The Lonely Passion of Judith Hearne Essay Example

The Lonely Passion of Judith Hearne Paper The Lonely Passion of Judith Hearne was written by Brian Moore and set in pre Troubles Belfast in the 50s. When Jack Clayton decided to make a film of the book in 1987 he decided to move the location to 1950s Dublin. At first these seems quite a strange thing to do, they were obviously two very different cities in, one could argue, two different countries. By setting it outside Belfast, the director is making a conscious decision to simply eradicate the major section of a community which must have some implications upon the integrity of the story line and character development. This is what I would like to discuss tonight. Furthermore the portrayal of the major characters has definitely been altered. Part of this can be put down to the directors own interpretation but it cannot be ignored that he has deliberately changed the personality of some of these characters. Now, I am going to assume that none of you has watched this film and not many of you have read this book. But what I am assuming is that everybody has a basic idea of the situation in the North. I propose therefore to first of all give you a broad outline of 1950s society in both Belfast and Dublin so that we can open a discussion comparing the two. And then Im going to choose three or four passages taken from the novel and show the clips in the film. In this way you get a rest from me! And, if you dont mind doing a little bit of reading, it makes for a more informed discussion. Let me first tell you something about Brian Moore. He was born in 1921, which was a very important year for Ireland as a whole. We will write a custom essay sample on The Lonely Passion of Judith Hearne specifically for you for only $16.38 $13.9/page Order now We will write a custom essay sample on The Lonely Passion of Judith Hearne specifically for you FOR ONLY $16.38 $13.9/page Hire Writer We will write a custom essay sample on The Lonely Passion of Judith Hearne specifically for you FOR ONLY $16.38 $13.9/page Hire Writer First of all they established independence from the British Empire and secondly we had partition in the North. Moore was one of nine children. His father was a surgeon and on the whole the family experience was a happy one. Moore attended St. Malachays, a grammar school where, according to Moore they were beaten all the time So you could go through the entire day being beaten on the hands, day in, day out, everything was taught by rote. This was a Catholic school in a predominantly Protestant milieu; therefore we had to get better marks than the Protestant schools. We were then beaten and coerced into achievement, and we werent really taught anything. Moore left St. Malachays without the leaving cert because he failed his Maths. He experienced the Second World War as a volunteer coffining dead bodies but was then hired by the British Ministry of War Transport to go as a Port Official to Algiers, North Africa. After one brief visit to Belfast after the war, Moore finally emigrated to Canada where he worked as a reporter. Belfast, which he considered a claustrophobic backwater trapped in the nightmare of history, left him feeling angry and bitter. It was at this stage that he felt the need to try and write Belfast out of his system and look for a new world in which I and my characters could live. It was at this point that he began writing The Lonely Passion of Judith Hearne which was published in 1955. The reasons for Moore writing Judith Hearne and the themes highlighted within the novel do call into question the decision to situate the film in Dublin. Briefly, the story centres on middle-aged Judith Hearne who moves from one bed and breakfast to another. Having devoted the best years of her life to the welfare of a severely demanding maiden aunt she has little respite in her life other than romantic dreams and the communal fellowship of Sunday Mass. As if in answer to a prayer, James Madden comes on to the scene, her landladys brother and recently returned from America. He upon seeing some expensive jewelry on her, is misled into believing she has money and views her as a potential financial partner. Although she finds him a trifle common Judith Hearne tempers her dreams with a certain amount of realism and realizes that Madden is her last chance to fulfill a desperate desire to be loved. What follows is a tragedy of errors and when the awful realization of the situation dawns on Judith Hearne she turns first to drink as a way of escape and then to the church where the priest mismanages her cruelly. The novel reaches its climax when Judith Hearne attacks the sanctuary in her desperate crisis of faith and collapses in a scene of total degradation and despair. The novel ends with Judith Hearne in a sanitorium having lost her dignity and her faith-a rather bleak future. That essentially is a synopsis of the story line. What may be useful, however, is if I give you an idea of what each of these cities was like in the 1950s. It is important to realize that the novel Judith Hearne very much reflects Moores feelings about the city. This novel and the two novels that followed was his attempt at trying to exorcise Belfast out of his system and there are various passages in the novel which highlight the isolation and alienation felt by the Nationalist community and it was from this he trying to escape. But in trying to escape he couldnt shake off this feeling of terrible loneliness and this is one of the main themes running through the novel. Looking at the make up of Belfast it is easy to understand these feelings. Belfast was, unlike Dublin, an industrial city. Im sure that when you think of Belfast you think of the sectarian conflict and the murals but one of its enduring images is the big shipping gantries with H and W on them. In fact those little link films on the BBC shows a group of boys skateboarding with those gantries behind them. The message is probably lost on most of the population but this was intended to show a more positive image of Belfast, an industrial, prosperous city that built the Titanic. But this is a very Protestant image and Belfast is a very Protestant city. Protestants believed that they had created Belfast through hard work and enterprise, a triumph over mud and water, the result of successive merchants, engineers and entrepreneurs. The Nationalists on the other hand, believed that Belfast had always been theirs and that the land had been taken from them. Furthermore they were excluded from the job market. Belfast in the 50s saw Protestants quite powerful and Catholics very isolated and marginalized. Belfast was an unhappy, fragile city where violence seethed below the surface. So what about Dublin? Can it compare with Belfast? Well, Dublin, having achieved independence from the British Empire and then endured a very bitter civil war was under the control of a politician who still believed in Mother Ireland and who attempted to maintain a rural way of life. The laws of Ireland were entwined with the Catholic church which resulted in a highly conservative, restrained and many would say oppressed nation Its relations with Britain were extremely poor, where embargoes were imposed by Britain causing a collapse in the economy and massive unemployment. Irelands position of neutrality in the Second World War if anything worsened relationships and it would be fair to say that Ireland was the sick man of Europe high unemployment and huge emigration. Lets have a look at the first clip which covers the opening of the novel. Ive included some extracts for you to read in order to compare the two scenes. In the novel, I believe Moore was quite keen to portray Middle Class Belfast in decline and to give a sense of its isolation and decline through its shabbiness. Moreover, Moore wants to present us with a middle aged, unattractive, snobbish and desperately lonely spinster who is herself kept out of the most powerful institution upheld by the Catholic Church and that is the woman seen as the wife and the mother and the heart of the home. Judith Hearne fails to achieve the role expected of her and as a result she is only ever a visitor to those domestic spaces normally assigned to women. This is what we see in the first clip. Incidentally, Ive included in the novels extracts Judith Hearnes reaction to Bernard Rice, the landladys son. She is a woman who feels the pressure to view every man as a potential suitor but I do find the directors interpretation rather interesting. Perhaps what the Catholics do have in common in both cities is this repressive apparatus of the church and the family which dominates their lives. You will see that Moores characters are very much determined by Catholicism. Its strictures dictate the attitudes, behaviour and beliefs of the Catholic community both in Belfast and in Dublin. Freedom within such a structure is merely an illusion and any attempt to live outside its tenets or indeed question its ideology can result in psychological distress. This is exactly what happens to Judith Hearne, her whole existence is dependent upon the church and her faith and when this faith is shaken and she begins to question the very existence of God she has also to question her very reason for being, which leads to a breakdown. This well see in one of the later clips. The main difference, I can see between Belfast and Dublin is this feeling of being at once locked out and hemmed in. There is no doubt that the Nationalist community suffered feelings of dislocation after Partition and that the Unionists endeavours to keep them essentially ghettoized and poor led to feelings being locked into small spaces. Hence the use of the Bed and Breakfast as a backdrop, where as Moore puts it all the houses are partitioned off. This is very much a statement Moore was making about the Nationalist community in Belfast. The way many Nationalist writers coped with these feelings was through nostalgia and an abiding involvement with the past. This we can see in the first clip when Judith Hearne unpacks her photograph of her dead aunt and the oleograph of the Sacred Heart. She continually returns to the past to seek some comfort which is in fact exactly what Moore is doing. I included the first meeting between James Madden and Judith Hearne just so you could see the relationship develop. For Hearne, Madden represents that opportunity to become part of that role assigned to women. But to the first question which is does it really matter that the film is changed to an entirely different city? Does it work? In the second clip, which is about 15 minutes long we see the fourth date between Judith Hearne and James Madden and this rather unfortunate misunderstanding between the two characters which results in the start of Judith Hearnes breakdown. I have included two important passages from the book which have been totally removed from the film but are of some significance to Moores novel as a whole. The first takes place at the end of the movie theyre watching which clearly situates the action in Belfast. As does the second which follows the couple through the city centre of Belfast as opposed to a bridge across the Liffey in Dublin which is what we see in the film. If you read those two passages and maybe we could open a debate over whether their exclusion is a problem. The second issue is the latent violence which lies beneath and throughout the novel. This violence will become obvious as you watch the clip and Ill be interested to here what you make of it because again there is a very good reason why Moore included this scene in the novel but Im not sure if it is fully explored in the film because of changing the location.

