Emergency Management Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Emergency Management - Essay Example It mainly manufactures cars and trucks, with famous brands like Cadillac, Buick, Pontiac, Chevrolet and Opel etc. The company operates worldwide in 34 countries (General Motors, 2008a). According to the accounts from our employees, the tornado powerfully ravaged our Sport Utility Plant and torn off some metal shield from the Plant. But our employees have carefully hidden themselves in the protective basement that was built for this purpose. However, only one of our employees, a supply truck driver, was hospitalized and our Plant was shut down for weeks as a result of ruins left behind by the tornado. However, our employees also suffered massive loss of their personal property and materials as the tornado devastated their homes. In spite of our enviable Health and Safety Scheme, which includes using the best technologies in the world to ensure that our employees are safe in the face of any disasters, natural or artificial, it is necessary that a new crisis management plan should be set up. We already have an alarm system that quickly alerts our employees of any impending dangers. I would suggest that the following systems be implemented for optimal performance: Legal backing: We have approached the Governor of Oklahoma to assist us with a legal backing in form of a Tornado Relief Bill that would give tax credits and other financial assistance to GM employees that have lost their valuable property during the disaster (Allbusiness, 2003). I take the blame for not suggesting all these important facts before the disaster struck. I am sure that with these ideas I have given above, we would be able to prevent future great damage to our

Climate Condition of Last Deglaciation Research Paper

Climate Condition of Last Deglaciation - Research Paper Example Normally this kind of explosion is caused by turbulent forces which move tremendously in the water thus lifting large objects into the surface. It comes with a lot of particles which are thrown out of water over a great magnitude. When this happens, it results to huge sweep which fatally erodes the surface leaving behind scablands. The sweeping carried large animals like mammoths; this was evident as their vertebrate bones were found in deposits. It is still unclear whether human beings were subsequently affected because up to date, no human bone has been found in the deposits (Jeffrey, 2005). If they existed in the same habitat, chances are that they were also damaged by the flood. Although this era was frequented by multiple floods, they were not huge as the explosion which caused the scablands. There were big floods enough to do significant erosion with huge heaps of deposition; this is because for this activity to be carried out there has to be some very high force or threshold b ehind the activity. It still remains unclear whether there was a single flood or multiple floods that occurred or accumulated over the last 15,000 or so years. Scientists have given evidence about the formation of the Scablands as a result of the steep slides caused by waterfalls which create large gravel deposits resulting from splashes of water. When the rivers overflowed, they piled huge land islands which can be evidently seen protruding on the landscapes of the scablands. These show that, the streamlined features must have been carved by massive water torrents from the falls (Officer, 1994). This scientific evidence builds on the Megafloods which were the initial cause for the formation of the Scablands. The waterfalls acted as the major drainage of the glacial lake which later resulted to the Megafloods. How scientific evidence is used to reconstruct the Last Deglaciation Conditions The scientific evidences have been very instrumental in reconstruction the last deglaciation because, they give predictions as to what might happen based on the past experience. Using the weather patterns, climatic conditions of the past thousands years ca n be studied and subsequently predictions

