Wednesday, November 27, 2019
Electromagnetic Induction
Electromagnetic Induction The phenomenon called electromagnetic induction was first noticed and investigated by Michael Faraday, in 1831. Electromagnetic induction is the production of an electromotive force (emf) in a conductor as a result of a changing magnetic field about the conductor and is a very important concept. Faraday discovered that, whenever the magnetic field about an electromagnet was made to grow and collapse by closing and opening the electric circuit of which it was a part, an electric current could be detected in a separate conductor nearby. Faraday also investigated the possibility that a current could be produced by a magnetic field being placed near a coiled wire. Just placing the magnet near the wire could not produce a current. Faraday discovered that a current could be produced in this situation only if the magnet had some velocity. The magnet could be moved in either a positive or negative direction but had to be in motion to produce any current in the wire.Faraday's experiment with induction between coils ...The current in the coil is called an induced current, because the current is brought about (or "induced") by a changing magnetic field (Cutnell and Johnson 705). The induced current is sustained by an emf. Since a source of emf is always needed to produce a current, the coil itself behaves as if it were a source of emf. The emf is known as an induced emf. Thus, a changing magnetic field induces an emf in the coil, and the emf leads to an induced current (705). He also found that moving a conductor near a stationary permanent magnet caused a current to flow in the wire as long as it was moving as in the magnet and coiled wire set-up. Faraday visualized a magnetic field as composed of many lines of induction, along which a small magnetic compass...
Saturday, November 23, 2019
An Analysis of the Healthy and Dangerous Ways of Weight Loss Essays
An Analysis of the Healthy and Dangerous Ways of Weight Loss Essays An Analysis of the Healthy and Dangerous Ways of Weight Loss Essay An Analysis of the Healthy and Dangerous Ways of Weight Loss Essay An Analysis of the Healthy and Dangers of Weight Loss Marisa Baraley Com/170 November 8 2011 Theresa Zangara An Analysis of the Healthy and Dangers of Weight Loss Although weight loss can be beneficial, researching the healthy a dangerous ways to approach weight loss can be both rewarding and deter mental to your health if you do not make the right choice. According to the CDC, obesity is the number one health threat here in America. More than one third of U. S. adults and 16% of children are found to be obese. Statistics show that 98% that lose weight the unhealthy way gain all the weight back plus more. What we do not realize is that there are healthy and dangerous ways and their similarities in results. Itââ¬â¢s very important to be aware of the signs of weight loss. Just because you are losing weight does not mean it is a healthy way. In both healthy and dangerous ways you will begin to see a change in energy and decrease in weight. However, if you are not following a healthy diet and sufficient exercise program or work out, in the long run this will cause great damage to your organs and your body will begin to eat itself causing you to push your body harder with lack of energy. It you are serious about losing weight, and then I suggest doing it in a healthy way. Exercise is very important and effective for weight loss and weight maintenance. Exercise and eating healthy can also help prevent several diseases and improve your health. Nutrition experts highly recommend that you maintain a healthy eating habit than impatiently using crash diets in losing a certain amount of weight in a few days. Such diets are called fad diets, which do not include healthy eating habits. Dieting is eating food in a regulated way. Knowing what amount of calorie intake you should have per day is vital when attempting to lose weight. Such as a low-fat diet, this is the reduction of the amount of fat in oneââ¬â¢s diet. Here calorie consumption is then there is decrease of fat because it is then consumed. Low-carbohydrate diets, such as Atkins and Protein power, are very high in protein. They restrict carbohydrate intake sufficiently, which cause Ketosis. Low-calorie diets produce a energy of 500-1000 of calories allowed per day, which is a result in short term loss of 8% body mass in 3-12 months losing 2. 2lbs a week. Very low calorie diet provides 200-800 calories allowed a day. Your body will start to feel starvation and produce and weekly weight loss of 5. 