UN on High Seas Laws Essay Example for Free

UN on High Seas Laws Essay The UN General Assembly resolved and declared the resources of the High Seas as the Common heritage of the mankind which shall be governed by a proposed international regime- Comment. Common heritage of mankind is a principle of international law which holds that defined territorial areas and elements of humanitys common heritage that includes both cultural and natural should be held in trust for future generations and be protected from exploitation by individual nation states or corporations. Immanuel Kant in his essay Toward Perpetual Peace claimed that the expansion of hospitality with regard to use of the right to the earths surface which belongs to the human race in common would finally bring the human race ever closer to a cosmopolitan constitution. The concept of Common Heritage of Mankind, however, was first specifically enunciated in international law in the Outer Space Treaty of 1967. Under Customary rules of International Law, the term high seas means, the part of the sea which are not included in the territorial waters. The rule was formulated in 1609 by Grotious in his treatise mare liberum by arguing that the sea cannot be owned. According to him â€Å"the sea is one of those things which is not an article of merchandise, and which cannot become private property. Hence it follows, to speak strictly, that no part of the sea can be considered as territory of any people whatsoever.† Later the prominent writers of the 18th century also advocated for the freedom of open seas. The meaning of high seas was transformed into treaty rules in the year 1958, when the Geneva Convention on High Seas was adopted. The article 1 of Geneva Convention on High Seas states that high seas is that part of the sea that are not included in the territorial sea or in the internal waters of a state. The regime of high sea has changed considerably under the Convention on the Law of the Sea of 1982 which lays down under article 86 that all parts of the sea that are not included in the exclusive economic zone, in the territorial waters of a state or in the archipelagic waters of an archipelagic State would Constitute high seas. Thus, the area of the high seas has been substantially reduced under the convention of 1982. The high seas, shorthand for that portion of the ocean that lies beyond the limits of national jurisdiction, including the Southern Ocean around Antarctica, make up 64% of the world’s oceans and nearly 50% of the planet’s surface. It is generally 200 nautical miles from the coast. This vast area, once mistakenly considered an empty wasteland, is now understood to contain the largest reservoir of biodiversity left on earth. Multiplying human activities pose a variety of threats to high seas ecosystems, including overfishing, noise, plastic and chemical pollution, habitat destruction, and now ocean warming and ocean acidification related to rising concentrations of carbon dioxide (CO2) in the atmosphere. The United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea has 320 articles, set out in seventeen parts, as well as nine annexes. Parts II to XI concern the different maritime zones: territorial sea and contiguous zone, straits used for international navigation, archipelagic waters, the exclusive economic zone, the continental shelf, the high seas, the International Seabed Area, and special provisions on the regime of islands and of enclosed and semi-enclosed seas. Parts XII to XIV concern specific marine activities and questions in all areas: the protection of the environment, marine scientific research, and the development and transfer of marine technology. Part XV (and annexes 5 to 8) concerns the settlement of disputes. Parts XVI and XVII set out general and final clauses. Today, 13 percent of the worlds land areas are protected, but less than one percent of global marine areas are, leaving these ecosystems exposed and vulnerable to threats. Further, there is almost no protection of marine ecosystems and biodiversity occurring in deeper waters on the continental shelves and in the international waters of the high seas. It is crucial that international leaders cooperate to ensure stronger conservation measures are implemented and enforced to guarantee the long term sustainability of marine species and the health of ocean ecosystems. The United Nations General Assembly plays a crucial role in ensuring the sustainability of marine fisheries, particularly for those in areas beyond national jurisdiction. In ocean areas beyond national jurisdiction, many human activities remain unregulated or poorly managed, with ecosystem considerations seldom taken into account and scientific information either lacking or often ignored. As marine industrial activity, ocean warming, and ocean acidification have accelerated, the imperative to replace the current gap-ridden and fragmented approach towards high seas governance with a more integrated, equitable and accountable institutional framework has become more urgent and important. The major issues related to the high seas are as follows: 1. Open access to the rich resources 2. Increasing demands of fish, energy and increase in trade 3. Legal over-fishing 4. Climate change 5. Pollution. In the absence of an overarching international governance system for regulating marine fisheries, particularly in areas beyond national jurisdiction, there exist a number of treaties, organizations and intergovernmental instruments that serve to manage fisheries. These instruments include the United Nations and its various processes and organizations, and Regional Fisheries Management Organizations. In addition, there are many treaties, multilateral agreements and intergovernmental organizations that contain provisions relevant to the exploitation, use or trade of marine species. According to the UN Convention on the Law of the sea, the common heritage provides certain freedoms like freedom to fish, navigate lay submarine cables and pipelines, conduct scientific marine research, conduct peaceful military activities, and authorize vessels to fly national flags. However with these freedoms, there are also certain obligations to fulfill in order to maintain the proper health of the available resource. The duties are to conserve the living marine resources, protect and preserve the marine environment and most importantly not interfere in rights and interests of other nations. Under customary rules of international law, high seas were free and open to all states. Freedom to high sea was a well recognized principle even under the Roman law which is basically the primary precursor of the modern law. It means that the high sea being common to all states, no state may purport to subject any part of them to its territorial sovereignty, since the open sea is not the territory of any state , no state as a rule has a right to exercise its legislation, administration, jurisdiction or police over parts of the high seas. As a general rule, ships remain under exclusive jurisdiction of the state, whose flags they fly while in high seas. Although sea is not a territory of any state, it is nevertheless an object of the law of nations. Legal order was created through the co-operation of the law of the nations and the municipal laws of such states as possess a maritime flag. The following rules of the law of the nations were universally recognized. 