Tag Archives: productivity

Walmart’s new technology intensive warehouse that is 40% more efficient

An article in finance.yahoo.com titled “Walmart’s grocery warehouse worker of the future will have a STEM background” discussed the new warehouse in Shafter, California that will use automation to get eggs, diary and frozen goods to warehouse employees pick rather … Continue reading

Posted in consumer, Cost, disruption, logistics, Operations Management, retailers, technology | Tagged , , , , , , , | 55 Comments

Drones for material handling in plants and warehouses

A video posted in (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rG3Frwaa47E) shows the use of drones for indoor material handling being planned by Qimarox.  The video shows the benefits of using the third dimension and thus relieving the constraints of aisles for warehousing equipment.  The direct … Continue reading

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What are GM’s choices for the Opel plant in Bochum, Germany ?

An article in the New York Times (April 2,2012) describes worker frustration at GM’s Opel plant in Bochum, Germany, with worries that it will be shut down in 2014. Wages at the plant are six times the wage rate in … Continue reading

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Fiat’s Italian auto productivity vs Poland’s auto workers

A Bloombergbusinessweek article (Oct 31-Nov 6,2011, pg 30) describes Fiat’s Italian workers producing 30 cars per year per worker, earning 3 times their Polish counterparts and operating at 33 % of capacity. In contrast, Polish workers produce 100 cars per … Continue reading

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Increased restructuring and manufacturing’s future

An article in the Wall Street journal ( Oct 24, 2011) states that while close to 70% of S&P companies beat earnings,  significant number are focused on restructuring operations. The size of this spend varies from $100 million at Danaher, … Continue reading

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