Third-party Manufacturers Research Articles

ИНФОРМАЦИОННО-ДИАГНОСТИЧЕСКИЕ СРЕДСТВА ДЛЯ СЕЛЬСКОХОЗЯЙСТВЕННОЙ ТЕХНИКИ

The issues of assessing the improvement of the efficiency of agricultural domestic machinery according to the criteria of adaptability to maintenance and diagnostics and the development of measures to improve it are relevant, as they have a significant impact on reliability and total cost of ownership and resource savings during operation. The costs of maintenance and repair and losses from equipment downtime depend on the level of equipment adaptability to maintenance and diagnostics. (Research purpose) The research purpose is substantiating the development of additional information and diagnostic tools to improve the efficiency of agricultural machinery. (Materials and methods) Conducted an analysis and description of the developed tools for diagnosing agricultural machinery. We have studied similar control and diagnostic equipment manufactured by third-party manufacturers for agricultural machinery. We examined the distinctive features of our own developments and reflected the need to diagnose specific parameters. The possibilities of analyzing the received information using artificial intelligence algorithms were described. (Results and discussion) Were designed in special engineering software and the first prototypes of these technical means were assembled. Conducted 3D modeling of these devices. We performed tests that proved the possibility of developing such digital diagnostic devices for agricultural machinery, justified their effectiveness based on the data obtained. Proposed modernization of a number of systems. (Conclusions) Analyzed the results of the work of information and diagnostic devices. We collected materials on modern methods of diagnosing equipment. We have determined the further development of the direction of work for better diagnostics of components and assemblies of agricultural machinery. One of the proposed directions is the work on the adaptation of artificial intelligence algorithms for the diagnosis of agricultural machinery.

Jacdac: Service-Based Prototyping of Embedded Systems

The traditional approach to programming embedded systems is monolithic: firmware on a microcontroller contains both application code and the drivers needed to communicate with sensors and actuators, using low-level protocols such as I2C, SPI, and RS232. In comparison, software development for the cloud has moved to a service-based development and operation paradigm: a service provides a discrete unit of functionality that can be accessed remotely by an application, or other service, but is independently managed and updated. We propose, design, implement, and evaluate a service-based approach to prototyping embedded systems called Jacdac. Jacdac defines a service specification language, designed especially for embedded systems, along with a host of specifications for a variety of sensors and actuators. With Jacdac, each sensor/actuator in a system is paired with a low-cost microcontroller that advertises the services that represent the functionality of the underlying hardware over an efficient and low-cost single-wire bus protocol. A separate microcontroller executes the user's application program, which is a client of the Jacdac services on the bus. Our evaluation shows that Jacdac supports a service-based abstraction for sensors/actuators at low cost and reasonable performance, with many benefits for prototyping: ease of use via the automated discovery of devices and their capabilities, substitution of same-service devices for each other, as well as high-level programming, monitoring, and debugging. We also report on the experience of bringing Jacdac to commercial availability via third-party manufacturers.

Information and diagnostic tools for monitoring units of agricultural machinery

The issues of assessing the increase in the efficiency of domestic agricultural machinery according to the criteria of suitability for maintenance and diagnostics and the development of measures to improve it are relevant, as they have a significant impact on the reliability and total cost of ownership and resource of saving during operation. It should be noted that not only the costs of maintenance and repair, but also the time spent in an inoperative state, technical readiness, productivity and other indicators of the efficiency of use for its intended purpose, including resource-saving impacts, depend on the level of equipment adaptability. The purpose of the research was to describe the state of the issue and justify the need to develop information and diagnostic tools for assessing the general technical condition of energy-intensive tractors. The analysis and description of the developed tools for diagnosing agricultural machinery have been done in the work. Similar control and diagnostic equipment produced by third-party manufacturers for agricultural machinery was considered. The distinctive features of our own developments were determined and the need to diagnose specific parameters was also reflected. As a result of the work 3D modeling of the device data was carried out. Then they were designed in special software and the first prototypes were assembled. The tests have proven the possibility of developing such digital diagnostic of device. The data obtained on the base of their effectiveness was reflected and justified. A number of improvements to these systems have been proposed. The results of the operation of all information and diagnostic devices were summed up. Further development of this area of work has been proposed for more modern and high-quality maintenance of units and assemblies of agricultural machinery.

