The September/October issue of Time Compression Technologies magazine includes a feature article, “Lean Manufacturing: How Big is the Market? Lean Enterprise: How Much Bigger is the Market?” authored by North America’s leading manufacturing journalist, Thomas R. Cutler (www.trcutlerinc.com).

Cutler provided a detailed history of the lean manufacturing marketing including how e-kanban solutions are central to an effective lean manufacturing initiative. According to Matthew Marotta, founder of Datacraft Solutions, “We do not charge for upgrades to the system as we learn about new best practices that clients ask us to incorporate. Before Datacraft incorporates the request, it is reviewed buy a lean advisory board to validate the value of the best practices and the value added impact upon our partner community. Once it is passed, they develop, test, and implement.”

The hosted solution provides the customer with their own set of servers which are maintained offsite by and outsourced set of administrators. All of the administration fees, equipment, support teams and software updates are all included in the monthly service fee which is less then the cost of hiring an internal system administrator.

The value of an ASP is that manufacturers can buy “by the drink”, low risk, and a see a rapid ROI. Only internet access is required.

The non-ASP option leaves manufacturers investing a large sum into the communication network, IT personnel, IT training, application servers, consulting for system modification, along with all the hidden costs that come with it. The only disadvantage of using an ASP is the client never owns the system (application), only their own data. This concern tends to be the issue of IT since they want to control all phases of the e-kanban operation. The cost of the control is wasteful and completely antithetical to a Lean Initiative.

While some ERP systems QAD, Factory Logic, and Supply Works have some e-kanban functionality is not their core focus, so manufacturers are purchasing the ERP system at a significant price tag including all the prices increases (and upgrade charges). From the perspective of Lean functionality and immediate ROI the cost cannot be justified, unless there is a plan for a manufacturer to replace the ERP system.

Datacraft Solutions www.datacraftsolutions.com Matthew Marotta 800-819-5326

# # #

You probably work hard to promote your online business but without a Website that appeals to your potential customers, your other marketing efforts will be a waste of time. No matter how many visitors come to your website, if you don’t have a comfortable stimulating environment, they just go away and never come back.

And believe me, having a great Website content and state of art navigation system will not help you if your visitors feel overwhelmed by your colors or your text is too hard to read.

Seriously, red color on blue background? I’m leaving… Surprisingly enough, red text on a blue or green background is used a lot, even though this is one of the worst combinations of colors. Same thing about dark text on a dark background and vice versa. White on black may seem attractive but it’s difficult to read and it hurts your visitor’s eyes.

Now tell me, would you be comfortable reading the book printed on the dark brick background? Quite frankly, I don’t think so. Neither do your visitors. If you use a background, avoid the busy ones, stick with the lighter shades and let the text stay black.

Also remember: graphics should enhance your web site, not detract! Use the graphics sparingly, avoid dancing, spinning and twirling animated images – they have an overpowering effect on human vision (and make your website look unprofessional). Try to keep your pages simple and calm.

Just like your navigation, you want your font color, style and size to be consistent. Don’t change colors or font style on every page. Choose a color theme then pick a couple of fonts and stick with them. Just remember to use the same size and font on every page and don’t overdo with colors. Also don’t set your text size too small (it’s hard to read) or too large. Size 10 is an ideal size for your main text area.

Before picking any fancy fonts remember that many people may not see them: if they don’t have this particular font installed on their computer, they are going to see Times New Roman instead. So it’s better to use “Web safe” fonts like Arial, Verdana and Tahoma. In my opinion these are most suitable fonts for a website. There are other common fonts like Comics and Times New Roman but if you want your website to look professional, do not use Comics!

To make your pages easier to read have a plenty of white space and use separators, headlines or sub headlines. Also avoid long paragraphs: break up your paragraphs often (follow the 5-6 lines rule).

Your visitors will be much more comfortable if your main text is left aligned or ‘justified’ (HTML: align=”justify”), and not centered.

Whether you’re designing a new website or improving an existent one, follow these simple rules – your visitors will appreciate it!

