It’s not even the morning of New Year’s Day and already there’s talk in supply-chain circles of the 2023 hangover. “There’s a reliability hangover,” Bill Seward, the new president of supply-chain solutions at United Parcel Service, said in an interview. He was referring to lingering headaches from more than two years of shipping congestion, delivery disruptions and...

This post Global Supply Chains Face ‘Hangover’ as Excess Demand Softens appeared first on Operational Excellence Society.

Several gauges show ship congestion continues to clear up even as shortages persist Few observers have had a better perch to watch the pandemic slowly clog — and now free up — one of the biggest arteries of global trade than Captain J. Kipling “Kip” Louttit. Two years ago this week, as fully loaded container ships...

This post Supply Chain ‘Normal’ Appears on Horizon, With Sights Set on March appeared first on Operational Excellence Society.

Shipping strains are on the mend, but a painful spell of weaker demand might be next. Rock guitarist Jack White, who extended his “Supply Chain Issues Tour” into October, might want to name his band’s next road trip after a different villain. That’s because supply strains, while still afflicting many consumers and businesses, are becoming more mundane...

This post Supply Chains Inching Back to Normal Brace for Headwinds of Softer Demand appeared first on Operational Excellence Society.

Supply Lines is a daily newsletter that tracks Covid-19’s impact on trade. Sign up here, and subscribe to our Covid-19 podcast for the latest news and analysis on the pandemic. Citigroup, New York Fed economists zoom in on supply headwinds Gauges should help economists better measure speed of recovery Global supply chains are nearing a...

This post Global Supply Chains Near Make-or-Break Point for Easing in 2022 appeared first on Operational Excellence Society.

A supply chain crunch that was meant to be temporary now looks like it will last well into next year as the surging delta variant upends factory production in Asia and disrupts shipping, posing more shocks to the world economy. Manufacturers reeling from shortages of key components and higher raw material and energy costs are...

This post The World Economy’s Supply Chain Problem Keeps Getting Worse appeared first on Operational Excellence Society.

Steve Jobs long believed Apple should own the technologies inside its products rather than rely on mashups of components from other chip makers, including Samsung, Intel and Imagination Technologies. In 2008, the company made a small but significant step in that direction by acquiring boutique chip maker P.A. Semi. Two years later, Jobs unveiled the iPad....

This post How Apple built a chip Powerhouse appeared first on Operational Excellence Society.

Bloomberg means that Kobe Steel’s scandal over fake quality data is just the latest example of how some competition-pressed Japanese manufacturers are bending the “rules”, and of how desperate these companies have become to stay ahead of Chinese and other foreign competitors. As a fact, an increasing number of companies in China, South Korea, and elsewhere have...

This post Some Famously Efficient Japanese Manufacturers Are Now Lying to Compete appeared first on Operational Excellence Society.

Bloomberg reports that for years now, the explosive growth of e-commerce has outpaced the underlying technology; companies wanting to set up shop have had to go to a bank, a payment processor, and “gateways” that handle connections between the two. This takes weeks, lots of people, and fee after fee. Then in 2010, Patrick and John...

This post How Two Brothers Turned Seven Lines of Code Into a $9.2 Billion Startup appeared first on Operational Excellence Society.

Bloomberg reports on the “new face” of American unemployment – one we cannot ignore any longer. Bloomberg finds that as the U.S. labor force crests again, a new complex of problems locks many Americans out of the workplace. Even at so-called full employment, some 20 million Americans are still left behind. While some of America’s jobless are...

This post The New Face of American Unemployment appeared first on Operational Excellence Society.

Seth Stephens-Davidowitz, in his new book “Everybody Lies,” argues persuasively for a mutiny in social science. As revealed in this article, is that most people tend to lie on surveys and on social media. But in the ostensible privacy of online searching however, he argues, we inadvertently reveal ourselves, and this “digital truth serum” offers...

This post People lie but search data tell the truth appeared first on Operational Excellence Society.

So far, for UPS and FedEx, Amazon’s been great for business.  But lately, it seems all the more that it’s taking business away from them. With Amazon having spent $11.5 billion on shipping last year—nearly twice what it did two years ago, things are starting look bleak for prominent delivery service companies. When asked about Amazon’s...

This post Will Amazon Kill FedEx? appeared first on Operational Excellence Society.

According to Bloomberg, America could become the world’s energy superpower in 2017. For today, it’s becoming a global supplier of oil and natural gas in its own right. As a matter of fact, in 2017, America may be exporting more of the heating fuel than it imports for the first year since the 1950’s. Moreover,...

This post Can the U.S. Become an Energy Superpower in 2017? appeared first on Operational Excellence Society.

Bloomberg means that you’re likely to lose out next Christmas, unless you concern yourself with new technology. This friendly warning comes duly filed as a reaction to the story of a guy called Michael Sorkin, who decided to get innovative with 3D printing and take matters into his own hands when the spindle broke off his...

This post Next Christmas That Swiss Watch You Covet Could Be 3-D Printed appeared first on Operational Excellence Society.

In this 21st century era we find ourselves living in, the line between technology and automotive industries is blurring. With the advent of companies such as Uber and Lyft, transportation is ever more tied closer with technology in the form of your cellular phone. Not to mention the continuous improvement of autonomous driving technology – that’s literally...

This post The Merging Worlds of Technology and Cars appeared first on Operational Excellence Society.

When the Obamacare Act was signed into law in 2010, it promised to provide health insurance to millions of American people. Since then, the law has been partly successful in pushing the U.S. uninsured rate down to a record low. However, the ACA’s new insurance markets are proving to be volatile, with insurers recording big...

This post Why 27 Million Are Still Uninsured Under Obamacare appeared first on Operational Excellence Society.

