I can't believe that the semester is done. This class has taught me more than creativity and innovation. Team work and collaboration on all the different activities and projects has been awesome. I definately think out of the box now as before it was more of a reflex thought process. In class today we had two presentations of their verge projects. One was a E-card system for shopping and savings and the other was a jersey that had the capability to change the name or numbers if your player left the team or whatever. Both ideas were good but at this point I lean more towards the jersey. I think it is a more marketable idea.
Our own verge project has taken on a life of its own and I don't believe that it will end with this class. Everyone has added considerable amounts of research and time into this thing to not follow it to fruition. One thing we used was mind mapping to get all our ideas out in the open. This let us identify any areas that we needed to research better and just tie up a lot of loose ends. I know we will have a great presentation.
I found a very cool innovation while searching the web. Facial recognition glasses that are worn by law enforcement officials in Brazil. These glasses scan a crowd of people at 400 faces a second and are accurate up to 50 yards. If a known terrorist or criminal is recognized from a large data base, a red light comes on in the lenses so the wearer is aware of it. These will be in use for the 2014 World Cup Games and the 2016 Olympics.
I plan on keeping my Blog and the Wiki updated as they are a very useful piece of technology. We just have to keep letting others know how to use them and get more people on board.
Tuesday, May 10, 2011
Sunday, May 8, 2011
Week # 9 Post
Using Google for our Blogs has been a new experience for most of us. This is my first blog and I can see how it can be a very useful tool. As I check out other blogs you get a chance to see how someone else does it. The things they add to the blog like music and hyperlinks to sites they have found on the web. I found this innovations site that shows all kinds of new ideas. Here is the link http://www.ideaconnection.com/new-inventions/
The six thinking hats we used in class allowed our team to find a few things that were missing for us to complete our verge project. Now we have a little more research to do before class. Everyone seems to be doing their part which helps as that way a burden isn't placed on the rest of the team. We will be ready to present our project and I think our idea has some real potential. We all have been using our Wiki also for this project and it seems each day a new page has been added.
A new innovative shipping container was developed by Staxxon that takes a normal 40 foot ocean freight cargo container and when empty allows it to be collapsed to 1/5th its size. The space saving benefits will be incredible since most containers on a return trip to China average 40 % empty.
This week 2 groups are presenting their verge projects and we may be able to pick up a few other ideas from them that we didn't consider. That's what's so fun about this class we are always picking each others brains.
The six thinking hats we used in class allowed our team to find a few things that were missing for us to complete our verge project. Now we have a little more research to do before class. Everyone seems to be doing their part which helps as that way a burden isn't placed on the rest of the team. We will be ready to present our project and I think our idea has some real potential. We all have been using our Wiki also for this project and it seems each day a new page has been added.
A new innovative shipping container was developed by Staxxon that takes a normal 40 foot ocean freight cargo container and when empty allows it to be collapsed to 1/5th its size. The space saving benefits will be incredible since most containers on a return trip to China average 40 % empty.
This week 2 groups are presenting their verge projects and we may be able to pick up a few other ideas from them that we didn't consider. That's what's so fun about this class we are always picking each others brains.
Tuesday, April 26, 2011
My Weekly Blog # 8
This past week has been pretty interesting. The highlight of the week was on Tuesday when we should of had class and the power was out by my place until 2:30PM. I only live about 8 blocks from NWTC Campus. It started out waking up at 7:50AM for class at 8:30AM and finding myself in a pretty dark house with it just raining buckets outside. My first fear was my sump pump which runs about every15 min. When I got up power was out for about 90 min already, so the pump would have run about 6 times. I went to the basement and my fears were confirmed with water about 6 feet out from the sump pump already.
Here goes my creativity kicked in high gear, I went to the garage and got a length of garden hose and kinda made a boom to corral the water. There is a floor drain about 8 feet from the sump pit and I positioned the boom to circle the drain and it worked pretty slick. The water did leak a little under the hose but the majority was channeled down the drain. This saved me one big mess. One problem solved.
