Moving from a Just-in-Time to a Just-in-Case

1. Just-in-Time or JIT inventory management is a lean procurement methodology originally invented in Japan. By only ordering what they need, when they need it, companies reduce waste such as obsolete or expired stock, drive efficiency, and reduce holding costs (warehousing). Importantly, JIT frees up operational cash flow.

2. JIT management requires a constant stream of robust data, such as having accurate and frequently updated sales forecasts and knowing your peak demand periods. It also requires a sophisticated inventory system to tell you exactly how much stock you have on-hand in real-time.

3. Unfortunately, JIT only works properly in a seamless, well-oiled supply chain. As we all know, COVID-19 brought this crashing to the ground all over the world. The pandemic caused shipping delays, port congestion, panic buying, and shortages of crucial medical equipment and PPE. Businesses everywhere rapidly ran out of stock and had to scramble for alternative sources of supply, pay higher prices, and wait for the global supply chain to recover.

Malaysia’s Ratification of CPTPP to Help Increase Trade

1. Malaysia’s ratification of the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for the Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP) looks set to provide indigenous businesses with expansion opportunities around the Asia Pacific and even further afield. The pact, deemed highly beneficial for the development of Malaysian trade, removes as much as 95 percent of tariffs between member states.

2. The Malaysian government officially ratified the CPTPP on September 30, 2022. The trade deal was signed in 2018 but required years of careful deliberation and consultation by Parliament for final approval.

3. The agreement – originally called the Trans-Pacific Partnership – was signed by 11 countries on the Pacific rim in 2018. Signatories included Australia, Brunei, Canada, Chile, Japan, Mexico, New Zealand, Peru, Singapore, and Vietnam. The pact removes 95 percent of tariffs between its 11 members.

4. Malaysia concluded in its “Cost-Benefit Analysis” that this free trade agreement would see the country’s total trade increase to US$655.9 billion by 2030 according to the government’s Statistics Department. Malaysia’s total trade stood at around 2.2 trillion ringgit (US$481 billion) in 2021.

Digitization vs. digitalization: Differences, definitions and examples, and Digital Transformation

1. In the case of digitization and digitalization, two letters make all the difference. This is not merely a matter of wordplay — it’s a matter of scope and potential value to your business. Understanding the distinctions between these two approaches is critical as the digital transformation gains momentum and businesses move toward digital technologies to enhance visibility and eliminate inefficiencies in their operations.

2. Here, we’ll give a straightforward explanation of both digitization and digitalization, offering examples of each. Then we’ll explore why we designed TruQC as a strategy for process digitalization.

Smart Container Market & E-Commerce Logistics Outlook & Forecast

1. The smart container market is projected to grow from USD 3.9 billion in 2022 to USD 9.7 billion by 2027, at a CAGR of 19.6% during the forecast period. Increasing focus on end-to-end supply chain visibility, high demand for monitoring and control of internal container conditions, and increasing adoption of IoT devices by shipping companies are the key factors expected to drive the growth of the smart container market in the next five years.

2. The global e-commerce logistics market is expected to grow from $476.34 billion in 2021 to $568.85 billion in 2022 at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 19.4%. The Russia-Ukraine war disrupted the chances of global economic recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic, at least in the short term.

Product Spotlight - The Hydrogen Colour Spectrum

1. From green to pink hydrogen, we reveal the rainbow of hydrogen colours and the different types of technology used to produce each.

2. Green hydrogen, blue hydrogen, brown hydrogen and even yellow hydrogen, turquoise hydrogen and pink hydrogen. They’re essentially colour codes, or nicknames, used within the energy industry to differentiate between the types of hydrogen.

3. Depending on the type of production used, different colour names are assigned to the hydrogen. But there is no universal naming convention and these colour definitions may change over time, and even between countries.

4. Hydrogen is an invisible gas. So, despite their colourful descriptions, there is no visible difference between the different types of hydrogen.

5. In the future, some hydrogen colours may fade in importance and others burn brighter. What’s certain is that the hydrogen rainbow will play a significant role in reaching net zero, as we reduce our historical reliance on fossil fuels and look to green alternatives to power our homes, businesses and transport.

Halal Certification in Malaysia

1. Businesses looking to sell halal products in Malaysia must first receive a Halal Certificate from the government. A Halal Certificate lets consumers know that the product meets Malaysia’s standards for a halal product.

