Agent Orange :: essays research papers

Agent orange was an herbicide used in Vietnam. It was use to kill overgrown trees and shrubs that were in the way of advancing United States troops. Agent orange got its name from the barrel it was transported in; the barrel had a large orange stripe running across it.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Agent orange was heavily used; in fact, it was the most used of all herbicides in Vietnam. From 1962 until 1971 over 20 millions gallons were used to cover a large 6 million acre area. The most heavily covered areas were those where very thick brush was present; it would give the enemy cover, as well as hindering the troops ability to move. The areas were located in South Vietnam, the transportation areas of Laos and Cambodia, and the forests of the demarcation zone.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Agent orange, along with its brothers, Agent White and Agent Blue, did a great job clearing away the brush. It did this with severe costs; people exposed to Agent Orange have had many problems.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Before you know what Agent Orange did to people, you have to understand what it was made of and how it worked. Agent orange contained a mixture of many plant hormones, which would confuse the plants metabolism and cause the plants to lose flowers, leaves and fruit within two to three weeks. Not only did it have bad effects on plants, it did things to humans, especially the ground troops who carried it and the airplane crew that dropped it.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Dioxin, what was created in the mixture of hormones, has been proven to be very dangerous and poisonous. In lab tests, Agent Orange has given animals cancer and causes birth effects. This is also thought to be true in humans, as many veterans complain about things like; cancer, birth defects, liver infections, tumors, elevated blood pressure, blood deficiency, enlarged head, club feet and many other illnesses. Although it hasn’t been proven 100% sure that Agent Orange is the cause for this, it is the one linking factor for all the people involved.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   The United States government has handled this outbreak rather well, in 1978 the Veterans Administration set up the Agent Orange Registry program. This allowed concerned veterans to enroll in a program that would test them for all known effects and allow them to seek treatment.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  The Agent Orange story is not over yet, in 1994, the National Academy of Sciences (NAS) found that the level of dioxin was not high, and most people could tolerate it well.

Continuing Personal and Professional Development Essay

In this paper I shall endeavour to critically reflect on my own approach to professional and personal development by commenting and / or exemplifying each of the highlighted criteria below. 1. Complete own individual learning plan including: a) C.V – please see appendix 1 . b) Skills and knowledge audits – please see appendix 2,3,4. c) Analysis of observation report – please see appendix 5. 1. 3.1. Evaluate own approaches, strengths and development needs, including literacy, language and numeracy skills. In order to evaluate ones own strengths and weaknesses in teaching and tutoring one must carry a reasonable understanding of the fundamental requirements. Following a process of study and extensive analysis of appendixes 6,7,8,9, my own development needs are most clearly in the areas of stress management, updating of Literacy and numeracy skills. Review of my reflections ( see appendix 10) demonstrates the need for more effective stress management strategies to be put into place as the notes show clearly defined moments of stress due to the previous lack of organisation and staff rotation, as well as the fact that I am the only teacher in the Child development department and therefore Head of department, position which brings with it extra responsibilities such as budgeting and administrative duties that teachers would not ordinarily have to take responsibility for. Although my Job description does not mention these extra responsibilities I have undertaken the duties and intend to enter into discussions with the Personnel Manager regarding an increment in remuneration and more importantly further training relating to budget management and SLT training as my role requires. My literacy skills have not been updated for three years therefore there is a requirement that this updating should be undertaken; the same applies to mathematics and ICT as shown in the review of standards of adult literacy, mathematics and ICT, according to LLUK (online) â€Å"The three levels of the standards correspond to the levels of demand of qualifications in the national qualifications framework.† For example, the standards at level 1 are equivalent in demand to the key skills at level 1 and broadly equivalent to levels 4 and 5 of the national curriculum for schools. The regular updating of these skills is of paramount importance for the teacher as shortfalls in these functional skills areas will without a doubt adversely affect the students and their relationship with the tutor(due to the students seeing the teacher as a role model); much apart from this being a requirement within the LLUK standards. The opportunity for such study must be prioritized and time made to train; in my areas of specialism (hairdressing and child development), regular training is especially important as the subjects are ever evolving and changing both technically and in terms of legislation; a minimum of thirty hours technical training and thirty hours other CPD are required for hairdressing and nineteen hours in child development; as mentioned in the review by LLUK , â€Å"Teachers and trainers need opportunities to undertake CPD targeted at keeping up to date or increasing the breadth of their experience in subject specialism’s and related fields. Work‑shadowing and subject specialist communities of practice are increasingly important; time to undertake professional formation and gain QTLS or ATLS also important.† 1. 