Weblog - Invensys (archive)Invensys archives - December 31, 2011 and previous
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Invensys in decline - read the original article. Invensys was formed by Allen Yurko, after UK-based Siebe merged with BTR. Siebe had previously acquired Foxboro, Wonderware, Eurotherm and several others. When growth eluded Yurko, he merged Siebe with BTR, another UK hodge-podge, and changed the name to Invensys. With further decline, Yurko bought BAAN, a bankrupt Dutch software company. Invensys continued a downward spiral. Allen Yurko was booted out and Rick Haythornthwaite was brought in as CEO in October 2001. Haythornthwaite could not halt the slide and sold off the best parts of Invensys to raise money. In June 2005, Haythornthwaite exited, leaving Invensys in the care of hired-gun Ulf Henriksson, who joined as COO in April 2004 from Eaton, with a "golden hello" worth more than £2m in cash and shares. Invensys seemingly continues towards an eventual break-up and piecemeal sale. |
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Weblog Comments - InvensysWeblog comments will include date of submission, most recent first.Saturday, December 31, 2011 Under the false pretense of strategic leadership, Sudipta basically destroyed the culture of IOM and also its ability to grow as a business. He brought in very incompetent friends and business contacts to run key parts of the IOM organization. Most of these guys have managed IT services organizations in Indian companies. They have no idea about how to run US or global organizations. They all know how to talk big. Fortunately, we still have a very smart workforce (although not motivated at this time) in IOM and we can still turn the corner. Mike Caliel is not new to IOM but people still remember his failed bid of 1-by-6 initiative. Current, the people who are most thrilled with this appointment are from the Foxboro office. They think that Mike will solve all their problems and bring back Foxboro into the focus more than the West Coast brands. Mike probably has 12 to 18 months to turn around IOM from a very sluggish and dying organization to a fast moving and growing organization. If Mike fails in his effort, he will also be out. But it is worth giving him a chance and supporting his strategy to see if he can make IOM a growing business again. IOM R&D is in a bad shape. VP of development is focused on some useless initiatives (he claims he mastered them in his previous jobs in India). The organization is now heavy on processes and key developers are focusing on analyzing useless data for improving the performance rather than focusing on the product development. The previous VP of R&D Operations left leaving a complete mess and the newly appointed VP of R&D Operations is from the Outsourcing Office. He couldn't figure out how to work with Cognizant so that we can get the value out of the large amount of money we are paying them every year. The other organizations are also in the similar shape. LOB structure is confusing and the responsibilities are unclear. Nuclear projects are generating negative cash flow. This requires Mike to clean house as soon as possible. If he doesn't make sizable changes relatively quickly, he will suffer the same destiny as Sudipta. Let us wish Mike a good luck and support his strategy and initiatives. Friday, December 30, 2011 New leader of IOM: Two things stick in my mind as the announcement was made. First, this guy abandoned Invensys once - his choice, and obviously his new company didn't see great long term loyalty. Secondly, he is the architect of Infusion - in my opinion the turning point that destroyed individual brand equity. I hope the BOD know what they have done and that he needs to be surrounded with people that know customers from the outside. My bet is this latest play will not succeed. Friday, December 30, 2011 Crossfield is a bad joke. He prances around with a high and mighty manner, surrounding himself with cronies with no experience or feel for the business. He has no strategy, despite the pathetic tough guy image. All he wants is Riddet's job; it is so embarassingly obvious. He has gone too far stripping costs out of IRNE. We are losing our critical mass and regressing to what we were 10 years ago - a legacy supplier to UK mainline railways. This is a shrinking market - at some point in 6/7 years there will be no mainline to re-signal, it will all be finished. The ETCS and modular schemes beyond this date have much less capital cost. By losing the LU work, having no real export opportunities and moving R+D control to Madrid, IRNE is a shrinking business. All for the personal ambition of Mr Nicholas Crossfield. Shameful, and for those who say 'get out', you forget that people like me have more than 20 years of our lives invested here. Friday, December 30, 2011 - Re: "So what if Invensys is sold? We all still come to work": I can't work out if you are being sarcastic or are simply deluded. If Invensys is sold, Rail Group will be decimated as they remove R&D, manufacturing and all the support functions, leaving just the contract staff to service the home market (what's left of it). That will reduce the UK division to about a third of its current size. Friday, December 30, 2011 - Re: "Mr Crossfield's view of the business as a vertically integrated suppler, must be good for the times ahead. (?)": I really, sincerely hope that the (?) turns out to be a (!). Not sure if I should be holding my breath though. Wednesday, December 28, 2011 It has been a dramatic year for IRNE. Mr Crossfield's view of the business as a vertically integrated suppler, must be good for the times ahead. (?) Longer term, most of the competitors cannot compete for integrated solutions, so they are likely to be take-over targets or buyers? So what if Invensys is sold? We all still come to work. It's a crap time if you are being kicked out. But for those remaining, this year must be the start of better times. Friday, December 23, 2011 - re:" I don't even know who Guzman is": Actually he is MD of Spain and is the egotistical maniac who persuaded the idiot Riddett that the only people who can do R&D are Madrid. He is now reaping what he sowed as they can't cope with the work and aren't as smart as he thought they were. Friday, December 23, 2011 If what the person who claimed that Rail is agreeing to the onerous IP demands of the Chinese is true, it is certain verification that the company is preparing for sale, cranking up short term numbers at the expense of long term viability. Mortgaging the future. However, it would almost certainly backfire if the acquirer is GE, Siemens, ABB, or any company of substance. Their IP and contracts attorneys will uncover all of these messes during due diligence, with commensurate reduction in the deal value. It is almost a moot point, however, given the manner in which future value has been destroyed during the Ulf era. Cowardly and irresponsible behavior by the ISYS board for utter lack of oversight on strategic decisions. Thursday, December 22, 2011 Apparently Riddett does whatever Jesus Guzman tells him and R&D engineers are being made redundant in the UK and recruited in Madrid. This shows the level of leadership in Rail. Thursday, December 22, 2011 NE Rail descends into further chaos. R&D engineers are being laid off when projects are short of resources. The excuse is "outsourcing" but there are no credible partnerships in place, certainly not Cognizant. R&D management is invisible and totally ineffective in IRNE and morale is at an all-time low. Nobody knows whether they will have a job in six months time. The illness of IRNE is terminal. Thursday, December 22, 2011 Re: "people aren't being forced to stay if they hate things so much." OK wiseguy, YOU find me a local rail industry company that's recruiting. No? Didn't think so. Relocate? Yeah that's a good idea; I'll drag my kids from their school and my wife from her job and move us all up country somewhere and wait for a year+ for my house to sell. Great idea! Did it occur to you that perhaps we essentially like the company for whom we already work, and that all we ask is for it to be run properly? For our management to show proper vision and leadership? Like they used to, years ago? Oh, but of course, we gutless cowards should be discussing this with that very management, shouldn't we? Don't make me laugh. Just how far do you think that would get us, apart from the end of the nearest dole queue when the next round of redundancies are announced? Wednesday, December 21, 2011 I can't believe the damage done to Rail in the year Riddett has been in charge. Rail was 70% of Invensys profit and almost all its cash. Now a fraction of itself, it is in free fall in IRAP and I'm told failed in Denmark and Spain. Safetran are struggling from Riddetts decision to ignore pricing errors to ensure bonus payments. Big repayments needed to customers in order to balance the books. Happy holidays to all ! Wednesday, December 21, 2011 Well according to Kevin Riddett, Wayne Edmunds wants to give away all our IP to the Chinese in order to boost the share price. Apparently Jesus Guzman thinks Wayne is a fool and a simple accountant that doesn't understand the business. I don't even know who Guzman is but apparently he is a big cheese in the UK. Tuesday, December 20, 2011 Thank goodness someone who understands the automation business is back in control at IOM. Hopefully Mike Caliel can restore integrity and professionalism into an organisation that has no respect for its business partners or distribution channels even when they have been loyal and hard working for decades and have built up the Invensys business from scratch. All the marketing hype from Sudipta Battacharya about ecopartners and the importance thereof was just b...t. To be awarded top growth partner in one month and then terminated the next after decades of building up the Invensys business shows a complete lack of competence. No wonder IOM is losing market share and shareholder value rapidly - our customers are disgusted and now migrating to competitors. Running a business is simple: Treat your staff, distributors and customers like kings and the business will flourish. Good luck Mike Caliel! Monday, December 19, 2011 - Re:"So you think we should shut and just accept what we see as poor leadership and lack direction? That we should say, "Well the company's being driven down the toilet, but hey, at least I've got a job. For now, anyway."" Actually I have to agree with his/her point; that is exactly what you should do. The reason why people whine and complain HERE in this blog is because they're too gutless and cowardly to discuss problems with their managers in face-to-face forums where legitimate problems can be addressed with legitimate solutions. Here you're just crying in your milk. What I don't agree with what was said is that there are no jobs to flee to; there is no good reason to stick with Invensys; people aren't being forced to stay if they hate things so much. The irony is that every company has the same problems and issues that Invensys has, every company has a percentage of malcontents, every company has people who move from company to company searching for some Utopian greener lawn when the realities are that the people who are happiest are those who shut the frick up, do their jobs with professional commitment, and ignore the irrelevant nonsense around them. Sunday, December 18, 2011 Rail will continue it's slow downward spiral under Riddett. This man is the least respected, incompetent and small minded individual to lead Rail. His lack of intellect has made him a joke-like figure. This is a great shame as the individual companies in Rail are good with strong individual leaders. However Riddett is so far over his head, it's embarrassing. My guess is that Rail will be way down on AOP for both profit and cash. Unless Wayne does something it will get worse. Controls? It's only going to be a story of declining revenue in the current Market conditions. Sunday, December 18, 2011 Seems IOM will change with new CEO. What's the change for Rail and Controls? In Controls, most possibly we will miss FY2011/12 AOP goals. Sunday, December 18, 2011 It was me who posted saying that when the share price dropped to 200 or less then the big sharks would swoop in and take the meat and leave the fat to dry up and disappear. The share price has teetered on 200-ish for some time. This surely hasn't gone unnoticed by Siemens, ABB, etc. Can anyone confirm if the old pension liability has been taken on by someone else? This can only be the one sole stumbling block preventing a takeover bid. And Wayne is getting his house in order by getting rid of yet another high profile chap. Final question: Can the individual companies function better or worse without Invensys lying on top of them? Saturday, December 17, 2011 Message to IOM and especially PLC management: Stop the nonsense around improving your "processes" and focus on customer jobs. You are spending way too much time and money on internal organizations, structures and inward focus. Same e-mails and meetings occurring over and over again with no traction and benefit to anyone. It's been going on for years. I hope Caliel will quickly see this. It's time to get focused on the customer and strengthen relationships. Thursday, December 15, 2011 The only silver lining is this ugly debacle is that the value of Ulf Henrikkson's shares continues to plummet. He'll still be filthy rich despite his complete incompetence, though. The Invensys board should be ashamed of the limp way they handled their responsibilities over the past few years. Shame on you! Thursday, December 15, 2011 Caliel comes with the final blessing to Wonderware. IOM showed that the only business that matters is Controls. WW is the black sheep of the family. Wednesday, December 14, 2011 Gary Mintchell (Editor, Automation World) blog - extract: The challenge is that IOM is smaller than its rivals. And Emerson and ABB especially have been bulking up. Rockwell Automation has been growing rapidly, although it doesn't offer instrumentation and final control elements to go along with its control and safety portfolio. I've had some people call who think that merely a leadership change at IOM will make all the difference in the world. I know Mike Caliel and I have much respect for him. But expectations in some quarters are running very high right now. He has a challenge, for sure.
Tuesday, December 13, 2011 Gary Mintchell (Editor, Automation World) blog - extract:
Caliel was hugely popular at Foxboro, so the comments amongst the perennial complainers on Jim Pinto's Weblog showed delight and joy. But, I would caution them that there will be no return to "the good old days" because times have changed. And he was the leader whose strategy has led to much of what we see now. And many "Foxboro" people are in senior leadership positions. They aren't all Wonderware.
