April Extra Blog

Carl La Russa

North 

4/29/2015

This past month, I've been very busy working along with my mentor on a brochure for his tracking company and trying to boost sales on tracking units. We were able to create a good looking brochure that encompasses everything about the company and how our tracking system works. We ran into a couple problems along the way when we read over the content on the brochure and discovered that we had completely left out any information on the tracking website itself and that that is the main key to actually viewing vehicle activity. We had so much information on the tracking units and benefits of tracking that we had forgotten to include anything about the tracking software.

Independent Component 2

Carl La Russa

North 

4/24/2015

Independent Component 2 Blog

a.) "I, Carl La Russa, affirm that I completed my independent component which represents 30 hours of work."

b.) My mentor, Del Shindell, Alex Weiss, and Steve Szczuka have helped me complete my 30 hours of work. 

c.) Senior Project Hours Log updated.

d.) Over the past couple months, I've been working alongside my mentor, Del Shindell, to secure deals with trucking companies in the Chino area by making a Sygmatech brochure, that we would be able to hand out to potential customers and business cards that I could hand out. During the month of March, my mentor explained to me that business has been a bit slow lately and that he wanted to begin finding new clients for his tracking system. For several days during the second week of March, I was over at my mentor's house designing a brochure with pictures and captions that would inform potential clients about the system and its capabilities along with the benefits of having a tracking system in their fleet. To go along with the brochure, my mentor wanted me to get my own business card in case I was confronted with a potential client. Another reason my mentor wanted a brochure for his company was so that he could use it to give to some of our neighbors up the street since one of them manages a fleet of construction vehicles and was interested in the system. During all of this, I spoke with Alex Weiss and Steve Szczuka, both experts that have worked in the field of GPS and GPS tracking. Mr. Weiss worked with my mentor at a company called Hughes Aircraft about 20 years ago where they contracted with the U.S. military building systems that could track submarine torpedoes and missiles. Mr. Weiss helped me answer some questions that had about GPS and how it has evolved over the years into becoming a major component of people's lives. Mr. Szczuka on the other hand helped me understand how GPS might evolve to meet future needs and how itself is changing the future of tracking and navigating. Over the last couple weeks, I've been making calls to trucking companies, trying to peak some interest about my mentor's tracking system and what it can do for these companies. 

e.) The second independent component has helped me a lot in answering my essential question. First of all, when I was out pitching the tracking system with my mentor, I was able to see how tracking systems have already benefited many businesses. For example, when I went into Frontier Transportation in Chino, one of the managers there explained to me how much time and money they've saved by tracking their vehicles. I heard the same story from Odyssey Tours when I visited their bus yard along with my mentor. Along with all the product pitching, I was able to speak with some great experts within the field who really were able to explain to me why GPS is so important whether it be in transportation of any other application.

Here is the front page of the Sygmatech brochure that my mentor and I designed.

This is the inside of the brochure that explains everything about the tracking system from the tracking unit specifications to the features of the tracking program.