3.2. Use reflection and feedback to develop knowledge, practice and skills including literacy, language, numeracy and ICT skills. Continuing Professional Development has existed in many guises for twenty years or more with the aim of providing the professional with a platform on which to think about and plan their own development; in this way it may be considered a process of evidencing reflective practices, a way to improve general and area specific skills for career management. As mentioned above there is a need as well as a legal requirement for my Literacy and numeracy skills to be updated and retested as these have not been revisited for more than three years. Please see reflections in appendix 10. There are extensive guidelines and examples for recording reflections for CPD on the LSIS website that I have used as a basis for my reflective practices and due to the fact that they are to a recognised standard and could be used with ease for registering CPD. 1. 3.3. Plan appropriate opportunities to address identified learning needs. In planning opportunities to address shortfalls in professional practice one must take into consideration several influencing factors: a) Urgency – The need for immediate updating of a certain skill when affecting efficiency of teaching therefore affecting students’ ability to learn. In this case the teacher must update the skills as soon as possible. b) Time availability (not affecting contact time) c) Funding – will the course of training be free (through mentoring, shadowing or observation of a senior teacher); will the workplace fund the course or will this be funded by the teacher in both cases a suitably priced course is to be found. d) Changes in legislation and techniques – The need would be immediate as information passed to students regarding legislation may be erroneous and antiquated techniques will impair the ability of the student obtaining employment. Changes in legislation can occur several times in a short period of time; therefore it is advisable to keep up-to-date with these changes through the media, published government papers, subject specific publications and the internet. These forms of updating knowledge are easy to access and training can be undertaken at leisure. Advancements in techniques however are more difficult to learn and will require a course or demonstration, thus requiring a dedicated amount of time and funding, but usually less than a full review of a certain skill. e) Skills updating to maintain QTS/QTLS – a review of literacy, numeracy and ICT skills is a requirement as is regular updating, all of the above must be taken into consideration. My ILP (see appendix 11) outlines planned opportunities for learning opportunities. 2. 2.1. Analyse and compare relevant theories, principles and models of reflective practice. 2. 2.2. Explain how theories, principles and models of reflective practice can be applied to development of the autonomous learner. Reflecting allows the teacher to mentally process, analyse and utilize an experience to change or replicate an outcome. Using reflection enables the teacher to evolve in their teaching. David Berliner (2001) notes that the teacher develops in stages going from novice to expert. See figure 1.1 below: The first to introduce ideas of reflective practice was Donald Schon in his book –The Reflective Practice (1983) in which he uses John Dewys concepts of learning through experience, in tern loosely based on other theories of learning and development such as those of Jean Piaget, Kurt Lewin, William James ans Carl Jung, D.Schon also Reflection as defined by Donald Schon is the ability of professionals to ‘think what they are doing while they are doing it’. He states that the only way to manage the indeterminate zones of professional practice is through the ability to think† on the run†, and apply past experience to new situations. This is essential and requires the ability reflect-in-action. His words make sense to me, as I strive to be student-centred, compassionate, evidence-based, and cost effective all at the same time! Schon also offers insight into how the reflective professional is ‘produced’. He describes the main concepts as: Reflective Practicum. â€Å"A practicum is a setting designed for the task of learning a practice†. D.Schon (1983). This relates to students learning by doing, with the help of the teacher. He tells us the practicum is ‘reflective’ in two senses: â€Å"it is intended to help students become proficient in a kind of reflection-in-action; and, when it works well, it involves a dialogue of teacher and student that takes the form of reciprocal reflection-in-action.† Argyris and Schon.(1978) Tacit knowledge This comes from the work of Michael Polanyi. He describes the ability we have to pick out a familiar face in a crowd, not requiring any thought, or a systematic analysis of features. We can’t say how this is done; therefore the knowledge is ‘unspoken’ or ‘tacit’. Knowing-in-action This is another of Schà ¶n’s concepts, and it derives from the idea of tacit knowledge. It refers to the kinds of knowledge we can only reveal in the way we carry out tasks and approach problems. â€Å"The knowing is in the action. It is revealed by the skilful execution of the performance – we are characteristically unable to make it verbally explicit.† This tacit knowledge is derived from research, and also from the practitioner’s own reflections and experience. Reflection-in-action This kind of reflection occurs whilst a problem is being addressed, in what Schon calls the ‘action-present’. It is a response to a surprise – where the expected outcome is outside of our control. This reflective process is conscious, but may not be verbalised. Reflection-in-action is about challenging our assumptions (because knowing-in-action is the basis of assumption). It is about thinking again, in a new way, about a problem we have already encountered. Reflection-on-action This is reflection after the event. Consciously undertaken, and documented. Willing suspension of disbelief This phrase was originally used by Samuel Taylor Coleridge to describe the process of entering into an experience, without judgment, in order to learn from it. Schà ¶n uses the term in relation to the idea of learning by doing. â€Å"One cannot will oneself to ‘believe’ until one understands. But understanding often will only arise from