Cross-Docking: State of the Art

Omega 40 (2012) 827846 Contents lists obtainable at SciVerse ScienceDirect Omega ledger homepage www. elsevier. com/locate/omega Review Cross- go aftering State of the art Jan new wave Belle n, capital of Minnesota Valckenaers, Dirk Cattrysse KU Leuven, Department of Mechanical Engineering, Celestijnenlaan 300B, B-3001 Heverlee (Leuven), Belgium a r t i c l e i n f o member history Received 23 June 2011 Accepted 17 January 2012 Processed by Pesch Available online 25 January 2012 Keywords Cross- quayageageageing Logistics Classi? cation abstractCross- shillinging is a logistics schema in which fr octad is unload from incoming vehicles and (al approximately) outright stiff into outward vehicles, with little or no memory in amid. This base sticks an overview of the cross- bobsleding shirkcept. Guidelines for the undefeated map and execution of crossdocking argon dissertateed and few(prenominal) characteristics ar set forth that mountain be utilise to mentio n in the midst of diverse cross-dock types. In addition, this paper presents an extensive review of the brisk writings almost(predicate) cross-docking. The discussed paper atomic cast 18 classi? d ground on the business type that is tackled (ranging from often st targetgic or tactical to much practicable line of gives). Based on this review, several opport unit of measurementies to im screen and extend the present-day(prenominal) re search argon signalised. & 2012 Elsevier Ltd. on the whole rights reserved. Contents 1. 2. 3. Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 827 When and how to use cross-docking? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 829 Cross-dock character istics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 830 3. 1. tangible characteristics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 831 3. 2. Operational characteristics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 831 3. 3. Flow characteristics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 831 Literature review . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 832 4. 1. Location of cross-docks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 832 4. 2. Layout architectural program . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 833 4. 3. Cross-docking profitss. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 833 4. 4. fomite routing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 834 4. 5. bobber admission appellation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 834 4. 6. Truck plan . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 837 4. 6. 1. Single landing skin and cud door . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 837 4. 6. 2. Scheduling of inward hand transports . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 839 4. 6. 3. Scheduling of incoming and outward motor trucks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 840 4. 7. Temporary depot . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 841 4. 8. Other issues . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 842 Conclusion and research opportunities . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 843 References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 844 4. 5. 1. Introduction Cross-docking is a logistics strategy nowadays utilize by umpteen companies in several(predicate) industries (e. g. retail ? rms and less-thantruckload (LTL) logistics submitrs). The grassroots sup stain be hind crossdocking is to transfer submission communiques like a shot to outgoing Corresponding author. Tel. ? 32 16322534 fax ? 32 16322986. E-mail addresses jan. emailprotected kuleuven. be (J. Van Belle), paul. emailprotected kuleuven. be (P. Valckenaers), dirk. emailprotected kuleuven. be (D. Cattrysse). 0305-0483/$ see front matter & 2012 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. doi10. 1016/j. mega. 2012. 01. 005 n vehicles without storing them in among. This get along seat serve unlike goals the consolidation of shipments, a shorter introducey lead condemnation, the decrement of salutes, etc. The habit of cross-docking in industry even seems to plus 14. In a tralatitious distri aloneion center, nighs be ? rst received and consequently stored, for instance in p on the wholeet racks. When a customer requests an item, workers pick it from the entrepot and ship it to the speech. From these four conduct functions of storage (receiving, storage, order selection and exile), storage and order pickaxe ar norm all in ally the most salutely.Storage is expensive because of the record safekeeping monetary value, order picking because it is labor 828 J. Van Belle et al. / Omega 40 (2012) 827846 intensive. One advent to muffle comprise could be to improve one or more than(prenominal)(prenominal) than of these functions or to improve how they interact. Crossdocking except is an address that eliminates the deuce most expensive manipulation operations storage and order picking 58. A de? nition of cross-docking provided by Kinnear 9 is receiving harvest- while from a supplier or manufacturer for several end polishs and consolidating this proceeds with other suppliers product for common ? al deli real refinements. In this de? nition, the strain is on the consolidation of shipments to achieve economies in transferral cost. The Material treatment Industry of America (MHIA) de? nes cross-docking as the process of moving merchandise from the receiving dock to shipping dock for shipping without placing it ? rst into storage postures 10. The focusing is now on transshipping, non holding stock. This requires a congeal synchronization of incoming ( inbound) and outgoing ( outbound) vehicles. However, a perfect synchronization is dif? cult to achieve.Also, in practice, staging is indispensable because numerous inbound shipments need to be select, consolidated and stored until the outbound shipment is complete. So, this inflexible constraint is relaxed by most authors. Cross-docking then throw out be run alongd as the process of consolidating commitment rate with the equal destination ( entirely coming from several origins), with minimal intervention and with little or no storage between un gist and loading of the goods. If the goods be temporally stored, this should be altogether for a short period of a time. An exact limit is dif? cult to de? e, and many authors talk near 24 h (e. g. 5,7,11,12). If th e goods argon rigid in a store or on order picking shelves or if the staging rush gots several days or even weeks, it is non con lieured as crossdocking merely as ( tralatitious) w behousing. However, even if the products ar staged for a longer time, few(prenominal) companies still call for it cross-docking, as long as the goods move from supplier to storage to customer virtually untouched neglect for truck loading 3,13. Many organizations use a mixture of w behousing and cross-docking to combine the bene? ts of some(prenominal) approaches 1.A pole dedicated for cross-docking is called a cross-dock. In practice, most cross-docks be long, peg down rectangles (I- habitus), notwithstanding other compliances ar mistakablely use (L,T,X, . . . ) 5. A crossdock has septuple loading docks (or dock doors) w here trucks transferer dock to be plastered or discharge. Incoming trucks be ap blot to a comb door where the freight is drop off. Then the goods atomic num ber 18 moved to its appropriate stack door and steamed on an outbound truck. Mostly, on that point is no exceptional understructure to stage freight. If goods stick out to be stored temporarily, they atomic number 18 dressd on the ? oor of the cross-dock (e. . in front of the dock door where the departing truck is or exit be docked). However, it is possible that the cross-dock contains for instance a pallet storage, certainly if cross-docking is feature with warehousing. Fig. 1 presents a schematic representation of the material treatment operations at an I-shaped cross-dock with 10 dock doors. Incoming trucks are both this instant assigned to a strip door or stimulate to delay in a queue until naming. Once docked, the freight (e. g. pallets, packages or boxes) of the inbound truck is set down and the destination is identi? ed (e. g. y s lay closening the bar computes inclined to the goods). Then, the goods are transported to the designated stack door by some mater ial handling device, such as a worker operating a forklift or a conveyor belt arrangement. There, the goods are loaded onto an outbound truck that serves the dedicated destination. Once an inbound truck is completely unloaded or an outbound truck is completely loaded, the truck is re agreed by some other truck. Cross-docking corresponds with the goals of slight egress mountain range management smaller volumes of more visible inventories that are delivered faster and more frequently 14.In the publications, several other (possibly intertwined) advantages of cross-docking compared with employing traditional scattering centers and point-to-point deliveries are mentioned (e. g. 2,3,6,15,16). virtually advantages compared with traditional scattering centers are cost reduction (warehousing cost, inventory-holding costs, handling costs, labor costs) shorter delivery lead time (from supplier to customer) alter customer go reduction of storage put faster inventory turnover fewer overstocks ignored risk for loss and damage. rough advantages of cross-docking compared with point-to-point deliveries are cost reduction ( transport costs, labor costs) consolidation of shipments improved resource utilization (e. g. rich truckloads) erupt match between shipment quantities and actual entreat. Fig. 1. Material handling at a typical cross-dock. These advantages make cross-docking an interesting logistic strategy that dope give companies dole outable competitive advantages. Wal Mart is a acknowledge example 17, unless in addition several other companies subscribe describe the self- do implementation of cross-docking (e. . Eastman Kodak Co. 14, Goodyear GB Ltd. 9, Dots, LLC 18 and Toyota 13). Although cross-docking has already been utilize in the eighties (e. g. by Wal Mart), it has except attracted attention from academia much later and largely during the recent years. For instance, more than 85% of the academic cover found by the authors ar e published from cc4 on. During these years, a fenceable keep down of papers have been published and because of the growing interest from industry 14, the authors expect that still more research on this topic will be performed the coming years.The quarry of this paper is to present an overview of the cross-docking concept. First, guidelines for the successful use and implementation of cross-docking will be discussed. Further, several characteristics will be described to distinguish between unalike types of cross-docks. Next, the paper will provide a review of the existing literary works about cross-docking. The discussed papers are classi? ed ground on the difficulty type. These chores range from more strategical or tactical to more operational businesss. This review discharge help (future) cross-docking J. Van Belle et al. Omega 40 (2012) 827846 829 practitioners to ? nd the correct literature to start or improve their cross-docking operations. Without a straight-laced implementation, it is impossible to bene? t from the above-mentioned advantages. Based on the provided review, the authors try to fall upon gaps of knowledge and interesting orbital cavitys for future research. The term cross-docking usually refers to the lieu in which trucks or trailers1 are loaded and unloaded at a cross-docking terminal. However, the operations to handle freight at a harbor or aerodrome are some propagation very akin.At a harbor for instance, containers are unloaded from a ship and temporarily placed onto the quay until they are loaded onto a nonher ship or onto a truck. An airport groundwork alike be seen as a kind of cross-dock for transferring passengers and their baggage. In the literature, several papers drop be found that push-down store with similar lines as encountered in crossdocking, but speci? c for harbors or airports (e. g. how to go down the layout of an airport terminal 19,20, how to assign airplanes to supply 21, etc. ). These papers ar e non interpreted into bill for the literature review presented here.The paper focuses on the typical cross-docking in which goods are transferred between trucks at a cross-dock. The speci? c application or industry (e. g. less-than-truckload (LTL) or courier, express and parcel (CEP) industry) is not signifi preemptt, as long as the applied material handling commode be estimateed as cross-docking. To the crush of our knowledge, save dickens papers present a review of cross-docking papers. Boysen and Fliedner 2 discuss papers about the truck scheduling conundrum and provide a classi? cation of the considered chores. The approach taken ere is however more commonplace and several trouble types associate to crossdocking are discussed, including the truck scheduling riddle (see portion 4. 6). Agustina et al. 22 provide a general picture of the mathematical systemls use in cross-docking papers. These models are classi? ed based on their purpose take (operational, ta ctical or strategic) and then subdivided by trouble type. However, another classi? cation is presented here as the authors do not completely agree with the projectd classi? cation (the considered job types and the appointee of papers to puzzle types).For instance, Agustina et al. 22 do not consider vehicle routing and temporary storage and the papers about cross-dock ne 2rks are discussed in two different variances (transshipment problems and cross-docking network design). Also, some papers about dock door assigning are discussed in the section about cross-docking layout design. In addition, the review presented here is more extensive more papers are included and the papers are discussed in more detail. This paper likewise includes a general overview of cross-docking and describes several cross-dock characteristics. The paper is organise as succeeds.The next section discusses in which situations cross-docking is a suitable strategy and deals with the requirements for a su ccessful implementation. In segment 3, the characteristics are discussed that empennage be used to differentiate between alternate cross-docking systems. The literature review is presented in Section 4. The discussed papers are classi? ed based on the problem type they deal with. The conclusions with opportunities to improve and extend the current research are amountmarized in Section 5. Fig. 2. Suitability of cross-docking (adapted from Apte and Viswanathan 1). 2.When and how to use cross-docking? Although cross-docking is nowadays used by many companies, it is probably not the silk hat strategy in all(prenominal) case and in all circumstances. This section brie? y describes the existing 1 In the pursuance pages, the terms truck, trailer and vehicle will be used inter diversenessably. literature that gives some guidelines for the successful use and implementation of cross-docking. Apte and Viswanathan 1 discuss some factors that in? uence the suitability of cross-docking com pared with traditional diffusion. 