Environmental Factors Paper Research Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Environmental Factors - Research Paper Example Marketing environment factors profoundly influence company's marketing operations. The paper attempts to explore various environmental factors such as free-trade Agreements, global demographic changes, increased competition, technological advances, legislative compliance that influence marketing decisions of General Motors (GM) in its domestic and international operations. Impact of Free-trade Agreements In 1994, the US entered into a Free Trade Agreement with Mexico and Canada called NAFTA. Just in the prior year in 1993, GM exported only 1600 vehicles to Mexico but in 1999, gearing its marketing efforts, the company could export 52,000 vehicles to Mexico despite currency crisis in Mexico (The Trade Partnership, 2004). This demonstrates that GM could take advantage of free trade agreement to boost their sales. Demographics and Physical Infrastructure People’s behavior, characteristic, their growth trends will largely influence the demand of goods and it becomes extremely impo rtant for a company to know about demographic changes taking place locally and globally so that company can divert its marketing efforts to exploit these changes. Different countries have different population growth rates. Higher population growth rate in a country or region is likely to create higher demand for a product. China and India both have huge populations of over 120 billion with huge untapped market of passenger vehicles. Both have been growing at much higher GDP growth rates relative to world average. GM recognized this fact and directed its marketing efforts toward fastest growing automobile markets in the world. GM formed a joint venture with Shanghai Automotive Industry Corp. Group (SAIC), China in 1997. The joint venture markets its most popular brands such as Cadillac, Buick and Chevrolet and in 2010, it sold 1 million vehicles. China sales are rising at a record rate and in 2011 it touched over 1200,000 units. In order to harness full potential, GM has formed 11 jo int ventures in China and currently, GM is a leader among all automakers in China selling almost 2.5 million vehicles there. Saturated markets of Western Europe and many developed countries show either negative or near zero population growth rates and it is obvious that GM is not likely to achieve favorable results by any level of marketing efforts in that region (General Motors China, 2012). Legal/Political Environment Marketers need to understand the legal/political environment of the country before embarking on the business in an alien land. GM expanded into the countries such as China, India, and Russia for manufacturing and marketing their products only after when these countries liberalized in their bid to become market economies. No company would like to work in a hostile environment. Legal setup is equally important so that whenever required the company can approach an independent judicial system for a fair hearing and remedy. The company needs to follow local laws on enviro nment, on emission standards, corporate laws and the laws that are enforced by regulatory bodies in that country. That is why it becomes extremely important for the company to get fully acquainted about all applicable legal requirements of the country where it plans to market its products. This will also ascertain whether it is in the benefit of the company to operate there or not if the stringent laws may impede its growth. The Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA) of 1977 and Social Responsibility The

Emergency Management Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Emergency Management - Essay Example It mainly manufactures cars and trucks, with famous brands like Cadillac, Buick, Pontiac, Chevrolet and Opel etc. The company operates worldwide in 34 countries (General Motors, 2008a). According to the accounts from our employees, the tornado powerfully ravaged our Sport Utility Plant and torn off some metal shield from the Plant. But our employees have carefully hidden themselves in the protective basement that was built for this purpose. However, only one of our employees, a supply truck driver, was hospitalized and our Plant was shut down for weeks as a result of ruins left behind by the tornado. However, our employees also suffered massive loss of their personal property and materials as the tornado devastated their homes. In spite of our enviable Health and Safety Scheme, which includes using the best technologies in the world to ensure that our employees are safe in the face of any disasters, natural or artificial, it is necessary that a new crisis management plan should be set up. We already have an alarm system that quickly alerts our employees of any impending dangers. I would suggest that the following systems be implemented for optimal performance: Legal backing: We have approached the Governor of Oklahoma to assist us with a legal backing in form of a Tornado Relief Bill that would give tax credits and other financial assistance to GM employees that have lost their valuable property during the disaster (Allbusiness, 2003). I take the blame for not suggesting all these important facts before the disaster struck. I am sure that with these ideas I have given above, we would be able to prevent future great damage to our

Environmental Factors Paper Research Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Environmental Factors - Research Paper Example Marketing environment factors profoundly influence company's marketing operations. The paper attempts to explore various environmental factors such as free-trade Agreements, global demographic changes, increased competition, technological advances, legislative compliance that influence marketing decisions of General Motors (GM) in its domestic and international operations. Impact of Free-trade Agreements In 1994, the US entered into a Free Trade Agreement with Mexico and Canada called NAFTA. Just in the prior year in 1993, GM exported only 1600 vehicles to Mexico but in 1999, gearing its marketing efforts, the company could export 52,000 vehicles to Mexico despite currency crisis in Mexico (The Trade Partnership, 2004). This demonstrates that GM could take advantage of free trade agreement to boost their sales. Demographics and Physical Infrastructure People’s behavior, characteristic, their growth trends will largely influence the demand of goods and it becomes extremely impo rtant for a company to know about demographic changes taking place locally and globally so that company can divert its marketing efforts to exploit these changes. Different countries have different population growth rates. Higher population growth rate in a country or region is likely to create higher demand for a product. China and India both have huge populations of over 120 billion with huge untapped market of passenger vehicles. Both have been growing at much higher GDP growth rates relative to world average. GM recognized this fact and directed its marketing efforts toward fastest growing automobile markets in the world. GM formed a joint venture with Shanghai Automotive Industry Corp. Group (SAIC), China in 1997. The joint venture markets its most popular brands such as Cadillac, Buick and Chevrolet and in 2010, it sold 1 million vehicles. China sales are rising at a record rate and in 2011 it touched over 1200,000 units. In order to harness full potential, GM has formed 11 jo int ventures in China and currently, GM is a leader among all automakers in China selling almost 2.5 million vehicles there. Saturated markets of Western Europe and many developed countries show either negative or near zero population growth rates and it is obvious that GM is not likely to achieve favorable results by any level of marketing efforts in that region (General Motors China, 2012). Legal/Political Environment Marketers need to understand the legal/political environment of the country before embarking on the business in an alien land. GM expanded into the countries such as China, India, and Russia for manufacturing and marketing their products only after when these countries liberalized in their bid to become market economies. No company would like to work in a hostile environment. Legal setup is equally important so that whenever required the company can approach an independent judicial system for a fair hearing and remedy. The company needs to follow local laws on enviro nment, on emission standards, corporate laws and the laws that are enforced by regulatory bodies in that country. That is why it becomes extremely important for the company to get fully acquainted about all applicable legal requirements of the country where it plans to market its products. This will also ascertain whether it is in the benefit of the company to operate there or not if the stringent laws may impede its growth. The Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA) of 1977 and Social Responsibility The

