassembly line balancing problems using stochastic programming and hybrid simulation/optimization approaches. She teaches MBA and undergraduate level courses in operations management, business process analysis and design, introduction to management, and business simulation and data analysis. She attends the yacht sailing races organized by the Turkish Offshore Racing Club since 2006 and has ran her first half-marathon in 2011. INFO EVENTO : - Fecha de inicio:junio 27, 2011 - Hora de inicio:13:00 - Fecha de finalización:junio 27, 2011 - Hora de finalización:14:30 - Lugar:ZLC, Lecture Room 221, Zaragoza (Spain)

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When you have a new product idea, the main concern is whether customers really need it and are willing to pay for it. It is very risky to spend so much money and time to create something not knowing whether it will work or not. Here Minimum Viable Product (MVP) comes into play. It is an early version of the product including the core features that target the main needs of the users. The information on customers’ interaction with the MVP will help test the product idea and choose a direction for further improvements. Before creating an MVP you need to make sure that the product you want to create addresses the right customer needs and is monetizable. We will design and create a clickable prototype for you to convince investors that the product you want to create is not just an abstract idea but rather a promising opportunity. We build an MVP from scratch. It is a less costly and a very quick way to test your product idea in the actual market and get feedback from the first customers.

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Far too many government IT and digitization projects end up in failure, with many either delayed or canceled altogether because the budget was exacerbated. While it’s easy to look at these scenarios and point to poor technology, more often than not, it’s misalignment that starts at the procurement and needs definition stage. When this occurs, it influences the entire project and the outcomes. To avoid failed and unnecessarily costly attempts at digitization, licensing agencies looking to modernize should first look to reimagine the procurement process starting with building a better request for proposal (RFP). When RFPs set the stage for failure An all-too-common scenario when it comes to IT procurement is to pull an old RFP off the shelf, update a few sections and requirements, publish it then wait to see which vendors are responsive to the specifications. The problem is, when you’re dealing with something as nuanced as digitally transforming an area of the licensing process, an RFP that lacks specific business requirements leads to unrealistic budgets and timeframes, and sets both the agency and vendor up for failure. It also limits evaluation criteria to cost and basic solution capability, overlooking other important measures such as a vendor’s approach to, and knowledge of, integrating with legacy systems, navigating the requirements specific to the licensing industry, and implementing effective change management. Additionally, when RFPs are based on traditional procurement policies, created when the world was paper-based, business was conducted in brick-and-mortar buildings, and interactions were in-person, they fail to account for the digital, cloud-based experience today’s customer expects. Both scenarios often result in less-than-ideal business decisions and ultimately adoption of unsuccessful digital solutions. You have to remember, the quality of your request could affect not only a vendor’s interest but the quality of the responses you get. Building a better RFP If you want to position your organization to select the right partner, consider the following tips for preparing a successful licensing solution RFP. 1) Analyze and clearly define the business needs If your organization has made the decision to put out an RFP for a licensing solution, you’ve clearly come to the realization something needs to change or improve within your current processes. It’s now your job to clearly communicate what those needs are and where the opportunities exist within your organization. Your RFP should provide significant detail about the issues, inefficiencies, and history of your current systems or processes. A lack of context and detail will leave vendors working to fill in the gaps or result in them providing misguided budget and timeline estimates. Vendors are working off of, and compiling solutions based on, the business needs outlined in the request. Failure to undergo a proper needs analysis and involve those on the front lines of delivery, will only lead to lackluster outcomes. 2)Involve both internal and external stakeholders To conduct a thorough needs analysis, you have to involve internal stakeholders across all departments. From senior-level managers to frontline employees, having a range of teams involved in the RFP process offers different perspectives on operational requirements. Since a licensing solution is meant to improve the efficiency and effectiveness of your entire organization, then your entire organization should be involved in the process. Collaborating and conducting internal audits can help you build critical components for your RFP such as the capabilities your team is looking for and the greatest challenges they face. This collaborative process is proven to provide better response rates as well. According to research by Loopio, teams are 20 to 30% more likely to be satisfied with their response rate when they involve more than 15 people in the RFP process. It also helps your team better understand what they actually do vs. what they say they do. But developing an effective RFP shouldn’t stop with feedback from within your organization. Equally as important are the needs and goals of your customer base, because, at the end of the day, a licensing solution is meant to serve them. Take the time to understand what’s important to them and how a solution can help solve their problems. Incorporating relevant feedback into your RFP can help your organization find the right partner while also becoming more customer-focused. 3)Tailor the RFP to your organization’s processes One of the biggest mistakes organizations can make in drafting RFPs is to broadly describe their organization and processes. Just as you want to clearly define your problems, you want to be specific about how your organization operates and what makes it unique. You also want to fine-tune requests to align them with your specific service offerings and products. Providing potential vendors with a look into what makes you unique will help them better tailor a solution to match your needs. You may even want to consider creating a glossary of terms or phrases related specifically to your organization. This may help keep parties on the same page and avoid a “lost-in-translation” scenario. 4)Prioritize your requirements When building an RFP for a licensing solution, you may tell yourself that you want it all. Or that improving a laundry list of processes is the priority. In fact, a typical RFP requirement list can range from 800 to 1000 items. The reality is, you’ll likely need to prioritize your requirements. For example, if your organization has budget constraints, having a prioritized list will allow you to make informed decisions on what to keep in scope and what to push to future enhancements. That’s ok though because rolling out a solution doesn’t have to be an all-or-nothing scenario. Not adequately prioritizing items can also lead to significant delays and scope changes. Keep in mind, the world outside is moving forward at a rapid pace and the longer your organization takes in implementing a major overhaul, the more things on the outside will change, which can lead to the project continuously having to be redefined. Start small and start with the area that will deliver the biggest impact, prove out the use case then move onto the next highest priority. 5)Focus on the desired outcome, not the specs Far too often, licensing organizations will focus too much on the specs of a solution or a vendor and not enough on the desired outcome. This is not what’s going to get the project over the finish line of success. While focusing on specs is absolutely necessary for a successful RFP, your goal as an organization shouldn’t be to have a standard, prescriptive set of tools but to achieve overarching success for internal and external stakeholders. When an RFP effectively communicates your organization’s goals and desired outcomes, it puts the onus on vendors and partners to determine the right specs and solutions for your organization. Build a Better RFP to Achieve Digital Transformation Success Quick Steps to Building a Better RFP

