Strategic uses of information technology Article

Strategic uses of information technology - Article Example The strategic uses of IT in the organization aimed at improving the internal processes, improving the firm’s products and relationships with customers or communication and maintaining relationships with other business partners. Information technology refers to modern communication systems and information processing technologies which help the management in decision making (Hughes, 2008). Information technology is necessary for the business since it helps the management in decision making. Information technology helps the business to achieve a competitive edge since it can be used for development of new products or differentiate already existing products and services. The information technology is necessary since it can help the business to increase the global market share and reduce the operating costs. Information technology also enables businesses to maintain working relationships with customers and other business stakeholders. Information technology enhances the service del ivery process since digital products can be delivered with ease. Information technology can also enhance the reputation and public image of the business. Information technology allows for online advertisements through websites and social networking sites which are an effective method of attracting new customers (Hughes, 2008).The innovation of information technology has enabled the businesses to develop new products like the Modems which are used to access internet connectivity.

Cashflow Statements - Three examples Essay Example for Free

Cashflow Statements Three examples Essay Accounts Payable increased in both first years, especially in 1990. For 1991 the amount decreased. III) Assessment of the financial strength: Own assessment of the financial strength of the company, why? The Gamma Corporation realizes a process of restructure and acquisition. A lot of purchases of plant, property, and equipment and high values in depreciation and amortization describe the firm’s situation best whilst it is also well managed  from a financial perspective. Even though the reported net income of especially the last year 1991 shows a clear loss - ­? which may indicate a weak financial situation- ­? the corporation is still stable from a finance perspective and seems to prepare for the future. A restructuring reserve has been implemented which proofs the ongoing restructuring process. The net cash flows from operating activities show over all three years (despite a slight  decrease) a financially stable situation in the case of operating cash flows. Also, the corporation still disposes a huge amount of cash and cash equivalents so that no risk of bankruptcy can be perceived. The company has a safe line of cash reserves each year so far. The only thing unclear is the position of â€Å"Other adjustments† in all three years. All in all, Gamma Corporation seems to be on the right track and setup for the coming financial years.

Self-Control Theory Analysis of Drug Use and Distribution

Self-Control Theory Analysis of Drug Use and Distribution Self-Control Theory Analysis of Prohibited Drug Use and Distribution References Buker, H. (2011). Formation of self-control: Gottfredson and Hirschis general theory of crime and beyond. Aggression and violent behaviour, 265-276. Gottfredson, M. G., Hirschi, T. (1990). A general theory of crime. Palo Alto, CA: Stanford University Press. Hirschi, T., Gottfredson, M. (1993). Commentary: Testing the general theory of crime. Journal of research in crime and deliquency, 47-54. Hirschi, T., Gottfredson, M. R. (2000). In defense of self-control. Theoretical Criminology, 59-64. Macquarie. (2009). Macquarie Concise Dictionary . Sydney: Macquarie Dictionary Publishers Pty Ltd. Newburn, T. (2013). Criminology. Oxon: Routledge. Self-Control Theory Analysis of Prohibited Drug Use and Distribution What is self-control and how do we apply it as a theory when referring to criminal activity? How do we use the theory of self-control to create appropriate reduction strategies for combatting criminal activity? The Macquarie Concise Dictionary defines self-control as ‘control of oneself and or ones actions, feelings, etc.’ (Macquarie, 2009) where as Hirschi Gottfredson refer to self-control as being a ‘concern for the long-term consequences of one’s acts’ (Hirschi Gottfredson, 2000). Are a person’s actions or their control of, predetermined through learned behaviours or is it merely a social â€Å"out† to state that a person has no control over their actions? That they should not be held responsible for behaviours not within their control? When does a person become responsible for their actions and can a person who has limited self-control take steps to become more self-controlled. At the age of eight years old a person is deemed to have from the ability to have self-control. At this age is would be more likely that they have learned this self-control from factors such a family structure and schooling. As maturity is a limited factor at such a young age, if a person has not formed the ability to self-control their own actions, it will be a ‘visible and stable issue as they grow older’ (Gottfredson Hirschi, 1990). Of those people whose self-control has formed it is often noted that they are more likely to resist temptation and are less impulsive, than those whose self-control has not yet formed. They are said to be able to rationalise and behave in what are deemed social norms on a regular and consistent basis. People with low or unformed self-control tend to be self-absorbed, egocentrically self-centred and bear no concern to what consequences their actions have on themselves or other people (Newburn, 2013). Generally speaking they are more likely to use prohibited drugs, engage in risky behaviour such as unprotected or unsafe sexual practices, consume alcohol to excess and are more likely to participate in criminal activity. It should be noted that there is a difference to lack of or low self-control and impulsiveness. Lack of self-control can in turn result is continual behaviour reoccurring due to a person creating an acceptable image within their mind that their actions are justified. Impulsiveness can be a one off event that is spurred on by a momentary thought process that may not ever occur again. But this does not mean that people with low self-control are criminals or that all criminals have low self-control. Like most crimes that are committed, there is an element of opportunity that needs to be present. Newburn makes mention that although it does not provide a long term benefit for the person, it can be stimulating, thrilling and is usually an unskilled act or it does not require any form of proper planning and execution (Newburn, 2013). Even with or without opportunity, most crimes need some form of planning to ensure that they are likely to succeed. In his article on the formation of self-control, Gottfredson and Hirschi’s general theory of crime and beyond, Hasan Buker identifies factors such as Family Structure, Parental Practices, Education and Learning, Biological Factors, Social Structure and Religious Involvement that contribute to how a person’s self-control is formed (Buker, 2011). By examining these factors we can attempt to create positive approaches to interact with people who have committed criminal offences and try to rehabilitate them from reoffending. But can those people who have already had their self-control formed be rehabilitated? Or must we strike while the iron is hot during the younger years of a person’s life and ensure that they are being appropriately taught right from wrong? The primary factors that determine one’s self-control as outlined in the general theory of crime are family structure and diminished parental supervision and parenting practices. If this is the case then it must be said that the secondary influences for self-control formation are social structure, education and learning. Almost all of these factors occur before a person has hit the defined age of eight years old for self-control formation. If parents find it socially acceptable to use prohibited drugs, then a young impressionable mind may feel that it too is an acceptable practice and is more likely to experiment if they are offered prohibited drugs at a later stage in their life. If suitable supervision occurs, which includes setting up appropriate boundaries and expectations, during the early years of a person’s childhood, including the adolescent years, they are more likely to respond in a positive manner to those who have no set boundaries and expectations. With thi s in mind, if parents are behaving in what is deemed law abiding behaviour, and they supervise their children in the same manner, then it must be said that their children’s level of self-control and ability to resist temptation would be greater and they are less likely to behave in criminal activity to those children who are not supervised in the same manner. Buker also raises social structure in his article stating that this can also lead to diminished self-control in an individual. Lower socio economic neighbourhoods are often linked to poor family structure and parental supervision as well as adverse learning environments. In these areas due to limited parental supervision, parents may often fail to monitor adverse behaviour and discipline their children in a correct and an appropriate manner. (Buker, 2011).

