IST 1100 Module 9

It is amazing to me how big international companies run and how they are able to orchestrate their constant supply demands and order fulfillments. Thomas Friendman’s experience of buying a Dell laptop and tracking where all of the parts came from is astounding. There are a few key elements to Dell’s order fulfillment symphony that allows it to work. It really is alike a big clock with many different gears and cogs all working together in harmony. First Dell has a workflow system in place that partners with Visa, and I’m sure many other major credit card companies. Once the order is finalized and payment is received, it is released to Dell’s production system. One of six major Dell factories that are located all over the world receives the order. An amazing fact I never would have know is that each of Dell’s factories is surrounded by what are called supplier logistics centers. These centers are owned by the various suppliers of Dell parts. If you are a supplier for Dell, your job is to keep these Logistic centers full so that when the factories need your part you can truck it over within minutes. That is so amazing to me, what an awesome and impressive system! Dell sells on average 140,000 to 150,000 computers a day, as of 2004, I wonder what that number is today. Part of this process as a side note is the constant evolution of the parts as to stay up to date. That is a huge process in itself, Dell has designers that are constantly working on new models for their computer lines, each new model will use new state of the art components. Each component in each computer can come from various suppliers, that way if something goes wrong with a part Dell can still fill the order. There are multiple companies they use for each part in their PC’s. All in all the process involves many different hands and an order could come from many locations all over the world.

We live in a great world with amazing opportunities and technologies that we can utilize. we also however live in a scary world full of extremists and radical diluted idealists. Thomas Friedman talks about Al-Qaeda and their use of the flattened world. He says that instead of using the tools to create products and profits, they create mayhem and murder. He says,”The flat world-unfortunately-is a friend of both infosys and Al-Qaeda.” Terrorist groups do have supply chains, they are used for destruction not profit. instead of investors they use donors and recruits and ultimately victims. These groups use all of the tools offered by the flat world, they use uploading to recruit followers and raise money. They use digitally distributed propaganda through social media and the internet to stimulate and raise interest in their cause. They use outsourcing to train recruits, and supply chaining to distribute the tools and the martyrs needed to accomplish terroristic missions. The flat world is as much a friend to them as it is to the honest and civil. Like so many things, it is a two edged sword.

It’s very interesting to think of oil as a curse, I mean we use it every day to fuel our cars so we can drive to work, visit friends, go shopping, and take vacations. We use it in planes so we can travel all over the world! Companies use it so they can have something we ordered from them arrive at our door in only a few days. It powers machinery that creates the items that we use on a regular basis. Our world runs on oil. The truth is though that for every person out there using oil and its’ byproducts are leaving a footprint, a footprint that negatively affects our planet. How is this tied to the flattening of the world? Well, a big aspect of the flattened world is the widespread access of information from virtually anywhere on the planet, the ability for countries to progress quicker and “catch up” to more advanced countries like America. As countries advance and more and more individuals are able to start participating in a global economy, it creates greater wealth, and with wealth the individual’s want what American’s have, refrigerators, cars, microwaves, toasters etc. So more and more people begin using more and more oil and a bigger carbon footprint is left on the world. Oil is a curse because we need it, but at the same time it is hurting our planet.