...Staying Just in Time for the Holidays North Pole Workshops is faced with a multitude of demand planning, production and logistics problems. With just five weeks left until their annual delivery due date, they are under pressure to resolve short-term issues in demand fluctuations and capacity constraints, but Santa and his team are also concerned about the long-term feasibility of delivering cheer to a growing population of believers. North Pole Workshops has room to improve in all areas of the SCOR model; that is, the plan, source, make and deliver functions need to be addressed in order to improve the overall performance of the supply chain. The short-term production issues for this holiday season involve the increasing demand for the Timmy CD and the possibility of a drastic decrease in demand for the Meowrrr. However, Santa’s elves are also aware of increasing demand from China and Eastern Europe, and since those markets are assumed to be unaffected by the negative commentary on the Meowrrr, the excess product can be used as safety stock for those growing regions. Because they already have more Meowrrrs on hand than predicted demand, the production capacity of Meowrrrs can be completely turned over to the other products based on the next trend. This may be the number 2 and number 3 items for that age group (girls 8-15), but they should also do some quick analysis of TV ads in North America to determine any up-and-coming trends in December for that...
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...Timmy CDs. - If the company can not use other production lines to produce Timmy CDs, it should sell Moewrrr in the US market instead of Timmy CDs as proposed by Fiffledip. Suggested long-term solutions: Production strategy: - Redesign products so that all products can share as many common components as possible. This will help the company use a production line to produce various products. - Redesign production process to make it become flexible to produce many types of toys. - Diversify product lines so various products can substitute each other when one product is not available on sales. Operation strategy: - Adopt a flexible manufacturing system such as cellular manufacturing to achieve mass customization and reduce production lead time. - Outsource some unimportant components in the US. - Outsource toy production with tight control over product quality to China. This will help the company fulfill surging demand in the Asian market, cut production costs and reduce pressure of over capacity. Branding strategy: - Create and maintain successfully a strong brand to deliver the “soul” of...
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...No Turkey for Thanksgiving “What do you mean we aren’t having turkey for Thanksgiving?” My family has become set in our ways when it comes to the food menus for holidays. You could say my family has created folkways for our holiday meals governing the “when and what to eat” -- concept. Folkways are defined by Joan Ferrante, as norms that apply to the mundane aspects or details of daily life (Ferrante 50). My family has developed many folkways around the holidays, so much so that if anyone tries to change them up it disrupts the norm of the holiday for us. The traditional family does everything by the book as far as preparing holiday meals but sometimes changes up the menu. In my family, we are so set in our way that if something is missing, it can cause drama and make for grumpy family members. My family has developed many folkways that are centered on the foods we eat for certain holiday meals, such as 4th of July, Thanksgiving and Christmas. The typical 4th of July meal that my family prepares is barbequed hamburgers, hot dogs, potato and/or pasta salads, chips, dips, and fruit, usually cantaloupe and watermelon. Thanksgiving dinner consists of turkey with stuffing, mashed potatoes, sweet potatoes, gravy and all the other traditional Thanksgiving dishes. Christmas dinner is usually prime rib, baked potatoes, salad and all things that go along with a prime rib dinner. Our most traditional Christmas meal is prime rib, and it would be really strange if that was not on...
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...gifts today for birthdays, weddings, graduations, etc. to friends and loved ones. A few reasons we give gifts is for peace, protection, love, or because of social obligations. Holiday gifting is a special occasion going back to the beginning of Christianity where the Three Wise Men brought gifts for baby Jesus. This gesture has now turned to giving gifts to our family and friends. The holiday season of 2014 is shaping up to be a prosperous year for retailers. With an estimated 4% increase in holiday sales compared to 2013 and consumer confidence is at its highest because of lower unemployment, higher wages, salaries, and disposable income. Consumers this holiday season are expected to spend approximately $804 on gifts. Along with lower gas and energy prices, consumers are more likely to spend more this holiday than the last on gifts like Disney Frozen Snow Glow Elsa Doll, Apple iPhone 6, and jewelry. Key promotions like Wal-Mart’s price matching policy, Kmart’s layaway service, USPS delivery service schedule hours expansion, the holiday season looks to be headed in a positive way. There are other ways to improve this holiday seasons like online retailers providing free shipping on all purchases or discounting newer products instead of outdated items. The holiday season will be promising! Even 2015 holiday season will be a good one as long as consumers are confident that the U.S. economy is recovering from the recession! II. Introduction The world is populated with many...
