Coursework Critical Analysis Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2500 words

Critical Analysis - Coursework Example This is due to rapid increase in refugee numbers and interference with relief supply routes. This has resulted in malnutrition in the camp that is threatening to reach critical levels. Obviously the methods mentioned above are best applied to children below the age of 12. It is quite ambitious to target the entire population with anthropometric measurements but this is not the best approach. First of all, the method is quite disruptive and is akin to bring all the activities in the camp to a halt as the entire population is targeted. Taking samples of the children will live adults especially en, to go on with their lives as best they can. Secondly, children are a good indicator of the levels of malnutrition since they are usually the worst affected exhibiting symptoms that are not very manifest in adults as they have not fully developed immunity to basic health problems. For instance, adults have stores of body protein in the labile amino acid pool which is primarily used as energy when the individual is starving. Such storage is very minimal or nonexistent in children (Rowett, 2010). It is inevitable that anthropometric methods will need to be employed to determine how acute the situation is for government interventions. Given the situation, the most effective measurement that can be used is the Middle-Upper Arm Circumference [Muac] to establish the level of malnutrition in the camp (Mother Child Nutrition, 2010). Using other methods such as the Body Mass Index (BMI); which estimate nutritional health by calculating the body weight of an individual divided by the square of his height; is not reliable in this case since it is limited to adults. The method is not directly applied to children since they are still growing and have thus not attained their full height. As indicated earlier, children are usually the most affected by malnutrition in any given population hence this method would leave them out

Paradigm of Cold Chain Management Systems

Paradigm of Cold Chain Management Systems The New Paradigm Of Cold Chain Management Systems And It’s Logistics On Tuna Fishery Sector In Indonesia Grasiano Warakano Lailossa Abstract. The Cold chain management is an important element in ensuring standards of quality and safety of fishery products. Trend Quality standard requirements quality ,safety and traceability of fishery products are getting higher and the global effect, this causes to the need for a new paradigm of the cold chain management application as appropriate the trend. The results of the review previous studys show, the application of cold chain management are still partial and not yet fully integrated in the whole process (Post harvest handling, processing and packaging, cold storage and distribution, refrigerated transportation, marketing of fishery products). This paper provides a new paradigm offers cold chain management by systems integration approach. The output of this integration model will be expected to improve the competitiveness exports of Indonesian fishery products(Tuna`s) Key Words: Cold chain management,Indonesian Fishery Poduct,Tuna Introduction. Cold chain system application is one way to preserve quality standard and safety of food products. Cold chain system or usually named with cold chain management is one of cold chain system which designed to guarantee whole process, starting from capture process/harvest, cultivation until product distribution less until it consumed, it will be continuously intact and according to desired functional standard. there are three basic standard: Quality, Safety and Traceability. One of the most significant constraints is the high level of post harvest losses. Post harvest losses as a result of a poor cold chain implementation in the industry are cited fifteen to twenty percent from the primary producer to retail outlet. See Figure 1 Figure 1 : Cold Chain Management (source: : http://www.iaph.uni-bonn.de/Coldchain/) Cold chain Specifically, a supply chain or logistics network is the system of organizations, people, technology, activities, information, and resources involved in moving a product or service from supplier to customer. Supply chain activities transform natural resources,raw materials, and components into finished products that are delivered to the end user. In sophisticated supply chain systems,used products may re-enter the supply chain at any point where residual value is recyclable A cold chain is a temperature-controlled supply chain; it is a concept resulting from specific needs related to the transformation and distribution of temperature-sensitive products(] J.P. Emond,2008) To manage the cold chain effectively we need to beware of what the drivers for change are along the food supply chain and be able to adapt to them(W Paul Davies,2003), Professor Davies lists the drivers of change as: Consumer Tastes and behaviour Competition and production efficiency Advances in technology Institutional pressures and regulatory requirements