Studying Management Information System Of Starbucks Information Technology Essay

Studying Management Information System Of Starbucks Information Technology Essay In this thrilling subject, i would be focusing on the Management Information System of Starbucks. It is no doubt that this firm in question, is one popular and well patronised firm amongst many. That being said, i would be doing justice to the very background of this organization in question and i would elucidate in tangible details their IT systems, schemes and practices and lastly, i would be recommending what i see fit to suite the organisation even in this era of technology. But before i proceed, i would like to briefly define MIS(Management Information System) MIS (Management Information System) This may be defined as a general word for computer systems in an enterprise or organisation which provides information or details on firms business operations. Its also refers to the people who manage and maintain these systems. Furthermore, in a large corporation, MIS or the MIS department refers to a central or centrally-coordinated system of pc expertise and management, and entire network of computer resources in a business organization (firm). Starbucks was first introduced in Seattles Pike Place Market in 1971. Back then, the company was called Starbucks Coffee, Tea ans Spices before change into what we have known today, Starbucks Coffee Company. Today, there are approximately 16, 706 Starbucks stores in 50 countries. The first ever Srabucks store in Malaysia opened on December 1998, located at KL Plaza, Jalan Bukit Bintang, Kuala Lumpur. Later, there are more than 115 Starbacks stores in Malaysia.Basically, their buyers will travel to Africa, Asia and Latin America to choose only the best quality of arabica beans. These high quality beans will be sent for roasting and production. Starbucks experts then only combine the roasted beans with Italian style expresso beverages to produce different type of cold and hot coffee beverages. The famous products introduced by Starbucks company and mainly can be found in all of its stores include more than 30 blends single-origin premier arabica coffees. As for their own signature of handcrafted beverages such as hot and iced expresso beverage, coffee and non-coffee blended beverages Vivanno smoothies, Frappuccino bottled coffee or blended and premium ice creams with the and brewed coffee and also tea product,Tazo Tea. Merchandises are also offered by Starbucks are coffee mugs and accessories. Customers not only can enjoy sipping their high quality coffee beverage but also indulging on baked pastries, sandwiches and cakes. The company focuses in providing a relax, comfortable atmosphere with modern fittings. It is an ideal place for hanging out with friends and families, with entertainment magazines to read. Most of the Starbucks company offer free wi-fi for their customers, so it is a great advantage to business people discussing on their work or students doing some research for assignments/ projects. POS P.O.S which stands for Point of Sale is a front-of-the-house system use by Starbucks company. Only employees with given authorization can access to this system such as Assistant Manager, Shift Supervisor, and Store Manager. Types of transactions can be made by the manager include paid in, paid out in the cases of emergencies or using the cash to buy supplies needed by the store. Other than that, making amendments for transaction mistakes in a form of refund. Important for inventory control as well. List of all food and beverages and merchandise sold are recorded in the P.O.S system. Wastage cost might as well be stored. All these vital information of dailys operation are transferred to a Management Work Station system to be analysed and evaluated. The information will be transform into a measurable data for decision making purposes. Manager Work Station (MWS) Manager Work station is the back of house computer system which prepares and sends all store information to adequately manage all parts of the store business. It brings access to real-time system wide reporting at store level. It shows all the various functions provided on the Intelligent Restaurant Information System (IRIS), of which some are only usable by partners with the accurate security. It helps the store manager to manage the store and also help the franchisees manage their entire market chain. It can be used in the office where there is a pc connected to an intranet of which is a private link channel for staffs to use the organization network that resembles the internet. It is required to log on with a passkey and ID to use the system. The system detects security level and allows using the method assigned to the security level. The staff can only use the time button option, which is a method that saves staff clock in and out for lunch and shifts. A begining of day and end of day is also saved into the very system on a daily bases. Shift managers can use cash control methods that are used to count cashboxes, change or fix transactions and to make ready everyday bank deposit. A menu of available reports is provided on a report menu. The Store manager can use these reports to follow sales, check customer transactions within various hours range, to view sale by product category, to save wastage, to carry finance audit. All these informations are relevant to Store Managers for them to pin out business requirements and customer needs, to check peak time in the store, to maximize or change product ordering, to manage wastage and monitor stock and choose whether it is necessary to reduce labour. Managers can use staff information and personal records in the work station, they can place new partners, cut off partners, manage employee records, watch employees training and process payroll. The payroll process carries over details to the support centre in order to pay partners. Store Manager and the shift supervisors can use the IRIS System to process electronic ordering for food, stationery, packaging. Hardware Example of hardware used for the computer system in Starbucks company include ISDN (Integrated Services Digital Network) modem and speed touch cable modem. These two are connect the Starbucks computer system to its retail network system. Wireless internet connection by T-mobile allows consumers to have the access of the available wireless network. Cisco Wireless and Cisco Routers are the type of equipment used as well. Other hardware output devices used include printers to process receipts. For security purposes, chips and pins for the payment made by credit card or debit card. A confidential security number (Pin number ) is required when making payment by either of these two cards. No signing is required. Further more, the Starbucks firm, uses Intel based systems and fast