MRP – OM in the News

AI and OM: A Complicated Relationship

AI has ushered in a new era of possibilities.

Once confined to complex, industrial applications, AI is now becoming part of our everyday activities. Recent advances in AI-generated art and text have created many possibilities. Although the technology cannot fully replace humans yet, improvements are so rapid that we can expect a dramatic transformation of work in the near future. The challenge for organizations will be to harness AI’s capabilities while countering its negative, unintended consequences.

This post is intended to help […]

By Corinne M. Karuppan, Ph.D.|2023-04-15T22:25:12+00:00April 16, 2023|Tags: artificial intelligence, automation, bill of materials, ERP systems, job design, product design, productivity, robots, security|

TikTok Inspired Chipotle’s Fajita Quesadilla

Social media can greatly influence customer demand, and disrupt operations. Such is the case with TikTok and Chipotle.

Two TikTok influencers, Keith Lee and Alexis Frost, endorsed a menu hack that went viral. Initially, the restaurant wasn’t ready for the off-menu item, and some restaurants wouldn’t let customers order the item. This put stress on Chipotle’s systems and employees—not to mention creating unhappy customers who went online to complain about not being able to get the quesadilla.

However, Chipotle decided to listen […]

By Ross L. Fink, Ph.D.|2023-03-22T05:02:29+00:00March 26, 2023|Tags: food supply chain, inventory management, new product design, product design, sourcing, voice of the customer|

Brightpick’s Autopicker Increases Order Fulfillment Visibility

Brightpick offers a warehouse automation solution for order fulfillment with its Autopicker, an autonomous mobile robot capable of picking and consolidating orders as it moves around the aisles of a warehouse.

According to the company, the advantages of using Autopicker include a 95% savings on picking labor cost, non-requirement of centralized picking stations, ease-of-installation, and scalability.

Video Spotlight:

Brightpick | The world’s most efficient warehouse automation solution for order fulfillment (Feb 14, 2023, Brightpick)

This post is […]

By Anita Lee-Post, Ph.D.|2023-03-10T03:28:00+00:00March 10, 2023|Tags: automation, ERP, order fulfillment, robot, warehouse|

Eggs Cost Bakeries Too Much Dough

Bakeries across the U.S. have sought creative ways to operate amidst the challenge of soaring egg prices.

Some bakeries have dropped items that require more eggs as the raw ingredient. Others have started selling by advance order only. A few are thinking of sourcing eggs from lower price national vendors instead of local ones. All are trying to keep operating without resorting to passing the price increase to customers.

Video Spotlight:

Egg prices SOAR across America, especially […]

By Anita Lee-Post, Ph.D.|2023-01-27T06:38:27+00:00January 29, 2023|Tags: bill of materials, dependent demand, food supply chain, MRP|