Battle of Gettysburg Essay -- History Civil War USA Historic Essays

Battle of Gettysburg This most famous and most important Civil War Battle occurred over three hot summer days, July 1 to July 3, 1863, around the small market town of Gettysburg, Pennsylvania. It began as a skirmish but by its end involved 160,000 Americans. Before the battle, major cities in the North such as Philadelphia, Baltimore and even Washington were under threat of attack from General Robert E. Lee's Confederate Army of Northern Virginia which had crossed the Potomac River and marched into Pennsylvania. The Union Army of the Potomac under its very new and untried commander, General George G. Meade, marched to intercept Lee. On Tuesday morning, June 30, an infantry brigade of Confederate soldiers searching for shoes headed toward Gettysburg (population 2,400). The Confederate commander looked through his field glasses and spotted a long column of Federal cavalry heading toward the town. He withdrew his brigade and informed his superior, Gen. Henry Heth, who in turn told his superior, A.P. Hill, he would go back the following morning and "get those shoes." Wednesday morning, July 1, two divisions of Confederates headed back to Gettysburg. They ran into Federal cavalry west of the town at Willoughby Run and the skirmish began. Events would quickly escalate. Lee rushed 25,000 men to the scene. The Union had less than 20,000. After much fierce fighting and heavy casualties on both sides, the Federals were pushed back through the town of Gettysburg and regrouped south of the town along the high ground near the cemetery. Lee ordered Confederate General R.S. Ewell to seize the high ground from the battle weary Federals "if practicable." Gen. Ewell hesitated to attack thereby giving the Union troops a chance to dig in along Cemetery Ridge and bring in reinforcements with artillery. By the time Lee realized Ewell had not attacked, the opportunity had vanished. Meade arrived at the scene and thought it was an ideal place to do battle with Lee's Army. Meade anticipated reinforcements totaling up to 100,000 men to arrive and strengthen his defensive position. Confederate General James Longstreet saw the Union position as nearly impregnable and told Lee it should be left alone. He argued that Lee's Army should instead move east between the Union Army and Washington and build a defensive position thus forcing the Federals to attack ... ...h. Confederate causalities in dead, wounded and missing were 28,000 out of 75,000. Union casualties were 23,000 out of 88,000. That night and into the next day, Saturday, July 4, Confederate wounded were loaded aboard wagons that began the journey back toward the South. Lee was forced to abandon his dead and begin a long slow withdrawal of his army back to Virginia. Union commander Meade, out of fatigue and caution, did not immediately pursue Lee, infuriating President Lincoln who wrote a bitter letter to Meade (never delivered) saying he missed a "golden opportunity" to end the war right there. On November 19, President Lincoln went to the battlefield to dedicate it as a military cemetery. The main orator, Edward Everett of Massachusetts, delivered a two hour formal address. The president then had his turn. He spoke in his high, penetrating voice and in a little over two minutes delivered the Gettysburg Address, surprising many in the audience by its shortness and leaving others quite unimpressed. Over time, however, the speech and its words - government of the People, by the People, for the People - have come to symbolize the definition of democracy itself.

Computerized Enrollements System

INTRODUCTION The slow processing of enrollment is a levy issued for all schools. All schools like colleges, secondary, and elementary school uses registration form for the enrollees. The students will sign and full-up all the necessary information in order to have their personal file in the school registrar. The manual registration form is the first and common used for enrollment registration. This kind of processing of enrolment is wasting time. Students spend a lot of time to fall in line for how many hours to complete their requirements during enrollments. Most of time enrollees are go and fort between different offices, they need to fall n line for how many hours to get a lot of enrollment form and fill-up and sign it. From the registrar to the their respective dean, for the schedule of their subjects, for their assessment and to the accounting office. This kind of manual form of enrollment can be very wasting a lot of time. Acquiring and processing documents for assessment takes a lot of time to process. This is because; documents are manually acquired, evaluated, and processed. Slow processing of assessment is also aggravated when documents from persons file is lost or misplaced since they only used file cabinet as storage of data and no back-up strategies is available.Inconsistency of data is encountered in locating file, because enrollment for mare manually written, and manually computed for their assessment. Enrollment form data and checked manually for accuracy, HR staff chasing down employees to determine who has compute the process, benefit calculation by hand, manual entry of enrollment information into and carrier site or manual entry of deductions amount into the payroll system, and paper work filled and store. The paper –based manual method of open enrollment also incurs a soft cost that cannot measured. Employee dissatisfaction. Employees today are not happy with the level of ommunication they receive from traditional open enrollment. Mo st schools, businesses or establishments facing the same kind of problems, most of them sought a solution to help them aid these problems, to offer the best possible services to their enrollees or clients. Through the advancement of technology, they’ve used various software application to computerized some processes but lack features that fit their needs. In this regards, most of them sought to have customized information system. Nowadays computer serves as an important role in our society, most especially in school remise. It works easier and faster. It lessen errors and work by using machines. It reduces costs to an organization from paper work-up to computerized working system. A system designed to perform the process involved in registration, advertizing, assessments, and payments of the students as well as scheduling of classes. A new automated enrollment system was proposed and passed by the administration just recently. According to the chair person of the department o f Information Technology and System, this enrollment system will push through on the first semester of School Year 2009- 010. According to the source: the Computerizes Enrollment System will automatically get the students subject/section for hassle-free enrollment. This is for student without any pending back subject while for students with pending back subject, they still need to meet their department chair/coordinators first for the advising of subjects before using the enrolment system. The system design project, system that will provide the needed and storing information in a faster, more convenient way by storing file of the student enrollees in a computer system that ill lessen the effort of faculty staff and storing files of each students every now and then. This will also serve as information especially for the irregular students, freshmen, transferee, returnee and professor in able to get access in course. Subject, professor, and students enrollees. This information where c an be viewed in just a second without worrying that a single file lost. The idea behind enrolment system is not a new concept. As a student’s enrollees increase every year enrolment procedure become harder to deal. This will only serve to increase the problem facing enrollment that provides more easy way in enrolling.This will be a big help to all the enrolment staff especially to those under the computer department because they are the one who are entitled to touch and read the information from here. It will help our institution to have another system that will upgrade the enrollment processes so as to meet the quality that our institutions are trying to meet. October 1st will see the biggest change in the UK pension system since in inception as auto-enrolment begins to become integrated. By the end of the year some 600,000 people are expected to be enrolled into the new system that automatically diverts funds from their pay packet.The Department of Work and Pensions (DWP) h as outlined more details on the number of people expected to be signed up during the initial waves. It estimates that 380,000 workers will be signed up in October, a total of 420,000 will be enrolled by the end of November, and 600,000 will be in place by the end of the year. WH Smith has selected an administration system to comply with its auto-enrolment obligations from 1 March 2013. The system automatically identifies and enrolls relevant employees into the chosen pension scheme, provides communication and administration processes, and handles refunds if an employee opts out.The system is provided by Ceridian UK, which already supplies the retailer with its HRevolution Saas system for its 16,000 employees’ online pay slips. â€Å"Standard-alone Soft Ware/web system† for enrollment are another common approach. This spectrum involved the complementation of an automated solution to process open enrollment. The key business drivers for eliminating a paper-based process and replacing it with an automated process are :Reduction in the time it takes to process open enrollment. Elimination of the cost of producing and storing paper materials. Mitigating the possibility of human errors Increasing employee satisfaction.Employees are not the only ones who benefit from enrollment automation. Thanks to the customizable, rules-based validation capability present with this technology, the