The Jurisdiction of the European Court of Human Rights Case Study

The Jurisdiction of the European Court of Human Rights - Case Study Example Article 10 was alleged by the applicants as a ground for their action, as a matter of course, in view of the fact that the target of the attack was a media entity. Article 10 lays down the dictum that every person is entitled to the freedom to express or to speak out his mind albeit the same may be restrained according to the limitations which statutes of the Contracting States prescribe. Lastly, Article 13 of the Convention mandates that those whose rights and liberties are violated or encroached upon under the provisions of the Convention must be afforded an effective remedy or relief even if the perpetrators have acted in an official capacity. (European Convention on Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms. COUNCIL OF EUROPE. European Treaties. Press for Change [internet]). The focal issue in this discussion is the statement of the Court which declares that it is the obligation of the Court to consider the special character of the Convention pertaining to its role in the maintenance of European public order for the purpose of protecting persons or individuals. It also points out that the Convention has been covenanted to ensure that the engagements undertaken by the High Contracting Parties, meaning the treaty signatories, are observed. The latter principle is evident in the setting up of the European Commission of Human Rights and of the Court, both specified in Article 19 of the Convention. Since the principal matter which was resolved by the Court refers to the admissibility of the application, the arguments and debate presented in this treatise will center on that question. Some comments and opinions from literary sources will be considered for inclusion here. The Convention It is necessary to have knowledge of the history of the Convention in assessing the case... With all the foregoing backdrops, this essay will proceed to the questions of who are the people covered by the Convention and what cases does it cover. It will finally likewise be queried as to when the Convention applies. In short, there is a need to know what circumstances are embraced under the operation of the Convention. In the legal sense, the inquiry has to be directed into the jurisdiction of the Court which the Convention had created. Stated in another way, it has to be determined when, where and over whom does the Court exercise its judicial powers under the Convention in conjunction with the rules and principles of international law. Article 1 of the Convention is very specific. It provides that the signatories to the treaty are under obligation to secure to all the people within their jurisdiction the rights and freedoms enumerated in Section 1 of the Convention. Were the applicants covered as persons within the jurisdiction of the High Contracting Parties when the bombardment of the radio-television network was carried out? The answer is definitely in the negative. They were not. During the time of the bombing of the Radio-Television Serbia headquarters, Bank ović and his co-applicants and their deceased relatives, Serbia was not a member of the Convention and, therefore, they were not within the reach of the jurisdiction of the Court. The bombing party, NATO, was also found by the Court as not having Serbia within its (NATO’s) effective control or that of its members.

The Importance Of Tourism In Mauritius Tourism Essay

The Importance Of Tourism In Mauritius Tourism Essay Chapter 2 This chapter deals with the importance of Tourism in Mauritius along with its socio-cultural impacts. The government too encourages tourism for its ability to spread economic development along with reducing inequalities in income distribution by providing jobs. In other words, it raises the standard of living of the local people. As mentioned by Glasson et al., 1995, the government views tourism as a catalyst for national and regional development. Moreover, it brings employment, exchange of currency, balance of payments advantages and important development such as infrastructure benefiting locals and visitors alike. Tourism industry has been the largest as well the fastest industry of the world. Along with the benefits, it must be noted that the negative impacts should not be ignored. Therefore, here, emphasis will be laid mostly on socio-cultural impacts of Tourism in Mauritius. What is Sustainable Tourism? Sustainable tourism is a kind of approach to tourism meant to support the development of ecological tourism in the long term. If tourism is to become part of a more sustainable lifestyle, changes are needed to the patterns of behaviour adopted by the public. Being a core pillar of the economy, the sustainable tourism industry, therefore plays a significant role by contributing to development of goals set for 2015 and alleviating poverty, creating jobs and providing livelihoods to the people of all works of life. Moreover, sustainable tourism is known as tourism development that avoids damage to the environment economy and cultures of the locations where it takes place. Therefore, it deals with the serious issues such as conserving the resources, valuing the local culture and tradition and contributing largely in the economy. The aim of sustainable tourism is to ensure that development is a positive experience for local people, tourism companies as well as the tourists themselves. Characteristics of Sustainable Tourism Sustainable Tourism tries its utmost to maintain the importance of local culture and tradition. Sustainable Tourism is informatory, as it doesnt only let tourist know about the destinations but also it helps locals knowing about the culture and civilisation of tourists. This kind of tourism is aimed to conserve the resources of destinations where one is visiting to Sustainable Tourism seeks deeper involvement of locals, which provide local people an opportunity and make their living. Above all, Sustainable Tourism stresses pointedly upon integrity of the tourist places. Moreover, educating locals about sustainability can help in training people to preserve the product that actually offers them a living. In the tourism literature, another major theme linked to culture is that of the impact of tourism development on host cultures (Cole, 2004). Contribution of Tourism in the Economy Tourism contributes much in the economy in a way that the economic policy and planning will revolve mainly around certain fundamental objectives. For example in Mauritius, the potential contribution of tourism is noted under each of these. -Achieving economic growth -Achieving the equitable distribution of economic activities by region of the country -Tourism is a good source of government revenues. -Ensuring adequate maintenance and expansion of the countrys physical infrastructure and public utilities roads, harbours, airports, and transportation systems, telecommunications -Providing an adequate public health system -Providing an adequate educational and vocational training system Relationship between Ecotourism and Sustainable tourism When we talk about sustainable tourism, it deals mostly with the principles of sustainable tourism which are widely accepted, with the idea of prevailing sustainable tourism. Hence, ecotourism, which basically deals with nature tourism, aiming to conserve the environment and improving the well-being of local people, is considered as a speciality product of achieving sustainable tourism, also attracting a considerable amount of interests among both tourist researchers and governors. Ecotourism is seen as a form of tourism that is highly visible and growing rapidly. However, though the goals of ecotourism and sustainable tourism are much similar, the latter is broader and conceals within itself very many aspects and categories of tourism. Relationship between host community and guest Tourist-host encounters occur in three main contexts: -Where the tourist is buying some good or service from the host, -Where they are in the same place at the same time, -And when they meet and share ideas and information (de Kadt 1979). Referring to the last type of encounter is far less common than the first two, tourism often fails in promoting mutual understanding among different nations and stereotypes prevail (Nettekoven 1979; Krippendorf 1987; OGrady 1990). As we can see, this might be create troubles in different nations and may divide them too. Society Coming from the Latin word societas, which means as friendly association with others, a society a can be described as a group of people related to each other through persisted relations such as social status, roles and social networks. It is a group that shares the same geographical territory and have the same political authority and cultural expectations. In other words, society is the members sharing some mutual concern or interest aiming to a common goal. However, related to tourism, we do have some socio-cultural impacts which can be both positive and negative, some form of socio-cultural impact is an inevitable part of the host-visitor relationship as tourism brings together regions and societies that are normally characterised by varying degrees of difference. This is so, because the visitors are from different origin and they carry them their own beliefs, values and expectations. What is culture? Culture comes from the Latin word cultura which means to cultivate, the term culture refers to the cultivation of the soul or mind. Therefore, culture can be described as a social construct which characterizes the behaviour and attitude of social groups. As said by (wolfram, 2002), culture can be an operating mechanism of genetic unfolding which is the basic of the concept. Culture is also described as the sum of ideas, beliefs, values, knowledge and behaviour forming the shared basis for all social action. According to Enzensberger, culture may be defined simply as everything that humans do and do not do (Enzensberger, 1994). A countrys culture consists of its way of life, the way people dress and look, its institutions, its street scenes, its market and buses and its rhythms and patterns, the whole character and appearance of its cities and its countryside. However, it is difficult to see a countrys culture in its totality, because there are so many factors and variables involved. Moreover, it has been noted that no group of people keeps on living in exactly the same way and the culture of a country changes in some way about every five minutes. Social impacts of tourism Tourism directly affects the lives of people living in the tourist areas and this something inevitable. The following are some of the effects which the development of tourism will bring to a new destination. -It brings new jobs. -Many women may be given opportunities to work for the very first time in their lives. -Housing will improve and a variety of new housing projects will develop. -As noted, tourists are customers willing to pay for craft items, works of art, and live performances. The traditional cultural pursuits will undergo a process of commercialization. However, along with the positive contribution of Tourism, the society is also affected by its negative impacts which are known as the ills of the society and causes much harm in terms of prostitutions, drug addictions, gambling, crimes, thefts, night life, western culture being adopted ignoring the local one specially amongst youngsters. It also gives rise to sex tourism, with aged foreigners flocking to some of the countries seeking young women as partners. Others come to indulge in pedophile activities. Cultural Impacts of Tourism Cultural tourism is one of the largest and fastest-growing global tourism markets. This is so because culture and creative industries are being used increasingly to promote destinations and enhance their attractiveness and competitiveness. Developing their tangible and intangible cultural assets has become a means for many locations to develop comparative advantages in an increasingly competitive tourism marketplace and to create local distinctiveness in the face of globalisation. The impact of tourism on culture examines the relationship between tourism and culture which keeps on growing and shows how tourism and culture share a strong link to help places become more attractive to tourists. However, most if the time, while catering for the perceived needs of tourists, tourism development leads to destinations losing their cultural identity. The local people tend to forget that the tourists are short-stay visitors who carry with them their own cultural norms and behavioural patterns. It tends to become a source for commercialisation of traditional cultural events and customs leading to fake folklore for tourists with no cultural value for the local population or the visitors. This becomes an issue as culture is being sacrificed for reasons of promoting tourism. In other words, creating an additional economic value at the price of losing a cultural value. The Socio-cultural impacts of tourism on the host communities The socio-cultural effects of Tourism are divided into three aspects: 1. On the destination -That is, how well a destination is able to assimilate given numbers of visitors 2. On the way of life -That is, the impact that visitors have on peoples values, and the local way of life. 3. On the arts -That is, the influence of the visitors on the arts; music, dance, painting, sculpture, theatre, architecture, handicrafts and so on. These three types of impacts have the following positive effects: Firstly, the numbers of visitors boost the local economy creating wealth, generate jobs, produce improvements in the local infrastructure, trigger a range of new facilities and services, and stimulate other types of investment. Secondly, tourism gives the opportunity to get into contact with the outside world, stimulates two-way flows of information, leads to the import of more goods and services, promotes cultural exchange, fosters a process of internationalization, and generally acts to develop the whole field of trade and communications. Finally, it creates an audience and patronage for the local arts mostly for handicrafts, theatre, music, and dance. It also has an indirect impact on all other artistic expressions including architecture, painting and literature. Impacts can also act in a negative way: First, as already noted, tourism competes for space, thus, there can be some local resentment to sharing amenities with a large number of visitors. Secondly, not only tourism but by development brought in general, there may be some resistance to the changes in the way of life and values and. Lastly, there can be some resentment of the impact of the new market forces on both the contemporary arts and traditional. As we know, all cultures differ from each other. However, while talking about the socio-cultural impacts of tourism, some concepts can be taken into consideration and these can influence one cultures view with another and they are: Norms and rules Here, the way which the people and the society behave and the rules which they follow are noted. People are limited to some legal framework as well as are restricted through social norms-the etiquette and the codes of conduct which governs the ways in which people behave. Emotionally Emotions can be hidden or expressed and is likely to change from country to country. It may change over time also. For example, in many countries, anger is permitted only if the cause is justifiable. In other societies, showing anger in any circumstances is unacceptable. Orientalism Orientalism both creates and perpetuates false ideas about the behaviour of others, particularly as they relate to western views of the East and culture and. The mysteries of the East are due mainly to the Wests incomprehension of eastern cultures. These myths are not only frequently