Monthly Archives: October 2013

3-D Printers vs. European Guns Laws

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OCTOBER 21, 2013

The Liberator hand gun's files were downloaded 100,000 times in 2 days

“The gun fired four shots into a gelatin block,” writes The New York Times (Oct. 18, 2013). Each nine-millimeter bullet punched deep into the substance, which was meant to mimic the density of a human body. For the experts at the Austrian Interior Ministry performing the test, it was a clear sign: This was a deadly weapon. But it was no ordinary gun. The officials had downloaded the gun’s digital blueprints from the Internet and “printed” the weapon on a type of 3-D printer that any person could buy online for about $1,360. It took the Austrian authorities $68 worth of plastic polymer, built up layer by layer according to the software instructions, to make the gun.

Law enforcement agencies across Europe are on alert over the proliferation of gun-making software that is easily found on the Internet and can be used to make a weapon on a consumer-grade 3-D printer. In May, after a 25-year-old law student from Texas posted designs for a 3-D-printed handgun online, the files were downloaded more than 100,000 times in just 2 days before the State Department demanded they be removed. Stoking the anxiety have been well-publicized examples in recent months of people evading airport-style security scanners with 3-D-printed plastic weapons, whose only metal components are firing pins no bigger than a short common nail. Last summer, an Israeli TV reporter successfully toted a 3-D-made handgun into the Israeli parliament, where Prime Minister Netanyahu was giving an address.

The manufacture of weapons using 3-D printers is already banned by a European Union directive to member nations. Enforcing that rule, however, may prove a challenge. A total of 35,508 personal printers were sold worldwide last year, up nearly 50% from 2011. Most of these machines were sold to hobbyists, engineering students, and colleges. Tightening airport security might be one possible response, according to the German Police Union. “It is quite conceivable that this technical development will make full-body scanners at airports mandatory.”

This post provided courtesy of Jay and Barry’s OM Blog at www.heizerrenderom.wordpress.com. Professors Jay Heizer and Barry Render are authors of Operations Management , the world’s top selling textbook in its field, published by Pearson.

 

Amazon Moves In With P&G

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OCTOBER 18, 2013

amazonAt the end of a road in Tunkhannock, PA., called P&G Warehouse Way, sits a warehouse stocked with Pampers diapers, Bounty paper towels and other items made by  P&G. Inside the distribution center, reports The Wall Street Journal(Oct.15, 2013), is another company: Amazon.com. Each day, P&G loads products onto pallets and passes them over to Amazon inside a small, fenced-off area. Amazon employees then package, label and ship the items directly to the people who ordered them.

The e-commerce giant is quietly setting up shop inside the warehouses of a number of important suppliers as it works to open up the next big frontier for Internet sales: everyday products like toilet paper, diapers and shampoo. The under-the-tent arrangement is one Amazon’s competitors don’t currently enjoy, and it offers a rare glimpse at how the company is trying to stay ahead of rivals.

Logistics have long been crucial to success in retail. Years ago, Wal-Mart set up a system that lets suppliers monitor what needs to be replenished. Amazon instead is going out to its suppliers by piggybacking on their warehouses and distribution networks. Amazon is able to reduce its own costs of moving and storing goods, better compete on price with Wal-Mart and club stores like Costco, and cut the time it takes to get items to doorsteps. P&G began sharing warehouse space with Amazon 3 years ago and has expanded the practice. Amazon is now inside at least 7 P&G distribution centers world-wide,

The economics of the arrangement benefit both sides. For Amazon, “co-location” reduces the cost of storing bulky items like diapers and toilet paper and frees up space for the Web retailer to stock higher-margin goods in its own distribution centers. P&G, meanwhile, saves on the transportation costs that it would have incurred trucking products to Amazon’s regional distribution centers. Plus, it gets Amazon’s help in boosting online sales, a priority for many in the industry.

This post provided courtesy of Jay and Barry’s OM Blog at www.heizerrenderom.wordpress.com. Professors Jay Heizer and Barry Render are authors of Operations Management , the world’s top selling textbook in its field, published by Pearson.

GM Discovers the Importance of Logistics

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OCTOBER 15, 2013

GM's stamping plant is now next to the existing Arlington TX assembly plant

For years, General Motors pounded out hoods, fenders and doors for its Tahoe and Yukon SUVs at plants in Ohio and Michigan and shipped them to its assembly plant in Arlington, Texas.Yesterday, reports The Wall Street Journal (Oct. 14, 2013), the auto maker officially opened a $200 million metal-stamping plant adjacent to the Arlington factory that reduces that travel to about 20 feet from machine to welder.Estimated savings: about $40 million a year in shipping costs.

The new plant, is part of a broader rethinking of logistics by GM CEO Dan Akerson to generate hundreds of million of dollars in new profit. “Any savings I can get by cutting my logistics bill goes right to my bottom line and makes us more competitive,” says Akerson.  GM now sees logistics as representing the biggest potential opportunity to squeeze new profit from operations.

Co-locating parts-making and auto assembly promise higher quality and greater profit. GM and other auto makers say they can no longer put up with parts that arrive scratched or dented and have to be repaired.  “Now, with the reset of labor costs, especially in the U.S., more efficiency in the plants and the importance of quality, we can finally evolve,” adds the CEO of GM’s largest parts supplier.

“The best way to describe logistics is waste,” says GM’s manufacturing chief. “It is moving productive materials from point A to point B. It has no value and guess what; it doesn’t mean anything to the customer. If you can squeeze that waste of the system then you can tactically improve your profit margins.” In addition to moving its own production, GM is encouraging parts makers to move or build new facilities closer to GM assembly plants.

This post provided courtesy of Jay and Barry’s OM Blog at www.heizerrenderom.wordpress.com. Professors Jay Heizer and Barry Render are authors of Operations Management , the world’s top selling textbook in its field, published by Pearson.