Tag Archives: Design

“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 →

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged Apparel, Collaboration, Consumers, Coordination, Costs, customer, Design, mgmt5612020, Zara | 111 Comments

Will Roadie provide an alternative cost effective delivery model ?

Posted on February 25, 2015 by aviyer2010

An article in the Wall Street Journal titled “Technology Bubble? Ask Waffle House” (February 24, 2015, http://www.wsj.com/articles/technology-bubble-ask-waffle-house-1424754062?cb=logged0.0031108735129237175) describes an alliance between Roadie (a technology startup) and Waffle House (a 24 hour restaurant). Under the agreement, Waffle House’s 1750 stores will … Continue reading →

Posted in Capacity, Collaboration, Cost, delivery, Ecommerce, Operations Management, retailers | Tagged Capacity, Collaboration, Coordination, Cost, Design, Margins, Risk, Service | Leave a comment

Panasonic’s plans to move production back to Japan

Posted on May 23, 2014 by aviyer2010

An article in the Financial Times (http://www.ft.com/intl/cms/s/0/b22e772a-e1a2-11e3-9999-00144feabdc0.html?siteedition=intl#axzz32YPzdZCV) titled “Panasonic considers bringing production back to Japan) describes the weak Japanese yen (which has fallen 20% since 2012 against other currencies) improving the economics of production of rice cookers, washing machines and … Continue reading →

Posted in Global Contexts, Operations Management, Supply Chain Issues | Tagged Capacity, Cost, Currency, Design, Japan, Panasonic, regulation, Risk, Supply Chain | Leave a comment

Nike’s water footprint across the supply chain and reduction efforts

Posted on May 14, 2014 by aviyer2010

Nike’s Materials Sustainability Index discussion (http://www.nikeresponsibility.com/report/content/chapter/water) focuses on the 217 billion gallons of water consumed across its supply chain, with 7% generated by raw material production and cotton accounting for 87% of that use. A focus on reducing the absolute … Continue reading →

Posted in Global Contexts, Supply Chain Issues, Sustainability | Tagged Apparel, Cotton, Design, footprint, Nike, raw material, Suppliers, Supply Chain, Sustainable, Water | Leave a comment

Solar Roadways hopes to charge cars as they run on roads

Posted on May 14, 2014 by aviyer2010

A company called Solar Roadways (http://www.solarroadways.com/intro.shtml) claims to have a prototype installation of solar panels embedded in roads that can charge cars as they drive. Given that vast road network that can be harnessed with embedded solar panels, the company … Continue reading →

Posted in Operations Management, Supply Chain Issues, Sustainability | Tagged Capacity, Cost, Design, Infrastructure, solar roadways, Supply Chain, Sustainable, transport | Leave a comment

The business of personalizing IKEA products

Posted on March 30, 2014 by aviyer2010

An article in Bloombergbusinessweek (February 24,2014) titled “Cry of the Style. Mavens” describes smaller companies that enable customers to personalize their IKEA products. Companies like Bemz provide slipcovers for chairs, couches and beds, and Superfront, that modifies kitchens and wardrobes, … Continue reading →

Posted in Global Contexts, Operations Management, Service Operations, Supply Chain Issues | Tagged Consumers, Cost, customization, Design, IKEA, Suppliers, Supply Chain | Leave a comment

Burning wood with coal to comply with EPA emissions rules

Posted on November 5, 2013 by aviyer2010

An article in the New York Times titled “Power plants try burning wood with coal to cut carbon emissions” (November 4, 2013), describes the use of sawdust and wood chunks along with coal to reduce carbon emissions in US power … Continue reading →

Posted in Service Operations, Supply Chain Issues, Sustainability | Tagged Capacity, coal, Consumers, Cost, Design, regulation, Sustainable, wood | Leave a comment

Walmart ‘s Made in the USA goal and impact

Posted on October 15, 2013 by aviyer2010

An article in the Wall Street Journal titled “Pitching to Walmart – Made in the USA” (October 7,2013) describes plans by Walmart to increase their US sourcing by $5 billion each year. But the company wants to hold customer prices, … Continue reading →

Posted in Operations Management, Supply Chain Issues | Tagged Capacity, Consumers, Cost, Design, Made in the USA, manufacturing, Suppliers, Supply Chain, WalMart | 13 Comments

Retail Analytics to mitigate fashion risk

Posted on September 21, 2013 by aviyer2010

An article in the Wall Street Journal, on September 8, 2013, titled “Fashion Industry Meets Big Data” (http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424127887323595004579062793245498838.html?mod=itp&cb=logged0.7893976105842739) describes the increasing use of analytics in the fashion industry to forecast trends. These forecasts provide estimates of demand by color, fabric … Continue reading →

Posted in Operations Management, Supply Chain Issues | Tagged Apparel, Consumers, Cost, Design, domestic, Efficiency, forecasting, manufacturing, Retail, Risk, Trends | 20 Comments

Will modular smartphones help reduce e-waste ?

Posted on September 21, 2013 by aviyer2010

An article in CNN.com (http://www.cnn.com/2013/09/19/tech/innovation/phonebloks-the-smartphone-for-life/index.html?hpt=hp_bn5) describes a proposal by the company Phonebloks (www.phonebloks.com) to create smartphones with a modular design that enables individual phone owners to customize the phone. With individual units such as the camera, battery, storage etc that … Continue reading →

Posted in Operations Management, Supply Chain Issues, Sustainability | Tagged components, Consumers, Cost, Design, manufacturing, Modular, Suppliers, Supply Chain | 3 Comments