From the Engineering and Physical Science Research Council (EPSRC)

18 May 2009

According to research funded by EPSRC, a new type of air-fueled battery could offer up to ten times the energy storage of currently available designs

This design would affect a broad ranged of electronic products, most notably laptops and cell phones. In addition, according to the press release, development of this battery could provide a major boost to the renewable energy industry.

An early demonstration model of the STAIR cell, not an electric condom

The expanded capacity is due to a component that uses oxygen, which replaces some of the chemicals currently used in batteries.  Fewer chemicals equals more energy for the same size battery.

From the press release:

The STAIR (St Andrews Air) cell should be cheaper than today’s rechargeables too. The new component is made of porous carbon, which is far less expensive than the lithium cobalt oxide it replaces.

This four-year research project, which reaches its halfway mark in July, builds on the discovery at the university that the carbon component’s interaction with air can be repeated, creating a cycle of charge and discharge. Subsequent work has more than tripled the capacity to store charge in the STAIR cell.

Professor Peter Bruce of the Chemistry Department at the University of St Andrews, reports on the progress of the project: “ Our results so far are very encouraging and have far exceeded our expectations.”,  estimating that it will be at least five years before the STAIR cell is commercially available.

SanDisk SDSDX3004GE31 Computer Shop

Hallo, es handelt sich um eine sehr schnelle und gute Karte, mit genügend Speicher, zu einem günstigen Preis.

• SecureDigital High Capacity Card, entspricht neuem SD-2.0-Standard, Klasse 6
• nur geeig SDHC-Snet für Endgeräte mitteckplatz (nicht rückwärtskompatibel zu Standard-SD-Cards)
• Schutz gegen unbeabsichtigtes Überschreiben der Daten. Datenübertragungsrate: bis zu 20 MB/s,
• unterstützt Win 2000/ME/XP, MacOS X Vers. 10.1.2 oder höher
• Lieferumfang: SD-Karte

Die SanDisk Extreme III wurde für besonders herausfordernde Bedingungen konstruiert und bietet Ihnen mehr Geschwindigkeit, bessere Leistung und unvergleichliche Verlässlichkeit. Nur die SanDisk Speicherkarten des Typs Extreme III bieten die Vorteile der innovativen ESP-Technologie und erzielen höchste Geschwindigkeit und hohe Leistung. ESP steht für “Enhanced Super-Parallel Processing”. Einfach ausgedrückt bedeutet dies, dass sie die schnellsten Lese- und Schreibgeschwindigkeiten besitzt, die auf dem Markt erhältlich sind: Mit unglaublichen 20 MB pro Sekunde** für sequentielle Lese- und Schreibvorgänge können Sie auch in besonders schwierigen Umgebungen, bei extremen Temperaturen oder in großen Höhen Bilder aufnehmen und speichern.

Available from Amazon Check Price Now!

*** Product Information and Prices Stored: Nov 27, 2009 22:03:46

Notebook Billig Kaufen Shopping Computer Online

One of the more common complaints is that local authorities offer training to a wide range of providers and so it isn’t always as relevant as it might be to any single sector. For example – if you want to know how DoLS works you need to sit through a training day that focuses as much upon surgery and learning disabilities as it does upon elderly care.

The upshot of all this is that workers need to attend a succession of training days to get the bits of information that apply to them – this is far from ideal and in these days of limited budgets and high workloads it’s almost impossible to achieve.

The solution is to tailor training to individual sectors and cover all the relevant bits in one day instead of taking small ’snippets’ from several sessions. That’s why AMJ is developing sector specific training around Duty of Care changes as they apply to different care sectors.

The first of these to be developed is for elderly residential care workers and is available in the venue of your choice. Basically we’ll come to you and your staff team so all you need to worry about is how soon you want us and what you need to be included. There is a ’set programme’ if you’d prefer but we’re also happy to  incorporate whatever you identify as important for your particular situation.