1. Every state that has a maritime flag must lay down rules according to which vessels can claim to sail under its flags, and must furnish such vessels with some official voucher authorizing them to make use of its flag. 2. Every state has the right to punish all such foreign vessels as sail under its flag without being authorized to do so. 3. All vessels with the persons and goods on it, while being on open sea, considered under the sway of the flag state. 4. Every state has the right to punish piracy on the open sea even if committed by foreigners, and that, with a view to extinction of piracy. 5. Warships of all nations can acquire all subject vessels to show their flag. Limitations on the freedom of High Seas: Freedom of high seas may be exercised by States. However, the above basic rule is subject to certain restriction and limitations which is of a complex nature. Convention of 1982 under article 87(2) lays down the limitation of the general nature on the freedom of the high seas by stating that the freedom of high seas â€Å"shall be exercised with due regard for the interests of other states in their exercise of the freedom of the high seas.† The principle underlying this rule states that the exercise of one freedom by one state has to be accommodated with the exercise of freedom of the sea by other states. No preferences are given and the coexistence of various activities has to be sought through the necessary accommodation. In addition to this limitation, the following are the other set of limitations on the right to exercise the freedom of seas:- 1. Limitation on freedom of fishing:- All states have the freedom of fishing subject to limitation under article 117 of the Convention of 1982 where states are under a duty to cooperate with other states in taking such measures for conservation of living resources in high seas. 2. Limitation on the freedom of navigation:- every State Coastal as well as land locked have freedom of navigation in the high seas but they have certain obligations to perform while exercising this freedom of navigation. Article 94 of the Convention of 1982 sets a group of substantive minimum requirements with which all states must comply as regards safety of navigation especially as regards construction, equipment, sea worthiness and manning of ships, labour conditions on board, the use of rights, maintenance of communication and avoidance of collisions. 3. Limitation on freedoms of scientific researches: scientific research is promoted but not at the cost of endangering the living biodiversity at any cost. Article 261 of the Convention of 1982 appears to give preference to the exercise of freedom of navigation to freedom to conduct scientific research, though only as regards to deployment of scientific installations and equipments in established shipping routes. 4. Limitations on Non- interference with war ships:- Article 95 of convention of 1982 lays down that warships . The UN general Assembly has taken utmost care and precaution to make sure that no conflicts arise because of the common heritage and that such a resource should be treasured at all cost for the future generations for we keep in trust the goods of the future generation. Any problem that arises out of conflicts over high sea usage is something for which the UN should not be held responsible. It has proposed an international regime and all the states should try to follow the regime in good faith unless they are forced by circumstances not to do so. [ 2 ]. Immanuel Kant. Toward Perpetual Peace in Practical Philosophy-Cambridge Edition of the Works of Immanuel Kant. Gregor MJ (trans.). Cambridge University Press, Cambridge. 1999. p 329 (8:358). [ 3 ]. Dr. H.O.Agarwal; International Law Human Rights; 18th edition; At P.150. [ 4 ]. United Nations Audiovisual Library of International Law; http://untreaty.un.org [ 5 ]. International Policy: United Nations General Assembly; http://www.pewenvironment.org [ 6 ]. International Policy; http://www.pewenvironment.org [ 7 ]. The Sovereignty of the Sea: A historical account of the claims of England to the Dominion of the British Seas, and of the Evolution of the Territorial Waters; Thomas Wemyss Fulton; at p. 3. [ 8 ]. Oppenheim’s international law, op.cit, p. 727 as stated in H.O. Agarwal’s International Law and human Rights, 18th edition, at p. 151. [ 9 ]. Oppenheim’s International Law, op, cit, p.727 As stated in H.O.Agarwal’s International Law and human Rights; 18th edition at p. 151.

Understanding Optimized Production Technology

Understanding Optimized Production Technology Drum-Buffer-Rope (DBR) is the Theory of Constraints (TOC) production planning methodology originated by Eliyahu M. Goldratt in the 1980s. In fact, the concepts of DBR actually preceded the Five-Focusing-Steps and the notion of the throughput world in the development of the TOC paradigm. While the DBR method is much simpler than the older Optimized Production Technology (OPT) algorithm and the recent Advanced Planning and Scheduling (APS) systems, for many production environments, especially those not currently- or consistently- dominated by an active internal bottleneck, an even simpler method can be adopted. We call this method S-DBR, to distinguish it from the traditional model, which well refer to as traditional DBR. S-DBR is based on the same concepts as traditional DBR and is certainly in harmony with TOC and the Five Focusing Steps. What distinguishes it from traditional DBR is its assumption of market demand as the major system constraint, even when an internal capacity constraint temporarily emerges. S-DBR can be easily supported by traditional ERP/MRP systems and it is specifically intended to deal with fluctuating market demand. Optimized Production Technology (OPT) 1. What is Optimized Production Technology? 2. What is the aim of Optimized Production Technology? 3. What are the main features of OPT? 4. How OPT can be developed? 5. How OPT is operated? 6. What are the benefits achieved from OPT? DEFINITION Optimized production technology is proprietary scheduling system using, computer software which was originally developed by Dr. Eliyahu Galodratt and colleagues who recognized that one of the most complex problems facing manufacturing organizations was that of shop-floor scheduling. The system is based on the concept that there are two fundamental manufacturing phenomena: Dependent events. All processes rely upon the completion of preceding operations. Statistical fluctuations. Process times fluctuate around an average. The effect of these phenomena is that the capacity of a plant must be unbalanced and therefore bottlenecks are inevitable. As defined by Johnson, the OPT method of scheduling dictates that material should only be launched on to the shopfloor at the rate at which it is consumed by the bottleneck. Furthermore, a time buffer of work should protect the production in the bottleneck. This means, that work scheduled for day three arrives on day one, creating a buffer of two days as protection against disruption in operations before the bottleneck. AIM OF OPT The aim of OPT is to schedule bottleneck capacity in an efficient way. This schedule is the master for the demand placed on other capacities. MAIN FEATURES OF OPT The main features of OPT are described by Fax as follows: Balance flow not capacity. The level of utilization of any part of the system, which is not a bottleneck, is dependent on other constraints in the system, not the potential of the worker. The utilization and activation of a resource are not synonymous. An hour lost at the bottleneck is an hour lost for the total system. An hour saved at a non-bottleneck is just a mirage. Bottlenecks govern both throughput and inventories. The transfer batch may not, and many times should not be equal to the process batch. The process batch should be