5lbs. This will cause your body to fight to preserve energy burning less fat and more muscle. The first step is setting the right goals and a healthy diet. These are the keys to a healthy relationship with food. Meaning you need to eat when you are hungry. This will then stabilize your body and its natural weight. You will start to see results in losing weight where it matters using adequate exercise and eating healthy. Dieting is a practice of eating food in a steady way to maintain a controlled weight. In most cases, dieting is used in a combination with physical exercise to lose weight in those who are obese or overweight. Weight loss involves the loss of fat, muscle and water. When youââ¬â¢re trying to lose weight, your goal is to reduce the percentage of body fat. A decrease in body fat is the reduction of body mass due to a loss of fluid, bone mineral deposits, tender muscle and connective tissue. As you begin to change your diet you will start seeing a change of energy and a decrease in weight. Proper nutrition is foods that provide nutrients such as proteins, carbohydrates, vitamins, dietary minerals fatââ¬â¢s, and water. Carbohydrates are metabolized to provide an abundance of energy. Proteins provide amino acids, which are for cell construction for muscle cells. Fatty acids are required for brain and cell membrane construction. Vitamins and trace minerals help to keep good electrolyte balance which are then used for metabolic processes. Besides the importance of eating a balanced diet that includes all necessary nutrients, create attainable goals with the amount of weight that you would like to lose. By changing the way you go about eating can make it easier to eat less without feeling deprived. It takes about 15 minutes for your brain to get the message that you have eaten a meal. ( faama. org ) By eating slowly, chewing each bite at least 30 times before swallowing will help you to become fuller faster. Eating fruits and vegetables can make you feel fuller. Another good way is to use a smaller plate, so that you can moderate your portions to appear not so small to your brain . ( http://en. wikipedia. org) Eat moderately, exercise, and eat foods that have nutritional value and satisfy your taste buds. If you do follow an attainable plan to lose weight, you will successfully lose weight and be healthy. In all reality with dieting, you need to definitely research the many diets out there, not for your looks but for your health and make weight loss a healthy lifestyle and not a diet. After analyzing the difference between the healthy and dangerous ways of weight loss I have to definitely change my eating and exercise lifestyle. As I was doing research on my weight loss, I saw myself as a teen struggling with my weight. For years I have been struggling with my weight. When I was younger, looks were important. And I can remember times when I would starve myself because I wanted to be liked and to be able to wear the clothes that I wanted. I felt like an outcast because of my weight. I was always told you have a pretty face if only you would lose some weight. I then became obsessed with losing weight by using diet pills and drinks. So very unhealthy, but I had known knowledge of the dangers with the choices I was making in losing weight. I did lose weight but as soon as I stop taking diet pills I then gained more weight back including what I had loss. Today I am more concerned with my health and have knowledge of the healthy and dangerous ways in losing weight. I am going to change my lifestyle around completely by eating healthy, exercising daily and taking vitamins.
Thursday, November 21, 2019
Debating Globalisation Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1750 words
Debating Globalisation - Essay Example Hong Kong is now the fourth largest city of China- after its accession with China- and also boasts as one of the liberal as well as transparent economic systems in the region. Parting with other economic regions of China, Hong Kong has now become one of the vibrant societies with lot of Western characteristics to share with other countries in the region. Similarly, China as a whole has also became probably the leading country in the world which is being economically integrated with the rest of the world due to sheer power of its economic strength and size. How these economies i.e. Hong Kong and India have integrated into the world economy and to what degree they are successful in integrating with the world economy is one of the questions, this research paper will attempt to discuss with the help of the relevant theories and data. Globalization In simplicity, globalization may be defined as the creation of a single market or the integration of world markets however, on the whole, defi ning the overall process of globalization is quite complex. ââ¬Å"Globalization can be conceived as a process (or set of processes) which embodies a transformation in the spatial organization of social relations and transactions, expressed in transcontinental or interregional flows and networks of activity, interaction and powerâ⬠(Held& Mcgraw, 1999). The above definition of globalization suggests that globalization is a process which is based upon the transformation of the social relations. However, this transformation or change takes place in different phases or stages and the subsequent integration of any given society through the process of globalization follows this phased process. The first stage of integration comes when the political, economic as well as the social ideas are stretched followed by the intensification of the interconnectedness between the investment, trade and other variables. The third stage comes when this overall process of integration speeds up this interconnectedness with the world economies due to the rapid transformation in the communication technologies. In the final phase, this growing degree of the integration creates the so called deepening impact on the social and economic aspects of the societies which have gradually been integrated with the world economy or the markets. it is also important to note that the globalization, is also associated with the