A confectionary factory powered by chocolate
Nestle UK is using unsold or rejected chocolate and residual raw material to produce electricity. A confectionary factory based in Fawdon has a 200kW power generator, which is based on anaerobic digestion system that uses methane gas produced during the decomposition of waste. It is able to convert 1,200 tons of residue and 200,000 liters of feedstock per day. This amount of waste is enough to produce 8% of required power for the factory, which, as a result, helps save about €126,000 annually. The installation of the digester and the electricity generation unit has been funded by the Waste & Resources Action Program, initiated by the UK government to promote anaerobic digestion. Nestle plans to cut its emissions by 40% until 2020. In order to meet this target, it is implementing a number of initiatives to eliminate waste from their supply chain.
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Greatest threat for supply chains – economic risk
According to the Chartered Institute of Procurement & Supply (CIPS) Risk Index, economic instability poses the greatest threat to global supply chains. However, the CIPS risk index decreased for the twelfth consecutive month and in the third quarter of 2014 was 77.9, compared to 78.1 in Q2. However, it is unclear if the index will continue this downward trend, as the main contributors to the global supply chains (the USA, Germany and China) have been experiencing an economic slowdown. The demand for German products has gone down, while China is also experiencing slower growth than predicted.
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Amazon robots are getting ready for Christmas
Amazon has installed wheeled robots which move stocked shelves to ‘pickers’ at a number of warehouses in the US. The latest robot equipment allows workers to pick and scan at least 300 items an hour, while in other warehouses workers are required to process 100 items. Amazon was able to deploy these robots due to the Kiva Systems Inc. purchase in 2012. Jeff Bezos, the CEO of Amazon, in an annual investors meeting, stated that there will be 10,000 Kiva robots deployed by the end of the year. The exact number of the warehouses which already received the upgrade is not known, however it is confirmed that Amazon warehouses in Texas, Kentucky and California are already equipped with an army of robots.
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Have a nice weekend!
