Lecture Summary: In these challenging economic times, almost all industries have seen a slowdown in demand. Manufacturing, which accounts for 25% of GDP, has been greatly affected by the overall reduction in consumer spending and a resultant cash flow crunch. Stores of inventory listed as assets on balance sheets have become liabilities that continue to thwart progress toward recovery. This coupled with a slipping global productivity ratio and the lowest capacity utilization in more than 37 years has produced unprecedented layoffs in the manufacturing sector. With unemployment now reaching 9.7% manufacturers, economists, and politicians wonder how to resolve the current issues and regain a dominate place in a new more global economy. On a macro level, there are proven principles that successful manufacturers have used to weather the storm and if applied can help others build a foundation for the future. For individual manufacturers, daily involvement of everyone from front line associates to management and the application of their innovative ideas has become a matter of survival. Looking at what is being done now in one local manufacturing plant will give insights into how engineering innovation is applied to resolve real business issues.
ABSTRACT: The presentation will discuss the current and future use of RFID technology in the rail industry. Discussion will cover the current state of RFID or Automated Equipment Identification (AEI) utilized by all railroads in North America since 1992. Circumstances created a one vendor solution whose technology has remained virtually unchanged for the past 25 years. Conditions which led a small business located in Northern Nevada to change the direction of this technology forever will be talked about. Also covered will be the opportunities created by the convergence of EPC Global open standard and AEI RFID formats. Finally, the presentation will review the applications to rail both in North America and the world.
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