Maritime Logistics CMA CGM Logistics

Introduction For the efficient movement of goods services and related products from one place to another, there must be a system that facilitates the flow. Maritime logistics ensures that the products are efficiently moved from different locations. It involves the supply of raw materials to the manufacturers, the distribution of the products to the suppliers and the delivery of the final products to the consumers of the products.Advertising We will write a custom report sample on Maritime Logistics: CMA CGM Logistics specifically for you for only $16.05 $11/page Learn More A large proportion of the world trade is carried out in the sea; hence, for the efficient maritime transportation, there must be confidence in the transportation by sea, while the ports that handle the products must be efficiently run so as to minimize delays and loss of cargo. Maritime logistics can be defined as a detailed coordination of maritime activities with relation to people, facilities and supplies (Mangan, Lalwani and Butcher, 2008, p 8). The maritime logistics industry is faced with stiff competition. There are few and large maritime logistics companies which are mostly involved in all the areas of the world. Mergers and acquisitions are usually common in the industry as the main players of the industry try to consolidate their position (Zhang and Alon, 2011 p 108). Due to the presence of the few and large companies, the companies which are involved in the maritime trade must be able to effectively locate themselves through efficient strategic planning. The company must be able to effectively use its strong points to achieve a competitive edge, failure to do so will result in the collapse of the company and ultimate acquisition by the other large companies. Critical factors which will ensure that the company gains a competitive edge are quality, cost and time. There are various types of cargo which are transported by the maritime organizations. These include: Containerized cargo: this refers to cargo which is usually stored in containers. A wide range of goods are usually transported in this method. The containerized goods are easy to handle as the containers are usually of set standards hence facilitating mechanization of their handling. Bulk cargo: this refers to goods which are loose and not containerized. Cement, grains and ores are usually transported in this form. Automobiles: This refers to vehicles and trucks. Project cargo: this refers to heavy machinery or equipment which is used by a company for a specific purpose. Handling of this type of cargo usually requires special equipments. CMA CGM logistics CMA CGM is a company which has its headquarters in Marseille. It is ranked as the third largest container shipping company and offers a range of specialized services to suit the needs of the customers. CMA CGM has 352 vessels which operate on 170 shipping routes. The routes help in connecting 150 countries. CMA CGM logis tics has many subsidiary companies. The company has consolidated its position by acquiring other companies in the maritime industry. The company acquired Delmas, a French maritime company, which was among its major competitors, hence moving from the fifth position to the third position (anon, 2005).Advertising Looking for report on business economics? Let's see if we can help you! Get your first paper with 15% OFF Learn More The acquisitions usually elicit so many questions on the antitrust regulation regarding the creation of a conducive and competitive business environment (Liu, 2009, p 198) CMA CGM mainly deals with containerized cargo. However, the company has many other subsidiary companies which offer a wide range of services in the maritime industry. The services offered include tourism, logistics, leasing of containers and maritime shuttle services. Main competitors CMA CGM logistics is the third largest container company in the world. The leading companies in the maritime container segment are Mediterranean shipping company and A. P Mollar-Maersk Group. Other leading companies in the industry include: evergreen, PO and MOL. The large companies in the maritime logistics have the largest market share in the industry. The 20 largest container carriers controlled 72 percent of the container capacity in 2002. In addition the 5 largest companies controlled 34 percent of the container capacity in that year (Sutton, 2008, p 231) There are other small players in the industry who though they do not form a sizeable percentage of the market share still pose a threat to the big companies. Industry and competition Maritime logistics industry is a very competitive industry. Maritime logistics chain encompasses three main segments. These are pure maritime activities, handling of goods in the port and the inland transportation of the goods (OECD, 2010, p 72). The maritime logistics companies do not dominate the inland transportation of the cargo. The ma ritime logistics companies which have shipping lines share about 30 percent of the inland transportation services (OECD, 2010, p 52). How a company approaches the provision of the above services usually determines the quality of the services that it will be able to provide. In addition companies must ensure that they provide the above services to effectively minimize on the time taken for products to move from one place to another. LTI a subsidiary of CMA CGM conveniently offers the services to the customers. The provision of the maritime logistics services usually involves different ports. For this reason, most of the maritime logistics companies have different agencies and offices in many parts of the world where the companies have their services in operation. The agencies and offices are mainly involved in the provision of supporting services to their customers. The agencies also help in the coordination with other parties who are involved in the provision of the required service s (Lung, Lai and Cheng, 2010, p 112). The agencies help in the improvement of the quality of services which are offered by the maritime logistics companies. The agencies are usually convenient located in areas where the customers can easily reach them. They may be located at the ports or inland near the customers’ location. CMA CGM has offices and agencies in many parts of the world. The agencies and offices are usually found in large numbers in areas where the company has many customers who use its operations.Advertising We will write a custom report sample on Maritime Logistics: CMA CGM Logistics specifically for you for only $16.05 $11/page Learn More USA and china are the two countries which have the greatest number of customers who use the services of CMA CGM. In 2008 CMA CGM had 650 agencies and offices in most parts of the world. In the US the company had 25 agencies whereas in china it had 63 offices (CMA CGM company website, 2010). Legis lation in different activities concerning the maritime activities usually affects the working of the maritime logistics companies. It usually determines the amount of time that the products will take to move from one place to another. For this reason many countries strive to integrate the activities of the ports