RFID Implementation Update

Beer Bottler Aims to Make Moving Products Through Customs More Efficient
On Oct. 30, 2006 ten containers loaded with Heineken beer left Holland for the United Kingdom and the United States; a fairly common occurrence. The difference this time is that the containers were equipped with a wireless tracking system designed to improve the movement of goods through customs in Europe and the United States.

Data stored on the RFID processor, such as whether a container door has been opened, was sent to the Secure Trade Lane Container Information Services (CIS) database, which will process the information. The data was then stored on Heineken's EPCIS database, used to maintain records of the containers' transit. Heineken was able to utilize that data to send an electronic bill of lading to Dutch customs officials.

When a container passed through customs, that agency created its own EPCIS data record before Safmarine loaded the container onto a vessel. The shipping carrier created an electronic bill of lading that was sent directly to U.K. customs, and saved in the agency's database. The wireless devices sent data about the shipment to cellular networks, and if none were available, they transmitted the data via satellite.

As the containers entered the United Kingdom and passed through British customs, an EPCIS data record of each container's arrival and departure was again created, along with information required for completion of the customs process. From there, they continued on to the United States, where U.S. customs was able to access information about the shipment before it ever arrived, by logging onto the EPCIS sites using the Discovery Service. They also were able to access other data such as where the containers were stowed in the vessel, or whether doors have been tampered with.

The European Union hopes the pilot will illustrate how paperless trade might be used to eliminate most inspections upon arrival, speed ocean freight shipments by making the customs process more efficient and increase security. The organization also hopes to reduce the tax fraud that occurs in Europe when individuals looking to avoid paying European taxes unload products theoretically bound for America.

US Chamber of Commerce Lobbying Efforts

E-Waste
E-waste describes the refuse created by discarded electronic devices and components as well as substances involved in their manufacture or use. The National Safety Council estimates that almost 100 million computers and monitors become obsolete annually. In 2006, the Gartner Group estimates that 153.9 million personal computers will be replaced. Cell phones have a life of cycle of the less than two years in industrialized countries and an estimated 130 million mobile phones were disposed of world-wide in 2005, according to the United Nations Environment Programme.

Many of end-of-life electronics such contain valuable elements such as gold, silver, and platinum. E-waste can also contain potentially harmful substances such as lead, cadmium, and mercury. For example, traditional cathode ray tube computer monitors contain about 20% lead by weight. The EPA estimates that only about 10 percent of all obsolete consumer electronics are recycled. The rest are stored somewhere, passed on to second users, or simply tossed in the trash. The EPA's most recent estimate is that over two million tons of e-waste ends up in U.S. landfills each year.

The European Union (EU) has taken steps to regulate E-waste. For example, on July 1, 2006, the EU directive on Waste from Electrical and Electronic Equipment (WEEE) went into effect for most EU countries. The directive seeks to increase the re-use, recycling and recovery of these products.

The U.S. Congress and the EPA are studying the issue. In the meantime, California, Maine, Maryland, and Washington have passed E-Waste laws and several other states are debating the topic. The industry is concerned that without a uniform national approach to E-waste, manufacturers and retailers will be forced to comply with 50 different state E-waste programs. Consequently, many companies now agree that these goods should be recycled, but industry has not yet formulated a unified policy position. The main disagreement centers on how these efforts should be funded.

U.S. Chamber Position

• To develop an industry consensus on the development of a uniform national approach to the management of disposed E-waste.
  
  
• Create a working group to develop an industry consensus and Chamber policy on E-waste; and
  
  
• Draft legislative and regulatory language that creates a uniform national approach to the management of disposed E-Waste and urge adoption of that language by Congress and the EPA.
  
  
  
  

You Do That?

Gravity Flow Systems
Creative Storage's pallet flow systems are designed for first-in-first-out (FIFO) applications. These types of bulk material handling systems yield a faster inventory turnaround which aids in protecting dated products.

Creative Storage Systems provides bulk material handling equipment tailored to your needs through on site consultation and analysis, making your business knowledge an integral part of your engineered material handling systems. The result of this innovative bulk material handling solution can expand your inventory management system up to 70%. It's done by eliminating excess aisle, providing first-in-first-out (FIFO) stock rotation, improving inventory management, reducing fork-truck travel, energy & labor costs while simultaneously increasing safety and product protection.

Pallet flow systems can double the capacity of an existing warehouse or decrease the square footage requirements in a new facility. Here are common benefits:

• FIFO - "First-In-First-Out" Inventory
  Understanding FIFO requirements is beneficial when handling material that is date sensitive or perishable.
  
  
• Reduced Labor & Equipment Cost
  Forklifts have shorter distances to travel reducing labor cost as well as the number of forklifts required.
  
  
• Organized Inventory
  Our innovative solutions contribute to faster, more efficient order fulfillment.
  
  
• Inventory Audits
  Performed in less time with increased accuracy.
  
  
• Less Pilferage & Product Damage
  When pick faces are reduced, pilferage is decreased (less access to the product). Also, minimum material handling ensures less product damage.
  
  
• Increased Safety
  Fewer aisles provide a safer environment for pedestrian traffic throughout the warehouse.
  
  
• Reduced Overhead Expenses
  Reduced warehouse space equals energy savings. Reduced number of forklifts equals lower equipment maintenance cost and also less space required for maintenance.
  
