Word: plant
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Dates: during 2000-2009
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...there are few sure things in Afghan commerce. Not even a powerful international brand like Coca-Cola is guaranteed success. In September, Habib Gulzar Non-Alcoholic Beverages, Coke's franchisee in Afghanistan, opened a $25 million dollar bottling plant on the outskirts of Kabul. The modern facility-the first such factory to open since the fall of the Taliban-is large enough to produce 40,000 cases of soda a day. But the factory is operating at less than 20% of its capacity. Asked to estimate when the investment might be recouped, Salman Rawn, country manager for Coca-Cola Afghanistan...
...south, is off-limits because militants and bandits make it too dangerous to truck goods there. In many places, Coke smuggled in from neighboring Pakistan is available in shops at significantly lower prices than the Afghan-produced bottles. The cost of safeguarding Coca-Cola's local bottling plant and employees from attacks has soared as suicide bombings have increased in Kabul. And some of the government's pro-business promises have not materialized, says Sayed Mustafa Kazimi, the former Commerce Minister who signed the Coca-Cola license on behalf of the government. "I didn't go to the [factory] opening...
...Rawn defends Coca-Cola's $25 million investment in Afghanistan, saying the objective was not just to make money, but also to help industrialize the country. "If you plant a tree you can't expect to have fruit the first day. But if you don't plant at all, you will never have fruit." That sentiment is shared by Shakib Noori, p.r. director of the Afghanistan Investment Support Agency, the country's business-licensing body. Afghanistan imports some $5 billion worth of goods every year, and "half of those products could be produced here in Afghanistan," says Noori. "Dairy, foodstuffs...
...comes Dust Networks. To connect sensors in factories, commercial buildings or any type of processing plant, the four- year-old start-up developed a small wireless hub that relays measurements along a daisy chain of stations to pool collected data. In what is called a mesh network, each station passes along data to the nearest available station, using any one of many communication channels. The mesh network solves the problem faced by other wireless systems in factory settings: being blocked by giant metal structures. The system uses so little power that stations can go 10 years without a battery change...
...deal on this particular planet. So is medicine, where no breakthrough is small, whether it's Amorfix's blood test for mad cow disease or HealthSTATS' wristwatch-like device that measures blood pressure. Either one could save your life. And speaking of lifesaving, how about Aresa's landmine-detecting plant? Not as hip as Technorati, a Web-search wonder, but in war's bloody wake, this is one weed that will be appreciated...