by Gary Mintchell | Jan 10, 2017 | News, Organizations
There is plenty of time to register for the 21st Annual ARC Industry Forum Industry in Transition: Realizing the Digital Enterprise February 6-9, 2017 – Orlando, Florida. I can’t believe that this will mark my 20th trip to Orlando this time of year.
While in many ways this is an ARC Advisory Group “user group” meeting, almost everyone shows up. For several years now this is the one place where you can go and talk with people from many automation suppliers. And with many engineers and managers who implement and manage automation and information.
You can come to make contacts or pick up on the latest trends.
As for me, I will be looking for new companies and products, a sense of the industry’s direction, and contacts who are looking for someone to help them with things I can assist with—strategic messaging, advice on status of industry and companies, product development ideas. It will also be interesting to get an update on the ExxonMobil attempt to commoditize the DCS (I presume so that it can catch up to peers in modernizing operations). That effort has quieted during the past few months.
ARC tries very hard to limit presentations by suppliers. As technology developers, suppliers can be a source of great information. Unfortunately most of the suppliers have used the Forum in the past to simply promote their company and products. No one is paying to attend a forum to hear from marketing managers. Now if a few people from the CTO’s office spoke…
The comments below are taken from the latest ARC promotion. I see only one supplier listed in the speaker lineup so far.
Industrial companies are starting to employ ‘digitalized’ business processes and exploit the increasing convergence between operational technology (OT), information technology (IT), and engineering technology (ET) on the plant floor. How will disruptive technologies change existing products and plants? How will open source solutions impact traditional software and automation domains? Is cybersecurity a threat to digitalization? How ‘smart’ are smart machines? How do Big Data and predictive and prescriptive analytics enable operational change?
Join us to learn how the digital enterprise benefits from smarter products, new service and operating models, new production techniques, and new approaches to design and sourcing.
Check out these topics:
- Industrial Cybersecurity and Safety Analytics and Machine Learning
- Asset Performance Management
- IT/OT/ET Convergence
- Service Performance Management
- Automation Innovations
- Industrial Internet Platforms
- Connected Smart Machines
Partial List of Executive Speakers:
- S. Dept. of Homeland Security, Marty Edwards, Director ICS Cyber Emergency Response Team
- ExxonMobil Research & Engineering, Don Bartusiak, Chief Engineer, Process Control
- NOVA Chemicals, Doug Lutz, Principal Process Automation Engineer
- Savannah River Nuclear Solutions, Laura Sheets, Tritium Process Control Lead Engineer
- Local Motors, Justin Fishkin, Chief Strategy Officer
- NIST, Adam Sedgewick, Sr. Information Technology Policy Advisor
- Duke Energy, David Lawrence, Technology Development Manager, Emerging Technology
- Merck, Gene Tung, Director of IT
- WAGO, Thomas Holm, Head Innovation & Technology
- Eli Lilly, Kevin Wilhelm, Senior Consultant
- Ascend Performance Materials, Terry Unruh, Maintenance Process Leader
- Kinder Morgan, Lawrence Staab, Training Coordinator/Instructional Designer
- Georgia-Pacific, Michael Carroll, VP Innovation and Operations Excellence
- 3M, Liu Qiao, Technical Director, Software Electronics Mechanical Systems Lab
- Dow Chemical, Glen Mutscher, Global Director, Manufacturing & Engineering
- ExxonMobil Research & Engineering, Steve Bitar, R&D Program Manager
- American Society of Mechanical Engineers, Dean Bartles, Sr. Technology Advisor
- Dow Chemical, Mary Beth Seasholtz, Data Services Technical Leader
- Fluor, David Hoeppner, David Hoeppner
- Shell Global Solutions, Tyler Williams, Global Technology Leader
- Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Stuart Madnick, Professor of Information Technologies and Engineering Systems
- Albermarle, Jonathan Alexander, Operations Engineer
- AGCO, Jan Theissen, Director Strategy & Methods, Global Purchasing & Materials
- Pepsi Beverages, Jeff Russell, SE Regional Engineering Manager
by Gary Mintchell | Nov 18, 2016 | Automation, Events, News
It is time to begin planning your trip to perhaps the only automation industry general gathering. Here is a teaser from ARC about its upcoming event.
Presenting the 21st Annual ARC Industry Forum Industry in Transition: Realizing the Digital Enterprise February 6-9, 2017 – Orlando, Florida. How will disruptive technologies change existing products and plants? How will open source solutions impact traditional software and automation domains? Is cybersecurity a threat to digitalization and, if so, how can the risk be mitigated? How ‘smart’ are smart machines, and what benefit will these bring? How do Big Data and predictive and prescriptive analytics enable operational change? How do connected products create opportunities in aftermarket services? What software capabilities are needed to achieve transformational change? Which industries are already changing? What steps can organizations take to foster innovative thinking? Join us at the 21st annual ARC Industry Forum in Orlando, Florida to learn more about how the digital enterprise will be realized and the benefits that this can bring. Discover what your peers are doing today and what steps they are taking in their respective journeys.
