[ad_1]

A lot of people don’t realize how cost effective it is to hire a web designer in India. It seems difficult to navigate all of the ins and outs when it comes to finding a professional designer so many people just go with the first firm they hear about. This article gives some new reasons to break out of that box and look into hiring outside of your usual network. India is increasingly becoming a popular choice because it’s a cutting edge country that offers a lot of benefits to customers seeking exceptional design work. Here are the top 5 reasons why you should look into this option if you are looking for a reliable, tech savvy web designer.

1. India is currently outpacing the rest of the world with highly educated. According to the India Brand Equity Foundation the web design, IT, and computer industry is one of the fastest-growing industries, both in terms of production and exports. India is a tech powerhouse and is poised to become a global leader in technology.

2. The United States actively recruits Indian tech talent to work in big firms. You can get the same web designers who work for top American companies to work on your project for a bargain rate! America clamors for superior designers but many techs don’t want to leave so they do amazing work while staying in their country.

3. Lower cost and higher quality. Who wouldn’t want this option? It’s like getting a Mercedes quality car for a Toyota price. Web design is a field where you have to impress the user at first glance. If your design is polished and user friendly then you have a leg up on your competition.

4. The Internet has made the world a much smaller place. You don’t need to hire the website designers around the corner to get quality work. You can look anywhere in the world for top notch talent. This means that you can search for a great fit for your projects. India happens to have web designers that rank among the best in the world because so much education is geared towards the field.

5. Your time is valuable. You should feel confident leaving your important web design tasks in the hands of competent designers. You don’t have the time to worry if your job is going to be done in time or look the way you want it to. If you are working with people who know what they are doing then you can rest easy knowing that your web design is going to be done to your exact specifications.

All in all it’s pretty easy to see why you should take a look at outsourcing your work to Indian designers. When you hire a web designer in India you are gaining the advantage of low cost, well educated, tech savvy professionals who will make your project the best it can be. For more details, please visit.

[ad_2]

Source by Dionn Mack

[ad_1]

The answer to the question is somewhat long and complicated. So we will begin with writing that while someone with ADHD may qualify for protection under the Americans with Disabilities Act, not everyone with the diagnosis of ADHD will qualify. And that may include you or your child.

The Americans with Disabilities Act was established by Congress in 1990. The purpose of the Act is to end discrimination against persons with disabilities when it comes to housing, education, public transportation, recreation, health services, voting, and access to public services. It also aims to provide equal employment opportunities for people with disabilities.

The ADA was written to offer protections to individuals with disabilities, not individuals with any particular diagnosis. The Americans with Disabilities Act seeks to protect individuals with significant impairments in function.

By the way, it is estimated that the population of the United States is over 300 million persons. And it is estimate that about 19% of persons have some type of long-lasting condition or disability. That would be somewhere near 60 million persons. This includes about 3.5% with a sensory disability involving sight or hearing, about 8% with a condition that limits basic physical activities such as walking or lifting. It also includes millions of people with mental, emotional, or cognitive impairments.

Since Congress enacted the ADA courts have had several challenges in defining the scope of the Act.

• What exactly is a disability?
• Who would be defined as having a disability?
• Is having a diagnosis the same as having a disability?

These are some of the questions that the courts have had to wrestle with, not to mention the questions related to how schools, work places, public transportation agencies, and more, are to implement the Act in daily operations with both employees and customers.

So, to the Question: Is Attention Deficit Hyperactivity – ADHD – included in the ADA?

The answer is “Yes, No, or Maybe.”

The ADA defines “disability” as a physical or mental impairment that substantially limits

one or more “major life activities,” such as walking, seeing, hearing, or learning. Having a

diagnosed impairment, such as ADHD, does not necessarily mean that an individual is disabled within the meaning of the ADA.

The ADA does provide for “mental” conditions or mental illnesses, and potentially ADHD fits in this category. But as with physical impairments, the diagnosis of a mental illness or mental impairment such as ADHD is not sufficient by itself to qualify for protection under ADA. Again, having a “diagnosis” is not the same as having a “disability.”

We are not lawyers, and our readers probably are not either, but it is interesting to look at some of the recent court cases regarding the ADA that directly related to children or adults with Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder.

These two cases seem to expand the definition of “major life activities” to include concentration and cognitive functions:

• Brown v. Cox Medical Centers (8th Cir. 2002), where reportedly the court stated that the “ability to perform cognitive functions” is a major life activity;
• Gagliardo v. Connaught Laboratories, Inc. (3d Cir. 2002), where reportedly the court held that “concentrating and remembering (more generally, cognitive function)” are major life activities.

But the courts have placed limitations on the scope of the Act as well, and have not just tried to accommodate everyone with ADHD. The court has its limits, and they have ruled that the ADA has its limits.

For example Knapp v. City of Columbus (2006 U.S. App. LEXIS 17081) is the story of three firefighters with ADHD who wanted the City to make accommodations for them in their jobs. The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit declined to extend ADA coverage to three firefighters who had Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder.

Three firefighters had claimed that ADHD substantially limited their ability to learn, so the City should make accommodations for them. But the court held that the firefighters failed to establish that their ADHD met the standards to qualify as a disability under the ADA.

A very important limitation of Act involved a ruling from an earlier Supreme Court case with Toyota in 2002 which the Sixth Circuit Court used in this case with the firefighters. The Sixth Circuit applied the U.S. Supreme Court’s test in Toyota Motor Mfg., Kentucky, Inc. v. Williams, 534 U.S. 184 (2002).

Under the Toyota Motor ruling the courts must consider whether the person making the claim is unable to perform the variety of tasks central to most people’s daily lives, not whether the claimant is unable to perform the tasks associated with his or her specific job.

When applying this test, the Sixth Circuit wrote that when a person who is seeking protection or accommodations under the ADA can fully compensate for an impairment through medication, personal practice, or an alteration of behavior, a “disability,” as defined by the Disabilities Act, does not exist.

