AMAZON PRIME AIR

While doing this blog I discovered I have a special connection with Amazon because all the topics we were reviewing in class I related them with Amazon’s innovations and supply chain. This time Amazon is offering an innovating way of shipping and it is through Amazon Primer Air, which is a delivery system design by the company in order to grab packages to customers in less than 30 minutes using drones. Prime air aims to provide a faster and safer service delivery to customers that will improve the transportation efficiency of the company, as well as a it will increase productivity through the whole supply chain.

 

As you can see in the video the Prime air drops the package in the customer’s house and it continues its way for the other deliveries. Thus, the system delivery proves is efficiency by no wasting time between deliveries, as the first customer is serve, it will immediately depart to its next stop. So, it does not only benefit the customer by delivering products in a record time but also to the company who will increase its orders capacity.

Amazon is in a constantly innovation processes herewith that the drone project has been a challenge for the company because until December 2016 it was test for the firt time. This trial took place in a rural town in Cambridge but in order to work properly Amazon should have to wait for the Federal Aviation Administration policies for flying over populated areas and beyond the line of sight of the operation, which could take years. So, unfortunately we would not see this awesome invention in small amount of time but it will revolutionize the way of shipping.

 

 

Sources:

https://www.amazon.com/Amazon-Prime-Air/b?node=8037720011

https://www.theverge.com/2017/3/24/15047424/amazon-prime-air-drone-delivery-public-us-test-mars

PHARMACEUTICAL PACKAGING

The packages job is to protect the product it holds before it is use or it gets to the final consumer but this can vary depending on type of product is holding. Is not the same, packaging fruits than rice, the same thing occurs with packaging medicines or pharmaceutical products; they need specific material and cares to preserve what it has inside. That is why the packaging is very important in this kind of sector because it provides safety and helps to prevent contamination and microbial growth throughout the shelf life of the products. Pharmaceutical packaging equipment may ensure the high quality the products and safety of the packaging.

Nowadays, there have been many advancements in the packaging techniques, modern pharmaceutical packaging equipment are becoming more flexible and are more automated and integrated than the traditional packaging systems.

The pharmaceutical industry is growing rapidly as so there are the developments in advanced pharmaceutical packaging equipment that have a much better reliability. The industry may suit to the patient rising needs and may obey to very strict quality norms. Depending on the measurements of medicine it requires different types of packaging that can be bottles, cartooning, ointment blister and tablets.

There are three major types of pharmaceutical packaging, which are: solid packaging, semi-solids packaging and liquid packaging. Those can have mandatories changes on the way of packaging. The solid packaging is use for tablets, capsules and powder packaging; The semi-solid that is more related to cream and ointment packaging. And the liquid packaging are for drops (eye or ear), aerosol (for nose congestion) and syrup packaging.

Finally, it is important to highlight that the pharmaceutical pachaking is a very profitable industry and it is estimated that for 2022 it will reach USD. 8.24 billion; This shows the importance the industry have towards the economy and the importance of packaging overall.

Sources:

http://www.openpr.com/news/539293/U-S-Pharmaceutical-Packaging-Market-Headed-for-Growth-and-Expansion-by-2020-PMR-Report.html

http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20170510006398/en/Pharmaceutical-Packaging-Market-North-America-Grow-CAGR

ROBOTS IN AMAZON WAREHOUSE

While we were trying to organize Papeleria Dot.com warehouse, big companies do not have to worry about this issue because they have robots that do that job. For instance, Amazon has increase its warehouse staff with robots. Nowadays, Amazon counts with 45,000 robots inside 20 of their fulfillment centres.

The company bought those robots from Kiva Systems company in 2012 for automating the picking and packing process in the centres making Amazon even more efficient. The robots move through he warehouses for doing the picking, which normally is done by a person. The robots have an speed of 5 mph and can gold packages that weight up to 317 kilograms. Even though, the acquisition of robots it’s a very high investment, for huge companies such as Amazon worth it because it make them even more productive.

Amazon goal is to have a robot that is capable of picking or selecting individual objects no matter their order or placement without the need for assistance. Some of them are focus on picking items off the shelves, others zoom around with touch screens that are programed for being available all the time. Its main objective is to save retailers money and to make deliveries as fast as possible.

