The fact that a number of companies (such as Wal-Mart, Zara, Dell and Toyota) have managed to record extraordinary success while doing quite ordinary things (such as running supermarkets, selling clothes or making computers or cars) has made managers more fully aware that what their organisations produce can matter a lot less than the way that they produce it. This holds true even in an age when the product life cycle is getting shorter and shorter, and more emphasis is being placed on technological product innovation as a means to add value.
Central to the way that companies produce things is the way that they manage their supply chains—the collection and distribution of all the inputs to the production process. Some companies take this to extremes. For example, Olam, a Singapore-based commodities trader, says that in practice it is “in the business of supply-chain management”. It undertakes all the processes involved in getting soft commodities such as cocoa and coffee from the grower’s farm to the factories of Olam customers such as Sara Lee. Its competitive advantage lies in the superiority of its processes, not its commodities.
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Category Archives: Technological innovation
Ethanol producer backs lobby against increasing ethanol blends
The newest ethanol producer in the U.S. is also one of the largest, but Valero Energy Corp. is not a member of the organizations that typically represent ethanol producer interests. Instead, Valero continues to retain membership in the National Petrochemical & Refiners Association, a lobbying group that testified before the U.S. Senate Subcommittee on Clean Air and Nuclear Safety earlier this week that ethanol should not be blended into gasoline at levels higher than 10 percent for use in non-flexible fuel motor vehicles and non-road gasoline-powered engines. The NPRA suggested that levels above 10 percent have not been sufficiently tested for their safety.
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Wind farm helps end coal use: Smitherman
The Enbridge wind turbine project near Underwood is a step toward eliminating coal-fired electricity generation, Ontario Deputy Premier and Minister of Energy and Infrastructure George Smitherman said Friday at the project’s official opening.
It also provides economic stimulus for farmers, increases the tax base and provides employment, he said.
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Ethanol’s A Fraud, But Other Renewables Aren’t
Posted by Ian:
According to Jay Yarrow of The Business Insider “The struggles of ethanol aren’t necessarily a harbinger for what’s to come for wind or solar.” Elgin county is home to both an ethanol plant in Aylmer and a wind farm in east Elgin. So we have a vested interest in alternative forms of energy. Here’s Yarrow’s take.
In the Financial Times today there is a story about the struggles of the renewable energy industry. Not surprisingly, the capital-intensive industry is struggling along with the banking industry.
The problem here is that the FT is painting the whole industry with a broad brush.
The struggles of ethanol aren’t necessarily a harbinger for what’s to come for wind or solar. They are radically different technologies, with radically different goals. Ethanol was supposed to be able to replace gasoline, it clearly cannot. (Even if it could, it wouldn’t be a good decision. It’s a poor use of land.)
Solar and wind power aren’t supposed to completely eradicate our use of coal in the short term. Maybe in a century it’ll be possible, but that’s a ways away. The need to use ethanol arose in knee-jerk reaction to the rise in prices at the pump–coupled with xenophobia. Those two factors don’t really contribute to solar and wind run investment. They are more about producing cleaner energy that limits emissions.
For the tech savvy audience, we’ll make this analogy: If LinkedIn goes bankrupt some day, does that mean that Twitter will also fail? They’re both social networks. Of course, they’re under the same tent, but on different sides of the pole.
But, to the over-arching struggles with most renewable energy projects: Yes, it’s true that alternative energy projects–wind, solar, better batteries, etc.–are capital intensive and many will not make it through the downturn. But so what?
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Heavy subsidies sustain Spain’s wind power
Erie Shores Wind Farm
March 2009
Posted by Ian:
An extensive wind farm dominates the landscape in East Elgin. Wind power is a key component of Dalton McGuinty’s Green Energy Act for Ontario. Are they sustainable without heavy government subsidies?
By Dr. Stephen Murgatroyd
Columnist
Troy Media Corporation
Spain has a great many wind farms. In fact, by 2010, Spain will have 20,000 megawatts of installed capacity. At the peak of the winds this past February, it was able to generate 11,800 megawatts, or 29% of its energy requirements on a particular day (meaning that the turbines were working at 69% of their capacity).
Spain ranks third in the world for wind power, behind only Germany, at nearly 24,000 megawatts of capacity, and the United States, at No. 1, with over 25,000 megawatts.
But there’s a cost. Wind power has grown in Spain only because of the size of the subsidies involved. The case is the same for solar power.
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Is the recession heralding a return to Henry Ford’s model?
THE early part of the 20th century was not an easy time for the Ford Motor Company. Economic downturns were frequent and deep. Shortages of raw materials on the back of the first world war stalled assembly lines. And the motor industry’s supplier network was too small to keep pace with demand, making it hard to ensure that all of a car’s parts were ready for assembly at the right time.
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A Train That Is Leaving the Station
Auto workers in Detroit should be learning how to build and service electric cars powered by hydrogen or new battery technology. Laid off construction workers should be learning how to install solar panels or how to insulate buildings to save energy. Unemployed bankers could be learning about counting carbon emissions and about how to reduce those greenhouse gases and use credits to help others do likewise. These are all skills that will be in great demand as the economy recovers, not just for a few more years of pollution-based prosperity, but for generations of sustainable growth to come.
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