Lemon juice Essay Example

Lemon juice Essay Example Lemon juice Essay Lemon juice Essay Nutritional Status of People For thousandths of years our lives have hinged on our ability to find sufficient food for survival. While the world can produce enough food for every human being, there are still individuals who are literally starving to death. Factors Influencing Food Choice 1. Food availability You can only choose what to eat from the foods that are available to you. There are a number of factors that influence the types of foods available on the market: agricultural factors, imports, ease Of transportation, available DOD manufacturing facilities and technology. The marketplace provides an environment where food is displayed for sale. 2. Food acceptability Foods may be readily available to consumers, but the final decision about what foods to eat is based upon what each individual considers to be acceptable. 3. Knowledge of nutrition Whether the choice of food available for selection is limited or infinite, the individuals knowledge of nutrition will also determine if the right choice have been made in relation to good health. What is Nutrition? A word that comes from the Latin word nuttier, meaning to nourish or feed. Its about how and why we eat food, how our bodies digest and utilize food, how food affects our metabolism and how we dispose of bodily waste products. The study of nutrition also involves the nutritional requirements of each individual and the consequences to health when too much or too little of each nutrient is consumed. Nutrients are chemical substances that are present if foods. Nutritional Guidelines for Filipinos Educating the public to make proper food choices that are appropriate in the cultural, economic, social and environmental conditions that exist has always been a difficult task and continues to be a challenge. Nutrition education still remains as the cornerstone to improving the nutritional status of the population in the long term. Disseminating simple and practical nutrition message that encourage individuals to consume an adequate and well- balanced diet together with a healthy lifestyle is therefore a most desirable objective. In their simplest form, these messages are called Nutritional Guidelines. The development Of Nutritional Guidelines therefore is one Of the key strategies to promote appropriate diets and related health practices to achieve the goal of improving the nutritional condition of the population. Nutritional Guidelines For Filipinos 1. Eat a variety of foods every day. The human body needs more than 40 different nutrients for good health. No single food can provide all the nutrients in the amounts needed. Eat a variety of foods, to provide all the nutrients required in the proper amount and balance. 2. Breast-feed infants exclusively from birth to 4-6 months and then, give appropriate foods while continuing breast-feeding. Infants and children up to 2 years of age are most vulnerable to malnutrition. Breast-feeding is one of the most effective strategies to improve child survival. Nutritional requirements of an infant can be obtained solely from breast milk for the first 6 months of life. After that time, breast milk must be complemented with appropriate foods, but breast-feeding should be continued for up to 2 years of age or longer. The decision to breast-feed is made by the mother. Nonetheless, the husband and other family members, health workers, neighbors, community organizations, officemates and employers must encourage her to breast-feed her infant. 3. Maintain childrens normal growth through proper diet and monitor their growth regularly. An adequate diet for n active child is one that promotes good health and normal growth. A well- nourished child is healthy, strong, and alert, has good disposition, and grows at a normal rate. A poorly nourished child exhibits sluggish if not permanently delayed physical and mental development. In addition, he is lethargic and frequently ill because of low resistance to infection. Over nutrition on the other hand, may lead to obesity that may cause physical and emotional problems in childhood and later in life. 4. Consume fish, lean meat, poultry or dried beans. To improve the Filipino diet, not only should the total quantity of food be increased but the quality of the diet should also be improved by including animal products of substitutes. Including fish, lean meat, poultry, or dried beans in the daily meals will not only enhance the protein quality if the diet but also supply highly observable iron, preformed vitamin A and zinc. Fish, lean meat, poultry without skin, and dried beans, in contrast to fatty meats, are low in saturated fats, which are linked to heart disease. 5. Eat more vegetables, fruits and root crops. In general, most people do not eat enough vegetables, fruits and root crops. Results of food consumption surveys conducted by the FINN show that the average consumption of green leafy vegetables, vitamin C-rich fruits and root crops are low in the Filipino diet. The consumption of more vegetables, fruits and root crops is encouraged to help correct the encountering deficiencies consistently noted in national nutrition surveys. Eating root crops will add dietary energy to the meal. 6. Eat foods cooked in edible/cooking oil daily. In general, Filipinos use very little oil in their cooking. Boiling is the most common method of food preparation. Hence, the total fat and oil consumption in a Filipino diet is low. Fats and oils are concentrated sources of energy. A low fat and oil consumption results in a diet low in energy value, contributing to chronic energy deficiency. Fats and oils are also essential for absorption and utilization of fat-soluble vitamins, such as vitamin A. A low fat intake may be one of the causes of vitamin A deficiency among Filipinos. To ensure adequate fat intake, Filipinos should be encouraged to stir-fry foods in vegetable oil or to add fats and oils whenever possible in food preparation. This will guard against chronic energy deficiency and help to lower the risk of vitamin A deficiency. The excessive use of saturated fats and oils, however, ay increase the risk of heart disease. The proper choice of fats and oils therefore is essential. 7. Consume milk, milk products and other calcium-rich foods such as small fish and dark green leafy vegetables everyday. Nutrition surveys indicate a consistent failure of Filipinos to meet dietary recommendations for calcium. An adequate amount of calcium in the diet starting from childhood all through adulthood will help prevent osteoporosis in later life. Milk and milk products provide highly observable calcium besides being good sources of protein, vitamin A and other nutrients. Milk and other Alicia-rich foods are valuable additions to our rice/plant-based diets, which are not only poor sources of calcium but also contain calcium-inhibiting substances. 8. Use dizzied salt, but avoid excessive intake of salty foods. Goiters and Iodine Deficiency Disorders are rampant in many areas of the Philippines, causing physical and mental retardation in children. The regular use of dizzied salt in the table and in cooking in addition to taking iodine-rich foods, will greatly help in eradicating this preventable disease. On the other hand, excessive intake of salt and salty foods particularly in susceptible individuals increases the risk of hypertension and hence of heart disease. Avoiding too much table salt and overly salty foods may help in the prevention and control of these conditions. G. Eat clean and safe food. Food and water are essential to life but they may also carry disease-causing organisms like bacteria, viruses, fungi and parasites, or harmful chemical substances. It is important to buy foods that are safe. Purchase food only from reliable sources. In addition, care must be taken when preparing and serving meals to prevent food-borne diseases. Sharing in the efforts to improve environmental hygiene and sanitation in the community will greatly contribute to food safety in the home. 10. For a healthy lifestyle and good nutrition, exercise regularly, do not smoke and avoid drinking alcoholic beverages. With the changing lifestyle of Filipinos, chronic degenerative diseases are becoming significant public health problems. Healthy diets, regular exercise, abstinence from smoking and moderate alcohol intake are key components of a healthy lifestyle. Guidelines on specific nutrients 1 . Eat foods containing calcium. This is particularly important for girls and women. Eat foods containing iron. This is particularly important for girls, women, vegetarians and athletes. Promoting Good Nutrition in the Food Industry Eat a diet low in fat and low in saturated fat. One challenge for all companies or organizations that process food is to use less saturated fat without losing flavor. There are a number of ways of reducing the amount of saturated fat: when choosing ingredients and when preparing foods. When choosing ingredients in order to reduce saturated fat, select: Lean cuts of meat Polyunsaturated margarines instead of butter, shortenings etc. Low fat salad resting. When preparing foods in order to reduce saturated fat: Do not add fat when grilling, baking poaching, etc. Avoid creamy and cheesy sauces over vegetables, or glazes made of butter and sugar. Use lemon juice and/or vinegar dressing. Use non-stick pans for frying and sauteins. Steam vegetables and cook for minimum amounts of time. Remove fat from broths, stews and casseroles. Thicken sauces by reducing stocks and adding tomato, tomato paste and fruit nectars. Use herbs instead of butter, cream etc. To add flavor and interest to dishes. Choose low salt foods and use salt sparingly Some high salt foods may be difficult to exclude from planned menus that change daily for the sake of variety. Lower salt products should be used as alternatives to high salt foods. When choosing ingredients in order to reduce salt, select: High quality fresh foods and processed foods that do not contain salt (e. G. Frozen vegetables) low salt, reduced salt or no added salt products. When preparing foods in order to reduce salt: use alternative flavor enhancers such as lemon juice, vinegar and herbs. Select cooking methods that retain the flavor, such as stir-frying cooking in foil, dry baking and cooking in the minimum amount of water.

