Ginny Burnell, new President of Invensys Process Systems, North America, welcomed the users to the event. Unlike most other events of its type, the general session was held theater style, in seats with no tables, so no writing was expected...and those of us who had to take notes, used our scratchpads on our knees. Burnell pointed out that three weeks ago, the place we were in was a refugee center, and they didn't know for at least a week after that that the meeting was actually going to be on.

She proudly announced a registration of 850 (but didn't break it out by Invensys users, Invensys employees, and others).

Dick Hill, from ARC, gave a talk on trends, in which he wished us, "May you always live in interesting times."

Dick pointed out that capacity utilization in the US is rising above the 80% mark, the mark at which new capital projects and expansions get started, while the EU's is lowering to the 80% mark. China and India are the fastest growing, but that Latin America, especially Brazil and Venezuela, are increasing exports at the 17% rate, mostly to China.

He showed a pie chart that showed that over 52% of automation business is still in modernization, or brownfield plants. This echoes what Dinesh Paliwal, of ABB has been saying since he took over the job. But he pointed out that 50 new plants were being built in China, with only 1 new plant in the US (in Pascagoula MS, in fact, and its fate is now uncertain).

The trends he sees are:

--demanding customers
--demanding shareholders
complex supply chains
complex global competition
security issues
aging workforces
aging assets

and the challenge is to perform on a global scale.

No ARC employee is ever allowed out of Boston without a whole bag of TLAs (three letter acronyms) and Dick isn't an exception. He started with CMM, which, in ARC-speak, stands for Collaborative Manufacturing Management. This means, he said, that each process plant "needs to operate like a node in the value chain. Business systems and production systems must work together in coordinated control."

He pointed to the ever-present and often-discussed GAP (or what I call "the DMZ") between the Process Control World and the Business Planning/Supply Network World. He said that this must be filled with another TLA, this time MOM. MOM, not standing for motherhood, stands for Manufacturing Operations Management.

He noted that, as we've pointed out for years in CONTROL magazine, the information and control systems are becoming flatter, less hierarchical. Where there used to be multiple tiers, there are now only one or two. I happened to be sitting with a member of the User Group Steering Committee (who asked for anonymity) who pointed out that his company was going back to three tiers: Business, Production Scheduling and Process, in an effort to handle security issues. What this will do to the flattening effect is undetermined, but is an issue.

Hill also noted gleefully that users are finally paying more attention to standards, and so is ARC.

There are over $65 billion in legacy systems installed, Hill remarked, and the issue, he said, "is what to do with this legacy stuff. Can it interoperate? Can it be secure?"

Hill then managed a short tutorial on ROA (return on assets) showing the divide between the Manufacturing view and the Accounting view of how to determine return, and said that the TLA that would fix all these things was RPM (realtime performance management). "Every worker needs to see what is going on..." he said, and "we need to empower people as knowledge workers."

How to do these things, of course, is left as an exercise for the reader.

Now please understand, I agree with everything Dick Hill said. What I want ARC to do is to start telling people exactly how to move from being thought leaders to being action leaders.


Walt

This user group is subtitled "Get More from One." The motif and metaphor is a child's folding block toy, which opens up with different views of the enterprise, based on how you fold the blocks. There are views for Triconex, there are views for Sim-Sci Esscor, for Avantis, and for Foxboro...but no view for Wonderware. Wonderware is being mentioned, but there is virtually no participation from Wonderware in this "drawing together, becoming one from many" exposition.

Paul Miller, Invensys' PR guru, opined that it was because Wonderware was sort of independently run under Mike Bradley, and they have their own user conference. But all the brands here have always had their own user conferences too, until now.

Something seems not right. Is Wonderware a selloff?

Mike Caliel (who gets my vote as one of the five best CEOs in this industry) gave a stirring sermon about the vicissitudes of life ("Who'da thunk it?" he scatted on the Katrina and Rita disasters, and what they'd done for the process industries.)

"This meeting serves to show you the progress we've made and to solicit feedback," he said. "For us, this meeting is about listening."

The topic is "Get More from One," he said. So let's talk about the reorganizations and set the record straight, he went on. Contrary to what you read in the papers and the rumor mills, Invensys's recent changeover at the top was a carefully orchestrated way of getting from Rick Haythornewaite to Ulf Hendrickson, Caliel insisted, since Hendrickson had the skills to run Invensys (and implying that Haythornewaite did not).