Environmental considerations International and globalisation influences Political influences We see this occurring globally as food supply chains compete aggressively with each other and buyers source products whenever and wherever it gives them advantage. Indonesian Fishery Sector. Indonesia is the biggest tuna-producing country in the world, contributing 15 percent of global tuna production in 2009, followed by the Philippines, China, Japan, Korea, Taiwan, and Spain. The main commercially caught tuna species in Indonesia are skipjack (62% of total tuna landings), yellowfin (29%),bigeye (7%), albacore (1%), and Southern bluefin (1%). The fishing grounds for Indonesian tuna fall under two convention areas, Indian Ocean and Western Central Pacific Ocean (WCPO). The Western Central Pacific Ocean currently supports the largest industrial tuna fishery in Indonesia, contributing almost 80 percent of total Indonesian commercial tuna production, while Eastern Indian Ocean contributes 20 percent (FAO 2010). Tuna products are the second biggest Indonesian fishery product export, after shrimp, contributing 14 percent of total export value, about USD 352 million, in 2009. The main markets for tuna exported from Indonesia are Japan (35%), the United States (20%), Thailand (12%), European Union countries (9%),and Saudi Arabia (6%) (MMAF 2010). Indonesia is also one of the major suppliers to markets in the United States and Japan. As the biggest fresh and frozen tuna supplier to the US, Indonesia contributes about 27 percent (or about 13 thousand tonnes) of the total US fresh and frozen tuna import in 2010, valued at USD 112 million (NMFS 2011). According to data from MMAF and JICA (2009), yellowfin tuna catches has showed downward trend, in 2000, total catch of yellowfin tuna reached 163,241 tonnes, but since then it tend to decrease and dropped to 94,406 tonnes in 2006, though in 2007 it started to recover again with 103,655 tonnes catch. Indian Ocean (Indian Ocean, Western Timor Sea, Bali Strait and Sawu Sea) used to be the main catching areas for yellowfin tuna. Almost 54% of total yellowfin tuna in Indonesia was caught from this area. In the eastern part, Sulawesi Sea and Pacific Ocean was the important catching areas for yellowfin tuna, covering 33.7% of total yellowfin tuna landings,followed by Flores and Makassar Strait (18.2%) and Moluccas Sea, Tomini Bay, and Seram Sea (12.4%) ,see Figure 2 Figure. 2. Yellowfin Tuna Landing Distributin per Fishery Management Areas (WPP) in 2004 (source: Indonesian Tuna Supply Chain Analysis, Sustainable Fisheries Partnership,2010) In general, Maluku-Papua contributes the biggest landings of albacore, bigeye tuna, and yellowfin tuna,with 26 percent of total Indonesian tuna landings, followed by North Sulawesi (24%), Bali-Nusa Tenggara (16%), South Sulawesi (12%), North Java (10%), and West Sumatra (8%) (Note: for Bali-Nusa Tenggara, North Java, and West Sumatra, the landings also include Southern bluefin tuna). Since tuna resources are abundant and scattered around Indonesian waters, fishing grounds and landing areas of tuna in Indonesia are dispersed. A significant volume of tuna is unloaded in Muara Baru (Jakarta) and Benoa (Bali); three other fishing ports that carry tuna are Bitung, Ambon, and Sorong, see Figure 3. Figure 3. Major Ports of Tuna Fisheries in Indonesia (source: : Sustainable Indonesian Tuna Initiative,White paper, Sustainable Fisheries Partnership,2011) Indonesian Tuna Supply Chain. Supply chains for most of the fish species start from oceans and end up with consumer markets far from thousands of miles. Asupplychainis a network of retailers, distributors, transporters, storage facilities andsuppliersthat participate in the production, delivery and sale of a product to the consumer (Harland, 1996), In the Indonesian tuna value chain, four main categories of operators can be distinguished: Fishermen Fish landing sites and ports Middlemen Processors/exporters , See Figure 4 Figure 4. Indonesian Tuna Supply Chain, (source : Indonesian Tuna Supply Chain Analysis, Sustainable Fisheries Partnership,2010) According LEI Wageningen UR (Arie Pieter van Duijn, Rik Beukers and Willem van der Pijl) in CBI Report The Indonesian seafood sector,2012, The bottlenecks for the Indonesian tuna industry occur at several stages of the value chain. Because pro-cessors and exporters mainly depend on the catches of the Indonesian tuna fleet, it is essential to opti-mise the potential of the fishing fleet. Better handling and storage of tuna can produce more high-quality tuna for export, benefitting processors and exporters too and preventing the need to further exploit tuna stocks. As there are many small landing sites, it is also crucial that tuna landed at these sites can be transported efficiently. Although several exporters of frozen and canned tuna are already EU certified, there is still potential to help small exporters meet EU requirements. Furthermore, there is a growing de-mand for sustainable and eco-labelled tuna in the EU market, which could have potential for Indonesian ex-porters. Also the lack of traceability throughout the entire value chain implies that support for fishermen, middlemen and processors/exporters is required.