Category Archives: Operations Management

Walgreen’s Jupiter warehouse controlled substances shipments shut by US agents

Posted on September 15, 2012 by aviyer2010

An article in the Wall street Journal (September 15, 2012) reports that controlled substances shipments from Walgreens Jupiter warehouse were shut amidst government claims that shipments were diverted to addicts. The government accuses Walgreens of having insufficient controls over sales … Continue reading →

Posted in Operations Management, Supply Chain Issues | Tagged , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Should The Japanese and European governments assist automakers with demand growth ?

Posted on September 15, 2012 by aviyer2010

An article in the Wall Street Journal (September 15, 2012) describes a request by the CEO of Nissan, Carlos Ghosn, to the Japanese government to intervene to make the yen exchange rate more favorable to local production and encourage alternate … Continue reading →

Posted in Global Contexts, Operations Management, Supply Chain Issues, Sustainability | Tagged , , , , , , , , | 1 Comment

Viruses inserted during manufacturing due to insecure supply chains

Posted on September 13, 2012 by aviyer2010

An article on the BBC website (13 September 2012) describes new computers built in China with viruses already installed. These viruses crept in when the manufactruers installed illegal software with malware, thus compromising user data from the moment the machines … Continue reading →

Posted in Global Contexts, Operations Management, Supply Chain Issues | Tagged , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Smuggled HCFC-22 foils ban on the refrigerant in the US

Posted on September 11, 2012 by aviyer2010

An article in the New York Times (September 9,2012) describes the smuggling into the US of HCFC-22, a refrigerant that the US has banned due to its link to global warming. As production of the product gets phased out, its … Continue reading →

Posted in Global Contexts, Operations Management, Service Operations, Supply Chain Issues, Sustainability | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Intel’s lowered forecasts for chip revenues and supply chain impact

Posted on September 11, 2012 by aviyer2010

An article in the New York Times (September 9,2012) describes Intel’s lowered revenue forecasts as orders from OEMs like HP and Dell soften. The company had bet on sales growth of ultrabooks, which are between tablets and laptops. But OEMs … Continue reading →

Posted in Operations Management, Supply Chain Issues | Tagged , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Apple cuts chip orders to Samsung

Posted on September 11, 2012 by aviyer2010

An article in the New York Times (September 9,2012) claims that Apple has cut orders for memory chips sourced from its long time supplier, Samsung. Current patent disputes regarding the similarity of Samsung’s phone and the iphone have caused friction … Continue reading →

Posted in Global Contexts, Operations Management, Supply Chain Issues | Tagged , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

The potential supply chain impact of eliminating agency pricing for ebooks

Posted on September 11, 2012 by aviyer2010

An article in the Wall Street Journal (September 8,2012) describes a settlement by a set of publishers and the department of justice and elimination of the scheme whereby publishers set retail prices and paid a percent of retail price go … Continue reading →

Posted in Operations Management, Service Operations, Supply Chain Issues | Tagged , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Health care waste in the US estimated at $750 billion

Posted on September 11, 2012 by aviyer2010

A report released by the Institute for Medicine in September 2012, titled “Best Health Care at lower Cost:The Path to Continuously Learning Health Care in America” , suggests that the US health care system had 30% of wasted expense or … Continue reading →

Posted in Operations Management, Service Operations, Supply Chain Issues | Tagged , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

The high cost impact of choices made for the GM Volt hybrid vehicle

Posted on September 10, 2012 by aviyer2010

An article by Reuters (September 10, 2012, http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/09/10/us-generalmotors-autos-volt-idUSBRE88904J20120910) describes General Motors as losing $ 49,000 on each Volt it builds. The costs are due to developmnt and tooling costs, number of unique parts in the battery pack and motor as … Continue reading →

Posted in Operations Management, Supply Chain Issues, Sustainability | Tagged , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Protocol Diversity slows wireless home energy management

Posted on September 7, 2012 by aviyer2010

An article in the New York Times (September 5, 2012) describes the slow adoption of software controlled wireless technologies to manage home energy usage and blames it on protocol diversity. Protocols refer to the codes used by devices to communicate, … Continue reading →

Posted in Operations Management, Supply Chain Issues, Sustainability | Tagged , , , , , , , | Leave a comment