repeated but may also influence contacts and relations. Primitivism Primitive society is living in a natural state with full goodness and simplicity. It can also be said that humans who live in primitive societies are not as intelligent as those who live in advanced societies. They live on honesty and not an attacking egocentrically on another culture to legitimize their enslavement or destruction. They harvest what is naturally provided. However, tourism is often viewed as having disrupted the primitive societies as it has been influenced by the medial, consumerism, politics, economics, education, health, family structure, travel, migration and other social changes. This can further be elaborated as tourism stimulates much interest in and conserve aspects of, the cultural heritage of the host (Cooper et al., 1998). It is noted that once the tourists appreciated the cultural heritage of a particular destination, that appreciation can increase the hosts pride in their heritage and foster local crafts, traditions and customs. In some countries, resources such as museum, national monuments, historical sites and ruins, rock paintings, cultural events, sports and recreational activities too are related to heritage and contribute much to the tourism sector (Government of Botswana, 1997). Tourism has been contributing a lot positively on the society but however, the negative aspects also should be taken into consideration. While talking about the negative aspects, we cannot ignore the fact that the spread of disease through travel and tourism continues to cause a problem though it has largely been responsive to vaccination and control. Among these diseases, the transmission of AIDS on a world wide basis has become a very serious issue and remains one of the major socio-cultural concerns of Tourism. It is noted that in Tourism AIDS is spread principally through sexual contacts. These consists either heterosexual or homosexual and may involve prostitutes, other tourists and ordinary members of the host population. Prostitutions is said to be the most common initial vehicle concerning the spread of the disease. Though tourism does not tend to create prostitution, it existed already and it is impossible to eliminate it too as it creates a certain type of tourism. However, another problem is that it tends to produce young prostitutes as there is a belief that younger girls are less likely to be infected. It is also noted that night clubs become more marketable if prostitution is available there. This has become a means of commerce and entertainment whereby a countrys culture is much affected without forgetting the other sources such as advertising, fashion and media by which culture is much influence. These bring much idea about values and lifestyles. For example, Coca Cola denotes more than a soft drink, Levis more than a pair of blue jeans, McDonalds more than a hamburger and Christian Dior more than a fashion house. Films are released on a worldwide basis. Everybody listens to the same pop music. People are influenced by these and thus, much of modem culture has become universal. GRI The global Reporting Initiative is a well-known network based organization used to report sustainability framework. The reporting framework sets out the Performance Indicators and principles that can be used by organizations in order to measure and report their economic, environmental and social performance publicly. There they use may techniques and some of them are: -Ecological Footprint reporting. -Environmental social governance reporting -Triple Bottom-line reporting -Corporate social Responsibility. Based on these, Accountability of socio-cultural Impacts too forms part of these. Accountability When we talk about accountability, we talk about a concept used in ethics and governance with several warnings. It can be used synonymously with concepts such as responsibility, answerability, blame worthiness, liability and other terms associated with the expectation of account-giving. Responsibility also deals with responsible tourism which is about taking responsibility individually and collectively for triple bottom line sustainability, economic, social and environmental. In travel and tourism, much emphasis has been laid on environmental responsibility. However, we should not ignore the fact that tourism is about taking individual and corporate responsibility to implement the principles of sustainable development. Each one of the society has got his own duty to respect it in all actions they perform. Accountability is thus, the acknowledgement and assumption of responsibility for actions, products, decisions and policies including the administration, governance and implementation within the scope of the roles or employment position and encompassing the obligation to report explaining and answering the resulting consequences. Types of accountability Political accountability Political accountability is the accountability of the government, politicians and civil servants to the public and to legislative bodies such as a congress or a parliament. In a few cases, recall elections can be used to revoke the office of an elected official. However, voters do not have any direct way of holding elected representatives to account during the term for which they have been elected. In addition, some legislators and officials may be appointed rather than elected. Constitution, or statute, can empower a legislative body to hold their own members, the government, and government bodies to account. This can be through holding an internal or independent inquiry. Inquiries are usually held in response to an allegation of misconduct or corruption. The procedures, powers, and sanctions vary from country to country. The legislature may have the power to remove the individual, to impeach them, or suspend them from office for a period of time. The accused person might also decide to resign before trial. Ethical accountability Ethical accountability is the practice of improving overall personal and organizational performance by promoting and developing professional expertise and responsible tools, and by advocating an effective enabling environment for people and organizations to embrace a culture of sustainable development. Ethical accountability may include the individual, along with large and small businesses, research institutions and academics, not-for-profit organizations and government. One scholarly paper has posited that it is unethical to plan an action for social change without excavating the wisdom and knowledge of the people who are responsible for implementing the plans of action and the people whose lives will be affected. Administrative accountability Internal rules and norms as well as some independent commission are mechanisms to hold civil servant within the administration of government accountable. Within ministry or department, firstly, behavior is bounded by rules and regulations; secondly, civil servants are subordinates in a hierarchy and accountable to superiors. Nonetheless, there are independent watchdog units hold departments accountable to scrutinize and to scrutinize and; legitimacy of these commissions is built upon their independence, as it avoids any conflicts of interest. Apart from internal checks, some watchdog units accept complaints from citizens, bridging society and government to hold civil servants accountable to citizens. Market accountability Under voices for privatization and decentralization of the government, services provided are nowadays more customer-driven and should aim to provide various choices and convenience to citizens; with this perspective, there are competition and comparisons between public and private services and this, ideally, improves quality of service. As mentioned by Bruce Stone, the standard of assessment for accountability is therefore responsiveness of service providers to a body of sovereign customers and produce quality service. Outsourcing service is one means to adopt market accountability. Government can choose among a shortlist of companies for outsourced service; within the contracting period, government can hold the company by rewriting contracts or by choosing another company. Accountability in education Virtually all schools today that deny it but in opposition, Sudbury schools choose to recognize that students are personally responsible for their acts. The denial is threefold: schools do not permit students to choose their course of action fully; they do not permit students to embark on the course, once chosen; and they do not permit students to suffer the consequences of the course, once taken. Freedom of choice, freedom of action, freedom to bear the results of action-these are the three great freedoms that constitute personal responsibility. Sudbury schools claim that Ethics is a course taught by life experience. They adduce that the absolutely essential ingredient for acquiring values-and for moral action is personal responsibility, that schools will become involved in the teaching of morals when they become communities of people who fully respect each others right to make choices, and that the only way the schools can become meaningful purveyors of ethical values is if they pr ovide adults and students with real-life experiences that are bearers of moral import. Students are given complete responsibility for their own education and the school is run by a direct democracy in which staff and students are equals. Constituency relations Within this perspective, a particular agency or the government is accountable if voices from groups or institutions, agencies, which is outside the public sector and representing citizens interests in a particular field or constituency, are heard. Moreover, the government is obliged to empower members of agencies with political rights to run for elections and be elected; or, appoint them into the public sector as a way to hold the government representative and ensure voices from all constituencies are included in policy-making process. Public/private overlap With the increase over the last several decades in public service provision by private entities, especially in the United States and Britain, some have called for increased political accountability mechanisms to be applied to otherwise non-political entities. Legal scholar Anne Davies, for instance, argues that the line between public institutions and private entities like corporations is becoming blurred in certain areas of public service provision in the United Kingdom and that this can compromise political accountability in those areas. She and others argue that some administrative law reforms are necessary to address this accountability gap. Socio Cultural Impacts Accountability This is a measure used to measure an organizations state of being mindful of the emerging social concerns and priorities of internal and external stakeholders involving the community, governmental, employees and nongovernmental organizations, management, and owners. It can be reflected in the organizations verifiable commitment to certain factors (which may or may not be tied directly to its processes) such as: (1) willing compliance with health and hygiene, employment, safety, and environment laws. (2) respect for human basic and civil rights. (3) betterment of community and surrounding. Social Foot Print Many people in the sustainable business world have long awaited the release of the Social Footprint, a measurement and reporting tool that appears destined to become as common as carbon foot printing within the next five years or so which now available to help you quantify your businesss social sustainability. In other words, it can help you determine the impact your company has on society. Moreover, the Social Footprint Method is a measurement and reporting tool that quantifies the social sustainability performance of an organization. In this regard, the Social Footprint is similar to the Ecological Footprint, which is a method for measuring and reporting the ecological impact of a human population. Unlike the Ecological Footprint, however, which measures a populations use of, and impact on, natural resources (i.e., natural capital), the Social Footprint deals with impacts on what we call anthro capital (comprised of human, social and constructed capital). The Social Footprint Method differs from the Ecological Footprint in another very important way. Unlike natural or ecological capital, which is limited and which humans do not create, most forms of anthro capital are exclusively produced by people and can be created virtually at will. When confronted with shortages of anthro capital, we can almost always create more of it if we want to. Thus, the gaps that must be closed in the case of anthro capital are not sustainability gaps between fixed resources we have and fixed resources we need; rather, they are gaps between non-fixed resources we have and non-fixed resources we could have more of if only we chose to produce them. The extent to which an organization contributes to either causing or closing such gaps is what the Social Footprint Method measures, be they positive contributions or negative ones. What further differentiates the Social Footprint Method from other sustainability reporting tools is the manner in which it measures performance against standards of performance. Top-line, trend-oriented tools are a step in the right direction, but only the Social Footprint Method provides a means of producing true bottom-line measures of corporate social sustainability using standards of performance as a guide. No other CSR method does this. Tourism in Mauritius In the past thirty years, Mauritius has developed from a low-income economy based on agriculture to a middle-income diversified economy. Much of this economic growth has been the result of the expansion of the luxury tourism sector. Mauritius is one of Africas wealthier countries, and its economy is mainly dependent on the sugar, textiles, and tourism industries. As world sugar prices have declined and the production of textiles has become economically unfeasible, the tourist industry is being concentrated on. Tourist policy in Mauritius promotes elite and specialist tourism because of the limited space available for tourism and the need to maximise income while minimizing environmental impact. Low budget tourism in not encouraged. Preferring high-end tourism, the Mauritian government promotes boutique luxury hotels, 4 and 5 stars beach resorts, golf courses, and spas and beauty centres. Tourism is directed primarily at the high-spending European market. Mauritius had about 18,000 visitors in 1970. Between 1985 and 2000 the size of its tourism sector, measured by the increase in tourist arrivals, grew by approximately 340%.Tourist arrivals in 2004 were almost 720,000. Tourism created 30,000 full time job equivalents in 2000. Recently, for the first eight months of 2010, tourist arrivals are forecasted at around 915, 000 for 2010 compared to a decline of 5.3% in 2009. tourist earnings are expected to be around R 37, 935 million in 2010 compared to R 35, 700 million in 2009. We expecting about 2million tourists by 2015. Tourists are primarily European, mainly French and British. Mauritius tends to be a high cost tourist destination. Air travel and accommodation are relatively expensive. Most tourists are on package holidays; there is very little independent travel or backpacking. To promote up-market tourism, charter flights have been banned, the resort hotels have been built to high standards and there are high standards of cuisine and service. There are direct flights from Britain and South Africa. The amount of resorts clustered in parts of the coastline is increasing, despite concerns about pollution and damage to coral reefs. Policy in the country has generally been to regulate contact between Mauritians society and tourists because of concerns about cultural and social problems.