"Invensys is back with a vengeance," he opined. He described the reorganized rump of Invensys as a company whose "whole business is now controls oriented." Process systems, he showed, is ahead of expectations for the past two years running. "Invensys is now a profitable and well run company!" he stated.

But it was also confession time.

"We used to look like multiple companies--- we'd lost our way. We'd lost our way with technology. Gaps existed, major gaps, but we're almost there."

He said that they've strengthened their core processes. They've brought out new solutions, and especially services (Rich Merritt's been predicting it, shows he's right) like alarm management, loop tuning, security.

He said they've brought out new technologies, and made huge investments in core platforms. "We're bringing our entire portfolio back to world class standards. We've got a different business now."

They are, he announced, leveraging their portfolio to give users more.

What keeps plant management awake at night?
--operational safety
--keeping aging plants running
--getting the most out of people
--complex regulatory compliance
--hightened security issues
--unprecedented pressures from competition and customers
--environmental impact on plants, and of plants

The solution, Caliel said, is to become proactive; maximize availability, manage risk, manage complexity, and cut costs. He noted that Invensys would be right there to help users do that.

He noted that traditionally, asset management had been focused on devices, an equipment.
He argued for a wider view, which he called Operational control. In this view, sets and groups of devices and equipment are managed, not just individual products. A coker for example, instead of pressure sensors. He said that it was time we started looking more wholistically at asset management and the definition of same.

He then argued for an even wider view: Plant Business Control, using managing global assets to drive RONCE performance.

Invensys, he said, was right there. They would be spending, according to Caliel, 7% of sales on R&D this year. This has led, he noted, to many new products, including wireless technologies, and new partner relationships.

"We want to focus on your needs," he said. "Invensys wants to be an inch wide, and a mile deep."

"Thank you for sticking with us," he closed.

Emerson Global Users Exchange announced today that members turned out in record numbers to open its 2005 conference. This year’s pre-registration of more than 1500 attendees is nearly a 20% participation increase over 2004.

“Emerson Global Users Exchange members will choose from more than 300 courses and workshops, and engage in open discussions with experienced management and analysts at roundtables and industry forums,” said Scott Pendegrass, control systems engineer at Lyondell Chemical Company and chairman of the Users Exchange board of directors “’The Look of a Leader’ is our theme, as users discuss experiences, lessons learned, and best practices that will boost their ability to take advantage of today’s technologies while planning for the future.”

“What makes this event unique is that it is run by users, for users,” said John Berra, president of Emerson Process Management. “Our customers come from all around the world to learn and experience new, real technologies, explore application examples that are delivering real value, and hear proof of proven success. This is what the Emerson Global Users Exchange is all about.”

“The Exchange’s customer-led Board of Directors ensures that members gain tremendous value, taking away practical application ideas and learning how others get the most from their automation investments,” continued Berra. “I know of no better way for a supplier to serve the education and application needs of customers than by putting them in charge of the conference.”

The Emerson Global Users Exchange (www.emersonexchange.org) 2005 conference which runs October 3 through October 7 at the World Center Marriott hotel in Orlando, Florida also features a 40,000 square-foot interactive application and technology exhibit.

BUY THIS BOOK!


ISA Announces Comprehensive Automation Resource
Leading Experts Contribute to Define Scope of Profession

Research Triangle Park, NC (3 October 2005) -- Through the development
of ISA's signature certification program, Certified Automation
Professional (CAP), a body of knowledge critical to the success of
today's automation professional was identified. This body of knowledge
is now the subject of a new resource from ISA - A Guide to the
Automation Body of Knowledge, edited by Vernon L. Trevathan.

With contributions from over thirty leading experts from all aspects of
automation, this book defines the most important automation concepts and
processes, while also describing the technical skills professionals
require to implement them in today's industrial environment. The
content focuses on the seven technical categories defined by the CAP
body of knowledge: Basic Continuous Control; Discrete, Sequencing, and
Manufacturing Control; Advanced Control; Reliability, Safety and
Electrical; Integration and Software; Deployment and Maintenance; and
Work Structure.

