Supply Chain Management – OM in the News

Google and Anthropic: Strategic Partnership

Google will invest $2 billion in Anthropic to further develop Claude 2, a rival to OpenAI’s ChatGPT.

Claude 2 can summarize up to 75,000 words and is regarded as the most “self-aware” chatbot. It has been trained to be explicit about what it knows and does not know and answers only questions that it has training data to support.

Related: this previous OM in the News post about Amazon and Anthropic leveraging each other’s work on AI.

Video Spotlight: […]

By Anita Lee-Post, Ph.D.|2023-11-29T03:32:42+00:00November 29, 2023|Tags: competition, innovation, operations strategy, strategy, supply chain partnership|

Prescription for Pharmaceutical Shortages: Reshoring

Reshoring of pharmaceuticals is viewed by many as a critical issue for the safety and security of the American health care system.

Shortages of a wide array of drugs, including chemotherapy medicines, antibiotics, children’s fever medications, poison antidotes, and AD/HD medications, currently plague the U.S. supply chain and sometimes delay or prevent patients from obtaining critically needed supplies.

Video Spotlight:

Prescription drug shortages make treatment decisions difficult for doctors and patients (July 4, 2023, PBS NewsHour)

By Lisa M. Spencer|2023-11-05T04:44:51+00:00November 5, 2023|Tags: forecasting, outsourcing, reshoring, risk management, shortages, subcontracting, supply chain management|

Target Blames Organized Retail Crime for Store Closures

Target claims that looting, violence, and theft have forced the company to close several stores.

To what extent does organized retail crime actually contribute to store closures? In most cases, it is difficult to tell. Aggregate data point to a “healthy” shrink level, whereas big box stores have a different perspective on the matter, probably because they are easier targets and victims. Nevertheless, theft and shrink have multiple causes that should be addressed to improve performance.

Video Spotlight:

By Corinne M. Karuppan, Ph.D.|2023-10-12T14:33:09+00:00October 13, 2023|Tags: forecasting, inventory management, safety stock, supply chain management|

Dollar General Dual DC To Serve 1,000 Stores

In Blair, Nebraska, Dollar General has opened its first dual distribution center.

At full capacity, the DC will supply traditional and fresh produce to 1,000 Dollar General stores. The discount retailer expanded fresh produce options recently at its stores.

This site was chosen for its central location, quality roads, and hard-working labor. The Blair DC will serve as a hub for distributing products across stores in the U.S.

Video Spotlight:

How Dollar Stores Quietly Consumed America (Sept 7, 2023, […]

By Anita Lee-Post, Ph.D.|2023-09-20T10:11:48+00:00September 20, 2023|Tags: distribution centers, location planning, logistics, perishable inventory management|