Emotional waiting time

For the very last blog, once more time, I would like to come back with queuing because it happens to me almost every. However, the line will not mention, I want to share about the emotion and how to decrease the temperature with people who are bearing with that.

Based on New York Times’s article (by Alex Stone, published on 18 August 2012), occupied time (walking to baggage claim) feels shorter than unoccupied time (standing at the carousel), additionally, research on average, people overestimate how long they’ve waited in a line by about 36%.
They have several ways to make clients in the queue feel less stress, however adding a mirror is the most effective method with a reasonable price to do it due to the flowing reasons:

• People love to look at themselves. For instance, in a hurried morning, a quick lipstick on lips, which make a lay feel happier, or put a tie on the right position helps a gentleman to feel more confident.
• It helps to alleviate the negative feelings that often accompany waiting. Mirrors in an elevator can ever be turned into something fun, as these shows.
• The placement of mirrors helps someone in a wheelchair to back in or out of the lift safety without having to turn.
• Many people suffer from claustrophobia, which means fear of being in small or closed space from which they feel they cannot escape. In architecture field, a mirror always adds a sense of more space, thus making it feel less cramped and small and helping to avoid feelings of being trapped.
• And the last thing, we feel good when somebody else ooks worse in the mirror :-p

How the Germany beer factory save a million​ of Euro?

Germany is a beer country – and that’s so true. It’s not only a greeting which can bridge the gap between people but it also an essential beverage for German for lunch, dinner or even breakfast. Currently, German brewers have managed to create over 5,500 brands of beer (Source: Deutsche Welle online newspaper). And that number is growing because every week a new beer is released on the market.

I visited Tucher which is a brewery and beer brand based in Nurnberg. It was founded in 1672. Behind me, the capacity is nearly 4 millions liter of beer, if the cans are filled. Ultimately, it cost a million Euro. Germans keep empty beer bottles, cans to reuse and they refund a small amount of money for each glass is returned. When you buy a bottle which can reuse, the price will include the deposit so you can get money back when you return the bottle to the recycle machine or any retailer. Hence, if you go to Germany do not waste your money by throw the bottle away.

Not only Tucher, every beer factor store the cans as the way to saving money for beer production. Factories collect bottle from the machine or retailers, they clean, refill and stick their label on the new bottle. Additionally, that’s very eco-friendly way to protect our environment.

In the Germany beer topic, The picture below I took in Oktoberfest which is the world’s largest beer festival, held annually in Munich, Bavaria, Germany. It is a 16- to 18-day folk festival running from mid or late September to the first weekend in October. Every year they bustle more than 6 million people from around the world attending the event. It’s full of people everywhere and every time.

In conclusion, if you are going to a bar or club tonight, grab a bottle of beer, please do not leave it somewhere on the street, let give it back to anywhere can store it and sleep tight with a peaceful soul 😍

Single is always better?

Is it an interesting title, isn’t it? 🤔 However, sorry, the topic today is not about a relationship, it’s about a kind of queue.  I’m pretty sure each of us, at least one time or a thousand time has been in a queue such as in a bank, in a post office, in an embassy or in a supermarket.

I found out that, a goal is to design a queue that will cut wait time and increase customer satisfaction often the choice between a single line and a multiple line, hence, which is more efficient?

The science of keeping lines moving, known as queue management, is a big deal to big business. Perhaps the most important role players are “line managers,” who monitor the flow of people, direct them to a cash register and, when needed, hold up signs saying how long it will take to check out. (NY Times, Michael Barbaro, Published on 23, June 2007)

How customer think about a single line queue?

Often customers dislike the look of a long line snaking around several turns. For instance, 9 people waiting in one line instead of three people in three different lines can be deceiving for an uneducated customer. He/she may immediately balk by seeing the number of people in a line stretching beyond what they consider the norm. If they relate 3 people wait with four minutes in a traditional system, they may automatically think 9 people wait will take twelve minutes neglecting to take into account that the single line is feeding to three cashiers through a more efficient system.

Any benefit for customers from a single line queue?
People stand in the same line, waiting for a register to become available, there are no “slow” lines, delayed by a coupon-counting customer or languid cashier. It feels long, but conversely gives its users the pleasing feeling of almost constant progress.