Tuesday, December 13, 2011 We had Mike Caliel earlier and he always cut development and then left before his actions could show the disasters of not investing in R&D. Under him people in Development were laid off to show profits and he took away fat bonuses. Hope he does not repeat the same. Despite what IOM has shown as spectacular results, our budgets are cut and very little investment is being allowed by the accountant CEO at PLC who is surrounded by another bunch of accountants. So we have to live with accountants dictating how development should be done! Our share price is down because the market knows when there is no visionary at the top! Tuesday, December 13, 2011 I remember the first time I met Mike. I was in the Houston office and a very low man on the totem pole. We had about a 10 minute conversation while getting coffee. The perception at the time was that I was surprised he wanted to get to know me a little. I don't know if he is still that way or not or even if he is still personable it will help take Invensys to the next level or not. What I do know is that Mike has one of the leadership qualities that you cannot learn from a book or in a lecture. To me, he has the It Factor. He looks to be the man in charge and it is easy to buy into what he is selling. Well, except for 1 x 6. Or was it 2 x 6? I don't remember. I do remember that was a little silly. We have seen a lot of bad leadership come and go since he left. Only time will tell if this is a good move for Invensys. I am glad he's back and look forward to what's going to happen under his leadership. Tuesday, December 13, 2011 CONGRATULATIONS to IOM! Sudipta is Gone. Lets reverse his worst decisions to get out of this hole. Replace his buddies, sell Skelta, Disengage Cognizant and setup or buy out another IDC in India etc. Tuesday, December 13, 2011
Invensys Announcement : Mike Caliel appointed President and CEO of Invensys Operations Management Invensys plc announces the appointment of Michael J (Mike) Caliel as President and CEO of Invensys Operations Management with effect from 1 January 2012. Mike was previously with Invensys from 1993 to 2006, latterly as Chief Executive of Invensys Process Systems, the largest of the predecessor companies that were brought together to form Invensys Operations Management in early 2009. He has over 25 years experience in the industry and was until recently CEO of Integrated Electrical Services, Inc. He is taking over from Sudipta Bhattacharya who joined the Group in 2007 as President of the Wonderware Software division and has been the leader of Invensys Operations Management since February 2009. Sudipta has decided to leave next year to take up a new role outside Invensys. In the meantime, he will be working with Mike to ensure a smooth transition of responsibilities within the division and will also be assisting on group business development in the Middle East and Asia. Wayne Edmunds, Chief Executive of Invensys plc, commented: "I am delighted to welcome Mike back to Invensys into a role which is very familiar to him. He has first class experience in the industries the division operates in, our customers as well as our products and technologies. His enthusiasm and drive will now be directed to building on the division's strong market positions. "I would like to thank Sudipta for his tremendous efforts over the past four years where we have continually shown double digit growth at Wonderware and then at Invensys Operations Management and wish him every success in the future. Invensys Operations Management has shown strong growth since its formation and Sudipta has built an excellent management team to take the business forward under Mike's leadership." Tuesday, December 13, 2011 Let us be real folks. Under Edmund's watch, the value of Invensys stock has fallen 40%. All he has done so far is just changing the BU presidents. In IOM, he forced his LOB's and now there are 3 LOB's without a lot of business!. Just wondering if the Board has any idea on what is going on. Hopefully the board will get rid of the bean counter CEO and put someone who knows about the products and services. Monday, December 12, 2011 Good thing now that Sudipta and his merry country men and friends will be shown the door. The sooner the better. The ground-level people never really got on and along with Sudipta, simply because he puts his friends into good key positions. This is usual and you can see it happening everywhere often. Getting Mike Caliel back may not be all that bad. I don't think Sudipta needs to show Mike Caliel "around" in the next few days or weeks. He knows his way around better. A change is good now because under Sudipta IOM was not heading anywhere to greater things. It is just floating by and surviving. At least I feel now that it slows down the rot a little. The next phase for IOM is important. We need to do sensible things in the organisation, developing and putting sensible products that the market that end-users wants to see and use. Re-evaluate and close down the failed R&D bed-sharing with Cognizant - the hare-brained schemes of Sudipta and his merry country men. Stop pushing and forcing IOM projects offices to use senseless engineering centres in locations like Egypt. This is the worst place to be now. With the country in turmoil, how can you get in and out there safely, let alone the staff producing good engineering work without being affected by the political situation happening there daily? Time will tell if the change is good now as IOM as under Sudipta. IOM is not heading anywhere to greater things. It is just floating by and surviving. Time will tell if Mike Caliel can steady the ship a little better... Monday, December 12, 2011 It is a sad state of affairs. We write here and read this while others leave. Recently the head of HR in US left and she had some direct feedback on why people leave and she left. These are very senior execs and must know something. Two were company veterans and had been here a long time. This is experience walking away and customers and competition notice. Monday, December 12, 2011 I think stockholders are going to be disappointed. Just bringing Mike Caliel back won't bring back the "good old days." Paulett Eberhart destroyed too much. But even before her, I think Foxboro was too small. Emerson is eating everyone's lunch. ABB bought huge market share. Rockwell is growing (might be catching up to Foxboro?) Of course, Honeywell and Yokogawa are in a holding pattern. Siemens is huge in some markets. I think it might be good to sell or spin off Wonderware - the Foxboro people HATE the Wonderware people. But the Foxboro people are not winners. The best idea is that a Chinese DCS company buys IPS. But, who knows? Monday, December 12, 2011 No one can really know the meaningof this change right now, but I'd guess that Wayne Edmunds does not want to invest in building IOM. So, he brings back the Foxboro guy. Probably looks to spin off Wonderware. Then pretties up IPS for sale. Monday, December 12, 2011 With today's announcement of Sudipita leaving, Mike is back. Good thing for the business. The issue is Sudipita's gang has to leave and put the outsourced work back. Finance, IT, and all the senior level of his whole organization. He spent the past 2 and half years just getting his buddies in, without creating any value to the business. Monday, December 12, 2011 Bloggers rejoice! Mike Caliel is back. Wayne has sent an email today saying, "He has great experience in the industries that the division operates in, our customers as well as our products and technologies. His enthusiasm and drive will now be directed to building on the division's strong market positions." Got it in one! I have been at Invensys a long time and remember Mike running IPS. It is great to have him back. Monday, December 12, 2011 So was Sudipta fired or did he choose to leave? I will tell you one thing though - I would not want to be one of Sudipta's "buddies" right now. They would be wise to start looking for their next job, because Caliel will clean house of them. Monday, December 12, 2011 I am very excited to see that Mike Caliel will be back as President and CEO of Invensys Operations Management effectively Jan 1st 2012! I think there has been a void in management and I am excited to see that he's back. Monday, December 12, 2011 BIG NEWS: Michael Caliel is replacing Sudipta January 1! Monday, December 12, 2011 Sudipta fired last week. Usual words of thanks. Who is next as Wayne must put his own people in place? Neither that idiot Riddett or Balcunas are his boys. Time real changes to the organization as opposed to minor adjustments. Monday, December 12, 2011 Okay, everybody, the new social media policy has been released and every one of you who posts from now on is subject to being fired for violating the new rules. So stop it. Now. Monday, December 12, 2011 What about a march on Controls Headquarters? "What do we want; We don't want the Management flying to Hawaii for a week of Beer Drinking when R&D Engineers are being retrenched. When don't we want the management flying around the World? Now. Sunday, December 11, 2011 Perhaps we could have own Arab Spring at Controls. Over throw all the incompetent rulers we have suffered under for all these years. We could march on Carol Stream, shouting "What do we want; not some washed up sales guy running the place. When don't we want him? Now". Sunday, December 11, 2011 - Re: "stop your complaining about IR, stop your incessant whining." So you think we should shut and just accept what we see as poor leadership and lack direction? That we should say, "Well the company's being driven down the toilet, but hey, at least I've got a job. For now, anyway." What breathtaking arrogance. People don't blog about the good products and services because *that's what the company is supposed to produce*. What would be the point of blowing a trumpet and ignoring the fact that the trumpet is dented and falling to bits? Sunday, December 11, 2011 It's clear that the cost of Cognizant engagement with respect to value added is much higher than what was anticipated. Sudipta needs to put forward figures of Value added divided by Cost for Cognizant Teams and its comparison with other Invensys R&D teams to justify this engagement. Sunday, December 11, 2011 Cognizant is a complete FARCE. Shabby and costly work; Incompetent people; unproductive Project Managers and an onsite team consisting of a "Director", a "Senior Manager" and a handful of engineers who mostly sit idle! And on top of it a Senior Director! Sudipta - accept that this relationship is failure. Friday, December 9, 2011 Completely in agreement with several opinions on IOM and the HR in IOM. We have so many directors, senior(?) directors, VP's flying around the globe and wasting $. Added to that, HR is also flying around and giving sermons. IOM is completely rudderless, clueless on how to run the business. When we will get rid of the incompetent layer on TOP? Friday, December 9, 2011 - Re: I cannot get decent PC workstations; lack of investment in tools and software" I completely AGREE with the referenced weblog. It is the same in every country! Resourcing Directors travel for 1 day visits and what are they achieving? Spend enormous $. IOM is STEADILY going down. Stuffed ex IT space guys everywhere incl. BU heads who do not have ANY idea of the market, customers and business. HR Director located somewhere keeps traveling around the country so that by weekend he can be at his place ( a distant city). BU head who keeps traveling all over the country with irrelevant people and other D's traveling continuously for their OWN personal gains! What an organization ! Thursday, December 8, 2011 Share holder said, "If I am evil for believing in your company, then I am uncertain why you want be there. Your shareholders are your biggest supporters." Two things: First, MOST people remain at Invensys despite being hacked off because there are no jobs worth jonesing anywhere else that they can go to though many stay because they really are dedicated and still love this heartless conglomerate despite all. Second, if share holders really did give a bloody good damn about the health of Invensys, why are the share holders allowing IR to turn in to an outsourced third-rate corporation with all the inevitable sixes and sevens? The last time Invensys Royals graced us with their omnipresence here in IRNE, we got the impression it was the share holders that are driving the failed attempt to outsource in a bid to squeeze more shillings out of this tea bag before share holders finally go crawling to China to dump the desiccated remains, waiting only for the ruling elite to sort out the pension mess among themselves. Far from caring about the health of Invensys, share holders seem to be greedily sucking the life blood from the company in a vampiric glutton fest the likes of which that's got a couple of million Yanks screaming in the streets of NA about. Greed far too easily explains the state of the company far better than an endless series of hapless cock ups. I may be a half soaked peon with the IQ of a Royal but it's greed, so far as I see, not incompetence. Thursday, December 8, 2011 - Regarding the Shareholder comment - I am the shareholder that posted the comment. I invested in the business for a number of reasons. First the company was undervalued when I purchased the stock. Second, the business was able to demonstrate that it could move the top and bottom line in the right direction. You can't have those things happening without good people working for the company. I am assuming that there are still good people in the business and the poor results are due to lack of focus and leadership. As I stated, it is time for change, IOM and Rail are moving in the wrong direction and neither leader has demonstrated the ability to change it. There are some large funds that control the ownership of Invensys, they need to apply pressure to Wayne to adjust. If I am evil for believing in your company, then I am uncertain why you want be there. Your shareholders are your biggest supporters. Wednesday, December 7, 2011 Good contribution, things could be worse, come and work for Invensys Controls. A washed out sales guy running the place, washed out products, and all the wrong projects being undertaken. Yet there still seems to be money for senior management to fly around the world in Business Class. Wednesday, December 7, 2011 Yes most of management know how serious things are in IR APAC. We are being told from Riddett in Kentucky to cover it up. Our COO here in Melbourne is waiting for his pay off. Damage to Invensys? Over 30 million Aussi dollars. Riddett or Obadia ? Never seen either. Wednesday, December 7, 2011 According to the Spanish the IRNE R&D redundancies are going to be over 100 people. Contacts in Spain also quote Riddett saying that Wayne is going to give all our intellectual property away to the Chinese in order to get business. Apparently both Riddett and the Spanish think Wayne is a fool to do this. To be honest they might be right. Wednesday, December 7, 2011 I laughed out loud when I read the posts on Riddett. I came across this blog by accident and as a former Pirelli NA employee I have experience with this individual. Let me guess, he is completely confused by any complexity? Has no ability to lead or motivate ? Seems to have limited intellect? Is clueless on his financial data? Changes his mind daily? It was this that got him fired in Pirelli. I don't envy the Rail part of Invensys. Wednesday, December 7, 2011 Forget about any leadership from Riddett. The man is the weakest leader of Rail ever. He still has, after over a year as firstly COO and then CEO, no idea about a contracting business. It's quite difficult to become a global joke, but from what is posted here and talked about openly, Riddett has achieved it. How long can Wayne ignore it? The results will show Riddett's inability. This will reflect on Wayne. Wednesday, December 7, 2011 You know what, stop your complaining about IR, all of you people who still have a job, stop your incessant whining. Good grief, you think it sucks working for Invensys? Well, step outside and take a look around. For every one of you complainers there are 150 qualified engineers who would love for you to step aside so they could have your job. None of you bother to blog about the quality