I watched the video, and this is actually the problem they're solving. Not solving "losing" tools, but solving "employees taking tools." You have to unlock the box with a device registered to you, and the box registers what tools you take.
1) People who lose tools by accident 2) People who steal tools on purpose 3) People who don't lose or steal tools
You might prevent or reduce losses from category 1. You will create a minor inconvenience for people in category 2. And you will piss off everyone in category 3 who will feel like they're no longer trusted.
Whats even worse is when you have to use your own tools, and they get stolen by co-workers. I spent over $100K on tools over 25 years and had thousands of dollars worth of tools stolen. Lock your tools? yeah, come in after a day off and find you toolbox open. Management does nothing about it, hell they steal tools too.
Well over 90% of the people who think they are in this category are not. More often than not, a "lost" tool ends up sitting on someone's bench or tossing in with some spare parts or in a box etc., to the point the person doesn't even remember they have it. After about a year or so meeting someone new at a job, there has always been at least one case of me asking someone if they had a tool, them saying "No, I always put tools back," and then finding they put it down somewhere and forgot. It happens to eve
4) People that realize an employee leaving the floor and walking to my office, seeking a $1 screwdriver, is best encouraged to keep the screwdriver for when it is needed next rather than interrupting both of our workflows thrice in the future (once to return the tool, two more times for another borrow/return). Tools are cheap and my tools are GIVEN away and I hope they find better, happier, more useful homes (at work, at least).
The proof? Intel lost what $0.10/employee worth of tools. $35,000 is nearly p
1) People who lose tools by accident 2) People who steal tools on purpose
That is an oversimplification. There are also people who like to keep tools at their workstation overnight for the convenience, or people who replace tools at a slightly different place where they were originally found, or people who loan out tools they borrowed to another technician/person who might need those tools also.
3) People who don't lose or steal tools
You might prevent or reduce losses from category 1. You will create a minor inconvenience for people in category 2. And you will piss off everyone in category 3 who will feel like they're no longer trusted.
Even if we assume that you have an OCD employee in category 3 who always replaces a tool at the exact location he found it in -- the minute he no longer needs the tool. I can guarantee you
Nothing new here, except the Open Source part. In Aviation, worse than losing the tools, is leaving one somewhere it shouldn't be and potentially downing an aircraft.
we've not been very successful with RFID tags on tools; the small ones are hard to tag, and the big ones absorb damage that breaks the RFID tag. Silhousets on the wall and foam cutouts in tool boxes work very well, as long as someone is responsible for the tool count at shift change. We lose 20 minutes turning in tools at the end of each shift, but it's still cheaper than losing an engine.
by Anonymous Coward writes:
on Tuesday November 25, 2014 @04:43PM (#48461599)
I worked in a quartermaster type position during a student summer job for the Air Force once. I pretty much lived inside a giant steel cage when I wasn't scrubbing down the hangar (yes, a hangar. and the lockers inside, and the adjoining hallways. and I got to sweep it. and drive golf carts to take out the trash--which was actually a blast, just don't get caught by the SPs for skiing them).
Anyway, they had a barcode sticker on everything and every mechanic had an ID. They'd come up to the desk in the morning and ask for a set of tools. I'd trot around my cage and find them, put in their ID, scan each tool, and hand them over. At the end of the day, they'd bring them back. Then, we'd run a report showing which tools were still checked out and go hunt down the responsible mechanics.
Worked pretty well as far as I can tell. 100% recovery rate during my time there.
In the Air Force, this is important. If you work on anything that ends up in, on, or part of an aircraft, keeping track of the tools prevents leaving them in an intake, flopping around an electronics bay, or flying up and hitting the pilot in the head during flight, all of which have happened.
I remember that, having to check my tool bag in as I entered the flight line, then checking it out. Counting the number of tools each time, and if the count didn't match having to go through the inventory to find wha
Hey, you're from biddo! I am not a maineiac, but I lived in biddeford for a while, as the GF was going to UNE. Nice little town, and near to Run Of The Mill! Also plenty of nice rolling drives (in the car). Brought a smile to my face, good times, although the downtown could use some sprucing up. Can you ask Reilly's to tell me what their recipe for cinnamon buns is? I have yet to replicate it.</offtopic>
Yeah. The city tree is a telephone pole. Downtown is indeed blighted. I miss Biddeford Pool. Reilly's probably gets buns in a box, hang around before the sun comes up and check the name on the bakery trucks...