experience† D.Schon (1983).Therefore there is a necessity for the experience to happen. Operative attention This relates to the readiness to apply new information. This idea is partly derived from Wittgenstein’s5 contention that the meaning of an operation can only be learned through its performance. It prepares the learner for feedback on that activity, and develops understanding. The ladder of reflection Argyris and Schà ¶n describe a vertical dimension of analysis happening in the dialogue between learner and teacher. In order to climb the ‘ladder’ you must reflect on an activity. In order to move down the ‘ladder’ you move from reflection to experimentation. This being a’ ladder’ you can also reflect on the process of reflection. My view is that this process truly helps with modifying‘stuck’ situations. Moving up or down the ladder is not important as long as it assists Teacher and student to achieve together ‘convergence of meaning’. Kolb Kolbs’ theory and model is based on the concept that the teacher and student learn by experience and then transform information gathered into knowledge. Kolb was influenced by both Dewy and Piaget in the 1970’s as were many other theories. Concrete Experience (doing / having an experience) The ‘Concrete Experience’ is the ‘doing’ component which comes from the content and process of the teaching programme, experienced through reading of teaching materials together with actual experience of teaching in the classroom in addition to other teaching duties and practices. Concrete experience also derives from ones own experience of being a student. Reflective Observation (reviewing / reflecting on the experience) Reflective Observation relates to analysis and judgements of events and the discussion about the learning and teaching between teacher, mentor and colleagues.. Teachers naturally reflect on their experiences of teaching particularly when they are inexperienced and have experienced a lesson that did not progress well. This might be termed ‘common-sense reflection’. However how can this be analysed? – It is necessary to articulate our reflections in some systematic way in order to remember thoughts and build on that experience for further reference. This may be done through self-reflections or evaluations after the event through keeping a log or journal. It may also include student feedback, peer observation of teaching. Reflection in itself is insufficient to promote learning and professional development. Unless acted upon, reflections alone with no action equal no development. Abstract Conceptualisation (concluding / learning from the experience) In order to plan what could be done differently next time, one must be informed by educational theory and advancement e.g. through CPD. Reflection is therefore a middle ground that brings together theories and the analysis of past experiences. It allows a conclusion referring to practice – ‘Abstract Conceptualism’. Active Experimentation (planning / trying out what you have learned) The conclusions formed at the ‘Abstract Conceptualisation’ stage then form the basis for planned changes – ‘Active Experimentation’. ‘Active Experimentation’ then starts the cycle again; in implementing changes in teaching practice one generates further concrete experience which in turn elicits reflection and rev iew to form conclusions referent to the effectiveness of those changes. In scrutinising Kolbs’ theory, model I note that it is largely dependent on ‘try and re-try’ of the whole rather than the ‘step-by step’ approach preferred by Argyris and Schon, the pitfalls are in the detection of small errors that lead to the whole inefficiency that could become overwhelming causing smaller detail may be overlooked. The effect of the above mentioned theories, models and principles amongst others is obvious in the reflective teacher and in my own practice; reflection is a fundamental part of my practice and Schons’ Ladder of reflection is a simple way to quantify and analyse the advances and shortcomings of my practice, allowing for assessment and re-assessment of small parts of teaching to analysed and modified without drastically altering the majority of the content and delivery. 3. 4.1. Identify and engage in appropriate CPPD opportunities to keep up to date and develop teaching in specialist area. Continuous training in my specialist area is imperative as mentioned in 1. 3.1, 3.2, 3.3., also please see ILP appendix 11. 3. 4.2. Evaluate the impact of CPPD activities on professional practice, identifying further learning and development needs. The impact of CPPD on my own practice has been ‘astronomical’; the relevance of staff meetings and discussions has shown itself in every aspect of teaching, from the use of objective boards to clarify expectations for the achievement in the lesson, the benefits of clear behaviour expectations and the presence of a ‘behaviour ladder graph’ in the classroom has improved behaviour incrementally, the understanding of tracking procedures and other administrative tasks has been aided and supported during discussions with mentors and my professional development need for further training in certain asp ects of my skills in Beauty therapy in order to maintain an up-to-date knowledge of techniques has been highlighted. 3. 1.1. Analyse and compare different teaching roles and context in the Lifelong Learning Sector. Thanks to the shift in control of FE colleges from local authority control in 1992 there was a move towards market based education and therefore an increase in roles for teachers in the LLS In thinking about Lifelong teaching the varied roles of the teacher become clear; in this area the teacher workforce is diverse and includes: * Further education (FE) – Teaching in colleges – Lecturers in this setting tend to teach learners over the age of 16: unless teaching travel to learn students. * Adult and community education – teaching in community settings such as teaching ESOL at a community centre. * 6th forms – fundamentally continuing skills based education for learners who studied at GCSE level. * Offender learning – teaching skills to inmates to aid rehabilitation, work-based learning – teaching in house required skills. In comparing all of the above one can note that there seem to be recurrent similarities no matter