By Yohana Saint-Etienne
Copyright © 2005

You may publish this article in your ezine, newsletter on your web site as long as it is reprinted in its entirety and without modification, and the resource box is left intact. I’d very appreciate if you could send a courtesy link or email where you publish to: article@onlinebusinesslaunch.com

Yohana is creator of Beginner’s Guide to Starting and Running Online Business. This guide will take you step by step
through the process of building your online business.
You will find FREE collection of business and marketing tips, tricks, resources and practical information to get you off on the right foot at: http://www.onlinebusinesslaunch.com

Satellites have been orbiting the earth for several decades now, and are constantly contributing to the evolution of global communication.

Sa tellite cell phones have made it possible for people to make phone calls from anywhere in the world, no matter how remote their location, and have been extremely useful in coordination of many activities ranging from scientific exploration to military operations.

Portable satellite radio is another important technology that has emerged in recent years, allowing users to subscribe to and access radio channels from around the world for either entertainment or informational purposes.

One small problem with satellite communication technology, however, is the sheer distance involved in communicating with orbiting satellites, which can cause a slight delay in transmission time. This, of course, is of no consequence to satellite radio, but it can be a slight problem for two-way communication services such as broadband and phone.

The only way to reduce the time delay involved in satellite transmission is to use lower orbits for satellites, thus reducing the distance involved in transmission. Lower orbits are already being used for some purposes, but there are many challenges that must be overcome in order to make such a transition.

Advancements in satellite technology have been plentiful in the past few years, and more are expected in the future. It will be very interesting to watch the development of this evolving technology over the coming years and beyond.

Cyberscience Corporation, a leading provider of reporting and business intelligence (BI) solutions, today announced the general availability of Enterprise Cyberquery (eCQ) for SSA Global applications including SSA PRMS, BPCS, Baan, and ERP LN. Cyberscience plans to unveil a solution for additional SSA Global applications including Masterpiece and Infinium in the near future.

Cyberscience also announced it would extend the popular eCQ Test Drive to the newly supported SSA applications. The eCQ Test Drive enables interested companies to test Enterprise Cyberquery in their internal environment for 30 days without risk. At SSAU this year in Atlanta, over 50 Baan and other SSA application users requested the Test Drive offer.

US specialty foods manufacturer, Reily Foods states that Enterprise Cyberquery has been successful in leveraging its SSA Global PRMS/DB2 environment. According to IT Director John Smith, “Before eCQ, we struggled to find a practical solution for our information needs. Our goal was to maintain only one source of data, the PRMS database on the AS/400, while providing a feature-rich reporting environment to our users. When we saw eCQ at SSAU, we decided to take a Test Drive. The team at Cyberscience imported the data dictionary from PRMS and recreated some of our mission-critical reports in only 3 days! Within a week, we were updating our Cyberquery data dictionary and building new analytical reports using eCQ. We have been delighted by the speed at which we are now able to develop new reports driven by source data from our AS/400 DB2 database.”

When asked what is driving eCQ’s success in the SSA Global market, Cyberscience EVP Nigel Brownjohn stated, “Cyberscience is replacing the older reporting and BI tools traditionally made available to SSA users with powerful, easy-to-use solutions delivering 10 to 20 times the performance offered by typical competitors. Through our no risk eCQ Test Drive, SSA users are able to experience the benefit of such a powerful solution, on their own systems, and see tangible results in hours, not the weeks or months typically associated with new BI/Reporting solutions.”

Do you long for DVD excellence; yet miss your old VCRs means to tape your beloved adventure TV programmes? If so, you are capable to get the best of both worlds with a Digital Versatile Disc (more commonly refereed to as a DVD) recorder, due to its neat recording functions as well as its DVD exceptional audio and vision.

There are at this time several kinds of DVD recorders for sale, each with distinctive specifications & features. Therefore, this means that whatever your needs, there is a particular model of Digital Versatile Disc recorders on sale that will suit you.

Digital Versatile Disc Recorders have never been so sensibly priced to purchase. In actual fact, prices are plummeting so quick that getting rid of that old Video Cassette Recorder (more normally refereed to as a VCR) and switching to Digital Versatile Disc or HDD recording makes better sense. However, it is an industry affected by technology & innovation which thus means DVD features are changing each and every week.

If you are mystified by the difference between DVD-R, DVD-RAM and DVD+RW, we also supply you with a fundamental breakdown of the formats on offer – which companies are using them and what the up-to-the-minute improvements are.