slow and gradual vanishing of the State and its role in managing the markets specially. It advocates the emergence of borderless world and often claims to end the sovereignty of the State and the economies. What is also significant to note that it has also been associated with the Westernization of the different societies? It is generally believed that the process of globalization will result into the Westernization of the societies and the ideologies of Western countries specially US will gradually take over other societies. It simply means that the value system of Americ a will eventually take over the values and belief systems of other countries and societies. Measurement of globalization Globalization and its impact on any given society is measured with the help of different measures which typically outline the overall degree of integration of any given economy in the world economy. These factors include: Flows: Flows
Wednesday, November 20, 2019
War, Politics, and Culture in Modern Mass Society Assignment
War, Politics, and Culture in Modern Mass Society - Assignment Example Culture in modern mass society is the distinct ways which people who live in the post-medieval Europe or at a global level differently classify and represent their acts and experiences creatively. Therefore, primary sources about Europe from 1871-1939 on war, politics, and culture are the original materials, artifacts, or documents. In this case, the primary sources that lead or related to the first-word war and how this has influenced the culture of the mass society to date (Teich and Porter, pp, 307-315). Europe from 1871-1939 experienced numerous revolutionary events, conflicts, and wars and at the peak of it was the First World War between 1914 and 1918. They are several primary sources that relate or lead to this particular war and they are into four categories. The four sources include printed sources, micro format; Personal reminiscences that are letters and diaries and eyewitness statements (Luebke, pp, 92-97). Printed sources are printed documents, newspapers articles, magazines, and journals. In the year 1914, the war was declared on Serbia by the government of Austro- Hungarian. In their statements, they stated that the whole Europe should prepare for war. The Ogden Standard in the same year also reported that Austria had chosen war. The Washington times seconded the report in the same year. It did not take long after the reports when war between these countries started. Microformat sources were also used to report the war in Europe. Microformat sources are types of open source data format that is upon existing and widely adopted frameworks. These micro format records consist of documents from the archives of the German Foreign Ministry that concerned with German involvement in Irish affairs during World War Impersonal reminiscences, on the other hand, give first-hand information on the happenings of the event.Ã
Sunday, November 17, 2019
Elimination of Television Jerry Mander Essay Example for Free
Elimination of Television Jerry Mander Essay Four Arguments for the Elimination of Television Jerry Mander thinks that with television ââ¬Å"there is ideology in the technology itself. â⬠The four claims in this particular article are that: (1) television itself had come to define the people who use it, (2) the forms by which it is used, (3) its influence on people, (4) as well as the other significant outcomes that may later come from its use. He argued that television is a medium or a means through which people derive, process, and build ideas from. He used parallelism in his challenge or rebuttal argument when he likened television to the army. The armyââ¬â¢s mandate is to fight wars that necessitate fighting, killing, defeating and winning over the enemy. It does not follow that the generals chosen to lead the army are the kind born to fight and kill, the same way that television was not conceived to breed the kind of people who watch it. In the concept of the automobiles, he used the climatic word order in his narrative argument. He enumerated the consequences of the invention of the automobile, the need for gas, oil to source it, refineries to process the oil, stations to pump gas into the car. Mander used emotive language in his causal argument to emphasize the change cars brought to people, like when ââ¬Å"they evolved into car people â⬠¦. Cars replaced human feet. â⬠Television like the automobile triggers a lot of reaction from its existence and subsequent use. Advertisements are made on television because consumers watch TV, manufacturers make big sales because their products are advertised, and the line goes on. This argument is related to Manderââ¬â¢s take on Advertising. The evaluative argument on the comparison of television to advertising used a balanced sentence with equal and parallel ideas, when Mander wrote that advertising was ââ¬Å"designed to persuade and dominate by interfering in peopleââ¬â¢s thinking patterns. â⬠Television for its part has a strong influence on people to take a side of an issue, or to change their minds on others. In his concluding argument he takes the strong position of getting rid of television quickly if ours is to be restored to a sensible and rational and free-thinking society basis the above reasons. Reference Mander, Jerry. (1978). Four Arguments for the Elimination of Television. Harper Perennial.
