lunes, 27 de septiembre de 2010

Túnel sí, pero férreo


Hay túneles de túneles y su pertinencia, o no, depende de muchos factores que es preciso analizar antes de comprometerse con su construcción. Nos referimos a la noticia dada por el Gobernador, Luis Alfredo Ramos, sobre el inminente inicio de un túnel para carros y buses que unirá los valles de Aburrá y San Nicolás.

Son muy distintas las circunstancias del Oriente antioqueño con las del Occidente. El túnel Fernando Gómez Martínez, ya en servicio, y el proyectado de Toyo son esenciales para hacer más corta la distancia entre Medellín y el resto de Antioquia con el mar Caribe y un puerto que seguramente se construirá en el Golfo de Urabá.

Estos túneles son esenciales porque no hay ni es viable ninguna otra alternativa de comunicaciones, como sí la tiene el de Oriente. Estos túneles servirán para llevar y traer carga pesada y contenedores entre Urabá, el resto del departamento y del suroccidente colombiano, circunstancia que no se presentaría en el túnel hacia el aeropuerto internacional.

El de Oriente competiría con la autopista Medellín-Bogotá, con la Vía a Las Palmas y con la del Escobero en Envigado. Quien esté en el norte del Aburrá no llegará hasta el centro de Medellín, con sus inconvenientes, para ir al Oriente. Quien esté en el Sur tampoco se irá al centro, cuando puede usar la Vía a Las Palmas o El Escobero. No tiene razón para aumentar tiempo, kilometraje y combustible.

Otro motivo de reflexión tiene que ser su extensión y, por lo tanto, su costo de construcción: 8.6 kilómetros. Casi el doble del túnel Fernando Gómez Martínez. Creemos que es mejor completar la doble calzada en el tramo faltante: Sancho Paisa y Sajonia.

Entonces, ¿sería mejor olvidarnos del túnel a Oriente? No. Pero sí podríamos considerar otra alternativa: que sea un túnel férreo que prolongue la línea B del Metro hasta el aeropuerto José María Córdova. Ese transporte sí sería usado para ir al terminal aéreo y sus usuarios vendrían del Norte, el centro, el Occidente y el Sur del Valle de Aburrá.

Y no estamos soñando. La empresa del Metro tiene los estudios y diseños para hacer esta obra. Es una empresa seria que garantizaría un manejo excelente. Pero sería útil, además y sobre todo, a todos los municipios del Valle de San Nicolás que tendrían conexiones por medio de líneas férreas desde el propio aeropuerto. Así se integrarían de la manera más eficiente y ecológicamente limpia los dos valles. No es bueno propiciar que la contaminación del Aburrá se prolongue a una zona que ha sido y debe seguir siendo un pulmón verde.


Pero hay más razones: los extractores de aire de un túnel férreo son mucho más baratos que los de otro de vehículos que emiten CO2. Son más sencillos y se necesitan menos. Lo mismo podríamos decir de la iluminación, el túnel férreo prácticamente no la necesita.

Dirán algunos que hay un compromiso con el pool de ingenieros que hizo la Vía a Las Palmas. Ese pool puede hacer el túnel férreo y completar la doble calzada en el tramo faltante que ya hemos mencionado.

Ojalá haya una discusión seria y documentada antes de embarcarnos en una obra costosísima y que no tendría la utilización que la justificaría. Se impone analizar las ecuaciones costo-beneficio y costo-uso




fuente: http://www.elcolombiano.com/BancoConocimiento/T/tunel_si_pero_ferreo/tunel_si_pero_ferreo.asp?CodSeccion=219

jueves, 23 de septiembre de 2010

El símbolo del terror en Colombia ha caído, alias ‘El Mono Jojoy’ fue dado de baja: Presidente Santos

El presidente Juan Manuel Santos confirmó que Jorge Briceño, alias ‘El Mono Jojoy’, fue dado de baja en la región de La Macarena, luego de un operativo conjunto entre la Policía, Ejército y Fuerza Aérea Colombiana.

“El símbolo del terror en Colombia ha caído, alias ‘El Mono Jojoy’ fue dado de baja, es una noticia histórica para nuestro país”, señaló el Presidente, quien agregó que la operación se venía “planeando hace mucho tiempo”.

“Es el golpe más contundente contra las Farc, era el símbolo del terror, por eso es el golpe más contundente”, señaló.

