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Blockchain are certain to disrupt almost all industries fundamentally. Though there are technical issues, the idea of utilizing a blockchain to prove ownership, to prevent double spending and to establish trust and transactions in an otherwise trust-deficient world, is gaining excitement and acceptance. More and more enterprises are getting curious about the blockchain and are willing to start investing in learning, prototyping, and building on top of the blockchain technology. Starting out with the blockchain requires investment in a building the domain expertise, establishing the identity, establishing the infrastructure and deciding the blockchain that the enterprise wants to work with. Among these decisions is the question: Should the enterprise choose a public blockchain or a private blockchain. Both have advantages and disadvantages and the question can often come down to what are the short term goals and potential applications that the enterprise wants to build on the blockchain. Public BlockChains The default option when considering blockchains is the public blockchain. This is the blockchain that is truly decentralized, leverageable for any type of transaction and in the case of the Ethereum blockchain, offers SmartContract authoring capability that makes the blockchain very attractive for building contracts that reflect the needs of the real world. However, for an enterprise deciding between public or private contracts, there are some considerations that require attention. Speed and Scalability Public blockchains tend to be slower as they are limited by the number of transactions that can be verified every second and confirmed every 10 minutes. There are several efforts underway to make blockchains faster and more scalable however those will take time to get implemented. Speed and scalability will continue to be an issue and contracts and applications that require instant or near real time execution will suffer from this lack of speed and scale. Se

The quality or the lack thereof can be a huge contributing factor to a fractured and sluggish digital journey where ROI is hard to achieve and results come in short supply. The quality of data has a direct impact on the ability of the enterprise to be aware of relevant events, its reaction time, the decision time and its action time. A clear and concerted effort is required to measure and improve the data quality to drive better decisions and actions. Common Quality Issues The following are the most common quality issues Comprehensiveness Comprehensiveness quality issues refer to key attributes or data points missing from the data collected by the enterprise. This can occur when the data producing systems or the data delivery networks have glitches or malfunction or are incorrectly configured to miss entire rows of data or attributes of the data. Integrity Integrity quality issues refer to the corruption of the values of key attributes to contain unidentifiable or unreadable data. When key attributes are empty or null when they are by design, not allowed to be empty/null or when an attribute contains a value that does not meet the specifications of the type of the attribute for example, a string column contains an integer or a timestamp column contains a string not parse-able into a timestamp. Integrity of data is important before data can be included in the data set to drive analysis, decisions and actions. Sampling Sampling quality issues refer to the inclusion or exclusion of a certain percentage of the records in a data set with the assumption that the remainder records are good, representative sample of the original data set. Bad or inaccurate sampling can lead to a distorted view of reality and that can lead to bad decisions. In addition, sampling itself can make the data set inappropriate for certain types of analysis that require the entire dat set to be utilized for training. Filtering An upstream filtering scheme can end up removing too many or

Ten Tips to Help You with Your Kaizen Continuous Improvement Strategy The Kaizen methodology encourages ongoing efforts to ensure continuous improvement throughout a facility. This improvement can come in many forms including waste elimination, improved efficiency, safer work environments and much more. To simply say that a facility is employing Kaizen strategies, is essentially meaningless if you don't have any concrete action items you are following. Whether you're just getting started or you are looking for ways to reinvigorate a Kaizen strategy that is not effective, the following ten tips will be very helpful. Each one can give you ideas on what you can do encourage improvement and allow that improvement to grow and expand long into the future. Tip #1 - Harness the PDCA Strategy One of the key concepts used in Kaizen is the "Plan-Do-Check-Act" strategy. This is a quality model that can be used when implementing any type of improvement in the facility. As you might expect, the PDCA strategy is a cycle of ongoing improvement that should never end. The steps are as follows: Plan - This step is where you identify an area where improvement is possible and make an initial strategy on what chance should be made to realize the desired improvements. Do - Implement the change, but only on a small scale. This may mean having one department make the change in some situations or for larger corporations, having one facility make the update. During this step it is also very important to be gathering as much data regarding the change so it can be properly evaluated. Check - Review the results of the change including the data that was collected. Looking to see if they had the desired impact or not is critical to know whether you should move forward with rolling the change out to other areas. Act - IF the data in the check step points to a success, it is time to push the change out on a wider scale. Once the change has been successfully implemented you wi