Computers. In terms of functionality, the Starbucks firm is bent on getting hardwares(PC) that have great and outstanding specifications to avoid slow down on business. A sample spec would be: A PC with 512 Memory or 1GB. And A flat screen monitor and processor speed of 2.40GHZ and a HDD of 150GB to 200GB. The company has a nac for greater heights that why its no surprise that Starbucks is doing greatly well in terms of their ability to maintain their standards. Software OS (Operating System): As we all know, the I.T age is springing forth with lots of softwares and technology all with the focus of improving the lives of humans in all ramification of life. Having said that, the Starbucks company makes use of Windows based softwares for their computers which is categorized in the hardware section. They run applications that aid their business. Example POS, Excel and others. Excel is often used for their spreadsheet needs. When it comes to system software for driving their hardwares, they run windows XP or 7. Current themes and practices This Starbucks new idea of POS was introduced earlier this year and only available in all 6,800 Starbucks stores in the United States. This process only applicable to consumers with Blackberry or iPhone. The first steps will require consumers to download the Starbucks Card Mobile Application to their phones. Once he / she enters their registered Starbucks gift cards number into their phone and when they obtained the application, the card number is automatically saved. Consumer upon arriving at Starbucks counter can just inform the employee to make payments for their order via mobile phone. He / she then opens up the Starbucks Card Mobile Applications, choose the payment screen in the application where the 2D bar code appear showing the consumers Starbucks card. When this process is completed, Starbucks employee will key in payments made by mobile phone in the P.O.S system and asked the consumer to place their phones under the customer facing imager for scanning. The 2D bar-code is de tected and treated the transactions in the likes of a giftcard, based on the normal payment verification procedures. Consumer can just enjoy their coffee once the transaction is done. However, there are some setbacks of this new P.O.S strategy implemented by Starbucks. First, not all retailers practice the use of stored value card or known as giftcard. Secondly, Starbucks focuses on potential users with key smart phones, such as iPhone and Blackberry. It only covers the consumer demographic of savvy consumers at the U.S where most the people are iPhones and Blackberry users compared to consumers in Malaysia. Not all Starbuckss mobile payments scheme is negative since this methods of payment can actually help Starbucks to cover up the cost of operational system, able to record loyalty data of consumers and balance of cash as well. Since payments are charged on the consumers giftcard, means that the 2D bar-code payment system is actually connected to the card. Besides, payment made th is way is different compared to the legislation for payment made by credit card or debit card . Evaluation: 4).Starbucks also runs a high scale of management in handling their I.T related issues. They are I.T aware such that, they have good network services. An example would be, Starbucks offers free WIFI Zone. An attraction for a customer on the move. The firm has VOIP services for communication with other chains around the globe. As we live in a net centric age, Starbucks has made it a perfect fit, to incorporate most I.T business related schemes into their business. A good analyses on this company, would however show us that Starbucks uses the I.T based things to build their customer range. It is however no secret that most competitors have based their examples on companies in the likes of Starbucks. Some practices in Starbucks, include some discount sales issued by the management. A customer however sees this as a grand opportunity to have a 50%(Percent) discount on whatever he buys and also enjoys free internet. This indeed is a wise practice. The ManagementInformation system has in many ways, made things easy for staffs. Most messages to staffs are communicated via the network. As fore mentioned, Starbucks uses intranets and internet(Voip). This helps in forwarding swift messages to workers in the company. In addition to the newest development of MIS, payments made via mobile phones currently introduced in the Unites States is also one of the best P.O.S strategies to reduce the cost of operation. This company also makes judicious use of their MIS by running web based adverts and all. The firm keeps its customers continuously aware of products and new recipes that might be tried in a given time. Thus, their market base increases undoubtedly. Marketing Analysis: Retails: Recommendation: In my opinion having patronised Starbucks from time to time, i would suggest the following: Starbucks should try in purchasing a reasonably fast internet with low traffic. They should try to maintain their hardwares and try upgrades from time to time, to avoid being left out in the dark age of slow computing. They should employ staffs that are more I.T learned to avoid difficulty in system operations. They should embrace more of touch screen services. And what i mean is, buying gadgets(hardwares) that provide self service for each customer. The MIS should continually see to it that customers are intrigued by the brilliant I.T based services that Starbucks provide thus leaving the customers spell bound to return and purchase more items . They could also provide on screen advertisements for new generation hardwares this in itself, could be an avenue for Starbucks to get paid for advertising for I.T firms in the cities and wherever . They could also make a web based system, that would enable customers to order online to ease driving out of the office at lunch. Conclusion: At this juncture, it is important that i reiterate that it is of immense importance that the MIS in Starbucks embraces more heightened technology hardwares to ease the work load and the number of staffs. We all in the world are aware of the generation of computers. This promises to be huge and phenomenal turn in every industry especially industries like Starbucks. As we see Managements improve their information systems, it would be an important part for Starbucks to play in their MIS. With an improved and well balanced MIS, Starbucks has what it takes to battle up for the future even competitors. Time is of the essence for firms like Starbucks this is because each day slips away and more upgrades are made to databases. To this end, i would beseech Starbucks, to keep up the very good work and embrace a new era of improved management systems. Thus increasing their profit base and client base.