With class being canceled due to the power outage we missed some important class time to start wrapping up assignments and duties for our verge project. Now we will just have to communicate a little differently this week. I already heard from Sandy, and Marty as they met at school and spent about 90 min in the cafeteria working on some issues. Way to Go Team Tigers. One thing that they added is a Doodle Board this is pretty cool as we can all go to this site and tweak our label design. I got all the info for the cost on getting a patent and it looks like between 9K and 12K with all the fees and attorney cost. This kinda surprised me as I thought it was always easy to get a patent. Just think if Thomas Edison had to do this today with his 1093 patents it would cost him over 13 million in just fees.
We have our assignments posted on our Wiki so everyone knows whats expected for next week as Marty will be soaking up the sun and golfing in AZ this week. Must be nice.So lets chat it up and be sure the work is being accomplished in a timely fashion. Feel free to contact me if any help is needed and I'll see what I can do to help. The six thinking hats seems like a cool way to brainstorm. Everyone wears the same hat until someone changes it and from what I understand it just flows from there depending on the color of your comment (hat). I hope everyone had a Great Easter and with only 3 weeks of school left time to put the hammer down. Hope to hear from all of you soon.
Here goes my creativity kicked in high gear, I went to the garage and got a length of garden hose and kinda made a boom to corral the water. There is a floor drain about 8 feet from the sump pit and I positioned the boom to circle the drain and it worked pretty slick. The water did leak a little under the hose but the majority was channeled down the drain. This saved me one big mess. One problem solved.
With class being canceled due to the power outage we missed some important class time to start wrapping up assignments and duties for our verge project. Now we will just have to communicate a little differently this week. I already heard from Sandy, and Marty as they met at school and spent about 90 min in the cafeteria working on some issues. Way to Go Team Tigers. One thing that they added is a Doodle Board this is pretty cool as we can all go to this site and tweak our label design. I got all the info for the cost on getting a patent and it looks like between 9K and 12K with all the fees and attorney cost. This kinda surprised me as I thought it was always easy to get a patent. Just think if Thomas Edison had to do this today with his 1093 patents it would cost him over 13 million in just fees.
We have our assignments posted on our Wiki so everyone knows whats expected for next week as Marty will be soaking up the sun and golfing in AZ this week. Must be nice.So lets chat it up and be sure the work is being accomplished in a timely fashion. Feel free to contact me if any help is needed and I'll see what I can do to help. The six thinking hats seems like a cool way to brainstorm. Everyone wears the same hat until someone changes it and from what I understand it just flows from there depending on the color of your comment (hat). I hope everyone had a Great Easter and with only 3 weeks of school left time to put the hammer down. Hope to hear from all of you soon.
Sunday, April 17, 2011
My week 7 Attitude
This past week we had the opportunity to tour WEL Transportation for my Logistics class and got to see some of the new innovations these people have employed. One of the items that caught my attention was a device on their trucks (they have 500 of them) that shuts off the engine if it idles for more than 10 minutes. This little device saves them over $175K a week in fuel. With diesel at $4 a gallon. Another thing they have done is switched from having dual wheels to a single tire on the drive axles and on the trailer axles. So now they are 10 wheelers sounds kinda strange but these new tires also save them fuel to the tune of about $100K a week so that's already a quarter of a million dollars a week or about 15 million a year not small change. The software programs that have come out for tracking everything from where the truck is sitting to its speed its going if they have to hit their brakes or even make a sudden lane change is just amazing. They can almost tell the driver when he has to stop and use the rest room. But seriously they will tell him when he is out of the number of hours he can drive and when he reaches his limit will shut down the truck for 8 hours.
In class we made a big step forward where we are now focused on the innovation process as opposed to the product itself. That will come with it. We now put more things on our Wiki like the assignments that each of us are responsible for. This will make accountability a little more obvious to all of us. Time to stop slackin and get this thing into high gear. The class exercise where we had to list what we did in regards to the 5 steps was great. We got to see how far we were compared to some of the other teams. I think we are in good shape.
