Production and International Logistics Case Study

Production and International Logistics - Case Study Example In the early 1900, Henry Ford, the owner of Ford Motor company became the world's richest men by his mass production success in the automobile industry. During World War II, the US government also requested him to mass produced bomber air crafts for the US Air Force. Ford Motor Company's production system during those years is a good example of a mass production system. Demand was so high, Ford has to mass produced to satisfy demand. Ford has all the good reason to hold high inventories during those years, that was, to please his customers by keeping a steady supply of his automobiles. This is also one of the reasons why some firms chose to mass produced. Another reason is the uncertainties in supply and supply capacity (Morton 1999). Toyota saw the success of Ford Motor but cannot replicate Henry Ford's production strategy due to the devastation suffered by Japan's economy after the war. This gave birth to a new concept of production where inventory level is zero, the lean production system, otherwise known as the Just-in-Time or JIT system. In the Machine That Changed the World, James Womack, used 'the term lean production to describe the profound revolution in manufacturing that was initiated by the Toyota Production System (cited by Asay, D. and Ott, S ,1998 ). Toyota's factories, along with most of its suppliers, can be spotted around Toyota City. Delivery of components and parts depended on the speed of the assembly line, and parts were delivered using logistics just at the right time when these are needed. The system eliminates the need to carry large inventories but close coordination between suppliers and logistics for the success of the system. When delivery of components or raw materials lagged behind, or when there are defects on deliveries, the strategic advantage and benefits that could have been gained from using the lean concept would be defeated. This led adherents of JIT to embark on a system of managing inventory and logistics in collaboration with total quality management (Heizer, Render 2001). The movement of supplies and other commodities from suppliers to users or consumers in the supply chain is a function of logistics. This is particularly important in a global economy where competition is borderless. International logistics therefore plays an important role in the success of production. The following section compares and contrast the traditional mass production system and lean production system. 2.0 Mass Production vs. Lean Production Traditional mass production differs from lean production in its overall organizational characteristics and manufacturing methods. Let us compare and contrast mass production as against lean production on the following terms: business strategy, organizational culture, customer relationship, production and scheduling, inventory management, quality assurance, information management and manufacturing cost. 2.1 Business Strategy In mass production strategy, the focus is on exploiting economies of scale of existing products and technologies. This strategy takes advantage of the decrease in the unit cost of the product as the volume of production per period of time increases (Kroll, et al, 1996). On the other hand, lean production strategy is customer focused. It seeks to identify and exploit new opportunities and competitive advantage through product design,

Materials and Inventory Essay Example for Free

Materials and Inventory Essay In the S, T, and P facilities, it has been identified that some of the manufacturing processes are related with one another. Due to the interrelatedness and the other problems seen from the different facilities, it is seen that a problem from one facility affects the others. This is observed to be especially true for the area of the management and inventory control. Materials management is oftentimes associated to inventory control and this is defined as the act of â€Å"managing the organization’s raw materials, work-in-process, finished goods, and products in-transit† (Griffin, 2002 as cited in Adam Sammon, 2004, p. 28). The primary focus of the materials and inventory management involve being accountable for all WIP and stock, coordination with the suppliers in order to organize production requirements, maintain a desirable inventory level, manage the processes related to physical inventory audits, establish automated forms of inventory systems, manage the condition and coding of the materials, coordinate with or manage the purchasing department, discuss with major suppliers regarding the prices and terms, choose new suppliers, ensure that the methods in existence are in sync with the changes in the environment (Charvet, 1997). The importance of these processes would lie on the need for materials and inventory in creating a long-term advantage in terms of competitive grounds (Jamal et al., 2007). Upon a review of the situation for the three facilities, there are several findings that are worth noting. First, the frequency as to when the accessory parts run out in S facility is seen to be declared on a habitual interval. The causes and implications of this could include that the T and P facilities are not able to meet the demands of the S facility because identification of the quantity is not fully carried out by the T and P facilities. Moreover, it could be that there are problems with the shipping schedule from the T and P facilities wherein the time as to when the accessories are needed in the S facilities is not clearly identified or unknown that is why shipments are not organized. Second, formal receipt of the materials needed for production in the T and P facilities is not present as well as a system in order to reflect this to have arrived at the T and P facilities in order to acknowledge the shipment from the S facility. The establishment of a system would also entail the need for the creation of a formal receiving dock where shipments pass through. It allows for the inspection of the shipments and the respective entry into the inventory system of the respective facility. Third, concerns arise, too, with the wasted productions due to malfunctioning equipment or wrong materials used. Incidences such as this could be experienced when routine maintenance on the equipment and evaluation of the materials is not carried out to ensure that errors are minimized. In light of the problems identified for the materials and inventory aspect, there are recommended measures that are used in order to resolve the problems. First, it is necessary for the facilities to have a computerized inventory system wherein the necessary parts are interrelated with one another. The benefit derived from having a computerized system for the inventory control is attributed to its ability to organize the data of the organization in an efficient manner and the reduced costs associated with inventory control (Palmer, 2005). Second, there is the need to provide for a receiving dock for the shipments wherein the materials shipped are immediately entered into the system to reflect both an acknowledgement receipt and confirmation to the other facility from which it came from. This makes inventory easier as it is done as the shipments are brought in which means that it is always update. Third, training with regard to the evaluation and maintenance of the equipment should be provided to the employees who are responsible for this. Likewise, there should be a regular schedule for assessment of equipment condition and materials to ensure that disruptions and errors are kept to a minimum. References Adam, F. Sammon, D. (2004). The enterprise resource planning decade: Lessons learned and issues for the future. Hershey, PA: Idea Group Publishing. Charvet, S. (1997). Words that change minds: Mastering the language of influence. (2nd ed. ). Authors Choice Publishing. Dubuque, IO: Kendall Hunt Publishing Company. Jamal, N. M. , Mastor, N. H. , Saat, M. M. , Ahmad, M. F. , and Abdullah, D. F. (2007). Cost and management accounting: An introduction. Johor Darul Ta’zim: Muapaat Jaya Percitakan Sdn. Bhd. Palmer,D. (2005). Maintenance planning and scheduling handbook. New York, NY: McGraw-Hill Professional.

