Saturday, March 30, 2013

Mobile KPI – Boosting Scalability for Business Concerns

The modern business world which rests on performance management is buzzing with the terms such as KPI or mobile KPI, key metrics and objective management. All these terms simply relate to essential ideas for using relevant and timely data for measuring the prevailing performance of the business with an intention of improving and maintaining the growth rates.

This approach seen vibrantly used by organisations, provides huge benefits as it renders the employees as well as the managers in getting concrete and clear ideas about where the company stands presently and what is the status of growth in relation to the objectives and goals. In wide contrast to the management approaches used in the past which had the base as personal discretion and intuition, mobile KPI is the hot strategy used currently which revolves around objectivity, consistency and enhanced performance.

Mobile KPI


Analysis of the vital information, key performance indicators and overall growth has proved to be viable and effective for tackling the old problem for managing company growth; especially for organisations that are growing. Everything is seen boiling down to the issue of scalability. Approaches that are personal for managing work in small groups is still quite possible for the members; however, the briskness offered by mobile KPI systems can make this job easier yet fast.

The leaders can now rely on their smartphones for connecting with the groups who are on field. This results in saving valuable time and aids quick decision making. This then reflects on the revenues of the company along with proving beneficial for the clients as well. Good service standards are maintained and the performance of the group is heightened considerably. The ascending growth ratios become visible with the utilisation of mobile KPI. The overall benefits are seen reflecting in the business as well as the employees alike.

Friday, March 29, 2013

Yes, Women Make Better Leaders

http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-505125_162-57576267/yes-women-make-better-leaders/

food for thought....

Repost: Mobile Usage Is Rocketing Search Efforts


Mobile Usage Is Rocketing Search Efforts
by , Yesterday, 1:24 PM


Read more: http://www.mediapost.com/publications/article/196826/mobile-usage-is-rocketing-search-efforts.html#ixzz2OwU04vED

Why is mobile device search usage important to the industrial automation industry?  Because it shows us a booming trend in the way users want to access information--and it shouldn't matter if that information is coming from a website, or from a Programmable Logic Controller (PLC) or an industrial application such as Enterprise Manufacturing Intelligence or Human Machine Interface software. 

People are "joined at the hip" with their smart device.  Can you imagine driving somewhere, or even taking a walk, without your smart phone?  Unheard of.  In the world of industrial automation, it's getting to be the same.  Smart Devices are being fed by information coming from data historians, MES applications, workflow, and corporate energy management software.  It's allowing people to get the information they need, when they need it, to make more effective and timely decisions.

So you are now seeing a growing supply of vendors, large and small, who are providing either complete, or point solutions of mobile device-enabled reporting, visualization, and analytics.  Costs are coming down, to fulfill the single-user need for personalized information.  It's becoming part of the standard product offering, versus a strong differentiator.  For the end user, that's a really good thing.

Mobile dashboards – What to choose? Apps or browsers

Business intelligence and mobile dashboards are terms which are amongst the hottest discussed topics in the corporate as well as industrial world. This is quite justifiable too, as the access to important company data on the mobiles is extremely critical for aiding the process of decision making. However, as the industries and companies are contemplating and evaluating various aspects for the deployment of business intelligence on the phones, and this field seems to be exploding like never before, there is one debate which is seen rising; the debate about applications versus browsers.

The rising popularity of functions of mobile dashboards and the application marketplaces such as Android marketplace and iTunes stores is witnessing the developers swooning for more and the customers are caught in frenzy for downloading the latest apps to aid their work. From the business perspective; especially when we consider the medium and large enterprises, the demand from the users is seen increasing. However, clouds still loom over the management of these mobile dashboard, applications and the security concerns.

Mobile dashboard


Business intelligence and mobile dashboard are soon becoming the latest technologies which are caught in the crossfire of the debate. There are two important thoughts which pop up when we consider mobile business intelligence. The first is the installation of dedicated applications on every device, and the second is the delivery of screens which are based on server apps to browsers of every device.

Both the approaches as mentioned above have their pons and cons. Common understanding will suggest that the dedicated apps will work faster along with the mobile dashboards. However, with technological advancements, the gap between the two arguments is quickly closing. The browsers too are seen to provide quick solutions.

So it will not matter what you choose for your mobile dashboards. The benefits will result in aiding you, rather than burdening you with more learning time.

