International Bidding Research Articles

3212 衛星開発における設計/製造品質の向上と効率化(OS4-4 デジタルエンジニアリング-4)CAD・CAM・CAEの応用)

In order to receive more order of commercial satellite through international bid, continual efforts is highly needed in reducing delivery time and cost using corporate technology accumulation. So, we are working hard on standardizing the total design process including spacecraft production, parts procurement, testing, launch, and operation on orbit. Furthermore, we are improving quality and efficiency of design productivity in whole processes using IT. The spacecraft system consists of a lot of parts and multidisciplinary technical fields. Therefore, it is important to handle the design data exactly and efficiently among many design sections. Also, it is effective to connect the design data to the facility, and to make the system that guides the handwork of the worker using 3D-data at the timing of production, assembly and testing phase. This paper introduces our activities to improve quality and efficiency of the spacecraft design productivity using 3D design production process.

Management and Construction of the Three Gorges Project

The owner-responsibility system is conducted for implementation of the Three Gorges Project (TGP). For the construction management of the project, the contracting system, the contract administration system, and the construction supervision system are executed for the project management. Contractors for civil projects are determined through bidding and contracting. The permanent equipment and construction materials are purchased through bidding. Some of large-sized construction machines and mechanical and electrical equipment are procured by the international competitive bids. Qualified engineers from qualified engineering bodies, scientific research organizations, and construction companies are selected for the construction supervision. This paper covers the construction of the TGP in some detail, particularly the main dam structure, diversion work, the construction program, and management, project cost, and financing.

Blending brackish water with desalted seawater as an alterative to brackish water desalination

Due to a severe water shortage and increasing salinity of natural sources, Israel is currently undergoing an intensive program of both large seawater reverse osmosis (SWRO) desalination plant construction and desalination of a number of wells shut down due to an increase of water salinity. There are some such wells in the vicinity of the planned large seawater desalination plants. Therefore, a proposed alternative of desalination of these sources is to use them to blend SWRO product whose salinity content has been reduced to a very low level by a second desalination pass. The foreseen specification of the desalted water regarding the upper limit of chloride and boron content in the coming international bids of large SWRO plants will probably be 70 mg/L chloride and 0.3 mg/L boron. Since a partial second pass for the SWRO is needed to achieve this specification, increasing the second pass to treat the entire or almost all the capacity of the first pass permeate can achieve product suitable for blending with some brackish source water. However, this option has to be competitive with direct desalination of the brackish water source. The comparative economics of these two alternatives is obviously dependent on the additional cost of reducing the SWRO permeate salinity vs. the cost of desalting the equivalent capacity of brackish water that could be blended with the permeate. The aim of this work was to analyze the comparative economics of these two alternatives for various types of brackish water sources.

Managing change during a transition period

Over the past two decades, several countries across the globe have been restructuring their power sector. Orissa has earned the distinction of being the first state in the Indian Union as well as the first region in South Asia to bring about reform in the electricity sector. Under the reform program, the former Orissa State Electricity Board was unbundled into generation, transmission and distribution and the four distribution zones were privatized through the process of international competitive bidding.

Ensuring Supplies of Quality Diethylcarbamazine Citrate (DEC)

In 1997, the World Health Organization (WHO) made a commitment to eliminate lymphatic filariasis. The WHO Global Program to Eliminate Lymphatic Filariasis (WHO-FIL) needed a reliable supply of diethylcarbamazine citrate (DEC) of known acceptable quality at an affordable price, so in August 1999, it started the DEC Project. Today's standards required development of a modern stability-indicating assay method for DEC and for DEC tablet dissolution. ADD Advanced Drug Delivery Technologies (Switzerland) developed a high-pressure liquid chromatography assay, which was independently validated and is in the United States Pharmacopoeia 25 (2002). After a global search, the project found that almost all existing and potential DEC active pharmaceutical ingredient (API) and tablet manufacturers are in low-income countries. The project constructed an audit team to conduct on-site audits to assess good manufacturing practices according to European Union standards. National/state inspectors accompany the audit team. The team prequalified one DEC API manufacturer and three DEC tablet manufacturers. The project plans to increase the number of prequalified DEC manufacturers. Now, WHO-FIL only purchases from prequalified manufacturers. Consolidation of several national program DEC requirements into a limited international competitive bid reduced the price for DEC tablets between 30% and 45%, compared to previous small-scale WHO purchases.

Project Exports — The Indian Dimension

In the changing business scenario, the international bidding for construction projects is increasingly becoming intense and competitive, with shrinking margins. The business of project exports has become more and more complex and competitive. Moreover, Indian companies in this business are restricted due to the limited scale of their operations. Besides, India is a recipient and not a donor country where financial participation is concerned. This severely restricts project exports from India in the modern context. The present paper examines the background and causes of this phenomenon.