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...When it comes to the topic of Keeping American holidays, most of us will readily agree that American holidays have a large effect on U.S economy. Where this agreement usually ends, however, is on the question of if we should keep them and remain growing national heritage for generations beyond; Whereas some are convinced that saving the government money by getting rid of them will help the nation's overall wealth. Although increasing the nation's overall wealth is good. Preserving national heritage and culture can be very beneficial for generations to come. “It’s the most wonderful time of the year,” legendary singer/songwriter Andy Williams stated in his Christmas hit. Andy was referring to the glorious Christmas season in his song. Christmas is a time where people celebrate the birth of Jesus and the spirit of Saint Nick. This is a tradition that allows families to get together and bond. Getting to spend time with your family is a treasure that many people often don't get to do whether it be their jobs or schooling getting in the way. If the government were to take this holiday away it would cause national heartbreak and is something that no one would want for a country....
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...General English 2 Paper 1 Sample Paper 1 Duration: 2 hour 30 minutes PART 1 – READING [30 MARKS] 1. You are going to read about an organised holiday in Malaysia. For questions 1-15, choose from the options (A-E). Some of the options may be chosen more than once. When more than one answer is required, these may be given in any order. There is an example at the beginning (0) [14 marks] To which days the following refer to? 0 You can see the tea making process. There’s a view over the neighbouring country to enjoy. 1 The train will take you up to a wonderful view. 2 You can camp if you want to. 3 Start the day with some fruit. 4 Home cooking is on offer. 5 The walks are wonderful, but not easy. 6 You can really appreciate wildlife. 7 Take an evening walk through traffic-free streets. D 8 You can escape from the heat. 9 10 It’s small enough for you to see it all in one day. 11 Take your time to get used to the climate. 12 You can learn something about the background of Malaysia. 13 If you’re short of time, just take a short walk. 14 General English 2 Sample Paper 1 1 MALAYSIAN Experience A DAY 1-3 KUALA LUMPUR If you are staying in Chinatown then getting around is easy- just walk. The National Museum is a good introduction to Malay history, art and culture. Save some energy for a late night stroll around one of the busy night markets. Jalan Petaling is full...
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...Holiday Shopping - The Economy’s Final Push from the Red Black Friday is the Grand Marshall of the holiday shopping season; it starts a race in holiday season for shopping and spending, which in return creates new job opportunities. Shoppers race around the malls looking for the best gifts at the best prices. The frenzy of the holiday season combined with the sales of Black Friday are greatly beneficial to the US economy. As supply and demand increases with the holiday season season, so does spending and the job market. Black Friday is more than just a day of sales, it is a day to help boost the economy spending and profit. One of the theories behind the name “Black Friday” really sums up the effects of the day. The story says that majority of the year, retailers are operating at a financial loss. To show this loss, the accountants note the negative totals in red ink. Starting with the Black Friday sales retailers really begin to turn a profit, and climb out of the negative holes they live in all year. Once out of the negative, accountants begin to use black ink to show the totals. Thus, “Black Friday” was born. This story may not be the most accurate or historically backed, but there is some truth behind it as far as the after affect of Black Friday. Retailers make a large portion of their yearly profit during the holiday season. It may not have started out as big as it is today, but at present time the Friday after Thanksgiving is a huge shopping day in the US...