2 A ? rst important factor is the product deal rate.If there is an imbalance between the incoming load and the outgoing load, cross-docking will not work well. Hence, goods that are more suitable for cross-docking are the ones that have imply rates that are more or less stable (e. g. grocery and regularly consumed perishable fodder items). For these products, the warehousing and menu requirements are much more predictable, and consequently the supplying and implementation of cross-docking becomes easier. The unit stock-out cost is a countenance important factor. Because cross-docking understates the level of inventory at the warehouse, the probability of stock-out situations is higher.However, if the unit stock-out cost is low, the bene? ts of cross-docking smoke outstrip the increased stock-out cost, and so cross-docking evict still be the preferred strategy. As cross-filen in Fig. 2, cross-docking is therefore preferred for products wi th a stable demand rate and low unit stock-out cost. The traditional warehousing is still preferable for the diametral situation with an unstable demand and high unit stock-out costs. For the two other cases, cross-docking can still be used when proper systems and grooming tools are in place to keep the yield of stock-outs to a reasonable level. some other factors that can in? ence the suitability of crossdocking are the distance to suppliers and customers (higher distances increase the bene? ts of consolidation), the product value and life cycle (a larger reduction in inventory costs for products with a higher value and shorter life cycle), the demand quantity (a larger reduction in inventory outer space and costs for products with a higher demand), the timeliness of supplier shipments (to ensure a correct synchronization of inbound and outbound trucks), etc. 1,23,24. Some authors use a more quantitative approach to study the suitability of cross-docking. For instance, Galbreth et al. 6 compare the theodolite and handling costs between a situation in which a supplier has to ship goods to several customers with only accost shipments and a situation in which also indirect shipments via a cross-dock are possible. For the second situation, a mixed whole number scheduling (MIP) model is proposed to determine which goods should go directly from supplier to customer and which goods should be shipped via a cross-dock to meet the ( cognise) demands. The transportation costs are modeled in a realistic way ?xed for truckload shipping, art object the less-thantruckload shipping costs are modeled using a modi? d all-unit discount (MAUD) cost function. The holding costs at the customers are proportionate to the quantity and the holding time between arriver time and referable date. The costs for the two situations are compared under varying operating conditions. The authors think that cross-docking is more valuable when demands are less 2 It is presume that the demand quantities are small, otherwise point-to-point deliveries are more suited. 830 J. Van Belle et al. / Omega 40 (2012) 827846 variable and when unit holding costs at customer locations are higher.On the other hand, it is less valuable when the average demands are close to truck load capacitance. Other quantitative approaches make a comparison between a situation with a cross-dock and a situation with a traditional distribution center. For instance, Kreng and Chen 25 compare the operational costs. Besides the transportation and holding costs, the production costs (more speci? c the setup costs) of the goods at the supplier are taken into account. When a cross-dock is used, more frequent deliveries to the cross-dock are required and the circumstances sizing needs to be smaller, which causes higher setup costs.Waller et al. 26 look to both situations from an inventory reduction perspective. Schaffer 8 discusses the successful implementation of crossdocking. When a company wants to affirm cross-docking, the introduction should be prepared very well. If the necessary equipment is already addressable and because cross-docking seems simple, one easily assumes that cross-docking can be implemented without much effort. However, cross-docking itself is quite a complex and requires a high degree of coordination between the supply chain members (e. g. the timing of r severallying and button).So, the requirements for successful cross-docking should be understood thoroughly and the implementation should be planned carefully. In 8, Schaffer elaborates on six categories of requirements for a successful implementation. check to Witt 13 and to Yu and Egbelu 27, package to plan and control the cross-docking operations (e. g. a warehouse management system or WMS) plays an important role in the successful implementation of cross-docking. The required (automated) hardware for a cross-docking system (material handling devices, screen out systems, etc. ) might come o ff the shelf and is easily available today.But the software needs to be tailored to the speci? c requirements and is in general tellingly less developed, although it is as important as hardware to cross-docking success. This is also con? rmed by a survey among professionals who are involved in cross-docking and who denote IT system support as a key rampart to effective cross-docking 3,4. Hence, the system requirements need to be carefully de? ned and studied in order to prevent installing the physical system to discover later there is no information and communication system in place for successful operation.This software system can only work in good order if it is fed with accurate and timely information. Compared with regular distribution, the information ? ow to support cross-docking is signi? cantly more important 24. For instance, to coordinate the inbound and outbound trucks to the appropriate docks, the arriving time and the destination of the freight need to be known befor e the physical arrival of the goods (e. g. via advance shipping notice (ASN)). Several information engineering science tools are available to realize this information ? ow, e. g. lectronic data interchange (EDI), shipping container score (SCM), bar-coding and scanning of products using universal product code (UPC) 1. Regardless of which technology is chosen, the supply chain partners must be able and willing to deliver the required information via this technology. A good cooperation across the supply chain can make or break the cross-docking implementation 8,13,24. docking 1,29. In a two-touch or angiotensin converting enzyme-stage cross-dock, products are received and staged on the dock until they are loaded for outbound transportation. Usually, the goods are put into zones corresponding to their strip or stack door (see Fig. 3).In the case of a multiple-touch or two-stage cross-dock, products are received and staged on the dock, then they are recon? gured for shipment and are lo aded in outbound trucks. In a typical con? guration, the incoming freight is ? rst put in zones corresponding to the strip doors. The goods are then sorted to the zones corresponding to the stack doors (see Fig. 4). Another distinction can be made according to when the customer is assigned to the individual products 30. In predistribution cross-docking, the customer is assigned before the shipment deceases the supplier who takes care of preparation (e. g. labeling and pricing) and sorting.This allows faster handling at the cross-dock. On the other hand, in post-distribution crossdocking, the assignation of goods to customers is make at the cross-dock. Still some other distinctions are possible. The German supermarket retailer Metro-AG for instance distinguishes sourceoriented and target-oriented cross-docking based on the location Fig. 3. A exclusive-stage cross-dock in which the products are staged in zones corresponding to the stack doors (adapted from Gue and Kang 28). 3. Cr oss-dock characteristics Several characteristics can be considered to distinguish between various types of cross-docks (and cross-docking).A common distinction made in the literature is based on the number of touches 3 or stages 28. In one-touch cross-docking, products are touched only once, as they are received and loaded directly in an outbound truck. This is also called pure cross- Fig. 4. A two-stage cross-dock in which the products are staged in zones corresponding to the strip and stack doors and are sorted in between (adapted from Gue and Kang 28). J. Van Belle et al. / Omega 40 (2012) 827846 831 of the cross-docking terminals relative to suppliers and customers 31.Napolitano 32 distinguishes several types of cross-docking based on the intended use and in 29, eight different crossdocking techniques are listed. In this section, several characteristics are described that can be used to distinguish between different cross-dock types. 3 maintain that real world characteristics o f the cross-dock are considered, and not the properties from a speci? c last problem related to cross-docking. For the papers included in the literature review (Section 4), the characteristics of the considered cross-docks will be listed in tables according to the characteristics described here. However, the structure of Section 4 is not based on these characteristics, but on the considered problem type. The characteristics can be divided into one-third groups physical characteristics, operational characteristics and characteristics about the ? ow of goods. 5 In the next sections, these groups will be described in more detail. 3. 1. Physical characteristics The physical characteristics are characteristics of the crossdock that are supposed to be ? xed (for a quite a long time). The following physical characteristics are considered. strain Cross-docks can have a large variety of shapes.The shape can be described by the letter corresponding to the shape I, L, U, T, H, E, . . . na me of dock doors A cross-dock is also characterized by the number of dock doors it has. In practice, cross-docks range in size from 6 to 8 doors to more than 200 doors, and even a cross-dock with more than 500 doors exists 33. In the literature, sometimes the number of dock doors is limited to only 1 or 2. In these cases, the idea is not to model a realistic cross-dock, but to gain some insight by studying a simpli? ed model. Internal transportation The transportation inside the crossdock can be executed manually (e. . by workers using forklifts) or there can be an automated system in place (e. g. a network of conveyor belts). The available infrastructure will of course be dependent on the type of freight that is handled in the cross-dock. For instance, LTL carriers handle mostly palletized freight and so make use of forklifts. Conveyor systems on the other hand are among others used by parcel carriers, as they deal with many (small) packages. A combination of both transportation mo des is also possible. 3. 2. Operational characteristics Some operational lasts can in? uence the functioning of the cross-dock.These operational constraints lead to the following characteristics. Service mode According to Boysen and Fliedner 2, the improvement mode of a cross-dock determines the degrees of freedom in assigning inbound and outbound trucks to dock doors. In an exclusive mode of service, severally dock door is either exclusively 3 Some of the characteristics described here are similar to the characteristics used by Boysen and Fliedner 2 to make a classi? cation of truck scheduling problems. However, they 2 consider not only real world characteristics, but also characteristics of the (mathematical) models. At least for the papers in which these characteristics are described, i. e. , in which real world details of the cross-dock are considered (Sections 4. 54. 8). 5 This classi? cation is rather vague. For some characteristics, it is not clear in which group they ? t best or they can be assigned to multiple groups. For instance, temporary storage is considered as a ? ow characteristic. However, temporary storage can also be seen as a physical characteristic (storage is not possible because of space constraints) or operational characteristic (it can be an operational decision that storage is not allowed, e. . to avoid congestion inside the cross-dock). dedicated to inbound or outbound trucks. If this service mode is used, mostly one side of the cross-docking terminal is assigned to inbound trucks and the other side to outbound trucks. A second mode is mixed mode. In this mode, inbound and outbound trucks can be processed at all doors. These two modes can also be combined. In this combination mode, a subset of doors is operated in exclusive mode enchantment the rest of the doors is operated in mixed mode. Pre-emption If pre-emption is allowed, the loading or unloading of a truck can be interrupted.This truck is then removed from the dock and anot her truck takes its place. The un? nished truck has to be docked later on to ? nish the loading or unloading. 3. 3. Flow characteristics The characteristics of the ? ow of goods that have to be processed by a cross-dock can be very different. The following characteristics are distinguished. Arrival pattern The arrival times of the goods are dogged by the arrival times of the inbound trucks. The arrival pattern can be concentrated at one or more periods if the inbound trucks arrive together at (more or less) the same times.For instance, a cross-dock in the LTL industry serving a certain geographical sphere of influence usually receives freight at two periods. Goods that have to be transported from inside that area to another area are picked up during the day and all getaway trucks arrive in the evening at the cross-dock. The goods are then sorted during the night and the outbound trucks leave in the morning. To simplify the problem, several papers assume that the inbound trucks arr ive together (at the beginning of the time apparent horizon). On the other hand, freight from foreign the region but destined for that area arrives in the early morning and is then istributed during the day. Another possibility is that the arrival pattern is scattered and the inbound trucks arrive at different times during the day. The arrival pattern has an in? uence on the congestion of the cross-dock and on the scheduling of workers and resources. Departure time The departure times of the trucks can be restricted or not. In many cases there are no restrictions and the trucks leave the cross-dock after all freight is loaded or unloaded. However, it is also possible that the trucks have to depart before a certain point in time, for instance in order to be on time for a next transportation task.In this case, there can be restrictions imposed on the departure times of the inbound trucks only, so that these trucks have to be unloaded on time. In a similar way, it is possible that o nly the outbound trucks have to leave the cross-dock before a certain moment. 6 For instance, in the parcel delivery sector, the outbound trucks usually leave at a ? xed point in time. Parcels arriving late have to wait until another truck departs for the same destination. It is also possible that both inbound and outbound trucks have restricted departure times.Product fungibility The freight handled at a cross-dock is in general not interchangeable. In this case, all products are dedicated to a speci? c destination7 or a speci? c outbound truck (pre-distribution). knowledge about the destination or the dedicated truck is normally known before the products arrive at the cross-dock. It is however also possible that interchangeability of products is allowed (post-distribution). In this situation, only the type of products to be loaded on the outbound trucks and the corresponding quantity is known (see footnote 7).When the products are interchangeable, usually some value-added activi ties (e. g. labeling) need to be performed. 6 This point in time can be dependent on the (due dates of the) actual load of the truck. 7 The appellation of the products to a speci? c outbound truck is then an operational decision. 832 J. Van Belle et al. / Omega 40 (2012) 827846 Temporary storage In pure cross-docking, the arriving freight is directly transported to outbound trucks, so no storage is needed. In practice however, this is rarely the case. In general, the goods are temporarily stored on the ? oor of the cross-docking terminal (e. . in front of the stack doors) or even in a (small) warehouse. However, it is possible that goods are not allowed to be stored. For instance, if refrigerated products have to be cross-docked in a non-cooled terminal, these products have to be directly moved from a cooled inbound to a cooled outbound truck. 4. Literature review Cross-docking practitioners have to deal with many decisions during the design and operational anatomy of cross-docks. These decisions can have a austere impact on the ef? ciency, so they have to be carefully taken. In the literature, several decision problems are studied.Some of these problems are more concerned about decisions with effects on a longer term (strategic or tactical), while others deal with short-term decisions (operational). This section gives a review of the existing literature about crossdocking problems. The literature review is structured according to the basic planning process a manager, wanting to start with cross-docking, is confronted with. The ? rst decisions that have to be taken during the planning process are strategic decisions where will a cross-dock (or crossdocks) be located and what is the best layout of a cross-dock.Once the cross-dock is available, it will be part of a supply network (with one or more cross-docks). A tactical decision that has to be made then is how the goods will ? ow through the network to slander the costs, while making supply meet demand. Ne xt, the manager is go about with the operational decision (although it has also tactical aspects) of vehicle routing before arriving at the cross-dock, freight has to be picked up at various locations, and the goods have to be delivered to multiple locations after consolidation at the cross-docking terminal.Other operational decisions deal with the appellation of trucks to dock doors or the scheduling of the trucks, and with the location where goods will be temporarily stored. Of course, the manager will also be confronted with problems that are not speci? c for cross-docking the scheduling of the internal resources for the loading and unloading of the freight (e. g. the workforce), choosing the best staging strategy and determining an optimal truck packaging sequence. The next sections describe the cross-docking problems dealt with in the literature.Only the problems that are speci? c for cross-docking are considered. First, the strategic decisions are discussed the location of c ross-docks and layout design. The tactical problem of cross-docking networks is described next. Further, the operational decisions are handled vehicle routing, dock door assignment, truck scheduling and temporary storage. Finally, some papers that study other issues related to crossdocking are discussed. 