This 1991 Harvard Business School (HBS) study on positive train control (PTC) shows how conflicted
Burlington Northern executives were in spending $350 million for the 2,700-mile
PTC rollout. Visit the HBS website if you wish to order the case for a nominal fee.
"Burlington
Northern's decision whether to invest in ARES, an automated train control
system, is a ($350 million) strategic investment in information technology.
Although set in a service industry (railroad) the issues around this decision
arise in many organizations and require the company to analyze the project from
many perspectives. ARES offers the potential to change the basis of competition
in the industry through technology. The company must consider the value, if any,
of being first in the industry to adopt a technology; the potential impact on
customer services, quality, and reliability; and the role and value of
information systems technology. Burlington grapples with how to quantify both
tangible and intangible benefits, and deliberates whether investments that yield
improvement in hard-to-quantify factors such as reduced delivery time and
improved service reliability can be subjected to the same financial scrutiny as
equipment replacement decisions such as new locomotives. Demonstrates
thoughtful, creative approaches to measuring hard-to-quantify benefits."
Almost every automaker has had to 'pick a side' when it comes to alternative fuel options and ways to divest from a reliance on gasoline. Fiat is looking to back compressed natural gas or liquid propane as an interim solution.
Designing and filling a new type of water bottle might take less engineering work, but the description will help kids understand how science, math, and engineering influence their lives even through things that seem mundane.
Against a backdrop of mounting product complexity and a need to keep a lid on development costs, companies are recognizing a need to make simulation a more integral part of the design process. In response, vendors in the CAD world are building out CAE functionality as part of their CAD suites while simulation vendors are building tighter integrations to leading CAD tools. Keith Meintjes, Ph.D., Practice Manager, Simulation and Analysis at CIMdata, Inc., joins Design News CAD Editor Beth Stackpole in this radio program to explore the new face of integrated CAD and CAE, how companies are benefitting from this tighter partnership between platforms, and how integrating CAE earlier in the development cycle pays off in optimized product designs.
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