Category Archives: Sustainability

Corn trade restrictions, price increases and the impact on the urban poor

Posted on September 15, 2012 by aviyer2010

An article in the Economist (September 15, 2012) describes impact of the recent drought in the US, coupled with ethanol blending requirements for fuel on a spike in corn prices. Similar choices by other drought stricken countries and price sticker … Continue reading →

Posted in Global Contexts, Supply Chain Issues, Sustainability | Tagged , , , , , , | 1 Comment

Smuggled HCFC-22 foils ban on the refrigerant in the US

Posted on September 11, 2012 by aviyer2010

An article in the New York Times (September 9,2012) describes the smuggling into the US of HCFC-22, a refrigerant that the US has banned due to its link to global warming. As production of the product gets phased out, its … Continue reading →

Posted in Global Contexts, Operations Management, Service Operations, Supply Chain Issues, Sustainability | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

The high cost impact of choices made for the GM Volt hybrid vehicle

Posted on September 10, 2012 by aviyer2010

An article by Reuters (September 10, 2012, http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/09/10/us-generalmotors-autos-volt-idUSBRE88904J20120910) describes General Motors as losing $ 49,000 on each Volt it builds. The costs are due to developmnt and tooling costs, number of unique parts in the battery pack and motor as … Continue reading →

Posted in Operations Management, Supply Chain Issues, Sustainability | Tagged , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Protocol Diversity slows wireless home energy management

Posted on September 7, 2012 by aviyer2010

An article in the New York Times (September 5, 2012) describes the slow adoption of software controlled wireless technologies to manage home energy usage and blames it on protocol diversity. Protocols refer to the codes used by devices to communicate, … Continue reading →

Posted in Operations Management, Supply Chain Issues, Sustainability | Tagged , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Too few countries producing staple crops and associated risk

Posted on September 7, 2012 by aviyer2010

An article in the New York Times (September 7,2012) describes food price increases of 10% from June to July 2012, corn and wheat price increases of 25% and soybean price increases of 17%. The reason – drought in the US … Continue reading →

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

The impact of incompatible fast charge plugs on electric vehicle growth

Posted on September 5, 2012 by aviyer2010

An article in the New York Times (August 31, 2012) describes two incompatible fast charging plugs – one standard, CHAdeMO, developed by Nissan, Mitusbishi and others, with separate prongs for slow and fast charges, installed in over 1,500 chargers. The … Continue reading →

Posted in Operations Management, Supply Chain Issues, Sustainability | Tagged , , , , , | Leave a comment

40 % of US food produced is wasted – what is the impact ?

Posted on September 3, 2012 by aviyer2010

A paper produced by NRDC called “Wasted: How America Is Losing Up to 40 Percent of Its Food from Farm to Fork to Landfill”, suggests that 40 % of US food produced or $ 165 billion of value is wasted. … Continue reading →

Posted in Operations Management, Supply Chain Issues, Sustainability | Tagged , , , , , , | 4 Comments

Shift to territorial tax regime, or reduce environmental regulations to grow US manufacturing ?

Posted on September 2, 2012 by aviyer2010

An article in the Wall Street Journal (August 29, 2012) describes recommendations by manufacturers to the US government to enable growth in US manufacturing. Some recommend reducing environmental laws and thus decrease costs for US production – but this will … Continue reading →

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

Should natural gas filling stations be subsidized ?

Posted on September 2, 2012 by aviyer2010

An article in the New York Times (June 21, 2012) describes the abundant availability and low prices of natural gas, even though it could provide a cheaper, less polluting alternative to oil if available widely. A move to enable natural … Continue reading →

Posted in Operations Management, Supply Chain Issues, Sustainability | Tagged , , , , , , , | 1 Comment

A shortage of jute bags hurts storage of a bumper wheat crop in India

Posted on September 2, 2012 by aviyer2010

An article in the Wall Street Journal (June 23, 2012) describes the large wheat harvest in India, but a shortage of jute bags. Indian law specifies that 100% of the wheat should use jute bags, to protect the industry and … Continue reading →

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