Civil Rights vs Public Order Essay Example for Free

Civil Rights vs Public Order Essay Civil Rights means that people have the right to be treated no better or no worse than any other of their fellow citizens. It is the rights to personally liberty for everyone. Most importantly, it’s their freedom. Here in recent years, we have been giving up many of our civil rights in the name of public order. I’m going to present evidence to back up my opinion. Whereas I must first define what public order is. Public order is the idea that everyone in the public behaves themselves. It’s the lack of crimes being committed and everybody obeying the laws and rules. Public order itself means everything is safe and secure. This in itself is a great thing, but at what cost? My example would have to be 9/11 and the after effects of terrorist threats. Our nation was attacked by terrorists that had hijacked airplanes. Flights are grounded for a while after this event. Flights once again resume. Every so often, there is a threat of terrorism involving an airplane. To maintain public order in the airports and on the planes themselves, new rule about flying had to be implemented. Airport security now has the power to see inside of our clothing, they get can conduct the most invasive of searches, and can even pull you out at random for additional screening. In the wake of these events, many people have been outraged about all of the invasive procedures they need to undergo just to make a flight to see someone. This has also affected the sale of airline tickets, as a lot of people are no longer willing to put up with it in order to fly. Many civil rights taken away right there in the name of safety. My opinion on this matter is actually quite simple. I honestly believe things were better in a pre 9/11 world. Flying used to be such a great experience. Not only has security changed, but what you can and can’t take on board an airplane has as well. They want to pull out things as harmless as video games, cigarettes, and a bottle of water. Our society functions a lot better when it didn’t have to be constantly watched.

