LED teeth trend takes Japan by storm

Demand has gone through the roof for the colour-changing teeth as Japanese schoolgirls pounce on the product

BY: Rebecca D'Souza | Wed Jan 26, 2011
TAGS: graffiti, hand-held computer, Japanese fashion, Laforet Harajuku, LED teeth, lights, mouth-guard, party in your mouth, popular trends, smile, Throwies, wireless

LED teeth trend have taken Japan by storm

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LED teeth are the latest in bizarre trends to hit Japan.

The new fashion accessories were originally created as an experiment by two Japanese designers and are now being used in a commercial advertising of Japanese clothing store, Laforet Harajuku.

The LED insert, which can be affixed to your teeth like a mouth-guard, lights up when you smile.

Japanese schoolgirls have gone crazy over the LED mouth-guard, which is being advertised as a ‘party in your mouth.’

There is a wireless hand-held computer that is available which can control the LED teeth. This means you can make them blink or change colour - from a lurid green to a blinding red.

Motoi Ishibashi, one of the designers involved in the project, explained in a blog post that the original idea for the LED smiles came after he saw a video last year of LED Throwies, which are little lights that can be affixed to a magnet and thrown on metal surfaces. They are like lighted graffiti.

Ishibashi and Daito Manabe, the other designer and technologist on the project, are offering workshops in Japan to show people how to build their own LED smiles.
Will LED teeth become a phenomenon in the UK? Instead of gems being used to... Read the rest of my article at http://manufacturingdigital.com/sectors/electronics/led-teeth-trend-takes-japan-storm

Power Balance Bracelet's exposed as sham

The maker of popular sports wristband, Power Balance Bracelets, has admitted that there is no evidence to back up some of its claimed benefits.

The £29.99 accessories have been extremely popular with celebrities and sports personalities, winning the approval of famous faces, David Beckham, Leonardo DiCaprio, Robert De Niro, Kate Middleton, rapper P Diddy and Cristiano Ronaldo, to name but a few.

In Australian promotions, the company claimed the bracelets used holograms to improve the body’s energy flow and boost strength, balance and flexibility.

Power Balance Australia has been forced to admit that the bracelets do no such thing and are no more beneficial than rubber bands. It said: “In our advertising, we stated that Power Balance wristbands improved your strength, balance and flexibility.

“We admit that there is no credible scientific evidence that supports our claims and therefore we engaged in misleading conduct in breach of s52 of the trade practices act 1974.”

However, in a desperate bid to save its reputation, it added: “We have heard from fitness professionals, athletes, coaches, personal trainers and everyday users who tell us they have experienced benefits from Power Balance.”

The admittance came following an investigation by Australia’s competition and consumer commission.
Commission head, Graeme Samuel said: “Suppliers of these types of products must ensure that they are not claiming supposed benefits when there is no supportive scientific evidence.

“Consumers should be wary of other similar products on the market that make unsubstantiated claims when they may be no more beneficial than a rubber band.”

The company’s ‘misleading conduct’ has led to it offering consumers a full refund for these bracelets.

How manufacturing software solutions can streamline your company's activities

Manufacturers are constantly struggling to find new ways of reducing production costs so that they can offer their customers competitive prices.

This is because production processes have become increasingly complex and multi-faceted. Any business that designs and builds or produces a product, whether it is large machinery, auto parts, small household appliances, or software, can achieve tangible productivity and cost reduction benefits from the implementation or use of manufacturing software solutions.

Manufacturing software is a collection of comprehensive technology tools designed to improve the entire end-to-end process of designing and building a product. From engineering and planning through production and quality control, manufacturing software solutions provide businesses with the advanced technology to significantly increase efficiency, quality, and profitability whilst at the same time minimising overheads.

Sage UK is a leading supplier of business software and services to 6.2 million customers worldwide. It offers a vast selection of manufacturing software solutions to help businesses of all sizes overcome the day-to-day practicalities of running a business.

Steve Tattum, product manager, Sage ERP X3 & Sage Manufacturing, says: “A fully-integrated system can provide you with information management to plot trends, monitor quality, and respond to any failures that occur in the manufacturing process.”

There are several different types of manufacturing software but most provide a broad range of features, which have been designed to address the full range of production-related processes. These include engineering, which streamlines product design and configuration, and material requirements planning, which is used to balance supply with future demand.

Production management creates automated manufacturing processes and workflows with quality control enabling the implementation of proven, repeatable quality assurance processes.
Capacity planning is another type of software, which is used to identify growth trends. According to Tattum, this software is particularly useful for those businesses at the more specialised technologically-advanced end of the UK market.

“Capacity planning enables you to optimise the use of your resources,” says Tattum. “When you get into more complex scenarios you want to make sure that you are performing the operations in the optimum sequence to minimise the number of changeovers and to use the resources to their full capacity.”

Many companies today use mixed mode manufacturing software packages, which provide the flexibility to stay competitive, address customer needs and grow business.

With the market changing rapidly, in the UK in particular, it is important for companies to choose a system that can handle mixed mode manufacturing without putting undue load on the operators.

“Flexibility is absolute key,” says Tattum. “It is important that you are able to configure the product to work in the way that you operate as a business.”

Pointing to the software, Tattum says it too must be very responsive. “The software needs to provide information in an easy to digest manner. Gone are the days of huge 500-page reports that prop the doors open. If you see a trend, you do not want to run 400 reports to find out what is causing it. Information management, dashboards, and portals are crucial.”

Manufacturing software is continuously changing to keep up with modern technology. According to Tattum, Sage UK is tracking a number of trends in both manufacturing and software.

“We need to look at how information is being delivered and what the next generation of consumers is actually used to using,” he says.

In today’s society, with iPads and iPhones being the most sought-after presents this Christmas, information is mobile and portable. “We need to recognise this and deliver information to the users in a manner that is easy-to-use and easy-to-digest,” Tattum states. “Usability is really big.”

The manufacturers that will benefit most from the use of manufacturing software are those who currently use manual processes to manage key production-related activities such as demand forecasting, scheduling, and materials management.