Category Archives: Uncategorized

“The Zara Gap” article

Posted on April 27, 2015 by aviyer2010

In an article in the “Sourcing Journal” (April 24 2015) John Thorbeck describes research with Warren Hausman on the persistent gap in the performance between Zara and other apparel retailers. Their results suggest a profit increase of 28% through adoption … Continue reading →

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Amazon’s patent for 3D printing and delivery

Posted on March 5, 2015 by aviyer2010

An article in the Wall Street Journal (February 26, 2015) titled “When Drones Aren’t Enough, Amazon Envisions Trucks with 3D Printers” describes a recent patent awarded to Amazon that describes printing the required product for the customer rather than carrying it … Continue reading →

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USPS evolution as ecommerce delivery expectations increase

Posted on March 3, 2015 by aviyer2010

An article in EcommerceBytes (March 2, 2015  http://www.ecommercebytes.com/cab/abn/y15/m03/i02/s04 ) titled “Online Selling and the future of package delivery”, describes the possible role for the US Postal Service that already serves every postbox every day. It describes use of the US Postal … Continue reading →

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Understanding USAID’s supply chain based on available data

Posted on November 1, 2014 by aviyer2010

A paper to be presented by A Iyer and G Berenguer uses the dataset provided in section j9 in this site The data provides delivery costs and flow paths from suppliers to country locations by product, by path (direct from supplier or … Continue reading →

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Did better scrubbers increase the demand for dirty coal from Illinois?

Posted on September 16, 2014 by aviyer2010

An article in Bloombergbusinessweek (September 15,2014) describers the surging demand for high sulphur Illinois coal coinciding with Clean Air rules that demanded scrubbers in power plants that even the emissions across all coal deposits. With lower costs and located closer … Continue reading →

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Does hospital consolidation increase prices or efficiency?

Posted on September 16, 2014 by aviyer2010

An article in Bloombusinessweek (September 11,2014) describes Partners Healthcare in Boston that is responsible for 28% of physician and hospital visit dollars in Massachusetts and that has seen a 60% increase in prices charged compared to competitors. The company now … Continue reading →

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Should more livers be transported to save sicker patients?

Posted on September 15, 2014 by aviyer2010

An article in Bloombergbusinessweek (september 15,2014) describes a pln to increase the zones over which livers would be allocated to assign livers to sicker patients needing liver transplants. The estimate is that it will save 554 lives over five years … Continue reading →

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Apparel factory fire in Prato, Italy

Posted on December 8, 2013 by aviyer2010

An article in the New York Times titled “Deadly Factory Fire Bares Racial Tensions in Italy” (December 8, 2013), describes a fire at an apparel factory in Prato that killed seven Chinese employees. The factory had windows that were blocked … Continue reading →

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Posted on September 4, 2011 by aviyer2010

Amazon.com Widgets

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Robots to pick drug dosages

Posted on May 14, 2011 by aviyer2010

An article in Forbes (May 23, 2011,62-66) describes robotic picking and lifting of drug dosages by Remedi Seniorcare. Conveyor style robots take pills from tubes and create individual patient daily dosage sealed plastic pouches. This saves time for nurses and … Continue reading →

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