Pioneer manufactures a number of Digital Versatile Disc recorders, various of which have HDD capability; permitting you to tape several hours of TV prior to transferring them on to DVD when required. Pioneer also produces a range of first-rate DVD players and DVD home cinema systems including HDMI compatible models. Don’t miss huge discounts on Pioneer DVD recorders by visiting the Digital Direct website!

Pioneer is a known TV and hi-fi company catering for the home, car, multimedia & DJ equipment markets. Pioneer started up as Fukuin Shokai Denki in Tokyo in nineteen thirty eight. The company originally began life constructing speakers then later changed its name to Pioneer in nineteen sixty one. Since then it has initiated a selection of firsts onto the consumer market, which includes the world’s first Global Positioning System navigation gadget in nineteen-ninety and the first ever DVD recorder in nineteen ninety nine.

Our oceans are home to many marine mammals, fish, turtles, corals and others. The delicate balance between man and the ocean is constantly being challenged by the demands of our society. Most of our planet is covered by water, a necessary ingredient of human life. The state of our oceans should be uppermost in our minds in order for quality of life for all species to remain as it is.

Manatees – an endangered species The common name for Florida’s gentle giants is the West Indian manatee.They are found throughout rivers, springs and shallow coastal waters of Florida and adjacent states. Weighing up to 3500 pounds and having a bulbous face and rotund shape, scientists believe they are the ‘mermaids’ identified by sailors in historical lore. Manatees consume 5-10 percent of their body weight daily and spend 6-8 hours a day feeding. They are plant-eaters and are commonly found grazing along the same areas as recreational boaters. This fact accounts for numerous killings and maiming of manatees in Florida each year. Propeller scars are so common on manatees that there is a computerized catalog of photographs to enable identification of individuals by their scars.

According to the February 2004 count of manatees in Florida by the Florida Fish & Wildlife Conservation Commission there are only 2568 remaining in Florida. Even with this low number, there are efforts by some to remove manatees from the endangered species list.

Dolphins – our favorite ocean mammal Humans love dolphins because of their smiling face. Dolphins aren’t really smiling, this is just the shape of their mouths. Dolphins are mammals. They have hair, breathe air and give birth to live young. The hair is visible at birth, a few whiskers here and there. Dolphins can weigh up to 800 pounds and have lived up to 50 years–the period we have been tracking them. Dolphins eat fish and swallow them whole. Dolphins give birth to one baby at a time and the baby usually stays with the mother the first three years, growing rapidly on mother’s milk. Dolphins are not endangered at this time, but the Marine Mammal Protection Act of 1972 requires us to steer clear of them. So enjoy them from afar!

Sea Turtles-Florida’s efforts for recovery All species of sea turtles are endangered or threatened and many of them lay their eggs along the coast of South Florida. Loggerheads, Leatherbacks, Green sea turtles have all been nesting here. South Florida is also one of the nation’s best tourist destinations. The beaches are populated with high rise condominiums and hotels. Some cities have passed ‘no lights’ laws to help these hatchlings find their way to the ocean instead of the highways to be killed as the babies follow the brightest light. Turning the lights down or off late at night helps protect these babies. The rare Kemp’s Ridley has also been spotted in Florida. Many of our local nature centers lead guided tours to watch the huge turtles come to shore every year or so to lay their eggs. Each turtle might lay up to 100 eggs. Within 43-75 days the hatchlings are ready to find the ocean, and fight for survival. They will return to the same beaches 25 or more years later to lay their eggs. Stay tuned for the news of this years’ counts of nests in South Florida.

WHAT IS THE LEADING CAUSE OF WATER POLLUTION? Most pollution comes from general locations of pollution discharge rather than one specific location. Florida’s pollution is stormwater runoff. This is rainwater flowing off the land’s surface which carries litter, oil and chemicals into the closest waterway either directly or through storm drains.

A pamphlet made through the Youth Environmental Programs, Inc states: “Water pollution prevention does not begin when you are in or near the water. It is a practice which needs to be implemented in all areas of your life.”

WHAT CAN YOU DO TO HELP THE ENVIRONMENT?
1. Use a canvas bag for shopping instead of paper or plastic and reusable plates and cups instead of disposable ones.
2. Support recycling efforts in your community.
3. Clean with non-toxic products such as lemons, vinegar and baking soda instead of harmful cleaning solutions.
4. Save water by turning off the shower when soaping up and the faucet when brushing your teeth.

