Downsizing costs

Some of the challenges facing the industrial laboratory are limited resources, cost containment, productivity, timeliness of test results, chemical safety, spent chemicals disposal, technician capability, analytical capability, disappearing skills, and reliability of test results. The present R D climate in the chemical industry is one of downsizing at corporate level (lean and mean), erosion of boundaries between basic and applied science, and polymer science and analytical chemistry as Cinderella subjects. Difficult chemical analyses are often run by insufficiently skilled workers (a managerial issue). 

Application development for phenolics has been spurred by weight and cost savings inherent in metal replacement and parts consolidation. Thermoplastics have been replaced by phenolics where creep resistance and thermal stability are required in downsized parts or applications in hostile environments. 

The concept of opportunity costs (i.e., money spent on one resource that cannot be spent for other purposes) should be explored. The value of any given service should be weighed against the possible services that might be provided. The concept of opportunity costs becomes even more important as health care downsizing and restructuring occur. 

There is always the possibility of layoffs. Federal and state agencies downsize, independent labs come and go, and you may find yourself out of a job someday. With a narrow specialty like food chemistry, you may not be able to find another job quickly, making it necessary for you to return to school to learn a new specialty. This is both costly and time consuming, and you will still need to pay your bills. 

Limitations of the platform are related to the material properties of PDMS for example, chemicals which the elastomer is not inert to cannot be processed, and elevated temperatures such as in micro-reaction technology are not feasible. Also for the implementation of applications in the field of point-of-care diagnostics, where a handheld device is often required, the LSI platform seems not to be beneficial at the moment. Thereto external pressure sources and valves would have to be downsized to a smaller footprint, which is of course technically feasible, but the costs would be higher in comparison to other platform concepts. However, as a first step towards downsizing the liquid control equipment, the use of a Braille system was successfully demonstrated [143]. 

Second, the multinomial estimates provide no corroborative evidence of moral hazard behavior with regard to other (non-HR) results Downsizing has no impact on claim types, increases in the replacement rate do not increase the proportion of lower back sprains, and self-insurance does not lower the proportion of lower back sprains. As the replacement rate increases, the opportunity cost of being out of work on a workers compensation claim falls. Claims-reporting moral hazard will likely increase, especially for injuries (such as lower back sprains) whose work origin is difficult to monitor or detect. Hence, an increase in claims-reporting moral hazard ought to increase the proportion of low back sprains. 

When any one of these problems happens, the seal usually drops to about 50% effectiveness, and no one has any idea as to the magnitude of hot gas movement through the seal. Some designers use a rule of thumb of 600 Btu/hr for each linear foot of seal. Others try to estimate the clearance area and multiply it by the difference in radiation from each zone s average temperature to furnace room temperature. Some managers rationalize that they can save on furnace capital costs by downsizing the furnace input, which turns out to be inadequate to balance seal heat losses after their deterioration. 

TABLE 5.1 Examples of Disturbances, Accidents, and Major Costs Where Downsizing Has Played a Major Role (Sweden)... 

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