Tag: supply chains

OM in the News: Bringing Mac Mini Production Stateside

Apple just announced a significant expansion of its Houston manufacturing operations, confirming that production of the Mac mini will move to the U.S. for the first time as part of a broader investment in advanced manufacturing and AI infrastructure. The move will also see Apple expand AI server production at the Texas site and open a new Advanced Manufacturing Center, initiatives that together are expected to create thousands of jobs.

The decision marks a notable shift in the company’s global manufacturing strategy, writes Yahoo Finance (Feb. 28, 2026). The move follows a wider trend among technology firms seeking to diversify supply chains and expand domestic production capacity, particularly in high-value electronics manufacturing.

Alongside Mac mini production, Apple is ramping up output of advanced AI servers at the Houston site, an initiative that began in 2025. The expansion reflects Apple’s growing investment in AI infrastructure, an area that has become central to both consumer devices and cloud services.

Beyond hardware production, Apple is also investing in workforce development with the launch of an Advanced Manufacturing Center in Houston. The facility will provide hands-on training in advanced manufacturing techniques. The center will train students, supplier employees, and manufacturers in processes used in Apple’s own production lines. Apple engineers will teach how U.S. manufacturers can adopt new technologies and improve efficiency,  strengthening the domestic manufacturing ecosystem while building a pipeline of skilled workers.

Apple’s expansion comes amid a broader push to localize manufacturing in North America, driven by supply-chain resilience concerns, geopolitical tensions, and government incentives. Bringing Mac mini production home signals that high-tech consumer electronics assembly—traditionally concentrated in Asia—may increasingly be split across multiple regions. Meanwhile, Apple’s investment in AI server production reflects surging demand for data-center hardware as AI applications expand.

By combining Mac mini assembly, AI server production, and advanced manufacturing training, Apple is positioning Houston as a key node in its global supply chain—while signaling a deeper commitment to U.S. manufacturing capacity. As reshoring momentum continues, Apple’s move could encourage other electronics manufacturers to consider similar strategies, particularly for high-value or strategically important products.

Classroom discussion questions:

  1. Why is Apple reshoring this particular product?
  2. Why is it difficult to bring manufacturing of high-tech products home?

 

OM Podcast #46: Logistics, Circularity & Vertical Integration at East Penn Manufacturing

In our latest podcast episode Barry Render and Misty Blessley speak with Harry Ziff, VP of Corporate Logistics at East Penn Manufacturing, one of the world’s largest lead‑battery producers. Harry shares highlights from his 37‑year supply chain career and explains how East Penn’s unique structure allows it to excel in reliability, sustainability, and customer service.

Harry discusses East Penn’s deep vertical integration, including in‑house lead refining, plastic molding, and battery case manufacturing. He also describes the company’s closed‑loop recycling system, where nearly 100% of batteries are collected, processed, and reused.  The episode also dives into East Penn’s large private fleet, which enables direct‑store delivery, consistent service, and strong customer relationships.

TRANSCRIPT LINK
A Word document of this podcast will download by clicking the transcript link above.
Prof. Misty Blessley
Prof. Barry Render
Harry Ziff

 

 

 

 

 

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OM in the News: The Memory-Chip Shortage

Memory is one of the tech world’s most ubiquitous and essential components that come in 2 major types. DRAM handles more fleeting, immediate tasks like using apps. The other kind, called NAND flash memory, provides long-term storage for photos, videos and other data. And there has been a 7-fold increase in contract prices for DRAM and NAND flash in the past year.

Facing soaring memory-chip prices, the world’s biggest electronics companies are staring at a list of unpalatable responses:(1) charging consumers more, (2) eating the costs or (3) rejiggering product specs. Such is the supply-chain disruption wrought by the global drive into AI, which requires fleets of data centers with servers needing gargantuan amounts of memory, reports The Wall Street Journal (Feb. 13, 2026). 

The memory crunch comes at an inopportune time for companies like Nintendo.

That has caused supply to dry up for the makers of smartphones, PCs, gaming consoles and various other electronic gadgets, and triggered a historic price uptick since early last year that is higher than any increase seen before.

Dell has raised prices for some commercial laptops by as much as 30%, while budget PCs from rival Acer now carry several gigabytes less of multitasking memory. Chinese smartphone maker Xiaomi recently discontinued the lower-memory variant of its new midtier device and raised prices. To summarize: A tough year for smartphones, PCs and game consoles is getting worse. Projected shipment declines are now stumbling deeper. PCs, with memory representing as much as 30% of their total costs, are particularly vulnerable.

