The FTR governs the procedures involved in the reporting of shipments. The FTR regulations provide guidelines on among other things, the reporting of exemptions and the requirements of the Automated Export System (AES) (Weigel & Schwartz, 2009)
So, how exactly does intermodal transportation contribute to foreign trade, particularly among the three NAFTA countries? What modalities are involved? Before assessing the modalities involved in intermodal transportation, it would be prudent to first outline the overall impact of the same in the freight transportation industry. The Impact of Intermodal Transportation Higher Transportation Volumes / Economies of Density: economics of density come about if there are increases in transportation volumes (traffic), but the increases are not accompanied by proportional increases in trade inputs (Yevdokimov, n
Being able to quickly assimilate, aggregate and analyze shop floor inventory data then translate it into financial metrics is key to any company's long-term growth. Add in the time pressures of semiconductor and computer equipment industries and the urgency to create a unified view of shop floor inventory positions exponentially increases (Alexander, 2001)
MES systems integrated with ERP and financial reporting systems are also capable of interpolating inventory data and creating a highly effective dashboard for senior management to also use in managing manufacturing. The integral role of inventory data across the entire supply chain is essential for reducing lead time and performance while accelerating time-to-market (Drickhamer, 2001)
Assessing the Benefits of Having Inventory Control on the Shop Floor One of the most interesting aspects of manufacturing operations is that the larger they become, the more the assumption base of just what customers expect and how they expect it -- basically their expectations based on experiences -- gets amplified throughout a manufacturers' value chain. This is especially evident in how Toyota had constructed the Toyota Production System (TPS) to reflect customers' perception of time-to-market and especially quality, which is reflected in the many uses of Six Sigma in the TPS process (Dyer, Nobeoka, 2000)
The many enterprise-class systems including ERP, Supply Chain Management (SCM), Manufacturing Execution Systems (MES), pricing and services all must be tightly orchestrated for a product introduction to be successful. Unfortunately however these systems all use varying approaches to defining inventory levels, and also provide varying degrees of inventory velco8ity measurements (Gould, 2002)
One of the most interesting key take-aways from this article is that only 11% of all manufacturers are actively trying to integrate the many shop floor and inventory management systems to the large-scale Enterprise Resourcing Planning (ERP), pricing, Manufacturing Execution Systems (MES) that have in many instances been installed for decades. The many benefits of having inventory control online in real-time from the factory floor to the top floor of a manufacturer including all departments that also rely in inventory data can be seen in the results Lexmark achieves (Alexander, 2001) in addition to Toyota and their highly customized and very effective Toyota Production System (TPS) (Steele, 2001)
Sony is also one of the few global high tech manufacturers to orchestrate their entire supply chain across business units so well that they can measure perfect order performance. A perfect order by definition is when the customer, whether they are form a B2B or B2C-based industry, receive the right products order, at the right time, with perfect execution of delivery (Blanchard, 2007) (Novack, Thomas, 2004)
Sony's Supply Chain Management Strategies: Best Practices in High Tech Supply Chains The strategic series of systems, processes and programs that enable any company to exceed customer expectations on a consistent basis and be profitable is the performance of their supply chains. The synchronization of supply chains ensures that customers will have a consistent positive experience when purchasing from a company, and this holds true for both Business-to-Business (B2B) and Business-to-Consumer (B2C) companies (Cirtita, Glaser-Segura, 2012)
The reliance on metrics to streamline and optimize supply chain performance is what many analysts have attributed the company's rapid new product introduction process and pace of product design (Percy, 2004). One of the most important metrics the company relies on in their efforts to synchronize supply chains across all subsidiaries is The Perfect Order Index (POI) (Columbus, 2008) (Johnson, 2007)
This supply chain collaboration initiative is unprecedented in the high technology industry, yet has been successfully used for decades in the automotive industry. The Toyota Production System (TPS) is known as the model for the Sony supply chain collaboration and knowledge sharing system (Dyer, Nobeoka, 2000)
While there are metrics and key performance indicators (KPIs) that are specific to each division, Table 1, Sony measures of Supply Chain Performance, show the commonly used ones across all business units. Based on analysis of the following sources: (Blanchard, 2007) (Columbus, 2008) (Hughes, Balasescu, Balasescu, 2008) (Sony Investor Relations, 2012) In addition to these metrics and KPIs, Sony has set an aggressive goal of trimming transaction costs by up to 22% using their supply chain planning and collaboration platforms, including the knowledge sharing system now in place (Sony Investor Relations, 2012)
The reliance on metrics to streamline and optimize supply chain performance is what many analysts have attributed the company's rapid new product introduction process and pace of product design (Percy, 2004). One of the most important metrics the company relies on in their efforts to synchronize supply chains across all subsidiaries is The Perfect Order Index (POI) (Columbus, 2008) (Johnson, 2007)
The synchronization of supply chains ensures that customers will have a consistent positive experience when purchasing from a company, and this holds true for both Business-to-Business (B2B) and Business-to-Consumer (B2C) companies (Cirtita, Glaser-Segura, 2012) . For those companies that compete in industries that have very rapid product lifecycles and supply chains that must support very rapid shifts in product and service strategy, the challenges are multiplied (Li, Lin, 2006)
Sony is also one of the few global high tech manufacturers to orchestrate their entire supply chain across business units so well that they can measure perfect order performance. A perfect order by definition is when the customer, whether they are form a B2B or B2C-based industry, receive the right products order, at the right time, with perfect execution of delivery (Blanchard, 2007) (Novack, Thomas, 2004)
Figure 2: Maturation process of the Toyota Production System as a Knowledge-sharing Platform For Supply Chain Partners Source: (Dyer, Nobeoka, 2000) Sony and The Perfect Order Index The culture within Sony is highly attuned to innovation in addition to quantifying the overall level of supply chain performance as well (Sony Investor Relations, 2012). The reliance on metrics to streamline and optimize supply chain performance is what many analysts have attributed the company's rapid new product introduction process and pace of product design (Percy, 2004)
Sony Corporation is one of the most-recognized brands globally in consumer and industrial electronics. The many supply chain best practices that Sony has developed over decades of intensive effort and study have given them the ability to compete in five core business segments on a global scale (Sony Investor Relations, 2012)
Through one or more of those methods, NASA could have coding on objects scanned even if the traditional markings and barcodes are obstructed or unreachable for whatever reason. In a field like space and air travel, that is no small thing (Albright, 2002)
Indeed, this allowed the organization to stay on task and remain "mindful" of the progress that they had achieved and needed to achieve. When it comes to a project like this that took place over an entire month, such consistency and performance is important and vital (Cross, 2007)
11 wireless standard and protocol ranges in speed and depth from the 802.11 standard which, at the time, ranged from 11 megabits per second to 54 megabits per second (McCarthy, 2002; Teschler, 2002)