products and services that IR provides to customers, nor do you blog about the customers who appreciate quick and timely IR support and solutions to field problems, much of which IR provides to rail customers for free. And another thing, look at you, everyone who is still with IR. You're with IR because you're dedicated, committed, and you have what it takes to develop products and provide services in an era where only the best quality engineers have survived, all of which places YOU at the top of the heap so far as engineers go. Forget HR, ignore IPMS, work around Cognizant and smile because you should be happy and appreciative of where you are and appreciative of your skills that remain marketable. I don't check this blog often - yet every time I do it's constantly negative. Well, this is the last time I'll bother checking the blog, I get enough complaining from my wife, ha! Tuesday, December 6, 2011 Does anybody know how serious things are here in Australia? Forget about IPMS or our HR Directors bad behaviours. Major projects are deep in the red and nobody seems to be worried. Where is the leadership? I don't even know what Obadia looks like let alone Riddett. The latter seems to think he can lead a global organisation from Kentucky. Tuesday, December 6, 2011 It is a quite strange the situation of IOM Brazil. While Honeywell, Siemens , Schneider, Rockwell and other big companies are growing at least 10% a year, Invensys IOM is falling down with poor management. Seems that they want to brake the company to sell quick to other big group. Unfortunatelly we won RNEST refinery project 3 years ago. This project is causing terrible problems of cashflow and it will be a disaster in the end with the probably biggest loss of the company around the world. Invensys should investigate more this project regarding bribery and corruption and they will find that our Engineering Director made a fortune of more than US$ 2milion in the last two years protected by the Managing Director. Tuesday, December 6, 2011 Seen the latest in the know for IRNE Technology. Whats with this company? Keeping the same failures in senior positions. Will these people ever learn to be leaders and managers? They need to change their behaviours: start to produce some valued output to the company. What about the interface from R&D : who are these people? Perhaps this exclusive club keep themselves in the jobs. Pity about our customers not getting what they contracted. Pity about the 30% of R&D UK that will get the boot in the new year. Monday, December 5, 2011 Well, if you think Sudipta was bad, then talk to the analysts that listened to Rail. Kevin Riddett is a laughingstock. What's with these CEO titles? I expect they are a leftover from Ulf's strange planet. Saturday, December 3, 2011 I worked for Invensys Plc 10 years ago during the Yurko and Haithornewaite tenure. It wasn't picture perfect, and even then things were often quite out of control. However what is going on these days, if the blog is to be believed, OMG! I left the group in 2005 when Ulf installed a VP of IT in the business unit I worked for at the time. The guy wasn't just clueless about how to run an IS operation, but also managed to bring in his children as well as friends as temps, giving them tasks travelling the world doing simple tasks whilst clocking up airmiles. Stuff that the hard tried perm staff would have killed each other for, to get to do. I couldn't sit and watch this ludicrous behaviour of a senior officer, so I left and I have never looked back. Being part of Invensys though thought me a lot which I am still banking on as an independent consultant, and I can only say to the people who cares about their work situation as most bloggers here clearly do, GO somewhere else. There are plenty of companies around that need people who has a genuine interest in the running of a company, and who is prepared to do their bit. Invensys mistakenly became the playground for big guys with big ideas, and it has gone tremendously down hill ever since. Friday, December 2, 2011 I see the sustained campaign against the IRAP HR Director in Melbourne. I'm wondering what she's done that is so dreadful. When you make your list, just be sure to exclude stuff that is just about doing her job, like handing out the rubbish she's handed down from HR disaster central. Friday, December 2, 2011 Well, it seems that the investment community saw right through Bhattarachya's shallow pronouncements at OpsManage. Down 20% as a result. Emperor SB has no clothes. Thursday, December 1, 2011 I have worked for Invensys Rail in Australia for more than 20 years. Back then we were Westinghouse Brakes and Signals. Our business is falling apart with total mismanagement and absence of any leadership. Obadia is hardly ever seen and Riddett is completely invisible. The latter has been here once and made an idiot of himself. Embarrassing doesn't come close. How does Wayne put up with this? Thursday, December 1, 2011 - Re: "As a shareholder of Invensys, there is only one problem": Oh I'm sorry Mr.Shareholder. How selfish of us to be concerned about our job security and the future prospects of our employer, when your only real area of concern is the dent in your portfolio. Thank you for pointing out what we should *really* be worried about. Thursday, December 1, 2011 "There is no progress without dissent". Do it collectively - Chuck out the HR Director, she is past it and do it pdq, and we'll be in pretty good shape going forward. Thursday, December 1, 2011 As an IOM employee, I was wondering how Invensys as a whole can still function properly. There are so many things that are broken and under-invested for the engineering offices. The basic list :
Money has been put in by the imbecile IOM management to churned out "IT initiatives" from iPMS, iHR, iConnect, iGrow, ibuy, isell, iForum etc. With so many websites, sharepoint sites etc...that we needs to have different password access. I am not sure what the UK based IT cooperate VP is doing but with such an unclear IT plan and confusion planning, I find it almost laughable. Like all of our higher echelon leaders, we only get e-mails. Everything is "faceless and is in phantom and in spirit". You can only see these people in person during sales conferences like Ops-Manage events. Wednesday, November 30, 2011 - In response of to the blog, "Shareholders aren't all evil monsters..." I just like to add this:
At this current level, if these shareholders are happy with the current share prices, then I would say they are incompetently evil to subject us, the few competent employees, to such imbecile leadership. If you believe what Invensys' board of directors are saying about tough situation and it is difficult to make decent money, then think again. Look no further. Look at Emerson. It is a similar company to Invensy. Emerson has been paying dividends to shareholders I believe for the past 30 or so more years? As a shareholder, wouldn't that be your first and foremost aim ? Wednesday, November 30, 2011 That's rather unfair saying that Cognizant is pretty much worthless. Cognizant can help - provided what they do isn't R&D engineering and instead focus on something that they are qualified to do. Wednesday, November 30, 2011 - Re the 'hark at the shareholder': WHAT THE .... no wonder Invensys is in such a mess if it employs people who don't realise who their customers / owners are. Man - do you not realise Invensys wouldn't even exist without them? Shareholders aren't all evil monsters. Wednesday, November 30, 2011 Cognizant/IOM safety ODC Managers are paid only to talk about "Innovation & Innovative Ideas". One should be a very good A**licker to get promoted. If you are very good A**licker, you know when you will get promoted - may be 6 months in advance. Decisions are made in Smoking zones & Bars not in Team meetings. It is the only place where 15+ yrs & 5+ yrs got promoted as Managers in a revision cycle! 2 Sr Manager, 4 Managers for one/two projects! Tuesday, November 29, 2011 With the APAC restructuring now moving ahead, the question many staff are asking is what is to happen with the Melbourne office. They have little work on their books and are very reliant on our Queensland business to keep them a float. With changes having been made in Projects, R&D and Engineering, its time that Marketing & Sales, HR and Finance took a serious look at downsizing their numbers to a realistic amount of staff. What we need is quality staff, not quantity. Tuesday, November 29, 2011 Hark at the shareholder. The only reason you remain is probably the loss to you is so great. So don't pontificate on this blog. If you are big enough put pressure on the executive leadership. That's why we post here. You have a different avenue and frankly we probably don't care if you lose your shirt. Tuesday, November 29, 2011 IPMS very cute, but in LatinAmerica we are still waiting to receive SIP Q1, Q2 and Q3 ... The organization is completely destroyed, Brazil and Mexico are set on fire, the management does not respond, it hurts to see a region with such good talent this drift by their managers. Tuesday, November 29, 2011 I think it is now time to remove the main obstacle to setting up a decent way forward for IRAP - make the HR Director redundant. In one go, costs will be cut, morale will improve, and the directors can get on and run the company without being scared to act. We in HR will suddenly have the freedom to support the company instead of confusing it and slowing it down. Tuesday, November 29, 2011 IRAP at last is making progress with its change management plan. We have lost a large number of talented staff (experience), we have lost a large amount of money key projects (mis-management) and now we are moving the staff responsible (Head of Projects & Commercial gone, Head of Engineering moved sideways and others to follow). The staff we now have in control, don't know or what to do to win and deliver work. Except for Queensland that is where the Brisbane team is kicking goals and is the company's savior. It should be the head office, not Singapore Tuesday, November 29, 2011 Where is there so much talk about IPMS. The system works and is required to ensure that management get their annual bonus. Its one in the year that my manager actually talks to me, but leaves me to fill in the required fields. She then just approves it - and life goes on in HR. Monday, November 28, 2011 There is a lot of complaining on this blog. As a shareholder of Invensys, there is only one problem - the value of the stock continues drop. I am sure there were lots of issues with Ulf at the helm, but the stock price increased during his tenure. Since his departure, the stock stinks. Sir Nigel and Wayne E need to get the share price moving in the right direction. There are a number of large shareholders that need to get pressure on the Executive Leadership. Sudipta, Kevin, etc... Start adding value, or step aside. I want a return on my investment and this team doesn't appear to have the ability to deliver. Monday, November 28, 2011 The same issues apply to the Controls Division. Over the years we have lost all the talent as the business shrinks. It is easy for a so called manager to cut costs and reduce staff but it takes a different kind of talent to grow the business. Controls is now run by a washed out sales guy. Sunday, November 27, 2011 Well, that's the stupidity of the IPMS complete for another few months. Lets see if we can concentrate on delivering work now before another brainless email comes in. During the recent mid year a number of our team were in the middle of critical deliveries. We were told in no uncertain terms that the completion of the IPMS must take precedence over all other work. What a sad state... Sunday, November 27, 2011 What is Invensys paying Cognizant for? Late, shabby and costly work; Incompetent staff; unproductive Project Managers and an onsite team consisting of a "Director", a "Senior Manager" and a handful of engineers who mostly sit idle! The payment made to Cognizant should purely be based on productive work done and we should not be paying for every idle or incompetent Cognizant employee. As frustration grows, Sudipta needs to explain what productivity this Cognizant engagement provides us and at what costs. Saturday, November 26, 2011 Completely in agreement with several opinions on IOM and the HR in IOM. We have so many directors, senior(?) directors, VP's flying around the globe and wasting $. Added to that, HR is also flying around and giving sermons. IOM is completely rudderless, clueless on how to run the business. When we will get rid of the incompetent layer on TOP? Friday, November 25, 2011 Wow - the number of director roles being created is out numbering the doers that make it happen! Thursday, November 24, 2011 By talking to many people who work very hard for the business, they felt the HR reward system is totally a joke. People or business unit which has good result does not get reward properly. It is a flat reward system, at least were implemented that way. The APAC region is the worst area that the HR function there is totally a joke. Wednesday, November 23, 2011 What future has the Controls plant got in Plymouth UK? Making commodity thermostats in England cannot be effective. Shame as I think the world will turn full circle and manufacturing jobs will be valued in Europe. Wednesday, November 23, 2011 With Invensys shares rapidly re-approaching a 5 year low, clearly no one with a brain is buying the 20% growth story as anything sustainable. There are fundamental problems with the company that need to be fixed, ones that go far beyond the pension issues. The current executive team has bled the company dry and now has no other way to sustain profitability. The product pipeline is virtually empty. The management team is incompetent. The customers are confused. All of these factors influence the share price, which reflects future value. Wednesday, November 23, 2011 Anyone know what Wayne has been doing lately? Is Invensys being actively shopped around? Tuesday, November 22, 2011 Can anyone explain the organisation in Rail? Who exactly is running R&D ? It was a global function with CoEs. We then had a VP for Europe and he has vanished along with the global SVP. Now apparently we have something called lines of business that report into Madrid and this includes R&D. I have yet to find anyone who knows what this means, how it works or can put a name to a role. It has been 8 months of confusion. Forget about IPMS we don't have any clear ownership or accountability. Riddett's amateurish announcement doesn't have a single named person/responsibility in it and is adding to the confusion. Tuesday, November 22, 2011 Is there any future for us in Controls ? It's been over 5 years of closing factories in the US and Europe. Orders, sales and profit down each year. The global financial crises looks to be here for a while? Any interesting jobs seem to be moving to China. Looks like time to move on. Tuesday, November 22, 2011 What ever happened to CSR, the Chinese train company that was apparently our partner in Asia? At one stage Ulf even spoke to the press about them buying Invensys. Well I'm a manager in IR APAC and am not aware of any business with them past or present. Tuesday, November 22, 2011 The challenge with IOM is that they refuse to promote the good offerings they do have under the brands that have industry credibility. Foxboro, Wonderware, Triconix, Eurotherm were market leading names - and trusted. IOM has destroyed the go-to-market path for Wonderware across the world by mixing direct sales (via amateurs) with the proven distributor channel. They should look at their own "workflow" first. Monday, November 21, 2011 The challenge at IOM is simple. We lack the Global talent to truly leverage our offerings, even if they are mediocre. We are even getting picked off in our sweet spot. See Rockwell press release regarding SK , an area that used to be dominated by Triconix. We hear lots of new people coming, yet we won't take the step. Our share price continues to wither. We are in a Global industry yet we refuse to accept and adapt. Monday, November 21, 2011 Rail is in real trouble, only under a fool like Riddett doesn't know it yet. It took over 6 months for this idiot to even visit us in APAC after being made COO. During this time things here in Australia fell apart. It