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Inventory Optimization Supply Chain. The supply chain is a connected process, with each link in the chain impacting the others. Leverage machine learning tools to augment performance, automate planning and more! While there’s no such thing as a perfect forecast, a lack of insight into the inventory control of your supply chain makes it nearly impossible to align product supply and demand. Organizations must consider a myriad of factors that add complexity to supply chain planning, including supply and demand volatility, fulfillment across multiple channels, product life cycles, raw material availability, disruptions from natural. In a nutshell, inventory optimization software seeks to do three primary things: This Position Will Report Directly To The Director Of Inventory And Reverse Logistics. Get your product concepts, features, and ideas validated by your target market. But before businesses can reap those benefits, they often. An inventory optimization associate be willing and committed to learning, working hard, implementing positive change, and being part of a dynamic company culture. Inventory Optimization Is, In Essence, A Practical Exercise In Balancing Capital Constraints With Meeting Target Service Levels. Manage cashflow and improve working capital with infosys bpm inventory optimisation. The first part provides an introduction to supply chain, inventory management, and inventory optimization. Optimizing across the supply chain achieves the supply chain frontier. Monitoring The Suppliers’ Reliability Is Crucial For Effective Supply Chain Operations And Inventory Optimization, Which Can Be Addressed By Automation. Common challenges for inventory optimization in supply chains. Generally, inventory optimization has received substantial attention, but supply chain segmentation has received far less attention, even though for most companies they will receive more attainable benefits from supply chain segmentation versus inventory optimization. The solution applies segmentation rules and services level parameters to determine the. Here Is A Closer Look At Those Core Components Of Industry Optimization: The challenges of traditional inventory optimization. However, without any changes to its operating policies, the same company could move to another point along the ad hoc frontier. Stay connected and access valuable data with microsoft dynamics 365. Collaborate In Optimization Oriented Projects. The complexity of the problem increases when more distribution centers and agents were involved. Inventory optimization will make you more competitive the world is going through several revolutions simultaneously; When done correctly, inventory optimization is powered by some of the latest emerging technologies, including machine learning, data analytics, artificial intelligence, and cloud computing, and by using proven inventory management processes, supply chain design and planning helps with inventory optimization.

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How Formal Stakeholders Impact the Business Continuity Plan Formal stakeholders include groups of people that have a direct, vested interest in the operation of a business. This typically includes owners or shareholders, employees, customers and business partners. A business continuity plan is a proactive plan used to establish means of continuing operations in the midst of legal, social or practical delays or impediments to operations. Stakeholders must be considered in business continuity planning. One element of a business continuity plan should address how to provide necessary products and services to customers in the event of a store or website shutdown. A retail store, for instance, may have to close temporarily to address safety hazards. The business continuity plan may establish a plan for temporary retail stations or kiosks at certain locations in the community. An online business may set up a temporary website if its main site is hacked or shut down. Partners in the distribution channel might address how to keep products moving in the event of a transportation problem or disruption in product availability. A retailer depends on the ability of manufacturers and distributors to transport goods to meet customer demand. A business continuity plan should address alternative distribution methods if primary transportation services, processes or routes are shut down. If a company normally sends goods via train, for instance, it might have a backup plan to use a truck fleet if train transportation is interrupted. Employees have a major influence on a business continuity plan, because they are integral in continuing operations of the business. One point in the plan should be to address how employees can complete their job functions if the office or business is closed temporarily for any reason. An alternative office location or a plan to complete work at home and communicate via an intranet or virtual platform might be included. Additionally, the company must plan for how to pay employees if its standard payroll services and systems experience delays or disruptions. Addressing Environmental Threats Customers, shareholders and local governments watch how companies handle criticism about business practices and environmental responsibility. Addressing these concerns proactively is often critical to maintaining a favorable image with these formal stakeholders. A business continuity plan also should address public relations strategies and techniques. This includes establishing a timeline and communication tools to use when responding to environmental threats. Neil Kokemuller has been an active business, finance and education writer and content media website developer since 2007. He has been a college marketing professor since 2004. Kokemuller has additional professional experience in marketing, retail and small business. He holds a Master of Business Administration from Iowa State University.

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How to move beyond quality improvement projectsBMJ 2020; 370 doi: https://doi.org/10.1136/bmj.m2319 (Published 27 July 2020) Cite this as: BMJ 2020;370:m2319 - Amar Shah, chief quality officer, East London NHS Foundation Trust; national improvement lead for the Mental Health Safety Improvement Programme, NHS Improvement and RCPsych; quality improvement lead and chair of QI faculty, Royal College of Psychiatrists - East London NHS Foundation Trust, London, E1 8DE, UK - , Twitter: @DrAmarShah What you need to know Quality improvement, by itself, does not represent a holistic approach to managing quality Quality improvement needs to be used alongside quality planning, quality assurance, and quality control to create a single, consistent management system Knowing when and how to use each of these four approaches, and creating an appropriate balance across all four, is the gold standard In recent years we have seen a proliferation in the interest and use of quality improvement in health and healthcare. This represents a promising shift in our mental models about how to solve some of our most complex quality issues. Alongside the increasing use of the word “improvement” in our everyday language within healthcare, there are differences in understanding of what exactly we mean by the term “quality improvement.” This article explores the difference between quality improvement and a quality management system, by defining quality improvement and describing how to best use quality improvement alongside control, assurance, and planning as part of a more holistic management system focused on quality. Is quality improvement the same as improving quality? Quality improvement should be seen as part of an overall system of quality management. Quality improvement is a systematic and applied approach to solving a complex issue, through testing and learning, measuring as you go, and deeply involving those closest to the issue in the improvement process.1 Anyone who has undertaken quality improvement work will testify that it is not easy—you are generally tackling a problem to which we do not know the solution, and where part of the answer is about behaviours, and hearts and minds. Quality improvement can be used to reduce unwarranted variation, reliably implement interventions that have been shown to improve outcomes, or discover new solutions through a process of innovation. As we are looking to learn whether a particular service or issue has improved, the process also …