Apple Inc Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2500 words

Apple Inc - Essay Example The company is located in the Silicon Valley in the United States that is currently experiencing economic turmoil. The recession has caused some technology companies to close shop and file for bankruptcy. Unemployment in the region has increased due to the economic downturn. On the other hand, the high standards of living among Americans have prompted for an increase in labour wages. The problems of the American economy created threats to the sustainability of some companies. However, Apple saw the recession as an opportunity to pool potential talents for their new business ventures. Laws and regulations related to mobile communications devices in the many jurisdictions in which the Company operates are extensive and subject to change. Such changes, which could include restrictions on production, manufacture, distribution, and use of the device, locking the device to a carrier's network, or mandating the use of the device on more than one carrier's network, could have a material adverseeffect on the Company's financial condition and operating results. Mobile communication devices, such as iPhone, are subject to certification and regulation by governmental and standardization bodies, as well as by cellular network carriers for use on their networks. These certification processes are extensive and time consuming, and could result in additional testing requirements, product modifications or delays in product shipment. (Apple, Inc, 2008) Information technology system failures, network disruptions and breaches of data security could disrupt the company's operations by causing delays or cancellation of customer, including channel partner. This situation can negatively affect the company's online offerings and services, impeding the manufacture or shipment of products, processing transactions and reporting financial results, resulting in the unintentional disclosure of customer or company information, or damage to the Company's reputation. (Apple, Inc, 2008) War, terrorism, geopolitical uncertainties, public health issues, and other business interruptions have caused and could cause damage or disruption to international commerce and the global economy, and thus could have a strong negative effect on the Company, its suppliers, logistics providers, manufacturing vendors and customers, including channel partners. The Company's business operations are subject to interruption by natural disasters, fire, power shortages, terrorist attacks, and other hostile acts, labor disputes, public health issues, and other events beyond its control. Such events could decrease demand for the Company's products, make it difficult or impossible for the Company to make and deliver products to its customers, including channel partners, or to receive components from its suppliers, and create delays and inefficiencies in the Company's supply chain. Should major public health issues, including pandemics, arise, the Company could be negatively affected by more stringent employee travel restrictions, additional limitations in freight services, governmental actions limiting the movement of products between regions, delays in production ramps of new products, and disruptions in the operations of the Company's manufacturing vendors and component suppliers. (Apple, Inc, 2008) The technology industry is a very attractive industry with a growing market demand internationally.

Managerial Finance Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 3500 words

Managerial Finance - Essay Example from the marriage of the managing director (then a saw mill owner) and a wealthy forestry owner from the north of England, in the phase of the current market situation a number reforms are about to be implemented base on the best option. This paper is therefore going to analyse the case thoroughly by looking at the main issues discussed in the case study in section 2 below; evaluating the management control system of Wooden Post Ltd as described in the case study in section 3 below; analyzing the case using agency and contingency theories in section 4; comparing and contrasting agency and contingency theory perspectives as well as looking at how the interpretation of the case differ from each theoretical perspective in section . This will require using certain financial analysis tool such as the Net Present Value and the Payback. The last section takes a decision and provides conclusion and recommendations The Wooden Post Ltd case study raises some important themes. The case first of all highlighted the issue of cultural change. The main idea in the area included improving on its transportation system, reducing cost in other to boost the organization competitive position. Agency control is also highlighted in the case through the introduction of a new director’s incentive scheme and a fall in growth potentials. Other problems raised in the case involve issues of corporate restructuring, contracting and outsourcing, employee’s redundancy. Under the present situation, management is now faced with the options of either merger and acquisition, joint venture or closure of some facilities. A couple of research has been carried out with the view to answer the two fundamental question as follows; (1) Does capital structure matters- can the total market value of a firm be increase or decrease by altering the mix of equity and debt? And, (2) if capital structure is relevant, what factors determine the optimal mix of equity and debt that would maximise the firm’s

Procurement and supply chain management Essay Example for Free

Procurement and supply chain management Essay This Publication is concerned with the vital subject of business logistics and supply chain management, an area that can be essential to a firm’s competitive strategy and revenue generation. This management area has been described by many names, including physical distribution, materials management, transportation management, logistics, and supply chain management. Relevant business activities may include one or more of the following areas: transportation, inventory, order processing, purchasing, warehousing, materials handling, packaging, customer service standards, and production. The focus of this Publication is on the planning, organizing, and controlling of these activities key elements for successful management in any organization. Special emphasis is given to strategic planning and decision making as an important part of the management process. Managerial efforts are directed towards setting the level of the logistics activities so as to make products and services available to customers at the time and place required, and in the condition and form desired, in the most profitable and cost-effective way. Logistical activities have always been vital to organizations, and so business logistics and supply chain management represents a synthesis of many concepts, principles, and methods from the more traditional areas of marketing, production, accounting, purchasing, and transportation, as well as from the disciplines of applied mathematics, organizational behaviour, and economics. This Publication attempts to unify these elements to assist in the effective management of the supply chain. The Publication aims to present ideas, principles and techniques that are fundamental to good business logistics practice. It concentrates on important activities of management such as planning, organizing, and controlling, and also on a triangle of interrelated transportation, inventory, and location strategies, which are at the heart of good logistics planning and decision making. Contemporary trends that affect the scope and practice of business logistics and supply chain management have been integrated into the body of the text. Firstly, emphasis is placed on logistics and supply chain management in a worldwide setting to reflect the growing internationalization and globalization of business in general. Secondly, the shift towards service-oriented economies by industrialized nations is emphasized by showing how logistics concepts and principles are applicable to both service-producing tirms and product-producing ones. Thirdly, attention is given to the integrated management of supply chain activities. 1 LSCTMMOD1 Send for a FREE copy of our Prospectus book by airmail, telephone, fax or email, or via our website: Britain. International Headquarters: College House, Leoville, Jersey JE3 2DB, Britain Telefax: +44 (0)1534 485485 Email: [emailprotected] com Website: www. cambridgecollege. co. uk The Publication contains many practical and contemporary examples that show the applicability of the textual material and assist in the understanding and learning of the key points and concepts. Each Chapter in this Cambridge International College Publication on Logistics, Chain Supply Transport Management includes: †¢ An introduction section †¢ Examples and/or figures and diagrams to explain the concepts being covered †¢ A summary of concluding comments †¢ Review Questions designed to reinforce learning and contemplation of what is covered in the Chapter Advice on How to Study this Program Every individual CIC Member approaches his/her study in a different manner, and different people may have a particular study method that they find most effective for them. However, the following is a tested and proven Study Method, suggested to you as a CIC Member in order to assist in making your study and learning easier and enjoyable and to assist you to quickly master the contents of this CIC Publication on Logistics, Chain Supply Transport Management: Step 1: Set yourself a flexible study schedule, depending on the time you have available and what is best for you. For example, the target set could be to study for 1 or 2 hours a night, or for 8 or 9 hours a week, or to complete one Chapter every 2 weeks. There is no set or compulsory schedule, but simply setting a schedule or goal is often an important action in ensuring that study is undertaken successfully and within the specified timeframe. Step 2: Read the whole of the first Chapter at your normal reading pace, without trying to memorise every topic covered or fact stated, but trying to get â€Å"the feel† of what is dealt with in the Chapter as a whole. Step 3: Start reading the Chapter again from the beginning, this time reading more slowly, paragraph by paragraph and section by section. Make brief notes of any points, sentences, paragraphs or sections which you feel need your further study, consideration or thought. You may wish to keep any notes in a separate file or notebook. Try to absorb and memorise all the important topics covered. Step 4: Start reading the Chapter again from its start, this time paying particular attention to and if necessary studying more thoroughly those parts on which you earlier wrote notes for further study. It is best that you do not pass on to other parts or topics until you are certain you fully understand and remember those parts you earlier noted as requiring your special attention. Try to fix everything taught firmly in your mind. 2 LSCTMMOD1 Send for a FREE copy of our Prospectus book by airmail, telephone, fax or email, or via our website: Britain. International Headquarters: College House, Leoville, Jersey JE3 2DB, Britain Telefax: +44 (0)1534 485485 Email: [emailprotected] com Website: www. cambridgecollege. co. uk Step 5: There are self-assessment review questions at the end of the Chapter, and you are strongly advised to try to answer or think about them as best you can but do not send your answers to the College. If these questions/exercises highlight any areas that you feel you need to revise or re-read in the Chapter, then go ahead and do that before moving on to Step 6. Step 6: Once you have completed steps 1 to 5 above, move on to the next Chapter and repeat steps 1 to 5 for each subsequent Chapter. 