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As with most industries, the medical device sector was not untouched by the economic crisis, though it has not deterred the industry’s overall growth. Smaller firms, unable to pick up the slack of product development costs previously covered by venture capital investors – now made more cautious by the economic slump – were obliged to curb their activity. Some other small firms, however, chose to merge with larger firms, thereby continuing technological advances without bearing the full burden of the cost. Domestic and international acquisitions and mergers allow a cross-border sharing of resources and knowledge, facilitating continued medical technology innovation despite the tough economic climate.
More evident challenges to the medical device sector include taxes on products in overseas markets as well as incongruous foreign regulatory controls and varying implementation of standards.
Key Players & Regional Markets
The medical device industry covers a wide spectrum of products used in the treatment of patients, including cardiovascular devices, dental equipment, diagnostic devices, medical equipment and supplies, ophthalmic devices, orthopedic devices, respiratory devices and surgical equipment. In the US, medical devices are recognized as such in a book of public pharmacopeial standards, called the United States Pharmacopeia-National Formulary (USP- NF), and its supplements.
Top names in the industry include such medical technology leaders as: Johnson & Johnson, who ranked 40th in the Fortune 500 list for 2011, Abbott Labs (ranked 69), Medtronic (ranked 158), Baxter (ranked 192), Boston Scientific, GE Healthcare Technologies, Becton Dickinson, St. Jude, Stryker Corporation and Beckman Coulter.
Regionally speaking, the US is the leading competitor, holding in excess of 40% of the world medical device market, reports Exvere private investment bank. The US is not only an important player in manufacturing and exporting medical device products but also creates about half of global market demand. It imports lower-technology medical device products, with a notable share coming from China, and tends to export higher-technology device products. While the US may see its stakes in the global market rise in the event of taxes being lowered, practices standardized and standards harmonized, it would also see more staunch foreign competition from countries that, even if they lag behind in innovation or expertise, could compete through the cheaper production of lower-technology medical devices.
Growing domestic production of lower-technology devices not just in China but also in India, Korea, Taiwan and Brazil will help those nations become relative competitors to the US in the future; though the US is set to remain at the top of the higher-technology device market for some time. In fact, the US market is forecast to climb to $ 140 billion in 2013, over double its worth of $ 60 billion just a decade earlier, as indicated by the preliminary results of a Washington State biomedical device study.
While demand for medical devices in developed regions such as Japan, Canada, the EU and the US remains steady with annual growth rates of between 3% and 5%, developing regions are to prove lucrative for US exports, with demand in countries such as India and China showing more than twice the rate of developed countries. China’s sizeable population and healthy economic growth make it an increasingly promising target market. India equally shows potential as an export market for the US medical device sector due to its ever-more affluent population and strong accompanying private healthcare system.
At the moment Germany and the Netherlands are key competitors to the US for market share in higher-technology medical devices. However, some companies, such as Dutch firm Philips Electronics, are not completely independent players in so far as a good deal of their production is carried out in the US.
Medical Device Product Life Cycle
To enter the marketplace, medical devices must comply with pre-defined product life cycle parameters intended to maximize patient safety and ensure the highest quality standards. The product life cycle can be divided into three main phases. The first phase, or early product life cycle, consists of a product concept with its relevant market strategy and financing. The second phase, or the middle product life cycle, involves manufacturing and validation through clinical trials along with packaging and labeling. Lastly, the late product life cycle phase consists of not only the market launch of the medical device but also market analysis that subsequently impacts on successive generations of the product.
The Medical Device Body of Knowledge, created by the World Medical Device Organization, is an accrediting body that provides online multimedia medical device training. It offers three levels of qualification:
Certified Medical Device Associate (CMDA) – A basic level of knowledge that covers legislation, medical directives, assessment, classification, standards and the role of notified bodies.
Certified Medical Device Professional (CMDP) – This intermediate accreditation teaches the latest standards as applicable in the product life cycle. This course offers training in diverse aspects of medical device knowledge, including project management, worldwide device regulatory systems, clinical investigation submission, and clinical project financing and reporting.
Master Medical Device Professional (MMDP) – This qualification facilitates a more in-depth understanding of regulatory systems and strategies, and also involves training in ethics, reviewing clinical research, post-market assessment, traceability and product recall.
Australia, Japan, the US, Canada and the EU are the five founding members of the Global Harmonization Task Force (GHTF), a body that seeks to maintain regulatory control over medical devices in a cohesive manner across global markets. The organization has three broad phases of regulatory control for medical devices, which are divided into premarket, placing-on market and post-market frames. Though different regions differ in the specifics of regulatory control, the first two phases involve risk management, licensing and registration while the post-market surveillance phase includes recording distribution, recall procedures and processing complaints.
The GHTF aims to coordinate regulatory efforts, aid technological growth and encourage trade by producing documentation that provides coherent guidelines for its members. The documents are made by GHTF study groups and are split into four areas of expertise: comparison of worldwide medical device regulatory systems, post-market analysis, study of already operational quality system stipulations, and lastly a study group that puts forth principles by which to review medical devices.
The Medical Device Manufacturers Association, a Washington DC-based national trade association, seeks to streamline policy decisions related to the medical device sector through cooperation with the US Congress, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and US healthcare payer the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid (CMS).
The FDA Center for Devices and Radiological Health (US FDA/CDRH) is also involved in the regulatory control of medical device products. This body aims to record adverse events of medical devices on the market. One of its initiatives proposes the establishment of a database that would allow easy access to information on US FDA-approved medical devices.
Moving forward, one of the most important tasks for bodies of regulatory control is to set medical device standards applicable in all countries to harmonize and facilitate global trade and promote patient safety.
Medical device market research shows that the industry is likely to continue going from strength to strength, with the US keeping its top spot for the foreseeable future. The US remains a leader thanks to cutting edge technological innovation and demand from growing markets such as India and China. The industry as a whole is growing largely because of an ageing global population and climbing societal risk factors. In particular, diet-related chronic diseases, such as cardiovascular disease and diabetes, continue to create demand for medical healthcare services.
Equally, the need for medical devices continues to climb, with life expectancy jumping nearly 20 years over the past 50 years. In fact, worldwide demographics are increasingly shifting towards older populations: between 2000 and 2050, populations in developed regions will see those aged over 60 grow from less than 20% to 34%, while the proportion of children aged under 15 is set to decline by 2% from 18%. According to a United Nations report on ageing, by the 2050s, life expectancy at birth will reach 80 years for almost 60% of the global female population. This ageing population, combined with lifestyle-related disease, is the medical device industry’s assurance of increasing market demand.
David Winer …..


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Havana, Cuba, Jan 4.- New possibilities opened on January 1st for the self-employed in Cuba to rent spaces, has allowed an increase in self-employment in several different services.
Former workers of state owned Personal, Technical and Home services in the Provinces of Pinar del Rio, Havana, Villa Clara, Ciego de Avila, Las Tunas and part of Matanzas are now able to run their private services while renting state-owned space. The new measures, which were announced on December 23rd in Cuba’s Official Gazette, will extend to the rest of the country gradually.
Working space will be rented to carpenters, tapestry workers, locksmiths, photographers, shoe makers etc. These new private businesses will be able to set their own working hours and prices and will be able to rent a particular working space or equipment of state property for up to ten years. Moreover they will be exempted for up to a year’s rent if they make their own repairs of the establishment.
These new workers will have to acquire their supplies at regular stores however and will also have to preserve the name of the establishment. They will also abide to the public regulations and those concerning health and security in the workplace. (Taken from Radio Havana Cuba).

domain: news


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Ford said in a statement that it is focused on acting to protect the environment while also protecting the affordability of vehicles. “This agreement with California provides regulatory stability while reducing CO2 more than complying with two different standards,” it said.
There is no evidence that existing fuel economy rules would degrade vehicle performance. And environmentalists and many states challenge Trump’s assertion that his administration’s proposed rule would boost vehicle safety or dramatically reduce the price of vehicles — and argue that consumers will save more in reduced fuel costs under the Obama rules.
California Attorney General Xavier Becerra responded to Trump’s attacks on automakers saying it would result in an additional 540 million metric tons of greenhouse gases and other harms. “This doesn’t look like a better alternative to us,” he said.
The White House has urged other automakers not to back the California agreement, while Democrats have been calling and writing automakers urging them to sign on with California.
The EPA on Tuesday ridiculed the voluntary framework, which it said “so far has been nothing more than a press release.”
“My proposal to the politically correct Automobile Companies would lower the average price of a car to consumers by more than $3000, while at the same time making the cars substantially safer. Engines would run smoother. Very little impact on the environment! Foolish executives!” Trump tweeted earlier.
Gloria Bergquist, a spokeswoman for the Alliance of Automobile Manufacturers, representing General Motors, Toyota Motor Corp., Ford, Volkswagen and others, said the companies “look forward to seeing a final rule soon. We support increases to standards that optimize all the priorities, including affordability so more Americans can buy a new car, plus preserving jobs and safety at the same time.”
GM has not backed the voluntary agreement, arguing that it does not properly credit the company’s electric vehicles.
Even so, Trump tweeted that the founders of Ford and GM “are ‘rolling over’ at the weakness of current car company executives” over the fuel rules, adding: “Crazy!”
GM did not immediately comment.


