Biro Jasa Konsultan ISO 9001 Murah di Bireuen

saco-indonesia.com, Apabila sekarang ini mayoritas perangkat mobile telah menggunakan produk dari Corning yaitu Gorilla Glass, a

saco-indonesia.com, Apabila sekarang ini mayoritas perangkat mobile telah menggunakan produk dari Corning yaitu Gorilla Glass, ada pula rumor bahwa akan dibuatnya layar berbahan safir. Kali ini muncul berita serupa yaitu layar berbahan kulit kerang.

Para peneliti dari McGill University, Kanada, ingin mencoba mengembangkan sebuah layar yang tahan banting dan benturan. Para peneliti tersebut telah terinspirasi dari kekuatan kerang.

Dikutip dari Cnet (30/01), para peneliti tersebut juga menjelaskan, "Kerang moluska telah memiliki lapisan luar yang boleh terbilang rapuh, namun apabila jika dibandingkan dengan bagian dalamnya, maka sangat berbeda, karena sangat kuat."

Oleh karena itu, para peneliti yang telah dipimpin oleh Profesor Francois Barthelat itu ingin mencoba meneliti dan meniru lapisan demi lapisan termasuk juga jaringan yang terdapat pada kerang untuk dapat diaplikasikan ke sebuah layar anti-bentur.

Barthelat juga berharap nantinya apabila penelitian yang dia lakukan bersama tim-nya itu akan berhasil, maka tidak hanya di perangkat mobile saja , penemuannya itu dapat juga digunakan di banyak hal.

Editor : Dian Sukmawati

Meski harga komputer personal (PC) makin terjangkau, banyak pihak yang masih membutuhkan jasa penyewaan komputer. Bisnis penyewa

Meski harga komputer personal (PC) makin terjangkau, banyak pihak yang masih membutuhkan jasa penyewaan komputer. Bisnis penyewaan PC pun juga masih lumayan. Sebuah perusahaan penyedia jasa sewa komputer masih menangguk omzet ratusan juta rupiah sebulan. Kuncinya harus fokus pada pasar tertentu, serta harus siap untuk merawat pelanggan dan komputer.

Tingginya ketergantungan pada komputer, telah membuat keberadaan produk ini seakan menjadi kebutuhan primer untuk dapat mendukung pekerjaan atau sebagai media hiburan. Apalagi, produsen komputer kian jeli untuk menciptakan berbagai produk tertentu, yang sesuai dengan kebutuhan atau kantong konsumen, sehingga makin banyak orang yang mampu membeli komputer personal.

Namun, meski banyak orang telah memiliki komputer sendiri, ternyata tidak menyurutkan bisnis penyewaan komputer personal (PC). Tengok saja, usaha penyewaan PC milik Andi Susanto. Pemilik PT Megawastu Solusindo di Jakarta ini mampu untuk menangguk omzet hingga Rp 500 juta tiap bulan. "Usaha penyewaan PC juga masih menguntungkan sampai saat ini," ujarnya.

Minat perusahaan untuk menyewa PC masih tinggi. Mereka terhindar dari biaya pembelian, biaya penggantian dan perawatan. Sementara PC juga sangat penting dan dibutuhkan terus-menerus. "Dengan menyewa, perusahaan bisa menekan pengeluaran mereka," tutur Andi.

Andi mengawali usahanya sejak 2003. Pria yang semula bekerja di sebuah media ekonomi ini tertarik menekuni bisnis penyewaan PC, karena ia banyak berhubungan dengan perbankan. "Saya melihat bank membutuhkan dukungan PC yang bagus," kata Andi.

Dalam usahanya ini, Andi pun hanya memasok PC untuk bagian trading di bank. Kesuksesannya pun juga tak lepas dari strategi untuk fokus pada target pasar dan merawat konsumennya dengan baik.

Hingga kini, Megawastu Solusindo masih konsisten menyewakan PC khusus bagi kantor-kantor bank. Mereka juga sudah mempunyai klien yang berasal dari 10 bank besar di Indonesia.

Harga sewa komputer dipatok mulai Rp 500.000 hingga Rp 1 juta per bulan. Penentuan tarif sewa juga bergantung pada spesifikasi kebutuhan PC.

Andi juga menawarkan sistem sewa dengan jangka waktu bulanan hingga tahunan. "Tapi, kami juga mempunyai kebijakan kontrak per tiga bulan supaya pemasukan lebih lancar," ujarnya.

Dalam usaha ini, menurut Andi, yang paling penting adalah melakukan perawatan PC secara rutin. Maklum, dunia perbankan membutuhkan kecepatan data dan arus informasi secara real time.

