We believe we can show you some ways to improve your success rate, so subscribe now. It's free for 12 issues.

Anyone who develops new products for a living must be aware of a multitude of influences. Acknowledging this, we cover

scientific discoveries

consumer trends

product design and formulation

engineering technology

process engineering

manufacturing

filling and packaging

logistics and distribution

retail merchandising

end of life disposal

Then there are the legal and regulatory issues, such as safety and labelling, as well as intellectual property rights, brand management, competition and international trade that we have to take into account.

But it all means nothing without the creativity and insights of men and women who can put things together in new ways to create new products that improve our lives.

We celebrate those people.

Ian Grant

Publisher

Bayer puts up antioxidant prices 10%

The maths of life
M&S to save £20m/y on non-food logistics
Boots amputates Wellbeing for financial health
Arla takes Express route to No 1
Spam to be chopped

Price rise

Bayer puts up antioxidant prices 10%

German chemical giant Bayer has raised prices of its Vulkanox antioxidant by a minimum of 10 percent with immediate effect, citing the increasing cost of raw materials, especially toluene.

Vulkanox is a sterically hindered phenolic antioxidant primarily used in rubber, latex, paints, ABS (acrylonitrile-butadiene-styrene), PVC (polyvinyl chloride) and POM (polyoxymethylene), for example for automotive parts, tires, gloves, balloons, conveyor belts and rollers. 

Bayer Chemicals offers a range of cresol antioxidants for technical applications such as thermoplastics, elastomers, fuels and printing inks along with a separate grade for animal feed, pet food, foodstuffs, cosmetics, fragrances and pharmaceutical applications.

Research

The maths of life

Biologists, mathematicians and engineers at a specially-convened workshop in Utah are exploring how such advanced mathematical innovations can lead to a greater understanding of how the components of life interact at levels larger than chromosomes and smaller than populations, ie organs and organisms.

Roger Nisbet, a biologist at the University of California-Santa Barbara, is showing a mathematical model he uses to track energy flow through an individual organism - from its acquisition to its use in growth, reproduction, and survival.

Such models of "dynamic energy budgets," Nisbet says, can also improve understanding of energy requirements of populations.  The approach may also be used to help scientists predict the consequences of climate change.

Another example a former astrophysicist is applying eigenmode analysis, a standard method in astro- and geophysics, to track more closely the chemical dynamics that determine cardiac rhythms. 

Other sessions focus on how computational tools can advance research into the biochemistry of evolution, the causes of asthma, the prediction of epileptic seizures, the uptake of carbon dioxide by forests, and, in vertebrates, the ability of cells to "self-organize" into tissues and the mechanisms that create limbs.

Details about the workshop are at http://www.math.usu.edu/~powell/workshop03.

Supply chain

M&S to save £20m/y on non-food logistics

UK retailer Marks & Spencer has cut from four to two the number of firms it uses to warehouse its clothes and non-food products. The move will cost £35 million this year, but is expected to save it around £20 million a year.

Exel will operate seven UK warehouses while Christian Salvesen will continue to manage its current three UK warehouses. Gist will continue to operate most of M&S’s food supply chain, and Tibbett & Britten remains a partner in our General Merchandise transport network.

Marks & Spencer is also looking to buy the distribution centres. This “ will provide greater operational flexibility in the future,” the company said.

Retailing

Boots amputates Wellbeing for financial health

UK pharmacy chain Boots dream of providing integrated beauty and healthcare services is in tatters following yesterday’s decision to close its loss-making Wellbeing operations

The move comes just a month after it put Wellbeing’s dentists and podiatrists on self-employment contracts to save costs. However, this means it can continue to offer dentistry and footcare services in 56 UK locations.

Boots earlier decided not to pursue its Pure Beauty idea and will close six outlets and dropped its plans to open outlets in Sainsbury’s stores.

Along with closing its last European outlets, the total cost is expected to be around £55 million (£30m in asset write-offs), but will save the firm £22m/y from 2003/4.

M&A

Arla takes Express route to No 1

Arla Foods’ reverse takeover of Express Dairies will make it the largest dairy firm in the UK. Arla will have 51 percent of the new company, while Express shareholders will get 49 percent plus a £28.7 million special dividend.

But overcapacity and tight margins plague the industry. Express’s pre-tax profit in the year to March 2002 was £25.3 million on sales of £844 million. Arla UK had sales of £555.9 million in the year to September and pre-tax profit of £9.4 million.

The new company hopes to save £22m/y after three years from synergies.

Marketing

Spam to be chopped

The UK government is exploring ways to prevent unwanted marketing messages from e-mails, SMS and phones (spam), and to strengthen privacy rights.

It says spam accounts for 40 percent of global email traffic.

It wants to insist that users give a positive “opt-in” request for information, permission to use “cookies” and to be listed in subscriber directories.

It is likely to align its proposals with the European Directive on Privacy and Electronic Communications.