Posted by Paul Roebuck on Thu, May 20, 2010 @ 10:42 AM
Most people treat passwords to their important computer files like their personal name. They have one password that they use for everything for their entire life.
Today you cannot do anything on a computer without entering a password even if you enter nothing as your password.
Every "e-access" is supposedly protected from what you just ate and noted in last your last Tweet, to your financial information recorded at your e-bank or as part of your last E-Bay transaction.
When is the last time you changed your password(s)?. Well then that is too long.
You do not have the ability to protect the information accessed by using your driver's license number or social security number. But you do have the ability to create unique password(s) frequently to access you company or personal data.
The most probable reason that we do not change them is our perception that the list of unique passwords will be so long that we will never be able to keep track of them. What good is a strong password if we can not remember it accurately or access it conveniently. Writing you password on the bottom of the keyboard does not count as being secure. You don't leave your front door key under the door mat!
I personally use an algorithm to track mine. I cannot claim this idea as being my own. But it is an idea that everyone who hears it considers implementing it.
This password algorithm is based on making your password from three components.
1) An easy to remember word e.g. your school mascot, street you grew up on, your first dogs name, your initials,your maiden name. I suggest that you select a word that is at least 3 characters and not more than 6 characters. For this example I will use my best friend's name, "bob"
2) Pick a two to four digit memorable number combination. When possible avoid using sequential and or repeating digits. If dates are your preference, avoid for example 1111. For my example I will use 0127 which is the my daughter's birthday
3) Finally make a standard mnemonic to represent the site that you are accessing, e.g. FNB for First National Bank; Microsoft might be MIC or MCR; or IRS for the Internal Revenue Service.
Now every month or quarter I change all of my passwords by using a new base word and or number with the same mnemonic.
For extra security I use all lower case letters for my base word and all upper case letters for the mnemonic or vice versa.
The passwords for Q1FY2010 might be bob0127FNB and bob0127MCR but for Q2FY2010 they would change to lmt1225FNB and lmt1225MCR
I hope this strategy makes the process of generating new passwords and remembering them easier and facilitates regular revisions.
Paul Roebuck, paul_roebuck@allied-is.com, www.allied-is.com Our company specializes in improving processes using AIDC and RFID integrated solutions.
Posted by Paul Roebuck on Wed, May 19, 2010 @ 12:27 PM
HVAC service providers should consider using mobile computers.
This weekend I had my semiannual heating and air condition system maintenance check out. Being part of a company that provides onsite contract maintenance for printing and data collection assets, I believe in preventative maintenance for mission critical important assets. Haven't we all heard from our elders that "an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure?"
In recent times the price of the prevention continues to creep up. The price of the cure continues to increase faster and occur at the in opportune time. As a business owner I know the best way to increase profitability is through productivity improvement. Going back to my AC/ Heating service event, the technician spent almost an hour and half from arrival to getting my signature on his paperwork. I do not know exactly what he did while servicing my AC and heating units. But I know he sat in his truck for 20 minutes completing paperwork. What is the value added of completing the paper work for the customer or to his employer?
It made me think about what will happen to this paper work. One copy will probably be used to key in information to their dispatch system to close his service ticket. Then the copy will probably flow through an accounts receivable review to see if there are any incremental billing charges. Also the cost of the time spent will be recorded against my contract for future profitability review. Finally the paperwork will probably end up in my contract folder. It will sit in the contract folder for a minimum of year before the contract administrator reviews the paper work before deciding whether it is profitable to renew our service contract. Fortunately for me over the last 10 years that I have worked with this company, all parties had their needs met so my folder has at least twenty sets of documents. My folder sits with hundreds of other folders in drawer after drawer of file cabinets. Each one of those represents probably 15 to 20 minutes of technician's time recording the information and at least another 10 minutes in subsequent administration handling and filing. Using a "swag" for the fully burdened cost to employ the technician at $30/ hour time, this non- valued add activity represents $10 to $15 per incident of cost. Multiply the non productive incident cost time by the number of technicians and the number of service calls to ascertain a significant $ cost that could be reduced to the benefit of the bottom line.
If we could revise the documentation process to be paperless using a mobile computing solution, we could accomplish all of the above in 10 minutes or less for a 66% savings in call closure time and 20% savings to the total time related to this service event. The HVAC service provider could have a favorable ROI in just a few months.