4. 1. Location of cross-docks The location of one or more cross-docks is part of the design of a distribution network or supply chain.An important strategic decision that has to be made concerns the position of these crossdocks. This problem cannot be handled isolated from the decisions that determine how the goods ? ow through this network. The determination of the ? ow of goods is discussed in Section 4. 3, but problems that also involve a decision about the location are considered here. The problem where to locate facilities (e. g. distribution centers or plants) has attracted a considerable amount of attention. 8 The papers discussed in this section determine additionally the op timal ? ow of goods through the network.Moreover, they regard the facilities to be cross-docks because they explicitly take individual vehicles into account or because temporary storage is not allowed. A ? rst study about the location of cross-docks is performed by Sung and Song 34. In the considered problem, goods have to be transported from supply to demand nodes via a cross-dock (direct shipments are not allowed). The cross-dock can be chosen from a set of possible cross-dock locations, individually with an associated ? xed cost. The demands are imitation to be known and there are two types of vehicles with a different expertness and cost. The baffle is to ? d which cross-docks should be used and how many vehicles are needed on all(prenominal) link in order to minimize the organic cost. This total cost consists of the ? xed costs of the used cross-docks and the transportation costs. The authors present an integer schedule model of the problem. This model is very similar to the model presented by Donaldson et al. 35 and Musa et al. 36 (discussed in Section 4. 3) and similar simplifying assumptions are applied. Compared with these two papers however, the approach of Sung and Song 34 does not consider direct shipments but does include the location decision.Because the problem is NP-hard, a tabu search-based algorithmic rule is proposed to take in the problem. The responses determine how the goods ? ow through the network. Based on this ? ow, the number of vehicles can be derived by solving a subproblem. Some computational experiments are performed on generated test instances and indicate that the proposed algorithm ? nds good feasible resolvings within a reasonable time. Sung and Yang 37 extend this work and propose a small improvement to the tabu search algorithm.The authors also present a set-partitioning-based formulation of the problem and propose a branch-and-price algorithm based on this formulation to obtain exact solutions. The computationa l results scan that this algorithm gives best results in terms of the number of (smallscale) problem instances re understand and the required computation time compared with the results obtained by solving the integer programming model with the optimization software package CPLEX. ? ? Gumus and Bookbinder 38 study a similar problem, but now direct shipments are allowed and multiple product types are considered (multicommodity).The rapidness cost for each crossdock consists of a ? xed cost and a throughput cost charged per unit load. The transportation cost also has two components a ? xed cost for each truck and a variable cost per unit load per unit distance. A last cost that is taken into account is the cost for intransit inventory. In this approach, the synchronization of inbound and outbound trucks is not taken into account. The authors provide a mixed integer programming model of the problem. By solving several smaller problem instances optimally (with the optimization softwa re packages LINGO and CPLEX), the in? ence of several cost parameters is studied. The authors conclude that the optimal number of cross-docks is an increasing function of the ratio between the (? xed) truck cost and the (? xed) facility cost. A different approach is taken by Jayaraman and Ross 39. They study a multi-echelon problem in which goods (from multiple product families) have to be transported from a central manufacturing plant to one or more distribution centers. From there, the goods are moved via cross-docks to the customers. The problem is tackled in two stages. In the ? st stage, a strategic model is used to select the best set of locations for the distribution centers and cross-docks. The authors provide an integer programming formulation that aims to minimize the ? xed costs associated with operating coarse distribution centers and cross-docks and the 8 Several references can be found in the papers discussed in this section. J. Van Belle et al. / Omega 40 (2012) 8278 46 833 various transportation costs. Demand splitting is not allowed customers have to be assigned to single cross-docks while crossdocks have to be assigned to single distribution centers only.In the second stage, an operational model decides upon the quantities of each product type that need to be transported via distribution centers and cross-docks. The model tries to minimize the transportation costs while square customer demand. This model is less restrictive than the ? rst model (it relaxes for instance the demand splitting assumption) and can be executed once the open distribution centers and cross-docks are determined with the help of the ? rst model. both models are more simpli? ed compared with the previous approaches.For instance, individual vehicles are not considered and the transportation cost is relative to the quantity to ship. The authors propose a fictive annealing approach to solve larger problem instances. The computational experiments on generated problem ins tances indicate that the trial-and-error gives results with a deviation of about 4% of the optimal solution (obtained with LINGO), but 300400 times faster. In 40, the same authors present two other heuristics to tackle the problem. Both heuristics are based on simulated annealing but use an extra mechanism to avoid locally optimal solutions.The ? rst heuristic makes use of a tabu list, the second heuristic allows a sudden re-scaling of the system temperature. For both heuristics, the solution quality and computational performance are tested for different cooling schemes. The experimental results indicate that the simulated annealing heuristic combined with tabu search gives break down solutions in slightly more time. Bachlaus et al. 41 also consider a multi-echelon supply chain network, including suppliers, plants, distribution centers, crossdocks and customers. The goal is to optimize the material ? w end-to-end the supply chain and to identify the optimal number and location of suppliers, plants, distribution centers and crossdocks. The problem is formulated as a multi-objective optimization model that tries to minimize the total cost and to maximize the plant and volume ? exibility. Because of the computational complexity of the problem, the authors propose a variant of particle swarm optimization (PSO) to design the supply chain. Some computational experiments are conducted and the results attest that the proposed solution approach gives better results than a patrimonial algorithm and two other PSO variants. his at the cost of additional corners which reduce the labor ef? ciency (two inside and two outside corners for T, four inside and four outside corners for X). An inside corner renders some doors unusable, while doors around an outside corner have less ? oor space available to stage freight. So, these additional corners are a ? xed cost, which begins to pay off for larger docks. It is however not always easy to predict which shape is better, be cause this also depends on e. g. the freight ? ow pattern. Other papers deal with the design of the storage area where the freight can be temporarily staged (on the ? or or in racks). In many cases, the freight is placed in several reduplicate rows and the workers can move between these rows. Vis and Roodbergen 16 deal with the operational decision where to temporarily store incoming freight (see Section 4. 7). The proposed algorithm can also be used during the design phase to determine the optimal number of parallel storage rows and their lengths. The (single-stage or two-stage) storage area can also be organized in parallel lanes directly next to each other which can only be accessed at both ends.Gue and Kang 28 make use of simulation to study the carriage of these so-called staging queues. The results imply that, for a single-stage storage area, it is better to have more short lanes than fewer long ones, at least when the workers follow a rational approach. The results also in dicate that two-stage cross-docking has a signi? cantly lower throughput than single-stage cross-docking. 4. 3. Cross-docking networks Some authors do not study problems concerning a single cross-dock, but consider a network that contains one or more cross-docks.The aim is to determine the ? ow of goods through such a network in order to reduce costs, while making supply meet demand. The research of Lim et al. 42 extends the traditional transshipment problem. The transshipment problem consists of a number of supply, transshipment and demand nodes. The arcs between these nodes have different ability limits and costs. The objective is to ? nd a minimum cost ? ow that meets all demands and the capacity constraints. In the extended transshipment problem, storage is allowed at the transshipment centers.These centers can be considered as cross-docks because the aim of the model is to minimize or eliminate holdover inventory. Moreover, this problem takes supplier and customer time windows into account and considers the capacity and holding costs of the crossdocks. All shipments have to pass via a cross-dock, so no direct shipments are considered. Similar to the original problem, the objective is to minimize the total cost (transportation costs and holding costs) while meeting demand and respecting the time windows and capacity constraints.If multiple departures and deliveries within a time window are allowed (multiple shipping multiple delivery), the authors show that a time-expanded network can be used to formulate the problem as a minimum cost ? ow problem (MCFP) which can be puzzle out in polynomial time. For other cases, the authors prove that the problem is NP-hard. For the special case when only one delivery or departure is allowed within a time window and the departure and arrival times are ? xed (single shippingsingle delivery with ? xed schedules), a patrimonial algorithm is developed by Miao et al. 43.This heuristic gives better results (in terms of solu tion quality and computation time) than solving the integer programming formulation of the problem with CPLEX (with a time limit). Chen et al. 44 study a similar problem which they call the multiple cross-dock problem. The major differences are that supplies and demands are not-splittable and that different products can be considered (multicommodity ? ow problem). Also, transportation time is in this approach not taken into account. 4. 2. Layout design Once the location of a cross-dock is determined, another strategic decision that has to be made is to choose the layout of the cross-dock.The layout is interpreted as the dimension and shape of the cross-dock, as well as the dimension and shape of the internal cross-dock areas and their arrangement. Bartholdi and Gue 5 focus on the shape of a cross-dock. Most existing cross-docks are long, narrow rectangles (I-shape), but there are also cross-docks shaped like an L, U, T, H or E. The crossdock shape is sometimes determined by simple c onstraints (e. g. size and shape of the lot on which it will stand), but in this paper the focus is on how the shape affects cross-dock performance.Several experiments are performed in which the labor costs (estimated by the total break distance)9 are measured for different shapes. The experiments suggest that an I-shape is the most ef? cient for smaller cross-docks (fewer than about 150 doors). For docks of intermediate size, a T-shape is best and for more than 200 doors (approximately) an X-shape is best. Cross-docks with a T or X-shape have a greater centrality. However, they achieve 9 Here and in the following pages, the travel distance is the distance traveled (by workers, forklifts, . . ) in order to transfer the goods internally from the inbound to the outbound truck. 834 J. Van Belle et al. / Omega 40 (2012) 827846 An integer programming formulation of the problem is provided, together with a proof of its NP-completeness. The authors propose three heuristics (simulated anne aling, tabu search and a combination of both) to solve the problem. These heuristics provide better solutions than those obtained by solving the integer programming formulation with CPLEX, within only less than 10% the time used by CPLEX.Among the three heuristics, tabu search seems to give the best results. The previous studies represent the shipment of goods as ? ows. Individual transportation units are not considered and the transportation cost is relative to the quantity to ship. However, to take advantage of consolidation, the vehicle transportation cost should be taken into account. A ? rst approach that does consider the transportation vehicles explicitly (and this is wherefore the authors regard it as cross-docking) is taken by Donaldson et al. 35.In the considered problem, the goal is to determine whether to bridle-path freight directly from suppliers to customers or via a cross-dock and how many vehicles should be plan on each transportation link in order to minimize t he transportation costs. Compared with the previous approaches however, this problem is more simpli? ed, e. g. storage at the cross-docks is not considered and the synchronization of inbound and outbound trucks is left out of the problem. The authors eliminate cogitate with a large transportation time in an attempt to consider time windows.However, when the due dates at the destination nodes can vary for the different goods, it is possible that the vehicle allocation of an obtained solution violates the due dates in practice. The authors present an integer programming model of the problem. Because the problem is dif? cult to solve with branch-and-bound algorithms, an alternative approach is proposed. In this approach, an iterative procedure is used in which either the integrality restrictions on the links from origin nodes to the cross-docks or on the links from the cross-docks to the destination nodes are relaxed.This relaxation heuristic provides near optimal solutions in an uno bjectionable time. The authors used this approach to compare several scenarios (with a different number of cross-docks at different places) for the network design of a postal service company. The same problem is also studied by Musa et al. 36. They propose an ant colony optimization (ACO) heuristic to solve the problem and show that this heuristic gives in a short time slightly better results than a branch-and-bound approach (with the optimization software package LINDO) that requires a much longer time.The approach of Ma et al. 45 takes most of the above-mentioned concerns into account. The so-called shipment consolidation problem (SCP) considers supplier and customer time windows and also the transportation times between the network nodes. Moreover, storage at the transshipment centers (cross-docks) is taken into account, shipments can be transported directly to their destination or via a cross-dock and the transportation cost accounts for the number of trucks. However, only one t ype of products is considered (single commodity).Again, the objective is to minimize the total cost (transportation and inventory cost) while satisfying the constraints imposed by the time windows. The authors present an integer programming model of the problem and show that it is NP-complete in the strong sense. Therefore, the authors propose a (two-stage) heuristic algorithm to solve the problem. The basic idea of the algorithm is to consider ? rst trucks that can be fully loaded and then to ? nd solutions that combine several smaller loads that are not considered yet. In the ? st stage, a full truckload plan (TL plan) and an initial less-than-truckload plan (LTL plan) are constructed. In the second stage, this initial LTL plan is improved iteratively by using a metaheuristic (squeaky wheel optimization or genetic algorithm). The computational experiments indicate that the proposed heuristic gives competitive results compared to CPLEX (with a time limit) within a much shorter time . 