Webinar 4/10/2013: ArchestrA Graphic Animation in the Wonderware Information Server

Webinar 4/10/2013: ArchestrA Graphic Animation in the Wonderware Information Server
 
 
Wonderware Information Server is a reporting portal that can host reports from Wonderware MES, InBatch, Historian, as well as SQL Server and Wonderware Intelligence.
 
Join Wonderware North on April 10th as they present how to host ArchestrA Graphics within Information Server.

Thursday, March 28, 2013

Yield Accounting Infographic

Yield Accounting Infographic by Kaylen McMullen, Invensys

Webinar 4/3/2013: Eliminate Paper Data Collection with IntelaTrac

Webinar 4/3/2013: Eliminate Paper Data Collection with IntelaTrac


Wonderware North presents an informative webinar on using IntelaTrac from Wonderware for workforce enablement, including task workflow enforcement and mobile device-driven data collection.  Join them on April 3rd, 2013.

Repost: Four Ways to Measure Social Media Effectiveness

Four Ways to Measure Social Media Effectiveness

As an adjunct to the blog post I had this week, this is a good, straightforward article on four dimensions of metrics for determining if your social media efforts are paying off.  For me, it's about education; if my readers get value out of looking at my blog, and reading the content that I post.  Are you similar?  Do you drive for engagement? Let me know--maryanne.steidinger@invensys.com.

Mobile Business Intelligence – Future of business strategies

The success ratio of analytics and business intelligence in any organisation is measured always by the user acceptance levels and how pervasive is the BI for the company and also how it aids in the decision making process. All this have given prominence to mobile business intelligence in recent times.

Research has shown that there are various trends of mobile business intelligence which will shape the tactics and strategies of the organisations in the future years. The smartphones are now the most important technologies used by businesses for improvement of business intelligence adoption. Though the mobiles enable BI for attracting the users and reaching new clients, ease in using and an experience which can engage the user is vital for the success of any policy of BI.

A broader data base will always generate insight for improved decision making. In operational environments, the mobile dashboards along with multiple sources of data from the relevant systems will result in enhancing the awareness of the decision makers according to the situations on field. This will eventually lead to betterment of the operational decisions. Each business will look for making better utilisation of the information they have in hand.

The top notch of managers in organisations is seen enthusiastic in the adoption of mobile business intelligence. The early signs are encouraging in this sector and are showing gradual traces of replacing the presentations, spread sheets and mails being used for insights of business.

The real drive that fosters the adoption of mobile business intelligence is not the mobility itself. The enthusiasm is mainly derived from engaging experience and ease of usability as mentioned earlier. The fast access and convenience to timely and relevant business data are attributes which are increasing the liking for mobile business intelligence in the form of smartphones and tablets.

Study: Twitter Mobile Users More Engaged with Brand

http://www.mediapost.com/publications/article/193206/twitter-mobile-users-more-engaged-with-brands.html#axzz2KYVSyFPy



It's no surprise that Twitter has continued to gain favor for brand marketing.  After all, it's short, requires you to be ver focused and pithy in your positioning and messaging.  And for the mobile platform, it's a perfect presentation and user interface.

For the industrial B2B vendor, I don't think we do enough in maximizing our use of this technology and venue.  Of course, we use to promote events, or press releases, or for sharing interesting reading materials.  But new product development ideas?  Or sneak previews of product releases?  Not really.

The automation market is getting used to using mobile devices for activities such as reporting and analysis--SmartGlance and Wonderware Intelligence are two smart device enabled applications. But news, promotions and information sharing are a different animal.

Since consumers (including myself) are so tethered to our devices, it makes sense to try to optimize our messages and campaigns to include a mobile aspect.  I would welcome any ideas you as my readers have on this subject. Email me at maryanne.steidinger@invensys.com...

Wednesday, March 27, 2013

The Automation Conference 2013 Offers Unique Educational Benefits | Automation World

The Automation Conference 2013 Offers Unique Educational Benefits | Automation World

Invensys is proud to be a Silver Sponsor of the Automation Conference.  Join us May 14-15, 2013 at the Chicago O'Hare Marriott for two days filled with success stories, networking, and education.  We look forward to seeing you there!

