Entries Tagged 'Issue 9 July/Aug 2008' ↓

Managing the supply chain for any product is a formidable task. What, then, would the procedure be like for a company that manufactures pastries, cakes and ice creams? In this case study by Psion Teklogix, the focus is on these perishable products

Founded in Milan, Italy in 1946, Bindi is world renowned for its imaginative ice creams, cakes and desserts. Over the years, traditional skills and original recipes have been combined with modern production techniques to ensure consistent, high quality products for their customers. Bindi is the prestige brand of the Society of Italian Alimentary Producers (S.I.P.A). The company produces roughly 35,000 pastries per day. It supplies 180 concessions, provides other companies with products for branding, as well as selling directly to the final consumer via its own stores.

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Inmarsat is repositioning its satellite, but also itself to cater to wider niche industries such as maritime, aviation, oil and gas

Samer Halawi, Vice President, Strategic Corporate Development, Inmarsat

Founded in 1979, the world’s oldest satellite phone operator Inmarsat is planning to shut down its satellites. Albeit temporarily. Having recently announced withdrawal of broadband voice and data services for a three to five week period in November and December, Inmarsat will temporarily shut down two satellites for repositioning.

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Global Positioning System (GPS) technology is becoming indispensable. Expanding businesses in the region feel the need to invest to get ahead

With mobile phones having Global Positioning Software (GPS) installed in them, life is easier as one can find routes without panicking. But what about businesses with transport fleets? How do they track their trucks? How do rent-a-car companies know where their cars are? Are they being secretly shipped off to neighbouring countries and sold for a profit? What about taxis? How does the customer service representative taking orders for customer pick up at the call centre, know which is the closest taxi to be assigned?

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Diversification is the order of the day in the UAE. The latest project aiming in this direction is the Abu Dhabi Polymers Park, the UAE’s first industrial cluster committed to the plastic conversion industry

Left: Abdullah Al Darmaki, Vice President, Petrochemicals at ADBIC Right: Abu Dhabi Polymers Park Model

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Automation and advanced software are moving in fast

Juliana Hawi, Consultant – Supply Chain Solutions, Span Group

The GCC logistics industry is becoming more tech savvy every day, according to Juliana Hawi, Consultant – Supply Chain Solutions, Span Group. “Five years ago we were behind, but now I would say the latest technology is coming to the region,” she says.

Still, she admits, the region is learning. “A lot of education has to be done for the clients. Unlike Europe and North America where the client will approach you with clear requirements and you will have to give him a solution. Maybe Dubai is different, but in a lot of these countries you have to go educate the client, show them their need for technology and then propose the solution.”

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Current aggressive behaviour between insurance companies in the industry has driven insurance rates to an all time low, thus companies are struggling to break even

Sea freight volumes have heavily increased in the region, primarily due to containerisation, a tremendous improvement in logistics and transport and now the great demand for fuel and project cargo to facilitate Dubai’s construction boom. In the first quarter of 2007 alone, 8,431 vessels called into Dubai ports and a total of 34,052 by the end of the year, with a value of AED679 million (US$185 million) worth of cargo movement in foreign trade including free zone and custom warehouse trade.

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SAP is known to be ‘open’ and compliant to a number of interfaces, databases and operating systems but is it too dear?

Kevin Scott, Vice President Large Enterprise, SAP

In an interview with Kevin Scott, Vice President Large Enterprise, SAP, it becomes hard to keep track of all the acronyms he throws out: , “ERP”, “SOA”, “ESOA”, “SAEC”, “SMEs”. But perhaps, one of the most important acronyms he will use are “UAE” and “GCC”. The global business software company has now set up an office in Dubai, after buying out its previous distributor SAP Arabia, which distributed through channel partners. “We acquired that organisation to be here directly,” says Scott. “Now we are expanding the channel. We need to have a whole ecosystem.”

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RFID can catch your Salik tag as it speeds by the toll gate, track mail throughout Saudi Arabia and even store data in your own body

Sanjeev Kumar, Business Development Manager, Ducont

From time to time those of us using the Salik toll pass in Dubai will receive a text message telling us when we have run out of credit, reminding us to top up our account. While we are annoyed we have to dole out more money, we are also relieved for the notice.

“Salik customers are depending on this channel of communication, so they expect that the RTA will inform them when their credit runs out,” says Sanjeev Kumar, Business Development Manager of Ducont, which developed the text messaging software. “If the system fails to work, people complain a lot.”

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CeMAT 2008 in Hanover concentrated mainly on the use of efficient systems, more intelligent software and ergonomic workstations

Developers in the last three years have adopted a totally new approach to the subject of energy saving. Whether through purely technical means (through new drive designs or energy recycling) or through sharpened software solutions – the efficiency of systems has clearly risen.

In order to save energy, the new trend in intralogistics is need-based system control. When a transport path is not used, the software of the respective system switches off the energy supply. This simple principle has an enormous effect. Thus the UK-based system developer, FKI Logistex, promises power savings of up to 60 per cent – and this without any extra overheads during procurement.

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Why are oil prices rising? Experts from the energy industry give a little insight

Like the rest of the world, companies in Dubai also are facing the heavy burden of increased fuel costs. Imad Murtada, Assistant Manager – Transport, Agility, says, “This is affecting all of us. We are not the only ones suffering from loss of business. When this increase in prices of fuel hit us, we were unprepared. As we have yearly contracts made with our clients and customers, there was no going back on that. We had to incur those losses. When we talk about increasing our rates, some clients understand whereas others simply do not want to hear anything of it. To look for a way out, we decided on dissolving the old contracts and making new ones, but as the prices are going up every two weeks to 20 days, how practical is that? But now, with new clients, we are making contracts which do not deal in fuel at all, they talk about only the trucks. The cost of fuel will be charged as per the actual receipts.”

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