Perspectives on Various Issues of Interest

Did You Know

- It is impossible to lick your elbow.

- A crocodile can't stick it's tongue out.

- A shrimp's heart is in their head.

- People say "Bless you" when you sneeze because when you sneeze, your heart stops for a millisecond.

- In a study of 200,000 ostriches over a period of 80 years, no one reported a single case where an ostrich buried its head in the sand.

- It is physically impossible for pigs to look up into the sky.

- A pregnant goldfish is called a twit.

- Between 1937 and 1945 Heinz produced a version of Alphabetic Spaghetti especially for the German market that consisted solely of little pasta swastikas.

- In average, a human being will have sex more than 3,000 times and spend two weeks kissing in their lifetime.

- More than 50% of the people in the world have never made or received a telephone call.

- Rats and horses can't vomit.

- The "sixth sick sheik's sixth sheep's sick" is said to be the toughest tongue twister in the English language.

- If you sneeze too hard, you can fracture a rib. If you try to suppress a sneeze, you can rupture a blood vessel in your head or neck and die. If you keep your eyes open by force, they can pop out.

- Rats multiply so quickly that in 18 months, two rats could have over million descendants.

- Wearing headphones for just an hour will increase the bacteria in your ear by 700 times.

- If the government has no knowledge of aliens, then why does Title 14, Section 1211 of the Code of Federal Regulations, implemented on July 16, 1969, make it illegal for U.S. citizens to have any contact with extraterrestrials or their vehicles?

- In every episode of Seinfeld there is a Superman somewhere.

- The cigarette lighter was invented before the match.

- Thirty-five percent of the people who use personal ads for dating are already married.

- A duck's quack doesn't echo, and no one knows why.

- 23% of all photocopier faults worldwide are caused by people sitting on them and photocopying their buttocks.

- In the course of an average lifetime you will, while sleeping, eat 70 assorted insects and 10 spiders.

- Most lipstick contains fish scales.

- Cat's urine glows under a black-light.

- Like fingerprints, everyone's tongue print is different.

- Over 75% of people who read this will try to lick their elbow.

RFID Skill shortage

As RFID becomes prominent in the logistics world, many problems face it. One is the lack of technical professionals that are proficient in the new technology. According to one expert, there are less than 1000 technicians worldwide that qualified to launch RFID technology. This seems to be hampering the new technology’s roll out. Companies see this as a hindrance because once RFID is deployed, it still has to be maintained. A recent study of industry workers states that they believe that there are insufficient numbers in the RFID technical department and that this will affect the adoption of RFID. Many think that an industry wide certification program is needed to enhance RFID skills.

According to preliminary results of a CompTIA survey conducted in February this year, which polled 56 members from the industry group, 69.6 percent of the respondents indicated that there is an insufficient RFID talent pool. Some 64.7 percent also believed that the lack of skilled individuals will affect the adoption of RFID.

Source: Tan, Lynn. “Skill Shortage Hits RFID Growth.” Business Week Online 13 March 2007.

Threats to Revenue Drivers

Below, I present some interesting insights gained from a survey of finance professionals.

NUMBER ONE REVENUE THREAT: SUPPLY CHAIN DISRUPTIONS - Anonymous

Among the lessons companies learned from the disastrous hurricane seasons of the past two years along the Gulf Coast: Few businesses are immune to supply-chain shocks. Even organizations remote from natural disasters may find their supply lines--already pulled taut by global sourcing, supplier consolidation and just-in-time initiatives--stretched to the breaking point.

The growing threat of supply-chain disruptions is a top-of-mind concern for many business leaders, according to a Harris Interactive survey commissioned by Johnston, R.I.-based FM Global, a commercial and industrial property insurer. The survey polled some 600 finance executives in large organizations around the world. When asked to identify the top risk that affected their company's primary revenue driver, 25 percent of respondents from North American companies and 19 percent of those based overseas--the largest proportion in both cases--chose supply-chain exposures.
Despite increased attention given to the threat of terrorist attacks and recent corporate accounting scandals, particularly in the United States, only 5 percent of North America-based respondents chose terrorism or sabotage as the top risk, and just 4 percent of that group selected management or employee malfeasance. The survey identified regulatory issues and increasing competition as the most important emerging risks for North American companies.

Organizations in the North American group allocate 56 percent of their risk management budget to loss prevention and control and 44 percent to risk transfer. Among overseas companies, the ratio is similar, at 58-42.

"With globalization and outsourcing stretching the supply chain and introducing new and never-before-anticipated business challenges, the findings suggest many companies may want to ensure they are doing all they can to deter a disruption of any kind," says Ruud Bosman, executive vice president with FM Global. "At the same time, it's encouraging to see so many companies focusing on risk control rather than simply buying insurance to cover losses. The most progressive financial executives do not wait for a disruption to their businesses to demonstrate the value of investing in risk quality."

Bosman adds, "Companies that manage their risks properly and communicate the effectiveness of such efforts to their many stakeholders will find they not only gain a competitive advantage, but also boost financial performance, enhance shareholder confidence and help protect the value their businesses create."

Top 10 Threats to North American Companies' Primary Revenue Driver

Supply chain problems 25%
Mechanical/electrical breakdown 12%
Natural disasters 8%
Labor issues 8%
Fire/explosion 6%
Pricing fluctuations 6%
Terrorism/sabotage 5%
Regulatory issues  5%
IT/Telecom-related risks 5%
Management/employee malfeasance 4%

Source: Anonymous. 2005. “Number-one Revenue Threat: Supply Chain Disruptions.” Business Finance Dec 2005.

Vendor performance with supply risk

In this paper, co-authored with Srinivas Talluri and Ram Narasimhan, we present an approach to evaluate vendor performance by explicitly considering the variability in vendor attributes. A model (chance-constrained data envelopment analysis (CCDEA) model) is used to evaluate vendors by considering multiple performance measures that are stochastic. The  model is applied to a case data of a division of a Fortune 500 pharmaceutical company, which is involved in the implementation of a JIT system. Management has considered product price, quality, and delivery as the three most important factors in evaluating alternative vendors. Price is represented on a per unit basis for each delivered item. Quality is represented as the percentage of shipped units that are rejected, and delivery is measured as the percentage of ordered units that are delayed. A set of six vendors is considered in the evaluation process.

Our analysis utilized price as the input factor, and quality and delivery performance as the output factors. Price is considered as an input because it represents the amount paid by the buyer. Quality and delivery performance are treated as outputs since they represent the benefits derived by the buyer.

Implications:

We observe that the vendor rankings in a stochastic analysis, as used in this paper, differ from that obtained from a deterministic model. The profile of efficient and inefficient vendors changes when uncertainty is introduced.

The citation for the paper is as follows:

Talluri, Srinivas, Narasimhan, Ram and Nair, Anand. 2006. Vendor performance with supply risk: A chance-constrained DEA approach. International Journal of Production Economics, 100(2): pp. 212-222.