Tuesday, July 10, 2007

Wonderware expands MES offering I thought I wrote this last week, and just discovered it somehow got lost on my desktop. Anyway, here is the news. Wonderware adds to its MES capability. The rest is adapted from the press release. Invensys announced that it has completed the acquisition of Cimnet Inc., a Manufacturing Execution System (MES) software company based in Robesonia Pa., and this acquisition is now being fully integrated into the Wonderware software business unit of Invensys. This acquisition has closed under the terms of the original agreement that was announced on May 3, 2007.   Existing Cimnet offerings will continue to be made available and enhanced for customers under the Wonderware Factelligence and the Wonderware DNC Professional brands. In addition, the acquired MES technology offerings are being integrated with Invensys' open industry standard-based ArchestrA technology to ensure rapid deployment and ease of use by the Invensys and Wonderware installed base of over 100,000 plants around the world.   "We are very excited to be a part of the Wonderware business unit of Invensys", said John Richardson, former chief executive officer of Cimnet and now vice president of MES / Production & Performance Management for Wonderware. "Wonderware has one of the best track records in industry for providing a continuous path forward for customers, and for constantly innovating with sophisticated software solutions that are easy to use. We are very confident that our past and future customers will be even better served by the depth and breadth of the Wonderware sales and support channel, 3rd party systems integration partners, technology partners and the full range of real-time, industrial software solutions."   Mike Bradley, Sr., president of the Wonderware business unit of Invensys added, "This acquisition exemplifies Invensys' business health, and our commitment to being a leader in the MES and Manufacturing Intelligence market space. By integrating the powerful production model and configurable application modules from Cimnet into the ArchestrA industrial service oriented architecture (SOA), including the extensible ArchestrA plant model, we fully expect to accelerate the delivery of even more functionality to our customers. Our mission and strategy remains unchanged-to help our customers to rapidly drive operational excellence in their businesses with incremental, modular software solutions. Customers can be confident in moving forward with the existing Wonderware System Platform, Clients and Modules as the basis for all of their industrial software needs-from Supervisory, to SCADA, to MES, to Manufacturing Intelligence and Business Systems Integration."   Alison Smith, senior research analyst from AMR Research comments, "What Invensys gets out of the deal-in addition to proven capability-is an opportunity to drive software application revenues using its existing expansive global network of Wonderware Distributors and Systems Integrators; precisely the business model that transformed Wonderware from a startup HMI provider into the single largest manufacturing operations software provider on the planet back in the mid-nineties." 3:09:37 PM    comment []

Needy Customers Companies with lots of MBAs on board with loads of analytical tools such as "customer relationship management" applications, evaluate the profitability of each customer. I can't believe that my credit card company lets me renew, for example, since I pay off the balance every month and don't rack up huge interest payments. CRM isn't always meant to be favorable to customers in general, just the good ones. One reason why Doc Searles (of Cluetrain Manifesto fame) is championing "Vendor Relationship Management" for the rest of us. Anyway--how are the suppliers in the automation industry stacking up? Are they serving their customers? Are they cutting off those who sop up too much free support? Or, do they just charge a bunch for support? Send me a message. Maybe there's an article in there somewhere. SprintNextel drops needy customers. Sprint Nextel Corp. isn't apologizing for its decision to ax customers it determined were calling customer service too often. [Chicago Tribune news - Business] 10:49:16 AM    comment []

Good news for us poor road warriors Bumped fliers may get a raise. U.S. proposes tripling passenger payments The U.S. Department of Transportation, under pressure from Congress and consumer groups, on Monday proposed tripling payments to airline passengers involuntarily bumped, which would be the first increase in nearly 30 years. [Chicago Tribune news - Business] 7:12:35 AM    comment []