But I watched the video, and then I thought, this for $35k? Intel? No, they must be more concerned with the work not getting done.... I hope.
I believe some of that chip-making equipment is pretty expensive - I am surprised that its protection was not given as the primary benefit. Perhaps they already have a solution for that environment, and this is for basic facilities maintenance.
this for $35k? Intel? No, they must be more concerned with the work not getting done
In the details the guy mentions it was made by the night shift crew. Thier primary concern is probably having something interesting to help stay awake.
There's probably some lost time too, besides the cost of the tools. If they have to walk across their football-sized factory to get another whosit, it's a productivity cost, and that can add up. If they eliminate time spent at the start and end of day checking tool boxes for accurate contents, more time savings = more money savings.
As usualy its only "resolved" in your fantasy world where threats always work. I garauntee if the person who made that rule used the same tools, he would likely have to break his own fingers on a regular basis. I wonder how much of this is the "box cutter problem".
I know several people who, without really trying to, have ended up with a lot of box cutters. This mostly happens because they are small cheap tools, that you tend to use, and then immediately need both hands, so you tend to toss them in your pock
And some people are assholes like me, and when you tell me you'll break my fingers for touching your tools, you'll find out that I've already taken them. When you "find" them next week, don't ask which orifice of my body they may have been inserted in to. Enjoy your screwdriver, Mr Badass!
Any problem whose solution relies on humans to do the right thing, is bound to fail eventually. You cannot watch them 24/7 and you cannot expect someone won't take them. You don't believe in door locks do you?
because Intel workers lose something like $35,000 worth of tools every year.
That sounds a lot cheaper than even a single one full-time engineer busy developing and maintaining this cool product. There must be some other motive...
Open source? You bet!
Yeah, because all of Intel's other software has been open source.
What's not to love about the company — and its careful PR campaign preparing the market for the demise of AMD? What a lovable corporation — I think, I have a thrill up my leg again.
$35,000 is just the replacement cost of the tools. Now factor in the time wasted trying to track down these tools followed by the time wasted waiting for replacements to arrive. As you rightly pointed out, people time is the expensive bit.
I'm suspicious like you of their motives knowing their past practices. This is why I snub the Galileo and Atom platforms for my tinkering. Arduino, BeagleBone, and ARM work just as well.
There is nothing really novel here in that hotels have had this technology in their minibars for like 10 years - they know what you touched so they bill you even if you replace it. Basically this is moving that concept from the mini bar into a toolbox. I think it is quite impractical since it relys on tools all being in special spots, it would never work in a home environment. A better solution would involve small RFID tags affixed to each tool and an NFC lock on the toolbox. You unlock the toolbox with you
Well, obviously because he forgot to depress the hidden switch that interrupts the self-destruct circuit that is activated whenever opening a drawer on the toolbox! Seems logical enough to me.
The designated-place concept is borrowed from aviation(though usually it's just cutouts/silouettes, no sensors) where 'losing a tool' is a minor problem; but 'leaving a tool inside the engine' is a potentially lethal problem.
It requires a certain amount of fiddliness; but it is undoubtedly better organized than a simple 'in box/not in box' arrangement.
I guess all I am saying is there is the expensive implementation like this, which makes sense in terms perhaps of Intel or aviation, but would not be feasible to scale to the consumer. Then you have a consumer level implementation that is a lot cheaper and simpler but doesn't meet the requirements needed if you're working on an airplane. No different than many other things.
Maybe they're doing it because it's just cool to be absurd in your inventions sometimes. But knowing Intel (because they're a business), this is just a little test prototype for a much larger system. Maybe a way to do that automated shopping cart checkout thing? Who knows? Probably only Intel.
Hell. its a less effective solution to a problem thats been solved already. I was talking to a person a while back who was telling me that in a large Fabrication facility he was in, they had what amounted to a huge machine that housed all sorts of tools, from wrenches to individual sockets, when a worker needed a tool, they would go up to it, swipe their ID, select the tool, and it was dispensed. Tool was associated with their ID, and off they go. Probably saves time hunting for the size you need in a buck
Now having a web server waiting for a connection from a tablet to unlock the toolbox (so you have power requirements + extra nuisance) is certainly something I DON'T want to mess with when I just want to go ahead and screw (pun certainly intended) something.
