Summer dog days? No way

“Summertime, and the livin is easy,” goes the song from the opera Porgy and Bess.
Leisure time is few and far between this summer in the automation environment as industrial production rose 0.8% last month as summer’s heat forced increased use of electricity. That rate, government experts said, was higher than expected. Those numbers were also aided by the idea factories produced more communications equipment and semiconductors.
The increase followed a 0.1% rise in May, the Federal Reserve said in its monthly report on output at the nation’s factories, mines and utilities.
Industrial capacity in use rose to 82.4%, the highest in six years.
Production increased in the second quarter at an annual rate of 6.6%, government officials said. That is the fastest since the final three months of 1999 and is a sign corporate investment is sustaining economic growth as consumer spending slows.
These are all good signs the industry is moving forward. But let’s not get too far ahead of ourselves. Surely manufacturers would prefer capacity to be at 100%, but slow steady growth remains a good thing.
How is business in your sector these days? Talk to me.

Tearing down and building up

It’s funny when you hear managers talk these days.
You hear all the right buzzwords and they say we have to do things like "think outside the box to achieve true innovation," or "new ideas will bring in new revenue streams." Then when they hear new and different ideas, they quickly break into a cold sweat and retreat to the “that is not the way we do things” mentality.
It then becomes a vicious cycle, your company isn’t growing under its present structure, but how can you grow if you don’t allow new ideas and ways of doing things.
GM comes to mind pretty quickly.
They are struggling under the weight of its own infrastructure, but with billionaire investor Kirk Kerkorian jumping into the fray and forcing a meeting between them and Renault-Nissan to discuss and alliance, GM may be able to get their arms around a true growth plan. Whether an alliance takes off or not, this may force them out of the “safe” box that doesn’t allow for true innovation. It appears GM, like so many other companies out there, is thinking internally and not looking outside for opportunities.
At the end of the day, what GM will have to do is tear down the old way of thinking so they can open up to new and different ideas. When that happens, GM will be back on top and remain one of the hallmark companies across the globe. Make no mistake about it, though, if GM continues down its current path, it will survive, but it will not remain a global business power.
It all comes down to taking in new ideas, and not being afraid of the “what if scenario.” Of course you have to understand and analyze the consequences of all decisions, but if that ends up paralyzing you, then don’t bother. The end result will be you will remain adrift in your industry sector and your competition will win out.
Talk to me.

Stability: Just what Invensys needed

In a classic case of a tersely worded news release Invensys sent out at the end of June, one of the industry’s biggest players said their company’s president Mike Caliel was leaving to become president and chief executive at Integrated Electrical Services in Houston.
While the release focused, as it should, on Ken Brown the acting president, it didn’t really talk about what Caliel’s loss will mean to Invensys.
Caliel brought something to Invensys they sorely needed: Stability. If anyone can recall what the company has gone through over the past five years or so, the one thing the Invensys needed was someone to steer the ship on a steady course. In that case, Caliel was the man. While I am not totally sure what innovation he brought to the table, it was abundantly clear he knew what the company needed and how to get it done.
If you take a look at the industry leading suppliers out there, they all seem to have one very important thing in common: Consistent and stable management with a clear message. Just take a look at Emerson. John Berra gives a clear and consistent message at all times. And while it has taken a few years to show it, you can look at ABB and Honeywell as two other examples.
While I am sure Ken Brown will do a fine job at Invensys, I also know Mike Caliel’s steady hand will be missed.
Talk to me.