"Things are pretty bad," Seixas says, "because there are no standards. So we build global templates for our customers. Accenture applies a combination of Lean/Six Sigma and Process optimization to troubleshoot processes and find Quick Wins opportunities."

Last post of the day -- for your late evening reading -- don't miss these stories on

The following figure came courtesy of Larry O’Brien at Automation Research Corporation and demonstrates how an investment in automation and control systems during the capital phase of a project can have a disproportionate impact (at least 5 times greater) on the profitability of a facility during its operating life.

Wireless Ethernet: Ready for Industrial PrimetimeWireless can today lay claim to perhaps the fastest uptake of any “new” instrumentation technology in the industrial marketplace. Wireless Ethernet, broadly encompassing standard and proprietary variants of 802.11 and 802.15.4 wireless protocols, are being successfully deployed to solve a broad and growing range of...

ARC Advisory Group guru, Bob Mick, has posted this piece on the relationship between testing and cybersecurity.

Yes, Virginia, there is life after Emerson Exchange. ARC Advisory Group is ramping up for a three-fer come next February--in Orlando. (Where else?)

From the indefatigable Laura Patrick-- ABB systems group's fantastic one woman publicity department:

This just in from our friends at ARC. While Wurldtech may be getting its ducks in a row to lead on cybersecurity for the smart grid, that could be an overnight success several years in the making.

A new ARC study by Larry O'Brien, my co-author on the Control/ARC Automation Top 50 every December, shows that the DCS business continues despite the recession for some very good reasons, and the automation companies are finding salvation in the services business.

In sharp counterpoint to the news over the past days that many stock analysts are downgrading ROK stock because of slow demand, ARC has published a new report indicating that the PLC market isn't as dead as thought.