Thinking of...

In America, it's coming up on the long Memorial Day weekend.  It's the date that we have chosen to honor those that have given their life in defense of their country.  With out these brave men and women and dogs and other animals having paid the ultimate price, the world would be a vastly different place. 

My late daddy served the RAF in WWII as a Lancaster "bomb aimer".  He had many close calls flying over the Axis region.  He flew in support of the D-DAY Operations.  The world would be a vastly different place without people like him.  It was war time and everyone did what they had to do on the home front.  When I think about WWII I remember such movies as Patton, Saving Private Ryan, The Great Escape, Where Eagles Dare, The Battle of Britain, and of course the legendary 12 O'clock High.  I've recently been watching on my TIVO the stunning series "World at War".   

Daddy was awarded the DFC - Distinguished Flying Cross for his service.

So, this Memorial Day I will be giving pause and thought to those that have gone before me to make the world a safer and better place. 

On the Synchro32 front, things are going extremely well and the newest addition to the team Jean-Marie Darchicourt is coming up to speed very rapidly.  I had the pleasure of dining with Simon last night as he is in North America, his 2nd home, working with customers as always.  Unfortunately, the demand curve for Synchro32 dictates that Simon will be missing GIFA to attend to new installations.

The entire Synchro32 management team is looking forward to meeting up in just a very short time at GIFA.  This will be my first visit to mainland Europe.   Barbara Nolan Collins and her sales and marketing team have just done a splendid job with the booth build, new presentations, etc.  Trust me, there will be slews of pictures posted from this premier event.  At last count, I had heard that over 60,000 global metalcasters are due at this important event.

Until next time, see you on down the road.  Shane Allen

GIFA Status Check: All Systems are Go!

Status Check Indicates that All Systems are GO for GIFA!

Synchro32 has "GIFA FEVER"! 

The countdown clock has started and Mission Director Barbara Nolan Collins, Synchro32 Sales/Marketing Director, has confirmed that all systems are a GO!  

Meet the Synchro32 Senior Management at GIFA and learn about how the Synchro32 software can streamline your operations, improve your throughput, help improve quality, keep satisfied customers, and improve your bottom line.  Visit us at Synchro32 <----- Click on the HyperLink for Booth Information

Synchro32 will be located in Hall 12 / G04.

 

Until Next Time, See You On Down the Road...  Shane Allen and the Global Synchro32 Team

The Cloud is Not Ready for Prime Time

I've discussed "cloud computing" before in the blog and with many Synchro32 customers and perspective customers.  I remain firm in my footing that the "cloud" just is not ready for prime time.  Yes, I agree, one day the cloud will be where the data is stored for virtually everything, but not today, nor next week, and certainly not next year.

Very recently, Amazon experienced a major outage of their "cloud" service.  This event started on the Thursday before the Good Friday / Easter weekend.  As the "cloud" became a lightning storm, I imagined how metalcasters would respond to not being able to enter orders, process production, and ship - the day before the long holiday weekend.  Based on my twelve years experience in the "bowels of the foundry", I know that the days leading up to a long weekend are crunch time for metalcasters - getting shipments out the door and on the road.  If your "cloud" is down, then effectively you can not process and you can't ship. 

Some might say that you could ship without generating all of the paperwork documentation, EDI transactions, barcodes, RFID's, and customs forms - but in reality, many customers reject shipments without the proper paperwork and barcodes.  The items are returned and there is a "fine" issued by the customer for non-conformance.  The return shipment is billed to the metalcaster, as well as the "non-conformance" and then the metalcaster has to reship it all, on their dime.

Nope, now more than ever, with the economy on the rebound and metalcasters protecting the bottom line through cost control, this is not the time or place to get into the clouds.  If the worlds leading provider of cloud computing resources can't maintain 100% up-time at the six sigma level, then the cloud is not ready for prime time.  

Until next time, see you on down the road.

BTW - have you thought about attending GIFA?  If not, you really need to think globally and attend.

Play it again, Sam

After what has been a strange fortnight in the UK with first Easter and then the Royal wedding (no I didn’t get an invite either!) normality returns to UK life for a brand new month.

Except we also have a new face!

Hello my name is Jean-Marie and I am the new Partnership/Agent Liaison Manager for Synchro32

I would like to first thank Barbara and Chris for inviting me to join them and all my new work colleagues for making me feel very welcome. Last and not least thank you to everyone out there taking the time to read this blog.

Many of you are probably wondering about the name and if we get to speak to each other what about the accent?....Let me explain.

I‘m a Frenchman born in Perpignan in the south of France across the Pyrenees north of Barcelona. Add to that the fact that I was born in July and you will understand why I love sunshine and warmth. I was first raised in Rouen in Normandy accounting for my passion for French cider and all buttery foods. I stayed there until I was 8 before moving to the Pas de Calais in Northern France where I stayed until I left at the age of 20 to come and live in England and Birmingham.

Now I can hear you ask why? And most of you will have guessed it by now….An English Rose as we had met the previous year during a holiday in the south of England.

I continued to move northwards and I relocated to Manchester some 9 years ago.

So you see as a result of all this I have a very unique accent which confuses everyone, even myself at times. It has quite been quite a journey. I don’t want to say too much about myself today. I will leave that for other blog updates. However I will leave you with a thought I often have. Had I travelled the same amount of miles going South as opposed to North I would today be sitting in Casablanca so Louis, I think this is the beginning of a beautiful friendship (Ranked #20 in the "100 Movie Quotes" list)

Jean-Marie