A large segment of worldwide manufacturing jobs are being replaced with automation. What’s left of conventional manufacturing labor is migrating away from the United States. We need new workplace paradigms.

 I’m writing this while on a trip to Phoenix to attend the Honeywell Users Group Symposium. It’s interesting, because Honeywell Process Solutions is often portrayed as the main antagonist to Emerson Process Management in the ISA100 wireless networking standard development process. 

  Fifteen years ago, I was a packaging industry neophyte.

  Over the last several years, growing cyber threats coupled with the ongoing discovery of new vulnerabilities has demanded a lot of attention within the manufacturing community.

 Manufacturing companies are facing many new challenges today to become more flexible and agile as business models change.

  The German philosopher and poet Goethe said:Concerning all acts of initiative and creation there is one elementary truth, the ignorance of which kills countless ideas and splendid plans: That the moment one definitely commits oneself, then Providence moves, too. All sorts of things occur to help one that would otherwise never have occurred. A whole stream of events issues from the decision, raising in one’s favor all manner of unforeseen incidents and meetings and material assistance, which no man could have dreamt would have come his way. Whatever you can do, or dream you can, begin it. Boldness has genius, power and magic in it.

 When I decided to launch a new magazine in 2003, it was during a downturn in the economy, and people suggested that I was crazy to try this.

  Products in the automation industry have traditionally been sold with “cost-based” pricing—selling price is based on manufactured cost, with target gross and net profit margin multipliers.

 Machine safety in the traditional sense refers to add-on electrical and mechanical components that protect personnel from injury or death while working in or near industrial machinery.

  A select group of industrial equipment companies are executing a formula for success that peers may want to take note of, if they plan to remain competitive in the emerging global market.

 Paul was a conscientious employee. He would do a little extra and try to save the company money.

  Somewhere between enterprise resource planning (ERP) and supervisory control and data acquisition (SCADA) you will find the manufacturing execution systems (MES) layer.

 New and less-expensive technologies for electric-power measurement using wireless mesh networks should be on the market in the near future.

  Research shows that globally integrated operating models are the key to value creation and high performance in the industrial equipment industry.

  In the past, corporate environmental plansvwere mostly cost burdens relating to regulatory compliance, with perhaps a touch of the public relations image of being socially responsible. In the past few years, this has changed dramatically—“green” is becoming a business profit opportunity.

  This month, we are covering two issues very important for the profitability of manufacturing companies—and that have potentially far-reaching consequences.

 Future robot systems cannot be a mere extrapolation of today’s technology, but should generate whole new application arenas.

 When we started Automation World, my mantra was that we covered intelligent use of automation. Our marketing people devised the tag line “intelligence for the business of automation.” When I was meditating on the technology trends in automation along with this month’s theme, it struck me as interesting that intelligence was the recurring theme.

  “There are only two problems in life,” says productivity guru David Allen, in a white paper titled “Make It Up and Make It Happen” (found at www.davidco.com). So, what are the two problems?

 Pricing for profit may seem to be elusive, but it’s plainly within reach—and well worth the effort in the interest of gaining a competitive advantage.