The Barcode Turns 50

The barcode’s origin story is somewhat in doubt. However, many people recognize April 3, 1973, as its birthday—making the barcode 50 years old.

On this day, the IBM version created by senior engineer George Laurer was approved as the industry standard. Shortly thereafter, the first barcoded product was scanned in Marsh’s supermarket near Troy, Ohio. The item was a 10-pack of Wrigley’s Juicy Fruit gum for $1.39.

The use of the barcode has greatly expanded since 1973. Barcodes are everywhere. The Universal Product […]

Zipline Drones to Serve 10,000 Locations This Year

Zipline’s amazing delivery drone technology, which launched in Rwanda six years ago, has now made over a half a million deliveries of life-saving supplies in several African nations and Japan.

Currently, Zipline drones deliver to 3,000 hospitals around the world, and the company plans to serve 10,000 locations by the end of the year.  Its sights are set on active drone delivery systems for a variety of purposes in the U.S. by the end of 2023.


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BMW’s Digital Twin Factory

The world’s first digital twin of BMW’s electric vehicle (EV) factory in Hungary is made possible with Nvidia’s simulation technology.

BMW can use the digital replica of its physical factory to detect and correct any problems before actual production, in order to plan and optimize its EV design.  Eventually, BMW will be able to simplify workflow by integrating the physical and virtual world with artificial intelligence.


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Major League Baseball Drives Faster Cycle Times

Cycle time is an essential part of operations management.

Using an industrial analogy like repetitive automobile manufacturing, cycle time can be defined in two contexts: the time it takes to perform one task, such as installation of the hood, or the cumulative time it takes to perform all tasks as a product makes its way to completion, such as a completed automobile.

Companies often seek to improve cycle time to increase output (inventory), support more sales, reduce costs, and capture more market […]

By |2023-03-30T19:34:21+00:00March 30, 2023|Tags: , , , , |
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