Tag Archives: Supply Chain

Adjusting Apparel features to balance margins with appeal

An article in BloombergBusinessweek (May 30, 2011 page 18) describes efforts by designers to balance the needs of designers, who want clothes to be appealing, with manufacturers who want to produce them and maintain margins. This tug-of-war has become even … Continue reading

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Toyota’s quality focus and slow response ?

A recent report, written by respected outsiders, but commissioned by Toyota, claims that the attributes of stability and predictability, that create quality products, may be to blame for the slow response to customer complaints regarding brake pads or sudden unintended … Continue reading

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Volkswagen’s considers building the Audi in it’s US plant

An article in the Wall Street Journal (May 25, 2011) states that  US production enabled VW to drop prices for the Jetta by $ 8,000 thus enabling it to compete with Honda and Hyundai’s cars in the category.  In addition, … Continue reading

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Power cuts in China and manufacturing impact

A Wall Street Journal article (18 May 2011) describes electricity rationing in Taizhou, China, which required some factories to halt production one day a week in March, two days a week in April and three days a week in May. … Continue reading

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Liner conferences and antitrust in Europe

Liner conferences involved ship owners who discussed sharing capacity, stabilized port fees, etc. They were legal in Europe until 2008. Ship owners claim that their role was benign, and only helped to stabilize prices by increasing efficiency. A recent investigation … Continue reading

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Robots to pick drug dosages

An article in Forbes (May 23, 2011,62-66) describes robotic picking and lifting of drug dosages by Remedi Seniorcare. Conveyor style robots take pills from tubes and create individual patient daily dosage sealed plastic pouches. This saves time for nurses and … Continue reading

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Royal weddings, product design and manufacturing

An article in the New York Times (May 5,2011) describes how Pippa Middleton’s (Kate’s sister) gown (worn during the British wedding celebration of William and Kate)  inspired the company Faviana as well as David’s Bridal to create versions for the … Continue reading

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Opening a US plant to make candles

A Wall Street Journal article (May 5, 2011) describes the travails of Chesapeake Bay Candle as they tried to open a plant in the US. Candles face a 108.3 % inport duty and thus only 20 % of their volume … Continue reading

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Fragmented Trucking in China and Supply Chain Impact

An article in the New York Times (April 29, 2011) describes the fragmented, unregulated trucking industry in China and the consequent cost per mile of $ 2.50 to $ 3.00 per mile vs the US coat of $ 1.75 per … Continue reading

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Rethinking JIT under supply disruptions and erratic growth

A Wall Street Journal article (April 29, 2011) describes companies like Terex and Al-jon Manufacturing and their increased inventories of raw material and finished goods given supply disruptions and increased sales growth.  Whil Just-In-Time inventories enable supply to be maintained synchronized … Continue reading

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