Adopt a dolphin!
Dolphin Research Center
58901 Overseas Highway
Grassy Key, FL 33050
305-289-1121

Adopt a manatee!
Save the Manatee Club
500 N. Maitland Avenue
Maitland, FL 32751
1-800-432-5646 or 407-539-0990

Additional source used for this newsletter:
Florida Department of Environmental
Protection, Florida Marine Research Institute,
100 Eighth Avenue SE, St. Petersburg, Florida
33701-5095.

Kathy Runk is owner of www.myoceantreasures.commarine jewelry and gifts and is actively involved in marine conservation including volunteering for non-profit agencies concerned with our oceans and their inhabitants.

The New York Times reported that the RFID rollout at Walmart has slowed down. Actually, the first deployment of RFID at Walmart is only at the pallet level, not at the product level, so all Walmart will track initially is how pallets of products move through their distribution system. Eventually, when RFID tags are produced in enough volume to knock down their prices, Walmart would like to tag every product so it can check you out quickly and keep track of what you buy.

I have this vision that stealthy black vans will start showing up at Walmart parking lots, at first in the back near the loading docks and then, as RFID goes product-level, in the front near the doors. These black vans will have sophisticated instrumentation to track RFID tags on the sly.

RFID tags will have as profound an impact on retail as the Internet. For one, RFID-enabled sales channels will achieve higher efficiencies and allow even lower pricing making it harder and harder initially for non-RFID-enabled low-volume channels to compete with high volume RFID-enabled channels. However, as RFID prices drop and RFID penetrates, the cost of RFID-infrastructures will drop and the cost-benefit equation for deployment of RFID in low volume channels should turn positive. Then there is the possibility of new businesses starting that provide the RFID infrastructures to low-volume channels in return for data rights. This business probably looks similar to the Sitemeter that I currently have enabled on this site, tracking traffic flow and providing detailed analysis of the traffic flow for a price.

For now, though, rest easy. The economics say RFID is inevitable, but even the Internet took a few years to really take hold.

About the Author

Steven Damron is the editor of Blogalicious – The Intersection of Technology and Culture.

One of my favourite ways of getting to know someone and allowing them to move into a free state of mind and openness to imagery or symbols is the psychological word test. It is used by many psychologists in a similar manner to a Rorschach test. I do not think there is as much value in the Rorschach test because there is no communication between the interpreter and the patient. No doubt there are circumstances when an open sharing of what the psychologist perceives is not advantageous but often it is a desire to gain a position of power and control at work. It can also mask the ineptitude of the practitioner.

In the psychological word test you establish a personal paradise before starting. In the trip through paradise the interpreter withholds the interpretation until all the answers have been given to the visualizations of that person’s personal and free paradise. Just helping the person lose their fears and setting the proper mood takes skill and compassion or (hopefully you can access your empathic connections) love. It will build good visualization skills in people who have never done it before. Visualizations are very much a part of wholistic healing and dreams are one of the most important ways of working on the visualized regeneration. Breathing is a regimen of continued impact and becomes unconsciously able to attune the forces that proper visualization can attune ones’ body to allow such creation. It all works together in harmony with beauty and a lack of fear when one knows the soul ‘within’.

The following quote says that fear and insecurity impact how one acts towards their own body in some interesting ways. The book it is taken from is The Healing Power of Dreams by Patricia Garfield Ph. D.:
“Transformation Rituals
New Behaviors as Health Returns

People who have been injured or ill mark their return to wellness by specific behaviors. These actions are sometimes straightforward ‘freshening up’. Rona, for instance, after being out of-work for several months with a mangled wrist, had her hair colored and newly styled and got a manicure the week prior to returning to her job. Hand therapists report that one of the surest signs of increased vigor in a woman with a hand injury is beginning to use nail polish again or getting a manicure. Such women, like Rona, are feeling well enough to want to look attractive. Yet these behaviors imply even more.

