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How marketing channels impact business growth
Kathleen Lavallee MarketingWhether you're a senior executive or a business development manager, managing the marketing budget is an inescapable challenge. Understanding how to use that budget most effectively will help you make the right decisions that bring new business to the company.
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Something is stirring in the belly of the economy
Paul Zukowski Business Management, Services & Risk ManagementThere are a few signs of things taking off in wrong directions in the U.S. economy this month. Then again, some things never change, such as the inability of economists to accurately predict monthly job gains — the Bloomberg survey expected 190,000 in February, while the reality was 235,000.
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EU looks at Ecolabel for supermarkets
Andrew Gaved Waste Management & EnvironmentalReaders will know that European supermarkets have made significant progress in recent years in converting their properties to lower-energy systems using lower-carbon refrigerants. Transcritical carbon dioxide systems have rapidly become the technology of choice for supermarket refrigeration managers wanting to reduce the global warming potential of their stores. Now, a European-funded initiative called SuperSmart is hoping to hasten the take-up of greener refrigeration methods by proposing an EU Ecolabel for food retail stores.
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Green meets smart: Eco-friendly packaging solutions
Delany Martinez Distribution & WarehousingFrom a manufacturing standpoint, ordering necessary packaging material seems simple enough. At its core, it's merely multiplying anticipated outgoing packages by the Styrofoam peanuts, bubble wrap, air pillows and other void-fillers needed to keep product safe.
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The deadliest cast: Creating a batch of rubber crabs
Renee Eaton ManufacturingOn the Discovery Channel's hit show, "Deadliest Catch," Derrick Ray is a captain for one of Alaska's most successful and beloved crab fishing ships, the Aleutian Ballad. During the offseason for crabbing each summer, Ray and his crew take customers on the high seas to simulate the experience — at least without the rough weather, long hours and extreme danger. A staple of the Bering Sea Crab Fisherman's Tour is that the customers get to see the massive 10-pound crabs up close.
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What is a supply chain? The alternative facts
Dr. William Oliver Hedgepeth Distribution & WarehousingI have taught courses in transportation, logistics and supply chain management for more than 20 years. In that time, I have come to understand that the world of supply chains is full of complexity, accountability, customer demand, uncertainty, mistakes and nature.
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A bid to clear the air in the UK
Andrew Gaved Waste Management & EnvironmentalIn the U.K., pollution has become something of a political hot potato, thrusting the HVAC industry's role in raising standards of indoor air quality (IAQ) into the spotlight. Now, campaigners want there to be a new Clean Air Act — the legislation was first brought in 60 years ago in a bid to see off the famous London smog that had created poor visibility and breathing difficulties in the postwar period.
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Powered by nature: Alternative energy in factories and beyond
Delany Martinez Distribution & WarehousingOnce considered a static "cost of doing business," the high price of energy in manufacturing is no longer a given. There is now considerable financial negotiation room thanks to renewable and alternative energy sources.
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Spreading the word about clean cold
Andrew Gaved ManufacturingI have written before about the vital role the cooling industry in Europe believes it can play in developing countries where there is not yet an infrastructure for refrigerating food from "farm to plate." Now, the potential for reducing food wastage through refrigeration at various parts of the so-called cold chain has arguably been clear for a while, but it has taken a combination of factors to give the proponents of the technology the necessary momentum to get their ideas more widely accepted.
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When rapid injection molding is better than 3‑D printing
Renee Eaton Engineering3-D printing — or rapid prototyping as it is also called — is a fast and cost-effective solution for testing and perfecting digital designs in the real world. Due to their ability to fabricate parts overnight without any direct labor, programming or tooling, 3-D printing technologies carry many advantages over traditional technologies like injection molding for short turns and small-batch production.
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