system will catch errors and incomplete information, prompting employees to make changes as needed. Additionally, managers and administrators can run reports to discover who still needs to complete the process and send automated reminders, without having to chase down employees on a one-on-one basis. The workload on HR staff is greatly reduced, as employees can handle their own enrollment tasks. Research has shown that employees and administrators are still dissatisfied ith the level of information and analysis tools that are available with many stand-alone benefit enrollme nt applications. The fundamental issue is that in order to make informed healthcare decisions, employees, HR administrators, and financial buyers need access to data commonly found in HR/Benefits and workforce management systems. Access to demographic information alongside of benefit participation data allows a company to analyze trend so that no group is overpaying or under-utilizing the benefits. Data can be segmented into employee groups by: age, family status, location, need, pay scales, and multiple combinations of the aboveSynchronizing data between the benefit enrollment software and the day-to-day HR/Benefit system is key to achieving this because employee data is always changing. This includes: Changing departments, Changing pay-grades, Changing locations, Changing family status, Changing work status and more The Completely Integrated Single System, one database approach is the best option available today. The need to make more information available to employees, and the ne ed to streamline processes even further, are what drive many companies into the third and most advanced phase of their open enrollment evolution.This is the sweet-spot, where businesses integrate their benefits enrollment system with their HR/Benefits and workforce management platforms to develop a truly comprehensive, integrated approach. When open enrollment is deployed as a complete, full-service package, an organization can: empower an employee’s decision process by providing all information they need including paystubs, HR, business rules and workforce management through one interface, enter and update all employee information in one place, maintain up-to-date data throughout the open enrollment process. now that data integrity is assured from system to system. Enrolment System are viable choices for schools, training programs, work place operations, educational institutions, such as colleges, and grade schools are assessed for a case. Online automated system is which ac cepts and organize enrollee information, can boost productivity. System operations proceeds faster, more efficiently and with greater accuracy than manual enrolment system. Programs are comprehensive and capable of handling all interrelated processes including: completion of all related forms, development, organizations, and maintenance of files.Creation of master lists; other special reports. Free assessments and balances. Departmentalized accounts receivable reports; class schedules and records updates. Garcia (2002) created also the LSPZ Computerized Enrollment System. The study can be a great help to person concerned during the enrollment period. The registrar, the instructors of the students lessen the burden manually browsing over enrollment slip for record purposes. Dioso (2004) stated that computer assists careful intelligent planning organizing, actuating and controlling. This maybe observed from the past that they monitor production ctivities, solve scientific problem and help arrive in tentative answer to a multitude of involve condition Computer generated enrolment solutions afford students choices like options for payment, 24/7 that can benefit the whole operation. System typically include data protection and back up frameworks. Student’s enrollees have access to their personal information only. School personnel are able to keep up with teacher and students grades, pint averages and other pertinent identification data, such as grades, quizzes and any other modules that are considered necessary for efficient administration.Modification in school policies and requirements are easily edited online. Carrier guidance and evaluations are facilitated and traceable. What the online enrolment program effectively amount to is a self-service. On-demand students and administrators friendly guide and process optimizer. Employee workload is decreased and administrators can spend more time giving students more personalized attention and encouragement. Als o, the enrollment system is compatible with mobile app version for students and school staff. Some resources are available on download. com or torrent downloader. More reference links. ww. oppapers. com. www. scribd. com. This enrolment process in school is required by Information Technology. The objective of Information Technology is to help humanity from doing loads of work overtime. By having computerized system, the cost during enrolment will be cut down and much effort will be reduces. The project involves a series of studies that course all the requirements of creating a computerized enrolment system. The goal of the study is to provide an efficient computer-based system that will easily update, retrieve, and maintain students records. The developer concern is o make a system that will help to speed up process. Slow registration processing cannot blame anyone, because of the larger total population of the enrollees. School staff who incharge for the enrolment also encountered a lot of comments the the enrollees. They also encounter different kind of problems, stress and many more during the enrolment. The researcher aims to gather and record the effects of computerized enrollment system at Kings College of the Philippines from the enrolment of first semester from the School Year 2013 according to its status and year level of the enrollees.Kings College of the Philippines (formerly Eastern Luzon College ELC Benguet) started from the year of 2004. Located Pico La Trinidad Benguet. It has been educated institution for nine (9) years now. Reverend Kwon Young Soo from korea is the founder of the said school. service inside the school weekly and during and every Sunday. One of the problems of Kings College of the Philippines during enrolment was the generation of forms. The students needed to fill-up a lot of copies of a registration form (copy for the students, accountant, registrar and dean). Students were consuming a lot of time in doing such.Since students are manually filling-up the official documents of the school, data redundancy has a great possibility in causing further complexity in the enrolment process. The enrolment itself can be considered as a problem for the students. From evaluation to validation. It is a long process and students have to go back and fort in different offices to complete the enrolment procedures. It can be tiring and such a waste of effort for them. Another problem of the school was each of enrollment personnel especially in the accounting department which only had two (2) personnel to accommodate all the students during nrolment and payment of fees. The outcome was that the school had a hard time in accoumodating large number of students and that made it hard for other students to wait in line. For the past Seven (7) years the Kings College of the Philippines using manual process of enrolment. Enrollees need to fill-up a lot of registration forms and it is wasting time. A lot of enrollees did not unders tand or did not know what they will write on their form because no one can guide or assess them. On the other way the accountant or registrar cannot understand what had the enrollees written in the registration form.Or sometimes the enrollees did not fill-up the form very well. It is October 2011, second semester enrolment when the Kings College of the Philippines used the computerized enrolment system. It is not only for the enrollees but also for the guidance. Accounting office and registrar. Library and many more. The idea of using this system was came from one of the Professor and the Accounting incharged Mr. Heginio Clyde Abellanosa. At present the Kings College of the Philippines using the enrolment system. The computer laboratory 4 is the encoding area of the said school. You can fill up all the necessary nformation, you can choose all the subject and schedule that you want and in a second you can get your enrolment form together with the total of your tuition fee. After that you can now proceed to the accounting office for you payment. Every now and then they can monitor the list by course of enrollees. The total numbers of enrollees from its year level. And so the total number of enrollees per semester. From this system you can monitor the record, list of payments or balances. The respective dean of the department can monitor their students in their own offices. METHODOLOGY This chapter contains research design used by the author.The procedure that were used in this study namely: population and locale of the study, data collection instrument and statistical treatment of data. The method of research applied also in this research . This type of research aims to describe the data and characteristics of the case being studied. The idea behind this research is to study frequencies, averages, and other statistical calculations. Although this research is highly accurate, it does not gather the causes behind the situation. Descriptive research is mainly done when a researcher wants to gain a better understanding of a topic.Explanatory research was also used by the researcher which is defined as carried out to ascertain that the occurrence of or the changes in the variable which leads to out comes as presented. Through this research, the researcher was able to find out how much variation is caused by another variable. This was appropriate for this study since it helped the researcher to have a better out come in terms of the