Sociology of Education Essay Example for Free

Sociology of Education Essay Education is a social institution that sociologists are very interested in studying. This includes teaching formal knowledge such as reading, writing, and arithmetic, as well as teaching other things such as morals, values, and ethics. Education prepares young people for entry into society and is thus a form of socialization. Sociologists want to know how this form of socialization affects and is affected by other social structures, experiences, and outcomes. Sociology of education is a field that focuses on two separate levels of analysis. At a macro-level, sociologists work to identify how various social forces, such as politics, economics, culture, etc. , creates variation in schools. In other words, what effects do other social institutions have on the educational system? At a micro-level, sociologists look to identify how variation in school practices lead to differences in individual-level student outcomes. That is, when schools have different teaching methods or have different practices, how does that affect the individual students and what are the individual outcomes? Example of Sociological Studies on Education A classic study by sociologist James Coleman done in 1966, known as the â€Å"Coleman Report† looked at the performance of over 150,000 students and found that student background and socioeconomic status were much more important in determining educational outcomes than were differences in school resources, such as per pupil spending. He also found that socially disadvantaged black students benefited and did better in school when they were in racially mixed classrooms rather than black only classrooms. This ignited controversy that still continues today. Major Sociological Theories of Education Like any other topic in sociology, the three major theoretical perspectives (functionalism, conflict theory, and symbolic interaction theory) each have different views on education. The functionalist perspective argues that education serves many important functions in society. First, it socializes children and prepares them for life in society. This is not only done by teaching â€Å"book knowledge,† but also teaching the society’s culture, including moral values, ethics, politics, religious beliefs, habits, and norms. Second, education provides occupational training, especially in industrialized societies such as the United States. Unlike in less complex societies or in the United States prior to 1900 when most jobs and training were passed on from father to son, most jobs in the United States today require at least a high school education, and many professions require a college or post-graduate degree. The third function that education serves, according to functionalist theorists, is social control, or the regulation of deviant behavior. By requiring young people to attend school, this keeps them off the streets and out of trouble. The symbolic interaction view of education focuses on interactions during the schooling process and the outcomes of those interactions. For instance, interactions between students and teachers can create expectations on both parts. The teacher begins to expect certain behaviors from students, which in turn can actually create that very behavior. This is called the â€Å"teacher expectancy effect. † For example, if a White teacher expects a black student to perform below average on a math test when compared to White students, over time the teacher may act in ways that encourage the black students to get below average math scores. Conflict theory looks at the disintegrative and disruptive aspects of education. These theorists argue that education is unequally distributed through society and is used to separate groups (based on class, gender, or race). Educational level is therefore a mechanism for producing and reproducing inequality in our society. Educational level, according to conflict theorists, can also be used as a tool for discrimination, such as when potential employers require certain educational credentials that may or may not be important for the job. It discriminates against minorities, working-class people, and women – those who are often less educated and least likely to have credentials because of discriminatory practices within the educational system. The sociology of education is the study of how public institutions and individual experiences affect education and its outcomes. Educational Sociology and Sociology of Education are two branches of study that are sometimes understood as one and the same branch, but they are actually not so. They indeed show some differences between them when it comes to the subjects of their study and the nature of the branches f study On the other hand educational sociology is the branch of study that deals with the various methods providing better education to society through an in depth research of our culture and society. Educational sociology is a subject that has to take both the sociologists and the educationists into consideration. This makes the subject an invaluable asset to all the students and researchers of social sciences, particularly sociology and education. It is a general belief that such of those who are involved in a deep study of education will benefit more from the branch of educational sociology In the poem of Okot p Biteks â€Å"My Husbands Tongue is Bitter† is evident in its use of the self  and other. The speaker of the poem is a black woman talking to her husband. The husband sees their colonizers as modern, progressive, civilized and educated. He considers learning English and following their acts would also make him one of them (colonizers), and by doing so, he will acquire the identity of the self. On the other hand, he offended his wife and his own people by citing and ennumerating their deeds as backward, primitive and ignorant.

Automotive Industry Lean Model Analysis

Automotive Industry Lean Model Analysis Introduction In any organization there are essential activities which need to be run effectively: production, quality, logistic, and so on. These activities are the means for the main purpose of any company which is to make money (Goldratt, 1993:41). Today the companies are facing a fierce market place: set the production with customer demand, in variety and quantity, and pursuit superior quality. To reach this is a high goal for any company, reach that and being effective is the core of nowadays strategy plan. The financial crisis that exploded the last year led many companies analyze the way they were operating in, and seek how to be more effective and make the company sustainable in the medium and long term. Reduction of cost is important at any time but reduction in time of crisis is essential. The way to escape the pitfalls faced in the mass production requires a redefinition of the production management system which eliminates the waste and pursuit the efficiency of the company as a whole. This dissertation is a case study base in an industry of automotive  industry. This sector has the characteristic of being very influential in the development of emerging trend in management.  From Henry  Fords  and the introduction  of the  moving  assembly to Toyota Production Systems many innovations have been development in this sector. Taiichi Ohno (1988) was the first person to identify seven inefficiencies which do not contribute to the goal of any company. These inefficiencies of wastes are denominated as muda in the Toyota Production System. It was after the book The machine that changed the world?, 1990, when the term Lean began to be known all over the world. Lean thinking is the medicine for companies suffering from inefficiency, and is Lean because it provides a way to do more with less; less human resources, less equipment, less time and less space, (Womack J. et al., 1990:15). All this reduction measures could be easily translated into money hence when a company is making money it has a future to plan. Another  characteristic  of  automotive industry  is  the  low  margins. The company, in which is based the dissertation, as  many  of  others  automotive manufacturers, is struggling  with  low  or  negative  profits. Through the application of Value Stream Mapping, Cell layout, and Takt time is the intention of the research to show and encourager the company to swap from traditional production into lean manufacturing Confidentiality   The company where the case study is bases is a sensitive phase of change. Due to this reason this dissertation will not display the company name, name of persons working at the company and other pieces of information that can be derived from the research. Therefore the company is referred throughout all dissertation as the company. Aims and objectives The main objective of this dissertation is to study and understand lean model and revealing the efficiency of lean techniques by applying them in a case study. These objectives can be summarised as the following: To carry out an extensive literature review about the lean model. To study the different elements and techniques of lean Draw the potential new ways to seek the processes and process layout. Outline potential improvements in the points below which contribute to solve the problem of the current highly expensive processes. Quality Lead Time Space Inventory Workers required This study intends to show the benefits of lean approach application and be used as an internal feasibility study of the potential application of this philosophy into the company. Nevertheless, whether the company finally decides to apply these principles or not is not the purpose of this project. Methodology The methodology for the first three chapters involves and intensive literature search and review on the lean philosophy. The source of this information was from extensive range of information sources as: written literature; books, journals, and the internet resource; also detailed discussions with lecturers and colleges who had knowledge on the topics. An important part of the literature review was to understand the concept of the lean and how can be applied. Secondary data is based in review documentation provided by the company. Primary data collection is based on the observation of how the company is currently working and after the working procedure are know lean approach will be applied starting with Value Stream Mapping, and the subsequence tools and techniques, described in more detail in the next chapters. Nevertheless a deep explanation to this topic will be found in the methodology chapter. Limitations One of the most important limitations for this dissertation is time limit, driven in part for the limitations time that the research had to the company. The research will be focus to a small area, but the same steps can be applied for all areas/families. No consideration will be taken, about potential issues derived from this research concerning to material handling. Another limitation is the confidential agreement between the research and the company, for this reason relevant information data could not be publicly released. The distance to the company being researched and the researcher is clear limitation for the arrangement of appointments with the company. Nevertheless this limitation known beforehand and a planning was agreed with the company in the first meeting; both sides agreed to make three on site visit of 3 working days each and another visit for presenting the research. 13,14,15 of Aprilà ¯Ã†â€™Ã‚  1 toma de contacto y anÃÆ' ¡lisis de la situaciÃÆ' ³n actual 21,22,23 of Juneà ¯Ã†â€™Ã‚  2 Implementation de VSM, cell layout, takt time,. 