(CBI Report The Indonesian seafood sector, A value chain analysis, LEI Wageningen UR ,2012) Indonesia contributes about 4 percent of total global fresh and frozen tuna exports, exporting about 65.5thousand tonnes in 2007, valued at USD 150 million. Indonesia also contributes more than 4 percent of total global canned tuna exports, exporting about 52.4 thousands tonnes in 2007, valued at USD 151.9 million (Globefish, 2010). Indonesia was the leader of countries supplying tuna to Japan (mainly yellowfin and bigeye), sending about 20 thousand tonnes per year to Japan’s market. Indonesia only contributes about 2 percent (9,800 tonnes in 2008) of total canned tuna imported to the EU market. Exports of frozen Yellow fin tuna (in various product types) from Indonesia have increased in the last five years. In 2006 USD 13m was exported, while in 2010 the export value has more than doubled to USD 31m. Most of the frozen Yellow fin tuna is exported to the US. However, MMAF export statistics show that for the total export of frozen tuna (Yellow fin tuna as well as other species), export values were significant-ly higher. In 2010 the export value of frozen tuna to Japan was USD 22m, while exports to the US amounted to USD 18m. Other species that are exported as tuna will most likely concern Bigeye tuna. Methods. This paper based on paper review and some flelds study, This paper is a continuation of the first paper that presented at an international seminar on december 2nd APTECS 2010 Result And Discussion Integrity Cold Chain Systems. According to Jean-Paul Rodrigue,et all,2009, functionally, there are three elements that integrate within the cold chain system: Product. a product is characterized by physical attributes requiring specific temperature and humidity conditions. These conditions dictate its transport, which takes place in a manner that does not undermine its physical attributes to an extent that is judged acceptable. Otherwise, the product loses a share or the entirety of its commercial value. It mostly relates to how perishable and fragile a product can be; how it handles the cold chain process. Origin / Destination. a function of the respective locations where a temperature-sensitive product is produced and consumed. It is indicative of the potential difficulty of making a product available at a market, which for a long time was an important constraint. Because of advances in cold chain logistics, it became possible to use increasingly distant sourcing strategies spanning the world. Distribution. The methods and infrastructures available to transport a product in a temperature-controlled environment. It can involve temperature controlled containers (reefers), trucks and warehousing facilities.See Figure 5 Conditional demand. The demand of a product at a market (or place of consumption) is conditional to its qualitative attributes. Load integrity. Relates to the load conditions that must be provided to insure that a product keeps its value during transport and accounting its perishability. Transport integrity. The series of tasks and safeguards that must be performed to insure that the temperature controlled environment remains constant (Jean-Paul Rodrigue,et all,2009) Figure 5. cold chain system element`s (source: Jean Paul Rodrigue, Claude Comtois and Brian Slack,†The Geography of Transport Systems,† Second Edition,New York,2009) Bootlenecks for the export Indonesian Tuna Globalization makes no more will limit both in regional and international, but on the other hand the application of and determination standart food safety is tight.More stringent standart of food safety applied making no other choice for business community fisheries and the whole stack holder, to try to fulfill standart who need, if they want to keep survive,The cases of rejection of fishery on the destination country exports can be seen on a table 1 Table 1 Totality of the rejection cases on fishery product (source, Ababouch 2006) In CBI Report The Indonesian seafood sector,a value chain analysis, by LEI Wageningen UR (Arie Pieter van Duijn, Rik Beukers and Willem van der Pijl).2012, there was some weakness logistics system and value chain, especially of Tuna of fishery sector in Indonesia, four different categories of influencers and supporters can be distinguished: Government authorities (MMAF, Ministry of Trade) Research institutes (Agency for Marine and Fishery Research and Development, SFP) Producer and exporter associations (ATLI, ASTUIN, Indonesian fish cannery association, AP5I) Other supporters and influencers (LPMHP, Ice factories, WCPFC and IOTC) Six bottlenecks have been identified as a result of the desk study, the field work and the discussions at the strategic conference: Handling and cold storage of tuna after catching Traceability (EU-catch certificates/E-logbook) Eco-labelling Trade barriers of exporting tuna to the EU Lack of capacity for small/medium processors to do market intelligence Fluctuating tuna catches To more clearly