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Sep 27, 2021
Consumer entries accepted for organic gardening competition
Organic gardeners throughout the United States will have the opportunity to compete for prizes including a Bitcoin, a new electric vehicle and a small farm as the first-ever Johnny Appleseed Organic Invitational gets underway on Sun., Sept. 26.
The launch date coincides with the birthday of John Chapman, the real-life American frontiersman who inspired the Johnny Appleseed legend.
The consumer, gardener-facing promotion is presented by Johnny Appleseed Organic in partnership with Mother Earth News. Organizers said the contest is intended to showcase the skills of the nation’s top organic growers and provide a platform for them to share their knowledge. Video entries will be accepted through Nov. 30, 2021, with finalists selected in December and the competition itself set to take place during the 2022 growing season.
“The Johnny Appleseed Organic Invitational will prove that we can provide for everyone while producing food in a responsible, ecologically friendly manner,” Jeff Meyer, founder of Johnny Appleseed Organic, said in a news release.
Contestants will receive points for their placement in each competitive category, with a cumulative winner determined at the end of the contest, according to the news release. Categories include:
- Heaviest tomato (as determined by certified scale).
- Hottest pepper (Scoville scale).
- Most beautiful flower arrangement in a 65 gallon grow bag (determined by social voting).
- Heaviest sweet potato in a 65 gallon grow bag (as determined by certified scale).
- Heaviest squash (any variety, as determined by certified scale).
- Best organic gardening ‘hack’ (determined by social voting).
Each competitor chosen for the invitational will receive $1,000 in cryptocurrency, and the overall cumulative winner will receive their choice of grand prize options including one Bitcoin, a brand-new Ford F-150 EV, a Kubota tractor with attachments and a restricted deed for a small farm at the Johnny Appleseed Organic Village, a sustainable living development nestled within the Okefenokee National Wildlife Refuge near Folkston, Georgia, according to the news release.
A live leaderboard will run throughout the competition and will feature multimedia content from the contestants, including tips and tricks for other home gardeners following the competition.
Entries are accepted at https://www.johnnyappleseed.com/invitational.


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With no monthly service charges and money back on ATM fees, Alliant High-Rate Checking really pays.
Members who use the Alliant Car Buying Service get a 0.50% rate discount on their auto loan.
Earn up to 2.85% APY without market risks!57
We offer award-winning online kids savings and teen checking accounts (plus, great products for parents too!)
Alliant returns profits to our members through higher savings rates, lower loan rates, and fewer fees. And we make it easy to bank with 24/7 account access.
Return to Blog Roll
Learn about how one of our bloggers uses two-factor authentication, Alliant fraud alerts and other security protections offered to Alliant members to protect her financial accounts from fraud after her personal information was part of a major data breach.
The savings balances of credit union members nationwide hit an all-time high in March, topping $1 trillion for the first time ever! Learn more about the economic trends contributing to this milestone.
What’s new with the winners of Alliant’s first Members Scholarship Program in 2003? Find out what two of the winners are up to.
Did you see the recent Chicago Tribune article detailing why credit unions are growing increasingly popular in the U.S? If you missed the article by Gregory Karp, we've summarizes some of the key facts he shared about how credit union memberships have risen recently.
Alliant’s new phone banking system has launched! It features speech recognition and streamlined self-service menus to save you time, Learn more.
Your Alliant savings accounts with balances of $100 or more now earn an even higher rate of interest than before, AND if you have extra funds on hand, you can earn even higher rates – up to 2.15% APY! – with an Alliant Jumbo Certificate. Learn about our new rates and the basics of Certificates.
The Alliant Credit Union Foundation and Alliant employees from around the country pitched in to help United Airlines fly hundreds of kids to the “North Pole” on United’s Fantasy Flights in December 2014. Learn about the trips.


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On Tuesday, Paris Hilton
was snapped leaving Los Angeles' Kate Sommerville skin center with a big bag full of stuff.
Sommerville's products are NOT cheap!
We wonder how much Paris plunked down for her huge loot bag?????
So that's why her skin always looks so fresh and glowy!
Spend money on products. Spend money on facials. Money, money, money.
[Image via Buzz Foto


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Lacoste Essential: Relaxed and Free
PARIS — Lacoste is going back to basics with its latest fragrance.
Lacoste Essential — as the men’s scent is called — will be introduced starting in August by La Chemise Lacoste’s beauty license holder, Procter & Gamble Prestige Beaute.
The product channels the relaxed chic of a Lacoste polo shirt, said Gerd Finke, a global marketing director for prestige products at P&G Prestige Beaute.
“We’re now at the heart and soul of the brand and are paying tribute to its founder, Rene Lacoste,” Finke said, adding the launch opens the new “freedom” segment for the label. “Lacoste Essential is all about freedom, enjoyment and relaxation — not just specifically relaxation and enjoyment as regards activities, but also freedom of mind.”
The brand’s portfolio has been bolstered by a number of launches since P&G took over the Lacoste license in 2001. In 2002, P&G introduced Lacoste Pour Homme, a scent that kicked off its high-end “Club” segment. That was followed by Lacoste Pour Femme in 2003. One year later the brand focused on more “energetic” scents — coming out with a signature men’s fragrance and Touch of Pink for women.
P&G executives declined to comment on forecasts. However, industry sources estimate Lacoste Essential could drum up $50 million in wholesale volume in its first year.
The fragrance’s heavy glass bottle, created by Qu’On Se Le Dise agency, is rounded on one side and a curved square on the other to evoke a tennis ball. Lacoste’s signature crocodile is cut into the back of the bottle, so it can be seen from the front, above the scent’s name.
“The fragrance is the crocodile, and the crocodile is the fragrance,” said Finke. A brushed aluminum cap tops its flacon.
Essential’s outer packaging also sports a crocodile logo and is green, the signature color of the brand’s logo.
The fragrance’s juice, concocted by P&G Beaute’s in-house creative team in association with International Flavors & Fragrances, comprises top notes of tomato leaves, plus citrus, fruity and watery notes. The scent’s heart is made of black pepper and a floral accord, including rose notes, inspired — according to Lacoste executives — by the fact that men don’t hesitate to sport the brand’s polo shirts in traditionally feminine colors, like pink. Sandalwood and patchouli notes are in the fragrance’s drydown.
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P&G used its proprietary “Time-Release Technology,” which allows the juice to maintain its initial freshness throughout the day. The wearer needs only to rub the skin where the scent is sprayed on in order to break molecules that then release the aroma of its top notes. Essential is the first fragrance to use the technology on a worldwide scale, although it has already been used in a Laura Biagiotti scent, said Finke.
The Essential eau de toilette will be available as 75- and 125-ml. sprays that will retail in the U.S. for $40 and $54, respectively. A sampling campaign, which will include vials, is to accompany the global launch starting late August. The U.S., however, will not get the fragrance until the first quarter of 2006.
The fragrance’s advertising campaign is meant to channel the juice’s easygoing aura. Conceived by the Callegari Berville Grey agency and directed by Carter Smith, the television ad shows model Axel Hermann in a seaside location. He leaps from mooring post to mooring post, playfully avoiding incoming waves. The print ad, which will run as single and double pages, was shot by Christophe Kutner and pictures Hermann in mid-leap.
— Brid Costello
Walgreen Net Rises 20.1%
NEW YORK — Walgreen Co. reported a 20.1 percent rise in third-quarter earnings — easily beating analysts’ estimates — because of solid pharmacy prescription sales.
The national drugstore chain earned $411 million, or 40 cents a diluted share, for the period ended May 31, compared with $342.3 million, or 33 cents, in the third quarter last year.
Excluding a $6.6 million gain, the company said it would have earned $406.9 million, or 40 cents, against Wall Street’s expectations for earnings per share of 38 cents. Comparatively, Walgreen earned $340.4 million, or 33 cents, in last year’s third quarter, excluding a $3 million gain from litigation settlements.
Sales in the third quarter rose 13.1 percent to $10.83 billion from $9.58 billion last year.
In the first nine months of the year, Deerfield, Ill.-based Walgreen reported a 20 percent increase in income to $1.23 billion, or $1.20 a share, from $1.03 billion, or 99 cents, in the comparable year-ago period. Sales rose 12.9 percent to $31.71 billion from $28.08 billion.
“We had another terrific quarter with improved gross margins and higher than expected prescription numbers and non-pharmacy sales,” David Bernauer, chairman and chief executive officer, said in a statement. Prescription sales, which rose 14 percent, made up 65 percent of total sales in the third quarter.
— Meredith Derby