I plan to attend for the 20th time. The only industry people not there are competitive analysts. There are representatives from most suppliers, foundations and associations, as well as from forward thinking end users. Most of the industry trade media will also be present. Suppliers began setting up press conferences several years ago. For a while it was quite a marathon where we would see a new presentation every half-hour for more than five hours! Then it was time for snacks and wine.
The sessions are usually interesting. ARC strives to have mostly users talking to users discouraging vendor sales pitches. One problem with that is that the vendors are the technology developers. If they would let their technology people speak, then that would really round things off. But marketing people being marketing people, they just can’t let an opportunity to be in front of prospects and customers go by without a pretty blatant sales pitch. So, ARC cuts that off in order to attract good discussions and quality attendees.
Start setting up appointments soon! Hope to see you there. Maybe we could organize a meet up.
by Gary Mintchell | Jan 13, 2016 | Automation, Events, News, Operations Management
We are closing in on February and time to start thinking about the ARC Industry Forum in Orlando. I went to my first one in 1998 and have my airline and hotel reservations for this edition.
Given the demise of general industry trade shows, there are precious few opportunities to see a large cross section of the automation and control industry. This is one.
I have 2 or 3 appointments set. If you are there, ping me. Maybe we can do a “meet up” in the lounge before everyone splits for dinner or something. Or stop me to chat during the week. ARC has once again planned an afternoon of press conferences for its sponsors. I’ll arrive in time to listen if you are presenting.
The 20th Annual ARC Industry Forum has the theme, “Industry in Transition: Navigating the New Age of Innovation”.
The conference is February 8-11, 2016 at the Renaissance Sea World in Orlando, Florida.
ARC says, “New information technologies such as Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT), Smart Manufacturing, Industrie 4.0, Digitization, and Connected Enterprise are ushering in a new age of innovation. These concepts are clearly moving past the hype, where real solutions are emerging backed by strong business cases. Expect to see innovations in smarter products, new service and operating models, new production techniques, and new approaches to design and sourcing. Join us to learn how this industrial transformation will unfold and what other companies are doing today to embrace innovation and improve their business performance.”
Questions they expect to address:
- How will inexpensive, easy-to-install sensors change existing products and plants?
- Will cyber security concerns impede disruptive innovation?
- What kind of intelligence will machines have and what value will this bring?
- What role will Wi-Fi and LTE play?
- How do Big Data and predictive and prescriptive analytics enable operational change?
- What is the opportunity in aftermarket services?
- What software capabilities are needed to achieve transformational change?
- Which industries are already changing?
- What steps can organizations take to foster innovative thinking?
Forum’s Keynote Presentations
Michael Carroll, Vice President, Innovation & Operations Excellence, Georgia-Pacific
Michael joined Georgia-Pacific in 2010 to focus his technological and entrepreneurial talents on innovation and leadership. Prior to that he and a partner formed McTech Group, a company focused on innovative products for the building products and construction industry. In addition to his Executive Vice President responsibilities, Michael formed a Joint Venture designed to sell consumer “DIY” products to big box retailers like Wal-Mart, Home Depot, and Lowe’s. Previous positions include Director of Operations at Riverwood International, CEO of North and South American Operations at Shepherd, and Principal Change Agent at Mead Paper.
Sandy Vasser, Facilities I&E Manager, ExxonMobil Development
Sandy has been with Exxon or ExxonMobil for over 35 years and has been involved in a number of Upstream projects covering offshore facilities, onshore facilities, and cogeneration facilities. He currently manages a team of about 120 electrical and I&C professionals responsible for the design, installation, and commissioning of electrical generation and distribution systems, process control systems, and safety instrumented systems for all major ExxonMobil Upstream capital projects. This team is also responsible for developing, promoting and implementing strategies, practices, processes, and tools for successfully executing project automation and electrical activities.
Rob High, Vice President and Chief Technology Officer, Watson Solutions, IBM Software Group
Rob has overall responsibility to drive Watson Solutions technical strategy and thought leadership. He works collaboratively with the Watson engineering, research, and development teams across IBM. Prior to joining Watson Solutions, Rob was Chief Architect for the SOA Foundation and member of the IBM Academy of Technology. He championed an open industry architectural definition of the principles of business and IT alignment enabled by SOA and business process optimization, as well as ensuring IBM’s software and services portfolio is architecturally grounded to enable for efficient SOA-based solutions. Rob has 37 years of programming experience and has worked with distributed, object-oriented, component-based transaction monitors for the last 26 years.