variable, not fixed. Schedules should be established by looking at all the constraints simultaneously. Lead times are the results of the schedule and cannot be predetermined. DEVELOPING OPT The steps used to develop OPT consist of the following: Preparation. Measuring performance, project planning and identifying hardware and software requirements. Plant analysis. Analyzing the manufacturing processes and how they are managed. Bottleneck analysis. (A bottleneck is defined as a resource where capacity is equal to or less than the demand being placed upon it.) This is conducted by analyzing work in progress and shortages vs. excesses (potential bottlenecks are those resources which appear on the shortage list but not the excess list). Computer modeling. This is the process of developing the engineering network and instructing the OPT scheduler how to interpret details concerning the manufacture of products such as dependent set-ups, critical material, fixed batch quantities, maximum batch quantities, consumable tools, rework and uninterruptible processes. Data will be fed into the model concerning routines, bills of material and customer demand. Data definition. Establishing what data is required to be fed into the system. Defining outputs. The output will be a master production schedule (MPS), which is achieved by constraint capacity planning. This provides the basis for the process of demand management using the OPT software to carry out the scheduling the OPT identifies the relevant demand and controls the build accordingly. OPERATING OPT OPT is operated through OPT software which has been developed to control complex manufacturing processes. The software will model the process and produce the schedules in the shape ofmaterial and capacity plans using the OPT bottleneck forward-loading techniques. The shopfloor control system will then monitor progress against the schedule and initiate any action to overcome shortfalls. BENEFITS The benefits claimed for OPT are that it will schedule finite resources in order to achieve maximum factory effectiveness. The scheduling system: Addresses the key problem of bottlenecks. Improves profitability by simultaneously increasing throughput. Reduces inventory and operating expenses. Manufacturing Strategy Part 6: Optimised Production Technology (OPT) Introduction OPT is possibly the most radical of the 3 production strategies to be discussed as it requires a new way of thinking, not only about production but also about the basic accounting principles. In many areas this demands radical or revised thinking by our accountants and new approaches to the fundamentals of accounting. OPT begins by stating that the goal of a manufacturing business is to make money both now and in the future. This might seem to be rather simple but it provides a framework for all the other decisions involved in the business. The aim of OPT is to increase throughput (the rate at which the company generates money through sales) whilst simultaneously decreasing inventory and operating expense. If an action does not directly improve one of the three measures then it is irrelevant at best and damaging at worst, do not do it. The traditional approach has been to optimise each sub-system irrespective of its importance (i.e. to improve the output of the welder) but the OPT approach is to optimise the total system to maximise throughput (i.e. if the welder is not limiting your throughput then dont work on it and put your efforts somewhere else). OPT states that the optimum of each sub-system is not necessarily the optimum of the whole system. OPT defines a bottleneck as any resource whose capacity is equal to or less than the market demand placed upon it. The bottleneck is thus the constraint that is preventing increased throughput from your factory. Improvements here will tend to optimise the whole system and have an increased payback by directly increasing throughput. Bottlenecks are easy to spot in the average factory they are the operations that have lots of work in progress stacked up in front of them. In this sense a non-bottleneck is any resource whose capacity is greater than the market demand placed on it and improvements here will be irrelevant in terms of increased throughput. Figure 1: Spotting the bottlenecks Operation C is the obvious bottleneck for the factory. Running A at capacity will lead to a build up of inventory in front of B. Running B at capacity will lead to a massive build up in inventory in front of C. Investment or improvement in A, B or D will do nothing to improve throughput, the only meaningful investment area would be C where the ability of the plant to earn money can be rapidly improved. Operation C must be protected from loss of output for any reason. It is the operation that controls the income of the factory. In reality the choice is never this clear and the important thing is to balance the flow and not the capacity. The bottleneck concept is best explained in the hiking analogy from The Goal. The speed of a group of hikers needs to be maximised to get to the campsite by nightfall but the actual speed of the whole group is limited by the speed of the slowest hiker (the bottleneck). Placing the slowest hiker at the front of the group slows down the whole group and increases the time required i.e. reduces the throughput. Placing the slowest hiker anywhere else in the group still slows the whole group and also increases the length of the group (the inventory). Thus the only way to reduce the length (the inventory) and achieve the fastest transit time the throughput) is to find a way of moving the slowest hiker faster i.e. working on the bottleneck. An hour lost at a bottleneck, for any reason is an hour to the whole system and cannot be recovered. Dont think you can get it back later because the way we defined a bottleneck means that you cannot. The cost for this lost hour is the total cost of running the whole factory for one hour, after all the bottleneck is governing the throughput. Factory scheduling is at the heart of OPT and a critical factor in this is the location and elimination or management of bottlenecks, a fact which is not explicitly dealt with by JIT. The set up time reduction techniques of JIT appear again but are not formally recognised by OPT. An hour saved in the set-up time of a bottleneck is an hour saved for the whole system. OPT goes on to say that an hour saved on a non-bottleneck machine simply increases inventory and does nothing to improve throughput. It is wasted effort, so dont do it. In a sense OPT shares a lot of philosophy with JIT and both concentrate on quality, lead times, lot sizes and machine set-up times. A major difference is that OPT regards the river and rocks analogy of JIT as being fundamentally flawed. In OPT terms the river is not the flat evenly flowing stream that JIT assumes but has waves on inventory moving through it depending on the order situation in the factory. All can be fine until the inventory is at the trough of a wave. If you hit a problem then it is likely to rip the bottom out of the boat and sink the business! The OPT approach is much more like reality than the JIT approach in this situation, in other words dont take any analogy too far. An underlying rule forgotten at your peril. Figure 2: The OPT view of rocks in the river In the same way OPT shares a computer based approach with MRPII and both require a large complex database of product and machine information for schedule calculation. OPT also requires information on how the product is made, the route through the factory and both set-up and run times. OPT can generally pirate