Who should be leading in the process of successful supply chain management in construction?

Despite the critical role of a client in enabling supply chain integration, parties on the supply side of the construction supply chain – the lower tiers of the construction supply chain – are believed to be able to develop into more integrated production systems, independently from the demand. Main contractors are acknowledged to have a central position in the management of supply chains, offering great potential in the effective integration of their supply chains. This is deemed to be necessary as construction supply chains are fragmented, complex, highly uncertain and with many stakeholders requiring a leading actor to coordinate the process and relationships – projects are characterised by a high supplier involvement. This study sets out to explore the differences between the organisations involved at the lower tiers of the construction supply chain, focusing specifically on the internal SCM organisation of main contractor and supplier organisations, and their direct inter-relationships. SC Maturity levels are formulated according to relevant SCM concepts and based on Holti et al.’s (2000) seven principles of SCM organisation, and used to examine the relative SC Maturity of eight large main contractor and supplier organisations within the context of the Dutch construction industry. A case study, representing a construction supply chain initiated by a main contractor as a result of ongoing poor financial performance during the economic crisis and the existence of high failure costs, is further investigated to examine the SC Maturity levels based on one of the principles in more detail. This way the paper starts a discussion towards the development of an improvement framework and brings up the need for a more mature supply chain integrator, an organisation leading in the process of SCM implementation

SCM and extended integration at the lower tiers of the construction supply chain: An explorative study in the Dutch construction industry

Several studies have underlined the potential of Supply Chain Management (SCM) in meeting the formidable challenges associated with fragmentation, adversarial relationships and insufficient customer focus in the delivery of construction projects (e.g. Dainty et al., 2001; Cox and Ireland, 2002; Gadde and Dubois, 2010). However, there remains a paucity of properly documented examples of successfully implemented SCM initiatives, particularly at the lower tiers of the supply chain. This study sets out to explore the enablers and barriers to the implementation of SCM at the lower tiers of the supply chain, particularly the problematic collaboration between main contractors and subcontractors. A SCM Maturity Model is developed based on Holti et al.’s (2000) seven principles of SCM organisation. An explorative study is conducted based on interviews from eight large main contractor and subcontractor organisations in the Dutch construction industry. Discouragingly, across the organisations, more barriers than enablers to supply chain management are identified. Organisations are found to be particularly struggling to compete through superior value, manage costs collaboratively, and develop continuous improvement within their supply chains. The findings also underline the low SCM maturity of main contractors and their inability to play the essential role of supply chain managers. Indeed the principles of integrating project activities and mobilising and developing people are found to be better exercised by subcontractors. The study may highlight the need for a greater degree of contractor leadership and improved internal organisation of both types of firms in order to achieve greater collaboration at the lower tiers of the construction supply chain

Regional cerebral metabolic patterns demonstrate the role of anterior forebrain mesocircuit dysfunction in the severely injured brain

peer reviewedAlthough disorders of consciousness (DOCs) demonstrate widely varying clinical presentations and patterns of structural injury, global down-regulation and bilateral reductions in metabolism of the thalamus and frontoparietal network are consistent findings. We test the hypothesis that global reductions of background synaptic activity in DOCs will associate with changes in the pattern of metabolic activity in the central thalamus and globus pallidus. We compared 32 [18F]fluorodeoxyglucose PETs obtained from severely brain-injured patients (BIs) and 10 normal volunteers (NVs). We defined components of the anterior forebrain mesocircuit on high-resolution T1-MRI (ventral, associative, and sensorimotor striatum; globus pallidus; central thalamus and noncentral thalamus). Metabolic profiles for BI and NV demonstrated distinct changes in the pattern of uptake: ventral and association striatum (but not sensorimotor) were significantly reduced relative to global mean uptake after BI; a relative increase in globus pallidus metabolism was evident in BI subjects who also showed a relative reduction of metabolism in the central thalamus. The reversal of globus pallidus and central thalamus profiles across BIs and NVs supports the mesocircuit hypothesis that broad functional (or anatomic) deafferentation may combine to reduce central thalamus activity and release globus pallidus activity in DOCs. In addition, BI subjects showed broad frontoparietal metabolic down-regulation consistent with prior studies supporting the link between central thalamic/pallidal metabolism and down-regulation of the frontoparietal network. Recovery of left hemisphere frontoparietal metabolic activity was further associated with command following

Comparing the Methods of A3 and Canvas

The method of A3, which originated in the framework of the Toyota Production System, is used for collaborative problem solving, status reporting,and presenting proposals. It is now widely used as a part of the implementation of lean in different industries. In turn, the Canvas method was initially developed, through academic research, for generating business models, but over time it has been generalised for many other situations. In subsequent research, design principles for Canvases have been developed. The use of the Canvas method has rapidly increased in practice .As these two methods seem to have similarities regarding application areas and working principles, it is of interest to compare them. The following questions are addressed: How are these two methods similar and dissimilar? Are there underlying theories that could shed new light on both methods? A better understanding of these methods, both theoretically and practically, might be beneficial for their use in different contexts and scenarios. Especially, enhanced mastery of these methods would be instrumental for collaborative resolution of the well-known problems in construction

Structural funds - programming

This diploma thesis describes the policy of economic and social cohesion, its development, objectives, principles, its instruments, legislative and institutional framework. Its concrete focus is on the methods of strategic planning and programming. The main task is to evaluate cohesion policy, find mistakes relating to its implementation in the Czech Republic in the period 2004 -- 2006 and explore whether the Czech Republic is to avoid these mistakes in the period 2007 -- 2013.Tato diplomová práce popisuje politiku hospodářské a sociální soudržnosti, její vývoj, cíle, principy, nástroje, legislativní a institucionální rámec. Konkrétně se zaměřuje na procesy strategického plánování a programování. Hlavním úkolem je zhodnocení úspěšnosti politiky soudržnosti, nalezení chyb její implementace v České republice v období 2004-2006 a posouzení, zda se Česká republika těchto chyb v období 2007-2013 vyvaruje

Structural funds - programming

This diploma thesis describes the policy of economic and social cohesion, its development, objectives, principles, its instruments, legislative and institutional framework. Its concrete focus is on the methods of strategic planning and programming. The main task is to evaluate cohesion policy, find mistakes relating to its implementation in the Czech Republic in the period 2004 -- 2006 and explore whether the Czech Republic is to avoid these mistakes in the period 2007 -- 2013

Pindolol Augmentation of Antidepressant Treatment: Recent Contributions from Brain Imaging Studies

Preclinical studies suggest that augmentation of selective serotoni