Supply Chain Management

Supply Chain Management Suitability of push and pull management philosophies in relation to the case study and the boundaries between different stages of its supply chainAdvertising We will write a custom assessment sample on Supply Chain Management specifically for you for only $16.05 $11/page Learn More Several approaches are always made for the purposes of ensuring perfect mobilization of resources towards achievement of certain goals. The approaches may vary in details but at the end of it all share common ground of improving businesses like Sandwich Company. Push management could be designed to position resources at suitable places where there is anticipated need. The model results into equipped line of services based on standardized processes which could assist in delivering resources and products to right venues at anticipated times. The technology employed should specify activities that need to be administered together with the resources in order to meet anticipated demands . The push models tend to work with people passively, where the decisions affecting consumers could only be solved through central decision making (Hagel and Brown, 2005). Focus on pull management assists in the creation of foundation where people are helped in the processes of appropriate mobilization of right resources. The pull models are created as a result of increasing uncertainty within companies like the Sandwich Company. They help in improving the level of creativity applied by local participants who seeks satisfaction of immediate needs. The pull models help employees within the company to come together with innovative ideas which would help in solving the rising demand of sandwich products, this may include resources such as installation of refrigerators for the sake of perishable products. Pull models seeks no dictate on the nature of tools and resources required to accomplish tasks and address arising opportunities like supplying goods to the supermarket. Pull models te nd to treat consumers as creative entities that could be used to solve problems and create opportunities. It is applied to reinforce capability building by all consumers and employees hence assisting them towards innovation that could help them solve their needs (Hagel and Brown, 2005). With the maturity of supply chain within Sandwich Company, the demand chain is as well gaining importance and requires the organization’s appropriate responses. Sandwich products alongside services that goes with production, needs to be appealing to the consumers as well as the company’s stakeholders.Advertising Looking for assessment on business economics? Let's see if we can help you! Get your first paper with 15% OFF Learn More The pull model could be rightfully applied in this area so as to ensure that both customers and the firm are placed into consideration for viable outcome in production. The firm need not only to focus on the drivers within the demand c hange but also on their efficient management. This is what leads to the firms’ ultimate value chain (Hagel and Brown, 2005). The efficiency of the supply chain within Sandwich Company cannot be realised until the level of demand for the products is understood. First of all the demand chain objectives requires address in line with the company’s business strategies. This will make it easier for the employees to extensively resume the relevance of the strategies for the purposes of exploring available opportunities. Holistic approach to market opportunity analysis needs to be considered whereby; cost optimization is given priority on the side of customer expectations as well as those of stakeholders. However, the cost does not matter so much within the market since consumers are more concerned about convenience and speed. The marketers should be more involved in the process of product characteristics. The pull approach when adopted provides flexible approach towards the m anagement of the resources being used in the production process since the ingredients used seem to be perishable. This assists in mobilising assets and other resource capabilities like distributions outside the confines of the company. The pull system when applied in this business will ensure effective extension of services beyond production processes (Hagel and Brown, 2005). Sandwich Company needs to pay much attention towards services and satisfaction of consumers on their products; they need to consider issues such as complain from customers and product follow up avenues. These processes help in enhancing the Company’s image amongst consumers because of their high performance level. The Company emphasizes so much on product delivery as one of the important quality drivers. As part of pull model, Sandwich Company needs also to focus on offering good training to its employees which ultimately ensures that they are acquainted with the right knowledge enabling them to handle c urrent consumer issues. Sandwich Company requires market surveys to establish on efficiency of their services to consumers. Monitoring of delivery services should be done through some systems of evaluation such as on-time and same-day deliveries. Sandwich Company uses the final assembly time as the basis of making charges to its customers (Hagel and Brown, 2005).Advertising We will write a custom assessment sample on Supply Chain Management specifically for you for only $16.05 $11/page Learn More Sandwich Company should make crucial improvement on some customer metrics such as transportation of products and timing of delivery services, this is since these metrics contributes tremendously towards customer satisfaction. The improved performance of Sandwich Company could be attributed to positive responses received from potential consumers. The company needs to place lots of emphasis on customer views and comments towards their services. This can be done effic iently through conducting of customer surveys that makes it easier to analyze consumer tastes, preferences and expectations (Godsell et al, 2006). Customer perspective means of evaluation is very crucial towards contributing to the Company’s improvement in performance. Customer service aspect of the BSC should be utilized by Sandwich Company through the use of important measures which include; lead times, on-time delivery services, customer index and the level of consumer satisfaction. The Company