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In tech-years, it was lifetimes ago that people rented movies by driving to the nearest Blockbuster video store, perusing the aisles, picking out a few titles to take home -- and then perhaps rushing back in pajamas just before midnight, hoping to avoid a late fee.
The rise of Netflix Inc. (NASDAQ:NFLX), Redbox and an array of streaming-video options no doubt helped fast-forward to the end of the days of brick-and-mortar video-rental stores operating in every neighborhood. And now Dish Network Corp. (NASDAQ:DISH) is rolling the credits.
The satellite-TV provider said Wednesday it will close all company-owned Blockbuster stores by early January. There are just 300 of them nationwide, down from about 9,000 in 2004 and from about 1,700 in 2011, when the company was acquired out of bankruptcy by Dish, according to Bloomberg.
Blockbuster's website shows only one remaining Charlotte-area store -- on One Norman Boulevard in Cornelius. An employee reached on the phone confirmed that location is company-operated.
Dish is also discontinuing the Blockbuster DVD-by-mail service and closing its U.S. distribution centers. In all, the closures will put about 2,800 people out of work, according to the Chicago Tribune.
“This is not an easy decision, yet consumer demand is clearly moving to digital distribution of video entertainment," Joseph Clayton, president and CEO of Dish, says in a statement. "Despite our closing of the physical distribution elements of the business, we continue to see value in the Blockbuster brand, and we expect to leverage that brand as we continue to expand our digital offerings.”
Dish will retain licensing rights to the Blockbuster brand as well as some assets, including its video library, the company's statement says. It will continue to deliver streaming movies to its 14 million satellite-TV customers through the Blockbuster at Home service and keep running its on-demand streaming movie service for non-subscribers, BlockbusterNow.com.
About 50 franchised Blockbuster stores will remain open and operate as independent businesses using the Blockbuster brand.
Dish lost $4.4 million on Blockbuster during the first six months of 2013, according to the Denver Business Journal. Blockbuster accounted for $301 million in revenue. By comparison, the satellite-TV service contributed $1 billion in operating income on revenue of $6.87 billion. (Our sister publication also has a roundup of reactions from the Twitterverse -- see those little gems here.)
Dish's stock price was unfazed by the announcement, closing at $48.84 on Wednesday, down 2 cents or half a percent from the previous day's close.


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The Ghostbusters reboot will bring with it a toy line, courtesy of Mattel. But how will they handle the property?
The new Star Trek trailer sidesteps the Dark Knight trappings for some good, old Trek reboot-style fun, and a new focus on Kirk being Kirk.
The new Robocop suit design hits the web, and the internet has finally come together to collectively frown upon it.
Next year there will be a new live-action movie version of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles coming at us from Michael Bay (he of Transformers infamy), and the producer’s recent hints that the Turtles’ origin is being revamped met lots of harsh feedback from fans online. But even if the continuity-screwing turns out to be true,…


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India and US-based Lybrate Inc., the company behind Lybrate.com, an online platform for patients to book appointments with doctors, has raised $1.23 million in funding, the company said in a filing with the US Security and Exchange Commission. The name(s) of the investor(s) are unavailable.
Founded in 2013 by Saurabh Arora (executive director), Vispi Daver (director) and Sandeep Singhal (director), Lybrate is an online and mobile-based platform that connects patients to doctors. Patients can use the service for free to find trusted doctors recommended by other patients near their locations and also book an online appointment with them, while doctors use it to manage appointments, medical records, payment, billing and expenses for their clinics. Lybrate claims its platform empowers doctors with critical patient information anytime, anywhere so that they can access patient’s medical history in a short time.
Lybrate’s service is currently available in over 20 cities, including Bangalore, Mumbai, Chennai, Delhi and Hyderabad, among others. The service is available online and also on iPhone & Android devices.
Recently, Delhi-based HelpingDoc.com, an online platform that lists medical professionals and enables patients to book appointments, raised over $1.5 million in its Series A round of funding from Senior Marketing System (SMS), a provider of health-related information services for professions and public in Malaysia.
Other players in the online healthcare space in India include Practo, HealthcareMagic, DocTree and DocSuggest, among others.
(Edited by Joby Puthuparampil Johnson)


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Johannesburg - South Africa’s biggest wine sale at the Nederburg estate outside Cape Town saw prices almost double to a record this month as volumes on offer fell.
Held on September 6 and 7 at the estate in Paarl, northeast of Cape Town, the auction offered 132 wines, including 72 red, 36 white and eight dessert varieties, the auctioneer said in a statement on its website today.
The average price per liter climbed 92 percent to 354.64 rand ($35) from a year earlier, it said.
“That’s a direct result of our tighter auction offering,” Dalene Steyn, the auction’s manager, said in the statement.
“The buyers were far more informed, knew exactly what they wanted to buy and were prepared to competitively bid on lots.”
The Nederburg auction started in 1975, with 15 wines on show from five farms, and raised an average price per case of 19 rand.
This year’s total sales amounted to 4.35 million rand and the two biggest buyers were retailer Spar Group Ltd. and Singita Game Reserve, which manages luxury safari lodges in Africa, according to the auctioneers.
The highest price paid was 22,000 rand for three bottles of Zonnebloem Cabernet 1973 by Next International Ltd. of Nigeria.
Wine sales from the auction into the African continent rose 4.7 percent, Jan Scannell, managing director of Distell Group Ltd., which owns Nederburg, said in the statement.
International sales outside Africa contributed 8.3 percent of the total, with the biggest contribution came from the United Arab Emirates. - Bloomberg News