to facilitate the easy movement of the products in the ports. Another major factor that adversely affects the maritime logistics companies is the availability of storage space in the ports in which the ships dock (Rodrigue and Browne, n.d, p 5). Availability of storage space in the ports determines the time that the ships will spend in the ports. Lack of sufficient storage space will result in the ship overstaying in the ports as unloading of the ships cannot take place. This ultimately affects the efficiency of the maritime logistics companies. In some cases the lack of storage space is usually caused by the different legislation in different countries which requires the cl earing of the cargo at different points. This ultimately affects the quality of the services provided by the maritime logistics company. To solve the problem of lack of storage space most of the maritime logistics companies usually have parks in which their goods can be stored. CMA CGM logistics has several such parks in different ports. Other terminal operation such as loading and offloading of the cargo usually affect the time taken by the goods to reach their destinations. The container terminal operations are usually contracted to a different company. The maritime logistics companies therefore have to be very careful in the selection of the companies (Lung, Lai and Cheng, 2010, p 112). If the terminal operator does his work fast he will help the maritime logistics company in saving the time taken to take the goods to reach their destination. The time taken by the goods to reach their destination is also affected by speed of the specific ships which carry the products. To reduce the time taken by the ships there have been efforts to increase the speed of the ships. There are currently ships which run at a speed of 25 knots which is the highest speed of the ships (Rodrigue and Browne, n.d, p 8). Many companies therefore try to acquire the high speed ships to help in minimizing the time taken by the ships to reach their designated destinations.Advertising Looking for report on business economics? Let's see if we can help you! Get your first paper with 15% OFF Learn More Handling of the containers used for the transportation of the goods is among the major costs of the maritime logistics companies. The containers are usually expensive in their purchase, rent and repair. In addition the companies need to have mechanisms of removing the empty containers from the ports as they occupy so much space in the ports hence increasing the storage charges (Lung, Lai and Cheng, 2010, p 111). This usually facilitates the creation of efficient and cost-effective networks to facilitate the movement of the containers to the areas where they are mostly needed. The different companies need to coordinate with the inland transporters of the containers to develop a system which will ensure the empty containers are repositioned at minimal costs (Lung, Lai and Cheng, 2010, p 112). The cost of handling the empty containers is very expensive for CMA CGM hence this greatly helps in reducing the costs. Another factor that affects the companies involved in the maritime logistic s is space management. How a company utilizes the space determines the cost of the services. This has necessitated many companies to use large vessels which would carry many containers and hence occupy less space. The large vessels enable the company to benefit from the economies of scale. Most of the companies are now using the large vessels to benefit from the situation (Lung, Lai and Cheng, 2010, p 109). The maritime logistics companies need to form networks with the operators who are involved in the inland transportation of the goods through rail or road. This is known as the intermodal services. This would help in reduction of the time taken by the goods to reach their destination as there would be easy flow of the goods. The cooperation between the operators also saves the companies money as it makes the company not to have to invest in the provision of the services (Lung, Lai and Cheng, 2010, p 110). CMA CGM has many multimodal services. These services help in the provision o f door to door shipping services to their customers as they facilitate the inland movement of the goods via road, rail or river. CMA CGM formed the river shuttle containers to move the containers inland in France via Seine, Rhone and Saone rivers. The company also formed LTI which facilitates the movement of the containers via road (CMA CGM company website, 2010). Maritime logistics companies also use information technology to help in the improvement of the quality of the services which they provide. Information technology ensures that there is efficient flow of information between the offices of the company, which are located in all parts of the world. It also facilitates the flow of information between the company and the customers with regard to the schedule of the voyages and helps the customers in tracking their goods. Information technology also enables the customers to book (Lung, Lai and Cheng, 2010, p 111). CMA CGM has also collaborated with other shipping companies in the development of an internet portal known as INTTRA. This is a single site which would enable the customers to access the services offered by many liner shipping companies (Lung, Lai and Cheng, 2010, p 111). The provision of the real time information to the customers leads to improvement in the quality of the services offered by the company. This would help in increasing the customers of the company as the customers are mainly concerned with the quality and not the price of the services offered (Tseng, Yue and Taylor, 2005, p 1664) The provision of the information to customers in a way that they can readily access helps in the improvement of the quality of the services offered by the company. Reference List Anon. 2005. CMA-CGM buy Delmas and become the third largest ship-owner worldwide. Web. CMA CGM company website. 2010. CMA CGM company website. Web. Liu, C., 2009. Maritime Transport Services in the Law of the Sea and the World Trade Organization.  Bern: Peter Lang. Lun, Y. H. V., Lai, K. and Cheng T. C. E., 2010. Shipping and Logistics Management. London: Springer. Mangan J., Lalwani C. and Butcher, T., 2008. Global logistics and supply chain management. West Sussex: John Wiley and Sons, OECD. 2010. Itf Round Tables Integration and Competition Between Transport and Logistics Businesses. NY: OECD Publishing. Rodrigue, J. and Browne, M.,  Ã‚  International maritime freight transport and logistics. Blackwell publishing. Web. Sutton, M., 2008. Maritime logistics and the world trading system. Web. Tseng, Y., Yue W. L. and Taylor, M. A., 2005. The role of transportation in logistics chain. Proceedings of the Eastern Asia society for transportation studies. Web. Zhang, W. and Alon, I., 2011. A Guide to the Top 100 Companies in China. MA: World Scientific. This report on Maritime Logistics: CMA CGM Logistics was written and submitted by user Kali H. to help you with your own studies. You are free to use it for research and reference purposes in order to write your own paper; however, you must cite it accordingly. You can donate your paper here.

