OpsManage'10 Reflects New Direction For Process Business

Oct. 21, 2010
Don Clark, vice president of Global Process Industry Solutions for Invensys Operations Management, talked on Thursday with Gary Mintchell, editor in chief of the OpsManage'10 Show Daily, to recap the week.
Clark started with a recap of the journey that led to OpsManage'10—the first conference including the entire scope of the newly re-formed company. We are transitioning from a products business based on processing, and incorporating that into the business management of process. Exhibit A is the merger of the business into a common business now renamed Invensys Operations Management. We are broadening our vision, much like the ISA95 definitions that incorporate business as well as process definitions. The operations person who runs the plant is responsible not only for making a product, that is, the conversion of raw materials to create finished products, but also for the business of making products," said Clark.It's not just making products. It is also important to help customers use them to make a profit. "I had an epiphany when I was a young engineer," Clark said. "I discovered that companies don't exist to provide jobs for process engineers. Companies exist to create a product that they can sell at a profit. There are solutions at the process level from a number of suppliers. And there are solutions at the business level from a number of suppliers. But the manufacturing guy is caught in the middle. He is given expectations, but doesn't have a "name-on-the-tip-of-the-tongue" solution for evaluating the real-time profitability of the process.“This show is the first reflection of us emerging from our previous businesses into the new business that meet these new needs," Clark continued. “Industry tracks were well attended. Users saw more about how we met a business challenge, in addition to a process-control challenge. So this show was a good reflection of the direction."

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