Unruly Spider Case Study Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Unruly Spider - Case Study Example The major problems lay in the fact that the subcontracted company worked with inadequate drawings and inadequate tools. There was not a clear order from the engineer and this should have been communicated more effectively. The 1 1/8-inch-diameter holes had a rough finish on the bore. The magnaflux mark was not clearly legible. The inspection department rejected it. Extra money must now be spent by Mr. Speed to get the right tools and additional labor to finish the job right. If he does not raise the price on each unit he could lose money. A. The gears that were rough cannot be repaired but they could possibly be recycled and the money received from that could go to furnishing new equipment to make the grinding operation more efficient. B. Mr. Speed could raise his price to compensate for his expenditures of over $25,000 in repairing the tooling and redo with order with finished bores. C. The old gears can be recycled to decrease the extra costs and Mr. Speed should raise his prices to compensate for the difference. D. The advantages of recycling the gears are that it will offset some of the cost and the disadvantage of this would be that the costs will not meet the total expenditures. Mr. Speed raising his price per unit could result in extinguishing his output and making him a profit. The disadvantage of this would be that the price per unit may not be economical for the customer. The best choice would be for Mr. Speed to raise his price per unit and receive his profit on the back end. The process of salvaging the rough bores is not economical because it would require the operation of expensive chrome plating. It is best to raise the price and get the necessary equipment needed to complete all future jobs efficiently.

Pediatric Care Plan Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1750 words - 1

Pediatric Care Plan - Research Paper Example 592). In this case, the patient’s manifestations are fever, productive cough, diarrhea, and poor appetite—all can be attributed to ALL and the ongoing chemotherapy. Explicitly, these infectious diseases have high chances of recurring. Specifically, recurrent fever can be the result of decreased function of WBC and rapid metabolism due to the deterioration of leukemic cells from chemotherapeutic agents (Huether & McCance, 2005, p. 592). Furthermore, leukemia affects blood cells, and many vital organs are affected with the changes in metabolism, oxygen supply and demand, and overall organ function (Ignatavicius & Workman, 2006, p. 898). In fact, leukemic cells are likely to cause infiltrations to other organs, further causing lymphadenopathy, inflammation, and neoplasms (Conter et al., 2004). This is notable in this patient who also has a history of neoplasm. Generally, the care and management for this patient demands conservative administration of medications (esp. antib iotics) and responsible monitoring of drug reactions and incompatibilities. As in this case, the patient has a history of allergies from numerous medications (Dimetapp, Pseudoephedrine). This condition, in turn, affects not only the patient but the whole family in terms of financial and emotional challenge. Day 1: Skin is pale and cool to touch, especially on areas around the mouth, face, palm creases, and in the nail beds. There is a thin film of sweat on the patient’s forehead, axillaries, and neck areas. Rashes are noted on the trunk and upper arms. Patient is complaining of mild itchiness on his chest and abdomen. Minor scratches around the trunk with varying degrees of healing are observed. Petechiae are noted on the lower legs and feet. Eyes: The eyes are symmetrical in appearance. The conjunctivae are pale. PERRLA noted. Eyes are not icteric. Patient reports no blurring of vision, or any

Major v. Brodie Essay Example for Free

Major v. Brodie Essay Case Law Where the tax liability of an English taxpayer depended on the nature of some entity or structure which was not constituted under English law, the matter was to be determined by reference to the actual legal characteristics of that entity or structure under its own governing law. To the extent that the taxpayers liability in the instant case depended on the nature of a partnership under Scots law they were therefore entitled and bound to be taxed by reference to the actual law which governed the partnership. Moreover, under English or Scots law a trade carried on by a partnership was a trade carried on by its members and each of them. (Major v. Brodie) Any trader who bought an asset for use in his trade was the proprietor of it, and inevitably used it in part for the purpose of being its proprietor. It was, however, legally possible for him to use the asset wholly for the purposes of the trade. (Major v. Brodie) Summary The author first recites the facts of the case. Taxpayers Mr. And Mrs. Brodie were members of a partnership under the name of Skeldon Estates (SEP). The two entered into loan agreements with a finance company and advance said loans to the SEP. The balance of the loan was however applied as the firm’s contribution of capital to another partnership, W Murdoch Son, a firm engaged in the trade of farming of which it was a member. Additional loan agreements were subsequently entered into by the taxpayers, the amount of which was applied to the SEP which it used to purchase another farm for use by W Murdoch Son in its farming trade, but which was not an asset of that partnership. The taxpayers claimed tax relief under s 362(1) of the Income and Corporation Taxes Act 1988 for interest on the loans for the years 1987-88 to 1992-93 as interest on loans to defray money applied in advancing money to the Skeldon Estates partnership for the purposes of the farming trade which it carried on as a partner in W Murdoch Son. The Revenue denied relief to the taxpayers because they did not meet the requirement of s 362(1) that the money advanced be used wholly for the purposes of carrying on the trade of the partnership claiming the relief. The Revenue treated the money advanced to W Murdoch Son partnership as money advanced for the purposes of carrying on a separate trade, and not for SEP.            