Here is an interesting article from the Wall Street Journal about the struggles of scaling Automation at UPS. (An interesting tidbit: UPS says about half its packages are processed through automated facilities today. At FedEx, 96% of ground packages move through automated sites. ) The article seems to blame the problems of UPS on the lack of automation and having unionized employees. I think the main problem may be that the automation at UPS has grown organically in a slapdash fashion. In fact, the relevant quote is: As online-shopping volume grew, UPS relied on what a former UPS executive calls “a Band-Aid” approach to upgrading its network, patching it up by adding extra shifts or extending hours, or retrofitting parts of older…
Leave a CommentMonth: November 2018
Happy Thanksgiving, dear readers! In the modern consumer mythology, Thanksgiving – a uniquely American celebration – is a day for Turkey and Football, usually starring the underwhelming Cowboys who coincide with the decline of the NFL. But, all traditions are fluid in America, as we always welcome and add new changes. Now, there is the dreaded Turkey Drop, where college freshers “drop” their high school sweethearts. There is the much-derided Tofurkey which has become a vegetarian thanksgiving tradition. Even the resistance is upended into tradition. Those naysayers who devotedly, every year, circulate Wednesday Addams videos, proclaiming their iconoclasm, only join and expand the tribes of people who celebrate Thanksgiving in their own way. Because Addams Family — a whimsical thanksgiving movie —…
Leave a CommentIt increasingly appears that Amazon has chosen to split its second headquarters between Long Island City, NY and Crystal City, Northern VA — essentially locating a large portion of their upper management closer to the political and cosmopolitan classes (DC and NYC respectively). My favorite internet and business raconteur Scott Galloway – the author of the excellent The Four — had opined that it would always be New York. How did I do with my prediction? Earlier this year, my own guess was Nova/DC/Maryland area (although I had also hedged it with North Carolina). Amazon’s next biggest challenge is in running their AI platform. The biggest challenge for all platforms is regulation, which makes locating in the DC area as the perfect…
Leave a CommentIn the last Tesla post on Musk fans and naysayers, I had expressed cautious optimism about Tesla’s Model 3 production growth. There are some legitimate concerns about the process management within the Tesla Fremont plant. Much of the production planning problems have become opaque and also a matter of academic and practice debate (kanban cards and micro-management), ever since Tesla’s move away from Toyota Production principle. In any case, it seems that Tesla’s gradual transition to the make-to-stock model of production continues unabated. Tesla’s Q3 Sales figures from 2018 (Source: Wired) in a snapshot view, look very good. They finally appear in the top-20 models sold in the US and rank fourth in the luxury car segment. In fact, the sales…
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