Weldon Hand Tools Case Study

Weldon Hand Tools Case Study This report discusses designing a production process to produce Weldon hand tool, the product detail, the time for assembling each element as well as the sales focus of the product are all given in the case study. The report first start with calculating the number of staff required for each volume of work per quarterly for the two years period of the sales forecast ,then looks at the required technology and facility to assemble the product, it then further discuss proposed design layout for assembling operation, lastly the report discusses the likely adjustment of the propose layout should the demands increases and finally the report ends with conclusion recommending the need to balance between demands and capacity in a well organised production that supply the market with a reliable, and fairly price tool. Staffing In terms of determining how many staff is needed to work in assembling of smoothing plane manufacturing plant, given the sales forecast for the next two years we assume that each employerto works 35 hours per week for 48 weeks a year excluding the holidays. For simplicity this report will only show the calculation of the 1st quarter, the 2nd and the last quarter of the 2nd year of sales forecast of the staff required and the rest is provide as shown in the table in fig 1 below. 2.1- Calculation 1st Quarter The required number of staff for the sales volume in the next two years.We first calculate the total time available per quarterly. The sales forecast for the first quarter is 98,000 units and given that it takes 1.60 minutes to assemble one unit, the time needed to assemble the 98,000 units will be 98,000 X 1.60= 156800 minutes. In assuming the full time workers work 35 hours a week (7 hour a day for 5 working days) one worker working 12 weeks will be 35 hrs X 12weeks X 60 minutes=25200 mins Therefore number of worker that is needed for manufacturing 98,000 units will be 156800/25200= 6.222 This will be equivalent to 7 people as there is no fraction of people 2.2- Calculation 2nd Quarter The sales forecast for this quarter is 140,000 units, therefore the time requires to assemble it is 140,000 X 1.6 = 224000 From equation 1 the time available for one worker will be 35 hrs X 12weeks X 60 minutes= 25200 mins Hence the number of staff required will be 224000/25200 = 8.888 equivalent to 9 people Subsequently every quarter is calculated the same till the last quarter. Therefore the sales forecast for the last quarter of the 2nd year is 230,000 units and given that it takes 1.60 minutes to assemble one unit the time needed to assemble will be 230,000 units will be 230,000 X 1.60= 368,000 minutes. Therefore the number of people required to work for the quarter will be. Since it was assume that full time workers working 35 hours a week (7 hour a day for 5 working days) one worker working for 12 weeks will be 35 hrs X 12weeks X 60 minutes=25200 mins Therefore number of worker that is needed for manufacturing 98,000 unit will be 368,000/25200= 14.603 This will be equivalent to 15 people as there is no fraction of people. In conclusion we see the demand is not constant and there is inflation and deflation in demand to solve this we either employ more worker or ask the existing staff to do some extra over time when ever demand increase Facilities and technology Since the sales forecast shows a high demand selecting the required facilities and technology in designing the manufacturing process for Weldon hand tools is very crucial therefore the first and foremost things to consider is the size of the facility and if there is room for expansion .the operation process and the required work force We need to have in place capital and labour, proper planning of the process, research on customer requirement, seminars and training to compete in the market as the sales forecast shows increase and decrease in demand and finally managing the inventory by having warehouse for the stocks Assembling smoothing plane can be divided into three major area, fly pressing, bench operation andwrapping, other than fly pressing which requires pressingmachine,the general operation is reasonably simple so some of the technology and facilities required are Press machines for press operation Customised kits for efficient bench operation Stapler, truck, and wrapping bench for easy handling of tools and wrapping Design layout Design layout is significant process in operation management ,the flow of the layout very much relies on the volume and variety characteristic which shapes the overall design (Slack et al, 2010).The decision as to which layout type to adopt will be influenced by an understanding of their relative advantages and disadvantages (Slack et al, 2010). Therefore in order to design the layout we need first to identify the type of manufacturing process that smoothing planes is. As per the case study and according to its sales focus there is indication that this is high volume output and low variety operation and so this can be class as a mass process manufacturing process and so product base layout is the appropriate design layout.Since that the new product has a similar design with little variation, the design layout can be the same as the small variation does not affect the fundamental production process. Finally the main factors that