Monthly Archives: May 2011

Adjusting Apparel features to balance margins with appeal

Posted on May 31, 2011 by aviyer2010

An article in BloombergBusinessweek (May 30, 2011 page 18) describes efforts by designers to balance the needs of designers, who want clothes to be appealing, with manufacturers who want to produce them and maintain margins. This tug-of-war has become even … Continue reading →

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Uncoordinated Decisions by the US Energy department and supply chain impact

Posted on May 31, 2011 by aviyer2010

A New York Times article (May 28, 2011) describes one department selling the helium-3 gas as fast as the other department worked to build up stocks, thus creating a shortfall.  The gas is helium-3 that is cited as a “byproduct … Continue reading →

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Publishing vaccine prices paid across the UN system and impact

Posted on May 31, 2011 by aviyer2010

An article in the New York Times (May 27,2011) describes a decision by the United Nations Children’s Fund to list prices paid for vaccines on its website. The goal is to permit price transparency and thus, perhaps, to lower prices … Continue reading →

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Japan’s Tsunami and global supply chain resilience

Posted on May 31, 2011 by aviyer2010

An article in the International Herald Tribune (May 30, 2011) describes the resilience of companies like STM Microelectronics, that has managed to maintain their global supply chain smoother than expected. A survey of supply chain managers analyzed by the Gartner … Continue reading →

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China’s electricity rates and global supply chain impact

Posted on May 26, 2011 by aviyer2010

An article in the International Herald Tribune (25 May 2011) describes the fact that China’s central government has forced lower electricity prices to maintain export competitiveness. But utilities have responded with lower production, thus increasing production costs for factories. A … Continue reading →

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Toyota’s quality focus and slow response ?

Posted on May 26, 2011 by aviyer2010

A recent report, written by respected outsiders, but commissioned by Toyota, claims that the attributes of stability and predictability, that create quality products, may be to blame for the slow response to customer complaints regarding brake pads or sudden unintended … Continue reading →

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Volkswagen’s considers building the Audi in it’s US plant

Posted on May 26, 2011 by aviyer2010

An article in the Wall Street Journal (May 25, 2011) states that  US production enabled VW to drop prices for the Jetta by $ 8,000 thus enabling it to compete with Honda and Hyundai’s cars in the category.  In addition, … Continue reading →

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Power cuts in China and manufacturing impact

Posted on May 19, 2011 by aviyer2010

A Wall Street Journal article (18 May 2011) describes electricity rationing in Taizhou, China, which required some factories to halt production one day a week in March, two days a week in April and three days a week in May. … Continue reading →

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Liner conferences and antitrust in Europe

Posted on May 18, 2011 by aviyer2010

Liner conferences involved ship owners who discussed sharing capacity, stabilized port fees, etc. They were legal in Europe until 2008. Ship owners claim that their role was benign, and only helped to stabilize prices by increasing efficiency. A recent investigation … Continue reading →

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Robots to pick drug dosages

Posted on May 14, 2011 by aviyer2010

An article in Forbes (May 23, 2011,62-66) describes robotic picking and lifting of drug dosages by Remedi Seniorcare. Conveyor style robots take pills from tubes and create individual patient daily dosage sealed plastic pouches. This saves time for nurses and … Continue reading →

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