Food Web Diagram Essays

Food Web Diagram Essays Food Web Diagram Essay Food Web Diagram Essay Essay Topic: Web Food Web Diagram Name: Course: Institution: : Instructor: Date: Food Web Diagram Selected ecosystem – The Everglades The Florida Everglades is swampy and used to be called â€Å"River of Grass† because it runs through prairies of saw grass. This special area is home to a varied plant and animal population. Over the last century, human activities have destroyed the ecosystem for their selfish gains. They have constructed canals that transport water from the system to their homes and farms. This has changed the flow of water into the everglades, which has resulted to loss of habitat and animals due to insufficient and lack of food and water. For example, alligators lose their nests when canals and gates are opened to release water into the everglades. This is due to the massive flooding that is caused by this water. The water in the everglades has been constantly polluted by the industries and pesticides used by human being on their farms. The everglades experiences dramatic weather and climate changes throughout the year making it difficult for the animals and plants to survive. Nevertheless, the plants and animals have adapted to the harsh weather conditions in this ecosystem. The varying soils and salinity of water in this ecosystem has provided it with the millions of plant and animal species. Some plants and animals are considered endangered but are preserved in this ecosystem like the American crocodile, wood stock, snail kite, loggerhead turtle and the southern bald eagle. Herbivores (marsh rabbit, deer, apple snail) Omnivorous(mosquito fish, opossum, raccoon)

The Art of Speaking

The Art of Speaking The Art of Speaking The Art of Speaking By Hugh Ashton The art of reporting speech in writing, that is. There are a few writers whom I really admire for their skill in dialog: John le Carrà © and Elmore Leonard. Two very different writers, but their work contains a common element; the ability to place a character in social context with just a few words. Le Carrà ©s characters, almost as soon as they open their mouths, position themselves accurately within the complex British class system, and Leonards characters likewise indicate their origins through their words. In many ways, Elmore Leonards skill is greater, as one of his rules for writing dialog is not to use dialect when reporting characters speech. Other rules he lays down for writers are not to use adverbs when reporting characters dialog (in one of his books, one character is herself a novelist, and claims to have written novels full of rape and adverbs), and not to use any word other than said to describe the act of speech by a character. Maybe this comes from his experiences as a scriptwriter, where the actor is given the words and told to interpret them. At the initial stage of the script, only the words are provided the director and actors then agree on the interpretation. This can only be done effectively, though, if the words themselves provide the meaning, which means the words you put into characters mouths have to be accurate; exactly what that character would say in that situation. Take this exchange from Leonard: Man, you knew it, didnt you? You look at this shit laying on the bottom, you knew it wasnt gonna go off. You run the price up on me with nothing to worry about. Chris said, Thats why people like me like to get hired by people like you. (Freaky Deaky, Elmore Leonard) See, no adverbs, no complained or whined for the first speaker. Just the words, maam and they work so well with no ornamentation. You know the tone of voice of both speakers you can place the sort of person speaking, and you can even picture their relative positions and bodily attitudes while they speak. I sometimes break Elmores adverb rule, but since learning about it, my adverb quotient has decreased radically, and so has my use of words like exclaimed, screamed, protested, as Ive learned to use my inner ear more to listen to my characters conversations. Want to improve your English in five minutes a day? Get a subscription and start receiving our writing tips and exercises daily! Keep learning! Browse the Fiction Writing category, check our popular posts, or choose a related post below:50 Slang Terms for MoneyBody Parts as Tools of MeasurementWhen to use "an"

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The Influence of the Laocoon in Bernini's Neptune and Triton Essay

The Influence of the Laocoon in Bernini's Neptune and Triton - Essay Example For this reason, his influence was widespread in the 17th and 18th century. Apart from being a sculptor, Bernini was also gifted as a stage set designer, an architect, funeral trappings and painter among others1. Bernini’s art was highly influenced by the ancient Roman and Greek art and the Italian masters of the 16th century. Among some of his most celebrated sculptures include the Ecstasy of St. Theresa in Santa Maria Della Victoria, the Neptune and Triton sculptor and the Blessed Ludovica Albertoni in San Francesco among others. In 1622 to 1623, Bernini created the Neptune and Triton, which portrays the life-size figure of Neptune and the sea-god Triton (Pollitt, 1990) 2. Thus, this paper will examine the influence of Laocoon on the carving technique of Bernini’s Neptune and Triton sculpture, and how this sculpture has an emotional power through facial expression and body language. Bernini began learning art at an early age from his father who was also a sculptor. At seven years, his family moved to Rome where they worked for the Barberini and Borghese families. This gave him a chance to learn to sculpt even further, and at the age of eight, he made his first authenticated work: The Goat Amalthea with an infant Jupiter and a Faun, which was a considerable achievement for a boy his age. Boardman states that Bernini was able to absorb the realism of Caravaggio that was the basis of all his art, and always sought full verisimilitude in his figures, which retained the classical art features of the previous period 3. The great influence of Greek art in his work was such that one of his works was classified as Hellenistic from 300 BC. Bernini expected so much from himself as well as his assistants. His work shows a level of virtuosity in his ability to carve marble, and to assemble it together from several blocks in order to produce an effect of realism. Additionally, he thought in terms of settings just like Michelangelo and intended his art to be s een from one viewpoint only. Thus, Virgil argues that Bernini made his marble appear real through