shortage – OM in the News

The Chronic Pain of Drug Shortages

Despite repeated warnings that critical drugs have been and will remain in short supply, corrective action has been painfully elusive.

A confluence of factors contribute to the persistence of the problem. These factors have been identified multiple times over the years, but addressing them and their effects on patients’ health requires overall system changes that call for full congressional and business cooperation. The current blog does not cover the policy changes needed for improvement; they are beyond its scope. However, it […]

By Corinne M. Karuppan, Ph.D.|2023-04-03T19:59:23+00:00April 5, 2023|Tags: bullwhip effect, competitivness, continuous replenishment, flexible-manufacturing, inventory management, JIT, lead time, logistics, outsourcing, productivity, respsonsive supply chain design, safety stock, shortage, sourcing, strategic capacity management, supply chain management|

Profits Over Patients: Here Come the Roaches!

America’s largest hospital company has been putting patients at risk.

To increase profits, they have cut their staff and shrunk maintenance budgets, resulting in higher occurrences of sentinel events, including patient deaths. Both doctors and nurses have complained about the situation, but there seems to be a disconnect between the clinical staff and the leadership. In fact, hospital critics have been reprimanded. Money that could be used to fix the problems is allocated to bed capacity increases which boost revenue.

Video […]

By Corinne M. Karuppan, Ph.D.|2023-03-07T20:56:37+00:00March 8, 2023|Tags: competitivness, service quality, short term capacity, shortage, strategic capacity management, strategy, value, value analysis|

Robots Help Fill Labor Shortage at Pharmacies

Robots are increasingly being used to fill prescriptions at Walgreens due to the nationwide shortage of pharmacists.

Walgreens is revamping its stores and redesigning pharmacists’ jobs to reflect current demand as well as constraints in the industry.

Video Spotlight:

Libiao Robot Helps USA Walgreens to Sort Pharmaceutical Prescriptions (Apr 6, 2022, Li Vince)
Walgreens Gets Robotic on Filling Prescriptions (May 7, 2022, rxless)

This post is based on the PYMNTS article, Robots […]

By Lisa M. Spencer|2022-11-07T01:41:41+00:00November 3, 2022|Tags: capacity planning, efficiency, facility layout, robotics, shortage|

Without Fertilizer, We’re Short on Fizz

Soaring energy and gas prices have prompted European nitrogen-based fertilizer companies to shut down production.

Alarming as this is for farmers who need fertilizer to enrich their crops, it is also of deep concern for users of CO2 gas, a much needed by-product of fertilizer production.

Video Spotlight:

High energy prices cut UK ammonia & CO2 output, worrying distilleries and farmers (Aug 26, 2022, CGTN BIZ)

This post is based on the Politico article, Beer […]

By Lisa M. Spencer|2022-10-05T05:50:39+00:00October 6, 2022|Tags: capacity planning, forecasting, inventory management, shortage, supply chain management|