Business software solutions giant SAP thought they had a competitor. Baan, a Dutch company offering business software, entered the North American market in 1994 when it landed the coveted client Boeing. The next few years, Baan grew at an unprecedented rate of 100 percent, a growth rate almost anyone would realize is unsustainable. It didn’t…
According to the recently released Unites States Manufacturing Technology Orders report (USMTO), sales in the technology manufacturing sector are up significantly from April numbers, yet still remain much below order numbers reported for this same period during the year 2012. Overall, orders were up 13.6 percent and stood at $430.06 for the month of May,…
In June, FedEx Corporation announced plans to raise their shipping rates and cut jobs and operating costs, citing an excess capacity in the air freight market, which had offset the increase in shipments. On Friday, United Parcel Service Inc (UPS) announced they were cutting their earnings forecast, saying customers were choosing slower, cheaper shipping services…
As supply chains around the globe become increasingly more interdependent on one another, just as new technologies make manufacturing more efficient, supply chain executives need new skills that yesterday’s C-level executive never dreamed of. In fact, need for these skilled managers is expected to far surpass how many qualified executives are available to fill the…
The Materials Handling Institute (MHI) is developing a roadmap, which will hopefully serve as a guide to the materials handling and logistics industries through the year 2025. Their effort was sparked by a similar roadmap issued by Robotics Virtual Organization (Robotics VO) in March of this year. MHI announced their plans for the Roadmap for…
In April, Bangladesh garment factories captured worldwide headlines when a factory collapsed, killing 1,200 workers. Just one day before the collapse, an engineer was arrested for his allegations of unsafe working conditions there. The vice president of the Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporters Association, Shahidulla Azim, told the Associated Press, “Earlier it was not in…
According to Supply Chain Digest, prices of commodities are continuing a two-year decline through 2013 Q2. Prices of metals are the most significant, down overall by 15 percent since the beginning of 2013. The major commodities index now sits 24 percent under its peak in April 2011. Natural gas prices fell 6 percent in Q2,…
Every day the Baltic Exchange in London releases the Baltic Dry Index, which tracks the prices of shipping bulk freight. This week, prices are up 14 percent over last week, and have reached the highest level of the current year. Though most company representatives only agreed to speak with reporters anonymously, most are in agreement…
Before Republicans gained a majority in the House in 2008, Obama’s “cap and trade” legislation failed to pass. Since then, no new legislation to reduce carbon dioxide emissions in the U.S. has been seriously considered. Environmentalists have complained that the President is doing nothing to reduce emissions. Instead of trying to push new legislation through…
At long last, the longstanding goal of America (according to both major political parties) seems within reach. The U.S. is set to overtake Saudi Arabia as the world’s largest oil producer by the year 2017. By the year 2025, the U.S. will be exporting more than its importing, and should be fully energy independent by…