To take advantage of this tailored training programme simply Email stuart.sorensen@googlemail.com or telephone 07872 102626 and we’ll arrange a date.

During training today several participants repeatedly talked about ‘Advance Directives’ under the Mental Capacity Act 2005. This is not accurate but it is a common mistake, mainly because prior to the Mental Capacity Act it was the term we used in practice and it has become very familiar to care providers.

However it’s really important that we are clear about what the Advance Decision actually is.

An Advance Decision is used to refuse interventions but it cannot be used to demand anything. This means that health and social care workers cannot be compelled to do anything that they do not want to do – they can’t be forced to do what they think is inappropriate.

An Advance Directive is different. A directive is an instruction to do something. This has no basis in law. So the term Advance directive is not only inaccurate it is misleading.

Another term sometimes used is the Advance Agreement. This is equally misleading because it implies that the Advance Decision is only legally binding if the worker agrees with it. This is not the case.

If a service-user makes a valid and applicable advance decision they do not need us as workers to agree with it – they need us to comply. It may mean that they are refusing what we genuinely consider to be in their best interests but that’s not our decision to make – it’s theirs and they made it before they lost the capacity to decide.

So – be clear in your own mind. An advance decision is a decision to refuse intervention – nothing more. This may sound like splitting hairs but it’s important. Get this wrong and you may get your duty of care wrong – and that could see you facing criminal charges.

The correct legal term is Advance Decision.

The difference between restriction and deprivation of liberty really isn’t so clear as we might like. Actually even the government isn’t at all sure which is why the guidance is a bit vague.

What we do know is that……….

“The difference between restriction and deprivation of liberty is one of

intensity or degree and not one of nature or substance”

The Bournewood Judgement

(ECHR HL vs UK 2004)

To put it an other way….

“It aint what you do, It’s the way that you do it”

Many people are confused about what this might mean. Some have said that the Bournewood judgement makes it unlawful to use things like electronic coded door locks for example. Nothing could be further from the truth.

There is no problem using such devices so long as they are used appropriately. If the manager of a care home uses coded locks to secure the doors but opens them when it is necessary then that’s fine. If on the other hand the coded locks are used as a way of determining who can go out and who cannot (if you can remember the code you can leave) then that’s a different matter.

Remember it’s not what you do (coded locks), it’s the way that you do it. Using the lock in place of a capacity assessment or legal process such as the Mental Health Care & Treatment Scotland Act 2003 (MHC&T) in Scotland or the Deprivation of Liberty Safeguards in England & Wales is probably unlawful. However if you make reasonable provision to allow those inside to exit when appropriate that is unlikely to be a problem. The big question comes when deciding when it might be appropriate.

The real problem is in determining the degree of restriction that is lawful before it crosses over into deprivation of liberty. We know, for example, that restriction is lawful if the person lacks capacity to decide the issue for themselves and the restriction is proportionate and it is in the best interests of the person who lacks capacity.

Nevertheless we also know that once it crosses the line and becomes deprivation then further authorisation is necessary.

The basic principle is that deprivation of liberty is only lawful if it adheres to a process prescribed by law. This means that it’s not enough for care workers to decide to deprive a person of liberty – they need authorisation under the relevant legislation. If you don’t get the approval you’re breaking the law.

In brief:

You can restrict a person’s liberty if the restriction is:

• Proportionate (least restrictive);
• In the individual’s best interests.

Deprivation of liberty requires authorisation under:

Funding Source: Corporation for National and Community Service
Funding Type: Discretionary, Grant
Total Available: $1 Million
Award Ceiling: $250,000
Deadline: 12.10.09
Eligibility: Local Governments, Institutions of Higher Education, Nonprofits

Description:
Summer of Service grants will support collaborative efforts to implement community-based service-learning projects during the summer months. Programs will engage middle school students (students who will be enrolled in grades 6 through 9 in the school year following the end of the summer) in community-based service-learning projects that are intensive, structured, supervised, and designed to produce identifiable improvements to the community. This opportunity should provide youth, particularly those from disadvantaged circumstances, with service-learning experiences that will motivate them to become more civically engaged and aspire to obtain higher education. Program participants must complete at least 100 hours of service within the summer program. For this competition, service activities should address environmental and/or disaster preparedness issues relevant to the community served.