13, 14, 15 of July à ¯Ã†â€™Ã‚  3 seguimiento de las mejoras applicadas 24 of Augustà ¯Ã†â€™Ã‚   4 Ajustes y presentacion del projecto a la compaÃÆ' ±ÃƒÆ' ­a. Research structure This dissertation is divided into 8 chapters, with a brief outline below; Chapter 1 Introductionà ¯Ã†â€™Ã‚  This chapter explains about the nature and the background of the dissertation objectives. Chapter 2 Literature reviewà ¯Ã†â€™Ã‚   Is included here a study of the background literature on lean manufacturing. Chapter 3 Tools and techniquesà ¯Ã†â€™Ã‚   This chapter explains the tools and techniques used under the umbrella of lean manufacturing. Chapter 4 Methodologyà ¯Ã†â€™Ã‚   This chapter gives the overall view of the research design taking into account the methodology under taking to do the primary research and explain the type of research, data and tools used. Chapter 5 Company overviewà ¯Ã†â€™Ã‚   This chapter discuss the current situation of a second tier car company which is faced a crisis. Chapter 6 Implementation of lean Chapter 7 Data result and analysis Chapter 8 Conclusion and recommendations. This page is left blank on purpose Literature Review Origins of Lean Manufacturing Any new management approach that emerges will undoubtedly contain pieces from the knowledge from the past. Therefore we can find characteristic of lean were addressed in the past like: interchangeable parts developed by Ely Whitney (1765-18825), the work standardization made by Frederick W. Taylor (1856-1915), or the time and motion studies made by Frank Gilbreth (1868-1924), where he pursuit the elimination of non-value elements. But without any doubts the most influence person in the development of Lean was Henry Ford, he organized all the elements of a manufacturing system; people, machines, tooling and raw materials, in a continuous flow system, for manufacturing the famous model T by applying this methodology the factory achieve to rise the effectiveness in the assembly process and by 1920 he achieved to reduced the price of the model T at 34% of the original price in 1908. Kiichiro Toyoda travelled to EEUU (1929) in his search for learn the American Way. Fords assembly line provided the flow idea upon which Kiichiro Toyoda based his early car production, but soon he realized the need to adapt it to the market conditions and the culture in Japan. They knew that they could not compete with the giants like Ford in foreign markets. Therefore, they were producing only for internal market, and bring the raw materials from outside, for that reason Toyota could not lower cost by exploding economies of scale, thats why they build a systems upon an strategy: to make many models in small numbers (Ohno, 1988). They pursuit the cost reduction through the elimination of the inefficiencies; defined as muda, Japanese word for waste. (W. J. Hopp et al, 2000) Henry Ford vision about systematic elimination of waste, standardization and elimination of process variability, Quality at the source, and so forth was so inspirational for Ohno and the definition of TPS. In the book Toyota Production System; beyond large-scale Production, 1988, Ohno quoted the Fords book Henry Fords Today and Tomorrow in different chapter as a key to the development of lean principles. In 1945, after Toyoda Kiichiro set an ambitious goal: Catch with America in three years (Ohno, 1988). In order to achieve this goal Toyota production system was developed as a respond to the severe competition imposed by mass production and offered an alternative production system according with the restrictions of the moment. Under these conditions Taiichi Ohno (1912-1990) was brought into the company as a leader to translate the ideas of Kiichiro Toyoda into action. He was working for the company since 1932 but wasnt until 1943 when he went transfer to Toyota Motor Company, where he became Machine-shop manager in 1949. During that period the company was fighting on bankruptcy hence major investment or massive inventories werent affordable. For many years the western companies had cut the cost by increasing the production but after oil crisis, explore around 1973, rapid growth stopped and the principle if you can make it, you can sell it (Ohno, 1988, p2), most of the Japanese industries had losses, but Toyota overcame these problems. The capability of Toyota to overcome the crisis was the trigger for eyes opener to Japanese companies and implement the TPS. The Toyota Production System (TPS) was first denominated in the West as Just in Time (JIT).After the initial visits of industries from western countries to Japanese industry, the people returning with stories of factories which produced only what was needed, when needed, without any Just In Case expensive stock. Later, we realised that there was more than this, and the JIT was worked because was part of a more global management system, TPS. A system in fact useful to reduce costs and from that time the TPS became very popular. (Y. Monden 1993). But this system got popularity in the western countries after a researcher made in 1990 for Massachusetts institute of technology (MIT) by James P. Womack and Daniel T. Jones. This five year research about the future of the automobile makers, revealed a gap between the conventional mass production and the new trend used in Japanese industries. This book coined the term Lean as a description of the Toyota Production System. Definition of Lean As is described above, Toyota Production System was born in Toyota (1945). This system is sustained for two pillars: Just in Time and Autonomation or Jidoka. The name of Lean manufacturing was given in a research published by Massachusetts institute of technology (MIT) in 1990. Ohno make three statements in his book Toyota Production System; beyond Large-Scale Production, 1988, taken together we can use as his definition: The basis of the TPS is the absolute elimination of waste. The two pillars needed to support the system are: Just in Time and Autonomation (Jidoka) (Ohno, 1988 p4) Cost reduction is the goal (Ohno, 1987 p8) After World War II, our main concern was how to produce high-quality goods. After 1955, the question became how to make the exact quantity needed (Ohno, 1987 p33). We can conclude that for Ohno the TPS consist of many techniques that are designed to reduce the cost by removing the waste and providing the right product, at the right quantity at the moment is required. Using less of everything this statement was made in the book The machine that change the world (Womack et al. 1990) as a definition of Lean production. Another important contribution of TPS was a new approach of looking at the equation formed by: Price, Cost and Profit. When TPS was developed, the western was using the following equation to obtain price of a product: Price=Cost + Profit In this formula if the cost increase, the best way to maintain the same profit is by raising the price, is based on the principle that is the company who fix the price. By offering more feature, quality or service they can raise the price. By another hand, Japan proposed the next expression: Profit=Price â‚ ¬Ã¢â‚¬Å" Cost In this equation is the market, the final customer who is fixed the price. The companies used the voice of the customer as a means to design the new features of a product, and the price they are willing to pay for it. With this equation the only way to obtain better profits is by reducing the cost as much as possible (fig. 3.1). This equation leads the companies to pursuit internal improvement if they want to keep or raise the profit in the current market situation. (J. Santos, et al. 2006). Figure 3â‚ ¬Ã¢â‚¬Ëœ1 Equation price-cost benefits (adaptation of J. Santos et al 2008) Price fixed by the customer Cost Profit Summarizing we can conclude that Lean is a theory of management that consider the uses of resources for any means other than the creation of value from customer point of view is a waste (defined below); and pursuing the elimination waste as a means of achieving greater efficiency of the process. (Y. Monden, 1993) Seven types of Wastes Muda is a Japanese means waste. According to James P. Womack (2003) any activity which absorbs resources but creates no values is called waste. Lean thinking provides a way to identify the value, defined by the final customer, and analyze the value stream in the search for not added value action in order to eliminate and based in Continuous improvement, where the search for new improvements is never ending. (Womack et al., 2003) The wastes defined by Ohno include parts not right the first time, piles of products made in Just in case, processing step that no one had analyzed, to realized that they are not needed, transporting goods thought work floor, workers, machinery or material waiting to the next step in the process, and so forth. (Womack et al., 2003, p16). There are many types of waste; some are easy to discern others difficult. An important thing to remember is that to eliminate waste, you must find it first, towards eliminating it. The seven wastes (7Ws) addressed by Ohno (1988) are detailed below, with the addition of the one defined by Womack, 2003. Overproduction Manufacturing companies, sometimes produce more than they have sold, some times because they want to build an inventories, in the expectation that the market requirements arise, another times with the purpose to keep everyone busy and / or to achieve a high used of the facilities. Whatever the reason is, making products for which there is no demand is waste and can drive the company out of business. The key point to found this waste is compare what is produced versus what is sold. (J. Nicholas, 1988) Waiting This waste will include delay between the end of one activity and the start of the next activity. This waste can take many forms: operators or machineries waiting for orders, parts, materials, parts for the preceding process, equipment repairs, and so on. Contrasting with the previous waste, this one it is easy to identify. As It was explain above, some companies minimizing the waste of waiting by keeping the workers and the machines active all the times, incurring in that way in the previous waste; overproduction. Stopping the machines and allowing workers to be idle in occasion, is less costly than producing products with no orders. Another advantage of these spare times is that the workers can used it to search for improvements. (J. Nicholas, 1988) Transporting It is any kind of unnecessary transport of workers, parts, products, etc moved from one location to another. There two things that determine the transport through the factory; the layout facility and the sequence of operations. (J. Nicholas, 1988) No value is added in any items while they are moving around, therefore all time and facilities involve in that are wastes. Rearranging the layout and putting sequential equipment together allow us to minimize this waste. Too much machining; over processing. A process may itself contain steps that are ineffective or unnecessary. When company use expensive or high precision equipment where investing in smaller and more flexible equipment would be adequate. This often results in poor plant layout because The monuments are located far away from the process and making the process incur in waste such transportation, wait and in addition overproduction (in order to set high utilization, and justify the investment). Inventories Ohno in his book Toyota Production System, Beyond Large Scale Production (1988), qualify the inventory as the root of all evil because covers other kinds if wastes and inefficiencies and encourages to wasteful practices. Inventories represent items waiting for something to happen, where there are many associated and hidden costs (storage space, handling, management, insurance, lost of opportunity, and so forth). John Nicholas (1988) identifies that many companies even when they recognize the high cost of the inventory they justify them for dealing with issues such: To cover fluctuations in future demand, where more accurately forecasted are necessary. To cover the delay in lead times caused by breakdowns or delivery delays, where a Preventive maintenance plan would be necessary as well a close relationship with the suppliers. To cover long setup times, where an improvement in standardization as well as a study of the setup times made the big batch unnecessary. We can use the analogy of a ship on water (figure 2.1) to clarify the idea of hidden costs and problems incurred with high level of inventory. As inventory is reducing, problems are exposed, which can be resolved. After that, the inventory is lowered again, in order to get more problem appear and management has to resolve them in order for the system to work. Figure 3â‚ ¬Ã¢â‚¬Ëœ2 Analogy of water and inventory Worker absenteeism Work load imbalance Downtime Quality Scrap Rework Out of spec. materials Set-up Times Process variation Inventory level is hidden all problems By reducing the inventory, production problems arise WIP The research is agreed with Ohno (1988) when he argued that people tend to build some inventory as a respond of their farming roots. Our ancestors grew rice for subsistence and stored it in preparation for times of natural disasters (Ohno, 1988) this type of accumulation is no longer practical from the moment that we can find everything that we need from the corner shop. Nevertheless, break this habit in the day to day factory habits is difficult, is requires a change of attitude. But we need to keep in mind that reduction of inventory is not an end itself; it is a mechanism for revealing problems and wasteful practices in the production system. Moving People in work often confuse being in motion with working. A worker in constant motion all day may actually be doing little work; we should consider which portion of the motion is actually added value to the product. This waste is related to ergonomics and the objective is to obtain that the 100% of the motion is work; added value. Hence pursues the elimination of wasteful motion, but not by increasing work. Motions as bending, stretching, walking, lifting, reaching, picking up, transporting, loading, and so forth take workers time and increase the cost, but not add value. (J. Nicholas, 1988) Making defective parts and products. The simplest form of waste is products that do not meet the specification. Manufacturing products right at first time requires no money. Defects in any product are a major source of waste, hold up production and increase production lead times avoidable if products were done right the first time. Quality defects result in rework or scrap and involve a remarkable cost to organizations, along with the associated costs such: re-inspecting, rescheduling quarantining inventory, and capacity loss.   