According to the author, the conditions of s 362(1)(b) are satisfied. The provision of the law only requires that the money be used wholly for the purposes of the trade carried on by the partnership; it does not however require that such trade be carried on by the partnership alone. In his words: â€Å"When the paragraph requires the money to be used wholly for the purposes of the trade carried on by the partnership there is no need or justification for tacitly interpolating the word alone, or some other expression having the same effect. If the trade is carried on by the partnership, and here the farming trade is carried on by Skeldon Estates partnership (as it is also carried on by Mr Henry Murdoch), it makes no difference whether it is carried on by the partnership alone or in common with any other person or persons. It should be noted that the word wholly in s 362(1)(b) goes with used. It describes how the money has to be used, not who it has to be used by.† (Major v. Brodie) For purposes of granting relief under s 362(1)(b), the trade carried on by a partnership as a member of another partnership may be considered being carried on by it wholly for the purpose of that partnership.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   The author then points to the argument of the Crown that the separate legal persona of the SEP from the taxpayers does not entitle them to relief under English law, Park J considers this untenable. First and foremost, the partnership is a Scottish partnership. It therefore has a legal persona separate and distinct from its members and the money advanced by its members can be regarded as money of the partnership, contrary to the Crown’s argument. Even if SEP was, for the sake of argument, an English partnership, the taxpayers would still be entitled to relief because when the paragraph refers to â€Å"the trade . . . carried on by the partnership,† its strict meaning in relation to an English partnership is â€Å"the trade carried on by the partners in their capacities as members of the partnership† because an English partnership does not have a separate legal persona.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   The author then discussed the case of Mac Kinlay (Inspector of Taxes) v. Arthur Young McClelland Moores Co. [1989] STC 898, which will be discussed hereunder. Background Facts Arthur Young McClelland Moores Co, is a firm of chartered accountants with over 200 partners decided that it became necessary to ask partners and employees to move from one part of the country to another to ensure that the staff was deployed to the firm’s best advantage with the firm shouldering some of the expenses. Issues The Special Commissioners, in resolving the issue involving two of the firms partners, found that the expenditure was incurred wholly and exclusively for the purposes of the firm’s business by paying regard to two and only two considerations; The conscious motives of Wilson and Cooper in agreeing to move and the motives of the partners in requesting them to do so and agreeing to contribute to the cost in accordance with the established policy. Decision It was concluded by the Court of Appeals through Lord Oliver of Aylmerton that the expenditure was not allowable due to the fact that the purpose of the partnership could not to be determined because it had a separate legal identity which allowed for the purpose of the individual partner to be ignored. The decision in this case allows a deduction to the partnership for payments to a partner for trade or professional purpose and when the payment is in return for full commercial consideration.  It may be however that in relation to a particular receipt by a partner of partnership moneys not falling under either of the above heads, his co- partners are agreeable to his retaining it without bringing it into account so that to that extent the divisible profits at the end of the year are notionally reduced by the amount retained; but this cannot alter the fact that what is retained is part of the profits which would otherwise be divisible. What is taxable is the actual not the notional profit and what has to be demonstrated if a deduction is to be allowed for tax purposes in respect of moneys paid to a partner is that it was paid exclusively for the purposes of the partnership business. As the decision states: â€Å"‘separate entity treatment only arose at the final stage when, the profits of the trade or profession having been computed and the tax in respect of each partners share in them having been worked out, that tax was assessed in one sum in the partnership name. This matter went to machinery, not to principles of liability.† Conclusion   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   The author concludes that a trade carried on by a partnership in its capacity as a member of another partnership may be considered as the trade carried on by the partnership for purposes of tax treatment and tax relief for interest payments.    References: HM Revenue and Customs, BIM38120 Wholly exclusively: partnerships: meeting a partners personal expenditure, retrieved December 3, 2006, http://www.hmrc.gov.uk/manuals/bimmanual/BIM38120.htm Mac Kinlay (Inspector of Taxes) v. Arthur Young McClelland Moores Co. [1989] STC 898. Major v. Brodie, [1998] STC 491, 70 Tax Cas 576.

