Category Archives: Sustainability

Incompatible plug-in for electric car battery charging

Posted on August 27, 2011 by aviyer2010

A New York Times article (August 26, 2011) describes the incompatible standards for fast charging 480 volt chargers that can charge a Nissan Leaf in half an hour. The issue is that standards for these fast chargers are not set, … Continue reading →

Posted in Global Contexts, Operations Management, Supply Chain Issues, Sustainability | Tagged automobile, battery, plug-in, Suppliers, Survival, Sustainable | Leave a comment

China rare earth exports policy and new plant location

Posted on August 25, 2011 by aviyer2010

A New York Times article (August 24, 2011) describes the impact of China’s policy to limit exports of rare earth metals on new plant location decisions by Showa Denko of Japan and Intematix of the United States. Showa produces alloys … Continue reading →

Posted in Global Contexts, Operations Management, Supply Chain Issues, Sustainability | Tagged China, Cost, Design, Global, manufacturing, Rare Earths, Supply Chain | Leave a comment

Mosquito Net distribution in Africa

Posted on August 21, 2011 by aviyer2010

A New York Times review of a book “Lifeblood” by Alex Perry describes the role of Ray Chambers, an industry CEO, in coordinating the distribution of mosquito nets, 300 million to date, in Africa. It describes how disorganized efforts and … Continue reading →

Posted in Global Contexts, Operations Management, Supply Chain Issues, Sustainability | Tagged Global, health, malaria, Supply Chain, Survival, Sustainable | Leave a comment

Greenpeace’s Dirty Laundry report and Puma’s Commitment

Posted on August 18, 2011 by aviyer2010

A Greenpeace report ‘Dirty Laundry” (http://www.greenpeace.org/international/en/publications/reports/Dirty-Laundry/) describes results from water samples from the Yangtze and the Pearl river deltas. Their analysis suggests significant levels of chemical contamination that are potentially hazardous and can impact fish populations too. The report urges … Continue reading →

Posted in Global Contexts, Operations Management, Supply Chain Issues, Sustainability | Tagged China, Cost, exports, Global, river transport, Suppliers, Supply Chain, Sustainable | Leave a comment

‘Green deliveries” by Office Depot

Posted on August 8, 2011 by aviyer2010

An article in Sustainable Life Media (http://www.sustainablelifemedia.com/news_and_views/articles/office-depot-rolls-out-greener-deliveries?utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=brandsweekly&utm_campaign=august8) describes Office Depot’s delivery option to customers – receive supplies in paper bags with over 40 % recycled content – transported in plastic reusable totes with 60 % recycled plastic. The goal is … Continue reading →

Posted in Operations Management, Supply Chain Issues, Sustainability | Tagged Consumers, Cost, packaging, Supply Chain, Sustainable | Leave a comment

“Better Place” battery swapping stations in Denmark and the future of EVs

Posted on August 2, 2011 by aviyer2010

An article in the New York Times (July 29, 2011) describes recently opened battery swapping stations by “Better Place” in Denmark. Oweners of electric vehicles lease batteries and drive into swap stations to replece batteries. A robot operated device removes … Continue reading →

Posted in Operations Management, Supply Chain Issues, Sustainability | Tagged autos, car battery, electric vehicle, Service, Supply Chain, Sustainable | Leave a comment

Walmart’s plans to buy vegetables and fruits locally

Posted on August 1, 2011 by aviyer2010

A Wall Street Journal article (August 1, 2011) describes plans by Walmart to double its local purchase of fruits and vegetables by 2015 – with local defined as purchases from the state the store is located. Thus Walmart buys jalapeno pepper … Continue reading →

Posted in Operations Management, Supply Chain Issues, Sustainability | Tagged Consumers, Cost, local sourcing, marketing, Supply Chain, Sustainable | Leave a comment

WalMart’s “Sustainability Index” challenges

Posted on July 30, 2011 by aviyer2010

A Fortune article (July 25, 2011) titled “The Trouble with Green Product Ratings” describes the challenges faced by WalMart as it tried to deliver on its stated goal, two years ago, to provide an index between 1 and 10 for … Continue reading →

Posted in Supply Chain Issues, Sustainability | Tagged Consumers, Global, Index, regulation, Supply Chain | Leave a comment

54.5 mpg by 2025

Posted on July 29, 2011 by aviyer2010

A Wall Street Journal (28 July 2011) describes an agreement between the auto manufacturers and the US government to double the average mileage from 27.3 mpg to 54.5 mpg. Attaining this mileage can involve use of solar panels, battery power, … Continue reading →

Posted in Operations Management, Supply Chain Issues, Sustainability | Tagged Consumers, Cost, Design, manufacturing, regulation, Sustainable | Leave a comment

Dropping rare earth prices in China and supply chain impact

Posted on July 27, 2011 by aviyer2010

The Wall Street Journal (July 6, 2011) reports that rare earth metal prices in China dropped by as much as 7.2 %, a remarkable change from a short few months when China’s cut in exports created worries of global shortages … Continue reading →

Posted in Global Contexts, Supply Chain Issues, Sustainability | Tagged Capacity, China, Cost, Global, Supply Chain, Sustainable, Trends | Leave a comment