3 LSCTMMOD1 Send for a FREE copy of our Prospectus book by airmail, telephone, fax or email, or via our website: Britain. International Headquarters: College House, Leoville, Jersey JE3 2DB, Britain Telefax: +44 (0)1534 485485 Email: [emailprotected] com Website: www. cambridgecollege. co. uk LOGISTICS, SUPPLY CHAIN TRANSPORT MANAGEMENT PROGRAM MODULE ONE BUSINESS LOGISTICS/SUPPLY CHAIN A VITAL SUBJECT (based on Chapter 1 of ‘Logistics, Supply Chain and Transport Management’ by Ronald H Ballou) Contents Introduction Business Logistics Defined The Supply Chain The Activity Mix Importance of Logistics/Supply Chain (SC) Costs Are Significant Logistics Customer Service Expectations Are Increasing Supply and Distribution Lines Are Lengthening with Greater Complexity Logistics/SC Is Important to Strategy Logistics/SC Adds Significant Customer Value Customers Increasingly Want Quick, Customized Response Logistics/SC in Non-Manufacturing Areas Service Industry Military Environment Business Logistics/SC in the Firm Objectives of Business Logistics/SC Questions and Problems Introduction As far back as history records, the goods that people wanted were not always produced where they wanted to consume them, or these goods were not accessible when people wanted to consume them. Food and other commodities were widely dispersed and were only available in abundance at certain times of the year. Early peoples had the choice of consuming goods at their immediate location or moving the goods to a preferred site and storing them for later use. However, because no well developed transportation and storage systems yet existed, the movement of goods was limited to what an individual could personally move, and storage of perishable commodities was possible for only a short time. This limited movement-storage system generally constrained people to live close to the sources of production and to consume a rather narrow range of goods. Even today, in some areas of the world consumption and production take place only within a very limited geographic region. Striking examples can still be observed in the developing nations of Asia, South America, Australia, and Africa, where some of the population live in small, self-sufficient villages, and most of the goods needed by the residents are produced or acquired in the immediate vicinity. Few goods are imported from other areas. Therefore, production efficiency and the economic standard of living are generally low. In this type of economy, a well-developed and inexpensive logistics system would encourage an exchange of goods with other producing areas of the country, or even the world. 4 LSCTMMOD1 Send for a FREE copy of our Prospectus book by airmail, telephone, fax or email, or via our website: Britain. International Headquarters: College House, Leoville, Jersey JE3 2DB, Britain Telefax: +44 (0)1534 485485 Email: [emailprotected] com Website: www. cambridgecollege. co. uk As logistics systems improved, consumption and production began to separate geographically. Regions would specialize in those commodities that could be produced most efficiently. Excess production could be shipped economically to other producing (or consuming) areas, and needed goods not produced locally were imported. This exchange process follows the principle of comparative advantage. This same principle, when applied to world markets, helps to explain the high level of international trade that takes place today. Efficient logistics systems allow world businesses to take advantage of the fact that lands, and the people who occupy them, are not equally productive. Logistics is the very essence of trade. It contributes to a higher economic standard of living for us all. To the individual firm operating in a high-level economy, good management of logistics activities is vital. Markets are often national or international in scope, whereas production may be concentrated at relatively few points. Logistics activities provide the bridge between production and market locations that are separated by time and distance. Effective management of these activities is the major concern of this Program. Business Logistic Defined Business logistics is a relatively new field of integrated management study in comparison with the traditional fields of finance, marketing, and production. As previously noted, logistics activities have been carried out by individuals for many years. Businesses also have continually engaged in movestore (transportation-inventory) activities. The newness of the field results from the concept of coordinated management of the related activities, rather than the historical practice of managing them separately, and the concept that logistics adds value to products or services that are essential to customer satisfaction and sales. Although co-ordinated logistics management has not been generally practiced until recently, the idea of co-ordinated management can be traced back to at least 1844. In the writings of Jules Dupuit, a French engineer, the idea of trading one cost for another (transportation costs for inventory costs) was evident in the selection between road and water transport: â€Å"The fact is that carriage by road being quicker, more reliable and less subject to loss or damage, it possesses advantage to which businessmen often attach a considerable value. However, it may well be that a saving induces the merchant to use a canal; he can buy warehouses and increase his floating capital in order to have a sufficient supply of goods on hand to protect himself against slowness and irregularity of the canal, and if all told the saving in transport gives him a cost advantage, he will decide in favour of the new route. † The first textbook to suggest the benefits of co-ordinated logistics management appeared around 1961, in part explaining why a generally accepted definition of business logistics is still emerging. Therefore, it is worthwhile to explore several definitions for the scope and content of the subject. A dictionary definition of the term logistics is: â€Å"The branch of military science having to do with procuring, maintaining, and transporting material, personnel, and facilities. † This definition puts logistics into a military context. To the extent that business objectives and activities differ from those of the military, this definition does not capture the essence of business logistics management. A better representation of the field may be reflected in the definition promulgated by the Council of Logistics Management (CLM), a professional organization of logistics 5 LSCTMMOD1 Send for a FREE copy of our Prospectus book by airmail, telephone, fax or email, or via our website: Britain. International Headquarters: College House, Leoville, Jersey JE3 2DB, Britain Telefax: +44 (0)1534 485485 Email: [emailprotected] com Website: www. cambridgecollege. co. uk managers, educators, and practitioners formed in 1962 for the purposes of continuing education and fostering the interchange of ideas. Its definition: â€Å"Logistics is that part of the supply chain process that plans, implements, and controls the efficient, effective flow and storage of goods, services, and related information from the point of origin to the point of consumption in order to meet customers’ requirements. † This is an excellent definition, conveying the idea that product flows are to be managed from the point where they exist as raw materials to the point where they are finally discarded. Logistics is also concerned with the flow of services as well as physical goods, an area of growing opportunity for improvement. It also suggests that logistics is a process, meaning that it includes all the activities that have an impact on making goods and services available to customers when and where they wish to acquire them. However, the definition implies that logistics is part of the supply chain process, not the entire process. So, what is the supply chain process or, more popularly, supply chain management? Supply chain management (SCM) is a term that has emerged in recent years that captures the essence of integrated logistics and even goes beyond it. Supply chain management emphasizes the logistics interactions that take place among the functions of marketing, logistics, and production within a firm and those interactions that take place between the legally separate firms within the product-flow channel. Opportunities for cost or customer service improvement are achieved through co-ordination and collaboration among the channel members where some essential supply chain activities may not be under the direct control of the logistician. Although early definitions such as physical distribution, materials management, industrial logistics and channel management all terms used to describe logistics have promoted this broad scope for logistics, there was little attempt to implement logistics beyond a company’s own enterprise boundaries, or even beyond its own internal logistics function. Now, retail firms are showing success in sharing information with suppliers, who in turn agree to maintain and manage inventories on retailers’ shelves. Channel inventories and product stockouts are lower. Manufacturing firms operating under just-in-time production scheduling build relationships with suppliers for the benefit of both companies by reducing inventories. Definitions of the supply chain and supply chain management reflecting this broader scope are: â€Å"The supply chain (SC) encompasses all activities associated with the flow and transformation of goods from the raw materials stage (extraction), through to the end user, as well as the associated information flows. Materials and information flow both up and down the supply chain. † â€Å"Supply chain management (SCM) is the integration of these activities, through improved supply chain relationships, to achieve a sustainable competitive advantage. † After careful study of the various definitions being offered, Mentzer and other writers propose the broad and rather general definition as follows: â€Å"Supply chain