...Kudler Fine Foods: Automation Recommendation Kudler Fine Foods has grown beyond the technology it currently has in place. The next logical step for this organization is to invest in one of many information systems available aimed at enhancing business operations. The upgrades selected cannot be performed all at one time, therefore the enhancements will begin with the inventory processes, accounts payable, accounts receivable and finally payroll. Theses enhancements will enable management to gain a better understanding of the overall health of the organization, which will lead to better decision-making and better customer service. Due to the very nature of the business and the fact that its revenue is created through the sale of inventory, it is logical that inventory is where the enhancement process begins. This plan intends to offer the greatest improvement in the shortest time frame. The following paragraphs explain the intended course of action. Managing inventory is a top priority because it is the source of revenue for the organization. The current method for accounting for inventory cannot keep an accurate real-time measurement of inventory on hand or efficiently assess the historical product depletion data on the inventory. Kudler’s business process concerning inventory is inefficient in many ways, the first of which is the manner in which they issue purchase order. The physical purchase order is routed to the accounts payable department, entered into the ledger system...
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...AUTOMATED CASE PICKING: The next big thing in warehouse automation After setting a firm base in Europe, Automated case picking is gaining ground in US where the number of successful implementations is growing at a rapid pace. Background: Order Picking: Order picking is usually the most recommended among the warehouse processes due to its nature to generate more outbound transactions than inbound transactions. Moreover, it leads to greater customer satisfaction. Productivity in order picking is measured by the pick rate. The three types of picking operations are case pick, piece pick and pallet pick operations. Case pick operations measure no of cases per hour and no of line items per hour. Automated case picking: Automated case picking enables fully automated order picking of a wide range of products and includes a set of technologies aiming at automation of the traditional case picking process. The food and beverage industries have been the major benefactors. Moreover, ACP solutions are increasingly utilized by sectors like retail and soft goods as it answers the challenges of retail distribution. It is suitable for most types of packaging including shrink wrapped products. Advantages of automated case picking over traditional case picking: * 40% lower costs compared to traditional picking methods * Lesser requirement of floor space and shorter lead time * Minimal ergonomic and safety risks * Optimized replenishment strategies leading to improved service...
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...How Technology and Automation Affect Employment, the Economy, and You By Cody Ferenchak March 16th 2015 Automation is definitely a topic of concern in almost all of today’s industries. Especially for those in the service industry. Automation is making the processes used in the product and service industry less labor intensive and more productive. Over the last three decades manufacturing companies in the industrialized world have seen what great change automation is bringing to the world in terms of production. Assembly lines in the automotive industry are faster than ever. Electronics such as the iPhone are being constructed in just minutes due to hands of automated robotics. Upgrading to automated technology is becoming more and more accepted. Companies are spending much time and resources on implementing the use of automated labor to cope with the increasing competition from non-industrialized countries whose production costs are much lower. Where there were once hundreds of thousand of laborers filling factories assembling the everyday technological, textile, and household products we use today; are now machines that require no hourly wage, only monthly to sometimes yearly maintenance, up-keep and energy costs. The world of industry we are currently living in has changed. From labor-intensive production, to capital-intensive automation. Not only are we focusing on the tangible side of production, also the many intangible service industries are experiencing change. There...
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...Problem Statement: Kudler Fine Foods MGT/521 Management Vicki Silvers October 11, 2010 Problem Statement: Kudler Fine Foods Kudler Fine Foods (KFF) is recognized as a foremost gourmet grocery by providing premium baked goods, produce, meats, cheeses, and wines. After KFF’s grand opening 1998 of their first California store in La Jolla, KFF has tripled in size by expanding the business to both Encinitas and Del Mar California. Through outstanding success and growth, KFF’s owner Kathy Kudler has put the company in the situation in which the need for new business strategies is needed by management to ensure the continuing success of KFF’s. As KFF continues its growth and expansion in the next five years, the need to invest in new technology is evident. The investment of technology will increase the efficiency of management, thus allowing management time to focus on the company core values. The reason KFF’s success and growth is because their strong core organizational values set forth by Kathy Kudler the owner. These values include the mindset of a small business culture, a customer oriented focus, and to provide quality gourmet foods for the customers’ greatest dining experience. Employing the invested technology will computerize the inventory and ordering system within KFF. This technology will save time, organize inventory, and reduce waste. The first option KFF is considering is hiring to help with purchasing and inventory control. The second option...