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- 12 Apr 2017:A recent report out of Japan says three of tech's biggest and most prominent companies are interested in bidding on Toshiba's memory chip business. Can this be true?
- 11 Apr 2017:A Japanese public-private consortium is being assembled to bid for a stake in Toshiba's newly spun-off memory unit in hopes of heading off potential outflows of technology and talent from the country, it was learned Friday.
- 21 Mar 2017:The Japanese government said it was not considering steps to support embattled Toshiba and will share information with Washington on developments involving the firm and its US nuclear unit Westinghouse.
- 16 Mar 2017:Japan's crisis-racked Toshiba has offered shares in its memory chip unit to creditors as collateral to secure debt refinancing, people briefed on the matter said on Wednesday.
- 15 Mar 2017:Exclusive: Japan to vet bidders in Toshiba chip sale for national security risks - sources (Mar 10) - ReutersThe Japanese government, fretting over the future of Toshiba's flagship memory chips unit, is prepared to block a sale to bidders it deems a risk to national security, sources said, a stance that gives US suitors a major advantage.
- 14 Feb 2017:After a day of delays and confusion, Japan's Toshiba said on Tuesday it expected to book a $6.3 billion hit to its US nuclear unit, a writedown that wipes out its shareholder equity and will drag the group to a full-year loss.
- 8 Feb 2017:Apple finally broke 60% share threshold in Japan smartphone market during Q4 2016, posting yet another record market share in this country, mostly driven by the robust sales of the new flagships iPhone 7 and iPhone 7 Plus.
- 3 Feb 2017:Samsung Electronics is discussing a supply deal with Japan's Murata Manufacturing for batteries for its next-generation smartphone.
- 25 Jan 2017:Last week, Toshiba confirmed that it's looking to spin off its core semiconductor business. Toshiba's chip division includes its lucrative NAND memory business, which generated 15% of the group's JPY5.7 trillion annual revenue (about $50 billion), and has an estimated value of about JPY1.5 trillion (about $13 billion).
- 30 Dec 2016:The sell-off of Toshiba shares continues following news that the Japanese electronics maker could write down US nuclear assets by several billion dollars - a strong blow the company's fragile finances could have difficulty handling, investors fear.
- Japanese have been reluctant to split up their industrial empires, as the Sharp case shows, but if Tai can navigate the choppy waters of bruised egos and fiscal prudence to bring this turnaround to fruition then there's hope for the rest of the country. If Tai and Gou can't pull it off, there have to be doubts that anyone can.
- 26 Dec 2016:Canon Tokki, surrounded by rice fields in the city of Mitsuke in Niigata prefecture, has a near monopoly on the machines capable of making screens with organic light-emitting diodes, which enable sharp, vibrant displays that use less energy.
- 13 Dec 2016:Apple has held talks to invest up to $1 billion in a new $100 billion tech fund being set up by Japan's SoftBank Group, a source familiar with the matter told Reuters on Monday.
- 9 Dec 2016:
- 24 Nov 2016:Japan Display Inc is in advanced talks to receive a bailout amount of about 75 billion yen ($704.49 million) from Innovation Network Corp of Japan (INCJ), a government-backed fund and the display maker's largest shareholder, the Wall Street Journal reported on Thursday.
- 22 Nov 2016:A 6.9 magnitude earthquake struck Iwaki City, in Japan's Fukushima prefecture, early Tuesday morning.
- 16 Nov 2016:Nikon plans to eliminate about 1,000 jobs in Japan, or 10% of its domestic workforce, as the company shifts resources away from once core businesses to medical devices and other growth areas.
- 1 Nov 2016:Sony and Panasonic, the Japanese electronics makers, have warned that profits would be hit by lower export income owing to the stronger yen and the retreat from lossmaking businesses.
- 24 Oct 2016:Japan's Sharp will become the main supplier of LCD panels to Universal Media, the Slovak manufacturer licensed to sell Sharp-brand televisions in Europe, The Nikkei learned Thursday.
- 14 Oct 2016:Tokyo Electron and Disco appear to have logged record sales in China in the six months through September.
- 11 Oct 2016:Sony is revising its business continuity plan to speed the recovery of factories after a disaster, applying lessons from the company's experience following an earthquake in southern Japan.
- 30 Sep 2016:Japan's Toshiba expects to post a bigger first-half profit than it previously forecast, boosted by rising flash memory chip prices and strong chip demand from Chinese smartphone manufacturers.
- 22 Sep 2016:Japan government may divest Japan Display stake if its technology is commoditized, says industry minister (Sep 20) - NASDAQ.comJapan's industry minister said the government would consider divesting its stake in a money-losing maker of smartphone displays unless the company can demonstrate it is more than just a commodity supplier to Apple.
- 6 Sep 2016:Japan's government has warned that Brexit could result in the country's firms moving their European head offices out of Britain.
- 22 Aug 2016:Japan's Renesas Electronics is in the final stages of negotiations to acquire US chipmaker Intersil for as much as JPY300 billion ($2.99 billion), the Nikkei business daily reported on Monday.
- 8 Aug 2016:Sony plans to raise some JPY100 billion (US$982 million) by issuing bonds to institutional investors, perhaps in September. The Japanese corporate icon wants to be ready to pounce on future acquisitions and make other growth investments.
- 5 Aug 2016:Japan's TDK has offered ??8.65 million (about $55 million) to buy Tronics Microsystems the listed MEMS manufacturer.
- 2 Aug 2016:Japan's cabinet has approved an economic stimulus package worth more than JPY28 trillion (US$275bn).
- 28 Jul 2016:Shares surged on Thursday after the Japanese electronics manufacturer reported better than expected first quarter profits - albeit it a reading which showed a 70 per cent slide year-on-year.
- 22 Jul 2016:Gamers in Japan, home of Nintendo's Pokemon, are still impatiently awaiting the launch of the smash-hit Pokemon GO game but the government is already preparing for an invasion of little cartoon monsters, issuing a safety warning.
- 21 Jul 2016:Although based in Japan, Softbank is very much a Chinese company.
- 19 Jul 2016:ARM founder Hermann Hauser said the result of the Softbank deal meant the "determination of what comes next for technology will not be decided in Britain any more, but in Japan".
- 15 Jul 2016:Shares of messaging app Line, popular in Japan, have surged by 50% in its Tokyo trading debut, making it the biggest technology listing of the year.
- 4 Jul 2016:Japan's NEC will sell most of its interest in a personal computer joint venture with Lenovo Group to the Chinese partner for about JPY20 billion (US$195 million), using the proceeds for growth investment.
- 24 Jun 2016:Taiwan's largest airline, China Airlines, said it had cancelled some flights to Japan, Hong Kong and the Philippines on Friday as hundreds of its flight attendants prepared to go on strike over changes to their working conditions.
- 13 Jun 2016:Foreign investors are selling Japanese stocks at the fastest pace in years, as high hopes for "Abenomics" turn to disenchantment.
- 24 May 2016:Japan's Toshiba plans to more than halve its capital base, a move that may enable it to resume paying dividends quicker and get a fresh capital injection as it aims to recover from a $1.3 billion accounting scandal last year.
- 12 May 2016:Japan's electronics giant Panasonic plans to sell its two plasma display plants at its Amagasaki site in Hyogo Prefecture, western Japan, to a Singapore-based investment firm, according to The Nikkei.
- Renesas expects to be able to restore full pre-earthquake production capacity on May 22.
- 19 Apr 2016:Toyota was halting production at plants across the country because the earthquakes disrupted its supply chain.
- Advantest to showcase ATE Solutions at SEMICON Southeast Asia, April 25-27 in Penang
- Innodisk's latest SSD hits the sweet spot
- Microtips pioneers wireless charging platform development to jointly create an industry ecosystem
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This month, Delhi will see the third The Fatty Bao opening after Bengaluru and Mumbai and will be followed by three launches by the end of the year in Kolkata, Hyderabad and Bengaluru.
Earlier this year, the company, which is coowned by Olive Bar and Kitchen along with chef Manu Chandra and his partner Chetan Rampal, had opened Monkey Bar and The Fatty Bao outlets in Mumbai. “With the launch of Delhi’s The Fatty Bao, the company will concentrate on opening more Monkey Bars and The Fatty Baos across the three cities,” Chandra told ET. This will also include a new concept bar, the details of which aren’t finalised yet.
Chandra and his partner Rampal own a minority stake in Monkey Bar and The Fatty Bao (20 per cent each) while Olive Bar and Kitchen owns 60 per cent of the stake in Olive Cafes South. In 2012, Aditya Birla Private Equity had invested $10 million in Olive Bar & Kitchen, which runs fine dining restaurants such as Olive, LAP, Ai, Soul Fry and Monkey Bar.
Monkey Bar aims for EBITDA (earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortization) of 15-20 per cent and requires Rs 2.75 to Rs 3 crore per unit. Chandra said the restaurants break even in 24-30 months. The duo told ET they have plans to expand to Singapore, Dubai and London in the coming year. “The funding will be through the parent company and we will be raising debt internally,” Rampal said.
"Following the transaction, majority Indian ownership will create the regulatory space to even convert the operations into a B2C entity. It will provide a better shopping and pricing experience. But it's a call that has to be taken," said a source familiar with the transaction.


