by Gary Mintchell | Apr 26, 2010 | Automation
I’m on the balcony of my room overlooking Waikiki beach. Taking a few days off. Walked over to Diamond Head and then hiked up. Beautiful view. Walked a total of about six miles. Then we did the Pearl Harbor visit and toured the interior of Oahu. This afternoon we’ll head to Maui for a few days. I’ll be back for the Packaging Automation Forum on May 4. See you there, I hope.
When I vacation, I like to take along some thought provoking books. Right now I’m finishing “The Lights in the Tunnel” by Martin Ford (Acculant Publishing). Ford’s a technologist and something of a futurist. He foresees a day coming when everything will be automated and there won’t be any jobs. If there are no jobs, then how will consumers (who are also workers–or soon to be displaced workers) buy things that the automated production will make?
I’m just getting to his prescriptions. I am curious, though. What do you think? Can we automate machines, then automate the making of machines, and recursively ad infinitum? Will automation drive the economy (not just manufacturing, but retail, IT, middle management, everything) down to about a 25% employment rate — that’s not UNemployment, but total employment?
Think of world history. Humans went from hunter/gatherer to farming. It took a long time, but eventually technology made it possible to reduce the number of farmers required to feed the population (technology drives employment down). But a new class (or several classes) of new employment sprang up. From scholars and writers to craftsmen and artisans. Then technology slowly (but more rapidly than with farmers) automated the jobs of artisans and craftsmen. Employment moved to large factories. Now automation has enabled factories to do more with less labor, but information technology grew to requre more labor. If we further automate manufacturing (to the famous man and dog) and if we automate IT, then there will be no more jobs. That becomes Ford’s thesis. And don’t think retail, because he thinks we’ll shortly replace almost all Wal-Mart and McDonalds workers with automation/robots.
Or, is that true? Are there jobs we can’t yet see springing up that will absorb the newly unemployed? In fact, I’m seeing a lot of return to craftsmen. Or is there something else? What do you think?
I think this will become my June editorial in Automation World.
by Gary Mintchell | Apr 22, 2010 | Automation, Operations Management, Software
I sat in for the teleconference with executives of Invensys Operations Management explaining more about the acquisition of Skelta. On the surface, Skelta brings no manufacturing expertise with it. However it does bring tools and software based upon the Microsoft de facto standard, and therefore it will (in theory at least) provide integration of workflow and business process management into the existing IOM Enterprise Control System environment fairly easily since it, too, is also based on the same de facto standard. The combined offering will indeed bring human workflow and process (or machine) workflows together for improved collaboration and company operations. The test will be how quickly they can get the combination running (of course there are betas).
The number of posts may decline briefly while I take a brief vacation next week. Upon return, I’ll be in the car driving to the Chicago area for the 5th Packaging Automation Forum. Registrations are going well. It looks to be a great place to learn about improving manufacturing operations. (I know it says “packaging” but the topics are more about running a line efficiently and profitably than about building a packaging machine.) Check it out. Hope to see you there.
by Gary Mintchell | Apr 21, 2010 | Automation, Operations Management, Software
Invensys Operations Management, a global provider of technology systems, software solutions and consulting services to the manufacturing and infrastructure operations industries, announced April 21 that it has acquired Skelta Software, a privately held software company headquartered in Bangalore, India.
This acquisition fits the trend of including business process management and workflow technology into manufacturing enterprise information technology offerings. I’ve seen several other companies moving this direction. This acquisiton should also give some momentum to IOM’s Enterprise Control System strategy.
Founded in 2003, Skelta provides enterprise-wide business process management (BPM) and advanced workflow software solutions for companies of every size in several industries, including manufacturing and infrastructure operations. The Skelta BPM suite offers leading capabilities for business process modeling and execution and includes unique, integrated capabilities for business rules management, forms management, document management and business activity monitoring. It also includes connectors to popular Microsoft offerings such as SharePoint, BizTalk and Microsoft Office.
“This acquisition further extends our Enterprise Control System strategy,” said Sudipta Bhattacharya, president and chief executive officer, Invensys Operations Management. “Simply put, Skelta technology will enable Invensys Operations Management and our global network of ecosystem partners to deliver new, easy-to-configure workflow, collaboration and process-centric applications. This, in turn, empowers our customers and partners to be more productive and innovative as they strive to achieve productivity excellence. Every business needs the flexibility to respond to new business challenges in real time. By extending our open Wonderware System Platform and InFusion Enterprise Control System offerings, we further accelerate the development of applications that improve collaboration and workflow across people, systems and documents.”
Skelta offerings enable customers to build powerful BPM solutions in the financial services, healthcare, life sciences, energy, manufacturing and infrastructure operations industries. These software solutions are proven to accelerate customer deployments with a high return on investment and lower total cost of ownership. Skelta also offers prebuilt solutions, such as accounts payable, document management, and governance, risk management and compliance, to increase efficiencies and reduce costs. These offerings include advanced collaboration tools, real-time work flow processes and new application development tools, delivered and serviced by more than 80 partners, including systems integrators and valued-added resellers, who will join Invensys Operations Management’s existing global network of more than 3,000 ecosystem partners.
“Combining our strengths accelerates the development and delivery of solutions that help customers improve collaboration and empower their workers with actionable information, driving real-time process improvements and increased profitability,” said Sanjay Shah, chief executive officer, Skelta Software. “Our customers will continue to work with the same strong Skelta team and continue to receive the same excellent products and services, but now they will be backed by an industry-leading company with global capabilities, allowing us to further expand our suite of BPM software, services and solutions.”