was clear to all even then that we're sitting on a A $20m problem. Riddett sat in Louisville for almost 8 months before visiting and then didn't see what he was told. APAC in Rail is rotten and the real hit will be A$30m. Our Indian operation is also totally ridden with corruption. What a mess! Monday, November 21, 2011 IPMS has never worked since it was introduced. It changes every year so that you are unable to do a 1 to 1 comparison. A few years ago several depts. were instructed to drop all engineers assessments by one grade. There has never been a clear process of the output and it is not reviewed by higher management or HR unless you end up on the "at risk of redundancy" then it is avidly used. I hear they want to bring in performance-related pay.Why should some be down graded when they are allocated tasks when project managers are already aware that the individual has more tasks than hours in a day, with support and resources are lacking. That does not equate to under-performing etc. As for growing skills etc, that's only applicable to the select few. Monday, November 21, 2011 First half results were positive, probably better than most, and yet the price keeps dropping. What is it that the analyst are seeing that is driving down our share price considerably more than the FTSE? Sunday, November 20, 2011 After all these "good news" with orders, will the lower end of the food chain get a little bit better pay increment? The last one I got was "insulting" to say the least. The IOM HR in our world area thinks that salary scale survey data released by a professional engineering board is all "hog-wash". The HR (especially the HR VP) can continue "to ignore" this but the salary data surveyed are supplied and provided by employers and employees, factored in with market sentiments. The data surveyed are very valid and transparent as it was coordinated by the Engineering Professional Body. You hire good people and then when they get a head turning offer, people will leave. We ended up an IOM engineering office with bodies but with no in-depth knowledge on the products. You have the blind leading the blind. People gets frustrated, they leave and the same hiring cycle comes on again. So finally what's the point of having projects with no skilled people to work on them? The IOM HR, together with the hiring managers are really slow in making offers. I bet that this "Sudipta thing on hiring people that will not threatened their future" can have some basis. Upper echelons VPs like to sit on these things and micro manage whether I can take this internal course or which airlines I can fly. That is why Invensys is a "stagnated" company, even though fortunately, Invensys still have one or two products that can still sell to the world. Saturday, November 19, 2011 Extracts from "Industrial Automation Insider" - November, 2011 Invensys half year results The Invensys Group half year results were published on November 4th. Sudipta Bhattacharya, president and ceo of IOM, commented on these in his keynote speech and in separate discussions later. IOM is undoubtedly the star in the Invensys crown at the moment. IOM sales revenues were up 21% for the half year at GBP 618M, driven by a doubling of the income from large projects, now 17% of the business. Orders were up 4% at GBP 599M: however, during FY2011, last year, there had been a significant order from China Nuclear in this first half, boosting the overall order intake level - by excluding this contract value, the 20% growth in base business orders shows the IOM position is "surprisingly strong" with the "order base distributed across a broader range of customers". Saturday, November 19, 2011 While the Invensys management team is trying to tease the city with nuclear wins and rail potential projects in China, do not forget that the China rail is getting bankrupt and urgently asking their government for GBP100billion to pay for the vendors and keep the current rail running. So do not count on make any money on China deals. The China cards are outdated. Friday, November 18, 2011 - Re: The Uk guy we should have offered the job to run IOM I gave him the go-ahead too from the USA. I used to work with him and he is a real Global growth guy. I hear though that Sudipta thinks he may be a threat to his future and so he has just swept the issue under the carpet. That's what happens here at IOM. Friday, November 18, 2011 Perhaps we are looking at IPMS from the wrong perspective. Managers were once an important bi-directional link between corporate layers. They provided feedback and advice to those above and below them. Then the managers became overburdened with demands from above. The two-way communications suffered between managers and the people they managed. They no longer provided the advice that guided employees to grow their skills in ways that mutually benefited both company and employee. Along comes IPMS, a low-cost substitute for certain managerial functions. The theory may be good but the execution is a failure. Instead of helping the managers do a better job of managing their people, it seems this important facet of management has simply been abandoned. There does not seem to be any evidence that the managers are doing a better job. In fact, there seems to be less communication, rapport and common purpose than before. IPMS is not the disease. It is a symptom of a mis- or un-managed company. Friday, November 18, 2011 Re:"No sales mean jobs are going. No profit means jobs are gone. Simple as that." That is not entirely true, or I should say, not the whole story. Whole companies under Invensys have seen layoffs and plant closures despite being profitable, some of them despite being profitable for decades. It's greed that drives the layoffs. Already obscenely wealthy shareholders want more and more and more, and the health of the corporation is utterly irrelevant. Friday, November 18, 2011 I think people are mis-guided when it comes to IPMS. The system is fine and the start process is fine. BUT when it comes to final grades, the top levels of management in IRNE order managers to grade staff according to a distribution curve rather than what is real. So a team cannot have 50% that exceed expectations. My question is: why not? If they are well led and managed and they are motivated to do a good job, then surely they should and would be above average. But to then be told to re-grade people downwards to suit a demographic is rather pathetic and ill conceived. Friday, November 18, 2011 The stock declines because we can't get rid of the massive pension liability in this market and the fantasy profit forecasts made by Ulf and Co and sold to the City have inevitably run out of steam. These two things mean a break up is inevitable. Thursday, November 17, 2011 Recently there have been lots comment about IPMS. As a tool on performance appraisal and development plan, I think nothing wrong with its role. I think there are problems on implementation and commitment from managers, so stir defensive / negative reaction from employees. Back to something common in Invensys, sometimes maybe strategy is a right one, but we always are failed on execution. I don't think top guys who are sky-high thinkers will add true value to the company, show your values also on execution and commitment. Talking and meeting resolve nothing. Thursday, November 17, 2011 Riddett sent out a new "announcement" today indicating that he has put Jesus over the new Global Business Development Team In Charge Of Global Development Of Business (GBDTICOGDOB). I'm glad Jesus is taking this on and helping us. I think most people are actually really happy with the Executive Staff here at Invensys and are really hoping they keep the same team in place for a long time, especially since many of us will be working for competitors within weeks! Thursday, November 17, 2011 Crossfield's presentation might not have been riveting. However it was about the results and so your future. You might want to listen more and try and understand this is a business not a charity. In manufacturing, no orders mean jobs at risk. No sales mean jobs are going. No profit means jobs are gone. Simple as that. Manufacturing has lost the equivalent of a whole regional office in jobs so far this year. It's tough right now and we need to cut costs to be competitive. Thursday, November 17, 2011 I'm not sure about the US or Australia, but in the UK today's HR function came from what was known as Personnel. An unpopular term today. Personnel were mostly people from the business functions that understood the business. From the late 80's early 90's came Human Resources. Mostly the start of abstract and systematic approach to people management. Some good things and largely still in touch with the actual business. Then in the last decade we've seen those that actually know the business in HR disappear. The function has become a proscriptive process model with no link to the industry, people, market or customer. Under self-obsessed lunatics like Larson and Henricksson this went to new levels where the target is to hit a number rather than a result. We are still living with this as HR are completely leaderless with no will to change. I'm not looking to the past. But if we are to have a future then HR need to know they are a support function and it's no use filling an engineering company with HR people from financial services. Thursday, November 17, 2011 No one should be surprised that Crossfield is a complete luddite. He was always a hatchet man for Network Rail. No real feeling or empathy for the business or what our true value is. A pure numbers man with no clue about people or how to motivate them. No idea about technology and not a strategic bone in his body. He has also brought in a very strange bunch of commercial and financial types in his image who do not deserve to be senior managers of this great company. He is clueless about R&D and the value it brings. And no, I don't work for R&D. It's interesting that Crossfield is dismantling the IRNE organisation bit by bit. When he took over we had issues but were growing and had ambition and focus. Now he presides over a sinking ship, inevitably becoming a legacy supplier to Network Rail. Perhaps that was always his plan, and the senior people in NR who sponsored him to get the job in the first place. Sad, sad times. Thursday, November 17, 2011 So many negative comments and it's easy to see why - the Invensys share price compared with the FTSE 100 is an indicator of something not being right. I think the demographic within certain business units is a problem a predominantly middle aged male engineering team and a [relatively] youthful female HR team aren't exactly going to gel nicely: theory and practice colliding head on. The IPMS issue is also a serious one local objectives that bear no relation to the overall business goals and not knowing who else has the same / similar or even conflicting goals is a problem. The idea that we should all have measurable objectives is a good one but make them team goals and change the system remember Deming said that 95% of failures are caused by the system and not the individual Thursday, November 17, 2011 An employee appraisal and development program is a good thing. The HR driven box ticking system does not add any value as the vast majority, I bet almost all employees use it twice a year, i.e. MYR and FYR. Box ticking does not add value. Being driven to complete all employees simultaneously to some meaningless date is pointless. As per usual the Invensys HR machine has no real idea of employee motivation or development. Just a mechanistic approach to people management. Doesn't work. If this was the only HR problem we'd be relieved but the organisation is basically corrupt, recruiting friends as consultants at extremely high rates, and acting extremely 'flexible' when it comes to managing their own staff. The HR leadership is totally incompetent and out of touch. Thursday, November 17, 2011 The share price is now below 200. First half results were respectable. What is causing the stock to continue to decline? Thursday, November 17, 2011 - Re: "HR isn't driving this; business best practices are simply being followed." Oh puh-leeze! First off, IPMS is worthless, it's not a "best practice," it's a costly, useless fad that derives zero benefit to anyone. There is zero actual benefit in IPMS. Secondly, if HR is not driving IPMS, we need to find out which of our company's competitors sabotaged us with that thing so we can see if we can saddle *them* with something equally hideous to kill *their* morale as fitting punishment. Wednesday, November 16, 2011 I am a UK employee and three months ago there was light at the end of a tunnel. Finally we were going to employ a real good guy to run IOM . I even gave him a reference. Now we haven't gone back to him - no yes, no no. We have missed a golden opportunity to employ a global guy that really could make a difference. Wednesday, November 16, 2011 The IPMS issue seems to be a serious issue for a few employees. It takes very little time to complete the IPMS and it is one of the responsibilities that come with my job. When I see people bitching about it over and over again, I have to wonder if all they ever do is complain. It is really quite simple. This is your job. Do it or quit. It's not as if you were pressed into service at Invensys and forced show up every day. Things change. Businesses mature. Every company I've ever worked for uses a system just like IPMS except for the grocer where I carried bags to cars as a boy. Wednesday, November 16, 2011 - To the previous post on IPMS/ HR. You mentioned that the only person who would think IPMS would be a HR Exec OR an imbecile. Surely they are both one and the same? An HR exec is always a common sense imbecile. Wednesday, November 16, 2011 I'm resolutely not HR, but there's nothing intrinsically wrong with IPMS. In particular the competency section is excellent, and the new development plans are well conceived. It's hard to do a development plan because it needs self scrutiny but it creates an excellent means of structuring training. Where there is a big problem, and I think this is really what is at issue with the comments, is that managers are so pushed with the day job that IPMS comes as a major imposition and there isn't time to get the reviews done properly. And then HR are coming in with threats and nagging reminders and so the whole thing is done as fast as possible and not well. The process changes every year so no-one has a clue what the process is (the training is 2 hours of someone reciting a powerpoint in a dull monotone on a webinar). Also there is the suspicion that development plans won't be backed up with actual cash for training - individuals don't even have a budget to buy books, why not give everyone $100 to buy material against a dev plan? The iGrow system is a waste of money from top to bottom and the standard courses usually irrelevant or poor, and the only way of finding out is to do the courses so no-one bothers, there is no guidance or review. And as for the iGrow development path: well personal board of directors? Puhlease! No-one has the time to do that consistently, result = no-one bothers at all. Junk it and train properly against dev plans. Goodness knows what we pay for iGrow, but let's save the money and have a party with it, would be better for everyone. Probably counterproductive to put dev plans and competency assessment into the review leading to raises too. That puts the employee immediately on the defensive when criticised, and you need constructive criticism to develop people. But there has to be normalised scoring in any raise review system which has an overall budget, and exceptional performance is, well, the exception. Good performance should be expected. Wednesday, November 16, 2011 Yawn! Got to say that the constant whining and moaning on this blog is becoming extremely tiresome. Anyone that actually tries to say something positive about Invensys is instantly labelled a member of the exec. Major changes are needed at Invensys; could do a lot worse than getting rid of all the dead wood and the moaners and start populating the business with people who have a 'can do' attitude. And before the accusations start, no, I'm not on the exec and I'm not HR. I'm an engineer who has experience of working with several suppliers. Invensys has