...Backward Scheduling – An effective way of scheduling Warehouse activities Traditionally, scheduling algorithms were used in capital intensive production processes where there was a need to optimize the production because the plant capacity was constrained and there were different lines of products vying for the same manufacturing plant resources. With warehouse operations getting more complex and automated over the years, a similar need is felt to schedule some of the warehouse jobs using these algorithms to optimize the use of resources such as cranes, conveyors, labelers and pickers deployed in the warehouse to maximize the throughput. This paper describes the approach of one of the scheduling a l g o r i t h m s c a l l e d “ B a c k w a r d S c h e d u l i n g”, i t s implementation in scheduling picking operations in Warehouse and the advantages realized by using this approach Backward Scheduling – An effective way of scheduling Warehouse activities About the Author Tarun Chugh He is an IT specialist with Tata Consultancy Services for the last 8 years and has an overall experience of over 10 years. His technological forte has been IBM iSeries (AS/400) based technologies. He has extensive experience in architecting solutions in different domains such as Banking, Retail, Insurance and Manufacturing. He is currently working on a project which involves design and development of processes for automation of warehouse operations of a US based Fortune 500 retail organization...
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... Why did Tektronix implement ERP in stages? How should a company decide on implementing in stages or going big-bang? Tektronix implemented the ERP in many waves. Each wave delivered a specific functionality for a particular division or geographic region. The concept of waves was important: * implementing in waves allowed to obtain regular feedback * flexibility in scheduling – e.g development at MBD took much longer than anticipated – but due to the wave concept there were no major delays in the whole project * easier to gain overall acceptance – it is able to show already first benefits * implement together what is similar allows a more smooth process * frequent victories kept the team moral high and ensured that the Board continued to support the high cost and long timeline of implementation * start with an area that effects all divisions or the division with the lowest complexity a continues learning process. * Roll out started with one country (US) after that was successful with key region in Europe and than in larger waves that were implemented more or less together Big bang implantation only for smaller companies with lower complexity or in strongly centralized organization. With a big bang implementation the company looses some of the flexibility of the wave approach and faces higher risks. 2. How did Tektronix manage the risks of ERP implementation? Project steering committee In order to make sure...
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...Open hours scheduling is a “scheduling system in which patients are normally seen on a first-come, first-served basis”, with no appointment necessary. What are some issues that might arise from using an open hours method of scheduling in a medical office? Some disadvantages of open hours would be: 1. Effective time management is almost impossible, especially if you get a rush of people in your office when your about to close for the day, then you will have to stay open longer to accommodate them. 2. The facilities may get overloaded with a rush of people at one time, and remain empty at other times. 3. Patients can come in to be seen early, but when someone else comes in that needs more urgent care, then the patient that came in earlier will...
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...System (107 pp.) Director of Thesis: Dale T. Masel Order picking is the process of retrieving items from storage according to customer orders. It is significant to warehouse management because it typically accounts for over half of the operation costs. In this research, an order picking system that is designed by applying lean principles is discussed. The discussion is focused on three important decisions: layout design, storage location assignment, and workload scheduling. Combination of existing strategies has been applied to layout design in order to achieve the goal of lean. Buffer trays are applied in the fast pick area to reduce the impact of imbalance between zones. Heuristics are developed to assign storage locations and schedule workload, to optimize the performance of the system. The testing results show that the proposed warehouse with assignment and scheduling results obtained from the heuristics is more efficient than a traditional warehouse in terms of requested labor time of completing orders in one wave. Approved: _____________________________________________________________ Dale T. Masel...