You could fit every tool with an RFID tag and put a small computer with an RFID reader in the tool box. When a tool it taken out of the tool box, the tool box would check it off the list. When you're done with the tool box, you could get a list of any missing tools before you put the tool box away. If you notice something is missing right away, it should be easy to locate the tool, unless you intentionally what to lose the tool so you can take it home. This could be what's happening. Even then, $35,000
You could fit every tool with an RFID tag and put a small computer with an RFID reader in the tool box....
This was one of the best ideas I ever saw when I read it in one of Cory Doctorow's books. I think the book was "Makers", and here's the excerpt where it was introduced: http://www.iconeye.com/404/ite... [iconeye.com]
The basic idea is appealing, but surely you could do it better by rfid tagging the tools or something.
The toolbox seems totally impractical:
1)You have to get out your phone/tablet to open my toolbox. Don't stick your phone charger in there!
2)This is super wasteful of space.The entire top tray of the box now holds 2 wrenches, 2 sockets, a volt meter, and a couple of things I can't really identify.Mine, without all the fancy foam and sensors holds a socket SET, a wrench SET, a volt meter, and some other r
The RFID idea has already been done. Ford and DeWalt offered it as an option in F-150s from 2009 to 2012 if memory serves. It didn't gain market traction and they dropped it, although I think you can still get the parts from DeWalt.
While leaving a tool in an airplane is probably the worst case scenario, driving away from a job and leaving a tool behind is pretty bad, as is setting off in the morning to a job site and leaving a needed tool at home or in the shop.
OK, I know that is only a prototype, but really guys, he specifically said it wasn't worth doing tool ID. When I work on something my toolbox tends to accumulate nuts and bolts and odds and ends, and isn't always deployed in a well lighted place. In fact it has been deployed in the rain at night. A simple light sensor is just not gonna cut it, at least in my real world.
A tool box that actually identified and inventoried my tools without carefully placing them in space wasting foam cutouts would indeed be
You're thinking in old world terms. In the modern office, they don't buy you a tablet. They'll expect you to use your own smartphone. If you're lucky, they may throw you some kind of phone subsidy as compensation, but that isn't common.
There you go intel, i just saved you $35,000 a year. I'll be waiting by the mailbox for my cheque.
You can either buy a ton of overly engineered, stupidly expensive toolboxes or you can tell your workforce to be more careful with company property.
That only works if every tool is assigned to a specific employee. Instead, tools are pooled so that depending on the job, each employee acquires just the tools they need. Having one of every tool for every employee, just to allow 1:1 attribution, would cost them a lot more than $35,000 a year.
It appears to only be able to tell if something is missing from the toolbox, which is perhaps useful because you can have an external indicator on the box that shows that the toolbox does not contain everything, and may reduce the occurrences of having a toolbox stored away before it has been properly restocked, but it does not do anything to actually locate the tools that were once in the box. Even if the range were limited to a few hundred meters within the box, that would still be extremely useful beca
You all or nothing people annoy me. Nothing short of perfection is good enough and there is no such thing. If we listened to you naysayers, we wouldn't have gotten out of the cave!
It probably wouldn't bother me so much if the job that it performed could not equally be performed by just simply looking inside of the box before putting it away.
That doesn't solve the main problem I've seen at several workplaces: that a tool is missing is obvious, but the missing part is not the worst part of the problem, instead it is the time it takes to track down where it is, which usually amounts to finding the last person to use it and asking where they set it down.
And this box lets you know who it was that didn't put it back, without spending a bunch of time to visually inventory every time it's taken out. (And don't assume visual inventories are perfect either...)
My bet is that a production toolbox has more than 6 tools, and I sure as heck don't count all the sockets in my socket set when I pull it out. It's reliable because I'm the only one who uses it. But if I shared it with three other folks working other shifts, how do I expect them to remember, "Which of
You have a very valid point. For their light sensor method to work they are having to implement shadow boarding (laying out everything in a predefined pace). If a shadow board is done correctly then a quick glance at it will tell you exactly what is missing (high contrast colors between the background/foreground/tool in place)
While i see the value in having a "smart" toolbox, i for one would want it to be able to give me the inventory along with helping me find the tool as you say. "digitizing" the same
Intel hasn't heard of KISS and likes going overboard on things. Instead of just putting weight sensors under gas bottles feeding their silicon wafer production lines to monitor how full they are they had to plumb in more fragile pressure sensors with the attendant risks of leaks that plumbing introduced.