Santos también dijo que la operación se realizó en la noche del lunes y en la madrugada de ayer, y afirmó que participaron 30 aviones, 27 helicópteros, unos 400 uniformados.

“Esta mañana me llamó el Ministro de Defensa (Rodrigo Rivera) a decirme que ya habían sido identificado el cuerpo del ‘Mono Jojoy’”, indicó.

De igual forma, felicitó al ministro Rivera, al comandante de las Fuerzas Armadas, almirante Edgar Cely; al comandante del Ejército, general Alejandro Navas; al director de la Policía, general Óscar Naranjo; al comandante de la Armada, almirante Álvaro Echandía, y al comandante de la FAC, Mayor General Julio Alberto González.

“Quiero felicitar muy especialmente al ministro Rivera, comandantes de las Fuerzas Armadas (…) y a todos los hombres que participaron en esta operación conjunta”, sostuvo el Presidente.

Finalmente, Santos le dijo a las Farc que “vamos por ellos” y que esta operación es la “operación bienvenida a las Farc”.

'Jojoy’ nació el 5 de febrero de 1953 en Cabrera (Cundinamarca) y hacia parte del ala militar de las Farc y fue derrotado por ‘Alfonso Cano’ para reemplazar a Manuel Marulanda como mayor comandante de esa guerrilla.

Sobre el guerrillero existían alrededor de 62 órdenes de capturas, 12 medidas de aseguramiento, 5 condenas, 2 peticiones de extradición y 25 investigaciones preliminares por delitos de narcotráfico, terrorismo, rebelión, homicidio con fines terroristas, secuestro, constreñimiento ilegal, lesiones personales, asalto, extorsión, conspiración en actividades del narcotráfico y secuestro, hurto, porte ilegal de armas y muchos más.

Según el gobernador del Meta, Darío Vásquez, desde ayer “tenían el objetivo muy cerca” y aseguró que el bombardeo se pudo haber producido en horas de la noche.

Así mismo, señaló que la zona de La Escalera, en La Macarena, donde habría caído ‘El Mono Jojoy’ ha sido el santuario de las Farc y confirmó que allí funcionó Casa Verde y la zona de distensión.

Fuente: http://www.wradio.com.co/nota.aspx?id=1361917

lunes, 13 de septiembre de 2010

Herramientas Software Para Vigilancia Tecnologica

Lo mejor que he visto en vigilancia tecnológica:

Autor: Iñaki Lakarra

jueves, 9 de septiembre de 2010

Robonaut




What is a Robonaut?

A Robonaut is a dexterous humanoid robot built and designed at NASA Johnson Space Center in Houston, Texas. Our challenge is to build machines that can help humans work and explore in space. Working side by side with humans, or going where the risks are too great for people, Robonauts will expand our ability for construction and discovery. Central to that effort is a capability we call dexterous manipulation, embodied by an ability to use one's hand to do work, and our challenge has been to build machines with dexterity that exceeds that of a suited astronaut.

There are currently four Robonauts, with others currently in development. This allows us to study various types of mobility, control methods, and task applications. The value of a humanoid over other designs is the ability to use the same workspace and tools - not only does this improve efficiency in the types of tools, but also removes the need for specialized robotic connectors. Robonauts are essential to NASA's future as we go beyond low earth orbit and continue to explore the vast wonder that is space.

Robonaut 2 or R2, will launch to the International Space Station on space shuttle Discovery as part of the STS-133 mission, it will become the first dexterous humanoid robot in space, and the first US-built robot at the space station. But that will be just one small step for a robot and one giant leap for robot-kind.

Initially R2 will be deployed on a fixed pedestal inside the ISS. Next steps include a leg for climbing through the corridors of the Space Station, upgrades for R2 to go outside into the vacuum of space, and then future lower bodies like legs and wheels to propel the R2 across Lunar and Martian terrain. A four wheeled rover called Centaur 2 is being evaluated at the 2010 Desert Field Test in Arizona as an example of these future lower bodies for R2.

