Assessing consequences of low cost sourcing in China

Purpose – The purpose of the paper is to develop a framework for low-cost sourcing assessment and to explore the consequences of low-cost sourcing in China for a European manufacturer.<p>Design/methodology/approach – The low-cost sourcing framework generated from literature and the consequence analysis is based on a case study of a European company that has outsourced part of its casting processes to Chinese suppliers.<p>Findings – Characteristics of low-cost sourcing are based on a literature review divided into three categories: country characteristics, supply network structure, and supply network relationships and the case study shows that these three categories of characteristics jointly create negative effects. A two-directional cause and effect relationship is proposed between the characteristics and the operational supply chain performances. The presented low-cost sourcing assessment framework should be a good starting point for low-cost sourcing assessment, including mapping a firm’s total characteristics, and for analysing their performance impact.<p>Research limitations/implications – The conducted single case study is not enough for identifying, formulating, and validating all existing relationships between the low-cost sourcing characteristics. The present study has identified the existence of the relationships but has not evaluated their levels of impact.<p>Practical implications – Managers should be aware of how suppliers in low-cost countries may affect the structures, relations, and operational supply chain performances of the supply network. This paper presents a sourcing assessment framework enabling describing what dimensions of the sourcing characteristics would be affected by sourcing to a specific area of the world and what consequences and performance effects this would have.<p>Originality/value – Few prior studies have focused on companies with already established relationships with low-cost-country suppliers and how these companies should make the best out of these supply chains. This study takes a holistic perspective on low-cost sourcing and identifies several streams for further research

Digital Twins for Ports: Derived from Smart City and Supply Chain Twinning Experience

Ports are striving for innovative technological solutions to cope with the ever-increasing growth of transport, while at the same time improving their environmental footprint. An emerging technology that has the potential to substantially increase the efficiency of the multifaceted and interconnected port processes is the digital twin. Although digital twins have been successfully integrated in many industries, there is still a lack of cross-domain understanding of what constitutes a digital twin. Furthermore, the implementation of the digital twin in complex systems such as the port is still in its infancy. This paper attempts to fill this research gap by conducting an extensive cross-domain literature review of what constitutes a digital twin, keeping in mind the extent to which the respective findings can be applied to the port. It turns out that the digital twin of the port is most comparable to complex systems such as smart cities and supply chains, both in terms of its functional relevance as well as in terms of its requirements and characteristics. The conducted literature review, considering the different port processes and port characteristics, results in the identification of three core requirements of a digital port twin, which are described in detail. These include situational awareness, comprehensive data analytics capabilities for intelligent decision making, and the provision of an interface to promote multi-stakeholder governance and collaboration. Finally, specific operational scenarios are proposed on how the port's digital twin can contribute to energy savings by improving the use of port resources, facilities and operations.Comment: This work has been submitted to the IEEE for possible publication. Copyright may be transferred without notice, after which this version may no longer be accessibl

Customer Information Usage: Improving Supply Chain Performance and Advancing Logistics Services in Construction Projects

This study investigates how continuous improvement of logistics services in a project- based context such as construction can be enhanced by a “priority matrix for service improvements”. Construction services in general, and logistic services in specific, have great impact on efficiency and sustainability (environmental as well as social). Solutions and experience from e.g. manufacturing and retailing that have undergone major transformation through industrialization and, more recently, servitization, to improve the quality and novelty of their offerings, there is a great potential in addressing the complex coordination, inefficient processes, and waste of materials in the project-based context of the construction industry. Whilst improvement initiatives concerning product quality are important inspiration of such transformation, they are based on continuous production processes and become a challenge when this experience is transferred to the project-based, construction industry. As response, this study draws upon the concept of service quality as the basis for improvement initiatives – a concept based on relations between actors that last beyond individual projects

Homogeneous antibody-based proximity extension assays provide sensitive and specific detection of low-abundant proteins in human blood

Convenient and well-performing protein detection methods for a wide range of targets are in great demand for biomedical research and future diagnostics. Assays without the need for washing steps while still unaffected when analyzing complex biological samples are difficult to develop. Herein, we report a well-characterized nucleic acid proximity-based assay using antibodies, called Proximity Extension Assay (PEA), showing good performance in plasma samples. Target-specific antibody pairs are linked to DNA strands that upon simultaneous binding to the target analyte create a real-time PCR amplicon in a proximity-dependent manner enabled by the action of a DNA polymerase. 3′Exonuclease-capable polymerases were found to be clearly superior in sensitivity over non-3′exonuclease ones. A PEA was set up for IL-8 and GDNF in a user-friendly, homogenous assay displaying femtomolar detection sensitivity, good recovery in human plasma, high specificity and up to 5-log dynamic range in 1 μL samples. Furthermore, we have illustrated the use of a macro-molecular crowding matrix in combination with this homogeneous assay to drive target binding for low-affinity antibodies, thereby improving the sensitivity and increasing affinity reagent availability by lowering assay development dependency on high-affinity antibodies. Assay performance was also confirmed for a multiplex version of PEA