Schwa :: essays research papers

Schwa Schwa's past is slightly blurred, but it is generally held that the religion has its roots in ancient Egypt. A small breakaway group are believed to have gathered regularly to exchange news and, on occasion, personal accounts of landings by what they called `star-creatures'. These beings were identical to the Egyptian gods, and their belief was that these beings came to their land, from their home amongst the stars, disguised as animals with which they were familiar (the jackal, the cat etc). Some hieroglyphics have been uncovered by archaeologists which, according to Schwa followers, are the original inscriptions of members of the ancient religion, but have been wrongly interpreted by `UFO fanatics' as proof that aliens built the pyramids. This leads non-believers to give little weight to what was "actually a true and proper religion". Since those primitive days the religion has developed enormously, but the biggest and most important advancements have only come in the past decade. Previously, followers had only gathered in what could be described as `sects' in many different countries, with the highest concentration being in North America. It wasn't until 1986 that Jeff Krantz, a 19 year old art student at the University of Michigan, started came to be known as `The Union', a wave of change that would sweep across the world over a period of two years, and would result in united international Schwa religion. "I had just been transferred from (the University of) Wisconsin in the earlier part of that year," Krantz says. "I had attended regular meetings with about half a dozen other believers. We met one night each week to talk about stuff related to our belief - that the Earth, and everything on it, was created by extraterrestrial beings. I guess you could say they're on the same level as the gods of other religions, but we believe that our creators are actual living, breathing beings, not spirits; an analogy would be our superiority over creatures which we created through gene technology, DNA splicing or whatever. "At one of these meetings we decided that we should have some sort of symbol that we could make into stickers. Each of us could then stick them on books or wherever, just to get people thinking about what they could mean, and also to bring the group together under an identifiable symbol - kind of like a flag." The task fell to Adrian Blackwell, another art student whom Krantz saw often outside of these meetings. "The idea for the sticker kind of came to me when I was on acid," Blackwell recalls, smiling.

Magnetic Fluids :: GCSE Chemistry

1.1 PRELUDE: The phenomenon of ferromagnetism is associated only with the solid state of matter; like iron, nickel, cobalt and some rare earth metals and their alloys. Thus, up to now, there is no intrinsic homogeneous fluid having ferromagnetic properties; although, theories admit the possibility of ferromagnetism in the liquid state, and suggest that there is no inherent reason why they should not exist [1-3,5]. Ferromagnetism occurs when paramagnetic ions in a solid lock together in such a way that their spins all point (on the average) in the same direction . At a certain temperature this locking breaks down and ferromagnetic materials become paramagnetic. This transition temperature is called the Curie point (TC), which is invariably well below the melting point of the corresponding material [1,8,12]. 1.2 MAGNETIC FLUIDS: Magnetic fluids ( MF ) are stable colloidal suspensions of ultrafine ferro- or ferri- magnetic particles ( D100Ao ), coated with a surfactant like oleic acid, in a suitable liquid carriers such as Isopar-M, kerosene, decalin, etc., [1,2]. The idea of MF was put forward independently and almost simultaneously by several investigators. The first prepared MF was developed by Stephen Papell of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) in the early 1960s. After that, Ronald E. Rosensweig and his colleagues succeeded in formulating MFs that were 10 times as strong magnetically as Papell`s original MF [1]. The special feature of magnetic fluids is given by the fact, that they combine normal liquid behavior with superparamagnetic properties, as will be discussed later. The possibility of magnetic fluid control gave rise to the development of many technical applications in our everyday life [1-3]. Mixtures are classified into three kinds: colloidal suspensions, suspensions, and solutions, and one of the principal features that differentiate one kind of mixture from another is the size of the particles [6]. Colloidal suspensions (also called colloids) are mixtures that are intermediate between solutions and suspensions. Typically the radius of the particle is of the order 100Ao. Since this is much smaller than the size of a single magnetic domain in bulk solids, which is about , the magnetization of the individual particle is saturated, but the direction of the magnetic moment is subject to thermal agitation [1,2,5]. The particles used are commonly Fe3O4, Fe, Co and Ni. MF is a two-phase system with three components, which combines magnetic properties, carried by the solid magnetic fine particles, with fluidity of the carrier liquid.

Patient Record Management System

CHAPTER I The Problem and Its Setting This chapter presents the background of the study, the statement of the problem, the assumptions made in accordance with the design of the project, the scope and delimitation, the significance of the study, the research design and methodology, and the definition of terms used in the study. Background of the Study There have been major progresses in the Information Technology for the past twenty (20) years especially in the field of Medicine.The vast development of technology is the evident in hospitals in other countries as they have developed and implemented different forms of Patient Record Management System making practitioners and health professionals’ work easier than the manual way of gathering patient’s record that the hospitals had before. In Philippines, only a few hospitals (Saint Lukes Medical Center, Makati Medical City and Asian Hospital and Medical Center) have implemented a fully Electronic Medical Record which includ es all inpatient and outpatient healthcare information.The goal of the hospital is to share information with all the national hospitals and public healthcare facilities and at present they can share data with one branch of the hospital. Some hospitals still use the manual method which is time and energy consuming but why it is that only few hospitals in the Philippines, being a newly industrialized country may have a factor on why implementing a PRMS is impossible. The possible reasons could be insufficient funds, lack of technical expertise and computer skills and the lack of data processing facilities.In addition, the resistance of medical practitioners and health professionals generally to change from manual to electronic documentation may be a problem. Most health administrators and information managers are used to the old system and have this fear that it may take time to change or at least modify some behaviour and attitudes. The reason for wanting to change to an electronic s ystem is important. Most health administrators and information managers expect to move from a paper to paperless environment. This is a major step to help health institutions and the environment at the same time.By having an electronic system, practitioners could improve the accuracy and quality of data recorded in a health record, enhance practitioners’ access to a patient’s record, enabling it to be shared at present and also for the future use, it could also improve the quality of care because of health information that a patient need can be immediately available all the time. At present, people rely on the information from what is electronically made since it can easily be viewed. In the modern world, communication is vital within our lifestyle.With the advent of information and communication provided within a medical institution, practitioners together with their patients within the vicinity of Baguio may use the information easily to increase good organization. P atient Record Management System may provide both useful information with the Doctor and Patient alike, providing and improving easy Doctor-Patient communication. In the advancement of technology, electronic medical records are now growing more popularity today. As stated in the definition on wikipedia. rg about Electronic Medical Records, these are a computerized medical record that is created in an organization that can deliver care such as hospital or physician’s office. Electronic medical records are intended to be a part of a local stand-alone health information system that allow storage, retrieval and modification of records (retrieved from: Wikipedia. com, November 2011. en. wikipedia. org/wiki/ Electronic_health_record. Article form: http://www. providersedge. com/ehdocs/ehr _articles/Electronic_Patient_Records-EMRs_and_EHRs. pdf).These are medical records of patients that are encoded into the computer system of an organization for the information dissemination of medi cal practitioners in a particular organization such as hospitals, clinics and the like. In the global scenario, in an article by Steenhuysen J. (March 2009), the United States has less than 2 percent of U. S. hospitals that have completely accepted a fully functional electronic medical records. With U. S. President Barrack Obama has made electronic medical records a central piece of his plan to cut costs out of U.S. healthcare system that consistently ranks lower in quality measures than other rich countries. The U. S. President also allotted $19 billion to push into the increase the use of information technology in healthcare. The numbers of without electronic medical records are relatively high compared to those organizations that have adopted Electronic Medical Records. Starfield, B. (1991) postulates that Primary Care in the United States is critical to the provision of giving excellent medical care.From the research in the year 1996, the Institute of Medicine report defined pri mary care as the provision of integrated, accessible health care services by clinicians accountable for addressing most personal health care needs, developing a sustained partnership with patients, and practicing in the context of family and community. These makes more people to receive primary care than in other clinics. These clinics have adopted the innovations of information technology giving more value to the primary care in other clinics.These clinics have adopted the innovations on information technology giving more value to the primary care of their patients. Thus obviously electronic medical records in the clinic are to be present for the ease of accessibility, storage, retrieval and modification of medical records. However, in a smaller scale of health care system. Where Everyone, being succeptible to disease needs to prioritize on prevention in odres to additional expenses on health care. This visiting the doctors clinic today is the most effecient and inexpensivr way to prevent diseases. Offering various diagnosis, vaccinations and maintenance drugs.With todays population, more patients visit the doctors clinic and health records management poses as the most time consuming activity. As keeping numerous pages on file cases and searching this file cases one by one when a patient arrives eats most of the time that could have spent treating another patient. With all of the mentioned cases which inpact the number of patients diagnosed per day. The researchers agreed to conduct a study for Dr. Nelia Bacay’s clinic at SLU hospital of the Sacred Heart, annex. The researchers will try to find ways and practices to lighten up workload and minimize time consumed by developing a system.Statement of the Problem The main objective of the study is to design a Patient Record Management System for Dr. Nelia Bacay in which seeks to answer the following questions: 1. What processes are involved within the practitioners’ medical records of their patients ? 2. What difficulties are encountered regarding the processes involved with the medical records? 