Under the category of Basic Continuous Control, the contributors provide
insight into analytical instrumentation and communications, control
valves, solids handling, control system documentation and control
equipment. The section focusing on Discrete, Sequencing and
Manufacturing Control features informative chapters on general
manufacturing measurements, discrete and sequencing control, discrete
output devices, motors and drive control, motion control and web
control.

Advanced Control topics include process modeling, batch control,
building automation, and environmental issues. In the Reliability,
Safety and Electrical section, readers will find valuable content
regarding alarm management, reliability, process safety, electrical
installations and safety.

The Integration and Software category focuses on communications,
industrial networks, MES integration, security, operator interface, data
management, and software. Deployment and Maintenance topics include
operator training, checkout and system testing, commissioning and
start-up, troubleshooting, maintenance and system management, and change
management.

Finally, in the Work Structure section, readers will learn about
automation benefits and project justification, project management and
execution, and interpersonal skills for automation professionals.

With the some of the best and brightest minds in the industry
contributing to A Guide to the Automation Body of Knowledge, the
resource is the most comprehensive definition of automation available
today.

The book will be available at ISA EXPO 2005, 25-27 October in Chicago,
Illinois, as well as online at www.isa.org/autobok.

BUY THIS BOOK!

Walt

The keynote speaker for the Invensys User Group was Gordon Bethune, former Chairman and CEO of Continental Airlines. Bethune, like Herb Kelleher, his colleague from Southwest, understands clearly what it takes to run a functional airline, or any business, for that matter.

"People want to get where they need to be, on time, and with their underwear," Bethune cracked.

Basically, saving Continental was a two-fold process. The first part was setting up a plan, the second was executing it.

It is, Bethune said, about Customer Value. You do the simple things like fly to where people want to go, he noted, instead of where we think they ought to go. You fly on time. YOu don't lose luggage. And you do it by doing the simple things with your own employees, too. You communicate openly and clearly. You honor your word. If you said you'd have pensions, you keep your word. If you said it, you have to do it.

We only win when we all win...this is how you get people to want to come to work. We instituted, he pointed out, a profit sharing plan, based on 15% of pre tax income, not on net profit. This is the sort of thing that gets people invigorated and committed to the business.

One of the people sitting next to me turned and said, "Gee, why doesn't ISA hire Bethune?"

Good question...

What do YOU think?

Walt

CONTROL's Rich Merritt reports from the Emerson Exchange:

EMERSON AGOG WITH SUCCESS
Emerson Process Management expected 1500 attendees at its Global User Conference in Orlando, but 1800 people showed up. Although Jerry Moon, spokesman for Emerson, was elated, the registration people are worried that they'll have enough conference materials if too many more people appear. Every venue is jammed with people, and attendees are from all over the world. In one Pulp & Paper session, a speaker asked "How many people are not from the USA?," and more than half raised their hands.

Perhaps smarting from CONTROL editor Dan Hebert's recent comments about user trade shows being run by companies, John Berra, president of Emerson Process Management, said, “What makes this event unique is that it is run by users, for users. Our customers come from all around the world to learn and experience new, real technologies, explore application examples that are delivering real value, and hear proof of proven success." From what I've seen so far, the users certainly seem to be running things.

An Emerson marketing person said the conference has become such a success, they are running out of hotels capable of handling such a crowd. It seems that Emerson likes to keep everybody together in one hotel for schmoozing, socializing, and keeping everyone's attention focused on the show, so they can't hold it at a normal exhibit hall, like McCormick Place in Chicago. If they did, then their attendees would scatter to assorted hotels in the evenings, and go off to hear blues, eat ribs, or similar activities.

Alas, there are apparently only about six hotel/convention centers in the country that can accommodate an event of this size. If Emerson gets too many more people in coming years, their options may get even more limited. *Sigh* Must be tough to have problems like that.
-------------------------
More to come. Off to a press conference now.

Rich Merritt

Charlie Piper, Foxboro product manager for fieldbus programs, believes that the coverage of the controversy over use of EDDL versus FDT-DTM in CONTROL and other magazines has been very one-sided, and that FDT has been getting short shrift. I asked him what his opinion of Fieldbus War II was, and he was off and running.

The big change, the big paradigm shift, he noted was the fact that "the device vendor is creating software that goes onto the host system. It used to be that devices were devices, and the host system vendor produced all the software resident on the host system. This isn't true anymore."