The key point is attain Quality at the source or Quality Assurance where the parts are made right the first time, transforming the old idea of Quality Assurance; where the parts are inspected at the end of the line. In order to achieve this we can use tools such: Poka Yoke, Kaizen, and so forth. (Y. Monden, 1993) Underutilization of Employees In the book Lean Thinking by James P Womack and Daniel T. Jones (1996), was added another wasted, added to the seven defined by Ohno (1988); which was denominated by them as Underutilization of employees. The companies hire employees for the physical skills, and sometimes the managers forgot to take an advantage of the brainpower that they hired with those skills. Some common causes of inability to see this waste may result in mudas such high employee turnover, inadequate hiring practices, and so forth. Not Used the employees as an experts of the process in which they are working is a waste of creativity and the improvement ideas that they can generate, this waste deserved the same important than the previous seven described above. Tools and Techniques There are many definitions that refer to lean; as Toyota Production System, Just in Time, Jidoka, flexible workforce, Kanban, TQM and so forth; partly because for many years had been confusion and many practitioners; mix up the purpose with the means. Lean production may be viewed as a bunch of all this practices/tools, and all underneath subsystems give the necessary support to the main system. The main systems Ohno (1988) described as two pillars are: Just inTime Autonomation with human touch, or Jidoka The tools/techniques of lean, as supporting subsystems can be said as; Kanban Poka-yoke Visual Control, Andon Value Stream Mapping Standard Operations One Piece Flow 5S Total Productive Maintenance (TPM) Levelling Production Benchmarking SMED Multifunctional Workers Kaizen Some of the most relevant for the research purpose are explained below. The two pillars of Lean: Just in Time In 1950 Toyota was near to bankrupting, as a consequence they couldnt afford major investment in new machineries or substantial inventories. In 1956 Ohno travel to America, where he got the perspective of Just-In-Time in the American supermarket. He was interested in way the supermarket were working; by providing to customer what they need, when they need and in the quantity they need. Ohno transfer this idea down to the process, and he developed a system that is working like a coordinate chain of small supermarket, where all processes are transformer in customer for the previous step and supplier for the next step and every step is only produced the quantity needed for the next step, with perfect quality and no waste. The system was denominated as pull system. TMMK (7may2010) JIT was developed in the framework of TPS and evolved due to the need of the Japanese industry to survive in the post-war global market. Soon, the value of the system was proven into the manufacturing industry and a large number of companies worldwide hastened to implement this model to their own production systems (Monden, 1993). Ohno developed a number of methodologies to support the Just in Time system; one of the best known is the Kanban system, detailed below. Pull system and Kanban The traditional mass production system is the one denominate as push production system, where every station start to assembly a part when the raw material arrive to the work station. The way to manage production system is usually based in forecasting. The parts usually are processes in batches according to a schedule for each process (fig 2.2). The materials must usually wait until the workstation complete the previous work and is performing the changeover necessary. Changes in schedules, breakdown in machinery and other incidents, make a planning inaccurate. (J Nicholas, 1988). When a problem occurs at one stage, the problem will not be notice in the rest of the system, because an inventory between the workstation are insulated the problems in each workstation, and dependency between workstation was low. Figure 4â‚ ¬Ã¢â‚¬Ëœ3 Push System Retention points Process 1 Retention points Process 2 Inspection Retention points inspection Information and material flow High variability in lead times, long lead times, large Work in Progress inventory, and a numerous quality issues are arisen in this system. Besides with the problems associated with maintaining valid scheduled, made by the forecasting office, which is far a way from the shop floor and all the problems that arise in the manufacturing process. By contrast the pull production is sometimes called stockless, because is minimized the work in progress, pursuit the one piece flow. It seeks to have every stage in a process produce and deliver materials downstream in the exact quantities and the exact times requested. (J Nicholas, 1988). Figure 4â‚ ¬Ã¢â‚¬Ëœ4 Pull System Process 2 Inspection Material Flow Process 1 Inspection Max Min Delivery point Max Min Max Min Information Flow Refer to the figure 2.3, when a customer order arrives to the delivery point, this work station sends a production order to the downstream process, in order to refill the product had been delivered. The work station 2 in the moment is used more than two parts, and let the buffer with the minimum quantity, then sends a production order to the work station 1. Just in time pursues the zero inventories; the system that is describing here is used a buffer, in that way any process shouldnt wait to have the necessary material to start producing an order. Refer to the figure 2.3 each work station begins de production as soon as the order upstream is received. (J Nicholas, 1988). In contrast with the Push production system, any problem in any work station is affected the whole system, so that all stage are working together in order to resolve the problem, increasing the chances of solving the root problem. Kanban is a subsystem to support of the JIT system and was developed by Toyota in the early stages of TPS. Kanban is a Japanese word for card, but not necessarily need to be a card, sometimes can be a signboard, container, empty space, and so forth. The broadly idea is to use the Kanban, whatever the form is takes, as a signal to produce a specific number of parts request for the next process. (N. Slack et al, 2004). The system is not used a complicated and expensive computer schedules. The theoretical operation of Kanban is no one product is manufacture until is demanded for the final customer. Therefore the signal Kanban is used as a trigger for a production. There are different types of Kanban; Conveyance Kanban, also know as a move Kanban, whose purpose is to move the goods along different production stages. The Production Kanban, work as a signal to a production process that can start producing a part to be place in the inventory. (N. Slack et al, 2004) There are two procedures of using Kanban system; dual-card (used both production and conveyance) this is the original Toyota method, and the single-card, explained below (used only the production, but acting as both move and produce authorization), is more often used the last one, for the simplicity of use. (N. Slack et al, 2004) Figure 4â‚ ¬Ã¢â‚¬Ëœ5 Kanban system. Process 2 Inspection Material Flow Process 1 Inspection Delivery point Max Min Kanban Max Min Kanban Max Min Kanban Information Flow Order to the supplier To explain the concept we can use the example in figure 2.4, where each process made two piece batches. When the delivery point sent two finished parts, the operator takes a Kanban card from the container and sends it back down to the previous workstation; process 2,where that part is assembled. When the Kanban card is received, the previous work station start to assemble new batch of 2 parts, and consequently it sends downs to the previous process the Kanban card in order to refill the parts used in the last operation. This chain or work orders is repeated until an order is sent to the supplier of raw material. This system keeps to minimum the paperwork, provides a self-manage workstation and one the more important achievements is that the inventory of Work in Progress is kept to a minimum. The parts are assembled only when a need for them and WIP is reducing by dropping the number of cards into the system. The two pillars of Lean: Jidoka Jidoka is a Japanese word meaning automation with a human touch, refers to the automatic control of defects under the supervision of an employee; or as is described by Ohno (1988) Autonomation. Is refers to a process that has incorporated mechanism to detect non conformances and not allowed the process to pass a product if there isnt a conformance with the requirements.   Sakichi Toyoda began to used Jidoka, also known as Autonomation; he invented the automatic looms that stopped immediately when any thread broke. In that way one operator was able to manage many machines with no risk of producing outside specifications. This pillar of TPS is a â‚ ¬Ã‹Å"Proactive Systematic Approach. That is means instant detection of non conformances at the root source, pursuing the prevention is chosen over correction for problems after its occurrence. Through this principle we ensure that hundred per cent of the products are free defects, and when a defect is found this is fixed directly, otherwise the worker had the authority to stop the line, in order to resolve it.(J. Nicholas,1998).No OK parts are very important in JIT, when a one short part can cause the stoppage of the whole factory, just to remember one of the quotation for define JIT The exact product in the exact moment that is required (Ohno, 1988) This authority to stop the line meets resistance in western managers, because they are afraid that this can cause a delay in the lead time. But that is only the negative side, by another hand should be viewed as improvements in the process, the root of many quality issues are discovered and as a result they are resolved. Thought Jidoka principles the employees are more aware of quality issues and the related problems, and the number of defects and rework drop at the end of the line. (Nicholas, 1988 Automotive Industry Lean Model Analysis Automotive Industry Lean Model Analysis Introduction In any organization there are essential activities which need to be run effectively: production, quality, logistic, and so on. These activities are the means for the main purpose of any company which is to make money (Goldratt, 1993:41). Today the companies are facing a fierce market place: set the production with customer demand, in variety and quantity, and pursuit superior quality. To reach this is a high goal for any company, reach that and being effective is the core of nowadays strategy plan. The financial crisis that exploded the last year led many companies analyze the way they were operating in, and seek how to be more effective and make the company sustainable in the medium and long term. Reduction of cost is important at any time but reduction in time of crisis is essential. The way to escape the pitfalls faced in the mass production requires a redefinition of the production management system which eliminates the waste and pursuit the efficiency of the company as a whole. This dissertation is a case study base in an industry of automotive  industry. This sector has the characteristic of being very influential in the development of emerging trend in management.  