Written by / Compiled by KMI Media Group staff
MLF 2009 Volume: 3 Issue: 8 (September)
With the pressure rising to protect the environment, companies may be searching for ecofriendly construction materials and methods. Schuyler Companies (a subsidiary of Maritime International Inc.) is introducing a new category of marine fenders for barging facilities that is tougher than anything available on the market today. The fenders are manufactured from 100 percent recycled waste truck tire material that would otherwise need to be land-filled. Schuyler’s manufacturing process results in a finished product that is difficult to recognize as former tires, and is transformed into a solid, rugged fender that can withstand the punishing marine environment of the barge dock world. The operational benefit of these marine fenders is their inherent durability for docks that require significant abrasion resistance rather than energy absorption.
The marine fenders are considered to be a “green” product. Laminated fenders are the most durable fender on the market with the additional benefit of providing the environmentally conscious clients with a product that contributes to protecting the environment and saving natural resources.
These marine fenders are designed to be an improved option to the use of typical wood timbers, or molded rubber fenders, which are not as durable for barge docks, or as environmentally friendly as laminated bumpers.
Schuyler Maritime has conducted extensive abrasion and performance testing on these fenders. Neither wood timbers nor molded rubber bumpers matched the fenders’ durability. Therefore, laminated rubber bumpers require almost no regular maintenance as they are not as susceptible to the breakage and wear and tear of other types of bumpers.
RFID Terminal Fox
iDtronic, a supplier of radio frequency identification (RFID) hardware products, announced the new mobile RFID Terminal Fox, a mobile RFID handheld terminal with high performance and easy handling.
The device weighs 140 grams, making it a lightweight PDA ergonomically designed for mobile applications where form factor, weight, ease of use and portability are the important key. iDtronic’s Fox with SDID reader/writers for 125 kHz and 13.56 MHz fits perfectly for contactless E-Ticket, cashless payment, health care, event management and access control applications.
The new mobile RFID handheld Fox is small but robust. The integrated 1200 mAh battery allows a long operating time. An SDID Reader is easily adaptable to the modern PDA with the SDIO slot on top of the device.
The new Fox features the high-performance 300 MHz ARM9 32-bit processor and a 2.8-inch TFT, QVGA Color LCD with touch screen. The integrated 64 MB RAM and 128 MB flash memory allows working with robust business applications. Windows CE 5.0 professional edition comes with the Fox.
The integrated USB + WiFi interfaces can easily communicate with a large variety of devices as laptop computers, desktop or tablet PCs.
As RFID terminal with SDIO slot it can be used together with our SDID 1210 & 1212 for 125 kHz–134,2 kHz RFID transponders, also with the SDID 1010 for Mifare and NFC applications as well as with the SDID 1020 for ISO14443 & ISO15693 multi-tag transponder scanning.
David Finkelstein:
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Work Force Management
RedPrairie Corp., a provider of productivity software used by retailers at military bases, has announced its September 2009 Workforce Management release will introduce an enhanced user interface, enabling greater efficiency and adoptability for its end-users. The new release will allow the company’s customers to implement the solution more quickly, reducing overall change management costs, and enabling quicker return on investment. The user interface delivers the solution on the same scalable platform that already supports many RedPrairie customers. Jon Lawrence, RedPrairie VP of work force management, describes the updates as stemming from three trends in usability as a whole: “In a customer survey we conducted recently, Workforce Management users provided tremendous insight into simplifying daily activities even further,” he said. “In particular, our users supported dynamic, action-oriented navigation, extendable product functionality, and an integrated experience in accessing other applications. These three features can improve efficiency in daily operations for both retail and hospitality companies.”
Feedback from RedPrairie’s pre-release surveys about the enhanced solution has suggested that an even stronger focus on a simplified end-user experience enables managers at the site level to spend more time with their employees and customers. Such measures can lead to significant benefits, including increases in sales and customer retention, as well as a higher level of manager satisfaction, with more attention to policy over procedure. “Our company has had a long history of building solutions to improve efficiency for our customers,” said RedPrairie CEO Mike Mayoras. “We not only want to deliver these solutions to our customers, but increase the rate of adoption of those tools. We value input from all of our clients, and will continue to solicit their input about what we as a company can do to make their businesses stronger.”
Jeff Constable:
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Value Chain Planning Applications
Oracle recently announced the Oracle Application Integration Architecture (AIA) Process Integration Pack (PIP) for Oracle’s Value Chain Planning applications to Oracle’s JD Edwards EnterpriseOne.