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Sainsbury’s share price sinks as CMA flags ‘extensive competition concerns’ over Asda deal
Shares in J Sainsbury (LON:SBRY) have taken a hit this morning as the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) pointed to ‘extensive competition concerns’ over the supermarket’s proposed deal with Walmart’s Asda. The watchdog further noted that it thinks it is ‘likely to be difficult’ for the parties to address its concerns.
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As of 09:32 GMT, Sainsbury’s share price had lost 13.95 percent to 247.75p. The shares are weighing on the broader UK market, with the benchmark FTSE 100 index currently standing 0.09 percent higher at 7,185.86 points.
‘Extensive competition concerns’Copy link to section
The CMA unveiled its provisional findings on the Sainsbury’s-Asda merger today, saying that the proposed deal could lead to higher prices, a poorer shopping experience, and reductions in the range and quality of products offered. The watchdog further said that it had concerns that prices could rise at a large number of their petrol stations.
The CMA noted that the options for addressing its concerns included blocking the deal or requiring the merging companies to sell off a significant number of stores and other assets. The watchdog, however, cautioned that its current view was that it was “likely to be difficult for the companies to address the concerns”.
Sainsbury’s issued a short statement, saying that it ‘fundamentally’ disagreed with the findings which, the grocer argues, “misunderstand how people shop in the UK”.
Analysts weigh in on findingsCopy link to section
“These provisional findings deliver a hammer blow to the potential tie-up between Sainsbury’s and Asda,” Richard Lim, chief executive at Retail Economics, commented, as quoted by the BBC, adding that the “scope of any potential recommendations in the final stage may be too much to swallow for the deal to survive”.
Proactive Investors meanwhile quoted Hargreaves Lansdown analyst Laith Khalaf as commenting that the “supermarkets will now have to bend over backwards if they want to proceed with the merger, and even then, wouldn’t be guaranteed a favourable ruling from the CMA”.
UBS had previously argued that the merger’s economics could absorb at least 132 store disposals and potentially dozens more.
As of 10:19 GMT, Wednesday, 20 February, J Sainsbury plc share price is 247.75p.


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Thanks to a mature marketplace and strong business opportunities, China has often been thought of as Danfoss’ second home. Now, with the opening of a new assembly line in Wuqing, China, Danfoss solidifies its commitment to the Chinese market and shores up the capabilities of its Industrial Automation (IA) line of business.
China delivered the highest growth of any region in 2017, so the benefits of further investment and deeper commitments to the Chinese market are clear. The new assembly line in Wuqing will enable production of a new line of pressure sensors that will go out to customers across the globe.
“China is our top market in the world. The region holds significant growth opportunities for Danfoss, especially within urban infrastructure projects, such as district energy systems. There are also exciting possibilities in food chain development, air conditioning markets, and construction markets,” says Kim Fausing, President and CEO, Danfoss Group. "The new IA assembly line brings first-class Danfoss technology to China, which will help our customers improve their competitiveness at home, where urbanization is surging, and abroad, as they go out into the global market under China’s Belt & Road Initiative.”
The aim for the new IA assembly line will be to support customers with fast and high-quality delivery. The team in Wuqing has more than 10 years of experience producing pressure sensors, which will help them to provide exceptional and highly professional customer support.
“The exciting part for us in Industrial Automation is opening a completely new assembly line in China for the very first time. Previously, we would have moved the assembly lines from Denmark. This new initiative clearly demonstrates the experience and knowledge level of our Chinese organization, and our commitment to China as a manufacturing location,” says Rikke Vesterbak, Vice President, Danfoss Industrial Automation.
The production line is capable of producing up to one million sensors by 2020 and up to two million by 2022. Already, the first customers have started placing orders, even as the final steps are taken to get the facility in place. Danfoss is clearly gearing up to meet its ambitious growth targets for the coming years in China and around the world.
For more information:
China: Zhang Yuhong (Selena), Marketing Communications Driver, firstname.lastname@example.org
Global: Julia Panzer, Director Strategic Communication, +45 2937 9552
Engineering the world of Tomorrow
Danfoss engineers advanced technologies that enable us to build a better, smarter and more efficient tomorrow. In the world’s growing cities, we ensure the supply of fresh food and optimal comfort in our homes and offices, while meeting the need for energy efficient infrastructure, connected systems and integrated renewable energy.
Our solutions are used in areas such as refrigeration, air conditioning, heating, motor control and mobile machinery.
Our innovative engineering dates back to 1933 and today Danfoss holds market-leading positions, employing more than 26,000 and serving customers in more than 100 countries. We are privately held by the founding family.


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Dillons officials are rolling out in Newton the company's newest idea in its partnership with Kwik Shop, the Kroger convenience store chain.
Construction has begun on a 4,000-square-foot Kwik Shop at 12th and Main in Newton, in the parking lot of the grocery chain's largest Newton store.
When it opens late this summer, it will provide 16 gasoline and diesel fuel pumps in a one-stop shop environment, Dillons spokeswoman Sheila Lowrie said.
The new store targets the fuel points partnership between the grocer and the convenience store, she said.
Shoppers accumulate points for per-gallon gasoline discounts at Kwik Shop by buying groceries at Dillons.
"Similar to the innovative Dillons/Kwik Shop hybrid grocery and convenience store in Greensburg and the new Dillons pharmacies inside Kwik Shop locations in Wichita, we are always exploring ways to make customers think of Dillons and Kwik Shop first," Lowrie said.
The store becomes Kwik Shop's second in Newton, joining a store near U.S. 50 on the city's south side.
"Our customers in Newton have told us they love to take advantage of the extra savings with our fuel rewards but it was not always convenient to access the existing Kwik Shop," Lowrie said.
The new grocery store, constructed in 2006 behind the original 12th and Main Dillons store, was built far off the street, resulting in a large parking lot with development pad sites.
The one-stop shop concept is "fairly unique" in convenience, gas and grocery store marketing, said Cindy Claycomb, a marketing professor at Wichita State University.
"There's only so much market share," she said. "The advantage they give themselves is getting you there. If you need something quick or gas, you choose the convenience store with the grocery store available for a quick drop-in."
QuikTrip officials in Tulsa say it's full speed ahead on expansion and renovation plans in Kansas, with no plans to partner with any grocers in Wichita.
"We like to do things ourselves," said Mike Thornbrugh, the company spokesman in Tulsa. "As many things as we can do internally, that's what we're going to do. You could say we're control freaks."
QT is moving into the Carolinas, with six new stores under construction, Thornbrugh said.


