Larry Dignan

Autumn Bayles, chief information officer for Tasty Baking Co., expects the May 11 Web services alliance between SAP and Microsoft to make it easier for the $250-million-a-year Philadelphia snack cake company to become more efficient. “Its definitely good for the future,” says Bayles, whose widely dispersed users operate SAP software, using Windows computers on their […]

Green Bay Packers fullback William Henderson isnt known for his gaudy statistics. He doesnt pass for 210 yards a game like quarterback Brett Favre and doesnt average eight tackles like linebacker Nick Barnett. His metric: “dominating blocks.” And Henderson wants two a game. You wont see dominating blocks on a fantasy football site or in […]

As project leaders ponder pilots of radio frequency identification systems this summer, in the rush to meet the mandates from Wal-Mart, Target, the Department of Defense and others, the real action may be at the theme parks where theyll take their kids. A series of pilots are set to begin at regional and national theme […]

When online lender E-Loan Inc. said it would use processing agents in both India and the United States, it may have signaled a need to disclose how its work is managed. Pleasanton, Calif.-based E-Loan last month launched a pilot program for its home-equity-line customers, allowing them to choose whether they want to send work to […]

What did Jeff Cohen do when he learned his company was planning to have its technology department report to sales and marketing? He left. Cohen, the former chief information officer for JetBlue Airways Corp., left the airline last July, after learning that the technology department would shortly begin reporting to Tim Claydon, the companys senior […]

ItS 5:30 a.m. at FreshDirects warehouse and headquarters in Long Island City, N.Y. Its 40 degrees outside and 38 degrees inside. Butchers are slicing, dicing and packaging fresh meats in what is essentially a 300,000-square-foot refrigerator, getting orders ready for the online grocers 73,000 active customers in New York City. Other workers are packing boxes […]

Procter & Gamble markets some of the biggest brands in store aisles across the country, from Crest toothpaste to Pantene shampoo to Charmin toilet paper. To date, the company hasnt begun to figure out the physics—or the business case—of radio waves and how they can help move its products more efficiently to retail outlets. But […]

Restoration Hardwares supply-chain and technology infrastructure is a real fixer-upper opportunity. “The problem with these guys is that they dont know how to make money,” says Russell Hoss, an analyst with Roth Capital Partners. In January, Restoration reported that its same-store sales during the 2003 holiday season fell 3.5 percent over the year-ago period. The […]

Amid all the commotion about onshore, offshore and nearshore offshoring, you may want to become a “CRO” next. Its a position that will be needed inside an organization, no matter where work is performed. CRO is short for Chief Resource Officer, a title coined by the Outsourcing Institute of Jericho, N.Y. The CRO will be […]

An international flight en route to the United States is delayed after a five-year-old passengers name matches a name on a terrorism watch list. The Department of Agriculture euthanizes a herd of 450 cattle because it cant track the individual cows that came in contact with one infected with Mad Cow disease. An electronic system […]

You cant put a radio tag on a can of soup. Thats just one technical tidbit Campbell Soup Co. is digesting as it investigates using so-called smart labels to better track its products from factory to retail outlet. It affects how Campbell will find a suitable way to put metallic tags on all its products–to […]

In October and early November, Ernylee Chamlee monitored fire officials moment by moment, as they called in air tankers, trucks and manpower to fight wildfires raging in Southern California–from her desktop computer in Sacramento. Chamlee is staff chief of operations, command and control for the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection (CDF). She is […]