Performance analysis of Supply Chain Management with Supply Chain Operation reference model

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Hasibuan, Abdurrozzaq; Arfah, Mahrani; Parinduri, Luthfi; Hernawati, Tri; Suliawati; Harahap, Bonar; Rahmah Sibuea, Siti; Krianto Sulaiman, Oris; purwadi, Adi

2018-04-01

This research was conducted at PT. Shamrock Manufacturing Corpora, the company is required to think creatively to implement competition strategy by producing goods/services that are more qualified, cheaper. Therefore, it is necessary to measure the performance of Supply Chain Management in order to improve the competitiveness. Therefore, the company is required to optimize its production output to meet the export quality standard. This research begins with the creation of initial dimensions based on Supply Chain Management process, ie Plan, Source, Make, Delivery, and Return with hierarchy based on Supply Chain Reference Operation that is Reliability, Responsiveness, Agility, Cost, and Asset. Key Performance Indicator identification becomes a benchmark in performance measurement whereas Snorm De Boer normalization serves to equalize Key Performance Indicator value. Analiytical Hierarchy Process is done to assist in determining priority criteria. Measurement of Supply Chain Management performance at PT. Shamrock Manufacturing Corpora produces SC. Responsiveness (0.649) has higher weight (priority) than other alternatives. The result of performance analysis using Supply Chain Reference Operation model of Supply Chain Management performance at PT. Shamrock Manufacturing Corpora looks good because its monitoring system between 50-100 is good.

The evolving role of supply chain management technology in healthcare.

PubMed

Langabeer, Jim

2005-01-01

The healthcare supply chain is a vast, disintegrated network of products and players, loosely held together by manual and people-intensive processes. Managing the flow of information, supplies, equipment, and services from manufacturers to distributors to providers of care is especially difficult in clinical supply chains, compared with more technology-intense industries like consumer goods or industrial manufacturing. As supplies move downstream towards hospitals and clinics, the quality and robustness of accompanying management and information systems used to manage these products deteriorates significantly. Technology that provides advanced planning, synchronization, and collaboration upstream at the large supply manufacturers and distributors rarely is used at even the world's larger and more sophisticated hospitals. This article outlines the current state of healthcare supply chain management technologies, addresses potential reasons for the lack of adoption of technologies and provides a roadmap for the evolution of technology for the future. This piece is based on both quantitative and qualitative research assessments of the healthcare supply chain conducted during the last two years.

Building an efficient supply chain.

PubMed

Scalise, Dagmara

2005-08-01

Realizing at last that supply chain management can produce efficiencies and save costs, hospitals are beginning to adopt practices from other industries, such as the concept of extended supply chains, to improve product flow. They're also investing in enterprise planning resource software, radio frequency identification and other technologies, using quality data to drive standardization and streamlining processes.

Defense Acquisition Reform: Background, Analysis, and Issues for Congress

DTIC Science & Technology

2014-05-23

individuals in line management .... the key to effective execution of any contract is not the quality of the contract, it is the quality of the...yielded only limited results due in large part to poor workforce management . Most reports have concluded that the key to good acquisitions is having a...Supply Chain Management ......................................................................... 21 Figures Figure 1. Contract Obligations, by

77 FR 41416 - Food and Drug Administration/Xavier University Global Outsourcing Conference

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2012-07-13

... International Initiatives, FDA Inspection Trends, Supply Chain Development, Quality Agreements, Supplier... the World Establishing a Meaningful Supplier Qualification Program Supply Chain Development Finished... Agreements Business Process Management Global Standards Association Near Term Solutions The conference...

A Model of Risk Analysis in Analytical Methodology for Biopharmaceutical Quality Control.

PubMed

Andrade, Cleyton Lage; Herrera, Miguel Angel De La O; Lemes, Elezer Monte Blanco

2018-01-01

One key quality control parameter for biopharmaceutical products is the analysis of residual cellular DNA. To determine small amounts of DNA (around 100 pg) that may be in a biologically derived drug substance, an analytical method should be sensitive, robust, reliable, and accurate. In principle, three techniques have the ability to measure residual cellular DNA: radioactive dot-blot, a type of hybridization; threshold analysis; and quantitative polymerase chain reaction. Quality risk management is a systematic process for evaluating, controlling, and reporting of risks that may affects method capabilities and supports a scientific and practical approach to decision making. This paper evaluates, by quality risk management, an alternative approach to assessing the performance risks associated with quality control methods used with biopharmaceuticals, using the tool hazard analysis and critical control points. This tool provides the possibility to find the steps in an analytical procedure with higher impact on method performance. By applying these principles to DNA analysis methods, we conclude that the radioactive dot-blot assay has the largest number of critical control points, followed by quantitative polymerase chain reaction, and threshold analysis. From the analysis of hazards (i.e., points of method failure) and the associated method procedure critical control points, we conclude that the analytical methodology with the lowest risk for performance failure for residual cellular DNA testing is quantitative polymerase chain reaction. LAY ABSTRACT: In order to mitigate the risk of adverse events by residual cellular DNA that is not completely cleared from downstream production processes, regulatory agencies have required the industry to guarantee a very low level of DNA in biologically derived pharmaceutical products. The technique historically used was radioactive blot hybridization. However, the technique is a challenging method to implement in a quality control laboratory: It is laborious, time consuming, semi-quantitative, and requires a radioisotope. Along with dot-blot hybridization, two alternatives techniques were evaluated: threshold analysis and quantitative polymerase chain reaction. Quality risk management tools were applied to compare the techniques, taking into account the uncertainties, the possibility of circumstances or future events, and their effects upon method performance. By illustrating the application of these tools with DNA methods, we provide an example of how they can be used to support a scientific and practical approach to decision making and can assess and manage method performance risk using such tools. This paper discusses, considering the principles of quality risk management, an additional approach to the development and selection of analytical quality control methods using the risk analysis tool hazard analysis and critical control points. This tool provides the possibility to find the method procedural steps with higher impact on method reliability (called critical control points). Our model concluded that the radioactive dot-blot assay has the larger number of critical control points, followed by quantitative polymerase chain reaction and threshold analysis. Quantitative polymerase chain reaction is shown to be the better alternative analytical methodology in residual cellular DNA analysis. © PDA, Inc. 2018.

Performance measurement for supply chain management and evaluation criteria determination for reverse supply chain management

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kongar, N. Elif

2004-12-01

Today, since customers are able to obtain similar-quality products for similar prices, the lead time has become the only preference criterion for most of the consumers. Therefore, it is crucial that the lead time, i.e., the time spent from the raw material phase till the manufactured good reaches the customer, is minimized. This issue can be investigated under the title of Supply Chain Management (SCM). An efficiently managed supply chain can lead to reduced response time for customers. To achieve this, continuous observation of supply chain efficiency, i.e., a constant performance evaluation of the current SCM is required. Widely used conventional performance measurement methods lack the ability to evaluate a SCM since the supply chain is a dynamic system that requires a more thorough and flexible performance measurement technique. Balanced Scorecard (BS) is an efficient tool for measuring the performance of dynamic systems and has a proven capability of providing the decision makers with the appropriate feedback data. In addition to SCM, a relatively new management field, namely reverse supply chain management (RSCM), also necessitates an appropriate evaluation approach. RSCM differs from SCM in many aspects, i.e., the criteria used for evaluation, the high level of uncertainty involved etc., not allowing the usage of identical evaluation techniques used for SCM. This study proposes a generic Balanced Scorecard to measure the performance of supply chain management while defining the appropriate performance measures for SCM. A scorecard prototype, ESCAPE, is presented to demonstrate the evaluation process.

Sustainable Supplier Performance Evaluation and Selection with Neofuzzy TOPSIS Method

PubMed Central

Chaharsooghi, S. K.; Ashrafi, Mehdi

2014-01-01

Supplier selection plays an important role in the supply chain management and traditional criteria such as price, quality, and flexibility are considered for supplier performance evaluation in researches. In recent years sustainability has received more attention in the supply chain management literature with triple bottom line (TBL) describing the sustainability in supply chain management with social, environmental, and economic initiatives. This paper explores sustainability in supply chain management and examines the problem of identifying a new model for supplier selection based on extended model of TBL approach in supply chain by presenting fuzzy multicriteria method. Linguistic values of experts' subjective preferences are expressed with fuzzy numbers and Neofuzzy TOPSIS is proposed for finding the best solution of supplier selection problem. Numerical results show that the proposed model is efficient for integrating sustainability in supplier selection problem. The importance of using complimentary aspects of sustainability and Neofuzzy TOPSIS concept in sustainable supplier selection process is shown with sensitivity analysis. PMID:27379267

Sustainable Supplier Performance Evaluation and Selection with Neofuzzy TOPSIS Method.

PubMed

Chaharsooghi, S K; Ashrafi, Mehdi

2014-01-01

Supplier selection plays an important role in the supply chain management and traditional criteria such as price, quality, and flexibility are considered for supplier performance evaluation in researches. In recent years sustainability has received more attention in the supply chain management literature with triple bottom line (TBL) describing the sustainability in supply chain management with social, environmental, and economic initiatives. This paper explores sustainability in supply chain management and examines the problem of identifying a new model for supplier selection based on extended model of TBL approach in supply chain by presenting fuzzy multicriteria method. Linguistic values of experts' subjective preferences are expressed with fuzzy numbers and Neofuzzy TOPSIS is proposed for finding the best solution of supplier selection problem. Numerical results show that the proposed model is efficient for integrating sustainability in supplier selection problem. The importance of using complimentary aspects of sustainability and Neofuzzy TOPSIS concept in sustainable supplier selection process is shown with sensitivity analysis.

Increasing Capacity Exploitation in Food Supply Chains Using Grid Concepts

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Volk, Eugen; Müller, Marcus; Jacob, Ansger; Racz, Peter; Waldburger, Martin

Food supply chains today are characterized by fixed trade relations with long term contracts established between heterogeneous supply chain companies. Production and logistics capacities of these companies are often utilized in an economically inefficient manner only. In addition, increased consumer awareness in food safety issues renders supply chain management even more challenging, since integrated tracking and tracing along the whole food supply chain is needed. Facing these issues of supply chain management complexity and completely documented product quality, this paper proposes a full lifecycle solution for dynamic capacity markets based on concepts used in the field of Grid [1], like management of Virtual Organization (VO) combined with Service Level Agreement (SLA). The solution enables the cost-efficient utilization of real world capacities (e.g., production capacities or logistics facilities) by using a simple, browser-based portal. Users are able to enter into product-specific negotiations with buyers and suppliers of a food supply chain, and to obtain real-time access to product information including SLA evaluation reports. Thus, business opportunities in wider market access, process innovation, and trustworthy food products are offered for participating supply chain companies.

Strategy and Quality Maps in Higher Education

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Kettunen, Juha

2011-01-01

The purpose of this study is to investigate the integration of strategic management and quality assurance in higher education. The study presents how the value chain can be described in the strategy and quality maps, which are, respectively graphical representations of the strategic plan and the quality assurance system. The quality map is a new…

32 CFR 651.6 - NEPA analysis staffing.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-07-01

... National Defense Department of Defense (Continued) DEPARTMENT OF THE ARMY (CONTINUED) ENVIRONMENTAL QUALITY... management is not in the proponents' chain of command (for example, installation management of a range for MATDEV testing or installation management of a fielding location), the proponent shall coordinate the...

PICASSO: an end-to-end image simulation tool for space and airborne imaging systems

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Cota, Steve A.; Bell, Jabin T.; Boucher, Richard H.; Dutton, Tracy E.; Florio, Chris J.; Franz, Geoffrey A.; Grycewicz, Thomas J.; Kalman, Linda S.; Keller, Robert A.; Lomheim, Terrence S.; Paulson, Diane B.; Willkinson, Timothy S.

2008-08-01

The design of any modern imaging system is the end result of many trade studies, each seeking to optimize image quality within real world constraints such as cost, schedule and overall risk. Image chain analysis - the prediction of image quality from fundamental design parameters - is an important part of this design process. At The Aerospace Corporation we have been using a variety of image chain analysis tools for many years, the Parameterized Image Chain Analysis & Simulation SOftware (PICASSO) among them. In this paper we describe our PICASSO tool, showing how, starting with a high quality input image and hypothetical design descriptions representative of the current state of the art in commercial imaging satellites, PICASSO can generate standard metrics of image quality in support of the decision processes of designers and program managers alike.

PICASSO: an end-to-end image simulation tool for space and airborne imaging systems

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Cota, Stephen A.; Bell, Jabin T.; Boucher, Richard H.; Dutton, Tracy E.; Florio, Christopher J.; Franz, Geoffrey A.; Grycewicz, Thomas J.; Kalman, Linda S.; Keller, Robert A.; Lomheim, Terrence S.; Paulson, Diane B.; Wilkinson, Timothy S.

2010-06-01

The design of any modern imaging system is the end result of many trade studies, each seeking to optimize image quality within real world constraints such as cost, schedule and overall risk. Image chain analysis - the prediction of image quality from fundamental design parameters - is an important part of this design process. At The Aerospace Corporation we have been using a variety of image chain analysis tools for many years, the Parameterized Image Chain Analysis & Simulation SOftware (PICASSO) among them. In this paper we describe our PICASSO tool, showing how, starting with a high quality input image and hypothetical design descriptions representative of the current state of the art in commercial imaging satellites, PICASSO can generate standard metrics of image quality in support of the decision processes of designers and program managers alike.

Cold chain management in meat storage, distribution and retail: A review

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Nastasijević, I.; Lakićević, B.; Petrović, Z.

2017-09-01

Meat is a perishable product with a short shelf life and therefore short selling times. Therefore, cold chain management in meat supply is of utmost importance for the maintenance of quality and safety of meat/meat products. Raw meat/meat products are likely to support the growth of pathogenic microorganisms and/or spoilage bacteria, and should be kept at temperatures that do not result in a risk to health. The cold chain should not be interrupted at all times along the meat distribution chain. The complexity of global meat supply chain, with frequently long distribution chains associated with transportation of the product within one country, from one to another country and from one to another continent, makes the solutions for the chilling and freezing regimes, as well as monitoring of time-temperature profiles, very important for the overall success in delivery of product which will be accepted by consumer for its freshness and safety levels. From recently, there are several available options for control and management of the cold chain, such as chilled and frozen storage combinations, superchilling, ionizing radiation, biopreservation, high hydrostatic pressure (HHP), active packaging, wireless sensors, supported with the software-based cold chain database (CCD).

[Blood transfusion and supply chain management safety].

PubMed

Quaranta, Jean-François; Caldani, Cyril; Cabaud, Jean-Jacques; Chavarin, Patricia; Rochette-Eribon, Sandrine

2015-02-01

The level of safety attained in blood transfusion now makes this a discipline better managed care activities. This was achieved both by scientific advances and policy decisions regulating and supervising the activity, as well as by the quality system, which we recall that affects the entire organizational structure, responsibilities, procedures, processes and resources in place to achieve quality management. So, an effective quality system provides a framework within which activities are established, performed in a quality-focused way and continuously monitored to improve outcomes. This system quality has to irrigate all the actors of the transfusion, just as much the establishments of blood transfusion than the health establishments. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Masson SAS. All rights reserved.

Research on the performance evaluation of agricultural products supply chain integrated operation

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Jiang, Jiake; Wang, Xifu; Liu, Yang

2017-04-01

The agricultural product supply chain integrated operation can ensure the quality and efficiency of agricultural products, and achieve the optimal goal of low cost and high service. This paper establishes a performance evaluation index system of agricultural products supply chain integration operation based on the development status of agricultural products and SCOR, BSC and KPI model. And then, we constructing rough set theory and BP neural network comprehensive evaluation model with the aid of Rosetta and MATLAB tools and the case study is about the development of agricultural products integrated supply chain in Jing-Jin-Ji region. And finally, we obtain the corresponding performance results, and give some improvement measures and management recommendations to the managers.

Home - JSM Portal

Science.gov Websites

chain MS ISO/IEC 27001: 2007 Information Security Management Systems MS ISO 50001: 2011 Energy . Announcements Popular Standards Popular Standards MS ISO 9001 :2015 Quality Management System(QMS) MS ISO 14001 : 2015 Environmental Management Systems(EMS) MS 1722:2011 & OHSAS 18001:2007 Occupational Health and

[Lean logistics management in healthcare: a case study].

PubMed

Aguilar-Escobar, V G; Garrido-Vega, P

2013-01-01

To study the applicability of the principles of Lean Production to manage the supply chain of a hospital. In particular, to determine which Lean practices and principles are applicable, the benefits obtained and the main barriers for its implementation. Managing the hospital supply chain is an important issue, both for its effect on the quality of care and its impact on costs. This study is based on a case study. 2005-10. Hospital Virgen Macarena in Seville. Process of implementing a comprehensive logistics management plan based on Lean principles and technological investments. The implementation of the comprehensive plan has reduced inventory, decreased lead times and improved service quality. Also, there have been other important improvements: enhanced employee satisfaction and increased staff productivity, both dedicated to health and the logistics. The experience analysed has shown the applicability and appropriateness of Lean principles and some of its techniques in managing the logistics of hospitals. It also identifies some of the main difficulties that may arise. Copyright © 2011 SECA. Published by Elsevier Espana. All rights reserved.

Improving the Accessibility and Efficiency of Point-of-Care Diagnostics Services in Low- and Middle-Income Countries: Lean and Agile Supply Chain Management.

PubMed

Kuupiel, Desmond; Bawontuo, Vitalis; Mashamba-Thompson, Tivani P

2017-11-29

Access to point-of-care (POC) diagnostics services is essential for ensuring rapid disease diagnosis, management, control, and surveillance. POC testing services can improve access to healthcare especially where healthcare infrastructure is weak and access to quality and timely medical care is a challenge. Improving the accessibility and efficiency of POC diagnostics services, particularly in resource-limited settings, may be a promising route to improving healthcare outcomes. In this review, the accessibility of POC testing is defined as the distance/proximity to the nearest healthcare facility for POC diagnostics service. This review provides an overview of the impact of POC diagnostics on healthcare outcomes in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs) and factors contributing to the accessibility of POC testing services in LMICs, focusing on characteristics of the supply chain management and quality systems management, characteristics of the geographical location, health infrastructure, and an enabling policy framework for POC diagnostics services. Barriers and challenges related to the accessibility of POC diagnostics in LMICs were also discussed. Bearing in mind the reported barriers and challenges as well as the disease epidemiology in LMICs, we propose a lean and agile supply chain management framework for improving the accessibility and efficiency of POC diagnostics services in these settings.

Improving the Accessibility and Efficiency of Point-of-Care Diagnostics Services in Low- and Middle-Income Countries: Lean and Agile Supply Chain Management

PubMed Central

Kuupiel, Desmond; Bawontuo, Vitalis

2017-01-01

Access to point-of-care (POC) diagnostics services is essential for ensuring rapid disease diagnosis, management, control, and surveillance. POC testing services can improve access to healthcare especially where healthcare infrastructure is weak and access to quality and timely medical care is a challenge. Improving the accessibility and efficiency of POC diagnostics services, particularly in resource-limited settings, may be a promising route to improving healthcare outcomes. In this review, the accessibility of POC testing is defined as the distance/proximity to the nearest healthcare facility for POC diagnostics service. This review provides an overview of the impact of POC diagnostics on healthcare outcomes in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs) and factors contributing to the accessibility of POC testing services in LMICs, focusing on characteristics of the supply chain management and quality systems management, characteristics of the geographical location, health infrastructure, and an enabling policy framework for POC diagnostics services. Barriers and challenges related to the accessibility of POC diagnostics in LMICs were also discussed. Bearing in mind the reported barriers and challenges as well as the disease epidemiology in LMICs, we propose a lean and agile supply chain management framework for improving the accessibility and efficiency of POC diagnostics services in these settings. PMID:29186013

New methods to monitor emerging chemicals in the drinking water production chain.

PubMed

van Wezel, Annemarie; Mons, Margreet; van Delft, Wouter

2010-01-01

New techniques enable a shift in monitoring chemicals that affect water quality from mainly at the end product, tap water, towards monitoring during the whole process along the production chain. This is congruent with the 'HACCP' system (hazard analysis of critical control points) that is fairly well integrated into food production but less well in drinking water production. This shift brings about more information about source quality, the efficiency of treatment and distribution, and understanding of processes within the production chain, and therefore can lead to a more pro-active management of drinking water production. At present, monitoring is focused neither on emerging chemicals, nor on detection of compounds with chronic toxicity. We discuss techniques to be used, detection limits compared to quality criteria, data interpretation and possible interventions in production.

Scaling up antiretroviral therapy in Uganda: using supply chain management to appraise health systems strengthening.

PubMed

Windisch, Ricarda; Waiswa, Peter; Neuhann, Florian; Scheibe, Florian; de Savigny, Don

2011-08-01

Strengthened national health systems are necessary for effective and sustained expansion of antiretroviral therapy (ART). ART and its supply chain management in Uganda are largely based on parallel and externally supported efforts. The question arises whether systems are being strengthened to sustain access to ART. This study applies systems thinking to assess supply chain management, the role of external support and whether investments create the needed synergies to strengthen health systems. This study uses the WHO health systems framework and examines the issues of governance, financing, information, human resources and service delivery in relation to supply chain management of medicines and the technologies. It looks at links and causal chains between supply chain management for ART and the national supply system for essential drugs. It combines data from the literature and key informant interviews with observations at health service delivery level in a study district. Current drug supply chain management in Uganda is characterized by parallel processes and information systems that result in poor quality and inefficiencies. Less than expected health system performance, stock outs and other shortages affect ART and primary care in general. Poor performance of supply chain management is amplified by weak conditions at all levels of the health system, including the areas of financing, governance, human resources and information. Governance issues include the lack to follow up initial policy intentions and a focus on narrow, short-term approaches. The opportunity and need to use ART investments for an essential supply chain management and strengthened health system has not been exploited. By applying a systems perspective this work indicates the seriousness of missing system prerequisites. The findings suggest that root causes and capacities across the system have to be addressed synergistically to enable systems that can match and accommodate investments in disease-specific interventions. The multiplicity and complexity of existing challenges require a long-term and systems perspective essentially in contrast to the current short term and program-specific nature of external assistance.

[Drug shortage: determinants, consequences and management].

PubMed

Reis, Adriano Max Moreira; Perini, Edson

2008-04-01

The present study analyzes drug shortage as a problem reaching beyond the logistic aspect of the health field and discusses its consequences with respect to quality, safety and cost of health care delivery. The pharmaceutical supply chain and the factors that determine the distribution and availability of drugs are discussed. The contribution of the Pharmacy and Therapeutics Committee in preventing and managing drug shortage in health institutions is stressed and measures for drug shortage management are suggested. Finally it is emphasized that drugs should be considered health products rather than consumer goods and as such be given a different treatment by the supply chain.

Antiretroviral therapy supply chain quality control and assurance in improving people living with HIV therapeutic outcomes in Cameroon.

PubMed

Djobet, M P Ngogang; Singhe, David; Lohoue, Julienne; Kuaban, Christopher; Ngogang, Jeanne; Tambo, Ernest

2017-04-04

Evaluation of medication efficacy and safety is an essential guarantee to successful therapeutic outcome in public health practices. However, larger distribution chain supply in developing countries such as Cameroon is often challenged by counterfeit drugs, poor manufacturing, storage and degradation leading to health and patient adverse consequences. Yet, access to supply chain management in strengthening ARVs quality assurance and outcomes remains poorly documented. More than 53,000 patients have been enrolled on free ARVs medications, but little is documented on quality assurance and validity of safety for affected populations along the supply chain management since 2008. The cross sectional study was conducted in ARVs distribution units and centers in central, littoral and south west regions of Cameroon. ARVs drugs samples included Nevirapine, Efavirenz, and fixed dose combinations of Zidovudine + Lamivudine, Lamivudine + Stavudine and Zidovudine + Lamivudine + Nevirapine. Drugs packaging and labeling was assessed and galenic assays were performed at National Laboratory of quality Control of Medications and Expertise (LANACOME), Yaoundé, Cameroon. The study covered 16 structures located in eight different towns including the central ARVs store, two regional pharmaceutical procurement centers and thirteen HIV approved treatment centers and management units. A total of 35 ARVs products were collected. Only eight ARVs drugs containing Lamivudine and Stavudine presented with white stains on tablets, however these drugs were standard for all other tests performed. The others 28 ARVs products were standards to all assays performed. We concluded that ARVs drugs freely accessible and distributed to PLWHA are of good quality in Cameroon. However, with the increase number of patients under HAART since 2013, adoption of "Test and Treat" approach to reach the 90-90-90 goals and with the implementation of new national antiretroviral regimen guidelines and molecules such as boosted protease inhibitors, continuous quality control and assurance surveillance, monitoring and evaluation is recommended. Assessment of quality of formulations that are more susceptible to degradation such as pediatric formulations for averting the rising multidrug resistance trend is also desired.

ADAPTIVE MANAGEMENT FOR IMPROVED WATER QUALITY IN MULTI-USE WATERSHEDS

EPA Science Inventory

This project will develop a management plan for eliminating nuisance algal blooms in a chain of reservoirs along the Huron River in southeastern Michigan. The river-reservoir system is used for municipal drinking water, wastewater disposal, irrigation, industrial p...

[Production chain supply management for public hospitals: a logistical approach to healthcare].

PubMed

Infante, Maria; dos Santos, Maria Angélica Borges

2007-01-01

Despite their importance for hospital operations, discussions of healthcare organization logistics and supply and materials management are notably lacking in Brazilian literature. This paper describes a methodology for organizing the supply of medical materials in public hospitals, based on an action-research approach. Interventions were based on the assumption that a significant portion of problems in Brazil's National Health System (SUS) facilities derive from the fact that their clinical and administrative departments do not see themselves as belonging to the same production chain - neither the hospital nor the supply department is aware of what the other produces. The development of the methodology and its main steps are presented and discussed, against a background of recent literature and total quality and supply chain management concepts.

Creating Partnerships: Forging a Chain of Service Quality.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Lynch, Richard; And Others

1993-01-01

Advocates the need for libraries to identify, nurture, and sustain new partnerships given rapid technological advancements and trends in information economics. Principles of partnerships are described, including Total Quality Management (TQM), negotiation, seamless connectivity, performance data, trust, patience, and perseverance; and steps in the…

[Development of wireless monitoring system based on Zigbee technology in blood and bacterin cold chain].

PubMed

Zhao, Peng; Sun, Jian-Jun; Wu, Tai-Hu

2008-11-01

Real-time monitoring for temperature is required in cold chain for the medical products that are sensible with temperature, such as blood and bacterin, to guarantee the quality and reduce their wastage. This wireless monitoring system in cold chain is developed with Zigbee technology. Functions such as real-time monitoring, analyzing, alarming are realized. The system boasts such characteristics as low power consumption, low cost, big capacity and high reliability, and could improve the capability of real-time monitoring and management in cold chain effectively.

Lack of existing guidelines for a large group of patients in Sweden: a national survey across the acute surgical care delivery chain.

PubMed

Muntlin Athlin, Åsa; Juhlin, Claes; Jangland, Eva

2017-02-01

Evidence-informed healthcare is the fundament for practice, whereby guidelines based on the best available evidence should assist health professionals in managing patients. Patients seeking care for acute abdominal pain form a common group in acute care settings worldwide, for whom decision-making and timely treatment are of paramount importance. There is ambiguity about the existence, use and content of guidelines for patients with acute abdomen. The objective was to describe and compare guidelines and management of patients with acute abdomen in different settings across the acute care delivery chain in Sweden. A national cross-sectional design was used. Twenty-nine ambulance stations, 17 emergency departments and 33 surgical wards covering all six Swedish health regions were included, and 23 guidelines were quality appraised using the validated Appraisal of Guidelines for Research & Evaluation II tool. There is a lack of guidelines in use for the management of this large group of patients between and within different healthcare areas across the acute care delivery chain. The quality appraisal identified that several guidelines were of poor quality, especially the in-hospital ones. Further, range orders for analgesics are common in the ambulance services and the surgical wards, but are seldom present in the emergency departments. Also, education in pain management is more common in the ambulance services. These findings are noteworthy as, hypothetically, the same patient could be treated in three different ways during the same care episode. There is an urgent need to develop high-quality evidence-based clinical guidelines for this patient group, with the entire care process in focus. © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

F-35 Lightning II Program Quality Assurance and Corrective Action Evaluation

DTIC Science & Technology

2015-03-11

5000.02, “Operation of the Defense Acquisition System,” enclosure 1; and DoD Manual 4140.01, “DoD Supply Chain Materiel Management Procedures...initiated several initiatives to reduce nonconformances of all types both within their facilities and throughout their supply chains . The F-35 JPO is...agreed and stated: There are effective Corrective Action processes already in place within Lockheed Martin and the supply chain . DCMA and F-35 JPO

Analysing the external supply chain risk driver competitiveness: a risk mitigation framework and business continuity plan.

PubMed

Blos, Mauricio F; Wee, Hui-Ming; Yang, Joshua

2010-11-01

Innovation challenges for handling supply chain risks have become one of the most important drivers in business competitiveness and differentiation. This study analyses competitiveness at the external supply chain level as a driver of risks and provides a framework for mitigating these risks. The mitigation framework, also called the supply chain continuity framework, provides insight into six stages of the business continuity planning (BCP) process life cycle (risk mitigation management, business impact analysis, supply continuity strategy development, supply continuity plan development, supply continuity plan testing and supply continuity plan maintenance), together with the operational constructs: customer service, inventory management, flexibility, time to market, ordering cycle time and quality. The purpose of the BCP process life cycle and operational constructs working together is to emphasise the way in which a supply chain can deal with disruption risks and, consequently, bring competitive advantage. Future research will consider the new risk scenarios and analyse the consequences to promote the improvement of supply chain resilience.

48 CFR 246.870-1 - Scope.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2014 CFR

2014-10-01

... counterfeit electronic parts and suspect counterfeit electronic parts from entering the supply chain when... DEFENSE CONTRACT MANAGEMENT QUALITY ASSURANCE Contractor Liability for Loss of or Damage to Property of...

Motivating Language and Empathic Leadership Drives Aircraft Readiness

DTIC Science & Technology

2017-03-01

4302, and to the Office of Management and Budget, Paperwork Reduction Project (0704-0188) Washington, DC 20503. 1. AGENCY USE ONLY (Leave blank...language theory, empathic leadership, caring leader, leadership- management exchange (LMX), high quality connections, unit support, organizational justice...critical thinking, Marine Aviation Logistics, Marine Air Group, Marine Aircraft Wing, supply chain management , Squadron, AIRSPEED, lean-six-sigma

Waste biomass toward hydrogen fuel supply chain management for electricity: Malaysia perspective

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Zakaria, Izatul Husna; Ibrahim, Jafni Azhan; Othman, Abdul Aziz

2016-08-01

Green energy is becoming an important aspect of every country in the world toward energy security by reducing dependence on fossil fuel import and enhancing better life quality by living in the healthy environment. This conceptual paper is an approach toward determining physical flow's characteristic of waste wood biomass in high scale plantation toward producing gas fuel for electricity using gasification technique. The scope of this study is supply chain management of syngas fuel from wood waste biomass using direct gasification conversion technology. Literature review on energy security, Malaysia's energy mix, Biomass SCM and technology. This paper uses the theoretical framework of a model of transportation (Lumsden, 2006) and the function of the terminal (Hulten, 1997) for research purpose. To incorporate biomass unique properties, Biomass Element Life Cycle Analysis (BELCA) which is a novel technique develop to understand the behaviour of biomass supply. Theoretical framework used to answer the research questions are Supply Chain Operations Reference (SCOR) framework and Sustainable strategy development in supply chain management framework

Creating patient value in glaucoma care: applying quality costing and care delivery value chain approaches--a five-year case study in the Rotterdam Eye Hospital.

PubMed

de Korne, Dirk F; Sol, Kees; Custers, Thomas; van Sprundel, Esther; van Ineveld, B Martin; Lemij, Hans G; Klazinga, Niek S

2009-01-01

The purpose of this paper is to explore in a specific hospital care process the applicability in practice of the theories of quality costing and value chains. In a retrospective case study an in-depth evaluation of the use of a quality cost model (QCM) and the applicability of Porter's care delivery value chain (CDVC) was performed in a specific care process: glaucoma care over the period 2001 to 2006 in the Rotterdam Eye Hospital in The Netherlands. The case study shows a reduction of costs per product by increasing the number of outpatient visits and surgery combined with a higher patient satisfaction. Reduction of costs of non-compliance by using the QCM is small, due to the absence of (external) financial incentives for both the hospital and individual physicians. For CDVC to be supportive to an integrated quality and cost management the notion "patient value" needs far more specification as mutually agreed on by the stakeholders involved and related reimbursement needs to depend on realised outcomes. The case study just focused on one specific care process in one hospital. To determine effects in other areas of health care, it is important to study the use and applicability of the QCM and the CDVC in other care processes and settings. QCM and a CDVC can be useful tools for hospital management to manage the outcomes on both quality and costs, but impact is dependent on the incentives in the context of the existing organisational and reimbursement system and asks for an agreed on operationalisation among the various stakeholders of the notion of patient value.

Online continuing medical education as a key link for successful noncommunicable disease self-management: the CASALUD™ Model.

PubMed

Gallardo-Rincón, Héctor; Saucedo-Martínez, Rodrigo; Mujica-Rosales, Ricardo; Lee, Evan M; Israel, Amy; Torres-Beltran, Braulio; Quijano-González, Úrsula; Atkinson, Elena Rose; Kuri-Morales, Pablo; Tapia-Conyer, Roberto

2017-01-01

The purpose of this study is to evaluate how the benefits of online continuing medical education (CME) provided to health care professionals traveled along a patient "educational chain". In this study, the educational chain begins with the influence that CME can have on the quality of health care, with subsequent influence on patient knowledge, disease self-management, and disease biomarkers. A total of 422 patients with at least one noncommunicable disease (NCD) treated in eight different Mexican public health clinics were followed over 3 years. All clinics were participants in the CASALUD Model, an NCD care model for primary care, where all clinic staff were offered CME. Data were collected through a questionnaire on health care, patient disease knowledge, and self-management behaviors; blood samples and anthropometric measurements were collected to measure patient disease biomarkers. Between 2013 and 2015, the indexes measuring quality of health care, patient health knowledge, and diabetes self-management activities rose moderately but significantly (from 0.54 to 0.64, 0.80 to 0.84, and 0.62 to 0.67, respectively). Performing self-care activities - including owning and using a glucometer and belonging to a disease support group - saw the highest increase (from 0.65 to 0.75). A1C levels increased between 2013 and 2015 from 7.95 to 8.41% (63-68 mmol/mol) ( P <0.001), and blood pressure decreased between 2014 and 2015 from 143.7/76.8 to 137.5/74.4 (systolic/diastolic reported in mmHg) ( P <0.001). The mean levels of other disease biomarkers remained statistically unchanged, despite the improvements seen in the previous "links" of the educational chain. Online CME can effect certain changes in the educational chain linking quality of health care, patient knowledge, and self-management behaviors. However, in order to assure adequate NCD control, the entire health care system must be improved in tandem. Online CME programs, such as CASALUD's, are feasible strategies for impacting changes in disease self-management at a clinic level throughout a country.

A Comparative Study between U.S. and Brazilian Acquisition Regulations and Practices

DTIC Science & Technology

2011-03-01

to describe continuous improvements efforts ( Render and Heizer , 2008). Caddick and Dale (1998) on their paper ‘The impact of quality management on...2002). Outsourcing in Edinburgh and the Lothians. European Journal of Purchasing and Supply Chain Management 8 (2) 83-95. Render , Barry; Heizer , Jay

Influence of credit scoring on the dynamics of Markov chain

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Galina, Timofeeva

2015-11-01

Markov processes are widely used to model the dynamics of a credit portfolio and forecast the portfolio risk and profitability. In the Markov chain model the loan portfolio is divided into several groups with different quality, which determined by presence of indebtedness and its terms. It is proposed that dynamics of portfolio shares is described by a multistage controlled system. The article outlines mathematical formalization of controls which reflect the actions of the bank's management in order to improve the loan portfolio quality. The most important control is the organization of approval procedure of loan applications. The credit scoring is studied as a control affecting to the dynamic system. Different formalizations of "good" and "bad" consumers are proposed in connection with the Markov chain model.

Scaling up antiretroviral therapy in Uganda: using supply chain management to appraise health systems strengthening

PubMed Central

2011-01-01

Background Strengthened national health systems are necessary for effective and sustained expansion of antiretroviral therapy (ART). ART and its supply chain management in Uganda are largely based on parallel and externally supported efforts. The question arises whether systems are being strengthened to sustain access to ART. This study applies systems thinking to assess supply chain management, the role of external support and whether investments create the needed synergies to strengthen health systems. Methods This study uses the WHO health systems framework and examines the issues of governance, financing, information, human resources and service delivery in relation to supply chain management of medicines and the technologies. It looks at links and causal chains between supply chain management for ART and the national supply system for essential drugs. It combines data from the literature and key informant interviews with observations at health service delivery level in a study district. Results Current drug supply chain management in Uganda is characterized by parallel processes and information systems that result in poor quality and inefficiencies. Less than expected health system performance, stock outs and other shortages affect ART and primary care in general. Poor performance of supply chain management is amplified by weak conditions at all levels of the health system, including the areas of financing, governance, human resources and information. Governance issues include the lack to follow up initial policy intentions and a focus on narrow, short-term approaches. Conclusion The opportunity and need to use ART investments for an essential supply chain management and strengthened health system has not been exploited. By applying a systems perspective this work indicates the seriousness of missing system prerequisites. The findings suggest that root causes and capacities across the system have to be addressed synergistically to enable systems that can match and accommodate investments in disease-specific interventions. The multiplicity and complexity of existing challenges require a long-term and systems perspective essentially in contrast to the current short term and program-specific nature of external assistance. PMID:21806826

Quality tracing in meat supply chains

PubMed Central

Mack, Miriam; Dittmer, Patrick; Veigt, Marius; Kus, Mehmet; Nehmiz, Ulfert; Kreyenschmidt, Judith

2014-01-01

The aim of this study was the development of a quality tracing model for vacuum-packed lamb that is applicable in different meat supply chains. Based on the development of relevant sensory parameters, the predictive model was developed by combining a linear primary model and the Arrhenius model as the secondary model. Then a process analysis was conducted to define general requirements for the implementation of the temperature-based model into a meat supply chain. The required hardware and software for continuous temperature monitoring were developed in order to use the model under practical conditions. Further on a decision support tool was elaborated in order to use the model as an effective tool in combination with the temperature monitoring equipment for the improvement of quality and storage management within the meat logistics network. Over the long term, this overall procedure will support the reduction of food waste and will improve the resources efficiency of food production. PMID:24797136

Quality tracing in meat supply chains.

PubMed

Mack, Miriam; Dittmer, Patrick; Veigt, Marius; Kus, Mehmet; Nehmiz, Ulfert; Kreyenschmidt, Judith

2014-06-13

The aim of this study was the development of a quality tracing model for vacuum-packed lamb that is applicable in different meat supply chains. Based on the development of relevant sensory parameters, the predictive model was developed by combining a linear primary model and the Arrhenius model as the secondary model. Then a process analysis was conducted to define general requirements for the implementation of the temperature-based model into a meat supply chain. The required hardware and software for continuous temperature monitoring were developed in order to use the model under practical conditions. Further on a decision support tool was elaborated in order to use the model as an effective tool in combination with the temperature monitoring equipment for the improvement of quality and storage management within the meat logistics network. Over the long term, this overall procedure will support the reduction of food waste and will improve the resources efficiency of food production.

Disaster Victim Identification: quality management from an odontology perspective.

PubMed

Lake, A W; James, H; Berketa, J W

2012-06-01

The desired outcome of the victim identification component of a mass fatality event is correct identification of deceased persons in a timely manner allowing legal and social closure for relatives of the victims. Quality Management across all aspects of the Disaster Victim Identification (DVI) structure facilitates this process. Quality Management in forensic odontology is the understanding and implementation of a methodology that ensures collection, collation and preservation of the maximum amount of available dental data and the appropriate interpretation of that data to achieve outcomes to a standard expected by the DVI instructing authority, impacted parties and the forensic odontology specialist community. Managerial pre-event planning responsibility, via an odontology coordinator, includes setting a chain of command, developing and reviewing standard operating procedures (SOP), ensuring use of current scientific methodologies and staff training. During a DVI managerial responsibility includes tailoring SOP to the specific situation, ensuring member accreditation, encouraging inter-disciplinary cooperation and ensuring security of odontology data and work site. Individual responsibilities include the ability to work within a team, accept peer review, and share individual members' skill sets to achieve the best outcome. These responsibilities also include adherence to chain of command and the SOP, maintenance of currency of knowledge and recognition of professional boundaries of expertise. This article highlights issues of Quality Management pertaining particularly to forensic odontology but can also be extrapolated to all DVI actions.

Quality of service management framework for dynamic chaining of geographic information services

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Onchaga, Richard

2006-06-01

Dynamic chaining of geographic information services (geo-services) is gaining popularity as a new paradigm for evolving flexible geo-information systems and for providing on-demand access to geo-information. In dynamic chaining, disparate geo-services are discovered and composed at run time to yield more elaborate functionality and create value-added geo-information. Common approaches to service chaining discover and compose disparate geo-services based on the functional capability of individual geo-services. The primary concern of common approaches is thus the emergent behavior of the resulting composite geo-service. However, as geo-services become mundane and take on a greater and more strategic role in mission critical processes, deliverable quality of service (QoS) becomes an important concern. QoS concerns operational characteristics of a service that determine its utility in an application context. To address pertinent QoS requirements, a new approach to service chaining becomes necessary. In this paper we propose a QoS-aware chaining approach in which geo-services are discovered, composed and executed considering both functional and QoS requirements. We prescribe a QoS management framework that defines fundamental principles, concepts and mechanisms which can be applied to evolve an effective distributed computing platform for QoS-aware chaining of geo-services - the so-called geo-service infrastructure. The paper also defines an extensible QoS model for services delivered by dynamic compositions of geo-services. The process of orthophoto generation is used to demonstrate the applicability of the prescribed framework to service-oriented geographic information processing.

Interactive effects of animal manure and cover crop use in improving agricultural soil quality in Kentucky

USDA-ARS?s Scientific Manuscript database

With greater awareness of the wide-ranging implications degraded soils have in the food chain, there is growing interest in developing technologies and management practices to improve soil quality. To date, such initiatives are at the forefront of soil science as climate change is expected to alter ...

A manufacturing quality assessment model based-on two stages interval type-2 fuzzy logic

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Purnomo, Muhammad Ridwan Andi; Helmi Shintya Dewi, Intan

2016-01-01

This paper presents the development of an assessment models for manufacturing quality using Interval Type-2 Fuzzy Logic (IT2-FL). The proposed model is developed based on one of building block in sustainable supply chain management (SSCM), which is benefit of SCM, and focuses more on quality. The proposed model can be used to predict the quality level of production chain in a company. The quality of production will affect to the quality of product. Practically, quality of production is unique for every type of production system. Hence, experts opinion will play major role in developing the assessment model. The model will become more complicated when the data contains ambiguity and uncertainty. In this study, IT2-FL is used to model the ambiguity and uncertainty. A case study taken from a company in Yogyakarta shows that the proposed manufacturing quality assessment model can work well in determining the quality level of production.

Effect of cattle management practices on raw milk quality on farms operating in a two-stage dairy chain.

PubMed

Sraïri, M T; Benhouda, H; Kuper, M; Le Gal, P Y

2009-02-01

In many developing countries, milk production varies greatly according to farm size, cattle breed, and milking practices. However, production systems often are dominated by smallholder farms. Therefore, relatively small volumes of milk are delivered daily from numerous farms to intermediate cooperatives which supply industrial units. This paper argues that in such two-stage dairy chains, milk quality could be improved by focusing on farming practices rather than on the testing of individual deliveries. Indeed, it is difficult to analyze their quality due to technical, economic, and logistic limitations. The objective of this study is to link on-farm practices with milk chemical quality parameters (fat and protein) and hygienic quality criteria (Aerobic Plate Count, APC and Coliforms). Cattle management practices were monitored monthly over one year on 23 farms located on an irrigation scheme in Morocco. 276 milk samples were analyzed. The monthly variability of milk quality parameters was then characterized. Results show that average cow milk chemical parameters vary within a normal range. They remain primarily linked to the genetic type of cows, the lactation stage, and the conversion of feed concentrates' net energy into milk. Overall milk hygienic quality was poor (APC and Coliforms counts were 100 fold international norms), due essentially to a lack of hygiene and inadequate milking conditions (hands, udder, and teat washing, type of bucket used, dirtiness of cows...). It is suggested that a close monitoring of herd management practices may allow the indirect control of milk quality parameters, thereby avoiding costly analyses of numerous smallholder milk deliveries.

Reducing food losses by intelligent food logistics

PubMed Central

Jedermann, Reiner; Nicometo, Mike; Uysal, Ismail; Lang, Walter

2014-01-01

The need to feed an ever-increasing world population makes it obligatory to reduce the millions of tons of avoidable perishable waste along the food supply chain. A considerable share of these losses is caused by non-optimal cold chain processes and management. This Theme Issue focuses on technologies, models and applications to monitor changes in the product shelf life, defined as the time remaining until the quality of a food product drops below an acceptance limit, and to plan successive chain processes and logistics accordingly to uncover and prevent invisible or latent losses in product quality, especially following the first-expired-first-out strategy for optimized matching between the remaining shelf life and the expected transport duration. This introductory article summarizes the key findings of this Theme Issue, which brings together research study results from around the world to promote intelligent food logistics. The articles include three case studies on the cold chain for berries, bananas and meat and an overview of different post-harvest treatments. Further contributions focus on the required technical solutions, such as the wireless sensor and communication system for remote quality supervision, gas sensors to detect ethylene as an indicator of unwanted ripening and volatile components to indicate mould infections. The final section of this introduction discusses how improvements in food quality can be targeted by strategic changes in the food chain. PMID:24797131

Reducing food losses by intelligent food logistics.

PubMed

Jedermann, Reiner; Nicometo, Mike; Uysal, Ismail; Lang, Walter

2014-06-13

The need to feed an ever-increasing world population makes it obligatory to reduce the millions of tons of avoidable perishable waste along the food supply chain. A considerable share of these losses is caused by non-optimal cold chain processes and management. This Theme Issue focuses on technologies, models and applications to monitor changes in the product shelf life, defined as the time remaining until the quality of a food product drops below an acceptance limit, and to plan successive chain processes and logistics accordingly to uncover and prevent invisible or latent losses in product quality, especially following the first-expired-first-out strategy for optimized matching between the remaining shelf life and the expected transport duration. This introductory article summarizes the key findings of this Theme Issue, which brings together research study results from around the world to promote intelligent food logistics. The articles include three case studies on the cold chain for berries, bananas and meat and an overview of different post-harvest treatments. Further contributions focus on the required technical solutions, such as the wireless sensor and communication system for remote quality supervision, gas sensors to detect ethylene as an indicator of unwanted ripening and volatile components to indicate mould infections. The final section of this introduction discusses how improvements in food quality can be targeted by strategic changes in the food chain.

Supplier selection criteria for sustainable supply chain management in thermal power plant

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Firoz, Faisal; Narayan Biswal, Jitendra; Satapathy, Suchismita

2018-02-01

Supplies are always in great demand when it comes to industrial operations. The quality of raw material their price accompanied by sustainability and environmental effects are a major concern for industrial operators these days. Supply Chain Management is the subject which is focused on how the supply of different products is carried out. The motive is that each operation performed can be optimized and inherently the efficiency of the whole chain is integrated. In this paper we will be dealing with all the criteria that are required to be evaluated before selecting a supplier, in particular, focusing on Thermal Power Plant. The most suppliers of the thermal power plant are the coal suppliers. The quality of coal directly determines the efficiency of the whole plant. And when there are matters concerning coal environmental pollution plays a very crucial role. ANP method has been used here to select suppliers of thermal power sectors in Indian context. After applying ANP to prioritize the sustainable supplier selection criteria, it is found that for thermal power industries best suppliers are Nationalized/State owned suppliers then 2nd ranked suppliers are imported supplier. Private owned suppliers are ranked least. So private owned suppliers must be more concerned about their performance. Among these suppliers it is found that to compete in the global market privatized suppliers have to give more emphasize on most important criteria like sustainability, then fuel cost and quality. Still some sub-criteria like a clean program, environmental issues, quality, reliability, service rate, investment in high technology, green transportation channel, waste management etc needs for continuous improvement as per their priority.

Postharvest color and texture retention in organic Chinese red raspberry and sea-buckthorn fruit during modified atmosphere storage

USDA-ARS?s Scientific Manuscript database

Color and texture are among the key quality attributes for small fruit. Postharvest approaches such as modified atmosphere packaging (MAP) along with cold chain management have been shown to support retention of fruit quality during handling and distribution. The objective of this study was to inves...

Quality management and accreditation in a mixed research and clinical hair testing analytical laboratory setting-a review.

PubMed

Fulga, Netta

2013-06-01

Quality management and accreditation in the analytical laboratory setting are developing rapidly and becoming the standard worldwide. Quality management refers to all the activities used by organizations to ensure product or service consistency. Accreditation is a formal recognition by an authoritative regulatory body that a laboratory is competent to perform examinations and report results. The Motherisk Drug Testing Laboratory is licensed to operate at the Hospital for Sick Children in Toronto, Ontario. The laboratory performs toxicology tests of hair and meconium samples for research and clinical purposes. Most of the samples are involved in a chain of custody cases. Establishing a quality management system and achieving accreditation became mandatory by legislation for all Ontario clinical laboratories since 2003. The Ontario Laboratory Accreditation program is based on International Organization for Standardization 15189-Medical laboratories-Particular requirements for quality and competence, an international standard that has been adopted as a national standard in Canada. The implementation of a quality management system involves management commitment, planning and staff education, documentation of the system, validation of processes, and assessment against the requirements. The maintenance of a quality management system requires control and monitoring of the entire laboratory path of workflow. The process of transformation of a research/clinical laboratory into an accredited laboratory, and the benefits of maintaining an effective quality management system, are presented in this article.

Potential contaminants in the food chain: identification, prevention and issue management.

PubMed

Scanlan, Francis P

2007-01-01

Contaminants are a vast subject area of food safety and quality. They are generally divided into chemical, microbiological and physical classes and are present in our food chain from raw materials to finished products. They are the subject of international and national legislation that has widened to cover more and more contaminant classes and food categories. In addition, consumers have become increasingly aware of and alarmed by their risks, whether rightly or not. What is the food industry doing to ensure the safety and quality of the products we feed our children? This is a valid question which this article attempts to address from an industrial viewpoint. Chemical food safety is considered a complex field where the risk perception of consumers is often the highest. The effects of chronic or acute exposure to chemical carcinogens may cause disease conditions long after exposure that can be permanently debilitating or even fatal. It is also a moving target, as knowledge about the toxicity and occurrence data of new chemical contaminants continues to be generated. Their identification, prevention and management are challenges to the food industry as a whole. A reminder of the known chemical hazards in the food chain will be presented with an emphasis on the use of early warning to identify potential new contaminants. Early warning is also a means of prevention, anticipating food safety concerns before they become issues to manage. Current best management practices including Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Points relating to the supply chain of baby foods and infant formulae will be developed. Finally, key lessons from a case study on recent contamination issues in baby food products will be presented.

Beam quality management by periodic reproduction of wavefront aberrations in end-pumped Nd:YVO₄ laser amplifiers.

PubMed

Liu, Bin; Liu, Chong; Shen, Lifeng; Wang, Chunhua; Ye, Zhibin; Liu, Dong; Xiang, Zhen

2016-04-18

A method for beam quality management is presented in a master oscillator power amplifier (MOPA) using Nd:YVO₄ as the gain medium by extra-cavity periodic reproduction of wavefront aberrations. The wavefront aberration evolution of the intra-cavity beams is investigated for both symmetrical and asymmetrical resonators. The wavefront aberration reproduction process is successfully realized outside the cavity in four-stage amplifiers. In the MOPA with a symmetrical oscillator, the laser power increases linearly and the beam quality hardly changes. In the MOPA with an asymmetrical oscillator, the beam quality is deteriorated after the odd-stage amplifier and is improved after the even-stage amplifier. The wavefront aberration reproduction during the extra-cavity beam propagation in the amplifiers is equivalent to that during the intra-cavity propagation. This solution helps to achieve the effective beam quality management in laser amplifier chains.

"The nurse satisfaction, service quality and nurse retention chain": implications for management of recruitment and retention.

PubMed

Newman, Karin; Maylor, Uvanney; Chansarkar, Bal

2002-01-01

This paper presents the findings of a qualitative study, based on interviews with over 130 nurses and midwives in four London Trust hospitals on: the main factors influencing nurse satisfaction and retention; empirical support for the robustness of a conceptual framework or model "the nurse satisfaction, service quality and nurse retention chain"; and some managerial considerations for recruitment and retention. The three main factors influencing job satisfaction were patients, the inherent characteristics of nursing and the nursing team; the two main sources of job dissatisfaction were staff shortages and poor management and amongst nurse retention strategies improving working conditions was more important than increased pay. For recruitment, as well as retention, improving the image and reputation of nursing along with improvements in work-life balance were pre-requisites for meeting the challenging target of an additional 20,000 nurses on the wards by 2004.

Can integrative catchment management mitigate future water quality issues caused by climate change and socio-economic development?

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Honti, Mark; Schuwirth, Nele; Rieckermann, Jörg; Stamm, Christian

2017-03-01

The design and evaluation of solutions for integrated surface water quality management requires an integrated modelling approach. Integrated models have to be comprehensive enough to cover the aspects relevant for management decisions, allowing for mapping of larger-scale processes such as climate change to the regional and local contexts. Besides this, models have to be sufficiently simple and fast to apply proper methods of uncertainty analysis, covering model structure deficits and error propagation through the chain of sub-models. Here, we present a new integrated catchment model satisfying both conditions. The conceptual iWaQa model was developed to support the integrated management of small streams. It can be used to predict traditional water quality parameters, such as nutrients and a wide set of organic micropollutants (plant and material protection products), by considering all major pollutant pathways in urban and agricultural environments. Due to its simplicity, the model allows for a full, propagative analysis of predictive uncertainty, including certain structural and input errors. The usefulness of the model is demonstrated by predicting future surface water quality in a small catchment with mixed land use in the Swiss Plateau. We consider climate change, population growth or decline, socio-economic development, and the implementation of management strategies to tackle urban and agricultural point and non-point sources of pollution. Our results indicate that input and model structure uncertainties are the most influential factors for certain water quality parameters. In these cases model uncertainty is already high for present conditions. Nevertheless, accounting for today's uncertainty makes management fairly robust to the foreseen range of potential changes in the next decades. The assessment of total predictive uncertainty allows for selecting management strategies that show small sensitivity to poorly known boundary conditions. The identification of important sources of uncertainty helps to guide future monitoring efforts and pinpoints key indicators, whose evolution should be closely followed to adapt management. The possible impact of climate change is clearly demonstrated by water quality substantially changing depending on single climate model chains. However, when all climate trajectories are combined, the human land use and management decisions have a larger influence on water quality against a time horizon of 2050 in the study.

[Evidence-based management of medical disposable materials].

PubMed

Yang, Hai

2009-03-01

Evidence-based management of medical disposable materials pays attention to collect evidence comprehensively and systematically, accumulate and create evidence through its own work and also evaluate evidence strictly. This can be used as a function to guide out job. Medical disposable materials evidence system contains product register qualification, product quality certification, supplier's behavior, internal and external communication evidence. Managers can find different ways in creating and using evidence referring to specific inside and outside condition. Evidence-based management can help accelerating the development of management of medical disposable materials from traditional experience pattern to a systematic and scientific pattern. It also has the very important meaning to improve medical quality, control the unreasonable growth of medical expense and make purchase and supply chain be more efficient.

Managing safety and quality through the red meat chain.

PubMed

Desmarchelier, P; Fegan, N; Smale, N; Small, A

2007-09-01

To successfully manage food safety and quality risks in meat production, a holistic approach is required. The ideal would be a fully integrated assurance system, with effective controls applied at all stages. However, the red meat industry is by nature somewhat fragmented, and a truly integrated system is not at present achievable in all but a few operations. This paper describes a variety of assurance initiatives, and explores how targeted research and development can be used to augment assurance programmes by providing underpinning knowledge, using the Australian beef and lamb industry as an example.

Study on Full Supply Chain Quality and Safetytraceability Systems For Cereal And Oilproducts

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Liu, Shihong; Zheng, Huoguo; Meng, Hong; Hu, Haiyan; Wu, Jiangshou; Li, Chunhua

Global food industry and Governments in many countries are putting increasing emphasis on establishment of food traceability systems. Food traceability has become an effective way in food safety management. Aimed at the major quality problems of cereal and oil products existing in the production, processing, warehousing, distribution and other links in the supply chain, this paper firstly proposes a new traceability framework combines the information flow with critical control points and quality indicators. Then it introduces traceability database design and data access mode to realize the framework. In practice, Code design for tracing goods is a challenge thing, so this paper put forward a code system based on UCC/EAN-128 standard.Middleware and Electronic terminal design are also briefly introduced to accomplish traceability system for cereal and oil products.

Partnerships in health care: creating a strong value chain.

PubMed

Steinhart, C M; Alsup, R G

2001-01-01

The health care climate is one of stormy relations between various entities. Employers, managed care organizations, hospitals, and physicians battle over premiums, inpatient rates, fee schedules, and percent of premium dollars. Patients are angry at health plans over problems with access, choice, and quality of care. Employers dicker with managed care organizations over prices, benefits, and access. Hospitals struggle to maintain operations, as occupancy rates decline and the shift to ambulatory care continues. Physicians strive to assure their patients get quality care while they try to maintain stable incomes. Businesses, faced with similar challenges in the competitive marketplace, have formed partnerships for mutual benefit. Successful partnerships are based upon trust and the concept of "win-win." Communication, ongoing evaluation, long-term relations, and shared values are also essential. In Japan, the keiretsu contains the elements of a bonafide partnership. Examples in U.S. businesses abound. In health care, partnerships will improve quality and access. When health care purchasers and providers link together, these partnerships create a new value chain that has patients as the focal point.

Quality, Safety and Patient Centered Care--A Dream Come True in the Mountains of Northern Pakistan. An Award winning project of "2015 Quality, Safety & Patient Centered Care Award" at, Chicago USA.

PubMed

Jassani, Kashif; Essani, Rozina Roshan; Abbas, Syed Nadeem Husain

2016-01-01

Northern Pakistan remains very challenging terrain due to harsh weather all year round presenting an infrastructura, human resource and supply chain challenge of its own. Many times the facility had to move to different locations on emergency and ad hoc basis due to landslides, earthquakes affecting continuity of care. Providing quality healthcare to often resource constraint hard-to-reach areas has always been AKHS,P's unique forte. Breaking barriers for catchment population to access quality healthcare, AKHS,P embarked on an initiative of implementing, achieving and sustaining ISO 9001:2008 Quality Management System international standards certification. This article shares the unique experience of AKHS,P in achieving and sustaining ISO 9001:2008 International Quality Management System Certification. After untiring efforts and the hard work of ground staff; AKHS,P achieved ISO 9001:2008 International Quality Management System Certification as well as 1st Surveillance Audit which itself proved that AKHS,P sustained quality systems and ensured continuous quality improvement in the Mountains of Northern Pakistan.

Impact of radio-frequency identification (RFID) technologies on the hospital supply chain: a literature review.

