Supply Chain Management

Carl’s Jr. Switches to Make-to-Order Burgers

Carl’s Jr. is a fast-food restaurant known for its charbroiled burgers.

It has over 1,000 restaurants, primarily in the Western and Southwestern United States. Recently, it switched to a make-to-order process that cooks fresh hamburger meat once the order is placed.

This departs from their batch process, which used frozen hamburger patties. Their batch process cooked several hamburgers at once through a conveyor broiler. They then held the cooked hamburger patties in a warmer […]

By Ross L. Fink, Ph.D.|2026-10-07T02:28:18+00:00October 7, 2026|Tags: assemble-to-order, batch system, inventory management, make to order, process, product design|

Mastercard Explores Agentic Commerce

Under the partnership of Mastercard and Alchemy, Mastercard holders can now let an AI agent make purchases online with spending caps and limits on selected retailers.

This ushers business transactions into a new era called agentic commerce, giving AI further inroads into autonomous activities on behalf of humans.

Video Spotlight:

Mastercard Joins Visa in Letting AI Bots Do Your Shopping (Sep 19, 2026, Real Story sharer)

This post is based on the Quartz article,

By Anita Lee-Post, Ph.D.|2026-09-29T07:00:07+00:00October 4, 2026|Tags: agentic commerce, artificial intelligence, automation, bots, GenAI, operational strategy, order fulfillment, technology|

Kimberly-Clark Pursues Sustainable Wood Fiber Alternative

Kimberly-Clark, maker of well-known brands like Kleenex, Scott, and Huggies, has committed $100 million to build a plant in Yuma, Arizona to scale up production and testing of hesperaloe as an alternative fiber for wood pulp in its hygiene products.

This plant is part of a groundbreaking, long-term sustainability effort for its products such as toilet paper and paper towels.

Video Spotlight:

Kimberly-Clark to build new U.S. facility in Yuma (Aug 24, 2026, News 11 Yuma)

This […]

By Lisa M. Spencer|2026-09-29T06:52:36+00:00September 30, 2026|Tags: manufacturing, product design, quality, reshoring, sourcing, strategy, sustainability|

Blanked Sailings Impact Supply Chains

Ocean shipping has become very difficult to plan in recent years.

Various disruptions have occurred, including COVID-related port closures, wars such as the Iran war impacting the Strait of Hormuz, and weather events such as reduced ship traffic through the Panama Canal due to droughts.

To further complicate ocean shipments, many shippers have increased blanked sailings. This happens when ocean carriers cancel a port stop or even an entire ship’s route. Shippers cite several reasons for blanked sailings, including bypassing a port […]

By Ross L. Fink, Ph.D.|2026-09-27T03:33:06+00:00September 27, 2026|Tags: blanked sailings, inventory management, logistics, scheduling, shipping, supply chain management|