Top 50 Automation Companies of 2003

By Walt Boyes, Editor in Chief

Every Year we research the business of process automation, and we produce the exclusive rankings you see here. However, the "we" in that first sentence, is not the royal, editorial "we." Each year, CONTROL convenes a distinguished panel, composed of industry experts from both government and the private sector (see sidebar). Between us, we have a couple of person-centuries of experience in the process automation industry. We use that experience to help us list and rank the 50 largest process automation companies in North America.

Do you know who today's Top 50 Automation Companies are? Find out.

The list is as good as the information we receive and the conclusions our panel draws from it. There are some companies that should probably be on the list but aren't. More often than not, the reason certain companies do not appear on the list is simple: they declined to supply enough data to allow us to rank them. Omega Engineering, for example, is probably the largest such omission and might rank fairly high if only they would supply us with the required data. We may also miss one or two once in a while, and we deeply appreciate those of you who bring those omissions to our attention.

We're Rockin' Now
2004 has seen a considerable increase in the health of the vendor community. A couple of years ago ABB was on the edge of bankruptcy. Honeywell, once reeling from the effects of acquisitions and mergers, and Invensys, plagued with top management woes and staffed by dedicated people interested in business as usual, have all surmounted their problems and returned to providing new products and innovative solutions to the process community. Emerson chugs along, getting bigger and providing more services every year. GE has reorganized itself, Schneider has decided to revitalize itself, and Siemens Energy & Automation is making a very well-publicized try at the North American market (remember the train?). Rockwell has reinvented itself, too, and posted double-digit sales increases. Cash-rich Danaher expects to continue making acquisitions, and has over $4 billion with which to make acquisitions with, according to a recent announcement by the company's CFO.

One measure of this activity is the amount of training and applications assistance that the major vendors are supplying to their customers. In the short period from mid-October to the first week in November, more end users and system integrators attend major vendor user group meetings (Invensys User Group, Emerson Exchange, and Rockwell's Automation Fair) than ISA 2004, held just a few weeks prior.

Hit Makers and Cover Bands
The increasingly high performance of the majors, however, is a relatively small part of the story. Note that once again, the gap between the top tier (Emerson, Invensys, Honeywell, ABB, Danaher, Siemens, Schneider, Rockwell and GE) and the second tier (beginning with Spectris and ThermoElectron) is huge. The gap between Emerson and Racine Federated, number 50 on the list is even more telling. It is tempting to suggest that this indicates further consolidation, but we believe it is a harbinger of something much more interesting.

The business of process automation has always been fragmented. At the bottom, it is an inventor-driven business, and new companies are continually being created to produce the latest technological "hits." Aurel Systems, and CiDRA Corporation, among others, come to mind. Other companies are formed to cover past hits for old fans and keep the "oldies but goodies" alive, like MicroMod Instrumentation.

The Advisory Board is working to ensure that the data for the CONTROL Top 50 gets better every year.

The CONTROL Top 50

CONTROL Top 50 Advisory Board

Terry McMahon, McMahon Technology Associates
Steve Walton, Walton Associates
Cynthia Esher, President, Measurement, Control & Automation Association
Walt Boyes, Editor in Chief, CONTROL, ControlGlobal.com, DigitalField Insider, SecureSystems Insider, AlarmManagement Insider, OPC Insider
Wil Chin, Research Director – Field Systems, ARC Advisory Group
Larry O’Brien, Research Director, ARC Advisory Group
Indrek Grabbi, International Trade Specialist, U.S. Dept of Commerce
Ken Lacy, Partner, Acquest International LP