And how much will it cost to solve that $535k problem....we used to spend 4 hours on the clock making a tool that saved 15 minutes, so - you know, like, ROI?
In essence, it's just inventory control. There are quite a few companies that make systems like this (my company uses a few for small tooling parts). I see this being relevant for small fab shops or similar who don't have the capital to invest in the larger, more unified system - but still have an issue with misplaced tools. So they make DIY system using a prototype board and some basic sensors. In the end, this is a very basic prototype that is more of a proof of concept than a practical prototype. And de
And it's cool for Intel if it gets others thinking, "What could I do with a Galileo or Edison?" Maybe someone puts sensors under his bottles of liquor, to know if anyone has taken them off the shelf temporarily... or a new home security system, helping you confirm that all windows are shut at night... possibilities are endless if you start to think about it.
Auto mechanics own their own tools. Most shops give a "tool allowance" for them to buy new tools on a regular basis, but the fact is that owning your own tools makes theft pointless and accidental loss expensive. Problem solved.
When I look at this toolbox and the amount of effort to "check out" or "check in" a tool - plus the fact that the capacity of the box is now 1/10th what it used to be - that $35,000/year is starting to look like a rock bottom bargain if they have anything more than 3 or 4 people us
So to chime in on the whole Tech owning their own tools. I hate to say this but that works fine for Auto Mechanics because they are working on random people's cars. If the Tech doesn't have the right size wrench he'll jsut use pliers or an adjustable wrench, face and corners be damned, won't matter not their problem. Same with a torque wrench, let them just tap it a few times, or use the air gun.
Move over to the industrial world and a real manufacturing/process plant where over torquing something can stop production, or damaging the bolt can cause delays in repair (lost of production) and we have a real problem. Most plants do not allow Techs to bring in their own tools. I know Plants that have banned adjustable wrenches (if you don't' have the right tool for the job don't' do it mentality)..
All that being said in real industrial settings, tool control is a big deal. The more sterile and regulated the environment the more important it can be. See the link below where it was a contractor failing to do a tool count that did some real damage.
Tool counting is a basic thing, and should always happen. Things like this tool box can be used for good and bad, it all depends on the culture of the company and people using it. Sure they could use it to bash people over the head for loosing tools, but they could also use it as a safe guard/helper/checker to help the tech out in doing a tool count to make the work go quicker. I know places where this would be seen as yet another big brother in the plant, and places where they would love to have this because it would make their job easier and quicker. Its all about culture.
Personally i love the simplicity of it, although i will say that you have to have a solid 5S/Shadow boarding in place to use in place light sensors like this. It would work very well for specialized tool sets, but not your run of the mill mechanics toolbox. For that cheap RFID tags/single box reader might be more appropriate. (and could also be used for locating the tools if lost in the equipment).
Trust me that the cost of something like this is a drop in the bucket compared to the costs of real specialty tools, and the impact to production/operations when a tool is lost.
Auto mechanics own their own tools. Most shops give a "tool allowance" for them to buy new tools on a regular basis, but the fact is that owning your own tools makes theft pointless and accidental loss expensive. Problem solved.
Not really. You still have the problem of other workers, or the boss, "borrowing" a tool and forgetting (purposefully or not) to return it. And you have the problem of forgetting a tool in the vehicle or under the hood or whatever.
So I have been noticing that people, especially when interviewed, have developed this bad habit of beginning every statement with an unnecessary 'so'. So this is really starting to annoy me. So lately everytime I listen to a podcast or watch a video that word jars me like a electrical shock. So I know it's coming, and I pray that the speaker will recognize that it is a problem. So but they don't. So will this ever go away?
Heh, I end my sentences with "so..." or "so, yeah...". I also start with "So" if I'm continuing a step-by-step explanation and I've paused between steps to make sure the person is following. Typically, at the end, it's used when I reference something and the conclusion is obvious to the person I'm speaking to. This only really works with good friends, where you don't *need* to say everything, because they've already inferred what you're going to say from the preceding information.