My innovative leader paper is on Thomas Edison and I choose him because when I lived in Florida I had the chance to visit his home and museum in Ft. Myers. He had over a 1000 patents when he died and that was just here in the US. if you count the other 34 countries he had almost 2500. I don't know if the guy ever stopped trying to make something better. One of my favorite quotes by Edison is "Opportunity is missed by most people, because it is dressed in overalls and looks like work" oh how true. Well I guess I still have my overalls on because there is a pile of schoolwork left to do for this week, lets see if we can put a dent in some of it. Til next week.
In class we made a big step forward where we are now focused on the innovation process as opposed to the product itself. That will come with it. We now put more things on our Wiki like the assignments that each of us are responsible for. This will make accountability a little more obvious to all of us. Time to stop slackin and get this thing into high gear. The class exercise where we had to list what we did in regards to the 5 steps was great. We got to see how far we were compared to some of the other teams. I think we are in good shape.
My innovative leader paper is on Thomas Edison and I choose him because when I lived in Florida I had the chance to visit his home and museum in Ft. Myers. He had over a 1000 patents when he died and that was just here in the US. if you count the other 34 countries he had almost 2500. I don't know if the guy ever stopped trying to make something better. One of my favorite quotes by Edison is "Opportunity is missed by most people, because it is dressed in overalls and looks like work" oh how true. Well I guess I still have my overalls on because there is a pile of schoolwork left to do for this week, lets see if we can put a dent in some of it. Til next week.
Sunday, April 10, 2011
# 6 Posting
This past week we finally got to present our Google project even though it was a week later than usual. I think everyone did a great job even though Marty was a little long winded at times. Our graphics and slides were informative and I hope everyone enjoyed it. We used our Wiki to share information on this project and this is only going to help us on our verge project.
My blog is changing each week with some new ideas I get from class and my team members. This past week we were also shown how to put hyperlinks into our Wiki which will be great when we give our presentation later in the semester. This past week we also started to bring examples of innovation to class that we found in the news, or on the web. Some of the things were pretty interesting but I think mine was the most practical but I may be biased.
Our verge project is really moving ahead and we are sourcing vendors and manufacturers who can provide both materials and technology to produce and implement it. We are still coming up with alternate uses for our product and feel that it has many practical applications. A few people have e-mailed me back in response to some inquiries I made and have some positive information to share with my team.
This past week we had our Job Fair here at NWTC and over 90 employers were here. I don't know if that counts as innovation but I was able to network with at least 6 prospective employers and on Friday was contacted by one to come in for an Interview on Monday. This was for a part time logistics job with a local employer and has the possibility to turn into my internship which is a requirement for graduation. All of the HR people that I talked to liked my qualifications and the past work experience I have along with my strong grades I'm receiving during my time here at school. Which is what I have to do yet tonight is some additional research for a couple of my classes so I better get a move on. Til next week
My blog is changing each week with some new ideas I get from class and my team members. This past week we were also shown how to put hyperlinks into our Wiki which will be great when we give our presentation later in the semester. This past week we also started to bring examples of innovation to class that we found in the news, or on the web. Some of the things were pretty interesting but I think mine was the most practical but I may be biased.
Our verge project is really moving ahead and we are sourcing vendors and manufacturers who can provide both materials and technology to produce and implement it. We are still coming up with alternate uses for our product and feel that it has many practical applications. A few people have e-mailed me back in response to some inquiries I made and have some positive information to share with my team.
This past week we had our Job Fair here at NWTC and over 90 employers were here. I don't know if that counts as innovation but I was able to network with at least 6 prospective employers and on Friday was contacted by one to come in for an Interview on Monday. This was for a part time logistics job with a local employer and has the possibility to turn into my internship which is a requirement for graduation. All of the HR people that I talked to liked my qualifications and the past work experience I have along with my strong grades I'm receiving during my time here at school. Which is what I have to do yet tonight is some additional research for a couple of my classes so I better get a move on. Til next week
Monday, April 4, 2011
Blog #5
Google has announced the launch of its +1 tool, which allows users to recommend search results to friends and contacts.
