Johnson Controls, for instance, has a test program under which it pays a commercial customer dearly if it says an air-conditioning chiller is about to go bad, and it's wrong. In addition, killer apps like these sensors have a way of creating powerful, unintended benefits that overcome early problems. For instance, with sensors now going into so many tractors and linking farmers to the Global Positioning System to minimize maintenance, Case's Advanced Farming Systems thinks it can help farmers improve yields. Case is using the GPS to map how farmers' yields vary widely throughout their fields. Case then prescribes optimal fertilizer levels, row by row.
Companies can now address the issue.
Dick Simon Trucking says the sensors it installed in its trucks to be more efficient wind up saving an average of one driver's life each year. He couldn't have told anyone exactly where he was, even if he were physically capable of doing so. The truck relayed his coordinates to a dispatcher, who got an ambulance to the driver within minutes. The driver survived. Mr. Buss is a veteran financial journalist and principal of Veritas Communications in Detroit.