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... p. 111). EVM enables an organization to detect a potential problem with the costs and scheduling of a project early and make appropriate adjustments to achieve project success. Earlier detection of potential problems allows project management to avoid pitfalls by pinpointing lapses in project health by providing early indicators of when vital components may go astray (Visitacion, 2007a, p. 75). EVM methodology gauges a project health by assessing three components; planned value, earned value, and actual cost. Furthermore EVM uses forward-looking capabilities to guide projects toward success. Although a very valuable tool, EVM is not a magical instrument that one can wave and expect it to produce desirable results 100% of the time, it requires the human touch, people with prior management knowledge, in order weigh the data (analysis) that EVM produces to gauge a project status, strengths, weaknesses, budget compliance. Perhaps the most important purpose of EVM is risk management or minimalizing risks that may be associated with a project. By using indicators to alert project management of certain problematic areas of a project; scheduling conflict, costs variances, and uncompleted tasks a project can be adjusted to bring it within budgeting compliance, scheduling plans, and organization goals. EVM accomplishes this feat by integrating cost management functionality with scheduling and budgeting information....
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...section of brain is called the 'suprachiasmatic nucleus' (SCN). Signals produced by the SCN travel to different sections of the brain, thus stimulating various functions, such as body temperature, hormone secretion, changes in blood pressure, etc. There are numerous external factors as well, that regulate a circadian rhythm among human beings. These external factors are called zeitgebers (Hawkins & Orlady, 1993). Most common zeitgebers are light and temperature. Others include meal times, various social and physical activities. The most common circadian rhythm known to mankind is the sleep cycle. Sleep is an extremely important physiological phenomenon, during which our body heals and recuperates. Let us begin with understanding what sleep is, and what are the various sleep patterns. Sleep is a revocable state, which is characterized by disconnection and unresponsiveness to the outside environment with closed eyes, reduced movements and recumbency (Smith, Comella, & Hogl, 2008). Normal sleep pattern is classified into two characteristic divisions: Non Rapid Eye Movement (NREM) and Rapid Eye Movement (REM) sleep. These sleep stages are defined by neurophysiological...
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...tachycardias which were indeed recorded . Pacemaker setup •RAAVD – OFF •SEARCH AV – OFF •MS- OFF •ACM & VCM – ON •SINUS PEREFERENCE –ON SINUS ON Patient Holter strip – Baseline Rhythm Tachycardia (the faster type ) in Holter strip Sudden termination of the tachycardia Episodes of AHR From the Pacemaker Memory Continued Episodes of AHR From the Pacemaker Memory – the “faster “ type Another AHR Episode From The Pacemaker – the “slower” type Questions • What do you think of the strips ? • Is there any “strange behavior” of the pacemaker ? strange behavior • What are the two Different diagnosis for the two strips ? • Th h ld , sensing and i Thresholds i d impedances are all within normal d ll ithi l ranges Think and …. Answer to The first rhythm – is it PMT? 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 VA conduction test performed in clinic by pacing V VA during testing is indeed very similar to VA in tachycardia: PMT most likely explanation OK so it is PMT what happened after 8 b t ? i h th d ft beats PMT termination algorithm attempted to terminate the tachycardia 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 PVARP EXTENSION TO 400MS Why didn’t it terminate the tachycardia ? NCAP Interval of I t l f 300ms Atrial pacing without capture due To atrial refractoriness resulting in Triggerring of PMT again Ongoing PMT Now that we believe that...
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...resulted from growth pressures of globalization and increasing the novelty and the evolution of the client (the waves improve business) and that in recent decades starting administration objectives and results through monitoring the overall quality and total quality management and business re-engineering and knowledge management and finally the Department of Administration supply chains E. As a result of the foregoing, the management of the supply chain for those in charge of operation and contractors and suppliers has become more difficult to convince them to work with certainty. Supply chain management has become an important phenomenon because of the...