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...Post-Holiday-Depression-Zack-AhernDoes the holiday season bring out the Scrooge in you? Depression get you down? Cold comfort that there are millions of people like you out there, right? There's just no safety in numbers with this thing. Many familiar with depression will know what I mean when I say sunny days are the worst. Yeah, sure, the birds are chirping, the kids are playing, and in the summer, you can hear the drone of lawnmowers in the distance. But with sunny days come obligations. You're expected to be productive and enjoy the day. Let's be real: Birds poop on your car, kids are loud and annoying, and freshly cut grass unleashes your hay fever. Yes, sunny days put a lot of pressure on a person. Conversely, cold, rainy or snowy days...
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...What is your favorite time of year? Why? My favorite time of the year is naturally the time when I have the most fun. To me, that time of the year falls during the December holidays, or rather, it starts during the last term of school. It may sound strange of me to include the period of examinations. But I like the way teachers leave us, students, by ourselves to do our own revision. There is hardly any homework to be done but there is a lot of studying to take up our time. Finally, when the examinations are over, we can all heave a joyful sigh of relief and look forward to the seemingly eternal holidays stretching out before us. Just before school breaks up for the holidays, there are a host of post-examination activities, among which is mass dancing in the school hall. This is something I enjoy very much as I get to dance to the newest pop music with all my friends. The opportunity to “break-free” from serious activities of school and to sing and dance there is a truly welcome event. The last day of school comes and goes and the holidays start. The first thing I do is to go to the library and borrow as many books as possible to fill my holidays. I simply love reading book after book without having to worry about putting aside time for schoolwork. I make it a habit to read books of a particular author each holiday. Within the second week of the holidays my birthday arrives, I enjoy helping my mother prepare my favorite food for my birthday. I do not have big birthday...
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...think there should not be any homework on our weekends or holidays. Since we are at school for 5 work- filled boring hours a day then followed by homework, and our parents working until about 7:00 we barley have any time to spend with our families during week days. On weekends and our holidays when we are supposed to have time off school and, supposed to spend time with our families, a lot of the time is occupied by boring schoolwork and homework. We need to have time on the weekends to be with our family so that we can be with them and stay close to them. For five days a week, we are at school, and then followed by sometimes hours and hours of homework on weekdays, so we have no time to spend relaxing and doing other fun non school related activities. Then on the holidays and weekends when we have time to relax and do other fun non school related activities can be interrupted by having to do hours of boring schoolwork and homework. So then the whole week we have almost no time to spend doing other activities such as hockey and soccer and hanging out with friends. Also due to this we are not able to have a good physical healthy lifestyle. We also need time to develop other skills like social skills, and just have time to ourselves to play games, watch a movie, go out, or just to relax. I think that a solution could be that are teachers could give us sometime in class to finish or to do most of our homework, so on the holidays and weekends we can still do all the things we need and...
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...Super Bowl, The Great American Holiday Super Bowl Sunday, anyone who considers themselves an american knows the meaning of those three word. It doesn’t matter who you are, doesn’t matter who’s team you’re on or even who wins or loses the game, everyone will stay glued to their television sets as they celebrate this cultural phenomena. No other holiday has more advertisements created for the sole purpose of being shown during the game than on Super Bowl. Its the only day other than thanksgiving, when food is served like a feast and not in small portions; and its OK to have potato chips and dipping sauces for dinner. Every year on this day, for three hours, you will find anyone who has a pulse sitting in front of their television set, with their family and friends; rooting for a team that may or may not even be their favorite. Its the only day of the year, just like a holiday; where a signficant portion of the country follows the same routine as everyone else, where families and friends put aside their differences and celebrate together. Even americans that aren’t necessarily fans of the sport join in to celebrate the victory of a team that they may have never heard of before. Speaking of large audience, Super Bowl is the only television event when everyone watches the whole thing in its entirety, even the advertisements. Most companies spend a majority of their advertising budget on showing their commercials during Super Bowl because they know that it’s the only event which...