in which setting the LLS teacher works such as : * Good communicators. * Good organisers. * Varied specialisms and often more than one. * A willingness to continue learning. Much apart from â€Å"just† teaching/lecturing the role of the LLS teacher is extremely varied. A LLS teacher may be an assessor, an instructor, an apprentice supervisor, a prison education officer, learning manager or a community co-ordinator, as well as councillor and confidant; requiring a set of skills that may not be found in other areas of education. Furthermore teachers in LLS demonstrate the unique skills associated with their specialism as they often come to teaching as a second or third career. The diverse experience of the LLS teacher will contribute to efficacy when relating to other disciplines and in meeting the needs of the learners, using all of the communication skills learned in past careers. According to McGraw-Hill (online) â€Å" As a teacher you will work across faculties and disciplines to meet the diverse needs of your learners. In order to do this effectively, communicating effectively is essential; this will include asking questions, seeking advice, and sharing your experiences with other practitioners.† 4.1.2. Evaluate own role and responsibilities with reference to area of specialism and as part of a team. Practices and in my two main areas of specialism differ vastly from each other. The hair and beauty area has assessments based mainly around observation and examination of end product, with little written assignment work. Within this department I work with another teacher in the same classroom with equal responsibility for lesson planning , delivery and assessment; our roles differ in that the other teacher has most of the responsibility for SOW and curriculum design with input form me. Within the Child Development, I have the headship and this carries responsibilities such as curriculum design and implementation as well as coordinating the work carried out by the TAs and the ‘nurture’ department who deal with student with severe SEN (special educational needs), PD (physical disabilities) and BED(behavioural and emotional difficulties)- in our case an unusually high number of students display these barriers to learning – , it is my responsibility to adapt our SOW and resources to enable these students to enjoy the same opportunities as our mainstream students. Also the responsibility for budgeting and allocation of ICT access is also within my remit. The ‘usual’ teaching duties are included such as actual delivery, observation and marking, covering detentions and isolation dealing with further behavioural issues amongst other duties. 4.1.3 Analyse the impact of own beliefs, assumptions and behaviours on learners and others. The impact of my own beliefs is most obvious with my lack of compliance when asked if I could further facilitate the progression of a student, I felt that this would compromise my professional integrity and that basically any further intervention would constitute ‘spoon feeding’ answers to this student, representing a disadvantage to other students that did not receive the same treatment. As for fundamental assumptions and beliefs; I have never liked to stereotype and assume therefore I do not demonstrate any bias and the students are affected very little if at all by these. My behaviour must be exemplary at all times, as a Teacher I represent a role model and as such I must conduct myself in an acceptable manner. Although I do not like confrontation and therefore an quick to notice any issues and aim to resolve them quickly. 4.1.4 Analyse the impact of own professional, personal, interpersonal skills, including literacy, numeracy and ICT skills, on learners and others. I am able to communicate with people at all levels well using appropriate language according to the situation and setting, I tend to portray a positive outlook and this affects both students and colleagues positively. My dyslexia does affect others as I require proof reading when issuing letters, reports and other documents but, there is a strategy in place for this. My students all know that I am dyslexic and are happy to point out any errors although these are very few, in some ways tis problem helps with connecting with some students as I teach in caring areas and students should have the ability to empathise with others as well as the obvious ease of connection with students with the same difficulty. Bibliography / References Boud, D., Keogh, R. and Walker, D. (1985) â€Å"Reflection: Turning Experience in to Learning†, London: Kogan Brockbank, A. and McGill,I. (1998) â€Å"Facilitating Reflective Learning in Higher Education†, Buckingham: SHRE/Open University Press Cowan,J. (1998) â€Å"On Becoming an Innovative University Teacher Reflection in Action†, Buckingham SRHE/ Open university Press. Dewy,J.(1993)†How we think. A restatement of the relation of reflective thinking to the educative process†.(revised edition), Boston:D.C.Heath. Kolb,D.A. (1984) ‘Experiential Learning experience as a source of learning and development’, New Jersey: Prentice Hall Moon,J. (1999) ‘Reflection in Learning and Professional Development Theory and Practice’, London: Kogan Schon,D. (1991) ‘The Reflective Practitioner How Professionals Think in Action’, London: Avebury IfL-Review-of-CPD-. Available: http://www.ifl.ac.uk/__data/assets/pdf_file/0020/26741/2010-11-IfL-Review-of-CPD-lr_06022012.pdf.. Last accessed 28/12/12. Mc Graw-Hill.- Mc Graw-Hill-Available: http://www.mcgraw-hill.co.uk/openup/chapters/9780335241125.pdf. Last accessed 29/12/12

Custom Mold Inc

