Witch-hunt in Scottish society Speech or Presentation

Witch-hunt in Scottish society - Speech or Presentation Example As such, when a new team of leaders took office in the 1649-1650, whereby the new leader Kirk Party attempted to clean out all the sorcery and witchcraft within the society by making it a godly state, these witches faced total extermination (Davies & De Blecourt, 2004: P.150). Any witch identified within the society was brought to court for judgment, and killed through hanging if found guilty. He therefore ordered a continuous hunt for all witches, and those found faced judgment and prosecution at ad hoc courts (Dingwall, 2003: P.78). Most of these witches who found guilty died in the hands of their prosecutors. These ad hoc courts eliminated most f the witches found because they did not have any lawyers to defend them at these hearings. This was the Great Scottish Witch Hunt, which occurred between the periods of 1649-1650, consisting of a number of witch trials across the land of Scotland. This is among the five major witch-hunts identified within the country in the modern days of Scotland that recorded the largest volumes of executions within a single year (Ewan and Nugent, 2008: P.49). This paper covers the events that took place during this witch-hunt period, the effects of these events as well as the challenges and successes recorded at the culmination of these events. A number of resources deal with this topic on the witch-hunt period in Scotland (Goodare, 2002: P.15). However, most of them are not clear as to what exactly happened, i.e. not all of them give a clear account of events as they happened after the radical Kirk party took leadership and empowered the Presbyterians church leaders to hunt out for witches within the community and bring them to justice. This is because they felt these witches and wizards were the main cause of calamities and suffering within the community (Graham, 2008: P.160). One single author by the name Brian Levack produced a complete count of events on the witch-hunt period of the Scottish land, especially dealing with the concepts of law, religion and politics that in one way or another propelled these activities (Henderson, 2008: P.179). In addition, the author covers on some topics the reasons why witchcraft was so widespread in the society, as well as the effects of these black-magic activities on the land (Larner, 1981: P.32). However, there are other sources, though skeptical in a way, that cover the topics raised on witch-hunt in the Scottish land. These topics cover a few concepts on the occurrences during this period as well as put across a clear account on all events that occurred during the period (Levack, 2008: P.92). As such, it was very challenging to conduct this research especially because no single book, article, or journal covered conclusively all the events that took place during the Scottish witch-hunt (MacDonald, 1997: P.358). Most of these resources only provided sketchy topics on the events, or a particular opinion of an individual, which might not necessary portray the real fac tors the led to or caused the events under consideration (Notes and Comments, 2002: P.240). Furthermore, they do not provide the effects of these ad hoc court trials, especially since the accused did not get an opportunity to plead their case. They only chance they have to exonerate themselves from the accusations placed against them were to provide proof of their lack of participation in these activities (Toivo, 2008: P.67). However, this led to even more bloodshed in the society as these accused witches pointed out on their friends and other counterparts, which expanded the witch-hunt in Scotland (Whatley,

What Title? Essay -- essays research papers

A Clockwork Orange : Chosen Evil vs. Forced Morality   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  What becomes of a man stripped of his free will? Does he continue to be a man, or does he cease? These are questions that Anthony Burgess tries to answer. Written in the middle of Burgess’ writing career, A Clockwork Orange was a reflection of a youth subculture of violence and terrorization that was beginning to emerge in the early 1960s. The novel follows Alex, a young hoodlum who is arrested for his violent acts towards the citizens of London. While incarcerated, Alex undergoes a technique in which his free will towards acts of a barbaric - or even harmless - nature is taken from him, then is forced to face the world once more as a machine-like creature. In A Clockwork Orange, Burgess explores the controversial idea of whether it is better to be forced into morality, or choose evil as a life path.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Like most of Burgess’ other novels, A Clockwork Orange explores the conflicts between good and evil, the spirit and the flesh (Galens). The novel- a satire detailing the violent exploits of a futuristic gang - was published in 1962, and is narrated in Nadsat - a language pasted together from Russian and American slang - by fifteen year old Alex.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  The original American edition of A Clockwork Orange came out without the last chapter. In the Americanized version, there were only twenty chapters, as opposed to the twenty-one - a number that signifies adulthood. This chapter was cut out due to the fact that the publisher thought it was too sentimental (Galens).   