Category Archives: Uncategorized

Will water to boost engine performance be adopted by consumers ?

An article in the New York Times (September 29, 2016) titled “How do you make turbo engines more efficient, Just Add Water”, describes a technology by Bosch that sprays water on cylinders to cool combustion temperatures and increase engine efficiency … Continue reading

Posted in Capacity, consumer, Cost, logistics, manufacturer, Service Operations, Uncategorized | Tagged , | Leave a comment

VW variety and associated costs

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

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Ecommerce and time to market

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

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

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Will information sharing regarding subsea oilwell bolt failures improve performance?

An article in the Wall Street Journal  (July 9, 2016) titled “New Worries over Subsea Oil Wells” describes bolt failure costs for connector units in subsea wells. The bolts were supplied by GE, Schlumberger and National Oilwell, all competitors in … Continue reading

Posted in disruption, emb2021, product, Service Operations, Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , , | 19 Comments

Calculating penalties for component design IP infringement

An article in the Wall Street Journal  (August, 4 2016) titled “Apple wins famed designer support in battle vs Samsung” describes the challenge of determining penalties for Samsung ‘ s violation of  Apple’s patents for display of apps and the … Continue reading

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Should food delivery focused restaurants be structured differently ?

An article in Forbes (July 1, 2016) titled “How Food Delivery startup Maple Moves Fast by starting from Scratch” describes production choices made by Maple, a company focused on food delivery. The article claims that focusing on delivery and using … Continue reading

Posted in consumer, Operations Management, ordering, Prices, product, productivity, Uncategorized | Tagged , , | Leave a comment

Even faster fashion and its impact

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

Trans-Arctic Shipping routes and transport lead times

An article in BBC News (September 6, 2016) titled “Arctic Ocean Shipping routes to open for months” describes the melting arctic sea ice and new shipping routes. The article estimates if there is no dramatic reduction of Co2, these arctic … Continue reading

Posted in Capacity, logistics, manufacturer, ship, Supply Chain Issues, Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , | 102 Comments

Choosing queues to minimize wait time

An article in the New York Times (September 7,2016) titled “How to pick the Fastest Line at the Supermarket” describes how choosing a line with one person with 100 items may be faster than a line with four people with … Continue reading

Posted in Capacity, emb2019, imm2018, Operations Management, productivity, retailers, Service Operations, Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , , , | 24 Comments