The following reasons might be benefits for the customer:

• They can simply jump in line without having to stop, choose, and then fret about which line they are in.
• If a hang-up occurs at one cashier, they do not have to worry that it occurred in the line they chose. Instead, the single line will keep flowing to another point of service.
• An impartial waiting and checkout system that automatically enforces the first come, first served rule, a universal truth in fairness.

This video clip explains the advantage of a single line queue in a mathematic way. You can have a look to understand more how it works.

 

With all mentions, and only in queueing case, I would say: single is more simple and better!

Decathlon queuing’s solution

Decathlon S.A. was known as a French sporting goods retailer.  They are the largest sporting goods retailer in the world. It started to expand in Spain in 1992. The company employs more than 78,000 staff from 80 different nationalities. The retailer stocks a wide range of sporting goods, from tennis rackets to advanced scuba diving equipment, usually in large superstores which are sized at an average of 4,000m² (Source: “Decathlon Key Figures”  Decathlon Group. Decathlon S.A. Retrieved 15 May 2015). In 2015, the turnover in all around the world reaches 9,1 billion euro (source: Decathlon homepage’s website). Every year, the company creates more than 2,800 new products.

Last week, I visited Decathlon in Valencia, it was really impressed me because of the state-of-the-art facility and the number of cashiers there even much more than in Mercadona which is the largest supermarket in Spain.

To solve queuing problem with thousands of items and the huge amount number of customers, Decathlon install EZQ ™ which is ESII single queuing solution. There are the explanations how the system work?

• A single queue is installed in front of the check-out counters. 
• Once a check-out is free, the cashiers call the next customer with a console that allows the broadcast of a sound signal and an announcement on the screen. 
• The visualization of the available check-out is very simple and fast for the customer. 

To understand more about how does EZQ works, you can have a look at this video clip:

Based on the ESII’s report on their homepage’s website, this solution, both the actual and perceived wait significantly decrease. Customers are satisfied since they are rapidly and fairly taken into account (it avoids the “other queue moves faster” syndrome). The cashiers work in more stressfree conditions: customer flows are equitably allocated and there is no never-ending queue at their check-out.

Luggage Journey

Have you ever had a check-in bag with a long-haul flight?
You know exactly where you have to go to the airport, so have you ever asked how our items of luggage travel?

In this blog, I would like to share with you about the logistic system which is using in Dubai in order to serve a million of million passengers every day.

Dubai international airport its position as world’s number 1 international airport for the fourth consecutive year with annual traffic of 88.2 million passengers in 2017. Traffic is projected to reach 90.3 million in 2018 according to initial forecast (Source: Dubai airport report). Besides that, the gateway between the East and the West such as from Asia to Europe and main gate between the Middle East and Africa, Dubai is home to one of the fastest growing cargo hubs in the world. And the last thing, Dubai International Airport is the world’s number one airport in terms of number of A380 which is the biggest plane up to now with a capacity of 868 passengers. I flew with A380 from Dubai to Germany, it actually so tremendous with several different ways to access the aircraft.

I wonder how can they save the passenger’s time as short as possible? and of course, they have to keep it safe. There are the ways they manage the handle bad in a million of million passengers.

• The 1st step: Check-in
  A passenger needs to check in with your personal information on the airline desk, a tag will be stuck on each bag.
• The 2nd step: Security check
  Each suitcase will be scanned to through the common check-in system for certain all stuff inside is safe and to transfer it separately by flights. It has to make sure that every package sends to the right flight.
• The 3rd step: Luggage traffic
  On this track, luggage goes through an inter-terminal transfer system which is under the ground without interruption.
  Individually pack carries by each tilt tray sorter.
  The speed can be reached for each tray is 7,5 meter per one second.
  A number of packages are 15,000 items per hours. Thus, approximate 80 million bags per day. That amount in Dubai is more than 1,400 times in comparison with Changi which is Singapore International airport, it can prepare for 70,000 bags/day.
• The 4th step: Storage
  After 3 mentioned steps, luggage arranges in containers to delivery to the flight. They have an area under the passenger’s seat. Right after the flight landing, it’ll reclaim to transfer system to send back to passengers on the track.

