Is noted in last month’s issue, I am starting to my 21styear writing this column. During that time, I wrote 30 of my 240 columns about O&M, touching on topics such as CMMS, PM workorder systems, training, facility management, telephone modem-to-Internet access, bar coding, and handheld technology. While I have championed each of these themes, and many a reader would contact me and congratulate me on the column, little has happened in the “real world” until probably the past two to three years.
I believe the reason many of my thoughts/columns are finally becoming reality is not because of my writing, but thanks to Steve Jobs who passed away last October. In my March 2003 column, I talked about 19th-century brass valve tags and the idea of barcoded identification tags using handheld devices to scan and read information from the iPad. I thought this was a no-brainer, but nothing much happened until recently.