Background

The idea of using dexterous, human-like robots capable of using their hands to do intricate work is not new to the aerospace industry. The original Robonaut, a humanoid robot designed for space travel, was built by the software, robotics and simulation division at Johnson in a collaborative effort with the Defense Advanced Research Project Agency 10 years ago. During the past decade, NASA gained significant expertise in building robotic technologies for space applications. These capabilities will help NASA launch a bold new era of space exploration.
The first generation Robonaut was designed by the Robot Systems Technology Branch at NASA's Johnson Space Center in a collaborative effort with DARPA. The Robonaut project seeks to develop and demonstrate a robotic system that can function as an EVA astronaut equivalent. Robonaut jumps generations ahead by eliminating the robotic scars (e.g., special robotic grapples and targets) and specialized robotic tools of traditional on-orbit robotics. However, it still keeps the human operator in the control loop through its telepresence control system. Robonaut is designed to be used for "EVA" tasks, i.e., those which were not specifically designed for robots.

Robonaut 2

In the current iteration of Robonaut, Robonaut 2 or R2, NASA and General Motors are working together to accelerate development of the next generation of robots and related technologies for use in the automotive and aerospace industries.
R2 20 pound weight, Robonaut
Robonaut 2 (R2) is a state of the art highly dexterous anthropomorphic robot. Like its predecessor Robonaut 1 (R1), R2 is capable of handling a wide range of EVA tools and interfaces, but R2 is a significant advancement over its predecessor. R2 is capable of speeds more than four times faster than R1, is more compact, is more dexterous, and includes a deeper and wider range of sensing. Advanced technology spans the entire R2 system and includes: optimized overlapping dual arm dexterous workspace, series elastic joint technology, extended finger and thumb travel, miniaturized 6-axis load cells, redundant force sensing, ultra-high speed joint controllers, extreme neck travel, and high resolution camera and IR systems. The dexterity of R2 allows it to use the same tools that astronauts currently use and removes the need for specialized tools just for robots. One advantage of a humanoid design is that Robonaut can take over simple, repetitive, or especially dangerous tasks on places such as the International Space Station. Because R2 is approaching human dexterity, tasks such as changing out an air filter can be performed without modifications to the existing design.
Another way this might be beneficial is during a robotic precursor mission. R2 would bring one set of tools for the precursor mission, such as setup and geologic investigation. Not only does this improve efficiency in the types of tools, but also removes the need for specialized robotic connectors. Future missions could then supply a new set of tools and use the existing tools already on location.

martes, 7 de septiembre de 2010

FERNANDO PALOP MARRO, “Vigilancia tecnológica: apuesta para el desarrollo”

Por Beatriz Marín, Colombia – ROJO Y AZUL, 06-09-2010.
Es de Barbastro, Huesca, cerca de Los Pirineos, pero vive en Valencia desde los 10 años y por ello esta ciudad mediterránea es como su segunda patria. Proviene del área de las Ciencias Económicas y el Derecho, también realizó estudios de Sistemas de información y bases de datos, además de otros sobre Gestión de la información y en temáticas de vigilancia. Esta última es su línea conductora en los últimos años y en ella desarrolla servicios para empresas grandes y pequeñas.

Se trata del profesor del departamento de Comunicación de empresas en la Escuela de Industriales de la Universidad Politécnica de Valencia y cofundador de la empresa Triz XXI dedicada a servicios de consultoría y capacitación en temas de innovación y vigilancia: Fernando Palop Morro.

Conferencia de Vigilancia Tecnológica en la sede de la UPB, Medellín. Foto cortesía CIDI.

Estuvo en la Universidad Pontificia Bolivariana de Medellín, Colombia, durante tres días con investigadores de la institución en un curso de Vigilancia Tecnológica, Rojo y azul estuvo allí y diálogo con él.

Profesor Palop ¿Qué es la vigilancia tecnológica?
Se trata de unas técnicas y unos métodos de trabajo que le permiten a las organizaciones y a las empresas estar más atentas y de manera más anticipada a los cambios generales que se producen en las tecnologías, en los mercados y en general en el entorno económico de cada país.

¿Por qué es importante la vigilancia tecnológica?
Porque en un mundo global la anticipación favorece a aquellos que la tienen para aprovechar las oportunidades y a su vez el acceso a la información posibilita que puedan aprovecha oportunidades en mercados y países lejanos que sin las técnicas y métodos de la vigilancia a lo mejor, difícilmente podrían hacer. Desde el punto de vista de Colombia sitúa al país y a quienes quieran utilizar estas técnicas en igualdad de oportunidades o en una mejor con respecto a otros que están en países tradicionalmente desarrollados.

