McDonalds & Challenges of Modern Supply Chain

Justin Braford

McDonalds is known all around the world as the largest food service provider. However, McDonalds, like any other business, experiences struggles along the way. McDonalds administration has learned a couple very valuable pieces of information regarding supply chain.
The first point is the repetitional problems aren't fixed fast. McDonalds has been taken into court many times, and has been criticized in multiple movies. These movies showed McDonalds promoting bad health and bad environmental practices. Because of these, McDonalds has made incredible changes to give themselves a better public view. They have put increasing effort into receiving better and healthier food products.
The second point that McDonalds has learned is that they need to have consistency across the board. Last year, many Chinese McDonalds were under investigation for food safety problems. Along with these McDonalds, the companies they interacted with through their supply chain were under investigation as well. Bad headlines anywhere, create problems for the corporation everywhere.
McDonalds has many reasons for creating a better supply chain. If they want to further earn a better reputation, they will have to continue to make significant changes from the ground up.






New, Steve. "McDonald's and the Challenges of a Modern Supply Chain." Harvard Business Review. N.p., 24 July 2015. Web. 20 Apr. 2017. <https://hbr.org/2015/02/mcdonalds-and-the-challenges-of-a-modern-supply-chain>.

Synthesis Post

Justin Braford, Adam Seeton, Jordan Thimm

            The blog project was very resourceful, and helped our group learn a lot more about the supply chain management field. We came into this blog uneducated about the field but picked up a lot of valuable information throughout the blog. Through reading various articles from professionals within the field, and then elaborating it helped us to learn more about our field and see a different side of it. There were some topics that kept showing up and stood out to us during the blog project. We realized the increasing importance of getting into the business college, networking, and the supply chain industry in general. With all the information we found, and all the knowledge we gained, we still barely know a fraction of everything that goes into supply chain and logistics, so we will just give you the shorter version.

            Michigan State University has the #1 supply chain management program in the nation. Students travel all across the country to try and get a coveted spot in this major. To get involved, Michigan State opens the opportunity for students to join the Supply Chain Management Club. It is open to all students, no matter their major. Here they will talk to Supply Chain Managers and talk about real life Supply Chain situations. For students who are interested in this major, the first thing they must do is get into the extremely competitive business college. Three specific classes must be completed and are heavily taken into account during the application process.

Core GPA:	WRA101	CSE101	MTH103 or Higher
Pre-Core GPA:	Three listed above +	All other classes for	The overall GPA

Both pre-core and core GPA’s carry heavy significance in the administrative decision. Once within the business college, you are typically able to choose your major. However, for supply chain management, you must apply again to this specific major, due to its competitiveness. One can apply to the supply chain program once they have completed a specific set of classes, and a total of 56 completed credits.

            Networking is one of the most advantageous one can do to succeed in the field of supply chain. Supply chain is the sequence of processes involved in the production and distribution of goods. The more connections you have within this process, the more business you will be able to bring in, and be able to move product more efficiently. Networking is also important in getting a job in the supply chain field. Therefore, taking internships, and building relationships with professors and classmates is vital. These people could eventually help land you a job one day. Building a good reputation is significant because it will attract more partners and people will come back to do business with you. Also, a good reputation with reliable and strong references is critical in getting hired right out of college.    What are some ways you can build reputation or network properly??

            The supply chain field is constantly changing, largely due to technological advancements and higher skilled labor. Companies can stay in touch very easily, and are able to track where certain goods are. Just a decade ago, this was unimaginable to business leaders. Not only is technology progressing, but the skill level of the worker is as well. We talk about this topic in one of our blog posts called How Tech is Reshaping Logistics. The supply chain management education is setting college students up to become successful career-wise more and more every year. The more professionals learn about supply chain, the more they can teach students. Internships are giving college students real life work experience, and helping them learn the job before they have even officially started. Technology advancements are increasing the overall speed and efficiency of the supply chain process, and this combined with the sheer demand for the field is resulting in many students pursuing a career in supply chain management.

            The supply chain field is becoming more important with people ordering goods online and getting them shipped at much higher rates now more than ever. The world population is steadily increasing, which will only give professionals more business. A blog focused on how important it really is can be found here at Importance of Supply Chain. It is crucial to get educated and goal-oriented individuals working in the supply chain field. The job can be stressful because of its increasing significance and the seemingly never ending process of shipping and receiving goods. This fact is one reason why supply chain is so important to the world today, but also why it can be very stressful.

Global Cloud SCM Market Estimated to Reach $17.9 Billion in 2025

Jordan Thimm

Research Markets have released their latest market analysis and trends industry forecast for 2025. This study looks at both the global and regional levels of supply chain management and analyzes and focuses on leading players, supply chain trends, technological advancements, key developments, and future strategies to get an idea about what can be expected for this field in the near future. The study is across the whole world and looks at current and future market trends to assess investment opportunities and strategies.

