Monthly Archives: September 2012

Volkswagen (VW) and its Modular Transverse Matrix strategy for part commonality

Posted on September 3, 2012 by aviyer2010

An article in Fortune (July 23, 2012) describes VW’s plan to standardize the 60 % of a car model’s cost – the front axle, heating, air conditioning etc across 40 car models and thus seven million units. The projected savings … Continue reading →

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Lending plants to get OEMs back on track after the Japanese earthquake

Posted on September 3, 2012 by aviyer2010

A report published by the Congressional Research Service (“The Motor Vehicle Supply Chain: Effects of the Japanese Earthquake and Tsunami” by Bill Canis, May 23, 2011) describes an example in which Denso, a Tier 1 supplier to Toyota, decided to … Continue reading →

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40 % of US food produced is wasted – what is the impact ?

Posted on September 3, 2012 by aviyer2010

A paper produced by NRDC called “Wasted: How America Is Losing Up to 40 Percent of Its Food from Farm to Fork to Landfill”, suggests that 40 % of US food produced or $ 165 billion of value is wasted. … Continue reading →

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Planning for Greece exiting the euro

Posted on September 3, 2012 by aviyer2010

An article in the New York Times (September 3, 2012) describes plans by US companies in the event of an announcement that Greece will exit the euro and move back to the drachma. Some of them include sending employees into … Continue reading →

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Robots and the new US manufacturing competitiveness

Posted on September 2, 2012 by aviyer2010

An article in the New York Times (August 18, 2012) describes a solar panel plant in San Francisco that uses a significant amount of robots and few people, a Philips plant in the Netherlands that uses 10 % of the … Continue reading →

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Shift to territorial tax regime, or reduce environmental regulations to grow US manufacturing ?

Posted on September 2, 2012 by aviyer2010

An article in the Wall Street Journal (August 29, 2012) describes recommendations by manufacturers to the US government to enable growth in US manufacturing. Some recommend reducing environmental laws and thus decrease costs for US production – but this will … Continue reading →

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Indonesian illegal tin mining and the smartphone and tablet connection

Posted on September 2, 2012 by aviyer2010

An article in Bloombergbusinessweek (August 23, 2012) describes the dangerous conditions faced by miners at illegal mines in Indonesia, with demand and price increased riven by the collateral impact of bans against “conflict materials” in the Congo. With the tin … Continue reading →

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Making shoes for the world in Ethiopia ?

Posted on September 2, 2012 by aviyer2010

An article in the Economist (June 9, 2012) describes demand for $2 shoes in Ethiopia, as protection against injuries, worms etc that affect bare feet. The population of Ethiopia is expect to double by 2040, chronic hunger impacts fewer Ethiopians … Continue reading →

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Manufacturing hubs with entire supply chains in Ohio to be competitive

Posted on September 2, 2012 by aviyer2010

An article in Fortune (June 11, 2012) describes a plan proposed by Mark Kwamme to create Manufacturing hubs consisting of entire supply chains to compensate for higher labor costs. The goal is to reduce logistics costs and thus decrease overall … Continue reading →

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Moving production to the US despite lower Chinese manufacturing costs

Posted on September 2, 2012 by aviyer2010

An article in Bloombergbusinessweek (June 25, 2012) describes several examples of companies that moved production to the US from China, despite up to 30% lower Chinese manufacturing costs. For Lightsaver, the 30% lower manufacturing costs were compensated by costs of … Continue reading →

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