3. What features regarding the medical records should be incorporated with the proposed Patient Record Management for Dr. Renato Manalo to their current system? Objective of the StudyThe main objective of the study is to design a Patient Records Management System for Dr. Nelia Bacay that shall lighten up workload and minimize time consumed on operation. The researchers intend to achieve the following: 1. To identify the current standard operating procedure in diagnosing patients. 2. To enumerate and discuss the most tiny consuming fact in the process. 3. To design a Patient Record Management that facilitates a quick and easy way to access and view patients profile. Significance of the Study This study is important in terms of advantages or benefits that would be gained by the following entities:To the Practitioners: The Practitioners will have the main importance of the study because of its increased number of patients and services rendered. More patients are inclined to avail of medical services. This also makes the communication between co-doctors of the same field. To the patients: The best advantage of having a Patient Record Management System is for them to have an ease to research about the Doctors’ profile and their accessibility through the use of PRMS. Just by a series of clicks and filling out necessary information, an appointment can be made.To the Researchers: The development of a PRMS makes the researchers to be more aware and knowledgeable of the future trend in information and technology specifically on Medical Informatics. Furthermore, by developing a system, programming skills of the researchers are improved. To future researchers: This study can be a reference and guide to other researchers who aim to develop a Patient Record Management System in the future that can be applied to other fields of interest such as hotels, restaurants, shops and alsp other fields of medical profession. Scope and Delimitation of the StudyIn improving the quality of services in an organization or establishment, we make look into other options such as hiring new personnel to increase work capacity, or procuring equipmentto lessen work and human error, or to create a more stable and reliable system may it be manual or computer oriented. In solving this matter, we could consider in the combination of the available options within our grasp. To further optimize the production in our establishment, the company could combine the options of having new equipment and creating a new system or updating the existing one.In putting these two options together, it will provide a more stable, reliable and efficient system to be used in daily transactions. Our project aims to proceed in updating the pre-existing system in the establishment. Changing the format from a manual type to a computer oriented information system. Reconfiguring the old system aims t hat customers and employees have a more convenient. With the project be finished, the company will have a smoother flow of work, lessened human error, improved time in finishing certain processes and as a total, a very significant increase in productivity and creating a reliable Patient Record System.

Inventory Control Essay

INVENTORY CONTROL Inventory is any stock of economic resources that is stored for future us e it is commonly used to store materials, in process packing materials, spares etc, stocked in order to meet respected demand or distribution in the future. Although inventory of any materials is an idle resources the sense, it is not meant for immediate use. It is necessary to maintain some inventories lot the smooth functioning f the organization. Inventories are essential: The following is the list of the major reasons for maintaining Inventory a) Protect against irregular demand: Inventories are kept to meet fluctuating demand. b) Protect against irregular supply: a strike by the suppliers employees is one reason why deliveries may not teach on time. Lacks of materials at supplier’s level, strikes in transportation network are other possible reasons for delays in supply. Inventory is used as buffer that can be used until late deliveries arrive. c) Protection against inflation: Inventories are often kept as a hedge against inflation. In this case inventories are building up in anticipation of price increase. This speculative practice is common in commodity markets. d)Benefits of large quantities purchasing quantities of an item often entities the buyers to a discount. Similarly in case of manufacturing large production lots, the utilization of make efficient automotive equipment can be equipment can be justified by reducing the per unit manufact uring cost. e)Saving the order cost: ordering in large quantities reduces the number of time the order must be placed and processed. Since the fixed cost of ordering will be. f) Other reasons: Inventories are kept for several other reasons; an Inventory may improve the bargaining power of firm with a supplier (or with its own employees) by making the company less dependent on them. Inventories are also kept so that machine can be shut down for overhear. THE STRUCTURE OF THE INVENTORY SYSTEM The Inventory system involves a cycle process, which is assumed to run over several periods, whose major characteristics are: a) Inventory level: an item is stocked in a warehouse, store or any other storage area. This stock continues an Inventory. The size of the Inventory is called the Inventory level (or Inventory on Hand). b) Depletion: the Inventory is depleted as demand occurs. Assume that one starts with an  Inventory of 100 units. As time passes the Inventory is reduced. The rate of demand can be constant (e.g three units every day). A constant demand reduces the Inventory leveling equal steps. c) Recording: to rebuild an inventory, the item is replenished periodically. When the inventory level is reduced to a certain level called the record point, a replacement order is placed. The time between reordering and receiving is called lead-time. d) Replacement, shortages and surpluses: in most basic inventory models, it is assumed that the reorder is scheduled so that the replacement will arrive exactly when the inventory level reaches zero. Such an assumption holds if the demand is constant. However if the demand fluctuates and the lead- time varies, the shipment may arrive either before or after stock is completely depleted, that is the depletion and replacement and replacement does not coincide. In such a case a surplus or shortage will occur. If the shipment arrives after depletion, then the demand cannot be met and shortage will occur. When the shipment arrive prior depletion, an inventory level larger than zero or surplus exists. e) Safety stock: shortage can be eliminated or reduced by deliberately building up a safety stock. It is extra inventory held against the possibility of stock out. f) The average inventory: the balance of inventory on hand in case of constant demand, it is about half the maximum inventory. g) Basic inventory decisions: the major decisions the management makes in the inventory area are: âž ¢ How much to order at one time (what order quantity should be) âž ¢ When to order this quantity (what the reorder point should be) âž ¢ Should safety stock be build up? How large should it be? INVENTORY CARRYING COSTS Inventory carrying costs refers to the cost of handling stocks. The following elements constitute the Inventory carrying costs a) Capital cost is an important item in determining the pest of carrying inventory. Capital cost is either the cost of borrowing capital or the cost of diverting companies finds to invest in inventories. The former means the interest rate the later implies the foregone opportunity cost. There are thus two methods of determining capital cost. The first method is to use the bank lending rate, if the money were to be borrowed. The other method is to  consider the opportunity cost of the money (the return that the money will yield if invested elsewhere). b) Storage cost; includes cost of storage (i.e. annual rent or depreciation), cost of preservation i.e. rust preventive oils and ‘eases), cost of record keeping, and cost of periodic/annual stock verification etc. c) Deterioration and. obsolescence: deterioration is the loss, from reduction in the inventory value due to one or more of the following reasons: The part/item/material may have limited shelf life and hence may deteriorate if stored for a long time, e.g. rubber parts may crack after approximate six months life, and for example, ammonia sheets may spoil if stocked beyond three months. The items also deteriorate when the storage conditions are inadequate, unsatisfactory or both. Some of the parts may also get damp, dried up, or spoiled Deterioration can also result from poor handling of the stores. Some of the fragile items may collide with other and break. This process of deterioration, thus, reduces the value of the stocks and they may not be now worth the value recorded in the accounts book. Obsolescence is the loss from reduction in inventory value of the items/ components rendered unusable by the company due to changes in design or due to development in the field. The risk of Obsolescence varies from industry to industry and is obviously greater than those industries where modifications are frequent and new, developments are regular. The problem is still severe in industries producing fashion goods. That is why many progressive business firms tend to get rid of theft surplus stocks which otherwise would become obsolete by some sort of periodic action such as clearance sales etc. d) Insurance cost: inventories, like other assets, are covered by insurance cost is thus the premium paid or payable to cover the company against loss due to unforeseen across such as fire, theft etc. PROCUREMENT COST: Procurement cost is also called ordering cost, replenishment cost or recumbent cost is the cost incurred to replenish the stock of an item. It is in fact, the cost incurred at different stages of the procurement function &  is obtained by dividing the cost of activities like requisitioning order writing, orders follow up, receiving and inspection, records keeping and bill payment per period by the number of orders processed during the period. Procurement cost, therefore , represents average cost to be expended to place an order and execute the delivery once. . Basic elements of procurement cost are as under: (a) Paper work cost: The procurement function is built around paper work since all orders, small or big, need paper work. Purchasing function sets out with paper work (materials requisitions) pushes through paper work (enquiry forms, purchase order forms goods receipt notes, inspection notes stores’ receipt notes) and ends up with paper work (cheques to pay suppliers invoices). The requirements of this paper v vary directly with the order frequency and its cost is considered as one of the elements of procurement cost. ‘ (b) Postage cost: Postage cost is the cost expended to mail documents necessary to the business transaction. Purchase orders are sent to authorize vendors to supply the goods, delivery schedules are mailed communicate immediate as well as future requirements, amendments to purchase orders are issued to alter modify quantity, price or other terms, goods inspection notes: are posted to acknowledge receipts of materials & inform inspection results, discrepancy notes are sent to highlight shortage in the quantities received, cheques are dispatched to settle suppliers bill etc. Postage cost is also incurred for the exchange of statement of accounts; debit notes credit notes & other documents required in the transaction. , (c) Follow up cost; Follow up cost is the function of seeing that the suppliers affect deliveries on time. The Follow up function nowadays has become the foremost function of the buyers. Vendors be it small manufacturers, traders or a supplier at a distance takes little initiative in delivering the goods on time. Major portion time of the buyers, therefore, is spent in purchase follow up; pre delivery follow up & shortage chasing. Telephones, trunk calls, telegrams & telex are the aids commonly used by the buyers for the pre-delivery follow up as well as for shortage chasing. The costs on such communication Medias is yet another major element of procurement