Basically, this is a very informed study created by the best researchers in their field, to show other companies and just the market in general, opportunities that may be available in the future along with prospective numbers and also things to look out for in the future with regards to supply chain management.

http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/global-cloud-supply-chain-management-market-to-reach-179-billion-by-2025---by-service-deployment-model-solution-end-user-organization-size--geography---research-and-markets-300426911.html

How Technology is Reshaping Logistics

Jordan Thimm

Technology is changing every aspect of people's lives, and especially in the field of supply chain by making shipping and receiving goods more accurate, efficient, and cost less. Traditional systems of supply chain relied on planning the route out first (which is still a needed step in this process) but before, businesses relied on the product making it where it was going to get there on time, and then hope it gets where it is going next quickly and correctly. With new cloud-based management of supply chain, the distributor can actually see where the product is, exactly when it arrived and when it got shipped out. The replacement of many bar coded items with RFID (radio frequency identification) is one specific change made that is revolutionizing the supply chain industry and allowing distributors and buyers to track and monitor their products down to the exact time and place. These advancement in tech makes the process that much easier and more efficient. These advancements allows the distributor to send out more products at once and because of the organization and accuracy of this cloud technology and the use of RFID with products, allowing the supply chain market to continue to grow and mature.

Together, with cloud technologies and RFID another technological thing advancing the supply chain field is the enhancement of IOT or the internet of things. This can be explained as a overlaying system that connects different types of technologies together to increase proficiency and meet the growing demands of producers and consumers. With further advances, and more to come, IOT's are becoming very important to all aspects of the supply chains. All of these technological changes are moving the field forward and helping people in the field to keep up with the rapidly moving industry.

http://www.inboundlogistics.com/cms/article/how-tech-is-reshaping-logistics/

Prompt #4: Considering Delivery and Style

Adam Seeton

There are many different styles and delivery when it comes to talking business. You will may experience a more casual business or a "strictly business" conversation. When surfing the internet, I came across multiple supply chain management review blogs. In these blogs, they would talk about and react to everyday business decisions that you could possible see in the news. This is very similar to what we are doing with our blog. In the blogs, you will see a lot of language being used that everyone can understand. They want to have a more broad audience than strictly business people and supply chain interested people. They will state what is happening in the supply chain and attempt to explain what it means and how it may affect the supply chain world. After looking at google scholars and finding a lot of articles, I found out that most of the articles posted are for people who have prior knowledge in the supply chain field. They will use more business terms that are hard to understand without having previously learned business and business terms. For beginners in the field I would recommend surfing the internet to learn more about the basics, then begin to look more into scholar articles and journals.

Burnson, Patrick. "Sans Trade With U.S., Supply Chain Questions Remain For Cuba’s Transshipment Hub." Recently Filed RSS. N.p., 11 Apr. 2017. Web. 16 Apr. 2017.

Cooper, Martha C., Douglas M. Lambert, and Janus D. Pagh. "Supply Chain Management: More Than a New Name for Logistics." The International Journal of Logistics Management 8.1 (1997): 1-14. Web.

Learning the Language of Logistics

Justin Braford

There is undoubtedly a specific language within the supply chain field. It is easier now more than ever for supply chain managers to stay in touch with one another.
Nowadays, the movement of goods along the supply chain is less important as the overall fulfillment of the orders, according to Bob Trebilcock and MHI. It's key for businesses to carry out their promises to other businesses, or their retail customers. Distribution warehouses need to be well organized and maintained for the transportation of good to be efficient. The supply chain industry transportation has become extremely urgent. Consumers are demanding their goods to be shipped quicker and quicker with every passing year. This can be justified by same-day shipping and the next day delivering method of transportation. This requires an absolute flawless exchange of goods through the supply chain.
Supply chain managers rely on systematic distribution warehouses. Many companies are constantly trying to change their logistics operations. Papa John's is a perfect example of a company's effective supply chain. Papa John's owns 10 distribution warehouses, that transport goods twice a week, to 3200 stores across the US. They must have perfect data to be able to project how much materials each store needs. There are struggles at every company regarding their supply chain. Constantly, new systems and technologies are being found to advance the transportation of goods.

Trebilcock, Bob. "Learning to Speak the Language of the Supply Chain." Recently Filed RSS. Logistics Management, 27 Oct. 2014. Web. 12 Apr. 2017. <http://www.logisticsmgmt.com/article/learning_to_speak_the_language_of_the_supply_chain>. 

Prompt #8: Practicing Our Knowledge

Importance of Logistic Data

Justin Braford


Data is very important for many jobs. It is especially important within the supply chain/logistics field. Data is heavily used to understand what is working, what is not working, and what could become more efficient. Businesses use this information to choose which companies they would like to work with. There are many different industries within the supply chain field. It is important to form these connections through business, so the supply chain flow can become more productive.

