Major Developments Major Developments by Calendar Year

February 17, 2011

Chevrolet Volt Leaf Launched in the U.S.

Filed under: Automobile — Tags: — Winson @ 6:22 AM

The electric cars launched with serious action in the United States includes the Nissan Leaf and the Chevrolet Volt Leaf. The Chevrolet Volt is the only brand of the mass-produced electric cars in the United States.

Nissan Leaf and Chevrolet Volt Leaf

The Chevrolet Volt is a new plug-in hybrid extended range electric car. It is considered as to be at 99 percent level of engineering calibration according to the General Motors. The power for the vehicle is drawn from lithium-ion batteries and a 1.4-liter engine. The vehicle has a sport mode and provides adjustment for pedal mapping. It is delicate and the vehicle’s default mode is normal. By selecting eco settings climate control can be done. This is one of the most interesting feature of the vehicle.

The vehicle can be able to drive for about 40 miles using the battery alone and without gasoline. The base price of the vehicle revealed by the General Motors is $41,000 before a $7,500 federal tax credit. The Chevrolet Volt has a back up power source and provides premium fuel. This gives the vehicle a range of more than 100 miles. The reputation of the General Motors is expected to be given by the Volt among environmentally conscious consumers. This is involved in demonstrating the capabilities of battery-powered vehicles.

The Chevrolet Volt could be connected to a standard 120-volt outlet for charging the 400-pound battery. The company has been offering eight years of warranty. Otherwise it may provide warranty for 100,000 miles three years longer than what is been offered for the gasoline engines. Certain other features of the Volt include a built-in navigation system and hands-free telephone capabilities.

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Nissan Reveals Next Small Car for the U.S. at Chinese Auto Show

Filed under: Automobile — Tags: — Winson @ 6:19 AM

A new Chinese model was revealed in the Chinese auto show. It was expected to be called as Sentra in the United States. The model is to be called as Sunny in China. The Sentra is considered as the second largest car of Nissan in the U.S. The Versa is considered the smallest car of Nissan in the U.S and the one of the only two vehicles. The vehicle Versa is sold for less than $10,000 which is the starting price.

The vehicle was displayed at the China International Automobile Exhibition at Guangzhou. After starting the sale of the vehicle in the China, it is estimated that the vehicle is to be on sale in more than 170 countries worldwide including the U.S. with different brand names.

The features of the vehicle include a 1.5 liter four cylinder gasoline engine with dual injectors. Instead of a standard automatic transmission, continuously variable transmission has been used. MacPherson struts have been used for the front suspension and a torsion beam has been used for the rear suspension.

The vehicle is considered a major global car which is in the lineup. It is reported that the Nissan Sunny is related to the Nissan Versa. The growth of the vehicle can be mainly seen in Asia, South America and Central America.

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Benefits of Using Barcodes in Small Businesses

Filed under: Small Business — Tags: , — Winson @ 4:51 AM

Barcode is termed as an optical representation of data showed on certain products. It is read by specific machines called barcode readers or barcode scanners. Symbol scanners are some of the types of scanners used in market these days. Barcode technology can also be helpful for small businesses. Small and medium sized businesses include applications of barcodes in shipping, production, packaging, warehouses, and sales. Some of the benefits of barcode applications for small businesses are listed here.

Easy to Use:
Small business operations can be made easy by use of barcodes. Using efficient barcode scanners like Symbol barcode scanners is very easy and does not require any special skills. A less costly dot-matrix printers can be used by them to create simple barcode labels.

Accurate:
Many errors arise due to manual entry of data in data collections. Barcodes are accurate and avoid these errors. In order to maintain accuracy, it is necessary to maintain creation of good quality labels. It becomes easy for barcode scanners to read effective labels.

Uniform Data Collection:
Sometimes it is required for small businesses to meet some industry specific compliance standards. Specific requirements with shipments are provided for many manufacturers, industries and other organizations. Uniform data can be collected in specific industry in a fast pace by application of barcodes. This helps in improving relations with existing clients. New clients can also be attracted which helps in enhancing sales and growth of the business.

Rise of Productivity:
Manual and routine activities of a business can be automated by using barcodes. It helps in increasing the efficiency of business processes. As manual work in data collection is less, employees can perform other important tasks of businesses. It increases the overall productivity of an organization.

Timely Feedback:
Data capture can be done rapidly by application of barcodes. Hence, an efficient timely feedback of business processes can be given. Information like the number and brand of products bought by customers can be known to a businesses at the right time.

As these benefits are associated with barcode applications in various industries, small businesses prefer to implement barcode technology.

February 15, 2011

CII and Ernst & Young Report on SMEs Role in Indian Defence Industry

Filed under: Small Business — Winson @ 6:29 AM

CII and Ernst & Young made a report called ‘Enhancing role of SMEs in Indian Defence Industry’ in 2009. It was reported that about 20-25% of components and sub-assemblies were supplied by 6,000 SMEs to Ordnance Factories, Defence Public Sector Undertakings, DRDO and the armed forces. Special policies were laid down by the Government of India which helped in increasing the supply of national and international defence majors. There had been a rise in business opportunities in defense and aerospace sectors.

A cumulative defence budget of USD 26.5 billion was observed in 2009. Joint ventures and technical collaborations were set up by Indian SMEs attracting the attention of foreign OEMs, Tier I and Tier II vendors. 44 percent of the respondents revealed that improvements had to be implemented in defence offset opportunities.

The report advised an improvement of information technology and automotive industries for design, development and manufacture in aerospace and defence sector. It also revealed the importance and need of domain knowledge development. Certain guidelines were given regarding licensing procedure and other complementary activities for the SMEs.

February 14, 2011

Recovery of Premiums by Small Businesses in the U.S.

Filed under: Small Business — Tags: — Winson @ 6:58 AM

Small businesses contribute a lot for the economy in America. There were about 4.8 billion businesses employing 25 or fewer workers in 2009. Recession brought many bad effects on small business industries. According to the Illinois Main Street Alliance report, coverage for workers was decreased in 2008 and 2009 in about 12% of 500 small businesses surveyed. Around 35 percent of the companies switched to insurance which provided only few services.

Companies having less than 25 workers had wages which are less than $50,000 a year. As they have higher premium costs they achieved benefits from the tax credit. The benefits under health overhaul law were also not expected. According to a report from consumer groups, Families, USA and Small Business Majority, health coverage was offered to only 46 percent of employers having three to nine workers. About 72% of small businesses having 10 to 24 employees offered with the health coverage for workers. More than 95 percent of companies of 50 or more workers offered coverage to their employees.

The tax credit help small businesses, which tend to lack the purchasing power of larger employers, maintain coverage by pooling risk. According to the federal government website HealthCare.gov., payment for the same insurance policy by small businesses was found to be 18% higher than that paid by larger firms. The tax credit was provided for companies on the cusp of dropping coverage for their workers.

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