Funding Source: Substance Abuse & Mental Health Services Adminis.
Funding Type: Discretionary, Grant
Total Available: $2.2 Million
Award Ceiling: $350,000
Deadline: 02.10.10
Eligibility: Nonprofits, Local Governments

Description:
The Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA), Center for Substance Abuse Treatment (CSAT) announces the availability of FY 2010 funds for grants to deliver peer-to-peer recovery support services that help prevent relapse and promote sustained recovery from alcohol and drug use disorders. Successful applicants will provide peer-to-peer recovery support services that are responsive to community needs and strengths, and will carry out a performance assessment of these services. RCSP is intended to support peer leaders from the recovery community in providing recovery support services to people in recovery and their family members, and to foster the growth of communities of recovery that will help individuals and families, achieve and sustain long-term recovery. Recovery Community Services Program (RCSP) grants are authorized under section 509 of the Public Health Service Act, as amended. This announcement addresses Healthy People 2010 focus area 26 (Substance Abuse).

I’ll explain. Frequenting small music venues and undergoing the micro-gigging experience are infinitely more rewarding than seeing chart-topping bands in high capacity venues for the following reasons:

1. Crowd/band interaction is fundamental for small bands as they all need a distinguishing feature to earn them a reputation. If your band name is Pink Floyd or Kings of Leon, playing a tight set of perfectly honed album material that everyone recognizes won’t enlighten anyone’s lives; they might as well stay at home and listen to the goddamn album. Gig experiences are made more unique if you happen to be asked to play an instrument along with a band, if you bring along your own instruments, if you are asked to come up
   

   The Bobby McGees

   with a new song title, if they accept your inebriated bellows for song requests or just give you dance moves to groove away to. If the headline act walks off stage and sits at thenearest table you can have a chat to find out who their influences are, who they’re shagging and even where the best places to buy instruments are.

2. Random memorable moments are the crux of all good nights out, and there are very few bands that can pull off an electro theme tune of The Antique’s Roadshow for their opening number. If you notice a band’s bass guitarist voraciously rubbing his cock into the back of his guitar you can be reassured by the fact that other bands are willing to throw sweets and party poppers at their devoted audience instead. Lyrics can be fairly abstract and obscure, like the tales of love based around the uselessness of Jar Jar Binks, and my favourite lyrics of the past week have been “You gotta pull your dick out at the restaurant in front of their aunt, and jerk off with your balls smackin the windows of the Mitsubishi Galant!” (f.y.i. this wasn’t Coldplay). A woman resembling Edith Piaf slashed a knife through the air towards my face at the previous gig as part of a French mock-cabaret act, whilst a close acquaintance of mine was being ordered to turn the pages of a flick book with obscene words on it. This is not the kind of experience you forget in a hurry.
3. Tight budgets and creative minds make for an interesting array of instruments being ‘played’, some of which I have see recently include ukuleles, a melodica (mouth-organ keyboard), banjos, a handsaw, flutes, spoons, shoes, guitars made with planks of wood, a cello with no body, a ukulele made with an ice cream box, saxophones, a big ‘ole jar with a hole, reel to reel tape, cowbells, flutes, a hang (type of Swiss steel pans) and a lesser-known instrument that I like to call the guitar.
4. Cheapness is of vital importance to students, and £3 on the door or free entry beats a £50 ticket planned 5 months in advance every time. Not only is entry cheaper, but booze is cheaper and more varied too. Small venues often have a bar or two on site and serve a wide variety of liquid meals, putting many large venues to shame with their extortionate prices and lack of choice (Wembley Arena only sells two types of beer!!!!!)
5. The general atmosphere is often very cool in small venues, with comfy seats to lounge around in, places to dance and improvised stages.

