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TMCard to Tilt Watch device transition
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The following information is for dissemination to IBM Global Logistics suppliers, freight forwarders, and carriers involved in Rack product deliveries.
What is a Tilt Monitor?
These are small mechanical devices which when placed on a product will give a one-time indication if the product was mishandled in transit resulting in a tip-over, which may have caused product damage.
Executive Summary:
- What's changing? IBM is changing from Tilt Monitor Cards™ (TMC) back to the Tilt Watch™ devices which have been previously used within IBM.
- Why? The manufacturer of the proprietary TMC devices (Kuroda Electric, Ltd.) is discontinuing its manufacturing operations, thereby forcing this change.
- How are the devices different? The Tilt Watch™ is a mechanical device without a clock timing feature as was the case before with the TMC.
- How are they similar? Both devices "trip" when subjected to tilt angles in excess of 80+ degrees from vertical. They do not reveal a specific angle.
- When will this occur? All IBM locations that ship tall Rack-style products are in the process of gradual transition as they work off their TMC inventories.
- What are the advantages? The Tilt Watch™ costs less. Also, there will be no Restriction of Hazardous Substances (RoHS) or battery-related issues with the Tilt Watch™.
- What are the disadvantages? We will no longer have the ability to track the time and date of when the tip-over incident occurred, but this only rarely proved to be useful in the past. Also, the Tilt Watch™M must be armed prior to placement on the machine, unlike the TMC.
- I also heard about a new 3D Tilt Device. What's that? This is a newly-developed device on which we are conducting pilot studies. Potentially, a single 3D device could replace two or more Tilt Watch devices. There is no plan to adopt it beyond the trial period at this time; however, that is subject to change based on success of the pilot study, cost implications, and so on. In the meantime, we are proceeding forward with the plan to transition to the Tilt Watch™, since we needed to have something in place right away.
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