Managing Automation - September 2008 - (Page 11)

revenue for the quarter, with revenue from automation products growing 28%. Emerson Electric, likewise, saw sales, calculated in constant currencies, rise 16% in Asia, 15% in the Middle East, and 16% in Latin America during its third quarter, ended June 30. Constant currency sales, meanwhile, were up just 4% in the United States and 3% in Europe. “All of the big automation companies are seeing incredibly strong growth, particularly outside of the U.S. as developing countries rush to get their infrastructures and supply chains up and running,” said Alison Smith, an analyst at AMR Research. “At some point, this growth is likely to level off, but probably not for another five years or so.” Enterprise software vendors, meanwhile, took a somewhat different path to defying the economic slowdown, benefiting from acquisitions as well as strong growth in developing markets. During its fourth fiscal quarter, ended March 31, for example, Oracle reported a 24% rise in overall revenue, aided by strongerthan-expected revenue of $93 million from its acquisition of BEA Systems. But Oracle also saw sales of its applications software products rebound during the quarter, with the erstwhile slumping Americas region participating in the growth. New license revenue from applications grew 33% in the Americas, 41% in Europe/Middle East/Africa, and 37% in Asia. Oracle rival SAP AG also saw strong growth during its most recent quarter, ended June 30, with software revenue jumping 25% and software and software-related service revenue increasing 21%. Mid-market applications vendors posted respectable or better revenue increases. Epicor Software Corp., for example, had a 21% rise in revenue despite lower-than-expected sales in its retail vertical, which were attributed to “macroeconomic conditions.” And Lawson Software Inc. reported a 9% rise in overall revenue, led by a 14% increase in maintenance receipts. Enterprise software vendors relied less on surging sales from emerging economy regions than on a return by more traditional customers to a buying mode, however cautious. “A lot of manufacturing companies are involved in a replacement cycle, replacing systems they bought almost a decade ago during the run-up to Y2K,” said Ray Wang, an analyst at Forrester Research. “They have the budget to do this, but they’re not doing it in a big-bang fashion. They are taking a more phased approach.” At the same time, Wang said, many manufacturers are investing in new order management systems as they take on more distribution and customer-facing business processes. Despite their ability so far to defy the economic downturn, public automation and enterprise software vendors aren’t out of the woods yet, Wang says. Most manufacturers are still using 2008 budgets for their software purchases, he noted. “We haven’t really gotten into the 2009 budget cycle yet. It will be important to see if tech purchases continue to get funded.” Indeed, many vendors are approaching upcoming fiscal quarters with caution. Rockwell, for example, despite its surprisingly good third quarter, is taking steps to cut costs by holding headcount steady and reducing travel. The reason: In the current climate of economic uncertainty, customers could well cut back on spending. “Given what’s going on with the macroeconomic environment, prudent businesspeople have to be looking at the options they [have] to protect the profitability of the business,” Rockwell’s Nosbusch told Managing Automation recently. Scan I Back inMA MA SEPTEMBER 2007 n the fast-paced manufacturing technology arena, keeping pace with new developments can be a challenge. To help manufacturers forge pathways through the chaos, MA profiled 10 up-and-coming companies that offered standout innovation in their fields. The third annual “Companies to Watch” feature included companies working in areas such as enterprise software, wireless and RFID products, and software for decision support and demand management. MA SEPTEMBER 2003 inally, plant-to-enterprise integration was becoming feasible. Open standards were enabling automation vendors to offer new architectures to unify control and enterprise systems. Though skeptics thought the cultural divide between IT teams and the control engineers who managed plant operations was too wide, others were willing to make the leap. Alcoa Inc., for example, formed a consolidated group to manage the lengthy process of integrating IT operations and process control systems. F NEW E2OPEN CHIEF OUTLINES PLAN TO ACCELERATE GROWTH our weeks after taking over as the new CEO of E2open Inc., Mark Woodward, in an interview with Managing Automation, said he plans to tighten the company’s vertical industry focus, standardize its product offerings, and double the sales force, all with the intent of accelerating growth. “We’re here to take the company to the next level,” said Woodward, who recently replaced Greg Clark as CEO. “The company has built a tremendous customer base and done extremely well, but a lot of it has been through word of mouth. It’s time to get more aggressive in terms of taking our message out to the market.” Woodward, who ran software development tools provider Serena SoftMark Woodward ware as both a public and private company before joining E2open, said he will also attempt to grow E2open so that it is positioned for a public stock offering if and when markets become receptive. Woodward’s appointment by E2open’s board was just one of the recent top-level changes at the company, a provider of on-demand, multienterprise supply chain management applications. Before naming Woodward CEO, E2open F M A S E P T E M B E R 19 9 8 M anufacturing companies were using the Internet and Web technologies in their factories, especially for equipment monitoring and maintenance. The next wave would be to use those technologies to access data from remote locations, adjust to changes in demand and competition, and be more responsive to customers. Although some companies were slow to adopt these advances, the push from the vendor community would make the move inevitable. M A S E P T E M B E R 19 9 3 N ew approaches to process control were overtaking the old methods of a supervisory system that monitored and controlled an array of simple devices separate from higher-level systems for planning and scheduling. As the differences between hardware categories and information levels blurred, vendors were capitalizing on new possibilities by integrating control systems and manufacturing execution systems to empower manufacturing employees to make decisions that improve efficiency and reduce waste. 11 September 2008

Table of Contents Feed for the Digital Edition of Managing Automation - September 2008

Managing Automation - September 2008 Contents Take 1 Letters Tech Vendors Defy Economic Slump by Plugging into Developing World Growth New E2open Chief Outlines Plan to Accelerate Growth Is This Marketing as It Used to Be or Something New? The OMAC Group Attempts to Widen Its Influence Automation Federation Names Chief, Plots Growth Notes Cover story: The Innovation Gap Special Report: Meet the Progressive Manufacturing High Achievers Progressive Manufacturer of the Year Business Model Mastery Innovation Mastery Customer Mastery Supply Network Mastery Data & Integration Mastery Education & Training Mastery Leadership Mastery Operational Excellence Mastery Special Report: Catching the Wireless Wave Part 1: No Clear Infrastructure Winner Part 2: Wireless Apps Take Wing Part 3: The Human Side of Wireless Product Scan Advertiser Index Next

Managing Automation - September 2008

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