Funding Source: Pennsylvania Commission on Crime and Delinquency
Funding Type: Grant
Total Available: $6.5 Million
Award Ceiling: Varies by category
Deadline: 12.31.09
Eligibility: PA Counties and Cities

Description:
The Pennsylvania Commission on Crime and Delinquency (PCCD) is now accepting competitive Applications for funding under the American Reinvestment and Recovery Act(ARRA) Justice Assistance Grant.  Applicants may submit their proposal under any one of the following five (5) categories:

Funding Source: Pennsylvania Commission on Crime and Delinquency
Funding Type: Grant
Total Available: $5.5 Million
Award Ceiling: $500,000
Deadline: 12.31.09
Eligibility: PA Counties and Police Departments

Description:
Pursuant to the federal reinvestment initiative, the Pennsylvania Commission on Crime and Delinquency (PCCD) is now accepting applications: to secure additional full-time and part-time personnel; to retain full- and part-time personnel, and/or; elevate part-time positions to full-time positions in one or more of the following categories:

Funding Source: Pennsylvania Commission on Crime and Delinquency
Funding Type: Grant
Total Available: $2 Million
Award Ceiling: $500,000
Deadline: 12.31.09
Eligibility: Local Governments

Description:
The Pennsylvania Commission on Crime and Delinquency (PCCD) is now accepting applications from local and state units of government or organizations supporting those entities to implement effective technologies within their jurisdictions. PCCD’s Office of Criminal Justice System Improvements’ strategic goal is to promote communication and information sharing through the implementation and effective use of technology. To further achieve this goal, PCCD strongly believes that direct collaborative efforts between local, county, and state agencies is key to building secure, integrated justice systems. As such, PCCD is committed to fostering technical innovation and ensuring the use of business and technical best practices by the Commonwealth’s entire criminal justice community.

Funding Source: Pipeline & Hazardous Material Safety Administration
Funding Type: Discretionary, Grant
Total Available: $1 Million
Award Ceiling: $50,000
Deadline: 01.04.10
Eligibility: Local Governments

Description:
The Technical Assistance Grants (TAG) program, first authorized in the Pipeline Safety Improvement Act of 2002 (Pub. L. 107-355, codified at 49 U.S.C. 60130), offers new opportunities to strengthen the depth and quality of public participation in pipeline safety matters. Section 9 of the Act, titled: “Pipeline Safety Information Grants to Communities” authorized the Secretary of Transportation to make grants to local communities and organizations for technical assistance relating to pipeline safety issues. The TAG program was then amended by Section 5 of the Pipeline Inspection, Protection, Enforcement, and Safety Act of 2006. However, FY 2009 was the first year in which PHMSA has received appropriations to fund the grant program. These grants will allow communities and groups of individuals to obtain funding for technical assistance in the form of engineering or other scientific analysis of pipeline safety issues and help promote public participation in official proceedings.

Due to technical issues with linking to federal web portals, please contact us, or post a comment below if you are interested in receiving more information about this opportunity.

1. This amount of hard drive space is good enough for anyone…

It seems that at some point or another, every technology writer or senior figure has doubted whether anyone would need more than a certain amount of capacity in a system. Bill Gates was known to denounce larger disk sizes. IBM once said that homes would not need computers. Whatever. Digital capacity fuels economies of trade in innovation, and people want it too. That myth needs to stay forgotten for the excitement to continue.

2. You can break a computer.
A lot of people in the 1990s and 2000s – including today – believe/d that computers could be broken very easily. Few still do think this. True, parts are now more durable, but it has always been hard to completely kill a whole Mac or PC. The Internet and Genius Bars have also helped pop this myth into non-existence – nowadays spare parts can be gleaned quite easily according to budget.