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...The Halloween Festival Halloween is a time of celebration where people wear costumes and party while in masks every once a year. It is a traditional holiday that takes place in most countries around the world. Halloween’s tradition began in Northern Ireland and Modern Britain, and it has spread to most of the countries all over the world. To some countries, Halloween is a formal holiday while to others it is still an informal break. The popularity of this festival continues to increase year after year. Media outlets such as radio, television, and movies have helped the festival to grow into America’s second largest commercial holiday. This growth contributes to bringing in an estimated revenue of around $6.9 billion dollars annually. Most people spend the day watching horror movies, visiting important attractions, theme parks, and having snacks at Halloween theme restaurants. I interviewed an American citizen who has quite a lot of information concerning other countries and his country’s Halloween parties. His name is Trevor A. Jonathan, and he was born in the year 1976 in California, United States of America. He joined Harvard University in the year 2002 and undertook a Bachelor of Arts in Development Studies where he graduated in the year 2005 and joined the United Nation’s travel team. He has participated in a few countries’ Halloween’s holiday such as Russia, South Africa, Brazil, and China during his travel assignments around the world. a) What do you...
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...Santa game and more importantly reveals true personalities, values, and behaviors of others in a group like setting. The purpose of this game is to essentially discover how far people will go to find out whom the secret Santa is in each group and how beneficial or worthy the rewards are for those individuals who go to great lengths to either manipulate each other or stay true to other team members. Individual personality differences are highlighted and explained as the game unfolds and teams are evaluated for their ability to stay faithful to their team members. Santa’s Secret Purpose of the Secret Santa Game I work in a hospital where we have holiday gatherings and parties every year. Nurses and other healthcare professionals traditionally take part in the secret Santa game and buy gifts for each other. Because the holidays are quickly approaching, I decided to devise a game based on the prisoner’s dilemma called Santa’s secret. There are four individuals in each team with a total of three teams, one for each shift-morning, evening, and night shift. One person from each team is the designated “secret Santa” in which their role is to think of a gift to buy for the other team. The members of a team all know who their own secret Santa is but do not know who the secret Santa is on other teams. My manager will be the outsider and will decide who the secret Santa will be for each team and later evaluate the teams. I will give each team rules that they have to abide by and will...
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...you for clicking on it. As you all know, Christmas is just around the corner, and with that comes beautiful decorations as we all celebrate the birth of of our Lord Jesus Christ. The other day I was checking all of my social medias platforms, which you all can follow, the link with be in the down bar, and as I was scrolling through my Twitter account (@mcm on the screen) I got all these tweets and messages about an anti-Christmas propaganda that was being promoted at local coffee shop right after Halloween, the devils holiday. I started to read some of them and began to open the pictures people had sent...
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...Holiday Fire Hazard Saint Leo University HRA330 Holiday Fire Hazards The holiday season is typically observed from late November to early January. Events that are usually celebrated during this time include Hanukkah, Christmas, and Kwanzaa. During this time many people choose to celebrate these holidays by decorating their homes with electric lights, candles, banners, wreaths and the ever so famous Christmas tree. These decorations are meant to spread cheer and joy but unfortunately may increase the chances of fire in the home. Based on data from the National Fire Protection Association (NFPA) and the U.S. Fire Administration (USFA), in 2011 there were an estimated 240 home fires involving Christmas trees and another 150 home fires involving holiday light. Together, these fires resulted in 21 deaths and $25.2 million in direct property damage. Each year, newspapers have tragic stories of families killed during the holiday season by fired ignited by the family Christmas tree and other holiday decorations. Typically, shorts in electrical lights or open flames from candles, lighters or matches start tree fires. A dried out live tree is easily combustible. Candles, which carry open flames, that are not properly placed can be knocked over and ignite anything flammable around them. Pixie lights can also be fire culprits during the holiday season often due to improper use. Many people tend to overload the extension cords they use for their holiday lights...
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