a lot of potential, but all the negativity simply holds it back. It is becoming endemic. Tuesday, November 15, 2011 All this negative talk about IPMS is depressing. Typical of Invensys and IRNE in particular. There is nothing wrong with setting goals and measuring how we are doing against them. Sure the tool may have issues but at its core its about line managers sitting down with their staff on a regular basis and getting the best out of them. No I don't work for HR; could not care less about HR or the people who work in that department. I am an engineer who wants to improve and be the best I can be. The negative stuff about IPMS comes mostly from 'past it' middle band engineers who have been here too long and do not want to take responsibility for the people who work for them. Pathetic, grow up and take responsibility or step aside and let someone else have a go. Tuesday, November 15, 2011 The IRNE MD made it very clear today in his incredibly boring business briefing that he just sees R&D as an overhead and that he is quite happy for it all to go to Spain. He will rapidly find out that Spain only ever serves Spain, and the contracts he has to deliver will fail through lack of local knowledge and second in the queue support. By which time the competent engineers in IRNE R&D will have left, and I include myself in that group. Tragic, absolutely tragic. What a waste of so much knowledge. Tuesday, November 15, 2011 IPMS is like a scam get rich quick scheme that was 'sold' to an exec. Instead of get rich quick the metaphor was 'steer your rudderless ships' and get 100% loyalty from all employees/ corporate 'citizens'. In years to come a book will be wrote about this and the true wastage disclosed, although it will probably come from the genius who 'sold' it to the idiot. Tuesday, November 15, 2011 Why the racist comments about the IRAP President and his town hall speech? You native Aussie accents aren't as easy to understand as you might think, 'mite'. Give him a break. He's trying hard to make things better. Tuesday, November 15, 2011 We are all slaves to the IPMS tool. Hitting our numbers for compliance metrics is much more important that actually having a decent conversation with our team members. Assuming HR are actually professionals who want to add value, they should take the hint and back off the control freak settings and all that creating the document trail to make it easier to fire us. Just make it simple to comply and people might actually spend their time talking to each other rather than deleting the corporate spam. Monday, November 14, 2011 - Re: "I don't understand all the complaints regarding IPMS." That must be a HR exec and from the wording 'ship without rudder' it must be the IRAP HR director. Seriously, do you really think anybody will buy that post. Only a HR exec or an imbecile would believe that IPMS is a good thing. Please will someone in a position to stop this finally take it on the chin and kill this thing before it truly kills any morale left within the group. If I put my true 'Medium term goal' in this nonsense it would read 'leave the company to avoid this'. Seriously, myself and many others complete CPD folders as part of our profession, why oh why make us do this BS! Monday, November 14, 2011 "Any business groups or regions are really benefitting from HRSD? etc. With ex CEO and CHO leave, we local HR expect something will be improved really to support business, as well to make HRs work more efficiently. While till the date, there's no any change indeed at all. We just observe that new hires coming to fill the holes by previous redundancy. Seems HRSD is a do-and-redo approach only." Marvel at the English! Astonishing how this person made it into HR and has the gall of talking about business strategy. IPMS - Is HR driven contrary to the HR person who likened it as an opportunity to re-assess and target goals etc. It is a KPI driven monopolistic exercise purely for the exec to earn brownie points and secure bonuses. The employee reviews and results are pre-determined based on a quota. In fact it is all about ensuring employees do their "day job" as one recently departed exec put it..... Town Hall talk and empire building in Singapore - Complete balderdash.... Monday, November 14, 2011 So here we go again. R&D goes from it's 100+ year history in IRNE to Spain. Stupidly it's going under the previous leader that totally failed to deliver. Clearly Riddett is just all talk and Jesus Guzman is really running the business. What a lack of leadership we have! Monday, November 14, 2011 Unfortunately the HR machine developed by Ulf and Paula hasn't been disbanded yet. In IR we have almost daily instructions from a faceless HR SVP who knows nothing about our business. The result is that boxes will be checked and the reviews will be a waste of time. Quantity not quality. Shame. Monday, November 14, 2011 I have now heard it all (for a second time too!) Ex colleagues who still work for Invensys (IRNE) who I e-mail out of friendship (I left a year ago) are now saying 'please e-mail me at home because my e-mail account is being monitored' I know it is happening but haven't the so called leadership got anything better to do than be paranoid - we are not talking about you in e-mail for gods sake, we do that in the pub. It is a really sad day when a simple one liner to a friend can no longer happen. Does that mean all the workers get their lunch breaks back? I doubt it. Sad place Invensys - real sad Monday, November 14, 2011 Person in England was moved up to Senior VP. General Manager and previously Director was by passed; a few technical directors will be moved up within 2 months. This company has a problem. Upper Management is not technical. The Chinese are not happy with progress. They need to bring in top level people on contract at Director level. I have a list of people who are top level consultants managing projects ON TIME including myself. The email I gave I seldom use but I will talk to someone senior level or above; if someone wants to fix the company please leave me a phone number. Believe it or not you even have people in the company who can do the job but I am not sure HR or upper management knows who they are. HR takes to long to hire the best people most of whom are gone by the time they make an offer that is often far to low. Some person up top is preventing the company at Management level from hiring contract consultants as Project Managers and Directors which means the best people will not work for Invensys Systems because it is all about money. Money makes money and it takes the best people to make money. Sunday, November 13, 2011 Any business groups or regions are really benefitting from HRSD? With ex CEO and CHO leave, we local HR expect something will be improved really to support business, as well to make HRs work more efficiently. While till the date, there's no any change indeed at all. We just observe that new hires coming to fill the holes by previous redundancy. Seems HRSD is a do-and-redo approach only. Saturday, November 12, 2011 Continue on IPMS. It's becoming a process and tool demotivating employees instead of motivating them to work hard for company. It seems an advantage for the manager to control some of his reports, especially when he wants to be dominating the process to screw them out. We are out of track on quality performance management and motivation. Thursday, November 10, 2011 I don't understand all the complaints regarding IPMS. HR isn't driving this; business best practices are simply being followed. This gives us all a chance to check our own progress and ensure we are on target for the year. I actually look forward to it (mostly) as a time to assess and reset my priorities. Sure it can be a pain, but any ship left without a rudder will simply drift (sweet metaphor if you ask me). Monday, November 7, 2011 Re: "Look in the mirror and ask yourself how is the morale at IRNA? POOR!..." That is *so* untrue and unfair! We haven't had another suicide for three months now, so long now that the carpets have not needed to be cleaned since then. Morale is improving! Sunday, November 6, 2011 The IRAP President gave a town hall on Friday. It was a total joke. He thought he was funny, but it was impossible for us native Aussies to understand him. He must accept his empire building in Singapore is a drain to the business. If he will not listen and tighten his belt, why should he expect the real workers follow him? Mr. President, please practice what you preach or don't bother to give another town hall. If you do, many of us wont come (tune in )and listen to your garbage. Saturday, November 5, 2011 According to the article in Businessweek, it looks as if it is only a railway software and washing machine controls company! That much is the visibility for Sudipta's IOM. And CFO says"Invensys hasn't received any approaches from the likes of Siemens, Chief Executive Officer Wayne Edmunds said". Another bloomer. Saw lots of stuff on IPMS. There is a "development plan" which needs to be filled up. And the manager is expected to discuss this and finalize during the MYR. The BOSS just looked at it and signed off. No discussion AT ALL. So why do this? Friday, November 4, 2011 Who the hell said we like IPMS at IRNA? IPMS, another brilliant brain fart. That is right up there with outsourcing of payroll to NGA, who continues to screw up and remains the payroll vendor. Friday, November 4, 2011 - Re: Aaaaaaaaaaarghhh. This IPMS nonsense has arrived again! Just a word of warning: It might seem like nonsense, but it is used extensively when your job is at risk and then followed by redundancy. Thursday, November 3, 2011 So then, revenue up 7%, profit up 2%. While there are problems, are you going to update your absolute negative statement in the summary of the business. Anyone who reads your summary would have completely the wrong perception of the business. Bet this won't be posted! Thursday, November 3, 2011 What is it with HR in this company? I am being threatened to ensure we meet irrelevant mid-year review numbers, yet nobody is bothered that we are behind in sales, profit and cash! What is important? HR seems to still have a priority well above their importance. Thursday, November 3, 2011
According to this article in Businessweek, it appears that yes, Invensys is for sale. It also appears from this article that Invensys is only a railway software and washing-machine controls company. Thursday, November 3, 2011 This chart says it all:
Massive amounts of shareholder and employee/retiree value are being destroyed on the watch of the current leadership. It is time for a housecleaning before there's nothing left of what was once a proud and valuable organization. Wednesday, November 2, 2011 Aaaaaaaaaaarghhh. This IPMS nonsense has arrived again. Is there anything more morale destroying and wasteful as the 'emperors new clothes' which is IPMS. Looking at the recent email from the IRAP president it seems the only sector who has shown any interest in this crap is IRNA. If they like it thats fine but please save the rest of us from it. And no more talk of it 'helping us to deliver to customers needs'. Tuesday, November 1, 2011 Poor R&D seems to be an Invensys Core Value. At Controls all the engineers who knew what they were doing were sacked and all the R&D is being moved to China. Nothing against Chinese engineers, but they have no experience and hence nothing is produced. Then they move the guy who ran China back to run North America. They put a washed out sales guy in as President. The end result is a company run by idiots. Monday, October 31, 2011 Heard recently about the new Intelligent Marshalling Product to be revealed at Nashville OPS Manage. Will that change Invensys Game in automation? Monday, October 31, 2011 So next week Sudipta and his band of value-destroyers blow smoke up customers' rear ends about the amazing developments within IOM. What a group of BS artists they are! It is painful to watch how they have been to able to destroy so many good brands. Wayne, you have a fiduciary responsibility as CEO to assemble a team that enhances and grows shareholder value, not destroys it. So do something and prove that you're not just a custodian CEO. Monday, October 31, 2011 Outsource works fine providing it is managed and a fully detailed requirements specification is issued which in most case is lacking - hence why it never delivers. R&D do have some very skilled design engineers, but lack any form of backup and unrealistic goals set. As for SIL 4, could not agree more. But how many IRNE staff actually understand what SIL ratings are? This does assume that the data/results are not manipulate to show what management wants it to show as to the true picture. Only have to look at the IMPS system and appraisals. Monday, October 31, 2011 The post about moving R&D to Madrid being a good thing is not too far from the mark. Chippenham R&D has always been expensive and unfocused. We have spent around 90m on DTGR and 20m on Westlock. Both products that have no long-term market and our competitors have better alternatives. All of this has been hidden from view by clever manipulation of the balance sheet over many years. Sunday, October 30, 2011 - For the loser who wrote the Tuesday, October 25, 2011 IRNA good jobs quote: They must be one of the non-performing, how-high-do-you-want-me-to jump leaders. IRNA is under paying the employees who make a difference and I have been told that the grass is greener at other companies. The person who is responding on this weblog must be doubting themselves to even comment. Look in the mirror and ask yourself how is the morale at IRNA? POOR! Sunday, October 30, 2011 What is it that everyone here doesn't understand? A CFO is put in charge to maximize the return to investors on the sale of the company. Outsourcing, bad management, no investment, how much more evidence do you need? Saturday, October 29, 2011 Complete agreement about APAC HR. The APAC HR Director flies in and out of the country for half day/one day visits. What is the achievement? NONE. There are so many HR advisors, recruiters etc in the region. But the axe of 'head count reduction' falls on other people and NOT HR! Saturday, October 29, 2011 Sadly, as a member of IRNE R&D, I have to agree with the blogger who says we are in decline. We have had three years of inept management with heads of R&D who just don't know how to develop products. Now we have a "Head of Technology" who knows nothing about technology and a "Head of R&D" who knows nothing about development. The Spanish aren't actually that competent, but they just know how to sell themselves better than us and have a leader that actually has some respect from his troops. Friday, October 28, 2011 - To the IRNA poster saying that "... IRNA has good leadership .... change jobs and you will see": Many of us have (changed jobs) and have seen. Thank you. Several more top people are also planning to follow quite soon. My suggestion to you is to wake up and look around. Since 2008 you have seen a regular procession of some of the best people (across Marketing, Applications and R&D) leave IRNA and continue to do so. Many posters here have stated this over the past year. The problem, quite simply, is the lack of integrity, truthfulness and honesty displayed by some of the senior company managers, who are pretty selfish, caring only for their own bonuses and promotions. There are still many good people left in IRNA; but as they say, a few bad fish in a pond... Friday, October 28, 2011 Funny how all you losers who post on this blog with your unfounded, playground, vile abuse of staff in Invensys go very quiet when there is successful news to share of the company. The two wins for Rail this week demonstrate customer trust and belief in the company, the product, the delivery of it and importantly the staff within Invensys. Including management. Isn't it about time you grew up and put as much effort into the continued success of this company instead of trying to shoot people down with your pathetic, childish diatribe - which does nothing but serve to damage the company and ultimately your prospects of retaining a job. Smell the coffee. Wednesday, October 26, 2011 I think everyone in Invensys senior management should be required to read Steve Jobs. Just read what the Harvard Business Review had to say about his management style.
