Nice Tramway Extends Now to Pasteur Hospital

On 6th July, 2013 the first tram departed from the new station in Pasteur. From the stop at Hôpital Pasteur, the route crosses Pont René Coty and the Paillon river before meeting the existing line at Pont Michel.

“The extension of the Ligne 1 tramway is becoming more and more of a reality everyday,” says Mayor of Nice Christian Estrosi, who hopes that the extra section will improve transport to and from the Pasteur community while boosting public transport access to the hospital.

It is estimated that the extension will add around 5,000 new passengers to the busy tramway in Nice, which already serves over 100,000 commuters, tourists and residents each day.

While an official figure for the final cost is yet to be announced, the city of Nice estimates that the 450 metres of extension has cost almost 24 million euros. The Nice Côte d’Azur Metropolis has shouldered the majority of the investment, with the General Council for the Alpes Maritimes, the PACA region, and the French State adding minor contributions to the financing of the project.

The city of Nice was also, for the first time, able to secure almost one million euros in funding from the European Regional Development Fund.

Eventually, Line 1 will be extended again, right up to La Trinité on the outskirts of the city.

According to Estrosi, the extension plans are an integral part of the metropolis’ wish “to provide local residents with a high performing transport network.”

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Spanish Train Accident Like US Crash in 1940

The recent railroad accident in Spain (top picture…computer re-creation) is very similar to one in the U.S. (see bottom picture postcard). April 19, 1940 – Little Falls, New York, United States: The westbound New York Central Lake Shore Limited, running fifteen minutes late in rainy conditions, fails to reduce speed to 45 miles per hour at Gulf Curve near Little Falls, sharpest on the NYC System, and at 59 mph the locomotive derails, crosses two tracks and strikes a rock wall whereupon it explodes and nine cars pile up behind it. At least 30 known dead, including the engineer, and 100 injured in the this accident.

Marissa Mayer from Yahoo. I hope YOU don’t get HACKED

Ever had your email “hacked”? Bet it was on YAHOO. Everybody told you: “next time you go on email, remember to sign out”.

Been following that advice, but YAHOO CEO Marissa Mayer is making it hard to do. When I click on “sign out”, I go to “update your profile” instead. AND YOU ARE STILL LOGGED IN.

No Marissa, I do not want to put a pretty picture or my birthday on your site, I just want to get out before some character from Eastern Europe or Asia sends an offensive ad from my email address to ALL my contacts.

Utica Comets Build A Team

The Utica Comets have signed defenseman John Negrin, a former third round draft choice of the Calgary Flames.

Negrin, 24, played 18 games for the Chicago Wolves and Lake Erie Monsters in the American Hockey League last season, scoring two goals and adding three assists. He also had two goals and seven assists in 44 game with the Kalamazoo Wings of the East Coast Hockey League.

The 6-foot-2, 202-pound Vancouver native has played in 127 AHL games over four seasons and played three National Hockey League games for Calgary in 2008-09.

The Utica Comets, the city’s newest entry into the American Hockey League, have signed their second player in two days with the addition of goaltender Mathieu Corbeil.

The 21-year-old Corbeil is a native of Montreal and his signing comes one day after the team announced a deal with Sacha Guimond, another Quebec native and the East Coast Hockey League’s top defenseman last season.

Corbeil played the 2012-13 season with the Missouri Mavericks of the Central Hockey League where he recorded a 2.69 goals-against average and a .915 save percentage in 21 games.

Corbeil was drafted in the fourth round, 102nd overall, in the 2010 National Hockey League Entry Draft by the Columbus Blue Jackets. He played in the Quebec Major Junior League (QMJHL) with the St. John Sea Dogs and was part of a goaltending duo that won the Memorial Cup in 2010-11.

Corbeil was 37-10-1 with a 2.38 GAA the following season when the Sea Dogs won the QMJHL Championship and he was honored with the league’s “Jacques Plante Trophy,” given to the goalie with the best goals-against average.

The Utica Comets, preparing for their first season in the American Hockey League, have signed Sacha Guimond, the East Coast Hockey League’s Defenseman of the Year last season.

Guimond, a native of Ville-Marie, Quebec, is the first player signed by the team, which will operate as the top farm club of the Vancouver Canucks.