The business will continue to be managed by Skelta’s existing executive team, adding approximately 130 employees to Invensys operations in India.
Embeddable BPM Framework
Skelta BPM is one of the first completely embeddable business process management and advanced workflow frameworks, and like Invensys’ ArchestrA software framework, it is built on Microsoft .Net technology, making it open, extensible and scalable. The Skelta BPM software will extend the Invensys Wonderware System Platform and InFusion Enterprise Control System with new workflow capabilities that can help customers improve their process execution, standardization, quality control, regulatory compliance and environment, health and safety programs.
Skelta BPM technology can improve productivity for clients in many industries, including food and beverage, oil and gas, and power. Its agile framework links manufacturing and infrastructure operations systems to existing business and departmental workflow systems, helping customers achieve better business results in real time. Personnel at every level of the operation, including quality managers and planners, can use the resulting solutions to help control their daily workflows, as well as improve demand response, issue resolution and corrective and preventive actions. For example, because it is being integrated with the InFusion ECS, Skelta technology will help make it quicker and easier for customers to initiate a production change sequence as a result of a large order or to manage workflows associated with maintenance issues, such as faster recovery from unplanned downtime. Preconfigured industrial and manufacturing-specific workflows will be built into future Invensys offerings, with the goal of dramatically reducing the cost and complexity of implementing high-value workflow solutions while driving productivity excellence.
“Expanding the System Platform offering to include a strong workflow component is almost revolutionary in the benefits it will bring to users,” said Mike le Plastrier, director, EOH, a South Africa-based distributor of Wonderware software solutions. “In asset-intensive industries such as mining, there is inevitably a requirement to work with transactional data from multiple sources, such as a LIMS, vehicle management or assay management system, to create a common platform for the complete mine. Our customers require a workflow system to ensure their data is effectively correlated and stored. In addition, with embedded workflow solutions, System Platform is now ideally suited to allowing logic to be placed on production streams, providing, for example, real-time accounting capabilities.”
by Gary Mintchell | Apr 21, 2010 | Automation, Events, Operations Management, Software
Things are coming together rapidly for the MESA International North American Conference to be held in Dearborn, MI June 21-23. A great keynote on Monday evening, June 21 will get everyone ready for two days of intense learning and sharing about using information technology for improving plant and factory operations.
On Tuesday, high level practitioners and thought leaders will share their ideas and experiences. But if you yearn for more than the usual sit and listen conference, we are providing for an unusual experience for Wednesday, June 23. With the new MESA Unconference, you can directly engage and learn about topics that you pick – and get answers to your most pressing challenges. I have gone from the guy throwing out ideas to accepting the challenge of Unconference Director for the event. I am enthused about bringing something new to manufacturing conferences–something that will raise the energy level and intensity of discussion.
At the Unconference, you can share and learn in an open, participatory environment. It is an intense multi-discussion, multi-room event with no script. Bring your ideas and desires to interact with peers – and test the brains and bounds of the MESA community. Anyone with something to contribute or with the desire to learn is invited and welcome!
In this “confer and conquer” environment, you can present ideas or questions and discuss operations topics with other practitioners and subject matter experts in the spirit of MESA’s mission – to provide an environment for the sharing of best practices. Leading industry experts, including members of the MESA Technical Committee, will be on hand to help facilitate discussions.
What kinds of topics? Here’s an example from a major battery manufacturer – how to deal with the challenges of operational excellence in an ultra high-volume production environment. Other ideas include ISA-95 implementations, cloud computing, virtual machines, Lean in process production environments, and much more.
Tee up your topic ideas for the Unconference! E-mail your topic today to me today.
by Gary Mintchell | Apr 21, 2010 | Marketing
I’ve avoided this post for a couple of days, but I’m starting to get questions and comments. Also, it’s just one more company referenced in my resume that you won’t be able to find if you try. I’m also trying hard to overcome my personality where I try to analyze everything to death.
All of you who are Control Engineering subscribers received at least one email this week saying the magazine is closed. The Web site says the same thing. We’ve known that Reed Business Information was selling its magazine business for a couple of years. But closing is always a shock. I’ve worked for four companies that went through various methods of dying and wound up on the street. In one, I was actually president for a month while trying to put together investors, partners, bank relationships, employees, building, tools and equipment, etc. after the company I worked for as head of marketing and application engineering (and other stuff) announced a Chapter 7. You know–it’s very hard to put all that together under a stringent time pressure. I still remember the day when the angel investor (you gotta have at least one partner with a lot of money) didn’t get off the plane at Dayton International Airport (because he never got on). Poof. Now I’m an editor.
I say that to let you know I’ve been there and I’ll never gloat about that misfortune happening to others. I was a reader for several years before I became an editor there. I learned this trade at Cahners/Reed. Then I had the opportunity to go to Automation World which gave me a fresh start to try to improve on a good thing. From feedback I’ve had, it looks as though we’re succeeding.
It’s hard to say what will happen to Control Engineering in the end. Don’t know if someone will raise it back up or if it will die like the old I&CS, nee Control Solutions, several years ago. I know a lot of good people there, though, who will make good employees somewhere. I remind myself everyday how fortunate I am and never really feel secure in it. I’ve seen this too many times in my life.
I’ve got to answer one question that has come up in conversation–Automation World is still alive and well. I think this event is specific to one company. We are part of a small company that bleeds trade media, print and electronic. We’re just as passionate and dedicated as when they founded Packaging World and then invited me to come along and help start up Automation World. We’ve come through the recession alive and are looking forward to a good year.