a lot of this information from an existing MRPII system. One problem with MRPII is that it ignores the in-build variation of any machine and assumes that a machine will work at capacity at all times. OPT is more realistic in accepting that the actual capacity is affected by statistical fluctuations and a dependence on previous operations to supply product for processing. In many cases this makes MRPII scheduling unrealistic and time buffers are built in to cater for this. OPT can be more realistic in scheduling than MRPII by taking this into account and also allowing for improvement in times and routing. OPT is based on a set of rules which need to be adopted completely by management and basic statements are incorporated into these rules. The OPT rules Balance the flow, not the capacity. Let bottlenecks determine usage of the non-bottlenecks and do not seek machine utilisation. If a resource is activated when output cannot get through the constraint then all it produces is inventory. Utilisation and activation of a resource are not the same thing. Activation is when a resource is working but utilisation is when it is working and doing useful work. Producing stock for inventory is not useful work. An hour lost at a bottleneck is an hour lost for the whole system and cannot be recovered. An hour saved at a non-bottleneck is a mirage. Bottlenecks govern both throughput and inventory. A transfer batch is not necessarily equal to a process batch i.e. just because you have to cut 20 frames at a time on the optimiser saw it does not mean that you have to push them all on to the welder at one time. You can break the process batch (20 frames) down into small transfer batches (1 order). Process batches should be variable and not fixed. Later work shows that the best results are achieved by using a drum-buffer-rope technique to control the system. You must first find the true bottlenecks that govern the factory throughput. The bottlenecks that beat out the pace like a drum for the whole factory should be kept fully scheduled and working at all times. The bottlenecks must be protected against any interruption caused by breakdowns, quality, set-up times, labour concerns or any other variation. This protection is achieved by building in time buffers. These are a focus for process improvements. All other operations are then synchronised to the bottleneck operation and work is pulled through as if it were on a rope. Without computers the drum-buffer-rope concept works very well for limited variety production. The introduction of variety leads to shifting bottlenecks and the need for complex computer software to run the system. OPT requires maximising the flow of materials and rarely requires large investment in machinery or restructuring of the plant. By improving the flow of the product OPT seeks to get inventory moving and can make an immediate financial impact. OPT needs to be carried through to the whole company and encourages the view of the production area as a real profit maker for the company. For and Against For Quickly targets areas of concern (bottlenecks, quality set up times, high inventories). Incorporates some production and MRP. Quick results. Gives financial feedback. Suitable for discrete, batch and process industries. Possible to grow into via partial implementation at a practical level. Easily understood by the shop floor. Against Challenges traditional cost accounting. Requires simulation modelling of the process. Needs good database. Must go via one consultancy company. Summary OPT is relatively new in terms of production management systems and is an overall philosophy for running the business rather than simply being about production management. OPT starts by assuming that manufacturing is all about making money and looks at optimising the complete system to achieve this rather than just optimising individual operations on a piecemeal basis. OPT is a proprietary system in the full version (rather than just the philosophy) owned by a software and consultancy company. This does not prevent the adoption of some of the excellent ideas it contains and generates. OPT is a trademark of the Scheduling Technology Group. The only, but excellent, book on the subject is The Goal by E Goldratt and J Cox. In the previous pages we have looked at 3 different methods of production management and have reviewed the significant areas for improvement and change. As an overall summary MRPII does not seek to change anything whereas JIT actually forces a fundamental but painful search for excellence. OPT is probably even more powerful because it uses many of the JIT ideas and also follows through into the overall system. The current strategy of many companies uses a blend of these three main methods at various points in the company to achieve the right blend of success. The Manufacturing Strategy Series The Manufacturing Strategy series is designed to give production managers and their staff some insights into new manufacturing methods and to prompt the industry into considering the benefits of alternative approaches to manufacturing. The series is: Part 1: Setting the strategy Part 2: The systems and MRP II Part 3: Just in time (1) Part 4: Just in time (2) Part 5: Just in time (3) Part 6: Optimised Production Technology (OPT) (This section) Part 7: A fundamental quality Part 8: Quality management techniques tools Part 9: Theres no accounting for manufacturing strategy Part 10: Performance measurement Part 11: Changing roles and things to do NOW! Last edited: 29/03/04 Â © Tangram Technology Ltd. 2001 Our standard disclaimer regarding Internet data applies. dvanced planning and scheduling Clients in the consumer products manufacturing and process industry have revealed that many are interested in knowing more about how advanced planning and scheduling (APS) systems can support them in making the right decisions to drive supply chain benefits. More and more companies are in the process of implementing such a system to further optimize their planning processes. To learn more, read the following book exerpt: How to Get the Most Out of Your Supply Chain An overview of Advanced Planning and Scheduling (APS) systems in the consumer products manufacturing and process industry by Deloittes Rhiannon Davies, Nadine Diepeveen, Erik Diks and Vincent Vloemans. Published December 2002. Requirements driving APS Pressure on performance has been steadily increasing over the last decade, and it does not appear to be abating. But where can a company still squeeze out performance improvement? According to Gartner, a leading technology research and advisory firm, supply chain management is one of the key differentiators for the future. Gartner researchers predict that: By 2004, 90 per cent of companies that fail to apply supply chain management technology and processes to increase their flexibility will lose their status as preferred suppliers (0.8 probability). Through 2005, organizations that implement supply chain planning applications with a continuous improvement program will increase ROI by 40% during a 5 year lifecycle (0.7 probability). Changing business requirements and markets are making effective supply chain management and the resulting competitiveness and flexibility more important. Customers are demanding more flexibility, more visibility of availability, more speed and highly customized products. To provide this information, more and more emphasis is put on the supply chain planning capabilities to allow the visibility along the supply chain to react quickly to changing customer demand in a cost competitive way. The alternative to reliable planning