Archive for April 2010

China co-operation at WTO


After the WTO finally opened its doors for China on Saturday, British authorities both in political and economic circles applauded the accession, saying they expected more opportunities and co-operation with China.

One of the most influential business newspapers, the London-based Financial Times, welcomed China's WTO entry in its commentary. It said that because China was one of the world's most robust economies at the moment, it would send a positive signal to the rest of the global economy, which is on the brink of recession. China's entry would prompt recovery, the paper said. Relevant political and businessemen also extended warm greetings to China, predicting brighter prospects in its economic development.

Sir Jeremy Hanley, UK Former Conservative Party Chairman, said: "Brave step that China is taking in joining the World Trade Organization will have a very positive effect, not only on trade relation with the United Kingdom, but also with the whole of Europe, indeed, with the whole world. "

Analysts believe China's entry to the WTO is not only important for Chinese economic development, but also for the world's trade and international relationship.

The historic event should promote China's ongoing economic reform and speed up its economic restructuring process. WTO membership is expected to provide more job opportunities in China, which in turn should boost export and import volume. China is expected to maintain its economic growth and make greater progress among Asia-Pacific countries after WTO accession. //

Spokesman for the US State Department Richard Boucher said Thursday in Washington that China's entry into the World Trade Organization (WTO) is "very important" to the United States.

"China's accession to the WTO has been very important to the United States and many other countries," Boucher told a news briefing.

He said that the United States has always seen as "a very positive step" China's integration with the world.

He also said that China's entry into "is very important for the Chinese throughout the country in opening up and giving them opportunity to trade, as well as opening up opportunities for foreign companies."

He said that China's accession to the WTO would "creates a lot of new opportunities for all of us," including China.

"The opportunity for more American exports to China is one of the things we look for as well as the transforming effect on the Chinese economy, the benefits of economic reform in China."

Remarks by President Clinton in Welcoming Ceremonies


Ni men hao. Thank you for the key to your city and for this magnificent welcome.

Here in this ancient capital, China seems very young to me tonight, blessed with both a proud history and the promise of tomorrow. I am delighted to begin my journey in Xi'an, once the capital of China, still the heartland of the Chinese people. I was raised in the heartland of my country. I know that the character of a nation is determined by the hard-working people who live there.

Over 1,000 years ago, during the Tang Dynasty, which I have seen recreated tonight, Xi'an was perhaps the most open and culturally advanced city in the entire world. From this place, trade routes extended through Asia to Europe and Africa. And to this place, great thinkers came, spreading philosophy and new ideas that have

contributed to the greatness of China.

Tomorrow, I look forward to seeing the Terra Cotta Warriors, the Old City walls, the Muslim quarter. I look forward to learning more about China's great contributions to the store of human knowledge, from medicine and printing to mathematics and astronomy — discoveries on which so much of the whole world's progress is based. And I want to see more of the new nation you are building on a scale even the emperors could not have foreseen.

The China that gave us printing now boasts fax machines, computers, and cell phones. Xi'an is home to film-makers, Internet explorers, businesspeople of every description. Here in this city, famous for calligraphy, a new chapter in China's story is being written.

We Americans admire your accomplishments, your economy, your hard work, creativity, and vision, your efforts against hunger and poverty, your work with us on peace and stability in Korea and South Asia. A new day is dawning for the Chinese people, for China's greatness lies, as always, with its people.

Our own history has convinced Americans that the greatness of any country is measured in its people — in their shared reverence for family and community, for work and learning, and in their individual thoughts, beliefs, and creativity.

Respect for the worth, the dignity, the potential, and the freedom of every citizen is a vital source of America's strength and success. In this global information age, where both economic growth and individual opportunity are based on ideas, a commitment to providing all human beings the opportunity to develop their full potential is vital to the strength and success of the new China, as well.

As I travel across China, I hope to learn as much as I can about the Chinese people, your history, and your dreams for the future; and I hope to help the Chinese people understand more of America's history, the lessons the American people have drawn from it, and the dreams we hold for the 21st century.

I believe both Chinese and Americans aspire to many of the same things — to provide for our families, to teach our children, to build our communities, to protect our Earth, to shape our own futures, and pass brighter possibilities on to our children.

There may be those here and back in America who wonder whether closer ties and deeper friendship between America and China are good. Clearly, the answer is yes. We have a powerful ability to help each other grow. We can learn much from each other. And as two great nations, we have a special responsibility to the future of the world. The steps we take over the next week can lead to far greater strides for our people in the years ahead.

Here in this city of your magnificent history, we must always remember that we, too, are ancestors. Someday our children and their children will ask if we did all we could to build just societies and a more peaceful world. Let our monument be their

judgement that we did that. Let our progress include all people, with all their differences, moving toward a common destiny.

Let us give new meaning to the words written in the ancient Book of Rites, what you call the Li Shi: When the great way is followed, all under heaven will be equal.

Xie xie. Thank you very much.

April Fools’ Day


'To end our special news bulletin,' said the voice of the television announcer, ' we are taking you. to the v macaroni fields of Calabria. Macaroni has been grown in this area for over six hundred years. Two of the leading growers Giuseppe Moldo and Riccardo Brabante, Here you can see two workers who, between them, have just finished cutting three cart-loads of golden brown golden roams macaroni ''stalks macaroni stalks. The whole village has flee working day- and night gathering and threshing this year's crop before the; September rains. On the right, you can see Mrs Brabante herself. She has been helping her husband for thirty years now.

Mrs Brabante is talking to the manager of the local factory where the crop is processed. This last scene shows y»v what will happen at the end of the harvest the famous Calabrian macaroni-eating competition!