3. It’s all expense.
In days gone by, a computer cost more to get and run. Even so, that was untrue to a certain extent then. Now, however, this myth has been cleaned away quite thoroughly. The total cost of ownership of a system (TCO) is now quite low, due to freebie software, and people are more creative with finding uses for old devices in a recession – and they publish their findings. Also, the more you pay, the more years you get. True, there’s no such thing as a free lunch, but in computing, that is good in some cases. Free or costly, expense in computers is a myth – normally.

Funding Source: Department of Housing and Urban Development
Funding Type: Discretionary, Grant
Total Available: $4 Million
Award Ceiling: $1 Million
Deadline: 01.20.10
Eligibility: Local Governments with some restrictions

Description:
The purpose of the HOPE VI Main Street program is to provide grants to small communities to assist in the rejuvenation of an historic or traditional central business district or “Main Street” area by replacing unused commercial space in buildings with affordable housing units. The objectives of the program are to (a) Redevelop Main Street areas; (b) Preserve historic or traditional architecture or design features in Main Street areas; (c) Enhance economic development efforts in Main Street areas; and (d) Provide affordable housing in Main Street areas.

Humanity Cannot
The least preponderance in either mind will unbalance the scale in the understanding of where God resides. The intellectual capacity of men is incapable to reason beyond the frontier of Schizophrenia.
Thoughts become psychotic; a distortion of reality and withdrawal from social contact, humanity cannot venture to a place which it cannot conceive.
The resident of God is in the undisturbed and quietness of the mind and many times we have heard his voice in our present reality. 
©2009

We live in interesting times. Over the last few years the legal changes affecting health and social care have been many and varied. Compared to just a few years ago the duty of care for people working in the residential sector have changed enormously.

No area of work has faced greater upheaval than residential elderly care services. Beginning with the Mental Capacity Act (2005) which came into force in 2007, the new regulations now include the Deprivation of Liberty Safeguards, Person Centred Care Provision and a new regulatory body, the Care Quality Commission.

Not surprisingly many organisations have struggled to keep pace with these changes. Local authorities have done what they can but this often amounts to generic training courses designed to meet the needs of a variety of services and not really providing adequate, specific training for any of them.

That’s why AMJ has developed a new, ‘modular’ course for elderly residential care sectors. This one day course is flexible enough to include what each service does need without wasting time on areas of care that do not apply.

We call the new course:

Duty of Care changes in elderly residential care settings

There are of course some topics that apply to all residential settings such as the Mental Capacity Act and Deprivation of Liberty Safeguards as mentioned above. But then there are other, more selective issues such as the new Mental Health Act (2007) that will only be of relevance to some.

This new course design allows you to choose what you need to cover to help your staff perform their particular role without the irrelevancies that come from more generic training courses. This is extremely efficient in terms both of time and money because the training is precisely tailored to your particular requirements.

The course costs £450 + VAT per day or £400 + VAT if multiple days are booked. This price includes all handouts and there are no extra charges for travel, accommodation or anything else.

Call AMJ on 07872 102626 or Email us via

stuart.sorensen@googlemail.com

to discuss your particular training needs.

An organization will not begin the transformation until it is aware that the quality of the product or service must be improved. Awareness comes about when an organization loses market share or realizes that quality and productivity go hand in hand. It also occurs if TQM is mandated by the customer or if management realizes that TQM is a better way to run business and compete in domestic and world markets.

Automation or other productivity enhancements might not help a corporation if it is unable to market its product or service because the quality is poor. The Japanese learned this fact from practical experience. They could sell their products only at ridiculously low prices, and even then it was difficult to secure repeat sales. Until recently, corporations have not recognized the importance of quality. However, a new attitude has emerged—quality first among the equals of cost and service—the customer wants value.

Quality and productivity are not mutually exclusive. Improvements in quality can lead directly to increased productivity and other benefits. The improved quality results in improvement in productivity, capacity, and profit. Many quality improvement projects are achieved with the same workforce, same overhead, and no investment in new equipment.

