Archive for January 24th, 2012
Alliance One Turns Over a New Leaf in Tobacco Handling
In Brazil, RFID brings new efficiencies to product sorting and storage.
Jan. 23, 2012—Tobacco has been processed and organized in pretty much the same fashion for hundreds of years. But now, as in so many other industries, radio frequency identification is changing everything.
In Brazil, tobacco processor Alliance One Brasil Exportadora de Tabacos is pioneering the use of RFID for sorting and storing tobacco. The company turned to the technology with the goals of improving operational efficiency and minimizing mistakes and costs, says Dilnei Alexandre Haas, the Alliance One systems analyst in charge of the project.
Tobacco is an important commodity for both Alliance One and the Brazilian economy. The company, with the help of approximately 4,000 permanent and temporary workers, processes more than 220,000 tons of tobacco annually. In 2010, Alliance One was Brazil’s 59th largest exporting company, with gross revenues of US$536.5 million—a figure representing 20 percent of the country’s entire tobacco export market.
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Nuclear option
For nearly a decade the international community has fruitlessly sought to deter Iran from pursuing nuclear capability by targeting sanctions at the atomic programme. Now Europe has stepped up the pressure by joining the US in measures aimed at choking off the Iranian economy. Though banning imports of Iranian oil and freezing central bank assets will inflict great pain on a population already struggling with a mismanaged economy, the west is right to turn up the pressure.
There is as yet no firm evidence that Tehran has taken the decision to develop a nuclear weapon. But the report by the International Atomic Energy Agency last year made clear that, at the very least, Iran is determined to acquire the capability to make nuclear weapons. It is also true that having a nuclear option is one of the few issues that unites a divided regime and dissatisfied population.
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This raises a series of challenges for Iran, the west and the wider international community. Tehran, already in violation of its responsibilities as a signatory to the Non-Proliferation Treaty, must be under no illusions that it will be allowed to develop nuclear weapons. The only way to verify that it is not on this path is to allow unfettered access by international monitors to all its nuclear facilities, and Tehran undermines its claim that the programme is peaceful by refusing this.
Meanwhile, the international community must not hollow out the latest sanctions by taking the 18 per cent of Iranian crude exports that Europe will now forgo. Undermining sanctions would risk encouraging a unilateral Israeli strike on Iran’s facilities. Not only could that spark a regional war, but it could also unite Iranians around a weakened regime and stiffen nuclear resolve.
The west for its part must remain open to any possibility that Iran might be ready to return to the negotiating table. This could be difficult in a US election year when rhetoric is fierce and the pressure for machismo intense. But if sanctions do wring concessions, then the west must be ready to consider a situation where, for example, limited uranium enrichment is possible for the alleged civil programme. The west must also consider whether it could live with nuclear capability that fell well short of weaponisation. Even dismantling facilities is no guarantee that capability will be eradicated for good. But so far Iran has shown no sign of a desire to come back to the table. Until it does, the pressure must be kept up.
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Chemsultants’ marketing director to retire
Joe Mausar will retire as director of marketing and regulatory affairs with Chemsultants International in January of this year.
Mausar’s career has spanned 37 years in the adhesives industry working with tapes, labels and adhesives. His career has included 13 years with Avery Dennison and more than 12 years with Chemsultants in a variety of sales, marketing, quality and management positions.
‘Retirement is going to be very interesting because I’ve been in this particular industry for 37 of the 40 years of my career,’ said Mausar. ‘It’s going to be different not being involved all day, every day and it may be difficult to completely walk away. I might try to find some way to keep in touch in some kind of capacity. However, I think I’m going to enjoy having a little bit more time to myself to take some long trips on my Harley-Davidson motorcycle and to spend time fly fishing for trout.’
Mausar has a BFA degree in industrial design from KCAI and an MBA in general marketing management from Baldwin College.
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