New Product Development – OM in the News

Huy Fong’s Sriracha Shortage

In the United States, if you think of sriracha sauce, you immediately think of Huy Fong’s Sriracha Sauce with the rooster on the bottle.

Unfortunately, customers in the U.S. have seen a shortage of Huy Fong’s popular sauce for the last three years. And it may continue.

Part of the problem comes from droughts impacting the production of the red jalapeño peppers that go into the sauce. However, there is more to the story.

For over 28 years, Underwood Farms provided the peppers […]

By Ross L. Fink, Ph.D.|2023-11-08T06:09:21+00:00November 8, 2023|Tags: food supply chain, shortages, supplier relationship|

5G Helmet’s Product Design Increases Accessibility

In 1894, deaf and hard of hearing players at Gallaudet University introduced the football huddle. They were playing another school with deaf students who knew sign language, and they couldn’t risk giving away their plays.

Now, Gallaudet Bison’s football team has debuted groundbreaking technology developed in conjunction with AT&T. A new helmet allows a coach to call a play on a tablet from the sideline, and the information is transferred to a small display inside the quarterback’s special helmet.

At the moment, […]

By Lisa M. Spencer|2023-10-29T03:00:39+00:00October 29, 2023|Tags: idea generation, product design, product lifecycle, technology|

Nissan Going All-Electric in Europe

Nissan is going all-electric in Europe by 2030.

The company’s all-electric future plans are undergirded by “Concept 20-23”, a sporty urban fun-to-drive city electric vehicle. The Concept 20-23 has many performance enhancements (e.g., cobalt-free tech to reduce battery costs) and next-gen design features (e.g., circular LED headlights, butterfly doors, etc.) that may help shape the future of automobiles.

Video Spotlight:

Making of the Nissan Concept 20-23 (Sept 25, 2023, Nissan Europe)

This post is based on the Electrek […]

By Anita Lee-Post, Ph.D.|2023-10-25T07:26:35+00:00October 25, 2023|Tags: design factors, product design, sustainability|

Amazon and Anthropic Leverage Resources for AI Products

The partnership between Amazon and Anthropic helps leverage each company’s assets to gain a bigger foothold as providers of AI products.

Anthropic can utilize Amazon’s AWS cloud platform to develop customizable AI models economically. Additionally, external audits of their AI products will be conducted before releasing them to the public to ensure AI safety.

Video Spotlight:

Amazon to invest up to $4 billion in OpenAI rival startup Anthropic (Sept 25, 2023, CNBC Television)

This post is based on […]

By Anita Lee-Post, Ph.D.|2023-10-23T04:23:37+00:00October 22, 2023|Tags: ethical issues, legal issues, product design, product liability, responsible sourcing, strategic sourcing, supply chain partnership|