Value-added shrimp product is tops: market potential

The article discusses the potential for export of value-added shrimp products from developing countries. European Economic Community is considered to be one of the top consumers, while Thailand and India are two of the top producers.

Seaweeds: utilization and product applications

Seaweeds have been used as food, medicine, fertilizers, soil conditioner and source of salt. Realizing the potentials of seaweeds, research and development thrusts have been geared towards improving and developing its product applications. Today, various applications of seaweeds have been developed and improved. The major success in the seaweed industry is the development of phycocolloids with the following specific applications: 1) agar; 2) carrageenans; and, 3) alginates.

The technical potential for reducing metal requirements through lightweight product design

Metal production consumes around 10% of all global energy, so is a significant driver of climate change and other concerns about sustainability. Demand for metal is rising and forecast to double by 2050 through a combination of growing total demand from developing countries, and ongoing replacement demand in developed economies. Metal production is already extremely efficient, so the major opportunities for emissions abatement in the sector are likely to arise from material efficiency - using less new metal to meet demand for services. Therefore this paper examines the opportunity to reduce requirements for steel and aluminium by lightweight design. A set of general principles for lightweight design are proposed by way of a simple analytical example, and are then applied to five case study products which cumulatively account for 30% of global steel product output. It is shown that exploiting lightweight design opportunities for these five products alone could reduce global steel requirements by 5%, and similar savings in aluminium products could reduce global aluminium requirements by 7%. If similar savings to those in the design case studies were possible in all steel and aluminium products, total material requirements could be reduced by 25-30%. However, many of these light-weighting measures are, at present, economically unattractive, and may take many years to implement. © 2011 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Product Service Systems and supply network relationships: An exploratory case study

Purpose - In recent years there has been increasing interest in Product Service Systems (PSSs) as a business model for selling integrated product and service offerings. To date, there has been extensive research into the benefits of PSS to manufacturers and their customers, but there has been limited research into the effect of PSS on the upstream supply chain. This paper seeks to address this gap in the research. Design/methodology/approach - The research uses case-based research which is appropriate for exploratory research of this type. In-depth interviews were conducted with key personnel in a focal firm and two members of its supply chain, and the results were analysed to identify emergent themes.b Findings - The research has identified differences in supplier behaviour dependent on their role in PSS delivery and their relationship with the PSS provider. In particular, it suggests that for a successful partnership it is important to align the objectives between PSS provider and suppliers. Originality/value - This research provides a detailed investigation into a PSS supply chain and highlights the complexity of roles and relationships among the organizations within it. It will be of value to other PSS researchers and organizations transitioning to the delivery of PSS. © Emerald Group Publishing Limited.