Adrian Gonzales, President of Adelante SCM, believes companies need to be more open with their data. Many companies still use private data and are not completely open with their trading partners. With business networks increasing exponentially, it is important now more than ever to have consistent data from the carriers, suppliers, and customers. Gonzalez has noted a strong difference within the supply chain field just from 2008-2015. Social networking abilities is essential within the supply chain field. A good reputation is what will keep business coming to you. The supply chain field is rapidly evolving, and data is a sure way to be able to track the progress of interactions betweens companies.

Barman, Jeff. "Strong, Clean Logistics Data Needed Now More than Ever." Pearless Media, Aug. 2015. Web. 9 Apr. 2017. <http://search.proquest.com.proxy1.cl.msu.edu/docview/1710395363?pq-origsite=summon>. 

Prompt #10: Recognizing Truth

Supply Chain Data at Risk in Digital Revolution

Jordan Thimm

Along with all the great advancements in technology and the increasing importance and use of digital avenues in life, what we also get in an increase in digital criminality. Yes even as digital security systems are improving making sites harder and harder to hack, hackers are still working just as hard to hack into those systems. The use of technology is in more every day things than we can think of, and is making huge impacts in business relations and relations in general. Looking at the field of supply chain itself in more detail, we see nothing but an increase in complexity of the field. It has evolved from a slow process to a seemingly interconnected process where everyone and everything is record and counted through various technological parts. It is the exact things that are advancing the industry that are also crippling it by making it available to cyber crime. The use of machine-to-machine connectivitey, remotely guided vehicles and digitally linked smart machines are all ways that the industry is increasing it's productivity and attentiveness, but also being opened up to a whole new world of needed cyber security.

With how connected everything is in the supply chain, it is no wonder that 80% of data breaches can be traced back to the supply chain, but an alarming fact discovered in a 2016 cyber security survey conducted by the UK government showed that only 34% of bug businesses stipulate cyber-security standards for their suppliers. Basically companies just need to make security the norm and always do their best to protect themselves and also be sure you are doing business with companies that are protected just as well. With how big of an area the supply chain cover, pretty much the whole world, it is key to always be aware of potential criminals that are trying to make a quick buck.
http://www.scmr.com/article/the_digital_revolution_is_putting_supply_chain_data_at_risk/blogs

Prompt #1: Asking Questions and Breaking Assumptions

Justin Braford


There are many preconceptions I have about the field of supply chain. I believe the talk between supply chain managers is very professional at first, but once working with each other for awhile you are able to build relationships. I believe the days primarily consist of talking to other supply chain managers from companies making sure the exchange of goods is working efficiently. the entire point of supply chain is to get goods from point A to point B as quickly a possible. I would assume they definitely would dislike when people they are working with are difficult to get ahold of, therefore making business more difficult as well. I feel like the people who thrive in this field are the people who are organized, intellectual, and posses good communication skills. A supply chain manager doesn't have to be a genius, but they do need to have great interpersonal skills. Making sure the transaction is within timely fashion 100% can be incredibly difficult.
After reading an introductory textbook about supply chain management, I have picked up quite a bit of new knowledge. This helped add quite a bit to my previous arsenal of knowledge. This textbook changed my thoughts by showing me how complex the supply chain industry is. There is definitely a reason why it is a fast growing field. Technology is a huge component of the supply chain industry, and is used all the time throughout the entire process. The are multiple stages of supply chain, and each one must be executed efficiently. The goods are bought by consumers, and then transferred from  manufacturers to wholesalers to distributers to consumers. My previous conception about communication is very key within all of these stages. A supply chain managers day is definitely packed with calls, meetings, and checking up on the progress of shipments. This resource gave a large amount of insight to the finer details of the supply chain, that I did not previously know.

Handfield, Robert B., and Ernest L. Nichols. Introduction to Supply Chain Management. Harlow: Prentice Hall, 2008. Print. 

Drones Weren't Fast Enough, Are Delivery Vehicles Moving Underground?

Adam Seeton

Many big companies were looking to drones when it comes to delivering the packages to their customers. Although this sounds like a near impossible process, it was a good idea. The only probably was that the drones would take a long time to deliver your package to your front door. Researchers at the MIT Institute for Data, Systems and Society along with other logistics groups released a prototype for a three-wheeled automobile that will deliver goods underground. With drones, a lot of things could go wrong. Pedestrians or weather would be able to take down these drones. Using a radar system, GPS and 3-D lazar scanners would make this automobile work without distraction and obstacles. Even though this too sounds like a long shot, research is being done and test are being run to see if this type of idea would be possible. It is definitely an idea everyone should be aware of. Instead of delivering your goods to your door, they would go to a local post office, package lockers or a place where you could pick up. If this idea takes full swing, this would eliminate the cars and trucks on the road, reducing delivery traffic. We may be seeing this idea come into play in the future.

Loten, Angus. "Are Self-Driving Delivery Vehicles Headed Underground?" The Wall Street Journal. Dow Jones & Company, 23 Mar. 2016. Web. 16 Apr. 2017.