Matching Items (7)
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- All Subjects: Supply Chain Management
- Creators: Department of Economics
Description
P.F. Chang's China Bistro is a privately-held purveyor of Asian fare in the United States and internationally, known largely for its vibrant atmosphere and lettuce wraps. With hundreds of locations and dozens of menu items, procurement, logistics, and coordination of ingredient delivery to P.F. Chang's restaurants is no small task. Despite their difficulty, supply chain operations from suppliers to customers' plates must run efficiently if P.F. Chang's is to maintain customer loyalty, a trusted brand, and profitability. As such, supply chain initiatives that allow for faster, better, or lower-cost operation are valuable investments for P.F. Chang's. In this project, two initiatives focused on increasing visibility along the value chain (with the hope of creating immediate value and easier implementation for future strategies). The first initiative involved stakeholder interviews and academic research to determine evaluation methods for P.F. Chang's suppliers in the form of a scorecard. The second project required extensive data collection from suppliers to isolate and remove excess cost in the inbound logistics of P.F. Chang's inventory. Both initiatives led to incremental improvement at P.F. Changs and the latter provided substantial cost savings. Further investigation and work is likely to yield continued benefits for the company. The increased use of data in all supply chains to guide decision-making will be easier for P.F. Chang's as it manages ongoing visibility efforts. Although process explanation and general outcomes will be reported here, the proprietary nature of P.F. Chang's data precludes full disclosure of the project results in public documentation.
ContributorsBarger, Michael Richard (Author) / Taylor, Todd (Thesis director) / Miller, Steve (Committee member) / Department of Economics (Contributor) / Department of Finance (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2018-05
DescriptionA look at current 3D printing capabilities, and exploring the potential for additive manufacturing to transform the economy in the future.
ContributorsBennewitz, Chase (Co-author) / Paul, John (Co-author) / Parker, Kerry (Co-author) / Maltz, Arnold (Thesis director) / McDowell, John (Committee member) / Fujinami, Chris (Committee member) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor) / Department of Economics (Contributor) / Department of Supply Chain Management (Contributor) / W. P. Carey School of Business (Contributor)
Created2013-05
Description
Establishing a healthcare practice in the U. S. by a Mexican national involves many different steps at federal as well as state levels. The recent implementation of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act overhauls some requirements which include increased Medicaid eligibility as well as mandatory health insurance coverage. With these changes taking place over the next few years, the need for healthcare providers will expand. Consequently, I look into the requirements of establishing an urgent care practice in the state of Arizona. Given that Phoenix has a 40.8% Hispanic population and that the Affordable Care Act will increase the coverage of this demographic, it is the city of focus for my analysis. In order to make access to the Arizona healthcare market more impartial and accessible to Mexican entrepreneurs, changes need to be made to the certification process of medical physicians who graduated from Mexican universities. The general disadvantage of Mexican physicians as compared to their U. S. counterparts comes in the form of increased certification times and additional processes. An equal playing field will allow the ease in movement of medical physicians between the U. S. and Mexico which will help meet the increased demand over the next few years. From ownership to taxation and medical billing and coding, this analysis focuses on the many requirements needed to establish an urgent care in Arizona.
ContributorsIbarra, Joseph Anthony (Author) / Carlos, Velez-Ibanez (Thesis director) / Cruz-Torres, Maria (Committee member) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor) / W. P. Carey School of Business (Contributor)
Created2014-05
Description
This thesis focuses on the supply chain of the wine industry from a smaller scale operational perspective. A standard process from converting grapes to wine has been identified and confirmed. The sequential order of harvest, destemmer/crusher, fermentation, press, barrels, bottling, and distribution constitute the main tasks in the red wine conversion process. Variations in production between red and white wines are observed; but, the overall process is roughly the same with white wines switching the fermentation and press steps and eliminating the barrels task. In addition, it is established that supply chain considerations do effect overall quality such as taste, aroma, and smell. The ability to utilize a combination of diverse techniques, such as wooden barrels or stainless steel tanks for aging, is what contributes to the differentiation of each wine and makes it unique. While the production methodology and use of specific materials/inputs will alter the quality of wine, it must be recognized that the majority of wine quality is influenced directly by the grape itself. The use of technology and machinery in the wine making process is investigated and determined to be pivotal to the creation of wine and the survival of any size winery. Technology has facilitated the wine making process and the current creation path could not occur without it. Wine operations will adapt and incorporate new procedures to take advantage of growth in technology as it occurs, especially in automation. The information used to assess the wine supply chain was obtained from an extensive literature review, interviews with industry professionals, and onsite tours of production facilities. Given all the results and data, it is evident that the production of wine can greatly benefit from the use of supply chain practices and concepts. The ability to reduce variation in the process and determine which aspects contribute most to wine quality are vital for small scale winery operations to remain competitive and become successful.