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...processes. Any deficiency in any of those four processes can impair a company’s ability to operate and drive it to failure. Those four main activities must run smoothly and efficiently if a company aspires to be successful. Kudler Fine Foods (KFF) is not exempt from those requirements. KFF does have a well-designed accounting process, but that system is not integrated, and each store is operating on its own with the owner juggling all the time between the three branches to perform some control and to make financial decisions for all of them. Those four activities must be streamlined and integrated in order to render KFF more efficient and effective. In this summary, we will analyze the pros and cons associated with an industry-specific software, or develop customized software. We will look at various enhancement and automation options available to KFF. We will also develop flowcharts to show the flow of data into and from each of the four systems analyzed. Prioritize the Four Main Systems The priority of the four main systems should be automation of the payroll system first. Then, the Inventory process needs to be automated and from there that will connect to the accounts receivable and ending with Accounts payable The payroll automation will include an electronic timecard system that connects to the automated accounting system. Then the inventory system will be an automated system that records inventory out when items are used or ordered and an invoice will be generate...
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...of computers to control a particular process in order to increase reliability and efficiency, often through the replacement of employees. For a manufacturer, this could entail using robotic assembly lines to manufacture a product. Automation is the use of control systems (such as numerical control, programmable logic control, and other industrial control systems), in concern with other applications of information technology (such as computer-aided technologies [CAD, CAM], to control industrial machinery and processes, reducing the need for human intervention. In the scope of industrialization, automation is a step beyond mechanization. Whereas mechanization provided human operators with machinery to assist them with the muscular requirements of work, automation greatly reduces the need for human sensory and mental requirements as well. Processes and systems can also be automated. Automation plays an increasingly important role in the global economy and in daily experience. Engineers strive to combine automated devices with mathematical and organizational tools to create complex systems for a rapidly expanding range of applications and human activities. Many roles for humans in industrial processes presently lie beyond the scope of automation. Human-level pattern recognition, language recognition, and language production ability are well beyond the capabilities of modern mechanical and computer systems. Tasks requiring subjective assessment or synthesis of complex sensory...
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...automated system nowadays is becoming prominent for a business that needs accurate, efficient and reliable results. Today, many businesses are engaging to automated systems, its manual setup can be applied automatically through computer. By using a computer, a business can perform its transaction in a less amount of time. Having a way to organize transactions by the use of automated system is an asset. Especially when you apply the automation to the most commonly used transaction, Sales and Inventory System. Inventory is a list of goods and raw materials that is needed for the everyday production of a business which is held available in stock. Updating the records of the stocks in a business plays an important part for the organization of business functions. Manual application of transaction can bring interruption, thus, the Automated Sales and Inventory System is considered as the best solution to this problem. A business owner can franchise more than one line of franchise, Mrs. Teresa has a group of franchised business which she named, R and E food station. Her business started last February 2014 and successfully opened 2 branches in 3 months. Since then, they record their daily sales and inventory manually by the use of record book and Microsoft excel. It starts from counting and checking their previous available stocks individually, computer for the total used stocks, record it in a record book and update the whole record in Microsoft excel. It takes a lot of time and the...
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...Automation was a word first used in the automobile industry of the 1940's to describe the increase use of automatic controls and devices with in the production line. Although not introduced formally until the 1940's, automation wasn't something new. It was the culmination of mans scientific achievements, bringing into light a new way of working with the world. Automation began to be more of a topic starting in the industrial revolution. With the increase of the world population new ways were needed to help produce more food and consumer goods in an ever more optimized way. The great minds at the time quickly began developing methods and technology that would decrease the use of in labor and increase production along with quality. This was beginning of mass...
