George Washington Essay Ideas and How to Use Them

George Washington is one of the central figures of American history – as one of the founders of the United States of America in its modern form, the first US President, the general who led armies to victory during the defining War for Independence, he is hard to be surpassed by any other person. However important this other person is for the history of the country, without George Washington there wouldn’t have been any country in the first place. That is why it is only natural for tutors and professors to give their students a George Washington essay to write now and then – and expect them to treat the task with all seriousness. Where to Get Information on George Washington Frankly speaking, anywhere. There is hardly any other historical character that had been the subject of more research that George Washington. Depending on the seriousness of your task, however, you should look for more or less scientific sources. If you are writing an essay for high school, it will be more than enough to surf the Internet and look through a couple of historical websites, possibly to skim through a book or two you find in footnotes in Wikipedia. But if you write for college or university, you need more detailed information on George Washington. Find books by celebrated historians, preferably the ones who specialized in George Washington’s biography. Read them carefully, note the sources they used and, if necessary, do the same. George Washington History and What to Write about It If you have to write a history essay on Washington, choose a specific episode or period from his life. Being an important historical figure who lived in not so distant future, he left many accounts and testimonies from first-hand witnesses – in short, we know a lot about him, there is not shortage in sources of information you may use. Check the facts and choose a more interesting episode, which, in your opinion, has been defining in George Washington history and its influence on the history of the USA and the world in general – it is one of the best ways to write an interesting and captivating essay on this topic even if you don’t have a lot of time. George Washington Essay Paper Topics Try to separate what you know about George Washington into segments, judging different aspects of his personality: as a statesman; as a general; as a political leader; as a private person; and so on. As it is usual in the case of a topic that has a lot of information sources on it, your average George Washington essay paper will only benefit if you somehow narrow the subject matter down. If you try to encompass the entire topic, you are likely to write something rather shallow, and your tutor will be unlikely to give you credit for it. If, however, you take a small part of a larger topic, you will be able to write an interesting and deep account of it within the small space of an essay.

Psychology, Theology, And Spirituality - 1843 Words

Psychology, Theology, and Spirituality Summary McMinn unveils the realism of what essentially happens in the counseling office. He dives into the fitting together â€Å"Psychology, Theology, and Spirituality in Christian Counseling†. McMinn explains how â€Å"those who enter therapy in the midst of their pain experience a restorative counseling relationship that brings acceptance hope, and meaning into their broken lives† (McMinn, 2011, p. 20). There are various questions surrounding Christian counseling that McMinn faces head on in this book when it comes to the challenges counselors face as it relates to integrating religion and spirituality in their sessions. Life on the frontier as McMinn puts it, is where counselors face six basic challenges. Challenges such as moving from two areas of competence to three, blurred personal-professional distinctions, expanded definitions of training, confronting dominant views of mental health, establishing a scientific base or even defining relevant ethical standards (McMinn, 2011). Personal journey’s that McMinn has taken throughout his career provide him with the knowledge, skills and abilities to depict how we should face these challenges. McMinn talks about how many counselors have a need to interpret studies, have good psychodynamics and figure out which cognitive therapy is right for their counseling. As he states, â€Å"Christian counseling is more complex than other forms of counseling because our goal are multifaceted (McMinn, 2011, p.Show MoreRelatedPsychology, Theology And Spirituality1267 Words   |  6 Pages A 4-MAT Review: Psychology, Theology and Spirituality in the Christian Counseling Introduction Mark McMinn is a trained psychologist who is known for his book that was written in 1996 called Psychology, Theology and Spirituality in Christian Counseling. McMinn had advocated for the Christians who are counselors for many years. McMinn is very experienced in the work and in his field of study. One of the biggest things that McMinn stresses is the importance of establishing and maintaining a goodRead MorePsychology, Theology, And Spirituality Essay1665 Words   |  7 Pages Mark R. McMinn’s (2011) Psychology, Theology, and Spirituality in Christian Counseling establish a way to bring Psychology, Theology, and Spirituality to Christian Counselors. He introduces a replica of how to integrate the three disciplines in the counseling office. The purpose of the book is to instruct counselors how to integrate categories of Psychology, Theology and Spirituality into Christian Counseling. McMinn (2011) contends that many challenges both professional and personal face ChristianRead MorePsychology, Theology And Spirituality1445 Words   |  6 PagesR. McMinn uses his book, Psychology, Theology and Spirituality in Christian Counseling to integrate the use of spirituality in Christian counseling in a way that a counselor can use them in a counseling session effectively. McMinn makes the use of various spiritual techniques like prayer, reading the Word and confession and incorporates them in ways that make spirituality work alongside theory in a cohesive ma tter. McMinn explains the world pf psychology and theology is not only something thatRead MorePsychology, Theology, And Spirituality Essay1244 Words   |  5 PagesSummary Psychology, Theology, and Spirituality in Christian Counseling by Dr. Mark R. McMinn is a very insightful reading for Christian counselors. This book was originally written in 1996, but the revised in 2011 with the help of Dr. McMinn s students. McMinn begins his wonderful reading by introducing the readers to religion in the counseling office. He starts this section a potential client scenario. This client is looking for a suitable counselor who is spiritually sensitive. Different counselorsRead MorePsychology, Theology, And Spirituality1411 Words   |  6 PagesPsychology, Theology, and Spirituality in Counseling by Mark R. McMinn is a book that discusses two different characteristics of the Christian Counseling field: in counseling sessions and life beyond the counseling sessions for example, the counselor’s job and the counselor’s life. Dr. McMinn starts his book with a brief section written with James Wilhoit that discusses religion in the counseling office. This first section talks about the importance of making good use of the Christian faith in counselingRead MorePsychology, Theology, And Spirituality891 Words   |  4 PagesReview of McMinn Summary In the book Psychology, theology, and spirituality in Christian counseling by Mark McMinn (2011), he explores the simultaneous integration of psychology, theology, and spirituality in the counseling relationship. McMinn (2011), stresses the importance of this skill throughout the text and offers insightful and effective ways to manage this. In order to further breakdown this information, McMinn (2011) discusses and evaluates six religious intervention strategies: prayerRead MorePsychology, Theology, And Spirituality1658 Words   |  7 PagesSummary In the book, Psychology, Theology, and Spirituality in Christian Counseling, McMinn expands upon the theory of integrating psychology and theology by providing the reader with concrete methods to utilize in counseling. His approach to integration is filled with helpful guidance for any counselor striving to strike the appropriate balance in their sessions. McMinn divulges into how and when to use scripture, prayer, confession and redemption. He advocates for utilizing these methods on aRead MorePsychology, Theology, And Spirituality1413 Words   |  6 PagesThe book â€Å"Psychology, Theology, and Spirituality in Christianity Counseling† by Mark R. McMinn (2011) is an informative read that delves into the issues of practically integrating concepts of psychological counseling in the Christian context. Some of the questions that McMinn (2011) aspires to address in the book include whether it is appropriate to pray with clients, the role of confession during the therapy process , whether counselors should use scripture memory during the interventions as wellRead MorePsychology, Theology, and Spirituality in Christian Counseling by Mark McMinn1464 Words   |  6 Pages4 MAT Review McMinn Lynetric Rivers Liberty University Abstract In the book, â€Å"Psychology, Theology, and Spirituality in Christian Counseling†, author Mark McMinn gives the reader information on how these three entities can work together in Christian counseling. McMinn offers several ways in which this can be done including the use of prayer, Scripture, confession, forgiveness, the effects of sin, and redemption in counseling sessions. Through narration of counseling vignettes displaying differentRead MoreA Review Of Mcminn s Text : Psychology, Theology, And Spirituality1195 Words   |  5 PagesA Review of McMinn’s Text: Psychology, Theology, and Spirituality in Christian Counseling Summary McMinn tells how psychology, theology, and spirituality are used and how they should be used in Christian counseling. A Christian counselor has to look at not necessarily psychology and theology in a counseling session but how religion and spiritually is brought into the session. McMinn (2011) states, â€Å"Religious interventions require us to understand spiritual formation, place priority on personal spiritual

