TOPICS INCLUDE:
• Location-based services
• RFID
• Integrating real-time data
• Coordinating cyber- and physical space
• 3D mapping
• GPS
• Geo- and real-time location
• Supply chains
• Earth referencing
• Asset tracking and sensing
CONFERENCE OVERVIEW
New technology developments constantly surprise us. Who would have guessed that GPS, originally developed as a navigation tool for the military, would become standard fare on cell phones? What other technologies normally associated with logistics and supply chain management will blossom into new roles with unintended (and beneficial) uses?
Location-aware technologies combined with mapping and other data are poised to create a whole new class of web apps and services. Maps have become an interface, helping us to visualize and access a variety of data. Embedded into all aspects of our work and play, they are dynamic displays of geospatial and temporal information, assemblies of complex layers of data and image. Location is fertile ground for hackers and researchers. The ability to turn geographically indexed data into useful, possibly life-saving, and potentially money-making data is on the horizon.
Now that the cyberspace and physical worlds have started mingling with each other, event representation requires dealing with time and space as primary attributes. Bits may not care about time and place, but atoms sure do, and so do we. In a global economy, production is being globalized. Extra layers of complexity - customs requirements, tariffs, and country-specific regulations - add to the challenge. A little word like "logistics" connotes much more than traditional material flow. To really study and understand logistics requires more than simply wondering why RFID hasn't fully materialized yet, or why when it does, it might not be a silver bullet.
This conference will explore differing views and meaning of time, place, and space in the context of supply chains, but with a wider view to technology deployment in general.
MEMBERS' FIELD TRIP: FEDEX HUB TOUR
Wednesday, September 20 at 11:00 PM and Thursday, September 21 at 12:30 AM
Situated on approximately 300 acres with a perimeter of nearly five miles, the Memphis Hub operation has a workforce of more than 15,000 people. On average, more than 200 aircraft descend every day onto four runways, carrying cargo to a sort system that contains more than 300 miles of conveyor belts. The automated package-sorting systems are capable of processing approximately 500,000 packages per hour. The small-package sort system (SPSS) can process 325,000 small packages per hour. Overall, more than 1.5 million packages move through the Memphis Hub each business day. Each package shipped is scanned an average of 23 times.
FedEx pioneered the use of the hub-and-spoke system in the shipping industry. With advanced computer systems, laser scanners, and highly sophisticated sorting equipment, the hub staff has the tools it needs to move and monitor every package.
There will be two tours of the FedEx Hub facility: 11:00 PM on Wednesday, September 20, and 12:30 AM on Thursday, September 21. Due to security concerns, each tour will be limited to 40 people, so early registration is advised. You will be asked to select the time you prefer; these "seats" will be allocated by the date you register.
During the tour, we will follow the route packages take while entering and exiting the Hub facility, including:
Aircraft arrival
Aircraft offload
Package introduction into the sort
Package sorting in the primary sort (Matrix)
Package loading at the secondary sort
We will then view the SPSS for a tour of the automated small package sorting system.
Throughout the sort, we will be introduced to and given an explanation of the technical aspects of the sorting operation, including computer systems, sort systems, and automation that enable FedEx to maximize the sorting process.