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| From One Techie to Another |
System Integrators Wanted
As the automation workforce continues to shrink, the demand for systems integrators is higher than ever before. Over the years, many manufacturing companies have significantly down-sized their engineering departments, some down to one or two key people. In order to remain competitive in the global market, those same manufacturers must find ways to improve efficiencies and optimize processes. As a result, manufacturers are relying on system integrators to augment their engineering staff and help them meet manufacturing goals.
Many of the large automation suppliers are capitalizing on these system integration and service opportunities. At the ARC Forum in Orlando last week, I had the opportunity to sit down with Jack Bolick, President of Honeywell Process Solutions.
Honeywell’s service offering is called Integrated Main Automation Contractor (I-MAC). The I-MAC
According to Bolick, Honeywell's I-MAC group is focused on selling process knowledge. Honeywell's primary objective is to understand the manufacturer's goals from an operations and business perspective. With the I-MAC approach, Honeywell is responsible for 100% of the project execution including cost and schedule risk management. Honeywell can even put their money where their mouth is. Some of their proposals include a performance guarantee, where if the performance goals are met, Honeywell gets a slice of related financial gains, or vice versa.
The system integration and service markets are growing quickly. The challenge is finding the right organization to partner with. As you may know, Automation.com offers one of the largest System Integrators Directories in the automation industry. Currently, our directory contains more than 1750 system integrators located all over the world, and it continues to grow every week. In the last year, our directory saw more than 35,000 searches. Using our directory, professionals can search for system integrators by keyword, location (state/province and country), industry segment and services offered.
If you work for a system integration company, I'd like to make sure you are in our directory. Please do a search to see if your company is listed. If your company is not listed, please review the available listing options. On the main System Integrators Directory page, you can also refer to the 4-step process outlined in the left-hand column on how to list your company in our directory.
How is the looming recession affecting the automation industry? (continued)
I'm looking for more feedback from manufacturers and system integrators on how the looming recession is affecting their business. Check out the forum responses and post your own comments on My.Automation.com.
Enjoy the rest of this Automation Weekly!
Rick Zabel
Vice President, Publisher |
| Featured Article |
Business growth barriers & plateaus for Automation suppliers
There are several obstacles/plateaus/barriers to growth which are important to understand. Recognition of these growth patterns allows companies to plan for survival beyond the initial entrepreneurial stages towards the next levels of growth and success.
Read full article by Jim Pinto.
Read more articles by Jim Pinto.
Browse Portals for more articles, white papers and application stories by topic |
| Product Announcements |
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Other Product Announcements
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Product & Supplier Search
- Featured Products for February
- Search Products by keyword, category, manufacturer or release date
- Search Suppliers by keyword or product category
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| Resources & Literature |
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Intrinsic Safety Specification Guide
Pepperl+Fuchs introduces this easy-to-read and fully illustrated manual -- loaded with information on successfully installing, using, maintaining and repairing intrinsic safety systems. The guide also contains product specifications for Pepperl+Fuchs’ modular K-System intrinsic safety components that provide reliable signal transfer protection between field devices and control systems.
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Other Resources & Literature:
Go to our Daily News Headlines page for the latest automation news.
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| Events, Seminars & Training |
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EtherNet/IP Seminars by ODVA
ODVA will be continuing its worldwide series of EtherNet/IP seminars designed to increase industry awareness and technical expertise of how to implement EtherNet/IP, the industrial Ethernet technology managed by ODVA. The free, one-day seminars are designed for potential users and vendors of EtherNet/IP products and networks.
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Other Upcoming Events & Training
- Rexroth offers Hydraulic Training Courses: Training began January 14, 2008
- OPC Training Workshops: Workshops began January 14, 2008
- WBF presents Webcasts in First Quarter 2008: Webcasts began January 16, 2008
- MEASUREX: February 17-21, 2008
- SPE Intelligent Energy Conference & Exhibition: February 25-27, 2008
- Instrumentation & Control Master Series: February 25-28, 2008
- Design of Experiment (Six Sigma DOE) 4 Day Workshop: February 26-29, 2008
- Fieldbus Foundation General Assembly 2008: February 27-29, 2008
- International Symposium on Robotics: March 10-13, 2008
- Measurement Science Conference: March 10-14, 2008
- Lean for the Supply Chain: March 12-13, 2008
- SCMLogistics India 2008: March 17-20, 2008
- ISA Hamilton Section EXPO: March 18, 2008
- Configurable Component Technical Seminar: March 19-20, 2008
- 2008 WBF North American Conference: March 24-27, 2008
- Endevco Technical Training Seminars: Begin April, 2008
- Adept Global Conference 2008: April 2-4, 2008
- Source Review Workshop: April 17-18, 2008
Go to our Calendar of Events to see other upcoming events. Add an event to our calendar. |
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| Company & Organizational News |
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Other Company & Organization News:
Go to our Daily News Headlines page for the latest automation news.
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| Application News |
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Other Application News:
Go to our Daily News Headlines page for the latest automation news.
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| New Jobs |
Here's a list of new jobs posted on Automation.com:
To view other recent job postings, please use our Job Search Function. For recruiting and contract staffing services, please visit www.automationtechies.com. |
| Humor of the Week |
Dilbert - If you don’t stop strategizing, you’ll never get any work done. |
I hope you enjoyed this Automation Weekly update. If you have any comments or suggestions regarding the content in this e-newsletter or on Automation.com, please don't hesitate to contact me.
Rick Zabel
Vice President, Publisher
Automation.com
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