More and more corporations are recognizing the importance and necessity of quality improvement if they are to survive domestic and world-wide competition. Quality improvement is not limited to the conformance of the product or service to specifications; it also involves the inherent quality in the design of the system. The prevention of the product, service, and process problems is a more desirable objective than taking corrective action after the product is manufactured or a service rendered.

TQM does not occur overnight; there are no quick remedies. It takes a long time to build the appropriate emphasis and techniques into the culture. Over-emphasis on short term results and profits must be set aside so long-term planning and constancy of purpose will prevail.

My Consultancy–Asif J. Mir - Management Consultant–transforms organizations where people have the freedom to be creative, a place that brings out the best in everybody–an open, fair place where people have a sense that what they do matters. For details please visit www.asifjmir.com, and my Lectures.

Contingency Planning For Lean Operations – Part II

Putting together a contingency plan can be quite challenging when you consider all the things that could go wrong at any given point in time.  Contingency plans should not only be restricted to ”things gone wrong” and are not limited to operations or process specific events.  All aspects of an operation are prone to risk.  As such, contingency planning must be an enterprise wide activity.

Failing to understand and assess the risks that may impact your operation is a recipe for future failure.  If you fail to plan then plan to fail.  The same is true for contingency plans.  Effective risk management and contingency planning are critical to minimize or eliminate the effects of failure.

Natural disasters (like we’ve never seen before) continue to plague us without prediction.  Yet, we are able to respond immediately and effectively.  If you get hurt or injured, someone is there to help you simply by dialing 911.  Emergency units are ever present and available to respond.

Unfortunately the same is not necessarily true for business.  The recent turn in the economy caused financial markets to tumble and decimated corporations on every scale.  Millions of people are affected by the fallout.  The government “loans” were not crafted after the event.  Did contingency plans exist to even consider this level of change in the economy?

Although history may be the best predictor of future events, it is not exclusive or exhaustive to predicting unforeseen future events.  Even if history did provide a glimpse of potential future failures, we may simply choose to ignore the probability of recurrence – this isn’t the first time the financial markets have crashed, yet we can’t seem to determine or understand what key indicators existed that could have prevented this current situation.

Certainly new variables are introduced as technologies continue to evolve and become more integral in our operations.

In Part I of this series we suggested that contingency plans should be prepared to address potential labour challenges and more specifically availability.  Certainly, the recent concerns regarding the H1N1 virus have heightened attention with respect to labour shortages.

• Inclement Weather – Immediate effects of Snow Storm, Hurricane, Heavy Rain, Tornado.
  • Other considerations include:
    • Duration
    • Seasons
    • Cumulative Severity
    • Delayed Effects (flooding)
    • Property Damage.
• Accident / Injury:  Personal versus Workplace
  • Long Term
  • Short term
  • Considerations to reduce or minimize impact to operations:
    • Early Return To Work
    • Modified Duty
    • Restricted Duty
    • Reduced Hours
• Illness (Personal / Family / Extended Family)
  • Short Term
    • (Flu, Cold)
    • Emergency
  • Long Term
    • Surgical Care
    • Chronic Care
• Sudden Premature Death
• Parental Leave (Maternity Leave)
• Bereavement – Immediate Family, Out of Country
• Retirement / Attrition
• Training
  • Onsite vs Offsite
  • Duration
• Meetings – Department
  • Company Wide
  • On Site
  • Customer Site
• Quality Disruption
  • Containment Activity
    • Sorting
    • Rework
• Travel
• Vacation Allowance / Timing
  • Customer Driven
  • Company Mandated
  • Personal Choice
  • Season
  • Duration
    • New Hires – Zero Weeks
    • Senior Employees – Per “X” Years of Service
• Holidays
• Absenteeism (Culpable)
• Layoff and Recall
  • Short Term
  • Long Term
• Supply Chain Disruptions – Raw Material or Part Supply
• Planned Shutdown / Start Up Events – Holidays
• Leave of Absence – Short Term / Long Term
• Facilities
  • Loss of Utilities:  Water, Electricity
  • Fire, Suspended Services
  • Parking Availability
  • Locker Space
• Equipment – Breakdown / Malfunction (Major)
• Tooling – Breakdown  / Malfunction (Major)
• Skill Levels Required – Non-Skilled, Semi-Skilled, and Skilled Labour
•  Union – Strike
• Customer Decreases
  • Shutdown (Reduced Volume)
  • Slow Down (Reduced Volume)
  • Reduced Work Week (4 vs. 5 days)
  • Shutdown (Planned)
• Customer Increases:
  • Volume
  • Extended Work Days (Daily Overtime)
  • Extended Work Week (Saturday)