Resembling Facebook's Like button, Google's new feature works by providing a +1 button next to individual search entries which users can click to recommend a specific result to contacts.
To use +1, searchers must create a Google profile or upgrade an existing one. Users will then need to log into their Google account to see +1s from people they are connected to through Google Chat and Google Contacts. This is a innovative new feature that will make Google an even stronger presence.
This past week I was a little disappointed in one of my team members for not bringing our PowerPoint presentation to class as this reflects on all of us. Our presentation will be Tuesday the 5th and our profile is on Google. The other teams in our class gave some interesting facts about John Deere and GE, and what we add with our Google presentation should be fun.
Our verge team has now started on product designs for our label verge and I have seen a few of the examples. They are looking good and we should be able to get to the next step pretty quick.
This past week I joined the Council of Supply Chain Management Professionals(CSCMP), one of the premier organizations in our field. We are able to post our resume on their site and get exposure Globally and search for jobs all over the world. This networking will bring many opportunities as this CSCMP is 8500 members strong with all different levels of supply chain expertise. Using these two new sources will make me more creative and innovative within my field.
We have a career fair at school this week with over 90 employers being represented and just in time, as we get our resumes' updated and refined so we can look as professional as possible. I hope I get some good job leads and will let you know next week how it went. Have a great week and wish for warmer weather.
Saturday, March 26, 2011
Blog # 4 WOW
This past week in class we worked on both projects that we have going. Our presentation on Google is this week and we all are prepared for that. Gregg put a PowerPoint presentation together with all of our information we sent him. I did mine in PowerPoint so he didn't have to change much. maybe the theme or size of fonts but should have been pretty easy for him. We plan on doing it in the order of the innovations book.
Our verge project has been narrowed down to two topics as we continue to research both ideas. This will bring more discussion. This past week during class we had some good laughs over a few comments that were made. It was all made in a fun way.
I have been discussing new ways to generate sales at work with my boss and I think I finally got through to him that to make money sometimes you have to spend a little. He is such old school that it is hard for him to make changes and maybe he's a little afraid of the sales failing. Like I told him if the first one doesn't generate what he projects for sales we try the next promotion. But people need a reason to make that purchase and they are not going to always buy just because you got a swinging door. Give them a little more bang for their buck.
What does everyone think of this snow? Leave me a comment. Have a great week.
Our verge project has been narrowed down to two topics as we continue to research both ideas. This will bring more discussion. This past week during class we had some good laughs over a few comments that were made. It was all made in a fun way.
I have been discussing new ways to generate sales at work with my boss and I think I finally got through to him that to make money sometimes you have to spend a little. He is such old school that it is hard for him to make changes and maybe he's a little afraid of the sales failing. Like I told him if the first one doesn't generate what he projects for sales we try the next promotion. But people need a reason to make that purchase and they are not going to always buy just because you got a swinging door. Give them a little more bang for their buck.
What does everyone think of this snow? Leave me a comment. Have a great week.
Tuesday, March 15, 2011
Week # 3 Already
Here it is spring break, I should've gone to Arizona and stayed with my youngest son who is going to MMI in Phoenix. Nice weather, sunshine, no snow, and did I mention nice weather. Well back to reality here in WI. This past week has been a blur and I believe this semester will be over before you know it. This break will allow me to do a lot of my research on our team subject (Google) and our verge project. The Google part of this is just about finished but as a team we seem to have a few differences of opinion on the verge subject matter. I put a posting up earlier today saying we should vote on what we want to do and now I'm kinda worried about what I'll find for answers. But consensus rules and everyone will have to accept it and give the team effort it's best shot. What scares me is a lot of my team members like my idea, except for our administrator who has ideas of his own. Time will tell all to soon.
We didn't have class this past week so our time working together as a team has been limited. We still have to get all our data together and put a PowerPoint presentation in place for class this week. The Wiki we have for our team is coming along pretty good and I believe google has an application where we can all simultaneously work on a PowerPoint without having to be together in one place. With all my jobs and studies that would help a bunch.
