Caliel Talks to Invensys Operations Management Customers

I'm looking forward to renewing my acquaintance with Mike Caliel in a couple of weeks at the ARC Forum in Orlando. He was led a revival of the company during his last tenure. It'll be interesting to see what's up his sleeve this time around.

He just issued a customer newsletter. Doesn't say a lot, of course, but it's interesting. Here's a clip of his message:

When I was asked if I would take the reins at Invensys Operations Management, I performed very thorough due diligence. I wanted to meet the leaders that were part of my team, see the technology, products and services we were offering and, just as importantly, see what was in development.

I came away from my research very enthused! The people (some of whom I knew from my past tenure, some who joined Invensys since I had left) are of the highest caliber. Our strategy and our ability to deliver against that strategy are both strong. Our market capabilities and competitive differentiation are clearly advantages. And based on my discussions with several of you, the market perception of Invensys was that it was a leader in innovation, in trustworthiness and in the value it provided to your business.

Did I come away thinking that things were perfect? Not at all. I came away with the sense that we can still do an even better job of providing you with unmatched service and innovative solutions. As importantly, the attitude I saw, the efforts I witnessed, and the talent, passion and commitment of our people made me feel great about the company I had once been a part of.

Whither PCs in Industrial Applications

I have had a few discussions with technology people from suppliers of process control systems about whether the trend to open systems went too far. Maybe instead of the Microsoft method of opening things up and allowing lots of add-ons, maybe the process control market is ready for the Apple-style of closed control systems which optimize integration and user experience coupled with open communication.

I've asked the question at the Automation World LinkedIn Forum and am looking for comments.

Meanwhile, I spotted this excellent chart from Horace Dediu detailing the history of PCs. I was around at the dawn of using PCs in various manufacturing applications and I've seen several attempts to return to the centralized control model through "thin clients." But this chart, from Business Insider, shows PC sales leveling off while various types of appliances experience skyrocketing sales. What do you think this means for the future of PCs in manufacturing? Do we need full-blown PCs for operator interfaces? Other apps? Or will the new "ultrabooks" boost PC sales again?

Martin Luther King, Jr. Plus Automation News

Martin Luther King, Jr.

Thanks to Seth Godin for compiling these quotes from Martin Luther King, Jr. I saw King in person just once—at a chapel service at Ohio Northern University. There were also the farmers at a downtown Ada breakfast spot who joked about running him off the road as he made has way from the airport out to the University through rural roads. We’ve come a long way since then—but there are still miles to travel.

These apply to our lives in many ways:

"Change does not roll in on the wheels of inevitability, but comes through continuous struggle. And so we must straighten our backs and work for our freedom. A man can't ride you unless your back is bent."

“On some positions, Cowardice asks the question, "Is it safe?" Expediency asks the question, "Is it politic?" And Vanity comes along and asks the question, "Is it popular?" But Conscience asks the question "Is it right?" And there comes a time when one must take a position that is neither safe, nor politic, nor popular, but he must do it because Conscience tells him it is right.”

. . .

“We must rapidly begin the shift from a "thing-oriented" society to a "person-oriented" society. When machines and computers, profit motives and property rights are considered more important than people, the giant triplets of racism, materialism, and militarism are incapable of being conquered.”

. . .

“The saving of our world from pending doom will come, not through the complacent adjustment of the conforming majority, but through the creative maladjustment of a nonconforming minority.”

Chinese Process Automation Company

I’ve begun keeping an eye on Hollysys Automation Technologies, a China-based process automation company. It just announced a US$16.9 million contract win by its Singaporean subsidiary Concord. It signed a contract with Sendan International Co., Ltd to provide electrical, instrumentation and control installation works for Rabigh Power Plant in Rabigh, Saudi Arabia.