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“At least now you don’t have to go into an interview and talk about how electrification is the future of mobility,” Thomas Ingenlath says. “In the beginning, electrification wasn’t such a crowded place.” Ingenlath is CEO of the Swedish marque Polestar which has produced two electric vehicles since it was established in 2017: Polestar 1 and Polestar 2. Now almost all car manufacturers have released electric models, Ingenlath adds. This “common ground” has created a sense of healthy competition for the start-up. “Even if everything is electrified, Polestar still has to have meaning to be there,” he explains.
This means creating a distinctive look and feel for the Polestar vehicles. Polestar is owned by Volvo (Ingenlath was previously senior vice president design at the parent company) and has headquarters in Gothenburg, Sweden. The team comprises 12 core designers. Where Volvo vehicles are “warm and inclusive and family friendly” with natural materials, the Polestar space is “much more tech, cool, more individualistic and provocative”, he says.
The company’s second model, which was revealed last year, has a design style inspired by Scandinavian architecture. The marque says that this creates a “new path” for electric vehicles in terms of aesthetics, and also allows drivers a customisation across interior and exterior colours, tyre packages and brake combinations. A panoramic glass roof encourages passengers to look up. It also benefits from its parent company’s relationship, with safety features developed by Volvo. There are “many secrets and mysteries” which go into the design, Ingenlath says, and he believes being able to collaborate on “research intense” projects with Volvo is one of Polestar’s biggest advantages.
One of the most significant upgrades was the integration of Android technology, meaning that drivers have access to Google Assistant in vehicles. From day one, drivers who use Google Home will have a more tailored experience with the vehicle in a step forward for this kind of connected smart system. This user experience was a key focus for the studio. “You can have the same development of a car, mechanical-wise, but with crappy software, it feels like a very raw prototype,” Ingenlath explains. With different software, it’s suddenly refined, he adds.
The software is also continually updated, meaning that customers experience a car that has “ability to change”, the designer says. He says it’s strange to think how long this was not the case for vehicles, and it marks not only a shift for consumers but also designers. “We are in close contact with the customers,” he says, pointing to Facebook groups and other social media platforms. “We’re immediately in dialogue with them, about which features they like, and where they see improvement.” “To be able to react on that is such a different story,” he adds.
“People don’t buy an idea, they buy a product that delivers on that”
While the designer is clearly interested in sustainability, he stresses that the vehicles’ success lies in desirability. “I was always intrigued by how at the end of the day the desirability of an Apple product was what made it so successful, and not necessarily the company’s philosophy,” he says. “People don’t buy an idea, they buy a product that delivers on that.” The recently-unveiled concept vehicle Precept for example, features “design from the near future” including a distinctive 3D knit material for seating that seeks to reduce waste. Plans for the Polestar 3 reveal an electric SUV, in line with Tesla’s Model X design.
Ingenlath says that one of the main areas of development for Polestar will be reducing Co2 burden throughout a vehicle’s lifecycle. The Co2 burden is decided by four main areas; production of fuel, vehicle manufacturing, vehicle use and its disposal. Polestar’s production plant in Chengdu, China was completed in 2019, a curved building which runs on renewable energy. It’s a priority to reduce the cars’ burden, from materials to car production, as well as the ways it could be reduced throughout a car’s life cycle. This “continuous improvement of Co2 burden” will be crucial in the design development, he says.
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While electrification has become a much more familiar concept, thanks in part to the headline-grabbing antics of Tesla and its CEO Elon Musk, practical concerns still plague the sector. Charging is one of the biggest questions, Ingenlath says. Earlier this year, Polestar revealed a pop-up charging station in the popular skiing destination of Grums during the Swedish ski holidays. This was a response to the concerns around charging and also a way to showcase an agile response according to Ingenlath. In the summer, it would be possible to place the charging station in a different popular location, the designer says.
Despite innovation like this, Ingenlath believes that the situation in cities will require intervention from other parties – namely politicians. It will require not only subsidies for buying electric vehicles, but also “clear legislation that enables deployment of charging infrastructure”.
He speaks with some frustration about this but adds that it doesn’t have to be a challenge, recalling a scene in Oslo, Norway. Looking out at a street, there were car parks left and right. Only on second glance did he realise that all the cars were plugged in. That was three years ago. “The smallest element of visionary thinking can change our living,” he adds. He also concedes that people might consider the daily use of the car: “I’m not promoting not owning a car, but I’m certainly promoting not using the car every day.”
Engaging new audiences
Polestar’s collaboration is wider than simply Volvo. Ingenlath says that he likes to work with brands across all sectors for inspiration. Some of those include electric off-road bike brand Cake (which are sold at Polestar showrooms) as well as fashion brands. Last year, Polestar teamed up with luxury label Balenciaga on a video game which showcased Polestar concept vehicles and Balenciaga’s autumn/winter 2021 collection.
The designer says that being in dialogue with these brands is educative. “They have shown how a commercially-run business can embrace the sustainability option,” he says. It also helps position Polestar as a “car company that is not so much going in circles about what the car industry is doing but looking at other products across fashion and mobility”.
This will of course be helpful to Polestar’s reach as it moves forward – engaging with brands outside of the automotive industry will hopefully pique the interest of unexpected customers. “I’m convinced that this is something people get interested in and that it’s not just a car that people who like cars can get interested in,” he says. “I think we have to work a lot on that to make sure people don’t shut off.”


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Hidden iOS 7 feature puts panoramas in lock screen
Previously undocumented feature uses iPhone’s built-in sensors to track how you’re holding your phone to show off big photos.
An otherwise undocumented iOS 7 feature has been discovered that lets
users view the entirety of large, panoramic photos on their iPhone’s
The feature uses the device’s built-in gyroscope to track movement,
and pans across the photo. In its demos of the software at the Worldwide
Developers Conference on Monday, Apple had only shown off that the
background of the lock screen and home screen would move slightly as
users tilted the phone.
A Vine of the eye candy, spotted by Business Insider on Wednesday, shows the feature in motion. Try not to throw up watching this (hint: clicking it will stop it):
Apple introduced the panoramic photo feature inside of iOS 5 last year. The technology, which was outed in earlier versions of the software,
stitches together a panoramic photo as users slowly pan their device
from side to side. Similar features also are available on rival
smartphone platforms, including Google’s Photo Sphere feature
, which lets users capture 360-degree, interactive photos.
An initial beta of
was released to developers Monday, in what is expected to be the first
of several ahead of its release. Apple has not provided an exact date
for its release, short of this fall, when the company is also expected
to introduce its next iPhone. There are still no versions of iOS 7
available for iPads, just the iPhone and latest-generation


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With the European C-segment hatchback market getting lots of new entries such as the award-winning new Peugeot 308, the Volkswagen Golf Mk7, and the recently facelifted Ford Focus, Hyundai has to play catch up with an update to its own C-segment hatchback entry – the Hyundai i30. Since the i30 is also sold in Malaysia, this update will eventually come to our shores as well.
The facelifted i30’s face gets an updated grille that adds lot of horizontal bars. While that treatment reminds us of how Audis look like, but it also brings it in line with the new Sonata’s face as well as what we’ve seen on the yet to be launched Hyundai i40’s facelift so far.
Bigger changes could be under the hood. Hyundai’s 1.6 litre and 1.8 litre normally aspirated engines mated to 6-speed automatic gearboxes could be replaced with downsized turbocharged engines which are now commonplace in the segment that the i30 is competing in. Since the new Sonata features a variant that uses a 1.6 litre turbo engine mated to a dual clutch gearbox, we could see it introduced in the facelifted i30.
Hyundai also announced 1.0 litre and 1.2 litre turbocharged engines back in 2012 but have yet to introduce them in a production car – these engines would make sense in an i30. The 1.0 litre engine does 106 PS and 137 Nm of torque – no details on the 1.2 litre engine yet.
But then again, these engines could skip the i30 facelift and only be introduced in a full model change such as the new ix35 compact SUV as well as the next generation i20.


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Intrepid coffee researchers win a tongue-in-cheek award in fluid dynamics
Cafe2U takes its coffee and its coffee franchise business seriously, but we try to have fun, too. So we tip our cups to Rouslan Krechetnikov and Hans Mayer, the intrepid scientists who won a 2012 Ig Nobel Prize for their study “Walking With Coffee: Why Does It Spill?”
In case you’re wondering, the Ig Nobel Prizes are tongue-in-cheek parodies of the Nobel Prize given by Improbable Research, an organization that highlights humorous scientific studies. (Other awards this year were given to scientists who found meaningful brain activity in dead salmon; and to the U.S. Government Accountability Office for “issuing a report about reports about reports that recommends the preparation of a report about the report about reports about reports,” to quote the prize committee.)
Krechnetnikov and Mayer studied the important question of why so many people spill their coffee while they walk. (And we’ll take this opportunity to mention that Cafe2U offers lids to customers.) In a show of diligence that rivals our approach to finding the perfect roast, the scientists worked out a series of equations taking into account the size and shape of the cup, the biomechanics of the walker’s gait and the viscosity of the coffee. They used high-speed cameras to study the variables and even tested whether volunteers were more likely to spill while being careful or carefree.
The research’s ultimate finding? Rapid acceleration = coffee spills, so it’s better to start off at a languid pace and gradually pick up speed.
It’s a good thing Cafe2U franchises use lids, because we hit the ground running. If you’re looking for a coffee business that you
would enjoy operating, then take a look at our research pages and blog. You’ll read about our own rapid acceleration package that gives franchise owners a huge head-start on their business. You’ll also get to read all about the fun that our franchise owners are having with their new businesses. Want to know more? Fill out the “request information” form and let’s start a conversation!


