TATLO: Transparency and Traceability for Logistics Optimization

1. Fragmentation of systems and lack of common documents in international trade cause significant inefficiencies and resultant loss of revenues.

2. Improving both B2B and business-to-government (B2G) information exchange through the supply chain could increase global trade volumes and GDP.

3. The obstacles to implementing such exchanges are not technological, but rather are caused by lack of standardization and incentives for information sharing.

4. For a broader roll-out of e-supply chains, global leaders in each supply chain step should work together on practices for sharing information and agree on joint standards.

5. While initial e-customs efforts are a step in the right direction, they need to accelerate, be more ambitious and include businesses to deliver maximum benefits.

6. The TATLO concept is not new, and many of the technologies exist for implementing it. However, a lack of standardization and sharing of norms is preventing the seamless flow of information and the use of protocols, both of which could turbocharge the process.

Master Developers - Traditional and Incorporating Green Infrastructure

 1. The past decade has seen residential Master Developers (MDs) playing an increasingly important role in the UK’s development market, helping to accelerate housing supply through the delivery of strategic housing led developments.

2. Those acting in the role of MDs are responsible from first conception and planning, all the way through to the implementation of these major projects, either through direct development or serviced land sales.

3. We find that there have been many factors that have contributed to a prevalence in this kind of large-scale strategic development in the past decade.

Logistic Provider Models (1PL - 7PL) and Transparency and Traceability for Logistics Optimization (TATLO)

 1. Supply Chain and Logistics terminology can seemingly not keep up with the rapid evolution of the industry. For years we have become accustomed to organisations adopting 3-or-4PL business models, but of late abbreviations such as 5, 6 and even 7PL beginning to become part of the logistics lexicon, but what exactly to do these terms mean?

Analytic Dashboard for Manufacturers

 1. Manufacturers are responsible for a variety of complex business requirements, including tight time-to-market schedules and improving the cost of quality. 

2. Manufacturing technology leaders now have the ability to transform the way the plant floor operates with analytics, dashboards and manufacturing intelligence that provide insight from the bottom up.

Low Code and Auto Machine Learning

1. Organizations that want to get started quickly with machine learning may be interested in investigating emerging low-code options for AI. 

2. While low-code techniques will never completely replace hand-coded systems, they can help accelerate smaller, less experienced data science teams, as well as help with prototyping for professional data scientists.

Analytics for Banking and Examples of Machine Learning

1. Banks’ futures depend on institutions’ ability to master three key things – customer experience, compliance, and storage.

2. strategic default models were a waste of time and money, not because they were inaccurate, but because the parties involved failed to anticipate how offering one customer an attractive loan restructure would influence other customers who hadn’t yet defaulted. The analytics didn’t fail. The implementation strategy did.

Consolidation Warehouses

 1. Utilizing consolidation warehouses can improve your supply chain’s performance while reducing costs.

2. This form of warehousing involves combining small shipments bound for a similar destination into a single truckload.

3. As a result, you can reduce transportation costs, ship more frequently, and, eventually, boost your profitability.

Shifting from Air to High Speed Rail Post Covid-19

A long-term shift in attitudes around climate change, travel, and work triggered by the Covid-19 pandemic could serve to significantly curb aviation growth in the next decade

Automation In Rubber Glove Industry to tackle Covid-19

1. MARGMA (Malaysian Rubber Glove Manufacturers Association)had projected demand of rubber gloves to reach ~300 billion pieces in 2020 with an annual growth of 12%, 

2. The current outbreak of novel Covid-19 has resulted in a 100% surge in demand globally in the first few months of 2020. 

2019 and Q1 2020 Stainless Steel Industry Trends

1. Global stainless steel purchasing activity is steady, at a level, generally, a little below that of one year ago. 

2. A pickup in order volumes was reported in January. This was boosted by stock replenishment. 

3. Many supply chain participants routinely minimise their inventory levels towards the calendar year-end, in order to improve their quarterly or annual accounts. Material must then be purchased at an accelerated rate at the beginning of the new period, to return stocks to a practical, working level.

4. Subsequently, with underlying demand, reportedly, rather weak, buying activity slowed, during late January and February. As a result, producers, in most of the world, were unable to achieve price rises, or even, in the case of flat products, maintain rollover values, this  March. 

Respirator Mask Industry Analysis

1. A respirator mask is a personal protective equipment that prevents the wearer from inhaling aerosols as well as vapors or gases that are health hazards. 

2. Unlike normal surgical mask that only protects against infectious droplets (e.g. droplets of saliva or other secretions), respirator mask can also protect the wearer from inhaling micro airborne infectious agents such as airborne virus (including coronavirus, SARS, H1N1, etc).