cost. (d) Costs of visits to the vendors plants: Follow up with the vendors at times requires visits by purchase personnel & therefore costs of such visits are considered towards procurement cost. (e) Expediting cost: Follow up with the vendors enables buyers to secure advance information of expected delays. Pre-delivery follow up enables buyer: > To make alternates arrangements (i.e. request other suppliers for early delivery), > To decide expedited routing of goods from suppliers. For the single-source items, the buyers in the event of delaying may have no choice but to dire expedited routing of goods. The difference between the expedited routing costs and order routing costs, if borne by the buyer too forms a part of procurement cost. (f) Operating cost of vehicles; Vehicles are employed for collection & delivery of materials from/and to the vendors, collection materials from transporters I railways godown etc. The operating cost of such vehicles should be considered (if the vehicle is exclusively used by the materials department for buying materials for local market, to chase vendors and / or to bring goods to the plant). As yet another element procurement cost. (g) Inspection &.testing: Inspection & testing costs include costs of destructive test. Too frequent purchases increase inspection costs. (h) Administrative costs; Purchase is a major function & it requires performance of number of activities. Indents are to inform the purchase department of the impending need, inquiries are floated, .quotations received, rates are compared, terms of payment are looked into and then an order is placed suppliers whose terms are attractive, progress on the order is reviewed and follow up with supplier done wherever necessary materials on arrival are checked for quantity & inspected for quality suppliers invoices are received, verified and paid for. All these activities add — up into big expenses, the salaries  being the main expense. Other related expenses of these activities are indirect wages, gratuity, bonus ESIC provident fund, depreciation on office equipment etc. SELECTIVE CONTROL: Selective control means variations in method of control from item to item based on selection basis. The criterion used for the purpose may be cost of item, critically, lead to consumption, procurement difficulties, or something else. Various classifications are employed render selective treatment to different types of materials, each classification emphasizes in of particular aspect. For example, ABC analysis emphasizes usage value (Le. consumption of items in terms of money), VED analysis considers critically, HML employs prize criterion and 8DB analysis is based on procurement difficulties. Selective control can be divided into 8 types as per table: |Classification |Criterion Employed | |1.ABC analysis |Usage value (i.e consumption per period x prize per unit) | |2. HML analysis High-Medium-Low |Unit price (i.e it doesn’t take consumption into account) | |3.VED analysis Vital-Essential- Desirable) |Critically of the item (i.e loss of production) | |4.SDE analysis (Scarce- Difficult-Easy) |Procurement difficulties. | |5.GOLF analysis (Government-Ordinary- local-Foreign) |Source of procurement | |6. SOS analysis (Seasonal-OFF-Seasonal) |Seasonal | |7. FSN analysis (Fast-Slow-Non Moving) |Issue from stores | |8. XYZ analysis |Inventory investment | ABC ANALYSIS ABC analysis underlines a yen important principle ‘vital few trivial many’. Statistics reveal that just a handful of items account for bulk of annual expenditure on materials. These items are called ‘A’ items, therefore hold the key to business. Are numerous in numbers but their contribution is less significant. ABC analysis thus tends segregate all items into three categories: A, B and C on the basis of their annual usage .The categorizations made enables us top ay the right amount of attention as merited by the items. A-items: It is usually found that hardly 5 to 10 % of the total items account for 70 to 75% to total money spent on the materials. This items required detailed and rigid control and need to be stock in smaller quantities. These items should be procured frequently, the quantity occasion being small. A healthy approach ,however, would be to enter into contract with the manufacturer of this items and have their supply in stagger lots according to pre determine programme of the buyer. This however will be possible when the demand is steady. Alternatively, the inventory can be at minimum by frequent ordering. B-items: This item are generally 10 to 15 % of the total items and represent 10 to 15% of the total expenditure on the materials. These are intermediate items. The control on this item need not be as detail and as rigid as apply to A items C-items: These are numerous (as many as 70 to 80% of the total items), inexpensive (represent hardly 5 to 10% of total annual expenditure on materials), and hence insignificant (do not required loose control) items. The procurement policy of these items is exactly the reverse of A items. Items should be procured infrequently and in sufficient quantities. This enables the buyer to avail price discount and reduce workload of the concern department. Conducting ABC Analysis To conduct ABC analysis following 6 steps are necessary: 1) Prepare the list of the items and estimate their annual consumption (units) 2) Determine unit price (or cost0 of each item. 3) Multiply each annual consumption by its unit price (or cost) to obtain its annual consumption in rupees (annual usage) 4) Arrange items in ascending order of their annual usage starting with the highest annual usage starting with the highest annual usage down to the smallest usage. 5) Calculate cumulative annual usage and express the same as cumulative usage % so express the number of item into cumulative item percentage. 6) Plot cumulative usage percentage against cumulative item percentage and segregate the item to A, B, C categories. ABC Analysis can be applied almost to all aspects of material management such as: a) Purchasing b) Receiving c) Inspecting d) Store keeping and e) Issue of store f) Verification of bills g) Inventory control and h) Value analysis etc. Purpose of A-B-C Analysis: i. To separate the pre dominant few from vast majority of items whose annual consumption is very low. ii. To avoid to cost iii. To give selective control iv. For better purchase policy to give maximum attention to A items v. For better pre-design and pre purchase analysis vi. Effective value analysis vii. Realistic market research viii. Reliable source development and ix. Better follow up |A |B |C | |Very tight control on inventory |Moderate Control |Loose Control | |Only exact requirement to be procured |More or less exact requirement |On estimated usage | |Posting of individual issues in stores card |Individual postage |Collective posting | |Continuous check on production schedule and |Broad check |Hardly any check | |revision of delivery deals | | | |Very low safety stock if possible not at all |Low safety stock Bi-Monthly ordering or quarterly|Fairly large safety stock by Ordering | |Regular expediting and follow up & reduction in |Some follow up |No follow up necessary | |lead time | | | |Very Strict consumption control |Past consumption is the base |Desirable consumption comes with less attention | |Accurate material planning needed with respect to|Past consumption is the base |Rough estimate | |forecasts. Data base should be accurate & up to | | | |date | | | |Concerted effort of cost reduction |Moderate attempts are enough |Annual Review suffices | HML ANALYSIS H-M-L Analysis is similar to ABC analysis, except for the difference that instead of usage price criterion is used, The items under this analysis are classified into three groups) which are called high, medium and low. To classify, the items are listed he descending order of Unit price the management for deciding the three categories then fixes the cut of lines. For example, the management may decide that all items of unit. Price above RS.1000 will be category, and those having unit price between Rs 100 to R. 1000 will be of ‘M’ category, and having unit price below RS. 1 00 will be of ‘L’ category. HML analysis helps to # Assess storage and security requirements e.g. high priced items like bearings, worm wheels etc. (required to be kept in cupboards). # To keep control over consumption at the departmental head level e.g. indents of high medium priced items are authorized by the departmental head after careful scrutiny of the consumption figures. # Determine the frequency of stock verification, eg. high priced items are checked more frequently than low priced items. # To evolve buying policies to cntro1 purchases. e.g. excess supply than the order quantity may be accepted for ‘H’ and ‘M’ groups While it may be accepted for ‘L’ group. # to delegate authorities to different buyers to make petty cash purchases, e.g ‘H’ and ‘M’ may be purchased by senior buyers and L’ items by junior buyers. VED Analysis VED analysis represent classification of items based on criticality. The analysis classifies the item into three groups called Vital, Essential and Desirable. Via1 category encompasses those items for want of which production would come to a halt. Essential group includes items whose stock out cost is very high and desirable group comprises of items, which d not cost any immediate loss of production. The stock these items entail nominal expenditure and cause major disruptions for a short duration. VED analysis is best suited for spare inventory. Inflict it is advantageous to use more than 1 method. E.g. ABC & VED analysis together would be helpful would be helpful for inventory control of spares. SDE – ANALYSIS SD E analysis is based on problems of procurement namely: # Non-availability # scarcity # longer lead time #Geographical location of suppliers and # Reliability of suppliers etc, S-DE analysis classifies the items into three groups called ‘Scares’, ‘Difficult’ and ‘Easy. The information so developed is then used to decide purchasing strategies. ‘Scarce’ classification comprises of items which are in short supply, imported chanalised through government agencies. Such items are best to procure once a year in lieu of effort and expenditure involved in the procedure for import. ‘Difficult’ classification includes those items, which are available indigenously but are not easy to procure. Also items which come from far off distance and for which reliable source do not exist fall into this category. Even the items, which are difficu1t to, manufacture arid only one or two manufacturers are available belong to this group. Supplies of such items require several months of advance notice. ‘Easy’ classification covers those items which are redily available. Items produced to commercial standards, items where supply exceeds demand and others which are locally available fall into this group. The SDE analysis is employed by the purchase department: (i) To decide on the method of buying. E1g. Forward buying method may be followed for some of the items in the ‘Scare’ group) scheduled buying and contract buying for Easy group. (ii) To fix responsibility of buyers. E.g.  senior buyers may be given the responsibility of ‘S and ‘D’ groups while items in ‘E’ group may be handled by junior buyers or even directly by storekeeper. G-NG-LF ANALYSIS /GOLF ANALYSIS The G-NG-LF analysis (or GOLF analysis) like SDF analysis is based on the nature of the suppliers, which deteiir1ine quality, lead-time, and terms of payment, continuity or otherwise of supply and administrative work involved. The analysis classifies the items into four groups namely G, NG, L and F. ‘G’ group covers items procured from ‘Government’ suppliers such as the STC, the MMTC and the public sector undertakings. Transactions with this category of suppliers involve long lead-time and payments in advance or against delivery. ‘NG’ (0 in GOLF analysis) group comprises of items procured from Non-Government (or Ordinal Suppliers. Transactions with this category of suppliers involve moderate delivery time, end availability of credit, usually n the range of 30 to 45 day. ‘L’ group contains items bought from ‘Local supplier the items bought from local suppliers are those which are cash purchase or purchased on