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Though Burgess says that A Clockwork Orange is neither his best nor his favorite book, the novel established Burgess’ international reputation. Stanley Kubrick contributed to his international fame, with a 1971 film adaptation of the novel. The film won Burgess numerous new readers. The film also secured the A Clockwork Orange as the most controversial novel in English literature (Galens).   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Before and after A Clockwork Orange was published, Burgess wrote steadily, publishing eleven novels between 1960 and 1964. He edited and published many more works, including novels, screen plays, autobiographies, critical studies, and an opera. None ever achieved the notoriety that A Clockwork Orange received (Galens).  ... ...ex â€Å"matures and begins to [grow] weary of his violent ways† (Galens).   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  One of the more fascinating aspects of â€Å"A Clockwork Orange† is the language that Burgess invents. Known as Nadsat, it is derived from British, Russian, and American slang, rhyming words, and Roma, or gypsy talk. The patterns and rhythms of Nadsat in A Clockwork Orange convey a sense of rhythm about to be destroyed (F).   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  John Anthony Burgess Wilson was born in 1917. He was born in Manchester, England, to Joseph (a cashier and pub pianist) and Elizabeth (Burgess) Wilson (Galens). Both Bugess’ mother and sister died of the flu in 1919. He was raised by a maternal aunt, and later by his stepmother.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Once he went on to college, Burgess studied English at Xaverian college and Manchester University. He graduated with a degree in English language and literature (Galens).   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  During World War II, Burgess served in the Royal Army Medical Corps. â€Å"With World War II and the prospect of total annihilation†¦the fear that haunted the ivory towers of philosophers became a part of every living being.† (F). Unfinished?†¦

Logistics costs

Logistics cost form an important part of the overall cost structure in any organization. Focus needs to be on renegotiating freight and shipping rates, reduction in overall freight costs and streamlining operations. The following are the measures (ways) that can be used to reduce cost in logistics New carriers: The use of Constant market rate check is a best practice. Usually, logistics managers get into a comfort zone with the existing carriers. The organization should look on other carriers which offers lowest cost of transportation. Market rate check will bring to light other more economical perations.New carriers may be more flexible in their price. Freight costs: There are several options to optimize freight costs. Renegotiation of minimum billing to a minimum for a zone needs to be explored. Product delivery coordination is another useful tool to streamline freight costs. Arrangements with a number of smaller carriers also provide the best rate/best service combination. Interne t offers excellent tools for comparing and optimizing freight costs. Improve shipping and receiving: Streamlining shipping and receiving practices will offer savings. This can happen hrough reduction of long time for receiving.Starting point should be mandating delivery appointments. A flow chart needs to be made of all the operations to determine wasteful processes and combining existing processes. Technology: Internet tools enable substantial reduction in paperwork. Documents are scanned and emailed to customs, ports etc. In case of cross border trade, documents needs to reach at least twenty four hours in advance to avoid delays at the border. Technology also allows coordination of all shipments to optimize loading. This minimize delays in delivery. Managing returns: Reverse logistics is an important element of freight costs.Most companies offer a liberal returns policy. If the customer is not satisfied with the product, it can be returned in a certain period depending on the sel ler. At times, the seller also arranges to pick it up. There should be streamlined processes so as to minimize costs associated with reverse logistics. Audit of freight costs: Use specialized agencies that provide post payment audit of freight bills. These agencies are usually paid on a profit sharing basis. These audits also provide valuable insight nto patterns and other cost reduction opportunities.Deborah Catalano Ruriani explained other ways (measures) of Cost reduction as: 1 . Eliminate supply chain bottlenecks. By periodically reviewing and analyzing their supply chain networks, companies can be able to pinpoint issues and proactively address them. Strategies to reduce or eliminate bottlenecks include addressing vessel schedule planning, ensuring proper documentation and regulatory compliance for imports and exports, and revamping network design. 2. Reduce inventory at the port, manufacturing sites, and warehouses. Companies often stock excess inventory because they lack supp ly chain visibility.To effectively reduce excess inventory, you have to gain reliable information on future orders. Visibility software can help. 3. Cut demurrage and detention tines. While an occasional tine may not seem like much, these costs can add up. Auditing carrier bills and tracking where issues occur in the supply chain can substantially cut fine payments. 