Customer Requirements And Product Characteristics

Customer Requirements And Product Characteristics One of the main roles of any manufacturing plant is to produce product that caters to the demands of the market, and the best way to understand the market needs is to distinguish what is important to the customer/consumer. This understanding of the customer gives the manufacturer a competitive edge, as he knows more or less what the needs of the customer is, when he sells his product in the market. This competitive edge can be distinguished into various factors, for e.g. Quality, Speed, Dependability, Cost, and so on. A particular way of distinguishing which factor gives us more competitive edge is to distinguish between what Prof Terry Hill calls as â€Å"order winners† and â€Å"order qualifiers†. (Pycraft et al 1997) [Online] But before we dive into categorising the various competitive factors into order winners and order qualifiers, it will be helpful if we knew where the products lie in the Puttick Grid. The Puttick Grid, devised by the Warwick Manufacturing Group, defines product market position with respect to the complexity of the product and the level of uncertainty in the market. A point to note about the Puttick Grid is that over a period of time, product tends to move around in the grid and hence may change after a period of time. The Specialist DBPs have a very erratic demand profile, they are basically manufactured either one by one, or if they is more demand they probably in batches of 10. There is a peak in demand during the spring and summer seasons as a lot of people get back to riding their bikes after the winter, and hence become desirable during these seasons amongst the people who own vintage bikes. Also since these are vintage bikes, they dont mind spending a bit for getting replacement parts. The Aftermarket DBPs have a rather subdued demand as compared to the Specialist DBPs. Since these are DBP that are no longer in standard productions, there are a lot of organisations that have come out with their own version of the DBP and hence the customer has more choice. So, in such a case, the customer will go by brand image, price and the quality of the product. The Original Equipment DBPs on the other hand, will have a very stable demand that will be known to Friction Materials well in advance. Quality and price become very important for such a product and hence they become more of a commodity. Hence according to the above discussion, the products have been placed in the Puttick Grid as shown below in Figure 1.1.1 Super Value Product Responsive/Jobbing/Fashion Specialist DBP Consumer Durables Commodities Original Equipment DBP Now that we have an understanding of where the product lies with respect to the Puttick Grid, we can distinguish which competitive factor is an order winner and which is an order qualifier. Characteristic Aftermarket DBP Specialist DBP Design Brand Name 60 60 Price 40 40 Speed (Lead Time) Q Dependability (Availability) QQ Q Quality (Fit to purpose) Q QQ Table 1.1.1: Order Winners and Qualifiers. (Adopted for Hill 2000) [Note: Order Winners are marked out of 100. Q: Order Qualifier; QQ: Order Looser.] Characteristics Original Equipment DBP Design 40 Brand Name 10 Price 40 Speed (Lead Time) 10 Dependability (Availability) QQ Quality (Fit to purpose) QQ Table 1.1.2: Order Winners and Qualifiers. (Adopted for Hill 2000) [Note: Order Winners are marked out of 100. Q: Order Qualifier; QQ: Order Looser.] 1.1.1 Design The links between design, operations and markets are the very essence of the business. The way that these integrate, therefore, is fundamental to sound strategy development and implementation. Both design and operations aim is to provide products according to the technical and business specifications. (Hill Hill 2009) In case of Aftermarket DBPs, the dimensions of the DBP are calculated from the equivalent OE component and then some changes are made so as to avoid patent infringement. So in this case, the design of the DBP is not very important as it is only reverse engineered from an existing product. In case of Specialist DBPs, the dimensions are taken from records if they exist or taken from existing component and then designed as a made-to-order item. So in this case too, not much work goes into the design of the DBP as they are already available to the manufacturer. Hence, design of the DBP does not give the product any competitive edge over other competitor products. In case of Original Equipment Manufacturer, initially specifications will be given by the motorcycle manufacturer. But if Friction is selected as the preferred OE for DBP, it will be expected to design the brakes to meet the requirements given by the manufacturer. Hence, if not initially, over a period of time the designing of brakes for the OE product range will become the one of biggest competitive edge that the company could get in winning the order. 1.1.2 Brand Name Through a variety of activities, companies try to establish a brand name for their products in the market. Where this has been achieved and maintained, companies will win orders partly due to the image that has been created in the market. (Hill Hill 2009) In case of Aftermarket DBPs and the Specialist DBPs, the brand name, â€Å"Stop-Rite†, play a major role in winning orders for the company. Since these parts are no longer in standard production by the OEM, there is a lot of competition in the market to win orders for these products. And hence the brand image, which Friction Materials Ltd has maintained for the last 20 years, becomes the biggest competitive edge in the market to win orders. In case of the OE DBPs, initially Friction Materials is trying to win orders and hence it does not have a brand name in the OE market as of now. But as they start to win orders and establish them in the market, their brand name will start to help them win orders and hence, as time will progress, brand name will become an order winner. 1.1.3 Price In many markets, particularly in the growth, maturity and saturation phases of the product life cycle, price becomes a very important order winner. When there is a range of products to choose from, price comparisons with alternatives becomes an integral part of the customers evaluation of the product and hence price plays a very important part in winning orders. (Hill Hill 2009) In case of the Aftermarket and the Specialist DBPs, since there are a lot of alternatives in the market, price eventually become one of the main reasons why the customer chooses to buy the product, as if there are two products meeting his criteria, they are bound to buy the cheaper product. Hence they become an order winner. In case of the OE DBPs, since the manufacturer is going to buy the product in bulk, he is going to want to buy them from a manufacturer who is able to produce them in the cheapest possible way and who also meets their requirements. Hence price in this case becomes one of the biggest factors for choice. 