As I was waiting in line at a retailer last month to pick up a new laptop and tablet, I noticed a number of people standing around dollies loaded with old, dusty CRT TVs. They waited patiently — even longer than I waited for my new electronics. Since I did not see any notices of…
The European Union's Restriction of Hazardous Substances (RoHS) law has forever changed the electronics industry. It has resulted in less hazardous substances being used and safer electronic goods. This law has been so successful it has been mimicked by other countries. China, Japan, South Korea, Taiwan, India, and the State of California have all followed…
ENGLEWOOD, Colo.– Arrow Electronics, Inc. (NYSE:ARW) announced today that it has entered into a Settlement Agreement with E.ON SE (EOAN:GR) and VEBA Electronics LLC relating to certain disputes originating from Arrow’s acquisition of Wyle Electronics from the VEBA Group in August of 2000. Under the Settlement Agreement, E.ON will pay Arrow an aggregate amount of…
You want to win in the marketplace? You may have to listen more to what your customers are saying about your supply chain and how they rate it against the competition, according to a report from UL LLC that indicates growing user concerns about how businesses run operations and the effects of their decisions on…
One might describe corporate sustainability management as a combination of government environmental legislation and “corporate grass roots” movements. Individual corporations and entire industries have seized on efforts usually seen as individuals' choices and have adopted these choices to the corporate domain. With incentives from customers and from legislative programs, corporate sustainability management has expanded into…
The electronics supply chain is still heavily dependent on carbon-based energy in its manufacturing processes, especially in south East Asia. Companies in the sector should do more to end the use of environmentally damaging power products, according to Greenpeace, which also nominated India's {complink 8965|Wipro Ltd.} as No. 1 in commitment to eliminate greenhouse gas.…
All the buzz about Windows 8 has put an exclamation point on something many in the technology industry already knew: Mobile devices are changing business models. Early reviews of Windows 8 say that the OS is clearly meant for mobile devices, and that PC users are going to have a hard time moving away from…
Investment in renewable energy technology is supposed to solve everything from high unemployment rates to global warming. In the US, candidates are battling over who is the “greenest” presidential contender, and unrest in the Middle East has fossil-fuel consumers constantly on edge. But the region that stepped up alternative-energy investments the most in 2011 was…
The high-tech industry faces two divergent challenges in product lifecycle management. Consumer electronics are being upgraded and replaced more quickly than ever. In 2009, mobile phone makers introduced 900 more varieties of handsets than they did in 2000, according to McKinsey & Co. And high-end, high-value electronics equipment is being designed (and used) for the…
Last week, I mildly mocked the efforts of the mobile phone industry to “self-regulate” the idiot practice of texting-while-driving. This prompted way more comments than I usually get, reminding me that anti-regulation — an ideology long promulgated by the forces FDR once aptly labeled “Organized Money” — has been so well marketed that we all…