Filling your car up with gas is generally considered to be relatively cheap. But even though the global slump in oil prices has persisted over the last three months, the burden of filling up is yet felt differently around the world. Bloomberg examines gasoline prices around the world, by ranking 61 countries by three economic...

This post Gasoline Prices Around the World appeared first on Operational Excellence Society.

85-year-old billionaire Warren Buffett has been reliant on his managers to run Berkshire’s far-flung operations for many years. Buying the Portland, Oregon-based company Precision Castparts Corp. for $37 billion in January, was one of his biggest deals ever – and has become even more lucrative under the management of Buffett’s newest CEO Mark Donegan. While Buffett allows his “all-star” group...

This post Warren Buffett Made a Big Bet On an ‘In-Your-Face’ CEO appeared first on Operational Excellence Society.

Tax Day—it’s April 18 this year, for you procrastinators—is a bracing annual reminder of how deeply the government reaches into our pockets. One way to reduce your income tax burden? Switch states. Federal tax rates are the same no matter where you live, but state income taxes are all over the place. Did you know...

This post The Best—and Worst—States to Avoid Income Taxes appeared first on Operational Excellence Society.

Investors flooded startups with a record $63.3 billion in 2015. But a volatile stock market and fears of a tech bubble have led VC firms to make more cautious bets this year. The funding total for 2016 is on pace to drop about 25 percent, which means competition for those dollars is even fiercer than...

This post Who Gets Venture Capital Funding? appeared first on Operational Excellence Society.

Bloomberg reveals how and why the development of a microprocessor is one of the riskiest, costliest, and most technically complex feats in business. While Intel rarely talks about how it creates a new chip, Bloomberg Businessweek managed to visit the Hillsboro factory in May when they were given the most extensive tour since President Obama visited in 2011....

This post How Intel Makes a Chip appeared first on Operational Excellence Society.

This is the story of how Takata’s failures led to lethal products and the biggest auto recall in history. When Carlos Solis was driving a familiar route in his 2002 Honda Accord, little did he expect that the built in airbags meant to protect him in case of an accident, would be the cause of his death....

This post Sixty Million Car Bombs: Inside Takata’s Air Bag Crisis appeared first on Operational Excellence Society.

Imagine if you get a great idea and before you know it, it’s declared a government secret. Well, this is exactly what happened to a guy called Jim Geer, who patented a novel technique for tracking stealth aircraft without any intentions of attracting attention on a national level. In fact, it seemed unlikely that something practical would ever...

This post Congratulations, Your Genius Patent Is Now a Military Secret appeared first on Operational Excellence Society.

The scope of Tesla Chief Executive Elon Musk’s vision – on par with the breadth of Tesla’s ambitions – is limitless to say the least. Bloomberg gives us an exclusive look inside Musk’s latest billion-dollar venture here, that goes by the name of Gigafactory 1. Born of the necessity to build a voluminous amount of batteries, the...

This post Inside the Gigafactory That Will Decide Tesla’s Fate appeared first on Operational Excellence Society.

One would think that the assets of a company with headquarters that encompasses around 1 million square feet with 3500 employees and an e-mail service with 250 million users –  would add up to something. But things are not exactly as they seem with Yahoo. From a certain perspective, Yahoo is worth approximately – $8 billion. And no,...

This post Yahoo’s $8bn Black Hole appeared first on Operational Excellence Society.

Bloomberg reveals the story of what happened when an HR firm had some epic HR problems. In this case, it’s the story of Zenefits – a company that makes online software that automates health insurance, payroll, and other essential office drudgery. Zenefits launched in April 2013 through startup incubator Y Combinator and subsequently expanded from fewer than...

This post Zenefits Was the Perfect Startup. Then It Self-Disrupted appeared first on Operational Excellence Society.

In the general sense, Couture clothes in the traditional fashion industry are defined as expensive and rare items made for you, that fit your body.  But with 3D printing, the exclusivity associated with Couture might soon become redundant in the face of making its way into any home that has a printer. While 3D-printed material can’t come...

This post The Future of Fashion Is 3D Printing Clothes at Home appeared first on Operational Excellence Society.

General Electric has traded its division of refrigerators and microwave ovens for electric power generators, among other devices. In addition, it has made a significant bet on developing software to connect these devices to the Internet. GE strongly believes that growth opportunities are embedded in what it calls the “Internet of Really Big Things”. With their sights...

This post How GE Exorcised the Ghost of Jack Welch to Become a 124-Year-Old Startup appeared first on Operational Excellence Society.

Let the solar wars commence, says Bloomberg Businessweek. With Warren Buffett controlling Nevada’s legacy utility, and Elon Musk behind the solar company (Tesla) that’s upending the market – there’s no telling who will win the bet to eventually own the sun. In addition to the solar powered-battle of the billionaires, erupts the onset of hundreds...

This post Who owns the Sun? appeared first on Operational Excellence Society.

A few noteworthy events have led European banking to reach a proverbial point of no return. It’s no wonder that investors are running out of patience with European bank chieftains. Since the unfortunate fall of Lehman Brothers in 2008, eight of Europe’s biggest banks (including Deutsche Bank) have had to layoff around 100,000 employees, pay billions...

This post Europe’s Banks Face a Frightening Future appeared first on Operational Excellence Society.

Sure, it’s true that every airline has its own horror stories, with air travel in itself being riddled with opportunities for customer dissatisfaction. But United Airlines has outdone itself over the past 4 years in proving to be the leader of airline bloopers. These bloopers encompass almost all performance metrics, including delays, cancellations and mishandled...

This post United Airlines: A Quest to be less awful appeared first on Operational Excellence Society.