Friday, November 15, 2019
Intel 1998 Financial Status :: GCSE Business Marketing Coursework
Intel 1998 Financial Status Company Info: Intel Corp was founded in 1968, in the state of California. Intel is an independent company; it is not a subsidiary, nor does it have subsidiaries. Furthermore, it is well known for its microprocessors for PCs, chipsets, flash memory, embedded control chips, and network communications products. The purchasers of the products are original equipment manufacturers, PC users, and other manufacturers. Intel makes computer hardware including motherboards, microprocessors, and chips. It is responsible for approximately 90% of the computer microprocessors. In 1971 the 4004 was Intel's first microprocessor. This breakthrough invention powered the Busicom calculator and paved the way for embedding intelligence in inanimate objects as well as the personal computer. Then in 1974 the 8080 became the brains of the first personal computer--the Altair, allegedly named for a destination of the Starship Enterprise from the StarTrek television show. Computer hobbyists could purchase a kit for the Altair for $395. Within months, it sold tens of thousands, creating the first PC back orders in history. In 1989 the 486TM generation really meant you go from a command-level computer into point-and-click computing. I could have a color computer for the first time and do desktop publishing at a significant speed," recalls technology historian David K.Allison of the Smithsonian's National Museum of American History. The Intel 486TM processor was the first to offer a built-in math coprocessor, which speeds up computing because it offers complex math fu nctions from the central processor. Then in 1993 the Pentiumà ® processor allowed computers to more easily incorporate "real world" data such as speech, sound, handwriting and photographic images. The name Pentiumà ®, mentioned in the comics and on television talk shows, became a household word soon after introduction. In 1999 the Pentiumà ® III XeonTM processor extends Intel's offerings to the workstation and server market segments, providing additional performance for e-Commerce applications and advanced business computing. The processors incorporate the Pentiumà ® III processor's 70 SIMD instructions, which enhance multimedia and streaming video applications. The Pentiumà ® III XeonTM processor's advance cache technology speeds information from the system bus to the processor, significantly boosting performance. It is designed for systems with multiprocessor configurations. Intel has only one competitor, and it is a multinational corporation with offices based in over 10 countries. In addition, the company employs 64,500 people, and its annual net income in 1998 was 26,273,000,000 dollars.
Tuesday, November 12, 2019
Toyota (target costing)
Toyota Motor Corporation started as a subsidiary of the Toyota Automatic Loom Works, Ltd. It was founded in 1937 as the Toyota Motor Company, Ltd. It changed its name to the Toyota Motor Corporation in 1982 when the parent company merged with Toyota Sales Company, Ltd. In 1 993, Toyota Motor Corporation (Toyota) was Japan's largest automobile company. It controlled approximately 45% of the domestic market. Its next largest Japanese competitor was Ionians, with approximately 25% market share, followed by Honda and Mazda, which together represented about another 20%.The remaining 10% of the domestic automobile market was made up of several domestic manufacturers, including Issue, and several foreign competitors, such as Mercedes Benz and the ââ¬Å"big threeâ⬠American firms: General Motors, Ford, and Chrysler. The domestic and world automobile markets were characterized by Intense competition. Models were brought out rapidly despite their high development costs. Fractions of a pe rcentage of market share were often viewed as representing the difference between success and failure.No Globalization Over the years, Toyota had evolved into a global firm. In 1993, a considerable part of the firm's overseas markets were serviced by local subsidiaries that frequently designed and manufactured automobiles for local markets. For example, local plants produced almost one-third of the vehicles sold in the North American market. These vehicles were produced in three plants, one in Kentucky, another in Ontario, Canada, and the New United Motor Manufacturing Inc. (MINIMUM) Joint venture plant with General Motors.These plants produced approximately 400,000 vehicles per annum, including 220,000 Camera, 170,000 Corollas, and the remainder being pickup trucks. Production volumes for pickup trucks were expected to increase to approximately 100,000 in the next Professor Robin Cooper of the Peter F. Trucker Graduate Management Center at The Claremont Graduate School and Professo r Take Tanana of Tokyo Aziza University prepared this case as the basis for class discussion rather than to illustrate either effective or ineffective handling of an administrative situation.Copyright 1997 by the President and Fellows of Harvard College. To order copies or request permission to reproduce materials, call 1-800-545-7685 or write Harvard Business School Publishing, Boston, MA 02163. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, used in a spreadsheet, or transmitted in any form or by any means-?electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise-?without the permission of Harvard Business School. This document is authorized for use only by Lingua Wang at Chinese University of Hong Kong until May 2013.Copying or posting is an infringement of copyright. [emailà protected] Harvard. Du or 617. 