ABB's energy, automation future

This was the first year ABB combined its Automation and Power division user groups and if you listen to the president and chief executive of ABB Inc., it was a huge success.
"From now on it will be Automation & Power World," said Enrique Santacana, ABB's president and chief executive in North America during today's keynote address at ABB Automation & Power World in Orlando, Fla.
It only makes sense, he said, because the "automation and energy umbrella will become closer and closer."
Santacana cited some of the statistics from the show: 895 end users registered; 778 sales partners, and 3,315 registered participants.
"That all means a lot becase all of these people attended during the current economic crisis," Santacana said.

Service with a smile, not a snarl

Whether it is a chief executive at a major corporation or an engineer on the plant floor, everyone at some point has to provide service.
Once a person grasps that knowledge, then he or she should work toward providing service that will exceed all expectations. That message came through loud and clear today at ABB Power & Automation World in Orlando, Fla.
“Service is about the emotions of the recipients of the service,” said Diana Oreck, vice president of the global learning and leadership center at Ritz Carlton and keynote speaker. “They always remember how you made them feel.”
Oreck should know about service as her company has won the Malcolm Baldridge Service Award two times in the past 17 years.
In a room full of technologists and engineers, Oreck came out with a true formula for services: Attention to detail + kindness and connection + lack of flawed processes equals a quality service experience. And the other aspect about quality of service is, the end result does not have to cost too much, if anything at all. It is all about treating people fairly and being attentive to their needs or their requests.
One story Oreck told was when a family was checking into the New York City Ritz and the parents had two boys aged 6 and 7. The boys told the front clerk they were hoping they would run into Spiderman somewhere in the city.
Later on that night, there was a knock on the door of the family’s room and it was Spiderman delivering some cookies to the children.
“Those kids will be customers for life,” Oreck said
As a part of company’s culture, employees must all be on the same page.
“Values, mission and vision of the organization must be known and owned and energized by all the people every day,” she said.
“Just giving the customers what they expect does not work today,” Oreck said. “You want to exceed expectations. You need to be proactive.”

Smart power, energy moves mean a bright future

To steal a cliché, it is a perfect storm of sorts where all major economies across the globe seem to be failing at the same time. That was not always the case, when the one economy would falter, another would genuinely be robust enough to keep pushing through. Not now, however.
“But there is hope at the end of the tunnel,” said Joseph Hogan, chief executive at ABB Group during this morning’s keynote address at the company’s ABB Automation & Power World in Orlando, Fla.
“In this cycle, every economy is in a negative cycle,” Hogan said. “For the first time ever in the world every economy is in the same cycle. We have to approach business in a different way.”
“The world is linked together and financial situations are linked today,” he said. “When you look at the amount of GDP that is exported around the world, the economies are certainly linked and we have to deal with it on a global sense and we will all feel it that way.”
If anyone says they know the answer, Hogan pretty much said you should be careful.
“It is difficult to see where the economy is going. The world has changed so irrevocably, it will never be the same.”
“With the ascendance of the Asian economy; the ascendance of areas like Brazil, Russia, China and India; that demand will come back,” he said. “We just have to get through the situation where the securitization of debt around the world failed and when that is over the future will be incredible.”
“There is a good future out there for us. Things have changed. The world ahead of us has a great deal of opportunity going forward.”
But when it comes to the company’s future, Hogan wants to be able to meld the services aspect with growth in technology offerings.
“We want to respond properly to customers. We want to assemble products with a total solution package,” Hogan said.
Part of the package includes areas where end users can control costs through:
• Improvements in energy efficiency
• Improvements in productivity
• Integrated technologies
• Strong long-term partnerships
• Expansive service offerings
In talking about the economy, Mark Taft, ABB Group Vice President, Process Automation, Global Control System Business said, “I was in a meeting the other day and we were talking about the problems of today and someone said it is important to remember tomorrow isn’t cancelled.”

Show report: Business optimism, sales buck recession rap

"We're 77% ahead of our business last year. We knew six months ago that this recession was happening, and we planned. We decided we weren't participating in any recession," said Joe Bailey, an automation specialist with Turner Machine Company.
Turner Machine Company, Inc. is a custom machine builder and full-service machine shop in Smyrna, Tenn., outside Nashville. The company works predominately with automotive companies. Toyota is a major customer for Turner’s services.
Bailey and Turner were working and exhibiting at the Plant Engineering South technology exposition in Charlotte, N.C., Wednesday. Business is good. “We’re hiring,” Bailey said.
“We serve a lot of the Tier One suppliers in the automotive industry also. They need strong, value-add companies to help them adapt their equipment to limited budgets in times like this.”
Turner shows companies how to use their automated equipment, save time and money by increasing productivity and accuracy and by eliminating the manufacturing of non-conforming parts.
“The automobile isn’t going away,” Bailey said. “We expect retooling next year to further enhance our business.”
Bailey’s comments were in marked contrast to the drumbeat of bad news from across the globe. “GM needs to go into bankruptcy and get out from under the UAW. Ford has worked it out. My F-150 companies (Ford’s popular pick-up truck) are operating wide open. I think they’ll sell more of those trucks than ever this year,” he said.
Dean Curd, sales manager for Aqua Measure Instrument Company, said their business was moving along well, with revenue at about the same levels as last year. Curd sells moisture analyzers to many process industries. Food, pharmaceutical, tobacco, and pulp and paper producers are some of his many clients.
His meters instantaneously measure how much water is any product that passes beneath. “It’s very important to customers and producers who buy and sell by weight. They don’t want to pay for water; they want to pay for product.
“I was in China recently to demonstrate this ultraviolet technology for a tobacco grower. This unit costs around $15,000. That company bought four of them. Most of our business is in the U.S., but the percentage we do in Asia is increasing.”
Brett Havertine is an application engineer at Cimtec Automation Engineering Solutions. “We distribute for Cognex and other vision companies. Our work is mostly in automotive and the pharmaceutical industries. It seems when one area slacks off, we pick up in another. There has not been any downturn of business during this recession.”
Traffic on the floor of this show was moderate-to-brisk during the first day of the two-day event.
The event combines the Advance Manufacturing Exposition & Conference, the Automation Technology Expo, SouthPack, the Green Manufacturing Expo, Powder & Bulk Solids Southeast, Process Technology for Industry PTX South, MetalTec, and Design & Manufacturing South under one roof.
—Nicholas Sheble

Fearing fear? No way

Never has the famous line of “the only thing we have to fear, is fear itself,” been so true.
Even billionaire Warren Buffet thinks there will be a turn around. In a televised interview, Buffett said the nation's leaders need to support President Barack Obama’s efforts to repair the economy. Fear, Buffet added, is dominating Americans' behavior and the economy has followed the worst-case scenario.
Yes, we continue down an unprecedented era where seemingly every segment of the economy is in disarray.
Buffet said during the interview the economy has ''fallen off a cliff. Not only has the economy slowed down a lot, but people have really changed their habits like I haven't seen.''
Buffet predicted unemployment will likely climb before the recession is over, but ''everything will be all right. We do have the greatest economic machine that's ever been created.''
Not a day goes by when someone comes out with a dire prediction saying “we won’t get out of this for another few years.” That Chicken Little scenario has to be kept in perspective.
Not that there is any one-size-fits all solution, but if we just look at the daunting task of where we have to go, nothing will ever get done. But if we can take incremental steps and find success along the way to the bigger goal of achieving a thriving economy again, then we will end up getting there quicker than we think.
When it comes to your company, enterprise, process or whatever; try to solve what you can solve and keep moving forward.
Talk to me.