Lean systems are meant for producing the best products and services with little or no wastage of various kinds of resources. Lean supply chain management purports to create a well designed supply chain management system where all the resources are effectively utilized. The people, processes, technologies and suppliers will be optimized at the beginning of the implementation and it will be an ongoing process. The best of the best features will be implemented and there will be no room for waste. Lean supply chain helps companies deliver high quality products quickly and efficiently. What is expected from lean supply chain management? In fact, lean supply chain management is a new way of thinking to understand the supplier networks. It is required to have cooperation with various suppliers and should be able to balance it with the competition present in the market. There is a great deviation between lean supply chain management and traditional methods. There will be less number of structures in lean model whereas they are more in traditional systems. Most of the lean supply chain management principles are derived from the basic lean principles. How companies will be benefited by the lean implementation? By implementing lean methods in a systematic way, companies will be benefited to the greatest possible extent. The winning business strategy realizes the importance of the relation between the supply chain management and the overall financial status of the company. By streamlining the supply chain management with all the other core aspects of the company, the business will emerge into a profitable enterprise and will be able to deliver cutting edge solutions. Strategy for lean supply chain management In order to implement the lean supply chain management in an effective manner, it is required to build the core infrastructure and should be collaborated internally and should be executed externally as well. The next step would be the selection of the right kind of

Improving Hazard Communication in the Workplace Hazard CommunicationIf you're looking for ways to improve the overall safety of your facility, one of the best places to start is with an evaluation of your current hazard communication standards. According to OSHA, hazard communication violations are the second most commonly cited violations, as of 2012. In 2012 there were 4696 citations given in this one area alone. Sadly, very little has been done to change this problem over the past several years. Understanding how your facility communicates any type of hazard, and working on ways that can be improved, is an important part of keeping everyone safe. One of the best places to start is to review the OSHA regulation on this topic, which is titled, "Hazard Communication - 1910.1200." This will give you all the requirements that you will need to follow in order to keep people safe, and avoid any citations. Key Points in Section 1910.1200 After reviewing the entire section on this topic, you will want to go back and really focus on a few key points. These are some of the areas where most of the citations were given out, and also where some of the biggest risks exist. The following key points will be great places to start when it comes to improving the way your facility handles hazard communication: 1910.1200 (b)(2) - This is the section that covers how you need to communicate hazards that apply to any chemical that exists in a way that employees could become exposed to it. This applies to both normal exposure, and exposure during a foreseeable emergency. 1910.1200(b)(3)(i) - In this section, it details the requirements a facility has concerning the labeling of chemicals that come into the facility. Specifically stating that the labels may not be removed or defaced. 1910.1200(b)(4)(iii) - This area explains in detail that employers need to provide employees with sufficient training on how to react to a potential chemical spill. This includes how to

This year, Creative Safety Supply is hosting a scholarship competition for college students. Students currently enrolled in a college, university, or technical school who have a minimum 3.0 GPA and are United States citizens are eligible to apply. Those interested can find full eligibility details, as well as two essay questions, here: https://www.creativesafetysupply.com/scholarship/ Creative Safety Supply developed this scholarship program to support students pursuing higher education. On a daily basis, we work to help businesses achieve their goals and we wanted to help students achieve their goals, too. The winner of the competition will receive $1,000 to be applied toward educational expenses in 2017. As part of the application process, we're interested in hearing from students about their career goals and about ways they have used creative thinking to achieve academic or personal success. Finding creative solutions to common safety, compliance, and productivity problems is what we do, and we believe this kind of thinking plays an important role in any endeavor, whether that endeavor is in the workplace, education, or personal life. Since we launched our scholarship program this summer, we've seen a positive response from students across the country. If you are or know an interested student, there's still time to apply: the deadline for the scholarship is next Thursday, December 15th. A winner will be selected in January. Contact scholarships@creativesafetysupply.com with any questions.