783. 7860. 197-031 few years. In 1994, the firm expected to begin exporting vehicles from North America to markets such as Japan and Taiwan. In addition to automobiles, the firm also manufactured and sold forklifts. Toyota controlled 70% of the forklift market in the United States. The same commitment to local manufacture and control was apparent in Toast's other major overseas markets. In Europe, two new UK plants began producing to reach 100,000 by 1995 and 200,000 units before the end of the century.Altogether, Toyota vehicles were either manufactured or assembled in more than 20 nations. These local manufacturing facilities provided Jobs for nationals and business for local supplier firms. The relative importance of the international supplier business to Toyota was increasing. In 1992, for example, Toyota purchased locally approximately 70% of its parts requirements (or $5 billion) for its North American operations. The other 30% was imported from Japan, but this percentage was expected to decrease over time. By 1994, Toyota expected to purchase $6. Billion of parts from local suppliers worldwide and import $2. 9 bi llion for domestic use. Supplier Relationships Product design was also international in scope. Salty Research, Inc. , a Toyota subsidiary formed in California in October 1973, was responsible for the body styling ND interiors of new models scheduled for production in North America. The design styling for European markets was coordinated from the firm's design and technical centers located in Brussels. Third-party suppliers were responsible for approximately 70% of Toast's parts and materials.In particular, the cost and quality of third-party supplied parts was considered critical to the firm's success. In recent years, Toast's expansion into international production had required increased interaction with non-Japanese suppliers to raise their efficiency and quality to the same level as that of Toast's Japanese suppliers. Etc To help non-Japanese supplier firms manufacture acceptable parts, Toyota had developed programs to transfer Japanese manufacturing techniques. At the heart of t hese so-called design-in programs was Joint work by suppliers and Toyota engineers on new components.This Joint work began in the early stages of the vehicle- development process, because prospective suppliers cited a lack of involvement in the early stages of vehicle design as an obstacle to winning business in highballs components. In a typical design-in program, several designers competed for a part interact; the firms were evaluated on the prices bid, the technology applied, and their performance. The winning firm was granted a contract for the life of the model. When the next model was developed the contract was once again thrown open for bidding.By 1993, more than 120 U. S. Suppliers had participated in design-in programs and firms were involved in such programs but had yet to sign contracts for parts. A similar program was in place in Europe. Toyota engineers also helped its overseas suppliers to adopt the Toyota Production System. Many Toyota overseas suppliers had now succe ssfully implemented modified erosion of the Toyota Production System. The system contained four key elements: just-in-time production, Kanata, total quality management, and multi-functional work teams.Just-in-time production avoided the build up of excessive work-in-process inventories and increased the firm's ability to respond quickly to customer demands. Kanata was the driving force behind KIT, tying production closely to customer demand. Total quality management ensured high-quality products and minimized the risk that the reduced levels of inventories would lead to stock-outs because of poor-quality components. Finally, multi-functional workers, capable of performing several tasks, dealt with the increased complexity of the production process. 2 Cost Planning Cost planning at Toyota worked to reduce product costs at the design stage.Toyota first set its cost planning goals and then set out to achieve those goals through aggressive design changes. To correctly assess the gains m ade, the exact amount of cost reduction achieved through design changes was estimated after excluding all other factors that affected costs, such as increases in material and labor prices. The measurement process started with cost tables that helped engineers estimate he current cost of existing models. These cost tables were kept up-to-date for changes in material prices, labor rates, and production volume levels.The updated production volumes helped determine both depreciation and overhead charges that would be allocated to the new model. Comparison of this estimated cost to the vehicle's target cost gave the desired level of savings, or cost-planning goal, as it was called. At the profit-estimation stage, also referred to as the ââ¬Å"target cost-setting stage,â⬠Toyota calculated the differences between the costs of the new and current models, strutted the appropriate portion of the cost-reduction goal to the design divisions, and then assessed the results.Profit targets f or the life of the new model were also calculated as differences between estimates and targets. This process constituted the essence of budget control at Toyota. Toyota clearly specified cost reduction goals for each control unit to ensure that the company's overall