Oracle AIA provides a complete and open way for organizations to integrate end-to-end business processes across a broad range of custom, Oracle or thirdparty applications, enabling greater efficiencies, an increased competitive edge and a lower total cost of ownership. With this integration, JD Edwards EnterpriseOne customers gain powerful capabilities not available in their current solution to enable best practices in trade management, demand signal management, risk management, supply and distribution planning, demand management, advanced forecasting, sales and operations planning, inventory postponement, collaborative planning and corporatewide planning performance management.
Oracle recently received the highest rating in Gartner’s Supply Chain Planning Process Automation MarketScope report. Integration between JD Edwards EnterpriseOne and Oracle’s Value Chain Planning applications delivers key supply chain capabilities that help drive business insights and revenue growth. Oracle Value Chain Planning also provides comprehensive solutions for demand signal management (Oracle Demand Signal Repository), service parts management (Oracle Service Parts Planning), and collaborative forecasting and replenishment (Oracle Collaborative Planning).
In addition, Oracle Value Chain Planning extends beyond the traditional supply chain by offering out-of-the-box integration with Oracle Transportation Management and Oracle’s Siebel CRM.
Jessica Moore:
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Inventory Planning
i2 announced new multi-echelon inventory optimization capabilities for life cycle events and promotions with the latest release of its i2 Inventory Optimization solution.
i2 Inventory Optimization is designed to allow companies to continuously manage inventory policies to optimize performance against business objectives, changing market conditions and supply chain constraints. The solution supports inventory planning for life cycle events across the entire supply chain spanning procurement of raw material and components, manufacturing of semi-finished goods and distribution of end-products. With these new capabilities, companies can now apply best practices of postponement and riskpooling to efficiently handle promotions and life cycle events such as new product introduction, last-time buy, and product transitions. In today’s economy, companies can leverage these proven practices to reduce cost and free up cash while improving service levels.
“Inventory decisions for life cycle events are tough in today’s supply chain. Planners have been using subjective judgmentor simple calculations to make decisions, and as a result, they were coping with these challenges by building excessive inventories,” said Kelly Thomas, i2 senior vice president, Product Strategy and Planning. “Our solution enables deep analysis of buying behavior and demand patterns. By going through better processes enabled by i2 tools that close the loop between planning, execution and performance management, we enable our customers to achieve better service levels at a lower cost.”
New Tire Size
Michelin has introduced the newest size of its XHA2 loader tire that debuted at the Intermat trade show in April. The latest size, 23.5R25, is ideal for machines in the construction industry that operate on infrastructure and utility sites.
“We’ve seen great success for the XHA2 tire in its quarry size that became available in May,” said Roger Lucas, vice president of sales and marketing, Michelin Earthmover Tires. “Quarries and some construction sites around the world are already experiencing the capabilities of this tire. With this new size, even more equipment for construction sites, government projects, infrastructure sites and utility work will now be able to benefit from the many advantages that the XHA2 tire offers.”
The tire is designed to accomplish three goals: reduce hourly operating costs, ensure that work continues smoothly and safely, and improve operator working conditions. Along with the latest 23.5R25 size, the 26.5R25 size became available in May. Two remaining sizes are scheduled to be introduced in 2010: the 29.5R25 and 20.5R25 sizes.
The XHA2 tire allows vehicles to remain up and running, which keeps the site’s productivity high. To achieve this result, Michelin integrated three technologies into the tire: additional rubber in the tread to make the tire even more damage-resistant; strengthened sidewalls with a special protective rib and anti-scrape shields; and a sidewall rubber compound that resists expansion of cuts and splits into the air chamber to help reduce costly flats.
The XHA2 tire lasts at least 5 percent longer than its predecessor, which is currently the benchmark tire on major worksites around the world, including quarries, cement plants, construction sites and infrastructure projects.
In addition to its durability, the tire provides another advantage: Its superior traction helps get the job done faster. The 9 percent deeper tread (compared to XHA tire) improves traction and makes the tire self-cleaning—expelling earth caught between tread blocks—while reducing temporary losses of grip. This optimized traction reduces rolling resistance and therefore fuel consumption. The Michelin XHA2 tire’s patented tread design dramatically reduces vibrations that can be felt by operators and damage mechanical components. Additionally, the tire reduces the vibrations caused by heavy loads and frequent changes of direction thanks to its larger contact patch. ♦