Their robot software and hardware can recognize objects, grab them, execute tasks, detect errors and recover as needed. The robots can picked and stowed in a minimum amount of time.

As it is shown in the video, the way the fulfillment center works is one of the key of success Amazon have for offering fast deliveries, without having problems of founding products or not knowing what they have in stock.

In conclusion, not all companies can afford this kind of technology for managing their warehouse but it is definitely a very good idea in terms of time and productivity for the companies than can have it.

Sources:
http://www.cnbc.com/2017/05/10/amazon-robots-warehouse.html
http://www.businessinsider.de/amazons-robot-army-has-grown-by-50-2017-1

 

AMAZON WAREHOUSE DEALS

 

As people know Amazon is the world’s largest online retailer, who began as a book seller but has been growing in an speedy way that nowadays offer a variety of products and digital media. This popular firm was founded in 1995 by Jeff Bezos and is still one of the most important companies throughout the world.

While studying warehouses in class, I remembered I visited Amazon warehouse in Tennessee and I have always think about what do they do with the returned products, do they sell them, donate them or throw them away. That is why I take a look for its warehouse and I found there have a service called Amazon Warehouse Deals, which is part of the amazon.com group but is in charge of offering great deals on returned, warehouse-damaged, used or refurbished products that are in good conditions but do not suit to the high and strict standards of the firm.

Amazon Warehouse Deals offer products such as open box items like TVs, laptops, tablets with huge discounts that can be either new or in open box conditions. They also offer other used products such as sport items, home and kitchen accessories, toys and games, among others. The purchases made in this warehouse is guaranteed because they are backed by Amazon’s satisfaction guarantee, a product can be returned according to the returns policy but are not replace.

For evaluating the product condition AWD, the company does a previous check by testing physical and functional conditions of the products and afterwards they upload it in the webpage.

Due to the variability of the stock AWD cannot predict the future availability of the items, so only what is in the page can be purchase. And that way even though they do not sell them at the same price, they still gain a profit with them and not waste them.

https://www.amazon.com/Warehouse-Deals/b?node=10158976011

This links takes you to the homepage of Amazon Warehouse Deals. If you want to take a look.

AquaReturn: A NEW METHOD FOR SAVING WATER

One of the world’s main concerns nowadays are the natural resources; they are becoming more and more scarce that is why people, mostly environmentalists are worried about our future and are looking for ways of prevention and savings. With this concerns, two spanish guys got to an amazing idea that is called AquaReturn; a device that recirculates the cold water first and then tempered until it reaches 35ºC, which allows to save energy. This device works when the user open the tap they do not have to wait until the water reaches the desired temperature, usually the user need to wait a couple of seconds until the water turns warm and those seconds are a waste that this device is avoiding.

AquaReturn is a product design for home use and it works with a boiler, thermo or individual heater but it can also be use in companies or tourist establishment since the since the return system can help for instance hotels that have a high consumption of energy and this system will suit them very good, as well as for families.

This device prevent the water from flowing out until it reaches its consumption temperature, generating significant savings in water, energy and CO2 emissions, resulting in huge economic savings.

In the following image will help you understand the functionality of the device:

Sources:

http://www.elconfidencial.com/tecnologia/2013-10-23/un-revolucionario-artefacto-espanol-para-ahorrar-8-000-litros-de-agua-al-ano_44621/

http://www.abc.es/sociedad/20131107/abci-ahorro-agua-caliente-201311061844.html

 

 

 

LLadró Packaging

As studying the lecture about product and logistics that was related to containers, pallets, boxes, Barcodes, RFID labels etc. I was thinking about a company whose packaging is completely involved with the product. This company is Lladró, which is a Spanish Brand dedicated since 1952 to the creation of art porcelain figurines at the brand’s only Factory in the world, in Valencia.

I have always had at home a lot of these porcelains because that was my dad’s souvenir from his trips to Spain. This means that part of his luggage were those delicate figurines and they get home intact and I wanted to know how that happens.

While searching about the packaging of Lladró I figured out that the packaging was part of the process of the product because even though the customer was not traveling with them, they had to take them home in some way. So, the final step of the Lladró sculptors is the figurine packaging, which is made with a cardboard box, specially-designed for each piece of the porcelain whose main job is to ensure the figurines are suitable protected for the transport. As it is shown in the image below:

As you can see the porcelain comes in a box that is specifically created to fit in, because as it was my doubt Lladró have to ensure it arrives to the customer’s hume is perfect conditions. Customers should also know about it because the unpacking is not that easy, they have to be patient and not force the cardboard a lot so the figure is not damage.