In other words, if a child, teen, or adult with ADHD can “get the task done” or “get the job done” by using medications, applying behavioral management techniques, receiving counseling, using biofeedback, using Attend, or other treatment interventions, then they do not have a disability that is protected under the ADA.

In this court case, all three firefighters testified that taking Ritalin controlled their symptoms, and that they were able to fulfill their family and work obligations. Thus, an ADA disability was not found.

So, it would follow that if you, or your child, could function pretty well at work or in school when taking medication or Attend, or using some other treatment, no disability as defined under the ADA would exist – at least according to the 6th Circuit Court.

Also, it seems that as a result of this ruling, employers under the Sixth Circuit do not need to make accommodations for employees with ADHD under these conditions:

1. When the disorder has not been shown to substantially impair their ability to perform tasks central to daily life;
2. When the ADHD symptoms can be improved by medication or other treatments.

Here is a pretty good list from a major university of the conditions that must be met for ADHD to qualify for coverage and protection under the American with Disabilities Act of 1990:

• The ADHD must cause significant impact or limitation in a major life activity or function;
• The individual must be regarded as having a disability;
• The individual must have a record of having been viewed as being disabled;
• The applicant must also be able to perform the essential job functions with or without accommodations to qualify as an individual with a disability under the meaning of the Act.

To establish that an individual is covered under the ADA, documentation must indicate that a specific disability exists and that the identified disability substantially limits one or more major life activities. Documentation must also support the accommodations requested.

1. The evaluation must be conducted by a qualified professional, such as psychologist, neuropsychologist, psychiatrist, or other medical doctor who has had comprehensive training in the differential diagnosis of ADHD and direct experience with an adult ADHD population. The name, title, and professional credentials of the evaluator should be clearly stated. All reports should be on letterhead, typed, dated, signed and otherwise legible.
2. Documentation must be current. The diagnostic evaluation must adequately address the individual’s current level of functioning and need for accommodations. In most cases, the evaluation must have been completed in the last three years. A school plan, such as an Individualized Education Plan (IEP) or 504 Plan, is insufficient documentation for a university, but can be included for consideration as part of a more comprehensive evaluative report.
3. Documentation necessary to substantiate the diagnosis must be comprehensive and include:
   • Evidence of early impairment. Historical information must be presented to demonstrate symptoms in childhood which manifested in more than one setting.
   • Evidence of current impairment, which may include presenting attentional symptoms and/or ongoing impulsive/hyperactive behaviors that significantly impair functioning in two or more settings. In addition, the diagnostic interview should include information from, but not limited to, the following sources: developmental history, family history, academic history, medical history, and prior psycho-educational test reports.
   • Alternative diagnoses or explanations should be ruled out. The evaluator must investigate and discuss the possibility of dual diagnoses and alternative or coexisting mood, behavioral, neurological, and/or personality disorders that may confound the diagnosis of ADHD.
   • Relevant testing information must be provided and all data must reflect a diagnosis of ADHD and a resultant substantial limitation to learning.
   • Documentation must include a specific diagnosis. The diagnosis must include specific criteria based on the DSM-IV, including evidence of impairment during childhood, presentation of symptoms for at least the past six months, and clear evidence of significant impairment in two or more settings. The diagnostician should use direct language in the diagnosis of ADHD, avoiding the use of such terms as “suggests,” “is indicative of,” or “attentional problems.”
   • An interpretive summary must be provided that demonstrates that alternative explanations have been ruled out and that explains how the presence of ADHD was determined, the effects of any mitigating measures (such as medication), the substantial limitation to learning caused by the ADHD, and the rationale for specific accommodations.

Obviously, dealing with government regulations with their specific definitions can be very frustrating and difficult. It would be important to have realistic expectations in regards to the American with Disabilities Act and ADHD.

We would recommend getting legal advice from an attorney who specializes in educational law, or has expertise in the Americans with Disabilities Act, to learn more about how the ADA may apply in a specific case to a particular individual with ADHD.

[ad_2]

Source by Douglas Cowan, Psy.D.

[ad_1]

A competitive advantage could simply be defined as the advantage or ability a firm has over its rivals in the industry; or the ability a firm has to outperform its industry rivals.

A firm is said to have a competitive advantage when it has the capabilities or means to push out its rivals in striving for the favour of customers. This applies internationally or locally as well as to both services and products.Thus, a sustainable competitive advantage is the persistence the firm applies despite efforts by competitors or potential entrants to copy or overtake it. Sustainability therefore, requires that strategic assets are not easily available to others and imperfectly mobile. This will be considered later.

Porter (1990) states that, though not all nations are in the forefront of competition, the home nation which shapes the competitive advantage is the starting point for a firm’s competitive advantage and also from which it must be sustained. However, in whatever field of endeavor, competitive advantage creation must be a choice of management and it must really fit to achieve results. It must be noted here that competitive advantage can normally be traced to one of three roots:

Superior resources, superior skills and superior positions.

Competitive strategy is one of the ways in which a business relates to its environment by competing with other firms who are also trying to adapt within the operating environment. It is with this aspect- the competitive strategy which if appropriately chosen and implemented appropriately give the firm a competitive advantage over its rivals.

It must be noted here that the prescriptive view of strategic planning emphasizes the importance of the organizational environment as a source of threats and opportunities and the need for effective responses by the organization if survival was to be assured and the success achieved. The response is later formulated into plan which formulates major decisions about entry into new markets or development of new products and services guided by set goals. Under the influence of Porter’s writings in the 1980s the emphasis shifted from the plan to the selection of an appropriate generic strategy to position the business unit in its competitive environment. Porter, arguing that the environment poses threats and brings opportunities than with trends and events, suggested that the environment could be analyzed using the five forces analysis to identify the issues which affect the level of competition in an industry; after which a strategy is formulated to combat it.