shouting, speaking, laughing, screaming and even sighing4. For instance, the statue of the damned soul, which is a three dimensional horror from a Caravaggio scene of terror, appears to emit blood which shows fear2. Moreover, Bernini’s statue of David is portrays how David was able to use every muscle in the body to slay the giant. The grim of his jaw reflects how he is straining and sweating as he tries to slay the giant. Thus, these features make Bernini’s statue of David quite distinct from those created by Verrocchio, Donatello and Michelangelo. It portrays sculptural realism taken to greater heights by Bernini. During his youth, Bernini studied the works of Raphael and Michelangelo, but his work was influenced more by the Hellenistic sculpture and the Roman sculpture in the Hellenistic tradition. This classical art helped him to develop a more powerful dynamic and flu id style that characterized his art. According to Boardman, his stylistic work in art was inspired by contemporary paintings such as the Guido Reni and the carraci that were made by Caravaggio 5. Bernini’s art was based entirely on the baroque style in which he was able to achieve a maximum drama and movement of change. Baroque art was influenced and inspired by political and social factors, as well as exploration and discovery of the

Methods Of Minimizing Delays Construction Essay

Methods Of Minimizing Delays Construction Essay A successful construction project is accomplished when the project is completed and hand over to the owner within time, costs, specifications and quality required and to the satisfaction of stakeholders. Thus, completing a construction project on time is vital as it secure the rights of the participating parties on the project. When a project is delayed, it will cause the resources employed to be exceeded as what has been planned. This extra use of resources will lead to disputes and claims arise as extra costs will be incurred to complete the project by the participating parties. Abd El-Razek et al. (2008) identified that delay in construction project is considered one of the most common problems causing a multitude negative effect on the project and its participating parties. Delays are insidious often resulting in time overrun, cost overrun, disputes, litigation, and complete abandonment of projects (Sambasivan and Yau, 2007). Many projects are of such a nature that the client will suffer hardship, expense, or loss of revenue if the work is delayed beyond the time specified in the contract. Then, again, delay has cost consequences for the contractor: standby costs of non-productive workers, supervisors, and equipment, expenses caused by disrupted construction and material delivery schedules and additional overhead costs (Clough, 1986). Delay on project will affect the parties to the contract involved. Issues regarding entitlement to extra costs or prolongation of time for the project may arise as consequences to the project delay. Questions arise as to the causes of delay and the assigning of fault often evolves into disputes and litigation (Bolton, 1990). Thus, it is very important to find out the methods with relevant to its causal factors of delay so that the effects of the delay on the project can be reduced. This is because the project delay itself and also the resolution of disputes are both a waste of resources. It is important to predict and identify problems in the early stages of construction and diagnose the cause to find and implement the most appropriate and economical solutions (Abdul-Rahman and Berawi, 2002). Several researches had been carried out to studied and recommended on methods to minimize delay in construction industry in their studies of investigating causes or causes and effects of delays in either specific types of construction projects or in general, representing the overall construction industry. 3.2 Methods of Minimizing Construction Delays Assaf et al. (1995) in the literature review of his study of investigating the causes of delay in large building projects in Saudi Arabia, noted that studied by Chalabi and Camp (1984) suggested that in developing countries, where workers are relatively unskilled, adequate planning at the very early stages of the project was important for minimizing delay and cost overruns in most projects. Chan and Kumaraswamy (1997) conducted a study to survey the causes of construction delays in Hong Kong as seen by clients, contractor and consultants, and examined the factors affecting productivity. This study also suggests some useful pointers towards minimizing the problems causing delays on construction site. Following are the recommendations: The relationship between success on site and strong management teams underlines the need for effective site management and supervision by contractors and consultants. Manpower, at both the technical and the managerial levels, should have their own knowledge updated by continuous professional development schemes. This may be in the form of short training programmes or day release courses in educational establishments. Insufficient knowledge of the sites causes many delays in projects. The investigation of site conditions, together with the design of groundworks and foundations, should be thorough, complete and clearly presented before commencement of construction so as to reduce the impact of any unforeseen ground conditions. Effective data communication between various groups and levels involved in a project, emphasizes the need for efficient methods of information processing in the construction industry. To accelerate the communications and decision making among all parties, appropriate overall organizational structures and communication systems linking all project teams should be developed throughout the whole life of the project. The roles and responsibilities of those involved in the project team should be clearly defined, and the designated decision-makers should also be clearly identified. Comprehensive strategies need to be formulated to minimize variations, whether client-initiated or consultant-initiated, wherever possible. A clear and thorough client brief is considered the most useful strategy for reducing variations. Contingency allowances may be incorporated for inevitable variations. These allowances may be better quantified by using risk analysis techniques. Strategies should also be formulated to mitigate the impact of such inevitable variations after obtaining the consultants advice, together with the contractors inputs, on their cost and time implications. Value management techniques may be useful both when developing the design from the brief at the