In conclusion, depending on the product features companies need to take into account the way of packaging them either for delivering to the customer or to storage it without damaging it.

Sources:

https://lladroblog.com/lladro-figurines-packing-unpacking/

http://www.biggsltd.com/Lladro-Figurine-Packaging-C2207.aspx

http://www.lladro.com

RFID: Radio frequency identification.

As my topic in the assignment of Product and Unit Load was the RFID and I have always been a little confused with its function and difference with the bar code I wanted to search more about it. The RFID is considered a very valuable technology and business tool. Its main work is to track inventory within the supply chain in a more efficient way. This tool is trying to beat tools like bar coding which is not giving as much information as RFID can.

The RFID works with tiny tags embedded microchips containing data about an item and its location to transmit radio signals over a short distance to RFID readers. The RFID readers then pass the data over a network to a computer for processing. Unlike bar codes, RFID tags do not need line-of-sight contact to be read. The tags are electronically programmed with information that can uniquely identify an item plus other information about the item, such as its location, where and when it was made, or its status during production. Embedded in the tag is a microchip for storing the data. The rest of the tag is an antenna that transmits data to the reader.

 

 

There are two kinds of tags the active tags and the passive tags. The active tags are powered by an internal battery and enable data to be rewritten or modified and can transmit for hundred of feet buy are way more expensive while the passive tags don’t have their own source of energy, range only several feet and are smaller and cheaper.

RFID system can handle with inventory control and supply chain management much better than barcodes because it contains more detailed information about the goods in the warehouse and production units. If a company is shipping many articles, the RFIS systems track each pallet or item in the shipment; that’s why big companies such as Walmart are being benefit with this systems because they manage many different kind of products stored in different warehouses, so RFID tags give them the chance know more about the status of their products.

Other benefits the RFID system give to companies are: the serialized data which means that all items in the supply chain has a unique identifying number, it reduces the human intervention by the automatization of the system that also reduces the number of errors, real time information flow and the security of the items by tagging before being tracked in a facility.

HOF3M: El Bodeguero

While looking for a company that suits with the HOF3M project, I remembered that I have a friend in Colombia who was working with the farmers of his farm trying to get their crops more profitable. And that’s what exactly HOF3M is about; connecting the food consumer with the small producers in a sustainable way, having in mind the triple sustainability: economical, social and environmental.

El Bodeguero is a business model that brings food directly from the countryside of Santander (Colombia) to the comfort of your home. This family business began when the owner’s son decided to go to live in the farm and work in it, but he went back to the city during the weekends to spend time with his family. In that moment, he thought that he could take advantage of his weekends trips to the city to sell the products they have available in the crops. So, the freight will be almost cero because instead of driving an empty car, he would take products with him and sell them directly to the consumers. Then, there would not be environmental impact because those trips would be done with or without El Bodeguero.

In this case, El Bodeguero is the intermediary but if the farmers do not sell their product to them they will have to sell them in the market place of the countryside and have to wait for the market price that can vary depending on the provision of each product. El Bodeguero as the intermediary is giving the possibility to the farmers to sell part of their production at a better price and also help them to save the transport cost. What they are really trying to avoid are the intermediaries in warehouse, central stores, and supermarkets by taking their products directly to the consumer’s door, already selected and portioned for consumption.

The other way of business is that the producers can be employees of the farms that have their own vegetable garden for personal consumption and now El Bodeguero gives them the chance of selling the surplus; for these farmers the surplus is becoming an additional income.

El Bodeguero, is also watching forward our quality of life because they want to provide us with healthy and nutritional products. Therefore, helping us not to loose the privilege of having creole food by encouraging and motivating farmers.

In conclusion, this assignment gave me the chance to know more about this family business, how it works and how they are contributing to society. Below you will find the HOF3M project applied to El Bodeguero.

