Liberty Intercept Blog

In a recent New Yorker article by Malcolm Gladwell on economist/philosopher Albert O. Hirschman and “The Power of Failure”, Gladwell discusses Hirschman’s views on failure. Most people are fearful of failure and avoid it at all costs; in fact I read an article recently telling of a prestigious investment bank with scores of high achievers who are driven by enormous fear of failure.  Hirschman, of whom Gladwell states “Hirschman was a planner who saw virtue in the fact that nothing went as planned” takes a different stance.  As an advisor for The World Bank, surveying  its worldwide projects, Hirschman noted World Bank would develop infrastructure in Third World countries as a means to reduce anxiety about the future, presumably to allow for development.  Hirshman’s contention was that the exercise and challenge of development allows for unexpected creativity and well-planned economic growth. 

There was a sharp explosive popping sound, then all the food and dishes caved through the outdoor table crashing onto the deck proceeded by the shattered glass. After a loud collective gasp, it took a moment for everyone to digest what had just happened. We all checked each other to verify that no one was hurt, and then preceded to the messy cleanup.

Safety in Manufacturing: Learn the Top 5 Safety Manager Responsibilities & Never Take Safety for Granted!

Want Safety In Manufacturing? Turn to the Safety Manager!

When it comes to safety in manufacturing, the safety manager is an employer’s point man for worker safety. This means that the safety manager’s responsibilities start with ensuring that all of the employer’s OSHA (Occupational Safety and Health Association) mandated responsibilities are met. The following are five of the main responsibilities OSHA places on employers:

This is a very short video - safe for work - be sure to turn on your speakers.

As I was reading Chris Brogan's (Human Business Works) recent article about change and fear, the paragraph that struck me was this one: "Before Netflix, Blockbuster was a sure thing. Before Zipcar, you owned a car, borrowed a car, or rented a car. AirBNB has changed hospitality options. Square gives everyone the ability to be a credit card merchant when that wasn’t true as recently as a few years ago without a lot of hassle." I was a loyal Blockbuster customer until Netflix made renting movies so easy. Once Hulu entered the scene with their free online TV shows, the computer became my central source of entertainment. It was only about 50 years ago that my family sat around a single small black and white TV that had only three channels of entertainment. Big changes.

From the desk of Adam Robinson, Marketing Manager, Cerasis Inc. Google+

There are many reasons why disruptive technology, such as the Cerasis Rater web-based transportation management software aid in tackling holistic freight costs. Much like packaging, and protecting your invaluable company products is a part of doing business, often, the next step is shipping your products via full truckload, small package, or less-than-truckload. Like packaging, you want to make sure that when you look at investing in transportation, no matter how you do it, you have to look at all the cost factors, not just the price you see from a carrier. Does the carrier get your product to the customer in time often enough? Do they have enough insurance to cover you in case of a damaged freight situation, and finally, what is the freight cost to actually ship that?

We’ve written about the extraordinary air pollution in Southeast Asia before.  Our biggest interest has been in alerting U.S. manufacturers that smog and soot will degrade their products, especially when shipping and storing into atmospheres like China. Atmospheric pollution can quickly rob the whole life of their hard-earned products and hence, damage their company’s reputation for making quality product. Liberty offers our Intercept Packaging to combat this problem.

We were energized during our time as exhibitors at EASTEC 2013 in Springfield, MA, last week. Building 3 of the facility was abuzz with innovation. Interested attendees, asking all the right questions, flooded the floor for all three days, including representatives from small and large manufacturers, local and international companies. The show truly lived up to it's tagline "human ingenuity, manufacturing brilliance". If you're involved in industry in the Northeast, or want to be, we recommend you get involved with EASTEC, sponsored by SME.

Forgers have been around since there have been things to forge; currency and art being the most sensationalized examples, but commercial goods make up the overwhelming bulk of forgeries. Recently, these types of forgeries have moved more into the mainstream and been accepted as part of modern culture. I find it compelling that we now willingly turn a blind eye to some forgeries (like the designer shoes pictured) because they appear as novelties, but we ignore the fact that billions of dollars (in merchandise and fake money as well as lost relics and works of art) are lost. Perhaps it is like a game: the forger vs. the world, with the goal to fool the masses.