conceptual design stage, as well as in limiting any variations to those that are absolutely essential. The differentials in perception between the different groups of participants in the industry should be noted and discussed in suitable fora, with a view to bridging the gaps and avoiding or resolving some of the avoidable problems that have been highlighted herein. The results of the foregoing survey should be taken into consideration in developing a construction time prediction model for local building and civil engineering construction industries, as has been planned in the next phase of this research programme in Hong Kong. Noulmanee et al. (1999) investigated causes of delays in highway construction in Thailand. They suggested that delay can be minimized by discussions that lead to understanding Aibinu and Jagboro (2002) conducted a study to survey the problem of construction delays in Nigeria. The study was carried out to examine the effects of delays on the delivery of the projects in Nigeria and some recommendations were made to minimize the effects of the projects delays. A questionnaire survey was done over 61 construction projects to determine and assessed the impact of the delay projects on its delivery. Time and cost overruns were found to be the common effects of construction delays. The recommendations made to reduce the impact of the construction delays were: Acceleration of site activities coupled with improved clients project management procedures; and Inclusion of the contingency allowance in the pre-contract estimate. Chan and Kumaraswamy (2002), in their study of compressing construction duration in Hong Kong explored strategies used to compress construction durations for various types of building projects. The paper sought out the critical factors that contribute to the faster construction procedures in Hong Kong. The authors recommended specific technological and managerial strategies to be used to reduce the construction durations. Odeh and Battaineh (2002) in the study of causes of construction delay in traditional contracts suggested that to improve the situation of delays, a joint effort by all participants in the construction industry is needed by: Enforcing liquidated damage clauses and offering incentives for early completion. Developing human resources in the construction industry through proper training and classifying of craftsmen. This calls for providing incentives such as offering a tax deduction on money spent on training, and for authorizing trade unions or other agencies to regulate, follow-up on training, and classify trades. Developing human resources also applies to construction engineers who usually lack adequate managerial skills. There is an urgent need for offering training courses in scheduling, time and cost control, information systems, and management of human resources. Adopting a new approach to contract award procedure by giving less weight to prices and more weight to the capabilities and past performance of contractors. Adopting new approaches to contracting, such as design-build and construction management (CM) types of contracts. Such contracts reduce delays by limiting owner interference, improving the design, and improving the contractual relationships among all parties to the project. Frimpong et al. (2003) give some recommendations minimize delays in the study of causes of delay and cost overruns in the construction of groundwater construction projects in Ghana. Their recommendations are as follows: Appropriate funding levels should always be determined at the planning stage of the project so that regular payment should be paid to contractors for work done. In order to improve contractors managerial skills there is need for continuous work-training programs for personnel in the industry to update their knowledge and be familiar with project management techniques and process. Effective and efficient material procurement systems should be established within projects. Material procurement has the potential to cause major delays to construction projects. Therefore, material procurement process should be executed properly by improving procurement process in order to avoid supply delays. Developing effective and efficient technical performances in the groundwater industry through different types of training programs. The training should cover project planning, scheduling, time and cost control, and the information systems. There should be adequate contingency allowance in order to cover increase in material cost due to inflation. Nguyen et al. (2004) studied the project success factors in large construction projects in Vietnam. Factor analysis was employed to categorize these success factors perceived by 109 respondents from 42 construction-related organizations. The success factors identified in this study were: Clear objectives and scope; Commitment to project; Top management support; Timely, valuable information from different parties; Effective strategic planning; Awarding bids to the right designer/contractor; Continuing involvement of stakeholders in the project; Frequent progress meeting; Adequate funding throughout the project; Availability of resources; Absence of bureaucracy; Community involvement; Clear information and communications channels; Accurate initial cost estimates; Systematic control mechanisms; Competent project manager; Multidisciplinary/competent project team; Comprehensive contract documentation; Up to date technology utilization; and proper emphasis on past experience. Five critical success factors were identified: Competent project manager; Adequate funding until project completion; Multidisciplinary/competent project team; Commitment to project; and Availability of resources. Obviously, the factors shown are mostly human-related factors. This implies that people play a decisive role regarding the success or failure of a project. Further, factor analysis uncovered that most of the success factors can be grouped under four categories, here titled the four COMs: Comfort concerns ensuring that resources, efforts and leadership are well aligned for the implementation of the project. It includes adequate funding throughout the project, comprehensive contract document, availability of resources, continuing involvement of stakeholders, and competent project managers. Competence requires having appropriate technology, experience, and specialties available for the project. It includes up to date technology utilization, proper emphasis on past experience, multidisciplinary/competent project team, and awarding bids to the right designer/contractor. Commitment ensures that all parties