Chapter 13 Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Chapter 13 - Essay Example Bich is torn between the Buddhist and Christianity religions, her grandmother is a Buddhist, and her new mother is a reformed catholic who is now an atheist, all her classmates at school are Christians, she struggles to fit in one of the religions. Her other dilemma is about the foods that they eat, as a kid she likes junk American food, but later in life she seems to mature up and takes the food that she is given at home. In the chapter thirteen of the book, the author narrates about her mature life in the 1980s, she replaces some of her childhood preferences with new ones. For example, the writer has a new liking to music, something that she did not even think about as a kid, It just she just appears to like it as she grows up, she is also attracted to some television shows, this indicates that she is influenced by the pop culture of the Americans. This Indicates that she is somehow adapting to the America life at last after a battle with the culture for a long time. The fact that she is no longer interested in American junk food and opts for Buddha’s dinner offered at home. This is an indication of conservation of native culture in the past a kid the author treasured American junk food, like spaghettis, apple pies, and jiffy muffins. This was because she wanted to feel like other American children and not necessarily, because she wanted it, this showed how much she wanted to fit in the American society. Later in life, she gains a liking for the Vietnamese food that is offered at home she takes this as a reminder of her culture back in Vietnam. This is an indication that she is now matured up, and is not willing to do things just to please others and to fit in the society, she is already comfortable with her life as an American and practicing her own culture does not bother her. The author quotes that she came of age in the 1980s; this indicates that she now accepted the fact that that she was an Asian American and not all-American as she heard with so me of her friends, she still treasured some of the Vietnamese culture, like the food and the religion. The author also narrates that no matter how many people she interacted with who practiced Christianity, she still felt drawn to Buddhism and thought of it as the legitimate religion for her. This chapter mainly emphasizes on the mature life of the author in the 1980s, how she had changed in some of the aspects of life. She now understands some of the things that she could not understand as a kid, like the all-American slogan on the billboard, as a child, the author could not understand the meaning of the phrase, she thought of fit mainly as a threat. That is why she tried so much to impress and fit into the American society, she seems to act out of desperation. As grown up she knows the meaning of the phrase and is not ready to leave aside some of her native culture, she accepts who she is and is not very determined to impress the American natives. She has her own values within whi ch she abides by. At this point, we see how much she treasures her culture; it indicates how culture is an important aspect in one’s life, Bich defends her religion at all costs, and is not swayed, by others even if she is the only one practicing the culture in the neighborhood. Her classmates openly show their disapproval for her culture, they even refer to their

Working towards Six Sigma would definitely be of great benefit to Essay

Working towards Six Sigma would definitely be of great benefit to Achiffa - Essay Example They include both hard and soft problems. The soft problems are the ones which are unstructured and therefore require further analysis before they can be resolved. Checkland (1981) Soft Systems Methodology (SSM) in terms of the seven stage approach was utilised to obtain important information and later to facilitate improvements to the existing system of operations. Based on the root definitions a conceptual model was put forward indicating the areas that need immediate improvements. It was recommended that Deming’s Plan, Do, Check, Act modelled be considered. It was also recommended that quality management be a key aspect of improving the system and that the implementation of Six Sigma be considered in future. Introduction Achiffa operations is affected by a number of problems, most of which are related. Some of these problems cannot be solved using traditional or hard approaches to problem solving. It therefore means that another approach has to be found. These problems are more related to human activities and should be carefully dealt with. SSM is a framework that has developed to deal with problems of this nature (Checkland 1981; Checkland and Scholes 1990; Checkland 1999). The role of SSM is to investigate, gain understanding and identify problems. SSM is based on system thinking in that it views the problem domain in a holistic way with the recognition that all parts of the organisation are connected. This suggests that when changes are made to one part other parts of the system will be affected (Checkland 1999). Operations at Achiffa Snack Foods Achiffa Snack Foods purchases potatoes from various suppliers for it operations. These supplies are transformed during the production process into a total of six products including fries, potato wedges and hash browns. Achiffa customers are restaurants, supermarkets. However, waste products and rejects are sold to farmers. After production the goods are transported to regional distribution centres from whi ch logistic providers - in this case FreshDist takes the products directly to the customers. The diagram below is an input-output model which provides a basic illustration of the operations at Achiffa. Input-output Model of Operations at Achiffa Snack Foods Adapted from: Kumar and Suresh (2009, p. 9) Customers are concerned about prices and so Achiffa has to ensure that the supply chain is managed in such a way that the company’s products are competitive. In order for this to be possible production has to be managed in an efficient and effective manner. Therefore the layout of the production area is very important as it helps to facilitate the smooth flow of operations. Additionally, Achiffa needs to ensure that production is planned in such a way that time is not taken up with setting up machines for processing several items in one day. The scheduling of production should also be linked to demand as well as the space available for storing the products – this is termed capacity management. It therefore means that the logistics provider would be required to work in accordance with the schedule provided for delivery. Correcting these problems would help reduce lean time by improving on time delivery, eliminate waste and reduce cost (McCreary 2009). It is important that management consistently examine as well as monitor the quality of service it provides to customers with a view to enhancing it. Achiffa should also ensure that the jobs of all persons involved in the production of its products encourage contribution to the success of the business. Arrangements should therefore be made to have enough supplies on hand so that products are replenished without undue delay. The Use of SSM to Resolve Problems at Achiffa SSM may be used to