Do the English Speak


I arrived in London at last. The railway station was big, black and dark. I did not know the Way to my hotel, so I asked a porter. I not only spoke English very carefully, but very clearly as well. The porter, however, could not understand me. I repeated my question several times and at last he understood. He answered me, but he spoke neither slowly nor clearly. 'I am a foreigner,' I said. Then he spoke slowly, but I could not under-stand him. My teacher never spoke English like that! The porter and I looked at each other and smiled. Then he said something and I understood it. 'You'll soon learn English!' he said. I wonder. In England, each man speaks a different language. The English understand each other, but / don't understand them! Do they speak English ?

Employers' legal duties


• To issue drivers with sufficient charts of the correct type

• To ensure that drivers understand the hours rules

« To schedule work so that it can be done within the drivers' hours rules

• To made periodic checks of charts to ensure the rules are being observed

• To ensure that charts are returned within 21 days of use

• To retain charts in good order for at least a year and to make them available for inspection if necessary.

Replacement of the chart.

It may be left in the vehicle overnight to record the rest period and should be replaced at the start of the next day. This will not be possible if the vehicle is likely to be driven by another driver during the night or a different vehicle is to be driven next day. In these cases, the night's rest should be record manually on the back on the chart.

Contractor management


The final part of the outsourcing process is to ensure that the contactor is adequately managed. This is a key consideration that is sadly neglected by some users. The signing of the contract should not be seen as the end of the outsourcing process. It is vital to continue to control and monitor the contractor to ensure that the overall business and operational objectives are achieved.

There are a number of different means of controlling and monitoring the contractor with respect to the usual twin goals of cost and service perfomance achievement or improvement. The main activities are likely to include;

• The contract;

• Budgetary control;

• Management information and metrics;

• Review meetings;

" Audits through open book;

• Incentivization of the management fee.

Retail order processing


Companies that operate intermediate to manufacturers and consumers frequently design their order - processing system with a moderate degree of automation. Very quick order response is usually not necessary since there are inventories available for final consumers. These inventories act as a buffer against the indirect effects of the replenishment order cycle. However, replenishment order cycle times that help to maintain a fixed replenishment schedule are important. Consider how a company that resupplies thousands of retail outlets designed its order - processing cycle for the replenishment of goods in their stores.

Modern information systems have had the benefit of replacing many of the assets previously needed to run a business. Using the information superhighway, or internet, companies have been able to reduce warehouse space, lower inventory levels, reduce handling time, and better- track order progress. Consider how a warehouse - free distribution, direct -to- customer delivery system works.

Air transportation


Air transportation is being considered by increasing numbers of shippers for regular service, even though air freight rates exceed those of trucking by more then 2 times and those of rail by more than 16 times. The appeal of air transportation is its unmatched origin- destination speed, especially over long distances.

Air—service dependability and availability can be rated as good under nor-mal operating conditions. Delivery - time variability is low in absolute magnitude, even though air service is quite sensitive to mechanical breakdown, weather conditions, and traffic congestion. Variability, when compared with average delivery times, can rank air as one of the least reliable modes.

The capability of air has been greatly constrained by the physical dimensions of the cargo space in the aircraft and the aircraft's lifting capacity. This is be-coming less of a constraint, however, as larger aircraft are put into service. Door -to- door ton - mile costs are expected to drop to about one half of the current cost levels through the benefits of new technology, deregulation, and productivity, improvement programs. This would make air a serious competitor with the premium forms of surface- transport services.

Air transportation has distinct advantage in terms of loss and damage, the ratio of claim to freight revenue was only about 60 percent of those for truck or rail. In general, less protective packaging is required for air freight, provided that ground handling does not offer a higher exposure to damage than an route phase of the movement and that airport theft is not excessive.

Air transportation service exists in common, contract, and private legal forms. Direct service is offered in seven types:

• regular domestic truck — line carriers

• all cargo carriers

• local — service airlines

• supplement carriers

• air taxis

• commuter air lines

• international carriers.

Calculate equipment quantities


The amount of equipment required is calculated from the basic design data and equipment operational characteristics. Typically the stock - holding requirements will dictate how much storage capacity to incorporate into a design, and the type of storage will also influence the final numbers.

Handling equipment requirements will be based on material movements in the warehouse, including seasonal variations and short - term peak loads, and operational data on equipment capacities, typically manufacturers' technical data plus operation experience. Shift working patterns will affect these calculations, and also determine whether spare batteries will be required for battery - powered trucks. The number of order picking trucks will depend not only on total ware-house throughput, but also on order sizes and frequencies.

Data on goods received, including delivery window and times required for vehicle unloading, will dictate receiving dock facilities such as access doors and dock levelers, and the handling the equipment for vehicle unloading. Similar considerations apply to dispatch. The provision of raised docks or level docks will depend on the types of vehicle accessing the warehouse — end loading or side loading. Space requirements for order collation and assembly should take account of the working patterns of order arrival at dispatch, and the way in which vehicle schedules integrate with these internal work patterns.

Using stock and through figures, and equipment operating characteristics, the calculations of basic equipment are generally straightforward when taken operation by operation. What is not easy to calculate however is the effect of all the mobile equipment and operating staff, working together, and interacting and interfacing, and sometimes getting in the way of one another, and causing queues arid delays. This dynamic situation is nearer the real operational situation than is one based on merely calculating each operation in isolation. For this reason, computer- based dynamic simulation techniques are used, to validate the "static" calculations and to take account of potential interference between activities when running simultaneously.

Order picking regimes


Different methods of order picking are discussed later in this part, hut an-other classification must first be considered. In any one journey or circuit by a picker through a picking area, how many orders or how much of only one order should or can be picked? The answer clearly depends on the size of order, and al-so on the picking method, and size of unit load or container into which orders are being picked. A number of categories can be recognized.