How Domino’s Keeps Up With Innovation
A domino is a small, rectangular tile with pips (markers) on two of its sides. It can be placed so that it matches another domino on both ends, creating a chain of tiles that is called a domino chain. Students can use this chain to practice addition and multiplication. To help with this, the teacher can have the class choose a domino from a stack or bag and then call out the number of dots on both its faces. Then, the class can name an addition equation that represents the relation between the total number of dots and the number on each face of the domino.
Lily Hevesh has been playing with dominoes since she was 9 years old. Her grandparents had a classic 28-pack of dominoes, and she loved setting them up in straight or curved lines and flicking the first one to see how the whole line fell. She now creates mind-blowing domino installations that are used in art exhibits and to demonstrate the power of mechanical devices.
When she begins a new installation, Hevesh thinks about the theme or purpose of the piece and brainstorms words or images that might be incorporated into it. Next, she creates test versions of the pieces individually to make sure they work well before putting them together. She usually starts with the biggest 3-D sections before adding flat arrangements and then lines of dominoes that connect all the sections.
Domino’s is a company that prides itself on keeping up with innovation in technology. The company was one of the first pizza chains to offer online ordering, and its customers can now place orders with a single text or by using Amazon Echo devices. Domino’s also works to stay close with its employees by listening to what they have to say.
For example, in 2018, Domino’s CEO Steve Doyle publicly responded to a Detroit Free Press Top Workplaces survey in which some workers expressed concerns about the company. He listened to the feedback and made changes, such as relaxing the dress code, revamping leadership training, and implementing a college recruiting system. He also emphasized the importance of communication between the company and its customers, and Domino’s now has an app that allows its customers to check the status of their delivery.
The word domino comes from the Latin dominium, which means “little lord” or “little master.” It was originally used to describe a hooded cape worn by a priest over his surplice during a masquerade. It later referred to a type of playing piece, and in the 1800s, it became an American term for a set of rules governing how the game is played. Domino theory presents the idea that a rise or fall in a communist country will affect its neighboring countries, and those neighboring countries will then have an effect on their own, and so on. The concept is often used metaphorically, as in “The Domino Effect” (musical), the Weather Report album, and the Steve Wariner song.