can be seen from figure 6 below: Figure 6. The Indonesian tuna value chain and its bottleneck (source : Sustainable Indonesian Tuna Initiative, White paper, Sustainable Fisheries Partnership,2011) Risk Analysis and HACCP. The following factors which influential are Risk Analysis process (Risk Assessment, Risk Management and Risk Communication) and Hazard Analysis Critical Crisis Point (HACCP) is doing assessment and identification to against threat of potential danger that will arise to every cycle stage((Grasiano.W.Lailossa., 2010) The new paradigm changes in the application of Risk Analysis and HACCP should also be an important thing in the application of cold chain systems integration., on the other side of synergism and interaction between government and business must go well in the entire cycle from harvest until arriving at the consumer. Figure 7 bellow is the one form of interaction between the government and food company Figure 7. Interaction between the governments and industrys food safety activities ,modified from Jouve et al., 1998.(Source : H. H. Husset et al,† Assessment and Management of Seafood Safety and Quality,2003) Conclusion. Research on modeling of cold chain system, tend to make emphasis on cases which partial, means more focus on case model with every partial approach on four primary domain that already says above (standard and regulation, risk analysis modeling and cold chain management modeling/ refrigerated transport modeling), in other side, cold chain system is one cycle which systemic, so that optimization problem from cold chain system cannot be observed as partial from every domain, but it must be holistic and systematic (Grasiano.W.Lailossa., 2010) The study and review show that New Paradigm to Developed Cold Chain System,must be based on Change the paradigm that integrated and synergism of the whole stack holder who later applied continuously and consequent in the whole process starting from harvest to consumption The new paradigm of integrated cold chain systems is how to create : Integated model of cold chain systems that have the ability of refrigeration optimally during the process of transport of frozen fish from catching on the sea to arrive at destination exports country. Refrigeration system that has capabilities with the flexibility to continue to maintain the temperature of the products according to standards in charge, able to adapt to external variables that continue to influence will change sometimes even ekstirm due to the path or track that will be going through during the process of refrigerated transport. The Cold chain systems variabel should have the ability to affect of refrigeration during transport due to a temperature difference, optimization of variables that affected the refrigeration systems due to transport processes that can reduce cooling capabilities so it can not maintain the desired temperature References C. M. Harland, â€Å"Supply Chain Management, Purchasing and Supply Management, Logistics, Vertical Integration, MaterialsManagement and Supply Chain Dynamics†. In: Slack, N (ed.) Blackwell Encyclopedic Dictionary of Operations Management UK: Blackwell,1996 Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), FishStat-Capture Production 2010, Fishery Statistics.2010 Grasiano.W.. Lailossa,â€Å"Cold Chain System (Future Research Prespective),† proceeding the 2nd.International Seminar On Applied Technology, Science, and Arts(APTECS), ITS, Indonesia,2010 H. H. Huss, L. Ababouch and L. Gram,† Assessment and Management of Seafood Safety and Quality,†, FAO Fisheries Technical Paper 444,FAO,Rome,2003 Indonesian Tuna Supply Chain Analysis, Sustainable Fisheries Partnership,2010 Jean Paul Rodrigue, Claude Comtois and Brian Slack,†The Geography of Transport Systems,† Second Edition,New York,Routledge,2009 J.P. Emond, The cold chain, in: S.B. Miles, S.E. Sarma, J.R. Williams (Eds.),Chapter 11 of RFID Technology and Applications, Cambridge University Press,2008, pp. 1–2.) L. Ababouch, â€Å"Detension and Rejection of Fish and Seafood at Borders of Mayor Importng Countries,†Food and Agriculture Organization, Italy,2006 LEI Wageningen UR, (Arie Pieter van Duijn, Rik Beukers and Willem van der Pijl),†The Indonesian seafood sector A value chain analysis†, Compiled for CBI by Ministry of foreign affairs of Netherlands,CBI Report,2012 Ministry of Marine Affairs and Fisheries (MMAF).. Indonesia Fishery Statistics, 2010 R. Schuurhuizen, â€Å"The domestic chain is still characterized by small-scale fishermen and it has been marginalized by the export supply chain† , 2006. R. Schuurhurizen, A. A. D Van Tilburg, and E. Kambewa, â€Å"Fish in Kenya: The Nile-Perch Chain† Wageningen University, Department of Social Sciences, Marketing and Consumer Sciences Group, Wageningen, The Netherland, 2006. Sustainable Indonesian Tuna Initiative, White paper, Sustainable Fisheries Partnership,2011 Western and Central Pacific Fisheries Commission (WCPFC). 2009. Stock assessment of yellowfin tuna in the western and central Pacific Ocean. Scientific Committee Fifth Regular Session, PortVila,Vanuatu,Aug.10-21,2009.

