Chicomm Blog

Lean manufacturing and its focus on creating customer value, eliminating waste and increasing efficiency has proven so powerful over time that it’s been applied across everything from education to healthcare to software development. Lean manufacturing has important applications in choosing and maintaining communications equipment and solutions.

Lean Manufacturing is Derived from the Toyota Production System (TPS)

To understand lean manufacturing, what it means for communications and how communications can help drive efficiency, let’s start by taking a quick trip back in time to the turn of the 20^th century at Toyota headquarters in Japan, where many of the principles of lean manufacturing were born. Toyota is known for using the method and philosophies of lean manufacturing to transform itself from a small loom-making company to the world’s largest automaker.

In the 1920s, Toyota was a manufacturer of automatic looms, including a novel weaving machine that automatically stopped production when it encountered a problem. That focus on not wasting time and material is the seed of what became the Toyota Production System (TPS), which is what lean manufacturing is derived from.

For companies looking to build their capacity for social media, customer service may be the best place to start in developing a strategy for social media success.

The answer to the question "what is good customer service?" used to involve very little technology: hiring people with people skills and having the policies to let them make customers happy were the keys to success and could allow a business to outperform the competition. 

But now, customers – in particular, Generation Y customers – are pushing companies to figure out how to win business by keeping people happy in the social media realm, especially given the potential for negative reviews to damage a business's reputation. As many as 60% of customers having a negatively perceived interaction with a company say they're likely to share their displeasure via social media, according to research by Millward Brown Digital. 

As a surveillance tool, the 360 degree video camera is hard to beat for its sweeping coverage of nearly every angle of a wide area, and now the technology is poised to take other spheres by storm, from consumer electronics to social media.

Axis network cameras are some of the most impressive on the surveillance camera market, offering 360 degree views when mounted on a ceiling and panoramic coverage when placed on a wall. The Axis cameras will connect to any IP network, including the internet, and allow for remote, real-time viewing and recording from anywhere. For enhanced surveillance, those features and others – including motion and audio detection – make Axis the gold standard for everything from retail settings to schools.

Monitoring your mobile workforce wherever their work takes them – whether outdoors or indoors – just got easier thanks to TruFleet’s new compatibility with iBeacon Bluetooth technology. The TruFleet tracking system, used across industries for its ability to track MotoTRBO radios on the go, now offers seamless integration between iBeacon and GPS to locate workers as they move between vehicles and environments.

With TruFleet, workers’ location within 30-foot accuracy can be viewed in real time via a web browser on desktop computers, tablets or mobile phones. Dispatchers can “ping” radios to get an immediate update on their position, and text and status messages can be sent back and forth between dispatchers and radios for easy exchanges of information about traffic or appointment changes.

As your business, campus or organization grows, the solution can be tailored to meet your needs with easy scalability. As with any application, professional installation is your best bet, and you can expect your installation and deployment to take just a few hours.

Let’s take a look at TruFleet’s enhanced versatility:

If you're purchasing a new facility and about to do a building condition assessment, you're probably expecting that assessment to cover the facility’s structural and maintenance bases, but what about communications readiness? To make sure your assessment is painting as comprehensive a picture as possible, and to position you to meet your needs now and into the future, there are some key communications considerations to keep in mind.

Your users will be expecting instant and reliable connectivity from day one, whether they’re relying on wireless communications, cell phones or two-way radios. As you’re considering a property for your business, you’ll need a realistic assessment of whether it’ll support your communications needs or will require some help in the form of bi-directional amplifiers or other enhancements.

Here are some questions to keep in mind as you’re carrying out your assessment:

Members of the public rely on emergency assistance in some of the most challenging situations - and officers rely on their emergency vehicle equipment to be able to respond quickly and safely. Whether your department is outfitting or updating an emergency vehicle, some equipment features are essential.

Emergency vehicles are some of the most versatile and hardest-working modes of transportation on the road. They need to be high-tech, high visibility, and able to safely transport officers, prisoners and canines.

As you’re thinking about what emergency communications equipment and capabilities you need, be sure to build in the time and resources for professional installation as the best way to ensure that everything is handled appropriately. After all, your vehicles – and everyone’s safety – depend on it. Products may promise easy installation, but having a trained installer on hand means you can focus on job number one.

With that in mind, let’s take a look at some of the most essential features for emergency vehicle equipment.

As emergency communications equipment has lagged behind consumer technology, everyone from global governments to telecom companies and cell phone manufacturers has been collaborating to bridge the gap, particularly when it comes to pinpointing emergency callers’ locations. In the UK, a new technology known as Advanced Mobile Location, or AML, is showing promise as a public safety game changer.

AML is the product of a collaboration between British Telecom, the European Emergency Number Association and handset maker HTC. In a case study of the project, officials said the new solution immediately improved location accuracy levels “by over 4,000 times” vs. the legacy systems.

No major capital investment from any of the stakeholders was required to launch AML, and its low cost and effectiveness give it the potential to join all the essentials that local governments need in their public safety budgets.

A bluetooth speaker microphone is an excellent solution for keeping in constant contact with your mobile workforce while untethered from their vehicles. The best products deliver real-time communications wherever work may take users, saving time and ensuring safety, especially when seconds count.

With the right solution, you’ll instantly enhance the effectiveness of your mobile radios without compromising on audio quality and reliability, making the devices a great addition to your communications solution, whether you work in public safety, manufacturing, construction, or another industry.

Motorola's RLN6551 Long Range Wireless Kit with Vehicular Charger is a great option. This plug-and-play solution takes only seconds to set up. The RLN6551 includes the Wireless Remote Speaker Microphone with battery (RLN6544), the Mobile Microphone with Bluetooth Gateway (PMMN4097), and the Vehicular Charger (PMLN6716).

To find the best fit for your mobile workers, whether they’re in the field or on patrol, here are some top features of bluetooth speakers mics to keep top of mind.

Analytical tools offer a variety of mechanisms for facility managers to improve communications systems, from on-site wireless to mobile communications. Reliable WiFi and dependable devices are business necessities that your internal customers and end users likely don’t think that much about – and you can keep it that way by heading off problems before they start and anticipating their needs.

Analytical tools for facility managers aren’t just about keeping the assets you can see running smoothly, you can also put data to work for you to boost unseen communications channels.

Let’s take a look at some of the possibilities for using analytic tools for facilities managers to improve communications.

The trend of 911 dispatch center consolidation isn’t going anywhere, and in some places, consolidation is even becoming the law. The impact on cities and towns varies widely, with some municipalities singing the praises of joining forces and others dreading the potential costs and losses of jobs.

Whether you’re considering 911 dispatch center consolidation – or are mandated to undertake it by law – let’s take a look at some of the real and potential impacts to cities and towns.