With investments into AI infrastructure remaining hot, the prospects of memory prices falling soon don’t appear high. Supply is expected to remain tight through 2028.

Classroom discussion questions:

  1. What is the underlying issue?
  2. What can manufacturers of PCs, smartphones, and game consoles do to protect themselves?

 

Good OM Reading: Supply Chains as a Source of Competitive Differentiation

A new report from the Kearney consulting group (Feb. 4, 2026), called The Top Five Supply Chain Bets for 2026, concludes that as customers punish inconsistency faster than ever, companies that can deliver reliability will expand market share. Kearney offers this analysis:

This forces a shift from one supply chain to a portfolio of capabilities designed around distinct value propositions including speed, reliability, customization, cost-to-serve, and compliance. Where commercial commitments are made in isolation from operations, the consequences surface later through margin erosion, excess inventory, and lost customers.

Supply chain becomes the operating core of the customer promise, and leadership must be explicit about where it will overperform and equally clear about where performance ambition can be more modest by design.

Leading organizations are becoming more deliberate about how they serve each channel, market, and customer, including the trade-offs required and their operational implications. Align those choices with differentiated supply chain capabilities for each segment and translate them into targets for the core KPIs (service, cost, cash, risk). Finally, leverage the integrated planning and execution process to deliver consistently against those objectives.

Another area of concern is AI as it moves along the continuum from experimentation to earnings impact. Kearney offers the following analysis:

In 2026, many pilots will fail to progress beyond experimentation. The root causes are predictable: unclear value cases, poor data quality, fragmented technology stacks, and pilots that were never designed to scale.

AI in supply chains needs to be treated as an industrial capability, with clear ownership, governance, monitoring, and integration into day-to-day processes. Organizations that remain in experimentation are accumulating prototypes and skepticism, while those that focus are translating AI into measurable improvements in cost, cash, service, and risk.

Leading organizations are managing AI use cases as a portfolio, with explicit scale and stop gates. A small number of use cases that materially affect service, cost, cash, or risk are being industrialized, while others are time-boxed with clear exit criteria. Investment is concentrating on priorities with the highest enterprise impact, including decision speed, resilience, and sharpening competitive supply chain advantage.

Classroom discussion questions:

  1. How might AI be used in supply chain management?
  2. Why does Kearney think supply chains are becoming the source of competitive differentiation?

OM in the News: AI Makes a Fundamental Shift in Manufacturing

For two decades, manufacturing has been defined by a relentless pursuit of optimization. We automated assembly lines (Ch. 9), digitized records and built predictive maintenance models (Ch. 17), all in the service of marginal gains in efficiency.

While this approach yielded significant returns, we have reached the ceiling of what traditional, rule-based automation can achieve. “In 2026, the industry is undergoing a fundamental shift toward a model of agentic enablement,” says the head of Google Cloud, Praveen Rao in Industry Week (Jan.22, 2026).

Rao says this isn’t just a technical upgrade; it is a new industrial model where AI moves from a tool that recommends to an agent that achieves. It also isn’t about reducing headcount, but about transforming operators into “super-users”: who are empowered by AI to solve more complex problems and drive higher value. He makes 3 predictions:

The Agentic Supply Chain: Beyond Prediction to Execution Historically, manufacturers have been forced to lock up vast amounts of capital in finished goods, essentially “betting” on demand forecasts. Agentic AI changes this math by allowing production to align dynamically with real-time customer intent. Traditional predictive models could warn of a supplier disruption, but it still required a human to spend days rerouting logistics. In 2026, AI agents will close this loop. Systems will be empowered to detect a tier-2 supplier failure in the middle of the night.

The Rise of the Technocrat Entering the era of the Technocrat, the factory worker of the future will no longer be measured by analog tools of the past—the hammers and the screwdrivers, but by mastery of generative AI for rapid troubleshooting and agentic AI for process orchestration.

Hyper-Personalized Intelligence on the Shop Floor  The AI agents of the future will possess “long-term memory,” understanding the specific context and historical preferences of every shop-floor operator. This is agentic AI acting as a personalized performance coach, delivering the right insight to the right person at the exact moment of need.