Catcher In The Rye :: essays papers

Catcher In The Rye Holden Caulfield is teen angst bull-crap with a pickax. He's sarcastic, nasty, and completely unlikeable. He also doesn't give a crap. He is every teenager caught between the crapy little games of high school ("you're supposed to kill yourself if the football team loses or something") and the fear of adulthood ("going to get an office job and make a lot of money like the rest of the phonies"). The greatness in Holden Caulfield is that what he has to say is better than a million Celestine Prophecies or anything said by Jonathan Livingston Seagull (save for the squawks after you shoot him) or Jesus (save for the apocryphal "hey Peter I can see your house from here"). Holden Caulfield says that life sucks, everyone is a phony, and you'll be inevitably disappointed by everyone that you hold in awe. If you think that this sounds awful, ask yourself one question. When was the last time you found any joy in watching Barney or the Care Bears? It isn't just what he says but the way he says it. He goes through life making dead-on observations that completely shoot the kneecaps out from under the terminally self-righteous. When a successful mortician tells the school to follow his example and pray when things go bad, it is Holden Caulfield who points out that the guy is praying for more people to die. He's depressed by nuns and annoyed by shallow girlfriends, while in love with his platonic friend. Even more interesting is the fact that Caulfield's general pissed off attitude and his hormones are inextricably linked. He practically wants to kill his roommate, Stradlatter, because Stradlatter might have screwed a girl he desires. He guiltily admits to making out with phonies, and in a major confession he confesses to being a virgin. He gets the crap beat out of him by a disgruntled pimp after deciding that he doesn't want a to have sex with a prostitute for the silliest of reasons.(he just found it disconcerting to see her take her clothes off without fanfare.)The fact that his little brother has just died and that he's being kicked out of yet another school takes second place to the whole sex question. In other words, Holden Caulfield is a guy; stereotype away. What is also interesting is how closely Caulfield captures the attitude and culture of adolescence. There is the caste system in which Caulfield hates and wishes to be his roommate Stradlatter. Meanwhile zit-encrusted Ackley, whom he maybe should feel sympathy for, is an annoying guy that