Den sminkande kommunikatören: Om etiska dilemman inom offentliga verksamheter

Denna studie undersöker problematiken med etiska dilemman som kommunikatörer ofta ställs inför, givet motstridiga intressen mellan organisationer och deras intressenter. Med hjälp av kvalitativa intervjuer har vi undersökt hur kommunikatörer i tre offentliga verksamheter hanterar dessa dilemman, i relation till hur de uppstår. Vi har även belyst varför etiska dilemman uppstår för kommunikatörer i offentliga verksamheter. Studien visar att kommunikatörerna försätts i situationer där de tvingas hantera etiska dilemman genom att särkoppla, både den kommunikativa verksamheten och sig själva, från organisationen – och därmed hyckla. Detta eftersom de, på grund av ett mottagarperspektiv och att de tillskrivs rollen som problemlösare, ofta hamnar som den sista hjälpande handen i verksamhets-processer. De förpassas därmed till att vara en tillfixande – sminkande – funktion istället för ett verksamhetsstöd i organisationerna. Det finns således en rationaliserad myt om kommunikatören som organisationens utförare, vilket förklarar var-för etiska dilemman uppstår för dem.This study examines problems regarding ethical dilemmas that communicators are facing, due to conflicting interests between organisations and their stakeholders. Using qualitative interviews, we have examined how communicators in three public organisations deal with ethical dilemmas, in relation to how they occur. Furthermore, our intention has been to illustrate why ethical dilemmas occur for them. The study shows that the communicators face situations where they are forced to deal with ethical dilemmas by decoupling, both the communication activities and themselves, from the organisation. Thereby they unconsciously pursue hypocrisy because, due to a recipient perspective and being attributed the problem-solving role, they form the final step in the business process. As a result, the communicators are banished to be a fixing - cosmetic - function rather than a business support. Thus, there is a rationalised myth about the communicator as the organisation’s performer, which explains why ethical dilemmas occur for them

Quality-Based Clustering of Food Products for Customized Food Logistics

Perishability and quality deterioration over time makes food differ from industrial products. The objective of this research is to describe the food quality from a logistics perspective and specify which characteristics of food products are necessary to consider in designing food logistics. These characteristics include food sensory factors, food safety factors, packaging, and the interaction of all these factors with the surrounding environment which can occur related to the logistics processes.According to the results, food products are suggested to be divided into 6 major groups based on their similarity in the interaction with surrounding environment factors affecting the products during logistics activities. These groups are Vegetables, Fruits, Biennial vegetables, Chilled & Super-Chilled, Frozen, and Ambient. Subsequently, the sensitivity of each group was analyzed with regard to the environmental factors they are exposed to during logistics, such as e.g. temperature variations, humidity, or pressure and vibration.The results of this study can increase the knowledge and know-how for more efficient and safer food transports while minimizing the risk of damage to the food products during transport

Oblivia mosaic: Voices on Forgetting, Performing, Transmitting

“Oblivia Mosaic” was created by the team members of the international performance company Oblivia. In this text, as well as in Oblivia’s way of devising performances, the individual meets the collective in the process where grand ideas are introduced in a minimalist disguise with a splash of humour. In 2020, the Helsinki-based company celebrates its 20th anniversary. Anna-Maija Terävä: Matkalla Unholaan Alice Ferl: Many ones Annika Tudeer: Bodies memories Meri Ekola: Valo nousee kun pimeys on tiivistynyt tarpeeksi Yiran Zhao: Visible music Timo Fredriksson: Let's be dishonest &nbsp

The impact of knowledge properties on international manufacturing transfer performance

This paper examines how knowledge properties of a transferred manufacturing activity between units in an international manufacturing network impact performance during the transfer phase and the phase after steady state is reached. Survey data from 178 companies, we use hierarchical regression to test the relationships. We find knowledge properties as a group significantly affect both performance measures when controlling for the effects of sender unit experience, sender unit size and receiver unit experience. Thus, the activities transferred impact the success of the transfer. Sender unit experience and receiver unit experience have relatively strongest performance effects after steady state is reached. Testing the performance effects of single knowledge property dimensions, we identify independency to have the strongest relative performance effect, validates and advances previous research. This as it is one of the first survey studies to link activity independency and manufacturing transfer performance. We also identify several strands of further research

Raw Meat-Based Diets in Dogs and Cats

Feeding pets raw meat-based diets (RMBDs) is commonly practiced by many companion animal owners and has received increasing attention in recent years. It may be beneficial for the animals, but may also pose a health risk for both pets and their owners, as RMBDs may be contaminated by enteric pathogens-such as Campylobacter, Salmonella, and Yersinia-which are the most common zoonotic bacteria causing enteritis in humans. Little information exists on the prevalence of these pathogens in pet food, and thus one aim was to investigate the prevalence of Campylobacter, Salmonella, and Yersinia in commercial RMBDs from retail stores. Little evidence also exists on the significance of raw meat feeding on the shedding of Campylobacter, Salmonella, and enteropathogenic Yersinia in the feces of pets, and therefore, the second goal was to study the presence of these pathogens in dogs and cats fed RMBDs. Polymerase chain reaction (PCR) only sporadically detected Campylobacter, Salmonella, and enteropathogenic Yersinia in RMBDs. These pathogens were not found by culturing, indicating a low contamination level in frozen RMBDs. They were also detected in the feces of dogs and cats, but the association with feeding RMBDs to them remained unclear.Peer reviewe

The role of public actors in construction logistics: effects on and of relational interfaces

Public actors are increasingly enforcing the use of specifically designed construction logistics setups (CLS) to cope with logistical challenges and minimising disturbances on third parties in large construction projects. The organising of these CLS is contingent on the interaction among several types of actors. The purpose of the paper is to advance the understanding of the design and use of CLS and the distribution of various outcomes of such arrangements on the actors involved. The paper analyses the role of public actors in the initiating of CLS and how this affects the relational interfaces in the CLS triad of developers, contractors and logistics service providers, and the outcomes of their interactions. First, the main reason for a public actor to initiate a CLS is not cost, productivity or innovativity gains, but to decrease disturbances on third parties. Second, developers and contractors are forced to use the CLS initiated by the public actor. This makes them take on a forced customer role, explaining why these actors are often resistant to adopt to a certain CLS. Third, ripple effects, such as unintended costs and productivity impacts, occur in the construction supply chain because of the use of CLS