From Henry  Fords  and the introduction  of the  moving  assembly to Toyota Production Systems many innovations have been development in this sector. Taiichi Ohno (1988) was the first person to identify seven inefficiencies which do not contribute to the goal of any company. These inefficiencies of wastes are denominated as muda in the Toyota Production System. It was after the book The machine that changed the world?, 1990, when the term Lean began to be known all over the world. Lean thinking is the medicine for companies suffering from inefficiency, and is Lean because it provides a way to do more with less; less human resources, less equipment, less time and less space, (Womack J. et al., 1990:15). All this reduction measures could be easily translated into money hence when a company is making money it has a future to plan. Another  characteristic  of  automotive industry  is  the  low  margins. The company, in which is based the dissertation, as  many  of  others  automotive manufacturers, is struggling  with  low  or  negative  profits. Through the application of Value Stream Mapping, Cell layout, and Takt time is the intention of the research to show and encourager the company to swap from traditional production into lean manufacturing Confidentiality   The company where the case study is bases is a sensitive phase of change. Due to this reason this dissertation will not display the company name, name of persons working at the company and other pieces of information that can be derived from the research. Therefore the company is referred throughout all dissertation as the company. Aims and objectives The main objective of this dissertation is to study and understand lean model and revealing the efficiency of lean techniques by applying them in a case study. These objectives can be summarised as the following: To carry out an extensive literature review about the lean model. To study the different elements and techniques of lean Draw the potential new ways to seek the processes and process layout. Outline potential improvements in the points below which contribute to solve the problem of the current highly expensive processes. Quality Lead Time Space Inventory Workers required This study intends to show the benefits of lean approach application and be used as an internal feasibility study of the potential application of this philosophy into the company. Nevertheless, whether the company finally decides to apply these principles or not is not the purpose of this project. Methodology The methodology for the first three chapters involves and intensive literature search and review on the lean philosophy. The source of this information was from extensive range of information sources as: written literature; books, journals, and the internet resource; also detailed discussions with lecturers and colleges who had knowledge on the topics. An important part of the literature review was to understand the concept of the lean and how can be applied. Secondary data is based in review documentation provided by the company. Primary data collection is based on the observation of how the company is currently working and after the working procedure are know lean approach will be applied starting with Value Stream Mapping, and the subsequence tools and techniques, described in more detail in the next chapters. Nevertheless a deep explanation to this topic will be found in the methodology chapter. Limitations One of the most important limitations for this dissertation is time limit, driven in part for the limitations time that the research had to the company. The research will be focus to a small area, but the same steps can be applied for all areas/families. No consideration will be taken, about potential issues derived from this research concerning to material handling. Another limitation is the confidential agreement between the research and the company, for this reason relevant information data could not be publicly released. The distance to the company being researched and the researcher is clear limitation for the arrangement of appointments with the company. Nevertheless this limitation known beforehand and a planning was agreed with the company in the first meeting; both sides agreed to make three on site visit of 3 working days each and another visit for presenting the research. 13,14,15 of Aprilà ¯Ã†â€™Ã‚  1 toma de contacto y anÃÆ' ¡lisis de la situaciÃÆ' ³n actual 21,22,23 of Juneà ¯Ã†â€™Ã‚  2 Implementation de VSM, cell layout, takt time,. 13, 14, 15 of July à ¯Ã†â€™Ã‚  3 seguimiento de las mejoras applicadas 24 of Augustà ¯Ã†â€™Ã‚   4 Ajustes y presentacion del projecto a la compaÃÆ' ±ÃƒÆ' ­a. Research structure This dissertation is divided into 8 chapters, with a brief outline below; Chapter 1 Introductionà ¯Ã†â€™Ã‚  This chapter explains about the nature and the background of the dissertation objectives. Chapter 2 Literature reviewà ¯Ã†â€™Ã‚   Is included here a study of the background literature on lean manufacturing. Chapter 3 Tools and techniquesà ¯Ã†â€™Ã‚   This chapter explains the tools and techniques used under the umbrella of lean manufacturing. Chapter 4 Methodologyà ¯Ã†â€™Ã‚   This chapter gives the overall view of the research design taking into account the methodology under taking to do the primary research and explain the type of research, data and tools used. Chapter 5 Company overviewà ¯Ã†â€™Ã‚   This chapter discuss the current situation of a second tier car company which is faced a crisis. Chapter 6 Implementation of lean Chapter 7 Data result and analysis Chapter 8 Conclusion and recommendations. This page is left blank on purpose Literature Review Origins of Lean Manufacturing Any new management approach that emerges will undoubtedly contain pieces from the knowledge from the past. Therefore we can find characteristic of lean were addressed in the past like: interchangeable parts developed by Ely Whitney (1765-18825), the work standardization made by Frederick W. Taylor (1856-1915), or the time and motion studies made by Frank Gilbreth (1868-1924), where he pursuit the elimination of non-value elements. But without any doubts the most influence person in the development of Lean was Henry Ford, he organized all the elements of a manufacturing system; people, machines, tooling and raw materials, in a continuous flow system, for manufacturing the famous model T by applying this methodology the factory achieve to rise the effectiveness in the assembly process and by 1920 he achieved to reduced the price of the model T at 34% of the original price in 1908. Kiichiro Toyoda travelled to EEUU (1929) in his search for learn the American Way. Fords assembly line provided the flow idea upon which Kiichiro Toyoda based his early car production, but soon he realized the need to adapt it to the market conditions and the culture in Japan. They knew that they could not compete with the giants like Ford in foreign markets. Therefore, they were producing only for internal market, and bring the raw materials from outside, for that reason Toyota could not lower cost by exploding economies of scale, thats why they build a systems upon an strategy: to make many models in small numbers (Ohno, 1988). They pursuit the cost reduction through the elimination of the inefficiencies; defined as muda, Japanese word for waste. (W. J. Hopp et al, 2000) Henry Ford vision about systematic elimination of waste, standardization and elimination of process variability, Quality at the source, and so forth was so inspirational for Ohno and the definition of TPS. In the book Toyota Production System; beyond large-scale Production, 1988, Ohno quoted the Fords book Henry Fords Today and Tomorrow in different chapter as a key to the development of lean principles. In 1945, after Toyoda Kiichiro set an ambitious goal: Catch with America in three years (Ohno, 1988). In order to achieve this goal Toyota production system was developed as a respond to the severe competition imposed by mass production and offered an alternative production system according with the restrictions of the moment. Under these conditions Taiichi Ohno (1912-1990) was brought into the company as a leader to translate the ideas of Kiichiro Toyoda into action. He was working for the company since 1932 but wasnt until 1943 when he went transfer to Toyota Motor Company, where he became Machine-shop manager in 1949. During that period the company was fighting on bankruptcy hence major investment or massive inventories werent affordable. For many years the western companies had cut the cost by increasing the production but after oil crisis, explore around 1973, rapid growth stopped and the principle if you can make it, you can sell it (Ohno, 1988, p2), most of the Japanese industries had losses, but Toyota overcame these problems. The capability of Toyota to overcome the crisis was the trigger for eyes opener to Japanese companies and implement the TPS. The Toyota Production System (TPS) was first denominated in the West as Just in Time (JIT).After the initial visits of industries from western countries to Japanese industry, the people returning with stories of factories which produced only what was needed, when needed, without any Just In Case expensive stock. Later, we realised that there was more than this, and the JIT was worked because was part of a more global management system, TPS. A system in fact useful to reduce costs and from that time the TPS became very popular. (Y. Monden 1993). But this system got popularity in the western countries after a researcher made in 1990 for Massachusetts institute of technology (MIT) by James P. Womack and Daniel T. Jones. This five year research about the future of the automobile makers, revealed a gap between the conventional mass production and the new trend used in Japanese industries. This book coined the term Lean as a description of the Toyota Production System. Definition of Lean As is described above, Toyota Production System was born in Toyota (1945). This system is sustained for two pillars: Just in Time and Autonomation or Jidoka. The name of Lean manufacturing was given in a research published by Massachusetts institute of technology (MIT) in 1990. Ohno make three statements in his book Toyota Production System; beyond Large-Scale Production, 1988, taken together we can use as his definition: The basis of the TPS is the absolute elimination of waste. The two pillars needed to support the system are: Just in Time and Autonomation (Jidoka) (Ohno, 1988 p4) Cost reduction is the goal (Ohno, 1987 p8) After World War II, our main concern was how to produce high-quality goods. After 1955, the question became how to make the exact quantity needed (Ohno, 1987 p33). We can conclude that for Ohno the TPS consist of many techniques that are designed to reduce the cost by removing the waste and providing the right product, at the right quantity at the moment is required. Using less of everything this statement was made in the book The machine that change the world (Womack et al. 1990) as a definition of Lean production. Another important contribution of TPS was a new approach of looking at the equation formed by: Price, Cost and Profit. When TPS was developed, the western was using the following equation to obtain price of a product: Price=Cost + Profit In this formula if the cost increase, the best way to maintain the same profit is by raising the price, is based on the principle that is the company who fix the price. By offering more feature, quality or service they can raise the price. By another hand, Japan proposed the next expression: Profit=Price â‚ ¬Ã¢â‚¬Å" Cost In this equation is the market, the final customer who is fixed the price. The companies used the voice of the customer as a means to design the new features of a product, and the price they are willing to pay for it. With this equation the only way to obtain better profits is by reducing the cost as much as possible (fig. 3.1). This equation leads the companies to pursuit internal improvement if they want to keep or raise the profit in the current market situation. (J. Santos, et al. 2006). Figure 3â‚ ¬Ã¢â‚¬Ëœ1 Equation price-cost benefits (adaptation of J. Santos et al 2008) Price fixed by the customer Cost Profit Summarizing we can conclude that Lean is a theory of management that consider the uses of resources for any means other than the creation of value from customer point of view is a waste (defined below); and pursuing the elimination waste as a means of achieving greater efficiency of the process. (Y. Monden, 1993) Seven types of Wastes Muda is a Japanese means waste. According to James P. Womack (2003) any activity which absorbs resources but creates no values is called waste. Lean thinking provides a way to identify the value, defined by the final customer, and analyze the value stream in the search for not added value action in order to eliminate and based in Continuous improvement, where the search for new improvements is never ending. (Womack et al., 2003) The wastes defined by Ohno include parts not right the first time, piles of products made in Just in case, processing step that no one had analyzed, to realized that they are not needed, transporting goods thought work floor, workers, machinery or material waiting to the next step in the process, and so forth. (Womack et al., 2003, p16). There are many types of waste; some are easy to discern others difficult. An important thing to remember is that to eliminate waste, you must find it first, towards eliminating it. The seven wastes (7Ws) addressed by Ohno (1988) are detailed below, with the addition of the one defined by Womack, 2003. Overproduction Manufacturing companies, sometimes produce more than they have sold, some times because they want to build an inventories, in the expectation that the market requirements arise, another times with the purpose to keep everyone busy and / or to achieve a high used of the facilities. Whatever the reason is, making products for which there is no demand is waste and can drive the company out of business. The key point to found this waste is compare what is produced versus what is sold. (J. Nicholas, 1988) Waiting This waste will include delay between the end of one activity and the start of the next activity. This waste can take many forms: operators or machineries waiting for orders, parts, materials, parts for the preceding process, equipment repairs, and so on. Contrasting with the previous waste, this one it is easy to identify. As It was explain above, some companies minimizing the waste of waiting by keeping the workers and the machines active all the times, incurring in that way in the previous waste; overproduction. Stopping the machines and allowing workers to be idle in occasion, is less costly than producing products with no orders. Another advantage of these spare times is that the workers can used it to search for improvements. (J. Nicholas, 1988) Transporting It is any kind of unnecessary transport of workers, parts, products, etc moved from one location to another. There two things that determine the transport through the factory; the layout facility and the sequence of operations. (J. Nicholas, 1988) No value is added in any items while they are moving around, therefore all time and facilities involve in that are wastes. Rearranging the layout and putting sequential equipment together allow us to minimize this waste. Too much machining; over processing. A process may itself contain steps that are ineffective or unnecessary. When company use expensive or high precision equipment where investing in smaller and more flexible equipment would be adequate. This often results in poor plant layout because The monuments are located far away from the process and making the process incur in waste such transportation, wait and in addition overproduction (in order to set high utilization, and justify the investment). Inventories Ohno in his book Toyota Production System, Beyond Large Scale Production (1988), qualify the inventory as the root of all evil because covers other kinds if wastes and inefficiencies and encourages to wasteful practices. Inventories represent items waiting for something to happen, where there are many associated and hidden costs (storage space, handling, management, insurance, lost of opportunity, and so forth). John Nicholas (1988) identifies that many companies even when they recognize the high cost of the inventory they justify them for dealing with issues such: To cover fluctuations in future demand, where more accurately forecasted are necessary. To cover the delay in lead times caused by breakdowns or delivery delays, where a Preventive maintenance plan would be necessary as well a close relationship with the suppliers. To cover long setup times, where an improvement in standardization as well as a study of the setup times made the big batch unnecessary. We can use the analogy of a ship on water (figure 2.1) to clarify the idea of hidden costs and problems incurred with high level of inventory. As inventory is reducing, problems are exposed, which can be resolved. After that, the inventory is lowered again, in order to get more problem appear and management has to resolve them in order for the system to work. Figure 3â‚ ¬Ã¢â‚¬Ëœ2 Analogy of water and inventory Worker absenteeism Work load imbalance Downtime Quality Scrap Rework Out of spec. materials Set-up Times Process variation Inventory level is hidden all problems By reducing the inventory, production problems arise WIP The research is agreed with Ohno (1988) when he argued that people tend to build some inventory as a respond of their farming roots. Our ancestors grew rice for subsistence and stored it in preparation for times of natural disasters (Ohno, 1988) this type of accumulation is no longer practical from the moment that we can find everything that we need from the corner shop. Nevertheless, break this habit in the day to day factory habits is difficult, is requires a change of attitude. But we need to keep in mind that reduction of inventory is not an end itself; it is a mechanism for revealing problems and wasteful practices in the production system. Moving People in work often confuse being in motion with working. A worker in constant motion all day may actually be doing little work; we should consider which portion of the motion is actually added value to the product. This waste is related to ergonomics and the objective is to obtain that the 100% of the motion is work; added value. Hence pursues the elimination of wasteful motion, but not by increasing work. Motions as bending, stretching, walking, lifting, reaching, picking up, transporting, loading, and so forth take workers time and increase the cost, but not add value. (J. Nicholas, 1988) Making defective parts and products. The simplest form of waste is products that do not meet the specification. Manufacturing products right at first time requires no money. Defects in any product are a major source of waste, hold up production and increase production lead times avoidable if products were done right the first time. Quality defects result in rework or scrap and involve a remarkable cost to organizations, along with the associated costs such: re-inspecting, rescheduling quarantining inventory, and capacity loss.   The key point is attain Quality at the source or Quality Assurance where the parts are made right the first time, transforming the old idea of Quality Assurance; where the parts are inspected at the end of the line. In order to achieve this we can use tools such: Poka Yoke, Kaizen, and so forth. (Y. Monden, 1993) Underutilization of Employees In the book Lean Thinking by James P Womack and Daniel T. Jones (1996), was added another wasted, added to the seven defined by Ohno (1988); which was denominated by them as Underutilization of employees. The companies hire employees for the physical skills, and sometimes the managers forgot to take an advantage of the brainpower that they hired with those skills. Some common causes of inability to see this waste may result in mudas such high employee turnover, inadequate hiring practices, and so forth. Not Used the employees as an experts of the process in which they are working is a waste of creativity and the improvement ideas that they can generate, this waste deserved the same important than the previous seven described above. Tools and Techniques There are many definitions that refer to lean; as Toyota Production System, Just in Time, Jidoka, flexible workforce, Kanban, TQM and so forth; partly because for many years had been confusion and many practitioners; mix up the purpose with the means. Lean production may be viewed as a bunch of all this practices/tools, and all underneath subsystems give the necessary support to the main system. The main systems Ohno (1988) described as two pillars are: Just inTime Autonomation with human touch, or Jidoka The tools/techniques of lean, as supporting subsystems can be said as; Kanban Poka-yoke Visual Control, Andon Value Stream Mapping Standard Operations One Piece Flow 5S Total Productive Maintenance (TPM) Levelling Production Benchmarking SMED Multifunctional Workers Kaizen Some of the most relevant for the research purpose are explained below. The two pillars of Lean: Just in Time In 1950 Toyota was near to bankrupting, as a consequence they couldnt afford major investment in new machineries or substantial inventories. In 1956 Ohno travel to America, where he got the perspective of Just-In-Time in the American supermarket. He was interested in way the supermarket were working; by providing to customer what they need, when they need and in the quantity they need. Ohno transfer this idea down to the process, and he developed a system that is working like a coordinate chain of small supermarket, where all processes are transformer in customer for the previous step and supplier for the next step and every step is only produced the quantity needed for the next step, with perfect quality and no waste. The system was denominated as pull system. TMMK (7may2010) JIT was developed in the framework of TPS and evolved due to the need of the Japanese industry to survive in the post-war global market. Soon, the value of the system was proven into the manufacturing industry and a large number of companies worldwide hastened to implement this model to their own production systems (Monden, 1993). Ohno developed a number of methodologies to support the Just in Time system; one of the best known is the Kanban system, detailed below. Pull system and Kanban The traditional mass production system is the one denominate as push production system, where every station start to assembly a part when the raw material arrive to the work station. The way to manage production system is usually based in forecasting. The parts usually are processes in batches according to a schedule for each process (fig 2.2). The materials must usually wait until the workstation complete the previous work and is performing the changeover necessary. Changes in schedules, breakdown in machinery and other incidents, make a planning inaccurate. (J Nicholas, 1988). When a problem occurs at one stage, the problem will not be notice in the rest of the system, because an inventory between the workstation are insulated the problems in each workstation, and dependency between workstation was low. Figure 4â‚ ¬Ã¢â‚¬Ëœ3 Push System Retention points Process 1 Retention points Process 2 Inspection Retention points inspection Information and material flow High variability in lead times, long lead times, large Work in Progress inventory, and a numerous quality issues are arisen in this system. Besides with the problems associated with maintaining valid scheduled, made by the forecasting office, which is far a way from the shop floor and all the problems that arise in the manufacturing process. By contrast the pull production is sometimes called stockless, because is minimized