Smart Manufacturing Coalition-led Project Wins DOE Clean Energy Manufacturing Contract

From Gary Mintchell, via 

garymintchellsfeedforward.com 
 
 The Smart Manufacturing Leadership Coalition (SMLC) announced March 26 that it won a 2013 Clean Energy Manufacturing contract to start developing the nation’s first open smart manufacturing technology platform for collaborative industrial networked information applications. The innovative project, led by the SMLC, will receive $7.8 million in funding from the U.S. Dept. of Energy Office of Energy Efficiency & Renewable Energy’s Advanced Manufacturing Program.
 
Invensys Operations Management is proud to be a member of this extremely important initiative!         

From Hydrocarbon Processing: Saudi Arabia to begin drilling for shale gas this year

From Hydrocarbon Processing: Saudi Arabia to begin drilling for shale gas this year

Repost: US Chemical Industry Strengthening

http://www.downstreamtoday.com/news/article.aspx?a_id=39034

good news for any company that works with refineries, oil and gas.

Closed-loop Energy Management Solutions with ArchestrA Workflow

“Of one thing we can be sure: energy will be more challenging and more important in the future. Will you, and your business, be ready?”— Peter Schwartz, Chairman, Global Business Network


According to  Energy Star,  market trends suggest that the demand for energy resources will rise dramatically over the next 25 years:
  • Global demand for all energy sources is forecast to grow by 57% over the next 25 years.
  • U.S. demand for all types of energy is expected to increase by 31% within 25 years.
  • By 2030, 56% of the world’s energy use will be in Asia.
  • Electricity demand in the U.S. will grow by at least 40% by 2032.
  • New power generation equal to nearly 300 (1,000MW) power plants will be needed to meet electricity demand by 2030.
  • Currently, 50% of U.S. electrical generation relies on coal, a fossil fuel; while 85% of U.S. greenhouse gas emissions result from energy-consuming activities supported by fossil fuels.

Tuesday, March 26, 2013

Invensys Joins Smart Cities Council

Invensys Joins Smart Cities Council
original post by Steve Garbrecht, Invensys Operations Management

Why monitoring is giving away to exception based ”Self Aware” philosophies?

Why monitoring is, giving away to exception based ”Self Aware” philosophies?
original post by Tim Sowell, Invensys Operations Management Fellow

Repost: Renewable Energy from WasteWater a Win/Win System

http://www.jazdwater.com/blog/?p=28

this post from Water Technology Insights offers an interesting solution to our energy crisis.  Read on...

Make Informed Decisions with Mobile Business Analytics

Beyond the mobile platforms and the various apps for mobile business there is only one thing which is important – Mobile business analytics. The understanding of the statistics and bigger information which drives these huge numbers aids the enterprises and also the IT department in comprehending the trends of mobile enterprise. Mobile business analytics is extremely necessary for businesses; however, the importance of this virtue is quite relative. This means that everything depends on you asking the concerned people.

Though mobile business analytics may sound as a huge word for the huge numbers, when you are able to dissect it, you get a chance of witnessing what it means exactly and the part which it plays in the mobile enterprise.

Mobile business analytics is mostly called as BI or business intelligence. This is a set of processes, methodologies, technologies and architecture which transforms the raw information into one that is useful and meaningful. This data is used for predicting the trends and then planning the strategies; both inside the office and also the market. As a matter of fact, the term BI was first coined as some blanket term for describing the methods and concepts for improvement of the decision making in business with the use of support systems based on facts.

This brings us to the question as to what is the exact role of mobile business analytics in IT and enterprises. For the beginners, this technology allows the individuals in these positions to perform better with informed decision making at the right time and place. This is true when they are present anywhere in this world. Business intelligence permits the busy executives to utilize their time better and efficiently and also collaborate with colleagues for garnering highest results possible. The most important quality of mobile business analytics is the identification of trends in the customer line and the weaknesses of the business for supporting overall client experience.

Monday, March 25, 2013

Plant Engineering Names Wonderware InTouch 2012 a Product of the Year

http://iom.invensys.com/EN/Pages/IOM_NewsDetail.aspx?NewsID=544

News Release

Plant Engineering Names Wonderware InTouch 2012 a Product of the Year

Readers recognize HMI software for driving real-time business optimization


Thanks to Plant Engineering for this terrific honor.

Repost: The Internet of Things

http://www.industryweek.com/information-technology/internet-things-infographic
 
Cisco explores the vast technological potential of an ever-expanding, ever-communicating, ever-learning web of connected objects.