1.1.4 Speed (Lead Time) and Dependability (Availability) A company may be able to qualify for an order/win an order based on how quickly they are able to supply the product or if the product is already available for delivery/purchasing for the customer. Hence is it very important that the Operations Lead Time must be able to match the Customer Lead Time. (Hill Hill 2009) In case of the Aftermarkets DBPs, the ability to deliver the DBP faster than others may affect the spares stores to make an order to the manufacturer. This is possible if the lead time for the product is less and hence lead time becomes an order qualifier. With respect to the customers, the product being available on the store self become an order qualifier, i.e. they consider the product as a possible buy. But in case the product is not available on the shelf, means that even though their product is better than the competition, they will lose an order and hence this becomes an order looser. Similarly, in case of the Specialist DBPs, since these are mostly made-to-order items, the lead time does not give an influential competitive edge over the competition. But at the same time, availability/delivery of the product has to be on time and this becomes an important factor that the customer will take into consideration when he/she is looking to buy a DBP for his/her Vintage Motorbike. Hence availability of the product on time becomes an order qualifier in this case. In case of the OE products, the motorcycle manufacturer will be looking for a manufacturer who can produce the parts and deliver them in the shortest possible time. Hence speed or lead time becomes an order winner. Also, being a local supplier to the local motorcycle industry will give them a competitive edge over other outside competitors as they will be able to respond to the demand much quicker. But, in addition to this, being able to deliver the products on time is going to be a very important factor. So important that initially, some late deliveries may lead to the manufacturer going to an alternate supplier as you are not able to meet his demands on time. Hence dependability becomes an order looser. 1.1.5 Quality Quality or Quality Conformance can be defined as ability of a manufacturer to manufacture products according to the customers requirements. (Slack et al 2002) In case of the Aftermarkets and Specialist DBPs, no one is going to consider buying the product unless you are certain that the DBP is fit to use on their particular motorcycle model. Hence for both these product ranges, quality becomes an order qualifier. That is, only if the DBP is fit to use on a particular customers motorcycle, they will consider buying that DBP. In case of the OE products, since now they are trying to become suppliers of OE products for the first time, quality has to be bang on target. It has to meet all the customer requirements. Any lapse of quality may lead to a halt in the manufacturers assembly line and this is going to cost them a lot of money. Hence any lapse in quality of the OE suppliers part will give a bad impression and hence may lead to the supplier losing the order. Hence quality for the OE product range becomes an order looser. 1.2 Implications on Operations The Polar diagram (above) shows all the competitive factors for all the product range and their relevant importance for winning orders. Hence, in a way, the diagram also helps understand where Operations should concentrate more so that they will be able to produce more products that will be able to win the orders in the market. From the above diagram, we see that for all the three product ranges, Price, Quality and Dependability are the common performance objective that can help give them competitive edge in the market. Hence operations has to focus more on reducing the cost of the product and at the same time try to keep quality at a good level and always deliver the goods on time. Also, we see Brand Name is very important for the Aftermarket and Specialist market. But if operations is able to maintain price, quality and dependability; it will maintain and perhaps even built up the brand name of the product. Also, by concentrating on dependability, operations is going to keep the lead time (speed) of the product to as low as possible to meet the delivery times and hence speed is also taken care of. Hence by concentrating more on price, quality and dependability, operations will be able to cover all the order qualifier and winner factors of all the 3 product ranges. 2 Manufacturing Strategy for the OE product 2.1 Framework Hill, T. (2009) breaks down the process of developing an operation/manufacturing strategy into 5 simple objectives. 2.1.1 Defining the Corporate Objectives The recent future Corporate Objective of Friction Materials is to try and break into the OE product sector. This will help them isolate the financial burden that they have to carry due to the ever decreasing prices because of cheap Far Eastern Aftermarket DBP available in the market. Hence another Corporate Objective is to make them more stable financially by entering a highly profitable and long term contract product range. Other general corporate objective like Profit and Growth and ROI also apply to Friction Materials Ltd. 2.1.2 Defining the Market Strategies to meet these objectives As said in the Corporate Objectives, Friction Material Ltd. is now trying to enter the Original Equipment product market. Volumes initially (during sampling stage) will be low, to the order of 300. But once their samples get approved, they will start producing these products in very high volumes, to the order of about 3000 DBP/week. Keeping these facts in mind, the Marketing Strategy for the OE product range is to produce and deliver high quality low cost DBP on time, every time. 2.1.3 How do products win orders in the market place? As mentioned in Section 1, the major factors that win orders for the OE product is Price, Quality and Dependability (in terms of delivery). Once Friction Materials becomes the choice for OEM for DBPs, they will have to design the brakes themselves and hence Design also becomes an important order winner. 2.1.4 Establishing the most appropriate mode to manufacture these sets of products Process Choice We are in process of getting samples accepted for the new OE product range. Currently we are manufacturing only the Spares and Specialist product ranges and this is done in a batch process flow layout. This is ok for these ranges as they are in small quantities of about 300 DBP/week. But the new OE product range is going to require about 3000 DBP/week. Hence the Batch layout will not suffice to meet this quantity demand. The most appropriate process choice for such a huge demand is the Mass Layout or the Continuous Layout. But the continuous layout calls for a bigger investment in terms of the money involved. Since Friction Materials is only starting to try to establish itself in the OE market, it would not be wise to tie up a lot of the Companies money into something that might not work out to the magnitude expected. Hence the Mass Layout seems to be a more sensible choice. 