The resultant strategy, which he referred to as generic, distinguished some strategic options the firm can possess:

Cost leadership: the business could position itself as offering a low cost product as a standard price i.e. cost leadership strategy. Costs are reduced at every element of the value chain. Producers can exploit the benefits of a bigger margin than the competitors. Toyota is a good example of an organization that produces quality cars at low price coupled with a brand and marketing skills to use a premium pricing policy.

It could offer a product that was different from that offered by rivals. I.e. differentiation. This allows companies to make prices less sensitive and focus on value that generates a comparatively higher price and a better margin. Even though additional costs will be incurred pursuing differentiation, it is possible that this will be offset by the increased revenue generated by the sales.

By focusing on a small but well-defined part of the market, for instance a particular buying group or product area or geographical area. Also known as niche, this is usually suitable for a small company i.e. focus strategy.

Generic Competitive strategy, usually used after competitive analysis or as a response to competitors advantage, is defined as the basis on which a strategic business unit (SBU) might achieve or counter competitive advantage in its market. (Johnson and Scholes, 5th Edition.)

Building on Porter’s (1980) generic competitive strategies, Bowman et al argues that organizations achieve competitive advantage by providing their customers with what they want, or need better or more effectively than competitors and making it difficult for competitors to imitate. This was later developed into five generic strategies which would be used in this discussion. Thus, the generic competitive strategies are the fundamental activities on which an SBU seeks to achieve a lasting advantageous position in its environment and gaining the favor of stakeholders by meeting the expectations of buyers, users or other stakeholders

The following are Bowman’s five-generic competitive strategy options and examples of organizations who applied them to gain competitive advantage: no frills strategy, low price strategy, hybrid strategy, focused differentiation strategy and added value or differentiation strategy.

In brief, a no frills strategy combines a low price, low perceived added value and targets a price-sensitive market. No frills strategy is now a popular strategy with low-cos airlines Easy Jet and Ryanair seeking to enter the airline industry to compete with likes of Virgin and is a determinant in the market. This, therefore, affords the firm the needed competitive edge over its competitors who charge higher price. This strategy is a success because there could possibly be a segment of the market that overlooks the low quality of the commodity provided it fulfills the same purpose.

To obtain the competitive advantage using no fills strategy revenues must increase and the product must really be price-sensitive. Easy Jet frills strategy seems to be going on well as a result of the cost savings techniques they are using. For instance no ticketing, no ticket agents, no in-flight food or drink for customers as well as the short-haul flight. Now, almost all supermarkets in the UK use no frills strategy by introducing own brands the price of which have been reduced to attract customers in order to gain a competitive advantage.

The next generic strategy is the low price strategy. This strategy pursues a lower price than pertains in the market whilst trying to maintain similar value of product or service as those offered by competitor alike. There is the potential of price war among competitors and in the long run consumers are likely to lose as the firms might not be able to sustain the lower-price-good-value strategy. Notwithstanding the price war and low margins, there are some suggested ways in which a low-priced strategy can bring about a firms competitive advantage. The market segment must be low-price sensitive, and also the SBU has a cost advantage over its competitors.

However, in practice, the lower price strategy usually brought about by lowering operational cost alone does not give the firm the competitive advantage if the firm is not able to sustain it in the long-term as there are now more firms entering the market because of low or no entry barriers like small capital requirements and also how efficient the staff might be.

Hybrid competitive strategy seeks to achieve differentiation and a price lower than that of competitors simultaneously. This is not an easy strategy to pursue because to differentiate a product or service involves some money and increases cost the very thing the low price seeks to reduce. This strategy is fit for the DIY industry as the likes of Robert Dyas are not able to stand the competition. The success of this is dependent on providing unique more efficient products or services to consumers whilst at the same time operating at a lower cost to be able to lower its price below the industry level. The success of this strategy could further be enhanced if the firm has economies of scale and can increase volume of sales more than its competitors, thereby, reducing its base cost as a result. Asda’s George brand is an example of a generic hybrid strategy in a SBU.

Another strategy is differentiation strategy. This seeks to provide products or services completely different from those of its competitors by adding features valued by consumers. The main objective of using this is to either maintain the market share or increase market share relative to its competitors. A clear example of this is aircraft manufacturer Airbus’s wider fuselages, cockpits designed for use in more than one aircraft and electrical rather than mechanical flight controls.

Those features have helped Airbus win customers like New York-based Jet blue; although Jet Blue is staffed with former employees from Boeing. (Fortune, Europe Edition 22 November 17th 2003; pp34) This strategy could be used to achieve a competitive advantage which is its ultimate aim by the firm investing more in R&D, unique designs and features. The marketing-based approaches in terms of good marketing communication (example advertising the products or services) as well as the brand power to win the loyalty of consumers. (Example Airbus)

The fifth generic competitive strategy is the focused differentiation strategy which seeks to provide high perceived value; justifying a substantial price premium usually to a selected market, segment. It is usually adopted to counter or to compete others in seemingly similar segment. This could therefore be argued that focused differentiation is just an extension of any of the four strategies so far considered depending on the competitors in this new segment which is usually middle to high income earners. A convincing example is the introduction of Lexus in 1989 by Toyota to compete with other luxury brands of BMW and Mercedes Benz new series.

For the focused differentiation strategy to be used to obtain a competitive advantage over competitors in the industry, the business unit must find ways to make the production more efficient to be able to pass on the savings to customers. The business unit must identify new segments and must also be prepared to aggressively create new market segment where it is believed first movers get huge advantage. Again Toyota prides itself in this by being the first to introduce a brand,scion,specifically for young buyers in January, 2003 which was a success and the introduction of hybrids in 1997 selling 127,000 far more than Honda.( Hybrid uses two engines and is environmentally friendly.) (Fortune, Europe Edition, Number 24 December 22 2003; pp57).