Tips & Tricks for Efficiently Tracking Lean Projects Recently, we wrote about a couple of problems facing many Lean practitioners. These were problems that hindered their learning process and often caused overconfidence. Amongst the advice to help combat these problems arose the need for detailed tracking and note taking with regards to practice and progress. Being able to accurately track not only the effects but also the process of a Lean project is critical to ongoing success, and is a key to stimulating growth amongst not only the receiving end of your project objectives, but also amongst the employees and Lean practitioners themselves. To start off, let's take a look at the current state of Lean project tracking for many Lean practitioners. A recent LinkedIn discussion posed the very question of project tracking, and sought to understand a few different distinct metrics. In addition to measuring the effectiveness of any program when it comes to completion, tracking can also be about measuring the scope of your projects, so that you can accurately project what the effects will be before you actually reach the stage at which you expect them. Part of this "scope" involves tracking exactly who is involved with your project, who is affected, and how they are progressing in their respective tasks. Where we are now First of all, it's important to evaluate the current methods that are prevalent in Lean record keeping. The LinkedIn discussion starter, self-identified as Ian R., mentions in his opening post that, when he last posed the question about a year ago, the consensus was that most practitioners were simply using excel spreadsheets for their tracking needs. While there's nothing wrong with relying on Excel for the basics, other users were quick to offer up some slicker alternatives, signaling a sharp (and welcomed, in our book) departure from some of the more basic methods. Unsurprisingly, there exist several specialist software applications whose n

One of the most common injuries plaguing nearly any industrial business is the eye injury. The human eye is susceptible to damage from a variety of different sources, however, most eye injuries stem from exposure to chemicals, paints, solvents, allergens, sawdust, laboratory materials, etc. However, it is important to remember that nearly ninety percent of all eye injuries are preventable when proper procedures are followed and adequate eye protection is used. The right type of goggles, depending upon the job, can protect the eyes from coming into contact with nearly any eye irritating contaminant. Nonetheless, eye injuries still seem to occur and businesses need to be ready and prepared just in case an eye injury does happen. One of the best ways to provide immediate support to an injured eye is to utilize the help of an eyewash station. Guidelines for Eyewash Stations When it comes to the safety standards related to primary eyewash stations, OSHA sets the overall requirements. However, it is ANSI (American National Standards Institute) that is the entity who provides the necessary guidelines that employers must follow regarding the design, type, performance, location, and details specific to any eyewash station. Even though the ANSI z358.1-2009 covers the guidelines for all types of eyewash equipment such as emergency showers, eyewash stations, face washes, and combination units, we are going to focus on guidelines related to eyewash stations. Tips for Compliance with ANSI's Eyewash Standard Every Second Counts! - When an eye injury occurs every second really does count. An eye injury can go from bad to catastrophic in mere seconds if the eye is not properly flushed. ANSI mandates that all eyewash be located just a short 10 second walk from any eye hazard. The path to the eyewash station must well lit and remain clear and free of debris. The eyewash station must also be properly identified with an eyewash station sign. Yes, the Water Does Matter - there

Farmingdale, NY based risk management company, EtQ, and moderator Quality Digest are presenting a risk management webinar on October 10, 2012 episode of Quality Digest Live at 11:00 a.m. Pacific Daylight Time. EtQ's company website is dedicated to creating quality risk management solutions, and has this to say about its stance on its software products: EtQ's Quality Management Software is an integrated quality and compliance management software system that has been pre-configured to specifically address the needs of the Manufacturing industry and ISO 9000 processes. The webinar on Wednesday offers proactive information and ideas to professionals saddled with risk management duties in their company. The webinar is slated to tackle such lofty goals as to demonstrate how to successfully implement risk management as a strategy - not only as a "post-production event," in which best practices application risk factors can be assessed and targeted not only toward processes, but also to products.