Case Study Background Custom Molds Inc produces custom made molds for plastic parts and manufactures connectors for the electronics industry. The father founders of Custom Molds Inc are father and son, Tom and Mason Miller, in 1987 which is located in Tucson, Arizona. Tom Miller who is a mechanical engineer, had vast experience in the connector industry with AMP. Mason Miller is a double degree holder in chemistry and chemical engineering, a graduate from Arizona State University.Originally, the company manufactured electronic connectors with source of high quality, custom made molds for producing plastic parts. They worked closely with their customers so that they can meet the customers’ requirements and their mold have to meet the exact standards and have to be unique. Once the customers have moved from the design and pilot-run stage of development to large-scale production, they will place orders for multiple molds. Custom Mold’s reputation grew with the years as a d esigner and fabricator of precision molds.With the reputation, the Millers decided to expand into the limited manufactures of plastic parts and new equipments were added such as ingredient mixing facilities and injection molding equipment. In the mid-1990s Custom Mold’s reputation grew to include being a supplier of high quality plastic parts. Due to limited capacity, the company decided to concentrate its sales efforts on supplying parts that were used in limited quantity for research and development efforts and in preproduction pilot runs. Production ProcessesBy 2000, Custom Molds operations involved two distinct processes which are fabricating molds and producing plastic parts. Both the processes are inter-connected for an instance, when a customer places an order, Custom Molds both fabricate a mold and produce the necessary parts to support the customer’s research and design efforts. All fabrication and production operation were housed in a single facility. Fabrica tion molds requires a skill-oriented, craftsman-driven process. When an order is received, a design team, consisting of a design engineer and one of 13 master machinists, reviews the design specification.Working with the customer, the team comes up with the final specification for the mold and passes it to the master machinist for fabrication. At the same time, the specification is given to the purchasing department, who orders the required raw materials. It usually takes about three to four weeks for the raw material to arrive. Once the materials have been received, the plant master scheduler reviews the workload of the assigned master machinist and schedules the mold for fabrication. Fabricating a mold usually takes up to two to four weeks, depending in the amount of work the machinist already has scheduled.The fabrication process takes only three to five days. Once completed, the mold is tested and inspected, where it is used to produce a small number of parts on one of the injec tion molding machines. If the mold passed the required specification, it is then sent for cleaning and polishing, and then packed and sent to customers. If at all the mold fails, it is sent to the maser machinist for retooling and the process starts all over. Currently, Custom Molds holds a lead time of nine weeks for delivery of the molds. The manufacturing of the plastic parts is different from mold fabrication.An order for parts may be received in conjunction with an order for a mold to be fabricated. For instances, if the Custom Molds already have made the molds, an order may be jus for parts. If the mold is already available, the order is reviewed by the design engineer, who verifies the part and material specifications. If the is any doubts, the design engineer will contact the customer and clarifies the doubts. Once the parts and raw materials are accepted, orders are placed for the raw materials and production in scheduled for the order. Chemicals and compounds used for the manufacturing are ordered and received within a week.When received, the compound is dry-mixed and blended to achieve the correct composition. Then the mixture is wet-mixed to the desired consistency, called slurry, for injection into molding machine. When ready, the slurry is transferred to the injection molding area by an overhead pipeline and deposited in holding tanks adjacent to the injection machines. The whole process takes only one day. When the slurry is staged and ready, the proper molds are secured from the inventory or from the clean and polish operation if new molds were fabricated for the order and the parts are manufactured.Although different parts require different temperature and pressure settings, the time to produce a part is relatively constant. Custom Molds has the capacity to produce 5000 parts per day in the injection molding department; historically however, the lead time for handling orders in the department has averaged one week. Once molding is completed, t he parts are taken to the cut and trim operation, where they are disconnected and leftover flashing is removed. Once inspection is completed, the parts are either taken for assembling or transferred to packing and shipping area for shipment to customer.If assembly of the final parts is not required, the parts will be sent to customer within two days after being molded. Sometimes the final product needs assembling. Typically, this entails attaching metal leads to plastic connectors. If assembling is need, additional three days are required before they can be sent to customer. Customs Molds currently have a lead time of three weeks for parts not requiring fabricated molds. The Changing Environment In the early 2009, Tom and Mason Miller realized that the electronic industry they supplied and their own business was changing.Electronic manufacturers have decided to make their own components to reduce cost and ensure timely supply of parts. By the 1990s, this trend has changed. Manufactu ring were developing strategic partnerships with the parts suppliers to ensure the timely delivery of high quality, cost effective parts. This has allowed for other funds to be used on other uses with larger return on investment. During the same period, Custom Molds started to have issues with delivery. Customers were complaining to delay in the delivery of the parts instead of the promised dateline.When asked about the situation, the master scheduler stated that it is difficult in determining when a particular order will be delivered. Bottlenecks were occurring during the production process, but where and when it will occur cannot be predicted. The bottleneck started to move to other operations. Tom Miller thought that that he had excess labor capacity in the mold fabrication area. He came up with a solution to push through the schedule by assigning one of the master machinist to identify the expediting those late orders. However, the tactic wasn’t effective. Complaints abou t late delivery were still coming in. o add on to the problem, two defective parts