I worked as a machinist n the shipyards more years ago than I am willing to admit, and they had (for many, many years before I got there) a simple, low-tech solution for this problem. "Tool Chits." Every tool was checked out to each guy using a tool chit. The chit usually took the form of a simple brass tag or token with that employee's number on it, or that were assigned at the beginning of the day. If you didn't bring the tool back at the end of the shift in exchange for your chit, the tool came out of yo
i'd guess, most "lost tools" end up in a co-workers toolbox anyway, so those $ 35.000 are probably exaggerated. then it's more about organizing and making inventory once a year.
and if it's about theft - put rfid-tags into the tools, and cover the exits with scanners. that's cheaper and less prone to fail than lots of expensive toolboxes with embedded computers (btw. - i'd steal the toolbox as a whole, if they were that nerdy)
when I first saw this I thought "cool, the idea is to get the tool out without setting off the buzzer". Then I got to thinking that maybe if all surgical instruments and materials were tagged with RFID it would be easier to find them inside patients. I think I'm ready for a break now.
"losing" tools (Score:2)
Re:"losing" tools (Score:5, Informative)
Re:"losing" tools (Score:5, Insightful)
There's 3 types of people:
1) People who lose tools by accident
2) People who steal tools on purpose
3) People who don't lose or steal tools
You might prevent or reduce losses from category 1. You will create a minor inconvenience for people in category 2. And you will piss off everyone in category 3 who will feel like they're no longer trusted.
Re: (Score:2)
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3) People who don't lose or steal tools
Well over 90% of the people who think they are in this category are not. More often than not, a "lost" tool ends up sitting on someone's bench or tossing in with some spare parts or in a box etc., to the point the person doesn't even remember they have it. After about a year or so meeting someone new at a job, there has always been at least one case of me asking someone if they had a tool, them saying "No, I always put tools back," and then finding they put it down somewhere and forgot. It happens to eve
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And,
4) People like me who lose their tools on purpose because my wife keeps asking me to help her hang blinds while I'm playing Far Cry 4.
"I can't find the drill bits, hon. We're gonna have to put this off until I settle Pagan Min's hash."
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4) People that realize an employee leaving the floor and walking to my office, seeking a $1 screwdriver, is best encouraged to keep the screwdriver for when it is needed next rather than interrupting both of our workflows thrice in the future (once to return the tool, two more times for another borrow/return). Tools are cheap and my tools are GIVEN away and I hope they find better, happier, more useful homes (at work, at least).
The proof? Intel lost what $0.10/employee worth of tools. $35,000 is nearly p
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There's 3 types of people:
1) People who lose tools by accident
2) People who steal tools on purpose
That is an oversimplification. There are also people who like to keep tools at their workstation overnight for the convenience, or people who replace tools at a slightly different place where they were originally found, or people who loan out tools they borrowed to another technician/person who might need those tools also.
3) People who don't lose or steal tools
You might prevent or reduce losses from category 1. You will create a minor inconvenience for people in category 2. And you will piss off everyone in category 3 who will feel like they're no longer trusted.
Even if we assume that you have an OCD employee in category 3 who always replaces a tool at the exact location he found it in -- the minute he no longer needs the tool. I can guarantee you
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You must be one of the lucky few who can actually watch the video. (Why can't Slashdot host their video on a reliable site, FFS?)
I eventually found some info on Dan's smart toolbox, including some Arduino code, in this presentation (starting at page 59):
https://intel.activeevents.com/sf14/connect/fileDownload/session/08D18557E1A5DDADDA0464BCC798A414/SF14_SPCS012_101f.pdf
It's not very exciting.
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Just implement a stop and frisk before leaving work. Tools found.
And this concept is standard in Aviation (Score:2)
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we've not been very successful with RFID tags on tools; the small ones are hard to tag, and the big ones absorb damage that breaks the RFID tag. Silhousets on the wall and foam cutouts in tool boxes work very well, as long as someone is responsible for the tool count at shift change. We lose 20 minutes turning in tools at the end of each shift, but it's still cheaper than losing an engine.
Re:And this concept is standard in Aviation (Score:5, Interesting)
I worked in a quartermaster type position during a student summer job for the Air Force once. I pretty much lived inside a giant steel cage when I wasn't scrubbing down the hangar (yes, a hangar. and the lockers inside, and the adjoining hallways. and I got to sweep it. and drive golf carts to take out the trash--which was actually a blast, just don't get caught by the SPs for skiing them).
