Berra speaks!

Sept. 10, 2007
Now for John Berra: Another important part of the exchange is friendship, Berra said. The job of being an automation professional is a terrific one, and we want to help you bring to your companies great value. I don't know about you, but I think I have my boss right where I want him. He understands our business. For the last few years we've been clipping along at about 15% a year. We're going to do it again this year, thanks to you users, not just in projects ...
Now for John Berra: Another important part of the exchange is friendship, Berra said.The job of being an automation professional is a terrific one, and we want to help you bring to your companies great value.I don't know about you, but I think I have my boss right where I want him. He understands our business.For the last few years we've been clipping along at about 15% a year. We're going to do it again this year, thanks to you users, not just in projects but also in the day to day sales. Since 2003 we've grown $2 billion in sales.We have used that growth to invest. First, we've hired 1300 new employees in the past year. We have also invested in acquisitions (Bristol, Damcos, DMI). Next, we've invested in technology at double-digit rates. This is our lifeblood, and this Exchange is where we find our rudder to steer with.We invest across the board. We've made investments in valves because good control depends on good control valves. We invest in a balanced way across all our companies.Now I want to talk about wireless.We began shipping products in December. -'ve brought 7 customers who are using wireless sensors to do things that were either impossible or uneconomical before.PPG- Lake Charles: temperature profiling of plant steam headers, redundant level measurement, vibration sensing. Multidiscipline team guiding adoption of wireless. Smart Wireless network coexists with other networks.Wheeling-Pittsburgh: coilng water flow and grease system health in Hot Strip mill--reducing unscheduled downtime.Lime kiln midzone temperature monitoring impssible with wires. Improved operation by 5%.CRODA: application--temperature monitoring of chemical in moving railcars. "The incalculable savings were in safety."Milford Power: first savings were $75,000 in reduced wiring costs for remote pumping and circulation system for freeze protection.Major refinery; plugged filter detection on coker unit pumps-- replaced pneumatic sensors or no sensors at all.Major life sciences facility: all built on skids for flexible deployment, with wireless instrumentation...100% reliability through 12" walls.WirelessHART standard released-- it works. It is backward compatible with all HART instruments in the field. Now we can unlock those trapped diagnostics in your installed user base. It is about making wireless simple, reliable and secure.We have to create business results, and wireless can do that.I used to say that the automation professional is the unsung hero of manufacturing. You need to know every phase of engineering, just to do your job. I sense a change in the way we are appreciated. We were engineers before engineers were cool.