Category Archives: Capacity

Is the quality vs availability tradeoff for Hatchimals a good idea ?

Posted on January 7, 2017 by aviyer2010

As previously discussed in this blog, Hatchimals have been crowned the hit toy for the 2016 Holiday season. But a recent article in Fortune (December 28, 2016) titled “Meet the Hatchimals that Ruined Christmas (For some kids, anyway) describes toys … Continue reading →

Posted in Capacity, Cost, delivery, logistics, manufacturer, Supply Chain Issues, toy | Tagged , , , | Leave a comment

Will floating warehouses and drone delivery enable Amazon to deliver in minutes?

Posted on December 29, 2016 by aviyer2010

An article in CNN.com titled “Amazon patent hints at floating warehouses in the sky”  (December 29, 2016) describes a plan to carry anticipated inventory in a blimp located close to customers, with drone delivery in minutes to a customer.  Example … Continue reading →

Posted in Capacity, competitiveness, consumer, Cost, delivery, logistics, mgmt5612018, Operations Management, ordering, Supply Chain Issues, technology | Tagged | 46 Comments

Do surging ecommerce orders portend lower ontime Christmas deliveries by UPS and FedEx

Posted on December 17, 2016 by aviyer2010

An article in the Wall Street Journal (December 13, 2016) titled “UPS, FedEx Struggle to Keep Up with Surge in Holiday Orders” describes the increase in ecommerce orders from 18% last year to 25% this year and a reduction in … Continue reading →

Posted in Capacity, competitiveness, consumer, Cost, delivery, Ecommerce, Supply Chain Issues, Uncategorized | Tagged , , , | Leave a comment

Amazon uses trucks to move data to the cloud faster

Posted on December 2, 2016 by aviyer2010

An article in the Wall Street Journal (November 30, 2016) titled “Amazon Uses Trucks to Drive Data Faster” describes use of a 45 foot shipping container with 100 petabytes of data to move data from a company to the cloud … Continue reading →

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The Lock 52 bottleneck and potential impact

Posted on November 28, 2016 by aviyer2010

An article in the New York Times (November 23, 2016) titled “Choke Point of a Nation:The High Cost of an Aging River Lock” describes the 80 million tons of grain, coal, fuel and other products worth $22 billion in trade … Continue reading →

Posted in Capacity, consumer, Cost, delivery, disruption, logistics | Tagged , , | 24 Comments

Including weather forecasts to improve fashion product profitability

Posted on November 27, 2016 by aviyer2010

An article in the Wall Street Journal (November 27,2016) titled “The Next Fashion Trend:Weather Forecasting” describes the impact of weather on fashion sales and thus the need for the fashion industry to learn about weather forecasting. It claims that the … Continue reading →

Posted in Capacity, consumer, Cost, logistics, Made in USA, mgmt5612018, Supply Chain Issues, technology | Tagged , , , , , , | 141 Comments

Voting lines in New York City, machine failures, repair personnel and backup

Posted on November 8, 2016 by aviyer2010

An article in the New York Times (November 8, 2016) describes the long lines to vote in New York City. The article describes 50 repair personnel allocated to repair machines in 1200 stations, but also stuck in traffic as they … Continue reading →

Posted in Capacity, Operations Management, technology | Tagged , | 3 Comments

Self Driving Truck Hauls beer 120 miles in Colorado

Posted on October 30, 2016 by aviyer2010

An article on October 25, 2016  in CNN.com (http://money.cnn.com/2016/10/25/technology/otto-budweiser-self-driving-truck/index.html?iid=ob_homepage_tech_pool) describes a trip made by an autonomous truck powered by Otto that carried 51, 744 cans of beer 120 miles in Colorado. The trip was planned and the truck was surrounded … Continue reading →

Posted in Capacity, Cost, delivery, disruption, logistics, technology, truck | Leave a comment

Understanding the reasons for GM’s shift of work from Mexico to Canada

Posted on September 30, 2016 by aviyer2010

An article in the New York Times (September 20, 2016)  titled “G.M. Job Shift From Mexico Tests a Trump Premise”, describes a decision by General Motors to shift work from an automobile engine plant in Mexico to Canada and shutting … Continue reading →

Posted in Capacity, competitiveness, consumer, Global Contexts, Made in USA, manufacturer, Operations Management | Tagged , , , | 1 Comment

Will water to boost engine performance be adopted by consumers ?

Posted on September 30, 2016 by aviyer2010

An article in the New York Times (September 29, 2016) titled “How do you make turbo engines more efficient, Just Add Water”, describes a technology by Bosch that sprays water on cylinders to cool combustion temperatures and increase engine efficiency … Continue reading →

Posted in Capacity, consumer, Cost, logistics, manufacturer, Service Operations, Uncategorized | Tagged , | Leave a comment