Process Selection and Facility Layout

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|

Shrinking Wine Industry

California grape growers and wine producers are fighting hard to find ways to adapt as the wine industry shrinks.

The United States boasts the fourth largest wine industry in the world, but California wineries continue to struggle after being hit with a 1.2 billion dollar drop in revenue in 2025, compared to the year before.

Both volume and revenue are expected to drop again this year.

Video Spotlight:

Grapes left to rot in […]

By Lisa M. Spencer|2026-09-16T01:38:36+00:00September 20, 2026|Tags: AI activity, artificial intelligence, capacity planning, productivity, strategy|

Robot-Run Convenience Store

Made by Galbot, a robot named Xiao Gai staffs around 200 small capsule-like convenience store outlets in 50 cities across mainland China.

Now, several have opened in Hong Kong as well.

Video Spotlight:

Hong Kong’s first robot-run convenience stores (Sep 3, 2026, South China Morning Post)
Hong Kong’s first robot-run convenience stores draw curious shoppers (Sep 7, 2026, CNA)

This post is based on the SABC News article,

By Lisa M. Spencer|2026-09-16T01:35:24+00:00September 18, 2026|Tags: AI activity, artificial intelligence, efficiency, productivity, robotics, service organizations, strategy|

Levi’s Continues Supply Chain Optimization Initiatives

Levi Strauss & Co. is seeking to transition to a unified enterprise resourcing planning (ERP) system across its global operations by mid-2027.

Levi’s recently migrated its Asia business operations and Beyond Yoga brand onto the global platform after integrating North America units three years ago. With Asia integration now complete, the company is integrating European and Latin America business units onto their global platform. The legendary denim maker once had thirteen different ERP platforms but is targeting one global unit to […]

By James Kirby Easterling|2026-08-24T04:11:10+00:00August 30, 2026|Tags: ERP, global platform, integration, optimization, sustainability|