Source:
https://elbodeguero.wixsite.com/elbodeguero

Metrobus logistics

Metrobus is the company of Metropolitan buses of Valencia, which is also known by the citizens as the “yellow buses”, whose job is to connect the city with the metropolitan area and the suburban zones. I choose this topic because it is my everyday problem, I live in a condominium near Valencia and the only way to get home is by using the Metrobus or taking a taxi, if I don’t have a car, which is my case. So, the affordable option for me is using the Metrobus, the problem with this bus is that it has low frequency, which means that the busses passes through the station every hour and if you can not reach the bus you must wait an hour for the next one or if you are in a hurry, take a cab. The other problem of this line of buses is the hour they began to pass everyday in the morning, the first busses passes through my place is at 7:16 am, there is not another earlier so if people had class or need to get to work before they just can’t with public transportation. Additionally, the latest bus that goes back from Valencia is at 20:46 pm, which is not that late on the evening, so going back home is also limited. Finally, for the weekends as it is normal on public transportation the frequency is much lower but in this case is exaggerated because people only have 3 chances for going out or going back. This is an example of a Metrobus schedule:

The Metrobus is in charge of providing service of public transportation to Valencia and the entire metropolitan area. Eight companies joined to build the Metrobus: Auvaca, Edetania Bus, Avsa-Autos Vallduxense, Fernanbus, buses Buñol, Buses Herca, Urbetur and Alsa. These companies had to paint their buses with yellow painting so people could recognize them; there are the fifty-eight (58) lines:  Line 161: Valencia-Alaquàs-Hospital Manises; Line 180: Valencia-Albal; Line 103: Alcàsser-Silla; Line 182: Valencia-Silla; Line 160: Valencia-Aldaia- CC Bonaire; Line 146: Valencia-Benaguasil; Line 105b: Vilamarxant-Benaguacil-Llíria; Line 105a: Vilamarxant- Riba-roja; Line 106: Quart de Poblet-CC Bonaire-Torrent; Line 107: Barrio del Cristo-Platja El Saler; Line 110: Valencia-Puçol; Line 111: Valencia-Port de Sagunt (por N-340); Line 115: Valencia-Port de Sagunt; Line 112: Valencia-Port Saplaya-Platja P. Farnals-El Puig; Line 120: Valencia-Moncada; Line 130: Estació Metro Empalme – Parc Tecnològic (por Burjassot); Line 130a: Estació Metro Empalme – Parc Tecnològic (por Facultat); Line 131: Valencia-Mas Camarena; Line 185: Valencia-Benifaió; Line 281: Valencia-Benifaió-Benimodo; Line 140: Valencia-Paterna; Line 145: Valencia-Llíria-Gestalgar; Line 150: Valencia-Manises-Aeroport; Line 155: Salt de l’Aigua- Riba-roja; Line 158: MARTXANTBUS-Valencia-Vila Marxant (directo); Line 170: Valencia-Torrent-Vedat; Line 181: Valencia-Picassent; Line 231: Estación metro Bétera-Hospital Dr. Moliner; Line 171: Valencia- Urbanización Cumbres de Calicanto; Line 101: Bº La Magdalena -Platja P. Farnals; Line 102: CIVIS-Sagunt-Port de Sagunt; Line 183: Valencia-Sedaví; Line 186: Valencia-Centre Penitenciari; Line 190a: Valencia- El Perelló; Line 190b: Valencia-El Palmar-El Perelló; Line 190c: Valencia-El Perelló-Mareny Blau; Line 191: Valencia-Playa de El Saler-Urb. Les Gavines; Line 201: Massamagrell-Serra; Line 230: Bétera-Serra; Line 260: Valencia-Godelleta-Turís; Line 265: Valencia-Cheste-Yátova; Line 266: Valencia-Cheste; Line 285: Valencia-Sollana-Cullera and Line 290: Valencia-El Perelló-Faro de Cullera.

Since it is an everyday problem for public transportation users, the frequency of the buses should be increased, and that will be a way of improving the service and increasing its efficiency. Maybe from Valencia’s transportation department perspective it is not profitable to increase the frequencies because they should have done studies about the amount of people who are using the service in the different hours and it is not that much. Therefore, it is a possibility that they have not change the busses frequency  because in their point of view it is not necessary but it should be a good idea to do another study and look for other possible options.

Sources:
http://www.levante-emv.com/especiales/transportes-valencia/autobus/autobuses-metropolitanos.html
http://metrobusvalencia.com