Category Archives: Cost

Did Boeing favor “Speed over Quality” ?

An article in the New York Times (March 28, 2024) titled “”‘Shortcuts Everywhere’: How Boeing Favored Speed over Quality” describes examples of monthly production rates of the 737 Max increased from 42 in 2017 to 52 in 2018, suppliers pushed … Continue reading

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Did Large Grocers use their size to get better delivery volumes during the Pandemic ?

An article in the Wall Street Journal (March 21, 2024) titled ‘FTC Finds Large Grocers Used Size to Stock Shelves During the Pandemic” describes claims that large grocery retailers demanded stricter delivery requirements and levied fines on suppliers who did … Continue reading

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Dynamic Pricing in restaurants and Impact

An article in the Wall Street Journal on March 10, 2024, titled ” Surge Pricing is coming to More Menus near you”, describes dynamic pricing at restaurants to reflect demand increases, estimated to increase revenues between 4 and 6%. The … Continue reading

Posted in Capacity, competitiveness, consumer, Cost, Operations Management, Prices, Service Operations, Uncategorized | Tagged , , | Leave a comment

The Logistics Impact of disruptions in the Suez and Panama canals

An article in the Wall Street Journal, March 10 2024, titled “Two Canals, Two Big Problems – One Global Shipping Mess” describes the logistics impact of low water levels in the Panama Canal and the Houthi rebel attacks on ships … Continue reading

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Are apparel brands responsible for minimum wage levels in Bangladesh?

An article in the Wall Street Journal (November 6, 2023) titled “The Workers who make your clothes want higher pay. Who should pay up?” describes the demand by workers in Bangladesh for higher wages, $205 per month, as against the … Continue reading

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Benefits of customer flexibility during the pandemic

An article in ASCM Insights (https://tinyurl.com/yyneu93x) describes reasons why retail grocery customers might be stockpiling.  The article suggests that retailers should deal with each reason separately, with appropriate steps to reassure customers.    There is also discussion of smaller retailers … Continue reading

Posted in Capacity, consumer, Cost, delivery, logistics, product, retailers | Tagged , , , , | 106 Comments

Hardware Chain Growth through the pandemic

An article in the Wall Street Journal (August 16, 2020 https://tinyurl.com/yxuaxu64) describes the impact of the pandemic on hardware chains such as Home Depot and Lowes.   From cancelling customer attracting, but low margin, promotions to ensure social distancing, to reordering … Continue reading

Posted in Capacity, competitiveness, congestion, consumer, Coordination, Cost, logistics, retailers, supplier, Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , | 49 Comments

The benefits of recycling robots to enable recycling efficiency

An article in techcrunch.com, titled “Recycling robots raise millions from top venture firms to rescue an industry in turmoil”, describes challenges faced by US recycling companies as a result of China’s lowering of the contamination threshold for recyclable content combined … Continue reading

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Target claims a 90% handling cost reduction for same day shipping options

An article in CNBC.com titled “Target CEO says cost of handling online orders drops 90% when shoppers use same-day options” claims that shipment from stores enables retail efficiency and decreases cost by 40% associated with from a distribution center. Those … Continue reading

Posted in Capacity, competitiveness, Cost, Ecommerce, emb2021, Supply Chain Issues | Tagged , , , , , | 21 Comments

Planning for Brexit related upheaval

An article in the Wall Street Journal (February 1, 2019) titled “Secret Truck Routes and backup Storage”, describes plans by one UK company, Heller Maschinenfabrik GmbH. The company gets 60% of its components weekly from suppliers across Europe, assembles it … Continue reading

Posted in Capacity, congestion, Cost, disruption, logistics, manufacturer, mgmt5612019, Operations Management | Tagged , , , , | 59 Comments