Just as we all tend to have preferences for certain products in the consumer world, all end users have their biases toward certain automation brands. In the world of automation, considering that most technologies are installed with the goal of having them operate for years or even decades, brand loyalties can become very entrenched. Then again, so can brand resentments. That’s why an open-ended reader survey, such as that associated with Automation World’s Leadership in Automation program, can serve as a useful snapshot of current reader preference for certain suppliers in very specific technology categories.
As you would expect with any such survey, the major automation suppliers play a dominant role in most of the categories. This is hardly surprising considering their breadth of product offerings, decades of experience supplying the industry, and ever-increasing services programs. Despite this, many smaller suppliers received enough write-in votes to qualify for First Team honors.
The fact that Leadership in Automation First Team Honorees—be they large or small companies—receive their recognition from a write-in survey is significant, because it demonstrates that respondents were in no way swayed by a list of names on the voting form.
With all the shifts in the automation technology space over the past several years, as well as those we anticipate in the coming years, we hope our annual list of First Team Honorees helps you assess suppliers based on the recommendation of your peers.
To return the favor and keep the program relevant, we encourage you to participate in the ongoing Leadership in Automation program to let us know who your preferred suppliers are today, as well as how your preferences may be changing in the years to come. The online survey for 2014 will be opening up again soon at www.automationworld.com/leadership. Stay tuned for voting to open (we’ll be sending out reminders later in the year), so that you can vote for your favorite supplier in each relevant category. Your input will be greatly appreciated by your peers as they go about making their supplier decisions.
2013 First Team Honorees:
Advanced Process Control
Invensys Operations Management
Rockwell Automation
Alarm Management Software
Invensys Operations Management
Analytic Instruments
Asset Management/Optimization Software
Invensys Operations Management
Batch Process
Invensys Operations Management
Connectivity Components
Continuous Process
Invensys Operations Management
Control Valves
Data Acquisition Hardware
Discrete Sensing
Enclosures
Energy Management Software
Invensys Operations Management
Flow Measurement
HMI Hardware
Mitsubishi Electric Automation
HMI Mobile
HMI Software
Invensys Operations Management
Hydraulic Motion
Industrial PCs
Advantech Industrial Automation Group
Information Management
Invensys Operations Management
Level Measurement
Loop Tuning Software
Machine Controllers
Machine Safety Controllers
Machine Vision
Manufacturing Execution Software
Invensys Operations Management
Motion Control Drives
Motion Control Systems
Mitsubishi Electric Automation
Motors – AC/DC
Motors – Servos
Networking Components – Ethernet
Networking Components – Wired
Networking Components – Wireless
Pneumatic Motion
Power Conditioning & Protection
Pressure Sensors & Transmitters
Process Safety
Invensys Operations Management
Programmable Automation Controllers
Programmable Logic Controllers
Robotics
Mitsubishi Electric Automation
SCADA
Invensys Operations Management
Simulation Software
Invensys Operations Management
Standard Control Products
Temperature Sensors & Transmitters
Variable-Frequency Drives
Wireless Sensor Network Components