blank orders.. ‘F’ group contain those items, which are purchased from ‘Foreign suppliers’. The transactions will such suppliers, # Involve a lot of Administrative and procedural work. # Require initial clearance from government agencies such as DGTD. # Necessitate search-of foreign suppliers. # Require opening of letter of credit. # Require making of arrangement for shipping and port clearance. S-OS ANALYSIS S-OS analysis is based on seasonality or otherwise of the items. The analysis classifies the item into two groups: SOS (I.e. seasonal) and OS (off scasona1). The analysis identifies items, which are: (i) Seasonal items are available only for a limited period. For example agriculture products like  raw mangoes raw material for cigarette and paper industries, etc are available for a limited time and therefore such items are procured to last the full year. (ii) Seasonal but are available throughout the year. Their prices however are lower during the harvest time. The quantity of such items requires to be fixed after comparing the cost saving due to lower prices against higher cost of carrying Inventories. (iii) Non-Seasonal items whose quantity is decided On different considerations. F-S-N Analysis F-S-N analysis is based on the consumption figures of the items. The items under this analysis are classified into three groups: F (Fast moving), S (Slow moving) and N (Non moving). To conduct the analysis, the last date of receipt or the last date of issue whichever is later taken into account. and the period usually in terms of number of months that has elapsed since the last movement is recorded. Such an analysis helps to identify: (i) Active items which require to be reviewed regularly. (ii) Surplus items whose stocks are higher than their rate of consumption and (iii) Non moving items which are not being consumed. The last two categories arc reviewed farther t decide on disposal action to deplete t stocks and their stocks and thereby release companies productive capital. Further detailed analysis is made of the third category in regard to their year-wise stocks and the items can be sub-classified. As non-moving for 2 years, 3 years, 5 years and so on. XYZ ANALYSIS X-Y-Z Analysis is based. on value of the stocks on hand (i.e. inventory investment); Item whose inventory values are high are called X items while those whose inventory values are low are called Z items, Y items are those, which have moderate inventory stocks. Usually X-Y-Z analysis is used in conjunction with either ABC analysis or HML analysis.; ‘.X-Y-Z analysis when combined with- ABC analysis is used as under. |Class of Item |A |B |C | |X |Efforts to be made to reduce stock to Z|Effort to be made convert them to Y |Steps to be taken dispose of surplus | | |category. |category |stocks | |Y |Efforts to be made to convert to Z | |Control may be further tightened | | |category | | | |Z | |Stocks levels may be reviewed | | Basic (Wilson) EOQ model with infinite replenishment rate. Assumptions underlying the EOQ model: 1. The demand of the item occurs uniformly over the period at the known rate. 2. The replenishment of the stock is instantaneous. 3. The time that elapses between the placing a replenishment order & receiving the item into stock, called lead-time is zero. 4. The price per unit is fixed & is independent of the order size. 5. The cost of placing an order & process the delivery is fixed & does not vary with the size. 6. The inventory carrying charges vary directly & linearly with the size of the inventory as is expressed as a percentage of average inventory investment. 7. The item can be produced in quantities desired there being no restriction of any kind. 8. The item is fairly long shelf life, there being no fear of deterioration of spoilage. Nowadays an EOQ technique is not much in sue because an open order with delivery schedule can be placed on a supplier for all future periods. This keeps down the purchasing cost. With the availability of computer links (networking techniques/email etc.) between the buyer & the supplier there is no need to physically raise a purchase order, avoiding major purchasing cost. At the same time computer helps in ensuring Just-In-Time inventory. Limitations of EOQ The assumption listed above may not come true in real life situations, thus limiting the use of model. Price of material may not remain same throughout the year. Availability of materials is another constraint material will have to be purchased at the same time at which is available. There can be delay in real situation in placing orders since many times the calculated EOQ is an inconvenient number and some time is wasted in taking decision for rounding off this number. In real situations suppliers receive in irregular. Availability of materials is another constraint material will have to be purchased at the time at which is available. There can be delays in real situation in placing orders since many times the calculated EOQ is inconvenient number and some time is wasted in taking decision for rounding off this number. In real situations suppliers  receive an irregular stream of orders since the use of EOQ usually leads to orders at random points. If suppliers are allowing discounts and if quantities are purchased above a particular level, the discount will also have to be taken into consideration for fixing the ordering quantity. Also purchasing costs are nowadays reduced to a great extent because of computer links between buyer and seller. So in practice purchasing cost and inventory carrying cost are not exactly opposite to each other. Often the inventory carrying cost and purchasing cost cannot be identified accurately and sometimes cannot be even identified properly. Replenishment Systems: One of the jobs of the materials department is to ensure uninterrupted supply of materials to the production department. To accomplish this task, the materials department has to monitor the stock levels and place order regularly. Two questions that arise are- 1. When to place an order? & 2. What quantities to order? Two main systems are followed for the same. 1. Fixed order quantity system 2. Fixed order interval system Each system has certain conditions, which govern the circumstances of its use. Fixed order quantity system (Q-system of Inventory): Here the quantity to be ordered is worked out as the economic order quantity (EOQ), and the minimum stock level is also worked out. When the stock in hand reaches this level, an order is placed for a quantity equals to the EOQ. Features of fixes-order-quantity system: a) Reorder quantity is always the same, which is equal to the EOQ. b) The time interval between the orders varies. c) Reordering is done when the stock in hand is equal to safety stock plus the lead time consumption (this is known as the reorder level). d) Average inventory is equal to safety stock + Q/2. e) Maximum inventory will be equal to the safety stock + Q. f) Minimum inventory equals the safety stock. g) This system is normally used for items of lower value where orders are placed infrequently and the lead time average consumption etc. is fairly constant. To operate this system it is necessary to post the receipts and issues on the material card and a book stock worked out regularly. The reorder level is normally shown on the top right hand corner of the card; so that the book stock comes down to this level an order can be initiated. To simplify this system many firm use a two-bin system one is the main-bin & the other is reserve-bin. The stock in reserve bin equals the reorder level. When the main bin is empty it indicates an order has to be placed for the said item. Important formulae: 1. Fixed order quantity system: Reorder level = safety stock + lead time consumption Reorder quantity = Q Maximum inventory = Q + safety stock Minimum inventory = safety stock Average inventory = Q/2 + safety stock Total cost of ordering = no. of orders x cost per order = Annual consumption x cost per order Cost carrying inventory = average inventory x cost per unit x inventory carrying cost Total cost of managing the inventory = cost of ordering + cost of carrying. Fixed order interval system (P-system of Inventory): Under this system the stock in hand is reviewed at periodic intervals and an order is placed for which vary with the stock in hand, the review period is decided by the management and the consumption during this review period, and lead time consumption is worked out. The quantity ordered is decided depending on the stock in hand, so that the order quantity and the stock in hand will take care of the requirements till the next review period plus the lead time consumption plus the safety stock. Features of fixed-order-interval system: a) The interval between two orders is fixed. b) The maximum level (basic parameters of the system) is equal to review period consumption. Lead time consumption + safety stock. c) Reorder quantity equals the maximum level (as worked out above) minus the stock in hand plus stock on order. d) Average inventory equals safety stock + lead time consumption/2. e) Maximum inventory equals safety stock + lead time consumption. f) This system is used for high consumption value items (A category) needing a strict control. Reestablishment where large numbers of items are produced and a continuous sale is made as to follow such a system. Important Formulae: Maximum level (basic parameters) = Review period consumption + lead time consumption + safety stock. Reorder quantity = Max level – (stock in hand +stock on order). Maximum inventory = safety stock + lead time consumption. Average inventory = safety stock + lead time consumption/2 Total cost of managing the inventory = cost of ordering + cost of carrying. Problem based on fixed order interval system: The monthly consumption of a unit costing Rs. 400 the order cost is Rs. 36, and the inventory carrying cost is 1.5% p/m. if the review period = lead time = one month and the safety stock maintained is half the review period. 1. Fix the necessary parameters to operate a fixed order interval system. 2. What will be reorder quantity if the stock during the first reviews of 650 units. 3. What will be the reorder quantity if the stock during the second review is 200 units and also it is given that the order placed earlier has not yet been received. Given: Review period = lead time = 1 month. Review period consumption = lead time consumption =400 units. Safety stock =  ½ month’s consumption = 200 Necessary parameters (maximum level) = review period consumption + lead time consumption +safety stock = 400 + 400 + 200 = 1000 units. During the first review, The reorder quantity = maximum level – stock in hand =100 – 650 =350 units. During the second review, The above ordered quantity is still not received, hence Reorder quantity = maximum level – (stock in hand + stock on order) = 100 – (200 + 350 ) = 1000 – 550 = 450 units. Factors that influence the level of safety stock: a) Category of item: In case of ‘A’ category items where a better control is exercised it may not be required to keep a high level of safety stock. In addition to this a high level of safety stock and high value of consumption item will also increase the inventory carrying costs. b) Lead-time: Normally longer the lead time more is the chances of fluctuation and hence more is the requirement of safety stock. c) Number of suppliers: In case there are a number of suppliers available for an item, it is not necessary to keep high level of safety stock as any stock out situation can be handled easily from alternate sources of supplies. d) Criticality of an item: Safety stock for critical items needs to be high e.g. in case of packing materials the safety stock need to be high as stock cut in packing material will affect the delivery of finished goods to the customers, but in case of lubricants where lubrication can be delayed safely by a few days a lower safety stock can be maintained. e) Availability of substitutes: Lesser safety stock can be kept for items where substitutes are available easily. f) Possibility makes the item in-house: If it is possible to make an item in-house at a short notice on case of emergency. A lower safety stock will suffice. g) Risk of obsolescence or deterioration: It is better to have lower safety stock for