Wednesday, October 26, 2011 What is the Invensys obsession with outsourcing? Even when the business case doesn't stack up, it is still pursued. Invensys needs to have a good think about what it wants to be. Blindly outsourcing, in some cases reducing customer service and increasing costs, is nuts. The HR fiasco has become legendary. Why do we believe we can no longer develop and manufacture products competitively? We can! Wednesday, October 26, 2011 IRNE's R&D function has been out of control for years. Developments late with lots of technical problems that get fixed in the field in full view of the customer. Over-spend is also accepted with the function growing by 50% in the last 3 years. No leadership or direction. Crossfield might be on to something. Move it to Madrid, as it can't be worse than it is. Tuesday, October 25, 2011 People! You have good paying jobs in a recession. Trust me, you are fortunate. Stay positive. IRNA has good leadership that is doing the right thing for the business, in an environment that forces companies to cut to the bone. Change jobs and see for yourself. Monday, October 24, 2011 - Noted below, "The big criticism of Invensys is that it's run on airport bookstall book ideas very largely..." That explains IPMS and other unworkable HR-department initiatives that don't provide any value or benefit to the family of companies under Invensys. Hype and un-evidenced belief is used to rule Invensys while demonstrably observed failure and success are equally ignored in favor of fads and bumper-sticker notions that "business improvement insiders" produce from their rectal I/O devices and sell to HR believers. Products Invensys provides as well as services and assistance, still rank as very, very good across the spectrum of Invensys companies. Despite all our problems we still produce high quality solutions, most times less expensive and more understandable for customers than anybody else. Imagine how excellent Invensys could be if, instead of eliminating engineers and trying to outsource, it instead focused on reducing unhelpful distractions and doubled its focused on customer needs. Profits come first, I understand that; but we're seeing share holder greed adversely impacting the health of the company as a whole. Monday, October 24, 2011 R&D have been hopeless in Rail for years. Over spend and late is the norm on every development. We then have reliability issues to sort out that add to the costs. I can't think of any recent products that have been innovative and put us ahead of the competition. If Crossfield wants to get rid, then it's probably not going to make things worse! Saturday, October 22, 2011 Very insightful post on outsourced R&D. To my mind there are two good reasons for outsourcing. First one is to get specialist contractors with deeper domain knowledge than the host organization. Second is to scale up development capacity without adding overhead to get more done when there is an opportunity. This can be the work that's been described - regression testing, or it can be actual development. It is never a good idea to try to cut costs with outsourcing, because you don't - you certainly don't with Cognizant - and an engineering company in today's world must generate its own IP because that fundamentally is all it has, so it MUST retain core engineering skills. The big criticism of Invensys is that it's run on airport bookstall book ideas very largely, and that when it takes on an idea it does it without looking very specifically at how business units can get maximum benefit, it just sets a "big rule" as a dictate. There is a beneficial model for outsourcing, but we don't do it yet. Friday, October 21, 2011 - Asked below, "How does the company move forward between employing skilled staff at reasonable rates and engaging LCC's to perform the more repetitive/simplistic work?" You do it by not trying to outsource R&D yet instead try to outsource low-experience functions that LCCs have the possible ability to do, provided they are well managed with oversight from experienced employees. Software regression testing utilizing written test procedures is one area that an LCC could do successfully, relieving the burden from engineering, yet I don't see any companies anywhere being successful trying to outsource R&D. Not ever. Maybe someone here could post a success story and, if so, explain how that outsourcing R&D to a LCC successfully was accomplished. We read a lot of hype, wishful thinking, and outright delusion from management and from outsourcing companies and HR people who think it has worked, yet it would be informative to hear from R&D engineers about successful outsourcing that actually worked to see HOW it was accomplished. If outsourcing R&D to a LCC can actually work, a document describing how would be useful. Frankly all I have seen is BS, wishful thinking, ignorance of the fact that engineers retro-fix outsourced engineering efforts, and flat-out denial that it failed. Details of how to outsource successfully that can be verified would be useful. Friday, October 21, 2011 - Someone notes below "There would be very few qualified Engineers with experience in Rail (IRAP or IRNA) on less than $ 125k." I find that surprising, though are we talking about differences in currency value exchange rates? I cannot imagine any engineer at IRNA being paid anywhere near 125K in U.S. Dollars. If they are, then I'm either not an experienced engineer, else I'm not paid as well as I thought I was. In IRNA, annual wages are typically from $90K to $100K for working whatever hours are required, 2 weeks of paid vacation a year, and that's for a high quality engineer. Medical insurance and 401K matching and other benefits add to an IRNA engineer's true income, maybe that's what you mean when suggesting 125K is typical. Thursday, October 20, 2011 Yeah, they ran FASCO DC Motors into the ground. Totally out of business. I had a great 2 yrs. there. Unfortunately I was there a total of about 5 years. They just made a lot of really bad decisions, from corporate to the incompetent local manager who, when I asked about an Engineering position [befitting my Engineering degrees], responded with "what's wrong with your current position? - indicating he either did not know my position [incompetent], or was playing games [unethical]. Maybe both. Here it is about 10 years later, and that building is occupied by a metal stamping company with whom we do business- a thriving company at that. Just a shame the way Invensys handles things. Perhaps they should have kept talented folks such as myself, paid them what they are worth, and made some more-intelligent directional decisions. Meanwhile, I now have a real Engineering job with a real company that provides the basic resources needed to perform the job - and pays 2x what Invensys ever did. Thursday, October 20, 2011 Only a moron would outsource core skills such as SIL 4 specialist R&D and very specialist almost one off manufacturing. Basic things should go to cheaper sources. From what we've seen our manufacturing makes almost half the IRNE profit. I'm told we have some of the best R&D skills in the organization. Without the systems business and the little known manufacturing external sales the UK projects business is around 10% return on sale. Less if you include problem projects. I can't wait until the BIP shows this up. I wonder if Crossfield will come clean. Guess you don't know what you've got until you've lost it. By the way I work in finance and am impartial. I deal in numbers, they have no spin. Show me the data that says I'm wrong and I will show why I am right. Wednesday, October 19, 2011 Invensys Controls is now a terrible place to work. I have been with Invensys for many years. Invensys has purchased all these companies and then closed then all down. I blame the management. All R&D is moving to China, but what have they ever produced from China? All the engineers who had been with the business for years are all now gone. Invensys Controls R&D is now operates like this "Customer: we want a water valve with a different thread", "Invensys: we will R&D a water valve with a new thread". The cost of the R&D engineer is not the issue. The issue is how much money does the output of the R&D engineer generate. This is why Invensys Controls Management is incompetent. Wednesday, October 19, 2011 Heard it all before. R&D done by Cognizant, application engineering by Infotech and outsource all of manufacturing. So what is Invensys ? A finance house? No just a joke! Wednesday, October 19, 2011 - Re: All development work is going to Madrid Where was that announced? Is that official? That's so sad - all those years of WES products, and now it's all gone WESt. Wednesday, October 19, 2011 Crossfield has sold out IRNE R&D. After over a century of major innovation and development, it's all over. Apparently all development work is going to Madrid because he thinks we are incompetent. That's a quick decision after just a year as MD. Riddett has destroyed R&D in IRNA now it's obviously IRNE's turn and Crossfield is the axe man. Monday, October 17, 2011 Again, for all of the salary speculators, please do realize that the rail business is really almost never spoken of here in the US unless it is with respect to you guys in the UK. The same goes for Wonderware. The comment about salaries below $125k was made with respect to the Controls division. Monday, October 17, 2011 I left BTR/Invensys in 1997,and see that nothing has changed. Felt like the weight of the whole world had been lifted off my shoulders. Looked and felt 10 years younger within weeks. Saturday, October 15, 2011 Invensys USA just recruited three non-performers into Sales group from Yokogawa with salary over $150K each to go after REC silicon customer, knowing that there is no opportunity for our company. The same account manager was sacked for partying over $100K without winning any order more than 4 years is now with our company. I hope our senior management / HR in USA is aware of these Non-Performers. I was told by a friend here in Europe that REC has pulled the plug on all the capital projects, which means our company will spend $600K ~$750K during next one year for these Non-Performers depending on the level of partying. What will happen to our share price by end of next year? No Brainer! Saturday, October 15, 2011 Agree with the Wonderware poster. This debate has got silly. There would be very few qualified Engineers with experience in Rail (IRAP or IRNA) on less than $ 125k. I am not sure about IRNE and that was the point of some of the early posts. Forget about looking at statistics that are likely to be outdated, just contact a sourcing agent and ask them what the market rate is today. I am damn sure it is not less than $ 125K. The question is: how does the company move forward between employing skilled staff at reasonable rates and engaging LCC's to perform the more repetitive/simplistic work. It seems that, if the IRNE posts are true, they have now fallen into a new class which is in between the 2. Saturday, October 15, 2011 At Wonderware, $125k is probably the median salary including senior engineering staff, so whomever is claiming salaries below that is misinformed. Of course, Sudipta wants to replace all of them with a cadre of unqualified but cheaper people. How ironic, given that Sudipta is the most hopelessly unqualified of the lot! Friday, October 14, 2011 When will we be rid of Riddett? When will he be fired again for bringing down a company? Wake up and smell the coffee. Riddett is truly a train-wreck for Invensys Rail employees. No loyalty to the people. Friday, October 14, 2011 No, nobody in the United States is getting paid $125K, at least none of the engineers are. The US economy simply does not allow for that kind of wage. I also found it amusing that HR person suggested that buying an Indian "engineer" costs half that of an actual engineer in the UK. That's wrong. You get poor quality and maybe 25% of an actual engineer when you try to outsource to India, China, Mexico, or any other LCC and whatever UK engineers are left after layoffs are having to pick up the slack and fix what the LCC tried to do, usually doing so during either paid or (increasingly) unpaid extra hours donated to the company that tried to outsource. The cost of outsourcing a UK job always without exception ends up being more than the cost of an actual engineer in the UK. Always. The outsourcing myth survives because UK company managers refuse to factor fix-it costs to project overruns and delays since they don't want to admit outsourcing UK jobs was a mistake. Friday, October 14, 2011 Cue the Spartacus parody with multiple people standing up: "I'm Kevin Riddett". "No I'm Kevin Riddett". "No I am, of course, Kevin Riddett". "I am Riddett". "NO, I AM KEVIN RIDDETT" and so on and so forth. You get the idea! Thursday, October 13, 2011 As for all of the salary speculation, unless they are at the Principal level or above I doubt very seriously that engineers in the US are earning $125k+ per year. The actual salaries are likely much lower (30 to 35 percent easily; more for younger engineers with less than 5 years experience), and we haven't received raises in 2 years or more nor do we receive a bonus. Even for those at the Principal level, I doubt all of them are at that level of salary. These days all the moneys seems to get spent on hotel rooms and baseball games. Thursday, October 13, 2011 - Re: "You are Kevin Riddett and I claim my five pounds." The funniest post in weeks, but oh so true. It has to be either Riddett (or Crossfield) that scripted that. If it was Mr