Friday, May 19, 2006

Infor still growing through acquisition Enterprise software supplier Infor has been quickly consolidating the software industry for manufacturing enterprise applications, and it has struck again. It is acquiring SSA Global. Infor is paying $19.50 per share in cash to SSA Global shareholders. The deal is anticipated to close in the third quarter this year. "With this acquisition, Infor will become the third largest enterprise software provider in the industry with approximately $1.6 billion in revenue," said Jim Schaper, Infor's chairman and CEO. Of course, at some point in time, we're going to have to see if this (so far loosely bound) larger organization can grow organically. The history of American business over the last 50 years or so is littered with remains of company leaders who could piece together a large business only to falter when it was time to actually run the business. Microsoft seems to do a good job of integrating acquisitions into the fold. The results of Oracle's spending spree remain to be seen. The acquisition history of many of the automation industry's leaders seems a bit spotty as well with some good acquisitions and some that don't seem to bear fruit. So far, Infor does not seem to have an integration plan other than to get all products on a service-oriented architecture path. We'll keep our eyes on them to see how they perform. 4:12:50 PM    comment []

Manufacturing Interoperability Initiative ISA is really starting to make some progress in its new push to position itself as a go-to place for manufacturing standards. It is welcome news. In what's billed as a "key" working meeting, working group members met April 26-28 to continue the OAGiS and ISA-95 standards convergence effort announced last winter. The purpose was to "delve into" the detailed technical work necessary to achieve this convergence of standards. The Manufacturing Interoperability Guideline Working Group is led by five principal member organizations - OAG, OPC, MIMOSA, WBF, and ISA - which together represent end-users and suppliers from across the process, discrete, and mixed-mode manufacturing industries. In addition, the Manufacturing Interoperability Standards Customer Advisory Council (IOpCAC), representing major manufacturing organizations from across industry, is a key participant in the initiative. Gary Sullivan (IOpCAC Chair and BWX Technologies ITI Manufacturing Project Manager) was elected as chair of the working group. Dave Connelly (OAGi President) and Dennis Brandl (ISA-SP88 Chair and BR&L Consulting Founder) will serve as vice chairs, and Jay Jeffreys(Wonderware Marketing Director) will serve as secretary for the group. Members of the working group include the following: Gary Sullivan representing IOpCAC Dennis Brandl and Keith Unger representing ISA Ken Bever and Alan Johnston representing OAGi Tom Burke and Jim Luth representing OPC Foundation Rick Bullotta and Dave Emerson representing WBF Click on the Working Group link to see how you can get involved. 3:56:37 PM    comment []

eAutomation on the Road The press release was interesting, but there was something slightly askew at first sight. That disjuncture was an Internet-based sales organization with a demonstration vehicle that will travel the country showing products. Actually, Advantech Industrial Automation Group formed eAutomation as an Internet sales extension to its existing distributor and integrator channels. So a mobile demo van makes sense. The eAutomation eXpress mobile vehicle will provide hands-on interaction with Advantech[base ']s Industrial Automation products. The vehicle is a 24 foot van with active production demonstrations. Five product family demo panels will each feature a product line: eAutomation, human-machine interface, industrial communications, industrial I/O and industrial computers. Look for it in a town near you. 11:10:24 AM    comment []