Klien biasanya menginginkan, bila terjadi kerusakan pada PC harus seminim mungkin. Karena itu, Andi juga harus selalu siap menyediakan teknisi bila terjadi kerusakan. Para teknisi pun harus memantau secara rutin kondisi PC yang selalu menyala itu.

Sekali sepekan, teknisi biasanya mengecek PC yang disewa. Mereka akan membersihkan komputer tersebut dari gangguan virus. "Saya juga harus membayar denda jika terjadi kerusakan yang melebihi perjanjian," ujar Andi.

Namun, kesuksesan dari bisnis penyewaan komputer tak hanya dengan mengandalkan klien dari perbankan. Menurut Hery Siswanto, Manajer Marketing PT Natari, banyak perusahaan membutuhkan penyewaan komputer untuk mendukung kinerja perusahaan.

Perusahaan yang terkenal ini telah menjalani bisnis penyewaan komputer sejak 2004 lalu . Hery juga mengakui, konsumennya terus bertambah hingga saat ini. "Bahkan, kami masih kewalahan dalam melayani kebutuhan klien di Jakarta," ujar Hery.

Natari biasanya telah menyewakan komputer untuk keperluan pelatihan karyawan maupun seminar. Karena mengincar pasar ini, mereka biasanya menuai banyak permintaan pada awal bulan dalam triwulan pertama setiap tahunnya.

Berbeda dengan Megawastu Solusindo, Natari menetapkan harga sewa harian. Biaya sewa komputer telah dibanderol antara Rp 80.000 hingga Rp 100.000 per unit setiap hari.

Hery bilang, perusahaan bisa mendulang omzet lebih dari Rp 100 juta per bulan. Untuk mendukung bisnisnya, Natari juga menyiapkan 500 unit komputer personal.

Hery menjelaskan, para kliennya lebih memilih menyewa PC untuk pelatihan atau seminar. Pasalnya, komputer personal lebih nyaman dipakai bila dibandingkan dengan menggunakan laptop. Selain itu, perusahaan juga ingin mengurangi risiko kecurian jika menggunakan laptop.

Ada beragam perusahaan yang menjadi klien Natari. Mulai dari perusahaan asuransi, perusahaan TI dan juga kalangan perbankan. Hery berpesan, dalam bisnis ini yang penting menjaga kepercayaan pelanggan.

WASHINGTON — A decade after emergency trailers meant to shelter Hurricane Katrina victims instead caused burning eyes, sore throats and other more serious ailments, the Environmental Protection Agency is on the verge of regulating the culprit: formaldehyde, a chemical that can be found in commonplace things like clothes and furniture.

But an unusual assortment of players, including furniture makers, the Chinese government, Republicans from states with a large base of furniture manufacturing and even some Democrats who championed early regulatory efforts, have questioned the E.P.A. proposal. The sustained opposition has held sway, as the agency is now preparing to ease key testing requirements before it releases the landmark federal health standard.

The E.P.A.’s five-year effort to adopt this rule offers another example of how industry opposition can delay and hamper attempts by the federal government to issue regulations, even to control substances known to be harmful to human health.

Continue reading the main story

 

Document: The Formaldehyde Fight

Formaldehyde is a known carcinogen that can also cause respiratory ailments like asthma, but the potential of long-term exposure to cause cancers like myeloid leukemia is less well understood.

The E.P.A.’s decision would be the first time that the federal government has regulated formaldehyde inside most American homes.

“The stakes are high for public health,” said Tom Neltner, senior adviser for regulatory affairs at the National Center for Healthy Housing, who has closely monitored the debate over the rules. “What we can’t have here is an outcome that fails to confront the health threat we all know exists.”

The proposal would not ban formaldehyde — commonly used as an ingredient in wood glue in furniture and flooring — but it would impose rules that prevent dangerous levels of the chemical’s vapors from those products, and would set testing standards to ensure that products sold in the United States comply with those limits. The debate has sharpened in the face of growing concern about the safety of formaldehyde-treated flooring imported from Asia, especially China.

What is certain is that a lot of money is at stake: American companies sell billions of dollars’ worth of wood products each year that contain formaldehyde, and some argue that the proposed regulation would impose unfair costs and restrictions.

Determined to block the agency’s rule as proposed, these industry players have turned to the White House, members of Congress and top E.P.A. officials, pressing them to roll back the testing requirements in particular, calling them redundant and too expensive.

“There are potentially over a million manufacturing jobs that will be impacted if the proposed rule is finalized without changes,” wrote Bill Perdue, the chief lobbyist at the American Home Furnishings Alliance, a leading critic of the testing requirements in the proposed regulation, in one letter to the E.P.A.