management is defined as the systematic, strategic coordination of the traditional business functions and the tactics across these business functions within a particular company and across businesses within the supply chain, for the purposes of improving the long-term performance of the individual companies and the supply chain as a whole. † 6 LSCTMMOD1 Send for a FREE copy of our Prospectus book by airmail, telephone, fax or email, or via our website: Britain. International Headquarters: College House, Leoville, Jersey JE3 2DB, Britain Telefax: +44 (0)1534 485485 Email: [emailprotected] The supply chain management model in Figure 1-1 viewed as a pipeline shows the scope of this definition. It is important to note that supply chain management is about the co-ordination of product flows across functions and across companies to achieve competitive advantage and profitability for the individual companies in the supply chain and the supply chain members collectively. It is difficult, in a practical way, to separate business logistics management from supply chain management. In so many respects, they promote the same mission: â€Å"To get the right goods or services to the right place, at the right time, and in the desired condition, while making the greatest contribution to the firm. † Some claim that supply chain management is just another name for integrated business logistics management (IBLM) and that the broad scope of supply chain management has been promoted over the years. Conversely, others say that logistics is a subset of SCM, where SCM considers additional issues beyond those of product flow. For example, SCM may be concerned with product pricing and manufacturing quality. Although SCM promotes viewing the supply channel with the broadest scope, the reality is that firms do not practise this ideal. Fawcett and Magan found that companies that do practise supply chain integration limit their scope to one tier upstream and one tier downstream. The focus seems to be concerned with creating seamless processes within their own companies and applying new information technologies to improve the quality of information and speed of its exchange among channel members. The boundary between the logistics and supply chain management terms is fuzzy. Even then, logistics activities are repeated once again as used products are recycled upstream in the logistics channel. A single firm generally is not able to control its entire product flow channel from raw material source to points of the final consumption, although this is an emerging opportunity. For practical purposes, the business logistics for the individual firm has a narrower scope. Usually, the maximum managerial control that can be expected is over the immediate physical supply and physical distribution channels, as shown in Figure 1-2. The physical supply channel refers to the time and space gap between a firm’s immediate material sources and its processing points. Similarly, the physical distribution channel refers to the time and space gap between the firm’s processing points and its customers. Due to the similarities in the activities between the two channels, physical supply (more commonly referred to as materials management) 8 LSCTMMOD1 Send for a FREE copy of our Prospectus book by airmail, telephone, fax or email, or via our website: Britain. International Headquarters: College House, Leoville, Jersey JE3 2DB, Britain Telefax: +44 (0)1534 485485 Email: [emailprotected] com Website: www. cambridgecollege. co. uk and physical distribution comprise those activities that are integrated into business logistics. Business logistics management is now popularly referred to as supply chain management. Others have used terms such as value nets, value stream, and lean logistics to describe a similar scope and purpose. The evolution of the management of product flows toward SCM is captured in Figure 1-3. Although it is easy to think of logistics as managing the flow of products from the points of raw material acquisition to end customers, for many firms there is a reverse logistics channel that must be managed as well. The life of a product, from a logistics viewpoint, does not end with delivery to the customer. Products become obsolete, damaged, or nonfunctioning and are returned to their source points for repair or disposition. Packaging materials may be returned to the shipper due to environmental regulations or because it makes good economic sense to reuse them. The reverse logistics channel may utilize all or a portion of the forward logistics channel or it may require a separate design. The supply chain terminates with the final disposition of a product. The reverse channel must be considered to be within the scope of logistics planning and control. The Activity Mix The activities to be managed that make up business logistics (supply chain process) vary from firm to firm, depending on a firm’s particular organizational structure, management’s honest differences of opinion about what constitutes the supply chain for its business, and the importance of individual activities to its operations. Follow along the supply chain as shown in Figure 1-2 and note the important activities that take place. Again, according to the CLM: 9 LSCTMMOD1 Send for a FREE copy of our Prospectus book by airmail, telephone, fax or email, or via our website: Britain. International Headquarters: College House, Leoville, Jersey JE3 2DB, Britain Telefax: +44 (0)1534 485485 Email: [emailprotected] com Website: www. cambridgecollege. co. uk â€Å"The components of a typical logistics system are: customer service, demand forecasting, distribution communications, inventory control, material handling, order processing, parts and service support, plant and warehouse site selection (location analysis), purchasing, packaging, return goods handling, salvage and scrap disposal, traffic and transportation, and warehousing and storage. † Figure 1-4 organizes these components, or activities, according to where they are most likely to take place in the supply channel. The list is further divided into key and support activities, along with some of the decisions associated with each activity. Customer service standards co-operate with marketing to: a. Determine customer needs and wants for logistics customer service b. Determine customer response to service c. Set customer service levels 2. Transportation a. Mode and transport service selection b. Freight consolidation c. Carrier routing d. Vehicle scheduling e. Equipment selection f. Claims processing g. Rate auditing 3. Inventory management a. Raw materials and finished goods stocking policies b. Short-term sales forecasting c. Product mix at stocking points 10 LSCTMMOD1 Send for a FREE copy of our Prospectus book by airmail, telephone, fax or email, or via our website: Britain. International Headquarters: College House, Leoville, Jersey JE3 2DB, Britain Telefax: +44 (0)1534 485485 Email: [emailprotected] com Website: www. cambridgecollege. co. uk d. Number, size, and location of stocking points e. Just-in-time, push, and pull strategies 4. Information flows and order processing a. Sales order-inventory interface procedures b. Order information transmittal methods c. Ordering rules Support Activities 1. Warehousing a. Space determination b. Stock layout and dock design c. Warehouse configuration d. Stock placement 2. Materials handling a. Equipment selection b. Equipment replacement policies c. Order-picking procedures d. Stock storage and retrieval 3. Purchasing a. Supply source selection b. Purchase timing c. Purchase quantities 4. Protective packaging designed for: a. Handling b. Storage c. Protection from loss and damage 5. Co-operate with production/operations to: a. Specify aggregate quantities b. Sequence and time production output c. Schedule supplies for production/operations 6. Information maintenance a. Information collection, storage, and manipulation b. Data analysis Control procedures Key and support activities are separated because certain activities will generally take place in every logistics channel, whereas others will take place, depending on the circumstances, within a particular firm. The key activities are on the â€Å"critical† loop within a firm’s immediate physical distribution channel, as shown in Figure 1 to 5. They contribute most to the total cost of logistics or they are essential to the effective co-ordination and completion of the logistics task. 11 LSCTMMOD1 Send for a FREE copy of our Prospectus book by airmail, telephone, fax or email, or via our website: Britain. International Headquarters: College House, Leoville, Jersey JE3 2DB, Britain Telefax: +44 (0)1534 485485 Email: [emailprotected] com Website: www. cambridgecollege. co. uk Customer service standards set the level of output and degree of readiness to which the logistics system must respond. Logistics costs increase in proportion to the level of customer service provided, such that setting the standards for service also affects the logistics costs to support that level of service. Setting very high service requirements can force logistics costs to exceedingly high levels. Transportation and inventories maintenance are the primary cost-absorbing logistics activities. Experience has shown that each will represent one-half to two-thirds of total logistics costs. Transportation adds place value to products and services, whereas inventories maintenance adds time value. Transportation is essential because no modern firm can operate without providing for the movement of its raw materials or its finished products. This importance is underscored by the financial strains placed on many firms by such disasters as a national railroad strike or independent truckers’ refusal to move goods because of rate disputes. In these circumstances, markets cannot be served, and products back up in the logistics pipeline to deteriorate or become obsolete. Inventories are also essential to logistics management because it is usually not possible or practical to provide instant production or ensure delivery times to customers. They serve as buffers between supply and demand so that needed product availability may be maintained for customers while providing flexibility for production and logistics in seeking efficient methods for manufacture and distribution of the product. Order processing is the final key activity. Its costs usually are minor compared to transportation or inventory maintenance costs. Nevertheless, order processing is an important element in the total time that it takes for a customer to receive goods or services. It is the activity triggering product movement and service delivery. Although support activities may be as critical as the key activities in any particular circumstance, they are considered here as contributing to the logistics mission. In addition, one or more of the support activities may not be a part of the logistics activity mix for every firm. For example, products such as finished automobiles or commodities such as coal, iron ore, or gravel not needing the weather and security protection of warehousing will not require the warehousing activity, even though inventories are maintained. However, warehousing and materials handling are typically conducted wherever products are temporarily halted in their movement to the marketplace. 