Back pain and injuries account for some of the most reported and most serious common workplace injuries worldwide. In fact, you'd be hard-pressed to find a country whose labor department doesn't dedicate pages of literature to both employers and employees solely on this topic. Loss of work days and productivity, lifelong injuries and disabilities, and short term discomfort are all common results of lower back-related incidents. According to an OSHA fact sheet, More than one million workers suffer back injuries each year, and back injuries account for one of every five workplace injuries or illnesses. Further, one-fourth of all compensation indemnity claims involve back injuries, costing industry billions of dollars on top of the pain and suffering borne by employees. okstate.edu - OSHA Fact Sheet While employers have a responsibility to their workers to implement training programs that minimize injuries (and proactively improve the ergonomics of work-related tasks), employees also need to respect their own bodies and know their limits. This article will be broken up into several sections, each relating to specific aspect of lower back injuries in the workplace, with a primary focus on prevention. Anyone reading through should have a solid grasp on this all-too-common workplace plague by the end of their brief time here. Let's begin. Eliminate Back Injuries While we'll get to proper lifting technique and some employee-level suggestions in a minute, one of the best things employers can do is actually seek to eliminate lower back hazards from their workplace altogether; this is known as elimination - getting rid of risks period - and should be your first step in improving safety before moving on to prevention - mitigating risks that you and your workers have to live with in order for your business to function. Most lower back injuries are associated with lifting, and the most dangerous zones for humans are when lifted objects are below the knees or

The cutting edge platforms for today will be the commoditized platforms of tomorrow. As the technology matures and evolves, the previous generation of technology becomes easier to build and deploy enabling a rush of vendors to capitalize on it by making it accessible to the largest possible customer base. This puts enterprises in the nontechnology sectors in an awkward position. Often not ready to consume the latest and greatest technology due to parts of their stack unable to leverage new technology and requiring upgrade to and deployment of the stepping stone technology, these enterprises have to choose between vendor lock-in in a multi-year software and service contract or risk building and implementing a version of the older technology in-house. Business Drivers of Infrastructure-as-a-Service The biggest risk in building technology platforms in-house is the risk of commoditization. The argument played out with the debate over internal vs. public clouds. Initially, enterprises were hesitant to leverage public clouds with several of them opting to build internal, private clouds. Building a cloud is hard. Operating and maintaining a cloud is even harder. Ensuring that the cloud is running on and leveraging the best in class technology requires dedication to the cause. This is often missing in non-technology enterprises by design given they are driven by different and separate business drivers and considerations. A cloud service provider is motivated to ensure the best in class service and technology because that drives revenue for them. An enterprise whose main business is not offering cloud or software services will not be motivated by the same drivers and thus there will be an inherent difference in their approach and success with building and delivering an internal cloud. Business Drivers for Platform-as-a-Service The same argument (public vs private clouds) applies to platforms. Building the best in class platforms that offer the ability to develop cuttin

Enterprises across the board have a lot of untapped potential in their data. The data is not only relevant and useful within the enterprise but can be a valuable source of insights for the enterprise partners and customers. In some cases, the value of this data can be high that partners and customers are willing to pay extra to get access to this information at a certain fidelity, freshness or scope. Enterprises that do not have a clear and coherent monetization strategy are leaving money on the table. In addition, they stand to lose customers to competitors who gain the first movers advantage by addressing this market need. The Value of Data The first step in determining a monetization strategy is an audit of the enterprise data assets and a determination of the customers who are interesting and willing to pay a premium for access to this data. The Value of Data is proportional to the following: Freshness The more "fresh" a dataset is higher its value typically. This is because there is an advantage in the early visibility provided by first access to new information. 'Freshness' is defined the latency between the creation of data and the delivery of the data to the consumer. Consumers of data will pay a premium for fresh data if it fits into their decision and action strategy. Fidelity Higher the "fidelity" of data i.e. how much detail a particular data point carries also increases the value of the data in the eyes of the data consumer. Higher fidelity data offers more information and detail enabling the consumer to design highly valuable analysis that leverages the additional details offering a deeper insight into the situation at the present or historically. Raw The more "raw" a data set, higher its value as it can support a much larger set of analysis scenarios that a processed data set could support. Data sets that are aggregated, sampled, filtered or transformed can have a lower value as they can severely limit the type of analysis. Raw