determine the design layout in this case study is the ease in which expansion can be made to meet the increasing demand, focusing on the process to combine flexibility with a minimum lead timeare the main The layout therefore can be organised in simple and flexible manner so as to enhance the speed of production and reduce inventory while meeting the expected increase of demand The first task is solely a fly press operation in order to minimise idle time between the work stations. The operation will be organised such as each unit recovers the goods from the previous unit 4.1- Layout stages S0 by numbering the element available to assemble the task 1-12 so as to calculate the number of e stages required for the product layout. This is worked out by requiring the cycle time, even though the cycle time for each quarter was shown in the above table in Fiq1, we will show the calculation of how it was arrive , but in term of calculating the stages we only need the sales of the first quarter Since the sales forecast for the first quarter is 98,000 unit and given that it takes 1.60 minutes to assemble one unit, its assume that full time workers work 35 hours a week (7 hour a day for 5 working days)the net time available for work in 12 weeks(1st quarter) will be 35 hrs. X 12weeks X 60 minutes=25200 minutes Therefore the required cycle time =total time available/work volume 25200/98000= 0.257 mins No of stages required will be = total volume /cycle time 1.6/0.257 = 6.222= 7 stages Having known the number of stages we then list the element 1-2 and draw the precedence diagram to calculate the balancing loss Element 1: Assemble poke subassembly 0.12 Element 2: Fit poke subassembly to frog 0.10 Element 3: Rivet adjusting level to frog 0.15 Element 4: Press adjusting nut screw to frog 0.08 Element 5: Fit adjusting nut to frog 0.15 Element 6: Fit frog screw to frog 0.05 Element 7: Fit knob to base 0.15 Element 8: Fit handle to base 0.17 Element 9: Fit frog subassembly to base 0.15 Element 10: Assemble blade subassembly 0.08 Element 11: Assemble blade subassembly, clamp and label to base and adjust 0.20 Element 12: Make up box and wrap plane, pack and stock 0.20 Fiq3below displays the final distribution of work after breaking down the process into different stages of the long thin arrangement, the advantage is that its an ideal way of arranging flexible and expandable operation., makes moving and handling materials between unit effective and as well as providing adequate amount of floor space . 0.15 à ¢Ã¢â‚¬ËœÃ‚ ¢ 0.08 à ¢Ã¢â‚¬ËœÃ‚   à ¢Ã¢â‚¬ËœÃ‚ ¡ à ¢Ã¢â‚¬ËœÃ‚ £ à ¢Ã¢â‚¬ËœÃ‚ ¤ à ¢Ã¢â‚¬ËœÃ‚ ¥ à ¢Ã¢â‚¬ËœÃ‚ ¦ à ¢Ã¢â‚¬Ëœ à ¢Ã¢â‚¬ËœÃ‚ ¨ à ¢Ã¢â‚¬ËœÃ‚ ª à ¢Ã¢â‚¬ËœÃ‚ «Ã‚   0. 12 0.10 0.08 0.15 0.05 0.15 0.17 0.15à ¢Ã¢â‚¬ËœÃ‚ © 0.20 0.20 Fig2 Element listing and precedence diagram 4.2- Calculating balancing loss 0.15 à ¢Ã¢â‚¬ËœÃ‚ ¢ 0.08 à ¢Ã¢â‚¬ËœÃ‚   à ¢Ã¢â‚¬ËœÃ‚ ¡ à ¢Ã¢â‚¬ËœÃ‚ £ à ¢Ã¢â‚¬ËœÃ‚ ¤ à ¢Ã¢â‚¬ËœÃ‚ ¥ à ¢Ã¢â‚¬ËœÃ‚ ¦ à ¢Ã¢â‚¬Ëœ à ¢Ã¢â‚¬ËœÃ‚ ¨ à ¢Ã¢â‚¬ËœÃ‚ ª à ¢Ã¢â‚¬ËœÃ‚ «Ã‚   0. 12 0.10 0.08 0.15 0.05 0.15 0.17 0.15à ¢Ã¢â‚¬ËœÃ‚ © 0.20 0.20 Stage1 stage2 satge3 stage4 satge5 stage6 stage7 stage8 Cycle time = 0.26 0.23 0.23 0.22 0.20 0.20 0.20 0.17 0.15 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 Idle time of every cycle =(0.26-0.22)+(0.26-0.25)+(0.26-0.20)+(0.26-0.15)+(0.26-0.17)+(0.26-0.23)+(0.26-0.20)+0.26-0.20) = 0.45 Balance loss = 0.45/8 0.26 = 21.6 % Fig 3 Allocation of element to stages and balancing loss for Weldon hand tool fig2 Meeting the demand In meeting increasing demand the above design layout can be adjusted by rearranging the stages. The conventional arrangement of the eight stages was to arrange them in one line and each stage takes 0.257 minutes (cycle time) worth of work; however this can be rearranged in to four shorter lines each stage with 0.514 minutes worth of work will give the same output. So following this conclusion the stages could be arranged in 8 parallel stages each responsible for the whole worked content, the advantage is that it will save time for product transportation both within the site and the nearby building where facilities are located, create plenty of space within the site hence enhancing easy expansion to meet increase in demand and finally the inventory will also assist to place the product well in stock Lastly the above layout has concentrated on the labour time effectiveness of assembling one unit per hour per person,however concentrating on speed and quickness of machines may encounter any competition of demand and capacity Conclusion In operational management capacity planning such knowing what is the size of the facilities, the geographical location and the row material for the production process is fundamental, crucial and necessary To successful manage the Weldon hand tool manufacturing process its desirable that the layout be design in a flexible way to rearrange stages that will create more rooms for expansion so as to meet future demands and capacity. The flexibility also makes the transportation (moving and handling) of materials between unit effective Finally at the moment the sales forecast does not predicts smooth distribution of demand to encounter this problem of inflation and deflation of the sales, marketing the product through sales promotion could improve the demand distribution to a smooth increase throughout the quarters.