Carlos Ghosn Nissan Ceo Free Essays

Carlos Ghosn as CEO of Nissan and Renault: Can He Rework the ‘Nissan Magic’? â€Å"We knew some people were concerned about the potential for culture clashes, between the French and the Japanese, but it was not an issue. Cultural differences should be used as a catalyst for change, not as a crutch that inhibits change. You can learn a lot from somebody who is not like you. We will write a custom essay sample on Carlos Ghosn Nissan Ceo or any similar topic only for you Order Now â€Å"1 – Carlos Ghosn, CEO, Nissan. â€Å"Make sure you are focused on your own people. Bring in them motivation and sense of ownership, then you can do your miracle. 2 – Carlos Ghosn, CEO, Nissan. Introduction In 2002, Louis Schweitzer, CEO of Renault announced that Carlos Ghosn, the president and CEO of Nissan would also take over the reigns at Renault in April 2005, while Schweitzer would remain the chairman of the board. With the new position , Carlos Ghosn would lead two companies Nissan and Renault. As of 2004,Renault held 44%stake in Nissan and Nissan owned around 15%of Renault’s shares. ‘Turnaround artist’, as Carlos Ghosn was called was behind the industry’s most remarkable turnaround at Nissan. After he became the CEO of Nissan in 1999, he had brought in many un-Japanese changes in the Japanese company and had actively persuaded the employees to accept change. Carlos Ghosn was credited for reviving the company from$254million losses and $19billion debt in 1999 into profits within two years. After taking up his position as the CEO of Renault in April 2005,CarlosGhosn is likely to face many challenges. Heading two different automobile companies from two different countries was first of its kind and industry observers expressed doubts whether Ghosn would be able to take up the pressure and rework the ‘Nissanmagic’. Carlos Ghosn: The ‘Nissan Magic’In March 1999,Renault, the then ninth carmaker in the world announced its alliance with Nissan investing $5. 4 billion. Nissan was in losses for many years from 1990-1999 except for profits reported in 1997(Annexure I) and looked out for partners to recover from the troubles. The brand recognition was very low and it was estimated that Nissan was losing $1000 for every car it sold in US. By the end of 1990s,Nissan exported cars to Europe and Australia and some parts of Asia. The company was in losses to the tune of $5. billion, had debts totaling around $19 billion and was suffering from a poor product portfolio and diminishing brand value. Nissan’s market share had dropped from 6. 6 %in 1991 to 4. 9%by late 1990s. Renault at the same time was expanding internationally through acquisitions. After the unsuccessful merger with Volvo, Renault under Louis Schweitzer entered into an alliance with Nissan acquiring a 36%stake in the compan y. Triggering the alliance was Nissan’s strength in product designs and sophisticated manufacturing that blended well with the engineering quality at Renault. For Renault, the alliance would help in international expansions in the long-term while for Nissan; it was to get rid of its short-term troubles that had accumulated. Initially industry observers were skeptical about a non-Japanese manager successfully leading a Japanese firm. While Carlos Ghosn was successful in cutting costs and had sometimes imposed hard regimes during his tenure atMichelin3  , many were apprehensive if he would be successful in Japan. | | He was 46 when he joined Nissan and was far younger than the middle-level managers in the company. Carlos Ghosn knew nothing about Japan and had no knowledge of the culture there. He once said that he had a ‘very vague’ idea about the country and accepted, â€Å"I did not try to learn too much about Japan before coming, because I didn’t want to have too many preconceived ideas. I wanted to discover Japan by being in Japan with Japanese people. â€Å"4  On the first day, when Carlos Ghosn arrived at Nissan, he took an elevator to reach his office. As he entered the lift, which was already packed with workers who were coming up from garage, everyone knew he was the new CEO. To his surprise, at every floor the lift stopped, none got down. Finally, when he got down, the employees bowed as he left and went back to their floors. After such an unexpected incident, which reflected major cultural difference, Carlos Ghosn realized how important it was to understand them. Since the first day, Carlos Ghosn had made the cultural diversity a catalyst rather than a crutch for the company. 5 Next gt;gt; 1]Carlos Ghosn’s interview, â€Å"Interview: The road to ruin†, www. themanufacturer. com, December 2002 2]Parachkevova, Anna â€Å"CEO outlines Nissan’s resurgence†, www. thedartmouth. com, May 12th 2004 3]Carlos Ghosn joined Michelin in 1974, where he was chairman and CEO of North American operations and had undertook several cost cutting initiatives. 4]†Carlos Ghosn: standing at the global crossing†, http://web-japan. org, April 5th 2002 5]†Throwing away the culture crutch†, 2000 Automotive News World Congress, January 18th 2000 Carlos Ghosn: The ‘Nissan Magic’ Cont†¦ However, since the beginning, Carlos Ghosn was in a Catch-22 situation as Japanese were not used to dictatorship kind of leadership. He knew that if he tried to dictate terms, that could lead to bruising employee morale, and if he remained lenient, it could hinder the required change. Instead of imposing change ,CarlosGhosn brought about the need for urgency in operations by mobilizing   them an agers. Carlos Ghosn identified that the basic flaw with Nissan’s culture when he took over was that employees were reluctant to accept the failures and held other departments or economic conditions responsible for them. This resulted in a lack of urgency among employees as everyone assumed the other would take action. He found that instead of solving the problems, they were trying to live with them. Nissan throughout 1990s, had been concentrating on short-termmarket share growth rather than long termgrowth and instead of investing its profits towards product portfolio improvement itwas spending themtowards equity purchases of other companies especially its suppliers. Its product profile was comparatively outdated with old designs when customers craved for stylish designs while competitors were steadily focusing on new product designs. By 1999, it had around $4 billion held in the form of shares while its purchasing costs remained very high, around 20-25%more than that of Renault’s. The employees openly resisted cross-functional teams, as they strongly believed in territories and sectionalism, which was a major part of their culture. Carlos Ghosn explained, â€Å"Engineers work very well together, financial people work very well together, salespeople work very well together. But when you start to add an engineer, a marketer, a salesperson, and a manufacturer, here all the strengths of Japan in teamwork disappear. â€Å"6  To overcome the resistance, he had to explain to the employees why the cross-functional teams were important and how they would impact the overall benefits. Carlos Ghosn believed that the general human tendency was to resist anything different. He considered that by accepting change, people tend to become stronger, as they understand the differences and try to analyze the causes for such differences. Cross-functional teams were formed and employees were involved in the revival process. This helped Carlos Ghosn explain his plans and gain acceptance easily. Through these cross-functional teams, employees were made to look beyond their line of responsibilities, understanding the nitty- gritties of the other departments as well. After the cross-functional teams were in place, people owned up responsibility whenever something went wrong. â€Å"The solution to Nissan’s problems was inside the company. The main [idea] we would have for revival of the company would be a rebuilt motivation of Nissan employees and partners,† he explained. 7| | Immediately after appointing the teams, they were asked to submit plans to achieve the maximum possible output in each area and within a week decisions were made. The outcome was the Nissan Revival Plan (NRP). After the NRPwas announced, every aspect from the timing, the plan schedules and the commitments as well as targets were clearly stated. Shiro Tomii, vice president, Nissan Japan remarked, â€Å"He establishes high yet attainable goals; makes everything clear to all roles and levels of responsibility, works with speed; checks on progress; and appraises results based on fact. â€Å"8 Next gt;gt; 6]†Carlos Ghosn: standing at the global crossing†, op. cit 7]Saadi, Dania â€Å"Nissan’s miracle man offers clues to solving national economic woes†, www. lebanonwire. com   8]David Magee, Turnaround: how Carlos Ghosn rescued Nissan Carlos Ghosn: The ‘Nissan Magic’ Cont†¦ Listening to the employees and facilitating their participation in the decision-making process, was key aspect of Carlos Ghosn’s leadership. By avoiding impersonal meetings through mails, he stressed the need for face-to-face communication. He believed that the people close to the company could come out with better solutions than an outsider like him. In contrast, the Japanese were polite, reticent and never spoke about the plans to their boss. Carlos Ghosn had to repeatedly explain to the employees that he needed their viewpoints and would not mind if they speak out. This, according to him was the greatest hurdle. While in France at Renault, he emphasized on teamwork, in Japan he believed it was not required and instead individuality was given more prominence. Price Water house Coopers in a report on change management listed Carlos Ghosn’s key human resource management techniques calling them very simple and straightforward By maintaining transparency from the stage of planning to action, he aimed at the best possible out comes while also lifting the morale of the employees who were particularly distressed after the crisis at the company. He invited suggestions from every influential individual from suppliers, Nissan’s ex-employees, dealers etc. He explained, â€Å"As you know credibility has two legs, performance, and transparency. Performance, we had none to show at the time, so we were determined to be highly transparent. â€Å"9  He called the NRP, an ‘organization’s collective effort’ involving thousands of employees at every managerial level. To show his commitment to the plan, he declared that he would resign along with other top executives if the plan fails in bringing in the benefits. Carlos Ghosn wanted immediate results by fixing short-term targets. While he called the passive style of management-by-consensus a killer, an active and constructional version could work miracles, according to him. He believed that an 85%consensus was enough and 100%was not always essential. While cultural adaptability had been his key, he was also at the same time affirmative about giving more priority to the bottom-line growth rather than just to the cultural aspects. He remarked, â€Å"I do not want to intentionally offend people, but I am more concerned about making Nissan profitable again than being culturally sensitive. â€Å"10| | The first phase of NRP focused on cutting the costs and improving profits. The first major step Carlos Ghosn undertook was divestments from subsidiaries to reduce the debt. Suppliers accounted for major part of costs of production and the age-old Keiretsu system and the obligations that came with it were adding to heavy costs11  . Deviating from the system, Carlos Ghosn opened the purchasing offer to all the suppliers encouraging new suppliers who were ready to supply at low prices. As part of the revival plan, suppliers were forced to offer discounts to the tune of 20-30%and the number of suppliers was brought down to 600 from 1145 while the purchasing costs were reduced by 20%. During a meeting with the dealers of Nissan, Carlos Ghosn announced, â€Å"I don’t want any excuses. I want to know what you are going to do to make things better. â€Å"12  Cost cutting at each stage began to be regarded as the need of the hour as the employees were encouraged to reduce expenses through all possible ways. The cross functional teams were given one month time to identify areas to cut costs and increase the profits through bottom-line growth. Next gt;gt; 9]Ibid. 10]Larimar, Tim â€Å"Japan, Nissan and Ghosn revolution†, www. sb. columbia. edu 11]The Keiretsu system, in which the companies maintained partnership with each of its suppliers, holding shares in those companies, transferring managers characterized the big family of companies and its suppliers were both shared relationships 12]Larimar, Tim â€Å"Japan, Nissan and Ghosn revolution†, op. cit. Carlos Ghosn: The ‘Nissan Magic’ Cont†¦ The most un-Japanese practices like c losing plants and cutting work force, in a country, which believed in lifetime employment, were the biggest of all challenges. When he planned to close five plants which included both assembly plants and power train plants, the board of directors were not informed until the night before, as Carlos Ghosn knew some people within the company wanted his plans to fail. After he announced, he was reported to have threatened, â€Å"If this leaks out, I’ll close seven plants, not five. â€Å"13  For Carlos Ghosn, convincing the labor unions over the disadvantages of rigid job definition was a big task. The seniority-based promotion that was entrenched in the Japanese firm was replaced by a performance based and merit-based incentive system. Instead of sacking people, which was against the culture in Japan, 21,000 jobs were cut through retirements, pre-retirements and golden handshakes out of which 16500 were in Japan alone. The plants were closed, while offering alternative jobs to the employees in other plants of the company. The complex manufacturing structure, which involved 24 platforms at seven assembly plants, was brought down to 12 platforms, which were shared by four plants. Around 10%of the retail outlets were closed and 20%of the dealer affiliates was streamlined to further reduce selling and marketing expenses. After the phase one of the revival plan was over, Nissan reported profits of $1. 