http://www.garymintchellsfeedforward.com/archives/Mon, 05 Oct 2009 11:34:17 +0000en-USSquarespace Site Server v5.11.5 (http://www.squarespace.com/)UncategorizedGary MintchellFri, 02 Oct 2009 07:58:34 +0000http://www.garymintchellsfeedforward.com/archives/2009/10/2/siemens-reorganizes-in-us.html407851:4907220:5399878Automation World.

Don't forget to move your subscription to Feed Forward. You can resubscribe by typing the URL in your reader or just bookmark the new site. Thanks.
]]>http://www.garymintchellsfeedforward.com/archives/rss-comments-entry-5399878.xmlUncategorizedGary MintchellThu, 01 Oct 2009 07:43:11 +0000http://www.garymintchellsfeedforward.com/archives/2009/10/1/changing-isa.html407851:4907220:5399877
Meanwhile, Jon DiPietro, ISA member and entrepreneur, has written this blog post challenging ISA leadership to rethink the organization. ISA has been floundering for years. Leadership has become enamored with political lobbying recently, and it seems to love sending press releases about meeting with Congresspeople. Personally, I don't think that really does much for its current members (of which, I am one). Check out Jon's blog and send him your ideas. I like them. Ideas such as these could help reinvigorate some member energy.

I'll be at ISA Tuesday and Wednesday (maybe a short time Thursday morning). If you want to meet, tweet me at www.twitter.com/garymintchell or @garymintchell. I have a bunch of appointments, but I can stop and chat.
]]>http://www.garymintchellsfeedforward.com/archives/rss-comments-entry-5399877.xmlUncategorizedGary MintchellTue, 29 Sep 2009 08:49:08 +0000http://www.garymintchellsfeedforward.com/archives/2009/9/29/emerson-excnahge-2009.html407851:4907220:5399876
Keys:

New DeltaV S with "I/O on Demand" and its CHARM modules is a significant new product. An answer to the question "isn't DeltaV getting a little long in the tooth?" (I'm guilty of asking that question a couple of years ago to the consternation of the marketing department.) I'll have more details later, especially a discussion of how Emerson is using Human Centered Design to develop products.

The Wireless news has a couple of nuances. First, WirelessHart products are shipping, installed, and users are saving money with it. Second, users kept using WirelessHart for some control problems, so Emerson decided to test it. First they touted a user example of wireless for control then discussed a University of Texas project with Emerson's Terry Blevins. Takeaway--it works for some (many?) applications.

Gotta run. More later.
]]>http://www.garymintchellsfeedforward.com/archives/rss-comments-entry-5399876.xmlUncategorizedGary MintchellMon, 28 Sep 2009 11:44:13 +0000http://www.garymintchellsfeedforward.com/archives/2009/9/28/feedback.html407851:4907220:5399875
Discussing with some industry colleagues, we count several of the new team with process control backgrounds. On the other point, although Emerson Process Management is unveiling a new I/O architecture today that is certainly an advancement, I don't think that company growth will be tied to process control alone. You must have it--and maintain technological validity--but growth is going to come in what and how a company builds on that platform. In that, the new IOM is poised for success. Note--I'm not guaranteeing success, just pointing out that steps are being taken to reverse the decline and set the company on the right path.

On the plane to Orlando, I caught up on a bunch of reading. One was a pamphlet on innovation and change. One of the points was that there is a 20-50-30 rule. 20 percent of the people in an organization will embrace change; 50 percent can be swayed; 30 percent will be opposed to any change It quoted Casey Stengel, the baseball manager, who said something to the effect that a manager must know that many people will hate him, The trick is to keep them away from people who are undecided. I have worked for large corporations and am familiar with feelings in the trenches when there are so many shifts at the top. (Note, I now work for a small company.) But, I take a message from today's keynote address in Orlando about winning--you can choose your attitude. Winners choose to be positive and passionate.

[Note: don't forget to resubscribe to me here.]
]]>http://www.garymintchellsfeedforward.com/archives/rss-comments-entry-5399875.xmlUncategorizedGary MintchellFri, 25 Sep 2009 21:26:16 +0000http://www.garymintchellsfeedforward.com/archives/2009/9/25/url-dangers.html407851:4907220:5399874TechCrunch post regarding the potential dangers of all those shortened URLs we love on Twitter. Makes you take pause.
]]>http://www.garymintchellsfeedforward.com/archives/rss-comments-entry-5399874.xmlUncategorizedGary MintchellFri, 25 Sep 2009 21:23:56 +0000http://www.garymintchellsfeedforward.com/archives/2009/9/25/largest-opportunities-in-process-control.html407851:4907220:5399873here and here.