Increasing Enginering Student Participation in Study Abroad: A Study of U.S. and European Programs

It is generally assumed that undergraduate students in any major benefit significantly from study abroad, with respect to personal, academic, and pre-professional development. For students in all professional programs, and for engineering students in particular, it has become increasingly important to acquire global competency. As nations become more economically interdependent, the engineering profession increasingly involves international bids and projects, demands interaction with international colleagues because of rapid advances in technological developments, and requires engineers to gain an awareness of world events and the global economy as well as acquire intercultural under-standing. However, engineering graduates generally do not have the necessary skills to work in an international environment, as few engineering students gain international experience by either studying or interning abroad as part of their education. Engineering students encounter a number of barriers preventing them from taking advantage of international study. The aim of this paper is to provide an overview of and compare the types of initiatives in the United States and Europe designed to increase the numbers of engineering students participating in international study, and to present recommendations to remove the barers to study abroad encountered by engineering students. The authors are aware that international experience as part of an engineering undergraduate education is a matter of great concern, and that a number of actions are being implemented to facilitate increased mobility. This paper contributes to these current and future initiatives.

International Opportunities- Can Canadians Compete?

Abstract The theme of this issue is international operations and that raises three questions in my mind. First, are we competing effectively? Second, how is Canada perceived from the outside? Third, what is our strategic advantage? Bear with me while I weave together some random thoughts. Why are Canadians even bothering to look abroad? The answer is simply that we have long memories and the pains of the last North American downturn have not been forgotten. Diversification makes good business sense. Even though the western Canadian oilpatch is "buoyant," early indications from El Nino suggest potentially weaker natural gas prices this winter. A second reason for looking abroad is growth. Rising intermediate companies have realized that the Western Canadian Sedimentary Basin does not offer unlimited expansion for everyone. These firms are keenly aware that their performance is closely monitored by the investment community and that continued growth over the long term is difficult if exploration is geographically constrained. Hence, the need to look abroad. The key point is that this industry is now fueled by capital and that capital will flock to projects with the highest profit margins-whether that be in Cremona or the Crimea. What is surprising from my perspective as a consultant, is not that the larger companies are looking abroad, but that embryonic juniors are developing international plans long before they have reached critical mass at home. The long term outlook is laudable but is it plausible? Can they do it effectively? In Western Canada, I believe we have the single most competitive oil industry in the world. There are more bright, motivated, hard working entrepreneurs and technical people per square mile in downtown Calgary than anywhere else. There is no doubt we have the skills. The problem facing Canadian companies abroad is not technical ability but a lack of size and financial muscle. We have seen numerous international bidding situations where eager Canadian companies bid against one another for small concessions. The successful bidder may not be so pleased later when they find themselves renegotiating. They must then deal with governments or national oil companies who are much bigger and can leverage Canadian companies to change agreement terms after a deal is closed. We've all heard the stories out of Russia regarding pipeline problems. Conversely, when other nations go abroad, they do so as a single entity. One case in point is the Third Round of Bidding in Venezuela. The large concessions went to groups such as the Argentinean consortium or the Chinese National Petroleum Company (who blew everyone else out of the water). So, what is the solution? I'm suggesting that we need to have better coordination-either companies can team-up or perhaps their could be some type of organized information swap. I am however advocating economic nationalism-a concept that may soon be rendered obsolete anyway by virtue of the Multi-lateral Agreement on Investment (MAI). If Canadian oil and gas companies really want to win at the international game, we need to compete on equal terms and that means bigger consortia.

IN-PACT: A Pragmatic Approach Leading to a Smooth Transition or a New Architecture for Distribution Control Centers

Abstract SIT-R is a project of EDF-GDF-Services for the renewal of their Distribution Centers. Two approaches: either EDF buys an off the shelf system from a major Vendor of Ems-Scada Systems or EDF remains technically in charge. At the moment the first option is in experimentation at Paris, Lyon and Versailles. For the second option, IN-PACT proposed in 1994 a step by step approach. This project has been divided into two phases. The first phase consists in preserving the actual EMS-Scada System (SIT3), by carrying over the SIT3 on a new hardware platform, through Object-Oriented Techniques. This phase has consisted in elaborating an object designed configurator, and by transcoding the Real Time system in C++ language. The second phase is to provide an architecture based on new interoperability features provided by a software bus like Corba. Through this new architecture, IN-PACT will connect new functionalities provided inside EDF or furnished by Vendors. The architecture and the concepts defined will guarantee reduction in the cost of specification, maintenance, and ameliorate the perennity of the overall system. In order to experiment the IN-PACT solution, a real site has been provided at the Distribution Center Gard-Cevennes located in the city of Nimes, in the south of France. The results: At the end of 1996, the new configurator is validated and operational at Nimes, the Real Time System will be fully operational in February 1997. In parallel, the architecture vision and concepts have been validated and defined. They have led to a specification of the future Human Machine Interface (HMI) and an International bid was made in December 1996. In 1997, the architectural concepts will be fully integrated by connecting the new HMI. The connection of internal functions will also begin. The configurator will be upgraded in order to be able to manage different kinds of network image representation, and last but not least, new kinds of data will be processed in order to increase the responsiveness of EDF to the internal and external market, opportunities and constraints.

Bridge over the Jhelum River, Pakistan

The Jhelum River in Pakistan runs through a mountainous area in a high risk seismic zone, and its flow volumes vary dramatically with the seasons. At the town of Karote, a new bridge has been built after record floods in September 1992 rose 8 m above the deck, subjecting the previous bridge to extreme loading from thousands of tons of logs, debris and boulders, leading to stability failure. In July 1993, the National Highway Authority, with a credit from World Bank, invited international bids for reconstruction on a turn-key (design-and-construct) basis. After examining comparative costs and time schedules, a bid was submitted for construction of a post-tensioned concrete segmental cantilever bridge.