¿Qué vigila la vigilancia tecnológica?
Los expertos y especialista en este campo nos dedicamos a seguir las mejores prácticas, los avances, los métodos, los usos y aquellos que mejor lo hacen.

¿Y quién vigila al vigilante?
No sé si los interesados se preocuparán por los que lo hacemos.

¿Vigilancia o inteligencia?
Yo vengo viendo que se utilizan los dos la vigilancia como término alude más a estar pendientes y estar atentos a lo que pasa a nuestro alrededor y la inteligencia a la capacidad de transformar la información en conocimientos y en posibilidades de acción de toma de decisiones. Ambos elementos son complementarios y son necesarios para generar buenas decisiones necesitamos estar atentos sin vigilancia la inteligencia tiene poco sentido, no se trata simplemente del placer de estar al día. Desde luego desde el punto de vista profesional o empresarial ambas cosas son importantes.

¿Qué opinión le merece la investigación de nuestro país?
Creo que se está desarrollando un gran esfuerzo pero al mismo tiempo queda un camino por recorrer. Tradicionalmente el impacto de la actividad científica colombiana en el mundo es muy reducida en el sentido que los grupos aún tienen poca visibilidad salvo excepciones, entonces de lo que se trata es ir avanzando al ritmo más acelerado posible pero la parte positiva es que hay gran inquietud y gran interés

¿Y como ve la investigación en la Universidad Pontificia Bolivariana?
No tengo un criterio preciso, ni datos para formular un juicio, pero después de estos tres días de trabajo puedo decir que quienes participaron son muy voluntariosos y con muchas ganas de superarse. Creo que hay muchas posibilidades de potenciar habilidades y el trabajo de investigación.

 ¿Que recomienda para mejorar los procesos de vigilancia tecnológica?
Que se generalicen en los grupos las recomendaciones que hemos visto. No debemos conformarnos con buscar novedades en nuestro país sino en el mundo, que tenemos que hacer para ser tan buenos como los mejores. Una de las grandes ventajas en este mundo global es que el acceso a la información la tenemos en iguales condiciones que los demás. Hay que intentarlo.

¿Quiénes son los países líderes en este tema?
Las potencias en esta materia son países como: Japón, los países escandinavos, Alemania, Reino Unido, Estados Unidos, Francia y en Latinoamérica la gran potencia es Brasil además han contado en esto con la colaboración de Francia, y Brasil ya tiene muy integradas las técnicas de vigilancia.
Una parte de las explicaciones de los excelentes resultados en el desarrollo que lograron países como Korea, Singapur, Taiwán además de Japón se atribuye a su capacidad para identificar y aprender de oportunidades y mejores prácticas usando estas técnicas.

¿Le gusta Colombia?
Me gusta Colombia, vengo desde el año 2003. Descubrí que es un país muy agradecido para el que viene con ganas de trabajar, también es un país espectacular en cuanto a belleza, a la atención y a la calidad humana de las personas.


Profesor Fernando Palop en compañía de investigadores de la UPB (SANDRA BEDOYA Y MARGARITA ENID). Foto cortesía CIDI.

lunes, 6 de septiembre de 2010

Four Megatrends That Will Change Supply Chain Management

We are now in a market-driven economy, where the individual consumer is the ultimate channel master. This dynamic shift is the third to occur in the past 100 years. The front end of the 20th century was marked by a marketing-driven economy, where marketers and brands were the channel masters due to the relatively limited buying options (when compared with today's standards) and the smaller volume of disposable income available. In the second half of the 20th century, retailers, previously viewed as mere middlemen, emerged as the channel masters. They owned the data and the direct relationships with the consumers, and--thanks to the efforts of Sam Walton of Wal-Mart, Bernard L. Marcus of The Home Depot and Richard M. Schulze of Best Buy--were able to use this position to gain significant leverage over the manufacturers and suppliers. The forces of capitalism, or to be more precise, opportunism, guaranteed that competition would flourish in the retail space. This was accelerated by the information revolution of Internet commerce as well as by the great distribution of wealth that occurred in the economic bubble of 1996-2001, leading to the third phase we're experiencing now: where the customer is truly central to the supply chain continuum of strategy and process. The transfer of power from manufacturers to retailers sparked a series of paradigm shifts in how products are developed, introduced, distributed, serviced and retired. In the multi-enterprise global economy of today and the future, the supply chain is the common denominator across all of these elements. In order to understand these shifts, we must understand the megatrends that directly influence them.