Anyway, they had a barcode sticker on everything and every mechanic had an ID. They'd come up to the desk in the morning and ask for a set of tools. I'd trot around my cage and find them, put in their ID, scan each tool, and hand them over. At the end of the day, they'd bring them back. Then, we'd run a report showing which tools were still checked out and go hunt down the responsible mechanics.
Worked pretty well as far as I can tell. 100% recovery rate during my time there.
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In the Air Force, this is important. If you work on anything that ends up in, on, or part of an aircraft, keeping track of the tools prevents leaving them in an intake, flopping around an electronics bay, or flying up and hitting the pilot in the head during flight, all of which have happened.
I remember that, having to check my tool bag in as I entered the flight line, then checking it out. Counting the number of tools each time, and if the count didn't match having to go through the inventory to find wha
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Hey, you're from biddo! I am not a maineiac, but I lived in biddeford for a while, as the GF was going to UNE. Nice little town, and near to Run Of The Mill! Also plenty of nice rolling drives (in the car). Brought a smile to my face, good times, although the downtown could use some sprucing up. Can you ask Reilly's to tell me what their recipe for cinnamon buns is? I have yet to replicate it.</offtopic>
Re: And this concept is standard in Aviation (Score:2)
Yeah. The city tree is a telephone pole. Downtown is indeed blighted. I miss Biddeford Pool. Reilly's probably gets buns in a box, hang around before the sun comes up and check the name on the bakery trucks...
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But I watched the video, and then I thought, this for $35k? Intel? No, they must be more concerned with the work not getting done.... I hope.
I believe some of that chip-making equipment is pretty expensive - I am surprised that its protection was not given as the primary benefit. Perhaps they already have a solution for that environment, and this is for basic facilities maintenance.
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this for $35k? Intel? No, they must be more concerned with the work not getting done
In the details the guy mentions it was made by the night shift crew. Thier primary concern is probably having something interesting to help stay awake.
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Maybe with this doctors will stop forgetting tools inside victims.
Or (Score:0)
You could:
1) Keep an eye on your tools
2) Break the first person's fingers that walk off with your tools
Beyond a common problem, commonly resolved.
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I had a cheap pair of joint snapping pliers. Instead of snapping, the joints would slip.
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2) Break the first person's fingers that walk off with your tools
But how... they have your hammer!
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Vise grips will fix that quickly. There is nothing vise grips cannot fix with sufficient percussive maintenance and clamping force.
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Agreed. Knowing the right tool for the task is a fundamental skill, but you also need to know what the second best is.
Always have a plan B.
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Vise grips will fix that quickly. There is nothing vise grips cannot fix with sufficient percussive maintenance and clamping force.
I agree, I have used Vise grips to extract information, surely you could use them to extract who took your tools.
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As usualy its only "resolved" in your fantasy world where threats always work. I garauntee if the person who made that rule used the same tools, he would likely have to break his own fingers on a regular basis. I wonder how much of this is the "box cutter problem".
I know several people who, without really trying to, have ended up with a lot of box cutters. This mostly happens because they are small cheap tools, that you tend to use, and then immediately need both hands, so you tend to toss them in your pock
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The problem is the worker who is using the tool as they should in their job taking it home with them rather than returning it when they are done.
"keeps you from losing tools" just sounds nicer than "stops you from stealing tools".
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Not what it does... (Score:3)
It doesn't help you not lose tools. It helps you blame someone when a tool goes missing.
What's not to love about Intel? (Score:3)
That sounds a lot cheaper than even a single one full-time engineer busy developing and maintaining this cool product. There must be some other motive...
Yeah, because all of Intel's other software has been open source.
What's not to love about the company — and its careful PR campaign preparing the market for the demise of AMD? What a lovable corporation — I think, I have a thrill up my leg again.
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$35,000 is just the replacement cost of the tools. Now factor in the time wasted trying to track down these tools followed by the time wasted waiting for replacements to arrive. As you rightly pointed out, people time is the expensive bit.
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Hotel minibar (Score:2)
There is nothing really novel here in that hotels have had this technology in their minibars for like 10 years - they know what you touched so they bill you even if you replace it. Basically this is moving that concept from the mini bar into a toolbox. I think it is quite impractical since it relys on tools all being in special spots, it would never work in a home environment. A better solution would involve small RFID tags affixed to each tool and an NFC lock on the toolbox. You unlock the toolbox with you
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Why are you adding explosives to the toolbox?