is a fully flexible supply chain. Some companies have made good headway in this area, but for many, the cost of this full flexibility is till too high. At Deloitte, we recommend balancing planning improvements with increasing flexibility in the supply chain and continuous development of supply chain professionals. Discussions with our clients in the consumer products manufacturing and process industry have revealed that many are interested in knowing more about how APS systems can support them in making the right decisions to drive supply chain benefits. More and more companies are in the process of implementing such a system to further optimize their planning processes. This book will help our clients to answer the following questions: What is an APS system and what role do they play in supply chain optimization? How APS is different from ERP (Enterprise Resource Planning)? To what businesses could it apply? Will it apply to my business? How? What are the benefits that could be gained from such a system? Who are the key vendors of APS systems? How can I choose which vendor to use for my organization? How are APS packages implemented and how can I apply this methodology to my own organization? The book is written in cooperation with the 10 major APS vendors in consumer products manufacturing and process industry. As sort of an APS primer, the book includes profiles of each vendor, listing the company, its strategy, product technology, functionality and other important information. But the book also is appropriate for readers with a strong knowledge of APS, providing them with up-to-date knowledge of technology and vendors. The APS vendor assessment APS applications cover various domains in supply chain management. To structure the discussion on APS, we introduce our APS reference model. This model serves as a guideline for the general building blocks of an APS system, and allows for a level comparison of the functionality of the various vendors. Furthermore, we discuss the most common models and techniques used by APS packages and assess the level of sophistication of the functionality provided by each vendor in each of the areas outlined in the APS reference model. Each industry has its own specific business issues and these must be addressed during the definition of the requirements that need to be met by an APS package. For example, in the process industry tank planning and dealing with shelf life are usually required, whereas in the high tech industry, complex capacity planning with many constraints. We concentrate on APS packages that cover most requirements in the consumer business and process industry. We provide a classification of consumer business manufacturers to explain the different requirements that need to be addressed by an APS package. We also describe how major changes in the business environment, as well as process and technology innovations impact the requirements on APS software. To provide an up-to-date overview of the software capabilities offered by major APS vendors in the consumer products manufacturing and process industry arena, we performed a large survey among the largest APS vendors within the consumer business and process arena, including Adexa, Agilisys, Aspen Tech, Baan, i2, Logility, Manugistics, Oracle and SAP. We took a two-stage approach to the survey process. First, each vendor filled out a questionnaire that gave insight into the company, its strategy, its product and footprint, product strategy and development plans to allow us to better understand and position their capabilities. Second, we visited each vendor to discuss in more detail their answers to the survey, to view demonstrations of how their product functionality really answers supply chain planning requirements, and to get an impression of their product and company. The vendor analysis in the book is structured to allow easy comparison of vendor capabilities. First, we inventarize the capabilities of each of the vendors per functional area as outlined in the aforementioned APS reference model. Second, we compare the vendors by their industry focus and their technology capabilities. Finally, per vendor we give an overview of their user interface functionality and development areas. Selection and implementation methodology One of the objectives of the book is to serve as a guide to support the initial selection of the APS application/vendor that best meets the business needs of our clients. As such, in addition to providing a vendor selection methodology, we explain Our proven five step methodology to implement an APS system. We explain each step in detail, as well as our methods and the tools we use during an APS implementation. Finally, we provide some lessons learned (secrets of our success) based on our practical implementation experience at numerous customers. Advanced Planning Scheduling (APS) For complex planning scheduling activities especially those that are heavily constrained or require multi-stage scheduling and frequent re-scheduling our experience is that off-the-shelf software packages just dont work. Because of the many differences between problem types and industries, you often end up with a rigid system with preset objectives, logic, and scope, which doesnt quite fit your core operation. Because our Advanced Planning Scheduling (APS) system is tailored to your unique business rules, constraints, and processes, it can be used to optimise a wide variety of planning scheduling activities, including Production-line planning, scheduling, and sequencing Labour planning and timetabling Maintenance planning scheduling Equipment planning scheduling Media planning Features and benefits of our APS system include: Creating schedules that are optimised for cost, profit, or client-defined objectives (service levels, utilization, etc.) Increased delivery on time and in full (DIFOT) Reduced work-in-progress and finished goods inventory Reduced planning time Dynamically re-optimising around unexpected changes in demand and other events Conducting financial what-if analysis and scenario comparison Setting more than one objective/goal and analysing the trade-offs Centralising the planning and scheduling function across multiple plants Optimising across multiple production stages or steps Evaluating the impact of your business rules, processes, and constraints Seamless connection with your existing databases, MRP/ERP systems, and other enterprise software HOT NEWS March 2010 Â » ORDINA signs partner agreement with ICRON. HomeSolutions Advanced Planning and Scheduling Planning and scheduling has never been easy, but today it is far more challenging than it was a decade ago. Planners are feeling more and more pressure to generate accurate and timely plans by considering complex production and supply chain environment, ever changing demand, heavy constraints, conflicting business objectives and processes. And to make things worse, traditional tools at hand are becoming obsolete: spreadsheet based manual planning and scheduling cannot cope with the complexity, your ERP system hardly helps and there is no off the shelf product which can address your unique production environment and supply chain network. What you need is a flexible and reliable Advanced Planning and Scheduling solutions which is tailored for your unique requirements. With 15+ years of experience in Supply Chain Optimization, ICRON Technologies provides ICRON Advanced Planning and Scheduling (ICRON APS) solution to revolutionize your planning and scheduling activities by its mature, cutting-edge technology, and innovative modeling and implementation practices. ICRON