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|Nowadays, there are more than 1,300 logistics enterprises in Vietnam. Logistics services have the scale of USD 20 to 22 billion per year which accounting for 20,9 percent of GDP of the country. Attendance at the deployment conference “ Action plan to improve the ability of competitive and develop Vietnam’s logistics services till 2025”, this afternoon ( 6/3), according to Deputy Minister of Industry and Trade- Tran Quoc Khanh, it’s necessary to has a framework to help People’s Committee formulate policies to support and develop logistics services. The enterprises also need to change in logistics services, if enterprises complete the tasks are set out in the plan, the enterprises still keep the habit “ Oh, please! Let us do this, do not outsourcing” then our services are not developing. Mr. Le Duy Hiep- Chairman of Vietnam Logistics Business Assocation. At the conference, Chairman of Vietnam Logistics Business Association- Mr. Le Duy Hiep shared, in the late 1960s- 1970s, logistics services of our country has gone through the initial steps with the name of forwarder and warehouse but only in shipping. But today, logistics is expected to play an important role in the economy. According in recent statistics of Vietnam Logistics Business Association, there are more than 1,300 logistics enterprises are operating in country, including foreign- invested enterprises. Logistics services in Vietnam have the scale of USD 20 to 22 billion per year which accounting for 40 to 60 percent of GDP of the country. If only count the most important part in logistics is transport which accounting for 40 to 60 percent of the cost, it is also a huge market. However, the statistics also showed that the community of logistics enterprises in Vietnam accounting for more than 80 percent of total logistics enterprises in Vietnam, but only undertaken some part in the small supply chain in Vietnam such as forwarding services, warehousing, customs clearance, bulk consolidation and market shares in port… Meanwhile, in some larger activities with international transport are due to companies, multinational corporations reponsible. In the other hand, foreign logistics enterprises occupy up to 80 percent of the market sharre, while they only have about 25 enpeterprises are operating, more than 1,200 domestic logistics enterprises in Vietnam hold the rest. However, Mr. Le Duy Hiep said we have to rectify with the media of logistics indutry in Vietnam. Actually, it’s not the turnover of foreign logistics enterprises are accounting for more than 80 percent as people say. If we count other services that are worked in Vietnam such as port operations, Inland transportation, warehousing,etc…, we are now occupy big turnover. It’s clearly to see that international shipping, international air transport and other services outside of Vietnam are limiting, because we lack of common worldwide system. Since there are many global enterprises established over 100 years, they have the better starting point than us. In order for Vietnam’s enterprises to gain the market share, Mr. Hiep said the enterprises should be brave to invest in infrastructure, hardware as well as software. Beside, it’s necessary to have a National Committee to coordinate logistics activities. Specifically, the National Trade Facilitation Committee ( Committee of country) should have some addition of management and coordination logistics functions. Nowadays, the Logistics Performance Index (LPI) ranked by the World’s Bank, Vietnam ranks 64/160 and 4th in ASEAN ( after Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand). With an annual growth rate of 16 to 20 percent, this is one of the most growth service industries in Vietnam in recent years. Decision No. 200/ QD- TTg dated 14th, February 2017 by the Prime Minister approving the acton plan of improve the ability of competitive and develop logistics services in Vietnam by 2025 confirms that logistics is a important service in overall structure of the national economy, plays the role of supporting, connecting and promoting to develop the socio- economic of the country as well as each locality, contributes to improve the ability of competitive of the economy. The launch of the Decision No. 200 is a great motivation for logistics enterprises in Vietnam, Since this is the first decision has been issued with a specific route with 60 tasks assigned to agencies, departments and localities to carry out clearly and have time to finish. Government also said that the development of logistics services become a service that bring to us high added value, connect logistics services with the development of goods production, import/export and domestic trade, infrastructure development transportation and information technology. Vietnam will develop logistics services in an effective way, provide more opportunities for enterprises of all economic sectors, encourage domestic and foreign investment attraction in accordance with Vietnamese law and all the international treaty which Vietnam is a member. Therefore, in the action plan of the ability of competitive and the development of logistics services in Vietnam by 2025, Government sets the target to 2025, the density of logistics services contribution to GDP reachs 8 to 10 percent, the growth rate of service reachs 15 to 20 percent, the logistics outsourcing rate reach 50 to 60 percent, the cost of logistics reduce to 16 to 20 percent of GDP, the rank of the Logistics Performance Index (LPI) reachs above 50th ( maybe 40 to 45). In order to facilitate all the target had been set out, in the future, it’s necessary to improve the policies, promote the invesment in the logistics infrastructure, intensify cooporation with foreign partners to expand logistics infracstructure connections. Investing to expand logistics infracstructure in order to connect Vietnam’s port to neighbouring countries. According to the plan, there are 6 main groups of task including: the improvement of policies, the law of logistics services, the improvement of logistics infracstructure, the improvement of the enterprises capacity and service quality, the development of logistics service market. Training, raising awareness and quality of human resources and other tasks. The expense for carrying out this action plan will be mobilized from other sources such as state capital budget, enterprises capital, loans from the credit institutions, international donates and other lawfully mobilized capital sources as provided for by law |Last Updated on Wednesday, 22 March 2017 01:18|

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As part of the series discussing potential organizational strucutres for IT, the Development organization must be understood as a strategic partner to the business. One way to think about it is that Operations is focused on the immediacy of today while Development drives the effectiveness of tomorrow. Development keeps the business in tune with the market and the company’s future direction. Superficially, this can make it sound like Development is simpler to manage than Operations, but it requires a different mindset than found in many Development organizations. Many either isolate the developers from the business (to keep them focused on that all-important code), others fracture the development staff so that they are almost part of the lines of business and are ultimately reactive. In my view, developers should be organized into functional groups that either support each line of business (silos) or by technology (such as a Mobile Applications group and a Portals group). Each has its benefits (discussed below). How does this not fall into the two traps I mentioned? By adding a Portfolio Management Office function. The weaker the PMO, the more strongly aligned to the business the development organization needs to be. With a true center of excellence in portfolio management, the development silos can break down and become technology centers of excellence. My diagram shows Portfolio, Program, and Project management. So, just what is the distinction? Project and Program management is fairly commonly understood – the simplest definition of a program is a series of projects. But it has been (well) said that the distinction between Project/Program management and Portfolio Management is the difference between doing things right and doing the right things. The PMO also contains Business and Systems Analysts who drive the acquisition of requirements from the business units. There will be more in a later post that I will devote to the PMO. Enterprise Architecture is what prevents the rest of the development groups from devolving into silos and fiefdoms. This group drives down the accumulation of technology debt by preventing bad decisions, promotes reuse and modular architecture, and ensures that systems have broad use across the enterprise rather than serving the needs of a narrow constituency. A word on frameworks at this stage. Just as Operations is the “home” of ITIL, CMMi, and Six Sigma, Development is the home of PMI’s framework (in the PMO) and TOGAF (in Enterprise Architecture). More on this later as well. An obvious question at this point: Agile or Waterfall? This post is already too long so I will address that in another post. Purists will be disappointed. Let me pose a question to the audience: Should the development staff be organized along lines of business as subject matter experts, or by technology competency so they provide shared expert services across the business? Conceptually, I favor the latter, though I have only seen it work properly in software development companies where they produce software for sale. In that case, technological talent is more important than deep subject matter expertise – it is the designers who must understand the business, not the developers. Is it impossible to use this model where IT supports the main function of the business and is not producing the product for resale?