The essence of the various strategies discussed so far is to create or add value to the products or services in order to give improved and or enough satisfaction to the customer so that the firm will gain a competitive advantage over its rivals. However, it is one thing for a firm to gain a competitive advantage and another to sustain the competitive advantage so gained. So when a firm is able to get a competitive advantage over its competitors, it becomes expedient to try to sustain this advantage.

Some of the ways to sustain the competitive advantage is by what is described as isolating mechanism. This is the application of forces like barriers of imitation which limit the extent to which a competitive advantage can be duplicated or matched or even possibly scrapped through the resource creation activities of other firms. Though similar in principle to the barrier of entry force, whereas the entry barriers protect profitability of an entire industry, isolating mechanisms sustain the competitive advantage of a single firm. For example legal barriers like trademarks, patents or intellectual property rights as in Microsoft’s case.

It could also be for the mere fact that the leading firm makes it difficult for the competitor to catch up with the firm’s technology because it entered the market earlier and it continues to research and might be able to move to a superior position by the time its competitors catch up. This is known as the early mover advantage. Because the business unit has entered the market earlier, the past success in the market is believed to sustain the firm.

Nevertheless, no matter how discrete the strategy adopted to gain the sustainable competitive advantage or enough satisfaction that the customer may get as well as the mechanisms put in place to sustain the competitive edge, simple economics has proved that man’s needs are insatiable and with the information technology age, there is an improved dynamism in business that products and services can become obsolete before they even reach the next user.

The question is can the firm continue to create more economic value than its competitors now than then?

Now with the advent of information systems and technology, this traditional way of competitive advantage or competitive edge has, therefore, taken a different turn. Information gathering and I mean a competitive information gathering in deed can to some large extent make a difference to a firm’s position in an industry and for that matter affect its competitive advantage one way or the other.

A good and recent example is Asda installing radio frequency identification (RFID) system, a device which could be used to scan bar codes of incoming goods which could save Asda $8.35 billion annually through improvement in its supply chain management. Fortune, Wal-Mart keeps the change, November 10,2003pp 23.

Firms can either use their own database or an informational gathering software to track its operations and get the required information like inventory, customers, and trends of competitors’ performance and about the fast moving products to formulate their strategies or form what is known as information partnerships for the purpose of sharing information to gain competitive or strategic advantage; and even link their systems with some competitors to achieve synergies.

This is becoming important as a result of the fact that competition in the business world today is not only within a particular industry one operates but can also be cross-competition with people in other related industry like universities and publishers competing due to forward and backward integrations. Baxter Healthcare International is known to offer medical supplies from its competitors and office supplies through its electronic ordering channel to its customers. By doing this the firm increases its customer base as well as loyalty of its customers is enhanced.

At this juncture, the statement that “there is no such thing as a sustainable competitive advantage” can be considered in relation to the circumstances that happened in Sears, which used to be USA’s largest retailer until Wal-mart overtook it after a diversification strategy went bust in spite of the fact that it (Sears) has been heavily computerized with more expenditure going into information technology and networking than all other non-computer firms in the United states apart from Boeing. So why couldn’t this huge amount spent in computers and networking been able to give them the competitive edge over its rivals? Is it due to the fact that the hardware alone is not sufficient to provide the information needed unless it is integrated with the appropriate software? Sears did exactly that.

Trying to reinvent itself, Sears started to explore almost all strategies including low pricing strategy, delayering, improved marketing ploys as well as embarking on a $4billion five-year store renovation to make the stores more attractive. All to no avail.

Then Sears noticed that, its merchandise buyers do not have reliable information on precisely what customers were buying at each store. Management was relying on 18 separate systems that often gave conflicting and redundant pricing information. They could only view a division’s daily performance. This was not good for a firm of Sears’s stature. Sears later tightened its grips over the business once again by building a larger database involving the consolidation of information on transaction records,90 million households,31million Sears’ card users, their credit status, and other related data.

The database houses the company’s Strategic Performance Reporting System (SPRS).Now Sears’ 1,000 buyers and managers know what hot-selling merchandise to replenish right away. This competitive information gathering to some extent helped turn around Sears. Its store sales started rising and planned to join partnership with AOL to boost its online business by targeting AOL’s 21 million customers by developing content for AOL on subjects such as how to build a deck, tips on home decorating and other home improvement topics; and also move its suppliers to an electronic ordering system similar to that described for Baxter Healthcare, by linking its computerized ordering system directly to that of each supplier to eliminate paperwork completely for an improved flow of goods into its stores.

As previously discussed, if a firm can keep or maintain its lead on creating value, leveraging strategic assets for example access to efficient distribution channels, maintain market position and may be low cost advantage then it can be said to have a sustainable competitive advantage. This is absolutely not possible in this dynamic business world. The most difficult part of this is that the firm must create more economic value than its competitors every now and then. Will its competitors be looking on without doing anything?

Microsoft for example is spending billions of dollars to develop its own search engine that will be incorporated in both its online service MSN and its new operating system due in 2006 to combat Google’s dominance in the search engine industry. (Fortune, 22 December 2003pp 17).

In my own opinion based on the discussions above, if really sustainable competitive advantage is the persistence of a firm’s ability to outperform its industry, then suffice it to say that, as much as gathering and use of competitive information as illustrated in the Sears’ story above can give a firm a (sustainable) competitive advantage, it is really difficult if not impossible to sustain any competitive advantage for a very long time. This is so because of the rate of technological changes, changes in business strategies, and the fact that customers’ loyalty can wane and affect sales leading to a fall in market share and thus competitive advantage. Boeing was overtaken by Airbus in the aviation industry at some time. Sears’ leadership was taken away by Wal-mart.

In spite of the availability of choice of the five generic strategies, it is supposed that the onus of their success rests with management and how the technology and the information gathered are blended for use. This is so because a careful monitoring and evaluation constantly and the right identification and proper timing of a particular segment are keys to the success of these strategies due to market dynamism.