Riddett, I would like to say that it is the company is behaving like a prostitute. Should we behave likewise and fleece the company for everything? Town hall meetings do not address real issues (Mr) Riddett. Thursday, October 13, 2011 The APAC HR Director would be more suited to running a prison. The poor HR staff are afraid to give anybody solid answers; instead they just refer people to her. Ridiculous. Engineering seems to be in disarray as they wait and wait for those at the top to make a decision on the structure. Projects are over budget. Meanwhile the clueless Sales Manager keeps on smiling. Surely this is all going to come to a sticky end very soon? Thursday, October 13, 2011 - Re: 'QUIT YOUR WHINING!' You are Kevin Riddett and I claim my five pounds. Wednesday, October 12, 2011 We in Rail had hoped that when Ulf was fired we'd lost his legacy of the Stalinist purges. It was one leader after another. However Ridditt has continued in the same fashion, getting even and settling scores. Small minded and inappropriate. It's a shame because the good people are now starting to leave to the competition. For our customers, people are leaving the industry, shame. Having spoken to people in Union Switch and Pirelli, it's obvious that Riddett is a worry. However his racism was a shock to us all and we are amazed such views exist in Invensys! Wednesday, October 12, 2011 One might argue that it's the complete lack of courage and the failure to respond in any venue you're commenting on that is the endemic problem many of us are complaining about. I'm not sure that this is necessarily the right venue for management to respond in, but a better approach is definitely needed. The continuing rah-rah and the push to work more hours because we've got to make "this next deadline" doesn't cut it when it happens for years at a time with no end in sight. That's bad project management and it has cost us dearly. It's the sign of a very weak manager to push the idea that "you should be glad you've even got a job" as a motivation for whatever. But that's an underlying theme of IOM these days. Sorry, there *are* other jobs out there as many of us have found out. Wednesday, October 12, 2011 Good Lord, people... go find a good publican or a priest or a therapist or a prostitute... or better yet... FIND A NEW JOB AND QUIT YOUR WHINING! Tuesday, October 11, 2011 Invensys Controls is a terrible place to work. After working for Invensys Controls for many years I am happy that I will able to retire soon. Anyone who walks into Carol Stream will see glass cabinets with all of Invensys' products. Many of these products were old when I joined the company. There is no innovation. The best the so-called managers can do is shaft each other. What has happened to the good companies Invensys purchased, Paragon, Eliwell. Tuesday, October 11, 2011 This was once an amusing read in turbulent times with fairly accurate posts. Now it is inhabited by some very sad and sick people. I am giving up reading this, life is far too short. I am tired of the disgusting OTT personal attacks on people past and present by folk who probably spend too much time indoors. I suspect that it is a small core of bitter small-minded staff who could not get a job outside if they tried. They should be ashamed. This is a shabby dead end and I want no part in it. It's a pity none of the senior management in IOM or IRL have the necessary courage to post on here publicly. I think that would change the tone and make it more constructive. Senior managers, where are you? Tuesday, October 11, 2011 I am an ex Invensys Rail HR business partner and now in a different industry sector. There are a lot of misinformed posts regarding salaries. The truth is there is a difference in engineering salaries between the US and UK. It also depends on the Market sector. A chartered Engineer in the depressive automotive sector could be paid less than 40k. Rail tends to pay above the average but, for example, the average IRNE qualified signal engineer is paid around 40k. An Engineering Manager in his 40s is in a pay band between 55-70k. Equally this would be around 50k in a manufacturing engineering function. In the US it's around 20% more but again varies dramatically by region. The rural south is cheaper than the Northeast. Then again the mad panic to rush to India is because engineering there is 50% cheaper than the UK. However a warning: labour inflation for engineers in India is around 20% a year and we are seeing deflation in the west. We saw this in China where now a good manufacturing engineer in say Shanghai, is around 32k, the same as or even more than in some parts of the UK. We saw the same in Eastern Europe. Those old enough will remember when Japan was a low cost country, as was Malaysia and Singapore. All three now on par with the West. Ironically the UK is in a reasonable position as generally cheaper than the US, Germany and France. Just needs a government to recognize that engineering and manufacturing are vital to our future and to stop relying on the failed financial services sector. Tuesday, October 11, 2011 I posted the note about the role of HR in Invensys, and the quality of the HR team in Invensys, and the potential that they have to add huge value to your business if only the leadership team understood how to utilize their skills and experience. Predictably, this prompted the usual vitriolic response from managers in Invensys who don't 'get it' and believe that HR should be mopping after them and fulfilling their role as manager. I am not the person to whom you refer; I am an engineer, who wanted to pursue a role as an engineering leader, and thought, rightly, that I would not gain the skills and experience that I need because that role is not valued in Invensys. Most engineers in Invensys only want to follow a technical route to develop their career and fail to realize that to be successful in today's world, you need a combination of leadership and technical skills. And I am not at Thales either. Tuesday, October 11, 2011 As a UK based Engineer I can only surmise that the post stating such low figured for UK engineers is either misinformed or a member of the HR exec. Your figures only encourage bad feeling with the Invensys group as a whole. UK, Australia, Europe and US Engineers rates vary little and we simply do not have ANY Engineers in IRNE on such a pittance. There may well be designers, technicians, laborers or the like on that kind of renumeration but simply no Engineers. One of the most disparaging things is that Engineering is not a protected profession. PS: I am a registered CEng. Monday, October 10, 2011 Sudipta's days are clearly numbered now. With Gary Freburger encroaching on his areas of responsibility more and more each day, he's basically tightening the noose, learning what he needs to learn, and preparing for the day when he'll be named CEO of IOM. Hopefully Sudipta is smart enough to realize that his number is up, just like Mike Bradley before him, when Sudipta cuddled up close only to steal his job. Comeuppance finally. Monday, October 10, 2011 Invensys Rail will never grow under Riddett's leadership. Edmunds and Rudd appear inept and indecisive. The latest embarrassment in Spain is just a continuation of what we've seen here in the US for 3 years. Safetran has been forced to outsource some of its main business strengths and any down turn in sales will leave it stranded. Note the date of this post. I will repost it when Ridett's legacy inevitably becomes clear. Monday, October 10, 2011 After reading recent comments on cost expenditure and organizational issues, let me give a suggestion. Why can't all those support functions like EHS and HR be shared services across the three business divisions in the same region and existing leverage resources at the same location? Just take IRAP for example. We have in Singapore a HR VP, one EHS director and one EHS manager. IOM already has a well established team led by a HR Vp and a EHS director. Do we need IRAP to bring more high cost personnel? Ask yourself: if IT and GIS can be a shared service across the entire Apac, why can't others do and think the same to help Invensys save some $$? Monday, October 10, 2011 Wow, if Engineers salaries in the UK really are that low then I feel for you all. I guess the recession has hit hard. But it begs the question that if engineers are so cheap in the UK, then why have people been made redundant as part of your BIP? You would have thought that you could attract work from overseas if you can bid with labour rates like that. Incidentally I am from Australia, not the US. Sunday, October 9, 2011 - Re: "The guy who says 'elite' engineers should work for 41k GBP is obviously delusional and so very British in his arrogance." I think you (and several others) have misunderstood my previous post, in particular where I stated "CEng status is reserved for the elite engineers". My intention was simply to demonstrate that (in principle) CEng status can only be obtained by 'elite' engineers. I categorically did NOT state that only those with CEng can be considered elite. Furthermore, at no stage did I suggest that I was one of the 'elite' engineers. In fact, I am not a Chartered Engineer. I was merely giving an example to illustrate a point. You seem to have assumed a "very British arrogance" that quite simply has no foundation. The real arrogance in this discussion lies with the original poster, who made a sweeping generalization that any professional who earns less than 70k per year is 'incompetent'. Isn't it a bit arrogant to assume that pay scales worldwide are directly in line with US salary expectations? Or perhaps we are to believe that the vast majority of engineers in the UK (and Europe) are incompetent? After all, I can assure you that most UK and European engineers are not earning 70k per year. Some basic internet research clearly demonstrates this fact. Sunday, October 9, 2011 Just to add on to the high cost wastage at IRAP: do you blokes all know that the new HR VP and EHS Director are earning at least US$ 12k per month plus a US$ 800 transport allowance? Recently, they visited offices all around Asia, flying to places like India, China, Thailand, Malaysia including meeting in UK, etc. What value did they add to my projects? NONE! We were all doing so well without them previously and we don't need another two to add to the baggage to our cost structure. What a big waste! Sunday, October 9, 2011 Are people seriously suggesting that the average salary of 'competent' IRNE engineering staff should be around 70k?! If all our 'competent' engineers were paid that much then we wouldn't have a business left! Sunday, October 9, 2011 Recently one of the regional HR Directors visited the BU. Organized a "leadership" meeting. The BU head flew down to meet the HR on lunch! HR Director's statements, the arrogant talk made all the people yawn in disbelief. Pathetic show. Flew from Regional country to BU for just 1 day. The cost was very high. Perhaps somebody could explain why money is wasted like this? Sunday, October 9, 2011 The guy who says 'elite' engineers should work for 41k GBP is obviously delusional and so very British in his arrogance. If wearing a Necktie, being a 'CEng' and earning 40% of what a professional engineer earns makes you 'elite' then I am sure an average professional engineer is so very happy that he is not elite. Sunday, October 9, 2011 In IRAP you don't have to be an Exec Manager in order to travel overseas business class. Things must be looking up, as my manager and 3 others from engineering head off on an all expenses paid trip to Singapore & KL. Not for work, but to attend a weeks conference whilst we are left to sort out the project mess just when we needed their help the most. Where is the justice? It is no surprise that more of our good staff are looking for other opportunities outside. Sunday, October 9, 2011 The average age of a controls engineer in the UK is around 58. if you are a Chartered Engineer and hard worker I'd love to employ you on 41k. As the earlier blogger wrote, you are being had! Wake up, smell the coffee and move on. 60k+ is available anywhere you want to look. PS: Don't let your wife see this blog! Sunday, October 9, 2011 Even a HR director in IOM China makes RMB1+ million annually, while they are paying a sales at average RMB 200k. He is doing great to destroy the organization. His primary G&O is to become the GM bouncer to screw the employees and he is surviving well. Saturday, October 8, 2011 Freburger is man with the velvet touch. He is now also the head of Nuclear. Has the man even seen a Nuclear plant? Or a refinery? Or a development lab? He manages IOM development, and nuclear now, with zero domain expertise in both. Competition must be salivating while competing with us. It decapitates all the work and hours we put in the trenches. COO, head of development, head of nuclear - all go to show how well he has managed Sudipta after having being managed by Ulf. They are the old gang. I thought Wayne had mentioned domain expertise as deciding factor. As usual a lot of new CEO talk and no action. I will wager he will outlast all of us and move on to help Riddett and Rail can have 3 in 1 and then land at PLC to succeed Wayne. Watch this prediction. Saturday, October 8, 2011 Seriously if an 'elite engineer' will work for "circa 41k" then I can only say that the UK should be an LCC (Low Cost Country). But it's not. Therefore it goes back to my original point (pay peanuts, get monkeys). I have met many good UK Engineers across the world and none of these guys would work for peanuts. So, the