PubMed

Coustasse, Alberto; Tomblin, Shane; Slack, Chelsea

2013-01-01

Supply costs account for more than one-third of the average operating budget and constitute the second largest expenditure in hospitals. As hospitals have sought to reduce these costs, radio-frequency identification (RFID) technology has emerged as a solution. This study reviews existing literature to gauge the recent and potential impact and direction of the implementation of RFID in the hospital supply chain to determine current benefits and barriers of adoption. Findings show that the application of RFID to medical equipment and supplies tracking has resulted in efficiency increases in hospitals with lower costs and increased service quality. RFID technology can reduce costs, improve patient safety, and improve supply chain management effectiveness by increasing the ability to track and locate equipment, as well as monitoring theft prevention, distribution management, and patient billing. Despite ongoing RFID implementation in the hospital supply chain, barriers to widespread and rapid adoption include significant total expenditures, unclear return on investment, and competition with other strategic imperatives.

Impact of Radio-Frequency Identification (RFID) Technologies on the Hospital Supply Chain: A Literature Review

PubMed Central

Coustasse, Alberto; Tomblin, Shane; Slack, Chelsea

2013-01-01

Supply costs account for more than one-third of the average operating budget and constitute the second largest expenditure in hospitals. As hospitals have sought to reduce these costs, radio-frequency identification (RFID) technology has emerged as a solution. This study reviews existing literature to gauge the recent and potential impact and direction of the implementation of RFID in the hospital supply chain to determine current benefits and barriers of adoption. Findings show that the application of RFID to medical equipment and supplies tracking has resulted in efficiency increases in hospitals with lower costs and increased service quality. RFID technology can reduce costs, improve patient safety, and improve supply chain management effectiveness by increasing the ability to track and locate equipment, as well as monitoring theft prevention, distribution management, and patient billing. Despite ongoing RFID implementation in the hospital supply chain, barriers to widespread and rapid adoption include significant total expenditures, unclear return on investment, and competition with other strategic imperatives. PMID:24159272

Aquarium Trade Supply-Chain Losses of Marine Invertebrates Originating from Papua New Guinea.

PubMed

Militz, Thane A; Kinch, Jeff; Southgate, Paul C

2018-04-01

A major difficulty in managing live organism wildlife trade is often the reliance on trade data to monitor exploitation of wild populations. Harvested organisms that die or are discarded before a point of sale are regularly not reported. For the global marine aquarium trade, identifying supply-chain losses is necessary to more accurately assess exploitation from trade data. We examined quality control rejections and mortality of marine invertebrates (Asteroidea, Gastropoda, Malacostraca, Ophiuroidea) moving through the Papua New Guinea marine aquarium supply-chain, from fisher to importer. Utilizing catch invoices and exporter mortality records we determined that, over a 160 day period, 38.6% of the total invertebrate catch (n = 13,299 individuals) was lost before export. Supply-chain losses were divided among invertebrates rejected in the quality control process (11.5%) and mortality of the accepted catch in transit to, and during holding at, an export facility (30.6%). A further 0.3% died during international transit to importers. We quantified supply-chain losses for the ten most fished species which accounted for 96.4% of the catch. Quality control rejections (n = 1533) were primarily explained by rejections of oversized invertebrates (83.2% of rejections). We suggest that enforceable size limits on species prone to size-based rejections and elimination of village-based holding of invertebrates would reduce losses along the Papua New Guinea supply-chain. This case study underscores that low mortality during international transit may mask large losses along supply-chains prior to export and exemplifies the limitations of trade data to accurately monitor exploitation.

Aquarium Trade Supply-Chain Losses of Marine Invertebrates Originating from Papua New Guinea

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Militz, Thane A.; Kinch, Jeff; Southgate, Paul C.

2018-04-01

A major difficulty in managing live organism wildlife trade is often the reliance on trade data to monitor exploitation of wild populations. Harvested organisms that die or are discarded before a point of sale are regularly not reported. For the global marine aquarium trade, identifying supply-chain losses is necessary to more accurately assess exploitation from trade data. We examined quality control rejections and mortality of marine invertebrates (Asteroidea, Gastropoda, Malacostraca, Ophiuroidea) moving through the Papua New Guinea marine aquarium supply-chain, from fisher to importer. Utilizing catch invoices and exporter mortality records we determined that, over a 160 day period, 38.6% of the total invertebrate catch ( n = 13,299 individuals) was lost before export. Supply-chain losses were divided among invertebrates rejected in the quality control process (11.5%) and mortality of the accepted catch in transit to, and during holding at, an export facility (30.6%). A further 0.3% died during international transit to importers. We quantified supply-chain losses for the ten most fished species which accounted for 96.4% of the catch. Quality control rejections ( n = 1533) were primarily explained by rejections of oversized invertebrates (83.2% of rejections). We suggest that enforceable size limits on species prone to size-based rejections and elimination of village-based holding of invertebrates would reduce losses along the Papua New Guinea supply-chain. This case study underscores that low mortality during international transit may mask large losses along supply-chains prior to export and exemplifies the limitations of trade data to accurately monitor exploitation.

Construction of Traceability System for Quality Safety of Cereal and Oil Products

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Zheng, Huoguo; Liu, Shihong; Meng, Hong; Hu, Haiyan

After several significant food safety incident, global food industry and governments in many countries are putting increasing emphasis on establishment of food traceability systems. Food traceability has become an effective way in food quality and safety management. The traceability system for quality safety of cereal and oil products was designed and implemented with HACCP and FMECA method, encoding, information processing, and hardware R&D technology etc, according to the whole supply chain of cereal and oil products. Results indicated that the system provide not only the management in origin, processing, circulating and consuming for enterprise, but also tracing service for customers and supervisor by means of telephone, internet, SMS, touch machine and mobile terminal.

77 FR 71191 - 2012 Recreational Water Quality Criteria

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2012-11-29

... Criteria AGENCY: Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). ACTION: Notice of availability of the 2012... for beach monitoring, quantitative polymerase chain reaction (qPCR), for the detection of enterococci... managing recreational waters, such as predictive modeling; the EPA is providing a beach action value for...

Talent Pipeline Management in Education: Using Supply Chain Management to Close the Educator Equity Gap. Solutions. Issue No. 7

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Barfield, Kathleen

2015-01-01

21st century economy demands a broad range of new skills and deeper knowledge in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics to both sustain our existing society and be successful in the future. This imperative must drive our collective school improvement efforts to ensure that every graduate is college and career ready. Teacher quality has…

Online continuing medical education as a key link for successful noncommunicable disease self-management: the CASALUD™ Model

PubMed Central

Gallardo-Rincón, Héctor; Saucedo-Martínez, Rodrigo; Mujica-Rosales, Ricardo; Lee, Evan M; Israel, Amy; Torres-Beltran, Braulio; Quijano-González, Úrsula; Atkinson, Elena Rose; Kuri-Morales, Pablo; Tapia-Conyer, Roberto

2017-01-01

Purpose The purpose of this study is to evaluate how the benefits of online continuing medical education (CME) provided to health care professionals traveled along a patient “educational chain”. In this study, the educational chain begins with the influence that CME can have on the quality of health care, with subsequent influence on patient knowledge, disease self-management, and disease biomarkers. Methods A total of 422 patients with at least one noncommunicable disease (NCD) treated in eight different Mexican public health clinics were followed over 3 years. All clinics were participants in the CASALUD Model, an NCD care model for primary care, where all clinic staff were offered CME. Data were collected through a questionnaire on health care, patient disease knowledge, and self-management behaviors; blood samples and anthropometric measurements were collected to measure patient disease biomarkers. Results Between 2013 and 2015, the indexes measuring quality of health care, patient health knowledge, and diabetes self-management activities rose moderately but significantly (from 0.54 to 0.64, 0.80 to 0.84, and 0.62 to 0.67, respectively). Performing self-care activities – including owning and using a glucometer and belonging to a disease support group – saw the highest increase (from 0.65 to 0.75). A1C levels increased between 2013 and 2015 from 7.95 to 8.41% (63–68 mmol/mol) (P<0.001), and blood pressure decreased between 2014 and 2015 from 143.7/76.8 to 137.5/74.4 (systolic/diastolic reported in mmHg) (P<0.001). The mean levels of other disease biomarkers remained statistically unchanged, despite the improvements seen in the previous “links” of the educational chain. Conclusion Online CME can effect certain changes in the educational chain linking quality of health care, patient knowledge, and self-management behaviors. However, in order to assure adequate NCD control, the entire health care system must be improved in tandem. Online CME programs, such as CASALUD’s, are feasible strategies for impacting changes in disease self-management at a clinic level throughout a country. PMID:29089779

Pharmaceutical supply chain risk assessment in Iran using analytic hierarchy process (AHP) and simple additive weighting (SAW) methods.

PubMed

Jaberidoost, Mona; Olfat, Laya; Hosseini, Alireza; Kebriaeezadeh, Abbas; Abdollahi, Mohammad; Alaeddini, Mahdi; Dinarvand, Rassoul

2015-01-01

Pharmaceutical supply chain is a significant component of the health system in supplying medicines, particularly in countries where main drugs are provided by local pharmaceutical companies. No previous studies exist assessing risks and disruptions in pharmaceutical companies while assessing the pharmaceutical supply chain. Any risks affecting the pharmaceutical companies could disrupt supply medicines and health system efficiency. The goal of this study was the risk assessment in pharmaceutical industry in Iran considering process's priority, hazard and probability of risks. The study was carried out in 4 phases; risk identification through literature review, risk identification in Iranian pharmaceutical companies through interview with experts, risk analysis through a questionnaire and consultation with experts using group analytic hierarchy process (AHP) method and rating scale (RS) and risk evaluation of simple additive weighting (SAW) method. In total, 86 main risks were identified in the pharmaceutical supply chain with perspective of pharmaceutical companies classified in 11 classes. The majority of risks described in this study were related to the financial and economic category. Also financial management was found to be the most important factor for consideration. Although pharmaceutical industry and supply chain were affected by current political conditions in Iran during the study time, but half of total risks in the pharmaceutical supply chain were found to be internal risks which could be fixed by companies, internally. Likewise, political status and related risks forced companies to focus more on financial and supply management resulting in less attention to quality management.

Recent advances in omic technologies for meat quality management.

PubMed

Picard, B; Lebret, B; Cassar-Malek, I; Liaubet, L; Berri, C; Le Bihan-Duval, E; Hocquette, J F; Renand, G

2015-11-01

The knowledge of the molecular organization of living organisms evolved considerably during the last years. The methodologies associated also progressed with the development of the high-throughput sequencing (SNP array, RNAseq, etc.) and of genomic tools allowing the simultaneous analysis of hundreds or thousands of genes, proteins or metabolites. In farm animals, some proteins, mRNAs or metabolites whose abundance has been associated with meat quality traits have been detected in pig, cattle, chicken. They constitute biomarkers for the assessment and prediction of qualities of interest in each species, with potential biomarkers across species. The ongoing development of rapid methods will allow their use for decision-making and management tools in slaughterhouses, to better allocate carcasses or cuts to the appropriate markets. Besides, their application on living animals will help to improve genetic selection and to adapt a breeding system to fulfill expected quality level. The ultimate goal is to propose effective molecular tools for the management of product quality in meat production chains. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Durum wheat (Triticum turgidum spp. durum, cultivar Senatore Cappelli) production systems effects on grain and flours functional properties under Mediterranean conditions

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Cavoski, Ivana; Turk, Jelena; Chami, Ziad Al

2015-04-01

The main goal of organic farming is the "production of high quality products". Integrity and vital quality of products should be preserved along the entire production chain. In order to evaluate the effect of organic vs. conventional production systems on durum wheat phenolic acids and antioxidant activity open field experiment has been carried out. During the whole process chain from field to fork, there are various factors influencing the quality of the end product. Organic production should rely on genotypes with high nitrogen use efficiency, disease and pest resistance, weed competitiveness and tolerance especially under Mediterranean conditions. In this study, production systems differed according to the practices and inputs applied to manage the soil fertility and plant protection. In conventional system, synthetic fertilizers and pesticides were used. Whereas, in the two organic systems, cow manure with fertilizers and temporary intercropping with fava bean (Vicia faba) and fertilizers were used to manage soil fertility. Biopesticides were used for plant protection for organic systems. One treatment without inputs was used as a control in order to evaluate environmental site and cultivar effect. Quantity of free, free and conjugated and bounded phenolic acids were evaluated in relation to overall quality and production systems. In addition, antioxidant capacities of each fraction by different assays were assessed. The organic production method assured higher overall quality in paricular functional properties compared to the conventional one. Therefore, understanding the functional links between production systems variables and physiological responses is essential to improve and standardize the quality of organic durum wheat products. Keywords: organic farming, soil fertility management, phenolic acids, antioxidant activity.

[The German program for disease management guidelines: evaluation by use of quality indicators].

PubMed

Kopp, Ina B; Geraedts, Max; Jäckel, Wilfried H; Altenhofen, Lutz; Thomeczek, Christian; Ollenschläger, Günter

2007-08-15

The Program for National Disease Management Guidelines (German DM-CPG Program) in Germany aims at the implementation of best-practice recommendations for prevention, acute care, rehabilitation and chronic care in the setting of disease management programs and integrated health-care systems. Like other guidelines, DM-CPG need to be assessed regarding their influence on structures, processes and outcomes of care. However, quality assessment in integrated health-care systems is challenging. On the one hand, a multitude of potential domains for measurement, actors and perspectives need to be considered. On the other hand, measures need to be identified that assess the function of the diagnostic and therapeutic chain in terms of cooperation and coordination of care. The article reviews methods and use of quality indicators in the context of the German DM-CPG Program.

Distributor- Retailer Interface in Pharmaceutical Supply Chain: Service Quality Measurement Scale.

PubMed

Mehralian, Gholamhossein; Babapour, Jafar; Peiravian, Farzad

2016-01-01

In the current competitive market, service quality management is the key to the survival and success of businesses. SERVQUAL is a popular service quality measurement scale (SQMS) that has served as a basis for subsequent research on service quality; it has been used for testing different aspects of service quality in a market. The purpose of our study is, therefore, to develop a service quality measurement scale (SQMS) for the distributor-retailer interface of Pharm supply chains (PSC) in Iran. A survey was performed to collect data from pharmacies located in Tehran. A valid and reliable questionnaire delivered to pharmacies, and 400 pharmacies were intended to participate in our survey. Confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) was used to develop an SQMS in this study. Sufficient sampling was undertaken to do CFA. Consistent with other service quality studies, this Res developed an SQMS with five dimensions and 20 items for PSC, and contributes to mangers to regularly measure service quality. This is an initial study to develop a framework for measuring service quality in Iranian PCS. The framework can be used effectively to achieve competitive advantage at the distributor-retailer interface.

Distributor– Retailer Interface in Pharmaceutical Supply Chain: Service Quality Measurement Scale

PubMed Central

Mehralian, Gholamhossein; Babapour, Jafar; peiravian, farzad

2016-01-01

In the current competitive market, service quality management is the key to the survival and success of businesses. SERVQUAL is a popular service quality measurement scale (SQMS) that has served as a basis for subsequent research on service quality; it has been used for testing different aspects of service quality in a market. The purpose of our study is, therefore, to develop a service quality measurement scale (SQMS) for the distributor–retailer interface of Pharm supply chains (PSC) in Iran. A survey was performed to collect data from pharmacies located in Tehran. A valid and reliable questionnaire delivered to pharmacies, and 400 pharmacies were intended to participate in our survey. Confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) was used to develop an SQMS in this study. Sufficient sampling was undertaken to do CFA. Consistent with other service quality studies, this Res developed an SQMS with five dimensions and 20 items for PSC, and contributes to mangers to regularly measure service quality. This is an initial study to develop a framework for measuring service quality in Iranian PCS. The framework can be used effectively to achieve competitive advantage at the distributor–retailer interface. PMID:28243297

Understanding influential factors on implementing green supply chain management practices: An interpretive structural modelling analysis.

PubMed

Agi, Maher A N; Nishant, Rohit

2017-03-01

In this study, we establish a set of 19 influential factors on the implementation of Green Supply Chain Management (GSCM) practices and analyse the interaction between these factors and their effect on the implementation of GSCM practices using the Interpretive Structural Modelling (ISM) method and the "Matrice d'Impacts Croisés Multiplication Appliquée à un Classement" (MICMAC) analysis on data compiled from interviews with supply chain (SC) executives based in the Gulf countries (Middle East region). The study reveals a strong influence and driving power of the nature of the relationships between SC partners on the implementation of GSCM practices. We especially found that dependence, trust, and durability of the relationship with SC partners have a very high influence. In addition, the size of the company, the top management commitment, the implementation of quality management and the employees training and education exert a critical influence on the implementation of GSCM practices. Contextual elements such as the industry sector and region and their effect on the prominence of specific factors are also highlighted through our study. Finally, implications for research and practice are discussed. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Context-aware workflow management of mobile health applications.

PubMed

Salden, Alfons; Poortinga, Remco

2006-01-01

We propose a medical application management architecture that allows medical (IT) experts readily designing, developing and deploying context-aware mobile health (m-health) applications or services. In particular, we elaborate on how our application workflow management architecture enables chaining, coordinating, composing, and adapting context-sensitive medical application components such that critical Quality of Service (QoS) and Quality of Context (QoC) requirements typical for m-health applications or services can be met. This functional architectural support requires learning modules for distilling application-critical selection of attention and anticipation models. These models will help medical experts constructing and adjusting on-the-fly m-health application workflows and workflow strategies. We illustrate our context-aware workflow management paradigm for a m-health data delivery problem, in which optimal communication network configurations have to be determined.

The phosphorus footprint of China's food chain: implications for food security, natural resource management, and environmental quality.

PubMed

Wang, F; Sims, J T; Ma, L; Ma, W; Dou, Z; Zhang, F

2011-01-01

Efficient use of phosphorus (P) for producing food, preventing water pollution, and managing a dwindling rock P reserve are major challenges for China. We analyzed P stocks and flows in the Chinese food chain to identify where P use efficiency can be improved, where P leaks to the environment, and the research, technologies, and policies needed to improve P use. We found a high degree of inefficiency; of 6652 Gg P entering the food chain, only 1102 Gg P (18%) exit as food for humans. The greatest inefficiencies were a large build-up of soil P (3670 Gg P yr; 52% of P inputs) and high P losses to the environment from animal production (1582 Gg P yr; 60% of excreted P). Improving P use in China must focus on national-scale nutrient management strategies, better animal nutrition, and adoption of technologies and policies to reduce P discharges from the animal sector and recycle P as manures in agriculture. Copyright © by the American Society of Agronomy, Crop Science Society of America, and Soil Science Society of America, Inc.

Frankfurt Medical Department Activity (FMEDDAC) OB/GYN Clinic Study

DTIC Science & Technology

1993-08-01

ideas took hold and flourished in post-World War II Japan ( Arikan , 1990). The Japanese institutionalized the following chain FMEDDAC OB-GYN 8 reaction...be required for most organizations. FMEDDAC OB-GYN 69 References Arikan , V.L. (1991). Total quality management - Applications to nursing service

Psychotropic drugs in Nepal: perceptions on use and supply chain management.

PubMed

Upadhaya, Nawaraj; Jordans, Mark J D; Gurung, Dristy; Pokhrel, Ruja; Adhikari, Ramesh P; Komproe, Ivan H

2018-01-24

Psychotropic drugs play an important role in the treatment of mental, neurological and substance use disorders. Despite the advancement of the use of psycho-pharmaceuticals in the developed countries, the psychotropic drug production and supply chain management in low- and middle- income countries are still poorly developed. This study aims to explore the perceptions of stakeholders involved in all stages of the psychotropic drug supply chain about the need, quality, availability and effectiveness of psychotropic drugs, as well as barriers to their supply chain management. The study was conducted among 65 respondents from the Kathmandu, Chitwan and Pyuthan districts, grouped into four categories: producers, promoters and distributors (N = 22), policy makers and government actors (N = 8), service providers (N = 21) and service users/family members (N = 14). The respondents reported that psychotropic drugs, despite having side effects, are 1) needed, 2) available in major regional centers and 3) are effective for treating mental health problems. The stigma associated with mental illness, however, forces patients and family members to hide their use of psychotropic drugs. The study found that the process of psychotropic drug supply chain management is similar to other general drugs, with the exceptions of strict pre-approval process, quantity restriction (for production and import), and mandatory record keeping. Despite these regulatory provisions, respondents believed that the misuse of psychotropic drugs is widespread and companies are providing incentives to prescribers and retailers to retain their brand in the market. The production and supply chain management of psychotropic drugs is influenced by the vested interests of pharmaceutical companies, prescribers and pharmacists. In the context of the government of Nepal's policy of integrating mental health into primary health care and increased consumption of psychotropic drugs in Nepal, there is a need for massive education and awareness as well as strict monitoring and supervision to avoid the misuse of psychotropic drugs.

Papaya fruit quality management during the postharvest supply chain

USDA-ARS?s Scientific Manuscript database

Papayas are popular in tropical and subtropical regions and are being exported in large volumes to Europe, the U.S. and Japan. The fruit has excellent taste, exotic flavor and nutritional properties, being rich in vitamins A, C, and antioxidants. However, due to its highly perishable nature it has n...

A Case Study in Experiential Learning: Pharmaceutical Cold Chain Management on Wheels

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Vesper, James; Kartoglu, Umit; Bishara, Rafik; Reeves, Thomas

2010-01-01

Introduction: People who handle and regulate temperature-sensitive pharmaceutical products require the knowledge and skills to ensure those products maintain quality, integrity, safety, and efficacy throughout their shelf life. People best acquire such knowledge and skills through "experiential learning" that involves working with other…

Supply chain optimization for pediatric perioperative departments.

PubMed

Davis, Janice L; Doyle, Robert

2011-09-01

Economic challenges compel pediatric perioperative departments to reduce nonlabor supply costs while maintaining the quality of patient care. Optimization of the supply chain introduces a framework for decision making that drives fiscally responsible decisions. The cost-effective supply chain is driven by implementing a value analysis process for product selection, being mindful of product sourcing decisions to reduce supply expense, creating logistical efficiency that will eliminate redundant processes, and managing inventory to ensure product availability. The value analysis approach is an analytical methodology for product selection that involves product evaluation and recommendation based on consideration of clinical benefit, overall financial impact, and revenue implications. Copyright © 2011 AORN, Inc. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Application of ESE Data and Tools to Air Quality Management: Services for Helping the Air Quality Community use ESE Data (SHAirED)

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Falke, Stefan; Husar, Rudolf

2011-01-01

The goal of this REASoN applications and technology project is to deliver and use Earth Science Enterprise (ESE) data and tools in support of air quality management. Its scope falls within the domain of air quality management and aims to develop a federated air quality information sharing network that includes data from NASA, EPA, US States and others. Project goals were achieved through a access of satellite and ground observation data, web services information technology, interoperability standards, and air quality community collaboration. In contributing to a network of NASA ESE data in support of particulate air quality management, the project will develop access to distributed data, build Web infrastructure, and create tools for data processing and analysis. The key technologies used in the project include emerging web services for developing self describing and modular data access and processing tools, and service oriented architecture for chaining web services together to assemble customized air quality management applications. The technology and tools required for this project were developed within DataFed.net, a shared infrastructure that supports collaborative atmospheric data sharing and processing web services. Much of the collaboration was facilitated through community interactions through the Federation of Earth Science Information Partners (ESIP) Air Quality Workgroup. The main activities during the project that successfully advanced DataFed, enabled air quality applications and established community-oriented infrastructures were: develop access to distributed data (surface and satellite), build Web infrastructure to support data access, processing and analysis create tools for data processing and analysis foster air quality community collaboration and interoperability.

Quality transitivity and traceability system of herbal medicine products based on quality markers.

PubMed

Liu, Changxiao; Guo, De-An; Liu, Liang

2018-05-15

Due to a variety of factors to affect the herb quality, the existing quality management model is unable to evaluate the process control. The development of the concept of "quality marker" (Q-marker) lays basis for establishing an independent process quality control system for herbal products. To ensure the highest degree of safety, effectiveness and quality process control of herbal products, it is aimed to establish a quality transitivity and traceability system of quality and process control from raw materials to finished herbal products. Based on the key issues and challenges of quality assessment, the current status of quality and process controls from raw materials to herbal medicinal products listed in Pharmacopoeia were analyzed and the research models including discovery and identification of Q-markers, analysis and quality management of risk evaluation were designed. Authors introduced a few new technologies and methodologies, such as DNA barcoding, chromatographic technologies, fingerprint analysis, chemical markers, bio-responses, risk management and solution for quality process control. The quality and process control models for herbal medicinal products were proposed and the transitivity and traceability system from raw materials to the finished products was constructed to improve the herbal quality from the entire supply and production chain. The transitivity and traceability system has been established based on quality markers, especially on how to control the production process under Good Engineering Practices, as well as to implement the risk management for quality and process control in herbal medicine production. Copyright © 2018 Elsevier GmbH. All rights reserved.

Pathways to increase consumer trust in meat as a safe and wholesome food.

PubMed

Gellynck, Xavier; Verbeke, Wim; Vermeire, Bert

2006-09-01

This paper focuses on the effect of information about meat safety and wholesomeness on consumer trust based on several studies with data collected in Belgium. The research is grounded in the observation that despite the abundant rise of information through labelling, traceability systems and quality assurance schemes, the effect on consumer trust in meat as a safe and wholesome product is only limited. The overload and complexity of information on food products results in misunderstanding and misinterpretation. Functional traceability attributes such as organisational efficiency and chain monitoring are considered to be highly important but not as a basis for market segmentation. However, process traceability attributes such as origin and production method are of interest for particular market segments as a response to meat quality concerns. Quality assurance schemes and associated labels have a poor impact on consumers' perception. It is argued that the high interest of retailers in such schemes is driven by procurement management efficiency rather than safety or overall quality. Future research could concentrate on the distribution of costs and benefits associated with meat quality initiatives among the chain participants.

Good Manufacturing Practices (GMP) / Good Laboratory Practices (GLP) Review and Applicability for Chemical Security Enhancements

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Iveson, Steven W.

Global chemical security has been enhanced through the determined use and integration of both voluntary and legislated standards. Many popular standards contain components that specifically detail requirements for the security of materials, facilities and other vital assets. In this document we examine the roll of quality management standards and how they affect the security culture within the institutions that adopt these standards in order to conduct business within the international market place. Good manufacturing practices and good laboratory practices are two of a number of quality management systems that have been adopted as law in many nations. These standards aremore » designed to protect the quality of drugs, medicines, foods and analytical test results in order to provide the world-wide consumer with safe and affective products for consumption. These standards provide no established security protocols and yet manage to increase the security of chemicals, materials, facilities and the supply chain via the effective and complete control over the manufacturing, the global supply chains and testing processes. We discuss the means through which these systems enhance security and how nations can further improve these systems with additional regulations that deal specifically with security in the realm of these management systems. We conclude with a discussion of new technologies that may cause disruption within the industries covered by these standards and how these issues might be addressed in order to maintain or increase the level of security within the industries and nations that have adopted these standards.« less

Using Civilian Supply Chain Management Best Practices to Improve Army Supply Chain Management Procedures

DTIC Science & Technology

2017-06-09

USING CIVILIAN SUPPLY CHAIN MANAGEMENT BEST PRACTICES TO IMPROVE ARMY SUPPLY CHAIN MANAGEMENT PROCEDURES A thesis presented to......Army Supply Chain Management Procedures 5a. CONTRACT NUMBER 5b. GRANT NUMBER 5c. PROGRAM ELEMENT NUMBER 6. AUTHOR(S) Chief Warrant

Multidimensional competences of supply chain managers: an empirical study

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Shou, Yongyi; Wang, Weijiao

2017-01-01

Supply chain manager competences have attracted increasing attention from both practitioners and scholars in recent years. This paper conducted an explorative study to understand the dimensionality of supply chain manager competences. Online job advertisements for supply chain managers were collected as secondary data, since these advertisements reflect employers' real job requirements. We adopted the multidimensional scaling (MDS) technique to process and analyse the data. Five dimensions of supply chain manager competences are identified: generic skills, functional skills, supply chain management (SCM) qualifications and leadership, SCM expertise, and industry-specific and senior management skills. Statistic tests indicate that supply chain manager competence saliences vary in different industries and regions.

Medicine shortages: a commentary on causes and mitigation strategies.

PubMed

Iyengar, Swathi; Hedman, Lisa; Forte, Gilles; Hill, Suzanne

2016-09-29

Shortages of medicines and vaccines have been reported in countries of all income levels in recent years. Shortages can result from one or multiple causes, including shortages of raw materials, manufacturing capacity problems, industry consolidation, marketing practices, and procurement and supply chain management. Existing approaches to mitigate shortages include advance notice systems managed through medicine regulatory authorities, special programmes that track medicines, and interventions to improve efficiency of the medicine supply chain. Redistribution of supplies at the national level can mitigate some shortages in the short term. International redistribution and exceptional regulatory approvals may be used in limited circumstances, with the understanding that such approaches are complex and may introduce cost and quality risks. If it is necessary to prioritise patients to receive a medicine that is in shortage, evidence-based practice should be used to ensure optimal allocation. Important steps in reducing medicine shortages and their impact include identifying medicines that are most at risk, developing reporting systems to share information on current and emerging shortages, and improving data from medicine supply chains.

Inventory decision in a closed-loop supply chain with inspection, sorting, and waste disposal

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Dwicahyani, A. R.; Jauhari, W. A.; Kurdhi, N. A.

2016-02-01

The study of returned item inventory management in a closed-loop supply chain system has become an important issue in recent years. So far, investigations about inventory decision making in a closed-loop supply chain system have been confined to traditional forward and reverse oriented material flow supply chain. In this study, we propose an integrated inventory model consisting a supplier, a manufacturer, and a retailer where the manufacturer inspects all of the returned items collected from the customers and classifies them as recoverable or waste. Returned items that recovered through the remanufacturing process and the newly manufactured products are then used to meet the demand of the retailer. However, some recovered items which are not comparable to the ones in quality, classified as refurbished items, are sold to a secondary market at a reduced price. This study also suggests that the flow of returned items is controlled by a decision variable, namely an acceptance quality level of recoverable item in the system. We apply multiple remanufacturing cycle and multiple production cycle policy to the proposed model and give the corresponding iterative procedure to determine the optimal solutions. Further, numerical examples are presented for illustrative purpose.

Markov chain decision model for urinary incontinence procedures.

PubMed

Kumar, Sameer; Ghildayal, Nidhi; Ghildayal, Neha

2017-03-13

Purpose Urinary incontinence (UI) is a common chronic health condition, a problem specifically among elderly women that impacts quality of life negatively. However, UI is usually viewed as likely result of old age, and as such is generally not evaluated or even managed appropriately. Many treatments are available to manage incontinence, such as bladder training and numerous surgical procedures such as Burch colposuspension and Sling for UI which have high success rates. The purpose of this paper is to analyze which of these popular surgical procedures for UI is effective. Design/methodology/approach This research employs randomized, prospective studies to obtain robust cost and utility data used in the Markov chain decision model for examining which of these surgical interventions is more effective in treating women with stress UI based on two measures: number of quality adjusted life years (QALY) and cost per QALY. Treeage Pro Healthcare software was employed in Markov decision analysis. Findings Results showed the Sling procedure is a more effective surgical intervention than the Burch. However, if a utility greater than certain utility value, for which both procedures are equally effective, is assigned to persistent incontinence, the Burch procedure is more effective than the Sling procedure. Originality/value This paper demonstrates the efficacy of a Markov chain decision modeling approach to study the comparative effectiveness analysis of available treatments for patients with UI, an important public health issue, widely prevalent among elderly women in developed and developing countries. This research also improves upon other analyses using a Markov chain decision modeling process to analyze various strategies for treating UI.

A rational framework for production decision making in blood establishments.

PubMed

Ramoa, Augusto; Maia, Salomé; Lourenço, Anália

2012-07-24

SAD_BaSe is a blood bank data analysis software, created to assist in the management of blood donations and the blood production chain in blood establishments. In particular, the system keeps track of several collection and production indicators, enables the definition of collection and production strategies, and the measurement of quality indicators required by the Quality Management System regulating the general operation of blood establishments. This paper describes the general scenario of blood establishments and its main requirements in terms of data management and analysis. It presents the architecture of SAD_BaSe and identifies its main contributions. Specifically, it brings forward the generation of customized reports driven by decision making needs and the use of data mining techniques in the analysis of donor suspensions and donation discards.

A Rational Framework for Production Decision Making in Blood Establishments.

PubMed

Ramoa, Augusto; Maia, Salomé; Lourenço, Anália

2012-12-01

SAD_BaSe is a blood bank data analysis software, created to assist in the management of blood donations and the blood production chain in blood establishments. In particular, the system keeps track of several collection and production indicators, enables the definition of collection and production strategies, and the measurement of quality indicators required by the Quality Management System regulating the general operation of blood establishments. This paper describes the general scenario of blood establishments and its main requirements in terms of data management and analysis. It presents the architecture of SAD_BaSe and identifies its main contributions. Specifically, it brings forward the generation of customized reports driven by decision making needs and the use of data mining techniques in the analysis of donor suspensions and donation discards.

Detection limits and cost comparisons of human- and gull-associated conventional and quantitative PCR assays in artificial and environmental waters

EPA Science Inventory

Modern techniques for tracking fecal pollution in environmental waters require investing in DNA-based methods to determine the presence of specific fecal sources. To help water quality managers decide whether to employ routine polymerase chain reaction (PCR) or quantitative PC...

Task-Technology Fit Assessment of an Expertise Transfer System

DTIC Science & Technology

2009-03-01

Air Education and Training Command In Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Master of Science in Information Resource Management...Transfer Forum (ETF) developed by the Oklahoma State University for the Defense Ammunition Center’s quality assurance personnel. The preliminary findings...Technology-to-Performance Chain (TPC) ....................................................................13 Expertise Transfer Forum (ETF

Customer focus in breast cancer screening services.

PubMed

Buttimer, Andreas

2009-01-01

The purpose of the paper is to demonstrate how a generic value chain and customer focused system as demonstrated by the Scottish and Irish breast screening programmes can be used to provide a high quality health service. Literature relevant to aligning the entire operating model--the companies' culture, business processes, management systems to serve one value discipline, i.e. customer intimacy, is reviewed and considered in the context of the NHS Scottish Breast Screening Programme in Edinburgh and BreastCheck--the National Breast Screening Programme in Ireland. This paper demonstrates how an emphasis on customer focus and operational excellence, as used in other service industries, can help to provide a better health service. It uses the Scottish and Irish breast screening programmes as illustrative examples. The paper applies the key requirements in the delivery of a quality service including an understanding of the characteristics of a service industry, the management of discontinuities involved in its delivery and the environment in which it operates. System failure is commonly the cause of quality failure in the health system. Breast screening programmes are designed to prevent such a failure. This paper promotes and describes the use of the generic value chain by using the knowledge gained in delivering a mammography-screening programme.

Expert study to select indicators of the occurrence of emerging mycotoxin hazards.

PubMed

Kandhai, M C; Booij, C J H; Van der Fels-Klerx, H J

2011-01-01

This article describes a Delphi-based expert judgment study aimed at the selection of indicators to identify the occurrence of emerging mycotoxin hazards related to Fusarium spp. in wheat supply chains. A panel of 29 experts from 12 European countries followed a holistic approach to evaluate the most important indicators for different chain stages (growth, transport and storage, and processing) and their relative importance. After three e-mailing rounds, the experts reached consensus on the most important indicators for each of the three stages: wheat growth, transport and storage, and processing. For wheat growth, these indicators include: relative humidity/rainfall, crop rotation, temperature, tillage practice, water activity of the kernels, and crop variety/cultivar. For the transport and storage stage, they include water activity in the kernels, relative humidity, ventilation, temperature, storage capacity, and logistics. For wheat processing, indicators include quality data, fraction of the cereal used, water activity in the kernels, quality management and traceability systems, and carryover of contamination. The indicators selected in this study can be used in an identification system for the occurrence of emerging mycotoxin hazards in wheat supply chains. Such a system can be used by risk managers within governmental (related) organizations and/or the food and feed industry in order to react proactively to the occurrence of these emerging mycotoxins. © 2010 Society for Risk Analysis.

Preliminary stochastic model for managing Vibrio parahaemolyticus and total viable bacterial counts in a Pacific oyster (Crassostrea gigas) supply chain.

PubMed

Fernandez-Piquer, Judith; Bowman, John P; Ross, Tom; Estrada-Flores, Silvia; Tamplin, Mark L

2013-07-01

Vibrio parahaemolyticus can accumulate and grow in oysters stored without refrigeration, representing a potential food safety risk. High temperatures during oyster storage can lead to an increase in total viable bacteria counts, decreasing product shelf life. Therefore, a predictive tool that allows the estimation of both V. parahaemolyticus populations and total viable bacteria counts in parallel is needed. A stochastic model was developed to quantitatively assess the populations of V. parahaemolyticus and total viable bacteria in Pacific oysters for six different supply chain scenarios. The stochastic model encompassed operations from oyster farms through consumers and was built using risk analysis software. Probabilistic distributions and predictions for the percentage of Pacific oysters containing V. parahaemolyticus and high levels of viable bacteria at the point of consumption were generated for each simulated scenario. This tool can provide valuable information about V. parahaemolyticus exposure and potential control measures and can help oyster companies and regulatory agencies evaluate the impact of product quality and safety during cold chain management. If coupled with suitable monitoring systems, such models could enable preemptive action to be taken to counteract unfavorable supply chain conditions.

The impact of nurse managers' leadership styles on ward staff.

PubMed

Saleh, Usama; O'Connor, Tom; Al-Subhi, Hattan; Alkattan, Rana; Al-Harbi, Saad; Patton, Declan

2018-02-22

to explore the nature of leadership styles used by the nursing management team, as perceived by nurses working at the bedside. leadership style is related to job satisfaction, staff retention, costs, and quality of care. The leadership styles of managers can be crucial in the healthcare setting, but very few studies have focused on them. the study employed qualitative methodology, involving 35 nurses working in different specialties of a medical city in Saudi Arabia. Data collection consisted of completing demographic and professional information and a semi-structured interview using open-ended questions. a phenomenologic-hermeneutic approach was used to identify major themes. the findings showed that participants described four types of leadership styles: relational leadership, preferential leadership, communication chain leadership, and ineffectual leadership. the leadership style employed by nurse managers has a major impact on nurses' satisfaction, turnover, and the quality of patient care they deliver.

A hybrid genetic-simulated annealing algorithm for the location-inventory-routing problem considering returns under e-supply chain environment.

PubMed

Li, Yanhui; Guo, Hao; Wang, Lin; Fu, Jing

2013-01-01

Facility location, inventory control, and vehicle routes scheduling are critical and highly related problems in the design of logistics system for e-business. Meanwhile, the return ratio in Internet sales was significantly higher than in the traditional business. Many of returned merchandise have no quality defects, which can reenter sales channels just after a simple repackaging process. Focusing on the existing problem in e-commerce logistics system, we formulate a location-inventory-routing problem model with no quality defects returns. To solve this NP-hard problem, an effective hybrid genetic simulated annealing algorithm (HGSAA) is proposed. Results of numerical examples show that HGSAA outperforms GA on computing time, optimal solution, and computing stability. The proposed model is very useful to help managers make the right decisions under e-supply chain environment.

Integrated forward and reverse supply chain: A tire case study.

PubMed

Pedram, Ali; Yusoff, Nukman Bin; Udoncy, Olugu Ezutah; Mahat, Abu Bakar; Pedram, Payam; Babalola, Ayo

2017-02-01

This paper attempts to integrate both a forward and reverse supply chain to design a closed-loop supply chain network (CLSC). The problem in the design of a CLSC network is uncertainty in demand, return products and the quality of return products. Scenario analyses are generated to overcome this uncertainty. In contrast to the existing supply chain network design models, a new application of a CLSC network was studied in this paper to reduce waste. A multi-product, multi-tier mixed integer linear model is developed for a CLSC network design. The main objective is to maximize profit and provide waste management decision support in order to minimize pollution. The result shows applicability of the model in the tire industry. The model determines the number and the locations of facilities and the material flows between these facilities. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Fast, global, and entrepreneurial: supply chain management, Hong Kong style. An interview with Victor Fung. Interview by Joan Magretta.

PubMed

Fung, V

1998-01-01

Li & Fung, Hong Kong's largest export trading company, has been an innovator in supply chain management--a topic of increasing importance to many senior executives. In this interview, chairman Victor Fung explains both the philosophy behind supply chain management and the specific practices that Li & Fung has developed to reduce costs and lead times, allowing its customers to buy "closer to the market." Li & Fung has been a pioneer in "dispersed manufacturing." It performs the higher-value-added tasks such as design and quality control in Hong Kong, and outsources the lower-value-added tasks to the best possible locations around the world. The result is something new: a truly global product. To produce a garment, for example, the company might purchase yarn from Korea that will be woven and dyed in Taiwan, then shipped to Thailand for final assembly, where it will be matched with zippers from a Japanese company. For every order, the goal is to customize the value chain to meet the customer's specific needs. To be run effectively, Victor Fung maintains, trading companies have to be small and entrepreneurial. He describes the organizational approaches that keep the company that way despite its growing size and geographic scope: its organization around small, customer-focused units; its incentives and compensation structure; and its use of venture capital as a vehicle for business development. As Asia's economic crisis continues, chairman Fung sees a new model of companies emerging--companies that are, like Li & Fung, narrowly focused and professionally managed.

Level of Adoption of Quality Management Systems Into the Mexican Pork Industry

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Maldonado-Siman, Em; Ruíz-Flores, Agustín; Núñez-Domínguez, Rafael; González-Alcorta, Mariano; Hernández-Rodríguez, Bertha Alicia

This research studies the characteristics of the Mexican pork sector; adoption status of quality management systems, and product destinations. Ninety six percent of fifty enterprises have fully answered a questionnaire. Ninety percent are small and medium-sized, the rest are large-sized firms. Nineteen percent of them have totally adopted HACCP, sixty three percent are implementing or planning to do it, the rest have no plans to adopt it. Thirteen percent of the enterprises had ISO 9000. Thirty four percent of their sales go to supermarkets, 57% to other retail chains and 9% to exportation. Product destinations are mainly Central America, United States of America, Asia and Mexico. To improve efficiency and the quality of process it is necessary to implement HACCP. Besides, customers and legal requirements are the external factors, which result in this adoption. In the process of implementing, there are some problems, such as staff motivation and training. The results suggest that HACCP system operating is important for the Mexican pork industry. It also has relevant implications in domestic trade. It is necessary to encourage adoption of quality management systems in the sector.

Links among high-performance work environment, service quality, and customer satisfaction: an extension to the healthcare sector.

PubMed

Scotti, Dennis J; Harmon, Joel; Behson, Scott J

2007-01-01

Healthcare managers must deliver high-quality patient services that generate highly satisfied and loyal customers. In this article, we examine how a high-involvement approach to the work environment of healthcare employees may lead to exceptional service quality, satisfied patients, and ultimately to loyal customers. Specifically, we investigate the chain of events through which high-performance work systems (HPWS) and customer orientation influence employee and customer perceptions of service quality and patient satisfaction in a national sample of 113 Veterans Health Administration ambulatory care centers. We present a conceptual model for linking work environment to customer satisfaction and test this model using structural equations modeling. The results suggest that (1) HPWS is linked to employee perceptions of their ability to deliver high-quality customer service, both directly and through their perceptions of customer orientation; (2) employee perceptions of customer service are linked to customer perceptions of high-quality service; and (3) perceived service quality is linked with customer satisfaction. Theoretical and practical implications of our findings, including suggestions of how healthcare managers can implement changes to their work environments, are discussed.

Structural basis for translational surveillance by the large ribosomal subunit-associated protein quality control complex

PubMed Central

Lyumkis, Dmitry; Oliveira dos Passos, Dario; Tahara, Erich B.; Webb, Kristofor; Bennett, Eric J.; Vinterbo, Staal; Potter, Clinton S.; Carragher, Bridget; Joazeiro, Claudio A. P.

2014-01-01

All organisms have evolved mechanisms to manage the stalling of ribosomes upon translation of aberrant mRNA. In eukaryotes, the large ribosomal subunit-associated quality control complex (RQC), composed of the listerin/Ltn1 E3 ubiquitin ligase and cofactors, mediates the ubiquitylation and extraction of ribosome-stalled nascent polypeptide chains for proteasomal degradation. How RQC recognizes stalled ribosomes and performs its functions has not been understood. Using single-particle cryoelectron microscopy, we have determined the structure of the RQC complex bound to stalled 60S ribosomal subunits. The structure establishes how Ltn1 associates with the large ribosomal subunit and properly positions its E3-catalytic RING domain to mediate nascent chain ubiquitylation. The structure also reveals that a distinguishing feature of stalled 60S particles is an exposed, nascent chain-conjugated tRNA, and that the Tae2 subunit of RQC, which facilitates Ltn1 binding, is responsible for selective recognition of stalled 60S subunits. RQC components are engaged in interactions across a large span of the 60S subunit surface, connecting the tRNA in the peptidyl transferase center to the distally located nascent chain tunnel exit. This work provides insights into a mechanism linking translation and protein degradation that targets defective proteins immediately after synthesis, while ignoring nascent chains in normally translating ribosomes. PMID:25349383

Can We Defend the Defense Supply Chain Lessons Learned from Industry Leaders in Supply Chain Management

DTIC Science & Technology

2018-03-01

Directorate for Information Operations and Reports, 1215 Jefferson Davis Highway, Suite 1204, Arlington, VA 22202-4302, and to the Office of Management and...chain, including products, services, information , finances, demand, relationships, and risks. In a more complete definition, supply chain management ...CHAIN? LESSONS LEARNED FROM INDUSTRY LEADERS IN SUPPLY CHAIN MANAGEMENT by Ronald H. Menz March 2018 Thesis Co-Advisors: Rodrigo Nieto-Gomez

Improving consistency and quality of service delivery: implications for the addiction treatment field.

PubMed

Knott, Anne Marie; Corredoira, Rafael; Kimberly, John

2008-09-01

Addiction treatment providers face serious problems in delivering consistent, high-quality services over time. Among those providers with multiple treatment sites, there is also intersite variability. This is a serious problem in the addiction field, likely to be made worse as new technologies are introduced and/or as there is industry consolidation (Corredoira, R., Kimberly, J. (2006) Industry evolution through consolidation: Implications for addiction treatment. Journal of Substance Abuse Treatment 31, 255-265.). Although serious, these problems in managing and monitoring to assure consistent service quality have been faced by many other industries. Here, we review evidence from research in other industries regarding three different forms of management (vertical integration, franchising, and licensing) across a chain of individual service providers. We show how each management form affects the level, consistency, and improvement of service delivery over time. In addition, we discuss how such performance advantages affect customer demand as well as regulatory endorsement of the consolidated firm and its approach.

Study on Green Supply Chain Management Based on Circular Economy

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Ying, Jiang; Li-jun, Zhou

The article starts with circular economy and the connotation of green supply chain, then analyzes the difference between green supply chain and traditional supply chain and elaborates the content of green supply chain management. On that basis, the approach to implement green supply chain management in china shall be put forward.

Pharmaceutical supply chain risks: a systematic review.

PubMed

Jaberidoost, Mona; Nikfar, Shekoufeh; Abdollahiasl, Akbar; Dinarvand, Rassoul

2013-12-19

Supply of medicine as a strategic product in any health system is a top priority. Pharmaceutical companies, a major player of the drug supply chain, are subject to many risks. These risks disrupt the supply of medicine in many ways such as their quantity and quality and their delivery to the right place and customers and at the right time. Therefore risk identification in the supply process of pharmaceutical companies and mitigate them is highly recommended. In this study it is attempted to investigate pharmaceutical supply chain risks with perspective of manufacturing companies. Scopus, PubMed, Web of Science bibliographic databases and Google scholar scientific search engines were searched for pharmaceutical supply chain risk management studies with 6 different groups of keywords. All results found by keywords were reviewed and none-relevant articles were excluded by outcome of interests and researcher boundaries of study within 4 steps and through a systematic method. Nine articles were included in the systematic review and totally 50 main risks based on study outcome of interest extracted which classified in 7 categories. Most of reported risks were related to supply and supplier issues. Organization and strategy issues, financial, logistic, political, market and regulatory issues were in next level of importance. It was shown that the majority of risks in pharmaceutical supply chain were internal risks due to processes, people and functions mismanagement which could be managed by suitable mitigation strategies.

Making products available among community health workers: Evidence for improving community health supply chains from Ethiopia, Malawi, and Rwanda

PubMed Central

Chandani, Yasmin; Andersson, Sarah; Heaton, Alexis; Noel, Megan; Shieshia, Mildred; Mwirotsi, Amanda; Krudwig, Kirstin; Nsona, Humphreys; Felling, Barbara

2014-01-01

Background A UNICEF review of the challenges to scaling up integrated community case management (iCCM) found that drug shortages were a common bottleneck. In many settings, little thought has gone into the design of supply chains to the community level and limited evidence exists for how to address these unique challenges. SC4CCM’s purpose was to conduct intervention research to identify proven, simple, affordable solutions that address the unique supply chain challenges faced by CHWs and to demonstrate that supply chain constraints at the community level can be overcome. Methods SC4CCM selected three countries to implement supply chain innovations and developed a theory of change (TOC) framework for the learning phase, which identified the main drivers of product availability and was used for baseline assessments, design, implementation and evaluation of interventions in Ethiopia, Malawi, and Rwanda. Interventions were developed in each country and tested over 12–24 months. Mixed–method follow up assessments were conducted in each country in 2012–2013. The Supply Chain for Community Case Management (SC4CCM) Project then simplified the TOC into a Community Health Supply Chain (CHSC) framework to enable cross country analysis Results The findings from interventions in the three countries suggest that the greatest supply chain benefits are realized when all three CHSC framework elements (data flow, product flow, and effective people) are in place and working together. The synergistic effect of these three elements on supply chain performance was most effectively demonstrated by results from the Enhanced Management and Quality Collaborative interventions in Malawi and Rwanda, respectively, which were characterized by lower mean stockout rates and higher in stock rates on day of visit, when compared to other interventions. Conclusions Many conditions are necessary to ensure continuous product availability at the community level, however a supply chain works best when three key elements (product flow, data flow, and effective people) are deliberately included as an integral part of the system design. Although these elements may be designed differently in different settings, streamlining and synchronizing them while ensuring inclusion of all components for each element improves supply chain performance and promotes product availability at the community level. PMID:25520795

International trade standards for commodities and products derived from animals: the need for a system that integrates food safety and animal disease risk management.

PubMed

Thomson, G R; Penrith, M-L; Atkinson, M W; Thalwitzer, S; Mancuso, A; Atkinson, S J; Osofsky, S A

2013-12-01

A case is made for greater emphasis to be placed on value chain management as an alternative to geographically based disease risk mitigation for trade in commodities and products derived from animals. The geographic approach is dependent upon achievement of freedom in countries or zones from infectious agents that cause so-called transboundary animal diseases, while value chain-based risk management depends upon mitigation of animal disease hazards potentially associated with specific commodities or products irrespective of the locality of production. This commodity-specific approach is founded on the same principles upon which international food safety standards are based, viz. hazard analysis critical control points (HACCP). Broader acceptance of a value chain approach enables animal disease risk management to be combined with food safety management by the integration of commodity-based trade and HACCP methodologies and thereby facilitates 'farm to fork' quality assurance. The latter is increasingly recognized as indispensable to food safety assurance and is therefore a pre-condition to safe trade. The biological principles upon which HACCP and commodity-based trade are based are essentially identical, potentially simplifying sanitary control in contrast to current separate international sanitary standards for food safety and animal disease risks that are difficult to reconcile. A value chain approach would not only enable more effective integration of food safety and animal disease risk management of foodstuffs derived from animals but would also ameliorate adverse environmental and associated socio-economic consequences of current sanitary standards based on the geographic distribution of animal infections. This is especially the case where vast veterinary cordon fencing systems are relied upon to separate livestock and wildlife as is the case in much of southern Africa. A value chain approach would thus be particularly beneficial to under-developed regions of the world such as southern Africa specifically and sub-Saharan Africa more generally where it would reduce incompatibility between attempts to expand and commercialize livestock production and the need to conserve the subcontinent's unparalleled wildlife and wilderness resources. © 2013 Blackwell Verlag GmbH.

The Study of an Integrated Rating System for Supplier Quality Performance in the Semiconductor Industry

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Lee, Yu-Cheng; Yen, Tieh-Min; Tsai, Chih-Hung

This study provides an integrated model of Supplier Quality Performance Assesment (SQPA) activity for the semiconductor industry through introducing the ISO 9001 management framework, Importance-Performance Analysis (IPA) Supplier Quality Performance Assesment and Taguchi`s Signal-to-Noise Ratio (S/N) techniques. This integrated model provides a SQPA methodology to create value for all members under mutual cooperation and trust in the supply chain. This method helps organizations build a complete SQPA framework, linking organizational objectives and SQPA activities to optimize rating techniques to promote supplier quality improvement. The techniques used in SQPA activities are easily understood. A case involving a design house is illustrated to show our model.

[Supply services at health facilities: measuring performance].

PubMed

Dacosta Claro, I

2001-01-01

Performance measurement, in their different meanings--either balance scorecard or outputs measurement--have become an essential tool in today's organizations (World-Class organizations) to improve service quality and reduce costs. This paper presents a performance measurement system for the hospital supply chain. The system is organized in different levels and groups of indicators in order to show a hierarchical, coherent and integrated vision of the processes. Thus, supply services performance is measured according to (1) financial aspects, (2) customers satisfaction aspects and (3) internal aspects of the processes performed. Since the informational needs of the managers vary within the administrative structure, the performance measurement system is defined in three hierarchical levels. Firstly, the whole supply chain, with the different interrelation of activities. Secondly, the three main processes of the chain--physical management of products, purchasing and negotiation processes and the local storage units. And finally, the performance measurement of each activity involved. The system and the indicators have been evaluated with the participation of 17 health services of Quebec (Canada), however, and due to the similarities of the operation, could be equally implemented in Spanish hospitals.

Study of China green supply chain management policies and standard

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Zhang, Xiaoxin; Huang, Jin; Lin, Ling

2017-11-01

With the highlight of the environment issues, manufacturing industry needs to be environmentally managed with integrated methods in system aspect. Green supply chain management, integrating the environment aspect into each step of the implement of supply chain management, is the key measure to improve the efficiency of environmental management and to remit the pollution. It also helps to make best use and configuration of the resources and has been attracting much attention from our government, enterprises and academia in recent years. This paper introduced the definition and content of green supply chain management, concluded the research progress of green supply chain management by domestic scholars, stated the characteristic and achievement of the implement of green supply chain management in China as well as analyzed the current existing problems and suggestions in the future.

Minimizing pathogen growth and quality deterioration of packaged leafy greens by maintaining optimum temperature in refrigerated display cases with doors

USDA-ARS?s Scientific Manuscript database

Retail display of packaged fresh-cut leafy greens is a critical stage of cold chain management and is prone to temperature abuse when produce is displayed in open cases, due to infiltration of ambient air into the case. Previous studies demonstrated that retrofitting open display cases with doors is...

A Hybrid Genetic-Simulated Annealing Algorithm for the Location-Inventory-Routing Problem Considering Returns under E-Supply Chain Environment

PubMed Central

Guo, Hao; Fu, Jing

2013-01-01

Facility location, inventory control, and vehicle routes scheduling are critical and highly related problems in the design of logistics system for e-business. Meanwhile, the return ratio in Internet sales was significantly higher than in the traditional business. Many of returned merchandise have no quality defects, which can reenter sales channels just after a simple repackaging process. Focusing on the existing problem in e-commerce logistics system, we formulate a location-inventory-routing problem model with no quality defects returns. To solve this NP-hard problem, an effective hybrid genetic simulated annealing algorithm (HGSAA) is proposed. Results of numerical examples show that HGSAA outperforms GA on computing time, optimal solution, and computing stability. The proposed model is very useful to help managers make the right decisions under e-supply chain environment. PMID:24489489

Benefits and Barriers of Implementation and Utilization of Radio-Frequency Identification (RFID) Systems in Transfusion Medicine.

PubMed

Coustasse, Alberto; Cunningham, Brian; Deslich, Stacie; Willson, Eric; Meadows, Pamela

2015-01-01

Radio-frequency identification (RFID) technology is used by hospital supply chains to track medical products and monitor inventories. Hospitals have also begun incorporating RFID technology as part of their transfusion processes. The purpose of this review was to analyze how healthcare organization supply chains can benefit from the utilization of RFID systems in transfusion service departments. The methodology for this study was a literature review following the steps of a systematic review with a total of 52 sources referenced. RFID technology is used to manage and track blood products from the initial donor phlebotomy to final disposition or product transfusion. RFID-enabled transfusion practices have successfully increased provider productivity and product quality through work-time reduction and error reduction. Findings of this research study suggest that RFID has provided improvements in quality of care and efficiency, while initial costs, security, and privacy appear to be the principal barriers to adoption.

Imbedding HACCP principles in dairy herd health and production management: case report on calf rearing

PubMed Central

2008-01-01

Driven by consumer demands, European legislation has suggested the use of HACCP (Hazard Analysis Critical Control Point) as the quality risk management programme for the whole dairy chain. Until now, an exception has been made for primary producers, but as regulations evolve, on-farm HACCP-like programmes should be ready to assure food safety as well as animal health and animal welfare. In our field experiment, the HACCP-concept was used to combine both optimal farm management and formalisation of quality assurance in an on-farm situation in the Netherlands. The process of young stock rearing was chosen, since its importance for the future of the farm is often underestimated. Hazards and their associated risk factors can be controlled within the farm-specific standards and tolerances, as targets can be controlled by corrective measures and by implementation of farm-specific worksheets. The veterinarian is pivotal for the facility-based HACCP team, since he/she has knowledge about on-farm risk assessment and relations between clinical pathology, feed and farm management. The HACCP concept in combination with veterinary herd health and production management programmes offers a promising approach to optimise on-farm production processes (i.e., young stock rearing) in addition to a structural approach for quality risk management on dairy farms. PMID:21851722

Imbedding HACCP principles in dairy herd health and production management: case report on calf rearing.

PubMed

Boersema, Jsc; Noordhuizen, Jptm; Vieira, A; Lievaart, Jj; Baumgartner, W

2008-09-01

Driven by consumer demands, European legislation has suggested the use of HACCP (Hazard Analysis Critical Control Point) as the quality risk management programme for the whole dairy chain. Until now, an exception has been made for primary producers, but as regulations evolve, on-farm HACCP-like programmes should be ready to assure food safety as well as animal health and animal welfare. In our field experiment, the HACCP-concept was used to combine both optimal farm management and formalisation of quality assurance in an on-farm situation in the Netherlands. The process of young stock rearing was chosen, since its importance for the future of the farm is often underestimated. Hazards and their associated risk factors can be controlled within the farm-specific standards and tolerances, as targets can be controlled by corrective measures and by implementation of farm-specific worksheets. The veterinarian is pivotal for the facility-based HACCP team, since he/she has knowledge about on-farm risk assessment and relations between clinical pathology, feed and farm management. The HACCP concept in combination with veterinary herd health and production management programmes offers a promising approach to optimise on-farm production processes (i.e., young stock rearing) in addition to a structural approach for quality risk management on dairy farms.

Opening the Black Box: Exploring the Effect of Transformation on Online Service Delivery in Local Governments

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

van Veenstra, Anne Fleur; Zuurmond, Arre

To enhance the quality of their online service delivery, many government organizations seek to transform their organization beyond merely setting up a front office. This transformation includes elements such as the formation of service delivery chains, the adoption of a management strategy supporting process orientation and the implementation of enterprise architecture. This paper explores whether undertaking this transformation has a positive effect on the quality of online service delivery, using data gathered from seventy local governments. We found that having an externally oriented management strategy in place, adopting enterprise architecture, aligning information systems to business and sharing activities between processes and departments are positively related to the quality of online service delivery. We recommend that further research should be carried out to find out whether dimensions of organizational development too have an effect on online service delivery in the long term.

Demonstration of community pharmacy and managed care organization collaboration on cardiovascular disease risk factor identification using health risk appraisal.