4. 4. Vehicle routing Freight destined for a cross-dock needs in many cases to be picked up at various locations, and has to be delivered to multiple locations after consolidation at the cross-dock.Both the cartridge and the delivery process can be seen as a vehicle routing problem and some studies consider cross-docking and vehicle routing simultaneously. A ? rst approach is taken by Lee et al. 46. The aim is to ? nd an optimal routing schedule for pickup and delivery (within the planning horizon) that minimizes the sum of transportation cost and ? xed costs of the vehicles. It is assumed that split deliveries are not allowed and all pickup vehicles should arrive at the crossdock simultaneously to prevent time lag times for the outbound trucks. While this can be a legal constraint for some cases (see Section 3. ), this is not generally true. The authors present an integer programming model of the problem, which however seems unsatisfactory to solve the described problem. A tab u search algorithm is proposed to ? nd solutions. This approach corresponds to the solving of two vehicle routing problems (one for pickup and one for delivery). The second routing problem can only start when the ? rst one is ? nished and the complete process has to be ? nished within a certain planning horizon. Liao et al. 47 propose another tabu search algorithm to solve the same problem. Wen et al. 12 study the so-called vehicle routing problem with cross-docking (VRPCD). In this problem, orders from suppliers have to be picked up by a homogenous ? eet of vehicles. These orders are then consolidated at a cross-dock and immediately delivered to customers by the same set of vehicles, without intermediate storage at the cross-dock. During the consolidation, goods are unloaded from the inbound vehicles and reloaded on outbound vehicles. The unloading must be perfect before reloading starts. The authors assume that the duration of the unloading consists of a ? ed time for preparation and a duration proportional to the load size. It is also assumed that if the delivery will be executed by the same vehicle as used for pickup, the unloading is not necessary (independent of the sequence in which the vehicle is loaded during the pickup tour). A time window is de? ned for all suppliers and customers and orders are not splittable. In the case without consolidation, the solution of this problem can be found by solving two vehicle routing problems (one for pickup and one for delivery). Because of the consolidation however, the pickup and delivery routes are not independent.Only onerous to minimize the distance of the pickup and delivery routes is not suf? cient, the exchanges of orders at the cross-dock also have to be taken into account. These two aspects usually con? ict with each other. The authors present a mixed integer programming formulation of the problem in which the objective is to minimize the total travel time of all vehicles. This formulation contains many variables and constraints, so the authors propose to use tabu search embedded within an adaptive memory procedure. This method is tested on realistic data involving up to 200 suppliercustomer pairs.Experimental results show that the algorithm can produce solutions less than 1% away from the best within short computing times (less than 5 s) for small problem instances. For larger instances, the gap with a lower bound is less than 5% while the computation time stays below 5 min. 4. 5. Dock door assignment When an inbound or outbound truck arrives at the cross-dock, it has to be decided to which dock door the truck should be assigned. A good assignment can increase the productivity of the cross-dock and can falling off the (handling) costs. So, the dock door assignment problem tries to ? d the optimal assignment of inbound and outbound trucks to dock doors. It is assumed that there are at least as much dock doors as trucks, so each truck will J. Van Belle et al. / Omega 40 (2012) 82 7846 835 Table 1 Characteristics of the papers discussed in Section 4. 5. An n indicates that not a single value of the characteristic is valid, but that all values can be used, ns indicates that a characteristic is not speci? ed. Paper(s) Shape No. of doors n n n n n n n n n n n n Internal transport manually manually Manually Manually Manually n Service mode grievous bodily harm grievous bodily harm Exclusive Exclusive Exclusive ExclusiveExclusive Exclusive Mixed Exclusive Mixed Exclusive Interchangeability Temporary storage Yes No ns ns ns Yes ns Yes Yes ns ns ns lift up 48 Tsui and Chang 49,50 ? Bermudez and Cole 51 Cohen and Keren 52 Oh et al. 53 Bartholdi and Gue 54 Gue 33 Brown 55 (semi-permanent) Brown 55 ( dynamic) Bozer and Carlo 56 (semi-permanent) Bozer and Carlo 56 (dynamic) Yu et al. 57 I I n I I I I n n n n n Manually Manually Manually Manually Manually Manually Truck end point Destination Destination Destination Destination Destination Destination Truck Destinatio n Truck Destination e assigned to a different door and time aspects are not taken into account. If this condition is not ful? lled, the dock doors can be seen as (scarce) resources that have to be scheduled over time. This is the so-called truck scheduling problem. Both problems can be quite complex due to the number of doors and the dynamic nature of the problem. This section deals with the dock door assignment problem, while truck scheduling problems are discussed in Section 4. 6. The assignment of dock doors can be executed on a mid-term or short-term horizon 2.Several papers solve the assignment problem on a mid-term horizon. Then, each dock door serves a speci? c inbound or outbound destination for a longer period of time (e. g. 6 months). 10 All trucks coming from the same origin or having the same destination are assigned to the same dock. such(prenominal) a ? xed assignment is easier for workers because they know exactly to which dock door they need to ship each load, but it comes at the expense of a reduced ? exibility. Even if a ? xed assignment is used, it is important that the dock doors are reassigned when there is a signi? cant change in the shipping pattern.When data about the inbound trucks are known far enough in advance, the assignment of the trucks can be solved on a shortterm horizon. The trucks itself are assigned to the dock doors based on the actual freight ? ow. This ? oating dock concept is put forward by Peck 48 who studied the material handling operations in an LTL terminal. Such an assignment implies that the workers are every day confronted with a different door for the same destination and have to take care that the freight is loaded into the correct truck. The use of modern information technology (e. g. ar code or RFID scanning together with a WMS) can be profitable for this end. A combination of both is also possible. Several papers consider a cross-dock in which destinations are assigned to stack doors (so the outbound trucks are assigned on a mid-term horizon), while the assignment of the inbound trucks is done on a short-term horizon. The characteristics of the cross-docks considered in the following papers are summarized in Table 1. As time aspects are neglected and there are enough available dock doors, the preemption, arrival pattern and departure time characteristic are not relevant here and are not shown.In his dissertation, Peck 48 develops a detailed simulation model of an LTL terminal and tries to assign the trucks to dock doors in order to minimize the travel time11 of the shipments. It is assumed that the travel time to transport the products between This includes that the cross-dock operates in exclusive service mode. Here and in the following pages, the travel time is the time required to transfer the goods internally from the inbound to the outbound truck. 11 10 two trucks can be expressed as a function of the distance, based on the actual contents of the trucks and the required means of t ransport (2-wheeler, 4-wheeler or forklift).The designation of doors as either strip or stack doors is ? xed beforehand. The problem is formulated as an integer programming model and because of the computational complexity, a heuristic (greedy balance algorithm) is provided to solve it. Simulation shows that his heuristic improves an assignment based on experience and intuition. Another early study about the assignment of trucks to dock doors is performed by Tsui and Chang 49. In this paper, a crossdock is considered in which no storage is provided all shipments go directly from inbound to outbound trucks.The problem is solved on a mid-term horizon, so the origins and destinations have to be assigned to dock doors, not the trucks itself. The designation of doors as strip or stack doors is ? xed. The assignment problem is formulated as a bilinear programming problem that tries to minimize the travel distance of the forklifts (the number of forklift trips required to carry a certain l oad is assumed to be known). To solve it, the authors propose a simple heuristic method to ? nd a local optimum.The authors do not provide test results, but conclude that the found solution can serve as a good starting point for the cross-dock manager. There exist exact algorithms to solve bilinear optimization problems, but these are not very suited for this problem as the same authors mention in Tsui and Chang 50. In this paper, a branch-and-bound algorithm is proposed to solve the dock door assignment problem exactly. The numerical tests show that this algorithm is however computational expensive. ? Bermudez and Cole 51 deal with a very similar problem, but now there is no ? ed designation for the doors. All doors can have assigned either an origin or a destination. The mathematical model of Tsui and Chang 49 is adapted to take this into account. The objective function minimizes the total burthen travel distance instead of the real travel distance. A genetic algorithm (GA) is pr opose

What is Justice?

Plato was a Greek philosopher a student of Socrates and a teacher of Aristotle. The three laid down the western philosophy. Plato was a mathematician and a source of philosophical dialogues, was the tack to abridgeherer of the first institution of higher encyclopedism in the western humanityity. Plato was equ exclusivelyy influenced by his handstors thinking just as what he saw as his teacher below the belt death. Aristotle was a student of Plato and a teacher of Alexander the great. He was the man who created a comprehensive dodging of western philosophy, which was inclusive of aesthetics, morality, logic and science and finally authorities.Plato who attended all Socrates trail got a trauma which led him to desire to design an thinker society. Following his death Plato traveled wide in search of learning after which he established the A accordinglys academy. Socrates appears as a fibre in most of Platos dialogues. Most of his physical compositions be in form of dialogue it enabled him raise several(prenominal) points of believe and let the re faceter decide which is more varied. Plato had a great influence in philosophy as well as fond and cultural science. Plato grew up in a family setting that enabled him become an inter array action with city affairs.And desired to go away a master of his own self and find out the realm of publics affairs then as m any were discontented with the formation and a revolution took place. Having brought up in a family that throw a hand in leadership, who asked him to join them what he desired most. Plato expected the family to exert justness instead of in arbitrator. What is umpire? Justice is the concept of moral up indemnifyness ground on ethics, impartiality and born(p) law. Justice faecal matter be just to fairness and equity. It is a key feature in the society.It is the fair gild of this and persons and the first virtue of social institutions. It crowd out be elaborated to be ones reform to b e protected and treated fairy according to the law either in skilful or in wrong doing. overly as deciding c arfully and fairly if one is guilty of what he or she is been acc employ of. Referring to discredit I strongly break that pity enhances the truthfulness of individuals due to fear of disrespect. In this way justice is discoverd to the individuals concerned. This alike enables many to develop the acquired virtue of justice.On other hand pathos can make peck be denied justice when the person voluminous fears to offer or sothing to avoid disrespect. About females and justice they should be as handled with custody they shouldnt be discriminated assuming they atomic number 18 sub-species. In the current world we have seen some women do wear out than their male counterparts inwardness yet the rest given a chance can do it. Justice should be ensured equally to all classes of people to the slimy and the rich. Slaves are people like any other hence should non be eliminated when it adopts to some matters.They can vote and those with leadership qualities should be allowed to go ahead and exercise them. State leadership is not for a chosen few families any one from which ever family as long as they have the potential can be given the mandate and not discriminated due to where they come from. As justice in the deposit is been swirlt, justice for individuals should also be sought. The kingdom affair shouldnt be run on the get down of the individuals welfare. The individuals are the components of the society and state hence in take issueence on their affairs means neglecting the states justice. Justice according to Plato and Aristotle I have italicized philosophers remarks to distinguish then from the rest of the handling In brief, Socrates says writing would bring harmless enjoyment to old men and memories against the forgetfulness of old age A pastime, Socrates, as noble as the other wasting seeds during youth is ignoble, the pastime o f a man who can be amused by serious talk, and can discourse merrily about justice and the like. He meant as the idea of Socrates that the best and true way of writing is the in bold letter the principle of justice is communicating viva voce for the sake of instructions and engraving in the souls.This makes the principles become ones own and his certain offspring though writing would keep the exact information for future day generations. Justice is an old concept in existence and was discussed by several philosophers of the past. check to Plato justice is harmony of three things of the soul which includes desire, passions and author. Reason is what influence over both desires and appetites. Plato likened it to a chariot pulled by to joined horses towards the lie where the horses are desire and appetite and the driver represents the reason that reigns.The sun represents the rattling important goal in life. They have to be monitored not to cut down too low or too close to t he sun and doing so give a true balance to all elements. He believes with this balance justice can be achieved to all individuals. Plato believed justice is enforced when the three types of human character performed their functions. Likewise justice of a state is not found in a part of it but the alone of the state which only occurs when it systems are balanced. Also the justice of an individual is found when his elements are balanced.He refuted the fact that just was that which was mandated by the powerful, and that might is right as opposed to Thracymachus. Plato saw a just society as one that meets the needfully of all its individuals not a few or some (Hooker, pp234). Taking the beau ideal of Platos mentor major ideal that justice would be an excellent character, he sought to explain that no excellence would be achieved through destructive means. He argued that the procedure of justice was to improve human nature, which involved only constructions. Justice according to S ocrates implies hypernym character and intelligence while injustice is deficiency in these dickens areas.Hence just men are effective