Scheduling Operations – Page 7

Y’all, It’s Back: Popeyes’ Chicken Sandwich

Popeyes Louisiana Kitchen announced that its chicken sandwich would return on Sunday, November 3, 2019. The company also released a simple ad called “Open Sunday” to announce its availability.

Sunday, November 3^rd is important in two ways. First, it is National Sandwich day. What better day to re-introduce a very popular sandwich. Second, it’s a reminder to customers that one of its main competitors–Chick-fil-A–is not open on Sundays. In its 20-second ad, […]

By Ross L. Fink, Ph.D.|2019-11-03T20:37:11+00:00November 4, 2019|Tags: forecasting, inventory management, staffing, supply chain management, waiting lines|

United Pilots ConnectionSaver

United Airlines is piloting its new ConnectionSaver computer technology, helping passengers make tight connections they would have otherwise missed.

Whereas other airlines use gate agents or other humans to make the decision whether to hold a flight to help flyers make their connections, United’s new system is controlled by computer and can only be overridden by United supervisors in operations centers.

Denver’s airport was the first to try the program last February. LAX began using ConnectionSaver in June. Since implementation, United estimates […]

By Lisa M. Spencer|2019-09-16T05:21:51+00:00September 15, 2019|Tags: productivity, queuing, scheduling, service design, strategy, waiting lines|

Stable Workforce Scheduling Can Improve Worker Health and Performance

The service sector faces tremendous fluctuations in demand for their services, as well as low profit margins. As a result, staffing in the service industry may employ a Just-In-Time (JIT) staffing approach. In other words, wait until the last moment to call in employees.

This JIT approach results in short notice of an upcoming shift, cancellation of work at the last moment, and variable hours.

Therefore, working in the service sector in many cases means low pay and few fringe benefits, but […]

By Ross L. Fink, Ph.D.|2019-03-09T18:13:15+00:00March 9, 2019|Tags: productivity, scheduling, service quality|

Weather Stopped Beer Delivery With Super Bowl Looming

Several beer distributors in the Milwaukee, Wisconsin area stopped delivery of their products on Wednesday, January 30, 2019. With extremely cold weather in the area, many organizations shut-down for the day, including several beer distributors. Many of the beer distributors decided that it was unsafe for their delivery drivers to be out in the extreme cold. Additionally, their products don’t handle cold weather well.

Bad timing, with the Super Bowl only 4 days away, but winter weather shows no mercy for […]

By Ross L. Fink, Ph.D.|2019-02-11T19:18:33+00:00February 11, 2019|Tags: capacity planning, delivery, forecasting, inventory management, scheduling, supply chain|