From the "Whew, glad that's over" department...

I got through my keynote speech this morning with no problems, didn't run long, remembered how to say "Good Morning" in six languages, and stirred up some controversy. All in all, a good day, and it isn't yet noon. Big meeting... Where to start...this has been a very long couple of days. First of all, if you missed it, I am at the Honeywell User Group meeting in Seville, Spain. They have a very respectable crowd here-- approximately 400-odd end users, plus a bunchaton of Honeywellers from all over EMEA. Honeywell does HUG meetings around the world, where, for example, Emerson does one large "global" meeting. The two business models work well, and Honeywell is proving that, while significantly more expensive, the multiple location strategy doesn't bring down the quality of the conference. As we become more global as an industry, expect other companies to follow suit. New VP of Marketing Some of you may know that Harry Sim, Honeywell PCS' VP of Marketing left the company a couple of months ago to pursue a sweetheart job (I hate you Harry...I'd have jumped at that job) as the President of a Cypress Semiconductor spinoff... Now I was pleased...very pleased in fact, to meet Harry's successor, Harsh Chitale, the new Vice President of Strategy and Global Marketing for HPS. Harsh is a Tata Honeyweller, and was the manager of Honeywell's Indian business for quite some time. Harsh is a long-time automation veteran and he doesn't have to be told much about how we do things and why...he's been there and done that. What a wonderful opportunity for Honeywell to have strategy and marketing led by a long time employee. I am also pleased to see that they hired a non-North American or European for the position, something I think is significant too. The only other major automation company which has major executive leadership from outside the original First World is ABB, whose leader is Dinesh Paliwal. It appears that Harsh and I agree on many things, which is something that I consider a good thing. (Well, d'oh, of course I'd consider it a good thing...but you know, as I talk to more and more senior officials in every automation supplier company, large and small, I find that we all agree on a lot more things than we disagree about.) Good luck to him as he takes the reins of global strategy and marketing for Honeywell.