A pint of Ben & Jerry’s Churray for Churros flavor. Unilever recently spun off its ice cream business. We recently posted a podcast dealing with cold foods, which are a unique kind of supply chain. Now, a major firm, Unilever, has decided that such a supply chain is more expensive and complex than it wants to carry. Unilever has one of the biggest ice cream portfolios in the business, with popular brands including Ben & Jerry’s and Magnum. But the company’s leadership has decided to emphasize shelf-stable operations, which spans from lotions to mayonnaise. From manufacturing to trans ..read more

At the end of each chapter of our text, we present an Ethical Dilemma for class discussion. The Wall Street Journal‘s expose on Amazon (April 19, 2024), called “Inside Amazon’s Secret Operation,” provides one such issue. Here is a summary: For nearly a decade, workers in a warehouse in Seattle have shipped boxes of shoes, beach chairs, Marvel T-shirts and other items to online retail customers across the U.S.  The operation, called Big River Services, sells around $1 million a year of goods through e-commerce marketplaces including eBay, Shopify, Walmart and Amazon under made up brand nam ..read more

When organizations make location decisions (see Chapter 8), being near competitors (“clustering”) is often seen as a plus. Here in Orlando, the capital of theme parks, we take our cluster very seriously. After all, the parks are the main economic drivers and top employers. Disney’s 5 parks employ some 77,000 “cast members.” Universal Studios parks another 28,000, and SeaWorld has 22,100. Then there is Legoland, Gator Land, and others. Riders on the Expedition Everest roller coaster at Walt Disney World’s Animal Kingdom park. When the Universal Epic Universe theme park opens next year, it wil ..read more

Meatpacking jobs can be some of the toughest, bloodiest and most dangerous around, and companies such as Smithfield, Tyson Foods, and Cargill have long struggled to fully staff slaughterhouses and processing plants. Workers might have to stand for hours a day, often in cold temperatures, repeatedly slicing livestock carcasses on fast-moving processing lines or moving heavy boxes of frozen meat. The companies have sought for years to recruit enough workers and to run their plants at full strength. A system at Cargill’s beef-processing plant scans meat for bones and other undesirable materials ..read more

  Charlie Render is CEO of Render Analytics, a Florida-based consulting firm. One of his AI software packages is described in this post. ApplyGenie just won a recent contest as the best  product to invest in by the Orlando Business Journal.  It is nearing graduation day and the job market has been tight for new grads. Finding a new job can be a time consuming and demoralizing process. Applying for jobs is a full-time job itself, and finding the right job has never been more competitive or difficult. Here is a new AI tool that can help your students. ApplyGenie  (ApplyGenie ..read more

In our latest podcast Barry speaks with Don Durm, VP of Customer Solutions at PLM Fleet, the largest refrigerated trailer leasing and rental company in the US.  Barry and Don discuss many issues affecting the US food supply chain such as mislabeling, food safety, and food waste.  Don shares some of the innovative things the government and food industry are doing to try to address many of these problems.   Heizer Render OM Podcast · OM Podcast #18 (4/7/24): Issues in the Food Supply Chain   Transcript A Word document of this podcast will download by clicking the word Transc ..read more

Pollo Campero workers at an Orlando restaurant which features the company’s new kitchen design. Pollo Campero plans to more than double its U.S. store count. But first, it’s halving the number of miles workers walk each day. The chicken chain mapped how workers were moving around stores and revamped its restaurant design to allow people to work more efficiently, reports Bloomberg.com (April 4, 2024). It slashed the number of steps taken by the staff member who ensures orders are delivered promptly and accurately from 18,000 per shift – or 3.4 miles – to 9,500. “Every step you save adds to th ..read more

Since the pandemic, fast-food chains have increased investing in technologies like digital ordering and more drive-throughs, betting those trends will last, reports The Wall Street Journal (April 2, 2024). Now, pressured by higher labor costs—including California’s new $20 minimum wage law—and inflation-weary customers, more fast-food operators are banking on AI to drive sales and help lower costs. Yum Brands has worked to consolidate customer data for its four brands. The explosive growth of generative AI, which has already made its way into sectors like healthcare and retail, is ..read more

Dr. Misty Blessley, Associate Professor of SCM at Temple U., shares here thoughts with our readers on a regular basis. “Every supply chain company will have to keep a close eye on big headlines like geopolitics, climate change and wars. If you are a global company, there will be a crisis somewhere, every day,” says DHL Express’s CEO John Pearson, in a recent article in The Economic Times.  DHL Express, he adds, is the undisputed global leader in international express shipping. Pearson disputes claims that globalization is decreasing, thus making crisis management less of a supply chain co ..read more

Recycled concrete being laid at a construction site in Canary Wharf Hundreds of feet above the British capital’s Canary Wharf financial district, an office tower under construction grows taller as it draws materials from a source just blocks away. Concrete being poured on to the floor of the 52nd story is made partly with concrete recycled from a building being taken down nearby—part of an initiative to decarbonize office spaces through so-called circular construction practices that aim to maximize the reuse of materials. By putting reduced carbon as a requirement from its suppliers, Canary ..read more