4. Identify opportunities to shift modes. Without adequate visibility into logistics operations, a company may not realize that an air shipment could move by sea at a much lower cost. Companies that use technology to evaluate modal options typically see a five- to eight-percent cost reduction. . Use postponement strategies to divert inventory at an international gateway. A successful postponement strategy can dramatically lower forecasting errors as well as improve customer service by reducing out-of-stocks. Companies also can cut transport costs by reducing inventory misallocations and shipping more items in bulk. 6. Us e preferential trade agreements. Companies that take advantage of preferential status can save millions in duties and taxes. A software system that automates the ualification process can save time and effort, as well as improve compliance and data accuracy. . Rebalance supply and fulfillment networks by determining tax- efficient sourcing and distribution strategies. Companies must periodically review their supply chain networks to assess duties and logistics costs, labor costs, regulatory controls, and global political climates. By comparing geographic options, taking into account the costs and regulations of each option, companies can optimize their supply chain. 8. Become a self-filer. Using technology to connect electronically ith brokers lowers entry filing costs and reduces manual entry errors.It also can enable pre-clearance of goods at borders and reduce the number of staff needed internally to manage logistics operations while boosting productivity hence reduce cost. 9. Con trol your procurement process. By implementing a process-based workflow that includes tracking and managing order acceptance, consolidating invoices, creating shipments and generating documents† and by extending that process to trading partners† companies can reduce cycle times, cut supply chain execution costs, and better support compliance initiatives. 10. Implement performance management metrics and tools.Companies need a system, data, and tools to benchmark actions and make informed decisions. Developing a performance management process allows companies to manage service providers and critical cycle times to lower costs and continually improve performance 1 1 . Understand the true costs of sourcing overseas. Calculate freight, duty, brokerage, and inventory carrying costs to support these lengthened supply chains. Also factor in such items as the costs of engineers flying overseas. Once you understand the true total landed cost and total impact to the business 12. Fo cus on eliminating the variability out of transit times.The more variable the transit times are, the more likely it is that the receiving party is using more premium freight, building buffers of inventory, or ordering more often and more quantity than necessary to compensate for the uncertainty. Understanding these dynamics can lead to the conclusion that paying higher freight costs to insure higher variability actually saves your company in total costs. 13. Control your express shipping costs. Typically when a company runs into a supply chain issue, it will have an entire shipment sent on an express/expedited highest cost) service level basis.Panicking often results in higher costs. If the company would Just do a little bit of calculating it can determine the amount of goods that are needed immediately and have that amount sent using express/expedited service level, while the balance ot the shipment can be sent using a standard (lower cost) service level. 14. Informed decision-maki ng. Provide to the decision-makers/ customers of your logistics network the cost of freight for each service level, the reliability of each lane for each service level, and the true cost of carrying inventory so they can make informed decisions.People generally want to be good corporate citizens and will select the less expensive option that still meets their needs CHARACTERISTICS OF COST REDUCTION (HARD COST SAVINGS) The following are the characteristics of â€Å"Hard† cost savings, which is understood as tangible bottom line reductions are: year-on-year saving over the constant volume of purchased product/service, actions that can be traced directly to the Profit and Loss Account, direct reduction of expense or a change in process/technology/policy that directly reduces expenses, process improvements that result in real and measurable ost or asset reductions, examination of existing products or services, contractual agreements, or processes to determine potential changes th at reduce cost, and net reductions in prices paid for items procured when compared to prices in place for the prior 12 months or a change to lower cost alternatives. COST AVOIDANCE (SOFT COST SAVINGS) â€Å"Soft† cost avoidance is much more difficult to define.The following are Suggested definitions, which includes: Cost avoidance is a cost reduction that does not lower the cost of products/services when compared against historical results, but rather inimizes or avoids entirely the negative impact to the bottom line that a price increase would have caused, when there is an increase in output or capacity without increasing resource expenditure, in