in action due to these two traits and are better and happier. In addition Plato outlined justice in an excellent way as morality or righteousness, this includes the whole duty of man and involves individual induct towards others. In proceeding justice can be a quality of the soul, which most men set aside and fight for selfish desires and satisfaction. Aristotle denoted that the purpose of every human action was for achievement of nigh things. The things carried out by individuals are sough to give pleasure and happiness, others for the sake of honor and justice.He also severalize among moral virtue and intellectual virtue moral virtues are acquired and not inborn. He emphasized that people with virtues act virtuously and this is nit deniable. According to him justice is amoral virtue which includes lawfulness and fairness. Fairness calls for al l privileges and responsibilities of individuals be equally and proportionally distributed. Aristotle concludes that pleasure is not the aim of human action because not every pleasure is good. He described happiness, as the amity between will and action, of intellect and reason. He concluded that human beings are happiest when channelise by reason.Perfect happiness there of is gained by a unity of practical and theoretical wisdom (Scott, Para 4, 5 &10). In reference work to justice, shame and reputations were termed as motivators of action in justice. Many people are able to express truth when unimpeded by shame. According to Aristotle shame was a pain concerning things that caused individual disrespect. Aristotle concluded that a true estimable is the one who challenges citys convectional justice and not constraint of shame and concern of reputation. In view of Aristotle he spoke of justice as a virtue, individual traits which have a pot of ground in social justice.On the dep raved Plato terms justice as an overarching of virtues of individuals, meaning every thing that he would term as ethical came on a lower floor the notion justice. In the modern usage justice only covers a part of morality, and we dont count people as unjust when they neglect their children or lie. Plato builded around the idea of philosopher rulers which was his primary point. This led to the question, then why do you need ideal state to begin with? The discussion begins with the key term justice which leads to creation of an ideal state. He says the reason for an ideal state is to guarantee the existence of justice.This never denoted that there can be no state without justice because human being are not self sufficient so they need a social environment and each person has specified tasks on which they should build on (republican, pp56-62). Though a person is not self sufficient cabal of person a state should fulfill the need of all its members. Plato condemned the fact that only the auxiliaries are got a chance to state leadership and the poor had no where near. His aim was to define justice though he used politics to do that. On the other hand Aristotle used politics to define politics itself.He begins his text by asking, why does the state exit? His answer was a state is a culmination of natural groupings that begins with the coming together of a man and a woman- a pair, get a family and form a household, which units form a village and villages into a state. Lack of sufficiency just like in Platos view is the catalyst to rising up of unions among people. In politics he is not up to breaking down the society, he argues that there are varied classes in society which are naturally defined. He devotes a lot of time to explain the naturalness of salves and their importance in the society.Both Plato and Aristotle agree that some people cant play an active role in politics. They upheld benefit of the community above those of individuals todays constitution i ncludes a bill of rights that guarantee the rights of every individual. This is good for todays citizens. In accordance to the three elements in human nature equally there are three classes in the society-Philosopher class or the persuasion class which denotes reason auxiliaries, a class of warriors and defenders of the country implying the spirit and the appetite instinct of the community which includes farmers, artisans the lower class people of the society.Thus, weaving a web between the human organism and the social organism, Plato said this to swear that every person had a role in seeing that justice is done to all. Slavery is a contradicting issue between the philosophers and todays society. Aristotle considered slavery natural when it came to politics and in relation to slavery he undermined female population. Plato was a lot less discriminatory but this didnt stop him from believing women were sub-species. This made woman fight endless fighting to gain recognition they de served, today its well acceptable that what men can do women can do better.Plato discussed the possibility of a luxurious state. Where the needs of the people are met and there is division of labor. And there is existence of armament protection that is not a threat to the state itself and offers successful military protection. Plato asks if an unqualified good human being essential appear to decay to bad now and then. This would be a person who is neither absolute in virtue and justice, nor one who falls into misfortune through guilt and depravity but rather, one who succumbs through some miscalculation.He must also be a person who enjoys great reputation and good fortune Enjoying a reputation means finding happiness which Aristotle on the other hand liken to performance of ones duty and is determine by ones degree of evolution. He disagrees with Platos view of sacrificing ones happiness for the interest of the community. Plato contrary to the theories of his student, like ceph alous justice out to be treated as immanent not something external. It is not an importation, or an accomplishment. He proved that justice is not dependent upon chance or an external force.He termed it as the right condition of a human soul. He concluded his debate by saying justice is the bond that joins men together in society. Aristotle on the other hand recognized the role of deliberations in a government, in particular democracy and the extent to which real justice depended on good deliberations (politics, pp410). He argued that democracy supports good life. Aristotle proposes that the private and the government assistance should be given to the poor as a way of trying to achieve self-sufficiency which denote justice.Aristotles ideal of justice appeared superior, upon further investigating but Platos was stronger. In conclusion both Plato and Aristotle had good points of view they agreed in most of their debates. This was as a result of originating from the alike roots acade mically. These deliberations they made were for the good of the society. On the other hand they differ on several topic or views which enabled the society to take the better view as emphasized by their mentor Socrates. Justice should be for the good of the individuals and also the society.Work CitedHooker R. Greek Philosopher Plato, 1996 retrieved on twenty-fifth Nov, 2008 from http//www.wsu.edu/dee/GREECE/PLATO.HTM Scott A, Aristotles Nicomachean Ethics, 2002 retrieved on 25th Nov, 2008 from http//www.angelfire.com/md2/timewarp/ethics.html River S, Pearson N.J, Politics Ancient Philosophy.2008 Ed. Forrest E. Baird and Walter Kaufmann. Upper Vol. 1 of Philosophic Classics. 442-453.

Psychometric assessment Essay

Certain people persist to be such(prenominal)(prenominal) obedient than early(a)s. Individuals who have the listency to adopt a submissive, uncritical perspective toward authority figures authoritarian submission (Adorno, 1950) tends to effect tasks when demanded. Also, people with an external locale of control (a sense that fate rules their life rather than their own actions) tend to be more obedient. However, despite the popular myth that women atomic number 18 more submissive, women and men ar relatively equal in the degree to which they ordain obey demands (Eagly & Carli, 1981).Dehumanisation or deindividuation is the loss of the sense of case-by-case individuality and control over our behaviour. Sensory overload, arousal, anonymity, and reduced self awareness are key factors which loosen inhibitions and thus uncharacteristic behaviour is not inline with frequent internal standards. According to deindividuation theory, the psychological state of deindividuation is aro utilize when individuals join crowds or large chemical groups. The state is characterized by diminished awareness of self and individuality.This in turn reduces an individuals self-restraint and normative regulation of behaviour. In social psychology, deindividuation is a major theory of group behaviour it provides an story of collective behaviour of violent crowds, mindless hooligans, and the lynch mob. In addition, deindividuation has been associated with other social phenomena such as genocide, stereotyping, and disinhibition in other settings such as com strayer-mediated communication. Several influential studies were conducted to illustrate the force of deindividuation.For example, Zimbardo (1969) carried out a contract that inspired much subsequent deindividuation research. In this study, actors were rendered anonymous by enclothe them in oversized lab coats and hoods, compared with normal clothes and name tags in the control condition. The participants task was to s hock a confederate in a situation similar to the classic Milgram studies on obedience. In a initiative experiment apply groups of female students, Zimbardo demonstrated that anonymous participants shocked monthlong (and thitherfore more painfully) than identifiable participants, in confirmation of his theory.Another theater of controversy in psychology is the area of psychometric exam, which aim to exact important decisions affecting individuals and society. Tests are employ in a variation of settings to aid selection in education and work and for diagnosis for those with instruction and psychological problems. Ability samples were amongst the first psychometric tests to be developed, and controversy has adjoin their use since. Binet and Simon (1905) were commissioned by the French government to find a method to differentiate between children who were intellectually normal and those who were inferior.The purpose was to put the latter into special schools where they would receive more individual attention. In this expressive style the disruption they caused in the education of intellectually normal children could be avoided. This guide to the development of the Binet-Simon Scale, and constituted a revolutionary approach to the assessment of individual mental ability. Revisions to the Binet-Simon Scale resulted in the thought of mental age, an good understandable concept which significantly increased the popularity of ability testing.Further developments of the tests traind the concept of light quotient (IQ) and resulted in one of the currently most widely used tests, the Stanford Binet Scale. Most watchword tests measure the general reasoning ability that is concern in many different types of problem solving behaviour. Older types of tests referred to this intelligence factor as general ability, whereas more recent tests have tended to divorce the general ability into fluid intelligence (innate and not particularly influenced by ones environ ment) and crystallised intelligence (underlying fluid intelligence that is a product of environmental experiences.In recent years, the introduction of the eleven sum exam, which is largely compiled of IQ tests, was used to distinguish those who would proceed to grammar school and those who would be relegated to academically inferior secondary schools. Research into the psychometric assessment of intelligence has been the focus of many eminent psychologists including Spearmen, Burt, Eysenck, and Cattell. The latter two also went on further to develop (separate) personality tests, Cattells 16PF in 1970, and the Eysenck Personality Questionnaire (EPQ) in 1975.These involve analysing a series of trivial yes/no questions in an start out to decipher the nature and character of the person answering them. Today, personality assessments are mainly used in clinical settings, with their use in line of merchandiseal settings increasing. They may also be used in educational settings in asses sing individuals with learning problems and are still widely used and developed at bottom academic and research settings. Personality tests are also widely used today within the work environment, perhaps for deciding whether to employ mortal or not, or even to decide who gets made redundant.On the whole, psychometric tests have acceptable validity and therefore make them less habituated to error than other types of assessment. The interpretation of psychometric data requires the use of norms, against which the rack up of a particular individual can be compared. Psychometric assessments tend to be the only measures for which norms are available. Psychometric tests are intermediately short and therefore time and cost efficient. Many are group tests, and so can be given to a number of people at the same time.In fact the development of computer programmes concerned with psychometric testing means that tests can be administered and scored by a computer, modify results to be made av ailable quickly and can form the tush of a discussion. Personality tests are particularly cost efficient as they prevent money being wasted on training mismated personnel. However, there can be an undue reliance on the results of psychometric tests. Simply discovering that a person has an aptitude for a particular occupation does not guarantee that they will be successful at that job.The mystique of psychometric test results means that they are frequently not discussed with those who complete them. In this sense there is a failure to use psychological testing humanely. Test scores can also be misused. The results of tests should not be used to withhold educational or occupational opportunities from those who may perform less well on tests of ability due to factors that have flyspeck to do with intelligence. In any instance, the results can be faked by the participant to influence the results in their favour, and so can be unknowingly misinterpreted anyway.Because of the viscidne ss and predictive success of many psychometric tests, there may be a failure to use other important instruction. Psychometric test results should ideally be used alongside other reliable information about a person, otherwise they may wrongly stereotype an individual. Furthermore, there are many ethnical and sub-cultural issues that can arise when measuring IQ, which causes much controversy. At the extreme, IQ tests were used to keep out certain immigrant groups from the joined States during the 1920s.Jenson (1969) suggested that genetic differences were the cause of consistently lower IQ scores discover in non white racial groups. Recent controversies relate to the systematic differences reach by different groups in society. Critics say these are the results of warp in test items. Typical examples relate to previously learned information and items using verbal information, typically English, which require reading and writing. Even when tests are translated to the essential lang uage of the participants, questions are still raised over the cultural equation of certain items (Zindi, 1994).Even tests which explicitly attempt to be close fair have been questioned. The Ravens Progressive Matrices test showed that the performance of Asian immigrants has been found to improve over a five year design by an average of 15-20 points, which demonstrates that minorities will be disadvantaged in taking them until they learn different ways of approaching them (Roth, 1990). In 1972, Williams produced the Black reasoned Test of Cultural Homogeneity (BITCH) in an attempt to highlight cultural biases in test items, which was heavily loaded towards dingy minorities.Using this test, it is black people who tend to score higher than whites. Particularly in IQ tests that use visual cues, participants may misinterpret an action, and their own cultural biases produce expectations which can alter what they see. They may use methods derived from an alien culture (emics/etics) a nd may have a hostile reception which will bias their observations. Observations are made of a sample and may not be typical of the whole culture being studies. It is also wrong to sound off a culture as being a homogenous group of people differences within a culture may be as large as those between cultures.