At one of my jobs people donate used computers, and its my job to clean up old remaining files before we re-sell them. This past week someone (local company) dropped of 4 complete systems, as I was checking them out I was floored with the type of data left on them. Bank accounts, names, addresses, phone numbers, social security numbers and lots of other personal info. So that was my dilemma what do I do with this. The choice I made was to call this business and tell them what I had. They were extremely thankful that someone with a high set of standards found this information. They have offered me some compensation to clean this up for them as their IT guy was supposed to have already done this. It took me almost 3 days to get all 4 computers cleaned up and ready for re-sale but I did it. I burned all the old data to a large flash drive and I'm going to drop it off for them to do as they wish. I just feel better about it as I know if it was any of my information on there I would want someone to do the same.
We have another birthday coming up in my house for my oldest son who is an April Fool. Yes 4/01/88 and nobody believed me when I called them to announce his birth. This day allows you to bring up some creative ways to surprise him and each year it gets tougher. At least I have a couple weeks to plan something.
I mentioned my verge idea to my ex-brother-in-law and he thought it was a great idea. We discussed it over a few malt beverages. He said if we don't use it he wants to pursue it on his own and I told him fair enough as long as I'm cut in for 50%. This brought a good laugh to all. I hope we can make some progress on our verge, and all work towards one goal. That is with every one's collaboration and energies focused on whatever we choose to give it their best effort. I will let you know what happens..............
We didn't have class this past week so our time working together as a team has been limited. We still have to get all our data together and put a PowerPoint presentation in place for class this week. The Wiki we have for our team is coming along pretty good and I believe google has an application where we can all simultaneously work on a PowerPoint without having to be together in one place. With all my jobs and studies that would help a bunch.
At one of my jobs people donate used computers, and its my job to clean up old remaining files before we re-sell them. This past week someone (local company) dropped of 4 complete systems, as I was checking them out I was floored with the type of data left on them. Bank accounts, names, addresses, phone numbers, social security numbers and lots of other personal info. So that was my dilemma what do I do with this. The choice I made was to call this business and tell them what I had. They were extremely thankful that someone with a high set of standards found this information. They have offered me some compensation to clean this up for them as their IT guy was supposed to have already done this. It took me almost 3 days to get all 4 computers cleaned up and ready for re-sale but I did it. I burned all the old data to a large flash drive and I'm going to drop it off for them to do as they wish. I just feel better about it as I know if it was any of my information on there I would want someone to do the same.
We have another birthday coming up in my house for my oldest son who is an April Fool. Yes 4/01/88 and nobody believed me when I called them to announce his birth. This day allows you to bring up some creative ways to surprise him and each year it gets tougher. At least I have a couple weeks to plan something.
I mentioned my verge idea to my ex-brother-in-law and he thought it was a great idea. We discussed it over a few malt beverages. He said if we don't use it he wants to pursue it on his own and I told him fair enough as long as I'm cut in for 50%. This brought a good laugh to all. I hope we can make some progress on our verge, and all work towards one goal. That is with every one's collaboration and energies focused on whatever we choose to give it their best effort. I will let you know what happens..............
Saturday, March 5, 2011
Weekly Update
Wow!...... Another week has flown by. This past week in another class I'm taking the instructor gave each student a large balloon to blow up. We were then given about 10 minutes to go around and interact with our fellow classmates. Each time we had something in common we put their name and what it was we had in common on the balloon. At the end we compared the balloons with each other. This was a great way to find out things in a rather informal way. Our instructor Kristen explained to us, we were networking and this example showed how to make note of the things you found for future reference.
I finished another computer class on Saturday with our final exam, and wouldn't you know, I woke up with a migraine headache. I think I should still be fine with my results but the headache sure made it difficult to concentrate.