National or third-party manufacturer? Sourcing strategy of a dominant platform: Signaling game's perspective

The dominant online platforms (e.g., Amazon and JD) in practice have adopted a strategy of introducing their own store brands as a means to engage in competition with national brands inside consumer markets. However, whether to source store brands from national or third-party manufacturers is still a dilemma for platforms. This paper investigates the online platform's optimal sourcing decision for the store brand when the platform possesses private information about the degree of consumer acceptance of the store brand. This paper develops a signaling game in which the better-informed dominant-platform may reveal its private information through profit margins and highlight the signaling effect of price on the sourcing strategy. Due to the signaling cost, we find that asymmetric information has the potential to inhibit the platform from cooperating with the national manufacturer to produce the store brand. Furthermore, the existence of information asymmetry reduces the profit of the platform with superior information, while simultaneously boosting the profit of the less-informed national manufacturer. Interestingly, our findings reveal that under an asymmetric information setting, a higher level of information asymmetry might negatively impact the platform, which contrasts with the situation when information is symmetric. Consequently, the platform gains more advantages by cooperating with a third-party manufacturer with a moderate level of information asymmetry.

Object Recognition Scheme for Digital Transformation in Marine Science and Engineering

With the advancement of deep learning (DL), researchers and engineers in the marine industry are exploring the application of DL technologies to their specific applications. In general, the accuracy of inference using DL technologies is significantly dependent on the number of training datasets. Unfortunately, people in marine science and engineering environments are often reluctant to share their documents (i.e., P&ID) with third-party manufacturers or public clouds to protect their proprietary information. Despite this, the demand for object detection using DL technologies in image-formatted files (i.e., jpg, png, or pdf format) is steadily growing. In this paper, we propose a new mechanism, called a no-training object picker (NoOP), which efficiently recognizes all objects (e.g., lines, tags, and symbols) in image-formatted P&ID documents. Notably, it can recognize objects without any training dataset, thus reducing the time and effort required for training and collection of unpublished datasets. To clearly present the effectiveness of NoOP, we evaluated NoOP using a real P&ID document. As a result, we confirmed that all objects in the image-formatted P&ID file are successfully detected over a short time (only 7.11 s on average).

Address Obfuscation to Protect against Hardware Trojans in Network-on-Chips

In modern computing, which relies on the interconnection of networks used in many/multi-core systems, any system can be critically subverted if the interconnection is compromised. This can be done in a multitude of ways, but the threat of a hardware Trojan (HT) being injected into a system is particularly prevalent due to the increase in third-party manufacturers for system-on-chip (SoC) designs. With a local injection of an HT in an SoC, an adversary can gain access to information about applications running on the system by revealing specific communications of the SoC, and the network-on-chip (NoC) as a whole. This heavily compromises the system and gives information to the attacker, which can lead to more tailored, compromising attacks. In this paper, we demonstrate an HT that exploits communication patterns inside an SoC to reveal applications that are running on an NoC with multi/many-core processors. This is performed by leaking packet counts, after which the attacker then uses machine learning techniques to identify applications running on processors, and the SoC as a whole. We also propose a LUT-based obfuscation technique to limit the information available to the hardware Trojan. Our results indicate that this obfuscation method can reduce the accuracy of this attack from 99% to <8% in multi/many-core systems.

Co-evolutions in global decoupling: Learning from the global semiconductor industry

Discussion of deglobalization in recent years appears to be focused on decoupling the People’s Republic of China (PRC) from the US-led global value chains (GVCs). While country policies co-evolve with one another in decoupling, firm strategic responses co-evolve with government policies. In this study, we explore key co-evolutionary conditions of reciprocally coupled ecosystems, diversity and selective stress in the context of the global semiconductor industry. We apply co-evolutionary constructs of bidirectional causality, qualitatively new system, and niche specialization to make sense of adaptive responses of third-party manufacturers (Taiwanese foundry businesses) in the US-PRC decoupling. Our study posits that a third-party manufacturer can survive, and even enhance their strategic and competitive advantages, despite political disruptions in international markets. Third-party manufacturers can engage in symbolic decentralization and balancing strategies with regard to their manufacturing locations in their co-evolutions with the policy changes during the US-PRC decoupling.