The service provider could then reduce the price to me and take at least one extra service call a day.
I would also raise the question of what other information could be mined from this idle data repository.
Win Win for both of us
- 1. Potential reduction in price of my service contract based on reduced time on site
- 2. Service provider could schedule at least one or two more preventative service calls per day for the same technician
- 3. Eliminate floor space consuming file cabinets and document storage
- 4. Improve cash flow with immediate generation of invoices for billable incremental charges
- 5. Free up dispatch and contracts administration from routine data entry tasks
- 6. Create a marketing database from the information based on the customer's equipment model, date of installation, and efficiency.
- 7. E-mail or direct marketing campaigns could be conducted to:
- a. renew contracts
- b. recognize potential equipment obsolescence , e.g. coolants no longer available for your model
- c. advise of necessary factory recall and modifications
- d. alert customers to potential ROI upgrades based on federal subsidies, improved efficiencies with new equipment over current
- e. easily conduct loyalty and customer referral programs.
Where does it begin? It begins when business owners investigate how converting to a mobile computing solution will save cost, increase revenue and advance ahead of his competition as a technology leader.
Paul Roebuck is the General Manager of Allied Integrated Services, an AIDC and RFID solution provider specializing in process improvement for SMBs. Paul_roebuck@allied-is.com or www.allied-is.com.
Posted by Paul Roebuck on Wed, May 19, 2010 @ 12:10 PM
Over the recent years RFID has ridden a roller coaster wave of acceptance analogous to a radio wave with a slow rise to the tops and extended bottoms. Consumer recognition for this technology came with edicts from the Wal-Mart and DOD establishing standards for mandatory implementation on incoming products initially from all suppliers.
Only in the last few years have the commercial early adopters been successful to use RFID in closed loop projects.
New applications in healthcare vary and are not limited to some of the following:
Various applications of asset tracking:
- Tracking mission critical assets to assure location, calibration, maintenance and utilization.
- Emergency vehicles tracking that all necessary and assigned assets, e.g. defibrillator, back boards, stretcher, two way radio, hand held computer, oxygen tank, protocol manuals and logs, are in place and in specification.
- Emergency vehicles tracking consumption of medical supplies during a shift to radio back to headquarters for immediate and complete restocking prior to the next shift.
- Pharmacies tracking distribution and accurate utilization of medicines from the shelf to the patient with assurance of administration of the right drug, at the right time to the right patient in the right dosage.
It "depends" upon your perspective as to the value of this latest application of RFID.
An Australian firm, Simavita, has introduced and tested RFID under garments in 20 plus Australian Elder Care Centers. These electronic undergarments get to the bottom of a situation that affects quality of care, dignity, as well as efficient utilization of senior care personnel and reduces care management costs.
Simavita's Smart Incontinence Management System (SIMsystem) utilizes a customized continence pad worn by aged-care residents. The under garment is embedded with wireless ZigBee-based moisture-detecting sensors.
The solution, under first consideration, would seem to be expensive and difficult to implement and sustain. After testing in twenty centers, the Australian Government is supporting a roll out to another 200 sites.
Their studies indicate that 80% of the residents at Elder Care Facilities are affected by incontinence. Simavita's trial data indicated that their SIMSystem saved up to $2000 in labor costs per bed, per annum.
Their system offers significant benefits for the elderly and caregivers alike:
- Patient:
- Less unnecessary investigations
- Improved quality of life and dignity
- Better personalized care
- Employees
- Fewer false occurrences
- Less documentation
- Fewer health and safety risks to the patient and care givers from handling the patient
- More time available to direct care to the seniors
- Elder Care Facility Management
- Reduced labor costs
- Improved staff productivity
- Reduced laundry cost
- Lower pad consumption
- Evidence of compliance for accreditation and reimbursement
Given the positive outcomes the SIMsystem solution will be going global soon. Allied Integrated Services, http://www.allied-is.com/, is pursing the opportunity to be a US licensee.
Reference the complete article at http://www.rfidjournal.com/article/view/7558/3 .
Paul Roebuck, paul_roebuck@allied-is.com , is the general manager of Allied Integrated Services. AIS is an AIDC and RFID process improvement and solution provider that focuses on the Healthcare and Elder Care markets.