concerned with the project and all levels in the management hierarchy of each participating organization are willing to manage, plan, design, construct and operate the facility harmoniously. It includes commitment to project, clear objectives and scope, and top management support. Communication helps clarify and disseminate all necessary project information and status to all internal and external project stakeholders. The project will then have the opportunity to avoid failure and reach for success through the achievement of team-spirit and a sense of ownership. It includes community involvement, clear information/communications channels, and frequent progress meeting. Koushki et al. (2005) recommended some suggestions which could be used to minimize time delays and cost overruns in the study of investigating the delays and cost increases in the construction of private residential projects in Kuwait. They suggested that the owner of a new residential project in Kuwait to: Ensure adequate and available source of finance; Perform a preconstruction planning of project tasks and resource needs; Allocate sufficient time and money on the design phase; If cost-effective (depending on the size of the residential project), hire an independent supervising engineer to monitor the progress of the work and ensure timely delivery of materials; and finally, the most important factor of all, Select a competent consultant and a reliable contractor to carry out the work. Assaf and Al-Hejji (2006) suggested some recommendations that pointed out by all parties which are the contractors, consultants and owner to minimize and control delays in construction projects. Owners should give special attention to the following factors: Pay progress payment to the contractor on time because it impairs the contractors ability to finance the work. Minimize change orders during construction to avoid delays. Avoid delay in reviewing and approving of design documents than the anticipated. Check for resources and capabilities before awarding the contract to the lowest bidder. Contractors should consider the following factors: Shortage and low productivity of labour: enough number of labours should be assigned and be motivated to improve productivity. Financial and cash flow problems: contractor should manage his financial resources and plan cash flow by utilizing progress payment. Planning and scheduling: they are continuing processes during construction and match with the resources and time to develop the work to avoid cost overrun and disputes. Site management and supervision: administrative and technical staff should be assigned as soon as project is awarded to make arrangements to achieve completion within specified time with the required quality, and estimated cost. Consultants should look to the following points: Reviewing and approving design documents: any delay caused by the consultant engineer in checking, reviewing and approving the design submittals prior to construction phase, could delay the progress of the work; Inflexibility: consultants should be flexible in evaluating contractor works. Compromising between the cost and high quality should be considered. Finally; Architect/design engineer should focus on the following issues: Producing design documents on time: Architect/engineer should set a schedule to complete design documents on time, otherwise result in a delay of work completion. Mistakes and discrepancies in design documents: they are common reasons for redoing designs and drawings and may take a long time to make necessary corrections. Ibnu Abbas Majib (2006) in his study of causes and effects of delay in Aceh construction industry, Indonesia suggest some methods which can be employed to minimize construction delays. A total of thirty five methods of minimizing delays were identified in his study. The most effective methods of minimizing delays identified are to: Ensure adequate and available source of finance until project completion; Competent project manager; Availability of resources; Frequent progress meeting; Awarding bids to the right/experience consultant and contractor; Use of experienced subcontractors and suppliers; Multidisciplinary/competent project team; Accurate initial cost estimates; Competent and capable of clients representative; Use of appropriate construction methods; Perform a preconstruction planning of project task and resources needs; and Project management assistance. Abd El-Razek et al. (2008) conducted a similar study of causes of delay in building construction projects in Egypt from the point of view of contractors, consultants, and owners suggested that in order to significantly reduce delay a joint effort based on teamwork is required. Fugar and Agyakwah-Baah (2010) emphasized in their study of delays in building construction projects in Ghana from the perspective of clients, consultants and contractors that the adequate and timely provision of financial resources in building construction project management cannot be over emphasized. This is because the finance is the hub around which everything else revolves. Everybody and everything connected with construction is adversely affected by lack of sufficient cash flow. They made the some recommendations as follows: Construction clients must ensure that funds are available or adequate arrangements for funds are made before projects are started. The long and bureaucratic processes involved in honouring payments to contractors in Ghana must be shortened for efficiency and contractors payments must be honoured as and when they due in strict compliance with the provisions of the contract. Contract provisions which allow contractors to claim interest on delayed payments must be strictly enforced to serve as deterrent to clients. The idea of establishing a commercial bank for building and construction is worth revisiting so that contractors can have access to credit in times of liquidity difficulties. On the other hand, to overcome some contractors ineptitude which correlates directly with delay factors such as underestimation of cost, time of completion and complexity of projects, poor scheduling and control and poor site management, the researchers recommend the following actions. The Civil Engineering and Building Contractors Association of Ghana must institute measures to ensure that its members go through continual education so that the technical and managerial competences of contractors who belong to it can be improved. The acquisition of a certain number of credit hours in continual education should be a criterion for membership renewal. The Ministry of Works and Water Resources, the body