Cross-functional processes, emphasis

The emphasis of ABC on cross-functional processes is the reason for its importance in single-company applications. Its potential rises when talking about supply chains. In the supply chain world, any one company s operations are part of a flow from incoming (or upstream) partners to outgoing (or downstream) partners. Activities in a company and the way we account for them should no longer be viewed as stand-alone and isolated from the chain. ABC is a way to reinforce this view. 

The challenge is to find a way to break through these silos and to re-shape the organisation around the key value-creating and value-delivery processes, Such process-oriented businesses are horizontal rather than vertical in their orientation. They are cross-functional and hence there is a stronger emphasis on teams and on process improvement in terms of speed and reliability. 

In a similar work, the synthesis of a composite with iron oxide particles and sul-fonated cross-linked polystyrene (SXLPS) for application in the PEMs for fuel cells was described (Brijmohan and Shaw 2007). The technique used for the polymerization was similar to the miniemulsion polymerization (Ramirez and Landfester 2003). However, some modification to the procedure was required to make the cross-linked and functional polymer-iron oxide composites. Also reported was the membrane fabrication process, which inclndes the alignment of synthesized particles in a high-performance snlfonated poly(etherketoneketone) (SPEKK) matrix (Gasa et al. 2006), and the properties of such PEMs for fuel cell applications. The final properties of the membrane depend on various factors, such as the lEC, the matrix, and the size of the particles. However, the main emphasis of the research was to demonstrate a useful membrane-fabrication technique that can be utilized to enhance the conductivity of the PEMs. 

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