Gay Couples Attending the Prom Essay -- Prom, Gay students, Legal Issu

A traditional prom setting is a dance attended by a couple of young teens: a male and female couple. But what would happen if an individual would like to take a prom date of the same sex? Fighting a battle of rejection or acceptant from family or the school board to approve that a lover or a causal date to the prom should not be determine by the same sex. Whether it is gay students, friends with gay parents, gay clubs in public schools has been a controversial issue for many years. Two teenagers, Constance McMillen and Derrick Martin are facing this battle as they try to bring their date to the senior prom. Constance McMillen, the Mississippi student who attended Itawamba County Agricultural High School, senior prom was cancelled because she wanted to escort her sophomore girlfriend to her senior prom. The school board didn’t agree to the same sex date and cancelled the prom. Not only could she not bring her girlfriend, but she was not allowed to wear a tuxedo. McMillen’s date was denied because the school district policy requires that dates be of the opposite sex (Associated Press, 2010). After the denying the rights to bring her prom date the court and lawyers got involved. The court believed the school was violating the first amendment right. The First Amendment states Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances. These delicate words provided the United States to its well development of people and protection of rights. The U.S. Constitution is here to protect people rights, so problems like this ca... ...Know that there are plenty of local (within a short distance of his hometown) resources capable of helping Derrick and they are being made available. There are offers to help keep him safe (security) as well as other daily needs and for the prom. Derrick knows best what he will need and will accept accordingly† (Melloy, 2010). Therefore with all the criticism from others that disagrees with the whole situation that Martin with through he still have support and is safe. Martin will continue with his life and going to school as an honor student known that he fought for his right. Consequently, justice was severed in Constance McMillen of violating her first amendment, even though some people will still blame her for the prom being cancelled. Derrick Martin was kicked out his parents house and is well stable living with a friend support from around the world.

Bullwhip Effect in Supply Chain

Supply Chain Class Module 2, Lesson 3 Question #1 Develop a small group consensus on the impact (increases, decreases, no effect) of the Bullwhip Effect on two of the following six supply chain performance measures: manufacturing cost, inventory cost, replenishment lead time, transportation cost, shipping and receiving cost, level of product availability profitability. One of the two measures that your team chooses must be inventory cost. For inventory costs, be certain to be specific about the kinds of inventory costs impacted (in-storage cycle stock carrying costs, ordering costs, stockout costs, or safety stock carrying costs).Clearly explain your group’s reasoning or rationale for the impact you have agreed to; that is carefully explain why the bullwhip effect either increases, decreases of has no effect on the given performance measure. In each of your explanations, drill down into the factors that drive each measure, explaining how those factors are affected by the Bullw hip effect. MANUFACTURING COSTS It is the consensus of Team 10 that the bullwhip effect increases costs associated with the manufacturing of products.We know that the bullwhip effect results in an amplification of the variation of product and material demand as one travels upstream in the supply chain from consumer to material suppliers. In most cases the manufacturer of products will be removed from the actual consumer by multiple layers in the supply chain. The variation in demand (variation in orders) that the manufacturer will experience will be significantly greater than the variation in demand from the actual consumers. There are several costs incurred in the manufacturing of products. Among these costs are direct material costs, direct labor costs and overhead costs.The increased variability in quantity of products demanded from the manufacturer has an impact on each of these items. For most manufactured products, the cost of materials is a significant portion of the cost of the end item. As the demand for products varies from the manufacturer, these swings in demand are amplified and passed on to the material suppliers and various other sub-suppliers. During periods of high demand, the manufacturer is more likely to be forced to pay the material suppliers and sub-suppliers additional fees to expedite shipments.During periods of low demand, the manufacturer is more likely to find itself with a huge stock of unused material on hand. These variations also make it more difficult to negotiate competitive prices with the suppliers, further adding to the cost of the