Automation - McGraw-Hill Introduction to Business

Robots Replace 90 Percent of Staff at a Uniqlo Warehouse

October 16, 2018

The Japanese clothing retailer Uniqlo has steadily grown into an international brand known for its inexpensive but stylish designs. As you might expect, maintaining this image requires the company to strike a delicate balance between creating interesting products and keeping costs low. That’s why Uniqlo recently announced that robots have replaced 90 percent of the staff at one of its warehouses.

Along with drastically cutting costs, the company’s newly automated warehouse will also be able to operate 24 hours a Continue reading →

Operations Management, Automation, Global, Product Distribution, Ethics, Japan, Partnerships, Uniqlo, Clothing, Retail

Chapter 1: Taking Risks and Making Profits, Chapter 3: Globalization, Chapter 4: Ethics and Social Responsibility, Chapter 5: Forms of Business Ownership, Chapter 9: Production and Operations Management, Bonus Chapter B: Technology and New Media

Automation Could Create 133 Million New Jobs

September 21, 2018

NickelsMcHughMcHugh

Depending on which way you look at it, the rise of automated labor in the workplace can serve as either a source of optimism or anxiety. On the pro side of the argument, robotic workers will be highly efficient and more willing to perform monotonous tasks than their human counterparts. Of course, matters of “efficiency” don’t mean much to people who could lose their jobs because of automation. And according to a new study published by the World Economic Forum, Continue reading →

Manufacturing, Labor Relations, Operations Management, Automation, Ethics, Skills, Human Resources

Chapter 1: Taking Risks and Making Profits, Chapter 4: Ethics and Social Responsibility, Chapter 9: Production and Operations Management, Chapter 11: Human Resource Management, Chapter 12: Labor Management and Unions, Bonus Chapter B: Technology and New Media

Streamlining the Hiring Process with an Interview Robot

September 11, 2018

NickelsMcHughMcHugh

When a company releases a notice about a new job opening, it can receive hundreds of responses from potential candidates. And before the detailed portion of the interview process begins, somebody has to call all those people to ask them basic questions about the job and their interest in it. This can be a grueling procedure, as Russian entrepreneurs Alexei Kostarev and Alexander Uraksin know quite well. In 2010 the pair had to screen more than 1,500 candidates over the Continue reading →

Innovation, Russia, Hiring, Global, Automation, Entrepreneurship, Artificial Intelligence, Human Resources

Chapter 1: Taking Risks and Making Profits, Chapter 3: Globalization, Chapter 6: Entrepreneurship, Chapter 11: Human Resource Management, Bonus Chapter B: Technology and New Media

Consumers Grow Concerned about Autonomous Vehicles

July 26, 2018

NickelsMcHughMcHugh

For the past few years, a number of technology companies have championed self-driving cars as the future of transportation. But recently the concept has received some bad press thanks to a string of accidents involving autonomous vehicles. For instance, last month a Waymo test car made headlines when it ended up in a five-car crash. Meanwhile, several Tesla vehicles in “driver-assist” mode have been involved in collisions, including one fatal incident. As a result, consumers are becoming more wary about Continue reading →

Innovation, Regulation, Ethics, Automation, Product Distribution, Self-Driving Cars, Waymo, Product Development

Chapter 1: Taking Risks and Making Profits, Chapter 4: Ethics and Social Responsibility, Chapter 9: Production and Operations Management, Chapter 14: Product and Price, Chapter 15: Distribution, Bonus Chapter A: Business Law, Bonus Chapter B: Technology and New Media

Robots Do the Cooking at This Restaurant

May 18, 2018

NickelsMcHughMcHugh

From picking up apples to distressing jeans, automation is spreading to almost every business you can imagine. And if you happen to live in the Boston area, you could swing by the new restaurant Spyce today and have your lunch prepared by robots. This automated eatery is the result of a partnership between a group of young engineers from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and renowned chef Daniel Boulud. Together these intrepid entrepreneurs claim they have created “the world’s Continue reading →

Entrepreneurship, Partnerships, Food, Product Development, Automation, Operations Management, Boston

Chapter 1: Taking Risks and Making Profits, Chapter 5: Forms of Business Ownership, Chapter 6: Entrepreneurship, Chapter 9: Production and Operations Management, Chapter 14: Product and Price, Bonus Chapter B: Technology and New Media

[VIDEO] What Picking Up an Apple Tells You About the Future of Robotics

April 6, 2018

NickelsMcHughMcHugh

Industrial robots were once so dangerous that factory employees could not work in the same room as them due to safety concerns. This video shows just how far technology has come since those early years, with today’s soft-handed robots able to pick up delicate items like fruit or plush toys.