Dr. Changli Wang, CEO and Chairman of Hollysys, commented: "We are pleased to announce the first sizable contract win by Concord and glad to see that Concord is continuously winning new business, while its integration into Hollysys has been well underway in both new products development and business development. We believe the combination of Concord's customer base and industry know-how with Hollysys' proprietary technology and products will pave our way to a broader market space of rail and industrial automation sectors in Southeast Asia and the Middle East, to create value for our shareholders."

TE Connectivity and Elo Touch

I have had little contact with Tyco Electronics for the past several years and had totally lost track of one of the old, early touchscreen companies—Elo Touch. Then last week I received a call from an agency asking what I knew about TE Connectivity. Well, nothing—until they told me that was the new name for Tyco.

Today I saw a press release from TE Connectivity about the release of new touchscreen monitors from Elo TouchSystems—which is now a part of TE connectivity. I knew that years ago all the touchscreen and industrial computer companies were looking for far larger markets than industrial automation. Some found it in military or telecom. Evidently for Elo Touch, the market is retail and hospitality. That’s the trouble with industrial automation—for many companies it’s just too small of a market opportunity.

Elo Touch’s new monitors which featured zero-bezel surface acoustic wave technologies now also offer projected capacitive touchscreens with multi-touch capability.

Project Losses at Invensys Operations Management

[Updated--evidently these losses were known pre-Bhattacharya. Now that does not surprise me.]

Invensys plc released some financial data late last week. According to reports from London as cited on Jim Pinto's Weblog, "Invensys said it had reviewed three contracts to install and commission control and safety systems on nuclear reactors in China, in its operations management division, and had discovered delays and extra engineering work that would cost it £40m. The problems relate to one contract, for four reactors, which was worth around $250m (£163m) and would now be loss-making." This is a huge loss on a major project. Mike Caliel is experienced managing Invensys Process projects. Could be why he's back?

Wireless Wars Again

Ah, the "wireless wars" are back. Good. I need something controversial to write about when there is no Invensys news. (OK, I'm just poking fun.) I received a message on LinkedIn from Soroush Amidi, Manager, Product Marketing at Honeywell Process Solutions in the Montreal, Canada Area. "Automation World does not allow folks to comment on your blog.... I have brought a bit clarification regarding your December's blog in my blog.... I don't see those many WirelessHART vendors in shows nor see their products listed on their web site..."

Note that he's a Honeywell marketing person. Things have been very quiet on the Honeywell (and Yokogawa, ISA100) versus Emerson (and many others, WirelessHart) front. His blog to which I linked talks about ANSI finally approving ISA100. He says it took a long time to complete the specification because ISA100 is democratic--implying that WirelessHart isn't. Well, I wish he wouldn't bring up that sort of argument. It's false. His other comment is that I talked about many products with WirelessHart--he only found a few on the Hart Communication Foundation Website.

In my discussions with instrumentation companies, I find that most are developing for WirelessHart and few are developing for ISA100. There is another stumbling block for ISA100 and that is the certification process. We'll see how that one plays out--who is running it, will it be fair, etc. I don't know, yet.

I'm hoping that the instrumentation companies can stop their bickering and striving for competitive advantage through manipulating a standard and compete on the quality of their instrumentation. Therefore, I hope that the ISA100 subcommittee on standards convergence finishes its work soon. Check out Renee Robbins Bassett's excellent report on the situation.

I was shown a working demo of ISA100, and the presenters acted as if they thought I'd be surprised that it worked. Of course I wasn't. I expect it to work. Heck, I was building radio circuits when I was 15 and stringing ham radio antennas in the trees figuring out relationships of wire length and wave length. (OK, I learned electronics before electrical engineering.) I'm sure both ISA100 and Wireless Hart work. The problem is this trying to squeeze out the competition in a standards committee. I've been on those committees in my life. Makes you wonder about standards at times, right?

Oh, and I'm sorry about the lack of commenting. I was told by our Web design team that the new Website would offer good commenting. I'm sure it is coming.

Meanwhile, Soroush, please add your comments here.