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."
Inforbix is leveraging its CAD and product data access technology to power up a free iPad app that lets mobile users search and access engineering data.
Unlike his friends in engineering programs, blogger Jon Titus had little need for calculus except in a few of his college physical-chemistry labs and classes.
In the wake of the Chevy Volt fire investigations, sales are down, and General Motors' (GM) CEO Dan Akerson is blaming the downturn on a spate of bad publicity.
Thanks to embedded electronics, medical devices are getting smaller and smarter than ever. Pacemakers and implantable defibrillators are now able to call physicians. MRIs, CT scanners, and ultrasound machines are gaining mobility. And the venerable Band-Aid may soon be able to detect illnesses ranging from fevers to heart arrhythmias. On February 21, join Design News senior editor Charles Murray for a wide-ranging discussion, "Embedded Angles for Medical Products," which will explore the latest developments in medical electronics. The discussion will examine advances in medical device technology and offer an inside look at the embedded electronics behind it.
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