APS provides optimized, automatically generated plans and schedules while simultaneously considering demand, resource and material constraints and business objectives. Benefits and features of ICRON APS are: ICRON APS provides significant cost and waste reduction by optimization based on user defined objectives (reduced cost of early/late job completion, inventory, overtime, transportation, reduced WIP times, etc.). ICRON APS greatly improves available-to-promise and capable-to-promise capabilities by generating realistic completion times for individual operations and jobs on entire supply chain network. This quickly translates into increased customer satisfaction. ICRON APS provides feasible, finite capacity schedules which can be readily published to the shop floor. ICRON APS significantly reduces the planning time. ICRON automatically performs most of the schedule generation activities and produces schedules in minutes rather than hours or days. ICRON APS provides tremendous what-if analysis capability. With its speed, accuracy easily generates as many scenarios as user requires and provides user friendly, efficiently tools for planner and management to selects the best scenario to be used as the official plan. ICRON APS maximizes the resource utilization by reducing the setup times by better sequencing, especially when sequence dependent setups exist. ICRON APS provides you fast rescheduling capability to respond to frequent changes. With ICRON, the production planning shifts from reactive, fire fighting planning to proactive, strategic planning. ICRON APS integrates and centralizes the planning and scheduling along the entire supply chain network. Advanced Planning and Scheduling (APS) -Techniques that deal with analysis and planning of logistics and manufacturing during short, intermediate and long-term time periods. APS describes any computer program that uses advanced mathematical algorithms or logic to perform optimization or simulation on finite capacity scheduling, sourcing, capital planning, resource planning, forecasting, demand management, and others. These techniques simultaneously consider a range of constraints and business rules to provide real-time planning and scheduling, decision support, available-to-promise, and capable-to-promise capabilities. APS often generates and evaluates multiple scenarios. Management then selects one scenario to use as the official plan. The five main components of APS systems are Demand Planning, Production Planning, Production Scheduling, Distribution Planning, and Transportation Planning.

Development of a Character :: Personal Narrative Essay Example

Development of a Character This past summer, I attended Interlochen Arts Camp as a Shakespeare Theatre Production Major. Wishing to further hone the knowledge I had gained during my previous summer at IAC, I auditioned for Advanced Acting Studio, and was accepted. During the eight week session, one primary focus of the class was on the different "energies" used in acting for the creation and development of a character. Our introduction to these energies seemed simple - we went outside, and were told to walk in any direction at our normal speed and rhythm, using the shade of a large tree as a boundary. Then, as we were walking, Cindy, one of our three directors explained, "There are six different major types of energy used in acting - percussive, vibratory, suspended, swing, collapsed, and sustained. These energies not only apply to acting, but to life in general." As we walked, she described them, saying that some would feel very natural to us, while others might feel alien, even frightening. In turn, the twelve of us transformed our entire beings to mimic these descriptions: Percussive. . . . Kate was naturally percussive. Her movements came like bursts of energy, lots of short little fuses that were being burnt at intervals with no apparent rhythm. Even the way she spoke was joyfully random and unexpected. Instead of just standing up when she was called on, she would leap from her chair. The next energy we explored was vibratory. Vibratory is similar to percussive, but where as percussive is made up of seemingly random spurts of energy, vibratory is a constant flow of repetitive, rhythmic beats. Jeff was vibratory. His feet would tap the ground while his fingers drummed on the arms of his chair and his upper body swayed back and forth to this constant drum-roll. Before I met Michael, I would have associated suspended with an upper class snob. Suspended people can have an air of being taller than the rest of us, chins tilted up wards, eyes gazing down at the people below, their entire being having the sense of being pulled upward. Yet Michael was suspended without being imperious or haughty. He simply had very good posture, and an air of confidence that is so crucial in a performer. He was a dancer, and gave the impression of floating across the ground as he walked.

Increased Migration, Increased Security Concern Essay -- Economic Cris

Migration has the same meaning, the movement of a group of people who leave their native country to settle temporarily or permanently in a different country. People might voluntarily move, but others are forced to leave their country because of dire situations. An analysis shows how the economic crisis, terrorism, and leaders play a role in how immigration is viewed. While it is impossible to send all illegal immigrants back to their countries, preventing further immigration will help eliminate some security threats and increase the stability of a country’s government. The North-South gap has allowed immigration to become a global issue. While the rich North benefits from industrialization, the South suffers from poor development and wealth disparities. Because of this, people hoping for a better standard of living look to the North. When the economy was thriving, countries relied on guest worker programs to help fulfill the demand for labor. France, for example, needed immigrants to help in post-WWII â€Å"recovery and economic expansion† (Rudolph, 2006, p. 128). However, many countries around the world are feeling the effects of the economic crisis today. Since the economic downturn, there has been an increase in unemployment and anti-immigration sentiment. When people have a job and can maintain their families, immigration is put on the back burner. With the percentage of unemployed rising, illegal immigrants were to blame for taking jobs that rightfully belonged to citizens. The pressure from citizens for anti-immigration policies forced leaders to act. Following the terrorist attacks on September 11, 2001, security was heightened around the world. There is more concern on who is entering the country because of fear of ano... ... given the circumstances Spain must be selfish and focus on its own problems. Increasing border security would help stop the influx of immigrants entering Spain. The situations in Italy, France, and Spain help illustrate the different approaches to fighting illegal immigration. Because of economic booms, countries relied on immigrant workers to provide needed labor. However, the economic crisis means more people are without jobs and immigrants are no longer needed for work. The risk of terrorist attacks means tighter border control and increased fear of people who are ideologically different. The decisions leaders make concerning immigration reflects the ideals of their citizens. While people may want immigrants to go back to their countries, many immigrants have made a life for themselves and their families and do not see their native countries as â€Å"home†.