MEGATREND 1: Mass Customization

In a commoditized world, consumers will increasingly satisfy both their basic and their non-essential needs through their consumption patterns. Progressively, the market adopts a mass-customization model, which allows consumers to customize products by self-selecting their most preferred composition across a predefined selection of modules.
What's happened in the audio-equipment business is a good example. Twenty years ago, a stereo enthusiast who wanted a quality system would make the purchase at a specialized stereo store and pay a premium. Product selection was minimal, and the price was prohibitive for the mass market. The result was that home audio/visual entertainment was available only to those with the economic ability and the know-how to purchase it.
The big-box retailers changed all of that. Today's consumers have access to a wide array of modular solutions with which they can piece together their desired products or services. They can configure their home-entertainment system, for example, based on the specific qualities they are looking for. They can choose from large- or smallscreen monitors, projection, liquid-crystal display or plasma, various features among numerous audio components, all the way down to the cabinetry the components are housed in. In this way, they are captains of their own conspicuous consumption.
Customization is now one of the key differentiators in the consumer's buying process. Personal-computer manufacturers such as Dell allow customers to choose the memory size, type of processor, monitor size and other characteristics of their hardware and software, for example. Automobile manufacturers are enabling customers to configure and accessorize their purchases--such as the popular MINI Cooper or Toyota's Scion--with an evergrowing list of options. Home builders provide a wide array of upgrade options. The common denominator across all of these buying experiences is the ability to configure and customize. In essence, consumers are presented with a template of commodity choices. They make the product their own through their personal customization.
How companies manage the customization processes will dictate their ability to both attract and retain customers and to generate profit. A company may offer a number of product modules that can be mass customized as well as levels of choice within those modules. But each option adds complexity to the supply chains underneath it. This forces companies to deal with distributed procurement, fulfillment, manufacturing and distribution at an increasing velocity due to the increased segmentation and volatility in market demand signals.

MEGATREND 2: Globalization and Micro-segmentation

The aging populations of the United States, Europe and Japan will create new marketing challenges and service opportunities. Micro-segmentation of markets will replace traditional macro-segmentation, resulting in the parallel transition from macro-focused supply chains to microfocused supply chains designed for and serving the individual consumer. Central to this will be the capture and analysis of customer information about product/ service use, needs, wants, desires and behavior. Knowledge of the customer down to this level of detail will be seen as mission-critical to the enterprise.
New market opportunities will emerge as the global economic infrastructure enables the establishment of a middle class with increased disposable income, which will, in turn, foster a larger consumer economy. As the economic centers of Europe and North America become saturated, the emerging markets of Brazil, Russia, India and China will continue to explode. Companies that can tap into those markets successfully will own the greatest market share. This shift will force significant change, requiring enhanced trading, market and distribution infrastructures.
A prime example of this is General Motors' presence in China. Since launching the Buick line in China in 1999, GM has invested more than $3 billion in developing a Chinese footprint of 14 brands. Further investment projections include another $3 billion to support the introduction of an additional 20 models and an overall increase in production of 145 percent over the next two years. The results of this investment speak for themselves. To date, GM has achieved the number 2 spot behind Volkswagen in this market and has experienced significant gains year after year since its first launches. More important, due to the lower cost of sales in the Chinese marketplace, GM's margins are far more appealing than in the United States, where competition demands significant marketing investment, eroding margin.
In the case of both GM and Volkswagen, the organizations entered the markets early and invested in the infrastructure. They are enjoying this lead today, but the competition (in the form of both local and international players) is catching up. First movers enjoy a runway of advantage, but the key to sustaining advantage resides in the adaptability and agility of their supply chain operations--the ability to shift at any moment in order to adopt the next strategy that will provide the next window of advantage.
Globalization and the accessibility of information broaden the forces of price elasticity and fluid markets. Real-time, "anywhere" communications will increase competition and open markets worldwide. These new marketplaces will revolve around dynamic product offers, predictive demographics and enhanced market intelligence, including Internet product development polls and other Net-economy innovations. Prices will become highly elastic-- moving targets based on the conditions of the moment. Markets will be fluid, very flexible and personalized based on loyalty commitments.
The likely ramifications of globalization for supply chain management are:

