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Improving the milk supply chain
Do you think the milk supply chain has been optimized? Think again! Deliverying milk is an old business, but apparently there is still room for some kaizen. WalMart has redesign the milk jug to be made...
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High fashion improves the supply chain
Apparently even high fashion designers like Bulgari, Valentino and Gucci are paying attention to their supply chains and striving to improve performance. They are making sizable investments in...
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Dabbawala and six sigma
Based in India, the Dabbawala organization is the buzz of the six sigma consulting world. To quote from the Economist’s article: “Using an elaborate system of colour-coded boxes to convey over 170,000...
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How local will we become? – fuel costs and international sourcing
The cost of oil seems to be influencing everthing these days. A recent report by CIBC World Markets, as reported in the NY Times, finds that the cost of shipping a container from China to the U.S. is...
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WalMart in India
Retailing, like politics, is said to be “local”. WalMart clearly knows the U.S. market, but to expand it needs to learn other markets as well. For two years now it has been pushing into India (see NY...
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What to do when there is no snail mail?
What should a postal system do if people stop sending to each other letters (OK, they have already done that), junk mail, magazines, and other physical items? If you happen to be running a postal...
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Do we need a Manufacturing Czar?
President Obama has named Ron Bloom as a special advisor to tackle the problem of declining manufacturing in the United States (see NY Times 9/10/10): The President said “We’ve got to get back to...
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Robots or people?
Maybe the biggest challenge for e-commerce retailers is dealing with the huge surge in sales in the fourth quarter. How can you build enough capacity cheaply enough to satisfy the rapid growth in...
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Taxi capacity in NYC – the 4 O’Clock Blip
Apparently it is hard to find a taxi between 4 and 5pm in Manhattan. Why? Because that is the time when many taxis switch drivers. This turns out to be a fascinating capacity management issue. The...
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Supply chain lessons from Japan
The devastating earthquake and tsunami in Japan have again raised the issue of supply chain robustness to disruption risk, and in particular, are they too fragile? FT.com (3/15/2011) asserts that...
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