general, the cost avoidance savings are the amount that would have been spent to handle the increased volume or output, and Cost avoidances include process improvements that do not immediately reduce cost or assets but provide benefits through improved process efficiency, employee productivity, improved customer satisfaction, improv ed competitiveness, over time to mention the few, cost avoidance often becomes cost savings. N. B: Cost avoidance is a cost reduction that results from a spend that is lower than the spend that would have otherwise been required if the cost avoidance exercise had not been undertaken.This accounts for the situations where spend is higher due to higher demand but overall cost per unit is lower, where up-front investments reduce overall spend in one or more categories over a multi-year initiative, and where a process improvement or product replacement resulted in a lower operating cost or cost per unit compared to what the company would have spent had the company not improved the process or replaced the product. To Sum up, if the organization adopts this open definition of cost avoidance, and maintains a document of common examples and their associated metrics, which is updated each time a new type of project is encountered that could result in a cost avoidance, the organization can fu lly quantify the â€Å"hard† and â€Å"soft† savings delivered by the sourcing team to the management team.Measures of Cost Avoidance: Resisting or delaying a supplier's price increase, this is one of the ways of cost avoidance whereby the organization use techniques to resist or delay supplier price increase in avoiding cost. Use of purchase price that is lower than the original quoted price, The organization purchases its requirements at a lower price than what was initially quoted by the supplier so as to avoid cost. Value of additional services at no cost, the firm makes sure it avoid or prevent cost by making sure after sale services are obtained for free for instance installation, free training. Long-term contracts with price-protection provisions,the firm enters into long term contracts with the aim of cost sharing with the supplier. Introduction of a new product or part number requiring a new material purchases and spend is lower.COST REDUCTION CHALLENGES Some of the challenges faced by a company as they seek to assess cost reduction include: Cancellation of net savings due to an increase in the business unit's cost structure, Supply management's role in the cost savings allocation decision, Chronology of supply management's involvement and the need for budget cuts, Visibility, in terms of systems, people, and metrics, Total Cost of Ownership (TCO) concept for purchases items/services, Multi-year issues in cost savings, and Creating a proper incentive structure for supply management personnel. TYPES OF COST REDUCTION AND AVOIDANCE The following are types of cost reduction and avoidance that need to be recognized as valid cost savings. This section presents some types of cost reduction and cost avoidance that can contribute significantly to the organization's bottom line.Negotiated Discounts against Material Cost Increases If the products being sourced are primarily made from a commodity whose average market price or index has increased si gnificantly since the last sourcing cycle, and a buyer manages to negotiate a price that increases less than the increase in underlying material costs since the last sourcing event, this is a valid cost avoidance. Substitution If a buyer manages to find another product that performs the same function, or is able to collaborate with a supplier to produce a functionally equivalent specification that is more economical to produce, then the buyer has obtained a cost reduction on behalf of the organization.. Waived Fees This form of cost avoidance is quite self-explanatory.For example, if a supplier normally charges an installation fee for a new piece of equipment, but the buyer is able to negotiate free installation, than this would be an example of cost avoidance of the waived fee variety. Another example would be free training or services. However, this is one example where the cost avoidance is not equal to what the vendor quotes, but what the market average for the service is.. Inve ntory Reduction This occurs when the buyer comes up with a strategy to reduce the inventory that the organization needs to hold at any given time. Since all inventories is associated with a carrying cost, inventory reduction often represents significant cost savings to an organization over time.Inventory can be reduced when a buyer finds a supplier who can handle a snorter lead time or when inventory is turned over to a vendor who pecializes in inventory management (Vendor Managed Inventory). Process Improvement Processes consume overhead, and overhead costs money. Thus, any significant process improvement could represent a significant cost avoidance to an organization. However, unlike the other types of cost avoidance, process improvement cost reductions can be a bit tricky to evaluate. The key is to look at the average number of units of product or work produced per day, week, or month prior to the improvement and the number of units of product or work produced per day, week, or m onth after the improvement and calculate a percentage improvement N.B: By doing this, the organization will have clearly