Concentration of supply

In the new distributed manufacturing and distribution paradigm, organizations will have to become more agile in addition to remaining lean. They will have to establish greater synchronization across their own functions and across the multiple supply chain partnerships they maintain for the processes of the extended supply chain: planning, sourcing, making, delivering and returning product in a global environment.
Global terrorism and multi-front conflicts will lead companies to move away from the traditional definition of the lean model of inventory management that was widely adopted in the latter half of the 20th century. As a hedge against the risk of supply disruption, stockpiling certain key components and building strategic buffers will become the norm in some industries. The disciplines of inventory optimization and sales and operations planning will take on added significance. The increased specialization of products and services will lead to a concentration of supply among a smaller number of sources.

Production close to markets

The supply base will become increasingly interconnected and interdependent to deliver the products and services in demand. Political uncertainty will continue to put pressure on companies and add tremendous costs, especially in the area of transport. These costs may force some industries to move away from exclusive outsourcing and start producing closer to the point of consumption.

Proliferation of predictive technology

The "build anywhere for anyone" mentality increases the risks that a supply chain will need to respond to from environmental disasters. As a result, companies need the ability to manage distribution and sourcing exceptions in real time, with multiple layers of optimization capabilities.

Competition for talent

As the division of labor is further distributed across national boundaries, human capital--talent--will prove to be the most valuable resource. Companies will need new leaders and leadership strategies that enable recruitment of top talent, management of innovation, and the ability to envision and execute profitably. Recruits will have to think of themselves as global employees, since they may be asked to live outside their native country to conduct the work of the organization. An organization's ability to recruit, develop and retain leaders will figure heavily into its competitiveness.
Four Megatrends

MEGATREND 3: Rapid Innovation

Competitive advantage can be gained by focusing on product leadership, customer intimacy and operational excellence. Central to this focus are product innovation and supply chain collaboration. Each can create differentiated value independently. Combined, they can help companies realize the full potential of innovative products by extending the life cycle of advantage or constraining the length of time a competitor has it. The market's constant demand for smaller, faster and more feature-rich products makes maximizing differentiation critical to sustained success.
Innovation will become much more rapid as more products are tailored, customized or configured to individual tastes. As product life cycles shrink aggressively, speed to market is critical for extending the length of competitive advantage. There are many examples of companies that just a few years ago enjoyed a dominant position, but whose strategy has failed to yield continuous innovation. As a result, their competitors have taken market share through their own innovation strategies.
How companies make their innovation strategies operable will be as important as the initial spark of innovation itself.
Lasting differentiation will be supported by the systems, processes and methodologies of the entire supply chain. How companies make their innovation strategies operable will be as important as the initial spark of innovation itself. The luxury of a long development time for product introduction is no longer an option. The product development cycle itself is now tied directly to large-scale product launches (simultaneous launches in multiple markets across the world). This is necessitated by the speed of communication about new products and the consumer demand for immediacy. It places significant strain on the supply chain that must support it and has moved supply chain management into a key role in the success or failure of product launches.
As AMR Research reports, late-to-market missed demand is the top reason for product-launch failure, with 32 percent of respondents in a recent study claiming it as such. (AMR report, "Missed Market Opportunity: Delivering Innovation Remains a Business Challenge," by Michael Burkett, March 9, 2006).
Supply chain innovators work backward from the market into their value chains. Aligning operations from the point of sale enables the creation of lean, agile and demand-based supply chain networks. These networks link the variables of liability, finance and logistics to ensure that the proper balance of profitability and performance is achieved.

MEGATREND 4: Collaboration Among Multiple Enterprises

In the new paradigm, companies are no longer single enterprises. They are members of specialized teams consisting of vendors, service providers and customers--all of whose roles are symbiotic and whose responsibilities are interdependent. As companies focus on building more responsive and flexible supply chain networks, they are discovering that they do not have just a single supply chain. They have many different supply chains that are specific to product, location, customer or supplier, each with different requirements and abilities.
The globalized business model has re-engineered today's supply chain so that each member becomes a bestof- breed contributor within what Forrester Research calls an "innovation network." (Innovation Networks: Global Progress Report 2006, Forrester Research, Inc., June 2006).
Achieving success in this multi-enterprise environment requires companies to execute as members of a coordinated team. They must share common processes, information and metrics--a single version of the truth. This requires going beyond conventional approaches to partnership and data exchange. Companies must now tackle risk, latency and inefficiency through shared management of critical operations across multiple supply chain tiers in order to implement their innovation strategies.
As a result, today we are seeing a hybrid model of supply chain management. It pulls together the strengths of centralized planning and the strengths of decentralized execution. The principal driver in the hybrid model is connected and collaborating value networks, which enable companies to maximize their economies of scale while maintaining the flexibility to deal with day-to-day variability in supply and demand.
In the multi-enterprise supply chain, managers need complete reporting of critical activity from planning to execution. New-generation technology solutions can provide this information to all supply chain participants through business dashboards, shared metrics and performance scorecarding.

