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Tuesday, March 24, 2009 |
I'm digesting the first day of the ABB Automation and Power World Conference here in sunny Orlando. My room looks out over the golf course--my clubs are in Ohio. Can't win them all.
This event is in part the public unveiling of new chief executive officer Joe Hogan. After a career at GE, part of which was in the automation business of GE Fanuc, he joined ABB just last September. Foremost on his mind--and all the officers--was the current state of the economy and ABB's performance and prospects. ABB had a very good 2008 and expects to hold its own in a trying 2009. It had a good order backlog and has a strong cash position--both of which will help it weather this uncertain economic climate. The executive team has initiated a cost cutting program, but one area is being spared the knife--research & development. R&D spending is projected at slightly more than last year, but chief technology officer Peter Terwiesch was quick to add that the output of the group is also increasing.
Hogan likened the economic climate to his early morning run along the golf course this morning. "I started thinking, there are alligators in Florida. I wonder where they live. Hmm, I wonder if they would be along the ponds at the golf course. Then every long shadow I saw seemed to be an alligator. Economists are like this right now. All they see are the long shadows, but they don't know what's real."
Hogan and Terwiesch repeatedly stressed their optimism at the global stimulus packages in development by many countries. In the United States, management has established a team to learn how to deal with the U.S. government and how to help customers get in on the stimulus money. Much global stimulus spending is targeted at the power infrastructure where ABB is ideally situated to supply the products and services needed.
Terwiesch stressed in his presentation to the press ABB's strength and opportunities in electrical power (transmission, distribution, energy savings and the like), as well as the growing importance of integration--safety/control system integration and power/automation integration. ABB is of course poised to exploit both of these latter trends, as well.
Attendance and attitude are both alive and well at the conference. Total attendance is over 3,200. If the normal rule of thumb applies, about half are employees. That still means a major attendance in what is termed on TV to be a bad year. So, automation leaders are still out there trying to make their companies--and the economy--stronger.
6:05:56 PM 
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Through a weird confluence of contacts, I wound up having breakfast yesterday at the Cleveland Hopkins International Airport with a (very) recent MBA grad from The Ohio State University. He (and his class) had been touring places (like the floor of the Chicago Board of Trade) and talking with the large banks who have us in so much trouble right now. Regarding those banks, he said that from the moment you walked in you could sense the air of "we're much better than you--or anyone else in the world." When asked about their culpability in this financial mess, they blamed anyone else they could think of--except themselves. They were just too smart to have caused any problems.
He's taking another type of job. Good for him. Hope he becomes an Automation World reader someday ;-)
5:43:19 AM
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I'm at the ABB Automation & Power World conference in Orlando. This Marriott resort is huge. Probably took me 15 minutes to walk from the parking garage to the lobby to check in. First reports yesterday were that the organizers were pleased with registration totals. The event kicked off with a reception in the exhibit hall. The room was packed. Then we went into another hall for a sit down dinner--steak and grouper. Carl Henning of PTO fame and I tried estimating the count based on tables but gave up. Had to be 3,000 or more. Many are ABB people, though.
Ran into new employees Joe Campbell (robotics), Rick Dolezal (process channel marketing) and Luis Duran (safety). We're all curious about Luis needing to change his message, which will be different than for his old employer. He told me he's pumped as this is a landmark year (30 I think) for safety at ABB and they have a lot planned to celebrate. I walked into the exhibit hall and found my self in the high voltage electrical area. Stuff I haven't seen since those fateful college summer days of working as a lineman. I didn't make it through the entire exhibit, so more today.
We'll have the keynote with new CEO Joe Hogan today followed by a press conference with Hogan and CTO Peter Terwiesch. I'll post later when I have something of substance. For now the real story is--despite what you are hearing on TV news about the economy, lots of people are here.l
5:26:46 AM
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© Copyright 2009 Gary Mintchell.
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