the work in progress, pursuit the one piece flow. It seeks to have every stage in a process produce and deliver materials downstream in the exact quantities and the exact times requested. (J Nicholas, 1988). Figure 4â‚ ¬Ã¢â‚¬Ëœ4 Pull System Process 2 Inspection Material Flow Process 1 Inspection Max Min Delivery point Max Min Max Min Information Flow Refer to the figure 2.3, when a customer order arrives to the delivery point, this work station sends a production order to the downstream process, in order to refill the product had been delivered. The work station 2 in the moment is used more than two parts, and let the buffer with the minimum quantity, then sends a production order to the work station 1. Just in time pursues the zero inventories; the system that is describing here is used a buffer, in that way any process shouldnt wait to have the necessary material to start producing an order. Refer to the figure 2.3 each work station begins de production as soon as the order upstream is received. (J Nicholas, 1988). In contrast with the Push production system, any problem in any work station is affected the whole system, so that all stage are working together in order to resolve the problem, increasing the chances of solving the root problem. Kanban is a subsystem to support of the JIT system and was developed by Toyota in the early stages of TPS. Kanban is a Japanese word for card, but not necessarily need to be a card, sometimes can be a signboard, container, empty space, and so forth. The broadly idea is to use the Kanban, whatever the form is takes, as a signal to produce a specific number of parts request for the next process. (N. Slack et al, 2004). The system is not used a complicated and expensive computer schedules. The theoretical operation of Kanban is no one product is manufacture until is demanded for the final customer. Therefore the signal Kanban is used as a trigger for a production. There are different types of Kanban; Conveyance Kanban, also know as a move Kanban, whose purpose is to move the goods along different production stages. The Production Kanban, work as a signal to a production process that can start producing a part to be place in the inventory. (N. Slack et al, 2004) There are two procedures of using Kanban system; dual-card (used both production and conveyance) this is the original Toyota method, and the single-card, explained below (used only the production, but acting as both move and produce authorization), is more often used the last one, for the simplicity of use. (N. Slack et al, 2004) Figure 4â‚ ¬Ã¢â‚¬Ëœ5 Kanban system. Process 2 Inspection Material Flow Process 1 Inspection Delivery point Max Min Kanban Max Min Kanban Max Min Kanban Information Flow Order to the supplier To explain the concept we can use the example in figure 2.4, where each process made two piece batches. When the delivery point sent two finished parts, the operator takes a Kanban card from the container and sends it back down to the previous workstation; process 2,where that part is assembled. When the Kanban card is received, the previous work station start to assemble new batch of 2 parts, and consequently it sends downs to the previous process the Kanban card in order to refill the parts used in the last operation. This chain or work orders is repeated until an order is sent to the supplier of raw material. This system keeps to minimum the paperwork, provides a self-manage workstation and one the more important achievements is that the inventory of Work in Progress is kept to a minimum. The parts are assembled only when a need for them and WIP is reducing by dropping the number of cards into the system. The two pillars of Lean: Jidoka Jidoka is a Japanese word meaning automation with a human touch, refers to the automatic control of defects under the supervision of an employee; or as is described by Ohno (1988) Autonomation. Is refers to a process that has incorporated mechanism to detect non conformances and not allowed the process to pass a product if there isnt a conformance with the requirements.   Sakichi Toyoda began to used Jidoka, also known as Autonomation; he invented the automatic looms that stopped immediately when any thread broke. In that way one operator was able to manage many machines with no risk of producing outside specifications. This pillar of TPS is a â‚ ¬Ã‹Å"Proactive Systematic Approach. That is means instant detection of non conformances at the root source, pursuing the prevention is chosen over correction for problems after its occurrence. Through this principle we ensure that hundred per cent of the products are free defects, and when a defect is found this is fixed directly, otherwise the worker had the authority to stop the line, in order to resolve it.(J. Nicholas,1998).No OK parts are very important in JIT, when a one short part can cause the stoppage of the whole factory, just to remember one of the quotation for define JIT The exact product in the exact moment that is required (Ohno, 1988) This authority to stop the line meets resistance in western managers, because they are afraid that this can cause a delay in the lead time. But that is only the negative side, by another hand should be viewed as improvements in the process, the root of many quality issues are discovered and as a result they are resolved. Thought Jidoka principles the employees are more aware of quality issues and the related problems, and the number of defects and rework drop at the end of the line. (Nicholas, 1988

My Father Was a Paradox Essay -- Personal Narrative, essay about my fa

I'll miss my father, I already miss him, greatly... I'll miss his stories, his laughter, the fire of his opinions, and especially the quiet strength of him. Yet, I think it's one of the truths of the world that the people we miss the most are also the ones that we can't miss, because we carry so much of them with us. My father was something of a paradox. On the one hand he stands out in my mind for his stories, his wit, and the fire of his opinions. Anyone who's argued with him, and that's quite a few of us, knew that he had strong opinions and argued them with zeal. On the other hand, at the same time, he was a quiet man, who kept a lot of what he felt on the inside, someone who taught more by example than by lecture. Did he believe that there was something for us after death? I don't really know. I asked him about God and the after life years ago. He explained to me what agnosticism meant to him, that you could never really know, a... ...ver really miss him. He's in everything I do, and everything I am. If you ever need a story about him just ask... Or hang around a bit, they burst out on their own. One of the last full sentences he ever said to me was that he ought to go off and "set old Bill Shakespeare right on a few things." Somehow, I expect that Bill's now learning what a lot of us know, what an experience it is to know my father. And his stories will never be the same again.

On the Road: Jack Kerouacs Rejection of the Middle Class American Drea

Jack Kerouac was one of a group of young men who, immediately after the Second World War, protested against what they saw as the blandness, conformity and lack of cultural purpose of middle-class life in America. The priorities of people of their age, in the mainstream of society, were to get married, to move the suburbs, to have children and to accumulate wealth and possessions. Jack Kerouac and his friends consciously rejected this pursuit of stability and instead looked elsewhere for personal fulfillment. They were the Beats, the pioneers of a counterculture that came to be known as the Beat Generation. The Beats saw mainstream life as a prison. They wanted freedom, the freedom to pick up and go at a moments notice. This search for the true meaning of life was given a literary voice in Jack Kerouac's novel On the Road, written in 1951 but not published until 1957. This essay will investigate some of the aspects of the novel that make it a forceful and complex rejection of the white middle class American dream. Beginning in the winter of 1947 Jack Kerouac undertook a series of journeys by car across the United States and finally into Mexico that he then wrote about in On the Road. The novel conveys a feeling of constant motion, a frenetic search for meaning in an America that is very different from the middle class ideal. Sal Paradise, the narrator of the story, describes an America of constantly changing landscapes peopled by a multitude of colourful characters. Sal Paradise's America is an America where the only commitment seems to be to the immediate gratification found in fast cars, sex, drugs and jazz. Sal's idol and travelling companion is Dean Moriarty, a reckless and hyperactive womanizer who, to Sal, is the phy... ...tual values but also a search for a personal identity that had been lost or maybe had never even existed in the first place. In On the Road, the narrator, Sal Paradise, recounts the details of a search that, ultimately, is not rewarded. Sal's infatuation with Dean Moriarty leads him only to a parting of the ways. When he is abandoned by Dean, whilst seriously ill in Mexico, Sal finally realizes what Dean really stands for. Sal, at last, comes to the understanding that his friend's philosophy is based on the premise that personal authenticity requires the complete abandonment of personal ties. Dean believes that all your energy must be focussed on obtaining your own kicks to the exclusion of everyone else. As Sal says in the final paragraph of the novel, " I realized what a rat he was" (302). Works Cited Kerouac, Jack. On the Road. New York: Viking Press, 1957.

Protestant Vs. Socially Engaged Buddhism :: essays research papers

Protestant vs. Socially Engaged Buddhism   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚     Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Somewhere in the sixth century BCE Buddhism was born, born from a single man Siddhartha Guatama, the Buddha. After gaining his enlightenment under the Bodhi tree, the Buddha didn’t think that the rest of the world could handle all that he had learned. He did not want to teach others, nor did he want to spread his wisdom. Until at last his great compassion came over him and he started to gain the respect of few by going to his old peers first. By starting with other intellectuals he secured that they at least had the capacity to learn what he had to teach. From this point on he spread his philosophy on the middle path with everyone who would listen.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  He preached pacifism and that it was wrong to take any life be it a man’s or any lesser being’s. He taught that the noble eightfold path was the route to end all suffering, and that the individual was the most important factor in achieving enlightenment. The Buddha taught about the five aggregates, the notion that the human being is made up of matter, sensation, consciousness, perception, and mental formations. In all of his teachings however the Buddha did not do so much as a lay a groundwork for which his followers could build a society on.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  The Buddha was acting out of compassion in that he had found the way to end his suffering and wanted to help others do the same. He was not however trying to build himself up as a God, and create a religion under which he was the focal point. Since this was not his goal, he did not get into politics, social formations, or anything else of the like. However, sooner or later, with the rapid growth of Buddhism in India, and the whole of Southeast Asia, these were the things that would determine the survival of its followers. That is, an entire society of Buddhists had emerged, far greater numbers and organization than even the Buddha had imagined. With this emergence of community came more and more problems with which the leaders had no frame of reference to combat. For instance, what to do when pacifism doesn’t work in protecting your community. How to maintain peacefulness when outside forces are conquering violently. In many areas, where this sense of a Buddhist community had been created, the members had a great deal of pride in what they had created and were a part of, but their pride was kept in check by their inability to justify the right course of action.