PubMed

Dettloff, Rick W; Morse, Jacqueline A

2009-01-01

To integrate the resources from a local statewide managed care organization (MCO) and a supermarket pharmacy chain to conduct a comprehensive health risk appraisal (HRA). Collected data were used to assess cardiovascular risk factors and identify disease management opportunities. An analysis to determine the prevalence of risk factors was conducted on a cross-sectional HRA survey. The HRA involved point-of-care cholesterol screening (with a follow-up risk factor questionnaire) conducted by pharmacist employees of the employer group (a regional supermarket chain). Those eligible for the screening were employees of the supermarket chain and their dependents covered by the participating MCO. A total of 12,915 completed HRA questionnaires were received. The mean age of the employees participating was approximately 44 years. Of note, 14%, 24%, 21%, and 69% of questionnaires had abnormal values for total cholesterol, high-density lipoprotein (HDL) cholesterol, blood pressure, and body mass index (BMI), respectively. Compared with national benchmarks, low HDL cholesterol and BMI more than 30 kg/m2 were more common in this cohort. More than one-fourth of the employees in this analysis were identified as being at high risk for a coronary heart disease event. The unique collaboration presented here allowed for an expanded role of pharmacists to implement a quality improvement program. In response, the employer decided to continue the HRA screening and offer a employee contribution reduction-based health incentive to covered members. The employer also is considering offering cardiovascular disease management interventions that will be performed by the supermarket chain's pharmacists and targeted toward the identified risk factor trends.

Affecting the value chain through supplier kaizen.

PubMed

Forman, C R; Vargas, D H

1999-02-01

In the aerospace industry, typically 60 percent of a product's cost and 70 percent of the lead time are due to purchased material. To affect price and customer responsiveness, improvement initiatives must be extended into the supply chain. Many companies have developed supply base management systems that include long-term agreements with suppliers, partnering with suppliers in risk taking and product design, information sharing, and quality and delivery rating systems. The premise is that suppliers are an extension of the factory. But to take full advantage of customer-supplier relationships, the suppliers must be "developed" in the same manner as a manufacturing unit. Supplier kaizen is a method of bringing suppliers to the same level of operations as the parent company, through training and improvement projects, to ensure superior performance and nurture the trust that is required for strong partnerships. This article describes Sikorsky Aircraft's use of kaizen to improve its supply base management.

[Integrated quality assurance].

PubMed

Bögel, K; Stöhr, K

1994-07-01

The definition of terms and connotation of "Quality", "Quality Assurance" and "Integration" lead to an analysis and understanding of inhibiting and fostering factors of the "Health Triad" of people, animals and environment. Although "Quality" is largely or ultimately determined by the consumer, there are considerable differences as this term is applied by (a) the individual consumer, (b) the dynamic producer defending or gaining markets, (c) those engaged in traditional product manufacturing, or (d) governments setting (minimum) requirements for the sake of free trade. "Quality Assurance" offers cooperation of partners all along the food chain from "pasture to table". The managerial process turned into a continuum of responsibility and agreement on processes and product characteristics. This overcomes the disadvantages of strategies stressing distinct defense barriers. In practice this philosophy of a predominant role of defence barriers proved largely partnership destructive, in that it permitted to shift responsibilities for failures and to claim administrative competence according to momentary situations and interests. "Integrated Quality Assurance" means mutual agreement of two or more partners along the food chain (e. g. feed producers, farmers, animal health industry, veterinarians and food processors) on product characteristics and production methods. It involves essential system elements including facilities, materials, manpower, information, transport, management etc. Different principles and procedures of quality assurance have been introduced in practice, including agriculture and food processing. These different approaches are not mutually exclusive but largely of complementary nature.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)

An Analysis of United States Marine Corps Enlisted Entry-Level Training Using Supply Chain and Operations Management

DTIC Science & Technology

2010-12-01

An Analysis of United States Marine Corps Enlisted Entry-Level Training Using Supply Chain and Operations Management ______________________________________ By...Report 4. TITLE AND SUBTITLE: An Analysis of United States Marine Corps Enlisted Entry-Level Training Using Supply Chain and Operations Management 6...Level Training; United States Marine Corps; Operations Management ; Supply Chain Management; Process Analysis 16. PRICE CODE 17. SECURITY

Quality assurance of multiport image-guided minimally invasive surgery at the lateral skull base.

PubMed

Nau-Hermes, Maria; Schmitt, Robert; Becker, Meike; El-Hakimi, Wissam; Hansen, Stefan; Klenzner, Thomas; Schipper, Jörg

2014-01-01

For multiport image-guided minimally invasive surgery at the lateral skull base a quality management is necessary to avoid the damage of closely spaced critical neurovascular structures. So far there is no standardized method applicable independently from the surgery. Therefore, we adapt a quality management method, the quality gates (QG), which is well established in, for example, the automotive industry and apply it to multiport image-guided minimally invasive surgery. QG divide a process into different sections. Passing between sections can only be achieved if previously defined requirements are fulfilled which secures the process chain. An interdisciplinary team of otosurgeons, computer scientists, and engineers has worked together to define the quality gates and the corresponding criteria that need to be fulfilled before passing each quality gate. In order to evaluate the defined QG and their criteria, the new surgery method was applied with a first prototype at a human skull cadaver model. We show that the QG method can ensure a safe multiport minimally invasive surgical process at the lateral skull base. Therewith, we present an approach towards the standardization of quality assurance of surgical processes.

Quality Assurance of Multiport Image-Guided Minimally Invasive Surgery at the Lateral Skull Base

PubMed Central

Nau-Hermes, Maria; Schmitt, Robert; Becker, Meike; El-Hakimi, Wissam; Hansen, Stefan; Klenzner, Thomas; Schipper, Jörg

2014-01-01

For multiport image-guided minimally invasive surgery at the lateral skull base a quality management is necessary to avoid the damage of closely spaced critical neurovascular structures. So far there is no standardized method applicable independently from the surgery. Therefore, we adapt a quality management method, the quality gates (QG), which is well established in, for example, the automotive industry and apply it to multiport image-guided minimally invasive surgery. QG divide a process into different sections. Passing between sections can only be achieved if previously defined requirements are fulfilled which secures the process chain. An interdisciplinary team of otosurgeons, computer scientists, and engineers has worked together to define the quality gates and the corresponding criteria that need to be fulfilled before passing each quality gate. In order to evaluate the defined QG and their criteria, the new surgery method was applied with a first prototype at a human skull cadaver model. We show that the QG method can ensure a safe multiport minimally invasive surgical process at the lateral skull base. Therewith, we present an approach towards the standardization of quality assurance of surgical processes. PMID:25105146

Introducing quality improvement management methods into primary health care services in Uganda.

PubMed

Omaswa, F; Burnham, G; Baingana, G; Mwebesa, H; Morrow, R

1996-01-01

Uganda's National Quality Assurance Program was established in 1994 to monitor the process of decentralization of primary health care services. Guidelines were developed to address problems (e.g., in obtaining health funds channeled through local government) identified at district meetings. Bringing together District Health Teams with local administrators and political leaders to share responsibility for strengthening health services has been a significant program achievement. A smoother functioning referral system from health units to district hospitals has resulted. The response to a measles outbreak in the Arua district in 1993-94 confirmed the utility of the quality management approach. Weaknesses in the district cold chain, problems with diagnostic accuracy, and a poorly functioning information system were identified as key causative factors, and corrective action in these areas led to a subsequent decline in measles cases. Patient dissatisfaction with long waiting times at Masaka Hospital was another concern addressed through the quality assurance approach. Five salient areas were identified for action: low health worker morale, supply shortages, inadequate supervision by hospital management, poor patient flow, and inefficient drug dispensing. As a result, long delays were eliminated and utilization of hospital outpatient services increased by 28%.

Pharmaceutical supply chain risks: a systematic review

PubMed Central

2013-01-01

Introduction Supply of medicine as a strategic product in any health system is a top priority. Pharmaceutical companies, a major player of the drug supply chain, are subject to many risks. These risks disrupt the supply of medicine in many ways such as their quantity and quality and their delivery to the right place and customers and at the right time. Therefore risk identification in the supply process of pharmaceutical companies and mitigate them is highly recommended. Objective In this study it is attempted to investigate pharmaceutical supply chain risks with perspective of manufacturing companies. Methods Scopus, PubMed, Web of Science bibliographic databases and Google scholar scientific search engines were searched for pharmaceutical supply chain risk management studies with 6 different groups of keywords. All results found by keywords were reviewed and none-relevant articles were excluded by outcome of interests and researcher boundaries of study within 4 steps and through a systematic method. Results Nine articles were included in the systematic review and totally 50 main risks based on study outcome of interest extracted which classified in 7 categories. Most of reported risks were related to supply and supplier issues. Organization and strategy issues, financial, logistic, political, market and regulatory issues were in next level of importance. Conclusion It was shown that the majority of risks in pharmaceutical supply chain were internal risks due to processes, people and functions mismanagement which could be managed by suitable mitigation strategies. PMID:24355166

Information flow in the pharmaceutical supply chain.

PubMed

Yousefi, Nazila; Alibabaei, Ahmad

2015-01-01

Managing the supply chain plays an important role in creating competitive advantages for companies. Adequate information flow in supply chain is one of the most important issues in SCM. Therefore, using certain Information Systems can have a significant role in managing and integrating data and information within the supply chain. Pharmaceutical supply chain is more complex than many other supply chains, in the sense that it can affect social and political perspectives. On the other hand, managing the pharmaceutical supply chain is difficult because of its complexity and also government regulations in this field. Although, Iran has progressed a lot in pharmaceutical manufacturing, still there are many unsolved issues in managing the information flow in the pharmaceutical supply chain. In this study, we reviewed the benefits of using different levels of an integrated information system in the supply chain and the possible challenges ahead.

Extending the "Knowledge Advantage": Creating Learning Chains

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Maqsood, Tayyab; Walker, Derek; Finegan, Andrew

2007-01-01

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to develop a synergy between the approaches of knowledge management in a learning organisation and supply chain management so that learning chains can be created in order to unleash innovation and creativity by managing knowledge in supply chains. Design/methodology/approach: Through extensive literature…

76 FR 41525 - Hewlett Packard Global Parts Supply Chain, Global Product Life Cycles Management Unit Including...

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2011-07-14

... Parts Supply Chain, Global Product Life Cycles Management Unit Including Teleworkers Reporting to... workers of Hewlett Packard, Global Parts Supply Chain, Global Product Life Cycles Management Unit...). Since eligible workers of Hewlett Packard, Global Parts Supply Chain, Global Product Life Cycles...

Effects of the internal friction and the solvent quality on the dynamics of a polymer chain closure.

PubMed

Yu, Wancheng; Luo, Kaifu

2015-03-28

Using 3D Langevin dynamics simulations, we investigate the effects of the internal friction and the solvent quality on the dynamics of a polymer chain closure. We show that the chain closure in good solvents is a purely diffusive process. By extrapolation to zero solvent viscosity, we find that the internal friction of a chain plays a non-ignorable role in the dynamics of the chain closure. When the solvent quality changes from good to poor, the mean closure time τc decreases by about 1 order of magnitude for the chain length 20 ≤ N ≤ 100. Furthermore, τc has a minimum as a function of the solvent quality. With increasing the chain length N, the minimum of τc occurs at a better solvent. Finally, the single exponential distributions of the closure time in poor solvents suggest that the negative excluded volume of segments does not alter the nearly Poisson statistical characteristics of the process of the chain closure.

The Effectiveness of Exercise on Recovery and Clinical Outcomes in Patients With Soft Tissue Injuries of the Hip, Thigh, or Knee: A Systematic Review by the Ontario Protocol for Traffic Injury Management (OPTIMa) Collaboration.

PubMed

Brown, Courtney K; Southerst, Danielle; Côté, Pierre; Shearer, Heather M; Randhawa, Kristi; Wong, Jessica J; Yu, Hainan; Varatharajan, Sharanya; Sutton, Deborah; Stern, Paula J; D'Angelo, Kevin; Dion, Sarah; Cox, Jocelyn; Goldgrub, Rachel; Stupar, Maja; Carroll, Linda J; Taylor-Vaisey, Anne

2016-02-01

The purpose of this systematic review was to determine the effectiveness of exercise for the management of soft tissue injuries of the hip, thigh, and knee. We conducted a systematic review and searched MEDLINE, EMBASE, PsycINFO, the Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials, and CINAHL Plus with Full Text from January 1, 1990, to April 8, 2015, for randomized controlled trials (RCTs), cohort studies, and case-control studies evaluating the effect of exercise on pain intensity, self-rated recovery, functional recovery, health-related quality of life, psychological outcomes, and adverse events. Random pairs of independent reviewers screened titles and abstracts and assessed risk of bias using the Scottish Intercollegiate Guidelines Network criteria. Best evidence synthesis methodology was used. We screened 9494 citations. Eight RCTs were critically appraised, and 3 had low risk of bias and were included in our synthesis. One RCT found statistically significant improvements in pain and function favoring clinic-based progressive combined exercises over a "wait and see" approach for patellofemoral pain syndrome. A second RCT suggests that supervised closed kinetic chain exercises may lead to greater symptom improvement than open chain exercises for patellofemoral pain syndrome. One RCT suggests that clinic-based group exercises may be more effective than multimodal physiotherapy in male athletes with persistent groin pain. We found limited high-quality evidence to support the use of exercise for the management of soft tissue injuries of the lower extremity. The evidence suggests that clinic-based exercise programs may benefit patients with patellofemoral pain syndrome and persistent groin pain. Further high-quality research is needed. Copyright © 2016 National University of Health Sciences. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Commitment to and preparedness for sustainable supply chain management in the oil and gas industry.

PubMed

Wan Ahmad, Wan Nurul K; Rezaei, Jafar; Tavasszy, Lóránt A; de Brito, Marisa P

2016-09-15

Our current dependency on the oil and gas (O&G) industry for economic development and social activities necessitates research into the sustainability of the industry's supply chains. At present, studies on sustainable supply chain management (SSCM) practices in the industry do not include firm-internal factors that affect the sustainability strategies employed by different functional areas of its supply chains. Our study aims to address this gap by identifying the relevant internal factors and exploring their relationship with SSCM strategies. Specifically, we discuss the commitment to and preparedness for sustainable practices of companies that operate in upstream and downstream O&G supply chain. We study the impact of these factors on their sustainability strategies of four key supply chain functions: supplier management, production management, product stewardship and logistics management. The analyses of data collected through a survey among 81 companies show that management preparedness may enhance sustainable supply chain strategies in the O&G industry more than commitment does. Among the preparedness measures, management of supply chain operational risks is found to be vital to the sustainability of all supply chain functions except for production management practices. The findings also highlight the central importance of supplier and logistics management to the achievement of sustainable O&G supply chains. Companies must also develop an organizational culture that encourages, for example, team collaboration and proactive behaviour to finding innovative sustainability solutions in order to translate commitment to sustainable practices into actions that can produce actual difference to their SSCM practices. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Evolutionary Game Model Study of Construction Green Supply Chain Management under the Government Intervention

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Xing, Yuanzhi; Deng, Xiaoyi

2017-11-01

The paper first has defined the concepts of green supply chain management and evolution game theory, and pointed out the characteristics of green supply chain management in construction. The main participants and key links of the construction green supply chain management are determined by constructing the organization framework. This paper established the evolutionary game model between construction enterprises and recycling enterprises for the green supply chain closed-loop structure. The waste recycling evolutionary stability equilibrium solution is obtained to explore the principle and effective scope of government policy intervention. This paper put forward the relevant countermeasures to the green supply chain management in construction recycling stage from the government point of view. The conclusion has reference value and guidance to the final product construction enterprises, recycling enterprises and the government during green supply chain.

Master's Degree in Management Information Systems with a Supply Chain Management Focus

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Ramaswamy, Kizhanatham V.; Boyd, Joseph L.; Desai, Mayur

2007-01-01

A graduate curriculum in Management Information Systems with a Supply Chain Management focus is presented. The motivation for this endeavor stems from the fact that the global scope of modern business organizations and the competitive environment in which they operate, requires an information system leveraged supply chain management system (SCM)…

Information flow in the pharmaceutical supply chain

PubMed Central

Yousefi, Nazila; Alibabaei, Ahmad

2015-01-01

Managing the supply chain plays an important role in creating competitive advantages for companies. Adequate information flow in supply chain is one of the most important issues in SCM. Therefore, using certain Information Systems can have a significant role in managing and integrating data and information within the supply chain. Pharmaceutical supply chain is more complex than many other supply chains, in the sense that it can affect social and political perspectives. On the other hand, managing the pharmaceutical supply chain is difficult because of its complexity and also government regulations in this field. Although, Iran has progressed a lot in pharmaceutical manufacturing, still there are many unsolved issues in managing the information flow in the pharmaceutical supply chain. In this study, we reviewed the benefits of using different levels of an integrated information system in the supply chain and the possible challenges ahead. PMID:26664401

Stakeholders Integration in Higher Education: Supply Chain Approach

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Al-Turki, U. M.; Duffuaa, S.; Ayar, T.; Demirel, O.

2008-01-01

Supply chain management principles have emerged in the last decade as a strategic option to meet new challenges in global business environment. Viewing business environment as part of a chain, starting from raw material suppliers to end customers passing by producers, is at the heart of supply-chain management. Many management principles have…

Factors affecting the adoption of healthcare information technology.

PubMed

Phichitchaisopa, Nisakorn; Naenna, Thanakorn

2013-01-01

In order to improve the quality and performance of healthcare services, healthcare information technology is among the most important technology in healthcare supply chain management. This study sets out to apply and test the Unified Theory of Acceptance and Use of Technology (UTAUT), to examine the factors influencing healthcare Information Technology (IT) services. A structured questionnaire was developed and distributed to healthcare representatives in each province surveyed in Thailand. Data collected from 400 employees including physicians, nurses, and hospital staff members were tested the model using structural equation modeling technique. The results found that the factors with a significant effect are performance expectancy, effort expectancy and facilitating conditions. They were also found to have a significant impact on behavioral intention to use the acceptance healthcare technology. In addition, in Thai provincial areas, positive significance was found with two factors: social influence on behavioral intention and facilitating conditions to direct using behavior. Based on research findings, in order for healthcare information technology to be widely adopted and used by healthcare staffs in healthcare supply chain management, the healthcare organizational management should improve healthcare staffs' behavioral intention and facilitating conditions.

Factors affecting the adoption of healthcare information technology

PubMed Central

Phichitchaisopa, Nisakorn; Naenna, Thanakorn

2013-01-01

In order to improve the quality and performance of healthcare services, healthcare information technology is among the most important technology in healthcare supply chain management. This study sets out to apply and test the Unified Theory of Acceptance and Use of Technology (UTAUT), to examine the factors influencing healthcare Information Technology (IT) services. A structured questionnaire was developed and distributed to healthcare representatives in each province surveyed in Thailand. Data collected from 400 employees including physicians, nurses, and hospital staff members were tested the model using structural equation modeling technique. The results found that the factors with a significant effect are performance expectancy, effort expectancy and facilitating conditions. They were also found to have a significant impact on behavioral intention to use the acceptance healthcare technology. In addition, in Thai provincial areas, positive significance was found with two factors: social influence on behavioral intention and facilitating conditions to direct using behavior. Based on research findings, in order for healthcare information technology to be widely adopted and used by healthcare staffs in healthcare supply chain management, the healthcare organizational management should improve healthcare staffs' behavioral intention and facilitating conditions. PMID:26417235

Necessity of Mutual Understandings in Supply Chain Management of Lithium-Ion Battery for Space Vehicle

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kiyokawa, T.; Nakajima, M.; Mori, Y.

2012-01-01

Application of Lithium Ion Battery (LIB) is getting growth these days in space industry. Through the supply chain of LIB, it is very important to establish deepen mutual understandings between space industry people and non-space industry people in order to meet requirements of space grade quality control. Furthermore, this approach has positive effects for safety handling and safety transportation. This paper explains necessity of mutual understandings based on the analysis of aviation incident report. The study is focused on its background and issues on each related industry. These contents are studied and discussed in the New Work Item Proposal of the International Standard of LIB for space vehicle.

Quality indicators to compare accredited independent pharmacies and accredited chain pharmacies in Thailand.

PubMed

Arkaravichien, Wiwat; Wongpratat, Apichaya; Lertsinudom, Sunee

2016-08-01

Background Quality indicators determine the quality of actual practice in reference to standard criteria. The Community Pharmacy Association (Thailand), with technical support from the International Pharmaceutical Federation, developed a tool for quality assessment and quality improvement at community pharmacies. This tool has passed validity and reliability tests, but has not yet had feasibility testing. Objective (1) To test whether this quality tool could be used in routine settings. (2) To compare quality scores between accredited independent and accredited chain pharmacies. Setting Accredited independent pharmacies and accredited chain pharmacies in the north eastern region of Thailand. Methods A cross sectional study was conducted in 34 accredited independent pharmacies and accredited chain pharmacies. Quality scores were assessed by observation and by interviewing the responsible pharmacists. Data were collected and analyzed by independent t-test and Mann-Whitney U test as appropriate. Results were plotted by histogram and spider chart. Main outcome measure Domain's assessable scores, possible maximum scores, mean and median of measured scores. Results Domain's assessable scores were close to domain's possible maximum scores. This meant that most indicators could be assessed in most pharmacies. The spider chart revealed that measured scores in the personnel, drug inventory and stocking, and patient satisfaction and health promotion domains of chain pharmacies were significantly higher than those of independent pharmacies (p < 0.05). There was no statistical difference between independent pharmacies and chain pharmacies in the premise and facility or dispensing and patient care domains. Conclusion Quality indicators developed by the Community Pharmacy Association (Thailand) could be used to assess quality of practice in pharmacies in routine settings. It is revealed that the quality scores of chain pharmacies were higher than those of independent pharmacies.

The Greening Role of Tour Operators

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Lozano, Javier; Arbulú, Italo; Rey-Maquieira, Javier

2016-01-01

This paper shows that the tour operators (TOs) can play a coordinating role in the adoption of environmental management upstream the tourism supply chain. This is done using a dynamic model to analyze the environmental management adoption by hotels in a tourism destination induced by a TO. The TO can create incentives to greening hotels' management through the sharing of an environmental price premium. We show that the extent of green management adoption depends on interest rate, the willingness to pay for environmental quality, and hotels' organizational inertia. We also show how the financial yields from green management are shared between TOs and hotels. Finally, we consider a destination manager that subsidizes hotels' green management. If the destination manager does not take the greening role of TOs into account, she could mistake the true trade-off that she faces between the destination's economic and environmental outcomes for the win-win setting that characterizes the general problem.

The Greening Role of Tour Operators.

PubMed

Lozano, Javier; Arbulú, Italo; Rey-Maquieira, Javier

2016-01-01

This paper shows that the tour operators (TOs) can play a coordinating role in the adoption of environmental management upstream the tourism supply chain. This is done using a dynamic model to analyze the environmental management adoption by hotels in a tourism destination induced by a TO. The TO can create incentives to greening hotels' management through the sharing of an environmental price premium. We show that the extent of green management adoption depends on interest rate, the willingness to pay for environmental quality, and hotels' organizational inertia. We also show how the financial yields from green management are shared between TOs and hotels. Finally, we consider a destination manager that subsidizes hotels' green management. If the destination manager does not take the greening role of TOs into account, she could mistake the true trade-off that she faces between the destination's economic and environmental outcomes for the win-win setting that characterizes the general problem.

Supply chain management: new paradigms for customers and suppliers.

PubMed

Garwood, D

1999-02-01

Companies are constantly looking for ways to increase their effectiveness and improve their bottom lines. One area of renewed interest is supply chain management. By managing their supply chains better, companies are able to become more flexible, offer defect-free products, eliminate unnecessary delays, and keep costs down. This article briefly describes the objectives of supply chain management and lists some of the tools that can be used to achieve them.

Open-Source ERP: Is It Ripe for Use in Teaching Supply Chain Management?

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Huynh, Minh Q.; Chu, Hung W.

2011-01-01

The field of supply chain management has changed greatly and rapidly. With the advent of enterprise systems, supply chains are now operating with up-to-the-minute information. The value of the information flow is marked by speed, accessibility, accuracy, and most of all relevancy. As it continually evolves, the supply chain management curriculum…

[Discussion on research thinking of traditional Chinese medicine standardization system based on whole process quality control].

PubMed

Dong, Ling; Sun, Yu; Pei, Wen-Xuan; Dai, Jun-Dong; Wang, Zi-Yu; Pan, Meng; Chen, Jiang-Peng; Wang, Yun

2017-12-01

The concept of "Quality by design" indicates that good design for the whole life cycle of pharmaceutical production enables the drug to meet the expected quality requirements. Aiming at the existing problems of the traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) industry, the TCM standardization system was put forward in this paper from the national strategic level, under the guidance by the idea of quality control in international manufacturing industry and with considerations of TCM industry's own characteristics and development status. The connotation of this strategy was to establish five interrelated systems: multi-indicators system based on tri-indicators system, quality standard and specification system of TCM herbal materials and decoction pieces, quality traceability system, data monitoring system based on whole-process quality control, and whole-process quality management system of TCM, and achieve the whole process systematic and scientific study in TCM industry through "top-level design-implement in steps-system integration" workflow. This article analyzed the correlation between the quality standards of all links, established standard operating procedures of each link and whole process, and constructed a high standard overall quality management system for TCM industry chains, in order to provide a demonstration for the establishment of TCM whole-process quality control system and provide systematic reference and basis for standardization strategy in TCM industry. Copyright© by the Chinese Pharmaceutical Association.

Coordinating vendor-buyer decisions for imperfect quality items considering trade credit and fully backlogged shortages

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Khanna, Aditi; Gautam, Prerna; Jaggi, Chandra K.

2016-03-01

Supply chain management has become a critical issue for modern business environments. In today's world of cooperative decision-making, individual decisions in order to reduce inventory costs may not lead to an overall optimal solution. Coordination is necessary among participants of supply chain to achieve better performance. There are legitimate and important efforts from the vendor to enhance the relation with buyer; one such effort is offering trade credit which has been a driver of growth and development of business between them. The cost of financing is a core consideration in effective financial management, in general and in context of business. Also, due to imperfect production a vendor may produce defective items which results in shortages. Motivated with these aspects, an integrated vendor-buyer inventory model is developed for imperfect quality items with allowable shortages; in which the vendor offers credit period to the buyer for payment. The objective is to minimize the total joint annual costs incurred by the vendor and the buyer by using integrated decision making approach. The expected total annual integrated cost is derived and a solution procedure is provided to find the optimal solution. Numerical analysis shows that the integrated model gives an impressive cost reduction, in comparison to independent decision policies by the vendor and the buyer.

There is no A in CD&E, Neither for Analysis nor for Anarchy - Ensuring Scientific Rigour and Analytical Structure while maintaining Military Relevance and Artistic Freedom

DTIC Science & Technology

2010-04-01

Journal of Supply Chain Management , Vol. 4, No. 4. pp. 7-27. [21] Ellram, L. M. (1996): The use of the case study method in logistics research. Journal ...logistics. European Journal of Operational Research, No. 144, pp. 321-332. There is no ´A´ in CD&E, neither for Analysis nor for Anarchy – Ensuring...analytical support as quality assurance. For managers of CD&E, it is necessary to be able to state that scarce resources are being used to develop the

Closing the delivery gaps in pediatric HIV care in Togo, West Africa: using the care delivery value chain framework to direct quality improvement.

PubMed

Fiori, Kevin; Schechter, Jennifer; Dey, Monica; Braganza, Sandra; Rhatigan, Joseph; Houndenou, Spero; Gbeleou, Christophe; Palerbo, Emmanuel; Tchangani, Elfamozo; Lopez, Andrew; Bensen, Emily; Hirschhorn, Lisa R

2016-03-01

Providing quality care for all children living with HIV/AIDS remains a global challenge and requires the development of new healthcare delivery strategies. The care delivery value chain (CDVC) is a framework that maps activities required to provide effective and responsive care for a patient with a particular disease across the continuum of care. By mapping activities along a value chain, the CDVC enables managers to better allocate resources, improve communication, and coordinate activities. We report on the successful application of the CDVC as a strategy to optimize care delivery and inform quality improvement (QI) efforts with the overall aim of improving care for Pediatric HIV patients in Togo, West Africa. Over the course of 12 months, 13 distinct QI activities in Pediatric HIV/AIDS care delivery were monitored, and 11 of those activities met or exceeded established targets. Examples included: increase in infants receiving routine polymerase chain reaction testing at 2 months (39-95%), increase in HIV exposed children receiving confirmatory HIV testing at 18 months (67-100%), and increase in patients receiving initial CD4 testing within 3 months of HIV diagnosis (67-100%). The CDVC was an effective approach for evaluating existing systems and prioritizing gaps in delivery for QI over the full cycle of Pediatric HIV/AIDS care in three specific ways: (1) facilitating the first comprehensive mapping of Pediatric HIV/AIDS services, (2) identifying gaps in available services, and (3) catalyzing the creation of a responsive QI plan. The CDVC provided a framework to drive meaningful, strategic action to improve Pediatric HIV care in Togo.

Challenges of standardized continuous quality improvement programs in community pharmacies: the case of SafetyNET-Rx.

PubMed

Boyle, Todd A; MacKinnon, Neil J; Mahaffey, Thomas; Duggan, Kellie; Dow, Natalie

2012-01-01

Research on continuous quality improvement (CQI) in community pharmacies lags in comparison to service, manufacturing, and various health care sectors. As a result, very little is known about the challenges community pharmacies face when implementing CQI programs in general, let alone the challenges of implementing a standardized and technologically sophisticated one. This research identifies the initial challenges of implementing a standardized CQI program in community pharmacies and how such challenges were addressed by pharmacy staff. Through qualitative interviews, a multisite study of the SafetyNET-Rx CQI program involving community pharmacies in Nova Scotia, Canada, was performed to identify such challenges. Interviews were conducted with the CQI facilitator (ie, staff pharmacist or technician) in 55 community pharmacies that adopted the SafetyNET-Rx program. Of these 55 pharmacies, 25 were part of large national corporate chains, 22 were part of banner chains, and 8 were independent pharmacies. A total of 10 different corporate chains and banners were represented among the 55 pharmacies. Thematic content analysis using well-established coding procedures was used to explore the interview data and elicit the key challenges faced. Six major challenges were identified, specifically finding time to report, having all pharmacy staff involved in quality-related event (QRE) reporting, reporting apprehensiveness, changing staff relationships, meeting to discuss QREs, and accepting the online technology. Challenges were addressed in a number of ways including developing a manual-online hybrid reporting system, managers paying staff to meet after hours, and pharmacy managers showing visible commitment to QRE reporting and learning. This research identifies key challenges to implementing CQI programs in community pharmacies and also provides a starting point for future research relating to how the challenges of QRE reporting and learning in community pharmacies change over time. Copyright © 2012 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

The application of supply chain management principles to emergency management logistics: An empirical study.

PubMed

Peterson, Matthew R; Young, Richard R; Gordon, Gary A

2016-01-01

Key elements of supply chain theory remain relevant to emergency management (EM) logistics activities. The Supply Chain Operations Reference model can also serve as a useful template for the planning, organizing, and execution of EM logistics. Through a series of case studies (developed through intensive survey of organizations and individuals responsible for EM), the authors identified the extent supply chain theory is being adopted and whether the theory was useful for emergency logistics managers. The authors found several drivers that influence the likelihood of an organization to implement elements of supply chain management: the frequency of events, organizational resources, population density, range of events, and severity of the disaster or emergency.

Risk management abilities in multimodal maritime supply chains: Visibility and control perspectives.

PubMed

Vilko, Jyri; Ritala, Paavo; Hallikas, Jukka

2016-11-29

Supply chain complexity and disintegration lead to increased uncertainty from a stakeholders' perspective, which is emerging as one of the major challenges of risk management. The ability to identify risks has weakened, as the responsibility of supply chain risk management is handed over to outside service providers. Regardless, the risks, their visibility and their impact depend on the position of the companies in the supply chain. The actors in the chain must therefore collaborate to create effective risk management conditions. This challenging situation is especially pronounced in multimodal maritime supply chains, where the risks and actor focality are high. This paper contributes to current risk management literature by providing a holistic and systemic view of risk visibility and control in maritime supply chains. The study employs broad-based, qualitative interview data collected from actors operating in southern Finland and the Gulf of Finland as well as an expert-panel assessment of the related risk management abilities. The results show a high level of variance in the level of risk identification and visibility between the actors in question. This further suggests that collaboration in supply chain risk management is essential, as an awareness of the risks and their control mechanisms do not necessarily reside in the same company. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

75 FR 29307 - Web Based Supply Chain Management Commodity Offer Form, Paperwork Collection Notice

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2010-05-25

... DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE Agricultural Marketing Service [Doc. No FV10-CP-01, AMS-FV-10-0041] Web... collection request is required for the implementation of a new system named Web Based Supply Chain Management...-2782. Mail: David Tuckwiller, Project Manager, Web Based Supply Chain Management System, Agricultural...

A Risk-based Assessment And Management Framework For Multipollutant Air Quality

PubMed Central

Frey, H. Christopher; Hubbell, Bryan

2010-01-01

The National Research Council recommended both a risk- and performance-based multipollutant approach to air quality management. Specifically, management decisions should be based on minimizing the exposure to, and risk of adverse effects from, multiple sources of air pollution and that the success of these decisions should be measured by how well they achieved this objective. We briefly describe risk analysis and its application within the current approach to air quality management. Recommendations are made as to how current practice could evolve to support a fully risk- and performance-based multipollutant air quality management system. The ability to implement a risk assessment framework in a credible and policy-relevant manner depends on the availability of component models and data which are scientifically sound and developed with an understanding of their application in integrated assessments. The same can be said about accountability assessments used to evaluate the outcomes of decisions made using such frameworks. The existing risk analysis framework, although typically applied to individual pollutants, is conceptually well suited for analyzing multipollutant management actions. Many elements of this framework, such as emissions and air quality modeling, already exist with multipollutant characteristics. However, the framework needs to be supported with information on exposure and concentration response relationships that result from multipollutant health studies. Because the causal chain that links management actions to emission reductions, air quality improvements, exposure reductions and health outcomes is parallel between prospective risk analyses and retrospective accountability assessments, both types of assessment should be placed within a single framework with common metrics and indicators where possible. Improvements in risk reductions can be obtained by adopting a multipollutant risk analysis framework within the current air quality management system, e.g. focused on standards for individual pollutants and with separate goals for air toxics and ambient pollutants. However, additional improvements may be possible if goals and actions are defined in terms of risk metrics that are comparable across criteria pollutants and air toxics (hazardous air pollutants), and that encompass both human health and ecological risks. PMID:21209847

Effectiveness of the food recovery at the retailing stage under shelf life uncertainty: An application to Italian food chains

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Muriana, Cinzia, E-mail: cinzia.muriana@unipa.it

Highlights: • The food recovery is seen as suitable way to manage food near to its expiry date. • The variability of the products shelf life must be taken into account. • The paper addresses the mathematic modeling of the profit related to food recovery. • The optimal time to withdraw the products is determinant for food recovery. - Abstract: Food losses represent a significant issue affecting food supply chains. The possibility of recovering such products can be seen as an effective way to reduce such a phenomenon, improve supply chain performances and ameliorate the conditions of undernourished people. Themore » topic has been already investigated by a previous paper enforcing the hypothesis of deterministic and constant Shelf Life (SL) of products. However, such a model cannot be properly extended to products affected by uncertainties of the SL as it does not take into account the deterioration costs and loss of profits due to the overcoming of the SL within the cycle time. Thus the present paper presents an extension of the previous one under stochastic conditions of the food quality. Differently from the previous publication, this work represents a general model applicable to all supply chains, especially to those managing fresh products characterized by uncertain SL such as fruits and vegetables. The deterioration costs and loss of profits are included in the model and the optimal time at which to withdraw the products from the shelves as well as the quantities to be shipped at each alternative destination have been determined. A comparison of the proposed model with that reported in the previous publication has been carried out in order to underline the impact of the SL variability on the optimality conditions. The results show that the food recovery strategy in the presence of uncertainty of the food quality is rewarding, even if the optimal profit is lower than that of the deterministic case.« less

A full value-chain Water Footprint Assessment to help informed decision in corporate sustainability strategies

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Zhang, Guoping; Chico Zamanilo, Daniel; Bai, Xue; Ren, Xiajing; Chen, Rong; Qin, Jun

2017-04-01

This study evaluated the water footprint (WF) of five production facilities along Muyuan Foodstuff Co. Ltd's (Muyuan) value chain, and assessed the sustainability and impact of their water footprints at the river catchment level. Muyuan, a large-scale, integrated pig breeder and producer in China, is keen to fulfil its corporate social responsibilities and committed to ensuring food quality and security, promoting environmental protection, and participating in catchment water resources management. Formulating corporate water related sustainability strategies, however, has been challenging. This study carried out a comprehensive Water Footprint Assessment (WFA) for Muyuan's full value chain to assist in formulating such strategies and setting up action plans with water footprint reduction targets. The study showed that that the water footprint of the supply chain, resulting from crops and crop products used in Muyuan's feed production facility is a major contributor to Muyuan's facilities' water footprint. From the perspective of the direct WF at the facilities, addressing the impact on water quality from effluents (i.e. the grey water footprint) at hog farms is a critical component of any water sustainability strategy. From the blue WF perspective, there are opportunities to reduce blue water consumption at hog farms through improved technology and implementation of best practices. The water footprint sustainability assessment in this study indicated that Muyuan operates in a catchment which is already under water stress and is a hotspot in terms of both blue water scarcity and water pollution level. The study helped identify potential water-related risks and opportunities for improving Muyuan's water use efficiency as well as ways Muyuan could contribute to sustainable water resources management in the catchment within which it operates. This is an innovative application of WFA in the livestock sector and supports the development of Muyuan's corporate water sustainability strategy. The results of the study were also used in the development of the national water footprint standard for organisations.

Benefits and Barriers of Implementation and Utilization of Radio-Frequency Identification (RFID) Systems in Transfusion Medicine

PubMed Central

Coustasse, Alberto; Cunningham, Brian; Deslich, Stacie; Willson, Eric; Meadows, Pamela

2015-01-01

Radio-frequency identification (RFID) technology is used by hospital supply chains to track medical products and monitor inventories. Hospitals have also begun incorporating RFID technology as part of their transfusion processes. The purpose of this review was to analyze how healthcare organization supply chains can benefit from the utilization of RFID systems in transfusion service departments. The methodology for this study was a literature review following the steps of a systematic review with a total of 52 sources referenced. RFID technology is used to manage and track blood products from the initial donor phlebotomy to final disposition or product transfusion. RFID-enabled transfusion practices have successfully increased provider productivity and product quality through work-time reduction and error reduction. Findings of this research study suggest that RFID has provided improvements in quality of care and efficiency, while initial costs, security, and privacy appear to be the principal barriers to adoption. PMID:26396555

Traceability and Risk Analysis Strategies for Addressing Counterfeit Electronics in Supply Chains for Complex Systems.

PubMed

DiMase, Daniel; Collier, Zachary A; Carlson, Jinae; Gray, Robin B; Linkov, Igor

2016-10-01

Within the microelectronics industry, there is a growing concern regarding the introduction of counterfeit electronic parts into the supply chain. Even though this problem is widespread, there have been limited attempts to implement risk-based approaches for testing and supply chain management. Supply chain risk management tends to focus on the highly visible disruptions of the supply chain instead of the covert entrance of counterfeits; thus counterfeit risk is difficult to mitigate. This article provides an overview of the complexities of the electronics supply chain, and highlights some gaps in risk assessment practices. In particular, this article calls for enhanced traceability capabilities to track and trace parts at risk through various stages of the supply chain. Placing the focus on risk-informed decision making through the following strategies is needed, including prioritization of high-risk parts, moving beyond certificates of conformance, incentivizing best supply chain management practices, adoption of industry standards, and design and management for supply chain resilience. © 2016 Society for Risk Analysis.

Identifying research advancements in supply chain risk management for Agri-food Industries: Literature review

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Septiani, W.; Astuti, P.

2017-12-01

Agri-food supply chain has different characteristics related to the raw materials it uses. Food supply chain has a high risk of damage, thus drawing a lot of attention from researchers in supply chain management. This research aimed to investigate the development of supply chain risk management research on agri-food industries. These reviews were arranged in steps systematically, ranging from searching related to the review of SCRM paper, reviewing the general framework of SCRM and the framework of agri-food SCRM. Selection of literature review papers in the period 2005-2017, and obtained 45 papers. The results of the identification research were illustrated in a supply chain risk management framework model. This provided insight toward future research directions and needs.

Silage review: Factors affecting dry matter and quality losses in silages.

PubMed

Borreani, G; Tabacco, E; Schmidt, R J; Holmes, B J; Muck, R E

2018-05-01

An overview was made of dry matter (DM) and quality losses that occur during the ensiling process from the field through the feeding phase. The aim was to review the relevant published literature of the last 15 yr focusing on developments achieved after the publication of the book Silage Science and Technology. This review discusses the factors affecting DM and quality losses in terms of field and pre-ensiling conditions, respiration and temperature at ensiling, fermentation patterns, methods of covering and weighting the silage cover, and management of aerobic deterioration. The possibility of reducing DM and quality losses during the ensiling process requires knowledge of how to measure losses on farm and establish the status of the silage during the feed-out phase, implementing the most effective management practices to avoid air exposure during conservation and reduce silage aerobic deterioration during feeding. The paper concludes with future perspectives and recommended management practices to reduce losses and increase efficiency over the whole ensiling process in view of increasing sustainability of the livestock production chain. The Authors. Published by FASS Inc. and Elsevier Inc. on behalf of the American Dairy Science Association®. This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/3.0/).

Health supply chain management.

PubMed

Zimmerman, Rolf; Gallagher, Pat

2010-01-01

This chapter gives an educational overview of: * The actual application of supply chain practice and disciplines required for service delivery improvement within the current health environment. * A rationale for the application of Supply Chain Management (SCM) approaches to the Health sector. * The tools and methods available for supply chain analysis and benchmarking. * Key supply chain success factors.

Teaching Supply Chain Management Complexities: A SCOR Model Based Classroom Simulation

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Webb, G. Scott; Thomas, Stephanie P.; Liao-Troth, Sara

2014-01-01

The SCOR (Supply Chain Operations Reference) Model Supply Chain Classroom Simulation is an in-class experiential learning activity that helps students develop a holistic understanding of the processes and challenges of supply chain management. The simulation has broader learning objectives than other supply chain related activities such as the…

Enterprise Sustainment Metrics

DTIC Science & Technology

2015-06-19

Ponte Verde Beach: Supply Chain Management Institute. Lambert, D. M., & Pohlen, T. L. (2014). Supply Chain Metrics. In D. M. Lambert, Supply Chain...Partnerships, Performance (pp. 239-256). Ponte Verde Beach: Supply Chain Management Institute Mills, J. S. (1843). A System of Logic, Ratiocinative and

Using SCOR as a Supply Chain Management Framework for Government Agency Contract Requirements

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Paxton, Joseph; Tucker, Brian

2010-01-01

This paper will present a model that uses the Supply-Chain Operations Reference (SCOR) model as a foundation for a framework to illustrate the information needed throughout a product lifecycle to support a healthy supply chain management function and the subsequent contract requirements to enable it. It will also show where in the supply chain the information must be extracted. The ongoing case study used to exemplify the model is NASA's (National Aeronautics and Space Administration) Ares I program for human spaceflight. Effective supply chain management and contract requirements are ongoing opportunities for continuous improvement within government agencies, specifically development of systems for human spaceflight operations. Multiple reports from the Government Accountability Office (GAO) reinforce this importance. The SCOR model is a framework for describing a supply chain with process building blocks and business activities. It provides a set of metrics for measuring supply chain performance and best practices for continuously improving. This paper expands the application of the SCOR to also provide the framework for defining information needed from different levels of the supply chain and at different phases of the lifecycle. These needs can be incorporated into contracts to enable more effective supply chain management. Depending on the phase of the lifecycle, effective supply chain management will require involvement from different levels of the organization and different levels of the supply chain.

Recurrent Urinary Tract Infections Among Women: Comparative Effectiveness of 5 Prevention and Management Strategies Using a Markov Chain Monte Carlo Model

PubMed Central

Eells, Samantha J.; Bharadwa, Kiran; McKinnell, James A.; Miller, Loren G.

2014-01-01

Background. Recurrent urinary tract infections (UTIs) are a common problem among women. However, comparative effectiveness strategies for managing recurrent UTIs are lacking. Methods. We performed a systematic literature review of management of women experiencing ≥3 UTIs per year. We then developed a Markov chain Monte Carlo model of recurrent UTI for each management strategy with ≥2 adequate trials published. We simulated a cohort that experienced 3 UTIs/year and a secondary cohort that experienced 8 UTIs/year. Model outcomes were treatment efficacy, patient and payer cost, and health-related quality of life. Results. Five strategies had ≥2 clinical trials published: (1) daily antibiotic (nitrofurantoin) prophylaxis; (2) daily estrogen prophylaxis; (3) daily cranberry prophylaxis; (4) acupuncture prophylaxis; and (5) symptomatic self-treatment. In the 3 UTIs/year model, nitrofurantoin prophylaxis was most effective, reducing the UTI rate to 0.4 UTIs/year, and the most expensive to the payer ($821/year). All other strategies resulted in payer cost savings but were less efficacious. Symptomatic self-treatment was the only strategy that resulted in patient cost savings, and was the most favorable strategy in term of cost per quality-adjusted life-year (QALY) gained. Conclusions. Daily antibiotic use is the most effective strategy for recurrent UTI prevention compared to daily cranberry pills, daily estrogen therapy, and acupuncture. Cost savings to payers and patients were seen for most regimens, and improvement in QALYs were seen with all. Our findings provide clinically meaningful data to guide the physician–patient partnership in determining a preferred method of prevention for this common clinical problem. PMID:24065333

The WHO AFRO external quality assessment programme (EQAP): Linking laboratory networks through EQA programmes.

PubMed

Boeras, Debrah I; Peeling, Rosanna W; Onyebujoh, Philip; Yahaya, Ali A; Gumede-Moeletsi, Hieronyma N; Ndihokubwayo, Jean B

2016-01-01

External Quality Assessment (EQA) surveys performed by the World Health Organization Regional Office for Africa (WHO AFRO) revealed the need for the strengthening of public health microbiology laboratories, particularly for testing of epidemic-prone diseases in the African Region. These surveys revealed common issues such as supply chain management, skilled personnel, logistical support and overall lack of quality standards. For sustainable improvements to health systems as well as global health security, deficiencies identified need to be actively corrected through robust quality assurance programmes and implementation of laboratory quality management systems. Given all the pathogens of public health importance, an external quality assessment programme with a focus on vaccine-preventable diseases and emerging and re-emerging dangerous pathogens is important, and should not be stand-alone, but integrated within laboratory networks as seen in polio, measles, yellow fever and rubella. In 2015, WHO AFRO collaborated with the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine and partners in a series of consultations with countries and national and regional EQA providers for the development of quality assurance models to support HIV point-of-care testing and monitoring. These consultations revealed similar challenges as seen in the WHO AFRO surveys. WHO AFRO brought forth its experience in implementing quality standards for health programmes, and also opened discussions on how lessons learned through such established programmes can be utilised to supporting and strengthening the introduction of early infant diagnosis of HIV and viral load point-of-care testing. An optimised external quality assessment programme will impact the ability of countries to meet core capacities, providing improved quality management systems, improving the confidence of diagnostic network services in Africa, and including capacities to detect events of international public health importance.

The WHO AFRO external quality assessment programme (EQAP): Linking laboratory networks through EQA programmes

PubMed Central

Yahaya, Ali A.; Gumede-Moeletsi, Hieronyma N.

2016-01-01

External Quality Assessment (EQA) surveys performed by the World Health Organization Regional Office for Africa (WHO AFRO) revealed the need for the strengthening of public health microbiology laboratories, particularly for testing of epidemic-prone diseases in the African Region. These surveys revealed common issues such as supply chain management, skilled personnel, logistical support and overall lack of quality standards. For sustainable improvements to health systems as well as global health security, deficiencies identified need to be actively corrected through robust quality assurance programmes and implementation of laboratory quality management systems. Given all the pathogens of public health importance, an external quality assessment programme with a focus on vaccine-preventable diseases and emerging and re-emerging dangerous pathogens is important, and should not be stand-alone, but integrated within laboratory networks as seen in polio, measles, yellow fever and rubella. In 2015, WHO AFRO collaborated with the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine and partners in a series of consultations with countries and national and regional EQA providers for the development of quality assurance models to support HIV point-of-care testing and monitoring. These consultations revealed similar challenges as seen in the WHO AFRO surveys. WHO AFRO brought forth its experience in implementing quality standards for health programmes, and also opened discussions on how lessons learned through such established programmes can be utilised to supporting and strengthening the introduction of early infant diagnosis of HIV and viral load point-of-care testing. An optimised external quality assessment programme will impact the ability of countries to meet core capacities, providing improved quality management systems, improving the confidence of diagnostic network services in Africa, and including capacities to detect events of international public health importance. PMID:28879135

Influence of green supply chain risk management on performance of Chinese manufacturing enterprises

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Zhang, Dongying; Yuting, Duan; Junyi, Shen

2017-12-01

This paper briefly introduces the background of the research on the impact of green supply chain risk management on corporate performance, reviews the relevant research literature at home and abroad, and uses the gray relational analysis to analyze the impact of the green supply chain risk management on enterprise performance based on 26 industry-related statistical data, from purchasing risk management performance,manufacturing risk management performance and marketing risk management performance.

Critical Chain Exercises

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Doyle, John Kevin

2010-01-01

Critical Chains project management focuses on holding buffers at the project level vs. task level, and managing buffers as a project resource. A number of studies have shown that Critical Chain project management can significantly improve organizational schedule fidelity (i.e., improve the proportion of projects delivered on time) and reduce…

The Effects of Partnership Management on Supply Chain Cooperative Performance: A Case Study of High-Tech Industry

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Wu, Mei-Ying; Chang, Yun-Ju; Weng, Yung-Chien

2009-08-01

With the structural change of global supply chains, the relationship between manufacturers and suppliers has transformed into a long-term partnership. Thus, this study aims to explore the partnership between manufacturers and suppliers in Taiwan's high-tech industry. Four constructs, including partner characteristic, partnership quality, partnership closeness, and cooperative performance, induced from previous literatures are used to construct the research framework and hypotheses. A questionnaire survey is then performed on executives and staffs involved in the high-tech industry. The proposed framework and hypotheses are empirically validated through confirmatory factory analysis and structural equation modeling. It is expected that the research findings can serve as a reference for Taiwan's high-tech industry on building partnerships.

Supplier Development: A Long-Term Supportability Option For USAF Engines

DTIC Science & Technology

2012-02-01

Supply Chain Management Practices..................8 AF and DoD Regulations "Limitation or Hoax" Can USAF Develop Suppliers...integrated supply chain management (SCM) process providing engines and parts, aiding in the ability of the depots to meet the warfighter‟s needs. The... supply chain has struggled in the past to support the warfighter with enough engines to accomplish the mission. The engine supply chain management

Marketization in Long-Term Care: A Cross-Country Comparison of Large For-Profit Nursing Home Chains.

PubMed

Harrington, Charlene; Jacobsen, Frode F; Panos, Justin; Pollock, Allyson; Sutaria, Shailen; Szebehely, Marta

2017-01-01

This article presents cross-country comparisons of trends in for-profit nursing home chains in Canada, Norway, Sweden, United Kingdom, and the United States. Using public and private industry reports, the study describes ownership, corporate strategies, costs, and quality of the 5 largest for-profit chains in each country. The findings show that large for-profit nursing home chains are increasingly owned by private equity investors, have had many ownership changes over time, and have complex organizational structures. Large for-profit nursing home chains increasingly dominate the market and their strategies include the separation of property from operations, diversification, the expansion to many locations, and the use of tax havens. Generally, the chains have large revenues with high profit margins with some documented quality problems. The lack of adequate public information about the ownership, costs, and quality of services provided by nursing home chains is problematic in all the countries. The marketization of nursing home care poses new challenges to governments in collecting and reporting information to control costs as well as to ensure quality and public accountability.

Marketization in Long-Term Care: A Cross-Country Comparison of Large For-Profit Nursing Home Chains

PubMed Central

Harrington, Charlene; Jacobsen, Frode F; Panos, Justin; Pollock, Allyson; Sutaria, Shailen; Szebehely, Marta

2017-01-01

This article presents cross-country comparisons of trends in for-profit nursing home chains in Canada, Norway, Sweden, United Kingdom, and the United States. Using public and private industry reports, the study describes ownership, corporate strategies, costs, and quality of the 5 largest for-profit chains in each country. The findings show that large for-profit nursing home chains are increasingly owned by private equity investors, have had many ownership changes over time, and have complex organizational structures. Large for-profit nursing home chains increasingly dominate the market and their strategies include the separation of property from operations, diversification, the expansion to many locations, and the use of tax havens. Generally, the chains have large revenues with high profit margins with some documented quality problems. The lack of adequate public information about the ownership, costs, and quality of services provided by nursing home chains is problematic in all the countries. The marketization of nursing home care poses new challenges to governments in collecting and reporting information to control costs as well as to ensure quality and public accountability. PMID:28634428

Distribution and Supply Chain Management: Educating the Army Officer

DTIC Science & Technology

2005-05-26

knowledge a logistics officer must have to function effectively in a supply chain and distribution management environment. It analyzes how officers...Educational Objectives. It discusses how the Army/DoD currently teaches supply chain and distribution management concepts in various programs, such as the...its educational curriculum, and that logisticians continue to gain operational experience in distribution management operations. The paper recommends

What is the Right RFID for Your Process?

DTIC Science & Technology

2006-04-30

chain efficiency at the US Department of Defense (DoD) and at major retailers such as Wal-Mart, Tesco and others has prompted these organizations...areas of expertise include global operations, supply- chain management, sustainable technologies, product stewardship, reverse logistics and...time MBA programs. Areas of Apte’s research interests include managing service operations, supply- chain management, technology management, and

76 FR 34271 - Hewlett Packard, Global Parts Supply Chain, Global Product Life Cycles Management Unit, Including...

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2011-06-13

... DEPARTMENT OF LABOR Employment and Training Administration [TA-W-74,671] Hewlett Packard, Global Parts Supply Chain, Global Product Life Cycles Management Unit, Including Teleworkers Reporting to... Supply Chain, Global Product Life Cycles Management Unit, including teleworkers reporting to Houston...

Environmental Management Competitive Pressure Effect on SME Environmental Innovation Activities: A Green Supply Chain Perspective

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Rashid, A. A.; Sidek, A. A.; Suffian, S. A.; Daud, M. R. C.

2018-01-01

The idea of assimilating green supply chain is to integrate and establish environmental management into the supply chain practices. The study aims to explore how environmental management competitive pressure influences a SME company in Malaysia to incorporate green supply chain integration, which is an efficient platform to develop environmental innovation. This study further advances green supply chain management research in Malaysia by using the method of quantitative analysis to analyze the model developed which data will be collected based on a sample of SMEs in Malaysia in manufacturing sector. The model developed in this study illustrates how environmental management competitive pressure from main competitors affects three fundamental dimensions of green supply chain integration. The research findings suggest that environmental management competitive pressure is a vital driving force for a SME company to incorporate internal and external collaboration in developing green product innovation. From the analysis conducted, the study strongly demonstrated that the best way for a company to counteract competitor’s environmental management success is to first implement strong internal green product development process then move to incorporate external environmental management innovation between their suppliers and customers. The findings also show that internal integration of green product innovation fully mediates the relationship of environmental management competitive pressure and the external integration of green product innovation.

Pulp Chip Quality from In-woods Chippers Coupled with Chain Flail Delimbers-Debarkers: Does it Match Conventional Woodyard Quality?

Treesearch

W.F. Watson; A.A. Twaddle; B.J. Stokes

1991-01-01

Chain flail delimber-debarkers have gained a degree of acceptance in the Southern USA, especially for processing thinnings from pine plantations. TIzis Technical Release compares the quality of chips produced by in-woods chippers teamed with chain flail delimber-debarkers, with chips produced in conventional large-scale woodyards, to be a guideline as to what may occur...

Telemedicine-based system for quality management and peer review in radiology.

PubMed

Morozov, Sergey; Guseva, Ekaterina; Ledikhova, Natalya; Vladzymyrskyy, Anton; Safronov, Dmitry

2018-06-01

Quality assurance is the key component of modern radiology. A telemedicine-based quality assurance system helps to overcome the "scoring" approach and makes the quality control more accessible and objective. A concept for quality assurance in radiology is developed. Its realization is a set of strategies, actions, and tools. The latter is based on telemedicine-based peer review of 23,199 computed tomography (CT) and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) images. The conception of the system for quality management in radiology represents a chain of actions: "discrepancies evaluation - routine support - quality improvement activity - discrepancies evaluation". It is realized by an audit methodology, telemedicine, elearning, and other technologies. After a year of systemic telemedicine-based peer reviews, the authors have estimated that clinically significant discrepancies were detected in 6% of all cases, while clinically insignificant ones were found in 19% of cases. Most often, problems appear in musculoskeletal records; 80% of the examinations have diagnostic or technical imperfections. The presence of routine telemedicine support and personalized elearning allowed improving the diagnostics quality. The level of discrepancies has decreased significantly (p < 0.05). The telemedicine-based peer review system allows improving radiology departments' network effectiveness. • "Scoring" approach to radiologists' performance assessment must be changed. • Telemedicine peer review and personalized elearning significantly decrease the number of discrepancies. • Teleradiology allows linking all primary-level hospitals to a common peer review network.

A case study in experiential learning: pharmaceutical cold chain management on wheels.

PubMed

Vesper, James; Kartoglu, Ümit; Bishara, Rafik; Reeves, Thomas

2010-01-01

People who handle and regulate temperature-sensitive pharmaceutical products require the knowledge and skills to ensure those products maintain quality, integrity, safety, and efficacy throughout their shelf life. People best acquire such knowledge and skills through "experiential learning" that involves working with other learners and experts. The World Health Organization developed a weeklong experiential learning event for participants so they could gain experience in how temperature-sensitive products are handled, stored, and distributed throughout the length of the distribution supply chain system. This experiential learning method enabled participants to visit, critically observe, discuss and report on the various components of the cold chain process. An emphasis was placed on team members working together to learn from one another and on several global expert mentors who were available to guide the learning, share their experiences, and respond to questions. The learning event, Pharmaceutical Cold Chain Management on Wheels, has been conducted once each year since 2008 in Turkey with participants from the global pharmaceutical industry, health care providers, national regulatory authorities, and suppliers/vendors. Observations made during the course showed that it was consistent with the principles of experiential and social learning theories. Questionnaires and focus groups provided evidence of the value of the learning event and ways to improve it. Reflecting the critical elements derived from experiential and social learning theories, five factors contributed to the success of this unique experiential learning event. These factors may also have relevance in other experiential learning courses and, potentially, for experiential e-learning events.

Foreign Military Sales: A Historical Review of Argentina’s Purchases

DTIC Science & Technology

2013-03-01

Management Science, 2009. 3. Douglas M Lambert, “ Supply Chain Management Processes, Partnership, Performance”, Third Edition, 2008. 4. Sunil Chopra...Science in Logistics and Supply Chain Management Juan E. Perot, MBA LtCol, AAF March 2013 APPROVED FOR PUBLIC RELEASE; DISTRIBUTION...ago, and they manage various purchasing activities in each year for several systems. Therefore a particular and specific Supply Chain

[Topic identification for cross-sectoral quality assurance in stroke and TIA treatment].