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More than 500 new jobs may be coming to Clark County.
Thirty-One Gifts LLC — a direct seller of embroidered handbags, personal organizing products and other home and gift items — is eyeing a site in Springfield for a new production and distribution center.
On Monday, the Ohio Tax Credit Authority approved $794,000 in incentives for Licking County-based Thirty-One towards the project.
According to state documents, the project would be a $6 million investment including $5 million in machinery and equipment as well as $1 million in building improvements.
The deal is contingent upon final approval of state and local incentives as well as a lease agreement, according to a news release from the Greater Springfield Chamber of Commerce. Thirty-One plans to create at least 500 new full-time jobs within three years at the site, where it would provide product personalization, chamber officials said.
Cindy Monroe, founder and CEO of Thirty-One, said the Springfield location will allow the company to keep up with the growing demand for its unique and personalized products.
“We have been blessed with amazing growth and success,” Monroe said in a statement. “We want to be more than just a business in the city of Springfield. We want to be good neighbors and give back to the community that has welcomed us with open arms.”
If it comes to fruition, the Thirty-One deal would mark the largest number of new jobs in the Dayton region announced at one time, by one company, since Caterpillar Logistics said it would build a facility in Clayton and create more than 500 jobs.
“We are thrilled that Thirty-One has chosen to expand its rapidly growing company in Springfield,” said Mike McDorman, president of the chamber, in the release.
David Zak, vice president of economic development for the chamber, said chamber officials began working with Thirty-One on a daily basis about four months ago when it learned the company was looking at Indiana, Kentucky, Tennessee and Ohio to expand.
“Now, we enter phase two of our assistance, working to ensure that Thirty-One can find and develop all of the workers that they need to grow,” Zak said.
The company declined to name the exact location or the total investment, but chamber officials said it would need about 350,000 square feet.
One possible location is the former O’Cedar Brands facility which sits at the Interstate 70 and state Route 41 interchange in Clark County and matches that size.
Miller Valentine Group owns that site, which was built in 2001 for O’Cedar, a broom and mop manufacturer. O’Cedar left a few years later and then a Navistar International Corp. vendor occupied half the building until about a year ago.
Gerry Smith, vice president of Dayton-based MV Realty Inc., said several prospects have recently shown interest in the site, but declined to comment until a deal was signed.
On Tuesday, the Springfield City Commission is slated to consider a nearly $400,000 employment incentive grant for the company.
“The creation of 500 new jobs is significant and the city is happy to provide the key incentives that helped make this project a reality,” said Warren Copeland, mayor of Springfield.
Founded in 2003 in Tennessee, Thirty-One sells products through more than 30,000 independent consultants across the U.S.
Thirty-One relocated to the Columbus area in January 2010, where it has grown to 700 employees, according to published reports.
The company’s name exemplifies the mission, coming from the Biblical verses in Proverbs 31 that praise a noble woman who is hard working and successful both in and outside the home.
“The addition of more than 500 employees and the related sales and income tax revenue will be a significant shot in the arm for this community,” said John Detrick, Clark County commissioner.


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So what does that mean for the dairy industry? Are we poised for a brighter future, or are we just another day older and deeper in debt? The former seems to be true, at least if you’re a dairy processor.
Overall, dairy manufacturers handled well the economically driven shifts in consumption, shoring up slips in foodservice business with value-driven products aimed at folks who cut back on eating out and hunkered down at home. The cheese not being eaten on restaurant pizzas is being consumed on frozen pies bought en masse at club stores, or as ingredients for other homemade dishes.
Despite its big nutritional bang for the buck, fluid milk continues to struggle saleswise, even at record low prices, and new attacks on flavored milk as a school staple threaten this lucrative business. But other dairy foods like cheese and yogurt made modest gains in the past year, with predictions of even better growth over the next three years.
Emboldened by the prospects of overseas markets before the downturn, processors are looking again at the promises of new opportunities in exporting. The global market is expected to show a strong appetite for U.S. dairy products.
In Washington, the industry is looking to lawmakers with trepidation over whether dairy policy will finally be substantively reformed to accurately reflect contemporary business and product development practices. So far, we’ve only seen emergency payments to farmers instead of a real change to a system that arguably helped keep dairymen stuck in a quagmire where production costs outstripped their milk checks.
Meanwhile, we’ve completed our second full year of momentous change at Dairy Foods since the introduction of Dairy Field Reports. The results and the response continue to be beyond our expectations. The combination of Dairy Foods’ marketing, product development and formulation coverage, and Dairy Field Reports’ operations, logistics and food safety focus, continues to deliver the most complete media package serving the dairy processing industry.
And speaking of food safety, this month we’re proud to introduce the first installment of our new column, Sayler on Safety. This quarterly feature, penned by IDFA food safety guru Allen Sayler, promises to deliver keen insight into arguably the most important issue facing food processors today.
Of course, we’re still delivering everything else you’ve come to expect – articles about sales and product trends, information about product development and processing technologies, and behind-the-scenes stories about dairy foods companies and the people that make them jewels of the industry.
Combined with Dairyfoods.com – offering behind-the-scenes slideshows from plant visits, videos from supplier partners, news feeds and more – and Dairy Product Innovations, our monthly e-newsletter focused on new products and supplier news, Dairy Foods is a formidable and indispensible source of industry information. And now you can stay connected with us wherever you are on Facebook, Twitter and our Professional Network on LinkedIn.
More than ever, we provide you with information that helps you do well in your business. Each January, we present our Supplier Capabilities Spotlights, giving our advertisers a chance to tell you more about their companies and the products and services they provide. These companies are ready to partner with you to conquer today’s business challenges to achieve tomorrow’s business goals.
We hope Dairy Foods continues to be your go-to guide for success in the dynamic world of dairy food manufacturing. We’re here, at your service.
Tom Imbordino, publisher of Dairy Foods, can be reached at 773/755-8990 or firstname.lastname@example.org.


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Today, summer is officially on. Well, OK, not "officially" in a literal sense, since the sun's annual trip to the Tropic of Cancer isn't officially on the calendar for a few more weeks.
However, across the U.S. this weekend for the bathing suited and flip flop clad, "close enough" is the rule of the day, and it is certainly summer enough to run through the sprinkler, toss something on the BBQ and decamp to the beach to read.
But for all the glories of summer — long days, vacations and a built-in excuse to substitute ice cream for any actual meal — summer does have one asterisk for retailers in the U.S. It is an extremely strange time of year, economically speaking.
Strange, but not necessarily bad.
Summer is not a time of year when consumers stop shopping — quite the opposite actually (more on that in a second) — it's just that what they buy, when they buy and how they buy looks a bit unusual when taken in the context of the rest of the year.
And that's just regular summer background radiation. 2016 likely has a few custom curveballs to throw.
So what fun in the sun can the nation's retailers expect this year?
The Good ...
The really good news about summer for retailers is that the temperature is their ally — well, at least for those retailers in the Northeast, assuming that it warms back up again in Boston (from 92 to 62 in 24 hours is a bit much …).
Warm weather literally makes people shop more more, and be willing to spend more while they shop. You have probably noticed this yourself anecdotally in your own life, possibly while standing in an amusement park paying $15 for a soda in a "commemorative" plastic cup (the event you are commemorating of course being the exact moment you realized why Walt Disney was history's greatest genius).
But science has also gone the extra mile to prove it. Raising temperature in small amounts changes how consumer feel about shopping. When it's over 70 outside, people actually look forward to a trip into the world to buy things. They like it even better if they can buy things for other people. And, perhaps most amazingly, a warm consumer is a spendier consumer. Over 80 percent of consumers were willing to pay more for goods and services because they were standing in a comfortably warm room while they were asked.
Throw into that the additional studies by MasterCard that indicates people on vacation are more likely to go shopping (and in fact view going shopping as a critical part of being on vacation), and the fact that the vast majority of Americans and others in the Northern Hemisphere vacation between June and September. Also, summer is the best time to meet and greet international travelers and introduce them to your brand, because about a quarter of the tourists traveling in the United States this summer will be from abroad.
Physical retailers also get a special boost that their online counterparts don't, as travel-based purchases are almost exclusively bought in physical stores.
The Bad ...
Warm weather is in general a retailer's friend, but bad weather is always a retailer's enemy, and summer offers many options.
So does winter of course, and retail-related disruptions abound particularly when it is extremely cold (and shoppers won't go outside) or snow/ice shuts down roadways.
But winter is pretty much a one-trick pony when it comes to weather disasters. It's always cold + snow/ice. Summer is much more a game of natural disaster roulette where tornados, hurricanes, droughts and heat waves are just a quick sampling of the places on the wheel that the Mother Nature induced spin of the wheel might stop. Depending on the severity of the disaster and where and when it hits, one bad summer weather event can be economic Armageddon for a region for a while.
But the difficult issue in summer retail, as noted by Bloomberg, is that though there is a lot of money to be made, the profitability is very lopsided and spending can be very unpredictable. Labor forces (particularly among construction workers, teachers and auto-workers) become highly fluid in July, and the outcomes of annual contract negotiations or the business of the building market make a big difference to the shape of the season. Also, energy consumption spikes, but often in hard to predict ways.
The upshot is that summer is — in the background of all those BBQs and days at the beach — usually marked by a lot of background uncertainty in the economy, which means retail gets unpredictable and somewhat fragile. In an average year, the trends are on a merchant's side. But a little push from the wrong direction, and those trends shift into headwinds that can make summer a long, hard slog.
Lurking In The Wings ...
Obviously we can't account for unknowns or predict the future. But we can at least look out to the known unknowns as worth watching this year.
The first is the Olympics, which are going off in Brazil in a little over two months. Olympics — particularly ones where Americans do well — drive a spending and buying spree among consumers. How big of a pop that adds to 2016 will be worth cataloging.
And, of course, there is the second annual Prime Day, Amazon's attempt to build its own summertime version of Black Friday. Prime Day was a big hit for Amazon, which shattered a variety of records and saw its sales spike 80 percent.
Prime Day will be back this year and Amazon vows it will be bigger than ever. If last year was any indication, the Prime Day bandwagon will likely include a lot of big players and a lot of people will spend July 15 quietly shopping at their desks at work.
Or on the beach, or on the deck of a cruise ship.
And then there are gas prices, which here in the U.S. are low, low, low. Consumers flush with those savings seem to be eager to plow them into other retail purchases.
So, there’s a lot for retail to look forward to this summer, though how and if it pans out remains to be seen.
Check back in with us on Labor Day, when we'll run all the vital stats for you.
Oh, and do your bit for retail and go shopping today! We will be.