2.1.5 Provide the manufacturing infrastructure required to support production Providing the infrastructure to support production of the new OE product is going to involve some amount of trade off in the sense of a balance between the various competitive factors that will affect the ability of the product to win orders. For instance, from the polar diagram (Sector 1.2) we see that dependability and cost of product play a very important role in helping the product win orders. In order to always deliver the product on time, we must always have enough stock with us to meet the demand. This can mean that we make-to-stock the product. But if we have a lot of inventory, it means that we have a lot of money held up as inventory and this may lead to increase in the price of the product to help insulate this cost. But this increase of cost may lead to loss of an order. Hence what amount of inventory would be sufficient to always meet customer demands and not hold a lot of money in inventory would be the trade off that we will be keen to look for. This process of trade o ff balance will help the manufacturing/operations to align itself with the corporate strategy. (Slack et al 2002) 2.2 Analysis of Current Operations System Before we can start formulating and making changes to the production system, we must first define what the current system is. We can do this with the help of various tools. We are going to use the SWOT analysis tool to do the same. Once we know where the current production capabilities are, we will be able to make decision taking into account the current scenario. 2.2.1 SWOT Analysis Strengths Weakness The brand name â€Å"Stop Rite† Established producer of aftermarket DBPs in the UK and Western Europe Competency in making the brake pad mixture * Good liquidity and turnover * Bad production planning system even though a MRP system is in place for the same Opportunities Threats OE market will lead to more opportunity in the EU market. OE market will help insulate the competition and market share because of the Far Eastern Competition * Growing to a medium scale company will help in being capable of handling more customers * Competition for cheaper Far Eastern Competition Table 2.2.1: SWOT Analysis Tool The brand name â€Å"Stop-Rite† is one of the main strengths of Friction Materials Ltd. This is what is helping them win orders in the Specialist market and the aftermarket market. This brand name that they have, they have been able to establish it because of being one of the main trusted DBP manufacturer in the UK and Western Europe market. This is also one of the strengths that they should exploit. They have a competency in creating their own mixture for the DBPs, which helps keep the cost of the product down. Also, as we can see from the financials, their Quick Ratio is about 1.03 and their Current Ratio is about 1.8, both of which are very near the acceptable values and hence the company is doing very well financially. And as they say â€Å"Cash is King†, this is their main strength. But even though they are strong in these areas, their production planning system is not very good, or up to industry standards. Even though they have a MRP II system in place, the Planning Controller has to fire fight situation that should not arise because of the system. This shows one of the two situations, either the Planning Controller is not familiar with the system or there is something wrong with their planning system. This can cause a lot of problems if they are to start production for about 3000DBP/week for the OE product. Opportunity wise, the OE product can help gain more market share in the Western European market and hence improve their brand name even further. Also, since this will be a more steady market, this will help insulate some of the market share loss due to the cheaper Far Eastern Competitor products in the Spares market. This will help the company grow financially which is always the main aim of any organisation. Once the organisation has more market share and money, they can easily transition to a medium scale company and hence cater to more customers. The only threat that the company faces is due to the Far Eastern products. They are almost as good as their DBPs, but they are far cheaper than Frictions DBPs and hence this sometimes leads to loss of market share. Entry to the OE product market will help them to insulate this loss. Now that we are clear on where the organisation current strengths and weakness lie, we can develop our manufacturing strategy to complement the strengths and negate the weakness of the organisation. 2.3 Elements of Manufacturing Strategy Miltenburg (2005) divides manufacturing strategy in six main sub-systems and terms them as Manufacturing Levers to reflect the concept that each sub-system can be adjusted to align according to market demands and corporate mission. 2.3.1 Sourcing Current list of all the suppliers to Friction Materials Ltd. are largely UK based. This is good as this help in decreasing the manufacturing lead time of the component. Since currently, their production demands are very low, to the order of 300DBPs/week; they were unable to convince their suppliers to deliver Just-in-Time. But now since they are looking to produce to the order of about 3000DBPs/week; they should be able to convince the suppliers to deliver Just-in-Time. Along with this, they should bring the list down in number and probably sign long term contracts with their most reliable supplier as the demand for the OE market is very stable and this long term contracts will help with the demand and also improve relations with their suppliers. But care should be taken when such contracts are framed, so that if the supplier does not make the delivery, then Friction Materials is free to buy that demand from another supplier. (Quinn and Hilmer 1995) In terms of the product range, since making DBPs is their main expertise, I feel that they should continue to produce all their existing product range so that they do not lose their current market share and customer base. The level of vertical integration should be kept to a minimum and Friction Materials should concentrate on its main competency of making the DBPs. Smaller parts of the product like the packing materials should be bought from an external vendor. 