Intro to OM – OM in the News

McDonald’s Cancels the McPlant

After a lackluster six-month test of the McPlant product in 600 U.S. restaurants, McDonald’s has pulled the item from its menu across the U.S. citing low sales.

In February 2020, OM in the News reported that Impossible Foods had bowed out of supplying plant-based burgers to McDonald’s, citing capacity concerns. For Beyond Meat, which took on the contract to supply the McPlant patty, the loss of this lucrative contract will no doubt have serious repercussions.

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By Lisa M. Spencer|2022-09-19T05:03:13+00:00September 21, 2022|Tags: capacity planning, external environment, product design, product quality, service design, strategy|

GM Warns of Voided Warranties for Flipping Cars

To minimize the flipping of several of its high demand, limited production vehicles, General Motors will void the warranties if they are resold within a year of purchase. In addition, dealers that engage in flipping will be barred from purchasing additional such vehicles from GM in the future.

Video Spotlight:

General Motors Now CANCELING Warranties To Stop Flippers & Resellers! (Aug 2, 2022, Brian Mello)

This post is based on the Autoblog article,

By Lisa M. Spencer|2022-09-19T04:07:10+00:00September 18, 2022|Tags: quality, strategy, warranty costs|

Is Amazon Pushing Its Warehouse Workers Too Hard?

Fast delivery can be taxing for Amazon workers.

The Feds are investigating possible safety issues and failure to disclose injuries at Amazon. Their findings could spell legal trouble for the company. One of the safety hazards allegedly involves an unrealistic pace of work, which resulted in physical injuries. Work pace is often tied to performance standards. Is Amazon guilty of setting an unrealistic work pace or is it unrealistic to assume that all employees can achieve the standards?

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By Corinne M. Karuppan, Ph.D.|2022-08-03T19:03:59+00:00August 6, 2022|Tags: competitivness, delivery, job design, lead time, productivity|

Container Ship Congestion at California Ports

Pandemic-related shortages of goods have continued to be a problem. One of the biggest issues has been the backlog of ships waiting for the ports of Long Beach and Los Angeles.

Approximately 40% of the containers that come to the U.S. go through the San Pedro Ports (Long Beach and Los Angeles). The number of ships waiting for these ports was 101 as of the beginning of February 2022. According to the Port of L.A. Operations Report, as […]

By Ross L. Fink, Ph.D.|2022-02-21T05:11:12+00:00February 21, 2022|Tags: cargo container, logistics, ports, supply chain management, transportation|