Tag Archives: Design

Lulemon’s CEO’s blame on supply chain issues for poor performance a stretch ?

Posted on September 16, 2013 by aviyer2010

An article in the Wall Street Journal (September 12, 2013) describes a conference call in which Lululemon’s CEO blamed supply problems associated with Luon, a stretch fabric that was the cause of see through black yoga pants that had to … Continue reading →

Posted in Global Contexts, Operations Management, Service Operations, Supply Chain Issues | Tagged Capacity, Consumers, Cost, Design, disruption, Inventory, manufacturing, Quality, Retail, Risk, Supply Chain | 1 Comment

Will Apple’s two different market segment phone offerings help or hurt?

Posted on September 16, 2013 by aviyer2010

An article in the New York Times (September 11,2013) describes possible issues caused by Apple’s decision to offer the iPhone in a 5S and a 5C configuration, priced at $550 and $400. The cheaper model will have a plastic body … Continue reading →

Posted in Service Operations, Supply Chain Issues | Tagged Consumers, Cost, Design, Global, Growth, Retail, Risk, Supply Chain | 4 Comments

Inconsistent responses across governments to the Dreamliner beacon fire

Posted on July 20, 2013 by aviyer2010

An article in the New York Times (July 20, 2013) describes inconsistencies between the British aerospace authority’s proposal to request that beacon batteries be disabled vs the US FAA’s plan to inspect these batteries vs the Japanese authorities plans to … Continue reading →

Posted in Global Contexts, Operations Management, Supply Chain Issues | Tagged beacon, Britain, Design, Dreamliner, FAA, Global, inconsitency, manufacturer, regulation, Supply Chain, US | Leave a comment

The impact of short cell phone life cycles in Japan

Posted on June 26, 2013 by aviyer2010

An article in the New York Times (June 26,2013) describes the example of Sony’s Xperia Z smartphone whose life cycle started on February 9 but ended one month later after selling 1 million units. The dominance of cell phone carriers … Continue reading →

Posted in Global Contexts, Operations Management, Supply Chain Issues | Tagged Capacity, cellphones, competition, Consumers, Cost, Design, Global, Suppliers, Supply Chain, Sustainable | Leave a comment

How are US paintbrush makers globally competitive ?

Posted on June 19, 2013 by aviyer2010

An article in the New York Times (June 18,2013) describes the competitiveness of over 139 broom, brush and mop manufacturers in the US undeterred by competition from CHina. One company, Kirschner, survives by making no changes in its manufacturing and … Continue reading →

Posted in Global Contexts, Operations Management, Supply Chain Issues | Tagged brush, China, competition, Consumers, Cost, Design, manufacturing, Risk, Suppliers, Supply Chain, US | Leave a comment

Tracking medicines to prevent counterfeits in the US

Posted on June 11, 2013 by aviyer2010

An article in Bloombergbusinessweek (June 3,2013) describes a plan to install a digital ID on tablet bottles to track them as they move through the supply chain. Individual companies would have to be registered in the Federal licenses and subject … Continue reading →

Posted in Operations Management, Service Operations, Supply Chain Issues | Tagged Consumers, Cost, Design, manufacturing, Risk, sensors, Suppliers, Supply Chain, tracking | Leave a comment

Are European manufacturers globally competitive in making premium components or products ?

Posted on May 29, 2013 by aviyer2010

An article in the Financial Times (May 29, 2013) describes a collection of Italian manufacturers – Luxottica for eyewear, Sogefi for premium auto parts and Guala Closures for premium bottle caps that prevent counterfeiting. They compete globally to make premium … Continue reading →

Posted in Global Contexts, Operations Management, Supply Chain Issues | Tagged Capability, competition, Cost, Design, Efficiency, exports, Global, Italy, manufacturing, Suppliers, Supply Chain | Leave a comment

Should Quirky open retail stores ?

Posted on May 14, 2013 by aviyer2010

An article in Forbes (May 27,2013) features “Quirky” (http://www.quirky.com/) – an online new product development company that uses crowdsourcing to take product suggestions to develop and manufacture products for sale at retailers. Quirky starts with ideas from inventors, then chooses … Continue reading →

Posted in Operations Management, Supply Chain Issues | Tagged Collaboration, Consumers, Cost, Design, Outsourcing, Retail, Risk, Supply Chain | Leave a comment

Fair Trade smartphones ?

Posted on May 10, 2013 by aviyer2010

An article in the Financial Times (May 9, 2013) describes a Dutch company, Fairphone, that intends to create a smartphone using a “Fair Trade” supply chain. This means the phone is recyclable, can be repaired, the supply chain will minimize … Continue reading →

Posted in Global Contexts, Operations Management, Supply Chain Issues | Tagged Consumers, Cost, Design, Environment, Global, recycling, Suppliers, Supply Chain, Sustainable | 1 Comment

The competitive response to Apple’s decision to change its device connectivity

Posted on May 6, 2013 by aviyer2010

An article in the New York Times (May 6,2013) describes the accessory supplier’s response to Apple’s decision to change the connection for its devices. The new connection decision by Apple makes all existing accessories obsolete, with no advance notification provided … Continue reading →

Posted in Operations Management, Supply Chain Issues | Tagged competition, Consumers, Cost, Design, disruption, Margins, Supply Chain | Leave a comment