Gary Mintchell's Feed Forward

You are what you eat

Wed, 01 Jul 2009 23:08:46 GMT

This morning while working out I listened to this podcast from TechNation by Dr. Moira Gunn with David Kessler about the science marketers use to make us overeat. Then I saw an item in the Chicago Tribune that McDonalds is offering a $4 bigger burger (to compete with sit-down restaurants). Just what this nation needs--or is it all a plot to undermine us and make us vulnerable to a takeover because we're all too fat to fight? Of course, McDonalds is doing it to the whole world. Forget the defense industry, buy fast food stock (OK, I'm being sarcastic, sorry).

(by the way, you know that the title of this post comes from a sort-of pun in German - if I remember correctly from Schiller - "Man ist, was er isst")

Invensys Operations Management revealed

Wed, 01 Jul 2009 15:20:54 GMT

Updated

Things are coming together at Invensys Operations Management, the new alignment of businesses at Invensys plc announced first May 14 this year with the additional announcement of June 8 that Sudipta Bhattacharya was named Chief Executive Officer and Business President of the division. IOM brings together Foxboro, Triconex, Avantis and SimSci-Esscor, collectively known as Invensys Process Solutions, along with Wonderware and Eurotherm. And the key phrase is "Operations Management." That is the unifying theme of the new organization. Significantly, Bhattacharya personifies that integration with experience both in the process control world and enterprise software.

Bhattacharya took some time out to talk with me yesterday afternoon about the new division, its direction and structure. It's obvious that he is moving rapidly to mold the new company into one unit. "There will be one product group, one common development, one single roadmap," he said. Already in progress is the development of product management teams composed of people from all relevant groups within the company. And, indeed, he sees the core of the company as control and safety products and promises that that area will be the recipient of the bulk of research and development investment.

For the past few years, IPS seemed to be all about client services while Wonderware was the software arm. The newer product group called InFusion was housed in IPS but was a software-based offering with much Wonderware-derived content. The new IOM is focused on capturing the Operations Management space.

According to Bhattacharya, enterprise resource planning (ERP) faces the customer with applications such as order entry and fulfillment, while manufacturing execution systems (MES) have been point solutions focused on step-by-step execution of production processes. Over time, managers have realized that they need the real-time information contained in production systems but at the same time they need the context that can only come from ERP. This need if filled by applications called Operations Management.

The core competency of IOM consists of sophisticated control and safety products and solutions said Bhattacharya. This is augmented with hardware agnostic software. The idea is to avoid locking customers within a one-supplier system, but to work with those customers to help them achieve the goals they are seeking. He sees a process where customers piece together products into a solution to a problem, which the suppliers notices and packages into a product. One of the business drivers of IOM is the idea of taking those products leveraging the extensive distributor and system integrator network already in place in the Wonderware ecosystem making them stronger with the ability to sell additional products.

Taken together the new organization brings customers tools, products and services that enable better business decisions based upon real-time information coming directly from the plant.

(Updated, just received the official notice of the executive team)

IOM will continue to operate regionally. The regional functions will be led by members of the new Invensys Operations Management executive team, which are Steve Blair (North America), Ricardo Agostinelli (Latin America), Nabil Kassem (Asia Pacific and Middle East) and Stuart Batchelor (interim leader, Europe, Russia, Africa).

Blair has been President of IPS North America since August 2007. He has been with IPS since May 2003 and has held numerous Invensys roles, including Sales and Marketing Director for IPS (UK) Ltd, Vice President of Project Operations EMEA, and Vice President of Sales in EMEA.

Agostinelli joined Foxboro Argentina in 1979, working in various positions including Delivery Manager, Manufacturing Manager and Sales Manager. In 1990, he was promoted to Managing Director.

Kassem is a veteran of the oil and gas and the information technology industries. He joined IPS in 2005 as the Vice President and Managing Director of the Middle East Region.

Batchelor has more than 30 years of sales, engineering and industrial automation experience. He joined IPS in 2007 after serving for more than two years as UK Business Development Manager for Jacobs Engineering Ltd.

