Category Archives: Collaboration

Boeing production rampup and the role of supply chain examiners

Posted on December 30, 2011 by aviyer2010

An article in the Wall Street Journal (Dec 30, 2011) describes Boeing’s backlog of 3,500 airplanes, worth $ 270 billion, and the need to rampup production by 60 % in the next three years to maintain delivery commitments. Competition from … Continue reading →

Posted in Collaboration, Global Contexts, Operations Management, Service Operations, Supply Chain Issues | Tagged Capability, Collaboration, competition, Cost, Design, Global, manufacturing, Outsourcing, Service, Suppliers, Supply Chain | Leave a comment

Balancing Wind, Water energy and salmon interests

Posted on December 10, 2011 by aviyer2010

An article in the New York Times (Dec 7, 2011) describes the coordinating role played by a Federal power agency, Bonneville Power Administration, that was faced with accepting power from hydroelectric and wind sources during stormy weather. The agency dropped … Continue reading →

Posted in Collaboration, Operations Management, Service Operations, Supply Chain Issues, Sustainability | Tagged Capacity, Collaboration, Coordination, Cost, salmon, storms, Supply Chain, supply surge, Sustainable | Leave a comment

A closed loop CO2 Supply chain?

Posted on November 20, 2011 by aviyer2010

An article in Fortune (Oct 17,2011) describes the mismatch between demand for CO2, its indequate supply in pure form, but its prevalence in the air. Demand for CO2 is from soda manufacturers to make bubbles, greenhouse gases to speed plant … Continue reading →

Posted in Collaboration, Operations Management, Supply Chain Issues, Sustainability | Tagged Capacity, CO2, Cost, demand, regulation, Suppliers, Supply Chain, Sustainable | Leave a comment

Immigrant networks, trust and supply chain speed

Posted on November 18, 2011 by aviyer2010

An article in the Economist (Nov 19,2011) describes a hypothetical example of a Chinese trader in Indonesia who, seeing a market opportunity for umbrellas, uses his cousin in Shenzhen to quickly source and ship product for sale in Indonesia. Contract … Continue reading →

Posted in Collaboration, Global Contexts, Service Operations, Supply Chain Issues | Tagged Coordination, Cost, Efficiency, Global, Suppliers, Supply Chain | Leave a comment

Strategies to decrease procurement costs – not just a price focus

Posted on October 23, 2011 by aviyer2010

In a talk by Mr Haaije van der Brug, Procurement Manager for Shell in Russia, on October 18, 2011, he described the 40/40/20 practice at Shell. The claim is that cost savings are generated only 20 % of the time … Continue reading →

Posted in Collaboration, Global Contexts, Operations Management, Supply Chain Issues | Tagged Capability, Collaboration, competition, Cost, Design, Global, Service, Suppliers, Supply Chain | 21 Comments

Apple iPhone model changes and planning by case makers

Posted on October 19, 2011 by aviyer2010

An article in bloombergbusinessweek (Oct 17,2011) describes pressures faced by iPhone case manufacturers, a $ 450 million market, when new iPhones models are announced by Apple. Rely on leaks and rumors regarding the new phone and invest in tools in … Continue reading →

Posted in Collaboration, Global Contexts, Service Operations, Supply Chain Issues | Tagged Capacity, Collaboration, competition, Design, Global, manufacturing, Supply Chain | Leave a comment

The US Navy’s concern about sole suppliers for defense

Posted on October 2, 2011 by aviyer2010

An article in Bloombergbusinessweek (Sept 5, 2011) describes the worry in the Navy that their sole sourced contract for the Aegis Combat System with Lockheed Martin may not have delivered the best deal. Past contracts to Lockheed have been under … Continue reading →

Posted in Collaboration, Operations Management, Supply Chain Issues | Tagged Collaboration, competition, Cost, Design, Dual Sourcing, manufacturing, Navy, Outsourcing, Service, Suppliers | 1 Comment

The benefit of a public private response during an emergency

Posted on October 1, 2011 by aviyer2010

A BloombergBusinessweek article (Sept 5, 2011) describes how private businesses provided faster and cheaper response compared to the government. Local restaurants provided meals at half the $ 8 price per meal of FEMA rations. Emergencies in Louisiana now routinely involve … Continue reading →

Posted in Collaboration, Operations Management, Service Operations, Supply Chain Issues | Tagged Capability, Capacity, Emergency, Outsourcing, Response, Service, Speed, Supply Chain | Leave a comment

Should the Indian govt squeeze foreign acquisitions of its drug companies ?

Posted on September 27, 2011 by aviyer2010

A Wall Street Journal article (Sept 27, 2011) describes worries by the Indian govt regarding the future impact of foreign acquisitions of its local drug firms – Abbot buying Piramal Healthcare and Daiichi Sankyo buying Ranbaxy Labs Ltd. The worry … Continue reading →

Posted in Collaboration, Global Contexts, Operations Management, Supply Chain Issues | Tagged Collaboration, Consumers, Cost, drugs, Global, manufacturing, Supply Chain | Leave a comment

Village Health volunteers and health care success in Thailand

Posted on September 27, 2011 by aviyer2010

A New York Times article (Sept 27, 2011) describes the role of Village Health volunteers – one million strong in a nation of 65 million, who watch for disease outbreaks, spread warnings wen detected and thus curb infectious diseases. These … Continue reading →

Posted in Collaboration, Global Contexts, Supply Chain Issues, Sustainability | Tagged Consumers, Cost, Global, Growth, healthcare, Supply Chain, volunteers | Leave a comment