The car industry: Dilemmas

The car industry: Dilemmas 1. Introduction The car industry faces a crucial weight problem resulting from increasing customer demands in terms of safety and performance. This trend leads to fully equipped cars in all classes getting more luxurious and comfortable. To escape from this vicious circle car manufacturers are forced to take action in the form of lightweight concepts. Light metals are seen as a promising opportunity to decrease the weight of a car. An increasing use of metals such as aluminium in the automotive industry shows that there is still large scope for improvements. Using aluminium car body panel is just a representative example of weight-saving effort did by car manufacturers. Aluminium has some properties that make it ideal for car bodies. The strength of aluminium frame and extruded sections is approximately the same as that of steel. However, the rigidity of aluminium is lower than that of steel. That is partly due to the modulus of elasticity of aluminium that is just one-third that of steel. (1) The effect is that aluminium has a higher elastic distortion when exposed to the same force as steel. Therefore the simple replacement of steel by aluminium engine is not an optimal solution as it does not exploit the whole scope of the advantages of aluminium. New ways need to be pursued to make full use of aluminiums advantages as a light weight material, which means it can be supplied in various aluminium alloys. Although the requirement for improved corrosion resistance and light-weighting are significant factors for use low-carbon steels in the manufacture of cars, (1) this traditional material still has some advantage such as higher strength and lower price. Many kinds of steel and aluminium alloys can be found commercially using in producing car body panels. Each material has its own characteristic. 1.1 Steel Steel is known as an alloy consisting mostly of iron, with carbon content between 0.2% and 2.1% by weight. (3) One of the main factors contributing to the utility of steels is the broad range of mechanical properties which can be obtained by heat treatment. For example, easy formability and good ductility may be necessary during fabrication of a part. Once formed very high strength part may be needed in service. Both of these material properties are achievable from the same material. All steels can be softened to some degree by annealing. The degree of softening depends on the chemical composition of the particular steel. (4) Annealing is achieved by heating to and holding at a suitable temperature followed by cooling at a suitable rate. Similarly, steels can be hardened or strengthened. This can be accomplished by cold working, heat treating, or an appropriate combination of these. Cold working is the technique used to strengthen both low carbon low alloyed steels and highly alloyed austenitic stainless steels. Only reasonably high strength levels can be attained in the carbon low alloyed steels, but the highly alloyed austenitic stainless steels can be cold worked to rather high strength levels. (5) Most steels are commonly supplied to specified minimum strength levels. Heat treating is the primary technique for strengthening the remainder of the steels. Some common heat treatment of steels is listed below: Martensitic hardening Pearlitic transformation Austempering Age hardening The recyclability of steel is brilliant and it is economically advantageous to do so. It is cheaper to recycle steel than to mine iron ore and manipulate it through the production process to form new steel. (6) 1.2 Aluminium-based alloys In the Earths crust, aluminium is the most abundant (8.3% by weight) metallic element and the third most abundant of all elements (after oxygen and silicon). Because of its strong affinity to oxygen, however, it is almost never found in the elemental state; instead it is found in oxides or silicates. Aluminium was isolated in small quantities early in the 19th century and it remained an expensive curiosity until 1886 when discovery of an economic method for its electrolyric extraction. Since then, the emergence of aluminium as a practical, commercial metal has relied primarily on the availability of electricity at economic prices. Aluminium is obtained from bauxite which is the name given to ores containing 40-60% hydrated alumina together with impurities such as iron oxides, silica and titania. Two steps are needed in the production of aluminium. First, alumina is extracted from bauxite. Second, use electrolysis to dissolve the alumina in molten cryolite and a typical electrolyte contains 80-90% of this compound and 2-8 % alumina together with additives such as aluminium and calcium fluorides. (7) Because the cryolite has a melting point as high as 1010?, the electrolysis of it needs a temperature of about 960? which wastes lots of energy and makes the cost of producing aluminium relatively higher. However, a new methodCambridge FFC which comes from the production of titanium, was introduced to China. This method use a NaCl-CaCl2 electrolyte which has a lower melting point of 520?, even lower than the melting point 660? of aluminium. By using alumina and liquid aluminium as negative electrode, the expanded reacting area on negative electrode allows the electrolysis of alumina to happen, which can theoretically reduce the electrolysis temperature to the melting point 660?. This research opens a new chapter of production of aluminium and will dramatically reduce the cost of producing aluminium some day. Generally speaking, about 85% of aluminium is used for wrought products which are produced from cast ingots. (8) The structures of alloys are greatly changed by the various working operations and thermal treatments. Each individual class of alloys behaves differently, with composition and structure dictation the working characteristics and subsequent properties that are developed. Casting aluminium alloys are also important parts of Al. Apart from light weight, the special advantages of aluminium alloys for castings are the relatively low melting temperatures, negligible solubility for all gases except hydrogen, and the good surface finish that is usually achieved with final products. Most of the cast alloys also show good fluidity and composition can be selected with solidification range appropriate to particular applications. (1) Casting alloys normally have mechanical properties that are inferior to wrought products and these properties also tend to be much more variable throughout a given component. 2 Study of possible alloy using for producing car body 2.1 Steel At present, low carbon steel sheet is most commonly used in car body production. Low-carbon steel has good machinability. Its strength and rigidity can fully meet the car body strength requirements, as well to meet the body welding requirements. 