PubMed

Meyer, Sven; Willms, Gerald; Broge, Björn; Szecsenyi, Joachim

2016-10-01

The development of cross-sectoral quality assurance programs usually requires extensive topic identification. Illustrated by the complex processes of care for stroke and transient ischemic attacks (TIAs), a method for comprehensive topic identification is presented. The first step involves a thorough literature search in terms of systematic reviews, health technology assessments, guidelines, studies into healthcare delivery and the use of specific instruments. Routine data as well as epidemiologic studies are used to analyze the reality of service provision. In addition, experts are consulted to gain expertise concerning deficits of care, approaches to quality assurance and experience with existing quality assurance programs. Furthermore individual patient experiences are collected to add the patients' perceptions of care. Because of the limitation on the regulatory scope of Book V of the German Social Code, which, in this case, was necessary, another source of information was the legal framework and its impact on rescue chain, acute treatment and rehabilitation. Existent quality management systems, accreditations and quality assurance programs in prevention, acute treatment and rehabilitation have been searched in order to avoid any overlap with existing measures. After identifying a total of 71 quality targets according to deficits of care, recommendations for care and expert opinions in primary and secondary prevention, rescue chain, acute treatment, rehabilitation and supply of assistive equipment and therapies, respectively, the usability of instruments was tested. These instruments included case documentation, patient surveys and routine data. 14 quality targets proved to be reproducible by these instruments and were included in the recommendations for a cross-sectoral quality assurance program for stroke and TIA. Copyright © 2016. Published by Elsevier GmbH.

An Exploration of Supply Chain Management Practices in the Central District Municipality

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Ambe, I. M.

2009-01-01

The main objective of the paper is to explore supply chain management practices in the Central District Municipality, North West province of South Africa, using the grounded theory methodology. Supply chain management was introduced in the South African public sector to alleviate deficiencies related to governance, interpretation and…

Leveraging Human Resource Development Expertise to Improve Supply Chain Managers' Skills and Competencies

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Ellinger, Alexander E.; Ellinger, Andrea D.

2014-01-01

Purpose: There is an ongoing shortage of talented supply chain managers with the necessary skills and business-related competencies to manage increasingly complex and strategically important supply chain processes. The purpose of this paper is to propose that organizations can create and maintain competitive advantage by leveraging the expertise…

Sustainable Supply Chain Management Programs in the 21st Century

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Neureuther, Brian D.; O'Neill, Kevin

2011-01-01

One of the most difficult challenges for an undergraduate supply chain management program at smaller universities is to create an environment of sustainability. Supply chain management is not at the tip of tongue for many graduating high school students and few undergraduate curriculums require a course in the content area. This research addresses…

Tying supply chain costs to patient care.

PubMed

Parkinson, Rosalind C

2014-05-01

In September 2014, the FDA will establish a unique device identification (UDI) system to aid hospitals in better tracking and managing medical devices and analyzing their effectiveness. When these identifiers become part of patient medical records, the UDI system will provide a much-needed link between supply cost and patient outcomes. Hospitals should invest in technology and processes that can enable them to trace supply usage patterns directly to patients and analyze how these usage patterns affect cost and quality.

Effective Materials Property Information Management for the 21st Century

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Ren, Weiju; Cebon, David; Arnold, Steve

2009-01-01

This paper discusses key principles for the development of materials property information management software systems. There are growing needs for automated materials information management in various organizations. In part these are fueled by the demands for higher efficiency in material testing, product design and engineering analysis. But equally important, organizations are being driven by the need for consistency, quality and traceability of data, as well as control of access to sensitive information such as proprietary data. Further, the use of increasingly sophisticated nonlinear, anisotropic and multi-scale engineering analyses requires both processing of large volumes of test data for development of constitutive models and complex materials data input for Computer-Aided Engineering (CAE) software. And finally, the globalization of economy often generates great needs for sharing a single "gold source" of materials information between members of global engineering teams in extended supply chains. Fortunately, material property management systems have kept pace with the growing user demands and evolved to versatile data management systems that can be customized to specific user needs. The more sophisticated of these provide facilities for: (i) data management functions such as access, version, and quality controls; (ii) a wide range of data import, export and analysis capabilities; (iii) data "pedigree" traceability mechanisms; (iv) data searching, reporting and viewing tools; and (v) access to the information via a wide range of interfaces. In this paper the important requirements for advanced material data management systems, future challenges and opportunities such as automated error checking, data quality characterization, identification of gaps in datasets, as well as functionalities and business models to fuel database growth and maintenance are discussed.

An examination on the influence of small and medium enterprise (SME) stakeholder on green supply chain management practices

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Shahlan, M. Z.; Sidek, A. A.; Suffian, S. A.; Hazza, M. H. F. A.; Daud, M. R. C.

2018-01-01

In this paper, climate change and global warming are the biggest current issues in the industrial sectors. The green supply chain managements (GSCM) is one of the crucial input to these issues. Effective GSCM can potentially secure the organization’s competitive advantage and improve the environmental performance of the network activities. In this study, the aim is to investigate and examine how a small and medium enterprises (SMEs) stakeholder pressure and top management influence green supply chain management practices. The study is further advance green supply chain management research in Malaysia focusing on SMEs manufacturing sector using structural equation modelling. Structural equation modelling is a multivariate statistical analysis technique used to examine structural relationship. It is the combination of factor analysis and multi regression analysis and used to analyse structural relationship between measure variable and latent factor. This research found that top management support and stakeholder pressure is the major influence for SMEs to adopt green supply chain management. The research also found that top management is fully mediate with the relationship between stakeholder pressure and monitoring supplier environmental performance.

Current management strategies for patellofemoral pain: an online survey of 99 practising UK physiotherapists.

PubMed

Smith, Benjamin E; Hendrick, Paul; Bateman, Marcus; Moffatt, Fiona; Rathleff, Michael Skovdal; Selfe, James; Smith, Toby O; Logan, Pip

2017-05-08

Patellofemoral pain (PFP) is considered one of the commonest forms of knee pain. This study aimed to identify how physiotherapists in the United Kingdom (UK) currently manage patellofemoral pain (PFP), particularly in relation to exercise prescription, and response to pain. An anonymous survey was designed with reference to previous surveys and recent systematic reviews. Practising UK physiotherapists who treat patients with PFP were invited to take part via an invitation email sent through professional networks, the 'interactive Chartered Society of Physiotherapy (iCSP)' message board, and social media (Twitter). Descriptive statistics were used to analyse the data. A total of 99 surveys were completed. Responders reported a wide range of management strategies, including a broad selection of type and dose of exercise prescription. The five most common management strategies chosen were: closed chain strengthening exercises (98%); education and advice (96%); open chain strengthening exercises (76%); taping (70%) and stretches (65%). Physiotherapists with a special interest in treating PFP were statistically more likely to manage patients with orthotics (P = 0.02) and bracing (P = 0.01) compared to physiotherapists without a special interest. Approximately 55% would not prescribe an exercise if it was painful. Thirty-one percent of physiotherapists would advise patients not to continue with leisure and/or sporting activity if they experienced any pain. Current UK practice in the management strategies of PFP is variable. Further high quality research on which to inform physiotherapy practice is warranted for this troublesome musculoskeletal condition.

An optical scan/statistical package for clinical data management in C-L psychiatry.

PubMed

Hammer, J S; Strain, J J; Lyerly, M

1993-03-01

This paper explores aspects of the need for clinical database management systems that permit ongoing service management, measurement of the quality and appropriateness of care, databased administration of consultation liaison (C-L) services, teaching/educational observations, and research. It describes an OPTICAL SCAN databased management system that permits flexible form generation, desktop publishing, and linking of observations in multiple files. This enhanced MICRO-CARES software system--Medical Application Platform (MAP)--permits direct transfer of the data to ASCII and SAS format for mainframe manipulation of the clinical information. The director of a C-L service may now develop his or her own forms, incorporate structured instruments, or develop "branch chains" of essential data to add to the core data set without the effort and expense to reprint forms or consult with commercial vendors.

What is Climate Leadership: Examples and Lessons Learned in Supply Chain Management Webinar

EPA Pesticide Factsheets

Organizations that have developed comprehensive greenhouse gas inventories and aggressive emissions reduction goals discuss their strategies for managing greenhouse gases in their organizational supply chains and use of EPA Supply Chain resources.

Sampling the food processing environment: taking up the cudgel for preventive quality management in food processing environments.

PubMed

Wagner, Martin; Stessl, Beatrix

2014-01-01

The Listeria monitoring program for Austrian cheese factories was established in 1988. The basic idea is to control the introduction of L. monocytogenes into the food processing environment, preventing the pathogen from contaminating the food under processing. The Austrian Listeria monitoring program comprises four levels of investigation, dealing with routine monitoring of samples and consequences of finding a positive sample. Preventive quality control concepts attempt to detect a foodborne hazard along the food processing chain, prior to food delivery, retailing, and consumption. The implementation of a preventive food safety concept provokes a deepened insight by the manufacturers into problems concerning food safety. The development of preventive quality assurance strategies contributes to the national food safety status and protects public health.

Food safety and nutritional quality for the prevention of non communicable diseases: the Nutrient, hazard Analysis and Critical Control Point process (NACCP).

PubMed

Di Renzo, Laura; Colica, Carmen; Carraro, Alberto; Cenci Goga, Beniamino; Marsella, Luigi Tonino; Botta, Roberto; Colombo, Maria Laura; Gratteri, Santo; Chang, Ting Fa Margherita; Droli, Maurizio; Sarlo, Francesca; De Lorenzo, Antonino

2015-04-23

The important role of food and nutrition in public health is being increasingly recognized as crucial for its potential impact on health-related quality of life and the economy, both at the societal and individual levels. The prevalence of non-communicable diseases calls for a reformulation of our view of food. The Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Point (HACCP) system, first implemented in the EU with the Directive 43/93/CEE, later replaced by Regulation CE 178/2002 and Regulation CE 852/2004, is the internationally agreed approach for food safety control. Our aim is to develop a new procedure for the assessment of the Nutrient, hazard Analysis and Critical Control Point (NACCP) process, for total quality management (TMQ), and optimize nutritional levels. NACCP was based on four general principles: i) guarantee of health maintenance; ii) evaluate and assure the nutritional quality of food and TMQ; iii) give correct information to the consumers; iv) ensure an ethical profit. There are three stages for the application of the NACCP process: 1) application of NACCP for quality principles; 2) application of NACCP for health principals; 3) implementation of the NACCP process. The actions are: 1) identification of nutritional markers, which must remain intact throughout the food supply chain; 2) identification of critical control points which must monitored in order to minimize the likelihood of a reduction in quality; 3) establishment of critical limits to maintain adequate levels of nutrient; 4) establishment, and implementation of effective monitoring procedures of critical control points; 5) establishment of corrective actions; 6) identification of metabolic biomarkers; 7) evaluation of the effects of food intake, through the application of specific clinical trials; 8) establishment of procedures for consumer information; 9) implementation of the Health claim Regulation EU 1924/2006; 10) starting a training program. We calculate the risk assessment as follows: Risk (R) = probability (P) × damage (D). The NACCP process considers the entire food supply chain "from farm to consumer"; in each point of the chain it is necessary implement a tight monitoring in order to guarantee optimal nutritional quality.

Meeting the requirements of importing countries: practice and policy for on-farm approaches to food safety.

PubMed

Dagg, P J; Butler, R J; Murray, J G; Biddle, R R

2006-08-01

In light of the increasing consumer demand for safe, high-quality food and recent public health concerns about food-borne illness, governments and agricultural industries are under pressure to provide comprehensive food safety policies and programmes consistent with international best practice. Countries that export food commodities derived from livestock must meet both the requirements of the importing country and domestic standards. It is internationally accepted that end-product quality control, and similar methods aimed at ensuring food safety, cannot adequately ensure the safety of the final product. To achieve an acceptable level of food safety, governments and the agricultural industry must work collaboratively to provide quality assurance systems, based on sound risk management principles, throughout the food supply chain. Quality assurance systems on livestock farms, as in other parts of the food supply chain, should address food safety using hazard analysis critical control point principles. These systems should target areas including biosecurity, disease monitoring and reporting, feedstuff safety, the safe use of agricultural and veterinary chemicals, the control of potential food-borne pathogens and traceability. They should also be supported by accredited training programmes, which award certification on completion, and auditing programmes to ensure that both local and internationally recognised guidelines and standards continue to be met. This paper discusses the development of policies for on-farm food safety measures and their practical implementation in the context of quality assurance programmes, using the Australian beef industry as a case study.

Postharvest treatments of fresh produce

PubMed Central

Mahajan, P. V.; Caleb, O. J.; Singh, Z.; Watkins, C. B.; Geyer, M.

2014-01-01

Postharvest technologies have allowed horticultural industries to meet the global demands of local and large-scale production and intercontinental distribution of fresh produce that have high nutritional and sensory quality. Harvested products are metabolically active, undergoing ripening and senescence processes that must be controlled to prolong postharvest quality. Inadequate management of these processes can result in major losses in nutritional and quality attributes, outbreaks of foodborne pathogens and financial loss for all players along the supply chain, from growers to consumers. Optimal postharvest treatments for fresh produce seek to slow down physiological processes of senescence and maturation, reduce/inhibit development of physiological disorders and minimize the risk of microbial growth and contamination. In addition to basic postharvest technologies of temperature management, an array of others have been developed including various physical (heat, irradiation and edible coatings), chemical (antimicrobials, antioxidants and anti-browning) and gaseous treatments. This article examines the current status on postharvest treatments of fresh produce and emerging technologies, such as plasma and ozone, that can be used to maintain quality, reduce losses and waste of fresh produce. It also highlights further research needed to increase our understanding of the dynamic response of fresh produce to various postharvest treatments. PMID:24797137

Applying the Heuristic to the Risk Assessment within the Automotive Industry Supply Chain

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Marasova, Daniela; Andrejiova, Miriam; Grincova, Anna

2017-03-01

Risk management facilitates risk identification, evaluation, control, and by means of appropriate set of measures, risk reduction or complete elimination. Therefore, the risk management becomes a strategic factor for a company's success. Properly implemented risk management system does not represent a tool to avoid the risk; it is used to understand the risk and provide the bases for strategic decision-making. Risk management represents a key factor for the supply chain operations. Managing the risks is crucial for achieving the customer satisfaction and thus also a company's success. The subject-matter of the article is the assessment of the supply chain in the automobile industry, in terms of risks. The topicality of this problem is even higher, as after the economic crisis it is necessary to revaluate the readiness of the supply chain for prospective risk conditions. One advantage of this article is the use of the Saaty method as a tool for the risk management within the supply chain.

β-Thalassemia.

PubMed

Origa, Raffaella

2017-06-01

β-Thalassemia is caused by reduced (β + ) or absent (β 0 ) synthesis of the β-globin chains of hemoglobin. Three clinical and hematological conditions of increasing severity are recognized: the β-thalassemia carrier state, thalassemia intermedia, and thalassemia major, a severe transfusion-dependent anemia. The severity of disease expression is related mainly to the degree of α-globin chain excess, which precipitates in the red blood cell precursors, causing both mechanic and oxidative damage (ineffective erythropoiesis). Any mechanism that reduces the number of unbound α-globin chains in the red cells may ameliorate the detrimental effects of excess α-globin chains. Factors include the inheritance of mild/silent β-thalassemia mutations, the coinheritance of α-thalassemia alleles, and increased γ-globin chain production. The clinical severity of β-thalassemia syndromes is also influenced by genetic factors unlinked to globin genes as well as environmental conditions and management. Transfusions and oral iron chelation therapy have dramatically improved the quality of life for patients with thalassemia major. Previously a rapidly fatal disease in early childhood, β-thalassemia is now a chronic disease with a greater life expectancy. At present, the only definitive cure is bone marrow transplantation. Therapies undergoing investigation are modulators of erythropoiesis and stem cell gene therapy.Genet Med advance online publication 03 November 2016.

Integrated frameworks for assessing and managing health risks in the context of managed aquifer recharge with river water.

PubMed

Assmuth, Timo; Simola, Antti; Pitkänen, Tarja; Lyytimäki, Jari; Huttula, Timo

2016-01-01

Integrated assessment and management of water resources for the supply of potable water is increasingly important in light of projected water scarcity in many parts of the world. This article develops frameworks for regional-level waterborne human health risk assessment of chemical and microbiological contamination to aid water management, incorporating economic aspects of health risks. Managed aquifer recharge with surface water from a river in Southern Finland is used as an illustrative case. With a starting point in watershed governance, stakeholder concerns, and value-at-risk concepts, we merge common methods for integrative health risk analysis of contaminants to describe risks and impacts dynamically and broadly. This involves structuring analyses along the risk chain: sources-releases-environmental transport and fate-exposures-health effects-socio-economic impacts-management responses. Risks attributed to contaminants are embedded in other risks, such as contaminants from other sources, and related to benefits from improved water quality. A set of models along this risk chain in the case is presented. Fundamental issues in the assessment are identified, including 1) framing of risks, scenarios, and choices; 2) interaction of models and empirical information; 3) time dimension; 4) distributions of risks and benefits; and 5) uncertainties about risks and controls. We find that all these combine objective and subjective aspects, and involve value judgments and policy choices. We conclude with proposals for overcoming conceptual and functional divides and lock-ins to improve modeling, assessment, and management of complex water supply schemes, especially by reflective solution-oriented interdisciplinary and multi-actor deliberation. © 2015 SETAC.

Managing a closed-loop supply chain inventory system with learning effects

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Jauhari, Wakhid Ahmad; Dwicahyani, Anindya Rachma; Hendaryani, Oktiviandri; Kurdhi, Nughthoh Arfawi

2018-02-01

In this paper, we propose a closed-loop supply chain model consisting of a retailer and a manufacturer. We intend to investigate the impact of learning in regular production, remanufacturing and reworking. The customer demand is assumed deterministic and will be satisfied from both regular production and remanufacturing process. The return rate of used items depends on quality. We propose a mathematical model with the objective is to maximize the joint total profit by simultaneously determining the length of ordering cycle for the retailer and the number of regular production and remanufacturing cycle. The algorithm is suggested for finding the optimal solution. A numerical example is presented to illustrate the application of using a proposed model. The results show that the integrated model performs better in reducing total cost compared to the independent model. The total cost is most affected by the changes in the values of unit production cost and acceptable quality level. In addition, the changes in the defective items proportion and the fraction of holding costs significantly influence the retailer's ordering period.

Environmental indicators for sustainable production of algal biofuels

DOE PAGES

Efroymson, Rebecca A.; Dale, Virginia H.

2014-10-01

For analyzing sustainability of algal biofuels, we identify 16 environmental indicators that fall into six categories: soil quality, water quality and quantity, air quality, greenhouse gas emissions, biodiversity, and productivity. Indicators are selected to be practical, widely applicable, predictable in response, anticipatory of future changes, independent of scale, and responsive to management. Major differences between algae and terrestrial plant feedstocks, as well as their supply chains for biofuel, are highlighted, for they influence the choice of appropriate sustainability indicators. Algae strain selection characteristics do not generally affect which indicators are selected. The use of water instead of soil as themore » growth medium for algae determines the higher priority of water- over soil-related indicators. The proposed set of environmental indicators provides an initial checklist for measures of biofuel sustainability but may need to be modified for particular contexts depending on data availability, goals of the stakeholders, and financial constraints. Ultimately, use of these indicators entails defining sustainability goals and targets in relation to stakeholder values in a particular context and can lead to improved management practices.« less

Mobile-Based Applications and Functionalities for Self-Management of People Living with HIV.

PubMed

Mehraeen, Esmaeil; Safdari, Reza; Mohammadzadeh, Niloofar; Seyedalinaghi, Seyed Ahmad; Forootan, Siavash; Mohraz, Minoo

2018-01-01

Due to the chronicity of HIV/AIDS and the increased number of people living with HIV (PLWH), these people need the innovative and practical approaches to take advantage of high-quality healthcare services. The objectives of this scoping review were to identify the mobile-based applications and functionalities for self-management of people living with HIV. We conducted a comprehensive search of PubMed, Scopus, Science direct, Web of Science and Embase databases for literature published from 2010 to 2017. Screening, data abstraction, and methodological quality assessment were done in duplicate. Our search identified 10 common mobile-based applications and 8 functionalities of these applications for self-management of people living with HIV. According to the findings, "text-messaging" and "reminder" applications were more addressed in reviewed articles. Moreover, the results indicated that "medication adherence" was the common functionality of mobile-based applications for PLWH. Inclusive evidence supports the use of text messaging as a mobile-based functionality to improve medication adherence and motivational messaging. Future mobile-based applications in the healthcare industry should address additional practices such as online chatting, social conversations, physical activity intervention, and supply chain management.

Postcardiac Arrest Management.

PubMed

Rittenberger, Jon C; Doshi, Ankur A; Reynolds, Joshua C

2015-08-01

Cardiac arrest afflicts more than 300,000 persons annually in North America alone. Advances in systematic, regimented postresuscitation care have lowered mortality and improved neurologic outcomes in select cohorts of patients over the last decade. Postcardiac arrest care now comprises its own link in the chain of survival. For most patients, high-quality postcardiac arrest care begins in the Emergency Department. This article reviews the evidence and offers treatment strategies for the key components of postcardiac arrest care. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Setting Standards for Medically-Based Running Analysis

PubMed Central

Vincent, Heather K.; Herman, Daniel C.; Lear-Barnes, Leslie; Barnes, Robert; Chen, Cong; Greenberg, Scott; Vincent, Kevin R.

2015-01-01

Setting standards for medically based running analyses is necessary to ensure that runners receive a high-quality service from practitioners. Medical and training history, physical and functional tests, and motion analysis of running at self-selected and faster speeds are key features of a comprehensive analysis. Self-reported history and movement symmetry are critical factors that require follow-up therapy or long-term management. Pain or injury is typically the result of a functional deficit above or below the site along the kinematic chain. PMID:25014394

Quality management benchmarking: FDA compliance in pharmaceutical industry.

PubMed

Jochem, Roland; Landgraf, Katja

2010-01-01

By analyzing and comparing industry and business best practice, processes can be optimized and become more successful mainly because efficiency and competitiveness increase. This paper aims to focus on some examples. Case studies are used to show knowledge exchange in the pharmaceutical industry. Best practice solutions were identified in two companies using a benchmarking method and five-stage model. Despite large administrations, there is much potential regarding business process organization. This project makes it possible for participants to fully understand their business processes. The benchmarking method gives an opportunity to critically analyze value chains (a string of companies or players working together to satisfy market demands for a special product). Knowledge exchange is interesting for companies that like to be global players. Benchmarking supports information exchange and improves competitive ability between different enterprises. Findings suggest that the five-stage model improves efficiency and effectiveness. Furthermore, the model increases the chances for reaching targets. The method gives security to partners that did not have benchmarking experience. The study identifies new quality management procedures. Process management and especially benchmarking is shown to support pharmaceutical industry improvements.

Alignment of Information Systems with Supply Chains: Impacts on Supply Chain Performance and Organizational Performance

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Qrunfleh, Sufian M.

2010-01-01

Over the past decade, an important focus of researchers has been on supply chain management (SCM), as many organizations believe that effective SCM is the key to building and sustaining competitive advantage for their products/services. To manage the supply chain, companies need to adopt an SCM strategy (SCMS) and implement appropriate SCM…

Intelligence Support to Supply Chain Risk Management

DTIC Science & Technology

2012-06-01

of Master of Science in Operations Analysis Charles L. Carter, MA Major, USAF June 2012 DISTRIBUTION STATEMENT A. APPROVED FOR...literature regarding supply chain risk management and intelligence doctrine. This review established the importance of supply chain risk analysis to...risk analysis . This research culminated in the development of a methodology for intelligence professionals to use to support supply chain risk

Differences in Beef Quality between Angus (Bos taurus taurus) and Nellore (Bos taurus indicus) Cattle through a Proteomic and Phosphoproteomic Approach.

PubMed

Rodrigues, Rafael Torres de Souza; Chizzotti, Mario Luiz; Vital, Camilo Elber; Baracat-Pereira, Maria Cristina; Barros, Edvaldo; Busato, Karina Costa; Gomes, Rafael Aparecido; Ladeira, Márcio Machado; Martins, Taiane da Silva

2017-01-01

Proteins are the major constituents of muscle and are key molecules regulating the metabolic changes during conversion of muscle to meat. Brazil is one of the largest exporters of beef and most Brazilian cattle are composed by zebu (Nellore) genotype. Bos indicus beef is generally leaner and tougher than Bos taurus such as Angus. The aim of this study was to compare the muscle proteomic and phosphoproteomic profile of Angus and Nellore. Seven animals of each breed previously subjected the same growth management were confined for 84 days. Proteins were extracted from Longissimus lumborum samples collected immediately after slaughter and separated by two-dimensional electrophoresis. Pro-Q Diamond stain was used in phosphoproteomics. Proteins identification was performed using matrix assisted laser desorption/ionization time-of-flight mass spectrometry. Tropomyosin alpha-1 chain, troponin-T, myosin light chain-1 fragment, cytoplasmic malate dehydrogenase, alpha-enolase and 78 kDa glucose-regulated protein were more abundant in Nellore, while myosin light chain 3, prohibitin, mitochondrial stress-70 protein and heat shock 70 kDa protein 6 were more abundant in Angus (P<0.05). Nellore had higher phosphorylation of myosin regulatory light chain-2, alpha actin-1, triosephosphate isomerase and 14-3-3 protein epsilon. However, Angus had greater phosphorylation of phosphoglucomutase-1 and troponin-T (P<0.05). Therefore, proteins involved in contraction and muscle organization, myofilaments expressed in fast or slow-twitch fibers and heat shock proteins localized in mitochondria or sarcoplasmic reticulum and involved in cell flux of calcium and apoptosis might be associated with differences in beef quality between Angus and Nellore. Furthermore, prohibitin appears to be a potential biomarker of intramuscular fat in cattle. Additionally, differences in phosphorylation of myofilaments and glycolytic enzymes could be involved with differences in muscle contraction force, susceptibility to calpain, apoptosis and postmortem glycolysis, which might also be related to differences in beef quality among Angus and Nellore.

Differences in Beef Quality between Angus (Bos taurus taurus) and Nellore (Bos taurus indicus) Cattle through a Proteomic and Phosphoproteomic Approach

PubMed Central

Chizzotti, Mario Luiz; Vital, Camilo Elber; Baracat-Pereira, Maria Cristina; Barros, Edvaldo; Busato, Karina Costa; Gomes, Rafael Aparecido; Ladeira, Márcio Machado; Martins, Taiane da Silva

2017-01-01

Proteins are the major constituents of muscle and are key molecules regulating the metabolic changes during conversion of muscle to meat. Brazil is one of the largest exporters of beef and most Brazilian cattle are composed by zebu (Nellore) genotype. Bos indicus beef is generally leaner and tougher than Bos taurus such as Angus. The aim of this study was to compare the muscle proteomic and phosphoproteomic profile of Angus and Nellore. Seven animals of each breed previously subjected the same growth management were confined for 84 days. Proteins were extracted from Longissimus lumborum samples collected immediately after slaughter and separated by two-dimensional electrophoresis. Pro-Q Diamond stain was used in phosphoproteomics. Proteins identification was performed using matrix assisted laser desorption/ionization time-of-flight mass spectrometry. Tropomyosin alpha-1 chain, troponin-T, myosin light chain-1 fragment, cytoplasmic malate dehydrogenase, alpha-enolase and 78 kDa glucose-regulated protein were more abundant in Nellore, while myosin light chain 3, prohibitin, mitochondrial stress-70 protein and heat shock 70 kDa protein 6 were more abundant in Angus (P<0.05). Nellore had higher phosphorylation of myosin regulatory light chain-2, alpha actin-1, triosephosphate isomerase and 14-3-3 protein epsilon. However, Angus had greater phosphorylation of phosphoglucomutase-1 and troponin-T (P<0.05). Therefore, proteins involved in contraction and muscle organization, myofilaments expressed in fast or slow-twitch fibers and heat shock proteins localized in mitochondria or sarcoplasmic reticulum and involved in cell flux of calcium and apoptosis might be associated with differences in beef quality between Angus and Nellore. Furthermore, prohibitin appears to be a potential biomarker of intramuscular fat in cattle. Additionally, differences in phosphorylation of myofilaments and glycolytic enzymes could be involved with differences in muscle contraction force, susceptibility to calpain, apoptosis and postmortem glycolysis, which might also be related to differences in beef quality among Angus and Nellore. PMID:28103301

Quantifying the Impact of Feedstock Quality on the Design of Bioenergy Supply Chain Networks

DOE PAGES

Castillo-Villar, Krystel; Minor-Popocatl, Hertwin; Webb, Erin

2016-03-01

Logging residues, which refer to the unused portions of trees cut during logging, are important sources of biomass for the emerging biofuel industry and are critical feedstocks for the first-type biofuel facilities (e.g., corn-ethanol facilities). Logging residues are under-utilized sources of biomass for energetic purposes. To support the scaling-up of the bioenergy industry, it is essential to design cost-effective biofuel supply chains that not only minimize costs, but also consider the biomass quality characteristics. The biomass quality is heavily dependent upon the moisture and the ash contents. Ignoring the biomass quality characteristics and its intrinsic costs may yield substantial economicmore » losses that will only be discovered after operations at a biorefinery have begun. Here this paper proposes a novel bioenergy supply chain network design model that minimizes operational costs and includes the biomass quality-related costs. The proposed model is unique in the sense that it supports decisions where quality is not unrealistically assumed to be perfect. The effectiveness of the proposed methodology is proven by assessing a case study in the state of Tennessee, USA. The results demonstrate that the ash and moisture contents of logging residues affect the performance of the supply chain (in monetary terms). Higher-than-target moisture and ash contents incur in additional quality-related costs. The quality-related costs in the optimal solution (with final ash content of 1% and final moisture of 50%) account for 27% of overall supply chain cost. In conclusion, based on the numeral experimentation, the total supply chain cost increased 7%, on average, for each additional percent in the final ash content.« less

Quantifying the Impact of Feedstock Quality on the Design of Bioenergy Supply Chain Networks

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Castillo-Villar, Krystel; Minor-Popocatl, Hertwin; Webb, Erin

Logging residues, which refer to the unused portions of trees cut during logging, are important sources of biomass for the emerging biofuel industry and are critical feedstocks for the first-type biofuel facilities (e.g., corn-ethanol facilities). Logging residues are under-utilized sources of biomass for energetic purposes. To support the scaling-up of the bioenergy industry, it is essential to design cost-effective biofuel supply chains that not only minimize costs, but also consider the biomass quality characteristics. The biomass quality is heavily dependent upon the moisture and the ash contents. Ignoring the biomass quality characteristics and its intrinsic costs may yield substantial economicmore » losses that will only be discovered after operations at a biorefinery have begun. Here this paper proposes a novel bioenergy supply chain network design model that minimizes operational costs and includes the biomass quality-related costs. The proposed model is unique in the sense that it supports decisions where quality is not unrealistically assumed to be perfect. The effectiveness of the proposed methodology is proven by assessing a case study in the state of Tennessee, USA. The results demonstrate that the ash and moisture contents of logging residues affect the performance of the supply chain (in monetary terms). Higher-than-target moisture and ash contents incur in additional quality-related costs. The quality-related costs in the optimal solution (with final ash content of 1% and final moisture of 50%) account for 27% of overall supply chain cost. In conclusion, based on the numeral experimentation, the total supply chain cost increased 7%, on average, for each additional percent in the final ash content.« less

Optimization of a Multi-Product Intra-Supply Chain System with Failure in Rework.

PubMed

Chiu, Singa Wang; Chen, Shin-Wei; Chang, Chih-Kai; Chiu, Yuan-Shyi Peter

2016-01-01

Globalization has created tremendous opportunities, but also made business environment highly competitive and turbulent. To gain competitive advantage, management of present-day transnational firms always seeks options to trim down various transaction and coordination costs, especially in the area of controllable intra-supply chain system. This study investigates a multi-product intra-supply chain system with failure in rework. To achieve maximum machine utilization, multiple products are fabricated in succession on a single machine. During the process, production of some defective items is inevitable. Reworking of nonconforming items is used to reduce the quality cost in production and achieving the goal of lower overall production cost. Because reworks are sometimes unsuccessful, failures in rework are also considered in this study. Finished goods for each product are transported to the sales offices when the entire production lot is quality assured after rework. A multi-delivery policy is used, wherein fixed quantity n installments of the finished lot are transported at fixed intervals during delivery time. The objective is to jointly determine the common production cycle time and the number of deliveries needed to minimize the long-term expected production-inventory-delivery costs for the problem. With the help of a mathematical model along with optimization technique, the optimal production-shipment policy is obtained. We have used a numerical example to demonstrate applicability of the result of our research.

Optimization of a Multi–Product Intra-Supply Chain System with Failure in Rework

PubMed Central

2016-01-01

Globalization has created tremendous opportunities, but also made business environment highly competitive and turbulent. To gain competitive advantage, management of present-day transnational firms always seeks options to trim down various transaction and coordination costs, especially in the area of controllable intra-supply chain system. This study investigates a multi–product intra-supply chain system with failure in rework. To achieve maximum machine utilization, multiple products are fabricated in succession on a single machine. During the process, production of some defective items is inevitable. Reworking of nonconforming items is used to reduce the quality cost in production and achieving the goal of lower overall production cost. Because reworks are sometimes unsuccessful, failures in rework are also considered in this study. Finished goods for each product are transported to the sales offices when the entire production lot is quality assured after rework. A multi-delivery policy is used, wherein fixed quantity n installments of the finished lot are transported at fixed intervals during delivery time. The objective is to jointly determine the common production cycle time and the number of deliveries needed to minimize the long–term expected production–inventory–delivery costs for the problem. With the help of a mathematical model along with optimization technique, the optimal production–shipment policy is obtained. We have used a numerical example to demonstrate applicability of the result of our research. PMID:27918588

Knowledge management system for risk mitigation in supply chain uncertainty: case from automotive battery supply chain

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Marie, I. A.; Sugiarto, D.; Surjasa, D.; Witonohadi, A.

2018-01-01

Automotive battery supply chain include battery manufacturer, sulphuric acid suppliers, polypropylene suppliers, lead suppliers, transportation service providers, warehouses, retailers and even customers. Due to the increasingly dynamic condition of the environment, supply chain actors were required to improve their ability to overcome various uncertainty issues in the environment. This paper aims to describe the process of designing a knowledge management system for risk mitigation in supply chain uncertainty. The design methodology began with the identification of the knowledge needed to solve the problems associated with uncertainty and analysis of system requirements. The design of the knowledge management system was described in the form of a data flow diagram. The results of the study indicated that key knowledge area that needs to be managed were the knowledge to maintain the stability of process in sulphuric acid process and knowledge to overcome the wastes in battery manufacturing process. The system was expected to be a media acquisition, dissemination and storage of knowledge associated with the uncertainty in the battery supply chain and increase the supply chain performance.

Supply chain dynamics in healthcare services.

PubMed

Samuel, Cherian; Gonapa, Kasiviswanadh; Chaudhary, P K; Mishra, Ananya

2010-01-01

The purpose of this paper is to analyse health service supply chain systems. A great deal of literature is available on supply chain management in finished goods inventory situations; however, little research exists on managing service capacity when finished goods inventories are absent. System dynamics models for a typical service-oriented supply chain such as healthcare processes are developed, wherein three service stages are presented sequentially. Just like supply chains with finished goods inventory, healthcare service supply chains also show dynamic behaviour. Comparing options, service reduction, and capacity adjustment delays showed that reducing capacity adjustment and service delays gives better results. The study is confined to health service-oriented supply chains. Further work includes extending the study to service-oriented supply chains with parallel processing, i.e. having more than one stage to perform a similar operation and also to study the behaviour in service-oriented supply chains that have re-entrant orders and applications. Specific case studies can also be developed to reveal factors relevant to particular service-oriented supply chains. The paper explains the bullwhip effect in healthcare service-oriented supply chains. Reducing stages and capacity adjustment are strategic options for service-oriented supply chains. The paper throws light on policy options for managing healthcare service-oriented supply chain dynamics.

The Multidisciplinary Nature of Supply Chain Management: Where Does It Fit in Business Education?

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Jones, Michael A.; Cope, Robert; Budden, Michael C.

2009-01-01

Supply chain management is an area of growing interest in both industry and academics. A number of new text books are available for courses in the area, and a number of Colleges of Business are adding relevant curriculum. However, questions arise as to what Supply Chain Management comprises, as to needed courses in the area, and an appropriate…

Big data analytics for the Future Circular Collider reliability and availability studies

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Begy, Volodimir; Apollonio, Andrea; Gutleber, Johannes; Martin-Marquez, Manuel; Niemi, Arto; Penttinen, Jussi-Pekka; Rogova, Elena; Romero-Marin, Antonio; Sollander, Peter

2017-10-01

Responding to the European Strategy for Particle Physics update 2013, the Future Circular Collider study explores scenarios of circular frontier colliders for the post-LHC era. One branch of the study assesses industrial approaches to model and simulate the reliability and availability of the entire particle collider complex based on the continuous monitoring of CERN’s accelerator complex operation. The modelling is based on an in-depth study of the CERN injector chain and LHC, and is carried out as a cooperative effort with the HL-LHC project. The work so far has revealed that a major challenge is obtaining accelerator monitoring and operational data with sufficient quality, to automate the data quality annotation and calculation of reliability distribution functions for systems, subsystems and components where needed. A flexible data management and analytics environment that permits integrating the heterogeneous data sources, the domain-specific data quality management algorithms and the reliability modelling and simulation suite is a key enabler to complete this accelerator operation study. This paper describes the Big Data infrastructure and analytics ecosystem that has been put in operation at CERN, serving as the foundation on which reliability and availability analysis and simulations can be built. This contribution focuses on data infrastructure and data management aspects and presents case studies chosen for its validation.

[Suggestions to strengthen quality management of herbal decoction pieces--based on production chain of herbal decoction pieces].

PubMed

Liu, Yan; Nie, Qing; Chen, Jing

2015-08-01

With the development of society and the improvement of people's living standards, the effect of Chinese medicine in treatment and health care is more and more prominent. The herbal decoction pieces are the important part of Chinese medicine,it can be applied directly to clinical treatment and it's also the raw material of Chinese patent medicine. Therefore, the quality of herbal decoction pieces is quite important. The parts of the production of herbal decoction pieces are numerous, and there are possibilities of adverse effects on the quality of the herbal decoction pieces in every part. In this paper, we based on the production chain of herbal decoction pieces, analyzed the main problem that affect the quality of herbal decoction pieces in the part of selection of Chinese herbal medicines, planting, purchasing, processing, packaging, storage and transport, such as the poor quality of seed and seedlings of plant-based Chinese medicines, some plants left their place of origin and have been introduced in the place that is not suitable for this kind of plant, the insufficient growth time and the excessive harmful substances. The purchasers and the accepters lack of professional knowledge and professional ethics. The mechanism of processing is not clear, the standards can not be uniformed, and lack of qualified person in processing, etc. So we suggest: intensify the basic research of key scientific issues. Improve the quality of persons who work in herbal decoction pieces; Establish an "integration" mode of operation in herbal decoction pieces enterprise; Breeding high quality plant resources, establish the large-scale planting basement; Make the packing of herbal decoction pieces standard; Establish the modernization traditional Chinese medicine logistics enterprise.

[Application of supply chain integration management of medical consumables].

PubMed

Zhang, Jian

2013-07-01

This paper introduces the background, the content, the information management system of material supply chain integration management and the consumables management process. The system helps to expand the selection of hospital supplies varieties, to reduce consumables management costs, to improve the efficiency of supplies, to ensure supplies safety, reliability and traceability.

Effective Materials Property Information Management for the 21st Century

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Ren, Weiju; Cebon, David; Barabash, Oleg M

2011-01-01

This paper discusses key principles for the development of materials property information management software systems. There are growing needs for automated materials information management in various organizations. In part these are fuelled by the demands for higher efficiency in material testing, product design and engineering analysis. But equally important, organizations are being driven by the needs for consistency, quality and traceability of data, as well as control of access to proprietary or sensitive information. Further, the use of increasingly sophisticated nonlinear, anisotropic and multi-scale engineering analyses requires both processing of large volumes of test data for development of constitutive modelsmore » and complex materials data input for Computer-Aided Engineering (CAE) software. And finally, the globalization of economy often generates great needs for sharing a single gold source of materials information between members of global engineering teams in extended supply-chains. Fortunately material property management systems have kept pace with the growing user demands and evolved to versatile data management systems that can be customized to specific user needs. The more sophisticated of these provide facilities for: (i) data management functions such as access, version, and quality controls; (ii) a wide range of data import, export and analysis capabilities; (iii) data pedigree traceability mechanisms; (iv) data searching, reporting and viewing tools; and (v) access to the information via a wide range of interfaces. In this paper the important requirements for advanced material data management systems, future challenges and opportunities such as automated error checking, data quality characterization, identification of gaps in datasets, as well as functionalities and business models to fuel database growth and maintenance are discussed.« less

Management of multiple myeloma in resource-constrained settings.

PubMed

Kumar, Lalit; Kumar Sahoo, Ranjit

2016-12-01

The prognosis of patients with multiple myeloma (MM) has improved significantly in the past two decades. This is attributed to use of novel agents for induction, high-dose chemotherapy and autologous stem cell transplantation (ASCT), maintenance therapy, and improved supportive care. Currently, evidence-based management guidelines/recommendations developed by International societies/groups are being followed partially in low-resource settings. Lack of quality diagnostics (eg, cytogenetics/fluorescence in situ hybridization (FISH), serum free light chains), novel therapeutics, and trained manpower, and limited financial resources are key challanges. An optimal utilization of available resources with continued educational activities of treating physicians focused on improving knowledge in the management of such patients may be a way forward to improve the outcome of myeloma patients in these countries. Our current approach to the management of this disease is presented here through a discussion of clinical vignettes. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Optimizing the DoD Supply Chain for the Future Joint Force

DTIC Science & Technology

2013-05-01

4 Sunil Chopra and Peter Meindl, Supply Chain Management: Strategy, Planning, and Operation, 5th ed. (Boston: Pearson Education, Inc., 2013), 339...Arlington, VA: Lexington Institute, 2005. Chopra, Sunil and Peter Meindl. Supply Chain Management: Strategy, Planning, and Operation. 5th ed. Boston

Streamlining the supply chain.

PubMed

Neumann, Lydon

2003-07-01

Effective management of the supply chain requires attention to: Product management--formulary development and maintenance, compliance, clinical involvement, standardization, and demand-matching. Sourcing and contracting--vendor consolidation, GPO portfolio management, price leveling, content management, and direct contracting Purchasing and payment-cycle--automatic placement, web enablement, centralization, evaluated receipts settlement, and invoice matching Inventory and distribution management--"unofficial" and "official" locations, vendor-managed inventory, automatic replenishment, and freight management.

WebDMS: A Web-Based Data Management System for Environmental Data

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Ekstrand, A. L.; Haderman, M.; Chan, A.; Dye, T.; White, J. E.; Parajon, G.

2015-12-01

DMS is an environmental Data Management System to manage, quality-control (QC), summarize, document chain-of-custody, and disseminate data from networks ranging in size from a few sites to thousands of sites, instruments, and sensors. The server-client desktop version of DMS is used by local and regional air quality agencies (including the Bay Area Air Quality Management District, the South Coast Air Quality Management District, and the California Air Resources Board), the EPA's AirNow Program, and the EPA's AirNow-International (AirNow-I) program, which offers countries the ability to run an AirNow-like system. As AirNow's core data processing engine, DMS ingests, QCs, and stores real-time data from over 30,000 active sensors at over 5,280 air quality and meteorological sites from over 130 air quality agencies across the United States. As part of the AirNow-I program, several instances of DMS are deployed in China, Mexico, and Taiwan. The U.S. Department of State's StateAir Program also uses DMS for five regions in China and plans to expand to other countries in the future. Recent development has begun to migrate DMS from an onsite desktop application to WebDMS, a web-based application designed to take advantage of cloud hosting and computing services to increase scalability and lower costs. WebDMS will continue to provide easy-to-use data analysis tools, such as time-series graphs, scatterplots, and wind- or pollution-rose diagrams, as well as allowing data to be exported to external systems such as the EPA's Air Quality System (AQS). WebDMS will also provide new GIS analysis features and a suite of web services through a RESTful web API. These changes will better meet air agency needs and allow for broader national and international use (for example, by the AirNow-I partners). We will talk about the challenges and advantages of migrating DMS to the web, modernizing the DMS user interface, and making it more cost-effective to enhance and maintain over time.

75 FR 59238 - Proposed Collection; Comment Request

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2010-09-27

...; Associated Form; and OMB Number: Leading Edge Supply Chain Survey; OMB Number 0701-TBD. Needs and Uses: This study seeks to uncover the emerging trends in supply chain management (SCM) practices, processes and... individuals with in depth experience in commercial supply chain management. Dated: August 27, 2010. Patricia L...

Managing perceived operational risk factors for effective supply-chain management

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Sylla, Cheickna

2014-12-01

This research is part of a large scale comprehensive mathematical and empirical modeling investigation projects aimed at developing a better understanding of supply-chain risk management by offering a comprehensive framework including theoretical elements and empirical evidence based on managers' perception of improved organizational level of preparedness to safeguard against the threats of disruptions, delays and stoppage in the supply chain. More specifically, this paper reports the empirical investigation conducted using 92 companies in several eastern USA regions involved in international trades with global supply chains. Among the 56 general hypotheses investigated, the results support that managers strive to balance their control and decision impacts to mold their responses to risk factors with knowledge of the extent of cost consequences as stated in previous research. However, the results also propose new findings which significantly vary from previous research reports.

Advancing Cost-Effective Readiness by Improving the Supply Chain Management of Sparse, Intermittently-Demanded Parts

DTIC Science & Technology

2015-03-26

DEMANDED PARTS DISSERTATION Gregory H. Gehret AFIT-ENS-DS-15-M- 256 DEPARTMENT OF THE AIR FORCE AIR UNIVERSITY AIR FORCE INSTITUTE...protection in the United States. AFIT-ENS-DS-15-M- 256 ADVANCING COST-EFFECTIVE READINESS BY IMPROVING THE SUPPLY CHAIN MANAGEMENT OF SPARSE...RELEASE; DISTRIBUTION UNLIMITED. AFIT-ENS-DS-15-M- 256 ADVANCING COST-EFFECTIVE READINESS BY IMPROVING THE SUPPLY CHAIN MANAGEMENT OF SPARSE

Developing Tailored Supply Strategies

DTIC Science & Technology

2007-01-01

David J . Closs, and M. Bixby Cooper, Supply Chain Logistics Management, New York: McGraw-Hill, 2002. Burt, David N., and Richard L. Pinkerton, A ...Supply Chain Management, Vol. 37, No. 2, Spring 2001, pp. 8–15. Bibliography 119 Coyle, John J ., Edward J . Bardi , and C. John Langley Jr., The...Gelderman, Cees J ., and Arjan J . van Weele, “Strategic Direction Through Purchasing Portfolio Management: A Case Study,” The Journal of Supply Chain

Developing a Supply Chain Management Certification for the Department of Defense

DTIC Science & Technology

2007-12-01

Supply Chain Management, the 77 M. Eric Johnson and David Pyke, “A Framework for Teaching Supply Chain Management,” Production and Operations...Review Web Site (October 5, 2006), http://www.scmr.com/article/CA6378393.html?text=rankings (accessed May 10, 2007). 86 M. Eric Johnson and David...2006). 103 M. Eric Johnson and David Pyke. (2000). 34 When an individual completes the entire proposed curriculum, an acquisition professional

Highly Integrated Quality Assurance – An Empirical Case

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Drake Kirkham; Amy Powell; Lucas Rich

2011-02-01

Highly Integrated Quality Assurance – An Empirical Case Drake Kirkham1, Amy Powell2, Lucas Rich3 1Quality Manager, Radioisotope Power Systems (RPS) Program, Idaho National Laboratory, P.O. Box 1625 M/S 6122, Idaho Falls, ID 83415-6122 2Quality Engineer, RPS Program, Idaho National Laboratory 3Quality Engineer, RPS Program, Idaho National Laboratory Contact: Voice: (208) 533-7550 Email: Drake.Kirkham@inl.gov Abstract. The Radioisotope Power Systems Program of the Idaho National Laboratory makes an empirical case for a highly integrated Quality Assurance function pertaining to the preparation, assembly, testing, storage and transportation of 238Pu fueled radioisotope thermoelectric generators. Case data represents multiple campaigns including the Pluto/New Horizons mission,more » the Mars Science Laboratory mission in progress, and other related projects. Traditional Quality Assurance models would attempt to reduce cost by minimizing the role of dedicated Quality Assurance personnel in favor of either functional tasking or peer-based implementations. Highly integrated Quality Assurance adds value by placing trained quality inspectors on the production floor side-by-side with nuclear facility operators to enhance team dynamics, reduce inspection wait time, and provide for immediate, independent feedback. Value is also added by maintaining dedicated Quality Engineers to provide for rapid identification and resolution of corrective action, enhanced and expedited supply chain interfaces, improved bonded storage capabilities, and technical resources for requirements management including data package development and Certificates of Inspection. A broad examination of cost-benefit indicates highly integrated Quality Assurance can reduce cost through the mitigation of risk and reducing administrative burden thereby allowing engineers to be engineers, nuclear operators to be nuclear operators, and the cross-functional team to operate more efficiently. Applicability of this case extends to any high-value, long-term project where traceability and accountability are determining factors.« less

Predictors of chain acquisition among independent dialysis facilities.

PubMed

Pozniak, Alyssa S; Hirth, Richard A; Banaszak-Holl, Jane; Wheeler, John R C

2010-04-01

To determine the predictors of chain acquisition among independent dialysis providers. Retrospective facility-level data combined from CMS Cost Reports, Medical Evidence Forms, Annual Facility Surveys, and claims for 1996-2003. Independent dialysis facilities' probability of acquisition by a dialysis chain (overall and by chain size) was estimated using a discrete time hazard rate model, controlling for financial and clinical performance, practice patterns, market factors, and other facility characteristics. The sample includes all U.S. freestanding dialysis facilities that report not being chain affiliated for at least 1 year between 1997 and 2003. Above-average costs and better quality outcomes are significant determinants of dialysis chain acquisition. Facilities in larger markets were more likely to be acquired by a chain. Furthermore, small dialysis chains have different acquisition strategies than large chains. Dialysis chains appear to employ a mix of turn-around and cream-skimming strategies. Poor financial health is a predictor of chain acquisition as in other health care sectors, but the increased likelihood of chain acquisition among higher quality facilities is unique to the dialysis industry. Significant differences among predictors of acquisition by small and large chains reinforce the importance of using a richer classification for chain status.

Poor nutrition on the menu: children's meals at America's top chain restaurants.

PubMed

Batada, Ameena; Bruening, Meg; Marchlewicz, Elizabeth H; Story, Mary; Wootan, Margo G

2012-06-01

We evaluated the nutritional quality of children's meals at chain restaurants, because children obtain about a third of their daily calories from away-from-home foods and studies show that restaurant foods are often higher in calories and lower in nutritional value than foods prepared at home. We assessed the nutritional quality of children's meals at the 50 largest U.S. restaurant chains by visiting each chain's web site or calling the company. Eighteen of the chains did not have children's meals and 10 did not provide adequate nutrition information to be included in the study. The nutritional quality of each meal combination was evaluated against a set of nutrition standards based on key nutrition recommendations in the Dietary Guidelines for Americans. Of the 22 restaurants that had children's menus and available nutrition information, 99% of 1662 children's meal combinations were of poor nutritional quality. Restaurants should support healthier choices for children by reformulating existing menu items and adding new healthier items, posting calories on menus, and setting nutrition standards for marketing to children.

Innovation and construction management in Brazil: Challenges of companies in times of quality and productivity

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Barbosa, A. A. R.; Vilnītis, M.

2017-10-01

Considering the efforts to optimize productivity and quality in the construction through the potential existing in the respective companies, this study presents an approach for identification, management and priorities of improvements actions at construction sites focusing status on productivity, added value and innovation in the socioeconomic context and scenario of construction industry in Brazil. Technological advances in recent years have made the Brazilian construction industry gradually incorporate technologies and forms of management, despite its traditionally conservative character. In current days, the innovations are pursued with the quest for greater quality, productivity, safety and customer satisfaction, which have been increasingly competitive and global. Construction in Brazil occupies an important role in the economy, directly contributing to GDP and acting on an extensive productive chain of suppliers, commercialization services and maintenance. The Brazilian construction sector has undergone major changes in recent years, facilitated by factors such as the resumption of public investments, the creation of laws that facilitate real estate, investments and funding of external resources, and the efforts of the Brazilian Quality and Productivity Program - PBQP H. However, the sector faces problems of a lack of skilled labour to meet the growth needs of the sector. There are still problems and challenges of quality and productivity that prevent full sector development. The aspects of nonconformity, low quality, high tax burden, outsourcing and informality of the workforce have not been adequately addressed and resolved. Through the use of indicators of productivity and growth, the challenges of the Brazilian construction industry are discussed and the possible paths for the sector that allow its full development and to reduce the distance between the Brazilian construction industry and that of the developed countries.

Combined Effects of Irrigation Regime, Genotype, and Harvest Stage Determine Tomato Fruit Quality and Aptitude for Processing into Puree.

PubMed

Arbex de Castro Vilas Boas, Alexandre; Page, David; Giovinazzo, Robert; Bertin, Nadia; Fanciullino, Anne-Laure

2017-01-01

Industry tomatoes are produced under a range of climatic conditions and practices which significantly impact on main quality traits of harvested fruits. However, the quality of tomato intended for processing is currently addressed on delivery through color and Brix only, whereas other traits are overlooked. Very few works provided an integrated view of the management of tomato puree quality throughout the chain. To gain insights into pre- and post-harvest interactions, four genotypes, two water regimes, three maturity stages, and two processes were investigated. Field and glasshouse experiments were conducted near Avignon, France, from May to August 2016. Two irrigation regimes were applied: control plants were irrigated in order to match 100% of evapotranspiration (ETP); water deficit (WD) plants were irrigated as control plants until anthesis of the first flowers, then irrigation was reduced to 60 and 50% ETP in field, and glasshouse respectively. Fruits were collected at three stages during ripening. Their color, fresh weight, dry matter content, and metabolite contents were determined before processing. Pericarp cell size was evaluated in glasshouse only. Two laboratory-scaled processing methods were applied before structural and biochemical analyses of the purees. Results outlined interactive effects between crop and process management. WD hardly reduced yield, but increased dry matter content in the field, in contrast to the glasshouse. The puree viscosity strongly depended on the genotype and the maturity stage, but it was disconnected from fruit dry matter content or Brix. The process impact on puree viscosity strongly depended on water supply during fruit production. Moreover, the lycopene content of fresh fruit may influence puree viscosity. This work opens new perspectives for managing puree quality in the field showing that it was possible to reduce water supply without affecting yield and to improve puree quality.

Construction and Application of a Refined Hospital Management Chain.

PubMed

Lihua, Yi

2016-01-01

Large scale development was quite common in the later period of hospital industrialization in China. Today, Chinese hospital management faces such problems as service inefficiency, high human resources cost, and low rate of capital use. This study analyzes the refined management chain of Wuxi No.2 People's Hospital. This consists of six gears namely, "organizational structure, clinical practice, outpatient service, medical technology, and nursing care and logistics." The gears are based on "flat management system targets, chief of medical staff, centralized outpatient service, intensified medical examinations, vertical nursing management and socialized logistics." The core concepts of refined hospital management are optimizing flow process, reducing waste, improving efficiency, saving costs, and taking good care of patients as most important. Keywords: Hospital, Refined, Management chain

Physician executives straddle the digital divide.

PubMed

Coile, R C

2001-01-01

e-Health is here to stay and experts predict that the Internet will become the hub of health care. Rapid advancements in biotechnology and medical research, increasingly curious patients who surf the Internet for medical information, and pressures from managed care companies to contain costs and speed treatments are the central components driving e-health. Despite physician reluctance to embrace the e-revolution, many hospitals and medical groups are employing the Internet and information technology to improve their customer interface, as well as to reduce business costs. This article offers seven e-strategies for health care performance improvement: (1) Supply chain management; (2) e-transactions; (3) care management; (4) improving quality; (5) boosting revenues; (6) outsourcing; and (7) provider networks (Intranets). By helping to incorporate these key e-solutions, physician executives can position their organizations for success in the new millennium.

Effectiveness of the food recovery at the retailing stage under shelf life uncertainty: An application to Italian food chains.

PubMed

Muriana, Cinzia

2015-07-01

Food losses represent a significant issue affecting food supply chains. The possibility of recovering such products can be seen as an effective way to reduce such a phenomenon, improve supply chain performances and ameliorate the conditions of undernourished people. The topic has been already investigated by a previous paper enforcing the hypothesis of deterministic and constant Shelf Life (SL) of products. However, such a model cannot be properly extended to products affected by uncertainties of the SL as it does not take into account the deterioration costs and loss of profits due to the overcoming of the SL within the cycle time. Thus the present paper presents an extension of the previous one under stochastic conditions of the food quality. Differently from the previous publication, this work represents a general model applicable to all supply chains, especially to those managing fresh products characterized by uncertain SL such as fruits and vegetables. The deterioration costs and loss of profits are included in the model and the optimal time at which to withdraw the products from the shelves as well as the quantities to be shipped at each alternative destination have been determined. A comparison of the proposed model with that reported in the previous publication has been carried out in order to underline the impact of the SL variability on the optimality conditions. The results show that the food recovery strategy in the presence of uncertainty of the food quality is rewarding, even if the optimal profit is lower than that of the deterministic case. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Fuzzy Entropy Method for Quantifying Supply Chain Networks Complexity

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Zhang, Jihui; Xu, Junqin

Supply chain is a special kind of complex network. Its complexity and uncertainty makes it very difficult to control and manage. Supply chains are faced with a rising complexity of products, structures, and processes. Because of the strong link between a supply chain’s complexity and its efficiency the supply chain complexity management becomes a major challenge of today’s business management. The aim of this paper is to quantify the complexity and organization level of an industrial network working towards the development of a ‘Supply Chain Network Analysis’ (SCNA). By measuring flows of goods and interaction costs between different sectors of activity within the supply chain borders, a network of flows is built and successively investigated by network analysis. The result of this study shows that our approach can provide an interesting conceptual perspective in which the modern supply network can be framed, and that network analysis can handle these issues in practice.

A supply chain approach to biochar systems [Chapter 2

Treesearch

Nathaniel M. Anderson; Richard D. Bergman; Deborah S. Page-Dumroese

2017-01-01

Biochar systems are designed to meet four related primary objectives: improve soils, manage waste, generate renewable energy, and mitigate climate change. Supply chain models provide a holistic framework for examining biochar systems with an emphasis on product life cycle and end use. Drawing on concepts in supply chain management and engineering, this chapter presents...

Teaching Teachers about Supply Chain Management to Influence Students' Career and Education Choices

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Gardner, Leslie L.

2013-01-01

Since teachers are influential in high school students' career choices, enabling high school teachers to introduce educational and career opportunities in supply chain management is a viable strategy for reaching high school students about these opportunities. This article presents a pilot program of supply chain workshops to educate high school…

Chantey Castings: A Hands-On Simulation to Teach Constraint Management and Demand-Driven Supply Chain Approaches

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Grandzol, Christian J.; Grandzol, John R.

2018-01-01

Supply chain design and constraint management are widely-adopted techniques in industry, necessitating that operations and supply chain educators teach these topics in ways that enhance student learning and retention, optimize resource utilization (especially time), and maximize student interest. The Chantey Castings Simulation provides a platform…

Node-to-node field calibration of wireless distributed air pollution sensor network.

