Things are looking up for Emerson Process Management—and for industry in general—if you judge by attendance at this year’s Emerson Global Users Exchange, held Sept. 27 to Oct. 1 in San Antonio: Nearly 2,300 people attended, up from last year’s 1,800. Emerson’s business is also up, said Steve Sonnenberg, executive vice president, Emerson, and business leader, Emerson Process Management, during his keynote address, and the worst of the recession seems to be in the past. The company increased R&D spending by 4% in 2009 and is increasing by a further 10% in 2010. It has also made several purchases over the past year or so, including the October 2009 acquisition of actuator maker EIM Controls. Emerson is continuing its push for more localization, adding service centers around the world—including the May opening of the $30 million Emerson Innovation Center - Fisher Technology in Marshalltown, IA.
What does it take to bring out a new product in the valve and actuator industry? Like so many questions the answer is: “It depends.” For a large and established company the process is fairly straightforward, but for a young company, or a startup, things can be tougher. We talked to the heads of two small companies for their takes on what it takes to bring out a new product and keep your company afloat at the same time.
Just about everyone is familiar with the term Operational Excellence (OpX), but what exactly is it and how can it be achieved? One straightforward definition comes from an article by Michelle Adkins, in Chemical Engineering for March 2 007, "Operational Excellence Begins Here:" "[O]perational excellence is a holistic approach to integrating operations management methodologies in order to optimize people, assets, and processes." There are OpX approaches to everything from process improvement to supply chain management, but we're going to talk about the use of information from all sources to make improve efficiency in process plants.
On September 28 more than 1,600 of Emerson Process Management’s customers, local business partners and company people gathered in Orlando for the company’s annual five-day Global Users Exchange. Attendance was down quite a bit from the previous year’s 2,500 plus, but considering the state of the economy it was still a decent turnout. As in past years the event featured an extensive papers program and a display of products from Emerson and its partners. In addition Emerson generally uses the Exchange as an opportunity to make important announcements, and this year was no exception.
