Trucking Technology Report - Sept. 11
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Both the online report and e-mail are sponsored by @Track Communications, a supplier of wireless communications and dispatch services.
Today's Technology Headlines:
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OMTA Assists Ontario Dairy Industry in Adopting Internet Tracking System
Using software from Psion Inc., the Ontario Milk Transport Association put together an integrated Internet-based truck-tracking system for the province's dairy industry and milk haulers. Drivers enter data into the system either manually or using bar codes scanned with readers kept on the driver's belt.
Online Delivery Firms Aim to Make E-Commerce Easier
Some Web-based Internet delivery dot-coms are rushing to satisfy online shoppers who have scaled back Internet shopping because of the delivery time lag. According to the Yankee Group, such disappointed shoppers account for 30% of the online market, but same day delivery startups such as Sameday.com and WhyRunOut.com are hoping to reduce that number.Sameday.com uses 36 strategically located warehouses to stock retailers' best-selling items. Companies feature links to Sameday.com on their Web sites, and pay to have their inventory stored and received.
Like Sameday.com, WhyRunOut.com charges both retailers and consumers, but without using a centralized warehouse system. WhyRunOut.com, currently beta-testing, taps professional shoppers to perform errands such as picking up groceries and dropping off film to be developed. Inc. (09/00) Vol. 22, No. 12, P. 23; Barker, Emily
Wireless Bar Code System May Improve Supply Chains
Researchers at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology are working to update the bar code price-scanning system for the Internet age.MIT's Auto-ID Center envisions a day when not just every consumer goods product, but each individual item would have its own identity code. That code could communicate with scanners and even the Internet through wireless technology. Consumers could scan an item's code and compare its price on the Internet, or even use a home appliance to scan the code and view the item's packaging history.
The Auto-ID Center also believes a wireless code system could be a great boon to consumer goods firms and retailers. In the same way that the bar code system, after initial investment, led to a significant improvement in revenue, the new system could provide sales increases as high as 6%.
Wireless technology would allow retailers to track stolen or lost merchandise, reducing costly shrinkage, while improving management of the supply chain.
For now, researchers must convince manufacturers and retailers that the new system is worth investment. The system, which will study trillions of items, will require at least a 96-bit code and, considering the number of retailers who will depend on it, will have to perform flawlessly. The researchers believe, if they can overcome these obstacles, their system will have a greater impact than the original bar code system. Business 2.0 (09/12/00) Vol. 5, No. 17, P. 91; Orenstein, David
Motorola Gives Its Cell Phones a Beating
Many mobile phone manufacturers have constructed facilities to test their products' ability to withstand punishment. Motorola has constructed such a facility at Libertyville, Ill. The center's staff uses a variety of methods to test the durability of Motorola's mobile phones. Phones tested are exposed to temperatures between 40 degrees Fahrenheit and 185 degrees Fahrenheit. In addition, phones are purposely dropped hundreds of times to test product reliability, according to testers at the facility. As part of the tests, phones are dropped onto a variety of hard services, including steel and concrete. The center also has a dust machine to propel small particles of dust at cell phones. A sun machine further tests for product reliability by directing ultraviolet rays at the phones.
The phones' keypads undergo extensive testing. A robot punches the keys over and over to test their longevity. Vibration tests also are conducted that can simulate the effects of the products being shipped by truck. Once the products complete the multitude of tests, the center's staff examines damage to the phones using infrared cameras.
Gartner Group analyst Bryan Prohm says mobile phone testing has become more severe every year because companies want to insure product quality. A lack of consumer confidence in a cell phone manufacturer's products takes a at least a year to restore, Prohm adds. Wall Street Journal (09/11/00) P. A41D
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