There are likely more areas of concern that may impact your labour pool, however, this does serve as a starting point.  Do all of the above elements require a contingency plan?  Not necessarily.  We still contend that it is good practice to document all potential concerns.  It is easier to add a note to document the reason for exclusion from the contingency plan by stating:

• The following elements were discussed during the preparation of this plan, however, specific contingency plans were not considered necessary at the time of review:
  • Training – Scheduled Activity
  • Culpable Absenteeism – Progressive Discipline Program
  • Add Elements to the List as applicable

This latter task may seem somewhat trivial, but consider who else may be reading the report.  Defining the scope of the contingency plan and adding a list of exclusions supported with reason(s) clarifies any ommissions from the core plan, will minimize the time required for review, and eliminates any assumptions regarding unintended ommisions.

Our next post will address the elements to be considered when developing a contingency plan.

Until Next Time – STAY Lean!

Funding Source: National Institutes of Health
Funding Type: Discretionary, Cooperative Agreement
Total Available: $62 Million
Award Ceiling: $2.3 Million
Deadline: 01.07.10
Eligibility: Virtually Unrestricted

Description:
This FOA issued under the NIH Common Fund solicits grant applications that propose to continue the NIH National Centers for Biomedical Computing (NCBC) program. These Centers, in conjunction with individual investigator awards, are creating a networked effort to build the computational infrastructure for biomedical computing in the nation. The NCBC program is devoted to all facets of biomedical computing, from basic research in computational science to providing the tools and resources that biomedical and behavioral researchers need to do their work. In addition to carrying out fundamental research, it is expected that the NCBC will play a major role in educating and training researchers to engage in biomedical computing.

Contingency Planning For Lean Operations – Part I

Lean operations are driven by effective planning and efficient execution of core activities to ensure optimal performance is achieved and sustained.  The very nature of lean requires extreme attention to detail through all phases of planning and execution.  Upstream operations simply cannot tolerate any disruptions in product supply or process flow without the risk of incurring significant downtime costs or other related losses.

Effective risk management methods, contingency plans, and loss prevention strategy are critical components of successful operations management in a lean operation.  Risk management and preventing disruptions is the subject of contingency planning and requires the participation of all team members.

Successful contingency planning assures the establishment of an effective communication strategy and identification of core activities and actions required.  Contingency plans may require alternative methods, processes, systems, sources, or services and must be verified, validated, and tested prior to implementation.

Understanding and assessing the potential risks to your operation is the basis for contingency planning with the objective to minimize or eliminate potential losses.

Inventory represents the most basic form of contingency planning.  Safety stock or buffer inventories are typically used to minimize the effects of equipment downtime or disruptions in the supply chain. 

The levels of inventory to maintain are dependent on a number factors including Lead Time, Value, Carrying Cost, Transit Time (Distance), Shelf Life, Minimum Order Quantities, Payment Terms, and Obsolescence.

Why is this relevant?

Material and Labour represent two key resources that may be influenced by external factors that are beyond the control of any company policy or practice.  Internally controlled or managed resources such facilities, equipment, and tooling are less susceptible to unknown elements.  For the purposes of this discussion, we will examine Labour in a little more detail.