2.1.1 Low carbon steel Steel with low carbon content has properties similar to iron. Low carbon steel is the steel containing approximately 0.05-0.15% carbon. Content influences the yield strength of steel because it is a BCC structure and carbon atoms fit into the interstitial crystal lattice sites. (3) These carbon atoms reduce the mobility of dislocations. But it has a hardening effect. Because the interstitial carbon atoms cause some of the iron BCC lattice cells to distort, a high enough stress level must be applied in order for the dislocations to move. Low carbon is one of the most common steel and it is relatively cheap than most other steels. However, the strength is relatively lower, which can be seen in appendix. 2.1.2 Higher strength steel In order to reduce the weight of an automobile, it is absolutely essential to reduce the thickness of the sheet steel and compensate for loss of strength by using higher strength steel sheets. For inner panels, though a rather substantial amount of high strength steel is used, the percentage use is a little lower than in the outer panel due to stiffness limitation and insufficient formability. (9) However, the overall use of high strength steel is estimated to increase further more. The problems in press performance of high strength steel are wrinkles, surface deflection and springback, fracture especially in stretch flanging and galling on the forming tool. Until now, the average level of strength used widely is at most 400 MPa but in the near future the high strength steel with over 400 MPa may be used for the reduction of weight and in this case the forming difficulty will increase further more. (5) The thickness of a panel sheet decreases as a result of application of higher stre ngth steel. Many kinds of microstructural hardened high strength steel sheet are applied by automobile producers. Ø Dual phase steel Dual phase steel show lower yield strength compared with other types of steel having the same tensile strength because of mobile dislocations existing in the vicinity of the boundary of ferritic and martensitic phases. So presents low yield ratios. And thats why its elastic recovery after forming work is small and shape fixability is good. As it also shows larger elongation than precipitation hardened steel sheets and fatigue resistance. (3) Ø Trip steel sheet Transformation induced plasticity steel is also becoming an ideal material for car body panels. It has meta-stable austenite transformable into martensite contained up to 30% in bainite or ferrite and bainite matrix. Commercial Trip sheets have simple C-Si-Mn series chemical compositions. The simpler chemical compositions are made viable by stabilizing the austenite phase through distribution of alloy elements in the two phase region and concentration of carbon into austenite during bainite transformation. (4) 2.2 Aluminium-based alloy Pure aluminium cannot be applied to normal passenger car due to softness. Moreover, surface damages during stamping and handling are often subjected to subsequent surface hand finishing. This additional operation on the panel is usually inevitable. In contrast to pure aluminium, aluminium alloys contain solute additions which can markedly affect grain structures and particularly the microstructures within the grains. This in turn strongly influences the responses of alloys to working and heat treatment. Both crystal structure and microstructure influence mechanical properties. Slip is inhibited by grain boundaries, which are disordered regions, (and so small grains improve strength). Slip can also be made difficult by dispersing particles of another phase throughout the matrix. This indicates the typical hardening mechanism of aluminium. (9) There are some kinds of wrought aluminium alloys typically used for car body. 2.2.1 Aluminium Manganese Alloys 3xxx This series of alloys is non heat-treatable. The addition of approximately 1% manganese increases the strength by approximately 10 15% compared with 1200, without any major loss in ductility. This non-heat treatable alloy generally finds a wide application where greater strength is required without any major loss in corrosion. The addition of manganese to the chemical composition creates phases like (Mn,Fe)Al6 or (Mn,Fe)3SiAl12 that can be revealed by a solution of 10% of phosphoric acid. The grain structure obtained by work hardening or by annealing is usually revealed by anodisation. (8) 3103 is typically used for car body in the automobile industry. The composition of 3103 alluminium is 0.7% Fe, 1.5% Mn and some others. 2.2.2 Aluminium Magnesium Alloys 5xxx This series of alloys is non heat-treatable and exhibits the best combination of high strength with resistance to corrosion. This series also exhibits good weldability but when the Mg level exceed 3% there is a tendency for stress corrosion resistance to be reduced, dependent on the temper used and temperature of operation. (1) Magnesium is largely soluble in aluminum compared to the other elements, but the content in excess can appear as eutectic Mg2Al3. After cold rolling and annealing they can be found at the grain boundaries or after cold working they can precipitate on deformation bands. In both cases the structure can be revealed by an etching of 10% H3PO4. At the same time as Cr is a frequent additive in this series, Cr2Mg3Al18 may appear as a fine dispersoid. (8) 5182 can be used as car body panel. The composition of 5182 alluminium is 4.1% Mg, 0.4% Mn and some others. 2.2.3 Aluminium Magnesium Silicon Alloys 6xxx This group of heat-treatable alloys uses a combination of magnesium and silicon (magnesium Silicide) to render it heat-treatable. These alloys find their greatest strength, combined with good corrosion resistance, ease of formability and excellent ability to be anodised. This family takes the main advantages from the strengthening due to the precipitation of Mg2Si. So the etching will reveal the iron rich phases like Fe3SiAl12, Fe2Si2Al9 that are insoluble and the coarse precipitates or the excess soluble precipitates (0.5%HF). (8) Typical alloys 6009 in this group are used for car bodies. The composition of 6009 aluminium is Si 1.1%, Mg 0.6 %, Mn 0.4% and some others. 3 Study of competition between steel and Al Automobiles today are over 63% iron and steel by weight. (10) With rising energy and environmental concerns, as well as increases the performance of the car, vehicle light-weighting continues to be a prominent concern for vehicle manufacturers. At the present, more and more aluminium alloys are introduced to automobile industry because the aluminium alloys can normally meet the requirement but is only half weight of steel. However, both the traditional steel car and aluminium have their advantages or disadvantages on aspects of manufacturing, safety, repairability, cost, recyclability, and environmental protection. 