Edgar Allan Poe Essay -- essays research papers

Edgar Allan Poe   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Edgar Allan Poe, the first master of the short story, had written many short stories from mysteries to morbidity. Edgar was born on January 19,1809 in Boston, Massachussettes. Edgars Parents, David and Eliza, were both in the acting business. Poe also had a sister, who is rarely spoken of. When Edgar was young his father fleed from the family, leaving Edgar, his mother, and sister alone. At the age of two Edgar's mother died of tuberculosis. Edgar was then placed in a foster home with John and Fanny Allan.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  When Edgar was fifteen he had enough stories written to publish a book, but his foster father would not allow it. In 1826 Edgar enrolled into the University of Virginia. He wanted to become a translator. The life at the University of Virginia was very disturbing, there were many accounts of violence such as; riots, fighting, and murders. By the end of the year Edgar was in debt from gambling, exceeding two-thousand five-hundred dollars. When Poe went back to Richmond, Virginia, where John lived for the summer, he expected his father to pay his debts, but his father made him work to pay his debts.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  In 1827 Edgar moved out of the Allan house to Boston, Massachussettes. Edgar then published his first book Tamerline and Other Poems . In 1827 Edgar joined the U.S. Army where he stayed for two years. In 1829 Edgar wrote his second book Aarat, Tamberline, and Other Poems by...

How Does Barack Obama Engage His Audience

Barack Obama engages his audience through means of promoting inclusivity, an informal friendly stance and a family appeal. The non-verbal communication and rhetorical devices Obama uses adds up to a very engaging speech. I will be comparing Obama’s race speech in Philadelphia with the David Letterman interview. The structure of Obama’s Speech is very important. The words are made to flow from beginning to end, without break. The speech starts by Obama placing himself in history with the 1787 US Constitution – this factual evidence establishes Obama’s authenticity. The main body of the speech has a recurring theme of a ‘perfect’ America that ‘could be and should be’ perfected over time. He claims that America ‘may never be perfect’ but it can ‘always be perfected’. This encourages hope for the future generations within the audience. This repetition is memorable and has emphasis on the future generation, gaining the support of the families. Another key feature of the structure is the rule of three. Obama uses many words repeatedly, for example, ‘constitution’. A union between the government and its people is also a repetitive theme, as it tightens the bondage with all the people, ‘black or white’. The end of the speech is simple but blunt to the point – ‘but this is where we start’. This again places him in history, and gives the speech a circular form. Establishing rapport with the audience is a key in any speech. Obama’s main method is using non-verbal communication (NVC’s). A simple ‘chop’ gesture is often used throughout Obama’s interview and sometimes speeches. It separates selected points to emphasise them to the audience, and is a subtle gesture to show Obama’s organisation. Eye contact is also essential, as it will engage individual crowd members, making them feel enlightened or special. Stories are used to engage the audience on a more personal level, especially if they are about children. This was the case about the end of Obama’s speech, where he speaks about Ashley, a young girl who brought together black and white people. The single phrase’ I’m here because of Ashley’ indicates a pause where Obama consolidates and the audience take in the whole story. Just because this story was a bout a child the supporters are engages on so much of a more personal level, and the moment of recognition between the ‘young white girl and the old black man’ is magnified in its glory. Then Obama slowly flows into the end paragraph – ‘this is where we start’. The whole speech is very serious, unlike Obama’s interview with David letterman, where humour was the main method to win support of the audience. Small things like Obama’s clothes, posture or background made a huge difference in both the speech and the interview. For example, Obama is very relaxed and moves his hands a lot during the letterman interview. On the other hand, Obama is very static during the speech, the background is also important, as in the race speech the background is embellished with lots of huge American flags. This shows Obama’s authenticity and patriotism. In the interview, there was a more relaxed cosmopolitan New York background. Obama uses many forms of non-verbal communication (NVC’s) to establish a strong rapport with his audience. Firstly, Obama begins with his hands pointing at the crowd, signalling the start. He uses this o calm down the crowd and to attract their attention. During the speech he often holds his hands out in a ‘welcoming embrace’. This is more personal and shows that he is an open, friendly person. He also holds his hands out straight out to emphasise a point or idea – this catches the audience’s attention, making them remember the point. Obama went on the David Letterman show to reveal his more relaxed side to America. It was his opportunity to reach a different type of audience. Very like his speeches he kept to a strict timing, where he has pauses for the audience –except that he left time for letterman to reply. For example, after being asked a question, Obama would pause and let the question sink in. While telling a joke on the show, he would never laugh at it and would keep a ‘dead pan’ face. This is because he then counts on the audience to laugh for him. He also used many filler words, such as ‘basicly’ to space out questions and awnsers evenly. Similarly to the race speech, Obama placed himself in history, mentioning JFK, FDR; similar to when he mentioned the 1787 Philadelphia conference. However, unlike the race speech; Obama was excellent at making good eye contact with the audience. This was because the audience at the race speech was much larger than the one at the David Letterman show. He also showed good willingness to joke – which engaged the audience into his conversation with Letterman. This is how the speech was similar with the interview; in both Obama was keen to establish a strong rapport with the audience. Unlike the race speech, Obama uses many slang or friendly words during