Increase Customer Loyalty with Real time Reporting on Mobiles

With the coming of business intelligence in every aspect of enterprises, everything that is done these days seems to be associated with briskness and timely delivery. The real time decision making concept is showing significant shifts with this rapid adoption smartphones shown by businesses everywhere around the globe.

Till the recent times, the notion about obtaining real time reporting information has been referred to as the ability of delivering the web results quickly. This means that the information needs to be delivered immediately when it gets posted on the company website. This process is seen as mostly been anchored for use of computers which had internet connections. Information is then delivered briskly as compared to the speed of getting to the computer; however, this may not be as quick at all.

With changing times and technology, we are able to witness or really see what happens in real time. The ease offered for implementation of easy- for- use systems of mobile feedback also permits virtually any company to compile information which can then be used as real time reporting for making informed decisions for business. This then reflects significantly on the performance of the business as a whole.

The technology of real time reporting is seen rapidly being adopted by various business concerns for different uses. The ability of easily deploying the mobile information tools for collection and mobile reporting the results in the formats which are capable of being tailored according to the needs of the business is increasing.

When we consider an example for the hospitality sector; real time reporting helps in understanding the feedback of customers, and also the sentiments which present the real opportunities for the business in this domain. Use of the mobile approach provides opportunities in the most critical aspects for this sector. Real time reporting aids in fixing issues if any before they actually affect the clients, thus increasing loyalty.

Cyber Security: $33 million casino hack

Cyber Security: $33 million casino hack

Saturday, March 23, 2013

Repost: Mobile users deposit more than $40B in checks via smartphones, tablets




http://www.mobilecommercedaily.com/mobile-users-deposit-over-40-billion-in-checks-via-mobile-mitek

When we first started talking about the cloud, we looked at the adoption of smart phones and tablets to do the simple, every day tasks that people have--and certainly, doing banking is an indication of the willingness of people to use new technology in labor-saving ways. 

Friday, March 22, 2013

Using Social Marketing for Thought Leadership



I'm sure you are familiar with those "spot polls" that capture instantly your vote, and display the results at that moment?  Well SmartBrief did an interesting one on "Does your company publish any "thought leadership" material."

The poll itself can be accessed below:
http://www.smartbrief.com/news/mma/poll_result.jsp?pollName=800E3242-8F25-4E16-9873-DC427DFBEB0C&issueid=D96FE4E2-6A14-4BB9-99DC-FD0FB4E9B0A4&copyid=5C6201C5-29A7-4FF2-8FBB-665F897B11F9&vote=success

What is interesting about this poll is the almost perfect split between "yes" and "no" answers.  Either a company is in it all the way, or they ignore it. There's no halfway point.

Personally, I think social marketing (LinkedIn, Twitter, Facebook) are excellent tools for promoting your thoughts and opinions, and it is so simple to do, that I can't imagine anyone with 5 minutes to spare not taking advantage of this fabulous medium.

Business intelligence iPad has Completely Altered the Way Business is Done

There is no one who will ever argue that management of business intelligence is a vital aspect for the success of the business. This is more prominent in the business environment which is passing recession. Additionally, there are many businessmen who will vouch for the fact that the major portion of BI is to stay ahead or at the top of your competitors always. The strategy of business intelligence needs to provide a substitute for observing the news in the industry. For many decades now, this news monitoring was meant to be assigned to someone in the marketing, product management or public relations team. Then the business world witnessed the advent of Google alerts for some period till it was taken by storm by the business intelligence iPad.

The business intelligence iPad economy changed the face of commerce completely. The manner in which business was performed saw drastic alteration. The iPad completely revolutionized the business activities for good.

It goes without saying that some of the apps created for business intelligence iPad which are low in cost are one of the ploys used by the managers for benefiting the business needs. The development of enterprise BI is helping many of the business concerns in condensing various streams of useful content from varied sources to combine into singular channels. This gives prominence to the users in accessing the important content from external sources into a single place or platform.

The key element that aids the success of developing business intelligence is the saved time via better and enhanced methods of filtering and searching. This is true irrespective of the goal being to monitor the web, or the combination of the internal streams of data which include sales and registration information, customer data, and marketing data, with the external information which includes consultant reports, analyst reports, industry news and so on. The smart apps provided by business intelligence iPad have made life easier for the businesses.

Repost: Manufacturing In China: Is It Hollowing Out?




