Search

The outcome of environmental actions from participation in the export market are examined by unpacking some mechanisms that explain the estimated relationship. The empirical strategy utilizes the variation in the distance between the location of the sampled enterprises and the top 25 destinations of Vietnamese exports across sectors, and the weight of each sampled export to total exports in each period, to obtain exogenous variation in the enterprise's export market participation. The result shows a positive relationship between the enterprise's export participation and its overall engagement in environmental actions (such as the sum of its environmental actions, the sum of actions in the investments in equipment towards environmental issues, and total expenditure for the purchase of equipment for environmental actions). Possible mechanisms are international standardization, national certification, and strong enforcement of environmental regulations from export market engagement. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Ethiopia is gearing up to challenge global apparel sourcing destinations like Myanmar, Kenya, Vietnam & Cambodia. To be more competitive in the global market and to achieve the GDP-II target of USD 2.7 billion, it must work hard to optimize the operational cost, standardize the quality, and increase the efficiency which is high when compared on a global level. Case description: Through this case study, the researchers addressed the macro issues of one of the export-oriented factories based out of Addis Ababa. The factory was a medium-scale shirt manufacturing unit with 208 state-of-art sewing machines. Still, they were struggling to make profits from the export market and were seriously contemplating diverting to the local market which was against the mandate of the Government which is struggling to increase the inflow of foreign currency through an increase of export in this sector. The explanation offered by the factory management was that the export market offered an abundance of orders but required the factories to be highly efficient in terms of cost, quality, and lead time. Somehow, they were not able to meet the requirements, which resulted in losing the orders. After conducting an intensive Gap as well as Planning and Diagnostic (P&D) study, the researchers found out that high process loss in the cutting room, high factory operational cost, and low efficiency, poor quality, and low speed to market were the major cause of concern. Discussion and Evaluation: A bundle ticket generation tool based on advanced MS-Excel was developed. It would solve the issue of financial losses incurred in the cutting room due to the conventional method of preparing bundle tickets using fabric swatches. It would also be used to create Kanban cards. A unique amalgamation of Kanban, as well as single-piece flow (SPF), was implemented to take care of the process loss due to heavy WIP (work in progress), poor quality, fewer efficiencies and more throughput time in the sewing section, and missing pieces during packing which led to unnecessary delay in shipments. The WIP and throughput time were reduced by 48.5% and 80.3% respectively. The time to pack a carton was decreased by 65.3%. The problem of missing pieces was also diminished. The manufacturing unit greatly benefited from the solutions thus proposed and implemented by the researchers and is being used successfully. Conclusions: The study was an eye-opener for the factory management as well as for the researcher. It was realized that through proper observation, self-questioning about recurring problems, striving to explore low-cost solutions through concerted team efforts, process loss can certainly be optimized to a great level. It is proposed that further work can be taken up by researchers to explore the effectiveness of Kanban as well as single-piece flow system for different types of products. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study aims to reduce the number of Tuna processing in Aceh products that will be exported to Japan. The decline in the defect level of this product is a critical point to reduce the number of customer complaints so that business continuity with trading partners abroad is maintained. The main fish products export from Aceh are fresh tuna loin fish. There are often complaints from customers in export destination countries because the fresh Tuna Loin products received by them are not up to standard. The color of the tuna is less red and tends to be pale, the fish looks less fresh, and the texture of the fish is broken and mushy. To solve this problem, the PDCA method is used, which consists of Planning by doing observation in the fish processing unit starting from the reception of the fish until the final product processing. It does by improving the weakness of the process such as tightening the time of purchasing fish, adding fish containers, improve cooling room temperature, standardization of production process providing dry ice inside the packaging to maintain the quality of loin. Control by evaluating the number of complaints and compare it to the previous one. Action by doing standardization of the process and publish Standard Operation Procedures booklet as a guide to be followed during the production stage. This effort was supported by the use of 7 quality control tools, namely check sheet, histogram, Pareto chart, control chart, cause and effect diagram, and FMEA. There was also one expert Tuna from Japan is staying in Aceh to ensure the quality of Tuna delivered in accordance with Japanese market expectations. Improvements have been made to reduce the number of defects and complaints from customers. The number of defects items, both the color and texture of Tuna meat as of July to August 2018 felt by 45% and 42% respectively compare to the period of March-May 2018. Consequently the number of fresh tuna loin complaints has also decreased because all of the loin shipped to them were already in good quality. This research only takes samples on the processing of Tuna fishermen product in in Banda Aceh, and only for Japanese market. Further research suggested to cover area beyond Aceh and also for other countries apart from Japan, for export destination. Research on improving the quality of Tuna with PDCA method as long as the author's knowledge has never been done in Aceh because the export of Loin Tuna Aceh to Japan has only recently developed.

Sesame (Sesamum indicum L.) is one of the most ancient oilseed crops cultivated for its edible oil and uses in food. Sesame seeds are very nutritious and confer health benefits. However, its potential production in Uganda has not been fully realized. The objective of this review was to summarize the trends in sesame production, export quantity, export value, challenges, and strategies for sustainable sesame seed production in Uganda. The review revealed the sesame seed production and area harvested generally increased from 1996 to 2007 but significantly decreased between 2008 and 2018. The review also revealed that while the export quantities and values were low, they gradually increased from 2009 to 2016. The decreased production between 2008 and 2016 could have been due to challenges such as pests and diseases, loss of soil fertility, prolonged drought, poor agronomic practices, poor yielding varieties, and lack of access to credit. Therefore, it is recommended to improve breeding programs and soil management practices; strengthen agricultural credits and extension services to support marketing of sesame seeds; and improve agronomic practices and farmer knowledge on improved techniques such as sowing methods, plant spacing, intercropping practices, pests and disease control measures. These could boost sesame production in Uganda given the high domestic and global demand for sesame seeds and provide an opportunity to expand sesame production throughout Uganda. Research should focus on how to increase seed yield on farmers’ fields and bridge the yield gap between researchers and farmers while adopting good agronomic practices. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Agro Productividad is the property of Colegio de Postgraduados and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)