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...application to print the payroll checks for employees. Mr. Morgan is in need to reduce his travel time and costs, be more efficient in his HR and payroll tasks, as well as having more time for his operations manager tasks. IDENTIFIED PROBLEMS: From this information, I could identify various problems that could be alleviated by they use of an HRIS program. The goal is to reduce or eliminate the need of use of papers like employees’ manuals, being able to retain employees, maintain former, current, and potential employees information within reach and safe, training employees, be able to manage schedules more efficiently as it changes each week for everyone, hiring, keep payroll and benefits up to date, having records of the needs for ordering foods and having it in stock, as well as inventory. Another problem is the time that takes him to put the information for each employee individually into Excel as well as printing each one a check from a single source. Another goal is to offer and provide Mr. Morgan with a comprehensive range of tools which will help him gain better control and insight of the business’...
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...sterilization system Description: Electrical Control Panel, Control System Design & Engineering and Machine Controls for a portable room and vehicle sterilization system. Industry: * Medical equipment * Biohazard remediation * Healthcare facilities * Fire & Emergency medical services * Law enforcement & corrections * Public transportation * Food processing plants * Hotels * Gym and fitness facilities * Offices * Anthrax remediation Services Provided by AMPS: * Appropriate automation components selected * Control system design & engineering * Construction of electrical control panels * PLC/HMI programming * Ongoing assistance with product development * Help through the UL and CE certification processes * General assistance with electrical/electronic issues which keeps them from needing an electrical engineer on staff Volume: Varies between dozens and hundreds per year | | Customer Requirements: * Design a compact, cost-effective control system to run the entire machine. * All automation control components must be mounted to a metal plate which will be installed in the machine * Must be designed so that the entire machine can be UL listed and CE certified * Control all pumps and motors automatically * Program PLC and HMI to be user-friendly and serve as an intuitive GUI * Utilize data tables for storing detailed room and vehicle treatment information to...
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...Stuxnet Virus According to counterterrorism czar Richard Clarke, Stuxnet was a weaponized malware computer worm. Stuxnet was launched in mid-2009, it did major damage to Iran’s nuclear program in 2010 and then spread to computers all over the world (Clarke, 2012). Type of Breach The Stuxnet is a computer worm, “it is a digital ghost with countless lines of code… it was able to worm its way into Iran’s nuclear fuel enrichment facility in Natanz, Iran” (Clarke, 2012). A worm is a program that spreads copies of itself through a network and a worm can also spread copies of itself as a stand-alone program (Pfleeger & Pfleeger, 2007). How the Breach Occurred On June 17, 2010, Sergey Ulasen, head of a small computer security firm called VirusBlokAda, was going his through e-mail when a report caught his attention. A computer belonging to an Iranian customer was caught in a reboot loop; it was “shutting down and restarting repeatedly despite efforts by operators to take control of it. It appeared the machine was infected with a virus” (Zetter, 2011). Ulasen’s research team got hold of the virus infecting their client’s computers. They realized it was using a “zero-day” exploit to spread (Zetter, 2011). Zero-days are the hacking world’s most potent weapons: The virus exploits vulnerabilities in software that are not yet known to the software maker or antivirus vendors. They’re also exceedingly rare; it takes considerable skill and persistence to find such vulnerabilities and...
