Growth & Success eNewsletter May 30, 2000

May 30, 2000
JimPinto.com - Connections for Growth & Success™

Here is the third in the series of email newsletters to which you have subscribed. I hope you will enjoy it, and give me some feedback to help make it better.

Feedback - will Rockwell be Acquired?

After reading my comments on the Rockwell & Omron alliance (eNews May 10, '00) Joe Jansen of Gehls Guernsey Farms, Germantown, WI. wrote :

"Can Rockwell avoid being acquired? What would it take? I worked for A-B for a year (I live in a Milwaukee suburb) and felt that the Rockwell management structure was top-heavy. Would paring down help them any? If acquired, what would be gained by the purchaser?"

Here is my response to Joe :

I have NO "inside" information. Just my own data points. At $ 7b sales ($ 7.7b market-cap, down from $11b), Rockwell has shown no growth, and their stock is stuck at $ 38.00-42.00 with no signs of going anywhere. (I bought ROK at $38.00). <> My guess regarding who will merge/buy Rockwell : The only ones big enough are Danaher, Emerson, Invensys, Siemens, ABB. But hey, who knows? There may be some enlightened Ted Turner or Warren Buffet out there who is lusting for leadership in industrial automation.....

To review the "famous list" of top industrial automation companies, see my recent article
The Urge to Merge

Joe continues :

"Obviously the PLC's are a huge part, but what about the other components with the AB logo?"

My response :

Rockwell Automation (Allen-Bradley, Reliance) is the most valuable company ($ 4.5b sales) in the group, with a significant market-position. The current top management (Don Davis et al) is from A-B and is trying to grow with the industrial automation focus.

Rockwell got OUT of other non-related businesses, but still has Rockwell Collins - $ 2.4b sales (previously Collins Radio) which makes commercial avionics and military electronics systems. What happens to these other businesses depends on the acquirer or merger partner. They may simply divest.

Take a look at my July '99 article
(already ancient by today's standards, but still valid)
Who will buy Rockwell & Allen-Bradley ?

Employee-owned United will buy USAir

Remember when United Airlines was undergoing hard times and it became employee-owned? Well, look what employee-ownership has done for UAL (the parent). Now, the proposed $11.6 billion merger between United Airlines and US Airways will create the first truly global airline.

Get the latest news and analysis on the merger in this news release from UAL

Ethernet in Control

Into the ongoing ‘fieldbus wars’ enters an unlikely contestant. Ethernet, already wired into most manufacturing plants for information networking, is now used to connect controllers with remote I/O modules as a fieldbus.

Take a look at this excellent article
by Gary Mintchell
of Control Engineering

Majority of Americans oppose Microsoft breakup

The Justice Department remains steadfast in its belief that Microsoft should be broken up, rejecting lesser penalties as being “neither serious nor sensible” ways to remedy a pattern of illegal, anticompetitive behavior. What will Microsoft and the Justice Department do now that proceedings have ended?

Click here to see the SUN story from ZDNET

Or here, to take at look at an interesting Washington Post analysis

Poem: The Legal Mugging of Microsoft Read my poem
- written Nov. '99 and published worldwide
The Legal Mugging of Microsoft

Manufacturing in the Year 2020

Have you read it yet? Dick Morley's book - The Techanology Machine Dick Morley is the inventor of the Programmable logic controller (PLC), now housed in the Smithsonian Institute. Dick is founder or co-founder of more than 10 companies including Modicon and Andover Controls. Moody (the co-author) & Morley supply simple guidelines for future growth and detail their vision for future systems, leaders and workers. Lots of predictions & progonostications, with Morley mind-stretch.

Click, to take a look at Morley's book and my HOTLIST

ARC'S new web content & marketing service

This new service from Automation Research is designed to help suppliers evolve their "brochure-ware" sites into powerful permission-marketing tools that encourage prospects to register. It also helps suppliers face the challenge of adding value to their Websites by providing quality content and information that encourages customers to make return visits. The service includes analysis and advice on existing websites, content provision, daily news, columns by leading analysts, and Web casts with top ARC analysts.

To find out more about this valuable service,
visit the ARC website

Show me the eMoney!

You get a lot of mail these days. So, do you need more? How much of it is junk mail? And how much of it is valuable? The same rules apply to email - do you need more email? And, how much of it is "spam" (the word coined for unsolicited and unwanted email broadcasts) ?

The key is Value. I, personally, have indeed found some excellent buys and new restaurants and new holiday locations on the few occasions when I have shuffled through my junk snail-mail. On the other hand, when I'm busy, it simply gets junked. But, I always keep an eye open for the items that have yielded Value in the past. Email is just like that! If it doesn't provide value, then you shouldn't bother with it - deleting with a click is a lot easier than carrying out the garbage.....

Look for the Value of this regular eNews : tips, suggestions, ideas, news, referrals, names, relationships. Scan the headings quickly - read the items that help. Cut-and-paste the hotlinks into your browser and bookmark the good ones, clip the emails into your address book, or telephone numbers into your PDA. These are tips and tools that I work hard to make meaningful for YOU. And this regular email is my investment in a relationship with you.

Hey! I won't guarantee that every email is gold! But, I do try hard to provide the Value that YOU need! And, comments and feedback are always appreciated.....

eSpeak to me !

The JimPinto.com website is almost completely hooked up. Take a look, browse around - I'll appreciate your feedback.

If you have comments or suggestions for Growth & Success News, please contact me at jim@JimPinto.com. I'd like to e-hear from you.

And please send your tips and alerts - or air your news, views and stews.

Someone suggested that, to protect my position as "Poet Laureate of Industrial Automation" I should include a regular poem with eNews. What do YOU think? eSpeak to me!