The role of advanced technology

The confluence of these megatrends requires that effective supply chain management be built on a framework that is scalable, agile and adaptable. Technology advances such as service-oriented architecture (SOA) and grid computing will emerge as the norm, reducing IT spending on hardware.
Significant enhancements in performance and scalability from a technology standpoint are required to power these capabilities. Grid computing has the potential to provide the necessary horsepower on demand to solve complex problems involving petabytes of data. Smart software will then be able to leverage the deluge of available information and crunch through the numbers at lightning speed, using predictive engines to self-tune forecasts and inventories in alignment with company objectives for efficiency and profitability. In addition, open source will become pervasive through all types of software and become an extremely viable option for enterprises.
As radio frequency identification (RFID) becomes ubiquitous, companies will track each and every SKU every minute until it 's sold to the customer and probably beyond (until it's consumed). This will create a tremendous opportunity to understand buying patterns, demand behavior, personal preferences, etc.--all from a sales/marketing perspective. Such RFID data will also help companies reduce inventories and provide better tracking and customer-service levels, in addition to many other benefits.
Advanced information platforms and systems will embed and automate more business intelligence than ever, enabling faster and "smarter" decision-making. Let's look at these two enablers more closely.

Increased business intelligence and performance analytics

In the distributed supply chains of tomorrow, success will hinge upon the two interconnected abilities to identify weaknesses and then act quickly and effectively to resolve them.
The plan-do-check-act (PDCA) cycle developed by Dr.Walter Shewhart in the 1930s will continue to be the core strategy for agile supply chain management (see article, page 21). The "check" quadrant of this cycle grows in complexity across distributed operations, yet greatly influences the success or failure of the overall process itself. The central output of the PDCA cycle is the "ramp of improvement," a strategy of continuous improvement, where companies take on new and slightly more complex projects immediately after the completion of earlier ones. To achieve this, companies must measure the success and failure of each node in an operation.
Business intelligence and performance analytics enable organizations to obtain the information required to recognize activity patterns (in operations and in transactions) and to identify the bottlenecks within processes and correct them. This intelligence will help companies to fully leverage planning and execution data, enabling comparisons between plan and actual result. Such intelligence also will facilitate greater control over supplier, partner and financial performance across the entire supply chain.
Within the four walls of the single enterprise, business intelligence must be operational; it must help the organization understand the "why" behind the numbers. Scorecards are useful for this purpose. Rather than sifting through many reports, they allow managers to see immediately how the supply chain is performing in critical areas and at key leverage points. In fact, performance measurement enables the entire organization to communicate strategy and targets effectively and to achieve accountability.
Outside the four walls of the single enterprise, business intelligence enhances collaboration. Some companies that have outsourced critical components of their supply chain have lost touch with critical data, but careful business intelligence strategies can rebuild these important links.
Scorecard metrics are interdependent and show how one element of the operation affects another, leading to proactive cooperation among different areas. Through the centralization of multi-enterprise business content, organizations will be positioned to make guided decisions based on accurate and up-to-date information from the entire supply chain.
Often, significant efficiency gains are sacrificed at companies because certain areas of the operation are highly efficient, while others are not. In the closed-loop systems of supply chain management, where each action has direct ramifications on both upstream and downstream activities, a single bottleneck can have significant impact on the entire value chain. Business intelligence and performance analytics solutions have two critical functions. Therefore, they must measure their respective domains and integrate with the core financial systems that feed the general ledger.