Posted by Paul Roebuck on Wed, Mar 24, 2010 @ 02:19 PM
Purchase price variance is an accounting measurement. The actual price of a procurement is compared to an accounting standard price. If the price paid is less than the standard price there is a favorable PPV. If the price paid is greater than the standard price it is an unfavorable PPv.
Sometimes there is no formal standard price established for the buyer. In this case "best" price found on the internet is a popular substitute target. Another alternative is just to pay less then the average price paid before.
Are Supply Chain Buyers influenced by PPV?
It is frequently stated that if a repetitive process is measured it will improve. My perception is that the improvement will be greater if a personal incentive is attached to the measurement. Improvement will be realized regardless if it is in the best interest of the total supply chain.
In any supply chain supporting a US manufacturing company there are at least two critical departments; procurement and manufacturing. For our discussion the assumption is that owners of this supply chain have incorporated products and process improvements from the technology of Automated Identification and Data Capture (AIDC). This allows to use a simple example of the procuement of a printer ribbon used to generate bar code labels.
If you did a google search for barcode printer ribbons for a Printronix P5205 or a Zebra 110x4 how many hits do you anticipate you would get? Several pages! You would also observe a wide spread in pricing from various suppliers for prodcuts ranging from the manufacturer's recommendation to compatible to other. To a person who does not use the equipment on which these ribbons will be installed the perception is ribbons are a generic commodity. Analogous to gasoline for your automobile if the car starts all brands are the same only the price charged is different. Right? Have you ever heard "You get what you pay for it?"
So why pay a 5 to 20% premium for the OEM recommended ribbons?
Assuming the buyer then buys the cheapest ribbons available what are the potential affects on the links in the supply chain:
- The buyer records a favorable PPV and maybe points toward their periodic bonus
- The user who installs the ribbon experiences:
- worse print quality from the start or sooner than when using the manufacturers recommended ribbons
- if this is a thermal ribbon premature print head failure occurs ($$$ to resolve)
- if this is an impact printer ribbon premature shuttle problems or failures due to ink and or fiber accumulations($$$)
- The production manager experiences:
- an unfavorable labor variance because of downtime while the printer is awaiting repair
- unplanned repair expenses due to premature mechanical failures
- potentially missed ship dates
- employee moral can be impacted because they can not do their job
- The company experiences:
- Unfavorable goodwill with the customer if the product arrives late or the compliance labeling is not acceptable
- Negative impact on the company when the customer accesses fines or de-merits in their vendor performance measurement system.
The key point is that the current measurement of PPV is only for the price variance on the purchased item. There is no subsequent evaluaton of how the quality or performance of the item purchased affects the product or service into which it is incorporated.
In Quality Assurance circles there is a maxim that the farther removed from the source that a defect is found the more costly it is to resolve. While a favorable PPV may be realized in the absence of subsequent favorable performance measurements the net outcome is unfavorable to the supply chain and the company.
Less incentive needs to be put on favorable PPV until it includes a measurement of subsequent performance of the item as it is utilized.
What can you do? I endorse reconsidering buying OEM supplies based on performance measurements after integration. Manufacturers of quality products use the latest technologies to maximize performance based on extremely rigoruous tolerances. To assure the intended performance and longevity of the equipment they sell their recommedation and sometimes requirement is to use the supplies they specifiy. Frequently the designs, materials and manufacturers processes are protected by patents. Admittedly the resulting price may be higher as they have to amortize their design and production cost. The manufacturer of the clone products usually do not invest as much into the quality of their processes, material and mimic designs to produce a compatible product. They also do not warranty the products that may fail as a result of from the use of Non OEM supplies.
Overall its the reduction of total cost that improves profitability. If a favorable PPV is costing more to fix later it is not favorable for the entire supply chain.
Allied Integrated Services is an integrator and reseller of AIDC software, hardware, supplies and repair services. Our goal is to maximize equipment uptime by selling quality equipment and providing service using OEM parts and supplies. As a reseller of premier AIDC printers from Datamax, Intermec, Printronix, Sato and Zebra we are frequently retained to restore critical to the process equipment for customers. We summarize the collective impact off a favorable PPV for customers by using the two old adages of "Pay Me Now or Pay Me Later" and "Pennywise but Pound Foolish"