A Study by Booz & Co. Partner John Jullens argues that China's manufacturing sector, while transitioning along with the rest of China to a developed economy, is not about to implode.  Read his five reasons in this article.

http://www.manufacturing-executive.com/message/3776?utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=email&utm_term=Article1_1&utm_campaign=Viewpoint_Mar20_2013&mkt_tok=3RkMMJWWfF9wsRokv6nLZKXonjHpfsX57%2B8vXKSg38431UFwdcjKPmjr1YIDTMF0dvycMRAVFZl5nRhQFe2Ub5BV%2BPlUGEm7Vjw%3D

Thursday, March 21, 2013

Repost: Manufacturing Megatrends That Will Change Your World

we as purveyors to the manufacturing industry need to understand the megatrends that will affect our customers' abilities to sustain & grow.  This article by Paul Tate effectively touches on a number of facets that Invensys is specifically addressing.



http://www.manufacturing-executive.com/community/leadership_dialogues/the_adaptive_organization/blog/2013/03/19/manufacturing-megatrends-that-will-change-your-world?utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=email&utm_term=Article1&utm_campaign=Viewpoint_Mar20_2013&mkt_tok=3RkMMJWWfF9wsRokv6nLZKXonjHpfsX57%2B8vXKSg38431UFwdcjKPmjr1YIDTMF0dvycMRAVFZl5nRhQFe2Ub5BV%2BPlUGEm7Vjw%3D

Make Your Business Life Easier With the Business Intelligence iPhone

Business intelligence has taken the economies by storm with the advent of smart phones and tablets which have eased the work pressure considerably. The various applications of such phones have made business processes swift, thus reigning supreme across various industries. The business intelligence iPhone especially provides various tools that are needed for staying on schedule for important work tasks and getting on throughout the day.

SmartGlance on iPhone


With the business intelligence iPhone, sales people can easily manage their tasks such as staying in touch with their office colleagues and clients and also stay updated about the agendas and meetings while on field.

Business intelligence iPhone also allows to keep a tab on all the clients, performance of work, and accounting of vital data; anytime and anywhere. With the use of the iPhone, the need for carrying messy papers or laptops for retrieving critical business information when needed is completely negated. The phone can be used for recording billable hours, track and send invoices to multiple customers.

Your business projects are always kept moving with the aid of the excellent apps provided by the business intelligence iPhone. These apps help you to manage the projects, share files, and edit documents as and when needed. You can review the milestones of your projects and can also assign tasks to fellow colleagues or juniors while on the go. You are also given the provision of downloading documents for further reference and adding your inputs if any from the iPhone.

Hosting, attending and participating in meetings from the field are made easy with the business intelligence iPhone. Making of conference calls, taking notes along with the voice dictation or typing via virtual keyboards are aspects that will amaze you.

Overall speaking, the business intelligence iPhone has made life easy for business with its varied and excellent features and applications. You just need to use it once to understand its immense potential.

 

Wednesday, March 20, 2013

Repost: Quit Being a Critic and Go Create Something

http://www.thoughtleadersllc.com/2013/03/quit-being-a-critic-and-go-create-something/

thought-provoking piece from - Mike Figliuolo at thoughtLEADERS, LLC

Using BPM/Workflow in the Pharmaceutical Industry

A primary focus of the pharmaceutical industry is the capture and standardization of operating practices.  Repeatability, documentation, and compliance to regulations are at the forefront of any pharma operation. 

A typical pharmaceutical manufacturer will have industrial automation and software applications that manage the physical operations--Programmable Logic Controllers or Distributed Control Systems, handling the temperatures, speeds, movement and packaging; batch recipe management to handle recipes,  procedures and processes, such as Clean In Place; Recipe validation; audit trails; and version control; and sensors and other discrete automation devices which contribute to authentication, confirmation, and location of the products as they travel through the process.

There is something more that these manufacturers can do...add workflow to their solution stack.

Tuesday, March 19, 2013

Repost: Share What Are The 3 Biggest U.S. Water Challenges?

Share What Are The 3 Biggest U.S. Water Challenges?

By Kevin Westerling, Editor  Water Online

The Water Online news service conducted a survey to determine what the biggest challenges of the water industry are--it's shared within this article.