Rao concludes: “The transition from fragmented automation to integrated, agentic systems is the new industrial paradigm. The companies that fail to adopt an agent-first mindset will not just fall behind; they will find themselves competing against living factories that can think, adapt, and execute 24/7 without friction.”

Classroom discussion questions:

  1. Explain what an AI agent does.
  2. Give an example of personalized intelligence on the shop floor.

Teaching Tip: Advice to Your Supply Chain Students

 

Prof. Darrell Edwards

Darrell Edwards, supply-chain professor at U. Tennessee and former COO of La-Z-Boy, shares professional wisdom for new graduates in Industry Week (Jan. 14, 2026). Darrell was also our guest on OM Podcast #37, speaking on the topic of global supply chain vulnerabilities.

  1. Build a Plan To efficiently increase your early career success, have a plan.  List your career goals for the first year and your objectives for assimilating successfully into your supply chain role.  A widely cited study on goal setting says, “you become 42% more likely to achieve your goals and dreams simply by writing them down on a daily basis.”  Regardless of your career objectives, put your goals on paper, set timelines for their achievement, and review and access them frequently.

2. Attitude Matters Most  Most companies will hire and promote aspiring leaders who collaborate well and are good team players with a “can-do” attitude.  Of course, you must possess basic managerial and leadership skills, but having a positive attitude goes a long way. Standout qualities could include always coming to work early or typically being the first to volunteer for a necessary but unglamorous project.  Companies promote attitudes.

3. Take a Line Job Don’t be afraid to take a job in a warehouse, a factory, or in a logistics hub; it will help accelerate your supply chain career. These skills are critical if you aspire to lead within a supply chain. It’s unlikely you will be able to land a significant corporate role in supply chain leadership without having also worked a line job.

4. Know the Business It’s OK if you don’t know all the specifics of the business when you start a role; as a new leader, you’re not expected to. That doesn’t give you a free pass not to learn it, and quickly.  Refine your skills in areas you understand but aggressively throw yourself into supply chain functions where you are weak.

5. Find a Mentor.  A mentor can help shorten the cultural learning curve and help you navigate the company “landmines.”  A mentor is in the unique position to offer advice on what to do—and most important, what not to do.  That person can help you develop the right questions to ask and advise you on your career plan.

6. Deliver Results Whatever the task, you must be prepared to deliver results and work to develop a reputation for doing so. Reputations are built early in a career, and once built, they are hard to change.

 

 

OM Podcast #43: An Interview with Mike Rich, VP of Supply Chain at American Water

In our latest podcast episode Barry and co-host Misty Blessly welcome Mike Rich, Vice President of Supply Chain at American Water, the largest regulated water and wastewater utility in the United States.

Mike Rich

Mike shares his fascinating career journey—from managing thousands of SKUs at Home Depot to driving strategic sourcing initiatives at Arizona Public Service—and how those experiences shaped his leadership approach today. The discussion dives into:

  • Building a customer-service mindset in supply chain
  • Challenges in talent acquisition and team growth
  • Negotiation strategies and risk mitigation in procurement
  • The role of AI and Agentic AI in transforming category strategy and operations

 

Read the full transcript

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Prof. Misty Blessley
Prof. Barry Render

 

OM in the News: AI and the Learning Curve

Scale drives efficiency—for almost a century, industrial planners have relied on this simple principle. In 1936 aeronautical engineer Theodore Wright discovered that costs fell in a predictable way every time production doubled. The more you produce, the cheaper things become, in part because the learning cost per unit declines. This is the topic of Module E in your text.

Artificial intelligence has accelerated this principle, writes The Wall Street Journal (Oct. 23, 2025). It is rewriting Wright’s Law, which assumes that experience follows production: You make mistakes, learn from them and improve. AI makes it possible for experience to come before production. Simulation can happen millions of times before a single box is shipped. Experience scales almost instantly at no real cost. The learning curve doesn’t only steepen. It collapses.

That means knowledge that once took decades of human trial and error can emerge in weeks, days, even hours. In a supply chain, this is a profound shift. Decisions about capacity, warehouse space, routing, technology adoption and risk management can be modeled, tested and optimized in advance. The costs of imprecise planning shrink dramatically.

AI is breaking Wright’s Law because the learning cycle is no longer physical but computational. Models can test, fail and improve millions of times faster than any team of human engineers. Experience can be generated in advance, and at negligible cost.