PubMed

Kizel, Fadi; Etzion, Yael; Shafran-Nathan, Rakefet; Levy, Ilan; Fishbain, Barak; Bartonova, Alena; Broday, David M

2018-02-01

Low-cost air quality sensors offer high-resolution spatiotemporal measurements that can be used for air resources management and exposure estimation. Yet, such sensors require frequent calibration to provide reliable data, since even after a laboratory calibration they might not report correct values when they are deployed in the field, due to interference with other pollutants, as a result of sensitivity to environmental conditions and due to sensor aging and drift. Field calibration has been suggested as a means for overcoming these limitations, with the common strategy involving periodical collocations of the sensors at an air quality monitoring station. However, the cost and complexity involved in relocating numerous sensor nodes back and forth, and the loss of data during the repeated calibration periods make this strategy inefficient. This work examines an alternative approach, a node-to-node (N2N) calibration, where only one sensor in each chain is directly calibrated against the reference measurements and the rest of the sensors are calibrated sequentially one against the other while they are deployed and collocated in pairs. The calibration can be performed multiple times as a routine procedure. This procedure minimizes the total number of sensor relocations, and enables calibration while simultaneously collecting data at the deployment sites. We studied N2N chain calibration and the propagation of the calibration error analytically, computationally and experimentally. The in-situ N2N calibration is shown to be generic and applicable for different pollutants, sensing technologies, sensor platforms, chain lengths, and sensor order within the chain. In particular, we show that chain calibration of three nodes, each calibrated for a week, propagate calibration errors that are similar to those found in direct field calibration. Hence, N2N calibration is shown to be suitable for calibration of distributed sensor networks. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Critical appraisal of assumptions in chains of model calculations used to project local climate impacts for adaptation decision support—the case of Baakse Beek

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

van der Sluijs, Jeroen P.; Arjan Wardekker, J.

2015-04-01

In order to enable anticipation and proactive adaptation, local decision makers increasingly seek detailed foresight about regional and local impacts of climate change. To this end, the Netherlands Models and Data-Centre implemented a pilot chain of sequentially linked models to project local climate impacts on hydrology, agriculture and nature under different national climate scenarios for a small region in the east of the Netherlands named Baakse Beek. The chain of models sequentially linked in that pilot includes a (future) weather generator and models of respectively subsurface hydrogeology, ground water stocks and flows, soil chemistry, vegetation development, crop yield and nature quality. These models typically have mismatching time step sizes and grid cell sizes. The linking of these models unavoidably involves the making of model assumptions that can hardly be validated, such as those needed to bridge the mismatches in spatial and temporal scales. Here we present and apply a method for the systematic critical appraisal of model assumptions that seeks to identify and characterize the weakest assumptions in a model chain. The critical appraisal of assumptions presented in this paper has been carried out ex-post. For the case of the climate impact model chain for Baakse Beek, the three most problematic assumptions were found to be: land use and land management kept constant over time; model linking of (daily) ground water model output to the (yearly) vegetation model around the root zone; and aggregation of daily output of the soil hydrology model into yearly input of a so called ‘mineralization reduction factor’ (calculated from annual average soil pH and daily soil hydrology) in the soil chemistry model. Overall, the method for critical appraisal of model assumptions presented and tested in this paper yields a rich qualitative insight in model uncertainty and model quality. It promotes reflectivity and learning in the modelling community, and leads to well informed recommendations for model improvement.

[The supply chain is everybody's business...].

PubMed

Coulondre, Antoine

2007-05-01

The management of the supply chain is a matter of delicate balance. This is certainly due to its position at the crossroads between suppliers and users requirements, as well as logistic, financial and technical regulations. For a public organisation like EFS, whose annual budget amounts to 697 million euros, there is a lot at stake: supplies represent the second most important item of its budget accounting for 38% of annual expenses. Three quarters of the purchases concern basic activities such as blood collection, testing procedures, transformation and distribution of blood products. The last quarter is spent on more general activities (computer systems, telecommunications...). Professionalisation of the purchasing function has grown since the creation of the government-owned organisation as a single national unit (EFS) in the year 2000. Its consequences can be felt especially in the field of the "core activities". The current stage consists in maintaining close links between all the skills necessary to a high-quality supply chain. The latter will undoubtedly be beneficial to the medical, technical and support departments of EFS, which are the in-house customers to satisfy.

CRN5EXP: Expert system for statistical quality control

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Hentea, Mariana

1991-01-01

The purpose of the Expert System CRN5EXP is to assist in checking the quality of the coils at two very important mills: Hot Rolling and Cold Rolling in a steel plant. The system interprets the statistical quality control charts, diagnoses and predicts the quality of the steel. Measurements of process control variables are recorded in a database and sample statistics such as the mean and the range are computed and plotted on a control chart. The chart is analyzed through patterns using the C Language Integrated Production System (CLIPS) and a forward chaining technique to reach a conclusion about the causes of defects and to take management measures for the improvement of the quality control techniques. The Expert System combines the certainty factors associated with the process control variables to predict the quality of the steel. The paper presents the approach to extract data from the database, the reason to combine certainty factors, the architecture and the use of the Expert System. However, the interpretation of control charts patterns requires the human expert's knowledge and lends to Expert Systems rules.

Light, nutrients, and food-chain length constrain planktonic energy transfer efficiency across multiple trophic levels

PubMed Central

Dickman, Elizabeth M.; Newell, Jennifer M.; González, María J.; Vanni, Michael J.

2008-01-01

The efficiency of energy transfer through food chains [food chain efficiency (FCE)] is an important ecosystem function. It has been hypothesized that FCE across multiple trophic levels is constrained by the efficiency at which herbivores use plant energy, which depends on plant nutritional quality. Furthermore, the number of trophic levels may also constrain FCE, because herbivores are less efficient in using plant production when they are constrained by carnivores. These hypotheses have not been tested experimentally in food chains with 3 or more trophic levels. In a field experiment manipulating light, nutrients, and food-chain length, we show that FCE is constrained by algal food quality and food-chain length. FCE across 3 trophic levels (phytoplankton to carnivorous fish) was highest under low light and high nutrients, where algal quality was best as indicated by taxonomic composition and nutrient stoichiometry. In 3-level systems, FCE was constrained by the efficiency at which both herbivores and carnivores converted food into production; a strong nutrient effect on carnivore efficiency suggests a carryover effect of algal quality across 3 trophic levels. Energy transfer efficiency from algae to herbivores was also higher in 2-level systems (without carnivores) than in 3-level systems. Our results support the hypothesis that FCE is strongly constrained by light, nutrients, and food-chain length and suggest that carryover effects across multiple trophic levels are important. Because many environmental perturbations affect light, nutrients, and food-chain length, and many ecological services are mediated by FCE, it will be important to apply these findings to various ecosystem types. PMID:19011082

Epidemiology and quality assurance: applications at farm level.

PubMed

Noordhuizen, J P; Frankena, K

1999-03-29

Animal production is relevant with respect to farm income and the position of the sector in the market, but also with respect to the quality and safety of products of animal origin, related to public health. Animal production is part of a chain of food production. Therefore, producers have to take consumer expectations and demands in the domains of animal health, welfare and environment into account. A different attitude for production has to be adopted; this attitude can be visualized in good farming practice, GFP, codes. Farmers who focused on quality in its broadest sense need a system supporting them in their management and control of quality risks. Generally speaking, there are three systems for that purpose: GFP, ISO and HACCP. When the hypothesis followed relates to animal health being a feature of quality, or else welfare and environmental issues, then animal health care can be executed following quality control principles. The HACCP concept is well suited for quality control at farm level, involving risk identification and risk management. The on-farm monitoring and surveillance system of critical control points in the animal production process is the most important tool in this procedure. Principles for HACCP application as well as certification fitness of HACCP are elaborated upon. They are illustrated by using salmonellosis in meat-pig farms as objective for an HACCP approach. It is further discussed that, in addition to animal health and quality, animal welfare and environmental issues could also be covered by an HACCP-like system in an integrated manner. Ultimately, the HACCP modules could end up in an overall ISO certification.

Evolving Relationship Structures in Multi-sourcing Arrangements: The Case of Mission Critical Outsourcing

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Heitlager, Ilja; Helms, Remko; Brinkkemper, Sjaak

Information Technology Outsourcing practice and research mainly considers the outsourcing phenomenon as a generic fulfilment of the IT function by external parties. Inspired by the logic of commodity, core competencies and economies of scale; assets, existing departments and IT functions are transferred to external parties. Although the generic approach might work for desktop outsourcing, where standardisation is the dominant factor, it does not work for the management of mission critical applications. Managing mission critical applications requires a different approach where building relationships is critical. The relationships involve inter and intra organisational parties in a multi-sourcing arrangement, called an IT service chain, consisting of multiple (specialist) parties that have to collaborate closely to deliver high quality services.

Material & equipment, procurement & maintenance: Impact on blood safety.

PubMed

Emmanuel, Jean C

2010-01-01

Blood Transfusion Safety is dependent on effectively organised and managed blood services, which have adequate financial resources, skilled manpower, appropriate infrastructure and quality management systems in place. 80% of the world's population has access to 20% of the supply blood products, of which little is consistently safe. HIV highlighted the importance of blood safety. The lack of effective blood services in low human development index (LHDI), developing countries, has lead to international funding and capacity building for more than three decades. The initial strategies focused on providing HIV testing reagents to prevention transmission, however this only addresses one part of blood safety. Blood safety is not only dependent on preventing HIV transmission. In many populations there are other infectious agents, which have a higher prevalence. Ensuring the correct blood is provided to the patient depends on: well managed services with effective leadership and adequate budgets; capacity building and retention of skilled experienced staff; availability of laboratory equipment, correctly maintained; blood cold chain systems; procedures for tendering, purchasing and ensuring an unbroken supply of reagents and consumables; and quality management systems. Barriers for simplified effective tendering, procurement and contracting require urgent attention and coordination of all funding organisations to ensure an unbroken supply of reagents. Copyright 2009. Published by Elsevier Ltd.

The knowledge-value chain: A conceptual framework for knowledge translation in health.

PubMed

Landry, Réjean; Amara, Nabil; Pablos-Mendes, Ariel; Shademani, Ramesh; Gold, Irving

2006-08-01

This article briefly discusses knowledge translation and lists the problems associated with it. Then it uses knowledge-management literature to develop and propose a knowledge-value chain framework in order to provide an integrated conceptual model of knowledge management and application in public health organizations. The knowledge-value chain is a non-linear concept and is based on the management of five dyadic capabilities: mapping and acquisition, creation and destruction, integration and sharing/transfer, replication and protection, and performance and innovation.

The knowledge-value chain: A conceptual framework for knowledge translation in health.

PubMed Central

Landry, Réjean; Amara, Nabil; Pablos-Mendes, Ariel; Shademani, Ramesh; Gold, Irving

2006-01-01

This article briefly discusses knowledge translation and lists the problems associated with it. Then it uses knowledge-management literature to develop and propose a knowledge-value chain framework in order to provide an integrated conceptual model of knowledge management and application in public health organizations. The knowledge-value chain is a non-linear concept and is based on the management of five dyadic capabilities: mapping and acquisition, creation and destruction, integration and sharing/transfer, replication and protection, and performance and innovation. PMID:16917645

Towards Automatic Validation and Healing of Citygml Models for Geometric and Semantic Consistency

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Alam, N.; Wagner, D.; Wewetzer, M.; von Falkenhausen, J.; Coors, V.; Pries, M.

2013-09-01

A steadily growing number of application fields for large 3D city models have emerged in recent years. Like in many other domains, data quality is recognized as a key factor for successful business. Quality management is mandatory in the production chain nowadays. Automated domain-specific tools are widely used for validation of business-critical data but still common standards defining correct geometric modeling are not precise enough to define a sound base for data validation of 3D city models. Although the workflow for 3D city models is well-established from data acquisition to processing, analysis and visualization, quality management is not yet a standard during this workflow. Processing data sets with unclear specification leads to erroneous results and application defects. We show that this problem persists even if data are standard compliant. Validation results of real-world city models are presented to demonstrate the potential of the approach. A tool to repair the errors detected during the validation process is under development; first results are presented and discussed. The goal is to heal defects of the models automatically and export a corrected CityGML model.

Predictors of Chain Acquisition among Independent Dialysis Facilities

PubMed Central

Pozniak, Alyssa S; Hirth, Richard A; Banaszak-Holl, Jane; Wheeler, John R C

2010-01-01

Objective To determine the predictors of chain acquisition among independent dialysis providers. Data Sources Retrospective facility-level data combined from CMS Cost Reports, Medical Evidence Forms, Annual Facility Surveys, and claims for 1996–2003. Study Design Independent dialysis facilities' probability of acquisition by a dialysis chain (overall and by chain size) was estimated using a discrete time hazard rate model, controlling for financial and clinical performance, practice patterns, market factors, and other facility characteristics. Data Collection The sample includes all U.S. freestanding dialysis facilities that report not being chain affiliated for at least 1 year between 1997 and 2003. Principal Findings Above-average costs and better quality outcomes are significant determinants of dialysis chain acquisition. Facilities in larger markets were more likely to be acquired by a chain. Furthermore, small dialysis chains have different acquisition strategies than large chains. Conclusions Dialysis chains appear to employ a mix of turn-around and cream-skimming strategies. Poor financial health is a predictor of chain acquisition as in other health care sectors, but the increased likelihood of chain acquisition among higher quality facilities is unique to the dialysis industry. Significant differences among predictors of acquisition by small and large chains reinforce the importance of using a richer classification for chain status. PMID:20148985

Analysis of supply chain management of shallots in Medan

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Alam, M. C.; Supriana, T.

2018-02-01

Supply chain is important for business. One of supply chain that needs to be studied is the shallots supply chain. Medan have high demand while the supply of shallots is limited. This study aims to analyze the flow of shallots supply chain distribution in Medan. The method used was survey by using questionnaires to shallots producers, collecting traders, distributors, traders as well as government involved in shallots supply chain. Descriptive analysis was used to explain the shallots supply chain distribution flow. The results showed that there are two shallots supply chain model in Medan that was local shallots model and imported shallots model. Local shallots model could be distinguished based on three producer area, those were models of Medan Marelan, Samosir, and Simalungun. Medan Marelan and Simalungun models have seven supply chains, while the Samosir Model has eight supply chains. This condition indicates that the local shallots supply chain management in Medan was not efficient because of the length of the distribution channel. Supply chain imported shallots was more efficient because it had a shorter distribution flow with five supply chains.

Upgrading Supply Chain Management Systems to Improve Availability of Medicines in Tanzania: Evaluation of Performance and Cost Effects.

PubMed

Mwencha, Marasi; Rosen, James E; Spisak, Cary; Watson, Noel; Kisoka, Noela; Mberesero, Happiness

2017-09-27

To address challenges in public health supply chain performance, Tanzania invested in a national logistics management unit (LMU) and a national electronic logistics management information system (eLMIS). This evaluation examined the impact of those 2 key management upgrades approximately 1 year after they were introduced. We used a nonexperimental pre-post study design to compare the previous system with the upgraded management system. We collected baseline data from August to November 2013. We conducted round 1 of post-implementation data collection during April and May 2015, about 1 year after implementation of the upgrades. We evaluated key indicators of data use and reporting; supply chain management practices such as storage and supervision; supply chain performance including stock-out and expiry rates; and supply chain cost and savings. We analyzed the data using a range of techniques including statistical testing of baseline and round-1 results, and cost, cost-effectiveness, and return on investment analysis. The upgrades were associated with improvements in data use, accessibility, visibility, and transparency; planning, control, and monitoring; support for quantification; stock-out rates; stock-out duration; commodity expiry; and forecast error. The upgraded system was more costly, but it was also more efficient, particularly when adjusting for the performance improvements. The upgrades also generated substantial savings that defrayed some, but not all, of the investment costs. Upgrades to Tanzania's supply chain management systems created multiple and complex pathways to impact. One year after implementation, the LMU and eLMIS brought about performance improvements through better data use and through improvements in some, but not all, management practices. Furthermore, the upgrades-while not inexpensive-contributed to greater system efficiency and modest savings. © Mwencha et al.

Upgrading Supply Chain Management Systems to Improve Availability of Medicines in Tanzania: Evaluation of Performance and Cost Effects

PubMed Central

Mwencha, Marasi; Rosen, James E; Spisak, Cary; Watson, Noel; Kisoka, Noela; Mberesero, Happiness

2017-01-01

ABSTRACT Background: To address challenges in public health supply chain performance, Tanzania invested in a national logistics management unit (LMU) and a national electronic logistics management information system (eLMIS). This evaluation examined the impact of those 2 key management upgrades approximately 1 year after they were introduced. Methods: We used a nonexperimental pre-post study design to compare the previous system with the upgraded management system. We collected baseline data from August to November 2013. We conducted round 1 of post-implementation data collection during April and May 2015, about 1 year after implementation of the upgrades. We evaluated key indicators of data use and reporting; supply chain management practices such as storage and supervision; supply chain performance including stock-out and expiry rates; and supply chain cost and savings. We analyzed the data using a range of techniques including statistical testing of baseline and round-1 results, and cost, cost-effectiveness, and return on investment analysis. Results: The upgrades were associated with improvements in data use, accessibility, visibility, and transparency; planning, control, and monitoring; support for quantification; stock-out rates; stock-out duration; commodity expiry; and forecast error. The upgraded system was more costly, but it was also more efficient, particularly when adjusting for the performance improvements. The upgrades also generated substantial savings that defrayed some, but not all, of the investment costs. Conclusion: Upgrades to Tanzania's supply chain management systems created multiple and complex pathways to impact. One year after implementation, the LMU and eLMIS brought about performance improvements through better data use and through improvements in some, but not all, management practices. Furthermore, the upgrades—while not inexpensive—contributed to greater system efficiency and modest savings. PMID:28877933

Concurrent enterprise: a conceptual framework for enterprise supply-chain network activities

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Addo-Tenkorang, Richard; Helo, Petri T.; Kantola, Jussi

2017-04-01

Supply-chain management (SCM) in manufacturing industries has evolved significantly over the years. Recently, a lot more relevant research has picked up on the development of integrated solutions. Thus, seeking a collaborative optimisation of geographical, just-in-time (JIT), quality (customer demand/satisfaction) and return-on-investment (profits), aspects of organisational management and planning through 'best practice' business-process management - concepts and application; employing system tools such as certain applications/aspects of enterprise resource planning (ERP) - SCM systems information technology (IT) enablers to enhance enterprise integrated product development/concurrent engineering principles. This article assumed three main organisation theory applications in positioning its assumptions. Thus, proposing a feasible industry-specific framework not currently included within the SCOR model's level four (4) implementation level, as well as other existing SCM integration reference models such as in the MIT process handbook's - Process Interchange Format (PIF), the TOVE project, etc. which could also be replicated in other SCs. However, the wider focus of this paper's contribution will be concentrated on a complimentary proposed framework to the SCC's SCOR reference model. Quantitative empirical closed-ended questionnaires in addition to the main data collected from a qualitative empirical real-life industrial-based pilot case study were used: To propose a conceptual concurrent enterprise framework for SCM network activities. This research adopts a design structure matrix simulation approach analysis to propose an optimal enterprise SCM-networked value-adding, customised master data-management platform/portal for efficient SCM network information exchange and an effective supply-chain (SC) network systems-design teams' structure. Furthermore, social network theory analysis will be employed in a triangulation approach with statistical correlation analysis to assess the scale/level of frequency, importance, level of collaborative-ness, mutual trust as well as roles and responsibility among the enterprise SCM network for systems product development (PD) design teams' technical communication network as well as extensive literature reviews.

Whole-chain traceability, is it possible to trace your hamburger to a particular steer, a U. S. perspective.

PubMed

Crandall, Philip G; O'Bryan, Corliss A; Babu, Dinesh; Jarvis, Nathan; Davis, Mike L; Buser, Michael; Adam, Brian; Marcy, John; Ricke, Steven C

2013-10-01

Traceability through the entire food supply chain from conception to consumption is a pressing need for the food industry, consumers and government regulators. A robust, whole-chain traceability system is needed that will effectively address food quality, food safety and food defense issues by providing real-time, transparent and reliable information from beef production through slaughter and distribution to the consumer. Traceability is an expanding part of the food safety continuum that minimizes the risk of foodborne diseases, assures quality and cold-chain integrity. Traceability can be a positive competitive marketing edge for beef producers who can verify specific quality attributes such as humane production or grass fed or Certified Organic. In this review we address the benefits as well as the remaining issues for whole-chain traceability in the beef industry, with particular focus on ground beef for the markets in the United States. Copyright © 2013 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

76 FR 56770 - Food and Drug Administration/Xavier University Global Outsourcing Conference

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2011-09-14

..., Pharma Case Study on How to Manage a Global Complex Supply Chain, USP : Good Storage and Distribution... through topics such as Strategic Procurement, End-to-End lifecycle product management, Managing Global Complex Supply Chains, and other topics. The experience level of our audience has fostered engaged dialog...

Quality effort decision in service supply chain with quality preference based on quantum game

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Zhang, Cuihua; Xing, Peng; Wang, Jianwei

2015-04-01

Service quality preference behaviors of both members are considered in service supply chain (SSC) including a service integrator and a service provider with stochastic demand. Through analysis of service quality cost and revenue, the utility functions are established on service quality effort degree and service quality preference level in integrated and decentralized SSC. Nash equilibrium and quantum game are used to optimize the models. By comparing the different solutions, the optimal strategies are obtained in SSC with quality preference. Then some numerical examples are studied and the changing trend of service quality effort is further analyzed by the influence of the entanglement operator and quality preferences.

Cultivating a disease management partnership: a value-chain model.

PubMed

Murray, Carolyn F; Monroe, Wendy; Stalder, Sharon A

2003-01-01

Disease management (DM) is one of the health care industry's more innovative value-chain models, whereby multiple relationships are created to bring complex and time-sensitive services to market. The very nature of comprehensive, seamless DM provided through an outsourced arrangement necessitates a level of cooperation, trust, and synergy that may be lacking from more traditional vendor-customer relationships. This discussion highlights the experience of one health plan and its vendor partner and their approach to the development and delivery of an outsourced heart failure (HF) DM program. The program design and rollout are discussed within principles adapted from the theoretical framework of a value-chain model. Within the value-chain model, added value is created by the convergence and synergistic integration of the partners' discrete strengths. Although each partner brings unique attributes to the relationship, those attributes are significantly enhanced by the value-chain model, thus allowing each party to bring the added value of the relationship to their respective customers. This partnership increases innovation, leverages critical capabilities, and improves market responsiveness. Implementing a comprehensive, outsourced DM program is no small task. DM programs incorporate a broad array of services affecting nearly every department in a health plan's organization. When true seamless integration between multiple organizations with multiple stakeholders is the objective, implementation and ongoing operations can become even more complex. To effectively address the complexities presented by an HF DM program, the parties in this case moved beyond a typical purchaser-vendor relationship to one that is more closely akin to a strategic partnership. This discussion highlights the development of this partnership from the perspective of both organizations, as revealed through contracting and implementation activities. It is intended to provide insight into the program development and rollout processes that one health plan and its partner have adopted to advance a DM model that integrates appropriately within the local environment. This discussion also highlights how an organizational culture can shift from an emphasis on cost, growth, and control to an emphasis on quality, innovation, and service within a value-chain model.

Electric vehicle (EV) storage supply chain risk and the energy market: A micro and macroeconomic risk management approach

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Aguilar, Susanna D.

As a cost effective storage technology for renewable energy sources, Electric Vehicles can be integrated into energy grids. Integration must be optimized to ascertain that renewable energy is available through storage when demand exists so that cost of electricity is minimized. Optimization models can address economic risks associated with the EV supply chain- particularly the volatility in availability and cost of critical materials used in the manufacturing of EV motors and batteries. Supply chain risk can reflect itself in a shortage of storage, which can increase the price of electricity. We propose a micro-and macroeconomic framework for managing supply chain risk through utilization of a cost optimization model in combination with risk management strategies at the microeconomic and macroeconomic level. The study demonstrates how risk from the EVs vehicle critical material supply chain affects manufacturers, smart grid performance, and energy markets qualitatively and quantitatively. Our results illustrate how risk in the EV supply chain affects EV availability and the cost of ancillary services, and how EV critical material supply chain risk can be mitigated through managerial strategies and policy.

The Impact of Supply Chain Business Processes on Competitive Advantage and Organizational Performance

DTIC Science & Technology

2012-03-22

Manager, Vice President (VP) Distribution & Fulfillment, Transportation Manager, VP of Supply Chain Management, Production Manager, Director of...Logistics/ Transportation /Distribution (75%), and Supply/Purchasing/Procurement (25%) were identified as functions that best describe the respondents...manufacturing industry (50%), one respondent represented the wholesale trade (12.5%), the retail trade (12.5%), and the transportation and warehousing

A multicriteria decision making approach applied to improving maintenance policies in healthcare organizations.

PubMed

Carnero, María Carmen; Gómez, Andrés

2016-04-23

Healthcare organizations have far greater maintenance needs for their medical equipment than other organization, as many are used directly with patients. However, the literature on asset management in healthcare organizations is very limited. The aim of this research is to provide more rational application of maintenance policies, leading to an increase in quality of care. This article describes a multicriteria decision-making approach which integrates Markov chains with the multicriteria Measuring Attractiveness by a Categorical Based Evaluation Technique (MACBETH), to facilitate the best choice of combination of maintenance policies by using the judgements of a multi-disciplinary decision group. The proposed approach takes into account the level of acceptance that a given alternative would have among professionals. It also takes into account criteria related to cost, quality of care and impact of care cover. This multicriteria approach is applied to four dialysis subsystems: patients infected with hepatitis C, infected with hepatitis B, acute and chronic; in all cases, the maintenance strategy obtained consists of applying corrective and preventive maintenance plus two reserve machines. The added value in decision-making practices from this research comes from: (i) integrating the use of Markov chains to obtain the alternatives to be assessed by a multicriteria methodology; (ii) proposing the use of MACBETH to make rational decisions on asset management in healthcare organizations; (iii) applying the multicriteria approach to select a set or combination of maintenance policies in four dialysis subsystems of a health care organization. In the multicriteria decision making approach proposed, economic criteria have been used, related to the quality of care which is desired for patients (availability), and the acceptance that each alternative would have considering the maintenance and healthcare resources which exist in the organization, with the inclusion of a decision-making group. This approach is better suited to actual health care organization practice and depending on the subsystem analysed, improvements are introduced that are not included in normal maintenance policies; in this way, not only have different maintenance policies been suggested, but also alternatives that, in each case and according to viability, provide a more complete decision tool for the maintenance manager.

Modelling inter-supply chain competition with resource limitation and demand disruption

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Chen, Zhaobo; Teng, Chunxian; Zhang, Ding; Sun, Jiayi

2016-05-01

This paper proposes a comprehensive model for studying supply chain versus supply chain competition with resource limitation and demand disruption. We assume that there are supply chains with heterogeneous supply network structures that compete at multiple demand markets. Each supply chain is comprised of internal and external firms. The internal firms are coordinated in production and distribution and share some common but limited resources within the supply chain, whereas the external firms are independent and do not share the internal resources. The supply chain managers strive to develop optimal strategies in terms of production level and resource allocation in maximising their profit while facing competition at the end market. The Cournot-Nash equilibrium of this inter-supply chain competition is formulated as a variational inequality problem. We further study the case when there is demand disruption in the plan-execution phase. In such a case, the managers need to revise their planned strategy in order to maximise their profit with the new demand under disruption and minimise the cost of change. We present a bi-criteria decision-making model for supply chain managers and develop the optimal conditions in equilibrium, which again can be formulated by another variational inequality problem. Numerical examples are presented for illustrative purpose.

Two-echelon logistics service supply chain decision game considering quality supervision

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Shi, Jiaying

2017-10-01

Due to the increasing importance of supply chain logistics service, we established the Stackelberg game model between single integrator and single subcontractors under decentralized and centralized circumstances, and found that logistics services integrators as a leader prefer centralized decision-making but logistics service subcontractors tend to the decentralized decision-making. Then, we further analyzed why subcontractor chose to deceive and rebuilt a principal-agent game model to monitor the logistics services quality of them. Mixed Strategy Nash equilibrium and related parameters were discussed. The results show that strengthening the supervision and coordination can improve the quality level of logistics service supply chain.

Managing risks in the fisheries supply chain using House of Risk Framework (HOR) and Interpretive Structural Modeling (ISM)

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Nguyen, T. L. T.; Tran, T. T.; Huynh, T. P.; Ho, T. K. D.; Le, A. T.; Do, T. K. H.

2018-04-01

One of the sectors which contributes importantly to the development of Vietnam economy is fishery industry. However, during recent year, it has been witnessed many difficulties on managing the performance of the fishery supply chain operations as a whole. In this paper, a framework for supply chain risk management (SCRM) is proposed. Initially, all the activities are mapped by using Supply Chain Operations Reference (SCOR) model. Next, the risk ranking is analyzed in House of Risk. Furthermore, interpretive structural modeling (ISM) is used to identify inter-relationships among supply chain risks and to visualize the risks according to their levels. For illustration, the model has been tested in several case studies with fishery companies in Can Tho, Mekong Delta. This study identifies 22 risk events and 20 risk agents through the supply chain. Also, the risk priority could be used for further House of Risk with proactive actions in future studies.

Developing and sustaining human resources in the health supply chain in Ethiopia: barriers and enablers.

PubMed

Kälvemark Sporrong, Sofia; Traulsen, Janine M; Damene Kabtimer, Woynabeba; Mekasha Habtegiorgis, Bitsatab; Teshome Gebregeorgise, Dawit; Essah, Nana Am; Khan, Sara A; Brown, Andrew N

2016-01-01

The health supply chain is often the weakest link in achieving the health-related Millennium Development Goals and universal health coverage, requiring trained professionals who are often unavailable. In Ethiopia there have been recent developments in the area of health supply chain management. The aim of this study was to explore the current status of the development of human resources in health supply chain management in Ethiopia and to identify important factors affecting this development. A series of face-to-face interviews with key stakeholders was carried out in 2014. The interviews were conducted using a semi-structured interview guide. The interview guide comprised 51 questions. A qualitative analysis of transcripts was made. A total of 25 interviews were conducted. Three themes were identified: General changes: recognition, commitment and resources, Education and training, and Barriers and enablers. Results confirm the development of human resources in health supply chain management in many areas. However, several problems were identified including lack of coordination, partly due to the large number of stakeholders; reported high staff mobility; and a lack of overall strategy regarding the job/career structures necessary for maintaining human resources. Rural areas have a particular set of problems, including in transportation of goods and personnel, attracting and keeping personnel, and in communication and access to information. Ethiopia is on the way to developing a nationwide viable system for health supply chain management. However, there are still challenges. Short-term challenges include the importance of highlighting strategies and programs for human resources in health supply chain management. In the long term, commitments to financial support must be obtained. A strategy is needed for the further development and sustainability of human resources in the health supply chain in Ethiopia.

Building laboratory capacity to support HIV care in Nigeria: Harvard/APIN PEPFAR, 2004-2012.

PubMed

Hamel, Donald J; Sankalé, Jean-Louis; Samuels, Jay Osi; Sarr, Abdoulaye D; Chaplin, Beth; Ofuche, Eke; Meloni, Seema T; Okonkwo, Prosper; Kanki, Phyllis J

From 2004-2012, the Harvard/AIDS Prevention Initiative in Nigeria, funded through the US President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief programme, scaled up HIV care and treatment services in Nigeria. We describe the methodologies and collaborative processes developed to improve laboratory capacity significantly in a resource-limited setting. These methods were implemented at 35 clinic and laboratory locations. Systems were established and modified to optimise numerous laboratory processes. These included strategies for clinic selection and management, equipment and reagent procurement, supply chains, laboratory renovations, equipment maintenance, electronic data management, quality development programmes and trainings. Over the eight-year programme, laboratories supported 160 000 patients receiving HIV care in Nigeria, delivering over 2.5 million test results, including regular viral load quantitation. External quality assurance systems were established for CD4+ cell count enumeration, blood chemistries and viral load monitoring. Laboratory equipment platforms were improved and standardised and use of point-of-care analysers was expanded. Laboratory training workshops supported laboratories toward increasing staff skills and improving overall quality. Participation in a World Health Organisation-led African laboratory quality improvement system resulted in significant gains in quality measures at five laboratories. Targeted implementation of laboratory development processes, during simultaneous scale-up of HIV treatment programmes in a resource-limited setting, can elicit meaningful gains in laboratory quality and capacity. Systems to improve the physical laboratory environment, develop laboratory staff, create improvements to reduce costs and increase quality are available for future health and laboratory strengthening programmes. We hope that the strategies employed may inform and encourage the development of other laboratories in resource-limited settings.

Green innovation and sustainable industrial systems within sustainability and company improvement perspective

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Edi Nugroho Soebandrija, Khristian

2017-12-01

This paper comprises discussion of Green Innovation and Sustainable Industrial Systems within Sustainability and Company Improvement Perspective of beverage manufacturing company (BMC). The stakeholder theory is the grand theory for the company improvement perspective in this paper. The data processing in this paper is conducted through software which are SEM-PLS with SmartPLS 2.0 and SPSS 19. The specified objective of this paper has focus on sustainability as one of 6 variables, in lieu of those 6 variables as the big picture. The reason behind this focus on sustainability is the fact that there are assorted challenges in sustainability that is ranging from economic, environment and company perspectives. Those challenges in sustainability include the sustainable service supply chain management and its involvement of society. The overall objective is to analyze relationship hypothesis of 6 variables, 4 of them (leadership, organizational learning, innovation, and performance) are based on Malcolm Baldrige’s performance excellence concept to achieve sustainability and competitive advantage through company-competitor and customer questionnaire, and its relation to Total Quality Management (TQM) and Quality Management System (QMS). In conclusion, the spearheaded of company improvement in this paper is in term of consumer satisfaction through 99.997% quality standards. These can be achieved by ambidexterity through exploitation and exploration innovation. Furthermore, in this paper, TQM enables to obtain popularity brand index achievement that is greater than 45.9%. Subsequently, ISO22000 of food security standard encompasses quality standard of ISO9000 and HACCP. Through the ambidexterity of exploitation and exploration (Non Standard Product Inspection) NOSPI machine, the company improvement generates the achievement of 75% automation, 99.997% quality control standard and 80% of waste reduction.

Planning the bioterrorism response supply chain: learn and live.

PubMed

Brandeau, Margaret L; Hutton, David W; Owens, Douglas K; Bravata, Dena M

2007-01-01

Responses to bioterrorism require rapid procurement and distribution of medical and pharmaceutical supplies, trained personnel, and information. Thus, they present significant logistical challenges. On the basis of a review of the manufacturing and service supply chain literature, the authors identified five supply chain strategies that can potentially increase the speed of response to a bioterrorism attack, reduce inventories, and save money: effective supply chain network design; effective inventory management; postponement of product customization and modularization of component parts; coordination of supply chain stakeholders and appropriate use of incentives; and effective information management. The authors describe how concepts learned from published evaluations of manufacturing and service supply chains, as well as lessons learned from responses to natural disasters, naturally occurring outbreaks, and the 2001 US anthrax attacks, can be applied to design, evaluate, and improve the bioterrorism response supply chain. Such lessons could also be applied to the response supply chains for disease outbreaks and natural and manmade disasters.

Essential tools of supply chain management.

PubMed

Buddress, L; Raedels, A

2000-08-01

At a recent conference, the keynote speaker provoked an incredulous response when he said, "Today, competition among individual firms is dead." He then went on to explain that today, competition is supply chain against supply chain. Whichever firm has the superior supply chain will win out in the marketplace. Given the global marketplace in which we all operate, most of us would agree that his statements are true. How does a firm establish a world-class supply base? What kinds of contracts and agreements are necessary to support the diverse requirements of today's firms? How should a firm select from among the available contract types? These are foundation questions for supply chain management.

Supply chain quality.

PubMed

Feary, Simon

2009-01-01

As the development of complex manufacturing models and virtual companies become more prevalent in today's growing global markets, it is increasingly important to support the relationships between manufacturer and supplier. Utilising these relationships will ensure that supply chains operate more effectively and reduce costs, risks and time-to-market time frames, whilst maintaining product quality.

Translating science into the next generation meat quality program for Australian lamb.

PubMed

Pethick, D W; Ball, A J; Banks, R G; Gardner, G E; Rowe, J B; Jacob, R H

2014-02-01

This paper introduces a series of papers in the form of a special edition that reports phenotypic analyses done in parallel with genotypic analyses for the Australian Sheep Industry Cooperative Research Centre (Sheep CRC) using data generated from the information nucleus flock (INF). This has allowed new knowledge to be gained of the genetic, environment and management factors that impact on the carcase and eating quality, visual appeal, odour and health attributes of Australian lamb meat. The research described involved close collaboration with commercial partners across the supply chain in the sire breeding as well as the meat processing industries. This approach has enabled timely delivery and adoption of research results to industry in an unprecedented way and provides a good model for future research. © 2013.

Developing Students' Understanding of Co-Opetition and Multilevel Inventory Management Strategies in Supply Chains: An In-Class Spreadsheet Simulation Exercise

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Fetter, Gary; Shockley, Jeff

2014-01-01

Instructors look for ways to explain to students how supply chains can be constructed so that competing suppliers can work together to improve inventory management performance (i.e., a phenomenon known as co-opetition). An Excel spreadsheet-driven simulation is presented that models a complete multilevel supply chain system--customer, retailer,…

A strategic decision-making model considering the social costs of carbon dioxide emissions for sustainable supply chain management.

PubMed

Tseng, Shih-Chang; Hung, Shiu-Wan

2014-01-15

Incorporating sustainability into supply chain management has become a critical issue driven by pressures from governments, customers, and various stakeholder groups over the past decade. This study proposes a strategic decision-making model considering both the operational costs and social costs caused by the carbon dioxide emissions from operating such a supply chain network for sustainable supply chain management. This model was used to evaluate carbon dioxide emissions and operational costs under different scenarios in an apparel manufacturing supply chain network. The results showed that the higher the social cost rate of carbon dioxide emissions, the lower the amount of the emission of carbon dioxide. The results also suggested that a legislation that forces the enterprises to bear the social costs of carbon dioxide emissions resulting from their economic activities is an effective approach to reducing carbon dioxide emissions. Copyright © 2013 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Managing meat tenderness.

PubMed

Thompson, John

2002-11-01

This paper discusses the management of meat tenderness using a carcass grading scheme which utilizes the concept of total quality management of those factors which impact on beef palatability. The scheme called Meat Standards Australia (MSA) has identified the Critical Control Points (CCPs) from the production, pre-slaughter, processing and value adding sectors of the beef supply chain and quantified their relative importance using large-scale consumer testing. These CCPs have been used to manage beef palatability in two ways. Firstly, CCPs from the pre-slaughter and processing sectors have been used as mandatory criteria for carcasses to be graded. Secondly, other CCPs from the production and processing sectors have been incorporated into a model to predict palatability for individual muscles. The evidence for the importance of CCPs from the production (breed, growth path and HGP implants), pre-slaughter and processing (pH/temperature window, alternative carcass suspension, marbling and ageing) sectors are reviewed and the accuracy of the model to predict palatability for specific muscle×cooking techniques is presented.

Critical analysis of procurement techniques in construction management sectors

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Tiwari, Suman Tiwari Suresh; Chan, Shiau Wei; Faraz Mubarak, Muhammad

2018-04-01

Over the last three decades, numerous procurement techniques have been one of the highlights of the Construction Management (CM) for ventures, administration contracting, venture management as well as design and construct. Due to the development and utilization of those techniques, various researchers have explored the criteria for their choice and their execution in terms of time, cost and quality. Nevertheless, there is a lack of giving an account on the relationship between the procurement techniques and the progressed related issues, for example, supply chain, sustainability, innovation and technology development, lean construction, constructability, value management, Building Information Modelling (BIM) as well as e-procurement. Through chosen papers from the reputable CM-related academic journals, the specified scopes of these issues are methodically assessed with the objective to explore the status and trend in procurement related research. The result of this paper contributes theoretically as well as practically to the researchers and industrialist in order to be aware and appreciate the development of procurement techniques.

Silo Effect a Prominence Factor to Decrease Efficiency of Pharmaceutical Industry

PubMed Central

Vatanpour, Hossein; Khorramnia, Atoosa; Forutan, Naghmeh

2013-01-01

To be sure, all the industries try to be involved in globalization with a constant trend to find out ways to increase productivity across different functions within an organization to maintain competitive advantage world. Pharmaceutical industries are not exceptional and further are based on fragmentation. So these kind of companies need to cope with several barriers such as silo mentality that may affect efficiency of their business activity. Due to eliminate a part of resources such as raw materials, new molecule developed, financial and human resources and so on, companies can gradually loss their competitive potentials in the market and increase their expenses. Furthermore, to avoid any business disturbances in financially connected companies due to silo effect, they should arrange their management to integrated organization form. Otherwise, actions taken by one business member of the chain can influence the profitability of all the other members in the chain. That is why recently supply chain has generated much interest in many business units. In this paper, it has been tried to investigate the different aspects of silo effect which can affect integrate supply chain. Finally, a fluent communication, high level of information exchange, fragmentation management, cross-functional control in a supply chain management format are needed to reduce or control silo effect within entire chain of the holding company by Supply chain management. PMID:24250690

Silo effect a prominence factor to decrease efficiency of pharmaceutical industry.

PubMed

Vatanpour, Hossein; Khorramnia, Atoosa; Forutan, Naghmeh

2013-01-01

To be sure, all the industries try to be involved in globalization with a constant trend to find out ways to increase productivity across different functions within an organization to maintain competitive advantage world. Pharmaceutical industries are not exceptional and further are based on fragmentation. So these kind of companies need to cope with several barriers such as silo mentality that may affect efficiency of their business activity. Due to eliminate a part of resources such as raw materials, new molecule developed, financial and human resources and so on, companies can gradually loss their competitive potentials in the market and increase their expenses. Furthermore, to avoid any business disturbances in financially connected companies due to silo effect, they should arrange their management to integrated organization form. Otherwise, actions taken by one business member of the chain can influence the profitability of all the other members in the chain. That is why recently supply chain has generated much interest in many business units. In this paper, it has been tried to investigate the different aspects of silo effect which can affect integrate supply chain. Finally, a fluent communication, high level of information exchange, fragmentation management, cross-functional control in a supply chain management format are needed to reduce or control silo effect within entire chain of the holding company by Supply chain management.

Reducing stock-outs of essential tuberculosis medicines: a system dynamics modelling approach to supply chain management.

PubMed

Bam, L; McLaren, Z M; Coetzee, E; von Leipzig, K H

2017-10-01

The under-performance of supply chains presents a significant hindrance to disease control in developing countries. Stock-outs of essential medicines lead to treatment interruption which can force changes in patient drug regimens, drive drug resistance and increase mortality. This study is one of few to quantitatively evaluate the effectiveness of supply chain policies in reducing shortages and costs. This study develops a systems dynamics simulation model of the downstream supply chain for amikacin, a second-line tuberculosis drug using 10 years of South African data. We evaluate current supply chain performance in terms of reliability, responsiveness and agility, following the widely-used Supply Chain Operation Reference framework. We simulate 141 scenarios that represent different combinations of supplier characteristics, inventory management strategies and demand forecasting methods to identify the Pareto optimal set of management policies that jointly minimize the number of shortages and total cost. Despite long supplier lead times and unpredictable demand, the amikacin supply chain is 98% reliable and agile enough to accommodate a 20% increase in demand without a shortage. However, this is accomplished by overstocking amikacin by 167%, which incurs high holding costs. The responsiveness of suppliers is low: only 57% of orders are delivered to the central provincial drug depot within one month. We identify three Pareto optimal safety stock management policies. Short supplier lead time can produce Pareto optimal outcomes even in the absence of other optimal policies. This study produces concrete, actionable guidelines to cost-effectively reduce stock-outs by implementing optimal supply chain policies. Preferentially selecting drug suppliers with short lead times accommodates unexpected changes in demand. Optimal supply chain management should be an essential component of national policy to reduce the mortality rate. © The Author 2017. Published by Oxford University Press in association with The London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine. All rights reserved. For permissions, please e-mail: journals.permissions@oup.com.

On the Supply Chain Management Supported by E-Commerce Service Platform for Agreement based Circulation of Fruits and Vegetables

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Bao, Liwei; Huang, Yuchi; Ma, Zengjun; Zhang, Jie; Lv, Qingchu

According to analysis of the supply chain process of agricultural products, the IT application requirements of the market entities participating in the agreement based circulation of fruits and vegetables have been discussed. The strategy of supply chain management basing on E-commerce service platform for fruits and vegetables has been proposed in this paper. The architecture and function composing of the service platform have been designed and implemented. The platform is constructed on a set of application service modules User can choose some of the application service modules and define them according to the business process. The application service modules chosen and defined by user are integrated as an application service package and applied as management information system of business process. With the E-commerce service platform, the supply chain management for agreement based circulation of agricultural products of vegetables and fruits can be implemented.

The quality of antimalarials available in Yemen

PubMed Central

Abdo-Rabbo, Ahmed; Bassili, Amal; Atta, Hoda

2005-01-01

Background Malaria has always been a major public health problem in Yemen. Several studies in developing countries have demonstrated ineffective and poor quality drugs including antimalarials. Therefore, quality assessment of antimalarial drugs is of crucial importance. This study aimed to assess the quality of antimalarials (chloroquine and sulfadoxine/pyrimethamine) available in Yemen and to determine whether the quality of these products was related to the level of the distribution chain at which the samples were collected or related to the manufacturers. Methods Four samples from each antimalarial product were collected from each of the various levels of the distribution chain. One sample was kept with the research team. Two were tested at Sana'a and Aden Drug Quality Control Laboratories. The fourth was sent to the Centre for Quality Assurance of Medicines in Potchefstroom, South Africa, for analysis. Quality indicators measured were the content of the active ingredient and dissolution rate (for tablets only) in comparison to standard specifications for these products in the relevant pharmacopoeia. Results The results identified several problems of sub-standard products within the drug distribution chain. They included high and low failures in ingredient content for chloroquine tablets and chloroquine syrup. There was some dissolution failure for chloroquine tablets, and high sulfadoxine/pyrimethamine tablets dissolution failures. Failures with the dissolution of the pyrimethamine were found at most of the collection points. No clear relationship neither between the quality products and the level of the distribution chain, nor between locally manufactured and imported products was observed. Conclusion There are sub-standard antimalarial products circulating within the drug distribution chains in the country, which will have serious implications on the reduced therapeutic effectiveness and on the development of drug resistance. This appears to be due to non-compliance with Good Manufacturing Practice guidelines by manufacturers in the production of the antimalarials. PMID:15987508

Supply chain management for small business--how to avoid being part of the food chain.

PubMed

Knechtges, J P; Watts, C A

2000-08-01

A supply chain is a series of customer and supplier relationships that extend throughout and beyond the company. It is an interwoven set of links that together form a chain supplying our customers in a seamless and integrated fashion delivering a high level of customer satisfaction. Supply chain management (SCM) integrates all activities so they are focused on customer satisfaction (both internally and externally). One of the things this article will attempt to accomplish is to provide a clear understanding of SCM's positive impact on customer service as well as on improving profitability, cash flow, product cycle times, and communication. Whether we go forward in the supply chain to the final end-user or backward in the supply chain to our supplier's suppliers, SCM will significantly improve our ability to serve our customers.

Lignocellulosic crop supply chains (eg, Miscanthus, switchgrass, reed canary grass, rye, giant reed, etc.) Chapter 12 of "Biomass Supply Chains for Bioenergy and Biorefining"

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Roni, Mohammad S.; Cafferty, Kara G.; Hess, J. Richard

This chapter provides an overview of lignocellulosic crop supply chains such as Miscanthus, switch grass, reed canary grass, rye, and giant reed by outlining typical logistic operations in support of a liquid biofuel market. We present two strategies for managing feedstocks within the biomass supply system: (1) the conventional bale feedstock supply system and (2) the advanced supply system concept. Finally, we discuss feedstock blending and integrated landscape management as innovative improvements to the lignocellulosic crop supply chain.

Quality control of goji (fruits of Lycium barbarum L. and L. chinense Mill.): A value chain analysis perspective.

PubMed

Yao, Ruyu; Heinrich, Michael; Wang, Zigui; Weckerle, Caroline S

2018-06-14

Goji (fruits of Lycium barbarum L. and L. chinense Mill., Solanaceae) have been used as a traditional food and medicine for hundreds of years in Asian countries and are now consumed globally. Quality of herbal medicines is critical for safe use and has been shown to be affected by value chains. Using a value chain (VC) framework, we aim at understanding the influence of different VC types on goji quality and revenue of stakeholders. Participant observation and semi-structured interviews were conducted during five months of fieldwork in the main production areas in China with a total of 65 stakeholders. Quality of goji, behaviour and financial performance of stakeholders was documented and analysed for different VCs. Ten different types of VCs were identified. VCs with vertical integration and horizontal collaboration were found to have a more coherent quality control and better goji quality as well as improved stakeholders' financial performance. Vertical integration at different levels was found for independent farmer-based VCs, horizontal collaboration was found in the cooperative-based VCs. Full vertically integrated VCs were found in large-scale production. Goji quality and stakeholders' revenues are linked with different types of VCs which mirror stakeholders' behaviour driven by target markets. Considering their positive influence on quality and revenues, well-developed vertically integrated value chains are likely to become more important in the near future. Copyright © 2018. Published by Elsevier B.V.

Service quality and parents' willingness to get adolescents HPV vaccine from pharmacists.

PubMed

Shah, Parth D; Calo, William A; Marciniak, Macary W; Golin, Carol E; Sleath, Betsy L; Brewer, Noel T

2018-04-01

We sought to examine whether pharmacy service quality was associated with parents' willingness to have immunizing pharmacists administer human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccine to their adolescent children. Participants were a national sample of 1504 US parents of adolescents ages 11 to 17 who completed an online survey in 2014. Analyses used structural equation modeling. Parents rated service quality and feelings of satisfaction with their pharmacies as moderate to high. Many (44%) were willing to get HPV vaccine from immunizing pharmacists for their adolescent children. Compared with parents who went to chain pharmacies, parents who went to independent pharmacies gave higher ratings of service quality (professionalism, confidentiality, milieu, all p < .001). Parents who went to clinic pharmacies, compared with parents who went to chain pharmacies gave lower ratings for milieu (p < .01). Parents who went to independent pharmacies had lower willingness to get HPV vaccine from pharmacists compared to parents who went to chain pharmacies (p = .001), but there was no difference in willingness for parents who went to clinic versus chain pharmacies. Service quality and satisfaction partially mediated the effect between independent pharmacies compared to chain pharmacies and willingness (p < .05). Parents who knew their pharmacists or expressed more confidence in HPV vaccine also had higher willingness to get their children HPV vaccine from pharmacist. Many parents were willing to go to immunizing pharmacists for their children's HPV vaccination. Pharmacies that are considering offering HPV vaccine may be able to improve vaccine uptake by increasing perception of service quality. Copyright © 2018 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Understanding food security issues in remote Western Australian Indigenous communities.

PubMed

Pollard, Christina M; Nyaradi, Anett; Lester, Matthew; Sauer, Kay

2014-08-01

Food insecurity in remote Western Australian (WA) Indigenous communities. This study explored remote community store managers' views on issues related to improving food security in order to inform health policy. A census of all remote WA Indigenous community store managers was conducted in 2010. Telephone interviews sought managers' perceptions of community food insecurity, problems with their store, and potential policy options for improving the supply, accessibility, affordability and consumption of nutritious foods. Descriptive analyses were conducted using SPSS for Windows version 17.0. Managers stated that freight costs and irregular deliveries contributed to high prices and a limited range of foods. Poor store infrastructure, compromised cold chain logistics, and commonly occurring power outages affected food quality. Half of the managers said there was hunger in their community because people did not have enough money to buy food. The role of nutritionists beyond a clinical and educational role was not understood. Food security interventions in remote communities need to take into consideration issues such as freight costs, transport and low demand for nutritious foods. Store managers provide important local knowledge regarding the development and implementation of food security interventions. SO WHAT? Agencies acting to address the issue of food insecurity in remote WA Indigenous communities should heed the advice of community store managers that high food prices, poor quality and limited availability are mainly due to transport inefficiencies and freight costs. Improving healthy food affordability in communities where high unemployment and low household income abound is fundamental to improving food security, yet presents a significant challenge.

Analyzing the impact of carbon regulatory mechanisms on supply chain management.

DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

2014-07-01

The objective of this research is developing a toolset for designing and managing cost : efficient and environmentally friendly supply chains for perishable products. : The models we propose minimize transportation and inventory holding costs in the ...

Integrating a Discovery-Based Laboratory to Teach Supply Chain Management Fundamentals in an Undergraduate Management Course

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Zeng, Amy; Johnson, Sharon

2009-01-01

Using experiential simulation games is a commonly used pedagogical method to enrich classroom discussions and to facilitate students' learning in supply chain management education at both undergraduate and graduate levels. However, existing games are inappropriate for undergraduate students that are first-time learners of the subject. In this…

Essays on the Effect of Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) on the Management of Healthcare Supply Chain Performance

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Cakici, Ozden Engin

2012-01-01

This dissertation examines three issues on the effect of Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) on the management of healthcare supply chain performance within the context of inventory management. Motivated by a case study conducted in a radiology practice, the second chapter analyzes the incremental benefits of RFID over barcodes for managing…

Antiretroviral procurement and supply chain management.

PubMed

Ripin, David J; Jamieson, David; Meyers, Amy; Warty, Umesh; Dain, Mary; Khamsi, Cyril

2014-01-01

Procurement, the country-level process of ordering antiretrovirals (ARVs), and supply chain management, the mechanism by which they are delivered to health-care facilities, are critical processes required to move ARVs from manufacturers to patients. To provide a glimpse into the ARV procurement and supply chain, the following pages provide an overview of the primary stakeholders, principal operating models, and policies and regulations involved in ARV procurement. Also presented are key challenges that need to be addressed to ensure that the supply chain is not a barrier to the goal of universal coverage. This article will cover the steps necessary to order and distribute ARVs, including different models of delivery, key stakeholders involved, strategic considerations that vary depending on context and policies affecting them. The single drug examples given illustrate the complications inherent in fragmented supply and demand-driven models of procurement and supply chain management, and suggest tools for navigating these hurdles that will ultimately result in more secure and reliable ARV provision. Understanding the dynamics of ARV supply chain is important for the global health community, both to ensure full and efficient treatment of persons living with HIV as well as to inform the supply chain decisions for other public health products.

Sense and Respond Logistics: Integrating Prediction, Responsiveness, and Control Capabilities

DTIC Science & Technology

2006-01-01

logistics SAR sense and respond SCM Supply Chain Management SCN Supply Chain Network SIDA sense, interpret, decide, act SOS source of supply TCN...commodity supply chain management ( SCM ), will have WS- SCMs that focus on integrating information for a particular MDS. 8 In the remainder of this...developed applications of ABMs for SCM .21 Applications of Agents and Agent-Based Modeling Agents have been used in telecommunications, e-commerce

Risk assessment in the upstream crude oil supply chain: Leveraging analytic hierarchy process

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Briggs, Charles Awoala

For an organization to be successful, an effective strategy is required, and if implemented appropriately the strategy will result in a sustainable competitive advantage. The importance of decision making in the oil industry is reflected in the magnitude and nature of the industry. Specific features of the oil industry supply chain, such as its longer chain, the complexity of its transportation system, its complex production and storage processes, etc., pose challenges to its effective management. Hence, understanding the risks, the risk sources, and their potential impacts on the oil industry's operations will be helpful in proposing a risk management model for the upstream oil supply chain. The risk-based model in this research uses a three-level analytic hierarchy process (AHP), a multiple-attribute decision-making technique, to underline the importance of risk analysis and risk management in the upstream crude oil supply chain. Level 1 represents the overall goal of risk management; Level 2 is comprised of the various risk factors; and Level 3 represents the alternative criteria of the decision maker as indicated on the hierarchical structure of the crude oil supply chain. Several risk management experts from different oil companies around the world were surveyed, and six major types of supply chain risks were identified: (1) exploration and production, (2) environmental and regulatory compliance, (3) transportation, (4) availability of oil, (5) geopolitical, and (6) reputational. Also identified are the preferred methods of managing risks which include; (1) accept and control the risks, (2) avoid the risk by stopping the activity, or (3) transfer or share the risks to other companies or insurers. The results from the survey indicate that the most important risk to manage is transportation risk with a priority of .263, followed by exploration/production with priority of .198, with an overall inconsistency of .03. With respect to major objectives the most preferred risk management policy option based on the result of the composite score is accept and control risk with a priority of .446, followed by transfer or share risk with a priority of .303. The least likely option is to terminate or forgo activity with a priority of .251.

Information technology and supply chain management: a study of the food industry.

PubMed

Hill, C A

2000-08-01

This paper's topic is the use of information technology (IT) for the development of supply chain management (SCM). In today's business environment, both in academics and industry, the term SCM has become a popular paradigm. In particular, the use of IT to facilitate the development of supply chain partners is gaining interest within industry. This paper develops the topic of SCM and further develops the relationship between the use of IT, in the form of electronic data interchange, and the development of supply chain integration. The goal of using SCM along with IT is to develop a supply chain that is capable of responding more quickly and efficiently in the meeting of consumer's requirements.

Spectroscopic characterization of the quantum wires in titanosilicates ETS-4 and ETS-10

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Yilmaz, Bilge; Warzywoda, Juliusz; Sacco, Albert, Jr.

2006-08-01

Titanosilicates ETS-4 and ETS-10 contain octahedrally coordinated monatomic semiconductor \\cdots \\mathrm {Ti} -O-Ti-O-\\mathrm {Ti}\\cdots (titania) chains in their frameworks. Titania chains are isolated from one another by a siliceous matrix. Thus, these chains can be regarded as one-dimensional nanostructures, i.e., 'quantum wires'. Diffuse reflectance UV-vis (DR-UV-vis) spectroscopy analysis demonstrated a significant blue-shift of the optical absorption edge (>60 nm) for both ETS-4 and ETS-10 compared to bulk titania. This blue-shift is consistent with the hypothesis that the titania chains in ETS-4 and ETS-10 are acting as quantum wires. A broad range of ETS-4 and ETS-10 samples with diverse crystallo-chemical characteristics was prepared. The DR-UV-vis and Raman spectra of various ETS-4 and ETS-10 samples exhibited different characteristics, which were hypothesized to be related to the titania chain 'quality'. Detailed investigation of the spectroscopic bands associated with the titania chains in ETS-4 was performed for the first time. The 'quality' of these titania chains/quantum wires in ETS-4 and ETS-10 was correlated with the crystal growth mechanisms of these materials. Comparison of the growth mechanisms and the spectroscopic behaviour for ETS-4 and ETS-10 suggests that the control of 'quantum wire quality' via hydrothermal synthesis is possible in ETS-4 but would be difficult in ETS-10.

The Muon Conditions Data Management:. Database Architecture and Software Infrastructure

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Verducci, Monica

2010-04-01

The management of the Muon Conditions Database will be one of the most challenging applications for Muon System, both in terms of data volumes and rates, but also in terms of the variety of data stored and their analysis. The Muon conditions database is responsible for almost all of the 'non-event' data and detector quality flags storage needed for debugging of the detector operations and for performing the reconstruction and the analysis. In particular for the early data, the knowledge of the detector performance, the corrections in term of efficiency and calibration will be extremely important for the correct reconstruction of the events. In this work, an overview of the entire Muon conditions database architecture is given, in particular the different sources of the data and the storage model used, including the database technology associated. Particular emphasis is given to the Data Quality chain: the flow of the data, the analysis and the final results are described. In addition, the description of the software interfaces used to access to the conditions data are reported, in particular, in the ATLAS Offline Reconstruction framework ATHENA environment.

Using Value Stream Mapping to improve quality of care in low-resource facility settings.

PubMed

Ramaswamy, Rohit; Rothschild, Claire; Alabi, Funmi; Wachira, Eric; Muigai, Faith; Pearson, Nick

2017-11-01

Jacaranda Health (JH) is a Kenya-based organization that attempts to provide affordable, high-quality maternal and newborn healthcare through a chain of private health facilities in Nairobi. JH needed to adopted quality improvement as an organization-wide strategy to optimize effectiveness and efficiency. Value Stream Mapping, a Lean Management tool, was used to engage staff in prioritizing opportunities to improve clinical outcomes and patient-centered quality of care. Implementation was accomplished through a five-step process: (i) leadership engagement and commitment; (ii) staff training; (iii) team formation; (iv) process walkthrough; and (v) construction and validation. The Value Stream Map allowed the organization to come together and develop an end-to-end view of the process of care at JH and to select improvement opportunities for the entire system. The Value Stream Map is a simple visual tool that allows organizations to engage staff at all levels to gain commitment around quality improvement efforts. © The Author 2017. Published by Oxford University Press in association with the International Society for Quality in Health Care. All rights reserved. For permissions, please e-mail: journals.permissions@oup.com

Renal complications in multiple myeloma and related disorders: survivorship care plan of the International Myeloma Foundation Nurse Leadership Board.