Repost: Prospects judging companies by how they're treated after the sale

http://www.btobonline.com/article/20130318/LEADGEN06/130319989/prospects-judging-companies-by-how-theyre-treated-after-the-sale#

How often have you heard, it's easy to do the marketing to get the interest, it's sometimes simple to get the sale, but after the sale has concluded that the issues begin?

This challenge is universal--and I can testify that over many companies, over many years, it's something we all deal with.  How do you keep sales and internal processes in lockstep?  Personally, I think it's a matter of communication.  Regular, structured, formalized communication between marketing, sales, and internal support organizations.  No matter how often you think you are in alignment, unless there is a consistent touch point, getting out of synch is easy.

This article points out instances of where that chasm can exist, and what you can do to remediate.

Monday, March 18, 2013

Dynamic Simulation, by Salt River Project's Ron Cisco at ARC World Industry Forum 2013

Dynamic Simulation, by Salt River Project's Ron Cisco at ARC World Industry Forum 2013

Ron Cisco of Salt River Project was a guest speaker at the ARC World Industry Forum, held in Orlando, FL on February 11, 2013.  This video captures his excellent presentation.

Do You Know About Wonderware's Software Asset Manager?

The Wonderware Software Asset Manager (SAM) is a new software application and service, designed to help customers track and manage their Wonderware software and licenses. It reports license information and related data, and automates patch management strategy in a secure and private environment.
 
 
 
We've heard customers pain points in license management:
     *physically auditing the plant for count & location of installated Wonderware licenses
     *ensuring effective use and compliance monitoring of purchased licenses
     *building and maintaining home-grown license management systems
     *manually checking and retrieving relevant patches and updates
     *installation of patches and updates.
All these activities are time consuming, and resource intensive.  And draw you away from your core focus--using the software for productivity and operations gains.
 

Wonderware Training: Introduction to ArchestrA Toolkits

Introduction to ArchestrA Toolkits

An introductory training class for ArchestrA Toolkits is now being offered. Tool kits provide powerful extensibility to InTouch HMI and System Platform applications enabling developers to extend the capabilities of Wonderware products to meet specific system integration needs. Our Toolkits promote adherence to industry standards, provide additional customization and intellectual property protection, and enhance the ability to interface Wonderware products with other software and hardware.

Toolkits are utilized primarily by System Integrators, Original Equipment Manufacturers (OEMs), Value-Added Resellers (VARs), and software developers that require a relatively high level of programming sophistication.

Repost: What on Earth is Native Advertising?

http://blog.hubspot.com/blog/tabid/6307/bid/34272/what-on-earth-is-native-advertising-infographic?source=Blog_Email_[What%20on%20Earth%20Is%20Nat]

as we continue our quest for getting more attention out of our audiences, native advertising becomes an important concept.

Friday, March 15, 2013

Five Reasons Why You Should Help Your Frenemies

http://eblingroup.com/2013/03/five-reasons-to-help-your-frenemies.html


Good article which plays off of the Art of War: keeping your friends close, and your enemies closer!

Repost: Five Reasons Why You Should Help Your Frenemies

http://eblingroup.com/2013/03/five-reasons-to-help-your-frenemies.html

Taking the same strategy as the Art of War: keeping your friends close, and enemies closer.  But in this instance, it also means, collaborating for the better good, whether it's a contest, a market, or a technology.

Thursday, March 14, 2013

Cyber Security: Apple's Macs become more targeted as popularity and sales increase

Cyber Security: Apple's Macs become more targeted as popularity and sales increase

Invensys Hospitality Suite at AFPM: Be Sure to Join us!

Invensys Hospitality Suite at AFPM: Be Sure to Join us!

“The Future is Here, It is just Unevenly Distributed!”

“The Future is Here, It is just Unevenly Distributed!”
by Invensys Fellow, Tim Sowell

What Keeps You Up At Night?



How many times have you asked this question--to your peers, to important customers, during strategy meetings.  It is an effective way of cutting through the noise to uncover the essence of key care-abouts. 

I've been thinking about that from an industrial automation perspective.  The industry itself is nearing 45+ years, beginning with the development of the PLC (Programmable Logic Controller) back in the 70's.  Their key care-abouts at the time were to replace unstable and single purpose relays with a device that could multi-task different plant control functions, that could be programmed in a language that the plant electrician could understand, and could more effectively manage multitudes of control sensors.