Information Technology and Logistics Integration Essay

Information technology can help logistics integration by simplifying complex processes within the company or organization. Through simplification, long processes are streamlined thus creating more opportunities to improve the quality of services and goods. It can also make a company more productive and be very flexible to any business demands. Information technology has helped Sunsweet Growers meet their logistics needs on both the supply and demand sides by integrating and updating the company’s processes, simplifying them and offering a reliable feedback system to sustain the rewards of a successful sales and operation planning (S&OP). Sunsweet faces challenges where both supply and demand are constraints due to factors that the company cannot control like weather and crop yield among other variables. It faced the challenge on how to deliver products to customers and fill the store-shelf space that the company had purchased in advance. Recent retail consolidation had increased buyers’ clout at the expense of suppliers putting additional pressure to its profit margin. Another constant challenge is the scheduling and line utilization of the company. It has also been working for a number of years to advance the efficiency of its supply chain, including the reduction of inventory and reducing transportation costs as well as improving order lead time. The final challenge is the sophistication of scheduling and planning in the packaging of its products due to its wide variety. Sunsweet for years of its operations has used paper-based spreadsheet system to manage its supply chain. It has limitations though, since as the company business becomes more complex, so as the complexity of using such spreadsheets based on Excel. Corporate data using Excel based spreadsheets are not systemized and synchronized. Data can be easily lost. Complex planning and scheduling issues were often encountered. Continuity of work was also a concern because many of the business rules embedded in the spreadsheets are lost when a planner leaves his or her job. Excel lacks the required optimization, simulation, and statistical tools needed to model the business. It is not a flexible tool especially when business becomes complex. When formats are changed, considerable manual effort is required to resynchronize the spreadsheets when they are passed from one person to another. It is also a very slow and manual process for the company when making changes in the fruit-crop forecast and how the crop would be processed and packaged. Mistakes in the sales forecast could result in too many changes to the set-up of the processing line as well as production overruns. Finally, planners were spending a great deal of time managing the spreadsheets, and most of the work was repetitive and could be eliminated. Elimination or streamlining then the unnecessary and repetitive works within the Sunsweet operations was a key for development through the integration of information technology to its S&OP. With the above mentioned challenges, Sunsweet realized that there’s a need for a viable, simple and repeatable supply chain planning. It recognized the importance of S&OP as the heart of this supply chain planning. For an optimized supply chain that can reap profitable rewards, it has considered to implement an S&OP program backed -up by an excellent communication facility integrated by advance technological tools as provided by a supply chain consultant. For this purpose, Sunsweet has tapped the services of Supply Chain Consultants’ Zemeter S&OP supply chain planning suite to replace its Excel-based planning system. The system basically integrates all the aspects affecting the company’s operations. The tools and processes provided up-to-date information in sales, production, and inventory that allowed the entire planning team to meet on a weekly basis instead of on a monthly one. This then resulted to an increase of the company’s ability to meet customer demands while continuing to improve production efficiencies with smooth, long term requirements. The company has successfully integrated its S&OP processes concentrating on 5 well–defined process steps namely demand visibility, demand planning, inventory planning, supply planning and finite scheduling. Implementation of these steps is realized through the tools introduced by Zemeter. It made the needed data available to all departments through direct access on the same data or information. Better understanding on the other departments’ goals and challenges synchronized the company’s operations. Decision making also now becomes faster in each of the department allowing more flexibility in allocating the company’s resources. Under demand visibility, planners were immediately able to access data and create detailed, automated reports. In demand planning, Zemeter’s Demand Planner provided a complete forecasting solution. It provided Sunsweet’s planners to accurately create and update statistical forecasts; plan for price changes and promotions; and analyze demand data, such as orders and shipments. With this, the company now uses historical data to manage items that are either dropped or discontinued. An early warning system that can trigger e-mail alerts to planners will prompt them to review immediately appropriate matrix in the system specifically when significant orders are coming in from new customers. In inventory planning, the company can now be able to use volume loss to manage inventory beyond stock levels to effectively identify slow-moving items and reduce product loss that results from outdated or obsolete products. With the Supply Planner module, the company has now a 15-month rolling forecast of all production and supply chain restrictions. Long term production requirements are then built smoothly like the maintenance of a uniform labor force throughout the year. Lastly, the Finite Scheduling tool developed for Sunsweet handles slightly different size constraints on each of the company’s three manufacturing lines. Details about the finite schedule, daily production, and inventory levels are updated daily through this system so that all of the planning processes are using the most up-to-date information. Without the new technology provided by Supply Chain Consultants’ Zemeter S&OP supply chain planning suite, the company will eventually cannot compete well due to higher operational costs and cannot increase its sales by capturing the majority of the market demand. With such an information technology tool, better understanding of how to work together to reduce production costs and improves order lead time is achieved. This then is how information technology can help integrate logistics of a company like Sunsweet Growers.