12 LSCTMMOD1 Send for a FREE copy of our Prospectus book by airmail, telephone, fax or email, or via our website: Britain. International Headquarters: College House, Leoville, Jersey JE3 2DB, Britain Telefax: +44 (0)1534 485485 Email: [emailprotected] com Website: www. cambridgecollege. co. uk Protective packaging is a support activity of transportation and inventory maintenance as well as of warehousing and materials handling because it contributes to the efficiency with which these other activities are carried out. Purchasing and product scheduling often may be considered more a concern of production than of logistics. However, they also affect the overall logistics effort, and specifically they affect the efficiency of transportation and inventory management. Finally, information maintenance supports all other logistics activities in that it provides the needed information for planning and control. The extended supply chain refers to those members of the supply channel beyond the firm’s immediate suppliers or customers. They may be suppliers to the immediate suppliers or customers of the immediate customers and so on until raw material source points or end customers are reached. It is important to plan and control the previously noted activities and information flows if they affect the logistics customer service that can be provided and the costs of supplying this service. Management of the extended supply chain has the potential of improving logistics performance beyond that of just managing the activities within the immediate supply chain. Importance of Logistics/Supply Chain Logistics is about creating value value for customers and suppliers of the firm, and value for the firm’s stakeholders. Value in logistics is primarily expressed in terms of time and place. Products and services have no value unless they are in the possession of the customers when (time) and where (place) they wish to consume them. For example, concessions at a sports event have no value to consumers if they are not available at the time and place that the event is occurring, or if inadequate inventories don’t meet the demands of the sports fans. Good logistics management views each activity in the supply chain as contributing to the process of adding value. If little value can be added, it is questionable whether the activity should exist. However, value is added when customers are willing to pay more for a product or service than the cost to place it in their hands. To many firms throughout the world, logistics has become an increasingly important value-adding process for a number of reasons. Costs Are Significant Over the years, several studies have been conducted to determine the costs of logistics for the whole economy and for the individual firm. There are widely varying estimates of the cost levels. According to the International Monetary Fund (IMF), logistics costs average about 12 percent of the 13 LSCTMMOD1 Send for a FREE copy of our Prospectus book by airmail, telephone, fax or email, or via our website: Britain. International Headquarters: College House, Leoville, Jersey JE3 2DB, Britain Telefax: +44 (0)1534 485485 Email: [emailprotected] com Website: www. cambridgecollege. co. uk world’s gross domestic product. Robert Delaney, who has tracked logistics costs for more than two decades, estimates that logistics costs for the U. S. economy are 9. 9 percent of the U. S. gross domestic product (GDP), or $921 billion. For the firm, logistics costs have ranged from 4 percent to over 30 percent of sales. The results from a cost survey of individual firms are shown in Table 1-3. Although the results show physical distribution costs at about 8 percent of sales, this survey does not include physical supply costs. Probably another one-third may be added to this total to represent average logistics costs for the firm at about 11 percent of sales. Over the last decade, physical distribution costs have ranged between 7 percent and 9 percent of sales. There may be a trend of increasing costs for individual firms, although Wilson and Delaney show over the same period that logistics costs as a percent of U. S. GDP have declined by about 10 percent. Logistics costs, substantial for most firms, rank second only to the cost of goods sold (purchase costs) that are about 50 percent to 60 percent of sales for the average manufacturing firm. Value is added by minimizing these costs and by passing the benefits on to customers and to the firm’s shareholders. Logistics Customer Service Expectations Are Increasing The Internet, just-in-time operating procedures, and continuous replenishment of inventories have all contributed to customers expecting rapid processing of their requests, quick delivery, and a high degree of product availability. According to the Davis Survey of hundreds of companies over the last decade, world-class competitors have average order cycle times (the time between when an order is placed and when it is received) of seven to eight days and line item fill rates of 90 percent to 94 percent. LogFac summarizes world-class logistics performance for domestic companies as: Error rates of less than one per 1,000 orders shipped Logistics costs of well under 5 percent of sales Finished goods inventory turnover of 20 or more times per year Total order cycle time of five working days Transportation cost of one percent of sales revenue or less, if products sold are over $5 per 500 gms As might be expected, the average company performs below these cost and customer service benchmarks, when compared with the statistics in Tables 1-3 and 1-4. Supply and Distribution Lines Are Lengthening with Greater Complexity The trend is toward an integrated world economy. Firms are seeking, or have developed, global strategies by designing their products for a world market and producing them wherever the low-cost 14 LSCTMMOD1 Send for a FREE copy of our Prospectus book by airmail, telephone, fax or email, or via our website: Britain. International Headquarters: College House, Leoville, Jersey JE3 2DB, Britain Telefax: +44 (0)1534 485485 Email: [emailprotected] com Website: www. cambridgecollege. co. uk raw materials, components, and labor can be found (e. g. , Ford’s Focus automobile), or they simply produce locally and sell internationally. In either case, supply and distribution lines are stretched, as compared with the producer who wishes to manufacture and sell only locally. Not only has the trend occurred naturally by firms seeking to cut costs or expand markets, but it is also being encouraged by political arrangements that promote trade. Examples of the latter are the European Union, the North America Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) between Canada, the United States, and Mexico, and the economic trade agreement among several countries of South America (MERCOSUR). Globalization and internationalization of industries everywhere will depend heavily on logistics performance and costs, as companies take more of a world view of their operations. As this happens, logistics takes on increased importance within the firm since its costs, especially transportation, become a larger part of the total cost structure. For example, if a firm seeks foreign suppliers for the raw materials that make up its final product or foreign locations to build its product, the motivation is to increase profit. Material and labor costs may be reduced, but logistics costs are likely to increase due to increased transportation and inventory costs. The â€Å"tradeoff†, as shown in Figure 1-6, may lead to higher profit by reducing materials, labour, and overhead costs at the expense of logistics costs and tariffs. â€Å"Outsourcing† adds value, but it requires careful management of logistics costs and product-flow times in the supply channel. Logistics/SC Is Important To Strategy Firms spend a great deal of time finding ways to differentiate their product offerings from those of their competitors. When management recognizes that logistics/SC affects a significant portion of a firm’s costs and that the result of decisions made about the supply chain processes yields different levels of customer service, it is in a position to use this effectively to penetrate new markets, to increase market share, and to increase profits. When a firm incurs the cost of moving the product toward the customer or making an inventory available in a timely manner, for the customer â€Å"value† has been created that was not there previously. It is value as surely as that created through the production of a quality product or through a low price. It is generally recognized that business creates four types of value in products or services. These are: form, time, place, and possession. Logistics creates two out of these four values. Manufacturing creates form value as inputs are converted to outputs, that is raw materials are transformed into finished goods. Logistics controls the time and place values in products, mainly through transportation, information flows, and inventories. Possession value is often considered the responsibility of marketing, engineering, and finance, where the value is created by helping customers acquire the product through such mechanisms as advertising (information), technical support, and terms of sale (pricing and credit availability). To the extent that SCM includes production, three out of the four values may be the responsibility of the logistics/supply chain manager. Customers Increasingly Want Quick, Customized Response Fast food retailers, automatic teller machines, overnight package delivery, and electronic mail on the Internet have led us as consumers to expect that products and services can be made available in increasingly shorter times. In addition, improved information systems and flexible manufacturing processes have led the marketplace toward mass customization. Rather than consumers having to accept the â€Å"one size fits all† philosophy in their purchases, suppliers are increasingly offering products that meet individual customer needs. Companies too have been applying the concept of quick response to their internal operations in order to meet the service requirements of their own marketing efforts. The quick response philosophy has been used to create a marketing advantage. Saks Fifth Avenue applied it, even though big profits are made through big margins and not on cost reductions that might be achieved from good logistics management. Supply chain costs may even rise, although the advantage is to more than cover these costs through increased profits. Logistics/SC in Non-manufacturing Areas It is perhaps easiest to think of logistics/SC in terms of