Sixty-four (64) Channel Hardware Echo Cancellation Module for use on TE235/236 cards. The Digium VPM064 echo cancellation module is compatible with A8-series analog cards and the TE235 T1 card. This card solves the voice echo problem commonly associated with connecting a PCI card to a PSTN. While software-based solutions are available, the Digium VPM064 is a more reliable hardware-based module. Attach this module to the PCI or PCI Express card to dramatically improve voice and audio quality. Note: compatible with 8-port A8A and A8B cards, and the 2-port TE235 card.

Using floor tape is a great way to keep a facility safe, organized, and efficient. Just like any type of flooring, floor tape can get quite dirty over time. When floor tape gets dirty, it can become harder to see, which defeats the purpose of using it at all. This is why so many people ask questions about how to clean floor marking tape properly so it looks great and lasts a long time. Here are some of the most popular questions and answers on this topic. Q: What is the Best Way to Clean Floor Tape? A: If you're looking to clean floor tape specifically, the ideal option is to use SafetyTac Floor and Tape Cleaner. This cleaner is designed specifically to be safe for use on virtually any type of floor tape that is on the market today. In addition, it is able to clean the surrounding floors without any trouble at all. Q: Can I Clean Floor Tape with the Same Cleaner as the Rest of the Floor? A: Yes! High quality floor tape is durable and can be cleaned by all normal and industrial floor cleaning products. Just go over the floor tape like you do with the rest of the floor to remove dirt, dust, scuff marks, and any other markings. Q: Can I Clean Floor Tape with a Motorized Floor Cleaner? A: Absolutely. SafetyTac (and other manufacturers of high quality industrial floor marking tape) know that many facilities use large motorized floor cleaners to keep their facility clean. Once the tape is properly installed, it can withstand this type of cleaning without any trouble at all. Simply have the floor cleaner go over the tape just like any other part of the floor. It is important to note that discount quality floor tape may not be able to stand up to this type of cleaning, so always make sure you're using high quality floor tape in your facility. Q: How Do I Remove Stubborn Stains on the Floor Tape? A: If you can't remove a stain or marking on the floor tape using normal floor cleaning methods, the best option is to get a small bucket with a solution of SafetyTac

Catchball may sound like a game of throwing and catching a ball, and in Japan it is a game just as that. However, catchball is also a common business practice used in lean businesses during the strategy deployment phase of Hoshin Kanri or simply Hoshin Planning. Needless to say, it does not include the use of an actual ball. Instead, it is more of a figurative term used to describe the process of sharing thoughts, ideas, and comments regarding proposed business or process changes and improvements. Instead of tossing a ball from person to person, think of it more as tossing thoughts or ideas from person to person. Catchball is an active communication session where participates are urged to contribute in order to explore all possibilities and come up with diverse working solutions and ideas. During catchball questions are answered, strategies are explored, priorities are defined, and shared understandings are built. Just as meetings can be formal or informal the same goes for catchball sessions. However, one difference between a meeting and a catchball session is that in catchball everyone should be contributing, while meetings are often led by a manager or similar ranked personnel while everyone else basically listens and takes notes.

To those who are used to a warehouse environment, walking through the maze and sorting out the various items safely might sound like a walk in the pack. To the visitors or new employees it is a different story altogether. Huge warehouses can be quite complicated especially with the various equipment's and different chemicals everywhere. There is hence a need for vigilance to ensure all the relevant people are informed on how the operations within the premises are run. Safety Safety within the warehouse is vital if the basic objective of an organization is to be achieved. It is imperative that the employees and any visitors feel safe within the workplace precincts. Warehouse signs can play an important role in this. Warehouses can be dens of danger if there are no adequate safety measures in place. Studies have shown that hundreds of workers die every year from work related injuries. These can result from; electrical faults, contact with hazardous chemicals, tripping from a slippery floor, a blast from explosives or from a forklift gone wrong. The hazards are many and so are the solutions. There are tens of stipulations on how employees' safety can be safeguarded but the most important of them is through the use of signs. Labeling of the various hazard areas can go a long way in ensuring that employees and visitors are adequately informed of the lurking dangers and appropriately informed on the precautionary measures to take. Effective signs The key purpose of signs is to inform or convey a specific message to another individual or individuals. Warehouse signs serve the same purpose and ensure that employees are well informed of what they are expected to do. To achieve this hence these signs should be well designed and written. The message to be conveyed should be clear with no room for ambiguity. The signs should be written in a language that is easily understandable to all without discrimination. If English is used, it is important to use another common lan