Africa’s First High Speed Line is on Track to Cover its Costs

1. Named Al Boraq after a magical winged creature of Islamic lore, it is the first train service of its kind in Africa, running along the Atlantic coast for 200 kilometres between the port of Tangier and the commercial hub of Casablanca.

2. The Al-Boraq high-speed rail service is a key project for Moroccan infrastructure.

3. It was launched in November 2018 between Rabat and Tangier and carried three million passengers in its first year of service, according to figures from the national railway office ONCF.

4. Al Boraq’s rail stock includes 12 trains. Each service or trip has two locomotives and eight cars with a capacity for 533 passengers.

Industry 4.0 Analytics Platform Approach, Benefits, Challenges, and Examples

1. Real-time and predictive engagement is becoming much more of a ‘must-have’, rather than a ‘nice to do’ as part of any manufacturer’s customer experience. 

2. Customers expect a more personalised service. But this makes a huge difference to the analytics platform and capabilities for manufacturers and their services journey.

Export consortia

 SME CONSORTIA
1. SMEs usually have difficulty in exporting to foreign markets: they may lack the necessary knowledge and financing, may not meet foreign regulatory requirements, or may produce products in quantities or quality that are not adequate for foreign buyers, among many other potential problem.

2. However, these problems can often be overcome through cooperation among SMEs. 

3. By combining their knowledge, financial resources and contacts within an export consortium, SMEs can significantly improve their export potential and reduce the costs and risks involved in penetrating foreign markets.

Human-Machine Interface (HMI)

1. A Human-Machine Interface (HMI) is a user interface or dashboard that connects a person to a machine, system, or device. 

2. While the term can technically be applied to any screen that allows a user to interact with a device, HMI is most commonly used in the context of an industrial process.

3. Although HMI is the most common term for this technology, it is sometimes referred to as Man-Machine Interface (MMI), Operator Interface Terminal (OIT), Local Operator Interface (LOI), or Operator Terminal (OT). 

4. HMI and Graphical User Interface (GUI) are similar but not synonymous: GUIs are often leveraged within HMIs for visualization capabilities.

5. An HMI is the centralized control unit for manufacturing lines, equipped with Data Recipes, event logging, video feed, and event triggering, so that one may access the system at any moment for any purpose. 

6. For a manufacturing line to be integrated with an HMI, it must first be working with a Programmable Logic Controller (PLC). It is the PLC that takes the information from the sensors, and transforms it to Boolean algebra, so the HMI can decipher and make decisions.

Thailand's Incentives for Eastern Economic Corridor

1. In late December 2019, Thailand’s Board of Investment (BOI), the government agency responsible for foreign investment promotion, issued new incentives to attract investments in the country’s Eastern Economic Corridor (EEC).

2. The EEC is a special development zone (SEZ) established in 2017 and straddles three eastern provinces of Thailand – Chonburi, Rayong, and Chachoengsao – spanning a total of 13,285 square kilometers. The government aims to complete the EEC by 2021 and turn it into a hub for technological manufacturing and services.

Gross Development Value (GDV)

1. Gross Development Value (GDV) is the forecast revenue or sale that is anticipated from the completed development scheme.

2. This calculation is effectively whether a development has, or will, turn a profit at completion. 

3. Profit on Gross Development Value is calculated by assessing the cost of development versus the sale of the completed properties to create a total profit value which is then calculated into percentage terms.

SCADA - Part 2- SCADA vs PLC vs DCS and Exploring PLC-SCADA Solutions

1. Currently there are two main stream types of control systems – PLC-SCADA and Distributed Control Systems (DCS).

2. DCSs were traditionally used to control large processes, while PLC systems were used to control machines. Since the introduction of PC Windows-based SCADA systems and Ethernet networks, the dividing lines between DCS and PLC-SCADA systems have become blurred.

SCADA - Part 1 - Supervisory control and data acquisition Introduction

 1. SCADA, or supervisory control and data acquisition, is a system comprised of hardware and software components used to monitor and control industrial processes.

2. With a SCADA system, manufacturers are able to collect and analyze real time production data, monitor and manage alarms, and program automatic control responses triggered by certain events or system parameters.

3. There are different types of SCADA systems that can be considered as SCADA architectures of four different generations:

- First Generation: Monolithic or Early SCADA systems
- Second Generation: Distributed SCADA systems
- Third Generation: Networked SCADA systems and
- Fourth Generation: Internet of things technology, SCADA systems

Rail and Air Co-operates to Provide Seamless Service

1. The Dutch carrier is taking more concrete steps towards a greener future with the announcement of a high-speed rail replacement service for one of its popular short-haul routes between Amsterdam Airport Schiphol (AMS) and Brussels (BRU).

2. KLM has teamed up with NS Dutch Railways and French-Belgian high-speed train operator Thalys to promote the service to connecting passengers who would otherwise take what Business Traveller dubbed Europe’s most expensive (on a per-mile basis) flight.