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…
NEWBURYPORT, MA – Fronetics Strategic Advisors, a global strategic advisory firm focused on driving value in high-tech supply chains and integrated logistics, today announced the launch of Fronetics Interim Retained Management Service (FIRMS), a management as a service offering. FIRMS is designed to provide specific executive, management, sales or operational expertise when and where an…
We all know supply chain management requires planning, not just for the products being shipped or received in the next couple of weeks, but also for shifts in long-term international trade. The Panama Canal expansion project immediately comes to mind. The $5.25 billion expansion project is expected to be completed in late 2014 to coincide…
A recent report on manufacturing site selection contains both good news and bad news for the US. First, the good news. According to the report, “Reshoring Global Manufacturing: Myths and Realities,” by the Hackett Group, the cost gap between manufacturing in China and production in the US is narrowing. By 2013, says the report, the…
A dozen years ago, some of the biggest OEMs in the electronics industry — including IBM, Hitachi, Matsushita, LG Electronics, and Nortel Networks — established E2open as a component trading site. OEMs and their subcontractors frequently found they'd ordered more parts than they needed for production. Rather than sell those components for pennies on the…
Check out any supply chain survey conducted within the past few years and the term “visibility” will rank at the top of the wish list. Suppliers, distributors, and end-customers all want to track the movement of parts as they work their way toward becoming finished goods. But each of these partners needs different data at…
Where are all those big brown United Parcel Service trucks I used to see all the time all over American streets? I remember asking myself this exact question several years ago when I first moved to Barcelona. UPS had become such a fixture in my mind's eye that it was a bit of a culture…
ATLANTA — United Parcel Service, Inc. (“UPS”) and TNT Express N.V. (“TNT Express”) have reached agreement on a recommended all-cash offer of EUR 9.50 per ordinary share for TNT Express, representing a premium of 53.7% to the unaffected share price of TNT Express of EUR 6.18 on February 16, 2012, the day before TNT Express…
As a market, India is considered the next China. The opportunity there for consumer electronics alone is estimated at $20 billion. But when it comes to getting products into the hands of consumers, India carries many of the same logistical challenges as China: a huge area, a widely dispersed consumer base, and the supply/demand swings…
MIAMI — Ryder System, Inc. (NYSE:R), a leader in supply chain, warehousing, and transportation management solutions, today announced the expansion of its reverse logistics capability to include a co-location solution. The new offering integrates forward and reverse logistics in the same facility to further optimize the returns process and drive greater value recovery of returned…