determines customer satisfaction through surveys that are conducted by random selection of customers on a monthly basis and making them fill few questionnaires. Analysts from outside the Company are used to visit consumers on behalf of the firm and produces report on the consumer reactions and valid expectations they desire from the Company. Customer survey questions are constructed based on basic consumer concerns touching crucial areas such as quality, satisfaction on delivery tim e and concern on pricing methods used on the Company’s products and services (Godsell et al, 2006). The company focused on the quality, cost, performance and issues on prices at which goods and services are offered to customers. They also focused on the level of supply of goods to consumers at different locations. These companies analyze customers in relation to their potential and pay much attention to the processes through which products and services are administered to the specific customer groups. The company’s effort to evaluate the performance from the customer point of view contributed largely to the performance of the company. The processes through which they developed products are defined by quality measures, cost of production and time which contribute a lot towards customer satisfaction (Godsell et al, 2006). Response management will be required on the process of evaluating range of alternatives. This is done through first of all reviewing the amount of reso urces available and linking them to market outcomes and possible limitations. Apart from the production process, delivery of services is equally an important factor for success to be realised.Advertising Looking for assessment on business economics? Let's see if we can help you! Get your first paper with 15% OFF Learn More Corporate BSC was established so as to help in organizing operations within the Company. This helped in establishing customer perspective as the key contributor towards effective performance and achievement. The company puts much emphasis on the product cycle that involves transportation and kind of services delivered as some of the important metrics used within Sandwich Company. The Company focuses on supplying quality citrus products at affordable prices while still maximizing on its profit. The actions and measures taken by Sandwich Company’s are all customer-centric. The success of the Company is attributed to their market strategies on ways to deal with customers. However, the Company need to diversify its production to include other related fruit products (Godsell et al, 2006). Cycle view of supply chain operations The customer order cycle comprises of customer arrival followed by the entry of Customer’s order then Customer Order fulfillment and finally customer receiving the order. The replenishment cycle which is the category of retail order, comprises retail order trigger followed by retail order entry then fulfilling the order request and finally receiving the products. This is preceded by the manufacturing cycle which comprises the order arrival going through the production scheduling then manufacturing and shipping process then reception of the final products. Before the manufacturing process, there is the procurement cycle which involves making order of materials based on the manufacturer’s production schedule, suppliers’ precisions and also considering the various components of manufacturing before the materials are received by the manufacturer. Metrics Reliability Responsiveness Flexibility Cost Assets Perfect Order Fulfilment z Order fulfilment Cycle time z Upside Supply Chain flexibility z Upside Supply Chain Adaptability z Downside Supply Chain Adaptability z SCM Cost z Cos t of Goods Sold Z Cash-to-Cash Cycle Time z Return on Supply Chain Fixed Assets z Return on Working Capital z The use of business score card could be of prime use in this Company. Score card could be used in this Company as a management tool to motivate employees towards increasing the value of the organization giving it the ability to appeal to shareholders and rewarding of all employees with high performance level. Corporate BSC should be established so as to help in organizing operations within the Company. This could help in establishing customer perspective as the key contributor towards effective performance and achievement. The company should strive to place much emphasis on the product cycle which involves transportation and kind of services delivered as some of the important metrics used (Godsell et al, 2006). The processing time depends not only on the set up time and compatibility of other ingredients but also on the rate of flow of the raw materi als. This therefore calls for implementation of faster means of transport to cater for the need. The sequence of sandwiches at the end of processing unit should be geared towards minimizing total completion time and maximum earliness. Finished products with due dates should not be supplied since this may bring about confusion on the utilization of the available resources. Conclusion In reality the customer perspective actions and measures taken by Sandwich Company are customer-centric since all the strategies were geared towards maximizing profit per potential customer within the market. Sandwich Company ensures that customers receive their products in good shape, quality and at the right time. This could be ensured through the reduction of assembly time that also contributes to lowering of prices. The manufacturing efficiency of Sandwich Company should be improved through the use of BSC which helps in creating crucial changes within the process and human resource management. The ov erall efficiency of the processes should be improved by more than 10%. Apart from focusing on quality expectations from customers, the company should expand their concern to encompass cost of production and the nature of delivering goods. Increased income and improvement in sales are some of the indications of the level of customer satisfaction. This is since customers tend to buy more of a product when satisfied with its quality and prices. References Godsell, J. Harrison, A. Emberson, C. Storey, J. (2006). Customer responsive Supply chain strategy: An unnatural act? International Journal of Logistics, (9). Hagel, J. Brown, J. (2005). From Push to Pull Emerging models for Mobilizing Resources. Working paper, (10), 2-48.