moving and storing a physical product in a manufacturing setting. This is too narrow a view and can lead to many missed business opportunities. The logistics/SC principles and concepts learned over the years can be applied to such areas as service industries, the military, and even environment management. Service Industry The service sector of industrialized countries is large and growing. In the United States, over 70 percent of all jobs are in what the federal government classifies as the service sector. The size of this sector alone forces us to ask if logistics concepts are not equally applicable here as they are to the manufacturing sector. If they are, there is a tremendous untapped opportunity yet to be fulfilled. Many companies designated as service firms in fact produce a product. Examples include: McDonald’s Corporation (fast foods); Dow Jones Co. , Inc. (newspaper publishing); and Sears, Roebuck and Co. (merchandise retailing). These companies carry out all the typical supply chain activities of any manufacturing firm. However, for service companies such as Bank One (retail banking), Marriott Corporation (lodging) and Consolidated Edison (electric power), supply chain activities, 16 LSCTMMOD1 Send for a FREE copy of our Prospectus book by airmail, telephone, fax or email, or via our website: Britain. International Headquarters: College House, Leoville, Jersey JE3 2DB, Britain Telefax: +44 (0)1534 485485 Email: [emailprotected] com Website: www. cambridgecollege. co. uk especially those associated with physical distribution, are not as obvious. Even though many service-oriented companies may be distributing an intangible, nonphysical product, they do engage in many physical distribution activities and decisions. A hospital may want to extend emergency medical care throughout the community and must make decisions as to the locations of the centers. United Parcel Service and Federal Express must locate terminals and route pickup and delivery trucks. The East Ohio Gas Company inventories natural gas in underground wells during the off-season in the region where demand will occur. Bank One must locate and have cash inventory on hand for its ATMs. The Federal Reserve Bank must select the methods of transportation to move cancelled cheques among member banks. The Catholic Church must decide the number, location, and size of the churches needed to meet shifts in size and location of congregations, as well as to plan the inventory of its pastoral staff. Xerox’s repair service for copying equipment is also a good example of the logistics decisions encountered in a service operation. The techniques, concepts, and methods discussed throughout this Program should be as applicable to the service sector as they are to the manufacturing sector. The key, according to Theodore Levitt, may be in transforming an intangible service into a tangible product. Problems will remain in carefully identifying the costs associated with the distribution of an intangible product. Perhaps because of this, few service firms or organizations have a physical distribution manager on their staff, although they frequently do have a materials manager to handle supply matters. However, managing logistics in service industries does represent a new direction for the future development of logistics practice. Military Before businesses showed much interest in co-ordinating supply chain processes, the military was well organized to carry out logistics activities. More than a decade before business logistics’ developmental period, the military carried out what was called the most complex, best-planned logistics operation of that time-the invasion of Europe during World War II. Although the problems of the military, with its extremely high customer service requirements, were not identical with those of business, the similarities were great enough to provide a valuable experience base during the developmental years of logistics. For example, the military alone maintained inventories valued at about one-third of those held by all U. s. manufacturers. In addition to the management experience that such large-scale operations provide, the military sponsored, and continues to sponsor, research in the logistics area through such organizations as the RAND Corporation and the Office of Naval Research. With this background, the field of business logistics began to grow. Even the term logistics seems to have had its origins in the military. A recent example of military logistics on a large scale was the conflict between the United States and Iraq over Iraq’s invasion of the small country of Kuwait. This invasion has been described as the largest military logistics operation in history. The logistics support in that war is yet another illustration of what worldclass companies have always known: Good logistics can be a source of competitive advantage. Lt General William Pagonis, in charge of logistics support for Desert Storm, observed: â€Å"When the Middle East started heating up, it seemed like a good time to pull out some history books on desert warfare in this region . But there was nothing on logistics. Logistics is not a best seller. In a couple of his diaries, Rommel talked about logistics. He thought the Germans lost the battle not because they didn’t have great soldiers or equipment in fact, the German tanks outfought ours almost throughout World War II but because the British had better logistics. † 17 LSCTMMOD1 Send for a FREE copy of our Prospectus book by airmail, telephone, fax or email, or via our website: The first wave of 200,000 troops and their equipment was deployed in a month and a half, whereas troop deployment took nine months in the Vietnam conflict. In addition, the application of many good logistics concepts was evident. Take customer service, for example: â€Å"We believed that if we took care of our troops, the objectives would be accomplished no matter whatever else happened. The soldiers are our customers. It is no different than a determined, single focus on customers that many successful businesses have. Now, you take care of your soldiers not only by providing them cold sodas, and burgers, and good food: you make sure they have the ammunition on the front line, so that when they go fight the war they know they have what they need. † This meant that when 120 mm guns rather than 105 mm guns were desired on tanks, they were changed. When brown vehicles were preferred over the traditional camouflage green, they were repainted at the rate of 7,000 per month. Environment Population growth and resultant economic development have heightened our awareness of environmental issues. Whether it is recycling, packaging materials, transporting hazardous materials or refurbishing products for resale, logisticians are involved in a major way. After all, the United States alone produces more than 160 million tons of waste each year, enough for a convoy of 10-ton garbage trucks reaching halfway to the moon. In many cases, planning for logistics in an environmental setting is no different from that in manufacturing or service sectors. However, in a few cases additional complications arise, such as governmental regulations that make the logistics for a product more costly by extending the distribution channel. Business Logistics in the Firm It has been the tradition in many firms to organize around marketing and production functions. Typically, marketing means selling something and production means making something. Although few business people would agree that their organization is so simple, the fact remains that many businesses emphasize these functions while treating other activities, such as traffic, purchasing, accounting, and engineering, as support areas. Such an attitude is justified to a degree, because if a firm’s products cannot be produced and sold, little else matters. However, such a pattern is dangerously simple for many firms to follow in that it fails to recognize the importance of the activities that must take place between points and times of production or purchase and the points and times of demand. These are the logistics activities, and they affect the efficiency and effectiveness of both marketing and production. Scholars and practitioners of both marketing and production have not neglected the importance of logistics. In fact, each area considers logistics within its scope of action. For example, the following definition of marketing management includes physical distribution: â€Å"Marketing (management) is the process of planning and executing the conception, pricing, promotion, and distribution of ideas, goods, and services to create exchanges with target groups that satisfy individual and organizational objectives. † Marketing’s concern is to place its products or services in convenient distribution channels to facilitate the exchange process. The concept of production/ operations management often includes logistics activities. Now, viewing product flow activities as a process to be coordinated, product flow aspects within marketing, production, and logistics are collectively managed to achieve customer service objectives. The difference in operating objectives (maximize revenue versus minimize cost) for marketing and production/operations may lead to a fragmentation of interest in, and responsibility for, logistics activities, as well as a lack of co-ordination among logistics activities as a whole. This, in turn, may lead to lower customer service levels or higher total logistics costs than are necessary. Business logistics represents a regrouping, either by formal organizational structure or conceptually in the minds of management, of the move-store activities that historically may have been partially under the control of marketing and production/ operations. If logistics activities are looked upon as a separate area of managerial action, the relationship of logistics activities to those of marketing and production/ operations would be as is shown in Figure 1-7. Marketing would be primarily responsible for market research, promotion, sales-force management, and the product mix, which create possession value in the product. Production/ operations would be concerned with the creation of the product or service, which creates form value in the product. Key responsibilities would be quality control, production planning and scheduling, job design, capacity planning, maintenance, and work measurement and standards. Logistics would be concerned with those activities (previously defined) that give a product or service time and place value. This separation of the activities of the firm into three groupings rather than two is not always necessary or advisable to achieve the coordination of logistics activities that is sought. Marketing and production/operations, when broadly conceived and co-ordinated, can do an effective job of managing logistics activities without creating an additional organizational entity. Even if a separate functional area is created for logistics