The two most over-used buzzwords in business of the last ten to fifteen years are “China's Coming” and “The internet will change everything”. Curiously, it's not very often that you hear both buzzwords used together - but why not ? Using the internet to do business with China has to be one of the smartest ideas around.

First of all, China has some incredible advantages in terms of trade. It has easy access to raw materials and cheap labour. Its economic base is growing and there is very little that China can't produce. Secondly, it is a massive and growing market for all sorts of products and services and with an increasing taste for western brands. These facts alone make doing business with China a very interesting proposition, let alone the fact that your competitors are already thinking about how they can lower costs and/or expand sales by doing business with China.

But there are a number of drawbacks to doing face to face business with Chinese companies. China is a long way from the West, with a different business culture and a limited number of English speakers. If you want to travel to China to do business, it can be quite an expensive and daunting proposition. You'll need a translator or interpreter and you'll need to put aside a large amount of time to get to know the markets and the country and the culture once you have arrived. In fact, if you want to crack the Chinese market, even if you are just considering sourcing some suppliers, you are taking on a very large task. There are many expert consultancies in China that boast they handle your business requirements every step of the way, from market research to making introductions right through to invoicing and tax. They also take an interesting fee for doing all of this.

So it looks like it makes sense to use the internet to do business with China - even if it does turn out to be just a toe in the water. Using a b2b marketplace, you can be trading with Chinese companies within minutes at negligible cost. There are a large number of these market places where companies pay a fee to list their products and prices. You can browse for free and then make contact with any company you choose, or you can pay your membership fee for a greater range of products, suppliers and wholesale distributors along with other advantages such as customised searches or being informed when new, relevant listings appear.

If you sign up to these sites, you will need to be aware that they do not guarantee the accuracy of products listed, nor do they guarantee the honesty of the company who is offering to trade. This suggests that it is of vital importance to verify that the company can supply what it offers. Many companies who have gone down this route have carried out a test to ensure that the supplier can deliver what they advertise.

Having taken these caveats into consideration, the fact still remains that using B2B networks to start trading with China can save you a lot of time and money if you want to do business with China.

Making the Best of Your Time and Resources

Congratulations! You’re the new maintenance manager of Megamonolith Corporation. Although you’re exited about the position, you realize you have your work cut out for you. Megamonolith recently bought out another company, and you’re assigned to the site. During your first six months, you conduct a facilities audit and discover that the prior maintenance program consisted only of breakdown repairs. (For information about facility audits, please refer to my white paper “The Facilities Audit” available through my website at www.fps-fm.com.)

One of the first things you need to do is establish a work coordination and management program that helps you and your staff identify, prioritize, plan, and track corrective actions. The same process must be used by everyone involved in maintenance, and at every location. How can you do this?

The system we propose provides these important benefits:

1.Easy retrieval and dissemination of information.

2.Ensures immediate response for emergencies and safety related issues.

3.Avoids wasted time.

4.Provides easy to follow guidelines and standards.

5.Uses off the shelf software.

6.Establishes procedures.

7.Highly cost effective.

The central point of a maintenance planning system is the Work Reception and Coordination Center, or WRCC. Depending on the size of your facilities, it may be a group of personnel or a single specialist who may even be an outsourced service provider. The WRCC is a single point of submission for all work requests; prioritizes and coordinates all work requests, and provides a current status of all work in process. Through use of database applications, the WRCC provides critical information including priority, lead and assist shops or contractors, and ensures that standardized forms and processes are used.

A word about priority. Regardless of the final form of your maintenance planning program, you must ensure that work requests are responded to in the proper manner. Here’s a suggestion:

Priority 1: Threat to life, health, or security. Requires immediate, on-site response.

Priority 2: Impairs working conditions, affects ADA/handicapped access or code requirements but does not meet Pri-1 criteria. Requires acknowledgment within 1 business day.

Priority 3: Highly desirable, will improve productivity, customer service and/or work conditions.

Requires acknowledgment within 2 business days. Priority 4: Desirable, routine work or improves community relations. Requires acknowledgment within 2 business days.

Some companies establish another high level priority for work requests from C-level personnel, which could be listed following either Priority 2 or 3 in the above matrix.