goals were attained. Target Costing Toyota invented its target costing approach in 1959. Although many major manufacturers in Japan use target costing, Toast's system is the oldest and insider by many the most technically advanced.While the idea of systematic cost reduction had existed at Toyota since it was founded, the process was first codified in the mid-sass, when the firm set itself the objective of producing a $1,000 car. Existing cost estimation played a role in target costing, but there are differences between the two. First, cost estimates relied upon existing standards while target costs were adjusted for any future savings due to design changes. Second, cost estimates had a horizon of six months while the hor izon for target costs was the time engaging until the launch of the new product.Target costing brought the target cost and the estimated cost of a product into line by better specification and design. Toast's target costing system was designed not simply to estimate the cost of new products but to enable a product to attain its profit targets throughout its life. Product Planning Toyota used two broad categories of product development, one for completely new types of automobiles and the other for changes to existing models. The development of an entirely new model, such as the Lexus, was relatively unusual.Most of the reduce development projects focused on modifications to existing models. Japanese passenger cars usually underwent major model changes every four years. However, recent industry trends suggested that the period between full model changes may The firm used target costing primarily to support model changes, though the same general cost control procedures were applied to the design of entirely new vehicles. Cost estimates for new vehicles involved a greater degree of uncertainty than for model changes. 3 A model change began with a proposal from chief engineers for development of a new model.The proposal usually included: Specifications such as size (length, width, wheelbase, and interior space), weight, mileage, engine (type, displacement, and maximum power), transmission (gear and moderation ratios), chassis (suspension and brake types), and body components; Development budget; Development schedule; and Retail price and sales targets. New models basically maintained the same product concept as their predecessors. Styling was not specified at this stage; usually no more than a vague image was mentioned. Most of the cost incurred in any model change was for prototyping. Retail Prices and Sales Targets oodles.The retail price remained the same unless a change in function or performance altered the perceived value of the vehicle in the eyes of the cus tomer. In theory, therefore, prices changed as the perceived value of the vehicle changed. Formula for List Price of a New Model The selling price of a new car model was composed of the selling price of the equivalent existing model plus any incremental value due to improved functionality. For example, adding air conditioning to the standard version of a model would increase its price by the value of air conditioning as perceived by customers.The incremental value of a new model was determined by analyzing market conditions. Because the automotive industry was mature, most new features already existed in some form on other models. For example, if air conditioning was to be included in the standard version, its added value was determined using the list price of optional air conditioners for other models. In the unlikely event that no equivalent option existed, then the firm's design engineers and market specialists would estimate how much customers were willing to pay for the added f eature.The price increase for an added function did not always equal its selling price as a attendant option. The incremental price for an increase in functionality might be lowered because of the firm's strategy for the vehicle and because of competitors' pricing strategies. As functions were added to the standard version, Toyota increased the selling price until it reached the upper limit for that class of vehicle. When this limit was reached, the only potential benefit from adding functionality was increased sales.Because new models were introduced some four years after the design project began, Toyota delayed setting the functionality of the standard version as long as possible. Therefore, the target price and margin for a new model, and thus the associated target unit price, were set quite some time before product launch. The exact functionality of the standard version was set only when factors such as competitive offerings, foreign exchange rates, and user demand were better u nderstood. Changing the functionality of the standard version increased the probability that the new model would achieve its 4 desired level of profitability.Similarly, the actual selling price was not fixed until Just before product launch. Delaying these two critical decisions reduced significantly the uncertainty faced by the firm. For example, suppose the incremental value assigned to an air bag in the US market was $450 but the competition had set it at $700. In this case, Toyota might increase its price by the difference. Similarly, if the competitive prices were lower, Toyota would drop its prices to match. The sales division proposed anticipated production volumes based upon past sales levels, market trends, and competitors' product offerings.The sales division typically proposed a figure