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Tuesday, May 9, 2006 |
"The turnaround is complete," proclaimed Dinesh Paliwal, ABB president of global markets and technology at his keynote address to the annual users conference. The company recorded double digit growth in 2005 rewarded with a doubling of the share price and upgrade of bond ratings by Moodys and S&P. Further, the asbestos lawsuit problems inherited from the acquisition of Combustion Engineering (since sold) have been resolved. "Now we are aiming for profitable growth for us and our stakeholders by fine-tuning our organization," he continued.
Cited as examples of growth and progress are partnerships with Carnival Cruise Lines, the US Postal Service, Daimler Chrysler, Pemex in Mexico and HydroQuebec in Canada. Addressing the service aspect of the business, Paliwal noted, "We must have one standard of service no matter where customer may be." So, ABB is forging all the North American service organizations into one. Now customers just have one 800-number for all service requests.
"We want to shape a performance culture," added Paliwal. He said that this will happen through focus on core values. The most significant is "people power." So, ABB is moving to strengthen its people assets through hiring talented people along with an environment of diversity and respect. Next is a focus on building the health of the people. Management underwent mandatory health awareness training and more than 7,000 people have completed online health and safety training. The next value is a bias for action. Then he cited the charitable spirit of its employees matched by donations from the ABB Foundation.
He stressed for both ABB and its customers the importance of creating the best products and taking advantage of the latest technologies.
2:44:42 PM 
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Alan Boeckmann, chairman and ceo, Fluor Corp. is speaking on Collaborating for Success. He says that the global outlook is generally very good right now. It looks like the current expansion still has legs. But there are risks. There is still a global mismatch of geography and wealth. Developing countries are growing faster than developed in energy usage, and this is significant. The US still requires massive capital inflows to balance trade deficit and over dependence on consumer spending. Because of global competition plus shortage of skilled construction workers, have trained 250,000 indigenous construction workers.
To meet today[base ']s challenges, companies need to increase collaboration. Risk allocation is first key collaborative item. Owners have shifted this to contractors. If contractor misses or underestimates a project, then the contractor could possibly find itself out of business. There must be a collaborative effort to spread the risk. Then all parties must work closely on capital projects even more early in the process. Contractor, owner, technology provider, must all estimate the risks. Then there must be greater use of partnerships and alliances. Put professionals in charge, those who understand the requirements and challenges of a project. Contractors need to be compensated for additions and changes to the scope of the project. The industry must be like the redwoods in California. They have a shallow root system but they are tremendously intertwined so that when a storm comes, they can stand because they depend on each other.
Through use of central procurement[base ']s global sourcing initiatives, they cut number of suppliers drastically. Fluor expects global supply and special pricing, but suppliers get exposure to all company and increased overall sales.
9:49:02 AM
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I'm blogging live from the Hilton Americas in Houston at the 3rd ABB users conference. They have 2,500 attendees this year, up 45 percent from last year. There's a lot of buzz in the breakfast area before the first general session. More later as we go through the first sessions.
9:10:48 AM
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© Copyright 2006 Gary Mintchell.
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