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5 pages/≈1375 words
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Harvard
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Literature & Language
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Research Paper
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English (U.S.)
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Topic:

Engineers in the Value Chain (Research Paper Sample)

Instructions:
analyzing the challenges faced by Infrastructure Australia supply chain in the execution of the projects, the roles of engineers in mitigating these challenges, and a reflection as to why they add value to these supply chain problems and issues. source..
Content:
ENGINEERS IN THE VALUE CHAIN Name Course Lecturer Date University Course Number Executive Summary This essay analyzes Infrastructure Australia with a temp to provide knowledge about engineers in the value chain. Since value chain is a broad topic in engineering, its supply chain element will be used in this study. The first section describes the role of Infrastructure Australia and the outlines the benefits and social cohesion accrued from this program. For a clear understanding, the Moorebank Intermodal Terminal project has been used to analyze the challenges and issues IA faces with its Supply Chain to deliver this project. The roles of the engineers have been analyzed to create knowledge of how these roles aid in mitigating the outlined challenges and issues. The last section outlines the reasons why the engineers adds value when resolving these issues. Introduction Infrastructure Australia (IA) was created in July 2008 under the Australia Act 2008 with an aim of providing advice to the Australian government, infrastructure owners, and private investors through indepent research on the reforms and projects that Australia needs so as to fill the existing niche in the infrastructure. It prioritizes and analyzes the progress of the infrastructure that has national significance. Additionally, IA advocates for the fundamental reforms on the main issues such as financing, the operation and delivering of infrastructure, and formulating effective plans for the full utilization of the Australia's infrastructure networks. IA has various phases that adopt wide-ranging perspectives (Infrastructure Australia, 2001). This essay aims at analyzing the challenges faced by Infrastructure Australia supply chain in the execution of the projects, the roles of engineers in mitigating these challenges, and a reflection as to why they add value to these supply chain problems and issues. It has an immediate task of producing best practices for public and private partnership which are key aspects that also encourage global business competitiveness. Its rational happens to be interested in the total costs and benefits that are associated with any initiative and are interpreted in a broader sense to ensure that quality infrastructure is achieved. With such analysis, business innovation is encouraged. The effects realized can be environmental, social, and economical in nature. The holistic perspective that IA tends to inhibits attributes to all this. There are also some benefits that are realized which cannot be monetized such as the social amenities, heritage and cultural impacts, and social cohesion (Infrastructure Australia, 2001). Complex problems/Issues IA Face With Their Supply Chain to Deliver This Project The Moorebank Intermodal Terminal is a vital part of the Australian government attempt to increase the state and national productivity by enhancing the efficiency and freight's throughput at Port Botany, and afterward throughout Australia. Undertaking this project means that more containerized freights will be moved via railways, both locally and internationally, other than road transport. However, when implementing the project, Infrastructure Australia faces some complications within the supply chain. Recent studies reveal that supply chains are important when considering issues regarding freight infrastructure at the Australia's ports. The multiple participants that are involved in these chains, as well as parties with commercial tension, reduce the level of coordination among them, hence reducing the supply chain's productivity (Egras 2008, 24). There is the challenge of technology and innovation development. The supply chain slowly allows and sustains the commencement as well as technology employment and innovation advancement. As a result, the income and cost incurred impacts on the value of the project. Besides, there are other challenges regarding the projects execution time. The supply chain procedures fails to effect the projects development in the correct schedule or in a controlled manner. Due to this, supply chain negatively influences the time impact of the project's value (Egras 2008, 24). In Australia, the regulations for land across the country lack uniformity, creating a supply chain issue for the project. While most vital elements of rail and road freight are operations of the government, there exists separate rail safety communications and regulatory systems in different regions. These differences may affect the supply chains in future as they tend to raise the cost, cause confusion, and create unnecessary inefficiencies in the implementation of the project. The inconsistent licensing and registration laws also hinder the efficient and seamless transport operations (Garg & Gupta 2011, 45). For the previous decades, the primary focus of the maritime freight sector targeted waterfront reforms that increased the ship turnarounds times and productivity levels. Today, the focus, for example, the Moorebank Intermodal Terminal project is on landside links and the physical capacity of the ports. The rapidly growing Australian ports will act as a strain on the railway capacity and landside road hence reducing their supply chain's efficiency in the future. Infrastructure Australia will thus difficult to find an end to end solution to such problems (Egras 2008, 24). This is another broad difficulty that they face in the future. Roles of the Engineers in Tackling These Supply Chain Problems/Issues As discussed above, construction supply chains are faced with challenges and wastes caused by myopic governance. The practical solutions lie the hand of the engineers as discussed below. In such a project, the initiatives that belong to supply chain domain partially cover a subset of the issues, for example, the cost of construction and transport a small part of the entire construction. As a result, the principal engineers and constructors rely on other actors within the project's supply chain, for example assistant engineers and subcontractors. Therefore, the engineers need to revise the strategies that they use to ensure that they are in full control of the supply chain process (Vrijhoef & Koskela 2000, 171). Moorebank Intermodal Terminal engineers should formulate a chain assessment which will enable them to uncover the causality and nature of the problems demonstrated earlier. Understanding these aspects regarding a project is the first mains step and an absolute necessity to their effective resolution. The aim of the chain assessment will enable the engineers to understand the problems real basics, i.e. they see the bigger picture and approaching the issue in a holistic approach. This way, they will unlock the possibility of effective improvement of the project's supply chain (Singh, Smith, & Sohal 2005, 69). The engineers need to develop a dynamic supply chain relationship for the project. As such, there should be a relationship triangle between the engineers, the suppliers, and those in procurement with a long-term view of developing new technologies, solutions, and concepts that will influence the suppliers in the market. Consequently, the project engineers might find ways to integrate with the suppliers to come up with new developments that are applicable in the entire process involving supply chain. To achieve this, a logistics professional need to be incorporated as a member of the project team (Vrijhoef & Koskela 2000, 169). The engineers should ensure that all pre-fabricated equipment, materials, and items are incorporated together in the final as well as the whole project object. For the Moorebank Intermodal Terminal project that entails construction, vast resource numbers and consumes such as human labor times, fabrications, the project's drawings, equipment, and other materials. Thornton et al asserts that there is the need for an 'address assembly', which should be regarded within the project context as the ‘proof of the pudding' that ensure that the supply and demand chains perform as they are expected (Thornton et al 1996, 23). Where and How Engineers Adds Value When Solving These Problems/Issues There are many reasons as to why engineers play the roles they undertake in solving supply chain problems. The manufacturing operations have been globalized, thus requiring a global procurement network that reacts and supports to the needs of their supply chain networks. Many engineers find it a problem when selecting the right supplier who provides strategic locations which provide globally accepted quality and local services that are reliable. Thus, the engineer intervenes to find solutions to these challenges (O'Brien & Fischer N.d). The engineers also decide to add value to the supply chain issues to ensure that they deliver quality and safe products. With issues such as delays, they are forced to work with few and substandard materials which can compromise the quality of their work. With quality and safe product delivery, they reduce the chances of recalls, which damages the reputation of the company. ...
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