Material-level countermeasures for securing microfluidic biochips.

Flow-based microfluidic biochips (FMBs) have been rapidly commercialized and deployed in recent years for biological computing, clinical diagnostics, and point-of-care-tests (POCTs). However, outsourcing FMBs makes them susceptible to material-level attacks by malicious actors for illegitimate monetary gain. The attacks involve deliberate material degradation of an FMB's polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) components by either doping with reactive solvents or altering the PDMS curing ratio during fabrication. Such attacks are stealthy enough to evade detection and deteriorate the FMB's function. Furthermore, material-level attacks can become prevalent in attacks based on intellectual property (IP) theft, such as counterfeiting, overbuilding, etc., which involve unscrupulous third-party manufacturers. To address this problem, we present a dynamic material-level watermarking scheme for PDMS-based FMBs with microvalves using a perylene-labeled fluorescent dye. The dyed microvalves show a unique excimer intensity peak under 405 nm laser excitation. Moreover, when pneumatically actuated, the peak shows a predetermined downward shift in intensity as a function of mechanical strain. We validated this protection scheme experimentally using fluorescence microscopy, which showed a high correlation (R2 = 0.971) between the normalized excimer intensity change and the maximum principal strain of the actuated microvalves. To detect curing ratio-based attacks, we adapted machine learning (ML) models, which were trained on the force-displacement data obtained from a mechanical punch test method. Our ML models achieved more than 99% accuracy in detecting curing ratio anomalies. These countermeasures can be used to proactively safeguard FMBs against material-level attacks in the era of global pandemics and diagnostics based on POCTs.

The chip manufacturing industry: Environmental impacts and eco-efficiency analysis

Semiconductor manufacturing has followed the fate of a large part of industrial production: many companies, around the world, have maintained higher functions (design and engineering) and outsourced other production stages to third-party manufacturers, located mostly in Asia. Some chip companies have thus become “fabless” firms, commissioning the “fabrication” of their product to wafer “foundries” or “fabs”. For the first time, in this paper, by calculating and subsequently analyzing various key environmental performance indicators (KEPIs) from the data of the fabs Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) reports, the environmental impacts and the eco-efficiency of the world's leading semiconductor foundries are analyzed and assessed. The aim is to highlight the relations between company size, technological capacity and environmental impact. A preliminary homogenization was necessary to process the company original data and indicators, often related to different units of production, and to obtain raw data in absolute value. Subsequently, adopting a single common manufacturing index (MI), it was possible to obtain and use new comparable performance indicators and KEPIs. The consequent comparative assessment allowed to give a reliable overall picture of the current resource consumption and pollution of this highly strategic sector, highlighting its next heavy environmental challenges. The result, in fact, is that, differently to what happens in many other sectors, in the semiconductor industry, larger company size (higher revenue), higher value added per wafer produced (higher revenue/MI), and higher technological capacity (higher R&D expenses and smaller technology node) are not always related to lower quantities (per unit of production) of water, energy, waste, wastewater and GHG emissions. It is hoped that, for the future, foundry firms, especially those with the most advanced technologies, will invest much more to optimize their resource use and to further reduce GHGs emissions and waste generation.

Whey Protein Powder Analysis by Mid-Infrared Spectroscopy.

