Archive for Mobile Technologies
I spent two weeks “off the grid”—no email, no Facebook, no Twitter, no TV, no newspapers—just spent quality time with my family. I read a few books and listened to a ton of music. I flew a kite at the beach; rode on roller coasters; saw the Space Shuttle and met an astronaut; I ate a lot of ice cream.
As you can imagine, re-entry has been difficult (okay… Continue reading
On my sunrise flight to Atlanta yesterday, the flight attendant announced before we landed that several soldiers were on board. She thanked them for their service and we all clapped in support. On my sunset flight back to Boston, the flight attendant announced that the wife and family of a fallen soldier, along with an Army escort, were on board to attend the soldier’s funeral in Vermont tomorrow. They… Continue reading
This Week in Logistics News (July 5-9, 2010)
· CommentsLeBron James is playing for the Miami Heat next year. Lindsey Lohan is going to jail. The U.S. and Russia traded spies.
I could stop here, but in case your world doesn’t just revolve around athletes, celebrities, and espionage, here’s what else happened this week:
- Retail Container Traffic to be Up 16 Percent in July
- NRF Releases Blueprint for Retailers to Leverage Mobile Technology
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
Visualizing Next Generation Routing
· CommentsThe New England Roundtable of CSCMP recently organized a tour of Walgreens’ Northeast Distribution Center (DC). What an amazing facility! Because I live in a Boston suburb and the DC is in Connecticut, I used MapQuest to get turn-by-turn directions and it told me that the trip would take just under 2 hours.
I made it to the tour on time, but it involved significant speeding and stress… Continue reading
Before we get started, a quick request: We’re conducting a brief web survey on “Mobile Technologies in Supply Chain.” The goal of the survey is to understand the current state of mobile technology use (e.g., GPS, cellular, RFID, sensors, smart phones) in supply chain management operations. All responses will be kept confidential; only aggregate results will be reported. The survey findings will be included in an upcoming report, which survey respondents… Continue reading
Well, the Celtics lost against the Lakers last night. Let’s see how the U.S. soccer team does against Slovenia this morning. Now, on to the news…
- Descartes Acquires Routing International
- FedEx Corp. Reports Higher Fourth Quarter and Full Year Earnings
- Ryder Issued U.S. Patent for Systems and Methods for Supply Chain Management
- Nine of 10 Americans Have Cell Phones, but Talking
Last night, Descartes announced its acquisition of Routing International, a privately-held provider of route planning solutions based in Belgium. Descartes has a long history in the route planning market, and several years ago it acquired Cube Route, a software-as-a-service vendor in this space. So, why acquire another related company?
I spoke this morning to Chris Jones, EVP Solutions and Service at Descartes, to get more details. Here… Continue reading