As a system vendor, Invensys is supporting both technologies. Piper believes, and produced some evidence to back up his belief, that EDDL and FDT-DTM are actually complimentary, rather than competitive technologies. He mentioned that he was about to introduce a new Foxboro product that allows Foxboro to create configuration software strictly based on DD files. "You can only understand the capabilities of both, if you use both," he said.

In his opinion, EDDL will become ubiquitous for simple in-device programming, while FDT will be used for more complex software issues. "Both are vital," he insisted.

He protested that CONTROL, among other magazines, had been too one-sided in their treatment of FDT. Perhaps we'd been swayed by other companies? "Like Emerson?" I asked him. "Like Emerson," he confirmed.

"Then why," I asked him, "did Dick Caro write in CONTROL last month that FDT was a technology that was unnecessary?"

"Like I said, not everyone gets it yet," he replied. "I'd tell Dick to get out and talk to some FDT users and see what's now being done that wasn't being done a year ago."

"Fine," I said. "Find me an end user with the stature of Caro or Verhappen, who is willing to write the FDT side, and isn't beholden to a vendor, and I'll publish it."

Charlie Piper said he would. I hope he does. It is about the end users, and providing them the best available data from which to make decisions.

We then moved into the HART vs. FF debate. Piper believes that it is more about perception than real understanding here, too. Hart Communications Foundation has made a good case for using Hart when working in upgrading a brownfield plant with a preponderance of HART instruments. Greenfield plants are going FF. It depends on what you want to do, and what the real cost-benefit analysis is, Piper explained.

Finally, we talked about wireless. "The media by which you transport the data stream isn't really very important," Piper opined. I think he's right. "We're going to see little clumps of applications where wireless works best first," he continued. "There won't be a sudden tsunami. We won't go to sleep one night and be wired, and wake up the next morning and be wireless."

                                                  Contact:  Eileen Newman
                                Fidelity Strategic Investments Public Relations
617-563-9113



Fidelity Capital Investors Acquires Avtek, Inc. and Subsidiaries

Boston, MA – October 3, 2005 – Fidelity Capital Investors (FCI), a private equity leveraged buyout group, announced today that it has acquired a majority interest in Providence, Rhode Island-based Avtek, Inc, a leading manufacturer and distributor of industrial and commercial connectivity products and solutions. The purchase was made in conjunction with members of Avtek’s senior management team who will remain with the company and continue to operate Avtek as an independent business unit. Capstone Partners LLC served as advisor to Avtek in the sale. Terms of the deal were not disclosed.

Avtek conducts business through two operating subsidiaries:  B&B Electronics Manufacturing Company, Inc. and System Connection, Inc. B&B Electronics designs, manufactures and sells industrial connectivity products such as communications protocol converters and Ethernet infrastructure products. B&B has locations in Ottawa, Illinois and Galway, Ireland. System Connection is a manufacturer of custom and OEM solutions cabling with offices in Provo, Utah and Taipei, Taiwan. With locations in the US, Europe, and the Pacific Rim, Avtek is able to deliver its products globally.

“The market for connectivity products is growing rapidly as communications protocols proliferate,” said FCI Managing Director David Wilson. “There is tremendous growth potential for companies that can provide a full range of products to meet the needs of industrial and commercial customers. As a leading manufacturer of both industrial and commercial connectivity products, Avtek, along with its subsidiary companies, is extremely well positioned to capitalize on the growth opportunities that exist in this market.”

“The acquisition presents many exciting opportunities for Avtek’s companies and our customers,” commented Richard McGrail, president and chief operating officer of Avtek. “Fidelity Capital Investors’ financial backing will ensure that we have the resources necessary to support our growth initiatives. We are very excited about the potential of this relationship and, moving forward, will remain focused on delivering exceptional service and high quality products to our customers.”

About Fidelity Capital Investors
Fidelity Capital Investors (FCI) is a private equity leveraged buyout firm focused on acquiring established middle-market businesses. Investing exclusively for the account of Fidelity Investments, FCI actively seeks to partner with existing management teams to acquire and grow companies with revenues between $25 million and $250 million. For more information, visit www.fidelityacquisitions.com.