Guimond, 22, split the 2012-13 season with the San Francisco Bulls and Gwinnett Gladiators, scoring 12 goals and adding 37 assists in 58 games.

He was the third rookie in league history to win top defenseman honors, and also was named to the All-Rookie team and first team All-ECHL.

The 6-foot-2, 185-pound Guimond also played a total of six AHL games with the Worcester Sharks and Norfolk Admirals last season.

TOUR DE FRANCE: And You Thought You Knew Logistics

The most famous bicycle race of all is celebrating it’s 100th Anniversary in 2013. It is much more complex than just a race: it includes an advertising caravan (parade) and a tent carnival. But there is a tremendous effort behind the scenes to make it all happen. From a logistics standpoint, it ranks up there with an army fighting a war or a circus traveling around the country.

The actual race is run by 22 teams of 8 or 9 bicyclists each.That means about 200 participants; but the actual “show” involves about 4,500 people.

The advertising caravan (goes ahead of race and distributes advertising “gifts” like hats, candy, etc consists of 180 vehicles representing 44 companies, but the number of “official” vehicles (team cars, scorers, et al) may be 10 times that. Then you have “suppliers”. Vittel Water seemed to have several tractor-trailers to capitalize on being the official supplier. Going back into history, preceding the race was more attractive to advertisers because spectators gathered by the road long before the race or could be attracted from their houses. Advertisers following the race found that many who had watched the race had already gone home. The advertisers distribute publicity material to the crowd. The number of items has been estimated at 11 million, each person in the procession giving out 3,000 to 5,000 items a day.

The tent carnival (I like to call it a “vendor village”) moves as the Tour moves: tents up, tents down, crowds in, crowds out. Norbert Dentressangle has been the Tour’s official partner for more than 30 years, transporting all the facilities and equipment required to set up the start and finish villages at each stage, along with ancillary items including safety barriers and advertising hoardings. The company also transports all the equipment needed to organize each stage at different points along the route, such as intermediate sprints and arrival at a pass. In total 22 tons of equipment is transported from stage to stage in support of the event. A fleet of 20 Norbert Dentressangle trucks and trailers and a team of 33 drivers will be accompanying the riders along the way to the finish line in the Champs Elysee in Paris.

Read more: http://www.ec-bp.com/index.php/advisors/ec-bps-bloggers/9973-tour-de-france-and-you-thought-you-knew-logistics#ixzz2ZJVNI1uG

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Utica Comets Hockey Starting To Get Its Act Together

The Utica COMETS are getting ready to slay the American Hockey League.

We have found out they will be in the Northern Division of the American Hockey League. Other teams are Hamilton, Ontario (farm team for the Montreal Habs), Lake Erie (like Cleveland and farm team for Colorado, Rochester Americans (Buffalo Farm Team), and Toronto (for me great because ESPN Europe shows their games).

Travis Green, a 14 year NHL guy who played with Robert Esche, Comets President, will be the coach.

Green, a long-time National Hockey League player and several times Team Canada member – he helped win gold in the 1997 world championships – and most recently interim head coach of the Portland Winterhawks of the Western Hockey League, met the media for the first time Friday via a conference call that included team president Rob Esche.

“I’m not a coach who wants to play boring hockey,” said Green, who scored 193 goals with five teams over 14 NHL season. “I want the puck. You have to make plays. You can’t be constantly dumping the puck. I want puck possession, a team that wants to make plays, be aggressive on the forecheck and backcheck. Compete is a big word with me. I expect to have my teams compete very hard.”

After just four days, the Utica Comets reached 1,000 season tickets sold on Wednesday.

Team officials say selling that amount assures that the Utica Memorial Auditorium will be above 25 percent capacity for every home game the American Hockey League team plays in 2013-14.

“The Utica Comets hockey fans have just blown us away,” said Comets President Robert Esche. This “is a great indicator as to just how ready Utica, NY is for AHL hockey.”

It was announced  that the Vancouver Canucks would be relocating their AHL affiliate from Illinois to Utica for the upcoming AHL season. Season tickets went on sale Saturday morning, with packages raging from $390 to $732.

Hockey broadcast veteran Brendan Burke has been named the voice of the Utica Comets. Burke will serve as both the play-by-play announcer and head of public relations during the Comets’ first season in the American Hockey League.

