Scheduling – OM in the News

US Air Travel Disruptions: The Rule Instead of the Exception?

The airline industry has taken major hits since December 2022, and customer anxiety is on the rise over booking new reservations.

In December—during the peak of the holiday season—Southwest Airlines cancelled over 13,000 flights due to an antiquated and unreliable flight scheduling system.

In January, a nationwide ground stop imposed by the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) over a computer issue forced a 90-minute halt to all U.S. departing flights, leading to over 10,000 delays in one day alone.

January’s grounding […]

By James Kirby Easterling|2023-02-15T22:07:05+00:00February 15, 2023|Tags: asset utilization, contingency planning, information systems, supply chain disruption, supply chain resiliency|

Holiday Shipping Capacity Is Ahead of Demand

Shipping companies including the U.S. Postal Service, FedEx, and United Parcel Service will have enough capacity to achieve on-time deliveries this holiday season.

Consumers were enticed to shop early to take advantage of early holiday sales, shop more in stores, and moderate spending to counter inflation. As a result, shipping volume was reduced, and shipments were spread over a longer period.

Nevertheless, shipping companies are maintaining a buffer of excess capacity of 10 million to 20 million parcels each day to meet […]

By Anita Lee-Post, Ph.D.|2022-12-12T08:57:47+00:00December 12, 2022|Tags: capacity strategies, chase demand strategy, scheduling, seasonality, work force scheduling|

Chick-fil-A’s Three-Day Workweek

A Chick-fil-A restaurant in Miami has gone to a 3-day workweek.

As Chick-fil-A restaurants are not open on Sundays, they have created 2 groups—referred to as pods. Each pod works 3 consecutive 13- to 14-hour days, and then has 4 days off. They also have one seven-day stretch of time off per month, and rotate weekends off.

In addition to the employees that are in the pods, they have other employees that follow more traditional schedules.

The 3-day workweek appeals to many workers. While […]

By Ross L. Fink, Ph.D.|2022-11-27T21:13:20+00:00November 27, 2022|Tags: job design, lean operations, productivity, scheduling, waste reduction, work force scheduling|

Waffle House Index for Hurricanes

OM in the News has previously looked at the Waffle House Index, used to measure the damage from hurricanes. The index made the news again for Hurricane Ian. According to the Boston Globe, 40 Waffle Houses were closed at the height of the storm.

This index was developed in 2004, during Hurricane Charley, by former FEMA administrator Craig Fugate. FEMA noticed that some of the last places open are Waffle House, and thus was born […]

By Ross L. Fink, Ph.D.|2022-10-27T01:02:20+00:00October 27, 2022|Tags: emergency management, hurricane Ian, infrastructure, project management, risk management, scheduling|