The implications for logistics are extraordinary. AI agents will negotiate, reroute and optimize flows of goods in real time. Traditional ownership models, fleets, warehouses and even labor could be replaced by dynamic orchestration of perfectly used assets.

This new golden age of logistics will unveil solutions to problems we may not even know exist. Wright’s Law still matters, but perhaps AI has broken it.  The challenge will be not building the tools but surviving the pace of their consequences.

Classroom discussion questions:

  1. Why can AI have this impact on learning curves?
  2. Besides logistics, which is mentioned in this article, can AI impact operations?

OM in the News: Walmart’s AI “Super Agents”

Walmart has developed an AI strategy in the creation of four “super agents” reports The Wall Street Journal (July 24, 2025). Agents refer to artificial intelligence tools that can independently take some action on behalf of a user. One is for customers, one is for employees, one is for engineers, and one is for sellers and suppliers. The super agent for each group will tap the capabilities of a number of behind-the-scenes agents, all in a single unified experience.

“Artificial intelligence is already changing how we work,” said Walmart’s CEO. “Learning and applying what we learn, as we build new tools, is the responsibility and an opportunity for all of us to improve experiences for our customers, members and fellow associates.”

The firm believes it is critical to stay ahead of the technology curve in an area like retail, where the top 10 retailers can change dramatically decade to decade. Its hope is that AI agents will help deliver top-line growth, as they give customers more personalized and enticing shopping experiences, as well as bottom-line savings, where they can help manage supply chains and inventory more efficiently.

Walmart’s situation is unique, with most companies still figuring out how to deploy even one AI-powered agent that can perform a task autonomously or in coordination with humans.

The four super agents are at different stages of development. The customer-facing super agent, Sparky, is already live. Marty, the supplier-facing super agent, launches in Fall and will include functions like checking the analytics on purchases and suggesting and putting into motion advertising campaigns. The employee and engineering super agents are expected in the next year.

Classroom discussion questions:

  1. Explain what an AI “agent” does.
  2. Why does the firm want to be a leader in AI technology and how is it implementing this goal?

OM Podcast #36: Life Sciences Supply Chains

We’ve slowed down our podcast production a bit in the summer while many are taking a break from classes.   We hope you are enjoying the summer so far.

But we are excited about our June podcast, wherein Barry Render interviews Bob O’Donnell, Vice President of Business Development of Life Sciences at East Coast Warehouse, who has extensive experience with life sciences supply chains.  Bob previously spent 13 years with Maersk Logistics and Shipping.  Barry and Bob discuss Bob’s experience and how life sciences supply chains operate.

 

Transcript

A Word document of this podcast will download by clicking the word Transcript above.

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Bob O’Donnell
Prof. Barry Render
Prof. Barry Render

OM in the News: The F-35 Jet Fighter and Supply Chains

The F-35 has contributed to America’s dominance of the arms trade.

The F-35 is a symbol of U.S. military and technological might. With a cost of more than $2 trillion over the program’s life cycle, the F-35 has been called the world’s most expensive weapon, reports The Wall Street Journal (May 6, 2025).

Overall, the jet fighter, made by Lockheed Martin, has more than 1,900 suppliers from about a dozen countries that provide everything from tiny chip boards to the ejector seat. “Like many companies in the industry, our supply chain and customer base are global, and we import raw materials, parts and modules from around the world,” said the CEO of RTX, which makes the fighter’s engines.

The fighter has been a particularly successful export, with more than 1,100 jets sold to 20 countries since it entered service in 2015. The program was partly financed by the U.K., Italy, Norway, the Netherlands, Australia, Canada and Denmark, whose companies then won contracts to supply components. (Foreign governments increasingly seek greater involvement in the production of the U.S. equipment they buy).

British companies contribute about 15% of the value of each aircraft. Much of that is made in Britain. BAE Systems produces one of the plane’s fuselages and the pilot’s control stick in the U.K. Rolls-Royce supplies the technology that allows one variant of the F-35 to take off and land vertically. Even the jet’s ejector seat is made in Britain. Australia provides components for the jet’s avionics and propulsion systems. In Denmark, one company alone—Terma— has made 30,000 parts for the program so far, including pods that hold the machine gun.

The U.S. accounted for 43% of global weapons exports in the five years ended 2024. The U.S. accounted for about 3% of imports.