Siemens is a provider of logistics in Dubai international airport for more than 10 years up to 2018. They have state of the art solution which adapts for specific needs.

I found out a video clip for the future proofing luggage logistic, most of the step is control by machines or robots in order to reduce labor work for workers. It’s pretty fast, convenient and safe your the check-in bags. Please have a look at this if you are interested in.

The fact that I’ve never have thought about the whole system with my check-in bags until today. For sure, next time in the airport I will try to get as much as information or material I can to understand more about the logistic system.

How does the biggest warehouse in China look?

As any children, when somebody mention “Alibaba”, I just know he is a brave hero with a magic lamp from the folktale Alibaba and the Forty Thieves. In the real world, another Alibaba which is a well-recognized name in China’s e-commerce space. In this blog, I would like to share with you the success of a business not only by the revenue but a smart warehouse also.

If Amazone bought a company which created picking robots, Alibaba invested into Chinese developer $14 million for robots. Besides that, $16 billion paid for automation strategy. Inside Alibaba, robots do 70% of the work. Each robot can carry up to 500 kilograms, delivery to every shelf in a warehouse. Its have special sensors to avoid colliding with each other and they can be summoned by using wifi. A 5-minute charge can power for 4-5 hours. (Source: Asian robotics review, published on April 2017)

Alibaba Group was founded in 1999 by 18 people led by Jack Ma who is in top 20 Billionaires all over the world in (analyst from Forbes published on 14/03/2018). Basically, Alibaba enables to transform the way they market, sell and operate. It provides the fundamental technology infrastructure and marketing reach to help merchants, brands and other businesses to leverage the power of the Internet to engage with their users and customers. Their businesses are comprised of core commerce, cloud computing, digital media and entertainment, innovation initiatives and others.

Albeit Alibaba was born 5 years after Amazone, in 2017, Amazon is up to 30% this while Alibaba’s stock has nearly doubled as both companies race to $500 billion in value in 2017 (Data from CNBC published 3:35 pm ET on Fri 1, Sep 2017). It indicates the gradually develop the business. Moreover, it’s located in China With 560 million Internet users spending 20 hours a week online, China is by far the largest Internet market in the world-twice the size of the U.S. market (A short comparison between Alibaba and Amazon)

These videos will show more about how robots work in Alibaba’s warehouse.In overall, I would say that for retailers in recently e-commercial, one the most important thing is a warehouse where keep most of the revenue for the business. There are should be privileged for every company wants to succeed with logistics.

Giant and miniature

In the glowing eyes of a girl who go abroad for the first time in her life, Germany is more than a leading country in the mechanical industry in a European country. Last week, in Logistic and Supply chain session, I knew more about a truck and the distinction between the full load truck and less load truck, it prompts me about a type of vehicle transportation which was very excited for the first days in Bavarian. Therefore, in this blog, I want to appreciate how smart of engineering who created the truck.

From my point of view, heavy goods vehicle with steel cover looks like giants on the avenue. Enormous and powerful are adjective I use in order to describe this transportation. Sometimes, a truck pass, I curious about products inside its container. How much it cost? A few cents per unit or it can be reached to a thousand per unit? How far and how long to deliver it from the factory? How have they organized the items, is it messy with plenty of space inside or is it so logical? Or even anybody has to sleep inside to take care of because it seems to be fit with 5 comfortable single beds. No one can know exactly answers my questions, honestly. I said no one, it means no-bo-dy, for instance, the cost only knows by a person who estimates the value of each product. Otherwise, the distance only determines by the driver due to we all know that from A to B we always have more than one way so he might be saving a little money for fuel because of a shortcut. Assuming that the products are arranged perfectly to ultimate space, which might depend on an IT guy who writes a program for a robot just do everything so automatically. In conclusion, the Giants keep many “secret” inside and nobody for all the real answers.