We went on a field trip to Schneider National this past week and got a chance to meet with people from Human Resources, IT people and got a chance to go through the data center. Green Bay is the home base for Schneider and they are a global transportation and Logistics company. The call center with all the customer service representatives was about 500 people. I never seen so many modular desk stations and computers in one place before. They really stress team work and collaboration with fellow employees. This helps the flow of important and pertinent information getting to the right people.
Our team project in Innovations class is coming along as we have a number of ideas for our verge project. This week we will decide on one and then proceed with further research. Our mini project we were assigned Google as a company to describe how the 13 elements of innovation apply to them. We each took different elements and I have people, creativity, and orchestrating the results. We will then work together and put it into a PowerPoint presentation for the rest of the class. On Google we can use Cloud Connect for Microsoft Office and all of us can work on the same PowerPoint all at the same time. Seemed like a really easy application to set up. I hope I didn't put you to sleep with my ramblings, but I hope everyone has a great week.
I finished another computer class on Saturday with our final exam, and wouldn't you know, I woke up with a migraine headache. I think I should still be fine with my results but the headache sure made it difficult to concentrate.
We went on a field trip to Schneider National this past week and got a chance to meet with people from Human Resources, IT people and got a chance to go through the data center. Green Bay is the home base for Schneider and they are a global transportation and Logistics company. The call center with all the customer service representatives was about 500 people. I never seen so many modular desk stations and computers in one place before. They really stress team work and collaboration with fellow employees. This helps the flow of important and pertinent information getting to the right people.
Our team project in Innovations class is coming along as we have a number of ideas for our verge project. This week we will decide on one and then proceed with further research. Our mini project we were assigned Google as a company to describe how the 13 elements of innovation apply to them. We each took different elements and I have people, creativity, and orchestrating the results. We will then work together and put it into a PowerPoint presentation for the rest of the class. On Google we can use Cloud Connect for Microsoft Office and all of us can work on the same PowerPoint all at the same time. Seemed like a really easy application to set up. I hope I didn't put you to sleep with my ramblings, but I hope everyone has a great week.
Sunday, February 27, 2011
Self Introduction
Welcome to my Blog!! This site is a class project for my Workplace Innovations class at NWTC College in Green Bay, WI. Just this past week computers were brought in to the classroom for everyone to have one. We have approximately 25-30 people in our class and each one has to set up their own Blog. With each time on on the blog I learn how to set things up. To customize it so it will be more user friendly.
We created a new position at The Salvation Army where I work part time while I'm attending college. This job entails searching the Web on sites like E-bay and Craigslist to find approximate values of some of the things that were donated. I've gotten to help with this and is very interesting. We get books in that are over 100 years old and other antiques that are worth checking out their value.
Alex, Marty, Sandy, and myself discussed our verge project towards the end of class, Gregg another member of our team was absent but Sandy e-mailed him some of the things we talked about and maybe he will have some ideas this week when we meet. Both Marty and myself tossed out an idea and we are going to discuss it further this week after a little more research. Hopefully our team members come through with some other ideas as who knows which one is the right one to use? Maybe none of them.
This past week I updated my ride after someone hit two deer and totaled my wheels. I got a new 2010 Mazda 6i and absolutely love it. Just like this blogger every time I'm in it I find out something else this car can do. So for now I leave you and have a great week.
We created a new position at The Salvation Army where I work part time while I'm attending college. This job entails searching the Web on sites like E-bay and Craigslist to find approximate values of some of the things that were donated. I've gotten to help with this and is very interesting. We get books in that are over 100 years old and other antiques that are worth checking out their value.
Alex, Marty, Sandy, and myself discussed our verge project towards the end of class, Gregg another member of our team was absent but Sandy e-mailed him some of the things we talked about and maybe he will have some ideas this week when we meet. Both Marty and myself tossed out an idea and we are going to discuss it further this week after a little more research. Hopefully our team members come through with some other ideas as who knows which one is the right one to use? Maybe none of them.
This past week I updated my ride after someone hit two deer and totaled my wheels. I got a new 2010 Mazda 6i and absolutely love it. Just like this blogger every time I'm in it I find out something else this car can do. So for now I leave you and have a great week.
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