Dr. William Oliver Hedgepeth

Dr. William Oliver Hedgepeth is the program director for Government Contracts and Acquisition at American Public University (APU). He is the former program director of Reverse Logistics Management and Transportation and Logistics Management. Prior to joining APU, Dr. Hedgepeth was a tenured associate professor of Logistics and chair of the Logistics Department at the University of Alaska Anchorage. His book, "RFID Metrics," was published in 2007 by CRC Press and is in revision.

Articles by Dr. William Oliver Hedgepeth

• What is a supply chain? The alternative facts

  Tuesday, February 28, 2017

  ​I have taught courses in transportation, logistics and supply chain management for more than 20 years. In that time, I have come to understand that the world of supply chains is full of complexity, accountability, customer demand, uncertainty, mistakes and nature.

• Barcodes, QR codes or RFID tags? How companies select products

  Tuesday, February 09, 2016

  What happens with product information when a customer returns a product to the retail store or sends it into the reverse logistics supply chain of the online or face-to-face retail seller? A manufacturer of a product — such as a laptop computer or a new coffee maker — may have conducted their engineering analysis and later value analysis to make sure the laptop has been produced with the least expensive but reliable parts. But what about that information needed by the consumer on the product's use and safety?

• Who is to blame for the hoverboard fires?

  Thursday, February 04, 2016

  How do we prepare our college students or even high school students for the real world? Our texts are full of theories of how a perfect process should work, such as in the making of a laptop computer or bridge. Take, for example, the hot Christmas present of 2015: the hoverboard. We've since learned the hoverboard's lithium battery has a tendency to burst into flame, burning people and property. Who is to blame for this product mistake?