quality – OM in the News

Costs of Quality: Tulare Lake Flooding

Much of California’s most productive farmland has yet to emerge from flooding caused by this winter’s torrential rain and snow storms.

Anticipated snow melt from a snowpack 300% of average threatens to put valley areas under even more water as it begins to flow down from the mountains. The melt exceeds the capacity of lakes, dams, and rivers.

Flooding in the Tulare Lake and Monterey areas in March 2023 ruined many crops. Consumers across the country will feel the impact of higher […]

By Lisa M. Spencer|2023-04-28T22:30:51+00:00April 28, 2023|Tags: capacity planning, cost of quality, food supply chain, forecasting, inventory management, quality, supply chain|

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|

Starbucks Adds A New Flavor: Olive Oil

CEO Charles Schultz’s latest slick innovation for Starbucks adds a spoonful of extra virgin olive oil to a variety of hot and cold coffee beverages at the Milan roastery location.

Italian customers expressed mixed reactions to this unusual blend of ingredients.

Video Spotlight:

Introducing Starbucks new coffee ritual: Oleato™ (Feb 21, 2023, Starbucks Coffee)
Olive oil in coffee? Starbucks introduces ‘Oleato’ (Feb 22, 2023, Reuters)

This post is based on The Guardian article,

By Lisa M. Spencer|2023-03-18T00:45:45+00:00March 17, 2023|Tags: forecasting, idea generation, inventory management, location planning, product design, purchasing, quality, sourcing, strategy|

Skimpflation

As inflation is impacting the prices of products, many organizations are looking for ways to cut costs. One such approach previously examined by OM in the News is the concept of shrinkflation, when companies reduce the size of the product. In many cases, customers don’t notice the change is size.

Now, instead of reducing the size of the product, some companies are changing the ingredients, choosing cheaper alternatives. This approach is being referred to as skimpflation.

One example of […]

By Ross L. Fink, Ph.D.|2022-11-07T02:09:19+00:00November 6, 2022|Tags: bill of materials, inflation, inventory management, MRP, product design, quality, supply chain management|