Supply Chain Analysis of Olive Oil in Germany

Olive oil is a typical product of the Mediterranean basin, where almost all of the world production takes place. Due to campaigns for a healthier way of living, consumption of olive oil has also increased in non Mediterranean countries in recent years. As a result of the expanded demand the different participants in the supply chain of olive oil strengthen their efforts to obtain a higher market share in these non-traditional markets. Germany with 82.5 million inhabitants is of special interest for olive oil producing countries as it serves as an attractive export destination. Although during the period 1997/98 Germany imported only about 2.6 % of the world?s imports of olive oil and consumed about 0.9 % of the world consumption, it is considered to be a very dynamic market (Ward et al., 2002). Olive oil becomes more and more popular in Germany not only through the ?for a healthier life? campaigns but also through immigrants coming from the Mediterranean basin. Another reason for the growing popularity of olive oil is the increasing convergence of the consumption habits of the European people as a consequence of the expanded tourism to southern countries. The Germans are integrating the Mediterranean diet into their own habits and thus changing gradually their way of cooking in using more and more olive oil in their dishes. Against this background this report aims to analyse the supply chain of olive oil in Germany. For this purpose the report is organised in five chapters. Following the introduction, the second chapter deals with the demand and the third one with the supply of olive oil in Germany. Quality and labelling issues related with the consumption of olive oil are discussed in the fourth chapter. In the fifth chapter the institutions and organisations in Germany occupied with olive oil are briefly presented. After the conclusions follows the annex including detailed tables. --

Supply Chain Analysis of Fresh Fruit and Vegetables in Germany

With a population of 82.5 million, the German market is the largest in the EU and therefore of special interest for the trade partners. Despite an unsatisfying economic development in the last years (lowest GDP growth in the EU and rising unemployment, see Table 9 in the annex) Germany is still a very attractive market with well funded consumers. Although agriculture has a small and declining contribution to the country?s gross domestic product, in the wider definition of the agribusiness, it is still one of the most important sectors with regard to turnover and employment. Taking consumers? expenditure for food as a proxy for the total turnover of the agribusiness yields a figure of 240 billion – in 2003, nearly as much as the turnover of the car industry in Germany. In total, 4.5 million people are employed in the agribusiness, which is 11.6% of Germany?s total labour force. Among agricultural markets, the market of fruit and vegetables is of special interest for the trade with Mediterranean countries and also of special importance for the food industry and the food consumption. In 2003 consumers? expenditure for fresh fruit and vegetables were more than 10 billion ?. The processing industry of fruit and vegetables generated another 6.5 billion – turnover, demonstrating the importance of fruit and vegetables in Germany. Bearing in mind that the self sufficiency ratios for fruit and vegetables in Germany are low (13% respectively 50%), the extent of market opportunities for the Mediterranean countries become obvious. Against this background it is the objective of this report to analyse the supply chain of fresh fruit and vegetables in Germany. In the second chapter the current market situation is briefly presented with regard to production, consumption and trade in Germany. Other aspects covered in this chapter are the demographic structure in Germany, important consumer trends and food quality issues. The third chapter is devoted in depth to the analysis of the supply chains for both fruit and vegetables. In this chapter the different actors and market channels are described with regard to their task and importance in the supply chain. In the fourth chapter the overall institutional structure is analysed. After the conclusions in the fifth chapter extensive tables and figures can be found in the annex. --

New insights into the co-evolution of cytochrome c reductase and the mitochondrial processing peptidase

The mitochondrial processing peptidase (MPP) is a heterodimeric enzyme that forms part of the cytochrome c reductase complex from higher plants. Mitochondria from mammals and yeast contain two homologous enzymes: (i) an active MPP within the mitochondrial matrix and (ii) an inactive MPP within the cytochrome c reductase complex. To elucidate the evolution of MPP, the cytochrome c reductase complexes from lower plants were isolated and tested for processing activity. Mitochondria were prepared from the staghorn fern Platycerium bifurcatum, from the horsetail Equisetum arvense, and from the colorless algae Polytomella, and cytochrome c reductase complexes were purified by a micro-isolation procedure based on Blue-native polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis and electroelution. This is the first report on the subunit composition of a respiratory enzyme complex from a fern or a horsetail. The cytochrome c reductase complexes from P. bifurcatum and E. arvense are shown to efficiently process mitochondrial precursor proteins, whereas the enzyme complex from Polytomella lacks proteolytic activity. An evolutionary model is suggested that assumes a correlation between the presence of an active MPP within the cytochrome c reductase complex and the occurrence of chloroplasts

Unique composition of the preprotein translocase of the outer mitochondrial membrane from plants