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Multiple needs can arise: You have to solve issues in your products’ quality or positioning. The solution you offer doesn’t meet the customer needs. You are facing issues in identifying the actual customers’ needs or expectations. You must develop solutions with new functions to answer an ever-evolving customer environment Your manufacturing cost prices are too high on an aggressive competitive arena. You want to : - get back to the original margin rate that has been continuously decreasing over the years, - or decrease your market price while preserving your margin in order to gain market share. You must develop significantly less expensive products. Your objective is to save at least 15% to 40% on the manufacturing cost price, and yet, you cannot achieve more than 5 to 10% potential savings with your teams. The APTE method was created 50 years ago from Larry Miles value analysis works and was precisely designed to answer these needs. With specific tools of value and functional analyses, APTE helps youto reduce the costs significantly and better identify the users’ expectations in terms of products and packagings The objective is to optimise the products’ quality/cost criteria A range of 25% to 40% savings can be expected on manufactured products (with mecanic assembly, electrical). On products for which the raw material and compulsory process parts are significant, (such as food industry products for instance), the potential savings range from 5% to 10%. The implementation is eased by the fact that most of the savings solutions are actually improving the provided services. The APTE® method in practice: products and packagings optimisation The approach is based on the coordination of a multidisciplinary group. It includes different steps: - The writing of functional specifications for the product or packaging is key to : - Focus on the actual unmet needs for the whole set of users (not only final user). - « Forget » the existing solution as it is the condition under which the teams could re-design an optimal solution without any preconceived idea. - Identify the bare minimum needs of the users (neither under-quality, nor over-quality). - The qualitative and economic diagnoses of the current solution: the project team compares the product to the functional specifications. The qualitative diagnosis highlights: Use contexts not taken into account in the current product. Unmet or partially met functions (that represent a progress margin with a clear potential either to increase the market price or to take market share). The possible over-quality of the solution vs. the actual needs and expectations of the customers. Existing functions in the product that do not provide the expected service by the customer (possibility to take them out). The economic diagnosis measures the gap between the so called « bare-minimum » costs to fulfill each function and the costs actually spent for the current solution. These diagnoses will lead to the realisation of a progress plan which is the very basis for the search of optimised solution. - Finding out the optimal solution Once the causes of the quality and costs gaps are identified, a new solution can be designed. Creativity sessions will support the search for optimised alternative solutions. The goal is to identify alternative solutions that are fully meeting the specifications, with the help of the technologic principles tree (APTE methodological tool). Among the different solutions that have emerged, the group selects the bare minimum solution, being the solution that answers all the functions at the lowest cost.

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What exactly is Logistics Management? Logistics means an application of managing hypothesis that views the concepts of give and requiresubmission, creation and requirement, and money. Additionally it views the principles ofserious amounts of range, along with our error. Logistics is a part of the scientific discipline of economics. In running a business, it means techniques, practices, and elements utilised in the handling of the stream of services and goods in just adistribution and manufacturing, or service business. If you have any sort of inquiries pertaining to where and the best ways to make use of https://www.usgobuy.com, you could call us at our own webpage. Logistics Supervision refers back to the total operation where information are received,manufactured and located, and shifted from level A to factor B. In basic phrases, it is the scientific discipline of obtaining items and elements and leading them to be on the market to buyers if they are most needed. In reality, the whole reason for the method of logistics should be to improve the efficiency with which tools are moved around the supply chain. In offer chain supervision, these items are transferred across the offer chain in line with the method by which they may be created,taken and packed, and distributed. Put simply, the total provide chain is described using logistics concepts. Consequently, inside the broadest feeling, logistics managing encompasses each and every with the give sequence, including product formation, packing, transport, profits and promotion and fee. In this contemporary, global marketplace, handling the stream of supplies and merchandise is not only intricate and time-consuming, additionally it is high-priced. In reaction, many providers are finding that with the knowledge and expertise in encountered Logistics Administrators is usually a highly effective method of lowering charges and boosting functions. Basically, Logistics Administration entails analyzing probably the most cost-effective way to make it to the last vacation spot, examining delivery service routes, improving traveling times, finding bottlenecks, building a system for obtaining fee, and monitoring and solving any flaws which may come up along the way. Lots of institutions found that by utilizing an arranged, process-based Logistics Administration program, they could: Lessen logistical threat by avoiding paths that hold the greatest quantities of possibility, and that may not actually purchase them with their finished desired destination, lessen time necessary for shipping by streamlining the delivery approach, improving support services, improving cash flow by streamlining and expediting repayment techniques, and keeping a lot of money the complete structure had to keep the complete supply chain. Furthermore, with regard to proficiency, these same institutions have been in a position to improve the rate at which raw elements and complete goods are shifted around the provide sequence. Lastly, when it comes to productivity, quite a few agencies have realized that by effectively handling logistics expenses, they are ready to improve over-all lucrativeness, while being economical than it could cost you to deliver the same things at the sluggish schedule. Basically, dealing with Logistics gives a organization the opportunity to make important business judgements based on the best available facts. It permits a company to generate educated decisions, reducing the opportunity of expensive goof ups and helping the possibility which the provider will income eventually. The method requires the treatments for the movements of items involving their point of origins as well as their reason for vacation spot. This requires the arranging of resources such as man, materials and gasoline trucking, transport and people firms, along with the procurement of products and effort when needed. Furthermore, this process also involves warehousing along with the supply for earnings. Although the best getaway makes no difference excessive in supply sequence administration, it is actually critically important regarding protection. By way of example, if the corporation has to produce a certain substance to the desired destination, it needs to be provided there no matter if or perhaps not the shipping and delivery can certainly be finished. Logistics is only one part of the supply sequence, but it is vital in establishing the accomplishment plus the breakdown of the provider. Firms that have a detailed strategy on hand are more inclined to be a success. Additionally, the strategies included in inbound logistics and outgoing logistics will often be together with the other, although a lot of organizations prefer to handle their own individual inbound and outgoing logistics. Many companies, as a result of rate where they need to get goods from Factor A to Level B, hire out the complete approach. Because of this they are not able to thoroughly use their unique storage placetotal capacity and amenities, and staff members. Companies that is unable to match their own needs is definitely not as thriving as individuals which will use every one of the tools offered to them. Logistics Control is related to circulation supervision, which involves the movement of items somewhere between their point of origins along with their reason for syndication stations. Distribution control can include equally on-site and out of web page storage area and dispersal. In some instances, this sort of operations necessitates the travel of dangerous and detrimental products and solutions. Logistics which entail transport need the transporting of merchandise by a few conveyances, which includes planes, pickup trucks, trains and vessels and cars. Logistics also can include provision of warehousing for completed things. This particular warehousing requires splitting uncooked components and concluded things permitting for swift shipping and delivery and submission. A significant part on the circulation process involves the potential from the strong to promptly conform to rapid situations affecting theirproducts and manufacturing, and dispersal. Responding to those unanticipated occasions, the executives with the business should be ideal for quickly and effective action of goods inside and out of the manufacturing center. Precisely the same principles that control the sleek circulate of products within the give chain also apply to method of travel. When you have virtually any inquiries with regards to wherever along with the way to employ US forwarding company, it is possible to email us on our own web site. Linked articles or blog posts indicated by followers on the site:

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Inventory Management On Productivity In An Organization 1.1 Background of the Study It is a fact in materials management that continuity in production or provision of services on constant flow of required inventory. However, the question confronting the materials management remain, how much shall be ordered when the quality available is less than required to meet production demand or the quantity is less than order point and how best to plan and control the quantity of inventory needed at a given time. The focus of the materials manager is to reduce the two extreme ends of the spectrum, that is excessive (surplus) stock and adequate stock (stockout). The level of stock or inventory to be purchased or carried by an organization will depend on a number of issue, such as level of consumption, bulk purchase, discount, reliable, delivery dates, difficulty in matching supply with demand, speculation (availability or scarcity) and the company’s policy it is this prevailing dynamic circumstance that gives rise to the need for inventory planning for product availability. Inventory planning however, an enormous task that requires an astute combination of intelligence of what is actually happening to demand and that of what we expect to happen (forecasting). A closer look at organization annual balance sheet, it shows that assets account for between 60-70% of materials held in stock; yet proper attention, is hardly given to this aspect of management stacks and left at the mercy of the unqualified individuals. Inventory planning is itself has been explained as the determination of the quantity and quality required of a material, components, points and services ordering, control receiving, inspection and storage of the right material and the efficiency utilization of these materials to achieve organization’s objective. In this study a general understanding of inventory planning shall be considered as well as issue such as inventory control its importance to the organization, stock maintenance, material handling quality control and product availability among others. 1.2 Statement of the Problems Organizations in their effort to satisfy consumers demand for their product needs always to keep stocks of inventory at all times, since no organization can survive without keeping stock and ensuring constant flow. The problem that emerges from this is that of how best to ensure optimum supply without overstocking and understocking. Inventory planning and control is argued to be an effective way of overcoming these two extremes. Kaduna Refinery and Petrochemical Company however has been using these approaches in its effort of maintain stock and constant flow of their products, yet it has continuously experienced acute shortage of supplies. The question that arises here is that, what techniques are employed by the organization’s expediting network in ensuring that products needed arrives on time, and how effective is the inspection techniques of the organizations it is an obvious hat most of the problems that associated with inventory planning is lack of professionalism and misapplication store responsibility that is shortcoming has a big challenges to the entire organization. Above all the study is an to find solution to those problem as it arise. 1.3 Objective of Study - To determine the needs for inventory planning and control. - To determine the techniques used in inventory planning. - To determine how to establish constant flow of material in an organization. - To determine who is responsibility for inventory planning in the organization. - To determine the significance of inventory planning in material availability. 1.4 Significance of the Study The research is significant in many aspects, first the researcher will benefit immensely as it is a basic requirement in partial fulfillment for the award of Higher National Diploma (HND) in the department of Purchasing and Supply, Kaduna Polytechnic. It will contribute to existing knowledge as student can use it as a reference and understanding of inventory planning of serve as a consultation by other researchers who may likely carry out the same research or part of it work. It is also of the significance to the to the industry under study whom may likely want to carried out similar research. 1.5 Scope of the Study The work will be limited to inventory planning and it effect on products availability, the researcher did not intend to go beyond the department under study, the research will be conducted at KRPC within the following departments, Material Management Department (MMD) operation departments and maintenance department. These are traditional department that usually in needs of material at KRPC located at Kachia Road, Kaduna. The researcher will use 10% of 200 populations across three department to justify her work. 1.6 Research Questions - What are the importance of inventory planning and control? - What are the techniques use in inventory planning? - What procedures are followed to ensure constant flow of inventory? - Who is responsible for inventory planning? - What are the significances of material handling in inventory planning? 1.7 Limitation of the Study The research is likely to be limited by a number of factors which may combine to negatively affect the outcome. These limitations may be due to weakness of the instruments use for data collection, here the respondents are limited by the structure questionnaires. Again the attitude of the respondents may constitute a limitation as they may feel reluctant to give information they consider sensitive. The research design as well as the statistical tools used also have limitation that may affect the outcome of the study. 1.8 Definition of Terms This aspect were design to explain all the languages and terminology that were use during the exercise. Is defined as a list of all physical materials, stock items and equipment that kept in the store. It can be explain as a futurist activity that bridges that gap between initiating of an idea and the occurrence of the even itself. It means deciding in advance what to do when, how and by whom, it is therefore form relation of future course of action. In its simplest form, control is about making sure the objectives of the firm are achieved. It is the judicious use of personal or organizational resources of the achievement of predetermined goals. Bundle of an items that provide satisfaction manufacturing output or performed services. Economic Order Quantity (EOQ): This is a calculated ordering quantity than organization should order at any point in time. Is a situation where stock (safety) is held to meet unexpected demand. It can be defined as an isolated place where all kind of working and non working types of material such as equipment, spare parts are kept for safety and onward usage. Is defined as the means by which material of the correct quantity is made available as at when required with the regards to the economy in storage and ordering cost, purchases price and working capital. Is a system of stock control which basically analyze the stock by their important and value where a smaller volume of material cost and can result into production stoppages. Receipt of Stock: This is a document or stock receipt which involve all the material and item supplied to the store whether from internal or external supplies. These are issues from replacement items/equipment and suppliers which has been broken or how warned out or gone obsolete. This is defined as the disagreement between the physical and stock records. This comprise or part and material purchased from outside the organization to be manufactured into products. Post Production Stock: They can also be described as finished products held either at the factory or at warehouses and distribution centre elsewhere. This is the presentation of an adequate and balance inventory of material supplied within a minimum invest, so as tor educe storage and handling cost. It can be seen as the process of determining in advance requirement of material taking into consideration, the amount of stock in hand at any time will be in accordance with the stock control policy. These involve examining either physical stock or stock records for a particular class by commodity at a regular interval and taking simultaneous action or call the items required replacement. Discrepancies refers to the difference between physical stock/items and the document records either as a result of surplus or shortage usually after stocktaking. This is when quantity of an item in stock is more than reasonably necessary to provide an adequate services to production or operations activities in which the excuse is said to be redundant. This refers to when an item is going out of use but not yet completely unusable. When an item is no longer usable by the business concerned because of the change in operational practice or method of production. These are component spare, raw material are kept in store. Inventory Management On Productivity In An Organization The complete material will be sent to you in just 2 steps. 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Supply Chain Management and Logistics