REFERENCE

Can Sears reinvent it? A case study taken from London South Bank University IS.

Davenport, T.H; Prusak, L. (1998) Working Knowledge: How Organizations Manage What They Know. Havard Business School Press, Boston, Ma.

Fortune, December 13,2004, pp59

http://informationr.net/ir/8-1/paper144.html

Laudon, K.C; Laudon, J.P. (2004) Management Information Systems: managing the digital firm, 8th edition, USA: Pearson Prentice Hall.

Scholes, K.and Johnson, G (1999) Exploring corporate strategy, 5th Edition. London: F.T Prentice Hall.

Sheila,C.Main Article: Knowledge Management, issue 18,2004

Yogesh, M. B. The Company, – What Really is Knowledge Management? Crossing the Chasm of Hope. Gartner Group Inc.,October 1996

[ad_2]

Source by John Whonderr-Arthur, Ph.D. Esq

[ad_1]

I was about 12 the first time I ventured to the Pinto Basin although I didn’t know that was w it was called at the time. It was the mid 1970’s and I was just a kid brought along with my brother and sister while Mom and Dad explored the desert around Palm Springs on a Sunny afternoon in a Toyota Landcruiser with their friends. I knew we were a long way from home. It felt like we’d traveled out beyond the moon. The earth had quit being golf courses and city streets a long time ago. Now it was just sand and rocks and hills and the occasional scrub grass.

Dad and his friend, Lee, came across a group of low hills at one end of a long wasted valley in what’s called Joshua Tree national park. I knew that much. I also knew, looking at the hill, that the worn road was rougher than anything my Dad had attempted yet in his four-wheeler. But the urge to see what was just beyond the ridge was too great. Rather than risk the car this far away from help we decided to walk to the crest and peer over its edge. There we saw the shifted dirt which marked a mine as having been dug. So we trekked down the other side and found not just one mine, but three.

The first turned out to be the deepest and the most interesting. I went back several hundred yards into the hill from which it’d been carved. At one point you had to get on your hands and knees to crawl through the remaining hole from a long past cave-in. Then you had to walk across an old plank board lain over a bottomless hole some eight feet or more across. There was an old rickety ladder stretching down forever in it. We dropped rocks down its gaping maw to try and gauge its depth. We could hear the rocks hit the sides of the hole a couple of times as they fell. But of the bottom we heard nothing. The board was old, knotted and split. The hole could’ve been a mile for all it scared me. But I walked across.

Further into the mine I came across something so incredible many people I tell hesitate to believe. I’m no geologist. I couldn’t spot a vein of gold if it had neon sign on it – and that’s what the makers of this mine had been looking for nearly a hundred years ago when they dug it, I’m sure of it – but of turquoise, there’s no mistaking it. It’s a deep greenish blue and bright as all get out, even in its raw form. And right there in the wall of that mine was a streak of it as wide as a man and running floor to ceiling in the cave, disappearing into the roof and running beneath its floor.

Before we left that day I had gone into the mine a second time, claw hammer ready and armed with a five gallon paint bucket. I chipped and clawed and ripped that stuff away from the mountains grasp until my bucket was full and brought it all home. it made a neat display in my bedroom framed against a backdrop of my Star Wars album. The remainder of the turquoise I gave away as Christmas gifts, rocks as big as my fists and blue-green as the Pacific at Hawaii.

The other mines were fun, though not as magnificent. One went straight down like the hole in the first mine. But there was no horizontal path to traverse. The other had an old rail track still laid down and a busted rusty ore car at the mouth of the cave, went in only about fifty feet and then there was another ladder going down about thirty feet to what looked like a landing. Since I was the smallest kid, my dad elected me to climb down the ladder, figuring if it could hold me no one bigger would give it a try. I went to the bottom but the landing led to no where, it just dead ended.

We drove home that day in the dark with great stories to remember for the rest of our lives.

Fast forward twenty plus years into the mid 1990’s. I wanted to find it again but for the life of me I had no real sense of where it was other than on the far side of Joshua Tree National Park, and that was a whole lotta desert to have to prowl through. Still, with no better plan I got a map and divided it up into sections. The first time I went in my Jeep Wrangler with just one of my kids and my wife. We didn’t find it. The second time we rented a Jeep Cherokee, because I had more kids, out of the airport and searched another section of the desert. Still no finds. But the third trip, while in a big rented four-wheel drive Ford Excursion complete with in-laws and a bigger family yet, we struck gold – or turquoise you might say.

As we went down a dirt road that took me farther out into the desert than I could swear to having gone before, I saw set of hills off in the distance with a rutted worn out road climbing over one of them. My skin tingled. We parked at the bottom of the road and I grabbed flashlight, hammer and bucket, a host of kids and family behind me. At the top of the crest I saw the shifted dirt of the first mine, and low and behold at the bottom of the hill near it was a beat-up old Toyota pick-up truck, still operational, and a small cadre of men dressed in worn-out clothes. Apparently others had found the mine over the years too.

Still, this was it, again. I went into the mine and crawled through the now even older cave-in, went past the deep hole and the plank that stretched over it, careful to not let my kids do anything foolish near it. And when I got to the vein of turquoise I was somewhat surprised, though not entirely, to find that my vein had been mined out. There were still some fragments of what I remembered, which I chipped away at for old time sake. And I found a few other pieces of blue-green on the floor by kicking away the dirt. But the main swath of turquoise was gone to other families, boys, whoever who had also discovered it over the years. We had found the mine and I will never lose it again, it is embedded in my mind as a great destination in the middle nowhere to go to: my own personal bit of the lost Southwestern landscape complete with tales of buried treasure, only tales.