Don't forget to go over to http://www.garymintchellsfeedforward.com/ to reregister. Moving soon.
]]>http://www.garymintchellsfeedforward.com/archives/rss-comments-entry-5399873.xmlUncategorizedGary MintchellFri, 25 Sep 2009 21:21:41 +0000http://www.garymintchellsfeedforward.com/archives/2009/9/25/industrial-ethernet-webcast.html407851:4907220:5399872Profiblog for the shout out. (Obviously, I'm trying to catch up on my posting. Lot of reading for you all on Monday.) ]]>http://www.garymintchellsfeedforward.com/archives/rss-comments-entry-5399872.xmlUncategorizedGary MintchellFri, 25 Sep 2009 20:30:57 +0000http://www.garymintchellsfeedforward.com/archives/2009/9/25/invensys-conference-recap.html407851:4907220:5399871
IOM, based in Plano, Texas, combines Invensys Process Systems (Avantis, Foxboro, SimSci-Esscor and Triconex), Eurotherm and Wonderware. New chief executive officer, Sudipta Bhattacharya, inherited the task of forging a new company from all of these parts. The company focuses on two customer segments--continuous process industries and hybrid industries. The former includes oil & gas, chemicals, hydrocarbon processing. Companies comprising hybrid industries would be found in food & beverage, consumer packaged goods and similar sectors.

Given some of the uncertainty of past company leadership as well as the current economy, the atmosphere of the conference was charged with energy and sessions were packed. Employees who spoke with me were uniformly enthused with their new roles and outlook.

There were several products announced at the conference:

EyeSim virtual reality immersive training solution, claimed to be the first industrial virtual reality training solution based on first-principle simulation and augmented reality, enables engineers and operators to see and safely interact with the plant and the processes they control.

Part of the companyÅ´œs new I/A Series 8.5 suite of offerings, the cyber security solution includes control system enhancements and consulting services that support compliance requirements of major new cyber security standards, such as those put forth by the North American Electric Reliability Corporation (NERC). The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) is adopting NERC standards CIP-001 through CIP-009, compelling companies to become NERC compliant by the year 2010. This means having to learn the requirements, design and implement the policies and procedures and, in some cases, install additional equipment.

New features of its I/A Series distributed control system (DCS) are claimed to enable easier and faster control in the field (CIF). Invensys passed the requirements of the Fieldbus FoundationÅ´œs Host Interoperability Support Test in August, and has implemented many engineering and performance innovations beyond those requirements to help clients receive maximum benefit from CIF deployment.

"Our Avantis.PRO 5.0 software is a comprehensive enterprise asset management (EAM) solution that allows our clients to organize, track and understand asset utilization, performance and availability, as well as to manage maintenance activity and costs over time," said Kim Custeau, IOM director of product marketing. "The updated solution enables role-based, online collaboration and features Microsoft Click-Once Technology and other enhancements that will help clients manage the complexities of their business, improve their asset reliability and reduce their overall operating costs."
]]>http://www.garymintchellsfeedforward.com/archives/rss-comments-entry-5399871.xmlUncategorizedGary MintchellFri, 25 Sep 2009 12:41:48 +0000http://www.garymintchellsfeedforward.com/archives/2009/9/25/podcast-with-invensys.html407851:4907220:5399870discussion included the new mission and how integration of the overall division's portfolio is evolving. The division includes such venerable brands as Avantis, Eurotherm, Foxboro, SimSci-Esscor, Triconex and Wonderware. Perhaps for the first time since they were brought together under Invensys the potential that could be achieved through integration is coming about.


]]>http://www.garymintchellsfeedforward.com/archives/rss-comments-entry-5399870.xmlUncategorizedGary MintchellThu, 24 Sep 2009 21:12:49 +0000http://www.garymintchellsfeedforward.com/archives/2009/9/24/video-recap-of-invensys-conference.html407851:4907220:5399869Video recap of my Invensys Operations Management client conference experience. I was kept so busy between the conference, interviews and finishing the Automation World October issue, I had no time leftover for blogging. I'll be catching up. Have four things outlined already.

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