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Business continuity, disaster recovery and crisis management professionals are challenged by the use of inexact and often confusing jargon. We use terms such as business continuity, disaster recovery, resiliency, hot site, warm site, cold site, recovery time objective, recovery point objective, business impact analysis, contingency plans, etc., that are often used to mean very different things. This creates a challenge for experienced and practiced professionals, not to mention the uninitiated. It can be confusing, and often leads to misunderstandings and gaps between expectations and deliveries. But, the one word I hate the most, the word that makes me cringe when I hear it, the word I try to eliminate from the vocabulary of consultants who work for me is: “plan.” Such a short, simple word. How can I possibly have such distaste for this common word, amongst all those other confusing terms, you ask? Well, I’ll tell you. What exactly do people mean when they say the word “plan?” And what exactly do people assume when they hear the word plan? There has been more than one occasion when a consultant went into an organization and had this conversation: CONSUTLANT: Do you have business continuity (or disaster recovery) plans? CONSULTANT: Can I see them? CLIENT: See what? CONSULTANT: Your plans. CLIENT: Oh, there is nothing to see, our plan is to … What the consultant was meaning to ask was, “Do you have a manual of documented business continuity policies and procedures?” What the client heard was, “Do you have a business continuity solution in place?” Then there was this rather uncomfortable moment I had in a corporate board meeting, in which I was reporting on the company’s business continuity posture: CEO: Okay, Joe, cut to the chase. You have been here a while: What is your greatest fear that could impact our ability to operate our business? JOE: A data center disaster. This is the one disaster that will impact your operations world-wide and bring everything to a halt. CEO: But, we have taken care of that. Our IT director just gave us a presentation last month on his disaster recovery plan in case of a data center disaster. JOE: Yes, I saw that presentation. His plan is a plan to build out a recovery capability, but you have no recovery capability today. His presentation showed a back-up site that he recommends be established, but isn’t there today. If your data center goes down today, you are out of business. CEO: (Turning to the IT director), “Is that true? We don’t have a recovery plan today?” IT DIRECTOR: No, we have a plan. It is just going to take us 15 months to get it up and running if the budget gets approved. CEO: Oh, that’s not good. I was under the impression we had a plan in place and not just a plan to build a plan. I have seen it time and time again. The board of directors does what it is told to do: Ask if we have a plan in place. The responsible party gives a nice, terse “yes” and everybody is happy. Then I come in later and explain, “Well, you might have a recovery ‘plan’ but you don’t have a recovery capability.” I instruct my consultants: If you want to know if a company has a recovery capability, ask what its recovery capability is; if you want to know if the company’s capabilities are supported by documented policies and procedures, ask to see documented policies and procedures. My consulting plan is — avoid the word “plan” — and, be more precise by stating what you want that word to mean. For more information, please visit www.safeharborconsulting.biz.

Supply Chain Management and Logistics

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Once the unsung heroes of the newsroom, copy editors have been laid off in droves as media companies become leaner, meaner and riddled with typos. But amidst the collapse of the old journalism model (it does have some upsides) some writers have gone out of their way to praise their proofreading, spell-checking, comma-correcting former coworkers. Perhaps copy editors will be missed after all: - Everything Is Different Today, grumbles Gene Weingarten, who sarcastically puts Lady Gaga in his headline in order to "maximize" the amount of hits his article will get."All stories are due now, and most of the constipated people are gone, replaced by multiplatform idea triage specialists. In this hectic environment, mistakes are more likely to be made, meaning that a story might identify Uzbekistan as 'a subspecies of goat.'" Weingarten clearly misses his copy editors. - Editing Could Make A Comeback, writes Alexis Madrigal for The Atlantic. In an "intuitive argument," he lays out several reasons why. More people "have realized the value" of a aesthetically pleasing design bereft of typos. He concludes: "Writers might blaze the trails, but editors maintain the roads. The vines are creeping and the potholes are growing. And maybe letting the road deteriorate is really the only way to make audiences and media companies realize the value of those whose names do not appear underneath the headline." - Let's Hope It Makes A Comeback, responds Meenal Vamburkar at Mediaite, who riffs from Madrigal's piece. "Editing is necessary in the same way that fact-checking is--yet in the 24/7 news cycle, it's often overlooked in order to save time. Perhaps it's because publishing something online feels less concrete than ink on paper, but that's hardly an excuse." - Revenge Of The Copy Editor Mike Taylor at Mediabistro also documents the recent clamoring of writers lamenting the rise in grammatical mistakes. "We can say that the forces governing the current state of media--limited budgets and the rapid-fire demands of Internet publishing--continue to work against the droves of unthanked and underappreciated guardians of syntactical propriety. Nevertheless, it's comforting to know that the copy editing discipline is dormant rather than extinct." - Confessions Of A Copy Editor In a hilarious, self-appraising article for The Awl, former copy editor Lori Fradkin dishes out the good, the bad, the ugly and the plain weird that comes with the job. "You can't simply shut off the careful reading when you leave the office. You notice typos in novels, missing words in other magazines, incorrect punctuation on billboards. You have nightmares that your oversight turned Mayor Bloomberg into a 'pubic' figure."