A few years after that, a friend of mine, Chris Shurilla, came to see me. He had some rappelling gear and we headed out to the mine. We crawled past the cave-in and looked into the deep hole and the ladder stretching down forever. There was an old wooden trellis built over the hole which heretofore I had missed, probably because I was always watching where I put my feet and how close to the hole I was on my earlier trespasses. We tied off on the beam, clamped ourselves onto the line and dropped two hundred yards of roped into the hole.

Chris had no fear. He swung out over the empty space and ZEEEE, he ripped down the rope at a frantic pace. I was cautious as a virgin bride on her wedding night, white knuckling down the ladder one rung at a time even though I was tied off and supposedly secure, safe. The one of the ancient rungs crumbled under my weight and I swung out into the dead space. Chris laughed at me and yelled to hurry up. Once I coughed my heart back out of my throat I sped up my descent. When I caught up to Chris he was hanging in mid-air of a larger chamber. The narrow throat had opened up into a cavity some thirty or forty feet across. The ladder still stretched through the middle of the blackness where it was crossed by an old cat walk supported by two by four somehow affixed to the seemingly distant cavern walls. It was like something out of a Stephen King novel. The cat walk ran into a dark side cavern on each end cut into the earth. Chris says faster than I can respond, “I’ll go check it out,” unhooks his belay and trots off across the ancient planks suspended in darkness light as a cat on a windowsill.

“Chris, you idiot,” I yell. Those boards are probably a hundred years old. He comes bouncing back beneath me with no concern. “Oh they’re fine,” he says. And while I wouldn’t swear to it, maybe it was just my fear kicking into overdrive, I thought I saw him bounce on them as a way of testing their mettle. Had they failed I don’t know what he or me, would do. “That end,” he said, jerking a thumb back towards the hole he’d just investigated, “only goes a few feet and dead ends.” The he went to the other side, disappearing in the darkness again, “This side too.” He came back and tied back onto the line and we went down some more.

We had about another 75 feet we cold drop before we got too close to the end of the rope for comfort. Chris still hung comfortably on the rope with no hands holding the endless ladder or the sides of the rocky hole. I was clinging to the ladder still, for what it was worth, cause for all its old age, it felt better than nothing. But seeing Chris hanging there and the empty blackness beneath him we still knew we could go no further. We pried a rock off the side of the hole and dropped it. Though we were 200 yards down from the original starting point, the rock made no final resting sound. We did it again with another rock. We still could not hear it hit bottom.

We climbed back up and found our wives and kids were pissed at us. We’d been down that hole several hours and they said they’d been yelling for us after the first thirty minutes. The only thing they knew was the rope was still taut and it occasionally swung.

The entire area of the pinto Basin is littered with mines. if you go out there, you have a good chance of dying. I’m not saying this to be an alarmist. but seriously: there’re holes in the ground big enough to drive a car into and some of them have no bottom. There’re caves that go into the mountains hundreds of yards, past holes and cave-ins and rotten supports and you’re hours away from help even by car if you have a problem. And what if the car breaks down.

Do not go out there unless you are experienced and prepared. At times, I can’t believe I did it as a kid and then did it again with mine and then did it again with a rope, repelling gear, and a fearless friend.

[ad_2]

Source by Eric G. Meeks

[ad_1]

Dunlop Grandtrek SJ5 snow tires have gotten excellent reviews for their grip and safety on winter ice and snow. This model has been around for a number of years and remains one of the best snow tires available.

The Grandtrek SJ5 is a studless winter tire specially developed for pickup trucks and SUVs. With strong braking and traction on snow and ice, they offer a big measure of safety and “get there” even in deep powder or slushy snow. In addition, customers like the SJ5 because the handling, noise, and treadwear are all excellent compared to competing snow tires. The SJ5 Grandtrek exceeds industry ratings for snow performance and features the coveted “snow flake over a mountain” symbol.

The best application for these tires is a medium- or large-sized SUV, 4×4, or pickup with high profile wheel and tire combination. Typical vehicles include the Range Rover, Ford Explorer and Expedition, Toyota Tundra, Chevrolet Silverado, and Nissan Murano, among others.

These are high profile tires. If you have a low profile setup on your vehicle, you want the Grandtrek WT M3 performance snow tire. The Grandtrek SJ5 is more moderately priced than the comparable Dunlop Grandtrek WT M2, making them a good choice for people looking for value pricing.

Where the Grandtrek SJ5’s really shine is braking and traction on snow and ice. This is the ideal characteristic for a winter snow tire. The tread features a large zig zag pattern and chunky rubber blocks that bite deeply into snow and crust. These tires will basically take you anywhere. In addition, owners report the ability to use the same set of tire over 3 to 5 winter seasons before they wear out — as long as they are used in snow and rain conditions, and not during the hot summer period where the soft rubber will wear out more quickly.

[ad_2]

Source by Dann Roberts

[ad_1]

Supply Chain Management (SCM) as defined by Tom McGuffog is “Maximising added value and reducing total cost across the entire trading process through focusing on speed and certainty of response to the market.” Due to globalization and ICT, SCM has become a tool for companies to compete effectively either at a local level or at a global scale. SCM has become a necessity especially for manufacturing industry when it comes to deliver products at a competitive cost and at a higher quality than their competitors. Here are some of the reason SCM has become important to today’s manufacturing industry:-

Competitive Edge through Core Competencies

Today’s business climate has rapidly changed and has become more competitive as ever in nature. Businesses now not only need to operate at a lower cost to compete, it must also develop its own core competencies to distinguish itself from competitors and stand out in the market. In creating the competitive edge, companies need to divert its resources to focus on what they do best and outsource the process and task that is not important to the overall objective of the company. SCM has allowed company to rethink their entire operation and restructure it so that they can focus on its core competencies and outsource processes that are not within the core competencies of the company. Due to the current competitive market, it is the only way for a company to survive. The strategy on applying SCM will not only impact their market positioning but also strategic decision on choosing the right partners, resources and manpower. By focusing on core competencies also will allow the company to create niches and specialization of core areas. As stated in the Blue Ocean Strategy outlined by Chan Kim, in order to create a niche for competitive advantage, companies must look at the big picture of the whole process, and figuring out which process can be reduce, eliminate, raise and create.