Members of the executive team responsible for centralized functions include:

Vice President, Manufacturing and Supply Chain[~]Karen Hamilton has been leading the Supply Chain and Manufacturing organization for IPS for the past nine months. Prior to joining IPS, she was with Invensys plc where she was vice president of Global Supply Management. She originally joined Invensys with Controls as Vice President of Supply Management.

Vice President, Delivery Operations[~]Mohamed Farouk has been leading the Engineering Excellence Centers for the past year. He started working with IPS in 1998 while teaching at Cairo University.

Vice President, Product and Portfolio Management and Strategy[~]Rashesh Mody will lead this organization. He has been responsible for our Wonderware business since February 2009. Prior to that, he led the Wonderware Global Product Management team. He has more than 21 years of experience in software development for industrial automation.

Vice President, Research and Development[~]Pankaj Mody joined Wonderware in 1995 and has been leading the combined Development group for IPS and Wonderware since November 2007.

Additional members of the executive team are:

CFO[~]Stan Allison, currently senior vice president, Invensys Global Business Services, will take the role of Chief Financial Officrr, Invensys Operations Management.

Human Resources[~]The HR organization will be led by Keri Jolly, Vice President. She joined IPS in December 2007 as Vice President of HR and has been acting leader of the HR function for the three IOM businesses since early this year. Before Invensys, she was in HR leadership roles at American Express and GE Capital.

Legal[~]Vice President and General Counsel Peter Kent will lead legal and contract functions. He has been with Invensys since 1993 and served most recently as Vice President of Global Legal Services, responsible for development and implementation of new processes and systems to enhance delivery of legal and contract management services across Invensys.

Global Sales Operations, Communications and Marketing[~]Phil Clark will lead the global sales, marketing and communications organization as Vice President. He has been directing the sales and marketing efforts for IPS over the past several years. Prior to joining IPS, he held several executive positions with EDS.

Programme Office & Quality[~]Vice President Eddy Manicardi has been with Wonderware for the past 10 years, most recently as Vice President of the Strategic Program Office. Prior to joining Wonderware, Eddy worked as Vice President of Sales at Siemens.

Environmental, Health, Safety and Sustainability[~]This function is led by Senior Vice President Angel Alcala. In his Invensys-wide role, Angel will also sit on the Invensys Operations Management leadership team. Angel has been with Invensys since February 2006. He joined Invensys from Honeywell where he led Global Health, Safety and Environment for Honeywell's Process Solutions and Building Solutions organizations.

My take on this is that the experiment with turning the company from products to client services is over. Invensys is at once returning to its roots while forging a new direction building on the strengths that already exist. I think this is a good direction that will make the company competitive. Bhattacharya is a leader with sound fundamentals and vision. I know quite a few of the executive team, and I think they are poised for a renaissance.

Honeywell To Acquire Gas Measurement and Control Company

Fri, 26 Jun 2009 21:00:18 GMT

Late Friday afternoon breaking news.

Honeywell announced June 25, it has signed a definitive agreement valued at approximately $400 million USD to acquire the RMG GROUP (RMG Regel + Messtechnik GmbH and all of its subsidiaries, together RMG) a Kassel, Germany-based global supplier ot natural gas measuring and control products, services and integrated solutions. RMG will be integrated into Honeywell Process Solutions, which is part of Honeywell's Automation and Control Solutions business group. The transaction is subject to regulatory approvals.

Founded in 1931 in Kassel, RMG specializes in the design and manufacture of natural gas control, measurement and analysis equipment including flow metering technology, regulating products and safety devices for oil and gas companies. RMG has estimated 2009 sales to be $290 million USD.

Norm Gilsdorf, president of Honeywell Process Solutions, told me this afternoon, "The company is a leader in such natural gas-related technologies as meters, pressure reduction equipment, flow measurement, control and related engineering. It sells individual products plus it can design entire solutions including delivering turnkey skid-mount systems."

Asked how RMG will fit in HPS, Gilsdorf said to consider its relation to HPS and UOP for gases like Enraf's relationship with liquids. RMG is currently working on the controls of a large natural gas pipeline starting in Turkmenistan going through Uzbekistan and Kazakhstan ending in China. "Natural gas is good clean energy," added Gilsdorf, "and RMG has the same values we drive for cusomers among which are safety, reliability and efficiency."