Supply Chain Management and Logistics

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SpaceChain Invests in Core Semiconductor to Produce Open Hardware Platform SpaceChain Foundation today announced it has contracted and invested in Core Semiconductor, an innovator in provably secure computing platforms for all connected devices, to produce the world’s first open-source hardware platform capable of providing a downlink to mobile phones and small devices directly from satellites in orbit, without the use of a satellite dish on Earth or a third-party network. With security inherently built-in, the technology is designed with the blockchain industry in mind and to bring blockchain applications to a global user base. The technology is designed for low bitrate applications of around 1250 bytes per minute, making it ideal for verifying blockchain hashes and encrypted signatures. “GPS is a low data rate protocol that has transformed the way we navigate the world and created over US$400 billion in equity value,” said Jeff Garzik, SpaceChain Foundation co-founder and CTO. “We want to do the same for emerging digital economies. Adding secure direct downlink and location capability to devices on a robust multi-layer global decentralised infrastructure will bring blockchain to mass adoption.” “We look forward to our long-term partnership with SpaceChain as we collectively uncover new possibilities and opportunities with next-generation open-source innovations,” said Jeff Dionne, CEO, Core Semiconductor. “This milestone underscores how we can unlock the benefits of the New Space Economy.” SpaceChain Foundation believes in the future of open-source blockchain hardware and is an investor in Core Semiconductor. This partnership allows for accessibility and unencumbered collaborations, and marks the beginning of a number of planned components to support decentralised space hardware and the New Space Economy.

Blockchain and Cryptocurrencies

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Bureaucratic system workers, who work with the database, will soon be replaced by blockchain! With the hundreds of inventions has been evolving every day, the way we live in the world has changed towards better livelihood. A very recent talk of the town is Blockchain, not only the business professionals but also common people have started discussing it. But, what exactly is behind in this kind of permeating? So, we are going to see blockchain, its benefits and the steps to follow to build a blockchain app through this blog. What is Blockchain? As said in the beginning, blockchain is going replace the digital database system and instead of that, the information can be stored in the series of blocks. The decentralized database can be linked with previous blocks. The information of every transaction can be updated at all the devices simultaneously. With the risk-free transactions and safe data ledger, the blockchain will be tracking and maintaining data by using the distributed database. Bitcoin is the first decentralized digital currency, which is functioned by using blockchain technology. Benefits of Blockchain Applications 1. Easy Transactions Blockchain application is just a matter of a second! When you develop a blockchain android & iOS app as your own, you no need to wait for hours to create bank accounts for transactions. With blockchain application, you need to spend just 5 minutes and you can perform transactions anywhere in the world. In this technology, there are no broker and banks involved. This makes everything easier and safe. The best traits of using blockchain technology are the decentralized and the transparent transaction. Bitcoin reduces the stress over inflation, as it doesn’t involve in printing money. Moreover, the government is looking to add restrictions of cash circulation. With these moderations are being expected, bitcoin comes as decentralized and provide comfortable transactions despite the distance of countries. 3. Unmatched Safety Level Another reason that supports the usage of bitcoins is the unmatched safety level it provides. The data is stored in the series of blocks which is highly difficult to tamper. Bitcoin transactions are performed by smart algorithms and cryptography of the highest level so that it is highly protective of scammers. If you still worry about the skilled hackers, you have another way called “Cold Keeping”, which is completely impossible to steal. 4. Public Verifiability Creating a blockchain mobile app allows anyone to verify correct system working. Each transaction is being confirmed by verifiers in a distributed ledger. Privacy and Integrity Privacy and integrity are the critical systems in any system. But there is a conflict between keeping privacy and transparency. When the system is centralized, privacy becomes certainly easier, but in a decentralized like blockchain, the transparency becomes prior. Steps to Develop a Blockchain App for iOS & Android 1. Figure out Strategy To commence the blockchain application development, first and foremost, figure out the application strategy, which suits your business. Being knowledgeable about the creation of application and the reasons for creating the applications credits you with the successful output. If you want a blockchain android & ios app built as your own, make sure you are aware of primary goals. 2. Understand How You Are Going to Handle While you are in the developing process, you must decide how you want to handle the blockchain database. It can be either public or private or hybrid. When the database is activated as public, anyone can access the transaction history. Private infrastructure doesn’t require cryptocurrency mining whereas hybrid platform private and public Blockchains. 3. Analyze the Solutions Available After a deep analysis, we have compiled available solutions in the below section, For running a public blockchain, you must go with open blockchain like Ethereum/Bitcoin. If you want to create a private blockchain network, you must install blockchain software and run it privately without third-party access. Additionally, you will have options of creating a private network with partners and trusted peers. You can go to cloud base solution provider such as IBM, BlueMix, Amazon Web Services and Microsoft Azure, which provide Blockchain as a Service (BAAS) Starting a public blockchain network enables anyone to become a node 4. Use a Proof-of-Concept Approach To create a blockchain android app, you must test your idea with a Proof-of-Concept approach. It offers the easy ways to test the business outcome. Since POC is not so expensive, a thorough follow-through is enough for data migration project to become a success. You must confirm that the success measurement criteria are clearly defined, before starting a Proof-of-Concept approach. 5. Blockchain Software Development Develop to a specific platform/to a cross-platform framework and which tools you must use are the two critical decisions, which you should make while the initial stage of the development process. Deciding what must be chosen is highly critical that everyone must take care of. Both of them have development advantages and challenges. 6. Launch the Application The final stage of developing a blockchain ios app is to run it in the production. Now it is ready to be sold on the app store or Google play after successfully testing it with user acceptance. Recap Along with the plethora of technology emergence, the changes and innovation continue to grow up. The blockchain is one such technology that certainly conquers the future fund transactions. Having any thoughts to share regarding this blog? Cast your comments in the below comment section! All Rights Reserved