Here's a flow chart for the work request: 1. Incoming work request --> Priority 1?

Yes- notify Facility Manager and send work order immediately to lead shop. Lead shop begins work.

No- go to step 2. 2. Decision- does job meet criteria for planning?

Yes- request goes to maintenance planner and then to Facility Manager for approval. After Facility

Manager approval, the work order is sent to the lead shop or filed for later use when funds and

resources are available.

No- If within WRCC authority, work order is generated and sent to lead shop for action. If request is

outside WRCC authority, work order goes to Facility Manager for approval and scheduling.

The Facility Manager has authority to reject and/or schedule all work orders.

Under normal conditions, the work request would be submitted by the manager of the originating department. Priority 1 requests are the only ones that should bypass this important step.

The WRCC decides if the job meets criteria for planning to ensure that manpower, budget, and equipment resources are available. Routine work that is within the scope of WRCC authority results in a work order that is sent to the lead shop. Other requests go to maintenance department personnel and then to the facility manager for final approval before being issued as work orders.

With proper care, your granite or marble countertop wouls remain new-looking for years together. Stone is one of the easiest bases to maintain. And granite being 7 on the Mohs durable scale of 1 tp 10 is ultimatly unscratchable. You can follow the follwing instruction for your keeping your granite, marble countertops stylish forever.

Instructions

Blot up spills immediately, before they spoil the surface.Clean the granite or marble stone surfaces with a few drops of neutral cleaner, stone soap or you can do mild dishwashing liquid and warm water. You should use a soft, clean cloth to clean the granite countertop. Rinse after washing with the soap solution and then dry with a soft, neat cloth. Remove any dirt on granite, basing the techinique on the type of stain. Mix a cup of flour, 1-2 tablespoons of dishwashing liquid along with water to create a thick paste. Put it on the stain, cover with plastic cover, and let it sit overnight. Scrape away any mixture with a wooden utensil or rinse. If the stain pertains to oil-based (e.g. grease, oil, milk), use hydrogen peroxide in the liquide instead of dishwashing liquid - or you can even try ammonia on it. Use a mixture of 12 percent hydrogen peroxide along with couple drops of ammonia and this might help for an organic stain, and (e.g. coffee, tea, fruit). Use a lacquer thinner or acetone to take away ink or marker dirt from darker stone. This also works with wine stains. Mix molding plaster and clean bleach into a liquid paste and spread over a wine, ink or other non-oil stain. Leave it for 30 minutes, then take and rinse. Consider using a fresh disinfectant cleaner made particularly for granite. Call your expert stone supplier, installer, or restoration professional for problems that appear too difficult to treat.

Warnings

Ask a experts to remove or repair any scratch on granite. Use coasters under all glasses, specifically those having alcohol or citrus juices. Many usual foods and drinks having acids would etch or dull the stone surface. Do not place hot things directly on the stone surface. Use trivets or mats under hot dishes and then placemats under china, ceramics, silver or any other things, which can scratch the surface. Do not use things, which have lemon, vinegar or other acids on marble or limestone. Strong detergents or corrosive liquids could even dull the polished marble/granite surface and need not be used. Do not mix cleaning products like ammonia and bleach together - the result could be toxic.

One of the problems with the Federal law that restricts the Department of Commerce from advertising about its products and services in anything but its own publications is that the law makes it difficult for DOC agencies that enforce certain laws to make those laws known to the business community. The case of the Bureau of Industry and Security is a classic example of that problem in action.

The Department of Commerce's Bureau of Industry and Security recently posted a 48 page document aptly named "Don't Let This Happen to You!, " on their Website. The publication lists a series of successful prosecutions and settlements the BIS made against American companies for violating export restrictions put in place before and after 9/11. Fines ranged up to $8.5 million dollars, in addition to jail time and other sanctions. You have only to look at the list of companies the BIS targeted to know that the BIS means business. Corporate names on their hit list include Federal Express, Silicon Graphics, Pratt & Whitney, Fujitsu, Sun, Rockwell and IBM (who was subject to an $8.5 million fine).