5 billion for six months between April to September, which was the best results the company had ever seen. At the same time, Carlos Ghosn began to be called an iconoclast, who had brought in some un-Japanese, western style of culture in the company’s operations. He, in contrast to the traditional Japanese business etiquettes, shook hands with his partners and other executives. As a result, there was discontent among the traditionalists and other industry associations in the country. And his bold decisions like closing plants, had invited repugnance among many including the insiders and Ghosn began to take along a bodyguard wherever he went| | The cross-cultural merger between a French and a Japanese firm, raised several other challenges. The alliance aimed at cost savings through sharing of platforms and engineering capabilities. Initially though the employees and the design engineers were convinced over the superiority of the platforms brought in from the Renault plants, they were reluctant to adopt them. To overcome resistance, regular meetings were conducted among the Nissan and Renault employees. While at the same time, Carlos Ghosn began to recruit more designers from Japan to design new models. He maintained that the best way to solve the cultural differences was to avoid forcing the cultural blend. Rather, he believed in appreciating the differences between the cultures and minimizing the cultural clashes by bringing in a performance-driven management. To ensure that the Japanese staff understands what the French managers spoke, English was made the common language in the company. A dictionary of 100 key words used by them management was prepared to solve the differences in the way each work was interpreted by French as well as Japanese. The words included ‘commitment’, ‘transparency’, ‘objectives’, and ‘targets’ etc. Carlos Ghosn: The ‘Nissan Magic’ Cont†¦ In Japan, attending all formal parties of suppliers was very important and one was not supposed to miss them unless there was a strong reason. When Carlos Ghosn missed the New Year Party hosted by the suppliers’ association, it was considered as a sign of disrespect to their culture. Carlos Ghosn had attended all such gatherings since then. Carlo sGhosn understood all these subtle aspects, which were an essential part of the culture, as he began adapting to them. In the second phase of the revival plan, which started in 2001, Carlos Ghosn stressed on selling more cars, improving the top line growth as well. Dropping non-performing products from its portfolio, the company introduced trendy new models in SUVs and minivans category. An updated Z sports coupe was reintroduced in the market. The phase two increased sales by one million and debt was brought down to zero. With his unconventional leadership style and charisma, he began tow in praises from the employees of the company as well as from the industry and the public. Sometimes, people in streets would stop him and wish him success saying, ‘Gambatte [go for it]’. TIME magazine named him the most influential global business executive and more and more Japanese companies were embarking on the gaijin [Foreigner]-Ghosn’s style for attaining maximum benefits in a short time. His colleagues at Nissan were particularly impressed by his dedication towards achievement of targets and his 24/7 work ethics reinforcing the importance of hard work. His devotion towards the revival of the company from problems, for which he was not in any way responsible, encouraged his peers to work hard and contribute towards a common goal. Toshiyuki Shiga who was made in charge of the Nissan’s expansions in China had once remarked, â€Å"He told me to make a clear strategy for Nissan in China, and he gave me two months to do it. †Ã‚  14  While he ensured that the progress was undertaken without holding any individual responsible for the past crisis, he was also at the same time particular about results. | Dominique Thormann, senior vice president, Nissan Europe, said, â€Å"To people who don’t accept that performance is what is at stake, he can be ruthless. â€Å"15 Calling his turnaround at Nissan a ‘near death experience’, Carlos Ghosn said he had experienced extensive cultural diversities during his tenure at Renault, Nissan, Nissan’s North American business and Samsung motors, a Korean based co mpany acquired by Renault. His management style is woven around two attributes- ‘value and motivation’. He believed in motivating employees and demanding performance by empowering them. Your employees must be interested in what is going on in the company. Nothing is more inefficient than a boring company. You have to create an interesting environment where people are interested in the story you are creating and want to hear the happy ending†, he said. He was called ‘Ice Breaker’ by Daimler Chrysler’s Chairman Jurgen E. Schrempp because of his unconventional thinking and implementing western style of management in Japan breaking the prevalent myth in the industry. Carlos Ghosn: The ‘Nissan Magic’ Cont†¦ The biweekly comic series, ‘The true life of Carlos Ghosn’ featured Nissan’s CEO Carlos Ghosn, depicting his popularity in the industry as well as the country. Some others called him ‘an ambassador of change’, ‘the troubleshooter’ and considered him as a role model for all those business executives who were seeking solutions to the poor state of their companies in Japan. After the implementation of the Nissan Revival Plan (NRP), within two years, the company recovered from the losses and reported a 10. 2%increase in its revenues and nearly 84%increase in its operating profits . Though the sales had not considerably improved, the cost cuttings contributed towards improving the bottom line. In May 2001, the company reported its largest net profit of $2. 7 billion. Carlos Ghosn was named the ‘Businessman of the year’ by Fortune magazine in 2002 and Auto mobile Magazine called him’ man of the year’ for his contributions to Nissan. Renault increased its stake in Nissan to 44. 4%while Nissan owned 13. 5%of Renault’s share capital. However, by 2003,Nissan started experiencing a downward trend in its sales, as the volume of goods that passed out from dealers was dropping in size. Customers regularly complained of quality defects and Nissan’s rank in overall quality (as per a survey by J. D. PowerAssociates) dropped to 11th in 2004 from6th in 2003. It looked as the rigorous emphasis on the faster execution of the restructuring had resulted in these quality defects while Ghosn assured he would fix them. To counter the situation, in May 2004, he sent a quality control team of 220 engineers to the Nissan plant in Smyrna (Tennessee) and every part of the assembly line went through a detailed scrutiny. Subtle issues like the workers who wore studded jeans and rings causing scratches to the freshly painted cars, etc came to light. Ghosn was amazed at some very obvious ones, which could be rectified at the plant, like defective doors and reading lights etc. Carlos Ghosn had already achieved two of the three goals that were set for NRP, the debt was cleared and profitability was achieved. | | The Nissan 180, an extension of NRP was launched and aimed at additional sales volume of one million annually from 2005, the third objective of NRP. US market was considered to play a key role in achieving the goal of additional one million sales. A new plant was set up in Canton, the first in North America where Nissan was facing challenges from other Japanese automakers, Toyota and Honda. Mean while, Nissan was planning an alliance with Mitsubishi after Daimler Chrysler gave up its plans of partnership with Mitsubishi. The partnership would help Nissan enter the mini car segment while Mitsubishi would be able to reduce cost burden of new product development. The shortage of steel supplies forced Nissan to reduce its production in 2004, affecting production of 15,000 units amounting to $58. 5million of loss in sales. Nissan closed its plants for five days following the shortage of supplies, as steel prices in creased with demand for steel increasing after the economic boom in China. While halting production was considered a sign of mismanagement many felt that Carlos Ghosn’s attempt to bring down the number of suppliers as part of NRP, had resulted in over-reliance on few suppliers . However, Ghosn defended himself saying that the savings achieved during that phase were far more [$9. 7 billion] than the losses incurred due to loss of sales. Renault – The French Automaker Renault was a state owned government enterprise since 1945. It was started as a motorized vehicle assembler in 1898. Renault built trucks, airplane engines and heavy vehicles during the World War II and after the war and with the economic boom, Renault achieved high volume sales with its low cost cars like 4CV, Renault 4 and Renault 5 through the 1970s and 1980s. During early 1980s, Renault expanded into US by acquiring half the shares of American Motor Corporation. However, the deal was unprofitable and the company had to withdraw from the market in 1987. A similar deal failed in Mexico, and with both the deals financed through debts, Renault was left ith huge debts accumulated by the end of 1980s. It reported losses of $3. 5 billion between 1984 and 1986. Further, because it was a state owned business, obligations with labour unions led to more costs for the company. When Louis Schweitzer joined Renault in 1986,Renault had accumulated debts to the tune of $9 billion and was in huge losses. Its proposed merger with Sweden based ABVolvo in 19 93 failed due to unfavorable French political climate and with Swedish shareholders expressing reservation. The company continued to be in losses till 1996,when Schweitzer brought in Carlos Ghosn as the executive vice president. Under the duo, product quality was improved, outsourcing secondary activities and overheads were reduced along with reduction in workforce. The same time, French government started setting ground for its IPO when Louis Schweitzer discovered that privatization of the company could only save it. In July 1996, the IPO was completed. By 1998,with the midsize model Scenic, Renault was successful in European market and in 1998 alone it made profits of $1. 4 billion from$40 billion sales. 16 While Renault became the No. 1 automaker in Europe, to be a global player, it had to expand its operations further. By the end of 1990s, it had a very small presence in Asia and was totally absent in the North American market. After the merger of Daimler and Chrysler in 1998, for Renault, expansions became a requisite. And, Nissan seemed a lucrative opportunity, as an alliance with Nissan could help in easier market expansion for Renault in developing markets. While others including Ford and DaimlerChrysler had earlier attempted a deal with Nissan, they later withdrew keeping in view the huge debt that Nissan held and its culture that was inflexible. | After the alliance, Renault managed to reduce its launching and warranty costs for new product introductions by recruiting managers from Nissan to undertake the launch. At the same time, it sent its employees to Nissan to oversee manufacturing, to achieve cost efficient production. Later Renault acquired Samsung Motors in South Korea and Roman automaker, Dacia as part of its international expansion. With the launch of multi purpose vehicles, Laguna II and A van time in 2001 and Espace IV in 2002 , and after its association with Formula One racing between 1992 and 1997, its brand popularity improved. By 2004,Renault held strong foothold in European market and reported a 6. 5%increase in sales by the first half of 2004 and was the fourth largest auto company in the world. It held nearly 11%market share in Western European market in passenger car and light vehicle cars. At the same time, Renault performance in large cars segment was sluggish and was struggling to achieve operating margin of 4%, when the demand for cars in the European market was low. Some of the new launches like the Vel Satis, a tall saloon luxury model, were not very successful in the market. Are launch in the US market was also underway. Renault was facing other challenges along with Nissan and other automakers. Environmental friendly cars, which seemed a likely potential opportunity, were costly to manufacture at the price the customers were ready to pay. Renault was planning for expansions in Chinese market and South Korea and other parts of Asia through alliance with Nissan. Next ;gt;;gt; 16]†For Renault, a new chance to take on the world†, www. businessweek. com, November 15th 1999 Carlos Ghosn as CEO of Renault and Nissan By 2010, Nissan and Renault would build their cars using the common building blocks. Ghosn viewed the alliance as â€Å"managing contradiction between synergy and identity†17  and confirmed that while gaining synergies, the individual identity of each brand would be safeguarded. The other major alliances in the industry, the DaimlerChrysler and the GM/Fiat had not proved to be very successful because of improper management of merged assets, trans-atlantic product development and failed attempt in understanding local market; Ghosn confirmed that Nissan’s alliance with Renault would creatively achieve it. At the same time the alliance would avoid merger and would maintain ‘a spirit of partnership’18  . The alliance would be the fourth largest automobile group in the world. In October 2004, the first car was built using a common platform of Nissan and Renault. Modus, a subcompact minivan of Renault shared its base with Nissan’s Micra saving $500million for Renault every year. After Carlos Ghosn succeeds Schweitzer at Renault’s in April 2005, he would also continue as the CEO of Nissan. Carlos Ghosn was affirmative that he would not leave the company unless he finds the right person who would succeed him at Nissan. He stressed on the need for a Japanese as the CEO of Nissan in such a culture sensitive country. While at Nissan, he had transformed himself into a Japanese, adapting to the culture, analysts feared if he would breach the French business etiquettes as he takes up the rein at Renault. 19  Two of the five vice presidents at Renault would retire soon, and Carlos Ghosn was to take up the reigns at both the companies, during such senior level management changes. At the same time, many feared if the sense of urgency brought through NRP would continue at Nissan or will the company slip back to its old habits, when Carlos Ghosn leaves. The pressure was considered to be very high, as an analyst stated, â€Å"He will be less present at Renault than he was at Nissan, and less present at Nissan that he used to be. I believe this challenge will be more difficult. â€Å"20 The alliance had helped both the companies equally, in terms of cost savings from not requiring to construct new plants where the alliance can use common buildings, common platforms etc. This had also helped them enter new markets faster and gain other synergies . The purchasing power had also increased as they ordered and bought components through Renault-Nissan purchasing organization for both the companies at a time. | The alliance had from the beginning ensured that the inter-company cultural clashes do not exist, by maintaining individual cultural identities. While a merger had been avoided since the beginning, Carlos Ghosn confirmed that it would be its agenda in future also. Carlos Ghosn remarked that when he takes up the two positions, he wou ld blend the strengths of the people at the companies, the innovation excellence of the French and the dedication towards manufacturing of the Japanese. 21  He affirmed that his tenure at Nissan had allowed him to learn the real essence of successful leaders, and would drive his success in future also. He called himself, ‘not a theorist of citizenship but an expert in multi nationality’. 22 Carlos Ghosn called the three major attributes, ‘Value, Transparency and Performance’ as the ones that would determine the competence of any CEO. He believed that they act as standards for leadership in global business, in the light of growing corporate scandals, when the top executives of the companies were increasingly coming under scrutiny. He explained that the actual results that are delivered along with simultaneous value creation to the customers and the other stakeholders through maintaining transparency, reflect an efficient leadership. By communicating every strategy to every person concerned, he maintained that it would facilitate a faster reaction to dynamics in the fiercely competitive global market place. An analyst once called Carlos Ghosn, ‘amanager without borders, polyglot and cosmopolitan’. Talking about his dual roles and the cultural barriers that he will have to face as he moves to Renault while also heading Nissan, Carlos Ghosn said, â€Å"Global is global. In my opinion, this is going to be the story of the twenty-first century. This is what’s going to happen in the twenty-first century – you’re going to see the emergence of more ‘global’ standards, some kind of global references; you’re going to see more and more of it. But ‘globality’ doesn’t mean ‘uniformity. ‘ It doesn’t mean that. You’ll still have different cultures, you’ll still have different tastes, and you’ll still have some adaptations to make to different countries, but you’ll have some basic things that will be common globally, especially in the economic area. â€Å"23 17]†Renault’s alliance with Nissan†, www. economist. om, August 16th 2001 18]Parachkevova, Anna â€Å"CEO outlines Nissan’s resurgence†, http://thedartmouth. com, May 12th 2004 19]†Carlos Ghosn- Nissan motor†, www. businessweek. com, January 8th 2000 20]Tierney, Christine â€Å"Leadership, bold moves help Renault save Nissanâ₠¬ , www. detnews. com, October 24th 2003 21]Smith, Duvergne, Nancy â€Å"Nissan Renault alliance faces down few challenges†, http://web. mit. edu, November 18th 2004 22]Abescat, Bruno â€Å"I am an expert of multi nationality†, http://livres. lexpress. fr 23]†Carlos Ghosn: standing at the global crossing†, op. cit How to cite Carlos Ghosn Nissan Ceo, Papers