Wednesday, March 13, 2013

Repost: Should the Government Rate Plants on Quality?

http://www.manufacturing-executive.com/message/3747?utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=email&utm_term=Article1_2&utm_campaign=Viewpoint_Feb13_2013&mkt_tok=3RkMMJWWfF9wsRokv67NZKXonjHpfsX57%2B8vXKSg38431UFwdcjKPmjr1YIAS8F0dvycMRAVFZl5nRhQFe2Ub5BV%2BPlUGEm7Vjw%3D

excellent thought-provoking article from Jeff Moad/The Manufacturing Leadership Summit.

What’s the Big Deal about Big Data?

Data is everywhere—lurking in our inboxes; languishing in our plant databases; and lingering in BI tools and analytics meant to provide insight, and intelligence to our everyday tasks.  Long ago I did an analysis of how many plant floor software applications a typical large manufacturing plant had—and it was well over 50.  This included legacy, custom, and commercial off-the-shelf applications for a variety of operations, from quality to production to maintenance.  That’s a lot of data hiding in a lot of applications. 

It’s logical to think that this data can be used for more than the sum of its parts—and that’s the foundation for products such as Enterprise Manufacturing Intelligence (EMI). EMI puts real-time and near-real time transactional or plant data into context or relationships with one another, allowing users to define Key Performance Indicators that can be measured (or quantified) and monitored.  Think of quality by shift, energy usage by plant.  But is there more? 

Tuesday, March 12, 2013

White Paper Sneak Preview: Processing Heavy and Extra Heavy Oils

White Paper Sneak Preview: Processing Heavy and Extra Heavy Oils

Manufacturing More Happily Meets ‘the Cloud’ | Automation World

Manufacturing More Happily Meets ‘the Cloud’ | Automation World

Invensys has actively been promoting the cloud for manufacturing and cloud-based industrial automation software solutions for over a year, starting with our Microsoft Azure development partnership.  Read Gary Mintchell/Automation World's thoughts.

Monday, March 11, 2013

Repost: Should You Stop Generating Leads When Sales is Wasting Them?

http://blog.hubspot.com/blog/tabid/6307/bid/34250/Should-You-Stop-Generating-Leads-When-Sales-Is-Wasting-Them.aspx

We as marketers all struggle with the dichotomy of leads versus follow up.  This article from blogspot effectively argues why we should continue with the practice of generating leads.

6 Mistakes that can sour a strategic plan

6 mistakes that can sour a strategic plan

Good advice on what to avoid when building out your vision document.

Thursday, March 7, 2013

The Plant Management Experience













A complimentary webinar series featuring guest speakers from leading brands in food, beverage, and CPG industries.


Join Invensys and its partners for a free, informative web series covering the issues that F&B/CPG manufacturers face today to meet compliance, regulation standards, along with brand protection & operational improvements such as increasing quality, throughput, yields, and uptime.


Carson City, Nevada, is a “Smart City” with the Help of Invensys

Carson City, Nevada, is a “Smart City” with the Help of Invensys

From Hydrocarbon Processing: Gas boom projected to grow for decades in US

From Hydrocarbon Processing: Gas boom projected to grow for decades in US

Wednesday, March 6, 2013

Help with Best Practices Is a Phone Call Away | Automation World

Help with Best Practices Is a Phone Call Away | Automation World

Invensys' Kim Custeau on workforce enablement, worker safety through the effective use of mobile devices--aka IntelaTrac.

Automation integration: Visualization Software on the Plant Floor

Automation integration: Visualization Software on the Plant Floor

Refinery Performance Webinar recordings now available for viewing

Refinery Performance Webinar recordings now available for viewing

Invensys Hospitality Suite at AFPM: Come Join Us!

Invensys Hospitality Suite at AFPM: Come Join Us!

Integrating your EAM for Competitive Advantage


By Kim Custeau, Director, Product Marketing, Asset Management and Mobility Solutions, Invensys Operations Management

Enterprise Asset Management (EAM) solutions are finally coming of age. Leading organizations worldwide view EAM as critical tools to gain and sustain competitive advantage.
 

What is EAM? EAM focuses on Asset Performance Management. EAM incorporates maintenance, repair and operations solutions bringing maintenance management, spares and inventory management and a complete procurement capability to users. An APM solution set helps customers to realize outstanding return from all their assets—people, processes and equipment, thereby enabling true Asset Excellence.