There is an ever-expanding number of high protein dietary supplements marketed as beneficial to athletes, body builders, infant formulas, elder care, and animal feed. Consumers will pay more for products with high protein per serving data on their nutritional labels, making the accurate reporting of protein content critical to customer confidence. The Kjeldahl method (KM) is the industry standard to quantitate dairy proteins, but the result is based on nitrogen content, which is an approximation of nitrogen attributable to protein in milk. Product tampering by third-party manufacturers is an issue, due to the lack of United States Food and Drug Administration regulation of nutraceutical products, permitting formulators to add low-cost nitrogen-containing components to artificially inflate the KM approximated protein content in products. Optical spectroscopy is commonly used for quality control measurements and has been identified as having the potential to complement the KM as a more nuanced testing measure of dairy protein. Mid-infrared (MIR) spectroscopy spectra of eight protein standards provided qualitative characterization of each protein by amide I and amide II peak absorbance wavenumber. Protein doping experiments revealed that as protein amounts were increased, the amide I/II peak shape changed from the broad protein powder peaks to the narrower peaks characteristic of the individual protein. Amino acid doping experiments with lysine, glutamic acid, and glycine, determined the limit of detection by MIR spectroscopy as 25%, suggesting that MIR spectroscopy can provide product quality assurance complementary to dairy protein measurement by the KM.

Hardware Trojans in Chips: A Survey for Detection and Prevention.

Diverse and wide-range applications of integrated circuits (ICs) and the development of Cyber Physical System (CPS), more and more third-party manufacturers are involved in the manufacturing of ICs. Unfortunately, like software, hardware can also be subjected to malicious attacks. Untrusted outsourced manufacturing tools and intellectual property (IP) cores may bring enormous risks from highly integrated. Attributed to this manufacturing model, the malicious circuits (known as Hardware Trojans, HTs) can be implanted during the most designing and manufacturing stages of the ICs, causing a change of functionality, leakage of information, even a denial of services (DoS), and so on. In this paper, a survey of HTs is presented, which shows the threatens of chips, and the state-of-the-art preventing and detecting techniques. Starting from the introduction of HT structures, the recent researches in the academic community about HTs is compiled and comprehensive classification of HTs is proposed. The state-of-the-art HT protection techniques with their advantages and disadvantages are further analyzed. Finally, the development trends in hardware security are highlighted.

Specialization of Microcomputers for Targeted Use

Since 2015, microcomputers have appeared in the information environment, which are a compact system unit with minimal functionality without peripherals. The article published the results of the analysis of the use of 6 different microcomputers in various fields of activity. The purpose of the study is to determine the limiting factors affecting the efficiency of the targeted use of microcomputers. It has been established that for scientific and educational presentations, office and trading activities, it is currently advisable to use fanless microcomputers with a perforated case and an internal WiFi antenna, at least 4 GB of operational and 64 GB of permanent memory, and a microSD (TF) memory card slot, at least 128 GB, NTFS file system), Intel HD Graphics, USB3.0 and HDMI interfaces. Based on comparative experiments, methodological recommendations were created on optimizing the configuration of the hardware-software environment of microcomputers in stationary and mobile conditions. The problems of major updates to Windows 10, as well as the compatibility of Microsoft Store software and third-party manufacturers, are analyzed. It is recommended to specialize individual microcomputers for working with 32-bit applications; accounting and cryptographic programs; as well as conducting presentations with their video. Options for optimal configuration of the Start menu of the Windows 10 desktop are suggested. It is concluded that specialization in the hardware-software configuration of modern microcomputers allows you to increase the efficiency of using single devices and their paired systems in accordance with BYOD (Bring Your Own Device).