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... Automated Greenhouse Lighting Final Report [pic] Duration: January 11, 2010 – April 23, 2010 Course: EE416 Electrical Engineering Design Instructor: M. A. Osman School of EECS Richland, WA 99354 Table of Contents Executive Summary 3 Introduction 3 Project Description 4 Target Technical Specifications 5 Setbacks 6 New Scope and Direction 7 Project Management 9 Modeling, Simulation, and Engineering Analysis 11 Conclusion 16 Recommendations and Future Work 16 References 17 Executive Summary This report focuses on the activities that Team Rainier has made between January 11 and April 23, 2010. The team was originally updating the palletizing process for J. Lieb Foods. Currently J. Lieb Foods has a rotary operated control system that controls the Programmable Logic Controller (PLC) which in-turn operates the palletizer. Team Rainier was updating the control system to a touch screen control for the operators and an upgraded PLC to control the palletizer. Through the process of economic analysis J. Lieb had selected the PanelMate 1000 as their touch screen and the quantum as the PLC. Due to recent developments with J. Lieb the project stalled and now has a different scope and direction. Team Rainier has been in contact with Dr. Allan Felsot of the Viticulture and Enology Program at Washington State University Tri-Cities. Dr. Felsot is the director of the green house at the university campus. Currently he is in...
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...http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oBOeWylSMfM 1) List the business processes displayed in the video: _ The identification of the package that follows a very standardized process. . _Secondly the way packages are handled on the conveyor belts is also very repetitive. _Last the shipping process: packages are transferred to airports. 2)Lists the types of information systems listed in the video. The types of information systems shown in the video are the transaction processing system and office automation systems. Indeed the transaction processing system is highlighted by the billing systems to send invoices to customers automated on the conveyor belt with the scanners. The office automation system allowed to improve greatly the productivity thanks to technology .Knowledge management system seems also efficient since the employees filmed knew very well their jobs and the functioning of the factory and the organization of FedEx. 3)Why is fedEx an entreprise system? FedEx is an entreprise system. It offers high quality of service, dealing with large volumes of data and is capable of supporting some large organization. The amount of packages handled is indeed significant. The sorting center is a technology platform that enables organizations to integrate and coordinate their business processes. There is no information fragmentation since the succession of business processes is very clear (see question 1). 4)How important is technology to FedEx business processes? Technology...
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...********************* In today’s “tech” and competitive world, businesses are in transformation from manual inventory system to automated inventory system, including small businesses. Automated Inventory systems can reduce costs, retain the existing customers and gain profits. It can replace the time consuming manual process by providing more accurate data. Every business should have a proper inventory system in order to track whether the store is running out of the stock of an important item or there are some items that are obsolete. Nowadays, automated system is used almost by all the retailers, grocery stores and manufacturing companies. A good inventory control system will alert the retailer when it is time to reorder (www.barcodesinc.com). Automated inventory system will keep the competitive advantage of your company and increase the value of your business. This plan will describe all the necessary equipment required for a low-cost automated inventory system for a small clothing store. It will also explain the costs involved in creation of the system and describe the ongoing maintenance that will be required for the smooth running of the system and provide a workflow diagram of how the system will work. The equipments required to install a low-cost automated inventory system in small clothing store consists of a computer- desktop or laptop whichever is more cheaper, system requirements that can handle and store the inventory system, backup/recovery/portable hard disk...
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...AUTOMATION TECHNOLOGY 1 WHAT IS AUTOMATION? • Automation is the use of machines, control systems and information technologies to optimize productivity in the production of goods and delivery of services. • The correct incentive for applying automation is to increase productivity, and/or quality beyond that possible with current human labor levels so as to realize economies of scale, and/or realize predictable quality levels. 2 AUTOMATION • In the scope of industrialization, automation is a step beyond mechanization. Whereas mechanization provides human operators with machinery to assist them with the muscular requirements of work, automation greatly decreases the need for human sensory and mental requirements while increasing load capacity, speed, and repeatability. Automation plays an increasingly important role in the world economy and in daily experience. 3 ADVANTAGES OF AUTOMATION • Increased throughput or productivity. • Improved quality or increased predictability of quality. • Improved robustness (consistency), of processes or product. • Increased consistency of output. • Reduced direct human labor costs and expenses. 4 METHODS WHERE AUTOMATION MAY BE IMPLEMENTED TO IMPROVE PRODUCTIVITY, QUALITY OR ROBUSTNESS • Install automation in operations to reduce cycle time. • Install automation where a high degree of accuracy is required. • Replacing human operators in tasks that involve hard physical or monotonous work. • Replacing humans in tasks...
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