Strategic Decision Making in Global Supply Networks

Author(s):  
Ozlem Arisoy ◽  
Bopaya Bidanda

Globalization has inexorably affected the economies of many nations in both the developed and developing world. As a consequence, national boundaries are becoming less important to the large, multinational corporations who now operate on a global scale. Corporate global networks range from short term outsourcing contracts to long term investments in developing countries that offer low cost operations and/or the promise of future market expansion. Today the Internet and high-speed data networks enable knowledge tasks to be completed practically anywhere in the world, allowing companies in the developed world to achieve cost savings or simply stay competitive enough to survive by shifting work offshore (Saunders, 2003; Schultz, 2004). As a result, an increasing shift of work to low-cost countries will continue for the foreseeable future.

2011 ◽  
pp. 204-212
Author(s):  
Ozlem Arisoy ◽  
Bopaya Bidanda

Globalization has inexorably affected the economies of many nations in both the developed and developing world. As a consequence, national boundaries are becoming less important to the large, multinational corporations who now operate on a global scale. Corporate global networks range from short term outsourcing contracts to long term investments in developing countries that offer low cost operations and/or the promise of future market expansion. Today the Internet and high-speed data networks enable knowledge tasks to be completed practically anywhere in the world, allowing companies in the developed world to achieve cost savings or simply stay competitive enough to survive by shifting work offshore (Saunders, 2003; Schultz, 2004). As a result, an increasing shift of work to low-cost countries will continue for the foreseeable future.


2010 ◽  
pp. 267-275
Author(s):  
Ozlem Arisoy ◽  
Bopaya Bidanda

Globalization has inexorably affected the economies of many nations in both the developed and developing world. As a consequence, national boundaries are becoming less important to the large, multinational corporations who now operate on a global scale. Corporate global networks range from short term outsourcing contracts to long term investments in developing countries that offer low cost operations and/or the promise of future market expansion. Today the Internet and high-speed data networks enable knowledge tasks to be completed practically anywhere in the world, allowing companies in the developed world to achieve cost savings or simply stay competitive enough to survive by shifting work offshore (Saunders, 2003; Schultz, 2004). As a result, an increasing shift of work to low-cost countries will continue for the foreseeable future.


TAPPI Journal ◽  
2014 ◽  
Vol 13 (2) ◽  
pp. 17-25
Author(s):  
JUNMING SHU ◽  
ARTHAS YANG ◽  
PEKKA SALMINEN ◽  
HENRI VAITTINEN

The Ji’an PM No. 3 is the first linerboard machine in China to use multilayer curtain coating technology. Since successful startup at the end of 2011, further development has been carried out to optimize running conditions, coating formulations, and the base paper to provide a product with satisfactory quality and lower cost to manufacture. The key challenges include designing the base board structure for the desired mechanical strength, designing the surface properties for subsequent coating operations, optimizing the high-speed running of the curtain coater to enhance production efficiency, minimizing the amount of titanium dioxide in the coating color, and balancing the coated board properties to make them suitable for both offset and flexographic printing. The pilot and mill scale results show that curtain coating has a major positive impact on brightness, while smoothness is improved mainly by the blade coating and calendering conditions. Optimization of base board properties and the blade + curtain + blade concept has resulted in the successful use of 100% recycled fiber to produce base board. The optical, mechanical, and printability properties of the final coated board meet market requirements for both offset and flexographic printing. Machine runnability is excellent at the current speed of 1000 m/min, and titanium dioxide has been eliminated in the coating formulations without affecting the coating coverage. A significant improvement in the total cost of coated white liner production has been achieved, compared to the conventional concept of using virgin fiber in the top ply. Future development will focus on combining low cost with further quality improvements to make linerboard suitable for a wider range of end-use applications, including frozen-food packaging and folding boxboard.


2007 ◽  
Author(s):  
R. E. Crosbie ◽  
J. J. Zenor ◽  
R. Bednar ◽  
D. Word ◽  
N. G. Hingorani

2016 ◽  
Vol 30 (06) ◽  
pp. 1650063 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jingwen Sun ◽  
Jian Sun ◽  
Yunji Yi ◽  
Lucheng Qv ◽  
Shiqi Sun ◽  
...  

A low-cost and high-speed electro-optic (EO) switch using the guest–host EO material Disperse Red 1/Polymethyl Methacrylate (DR1/PMMA) was designed and fabricated. The DR1/PMMA material presented a low processing cost, an excellent photostability and a large EO coefficient of 13.1 pm/V. To improve the performance of the switch, the in-plane buried electrode structure was introduced in the polymer Mach–Zehnder waveguide to improve the poling and modulating efficiency. The characteristic parameters of the waveguide and the electrodes were carefully designed and the fabrication process was strictly controlled. Under 1550 nm, the insertion loss of the device was 12.7 dB. The measured switching rise time and fall time of the switch were 50.00 ns and 54.29 ns, respectively.


2021 ◽  
Vol 12 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Krithika Ramchander ◽  
Megha Hegde ◽  
Anish Paul Antony ◽  
Luda Wang ◽  
Kendra Leith ◽  
...  

AbstractNaturally-occurring membranes in the xylem tissue of gymnosperm sapwood enable its use as an abundantly-available material to construct filters, with potential to facilitate access to safe drinking water in resource-constrained settings. However, the material’s behavior as a filter is poorly understood, and challenges such as short shelf life have not been addressed. Here, we characterize the operational attributes of xylem filters and show that the material exhibits a highly non-linear dependence of flow resistance on thickness upon drying, and a tendency for self-blocking. We develop guidelines for the design and fabrication of xylem filters, demonstrate gravity-operated filters with shelf life >2 years, and show that the filters can provide >3 log removal of E. coli, MS-2 phage, and rotavirus from synthetic test waters and coliform bacteria from contaminated spring, tap, and ground waters. Through interviews and workshops in India, we use a user-centric approach to design a prototype filtration device with daily- to weekly-replaceable xylem filters, and uncover indicators of social acceptance of xylem as a natural water filter. Our work enhances the understanding of xylem as a filtration material, and opens opportunities for engineering a diverse range of low-cost, biodegradable xylem-based filtration products on a global scale.