responsible for the registration and classification of contractors wishing to execute public projects, must insist on its requirement that contractors must have in their employment certain key technical staff as a condition for registration. Above all, effective ways must be designed to verify the list of staff produced by contractors in support of their application and to ensure also that these key staff positions are continually filled by technically competent individuals. Summary 53 methods of minimizing delays were identified from the review of literature above. These methods will be used to develop questionnaire for surveying purposes. Followings were the methods identified: Perform a preconstruction planning of project tasks and resources. Continuous update manpower, both technical and managerial. Thorough and complete investigation of site conditions. Clear information and communications channels. Clear and thorough client brief. Include of the contingency allowance in the pre-contract estimate. Use value management techniques when developing the design from the brief at the conceptual design stage, as well as in limiting any variations to those that are absolutely essential. Accelerate site activities. Improve clients project management procedures. Enforce liquidated damage clauses. Offer incentives for early completion. Adopt a new approach to contract award procedure by giving less weight to prices and more weight to the capabilities and past performance of contractors. Adopt new approaches to contracting, such as design-build and construction management (CM) types of contracts. Determine appropriate funding levels at the planning stage of the project. Effective and efficient material procurement systems. Competent project manager. Multidisciplinary/competent project team. Commitment to project. Allocate sufficient time and money on the design phase. Hire an independent supervising engineer to monitor the progress of the work. Pay progress payment to the contractor on time. Minimize change orders. Avoid delay in reviewing and approving of design documents. Check for resources and capabilities before awarding the contract to the lowest bidder. Number of labours assigned should be enough and be motivated to improve productivity. Contractor should manage his financial resources and plan cash flow by utilizing progress payment. Continuous planning and scheduling during construction. Site management and supervision: administrative and technical staff should be assigned as soon as project is awarded to make arrangements. Produce design documents on time. Avoid making mistakes and discrepancies in design documents. Consultants should be flexible in evaluating contractor works. Compromising between the cost and high quality should be considered. Clear objectives and scope. Frequent progress meeting. Top management support. Timely, valuable information from different parties. Effective strategic planning. Award bids to the right/experience consultant and contractor. Continuous involvement of stakeholders in the project. Availability of resources. Absence of bureaucracy. Community involvement. Systematic control mechanisms. Comprehensive contract documentation. Up to date technology utilization. Proper emphasis on past experience. Use of experienced subcontractors and suppliers. Accurate initial cost estimates. Competent and capable clients representative. Use of appropriate construction methods. Project management assistance. Idea of enforce contract provisions which allow contractors to claim interest on delayed payments must be strictly to serve as deterrent to clients. Establishing a commercial bank for building and construction so that contractors can have access to credit in times of liquidity difficulties. Design effective ways to verify the list of staff produced by contractors in support of their application and to ensure also that these key staff positions are continually filled by technically competent individuals.

Bin-IT User Guide

Introduction: The software on this CD provides a system to make wage slips and employee information leaflets for your employees at the Bin-IT workplace. This is a bespoke software which is tailor made for your use. There are on screen instructions for installing your software but this user guide will provide more information with in-detail instructions, troubleshooting help and a glossary. Instructions: Basic instructions to run the software: 1. Specify which folders you want to save the spreadsheet, wage slip and leaflet. Click the â€Å"Run† button which will automatically save the spreadsheet and both documents to your computer. 2. Once you have saved the files to your computer locate your spreadsheet. This will be the spreadsheet you use to calculate the wages of various employees in your Bin-IT company. The columns you'll want to change regularly are from G to M where the actual hours. You can also change the wages or job position if people are given promotions or something similar. 3. You will notice that when you enter a value out of the range in the hours worked (outside of the parameters 0 to 12) then an error message will appear telling you that you have entered an incorrect value. This is validation – this stops you from making typing errors when entering in data. 4. You can change the validation rules by selecting the values you wish to change by selecting the field you wish to change, going to Data > Validation and then changing the parameters accordingly. 5. Now the spreadsheet functions are sorted – we can move onto the mail merge functions. Mail merge allows you to automatically take the data from the spreadsheet and use it to make a wage slip and/or employee information leaflet. This software comes with the files already linked to each other therefore you don't need to actually link the spreadsheet with the other documents. 6. Open up the Pay Slip word document. Go to tools > letters and mailing > Mail Merge. This will open up the mail merge wizard. 7. What will be shown to you is a mail merge wizard showing you which spreadsheet is selected to be merged with the word document. You can edit the recipient list and change who you wish the Mail Merge to apply to. 8. Click Next twice to skip to Step 5 of 6 and there you can preview all your print outs for the pay slips. 