We saw how an alienation of the afflicted body part is typical following an injury. Using nail polish indicates that the woman is re-connecting with her formerly disowned body part. We need to ‘readopt’ our body parts to become whole. We can help ourselves do this by deliberately choosing words that repossess our bodies {And visualize it in our late night before sleep or early morning when awaking exercises, of what we are and what we are going to do to make our lives what we need to fulfill our purpose.}, saying ‘my scar’, and so forth. We are creatures who act upon our environment; we’re not simply passive recipients of forces. We can use active verbs to describe what we do or experience and deliberately use integrative imagery. (28)

Getting well is not simply the restoration of functioning. Ideally, our repaired body parts should move and function again with ease and grace. {The same is true with unused or underused talents even more so; like ESP and meditative attunements or empathy.} Bridging the gap between walking stiffly and moving with natural ease is crucial. This may not always be possible, of course, as when a body part has been damaged beyond repair or lost, but the closer we can move toward this goal, the better we will feel. Being well means we are able to use our repaired body as naturally and gracefully as possible given our circumstances {With a happy outlook borne of ‘no fear’ and the knowledge you are a good person doing what really counts.}. Oliver Sacks, whose leg had been so badly injured, found himself walking in a stiff and awkward fashion when he got out of his cast. This condition persisted for some time until he was persuaded by a consultant to do an activity he loved: swimming. By performing actions that felt natural to him in the water, he discovered I that his natural grace carried over to moving fluently on land as well. He was once again able to walk with ease. Whether we dance or paint pictures, performing activities we love may help us make the final step to wellness.

Anger is a major problem for people {We are never angry at others; just angry at our own shortcomings in dealing with a situation.} who have been injured, along with depression. We must let go of our anger to get well. Hand therapist Marilyn Armbruster explained, ‘Many patients get stuck in anger and don’t get better. They tell me how long they waited in the emergency room and what the doctor did wrong. They go over this every time I see them. These patients often don’t improve.’” (29)

About the Author

Author of Diverse Druids
Columnist for The ES Press Magazine
Guest ‘expert’ at World-Mysteries.com

The structure was born in 2005 between the colours of the most authentic Sicily, the hotel offers to its guests an occasion to discover a land rich of fascination, art, history and tastes without time. The hotel is situated in Montalbano Elicona (Me), and built with the characteristic local stone, it is positioned on a hill which dominates the valley of the river Elicona – A place of your dreams surrounded by nature and only in 20 km from the sea.

This Elegant hotel has 30 rooms: 23 double, 4 single and 3 suite. All the rooms offer elegant furnishing and feature all the comforts that our guests deserve.

Restaurant ‘Convivio’ is sited on the ground floor of the hotel, offering a number of tasty traditional dishes. The restaurant immersed in elegant environment composed with a wilde hall and contiguous terrace, it is possible to choose between the specialities of a rich menu ‘à la carte’ and menu typical territorial products.

Our Meeting hall is organised with the most modern technologies and can receive up to 80 people.

Hotel Amenities:
Hotel Parking
Internet Access
Conference Facilities
24 hour Reception
Meeting Rooms
Elevator/Lift
Disabled Facilities
Childrens Facilities
Bar

Room Amenities:
Cable – Satellite TV
Room Service
Air Conditioning
Hair dryer
In-room safe
Mini Bar
Direct Telephone

Other than Hotel Federico II, you can browse our offers for cheap hotel in Montalbano Elicona, pls visit our catalogue of Hotels all over Italy, where you can find also a wide range of Bed and Breakfast in Rome and Hotels in Florence, from cheap to luxury, togheter with Hotels in Tuscany

Cellular phones are big business in the United States and abroad. More than 30,000 people sign up for and start using a cellular phone every day. It’s nothing short of amazing how this industry has exploded in such a short period of time. Consumers can’t seem to live without their cell phones and the cool accessory gadgets that go with them. As a result wireless communications companies and retailers are raking in the dough as consumers gobble up these sophisticated devices.

Cellular phones are nothing more than sophisticated radios. A cell phone is what you call a duplex device which uses one frequency for talking and another frequency for listening. Advanced technology has made it so that with a cellular phone you can talk to nearly anyone on the face of the earth from just about anywhere. This was unheard of not so long ago.
I’m sure the next wave of highly advanced cellular phone models have already made their way through the board room and are being packaged and ready to ship as I write this article.

©copyright2004 Levetta Rivera, The Cellular Phone Explosion. All rights reserved.

About the Author

Levetta Rivera is a successful author and publisher of http://www.freecellphones-bestdeals.com. An informational resource site for cellular phone deals, cell phone accessories and service plans.