American Time Blog

As far as we know, time travel hasn't been invented yet, so when hospital records show a patient leaving one area at a certain time and arriving at their destination two minutes earlier, something isn't right.

At the Essentia Healthcare Campus in Duluth, Minnesota, this discrepancy became problematic when billing the patient’s insurance company, who didn't buy the proposition that someone could be in two places at once, thus refused to pay the bills when that's what the records showed.

This is a story of how changing one aspect of hospital operations saved a facility thousands of dollars, illustrating just how important it is that all the clocks in your facility stay in sync.

Anyone who's ever visited an ice cream shop, craft beer taproom, or the cereal aisle of a grocery store knows choices can be hard. Cheerios or Captain Crunch? Weird... somehow they both ended up my cart. But sometimes in business, you have to make just one choice and when making big decisions is part of your job, the stakes only rise.

If you're tasked with selecting a synchronized clock system for your facility, there are many options to choose from. If you don’t know much about synchronized time, your mission might seem easy at first, you just buy clocks and hang them on the walls right? But just like buying an ice cream cone or picking out your favorite cereal brand, there are a variety of options to choose from. We are, after all, talking about installing an entire network of electronic devices.

As you delve deeper into this mission, you might require some guidance. Here, we'll help you determine which type of clock is best for you, depending on your industry and the type of facility you're responsible for keeping on time.

If you’re trying to bake a cake, but can’t find the whisk or spatula, and your favorite pan is dirty, baking a cake is going to be pretty difficult. That’s because you don’t have the resources you need when you need them. Trying to check the time without a clock puts you in the same conundrum. No clock, no time. No pan, no cake.

So, where do you hang a wall clock so everyone can see it? Is there a certain height you should aim for? Do you hang it 7ft off the floor? Right below the sprinklers? Three feet left of the armoire? Unfortunately, there’s no one answer on how high you should hang your wall clock, but there are tips to consider for choosing an ideal place.

Older technologies may not get people as excited as the new iPhone, but in many cases, they prove their enduring usefulness time and time again.

Election officials still depend on paper ballots because it's hard to trust the inner workings of a computer system for a task as important as counting votes. People who conduct a lot of business over the phone prefer a landline because it provides more audio clarity and they know it won't drop their calls. Audiophiles still prefer vinyl records to their digital counterparts because there's just something about that warm, analog sound.

While the bugs get worked out in the new devices that dominate our lives, trusty standbys remain at your service. You might think that one casualty of the march of technology would be the humble wall clock, which now competes with the smartphone in everyone's pocket.

Those phones do a lot, including display the time, but they don't accomplish that task as well as a wall clock connected to a synchronized time system. Despite almost everyone having a clock in their pocket, there are many everyday scenarios that necessitate a wall clock, whether for safety, security or convenience.

Anyone paying attention to changes in schools over the years will notice how evolving technology has altered the ways students learn. For example, iPads have replaced textbooks, digital whiteboards have replaced chalkboards, even the classroom itself has been replaced to a degree, with students able to take classes remotely over the internet. The question begs to be asked. Are analog clocks the next to go?

Technology hasn't just changed how we learn; it’s changed what we learn — and the kinds of lessons we value. As digital resources expand, some people question the importance of maintaining the old skills that were once required to survive in the world while others find worth in the mental challenge of doing certain tasks the "hard way."

For example, when word processors and computers became mainstream in America, it was debated whether cursive should be part of the curriculum. A similar discussion is now taking place as we consider the increasing prevalence of digital clocks.

With digital clocks everywhere, especially on the phones and computers that demand our attention all day, teachers are questioning what used to be a basic part of an elementary curriculum: Just how important is it that students learn to read an analog clock, anyway? Here are arguments on both sides.

Distractions are everywhere, whether it's your social media feed, your dog pawing at you for a scratch behind the ear, or a cloud in the sky that looks like ice cream.

All these things are wonderful on their own, but when you're trying to get some work done, it's best if you can minimize disruptions.

The same is true when your job is to keep your facility on schedule. Critical to this mission is your synchronized time system, which, in very rare cases, can encounter its own kind of distraction — signal interference.

It's a phenomenon you'll want to be aware of if your timekeeping system uses wireless clocks, which stay in sync by receiving a radio signal from a master controller. Here, we'll look at the causes of signal interference and the steps you can take to prevent it or mitigate disruptions.

Often in life, your decisions come down to two options. White or wheat toast. Grilled or fried chicken. Take the blue pill or the red pill — any Matrix fans out there?

You have a similar choice when choosing the display format for your facility’s synchronized time system — digital or analog.

While analog clocks have their place, there are times when digital is clearly the better choice. Here, we'll explore the advantages you'll enjoy with digital clocks and what you'll need to consider.

How much time do you spend making coffee in the morning, making the bed, brushing your teeth – heck, how about putting on your socks? Wait, don't answer that question; it's best not to think about how many hours of your life are consumed with mundane tasks.

The reality is that while we pursue meaningful lives, so much of our days are used up by chores that we would automate if we could, freeing up more time for the things we actually care about. This translates to work, too.

For facility managers, there are few aspects of routine maintenance that can be put on autopilot, but adjusting the clocks is one of those. Here, we'll calculate just how much time you have to spend making sure your clocks are on pace, time that you could get back with a synchronized clock system.

Remember when you had to go to places to run errands?

Of course, some people still prefer to physically go places, but it wasn't that long ago that if you wanted to deposit a check, you had no option other than to wait in line at the bank. Now you can use your phone to deposit a check.

If you're like most people, you've probably grown accustomed to using a computer and a web browser to take care of your routine business. Some common examples are shopping for new clothes online and conducting business meetings over video chat.

School maintenance workers and administrators can now experience this same convenience by accessing school bells through a web browser. For example, our AllSync® and SiteSync IQ® system can be used with Remote Connect to manage bell schedules. Here’s how to reprogram your bell schedule.

In an era when funding school improvements can be quite a challenge, a creative partnership between a school district and its internet service provider is especially noteworthy. Thanks to their unique collaboration, the district's new school has a state-of-the-art emergency communication network, and the ISP has increased visibility throughout the new complex.

It all started when Rushford-Peterson, the school district in Southwestern Minnesota, began planning its new centerpiece facility, a 170,000-square-foot complex that would serve pre-kindergarten through grade 12. When it came time to think about their synchronized clock system and in-school communications network, district leaders decided on American Time's EverAlert®, which utilizes integrated displays and audio communications to quickly disseminate information across a facility for emergency scenarios and day-to-day messaging.