In the last twenty years, the manufacturing business in America has transformed enormously. However, the country has encountered several obstacles during this revolution. Despite this fact, America has successfully managed to stay on the frontline of the manufacturing sector in the world. This paper will discuss one of the episodes of “PBS America Revealed” which portrays three concepts of a supply chain. It shall further illustrate supply chain management concerning this episode.
As the name of this episode of PBS’ documentary that is ‘America Revealed’ portrays some of the serious hidden patterns and supply chain systems in the country explaining how they work.
This amazing series has used advanced and hi-tech data-viz techniques to understand and explain the supply chain system of ‘Dominos’ – a pizza franchise operating across the US on nationwide, regional, and citywide scales. This episode portrays some interesting data visualizations and information with the help of aerial and satellite images, GPS trackers, and computers.
In this episode of the British series of PBS documentary – America Revealed advanced technology and tools are used making it possible to elaborate supply chain in a single and easy to understand the image that made it easier to cover such wide topic effectively. The supply chain system of Dominos has been discussed and defined with the help of the GPS trackers and monitors fixed on the supply trucks of the company moving across America and also on the delivery bikes in Manhattan district of New York.
The supply chain system of any good organization has majorly three concepts;
- The collection of raw material
- The strategy/design to produce a product or service
- The delivery of that product or service to the final consumer.
These three concepts have also been discussed in the episode of PBS America Revealed to elaborate on the functioning of the company and how it feeds 300 million American every day.
The supply chain system of Domino starts from the collection of raw materials from the central farmlands of California. This area itself produces 50% of fruits and nuts consumed by Americans. The raw materials consumed by Dominos for manufacturing of their pizzas and other items include vegetables like capsicum, tomatoes, mushrooms, and peppers.
Other ingredients come from other parts of America that are transported in satellite detectable refrigerated trucks. PBS used the tracker system to understand the food supply chain system of the company. Interesting web like satellite images was shown in the documentary to understand the supply system of Dominos.
Figure 1: Image showing supply chain of Dominos across America (54 sec).
The second concept of the supply chain as presented by host Yul Kwon in America Revealed covers the manufacturing and production of pizzas and other eatables offered by Dominos. The episode highlights the revolution in the history of manufacturing. The machine used for the purpose is the biggest and most productive in the world. Using it, Dominos has made it possible to feed 300 million Americans every day.
After the collection of raw materials from across America, different franchises of Dominos produce and feed millions of Americans every day. This is again made possible with the help of technological advancements adopted by Dominos, which is well in line with its successful supply chain strategy.
Furthermore, the third main supply chain concept discussed in America Revealed covers the delivery of the product (Pizza) in the Manhattan district of New York City. The data was collected by placing a tracking monitor on the motorbike of a delivery guy, just like it was done for the collection and supply of raw materials across America.
Different interesting aerial and satellite images show the travel route of the pizza guy with the help of GPS tracking monitors placed on motorbikes. According to the statistical results discussed in the episode, it has been suggested that every day Dominos’s delivery guys deliver pizzas to millions of people. Another issue, which was also focused in the documentary, was the eco-friendly nature of the supply chain whether it had a positive impact on the environment or not.
Figure 2: Blue lines showing the travel routes of the delivery guy of Dominos in Manhattan.
According to statistics and discussion made in the episode of PBS series – America Revealed, the supply chain management of Dominos is considered to be strong and successful. The basic aim of this episode is to reveal the hidden patterns and concepts of the company’s supply chain in America.
The three concepts of the supply chain system of Dominos are elaborated in it, including obtaining raw materials from across America, producing final products, and then finally, delivering them to consumers.
However, techniques and technologies used in the episode are worth watching as they have allowed showing the system through aerial and satellite view images which make the documentary very interesting and have made it easy for viewers to understand the data and statistics related to Dominos’s supply chain.
Moreover, the episode discusses the negative effects of the supply chain of Dominos resulting from its delivery methods (motorbikes) and refrigerated transportation vans, which are not eco-friendly.