defined cost reduction efforts, tied them to savings, defined their relative importance, and defined the share of the credit that will go to supply management in a cross-functional initiative. The organization will also have avoided the problem where the team over concentrates on finding â€Å"hard† dollar savings, which is a serious problem if raw material and energy costs keep rising significantly and the largest savings potential is in the â€Å"soft† savings realized by long- term process and product improvements. Transloading to Maximize Cost Savings By Deborah Catalano Ruriani Tags: Transportation Management Transloading offers a cost-effective way to bring ocean containers inland to distribution centers.By transferring cargo without sorting the contents for shipment to a single destination, transloading services can reduce total landed costs, and† when combined with value-added services such as palletizing and shrink-wrapping† reduce handling at the destination. Jeff McCorstin, senior vice president of air and ocean products for UPS Global Freight Forwarding, offers these tips for maximizing savings with transloading services. 1 . Understand general transloading rules. Transloading offers the greatest cost savings when ocean containers can be consolidated into fewer, larger domestic trailers. The cargo in three 40-foot ocean containers typically fits into two 53-foot domestic trailers. . Ensure overall transportation savings outweigh additional handling costs. Sometimes the savings are negated for destinations located farther east from the U. S. West Coast discharge port. 3. Consider palletizing cargo during transloading. To best use space in ocean containers, cargo is rarely palletized at the point of origin. Palletize during the ransloading process to improve distribution center (DC) handling efficiency. 4. Factor transloading into transit time estimates. Unloading, handling, and reloading ocean container cargo near the port of discharge takes time. Allow up to three days to ensure customer delivery commitments are met. 5.Ensure your cargo fits the bill. Transload operators charge additional fees for containers with more than a certain number of cartons. The additional costs for containers with several thousand small cartons could offset any transportation savings. 6. Ensure handling flexibility by making Customs entry at the port. While it is a common practice to clear ocean containers at their tinal inland destinations, it is better to make entry at the port ot discharge. This ensures maximum flexibility in handling cargo, and eliminates the need to move the shipment in-bond, saving additional costs. 7. Increase supply chain efficiency with merge-in-transit offerings.This type of deconsolidation allows importers to combine products arriving in containers from different origins/shipp ers by transloading near the port of arrival into domestic trailers. And if importers source from domestic suppliers†who may also have product arriving via container†this argo can be merged in transit to arrive together at the designated DC. 8. Use transloading to expedite delivery to final destination. Transloading near the port of discharge provides the flexibility to bypass DCs and speed delivery to the end customer. The reduced DC handling charges and improved time in transit can help trim supply chain costs. 9. Avoid costly containers.Instead of shipping less-than- containerload, 20-foot, or light-loaded 40-foot containers from multiple overseas vendors to your inland DC, ship fully loaded/optimized containers to a single container freight station near the port of discharge. From there, they can be transloaded, merged in transit with other inbound cargo, and shipped to the final destination using the transport mode that best fits the importer's needs. 10. Set up tra nsloading programs in advance. Having your service provider involved in coordinating with the origin forwarder translates into better service levels and reliability. Flexible Structure Flexible operations are preplanned contingency strategies to prevent logistical failures.A typical emergency occurs when an assigned shipping facility is out of stock or for some other reason cannot complete a customer's order. For example, a warehouse may be out of an item with no replenishment inventory scheduled to arrive until after the customer's specified order delivery date. To prevent back- ordering or delivery cancellation, a contingency operating policy may assign the total order, or at least those items not available, for shipment from an alternative warehouse. The use of flexible operations is typically based on the importance of meeting the needs of a specific customer or the critical nature of the product being ordered.A flexible logistics capability that has gained popularity as a resul t of mproved communications involves procedures for serving predetermined situations as part of the basic logistical strategy. The flexible logistics rule and decision scenarios specify alternative ways to meet specific service requirements, such as assignment of the order to different shipping facilities or changing methods of delivery. A strategy that utilizes flexible operations is common practice in four different situations. First, the customer designated delivery facility might be near a point of equal logistics cost or equal delivery time from two different logistics