Category Archive

The going on in metals. We assume the spot and future price of commodities are established on trading exchanges through an open market that prices the imbalance between supply and demand. True, but events can influence perceptions and therefore the price. For example, events can be short term, where traders think that a disturbance (man made or natural) in countries … Read More

Services are growing. A recent news article concerned a real estate agency supplying services to a telecommunications company. The work was to represent the telecom company in selling surplus property. Nothing surprising about the arrangement, except that the head of property investment at the telecom is involved in a business venture with the head of the real estate firm. So, … Read More

Lots of data. In keeping with the consumer space of social media and apps in the cloud, the IT industry is pushing the benefits of instant data (called big data) as one of the new ‘big things’ for industry (the other appears to be cloud computing). To emphasise the point, a coffee shop chain in the UK has stated that … Read More

Forecasts and truth. Your business depends on plans developed from forecasts; these inform logisticians of the future. Unfortunately, there are probabilities, uncertainties and associated risks, so the forecasts will be wrong; but they ensure your business is less wrong than if you did nothing. As an example, in my Newsletter for June 2013 (go to www.learnaboutlogistics.com to subscribe), I discussed forecasts … Read More

What is happening? The business media has recently noted changes to the outsourcing approach in two industries. The mining industry in Australia is changing its business model so that operations in the mines are undertaken by mine companies employees, rather than mining services companies. In the global courier, express parcel (CEP) industry, the major companies have been enlarging their fleet … Read More