Archive for Just for Fun
I’ve seen hundreds of presentations on how companies have implemented a supply chain software solution. I’ve also talked to hundreds of individuals who have been involved in implementing solutions. Successful projects include people, process, and technology considerations. Today, I want to summarize the main people-related considerations experienced implementers talk about.
First of all, a variety groups are typically involved in the process of approving, implementing, and ensuring supply chain… Continue reading
A bit of news that escaped me last week: eBay acquired RedLaser, a leading barcode-scanning iPhone application. We highlighted this type of application earlier this year in “Using an iPhone Barcode Scanning App in the Warehouse.” This acquisition is yet another example of how retailers and other consumer-oriented companies are investing in mobile technologies, specifically those that facilitate mobile… Continue reading
It is a nice summer morning, the kids are out of school, a perfect day to go to the pool. The problem? My wife called National Grid, our utility company, to schedule our annual air conditioner tune-up. “We’ll be there sometime between 8:00 and 12:00,” they told her. And so they sit and wait, and wait, and wait, watching the sun move higher in the sky from the living… Continue reading
The Logistics of Flowing Patients
· CommentsPoor hospital management is one reason why health care costs in the U.S. are the highest in the world. According to a 2009 Boston Globe article by Scott Allen, “hospitals have overtaken prescription drugs as the main reason insurance bills go up each year.” But better logistics practices, particularly in the area of how patients are flowed through a hospital, could lead to significant improvements.
If hospital executives… Continue reading
A 3:00 AM Random Walk
· CommentsWhen you wake up at 3:00 AM and can’t fall back to sleep, your mind can take a random walk. I started my mental stroll this morning at the truck driving simulator at Swift Transportation’s corporate office in Phoenix, AZ. The visit was part of the agenda yesterday at Transplace’s Shipper Symposium (more about the event in a future posting). I sit behind the wheel, turn the engine… Continue reading
Last September, in “Explaining the Value of Logistics to the CEO,” I wrote that in order for CEOs to truly appreciate the value of logistics, they must experience it firsthand “by spending the day picking goods at the warehouse; driving shotgun on a delivery truck; finding capacity for uncovered loads; tracking and tracing shipments; building pallets near the loading dock; calling… Continue reading
Hating IT: Is IT Too Big to Fail?
· CommentsThis was one of the interesting questions raised in “Why the New Normal Could Kill IT” by Thomas Wailgum (CIO Magazine, March 12, 2010). Wailgum highlights a Catch -22 situation: IT is too big to fail at most companies, but IT is also misaligned with today’s “new normal” business requirements. Here is an excerpt of what Wailgum wrote:
The subsequent global financial meltdown and Great Recession forced companies… Continue reading
The big news in the scientific community this week was the successful testing of the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) on Tuesday in the Swiss-French countryside. Protons travelling near the speed of light collided together at a record level of 7 teraelectron volts (TeV). “Particle physicists around the world are looking forward to a potentially rich harvest of new physics as the LHC begins its first long run at an… Continue reading