Questions:

Why have items like apples traditionally been difficult for robots to handle? How does modern “soft-robotics” address this problem?
Do you think robots could eventually displace much of the Continue reading →

Operations Management, Innovation, Automation, Product Distribution, Robotics

Chapter 1: Taking Risks and Making Profits, Chapter 9: Production and Operations Management, Chapter 15: Distribution, Bonus Chapter B: Technology and New Media, Videos

Levi’s Adds Lasers to Its Production Line

March 1, 2018

NickelsMcHughMcHugh

Levi Strauss started selling blue jeans more than 100 years ago to miners and farmers who appreciated how long the pants could last under tough conditions. And while today’s consumers love the distressed look that denim achieves with a lot of wear, they don’t exactly want to toil in a mine in order to scuff up their jeans properly. Instead, over the years Levi’s has done all the fraying, fading and ripping themselves in a time-consuming process. Besides taking about Continue reading →

Clothing, Product Development, Automation, Production, Efficiency, Levi’s, Manufacturing

Chapter 1: Taking Risks and Making Profits, Chapter 9: Production and Operations Management, Chapter 14: Product and Price, Bonus Chapter B: Technology and New Media

[VIDEO] Welcome to Mcity, the Fake Town for Cars

October 13, 2017

NickelsMcHughMcHugh

This light and breezy video takes you to Mcity, a tiny town that serves as the test track for the University of Michigan’s autonomous vehicle research program. Engineers observe closely as self-driving cars learn how to avoid pedestrians and navigate through obstacles in a realistic setting.

Questions:

What is the benefit of testing products like autonomous vehicles in controlled but realistic settings?
Do you think self-driving cars will become a common sight on the road within a few years?

Product Development, Innovation, Automation, Self-Driving Cars, Michigan, Product Testing

Chapter 1: Taking Risks and Making Profits, Chapter 6: Entrepreneurship, Chapter 14: Product and Price, Bonus Chapter B: Technology and New Media, Videos

Amazon Acquires Whole Foods in Multi-Billion Dollar Deal

June 19, 2017

NickelsMcHughMcHugh

A few months ago we looked at how increased competition has hurt sales at Whole Foods and slowed its growth in recent years. Faced with the possibility of shutting down stores, CEO John Mackey cleared five people from the board of directors, appointed a new chairwoman, and hired a new CFO. Executives even developed plans to cut costs while also improving operations.

Then suddenly everything changed: last week Amazon announced that it would buy Whole Foods for $13.4 billion. This Continue reading →

Retail, Amazon, Management, Automation, Food, E-commerce, Acquisitions, Whole Foods

Chapter 1: Taking Risks and Making Profits, Chapter 5: Forms of Business Ownership, Chapter 7: Management & Leadership, Chapter 9: Production and Operations Management, Chapter 11: Human Resource Management, Chapter 13: Marketing, Chapter 14: Product and Price

Lyft Partners with Google’s Waymo on Self-Driving Cars

May 16, 2017

NickelsMcHughMcHugh

Self-driving vehicle technology has improved so much in recent years that the concept is no longer a futuristic fantasy. As automated driving becomes more refined, companies have begun to move out of the research phase and on to developing commercial strategies. Waymo, for instance, became a company in December 2016 after eight years of autonomous vehicle research by its parent Google. During that time, Waymo says that its vehicles logged more than 3 million miles driving in the real world. Continue reading →

Transportation, Google, Automation, Uber, Lyft, Self-Driving Cars, Product Development, Innovation

Chapter 1: Taking Risks and Making Profits, Chapter 5: Forms of Business Ownership, Chapter 6: Entrepreneurship, Chapter 9: Production and Operations Management, Chapter 14: Product and Price, Chapter 15: Distribution, Bonus Chapter B: Technology and New Media