9. Click Next again and you are on Step 6 of 6, print. Click print and choose which ones you which to print, or just leave it on All and click OK. Before printing – if there was anything you wanted to change on a one-time-basis with any of the employees' wage slips then you can click edit individual letters and change a specific thing for a specific wage slip. 10. When doing Mail Merge for the leaflets just do exactly the same thing but on Microsoft Publisher Troubleshooting * As stated in the instructions, you may receive an error message when trying to enter in data in some cells on the spreadsheet. This is because a validation rule has been set on the specific cell(s). Step 4 explains how to change the validation rules if they do not meet the criteria of some of your employees. * On Step 7, you may have a problem with the Microsoft Word document not being properly linked to the spreadsheet with your data in. In the event that this occurs, click ‘Select a different list'. From this use Explorer to find the spreadsheet file in the location you saved it, select it and then choose Sheet 1. Glossary Mail merge – Mail merge is a software function describing the production of multiple (and potentially large numbers of) documents from a single template form and a structured data source. This helps to create personalized letters and pre-addressed envelopes or mailing labels for mass mailings Data validation – In computer science, data validation is the process of ensuring that a program operates on clean, correct and useful data. It uses routines, often called â€Å"validation rules† or â€Å"check routines†, that check for correctness, meaningfulness, and security of data that are input to the system. Validation Rule – A Validation rule is a criterion used in the process of data validation, carried out after the data has been encoded onto an input medium and involves a data vet or validation program. Evaluation of User Guide I have tested my user guide by providing my system to others with no other instructions apart from the ones on the user guide. I asked whether there was anything missing or anything else that may help. One common criticism I got is that I didn't have any kind of contact information in case the User Guide did not provide enough information. I also got advice to specify a little more in the contents of what is actually on each page. I have taken on these criticisms and have created a re-evaluated User Guide, starting on the next page: Bin-IT System User Guide Contents: (Page) 1. Introduction – What is this software? 2. Instructions – Spreadsheet settings and functions 3. Instructions (continued) – Mail merge (Making the wage slip) 4. Troubleshooting & Glossary of Technical Terms 5. Contact Details – Phone, Fax & Email Introduction: The software on this CD provides a system to make wage slips and employee information leaflets for your employees at the Bin-IT workplace. This is a bespoke software which is tailor made for your use. There are on screen instructions for installing your software but this user guide will provide more information with in-detail instructions, troubleshooting help and a glossary. Instructions: Basic instructions to run the software: 1. Specify which folders you want to save the spreadsheet, wage slip and leaflet. Click the â€Å"Run† button which will automatically save the spreadsheet and both documents to your computer. 2. Once you have saved the files to your computer locate your spreadsheet. This will be the spreadsheet you use to calculate the wages of various employees in your Bin-IT company. The columns you'll want to change regularly are from G to M where the actual hours. You can also change the wages or job position if people are given promotions or something similar. 3. You will notice that when you enter a value out of the range in the hours worked (outside of the parameters 0 to 12) then an error message will appear telling you that you have entered an incorrect value. This is validation – this stops you from making typing errors when entering in data. 4. You can change the validation rules by selecting the values you wish to change by selecting the field you wish to change, going to Data > Validation and then changing the parameters accordingly. 5. Now the spreadsheet functions are sorted – we can move onto the mail merge functions. Mail merge allows you to automatically take the data from the spreadsheet and use it to make a wage slip and/or employee information leaflet. This software comes with the files already linked to each other therefore you don't need to actually link the spreadsheet with the other documents. 6. Open up the Pay Slip word document. Go to tools > letters and mailing > Mail Merge. This will open up the mail merge wizard. 7. What will be shown to you is a mail merge wizard showing you which spreadsheet is selected to be merged with the word document. You can edit the recipient list and change who you wish the Mail Merge to apply to. 8. Click Next twice to skip to Step 5 of 6 and there you can preview all your print outs for the pay slips. 9. Click Next again and you are on Step 6 of 6, print. Click print and choose which ones you which to print, or just leave it on All and click OK. Before printing – if there was anything you wanted to change on a one-time-basis with any of the employees' wage slips then you can click edit individual letters and change a specific thing for a specific wage slip. 10. When doing Mail Merge for the leaflets just do exactly the same thing but on Microsoft Publisher Troubleshooting * As stated in the instructions, you may receive an error message when trying to enter in data in some cells on the spreadsheet. This is because a validation rule has been set on the specific cell(s). Step 4 explains how to change the validation rules if they do not meet the criteria of some of your employees. * On Step 7, you may have a problem with the Microsoft Word document not being properly linked to the spreadsheet with your data in. In the event that this occurs, click ‘Select a different list'. From this use Explorer to find the spreadsheet file in the location you saved it, select it and then choose Sheet 1. Glossary Mail merge – Mail merge is a software function describing the production of multiple (and potentially large numbers of) documents from a single template form and a structured data source. This helps to create personalized letters and pre-addressed envelopes or mailing labels for mass mailings Data validation – In computer science, data validation is the process of ensuring that a program operates on clean, correct and useful data. It uses routines, often called â€Å"validation rules† or â€Å"check routines†, that check for correctness, meaningfulness, and security of data that are input to the system. Validation Rule – A Validation rule is a criterion used in the process of data validation, carried out after the data has been encoded onto an input medium and involves a data vet or validation program.