Open-Source Tool Kit Uses 3D Printing for Micromodel Generation

This article, written by JPT Technology Editor Chris Carpenter, contains highlights of paper SPE 190852, “Open-Source Tool Kit for Micromodel Generation Using 3D Printing,” by Thomas D. Seers and Nayef Alyafei, SPE, Texas A&M University at Qatar, prepared for the 2018 SPE Europec featured at the 80th EAGE Conference and Exhibition, Copenhagen, Denmark, 11–14 June. The paper has not been peer reviewed. In this paper, the authors present an open-source tool kit for the generation of microfabricated transparent models of porous media (micromodels) from image data sets using optically transparent 3D polymer additive manufacturing (3D printing or sintering). These micromodels serve as research and pedagogical tools that facilitate the direct visualization of drainage and imbibition within quasi-2D porous media, generated from a range of image modalities [e.g., thin section micrographs, µ-computed tomography (µCT) orthoslices, and conventional digital photography]. Introduction Though recent advances in 3D X-ray imaging, such as X-ray microtomography and µCT, permit volumetric imaging of microcore flood experiments with-in geological samples at the pore scale, experimental observations of dynamic (time-resolved) multiphase flow with-in pore networks still are obtained conventionally using transparent etched or molded synthetic porous media commonly referred to as micromodels. Typically, video footage of fluid imbibition and drainage experiments conducted across these quasi-2D pore networks is used to understand fluid distributions and displacement mechanisms within an equivalent 3D porous media. Contrary to state-of-the-art dynamic µCT coreflood experiments, which require synchrotron beam time to be conducted, micromodel studies can be undertaken routinely within a laboratory-based setting with a relatively simple experimental setup. However, the facilities required to fabricate micromodels typically are highly specialized, with production often outsourced to third-party manufacturers. In this work, the authors consider the potential of using additive manufacturing (3D printing or sintering) as an alternative to conventional micromodel-fabrication techniques. With the advent of light-transmissible 3D-printable materials, flow experiments conducted with these 3D-printed physical models can be captured using widely available optical imaging techniques (i.e., standalone digital cameras and trinocular microscopes). However, a major obstacle encountered in harnessing 3D-printing technologies for the goal of micromodels fabrication is the paucity in software tools capable of processing and converting raster-based images to mesh-based file formats parsable by commercially available 3D-printing systems. The paper aims to provide an open-source platform through which 3D-printable mesh-based representations of micromodels can be generated from raster imagery. Using this tool, standard micromodel components are fully integrated into the fabricated model. The availability of such a tool kit could act as an enabler for community research into fluid-transport phenomena in porous media. The authors suggest that 3D-printed pore networks may provide an effective pedagogical tool for teaching multiphase flow, enabling petroleum- and chemical-engineering and geology students to visualize directly often obtuse immiscible-fluid-flow processes within the classroom. Software-Implementation Description The tool kit is developed in the popular MATLAB language and is executed by graphical user interface. The generation of 3D-printable micromodels from raster datasets comprises three main stages: Image processing Micromodel construction Mesh post-processing

Licensing to a competitor and strategic royalty choice in a dynamic duopoly

Network effects encourage original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) to expand their market size by changing their relationships with third-party manufacturers who provide compatible products from competition to coopetition. Moreover, network effects render consumer valuation inherently dynamic. Consumer perceptions of the sales quantity are continuously updated, causing the impact of the network effect to change dynamically over time. To this end, we examine technology licensing and price competition in a dynamic duopoly including an OEM and a third-party manufacturer, considering that consumer utility increases with the dynamic and evolving impact of network effects. However, because of limited product technology, the lower compatibility of third-party products reduces network effects. Thus, the third-party manufacturer licenses technology from the OEM. Because the OEM can strategically choose a static or dynamic royalty under technology licensing in a dynamic pricing game, we derive the firms’ subgame-perfect Nash equilibrium decisions and profits and analyze the effects of licensing mechanisms and market factors on firms’ instantaneous and steady-state equilibrium decisions and profits. Technology licensing enhances firms’ profits when firms’ and consumers’ dynamic behaviors are more significant by exerting stronger network effects. A dynamic royalty is more effective for mitigating price competition intensity and for helping firms maintain higher sales margins. A static royalty induces a lower royalty chosen by the OEM and firms lower prices, which increases the impact of network effects and thus is generally more advantageous for the firms and for social welfare.

Comparing the Fracture Resistance of Alternatively Engineered Zirconia Abutments with Original Equipment Manufactured Abutments with Different Implant Connection Designs.