Burke, who has been part of more than 500 hockey broadcasts, comes to Utica from the Peoria Rivermen, where he served as the play-by-play announcer for the past five years. He also has NHL experience,occasionally filling in as the play-by-play announcer for the St. Louis Blues.

Hope he can get the Comets on Internet radio so I can listen, even if the middle of my night.

Hey, I need hockey pictures. I’m the other side of the Atlantic Ocean (Nice, France) and am going to be their biggest European fan. Need helpers when the Comets startup who will snap a picture of the Comets and send to me.

Getting Started With Supplier Risk Management

Businesses must put more effort into pre-planning for business interruption according to a survey by Zurich Insurance and the Business Continuity Institute (BCI). They are concerned about supply chain disruption and term it a “blind spot”. We are concerned too. Zurich recommends mapping out your supply chain and quantifying each supplier by financial stability, geopolitical issues, et al. If you have a lot of global suppliers, this could be a tall order. I think Zurich is sitting in an “ivory tower” and not a “SCM Control Tower“.

So we started to look at other ways to assess risk and found Dr. David Simchi-Levi of MIT. Dr. Simchi-Levi has developed what he calls a Risk Exposure Index™

Dr Simchi-Levi takes the approach of understanding the nature of various risks, quantifying the supply chain risk and finally by addressing these risks through supplier segmentation. Risks range from the controllable execution problems or “known-unknown” to the uncontrollable natural disasters called “unknown-unknown” (which he refers to as “black swans“).

Read more: http://www.ec-bp.com/index.php/articles/industry-updates/9911-getting-started-with-supplier-risk-management#ixzz2Z7PNzMV3

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Cape Cod Is Finally Going To Town

After a lapse of 25 years (not counting Amtrak’s Cape Codder during its last years in the mid-1990s), the public will be able to take the train from the Boston area to Hyannis on weekends between Memorial Day and Labor Day weekends.  Details on the new CapeFLYER service can be found at www.capeflyer.com, as well as the Facebook page https://www.facebook.com/Capeflyer

There are a couple of good articles in the WIKI too

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CapeFLYER
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cape_Cod_Central_Railroad

The train will depart South Station Fridays at 5.12 p.m., making all regular commuter rail stops down to Middleborough/Lakeville before continuing on the Buzzards Bay and Hyannis.  The return trip leaves Hyannis at 8.30 p.m. Fridays.  On Saturdays, Sundays and holidays (Memorial Day, Fourth of July, Labor Day) trains depart South Station at 8 a.m., with the return trip leaving Hyannis at 6.30 p.m.  The Saturday, Sunday and holiday trips will have limited stops between Boston and Middleborough/Lakeville.

The train will consist entirely of Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority commuter rail equipment.  One car, BTC-1C class single-level coach #224, has been reconfigured into a bike and concession car, with limited seating.  Passengers will be able to purchase food (snacks and wraps) and drinks, including I am told beer and wine when east of Middleborough.

The Cape Cod Regional Transit Authority has organized this new service, working with the state, the MBTA, ferry lines and private bus lines.  Coordinated, connecting bus and ferry services will be offered at both Buzzards Bay and Hyannis.

Hopefully this new service will be successful.

The New York Times just published the following article on line about the CapeFLYER.  Based on what I’ve heard, this looks to be about the most accurate media account of the service so far.

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/05/27/us/capeflyer-begins-train-service-from-boston-to-hyannis.html?_r=0