description of the data in this research. Research Design This study entitled â€Å"Computerized Enrollment System: it’s effect to the enrollees ofKings College of the Philippines particularly to the Criminology students is a descriptive method of research was used in this study. This type of research is to study frequencies, average and other statistical calculations. Descriptive reasons are defined as involving collection of data in order to answer the questions concerning the current status of the study. I n this study questionnaire was the main data-collection tools. It is the most common used to gather information regarding the students that was utilized, in order to evaluate the effects of Computerizes Enrollment System to the respondents.It helped the researcher to have a better outcome in terms of the description of the data in this research. The questionnaire answered by the respondents consist of socio-demographic profile and the affects of the Computerized Enrollment System to the enrollees of Kings College of the Philippines particularly to the criminology students. This design is used to get information fasts. Population and Locale of the Study This study is conducted at the Benguet Provincial Capitol Assessor’s Office to gather the information needed in the study. The personnel in charge in the office were the respondents.The primary data to be gathered from the respondents were the possible solutions to the problems most often encountered in handling existing Real P roperty Tax Assessment transactions. This study was conducted at Kings College of the Philippines. Located at Pico. La Trinidad, Benguet during first semester of the school year 2013. The data was based on the enrollees enroled in the College of Criminal justice Education to gather the information needed in the study The case study entitled â€Å"Computerized Enrollment System: its affect to the enrollees of Kings College of the Philippines particularly to the criminology students†.The case stated that the school’s enrollment process are time consuming, redundant students records, and has a slow retrieval of students record. The researcher dealt with transferees, freshmen, irregular students, returnee and professor, its effect to every enrollee. The researcher study how does it works faster than the manual form of enrolment. Sketch of Kings College of the Philippines Conceptual Framework The socio demographic profile of the enrollees such as age, and type of school gra duated from. Year level and status could be possibly affected to the enrollees on the computerized enrolment system.The present studies are used to determine the computerized enrolment system and its affect to the respondents. This study is delaminated on the Computerized Enrolment System: and its affect to the enrollees of Kings College of the Philippines particularly to the criminology students. Paradigm of the Study The operational paradigm of the study is where the Computerized Enrolment System, its affects and intervening variables are enumerated. Figure 1. Paradigm of the study shows the different variables of the study Independent Variable Dependent Variables Computerized Enrollment System Features | 1. Registration 2. Assessment 3.Systematic Enrollment 4. School Fee Management 5. Computerized Student Account 6. Class Schedule 7. Secure Login System 8. Student RecordsOther: | A. Level of Computerized Enrollment System affecting the enrolleesRate:3-Very effective2-Effective1-N ot effectiveB. Effect to the Students5-Always4-Often3-Sometimes2-Seldom1-Never| Dependent Variables So-Socio-demographic profile| 1. Age 2. Type of Secondary Educational Attainment 3. Year Level 4. Status | Statement of the Problem Enrollment plays a very serious role in every school premise. It is very important in every school and it acts as their foundation.Each school has their own system in handling their enrollment. And for them to accommodate many students, they need to computerize their enrollment system, for them to make their work easier and easy to manage. The respondents are the students of College of Criminal justice Education. From first year to forth year. It consists of ______students. _____from 1st year, ______from the 2nd, _____ from 3rd year, _______from 4th year students. This study seeks to find and assess the effects of Computer Enrollment System to the enrollees of Kings College of the Philippines particularly to the criminology students at Pico, LaTrinidad Be nguet. Particularly it seeks to: 1. Describe the Computerizes Enrollment System affecting the enrollees of Kings College of the Philippines particularly to the criminology students. 2. Identify the level of importance of Computerized Enrollment System to the enrollees Of Kings College of the Philippines particularly to the criminology students. 3. Recognized the degree of problem encountered by the enrollees of Kings College of the Philippines particularly in criminology students. 4. Identify why they used the Computerized Enrollment System The following hypothesis was tested in the study: 1.The effect of Computerized Enrollment System to the enrollees of Kings College of the Philippines particularly to the criminology students are modified. 2. The level of importance of Computerized Enrollment System to the enrollees of Kings College of the Philippines are determined 3. The degree of problems encountered by the enrollees of Kings College of the Philippines particularly to the crimi nology students are Data Collection Tool The researcher has observed the Computerizes Enrolment System already. The utilization on the survey of the information flow within the Kings College of the Philippines.The questionnaire consists of the following: PartI1 it is the form of check mark wherein the socio-demographic profile such as: age, type of secondary educational attainment, year level and status of the enrollees. Part II it is the form of check mark wherein the level of Computerized Enrollment System that affect the enrollees is enumerated based on the observation. Part III it is the form of check mark wherein the level of importance of Computerized Enrollment System to the enrollees particularly to the criminology students. Most inquires written in the questionnaire were made by the researcher and other were ased on their observation. Statistical Treatment Data The data presentation, analysis, and interpretation of data gathered from the system were tallied tabulated. They were treated weighted mean to Computerized Enrollment System. Its affect to the enrollees of Kings College of the Philippines particularly to the Criminology students. This treatment are necessary information sought without losing its validity. It was used to enhance the researcher a clearer analysis and easier interpretation. The data come up with the _____1st years, ______2nd years, _____3rd years, ____and 4th year enrollees of Criminology.It discusses the number of problems in using manual registration form from the number and status of enrollees for the first semester enrolment school year 2013. According to the status of enrollees like returnee, transferee, freshmen, professor and the time and typed of workload lessen. Name: (optional)_______________________ Age: _______15-20, ________21-25, __________26-30 Type of school graduated from: _______Public _________Private Year Level: _____1st year, ______ 2nd year, ________ 3rd year, _______4th year Status: _____Freshmen, _____Old, _____Transferee, ______ Returnee ______ Professor 1.What are the Computerized Enrollment System affecting the enrollees during enrollment of Kings College of the Philippines particularly to the criminology students? Direction: Please rate the level of Computerized Enrollment System that affects the enrollees during enrollment. Where: 3 -Very Effective2- Effective 1-Not effective Computerized Enrollment System| 3| 2| 1| Registration| | | | Assessment | | | | Systematic Enrollment| | | | School fee management| | | | Secure Login System| | | | Computerized Student Accounts | | | | Class Schedule| | | | Students Records | | | | Other | | | | 2.What are the level of importance of Computerized Enrollment System to t enrollees Kings College of the Philippines particularly to the criminology students? Direction: Please rate the importance of Computerized Enrollment System to the enrollees during enrollment. Where: 5-Stongly Agree 4-Agree 3-Disagree 2-Strongly Disagree 1-Undecided Effects t o the Enrollees | 5| 4| 3| 2| 1| More personalized attention| | | | | | Decreased workload| | | | | | More efficiency| | | | | | Greater accuracy| | | | | | Faster processing | | | | | | Systematized recording and verifying of data| | | | | | Easier way of registration| | | | | |Reduce redundancy| | | | | | Enrollment forms that are checked manually | | | | | | Lessen errors | | | | | | Fast summarizing of reports| | | | | | Updated reports of payments | | | | | | Other | | | | | | 3. What are the degree of problem encountered by the enrollees of Kings College of the Philippines particularly in criminology students? Direction: Please rate the degree of problems encountered by the enrollees of Kings College of the Philippines particularly in criminology students. Where: 5-Always 4-Often 3-Sometimes 2-Seldom 1-Never Degree of Problems| 5| 4| 3| 2| 1| Falling line| | | | | | Wasting time| | | | | |Filling-up and signing| | | | | | Encoding | | | | | | Printing | | | | | | Other | | | | | | Objective: The researcher aims to accomplish the following: 1. Determine the specific reason why Computerizes Enrollment System affects the enrollees of Kings College of the Philippines particularly to the criminology students. 2. Determine the positive and negative effects of the Computerized Enrollment System to the students 3. Show the consequence of excessive use of Computerizes Enrollment System to the students. 4. To gather more information, to study its contribution to the students ,and to share out idea about the system to the students.

