The retail industry is known for experimenting with new technology and practices to generate new revenue. In the 1980s, retailers across the United States began branding products with UPC codes that could be scanned at registers to expedite transactions. In the 1990s, the internet boom caused many to shift to the web to offer customers
Continue reading »If manufacturing in the 2000s could be summed up in one-word, it would be “expense.” Companies in North America explored a variety of options to minimize production costs and maximize returns on investments. This resulted in millions of manufacturing jobs being shipped to emerging markets, such as China and India. In fact, a report from
Continue reading »Too often, companies oversimplify the goals of new hire training, boiling it down to teaching workers the skills they need to complete their jobs. In reality, the training period should do more than that – it needs to acclimate fresh talent to the work culture and the company as a whole. This is precisely why
Continue reading »For years, many businesses have questioned whether they can achieve profitability by reducing their carbon footprints. However, given the rise in environmental awareness, more organizations are dealing with terms such as “carbon neutral,” “renewable energy,” “eco-design” and “green” on a daily basis. This is challenging them to think broadly about how they impact the environment
Continue reading »Amazon has traditionally been known as an online retailer, but the Seattle, Washington-based company is quickly diversifying into other areas. One of the new service packages it is developing, Amazon Web Services (AWS), is a cloud-computing platform designed for businesses. AWS is a radical new direction for the company, but Amazon wants to do it
Continue reading »When companies are prosperous, they spend money more freely on things they might not normally invest in. However, in times when money is limited, they tend to manage expenses more carefully. This may lead firms to eschew operations and investments they view to be non-mission critical and conserve resources for only necessary expenditures. For some
Continue reading »The barriers to leveraging technology are getting smaller and smaller. Hardware and equipment is growing more versatile and at less cost, which means any business can afford devices such as computers and smartphones. Additionally, communication channels such as the internet are also evolving, with users able to communicate in real-time and download information instantly. Finally,
Continue reading »Employee engagement continues to be a key driver of companies' financial prosperity, with a new survey from Aon Hewitt drawing direct parallels between organizations' performances and the satisfaction of their workers. According to the latest study, which evaluated businesses located in Central and Eastern Europe, firms with engaged employees outperform those that don't treat their
Continue reading »Creating sustainability throughout a product's entire life cycle is an increasingly important consideration for manufacturers, given the rising emphasis on environmental protection. With this in mind, the National Institute of Standards and Technology's Hollings Manufacturing Extension Partnership (MEP) incorporated the critical element of sustainability into its three-pronged Lean and Sustainable Product Design (LSPD) service, which
Continue reading »The East African country of Tanzania is planning to kickstart national economic development by using Kaizen to enhance its manufacturing sector, the Daily News reports. Joyce Mapunjo, Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Industry and Trade, recently noted that Tanzania is already reaping the benefits of Lean healthcare and has successfully integrated Kaizen into its
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