The H1N1 virus, originally known as the Swine Flu, is the latest potential health pandemic since the outbreak of SARS only a few years ago.  The government has been struggling to organize mass immunization clinics and to engage the media to aid in the cause.  In the meantime, the potential impact of the H1N1 virus on your operation remains to be an unknown. 

Experts have commented to the media that the lessons from the SARS outbreak have still not been learned.  One would expect that past practices would have already been adopted into new best practices from our experiences with other similar events in our history.

Government agencies at all levels (Federal, Provincial, and local) have mismanaged the activities required to procure and distribute the vaccine, and failed to provide an effective communication and immunization strategy to ensure the risk to public health was minimized and the at the very least understood.

The lack of coordination and accountability for the success or failure of the communication strategy, procurement and distribution of the vaccine, and other related activities are strong indicators that the planning process did not consider the infrastructure requirements and relationships needed between levels of government.

The lack of an effective communication strategy introduced confusion and speculation in the media and the general public.  Mass education only seemed to become more aggressive as incidents of severe H1N1 complications and related deaths were reported in the media.

If this really was a pandemic event, many operations today would (and may still) be adversely affected due to direct or indirect (supply chain) labour shortages.  Do you have contingency plans in place to address this concern?

It could be argued that “if we are affected to this extent, then our customers will be as well.”  This is not necessarily true unless your customers and / or suppliers are located in the same immediate area or region of your business.

People travel all the time, whether they are commuting to work from out-of-town or traveling to or arriving from a foreign country on business.  The source of exposure is beyond your immediate control. 

What other elements can directly impact labour?  We will explore some of these in our next post.  In the meantime, keep your hands washed and remember to cough into your sleeve.

Until Next Time – STAY Lean!

Unexpected and Appreciated – Uncommon Courtesy:  This morning, a person cut into the drive through lane ahead of us – not realizing the gap in the line was there for thru traffic.  Recognizing the error in drive through etiquette and to make amends, we were pleasantly surprised by the ”free” coffee at the pick up window.  Thank you ladies!

The Indo-European root of the word lead and leadership (leith) means to go forth, to cross the threshold or to die.

The challenges we face in the world right now – the big world or our own smaller worlds – are pressuring us to see differently, to sharpen and deepen our attention and to cultivate  our capacity to shift the inner place from which we operate – the place of presencing in Otto Scharmer’s U Theory.

So, why is it that so many of us – leaders in our organizations and our communities – protest the investment of a few days completely away to engage in stillness or reflective practices that enable and build the capacity to see and then cross the inner threshold that shifts the shape of individuals, organizations and communities? And, why are those of us who see the need and know the benefit reluctant to specifically request or recommend this to other leaders we know?

Have we fallen into the trap of limiting beliefs – believing it is not possible to invest this time, that people won’t make the investment or commit the time or that it truly is impossible for leaders to turn off the electronics and their accessibility even for a few days?

Is this a blind spot we need to illuminate?  Is this a reflection of the inner landscape that needs to shift in order to be available to the future that is wanting to happen?

Our awareness and our consciousness determines the qualities of our actions and results.  In Theory U,  Scharmer asks: How can we renew our culture so that every human being is considered a carrier of a sacred project: the journey of becoming one’s authentic self?

As long as we aren’t ready to face and confront the inner abyss, we will stay stuck in the patterns of thinking, behaviour and action that have generated our current results, results that many agree do not support the sustainability of the earth or our current lifestyle – on an individual and collective basis.

If we could truly see the value of shifting the shape of our inner world, knowing it would allow us to cross the threshold into a more integrated way of being with a more responsive capacity to work successfully with the institutional and systemic crises we are faced with, wouldn’t even a significant amount of time – not just days but weeks or months, on an annual basis – become a worthwhile investment?

What is the renewal of hope and inspiration needed to compel us into this pursuit of the sacred project – the journey of becoming one’s authentic self – to understand that as our inner self shifts  we build the capacity, individually and collectively, to tune into, more frequently and in greater numbers, the future that wants to live through us, more becomes possible and maybe our very future depends on it.