Tag Archives: Growth

Surging prices for railcars as demand runs up against supply shortages

Posted on May 30, 2014 by aviyer2010

An article in the Wall Street Journal (May 30,2014) titled “Driller’s Pain is Railcar Owner’s Gain”, describes 33% price increases for tank cars, 50% increases for cars hauling sand and 40% increases for grain hoppers. These price increases reflect the … Continue reading →

Posted in Operations Management, Supply Chain Issues | Tagged Capacity, Cost, Demand Surge, Growth, railcar, regulation, Risk, Supply Chain, transport | Leave a comment

Foxconn’s plans for a US manufacturing location

Posted on January 27, 2014 by aviyer2010

An article in the Wall Street Journal titled “Foxconn Weighs Plan for US Plant” (January 27,2014) describes a statement by Foxconn’s chairman that the company would invest in capital intensive manufacturing in the US. He claims that the company plans … Continue reading →

Posted in Global Contexts, Operations Management, Supply Chain Issues | Tagged Cost, Efficiency, Global, Growth, Legal, manufacturing, Service, Supply Chain, Sustainable | Leave a comment

The potential impact of copper concentrate stockpiles in China on copper prices

Posted on December 7, 2013 by aviyer2010

An article in the Wall Street Journal titled “China’s Stock and Ore for Copper Prices” (November 22,2013) describes the over two months of copper concentrate (crushed copper ore) in inventory at China’s new smelters as against the usual two to … Continue reading →

Posted in Global Contexts, Operations Management, Supply Chain Issues | Tagged Capacity, China, Copper, Cost, Global, Growth, Inventory, manufacturing, Supply Chain | Leave a comment

The improving competitiveness of US toilet manufacturing

Posted on September 25, 2013 by aviyer2010

An article in the Wall Street Journal titled “America’s Toilet Turnaround”(September 25, 2013) (http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052702303983904579093463623447196.html) describes plans to add capacity to the Mansfield Plumbing Products plant in Perrysvlle, Ohio and Toto Ltd’s plans to increase its capacity in the Morrow, Georgia … Continue reading →

Posted in Global Contexts, Operations Management, Supply Chain Issues | Tagged Capacity, Consumers, Cost, domestic, Growth, manufacturing, Supply Chain, toilets, Trends | 3 Comments

High Speed trains and productivity impact in China

Posted on September 24, 2013 by aviyer2010

An article in the New York Times, on September 23,2013, titled “Speedy Trains Transform China”, (http://www.nytimes.com/2013/09/24/business/global/high-speed-train-system-is-huge-success-for-china.html?_r=0) describes the impact of the trains that travel 186 miles/hour and connect 100 cities. For individual textile manufacturers, the fast access to customers enables … Continue reading →

Posted in Global Contexts, Operations Management, Supply Chain Issues | Tagged Capacity, Consumers, Cost, Efficiency, Global, Growth, manufacturing, rail, Supply Chain, transport | 5 Comments

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

Will Tesla’s new 90 second battery swap increase electric car demand ?

Posted on June 21, 2013 by aviyer2010

A report in PCmag.com (June 21, 2013 http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2420802,00.asp) describes a demonstration of a 90 second battery swap by Tesla, thus offering consumers the choice of waiting and getting free battery charging or paying close to the price of tank of … Continue reading →

Posted in Operations Management, Service Operations, Supply Chain Issues, Sustainability | Tagged battery swap, Capacity, charging, competition, Coordination, electric car, Growth, regulation, Retail, Sustainable, Trends | Leave a comment

Can low shale gas prices attract new steel capacity to the US ?

Posted on June 19, 2013 by aviyer2010

An article in the Financial Times (June 19,2013) describes a new plant in Ohio built by Vallourec to produce steel tubes for the oil and gas industry. The company describes the low US gas prices, as well as the surging … Continue reading →

Posted in Global Contexts, Operations Management, Supply Chain Issues | Tagged Capacity, Cost, Global, Growth, manufacturing, Margins, reshoring, shale gas, Supply Chain, Sustainable | Leave a comment

Slower growth, higher margins as Amazon.com plays middleman

Posted on April 28, 2013 by aviyer2010

An article in the Wall Street Journal (April 26,2013) describes Amazon.com’s growth as lowing, from 34% last year to 22% for the same quarter this year, while margins increased by 33% to 26.6%. The author claims the slowdown is the … Continue reading →

Posted in Operations Management, Supply Chain Issues | Tagged competition, Cost, Ecommerce, Growth, Inventory, Margins, Risk, Supply Chain | Leave a comment

“Kumbh Mela” logistics challenges in Allahabad, India

Posted on March 6, 2013 by aviyer2010

An article in the Financial Times (March 3,2013) describes the challenges faced by authorities in Allahabad, India, during the Kumbh Mela, a pilgrimage spot for 80 to 100 million Hindus who arrive over two months, from January to mid March … Continue reading →

Posted in Global Contexts, Operations Management, Sustainability | Tagged Capacity, Global, Growth, Infrastructure, Kumbh Mela, Risk, Service, Supply Chain | 1 Comment