Industry opposition helped create an odd alignment of forces working to thwart the rule. The White House moved to strike out key aspects of the proposal. Subsequent appeals for more changes were voiced by players as varied as Senator Barbara Boxer, Democrat of California, and Senator Roger Wicker, Republican of Mississippi, as well as furniture industry lobbyists.

Hurricane Katrina in 2005 helped ignite the public debate over formaldehyde, after the deadly storm destroyed or damaged hundreds of thousands of homes along the Gulf of Mexico, forcing families into temporary trailers provided by the Federal Emergency Management Agency.

The displaced storm victims quickly began reporting respiratory problems, burning eyes and other issues, and tests then confirmed high levels of formaldehyde fumes leaking into the air inside the trailers, which in many cases had been hastily constructed.

Public health advocates petitioned the E.P.A. to issue limits on formaldehyde in building materials and furniture used in homes, given that limits already existed for exposure in workplaces. But three years after the storm, only California had issued such limits.

Industry groups like the American Chemistry Council have repeatedly challenged the science linking formaldehyde to cancer, a position championed by David Vitter, the Republican senator from Louisiana, who is a major recipient of chemical industry campaign contributions, and whom environmental groups have mockingly nicknamed “Senator Formaldehyde.”

Continue reading the main story

Typical

laminate

flooring

CLEAR FINISH LAYER

Often made of melamine resin

PATTERN LAYER

Paper printed to resemble wood,

or a thin wood veneer

GLUE

Layers may be bound using

formaldehyde-based glues

CORE LAYER

Fiberboard or other

composite, formed using

formaldehyde-based adhesives

BASE LAYER

Moisture-resistant vapor barrier

What is formaldehyde?

Formaldehyde is a common chemical used in many industrial and household products as an adhesive, bonding agent or preservative. It is classified as a volatile organic compound. The term volatile means that, at room temperature, formaldehyde will vaporize, or become a gas. Products made with formaldehyde tend to release this gas into the air. If breathed in large quantities, it may cause health problems.

WHERE IT IS COMMONLY FOUND

POTENTIAL HEALTH RISKS

Pressed-wood and composite wood products

Wallpaper and paints

Spray foam insulation used in construction

Commercial wood floor finishes

Crease-resistant fabrics

In cigarette smoke, or in the fumes from combustion of other materials, including wood, oil and gasoline.

Exposure to formaldehyde in sufficient amounts may cause eye, throat or skin irritation, allergic reactions, and respiratory problems like coughing, wheezing or asthma.

Long-term exposure to high levels has been associated with cancer in humans and laboratory animals.

Exposure to formaldehyde may affect some people more severely than others.

Sources: Consumer Product Safety Commission; Minnesota Department of Health

 

By The New York Times

By 2010, public health advocates and some industry groups secured bipartisan support in Congress for legislation that ordered the E.P.A. to issue federal rules that largely mirrored California’s restrictions. At the time, concerns were rising over the growing number of lower-priced furniture imports from Asia that might include contaminated products, while also hurting sales of American-made products.

Maneuvering began almost immediately after the E.P.A. prepared draft rules to formally enact the new standards.

White House records show at least five meetings in mid-2012 with industry executives — kitchen cabinet makers, chemical manufacturers, furniture trade associations and their lobbyists, like Brock R. Landry, of the Venable law firm. These parties, along with Senator Vitter’s office, appealed to top administration officials, asking them to intervene to roll back the E.P.A. proposal.

The White House Office of Management and Budget, which reviews major federal regulations before they are adopted, apparently agreed. After the White House review, the E.P.A. “redlined” many of the estimates of the monetary benefits that would be gained by reductions in related health ailments, like asthma and fertility issues, documents reviewed by The New York Times show.

As a result, the estimated benefit of the proposed rule dropped to $48 million a year, from as much as $278 million a year. The much-reduced amount deeply weakened the agency’s justification for the sometimes costly new testing that would be required under the new rules, a federal official involved in the effort said.

“It’s a redlining blood bath,” said Lisa Heinzerling, a Georgetown University Law School professor and a former E.P.A. official, using the Washington phrase to describe when language is stricken from a proposed rule. “Almost the entire discussion of these potential benefits was excised.”

Senator Vitter’s staff was pleased.

“That’s a huge difference,” said Luke Bolar, a spokesman for Mr. Vitter, of the reduced estimated financial benefits, saying the change was “clearly highlighting more mismanagement” at the E.P.A.

The review’s outcome galvanized opponents in the furniture industry. They then targeted a provision that mandated new testing of laminated wood, a cheaper alternative to hardwood. (The California standard on which the law was based did not require such testing.)

But E.P.A. scientists had concluded that these laminate products — millions of which are sold annually in the United States — posed a particular risk. They said that when thin layers of wood, also known as laminate or veneer, are added to furniture or flooring in the final stages of manufacturing, the resulting product can generate dangerous levels of fumes from often-used formaldehyde-based glues.