Mcdonalds India Supply Chain Management

Supply Chain Management SUPPLY CHAIN ASSIGNMENT ON SUBMITTED TO- MS HARLEEN SAHNI SUBMTTED BY- ANKKIT RAJ McDonald's Corporation is the world's largest chain of  hamburger  fast food restaurants, serving around 68 million customers daily in 119 countries. Headquartered in the United States, the company began in 1940 as a barbecue restaurant operated by  Richard and Maurice McDonald and in 1948 they reorganized their business as a hamburger stand using  production line  principles. Businessman  Ray Kroc  joined the company as a franchise agent in 1955.He subsequently purchased the chain from the McDonald brothers and oversaw its worldwide growth. A McDonald's restaurant is operated by either a  franchisee, an  affiliate, or the corporation itself. The corporation's revenues come from the rent, royalties and fees paid by the franchisees, as well as sales in company-operated restaurants. McDonald's revenues grew 27 percent over the three years ending in 2007 to $22. 8 billion, and 9 percent growth in operating income to $3. 9 billion. Most standalone McDonald's restaurants offer both  counter service  and  drive-through  service, with indoor and sometimes outdoor seating.Drive-Thru, Auto-Mac, Pay and Drive, or â€Å"McDrive† as it is known in many countries, often has separate stations for placing, paying for, and picking up orders, though the latter two steps are frequently combined; it was first introduced in Arizona in 1975, following the lead of other fast-food chains. The first such restaurant in Britain opened at  Fallowfield,  Manchester  in 1986. McDonald's Corporation earns revenue as an investor in properties, a franchiser of restaurants, and an operator of restaurants.Approximately 15% of McDonald's restaurants are owned and operated by McDonald's Corporation directly. The remainder is operated by others through a variety of franchise agreements and joint ventures. The McDonald's Corporation's  business model   is slightly different from that of most other fast-food chains. In addition to ordinary  franchise  fees and marketing fees, which are calculated as a percentage of sales, McDonald's may also collect  rent, which may also be calculated on the basis of sales.As a condition of many franchise agreements, which vary by contract, age, country, and location, the Corporation may own or lease the properties on which McDonald's franchises are located. In most, if not all cases, the franchisee does not own the location of its restaurants. The United Kingdom and Ireland business model is different than the U. S, in that fewer than 30% of restaurants are franchised, with the majority under the ownership of the company. McDonald's trains its franchisees and others at  Hamburger University  in  Oak Brook,  Illinois.In other countries, McDonald's restaurants are operated by joint ventures of McDonald's Corporation and other, local entities or governments. As a matter of policy, McDon ald's does not make direct sales of food or materials to franchisees, instead organizing the supply of food and materials to restaurants through approved third party logistics operators. McDonald's restaurants are found in 119 countries  and territories around the world and serve 58 million customers each day. McDonald's operates over 31,000 restaurants worldwide, employing more than 1. million people. The company also operates other restaurant  brands, such as Piles Cafe. Focusing on its core brand, McDonald's began  divesting  itself of other chains it had acquired during the 1990s. The company owned a majority stake in Chipotle Mexican Grill  until October 2006, when McDonald's fully divested from Chipotle through a stock exchange. Until December 2003, it also owned  Donatos Pizza. On August 27, 2007, McDonald's sold  Boston Market  to  Sun Capital Partners. MCDONALDS INDIA INDIA AS A MARKETIn 1996, McDonald's opened in  India  for the first time, a country where the majority of the population was Hindu and vegetarian, and the cow was sacred. Many saw it as just another example of the relentless spread of Western corporations into every nation, creating a global system in which wealth was drained out of local economies into the hands of a very few, very rich elite. McDonald's opened its doors in  India  in October 1996, demonstrating what the McDonald's experience was all about. McDonald's in  India  was a 50-50 joint venture partnership between McDonald's Corporation (U.S. A. ) and two Indian businessmen. Amit Jatia's company, Hardcastle Restaurants Pvt. Ltd. , owned and operated McDonald's restaurants in Western  India, while Connaught Plaza Restaurants Pvt. Ltd. , headed by Vikram Bakshi, owned and operated the North Indian operationsi. These companies signed their joint-venture agreements with McDonald's in April 1995 and along with their Indian management team trained in McDonald's restaurants in Indonesia and the U. S. A. before opening the first McDonald's restaurant in  India. The entry of McDonald's in  India  was perfectly timed.The market had begun to open up. The economy of the country was growing stronger. The customer markets were eager to acquire newer products and use newer forms of services. Foreign brands were valued and perceived to be superior in quality. According to a report of AC Neilson, among the world's consumers, Latin Americans and Asians were the biggest supporters of globalisation and the value that it added to the various aspects of their livesii. It was a favourable situation for McDonald's because at the time when they entered,  India, the Asian Tiger was awakening to the global call.The Indian customer was enthusiastic about the market situation which provided them with numerous choices to choose and pick. In a way McDonald's revolutionized the food retailing business in  India. It introduced the Indian customers to service standards which were available in th e western world for years. These service standards were visible and noteworthy and hence triggered quick acceptance within the customers. McDonald's positioning in  India  as a family restaurant further fuelled its success. DIVERSITY IN THE INDIAN MARKET India  as a market was a unique example of diversity.Divided into 28 states and 7 union territories, the vegetation, climate, religion, language, clothing, and food varied from one state to another. With the combination of spices in a unique way, food of these states reflected their traditions and culture. Hence the biggest challenge to any food business in  India  definitely was about balancing the diversity and the product offerings. McDonald's got clearance from Foreign Investment Promotion Board (FIPB) of  India  in 1991. But it was only after five years of preparation, that the first restaurant became operational in 1996.It worked on developing local relationships with local partners to facilitate the raw material . Indian companies for their operational convenience had divided the Indian subcontinent into four zones, the progressive West, the powerful North, the traditional and culturally rich, South and East. McDonald's opened their first restaurant in the capital of  India  which is Delhi. The second restaurant was opened in the financial capital of  India, Mumbai. McDonald initially concentrated in the West and North regions.Later the company exhibited ambitious plans for expansion in Eastern and Southern regions. McDonald's real influence had been in establishing organizational systems of complete control at every stage from raw product to factory, from worker to consumer – backed by incessant media hype. McDonald's had been a successful global food corporation at refining, co-coordinating, standardizing and developing such processes into a total system. It had set up these practices in every country it had moved into, and many other companies followed their suit.What Ford M otor Company did for cars, travel and the urban environment; McDonald's had done for food and eating habits. McDonald's expansion was criticized and resisted by trade unionists, local residents, nutritionists and many others in almost every town and country where they planned a new store – despite their highly developed and expensive marketing effort about being a benefit for the community. They were resisted for what they represented, and remained a focus of controversy. CHALLENGES FACED BY MCDONALDS IN INDIA Vegetarianism: The major issue was beef.Cow being sacred and worshipped, beef could not be served. Muslims did not eat pork. The challenge was to change the form of the worldwide popular Hamburger to make an entry into  India. With 25-30% of the population being lacto vegetarian and a large majority eating meat, an alternative to beef and pork was necessary. Competition from Local Food Retailers: The competition from the local food retailers was intense. The food reta ilers had been doing business for years. Their familiarity with the market and the understanding of the local taste gave them a competitive edge.There were numerous eating joints which offered snacks and meals with affordable price tags. Target Marketing: Operation Excellence Food Innovation Value propositions had to be directed to the right target market to establish a new product. An interesting question was who would eat at McDonald's? In order to develop the marketing strategy, it was important for any company to understand the consumer market. The more one knew and understood about consumers, the more effectively one could communicate and market to them Brand Trust Pricing MCDONALDS SUPPLY CHAINAn effective supply chain is an intricate network of suppliers, distributors and customers who share carefully managed information about demand, decision and performance, and who recognize that success for one part of supply chain means success for all. McDonald’s is the single la rgest food chain  service retailer in the world. It serves around 45 Million customers everyday in 121 countries. It has 29,000 restaurants worldwide. It is also the single largest real estate owner. In India, McDonald’s  Ã‚  made its presence felt in the year 1996.It has 30 restaurants in 5 different cities In India. 