Some Comments on AutomationXchange

Aug. 24, 2005
Walt, I've got a couple of comments from the blog. If any of this comes off sounding harsh, keep in mind I have great respect for you and your staff. One of Jim's six points for ISA: "5.Acquire ownership in several international subsidiaries in global growth areas. Again, duh. You can't be a global society if all the employees are located in RTP. Every major automation vendor company, and every multinational process manufacturing company has already figured that out. Why hasn't ISA figured ...
Walt, I've got a couple of comments from the blog. If any of this comes off sounding harsh, keep in mind I have great respect for you and your staff. One of Jim's six points for ISA: "5.Acquire ownership in several international subsidiaries in global growth areas. Again, duh. You can't be a global society if all the employees are located in RTP. Every major automation vendor company, and every multinational process manufacturing company has already figured that out. Why hasn't ISA figured this out already, I ask you?" This applies to controlGLOBAL as well. It is not GLOBAL if the only big event is in Park City, Utah. Keep working on the Chinese and Indian contacts, and give them a prominent voice. Try to find out how process industries make stuff there, and let your readers know. This is where the world produces goods. Also, in your commentary about Lou Pillai, I'm surprised that the lack of new drugs being developed or in the pipeline wasn't in the list of concerns. I suspect that the number of new drug introductions for 2004/2005 will be about the same as it was 10 years ago, despite the growth in population, and specifically the growth in an aging population. Humans have infected the earth, and I'm quite certain that nature is going to fight back. I'd be inclined to dump my budget into R&D, rather than incremental improvements in manufacturing (like PAT). Of course, if you're a generic manufacturer, you might as well invest in PAT since research isn't on the agenda. Also keep in mind that for research based pharmaceutical companies, the first to market wins. Once a drug is prescribed that works for a particular indication, it is extremely difficult to convince somebody to change drugs, no matter what the cost. If you're trying to be first to market, why would you add additional complexity to the manufacturing process (PAT) when it could cost you market share by delaying product introduction? - Mark Wells