PubMed

Faiman, Beth M; Mangan, Patricia; Spong, Jacy; Tariman, Joseph D

2011-08-01

Kidney dysfunction is a common clinical feature of symptomatic multiple myeloma. Some degree of renal insufficiency or renal failure is present at diagnosis or will occur during the course of the disease and, if not reversed, will adversely affect overall survival and quality of life. Chronic insults to the kidneys from other illnesses, treatment, or multiple myeloma itself can further damage renal function and increase the risk for additional complications, such as anemia. Patients with multiple myeloma who have light chain (Bence Jones protein) proteinuria may experience renal failure or progress to end-stage renal disease (ESRD) and require dialysis because of light chain cast nephropathy. Kidney failure in patients with presumed multiple myeloma also may result from amyloidosis, light chain deposition disease, or acute tubular necrosis caused by nephrotoxic agents; therefore, identification of patients at risk for kidney damage is essential. The International Myeloma Foundation's Nurse Leadership Board has developed practice recommendations for screening renal function, identifying positive and negative contributing risk and environmental factors, selecting appropriate therapies and supportive care measures to decrease progression to ESRD, and enacting dialysis to reduce and manage renal complications in patients with multiple myeloma.

Current food safety management systems in fish-exporting companies require further improvements to adequately cope with contextual pressure: case study.

PubMed

Onjong, Hillary Adawo; Wangoh, John; Njage, Patrick Murigu Kamau

2014-10-01

Fish-processing plants still face food safety (FS) challenges worldwide despite the existence of several quality assurance standards and food safety management systems/s (FSMSs). This study assessed performance of FSMS in fish exporting sector considering pressure from the context in which they operate. A FSMS diagnostic tool with checklist was used to assess the context, FSMS, and FS output in 9 Kenyan fish exporting companies. Majority (67%) companies operated at moderate- to high-risk context but with an average performance in control and assurance activities. This situation could be insufficient to deal with ambiguity, uncertainty, and vulnerability issues in the context characteristics. Contextual risk posed by product characteristics (nature of raw materials) and chain environment characteristics was high. Risk posed by the chain environment characteristics, low power in supplier relationships, and low degree of authority in customer relationships was high. Lack of authority in relationship with suppliers would lead to high raw material risk situation. Even though cooling facilities, a key control activity, was at an advanced level, there was inadequate packaging intervention equipment which coupled with inadequate physical intervention equipment could lead to further weakened FSMS performance. For the fish companies to improve their FSMS to higher level and enhance predictability, they should base their FSMS on scientific information sources, historical results, and own experimental trials in their preventive, intervention, and monitoring systems. Specific suggestions are derived for improvements toward higher FSMS activity levels or lower risk levels in context characteristics. Weak areas in performance of control and assurance activities in export fish-processing sector already implementing current quality assurance guidelines and standards were studied taking into consideration contextual pressure wherein the companies operate. Important mitigation measures toward improved contextual risk, core assurance, and control activities irrespective of applied food safety management systems in fish industries were suggested. © 2014 Institute of Food Technologists®

[A monitor for the emergency psychiatric service chain].

PubMed

Salden, M E F H; van Kemenade, J F L M; van Dam, A; Mulder, C L

2014-01-01

Many organisations are involved in the delivery of psychiatric emergency care to patients in crisis. We therefore refer to these organisations as the Psychiatric Emergency Chain (PEC). The quality of the PEC determines the quality of the psychiatric emergency care in a region. In order to measure the quality of this type of care a monitor has been developed in collaboration with the main stakeholders in the region Western North Brabant (WNB). To develop a monitor to measure the quality of a PEC in a region, identify weak spots in the chain and feed back the results to the chain. By searching the literature, studying the primary process in the chain and by having interviews with stakeholders we compiled a questionnaire for monitoring the pec. The monitor was tested in the WNB region and adjusted on the basis of experiences with the respondents. Then the monitor was generalised and tested in another region (Eindhoven and the Kempen) in order to find out whether this instrument might also be applicable to other pecs in the Netherlands. The monitor provided the PEC with a common language for evaluating the chain. The monitor was able to pinpoint particular weak spots and collaboration problems such as the response time required to reach the emergency, communication between and within organisations and domain discussions between different stakeholders. Chain partners used the results of the monitor to negotiate better collaborative agreements and to improve their care. The monitor is able to pinpoint problem areas in the PEC and subsequently to generate feedback to its stakeholders. This creates opportunities for improvement in the PEC. Therefore the monitor is a useful instrument for evaluating a local PEC periodically.

Climate Leadership Award for Supply Chain Leadership

EPA Pesticide Factsheets

Apply to the Climate Leadership Award for Supply Chain Leadership, which publicly recognizes organizations that are are at the leading edge of managing greenhouse gas emissions in their organizational supply chains.

Air quality assessment of Estarreja, an urban industrialized area, in a coastal region of Portugal.

PubMed

Figueiredo, M L; Monteiro, A; Lopes, M; Ferreira, J; Borrego, C

2013-07-01

Despite the increasing concern given to air quality in urban and industrial areas in recent years, particular emphasis on regulation, control, and reduction of air pollutant emissions is still necessary to fully characterize the chain emissions-air quality-exposure-dose-health effects, for specific sources. The Estarreja region was selected as a case study because it has one of the largest chemical industrial complexes in Portugal that has been recently expanded, together with a growing urban area with an interesting location in the Portuguese coastland and crossed by important road traffic and rail national networks. This work presents the first air quality assessment for the region concerning pollutant emissions and meteorological and air quality monitoring data analysis, over the period 2000-2009. This assessment also includes a detailed investigation and characterization of past air pollution episodes for the most problematic pollutants: ozone and PM10. The contribution of different emission sources and meteorological conditions to these episodes is investigated. The stagnant meteorological conditions associated with local emissions, namely industrial activity and road traffic, are the major contributors to the air quality degradation over the study region. A set of measures to improve air quality--regarding ozone and PM10 levels--is proposed as an air quality management strategy for the study region.

RFID Application Strategy in Agri-Food Supply Chain Based on Safety and Benefit Analysis

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Zhang, Min; Li, Peichong

Agri-food supply chain management (SCM), a management method to optimize internal costs and productivities, has evolved as an application of e-business technologies. These days, RFID has been widely used in many fields. In this paper, we analyze the characteristics of agri-food supply chain. Then the disadvantages of RFID are discussed. After that, we study the application strategies of RFID based on benefit and safety degree.

On adaptive modified projective synchronization of a supply chain management system

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Tirandaz, Hamed

2017-12-01

In this paper, the synchronization problem of a chaotic supply chain management system is studied. A novel adaptive modified projective synchronization method is introduced to control the behaviour of the leader supply chain system by a follower chaotic system and to adjust the leader system parameters until the measurable errors of the system parameters converge to zero. The stability evaluation and convergence analysis are carried out by the Lyapanov stability theorem. The proposed synchronization and antisynchronization techniques are studied for identical supply chain chaotic systems. Finally, some numerical simulations are presented to verify the effectiveness of the theoretical discussions.

75 FR 10210 - Market Development Cooperator Program 2010

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2010-03-05

...; 4. Help U.S. industry to capitalize on effective global supply chain management strategies; 5... in foreign markets by safeguarding non-U.S. elements of the supply chain with an ingredient testing... Management (OPCM), Manufacturing and Services (MAS), International Trade Administration (ITA), Commerce...

The Influence of U.S. Chain Restaurant Food Consumption and Obesity in China and South Korea: An Ecological Perspective of Food Consumption, Self-Efficacy in Weight Management, Willingness to Communicate About Weight/Diet, and Depression.

PubMed

Wright, Kevin B; Mazzone, Raphael; Oh, Hyun; Du, Joshua; Smithson, Anne-Bennett; Ryan, Diane; MacNeil, David; Tong, Xing; Stiller, Carol

2016-11-01

This study examined the impact of U.S. chain restaurant food consumption in China and South Korea from an ecological perspective. Specifically, it explored the relationships among several environmental and individual variables that have been found to affect obesity/weight management in previous research, including the prevalence/popularity of U.S. chain restaurants in these countries, frequency of U.S. chain restaurant food consumption, self-efficacy in weight management, willingness to communicate about weight/diet, self-perceptions of weight/obesity stigma, body mass index (BMI), and depression. The results indicated that willingness to communicate about weight/diet predicted increased self-efficacy in weight management. Higher BMI scores were found to predict increased weight/obesity stigma, and increased frequency of U.S. restaurant food consumption, weight/obesity stigma, and reduced self-efficacy in weight management were found to predict increased levels of depression. The theoretical and practical implications of the findings are discussed, along with limitations and directions for future research.

User testing and performance evaluation of the Electronic Quality Improvement Platform for Plans and Pharmacies.

PubMed

Pringle, Janice L; Kearney, Shannon M; Grasso, Kim; Boyer, Annette D; Conklin, Mark H; Szymanski, Keith A

2015-01-01

To user-test and evaluate a performance information management platform that makes standardized, benchmarked medication use quality data available to both health plans and community pharmacy organizations. Multiple health/drug plans and multiple chain and independent pharmacies across the United States. During the first phase of the study, user experience was measured via user satisfaction surveys and interviews with key personnel (pharmacists, pharmacy leaders, and health plan leadership). Improvements were subsequently made to the platform based on these findings. During the second phase of the study, the platform was implemented in a greater number of pharmacies and by a greater number of payers. User experience was then reevaluated to gather information for further improvements. The surveys and interviews revealed that users found the Web-based platform easy to use and beneficial in terms of understanding and comparing performance metrics. Primary concerns included lack of access to real-time data and patient-specific data. Many users also expressed uncertainty as to how they could use the information and data provided by the platform. The study findings indicate that while information management platforms can be used effectively in both pharmacy and health plan settings, future development is needed to ensure that the provided data can be transferred to pharmacy best practices and improved quality care.

Combined Effects of Irrigation Regime, Genotype, and Harvest Stage Determine Tomato Fruit Quality and Aptitude for Processing into Puree

PubMed Central

Arbex de Castro Vilas Boas, Alexandre; Page, David; Giovinazzo, Robert; Bertin, Nadia; Fanciullino, Anne-Laure

2017-01-01

Industry tomatoes are produced under a range of climatic conditions and practices which significantly impact on main quality traits of harvested fruits. However, the quality of tomato intended for processing is currently addressed on delivery through color and Brix only, whereas other traits are overlooked. Very few works provided an integrated view of the management of tomato puree quality throughout the chain. To gain insights into pre- and post-harvest interactions, four genotypes, two water regimes, three maturity stages, and two processes were investigated. Field and glasshouse experiments were conducted near Avignon, France, from May to August 2016. Two irrigation regimes were applied: control plants were irrigated in order to match 100% of evapotranspiration (ETP); water deficit (WD) plants were irrigated as control plants until anthesis of the first flowers, then irrigation was reduced to 60 and 50% ETP in field, and glasshouse respectively. Fruits were collected at three stages during ripening. Their color, fresh weight, dry matter content, and metabolite contents were determined before processing. Pericarp cell size was evaluated in glasshouse only. Two laboratory-scaled processing methods were applied before structural and biochemical analyses of the purees. Results outlined interactive effects between crop and process management. WD hardly reduced yield, but increased dry matter content in the field, in contrast to the glasshouse. The puree viscosity strongly depended on the genotype and the maturity stage, but it was disconnected from fruit dry matter content or Brix. The process impact on puree viscosity strongly depended on water supply during fruit production. Moreover, the lycopene content of fresh fruit may influence puree viscosity. This work opens new perspectives for managing puree quality in the field showing that it was possible to reduce water supply without affecting yield and to improve puree quality. PMID:29051767

Supply chain management/ Some lessons learned the hard way.

PubMed

Nuttall, Stephen

2013-01-01

This paper will look at some of the experiences, lessons and frustrations experienced in managing supply chains for business continuity. No-one has time to make all the mistakes, nor to learn all the lessons on their own, so it is useful to share experiences. Over the last 25 years, the author has been involved in supply chain management as a contract manager; a programme and project manager; and as a business continuity manager. Although times change, there are some fundamental principles that are absolutely critical in making sure that supply chains do what they are needed to do/ to keep business going. Supply chains are here to stay. Indeed, with today's drive towards outsourcing, best-shoring and contracting out, they are becoming more important every year and this will only continue over time. Moreover, in the highly competitive markets in which all organisations operate, suppliers may well be carrying out operations that not all that long ago would have been considered to be part of core business. Getting the right relationship with the supply chain is more critical than ever before.1 What does this mean to business continuity professionals? They need to think not just about their own BC plans, but about the plans of their suppliers, and even those of their suppliers' suppliers. This may seem obvious, but unlike internal BC plans written by and for an organisation, it must be considered just what a supplier's plans are designed to achieve. What business outcomes will their plans deliver? If they recover their own business, how does that affect the business they serve? Are others' assumptions of how they will react in line with theirs?

Teaching Lean Six Sigma within a Supply Chain Context: The Airplane Supply Chain Simulation

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Ellis, Scott C.; Goldsby, Thomas J.; Bailey, Ana M.; Oh, Jae-Young

2014-01-01

Lean six sigma is a management methodology that firms can employ to achieve substantial improvement in supply chain performance. However, few pedagogical exercises facilitate students' use of a comprehensive set of lean six sigma principles within a supply chain context. We describe the Airplane Supply Chain Simulation that helps students…

Building laboratory capacity to support HIV care in Nigeria: Harvard/APIN PEPFAR, 2004–2012

PubMed Central

Hamel, Donald J.; Sankalé, Jean-Louis; Samuels, Jay Osi; Sarr, Abdoulaye D.; Chaplin, Beth; Ofuche, Eke; Meloni, Seema T.; Okonkwo, Prosper; Kanki, Phyllis J.

2015-01-01

Introduction From 2004–2012, the Harvard/AIDS Prevention Initiative in Nigeria, funded through the US President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief programme, scaled up HIV care and treatment services in Nigeria. We describe the methodologies and collaborative processes developed to improve laboratory capacity significantly in a resource-limited setting. These methods were implemented at 35 clinic and laboratory locations. Methods Systems were established and modified to optimise numerous laboratory processes. These included strategies for clinic selection and management, equipment and reagent procurement, supply chains, laboratory renovations, equipment maintenance, electronic data management, quality development programmes and trainings. Results Over the eight-year programme, laboratories supported 160 000 patients receiving HIV care in Nigeria, delivering over 2.5 million test results, including regular viral load quantitation. External quality assurance systems were established for CD4+ cell count enumeration, blood chemistries and viral load monitoring. Laboratory equipment platforms were improved and standardised and use of point-of-care analysers was expanded. Laboratory training workshops supported laboratories toward increasing staff skills and improving overall quality. Participation in a World Health Organisation-led African laboratory quality improvement system resulted in significant gains in quality measures at five laboratories. Conclusions Targeted implementation of laboratory development processes, during simultaneous scale-up of HIV treatment programmes in a resource-limited setting, can elicit meaningful gains in laboratory quality and capacity. Systems to improve the physical laboratory environment, develop laboratory staff, create improvements to reduce costs and increase quality are available for future health and laboratory strengthening programmes. We hope that the strategies employed may inform and encourage the development of other laboratories in resource-limited settings. PMID:26900573

Dynamics of quality as a strategic variable in complex food supply chain network competition: The case of fresh produce

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Nagurney, Anna; Besik, Deniz; Yu, Min

2018-04-01

In this paper, we construct a competitive food supply chain network model in which the profit-maximizing producers decide not only as to the volume of fresh produce produced and distributed using various supply chain network pathways, but they also decide, with the associated costs, on the initial quality of the fresh produce. Consumers, in turn, respond to the various producers' product outputs through the prices that they are willing to pay, given also the average quality associated with each producer or brand at the retail outlets. The quality of the fresh produce is captured through explicit formulae that incorporate time, temperature, and other link characteristics with links associated with processing, shipment, storage, etc. Capacities on links are also incorporated as well as upper bounds on the initial product quality of the firms at their production/harvesting sites. The governing concept of the competitive supply chain network model is that of Nash Equilibrium, for which alternative variational inequality formulations are derived, along with existence results. An algorithmic procedure, which can be interpreted as a discrete-time tatonnement process, is then described and applied to compute the equilibrium produce flow patterns and accompanying link Lagrange multipliers in a realistic case study, focusing on peaches, which includes disruptions.

Modeling methodology for supply chain synthesis and disruption analysis

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Wu, Teresa; Blackhurst, Jennifer

2004-11-01

The concept of an integrated or synthesized supply chain is a strategy for managing today's globalized and customer driven supply chains in order to better meet customer demands. Synthesizing individual entities into an integrated supply chain can be a challenging task due to a variety of factors including conflicting objectives, mismatched incentives and constraints of the individual entities. Furthermore, understanding the effects of disruptions occurring at any point in the system is difficult when working toward synthesizing supply chain operations. Therefore, the goal of this research is to present a modeling methodology to manage the synthesis of a supply chain by linking hierarchical levels of the system and to model and analyze disruptions in the integrated supply chain. The contribution of this research is threefold: (1) supply chain systems can be modeled hierarchically (2) the performance of synthesized supply chain system can be evaluated quantitatively (3) reachability analysis is used to evaluate the system performance and verify whether a specific state is reachable, allowing the user to understand the extent of effects of a disruption.

Strategic information technology alliances for effective health-care supply chain management.

PubMed

Shih, Stephen C; Rivers, Patrick A; Hsu, H Y Sonya

2009-08-01

To gain and sustain competitive advantage, health-care providers have to continuously review and renovate their operational and information technology (IT) strategies through collaborative and cooperative endeavour with their supply chain channel members. This paper explores new ways of enhancing a health-care organization's responsiveness to changes and increasing its competitiveness through implementing strategic information technology alliances among channel members in a health-care supply chain network. An overview of issues and problems (e.g. bullwhip effect, negative externalities and free-riding phenomenon in multichannel supply chains) presented in the health-care supply chains is first delineated. This paper further goes over the issues of health-care supply chain coordination and integration for strategic IT alliances, followed by the discussion of the spillover effect of IT investments. A number of viable IT practices (such as information sharing and Internet-enabled supply chain portal) for effective health-care supply chain collaboration and coordination are then examined in this research. Finally, the paper discusses how strategic IT alliances can help improve the effectiveness of health-care supply chain management.

76 FR 7153 - Secretarial Business Development Mission; Transportation Infrastructure/Multimodal Products and...

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2011-02-09

...- modal freight and intelligent supply chain management, provides significant business [[Page 7154..., including port development, airport development, freight rail systems and technologies, supply chain systems... for U.S. engineers, program management firms, and manufacturers to contribute to the creation of new...

An Interoperable Architecture for Air Pollution Early Warning System Based on Sensor Web

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Samadzadegan, F.; Zahmatkesh, H.; Saber, M.; Ghazi khanlou, H. J.

2013-09-01

Environmental monitoring systems deal with time-sensitive issues which require quick responses in emergency situations. Handling the sensor observations in near real-time and obtaining valuable information is challenging issues in these systems from a technical and scientific point of view. The ever-increasing population growth in urban areas has caused certain problems in developing countries, which has direct or indirect impact on human life. One of applicable solution for controlling and managing air quality by considering real time and update air quality information gathered by spatially distributed sensors in mega cities, using sensor web technology for developing monitoring and early warning systems. Urban air quality monitoring systems using functionalities of geospatial information system as a platform for analysing, processing, and visualization of data in combination with Sensor Web for supporting decision support systems in disaster management and emergency situations. This system uses Sensor Web Enablement (SWE) framework of the Open Geospatial Consortium (OGC), which offers a standard framework that allows the integration of sensors and sensor data into spatial data infrastructures. SWE framework introduces standards for services to access sensor data and discover events from sensor data streams as well as definition set of standards for the description of sensors and the encoding of measurements. The presented system provides capabilities to collect, transfer, share, process air quality sensor data and disseminate air quality status in real-time. It is possible to overcome interoperability challenges by using standard framework. In a routine scenario, air quality data measured by in-situ sensors are communicated to central station where data is analysed and processed. The extracted air quality status is processed for discovering emergency situations, and if necessary air quality reports are sent to the authorities. This research proposed an architecture to represent how integrate air quality sensor data stream into geospatial data infrastructure to present an interoperable air quality monitoring system for supporting disaster management systems by real time information. Developed system tested on Tehran air pollution sensors for calculating Air Quality Index (AQI) for CO pollutant and subsequently notifying registered users in emergency cases by sending warning E-mails. Air quality monitoring portal used to retrieving and visualize sensor observation through interoperable framework. This system provides capabilities to retrieve SOS observation using WPS in a cascaded service chaining pattern for monitoring trend of timely sensor observation.

GCE Data Toolbox for MATLAB - a software framework for automating environmental data processing, quality control and documentation

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Sheldon, W.; Chamblee, J.; Cary, R. H.

2013-12-01

Environmental scientists are under increasing pressure from funding agencies and journal publishers to release quality-controlled data in a timely manner, as well as to produce comprehensive metadata for submitting data to long-term archives (e.g. DataONE, Dryad and BCO-DMO). At the same time, the volume of digital data that researchers collect and manage is increasing rapidly due to advances in high frequency electronic data collection from flux towers, instrumented moorings and sensor networks. However, few pre-built software tools are available to meet these data management needs, and those tools that do exist typically focus on part of the data management lifecycle or one class of data. The GCE Data Toolbox has proven to be both a generalized and effective software solution for environmental data management in the Long Term Ecological Research Network (LTER). This open source MATLAB software library, developed by the Georgia Coastal Ecosystems LTER program, integrates metadata capture, creation and management with data processing, quality control and analysis to support the entire data lifecycle. Raw data can be imported directly from common data logger formats (e.g. SeaBird, Campbell Scientific, YSI, Hobo), as well as delimited text files, MATLAB files and relational database queries. Basic metadata are derived from the data source itself (e.g. parsed from file headers) and by value inspection, and then augmented using editable metadata templates containing boilerplate documentation, attribute descriptors, code definitions and quality control rules. Data and metadata content, quality control rules and qualifier flags are then managed together in a robust data structure that supports database functionality and ensures data validity throughout processing. A growing suite of metadata-aware editing, quality control, analysis and synthesis tools are provided with the software to support managing data using graphical forms and command-line functions, as well as developing automated workflows for unattended processing. Finalized data and structured metadata can be exported in a wide variety of text and MATLAB formats or uploaded to a relational database for long-term archiving and distribution. The GCE Data Toolbox can be used as a complete, light-weight solution for environmental data and metadata management, but it can also be used in conjunction with other cyber infrastructure to provide a more comprehensive solution. For example, newly acquired data can be retrieved from a Data Turbine or Campbell LoggerNet Database server for quality control and processing, then transformed to CUAHSI Observations Data Model format and uploaded to a HydroServer for distribution through the CUAHSI Hydrologic Information System. The GCE Data Toolbox can also be leveraged in analytical workflows developed using Kepler or other systems that support MATLAB integration or tool chaining. This software can therefore be leveraged in many ways to help researchers manage, analyze and distribute the data they collect.

Assembly and Function of Heterotypic Ubiquitin Chains in Cell-Cycle and Protein Quality Control.

PubMed

Yau, Richard G; Doerner, Kerstin; Castellanos, Erick R; Haakonsen, Diane L; Werner, Achim; Wang, Nan; Yang, X William; Martinez-Martin, Nadia; Matsumoto, Marissa L; Dixit, Vishva M; Rape, Michael

2017-11-02

Posttranslational modification with ubiquitin chains controls cell fate in all eukaryotes. Depending on the connectivity between subunits, different ubiquitin chain types trigger distinct outputs, as seen with K48- and K63-linked conjugates that drive protein degradation or complex assembly, respectively. Recent biochemical analyses also suggested roles for mixed or branched ubiquitin chains, yet without a method to monitor endogenous conjugates, the physiological significance of heterotypic polymers remained poorly understood. Here, we engineered a bispecific antibody to detect K11/K48-linked chains and identified mitotic regulators, misfolded nascent polypeptides, and pathological Huntingtin variants as their endogenous substrates. We show that K11/K48-linked chains are synthesized and processed by essential ubiquitin ligases and effectors that are mutated across neurodegenerative diseases; accordingly, these conjugates promote rapid proteasomal clearance of aggregation-prone proteins. By revealing key roles of K11/K48-linked chains in cell-cycle and quality control, we establish heterotypic ubiquitin conjugates as important carriers of biological information. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Quality Assurance in Clinical Chemistry: A Touch of Statistics and A Lot of Common Sense

PubMed Central

2016-01-01

Summary Working in laboratories of clinical chemistry, we risk feeling that our personal contribution to quality is small and that statistical models and manufacturers play the major roles. It is seldom sufficiently acknowledged that personal knowledge, skills and common sense are crucial for quality assurance in the interest of patients. The employees, environment and procedures inherent to the laboratory including its interactions with the clients are crucial for the overall result of the total testing chain. As the measurement systems, reagents and procedures are gradually improved, work on the preanalytical, postanalytical and clinical phases is likely to pay the most substantial dividends in accomplishing further quality improvements. This means changing attitudes and behaviour, especially of the users of the laboratory. It requires understanding people and how to engage them in joint improvement processes. We need to use our knowledge and common sense expanded with new skills e.g. from the humanities, management, business and change sciences in order to bring this about together with the users of the laboratory. PMID:28356868

"Cola-Game": An Innovative Approach to Teaching Inventory Management in a Supply Chain

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Dhumal, Parag; Sundararaghavan, P. S.; Nandkeolyar, Udayan

2008-01-01

In this article we present a game that can be used as a tool to educate students and managers on the issues in supply chain (SC), inventory management. The game has a bilevel demand with one level during regular times and another during sale times. The game could be played in two modes (independence and cooperation) and has been field tested in…

75 FR 22412 - Food and Drug Administration/Xavier University Global Outsourcing Conference

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2010-04-28

... relationships and supply chain control, as well as expectations from global regulators. Pharmaceutical companies...; Quality Agreement Development throughout the product and process lifecycle; Supply Chain Transparency and Pedigree; How to Audit the Supply Chain; Rx-360 and International Pharmaceutical Excipients Council...

Smartphone-based assessment of blood alteration severity

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Li, Xianglin; Xue, Jiaxin; Li, Wei; Li, Ting

2018-02-01

Blood quality and safety management is a critical issue for cold chain transportation of blood or blood-based biological reagent. The conventional methods of blood alteration severity assessment mainly rely on kit test or blood-gas analysis required opening the blood package to get samples, which cause possible blood pollution and are complicate, timeconsuming, and expensive. Here we proposed to develop a portable, real-time, safety, easy-operated and low cost method aimed at assessing blood alteration severity. Color images of the blood in transparent blood bags were collected with a smartphone and the alteration severity of the blood was assessed by the smartphone app offered analysis of RGB color values of the blood. The algorithm is based on a large number sample of RGB values of blood at different alteration degree. The blood quality results evaluated by the smartphone are in accordance with the actual data. This study indicates the potential of smart phone in real time, convenient, and reliable blood quality assessment.

Managing Distance Education Institutions through Value Chain Analysis: the Nigerian Experience.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Aderinto, J. A.; Akintayo, M. O.

Value chain analysis can gauge, analyze, and predict organization effects to control cost in light of achieving strategic organization objectives of distance education. Value chain analysis enables organizations to accomplish their goal or mission through cost effectiveness or differentiation. The value chain activity structure in a distance…

A qualitative phenomenological study: Enhanced, risk-based FAA oversight on part 145 maintenance practices

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Sheehan, Bryan G.

The purpose of this qualitative phenomenological study was to examine the phenomenon of enhanced, risk-based Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) oversight of Part 145 repair stations that performed aircraft maintenance for Part 121 air carriers between 2007 and 2014 in Oklahoma. Specifically, this research was utilized to explore what operational changes have occurred in the domestic Part 145 repair station industry such as variations in management or hiring practices, training, recordkeeping and technical data, inventory and aircraft parts supply-chain logistics, equipment, and facilities. After interviewing 12 managers from Part 145 repair stations in Oklahoma, six major theme codes emerged from the data: quality of oversight before 2007, quality of oversight after 2007, advantages of oversight, disadvantages of oversight, status quo of oversight, and process improvement . Of those six major theme codes, 17 subthemes appeared from the data that were used to explain the phenomenon of enhanced oversight in the Part 145 repair station industry. Forty-two percent of the participants indicated a weak FAA oversight system that has hindered the continuous process improvement program in their repair stations. Some of them were financially burdened after hiring additional full-time quality assurance inspectors to specifically manage enhanced FAA oversight. Notwithstanding, the participants of the study indicated that the FAA must apply its surveillance on a more standardized and consistent basis. They want to see this standardization in how FAA inspectors interpret regulations and practice the same quality of oversight for all repair stations, particularly those that are repeat violators and fail to comply with federal aviation regulations. They believed that when the FAA enforces standardization on a consistent basis, repair stations can become more efficient and safer in the performance of their scope of work for the U.S. commercial air transportation industry.

76 FR 38614 - Transportation Infrastructure/Multimodal Products and Services Trade Mission to Doha, Qatar, and...

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2011-07-01

...- modal freight and intelligent supply chain management, provides significant business opportunities in... technologies, supply chain systems and strategies; mass transportation systems; advanced vehicle technologies... opportunities for U.S. engineers, program management firms, and manufacturers to contribute to the creation of...

76 FR 32953 - Transportation Infrastructure/Multimodal Products and Services Trade Mission to Doha, Qatar, and...

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2011-06-07

... new systems, particularly those related to multimodal freight and intelligent supply chain management... technologies, supply chain systems and strategies; mass transportation systems; advanced vehicle technologies... country. There are excellent opportunities for U.S. engineers, program management firms, and manufacturers...

Supply Chain Management: Are You Maximizing Your Procurement Activity?

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Dobbin, James; Jenkins, Mike

2000-01-01

Today's purchasing professionals recognize the need to reduce non-value-added procedures (clerical functions) while emphasizing strategic planning. Results-oriented supply-chain managers need superb communication, negotiation, and leadership skills to achieve long-term value and resist the lowest, first- cost bids. (Contains 13 references.) (MLH)

77 FR 8839 - Proposed Collection; Comment Request

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2012-02-15

... supply chain management (SCM) practices, processes and metrics that could be beneficial to the Department... commercial supply chain management. Dated: January 31, 2012. Patricia L. Toppings, OSD Federal Register..., OH, 45433, or call 937-255-3636 x4674. Title; Associated Form; and OMB Number: Leading Edge Supply...

Quality and safety of herbal medical products: regulation and the need for quality assurance along the value chains.

PubMed

Heinrich, Michael

2015-07-01

Herbal medicines and products derived from them are a diverse group of products for which different (and often limited) levels of evidence are available. As importantly, such products generally vary in their composition and are at the end of an often poorly understood value chain, which often links producers in biodiversity rich countries with the large markets in the North. This paper discusses the current regulatory framework of such herbal medical products (with a focus on the UK) and using examples from our own metabolomic research on Curcumal longa L. (turmeric, Zingiberaceae) how value chains impact on the composition and quality (and thus the safety) of such products. Overall, our recent research demonstrates the need for studying the links between producers and consumers of commodities produced in provider countries and that plant metabolomics offer a novel way of assessing the chemical variability along a value chain. © 2015 The British Pharmacological Society.

Recovery of Item Parameters in the Nominal Response Model: A Comparison of Marginal Maximum Likelihood Estimation and Markov Chain Monte Carlo Estimation.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Wollack, James A.; Bolt, Daniel M.; Cohen, Allan S.; Lee, Young-Sun

2002-01-01

Compared the quality of item parameter estimates for marginal maximum likelihood (MML) and Markov Chain Monte Carlo (MCMC) with the nominal response model using simulation. The quality of item parameter recovery was nearly identical for MML and MCMC, and both methods tended to produce good estimates. (SLD)

The Effect of Coaching and Mentoring Programs to Improve Students Competencies: Case Study of Beastudi Etos Scholarship

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Udiutoma, Purwa; Srinovita, Yulya

2015-01-01

Progress of a country largely determined by quality of its human resources and quality of human life is much influenced by educational factors. Chains of poverty absolutely cannot be separated from economic, health and educational factors. Therefore, one effort to break chains of poverty is to provide proper education. Dompet Dhuafa through…

Polymerase Chain Reaction/Rapid Methods Are Gaining a Foothold in Developing Countries.

PubMed

Ragheb, Suzan Mohammed; Jimenez, Luis

Detection of microbial contamination in pharmaceutical raw materials and finished products is a critical factor to guarantee their safety, stability, and potency. Rapid microbiological methods-such as polymerase chain reaction-have been widely applied to clinical and food quality control analysis. However, polymerase chain reaction applications to pharmaceutical quality control have been rather slow and sporadic. Successful implementation of these methods in pharmaceutical companies in developing countries requires important considerations to provide sensitive and robust assays that will comply with good manufacturing practices. In recent years several publications have encouraged the application of molecular techniques in the microbiological assessment of pharmaceuticals. One of these techniques is polymerase chain reaction (PCR). The successful application of PCR in the pharmaceutical industry in developing countries is governed by considerable factors and requirements. These factors include the setting up of a PCR laboratory and the choice of appropriate equipment and reagents. In addition, the presence of well-trained analysts and establishment of quality control and quality assurance programs are important requirements. The pharmaceutical firms should take into account these factors to allow better chances for regulatory acceptance and wide application of this technique. © PDA, Inc. 2014.

Electrohydrodynamics in nanochannels coated by mixed polymer brushes: effects of electric field strength and solvent quality

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Cao, Qianqian; Tian, Xiu; You, Hao

2018-04-01

We examine the electrohydrodynamics in mixed polymer brush-coated nanochannels and the conformational dynamics of grafted polymers using molecular dynamics simulations. Charged (A) and neutral polymers (B) are alternately grafted on the channel surfaces. The effects of the electric field strength and solvent quality are addressed in detail. The dependence of electroosmotic flow characteristics and polymer conformational behavior on the solvent quality is influenced due to the change of the electric field strength. The enhanced electric field induces a collapse of the neutral polymer chains which adopt a highly extended conformation along the flow direction. However, the thickness of the charged polymer layer is affected weakly by the electric field, and even a slight swelling is identified for the A-B attraction case, implying the conformational coupling between two polymer species. Furthermore, the charged polymer chains incline entirely towards the electric field direction oppositely to the flow direction. More importantly, unlike the neutral polymer chains, the shape factor of the charged polymer chains, which is used to describe the overall shape of polymer chains, is reduced significantly with increasing the electric field strength, corresponding to a more coiled structure.

Shareholder value and the performance of a large nursing home chain.

PubMed

Kitchener, Martin; O'Meara, Janis; Brody, Ab; Lee, Hyang Yuol; Harrington, Charlene

2008-06-01

To analyze corporate governance arrangements and quality and financial performance outcomes among large multi-facility nursing home corporations (chains) that pursue stakeholder value (profit maximization) strategies. To establish a foundation of knowledge about the focal phenomenon and processes, we conducted an historical (1993-2005) case study of one of the largest chains (Sun Healthcare Inc.) that triangulated qualitative and quantitative data sources. Two main sets of information were compared: (1) corporate sources including Sun's Security Exchange Commission (SEC) Form 10-K annual reports, industry financial reports, and the business press; and (2) external sources including, legal documents, press reports, and publicly available California facility cost reports and quality data. Shareholder value was pursued at Sun through three inter-linked strategies: (1) rapid growth through debt-financed mergers; (2) labor cost constraint through low nurse staffing levels; and (3) a model of corporate governance that views sanctions for fraud and poor quality as a cost of business. Study findings and evidence from other large nursing home chains underscore calls from the Institute of Medicine and other bodies for extended oversight of the corporate governance and performance of large nursing home chains.

Shareholder Value and the Performance of a Large Nursing Home Chain

PubMed Central

Kitchener, Martin; O'Meara, Janis; Brody, Ab; Lee, Hyang Yuol; Harrington, Charlene

2008-01-01

Objective To analyze corporate governance arrangements and quality and financial performance outcomes among large multi-facility nursing home corporations (chains) that pursue stakeholder value (profit maximization) strategies. Study Design To establish a foundation of knowledge about the focal phenomenon and processes, we conducted an historical (1993–2005) case study of one of the largest chains (Sun Helathcare Inc.) that triangulated qualitative and quantitative data sources. Data Sources Two main sets of information were compared: (1) corporate sources including Sun's Security Exchange Commission (SEC) Form 10-K annual reports, industry financial reports, and the business press; and (2) external sources including, legal documents, press reports, and publicly available California facility cost reports and quality data. Principal Findings Shareholder value was pursued at Sun through three inter-linked strategies: (1) rapid growth through debt-financed mergers; (2) labor cost constraint through low nurse staffing levels; and (3) a model of corporate governance that views sanctions for fraud and poor quality as a cost of business. Conclusions Study findings and evidence from other large nursing home chains underscore calls from the Institute of Medicine and other bodies for extended oversight of the corporate governance and performance of large nursing home chains. PMID:18454781

Line patterning of anisotropic spin chains by polarized laser for application in micro-thermal management

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Terakado, Nobuaki; Takahashi, Ryosuke; Takahashi, Yoshihiro; Fujiwara, Takumi

2017-05-01

The control of heat flow has become increasingly important in energy saving and harvesting. Among various thermal management materials, spinon thermal conductivity materials are promising for heat flow control at microscales because they exhibit high, anisotropic thermal conductivity resulting from spin chains. However, there has been only little development of the materials for controlling heat flow. Here, we present the line patterning of the spin chain structure on a SrCuO2 nanocrystalline film by laser scanning. When the polarization direction of laser light was orthogonal to the scanning direction, we found that the spin-chain structure anisotropically grew on the patterned line.

Environmental and sustainability ethics in supply chain management.

PubMed

Beamon, Benita M

2005-04-01

Environmentally Conscious Supply Chain Management (ECSCM refers to the control exerted over all immediate and eventual environmental effects of products and processes associated with converting raw materials into final products. While much work has been done in this area, the focus has traditionally been on either: product recovery (recycling, remanufacturing, or re-use) or the product design function only (e.g., design for environment). Environmental considerations in manufacturing are often viewed as separate from traditional, value-added considerations. However, the case can be made that professional engineers have an ethical responsibility to consider the immediate and eventual environmental impacts of products and processes that they design and/or manage. This paper describes ECSCM as a component of engineering ethics, and highlights the major issues associated with ethical decision-making in supply chain management.

76 FR 24848 - Submission for OMB Review; Comment Request

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2011-05-03

...: USDA Web Based Supply Chain Management System (WBSCMs). OMB Control Number: 0581--NEW. Summary of... using the secure Web Based Supply Chain Management System (WBSCM). Vendors must be registered, and have... assists AMS with making a determination whether a business is viable and capable of supplying product to...

Is the U.S. Army Field Artillery Prepared to Support the Next Major Combat Operation?

DTIC Science & Technology

2013-05-23

Coyle, C. John Langley Jr., Brian J . Gibson, Robert A . Novack, Edward J . Bardi , Supply Chain Management; A Logistics Perspective (Mason, OH: South...Edward J . Bardi . Supply Chain Management; A Logistics Perspective. Mason, OH: South-Western Cengage Learning, 2008. Dastrup, Boyd. The Field...

Inventory transparency for agricultural produce through IOT

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Srinivasan, S. P.; Sorna Shanthi, D.; Anand, Aashish V.

2017-06-01

Re-structuring the practices of traditional inventory management is becoming more essential to optimize the supply chain transparency and accuracy of agricultural produce. A flexible and transparent inventory management system is becoming the need of any agricultural commodity. It was noticed that the major setback for the farmers who are the suppliers of the farm produce is due to poor supply chain integration. The recent advent technologies and IT explosion can bring up a greater impact in the process of storing, tracking, distributing and monitoring perishable agriculture produce of day to day life. The primary focus of this paper is to integrate IoT into inventory management and other inbound logistics management of agriculture produce. The unique features of agricultural produce like a prediction of supply, demand, the location of warehouses, distribution and tracking of inventory can be integrated through IoT. This paper proposes a conceptual framework for inventory management transparency involved in the supply chain of agriculture produce.

The Research on Integrated Strategy of Supply Chain Information Systems in the Automobile Industry Based on Order-To-Delivery Mode

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Li, Ming; Gan, Lianzhen; He, Xuefeng

The automotive industry there are different degrees of impairment of many companies supply chain IT strategy. In this paper, in which the automotive industry supply chain management business cooperation between enterprises loose, poor exchange of information leading to the presence or delays in product customization, supply of raw materials, material control, production planning and control, sales and service and a fast response propose a series of typical problems of scientific and rational supply chain information integration strategy. The strategy through the development system integration platform, improve internal ERP system, implementation of supply chain management and other methods. Put some protection principles in the information process, to ensure the correct implementation of supply chain IT strategy, and ultimately achieve collaborative business development concept and enhance the automotive industry as a whole level of information.

Consumer-perceived quality in 'traditional' food chains: the case of the Greek meat supply chain.

PubMed

Krystallis, Athanassios; Chryssochoidis, George; Scholderer, Joachim

2007-01-01

Recent food scares have increased consumer concern about meat safety. However, the Greek 'traditional' meat supply chain from producers to local butchers does not seem to realise the pressing consumer demand for certified meat quality. Or is it that, in such food chains, this demand is not so pressing yet? The present paper seeks to answer this question based on a survey conducted in the Athens area, involving a sample of 268 participants responsible for food purchasing decisions. The survey mainly aims to develop an integrated model of factors that affect consumer-perceived meat quality and to develop the profile of different consumer segments in relation to these perceptions. The substantial findings of the survey include the fact that, despite their enormous per capita consumption, the majority of consumers are not particularly involved in the meat-purchasing process. Rather they attach importance to visual intrinsic quality cues evaluated in a pre-purchasing context. In this respect, intrinsic quality cues are assigned a role similar to that of quality certification; coupled with the choice of traditional channels and the resulting personal relation with the butcher, they can be understood as efforts to decrease risk of the purchasing decision. Moreover, consumers with such behaviour seem to relate domestic country of origin of meat mostly with perceptions of general safety. Finally, a small, but promising trend with substantial marketing implications of frequent purchases of chicken and pork at supermarkets should not be ignored.

What Happens When the Supply Chain Breaks? Implications for the Army Supply Chain Under Attack

DTIC Science & Technology

2003-05-22

Supply Chain Integration office with Secretariat level leadership to facilitate DoD Component implementation of supply chain management practices...rather than cyber attack. Tim Belcher, Chief Technology Officer for Riptech, a computer security firm said “It was always assumed that a small group of

Utilizing Radiofrequency Identification Technology to Improve Safety and Management of Blood Bank Supply Chains.

PubMed

Coustasse, Alberto; Meadows, Pamela; Hall, Robert S; Hibner, Travis; Deslich, Stacie

2015-11-01

The importance of efficiency in the supply chain of perishable products, such as the blood products used in transfusion services, cannot be overstated. Many problems can occur, such as the outdating of products, inventory management issues, patient misidentification, and mistransfusion. The purpose of this article was to identify the benefits and barriers associated with radiofrequency identification (RFID) usage in improving the blood bank supply chain. The methodology for this study was a qualitative literature review following a systematic approach. The review was limited to sources published from 2000 to 2014 in the English language. Sixty-five sources were found, and 56 were used in this research study. According to the finding of the present study, there are numerous benefits and barriers to RFID utilization in blood bank supply chains. RFID technology offers several benefits with regard to blood bank product management, including decreased transfusion errors, reduction of product loss, and more efficient inventory management. Barriers to RFID implementation include the cost associated with system implementation and patient privacy issues. Implementation of an RFID system can be a significant investment. However, when observing the positive impact that such systems may have on transfusion safety and inventory management, the cost associated with RFID systems can easily be justified. RFID in blood bank inventory management is vital to ensuring efficient product inventory management and positive patient outcomes.

Contraception supply chain challenges: a review of evidence from low- and middle-income countries.

PubMed

Mukasa, Bakali; Ali, Moazzam; Farron, Madeline; Van de Weerdt, Renee

2017-10-01

To identify and assess factors determining the functioning of supply chain systems for modern contraception in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs), and to identify challenges contributing to contraception stockouts that may lead to unmet need. Scientific databases and grey literature were searched including Database of Abstracts of Reviews of Effectiveness (DARE), PubMed, MEDLINE, POPLINE, CINAHL, Academic Search Complete, Science Direct, Web of Science, Cochrane Central, Google Scholar, WHO databases and websites of key international organisations. Studies indicated that supply chain system inefficiencies significantly affect availability of modern FP and contraception commodities in LMICs, especially in rural public facilities where distribution barriers may be acute. Supply chain failures or bottlenecks may be attributed to: weak and poorly institutionalized logistic management information systems (LMIS), poor physical infrastructures in LMICs, lack of trained and dedicated staff for supply chain management, inadequate funding, and rigid government policies on task sharing. However, there is evidence that implementing effective LMISs and involving public and private providers will distribution channels resulted in reduction in medical commodities' stockout rates. Supply chain bottlenecks contribute significantly to persistent high stockout rates for modern contraceptives in LMICs. Interventions aimed at enhancing uptake of contraceptives to reduce the problem of unmet need in LMICs should make strong commitments towards strengthening these countries' health commodities supply chain management systems. Current evidence is limited and additional, and well-designed implementation research on contraception supply chain systems is warranted to gain further understanding and insights on the determinants of supply chain bottlenecks and their impact on stockouts of contraception commodities.

Integrating strategic and tactical decisions in livestock supply chain using bi-level programming, case study: Iran poultry supply chain.

PubMed

Teimoury, Ebrahim; Jabbarzadeh, Armin; Babaei, Mohammadhosein

2017-01-01

Inventory management has frequently been targeted by researchers as one of the most pivotal problems in supply chain management. With the expansion of research studies on inventory management in supply chains, perishable inventory has been introduced and its fundamental differences from non-perishable inventory have been emphasized. This article presents livestock as a type of inventory that has been less studied in the literature. Differences between different inventory types, affect various levels of strategic, tactical and operational decision-making. In most articles, different levels of decision-making are discussed independently and sequentially. In this paper, not only is the livestock inventory introduced, but also a model has been developed to integrate decisions across different levels of decision-making using bi-level programming. Computational results indicate that the proposed bi-level approach is more efficient than the sequential decision-making approach.

Integrating strategic and tactical decisions in livestock supply chain using bi-level programming, case study: Iran poultry supply chain

PubMed Central

Jabbarzadeh, Armin; Babaei, Mohammadhosein

2017-01-01

Inventory management has frequently been targeted by researchers as one of the most pivotal problems in supply chain management. With the expansion of research studies on inventory management in supply chains, perishable inventory has been introduced and its fundamental differences from non-perishable inventory have been emphasized. This article presents livestock as a type of inventory that has been less studied in the literature. Differences between different inventory types, affect various levels of strategic, tactical and operational decision-making. In most articles, different levels of decision-making are discussed independently and sequentially. In this paper, not only is the livestock inventory introduced, but also a model has been developed to integrate decisions across different levels of decision-making using bi-level programming. Computational results indicate that the proposed bi-level approach is more efficient than the sequential decision-making approach. PMID:28982180

A "simulation chain" to define a Multidisciplinary Decision Support System for landslide risk management in pyroclastic soils

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Damiano, E.; Mercogliano, P.; Netti, N.; Olivares, L.

2012-04-01

This paper proposes a Multidisciplinary Decision Support System (MDSS) as an approach to manage rainfall-induced shallow landslides of the flow type (flowslides) in pyroclastic deposits. We stress the need to combine information from the fields of meteorology, geology, hydrology, geotechnics and economics to support the agencies engaged in land monitoring and management. The MDSS consists of a "simulation chain" to link rainfall to effects in terms of infiltration, slope stability and vulnerability. This "simulation chain" was developed at the Euro-Mediterranean Centre for Climate Change (CMCC) (meteorological aspects), at the Geotechnical Laboratory of the Second University of Naples (hydrological and geotechnical aspects) and at the Department of Economics of the University of Naples "Federico II" (economic aspects). The results obtained from the application of this simulation chain in the Cervinara area during eleven years of research allowed in-depth analysis of the mechanisms underlying a flowslide in pyroclastic soil.

Reduction of energy usage in postharvest horticulture through management of ethylene.

PubMed

Wills, Ron B H; Golding, John B

2015-05-01

Cool chain management is the preferred technology to extend the postharvest life of horticultural produce, but with rising energy costs and community pressure to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, there is a need to use less energy-intensive technologies. Minimising the level of ethylene around horticultural produce inhibits ripening and senescence and therefore has the potential to reduce the use of refrigeration. The long-distance transport of bananas within Australia and from Central America to Europe is used as a case study to show that the need for refrigeration could be reduced if the appropriate concentrations of ethylene were maintained around fruit during transit. Data are also presented to show a similar benefit of ethylene control with green beans, as well as another study showing that apples treated with the ethylene action inhibitor 1-methylcyclopropene could be stored at a higher temperature without loss of quality to the consumer. The range of technologies available to manage ethylene levels is discussed. © 2014 Society of Chemical Industry.

Diagnostics in a digital age: an opportunity to strengthen health systems and improve health outcomes.

PubMed

Peeling, Rosanna W

2015-11-01

Diagnostics play a critical role in clinical decision making, and in disease control and prevention. Rapid point-of-care (POC) tests for infectious diseases can improve access to diagnosis and patient management, but the quality of these tests vary, quality of testing is often not assured and there are few mechanisms to capture test results for surveillance when the testing is so decentralised. A new generation of POC molecular tests that are highly sensitive and specific, robust and easy to use are now available for deployment in low resource settings. Decentralisation of testing outside of the laboratory can put tremendous stress on the healthcare system and presents challenges for training and quality assurance. A feature of many of these POC molecular devices is that they are equipped with data transmission capacities. In a digital age, it is possible to link data from diagnostic laboratories and POC test readers and devices to provide data on testing coverage, disease trends and timely information for early warning of infectious disease outbreaks to inform design or optimisation of disease control and elimination programmes. Data connectivity also allows control programmes to monitor the quality of tests and testing, and optimise supply chain management; thus, increasing the efficiency of healthcare systems and improving patient outcomes. © The Author 2015. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of Royal Society of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene. All rights reserved. For permissions, please e-mail: journals.permissions@oup.com.

[Work organisation improvement methods applied to activities of Blood Transfusion Establishments (BTE): Lean Manufacturing, VSM, 5S].

PubMed

Bertholey, F; Bourniquel, P; Rivery, E; Coudurier, N; Follea, G

2009-05-01

Continuous improvement of efficiency as well as new expectations from customers (quality and safety of blood products) and employees (working conditions) imply constant efforts in Blood Transfusion Establishments (BTE) to improve work organisations. The Lean method (from "Lean" meaning "thin") aims at identifying wastages in the process (overproduction, waiting, over-processing, inventory, transport, motion) and then reducing them in establishing a mapping of value chain (Value Stream Mapping). It consists in determining the added value of each step of the process from a customer perspective. Lean also consists in standardizing operations while implicating and responsabilizing all collaborators. The name 5S comes from the first letter of five operations of a Japanese management technique: to clear, rank, keep clean, standardize, make durable. The 5S method leads to develop the team working inducing an evolution of the way in the management is performed. The Lean VSM method has been applied to blood processing (component laboratory) in the Pays de la Loire BTE. The Lean 5S method has been applied to blood processing, quality control, purchasing, warehouse, human resources and quality assurance in the Rhône-Alpes BTE. The experience returns from both BTE shows that these methods allowed improving: (1) the processes and working conditions from a quality perspective, (2) the staff satisfaction, (3) the efficiency. These experiences, implemented in two BTE for different processes, confirm the applicability and usefulness of these methods to improve working organisations in BTE.

Do Nursing Home Chain Size and Proprietary Status Affect Experiences With Care?

PubMed

You, Kai; Li, Yue; Intrator, Orna; Stevenson, David; Hirth, Richard; Grabowski, David; Banaszak-Holl, Jane

2016-03-01

In 2012, over half of nursing homes were operated by corporate chains. Facilities owned by the largest for-profit chains were reported to have lower quality of care. However, it is unknown how nursing home chain ownerships are related with experiences of care. To study the relationship between nursing home chain characteristics (chain size and profit status) with patients' family member reported ratings on experiences with care. Maryland nursing home care experience reports, the Online Survey, Certification, And Reporting (OSCAR) files, and Area Resource Files are used. Our sample consists of all nongovernmental nursing homes in Maryland from 2007 to 2010. Consumer ratings were reported for: overall care; recommendation of the facility; staff performance; care provided; food and meals; physical environment; and autonomy and personal rights. We identified chain characteristics from OSCAR, and estimated multivariate random effect linear models to test the effects of chain ownership on care experience ratings. Independent nonprofit nursing homes have the highest overall rating score of 8.9, followed by 8.6 for facilities in small nonprofit chains, and 8.5 for independent for-profit facilities. Facilities in small, medium, and large for-profit chains have even lower overall ratings of 8.2, 7.9, and 8.0, respectively. We find similar patterns of differences in terms of recommendation rate, and important areas such as staff communication and quality of care. Evidence suggests that Maryland nursing homes affiliated with large-for-profit and medium-for-profit chains had lower ratings of family reported experience with care.

RFID in the Apparel Retail Industry: A Case Study from Galeria Kaufhof

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Al-Kassab, Jasser; Blome, Philipp; Wolfram, Gerd; Thiesse, Frédéric; Fleisch, Elgar

This contribution deals with the business valueof radio frequency identification (RFID) technology in the apparel retail industry. We present a case study of an RFID project at Galeria Kaufhof, a subsidiary of Metro Group and one of the largest department store chains in Europe. The trial shows that operational efficiency gains through the automation of logistical in-store processes, such as inventory counting or goods receipt, are possible. Moreover, RFID enables new customer applications on the sales floor, which allow for a redesign of the customer interface, and thus an improvement of the service processes and the service quality. In addition, the analyses of the gathered data on the sales floor help to close the "data void" between the goods receipt and the point of sales of the department store, thus offering the opportunity to directly observe and analyze physical in-store processes. The RFID data analyses allow for deriving valuable information for the department store management in the areas of inventory management, category management, store layout management, and department store processes.

Notes from the field: the economic value chain in disease management organizations.

PubMed

Fetterolf, Donald

2006-12-01

The disease management (DM) "value chain" is composed of a linear series of steps that include operational milestones in the development of knowledge, each stage evolving from the preceding one. As an adaptation of Michael Porter's "value chain" model, the process flow in DM moves along the following path: (1) data/information technology, (2) information generation, (3) analysis, (4) assessment/recommendations, (5) actionable customer plan, and (6) program assessment/reassessment. Each of these stages is managed as a major line of product operations within a DM company or health plan. Metrics around each of the key production variables create benchmark milestones, ongoing management insight into program effectiveness, and potential drivers for activity-based cost accounting pricing models. The value chain process must remain robust from early entry of data and information into the system, through the final presentation and recommendations for our clients if the program is to be effective. For individuals involved in the evaluation or review of DM programs, this framework is an excellent method to visualize the key components and sequence in the process. The value chain model is an excellent way to establish the value of a formal DM program and to create a consultancy relationship with a client involved in purchasing these complex services.

New Product Development for Green and Low-Carbon Products—A Case Study of Taiwan's TFT-LCD Manufacturer

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Lin, Chun-Yu; Lee, Amy H. I.

2011-11-01

Green supply chain has become an important topic these days due to pollution, global warming, extreme climatic events, etc. A green product is manufactured with the goal of reducing the damage to the environment and limiting the use of energy and other resources at any stage of its life, including raw materials, manufacture, use, and disposal. Carbon footprint is a good measure of the impact that a product has on the environment, especially in climate change, in the entire lifetime of the product. Carbon footprint is directly linked to CO2 emission; thus, the reduction of CO2 emission must be considered in the product life cycle. Although more and more researchers are working on the green supply chain management in the past few years, few have incorporated CO2 emission or carbon footprint into the green supply chain system. Therefore, this research aims to propose an integrated model for facilitating the new product development (NPD) for green and low-carbon products. In this research, a systematic model based on quality function deployment (QFD) is constructed for developing green and low-carbon products in a TFT-LCD manufacturer. Literature review and interviews with experts are done first to collect the factors for developing and manufacturing green and low-carbon products. Fuzzy Delphi method (FDM) is applied next to extract the important factors, and fuzzy interpretive structural modeling (FISM) is used subsequently to understand the relationships among factors. A house of quality (HOQ) for product planning is built last. The results shall provide important information for a TFT-LCD firm in designing a new product.

Product carbon footprint assessment supporting the green supply chain construction in household appliance manufacturers

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Chen, Jianhua; Sun, Liang; Guo, Huiting

2017-11-01

Supply chain carbon emission is one of the factors considered in the green supply chain management. A method was designed to support the green supply chain measures based on the carbon footprint assessment for products. A research for 3 typical household appliances carbon footprint assessment was conducted to explore using product carbon footprint assessment method to guide the green supply chain management of the manufacturers. The result could reflect the differences directions on green supply chain management of manufacturers of washing machine, air conditioner and microwave, respectively That is, the washing machine manufacturer should pay attention to the low carbon activities in upstream suppliers in highest priority, and also the promotion of product energy efficiency. The air conditioner manufacturer should pay attention to the product energy efficiency increasing in highest priority, and the improvement of refrigerant to decrease its GWP. And the microwave manufacture could only focus on the energy efficiency increasing because it contributes most of the carbon emission to its carbon footprint. Besides, the representativeness of product and the applicability of the method were also discussed. As the manufacturer could master the technical information on raw material and components of its products to conduct the product carbon footprint assessment, this method could help the manufacturer to identify the effective green supply chain measures in the preliminary stage.

A New Activity-Based Financial Cost Management Method

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Qingge, Zhang

The standard activity-based financial cost management model is a new model of financial cost management, which is on the basis of the standard cost system and the activity-based cost and integrates the advantages of the two. It is a new model of financial cost management with more accurate and more adequate cost information by taking the R&D expenses as the accounting starting point and after-sale service expenses as the terminal point and covering the whole producing and operating process and the whole activities chain and value chain aiming at serving the internal management and decision.

An Innovative Supply Chain Management Programme Structure: Broadening the SCM Skill Set

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Okongwu, Uche

2007-01-01

This paper proposes a matrix structure for training Supply Chain Management (SCM) professionals. It is an innovative programme structure that combines two approaches: cross-border and inter-organisational. It enables the students to comprehend complex and specific business environments and to understand the diverse nature of SCM systems in both…

Supply Chain Development: Insights from Strategic Niche Management

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Caniels, Marjolein C. J.; Romijn, Henny A.

2008-01-01

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to contribute to the study of supply chain design from the perspective of complex dynamic systems. Unlike extant studies that use formal simulation modelling and associated methodologies rooted in the physical sciences, it adopts a framework rooted in the social sciences, strategic niche management, which…

Service-Learning in Supply Chain Management: Benefits, Challenges and Best Practices

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Schoenherr, Tobias

2015-01-01

Service-learning (SL) is a pedagogical approach in which students are assigned a course-related project in a not-for-profit organization, and are tasked to apply course content to execute the project. While the benefits are multifarious, only recently have supply chain management (SCM) courses adapted this innovative teaching methodology. The…

Using a Video Game to Teach Supply Chain and Logistics Management

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Liu, Chiung-Lin

2017-01-01

This study used OpenTTD, a video game that supports in-depth experiential learning, to evaluate undergraduate students' opinions regarding supply chain and logistics management learning. The 101 undergraduate participants were assigned to either an experimental group or a control group. From the post-test questionnaires, the analytical results…

Sustainability in Supply Chain Management: Aggregate Planning from Sustainability Perspective.