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If you missed the news this past weekend, Berner announced a new cannabis-friendly social media platform. The famed cannabis entrepreneur and rapper shared the frustration of the entire industry. When it comes to social media, cannabis is still a touch-and-go taboo. It’s allowed; but only sometimes. ‘This person can share this but you can’t share that.’ To finally make a legitimate stand against the social media giants, Berner is creating his own.
In collaboration with Weedmaps, they shared the news through an Instagram post. Weedmaps posted the half-blurred mug image with the following caption:
Together with Berner, we’re creating a space where cannabis brands, retailers, creators, and consumers alike can share and enjoy cannabis content more freely. The grass will be greener over here. Stay tuned.
Berner posted the same image with the following caption:
I think I speak for the whole industry when I saw promoting new drops, flavors, or just business in general has been a challenge on social media platforms… I’m extremely excited to show you guys what I’ve been working on with Weedmaps… Our goal is to create a home for all of us that allows us to get back to normal, in real time and create a platform for cultivators, brands, connoisseurs, and stores. A lot of us have lost our accounts, been shadowbanned, and have lost major momentum with our business, all that is almost over. We are gonna provide a home for all of us to share our journey and keep our Instagram for family and other businesses only. We shouldn’t feel like we’re doing something wrong anymore… Weedmaps it’s almost time for…
There aren’t many details at the moment. Something is promised to be coming soon, however. As account suspensions have hit him in the past, Berner has voiced his interest in creating a cannabis-friendly social media platform. With mentions over the years, it seems the wait for something better is almost over. Stay tuned for more details.


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Apple iOS 6.1.3 Kills Jailbreak for iPhone 5, Other Devices, Evad3rs to Develop New Tool - Report
By Arlene Paredes | February 26, 2013 5:12 PM EST
Apple iOS 6.1.3 jailbreak for iPhone 5 and other iOS devices is not possible, according to a developer who works with a popular jailbreaking group. The Apple OS update will reportedly not be rolled out until a month later, but the developer who tested it over the weekend has determined it was not going to work. In fact, jailbreaking developers may have to come up with a new tool and start from scratch.
Apple iOS 6.1.3 Coming in a Month's Time to Kill Evasi0n Jailbreak
David Wang, who is part of the untethered evasi0n jailbreak developers, has already tested the iOS 6.1.3 Beta 2. The results showed the new iOS update has actually broken the evad3rs' jailbreak. This twist happened because the new Apple OS fixes one of the five old bugs that evasi0n exploited to create a jailbreak method.
"If one of the vulnerabilities doesn't work, evasi0n doesn't work," Wang was quoted by Forbes. "We could replace that part with a different vulnerability, but [Apple] will probably fix most if not all of the bugs we've used when 6.1.3 comes out."
Apple iOS 6.1.3 Update to Give Rise to a New Jailbreak Method?
However, Wang said he and his developer group would come up with a new jailbreak from scratch. If they patch most of the bugs," Wang says, "Then we're starting from scratch." So it's not entirely bad news for jailbroken Apple device users.
The Evasi0n group gained fame earlier this month after its jailbreak method freed iPhone 5 users. Forbes reported seven million Apple devices were jailbroken only four days after evasi0n released its jailbreak technique.
Wang guessed Apple would release the 6.1.3 update in a month's time. Jailbroken device users are advised to keep themselves posted as to the effects of iOS 6.1.3 update to their device.
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Spring Hill resident Tyler Rainey, along with Nashville resident David Carter have co-founded Led By Iron, an inspirational physical fitness apparel company.
While both are originally from Gulfport, Miss., Rainey and Carter met via their professions: Rainey as a paramedic and Carter as an Emergency Room nurse at Saint Thomas Midtown Hospital in Nashville.
Both knew many of the same people back home and both share a passion for weightlifting and working out.
Rainey and Carter testify to the therapeutic effect of strenuous physical exercise. Speaking of his time working in Pensacola, Rainey reflected on the emotional pressures.
“It was really a super-stressful job — really intense and the patient volume was massive. I would just leave with the stress I had and go to the gym and just blow it out — work out really hard. I would leave and feel a lot better,” Rainey said. “I’ve just done that ever since.”
Both started to look at different avenues for a business. Rainey purchases a lot of patriotic apparel and sought to combine the two.
“I said, ‘why can’t we do this?’ and so David came up with the name,” Rainey said. “And that’s what we did. I handle most of the marketing side of it.”
“During that whole process, I’d been working with another friend from Gulfport, building a different company. That got sold off. Tyler and I were trying to come up with ideas came up with the Led By Iron apparel avenue and started working on the design. We went through numerous designers,” Carter said.
But not everything was smooth sailing from the start.
“That was a nightmare. Initially, friends designed our logo. And we quickly found out that having a friend do it, that you get the friend price at the friend time frame. We’d gone to other designers and found out that was a little bit of a pain. But we found someone we liked. We ended up with a local company and knocked out our first four or five designs, got the base down and started the business end of it — the LLC and Federal trademark,” Rainey said.
Friendly Arctic Printing & Design of East Nashville handles the silk-screening. No iron-ons with this apparel.
All sales are online as there are no current plans for a retail store given the rapidly changing face of retail and consumer demographics.
“This is all through the website, driven mainly by Instagram, Facebook and Twitter. That’s how all these things are driven now: through social media. A physical location would be a warehouse with our stuff in it. So far, that’s the goal for now,” Rainey said. “We don’t ever want a storefront, unless something really crazy happened like some department store wanted to put us in there. But the storefront is going away. Everything is internet.”
“Everyone has a mobile phone in their hand and they don’t even have to drive to the store,” Carter said.
“Our biggest pitch with our company is, we’re a functional fitness apparel company. We’re both big patriots, we love our country, it’s pro-America, pro-military, pro-Second Amendment, pro-police, pro-fire, pro-EMT. We have a thin blue line and a thin red line shirt being designed. We intend to give 50 percent back to a police and fire charities,” Rainey said. “We’re probably going to do a thin green line shirt. We’ll do the same thing: give 50 percent back to a military charity. These are the things we want to do as we grow the company.”
Led By Iron also offers two women’s tank tops, one of which reads in a play on words, “Bad Ass Bench.”
Rainey and Carter tout the benefits of physical fitness, which is not just trying to look good, but to live a healthier and longer life in which one can be there for and an inspiration to others.
“We want to inspire others to help motivate people to go out, push themselves to the limit, become fit and have a healthier lifestyle — and just be positive in general in life. We want to be a positive inspiration and role model for everybody including both the power lifter and the young kid or someone else just starting out because we’ve all been there,” Rainey said.
For 10 percent off on online purchases, Rainey and Carter invite readers to enter the code “strength.”
For more information, please visit ledbyiron.com.


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2008 News Archive - Flights - Monarch Scheduled appoints a new sales executive for the north
23 02 2004
Low cost airline Monarch Scheduled has announced the appointment of Julie Sumner as sales executive for the north of the UK, with responsibility for developing the carriers’ trade business in the region.
Julie joined Monarch Scheduled from Fleet Street Travel where she was business development manager for the north. Prior to that Julie worked in sales and operations for Iberia at Manchester Airport.
Julie is a Spanish speaker and has a degree in European Tourism with Spanish.
Julie said: “Monarch Scheduled has grown significantly in recent years to become one of the key players in the low cost travel market from Manchester. I am delighted to be joining at such an exciting time in its development.”Previous Page