What is the problem in this study? Consider whether the problem is management, organizational/process, or technology-based? Another example is electric cars and the impact on the environment. The French waste management company Veolia and Belgian chemical firm Solvay are providing recycling services for electric car batteries. Give an example of how network communications technologies are used to solve a problem in one of the following areas (waste management, smart grids, 3D printing). Define the problem solved. Identify if the problem is management, organizational, or technology-based. Describe the solution and how it resolves the problem. Be sure to fully answer the question and support your position / analysis / conclusions for each question with at least 1 external reference (not the textbook).

Internet of Things Aids Waste Management

In 2003 the city of San Francisco set a very ambitious goal: Zero waste, meaning 100 percent of the waste generated by the city would be recycled and composted rather than dumped in landfill. Today San Francisco has come close to achieving that goal. Thanks to a large political, economic, and educational program, the city has been able to divert 80 percent of its waste away from landfillsmore than any other major U.S. city. Information technology has also played a major role by providing more efficient methods of waste-sorting and improving city- wide waste collection services.

San Francisco partnered with recycling waste- management company Recology, which has an ambitious vision of its own a world without waste. This hundred-year-old company proudly calls itself a re- source recovery leader, and continually researches and implements new technologies for waste processing. These include optical sorting, which automatically sorts plastics with an infrared sensor based on their size, shape, and structure, and a landfill gas capture system that turns the methane gas generated by landfill into electric power. Much of the Recology waste-management work takes place on its 2,000 trucks. Recology updated its JD Edwards EnterpriseOne ERP system to sup- port paperless fleet maintenance. Mechanics can now view and fill out their work orders immediately online using the system while managers are able to view the orders online instead of chasing down paper orders on vehicles.

Recology truck drivers used to report fuel levels using manual forms that office workers had to key into the system manually. Now an IoT sensor attached to each trucks fueling system automatically senses and sends the data directly to the JD Edwards fleet management module. No human effort is re- quired. New trucks will be equipped with IoT devices linked to their Controller Area Network (CAN) bus, a protocol that enables devices to communicate with each other in applications without a host computer. The IoT devices will collect more than 1 million data points per day from every vehicle, including throttle position, speed, hydraulic actuator movement, and the amount of fuel burned. Recology Director of IT Mike McLaughlin and his team will be able to decide which data to send to the ERP system for managing the truck fleet more efficiently. Recology managers can also use the Enterprise One Orchestrator capability to take action on the data. For example, if a trucks fuel level is low, the Orchestrator can send the truck driver an email to refuel the tank. If a truck component displays an error, the Orchestrator can schedule the truck for repair. Reducing human effort frees up manager and employee time to focus on more ways to create value, such as conducting waste audits to identify more opportunities for companies to engage in recycling and composting.

All of these technology improvements have provided significant benefits, but Recology wants to do more to manage the growing volume of compostable and recyclable materials it is charged with handling. One possibility is to install IoT sensors at various points in the waste stream to monitor waste generation, recycling, and composting. Compology, a San Francisco startup, has developed technology for monitoring and analyzing data from IoT sensors attached to dumpsters. Waste pickup truck drivers generally follow a specific route every day, stop- ping to collect trash at every container on the route whether it needs emptying or not. They dont know how full a trash bin is before they encounter it, and the amount of trash in each container can vary by day, week, and season. The Compology sensors take high-resolution photos of the interiors of waste containers multiple times per day, sending the images to the cloud. From there, waste haulers can monitor container fullness and optimize truck routes and schedules so that trucks do not waste time picking up trash at empty or half-full containers. This technology also has potential uses for estimating the per- centage of nonrecyclable items in the trash. Armed with this information, cities like San Francisco could target households or businesses responsible for too much waste going to landfills.

In addition to waste processing, Recology provides outreach and educational services, actively working with the community to promote its zero-waste goal. Eliminating the remaining 20 percent of San Franciscos waste will be much harder than the first 80 percent, and it cant be accomplished with new technology alone. San Francisco residents continue to send nearly 600,000 tons of waste to landfills each year. To lower this number significantly, city residents will need to become even more vigilant about using recyclable products and curtailing wasteful habits. People tend to underestimate how much they personally waste and how little they recycle or com- post. Consumer behavior studies have found that behavior can be influenced by the level of knowledge a person has. It is hoped that the data San Francisco gathers about waste generation and the impact of recycling and composting will make residents more aware of their wasteful behavior and encourage them to take action.

CASE STUDY QUESTIONS

1.) Identify the problem described in this case study. Is it a management problem, an organizational problem, or a technology problem? Explain your answer.

2.) What role has information technology and the IoT played in helping cities deal with their waste management problems? Describe the IT applications that are being used for this purpose.

3.) How successful are these IT applications as a solution? Explain your answer.