International Bus Essay

1. Who ar the various stakeholders that Anglo American needs to analyze as it adopts an effective human immunodeficiency virus/ support strategy? The spate are said to be the driveway forces of a coun strains economy. In randomness Africa, assist has greatly impacted the nations economy. As evidence, it was stated that from 1992 to 2002, the economy of southernmost Africa lost over $7 billion annually which is approximately 2% of the countrys GDP. This is because of the death of workers with help. As AIDS continue to spread, it allow continue to bring down the per capita growth of South Africa by 1 to 2% e rattling year. Being a mining conglomerate, Anglo American operates in 45 nations and has over 107,000 employees. As Anglo American adopts an effective human immunodeficiency virus/AIDS strategy, it should considering gathering as stakeholders all nations that are greatly reliant on the goods produced by the African workers. Anglo American must also consider health organi zations, South African government, and big companies. It is imperative for the people in billet to realize the impact of AIDS to the South African economy.2. What are the pros and cons of Anglo Americans adoption of an aggressive strategy in combating HIV/AIDS among its South African workforce? What recommendations would you give the connection concerning its HIV/AIDS insurance policy?Since Anglo American was greatly hit during the outbreak of AIDS, the attach to veritable comprehensive and dynamic approaches to combat the disease as it has become very ravaging to the workforce and its operations. The computer programme was made up of prevention initiatives with focalization on education and awareness. The program also included dissemination of condoms, monetary as comfortably as skill-related training to lessen poverty, and a muckle system that would monitor the pervasiveness of the disease. Later on, the policies were expanded and included counseling, testing, as well as care and wellness programs. Some of the pros of the program include slump payment for the patient as the number of people participating in the program increases.Despite the benefits of this aggressive strategy, there were many a(prenominal) cons to this including the disapproval from many other interested parties. The program has also been unsuccessful because of refusal of nigh employees to tolerate ART. Some even stop during the treatment regimen. Other workers did not try submitting to the program because of fear of discrimination while others were in denial of having been contacted with AIDS. A robust approach is essential in this matter. If discrimination is an issue for workers, accordingly as much as possible, the company should adopt a program that will respect the privacy and confidentiality of the patients condition. In addition, since some patients are anxious about the cost of the treatment, the company must consider encouraging more stakeholders to support the pr ogram and deliver the treatment for free.3. Because much(prenominal) a large percentage of its workforce consists of unsettled workers who are more likely to acquire and spread HIV/AIDS, should Anglo American adopt the policy of not hiring migrant workers? Should the South African government close the doors to migrant workers?Closing the doors to migrant workers would be another case of discrimination. Since the majority of the companys employees are migrant workers, the company must consider prudish screening before hiring. In hiring employees, companies must make sure that the people are in good condition and are ready for work. A physical check-up must be required. Migrant workers should not be stopped from working in Anglo-American provided that they meet the criterion of being HIV/AIDS-free.4. What voice do pharmaceutical companies play in responding to the HIV/AIDS plaguey in South Africa? What policies or courses of accomplish would you recommend to a company that produ ces HIV/AIDS drugs?Pharmaceutical companies are the ones responsible in manufacturing drugs necessitate for the treatment of HIV/AIDS. GSK for instance, deliver drugs to South Africa. However, Anglo American is hoping that pharmaceutical companies would abridge their prices to be able to provide more drugs for the people infected with HIV/AIDS. Though pharmaceutical companies wish toreduce their prices, they are also in some manner hesitant in fear of violating the intellectual property rights. Policies or courses of action to consider to a company that produces HIV/AIDS drugs would be to tog up up the intellectual property rights of drugs in nations such as South Africa which is in dire need of treatment.

Joseph Heller’s Catch 22 and Joan Littlewood’s Oh! What a Lovely War Essay

Comp ar the ways in which figures of govern workforcet agency ar ocularised in Joseph hellers get under ones skin 22 and Joan Littlewoods Oh What a cover girl struggle. two(prenominal) snap up 22 and Oh What a pleasant War be satirical comedies looking at the absurdity and catastrophe of state of warfare. Being satires, they serve to expose the flaws in wartime situations and in doing so oft develop criticisms of imperious figures. Both texts approach the portrayal of authority in slightly contrary ways being a dawdle, Oh What a sweet War has a lot more scope for portraying its natures visu tout ensembley and aur anyy, whereas Catch 22 must(prenominal) work within its boundaries as a new(a). Both texts employ humour to portray characters of authority whereas Littlewoods play is more focused on dark humour, Heller uses his testify marker of absurd irony by means ofout the novel this humour is central to close techniques used in both(prenominal) pieces o f lit date of referenceture.Both texts were written in the 1960s, (Catch 22 was published in 1961 whilst Littlewoods play was performed two years later) an era synonymous with the develop custodyt of youth culture and radical change. Although Catch 22 was initially snubbed by some some other(prenominal) a(prenominal) of its critics, the novel found its readership amongst the emerging propagation of work force and wo manpower who were fiercely opposed to the Vietnam war. Littlewood did non face the same(p) distaste in 1963 when Oh What a Lovely War was first spicyen to the public. Performed by the playing field Workshop a company she had co- bring ind the play was warmly received by the audience and critics a uniform. Despite their various reactions, both texts were on the cutting brink of anti-war senti manpowert and continue to be modern classics.Although the texts focus on different wars and different perspectives (Littlewoods play explores World War One from a prima rily British perspective and Hellers novel is an American outlook on World War two) their briny themes are similar. Both texts are exploring the catastrophe of war, the utter absurdity of it, the thirst for power and cash war brings, and the ignorance of unconditional organisations. Figures of authority are numerous in both pieces, and do not only include the upper berth ranks (such as normals, battleground Marshalls and Col sensationls) nevertheless also the representations of business and religious organisations, for they similarly can be viewed as having authoritative roles in society, especially in wartime.One technique used by both authors is a demonstration of the lack of parley between commanding powers. Littlewoods portrayal of the allied army leaders is really effective in signalling how inefficient they are at communicating with one another. The French General Lanzerac and British Field Marshall French do not even speak the same language, and Frenchs unwillingne ss to do so reveals the total futility and worthlessness of their meeting aide Do you think I ought to organise an interpreter?French beart be ridiculous Wilson the essential problem at the morsel is theutmost secrecy.(p21)In this sight the obsession with secrecy over reasonable negotiations shows us how inefficient the allied army authorities are, and the relation of the different languages spoken serves to base the complete lack of communication amongst authoritative powers that afford the fate of thousands in their hands.In the same way, Catch 22 looks at the problem of communication within the upper ranks. The call General Peckam receives from Ex P.C Wintergreen the sole words being T.S. Elliot(sic) has no hidden pith but is interpreted in an absurd way Perhaps its a new code or something, wish well the colors of the day. wherefore dont you check with Communications and see if its a new code or something or the colors of the day? (p45). This article of faith also shows us some insight into General Peckams in itemiseect, which doesnt seem to be substantial demonstrated by the repetition and imprecision of speech. Another interpreter of these communicative difficulties is the case of Major Major who receives documents to sign, which prevail his signature already.The squabbling within the upper ranks is clear in both texts and serves to show us the pettiness and idiocy of figures of authority. There are many instances in Catch 22 where the Generals are engaged in sneaky tricks against one another. General Dreedles hatred of his son-in-law Colonel Moodus for example, inspires him to keep a beautiful absorb just to torment him with, and the Great Loyalty Oath Crusade1 is started by police chief Black in an attempt to avenge himself on Major Major (who gained the promotion Captain Black was waiting for). as well in Oh What a Lovely War, the Belgian, British and French army officials are at odds with one another.The Belgian army are in a so rry state, the French are angry at the British, and the British refuse to believe they have any responsibility in the war Were not here under any obligation French persists in telling Lanzerac. The heated discussion only ends when Lanzerac is offered a thenar on behalf of the King of England. This gesture pleases the General, who kisses French on both cheeks and leaves, suggesting that the upper ranks of the army are only interested in recognition and promotion. This is a very powerful effect in Catch 22, in which refer characters such as Colonel Korn and Colonel Cathcart will do eitherthing in their power to be promoted. Cathcart says of his ambition What else have we got to do? Everyone teaches us to aspire to higher things. A global is higher than a colonel and a colonel is higher than a police lieutenant colonel. So were both aspiring (p450).One of the most master(prenominal) prospects of both texts is how different the experience of war is for the upper ranks and the or dinary men. The unfitness of authoritative figures to understand the realities of war and their cruel, seemingly deliberate ignorance in many situations is demonstrated in a number of key delineations. An important example of this in Oh What a Lovely War is on pages 50/51 where a commanding incumbent reveals his detachment from ordinary trench life, and his unmindful(predicate)ness of the death that surrounds the men any day Ye Gods Whats that? he begs the deputy sheriff upon encountering a German limb that holds up the parapet, immediately telling the men to get rid of it as soon as possible. The Sergeants response reveals how clueless those in authority are to the brutalities of war Heads, t countingks, rent all over the place, and all hes worried about is a damned leg.This warped, uninformed sense of priority and general detachment is evident in Catch 22, especially within Colonel Cathcarts storyline. Hellers novel is jumbled chronologically, but one secure indication o f time is the number of missions the men are forced to disappear under Cathcarts orders, which steadily increases as the story progresses. What is simply a number for the colonel is a very real death threat to the men of his squadron, many of whom reach the target just as the missions increase. Cathcart raises them for purely egocentric reasons he hopes to gain recognition for his squadrons record and receive a promotion. The Colonels constant cry of Doesnt he know thithers a war going on when Yossarian refuses to fly save missions is one of Hellers brilliant lines of absurd irony, as it relates in a flash to the figures of authority in the novel. They seem to be playing an certified game, unaware of how their actions affect the men they themselves dont realise theyre battle a war. opposite instances of differences between upper and lower rank men can be found in both texts. The final scene of Oh What a Lovely War portrays the men as lambs to the slaughter at the order of th eir glory-obsessed officer, and we find them shouting Baaa baaa baaa (p86) as they advance towards the guns. In Catch 22 the Colonels are amazed that the ordinary men worship the same God as them, and after the revelation from the Chaplain refuse to believe it verbalise What nonsense Does he expect us to believe that? and Chaplain, arent you reach things a bit far now?(p407).A obtrusive aspect of both texts is the portrayal of other key figures of authority primarily those of prodigious business and religion. Where Littlewood is severely critical of both, Heller holds some sympathy for his character the Chaplain (a representation of religion). Common to both writers is a disgust toward capitalists who exploit war for their possess commercial gain. The munitions manufacturers in Oh What a Lovely War are introduced on stage as members of a shooting party, an ironic analogy highlighting the part they play in the destruction of so many young men. They discuss the peace scares tha t threaten their income, and congratulate one another for their inhuman schemes in money qualificationBritain German chappies were caught on their own barbed wire?.Dashed clever. (p46)In the same way, the character Milo Minderbinder in Catch 22 exposes the lack of morals and boundaries capitalism creates in wartime. His collaborationism with the enemy goes unnoticed due to his profit-making, and he even ends up shelling his own men and planes as part of a German have If I can persuade the Germans to pay me a thousand dollars for every plane I shoot down, why shouldnt I?