PubMed

Türkay, Metin; Saraçoğlu, Öztürk; Arslan, Mehmet Can

2016-01-01

Supply chain management that considers the flow of raw materials, products and information has become a focal issue in modern manufacturing and service systems. Supply chain management requires effective use of assets and information that has far reaching implications beyond satisfaction of customer demand, flow of goods, services or capital. Aggregate planning, a fundamental decision model in supply chain management, refers to the determination of production, inventory, capacity and labor usage levels in the medium term. Traditionally standard mathematical programming formulation is used to devise the aggregate plan so as to minimize the total cost of operations. However, this formulation is purely an economic model that does not include sustainability considerations. In this study, we revise the standard aggregate planning formulation to account for additional environmental and social criteria to incorporate triple bottom line consideration of sustainability. We show how these additional criteria can be appended to traditional cost accounting in order to address sustainability in aggregate planning. We analyze the revised models and interpret the results on a case study from real life that would be insightful for decision makers.

Sustainability in Supply Chain Management: Aggregate Planning from Sustainability Perspective

PubMed Central

Türkay, Metin; Saraçoğlu, Öztürk; Arslan, Mehmet Can

2016-01-01

Supply chain management that considers the flow of raw materials, products and information has become a focal issue in modern manufacturing and service systems. Supply chain management requires effective use of assets and information that has far reaching implications beyond satisfaction of customer demand, flow of goods, services or capital. Aggregate planning, a fundamental decision model in supply chain management, refers to the determination of production, inventory, capacity and labor usage levels in the medium term. Traditionally standard mathematical programming formulation is used to devise the aggregate plan so as to minimize the total cost of operations. However, this formulation is purely an economic model that does not include sustainability considerations. In this study, we revise the standard aggregate planning formulation to account for additional environmental and social criteria to incorporate triple bottom line consideration of sustainability. We show how these additional criteria can be appended to traditional cost accounting in order to address sustainability in aggregate planning. We analyze the revised models and interpret the results on a case study from real life that would be insightful for decision makers. PMID:26807848

Assessment of RFID Investment in the Military Logistics Systems Through The Cost of Ownership Model (COO)

DTIC Science & Technology

2010-03-01

managers seek ways to increase the efficiency of their organizations by improving their logistics operations . According to Logistics Today journal ...S. (2009). RFID Adoption by Indian Retailers: An Exploratory Study. The Icfai University Journal of Supply Chain Management , 6 (1), 60-77...and will continue to be one of the hot topics in operations and supply chain management . It will potentially receive widespread adoption in the long

Air Quality and Health Impacts of an Aviation Biofuel Supply Chain in the Northwestern United States

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Ravi, V.; Lamb, B. K.

2016-12-01

The Northwest Advanced Renewables Alliance (NARA) is a multi-institutional program aimed at the development of a supply chain for aviation biofuel using woody residues from logging operations as a feedstock. In this paper, we present results based on a comprehensive regional air quality modelling framework (AIRPACT) showing the effects of reduced prescribed fires due to harvesting of the woody biomass feedstock and air quality impacts from the biofuel supply chain. We will present results from two different scenarios - (1) a biorefinery scenario with all emissions associated with supply chain (i.e. vehicular, logging-activity, and biorefinery operations) with two biorefineries in eastern and western Washington and (2) a prescribed burn scenario with all and reduced prescribed fire emissions. Prescribed fire activities peak during Oct-Nov in the region, and prescribed fire simulations for this period in 2011 show significant improvement in particulate air quality in western Oregon for the case with reduced fire emissions. Harvesting woody residue and reducing the amount of prescribed fire activity decreased PM2.5 by 10-20 µg/m3 at several locations. Using BenMAP, an air quality benefit mapping tool, we show that a decrease in PM2.5 concentrations due to reduced prescribed and slash burning activity is associated with decrease in several health end points analysed. Decreases in PM2.5 concentrations also help to improve visibility in protected natural environments, such as national parks. For the biofuel supply chain, summertime simulations were completed and initial results indicate only a small increase (≤1 ppbv) in hourly ozone concentration downwind of a large biorefinery near the Puget Sound region. Impacts from a smaller biorefinery located in eastern Washington are much smaller. Impacts from mobile sources for biomass hauling are negligible.

Intensive Care Nurses’ Belief Systems Regarding the Health Economics: A Focused Ethnography

PubMed Central

Heydari, Abbas; Vafaee-Najar, Ali; Bakhshi, Mahmoud

2016-01-01

Background: Health care beliefs can have an effect on the efficiency and effectiveness of nursing practices. Nevertheless, how belief systems impact on the economic performance of intensive care unit (ICU) nurses is not known. This study aimed to explore the ICU nurses’ beliefs and their effect on nurse’s: practices and behavior patterns regarding the health economics. Methods: In this study, a focused ethnography method was used. Twenty-four informants from ICU nurses and other professional individuals were purposively selected and interviewed. As well, 400 hours of ethnographic observations were used for data collection. Data analysis was performed using the methods described by Miles and Huberman (1994). Findings: Eight beliefs were found that gave meaning to ICU nurse’s practices regarding the health economics. 1. The registration of medications and supplies disrupt the nursing care; 2. Monitoring and auditing improve consumption; 3. There is a fear of possible shortage in the future; 4. Supply and replacement of equipment is difficult; 5. Higher prices lead to more accurate consumption; 6. The quality of care precedes the costs; 7. Clinical Guidelines are abundant but useful; and 8. Patient economy has priority over hospital economy. Maintaining the quality of patient care with least attention to hospital costs was the main focus of the beliefs formed up in the ICU regarding the health economics. Conclusions: ICU nurses’ belief systems have significantly shaped in relation to providing a high-quality care. Although high quality of care can lead to a rise in the effectiveness of nursing care, cost control perspective should also be considered in planning for improve the quality of care. Therefore, it is necessary to involve the ICU nurses in decision-making about unit cost management. They must become familiar with the principles of heath care economics and productivity by applying an effective cost management program. It may be optimal to implement the reforms in various aspects, such as the hospital’s strategic plan and supply chain management system. PMID:27157164

Intensive Care Nurses' Belief Systems Regarding the Health Economics: A Focused Ethnography.

PubMed

Heydari, Abbas; Vafaee-Najar, Ali; Bakhshi, Mahmoud

2016-09-01

Health care beliefs can have an effect on the efficiency and effectiveness of nursing practices. Nevertheless, how belief systems impact on the economic performance of intensive care unit (ICU) nurses is not known. This study aimed to explore the ICU nurses' beliefs and their effect on nurse's practices and behavior patterns regarding the health economics. In this study, a focused ethnography method was used. Twenty-four informants from ICU nurses and other professional individuals were purposively selected and interviewed. As well, 400 hours of ethnographic observations were used for data collection. Data analysis was performed using the methods described by Miles and Huberman (1994). Eight beliefs were found that gave meaning to ICU nurse's practices regarding the health economics. 1. The registration of medications and supplies disrupt the nursing care; 2.Monitoring and auditing improve consumption; 3.There is a fear of possible shortage in the future; 4.Supply and replacement of equipment is difficult; 5.Higher prices lead to more accurate consumption; 6.The quality of care precedes the costs; 7. Clinical Guidelines are abundant but useful; and 8.Patient economy has priority over hospital economy. Maintaining the quality of patient care with least attention to hospital costs was the main focus of the beliefs formed up in the ICU regarding the health economics. ICU nurses' belief systems have significantly shaped in relation to providing a high-quality care. Although high quality of care can lead to a rise in the effectiveness of nursing care, cost control perspective should also be considered in planning for improve the quality of care. Therefore, it is necessary to involve the ICU nurses in decision-making about unit cost management. They must become familiar with the principles of heath care economics and productivity by applying an effective cost management program. It may be optimal to implement the reforms in various aspects, such as the hospital's strategic plan and supply chain management system.

Internet-enabled collaborative agent-based supply chains

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Shen, Weiming; Kremer, Rob; Norrie, Douglas H.

2000-12-01

This paper presents some results of our recent research work related to the development of a new Collaborative Agent System Architecture (CASA) and an Infrastructure for Collaborative Agent Systems (ICAS). Initially being proposed as a general architecture for Internet based collaborative agent systems (particularly complex industrial collaborative agent systems), the proposed architecture is very suitable for managing the Internet enabled complex supply chain for a large manufacturing enterprise. The general collaborative agent system architecture with the basic communication and cooperation services, domain independent components, prototypes and mechanisms are described. Benefits of implementing Internet enabled supply chains with the proposed infrastructure are discussed. A case study on Internet enabled supply chain management is presented.

Radio Frequency Identification Queuing & Geo-Location (RAQGEO): A spatial solution to inventory management at XYZ Logistics, Inc

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Griffiths, Bradley Joseph

New supply chain management methods using radio frequency identification (RFID) and global positioning system (GPS) technology are quickly being adopted by companies as various inventory management benefits are being realized. For example, companies such as Nippon Yusen Kaisha (NYK) Logistics use the technology coupled with geospatial support systems for distributors to quickly find and manage freight containers. Traditional supply chain management methods require pen-to-paper reporting, searching inventory on foot, and human data entry. Some companies that prioritize supply chain management have not adopted the new technology, because they may feel that their traditional methods save the company expenses. This thesis serves as a pilot study that examines how information technology (IT) utilizing RFID and GPS technology can serve to increase workplace productivity, decrease human labor associated with inventorying, plus be used for spatial analysis by management. This pilot study represents the first attempt to couple RFID technology with Geographic Information Systems (GIS) in supply chain management efforts to analyze and locate mobile assets by exploring costs and benefits of implementation plus how the technology can be employed. This pilot study identified a candidate to implement a new inventory management method as XYZ Logistics, Inc. XYZ Logistics, Inc. is a fictitious company but represents a factual corporation. The name has been changed to provide the company with anonymity and to not disclose confidential business information. XYZ Logistics, Inc., is a nation-wide company that specializes in providing space solutions for customers including portable offices, storage containers, and customizable buildings.

Improving agricultural commodity supply-chain to promote economic activities in rural area

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Padjung, R.

2018-05-01

Long supply chain of agricultural commodities has become concern to governments particularly in large countries such as Indonesia as it causes high price disparity between farm-gate and retailer. Policies to overcome such problem are usually by shortening the chain, by which farmers sell the products directly to retailers. Using an action research in AEDEF (Aceh Economic Development Financing Facilities) Program, conducted in the province of Nangro Aceh Darussalam (NAD) Indonesia, the paper shows that shortening the commodity supply chain is not the best solution to such problem, as it causes loss of jobs in the villages. High price disparity between farm-gate and retailer is not necessary brought about by long supply-chain but by the efficiency of the chain instead. Efficiency of the chain can be improved by creating enabling business environment such that every actors and players work in a fair manner. This can be achieved by transparency in price and quality grade. With development achieved in Information and Communication Technology (ICT), having a good and reliable flow of such information is not difficult. In addition to information flow, the availability and quality of infrastructure to support flow of goods from farm-gate to end-user is of reasonably important.

Recent developments in smart freezing technology applied to fresh foods.

PubMed

Xu, Ji-Cheng; Zhang, Min; Mujumdar, Arun S; Adhikari, Benu

2017-09-02

Due to the increased awareness of consumers in sensorial and nutritional quality of frozen foods, the freezing technology has to seek new and innovative technologies for better retaining the fresh like quality of foods. In this article, we review the recent developments in smart freezing technology applied to fresh foods. The application of these intelligent technologies and the associated underpinning concepts have greatly improved the quality of frozen foods and the freezing efficiency. These technologies are able to automatically collect the information in-line during freezing and help control the freezing process better. Smart freezing technology includes new and intelligent technologies and concepts applied to the pretreatment of the frozen product, freezing processes, cold chain logistics as well as warehouse management. These technologies enable real-time monitoring of quality during the freezing process and help improve product quality and freezing efficiency. We also provide a brief overview of several sensing technologies used to achieve automatic control of individual steps of freezing process. These sensing technologies include computer vision, electronic nose, electronic tongue, digital simulation, confocal laser, near infrared spectroscopy, nuclear magnetic resonance technology and ultrasound. Understanding of the mechanism of these new technologies will be helpful for applying them to improve the quality of frozen foods.

Feedstock and Conversion Supply System Design and Analysis

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Jacobson, J.; Mohammad, R.; Cafferty, K.

The success of the earlier logistic pathway designs (Biochemical and Thermochemical) from a feedstock perspective was that it demonstrated that through proper equipment selection and best management practices, conventional supply systems (referred to in this report as “conventional designs,” or specifically the 2012 Conventional Design) can be successfully implemented to address dry matter loss, quality issues, and enable feedstock cost reductions that help to reduce feedstock risk of variable supply and quality and enable industry to commercialize biomass feedstock supply chains. The caveat of this success is that conventional designs depend on high density, low-cost biomass with no disruption frommore » incremental weather. In this respect, the success of conventional designs is tied to specific, highly productive regions such as the southeastern U.S. which has traditionally supported numerous pulp and paper industries or the Midwest U.S for corn stover.« less

The importance of data collection for timely and accurate risk assessment

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Gilsenan, MB

2017-09-01

The European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) is responsible for food safety risk assessments at EU level. It provides independent scientific advice on risks associated with the food chain to support EU risk management decisions. Since its establishment, EFSA has amassed a wealth of data to underpin its risk assessments, such as food consumption data, monitoring data and experimental data. Increasing transparency of its risk assessments is a core objective of EFSA. EFSA aims to enhance the quality and transparency of its outputs by giving insofar as possible access to data and methods underpinning its scientific outputs. This paper provides an overview of the role of EFSA, its core data collections and their regulatory framework, as well as data quality and standardisation aspects. Finally, the paper elaborates on EFSA’s 2020 strategy in relation to data, and describes EFSA scientific data warehouse and Knowledge Junction in this regard.

Thoracoscopic excision of the sympathetic chain: an easy and effective treatment for hyperhidrosis in children.

PubMed

Shalaby, Mohamed Sameh; El-Shafee, Ehab; Safoury, Hesham; El Hay, Sameh Abd

2012-03-01

Thoracoscopic sympathectomy (TS) is an effective treatment for hyperhidrosis. Various surgical approaches are described in the literature. We describe the technique of thoracoscopic excision of the sympathetic chain done exclusively in children younger than 13 years. All patients younger than 13 years who underwent TS from 2006 at a single institution were prospectively identified and fully evaluated with emphasis on demographic data, age, surgical management, complications and follow-up. All patients were contacted again at the end of 2009 to complete a follow-up questionnaire. Twelve patients underwent TS between 2006 and 2009. Age ranged from 6 to 13 years. This involved T2-T3 excision for nine patients with isolated palmar hyperhidrosis, and T2-T3-T4 excision for three with additional axillary hyperhidrosis. Six underwent bilateral TS at the same session and six underwent unilateral TS for the dominant side. Four of them had their contralateral operation performed 2-3 months later. Dry limbs were immediately achieved in all patients. Compensatory sweating (CS) was noted in eight patients. Complications included transient ptosis in two and mild recurrence in one. Thoracoscopic excision of the sympathetic chain is a simple and safe procedure that relieves hyperhidrosis in all cases and significantly improves the quality of life.

Development of a Safety Monitoring and Assurance System for chilled food products.

PubMed

Koutsoumanis, K; Taoukis, P S; Nychas, G J E

2005-04-15

The principles of a novel chill chain management policy, coded Safety Monitoring and Assurance System (SMAS) for the optimisation of the distribution of chilled food products within the chill chain are developed. In this system, a new approach based on actual risk evaluation at important points of the chill chain is used in order to promote products to the next stage of distribution. This evaluation based on product's time-temperature history, variation in product's characteristics (e.g. a(w), pH, etc.), and the use of predictive models for the growth of food pathogens, allows to give priority to products in such a way that risk at consumption time is minimized. The effectiveness of SMAS was evaluated against the First In First Out (FIFO) approach, the current method for food distribution, in a case study on the risk of listeriosis of cooked ham using the Monte Carlo simulation technique. Furthermore, the two approaches were compared for their effect on the quality of the products in terms of remaining shelf life at the time of consumption. The results showed that following the SMAS approach the risk of listerisosis is significantly lower while the spoiled products at the time of consumption are significantly reduced compared to FIFO approach.

Using Lean Six Sigma Methodology to Improve Quality of the Anesthesia Supply Chain in a Pediatric Hospital.

PubMed

Roberts, Renée J; Wilson, Ashley E; Quezado, Zenaide

2017-03-01

Six Sigma and Lean methodologies are effective quality improvement tools in many health care settings. We applied the DMAIC methodology (define, measure, analyze, improve, control) to address deficiencies in our pediatric anesthesia supply chain. We defined supply chain problems by mapping existing processes and soliciting comments from those involved. We used daily distance walked by anesthesia technicians and number of callouts for missing supplies as measurements that we analyzed before and after implementing improvements (anesthesia cart redesign). We showed improvement in the metrics after those interventions were implemented, and those improvements were sustained and thus controlled 1 year after implementation.

Understanding a Value Chain in Health Care.

PubMed

Sharan, Alok D; Schroeder, Gregory D; West, Michael E; Vaccaro, Alexander R

2015-10-01

As the US health care system transitions toward a value-based system, providers and health care organizations will have to closely scrutinize their current processes of care. To do this, a value chain analysis can be performed to ensure that only the most efficient steps are followed in patient care. Ultimately this will produce a higher quality or equal quality product for less cost by eliminating wasteful steps along the way.

Assessing stability and performance of a digitally enabled supply chain: Retrospective of a pilot in Uttar Pradesh, India.

PubMed

Gilbert, Sarah Skye; Thakare, Neeraj; Ramanujapuram, Arun; Akkihal, Anup

2017-04-19

Immunization supply chains in low resource settings do not always reach children with necessary vaccines. Digital information systems can enable real time visibility of inventory and improve vaccine availability. In 2014, a digital, mobile/web-based information system was implemented in two districts of Uttar Pradesh, India. This retrospective investigates improvements and stabilization of supply chain performance following introduction of the digital information system. All data were collected via the digital information system between March 2014 and September 2015. Data included metadata and transaction logs providing information about users, facilities, and vaccines. Metrics evaluated include adoption (system access, timeliness and completeness), data quality (error rates), and performance (stock availability on immunization session days, replenishment response duration, rate of zero stock events). Stability was defined as the phase in which quality and performance metrics achieved equilibrium rates with minimal volatility. The analysis compared performance across different facilities and vaccines. Adoption appeared sufficiently high from the onset to commence stability measures of data quality and supply chain performance. Data quality stabilized from month 3 onwards, and supply chain performance stabilized from month 13 onwards. For data quality, error rates reduced by two thirds post stabilization. Although vaccine availability remained high throughout the pilot, the three lowest-performing facilities improved from 91.05% pre-stability to 98.70% post-stability (p<0.01; t-test). Average replenishment duration (as a corrective response to stock-out events) decreased 52.3% from 4.93days to 2.35days (p<0.01; t-test). Diphtheria-tetanus-pertussis vaccine was significantly less likely to be stocked out than any other material. The results suggest that given sufficient adoption, stability is sequentially achieved, beginning with data quality, and then performance. Identifying when a pilot stabilizes can enable more predictable, reliable cost estimates, and outcome forecasts in the scale-up phase. Copyright © 2017 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd.. All rights reserved.

Administrator turnover and quality of care in nursing homes.

PubMed

Castle, N G

2001-12-01

In this article, I examine the association between turnover of nursing home administrators and five important quality of care outcomes. The data came from a survey of 420 nursing facilities and the 1999 On-line Survey, Certification, and Reporting System. Using multivariate logistic regression analyses, I looked at the effects of turnover of administrators in nursing homes belonging to chain organizations and in nursing homes not belonging to chain organizations. I found the average annual turnover rate of administrators to be 43%. The multivariate logistic regression analyses show that in nursing homes belonging to chains, administrator turnover is associated with a higher than average proportion of residents who were catheterized, had pressure ulcers, and were given psychoactive drugs and with a higher than average number of quality-of-care deficiencies. In nursing homes not belonging to chains I found that turnover of administrators is associated with a higher than average proportion of residents who were restrained, were catheterized, had pressure ulcers, and were given psychoactive drugs. There is a need to improve understanding of how and why better outcomes are achieved in some nursing homes. This investigation serves to focus attention on nursing home administrators. I believe this study provides preliminary evidence that the turnover of administrators may have an important association with quality of care in nursing homes.

Modelling Lean and Green Supply Chain

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Duarte, Susana Carla Vieira Lino Medina

The success of an organization depends on the effective control of its supply chain. It is important to recognize new opportunities for organization and its supply chain. In the last few years the approach to lean, agile, resilient and green supply chain paradigms has been addressed in the scientific literature. Research in this field shows that the integration of these concepts revealed some contradictions among so many paradigms. This thesis is mainly focused on the lean and green approaches. Thirteen different management frameworks, embodied in awards, standards and tools were studied to understand if they could contribute for the modelling process of a lean and green approach. The study reveals a number of categories that are common in most management frameworks, providing adequate conditions for a lean and green supply chain transformation. A conceptual framework for the evaluation of a lean and green organization`s supply chain was proposed. The framework considers six key criteria, namely, leadership, people, strategic planning, stakeholders, processes and results. It was proposed an assessment method considering a criteria score for each criterion. The purpose is to understand how lean and green supply chain can be compatible, using principles, practices, techniques or tools (i.e. elements) that support both, a lean and a green approach, in all key criteria. A case study in the automotive upstream supply chain was performed to understand more deeply if the elements proposed for the conceptual framework could be implemented in a real-scenario. Based on the conceptual framework and the case study, a roadmap to achieve a lean-green transformation is presented. The proposed roadmap revealed its contribution to the understanding on how and when an organization`s supply chain should apply the lean and green elements. This study is relevant to practice, as it may assist managers in the adoption of a lean and green supply chain approach, giving insights for the implementation of a hybrid supply chain.

Making Supply Chains Resilient to Floods Using a Bayesian Network

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Haraguchi, M.

2015-12-01

Natural hazards distress the global economy by disrupting the interconnected supply chain networks. Manufacturing companies have created cost-efficient supply chains by reducing inventories, streamlining logistics and limiting the number of suppliers. As a result, today's supply chains are profoundly susceptible to systemic risks. In Thailand, for example, the GDP growth rate declined by 76 % in 2011 due to prolonged flooding. Thailand incurred economic damage including the loss of USD 46.5 billion, approximately 70% of which was caused by major supply chain disruptions in the manufacturing sector. Similar problems occurred after the Great East Japan Earthquake and Tsunami in 2011, the Mississippi River floods and droughts during 2011 - 2013, and Hurricane Sandy in 2012. This study proposes a methodology for modeling supply chain disruptions using a Bayesian network analysis (BNA) to estimate expected values of countermeasures of floods, such as inventory management, supplier management and hard infrastructure management. We first performed a spatio-temporal correlation analysis between floods and extreme precipitation data for the last 100 years at a global scale. Then we used a BNA to create synthetic networks that include variables associated with the magnitude and duration of floods, major components of supply chains and market demands. We also included decision variables of countermeasures that would mitigate potential losses caused by supply chain disruptions. Finally, we conducted a cost-benefit analysis by estimating the expected values of these potential countermeasures while conducting a sensitivity analysis. The methodology was applied to supply chain disruptions caused by the 2011 Thailand floods. Our study demonstrates desirable typical data requirements for the analysis, such as anonymized supplier network data (i.e. critical dependencies, vulnerability information of suppliers) and sourcing data(i.e. locations of suppliers, and production rates and volume), and data from previous experiences (i.e. companies' risk mitigation strategy decisions).

Workshop Summary Proceedings Document: G7 Alliance on Resource Efficiency: U.S.-hosted Workshop on the Use of Life Cycle Concepts in Supply Chain Management to Achieve Resource Efficiency

EPA Pesticide Factsheets

This proceedings document summarizes prepared remarks, presentations and discussions from the G7 Alliance on Resource Efficiency: U.S.-hosted Workshop on the Use of Life Cycle Concepts in Supply Chain Management to Achieve Resource Efficiency.

78 FR 25416 - Information Collection Request: Web-Based Supply Chain Management Commodity Offer Forms

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2013-05-01

... Request: Web-Based Supply Chain Management Commodity Offer Forms AGENCY: Farm Service Agency and Commodity..., and yearly bases. Special invitations, however, are issued throughout the month. Web-Based Supply... will be posted to the FSA Web site and also to the WBSCM portal and FedBizOpps ( https://www.fbo.gov...

Animated Powerpoint Presentations for Teaching Operations and Supply Chain Management: Perceived Value and Electronic Exchange of Files

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Treleven, Mark D.; Penlesky, Richard J.; Callarman, Thomas E.; Watts, Charles A.; Bragg, Daniel J.

2012-01-01

This paper presents the innovation of sharing animated PowerPoint presentations used in teaching operations and supply chain management techniques and concepts through an international electronic exchange. The plan for the exchange is presented and discussed. The potential benefits to faculty and students of using PowerPoint animations in…

Sustaining Higher Education Using Wal-Mart's Best Supply Chain Management Practices

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Comm, Clare L.; Mathaisel, Dennis F. X.

2008-01-01

Purpose: The costs in higher education are increasing and need to be controlled. This paper aims to demonstrate what lessons higher education could learn from Wal-Mart's reasons for its financial success with its focus on efficient and effective supply chain management (SCM) best practices. Design/methodology/approach: Wal-Mart's best practices in…

Data Science in Supply Chain Management: Data-Related Influences on Demand Planning

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Jin, Yao

2013-01-01

Data-driven decisions have become an important aspect of supply chain management. Demand planners are tasked with analyzing volumes of data that are being collected at a torrential pace from myriad sources in order to translate them into actionable business intelligence. In particular, demand volatilities and planning are vital for effective and…

The Role of Multi-Institutional Partnerships in Supply Chain Management Course Design and Improvement

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Long, Suzanna; Moos, J. Chris; Radic, Anne Bartel

2012-01-01

The authors examined the skills achieved through a multicultural, virtual student project environment among 3 supply chain management courses. The partnership included 2 universities in the United States and 1 in France and created virtual teams of students across university lines and is presented as a case study. The case includes detailed…

International Supply Chain Management Courses: Semester-Long versus Study-Abroad Formats

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Drake, Matthew J.; Luchs, Ryan J.; Mawhinney, John R.

2015-01-01

Short-term study-abroad programs are gaining in popularity at business schools around the United States. We discuss the innovative 4-week program we have developed at Duquesne University where we offer two three-credit, required business core courses. In particular, we focus on the structure of a 2-week core supply chain management course. By…

Supply Chain Engineering and the Use of a Supporting Knowledge Management Application

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Laakmann, Frank

The future competition in markets will happen between logistics networks and no longer between enterprises. A new approach for supporting the engineering of logistics networks is developed by this research as a part of the Collaborative Research Centre (SFB) 559: "Modeling of Large Networks in Logistics" at the University of Dortmund together with the Fraunhofer-Institute of Material Flow and Logistics founded by Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG). Based on a reference model for logistics processes, the process chain model, a guideline for logistics engineers is developed to manage the different types of design tasks of logistics networks. The technical background of this solution is a collaborative knowledge management application. This paper will introduce how new Internet-based technologies support supply chain design projects.

Evaluating the green practice of food service supply chain management based on fuzzy DEMATEL-ANP model

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Li, Xiaoying; Zhu, Qinghua

2017-01-01

The question on how to evaluate a company's green practice has recently become a key strategic consideration for the food service supply chain management. This paper proposed a novel hybrid model that combines a fuzzy Decision Making Trial And Evaluation Laboratory(DEMATEL) and Analysis Network Process(ANP) methods, which developed the green restaurant criteria and demonstrated the complicated relations among various criteria to help the food service operation to better analyze the real-world situation and determine the different weight value of the criteria .The analysis of the evaluation of green practices will help the food service operation to be clear about the key measures of green practice to improve supply chain management.

Voluntary medical male circumcision: logistics, commodities, and waste management requirements for scale-up of services.

PubMed

Edgil, Dianna; Stankard, Petra; Forsythe, Steven; Rech, Dino; Chrouser, Kristin; Adamu, Tigistu; Sakallah, Sameer; Thomas, Anne Goldzier; Albertini, Jennifer; Stanton, David; Dickson, Kim Eva; Njeuhmeli, Emmanuel

2011-11-01

The global HIV prevention community is implementing voluntary medical male circumcision (VMMC) programs across eastern and southern Africa, with a goal of reaching 80% coverage in adult males by 2015. Successful implementation will depend on the accessibility of commodities essential for VMMC programming and the appropriate allocation of resources to support the VMMC supply chain. For this, the United States President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief, in collaboration with the World Health Organization and the Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS, has developed a standard list of commodities for VMMC programs. This list of commodities was used to inform program planning for a 1-y program to circumcise 152,000 adult men in Swaziland. During this process, additional key commodities were identified, expanding the standard list to include commodities for waste management, HIV counseling and testing, and the treatment of sexually transmitted infections. The approximate costs for the procurement of commodities, management of a supply chain, and waste disposal, were determined for the VMMC program in Swaziland using current market prices of goods and services. Previous costing studies of VMMC programs did not capture supply chain costs, nor the full range of commodities needed for VMMC program implementation or waste management. Our calculations indicate that depending upon the volume of services provided, supply chain and waste management, including commodities and associated labor, contribute between US$58.92 and US$73.57 to the cost of performing one adult male circumcision in Swaziland. Experience with the VMMC program in Swaziland indicates that supply chain and waste management add approximately US$60 per circumcision, nearly doubling the total per procedure cost estimated previously; these additional costs are used to inform the estimate of per procedure costs modeled by Njeuhmeli et al. in "Voluntary Medical Male Circumcision: Modeling the Impact and Cost of Expanding Male Circumcision for HIV Prevention in Eastern and Southern Africa." Program planners and policy makers should consider the significant contribution of supply chain and waste management to VMMC program costs as they determine future resource needs for VMMC programs.

Closing oil palm yield gaps among Indonesian smallholders through industry schemes, pruning, weeding and improved seeds

PubMed Central

Soliman, T.; Lim, F. K. S.; Lee, J. S. H.

2016-01-01

Oil palm production has led to large losses of valuable habitats for tropical biodiversity. Sparing of land for nature could in theory be attained if oil palm yields increased. The efficiency of oil palm smallholders is below its potential capacity, but the factors determining efficiency are poorly understood. We employed a two-stage data envelopment analysis approach to assess the influence of agronomic, supply chain and management factors on oil palm production efficiency in 190 smallholders in six villages in Indonesia. The results show that, on average, yield increases of 65% were possible and that fertilizer and herbicide use was excessive and inefficient. Adopting industry-supported scheme management practices, use of high-quality seeds and higher pruning and weeding rates were found to improve efficiency. Smallholder oil palm production intensification in Indonesia has the capacity to increase production by 26%, an equivalent of 1.75 million hectares of land. PMID:27853605

Closing oil palm yield gaps among Indonesian smallholders through industry schemes, pruning, weeding and improved seeds.

PubMed

Soliman, T; Lim, F K S; Lee, J S H; Carrasco, L R

2016-08-01

Oil palm production has led to large losses of valuable habitats for tropical biodiversity. Sparing of land for nature could in theory be attained if oil palm yields increased. The efficiency of oil palm smallholders is below its potential capacity, but the factors determining efficiency are poorly understood. We employed a two-stage data envelopment analysis approach to assess the influence of agronomic, supply chain and management factors on oil palm production efficiency in 190 smallholders in six villages in Indonesia. The results show that, on average, yield increases of 65% were possible and that fertilizer and herbicide use was excessive and inefficient. Adopting industry-supported scheme management practices, use of high-quality seeds and higher pruning and weeding rates were found to improve efficiency. Smallholder oil palm production intensification in Indonesia has the capacity to increase production by 26%, an equivalent of 1.75 million hectares of land.

Chinese green product standards: international experience and pathway for a unified system

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Yun, Fu; Ling, Lin; Dongfeng, Gao; Shuo, Yang

2017-11-01

The establishment of a unified green product standard system is of great importance regarding the effective supply of green products and meeting trend of the consumption upgrade. It also is helpful to reduce the cost of green information disclosure of enterprises, and facilitate the supply-side structural reform. Based on the experience of developing and implementing green product standards in the EU, Germany, America, Japan and so on, combined with current Chinese standard systems including environmental protection, energy conservation, water conservation, low carbon, recycling, regeneration and organic, with the adoption of the life cycle thinking, this paper brings forward basic requirements on organizations including pollutant emissions, establishment of management system, energy conservation and emission reduction technology and green supply chain management, and proposes indicator requirements on product including resource attributes, energy attributes, environmental attributes and quality attributes, so as to guide the establishment of green product evaluation standards in the context of China.

Laboratory challenges in the scaling up of HIV, TB, and malaria programs: The interaction of health and laboratory systems, clinical research, and service delivery.

PubMed

Birx, Deborah; de Souza, Mark; Nkengasong, John N

2009-06-01

Strengthening national health laboratory systems in resource-poor countries is critical to meeting the United Nations Millennium Development Goals. Despite strong commitment from the international community to fight major infectious diseases, weak laboratory infrastructure remains a huge rate-limiting step. Some major challenges facing laboratory systems in resource-poor settings include dilapidated infrastructure; lack of human capacity, laboratory policies, and strategic plans; and limited synergies between clinical and research laboratories. Together, these factors compromise the quality of test results and impact patient management. With increased funding, the target of laboratory strengthening efforts in resource-poor countries should be the integrating of laboratory services across major diseases to leverage resources with respect to physical infrastructure; types of assays; supply chain management of reagents and equipment; and maintenance of equipment.

Proactive Supply Chain Performance Management with Predictive Analytics

PubMed Central

Stefanovic, Nenad

2014-01-01

Today's business climate requires supply chains to be proactive rather than reactive, which demands a new approach that incorporates data mining predictive analytics. This paper introduces a predictive supply chain performance management model which combines process modelling, performance measurement, data mining models, and web portal technologies into a unique model. It presents the supply chain modelling approach based on the specialized metamodel which allows modelling of any supply chain configuration and at different level of details. The paper also presents the supply chain semantic business intelligence (BI) model which encapsulates data sources and business rules and includes the data warehouse model with specific supply chain dimensions, measures, and KPIs (key performance indicators). Next, the paper describes two generic approaches for designing the KPI predictive data mining models based on the BI semantic model. KPI predictive models were trained and tested with a real-world data set. Finally, a specialized analytical web portal which offers collaborative performance monitoring and decision making is presented. The results show that these models give very accurate KPI projections and provide valuable insights into newly emerging trends, opportunities, and problems. This should lead to more intelligent, predictive, and responsive supply chains capable of adapting to future business environment. PMID:25386605

Proactive supply chain performance management with predictive analytics.

PubMed

Stefanovic, Nenad

2014-01-01

Today's business climate requires supply chains to be proactive rather than reactive, which demands a new approach that incorporates data mining predictive analytics. This paper introduces a predictive supply chain performance management model which combines process modelling, performance measurement, data mining models, and web portal technologies into a unique model. It presents the supply chain modelling approach based on the specialized metamodel which allows modelling of any supply chain configuration and at different level of details. The paper also presents the supply chain semantic business intelligence (BI) model which encapsulates data sources and business rules and includes the data warehouse model with specific supply chain dimensions, measures, and KPIs (key performance indicators). Next, the paper describes two generic approaches for designing the KPI predictive data mining models based on the BI semantic model. KPI predictive models were trained and tested with a real-world data set. Finally, a specialized analytical web portal which offers collaborative performance monitoring and decision making is presented. The results show that these models give very accurate KPI projections and provide valuable insights into newly emerging trends, opportunities, and problems. This should lead to more intelligent, predictive, and responsive supply chains capable of adapting to future business environment.

Do nursing home chain size and proprietary status affect experiences with care?

PubMed Central

You, Kai; Li, Yue; Intrator, Orna; Stevenson, David; Hirth, Richard; Grabowski, David; Banaszak-Holl, Jane

2015-01-01

Background In 2012, over half of nursing homes were operated by corporate chains. Facilities owned by the largest for-profit chains were reported to have lower quality of care. However, it is unknown how nursing home chain ownerships are related with experiences of care. Objectives To study the relationship between nursing home chain characteristics (chain size and profit status) with patients' family member reported ratings on experiences with care. Data Sources and Study Design Maryland nursing home care experience reports, the Online Survey, Certification, And Reporting (OSCAR) files, and Area Resource Files are used. Our sample consists of all non-governmental nursing homes in Maryland from 2007 to 2010. Consumer ratings were reported for: overall care; recommendation of the facility; staff performance; care provided; food and meals; physical environment; and autonomy and personal rights. We identified chain characteristics from OSCAR, and estimated multivariate random effect linear models to test the effects of chain ownership on care experience ratings. Results Independent nonprofit nursing homes have the highest overall rating score of 8.9, followed by 8.6 for facilities in small nonprofit chains, and 8.5 for independent for-profit facilities. Facilities in small, medium and large for-profit chains have even lower overall ratings of 8.2, 7.9, and 8.0, respectively. We find similar patterns of differences in terms of recommendation rate, and important areas such as staff communication and quality of care. Conclusions Evidence suggests that Maryland nursing homes affiliated with large- and medium- for-profit chains had lower ratings of family reported experience with care. PMID:26765147

Dietary long-chain inulin reduces abdominal fat but has no effect on bone density in growing female rats.

PubMed

Jamieson, Jennifer A; Ryz, Natasha R; Taylor, Carla G; Weiler, Hope A

2008-08-01

New strategies to improve Ca absorption and bone health are needed to address the current state of osteoporosis prevention and management. Inulin-type fructans have shown great promise as a dietary intervention strategy, but have not yet been tested in a young female model. Our objective was to investigate the effect of long chain (LC) inulin on bone mineralization and density in growing, female rats, as well as the quality of growth. Weanling Sprague-Dawley rats were assigned to inulin or cellulose treatments for either 4 or 8 weeks. Growth was measured weekly and quality of growth assessed using fat pad weights and dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry (DXA). Whole body (WB) and selected regions were analysed for bone mineral density (BMD) and body composition by DXA. Serum markers of bone turnover were assessed by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assays. Ca and P concentrations were determined in excised femurs by inductively coupled plasma spectrometry. Feeding inulin resulted in 4 % higher femoral weight (adjusted for body weight) and 6 % less feed intake. Inulin did not affect WB or regional BMD, but was associated with a 28 % lower parametrial fat pad mass, 21 % less WB fat mass and 5 % less WB mass. In summary, LC-inulin lowered body fat mass, without consequence to bone density in growing female rats.

Strategic management of technostress. The chaining of Prometheus.

PubMed

Caro, D H; Sethi, A S

1985-12-01

The article proposes the concept of technostress and makes a strong recommendation for conducting research based on key researchable hypotheses. A conceptual framework of technostress is suggested to provide some focus to future research. A number of technostress management strategies are put forward, including strategic technological planning, organization culture development, technostress monitoring systems, and technouser self-development programs. The management of technostress is compared to the chaining of Prometheus, which, left uncontrolled, can create havoc in an organization. The authors believe that organizations have a responsibility to introduce, diffuse, and manage computer technology in such a way that it is congruent with the principles of sound, supportive, and humanistic management.

A System Evaluation Theory Analyzing Value and Results Chain for Institutional Accreditation in Oman

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Paquibut, Rene Ymbong

2017-01-01

Purpose: This paper aims to apply the system evaluation theory (SET) to analyze the institutional quality standards of Oman Academic Accreditation Authority using the results chain and value chain tools. Design/methodology/approach: In systems thinking, the institutional standards are connected as input, process, output and feedback and leads to…

[Improving blood safety: errors management in transfusion medicine].

PubMed

Bujandrić, Nevenka; Grujić, Jasmina; Krga-Milanović, Mirjana

2014-01-01

The concept of blood safety includes the entire transfusion chain starting with the collection of blood from the blood donor, and ending with blood transfusion to the patient. The concept involves quality management system as the systematic monitoring of adverse reactions and incidents regarding the blood donor or patient. Monitoring of near-miss errors show the critical points in the working process and increase transfusion safety. The aim of the study was to present the analysis results of adverse and unexpected events in transfusion practice with a potential risk to the health of blood donors and patients. One-year retrospective study was based on the collection, analysis and interpretation of written reports on medical errors in the Blood Transfusion Institute of Vojvodina. Errors were distributed according to the type, frequency and part of the working process where they occurred. Possible causes and corrective actions were described for each error. The study showed that there were not errors with potential health consequences for the blood donor/patient. Errors with potentially damaging consequences for patients were detected throughout the entire transfusion chain. Most of the errors were identified in the preanalytical phase. The human factor was responsible for the largest number of errors. Error reporting system has an important role in the error management and the reduction of transfusion-related risk of adverse events and incidents. The ongoing analysis reveals the strengths and weaknesses of the entire process and indicates the necessary changes. Errors in transfusion medicine can be avoided in a large percentage and prevention is cost-effective, systematic and applicable.

Integrated assessment of the impact of climate and land use changes on groundwater quantity and quality in Mancha Oriental (Spain)

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Pulido-Velazquez, M.; Peña-Haro, S.; Garcia-Prats, A.; Mocholi-Almudever, A. F.; Henriquez-Dole, L.; Macian-Sorribes, H.; Lopez-Nicolas, A.

2014-09-01

Climate and land use change (global change) impacts on groundwater systems cannot be studied in isolation, as various and complex interactions in the hydrological cycle take part. Land-use and land-cover (LULC) changes have a great impact on the water cycle and contaminant production and transport. Groundwater flow and storage are changing in response not only to climatic changes but also to human impacts on land uses and demands (global change). Changes in future climate and land uses will alter the hydrologic cycles and subsequently impact the quantity and quality of regional water systems. Predicting the behavior of recharge and discharge conditions under future climatic and land use changes is essential for integrated water management and adaptation. In the Mancha Oriental system in Spain, in the last decades the transformation from dry to irrigated lands has led to a significant drop of the groundwater table in one of the largest groundwater bodies in Spain, with the consequent effect on stream-aquifer interaction in the connected Jucar River. Streamflow depletion is compromising the related ecosystems and the supply to the downstream demands, provoking a complex management issue. The intense use of fertilizer in agriculture is also leading to locally high groundwater nitrate concentrations. Understanding the spatial and temporal distribution of water availability and water quality is essential for a proper management of the system. In this paper we analyze the potential impact of climate and land use change in the system by using an integrated modelling framework consisting of the sequentially coupling of a watershed agriculturally-based hydrological model (SWAT) with the ground-water model MODFLOW and mass-transport model MT3D. SWAT model outputs (mainly groundwater recharge and pumping, considering new irrigation needs under changing ET and precipitation) are used as MODFLOW inputs to simulate changes in groundwater flow and storage and impacts on stream-aquifer interaction. SWAT and MODFLOW outputs (nitrate loads from SWAT, groundwater velocity field from MODFLOW) are used as MT3D inputs for assessing the fate and transport of nitrate leached from the topsoil. Results on river discharge, crop yields, groundwater levels and groundwater nitrate concentrations obtained from simulation fit well to the observed values. Three climate change scenarios have been considered, corresponding to 3 different GCMs for emission scenario A1B, covering the control period, and short, medium and long-term future periods. A multi-temporal analysis of LULC change was carried out, helped by the study of historical trends by remote sensing images and key driving forces to explain LULC transitions. Markov chains and European scenarios and projections have been used to quantify trends in the future. The cellular automata technique was applied for stochastic modeling future LULC maps. The results show the sensitivity of groundwater quantity and quality (nitrate pollution) to climate and land use changes, and the need to implement adaptation measures in order to prevent further groundwater level declines and increasing nitrate concentrations. The sequential modelling chain has been proved to be a valuable assessment and management tool for supporting the development of sustainable management strategies.

Disconnection: the user voice within the wound dressing supply chain.

PubMed

Campling, Natasha; Grocott, Patricia; Cowley, Sarah

2008-03-01

This study examined the user voice in England's National Health Service (NHS) wound dressing supply chain. The impetus for this work came from involvement in a collaboration between industry and clinicians, entitled Woundcare Research for Appropriate Products. Experiences from that study highlighted the notable absence of research about the impact of the supply chain on the users of dressings. Interview data are presented following an outline of the grounded theory method used. These data were obtained from key stakeholders (n = 41) within the wound dressing supply chain such as nurses, manufacturers, distributors, professional organizations, government organizations and user groups. The consequences of supply disconnection revealed haphazard supply, unmet user needs and lack of information transfer between player groups. These consequences explain the lack of user voice in the supply chain and have far-reaching implications for nursing management, through purchasing decisions and nurses' management of wound care.

Light Chain Cast Nephropathy: Practical Considerations in the Management of Myeloma Kidney-What We Know and What the Future May Hold.

PubMed

Manohar, Sandhya; Nasr, Samih H; Leung, Nelson

2018-05-03

To update and evaluate the current knowledge on pathogenesis and management of light chain cast nephropathy. Light chain cast nephropathy (LCCN) is the leading cause of acute renal failure in patients with multiple myeloma and is currently recognized as a myeloma defining event. The immunoglobulin free light chain plays an integral role in the pathogenesis of LCCN. The level of free light chain (FLC) in the blood and urine is directly associated with the risk of developing LCCN. Recovery of renal function is related to the speed and degree of the serum FLC reduction. Recently, two randomized trials using high cutoff dialyzer for the removal of serum FLC produced different results in terms of renal recovery. FLC plays a key role in the development and resolution of LCCN. Future therapies will aim to rapidly reduce its concentration or interrupt its interaction with Tamm-Horsfall protein.

SCOR based key success factors in cooking oil supply chain buyers perspective in Padang City

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Zahara, Fatimah; Hadiguna, Rika Ampuh

2017-11-01

Supply chain of cooking oil is a network of companies from palm oil as raw material to retailers which work to create the value and deliver products into the end consumers. This paper is aimed to study key success factors based on consumer's perspective as the last stage in the supply chain. Consumers who are examined in this study are restaurants management or owners. Restaurant is the biggest consumption of cooking oil. The factors is studied based on Supply Chain Operation Reference (SCOR) version 10.0. Factors used are formulated based on the third-level metrics of SCOR Model. Factors are analyzed using factors analysis. This study found factors which become key success factors in managing supply chain of cooking oil encompass reliability, responsiveness and agility. Key success factors can be applied by governments as policy making and cooking oil companies as formulation of the distribution strategies.

A stochastic inventory management model for a dual sourcing supply chain with disruptions

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Iakovou, Eleftherios; Vlachos, Dimitrios; Xanthopoulos, Anastasios

2010-03-01

As companies continue to globalise their operations and outsource significant portion of their value chain activities, they often end up relying heavily on order replenishments from distant suppliers. The explosion in long-distance sourcing is exposing supply chains and shareholder value at ever increasing operational and disruption risks. It is well established, both in academia and in real-world business environments, that resource flexibility is an effective method for hedging against supply chain disruption risks. In this contextual framework, we propose a single period stochastic inventory decision-making model that could be employed for capturing the trade-off between inventory policies and disruption risks for an unreliable dual sourcing supply network for both the capacitated and uncapacitated cases. Through the developed model, we obtain some important managerial insights and evaluate the merit of contingency strategies in managing uncertain supply chains.

Performance of a portable chain flail delimber/debarker processing northern hardwoods.

Treesearch

Michael A. Thompson; John A. Sturos

1991-01-01

Evaluates the performance of a Peterson Pacific 4800 chain flail delimber/debarker processing pole-size hardwoods in northern Michigan. Describes the productivity, cost, and delimbing/debarking quality achieved by the flail.

Exploring the Dynamics and Modeling National Budget as a Supply Chain System: A Proposal for Reengineering the Budgeting Process and for Developing a Management Flight Simulator

DTIC Science & Technology

2012-09-01

Elmendorf, D. W., & Gregory Mankiw , N. (1999). Government debt. Handbook of Macroeconomics , 1, 1615-1669. European Union. European financial stability...budget process, based on the supply chain demand management process principles of operations and it is introduced the idea of developing a Budget... principles of systems dynamics, a proposal for the development of a Budget Management Flight Simulator, that will operate as a learning and educational

The science of sustainable supply chains.

PubMed

O'Rourke, Dara

2014-06-06

Recent advances in the science and technology of global supply chain management offer near-real-time demand-response systems for decision-makers across production networks. Technology is helping propel "fast fashion" and "lean manufacturing," so that companies are better able to deliver products consumers want most. Yet companies know much less about the environmental and social impacts of their production networks. The failure to measure and manage these impacts can be explained in part by limitations in the science of sustainability measurement, as well as by weaknesses in systems to translate data into information that can be used by decision-makers inside corporations and government agencies. There also remain continued disincentives for firms to measure and pay the full costs of their supply chain impacts. I discuss the current state of monitoring, measuring, and analyzing information related to supply chain sustainability, as well as progress that has been made in translating this information into systems to advance more sustainable practices by corporations and consumers. Better data, decision-support tools, and incentives will be needed to move from simply managing supply chains for costs, compliance, and risk reduction to predicting and preventing unsustainable practices. Copyright © 2014, American Association for the Advancement of Science.

Supplier selection in supply chain management using analytical network process for Indonesian cement industry

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Ismail, A. H.; Mahardika, R. Z. Z.

2017-12-01

Supply chain management has increased more significance with the impact of globalization. In the present worldwide market, well-managed supply chain is a standout amongst the most vital requirement to be more competitive in the market. For any organization incorporate cement industry, the most critical decision in initial process of supply chain management is to buy products, materials or services from suppliers. So the role of suppliers is irrefutable important in the global aggressive markets. Appropriate decision of supplier selection can lead to reducing cost in supply chain management. However, it is becoming more complex because of existing various criteria and involving the suitable experts in the company to make valid decision in accordance with its criteria. In this study, the supplier selection of an Indonesia’s leading cement company is analyzed by using one of the popular multi-criteria decision making method, Saaty’s analytical network process (ANP). It is employed for the selection of the best alternative among three suppliers of pasted bag. Supplier with the highest rank comes from several major steps from building the relationship between various criteria to rating the alternatives with the help of experts from the company. The results show that, Communication capability, Flexible payment terms, Ability to meet delivery quantities are the most important criteria in the pasted bag supplier selection in Indonesian cement industry with 0.155, 0.110 and 0.1 ANP coefficient respectively. And based on the ANP coefficient values in limit supermatrix, the A2 or supplier 2 had the highest score with 64.7% or 0.13 ANP coefficient.

Dynamic Game Behavior of Retailers Considering the Quality of Substitute Products Based on Delay Decision

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Bao, Binshuo; Ma, Junhai

2017-12-01

Motivated by the Silk Road Economic Belt and the 21st-Century Maritime Silk Road project, i.e. the Belt and Road (B&R), more goods will flow around the world. With this trading platform, people can buy products at relatively cheap prices, and it is easier for people to buy various goods. The quality and quantity of products thus attract more and more attention in the supply chains. This paper discusses the quantity decision by considering the product quality in parallel supply chains where two manufacturers produce substitute products and then sell them to their downstream retailers separately. In terms of the changing quantity, as well as the different quality, this paper establishes a dynamic game model to explore the dynamic behavior when the optimal profits of two retailers have been calculated. The dynamic behaviors of the system, such as stable region, bifurcation and chaos, strange attractors and the largest Lyapunov exponents (LLE) are analyzed. The effect of the quantity adjustment parameter on the stability of the supply chain system is investigated through numerical simulations. Furthermore, a dynamic game model is established based on the quality delay decision, to investigate the influence of the quality delay parameter on the dynamic game model and the profits. Finally, the optimal decisions are obtained and analyzed.

A supply chain model to improve the beef quality distribution using investment analysis: A case study

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Lupita, Alessandra; Rangkuti, Sabrina Heriza; Sutopo, Wahyudi; Hisjam, Muh.

2017-11-01

There are significant differences related to the quality and price of the beef commodity in traditional market and modern market in Indonesia. Those are caused by very different treatments of the commodity. The different treatments are in the slaughter lines, the transportation from the abattoir to the outlet, the display system, and the control system. If the problem is not solved by the Government, the gap will result a great loss of the consumer regarding to the quality and sustainability of traditional traders business because of the declining interest in purchasing beef in the traditional markets. This article aims to improve the quality of beef in traditional markets. This study proposed A Supply Chain Model that involves the schemes of investment and government incentive for improving the distribution system. The supply chain model is can be formulated using the Mix Integer Linear Programming (MILP) and solved using the IBM®ILOG®CPLEX software. The results show that the proposed model can be used to determine the priority of programs for improving the quality and sustainability business of traditional beef merchants. By using the models, The Government can make a decision to consider incentives for improving the condition.

Implementation of Network Leader Sponsored Supply Chain Management Systems: A Case Study of Supplier IT Business Value

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Miller, Mark S.

2010-01-01

This qualitative multiple-case study was conducted to explore and understand how the implementation of required relationship-specific supply chain management system (SCMS) dictated by the network leader within a supplier network affects a supplier organization. The study, on a very broad sense, attempted to research the current validity of how the…

Supply Chain Collaboration Alternatives: Understanding the Expected Costs and Benefits.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

McLaren, Tim; Head, Milena; Yuan, Yufei

2002-01-01

Discusses collaboration as a recent trend in supply chain management (SCM) that focuses on joint planning, coordination, and process integration between suppliers, customers, and other partners in a supply chain. Analyzes alternative information systems approaches for supporting collaborative SCM, including phone, fax, or email systems; Web-based…

77 FR 26564 - Advisory Committee on Commercial Operations of Customs and Border Protection (COAC)

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2012-05-04

... National Strategy for Global Supply Chain Security. The work of the Trade Facilitation Subcommittee... Strategy for Global Supply Chain Security as it relates to the Committee's effort to solicit, consolidate... chain management project. The Anti-Dumping/Countervailing Duties Subcommittee work on educational...

76 FR 71994 - Advisory Committee on Commercial Operations of Customs and Border Protection (COAC)

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2011-11-21

... recommendations on how to proceed on those topics: Subcommittee: The Global Supply Chain Security Land Border... document for public release.--Report by the Global Supply Chain Security Air Cargo Subcommittee. Status... surveys (IPR Partnership Program Survey and IPR Distribution Chain Management survey). Subcommittee...

78 FR 52511 - Procurement List; Additions and Deletions

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2013-08-23

..., W7NX USPFO Activity PA ARNG, Annville, PA. Service Type/Location: Integrated Prime Vendor Supply Chain... of PM FSS, does not have a current contract for the provision of Integrated Prime Vendor Supply Chain... kitting or other supply chain management services required were obtained through the DLA depot system. The...

Research on manufacturing service behavior modeling based on block chain theory

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Zhao, Gang; Zhang, Guangli; Liu, Ming; Yu, Shuqin; Liu, Yali; Zhang, Xu

2018-04-01

According to the attribute characteristics of processing craft, the manufacturing service behavior is divided into service attribute, basic attribute, process attribute, resource attribute. The attribute information model of manufacturing service is established. The manufacturing service behavior information is successfully divided into public and private domain. Additionally, the block chain technology is introduced, and the information model of manufacturing service based on block chain principle is established, which solves the problem of sharing and secreting information of processing behavior, and ensures that data is not tampered with. Based on the key pairing verification relationship, the selective publishing mechanism for manufacturing information is established, achieving the traceability of product data, guarantying the quality of processing quality.

Communicating food safety, authenticity and consumer choice. Field experiences.

PubMed

Syntesa, Heiner Lehr

2013-04-01

The paper reviews patented and non-patented technologies, methods and solutions in the area of food traceability. It pays special attention to the communication of food safety, authenticity and consumer choice. Twenty eight recent patents are reviewed in the areas of (secure) identification, product freshness indicators, meat traceability, (secure) transport of information along the supply chain, country/region/place of origin, automated authentication, supply chain management systems, consumer interaction systems. In addition, solutions and pilot projects are described in the areas of Halal traceability, traceability of bird's nests, cold chain management, general food traceability and other areas.

Continuity in health care: lessons from supply chain management.

PubMed

Meijboom, Bert R; Bakx, Saskia J W G C; Westert, Gert P

2010-01-01

In health care, multidisciplinary collaboration is both indispensable and complicated. We discuss organizational problems that occur in situations where multiple health care providers are required to cooperate for patients with complex needs. Four problem categories, labelled as communication, patient safety, waiting times and integration are distinguished. Then we develop a supply chain perspective on these problems in the sense of discussing remedies according to supply chain management (SCM) literature. This perspective implies a business focus on inter-organizational conditions and requirements necessary for delivering health care and cure across organizational borders. We conclude by presenting some strategic and policy recommendations.

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Efroymson, Rebecca Ann; Dale, Virginia H; Kline, Keith L

Indicators of the environmental sustainability of biofuel production, distribution, and use should be selected, measured, and interpreted with respect to the context in which they are used. These indicators include measures of soil quality, water quality and quantity, greenhouse-gas emissions, biodiversity, air quality, and vegetation productivity. Contextual considerations include the purpose for the sustainability analysis, the particular biofuel production and distribution system (including supply chain, management aspects, and system viability), policy conditions, stakeholder values, location, temporal influences, spatial scale, baselines, and reference scenarios. Recommendations presented in this paper include formulating the problem for particular analyses, selecting appropriate context-specific indicators ofmore » environmental sustainability, and developing indicators that can reflect multiple environmental properties at low cost within a defined context. In addition, contextual considerations such as technical objectives, varying values and perspectives of stakeholder groups, and availability and reliability of data need to be understood and considered. Sustainability indicators for biofuels are most useful if adequate historical data are available, information can be collected at appropriate spatial and temporal scales, organizations are committed to use indicator information in the decision-making process, and indicators can effectively guide behavior toward more sustainable practices.« less

Operation Risk Mitigation On Halal Meat Supply Chain Management

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Mansur, Agus; Farida, Ayu; Ulil Albab, Muhammad

2017-06-01

Business owner of perishable goods such as meats has barriers to meet the demand of worldwide shipping. One of potential risk is damage resulting in decreased quality product, while the product selection criteria not only focus on quality. As the development of health issues and needs, halal meats is not only considered by the Muslim consumer but also consumer globally. In addition, they have to pay attention to the possible risk that might occur during the logistic operations so as they prevent loss if they fail to deal with the problem and risk properly. Quality Function Development proposed to identify what consumer’s need as well as to analyse the condition of market in the future. The study is conducted in the context of business owner’s feelings based on their obstacles. It also aims to unravel the expectations and perceptions of owners with interrelated issues such as halal meats with each affecting on the other multidirectional ways. This study has revealed new insights for policy makers, logistics service providers, and practitioners whose decisions might impact the industry.

Simulation and Modeling Efforts to Support Decision Making in Healthcare Supply Chain Management

PubMed Central

Lazarova-Molnar, Sanja

2014-01-01

Recently, most healthcare organizations focus their attention on reducing the cost of their supply chain management (SCM) by improving the decision making pertaining processes' efficiencies. The availability of products through healthcare SCM is often a matter of life or death to the patient; therefore, trial and error approaches are not an option in this environment. Simulation and modeling (SM) has been presented as an alternative approach for supply chain managers in healthcare organizations to test solutions and to support decision making processes associated with various SCM problems. This paper presents and analyzes past SM efforts to support decision making in healthcare SCM and identifies the key challenges associated with healthcare SCM modeling. We also present and discuss emerging technologies to meet these challenges. PMID:24683333

Modified allocation capacitated planning model in blood supply chain management

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Mansur, A.; Vanany, I.; Arvitrida, N. I.

2018-04-01

Blood supply chain management (BSCM) is a complex process management that involves many cooperating stakeholders. BSCM involves four echelon processes, which are blood collection or procurement, production, inventory, and distribution. This research develops an optimization model of blood distribution planning. The efficiency of decentralization and centralization policies in a blood distribution chain are compared, by optimizing the amount of blood delivered from a blood center to a blood bank. This model is developed based on allocation problem of capacitated planning model. At the first stage, the capacity and the cost of transportation are considered to create an initial capacitated planning model. Then, the inventory holding and shortage costs are added to the model. These additional parameters of inventory costs lead the model to be more realistic and accurate.