facilities. Customers located at such points offer the supplying firm an opportunity to fully utilize available inventory and logistical capacity.Orders can be serviced from the facility having the best inventory position or the available transportation capacity to achieve timely delivery. This form of flexible logistics offers a way to fully utilize system capacity by balancing workloads between facilities while protecting customer service commitments. The benefit is operating efficiency, which is transparent to the customer, who experiences no service deterioration. A second situation Justitying lexible distribution is when the size of a customer's order creates an opportunity to improve logistical efficiency if serviced through an alternative channel arrangement. For example, the lowest-total-cost method to provide small shipment delivery may be through a distributor.In contrast, larger shipments may have the lowest total logistical cost when shipped factory direct to customers. Provided that alternative methods of shipment meet customer delivery expectations, total logistical cost may be reduced by implementing flexible policies. A third type of flexible operation may result from a selective inventory stocking strategy. The cost and risk associated with stocking inventory require careful analysis to determine which items and how much to place in each warehouse. With replacement parts, a common strategy mentioned earlier is to stock selected items in specific warehouses with the total line being stocked only at a central facility.In general-merchandise retailing, a store or distribution center located in a small community may stock only a limited or restricted version of a firm's total line. When customers desire nonstocked items, orders must be satisfied from an alternative facility. The term master facilities is ften used to describe inventory strategies that designate larger facilities for backup support of smaller restricted facilities. Selective inventory stocking by echelon level is a common strategy used to reduce overall inventory risk. The reasons for selective stocking range from low product profit contribution to high per-unit cost of inventory maintenance.One way to operationalize a fine-line inventory classification strategy is to differentiate stocking policy by system echelons. In situations following such classified stocking strategies, it may be ne cessary to obtain advanced customer approval for split-order delivery. However, in some situations firms that use differentiated inventory stocking strategies are able to consolidate customer orders while intransit for same-time delivery, thereby making the arrangement customer transparent. The fourth type of flexible operations results from agreements between firms to move selected shipments outside the established echeloned or direct logistics arrangements.Two special arrangements gaining popularity are flow through cross-docks and service supplier arrangements. A cross-dock operation involves shipments from multiple suppliers arriving at a designated time at the handling facility. Inventory receipts are sorted by destination across the dock and consolidated into outbound trailers for direct delivery. Cross-dock operations are growing in popularity in the retail industry for building store-specific assortments and are common methods of continuous inventory replenishment for mass m erchants. Cross-docking of merchandise direct from manufacture to a customer's retail store eliminates the work and cost associated with utilizing distribution warehouses.Another form of flexible operations is to use integrated service providers to consolidate products for delivery. This is similar to consolidation for ransportation purposes discussed in the previous section of this chapter. However, as a form of flexible logistics, specialists are used to avoid storage and handling of slow-moving products through the mainstream of the echeloned logistics structure. Such service providers can also provide important value-added services. For example, Starbucks Coffee Company has a long standing relationship with OHL, a logistics service provider. Starbucks has approximately 17,000 company-owned and licensed retail outlets.O L provides logistical support to Starbucks by ottering the typical range of 3PL services plus technology support. This operating relationship has existed for over a decade. Figure 2. 5 introduces flexibility to the logistical operating structures previously illustrated. A prerequisite to effective flexible operations is the use of information technology to monitor inventory status throughout the logistical network and provide the capability to rapidly switch methods for servicing customer orders. The use of flexible operations in emergency situations has a well-established track record. The overall improvement in information technology is resulting in flexible operations becoming an increasingly important part of basic logistics trategy.Cutting Costs From Your Logistics Budget Tags: Supply Chain Management If you want to reduce logistics costs, you have to take the time to review your processes. Nathan Pieri, senior vice president of marketing and product management for Rutherford, N. J. -based Management Dynamics, offers these tips for trimming your logistics budget. 