It’s All About the Freight – bESTology Week 8

Image: frteq.com

It’s All About the Freight – bESTology Week 8

It’s a fact – we do not produce 100% of products needed in our hometown, e.g. food, building materials, automobiles, school supplies, etc.  Therefore imports are essential.  That means some sort of exchange with other states and even other nations.  Goods being transported from place to place are referred to as freight.

bESTology 2014 has looked at the: surfaces freight travels; energy sources associated with that transport (week 7 and 2); mechanisms of travel (week 6); moving the freight safely (week 5); actual freight itself (week 4); and the folks that design the transport systems – the engineers (week 3).  This week we will look more specifically at freight movement and the costs associated with this complex system.

Resources:

• Transportation Costs and International Trade
• Freight Rate – According to Wikipedia
• Supply Chain Management – According to Wikipedia
• The Geography of Transport Systems
• Freight Rate Calculator
• Glossary of Freight Terms
• State Facts Sheet – list of commodities and more
• International Imports and Exports listed by State
• Reports list for each State of the Impact of Foreign Trade
• Freight 101
• Globalization:  Flashback to 1951
• 2013 BEST Consumable Kit List
• BEST Hubs  – map with locations across America

Brainstorming:

Now that our CPU’s are complete (thanks to hard work during Gatekeeper 2013), BEST Manufacturing is ready to ship robots and we need your help.  Using the Freight Rate Calculator above, calculate rail vs. truck shipping costs for a fully loaded 40’ container of mechanical/fabricated robot components valued at $250,000 from your hometown to Lubbock, TX.  Debate the pros and cons of rail vs. trucks when considering points of pick up and delivery, time, weight and costs.  Determine whether air or water transportation could possibly be a viable means of shipping the robots.

Writing:

Game Time!  Create a game with a goal of transporting a product from the east coast to the west coast.  Transportation costs (money), geography/terrain, type of product, energy (fuel), mode of transportation, surcharges/fees and infrastructures should be taken into consideration during game development.  As in any game, rules are important.  Write a detailed set of rules and beta test the game with your classmates or family.  Refine your rules reflecting feedback from the beta test.  Share your game with other BEST teams this fall during the season of Bladerunner!  Be sure to post photos of your game in action on our BEST Facebook page.

BEST Robot:

“Don’t take things for granted”, our elders often tell us.  Have you ever considered where all the individual items in a BEST consumable kit are manufactured and how they arrive in your community?  Review the kit list and research the closest manufacturer and how each item is transported as freight to BEST hubs across the country.

Community Connection:

According to the Journal of Economic Perspectives (David Hummels. 2007. Transportation Costs and International Trade in the Second Era of Globalization. Journal of Economic Perspectives 3, 131-154), roughly 23% of world trade occurs between countries that share land borders.  Trade between neighbors is dominated by surface modes like truck, rail and pipeline opposed to air and ocean.   How does this look between neighboring states in the U.S.?  List the states that border your home state.  Identify 10 items your state exports to your neighboring states and vice versa.  Determine the mode of transportation for each commodity.  Invite a guest from your local Economic Development office or Chamber of Commerce to share the economic impact of trade on your community.

Challenge: Identify a Supply Chain Management engineer and invite him/her to visit your classroom to share what a typical work day is like as an engineer.

Bloom’s Taxonomy: calculate, consider, create, debate, determine, identify, invite, list, refine, research, review, share, write.

Workforce Skills:  reading comprehension, active listening, critical thinking, speaking, active learning, coordination, writing, systems analysis, complex problem solving, mathematics.

Correlates with “It’s All About the Money”  bESTology Week 9 – 2014