Wednesday, November 1, 2006

Schneider Electric I'm at the Starbucks on Golf Road across from the Woodfield Mall after an interview with Andy Gravitt, Schneider Electric vice president of automation. Wes Iversen had a great interview with him at the Initiative Event a few weeks ago that will appear in the November Automation World. I was most interested in establishing a relationship with the Schneider team and starting the process of probing its automation strategy and execution. There has been some flux in automation management for a while, and (at least as far as we're concerned at Automation World) it has become a sort of mystery. I was curious about overall strategy, the distribution channel and brand management. The overall strategy focuses on the OEM market (not meant to imply exclusively) along with nurturing and further development of the system integrator channel. It's early in the relationship but I asked about integrating sales efforts with Citect (HMI/SCADA and MES). This is an area the team is definitely pursuing, but it is early. The other strategy is building centers of competency around technologies and application centers. Both of these are bringing together talent and expertise in various disciplines so that they can develop specific solutions. The last I had any knowledge of the distribution channel was shortly after the Schneider acquisition of Modicon and the channel situation at that time. It sounds like the channel has settled in and is focused on the various offerings. Along with that is the question of the Modicon name. It is an old and valued name that Schneider has alternately hidden then used. Sounds like there is a firm policy in place to brand the PLC line as Modicon. That should help with customer recognition in the US. It sounds as if momentum is starting to build and that there should be a lot of news in the next few months. Editors love competition, since that can make for more interesting articles. Looks as though Schneider should be actively participating in the competitive discourses. Thanks to blog reader and commenter Jarrett Campbell for prodding this discussion along. 6:21:25 PM    comment []

Pack Expo My second day at Pack Expo (the show's third day) was another busy one. At one point there were three places I should have been at the same time. So I missed two. I'm still compiling new product releases, but a couple of things stood out. Intelligent Motion Systems, knowing the way to an editor's typing fingers are through food, had a breakfast press conference to announce an integrated control, drive, motor product in the stepper area. Just a reflection of how pervasive this integrated technology is getting along with the architecture of distributing control along packaging and conveying lines. Yaskawa had a very busy booth with lots of new products. I spent over an hour-and-half with Andy Urda and Terry Skup there. Notable is a deepening relationship with Phoenix Contact with the Mechatrolink drive network and I saw some Phoenix I/O and some control. Looks like Yaskawa is expanding its presence. Rockwell Automation tried a new approach to getting editors information at last week's Automation Fair with a panel discussion of users of its products. It used the same format yesterday, but it came off even better. This is because Rockwell's Mike Wagner of the OEM business unit team led the panel. He set the context and led the questioning of the panel so that it stayed focused. These unscripted panels allow users to say what they think even if it's not always complimentary of Rockwell. Very refreshing. Yesterday's panelists were Laurence Oldacre and Rob Holl of ATS, Nick DiFabio of Bradman Lake, Peter Fox of Delkor Systems and Darren Elliott of RA Jones (all packaging machinery manufacturers). A few highlights: trends--integrated robotics and use of standards; OEM/user relationship--need for clear communications between them and pendulum swinging toward OEM specification of components; what matters to OEMs--low-cost manufacturing and data collection & management; what would they like to see more of in media--standards and data management that leads toward quality and lean. Later I attended a reception for Rockwell people and customers where I was given a pretty thorough briefing on the execution of Rockwell's strategy of penetrating the OEM market. The conversation continued this morning with a booth visit. Similar to other initiatives the company is undertaking, it has been building an OEM sales, marketing and engineering presence with OEMs for several years. It has been rapidly growing until it is now a worldwide force working very closely with both OEMs and end users. Rockwell can tie together its integrated architecture with motion, control and networking capabilities. 5:58:31 PM    comment []