3.1 Manufacturing Aluminium parts can be more complicated in their design because the high number of design solutions likes the castings available in nearly any shape. One casting can replace a complex part consisting of several steel panels. Consequently a reduction of parts up to 50% is feasible. (1) This again makes design, construction and production easier as fewer parts need to be dealt with in any stage of the design and manufacturing process. Aluminium car body has fewer parts lead to fewer tools and fixtures, which makes manufacturing easily and therefore saving working spaces and expenses. Because the sheets can tear easily, low elongation and yield limits of aluminium alloys make it difficult for stamping. This has to be taken into account when designing and building car bodies. Also a higher resilience of the sheets causes difficulties in keeping the tolerances during stamping for individual parts and therefore for the whole car body. (11) Furthermore, it is difficult to keep the body tolerances after welding processes since aluminium extrusions and cast sections behave unpredictably when subjected to uneven heat influence. The heat expansion of aluminium is higher than steel, so all fixtures need to be built more solidly and stable to cope with the higher forces. Extensive pickle treatment is necessary to create a weldable surface for aluminium car body. Also the finish of the surface for the paint shop is costly and requires a lot of time and knowledge since the sheets tend to get scratched more easily than equivalent steel panels and the surface of the sheets is liable to form waves. (12) The 6xxx series of aluminium alloys which has been used a lot for the car body requires heat treatment to achieve the demanded strength. The drying process in the paint shop is not sufficient as the conventional temperatures are not high enough. Hence, an additional heat treatment line needs to be installed to heat the car bodies up to 210Â °C for 30 min to harden the aluminium alloys. (13) This cannot be done in advance of manufacturing as it would influence the welding processes negatively. When using aluminium alloy as car body material, contact corrosion plays a much more crucial role as steel accelerates the corrosion of aluminium than using steel body. So that screws or other parts made of steel need to be coated. Otherwise holes in the car body are unavoidable when exposed to moisture. (7) 3.2 Repairability and safety aspects Nowadays, Crash tests have aroused the publics attention since occupant safety is a feature that is receiving considerable public attention. Automobile companies even promote car safety as a leading aspect in their advertising campaigns. Additionally, insurance companies set great store by repairability of cars as they cause a significant part of their costs. In some countries the expenditure per car for repairing certain types of damage is assessed and taken into account when the car is being classified for insurance. (15) In approximately 5% of all accidents the frame structure of a car is damaged. (2) This can be crucial if casting parts or extrusions are concerned as they cannot be reformed properly. They need to be replaced in sections or as a whole dependent on the severity of the accident. Cast aluminium sections especially are liable to develop cracks and consequently need to be examined carefully. Additionally, a completely different approach to repairing damage forces dealers to train their mechanics in the appropriate techniques. In particular aluminium shielded arc welding requires accuracy, practice and the appropriate equipment but not steel. This becomes a problem especially for small dealers as they cannot afford the necessary equipment or staff. (12) Also, tools must not be mixed up with steel tools to avoid corrosion caused by steel particles in the aluminium panels. A separate set of tools for aluminium is mandatory to fully avoid these effects. (14) However, the properties of aluminium offer several advantages to steel. Tubular aluminium sections crumple in the ideal way when subjected to impacts. They develop a crumple pattern that can absorb more energy than equivalent steel elements. Consequently with half the weight of steel an aluminium structural member provides the same safety. (15) 3.3 Cost It is obvious that aluminium is more expensive to manufacture than steel. The costs of a sophisticated aluminium car body are many times larger than of an ordinary steel body. This can be especially crucial when being applied to small cars as the margin there is lower than at luxury cars. Higher material costs, a more sophisticated handling of aluminium parts in comparison to steel and some alloys need heat treatment to achieve the required strength, are the main drawbacks. (9) However, the use of aluminium causes lower investments for tooling due to the fact that stamped steel parts are replaced by extrusions which cause costs only a fraction of the costs required to manufacture stamping tools. This is especially interesting for low volume series as the tooling costs here have a relatively high influence on the unit costs. Additionally, punch riveting and clinching consume less energy than spot welding and will cause lower energy costs. But the development of high volume technology for welding, riveting and bonding is a crucial issue that has kept car manufacturers from producing all-aluminium car bodies as it is accompanied by high initial investment for research, development and design. (15) 3.4 Recyclability Recycling is likely to become more important in the future as governments force industry to design fully recyclable products just as is an increasing customer awareness in terms of environmental protection and hence a growing demand for eco-friendly products. To preserve the quality of the recycled material the different alloys must not be mixed up. This is especially crucial for the production of extrusions and sheets out of recycling aluminium alloys as they have lower tolerance levels of impurities than steel. Additionally, they can only be recovered if they are not mixed with cast parts. (6) Therefore, joined aluminium alloys panels with different alloys cause problems. Also panels that are joined with steel parts like rivets make recycling problematic since steel parts need to be removed to keep the number of foreign substances low. (6) This becomes more difficult as aluminium cannot be magnetically separated from other wastes. In order to recycle aluminium only a fraction of the original energy consumption is needed, even less than for recycling steel. 