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Well, obviously because he forgot to depress the hidden switch that interrupts the self-destruct circuit that is activated whenever opening a drawer on the toolbox! Seems logical enough to me.
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It requires a certain amount of fiddliness; but it is undoubtedly better organized than a simple 'in box/not in box' arrangement.
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I can see that case.
I guess all I am saying is there is the expensive implementation like this, which makes sense in terms perhaps of Intel or aviation, but would not be feasible to scale to the consumer. Then you have a consumer level implementation that is a lot cheaper and simpler but doesn't meet the requirements needed if you're working on an airplane. No different than many other things.
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checking out stuff? (Score:2)
Sure. Ever heard of libraries?
Now having a web server waiting for a connection from a tablet to unlock the toolbox (so you have power requirements + extra nuisance) is certainly something I DON'T want to mess with when I just want to go ahead and screw (pun certainly intended) something.
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You could fit every tool with an RFID tag and put a small computer with an RFID reader in the tool box. ...
This was one of the best ideas I ever saw when I read it in one of Cory Doctorow's books. I think the book was "Makers", and here's the excerpt where it was introduced: http://www.iconeye.com/404/ite... [iconeye.com]
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space? (Score:2)
1)You have to get out your phone/tablet to open my toolbox. Don't stick your phone charger in there!
2)This is super wasteful of space.The entire top tray of the box now holds 2 wrenches, 2 sockets, a volt meter, and a couple of things I can't really identify.Mine, without all the fancy foam and sensors holds a socket SET, a wrench SET, a volt meter, and some other r
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The RFID idea has already been done. Ford and DeWalt offered it as an option in F-150s from 2009 to 2012 if memory serves. It didn't gain market traction and they dropped it, although I think you can still get the parts from DeWalt.
While leaving a tool in an airplane is probably the worst case scenario, driving away from a job and leaving a tool behind is pretty bad, as is setting off in the morning to a job site and leaving a needed tool at home or in the shop.
The RFID solution is much more space efficie
Yes, I only have 8 tools in my toolbox (Score:1)
OK, I know that is only a prototype, but really guys, he specifically said it wasn't worth doing tool ID. When I work on something my toolbox tends to accumulate nuts and bolts and odds and ends, and isn't always deployed in a well lighted place. In fact it has been deployed in the rain at night. A simple light sensor is just not gonna cut it, at least in my real world.
A tool box that actually identified and inventoried my tools without carefully placing them in space wasting foam cutouts would indeed be
You need a $300 tablet to check out a $15 tool? (Score:2)
Giving staff that have a proven ability to lose wrenches, a tablet, so they can track the wrench doesn't seem like a valid solution....
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You lose it you bought it (Score:0)
There you go intel, i just saved you $35,000 a year. I'll be waiting by the mailbox for my cheque.
You can either buy a ton of overly engineered, stupidly expensive toolboxes or you can tell your workforce to be more careful with company property.
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There you go intel, i just saved you $35,000 a year. I'll be waiting by the mailbox for my cheque.
You can either buy a ton of overly engineered, stupidly expensive toolboxes or you can tell your workforce to be more careful with company property.
That only works if every tool is assigned to a specific employee. Instead, tools are pooled so that depending on the job, each employee acquires just the tools they need. Having one of every tool for every employee, just to allow 1:1 attribution, would cost them a lot more than $35,000 a year.
Doesn't do enough, IMO (Score:2)
It appears to only be able to tell if something is missing from the toolbox, which is perhaps useful because you can have an external indicator on the box that shows that the toolbox does not contain everything, and may reduce the occurrences of having a toolbox stored away before it has been properly restocked, but it does not do anything to actually locate the tools that were once in the box. Even if the range were limited to a few hundred meters within the box, that would still be extremely useful beca
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You have a very valid point. For their light sensor method to work they are having to implement shadow boarding (laying out everything in a predefined pace). If a shadow board is done correctly then a quick glance at it will tell you exactly what is missing (high contrast colors between the background/foreground/tool in place)
While i see the value in having a "smart" toolbox, i for one would want it to be able to give me the inventory along with helping me find the tool as you say. "digitizing" the same
Losing tools? (Score:2)
Just scan the lunchboxes carried out the gate at night.