The effect of green supply chain management implementation to marketing performance through company competitiveness (study on paper industry in West Java)

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Hijuzaman, O.; Rahayu, A.; Kusnendi

2018-05-01

The purpose of this study was to determine and analyze the effect of direct and indirect implementation of Green Supply-Chain Management (GSCM) on the Performance Marketing and Competitiveness Mediation Paper Company in West Java province. Object This research is the paper company that existed in West Java Province, which amounts to 30 companies as well as a sample of research, while variables studied are Variable Green Supply- Chain Management, Company Competitiveness Variable and Variable of Paper Marketing Industry Performance in West Java Province. The method used SEM with Variance Based or Component Based with Software used is SmartPLS 3.0. On this research are identified that no effect of Competitiveness on Marketing Performance in Paper Companies in West Java Province.

Review of the 2015 Drug Supply Chain Security Act

PubMed Central

Brechtelsbauer, Erich D.; Pennell, Benjamin; Durham, Mary; Hertig, John B.; Weber, Robert J.

2016-01-01

The integrity of the pharmaceutical supply chain is threatened by medication counterfeiting, importation of unapproved and substandard drugs, and grey markets – all of which have the potential to distribute drug products with the potential for serious harm. On November 27, 2013, President Obama signed into law Title II of the Drug Quality and Security Act, now known as the Drug Supply Chain Security Act (DSCSA). Over the next 10 years, the DSCSA will require the pharmaceutical supply chain to implement medication tracking and tracing; serialization, verification, and detection of suspicious products; and strict guidelines for wholesaler licensing and reporting. This article reviews the important aspects of the DSCSA and outlines the role of health-system pharmacy leaders in ensuring compliance to the DSCSA. By verifying that medication supplies are free from adulteration and tampering, the DSCSA serves as a foundational law to ensure quality in providing patient-centered pharmacy services. PMID:27354753

Nutritional quality at eight U.S. fast-food chains: 14-year trends.

PubMed

Hearst, Mary O; Harnack, Lisa J; Bauer, Katherine W; Earnest, Alicia A; French, Simone A; Michael Oakes, J

2013-06-01

Frequent consumption of fast-food menu items that are high in fat, sugar, and sodium contribute to poor dietary quality, increasing individuals' risk for diet-related chronic diseases. To assess 14-year trends in the nutritional quality of menu offerings at eight fast-food restaurant chains in the U.S. Data on menu items and food and nutrient composition were obtained in 2011 from archival versions of the University of Minnesota Nutrition Coordinating Center Food and Nutrient Database for eight fast-food restaurant chains. In this database, ingredient and nutrition information for all foods sold by the fast-food restaurants were updated biannually between 1997/1998 and 2009/2010. Healthy Eating Index (HEI)-2005 scores were calculated for each restaurant menu as a measure of the extent to which menu offerings were consistent with Dietary Guidelines for Americans and compared over time. Of a possible index total of 100 (healthiest), the HEI-2005 score across all eight fast-food restaurants was 45 in 1997/1998 and 48 in 2009/2010. Individually, restaurant scores in 1997/1998 ranged from 37 to 56 and in 2009/2010 ranged from 38 to 56. The greatest improvements in nutritional quality were seen in the increase of meat/beans, decrease in saturated fat, and decrease in the proportion of calories from solid fats and added sugars. The HEI-2005 score improved in six restaurants and decreased in two. The nutritional quality of menu offerings at fast-food restaurant chains included in this study increased over time, but further improvements are needed. Fast-food restaurants have an opportunity to contribute to a healthy diet for Americans by improving the nutritional quality of their menus. Copyright © 2013 American Journal of Preventive Medicine. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Dynamic Simulation Research on Chain Drive Mechanism of Corn Seeder Based on ADAMS

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Wang, Y. B.; Jia, H. P.

2017-12-01

In order to reduce the damage to the chain and improve the seeding quality of the seeding machine, the corn seeder has the characteristics of the seeding quality and some technical indexes in the work of the corn seeding machine. The dynamic analysis of the chain drive mechanism is carried out by using the dynamic virtual prototype. In this paper, the speed of the corn planter is 5km/h, and the speed of the simulated knuckle is 0.1~0.9s. The velocity is 0.12m/s, which is equal to the chain speed when the seeder is running normally. Of the dynamic simulation of the movement and the actual situation is basically consistent with the apparent speed of the drive wheel has changed the acceleration and additional dynamic load, the chain drive has a very serious damage, and the maximum load value of 47.28N, in order to reduce the damage to the chain, As far as possible so that the sowing machine in the work to maintain a reasonable uniform speed, to avoid a greater acceleration, the corn sowing machine drive the design of a certain reference.

Conformation of ionizable poly Para phenylene ethynylene in dilute solutions

DOE PAGES

Wijesinghe, Sidath; Maskey, Sabina; Perahia, Dvora; ...

2015-11-03

The conformation of dinonyl poly para phenylene ethynylenes (PPEs) with carboxylate side chains, equilibrated in solvents of different quality is studied using molecular dynamics simulations. PPEs are of interest because of their tunable electro-optical properties, chemical diversity, and functionality which are essential in wide range of applications. The polymer conformation determines the conjugation length and their assembly mode and affects electro-optical properties which are critical in their current and potential uses. The current study investigates the effect of carboxylate fraction on PPEs side chains on the conformation of chains in the dilute limit, in solvents of different quality. The dinonylmore » PPE chains are modeled atomistically, where the solvents are modeled both implicitly and explicitly. Dinonyl PPEs maintained a stretched out conformation up to a carboxylate fraction f of 0.7 in all solvents studied. The nonyl side chains are extended and oriented away from the PPE backbone in toluene and in implicit good solvent whereas in water and implicit poor solvent, the nonyl side chains are collapsed towards the PPE backbone. Thus, rotation around the aromatic ring is fast and no long range correlations are seen within the backbone.« less

Conformation of ionizable poly Para phenylene ethynylene in dilute solutions

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Wijesinghe, Sidath; Maskey, Sabina; Perahia, Dvora

The conformation of dinonyl poly para phenylene ethynylenes (PPEs) with carboxylate side chains, equilibrated in solvents of different quality is studied using molecular dynamics simulations. PPEs are of interest because of their tunable electro-optical properties, chemical diversity, and functionality which are essential in wide range of applications. The polymer conformation determines the conjugation length and their assembly mode and affects electro-optical properties which are critical in their current and potential uses. The current study investigates the effect of carboxylate fraction on PPEs side chains on the conformation of chains in the dilute limit, in solvents of different quality. The dinonylmore » PPE chains are modeled atomistically, where the solvents are modeled both implicitly and explicitly. Dinonyl PPEs maintained a stretched out conformation up to a carboxylate fraction f of 0.7 in all solvents studied. The nonyl side chains are extended and oriented away from the PPE backbone in toluene and in implicit good solvent whereas in water and implicit poor solvent, the nonyl side chains are collapsed towards the PPE backbone. Thus, rotation around the aromatic ring is fast and no long range correlations are seen within the backbone.« less

Chain of care development in Sweden: results of a national study

PubMed Central

Åhgren, Bengt

2003-01-01

Abstract Chains of Care are today an important counterbalance to the ever-increasing fragmentation of Swedish health care, and the ongoing development work has high priority. Improved quality of care is the most important reason for developing Chains of Care. Despite support in the form of goals and activity plans, seven out of ten county councils are uncertain whether they have been quite successful in the development work. Strong departmentalisation of responsibilities between different medical professions and departments, types of responsibilities and power still remaining in the vertical organisation structure, together with limited participation from the local authorities, are some of the most commonly mentioned reasons for the lack of success. Even though there is hesitation regarding the development work up to today, all county councils will continue developing Chains of Care. The main reason is, as was the case with Chain of Care development up to today, to improve quality of care. Although one of the main purposes is to make health care more patient-focused, patients in general seem to have limited impact on the development work. Therefore, the challenge is to design Chains of Care, which regards patients as partners instead of objects. PMID:16896423

Understanding the policy environment for immunization supply chains: Lessons learned from landscape analyses in Uganda and Senegal.

PubMed

Luzze, Henry; Badiane, Ousseynou; Mamadou Ndiaye, El Hadji; Ndiaye, Annette Seck; Atuhaire, Brian; Atuhebwe, Phionah; Guinot, Phillippe; Fry Sosne, Erin; Gueye, Abdoulaye

2017-04-19

As immunization programs around the world undergo rapid change and expansion, supply chain and logistics systems have become strained, making it increasingly challenging for national public health systems to provide reliable, safe, and efficient access to vaccines. Governments and immunization partners have been aware of this problem for several years, and in 2010, the World Health Organization (WHO) launched the Effective Vaccine Management (EVM) process to help countries identify shortcomings in their immunization supply chains and develop plans for systematic improvement. EVM improvement plans now exist in all Gavi-eligible countries plus many middle- and upper-income countries; however, implementation has been slow and in many cases fraught with financial, managerial, structural, and political roadblocks. Recognizing that significant change of any kind requires a supportive policy environment and strong leadership, PATH began working in Uganda and Senegal to landscape the policy environment around immunization and identify relevant policies, administrative and technical roles and responsibilities, and other issues that may be affecting the supply chain for immunization. The policy landscape assessments included a desk review and a series of structured, in-depth interviews with key international, national, and local stakeholders. The findings highlighted a number of critical issues and challenges in both countries that may be preventing supply chains from functioning optimally. These challenges include a need for better coordination and planning between immunization programs and supply chain managers; the need for sufficient, timely and reliable financing for all aspects of immunization programs; the need for high-level managers trained in immunization supply chain management; and an urgent need for better, more timely data for decision-making. Overcoming these challenges will require the involvement of high-level political actors-including ministers of health and finance, parliamentarians, and other officials who have the ability to approve and influence policy, personnel, and structural changes; ensure work plans are backed with adequate resources for implementation; and hold program managers accountable for achieving agreed indicators. Copyright © 2017 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd.. All rights reserved.

Do resource utilization and clinical measures still vary across dialysis chains after controlling for the local practices of facilities and physicians?

PubMed

Hirth, Richard A; Turenne, Marc N; Wheeler, John R C; Ma, Yu; Messana, Joseph M

2010-08-01

Because of adverse survival effects, anemia management and financial incentives to increase doses of erythropoiesis-stimulating agents (ESAs) have been controversial. Prior studies showed more aggressive anemia management in dialysis facilities owned by for-profit chains, but have been criticized for not accounting for practices of individual physicians and facilities. To improve understanding of how dialysis practices and resource utilization are influenced by physicians, facilities, and chains. Mixed models with chain fixed effects and facility and physician random effects. Medicare hemodialysis patients in 2004. A total of 234,158 patients, 3995 facilities, 4838 physicians, and 7 chain classifications were included. Spending per session for dialysis-related services billed separately from the dialysis treatment and for ESAs. Achievement of hematocrit (HCT) and urea reduction ratio (URR) targets. Of the 4 largest for-profit chains, 3 had higher resource use than independents, with differences up to $17.92 higher ESA/session. Utilization was positively associated with achieving target HCT. Despite incurring lower costs, patients treated by a large nonprofit chain were as likely as patients of independents to achieve the HCT target. The largest chains were more likely than independents to achieve the URR target. Substantial variation occurred across physicians and facilities, and adjustment for chain only modestly decreased this variation. Chains' methods of influencing practices were not directly observed. Chains appear to have the ability to implement protocols that shift practices, but not the ability to substantially reduce local variation. Assertions that chain effects found by earlier studies were spurious are not supported.

The Blood Stocks Management Scheme, a partnership venture between the National Blood Service of England and North Wales and participating hospitals for maximizing blood supply chain management.

PubMed

Chapman, J F; Cook, R

2002-10-01

The Blood Stocks Management Scheme (BSMS) has been established as a joint venture between the National Blood Service (NBS) in England and North Wales and participating hospitals to monitor the blood supply chain. Stock and wastage data are submitted to a web-based data-management system, facilitating continuous and complete red cell data collection and 'real time' data extraction. The data-management system enables peer review of performance in respect of stock holding levels and red cell wastage. The BSMS has developed an innovative web-based data-management system that enables data collection and benchmarking of practice, which should drive changes in stock management practice, therefore optimizing the use of donated blood.

Evaluating the effectiveness of food recalls in retail establishments in New York City.

PubMed

Hanson, Heather; Reddy, Vasudha; Bauer, Melissa; Stich, Stephen; Kidoguchi, Lara; Luker, John; Sebek, Kim; Sawyer, Erin; Balter, Sharon

2011-01-01

Information on how promptly food recalls of U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA)-regulated products are disseminated to retailers is not well documented. Store managers were surveyed after recalls were declared to estimate the proportion aware of a recall, to describe the methods by which they learned of the recall, and to ascertain how they would prefer to be notified of recalls in the future. From 1 January 2008 to 31 December 2009, we identified FDA Class I products recalled because of potential contamination with an infectious agent such as Salmonella, which were sold in New York City. After each recall, a sample of retailers who carried the products was contacted, a standardized questionnaire was administered to store managers, and a sample of stores was inspected to determine if the product had been removed. Among nine recalls evaluated, 85 % (range, 12 to 100 % ) of managers were aware of the recall affecting a product at their store. Chain store managers were more aware of recalls than were independent store managers (93 versus 78%, P < 0.0001). More chain store managers first heard about the recall via e-mail as compared with independent store managers (35 versus 4%, P < 0.0001). E-mail notification was preferred by large chain store managers (38 versus 8%, P < 0.0001); on inspection, chain stores were more likely to have removed the item than were independent stores (85 versus 56%, P = 0.0071). Although recall information reaches many stores, faster electronic notifications are not effective at reaching small, independent stores, which may lack computers or fax machines. Alternate means to disseminate recall notifications rapidly are needed for stores without electronic communication capabilities.

A practical discussion of risk management for manufacturing of pharmaceutical products.

PubMed

Mollah, A Hamid; Baseman, Harold S; Long, Mike; Rathore, Anurag S

2014-01-01

Quality risk management (QRM) is now a regulatory expectation, and it makes good business sense. The goal of the risk assessment is to increase process understanding and deliver safe and effective product to the patients. Risk analysis and management is an acceptable and effective way to minimize patient risk and determine the appropriate level of controls in manufacturing. While understanding the elements of QRM is important, knowing how to apply them in the manufacturing environment is essential for effective process performance and control. This article will preview application of QRM in pharmaceutical and biopharmaceutical manufacturing to illustrate how QRM can help the reader achieve that objective. There are several areas of risk that a drug company may encounter in pharmaceutical manufacturing, specifically addressing oral solid and liquid formulations. QRM tools can be used effectively to identify the risks and develop strategy to minimize or control them. Risks are associated throughout the biopharmaceutical manufacturing process-from raw material supply through manufacturing and filling operations to final distribution via a controlled cold chain process. Assessing relevant attributes and risks for biotechnology-derived products is more complicated and challenging for complex pharmaceuticals. This paper discusses key risk factors in biopharmaceutical manufacturing. Successful development and commercialization of pharmaceutical products is all about managing risks. If a company was to take zero risk, most likely the path to commercialization would not be commercially viable. On the other hand, if the risk taken was too much, the product is likely to have a suboptimal safety and efficacy profile and thus is unlikely to be a successful product. This article addresses the topic of quality risk management with the key objective of minimizing patient risk while creating an optimal process and product. Various tools are presented to aid implementation of these concepts. © PDA, Inc. 2014.

[Business organization theory: its potential use in the organization of the operating room].

PubMed

Bartz, H-J

2005-07-01

The paradigm of patient care in the German health system is changing. The introduction of German Diagnosis Related Groups (G-DRGs), a diagnosis-related coding system, has made process-oriented thinking increasingly important. The treatment process is viewed and managed as a whole from the admission to the discharge of the patient. The interfaces of departments and sectors are diminished. A main objective of these measures is to render patient care more cost efficient. Within the hospital, the operating room (OR) is the most expensive factor accounting for 25 - 50 % of the costs of a surgical patient and is also a bottleneck in the surgical patient care. Therefore, controlling of the perioperative treatment process is getting more and more important. Here, the business organisation theory can be a very useful tool. Especially the concepts of process organisation and process management can be applied to hospitals. Process-oriented thinking uncovers and solves typical organisational problems. Competences, responsibilities and tasks are reorganised by process orientation and the enterprise is gradually transformed to a process-oriented system. Process management includes objective-oriented controlling of the value chain of an enterprise with regard to quality, time, costs and customer satisfaction. The quality of the process is continuously improved using process-management techniques. The main advantage of process management is consistent customer orientation. Customer orientation means to be aware of the customer's needs at any time during the daily routine. The performance is therefore always directed towards current market requirements. This paper presents the basics of business organisation theory and to point out its potential use in the organisation of the OR.

Reinforcement learning in supply chains.

PubMed

Valluri, Annapurna; North, Michael J; Macal, Charles M

2009-10-01

Effective management of supply chains creates value and can strategically position companies. In practice, human beings have been found to be both surprisingly successful and disappointingly inept at managing supply chains. The related fields of cognitive psychology and artificial intelligence have postulated a variety of potential mechanisms to explain this behavior. One of the leading candidates is reinforcement learning. This paper applies agent-based modeling to investigate the comparative behavioral consequences of three simple reinforcement learning algorithms in a multi-stage supply chain. For the first time, our findings show that the specific algorithm that is employed can have dramatic effects on the results obtained. Reinforcement learning is found to be valuable in multi-stage supply chains with several learning agents, as independent agents can learn to coordinate their behavior. However, learning in multi-stage supply chains using these postulated approaches from cognitive psychology and artificial intelligence take extremely long time periods to achieve stability which raises questions about their ability to explain behavior in real supply chains. The fact that it takes thousands of periods for agents to learn in this simple multi-agent setting provides new evidence that real world decision makers are unlikely to be using strict reinforcement learning in practice.

Supply chain challenges. building relationships.

PubMed

Beth, Scott; Burt, David N; Copacino, William; Gopal, Chris; Lee, Hau L; Lynch, Robert Porter; Morris, Sandra

2003-07-01

Supply chain management is all about software and systems, right? Put in the best technology, sit back, and watch as your processes run smoothly and the savings roll in? Apparently not. When HBR convened a panel of leading thinkers in the field of supply chain management, technology was not top of mind. People and relationships were the dominant issues of the day. The opportunities and problems created by globalization, for example, are requiring companies to establish relationships with new types of suppliers. The ever-present pressure for speed and cost containment is making it even more important to break down stubbornly high internal barriers and establish more effective cross-functional relationships. The costs of failure have never been higher. The leading supply chain performers are applying new technology, new innovations, and process thinking to far greater advantage than the laggards, reaping tremendous gains in all the variables that affect shareholder value: cost, customer service, asset productivity, and revenue generation. And the gap between the leaders and the losers is growing in almost every industry. This roundtable gathered many of the leading thinkers and doers in the field of supply chain management, including practitioners Scott Beth of Intuit, Sandra Morris of Intel, and Chris Gopal of Unisys. David Burt of the University of San Diego and Stanford's Hau Lee bring the latest research from academia. Accenture's William Copacino and the Warren Company's Robert Porter Lynch offer the consultant's perspectives. Together, they take a wide-ranging view of such topics as developing talent, the role of the chief executive, and the latest technologies, exploring both the tactical and the strategic in the current state of supply chain management.

Global Supply Chain Management at Digital Equipment Corporation

DTIC Science & Technology

1995-01-01

Global Supply Chain Management at Digital Equipment Corporation BRUCE C. ARNTZEN Gr t~ALD G...answers change; and -Are tax havens worth the extra freight and duty. In designing a global logistics network, they must decide 71 ARNTZEN ET AL...but is solved with heunshcs. Cohen and Lee (1988, p . 216] continue 73 ARNTZEN ET AL. with a set of approximate stochastic sub- models and

Supply Chain Management: How the Curricula of the Top Ten Undergraduate Universities Meet the Practitioners' Knowledge Set

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Bahouth, Saba; Hartmann, David; Willis, Geoff

2014-01-01

The disciplines of logistics and supply chain management have the potential of having many areas of emphasis. Universities that have some kind of emphasis in this field have developed programs that depend on the need of potential employers and their own faculty mix. Several studies have previously looked at how universities deal with this field at…

Vaccine cold chain: Part 2. Training personnel and program management.

PubMed

Rogers, Bonnie; Dennison, Kim; Adepoju, Nikki; Dowd, Shelia; Uedoi, Kenneth

2010-09-01

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reports that professionals in clinic settings may not be adequately storing and handling vaccine, leading to insufficient immunity of vaccinated individuals. Part 2 of this article provides information about the importance of adequate personnel training and program management policies and procedures needed to implement and maintain an effective vaccine cold chain program. Copyright 2010, SLACK Incorporated.

A production planning model considering uncertain demand using two-stage stochastic programming in a fresh vegetable supply chain context.

PubMed

Mateo, Jordi; Pla, Lluis M; Solsona, Francesc; Pagès, Adela

2016-01-01

Production planning models are achieving more interest for being used in the primary sector of the economy. The proposed model relies on the formulation of a location model representing a set of farms susceptible of being selected by a grocery shop brand to supply local fresh products under seasonal contracts. The main aim is to minimize overall procurement costs and meet future demand. This kind of problem is rather common in fresh vegetable supply chains where producers are located in proximity either to processing plants or retailers. The proposed two-stage stochastic model determines which suppliers should be selected for production contracts to ensure high quality products and minimal time from farm-to-table. Moreover, Lagrangian relaxation and parallel computing algorithms are proposed to solve these instances efficiently in a reasonable computational time. The results obtained show computational gains from our algorithmic proposals in front of the usage of plain CPLEX solver. Furthermore, the results ensure the competitive advantages of using the proposed model by purchase managers in the fresh vegetables industry.

Water quality and emergy evaluation of two freshwater aquacultural systems for eutrophic water in the Controlling by Biological Chains

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Xi, L. M.; Liu, C. Q.; Liu, D. F.; Huang, W. L.; Sun, Y.

2017-08-01

According to the ecological restoration theory, this experiment establishes aquaculture systems controlled by biological chains in both Xiaoxidian area and Dujiadian area of Baiyangdian Lake separately in order to improve the environment and bring economic benefits. The appearance of Emergy Theory provides a new method for the quantitative analysis of ecological economic system. Based on the analysis of Emergy Theory, this thesis compares the eco-economic systems under different polyculture models between Xiaoxidian area and Dujiadian area. The result demonstrates that Xiaoxidian ecological system is of high Emergy Transformity with higher emergy output and economic income per unit area compared with Dujiadian area. While Dujiadian area has higher Emergy Yield Rate and lower Environment Load Rate. So Dujiadian area is more sustainable due to the overload non-renewable energy of Xiaoxidian area devoted by human. Therefore, it will be better if we adjust and optimize the management of aquaculture system in Xiaoxidian area in order to find a stable equilibrium point between environmental sustainability and economic benefits.

78 FR 71581 - Procurement List; Additions and Deletions

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2013-11-29

... Prime Vendor Supply Chain Management Service [to support production, assembly, receipt, storage... Army, W6QK ACC-APG Natick, Natick, MA. Service Type/Location: Integrated Prime Vendor, Supply Chain...

Outsourcing vaccine logistics to the private sector: The evidence and lessons learned from the Western Cape Province in South-Africa.

PubMed

Lydon, Patrick; Raubenheimer, Ticky; Arnot-Krüger, Michelle; Zaffran, Michel

2015-06-26

With few exceptions, immunization supply chains in developing countries continue to face chronic difficulties in providing uninterrupted availability of potent vaccines up to service delivery levels, and in the most efficient manner possible. As these countries struggle to keep pace with an ever growing number of vaccines, more and more Ministries of Health are considering options of engaging the private sector to manage vaccine storage, handling and distribution on their behalf. Despite this emerging trend, there is limited evidence on the benefits or challenges of this option to improve public supply chain performance for national immunization programmes. To bridge this knowledge gap, this study aims to shed light on the value proposition of outsourcing by documenting the specific experience of the Western Cape Province of South Africa. The methodology for this review rested on conducting two key supply chain assessments which allowed juxtaposing the performance of the government managed segments of the vaccine supply chain against those managed by the private sector. In particular, measures of effective vaccine management best practice and temperature control in the cold chain were analysed. In addition, the costs of engaging the private sector were analysed to get a better understanding of the economics underpinning outsourcing vaccine logistics. The results from this analysis confirmed some of the theoretical benefits of outsourcing to the private sector. Yet, if the experience in the Western Cape can be deemed a successful one, there are several policy and practice implications that developing countries should be mindful of when considering engaging the private sector. While outsourcing can help improve the performance of the vaccine supply chain, it has the potential to do the reverse if done incorrectly. The findings and lessons learnt from the Western Cape experience can serve as a step towards understanding the role of the private sector in immunization supply chain and logistics systems for developing countries. Copyright © 2015 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd.. All rights reserved.

Leading a supply chain turnaround.

PubMed

Slone, Reuben E

2004-10-01

Just five years ago, salespeople at Whirlpool were in the habit of referring to their supply chain organization as the "sales disablers." Now the company excels at getting products to the right place at the right time--while managing to keep inventories low. How did that happen? In this first-person account, Reuben Slone, Whirlpool's vice president of Global Supply Chain, describes how he and his colleagues devised the right supply chain strategy, sold it internally, and implemented it. Slone insisted that the right focal point for the strategy was the satisfaction of consumers at the end of the supply chain. Most supply chain initiatives do the opposite: They start with the realities of a company's manufacturing base and proceed from there. Through a series of interviews with trade customers large and small, his team identified 27 different capabilities that drove industry perceptions of Whirlpool's performance. Knowing it was infeasible to aim for world-class performance across all of them, Slone weighed the costs of excelling at each and found the combination of initiatives that would provide overall competitive advantage. A highly disciplined project management office and broad training in project management were key to keeping work on budget and on benefit. Slone set an intense pace--three "releases" of new capabilities every month--that the group maintains to this day. Lest this seem like a technology story, however, Slone insists it is just as much a "talent renaissance." People are proud today to be part of Whirlpool's supply chain organization, and its new generation of talent will give the company a competitive advantage for years to come.

Towards integrated hygiene and food safety management systems: the Hygieneomic approach.

PubMed

Armstrong, G D

1999-09-15

Integrated hygiene and food safety management systems in food production can give rise to exceptional improvements in food safety performance, but require high level commitment and full functional involvement. A new approach, named hygieneomics, has been developed to assist management in their introduction of hygiene and food safety systems. For an effective introduction, the management systems must be designed to fit with the current generational state of an organisation. There are, broadly speaking, four generational states of an organisation in their approach to food safety. They comprise: (i) rules setting; (ii) ensuring compliance; (iii) individual commitment; (iv) interdependent action. In order to set up an effective integrated hygiene and food safety management system a number of key managerial requirements are necessary. The most important ones are: (a) management systems must integrate the activities of key functions from research and development through to supply chain and all functions need to be involved; (b) there is a critical role for the senior executive, in communicating policy and standards; (c) responsibilities must be clearly defined, and it should be clear that food safety is a line management responsibility not to be delegated to technical or quality personnel; (d) a thorough and effective multi-level audit approach is necessary; (e) key activities in the system are HACCP and risk management, but it is stressed that these are ongoing management activities, not once-off paper generating exercises; and (f) executive management board level review is necessary of audit results, measurements, status and business benefits.

77 FR 37055 - Agency Information Collection Activities; Submission for Office of Management and Budget Review...

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2012-06-20

... Request; Secure Supply Chain Pilot Program AGENCY: Food and Drug Administration, HHS. ACTION: Notice... identified with the title Secure Supply Chain Pilot Program. Also include the FDA docket number found in... following proposed collection of information to OMB for review and clearance: ``Secure Supply Chain Pilot...

Ownership, financing, and management strategies of the ten largest for-profit nursing home chains in the United States.

PubMed

Harrington, Charlene; Hauser, Clarilee; Olney, Brian; Rosenau, Pauline Vaillancourt

2011-01-01

This study examined the ownership, financing, and management strategies of the 10 largest for-profit nursing home chains in the United States, including the four largest chains purchased by private equity corporations. Descriptive data were collected from Internet searches, company reports, and other sources for the decade 1998-2008. Since 1998, the largest chains have made many changes in their ownership and structure, and some have converted from publicly traded companies to private ownership. This study shows the increasing complexity of corporate nursing home ownership and the lack of public information about ownership and financial status. The chains have used strategies to maximize shareholder and investor value that include increasing Medicare revenues, occupancy rates, and company diversification, establishing multiple layers of corporate ownership, developing real estate investment trusts, and creating limited liability companies. These strategies enhance shareholder and investor profits, reduce corporate taxes, and reduce liability risk. There is a need for greater transparency in ownership and financial reporting and for more government oversight of the largest for-profit chains, including those owned by private equity companies.

Protein Aggregation and Its Impact on Product Quality

PubMed Central

Roberts, Christopher J.

2014-01-01

Protein pharmaceutical products are typically active as folded monomers that are composed of one or more protein chains, such as the heavy and light chains in monoclonal antibodies that are a mainstay of current drug pipelines. There are numerous possible aggregated states for a given protein, some of which are potentially useful, while most of which are considered deleterious from the perspective of pharmaceutical product quality and performance. This review provides an overview of how and why different aggregated states of proteins occur, how this potentially impacts product quality and performance, fundamental approaches to control aggregate formation, and the practical approaches that are currently used in the pharmaceutical industry. PMID:25173826

The application of virtual reality systems as a support of digital manufacturing and logistics

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Golda, G.; Kampa, A.; Paprocka, I.

2016-08-01

Modern trends in development of computer aided techniques are heading toward the integration of design competitive products and so-called "digital manufacturing and logistics", supported by computer simulation software. All phases of product lifecycle: starting from design of a new product, through planning and control of manufacturing, assembly, internal logistics and repairs, quality control, distribution to customers and after-sale service, up to its recycling or utilization should be aided and managed by advanced packages of product lifecycle management software. Important problems for providing the efficient flow of materials in supply chain management of whole product lifecycle, using computer simulation will be described on that paper. Authors will pay attention to the processes of acquiring relevant information and correct data, necessary for virtual modeling and computer simulation of integrated manufacturing and logistics systems. The article describes possibilities of use an applications of virtual reality software for modeling and simulation the production and logistics processes in enterprise in different aspects of product lifecycle management. The authors demonstrate effective method of creating computer simulations for digital manufacturing and logistics and show modeled and programmed examples and solutions. They pay attention to development trends and show options of the applications that go beyond enterprise.

Ownership, competition, and the adoption of new technologies and cost-saving practices in a fixed-price environment.

PubMed

Hirth, R A; Chernew, M E; Orzol, S M

2000-01-01

Advances in medical technology have been implicated as the primary cause of rising health care expenditures. It is not yet known whether the increasing prevalence of managed care mechanisms, particularly capitation, will change substantially incentives for acquiring and using cost-increasing innovations. We examined the decisions of dialysis units (a set of providers that has faced capitation and real decreases in payment for several decades) with respect to use of cost-increasing technologies that enhance quality of care, cost-cutting practices that reduce quality of care, and amenities desired by patients that are unrelated to quality of care. We found that the dialysis payment system does not appear to have blocked access to a number of new, quality-enhancing technologies that were developed in the 1980s. However, facilities made adjustments along other valuable margins to facilitate adoption of these technologies; use of new technologies varied with numerous facility, regulatory, and case-mix characteristics including ownership, chain membership, size, market competition, and certificate of need programs. Interestingly, the trade-offs made by for-profit and nonprofit facilities when faced with fixed prices appeared quite different. For-profits tended to deliver lower technical quality of care but more amenities, while nonprofits favored technical quality of care over amenities. Our findings may have implications for the response of other types of health care providers to capitation and increasing economic constraints.

Effective Materials Property Information Management for the 21st Century

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Ren, Weiju; Cebon, David; Arnold, Steve

2010-01-01

This paper discusses key principles for the development of materials property information management software systems. There are growing needs for automated materials information management in industry, research organizations and government agencies. In part these are fuelled by the demands for higher efficiency in material testing, product design and development and engineering analysis. But equally important, organizations are being driven to employ sophisticated methods and software tools for managing their mission-critical materials information by the needs for consistency, quality and traceability of data, as well as control of access to proprietary or sensitive information. Furthermore the use of increasingly sophisticated nonlinear,more » anisotropic and multi-scale engineering analysis approaches, particularly for composite materials, requires both processing of much larger volumes of test data for development of constitutive models and much more complex materials data input requirements for Computer-Aided Engineering (CAE) software. And finally, the globalization of engineering processes and outsourcing of design and development activities generates much greater needs for sharing a single gold source of materials information between members of global engineering teams in extended supply-chains. Fortunately material property management systems have kept pace with the growing user demands. They have evolved from hard copy archives, through simple electronic databases, to versatile data management systems that can be customized to specific user needs. The more sophisticated of these provide facilities for: (i) data management functions such as access control, version control, and quality control; (ii) a wide range of data import, export and analysis capabilities; (iii) mechanisms for ensuring that all data is traceable to its pedigree sources: details of testing programs, published sources, etc; (iv) tools for searching, reporting and viewing the data; and (v) access to the information via a wide range of interfaces, including web browsers, rich clients, programmatic access and clients embedded in third-party applications, such as CAE systems. This paper discusses the important requirements for advanced material data management systems as well as the future challenges and opportunities such as automated error checking, automated data quality assessment and characterization, identification of gaps in data, as well as functionalities and business models to keep users returning to the source: to generate user demand to fuel database growth and maintenance.« less

Implementation of a real option in a sustainable supply chain: an empirical study of alkaline battery recycling

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Cucchiella, Federica; D'Adamo, Idiano; Gastaldi, Massimo; Lenny Koh, S. C.

2014-06-01

Green supply chain management (GSCM) has emerged as a key approach for enterprises seeking to become environmentally sustainable. This paper aims to evaluate and describe the advantages of a GSCM approach by analysing practices and performance consequences in the battery recycling sector. It seeks to integrate works in supply chain management (SCM), environmental management, performance management and real option (RO) theory into one framework. In particular, life cycle assessment (LCA) is applied to evaluate the environmental impact of a battery recycling plant project, and life cycle costing (LCC) is applied to evaluate its economic impact. Firms, also understanding the relevance of GSCM, have often avoided applying the green principles because of the elevated costs that such management involved. Such costs could also seem superior to the potential advantages since standard performance measurement systems are internally and business focused; for these reasons, we consider all the possible value deriving also by uncertainty associated to a green project using the RO theory. This work is one of the few and pioneering efforts to investigate GSCM practices in the battery recycling sector.

Towards a Tool for Malaria Supply Chain Management Improvement in Rural Ghana.

PubMed

Carlo, Lorena; Bakken, Suzanne; Mamykina, Lena; Kodie, Richmond; Kanter, Andrew S

2015-01-01

The maintenance of adequate quantities of antimalarial medicines and rapid diagnostic tests (RDTs) at health facilities in rural areas of sub-Saharan Africa is a challenging task because of poor supply chain management. Antimalarial stock-outs in the communities could lead patients (that need to travel long distances to get medications) to remain untreated, develop severe malaria and die. A prototype to improve the management of health commodities in rural Ghana through the visualization of current stock levels and the forecasting of commodities is proposed.

Elemente moderner, schlanker Produktionssysteme

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Bartholomay, Christian; Boppert, Julia; Dickmann, Eva; Dickmann, Philipp; Gröbner, Michael; Harting, Lothar; Leikep, Sabine; Michels, Friedhelm; Pfister, Johannes; Reitz, Andreas; Schedlbauer, Michael; Takeda, Hitoshi; Thews, Michael; Wilbert, Fred

Meilensteine der modernen Produktion mit Lean Production, Total Quality Management, Six Sigma, Supply Chain Management, Lean Management und Lean Enterprise können zu effizienteren Abläufen führen. In der betrieblichen Praxis existiert jedoch eine Vielzahl von Zielkonflikten basierend auf Richtlinien von Material Requirements Planning- (MRP), Controlling- und anderen Systemen. Nur wenige Spezialisten in größeren Unternehmen sind im Stande, die Komplexität über die Grenzen eines Fachgebiets hinaus im Detail zu verstehen. Fachübergreifendes Verständnis scheitert an der Komplexität der Gesamtproblematik. Entscheidungen verschiedenster Fachbereiche begrenzen die maximal erreichbare Effizienz des Materialflusses. Logistik und Materialfluss werden daher in vielen Unternehmen als unabdingbare Kernkompetenz verstanden. Um eine schlanke Produktion, einen optimalen Materialfluss und somit minimale Produktkosten zu erreichen, sind folglich vielfältige andere Fachthemen als Vorraussetzungen zu beherrschen. Erst dann ist es in der Produktionslogistik möglich, im Vergleich zu einem Top-Benchmark erfolgreich zu sein. Um im täglichen Konkurrenzkampf die Nase auch morgen noch vorne zu haben" ist es nötig, über den Preis hinaus auch noch völlig andere Problemstellungen zu beherrschen.

Does a low FODMAP diet help IBS?

PubMed

2015-08-01

Irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) is a common condition that can have a significant impact on a person's quality of life. The cause of IBS is unknown but several mechanisms have been proposed including visceral hypersensitivity, central sensitisation, abnormal gut motility and altered gut microbiota. IBS is challenging to manage and many patients report insufficient symptomatic relief from treatment. Approximately 60% of patients identify food as a trigger for their symptoms, and there has been interest in exclusion diets for managing IBS. Dietary adaptation is a common self-management strategy for patients with IBS, with many self-diagnosing intolerance to specific foods. This may lead to patients adopting over-restrictive or inappropriate diets. In recent years, a diet low in poorly absorbed short-chain carbohydrates, known collectively as FODMAPs (fermentable oligosaccharides, disaccharides, monosaccharides and polyols), has been advocated for the treatment of IBS. Here, we discuss the background to the FODMAP diet and review the evidence supporting its use for people with IBS. Published by the BMJ Publishing Group Limited. For permission to use (where not already granted under a licence) please go to http://group.bmj.com/group/rights-licensing/permissions.

Voluntary Medical Male Circumcision: Logistics, Commodities, and Waste Management Requirements for Scale-Up of Services

PubMed Central

Edgil, Dianna; Stankard, Petra; Forsythe, Steven; Rech, Dino; Chrouser, Kristin; Adamu, Tigistu; Sakallah, Sameer; Thomas, Anne Goldzier; Albertini, Jennifer; Stanton, David; Dickson, Kim Eva; Njeuhmeli, Emmanuel

2011-01-01

Background The global HIV prevention community is implementing voluntary medical male circumcision (VMMC) programs across eastern and southern Africa, with a goal of reaching 80% coverage in adult males by 2015. Successful implementation will depend on the accessibility of commodities essential for VMMC programming and the appropriate allocation of resources to support the VMMC supply chain. For this, the United States President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief, in collaboration with the World Health Organization and the Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS, has developed a standard list of commodities for VMMC programs. Methods and Findings This list of commodities was used to inform program planning for a 1-y program to circumcise 152,000 adult men in Swaziland. During this process, additional key commodities were identified, expanding the standard list to include commodities for waste management, HIV counseling and testing, and the treatment of sexually transmitted infections. The approximate costs for the procurement of commodities, management of a supply chain, and waste disposal, were determined for the VMMC program in Swaziland using current market prices of goods and services. Previous costing studies of VMMC programs did not capture supply chain costs, nor the full range of commodities needed for VMMC program implementation or waste management. Our calculations indicate that depending upon the volume of services provided, supply chain and waste management, including commodities and associated labor, contribute between US$58.92 and US$73.57 to the cost of performing one adult male circumcision in Swaziland. Conclusions Experience with the VMMC program in Swaziland indicates that supply chain and waste management add approximately US$60 per circumcision, nearly doubling the total per procedure cost estimated previously; these additional costs are used to inform the estimate of per procedure costs modeled by Njeuhmeli et al. in “Voluntary Medical Male Circumcision: Modeling the Impact and Cost of Expanding Male Circumcision for HIV Prevention in Eastern and Southern Africa.” Program planners and policy makers should consider the significant contribution of supply chain and waste management to VMMC program costs as they determine future resource needs for VMMC programs. Please see later in the article for the Editors' Summary PMID:22140363

Reducing ethylene levels along the food supply chain: a key to reducing food waste?

PubMed

Blanke, Michael M

2014-09-01

Excessive waste along the food supply chain of 71 (UK, Netherlands) to 82 (Germany) kg per head per year sparked widespread criticism of the agricultural food business and provides a great challenge and task for all its players and stakeholders. Origins of this food waste include private households, restaurants and canteens, as well as supermarkets, and indicate that 59-65% of this food waste can be avoided. Since ∼50% of the food waste is fruit and vegetables, monitoring and control of their natural ripening gas - ethylene - is suggested here as one possible key to reducing food waste. Ethylene accelerates ripening of climacteric fruits, and accumulation of ethylene in the supply chain can lead to fruit decay and waste. While ethylene was determined using a stationary gas chromatograph with gas cylinders, the new generation of portable sensor-based instruments now enables continuous in situ determination of ethylene along the food chain, a prerequisite to managing and maintaining the quality and ripeness of fruits and identifying hot spots of ethylene accumulation along the supply chain. Ethylene levels were measured in a first trial, along the supply chain of apple fruit from harvest to the consumer, and ranged from 10 ppb in the CA fruit store with an ethylene scrubber, 70 ppb in the fruit bin, to 500 ppb on the sorting belt in the grading facility, to ppm levels in perforated plastic bags of apples. This paper also takes into account exogenous ethylene originating from sources other than the fruit itself. Countermeasures are discussed, such as the potential of breeding for low-ethylene fruit, applications of ethylene inhibitors (e.g. 1-MCP) and absorber strips (e.g. 'It's Fresh', Ryan'), packages (e.g. 'Peakfresh'), both at the wholesale and retail level, vents and cooling for the supply chain, sale of class II produce ('Wunderlinge'), collection (rather than waste) of produce on the 'sell by' date ('Die Tafel') and whole crop purchase (WCP) to aid reducing food waste. © 2014 Society of Chemical Industry.

The performance of material management in health care organizations.

PubMed

Dacosta-Claro, Ivan

2002-01-01

This paper studies the hospital supply chain. The analysis of the operational and financial data of hospital administrative structures has permitted the discovery of the characteristics of work carried out by the employees and the different strategies used by the managers. Firstly, hospital supply chains must be classified into two groups influenced by medical factors (short-term and long-term hospitals). Secondly, two different management approaches can be observed when the supply chain operations are analysed. The first approach assigns a larger budget priority to inventory control, packages reception and internal distribution. Thus, the purchasing services have relatively fewer resources. In the second approach, contract negotiation and product ordering processes are enforced by the deployment of, relatively, more personnel. In both cases, the central store service performs merchandise reception and distribution according to the strategies determined by the purchasing service.

Data Quality -- A Key to Successfully Implementing ECSS

DTIC Science & Technology

2009-03-01

Inventory inaccuracy and supply chain performance: A simulation study of a retail supply chain. International Journal of Production Economics , 95...Planning (ERP) System Implementations Based on Critical Success Factors (CSFs). International Journal of Production Economics , 98(2), 189- 203. Tersine

HYDRA: A Middleware-Oriented Integrated Architecture for e-Procurement in Supply Chains

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Alor-Hernandez, Giner; Aguilar-Lasserre, Alberto; Juarez-Martinez, Ulises; Posada-Gomez, Ruben; Cortes-Robles, Guillermo; Garcia-Martinez, Mario Alberto; Gomez-Berbis, Juan Miguel; Rodriguez-Gonzalez, Alejandro

The Service-Oriented Architecture (SOA) development paradigm has emerged to improve the critical issues of creating, modifying and extending solutions for business processes integration, incorporating process automation and automated exchange of information between organizations. Web services technology follows the SOA's principles for developing and deploying applications. Besides, Web services are considered as the platform for SOA, for both intra- and inter-enterprise communication. However, an SOA does not incorporate information about occurring events into business processes, which are the main features of supply chain management. These events and information delivery are addressed in an Event-Driven Architecture (EDA). Taking this into account, we propose a middleware-oriented integrated architecture that offers a brokering service for the procurement of products in a Supply Chain Management (SCM) scenario. As salient contributions, our system provides a hybrid architecture combining features of both SOA and EDA and a set of mechanisms for business processes pattern management, monitoring based on UML sequence diagrams, Web services-based management, event publish/subscription and reliable messaging service.

Undiagnosed light chain systemic amyloidosis: does it matter to anesthesiologists? -a case report-

PubMed Central

Kim, Gwan Ho; Lee, Woo Kyung; Na, Se Hee

2013-01-01

Light chain systemic amyloidosis is rare but may accompany laryngeal or pulmonary involvement, which may increase the risk in airway management. We present a case of a patient planned for resection of cervical epidural mass. The patient had face and neck ecchymoses and purpuras with an unknown cause. Mask ventilation and intubation were successful, but the operation was cancelled to evaluate bleeding from facial skin lesions. A diagnosis of light chain systemic amyloidosis prompted evaluation of involvement of other organs and treatment. This case shows the importance of preoperative evaluation and careful airway management in patients with systemic amyloidosis. PMID:24363850

Short Term Cyber Attacks with Long Term Effects and Degradation of Supply Chain Capability

DTIC Science & Technology

2016-09-01

Artificial Intelligence Research Society Conference, 271–275, St. Augustine: Florida. Goetschalckx, Marc. 2011. Supply Chain Engineering. New York: Springer...term risks in a network supply chain to establish the existence of black swan events. 14. SUBJECT TERMS cybersecurity , supply chain risk...Mission, and Information System View (NIST SP 800–39) .....50 6. Cybersecurity Instruction for the DOD (DODI 8500.01) .........51 7. Risk Management

Control of Fine Particulate (PM2.5) Emissions from Restaurant Operations.

PubMed

Whynot, Jill; Quinn, Gary; Perryman, Pamela; Votlucka, Peter

1999-09-01

This paper describes efforts to reduce particulate matter (PM) emissions from restaurant operations, including application of an existing control method to a new equipment type. Commercial charbroiling in the South Coast Air Basin results in emissions of approximately 10 tons/day of fine particulate matter ( PM 2.5) and 1.3 tons/day of volatile organic compounds (VOCs). Over a seven-year period, the South Coast Air Quality Management District worked with industry to develop test methods for measuring emissions from various cooking operations, evaluate control technologies, and develop a rule to reduce these emissions. Of the two basic types of charbroilers-chain-driven and underfired-underfired produce four times the emissions when equivalent amounts of product are cooked. Cost-effective control technology is currently available only for chain-driven charbroilers. The application of flameless catalytic oxidizers to chain-driven charbroilers was found to effectively reduce emissions by at least 83% and is cost-effective. The catalysts have been used worldwide at restaurants for several years. Research efforts are underway to identify control options for underfired charbroilers. Implementation of Rule 1138, Control of Emissions from Restaurant Operations, adopted November 14, 1997, will result in reductions of 0.5 tons/day of PM 2.5 and 0.2 tons/day of VOCs. Future rules will result in reductions from underfired charbroilers and possibly other restaurant equipment when cost-effective solutions are available.

Control of fine particulate (PM2.5) emissions from restaurant operations.

PubMed

Whynot, J; Quinn, G; Perryman, P; Votlucka, P

1999-09-01

This paper describes efforts to reduce particulate matter (PM) emissions from restaurant operations, including application of an existing control method to a new equipment type. Commercial charbroiling in the South Coast Air Basin results in emissions of approximately 10 tons/day of fine particulate matter (PM2.5) and 1.3 tons/day of volatile organic compounds (VOCs). Over a seven-year period, the South Coast Air Quality Management District worked with industry to develop test methods for measuring emissions from various cooking operations, evaluate control technologies, and develop a rule to reduce these emissions. Of the two basic types of charbroilers--chain-driven and underfired--underfired produce four times the emissions when equivalent amounts of product are cooked. Cost-effective control technology is currently available only for chain-driven charbroilers. The application of flameless catalytic oxidizers to chain-driven charbroilers was found to effectively reduce emissions by at least 83% and is cost-effective. The catalysts have been used worldwide at restaurants for several years. Research efforts are underway to identify control options for underfired charbroilers. Implementation of Rule 1138, Control of Emissions from Restaurant Operations, adopted November 14, 1997, will result in reductions of 0.5 tons/day of PM2.5 and 0.2 tons/day of VOCs. Future rules will result in reductions from underfired charbroilers and possibly other restaurant equipment when cost-effective solutions are available.

Estimating safety effects of pavement management factors utilizing Bayesian random effect models.

PubMed

Jiang, Ximiao; Huang, Baoshan; Zaretzki, Russell L; Richards, Stephen; Yan, Xuedong

2013-01-01

Previous studies of pavement management factors that relate to the occurrence of traffic-related crashes are rare. Traditional research has mostly employed summary statistics of bidirectional pavement quality measurements in extended longitudinal road segments over a long time period, which may cause a loss of important information and result in biased parameter estimates. The research presented in this article focuses on crash risk of roadways with overall fair to good pavement quality. Real-time and location-specific data were employed to estimate the effects of pavement management factors on the occurrence of crashes. This research is based on the crash data and corresponding pavement quality data for the Tennessee state route highways from 2004 to 2009. The potential temporal and spatial correlations among observations caused by unobserved factors were considered. Overall 6 models were built accounting for no correlation, temporal correlation only, and both the temporal and spatial correlations. These models included Poisson, negative binomial (NB), one random effect Poisson and negative binomial (OREP, ORENB), and two random effect Poisson and negative binomial (TREP, TRENB) models. The Bayesian method was employed to construct these models. The inference is based on the posterior distribution from the Markov chain Monte Carlo (MCMC) simulation. These models were compared using the deviance information criterion. Analysis of the posterior distribution of parameter coefficients indicates that the pavement management factors indexed by Present Serviceability Index (PSI) and Pavement Distress Index (PDI) had significant impacts on the occurrence of crashes, whereas the variable rutting depth was not significant. Among other factors, lane width, median width, type of terrain, and posted speed limit were significant in affecting crash frequency. The findings of this study indicate that a reduction in pavement roughness would reduce the likelihood of traffic-related crashes. Hence, maintaining a low level of pavement roughness is strongly suggested. In addition, the results suggested that the temporal correlation among observations was significant and that the ORENB model outperformed all other models.

Development of the IBSAL-SimMOpt Method for the Optimization of Quality in a Corn Stover Supply Chain

DOE PAGES

Chavez, Hernan; Castillo-Villar, Krystel; Webb, Erin

2017-08-01

Variability on the physical characteristics of feedstock has a relevant effect on the reactor’s reliability and operating cost. Most of the models developed to optimize biomass supply chains have failed to quantify the effect of biomass quality and preprocessing operations required to meet biomass specifications on overall cost and performance. The Integrated Biomass Supply Analysis and Logistics (IBSAL) model estimates the harvesting, collection, transportation, and storage cost while considering the stochastic behavior of the field-to-biorefinery supply chain. This paper proposes an IBSAL-SimMOpt (Simulation-based Multi-Objective Optimization) method for optimizing the biomass quality and costs associated with the efforts needed to meetmore » conversion technology specifications. The method is developed in two phases. For the first phase, a SimMOpt tool that interacts with the extended IBSAL is developed. For the second phase, the baseline IBSAL model is extended so that the cost for meeting and/or penalization for failing in meeting specifications are considered. The IBSAL-SimMOpt method is designed to optimize quality characteristics of biomass, cost related to activities intended to improve the quality of feedstock, and the penalization cost. A case study based on 1916 farms in Ontario, Canada is considered for testing the proposed method. Analysis of the results demonstrates that this method is able to find a high-quality set of non-dominated solutions.« less

Development of the IBSAL-SimMOpt Method for the Optimization of Quality in a Corn Stover Supply Chain

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Chavez, Hernan; Castillo-Villar, Krystel; Webb, Erin

Variability on the physical characteristics of feedstock has a relevant effect on the reactor’s reliability and operating cost. Most of the models developed to optimize biomass supply chains have failed to quantify the effect of biomass quality and preprocessing operations required to meet biomass specifications on overall cost and performance. The Integrated Biomass Supply Analysis and Logistics (IBSAL) model estimates the harvesting, collection, transportation, and storage cost while considering the stochastic behavior of the field-to-biorefinery supply chain. This paper proposes an IBSAL-SimMOpt (Simulation-based Multi-Objective Optimization) method for optimizing the biomass quality and costs associated with the efforts needed to meetmore » conversion technology specifications. The method is developed in two phases. For the first phase, a SimMOpt tool that interacts with the extended IBSAL is developed. For the second phase, the baseline IBSAL model is extended so that the cost for meeting and/or penalization for failing in meeting specifications are considered. The IBSAL-SimMOpt method is designed to optimize quality characteristics of biomass, cost related to activities intended to improve the quality of feedstock, and the penalization cost. A case study based on 1916 farms in Ontario, Canada is considered for testing the proposed method. Analysis of the results demonstrates that this method is able to find a high-quality set of non-dominated solutions.« less

Microbiological assessment along the fish production chain of the Norwegian pelagic fisheries sector--Results from a spot sampling programme.

PubMed

Svanevik, Cecilie Smith; Roiha, Irja Sunde; Levsen, Arne; Lunestad, Bjørn Tore

2015-10-01

Microbes play an important role in the degradation of fish products, thus better knowledge of the microbiological conditions throughout the fish production chain may help to optimise product quality and resource utilisation. This paper presents the results of a ten-year spot sampling programme (2005-2014) of the commercially most important pelagic fish species harvested in Norway. Fish-, surface-, and storage water samples were collected from fishing vessels and processing factories. Totally 1,181 samples were assessed with respect to microbiological quality, hygiene and food safety. We introduce a quality and safety assessment scheme for fresh pelagic fish recommending limits for heterotrophic plate counts (HPC), thermos tolerant coliforms, enterococci and Listeria monocytogenes. According to the scheme, in 25 of 41 samplings, sub-optimal conditions were found with respect to quality, whereas in 21 and 9 samplings, samples were not in compliance concerning hygiene and food safety, respectively. The present study has revealed that the quality of pelagic fish can be optimised by improving the hygiene conditions at some critical points at an early phase of the production chain. Thus, the proposed assessment scheme may provide a useful tool for the industry to optimise quality and maintain consumer safety of pelagic fishery products. Copyright © 2015 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd.. All rights reserved.

Empirical Analysis of Green Supply Chain Management Practices in Indian Automobile Industry

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Luthra, S.; Garg, D.; Haleem, A.

2014-04-01

Environmental sustainability and green environmental issues have an increasing popularity among researchers and supply chain practitioners. An attempt has been made to identify and empirically analyze green supply chain management (GSCM) practices in Indian automobile industry. Six main GSCM practices (having 37 sub practices) and four expected performance outcomes (having 16 performances) have been identified by implementing GSCM practices from literature review. Questionnaire based survey has been made to validate these practices and performance outcomes. 123 complete questionnaires were collected from Indian automobile organizations and used for empirical analysis of GSCM practices in Indian automobile industry. Descriptive statistics have been used to know current implementation status of GSCM practices in Indian automobile industry and multiple regression analysis has been carried out to know the impact on expected organizational performance outcomes by current GSCM practices adopted by Indian automobile industry. The results of study suggested that environmental, economic, social and operational performances improve with the implementation of GSCM practices. This paper may play an important role to understand various GSCM implementation issues and help practicing managers to improve their performances in the supply chain.

EARSEC SAR processing system

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Protheroe, Mark; Sloggett, David R.; Sieber, Alois J.

1994-12-01

Traditionally, the production of high quality Synthetic Aperture Radar imagery has been an area where a potential user would have to expend large amounts of money in either the bespoke development of a processing chain dedicated to his requirements or in the purchase of a dedicated hardware platform adapted using accelerator boards and enhanced memory management. Whichever option the user adopted there were limitations based on the desire for a realistic throughput in data load and time. The user had a choice, made early in the purchase, for either a system that adopted innovative algorithmic manipulation, to limit the processing time of the purchase of expensive hardware. The former limits the quality of the product, while the latter excludes the user from any visibility into the processing chain. Clearly there was a need for a SAR processing architecture that gave the user a choice into the methodology to be adopted for a particular processing sequence, allowing him to decide on either a quick (lower quality) product or a detailed slower (high quality) product, without having to change the algorithmic base of his processor or the hardware platform. The European Commission, through the Advanced Techniques unit of the Joint Research Centre (JRC) Institute for Remote Sensing at Ispra in Italy, realizing the limitations on current processing abilities, initiated its own program to build airborne SAR and Electro-Optical (EO) sensor systems. This program is called the European Airborne Remote Sensing Capabilities (EARSEC) program. This paper describes the processing system developed for the airborne SAR sensor system. The paper considers the requirements for the system and the design of the EARSEC Airborne SAR Processing System. It highlights the development of an open SAR processing architecture where users have full access to intermediate products that arise from each of the major processing stages. It also describes the main processing stages in the overall architecture and illustrates the results of each of the key stages in the processor.

Serum-free light-chain analysis in diagnosis and management of multiple myeloma and related conditions.

PubMed

Milani, Paolo; Palladini, Giovanni; Merlini, Giampaolo

2016-01-01

The introduction of the serum-free light-chain (S-FLC) assay has been a breakthrough in the diagnosis and management of plasma cell dyscrasias, particularly monoclonal light-chain diseases. The first method, proposed in 2001, quantifies serum-free light-chains using polyclonal antibodies. More recently, assays based on monoclonal antibodies have entered into clinical practice. S-FLC measurement plays a central role in the screening for multiple myeloma and related conditions, in association with electrophoretic techniques. Analysis of S-FLC is essential in assessing the risk of progression of precursor diseases to overt plasma cell dyscrasias. It is also useful for risk stratification in solitary plasmacytoma and AL amyloidosis. The S-FLC measurement is part of the new diagnostic criteria for multiple myeloma, and provides a marker to follow changes in clonal substructure over time. Finally, the evaluation of S-FLC is fundamental for assessing the response to treatment in monoclonal light chain diseases.

Uniform Data Management and Access to Near Real-Time Seismic Data (Invited)

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Casey, R.; Ahern, T. K.; Benson, R. B.; Karstens, R.; Stromme, S.; Trabant, C. M.; Weertman, B. R.

2010-12-01

The IRIS Data Management Center has its ears to the ground, receiving relayed seismic telemetry from all parts of the globe with delay times as little as a few seconds from sensor to data center. This immediacy of always-on geophysical information has spawned a demand for ready access to persistent data streams, quality assurance metrics, and automatic production of data products based on specific triggers. For the last ten years, IRIS DMC has developed an effective near real-time data pipeline that serves the needs of seismic networks needing a central data management system as well as the scientific community that need the ability to monitor and respond to events that occurred only moments before. A number of accessible applications have been developed that provide useful data both through the web and through freely available software. Metrics and products of the raw data are cataloged and managed as a chain of events that occur in near-real time. The technical challenges faced with such a system are general to the data management community. Delayed transmission of packetized data, out of order data transmissions, verification of complete data transmission, and data flow concurrency have all been areas of focus in order to provide the best possible level of service to scientists and educators.

A quantitative study of the U.S. wood pallet industry based on supply chain management practices

Treesearch

Henry Quesada-Pineda; Scarlett Sanchez-Gomez; Philip A. Araman

2012-01-01

Pallets play an important role in the movement of goods from place to place. They are not only used in warehouses or distribution centers, but also in all those activities that require an efficient and effective method of transportation. To better understand business practices and external factors that impacts supply chain management (SCM), a survey of 1,500 U.S. wood...

A New Approach to Site Demand-Based Level Inventory Optimization

DTIC Science & Technology

2016-06-01

Command (2016) Navy supply chain management. Accessed April 17, 2016, https://www.navsup.navy.mil/navsup/capabilities/nscm Salmeron J, Craparo E (2016...Engineering 53: 122-142. Naval Supply Systems Command (2016a) Navy supply chain management. Accessed April 17, 2016, https://www.navsup.navy.mil...distribution is unlimited 12b. DISTRIBUTION CODE 13. ABSTRACT (maximum 200 words) Naval Supply Systems Command (NAVSUP) supports Navy, Marine Corps