Posts Tagged ‘Tech’


Hey You, Get Off of My Cloud – There’s a New Type of Business Now!

Friday, December 28th, 2012

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The only constant is change, continuing change, inevitable change, that is the dominant factor in society today. No sensible decision can be made any longer without taking into account not only the world as it is, but the world as it will be. — Isaac Asimov – “My Own View” in The Encyclopedia of Science Fiction (1978)

There has been much discussion lately of the need to reinvent your business model. Everyone from the Harvard Business Review Entrepreneur Magazine  and American Express consistently post articles dealing with corporate reinvention. They tout successful examples such as Apple, PayPal and Burberry.  Unsuccessful companies that used to dominate their respective industries  litter today’s landscape and bankruptcy courts, including such household names as Hostess, Polaroid and Borders.

Here at Maxi Container we have taken a long slow look at corporate reinvention and have made over our company significantly in the last 10 years. In doing so we have focused on our core competencies, looked for new markets, addressed bottlenecks in our management and operation, strengthened our fiscal controls, upgraded our truck and trailer fleet and adopted a wide range of new technologies to allow us to work smarter, faster and mobile with an emphasis on enhancing the customer experience and adding value to our products and services.

Some of the changes are internal and there is no need for discussion. Two of the biggest, our entry into new markets with our mirainbarrel and miwinebarrel subsidiaries, will be discussed in future posts. Our new e-commerce platform, which will debut in the future is another major reinvention.

However, one of the most interesting, challenging and rewarding changes has been cloud computing. This is a much overused term and can be defined in many ways. Here we use a combination of private and public  cloud storage, networking, desktop virtualization, and  software as a service to tie all of our various desk top computers, smart phones, tablets and laptops into a coherent whole. Furthermore, all of  our data is encrypted for privacy, protected from viruses and continually backed  up.  The service is scalable so as we add personnel or locations it is easy to tie them into the existing cloud and network infrastructure. Much of the credit for our adoption of this technology goes to my son, Joshua Rubin, Creative Director at Maxi Container, Inc.

As a result, any Maxi Container sales person or operations person has complete access to any and all information necessary to do their jobs at all times from anywhere. We use our private cloud and various apps such as, shared Outlook Calendars, Evernote, Dropbox, Adobe EchoSign and Kibits (a new collaborative app for android and iPhone) to create a truly collaborative workplace that increases our efficiency and creates additional value for the customer.

Quotes for unique products can be electronically signed and archived and are available 24/7, not just during office hours. Sales personnel have complete access to customer pricing and purchase history whether in the office, their vehicle, or on-site at a customer’s location. Purchase Orders can be processed in a variety of ways including email or Electronic Data Interchange. Payments can be made on mobile devices, PayPal or Credit Card . Several customers are using Electronic Data Interchange (EDI) to place orders and receive invoices and ACH transactions for payments. Checks are scanned in so they are credited to the customer’s account and deposited in the bank the same day as received. Our goal is to eventually equip drivers and warehouse personnel with mobile devises that move this efficiency and customer value throughout our supply chain.

This move has not been without bumps and bruises along the way.  There were the inevitable glitches, issues with data capacity and learning curves. We are still experimenting with how best to use our new tools and collaborative environment. However, every day brings more and more examples to light of how we can enhance the customer experience through collaborative work and cloud computing. You may never see it, but it will affect every aspect of our business as we move forward with our reinvented business model.

(Note: my apologies to the Rolling Stones for the use of their lyric from their 1965 hit, “Hey You Get Off of My Cloud” in the headline of this post. I just couldn’t resist, especially as it speaks to the encryption and privacy necessary for cloud computing to work. I am sure that this was the furthest thing from Keith Richards mind when he wrote the song.)

Patent Pending

Thursday, January 5th, 2012

Here is a very interesting info-graphic which illustrates the new and volatile landscape that is high-tech corporate patent wars… Take a closer look, let me know what you think.

Patent Wars
Via: Business Insurance Site

As a Creative Director, I use a lot of these patented devices and software, it is interesting to see how aggressive the patent war has become. I think that the future will prove to be clouded by these types of litigation and hopefully doesn’t slow innovation at the same time. As high-tech products make their way into the business world, increasing productivity and allowing employers to stay connected with their staff in many new ways, the changing landscape could become volatile. Let’s hope not.

Digital devices are not only leading to increase in productivity for many but also reducing the paper trail, traditionally associated with business which is a way to “Go Green” … every little bit counts!


By-products that reduce Pollution?

Monday, October 3rd, 2011

New technology is one of the biggest catalysts for our economy, always has been and always will be. Right now, scientists in China have been introducing cleaner and greener tech, which creates fewer by-products while saving money. These new technologies are coming at the right time, when costs for fuel are higher than ever and companies are looking for ways to reduce costs. Taking all of this into consideration, these scientists have been working on a new composite material made from wood and plastic that will be better for the environment, create no harmful by-products, be stronger than traditional recycled plastic and (supposedly) cheaper! What is there to lose? Many industries, such as the automobile and textile, have already started adopting this tech in China. Soon it will be ready for the world. To break it down further, I have created five little sections below that explain the Wood Plastic Composite (WPC) and how it will change these industries and why it is better and more desirable than just recycled plastic on it’s own.

Humans are wasteful; it’s in our nature. Luckily, we also are smart enough to develop new technologies like WPC. Now the smaller branches of trees, saw dust and other waste wood pieces, which otherwise end up in a landfill, can easily be turned into a composite material made by binding the wood with plastic polymers.

What does this mean for you? Maybe not much right now, unless you are in the market for a new deck (which the material is already being used for) but what it will lead to, is new a new material made from the waste. Reusing wood waste is inherently eco-friendly. However, the most ecologically minded aspect of this new tech is the end product itself. The plant fiber-based composite will reduce the cost of the production of wood while simultaneously reducing the industries negative impact on the environment.

Who came up with this great idea? Scientists from the Institute of Wood Science and Technology (IWST) developed the technology in China.  Many people are already importing this technology from China. When asked about the possibilities of this new material, Dr. Ajay Karmarkar, a scientist working on the project with IWST said,

“The experiment was being conducted for the past 10 years and finally we came to a conclusion that the by-products can be used by automobile, packaging, and textile industries. Plastic hangers and buckets, wooden door frames and windows can be replaced by this ecofriendly composite material.”

What are the advantages? Once plastic is recycled, its usage becomes less because it loses stiffness.  WPC will increase stiffness by 70% and at the same time, be 50% less expensive than it’s traditional wood counterpart. Plus, during the manufacturing process, the only by-products that are created are 100% environmentally friendly.

How do they make WPC? The process takes fibrous material from wood, bamboo and jute, mixes it with the plastic polymers and run it through the twin-screw extruder. This machine melts, mixes and pumps the product. This by-product is then put into a pelletizer, which chops it up into tiny granules. To get the desired size and shape the granules are put into the injection-moulding machine next. Finally the WPC is put through tensile stiffness and compression strength testing.

Since being debuted WPC has won over many industries, ones which welcome the idea of new technology. The benefits for the environment and production are numerous and the overall cost is lower.  Soon we hope to see WPC in more products all over the world. Maybe, it will even show up soon in our Industrial Packaging.

Original Source: Luna Dewan, The New Indian Express

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