Sensor-based ICT Systems for Smart Societies

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Integrated Risk Management for Mega Events

The largest special events (mega events) such as World’s Fairs and Expositions, the FIFA World Cup Final, or the Olympic Games put a tremendous amount of pressure on the food production chain associated with these events, increasing the potential for food safety and security breaches. Any breach could have harmful consequences for both the people attending the event and the companies supplying the event. Evolving in such a context where normal operations take place on a much larger scale, both in terms of volume and visibility, requires a re-evaluation of standard risk management procedures. This report provides managers with an invaluable risk-analysis grid specific to the food industry, which identifies the main risk factors and undesirable outcomes associated with mega events. Once this is done, appropriate risk management strategies can be implemented. No date is fixed to share the complete version of the document. Les événements spéciaux de grande envergure (les méga-événements), tels que les expositions universelles, la finale de la Coupe du monde de la FIFA ou les Jeux Olympiques, exercent des pressions énormes sur la chaîne de production et de distribution alimentaire associée à ces événements. Les caractéristiques propres à ces méga-événements augmentent, par le fait même, les risques d’atteinte à la sûreté et à la sécurité des aliments. Toute défaillance dans la chaîne alimentaire pourrait entraîner des conséquences néfastes à la fois sur les participants et sur les entreprises reliées à l’événement. Le fait d’évoluer dans un tel contexte, où les activités normales se déroulent sur une échelle beaucoup plus grande, en termes de volume et de visibilité, nécessite une réévaluation des procédures normales de gestion des risques. Le présent rapport offre aux gestionnaires une grille indispensable d’analyse de risques. Celle-ci est spécifique à l’industrie alimentaire et définit les principaux facteurs de risque et les effets indésirables liés aux méga-événements. Une fois cette étape franchie, des stratégies adéquates de gestion des risques peuvent être adoptées. Aucune date n'a encore été fixée pour rendre disponible la version complète du document.Food Safety, Food Security, Food Supply Chain, Risk, Mega-Event, Risk Management, Risk Factor, Risk Analysis Grid, Sécurité alimentaire, sûreté alimentaire, chaîne d’approvisionnement (supply chain), risque, méga-événement, gestion du risque, facteur de risque, grille d’analyse des risques

Supply chain coordination in the Canadian beef industry : assessing the opportunities and constraints

In recent years, the beef industry has been forced to examine improving supply chain coordination in order to respond to the declining consumer demand for beef. Exploring the different supply chain structures being used by beef industry participants to improve coordination and provide consumers with differentiated beef products is important. The problem is that it is not clear how the different attributes often included in branded beef programs affect transaction costs and result in the formation of particular supply chain structures. This thesis examines what makes a successful supply chain alliance in the beef industry. Essentially, this study examines the sustainability and effectiveness of different alliance types and their ability to coordinate various branded beef programs and the product attributes included under these programs. A predictive transaction cost model is developed, which examines how different product attributes result in the emergence of particular transaction characteristics. The model shows how the structure of the supply chain adapts in order to minimize the associated transaction costs. In order to better understand the relative importance of different transaction characteristics to supply chain participants, a two-part empirical study was conducted. In the first portion of the study the relative importance of key transaction characteristics to cow-calf operators was examined through the use of conjoint analysis. The results from the conjoint analysis indicate that certain transaction characteristics, namely asset specific investments, limit the willingness of cow-calf operators to participate in alliances due to the associated transaction costs. Cow-calf operators placed an emphasis on premiums, which shows that while they are willing to make trade-offs and accept increased costs, associated with asset specific investments and price uncertainty, they are only willing to do this when benefits are greater than costs. To further understand the importance of different transaction characteristics to supply chain participants, key managers and directors of different beef alliances throughout Canada and the United States were interviewed. Based on the interviews it appears that alliances have typically limited the level of asset specific investments required. Consequently, the degree of coordination is not affected to, any great extent, by the level of investments required. Instead, the degree of coordination appears to more a result of how an alliance is aligned with a particular brand name label. It appears that greater coordination occurs when an alliance owns a brand name label or is an exclusive supplier to a brand name label, as there is a higher risk of opportunistic behaviour and, as a result, higher transaction costs. The use of grid-based pricing systems and the number of buyers/sellers in the market did not appear to have a significant affect on the method of coordination chosen. Based on the results obtained from both the cow-calf operator conjoint-based analysis and interviews with alliance members this thesis identifies several critical success factors and challenges to improving coordination in the beef industry. Most significantly, when developing alliances it is necessary to understand the importance of different transaction characteristics to supply chain participants. This research demonstrates that supply chain participants in the beef industry are willing to make trade-offs between the benefits received from improved coordination and the transaction costs that arise, as long as the benefits exceeds the increase in costs