Dinner and Dance Party

Question: Describe about the activity of project manager who provides dance and dinner party service to clients. Answer: Introduction This assignment is about the activity of project manager who provides dance and dinner party service to clients. This kind of company belongs to service providing industry. There are different layers in the project that relates to design dance and dinner party. The company deployed a project manager to manage the entire events. At the first part, the project manager found out different scopes of the upcoming project. Different components are analyzed in depth, that requires to fulfill the clients requirements. After that, the priority of the project has been analyzed according to the managers opinion. In this segment the business perspectives are explained in depth. The company makes its profit by providing service to the client and against of it earns fees or remuneration that has been explained in this segment. After that total projects cost estimation has been given is table and that has been elaborated below (Kaplan, and Anderson, 2013). Finally, it can be concluded that the diff erent discussion on various topic made this assignment subjective. Some authors opinion are taken to make the assignment subjective. Project Scope A project manager should check some significant scopes of project before starting the dance and dinner party. The project manager has to contact with the supplier at morning of the program. The entire orders have to crosscheck with the individual suppliers. If any of the items are, left then that should ordered as early as possible. For this reason the most significant scope of the project are discussed below: Dance area: the first priority of the project is dance. Therefore, the dance floor or stage is needed to prepare, that should be according to clients choice. The dance floor should make with wooden board. So many other options are there but wood will be the best and safe option for making the dance floor or stage because wood is inconvenient of electricity. Safety measures should be there on the dance floor (Resurreccion, et. al., 2012). The wearing of lights and sounds will be there but that should be masked with electric inconvenient tapes. Another reason of masking, the guest or dancer will not stumble with the sounds and lights wearing. Lighting the lights are another important object for the party. There are two phase of lighting. One is dance area lighting and another is dinner area lighting. The dancing area lighting will be variable in nature because electrical fluctuation and decoration matter is important there. However, dinner area lighting will be simple in combination. Sounds After lighting the sound is another scope of the project that has to be checked by the project manager. The party is depends on sounds and music. The guest would like to have variation in music and volume as well (Dhillon, 2013). The music list arrangement should be variable in nature. Food and Beverages After dancing the guest will go for dinner and the area should prepare with the clients criteria. The food items should be full with quantity and the service person should be ready little before dinnertime. The hygienic factors should be checked before serving because this is the matter of goodwill of the company. Guest List the client supposed to give a list with total number of guest. The dinner plate and food arrangement should match with the given number of coming guest. After starting the party, the guest number should be confirmed by the get keeper who will stand in front the entry of the project area. Transportation This service is required by the end of the projec t (Tan, et. al., 2012). As the party is going to end at late night then transportation from the project area will be a further requirement. A project manager had to face this kind requirement many times at the end of late night party. A little management of transportation should be outside of the project area. Project Priority As project manager should be focused on total quality of the service, as the top priority. This kind of business is belongs to service industry so the quality of the service should be best in nature. Furthermore, the client criteria should maintain appropriately. Each and individual items of service are analyzed properly with previous experience. A project manager has analyzed some important things for a dance and dinner party these are as follows (Prahlad, et. al. 2012). The quality of the food and beverages plates should be best but the cost should be budgeted before the business deal. As a project manager the profit making scopes will be the first priority because a service providing organization wants good amount of profit margin at the end of every project. This kind of project are seasonal in nature so every business making prospects are to done accurately. A clear business deal should be there with the client and the company. The cost estimation with provided items should be t here in the list. the client usually checks the requirement that has been provided before the project day. The entire items should be crosschecked with the prepared list. Here different items like food, light, sound and decorators are there as vendor who are responsible to provide required items (Drury, 2013). Vendors contract should be clear and accurate after finalizing the deal with the client. The dance and dinner party projection totally depends on vendors item. A project manager should analyze the cost estimation with profit margin before making the contract because only this thing is responsible for profit. Work Break down Structure The project estimations are directly related with matter of breakdown. The ordered items may be break down at the time of the party going on. For this reason, the assumptions with previous experience of a project manager have taken here to prepare emergency measures. The fisrt object was dance floor that has planned to make with wooden board. The wooden board maybe break at the time of dancing with bigger number of guest. Substitute wooden board should be in the store and that thing should be confirmed with the decorators with their labors. After that, the lighting is the important thing that relates to electricity. Technical faults or electrical disruptions may happen any time in the party. Electrical generator and extra lighting options should be there in party place. In case of any emergency, the party cannot be stopped by providing emergency electric or lighting service. Now the firefighting arrangement should be there in the party place, because fire can happen any time in the p arty. The cooking area and lighting area are highly inflammable (Wodchis, et. al., 2012). This is the most important factors of breakdown inside a party area. Food quantity shortfall is another countable breakdown that has experienced by a project previously. The budgeted quantity of food may differ from the actual demand in the party time. The food making vendors should prepare with extra quantity of required raw materials and that should utilize in case of any shortage happens during the party. The project manager should aware with this kind of significant breakdown. Cost estimation breakdown is very common factors that has been analyzed by a project manager many times before. This kind of breakdown will be the reason for low profitability. The client should be convinced with the variation of price according to need. The cost breakdown is nothing but increase of expenses to provide better service in party time. Cost Estimation Particulars Budgeted Cost ($) Lighting 2250 Sound 2750 Food 9500 Decorations 1500 Total 16000 A client declares his requirements and then wants estimated cost. The factors of negotiation come after the given estimated cost. Now, A project manager has given an estimated cost according to the party type (Martens, et. al., 2012). The client has declared his budget with the amount of $15000 to $16000 maximum. The project manager has estimated suitable cost of the project according to client financial capacity. The variation of lighting depends on the vendors service the sound quality also depends same. The manager is responsible to produce a better service with the budgeted components. The client deal should be clear with the service price. In case of any changes then alternative options are there is the hand of the manager. If the client does not want, spend $2250 for lighting then the manager will reduce the quality of light. If the client wants more decoration then the vendor will be asked to decorate more and that makes higher cost. However, the overall cost-expanding figure should be balanced because, the client has given his budget previously. In case of profitability, the managers should maintain the incurred cost volume. for this reason, the managers should have alternative options of vendors to make a reasonable amount of project cost. The service vendor market should examined by the project manager to find out the cheap and best quality service vendor. This thing will lead the company towards profitability. However, the project manager should not compromise with service quality because the goodwill of the company depends on service only (Silalertruksa, et. al., 2012). The company service amount should be charged at the time cost estimation because it is the most significant source of income of the company. References Kaplan, R. and Anderson, S.R., 2013. Time-driven activity-based costing: a simpler and more powerful path to higher profits. Harvard business press. (Kaplan, and Anderson, 2013) Dhillon, B., 2013. Life cycle costing: techniques, models and applications. Routledge. (Dhillon, 2013) Tan, S.S., Bouwmans, C.A., Rutten, F.F. and Hakkaart-van Roijen, L., 2012. Update of the Dutch manual for costing in economic evaluations. International journal of technology assessment in health care, 28(02), pp.152-158. (Tan, et. al., 2012) Drury, C., 2013. Costing: an introduction. Springer. Wodchis, W.P., Bushmeneva, K.S.E.N.I.A., Nikitovic, M.I.L.I.C.A. and McKillop, I., 2012. Guidelines on person-level costing using administrative databases in Ontario. Health System Performance Research Network, Toronto. (Wodchis, et. al., 2012) Martens, B., Walterbusch, M. and Teuteberg, F., 2012, January. Costing of cloud computing services: A total cost of ownership approach. In System Science (HICSS), 2012 45th Hawaii International Conference on (pp. 1563-1572). IEEE. (Martens, et. al., 2012) Silalertruksa, T., Bonnet, S. and Gheewala, S.H., 2012. Life cycle costing and externalities of palm oil biodiesel in Thailand. Journal of Cleaner Production, 28, pp.225-232. (Silalertruksa, et. al., 2012) Resurreccion, E.P., Colosi, L.M., White, M.A. and Clarens, A.F., 2012. Comparison of algae cultivation methods for bioenergy production using a combined life cycle assessment and life cycle costing approach. Bioresource technology, 126, pp.298-306. (Resurreccion, et. al., 2012) Prahlad, A., Kavuri, S., Madeira, A.D., Lunde, N.R., Bunte, A.G., May, A. and Schwartz, J.A., Commvault Systems, Inc., 2015. Systems and methods for storage modeling and costing. U.S. Patent 9,111,220.