Industry executives, outraged by what they considered an unnecessary and financially burdensome level of testing, turned every lever within reach to get the requirement removed. It would be particularly onerous, they argued, for small manufacturers that would have to repeatedly interrupt their work to do expensive new testing. The E.P.A. estimated that the expanded requirements for laminate products would cost the furniture industry tens of millions of dollars annually, while the industry said that the proposed rule over all would cost its 7,000 American manufacturing facilities over $200 million each year.

“A lot of people don’t seem to appreciate what a lot of these requirements do to a small operation,” said Dick Titus, executive vice president of the Kitchen Cabinet Manufacturers Association, whose members are predominantly small businesses. “A 10-person shop, for example, just really isn’t equipped to handle that type of thing.”

Photo

 

Big industry players also weighed in. Executives from companies including La-Z-Boy, Hooker Furniture and Ashley Furniture all flew to Washington for a series of meetings with the offices of lawmakers including House Speaker John Boehner, Republican of Ohio, and about a dozen other lawmakers, asking several of them to sign a letter prepared by the industry to press the E.P.A. to back down, according to an industry report describing the lobbying visit.

Within a matter of weeks, two letters — using nearly identical language — were sent by House and Senate lawmakers to the E.P.A. — with the industry group forwarding copies of the letters to the agency as well, and then posting them on its website.

The industry lobbyists also held their own meeting at E.P.A. headquarters, and they urged Jim Jones, who oversaw the rule-making process as the assistant administrator for the agency’s Office of Chemical Safety and Pollution Prevention, to visit a North Carolina furniture manufacturing plant. According to the trade group, Mr. Jones told them that the visit had “helped the agency shift its thinking” about the rules and how laminated products should be treated.

The resistance was particularly intense from lawmakers like Mr. Wicker of Mississippi, whose state is home to major manufacturing plants owned by Ashley Furniture Industries, the world’s largest furniture maker, and who is one of the biggest recipients in Congress of donations from the industry’s trade association. Asked if the political support played a role, a spokesman for Mr. Wicker replied: “Thousands of Mississippians depend on the furniture manufacturing industry for their livelihoods. Senator Wicker is committed to defending all Mississippians from government overreach.”

Individual companies like Ikea also intervened, as did the Chinese government, which claimed that the new rule would create a “great barrier” to the import of Chinese products because of higher costs.

Perhaps the most surprising objection came from Senator Boxer, of California, a longtime environmental advocate, whose office questioned why the E.P.A.’s rule went further than her home state’s in seeking testing on laminated products. “We did not advocate an outcome, other than safety,” her office said in a statement about why the senator raised concerns. “We said ‘Take a look to see if you have it right.’ ”

Safety advocates say that tighter restrictions — like the ones Ms. Boxer and Mr. Wicker, along with Representative Doris Matsui, a California Democrat, have questioned — are necessary, particularly for products coming from China, where items as varied as toys and Christmas lights have been found to violate American safety standards.

While Mr. Neltner, the environmental advocate who has been most involved in the review process, has been open to compromise, he has pressed the E.P.A. not to back down entirely, and to maintain a requirement that laminators verify that their products are safe.

An episode of CBS’s “60 Minutes” in March brought attention to the issue when it accused Lumber Liquidators, the discount flooring retailer, of selling laminate products with dangerous levels of formaldehyde. The company has disputed the show’s findings and test methods, maintaining that its products are safe.

“People think that just because Congress passed the legislation five years ago, the problem has been fixed,” said Becky Gillette, who then lived in coastal Mississippi, in the area hit by Hurricane Katrina, and was among the first to notice a pattern of complaints from people living in the trailers. “Real people’s faces and names come up in front of me when I think of the thousands of people who could get sick if this rule is not done right.”

An aide to Ms. Matsui rejected any suggestion that she was bending to industry pressure.

“From the beginning the public health has been our No. 1 concern,” said Kyle J. Victor, an aide to Ms. Matsui.

But further changes to the rule are likely, agency officials concede, as they say they are searching for a way to reduce the cost of complying with any final rule while maintaining public health goals. The question is just how radically the agency will revamp the testing requirement for laminated products — if it keeps it at all.

“It’s not a secret to anybody that is the most challenging issue,” said Mr. Jones, the E.P.A. official overseeing the process, adding that the health consequences from formaldehyde are real. “We have to reduce those exposures so that people can live healthy lives and not have to worry about being in their homes.”

Mr. Mankiewicz, an Oscar-nominated screenwriter for “I Want to Live!,” also wrote episodes of television shows such as “Star Trek” and “Marcus Welby, M.D.”