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...What are they Doing with a Bachelor’s Degree in Sociology? DATA BRIEF ON CURRENT JOBS R o b e r t a S p a l t e r- R o t h a n d N i c o l e Va n Vo o r e n January 2008 In AY 2005 the American Sociological Association’s Research and Development Department surveyed a sample of close to 1,800 seniors to find out their satisfaction with the sociology major and their future plans for work, graduate school, or both. Early in 2007 we resurveyed the class of 2005 to find out what they were doing with their bachelor’s degree since graduation.1 This Data Brief, the first in a series of downloadable publications from the second wave of the survey, provides information on the post-graduate activities of graduates, the kinds of jobs they held as of December 2006, their satisfaction with these jobs, and the changes in their overall satisfaction with the sociology major. Figure 1 compares the 2005 responses of senior majors as to their future plans with their 2007 reports as to what they actually were doing. The figure shows that in 2005, 40 percent of respondents planned to work and not attend graduate school after they obtained their _________________________________________________ 1The response rate for the second wave of the survey was 44 percent or 778 graduates. FIGURE 1: MORE SOCIOLOGY BACHELOR’S RECEPIENTS ARE WORKING, PLANS FOR THE FUTURE AT TIME 1 VS. STATUS AT TIME 2 (in Percents) 42.1 Job Only 60.3 22.2 Grad School Only 13.1 ...
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...Activity Based Costing By: Azalea McSwain ACC310: Cost Accounting 1 Instructor: Susan Paris Date: April 18, 2011 Outline I: Introduction a. What is Activity Based Costing b. How Does it Work II. Body a. What does ABC do for Firms b. How to develop the ABC system in a firm c. What are the Steps d. Examples III. Conclusion IV. References Abstract Activity Based Costing was developed in the manufacturing sector of the United States during the 1970’s and 1980’s. This system is used as a method for developing cost estimates in which projects were discrete or subdivided activities. ABC systems calculates the costs of individual activities and assigns costs to their related cost object such as products and services on the basis of the activities performed to produce each product. The Chartered Institute of Management Accountants (CIMA) technology defines ABC as “an approach to the costing and monitoring of activities which involves tracing resource consumption and costing final outputs. (Edwards, 2006)” This paper will address what the ABC system does for firms which use it, how to develop such a system in a firm, the steps of the ABC system and some common examples. Activity Based Costing Introduction Activity Based Costing (ABC) addresses internal operating concerns of a firm and is an augmentation to the traditional ledger based cost management system. It doesn’t replace traditional accounting, but it makes use of the source documents provided from...
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...Patricia Igbokwe EXERCISE SUBMITTED IN WEEK 09 OF ONLNE MSC DEGREE IN PROJECT MANAGEMENT. THE IMPACT OF CULTURAL DIFFERENCES ON PROJECT MANAGEMENT Projects require cooperation amongst team members, who may be from different divisions in the same organisation, different industries or different countries. (Meredith and Mantel, 2012). Where project team members cut across countries and continents. Culture as defined by Meredith and Mantel (p.124) refers to the entire way of life for a group of people which encompasses every aspect of living. Cultural differences have a major impact on project success and requisite project manager competencies. Cultural differences differ between countries and organizations. Cultural differences between countries are usually from their traditional way of life, beliefs, and value systems. Organizational cultural differences are based on corporate identity, and practices. The knowledge of these differences, is an invaluable element for a PM working across multiple international boundaries. The skill sets required by a Project Manager (PM) continue to change with the rapidly evolving nature of today’s business environment. Kernzner (2006, p.156) posits that globalization which has expanded the frontier of the PM to include projects outside their home countries and cultures, and even into diverse continents has necessitated the transformation from purely technical managers to business managers. Rodrigruez and Sbagria (2011, p.42) state that...
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...5 Ways Salons use Point of Sale Systems to 'Blow Out' Sales My stylist Veronica is amazing. Not only is she absolutely gorgeous on the inside and out, but she is always right on trend. She has mastered ombre, balayage, Brazilian blowouts, and beachy waves. Not only that, but she is also on the cutting edge of business. She doesn’t just rent a chair like many stylists do; she is part of a co-op that rents actual mini-rooms where each stylist has their own cubicle-like station complete with private sink and products for sale. In addition, you won’t find a receptionist on site. Each person runs their micro-salon (complete with payments and appointments) from their iPad. Crazy, huh? Now I know that this is the exception and not the norm to have this type of business model for a salon, but it’s amazing how far technology has come. So how can salon point of sale (POS) software help to grow your business? 1. Simplify Appointment Scheduling – Throw out that old appointment book if you haven’t already! With new software you can schedule appointments, prevent double bookings, block out specific amounts of time based on the procedures being done, setup client reminders, and have your customer’s contact information all at your fingertips. 2. Cater to Your Best Customers – Business is based on relationships and the more information you have about your clients the better. Keep track of their hair color preference, products purchased, or chemical treatment sensitivities to optimize...