2. Home to some 16 million Muslims, Malaysia is a leading market in Southeast Asia for the production and consumption of halal products. Malaysia’s halal products have an annual export value of 35.4 billion ringgit (US$7.46 billion), or 5.1 percent of the country’s exports, as it is a key supplier for countries with large Muslim populations, such as Indonesia.

3. Halal certification is relevant to a variety of products that use animal products, including food products, cosmetics, and pharmaceuticals. Here, we look at how halal is defined in Malaysia and how businesses can receive a Halal Certificate.

Why UAE Businesses Should Establish a Principal Hub in Malaysia

1. Malaysia and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) began diplomatic relations around 1983, which has since developed into an important trade and investment relationship. The UAE is Malaysia’s largest trade partner in the Middle East with bilateral trade reaching US$5.4 billion in 2021, an increase from US$4.93 billion in 2020. Trade is almost evenly split with the UAE enjoying a small surplus of just under US$200 million.

2. Importantly for Malaysia, the country is competing with Singapore to serve as a principal hub for businesses in the UAE, particularly in manufacturing, logistics, information, and communications technology, and Islamic finances, seeking to enter the huge ASEAN market.

Thailand Adopts New Five-Year Investment Promotion Strategy

1. Thailand’s Board of Investment has approved the country’s next Five-Year Investment Promotion Strategy. The strategy aims to identify industries and sectors that are essential to Thailand’s long-term development and competitiveness. The strategy will take effect at the start of 2023 and run through 2027.

Employment Multipliers for the U.S. Economy

1. When it comes to the ripple effects that spread to the rest of the labor market, one lost dollar of economic output or one lost job is not the same as another.

2. Each industry has backward linkages to economic sectors that provide the materials needed for the industry’s output, and each industry has forward linkages to the economic sectors where the industry’s workers spend their income. 

3. Therefore, in addition to the jobs directly supported by an industry, a large number of indirect jobs may also be supported by that industry. The subtraction (or addition) of jobs and output in industries with strong backward and forward linkages to other economic sectors can cause large ripple effects.

4. This brief calculates employment multipliers by industry to illustrate the importance of these linkages, updating earlier work by Bivens (2003) and Baker and Lee (1993). Employment multipliers measure how the creation or destruction of output or employment in a particular industry translates into wider employment changes throughout the economy.

EVT (Engineering Validation Test), DVT (Design Validation Test), PVT (production validation testing) & NPI (New Product Introduction)

1. Explain the differences between EVT, DVT and PVT, or the engineering validation process.

2. Manufacturing overseas adds additional complexities and risks as geographic, communication, and cultural barriers can sabotage the product launch process.

3. This is where a New Product Introduction (NPI) team can make a substantial impact on commercializing a new product.  

Product Spotlight - Data Center Tiers Explained

1. Data center tiers are established rankings for the performance of servers which house data and information.

2. Data centers are ranked from I to IV, with I being the worst-performing of the four and IV being the best-performing.

3. The Uptime Institute’s Tier Certification is the independent measure through which ratings are judged. It determines the criteria for each tier and lists several values that collectively make up what constitutes the standards of data center tiers. 

Global Supply Chain Pressure Index (GSCPI) & Supply Chain Pessure in September 2022

1. The Global Supply Chain Pressure Index (GSCPI) is a new measurement of supply chain conditions, created by the Federal Reserve Bank of New York. The index combines variables from several indices in transportation and manufacturing, such as those related to delivery times, prices, and inventory.

2. The index is meant to help policymakers, businesses, and consumers understand the state of global supply chains.

Product Spotlight - Current Sensors and Industry 4.0: What do engineers need to know & Selection Criteria

1. A lot of the current buzz in electronic systems development is about “smart” products, and the ability to oversee the performance and functionality of these solutions. Between competition and consumer expectations, a product on the market today must perform its functions almost perfectly, or as close as can be achieved through modern technology and processes. 

2. Short battery life, poor RF connections, bad thermal management, and other non-critical aspects of performance are also make-or-break parameters when operating in the real world.

3. The explosion in the growth of the electronics marketplace at every level is challenging the industry at every level. From new semiconductor materials to advanced solutions like artificial intelligence, new technologies and approaches are creating new application spaces while rejuvenating old ones. All of this is being driven by the migration to integrate data technology into every aspect of electronics.

4. All of this is creating a disruptive period of demanding growth, which places additional pressure on system designers to ensure the product created is safe, efficient, reliable, and cost-effective (especially that last one). 