Blockchain and Cryptocurrencies

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What Are Blockchain Games? Cryptocurrency has been widely talked about in the past few years, as it has brought up questions about investing and technology. Another recent development in this space is the use of blockchain technology for gaming. What are blockchain games? Keep reading to learn how blockchain gaming works, the risks involved in blockchain gaming and how to get started with some of the top blockchain games. What Are Blockchain-Based Games? Blockchain technology, which is used to power cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin and Ethereum, is a ledger of transactions that is distributed across a network of computers. The decentralized model makes it difficult for people to alter the transaction information because the records must be the same across the whole network. How Is Blockchain Used in Games? Typical gaming systems are centralized, so users can use their game earnings — such as XP or in-game currency — in only one game. However, blockchain games use a decentralized model so that users own their game data and can use it across other blockchain games. For example, if a user is playing one blockchain game where they win XP and weapons, they can choose to bring those winnings over to another game when they leave. They could also sell them or trade with another player. How Do Blockchain Games Make Money? Some blockchain games also offer users the ability to earn cryptocurrency while playing. There are many different ways to earn crypto, which is determined by the individual game. Blockchain games are also known as non-fungible token games. NFTs are digital tokens that represent a unique item. They have unique metadata that makes it impossible to replace one token with another. Blockchain gaming uses NFTs to create different parts of the game, such as rules, characters, weapons and skins. Since NFTs are unique, they bring value to the game assets. With play-to-earn games, players can sell their NFTs at a market, exchange or auction to earn cryptocurrency. The value of each NFT is based on the current market as well as the NFT’s unique characteristics. Who Plays Blockchain Games? Many types of people play blockchain games. The three most popular blockchain games have over two million monthly users. Most users live in the U.S. or the Asia-Pacific region, including countries such as the Philippines, China, Thailand, Indonesia, India and Vietnam. Age-wise, millennials between the ages of 25 and 34 represent approximately 37% of crypto gamers, followed by Gen Z between the ages of 18 and 24 at approximately 27%. That said, users between the ages of 45 and 54 and users over 65 are the groups that have seen the most monthly growth recently. Blockchain Game Risks While blockchain gaming may sound like a fun way to make some side income, there are a few things to be aware of before you get started. First, some games have accessibility barriers. For example, to begin playing Axie Infinity, users must have at least three Axies, which may cost around $300 as an initial investment. There is also the risk that you may lose some of your tokens or cryptocurrency. For example, the founder of Hedgie lost more than $1 million in NFTs caused by a scam, while Ronin, the blockchain used by Axie Infinity, was hacked for more than $600 million. Since blockchain gamers do not have to comply with some financial standards, such as anti-money-laundering regulations, fraud may be more common in games than in simply trading cryptocurrency. Finally, players may lose money from typical market fluctuations. However, some games limit how often players can withdraw their tokens, which adds to the risk that players won’t be able to make withdrawals in time to limit their loss. How To Start Playing Blockchain Games To begin playing blockchain games, you will first need to own cryptocurrency and store it in a wallet. Many blockchain games are built on Ethereum, so you would need to purchase Ether to play them. However, you will need to research exactly what kind of cryptocurrency and wallet is best for you. You will then need to choose which game you want to play for next steps. Consider what kinds of games you would find fun, how much it costs to start playing, whether you understand how to play the game and how the game economy works. Top Blockchain Games Below is an introduction to some of the most popular blockchain games. Axie Infinity players collect Axies, which are NFTs that can be used to battle against other players. When players win a battle, they earn Smooth Love Potion, which can be sold for Axie Infinity Shard tokens. Axies can also be traded, bred and collected. As of July 2022, AXS is worth $15.64. Decentraland allows players to build a three-dimensional world by buying in-game land and constructing just about anything. Players can create separate games on their land, open a store and more. Decentraland users must own Ethereum and be able to purchase MANA currency. As of July 2022, MANA is worth $0.9255. Alien Worlds is a sci-fi game where players need to capture alien NFTs that are used to mine items, upgrading along the way. Players can use the TLM tokens to trade NFTs, win battles or complete missions. To start, players will need mining tools, land and TLM. As of July 2022, TLM is worth $0.02722. Blockchain games use a decentralized model so that players own their game earnings and can use them across other crypto games. Blockchain games use NFTs to create unique items, characters, rules and more. Many blockchain games have a play-to-earn model, where players can earn cryptocurrency. For example, NFTs can be sold on a market, exchange or auction at a price based on market conditions and each NFT’s unique characteristics. Some of the top blockchain games include Axie Infinity, Decentraland and Alien Worlds. However, some of the risks included in playing blockchain games include accessibility barriers and losing money from fraudulent activities or market fluctuations. Information is accurate as of July 21, 2022.

Blockchain and Cryptocurrencies

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Ethereum is open access to digital money and data-friendly services for everyone – no matter your background or location. It’s a community-built technology behind the cryptocurrency ether (ETH) and thousands of applications you can use today. This introductory paper was originally published in 2014 by Vitalik Buterin. Polygon is a decentralised Ethereum scaling platform that enables developers to build scalable user-friendly dApps with low transaction fees without ever sacrificing on security.Polygon combines the best of Ethereum and sovereign blockchains into a full-fledged multi-chain system. Ethereum’s Internet of Blockchain. Avalanche is an open and programmable smart contract platform for decentralized applications. A platform for institutions, enterprises, and governments.. Asset Issuance & Trading. Central Bank Digital Currencies (CBDC) Debt Financing. The paper outlining the architecture of the Avalanche platform and the various features that make it unique. Fantom is a high-performance, scalable, EVM-compatible, and secure smart-contract platform. Fantom’s mainnet deployment—Fantom Opera—is built on Fantom’s consensus mechanism, Lachesis. Fantom is a leaderless, asynchronous, and byzantine fault-tolerant Layer 1 blockchain protocol. This paper consolidates the core technologies and key concepts of our novel Lachesis consensus protocol and Fantom Opera platform. Solana is the fastest blockchain in the world and the fastest growing ecosystem in crypto, with thousands of projects spanning DeFi, NFTs, Web3 and more.Solana is an open source project implementing a new, high-performance, permissionless blockchain. The Solana Foundation is based in Geneva, Switzerland and maintains the open source project. Solana: A new architecture for a high Polkadot is built to connect private and consortium chains, public and permissionless networks, oracles, and future technologies that are yet to be created. Polkadot facilitates an internet where independent blockchains can exchange information and transactions in a trustless way . Cardano is the first blockchain platform to evolve out of a scientific philosophy and a research-first driven approach. Cardano is the first blockchain platform to be built through peer-reviewed research, to be secure enough to protect the data of billions, scalable enough to accommodate global systems, and robust enough to support foundational change. Vision for a heterogeneus multi-chain framework.

Blockchain and Cryptocurrencies

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