"Our business, customers and employees will benefit from becoming part of Honeywell," said Dr. Henning BÃ¤hren, chief executive officer of RMG GROUP. "RMG is already a global leader and this acquisition will give us access to broader growth opportunities and distribution channels, and gives us the ability to expand our product offerings in a world with ever-increasing demand for clean energy. Honeywellâo[dot accent]s industrial offerings will allow us to create enhanced automation and control solutions for all of our customers worldwide."

Video Mintchell Reports

Fri, 26 Jun 2009 18:49:33 GMT

My video report of the Honeywell conference last week is finally live at Automation World.

Even more social

Fri, 26 Jun 2009 15:07:09 GMT

We started an Automation World group in LinkedIn. An experiment like all my experiments. Feel free to contribute, but please don't spam. Thanks.

Alarms Standard Approved

Mon, 22 Jun 2009 22:13:25 GMT

It's true... Many people have told me about the pending approval of ISA18.2 on Alarms. Well, it happened. ISA-18.2, "Management of Alarm Systems for the Process Industries," has been approved by the ISA Standards & Practices Board and, following final approval by the American National Standards Institute, is expected to be published in July.

Alarm system management requires several activities and work processes connected by the alarm system lifecycle. The new standard defines the terminology and models for a common language to describe the alarm system. It also describes the activities required to achieve the desired performance of the alarm system and to maintain that performance.

"Improving the performance of alarm systems is essential to achieving operational excellence in manufacturing," stated Nicholas Sands of DuPont, co-chair of the ISA18 committee. "The activities covered in this standard will help solve the common problems with alarm systems, which will in turn reduce the frequency of safety incidents and plant upsets and lead to improved business performance."

With nearly 100 experts from across the globe, the ISA18 committee, Instrument Signals and Alarms, develops standards and related documents for alarm systems including the definition, design, installation, operation, maintenance, modification, and work processes to effectively maintain an alarm system over time. The committee is beginning work on a series of technical reports to provide further definition and examples of the lifecycle work processes.

"The ISA-18.2 standard is the product of a dedicated and experienced group of volunteers that worked through the consensus standards process," stated Donald Dunn of Aramco Services Company, the U.S. affiliate of Saudi Aramco, co-chair of ISA18. "The committee was motivated by the common experience of incidents when the alarm system failed to prevent an event."

Rockwell Software Tech Education

Mon, 22 Jun 2009 22:06:37 GMT

About 1,100 software technical specialists, Rockwell Software employees decended upon the Rosen Shingle Creek Resort in Orlando June 22 for the annual RSTechEd event. Three days of keynotes and in-depth technical sessions are the order of the day in addition to the Manufacturing 2.0 executive session.
The number is down from last year--only to be expected--but not really that much. Perhaps 20 percent.

The people who were able to struggle up for the 8 am Monday morning keynote were treated to stories of the 1980 U.S. Olympic Ice Hockey team (known as the Miracle on Ice) and how the lessons the team learned are applicable to us today in our business and personal lives.

Mike Eruzione was captain of that team and took us behind the scenes and into the locker room at the team fought through adversity and inexperience to become winners of Olympic Gold. They found that tradtional values such as hard work, sacrifice, pride and respect (for your opponents, teammates and yourself) counted for much more than luck or merely skill.

I think these are values that bear repeating--often. No young person wants to hear about those lessons, or a lot of older persons for that matter. How many people do you know who think the CEO got there by luck, genes or good looks (OK, maybe a few.)? How many people think the best road to riches is the lottery? No, as Eruzione said, it's a process not just the start point and end point.

There were many sessions. I sat in on a customer panel discussion about human-machine interface. The opening Manufacturing 2.0 sessions featured expert panels comprised of customers, analysts and Rockwell Software business partners discussing Cost Reduction and Supply Chain Efficiency. At least that was what was billed. It is almost impossible to report on a free-flowing panel discussion with give and take from the audience. All I can say is that there is a lot of concern about ERP as a decision-making tool and how can tools such as MES help.

A full day tomorrow with a series of one-on-one interviews set for me on Wednesday. It's a good gathering and many people are working to make the best of the economic times and help turn things around.