items where the cost of deterioration is higher than the cost of no stock situation. h) Space restrictions: Restrictions in the storage space is another factor influencing the safety stock levels. i) Stock out cost/management policy: The cost of stock out and the management’s decision to allow stoppage of production due to no stock situation (depending upon the market and company’s financial conditions) also influence the decision on the safety stock levels. Service level The amount of safety stock needed to determine by the service level desired by their company. The service level id probably that amount of inventory had during the lead time is sufficient to meet expected demand – i.e. the probability that a stock out will not occur, a service level of 90% means their id’s 90 probabilities that demand will be met during lead time. Service level (SL) is the ratio of the no. The units delivered without the delay to the no. of units demanded. Thus, SL = No. of units delivered without delay / No. of units demanded. SL = No. of units demanded – No. of units short / No. of units demanded. SL Range: 0 < SL < 1 I.e. SL = 0 means complete delivery failure. SL = 1 means 100% service (No shortages) SL is expressed as a%. i. Percentage of stock outs = SL = No. of order periods when stocks were zero / Total No. of order periods x 100 This is indicative of the probability of being out of stock while awaiting a supplier’s delivery and is, therefore independent of the order size. ii. Percentage of stock outs = SL = No. of working days in which stocks were zero / Total no. of working days x 100 This ratio is a measure of the probability of being out of stock during the year. iii. Percentage of stock outs = SL = No. of units / No. of units demanded x 100 This ratio would show the average potential sale lost. Service Level is a target specified by management defined in terms of, a. Order Cycle Time b. Cash Fill Rate c. Line Fill Rate d. Order Fill Rate e. Any Combination of These. a) Order Cycle Time (Performance Cycle of Lead Time): The performance cycle is the elapsed time between the release of a purchase order by a customer and the receipt of the corresponding shipment. b) Case Fill Rate: It defines percentage of cases or units ordered that can be shipped or requested e.g. a 95% case fill rate indicates that, on average, 95% cases out of 100 could be filled from available stock. The remaining 5 cases would be back – ordered or deleted. c) Line Fill Rate: It is the percentage of order lines that could be filled completely. Each line on an order is a request for an individual product. So at order may have multiple lines e.g. when a customer order is received requesting 80 units of product A and 20 units of product B, the order contains 100 cases and two lines. If there are only 75 units of product A available and all 20 of product A, the case fill would be 955 (75 +20) / (80 + 20) and the line fill would be 50%. d) Order Fill Rate: It is the percentage of customer orders that could be filled  completely. In the example above, the order could not be completely filled, so the resulting order fill would be zero. The inventory function is a major element of the logistics process that must be integrated to meet service objectives. While a traditional approach is achieving a higher service level is to increase inventory, other approaches include use of faster transportation modes, better information management to reduce uncertainty, alternative sources of supply. While it is the task of overall logistics management to meet the prescribed service objectives inventory management plays a particular key role. Inventory Policy: Inventory policy consists of guidelines concerning †¢ What to purchase or manufacture †¢ When to take action †¢ In what quantity It also includes decisions regarding inventory positioning and placement at plants and at distribution centers. E.g. †¢ Some firms may decide to postpone inventory positioning by maintaining stock at the plant. †¢ Other firms may choose to place more products in local distribution centers i.e. nearer to market. Another inventory policy element concerns inventory management strategy. One approach is to manage inventory centrally. This requires more coordination and communication. Average inventory: Average inventory consists of the materials, components, work in progress and finished products typically stocked in logistical facilities. From a policy viewpoint, the appropriate level of average inventories include:- a) Cycle inventory or base stock or lot size stock: It is the portion of average inventory that results from replenishment process. At the beginning of a performance cycle, stock is at a minimum level. Daily customer demands â€Å"draw off† (consumes) inventory until the stock level reaches zero. Prior to this, a replenishment order is initiated so that stock will arrive before a stock-out occurs. The replenishment order must be initiated when available inventory is greater than or equal to the customer demand during the performance cycle time. The amount ordered for replenishment is called the order quantity. The average inventory held as a result of the order process is referred to as Base Stock considering only the order quantity: Cycle inventory or base stock or lot size stock = Order Quantity / 2 b) Safety Stock Inventory: The second part of the average inventory is the stock held to protect transit the impact of uncertainty on each facility. This portion of inventory is called safety stock. It is used only at the end of replenishment cycles when uncertainty has caused higher than expected demand or longer than expected performance cycle times. Average Inventory = Order Quantity + Safety Stock / 2 c) Transit Inventory or Pipeline Inventory: It is the stock that is either moving or awaiting movement in transportation vehicles. Transit Inventory is necessary to achieve order replenishment. From a logistics management perspective, transit inventory introduces two sources of complexity into the supply chain. i. It represents real assets and must be paid for even though it is not accessible or usable. ii. There has typically been a high degree of uncertainty associated with the transit inventory because shippers were unable to determine where a transport vehicle was located or when it was likely to arrive. Increase focus on small order amounts, more frequent order cycles. JIT strategies have resulted in transit inventory becoming a larger percentage of total inventory assets. Ownership of Transit Inventory †¢ If transferred at destination: It is not owned by consignee. †¢ If transferred at origin: It is owned by consignee. Just In Time (JIT) JIT is a Japanese management philosophy, which has been applied in practice since the early 1970’s in many Japanese manufacturing organizations. It was first developed and perfected within the Toyota manufacturing plants by Taiichi Ohno as means of meeting consumer demands with minimum delays. Taiichi Ohno is frequently referred to as the father of JIT Toyota was able to meet the increasing challenges for survival through an approach that focused on people, plants and systems. Toyota realized that JIT would only be successful if every individual within the organization was involved and committed to it, if the plant and processes were arranged for maximum output and efficiency, and if quality  and production programs were scheduled to meet demands exactly. JIT manufacturing has the capacity, when properly adapted to the organization to strengthen the organization’s competitiveness in the market place substantially by reducing wastes and improving product quality and efficiency of production. There are strong cultural aspects associated with the emergence of JIT in Japan. The Japanese work ethic involves the following concepts. †¢ Workers are highly motivated to seek constant improvement upon that which already exists. Although high standards are currently being met, there exist even higher standards to achieve. †¢ Companies should focus on group effort, which involves the combining of talents & sharing knowledge, problem-solving skills, ideas & the achievement of a common goal. †¢ Work itself takes precedence over leisure. It is not unusual for a Japanese employee to work 14 – hour a day. †¢ Employees tend to remain with one company throughout the course of their career span. This allows the opportunity for them to hone their skills & abilities at a constant rate while numerous benefits to the company. †¢ These benefits manifest themselves in employee loyalty, low turnover costs & fulfillment of company goals. From above it is very clear what it needs to implement JIT successfully. In fact it also suggests the critical reasoning behind the fact that why in India JIT is not 100 percent followed. One more significant thing to be considered here is the correct interpretation of JIT. JIT is more of a manufacturing & waste elimination philosophy than commodity purchasing technique. It originally referred to the production of goods to meet  customer demand exactly, in time, quality & quantity, whether the customer is the final purchaser of the product or another process further along the production line. It has now come to mean producing with minimum waste. Waste is taken in its most general sense & includes time & resources as well as materials. There are seven types of waste namely: †¢ Waste from overproduction †¢ Waste of waiting time †¢ Transportation waste †¢ Processing waste †¢ Inventory waste †¢ Waste of motion †¢ Waste from product defects Elements of JIT System Successful JIT system is the logical outgrowth of the combination of the following practices: †¢ Continuous improvement †¢ Attacking fundamental problems – anything that does not add value to the product †¢ Devising systems to identify problems †¢ Striving for simplicity – simpler systems may be easier to understand, easier to manage & less likely to go wrong †¢ A product – oriented layout produces less time spent in moving of materials & parts †¢ Quality control at source – each worker is responsible for the quality of their own output †¢ Poka-yoke – full proof tools, methods, jigs etc. to prevent mistakes †¢ Total productive maintenance – ensuring machinery & equipment functions perfectly when it is required, & continually improving it †¢ Good housekeeping – workplace cleanliness & organization †¢ Set up time reduction – increases flexibility & allows smaller batches †¢ Ideal batch size is 1 item per batch, i.e. single piece flow †¢ Multi-process handling – a multi-skilled workforce has greater productivity, flexibility & job satisfaction †¢ Leveled/mixed production – to smooth the flow of products through the factory †¢ Kanbans-simple tools to ‘pull’ products & components through the process †¢ Jidoka (Autonomation) – providing machines with the autonomous capability to use judgment, so workers can do more useful things than standing watching them work †¢ Andon (trouble lights) – to signal problems to initiate corrective action Benefits of JIT Systems JIT system has a number of benefits, few major are mentioned below: †¢ Reduced levels of in-process inventories, purchased goods, & finished goods. †¢ Reduced space requirements †¢ Increased product quality & reduced scrap & rework †¢ Reduced manufacturing lead times †¢ Greater flexibility in changing the production mix †¢ Smoother production flow with fewer disruptions †¢ Worker participation in problem solving †¢ Pressure to build good relationships with vendors †¢ Increased productivity levels & utilization of equipment’s It can be said in summary that JIT is the management philosophy, which emphasizes on the waste elimination as well as vendor integration to create certainty in the material planning process, which ultimately results into no inventory, & hence inventory control means to follow JIT. VENDOR MANAGED INVENTORY (VMI) VMI can be defined as: It is a streamlined approach to inventory & order fulfillment. With it, the supplier & not the retailer, is responsible for managing & replenishing inventory using an integral part of VMI, i.e. EDI, by electronic transfer of data over a network. It can also be seen as a mechanism where the supplier  creates the purchase orders based on the demand information exchanged by the retailer/customer. Vendor