bullwhip effect. In an effort to protect against some of this variation, manufacturers will often stockpile materials, adding further warehousing and capital costs. Labor costs are another key component of the total cost of most products, including products which may be manufactured offshore in low-wage countries.In periods of extremely high demand, manufacturers are faced with an option of either hiring more employees or working their existing employee’s longer hours and paying overtime. Most companies are extremely reluctant to hire additional workers, particularly if they have reason to believe that the spike in demand will only be temporary. As a result, companies will typically choose to work longer hours and pay overtime wages to their employees. Paying overtime is costly, not only from a wage standpoint but also from an effectiveness standpoint.Employees are not robots, and diminishing marginal return should be expected when working employees longer hours. As hours go up, productivity typically declines at a rate that increases as the severity of the work schedule increases. The result is an increasing cost per unit of the products produced. Likewise, when product demand is extremely low, employees are not able to be utilized as effectively and labor cost per unit also increases. Further, there are the overhead costs which are affected by the variation in deman d amplified by the bullwhip effect.When manufacturers create facilities and purchase processing equipment, they often â€Å"size† their operations based upon what they believe will be the highest levels of demand for their products. When demand for products varies greatly, the frequent result is that the processes, equipment and facilities are excessively large (and costly) compared to what the â€Å"legitimate† demand might actually require. This results not only in excessive costs to set up these operations, but it also can create a scenario where it becomes difficult to operate these facilities efficiently when the production requirements are lower.Another element for consideration is the â€Å"cost of quality. † Manufacturing operations thrive on consistency. When manufacturers have to contend with wildly-varying production schedules, there is an increase in the â€Å"state of flux† in the operations. This can take the form of delayed maintenance on m achines, fatigued workers, using alternate suppliers for materials, etc. All of these elements that are exacerbated by large swings in production schedule can contribute to higher scrap rates, manufacturing errors, equipment downtime and, potentially, product defects that reach the consumer.INVENTORY COSTS Demand variability amplification can have a significant impact on increasing inventory costs. Business Dictionary. com defines inventory costs as the cost of holding goods in stock. Expressed usually as a percentage of the inventory value, it includes capital, warehousing, depreciation, insurance, taxation, obsolescence, and shrinkage costs. Typically, the inventory costs increase due to excessive or obsolete inventory as a result of poor demand forecasting. This situation is clearly defined in an article about Cisco’s need to write-off $2. billion in inventory in 2001. However, one must dive deeper into specific inventory performance measures to better understand the effec ts of the bullwhip effect on inventory costs. Safety Stock Safety stock can be defined as inventory held as buffer against mismatch between forecasted and actual consumption or demand, between expected and actual delivery time, and unforeseen emergencies. From a positive standpoint, safety stock can help to potentially reduce stock out situations however is also contributes to the bullwhip effect.Specifically with demand forecast updating using exponential smoothing, ordering of safety stock will create larger swings for suppliers and even move for orders placed to the manufacturer (Lee, p 95). Furthermore, poorly ordered safety stock that becomes excess or obsolete can lead to increased expense or in a worst-case scenario, written-off or scrapped completely. Stockout Cost Stockout cost, also called shortage cost, is defined as the economic consequences of not being able to meet an internal or external demand from the current inventory. Such costs consist of internal costs (delays, labor time wastage, lost production, etc. and external costs (loss of profit from lost sales, and loss of future profit due to loss of goodwill). One cause of stockout cost can be attributed to poorly updated demand forecast where the appropriate amount of inventory was not planned for the current demand. This is in contrast to the safety stock example which leads to an increase in inventory and excess or obsolete material. Another cause is rationing and shortage gaming where the demand for the product exceeded the supply (Lee, p97). The stockout cost is the expense of the lost sales or the potential of losing the customer loyalty completely to a fierce competitor.Module 2, Lesson 3 Question #2 At the end of the article â€Å"Bullwhip Effect in Supply Chains† by