About Avtek, Inc.
Avtek, Inc. is a privately-held, Providence, Rhode Island-based company that conducts business through two operating subsidiaries, B&B Electronics, Inc. and System Connection, Inc. Avtek is a premier manufacturer of industrial and commercial connectivity solutions in the U.S. With locations in the U.S., Europe, and the Pacific Rim, Avtek is able to deliver its connectivity solutions globally. For more information, visit www.avtekcorp.com.
About B&B Electronics
Founded in 1981, Ottawa, Illinois-based B&B Electronics designs, manufactures and sells industrial connectivity products such as communications protocol converters and Ethernet infrastructure products.  With offices in the US and Europe, the company sells its products worldwide. In addition to manufacturing products, B&B is also a value-added distributor for many quality vendors, allowing the company to serve as a single source for comprehensive data communications solutions. For more information, visit www.bb-elec.com.
About System Connection, Inc.
Founded in 1985, System Connection provides cabling and interconnection solutions to OEMs, distributors, contract manufacturers and cable assembly manufacturers. Its customers represent a wide spectrum of industries, including audio/video, auto, computer, data/telecom, electronics, health fitness, industrial, medical, POS and security. Headquartered in Provo, Utah, the company has international offices in Taiwan. For more information, visit www.systemconnection.com.
About Capstone Partners LLC
Capstone Partners LLC is a leading national investment banking advisory firm dedicated to serving the needs of middle-market businesses. With offices in Boston and San Francisco, the firm maintains transactional and research resources in the technology & media, business services and specialty products industries. For more information, visit www.capstonellc.com.

# # #

After lunch, the displays and demos were opened up, allowing users to see the wonders of Invensys, and their partner companies. Invensys had a mega-booth in the middle of the floor...you know, the kind of display they used to take to ISA, when taking booths like that to ISA was de rigueur. On the back walls of the room were tabletops for the partners. Some of the partners were interesting, and some were more interesting than the sessions looked to be. So I spent some time talking to a few of the partner companies.

Bob Hamm, regional sales manager and channel manager for MTL observed, "When you swim with sharks, it is wise to be a remora!" We were discussing MTL's preference for selling to OEMs, of which Invensys is a favorite.

Markus Nied, president of ecom Instruments (yes, the lower case 'e' in the name is correct) showed me a really cool IS version of what is apparently the guts of an HP IPAQ that has been industrially hardened and made either Class I Div 2 or Class I Div. 1. Nifty, and it bounces when you drop it.

Holly O'Gara and John Rekemeyer, of enterasys ("Networks that Know") were pushing security and network appliances that they said had been incorporated by various Invensys companies into their product offerings.

Jim Bolin and troops from Pepperl and Fuchs were there, doing what MTL was doing: swimming with the sharks. They had an impressive amount of I/O on display.

I spent quite some time talking to Steve Apple and Chris Wilson from TiPS Inc. (self-billed as "The Alarm Management Company"). We discussed the fact that there is a real paradigm shift (yes, there's that awful word again) in operations management and that alarm management is the tip of the iceberg. Apple believes that Ian Nimmo is right when he says that a control room with busy operators is a control room in crisis.

Apple and Wilson pointed out their theory (to which I heartily subscribe) that alarm management is not a project. Like optimization in earlier years, they believe that "projectizing" alarm management simply brings back the decay curves common to early optimization projects. You know, the benefits curve would rise, peak, and then start to tail off, bringing the curve eventually back to the benchmark "zero." So you'd have to hire the optimization company again, and the benefit curve would start to rise, eventually falling back. Companies got real good at timing the "optimization project" so they could stay at the peak of the benefit curve...

Of course, optimization is now seen as an operations paradigm, and, according to Wilson and Apple, alarm management should also be seen this way.

Apple pointed out that one of the other issues he believes is a fallacy about alarm management is the idea that companies cannot do alarm management themselves. That this is a "service" that automation companies should provide. He noted that the way to overcome the multiple decay curves in optimization was to make it part of the culture, part of the process. He suggested that this is also true in alarm management, and what better way to make it a viable part of the company culture than to implement it yourself? Very interesting question, that.

Apple and Wilson have some definitely interesting points. Now that they are partnered with ExperTune and with Invensys, TiPS should get even more "airtime" for their point of view.

Walt