Author(s):  
Matthew D. Jones ◽  
Bryony Dean Franklin ◽  
D. K. Raynor ◽  
Howard Thom ◽  
Margaret C. Watson ◽  
...  

Abstract Aim In the UK, injectable medicines are often prepared and administered by nurses following the Injectable Medicines Guide (IMG). Our earlier study confirmed a higher frequency of correct administration with user-tested versus standard IMG guidelines. This current study aimed to model the cost-effectiveness of user-testing. Methods The costs and cost-effectiveness of user-testing were explored by modifying an existing probabilistic decision-analytic model. The adapted model considered administration of intravenous voriconazole to hospital inpatients by nurses. It included 11 error types, their probability of detection and level of harm. Model inputs (including costs) were derived from our previous study and other published data. Monte Carlo simulation using 20,000 samples (sufficient for convergence) was performed with a 5-year time horizon from the perspective of the 121 NHS trusts and health boards that use the IMG. Sensitivity analyses were undertaken for the risk of a medication error and other sources of uncertainty. Results The net monetary benefit at £20,000/quality-adjusted life year was £3,190,064 (95% credible interval (CrI): −346,709 to 8,480,665), favouring user-testing with a 96% chance of cost-effectiveness. Incremental cost-savings were £240,943 (95% CrI 43,527–491,576), also favouring user-tested guidelines with a 99% chance of cost-saving. The total user testing cost was £6317 (95% CrI 6012–6627). These findings were robust to assumptions about a range of input parameters, but greater uncertainty was seen with a lower medication error risk. Conclusions User-testing of injectable medicines guidelines is a low-cost intervention that is highly likely to be cost-effective, especially for high-risk medicines.


Energies ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 14 (9) ◽  
pp. 2500
Author(s):  
Abdulrahman Alanezi ◽  
Kevin P. Hallinan ◽  
Kefan Huang

Smart WiFi thermostats, when they first reached the market, were touted as a means for achieving substantial heating and cooling energy cost savings. These savings did not materialize until additional features, such as geofencing, were added. Today, average savings from these thermostats of 10–12% in heating and 15% in cooling for a single-family residence have been reported. This research aims to demonstrate additional potential benefit of these thermostats, namely as a potential instrument for conducting virtual energy audits on residences. In this study, archived smart WiFi thermostat measured temperature data in the form of a power spectrum, corresponding historical weather and energy consumption data, building geometry characteristics, and occupancy data were integrated in order to train a machine learning model to predict attic and wall R-Values, furnace efficiency, and air conditioning seasonal energy efficiency ratio (SEER), all of which were known for all residences in this study. The developed model was validated on residences not used for model development. Validation R-squared values of 0.9408, 0.9421, 0.9536, and 0.9053 for predicting attic and wall R-values, furnace efficiency, and AC SEER, respectively, were realized. This research demonstrates promise for low-cost data-based energy auditing of residences reliant upon smart WiFi thermostats.


2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (10) ◽  
pp. 4610
Author(s):  
Simone Berneschi ◽  
Giancarlo C. Righini ◽  
Stefano Pelli

Glasses, in their different forms and compositions, have special properties that are not found in other materials. The combination of transparency and hardness at room temperature, combined with a suitable mechanical strength and excellent chemical durability, makes this material indispensable for many applications in different technological fields (as, for instance, the optical fibres which constitute the physical carrier for high-speed communication networks as well as the transducer for a wide range of high-performance sensors). For its part, ion-exchange from molten salts is a well-established, low-cost technology capable of modifying the chemical-physical properties of glass. The synergy between ion-exchange and glass has always been a happy marriage, from its ancient historical background for the realisation of wonderful artefacts, to the discovery of novel and fascinating solutions for modern technology (e.g., integrated optics). Getting inspiration from some hot topics related to the application context of this technique, the goal of this critical review is to show how ion-exchange in glass, far from being an obsolete process, can still have an important impact in everyday life, both at a merely commercial level as well as at that of frontier research.


2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (4) ◽  
pp. 1887
Author(s):  
Markus Scherrer ◽  
Noelia Vico Triviño ◽  
Svenja Mauthe ◽  
Preksha Tiwari ◽  
Heinz Schmid ◽  
...  

It is a long-standing goal to leverage silicon photonics through the combination of a low-cost advanced silicon platform with III-V-based active gain material. The monolithic integration of the III-V material is ultimately desirable for scalable integrated circuits but inherently challenging due to the large lattice and thermal mismatch with Si. Here, we briefly review different approaches to monolithic III-V integration while focusing on discussing the results achieved using an integration technique called template-assisted selective epitaxy (TASE), which provides some unique opportunities compared to existing state-of-the-art approaches. This method relies on the selective replacement of a prepatterned silicon structure with III-V material and thereby achieves the self-aligned in-plane monolithic integration of III-Vs on silicon. In our group, we have realized several embodiments of TASE for different applications; here, we will focus specifically on in-plane integrated photonic structures due to the ease with which these can be coupled to SOI waveguides and the inherent in-plane doping orientation, which is beneficial to waveguide-coupled architectures. In particular, we will discuss light emitters based on hybrid III-V/Si photonic crystal structures and high-speed InGaAs detectors, both covering the entire telecom wavelength spectral range. This opens a new path towards the realization of fully integrated, densely packed, and scalable photonic integrated circuits.


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