Airlines Industry Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2500 words

Airlines Industry - Assignment Example Working in tandem with the concept of e-business, e-Procurement, a B2B concept, is the online purchase of goods or services electronically. Cathay Pacific's CxeBuy electronic procurement system came into existence at its headquarters in Hong Kong by the end of 2001, across different departments and spend categories. Central to achieving Cathay's e-business vision was the impetus to apply Internet-based tools to building the most efficient purchasing process and capability in the industry. CXeBuy was the first Oracle Internet Procurement (OIP) solution ever implemented by Oracle for an airline. In March 2002, the Australia was identified as the first location to be benefited from CXeBuy as it had the potential of linking its six ports under a common purchasing process and supply base. Japan, with its five ports, was slated to be the next target for implementing this process. Initially Cathay Pacific adopted this strategy in order to be more competitive and to Web-enable the procuremen t of goods and services for five of the airline spend categories, namely: in-flight service, cargo, information technology, marketing and office supplies. The driving force behind this concept was the perceived potential to network all parties involved with the marketing, distribution, consumption and servicing of a Cathay's business in order to provide opportunities to significantly improve the co-ordination and efficiency of operations (OECD, 2001). The driving forces for adopting an e-procurement system and the salient features of such a system at Cathay are; Internet is to be used to transmit order information, between Cathay and its suppliers It was implemented to replace the existing Engineering Maintenance Planning and Control System (EMPACS). EMPACS also the inventory management system, has been around for the last 25 years. Management felt the need to streamline the requisitioning processes and purchase order approval processes. Financial Management Information System (FMIS) was used for processing payments and general bookkeeping activities. FMIS carried supplier address and billing information. Both EMPACS and FMIS used to manually key in the address and details whenever new suppliers were added or to change the details of existing suppliers. This manual operation was prone to errors. Common exchange rates information database was being maintained at SHARE which was used by many departments during their operations. SHARE held many different exchange rate tables like inter-airline billing rates, exchange rates in settling invoices raised by overseas suppliers etc. for the same period at any one time. These exchange rates were being manually updated. One separate Airline Purchasing Department (APD) comprising 50 staff was functional since 1996 to serve the five major user departments and respective spend categories: Marketing, Fuel Services, Information Technology, Ground Services and In-flight Services. The APD staff was to identify an appropriate supplier, enter the information onto EMPACS and generate a purchase order that was printed through the IBM mainframe located 20 kilometers away from Cathay's head office. Every few days a batch of purchase orders would be physically transported from Quarry Bay to Cathay City, where they would then be distributed to various department managers for approval to purchase. The approval process in itself used to take a few days with as many as seven approval, validation and distribution steps. Then

Building for a Sustainable Future Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 3000 words

Building for a Sustainable Future - Essay Example Strategic planning at the beginning of site investigation helps ensure that the process is technically sound, resourceful, and operating on proper time frame. There must be clear understanding of the specific regulations governing the investigation and remediation process, so that the entire operation is satisfactorily addressed (Improving Site Investigation). A structure which is economical and safe to construct is durable and has low maintenance costs. A large part of the decision to construct depends on the understanding of the nature of the ground. This understanding comes from an appreciation of the distribution of the materials in the ground and their properties. An adequate site investigation is therefore an essential part of the building project (A Client's Guide to Site Investigation). The selection of treatment technologies for a site often depends on the physical and chemical properties of the contaminants. For instance, volatile organic compounds are amenable to treatment by technologies such as soil vapor extraction or thermal desorption, because of their volatility. Conversely, metals which are not volatile and do not degrade are not usually amenable to treatment by those technologies (Treatment Technologies for Site Cleanup). Brownfield sites are real property, ... ly, metals which are not volatile and do not degrade are not usually amenable to treatment by those technologies (Treatment Technologies for Site Cleanup). Information to be included within a desk study Brownfield sites are real property, the expansion, redevelopment, or reuse of which may be complicated by the presence or potential presence of hazardous substance, pollutant or contaminant. If there is the fear that the site had borne any type of hazardous elements in the near or distant past, then it becomes necessary to have the site duly examined to find if traces of these elements exist in the soil today. The examination can be carried out by directly engaging site investigators. However, it is also necessary to ensure that the local authorities are apprised of the investigation and see if their participation is required in the investigation. Normally, statutory regulations empower states, communities and other stakeholders to work together to accomplish redevelopment of brownfields sites. These regulations also help businesses and communities adapt environment cleanup programs to the special needs of brownfields sites. Preparing brownfields sites for productive reuse requires integration of many elements. These elements mainly consist of financial issues, community involvement, liability considerations, environmental assessment and cleanup, regulatory requirements, coordination among many groups of stakeholders, etc. The assessment and cleanup of a site must be carried out in a way that integrates all these factors into the overall redevelopment process. The cleanup strategy will vary from site to site. At some sites, cleanup will be completed before the properties are transferred to the new owners. At other sites, cleanup may take place simultaneously with