As an example stated by Chan Kim, the Japanese automotive industries capitalise on its resources to build small and efficient cars. The Japanese automotive industries gain competitive edge by utilising their supply chain to maximise their core competencies and position itself in a niche market. The strategy works and now Toyota Motor Corporation, a Japanese company, is considered to be the number one auto car maker in the world beating Ford and General Motors of the United States.

Value Advantage

SCM has allowed business nowadays to not just have productivity advantage alone but also on value advantage. As Martin Christopher in his book, Logistics and Supply Chain Management: Strategies for Reducing Cost and Improving Service’ states, ‘Productivity advantage gives a lower cost profile and the value advantage gives the product or offering a differential ‘plus’ over competitive offerings.’ Through maximizing added value and also reduce the cost in the same time, more innovation can be added to the product and process. Mass manufacturing offers productivity advantage but through effective supply chain management, mass customization can be achieved. With mass customization, customers are given the value advantage through flexible manufacturing and customized adaptation. Product life cycles also can be improved through effective use of SCM. Value advantage also changes the norm of traditional offerings that is ‘one-size-fits-all.’ Through SCM, the more accepted offerings by the industry to the consumers would be a variety of products catered to different market segments and customers preferences.

As an example, the Toyota Production System practiced in Toyota, evaluates its supply chain and determines what is value added activities and what is not value added activities. Non added value activities are considered to be ‘Muda’ or waste and therefore must be eliminated. Such non added value activities are overproduction, waiting, unnecessary transport, over processing, excess inventory, unnecessary movement, defects and unused employee creativity. The steps taken to eliminate waste are through Kaizen, Kanban, Just-in-time and also push-pull production to meet actual customer’s demands. The Toyota Production System revolutionise the Supply Chain Management towards becoming a leaner supply chain system that is more agile and flexible towards meeting the end users demands.

[ad_2]

Source by Razamith Sovereign

[ad_1]

In today’s competitive world shorter product life cycles, customers rapid demands and quickly changing business environment is putting lot of pressures on manufacturers for quicker response and shorter cycle times. Now the manufacturers put pressures on their suppliers. One way to ensure quick turnaround is by holding inventory, but inventory costs can easily become prohibitive. A wiser approach is to make your production agile, able to adapt to changing customer demands. This can only be done by JUST IN TIME (JIT) philosophy.

Taiichi Ohno, a former shop manager and eventually vice president of Toyota Motor Company, is the individual credited most for the with the development of just-in-time. It is a term used to describe the Toyota production system, is widely recognized today as the one of the most efficient manufacturing system in the world. In simple words we can explain JIT only required necessary units be provided in necessary quantities at necessary times. Producing one unit extra is as bad is being one unit short. Completing one day early is as bad as finishing one day late. Items are supplied “just-in-time”. Ohno describes the development of JIT as

*By actually trying, various problems become known. As much problems become gradually clear, they taught me the direction of the next move. I think that we can only understand how all of these pieces fit together in hindsight.

The concept is very simple, if you produce only what you need when you need it, then there is no room of error. JIT has truly changed the face of manufacturing and transformed the global economy. JIT is both a philosophy and collection of management methods and techniques used to eliminate waste (particularly inventory). In JIT workers are multifunctional and are required to perform different tasks. Machines are also multifunction and are arranged in small U-shaped work cells that enable parts to processed in a continuous flow through the cell. Workers produce pars one at a time within cells and transport those parts between cells in small lots. Environment is kept clean and free of waste so that any unusual occurrence are visible. Schedules are prepared only for the final assembly line, in which several different models are assembled at the same line. Requirements for the component parts and subassemblies are then pulled through the system. The “PULL” element of JIT will not work unless production is uniform and lot sizes are low. Pull system is also used to order material from suppliers (fewer in numbers usually). They make be requested to make multiple deliveries of the same item in the same day, so the manufacturing system must be flexible.

Just-in-time inventory is viewed as the waste of resources and considered as obstacle in improvement. As there is little buffer inventory between the workstations, so the quality must be high and efforts are made to prevent machine breakdowns. When all these things are taken into consideration, system produces high-quality goods, quickly and at low cost. This system is also being able to respond to changes in customer demands. These elements of JIT can also be applied to the almost any operation, including service operations.*K.Suzuki, The Manufacturing Challenge(New York: Free Press, 1985), p250

[ad_2]

Source by Ali Abbas

[ad_1]

It’s well known in the automotive industry that consumers may prefer certain cars during specific times in their lives. Younger drivers tend to like cars that are really aggressive and sporty like the Ford Mustang or something a bit quirkier like the Fiesta. Older drivers may prefer something a bit more comfortable and easygoing like the Ford Taurus. Demographics is important to car manufacturers because this information is used to create advertising and market products toward specific demographics.

Let’s take a look at a car that tends to appeal to people of all ages, incomes and backgrounds; this car is the Toyota Prius. I’ve seen the Prius driven by young professionals as well as families and even seniors. Even though old and young drivers may vary drastically when it comes to their taste, everyone seems to recognize environmental problems and wants to make a difference when it comes to keeping the planet cleaner. The cost of gas is another factor that seems to affect everyone regardless of their age or stage in life.

Most folks attending college or on the verge of building careers are generally cash strapped. As a result they tend to favor economical and efficient cars such as the Ford Focus, Ford Fiesta or Ford Edge. Ford’s cars offer excellent mileage and some models are even nearing the 40 mpg mark which is great for a young person on a budget. Cars like the Honda Accord and For Edge are also quite popular with young drivers.

