Category Archives: Operations Management

New Rare earth supply chain

Posted on March 9, 2011 by aviyer2010

An article in the International Herald Tribune (March 8, 2011) describes a new rare earth supply chain.  The ore is mined in Australia and concentrated (2/3 of the dirt removed) before it is put in sealed bags inside steel containers … Continue reading →

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Rebound or Backfire Effects of Energy Efficiency Mandates across the supply chain

Posted on March 8, 2011 by aviyer2010

A New York Times article (March 8, 2011) describes the impact of energy efficiency mandates across products. Front loading washers, a response to energy efficient washer mandates, are observed to result in dirtier clothes and perhaps, as a consequence multiple … Continue reading →

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Recycling Cell Phones and Supply Chain Impact

Posted on March 6, 2011 by aviyer2010

A Wall Street Journal article (March 5, 2011) describes the growing used cell phone recycling industry.   Consumers preferring old models so they do not heave to learn new features, or desiring a lower cost phone, seem to flock to these … Continue reading →

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Amazon’s Subscribe and Save Pricing and Supply Chain Impact

Posted on March 6, 2011 by aviyer2010

An article in the New York Times (March 5, 2011) describes Amazon’s Subscribe and Save service in which consumers get 15 % off and no shipping for committing to deliveries of select products with a certain frequency .  The article … Continue reading →

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Electronic Component Suppliers for the iPad but OEMs too

Posted on March 4, 2011 by aviyer2010

A Wall Street journal article (March 4, 2011) describes an interesting global supply chain issue for electronic component suppliers like Toshiba, Samsung and LG Display (they supply memory chips or screens). These companies supply components used by Apple for their … Continue reading →

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Eliminating the ban on Mexican trucks crossing the US border

Posted on March 4, 2011 by aviyer2010

A Wall Street Journal article (March 4, 2011) describes the announcement of the end of the 20 year ban  on Mexican truckers driving across the US border (the ban was a violation of the Nafta agreement). That ban has resulted … Continue reading →

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Why is the iPad the cheapest of the comparable tablets ?

Posted on March 2, 2011 by aviyer2010

A Wall Street Journal article (March 2, 2011) reports on a note by an analyst, Toni Sacconaghi, at Bernstein Research, on why the Apple iPad is the cheapest of the tablet products offered.  The article claims reasons for this cost … Continue reading →

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Natural Gas extraction wastewater supply chain

Posted on March 2, 2011 by aviyer2010

A New York Times article (March 1, 2011) describes the supply chain of wastewater that is generated when hydrofracking – a process of injecting water and sand at high pressure to break rock formations and release natural gas.  In Pennsylvania, … Continue reading →

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Overlapping programs and agencies in the US government and streamlining potential

Posted on March 1, 2011 by aviyer2010

A Wall Street Journal article (March 1, 2011) describes a new GAO (General Accounting office) report on overlapping  programs and their responsibilities across US govt agencies. The report lists 80 programs to help disadvantaged people with transport, 80 programs to … Continue reading →

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Limiting number of times ebooks are issued in libraries

Posted on February 28, 2011 by aviyer2010

A New York Times article (February 28, 2011) describes a move by HarperCollins to limit the number of times an ebook at a library can be issued to customers to 26.   Once this limit is reached, the ebook has to … Continue reading →

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