Category Archives: Service Operations

Will Sweden’s proposed tax breaks for repair and reuse of products improve outcomes ?

Posted on October 2, 2016 by aviyer2010

An article in the Guardian (September 19, 2016) titled “Waste not, want not: Sweden to give tax breaks for repairs” describes a plan to cut value added tax for repairs of bicycles, clothes and shoes from 25% to 12 % and … Continue reading →

Posted in consumer, Global Contexts, Operations Management, ordering, Service Operations, Sustainability, Uncategorized | Tagged , | Leave a comment

Will distributed satellite facilities and automation maintain holiday hiring as volumes grow at FedEx and UPS ?

Posted on September 30, 2016 by aviyer2010

An article in the Wall Street Journal (Sept 30, 2016) titled “FedEx, UPS Gear Up for Holiday Season With More Sorting Hubs, Technology” describes moves by FedEx and UPS to create satellite facilities and mobile delivery centers respectively, and increase … Continue reading →

Posted in consumer, Cost, delivery, Ecommerce, logistics, Operations Management, ordering, Prices, Service Operations, Supply Chain Issues, technology, Uncategorized | Leave a 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

Ecommerce and time to market

Posted on September 17, 2016 by aviyer2010

An article in the Financial Times,  (November 20 2015) titled “Ecommerce offers a cheaper and faster way to market”, describes the growth of BAT i.e., Baidu, Alibaba and Tencent, in China. With Alibaba selling $14.3 billion worth of goods on … Continue reading →

Posted in consumer, Cost, delivery, Ecommerce, Global Contexts, Service Operations, ship, Supply Chain Issues, Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , | Leave a comment

Will information sharing regarding subsea oilwell bolt failures improve performance?

Posted on September 17, 2016 by aviyer2010

An article in the Wall Street Journal  (July 9, 2016) titled “New Worries over Subsea Oil Wells” describes bolt failure costs for connector units in subsea wells. The bolts were supplied by GE, Schlumberger and National Oilwell, all competitors in … Continue reading →

Posted in disruption, emb2021, product, Service Operations, Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , , | 19 Comments

Even faster fashion and its impact

Posted on September 17, 2016 by aviyer2010

An article in BBC.com (September 8, 2016) titled “Designers aim for even faster fashion” describes the option of ordering items shown on the runway as a new fashion trend offered by Burberry, Tom Ford and Tommy Hilfiger. This approach drops … Continue reading →

Posted in competitiveness, consumer, delivery, Global Contexts, logistics, ordering, Service Operations, ship, Supply Chain Issues, Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , | 69 Comments

Choosing queues to minimize wait time

Posted on September 17, 2016 by aviyer2010

An article in the New York Times (September 7,2016) titled “How to pick the Fastest Line at the Supermarket” describes how choosing a line with one person with 100 items may be faster than a line with four people with … Continue reading →

Posted in Capacity, emb2019, imm2018, Operations Management, productivity, retailers, Service Operations, Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , , , | 24 Comments

The productivity benefits from Amazon ‘s Kiva robots

Posted on June 20, 2016 by aviyer2010

An article in Quartz (http://qz.com/709541/amazon-is-just-beginning-to-use-robots-in-its-warehouses-and-theyre-already-making-a-huge-difference/) claims that the “click to ship” time at Amazon has decreased from 60-75 minutes with human operators to 15 minutes using Kiva robots. In addition, with robots, warehouse inventory can increase by 50%, thus decreasing … Continue reading →

Posted in competitiveness, consumer, Cost, Ecommerce, logistics, Operations Management, productivity, Service Operations, technology, Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , , , | 161 Comments

Shopping cart robots at Walmart ?

Posted on June 20, 2016 by aviyer2010

An article in the website geek.com (http://www.geek.com/news/walmart-is-turning-its-shopping-carts-into-robots-that-follow-you-1658786/) describes a partnership between Walmart and Five element Robotics to assist Walmart shoppers using a personal robot. The goal is to have the robot gather things in the shopper’s shopping list and freeing … Continue reading →

Posted in competitiveness, consumer, Cost, Ecommerce, logistics, Operations Management, productivity, Service Operations, technology, Uncategorized | Tagged , , , | Leave a comment

Will managing delivery logistics help Amazon improve service?

Posted on February 21, 2016 by aviyer2010

An article in the Wall Street Journal (December 23,2015) titled “Amazon Seeks to Ease Ties with UPS” describes the close relationship between the two companies evolving into one in which Amazon is now attempting to control it’s logistics costs, which … Continue reading →

Posted in Capacity, competitiveness, Cost, delivery, Ecommerce, Service Operations, Supply Chain Issues, Uncategorized | 2 Comments