As always, lots of people and lots of energy. Registered attendance this year is about 3,000. I stopped by several of the Industry Forums in the afternoon and there were overflow crowds at the Refining, Oil & Gas and Life Sciences ones. Don't know about the others. But I stayed in the Refining forum for 30-40 minutes and enjoyed the "exchange" between panelists and speakers.
Steve Sonnenberg frankly addressed the company's supply chain problems following last year's floods in Thailand. He said the company undertook a thorough risk management review searching for every aspect of the company and supply chain to mitigate those risks.
Trusted advisor
Definitely one theme of the conference is services. Emerson has added more than 3,000 employees in the past year--many in project management, application engineering and other technical roles. Expansion of service centers globally has been torrid. Emerson has striven to become the trusted advisor for its customers often taking on the role of Main Automation Contractor for both new projects and for turnarounds.
Chief Strategic Officer Peter Zornio followed with a description of the many new products unveiled at the show. Even for one who can talk rapidly if necessary, Zornio couldn't fit them into his allotted time. Chief among the products was the introduction of safety integrated systems into the new CHARMs architecture.
There is additional information, and it will be flowing all week, at this Emerson Exchange site. Our team is doing the "show daily" for the event and posting a lot of stuff there. More later.