Lee, et. al. , is Table 1. In this table Lee presents a number of initiatives, such as vendor-managed inventory, for counteracting the four causes of the Bullwhip Effect. Select one or more of the initiatives and deve lop a small group consensus on a list of the top five impediments to the initiatives that you have selected; five impediments in total, not five impediments for each initiative that you select. Select two impediments and for each impediment please explicitly explain why the impediment is difficult to overcome.Finally in your group’s opinion, which of your impediments is typically the most difficult to overcome? Please explain why. BULLWHIP EFFECT COUNTERMEASURES; EDI, VMI, ECHELON-BASED INVENTORY SYSTEMS There is a range of initiatives to mitigate the effects of the â€Å"bullwhip effect,† or amplified distortions in replenishing orders. Through EDI and vendor –managed inventory (VMI), distortions may be reduced through transparent sharing of real time demand information through the entire supply chain. Demand distortion begins with faulty assumptions underlying future demand projections.One counter-measure for this challenge is real time exchange of information and increased transparency at point of sale. Many retailers use data generated at point of sale to automatically adjust their inventories and trigger reorder as inventories are depleted. Simultaneous transmission of this data to the supplier would facilitate a clearer view of consumption and retail inventory. Point of sale EDI shared across the supply chain from the manufacturer to retail outlet, would smooth the orders and prevent demand distortion that occurs with regression driven forecasts.Increased control of the total inventory can be achieved with echelon inventory management, through cooperative information sharing and a jointly agreed upon single point of inventory control. One model for this is vendor-managed inventory (VMI) which is a continuous replenishment of inventory based upon a push from the supply to the retail outlet based on EDI signals at point of sale and inventory depletion. ECHELON-BASED INVENTORY SYSTEMS Echelon-based inventory systems allow transparency o f the inventory flow of the down-stream levels in the supply chain by the upstream levels.This acts to reduce the bullwhip effect by preventing exaggeration of demand fluctuations by multiple levels in the chain. This is a useful policy, but it can be difficult to implement. First, one must consider the integrity of the source of the information. If an upstream member of the chain intends to rely on reports generated by the downstream member, trust must be a mutual component of the relationship. The downstream company may feel that it doesn’t want to share the information about their own inventory and/or demand, especially if it engages (or has any intention of engaging) in a practice of shortage gaming.Some elements of the shared data can be filtered, if this is found to be helpful to the downstream member. If the downstream member engages in price hedging or shortage gaming, the increased transparency to the upstream member would inhibit or completely prevent the downstream company from harnessing the perceived buffer that the practice enables. Some elements of the shared data can be filtered, if mutually agreeable to all members of the supply chain. Through non-disclosure agreements and data parsing, streams of proprietary data can be â€Å"cleansed† to be less sensitive.Connectivity of various operating systems is another hurdle. Many suppliers and retailers will not allow â€Å"direct feed† of data into their core operating systems, requiring a data merge in a safe environment that then can share data between the operating systems of the companies exchanging data. The work of scrubbing data and developing the necessary connectivity also requires IT resources. One must also consider the utility of information that is constantly changing. The value of inventory data to the upstream member could be limited as it changes continuously and obsolesces almost as soon as it’s generated.The upstream member must always be willing to loose ly interpret the inventory and demand data since an unusually large order, or an unusual decline in orders, could occur at any time. Also, downstream members’ transparency leads the upstream member to increase the frequency with which they update their demand forecasting. Frequently updating these forecasts is itself a bullwhip effect-exacerbating practice, so the upstream member would need to exercise discretion in its policies on how it reacts to the information that it receives from downstream.Implementation of these initiatives requires addressing and overcoming certain impediments:   Trust between supply chain partners or perceived competitive risk Data integrity challenges with changing/obsolete data Reduced downstream gaming ability (shortage and price hedge forward buying) Information technology resources to facilitate connectivity Increased frequency of upstream re-forecast due to downstream transparency The two most difficult impediments