Supply Base Characteristics

The size of the supply base has a major impact on its performance. For example, a reduction in the number of suppliers in the supply base causes the purchase 

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How many suppliers does your comparer have For an example, an automobile compaity can have as maity as 50,000 suppliers. Think about the vastness of the task of managing all of these suppliers and getting the performance that your business requires. This is where a supply base reduction may be required to help get the supply base to a manageable level. There are maity benefits to an effective supplier management system. Some of these are better supplier performance on the critical characteristics for your operation, lower costs, lower inventories, less obsolete materials, quicker response to your customer needs, and good relationships with the suppliers. 

Their contribution was to use the contingency theory approach to propose a new method for the assessment and classification of suppliers based on their supply chain characteristics, its structure and supplier s attributes and performances, modified by factors in the supplier s specific environment namely exogenous and... 

The performance metrics of such a supply base includes transaction cost, supply risk, supplier responsiveness, and suppher innovation (Choi and Krause 2006). These performance measures are largely determined by the architectural characteristics of the supply base and include, supplier diversity, number of suppliers in the base, and the linkages between suppliers, as shown in Fig. 4.7. 

These barriers, which are explained below, show that the decision criteria used by buyers retain a legacy of the traditional approach where the choice of lowest price remains the most defining characteristic. Unless such behaviour is changed, it prevents supply chain relationships from developing beyond a cmde application of commercial power, where the free market is used to instil discipline and promote a supply base in which it is assiuned that the fit survive. An explanation of the above barriers is as follows. 

The suitabiHty and economics of a distillation separation depend on such factors as favorable vapor—Hquid equiHbria, feed composition, number of components to be separated, product purity requirements, the absolute pressure of the distillation, heat sensitivity, corrosivity, and continuous vs batch requirements. Distillation is somewhat energy-inefficient because in the usual case heat added at the base of the column is largely rejected overhead to an ambient sink. However, the source of energy for distillations is often low pressure steam which characteristically is in long supply and thus relatively inexpensive. Also, schemes have been devised for lowering the energy requirements of distillation and are described in many pubHcations (87). 

While the manufacturers of measurement devices can supply some information on the dynamic characteristics of their devices, interpretation is often difficult. Measurement device dynamics are quoted on varying bases, such as rise time, time to 63 percent response, settling time, and so on. Even where the time to 63 percent response is quoted, it might not be safe to assume that the measurement device exhibits first-order behavior. 

Startup flow to the expander is designed to be supplied from the discharge of the compressor through a throttle valve and cooler. A careful study of the characteristics of the compressor blow-off valve and the expander startup valve was performed by Solvay process engineers. Based on these calculations, the startup cooler and valve were sized to supply the minimum required flow to tlie expander wheel. 

The torsional resonant response of a system is an interaction of all the components in the train. Calculation of torsional natural frequencies is based on the entire system and these frequencies are valid only for that given arrangement. If any component of the train is replaced by an item with torsional characteristics different from the original, the system tor sional response must be recalculated and new torsional natural frequencies determined. Occasionally, an original equipment manufacturer is requested to calculate the torsional and lateral critical speeds of the supplied item. Unfortunately, the purchaser is unaware that this request is of limited value since the torsional response of a single item in a train is meaningless. Likewise, a torsional shop test will yield meaningless results if the train is not assembled and tested with every item destined for the field. 

Air supplied in confined space by downward vertical jets creates a similar flow pattern as in the case of air supply by horizontal nonattached jets. With vertical air supply, the occupied zone is ventilated directly by air jets. Grimitlyn suggests that the area of occupied zone ventilated by one jet be sized based on the jet s cross-sectional area at the point it enters the occupied zone. The jet cross-sectional area and configuration depend upon the height of the air supply, the type of air jet, and diffuser characteristics ( K, and K, ). 

The old, tedious, but quite reliable method is to measure the supply flow by the bag method. A tightly rolled plastic bag empty of air at the commencement of the test is pressed on the terminal with all the supply air passing into the bag. The filling time of the bag is measured and the flow rate calculated based on this information. The bag volume has to be determined in advance by a special measurement. Finally, the characteristic pressure difference method, menrumed above, can also be applied to supply terminals. 

From the consumer s perspective, cost is an important characteristic of the food and the best buy is the product that is considered to have the best ratio of quality and price. So consumers should welcome any measure that will improve quality at no extra cost or reduce the cost at no reduction in quality. In principle, using a CCP-based system at the level of a supply chain is supposed to do just that, since it will ensure that the controls are taking place at the steps where they can be implemented most effectively, thus eliminating superfluous double or triple testing of the same thing, or unnecessary waste when food is discarded because its safety is uncertain. 

Different types of industries require different characteristics to be taken into account, because in model-based planning the real decision situation must be represented adequately, as the solution will otherwise not provide any benefit. Along the lines of Meyr and Stadtler [3], the characteristics of different supply chains can be classified into functional attributes (procurement type, production type, distribution type, and sales type) and structural attributes (topography of a supply chain, integration, and coordination). 

From the different planning methods available within SNP, SNP optimization is selected because it offers the best fit to the customer requirements outlined above. The main reasons for this decision are the multisourcing characteristics of the supply network as well as the fact that the objective functions used by the SNP optimizer, profit maximization or cost minimization, correspond to the planning philosophy favored by the customer. In addition to SNP optimization with its cost-based approach, SNP offers several heuristic-based planning methods which follow a rule-based logic. 

Three different principles govern the design of bench-scale calorimetric units heat flow, heat balance, and power consumption. The RC1 [184], for example, is based on the heat-flow principle, by measuring the temperature difference between the reaction mixture and the heat transfer fluid in the reactor jacket. In order to determine the heat release rate, the heat transfer coefficient and area must be known. The Contalab [185], as originally marketed by Contraves, is based on the heat balance principle, by measuring the difference between the temperature of the heat transfer fluid at the jacket inlet and the outlet. Knowledge of the characteristics of the heat transfer fluid, such as mass flow rates and the specific heat, is required. ThermoMetric instruments, such as the CPA [188], are designed on the power compensation principle (i.e., the supply or removal of heat to or from the reactor vessel to maintain reactor contents at a prescribed temperature is measured). 

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