Tag Archives: Cost

Viruses inserted during manufacturing due to insecure supply chains

Posted on September 13, 2012 by aviyer2010

An article on the BBC website (13 September 2012) describes new computers built in China with viruses already installed. These viruses crept in when the manufactruers installed illegal software with malware, thus compromising user data from the moment the machines … Continue reading →

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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 →

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Intel’s lowered forecasts for chip revenues and supply chain impact

Posted on September 11, 2012 by aviyer2010

An article in the New York Times (September 9,2012) describes Intel’s lowered revenue forecasts as orders from OEMs like HP and Dell soften. The company had bet on sales growth of ultrabooks, which are between tablets and laptops. But OEMs … Continue reading →

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Health care waste in the US estimated at $750 billion

Posted on September 11, 2012 by aviyer2010

A report released by the Institute for Medicine in September 2012, titled “Best Health Care at lower Cost:The Path to Continuously Learning Health Care in America” , suggests that the US health care system had 30% of wasted expense or … Continue reading →

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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 →

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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 →

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The reported 8471 % markup for drugs in the US

Posted on September 7, 2012 by aviyer2010

A report released on July 25, 2012 by staff in the US Senate committee on Commerce, Science and Transportation, examined the gray market for prescription drugs and why hospitals are forced to pay extremely high prices for some drugs. One … Continue reading →

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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 →

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Civil disobedience, Rare earth processing and supply chains

Posted on September 7, 2012 by aviyer2010

An article in the New York Times (September 6, 2012) describes plans by two NGOs in Malaysia, Himpunan Hijau and Save Malaysia Stop Lynas, to protest a plan by Lynas, a materials processor, to start rare earth processing in a … Continue reading →

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The Cheesecake Factory and 2.5 % food waste

Posted on September 5, 2012 by aviyer2010

An article by Atul Gawande in the New Yorker (August 13, 2012) describes the processes used at the Cheesecake Factory restaurant to decrease its food waste to under 2.5 %. These include guest forecasting – which estimates the demand each … Continue reading →

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