Aftermarket computer-aided design/computer-assisted manufacture (CAD/CAM) milled zirconia (Zr) abutments were recently introduced with minimal independent research regarding their fracture resistance. Third-party manufacturers often alter the original equipment manufacturers' (OEM) design with unknown effects on fracture resistance. These alterations include elimination of the titanium insert with subsequent introduction of Zr into the implant, changes to connection designs and shapes, and/or alterations to prosthetic screw design. This in vitro study compares the static load fracture resistance and mode of failure of alternatively engineered Zr abutments with those of prefabricated (OEM) Zr abutments with internal, external, and conical connections. Twenty Zr stock abutments (five per group) from OEMs were selected to demonstrate fracture resistance of external hex, internal connection, and conical connection implant designs (control groups). Atlantis abutments (Dentsply) (test group) were manufactured by means of CAD/CAM to match the OEM abutments (control groups). All samples had full-coverage all-ceramic crowns luted to the abutments. Static load fracture resistance was evaluated with an Instron test device. Modes of abutment failure were evaluated using both light and scanning electron microscopy. A Welch two-sample t test evaluated the OEM control groups vs the Atlantis test groups. Static load to failure (N) for each representative control group vs test group revealed (1) conical design OEM (387 N) vs Atlantis (211 N) (P < .011), (2) external-hex OEM (408 N) vs Atlantis (218 N) (P < .035), (3) trilobe internal connection OEM (430 N) vs Atlantis (260 N) (P < .014), and (4) internal connection OEM (448 N) vs Atlantis (244 N) (P < .02). Atlantis CAD/CAM Zr abutments demonstrated static fracture loads lower than those of their OEM counterparts. Failure modes were Zr fractures in the conical and external hex groups. The internal connection groups demonstrated a mixed mode of failure, with screw head fracture 100% of the failures in the internal Zr connection group. The trilobe internal connection group exhibited screw-head fracture in two of five samples and Zr fracture in the remaining three samples. Clinicians should consider avoiding the alternatively engineered Atlantis Zr abutment for restoration of posterior single teeth in cases in which occlusal forces may exceed 350 to 400 N.

Canyon Mining Corporation: Heavy Mobile Equipment Procurement

Canyon Mining intended to purchase four haul trucks to use for heavy mining, and a team from Censeo Consulting Group must to identify a methodology to track cost changes over time for that purchase. The current project's primary objective was to estimate the year-over-year trend in factory manufacturing margins for these four pieces of heavy machinery. These estimates were crucial to Canyon Mining as contracts for heavy machinery lasted for five years and served as a baseline for future negotiations. Although the team arrived at 2008 cost figures for the four haul trucks, it still lacked insight into cost trends and accurate cost forecasting. Excerpt UVA-OM-1392 Rev. Apr. 15, 2014 Canyon Mining Corporation: Heavy Mobile Equipment Procurement As team members settled into their seats in a conference room in Washington, DC, everyone was ready to tackle the night's topic for discussion: a way for Canyon Mining to track cost element trends over time. After numerous plant visits, many phone calls to dealers, third-party manufacturers, and industry experts, Niraj Patel, Carolyn Wilson, and Walter Lee of Censeo Consulting Group were to identify a methodology to track cost changes over time for the four different pieces of heavy mining equipment that Canyon Mining intended to purchase. The project had been both interesting and different for the Censeo team. Censeo's business model was focused around work-life balance; its team rarely traveled, preferring to conduct virtual meetings and reserving travel for key meetings with high-level clients. This engagement, however, had required frequent on-site visits, including multiple trips to visit Canyon Mining in New Mexico, the suppliers' Illinois plants, and Houston, Texas, to interview senior industry experts. Although the project was more quickly paced than typical Censeo projects, the team was enjoying its complexity and uniqueness. . . .

A Roadmap to Green Supply Chain System through Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) Implementation

Green supply chain is a supply chain system focusing on environmental impacts and the efficiency of energy used. A green supply chain will be achieved if a system is able to track down all information regarding the environmental influence. However, a green supply chain will not be possible without enterprise resource planning (ERP) implementation in organizations. ERP is the integrated information system overlooking manufacturing processes from raw materials to finished products. However, the successful implementation of ERP depends on four critical factors: defining business cases, prepare system and users, stabilizing to obtain normal operations and maintaining and upgrading. Moreover, learning organization (learning from own experience and learning from others) is another key ingredient for the successful implementation. Last but not least, process mapping from “As- Is” to “To-Be” models is also a powerful technique which facilitates the implementation by identifying the process models of current and future ones. Moreover, the featured functions of ERP for a green supply chain should include the capability to keep and track the environmental data of raw materials from suppliers, to prepare an environmental report for each product from raw materials to finished products, to keep the environmental data regarding logistics and transportation and to comply with the ERP software used by third-party manufacturers.

