Packaging for optimal inter-region distribution center operations and damage prevention

Thesis (M.B.A.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Sloan School of Management; and, (S.M.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Dept. of Civil and Environmental Engineering; in conjunction with the Leaders for Manufacturing Program at MIT, 2006.Includes bibliographical references (p. 65).Honeywell International Corporation is a $27.5 billion [1] conglomerate with a diverse portfolio of businesses covering Aerospace, Automation and Controls, Specialty Materials and Transportation. Honeywell's Automation and Controls Solutions (ACS) business is the second largest business group with$9.4 billion in sales in 2005. This business group is further divided into the following strategic business units: * Security (Facilities) * Life Safety * Building Solutions * Process Solutions * Sensing and Control * Environmental and Combustion Controls The Environmental and Combustion Controls (ECC) business unit of Honeywell ACS maintains a global manufacturing and distribution presence. ECC delivers complex systems that control air, water and combustion for both homes and industrial customers. Historically, ECC plants in the EMEA (Europe, Middle East and Africa) region have either had their own warehouses or had a captive third party provider that provided warehousing services offsite. However, recent initiatives in the region have culminated in the adoption of a regional distribution center model. Essentially, clusters of plants are grouped into regions that are served by the same warehouse or distribution center.(cont.) The regional warehouse in Heilbronn Germany (ERD) is the pilot for such a system. Plants in Emmen in the Netherlands, Brno in the Czech Republic, Nagykanisza in Hungary and Schoenaich and Mosbach in Germany, as well as some small Low Risk Distribution (LRD) centers - which stock emergency volumes - in western Europe will all be consolidated and served from the distribution center in Heilbronn. This essentially means that instead of storing their own inventory, all the affected plants will truck all production to the Heilbronn warehouse on a daily basis. The Heilbronn warehouse, which commenced operation in May, 2005 subsequently fulfills all customer orders associated with the locations listed above. During the consolidation exercise, while planning for receipt of goods from the different plants, it became clear that there were multiple packaging standards in use throughout Europe. There thus arose the need to consolidate the different standards into a coherent well-defined standard to enable the new distribution center established at Heilbronn, Germany, to properly handle goods from the different plants.(cont.) Additionally, the newly built ERD had a need for an established set of packing guidelines that may include procedural changes or the establishment of new procedures, changes to the physical setup of the outbound lines (freight and parcel), presentation and replenishment of packaging material and suggestions for improvement for the long term. Receiving guidelines have also been newly instituted for products arriving at the ERD, which also creates a case for compliance for goods being shipped from suppliers including a counterpart warehouse - the Louisville Distribution Center (LDC) - in Louisville, Kentucky. In addition, the LDC had been having difficulty receiving freight from the European plants. The major problems included inadequate labeling, lack of overpacking, inconsistency in packing of mixed pallets and the non-usage of Honeywell 40" X 32" pallets. Since all European plant shipments that formerly shipped directly from each plant would be shipping from ERD in Heilbronn going forward, it became imperative that appropriate packaging standards be developed (in Europe) in order to ensure compliance with receiving guidelines in Louisville at the LDC. Fulfillment through the distribution centers is what drives customer satisfaction.(cont.) No matter how efficient the plants may be, transit through the distribution centers is the proverbial "last mile" that delivers all the efforts of the firm to the customers. I have developed and recommended a packaging standard, which outlines the levels to which packaged products must be tested in preparation for safe shipping. I analyzed current packing practice at the ERD showing relevant cost drivers and made recommendations on ways to pack in order to improve service to the downstream distribution center while keeping costs contained. I developed a framework to guide warehouse management with regards to pallet shipping decisions between the ERD and LDC. Finally, I developed a carton replenishment framework for the ERD that can be adopted for other appropriate ECC warehouses.by Adesunloye Obatoyinbo.S.M.M.B.A

Paradoxes of a Conventional Society: A Study of Ben Jonson’s The Alchemist and Benard Shaw’s Heartbreak House

Drama is a cognitive process and means of concretely translating abstract ideas into reality. It provides a vent for dramatists to vividly capture the rhythms of life in their societies. From the eons of time, the modus operandi of drama has placed it on a pedestal of a gadfly that prods, points and comments on the realities of its time. It is, therefore, pertinent to say that the mind of the dramatist is fertilized by the various social, economic cum political realities that are operational within the domain of his/her existence. This study focuses on two English plays; namely Ben Jonson’s Elizabethan play, The Alchemist, and George Benard Shaw’s modern drama- Heartbreak House. The selection of these models is anchored on the staggering power of their authors to detect the symptoms of social diseases that are present in their societies at their moments of writing and which by their being exacerbated in our own time, appear transhistorical in nature. The objectives of this study are to highlight the contradictory qualities and properties (paradoxes) of a modern society; one that seeks growth in all ramifications (education, politics, science, among others) and yet finds solace in mundaneness as exemplified by the two plays. The second objective is to comparatively look at the realities in the world of the two plays and what is obtainable now in our own age. Therefore, the interpretation of the past and the new meanings of the present will be juxtaposed and evaluated. Albert Bandura’s Social Learning Theory will provide frame of reference for the study while interpretive approach shall be content analysis

Evaluation of Tourists Satisfaction with Ecotourism Services in Six Ecotourism Destination in South West, Nigeria