the interview. He describes people as ‘folks’ and his family as ‘goofs’; showing the audience that underneath the fancy tie and suit he is just a normal guy. Obama uses many rhetorical devices to engage his audience during his race speech. The first three words in Obama’s speech are: ‘four years ago’. This is the start of a story (anecdotes) and is also used as an icebreaker. It calms the audience down –they might not hear it, but it signifies the start of the speech. The personal story gets the audience interested and focused. Then the collective pronoun, ‘you’ is used: ‘I stood before you and†¦Ã¢â‚¬â„¢ This addresses the crowd as one and is used so every body feels included – it is inclusive. Phrases such as ‘our children and grandchildren’ promotes the feeling of inclusivity and again wins the support of families – it makes everyone feel that they are in on the ‘Obama deal’. Along with the collective pronouns Obama strings together emotive language, such as ‘victims of racial abuse’ instead of just people. This makes the speech feel very personal. One of the most important rhetorical devices he used was the rule of 3. This is the repeating of 3 certain phrases or words so they catch the audience’s attention and make it memorable. In the 5th paragraph he uses the rule of 3 to emphasise a ‘more caring, more equal and more prosperous America’. This slogan stays in the heads of the supporters. Another example of the rule of three is where Obama says ‘ordinary men and women, students and soldiers, farmers and teachers’. As well as the three pairs, he starts with ordinary men and women. This is used so he can relate with the audience, creating a better rapport. Also in that sentence was alliteration: ‘students and soldiers’. This also is easily remembered. Obama also has a repeating theme of the ‘American promise’. This repeating theme is used so it will stick in the audience’s head. Timing is essential within a speech. There is strong modulation within the context of the speech, as Obama will pause to evaluate after a lengthy paragraph or strong point. This separates certain points and gives the audience time to take in the speech. The tone of voice also sets a background atmosphere to his speech – for example, during a theoretical or metaphorical sentence; Obama would get louder in a crescendo before almost shouting at the end of the sentence. This is always followed by a huge applause and long pause. Obama pauses after his icebreaker: ‘Four years ago’ – this gives his audience time to calm and let them know that is his turn to speak. In conclusion, Obama uses many unconventional and interesting techniques as well as hand gestures to engage his audience, to appear either more friendly or serious. In comparison between the race speech and the Letterman interview, in the speech Obama is much more static and serious, while in the interview he is more relaxed and friendly.

How Does Arthur Miller Use Dramatic Devises Essay

Dramatic devices are an element of a play used to build a better understanding of the character. Dramatic devices come into play better when performed rather than read. Arthur Miller uses various dramatic devices to portray the character of Eddie, and let the reader or audience think about how Eddie is thinking. This essay will look at the different dramatic devices used. The most used and obvious dramatic device used is the colloquial American dialect. The way the play is written makes the reader read it with an American/Italian accent. For example Arthur Miller has swapped words like ‘you’ for ‘yiz’ in the sentence ‘ill see yiz later’ or abbreviates words in the appropriate places for example ‘my mother’ll know her’ This shows the actor how to speak in a casual working class American/Italian accent and get into character better. As A View from the Bridge is a play there are stage directions. These are another way of showing how Eddie is feeling without him saying so. For example in one scene Eddie is sitting in his rocking chair and surging back and forth, as if he was slightly deluded. Anyone watching the play could tell that Eddie was angry before he even says anything. It could also be perceived that Eddie was plotting something. Other examples of this are when he stands angrily cracking his knuckles showing he is mad and up for a fight. Another dramatic device cleverly used by Arthur Miller is sub-text. This makes the audience think about Eddie’s attitude to the other characters, especially the other males. He adds simple events into the plot, which can mean a great deal to the play. For example Marko challenges Eddie to lift the chair one handed. This fails and Eddie is proved not to be the strongest male. I think Eddie feels his place at the top of the unofficial pecking order threatened so tries to re-establish himself as alpha male. Eddie starts to challenges Rodolpho’s sexuality and puts him down a lot as  Rodolpho sings, dances and makes dresses. For example he asked Catherine if Rodolpho is making a dress for her, in front of him in a sarcastic way ‘ Knocked off for Christmas early (indicating the pattern) Rodolpho making you a dress’. As he no longer feels dominant he resorts to telling them that it is his house so they should listen to him for example ‘Its my house give me the respect I deserve’ I feel the other characters are unaware of Eddie’s troubles and carry on as normal. Eddie is now paranoid and thinks that the others disrespect him; as a result he targets the two females (maybe he feels they are the easiest to manipulate) and is constantly asking for respect ‘nobody gives me respect’ Eddie keeps saying to Catherine and Buertrice. Eddie feels the men are against him and tries to get them in trouble with immigration. The women also get annoyed and sometimes scared with Eddie’s new attitude. The dramatic devices sub-consciously get an unwritten message across to the audience, make the play three-dimensional, and improve the actor’s performance and therefore the audience viewing. This essay looks at and discusses the dramatic devises used by Arther Miller to portray the character of Eddie. I feel that Eddie is at a mid life crises. He feels threatened by new males in to the Carbone family. Italian families are generally close and Eddie has perhaps too close an interest for his niece Catherine. Not only does this make him jealous of Rodolpho but also Rodolpho lives as if he is from a higher classed family with his new suits. He is jealous of Marko as he is a younger and stronger man and he feels Catherine and Beatrice don’t give him the respect he deserves as head of the house hold.