Why Inner City Youth Suffer PTSD

Why Inner City Youth Suffer PTSD â€Å"The Centers for Disease control says these kids often live in virtual war zones, and doctors at Harvard say they actually suffer from a more complex form of PTSD. Some call it ‘Hood Disease.’† San Francisco KPIX television news anchor Wendy Tokuda spoke these words during a broadcast on May 16, 2014. Behind the anchor desk, a visual graphic featured the words â€Å"Hood Disease† in capital letters, in front of a backdrop of a heavily graffitied, boarded up storefront, accented with a strip of yellow police tape. Yet, there is no such thing as hood disease, and Harvard doctors have never uttered these words. After other reporters and bloggers challenged her about the term, Tokuda admitted that a local resident of Oakland had used the term, but that it had not come from public health officials or medical researchers. However, its mythical nature  didn’t stop other reporters and bloggers across the U.S. from reprinting Tokuda’s story and missing the real story: racism and economic inequality take a serious toll on the physical and mental health of those who experience them. The Connection Between Race and Health Eclipsed by this journalistic misdirection is the fact that  post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD)  among inner city youth is a real public health problem that demands attention. Speaking to the broader implications of systemic racism, sociologist Joe R. Feagin emphasizes that many of the costs of racism born by people of color in the U.S. are health-related, including lack of access to adequate health care, higher rates of morbidity from heart attacks and cancer, higher rates of diabetes, and shorter life spans. These disproportionate rates manifest largely due to structural inequalities in society that play out across racial lines. Doctors who specialize in public health refer to race as a social determinant of health. Dr. Ruth Shim and her colleagues explained, in an  article published in the January  2014 edition of  Psychiatric Annals, Social determinants are the main drivers of health disparities, which are defined by the World Health Organization as ‘differences in health which are not only unnecessary and avoidable, but, in addition, are considered unfair and unjust.’  In addition, racial, ethnic, socioeconomic, and geographic disparities in health care are responsible for poor health outcomes across a number of illnesses, including cardiovascular disease, diabetes, and asthma. In terms of mental and substance use disorders, disparities in prevalence persist across a wide range of conditions, as do disparities in access to care, quality of care, and overall burden of disease. Bringing a sociological lens to this issue, Dr. Shim and her colleagues add, â€Å"It is important to note that the social determinants of mental health are shaped by the distribution of money, power, and resources, both worldwide and in the U.S.† In short, hierarchies of power and privilege create hierarchies of health. PTSD Is a Public Health Crisis AmongInner City Youth In recent decades medical researchers and public health officials have focused on the psychological implications of living in racially ghettoized, economically blighted inner-city communities. Dr. Marc W. Manseau, a psychiatrist at NYU Medical Center and Bellevue Hospital, who also holds a Masters degree in Public Health, explained to About.com how public health researchers frame the connection between inner city life and mental health. He said, There is a large and recently growing literature on the myriad physical and mental health effects of economic inequality, poverty, and neighborhood deprivation.  Poverty, and concentrated urban poverty in particular, are especially toxic to growth and development in childhood. Rates of most mental illnesses, including but certainly not limited to post-traumatic stress disorder, are higher for those who grow up impoverished. In addition, economic deprivation lowers academic achievement and increases behavioral problems, thus sapping the potential of generations of people.  For these reasons, rising inequality and endemic poverty can and indeed must be viewed as public health crises. It is this very real  relationship between poverty and mental health that San Francisco news anchor, Wendy Tokuda, fixed on when she misstepped and propagated  the myth of â€Å"hood disease.