Early Development
The Southern Pacific Railroad was ahead of the pack in its embracing of technology. In the early 1960s it developed a computer system called “Total Operations Processing System”, or TOPS. The purpose was to take all the paperwork associated with a locomotive or railroad car - its maintenance history, its allocation to division and depot and duty, its status, its location, and much more - and keep it in computer form, constantly updated by terminals at every maintenance facility. On paper, this information was difficult to keep track of, difficult to keep up to date, and difficult to query, requiring many telephone calls. Computerizing this information enabled a railroad to keep better track of its assets, and to utilize them better.
In order to offset the development costs of the system, Southern Pacific sold it to other railroads. A number of American railroads took to the system, as did many others around the world.
Read more about this topic: TOPS
Famous quotes containing the words early and/or development:
“If there is a price to pay for the privilege of spending the early years of child rearing in the driver’s seat, it is our reluctance, our inability, to tolerate being demoted to the backseat. Spurred by our success in programming our children during the preschool years, we may find it difficult to forgo in later states the level of control that once afforded us so much satisfaction.”
—Melinda M. Marshall (20th century)
“Information about child development enhances parents’ capacity to respond appropriately to their children. Informed parents are better equipped to problem-solve, more confident of their decisions, and more likely to respond sensitively to their children’s developmental needs.”
—L. P. Wandersman (20th century)