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, thus creating problems with charging cars on the go.  While the Society for Automitive Engineers has a standard for the 120 volt home chargers, will delays in introducing standards for fast chargers dampen growth of this industry ? Is there any strategic reason for auto manufacturers to resist common standards for battery charging ? Will there be an incentive for manufacturers of these charging stations to have their own proprietary standards ?

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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 made with rare earth metals for hybrid cars. Intematix uses rare earth phospers to made light emiiting diodes.  Both these companies located their end product manufacturing in China to have cheap and reliable access to rare earths – which would cost a lot more if used outside China due to export taxes imposed by China.  Is China’s policy to control exports as a way to force assemblers to locate in China a sustainable supply chain approach ? Will the expected increase in rare earth supplies, as new mines start producing, cause manufacturers to move out of China as soon as supplies ease ? Given worries about intellectual property in China, will manufacturers be better off focusing on decreasing the use of rare earths and recycling ?

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Resolving Shortages of Cancer Drugs

Posted on August 21, 2011 by aviyer2010

A New York Times article (August 19, 2011) describes the problem of shortages of several cancer drugs that are now made by generic manufacturers.   These drugs are used for breat cancer, colorectal cancer and bacterial infections.  The article claims that the erratic supply is linked to global manufacturing sources that have not been subject to FDA inspection.  Significant price increases (factors of 10 or 20) and continued shortages could impact timeliness and thus effectiveness of treatment. Should the Federal government build stockpiles of dry ingredients that can then be mixed to form the required drugs ? Should inspection costs of foreign manufacturing facilities be paid by branded manufacturers to ensure supply ? Should it be the manufacturer’s responsibility to warn hospitals of impending shortages ?

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Nurse Navigators and patient service supply chains

Posted on August 21, 2011 by aviyer2010

A Wall Street Journal article (August 16, 2011) describes the role of a nurse navigator to assist patients from start of the diagnosis through completion of treatment. The nurse navigator starts with the patient right from initial diagnosis (in one of the examples presented – breast cancer) to surgery scheduling that synchronized with the patient’s availability, to follow up surgery, to treatment choices, advice on follow up and support through the entire process.  Such customer service managers, while common in other manufacturing contexts, seem to permit improved customer satisfaction in a decentralize health care supply chain.  Given that the service provided by the nurse navigator is an externality that benefits the entire supply chain, who should pay for such services ? Will the nurse navigator evolve like concierge services offered by hotels, and thus permit overall health care service satisfaction based on willingness to pay ?  Should Federal programs start to cover the cost of the nurse navigator, and if so, how would such services generate cost efficiencies ?

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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 complacency had caused malaria to be a serious disease killing millions in Africa.  Coordinating money, distribution and accounting for flows set the effort in its path to complete eradication of malaria by 2015. Can private sector strategies cause significant efficiencies and impact in the global health arena ? Is the increase in private funding for global health ($ 10 billion more than the US government) suggest less local control of health care needs or less regulation and thus increased efficiency ? How will sustainability of such aid be ensured ?

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Triclosan antibacterial worries and supply chain impact

Posted on August 21, 2011 by aviyer2010

A New York Times artcile (August 20, 2011) describes an FDA investigation of triclosan – an antibacterial ingredient used in hand soaps, toothpaste and kitchen cutting boards. The FDA and EPA are investigating whether the chemical is safe – now that 75 % of Americans over the age of five have it in their urine. Animal studies suggest that the chemical may alter hormone regulation or cause antibiotic resistance.  But the prevalence of the chemical across many household products suggests the widespread supply chain impact of a ban on the product. If they decide the ingredient is unacceptable, should the FDA just ban manufacturing ? Should sales be banned – thus requiring large amounts of inventory to be destroyed across the supply chain ? Should the bans be staggered across products to enable the industry to adjust by substituting triclosan with other acceptable ingredients ?

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Struggling with recovery from the Tsunami – Honda vs the rest

Posted on August 18, 2011 by aviyer2010

A Wall Street Journal article (August 17, 2011) describes differences in the recovery from the tsunami across Nisaan, Toyota and Honda. While Nissan has 54 days of inventory in stock, Toyota has 34 days and Honda 18 days of supply.  The article suggests that Nissan built vehicles it could from its inventory of parts rather than vehicles customers were ordering.  In a presentation in Beijing, Professor Hirofumi Matsuo claimed that Toyota proactively worked with suppliers to ramp up microcontroller production to get back to normal faster.  Will the strategies to recover from the tsunami cause long term market shifts or just short term jitters ? Nissan’s more standard programmble chips enabled supplier flexibility and thus a permitted Nissan faster recovery – does that suggest that reconfigurable designs and thus supplier availability flexibility is a superior proditable strategy ?

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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 brand manufacturers who source clothing from suppliers in the region to commit to a “zero discharge” of chemicals across their supply chain.  A recent report in Sustainable Brands Weekly describes Puma’s plan to zero discharge of all hazardous chemicals across their supply chain by 2020. Is the brand manufacturer responsible for monitoring all actions of suppliers along their global supply chain regardless of tier ?  Should the supplier’s responsibility remain complying with local regulations or regulations set by the brand, given their need to generate competitive bids ? How should certification of “zero discharge” be monitored for global corporations – should this be done by private auditors or by a UN like entity ?

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“Amazon Law” and supply chain impact

Posted on August 15, 2011 by aviyer2010

A Wall Street Journal article (August 3, 2011) estimates that being required to collect sales tax would reduce Amazon.com’s sales by 1.4 % or about $ 650 million per year.   While operating without a brick-and-mortar store in all states, Amazon.com does own warehouses and do product development – state lawmakers, who estimate they loose about $ 11 billion in tax revenues collectively, are trying to change the definition fo what consitutes operating in a state.  Should ecommerce merchants that do product development in a state be subject to state taxes ? Amazon.com is claimed to avoid emails sent from locations in states considering such laws – does the impact on efficiency for Amazon worth avoiding the these taxes and its impact on demand ?

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Expand Capacity or shrink – a decision for Bremen Castings

Posted on August 15, 2011 by aviyer2010

A Wall Street Journal article (August 10, 2011) describes the choice made by Bremen Castings, a foundry in Indiana with $ 47.5 million in sales, that was choosing whether or not to undertake the largest capital project in their history by spending $ 5 million – the next phase of a $ 10 million expansion.  The dilemma was whether to draw conclusions about their demand by looking at the stock market.  In the end, a detailed look at the order stream from their customers – in trucking and agriculture, and the potential orders from US manufacturers moving back to US sources to fill small orders, made them stick with their expansion plan.  Does the example of Bremen Castings suggest a potential disconnect between industrial growth and apparent financial volatility ? Are the long term sourcing shifts to US sources a fundamental source for capacity growth in manufacturing ? Can small US manufacturers focus on their inherent flexibility, skill level but high tech automation to compete  against the low cost but large minimum order level Chinese sources ?

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