	Both the Boston Globe and Wareham Week report the CapeFLYER had 770 passengers this first weekend, according to the Cape Cod Regional Transit Authority. http://www.boston.com/news/local/blogs/starts-and-stops/2013/05/28/capeflyer-carries-passengers-during-its-inaugural-weekend/OfAw4FG9XnNz28IIRgPB9J/blog.html http://wareham-ma.villagesoup.com/p/first-weekend-of-cape-train-service-successful-wareham-stop-planned/1007542 According to the Boston Globe, if ridership is strong through the summer, the MBTA would consider continuing the train into October: http://www.bostonglobe.com/metro/2013/05/25/starts-stops-returns/bHXO7I6y2n4haxm0A3AEDM/story.html “The CapeFlyer, the MBTA’s revival of the Boston-to-Cape-Cod rail tradition, has just begun service this weekend, but Beverly A. Scott, general manager of the MBTA, is already considering extending the service past its scheduled Labor Day closing date if it garners enough popularity. ““There is a possibility that service could be extended through October if the demand is evident,” Scott said at a MassDOT meeting last week. “” Here is a link to the MBTA website with a video of the first weekend of service, enjoy!!! http://capeflyer.com/#sthash.q4JJ5Prw.dpbs From the July 1st Cape Codder newspaper (http://www.wickedlocal.com/brewster/news/x273426890/Transit-talk-Boston-Cape-train-a-hit-bus-ridership-up#axzz2Y5uM7ykA): “There are six trains a weekend,” Cahir said. “This past weekend we had 714 riders. It’s really been an extraordinary story. It allows people to get to the Cape without cars and I’m very pleased with that. The numbers are overwhelming.” All told over the first five weekends it’s carried 3,200 passengers. The breakeven point is $10,800 in fares each week and so far the Flyer has exceeded that with over $67,000 in revenue. The CCRTA has budgeted $162,000 to front the operating costs of the train for 15 weekends between Memorial Day and Labor Day weekend.  As reported above, $67,000 has been recovered during the first five weekends, so revenue is well ahead of projections.  The CCRTA had expected the train would operate at a loss during late May and June, with revenues being made up during higher ridership in July and August, so the ridership so far has been a very pleasant surprise. Excluding the third weekend, when the weather forecast was terrible for the Cape, the six weekend trains have averaged ridership around a bit more than 700 passengers.  During the third weekend, ridership was only 352 — still enough to cover operating costs that weekend. The best news so far:  last night’s train from South Station to Hyannis had 589 passengers, per the CapeFLYER’s Facebook page and other sources. Word is the CapeFLYER left Hyannis this evening with 609 passengers.  No word so far on how many passengers were picked up at Buzzards Bay. Traffic reports according to the Cape Cod Times state traffic was backed up as far as 25 miles on the Mid-Cape Highway (U.S. Route 6)  east of the Sagamore Bridge during the height of the backup mid-afternoon today. 4TH of July Weekend “And, Cape Cod Regional Transit Authority Administrator Thomas Cahir said the weekend traffic was a great advertisement for the CapeFLYER, the new summer train service from Boston to Hyannis. There were more than 2,000 riders on the trains that ran from Wednesday through Sunday, Cahir said.”  — Cape Cod Times, 8 July 2013.http://www.capecodonline.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20130708/NEWS11/130709691 Name(required) Email(required) Website Comment(required) Submit Δ

Proactive Notification

Proactive Notification in Supply Chain Management gives us important and instant information on “breaks” in the supply chain. It could be the EDI system unable to process documents, it could be a parts shortage, or it could be a missed transportation appointment. It is more than a simple notification, it allows us to be proactive by fixing the problem or communicating with other “first responders”.

Let’s define what we are talking about with Proactive Notification. Let’s start by looking at Forrester’s definition: “Proactive customer communications reduce costs for incoming calls by sending outbound messages of interest to customers to the device of their choice. Unlike automated robot messages that intrude rather than inform, proactive notification messages identify areas of importance or interest to customers, such as account changes, alerts, or time-sensitive offers. Customers receive voice messages, text/SMS, or email messages and can respond to companies over the same device if needed.

Read more: http://www.ec-bp.com/index.php/articles/industry-updates/9909-proactive-notification#ixzz2YXmN38Nn

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SCM Control Tower Team Troubles

You are in the process of staffing your SCM Control Tower. This group will be drawn from different areas of your company (different “silos”) and different skill sets (for example, a “hazmat” expert). Is your SCM Control Tower going to be a team building melting pot or a boiling cauldron of dis-function. You could draw the brightest and most hard working employees in and outside of your company; but if they don’t get along, it could wreck your business.
Jeff Gibson of The Table Group Inc. gave a presentation on 5 team dysfunctions that could spell disaster for any IT department at a recent Gartner Business Intelligence Summit. Substitute “SCM Director” for “CIO” and “supply chain workers” for “IT workers” and these are some really great ideas. Communications can be difficult and must embrace the personal relationship side of the business. If you have an unhealthy organization, it just isn’t going to accomplish the mission. Let’s look at these five dysfunctions and see how they relate to a healthy team culture.

Read more: http://www.ec-bp.com/index.php/articles/industry-updates/9910-scm-control-tower-team-troubles#ixzz2YGWTsYvw

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