Category Archives: Supply Chain Issues

Shrinking Retail Store Sizes

Posted on March 3, 2011 by aviyer2010

A Wall Street Journal article (March 3, 2011) describes a move by Best Buy, Staples and WalMart to move to smaller stores with a smaller range of SKUs. The article suggests that the very large selection of SKUs at Amazon.com … Continue reading →

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Green Score for Jeans based on Supply Chain Evaluation

Posted on March 2, 2011 by aviyer2010

A New York Times article (March 2, 2011) describes an effort to catalog the environmental impact of every step in the global supply chain of apparel, from cotton growth, to fabric, to dyes, textile manufacturing, packaging, shipping, retail through to … 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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New retail outlets for book publishers – apparel, hardware stores

Posted on February 28, 2011 by aviyer2010

A New York Times article (February 28, 2011) describes book publishers use of apparel retailers (Marc Jacobs, Kitson, Urban Outfitters), hardware stores (Lowe’s Pro Bass Shops) as outlets for book sales.  The decline of Borders, and the increased focus on … Continue reading →

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Commodity Trader Glencore’s role in the global supply chain

Posted on February 27, 2011 by aviyer2010

An article in the International Herald Tribune (February 27, 2011) describes the role of Glencore, a commodity trading company. Glencore provides raw materials supply to OEMs (ArcelorMittal, Sony, Chevron etc) from raw materials suppliers, managing the risk of weather, price … Continue reading →

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Are Consumers using products longer ? What is the Impact ?

Posted on February 26, 2011 by aviyer2010

A New York Times article (February 26, 2011) provides data suggesting that consumers are waiting longer to replace products – 4.5 months longer for cars, 2 months longer for cellphones and one month longer for laptops.  Some of the reasons … Continue reading →

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Targeted Emissions cuts before general carbon focused cuts

Posted on February 24, 2011 by aviyer2010

The Economist (February 17,2011) suggests that piecemeal focused emissions reductions of specific gases may generate fast results while building a more general consensus. For example,the article cites HFC-134a as a gas 1,000 times more warming than carbon dioxide. Similarly, carbon … Continue reading →

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Emissions Rules Relaxation and Industry Impact

Posted on February 23, 2011 by aviyer2010

A New York Times article (February 23, 2011) describes the current EPA emissions rules – rolling back requirements for industrial boilers, incinerators etc.  The impact is to permit many plants, municipalities, universities etc to reduce their costs of compliance – … Continue reading →

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