Category Archives: Supply Chain Issues

Rare Earths Sourcing in Japan

Posted on January 13, 2011 by aviyer2010

Businessweek (Jan 10, 2011, page 9) has an article discussing the supply of rare earth metals (neodymium, dysprosium etc).  China supplies 97 % of the world’s demand for rare earth metals – but cut exports by 72 % in 2010 … Continue reading →

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Probing Insider Trading based on Supply Data

Posted on January 12, 2011 by aviyer2010

A Wall Street Journal article (November 24, 2010) describes the SEC probe of “channel check” as potential criminal activity. The article describes such data for Apple – forecasts of the “build plans” are used to project upcoming production volumes iPads … Continue reading →

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Can “Buy American” Hurt US firms ?

Posted on January 12, 2011 by aviyer2010

An article in the Wall Street Journal (September 16,2009) desribes the “Buy American” laws that are part of the US government’s stimulus package.  But companies whose supply chains include Canadian suppliers, like Aquarius, a manufacturer of sewage treatment equipment, are … Continue reading →

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Temporary Stores by Toys R Us for the Holiday Season

Posted on January 12, 2011 by aviyer2010

A Wall Street Journal article (September 15,2009) describes a plan by Toys R Us to open 350 temporary stores that will stay open during the holiday season and then shut down.  The stores will be smaller and will carry the … Continue reading →

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Russian Control of 50 % of US uranium in nuclear supply chain

Posted on January 12, 2011 by aviyer2010

A finanical Times article (Page 15, Dec 6, 2010) describes the takeover of Uranium One of Canada by ARMZ – a Russian state owned company and now owns two mines in Wyoming.  The impact is loss of control by the … Continue reading →

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Nuclear propulsion for Civilian Ships – the impact of fuel regulation

Posted on January 10, 2011 by aviyer2010

An article in the Financial Times (Dec 5, 2010) describes how planned regulation of the fuel emissions by commercial ships – is expected to increase fuel costs by 50 % in 2012 due to the level of sulphur content in … Continue reading →

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Toshiba Chip Plant Power Surge and Impact

Posted on January 10, 2011 by aviyer2010

A Wall Street Journal article (Dec 10, 2010) described a 0.07 second power interruption at Toshiba’s Yokkaichi plant. The level of this power interruption was beyond anything planned for, thus causing a shut down of equipment and a potential 20 … Continue reading →

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Reducing Material usage to compensate for rising commodity prices

Posted on December 9, 2010 by aviyer2010

An article in the Financial Times (Page 11, Dec8,2010) discusses the impact of commodity price increases – prices of cotton, copper, agricultural inputs.  It summarizes several options – forward buying of commodities, reducing costs by changing formulations, changing processes, substituting … Continue reading →

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India Supply Chain Costs of 12 % of GDP

Posted on October 23, 2010 by aviyer2010

A recent report (http://www.moneylife.in/article/4/8786.html) summarizes the CII report on “Global Competitiveness of Retail Strategies”. It lists India’s supply chain inefficiencies as costing the country over $ 65 billion each year and supply chain costs of 12-13 % as compared to … Continue reading →

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Caterpillar and Supply Chain Collaboration

Posted on October 22, 2010 by aviyer2010

Bloomberg News (Oct 20,2010) reports on a collaboration between Caterpillar and a supplier, Tenneco, to improve the overall manufacturing process, and decrease overall costs by 20 %.  The article reports plans by Cat’s CEO to leverage suppliers by decreasing the … Continue reading →

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