S and OP – OM in the News

French Bakeries Struggle with Rising Costs of Dough

Skyrocketing costs of inputs for French bakeries are threatening their very existence, according to some bakery owners.

While the baguette is recognized by UNESCO as an essential and important part of French culture, its affordability is being called into question.

Video Spotlight:

France’s bakers on strike: Expenses skyrocket as wheat, butter, sugar prices soar (Jan 23, 2023, FRANCE 24 English)

This post is based on the CNN article, Bakeries are central to the French […]

By Lisa M. Spencer|2023-05-03T05:34:35+00:00May 3, 2023|Tags: costs, inflation, inventory management, labor shortage, productivity|

Zipline Drones to Serve 10,000 Locations This Year

Zipline’s amazing delivery drone technology, which launched in Rwanda six years ago, has now made over a half a million deliveries of life-saving supplies in several African nations and Japan.

Currently, Zipline drones deliver to 3,000 hospitals around the world, and the company plans to serve 10,000 locations by the end of the year. Its sights are set on active drone delivery systems for a variety of purposes in the U.S. by the end of 2023.

Video Spotlight:

By Lisa M. Spencer|2023-04-26T07:44:14+00:00April 26, 2023|Tags: healthcare, logistics, medical supply chain, product design, quality, redundancy, reliability, safety, service design, sustainability, technology|

Update on Fertilizer Shortages and Food Crisis

As we approach the one-year mark (February 24, 2022) of Russia’s war on Ukraine, Putin continues to weaponize several key sectors of the global economy.

Both developing and developed countries have been hit by the domino effect of fuel shortages, which have led to fertilizer shortages, which have reduced global food supplies.

While people across the globe have seen prices rise and some products go missing, often, it’s the poorest countries that bear the brunt of these disruptions.

Video Spotlight:

By Lisa M. Spencer|2023-02-20T00:49:22+00:00February 19, 2023|Tags: aggregate planning, forecasting, inventory management, sales and operations planning, supply chain management|

Restaurant Pricing Tactics

Inflation is hitting restaurants especially hard on the supply side, as they are paying more for ingredients and increased labor costs. From the revenue side, customers impacted by inflationary pressures on food and gasoline are reducing their spending for eating-out.

The combination of increased costs and reduced revenues serves to reduce restaurants’ profit margins.

Restaurants have to seek ways to maintain customer traffic, while still maintaining profit margins. Two techniques gaining popularity are dynamic pricing and barbell pricing.

Dynamic pricing, also referred to as […]

By Ross L. Fink, Ph.D.|2023-01-02T06:03:36+00:00January 1, 2023|Tags: aggregate planning, artificial intelligence, dynamic pricing, forecasting, inflation, inventory, pricing, restaurant, yield management|