that was considered safe (I. E. , achievable), based upon the model's current sales level. Optimism was restrained in favor of realistic goals. Development Plan Assisted by engineers in the design, test-production, and technical divisions, a chief engineer drafted the development plan for the new model and then led the development project. Well over a hundred engineers from the various divisions worked with a chief engineer on a typical project, but since they belonged to different divisions, probably only about a dozen people reported directly to the chief engineer.In this sense, the chief engineer was more a project leader than a supervisor of product development. The chief engineer coordinated the design process at the design divisions, which were relatively autonomous; the chief engineer was expected to develop a ââ¬Å"conceptâ⬠for the new vehicle that spanned multiple design divisions. Toyota considered the tensions created by this matrix approach beneficial to the creative design process and worth any conflict that might arise. Toyota set the cost-planning goal based upon the product plan and the targets for the product's retail price and production volum e.Because an estimated price had the expected profit from product sales over its production life (usually, four years). The product's target cost was the unit cost upon which the profit target was based. Calculating Target Profit and Target Cost Toyota calculated the lifetime target profit for a product, such as the Celiac, by multiplying the target sales volume by the model's return on sales (or, as it was known at Toyota, profit ratio of sales). Toyota set the sales profit ratio with reference to the corporation's long-term target profit ratio.Estimated cost was determined from the firm's cost tables. Estimated profit was calculated using this figure. Estimated profit was less than the target profit because the target cost included the estimated cost savings due to value engineering and other cost reduction activities. The difference between target and estimated profit was the amount to be cut from costs through cost planning. The cost-planning goal was obtained by subtracting the estimated total profits from the target profits.The goal of cost planning was to determine the unit profit needed to achieve the profit target, and thus the amount to be trimmed from the new product's cost through cost planning activities. Estimated profit equaled the retail price minus the estimated cost per unit times the production volume. As cost reduction activities were implemented, the product's estimated costs decreased. If the goal was achieved, the target cost and expected cost became equal, as did the expected and target profits. Estimating Difference Costs Rather than adding together all of the costs for a new model, Toyota added the determined at the major function level. Thus, cost planning could begin even before blueprints for the first test model were drawn. Also, estimating the total difference instead of the total cost tended to be more accurate because the typical new model was heavily based upon existing designs. Trying to estimate the cost of a new vehicle fro m scratch would, in management's opinion, introduce more errors than using existing data and modifying it accordingly. And it helped the related divisions understand cost fluctuations. The approach was more helpful to the design divisions because it highlighted the areas of the new model that were different from existing designs. New designs required most of the work in the design divisions. Thus, the estimated cost of a new model was the cost of the current model plus the cost of any design change. Thus, for every increment in the functionality of a new del there was an estimated incremental price and cost.This approach allowed the firm to measure the incremental profitability of each new function it built into a new model. A full model change required many design modifications. Consequently, the cost of the design change was broken out into the costs of a number of different design modifications. The design team analyzed each modification and assigned it an estimated cost. The sum of these cost estimates had to equal the cost planning goals for the new model. Estimating differences helped clarify the cost-planning goal and wowed accurately how much was accomplished through cost planning.Cost planning focused on new model design. Its effectiveness was measured as the amount of cost reduction achieved through design. Therefore, other factors that affected cost, including wages and fluctuations in indirect costs incurred by related divisions, had to be eliminated from overall cost reduction in order to identify the portion due to cost planning. By fixing the cost of the current model and calculating the differences between the current and new models, Toast's system dealt only with cost changes resulting from changes in design and production volume.Without actual drawings for the new model, the estimate often began with Just an idea. Since rough sketches provided by the design division were often the only sources of information, estimates were made under the gui dance of the cost planning division rather than the accounting division. Toast's 20 design divisions designed each major function of the new vehicle, including the engine, transmission, air conditioner, and audio system Because the people at the design and cost planning divisions had the latest in-house
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