2.3.2 Process Technology Hill (2009) uses a profiling method to help decide what kind of production process is good for a particular type of product depend on the profile of the product. We will use this profiling approach to decide the type of process that we will implement for the OE range of product. Relevant Aspects Characteristics of Process Choice Product Job Batch Line Type Special Standard Range Wide Narrow Order Size Small Large Level of Change High Low Rate of NPD High Low Order-Winner Del. Speed Price Process Technology G.P. Dedicated Flexibility High Low Volumes Low High Key Tasks Meet Spec. Cost Investment Low High Table 2.3.2.1: Hills Profiling Approach (Source: Hill and Hill 2009) For the OE product range, we know the following: The order volume is going to be very high; hence the product is going to be standardised. Since the product is standardised, it is logical to have machinery dedicated to the product so that it can churn out more product and help meet the high demand. This in turn will decrease the flexibility of the process, but that is a trade-off that has to be taken to meet the high demand. We are going to produce only a certain types of DBPs, hence range is very narrow. The variations in the design of the DBPs are going to be minimal. New designs will only be developed when there is a requirement for it, hence the rate for new product development is also low. Order-winner for the OE product as discussed above is a balance between delivery speed and cost. Hence the key task for the process is bringing the cost of the product down. Hence we see from the above table, most of the profile of the OE product fits the Line Process choice. Hence in our case, for the OE product range, it is advisable that we go for a Line process. Currently, the Spares and Vintage DBPs are being produced in a Batch Equipment Paced Line Flow. They are currently running operations with 3 machining centres, each consisting of a pair of inter linked CNC machines with magazine feed. But even with a demand of only 300 DBPs/week compared to a demand of 3000 DBPs/week, the 3 machining centres are running at full capacity and often require overtime to meet the demand. Hence it is only logical for Friction Materials to in some new machining centres for the new OE production line that will be mainly be used for OE production, as they will find it very difficult to cope up with the demand with the existing infrastructure available. In fact, Friction Materials should look to start to invest into some of the other machines that they require for the production of DBPs to help cope up with this new OE demand. It is also advisable to make this new investments into the shop floor as the OE market is a profitable market which has a very stable demand and this demand will be there for quite a few years and hence this investment can be easi ly recovered during the life cycles of not OE product, but probably two or three OE products. The current manufacturing process layout should be adopted for the OE production also. The process has been setup taking into consideration the capacity of the mixer, setup time on the presses and stock levels and hence they are designed to give the whole process a flow. But setting up a completely new production line demands a lot of capital being invested and it will take quite some time before you will be able to break even for this investment. Hence the logical thing to do for Friction would be to invest in some new machining centres, so that they would be able to able to cope with the demand. But these new machining centres should be dedicated to only for the OE products. And over time, with increasing profits from the OE business, they can keep adding more machining centres to create a separate line for the OE product. 2.3.3 Production Planning and Control The production of DBPs has been broken down majorly into two process; namely Pressing and Finishing. The Pressing team takes care of making the brake pads; the Finishing team takes care of machining the DBPs to ensure consistency of the physical dimensions of the pad. Since both these processes are independent of each other, they are connected to each other with some decoupling or WIP inventory (Miltenburg). In our case, the baking process is the decoupling process. The two bin system can be used for inventory control for raw materials. In this system, the buffer stock in kept in the second bin and the current stock in kept in the first bin. Once the first bin is emptied and the buffer stock is brought into use, the purchase team should place orders to the respective material supplier for replenishing the material. For quality control, the organisation is already running on Statistical Process Control charts for the Spares and Specialist market. But this is acceptable for these products as their production volumes are not very large. The OE volumes are going to be very huge and hence SPC may not be the right choice for quality control. SPC looks at maintaining the quality of the products that the processes inside the organisation. Since OE is such a big market and where it is always important to â€Å"get things right the first time, every time†; it is better that Friction Materials looks into implementing Total Quality Management (TQM). TQM not only looks into the quality of parts being produced inside the organisation, but it takes the whole supply chain into account and sees to it that not only are the part being produced are up to quality standards, but also parts entering into the system are of optimum quality as it is unlikely to product good quality parts out of sub-standard part s. (GE Systems). Also in TQM, each worker becomes responsible for keeping the quality of their output up to standard. Hence this virtually removes the requirement of a quality control team in the organisation. 2.3.4 Human Resources The major machines, that require training in the whole manufacturing process at Friction Materials, are the press machines and the machining centres. The current workforce employed at Friction Materials is very well trained and are flexible enough to work on any process within their block. But we see that there is considerable time that goes into the setup of the presses when there is a need to change the design of the pad. So the employees can be further trained in how they can reduce the set up time for the presses. Regular maintenance is being carried out at Friction Materials by the current

The Hong Kong Chinese Community :: essays research papers