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Intel hasn't heard of KISS and likes going overboard on things. Instead of just putting weight sensors under gas bottles feeding their silicon wafer production lines to monitor how full they are they had to plumb in more fragile pressure sensors with the attendant risks of leaks that plumbing introduced.
ummmm (Score:2)
More of a proof of concept. (Score:2)
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There's another way to handle this that's easier (Score:2)
Auto mechanics own their own tools. Most shops give a "tool allowance" for them to buy new tools on a regular basis, but the fact is that owning your own tools makes theft pointless and accidental loss expensive. Problem solved.
When I look at this toolbox and the amount of effort to "check out" or "check in" a tool - plus the fact that the capacity of the box is now 1/10th what it used to be - that $35,000/year is starting to look like a rock bottom bargain if they have anything more than 3 or 4 people us
Re:There's another way to handle this that's easie (Score:4, Informative)
So to chime in on the whole Tech owning their own tools. I hate to say this but that works fine for Auto Mechanics because they are working on random people's cars. If the Tech doesn't have the right size wrench he'll jsut use pliers or an adjustable wrench, face and corners be damned, won't matter not their problem. Same with a torque wrench, let them just tap it a few times, or use the air gun.
Move over to the industrial world and a real manufacturing/process plant where over torquing something can stop production, or damaging the bolt can cause delays in repair (lost of production) and we have a real problem. Most plants do not allow Techs to bring in their own tools. I know Plants that have banned adjustable wrenches (if you don't' have the right tool for the job don't' do it mentality)..
All that being said in real industrial settings, tool control is a big deal. The more sterile and regulated the environment the more important it can be. See the link below where it was a contractor failing to do a tool count that did some real damage.
http://defensetech.org/2012/01... [defensetech.org]
Tool counting is a basic thing, and should always happen. Things like this tool box can be used for good and bad, it all depends on the culture of the company and people using it. Sure they could use it to bash people over the head for loosing tools, but they could also use it as a safe guard/helper/checker to help the tech out in doing a tool count to make the work go quicker. I know places where this would be seen as yet another big brother in the plant, and places where they would love to have this because it would make their job easier and quicker. Its all about culture.
Personally i love the simplicity of it, although i will say that you have to have a solid 5S/Shadow boarding in place to use in place light sensors like this. It would work very well for specialized tool sets, but not your run of the mill mechanics toolbox. For that cheap RFID tags/single box reader might be more appropriate. (and could also be used for locating the tools if lost in the equipment).
Trust me that the cost of something like this is a drop in the bucket compared to the costs of real specialty tools, and the impact to production/operations when a tool is lost.
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Auto mechanics own their own tools. Most shops give a "tool allowance" for them to buy new tools on a regular basis, but the fact is that owning your own tools makes theft pointless and accidental loss expensive. Problem solved.
Not really. You still have the problem of other workers, or the boss, "borrowing" a tool and forgetting (purposefully or not) to return it. And you have the problem of forgetting a tool in the vehicle or under the hood or whatever.
um (Score:2)
That's stupid as hell.
So is anyone else bothered by this (Score:2)
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Heh, I end my sentences with "so..." or "so, yeah...". I also start with "So" if I'm continuing a step-by-step explanation and I've paused between steps to make sure the person is following. Typically, at the end, it's used when I reference something and the conclusion is obvious to the person I'm speaking to. This only really works with good friends, where you don't *need* to say everything, because they've already inferred what you're going to say from the preceding information.
However, this is only in ca
I know exactly where all my tools are. (Score:3)
Solution looking for a problem. (Score:0)
I worked as a machinist n the shipyards more years ago than I am willing to admit, and they had (for many, many years before I got there) a simple, low-tech solution for this problem. "Tool Chits." Every tool was checked out to each guy using a tool chit. The chit usually took the form of a simple brass tag or token with that employee's number on it, or that were assigned at the beginning of the day. If you didn't bring the tool back at the end of the shift in exchange for your chit, the tool came out of yo
this is overengineerimg par excellence. (Score:1)
Not Very Practical (Score:2)
It's a very inefficiant toolbax, spacewise. Plus, If I'm using foam cutouts, I already know my tool is missing.
Or (Score:1)
Do away with human workers, robots don't lose tools.
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Do away with human workers, robots don't lose tools.
"Do not lose tools" is not one of the Three Laws of Robotics" :-)
operation (Score:2)
Neat demo....bad math. (Score:0)
Ya....because the manufacture of these toolboxes would be much cheaper than $35,000.00 right?
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