Absolutism under Louis XIV

Louis XIV lived from 1638- 1715 and became the king of France in 1654. At the time he became king, France was financially ruined, politically corrupt, and divided between warring nobles and private armies and under the threat of riots from the people, especially in Paris. Louis XIV was an absolute monarch. Absolutism is the system of rule that allows one or more rulers to maintain absolute power over everything in the land. There is no higher power and even the Parliament could not overrule Louis’ decisions.As absolute monarch, Louis XIV set about reforming the state politically, economically and culturally. Louis XIV’s absolute monarchy had three components: †¢ Centralization- this meant that the monarchy was the center of everything. All decisions from the monarchy were undisputable and final. All counties and villages were expected to follow this rule to create a united state and a centralized leadership. †¢ Economic reforms- â€Å"Under the guidance of Je an-Baptiste Colbert (1619-83) a â€Å"modern† system of accountancy and yearly state budgeting was introduced.Colbert also supervised systematic attacks on corruption, removing, punishing, or paying off office holders. He also introduced tax reforms – ending exemptions, tax-farming, and military collection of taxes – and state support for industry, science, trade, and the arts. As regards the operations of the state, Colbert raised government income to the point when it could pay for quite massive expenses. Government subsidizing and directing of industry and manufacture increased productivity, raised wages, and brought France into the trade wars with the English and the Dutch.Colbert, like many French officials, repeatedly remarked that the inhabitants must pay the tax not only because it would raise additional funds, but also because paying the levy was ‘the obedience which is due His Majesty. † †¢ â€Å"Theater of Monarchy†-this is the public representation of royal power and glory. Under the theory of absolutism, sovereignty is grounded in God, not the people. The glory of the monarch is, as it were, the earthly point at which is expressed both the glory of the state – as a social whole ordered around and dependent upon the monarch – and the glory of God from whom the monarch derives power and role.It was therefore important to show, through royal events and presentations, the state as personified by the king. Louis XIV distinguished between â€Å"nature as it ought to be†, as ordained by God, and â€Å"nature as it is†, disrupted by human activity. As the new, distant and mysterious God no longer intervened directly in the natural order, it fell to the monarch to uphold â€Å"nature as it ought to be† and prevent it disintegrating into disorder. One of his reforms began with the acquisition of the providence of Roussillonnais in 1659, which was inhabited by a specific ethnic g roup known as the Catalans.Louis XIV understood that there can be no shared political allegiance without shared cultural values. Thus a government, if it is to exercise its political authority in an area, must first make the region culturally homogeneous with the ruling nation. Louis XIV undertook to replace the Catalan ethnic identity with the French one, mandating the foods, clothing, legal system, language, educational institutions, and religious traditions that should be used in the province. The Catalans did not agree with Louis and made it clear with smuggling, legal battles and even open rebellion.They wished to maintain their own culture and laws and did not want to accept the monarchy as their ruler. Like all peasants, they were reluctant to pay taxes to the monarchy and many turned to smuggling as an alternative. By the 1680’s, however, Louis XIV and his government were successful in achieving their goal of political assimilation. The Roussillonais had accepted Fran ce as their political rules but continued to conduct their legal, commercial, judicial, and religious business in the Catalan language, continued to dress as Catalans, to give their children Catalan names, and to celebrate traditional feasts.They were quite firmly French in a political sense, and equally firmly Catalan in their culture. A trend that began in the 17th century was for the ruler to govern from one location versus the many homes and palaces of the past. Louis XIV was one such ruler, moving from the royal palace of the Louvre in Paris to a permanent home in Versailles. It was from this location that he ruled France for his entire reign. Louis XIV was also known as the â€Å"sun king† due to his use of the symbol as his personal emblem.As the highest star, now accepted by science as the centre of the universe, the sun was an obvious choice to symbolize absolutism’s claim to constitute the political centre of earthly life. The sun was both terrifying and awe inspiring, dazzling through its brightness, yet also warming and beneficent, and without its presence all life would whither away. One of the ways a monarch distanced himself from his subjects was to show his magnificence and largesse. This came in the form of elaborate operas, lavish banquets and court music.It was not uncommon to have fountains with slowing wine, roast oxen, coins minted for the occasion and bread handed out to the masses. This was to show the generosity and benevolence of the ruler and assure the people that their trust in the monarchy was well placed. It also served to reiterate the idea that the monarch was the center of everything and should be respected as such. Not everything regarding absolutism was beneficial, especially for the peasants of the land.The taxes imposed by Louis XIV and his government went far to provide funds for the monarchy and various military skirmishes, but The accumulative effect of these taxes was well observed by the royal commission ers sent to investigate the collection of taxes in the Orleanais and Le Maine in 1687 who observed that: there are hardly any peasants that own property†¦there are only small farmers who own nothing. The proprietors must furnish them with cattle, advance them money on which to live, pay their tallies and take in payment the peasant’s entire portion of the harvest. Even this is sometimes insufficient to cover his debts.Thus the small farmers earn nothing; they leave the land as destitute as they came to it. What cash was left they said went into paying taxes so that there was almost no money left for individuals; from this comes the decline of commerce. As a result, riots and rebellions by the peasants were common. Tax collectors met with violence or even death in some instances. It was not until Louis XIV’s General Controller of Finance†, Jean-Baptise Colbert changed the way things were done regarding the taxes. Colbert's everyday management of the taxes was intelligently conceived precisely to reduce the difficulties experienced earlier.Much effort went into collecting existing taxes as equitably as possible, into preventing the accumulation of arrears (those of the final years of the war being formally cancelled), and into making the most unpopular forms of coercion a last resort. 94 Although the revenue from indirect taxes was greatly increased this was achieved without creating new levies. The significance of this policy was emphasized when financial pressure was increased after the renewal of war in 1672, with the new duties of 1675, the marque d'etain and the papier timbre, setting off the last major rebellions of the ancient regime.Under Louis XIV’s absolute rule, France enjoyed a peaceful and prosperous era. Colbert reformed the taxes and they dwindled down to custom duties, a tax on salt and a tax on land. He also encouraged trade and commerce by the merchants and inventors of the land and sought to decrease the Frenchà ¢â‚¬â„¢s dependence on foreign goods. These acts stopped the internal civil wars until almost a hundred years later. During Colbert's ministry the position of the laborers was doubly affected, by more stringent tax assessment and by a sequence of good harvests which resulted in low grain prices.Since these trends favored the mass of poor peasants, there was little prospect of uniting communities in revolt behind an unpopular minority of the rich, whose difficulties were in any case only relative. It was not until Napoleon that France had internal discord again. Other areas of improvement were the legal reforms Louis XIV implemented. The major legal code instituted at this time was the basis of the Napoleon Code which in turn is the basis for the modern French legal codes.The War of Spanish Succession began when the King of Spain, Charles II, bequeathed all his possessions to Philip duc D’anjou, who was the grandson of Louis XIV. This made Philip the king of Spain. Aside from the fact that others wanted to claim the throne for themselves, the crowning of Philip assured Louis XIV of a Spanish alliance in his quest to expand. Other countries joined the side of the Holy Roman Empire, who wanted to stop France from expanding any further. Philip and Spain sided with Louis XIV and France. The war was fought both in Europe and in North America, where it was known as the â€Å"Queen Anne’s War.† The war lasted for over a decade and as a result, Philip was removed from the line of succession for the throne of France. This made the opposition happy since a union of France and Spain was now impossible. In the end, Louis XIV’s numerous wars and extravagant palaces and chateaux effectively bankrupted the State (though it must also be said that France was able to recover in a matter of years), forcing him to levy higher taxes on the peasants and incurring large State debts from various financiers as the nobility and clergy had exemption from payin g these taxes and contributing to public funds.Yet, it must be emphasized that it was the State and not the country which was impoverished. Before his death in 1715, Louis XIV determined that his five year old grandson, Louis XIII would succeed him to the throne. He is alleged to have told the child â€Å"Do not follow the bad example which I have set you; I have often undertaken war too lightly and have sustained it for vanity. Do not imitate me, but be a peaceful prince, and may you apply yourself principally to the alleviation of the burdens of your subjects†.Although Louis XIV did make some mistakes during his reign, he had many victories as well. His display of absolute monarchy set an example for many of the European princes, who followed his examples of art, food and political systems. Absolutism fell out of favor among the monarchy not long after Louis XIV died but the gains that he made provided a stable base for France to prosper in the future. Louis XIV had been ma rried twice and fathered both legitimate and illegitimate children, none of whom followed in his footsteps of absolutel rule.Works Cited Briggs, Robin. Communities of Belief: Cultural and Social Tension in Early Modern France. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1995. Parker, David. â€Å"French ‘Absolutism'. † History Review (1997): 14+. Stewart, David. Assimilation and Acculturation in Seventeenth-Century Europe: Roussillon and France, 1659-1715. Westport, CT: Greenwood Press, 1997. Wilson, Peter H. Absolutism in Central Europe. London: Routledge, 2000.