The Resolute Man Finds a Way free essay sample

There are few events more conducive to making a 14 year old boy have an anxiety attack than putting him on a pitcher’s mound in a game in front of 30 of his very attractive female peers. I learned this lesson the hard way during my first 9th grade high school baseball game, pitching poorly and getting pulled from the game just an inning into the contest. Unfortunately, my first poor showing turned into a string of losses that eventually led to me getting cut from the team after the season. Feeling extremely depressed and discouraged after losing my spot on the team, I began to wonder where my place in the sport, and ultimately in life, was. My infatuation with baseball started off as nothing more than a way for me to make friends in a new community but eventually grew into something much more: a love affair that consumed my life, created my identity, and served as a physical outlet for my mental and emotional unrest. We will write a custom essay sample on The Resolute Man Finds a Way or any similar topic specifically for you Do Not WasteYour Time HIRE WRITER Only 13.90 / page I knew that if I didn’t want to lose my first true love I’d have to extend my playing days beyond the high school field, where I was no longer given a chance, and into the collegiate arena. Thus, I developed a rigorous and meticulous plan to somehow earn an offer to play college baseball. The cold, iron weight room forged out an indifference to pain that helped me push through obstacles that I never thought possible. Running at the track at night forced me to focus on the next step, always striving to give 100% as I legged out the last few yards of a sprint. My favorite part of training would be long-tossing in the 300 yard open field behind my school. Over the months my high-arcing, maximum effort tosses stretched farther and farther, representing the progress I was making as both a pitcher and person as I tossed aside people’s assumptions about my skills and broke through new plateaus of confidence and skill. After a few years and many long days of practice, I found myself back on the mound in the position I had coveted for months: a showcase where I had the chance to perform in front of 100 college coaches and finally prove myself. Digging deep and utilizing all of the skills I had gained over the past few years, I gave up no runs and stuck out 3 in my two innings of work. At the end of the day, I had 6 college offers from high academic schools and was the happiest kid in the world. No matter what future games I pitch, win or lose, there will never be one more important than the metaphorical one that I’ve played against myself these past few years, one where I can say that I’m stepping off the mound with a label I’ve proudly created for myself: I am a winner, and that is a distinction which can never be taken from me.

Teacher Merit Pay Benefits and Disadvantages

Teacher Merit Pay Benefits and Disadvantages Teaching unions around the United States are lessening their opposition to merit pay for teachers and finding new ways to experiment with the concept, passionate reactions erupted from teachers everywhere. So, what exactly are the pros and cons of paying teachers differently based on the results they produce in the classroom? The issue is complex. In fact, it has been debated for over 40 years in the world of education. The National Education Association (NEA) adamantly opposes merit pay, but is it an idea whose time has come? The Pros Americans value hard work and results, and our capitalist system hinges upon rewarding such results. Most professions offer bonuses and salary increases to exemplary employees. Why should teaching be the exception? The fact that a sloppy teacher and a dedicated teacher earn the same salary just doesn’t sit right with most people.Incentivized teachers will work harder and produce better results. What motivation do teachers currently have to go above and beyond the jobs basic requirements? The simple possibility of extra cash would most likely translate into smarter teaching and better results for our children.Merit Pay programs will help recruit and retain the nation’s brightest minds. It’s the odd teacher who hasn’t considered leaving the classroom and entering the corporate workplace for the twin benefits of less hassle and more money potential. Particularly intelligent and effective teachers might reconsider leaving the profession if they felt that their extraordinary efforts were being recognized in their paychecks. Teachers are already underpaid. Merit Pay would help address this injustice. Teaching is due for a renaissance of respect in this country. How better to reflect the esteemed way we feel about educators than through paying them more? And the highest performing teachers should be first in line for this financial recognition.We are in the middle of a teaching shortage. Merit pay would inspire potential teachers to give the profession more consideration as a viable career choice, rather than a personal sacrifice for the higher good. By tying teaching salaries to performance, the profession would look more modern and credible, thus attracting young college graduates to the classroom.With American schools in crisis, shouldn’t we be open to trying almost anything new in the hopes of making a change? If the old ways of running schools and motivating teachers aren’t working, perhaps it’s time to think outside of the box and try Merit Pay. In a time of crisis, no valid ide as should be quickly denied as a possible solution. The Cons Virtually everyone agrees that designing and monitoring a Merit Pay program would be a bureaucratic nightmare of almost epic proportions. Many major questions would have to be adequately answered before educators could even consider implementing Merit Pay for teachers. Such deliberations would inevitably take away from our real goal which is to focus on the students and give them the best education possible.Goodwill and cooperation among teachers will be compromised. In places that have previously tried variations of Merit Pay, the results have often been unpleasant and counter-productive competition between teachers. Where teachers once worked as a team and shared solutions cooperatively, Merit Pay can make teachers adopt a more â€Å"I’m out for myself only† attitude. This would be disastrous for our students, no doubt.Success is difficult, if not impossible, to define and measure. No Child Left Behind (NCLB) has already proven how the various unleveled playing fields in the American education system inherently set up a wide variety of standards and expectations. Consider the diverse needs of English Language Learners, Special Education Students, and low-income neighborhoods, and you’ll see why it would be opening a messy can of worms to define standards of success for American schools when the stakes are cash in the pockets of real teachers. Opponents to Merit Pay argue that a better solution to the current educational crisis is to pay all teachers more. Rather than design and regulate a messy Merit Pay program, why not simply pay teachers what they are already worth?High-stakes Merit Pay systems would inevitably encourage dishonesty and corruption. Educators would be financially motivated to lie about testing and results. Teachers might have legitimate suspicions of principal favoritism. Complaints and lawsuits would abound. Again, all of these messy morality issues serve only to distract from the needs of our students who simply need our energies and attention to learn to read and succeed in the world.​ So what do you think now? With issues as complicated and evocative as Merit Pay, ones position can be naturally nuanced. In the big picture, all that really matters is the learning that happens with our students when the rubber meets the road in our classrooms. After all, theres not a teacher in the world who entered the profession for the money. Edited By:  Janelle Cox

