This is a three-day holiday weekend in the US, and for the 19th consecutive year I spent the better part of it in Dayton, Ohio at one of the largest soccer tournaments in the country. This year was a hot one with temps in the low 90s. I probably used a half-bottle of sunscreen. Great weekend though. Three pretty good U19 boys matches followed by some competitive adult women's matches. Today's U16 boys final was a thriller. One team (Brighton, Michigan) dominated the match, but the lads just couldn't put the ball in the goal save once. The team from Livonia, Michigan (they each travel about 4 hours to compete although it's only about an hour from Brighton to Livonia) scored in added time at the end of the match on an excellent corner, headed by the goalkeeper who ran all the way down for the last chance. The Livonia team scored 8 minutes into the second overtime period to walk away with the championship.
Now I'm back home checking messages and planning the week. Received my copy of Andrew Bond's Industrial Automation Insider. You can check it out and subscribe at this link. This month he chats with his European contact for Citect. I've only recently learned that Citect has a new CEO who is none other than John Ross, the Schneider Electric Australia executive who initiated the purchase. The company has been quite reticent about discussing the situation. Automation World was initially offered an opportunity to interview Ross, but he declined saying he wasn't ready to speak to the press. Interestingly, he was visiting Palatine, IL, home of Schneider unit Square D. I'm wondering what a software CEO is doing at a hardware facility. Hmm.
Bond gets his contact to speculate that Schneider is interested in Citect HMI software as a way to sell more hardware--specifically its Vijeo (vig-ee-oh, play on video, I guess) PC and HMI hardware line. I think we've seen this play before in the automation business. Wonder if Schneider can succeed where others haven't?
Actually, I'm curious about Schneider Electric/Square D as well. We've tried to set up a couple of meetings, but nothing has developed yet. My last meeting was with Nic Gihl, then vp of industrial automation who was subsequently moved out just heading the ProFace America PC line and was replaced with someone whose experience was selling circuit breakers through the retail channel. I'd love an update to see how that development is working, and if Schneider anticipates rebounding its automation presence in the US.
8:37:53 PM 
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