China’s Big Plan to Boost Data Center Computing Power

1. As China’s digital businesses continue to grow and as traditional sectors continue to digitize, there will be greater demand for data center infrastructure and high computing capacity.

2. The “Eastern Data, Western Computing” plan was first introduced at the end of 2020 when the National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC), the Cyberspace Administration of China (CAC), the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT), and the National Energy Administration (NEA) jointly released the Guiding Opinions on Accelerating the Construction of a National Integrated Big Data Center Collaborative Innovation System (the “guiding opinions”). These guiding opinions first proposed the construction of a nationwide integrated data center system. 

Product Spotlight - MEMS (Microelectromechanical Systems) AND Global Market Forecast

1. MEMS or Microelectromechanical Systems are microsystems with both electric and mechanical functions. Built with the same advanced techniques that make today's integrated circuits, MEMS are everywhere around us. The tech is miraculous but the industry has long struggled with several significant economic issues. 

2. Global Micro-Electromechanical Systems (MEMS) Market Report 2022: Market to Reach $16.9 Billion by 2026 - Consumer Electronics Segment is Expected to Account for $10.3 Billion

Malaysia Makes Amendments to its Patent Act: Key Highlights

1. On March 18, 2022, the Patent (Amendment) Act 2022 [Act A1649] (the “Act”) and accompanying implementing regulations went into effect, updating the law originally created in 1983. The Act, which Malaysia’s upper parliament passed in December 2021, brings Malaysia’s patent regulations in line with a number of international agreements the country is a party.

2. Major international agreements reflected in the Act include the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP), the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement (RCEP), the Agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS), and the Budapest Treaty on the International Recognition of the Deposit of Microorganisms for the Purposes of Patent Procedure (the Budapest Treaty).

Is the US’s Position as a Global Leader for Data Centres Changing?

1. Of the world’s ten largest data centre companies, six are US multinationals and two are Japanese. Many are questioning, however, whether this crop of data centre corporates will maintain their dominance of the industry’s cross-border investment and global footprint – and what does this mean for companies planning corporate expansions overseas?

Robotic Process Automation (RPA) Costs & Return on Investment (ROI)

1. As of 2020, 72% of companies surveyed by Deloitte had already implemented RPA tools. Improved compliance and quality topped the list of benefits reported by RPA pioneers. At the same time, 59% of enterprises registered a significant RPA-related cost reduction, with the median payback period for RPA projects spanning less than 12 months. 

2. However, only 3% of companies succeed in scaling their digital workforce, while up to 50% of initial RPA projects fail. Given that robotic process automation costs for a single software bot may range from $5,000 to $15,000, your business might end up spending millions of dollars to achieve company-wide automation. 

3. Before making the investment, most production and operations managers will need to provide sufficient evidence to company leadership and stakeholders that automated machinery would be a profitable venture throughout the lifecycle of the equipment.

4. What are the key factors behind the presumably high robotic process automation cost? Most importantly, what should your company do to realize RPA’s full potential without breaking the bank? 

How Manufacturers in Less Developed Regions Accelerate the Adoption of Industry 4.0?

1. The manufacturing industry is well aware of the benefits Industry 4.0 technologies can offer. Connectivity, AI/ML, IoT, AR/VR and other technologies are available to provide data and streamline processes and improve manufacturing across diverse industry segments.

2. Yet whilst awareness is broad, uptake is less so. Industrial digitalisation in the UK can be London-centric, leaving regional manufacturing hubs further behind in the adoption of new technologies. The likes of Make UK and Innovate UK are making great strides in broadening adoption, but there is further to go.

3. Part of the challenge lies in regional skills gaps and talent shortages, with businesses outside of city hubs unable to realise the full benefits of Industry 4.0 technologies. There is a lot of incredible technology out there to integrate into manufacturing operations – but it is not always accessible. Regionally, there needs to be equal access to technology alongside abilities to upskill staff and train talent regionally.

Impact of service level agreements on a manufacturing organization & ISO 27001

1. Managing a service level agreement (SLA) is a continuous process and should be constantly monitored, updated, and improved to meet the business needs of the manufacturing organization.

2. A service level agreement (SLA) with a cloud service provider (CSP) is a live document that must be well-understood and negotiated between the cloud service customer (CSC) and the CSP so the manufacturing organization (CSC) can manage and satisfy all security and regulatory compliance requirements in the cloud. When the manufacturing organization signs the SLA as a legally binding agreement with the CSP, it should not stop here because things are not done. They are actually never done.