Avoiding the § 2-607(3)(A) Notice Trap: Reworking the Notice Requirement to the Third Party Manufacturer of Goods

When a buyer accepts non-conforming goods, UCC § 2-607(3)(a) requires the buyer to notify the seller of the non-conformity within a reasonable time after the buyer discovers, or should have discovered, the breach. Failure to give notice bars the buyer from recovering any remedy under the UCC. A special problem arises when a manufacturer supplies goods to a retailer, who in turns sells the goods to the end buyer. In a buyer action against the manufacturer, the issue often arises whether § 2-607(3)(a) requires the buyer to give notice of breach to the manufacturer, or whether notice to the retailer is all the UCC requires.Jurisdictions currently split regarding whether the notice requirement of § 2-607(3)(a) extends to third-party manufacturers. The majority of jurisdictions addressing the issue hold notification to the retailer sufficient against both the retailer and manufacturer. These courts emphasize the section‘s language, which states that only the seller need receive timely notification of breach.A minority of courts hold that the buyer must give the manufacturer direct notice of the breach claim. Even actual notice of defects from the retailer, in this context, could be held insufficient if the buyer does not directly give notice.This essay explores the two views, their policies, and exceptions that courts have used as escape devices to avoid harsh results. Although it remains unlikely that jurisdictions will significantly change their well-settled UCC interpretations, including in this context, advocates should be aware of the diverse array of decisions relating to the topic. Because the exceptions carved out of § 2-607(3)(a) unanimously favor the equitable result, presenting the court with a reasonable escape from unfair application of its broad rule could mean the difference between § 2-607(3)(a) barring an aggrieved buyer‘s claim and a full recovery for the seller‘s breach.

The compatibility of durable goods with contingent generic consumables

Many durable products provide value only when used together with contingent services or consumable components, e.g. light fixtures (bulbs), printers (ink), electronics (batteries). Consumers need only have access to the contingent consumable components to continue to derive service from a durable. In fact, many firms rely primarily upon the revenues generated from the contingent services or consumables as the primary source of profitability, e.g. giving away the razors to make money on the blades. Such firms often invest considerable effort into making sure that consumers of their durables are held captive to their own branded consumables by impeding their access to generically available consumables. They do so by designing their products in such a way that they are not readily compatible with the generic consumables. We consider the implications of competition from third-party manufacturers that can provide generic consumables and the manufacturer’s production decisions of a durable good under such contingencies. This allows us to draw managerial insights about how a firm should decide on his product compatibility and production quantity when the generic contingent consumables enter the market.

Incorporating security considerations into optimal product architecture and component sharing decision in product family design

Selecting the appropriate components to share in product family design is not a trivial decision; especially when a firm wants to protect the most sensitive information contained in their products from being exposed to users, third-party manufacturers, or undesirable agents. This article proposes tools to help designers identify sets of components containing sensitive information, as well as components that are candidates for sharing amongst the family. It also finds the most desirable component arrangement in each product that facilitates sharing while protecting the sensitive information that has been previously identified. The proposed framework is applied to three printers in which the architecture used for the ink cartridges and printheads are significantly different. Third-party manufacturers and remanufacturers offer their own alternatives for these subsystems (ink cartridges and printheads) since the customer for printer supplies is always looking for a cheaper alternative; meanwhile, the original equipment manufacturers attempt to secure their products and retain their customers with original supplies. The functional description of the system is analysed to identify the sensitive components for each printer; then, the optimal clustering strategy is found, as well as the set of components that are candidates for sharing, according to their connectivity and the security considerations.