So what exactly is the BIS? Essentially, it’s a government bureau set up to enforce the Export Administration Regulations (EAR) enacted by Congress. According to their Website, "The Bureau of Industry and Security is charged with the development, implementation and interpretation of U.S. export control policy for dual-use commodities, software, and technology. Dual-use items subject to BIS regulatory jurisdiction have predominantly commercial uses, but also have military applications."

One of the problems businesses face with the new restrictions is that they apply to events well beyond the usual export process. Under the "deemed export" rule, an export of technology is "deemed" to take place when it is released to a foreign national within the United States. Technology is "released" for export when it is available to foreign nationals for visual inspection (such as reading technical specifications, plans, blueprints, etc.); when technology is exchanged orally; or when technology is made available by practice or application under the guidance of persons with knowledge of the technology. Technology is defined as specific information necessary for the "development," "production," or "use" of a product.

That covers a lot of ground. As if that weren't broad enough, the BIS also has what it refers to as a "Catch-All" rule. The BIS controls exports of items not only based on their technical specifications, but also based on their intended end-use and end-user. The Export Administration Regulations (EAR) impose license requirements on exports of items subject to the EAR if the exporter knows or has reason to know that any of the items will be used in an end-use of particular concern to the U.S. Government, such as a missile or nuclear weapons program. These controls are often referred to as "catch-all" controls because they apply to any item subject to the EAR, even if the item would not ordinarily require a license based on its technical specifications. This opens the door for a lot of companies to be prosecuted for actions that would be legal under only slightly different circumstances, This is unfortunate because the BIS has a lot of clout, and it's willing to use it.

The BIS can subject a violator to two kinds of penalties, administrative and criminal. In the case of administrative penalties it is not even necessary for the BIS to prove intent to commit a violation. Administration penalty fines are usually $11.000.00 per violation, though in cases concerning special national security considerations the fines can be $120,000.00 per violation. The BIS usually negotiates a settlement rather than taking a company to court. In the case of voluntary self-disclosure (VSD), the fines are generally far less than the maximum allowed, a policy designed to encourage businesses to turn themselves in. In any case, the exact fine and jail sentence will depend on the BIS weighing both the mitigating and aggravating factors of the offense.

Many companies the BIS prosecuted or settled with were exporting technology that had an obvious direct or indirect military application. Bushnell was fined for exporting night vision devices to Japan and fourteen other countries and Silicon Graphics was fined for exporting high power computers to the All-Russian Institute for Technical Physics. However, in some cases companies have been fined for exporting technologies that were not obviously weapon related. A company named Bio Check was fined for exporting medical diagnostic kits to Iran. In that case it was not so much what they exported but who they exported it to. Iran is on the "entity list" of state sponsors of terrorism, a list which also includes Cuba, Iran, Libya, North Korea, Sudan and Syria. Selling legally to any of these countries can be difficult at best. And many of the smaller exporting companies may not understand that, nor care to.

Believing that posting information about recent prosecutions and settlements would have an educational, if not intimidating, effect on American export businesses, the BIS has posted a number of recent cases on its Website. These contain worthwhile information about the kinds of violations that can be prosecuted, and the penalties companies can face.

It's funny , I have been in the water damage restoration industry for over 20 years. Yet every time I answer a call from a customer who has a water damage it's amazing that the same issues and questions are still asked. Here are a sample of some of the questions I have been asked and the answers that I know will help you in a tight situation.

Here is a story that happened many years ago. I received a call a couple of years ago from a man that said he had a sewage damage in his basement. It seems that the sewage line backed up into his basement and he had about two inches of sewage. I told him about our service and he said that he was only looking for advise. I then explained what he should do to clean and "correctly" disenfect his basement. Part of the cleaning process is to wear puncture resistant boots and rubber gloves. I explained that sewage can contain all types of diseases and dangerous microbes that could harm his health.

He stopped me there to explain that wearing protective clothing would not be necessary due to the fact that the sewage in his basement was his family not any one elses. Shocked at that statement I explained to him that in sewage systems that back, normally involve the county sewer system. This as you can imagine has everybody's waste now in your basement. He was now sharing everybodies disesases, microbes, aids microbes, hepetitas,( the list goes on).

I then heard a silence and I asked if he was still on the phone. He started to speak very low and asked if they should go to the hospital to be checked out. I said it would be a good idea.