Video interview about wireless and control

Sat, 20 Jun 2009 11:33:52 GMT

I recently traveled to California and stopped by the offices of Opto 22 to discuss wireless and control. My discussion with systems engineer Ben Orchard of Opto was video recorded. We talked about Opto's use of standards--and defined standards for all of you skeptics out there.

Don't be dumb

Sat, 20 Jun 2009 10:38:11 GMT

Some time ago I did a couple of social media posts. One problem is company IT firewalls prohibiting social media--even training videos for example out of fear of either employees wasting time or introducing porn into the workplace. Business owner Rex Hammock takes a realistic view (since he has blogged three years longer than I, tweets, is on Facebook...). Don't be dumb is the company mantra.

More on PETA

Sat, 20 Jun 2009 10:34:18 GMT

John C. Dvorak is following the PETA wackiness meme. Get Phish to change its name??

It never ceases to amaze me how people can take a good idea (let's not be abusive) and take it to the extreme then go on to the ridiculous.

PETA Pocket

Sat, 20 Jun 2009 01:38:21 GMT

Went to small-town America band concert on the Courthouse square tonight. Slapped an ant crawling on my leg. Glad there are no PETA people in Shelby County, Ohio (I think).

Leo Tolstoy was a noted pacifist in late 19th century Russia (you know, War and Peace, and so on). It was said that once on a summer evening when he was talking with a number of his "disciples," he absent-mindedly swatted a mosquito that landed on his arm. His disciples were aghast. He told them to get their priorities straight.

Honeywell User Group Wrap Up

Fri, 19 Jun 2009 21:23:53 GMT

What the recent Honeywell User Group conference held in Phoenix June 14-18 lacked in overall attendance, it made up for in energy and enthusiasm. With company travel restrictions abounding, many companies just sent key decision makers rather than an entire team. Discussions were intense and attendees seriously picked sessions most applicable to their work.

Although "Return on Imagination" was the conference theme, the themes most featured by company speakers included "One Honeywell," energy and "One Wireless." One Honeywell refers to efforts to bring various businesses of Honeywell into technology collaboration where it makes sense in the market. For example, in energy markets, Honeywell has several businesses and technologies that can be integrated for a new set of products. Similarly in safety and security.

I had a few minutes with new HPS President Norm Gilsdorf and was able to ask him what he was trying to get across to the business during his tenure. He reiterated the overall themes and then mentioned "prioritize, focus, execution and delivery." He wants everyone in the company on the same page focused on success.

Wireless as a "game changer" was brought up several times. I asked Vice President of Strategy and Marketing Harsh Chitale what was so game changing about it. He stressed three areas. Asset management (especially of instruments), energy management and worker productivity. With the first two, the ability to more easily and cheaply integrate more sensors into a system in order to provide more information to the system and to personnel will greatly enhance production. In addition, concurrent advances in software that can utilize the information are also crucial. Worker productivity refers to mobile computing devices that allow operators to break the chains of the control room visiting the plant when necessary but still taking the control room with them, so to speak.

Many new products were announced at HUG. Chief among them include:

Energy Management Solutions is a customizable portfolio of new and existing hardware, software and services to help improve energy efficiency and reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions.

The portfolio features the new Honeywell Energy Dashboard, which gathers information from various instruments and systems and tracks their energy consumption against dynamic energy targets. Capturing and analyzing this data allows users to understand key energy indicators and how they affect overall energy consumption. The Energy Dashboard, expected to be commercially available in the fourth quarter 2009, enables users to establish specific goals for reducing energy consumption, costs and the associated GHG emissions, as well as to measure actual performance against those goals.

Once energy saving potential has been identified, the Energy Management Solutions portfolio provides customizable hardware, software and services to improve performance, including enhancements to measurement and monitoring, control and optimization, heat recovery, feedstock optimization, advanced process technology, utilities optimization and services to sustain and even improve results over time. For refining and petrochemical industries, HPS and UOP solutions can reduce energy consumption by up to 25 percent and the associated GHG emissions by up to 320 metric kilotons per year. For other process manufacturing industries like pulp and paper, Energy Management Solutions can help reduce energy consumption by up to 20 percent and associated GHG emissions by up to 44 metric kilotons per year.

Energy Management Solutions can be implemented in stages starting with smaller-scale, quick return-on-investment projects, and moving to more comprehensive, higher-value projects. Honeywell has expertise in process technology, process control and energy efficiency along with methodologies, best practices and work processes to assure that the value from energy efficiency projects is achieved and maintained.

