If you move beyond political rhetoric and look at actual numbers, manufacturers are actually bringing jobs back to the United States. There is a variety of reasons, but likely one of the most important is that consumers are demanding it. According to Consumer Reports, 80 percent of American shoppers say they would prefer to purchase…
The world’s taking a cue from best-selling author and Netflix TV show host Marie Kondo, who is definitely onto something (besides being meme-worthy) with her method to remove clutter. Thanks to Marie’s konmari method, people everywhere are decluttering their lives by asking, “Does this spark joy?” Her fans claim it not only helps them decide…
Mariah Carey’s album “Merry Christmas” didn’t start off so great. Remember Kenny G? His holiday album promptly kicked her out of the top spot in 1994 – the year it was released. By 2009, Mariah’s collection of holiday songs wasn’t even one of the top 30 Christmas albums. This doesn’t sound like good trajectory for…
Vinyl Art opened its doors for business in 1978. We didn’t Tweet about it or post on Facebook because…well, because the Internet had yet to be invented (that happened in 1983). Things started hopping for technology and for us not long after. We’ve witnessed entire technologies come and go. One in particular stands out. Throughout…
It’s a short season, just 17 weeks long. Yet football is the most popular spectator sport in the United States. It’s an amazing feat for a sport that was essentially rugby until 1882. That’s the year when new rules were established, giving each team three tries to advance the ball five yards. It’s also when…
Comparing your capabilities should lead to better competition. It should motivate us. Often, though, it just makes us miserable. You discover, for example, that there’s simply no way you can match a competitor’s price. The key component to your competing product is a specific widget – and it turns out they own the widget factory….
With more than 12 million consumers surveyed annually, the NPD Group definitely has their finger on the pulse of what’s selling. This organization says that a general move from digital back to paper has caused an 18% spike in the purchase of paper products like notebooks, pushing that revenue figure above the $210 million-mark last…
There are times when it seems like the whole world is being digitized and ported into your smartphone. It might make you wonder what will happen to places that existed before the analog versions. We all know what happened to companies like Tower Records and Blockbuster Video. They’ve gone the way of the dinosaur. Will…
Is it possible to plan too far in advance? People who ask us what’s on our schedule this time of year might ponder this. It’s because we tell them that if it’s January, it must be time to think about back to school. Most of the world follows some kind of cycle. Schools start up…
Many companies today either practice or are moving to what’s known as “just-in-time” inventory management—often just called JIT. It’s the process of ordering and receiving inventory only when it’s needed. There’s no surplus of stock on hand. Operating with these low inventory levels allows companies to lower inventory carrying costs as they increase efficiency and…
