Tag Archives: Service

Reducing design elements to improve supply chain performance at Lego

An article in Bloombergbusinessweek (Dec 19,2011) describes Lego’s decision to outsource themeparks, sell the entertainment division and decrease the number of design elements available to designers from 12,900 to 7,000. The company describes each new element as creating both mold … Continue reading

Posted in Global Contexts, Operations Management, Supply Chain Issues | Tagged , , , , , , | 2 Comments

Ebooks more expensive than paper ?

An article in the Wall Street Journal ( Dec 15, 2011) describes a decision by book publishers to dictate retail prices for ebooks, with retailers requiring permission before discounting. Given that used paper book prices are set by market trends, … Continue reading

Posted in Ecommerce, Global Contexts, Service Operations, Supply Chain Issues | Tagged , , , , , , | 1 Comment

FDA Supplier Shutdown and Cancer Drug shortages

An article in the Wall Street Journal (Dec 8, 2011) describes overdue preventive maintenance, quality issues (such as urine in a can in the storage area) not invetsigated enough and excessive defects in some products.  The result – the Bedford, … Continue reading

Posted in Global Contexts, Service Operations, Supply Chain Issues | Tagged , , , , , | Leave a comment

Managing retail customer queues to decrease dissatisfaction

An article in the Wall Street Journal (Dec 8, 2011) describes retail queues and consumer perceptions of waiting time.  While a single queue is mathematically ideal as an approach to decrease average wait times, consumers perceive any waiting time greater … Continue reading

Posted in Operations Management, Service Operations | Tagged , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Toygaroo – the “Netflix of Toys” ?

Toygaroo (http://www.toygaroo.com) is a Netflix like service for children’s toys. parents sign up for three different levels of service (4, 6 or 8 toys outstanding) and pay a monthly fee. All shipping is through federal Express and is free to … Continue reading

Posted in Ecommerce, Operations Management, Service Operations, Supply Chain Issues | Tagged , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Slow down Postal delivery to save USPS ?

An article in CNNMoney (http://money.cnn.com/2011/12/05/news/economy/postal_service/index.htm?iid=HP_LN&hpt=hp_t2) describes a proposal by the US Postal service to change the delivery guarantee for first class mail from the current one to three days to a slower two to five days.  The slower delivery will … Continue reading

Posted in Operations Management, Service Operations, Supply Chain Issues | Tagged , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Justifying the LED light bulb

An article in the Wall Street Journal (Nov 30, 2011) describes the calculation being done by companies like WalMart as they switch to light bulbs made from light emitting diodes (LEDs), which last potentially 10 times longer than regular light … Continue reading

Posted in Operations Management, Supply Chain Issues, Sustainability | Tagged , , , , | 1 Comment

Creston Electronics and US manufacturing

An article in Forbes (Dec 5, 2011) describes Creston Electronics, a N.J. based company that creates over 1,500 complex electronic products in small volumes with low errors. The company’s founder claims that his strategy was to bring outsourced work in … Continue reading

Posted in Operations Management, Supply Chain Issues | Tagged , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Light Bulb regulation in January 2012 and supply chain impact

An article in he New York Times (Nov 16, 2011) describes the impending regulation that bans manufacturing of the traditional light bulb in January 2012. While sales from inventory can continue, new light bulbs will be required to be more … Continue reading

Posted in Operations Management, Service Operations, Supply Chain Issues, Sustainability | Tagged , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Expiring Lipitor patent, supply chain impact

An article in the Wall Streeat Journal (Nov 22,2011) describes a plan by Pfizer to sell Lipitor (a cholesterol reducing drug) direct to consumers once its patent expires on Nov 30. Health care plans that have contracted to sell Lipitor … Continue reading

Posted in Ecommerce, Operations Management, Supply Chain Issues | Tagged , , , , , , | Leave a comment