within the firm so as to achieve effective control of the firm’s immediate logistics activities, logisticians will need to view their responsibility as one of coordinating the entire supply chain process rather than being just a local logistics activity administrator. To do otherwise may miss substantial opportunities for cost reduction and logistics customer service improvement. The interface is created by the arbitrary separation of a firm’s activities into a limited number of functional areas. Managing the interface activities by one function alone can lead to sub-optimal performance for the firm by subordinating broader company goals to individual functional goals-a potential danger resulting from the departmental form of organizational structure so common in companies today. To achieve interfunctional coordination, some measurement system and incentives for cooperation among the functions involved need to be established. This is equally true of the inter-organizational co-ordination required to manage product flows across company boundaries. It is important to note, however, that establishing a third functional group is not without its disadvantages. Two functional interfaces now exist where only one between marketing and production/ operations previously existed. Some of the most difficult administrative problems arise from the interfunctional conflicts that occur when one is attempting to manage interface activities. Some of this potential conflict may be dissipated if a new organizational arrangement is created whereby production/ operations and logistics are merged into one group called supply chain. Just as managers are beginning to understand the benefits of interfunctional logistics management, inter-organizational management is being encouraged. Supply chain management proponents who view the area more broadly than some logisticians have been strongly promoting the need for collaboration among supply channel members that are outside the immediate control of a company’s  logistician, that is, members who are legally separate companies. Collaboration among the channel members that are linked through buyer-seller relationships is essential to achieving cost-service benefits unable to be realized by managers with strictly an internal view of their responsibilities. Supply chain managers consider themselves to have responsibility for the entire supply channel of the scope as illustrated in Figure 1-8. Managing in this broader environment is the new challenge for the contemporary logistician. Objectives of Business Logistics/SC Within the broader objectives of the firm, the business logistician seeks to achieve supply channel process goals that will move the firm toward its overall objectives. Specifically, the desire is to develop a logistics activity mix that will result in the highest possible return on investment over time. There are two dimensions to this goal: (1) the impact of the logistics system design on the revenue contribution, and (2) the operating cost and capital requirements of the design. Ideally, the logistician should know how much additional revenue would be generated through incremental improvements.

Temperate Deciduous Forest :: essays research papers

Temperate Deciduous Forest Geographical location- The Temperate Deciduous Forest is 30 degrees north and 30 degrees south of the equator. This climate can be found in the north in North America, Europe and Asia. In the south, the climate can be found with South America, Australia, and Africa. Climate facts- the average temperature is 50 degrees (24 degrees celsius) and its high is 86 degrees, this factor depends on the altitude of the forest. The temperate deciduous forest receives an average yearly precipitation of 2 to 5 feet, and the humidity of the forest is 60% to 80%. Soil- The soil in this climate is very fertile due to falling leaves, twigs, logs, and dead organisms. Fall- the leaves begin to lose their green color as the chlorophyll inside the leaves goes away. The red and orange that is always associated with fall come into play now, since they are always in the leaf, the only reason the leaf is green is because chlorophyll are inside the cells, but during the cold weather the trees loses the chlorophyll. Layers of the Temperate Forest 1.  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Tree stratum- tallest layer, 60- 100 feet high, with large maple woods, oaks, beech, chestnut, hickory, elm, basswood, linden, and walnut. 2.  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Small tree or sapling layer- short and young trees. 3.  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Shrub layer- huckleberries, azaleas, and mountain laurels. 4.  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Herb layer- short plants 5.  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ground layer- lichens, club mosses, and true mosses. Three types of organisms Primary producers- such as trees, shrubs, grass, mushrooms, wild flowers, berries. Primary consumers-this group is comprised of mostly small animals and insects, such as mosquitoes, chipmunks, mice, squirrels, and seed eating birds. These organisms depend on the primary producers, for food and shelter.

Choosing a Course

Choosing a college major for some is easy; some people know exactly what they want to be when they grow up. For others, choosing a college major is probably one of the hardest decisions they will make in their life. It doesn’t help that there are now a lot of college courses and college programs among which you have to choose. There was once a time when choices were simple: good or evil, ketchup or mayonnaise, Bachelor of Science or Bachelor of Arts. Nowadays, you have to choose between shades of gray, one gazillion condiments and a plethora of majors.The trick in making a college major choice, they say, is to narrow things down as you go along. This article will help you do that. The following are some of the things you must consider when choosing a college course. Choosing your college major consideration # 1: Your Interest The most basic consideration in the choice of a college major or college course is, of course, what you want. Is there something that you’ve alway s wanted to get into, something that resonates within the very fiber of your being? If so, that may be where you’re meant to go. In the event that you don’t know or don’t feel that siren song, fret not.You can always go for career assessment care of your local guidance office. That would certainly make choosing a college course more systematic and easier. Choosing your college major consideration #2: Your Aptitude Choosing a college major also entails an assessment of your skills and talents. You may know what you want, but do you know what you’re good at? Interest and aptitude are two different things. Ideally, you should pursue a college course or choose a college major that allows you to explore both. In this less than perfect world, however, this is usually not possible for some people.In that case, you’d have to weigh your priorities: pick a college major you will be good at or pick a college course that is in line with your interest? Better y et, find a college course that you will be good at and has the potential of arousing your interest. Choosing your college major consideration #3: Your Values Every career comes with non-quantifiable stuff: fulfillment, meaning and purpose, pure altruism, you name it. They help determine what you’d like to get out of a career (and a college major) besides material compensation. Choosing your college major consideration #4: Money MattersMoney matters, in more ways than one. Money matters because it will dictate what course you can or cannot afford. Money matters should therefore be part of your college major choice. If it’s one thing you must always factor in, it’s reality. This can be broken down into a number of sub-considerations. How much money does the course require you to invest? How much money do you actually have on hand to invest? How much money will you (approximately) make if you take up a career in line with that college major? How much money would yo u like to earn after college?Choosing your college major consideration #5: Time and Practical Considerations You should also be aware of what you’re getting into when choosing a college major. What will your college course require you to do? Are you willing to do it? As a case in point, if you’re squeamish about the sight of blood, why should you decide to go for a Nursing Degree? How much time are you willing to invest in your college course and major? If you want school to be over and done with as soon as possible, then you should probably not choose a college course that won’t be useful without further study.Choosing your college major consideration #6: Your Commitment Choosing a college course requires you to look inwards and assess your commitment to your chosen path. Assuming that you have the issue of money and other practical considerations settled, do you actually possess the skills and the patience to go the distance? Moreover, do you actually want to do so? There’s also a chance that your parents may be expecting you to tread a certain academic path; will you have the strength and the will to stick it out against all odds? Choosing your college major consideration #7: The TimesNope, you don’t have to read the Times to know what college course to pick (Yup, that’s a lousy joke). Kidding aside, don’t ever forget to consider the times in your decision-making process. Case in point: the global economy was in a bit of a slump at the time I wrote this article. There are instances when certain courses may appear to be more profitable or more popular than others due to current circumstances. Choosing your college major consideration #8: Other People’s Feedback Besides guidance counselors, family and friends, you may also want to ask other people for their opinions regarding the matter.College alumni and alumnae always make for interesting interviews-been there, done that. Professors and classmates will also have a lot of significant input to offer. Choosing your college major consideration #9: Your Choices Also, do remember that there are some benefits to doing things by the book-or more specifically, the college’s catalogue of courses. Take a peek and note the unit and credit requirements for each course, along with whatever minors and electives you can take as part of the package deal.Choosing your college major consideration #10: Spiritual Considerations Finally, know this: you’ll most likely change courses-even careers! -as you go along, so don’t be overly fixated on any one course. No one course is the end all and be all. There are numerous examples of people out there who majored in one thing and built a career or three out of another. If you’re a believer, though, I strongly recommend that you pray about it ask God what He wants you to take. After all, only He knows what path you will ultimately tread.