Frequency Response of Netwroks (Electronic Engineering) Lab Report

Frequency Response of Netwroks (Electronic Engineering) - Lab Report Example Current was determined by monitoring the voltage across 100 ? resistor. The CRO was used to record the current and voltage waveforms. The above procedure was repeated for the series connection of a resistor and inductor. Voltage across the inductor was measured at 100 Hz. The frequency response of the RC low-pass filter was measured over the frequency range 100 Hz to 100 kHz. At R = 1 k?, C = 0.01 Â µF, the attenuation at 15 to 20 frequencies were logarithmically recorded over this range. This procedure was repeated with R= 10 k?. The LF oscillator was connected to the RLC series circuit and with R=100 ? the voltage across the capacitor and inductor, and current through the circuit at frequencies between 1 kHz and 100 kHz determined by measuring the voltage across the series resistor. The band-pass filter circuit was constructed and voltages Vo and Vi measured over the range of frequencies 1kHz to 100 kHz. The band-stop filter circuit was also constructed and Vo and Vi again measure d over the range of frequencies 1kHz to 100kHz. A Twin-T filter was then constructed with R1 = R2 = 100 ? and C1=C2=0.01Â µF. ... 1000 4.673 0.301 0.00301 1552.492 0.000644 2000 4.627 0.561 0.00561 824.7772 0.001212 3000 4.551 0.83 0.0083 548.3133 0.001824 4000 4.47 1.093 0.01093 408.9661 0.002445 5000 4.37 1.32 0.0132 331.0606 0.003021 6000 4.253 1.596 0.01596 266.4787 0.003753 7000 4.11 1.802 0.01802 228.0799 0.004384 8000 3.962 1.989 0.01989 199.1956 0.00502 9000 3.84 2.123 0.02123 180.8761 0.005529 10000 3.701 2.268 0.02268 163.1834 0.006128 Figure1 The capacitance is the gradient of the line which is 6?10-4 F By calculation C= 1/2?f Xc and at f =10000 Hz and Xc =163.1834 ? then, C = 1 / 2*?*10000*163.1834 = 0.4126 F which reasonably agrees with the experimental values. The small difference between the calculated value and the measured value may be due to inaccurate readings or as a result of rounded figures. 2) Measuring VL and VR in figure6 with R=100 ? and C=0.01uf Table.2 ? (Hz) VL (v) VR (V) I (A) XL (?) 1/XL 100 1.443 4.379 0.04379 32.95273 0.030347 1000 0.675 4.36 0.0436 15.48165 0.064593 2000 1.299 4.23 0.0423 30.70922 0.032564 3000 1.867 4.028 0.04028 46.35055 0.021575 4000 2.317 3.791 0.03791 61.11844 0.016362 5000 2.709 3.53 0.0353 76.74221 0.013031 6000 3.033 3.273 0.03273 92.66728 0.010791 7000 3.273 2.907 0.02907 112.5903 0.008882 8000 3.328 2.705 0.02705 123.0314 0.008128 9000 3.488 2.496 0.02496 139.7436 0.007156 10000 3.592 2.32 0.0232 154.8276 0.006459 Figure 2 From the gradient, the inductance obtained to be 15.6 mH The inductive reactance XL at 100Hz is XL=2fL=2?3.14?100?15.6?10-3= 9.8 ? At f = 100 Hz from the table above XL = 32.95273 ? The difference is due to experimental errors and errors in reading of results. 3) Measuring Vo , Vi , the gain and calculating the frequency response Table.3 ? (HZ) Vi (V) VO (V) Gain Gain in dBs 100 4.634 4.638 1.000863 0.007494 160

Multinational Enterprises In Asian Development Case Study

Multinational Enterprises In Asian Development - Case Study Example The research will review the trends and expansionist strategies employed by multinational enterprises from these nations and evaluate how they managed to attain successes on the global level. Japanese Businesses The Japanese European Trade Organisation (JETRO) studied a number of things about the expansion if Japanese businesses into Europe (Sachwald, 1995). They identified five main motives for the expansion of Japanese businesses into Europe. First of all, Japanese businesses seeking to expand into Europe for production reasons. Geographically, Japan has not been a very rich island in terms of natural resources. As such, their expansionist drives into foreign nations included the desire to acquire much needed raw materials. Thus, the establishment of foreign companies enabled them to establish production systems with their technology and capital and produce at points close to the customers that they previously exported to. Secondly, the cost of energy and electricity has been tradi tionally high. Japanese expansionist ideology was to make use of cheap electricity and energy costs. Again, Japan has always been an overpopulated island. Due to that, land costs are generally higher. The expansion into foreign lands enabled Japanese businesses to economize and save significantly on rent. Other costs like pollution and transport costs were significantly lower in other parts of the world. Thus, Japanese businesses expanded to foreign lands to take advantage of these production-related advantages. Secondly, Japanese businesses moved to different parts of the world in order to develop new markets. In the 1970s, Japanese businesses had exported large volumes of products to people in different parts of the world.

Alzeimer's Disease Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Alzeimer's Disease - Research Paper Example Alzheimer’s disease, also known as Senile Dementia of the Alzheimer Type is a brain complication, which results in deteriorated brain functionality (American Health Assistance Foundation, 2011). It is the most reported case of dementia complication and develops gradually in a victim. The main effects of the disease are a permanent damage on neurons, which leads to intellectual incapacitation through loss of memory and rationality. As the disease develops in a person, it impairs brain related functionality leading to poor judgment and rationale in making decisions (Nordqvist, 2009), (American Health Assistance Foundation, 2011) The two major causes of Alzheimer’s disease are family history and age (Crystal, n.d.). Although developing Alzheimer’s disease is not a part of normal aging (Crystal, n.d.), it has been proven that age increases the risk of developing this disease (Crystal, n.d.). Family history also plays a major role in Alzheimer’s disease and having a close blood relative such as mother, sister, a brother; etc who has developed Alzheimer’s disease increases the risk of developing this disease. Other unproven causes of this disease include a history of head trauma, long-standing high blood pressure, and female gender (Nordqvist, 2009). There are two major types of Alzheimer’s disease, which have been identified according to the age of the patients: Early Onset Alzheimer’s not very common and is said to occur when a patient displays symptoms of the disease before reaching the age of 60 (Kantor, 2010). Late Onset Alzheimer’s is however very common and is said to occur when a patient aged 60 years or higher displays symptoms of the disease. The two types are both fatal (Kantor, 2010). The basic symptoms of Alzheimer’s disease are language and memory problems (forgetting familiar names, words, routes etc), flat moods, and personality changes (Kantor, 2010). A more in-depth discussion about the

