Christopher Tang   We do know that we should put recyclable items in the recycle bin so that these items can be recycled into new materials.  But do we know if these items will actually be recycled?   To find out the truth, a group of reporters from the Guardian (a leading newspaper in the UK) tracked down the supply chain operations of US plastic waste and presented a chilling report in https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2019/jun/17/recycled-plastic-america-global-crisis.  According to the Guardian, America generates 34.5 million tons of plastic waste each year.  ..read more

Christopher Tang   We are facing an unprecedented food supply crisis.  United Nations released a report in August 2019 warning that the world’s land and water resources are being exploited at “unprecedented rates” for many reasons.  First, the world’s population is projected to grow from 7.5 billion in 2018 to over 9 billion by 2050, thanks to improved healthcare and medical services.  However, due to population growth, longevity resulting from better health care, and increasing consumption caused by economic development in developing countries, the demand for Earth’s resou ..read more

Bel Yousefi, Sai Prem Achuthan, and Christopher Tang   UCLA Anderson School   In 2017, the Washington Post reported that millions of pounds of “USDA Organic” soybeans and corn imported through Turkey appear to have been fraudulent.[1]  This is a common occurrence in the United States: a significant proportion of imported “organic” foods turns out to be fake.  Why does this happen?  How does this happen?   What can be done?   The underlying causes of Organic Fraud   There is a belief and some research evidence that organic foods may have higher nutri ..read more

Luiza Niemeyer, Claudia Sanchez, and Felipe Caro Sweetgreen is a restaurant that was founded in 2007 in Washington, D.C with the aim of bringing healthy options to the fast-casual food business. Currently, they have 89 locations across the country and offer a rotating menu of salad and grain bowls that is based on the season and produce availability. The secret of their success? Ensuring freshness and quality through an extended network of local suppliers. Sweetgreen is a part of the “farm-to-table” (and more recently “seed-to-table”) movement, which promotes using locally-sourced, high quali ..read more

Kevin Popper, Julia Navarro, Amelia Lanfrankie, and Felipe Caro Demand for electric vehicles has risen dramatically alongside consumer concerns about greenhouse gas emissions. Correspondingly, demand for lithium-ion batteries has also increased and is expected to continue increasing – the lithium-ion battery market is thought to have a CAGR of 14%, with the transport sector accounting for 60% of the market by 2025.[1] Electric vehicle driven demand for lithium-ion battery raw materials such as cobalt and copper is expected to increase 10x by 2026.[2]   Image source: “Electric Vehicle Out ..read more

Christopher Tang Local restaurants are struggling to get customers to eat in.  To capture those office workers and consumers who are too busy to eat out or take out, many restaurants are partnering with food-ordering and delivery startups such as Grubhub (US), Deliverloo (UK), and Ele.me (China).  These startups can connect local restaurants with diners by posting restaurant menus online for diners to place their orders to be picked up and delivered by independent contractors. In 2018, McDonald's partnered with Uber Eats, and Dunkin' uses DoorDash.  These startups make ..read more

Christopher Tang Tesla’s production of Model 3 hits a snag.  I am a fan of Elon Musk – the visionary who created Tesla and SpaceX.  At the same time, I worry about his lack of understanding of Operations Management.   As a case in point, let us consider a story reported in Wall Street Journal.[1]    Musk asked why the Tesla’s assembly line had stopped.  One of the senior engineering managers explained that it was due to a safety measure.  Musk fired this manager, but Tesla claimed that this manager was fired for other reasons.  Regardless of th ..read more

Ally Kleinman, Keely Schneider, Shane Strumwasser, Felipe Caro Walmart is a globally recognized leader in big-box retail. Walmart is responsible for $500 billion in annual revenues, operates in 28 countries and employs 2.3 million people worldwide [1]. Everyone knows the giant superstore for its low-cost strategy and “everyday low prices.” What people do not know is how efficient Walmart’s supply chain needs to operate to keep up with its cost strategy. For a network as large as Walmart, its distribution must be streamlined to deal with large quantities of product and SKUs going to and from s ..read more

Chloe Kim, Catherine Gao, Amba Gujral, Willa Ni, Ashley Wright, Felipe Caro. Blood and blood products (such as plasma and platelets) have a unique and challenging supply chain because of three major reasons. The supply of blood fully relies on human donations and is not a product that can be manufactured. Blood is a perishable product, especially platelets must be used within 5 days of donation, and red blood cells can only be stored for 42 days [1]. Lastly, inaccuracies of supply and demand can become a matter of life and death as blood is a critical input into a wide range of medical procedu ..read more

Bobby S. Nyotta and Christopher S. Tang With the NBA Finals and NHL Finals wrapping up and the FIFA World Cup starting, sports fans are buying jerseys to support their home team, favorite player, and country. At the same time, these jerseys are costly: they can be as much as $200 on fanatics.com -- the largest retailer of jerseys in America. Figure 1: The cost of US Men's National Team jerseys is nearly $200[1]. This steep price can make fans think twice about purchasing. Since they are so expensive, purchasing becomes an investment in the player, team, or country. If the jersey style never ch ..read more