  

Operations Manager Issues

How to Ask for a Pay Raise
A successful negotiation for a pay raise is always based on your merit and accomplishments. A successful negotiation for a pay raise is never based on why you need additional money. While your employer may care about you, providing additional money to fund your chosen lifestyle is not their responsibility.

• Be straightforward in addressing your request for a pay raise to your supervisor. Tell the supervisor you are asking for a pay raise at this time because of the accomplishments and contributions you have made, and the additional responsibilities you have taken on. Be prepared with your documentation.
  
  
• Tell your boss the specific pay raise you'd like to see. Be prepared to present your research that supports your request for a pay raise.
  
  
• If the boss tells you he cannot provide a pay raise currently, ask what you need to do to make yourself eligible as soon as pay raises are available. Remember that a difference exists between an employee who is performing the job as expected from a superior performer and an employee who is truly giving the employer superior performance. Pay raises are based on the second.
  
  
• If you are using an offer from another employer to negotiate a pay raise with your current employer, be prepared to fail. Plus, in your negotiation, the employer learns that you're looking and career development, training, plum assignments, and other opportunities may cease to come your way. This can occur even if you receive the requested pay raise. The employer hates to be held hostage - and the employer will remember. It's a vicious cycle, once begun.
  
  
• Likewise, threatening to quit if you don't receive a pay raise is counterproductive and unprofessional. Plus, the employer may take you up on your offer. Instead, quietly and professionally go about your job search, if you have determined a pay raise merits changing employers.
  
  

Asking for a pay raise, when you have planned and prepared, can still be somewhat scary. Asking for a pay raise without planning and preparation is a crap shoot. And, you've wasted your best shot. Your boss isn't going to want to have that pay raise conversation with you again unless something changes at work.

Asking for a pay raise gets easier as you learn to plan and prepare. A successful negotiation or two helps, too. You build your confidence that asking for a pay raise is a task you can do. And, you increase the possibility that you will achieve your maximum income potential in your chosen field.

Business School Book Review

Harvard Business School
Are you a reader? If so this article will feature book reviews by some the county’s best and brightest business school professors. While they’re recommendations may not always be about business, the books do have something to say about perseverance and integrity. This month’s featured professor is Joseph L. Badaracco, Jr., the John Shad Professor of Business Ethics at Harvard Business School.

Professor Badaracco’s favorite books are:

THE PRINCE by Nicolo Machiavelli

"Read this classic, not as a treatise on sleaze, but as a pragmatic account of how boldness, imagination, and realism can help leaders navigate treacherous and uncertain waters."

ENDURANCE by Alfred Lansing

"An amazing but true action-adventure story, with powerful, often subtle lessons about leadership."

WAR AND PEACE by Leo Tolstoy

"One of the great books, worth reading and rereading for a multitude of reasons, among which are Tolstoy's vivid and unforgettable portraits of men and women who change the world, on both the grand stage of life and in subtle, everyday ways."

Industry Trends

Experts Weigh in On Steel Surcharge Movement
Recent prognostications by steel industry leaders peg steel prices near current levels. Coiled steel is used in the manufacturing of many material handling products. Below are comments made recently that substantiate flat prices.

U.S. Steel’s CEO, John Surma said in the company’s earnings report this week that average realized prices and shipments of flat-rolled steel will decline this quarter. The average spot price of hot-rolled sheet in coil in the third quarter was just under $630/ton. And buyers can expect to see lower prices because of rising steel inventories amidst slowing economic growth.

Surma predicts a downturn in U.S. Steel’s profit during the current quarter. That’s why the company may idle three or four of its blast furnaces for the remainder of the year. Note: Strong economic growth has fueled steel demand and historically high prices for nearly three years. But last week, the Commerce Department reported the economy expanded at an inflation-adjusted annual rate of 1.6% from July through September.

Purchasingdata.com has forecast $585 as the fourth-quarter 2006 average. Analyst Chuck Bradford at Bradford Research in New York also has been hearing of $560-$600 as the new market price for the fourth quarter. CIBC World Markets’ current hot-rolled-sheet price forecast for 2007 is $550/ton. Analyst Mike Willemse in Toronto expects hot-rolled sheet prices to decline $10 in November, $20 in December and another $20/ton in January to bring pricing to approximately $550/ton in the first quarter. This is lower than the $565 forecast by Purchasingdata.com but is based on his assumption of some seasonal strengthening in demand in the first quarter and lower import activity.

The International Iron and Steel Institute or IISI, a global trade association that includes most of the world's largest steel producing companies, forecast for 2007 calls for further growth in consumption, though at a more modest rate of 5% (from 1,121 billion to 1,179 billion metric tons.

In 2007, IISI says Chinese steel consumption will rise from 374 million metric tons to 413 million metric tons, making it again the strongest region. This is a more moderate rate of expansion than China has demonstrated in the recent past, which IISI attributes to “stronger credit control and administrative measures introduced by the Chinese authorities (which) will cause apparent steel use to grow by 10.4% compared to 14.4% increase in 2006.”

What does all mean to your company? As the steel industry reduces its production of steel to accommodate moderate levels of expected demand, expect to see similar prices for material handling equipment and systems.