Radley Corporation President to sit on "Cloud" panel of experts at IMPACT 2012

Online Tech to Speak About Transitioning to Cloud Computing at IMPACT 2012 Conference -- Panel to Help Businesses with Real-World Examples & Insight on Cloud Computing

MarketWatch
Joining Klein will be Mark Farneth, President of Radley Corporation, Jamie Hamilton, VP of Software Engineering at Quicken Loans, and James White, ...  

New WorkForce Productivity Webinar Series

First in Series
Boosting Worker Productivity Using Automated Data Collection

This session spotlights ways to reduce man-hours per ton by streamlining processes that bog down your work force. We explore how automated data collection bridges the communication gap between the office and shop by providing visibility to production, time and attendance, and labor information across all levels of your operation. See how dashboards provide views of key productivity indicators and enable operators, supervisors, and management to make effective decisions based on real-time information.

Register Online

We're at the Steel Show!

Preparations are made and Mark, David, Kevin and John will be attending the NASCC next week in Phoenix. We're giving away an iPOD shuffle and holding a workshop on how barcode data collection can improve worker productivity. Mark's getting pretty good at presenting. Seems that improving productivity is a hot topic today. There are more details on radley.com and you can even pre-register for the workshop. Or, if you can't make it to the workshop then sign up for the free webinar that we will be scheduling sometime this spring. Oh, and it's not just for the steel industry.

The Real ROI - Integrating Automated Data Collection with Business Applications

In the not too distant past business software consisted of spreadsheet applications, word processors, and the occasional database for the technical elite. Business systems were manual systems – powered by printed copies of reports, spreadsheets, and documents upon which business decisions were based. Over time, competitive pressure, compliance requirements, corporate consolidations, mergers and acquisitions, budget restraints, and many other factors, combined to create the current environment that demands a laser-sharp focus on ways to cultivate business productivity.

In response, business software has grown more sophisticated and today includes applications for supply chain management, inventory management, purchasing, quality systems, process control, shop floor control, manufacturing execution shipping/ distribution, warehouse management, maintenance management, and virtually any other area that could be required to efficiently and effectively operate a business.

Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP), Supply Chain Management (SCM) and Warehouse Management Systems (WMS) provide this functionality through tightly integrated modules on a common platform. To some degree, most manufacturing and distribution companies have by now implemented one or all of these types of systems. Many also
have acquired business applications that are not part of their core system of record. These applications may use different technologies, reside on multiple platforms, and often use separate or multiple databases. Moreover, ERP, WMS, legacy, quality, manufacturing execution systems (MES), SCM and other business process/ execution applications have evolved in application breadth, functional depth, navigational complexity, transaction processing volume and database size.

An often overlooked challenge of these increasingly complex business applications is the impact they have had on data entry requirements. In the past, when business information was stored on shelves in scores of notebooks that quickly became outdated and useless, it was a generallyaccepted rule that files would be updated with the most current information available before generating reports. This is still true today.

Without consistent, timely, and accurate input of data, the value and integrity of any business software system decreases dramatically. And this is where it becomes apparent that the real ROI of any business software comes down to a tightly integrated, scalable and robust automated data collection system.

Recession Proof - Time Flys When You're Having Fun

Every manager and executive who has been through challenging economic times in the past, knows that it will end. You also know that as you downsize and try to become more efficient during this period, you need to be prepared to handle increased volume when the economy improves.

Just this morning, I again read that one of the top ways to come out on top at the end of this recession is to take advantage of technology to become more productive. No matter how you measure it, it seems like common sense that the highest ROI can be achieved through streamlined and automated business processes - enabling fewer to do more with less.

What you don't want to do is sit around and worry or worse panic and take an ax to the business you worked so hard to build. Take the "glass half full" perspective and consider this downturn as a great opportunity. Take the time to get to know your processes, examine the status quo, identify where you can improve, and then take the steps to prepare for the days when your "huge sales will solve all your problems." You will be surprised at how quickly this recession will pass.