More Rockwell
It was two more full days at Automation Fair. The first day was for media and analysts to gain information from a variety of users of Rockwell products. The next two days were like a trade show with many exhibitors. The difference from a normal trade show is that, since it is organized by Rockwell, it had several large booths through which editors were guided so that we could get a view of all the products and services offered.
My first impression is one of energy. Our esteemed columnist at Automation World, Jim Pinto, often states his belief that Rockwell Automation is a company marking time before it's sold. On this point, I disagree. The problem, I believe, is one of perception. Chairman Don Davis and CEO Keith Nosbusch were completely absent from the festivities. It's been several years since I've seen either one. Neither seems to be a visible, outgoing leader. That tends to make the company seem quiet. During my trips this fall, I saw National Instruments' CEO James Truchard, ABB's Dinesh Paliwal and Invensys Process Systems' Mike Caliel all make informative keynotes at their respective users conferences. Truchard also met with media and analysts. Caliel had dinner with us. Paliwal granted an exclusive interview with me. The absence of the top executives at their major function will always breed questions.
However, senior vice presidents and vice presidents were very visible on the show floor and their optimism was reflected in many meetings. And the energy of the many attendees was palpable.
The key word for the week was integration. Rockwell has been working on an integrated architecture based on standards for years. This year showed another step in the journey. From integrating safety with control, manufacturing information (with all new control platforms based on the same Logix technology and common programming) with plant and enterprise wide software systems, integrated and bundled system solutions for targeted vertical industries, I had two days of immersion on how far they have come.
Given some of my past experiences, I know a lot of distributor technical people (Rockwell and other companies as well). As editors, we always here how great new products and services are from marketing communicaitons people. What I like to do at these events is find some of these people who have to make things work and know me. They'll give me straight scoop on what's really working. What I hear is that many of these things actually work. That's good news for all of you putting systems together.
interesting personnel news was that Kevin Roach defected from GE Fanuc Automation to assume leadership of the software business. I'm not sure what implications, if any, that move has for GE Fanuc. The guess is that since they let him go to a direct competitor, they were already reorganizing and looking for some attrition. Roach's move made it easier for them, if that's the case. For Rockwell, the move gives them a visible and articulate spokesperson for the software business.
8:21:05 PM 
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