The efficient supply chain for Agro products in Srilanka.

The farmers of rural area are badly suffering from the dominant buyers of the agro
products from those areas. And by consequences of these issues may impact on end
customer of these products. If the farmers could approach the customers without having
intermediaries that will be win - win situation for both farmers and the customers.

If the farmers could know the actual demand in the market where he is supplying to, they
could work on those products to be harvested and earn profits. They are not
communicated about the customer demand properly. And also if an on line farmers
community could be created they could determine how the prices should be set and
demand for it without any third party intervention. The they could make discussion and
gain help from each other to over come issues in this area as a team. Eg new seeds,
fertilizer etc.

IS could make them more strengthen them in many ways. The use of telecommunication
with IS let them to work more effectively and productively. Eg such as SMS
The most of the issues to be researched and an effective IS solution to be presented for
the agricultural industry. The water mangement, use of new ways of harvesting and also
sharing knowledge among them would be proposed under the IS solution given.

Risky topic as there are on going efforts for this aspect Cargills and all that
Also if I am not mistaken there is a full time project on this aspect on the current batch
Research and evaluation on collection and disposal of garbage with in Colombo City and
proposing IS solution for an effective garbage management to maintain a healthy
environment for all.

Srilanka as one of the fastest developing countries in the south asian region is badly
suffering by the consequences of ineffective garbage management. This can be called as
the one of the most burning issues faced by the capital and its suburbs in Srilanka. This
problem was growing for decades without addressing it properly or giving realistic
solutions to the problem. Due to ineffective garbage management it has resulted a very
huge garbage collection with in the city area called 'bluemandol'. The weightage of the
garbage is increasing by tons daily and the height is climbing to the sky rapidly.

There are so many key issues attached to the existing problems of garbage in this area.
Some of the points to be addressed are as below.

 Who are the major stake holders involved of this and how this has been made an
impact on them?
 By being located in the city area, how it had been impacted the development of the
city?
 How this has been handled by the government and the institutions for the last few
years the actions taken to solve this problem by them.
 What has made it not to have a proper solution and how IT could play a major role in
this case?

I will be researching on this issues as a holistic manner where it has a solid business case
to be analysed. The data and information to be collected from relevant institutions and the
attached stakeholders by interviewing and other various techniques. And also there are
some other cases taken in place and solved in the world. I will evaluate and analyse those
case studies as well to give a proper IS based solution for this burning issue. The Is
solution in a nutshell will be the separation of recyclable and no recyclable garbage and
effective collection of garbage from city and so on. The final solution will be given
evaluating and analysing whole problem comparing with similar cases in the world.

The problem exits and can be solved

Strong on the research aspect but you will need to rethink on the IS aspect

Effective control of machines in production layouts with in a automated system

The business environment is so dynamic and the competitiveness among rivals are
increasing rapidly. The greater velocity of change of business and technological areas
make really challenging the businesses to be consistent and solid. The businesses are
really need to focus on cost reduction without effecting the products that are produced.
The production oraganization's should focus on more on inventory management and
eliminate waste. The machines in the production layout such as product, process, and
cellular are playing a major role in the mass production. If the machines are utilized at its
best under minimum cost that would enable the organization to gain competitive
advantage. Since most of the time there is no communication among the machines there
will be lot of negative impacts for the production process.

Main concerns organization should focus are,

 What will be the consequences if one machine breaks down in the production line?
The input for that particular machine from the out put from another would not be
stopped. This would make unnecessary WIP of inventory.

 If one machine is stopped other machines dependent on this will be waiting for the
inputs. The waste power and time would be high.

 Whether the machines are under utilized or over utilized in the production process.

 What is the best environmental conditions to be given for machines to be performed

 effectively.

Through a proper machine communication system these issues can be mitigated in order
to perform well in the business and enjoy super profits in the long run of the business.
The IS solution will be proposed in related to these key areas.

This will be the best topic which will have strong research aspect on to the operations
management

Is solution is also strong

Dear Rikaz,

Please note that I have already taken the number of students allocated to me

Therefore, with regret I inform you that I will not be able to take you for supervision.

However, due to the fact that you topics are related to operations management I suggest
that you either take Mr. Sanjeev Jayarathnam or Ms. Shonali as they have been teaching
this module earlier

Please note that I have added the comments for your ideas so that you will be able to
think about it.

With Regards,
Gayathri