Analysis of the Strengths, Weaknesses and Threats of FedEx

Analysis of the Strengths, Weaknesses and Threats of FedEx FedEx Corporation (FedEx) provides a comprehensive suite of services such as transportation, e-commerce and business services. The company offers printing, copying and binding services as well as video-conferencing services. The company has presence in more than 1,950 locations worldwide including Australia, Canada, China, Japan, Korea, Kuwait, Mexico, the Netherlands, the United Arab Emirates, the UK, and the US. These locations include 135 locations in seven foreign countries, as well as 30 commercial production centers. The company classified its operations under four reportable segments, namely, FedEx Express, FedEx Ground, FedEx Freight and FedEx Services. In the FedEx Express segment, the company operates chiefly through Federal Express Corporation, which serves more than 306 countries and territories by delivering packages and freight through a single global network. The segment also includes FedEx Trade Networks, Inc., which provides customs brokerage, international trade se rvices, and global ocean and air cargo distribution. It operates around 49,000 ground transport vehicles, including pickup and delivery vans, larger trucks known as container transport vehicles and over-the-road tractors and trailers. It owns and leases about 700 facilities for city station operations in the US. In addition, 400 city stations are owned or leased throughout FedEx Express’s international network. Further, in May 2010, the segment had around 46,000 Drop Boxes, including 5,000 Drop Boxes outside U.S. Post Offices. As of May 31, 2010, the segment also had around 13,000 FedEx Authorized Ship Centers and other types of staffed drop-off locations, such as FedEx Office centers. Furthermore it had around 4,000 drop-off locations internationally. During 2010, FedEx Express purchased jet fuel from an assortment of suppliers under contracts that differ in length and supply for specific amounts of fuel to be delivered. Under the FedEx Ground segment, the company provides s mall-package ground delivery services, principally through its FedEx Ground Package System, Inc. It principally serves domestic residences through its FedEx Home Delivery across the US and Canada. This segment also comprises FedEx SmartPost, Inc., which deals with the transportation of less time-sensitive business to consumer packages via the US Postal Service and Canada Post Corporation, and the delivery of high volumes of low-weight. Its corporate offices and information and data centers are located in the Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, area in a 500,000 square-foot building. As of May 31, 2010, the segment had about 30,400 company-owned trailers and owned or leased 520 facilities, as well as 32 hubs. The hub facilities average approximately 325,000 square feet and range in size from 54,000 to 715,000 square feet. In addition, around 26,300 owner-operated vehicles support FedEx Ground’s business. FedEx Freight Corporation operated around 60,000 vehicles and trailers and 492 serv ice centers. These facilities range in size from 850 to 221,300 square feet of office and dock space. The company’s FedEx Services segment is engaged in selling and marketing, besides providing information technology support and customer services support through FedEx Corporate Services, Inc and FedEx Customer Information Services, Inc. In addition, it operates through FedEx Office and Print Services, Inc., which offers document solutions and business services. Through its FedEx Global Supply Chain Services, Inc., the company provides a wide range of supply chain solutions. FedEx Office centers are located in strip malls, office buildings or individual structures and average around 4,000 square feet in size.

Voronoi Diagram Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2500 words

Voronoi Diagram - Essay Example Traditional GIS methods have been found to inapplicable for marine mapping. This is primarily because they were built for two-dimensional land application making it hard to integrate marine features into the model. Marine objects are also likely to move over time which cannot be modeled using the traditional GIS. These limitations necessitated the development of a new modeling system that can accurately incorporate marine features while allowing modifications to the system which does not require an overhaul of the whole model. Christopher Gold (1990) responded to the challenge by spearheading research and development of the Voronoi Diagram - a modeling system with a dual geometric structure. Most of the literature on the development of the VD, either in 2D or in 3D, was authored by him. Voronoi diagrams that were developed were able to solve most of the problems because of the following features: All of these features are available in 2D and 3D Voronoi Diagrams. This paper aims to differentiate 2D Voronoi Diagrams from 3D Voronoi Diagrams delineating their differences, advantages and disadvantages over the other. This paper also aims at pointing out the strengths and weakness of the two diagrams such that a conclusion on which one is more advantageous can be made. In 2D Voronoi Diagram, the cell surrounding a data point is a flat convex polygon having a defined number of neighbors (Gold and Ledoux, 1992). That is, its coordinates are only x and y with no z attribute. The analogy is the same as that of drawing figures on a piece of paper. When a plan view is done on the paper, one can see the shapes defined by the lines that were drawn. When the paper is leveled against one's eyesight, there are no figures which can be seen. This illustrates that no such elevation or depth attribute of the figures exist. The geometric dual structure of 2D Voronoi Diagrams are also "flat" in nature and are defined by Delaunay triangles. In Figure 1, Delaunay Triangles are shown by the dashed lines while the solid lines defining a polygon represent the cells surrounding a data point p.Figure 1. A 2D Voronoi Sample Output (Gold, 1991) The vertices of the triangle generating each Voronoi cell must satisfy the empty circumcircle test. A circle is considered empty when there are no points in its interior but more than three points can be directly on the circle - i.e. the points are on its edges. 3D Voronoi Diagram Construct 3-Dimensional Voronoi Diagrams, as implied by its name, have 3 coordinates defining the space where the figure can be drawn. As opposed to 2D VDs', leveling the plane of the paper with one's eyesight provides a view of the sides of a figure. An appropriate analogy would be that of the viewing a cube held by the hand. When the figure is viewed from the top, one can see a square. When the hand is leveled against one's eyesight, one can still see the figure of a square. The figure is a volumetric object. The convex polygon in a 2D, thru a construction algorithm, generalizes to a convex polyhedron. The geometric dual becomes a Delaunay tetrahedron. In Figure 2, the edges are the Delaunay edges joining the generator

Innovation and Design Management Case Study Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Innovation and Design Management - Case Study Example Required Capabilities for International Launch Developing a decentralized model for costing similar to a "in-country" model. Access multiple markets by developing a strong public relations and customer connect campaigns through effective training and promotional strategy. Comply with requirements pertaining to sales, quality assurance and marketing in an international scenario to attract larger customer base. Proactive plan for conducting press tours in multiple languages, seminars on the specific product features of Lazy-Dizzy tooth brush by effective product presentations and training sessions Conduct continuous tests to ensure the quality of the product and establish distribution channels for easy availability of the product. Key Resources Content developers for promotional campaign in international languages. Distributors and franchisees for effective sales Product experts for effective manufacturing of the Lazy-dizzy tooth brush. Recruitment professionals and advertisers for staffing and marketing. Competent Sales force and business development professionals Effective Communication experts using latest technologies Voice of the customer as feedback Key obstacles Competition Due to the changing customer preferences on tooth brush design, the competitor toothbrush companies are especially eager to put promising innovative designs onto store shelves as quickly as possible. Competitors offer tooth brush at minimum price to attract customer base with a less profit margin. International Product Launch The major challenge in an international product launch is to ensure that the performance of current product is rated as an accurate product. Another challenge is to provide... It is observed that there has been a drastic increase in the usage of power operated toothbrushes as the customers prefer to swift from traditional tooth brush which is operated manually. This justifies that there is scope of attractive and developing market for the innovative design of Lazy -Dizzy tooth brush. Lazy-Dizzy toothbrush designs allows for an option that sets the power of the brushing action of the brush to either a "high" or "low" level. In most cases the effectiveness of the brush will be greatest when it is set to its higher setting.