Manufacturing Discussions
And I thought the story this week about fake and useless cancer drugs was frightening. This report makes me wonder: What's the process for verifying these parts? Are the suppliers essentially subcontracting to another civilian company that could improve its screening or are they selling directly to the military? The potential for bringing down or at least slowing another military power through a sustained attack of fake parts makes me think of the schemers and great minds involved in codebreaking and intrigue at Bletchley Park and elsewhere.
Of course, a lot of this counterfeiting could have a simpler motivation: just greed, a soulless drive to make money regardless of the consequences.
Gigi
Counterfeit Parts: Worse Than You Thought
2/20/2012 11:46:54 PM
It really is an interesting question as we face unprecedented levels of unemployment, is the solution to mechanize the low paying repetitive jobs in hopes of retraining workers to get higher paying more lucrative jobs.
kstaron
Cheap Robot Brains
2/22/2012 2:53:48 PM
you the only and monitor .And other that could apply for the of what expect the
Sara Peters
Chinese Official Talks IP Security – So What?
2/16/2012 4:11:28 PM
Bruce obviously there are some weaknesses in India right now, but was China much better off when OEMs/manufacturers started moving their business there? I'm asking: I don't know the answer.
Bruce Rayner
The Rise of India Depends on China
2/18/2012 11:18:20 AM
@Chad, thanks for the post. I just saw the video link posted by you and the device looks pretty amazing. Its compact, cheap and more importanty it can be used under water. I am sure more and more movie makers will start using this camera because they can now shoot the scene from many angles.
Umair Ahmed
Open-Source Manufacturing Is on the Way
2/14/2012 2:19:59 PM
Thanks for the article Bruce. So i see you say that 70% of Walmart's carbon footprint comes form suppliers. Does this include the supply chain itself? Because it seems to me that there is only so much they can do about the carbon footprint of all those trucks rolling everywhere until someone events an electric semi-truck.
Does that footprint go to the supplier column or to Walmart's column?
Anand
Pressure Mounting for Supply Chain to Reduce Eco-Footprint
2/13/2012 11:30:57 PM
One of the things that interests me about this is that I would have thought the biggest issues were that of the overwhelmng price tag, hughe job required, and lack of political and social will to carry it out. I would have thought IT was really down on the list.
What were the choices given in the poll that were farther down the list on the poll?
Bruce Rayner
IT Is Hindering Infrastructure Investment
2/10/2012 7:38:34 AM
I think, as you seem to to some extent, Curtis, that this is a case where you're damned if you do and damned if you don't. It's impossible to skimp on protection for something as likely and as damaging as this and feel safe, but it's impossible to spend money on something that is this unlikely and removed from the public consciousness and feel like you've definitely made an investment you'll get a return on.
Most of all though, my mind turns to the CIO who's already made up his mind to spend this money. How do you sell 'Solar Flares' to a CFO or whomever who might think it's hogwash? It's a legitimate issue, but it doesn't sound like one, and even minor spending on it might come under scrutiny - you'd have to be very careful in the language you use and the evidence you provide.
CurtisFranklin
Something to Fear: CMEs Pounding Factories
2/6/2012 8:18:23 AM
I agree with the basic concept that innovaiton is the way out of the economic dulfrums. But one of the things that I think is true in Japan was that they had these amazingly low unemployment rates (often around 2-4%), long life spans, an educated and harmonious society, and igh standards of living for over two decades. It was almost idyllic, and it probably seemed like it could go on forever. It is easier to innovate by necessity.
The tsunami and economic troubles following it, are likely to spur them to action. They're a pretty impressive bunch.
Bruce Rayner
RX for Japan: Rekindle the Innovation Engine
2/3/2012 11:45:47 AM
Due to an error, Bruce's article was published briefly as though I wrote it. We apologize to Bruce and hope you give him full credit for writing this thought-provoking article.
singlemud
Is It 'Game Over' for Manufacturing?
2/8/2012 5:04:07 PM
Thursday July 28, 2011 12:45:52 PM
Thanks, i should get on to my Poll wrap article. Nice talking to you guys.
Thursday July 28, 2011 12:45:36 PM
Thank you, @Sara. And thanks, @Dave, for the great debate. Good topic!
Thursday July 28, 2011 12:45:26 PM
@Sara- It was huge in the 90's and expect it will be again. IT changed the way we ship product, manage inventory, etc
Thursday July 28, 2011 12:45:09 PM
Okay gentlemen, I'm afraid I must skedaddle. Thanks for the chat!
Thursday July 28, 2011 12:44:43 PM
We had similar problems with global supply chains in the '90s and we were able to fix those with MRP and ERP and other major changes to supply chains in the last decade
Thursday July 28, 2011 12:44:18 PM
I wonder how large a part IT systems integration plays in deciding what suppliers to use... that's just a passing thought
Thursday July 28, 2011 12:44:06 PM
@Curt- True, but not all countries or other types of geographical concentrations are built the same. But as you point out, this isn't the problem with the idea of cloud manufacturing for a single company. This is the problem of the large scale...
Thursday July 28, 2011 12:42:13 PM
@David, even when there are national concentrations there are generally options within the countries. If you build your product around a component that has only a single source, that's a design decision. It might or might not be a good decision,...
Thursday July 28, 2011 12:41:09 PM
Still, I'm all for doing this. I think it is important to design your suppliers and your in-house talent understanding what might happen.
Thursday July 28, 2011 12:40:18 PM
For instance, there aren't very many places right now except Japan to get certain components for computers. That isn't because other places couldn't make them. It is because other places surrendered the market in order to specialize on somehting...
Thursday July 28, 2011 12:38:33 PM
Basically, this model relies on the belief that certain countries have centers of talent or resources. As we accept this and rely on it, the more you re-concentrate risk as economies specialize.
Thursday July 28, 2011 12:37:05 PM
@Curt- No doubt this is true in many aspects of the company.
Thursday July 28, 2011 12:36:40 PM
Multiple sources of silicon? Awesome. multiple sources of programming contractors? Harder, but possible. Multiple sources of people dealing with your proprietary data to build a new product for you? Frightening to most.
Thursday July 28, 2011 12:36:19 PM
@David, I would argue that cloud manufacturing makes it ever more a question of choice rather than necessity.
Thursday July 28, 2011 12:35:26 PM
@Curt- Well, the thing is that single vendor lock-in happens in two different ways. One way it happens is by choice, the other is by necessity.
Thursday July 28, 2011 12:34:45 PM
It is absolutely true of materials sourcing. Human talent is harder to re-source. that said. The belief is that it will make things less vulnerable.
Thursday July 28, 2011 12:34:38 PM
@David, I think you're making an argument against "Single Vendor Lock-in" on a topic not related to IT infrastructure!
Thursday July 28, 2011 12:34:08 PM
maybe that's not the case with EVERY supplier, but I don't see how it's any worse than the status quo
Thursday July 28, 2011 12:33:49 PM
@David, the nice thing about cloud manufacturing is that it should be much easier to route around knots in individual hoses. There are thousands of fab operations around the world who would love to pick up emergency work building just about...
Thursday July 28, 2011 12:33:24 PM
It depends on what gets cut and how much you are willing to trust another small shop to pick up with no knowledge of your company or previous products.
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