Summary

We are witnesses to an entirely new generation of technology-based global commerce in today's "perfect storm" of demographic and technological shifts:
  • The individual consumer is the trigger of all supply chain activity.
  • The scale of consumers and consumables has reached unprecedented proportions.
  • Companies have transitioned from individual contributors to members of interoperable manufacturing, distribution and service teams and networks, with shared risks and rewards.
  • Speed and adaptability continue to provide significant advantage.
What makes this moment in history unique is the perfect match between the primary force of economic change--the scale and influence of the individual consumer and the abundance of consumables available--and the ability of information technologies to manage and synchronize the complexities of global manufacturing and distribution networks. The ability to quickly and efficiently align and control these distributed supply chain networks will provide the horsepower for the global economic engine.

miércoles, 1 de septiembre de 2010

BID y BM entregan US$50 millones para ciencia, tecnología e innovación

El dinero de la primera fase se invertirán en la consolidación de capacidades tanto de Colciencias como del Sistema Nacional de Ciencia, Tecnología e Innovación.

Colciencias firmó dos créditos con la banca multilateral, uno con el Banco Mundial (BM) y otro con el Banco Interamericano de Desarrollo (BID), cada uno por US$25 millones, para un total de US$50 millones.

(ver otro articulo relacionado con la CyT)

Esta gestión hace parte de un programa de ciencia, tecnología e innovación financiado por un crédito externo por valor de US$500 millones. El programa se implementará en dos etapas, la primera contará con US$50 millones y la segunda con US$450 millones que serán invertidos en financiación de sectores estratégicos.

El crédito con el BID y con el BM tendrá una duración de tres años cada uno, y los primeros US$50 millones se invertirán en la consolidación de capacidades tanto de Colciencias como del Sistema Nacional de Ciencia, Tecnología e Innovación (SNCTI).

En ese sentido, para el fortalecimiento institucional se designarán US$ 18.86 millones; en Inversión para la Investigación y la Innovación US$17.9 millones; en Capital Humano, Apropiación Social y Comunicación Institucional US$11.7 millones y otra parte de los recursos se direccionará a gastos de gestión del proyecto, auditorías e imprevistos.

El contrato de préstamo fue firmado por Rodrigo Parot, representante del BID en Colombia; Gloria Grandolini, directora de país del Banco Mundial; Oscar Iván Zuluaga, ministro de Hacienda y Juan Francisco Miranda, director general de Colciencias.

Este primer paso del programa es muy importante para el desarrollo de la ciencia, la tecnología y la innovación en el país, pues “es el inicio de una nueva etapa donde se busca consolidar la investigación y la innovación con un financiamiento asegurado para integrar el conocimiento al crecimiento económico y a la disminución de la inequidad”, explicó Juan Francisco Miranda.

El crédito significa un cambio de enfoque en la dirección de los recursos, los cuales estarán dirigidos a la coordinación de las capacidades de ciencia e innovación en sectores económicos específicos, y al aumento de la inversión privada en estas áreas.

De esta manera, “Colciencias continuará dando respuesta a la demanda de apoyo a la investigación y la innovación proveniente de todos los sectores, sean públicos o privados, sean académicos o productivos; pero también canalizará sus esfuerzos y recursos a la solución de problemas estratégicos del país en el marco de la Política Nacional de Ciencia Tecnología e Innovación. Con esto buscamos mejorar y avanzar en el desarrollo del sector, de tal forma que podamos cumplir las metas establecidas en el 2019 y en el 2032”, finalizó el alto directivo.

Fuente: http://www.dinero.com/negocios-online/administracion/innovacion/bid-bm-entregan-us50-millones-para-ciencia-tecnologia-innovacion_75164.aspx

Casa de 17 metros cuadrados en Seattle.

Steve Sauer, un ingeniero de Boeing, pasó los últimos 7 años convirtiendo este pequeño sótano de sólo 17 metros cuadrados en una vivienda de tres niveles.

Empotrada en el suelo justo debajo de la puerta principal y cubierto por un panel de 3form Chroma se encuentra la bañera. Ese es sólo uno de los muchos toques ingeniosos que Sauer ha logrado introducir en su vivienda, que también incluye dos camas, un TV de 37 “, un baño con ducha, una cocina con lavavajillas, y espacio para dos bicicletas de tamaño completo.

Inspirado en los pequeños apartamentos de Escandinavia y Japón, Sauer dedicó cientos de horas recorriendo la Internet para encontrar los componentes adecuados. Cuando no pudo encontrarlos, él mismo los hizo.






Este es otro desarrollo