10 tips for reducing supply chain logistics costs Aug. 9, 2005 Berme Hart EMAIL Tweet Comments O As companies continue to manufacture and source materials from overseas, controlling costs remains a top priority for those involved in international trade. One ey factor that should be monitored more closely is logistics management, which covers all activities relating to the procurement, transport, transshipment and storage of goods.Depending on the industry sector, supply chain logistics costs account from 5% to 50% of a product's total landed cost. Some issues effecting logistics costs: Fuel prices remain high and ports continue to experience delays, resulting in higher transportation fees. Increasingly complex international trade laws and security measurements threaten to lengthen delivery times and increase warehousing costs. According to a recent report by TechnologyEvaluation. om, a typical air-freight shipment takes eight to twelve days. Of this, the cargo is en route only 5% of the time. The rest is spent sitting in warehouses waiting for the require d documents and compliance checks.Following are 10 Tips on Reducing Supply Chain Logistics Costs: 1 that domestic buy may look a lot better. Sourcing from Ohio to your U. S. plant, distribution center or customer may, in the long run, be more cost effective than sourcing from China. Taritt engineering. Strategically source and manutacture products to take advantage of classification duty rates and eligibility for special trade programs such s NAFTA. 4. Consolidate. If you have multiple suppliers in one country, consolidate their goods into one shipment. In addition, if you always have LCL (less than container load) shipments out of one country, try to find another LCL importer of goods from that country.You may be able to partner and consolidate to a more cost-effective FCL (full container load) shipment. 5.. 6. Sometimes insurance doesn't pay. Often when a company has a shipment of premium goods they tend to use the Carrier's Insurance. Carriers Insurance is very expensive. If the company is self insured, which most companies are, they should heck their insurance policy to see if it covers shipment of goods. If it does, then they do not need to add the extra cost of Carrier's Insurance. 7. Automate compliance processes. Companies that implement software solutions to automate trade compliance are able to speed the cycle times associated with tasks being performed manually, such as document preparation, and eliminate the associated errors.Automated compliance procedures also bring fewer delays at border crossings, resulting in on-time delivery, adequate inventory levels, increased customer satisfaction, and the avoidance of fines. 8.. 9. Planes, trains and automobiles. Which is cheapest? In general, rail is more cost- effective than trucking or air. Water is cheaper than air shipment. No matter the mode of delivery, always try to get three quotes for movements. 10. Be aware of non-tariff trade barriers. Companies need to be more aware of the increasing level of non-tariff trade barriers that are in force to reduce sweat shop labor and support human rights and animal welfare issues. These restrictions can bring importers increased liability and compliance costs.

The Military Draft An Unwise Solution Essay - 1357 Words

The Military Draft: An Unwise Solution The United States of Americas military is currently involved in two major wars with U.S. opposition in Afghanistan and Iraq. All though both of these efforts can be said to be in the clean-up stages, many more soldiers will be needed to stabilize the regions, to provide police work, and to fight the insurgencies that have risen in opposition to the invasion of U.S. troops into foreign lands. The current presidential administration states that to adequately deal with the problems of post-war Iraq and unstable Afghanistan the United States needs to increase the number of active-duty soldiers serving over-seas. Top officials in the administration have said that a reorganization of the military†¦show more content†¦A group of people who are morally or logically opposed to war ? to war in general or to the current war specifically ? would make terrible soldiers because the nature of being a soldier is to put your life and personal interests on the line to support a cause. Wi thout personal determination and belief that a cause is right or just, the adequate effort to succeed in war can never be fully given. Evidence of these formerly-mentioned consequences was apparent when the draft was instated in 1969 to aid the American effort in Vietnam. The quantity of soldiers increased, but the quality of their efforts decreased. Many soldiers who were drafted refused to go. Some made efforts to stop the war from the inside, and some even sabotaged their own troops. This was because many of the people drafted to fight felt that it was not their war, and that they had no real interest in its outcome. These examples of the detrimental effects of the Vietnam draft should be enough evidence to show that the draft does not work. Many say that the draft is justified because every American has to cooperate in the shared sacrifice of a nation at war. They believe that, as citizens, all Americans have the responsibility to personally relate to the military goals of the U.S. and to take on a part of the burden, but military service and war have never been of equal interest to all. 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