Life Cycle Analysis - Case Study Example

Running Header: Life Cycle Analysis Write Here Life Cycle Analysis of Coyote Logistics Write Here Write your University Name here Date of Submission Here Abstract This paper talks about the life cycle analysis of Coyote Logistics. Life Cycle assessment analyses the company's social costs against the benefits it is rendering to the society. In order to do this we have first collected data about this company. From this data, we arrived at the figure of social costs. Then we used another set of data to come at figure of benefits that this company is rendering to the society. After that we have compared the both sets of data and analyzed the results. I have also commented on my finding on how each figure could either be adverse or positive for the company as well as other stake holders. In the end I have concluded this paper with my final words. The conclusion consisted of possible strategies or plans of action that the company could take to come out of the position it is in at the moment. In the end, I would like to state that the purpose of this paper was only academic and it was not intended to take any unlawful gain from the data used in this paper. Coyote Logistics are industry leader in logistics industry. It was founded in 2006 in Chicago, Illinois. They provide a wide range of services to their clients. These services include: Supply Chain Management, Transportation and Technological Solutions. In terms of revenue the company is going from strength to strength Coyote Logistics' revenue grew 587.5 percent from 2006 to 2008 according to the company. They also increased the number of the employees from 82 in 2006 to about 350 at the end of 2008. In order to qualify, the company had to be privately owned, based in the 20-county metro Atlanta area and not be a subsidiary of another company. It has to have been established in the first quarter of 2006 or earlier, and to have had 2008 revenue between $1 million and $300 million. Coyote logistics is the industry leader in logistics industry. It provides various services to its client such as transportation, supply chain management and other operations that are important in the days to day affairs of different businesses. It has been doing well and according to its vision it says it wants to provide best possible experience to its clients. If we look at the company from the lens of life-cycle assessment we will determine the company's true worth in the social environment. The Life Cycle Analysis or Assessment is the investigation and it is a means by which we evaluate the true worth of the company for society. It helps us in determining environmental costs and benefits that the company is rendering. These costs are known as social costs. The first thing that used in the life cycle analysis is determining the goal and scope of this analysis. In our case we want to determine the social costs of Coyote Logistics. Coyote Logistics is using modern technology in its operations. So, our scope will deeper in determining how this technology is developed. If Coyote Logistics technology has result in destruction of any natural resources while experimenting then the cost of that natural resources will be apportion to the product in which this technology is used. Similarly, as a result of development of this new technology, some costs would have been reduced and the society would have been benefitted from this cost reduction and these will be considered as possible benefits for the society or social benefits. So, we want to assess the technological aspect of Coyote Logistics and that is where we will set our boundaries. If we do not set these boundaries we will have assess every single detail and that would be impossible to compute and will be too time consuming. The next step is called Life Cycle Inventory Analysis. In this stage we will collected the data from Coyote Logistic about their products and based on our findings created a model. According to their Coyotelogistics.com, they have been able out perform other companies worth more than $250 million. If this is taken as true, it can be both positive and negative for the society. It is bad in a way that $250 million worth of capital is lying idle and could have been used for other better uses. It is also bad in a way that there will be unemployment in the other companies and some might companies might have to close down if they were not able to compete with Coyote Logistics thus creating other economic problems. However, this is beneficial because the growth of Coyote Logistics will mean more employment for the people and this will be a good sign. However, as the company will grow there is chance that technology will replace labor in search of lower cost. This will mean that company which aims to invest in high technology is going to pose problems for the society as people will get unemployed. Similarly, In their transportation business, Coyote Logistics use almost 200000 liters of oil daily which results in pollution and other problems like scarcity and opportunity costs of the usage of this oil. The company is also contributing to global warming by the use of oil and diesel in their transportation business. Similarly, their head office is consuming around 1 MW of electricity daily due to heavy machinery. This usage of electricity will mean that now the company will have to produce or buy more electricity which means that more fossil fuels are burn and company is going to create environmental impact which is going to hurt the society badly. The Head Office of the company is centrally air-conditioned which mean that more C02 emission is going to occur. Similarly, the use of air-conditioning is going to emit CFC which are going to further damage the green-house effect and give rise to global warming. After all the impacts have been measured, we come to the final stage of analysis which is known as Interpretation Stage. In this stage we compare the data and financial figures that we have obtained to the goal and scope set. In case of Coyote Logistics, I think that data is giving the true picture that Coyote is giving more costs to the society than benefits. They further intend to replace labor with technology by moving onto a more capital intensive production plant. This is going to further worsen the problem. This will reduce down the benefits to the society in term of labor employment and will generate more costs in term of electricity usage, scare resources usage and more pollution. Similarly, the larger production facility that Coyote Logistics intend to build will require more energy and more air conditioning. This will again increase the costs to the society in terms of CO2 emission and CFC. Conclusion: From the above discussion we can safely conclude that Life Cycle Analysis do not suggest favorable signs for the company. From the data and financial figures that were analyzed, one can safely conclude that at the moment the company is not giving as much to the society much, but instead it is rendering more social costs than social benefits. One way to improve the condition could be that this company should disperse a lot of charitable donation to increase their social benefits and equate social costs with the figure of social benefits. Only this way Coyote Logistics could become a favorable company, otherwise they may have to either cut down social cost making aspects of the business and the company may have to end profitable operations of the company. So it is better that this company should give a lot of charitable donation so that it gives as much to society, as much it is taking from it. References: Coyote Logistics Online, Visited on 17 June 2009 www.coyotelogistics.com GM Trade Area, Visited on 18 June 2009 www.grn.com/trade/aa1102975.html GDRC Online, Visited on 19 June 2009 www.gdrc.com/lifecyleassesment I Read More