Tag Archives: Supply Chain

Rare earth price surge and global supply chain response

An article in Fortune (Nov 7, 2011) describes the impact of the 1500 % price increase for rare earth metals from 2009 to 2010, the result of a 50 % cut in Chinese exports of rare earth metals.  With China … Continue reading

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Immigrant networks, trust and supply chain speed

An article in the Economist (Nov 19,2011) describes a hypothetical example of a Chinese trader in Indonesia who, seeing a market opportunity for umbrellas, uses his cousin in Shenzhen to quickly source and ship product for sale in Indonesia.  Contract … Continue reading

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Global Impact on the US oil pipeline supply chain configuration

An article in the New York Times (17 Nov, 2011) describes the ripple effect of decreased Venezuelean crude supply (due to the political stress in Venezuelan-US relations) on capacity utilization at Texas refineries that process heavy crude. The alternative crude … Continue reading

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Ozone regulation, local compliance and manufacturing impact

An article in the New York Times (17 Nov, 2011) describes the Federal govt’s decision to retreat from the EPA recommended standard of 70 parts per billion (ppb), a revision of the current 84 ppb rule.  Resistance from manufacturers was … Continue reading

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Thai floods, hard drive price increases and Dell Impact

An article in the New York Times (Nov 16, 2011) describes hard drive prices rising from $10 to $25 due the Thai floods, and their impact on Toshiba and Western Digital plants in Thailand. Earlier reports suggested that around 25% … Continue reading

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Crashing rare earth prices and impact

An article in the New York Times (Nov 15,2011) describes the 67% drop in prices for several rare earths including neodymium, cerium etc.  The rapid price increase in recent years was caused by China, which produces 97% of the world’s … Continue reading

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Topitop – the “Andean Zara” in Peru ?

A Wall Street Journal article (nov 14, 2011) describes the growth in the middle class from 41% to 51% of the population in the last decade in Latin America.  Defined as people earning 45 % to 70% of the per … Continue reading

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Global steel demand and Arcelormittal’s capacity adjustment

An article in bloombergbusinessweek (nov 14, 2011) describes the impact of the doubling of steel capacity in china from 2005 to 2010, the consequent global exports at cut rate prices of supply in excess of chinese demand, and its impact. … Continue reading

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Apple’s supply chain strategy – more insights

An article in bloombergbusinessweek (Nov 7,2011) describes Apple’s plans to invest $ 7.1 billion in its supply chain and commit $ 2.4 billion in prepayments to suppliers. It describes Apple’s decisions to buy such large volumes of high-end drills that … Continue reading

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US auto jobs growth and supply chain impact

An article in bloombergbusinessweek (Nov 7,2011) describes growing employment in the us auto industry, projected to be 88,000 by 2015. The reasons – a 10 % sales increase this year, production to rebuild inventory lost due to the earthquake in … Continue reading

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