3.5 Environmental protection The environmental issues of different materials can be assessed by a comparison of the energy household of an aluminium and steel-made car during production and over their whole lives. Only having regard to all processes that cause energy consumption during production and operating life can an accurate result be given of the eco-friendliness of a car. It includes material cycles and the amounts of energy needed to produce and maintain a car during operating life time, including fuel. (15) If primary material is used, aluminium starts with a drawback of an additional energy consumption during production. Compared with steel, far higher amounts of energy are needed to produce lightweight metals like aluminium. For illustration, a car could achieve a weight reduction of 20 kg by the intensive use of aluminium alloys body other than the steel one. The additional energy consumed could be compensated after 3500 miles. After having covered this distance, the energy comparison works in favour of aluminium. A further comparison can be made in terms of carbon dioxide emissions. If primary aluminium is used it takes 60000 miles until the lighter aluminium auto has compensated the higher CO2 emission during production. However, when the proportion of recycled, secondary aluminium exceeds 75% the CO2 emission household is positive for aluminium from the first instance. (1) 4 Summary Considering the energy and environmental issues, using light weight metal for car bodies will be the trends in the near future. However, the traditional steel products still have the advantage of price and easy for manufacturing. Apart from luxuries cars already using light metal bodies, steel car bodies still take a large part of auto body market for it cheaper price and relatively better mechanical properties.

Uncertified Teachers in Prince George’s County Schools :: essays papers

Uncertified Teachers in Prince George’s County Schools Prince George’s County has been the largest school district in Maryland for the past more than twenty years. However, as a result of under funding, compared to other Maryland public school districts, Prince George’s County sustains the second highest percentage of uncertified teachers in the state. The lack of certified teachers has left lasting negative effects on the Prince George’s county school system. This problem goes much deeper than Prince George’s County, uncertified teacher are being allowed into the classroom all over the country and have been for the last couple of decades, mainly due to teacher shortages. By definition "a qualified teacher is expected to have a broad background of general education as well as professional preparation."(Teacher) it has never been considered satisfactory for a student to complete on 60% of material taught, why should it be different for teachers? In the early 1980s during a teacher shortage graduates of teacher education programs had lower levels of academic achievement than most college graduates and were still allowed to teach. In 1991-92, 16,000 teachers nationwide were uncertified. Currently, 37 of 39 states employ waivers, which allow failing teachers into classrooms. Past attempts at solutions were Teachers for America, Experimental Certification of Ethnic Colleagues for Elementary Schools, provisional certification, and emergency certification. Teachers for America is a very easy, "six week crash course in teacher survival skills taught primarily by teachers from their troubled placement sites."(Roth, 220) These teachers are said to bring "enthusiasm and intellect" to the classroom. In inner city and urban school systems, where most of the student body is poor and in the greatest need of good teachers, the TFA teachers are installed. While TFA is a good idea and puts teachers in classrooms, some say that the children who are being used as guinea pigs for this experimental teacher training are suffering. However, after receiving praise from some major cities, its training program was approved in 1995 and it "received $2 million from AmeriCorps, President Clinton’s national service initiative."(Mosle, 3) Experimental Certification of Ethnic Colleagues for Elementary Schools (E3) was an effort to "increase the representation of males and people of color on teaching staffs of elementary schools,"(Shade, 261) in response to teacher shortages. This solution was implemented for three years and was very successful. Provisional certification is given to a person who has been certified in another state and has passed the Praxis II, "but who needs one or two courses Maryland requires for teachers.

Sony Corporation :: GCSE Business Marketing Coursework

Sony Corporation History: In January of 1958, the already well-known and successful Japanese electronics company, Totsuko, adopted â€Å"Sony† as it’s new corporate name. This new name, â€Å"Sony†, was an original brand name that was originally applied on Totsuko products. Even though Sony is well known for being a leader in audio-visual electronics and information technology for consumers at home, they also have reached out to larger businesses worldwide. In 1978 they formed Sony Broadcast Ltd., which focused on providing broadcast stations the best, quality products and services. This branch of the Sony Corporation is still very successful today. Sony has gone on to form a chemical corporation as well, which can provide physicians, doctors, and researchers with certain measuring and necessary tools. Product Mix: Sony Corporation’s product mix is comprised of many different products targeted towards many different market segments. Almost every Sony product though can be placed under the category of â€Å"electronics†. They sell products and services globally such as televisions, VCR’s, stereos, computers, memory devices, video game systems, digital and non-digital cameras and camcorders, Lithium batteries, fingerprint ID units, certain measuring equipment, and even shatter proof film for glass through their chemical corporation. Workforce: The workforce of the Sony Corporation is very large. For the fiscal year that ended on March 31, 2001, it was estimated that 181,800 total people were employed for the Sony Corporation. Of this total, 23,000 employees are currently working in U.S. plants and offices. There are major research and development and engineering facilities in the U.S. located in California, New York, and Colorado with manufacturing facilities being located in the same locations in addition to Alabama, New Jersey, Texas, Oregon, and Indiana. Future Outlook: Today Sony is a leading music company, motion picture company, television production company, manufacturer of game consoles, and inventor of many new professional products such as VAIO personal computers.

