Companies On The Cutting Edge

Companies working with cutting edge innovation can have lots of new challenges but also opportunities for growth. What are some examples of companies working with cutting edge innovation ?

Changes Are Compounding

Technological innovations like RFID tagging of animals have a number of implications. Whereas barcode tagging required a laser scanner to be aimed directly at a given barcode, RFID can reveal information totally and instantaneously. Think of radar to help understand. Radar sends out a “pulse” which “bounces” off objects, revealing them at a distance. Well, RFID, or Radio Frequency ID, does something very similar. An RFID chip, or “tag”, is inserted under the skin of a lab rat. Now that rat can be tracked, catalogued, and managed with greater ease. If you had 1,000 rats in a lab, it would take a minimum of 1,000 seconds to scan them in via laser-read barcode. It would likely still be conservative to assume a total cataloguing time of 3,000 seconds, given the time it takes to aim a barcode reader, and confirm it has entered the information into a computer. If you had to scan in lab rats three times a month, that’s 9,000 seconds, or 2.5 hours. That’s thirty hours a year saved via RFID tagging solution—hypothetically, of course. Now, the same kind of technology is being used in warehouses, on supply lines, and to keep track of vehicles singly or in fleets. Businesses providing RFID tagging solutions are doing very well right now, as they provide tangible value to diverse customers in virtually every echelon of profitable business today.

Information Management

Still, a lot of information is generated through RFID tagging solutions. Sometimes a big enough organization can’t process it internally with their own systems. They’ve got to use the cloud. Cloud computing can utilize something called Big Data to provide real-time analytics pertaining to operations. This allows closer management, greater optimization, and expansive cost reduction. There are actually quite a few cloud-based apps out there which are eliminating aspects of operation among businesses which free up thousands—sometimes hundreds of thousands—of dollars annually. A great way to do this is to use an app as a means of surrogating an employee. The employee costs $40k+ annually at minimum, once taxes, benefits, insurance, and other aspects of operations are factored in. Businesses like Clockspot are entirely eliminating the need for paper, as well as some personnel costs/ No more paper, messy spreadsheets, or manual calculations. Everything is stored in the cloud and backed up daily.

Cloud And Computer Innovation In Product Development

Further application of cloud technology has resulted in optimized development and manufacturing. Increasing quotients of precision are defining manufacture, and this has led to faster rates of production. Assembly, prototyping, and specific parts manufacture can be sourced more cost-effectively and swiftly than ever before. When it comes to manufacturing, your assembly needs can be outsourced to reduce costs with groups like Weiss-Aug. Whether a part requires stitching of terminals, molding of multiple inserts simultaneously, laser welding, or wire attachment, they can help you with the proper assembly methods for your program.

Ultimate Tech Implications

Now bridging the gap between cloud-based applications, RFID tagging, and swift manufacture of specific prototyping needs is IoT, or the Internet of Things. IoT tech often incorporates all three of these swiftly developing industries, and is now part and parcel to our daily lives. If you don’t believe that, just consider how lost you feel without your smartphone. All these things together represent the back-end of the forward moving technology wave; and there are countless waves roiling behind, waiting to crash into shore. If you’re in a business large or small, and you’re looking to optimize, it makes sense to understand these changes, and apply them as you can.