Wednesday, July 1, 2009

You are what you eat This morning while working out I listened to this podcast from TechNation by Dr. Moira Gunn with David Kessler about the science marketers use to make us overeat. Then I saw an item in the Chicago Tribune that McDonalds is offering a $4 bigger burger (to compete with sit-down restaurants). Just what this nation needs--or is it all a plot to undermine us and make us vulnerable to a takeover because we're all too fat to fight? Of course, McDonalds is doing it to the whole world. Forget the defense industry, buy fast food stock (OK, I'm being sarcastic, sorry). (by the way, you know that the title of this post comes from a sort-of pun in German - if I remember correctly from Schiller - "Man ist, was er isst") 7:08:46 PM    comment []

Invensys Operations Management revealed Updated Things are coming together at Invensys Operations Management, the new alignment of businesses at Invensys plc announced first May 14 this year with the additional announcement of June 8 that Sudipta Bhattacharya was named Chief Executive Officer and Business President of the division. IOM brings together Foxboro, Triconex, Avantis and SimSci-Esscor, collectively known as Invensys Process Solutions, along with Wonderware and Eurotherm. And the key phrase is "Operations Management." That is the unifying theme of the new organization. Significantly, Bhattacharya personifies that integration with experience both in the  process control world and enterprise software. Bhattacharya took some time out to talk with me yesterday afternoon about the new division, its direction and structure. It's obvious that he is moving rapidly to mold the new company into one unit. "There will be one product group, one common development, one single roadmap," he said. Already in progress is the development of product management teams composed of people from all relevant groups within the company. And, indeed, he sees the core of the company as control and safety products and promises that that area will be the recipient of the bulk of research and development investment. For the past few years, IPS seemed to be all about client services while Wonderware was the software arm. The newer product group called InFusion was housed in IPS but was a software-based offering with much Wonderware-derived content. The new IOM is focused on capturing the Operations Management space. According to Bhattacharya, enterprise resource planning (ERP) faces the customer with applications such as order entry and fulfillment, while manufacturing execution systems (MES) have been point solutions focused on step-by-step execution of production processes. Over time, managers have realized that they need the real-time information contained in production systems but at the same time they need the context that can only come from ERP. This need if filled by applications called Operations Management. The core competency of IOM consists of sophisticated control and safety products and solutions said Bhattacharya. This is augmented with hardware agnostic software. The idea is to avoid locking customers within a one-supplier system, but to work with those customers to help them achieve the goals they are seeking. He sees a process where customers piece together products into a solution to a problem, which the suppliers notices and packages into a product. One of the business drivers of IOM is the idea of taking those products leveraging the extensive distributor and system integrator network already in place in the Wonderware ecosystem making them stronger with the ability to sell additional products. Taken together the new organization brings customers tools, products and services that enable better business decisions based upon real-time information coming directly from the plant. (Updated, just received the official notice of the executive team) IOM will continue to operate regionally. The regional functions will be led by members of the new Invensys Operations Management executive team, which are Steve Blair (North America), Ricardo Agostinelli (Latin America), Nabil Kassem (Asia Pacific and Middle East) and Stuart Batchelor (interim leader, Europe, Russia, Africa). Blair has been President of IPS North America since August 2007. He has been with IPS since May 2003 and has held numerous Invensys roles, including Sales and Marketing Director for IPS (UK) Ltd, Vice President of Project Operations EMEA, and Vice President of Sales in EMEA. Agostinelli joined Foxboro Argentina in 1979, working in various positions including Delivery Manager, Manufacturing Manager and Sales Manager. In 1990, he was promoted to Managing Director. Kassem is a veteran of the oil and gas and the information technology industries. He joined IPS in 2005 as the Vice President and Managing Director of the Middle East Region. Batchelor has more than 30 years of sales, engineering and industrial automation experience. He joined IPS in 2007 after serving for more than two years as UK Business Development Manager for Jacobs Engineering Ltd. Members of the executive team responsible for centralized functions include: Vice President, Manufacturing and Supply Chain[~]Karen Hamilton has been leading the Supply Chain and Manufacturing organization for IPS for the past nine months.  Prior to joining IPS, she was with Invensys plc where she was vice president of Global Supply Management. She originally joined Invensys with Controls as Vice President of Supply Management. Vice President, Delivery Operations[~]Mohamed Farouk has been leading the Engineering Excellence Centers for the past year. He started working with IPS in 1998 while teaching at Cairo University. Vice President, Product and Portfolio Management and Strategy[~]Rashesh Mody will lead this organization. He has been responsible for our Wonderware business since February 2009. Prior to that, he led the Wonderware Global Product Management team. He has more than 21 years of experience in software development for industrial automation. Vice President, Research and Development[~]Pankaj Mody joined Wonderware in 1995 and has been leading the combined Development group for IPS and Wonderware since November 2007. Additional members of the executive team are: CFO[~]Stan Allison, currently senior vice president, Invensys Global Business Services, will take the role of Chief Financial Officrr, Invensys Operations Management. Human Resources[~]The HR organization will be led by Keri Jolly, Vice President. She joined IPS in December 2007 as Vice President of HR and has been acting leader of the HR function for the three IOM businesses since early this year. Before Invensys, she was in HR leadership roles at American Express and GE Capital. Legal[~]Vice President and General Counsel Peter Kent will lead legal and contract functions. He has been with Invensys since 1993 and served most recently as Vice President of Global Legal Services, responsible for development and implementation of new processes and systems to enhance delivery of legal and contract management services across Invensys. Global Sales Operations, Communications and Marketing[~]Phil Clark will lead the global sales, marketing and communications organization as Vice President. He has been directing the sales and marketing efforts for IPS over the past several years. Prior to joining IPS, he held several executive positions with EDS. Programme Office & Quality[~]Vice President Eddy Manicardi has been with Wonderware for the past 10 years, most recently as Vice President of the Strategic Program Office. Prior to joining Wonderware, Eddy worked as Vice President of Sales at Siemens. Environmental, Health, Safety and Sustainability[~]This function is led by Senior Vice President Angel Alcala. In his Invensys-wide role, Angel will also sit on the Invensys Operations Management leadership team. Angel has been with Invensys since February 2006. He joined Invensys from Honeywell where he led Global Health, Safety and Environment for Honeywell's Process Solutions and Building Solutions organizations. My take on this is that the experiment with turning the company from products to client services is over. Invensys is at once returning to its roots while forging a new direction building on the strengths that already exist. I think this is a good direction that will make the company competitive. Bhattacharya is a leader with sound fundamentals and vision. I know quite a few of the executive team, and I think they are poised for a renaissance. 11:20:54 AM    comment []