Managed Inventory (VMI) is basically evolved to facilitate the operations at retail stores. It involves a continuous replenishment program that uses the exchange of information between the retailer & the supplier to allow the supplier to manage & replenish merchandise stock at the store or warehouse level. In this program, the retailer supplies the vendor with the information necessary to maintain just enough merchandise stock to meet customer demand. These enable the supplier to better project & anticipate the amount of product it needs to produce or supply. The manufacturer has access to the supplies inventory data & is responsible for generating purchase orders. VMI was first applied to the grocery industry, between companies like Procter & Gamble (supplier) & Wal-Mart (distributor). But if applied properly, VMI can provide the benefits of smoother demand, increased sales, lower inventories & still reduced costs of lost sales to the other industries. JUST IN TIME (JIT) – II VMI results into outsourcing of the inventory planning activity to the suppliers whereas JIT-II goes a step ahead where supplier manages the complete production plans. LANCE DIXON ther father of JIT 2 describes it as-: â€Å"This is the ultimate partnership program for the compatible customers and suppliers, because it is the next logical step in the application of the management cycle to the value cahin through management of time within the supply chain. It represents the use of alignment and mobilisation of strategies with suppliers using in-plant vendor representatives to achieve breakthrough changes†. JIT systrem was based upon the synchronised planning between the buyers needs and suppliers porduction capabilities.JIT 2 can be reagrded as a major catalyst for the productive change across organistions and qualifies a key component of the macro logistics management model.In other words, we can say that JIT system assures the uninterrupted incoming material supply as per demand , whereas the JIT 2 ensures the uninterrupted production from manufacturing lihnes. Infact JIT-2 eliminates the need for the sales planning activities for sipplier organisation and the puirchasing and planning actrivities from the buyer organisation,which were carried out independently. Bioth activitiea are carried out simultaneously in JIT-2 environment this results into more integrated and realistic plans to enable achieving targets It is based upon a mutual trust realtionship where the supplier represenataive is empowered to use the company’s purchase oreders to place orders, which in theory replaces the purchaser and the supplier’s sales person .In practice the supplier representative is brought into the plant on a full time basis. This person is allowed to attend any product design meetings for his product and has full accesss to all relevant facilities, personnel, and data. Purchasing staff is freed up from all the paper work and administartive tasks, allowing them toi cultivate other skills such as negotitiating and sourcing. PO placements and communication is improved;time is saved; material cost reduction is realized. JIT-2 provides a natural foundation for the EDI, effective paper work and administrative savings. Material costa re reduced on an ongoing basis. Supplier personnnel work onsite and perform various planning and buying aswell. Because supplier personnel interface daily, increased insight leads to fewer schedule change surpirises. This results in reduced inventory as the supplier plans directly from the customers MRP system on real time basis. JIT-2 brings considerable technical knowledge and support onsite involves purchasing to design and engineering. Supplier inplant reperesntatives aer empowered with the combined authority of the materials planner, buyer and supplier, resulting in a uniquely effective and empowered support role. Another advantage of JIT-2 to the supplier is that they usually get â€Å"EVERGREEN CONTRACT† which means n o end dates and rebidding.Coupled with EDI links and information technology exchanges, which arfe a p[art of the overall logistics packages, the JIT-2 concept can offera supplier a very serious strategy advantage. BENEFITS OF EDI: †¢ Increased internal productivity through faster information transmission as reduced information entry redundancy. †¢ Better accuracy by reducing the number of times and individuals involved entry. †¢ Improved channel relationships. †¢ Increased external producvtivity. †¢ Increased ability to compete internationally. †¢ Decreased operating cost through: a)Reduced labour and material costs associated with printing,mailing, and paper based transactions. b)Reduced telephone,fax, and telex communications. c)Reduced clerical cost. PERSONAL COMPUTERS: Pcs are influencing logistics management in three ways: 1. Low cost and high portability wih a capability of bringing accurate information to the decision maker whether in offfice at he warehouse. âÅ"“ Which markets to serve âÅ"“ Which product to pick next in thw warehosue âÅ"“ Driver reporting and delivery information. âÅ"“ Reporting vehicle location âÅ"“ Identifying lowest-cost fuel stop. 2)Repsonsiveness and flexibility offered by decentralised PCs enable more for service capabilities. The use of local area networks (LANs) wide arear network (WAN) and client/server architecture offers benefits of decnetralized responsiveness, flexibility, and redundacy while providing data integrated throughout the enterprise. LAN is a network of PCs that use phone lines or cable to commuinicate and resources such as storage and printers. LAN is resticted to relativiely geographical locations such as an office and warehouse, WAN operates across a wide geography; while the architecture uses the decnetralized processiing  power of PCs to provide LIS operation flexibility. Server is a large computer that allowes commom data ot be shared by a numvber of users. Client implies network of PCs that access the data and manipulate them in different ways to provide extensive flexiblity. The client/server network can globally track inventory in motion, provide shipment informatio to the customers when desired and also facilitate decisions regarding facility location, invenrotry analysis, routing and scheduling. ARTIFICAIL INTELIGENCE (AI): AI descrivbes technologies aimed at making computers imitate human reasoning and are concerned with symbolic reasonings rather than numeric processing. The applications of AI are : ââ€" ª Carrier selection. ââ€" ª International marketing and logistics ââ€" ª Inventory Management ââ€" ª Information system design COMMUNICATIONS: Historically logistics activities had a distinc disadvantage since they involved movements in either a transport ot material handling vehicle or were very decntralized. But nowadays information technology has significantly enhaced logistics perofrmance through faster and widespread communication. Applicatgion of Radio frequency (RF), satellite communcaitions, and image processing technologies has overcome the problems caused by porduct movement and geographical decentralization. RADIO FREQUENCY TECHNOLOGY: RF technology is used within relatively small areas, such as ditribution , to facilitate two-way information exhange. The applications are in: âž ¢ Real time communications with material hanlders such as forklift drivers and order selectors. âž ¢ Updating instructions and priorities to forklift drivers on real time basis. âž ¢ Two-way commuincations of warehouse selection instruction, warehouse cycle count verifaiction and label prinintg for guiding package movement. Satellite Commuincations: Satellite communication is used for providing a fast and high – volume channel for information movement around the globe. THE applications are as follows: âÅ"“ Communications dishes on the top vehicles allow commuinations between drivers and departures. âÅ"“ Provides uptodate infoormation regarding location and delivery and allows departures to redirect trucks in repsonse to need or traffic congestion. âÅ"“ Used by retail chains to transmit quickly daily sales bac to the headquarters that help in activating store replenishment and also to provide input to marketing regarding local sales pattern. POOR INVENTORY MANAGEMENT: It Exhibits the following characteristics: 1.An increase in the number of back-orders,indicating too many stockouts. 2.A constant number of back orders,but rising inventory investment. 3.A higher than normal customer turnover. 4.A increasing number of cancelled oreders from customers or intermediairies. 5.Insufficeicnt storage space for too much inventory. 6.An increase in the number and RUPEE value of obsolete products. All these symptoms have a large finanical impact on the firm | | |INVENTORY PLANNING METHODS | |FAIR SHARE ALLOCATION | |DISTRIBUTION REQUIREMENT PLANNING (DRP) | Fig7 .2 Inventory planning methods FAIR SHARE ALLOCATION: It is a simplified inventory management method that provides each ditribution facility with an equitable or fair share of available inventory from a common source such as a plant warehouse. Fig 7.3: Fair Share Allocation The figure under reference indicates current inventory level, and daily requirements for three distribution centres served by a common plant warehouse. Using fair share allocation rules, the inventory manager determines the amount of inventory that can be allocated to each distribution centre from the available inventory at the plant warehouse. Assume that from a total inventory units of 600, (see Fig.7.2) it is desirable to retain 100 units at the plant warehouse; therefore 500 units are available for the allocation. The calculation to determine the number of day’s supply is done as shown below. DS= A + I/O where DS= No. of days supply for distribution centre inventories. A= Inventory units to be allocated from the warehouse. I= Inventory in units for distribution centre J. D= Daily demand for distribution centre J. In the above example, DS = 500 + (50 + 100 + 75 )/ (10 + 50 + 15) = (500 + 225 )/ 75 = 9.67 days Thus, the fair share allocation means that each distribution centre should be brought unis to 9.67 days stock. The amount to be allocated to each distribution centre is determined by the expression: A = (DS – I/D) x D Where A= Amount allocated to distribution centre J DS = Day’s supply that each distribution centre is brought up to. I= Inventory in units for distribution centre J. D = Daily demand for distribution centre J. Thus the amount allocated to distribution centre 1 in the above example will be: A = (9.67 – 50/ 10 ) x 0 = (9.67 – 5) x 10 = 4.67 x 10 = 46.7 (rounded 247 units) The allocation for distribution centers 2 and 3 can be determined similarly as 38 and 70 units respectively. The key feature of  the fair share allocation method is that it coordinates inventory level across multiple sites. It’s limitation lies in the fact that it does not consider site specific factors such as difference in performance cycle, time , economic order, quantity or safety stock requirement. Hence, the major limitation is the inability to manage multi stage inventories. DISTRIBUTION REQUIREMENT PLANNING: DRP is the logical extension of manufacturing requirements planning ,MRP determined by production schedule that can be controlled by the enterpreise and generally operates in a dependent demand situation. DRP is guided by customer demand which are not controllable by the ebetrprise and operates in an independent environment where uncertain customer demand determines inventory requirements. Manufacturing requirements planning coordinates to scheduling an integration of materials into finished products. DRP takes over the responsibility of coordination once the finished goods are received in the plant warehouse. Constraints to the effectiveness OF INVENTORY PLANNING: 1. Requires accurate and cordinated forecasts for each distribution centre. 2. Requires forecasts for each distribution centre and SKU as well as adequate lead time to allow product movement. 3. The errors in forecast may exist because of prediction of demand at wrong location ———————– Distribution Centre 1 Inventory- 50 units Daily use- 10 units Plant Warehouse : Inventory-600 units Distribution Centre 3 Inventory- 75 units Daily use- 15 units Distribution Centre 2 Inventory- 100 units Daily use- 50 units