Category Archives: Supply Chain Issues

Is the quality vs availability tradeoff for Hatchimals a good idea ?

Posted on January 7, 2017 by aviyer2010

As previously discussed in this blog, Hatchimals have been crowned the hit toy for the 2016 Holiday season. But a recent article in Fortune (December 28, 2016) titled “Meet the Hatchimals that Ruined Christmas (For some kids, anyway) describes toys … Continue reading →

Posted in Capacity, Cost, delivery, logistics, manufacturer, Supply Chain Issues, toy | Tagged , , , | Leave a comment

Will floating warehouses and drone delivery enable Amazon to deliver in minutes?

Posted on December 29, 2016 by aviyer2010

An article in CNN.com titled “Amazon patent hints at floating warehouses in the sky”  (December 29, 2016) describes a plan to carry anticipated inventory in a blimp located close to customers, with drone delivery in minutes to a customer.  Example … Continue reading →

Posted in Capacity, competitiveness, consumer, Cost, delivery, logistics, mgmt5612018, Operations Management, ordering, Supply Chain Issues, technology | Tagged | 46 Comments

Do surging ecommerce orders portend lower ontime Christmas deliveries by UPS and FedEx

Posted on December 17, 2016 by aviyer2010

An article in the Wall Street Journal (December 13, 2016) titled “UPS, FedEx Struggle to Keep Up with Surge in Holiday Orders” describes the increase in ecommerce orders from 18% last year to 25% this year and a reduction in … Continue reading →

Posted in Capacity, competitiveness, consumer, Cost, delivery, Ecommerce, Supply Chain Issues, Uncategorized | Tagged , , , | Leave a comment

Hatchimals – the 2016 toy in demand

Posted on December 13, 2016 by aviyer2010

An article in the Wall Street Journal (December 13, 2016) titled “Hatch me if you can:Hunt for Hatchimals Goes Global” describes the 2016 hit toy wonder, the Hatchimal, a toy that hatches from an egg and is a walking toy … Continue reading →

Posted in consumer, Cost, disruption, product, Supply Chain Issues, Uncategorized | Leave a comment

Including weather forecasts to improve fashion product profitability

Posted on November 27, 2016 by aviyer2010

An article in the Wall Street Journal (November 27,2016) titled “The Next Fashion Trend:Weather Forecasting” describes the impact of weather on fashion sales and thus the need for the fashion industry to learn about weather forecasting. It claims that the … Continue reading →

Posted in Capacity, consumer, Cost, logistics, Made in USA, mgmt5612018, Supply Chain Issues, technology | Tagged , , , , , , | 141 Comments

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

VW variety and associated costs

Posted on September 17, 2016 by aviyer2010

An article in the Financial Times (November 20, 2015) titled “Volkswagen (VW) choked by cost and complexity”, claims the company has 117 different steering wheels for the Volkswagen Golf. Plans are afoot to decrease that to 43, with efficiency programs … Continue reading →

Posted in manufacturer, Supply Chain Issues, Uncategorized, Variety, vehicles | 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

Amazon’s logistics foray and UPS relationship

Posted on September 17, 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 where Amazon is attempting to control it’s logistics costs, which increased from … Continue reading →

Posted in Cost, Ecommerce, logistics, Supply Chain Issues, Uncategorized | Tagged , , , | Leave a comment

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