The latest addition to Honeywell's OneWireless industrial wireless portfolio is the XYR 6000 Valve Position Sensor. Based on the Honeywell Micro Switch CX series hazardous location analog sensor, the new XYR 6000 Valve Position Sensor monitors the position of the valve when used in OneWireless systems, sending the signal from remote or potentially dangerous areas of the plant. The sensor carries all the appropriate hazardous location certifications.

In addition to eliminating manual monitoring, the sensor's accuracy improves safety by identifying linear or rotary valve positions, minimizing the risk of unwanted fluid release or unplanned product contamination. When used for safety shower notification, the sensor can serve as an emergency response trigger. The XYR 6000 Valve Position Sensor also simplifies maintenance by electronically tagging each valve in the system, identifying valves that have degraded or been damaged. This reduces the need for field technicians to manually inspect valves for maintenance.

Another wireless product, OneWireless R120, features a redundant wireless system gateway (WSG), a critical prerequisite for wireless process control. The new WSG manages data between wireless field instrumentation and the plantâo[dot accent]s process control network (PCN). It serves as a backup gateway to ensure that data is always delivered even if the main gateway malfunctions or fails. Paired with existing OneWireless redundancy features, this approach creates the first industrial wireless system with complete hardware and radio-frequency redundancy from the field instrument to the PCN connection. Additionally, unique failure recovery features help prevent data loss and the network can recover in less than two seconds from any field hardware failure.

OneWireless can accommodate multiple communication protocols and thousands of field devices on a single network to help improve overall plant safety, reliability and efficiency. Each gateway can support up to 100 transmitters, and a single OneWireless server can support up to 40 gateways.

New OneWireless products now ship with OneWireless R120 software or firmware. Any existing OneWireless devices installed at user sites can be easily upgraded by an over the air software update to support the new functionality while supporting current investments.

Honeywell also released a touchscreen operator interface for theHC900 Control Systems. The Honeywell 900 Control Station is a panel-mounted interface available for all new HC900 installations. It also can be retrofitted for existing, compatible systems.

The new operator interface, featuring a 10.4-inch color display touchscreen, introduces enhanced graphic features designed to reduce set-up time and simplify operation while improving security and versatility in the field. Preformatted displays, custom graphic tools, plus more than 4,000 pre-built process graphic objects make it easy for system designers to create color graphic touchscreen displays that schematically symbolize the layout and functions of the process, facilitating operator acceptance. The interface also helps simplify process changeovers by allowing operators to select from previously stored recipe variables, setpoint programs, setpoint schedules and sequences.

Simple Fitness tips

Wed, 17 Jun 2009 12:35:18 GMT

As Milo Bloom once told Opus the Penguin in Bloom County, "Eat less, exercise more." Or as Leo Babauta says, get moving and eat real foods with moderation. The rest of his simple tips are here.

Marketing and the Social Web

Wed, 17 Jun 2009 00:34:38 GMT

Marketing people are all rushing to try out "social media" for marketing purposes (advertising, pr, engage community, whatever). John Dvorak (the Cranky Geek) says here that they should watch out. People don't go to a place to meet their friends expecting to get overwhelmed with marketing messages.

He has a point that should be considered. That's why I like the way Jim Cahill approached blogging for Emerson Process Management. It's not the usual marketing stuff, but a way of bringing real experts (therefore the name Emerson Process Experts) into conversation, or at least awareness, to his community--and probably well beyond Emerson users. Bill Marriott is trying to do something like that with his blog--put a personal face on a corporation. I've seen a few companies start and stop. It's really hard to do. But some others in our niche of the market are trying. Siemens PLM is another company blog that shows personality and promise. Carl Henning with the PTO blog is another who has reached a decent audience with good content. And I guess another is Eric Murphy at the OPC Exchange Blog.

Twitter is tougher to figure it out, and I'm not sure anyone has, yet. When Oprah and Ashton Kutcher (sp?) got into a competition for followers on Twitter, it sparked a huge increase in sign ups. But after the initial enthusiasm, most have not done anything with it. So, I'm still figuring it out, too. One possible use would be questions during presentations. But a local chat might work for that too (other followers may wonder what's going on).