Increasing pressure to provide short-term, scalable, non-subscription based marketing solutions to the consumer is impacting email marketing. The fact is, email isn't getting better, it's getting worse. Email marketing will remain a piece of the email marketing solutions pie, but email marketers will need to employ new strategies and technologies to improve engagement, message delivery and

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While lockdown and shelter in place orders continue in many parts of the world amidst the coronavirus crisis; horror fans have turned to video streaming platforms. With a constantly changing catalog of titles to watch, the choice of what to watch next can feel overwhelming. How many times have you aimlessly wandered around the film or TV library looking for something to grab your attention? Netflix is increasingly becoming a staple option in many homes, with its use rising and viewers spending more time on the platform while confined to their homes. Often films and television shows are available across multiple countries on the streaming service - but sometimes this is not the case. With complex licensing deals and the enormous task of negotiating distribution in various locations - often some hidden horror gems don't make it to the USA. Even major titles and established franchises sometimes see US distribution by Netflix end, while still being available to stream in other locations. Outside the big releases, smaller and independent horror content may distribute locally and will never be available to residents of the US. We are going to take a look at some of the films available on Netflix outside of the USA - and explain how to access them inside America. US movie fans who have exhausted the selection of horror available to them are turning to VPN services to access a more diverse range of horror films and shows. A Netflix VPN works by changing the user's IP address, allowing them to access content as though browsing from a different country than their own. They can view and screen films exclusive to Canada, the UK, Japan, and more in the same manner users in these countries would. If you have been thinking about expanding your knowledge of international horror; this could be a perfect solution. So, what's available outside of the US that horror fans will want to check out?

Pandemic & Natural Flu Prevention with Simple Daily Habits The current Coronavirus Pandemic sweeping the world is causing all of us to look at our daily habits. Most of the focus has been on hand sanitation, covering your mouth if you cough or sneeze, and keeping your distance from people who may be at risk of spreading the virus. However, a more prudent action to take would be to look at the daily habits you have in place which could protect you long term from being in the high risk group of most likely to suffer severe consequences from contracting a virus such as COVID-19. Rather than resort to waiting for an immunization to emerge, you could start now to adopt daily habits that support natural pandemic and flu prevention. This high risk group comprises people over the age of 60 who are immune compromised and/or have an underlying health condition that makes them more susceptible to disease and death from that disease. Unfortunately, the health of our population as a whole has been declining for many years now. Have a look at some of the statistics: From 1990 to 2013 there was a 141% increase in deaths from Heart Disease. From 1996 to 2009 there was a 145% increase n people suffering from Asthma From 1999 to 2015 there was a 150% increase in Inflammatory Bowel Disease From 1990 to 2015 there was a 250% increase in Epilepsy From 1999 to 2010 there was a 300% increase in Diabetes From 1996 to 2018 300% more births required fertility treatments. From 1991 to 2015 there were 783% more deaths from Alzheimer's Disease From 1990 to 2018 there was a 4,200% increase in Autism Common diseases are now increasing at epidemic rates, but none of this is hitting the headlines of our mainstream media! What could be causing this massive decline in our population's health, and therefore making us more vulnerable to pandemics like COVID-19 and seasonal flu viruses? Nutrient Deficiency Diseasesmineral-defiency-deseases-and nutrient deficiencyDr Wallach has been saying for man