were returned. Tom Miller knows something has to be done. 1. What are the major issues facing Tom and Mason Miller? The Electronics industry to which they supplied was changing very rapidly The millers are facing the shrinking size of their core market; traditionally fabrication. These changes impact both the fabrication and the manufacturing sides of the business. For fabrication, although the number of orders remained around the same, the market for multiple molds was shrinking, so the absolute number of fabricated was reducing.The Demand for multiple molds is declining Earlier Custom Molds used to produce custom designed molds in majority but through the data provided we can analyze that in the last 3 years, the company has been getting more and more orders in the production of plastic parts consistently and the orders for custom molds have been decreasing. This calls for a mass production of plast ic parts. Inefficient Testing and Inspection Process It has been mentioned in the case that two orders were returned recently because of number of defective parts in those batches.This can be attributed to the inefficiency of the testing and inspection team. The transportation, packing, shipping etc. costs have to be incurred by the company and could have been avoided if the testing and inspection been rigorous. Increase in order sizes for plastic parts There has been a shift in demand from custom molds to plastic parts. Therefore there is a need to change the layout of the plant to something more suitable for mass production. Difficulties Meeting Quality Objectives As demand characteristics increased for manufacturing parts, there was consequent increase in lead time on parts.Customers are complaining about the late delivery of the products. This will lead to loss of credibility in front of their customers. Bottlenecks were occurring throughout the manufacturing process and quality issues were increasing. There was unplanned growth beyond the available capacity given the process issues. There were numerous non-value-adding processes throughout the workflow including delays, many inspection steps, storage and transport. Parts were not being manufactured at optimum speeds and as pressures of late deliveries and mounting backlogs built up. Thus, the quality of finished goods suffered. . What are the competitive priorities for Custom Mold’s Processes and the changing nature of the industry? Previously a. High quality product Custom Mold previously strive for top quality product for their customers and grew reputation of one of the most consistent company that strive for quality products b. Flexibility in customer orders Customization was their priorities. They fully concentrate on customers orders requirements and needs and try their best to meet those requirements. c. On time delivery Custom Mold managed to deliver all of their products to the customers w ithin the required timeEarly 2009 Due to changing nature of the industry, more customers are making strategic partnership with supplier to ensure the timely delivery of high quality and cost effective parts. As we can see, the competitive of the industry, the demand is changing and Custom Mold also must be aware of this. They must change their competitive priorities to continue compete in the industry. They might have to change their layout for molds from job shop to small batch process in this changing process. Below are the suggested competitive priorities: a. Consistent quality productsThey should maintain the quality of their products b. Cost effective They might achieve this by changing the layout from job shop to small batch process. Small batch process allows products to be made in larger volume and low variety from the job shop process. High volume tends to reduce cost per unit and can directly lowered the operation cost. c. On time delivery With customers focus on on time s hipment for their products, Custom Mold cannot simply overlook to this competitive priority. On time delivery ensure the customer trust to them and they have to be excellent on that. 3.What alternatives might the Millers pursue? What key factors should they consider as they evaluate these alternatives? Short term alternatives a. Layout of the plant should be changed Custom Molds need to change the plant layout from job shop to assembly line. This is because the company is getting more orders for manufacture of plastic parts consistently over the last three years. The demand form from the customers changed from highly customized and high quality to cost effective and timely delivery of high quality products are the strongest proof why they need to change their argument. . Identify bottlenecks in production process This is important in order for Custom Molds to retain their clients. The bottlenecks might be due the process layout in the company. Two different process for a different p roduct might overlap each others and create confusion to the process. c. Improve the efficiency of Testing and Inspection Team As has been mentioned in the case, two orders have been rejected by the customer. For this not to happen again, the efficiency of Testing and Inspection team needs to be improved. Long Term Alternatives a. Investment in Research and DevelopmentCompany would be better off to invest in R&D in order to stay ahead of its competition. R&D can often show ways to reduce costs by maintaining the same quality. b. Expansion Plans As the orders increase, company should plan for some expansion plans or some new plants to cater to increasing demand. c. Phase-out the production of Custom Molds As the numbers of orders for Custom Molds are decreasing consistently over the last 3 years, the company should look out for phasing out the production of custom molds as the company may start losing out money.Recommendations 1. Shift to Assembly Line As the number of orders for big order sizes are increasing for plastic parts, the plant layout should be changed from job-shop to an assembly line production. 2. Operational Excellence The company should focus on overall efficiency in terms of process, movement and inter-department communication. 3. Market Research The company should do extensive market research to ascertain customer’s needs and use it to determine the needs of facility and human resources.