Value Package Introduction in COS

Value Package Introduction in COS Abstract VPI (Value Package Introduction) was one of the core programs in Cummins Operating System (COS). VPI was the process by which the Company defined, designed, developed and introduced high quality Value Packages for customers. One of the key processes in a VPI program was to identify part failures. When a part failure was identified, it was transported to other plant locations. A delay in delivery time from one plant location to another impeded the diagnosis of a part and resulted in a postponement of a critical resolution and subsequent validation. As a proven methodology, customer focused Six Sigma tools were utilized for this project to quantify the performance of this process. Six Sigma was a data-driven approach which was designed to eliminate defects in the process. The project goal was to identify root causes of process variation and reduce the number of days it was taking for a part to move from point of failure to the component engineer for evaluation. The average number of da ys at the start of this project was 137. The goal was to reduce this by 50%. The benefits of performing this project was a reduction in the time it takes for parts to move which impacted the ability to analyze and fix problems in a timely manner and allowed the part to be improved or modified and put back on the engine for further testing. VPI Failed Parts Movement Between Locations Introduction VPI (Value Package Introduction) was one of the core programs in Cummins Operating System (COS). VPI was the process by which the Company defined, designed, developed and introduced high quality Value Packages for customers. The complete VPI package allowed Cummins to continuously improve the product(s) delivered to customers. This project was conducted in an effort to increase the value of these packages. By improving the process of moving parts from one location to another, Cummins has benefited in both cycle time and cost. VPI included all the elements of products which involved services and information that was delivered to the end-user customer. These products included: oil, filters, generator sets, parts, business management tools/software, engines, electronic features and controls, service tools, reliability, durability, packaging, safety and environmental compliance, appearance, operator friendliness, integration in the application, robust design, leak-proof components, ease of service and maintenance, fuel economy, rebuild cost, price, and diagnostic software. These were key factors of customer satisfaction that allowed Cummins to remain competitive and provide quality parts and services to the end customers. This process was essential in surviving among competitors. Statement of the Problem One of the key processes in a VPI program was to identify and resolve part failures. In order to do this in a timely manner, parts needed to travel quickly from the point of failure to the component engineers for diagnosis. Failures were identified at Cummins Technical Center during engine testing. The failed parts were then sent to one of two other locations, Cummins Engine Plant (Cummins Emission Solutions) or the Fuel Systems Plant, where they were to be delivered to the appropriate engineer for diagnosis and part engineering changes. A delay in the diagnosis of a failed part meant a delay in the resolution of the problem and subsequent engine testing. The ideal situation was for a part failure to be identified by the test cell technician, delivered to the engineer, diagnosed by the engineer, and the part redesigned for further testing on the engine. When this did not occur timely, the failed part did not reach the engine again for a sufficient amount of testing. The problem was that parts were either taking a very long time to get into the engineers hands, or the parts were lost. Engines require a pre-determined amount of testing time to identify potential engine failures and associated risks to the customer and the Company. As a result, the opportunity to continually improve parts and processes was missed. Through the use of customer focused six sigma tools this process improved the ability to solve customer problems and achieve company targets. Investigation was required to determine the most efficient process for the transfer of failed parts between different sites within Cummins. Significance of the Problem This process was important in solving part failures. Timely transfer of parts to the correct engineer for analysis reduced the amount of time for issue correction and improved the performance of the engines that were sold to customers. This package allowed Cummins to continuously improve the process and reduce cycle time and cost. This project involved the transportation of VPI failed parts from the point of failure to the appropriate component engineer. The improvements made during this project ensured that parts were received by the engineers in a timely manner which allowed further testing of the re-engineered failed parts. Statement of the Purpose The process of identifying part failures and delivering them to the appropriate component engineer was essential in diagnosing problems and correcting them. Personnel were either not trained in the problem identification area or were unaware of the impact that their work had on the entire process. Communication between the test cell engineers whom identify part failures was important within two areas. First, it was critical that the engineer responsible for the part was notified and secondly, the Failed Parts Analyst (FPA) had to be notified in order to know when to pick up the part for shipping. The partnership between the test cell engineer and the other two areas was a fundamental part of this process in order for it to be successful. Other factors that contributed to the time delay in part failure identification and delivery time was vacation coverage of key employees and training of shipping and delivery personnel. The average number of days for a part to be removed from the tes t cell engine and delivered to the appropriate design engineer was 137 days. Based on the logistics of the locations where the parts were being delivered, this process was improved to be accomplished in less time. The purpose of this project was to reduce the amount of time it was taking for this process to occur. The benefits of performing this project resulted in a reduction in the time it was taking for parts to move which impacted the ability to analyze and fix problems and allowed the part to be improved or modified and put back on the engine for further testing. The improvements derived from this project can be applied to similar processes throughout the multiple business units. Definition of Terms VPI- Value Package Introduction was a program utilized by Cummins in which new products were introduced. It included all the elements of creating a new product such as design, engineering, final product production, etc. COS- Cummins Operating System; the system of Cummins operations which were standard throughout the Company. It identified the manner in which Cummins operated. CE matrix tool that was used to prioritize input variables against customer requirements. FPA- Failed Parts Analyst ; the FPA was the person responsible for retrieving failed parts from the test cells, determining the correct engineer to whom these failed parts were to be delivered to, and prepared the parts for shipping to the appropriate location. SPC- Statistical Process Control; SPC was an application of statistical methods utilized in the monitoring and control of the process. TBE- Time Between Events; In the context of this paper, TBE represented the number of opportunities that a failure had of occurring between daily runs. McParts- Software application program which tracked component progress through the system. It provided a time line from the time a part was entered into the system until it was closed out. Assumptions The assumption was made that all participants in the project were experienced with the software application program that was utilized. Delimitations Only failed parts associated with the Value Package Introduction program were included in the scope of this project. Additionally, only the heavy duty engine family was incorporated. The light duty diesel and mid-range engine families were excluded. This project encompassed three locations in Southern Indiana. The focus of this project was on delivery time and did not include packaging issues. It also focused on transportation and excluded database functionality. Veteran employees were selected for collecting data. The variable of interest considered was delivery time. Data collection techniques were limited to first shift only. The project focusd on redesigning an existing process and did not include the possibility of developing a new theory. Limitations The methodology used for this project did not include automation of the process as a step. RFID was a more attractive way to resolve this problem; however, it was not economically feasible at the time. The population was limited since the parts that were observed were limited to heavy duty engines which reduced variations in the size and volume of parts. Time constraints and resource availability was an issue. Due to team members residing at several locations, meeting scheduling was more problematic. Additionally, coordinating team meetings was a challenge because room availability was limited. Review of Literature Introduction The scope of this literature review was intended to evaluate articles on failed parts within Value Package Introduction (VPI) programs. However, although quality design for customers is widely utilized, the literature on Value Package Introduction was rather scarce. VPI was a business process that companies used to define, design, develop, and introduce high quality packages for customers. VPI included all the elements of products which involved services and information that was delivered to the end-user customer. One of the key processes in a VPI program was to problem -solve part failures, which was the direction this literature review traveled. Methods This literature review focused on part/process failures and improvements. The methods used in gathering reading materials for this literature review involved the use of the Purdue University libraries: Academic Search Premier, Readers Guide, and Omni file FT Mega library. Supplementary investigation was conducted on-line where many resources and leads to reference material were found. All of the references cited are from 2005 to present with the exception of a Chrysler article dated 2004 which was an interesting reference discussing the use of third party logistic centers, a journal article from 1991 that explains the term, cost of quality, which is used throughout this literature review, and two reference manuals published by AIAG which contain regulations for ISO 9001:2000 and the TS16949 standards. Keywords used during researching included terms such as scrap, rework, failed parts and logistics. Literature Review Benchmarking. Two articles, authored by Haftl (2007), concentrated on the mixture of metrics needed to optimize overall performance. Some of these metrics included completion rates, scrap and rework, machine uptime, machine cycle time and first pass percentages. â€Å"According to the 2006 American Machinist Benchmarking survey, leading machine shops in the United States are producing, on average, more than four times the number of units produced by other non-benchmarked shops. Also worth noting is that they also reduced the cost of scrap and rework more than four times.† (Haft, 2007, p.28). The benchmark shops showed greater improvement than other machine shops. â€Å"The benchmark shops cut scrap and rework costs to 4.6 percent of sales in 2006 from 6.6 percent three years ago, and all other shops went to 7.8 percent of their sales in 2006 from 9.3 percent three years ago† (Haftl, 2007, p.28). The successful reduction of scrap and rework costs by the benchmark shops w ere contributed to several factors. First, training was provided to employees and leadership seminars were held. Secondly, these shops practiced lean manufacturing and lastly, they had specific programs which directly addressed scrap and rework. Whirlpool, one of the nations leading manufacturers of household appliances, had used benchmarking as a means of finding out how they rated in comparison to their competitors. They benchmarked their primary competitor, General Electric. As a result, they discovered what improvements they could make that could be managed at a low investment. The improvement processes were especially useful and applied in existing strengths of the company. They rolled out a new sales and operating plan based on customer requirements (Trebilcock, 2004). Quality. An overall theme contained in all of the articles reviewed was that of quality. In Staffs review (2008), hecontended that regardless of a companys size, quality was critical in maintaining a competitive advantage and retaining customers. The Quality Leadership 100 is a list of the top 100 manufacturers who demonstrated excellence in operations. The results were based on criteria such as scrap and rework as a percentage of sales, warranty costs, rejected parts per million, the contribution of quality to profitability, and share holder value. Over 800 manufacturers participated in this survey. The top three manufacturers for 2008 were listed as: #1 Advanced Instrument Development, Inc. located in Melrose Park, IL, #2 Toyota Motor Manufacturing in Georgetown, KY., and Utillmaster Corp. Wakarusa, IN. (Staff, 2008). In an article written by Cokins (2006) the author stressed that quality was an important factor in improving profitability. He informed the reader that quality manage ment techniques assisted in identifying waste and generating problem solving approaches. One of the problems he cited regarding quality was that it was not often measured with the appropriate measuring tools. As a result, organizations could not easily quantify the benefits in financial terms. Obstacles that affected quality was the use of traditional accounting practices. The financial data was not captured in a format that could easily be applied in decision making. Because quantifiable measures lacked a price base to compare the benefits, management often perceived process improvements as being risky. Cost of Quality (COQ), was the cost associated with identifying, avoiding and making corrections to defects and errors. It represented the difference between actual costs and reduced costs as a result of identifying and fixing defects or errors. In Chens report (ChenAdam,1991), the authors continued to breakdown cost of quality into two parts, the cost of control and the cost of failure. They explained that cost of control was the most easily quantifiable because it included prevention and measures to keep defects from occurring. Cost of control had the capability to detect defects before a product was shipped to a customer. Control costs included inspection, quality control labor costs and inspection equipment costs. Costs of failure included internal and external failures and were harder to calculate. Internal failures resulted in scrap and rework, while external failures, resulted in warranty claims, liability and hidden costs such as loss of customers (ChenAdam, 1991). Because co st of control and cost of failure were related, managing these two element reduced part failures and lowered the costs associated with scrap and rework. Tsarouhas (2009, p.551) reiterated in his article on engineering and system safety , that â€Å"failures arising from human errors and raw material components account for 25.06% and 5.35%, respectively, which is about 1/3 of all failures†¦.