International Trade Theory and Policy Essay

Multilateral trade negotiations forums are organizations established to regulate trade between many countries of the world. The agreement involves establishing organizations which regulate trade in the entire world. The increase in globalization has forced many countries to form regulatory organizations to avoid bad trade practices. To enhance trade many countries have created trade agreements to remove barriers to trade. Economic integration is the most important aspect discussed by the trade agreement organizations. The organizations aim at achieving an integrated economy where countries can trade with each other. After the World War II many leaders of the world felt that the economies of the destroyed countries could only be improved through trade. One of the proposals to improve trade was to create a laissez-faire global economy but this was rejected since it was not applicable. The leaders agreed to establish global trade organizations which would enhance trade by reducing the barriers to trade which had been placed by the countries. During the war many countries created strict barriers to trade to protect their economies from external influence (Anderson, 2005). The General Agreement on Trade and Tariffs was the first agreement to be established. The agreement was established to enhance trade between the member countries but was later converted into World Trade Organization (WTO). The International Monetary Fund was also created to regulate the economic status of the developing nations as well as regulate international economic activities (Smith, Sumner & Rosson, n. d. ). Reconstruction of the damaged economies after the World War II was the priority of these organizations. For many years several amendments have been made to accommodate the changing economic climate. Trade liberalization has been the most important aspect during the amendments. For example, according to Anderson. (2005, pg. 414), â€Å"the Uruguay Round of multilateral trade negotiations led to agreements signed in 1994 that contributed to trade liberalization over the subsequent 10 years. † Despite the many advantages accompanied by the establishment of the international trade organizations, there have been several disadvantages accompanied by the activities of opening up of domestic markets to international trade. An example is the global economic recession of the 2007-2009 that was experienced by the world economies after the banking industry and the mortgage industry collapsed due to poor financial practices by the U. S. banks. Importance of multilateral trade institutions The multilateral trade organizations were created to enhance trade and stability of the economies of the member countries. Initially they were established to reconstruct the economies which had been destroyed during the World War II. Many countries realized the importance of trade in improving the economies after the war. Trade was the only tool that could restore the original status of the economies. Before and during the war many countries had put a lot of trade barriers to prevent trade with other countries. Opening up domestic economies required negotiations with all countries of the world to enhance a more open economic system (Warnke, 1996). Multilateral trade institutions improve international trade since they encourage member countries to open up their domestic markets to international trade. Trade disputes are resolved more easily between and among conflicting countries, hence leading to a good relationship between countries. Production according to comparative advantage has been encouraged by the improvement in international trade. Countries are encouraged to produce goods which they can produce most economically. Different countries have different resources which give them the potential to create income generating products. Through international trade resources are utilized optimally since an economy will specialize in the production of products which it has greater advantages (Bernard et al. 2007). International trade has encouraged countries to specialize in the production of goods and services. The mobility of factors of production has been accelerated by globalization. More industries are encouraging division of labor to increase the productivity of labor factors of production. More industries have developed with the expansion of international trade. These industries create more employment opportunities to the citizens of a country. As the par capita income of the people increases their living standards is improved. Poverty alleviation campaigns have encouraged improved international trade as one of the strategies to enhance development of nations (Bernard et al. 2007). Opening up the domestic market to international trade creates more advantages than disadvantages. The international prices are lower than the domestic prices. The consumers obtain goods and services at lower prices. The competition created by the international trade encourages the domestic firms to be efficient in their production systems. The customers are provided with a wide variety of products to select from (Bernard et al. 2007). Multilateral trade organizations control the globalization of economies. Globalization refers to the international operation of business activities and the transfer of information between countries. Globalization has affected business activities both positively and negatively. Global markets have emerged and many companies are operating in several countries. This has created competitiveness of the companies since the global markets are larger than regional markets. Globalization is the process of integrating the global economies, societies and cultures by connecting communication and trade networks. Economic globalization refers to the integration of global economies by enhancing trade, foreign direct investment, sharing of technology, movement of people and flow of capital. The factors which influence the rate of globalization are the world economies, technology, and socio-cultural, political and biological aspects (Warnke, 1996). Globalization has improved the exchange of technologies and knowledge. This has increased the capacity of businesses to expand on the number of innovative products in the market. The public sector alone cannot accommodate all the skilled labor in a country and trade provides more employment opportunities for the people in a nation. As economies become more global people with skills can move to countries where there is high market potential for their labor. The introduction of internet has increased efficiency in trade by enabling people transfer information more easily. Trade attracts private investment and this generates more capital in the economy. The gross domestic product of a country increases with increase in trade. Growth and development of an economic is accelerated by trade since more income is generated and the living standards of the people are improved (Daniels, Radebaugh & Sullivan, 2007). Poverty levels in both developing and developed countries have declined by greater margins due to participation of countries in the international trade. Economies have acquired more wealth and the gross domestic product of countries has improved. WTO has become the custodian of international law on trade. The enforcement of trade laws about good trade practices has been possible after the creation of WTO. The establishment of regional and multilateral trade agreements was experienced after WTO was created. This has encouraged many countries remove barriers to trade (World Trade Organization 2010). Weaknesses of multilateral trade institutions Most of the multilateral trade organizations are affected by the political climate in the member countries. Any political war between the member countries can ruin the operation of the organizations. When the organizations support some political organizations; they affect the interests of the members and this reduces the delivery of the required obligations. Politically strong countries have dominated the operations of the multilateral organizations and this is causing a lot of concern to the global trade communities. Decision making at the trade organizations has become very difficult since many participants are not willing to accept rules which affect their economies negatively. Anderson (2005, pg. 417) suggests that â€Å"although trade can and should play an important role in allowing developing countries to lift themselves out of poverty, in reality international trade agreements and institutions have more often than not contributed to the continuation of global social and economic injustice. â€Å" The developed nations have dominated the multilateral trade organizations. For example, according to Anderson (2005, pg. 31) â€Å"with decision-making based on a consensus system, so each member has equal decision-making power, the WTO is held to be the most democratic of all the international institutions with a global mandate. In practice, however, the working methods of the WTO lack transparency, inclusiveness and equity. † There have been conflicts as the developing nations are becoming concerned about the great influence the developed nations have on the decisions in these organizations. Multilateral trade agreements are complicated to establish since many countries are involved. The interests of each country should be represented during the negotiations to ensure that conflicts do not arise afterwards (Amadeo, 2010). Despite the establishment of the trade organizations many countries continue to place more trade discrimination measures upon other countries. â€Å"They include not just trade taxes-cum-subsidies but also contingent protection measures such as anti-dumping, regulatory standards that can be technical barriers to trade, and domestic production subsidies† Anderson (2005, pg. 415). Many trade distortions have occurred since the global economies were established. Multilateral trade organizations have encouraged the opening up of economies to international market influence. The opening up of domestic markets has affected the global economies. Several disadvantages have been accompanied by the opening up of the domestic markets, for example, the global economic meltdown of the 2007-2008. The crisis started with the rise in prices for basic products due to the international increase in fuel prices. The prices of oil and food products increased within a short duration leading to an economic crisis which affected many people in US. The prices for many products increased and inflation was experienced all over the country. Many subprime borrowers had low incomes and the rise in prices for basic products increased the expenses for their living. Many companies retrenched employees to accommodate the increasing production costs. The borrowers were unable to repay the loans resulting to massive defaults. More than 100 subprime mortgage intermediaries filed for bankruptcy. Reacquisition of the houses from the defaulters caused a lot of people to become homeless (Platt, 2008). Subprime mortgages are policies which have a high risk of default. Subprime borrowers are the people with low incomes and have a poor credit history. They have higher risk of default compared to the prime borrowers. The US government had deregulated the real estate mortgages leading to massive investment in subprime mortgages. This caused the risky lending of subprime mortgages. The subprime mortgages were not popular initially but they became widely used in the 1990s. The climax of the sub prime mortgages was in 2006 when they accounted for more than 21 percent of all mortgages traded in the US market. The value of subprime mortgages in 2006 was valued at $600 billion. Many subprime mortgage intermediaries were established to reap the benefits of the expanding industry (Helleiner, 2009). The world economies have experienced a major decline due to poor performance of many industries. This is a crisis which has affected all sectors of the economy. Williams (2009) claims that the crisis was initiated by the subprime mortgage lending crisis in US. The banking sector issued many loans to subprime mortgage intermediaries. Due to the expanding market in the sub prime mortgage market many banks issued unsecured loans to the intermediaries. The climax of the boom was reached in 2007 when the prices of products started to increase and many subprime mortgage lenders were unable to repay their loans. This led to massive default of debts and banks registered huge losses. This reduced the lending capacity of many banks. The resulting effect was lack of credit in the economy and the collapse of many companies (Stapledon, 2009). The government of US is to be blame for the crisis. The 102nd Congress under the leadership of George W. Bush deregulated the housing sector in 1992 (Guttmann, 1994). The main aim was to increase the availability of money for buying housing. Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac companies were deregulated and could spend $97. 50 to buy housing loans. Banks with $100 could spend more than $90 buying mortgage loans. The companies had been ordered by the congress to retain more capital to for risk allowance but this was not practiced. Since 1992 the mortgage sector experienced the highest boom with many companies investing heavily in the sector. Subprime mortgage intermediary companies were developed to assist homeowners acquire loans from the banks (Stapledon, 2009). The banking sector was the worse hit by the crisis. Inter-bank lending declined and banks had no money to issue to their customers. Most of the banks collapsed while others registered huge losses. This was as a result of failure by many subprime mortgage intermediaries which defaulted the huge loans they had acquired from the banks. The central bank could not lead to all the banks due to the massive crisis that affected the entire country. Since US is a market for many commodities from other countries there was an extension of the crisis to other economies causing a global economic meltdown. Many economies declined since they had no market for their goods. Inflation increased as prices persistently increased. The entire world encountered economic crisis which resulted into failure by all sectors of the economy in the world (Stapledon, 2009). Many international organizations have intervened to eradicate the problem. The intervention by the World Bank has created better results in the efforts to reduce the impacts of the crisis. World Bank has issued loans to many countries to increase the income levels of the people. Many companies have been able to access loans due to the fun ding by World Bank. The availability of loans has increased since last year and many companies have regained their capacity (Bayne, 2008). The World Trade Organization has negotiated with the oil producing countries to reduce the oil prices as one of the measures to reduce the effects of the crisis. The global oil prices increased causing the prices of many products to rise. The high product prices caused inflation in the whole world. WTO has also encouraged trade by persuading some countries remove the trade barriers they had placed upon their trade partners when the crisis was at the climax (Stephen, T. 2008).