The Next Big Thing

MOVIE LOG

“David, a young up and coming plastic executive, discovers a secret formula to save millions of dollars in administrative costs. He battles the manufacturing Goliaths to transform an entire industry with only his faith in the bottom line and his passion for customers.”

Would you watch the movie? Well here’s the treatment.

Our hero watches a lady fill up her tank at a gas station and wave a magic card that pays for the fuel. He’s intrigued and starts delving into her mysterious talisman and discovers the root of its power is RFI – radio frequency identification. Then a shadowy industry informant passes him an article that claims Walmart is mandating that all of their suppliers implement RFI or they’ll be exiled from its empire, left adrift to fend for themselves on the turbulent
seas of consumer indifference.

David pulls an all nighter on the Internet – coffee, and Jolt Cola, and what ever else it takes to keep his mind awake and alert to solving the enigma that is RFI. And then he finds it -- a small, barely Googleworthy article of revelation that could change the plastics industry forever. Unable to stay awake any longer he drifts between the world of what’s real and what might be.

A manufacturer of Acrylic sheet has modified their process to attach a wafer-thin computer chip to the back of their labels, which they attach in the top left hand corner of each sheet. In that chip lies tiny boxes that can hold a single character each and be written to a thousand times. The manufacturer’s computer system codes the chip with the material type and production batch lots. Then when an order from their distributor comes in they encode the chip on each sheet to include their customer’s PO number and its ship date.
 

The distributor receives the skid, which travels through two pearly gates eight feet high. Those gates talk to the chips and they report back with a breakdown of each sheet of material even though they’re of differing thicknesses, grades, and finish – all off of one skid. The distributor’s computer automatically updates their inventory levels as having been received, as well each sheet’s chip is updated to include the date it entered the warehouse. Where discrepancies are found between what the chips say and what the electronic PO says, a report is automatically sent to the manufacturer’s computer.

The distributor receives an order for half of a sheet and they cut it, leaving the labeled end in their stock. They encode the chip, subtracting half the square footage. The inventory controller is asked to do a physical inventory count on off-cuts. He walks out to the storage area and points his chip reader at the hundreds of pieces and it talks to all the chips on each piece at once, receiving exact quantities and updating the inventory control system.

Next, the distributor receives a PO for the ½ sheet off-cut and he updates the chip with their internal order number, as well as the customer’s PO number, and ships it out. As it passes the pearly gates their shipping system automatically relieves the material from inventory and posts the invoice.

Should that piece ever come back then the distributor can trace it all from the chip on the label without ever having to dig through a file cabinet.
 

And as our David begins awakening from his epiphany he basks in the glory of its meaning.

Here’s the big finish:

David checks his on-line yellow pages and finds a local RFI technology supplier and he learns that its all true – that everything he saw in his dream exists. He runs down to the RFI store and there are roll after roll of RFI labels. Fearing the worst he asks about pricing and finds out they can cost as little as 35 cents each and that the readers are comparable to
the price of bar code scanners.

David raises his arms to the sky and falls to his knees and praises the great silicone god and cries out, “Forgive me for my past indiscretions of mandatory company wide inventory counts and allow me to rejoice in the glory of your perfect electronic universe. I have heard your message, oh lord, and I shall take it to your people.”

Fade to black.

So, if any of you manufacturing types would consider buying shares in the script then please feel to contact me.

Shawn Chambers is the Operations Manager at Warehoused Plastic Sales in Toronto, Canada.
(416) 281 -4300. shawn.chambers@wps.on.ca.