The Hong Kong Chinese Community The Hong Kong Chinese community is an affluent, educated, and swelling population in the Greater Toronto Area. The enigma is why they have only made marginal inroads into the political arena. Olivia Chow, a Metro councilor representing the Downtown ward says "this community has potential to be very powerful...it's nowhere near its potential." Chow is the highest-profile Hong Kong expatriate to win elected office in the GTA. Others include Tam Goosen, Soo Wong, Carrie Cheng, and Peter Lam. Many are convinced that the reason is because Hong Kong "is a colonial place where they had no say in government whatsoever." "In Hong Kong, there's never been any democratic procedure until a few years ago." "Chinese culture through thousands of years has never had an elected-representative type of Western democracy system. So it's not a surprise...(Hong Kong) is not a place where people exercise their democratic rights." There is a very common belief that you should not offend or challenge authority. People have lost a lot of confidence in politicians because of poor examples provided by ongoing tensions between Communist China and nationalist Taiwan. "We have to educate them and tell them politics in North America and Canada is very different from what they saw of politics in Hong Kong and China." Dr. Joseph Wong, whose community activism has earned him the Order of Canada, thinks that despite changes in Chinese attitudes, fear is still an obstacle towards political evolution. People are not afraid to demand for equal rights but the so-called mainstream politics and elected office is still baffling to the Chinese. The Chinese community's history in Canada also plays a major role in its reluctance to venture into politics. Following the completion of the Canadian Pacific Railway, the federal government imposed a heavy head tax on new Chinese immigrants. Only from the late 1960s and early 1970s, the Trudeau government liberalization of immigration that Chinese people came to Canada from Hong Kong. In 1979 , he organized a demonstration to urge the federal government to admit more "boat people" - community members were appalled. "Don't rock the boat" was exactly what they said. They said that Canada had given them a shelter and they should not demand any rights. Later that year, W5 - a CTV public affairs program - aired a segment called Campus Giveaway, which was about Chinese students taking over Canadian universities and leaving Canadian students out in the cold. Within 2 to 3 months, there were 16 anti-W5 committees. The protest eventually forced W5 to offer an unqualified apology. Those 16 groups went on to form the Chinese

comms uniform speech :: essays research papers

Speech Pattern: Topical Do you remember what your wardrobe was like during high school? Maybe you wore the latest in brand name clothing, anything that wasn’t associated with gang signs, or whatever hand me downs you could get. The reality is physical violence is common between children because of the name brand on a jacket or a pair of jeans. Children are being ridiculed because their families simply can't afford to provide them with the latest in fashion. In our larger cities where gang involvement is prevalent, children are killed because they choose to wear the wrong color to school. This concern is not about civil liberties or freedom of expression, it's about improving the educational environment within our public school systems nationwide. If this is a possible solution to the issues faced in public schools, is expressing one’s self with brand name clothing not worth giving up? and I went to private school where I was required to wear uniforms. I saw a strong correlation between wearing uniforms and prevention of school violence. I’m here today to talk about why uniforms prevent school violence. I will speak about how it prevents students from ridicule, theft and gang violence. First, school uniforms eliminate opportunities for the ridicule of less popular or less fortunate students based on attire. Uniforms take the competition out of dressing. Students have been known to express themselves in flamboyant clothing. Price tags are in. Do you really want to be paying for a status symbol? A complaint by students is that uniforms reduce the freedom of expression. However, are we expressing ourselves through labeled clothing? Are we not just expressing a capitalist society in which everyone wears the same clothing that is priced higher due to its popularity and brand name? Is it righteous that the kid that cant afford these mainstream clothing is subject to ridicule? Uniforms just promote the peer pressure to perform and conform. Many students take after-school jobs to maintain their own style. Often these paychecks go to getting the â€Å"right† clothing instead of more important things such as saving for the future. The issue is not a part time job, but the reason behind the job is our concern. Is it not wrong that a student must waste his/her time working in order to get the right clothing and fit into society. With School Uniforms everyone fits in. Uniforms encourage students to show their personality and individuality in ways other than dress.

Alison watt and Picasso

Alison watt and Picasso In this essay I'm going to investigate two portrait painters, Alison Watt and Pablo Picasso. I will be writing about their lives and influences. The first artist I will be writing about is Alison Watt. She was born and raised In Greengrocer in 1965, 18 years later and she is still studying in Glasgow School of Art for a further 5 years. At the national gallery in London Watt was the associate artist holding a spectacular exhibition of her own Phantom in 2008.Watt was well known for portraits of herself and others holding cups plates etc, she came to the publics attention in 1987 when he won an award for the National Portrait Gallery's. Watt was also well known for drawing female nudes and figures usual neutral colors, dryly painted lost of her portraits were done using oil paint on a canvas. As far as I am aware Alison Watt was known for painting portraits I have not heard of watt sculpting. She was also awarded an OBEY, she was the youngest female artist to b e awarded a solo exhibition at SIGMA.Alison Watt was quite original she interpreted her own ideas in her into paintings. Such as the paintings ‘Hunger and the horses head' l. This paintings watt has duplicated herself and she has also placed random niter s in Radio places. The Alison watt painting I will be writing about is ‘The native boy', It was made in 1990, made with oil paint on a board. Alison Watt has modeled herself I'm this painting, I chose this painting because its very neutral and doesn't have too much going on.This portrait is close up so you can't see of the sitter is sitting or standing it Just shows the face and neck. I would say everything in the portrait is mostly all the same proportion in terms of scale. N the background it was Just some simple leaves and what looks like to be a wall. The foreground and the background don't look Joined together it looks like Watt is standing in front of something. You can only see the top parts of the sitter and the background as it is a close up. The only thing that's being cut out is the rest of the figure.I think if I was there whilst this being painted you could smell nature and paint. You could probably here birds chirping and the wind blowing as it looks like an area where you would hear these surroundings. It looks as painted around midday. It does seem like a calm place and a very peaceful place . The lighting on the face is quite bright but the background is