Sports cars like the Mustang and Camaro are also a big hit with teens; males in particular. Car modification is popular with younger drivers. This may include lowering the car to the ground, adding rims and beefing up the sound system. Both of these cars have a lot of horsepower and are well known for their speed. Quirky cars like the Nissan Rogue can also be popular because they are quirky and epitomize fun and youthfulness.

Middle aged folks are usually getting settled into their careers and may want something a bit more sophisticated and conservative. Most have access to disposable income now and thus can afford pricier autos such as those in the middle-level luxury segment. Cars such as the Toyota Avalon and those from Volvo fit the bill exactly.

Older seniors tend to like the big and comfortable sedan’s. This may include the Ford Taurus or bigger cars like those from Cadillac and Buick. Seniors tend to prefer the classic styling of these cars.

[ad_2]

Source by Jacqueline Star

[ad_1]

In the early 1970’s, Japanese cars had a reputation of getting good mileage, but very little else. They were small, tinny and not very attractive. General Motors was the monolithic corporate giant that dominated the auto industry. Now, of course, Japanese automakers dominate the auto industry, and General Motors is a corporate dinosaur on the verge of extinction. What happened over the past 40 years can be viewed from many perspectives, and fingers can be pointed in many directions, but one of those directions is toward the United Auto Workers.

The evolution of Toyota and Nissan is very American – underdogs taking on an industry leader, using great ideas and new technologies. It seemed to all start in 1970, with the introduction of the Datsun 240Z This was a great little sports car that young Americans wanted to drive. It didn’t matter that it was made by a Japanese company. It was reasonably priced, well-made, fast and cool, and it began a run that continues to this day.

Throughout the 1970’s and 1980’s, American automakers slowly gave away the trust they had earned from American consumers. They seem to have traded in on their name and brands, producing planned-obsolescent, tinny versions of once great cars. And despite this, they continued to make huge profits from a generation that still saw the Japanese as somewhat of an enemy, and buying American as a form of patriotism.

It seemed that the good times would always roll, and so the UAW sought to share the wealth with its members. Unions have a history of balancing the scale of corporate profits and workers wages, but the UAW wanted more than that – they wanted long-term job security bolted to the status quo, and benefits packages second to none. In the 1970’s and 1980’s, college graduates were entering the workforce in large numbers – a tide of Baby Boomers armed with new ideas looking for ways to change the world. But the auto industry wasn’t the place for them. The combination of strong market share and union benefits had turned a dream job of ideas and innovations into an assembly line of mediocrity.

The lure of General Motors had become its UAW inspired benefits package, and the security of knowing that it was nearly impossible to lose your union-protected job. And while Japanese automakers improved efficiency, incorporated new technologies, designed new innovations and made cool cars, the US auto industry was anchored to the past, and is now sinking from the weight of that short-sighted greed.

So, here we are, in September of 2007. General Motors is in deep financial trouble, having lost its market leadership, reputation, and consumer loyalty, while each of their new cars costs $1500 more, just to pay retired worker’s benefits – the so called legacy costs. Toyota and other Japanese and Korean automakers are winning the game our way. And what of the UAW – now itself a far less powerful force because the Americans working in Japanese auto plants don’t want to join the union – they called a strike because they don’t want to assume more responsibility for health care costs.

It seems that General Motors is an aging wood ship – off course, and in stormy seas, while the union wants to take boards from its hull to improve the rooms of its workers. General Motors, as it’s been, will sink – simply because they cannot compete in the marketplace they helped create. But they only need to look at what the Japanese did to overthrow them, and remember that the Japanese took a page from what they used to be.

George R. Lovelock, Writer/Producer, New York

[ad_2]

Source by George Lovelock

[ad_1]

When you step on the forklift brakes of your Toyota or Hyster truck, you expect it to stop, on a dime. Otherwise, you could smash a load onto a wall or, worse, drive into a co-worker. Like those on any other motorized vehicle, forklift brakes are what stop the truck when it is in motion. There are two types of systems used in most forklifts today: the drum brake and the wet disc brake. Many of the major brands like Nissan, Yale, Mitsubishi and Komatsu offer models with drums and discs.

With the drum system, you step on the brake pedal and the force is transferred through the brake fluid to brake cylinders which push the brake shoes outwards. The shoes, in turn, press against the drums attached to the wheels causing the wheels to stop rotating. Drum brakes are simple, reliable and easy to maintain. They are less expensive to produce than disc brakes and are still preferred for smaller vehicles like motorbikes. They are also standard equipment in most forklifts with lower load-bearing capacities.

In the disc brake system, discs made of cast iron are connected to the axles or the wheels. In a Hyundai forklift, they are attached to the output shaft of the drive motor. Brake pads mounted on brake calipers are hydraulically forced against both sides of the discs. Friction causes the discs and the wheels, to which they are attached, to stop rotating. Forklift manufacturers usually install disc brakes on their heavy-duty models, often as standard equipment on trucks rated over 10,000 lbs. Trucks with disc brakes can stop in a shorter distance than those with drum brakes. They take longer to suffer brake fade and stay dry longer in wet weather.

Because friction is part of the process, forklift brakes are subjected to constant stress. It is, therefore, important to inspect them often and subject them to a regular maintenance program. When the drum brake does not offer any resistance or makes squeaking noises, it’s time to take a closer look at it. For drum systems, good maintenance means making sure that the fluid is topped up at all times and that there are no leaks in the lines. Worn out shoes and pads should be replaced. Drum brakes usually require servicing after every 1,500 hours of use.

With disc brakes, maintenance requirements are significantly less resulting in lower downtime. Disc brakes are sealed to protect them from rust and contamination, and are immersed in oil so that the parts last longer. However, brake pads and discs will wear out and have to be replaced. Brake discs should last twice as long as the brake pads. Brake discs should always be replaced in pairs for balanced braking action.

So, whether your truck uses drum brakes or disc brakes, regular check ups and periodic maintenance of forklift brakes will make sure that the truck stops and your business keeps on going.

[ad_2]

Source by Jack Ranger