Nestle Thailand's Best Practice, a Support Idea on Support Best Practice VMI: An Enable of Conceptual Collaboration

This paper purposed to present collaboration support a best practice through the implementation for Vendor Manage Inventory (VMI). The desire to get rid of the non-valueadded costs associated with trading partners’ relationship and explore basic issues of Nestlé’s Thailand related to her best practice mission as a case study. One of key is related to VMI implementation, including its benefits/pitfalls and higher service level. The empirical data were collected through site visit with an interview and discussion with sophomore practitioners. This studying, Nestlé’s VMI implementation explained into illustration. Findings, VMI technologies as information systems can develop collaboration among the partners. The organization was under win/win concept, increment of partners’ relationship and reduction of sales lost, bullwhip, with evolution of ordering system. Findings of this study showed all the features of VMI influenced value in service level improvement significantly. The best practice approaches were explored. This paper conclusion values for academic’s learning and practitioner’s knowledge. The scope of study only within range of VMI practiced as a single tool in best practice concept. Practical implications, this paper confirms the power of VMI - a collaboration concept is most concerned factor, especially "trust" among partner with benefits for costs and waste reduction. The paper discussed implementation challenges, identifies adoption phases and reviews VMI key success factors. Results identified the biggest challenge as not for IT experts in determining how to integrate VMI with existing partners, recapitalized or investment but customer relationship (trust) and the volume of purchasing are the main factors of the difficulty in VMI implementation to enhance the company's best practice

Response of methanogenic microbial communities to desiccation stress in flooded and rain-fed paddy soil from Thailand

Rice paddies in central Thailand are flooded either by irrigation (irrigated rice) or by rain (rain-fed rice). The paddy soils and their microbial communities thus experience permanent or arbitrary submergence, respectively. Since methane production depends on anaerobic conditions, we hypothesized that structure and function of the methanogenic microbial communities are different in irrigated and rain-fed paddies and react differently upon desiccation stress. We determined rates and relative proportions of hydrogenotrophic and aceticlastic methanogenesis before and after short-term drying of soil samples from replicate fields. The methanogenic pathway was determined by analyzing concentrations and δ13C of organic carbon and of CH4 and CO2 produced in the presence and absence of methyl fluoride, an inhibitor of aceticlastic methanogenesis. We also determined the abundance (qPCR) of genes and transcripts of bacterial 16S rRNA, archaeal 16S rRNA and methanogenic mcrA (coding for a subunit of the methyl coenzyme M reductase) and the composition of these microbial communities by T-RFLP fingerprinting and/or Illumina deep sequencing. The abundances of genes and transcripts were similar in irrigated and rain-fed paddy soil. They also did not change much upon desiccation and rewetting, except the transcripts of mcrA, which increased by more than two orders of magnitude. In parallel, rates of CH4 production also increased, in rain-fed soil more than in irrigated soil. The contribution of hydrogenotrophic methanogenesis increased in rain-fed soil and became similar to that in irrigated soil. However, the relative microbial community composition on higher taxonomic levels was similar between irrigated and rain-fed soil. On the other hand, desiccation and subsequent anaerobic reincubation resulted in systematic changes in the composition of microbial communities for both Archaea and Bacteria. It is noteworthy that differences in the community composition were mostly detected on the level of operational taxonomic units (OTUs; 97% sequence similarity). The treatments resulted in change of the relative abundance of several archaeal OTUs. Some OTUs of Methanobacterium, Methanosaeta, Methanosarcina, Methanocella and Methanomassiliicoccus increased, while some of Methanolinea and Methanosaeta decreased. Bacterial OTUs within Firmicutes, Cyanobacteria, Planctomycetes and Deltaproteobacteria increased, while OTUs within other proteobacterial classes decreased

A Model for Competitive Service Level of Logistics Service Providers in Thailand - Vietnam – China

           Abstract The objectives of this research were to develop a causal relationship model for competitive service level of logistics service providers in international transportationand investigate the direct and indirect effects in international transport logistics of Thai, Vietnamese and Chinese service providers. Samplings were 509 logistics service providers from Thailand, Vietnam, and China, using purposive sample selection method. Questionnaires were analyzed by descriptive statistics and Structural Equation Modeling (SEM), using Lisrel version 8.80. Findings were the causal relationship model was fit to empirical data with the Chi-square (X2) = 72.75, df= 62, p = 0.165, GFI = 0.98 AGFI = 0.97, RMSEA = 0.018. The direct effects showed the competitive Service Level (SVL) was affected byDominant Power on selection(DOM) with coefficient value at 0.37, and also from Service Performance Unit (SPU) as 0.36. The competitive Service Level (SVL) was affected indirectly by Dominant Power onselection(DOM) at 0.11, followed by Strategic Sourcing Technique (SST) at 0.09respectively. Moreover, the variables valued the reliability in between 0.54 - 0.94. The highest reliability wasfactors: Cost and Flexibility (Z1, Z3) which were equally at 0.94. For the lowest reliability value was: Risk avoidance (Y4) valued at 0.54. For implementation and recommendation in future researchto modify the degree of observed variables in Service Performance Units (SPU) which may significant differently in a different policy and local cultures in different countries. Keywords:  competitiveness, service level, logistics service provide

Agronomic and Tolerant Performance of Acid Soil-Tolerant Wild Soybean (Glycine soja Sieb. and Zucc.) in Acid Sulfate Soil of Thailand

We screened acid soil-tolerant wild soybean (Glycine soja Sieb. and Zucc.) accessions and evaluated their agronomic and tolerant performance under acid sulfate soil (ASS) conditions. Only three accessions, J-13, J-19 and J-55, among 381 G. soja accessions obtained from G. soja Germplasm Collection of Japan, were identified as having strong tolerance by the acid soil toxicity score (ATS) at soil pH 3.3. These three tolerant G. soja accessions showed significantly lower aluminum (Al), iron (Fe) and manganese (Mn) contents in the aboveground part than the intolerant ones in 0.25 lime requirement (LR) conditions (pH 3.8). Aboveground dry matter weights (DW) and seed yields of three tolerant G. soja accessions, except seed yield of a tolerant accession J-55, were also significantly higher than intolerant ones under the 0.25 LR condition. This clearly indicates that lower contents of toxic mineral in the ASS-tolerant G. soja led to higher macro-nutrient uptake, DW, and seed yields. We conclude that the three tolerant G. soja accessions identified in the present study possess high levels of tolerance to the soil acidity and Al-excess soil conditions, and could be valuable genetic resources for soybean improvement programs

Status of the World’s Soil Resources Main report

The SWSR will constitute the reference document on the status of global soil resources with a strong regional assessment on soil change. The information is based on peer-reviewed scientific literature, complemented with expert knowledge and reliable project outputs (mainly FAO ones). It provides a description and a ranking of ten major soil threats that endanger ecosystem functions, goods and services globally and in each region separately. Additionally, it describes direct and indirect pressure son soils and ways and means to combat soil degradation at all levels. The report contains a Synthesis report for policy makers that summarizes its findings, conclusions and recommendations.UCR::Vicerrectoría de Investigación::Unidades de Investigación::Ciencias Agroalimentarias::Centro de Investigaciones Agronómicas (CIA)UCR::Vicerrectoría de Docencia::Ciencias Agroalimentarias::Facultad de Ciencias Agroalimentarias::Escuela de Agronomí

Etat des Ressources en Sols dans le Monde (Résumé technique)

Etat des Ressources en Sols dans le Monde (Résumé technique