Securing competitive gas supply – a manufacturing perspective

Brickworks is a domestic manufacturer and large consumer of natural gas and electricity on the east coast of Australia and in Western Australia. Brickworks manufactures building products including bricks which are primarily retailed under name of Austral Bricks. In 2018 Brickworks examined opportunities for securing gas for its business which lead it to transition from a retail customer to wholesale gas buyer. Brickworks will discuss its engagement process with wholesale gas suppliers and lessons learned from the process. To view the video, click the link on the right.

Analysis of Influence of the Roller Number and Rolling Schedule to Straighten Quality of the Project Steel Bar

Roll number and rolling schedule are the important parameters affecting the quality of steel bar straightening，when domestic manufacturer design the straightening equipment, these two parameters design basic is by analogy, so it is necessary to study these two parameters. This paper calculated the straightening roller to obtain reasonable roll number; next step quantitative calculate to obtains the theory rolling schedule, in the meantime actual measurement to obtains the practical rolling schedule of the same equipment；then based on rigid-flexible virtual prototype technology to build straightening system dynamics model. At the theory rolling schedule, and the practical rolling schedule for steel bar straighten emulation, obtained straightness and deviation of different diameter steel bar after straightening. By comparison and analysis the simulation results, we obtain the reasonable roll number and rolling schedule. In this paper, this method have reference value to design the roll number and rolling schedule for similar straightening equipment.

Theories of the Multinational Enterprise

This article provides a critical survey of some of the theories that have sought to explain why multinational enterprises (MNEs) exist, with special emphasis on the transaction costs/internalization approach. While scholars have quibbled over the definition of an MNE (and whether it ought to manufacture in at least two countries to qualify for that title), this article defines it as a private institution that organizes, through employment contracts, interdependencies between individuals located in more than one country. Hence a domestic manufacturer who contracts at arm's length with local distributors abroad is not an MNE, but a domestic department store with its own overseas buying offices, but no foreign manufacturing, is. The first section briefly discusses early capital flow and industrial organization theories before turning to transaction costs/internalization theories, the now dominant theories of the MNE. It focuses on the author's own brand of the theory, developing first the basic foundations, then applying them to the MNE.