Ikea as supply-chain innovators

Now you may think of Ikea as just some oak and some pine and a handful of Norsemen selling furniture for college kids and divorced men, but Businessweek reports that they are also logistics innovators (Ikea’s Challenge to the Wooden Shipping Pallet, Nov 23). Specifically, they are looking to replace wood pallets with cardboard ones. Ikea, which [...]

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Sustainability index hiccups

Some time ago we posted on Wal-Mart’s attempt to lead the creation of a sustainability index. The idea was to provide consumers with clear guidance on the impact of what they bought. Instead of wondering why one product cost a buck more than a different brand, they would have some information on why. Along the [...]

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Green packaging

It’s been awhile since we have written about how sustainability and operations interact so it is worth pointing to two recent articles. One is from the New York Times and looks at how high oil prices are leading to innovations in how consumer goods are packaged (Devilish Packaging, Tamed, Jun 2). In particular, the article [...]

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The Chinese want our nuts — specifically our pecans

“The Chinese want our nuts” — simply not a sentence that you expect to see in a major daily newspaper (assuming you still look at one of those) but there it is in the Wall Street Journal (Shell Shock: Chinese Demand Reshapes U.S. Pecan Business, Apr 18). In a nutshell, the story explains how the [...]

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Supply chain partnerships for more efficient recycling

An interesting story from the Wall Street Journal (Tight Supplies, Tight Partners, Jan 9). Apparently it is not as easy to get your hands on good trash as it use to be. That may not sound line a bad thing — unless, of course, your business depends on recycling that trash into usable products. That [...]

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A closed-loop supply chain for pet beds

Here’s an interesting video on a closed-loop supply chain.

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Why can’t you recycle a Starbucks cup?

Every year Americans use over 200 billion paper cups. While that number is rather mind-boggling, an equally amazing number is that 3 billion of those cups have a Starbucks’ logo on them. Given that the company has a link to its statement on social responsibility right at the top of its website, you might guess [...]

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Where to build wind turbines

My son is nine and for reasons I can’t completely explain he started lobbying early this summer for a family road trip. He didn’t want to fly to a destination; he want the old-school American experience of a long car ride. I guess that scrapping with his sister at home just doesn’t match up with [...]

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Logisitcal headaches and slow steaming: The rising cost of moving a container

Global trade is picking up. Want evidence for that? Look at what’s happening to the cost of moving a container across the Pacific: The New York Times had an interesting discussing how these rates have risen, how service has gotten worse, and how this is impacting retailers in the US (Retailers Pay More to Get [...]

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Servicizing Solar

So I have been conferencing this week and a recurring topic has been servicization. Servicization is a made up word to describe business models that (roughly) convert the customer experience from owning a good to using it as a service. I have, for example, some colleagues who have worked with Rolls Royce (the jet engine [...]

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