Branding, SPS/IPC-drives and ControlGlobal.com #pauto #mfg #manufacturing #sps12

I am attending the SPS/IPC-Drives exhibition in Nuremberg, Germany this week. It never ceases to amaze me (and every other American journalist attending) how huge this exhibit is, and how crowded. Very much unlike the US scene where salesmen can roll bowling balls down the aisles with no fear of hitting a customer. This exhibition started out as a PLC and drives exhibit, for OEM and machine automation, so there are many exhibitors that specialize in factory automation. But there are also many process automation exhibitors as well, including ABB, Rockwell Automation, Iconics and others.

One of the things I've noticed is that I am not as recognized as the chief editor of Control magazine as I am as the chief editor of www.controlglobal.com. In the years since Keith Larson and I renamed our website from www.controlmag.com to ControlGlobal, we've built up a tremendous brand value internationally in the ControlGlobal.com brand. We don't see it this much in the North American market, where we distribute our magazine on paper. 

I spent yesterday with the Siemens folks, and I tweeted some of their important announcements. Later today, I am going to write another blog post about what they're doing and what I learned.

Today and tomorrow are "visit everybody else I can" days. 

Walt Boyes is the editor-in-chief for Control. Email him at [email protected] or check out his Google+ profile.