Transport of most nuclear encoded mitochondrial proteins into mitochondria is mediated by heteropolymeric translocases in the membranes of the organelles. The translocase of the outer mitochondrial membrane (TOM) was characterized in fungi, and it was shown that TOM from yeast comprises nine different subunits. This publication is the first report on the preparation of the TOM complex from plant mitochondria. The protein complex from potato was purified by (a) blue native polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis and (b) by immunoaffinity chromatography. On blue native gels, the potato TOM complex runs close to cytochrome c oxidase at 230 kDa and hence only comprises about half of the size of fungal TOM complexes. Analysis of the TOM complex from potato by SDS-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis allows separation of seven different subunits of 70, 36, 23, 9, 8, 7, and 6 kDa. The 23-kDa protein is identical to the previously characterized potato TOM20 receptor, as shown by in vitro assembly of this protein into the 230kDa complex, by immunoblotting and by direct protein sequencing. Partial amino acid sequence data of the other subunits allowed us to identify sequence similarity between the 36-kDa protein and fungal TOM40. Sequence analysis of cDNAs encoding the 7-kDa protein revealed significant sequence hornology of this protein to TOM7 from yeast. However, potato TOM7 has a N-terminal extension, which is very rich in basic amino acids. Counterparts to the TOM22 and TOM37 proteins from yeast seem to be absent in the potato TOM complex, whereas an additional low molecular mass subunit occurs. Functional implications of these findings are discussed

Procedure For Hybrid Process Analysis And Design

Performing business processes are a critical asset for manufacturing companies operating on highly competitive markets. Conventional approaches to business process improvement, however, are vulnerable to subjectivity and high manual efforts in their execution. These challenges can be overcome with recent databased approaches that semi-automate process analysis and design. Those approaches formalize methodical knowledge on weakness detection, measure derivation and performance evaluation for business processes into a performance-related decision support. By enabling the databased automation of these tasks this formalization helps to reduce efforts and subjectivity in process analysis and design. However, practice lacks a procedure for applying this decision support in operative business process improvement. Moreover, this decision support only formalises methodological knowledge. Operative business process improvement in practice additionally requires the consideration of experts' contextual knowledge about the company and the business process itself. This paper presents a hybrid approach for the analysis and design of business processes using a databased decision support. First, existing phase models for business process improvement are consolidated into a reference model. Second, an expert-based assessment is conducted on how decision support extends, modifies or eliminates the conventional tasks of process analysis and design. In the third step, a hybrid phase model for process analysis and design is developed that integrates the formalised methodological knowledge of the decision support and contextual knowledge of experts

eBill Presentment and Payment-System Com42Bill

Die Erstellung und Versendung von Rechnungen in Papierform ist bei vielen Rechnungsstellern ein ebenso größer Kostenfaktor wie die Verfolgung von Zahlungseingängen und die Durchführung von Mahnungen. Aber auch Rechnungsempfänger müssen diese Papierrechnungen bearbeiten und verwalten. Gerade Unternehmen (Telekommunikationsunternehmen, Internetprovider, Kabelnetz-betreiber, GEZ), die monatlich eine Vielzahl von Rechnungen erstellen und versenden, versuchen schon heute durch den Einsatz von E-Mail beim Versenden von Rechnungen Aufwand und Kosten zu reduzieren. Jedoch wird hierdurch nicht die komplette finanzielle Transaktionskette – von der Rechnungsstellung bis zur Rechnungsbegleichung – abgedeckt, so dass immer noch ein Medienbruch stattfindet. Erst durch den Einsatz eines Electronic Bill Presentment and Payment-Systems (EBPP) kann die vollständige Unterstützung der finanzielle Transaktionskette erfolgen, wobei elektronische Zahlungssysteme, die auf der Seite der Rechnungsempfänger verwendet werden, integriert werden können. Darüber hinaus können EBPP-Systeme von Rechnungsstellern zu Marketing- und Vertriebszwecken verwendet werden. In diesem Beitrag werden verschiedene Realisierungsmodelle für EBPP-Systeme beschrieben und nach der Auswahl eines Modells, die Konzeption und Realisierung des EBPP-Systems Com42Bill vorgestellt. Durch das System Com42Bill ist der Zugriff auf Rechnungen über verschiedene mobile Endgeräte (z.B. PDA, Handy) möglich, da aufbauend auf einer Client/Server-Architektur ein „Thin Client“ realisiert wurde. Rechnungsempfänger können die Dienste des Systems Com42Bill daher zeitnah und standortunabhängig nutzen

Concept For Databased Sales And Resource Planning For Re-Assembly In The Automotive Industry

In linear economy, the growing wealth in the world is linked to a growing resource consumption and greenhouse gas emission. This results in a shortage of primary resources, environmental destruction through resource extraction, and global warming. A high productivity of the manufacturing industry, overcapacities and a decrease in the value of existing products intensify this situation. Circular economy offers resource-efficient value addition by multiple utilization of resources. One challenge in this form of value creation is the duration of reconditioning processes and the lack of product innovation in reconditioned products. To bring products back to the market as quickly as possible, the method of Re-Assembly is introduced and focused in this paper. Re-Assembly can be defined as reconditioning old products into new or higher-valued products, by assembling new or remanufactured parts and components after disassembly. However, manufacturing companies face difficulties in industrialization of such methods. In practice, one of the biggest challenges is the mid- and long term planning of the reconditioning process. Due to uncertainties in the quality and quantity of the returning end-of-life products the resulting reconditioning process is challenging to predict in terms of process time and production costs. To encounter this, this paper presents a concept for sales and resource planning in the context of Re-Assembly. In the first step the uncertainties for the long term production planning and the resulting data requirements are identified. Based on this, a concept for sales and resource planning is presented. The approach is based on the Internet of Production reference framework and includes data from the whole product lifecycle. As the area of application, the automotive industry is chosen as it is the largest manufacturing industry in Germany and already leading in the recording of usage data of their products