A problem of effectiveness: selecting the ideal production model

In the face of new market and consumer challenges, sustaining a leadership position in the animal feed industry has never been so challenging. As such, in an attempt to remain competitive, the following paper provides an exhaustive examination of how the Raporal’s business model could be restructured to enhance operative effectiveness. Grounded on the idea that an accurate selection of production models can convey a distinctive value proposition to customers, in the following pages, a portrait of different manufacturing options is created, and attractiveness further tested to assess which option best suitsRaporalcurrent needs. Aligned with managers’ judgments and the company’s intrinsic needs, a final recommendation forimprovement will be made

System Qualities Ontology, Tradespace and Affordability (SQOTA) Project – Phase 4

This task was proposed and established as a result of a pair of 2012 workshops sponsored by the DoD Engineered Resilient Systems technology priority area and by the SERC. The workshops focused on how best to strengthen DoD’s capabilities in dealing with its systems’ non-functional requirements, often also called system qualities, properties, levels of service, and –ilities. The term –ilities was often used during the workshops, and became the title of the resulting SERC research task: “ilities Tradespace and Affordability Project (iTAP).” As the project progressed, the term “ilities” often became a source of confusion, as in “Do your results include considerations of safety, security, resilience, etc., which don’t have “ility” in their names?” Also, as our ontology, methods, processes, and tools became of interest across the DoD and across international and standards communities, we found that the term “System Qualities” was most often used. As a result, we are changing the name of the project to “System Qualities Ontology, Tradespace, and Affordability (SQOTA).” Some of this year’s university reports still refer to the project as “iTAP.”This material is based upon work supported, in whole or in part, by the U.S. Department of Defense through the Office of the Assistant of Defense for Research and Engineering (ASD(R&E)) under Contract HQ0034-13-D-0004.This material is based upon work supported, in whole or in part, by the U.S. Department of Defense through the Office of the Assistant of Defense for Research and Engineering (ASD(R&E)) under Contract HQ0034-13-D-0004

challenges of running a gmp facility for regenerative medicine in a public hospital

Advanced therapy medicinal products represent a new generation of medicinal products for regenerative medicine. Since the implementation of the EU regulation for this innovative class of drugs, the academic and hospital institutions have played a central role in their development and manufacture. For these institutions that are not familiar with the industrial context, being in compliance with the pharmaceutical standards is extremely challenging. This report describes how we dealt with some specific issues during our hospital-based GMP experience. Furthermore, we identify as a future perspective the consistent stimulating contribution that a public entity can ensure for advanced therapy medicinal product development and licensing

Impact of transaction costs on Saskatchewan's beef finishing sector

The removal of the transportation subsidy on western Canadian grain has resulted in a relative shift in competitiveness from grain to livestock production in Saskatchewan. Feedlot managers indicated that they fed cattle at a lower cost than their Alberta competitors. They suggested their feeding advantage is in the range of $45 to$75 per animal. Yet this supposed feeding advantage has not resulted in an increase in cattle being finished in the province. In fact statistics show that there has been a decrease in the number of cattle finished in Saskatchewan since the removal of the transportation subsidy. This thesis investigated potential hindrances to developing feedlots in Saskatchewan. Interviews with 17 Saskatchewan feedlot managers were conducted in 2001. These feedlot managers suggested that lack of financing was a hindrance to feedlot development in Saskatchewan. They sited provincial land and labour laws, a grain production bias and feeding risk as potential reasons for lack of investment in the feedlot sector. The interviews with these 17 feedlot managers led to an investigation of transaction costs in buying and selling cattle. A theoretical framework was developed in this thesis to measure transaction costs. Then some empirical evidence was calculated from transaction cost estimates provided by five finishing feedlots that indicated larger feedlots have lower transaction costs in buying and selling cattle than smaller feedlots