Tuesday, March 5, 2013

http://wateronline.epubxp.com/issue/110987/0

http://wateronline.epubxp.com/issue/110987/0
the top trends for water/wastewater in 2013...good reference for those of you in the industry.

NEW! MES 2012 - Quality Training

NEW! MES 2012 - Quality Training

Wonderware MES Software/Quality adds operational quality management capabilities to Wonderware MES Operations and Performance MES (Manufacturing Execution System) Software. It features operational quality management capabilities for quality sample data collection in work order execution context and SPC monitoring in production. The Quality capabilities can be deployed with or without Operations or Performance functionality of Wonderware MES Software, but offers an increased value when used in combination.

Training is now available for Wonderware MES/Quality.

 


Expanding from a Process/ Plant to Holistic Landscape will fuel the debate of “on premise vs off premise”!

Expanding from a Process/ Plant to Holistic Landscape will fuel the debate of “on premise vs off premise”!

Monday, March 4, 2013

5 Reasons Why Competition is Not Just Good, It’s Great for all of Us

Ever have a sales person come to you, panicked, that there’s a competitor in the wings waiting to steal your business? That should make you happy. Why?

Cyber Security Advisor Newsletter – Jan. 2013 Vol. 16

Cyber Security Advisor Newsletter – Jan. 2013 Vol. 16

Cyber Security: MIcrosoft latest victim in cyber attack

Important article to read by Doug Clifton, Invensys Director of Consulting.

Cyber Security: MIcrosoft latest victim in cyber attack

5 Important Ways of Mobile Business Intelligence for Retailers

Latest studies and research has developed that the retail industry is on for some major changes and modifications as the trend of mobile business is continuously penetrating the industry. The vibrant use of mobile business intelligence deployed by the companies for improving the quality of data makes sense for the analysis.

The most important point which the retailers need to keep in mind is that the deployment of the strategies of mobile BI is beneficial only if the actual potential of the applications and tools is realized. This happens when the tools are deployed in different situations of the business module that were yet to be touched by analytics of business intelligence. Only this can lead to a successful strategy of mobile business intelligence for retailers.

Let us consider 5 important ways of mobile business intelligence for retailers which can aid them in creating a successful business strategy.

  1. They need to implement solutions which can aid both mobile intelligence as well as enterprise business intelligence

  2. The deployments need to support varied platforms of mobiles, thus facilitating a shift in the operating system in the future

  3. You need to ensure that the BI solution does not need redesigning for maintaining varied rendering of reports

  4. Incorporate an alert facility on the devices for obtaining timely notifications

  5. Leverage all the benefits offered by mobile devices for optimum use of the BI solutions


Often we hear business experts stating that the reaching of the correct data at the correct time to the correct people is extremely vital for the success of any business. This also facilitates right decision making. The ease of use offered by the mobile smartphones and tablets has made information accessible in quick time. The retailers will be benefited with the adaptation of the business intelligence solutions by enabling their decision makers to operate from anywhere. This will also aid the performance, sales and planning of the organization as a whole.

Friday, March 1, 2013

What you don’t (but should) know about MESA International


MESA International is an organization dedicated to the promotion and development of driving improvements into the manufacturing industry.
From their website:
MESA (Manufacturing Enterprise Solutions Association) International is a global community of manufacturers, producers, industry leaders, and solution providers who are focused on driving business results from manufacturing information. MESA helps members formulate strategies to turn plant-floor data into valuable knowledge to be used throughout the enterprise.
  • We collect, share, and publish best practices to help drive greater productivity and the overall profitability of the manufacturing enterprise. Over 20 years of valuable information can be found in our Resource Library.
  • We educate manufacturing and service providing professionals through the MESA Global Education Program.  
  • MESA facilitates innovation and collaboration to enable the real-time enterprise and Plant to Enterprise (P2E) integration.
  • Members connect, contribute, cultivate understanding, and exchange strategies to drive business results and to help define the ever-evolving MESA Model.
  • Merger with the World Batch Forum (WBF) broadens our knowledge of ISA-95 related standards like B2MML, and ISA-88 related standards like BatchML.

America’s Aging Infrastructure

America’s Aging Infrastructure

reposted, by Lane Swensen, product marketing manager, solutions, Invensys Operations Management

Reflecting on IP/Ethernet

Reflecting on IP/Ethernet

reposted, by Chris Smith, Products Director at Invensys Operations Management where he contributes to product direction in the Control and Safety Portfolio