Ongka’s Big Moka

Watching the film clips really made me think of what it must be like to live like they did in the film. But then I go to thinking we kind of do live just the Kawelka people. Moka is referred to as the gifts that they give to other tribes. The purpose of Moka is not just the giving and receiving, it is repaying what someone has given you but with interest, almost like taking out a loan at the bank and having to pay it back with interest or paying taxes. It runs deeper than that, Moka is also a way of getting status, by Ongka giving the Moka and outdoing his fellow men by the quantity of Moka he gives will earn him fame and higher status not only for himself but for his tribe. The most valuable thing that Ongka has got to give is pigs. Pigs are not just pigs; Ongka said that if money looks after the white people, pigs look after them. Pigs are their strong thing; if you don’t have pigs then you are nobody. I think that there are some comparisons between their society and the society we live in currently. Ongka is a business man in some respects, he had a goal, that goal was to give the grandest Moka. He came up with a plan, he went and got buy in from his family, friends and tribes people. He invested with them and them with him; he did not put all his eggs in one basket but spread the investments so that he could reach his goal. People do that today as well, invest in multiple things so that if on avenue does not work, then there are other options. I was disappointed that I didn’t get to see the final big Moka, Ongka seemed like he was so looking forward to the celebration. I was also interested to know that they had raised $10,000 Austrailian dollars. That’s a lot of money for the 70’s and to know how hard they must have worked to get that money and then to give it away to another tribe must be difficult for some. This may be a silly question, but what happens to the 600 pigs, once the other tribe receives them?

Nepal Essay Essay

Introduction I am doing my report on a country by the name of Nepal. The formal name is The Kingdom of Nepal. The term for citizens is Nepalese. The capital of Nepal is Katmandu. Nepal became independent in 1768 when a number of independent hill states were unified by Prithri Narayan Shah as the Kingdom of Gorkha. The area of Nepal is 56,827 square miles. Its population according to the 1991 census was 18,462, 081. Nepal is located between China and India. Population The most recent information about Nepal’s population is in the year of 1994. It was an estimate of about 20,000,000. At this time the average family was made up of 5.9 persons, and the life expectancy was about 50 years. About 70 percent of the total population was of working age, or between the ages of fifteen and fifty-nine years of age. Nearly 44 percent of the population is in the Terai Region, 48 percent in the Mountain Region. In 1981 the capital, Katmandu , had a population of 235,160. Government Nepal has a constitutional monarchy government. The multiparty democracy established along with the November 1990 constitution which replaced the panchayat system. Education The education system has expanded rapidly since 1951. Right now there are elementary and high schools found in most areas of the country. Tribharan University was established in 1961 to serve as the hub of a higher education system. The literacy rate is still only an estimated fifteen percent, with most of the literate population concentrated in Katmandu Valley and in the Terai. Language In Nepal there are numerous languages spoken which is a problem because they do not belong to the same family group. The most common and national language , Nepali, stems form the Indo-Aryan branch of the Indo European family. Nepali is spoken by 60 percent of the population. A second category of languages in Nepal is the Tibeto- Burman languages, of which the most common are Newer, Magarkura, Gurangkura, Karin and Limbuani. Religion and Society Religion occupies an integral position in Nepalese life and society. The main religion in Nepal is Hinduism , but much of the population follows an unorthodox Buddhism strongly affected by mixtures of Hinduism. The fact that Hindus worship in Buddhist temples and Buddhists worship in Hindus temples has been one of the main reasons followers of the two dominate groups in Nepal have never engaged in any conflicts. Because of such dual faith practices the differences between Hindus and Buddhists have been generally in nature. In 1991 about 89.5 percent of the Nepalese people indenified themselves as Hindus. Buddhists and Muslims occupied only 5.3 and 2.7 percent. The remainder religion is Christianity. At least 87 percent of the population in every region is made of Hindus. Buddhists are mostly found in the Eastern Hills, the Katmandu Valley, and the Central Terai, in each area about 10 percent of the people were Buddhist. Terai The Terai region of Nepal is a low, fertile alluvial plain, in effect the northern extrusion of the Ganges plain. It is 20 miles wide at its broadest point and extends over most of the southern edge. North of this, bordering the forests of the Bhabar and Chria Hills, the Terai is marshy and malaria is endemic. A green belt of excellent timber parallels or dense elephant grass growing to a height of 15 feet. Climate The climate is moderate only in the mountain valleys, about 5,000 feet above sea level. The rest of Nepal is either extremely hot, as in the Terai, climate changes sharply with elevation. In the Himalayas, exposure to the sun and to rain-bearing winds produce complex patterns of local climates. Average temperatures in the Katmandu Valley range form 50 degrees in January to 78 degrees in July. Rainfall mainly  occurs between June and September. The dry season is November to January. Agriculture About 90 percent of Nepal’s working force is directly engaged in agricultural pursuits. Arable land is at 30 percent of the total land area, of which 60 percent is classified as suitable for wet cultivation and 30 percent for dry cultivation. The main crops are