Classroom discussion questions:

  1. Will tariffs have a major impact on F-35 sales?
  2. What are the plusses and minuses of such global supply chains?

OM in the News: Holy Guacamole!

Few companies can match Chipotle Mexican Grill’s avocado appetite. The California-based restaurant chain bought around 5% of all the avocados consumed in the U.S. last year. Since domestic production is limited, most of the roughly 132 million pounds of avocados Chipotle used across its 3,700 locations last year were imported.

Many guacamole lovers flinched when the U.S. threatened a trade fight with Mexico, which accounts for roughly 90% ($3.4 billion worth) of U.S. avocado imports. But Chipotle was ready. For the past 7 years, the chain has been scouring the Americas and the Caribbean, seeking out farms and suppliers that can satisfy its immense demand. In the past, Mexico had supplied 85% of Chipotle’s avocados, leaving the chain at the mercy of the country’s weather and other factors, such as cross-border trade, reports The Wall Street Journal (April 1, 2025). 

Food-industry supply chains can take years to build. Many companies are deciding whether to redraw trade lines to avoid the levies, absorb rising costs or pass them along to customers. Chipotle’s globe-spanning hunt for avocados reflects how firms navigate rapid changes in trade policies. It expanded its supply-chain team, directing the group to find new avocado sources. The team identified half a dozen countries, concentrated in locales near the equator, that could support the sun-hungry plants.

So Chipotle broadened its avocado sourcing to Columbia, Peru, the Dominican Republic, Brazil and Guatemala–and plans to develop new suppliers in El Salvador and Honduras. But diversifying avocado sources creates challenges in Chipotle’s kitchens, too. Chipotle has given restaurant crews leeway to add more lime or lemon juice and salt, depending on the results of guacamole taste tests.

Even with a more dispersed supply chain, about half of Chipotle’s avocados still come from Mexico. It is supporting research on ways to cultivate more avocados in the U.S., including in Florida, where I live. (We have 3 avocado trees in our yard and have such a crop that we give it to all our neighbors).  Company executives said they will continue to scour the world to find more readily available sources to protect its guacamole stocks.

Classroom discussion questions:

  1. Why is Chipotle expanding its supply chain?
  2. What are the operations management complications of sourcing from so many different countries?

OM in the News: AI and Warehouse Supply Chain Disruptions

The ability to react quickly to supply chain disruptions is critical, and companies are under increasing pressure to predict and prevent them before they occur. Instead of managing reactively, firms are turning to artificial intelligence (AI) and predictive analytics to revolutionize operations, writes Material Handling & Logistics (Feb. 13, 2025). AI provides the tools and insights to anticipate disruptions and optimize processes in real-time.

By analyzing vast amounts of operational data, AI can identify patterns and trends that may indicate potential bottlenecks. This allows companies to foresee bottleneck issues such as labor shortages, equipment breakdowns, or delayed shipments before they occur, giving them time to adjust and implement preventive strategies.

At the heart of this proactive approach is predictive analytics, our topic in Module G. Predictive analytics uses historical data, machine learning algorithms and statistical models to forecast future events and behaviors. For example, if a shortage is predicted, the system can recommend adjusting staffing levels or reallocating resources to avoid delays. Similarly, predictive analytics can predict when certain equipment may require maintenance or inventory levels are likely to drop below critical thresholds, allowing a business to take preventive actions and avoid disruptions.

Bottlenecks are among the most significant threats to warehouse efficiency. These disruptions can lead to delays, increased costs and missed deadlines, impacting customer satisfaction and profitability. Predictive analytics allows businesses to foresee bottlenecks before they become critical. For example, suppose analytics indicate that a certain shipping lane will be delayed due to increased demand or reduced capacity. In that case, a warehouse can reroute goods to avoid congestion.

To summarize, there are four  key advantages of using AI in warehouse operations: (1) Improved Resource Allocation, (2) Increased Labor Efficiency, (3) Reduced Downtime and Delays, and  (4) Enhanced Decision-Making.

With real-time data and forward-looking forecasts, operations managers can make better, more informed decisions about handling day-to-day operations and long-term strategies. This leads to better outcomes and improved performance across the entire supply chain.

Classroom discussion questions:

  1. How can AI be used to improve warehouse operations?
  2. What is the difference between descriptive analytics and predictive analytics? (See Module G of your Heizer/Render/Munson text)

Good OM Reading: Top 10 Supply Chain Trends for 2025

In its new report, Top 10 Supply Chain Trends, the Association for Supply Chain Management states the supply chain landscape will continue to evolve at an unprecedented pace. To be competitive, companies will consider technological advancements and innovation, geopolitical shifts, and evolving consumer expectations.