Satisfaction is an excellent predictor of tourists’ behavior as it influences the choice of destination, consumption of products and services, the decision to return and maintain lasting relationships. The study examined usefulness of producing satisfied tourists to ecotourism destinations in Nigeria by administering 320 well-structured questionnaires at the six selected ecotourism destinations. Data obtained from the study revealed that destination attributes especially the attractiveness of the site (70.0%), staff helpfulness (56.7%), Available varieties of recreational facilities (52.5%), Affordable toll fee (55.0%), Courtesy from staff (58.6%), Signage and available educational guides for tourist (57.5%), Guided educational tour services (60.0%), Interpretative facilities services (56.7%), Food & beverage (55.0%) , Cultural & entertainment services (56.7%), Shopping services (46.7%) Recreation services (53.8%) and Accommodation services (50.0%) were major determinant of visitors’ satisfaction. The result also shows that the quality of tourism services has a positive impact on the level of tourist satisfaction. Prominent amongst the challenges at the sites are difficulty in getting information about the ecotourism destination (100%) and Accommodation problems quality and abundance (76.7%) amongst others were identified as challenges by tourists. Inferential statistical analysis indicated that significant relationship exists between the tourist’s level of satisfaction and willingness to pay for ecotourism services (p<0.05). Therefore, this study suggests that visitors’ satisfaction can be boosted by raising the standard of service quality throughout the destinations’ attractions, facilities and modes of accessibility. Management should upgrade the ecotourism destinations to meet up with International standard so as to increase tourists’ patronage and satisfaction

Learning styles of medical students, general surgery residents, and general surgeons: implications for surgical education

Abstract Background Surgical education is evolving under the dual pressures of an enlarging body of knowledge required during residency and mounting work-hour restrictions. Changes in surgical residency training need to be based on available educational models and research to ensure successful training of surgeons. Experiential learning theory, developed by David Kolb, demonstrates the importance of individual learning styles in improving learning. This study helps elucidate the way in which medical students, surgical residents, and surgical faculty learn. Methods The Kolb Learning Style Inventory, which divides individual learning styles into Accommodating, Diverging, Converging, and Assimilating categories, was administered to the second year undergraduate medical students, general surgery resident body, and general surgery faculty at the University of Alberta. Results A total of 241 faculty, residents, and students were surveyed with an overall response rate of 73%. The predominant learning style of the medical students was assimilating and this was statistically significant (p Conclusions We conclude that medical students have a significantly different learning style from general surgical trainees and general surgeons. This has important implications in the education of general surgery residents.</p

A phase 2 trial of consolidation pembrolizumab following concurrent chemoradiation for patients with unresectable stage III non–small cell lung cancer: Hoosier Cancer Research Network LUN 14-179

Background Five-year overall survival (OS) for patients with unresectable stage III non–small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) is poor. Until recently, a standard of care was concurrent chemoradiation alone. Patients with metastatic NSCLC treated with anti–programmed death 1 antibodies have demonstrated improved OS. This trial evaluated pembrolizumab as consolidation therapy after concurrent chemoradiation in patients with unresectable stage III disease. Methods Patients with unresectable stage III NSCLC received concurrent chemoradiation with cisplatin and etoposide, cisplatin and pemetrexed, or carboplatin and paclitaxel and 59.4 to 66.6 Gy of radiation. Patients with nonprogression of disease were enrolled and received pembrolizumab (200 mg intravenously every 3 weeks for up to 12 months). The primary endpoint was the time to metastatic disease or death (TMDD). Secondary endpoints included progression-free survival (PFS) and OS. Results The median follow-up for 93 patients (92 for efficacy) was 32.2 months (range, 1.2-46.6 months). The median TMDD was 30.7 months (95% confidence interval [CI], 18.7 months to not reached), which was significantly longer than the historical control of 12 months (P < .0001). The median PFS was 18.7 months (95% CI, 12.4-33.8 months), and the median OS was 35.8 months (95% CI, 24.2 months to not reached). The 1-, 2-, and 3-year OS estimates were 81.2%, 62.0%, and 48.5%, respectively. Forty patients (43.5%) completed 12 months of treatment (median number of cycles, 13.5). Symptomatic pneumonitis (grade 2 or higher) was noted in 16 patients (17.2%); these cases included 4 grade 3 events (4.3%), 1 grade 4 event (1.1%), and 1 grade 5 event (1.1%). Conclusions Consolidation pembrolizumab after concurrent chemoradiation improves TMDD, PFS, and OS in comparison with historical controls of chemoradiation alone. Rates of grade 3 to 5 pneumonitis were similar to those reported with chemoradiation alone

Mechanistic Insights into the Link between Obesity and Prostate Cancer

Obesity is a pandemic of increasing worldwide prevalence. There is evidence of an association between obesity and the risk of prostate cancer from observational studies, and different biologic mechanisms have been proposed. The chronic low-level inflammation within the adipose tissue in obesity results in oxidative stress, activation of inflammatory cytokines, deregulation of adipokines signaling, and increased circulating levels of insulin and insulin-like growth factors (IGF). These mechanisms may be involved in epithelial to mesenchymal transformation into a malignant phenotype that promotes invasiveness, aggressiveness, and metastatic potential of prostate cancer. A thorough understanding of these mechanisms may be valuable in the development of effective prostate cancer prevention strategies and treatments. This review provides an overview of these mechanisms