95% of the ingredients/products used by them are sourced locally. McDonald’s restaurants in the south and west of India function under Hardcastle Restaurants Private Limited which is a Development Licensee. Amit Jatia is the Vice-Chairman of the company. For the north and east of India, McDonald’s has formed a joint venture with Connaught Plaza Restaurants Private Limited of which Vikram Bakshi is the Managing Director. These two companies monitor, scrutinize and judicially promote the brand of McDonald’s in the country.The main business comes from Delhi, Mumbai, Jaipur, Pune and Mathura. McDonalds had been working on its supply chain ev en before it opened its first joint in the country. McDonalds, an international brand which was trying to make inroads into the country, developed its Indian partners in such a manner that they stayed with the company from the beginning. McDonald’s spent around 6 years in setting up its supply chain in India. The philosophy of its supply chain is nothing but partnering with its suppliers, so that a win-win situation can be achieved and both can earn evenue, the total logistics and other cost can be lowered, expertise of the supplier will give an advantage etc. The main factors to focus here are supplier partnering elements – shared information, expectations, risks and payback, long term commitment, periodic reviews, compatible culture and the most important mutual understanding. The success of McDonalds India was achieved by sourcing all its required products from within the country. To ensure this, McDonalds developed local businesses, which can supply it highest qual ity products.Today, McDonalds India works with 38 different suppliers on a long term basis and several other stand alone restaurants for its various other requirements. McDonald’s distribution centres in India came in the following order: Noida and Kalamboli (Mumbai) in 1996, Bangalore in 2004, and the latest one in Kolkata (2007). McDonald’s entered its first distribution partnership agreement with Radha Krishna Foodland, a part of the Radha Krishna Group engaged in food-related service businesses. The association goes back to July 1993, when it studied the nuances of McDonald’s operations and requirements for the Indian market.As distribution centres, the company was responsible for procurement, the quality inspection programme, storage, inventory management, deliveries to the restaurants and data collection, recording and reporting. Value-added services like shredding of lettuce, re-packing of promotional items continued since then at the centres playing a vi tal role in maintaining the integrity of the products throughout the entire ‘cold chain’. While the supply chain of McDonald’s at first glance appears simple, its diverse components are both critical and multi-layered. Food ingredients are supplied by two categories, Tier-I and Tier-2 suppliers.Tier-2 suppliers comprise growers and processors who include importantly, lettuce and potato growers, poultry farms and companies which manufacture coating systems that coat the vegetable and chicken patties. The ingredients are supplied to Tier-I suppliers who process them, for instance, into vegetable and chicken patties — this is done by Vista Processed Foods Pvt. Ltd. or potato products like French fries, potato wedges and hashbrowns which are expertly churned out by McCain Foods India Pvt. Ltd. The products are then transported in a dedicated fleet of refrigerated trucks to the company’s Distribution Centers.Multi-temperature and single temperature truck s then transport the fast food swiftly to the 217 McDonald’s restaurants across the country. The supply-chain of McDonald’s has also been expertly devised to include the significant aspect of return logistics. They have a large component of return logistics. The buns are packed in plastic crates to ensure their quality. These crates have to go back to the logistics facility, that’s where return logistics comes in. From there they are sent to the bakeries. Supply of Ingredients Special vegetarian sauce Quaker, Cremica, Phillaur, PunjabSesame seeds Ghaziabad, UP Iceberg Lettuce Ferrocoa Farms, Dehradun Buns Shah & Sons,Khopoli,MH & Cremica Industries, Noida Vegetable Patty Kiltran Foods, Taloja, Maharashtra Batter & Breading Cremica Industries, Ludhiana, Punjab Ingredients from across the country DISTRIBUTION CENTRES The fast food chain has four Distribution Centers across the country to serve its 217 restaurants. The DCs have segued seamlessly with the vision of the company which has embarked on a period of roller coaster growth, with one McDonald’s outlet being launched every ten days in the country!The company owns DCs in Noida and Mumbai which are primary Distribution Centers. The other two Distribution Centers are in Bengaluru and Kolkata and are housed in leased properties. The supply-chain of the fast food chain is in effect a hub-and-spoke model because the DCs act as hubs. The transportation of McDonald’s has been completely outsourced and since 80 percent is refrigerated truck movement, the company has a dedicated fleet which transports their goods. OUTSOURCING The success of the supply-chain model of McDonald’s can be directly attributed to its unique concept of outsourcing work.Unlike other corporate heavies, the company has a 100 percent outsourced supply chain. McDonald’s believes that they should outsource everything to a company who are experts in their subject matter and then monitor their perform ance in a proper fashion so that Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) are not affected at all. This is how McDonald’s operates not just in India, but everywhere. Underlying the suppleness of its supply-chain are three principles to which the company adheres unwaveringly, the principles of trust and collaboration between the brand, the owners or operators, and the suppliers. It’s like a three-legged stool. Each leg (principle) has to be equally strong so that there’s no collapsing foundation. McDonald’s also believes in a culture of partnership and transparency with its suppliers. They have 100 percent transparency in everything that they do which is very critical for them when they work with their suppliers. McDonald’s has 14 core suppliers who supply directly to the fast food chain and they are known as Tier-I suppliers. Examples of Tier-I suppliers are Vista Processed Foods Pvt. Ltd. , the Dynamix Group, Mrs Bectors, etc.The other suppliers forward ingredients to the Tier-I suppliers first and they are termed Tier-2 suppliers. The fast food chain has a total of 40 suppliers from whom it sources its ingredients. Most of the suppliers are local, but some are internationally famous foreign brands like McCain Foods India which set up shop in India when McDonald’s ventured into the fast food business in the country. For a McDonald’s supplier the terms of work are rigorous. A company’s stellar credentials are not enough; the supplier’s job does not end when the product leaves his premises, rather it ends only when the customer consumes it.McDonald’s expects its suppliers to personally ensure the quality of their products to skirt the risk factor. Suppliers like Coca Cola which is McDonald’s beverage partner also, for instance, take water management classes in its restaurants to ensure potable quality of drinking water. Sole Distribution Partner McDonalds’ products are distributed by R adhakrishna Foodland Pvt. Ltd which is the only distribution partner of the fast food chain. RK Foodland manages the four DCs and since it has a transport division, handles the truck movement in the supply-chain right through the country.McDonald’s expects its distribution partner to meet its standards of ‘cold, clean and on-time delivery ’. RK Foodland expertly manages the mundane day-to-day activities of the fast food chain like raising purchase orders to suppliers, invoicing, keeping an astute eye on working capital management, timely delivery, payments, etc. They are like a one-stop shop for the