are the first two; trust a mongst supply chain partners, and the challenges of sharing meaningful data.Trust – Perceived Competitive Risk The challenge with establishing trust amongst supply chain partners is one of competitive risk. The real time data on point of sale, inventories held, or pricing activities engaged are all considered proprietary. The sharing of that data requires trust through the entire supply chain, and a willingness to incur significant legal, technological, and analytical resources to develop and deliver data that is accurate and meaningful.Lack of transparency and trust on the part of down stream members is the primary driver of the shortage and price gaming, to build inventories and prevent stock-outs or hedge for future price increases. In order to share transparent information through the supply chain, legal and technological hurdles must be addressed to reduce competitive risk, and allow necessary trust through protective agreements (NDA) and safe systems connectivity. Throu gh non-disclosure agreements and data parsing streams of proprietary data can be â€Å"cleansed† to be less sensitive and reduced competitive risk. ) Data Integrity – Changing and Obsolete Information The real time exchange of information supports accurate forecasts and timely order replenishment only if that data is meaningful. Data is meaningful if it clearly conveys the supply/demand picture. Upstream suppliers must be able to see the sale/demand data and existing inventory data in real time in order to push order replenishment. If downstream members obscure the inventories to retain shortage gaming power, this will impact the accuracy of the inventory replenishment trigger to the upstream supplier.Connected systems are susceptible to cross-system failures. Errant data in one system pollutes the forecast assumptions of the connected systems. Cadence of exchange, or timing of the data flows is a factor in relevance. If sales or order cancellations have changed invent ories significantly since the last update, the information exchanged can be obsolete. The â€Å"bullwhip effect† is culmination of iterative forecast variations, and self-protecting defensive actions on the part of supply chain members to hedge uncertainty. With increased trust and transparency, the forecast variations and uncertainty can be reduced.With collaboration through the entire supply chain, trust can be built, real time, meaningful data exchanged, and the cost of surplus inventories taken out of the chain. ——————————————– [ 1 ]. Comments on Information Distortion in a Supply Chain: The Bullwhip Effect† by Lee, H. L. Padmanabhan, V. and Whang, S. , p 1888 [ 2 ]. http://www. businessdictionary. com/definition/safety-stock. html#ixzz286djGuPB). [ 3 ]. http://www. businessdictionary. com/definition/stockout-costs. html#ixzz286iDNySD

Housman’s “To an Athlete Dying Young”

A. E. Housman's â€Å"To an Athlete Dying Young,† also known as Lyric XIX in A Shropshire Lad, holds as its main theme the premature death of a young athlete as told from the point of view of a friend serving as pall bearer. The poem reveals the concept that those dying at the peak of their glory or youth are really quite lucky. The first few readings of â€Å"To an Athlete Dying Young† provides the reader with an understanding of Housman's view of death. Additional readings reveal Housman's attempt to convey the classical idea that youth, beauty, and glory can be preserved only in death. A line-by-line analysis helps to determine the purpose of the poem. The first stanza of the poem tells of the athlete's triumph and his glory filled parade through the town in which the crowd loves and cheers for him. As Bobby Joe Leggett defines at this point, the athlete is â€Å"carried of the shoulders of his friends after a winning race† (54). In Housman's words: The time you won your town the race We chaired you through the market place; Man and boy stood cheering by, And home we brought you shoulder-high. (Housman 967). Stanza two describes a much more somber procession. The athlete is being carried to his grave. In Leggett's opinion, â€Å"The parallels between this procession and the former triumph are carefully drawn† (54). The reader should see that Housman makes another reference to â€Å"shoulders† as an allusion to connect the first †¦ †¦ middle of paper †¦ †¦ oem because the athlete lived a short choppy life, yet, be it for only a moment, he lived elaborately. Works Cited Bache, William. â€Å"Housman's To an Athlete Dying Young. † The Explicator, 1951. 185) Henry, Nat. â€Å"Housman's To an Athlete Dying Young. † The Explicator, 1954. (188-189) Housman, A. E.. â€Å"To an Athlete Dying Young. † The Bedford Introduction To Literature. Ed. Michael Meyer. Boston: Bedford Books Of St. Martin's Press, 1993. (967) Leggett, Bobby Joe. Land of Lost Content. Knoxville: University of Tennessee Press, 1970. Leggett, Bobby Joe. The Poetic Art of A. E. Housman. Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 1978. Ricks, Christopher ed.. A. E. Housman. Englewood Cliffs: Prentice Hall, 1968. John S. Ward