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Saturday, November 17, 2007 |
I've had a lot of chats with Jim Pinto over the past four years and generally respect his opinion on things. But I just can't figure out his fixation on the need for Rockwell Automation to be sold (see his latest newsletter). It really makes no sense. Rockwell's a $5 billion business, so a sales price would be in the range of $12-15 billion. Only a very large company has that kind of capital. He's been thinking that ABB is a likely candidate. But two things mitigate against that (at least). First, the consolidated company would have to pass regulatory approvals, and then face problems with electronic export limits. Then, the ABB board is on record as saying it wants acquisitions that it can digest. Attempts to digest something as large as Rockwell would cause great indigestion. (just look at how long it took to assimilate the various DCS suppliers it put together, this is a whole new ball game.) I have yet to talk to a process automation supplier that has a wish to enter factory automation. It's the other way around, as a matter of fact.
In his latest diatribe, he brought in GE as a possible suitor. Why would that be? First off, you probably need to talk GE Fanuc, not GE Corp. And that is too small. Next, GE Corp. has everything that Rockwell has--except that it's spread out. But take a look at my report from the GE Fanuc User Conference. Charlene Begley is head of a new division, Enterprise Solutions, that is charged with putting it all together. She has huge challenges, of course, starting with distribution, but it's still a competitor.
Those two plus Rockwell are looking for acquisitions to fill their portfolios. In 2008 look for several acquisitions by each of these (plus probably others, including Emerson) in the $50 million to $100 million range each. It's a good time for companies in the right niche with a good product and following to cash in. That will be mostly in the process automation industry and specialized software niches.
The final part of Jim's piece was concerning Invensys Process Systems. Here, the story is different -- but to us on the outside it's a mystery. A talent drain has begun there. Speculation is that it will be broken up, sold off and reformed as a software and services company. I don't think there's enough business in that arena for Paulette Eberhard to make her mark, but there is absolutely no news emerging from Foxboro. And for you Foxboro readers -- she's originally from Lima, Ohio growing up only 25 miles from where I grew up. She knows what snow and ice are. This will be an interesting story for us who are not involved directly. In my life I've been through a few of those major company transitions and formed a relationship with the local unemployment office. I feel for all of you affected and hope that you all land successfully in the industry.
5:06:01 PM 
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Another great Lifehacker post -- this one on creating better presentations (or Death by Powerpoint). Or, bullets don't kill people, people kill people with boring presentations.
The key points of a presentation: Significance (why are you presenting this), Structure (doesn't really matter, except it should fit topic), Simplicity (one point per slide / use photos not clip art), Rehearsal.
10:27:07 AM
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I have this personality quirk (well, one of many annoying ones) where I like to challenge people and see how they respond. Nothing personal, and not really intentional. Anyway, Brian Oulton of Rockwell Automation rose to the challenge Thursday when we were talking networking. You know where this is going...
There has been some discussion, particularly on the Profiblog, about how Rockwell compares EtherNet/IP with Profinet. Well, this is complex and points to the difficulties of comparisons and the lack of transparency at times. I'm pretty sure that there are three "flavors" of Profinet. There is one that is essentially standard Ethernet (with protocols, of course). Then there are two that use custom ASICs, and, to achieve real-time or perhaps deterministic performance for motion control, allows part of the messaging to bypass the standard TCP/IP stack (ah, the Rockwell "corrupting the stack" argument). Now, I can't find any of this on any of the Profibus Web sites, although I spent more time than I could afford looking. Bear with me, I'm building an argument. Now, in the high tech world, version numbers always refer to latest releases. So, when you go from version 2.1 to 3.0, that means 2.1 is history and 3.0 is the latest. According to Oulton, all Rockwell comparisons (listen up here, Carl) are done "to the latest version, 3.0." And that's the one with the ASIC and the messaging that bypasses the standard TCP/IP stack is 3.0, and the standard Ethernet one is 2.1. Rockwell believes that 3.0 is the one the Profibus vendors are selling the most and 2.1 is history.
So, once again, we have an apples to oranges (sort of) comparison. I tried to verify the version number thing on the Web, so in the interests of (my) time, I'll let Carl over at PTO, fill me in on the version thing. Then, when he does his comparisons or critiques of comparisons, he can be more clear--as I hope Rockwell would--about just what they are comparing.
In this vein, I had a reader ask if I could do a comparison (after the big Wonderware announcement) of the leading HMI/SCADA packages, at least Wonderware, Rockwell Automation's View products, and GE Fanuc's iFix series. I don't know if it's possible. It's so darn hard to get the real information. But we'll see.
7:57:03 AM
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Dave McCue, our Web Production Manager over at Automation World, attended this week's Automation Fair and covered new products. Here's his report. He mostly sits in his office and posts our editorial content and works with advertisers getting their various ads up. He also is the czar of all the email newsletters and other Web products. This was a good chance to see all the products that he usually sees only virtually. Thanks, Dave.
I'm getting caught up. There were three very full days plus I was supposed to get all my articles proofed or written for our December issue. So I spent all day Friday doing that or on the phone. Today will be more catching up (maybe some will be done in the family room from noon to 3 EST watching the Big Game--and no, I'm not an OSU fan, I'm surrounded by Michigan fans in my household).
7:36:35 AM
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© Copyright 2007 Gary Mintchell.
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