darker. I think it is a natural light. The light is coming from straight in and because if this I think it is during the day almost evening, but also I think it is winter because it looks quite cold.The light does cast shadows around the face I think it's there to show some form and atmosphere, so the face doesn't look flat. The mood in this painting is quite dull and dreary and Watt doesn't look very happy , which I think has an effect on what the DOD which comes across as winter. Although sometimes winter is bright it will always has that effect which makes the atmosphere dull and tense. The expression on Alison Watt definitely has an effect on the mood of the painting because it Just looks as if she's depressed and wants to cry.The sitters position is unrecognizable as you can't see the shoulders all that you see is the neck and above the only way you can tell the mood is by the facial expression. As mentioned you can't see the sitters clothes but from the hairstyle it looks quite classy and old fashioned. I think the artist hose the color scheme because it isn't a very complex painting So the color of the painting being neutral I believe is relevant to the painting. Watts brush stokes in the background are part of the painting they are almost unseen , it almost looks edited to look smooth,but the face is more textural you can see a few brushstrokes.Also on the face you can see where it has tried to be blended. I think the brush strokes are looser on the background and more controlled on the face etc where you need detail. I am oblivious to how much time was spent on This painting as they are to skilled be able o tell. But, personally I think Watt may have spent less time on this painting compared to the other painting. As this painting isn't as complex and not extremely detailed. The piece itself I would say is textural but around the cheekbones you can see dots/dabs used to blend the cheek and skin color.Watt seems to have used life like style or realistic, because it doesn't look fake and are elements where it Just looks airbrushed. Neutral colors have been used in this painting. I think Watt used these colors to give it the look of a real person. I think because of these colors that is why t made me decide the painting realistic/lifelike piece. I don't think they have am effect on the mood or atmosphere. Also I think the color scheme makes parts of the face such as the nose and mouth stand out.I honestly couldn't choose between whether this image is hot or cold. At the first look I would definitely say cold but if you look closer at the painting the face gives it a warm sensation. Watt used pattern in empty and dull areas. Pattern was used well around the face using leaves and curls. Also where there is a big plain space of wall a ribbon has been added and I hint without these features it would be really empty. The pattern used was regular and uniform nothing is out of the ordinary. In this painting the pattern is subtle.Although there is no definite outline ,you can see the different shapes and where watt has used two different colors side by side with a crisp edge. I think the painting is really bland. There is nothing really interesting going on. It is really amazing though how good an artist is when they make it look so simple. I think Watt is good but I dislike this painting. I don't think this is the best piece Alison Watt has done, cause the rest have something interesting In it which makes you remember it and makes you wonder about the painting. The other artist I'm going to investigate is Pablo Picasso.Picasso was a Spanish artist, boor in 1881 who was the son of an art teacher and showed artistic talent at a very young age. When Picasso was 19 he went to live in Paris to study new styles and to pick up new styles. The blue period was a famous period of Picasso. As the color blue symbolisms depression, when Picasso best friend committed suicide Picasso went into deep depression this is what was now as the blue period, where all the paintings are in shades of blue, have religious undertones and the subject matter is unhappy in nature.In 1973 Picasso was taken from us and he was one of the most famous artists of the 20th century. During Picasso blue period it was his friend Casemate who influenced Picasso. During the rose period when mostly shades of pink were used he was experimenting with gouache , the subject of matter was the circus and during the cubist period it was ad African masks which influenced Picasso. The cubist pe riod was when Picasso id his most original work , he took simple African masks which inspired him and turned them into paintings which are famous today.These kind of painting break away from the rules regarding realism and perspective. Some of the faces are distorted. Picasso was only known for doing portrait and figure paintings to my knowledge. Oil paint on canvas is Picasso most chosen way to work. The art work I will be focusing on is the weeping woman. It was made in 1907. I'm not able to tell what size the artwork is. I do not know the name of the sitter nor do I now that its actually a person who Picasso has Just made into his own idea or whether he painted this from his head.I chose this painting because I painted it in primary school and its his most known painting or the only painting I had ever heard of. The portrait is full length and the figure in the painting is in able to tell if she is sitting or standing as you can only see the top half of her body but I'm assuming she's sitting. It is a close up and the head takes up most of the portrait so the head is definitely the biggest object in the painting. In the background it is Just simply a wall. The foreground and background do look Joined together because the woman isn't ad.You can see a bit of the sitter and a bit of the background. I can Just see a cartoon woman crying that is literally all I think if I was to imagine myself in the painting. I can hear a woman crying and smell lots of paint. You can't tell the time because it isn't a realistic painting. I'm guessing something has happened as there is a woman in tears, it feels awkward and depressing , not a very nice place to be. There is no lighting in the painting. I think the mood and atmosphere is sad and awkward. It's expression and the body language of the sitter also the painting itself is about a woman crying.I would describe the mood of the sitter as upset and you can't see the shoulders. You can see spate hands as if she was holding a tissue up to her face to wipe her nose/eyes. She is multicultural I can't see any of her clothes. I have no idea why Picasso chose this color scheme. The artists style is cartoonist and abstract to me. You can't see the brushstrokes. I don't think he worked on this painting as long as he did the others, he others Just look as if they have been thought through more carefully. The painting is flat, I don't know what textures have been used.