Issue #178 | Feb. 6, 2009 | by Andy Kowl
You may be giving us a second glance because of our snazzy new design. If so, please check out the "Related article" links immediately below. They are a far better way to get to know us. After more than four years, I'm indulging in "editor's privilege" today. Our best stuff is in those links.
Working with words and images every day, "a redesign" always feels like a new start. We began planning today's "RFID Street" makeover before the crash, and find it lifts our spirits a bit amidst the gloom.
When in the magazine business, we publishers would talk about whether one should redesign a magazine every three years or every five years. It was not about making it prettier – it forced you to rethink everything.
Fresh paint, new blood; always good. Especially in this mess.
Naturally, like many of you, we are making difficult and painful choices, even after a year of great growth. The changing environment and the new realities (unknowns) we all face are spurring every company to think over how it does what it does. We already know the time tested adage, "What doesn't kill you will make you stronger."
Who needs this? Yet there it is.
Is there something your company should be doing besides cutting? In the shortest term, with capital barely moving, what can you redesign that might bring your team something fresh? It has never been so clear in my lifetime how deeply, even structurally, a lack of confidence can hurt us.
Using slow times to good advantage
So while everyone is at a standstill, what are you doing? Can you find something to make better – even if only to make
look better? Cosmetic fixes are not an example of "Nero fiddling while Rome burns" – they are a low cost way of doing your little part to help lift the malaise. As the wise man said, "It couldn't hurt."
Many of our readers are in operations and logistics. Yeah, I know they won’t let you spend a dime today – but if you are not looking under every RFID tag to see what smart logistics can truly mean, what are you waiting for?
If you manufacture goods, I know you can't spend either – today. But how are you going to help your company, and yourself, tomorrow? If you think you're already doing things as well as they can be done – might as well start cleaning out your desk.
Look around you – we sure are doing so, here and in another business I own. What can you do differently? You may not decide to institute every idea, but at least strategize potential options before discounting them. It seems to me this economy demands it.
Finding efficiencies nobody knew were missing
How much time do people in your office spend each week, each month, looking for files? Looking for IT equipment, or checking in and out any equipment? What assets leave your building every day and which ones come back? How efficient is usage of your fleet or other rolling stock?
Savings may be anywhere. Think of every place you have seen a staff member use a clipboard. Ever see one of those giant, scary ol' pins which workers stick forms onto? They're out there in some garages and receiving areas even today. If you have any, that's a dead giveaway of an efficiency leak. Can you instantly find information on every company delivery? On the whereabouts of every asset worth $500 or more? What
really happens to the exceptions in your workflow?
If your central systems reached to the furthest edges of your organization, would it mean measurable improvement? No, I said the
furthest reaches – such as stock on consignment; promotional displays at thousands of retailers; the tools and replacement parts your service vehicles; unguarded utilities and far flung storage facilities and way stations. If you're not thinking beyond your four walls, are you thinking big enough?
If you haven't guessed by now, we have dozens of
our favorite solutions providers standing by to help you figure this out.
Truckin' down The Street
For their invaluable contributions to our new newsletter, I want to thank Communication Coordinator Monica Kowl, who was creative director for this project, and Chris Buddie of
Digital Studios here in Maryland, our most excellent art director.
The new format means each week you will get tidbits from other sources in addition to our core weekly column. It may be an opinion piece, like today, or it might be about an upcoming conference or a recent announcement we want to be sure you've seen. The guest columnists we feature routinely will be back in force, too.
Thanks to those of you who encourage us with your kind words of praise as we publish each week. We look forward to hearing any thoughts, pro or con, as we move forward together.
Related articles of interest on RFID Switchboard:
RFID, since We're Reinventing the World Anyway
Campaign for a Smarter Planet with RFID
Time Bandits and the Walmart RFID Litmus Test
