Telemetering to monitor customer inventory

摘要

In a perfect world of electronic commerce, a supplier would know in real-time the customer's inventory and near-term material needs. The supplier would schedule delivery according to the customer's actual requirements, and ordering and billing would be automatic. Human participation in the process would be limited to the physical delivery of goods. The supplier effectively would be responsible for managing the customer's inventory and making sure the material is always avail-able. Gas suppliers to the steel industry are al-ready doing this using telemetry. BOC has in-stalled a Tel-Tank system at Carpenter Technology that meters the level of argon and other critical gases in storage tanks at the plant. An industrial computer monitors a meter on the storage tank. When the gas level reaches a set point, the computer automatically alerts a BOC computer that more gas is needed. BOC then automatically schedules a delivery of gas.