Mercedes is one of the most reputable car brands and the safety is the highest priory in all over the world. The product line which attractive me named “Mercedes Benz Actros” – the new benchmark for long-distance transport. The dimension of the truck length (Wheelbase part) x width x height is about 6 x 2.5 x 3.5m and the length truck-trailer can be from 13,6 – 21,42m (Data based on Article Workshop on LHVs, Stefan Larsson Director, Regulatory Projects, June 24, 2009, Brussels). So that easy to visualize, a common 5 seat car has length approximate 4-5m, so when we put the Mercedes Benz Actros with trailers can equal the length of 3-5 cars. The capacity weight can be from 45 – 60 tons (depends on the type of the truck)

Understanding the oversize of the truck, the German engineers divide into 2 parts such as tractor and trailer, it’s an effective way to save space. The truck move without the trailer it looks like a joke for me, really entertaining. Because when I look straight to the head, its 2.5times higher than a normal car, however, the length is similar with a small “tail” 😀 I think about what can be rescued from that kind of pretty smart truck, and there are my finds:

• The worn out of wheels, when the truck move only with a tractor, it needs 4 instead of weight and the pressure is lighter
• Operating cost and transporting cost for logistic
• Ultimate space, more personal or public transport on the road

Overview, this is a very clever innovation for a truck. And the last thing interested me, they actually have a truck race in EU in order to prove the strength, the speed and the safe for each type of trucks.

For more information (just in case you need)
1. Mercedes Benz Actros: https://www.mercedes-benz.com/en/mercedes-benz/vehicles/trucks/actros-1843-even-safer-with-sideguard-assist/
2. Advertising: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ljPnl-OjXRk
3. Truck race: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC4xwqUZ3zmjB8POJNqA_-kA
4. Weight and dimensions of heavy commercial vehicles as established by Directive 96/53/EC and the 4. 5. European Modular System: https://ec.europa.eu/transport/sites/transport/files/modes/road/events/doc/2009_06_24/2009_gigaliners_workshop_acea.pdf

The journey of blood donations

Do you know that every 2 seconds, someone in the world needs blood?

On the second War, in Vietnam over 58,000 soldiers were killed and 25% of them was died because of hemorrhage.
It’s fantastic when something from your body can really save a life without paying anything. Unlike the daily products, blood is a unique product as part of a billion-dollar business.

Blood donation not only good for donors health because they are actually at a lower risk for heart attack however it does not demand from everyone.
Due to the harsh conditional to maintain the quality of blood and it’s also a very meaningful product, I was curious about the supply chain of blood and the content below is what I found out about its journey.

Figure 1. The supply chain of Blood

The donations

• Donor registers with a form of health check-list
• About 1 pint of blood and several small test tubes are collected from each donor

Blood Center

• Every blood units are poised in the bag test tubes and the donor record are labeled with an identical bar code label to keep track of the donation
• The donation is stored in iced coolers until it is transported to a Blood Center

Manufacturing area

• From Blood center, the blood packs are sorted and registered in the manufacturing area. Donated blood is scanned into a computer database
• In here, each donation is tested to find out the donor group and checked for viruses to help ensure that each donation is safe to transfuse to patients.

Packing

• This is one of the most important steps during the whole supply chain process
• When test results are received, units suitable for transfusion are labeled and placed into controlled storage

Storage

• Red Cells (which plays an important role in your health by carrying fresh oxygen throughout the body) are stored in refrigerators at 6ºC for up to 42 days
• Platelets(tiny blood cells that help your body form clots to stop bleeding) are stored at room temperature in agitators for up to 5 days
• Plasma and cryo are frozen and stored in freezers for up to one year

Hospital

• Blood is available to be shipped to hospitals 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.
• Most deliveries to hospitals go unnoticed by the public but sometimes an urgent delivery may require a vehicle with sirens and blue flashing lights to get to the patient as quickly as possible. After some checks, the blood is ready to be transfused.

Picture 1. A patient is receiving blood in the hospital

Interesting knowledge of writing this blog:

• Blood can be stored up to one year after the donation
• Gay men or a man “slept” with another man can’t donate blood
• One donor can save up to 3 lives
• Vitamin K is to contribute to normal blood clotting. It plays a vital role to increase the speed of blood clotting at the site of injury and prevent major blood loss. Therefore, a nutrition for blood is vitamin K (especially K1 can be found in foods such as broccoli, carrots, kale, watercress, kelp, eggs and cheese)

Source: 
NHSBT Blood supply chain
The donation process
Vitamin K
Hospital blood UK
What happens donated blood (Red cross)
How Does Blood Donation Work? (BBC)