†. â€Å"A rule of thumb is that the nearer the failure is to the end-user, the more expensive it is to correct† (Cokins, 2006, p. 47). Identification of failed parts was a key process of Value Package Introduction and key to identifying and correcting failures before they reached the customer. A delay in the diagnosis of a defective part resulted in the delay or a miss to the implementation of a critical fix and subsequent validation. When a delay occurred, the opportunity to continually improve parts and processes was not achieved. In a journal article written by Savage Son ( 2009), the authors affirmed that effective design relied on quality and reliability. Quality, they lamented, was the adherence to specifications required by the customer. Dependability of a process included mechanical reliability (hard failures) and performance reliability (soft failures). These two types of failures occurred when performance measures failed to meet critical specifications (Savage Son, 2009). Tools and specifications. The remaining articles discussed in this literature review focused on tools and specification that were utilized across the business environment. Specifications were important aspects of fulfilling a customers needs. Every company had its own unique way of operating, so businesses often had slightly different needs (Smith, Munro Bowen, 2004, p. 225). There were a number of tools that were available to help meet specific customer requirements. Quality control systems and identification of failed parts were among these tools. The application of statistical methods was used to make efforts at improvement more effective. Two common statistical methods that were used are those that were associated with statistical process control and process capability analysis. The goal of a process control system was to make predictions about the current and future state of a process. A process was said to be operating in statistical control when the only sources of variation were common causes (Down, Cvetkovski, Kerkstra Benham, 2005, p. 19). Common causes referred to sources of variation that over time produced a stable and repeatable distribution. When common causes yielded stable results then the output was considered to be predictable. SPC involved the use of control charts though an integrated software package. In an article by Douglas Fair (2008), he viewed product defects from the eyes of the consumer. He stated that to truly leverage SPC to create a competitive advantage, key characteristics had to be identified and monitored. (Fair, 2008) The means for monitoring some of these characteristics involved the use of control charts. An article written on integrated control charts, introduced control charts based on time-between-events (TBE).These charts were used in manufacturing companies to gauge the reliability of parts and service related applications. An event was defined as an occurrence of a defect and time referred to the amount of time bet ween the occurrence of defect events (Shamsuzzaman, Min, Ngee Haiyun, 2008). Process capability was determined by the variation that came from common causes. It represented the best performance of a process. Other writers deemed that one way to improve quality and achieve the best performance was to reduce product deviation. The parameters they used included the process mean and production run times (Tahera, Chan Ibrahim, 2007). Peter Roost (2007) favored the use of Computer-Aided Manufacturing tools as a means of improving quality. According to the author, CAM allowed a company to eliminate errors that cause rework and scrap, improved delivery times and simplified operations, and identified bottlenecks which assisted in efficient use of equipment (Roost, 2007). Other articles on optimization introduced a lot size modeling technique to identify defective products. Lot-sizing emphasized the number of units of an item that could be produced without interruption on the machinery used in the production process (Buscher Lindner, 2007). Conclusion In this literature review the importance of failed part identification was presented. The impact that quality and reliability had on this process was indicative of the value that proper measuring tools provide. Through the use of customer focused tools the identification and correction of failed parts was more easily accomplished and allowed a quicker resolution to customer problems. Benchmarking was discussed as a means of comparing outputs to those of competitors. Benchmarking was the first step in identifying areas requiring immediate attention. Haftl ( 2007) and Trebilcock (2004) devoted their articles to benchmarking and the impact it had on identifying areas demanding immediate improvement processes. Staff (2008), Cokins (2006), Tsarouhas (2009), and Savage Son (2009) spent more time discussing the critical requirement of quality and the affects it had on competitive advantage. Lastly, authors Smith, Munro Bowen (2004), Down (2005), Cvetkovski, Kerkstra Benham (2005), Fair ( 2008), Tahera, Chan Ibrahim (2007), and Roost (2007) discussed the different specifications and tools used in improving quality and identifying failures. The articles involving benchmarking were concise and easy to understand. A similarity among all of the articles is the census that quality was important in identifying and preventing failures and that competitive advantage cannot be obtained without it. Gaps identified through this literature review were the methods of making process improvements. Several of the authors had their own version of the best practice to use to improve performance. The articles on tools and specifications were very technical and discussed the different methods. In Fairs article,the author had a different perspective than any of the other articles reviewed. He wrote from the view of a consumer. Methodology This project built on existing research. Documentation was reviewed to determine the methodology used in previous process designs. The purpose of this project was to redesign the process flow to improve capability and eliminate non-value added time. Team members were selected based on their vested interest in the project. Each team member was a key stakeholder in the actual process. A random sampling technique was in which various components were tracked from point of failure to delivery. McParts, a software application program, was utilized to measure the amount of time that a component resided in any one area. Direct observation was also incorporated. A quantitative descriptive study was utilized in which numerical data was collected. The DMAIC method of Six Sigma was used. The steps involved in the DMAIC process were: Define project goals and the current process. Measure key aspects of the current process and collect relevant data. Analyze the data to determine cause-and-effect relationships and ensure that all factors are being considered. Improve the process based upon data analysis. Control the process through the creation and implementation of a project control plan. Process capability was established by conducting pilot samples from the population. In the Define stage, the â€Å"Y† variable objective statement was established- Reduce the amount of time it takes for a failed part to go from point of failure to the hands of the evaluating engineer by 50%. Next, a data collection plan was formed. The data was collected using the McParts component tracking system. Reports were run on the data to monitor part progression. In the second stage, Measure stage, a process map was created which identified all the potential inputs that affected the key outputs of the process. It also allowed people to illustrate what happened in the process. This step was useful in clarifying the scope of the project. Once the process map was completed, a Cause Effect matrix was developed. The Cause Effect matrix fed off of the process map and key customer requirements were then identified. These requirements were rank ordered and assigned a priority factor to each output (on a 1 to 10 scale). The process steps and materials were identified and each step was evaluated based on the score it received. A low score indicated that the input variable had a smaller effect on the output variable. Conversely, a high score indicated that changes to the input variable greatly affected the output variable and needed to be monitored. The next step involved creating a Fault Tree Analysis (FTA). The FTA was used to help identify the root causes associated with particular failures. A measurement system analysis was then conducted. Measurement tools such as McParts software application program as well as handling processes were reviewed. Next, an initial capability study was conducted to determine the current processes capability. Next, a design of experiment was established. The design of experiment entailed capturing data at various times throughout the project. Six months of data was obtained prior to the start of the project to show the current status. Once the project was initiated, data was collected on a continuous basis. Finally, once the project was complete, data was collected to determine stability and control of the process. Once the experiment was completed and the data was analyzed, a control plan was created to reduce variation in the process and identify process ownership. All of the above steps included process stakeholders and team members whom assisted in creating each output. Data/Findings Define. The purpose of this project was to reduce the number of days it was taking a part to move from point of failure to the component engineer for evaluation. Through the use of historical data, 2 of the 17 destination location for parts were identified as being problematic. The average number of days it was taking parts to be delivered to the component engineer at the Fuels Systems Plant and Cummins Engine Plant (Emission Solutions) location was 137 days. Both sites were located in the same city where the part failures were identified. Key people involved in performing the various functions in part failures and delivery were identified and interviewed. Measure. A process map was created documenting each step in the process including the inputs and outputs of each process (Figure 1). Once the process was documented, the sample size was determined. Of the 3,000 plus parts, those parts delivered to the two sites were extrapolated, resulting in a sample size of 37 parts. Parts were then tracked using a controlled database called McParts. From this point, key steps identified were utilized in creating a Cause Effect matrix. The CE matrix prioritized input variables against customer requirements. The Cause Effect matrix was used to understand the relationships between key process inputs and outputs. The inputs were rated by the customer in order of importance. The top 4 inputs identified as having the largest impact on quality were: Incident (part failure) origination, appropriate tagging of parts, failed parts analyst role, and addressing the tag part to the correct destination. The Cause Effect matrix allowed the team to narrow down the list and weight the evaluation criteria. The team then did a Fault Tree Analysis (FTA) on possible solutions. The FTA analyzed the effects of failures. The critical Xs involved the amount of time for filing an incident report and tagging parts, the amount of time it takes for the FPA to pick up the parts from the t est cells once the part failure is identified, and the staging and receiving process. Next, validation of the measurement system was conducted. An expert and 2 operators were selected to run a total of 10 queries in the McParts database using random dates. The results of the 2 operators as shown in figure 2 was then scored against each other (attribute agreement analysis within appraisers) and that of the experts (appraiser versus standard) The next logical step was to determine if there was a difference between the types of test performed and the length of time it was taking a part to be delivered to the appropriate component engineer. There were two types of tests performed, Dyno and Field tests. Figure 6 shows the median for field tests was a little better than the Dyno tests which came as a surprise because field test failures occur out in the field and occur at various locations. The Dyno tests are conducted at the Technical Center. The data drove further investigation into the outliers which showed that out of approximately 25 of these data points 8 were ECMs, 5 were sensors, 7 were wiring harnesses, 1 was an injector, and 4 were fuel line failures. These findings were consistent with the box plot on days to close by group name. ECMs, sensors, wiring harnesses, and fuel lines have the highest variance. The similarities and differences in the parts were reviewed and it was discovered that they are handled by differ ent groups once they reached FSP. The Controls group handled ECM, Sensors, and Wiring Harnesses. The XPI group handled Accumulators, Fuel lines, Fuel pumps, and Injectors. Drilling down further, another box plot was created to graphically depict any differences in the two different tests for both sites. The boxplot then showed that CES dyno had a much higher median and higher variability than CESs field tests and Fuel Systems dyno and field tests. (See figure 7 below) An IMR chart was created for dyno field tests without special causes. The data was stable but not normal. A test of equal variances was run for CES and FSP dyno and field tests. Based on Moods Median there is no difference in medians. This was likely due to small sample size in 3 of the 4 categories; however CES dyno test had a lot of variation and would require further investigation. An IMR chart and box plot was run on the data for XPI and Controls group at the Fuel Systems Plant. The data was stable but not normal. Next, a test of equal variance was run which showed that the variances were not equal. Thus, the null hypothesis that the variability of the two groups was equal was rejected. Next, attention was directed towards the Fuel Systems Plant. A boxplot was created from the data which showed there was a statistical difference between medians for FSP Control group and XPI. Through the solutions derived from the DMAIC methodology of Six Sigma, the project team had performed statistical analysis which proved that there would be benefits obtained by resolving the problems that were identified. The changes were implemented and a final capability study was performed on the data which showed an 84% reduction in the number of days it took a part to move from point of failure to the hands of the component engineer for evaluation. Improvements were documented and val idated by the team. To ensure that the performance of the process would be continually measured and the process remained stable and in control, a control plan was created and approved by the process owner responsible for the process. Conclusions/ Recommendations The goal of this project was to reduce the number of days it was taking to move a part from point of failure to the component engineer for evaluation. This goal was accomplished and final capability of the process shows a reduction in time by 84% from 137 days to 22 days.There were 4 critical problems identified during this project whic