Fixation and Fixatives

ALCIAN BLUE RATIONALE FOR USE Alcian blue is a water soluble, amphoteric copper phthalocyanine, which is most often used as a basic dye. In general, alcian blue has an affinity for sulfated and carboxylated groups of acid mucopolysaccharides, but the specific group demonstrated is dependent on the dye solution pH. RECOMMENDED FIXATIVES 10% neutral buffered formalin and Bouin’s fixative. AVOID Chromate Fixatives MODE OF ACTION (1, 2, 3) Alcian blue binds electrostatically with the acidic groups in the mucopolysaccharide molecule.The components to be demonstrated are intensely stained if the dyer solution is used at the specific pH at which the reactive groups are fully ionized. To achieve full ionization of the reactive groups, some alcian blue methods begin with a rinsing of sections in the appropriate pH solution prior to staining with the dye solution. In general, strongly sulfated mucins react more consistently at low pH levels. Above a pH of 1. 0 their reactions are variab le. At a pH of 0. 2 only strongly sulfated mucosubstances will be demonstrated, while weak sulfated mucins stain well between a pH of 1. 0 – 2. 5, and often below 1. . Carboxylated mucins react with alcian blue at pH 2. 5. Alcian blue produces an intense greenish-blue or teal coloration. To ensure this colour is not lost during subsequent chemical and dye treatments, such as those found in the Alcian Blue-Verhoeff’s van Gieson procedure and Movat’s Pentachrome, alcian blue is converted to an insoluble pigment. By exposing alcian blue stained sections to a pre-heated 80Â °C alkaline alcohol solution, alcian blue is converted to the insoluble pigment, monastral fast blue. Further exposure of the sections to various decolorizers and dyes, fails to change the alcian blue intensity.QUALITY CONTROL AND CONTROL MATERIALS 1. Appropriate control tissues include colon and small intestine. If lung sections contain bronchi with mucous glands, are used as a control, the tec h should be aware that cartilage matrix will also stain at approximately pH 2. 5. 2. To avoid coloration of hyaluronic acid found in connective tissue matrix or amorphous ground substance, the tissue section can first be treated with a solution of testicular streptococcal hyaluronidase before staining with alcian blue. Testicular hyaluronidase requires only 2 hours of incubation versus 24 hours with streptococcal hyaluronidase. . Alcian blue powder solubility may decrease after storage of more than three years, but good staining results have been reported with dye lots older than three years (4). 4. The dye solution pH is critical to ensure demonstration of specific chemical groups. pH 0. 2 -only strongly sulfated mucins demonstrated pH1. 0 -strongly and weakly sulfated mucins pH 2. 5 -carboxylated and weakly sulfated mucins 5. To ensure the quality of staining at the appropriate pH, the section may be rinsed in the solvent solution prior to staining in the dye, i. e. , rinsing in p H 2. , 3% aqueous acetic acid solution prior to placing the sections in the pH 2. 5 alcian blue solution, which is prepared by combining alcian blue dye powder in a 3% aqueous acetic acid solution. 6. Some procedures indicate it is important to avoid rinsing the stained slides in water after treatment in alcian blue dye. Blotting the slides dry after staining is recommended. 7. It is important to avoid celloidinization of tissue sections because alcian blue has a strong affinity for celloidin. 8. A white haze may appear on the back of the glass slide after staining with nuclear fast red and contact with the air.Moistening a kimwipe or facial tissue with saliva and rubbing the back of the glass will remove the haze. Follow this with cleaning of the glass using a kimwipe moistened with 100% ethanol to remove the saliva. 9. Cut paraffin sections at 4-6 microns. REFERENCES 1. Bancroft J. D. and Stevens A. : Theory and Practice of Histological Techniques, 2nd edition. Churchhill Livingst one, 1982. 2. Kiernan J. A. : Histological and Histochemical Methods: Theory and Practice, Pergamon Press, 1981. 3. Sheehan D. C. and Hrapchak B. B. : Theory and Practice of Histotechnology, 2nd edition, C.V. Mosby Co. , 1980. 4. Shrenk E. : Note from the Biological Stain Commission-a newly certified dye-Alcian blue 8GX. Stain. Tech. 56(3), 129, 1981. ALCIAN BLUE pH 2. 5 SOLUTIONS a. 1% Alcian Blue Solution – pH 2. 5 Alcian Blue 8GX (C. I. 74240)1gm 3% Glacial acetic acid100ml (3 ml. glacial acetic acid to 97 ml. distilled water) Add a crystal of thymol to prevent mold growth. The solution can be filtered and reused. b. Nuclear Fast Red (Kernechtrot) Solution (pg. 19) PROCEDURES (1, 2) 1. Deparaffinize and hydrate slides to distilled water. (See Note 1) 2.Stain in alcian blue solution for 30 minutes. Filter solution back for reuse. (See Note 2) 3. Wash for 2 minutes in running tap water. 4. Rinse in distilled water. 5. Counterstain in nuclear fast red for 3 to 5 minutes. Quic kly transfer slides to distilled water. Filter solution back for reuse. 6. Rinse slides in distilled water. 7. Dehydrate, clear, and mount. If a cloudy haze appears on the side refer to quality control information, #8. COLOR RESULTS Carboxylated and weakly sulfated acid mucins – light blue to medium greenish blue Nuclei-reddish pink.NOTE 1. After step 1, the slides may be placed in a pH 2. 5, 3% aqueous acetic solution for 1 minute, then proceed to step 2. 2. After step 2, the slides can be blotted dry, instead of rinsing in running tap water and distilled water. Continue the procedure with step 5. REFERENCES 1. Lev R. and Spicer S. S. : Specific staining of sulphate groups, with Alcian blue at low pH. J. Histochem. Cytochem. , 12:309, 1964. 2. Sheenhan D. C. and Hrapchak B. B. : Theory and Practice of Histotechnology, 2nd edition. C. V. Mosby Co. , 1980