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.