Then there are the Facebook, LinkedIn, Plaxo social sites. Marketers have begun hitting the groups that are springing up with press releases and marketing messages. We'll see what happens there--if it drives people away from the groups or if it's accepted.

Process journalism

Wed, 17 Jun 2009 00:21:25 GMT

Just updated my wireless story with additional information. Seems fitting to refer to this article by Michael Arrington, founder of TechCrunch and leading blogger-as-journalist. It's on process journalism and a debate he's having with The New York Times about whether it's professional to change a post. Well, I side with Michael. Sometimes in the interests of either accuracy or transpanency you've got to update and change.

Sometimes people wonder about my motivation for all this--it's simple. I like to think and I like to write. I don't make any money from this blog--I have a "day job." I don't are about one company over the other--I want to see them all succeed partly because it helps my day job and partly because I know hundreds of really great people who depend upon those companies for good jobs. Compared to other "industries" I've been in, there are so few arrogant a***** in this one that it's a real joy.

Honeywell User Group - Updated

Tue, 16 Jun 2009 14:15:57 GMT

[Updated 5 pm local time--I knew I was in too much of a hurry, but then this is a continuing story...]

Far too much to write, far too little time this morning--in Phoenix at the Honeywell User Group meetings. I did put some pictures from the keynotes up on my Flickr account. The theme was Return on Imagination officially, but really it was "One Honeywell" with subthemes of wireless and energy.

One Honeywell refers to how various business units of Honeywell are integrating efforts in various ways to bring new solutions to market. Interesting new knowledge (for me) that recent acquisitions such as UOP are not part of Honeywell Process Solutions. Therefore, many of the things those of us on the outside would think of as already one company are not. But they also bring in other divisions such as Building Solutions for coordinated energy management.

The news they really wanted to stress to the media is an Energy Management solution that packages together energy solutions from many Honeywell sources plus consulting and engineering, plus a new Energy Dashboard (available later this year). The dashboard is not just a graphic but the culmination of intense data collection and analytics that has the potential to help operations and engineering (and others) manage a plant not only for process efficiency, but also for energy efficiency. People can see the economic impact of potential (through simulation) or real changes to the process in terms of energy use. Not only manage for efficiency but also for profits. This is an announcement that doesn't sound significant at first glance, but when you think about the ramifications for actually running a plant, it is.

I got some time with Jeff Becker to try to understand the ISA100.11a situation. The press releases from ISA basically said nothing about the specification itself. The proposed standard has been approved by the sub-committee and now goes through a comment review and other reviews before final adoption. As of this writing, two major suppliers support this spec--Honeywell and Yokogawa.

The standard achieves what many (obviously most) of the committee wanted, and that is an all-encompassing standard that specifies a radio, a protocol and an architecture that will work for everything wireless in a plant (we're talking process, not discrete). So, it is robust enough for control and can be used with "mesh" capability, too. It is built on the IEEE 801.15.4 radio (low power) and includes
the 6LoPan specification.

[GM analysis]The WirelessHart specification of the Hart Communication Foundation (and an adopted international standard and the other major wireless specification for process automation at this time) is incompatible with this standard as I understand it. Of course, the major large systems supplier proponent of this standard is Emerson Process Management, but almost all process automation suppliers have signed on and many are due to release products if they haven't already.The WirelessHart specification (which is completed and products are appearing) is a sensor network designed for monitoring and some would debate if it is suitable for control or not. I suppose that the users will decide, then we'll report on actual applications. For reference, for years I was told by those who did not have Ethernet products (specifically for discrete control) that Ethernet was totally unsuitable for control. After writing many application stories about engineers implementing Ethernet in discrete control projects, I don't hear that anymore. Time will tell in these wireless debates, too.

So, users will not get one ubiquitous standard (if they ever really thought they'd get that, they were smoking something illegal--just like the way the wired fieldbus "wars" settled out), but there will be two standards for essentially two kinds of applications. And there are more ISA100 standards under development for other applications. While the two current ones are incompatible, this leaves room for entrepreneurial smaller companies to build gateways that could put your WirelessHart sensor network into a larger ISA100 wireless network--if you should want.