Similarities Between Franz Liszt And Kurt Cobain :: essays research papers fc

Similarities Between Franz Liszt and Kurt Cobain Franz Liszt was one of many classical composers. In some ways, he can be compared to a modern rock and roll star. Franz Liszt was born in Raiding, Hungary, on October 22, 1811. Much like Mozart, he was a very great piano player at a very young age. Liszt composed an opera called Don Sancho at the age of fourteen. Professionals of Liszt's time thought that he was only a genius with the piano, which was not enough to give his ideas the great recognition they deserved. Many people thought that Liszt was â€Å"a mover and a shaker, a rebel, chased women, and had much talent and personality." He had invented the solo recital. When Liszt had a concert, he usually played his own music and came out wearing decorations hanging on chains, which was unusual for his time. For two years Liszt was hospitalized for a nervous breakdown. In some ways he was much like Kurt Cobain, the late lead singer of the rock band Nirvana. Kurt Cobain was born on February 20, 1967, in Aberdeen, Washington. He was passed on to several relatives after his parents divorced when he was eight years old. For some time he even lived under a bridge and was hospitalized for a heroin addiction. It was not entirely unexpected that Cobain committed suicide. He had had entered a coma by overdosing on a mixture of champagne and tranquilizers on March 4. Also, Kurt's family history showed that two of his father's uncles committed suicide, along with the fact that there were a lot of dysfunctional marriages and alcoholism present. During a concert, Kurt would jerk around as if he was being electrocuted. After his death, the sale of Nirvana memorabilia increased dramatically. As you can see, both Franz Liszt and Kurt Cobain have some characteristics in common. They had both been hospitalized for an illness. However, one was physical while the other was mental. Both had unusual concert styles. Like many classical composers, Kurt was not truly appreciated until his

Is Coalition Government Here to Stay?

Context In many democratic countries, such as Germany, France, India, Israel and Italy, government by a coalition of political parties is considered normal. Often in such countries there are many political parties with a significant level of popular support in elections. This means no one party usually can gain more than 30% of the seats in the parliament or national assembly, so it is necessary for several parties to come together to form a viable government, generally under the premiership of the leader of the largest party involved. In other states, such as the UK, USA and Japan, there are fewer significant political parties and coalitions are rare, as after an election a winning party is able to form an effective government without any help from others. This debate is closely related to issues of voting reform, as countries with some form of proportional representation tend to have more political parties in parliament than those that use a first-past-the-post system, and so are more likely to have coalition governments. Arguments Pros Cons Coalition government is more democratic, and hence fairer, because it represents a much broader spectrum of public opinion than government by one party alone. In almost all coalitions, a majority of citizens voted for the parties which form the government and so their views and interests are represented in political decision-making. Coalition government is actually less democratic as the balance of power is inevitably held by the small parties who can barter their support for concessions from the main groups within the coalition. This means that a party with little popular support is able to impose its policies upon the majority by a process of political blackmail. Possible examples of this might include the role of religious parties in Israel, the Greens in Germany and France, and the demand of constitutional reforms by the Lib Dems in the UK as their price of coalition support in a future hung parliament. Democracy may be further undermined if the process of coalition-making is subject to the whim of a monarch or president, able to decide who to ask to attempt to form a government, whether to call new elections, etc. Coalition government creates a more honest and dynamic political system, allowing voters a clearer choice at election time. In countries where coalition government is very rare, such as the UK or USA, the main parties straddle a wide spectrum of opinion and can be seen as coalitions of competing interest groups and ideologies. At elections, however, such parties present themselves, perhaps fraudulently, to voters as united behind particular views and policies, whereas in power their internal divisions may have a serious, and often unseen, impact upon decision-making. In countries with coalition governments the greater number of political parties gives the voter a more honest choice and brings differences of opinion out into the open for debate. It is also easier for parties to split, or new ones to be formed, as new political issues divide opinion, because new parties still have a chance of a share in political power. Coalition government is less transparent. Because a party has no real chance of forming a government alone, the manifestos they present to the public become irrelevant and often wildly unrealistic. Real decisions about political programmes are made after the election, in a process of secretive back-room negotiation from which the public is excluded. This undermines accountability, as voters cannot expect individual parties in a coalition to deliver upon their particular manifesto promises, unlike the single-party governments in the USA and UK. Accountability is also absent when a coalition government falls, either after an election or through the defection of some of its supporters. Any new administration will tend to include most of the parties and politicians from the previous government, with just a little shuffling of coalition partners and ministerial jobs. Coalitions provide good government because their decisions are made in the interests of a majority of the people. Because a wide consensus of opinion is involved, any policy will be debated thoroughly within the government before it is implemented. Single-party government is much more likely to impose badly thought-out policies upon parliament and people, perhaps for narrowly ideological reasons (for example, the poll tax in the UK). When difficult or historic decisions have to be taken, for example in wartime, or over an issue such as membership of the European