Here are the top ten trends:

  1. Artificial Intelligence. AI will be employed for better decision-making, optimized transportation routes, prediction of demand fluctuations and automated quality control inspections. Smart robots work alongside humans to perform packaging and assembly, while automation tools such as computer vision systems identify product defects.
  2. Global Trade Dynamics and Geopolitical Policies. Supply chain organizations will prioritize diversification and contingency planning to address challenges related to global trade dynamics and geopolitics. These companies will spread supply sources across multiple regions and develop backup plans.
  3. Big Data and Advanced Analytics. Tapping into vast amounts of supply chain data, businesses will improve inventory management, supply chain visibility, forecasting of demand and production, transportation and logistics processes, and decision-making. Big data and analytics will also enable better predictive maintenance, digital twin modeling and AI-powered insights.
  4. Cybersecurity. Supply chains will prioritize cybersecurity to protect sensitive data and critical operations.
  5. Agility and Resilience. Organizations will prioritize agility and resilience to adapt to rapidly changing market conditions by implementing flexible manufacturing systems and advanced technologies including robotics and AI. Real-time visibility, diversified supplier bases and robust contingency plans will further enhance their resilience.
  6. Visibility and Traceability. By implementing real-time tracking systems, tapping into IOT-enabled devices and leveraging blockchain technology, companies will better monitor the movement of goods, identify potential disruptions and improve supply chain efficiency.
  7. Digital Integration and Connectivity. To improve efficiency, transparency and resilience, supply chains will implement the latest technologies — particularly AI, robotics and automation, cloud computing, and the IOT, making it possible to streamline operations and  reduce costs.
  8. Strategic Sourcing and Supplier Management. Advanced analytics and AI-powered tools will help identify and assess potential risks, such as geopolitical events and natural disasters. By tracking and analyzing key metrics, organizations will be able to select suppliers that align with sustainability goals.
  9. Workforce Evolution. By upskilling and reskilling employees, businesses will ensure their workforces are equipped to handle the demands of an increasingly automated and digital supply chain.
  10. Risk Management. By mapping networks, evaluating suppliers, forecasting demand and simulating scenarios, organizations will be able to handle potential disruptions.

Guest Post: The Supply Chains Behind a Strong Holiday Shopping Season

Temple U. Professor Misty Blessley shares her insights today, on Black Friday.

The holiday shopping season is in full swing, and companies are optimistic about their year-end financial performance. Operations and supply chain managers have a crucial role. Chapter 1 of your Heizer/Render/Munson textbook explores how marketing and operations management strategies can drive bottom-line results.

Customer spending is expected to be strong this holiday season. The National Retail Federation is forecasting winter holiday sales to rise by 2.5% to 3.5% over last year. Meeting this demand requires retailers to fulfill orders when, where and how customers want. Companies are strategically using both brick-and-mortar stores and e-commerce platforms to appeal to their customers.

Supply chains have stabilized after years of disruption. Thus, core products have been efficiently moved from warehouses to retail locations to ensure availability for traditional retail customers. Additionally, e-commerce channels are poised to efficiently fulfill customer orders. Many retailers are adopting cost-effective delivery strategies tailored to peak shopping events like Black Friday and Cyber Monday. Instead of defaulting to same- or next-day shipping, retailers are spreading deliveries over several days to reduce costs and balance labor.

Amazon bolstered its labor capacity by adding 250,000 seasonal hires. DHL’s CEO explains why spreading deliveries is a viable strategy – extending shipments by just a few days allows companies to control warehouse costs while still meeting customer delivery expectations.

OM and SCM plays a pivotal role in driving both revenue growth and cost efficiency. By offering customers flexibility in choosing their preferred shopping and delivery channels, retailers enhance the customer experience and boost sales. Simultaneously, costs are reduced by managing product delivery.

Classroom discussion questions:
1. In Chapter 6 of your textbook we learn that customer expectations are the standards against which service is judged. What is the effect of exceeding expectations on contribution? (i.e., same or next-day shipping)
2. Aggregate Planning Strategies are covered in Chapter 11. Which strategies are being used by retailers to support this holiday shopping season?