restaurants. Anything that is required, from a bulb that needs to be changed in a restaurant to training material, is sourced directly from RK.There are only two products, buns and Cokes, which are sent directly to the restaurants. Buns have a limited shelf life, hence they are sent directly to the outlets, while Coca Cola has a well-oiled distribution system which en sures quick dispatch of its products. As with its suppliers, McDonald’s has no legally documented Service Level Agreements (SLAs) with RK Foodland. The fast food chain carefully calibrates the performance of its distribution partner, measuring it against its own KPIs to ensure its performance does not dip below its own exacting standards.The DCs are assessed on several factors like administration efficiency, the total number of cases managed per man hour, warehouse efficiency, overtime as a percentage of the total number of hours worked and in the case of transportation, the number of cases handled per trip, truck utilization, etc. McDonald’s constantly scrutinizes the performance of RK Foodland against these KPIs; if its distribution partner is unable to meet certain benchmarks, together they devise solutions which would enable them to achieve set goals. COLD CHAINA marked feature of McDonalds’ supply-chain is that the entire network consists of movement of goo ds through a cold chain. In effect, the suppliers are also a part of this cold chain and in certain cases, for instance, the lettuce growers, the cold chain begins with the Tier-2 suppliers. McDonald’s have the largest refrigerated movement of products in India. An interesting and innovative feature of this cold chain is that the same truck can carry products at different temperatures, ranging from frozen products at -18C to -25C, chilled products from 1C-4C and dry products at ambient temperatures.Apparently, McDonald’s is the only company whose supply-chain network is characterized by this successful experimentation. The inbound supply chain of McDonald’s now consists of dedicated reefer trucks supported by dedicated and trained manpower. As the store numbers and distances increased, they decided to come out with a design of multi-temperature vehicles which could carry all three temperature products. They are installed with automatic temperature controller. Tr uck containers were made with two side doors in addition to the rear door.The side doors are used to unload products without disturbing the products in the other temperature zones. The delivery window is +/-2 days. The products are of three types i. e. frozen products, chilled products and dry products. The frozen products need the temperature from -15 to -25 deg C, the chilled products from 1 to 4 deg C and the dry foods from 24 to 30 deg C. This finesse and attention to detail has helped McDonald’s achieve its own USP of ‘quality, standards of service, cleanliness and value. McDonalds’ efficiency and effectiveness are also due to the fact that it has a ‘pull-supply’ chain. The restaurant issues orders to the Distribution Center which, in turn, routes the order to the supplier and only then does the supplier produce it. The supplier thus maintains barely any extra stocks; only if there is a contingency, like the overhaul or servicing of machinery, w ill the supplier produce surplus stocks. Cold Chain was one of the unique concepts of McDonalds supply chain in India, on which it had spent more than six years to get the system into place.This system brought about a veritable revolution, immensely benefiting the farmers at one end and enabling customers at retail counters get the highest quality food products, absolutely fresh and at great value. Through its unique cold chain, McDonalds has been able to both cut down on its operational wastage, as well as maintain the freshness and nutritional value of raw and processed food products. This has involved procurement, warehousing, transportation and retailing of perishable food products, all under controlled temperatures.The following list of suppliers, who build up the major supply chain of McDonalds, reveal how this ‘Cold Chain’ works and contributes towards the efficiency of McDonalds. * Dynamix Dairy Industries (Supplier of Cheese): Dynamix has brought immense benefi ts to farmers in Baramati, Maharashtra by setting up a network of milk collection centres equipped with bulk coolers. Easy accessibility has enabled farmers augment their income by finding a new market for surplus milk.The factory has: * Fully automatic international standard processing facility * Capability to convert milk into cheese, butter/ghee, skimmed milk powder, lactose, casein & whey protein and humanized baby food. * Stringent quality control measures and continuous Research & Development From farm two degrees Celsius in 90 minutes is the first step to quality. For example, the Rs 262-crore Dynamix Dairy Industries, located in Baramati in Pune district of Maharashtra, manufactures cheese slices for McDonald’s at 10 metric tonnes per month.Dynamix has helped set up 15 bulk cooling centres throughout the district from which it purchases milk. Each cooling centre, which is equipped with modern measuring and testing equipment and a large cooling tank, is not more than a few kilometers away from local dairy farms. A farmer can deliver milk even twice a day on his bicycle and get a printed receipt on the spot, which also lists the quality of the milk supplied by him as per fat content, colour and solids content. If the milk is sub-standard or adulterated, it is rejected on the spot. A batch of milk can vary from one litre to 10 litres, or more.Each batch is mixed in one large stainless steel cooler and chilled immediately to two degrees Celsius to stop bacterial growth and preserve freshness. From this point onwards, until just before the burger is actually served in a McDonald’s restaurant hundreds of kilometers away, the temperature is never allowed to increase. When the refrigerated milk arrives at the Dynamix plant at Baramati, the milk in every single tanker is thoroughly tested and rejected if found sub-standard, adulterated or contaminated. The sophisticated testing lab can check fat content with an accuracy of 0. 1 per cent.It can eve n detect minute traces of pesticides or antibiotics administered to cows. This instant feedback and the rejection of the entire tanker-load forces farmers to follow the best practices in terms of animal husbandry, use proper feeds, cut down on the indiscriminate use of pesticides and animal medicines and completely stop even the slightest attempts at adulteration. * Trikaya Agriculture (Supplier of Iceberg Lettuce): Implementation of advanced agricultural practices has enabled Trikaya to successfully grow specialty crops like iceberg lettuce, special herbs and many oriental vegetables.Farm infrastructure features: * A specialized nursery with a team of agricultural experts. * Drip and sprinkler irrigation in raised farm beds with fertilizer mixing plant. * Pre-cooling room and a large cold room for post harvest handling. Refrigerated truck for transportation. Trikaya Agriculture, a major supplier of iceberg lettuce to McDonald’s India, is one such enterprise that is an intrin sic part of the cold chain. Exposure to better agricultural management practices and sharing of advanced agricultural technology by McDonald’s has made Trikaya Agriculture extremely conscious of delivering its products with utmost care and quality.Initially lettuce could only be grown during the winter months but with McDonald’s expertise in the area of agriculture, Trikaya Farms in Talegaon, Maharashtra, is now able to grow this crop all the year round. McDonald’s has provided assistance in the selection of high quality seeds, exposed the farms to advanced drip-irrigation technology, and helped develop a refrigerated transportation system allowing a small agri-business in Maharashtra to provide fresh, high-quality lettuce to McDonald’s urban restaurant locations thousands of kilometers away.Post harvest facilities at Trikaya include a cold chain consisting of a pre-cooling room to remove field heat, a large cold room and a refrigerated van for transporta tion where the temperature and the relative humidity of the crop is maintained between 1? C and 4? C and 95% respectively. Vegetables are moved into the pre-cooling room within half an hour of harvesting. The pre-cooling room ensures rapid vacuum cooling to 2? C within 90 minutes. The pack house, pre-cooling and cold room are located at the farms itself, ensuring no delay between harvesting, pre-cooling, packaging and cold storage.With this cold chain infrastructure in place, Trikaya Agriculture has also a plan to export this high value product to other international markets, especially to McDonald’s Middle East and Asia Pacific operations. McDonald’s expertise in packaging, handling and long-distance transportation has helped Trikaya to do trial shipments to the Gulf successfully. In addition to export, McDonald’s assistance has enabled Trikaya Agriculture to supply this crop to a number of star-rated