† Tokuda referred to research shared by Dr. Howard Spivak, Director of the Division of Violence Prevention at the CDC, at a Congressional Briefing in April  2012. Dr. Spivack found that children who live in inner cities experience higher rates of PTSD than do combat veterans, due in large part to the fact that the majority of kids living in inner-city neighborhoods are routinely exposed to violence. For example, in Oakland, California, the Bay Area city that Tokuda’s report focused on, two-thirds of the city’s murders take place in East Oakland, an impoverished area. At Freemont High School, students are frequently seen wearing tribute cards around their necks that celebrate the lives and mourn the deaths of friends who have died. Teachers at the school report that students suffer from depression, stress, and denial of what is going on around them. Like all people who suffer from PTSD, the teachers note that anything can set off a student and incite an act of violence. The traumas inflicted on youth by  everyday gun violence was well documented in 2013 by the radio program, This American Life, in their two-part broadcast on Harper High School, located in the Englewood neighborhood of Chicago’s South Side. Why the Term "Hood Disease" is Racist What we know from public health research, and from reports like these done in Oakland and Chicago, is that PTSD is a serious public health problem for inner-city youth across the U.S. In terms of geographic racial segregation, this also means that PTSD  among youth is overwhelmingly a problem for youth of color. And therein lies the problem with the term â€Å"hood disease.† To refer in this way to widespread physical and mental health problems that stem from social structural conditions and economic relations is to suggest that these problems are endemic to â€Å"the hood† itself. As such, the term obscures the very real social and economic forces that lead to these mental health  outcomes. It suggests that poverty and crime are pathological problems, seemingly caused  by this â€Å"disease,† rather than by the conditions in the neighborhood, which are produced by particular social structural and economic relations. Thinking critically, we can also see the term hood disease as an extension of the â€Å"culture of poverty† thesis, propagated by many social scientists and activists in the mid-twentieth century- later soundly disproven- which holds that it is the value system of the poor that keeps them in a cycle of poverty. Within this reasoning, because people grow up poor in poor neighborhoods, they are socialized into values unique to poverty, which then when lived out and acted upon, recreate the conditions of poverty. This thesis is deeply flawed because it is devoid of any considerations of social structural forces that create poverty, and shape the conditions of people’s lives. According to sociologists and race scholars Michael Omi and Howard Winant’s, something is racist  if it â€Å"creates or reproduces structures of domination based on essentialist categories of race.† â€Å"Hood disease,† especially when combined with the visual graphic of boarded up, graffitied buildings blocked by crime scene tape, essentializes- flattens and represents  in a simplistic way- the diverse experiences of a neighborhood of people into a disturbing, racially coded sign. It suggests that those who live in â€Å"the hood† are very much inferior to those who do not- â€Å"diseased,† even. It certainly does not suggest that this problem can be addressed or solved. Instead, it suggests that it is something to be avoided, as are the neighborhoods where it exists. This is colorblind racism at its most insidious. In reality, there is no such thing as â€Å"hood disease, but many inner-city children are suffering the consequences of living in a society that does not meet their  nor their communities basic life needs.  The place is not the problem. The people who live there are not the problem. A society organized to produce unequal access to resources and rights based on race and class is the problem. Dr. Manseau observes, â€Å"Societies serious about improving health and mental health have directly taken on this challenge with substantial proven and documented success. Whether the United States values its most vulnerable citizens enough to make similar efforts remains to be seen.†