Connecting the world will require a better energy solution.

The early stages of the IoT "hype curve" saw some wild predictions for the number of devices that would be deployed. They're not looking so wild now, with 15 billion devices in 2020 and 29 billion expected by 2030. About 60% of these will be consumer devices, the remainder industrial, or IIoT, devices including smart meters and sensors for monitoring automation equipment, transportation infrastructures, and buildings like offices and factories.

Knowing that IPv6's 128-bit address space would permit more than 100 IP addresses for each atom on the surface of the earth, we can see that the IoT could theoretically grow well beyond even the most ambitious predictions.

While we can solve many problems by adding more of these devices, we are creating another at the same time. Each one needs a source of energy to operate and the fact that many of them will be deployed in mobile or remote locations means a battery is the most obvious power source. Already, the US alone throws away about 3 billion batteries every year and our IoT habit could add many extra tons of hazardous waste. But there are some exciting alternatives.

Outside suppliers can also affect a facility’s quality levels.

Use of Lean manufacturing philosophy and Lean Six Sigma tools have contributed to SigmaTron International’s quality and production teams achieving superior levels of quality, particularly within assembly operations. That said, even with outstanding process control, incoming material can impact achievement of Six Sigma quality levels. As a result, quality management needs to have a strategy for both ensuring supplier quality and identifying and correcting issues when that quality drops.

In this EMS provider’s model, suppliers are asked to complete a self-audit and provide applicable document examples and a copy of a Development Manual, Control Plan, PFMEA, Internal and External PPM data, Quality Reliability and Test equipment list and other documentation, if required, as part of the qualification process. If the subsequent score indicates a need for improvement, the EMS provider assigns a supplier quality engineer (SQE) who works with the supplier’s assigned stakeholders to meet the agreed-on improvement goal.

In cases where results of the self-audit or quality issues drive the need for additional scrutiny, a virtual or onsite audit may be conducted by the EMS provider. Audits for suppliers in North America are conducted by a US team and audits for suppliers in Asia are conducted by a team from the EMS provider’s international purchasing office (IPO) in Taiwan.

Engineering ain’t free – even if (when) would-be customers think it should be.

Small. Size doesn’t matter.

Until it does.

Small companies and startups are often the worst: Junior Dictators consuming time in inverse proportion to the worth of their project. Much of that vaporized time has little relation to the technical specifics of the project in question.

As if they care.

Because the customer is always right (to monopolize everyone’s time).

So the micromanager’s ballet begins.

The tech industry – and world at large – could use some moderation.

Moderation and balance seem in short supply throughout the world these days. Between war on two sides of the globe and political extremes in vogue all over, the proverbial pendulum is swinging wildly, rarely landing in the center. And business and industry are no exception to current trends.

In business and especially technology, the hot area is everything artificial intelligence (AI). Whether hardware or software, AI is the holy grail de jour. The regulatory environment is similarly out of balance. With security leaks, loss of privacy and potential pirating that could lead to everything from automobiles to aircraft and even weapons being manipulated by the “bad guys,” layers of regulations, standards, audits and inspections have taken off in every segment of industry. Again, balance and moderation have given way to extremism.

In fact, industry has never needed balance and moderation more than now. “Reasonable” and “pragmatic” are two words that should be applied across a multitude of areas.