hotels, clubs, flight kitchens and offshore catering compani es all over India. * Vista Processed Foods Pvt.Ltd. (Supplier of Chicken and Vegetable range of products including Fruit Pies) A joint venture with OSI Industries Inc. , USA, McDonald’s India Pvt. Ltd. and Vista Processed Foods Pvt. Ltd. , produces a range of frozen chicken and vegetable foods. A world class infrastructure at their plant at Taloja, Maharashtra, has: * Separate processing lines for chicken and vegetable foods. * Capability to produce frozen foods at temperature as low as -35 Degree Cel. to retain total freshness. * International standards, procedures and support services. Vista Processed Foods Pvt. Ltd. McDonald’s suppliers for the chicken and vegetable range of products, is another important player in this cold chain. Technical and financial support extended by OSI Industries Inc. , USA and McDonald’s India Private Limited have enabled Vista to set up world-class infrastructure and support services. This includes hi-tech refrigeration plants for manufacture of frozen food at temperatures as low as – 35 ° C. This is vital to ensure that the frozen food retains it freshness for a long time and the ‘cold chain’ is maintained. The frozen product is immediately moved to cold storage rooms.With continued assistance from its international partners, Vista has installed hi-tech equipment for both the chicken and vegetable processing lines, which reflect the latest food processing technology (de-boning, blending, forming, coating, frying and freezing). For the vegetable range, the latest vegetable mixers and blenders are in operation. Also, keeping cultural sensitivities in mind, both processing lines are absolutely segregated and utmost care is taken to ensure that the vegetable products do not mix with the non-vegetarian products.Now, at Vista, a very wide range of frozen and nutritious chicken and vegetable products is available. Ongoing R&D, both locally and in the parent companies, work towards innovation in taste, nutritional value and convenience. These products, besides being supplied to McDonald’s, are also offered to institutions like star-rated hotels, hospitals, project sites, caterers, corporate canteens, schools and colleges, restaurants, food service establishments and coffee shops. Today, production of better quality frozen foods that are both nutritious and fresh has made Vista Processed Foods Pvt.Ltd. a name to reckon within the industry. * Radhakrishna Foodland (Distribution Centres for Delhi and Mumbai) An integral part of the Radhakrishna Group, Foodland specializes in handling large volumes, providing the entire range of services including procurement, quality inspection, storage, inventory management, deliveries, data collection, recording and reporting. Salient strengths are: * A one-stop shop for all distribution management services. * Dry and cold storage facility to store and transport perishable products at temperatures upto -22 Degree Celius. Effective process control for minimum distribution cost. McDonald’s local supply networks through Radhakrishna Foodland, which operates distribution centres (DCs) for McDonald’s restaurants in Mumbai and Delhi. The DCs have focused all their resources to meet McDonald’s expectation of ‘Cold, Clean, and On-Time Delivery’ and plays a very vital role in maintaining the integrity of the products throughout the entire ‘cold chain’. Ranging from liquid products coming from Punjab to lettuce from Pune, the DC receives items from different parts of the country.These items are stored in rooms with different temperature zones and are finally dispatched to the McDonald’s restaurants on the basis of their requirements. The company has both cold and dry storage facilities with capability to store products up to -22? C as well as delivery trucks to transport products at temperatures ranging from room temperature to frozen state. * Amrit Food (Supplier o f long life UHT Milk and Milk Products for Frozen Desserts) Amrit Food, an ISO 9000 company, manufactures widely popular brands – Gagan Milk and Nandan Ghee at its factory at Ghaziabad, Uttar Pradesh.The factory has: * State-of-the-art fully automatic machinery requiring no human contact with product, for total hygiene. * Installed capacity of 6000 ltrs/hr for producing homogenized UHT (Ultra High Temperature) processed milk and milk products. * Strict quality control supported by a fully equipped quality control laboratory. All suppliers adhere to Indian government regulations on food, health and hygiene while continuously maintaining McDonald’s recognized standards.As the ingredients move from farms to processing plants to the restaurant, McDonald’s Quality Inspection Programme (QIP) carries out quality checks at over 20 different points in the Cold Chain system. Setting up of the Cold Chain has also enabled it to cut down on operational wastage Hazard Analysi s Critical Control Point (HACCP) is a systematic approach to food safety that emphasizes prevention within its suppliers’ facility and restaurants rather than detection through inspection of illness or presence of microbiological data.Based on HACCP guidelines, control points and critical control points for all McDonald’s major food processing plants and restaurants in India have been identified. The limits have been established for those followed by monitoring, recording and correcting any deviations. The HACCP verification is done at least twice in a year and certified. The relationship between McDonald’s and its Indian suppliers is mutually beneficial. As McDonald’s expands in India, the supplier gets the opportunity to expand his business, have access to the latest in food technology, exposure to advanced agricultural practices and the ability to grow or to export.There are many cases of local suppliers operating out of small towns who have benefited from their association with McDonald’s India. Pictorial Description McDonalds India sources its ingredients from local suppliers who are an integral part of the cold chain. Refrigerated trucks with multi temperature facility divided into 3 zones –freezer, chiller and ambient to ferry product demanding varying temperature from supplier’s location to the distribution centre.Distribution centre is also divided into multi-temperature zones like trucks with freezer at 0 degree F to 33 degree F. Restaurants have in-built cold storage units subdivided into same aforesaid zones- freezer, chiller and ambient. IN A NUTSHELL Forecasting Demand Equally impressive is the accuracy of the demand forecasts. The restaurants give a three-day to one-week forecast to the Distribution Center. The DC, in turn, has a three-month rolling forecast with the suppliers which enable them to plan their production schedules meticulously.For extensive long-term planning, McDonald’s has devised the 31Q system—3 stands for the three years that the fast food chain will keep checking its plans, 1 represents the detailed forecast of the next year and Q symbolizes the quarterly monitoring of these forecasts. While preparing the annual budget, they include their suppliers in the budgeting process, briefing them on the new products and restaurants to be launched. Using this information, the suppliers roll out their production schedules. The schedule for the next year is carefully fixed and then stringently monitored.Once the forecasts are closed and the budgets fixed, the plan schedules and performances are monitored every quarter, also to ensure that there is no dip in performance. With 217 restaurants scattered across the country, lead times for delivery assume critical importance. But McDonalds’ supply-chain network is everything it is supposed to be to ensure spot on distribution. Every restaurant manager knows the exact time of arrival of each product w hich enables the supply chain team to work backwards to ensure timely distribution. They have fixed locations of suppliers and restaurants and their own fleet of dedicated trucks and cleaners.They can predict the amount of time it takes for a product to reach from an X location to a Y location. If a truck takes four or five days to travel between a supplier’s premises in Taloja, Maharashtra, to Noida in the National Capital Region, dedicated McDonalds’ trucks will accomplish it in two days due to non-stop running of the fleet. This ensures that the lead times for their trucks and deliveries are pretty much predictable. With a maximum inventory of ten days in its system, McDonald’s maintains an efficient inventory turn ratio of 36.Tech Prowess The supply-chain network of McDonald’s, which appears to work effortlessly, is powered by various IT systems which enhance its effectiveness. Vista Processed Foods Pvt. Ltd use SAP, Tier-1 supplier of the chain. Dist ribution Centers of RK Foodland are on RAMCO Marshall ERP with Cobra software. These systems are used to directly upload store orders. At the restaurant level, the fast food chain has in-house developed technologies which track day-to-day sales, enables restaurants to schedule staff and send forecast orders to DCs.