Union or NATO, the consent of politicians representing a wide range of interests and opinion is important in committing the country and its people to difficult but necessary courses of action. Coalitions provide bad government because they are unable to take a long-term view. Sometimes an ideological compass is necessary for governments to navigate in difficult political and economic waters, and coalitions lack such a unifying philosophy. In addition planning for the long-term often requires decisions to be made that are unpopular in the short-term. Coalitions often fail such tests because temporary unpopularity may encourage one of the parties involved to defect, in search of a populist advantage. It might be agreed that sometimes exceptional circumstances, such as war, require a coalition government (although the USA did not have one in either World War). This does not mean that such governments are better in normal conditions. Major constitutional decisions are better dealt with through referenda. Coalition government provides more continuity in administration. In countries without a tradition of coalition governments, parties can remain in government or opposition for long periods, and an adversarial political culture develops. When a change does occur, the members of the new administration seldom have any experience of government to draw upon, and often embark upon a wholesale reversal of the previous regime’s policies; neither of these things is in the public interest. In states with coalition politics, however, there are usually at least some ministers with considerable experience under the previous government. A more consensual style of politics also allows for a more gradual and constructive shift of policy between administrations. Coalition governments are very unstable, often collapsing and reforming at frequent intervals – Italy, for example, averages more than one government per year since 1945. This greatly restricts the ability of governments to deal with major reforms and means that politicians seldom stay in any particular ministerial post for long enough to get to grips with its demands. At the same time, this squabbling between political parties erodes the confidence of the public in their political system and in their elected representatives. Finally, evern forming coalitions can take so long that a country may drift along for months with caretaker governments that lack authority – both the Czech Republic and Belgium took over six months to negotiate new governing coalitions after their last elections.

Daily Lives Essay

WW1 had just ended and the soldiers who were fighting were returning home. When the men returned home they found things were much different than when they had left, women were working. Transitioning was very difficult for the men because they were used to the women cleaning and cooking, not getting ready for work. It was very hard for a husband and wife to both get ready for work in the morning but with all the new inventions such as the hairdryer and the electric razor it made getting ready for work much faster and easier. Before the 1920s, women had to blow-dry their hair by inserting a flexible pipe in the exhaust of a vacuum cleaner. In 1920, the first hair dryer was invented. Women were so excited even though the machine was not quit designed well, and got overheated easily, it was still better than using a vacuum cleaner! For the men the first electric razor was a revolutionary invention. As one could shave quickly without using soap, or water, electric razors grew in demand qu ickly. For breakfast they could simply put a piece of bread into the pop up toaster. It was a quick easy meal to eat before work. After a long day at work the family can come home and sit in their recliners and quickly eat a frozen food dinner so they would be on time for their favorite radio station, KDKA on the radio together. After eating breakfast, they would get in their car and drive to work. By late 1920s, the automobile had confidently proven itself as the newest and most popular means of road transportation. The invention of the automobile made it much easier and quicker to drive to work, rather than walking or driving a buggy. Because of the invention of the automobile it made it conceivable to live a further distance from work, making the option of different career choices available, and possibly better jobs. The invention of the car radio was very enjoyable while on their way to work and once again they could listen to KDKA on the radio. The traffic signal was very helpful and after they were invented and put into use there was a decrease in the number of accidents that frequently occurred because of  missed communications between drivers. Working conditions in the early part of the 20th century were dirty, crowded, and dangerous. Factory jobs were booming, and more families were moving to the cities to find opportunities. The reason the factory jobs were going so quickly was because of the need for assembly line workers. People could also work in construction companies and now were able to use the huge shovel called the bull dozer instead of using the shovel manually. This was a big time saver for the construction companies. Also the Radial Arm Saw was invented and was used for cutting long pieces of lumber and could also be used in construction. The men were able to do their work in more than half the time. Plus with both of this invention it helped alleviate people having as much back pain. The jobs of detectives became more efficient because of the invention of the lie detector. The device measured the heartbeats and breathing rate of a person in order to check whether the person was lying. With the invention of the Audiometer it made the results of a hearing test more efficient and made it easier doctors to evaluate hearing loss. In the 1920s when 3-D movies were coming out and the radio had just been invented people were happy as their social life was booming. People were using instant cameras, and loud speakers were being used at sporting events. One of the most exciting inventions for people was when they went to a carnival they could have the thrill of their life by riding the famous Tilt -a – Whirl for the first time. It changed their life in several ways such as making thing faster and easier and more efficient, and way more exciting. Technology has changed a lot since t he 1920’s and continues to change daily. I hope the United States continues to have entrepreneurs who never give up trying to make new technology that can better the world and help those who live in it. http://www.ask.com/question/transportation-in-the-1920s