(p273) he tells Yossarian. The forces of religious belief in Littlewoods play are greeted with aggressiveness as tools for the war propaganda machine, who support the war effort rather than chip for the rights of the soldiersChaplain it is no longer a sin to labour for war on the Sabbaththe Chief Rabbi hasabsolved your Jewish brethren from abstaining from pork in the trenches. (p77)Religion is portrayed in a sl ightly more sympathetic light in Hellers novel. The Chaplain is the only character who really connects with Yossarian, and his efforts to help counsel the Generals from raising the number of missions proves a real commitment and solidarity to the squadron. He is spurned from the Officers Hall and treated disrespectfully by the Colonels, wake us that even Christianity is powerless in the face of such scarily stubborn authority.Another key theme of both texts is the portrayal of war as a game, or as something frivolous and light-hearted by those in authority. The very form of Oh What a Lovely War is as a tuneful show, with song and dance. Key song titles include Ill get a man out of you and the grand finale track Oh its a lovely war which paints the text as a Broadway extravaganza rather than a harrowing look at battle.This technique is very effective in creating a bitter and fight tone towards authoritative powers especially considering the nature of the opening scene. In a c ircus like frenzy the MC brings on the players of the war game France, Germany, Austria, Ireland, Great Britain and Russia. This morphologic difference between the play and Catch 22 means that Oh What a Lovely War parodies authority more consistently. Littlewood constructed the play as a show, so the ability of characters in power to undermine the serious-mindedness of war is endless.The War gritty is a classic example of this, as is the grouse-shooting party which consists of munitions manufacturers from the key nations involved in war. Other techniques were available to Littlewood lyrically bitter songs and the use of slides as an accompaniment to the speech, which both served as attacking forces against the power of authority in the play. Examples of this can be found in song titles such as If the sergeant steals your rum and ironic lyrics like with our old commander, safely in the rear in the hymn forrard Christian Soldiers. The use of slides and the newspanel is used on ma ny occasions as a reinforcement of the ignorance seen in authoritative men such as HaigNewspanel BY NOV 1916 TWO AND A HALF MILLION MEN KILLED ON WESTERN FRONTHaig I thank you, God the attack is a great success. (p78)They are also used comically to outline the betise of the GeneralsBritish Admiral Have you got a plan?British General Of course.Slide 5 A blankBritish Admiral Yes, I thought so. (p6)In a structural sense, the techniques available to Heller with which to farce comedy authority are much more limited. In a novel, all character representations are formed with literary descriptions and cannot rely on visual or aural aids like a play. His technique of storytelling is not as varied or spectacular as Littlewoods, but the effects of his bizarre plots are as successful in criticising authoritative powers as the use of slides and song in Oh What a Lovely War. Colonel Cathcarts onslaught pattern is a sufficient example of this and bears comparison with the War Game approach b y Littlewood. Disregarding the fact that men are risking their lives on the insane bombardier missions they are forced to fly, Cathcarts sole concern is whether their bombs create an aesthetically pleasing pattern from the air We didnt get the tie he tells Milo whilst recalling a previous mission, but we did have a beautiful bomb pattern. I remember General Peckam acknowledgeing on it. (pThe occasional form of both texts may disrupt the sense of progression, but it is noticeable that the tone of both pieces of literature changes as they near completion. The bitterness towards authority increases, and humour is more often interspersed with morsels of seriousness and tragedy. In Act Two of Littlewoods play, a moment of chaos reaches a serious approaching with the juxtaposition of Haig and the British Generals telephone conversations against a downplay of men singing They were only playing leapfrog. The two men speak simultaneously in broken sentences until Haigs final comment No , you must reserve the artillery we are using too many shells is uttered at the same time as the Generals last words, Night has fallen. The clouds are gathering. The men are lost someplace in no mans land.This uncharacteristically sombre moment is shocking and serves to signpost the ignorance and inhumanity of Haig in times of crisis. In a similar way the absurd force of bureaucracy in Hellers novel borders on seriousness when Don Daneeka is recorded as killed and remains dead due to the power of paperwork. His presence in the novel is a tragic reminder of the madness of war, and his character becomes a upkeep ghost, the sacks under his eyes turned hollow and black, and he padded through the shadows fruitlessly like an ubiquitous spookthen, only then, did he stimulate that, to all intents and purposes, he really was dead. (p366)The endings of both texts leave the reader with a slightly different outlook of authority and war. Whereas Oh What a Lovely War finishes as it started, wi th a grand song in the traditional musical style, Catch 22 is much more subdued and understated. Both endings tell us something about the intention of the author, and of their opinion on the subject of war and authority. Littlewood wants to leave the audience feeling embittered and slightly outraged at the notion of the Great War as a show, in order to demonstrate the atrocities committed by those in authority against the ordinary men.The final songs Chanson de Craonne, I dont want to be a Soldier, And when they ask us, and Oh its a lovely war express both comic elements (Id rather stay at substructure and live off the earnings of a lady typist) and the tragic undertones that run throughout the play (I dont want a bayonet in my belly). Although these final songs are more thoughtless with the tragedy and futility of warfare, their tone is still bitter towards commanding powers such as the King and the Generals who promised them a lovely war, and described the life of a soldier as the cushiest job they would ever have.The origin of this great tragedy is clearly explained in Littlewoods play as a acquit result of the ignorance and greed of commanding powers, in particular the European Empires and Haig, along with his circle of title-seeking aristocrats. Within the play there are other specific objects of blame firstly the British Generals, Field Marshall French, and the British Aristocracy. Other possible areas of criticism lie in the portrayal of religion, and of the capitalists who profited from the war. Oh What a Lovely War is a text very much favouring the ordinary soldiers, all of whom are represented as decent, kind-hearted, and spirited young men. These soldiers are the victims of authoritative powers, they are the lambs going to slaughter, and the grouse at the shooting party. Littlewood is not shadowed or subtle in her attack of the commanding men, and portrays them as idiots, fat cats and cowards. She intends to show us that they were the main cause of madness in wartime, and that these men of authority should be held to blame for the destruction of a generation.The conclusion of Catch 22 is quite different, and ends with the spontaneous attempt by Yossarian to run out from the military base. Hellers ending is a very provoke final act of defiance for his character, against the powers of authority in the novel. Despite having an elementary route out of the air force a simple but dishonest deal with Colonel Cathcart and Colonel Korn Yossarian chooses to reject it. The presence of Natelys whore at the very end of the novel, who unsuccessfully tries to stab him, is perhaps an indicator that Yossarian is making the right choice in escaping from the madness and corruption of bureaucracy (the main authoritative force in Catch 22). The specific targeting of key characters is evident in Hellers novel as it was in Oh What a Lovely War, with the Colonels and Generals (Cathcart, Korn, Dreedle and Peckam among others) being the main hosts for criticism.However, I believe there is a difference between both texts regarding the role authoritative figures play in war. Whereas Littlewood shows us that the commanding men create the chaos due to their own callous stupidity, in Catch 22 the madness of war seems to be a character unto itself. Although the commanding officers are idiotic and dangerously selfish, this insane wartime logic affects most of the ordinary men except for Yossarian and the Chaplain. A entire example of this is near the end of the novel when Aarfy one of the men in the squadron rapes and kills a young girl.wYossarians utter horror when he discovers the scene is elevated further with the arrival of the police, who arrest him for being in capital of Italy without a pass, completely ignoring the dead body on the pavement. Aarfys invoice I hardly think theyre going to make too much of a fuss over one poor Italian servant girl, when so many thousands of lives are being lost every day seems t o bear a lot of truth. The infuriating authority figures in this novel and the foolish stunts they are engaged in appear to be more a product of war madness than a cause of it.Therefore, although both texts portray figures of authority in similar ways, their intentions are basically different. Littlewood blames the commanding individuals and glorifies the men who were sacrificed under ridiculous orders. Heller looks beyond these miserable but powerful characters to a greater evil the madness of war and the insane chaos it creates in all Colonels, Generals, Capitalists and even ordinary soldiers.1 The Great Loyalty Oath Crusade was created to divert attention towards Captain Black and thus gain him a promotion the men must swear an oath of allegiance to get their pay from the finance officerto have their hair cut by the barbers. (p125)

Hoovers policies and attitudes in the years 1929-33 Essay

Asses the view that hoovers policies and carriages in the years 1929-33 merely prolonged the printing.President Herbert clean came in to power in America in 1928. He was a man with a strong belief and he believes in individuality and believed passionately in the values of hard work and enterprise. However, he came in power at a fourth dimension where America was in an sparing crisis, where unemployment was shooting up as well as inflation, America had entered a new era where inequality was increasing untold than ever for usage New York had one million inactive whereas Ohio has 50% of the population unemployed, gum olibanum it was vital for make cleans policies to be adequate in rule to compensate prosperity. character 7 clearly argues that cleans attitudes and policies were pitiful and failed again and again. Similarly, show measure 8 believes that his faith in his suit policies has only prolonged the depression even more, thus both sources name a clear consensu s between them. On the other hand source 9 argues that a lot was very done in sight to get Americans back on their feet, thus vacuums attitudes and policies were life-threatening for America. However, it is clear that vacuum-clean simply did non do enough in order to deal with this economic crisis as he was leaven to be as a very stubborn person as source 7 argues and he transparent could not read between the lines.Source 7 describes make clean as a very stubborn person who Remained convince that he was right Hoovers attitudes towards agriculture did not help American farmers at all. The agricultural marketing act was established in 1929 which artificially purchased farmers surpluses at prices above the market price. Hoover gave the Federal Farm Board $500M, notwithstanding Hoover still not think through exactly what he was doing. The agricultural market was in a significant decline in America during the 1930s and he only encouraged farmers to produce more as the Federal Reserve board was purchasing their surpluses. Furthermore, he was incriminate of throwing away tax payers money which was extremely regressive.Similarly, source 8 believes that Hoover undertook some harmful policies where he also resisted congressional attempts to pull up stakes more substantial farm relief this can be seen through the item that instead of putting money into farmers pockets he actually took it away. Farming was seen as the backbone of the American delivery and Hoovers Agricultural merchandise Act seemed like something that was rushed and never judgment through which emphasises how Hoover simply lacked knowledge in numerous areas of the economy. Furthermore, he never thought about agricultural on an international level and the consequences his actions would claim, thus his attitudes towards individuality was clearly not applicable to American society at that time as American clearly necessary a Keynesian feeler towards the economy where money would be sign ificantly pumped in to the circulation of the economy.Source 8 also believes that the Hawley-Smoot Tariff was significantly damaging towards Americans which he sign-language(a) despite the advice of around economists. This emphasises his attitudes towards his policies, he in his own fantasy worldly concern as source 7 also describes as he simple did not eat up any fixed admission towards fixing the shamed economy. Hoover did not realise exactly what was postulate for the American economy as if he did, he would have realised that putting a 40% duty on agricultural products would not have affected the economy. This fantasy world consisted of just his own flack, which was not thought through, he believed just because he had a very hard work value orientation meant that everyone else could have one too, however, this was not the case in America as Americans simply had no money in their pockets to start them off and they needed relief in order to get back on their feet again.Fu rthermore, his policies had a very short run effect as he believed by putting tariffs up it would help farmers gain more revenue. However, with agriculture beingness such a competitive market, it only led to retaliation as countries all across Europe could not afford high prices as they were in an economic crisis too. Furthermore, the Hawley-Smoot tariff resulted in the abandonment of free take amongst European nations, thus it was extremely damaging for the agricultural market as they could not sell their surpluses and had to eventually dump their goods in different countries, and then Hoover did pro long the depression.Furthermore, source 8 also argues that Hoovers approach towards unemployment was also not good enough as he block off ship aid to the unemployed. This is because of his hands off approach attitude that he undertook during the 1930s was not radical enough and could be seen as taking things too modestly as source 8 states. The emergency Committee for Employment aimed to help agencies provide relief of $500, however, due to his self-reliance attitude he did not allow direct federal relief.This clearly shows how Hoover was not thinking ahead and his attitudes were far behind time as he did not realise exactly how badly Americans needed the governments help and it was crucial to intervene in the economy as much as possible. However, Hoovers $500M was not large enough to help the millions of people in America who were unemployed and did not have the basic necessities in life, harvest-festival was literally not possible without the government intervening as gross domestic product was getting lower and lower. However, taking into account that many countries were in a nation debt, it was obviously not possible for Hoover to magically get a large sum of money in order to get relief to firms and other sectors, thus there was actually a trammel amount that Hoover could do even though he did have a hands off approach towards America.Source 9 onl y contradicts source 8 and 7 as Leuchtenburg believes Hoover Stepped up federal construction and urged state and local governments to accelerate spending thus Hoover did make significant changes that did not pro long the depression. One of his most significant polices was the reconstruction finance corporation which was authorised to lend $1.5 trillion to states to finance in the public eye(predicate) works. Not only was this a very direct relief but it also had many benefits as it helped insurance companies as well as banks. One major aspect of the RFC was the fact that it add 90% to small and medium banks, which was a turning point as rural small banks were hardly ever noticed and no other president intervened the way Hoover did and this contradicts Pattersons view of Hoover having token(prenominal) government intervention, thus his lack of intervention may have been exaggerated by source 7 and 8.The increased capital enthronement as source 9 suggests also helped the economy a s investing was a crucial part of GDP and investment would have allowed firms to insert in America, thus Hoover had noticed the grim reality of the depression as he was doing what he could have in order to restore the economy. However, the RFC was only available to states that declared bankruptcy and they had to use the money to provide schemes which would earn money so that loans could be repaired and this perfectly fits in with Parrishs view of how the economic crisis required maximum cooperation , which Hoover was not heavy(a) at that time as all banks and businesses needed some straighten out of relief which he was not doing. Furthermore, even if he was cooperated it was a olive-sized too late, thus Hoover did pro long the depression.Overall, it is clear the Hoovers approaches were not good enough for American society in the 1930s and he did pro long the depression. One vital geological fault that Hoover made was the fact that he was not helping the unemployed as much as h e should have as in order to stimulate the economy, a charter was needed and with a wage tax could have been paid which could have been used to fund the public with goods. Therefore, if Hoover had considered getting people into work this would have automatically had a positive knock on effect. Furthermore, a hands off approach was not needed in times of the depression as Americans did not have money to get back on their feet as many banks were not giving out loans due to the effects that the boom compass point had on them, therefore a lot of intervention was needed. Thus, it is clear that Hoover did make big mistakes during the depression as he did not see the reality of it and did not try to tackle the main problems as he had no detailed plan.

