Forecasting – OM in the News

Flawed Covid Data Are Infectious

Flawed Covid data are bad for us and for business.

After two years of fighting Covid, it has become obvious that the methods used to track the number of cases have not evolved with scientists’ and healthcare professionals’ knowledge of the pandemic. Imprecise or incomplete data have affected public reporting of cases, which in turn, has prevented all of us from properly assessing risk and its potential consequences. The situation is particularly difficult for healthcare organizations (and other businesses) that must […]

By Corinne M. Karuppan, Ph.D.|2022-05-11T20:01:11+00:00May 12, 2022|Tags: forecasting, inventory management, lead time, service quality, strategic capacity management|

Russian-Ukraine War’s Effect on Wheat and Corn Supply

With Ukraine supplying 16% of corn and 12% of wheat for global markets, and Russia providing 17% of global wheat needs, the war between their countries is impacting food supplies and prices.

Ukraine had a bumper crop of corn for the 2021-2022 year, but only a little over half has been shipped out. Now, with ports closed and conflict raging, commercial vessels can no longer access this critical commodity.

In addition, spring crops need to be planted, and it is unclear to […]

By Lisa M. Spencer|2022-03-26T22:04:29+00:00March 26, 2022|Tags: food safety, food supply chain, forecasting, location planning, supply chain|

TikTok and McDonald’s Hacks

Social media has had some interesting impacts on businesses. In some cases, social media has driven tremendous increases in demand, such as Popeyes’ chicken sandwich that led to having to temporarily suspend its new chicken sandwich. Over time, the chicken sandwich wars have helped Popeyes reach new customers.

Starbucks has a love/hate relationship with TikTok. The company loves the attentions that Tiktok influencers bring. However, many on TikTok are looking to develop the most complicated […]

By Ross L. Fink, Ph.D.|2022-02-27T18:33:00+00:00February 27, 2022|Tags: customer satisfaction, forecasting, modular design, product design, product development, service process, social media|

Could We Have Forecast COVID Test Kit Demand?

Demand for home COVID tests is on the rise, but stores are out of stock.

After reducing capacity when COVID trended down in the summer of 2021, rapid test manufacturers are ramping up production in response to the Delta and Omicron variants and the increased caseload in recent months.

The FDA recently authorized more emergency use authorizations for home test kits, including ACON Laboratories’ FlowFlex, which it hopes will double availability of kits for U.S. consumers.

However, many are standing in long lines […]

By Lisa M. Spencer|2022-01-08T06:30:24+00:00January 15, 2022|Tags: capacity planning, covid-19, forecasting, pandemic, product life cycle|