The Rebirth of Ice Cream Deliveries

The Rebirth of Ice Cream Deliveries

December 15, 2020
Corinne M. Karuppan, Ph.D.

In the early 1900s, salespeople delivered Wall’s ice cream on tricycles. Today, the concept is resurrected.

Thomas Wall started selling ice cream as a seasonal product designed to offset slumping sausage sales during the summer. Lever Brothers bought Wall’s company; it later merged with Maragarine Unie to become Unilever, a multinational corporation now known as the “king of ice cream.”  Sold in 63 countries, its ice cream brand portfolio now accounts for 19% of the global market. In 2020, as the pandemic lingered on and people spent more time at home, the company brought back the old concept of delivering ice cream on wheels, but this time directly to consumers’ homes. The company constantly innovates. Nevertheless, uncertainty about future lockdowns in 2021 makes the next big idea a little elusive.

Video Spotlight: How a Viennetta Is Made

This post is based on the CNN article, This Company Conquered the Ice Cream Market. Home Delivery Is the Final Frontier, by H. Ziadi, November 14, 2020, and the YouTube video, How a Viennetta Is Made, by d100965, November 17, 2013. Image source: M. Unal Ozmen / Shutterstock.

Discussion Questions:

1. Describe the evolution of ice Continue reading →

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Pfizer’s Massive Vaccine Cold Chain

Pfizer’s Massive Vaccine Cold Chain

December 10, 2020
Anita Lee-Post, Ph.D.

Pfizer is building an ambitious supply chain and distribution system to deliver hundreds of millions of doses of COVID-19 vaccine to vaccination sites in three days.

The vaccine is manufactured in Kalamazoo, Michigan and Puurs, Belgium at a rate of 7.6 million doses daily.  Shipping containers that can keep the loaded doses at a temperature of -100 Fahrenheit for up to 10 days are used to transport doses from the manufacturing sites to nearby airports as cargo on planes from FedEx, UPS, and DHL.

These carriers are also responsible for trucking doses from airports to vaccination sites such as hospitals.

Video Spotlight: 

This post is based on the Fierce Pharma article, Planes, trucks and ultracold boxes: Pfizer preps massive COVID-19 vaccine distribution effort, by Eric Sagonowsky, October 21, 2020; the NPR article, Why Does Pfizer’s COVID-19 Vaccine Need To Be Kept Colder Than Antarctica?, by Selena Simmons-Duffin, November 17, 2020, and the YouTube video in the Spotlight. Image source: Wright Studio/Shutterstock

Discussion Questions:

1. Is Pfizer’s vaccine supply chain transparent?  Explain.

Guidance: Pfizer’s vaccine supply chain has Continue reading →

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Drones to Deliver Floridian Meds

Drones to Deliver Floridian Meds

May 27, 2020
Anita Lee-Post, Ph.D.

Florida’s retirees can soon receive their prescription drugs from CVS delivered by UPS’s drones.

The touchless prescription drug delivery helps protect seniors from COVID-19 as they are more vulnerable to contracting the virus, and have a higher risk of severe illness and death.

Video Spotlight: UPS and CVS make residential drone delivery (Nov 5, 2019, UPS)

This post is based on the Tech Crunch article, UPS and CVS will offer prescription drug delivery to Florida community via drone, by Brian Heater, April 27, 2020, and the YouTube video in the Spotlight. Image source: Shutterstock / happyphotons

Discussion Questions:

1. Is the drone prescription drug delivery a successful service design for CVS? Explain.

Guidance: It is a successful service design because it focuses on delivering prescription drugs safely and efficiently to its most vulnerable customers, i.e., seniors.  The human factor is key to CVS’s operations. Drone delivery enhances its customer satisfaction, particularly with seniors.

2. How does CVS manage logistics challenges in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic?

Guidance:  CVS has partnered with UPS to use drones to deliver prescription drug to retirees in Florida. This addresses the logistics challenge of limited Continue reading →

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