rice, corn, millet, wheat, sugarcane, tobacco, fruits, and vegetables. Rice is grown in the Teria, Katmandu Valley , and the lower hill area. Corn and millet are the main crops at higher altitudes , which is about 6,000 feet above sea level. Annual Rainfall Fire climate zones based on altitude range from subtropical in the South, to cool summers and severe winters in the North. The annual rainfall depends on a monsoon cycle which provides 60 to 80 percent of the total rainfall. The Eastern part of the country get the most with 2,500 millimeters. The Katmandu averages around 1,420 millimeters. And Western Nepal gets around 1,000 millimeters. Himalayans The Himalayans are what Nepal is known for. The Himalayans were formed about 60 million years ago, When the earth’s continents were still forming, a part of east Africa broke loose and began to driff slowly northward. When it rammed into Asia , the force of the collision caused the land to crumple up into a vast mountain range. More than 1,000 miles long and hundreds of miles wide. This system contains some of the highest mountains in the world. The most famous of these is Mount Everest. Bibliography Norton, Peter B., and Joseph J. Esposito. â€Å"Nepal.†Ã‚  Encyclopedia Britanica. 1995. Boehm, Richard G. World Geography. Westerville: The McGraw-Hill. 1997.

International Human Resource Management - cultural management and Essay

International Human Resource Management - cultural management and diversity - Essay Example Research Topic The research topic that has been proposed by the author is "the importance of culture in the practice of international human resources management in the hospitality industry." This research will be carried out in the following manner. The author will first gain an in-depth understanding of the culture and the role it plays in any organisation. Next the author will study the practice of international human resources management in the hospitality industry. Finally the author will then study the impact of culture in international human resources management in the hospitality industry. Resources In this section the author will give a detailed description of all the different resources that she believes she would need to carry out the stated research study. In order to carry out this research the author will need access to an online library or for the secondary data that would be necessary for the literature review. Access to many different organisations in the hospitality industry. Since the author would like to be very specific in this study, the author will study four different international hotel chains such as The Sheraton hotels, The Hilton hotels, The Westin hotels and The Royal York Hotels. Ability to interview and survey mid level managers in the local and international locations of the named hotel chains. Ability to interview and survey human resources personnel in the local and international locations of the named hotel chains. Access to sufficient numbers of employees at human resources and mid level management in the hotels to the extent that the sample group will be demographically representative of the wider population. Resources such as stationary, availability to long distance phone services, email. Adequate time to carry...Research objectives are important because they will help keep the research on track and the author can use the set objectives and their achievement as a yardstick to measure the success of the research study To understand the best possible methods that can be employed by the management and the human resources personnel in an organisation and to make recommendations, suggestions and a framework of best practices that can be used in the organisation. Access to many different organisations in the hospitality industry. Since the author would like to be very specific in this study, the author will study four different international hotel chains such as The Sheraton hotels, The Hilton hotels, The Westin hotels and The Royal York Hotels. According to Porter's cultural determinants model, international organisations will be well off if they understand the social structure, religion, language, political philosophy, economic philosophy and education levels of the employees that they manage. The type of social structure that is seen consistently in a county or a region is very important to a business organization. This is because some social structures give priority to individualism, while others give priority to groups.

Cloud-based BPM Model Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Cloud-based BPM Model - Essay Example The organization of these activities alongside human/system factors through a systematic workflow, enable a business to gain not only an extraordinary visibility but the entire control over their daily operation (Dumas,LaRosa,Mendling and Reijers, 2013).It can be used by employees to troubleshoot anomalies in business orders or determine missing items as well. The BPM mainly revolves around the cycling processes and begins at the model phase that provides the basic approach to continuous improvement of the business processes. All aspects of the BPM are implemented in their respective phase in relation to detailed activities involved in each phase. The first cycle begins with capturing the processes in model phase that entails the purpose for analyzing current business processes. The analysis in the model results to improved version of the business process, further design, implementation and evaluation. BPM emerged not only as a management principle tool but also as a suite of softwar e solutions to overcome the deficiencies in traditional business process applications. Although the BPM has been established to be very successful, serious obstacles persist in its enterprise-scale implementation. Variable such as startup costs, resource availability and technical limitation cannot be undermined. Premises are the responsible for the installation of their own BPM. This is a challenge to business premises since the upfront outlay cost requires a lot of capital. Installation of the BPM.