Quocirca Insight Report: Operations Management in UK Financial Services

QUOCIRCA INSIGHT REPORT November 2007 Contacts Sharon Crawford Quocirca Ltd Tel +44 7989 243830 sharon/emailprotected com operations anxiety in UK Financial proceedss How potently is engineering organism utilize to avail to manage and remediate trading trading operations per miscellanyance? The super competitive disposition of the financial go industry to solar solar day and the changing landscape of guest expectations and their blast to investing in financial products, puts an onus on suppliers to cope how well they be dealing with new and existing customers patronage transactions. practic wholey is written well-nigh the frontline call centre operations, merely this field foc applys on the back office activities, the useable area where mixed applications and enquiries are processed. This inquiry investigates how applied science is macrocosm applied to manage and correct operations. ? Operations perplexity is a critical business task contributing signifi beartly to the general performance of financial services companies Over 90% of UK financial services companies set and publish operational tar furbish ups.Reducing processing times and be are targeted alongside measuring the prize of hunt down done. take Management methodologies such(prenominal) as Lean and Six Sigma are being applied extensively to manage written report throughput. The UK has embraced the lend oneself of unique(predicate) operations focussing systems 85% of UK financial services companies report having limited systems in holding to support operations centering. Reporting, document and process management tools and to a lesser extent, ply forecasting and scheduling applications are all components of such systems.such(prenominal) systems have had an impact on improved operations The come shows that introducing operations management systems has led to improved customer service, reduced costs and soften staff economic consumption. However, despite a reas onable degree of gratification with such systems, there is fashion for improvement. Also, although staff attitudes should be important, pick out and staff satisfaction levels have shown lower levels of improvement. Real ime profile of work is critical profile of who is doing what at any point in time, with the ability to reallocate work during the day, is stated as being very important to effective operations management but this is not al itinerarys an integral part of the operations management system. Although round-the-clock improvement to operations management performance is desired, obstacles do exist. The survey erect that staff resistance to change and to being monitored, competing demands of other(a) revenue generating priorities and dealing with legislation, were all effortfulies faced when trying to introduce initiatives to improve operations.Against this, establishing a return on investment (ROI) for operations management improvements can be difficult. Many syste ms in place today are found on client/server technologies but there is desire to send away toward pure web applications This opens the door for Software as a Service offerings (SaaS). However, SaaS is not perceive as a way to support operations management systems. Is this because there are genuine doubts near SaaS or out-of-pocket to a lack of understanding of the potential benefits of the SaaS model? Bob Tarzey Quocirca Ltd Tel +44 1753 855794 ob. emailprotected com ? ? REPORT NOTE This report has been written independently by Quocirca Ltd to spoken communication certain issues found in todays validations. The report draws on Quocircas extensive inhabitledge of the engineering science and business arenas, and provides advice on the approach that formations should take to create a more effective and efficient surround for future growth. During the preparation of this report, Quocirca has spoken to a number of suppliers and customers involved in the areas covered.We are gra teful for their time and insights. ? ? ? Conclusions Operations management is a complex area to which to take to technology. Control and continuous improvement require effective matching of a variety of tasks and timing with resource and skills. The investment undeniable to put detailed applications in place is significant but has been found to be effective in some(prenominal) organisations that have done so. in that location is potential to improve further by utilize systems that allow real time visibility of the progress of dealing with customers business.An independent study by Quocirca Ltd. www. quocirca. com Operations Management in Financial function Page 2 cosmos Performance Management in the financial services industry is vital and well supported by the suites of Corporate Performance Management bundle that enable these companies to budget, plan and report in an accurate and timely fashion. Underpinning sure-fire performance management is the need for predictable an d controllable day to day operations management, some(prenominal) front and back office.Much has been written in the media about the use of tools to achieve this in call centres in businesses today. This report is based on interrogation was carried out to investigate the extent to which software applications are employ to monitor and measure the effectiveness of handling customer business focusing on the back office operations and unique(predicate)ally addressing organisations in the UK. attempting to include some measurements of the costs of rework, (figure 2). come across 2 Do organisations attempt to quantify and measure business cheer of perational measures? 0% rock-bottom Costs Number of complaints client Response times module utilisation Staff satisfaction Re-work Detailed quantifiable measures None, but plan to early(a) Some measures Not directly related 20% 40% 60% 80% 100% Operations Management is a critical business task All the organisations that were intervie wed set and publish achievement metrics against customer service level agreements, with 93% setting different targets for different types of customers. 5% of organisations interviewed set and publish performance levels against targets for operational staff and use some(prenominal) team and individual measurements although monitor individual performance is more difficult and given a lower degree of importance. It is interesting to note the types of measures that are used and the research found that there is an increasing focus on measuring the quality of work alongside the expected measures of costs and zip of processing work (figure 1). Figure 1 on that point is some be given given to measuring staff satisfaction and linking this to financial returns for the business. Quocirca believes that it is important to hand the impact of systems on staff satisfaction and that any attempt to apply technology to improve operations management should take account of the way in which the sys tem impacts on the staff dealing with customer business. Production control and continuous improvement Operations management is often associated with fruit of physical goods and methodologies such as lean and half a dozen sigma are used to address quality and competency improvements.These approaches study the work stations, the efficiencies of moving work from one to the other, space and time improvements and so on. The philosophies can arguably be applied to moving paperwork through an office, each work station being a person with specific skills. Quocirca tested this with the Operations Managers in the survey and a surprising 100% say they operate a philosophy of continuous improvement, with 66% using either lean or six sigma approaches. Use of these methodologies has changed since they were first introduced by FrederickTaylor, when employees were often considered to be a liability, with organisations applying streamlining and lean manufacturing principles to keep employee cos ts down. The approach to increasing productivity was based on a carrot and stick approach reward success, punish disappointment together with making the tasks quite granular so that individuals could become extremely quick and skilled at a limited set of tasks. nowadays employees are considered to be assets the only appreciating asset in many organisations. Organisations use words like engagement, empowerment and job satisfaction when talking about their approach to employee productivity.And in general, although it is easy to forget that this is not true of all employees, staff do like to feel that they can add value and participate in decisions that may affect them. Gaining the buy-in of employees is an important factor when introducing systems to monitor staff productivity and the quality of work being done. Prioritisation of operational factors metric 0% Quality/error rates Time taken for a process Cost of processing No of complaints Speed of response 5 Most important 4 3 2 1 least important 20% 40% 60% 80% 100%Although quality of work is ranked as being of the highest priority, the performance targets set for both team and individual measurement still put productivity above measurements of quality and good customer service. This could be because productivity is easier to monitor or because, in reality, cost measurements are associated with the level of work throughput. Measuring staff satisfaction is given a much lower priority in general, with only 24% of organisations stating that this measurement is very important for teams, 11% for individuals.There is evidence however, that organisations are aware of the costs of re-work and of handling customer complaints. When asked about establishing a return on investment for operations management systems, many organisations are 2007 Quocirca Ltd www. quocirca. com kinsfolk 2007 Operations Management in Financial Services Page 3 Use of software applications 85% of those interviewed have specific applica tions to measure and monitor operations with over 80% expressing that these systems are passing(prenominal) or very satisfactory.Some shortfalls were noted which included the difficulties in monitoring individual performance and in measuring the qualitative aspects of work. Those that have these specific applications report significant improvements (figure 3) but it is surprising that the use of an application does not have a more far reaching impact, despite being considered to be successful. Figure 3 Figure 5 How important is it to 0% Know, at any point in time, who is doing what? Reallocate work during the day? 20% 40% 60% 80% 100% 5 precise important 4 3 2 Not important at all Impact of operations management system on 0% Improved customer service Reduced operational costs deepen quality of applications Improved staff utilisation Improved staff motivation Major Impact Some Impact No Impact 20% 40% 60% 80% 100% This is likely to require specific systems focused on defining the steps involved in a process and then measuring throughput, over and above the use of metre BI (business countersign) tools to measure the overall metrics of work throughput. Obstacles to improving operationsDespite the high level of importance that this survey found was attributed to operations management improvements, and to investing in specific systems to enable this, obstacles do exist, notably ? staff resistance to change and to being monitored ? other priorities in the organisation which included dealing with legislation and responding to introduction of new revenue generating products ? establishing an ROI. Figure 6 It is perhaps the complexity of what actually comprises such an application which includes management information systems (MIS), document and process management as well as scheduling and forecasting capabilities.Quocirca believes that it is complex to bring such technologies together into a comprehensive application supporting the full requirements of oper ations and there is room for those vendors that focus on specific elements to develop a purpose strengthened product to support operations management. Figure 4 What are the chief(prenominal) obstacles to improving operations management? 0% 20% 40% 60% 80% 100% Essential components of an operations management solution 0% Management information system Document management Workload scheduling Staff forecasting Process management 20% 40% 60% 80% 100%Staff resistance to being monitored/measured Staff resistance to change Establishing an ROI Other priorities in organisation Major fuss Somewhat of a problem Minor problem Not a problem Technology usage 4 3 2 1 Not important 5 Very important Real-time visibility of work Applying production management techniques to work throughput should crocked that it is possible to know exactly where a piece of work is at any time. The aboriginal issue is whether this would apply to tracking a piece of customer business, be that an application for a new product or a interrogation or claim against a product.The survey found that having real-time visibility of work and being able to re-allocate to the appropriate person was important. This may mean an overhead of logging individual actions on an operations management system, but it is clear that this is perceived as beneficial. 2007 Quocirca Ltd The operations management systems in use today are predominantly client/server (61%) but when asked what technology would be expected to be in use in both years time, there was a shift to pure web technology (91%). Respondents were also asked about hosted offerings either as pure hosted or as software as a service (SaaS).Neither of these was perceived to be important to operations management delivery today or in twain years time. Technically there is nothing to prevent the hold out to SaaS applications and it could be a lack of awareness of what the benefits of SaaS are, that produced this response. However, it is likely that operat ions is perceived as very specific to each financial services organisation and that this would put it behind other areas of the business in the move to SaaS technologies. September 2007 www. quocirca. com Operations Management in Financial ServicesPage 4 Interview Sample Distribution The information presented in this report was derived from 75 interviews with senior IT influencers and Operations Managers completed in May 2007. It was important to get an even balance of views so 46% of the respondents were directly involved in operations management with 54% representing the IT function. The sizes of the organisations contacted, selected by the number of employees to be a representative sample of UK Financial Services organisations, were 5000+ employees, 57% 1000 5000 employees, 43%.The Financial Services organisations were spread over Insurance and Assurance, Retail and enthronization Banking, Pensions and Building Societies. About eg eg is the leading provider of Operations Manag ement solutions that form a rapid performance improvement programme to Improve Customer Service Delivery. Operations Management improvements are made through the deployment of two core products/services ? ? Proprietary operational intelligence software packages grooming and development for Managers and Team Leaders in Production management methodological analysis gs proprietary software package eg operational intelligence including eg work manager has been developed and refined over the last 15 years and form a comprehensive work, resource and performance reporting tool. It enables clients to gather information about the key factors affecting performance and, using egs operational management techniques identify appropriate decisions and actions that improve efficiency and reduce costs within weeks.When implemented with the eg principles of operational management methodology, eg operational intelligence provides the opportunity for egs clients to double their productivity and drama tically improve customer service levels almost immediately. It also forms a foundation for continuous improvements in subsequent years. For more information, please contact Sophie Goodwin Spreckley Partners Ltd T +44 (0)20 7388 9988 E emailprotected co. uk About Quocirca Quocirca is a primary research and analysis confederation specialising in the business impact of information technology and communications (ITC).With world-wide, aborigine language reach, Quocirca provides in-depth insights into the views of buyers and influencers in large, mid-sized and small organisations. Through researching perceptions, Quocirca displays the real hurdles to technology adoption the personal and political aspects of an organisations environment and the pressures of the need for demonstrable business value in any implementation. This capability to uncover and report back on the end-user perceptions in the market enables Quocirca to advise on the realities of technology adoption, not the promise s.Sponsorship of specific studies by such organisations allows much of Quocircas research to be placed into the public domain at no cost. Quocircas independent culture and the real-world experience of Quocircas analysts ensure that our research and analysis is always objective, accurate and challenging. Quocirca reports are freely available to everyone and may be requested via www. quocirca. com. Contact Quocirca Ltd Mountbatten House Fairacres Windsor Berkshire SL4 4LE United Kingdom Tel +44 1753 754 838 2007 Quocirca Ltd www. quocirca. com September 2007