ContributorsClarke, Tanya N (Author) / Oke, Adegoke (Thesis director) / Gopalakrishnan, Mohan (Committee member) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor) / Department of Economics (Contributor) / Department of Supply Chain Management (Contributor)
Created2014-05
Description
The purpose of this research was to identify various problems within value analysis teams as well as provide solutions that will help to better align the agents involved in the value analysis process. As healthcare costs continue to rise, and hospital reimbursements fall, value analysis teams will play an even more pivotal role in the success of healthcare organizations. Also, the industry trend toward value-based care is highlighting the importance of these teams. However, interdisciplinary value analysis teams bring to light the underlying agency issue that exists between physicians and hospital administrators, and the general misalignment of values between the participants. In order for these teams to function properly, it is inherent that all of the professionals involved align their incentives. For this study, I studied relevant literature pertaining to value analysis, attended relevant speakers, and then performed interviews with several different professionals involved in healthcare value analysis. I organized and coded this data using the Grounded Theory approach, and was able to identify the underlying issues within these teams. I then created a typology of value analysis teams, based on my respondents, where I segment them into four tiers based on their utilization of data, and their level of physician involvement. Finally, I identified three distinct strategies for developing value analysis teams to implement in order to increase their efficiency and overall success.
ContributorsLindgren, Thomas John (Author) / Schneller, Eugene (Thesis director) / Choi, Thomas (Committee member) / Department of Supply Chain Management (Contributor) / Department of Economics (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2017-05
Description
The primary purpose of this paper is to analyze urgent care centers and explain their role within the U.S. healthcare system. The introduction of urgent care into the market for health care services has brought with it a new way for consumers to receive non-emergent healthcare outside of traditional hours. Urgent care is often cited as a plausible alternative to care received at an emergency department or primary care physician's office. One of the key questions the author attempts to answer is: "To what degree are urgent care centers an economic substitute to emergency departments or physician's offices?" This paper looks at both projected demand from currently operating urgent care centers and consumer preference surveys to estimate the willingness of consumers to use urgent care. The method used to accomplish this task has been compiling scholarly research and data on urgent care centers. After a thorough examination of relevant studies and datasets, urgent care centers have been found to be just as preferred as emergency departments when considering non-emergent cases, specifically among individuals aged 18-44. The clear majority of consumers still prefer visiting a primary care physician over an urgent care center when it comes to episodic care, however. When taking into account wait times, differences in cost, and ease of access, urgent care becomes much more preferred than an emergency department and weakly preferred to a physician's office. There are still some concerns with urgent care, however. Questions of capacity to meet demand, access for underserved communities, and susceptibility to adverse selection have yet to be fully explored.
ContributorsBullington, Robert Heyburn (Author) / Foster, William (Thesis director) / Hill, John (Committee member) / Sandra Day O'Connor College of Law (Contributor) / W.P. Carey School of Business (Contributor) / Department of Economics (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2018-05
Description
In this paper, I discuss my findings from The Toyota Way, 2 Second Lean, and Lean Thinking, I present an analysis of my implementation of lean processes for Page Petal, and I recommend a set of lean<br/>philosophies that I found to be successful for e-commerce product-based small businesses. I also focus on how the economy plays an important role in the demand for goods, a major factor in<br/>which lean processes will ultimately be successful. The goal of this paper is to demonstrate the value of mindful risk-taking in entrepreneurship and to reveal what was effective with Page Petal in hopes of giving other small businesses insight into how to be successful.
ContributorsWeidemann, Courtney Michelle (Author) / Van Orden, Joseph (Thesis director) / Reffett, Kevin (Committee member) / Department of Management and Entrepreneurship (Contributor) / Department of Supply Chain Management (Contributor) / Department of Economics (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2021-05