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...PRODUCTION AND OPERATIONS MANAGEMENT – CASE ANALYSIS TIME CONTEXT * The issue happened last 2005 – the time where some countries are starting to experience the starting wave of a major financial crisis. In order to minimize future risks and fatal losses, some companies started to take action by means of downsizing, that is, laying off some of their employees and closing down some of their facilities. As a result, those affected people who are started to seek for alternative ways of earning a living. VIEWPOINT * The issue will take the perspective of “Hazel”, a research assistant from a company in Texas since 1990 who got retrenched because of the company’s measures to minimize future risks and losses. As a result, Hazel decided to look for other means of employment but failed. As a last resort, she decided to create her own business by taking care of neighborhood lawns which with a stroke of luck, it became profitable, thus opening an opportunity for expansion. CENTRAL PROBLEM * Given the situation of the economy at that time, expansion can be risky even for small businesses, including lawn-care services. Adding a factor of uncertainty, expansion attempts must be well studied in order to achieve success. Failure to understand the risks involved can lead to downfall of a business. Since Hazel’s lawn-care business is booming, she believes that she can achieve expansion; however that attempt might backfire because of the economic crisis that is happening in her country...
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...this research paper on human resource management shall attempt to explain more concerning recruiting and retaining qualified employees. One of the most basic as well as extremely significant functions when it comes to administering the human resource is recruitment. By recruiting the precise candidate for the job offers one with the right blend of fresh ideas. So as to conduct effectual recruiting studies done by “Pavitra Menon” showed that. It is vital to employ reliable etiquettes that all managers comprised in the recruitment process are in accord with. The job depiction should be revisited as well as amended as essential before recruitment activity starts. All people implicated in the recruitment procedure need to recognizable with what is invariable for a candidate to have to be triumphant in the position. The employer needs to augment their candidate pool. It is good for the employer not to discount home trained candidates other identified guidelines to engage in efficient recruiting comprise the employer inquiring about the right queries. It is good for the employer to validate the right choice as well as closing the circle with candidates that the employer has opted not to go ahead. Menon also states that according to the guidelines concerning retaining of qualified employees. It is good for the employer to understand as well as...
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...Evaluation Essay The product that I am going to use is SaaS or software-as-a-service which we have been using for ages now. We all know that cloud computing is a hazy concept. As with Web 2.0 before it, it's something everyone thinks they need, even if they are not sure what it means. In a nutshell, cloud computing means tapping software, hardware or storage over the Internet (the aforementioned "cloud"), then using and paying for it on an as-needed basis. Applications like Facebook and Google Gmail have always been "in the cloud," but you can also lease computing power from Amazon, storage from Rackspace or software from Salesforce.com. Cheaper, greener, more versatile, the paradigm promises to throw the corporate data centre onto the trash heap along with those old mainframes. For starters, cloud computing is unlikely to become ubiquitous in the business world because it doesn't make sense for everything. Moving corporate data that require frequent updates out into a cloud is time-consuming, risky and impractical, says Daryl Plummer, a senior Gartner analyst. And sensitive information shouldn't be outsourced to cloud providers, because current laws and contracts are too vague and inconsistent. Also called software-as-a-service (SaaS), cloud computing is when you run software over the internet and access it via a browser (Schneier, 2009). It has gone from a curiosity to the mainstream in just a few years as businesses turn to the technology to take advantage of the inherent...
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