Fake Contact Lenses

Counterfeit products are no longer limited to health products, IT gadgets and branded goods, now even contact lenses are not spared. What is scary is that it is legitimate shops knowingly selling such products.

In recent years, in an attempt to cut costs and earn more profit, people have devised ingenious yet harmful products. From highly sought after IT gadgets (i.e. Apple iPhone), branded goods, all the way down to daily necessities (i.e. milk, eggs) and children’s toys. There’s just about a counterfeit for almost everything available in the (black) market.

Now there are even counterfeit contact lenses, which are harmful to the eyes. For the first time in Singapore, the Health Sciences Authority (HSA) has confiscated over 100 boxes of counterfeit colored contact lenses from legitimate suppliers, such as licensed optical shops. The confiscated boxes of counterfeit lenses were obtained after raiding five optical shops across the island. Currently, more than 10 people are also being questioned in connection to the case.

It was reported that the counterfeit contact lenses were fraudulently labeled as “FreshLook ColorBlends” Contact Lenses from CIBA VISION. These counterfeits were found to be unsafe and of poor quality: the solution in which the lenses are packed were tested and determined to have been contaminated with Pseudomonas aeruginosa, a harmful bacteria known to cause serious eye infections. The packaging for the counterfeits looks almost authentic, apart from typographical errors on the packaging. A closer look on how to spot the counterfeits here

To date, the Health Sciences Authority (HSA) has reported that one anonymous consumer, who is in her 30s, removed the lenses immediately when she could not close her eyes after wearing them.

According to CIBA VISION, this is...Read more >>

Smile, Honey

Smile, Honey is a family Korean drama that revolves around 2 families and their interactions. First, there is the Suh family, who owe their riches and prestige to the now-deceased CEO/father/grandfather. There are 5 members in the Suh family: Suh Jung-gil who is the head of the family, his wife Ju-hee, Sung joon the eldest son who went to U.S. to become a pro golfer, Jung-Kyung the second child in the family and Jung-in, the youngest daughter.

Jung-gil is a snobbish man and looks down on people who have no money, his wife is more of an air-head that only cares about her nails and feels faint at the slightest sign of trouble of hardwork.

Bascially, the whole Suh family, except for Jung-kyung are snotty and out of touch with reality. Jung-kyung is the only one in her family that is rational. However, she is a little too rational and practical; that it would seem that she lacks emotion: she’s cool, professional, and detached. Her attitude causes strain to her relationship with her younger sister Jung-in. Jung-kyung chooses to focus on her career and at the start of the show, interacts or spends very little time with her family, preferring to stay at the hospital than go home. She does not think too highly of her younger sister who is the princess of the family and only dreams about getting married into a good rich family.

Then there is the Kang family. Kang Man-bok (Grandpd Kang) has been the driver to the Suh family since Jung-gil’s father’s time. Jung-gil is rude to Man-bok and disrespectful to him; he even fires Man-bok one morning because he felt that Man-bok was nagging too much. Gandpa Kang is not necessarily the lead character but certainly the central one who holds the rest together...Read more>>

Minit-lube’s Mission

A brief explanation on what is Minit-Lube’s mission and purpose.

According to Heizer & Render (2008), a mission is defined as an organization’s purpose, it provides the boundaries and focus for an organization: it states the rationale or purpose for an organization’s existence on how it will contribute to the society. Hence, it is important for the mission to be well defined.

The mission of Minit-Lube constitutes providing fast economical vehicle maintenance (i.e. oil changes and lubrication), and interior auto cleaning in a spotless environment: ensuring fast, reliable and superior services in a customer friendly environment and trying to keep the price as low as possible. For example, cars can be driven through three abreast into three service bays, with each service bay manned by a service team. Precise task assignments and good training ...Read more>>

Tangible and Intangile Parts of Minit-lube’s Service

Briefly discusses what the tangible and intangible Parts of Minit-Lube’s service are.

Minit-Lube’s product is a combination of intangible and tangible parts. The intangible part would be its service action which is unique, requires high customer interaction, and is produced and consumed at the same time. For instance, the service component (service performed) consists of service representatives/personnel: representatives greeting customers and taking their orders, and personnel performing tasks such as providing oil changes, lubrication and interior cleaning services. Having employees that serve customers with a smile, creates a customer friendly environment, and improves customer relationship; increasing revenue for Minit-Lube when customers are satisfied with the service...Read more>>

Disposable (Daily) Contact Lenses: Acuvue Trueye Review

There are many reasons why you would want to wear contact lens in place of your usual spectacles: you might want to look different or you simply want to have the convenience and practicality of contact lenses. Contact lenses are less prone steaming/fogging up as with glasses. They are also less affected by wet weather (no more droplets!), provide a wider field of vision, and are more suitable for a number of sporting activities.

If you are not intending to give up glasses for good and just want to look different once in a while, daily disposable contact lenses are a very good solution: they require no cleaning as they are thrown away daily after use and are convenient. The only downside is that they are more expensive than those weekly or monthly lenses.

Being a first time user of contact lens, it took me about 1 hour to learn how to insert and remove the contact lens. After that it was just a matter of practice. The type of contact lens that I tried was Acuvue TruEye. After telling the optometrist Ihad never traied contact lens and wanted to, was given a 5-day trial along with a 1-hour tutorial on how to use (insert and remove) them during a scheduled fitting session...Read more>>

Minit-Lube's 10 Operations Decisions That Provide Competitive Advantage

The following 10 operations decisions provide competitive advantage to Minit-Lube’s strategy (Heizer & Render 2008):

1. Product DesignMinit-Lube’s provides services, with a narrow product strategy, could be defined as “lubricating automobiles” (i.e. performing oil changes, lubrication and interior cleaning of vehicles). It allows the subsequent development of more focused and efficient operations. Minit-Lube seeks to differentiate itself from (traditional) competitors by facilitating fast service, and providing convenience to customers (i.e. it has a superior service design which enables it to service 3 cars at a time)...more>>

Challenges in Company Relocation from Urban to Rural

A heavily populated industrialized area’s environment is characterized as an area with socially and economically related adjacent communities. On the other hand, the environment of a small, rural town is characterized by large, isolated regions with low population density (e.g. small towns and farms). Moreover, the living costs of a heavily populated industrialized area are higher than that of a small, rural town. (Heizer & Render 2008)

One major problem will be reluctance to re-locate due to the drastic change in lifestyle from urban, fasting moving environment to a slower and more relaxed lifestyle; morale will be affected. Hence, there would concern for the employees working in the current urban site re-locating to a small, rural town heavily. The company may face resistance from employees as amenities of a small, rural town are lesser than that of a heavily populated industrialized area (i.e. employees may not want to live with the inconveniences and lack of amenities)... more>>