UK needs to define itself as an LCC and therefore become a production line for simple application data, mass hard wiring etc. or really try and attract guys who can win and deliver contracts properly. If the 2nd option, then paying 'circa 41k', my friend, will continue to deliver the results of the past (lots of carpet-slipper engineers shuffling around and not adding value). Like I said, there are many good UK engineers but from what I have seen they are working for countries that pay a professionals salary (not based in the UK). Saturday, October 8, 2011- Re: "CEng status is reserved for the 'elite' engineers" Here in IRAP that represents a kick in the teeth for the uncharterized engineers. Saturday, October 8, 2011 The last post about US salaries isn't wrong, but it's probably not the engineers that are the problem. Here in IOM it's the management costs that are nuts. Take our completely incompetent COO. When you take his salary, long term incentive plan and bonus you are looking at about a $1000,000 a year. Basic salary is nearly $500,000. Incentives and shares double that. Then add all the first class travel and hotels, as Freburger has preferred to live nowhere near an Invensys office, and the all in cost of a clueless COO that does not understand our technology is more like $1.2m a year. Not bad for a person who started work on the factory floor. You decide if he's worth it. Saturday, October 8, 2011 - Re: "there are no skilled staff worth their salt who would work for less than $125k." What a ridiculous post! Hopefully you are not a reflection of the general calibre of our North American colleagues. To put it into context, the average salary of a Chartered Engineer in the UK is circa 41k. And becoming Chartered takes many years of dedication to the profession, a commitment to personal and professional development, and successfully completing a peer reviewed application process. CEng status is reserved for the 'elite' engineers. Perhaps the troubles of Invensys are due to inflated US salaries. Maybe we should move all our operations to Europe to lower our cost base! Saturday, October 8, 2011 - Re: "Invensys' quality HR people would be welcome here!" Let's hope they all go and join you in Thales then, with blueberry muffin, who almost single handedly destroyed IRNE. I expect Thales' budget for coffee mugs, T-shirts, videos and pointless, ineffective training, will need a major increase. Saturday, October 8, 2011 The last post on US salaries explains why it's not a good idea to bring US employees to Europe or Asia. They are just too expensive. In Rail, the newly appointed SVP for HR is paid more than some of the BU Presidents! Then again, who decides on salaries? I imagine that would be HR. LOL. Friday, October 7, 2011 The recent post complaining that some HR staff will be earning 70k (GB pounds). What?!! That is only $110k and of course a professional should be earning that (and more). I am an engineer although anybody who is a professional and earning less than $125k can only be described as either being incompetent (they are only worth paying peanuts) or they are overcharged on emotions (I want to work with my friends boo-hoo). Seriously guys, in order to build a business we need to attract and hold skilled staff and there are no skilled staff worth their salt who would work for less than $125k. Friday, October 7, 2011 Invensys sold its business unit in Hyderabad to Cognizant, only to open a new one in Bangalore. How smart! God help their engineers in Bangalore. Probably Invensys shareholders are getting punished for letting Sudipta keep his Job. Justice is finally being done. Friday, October 7, 2011 Larson was to blame. Ulf was a strange choice as CEO, with his 'visionary' ramblings, but at least he was business-oriented. Larson was a complete fake. She was a low level GE HR manager and got into Invensys by default. The HR out-sourcing plan was a disaster, costing millions. She also had a taste for the high life, with very expensive global get togethers for HR in exotic locations. Good riddance to her and the odd Swede. I think Steve Hare saw the writing on the wall in 2009. What credible FTSE100 has lost a CEO, CFO, HRD and 2 x Division CEO's in 2 years? Invensys is a bad joke. Friday, October 7, 2011 Being a recent IOM/GIS "leaver", I can tell you that it's not a matter of the grass being greener - it's simply a matter of there being grass. Each of the LOB's was a wonderful microcosm with high morale and true customer interaction and product innovation. The first big smash, IPS, was a disaster and now IOM has made it that much worse. I had hoped that the LOB discussions would bring Invensys back to the pre-IPS days, but so far it seems like it doesn't seem to have helped at all. I can honestly say that I would return to my original LOB in a heartbeat if they would have me back. However, I would never work for Invensys again. I wish you all luck, until the cancer at the highest levels (Sudipta, Raja, Rudd, Riddett, Grant, Freeberger) is eradicated there is no hope. When was the last time any of you heard a sincere "thank you" or "good job" from a VP? It's just a matter of respect for the people you work with and the people that work for you; the current management doesn't respect their people, as evidenced by the morale, and "Sprit" week is just a cheap ploy and lip service to the underlying issue. Friday, October 7, 2011 Let's stop flogging Riddett. It's not his fault he has attention deficit disorder and other behavioral problems. You can continue to beat him up, but he cannot respond as he isn't capable. I'm sure he is a plant manager or even a level higher. To expect more is unreasonable. This is down to Wayne and Sir Nigel. Poor old Riddett has been promoted well above his capability by Ulf. That was before Ulf got fired and a vacuum was left. Leave Riddett to blunder on and try your best, without getting fired to stop him doing stupid things. It won't be easy; he is an idiot. Just humor him. Friday, October 7, 2011 We in IRNE have had our fill of HR. We've even had a HR VP who was found giving all recruitment to a company at 20% above average fees. Then it turns out the company is owned by her husband and the VP is also a Director! You expect complete transparency, integrity and support from HR. We get nothing. The post from the ex-IRNE HR Training, business transformation manager and then fired individual that went to Thales is responsible for a lot of it in IRNE. She may try to defend her position but good luck to Thales! Friday, October 7, 2011 The sick smell of HR pervades IOM. Invensys Spirit Week is another example of their work. E-mails from on high, echoed by the local cheer leaders, games, free food, etc. The same techniques were tried in ancient Rome in an effort to distract the populace from the rot and corruption. Do they really think we are so stupid? What an insult! Friday, October 7, 2011 I left Invensys Rail mainline going to our number 1 competitor. The grass is not greener may I tell you. The Invensys Rail employees don't understand how good things are and how strong the resource pool is over there. Getting resources with the right skill is an asset Invensys takes for granted. Thursday, October 6, 2011 HR at Invensys has always been a joke, and Paula Larsen, Ulf's handler, is to blame. She was a CEO wannabe who built her own little empire to rule. She and her team spent astronomical amounts of money and accomplished nothing. Even worse was the hypocrisy and shallowness of virtually ever initiative they undertook. Good riddance. Thursday, October 6, 2011 - To the person supporting HR: From a high level and also from the perspective of the employees I think the attacks on HR are spot on. This does not mean that you or other HR employees do not/did not do a great job, just that HR (in Invensys) has acquired a standing that does not match what HR should do within a company. Some examples may help:
In fact, at IRNA, nearly no one trusts the current HR leadership. They have probably the worst reputation (from an Integrity perspective) of any functional area. And this is HR, who should be above board at all times. Thursday, October 6, 2011 I agree with my colleague in Invensys Dimetronic who posted today. Mr Riddett was embarrassing, sitting at the front laughing at nothing and playing with his iPhone when Mr Edmunds and Mr Rudd were speaking. I am told he has acted like a fool all week. What a drop in standards we have seen for Rail. We have read all the posts over the last year but now we see for the first time they are correct. Unbelievable. How is Riddett in charge? If many people can see this across the global business why can't Mr Edmunds? Thursday, October 6, 2011 - Re:"The business has been galvanized by Crossfield to dig deep, and for employees to put their shoulder to the wheel and deliver." Good heavens! When I signed up with the company in the middle of the last decade, there was a "C'mon, my lads, there's only one more trench left to go!" attitude being pushed by management. People were working an awful lot of hours to get products out the door... and then seeing that their reward for lots of work was still more work. People would kill themselves making one unrealistic deadline and then be thrown into the next project immediately. (The paltry 2% raises for us in IOM were a real motivator, eh?) It sounds like things haven't changed a bit after 6 or 7 years: people are still being asked to pick up the slack for bad management and put in lots of uncompensated time for the sole reason of making an incompetent management look good and to bulk up the bottom line. When the company is broken up, I guarantee all those extra hours aren't going to be remembered by anyone. I'm glad to be gone, and billing clients by the hour. Bad project management means money in my pocket. Thursday, October 6, 2011 This morning here at Dimetronic Invensys (IRSE) we just had our "informative meeting" with "The Three Musketeers" (Rudd, Edmunds and Riddett). I can just say that Kevin Riddett is stupid. I really don't know how such a dumb person could climb so high on a company. In the middle of Sir Nigel or Wayne speeches, Riddett started laughing alone. He was all the time playing with his phone and he almost didn't say a single word. Wayne Edmunds seems a clever person, although he didn't say anything concrete about Invensys Rail's future. And Sir Nigel - well, he talked only about money; that it's really what he wants from us. After the speeches, during the questions & answers time, one colleague asked about the possibility of Invensys buying Ansaldo (an Italian Railway Signaling company), but they discard this chance, although if the company price is low, Invensys can afford it. Other important question for us was about all the rumors of Dimetronic selling (maybe to China). Sir Nigel didn't discard this opportunity if our buyer could pay well, so I guess they are open to hear any good offer from abroad (CRC, Siemens, etc). Thursday, October 6, 2011 All that narcissistic rambling on Ulf's blogs is surprisingly reflective of the real person. Not the way he describes himself, but the narcissistic rambling! In my encounters with him, I generally found him to be very "fake" - feigning interest in what someone is saying, but clearly having already made up his mind to pursue his own agenda. His ability to assess talent has since been proven to be disastrous to the company, sacrificing short term gain for long term value. Sadly, I don't think the current leadership is a whole lot better. Maybe the new bosses post-acquisition will be an improvement - they certainly can't be any worse. Thursday, October 6, 2011 The ongoing attacks on HR in this blog seem to me to be unfounded and typical of Invensys' short term thinking and general lack of modernity. I left Invensys earlier this year (thank goodness!)- one of the reasons being a lack of focus in the business on building the capability of people in the long term, i.e., developing individuals, strategic talent management and succession planning, etc. The HR guys that I talked to were nearly all high quality individuals, with integrity, and innovative ideas about how to develop the business from a people perspective - people being the most valuable asset that the business has. They faced huge obstacles with the leadership teams in building commitment to their ideas and integrating them in business processes, with the leaders, especially in IR / IRNE, not being of sufficient intellect / strength / quality of experience to understand the importance of doing these things well as a key driver of value. Most managers in IRNE are out of the ark, and think that their job is only to manage the day-to-day tasks and not lead and manage their teams. These things combined will be a big factor in why Invensys will fail. And by the way, one of IRNE's competitors for whom I now work, do this stuff really well, and are attracting and developing the best talent, not just in engineering (which means we'll steal a march on Invensys) but also in support function. Invensys' quality HR people would be welcome here! Thursday, October 6, 2011 If the share price of Invensys decreases much more, never mind a large multi-national company acquiring them, I will soon be in a position to take them over myself with the money I've just found down the back of the couch! Wednesday, October 5, 2011 - Re: Rail looking for COO: IOM has a COO we can pass to rail. How do expensive people like him survive flying all over the place from Arizona and lavish office in 3 locations. IOM has many jokes and he is now the best joke in IOM - leading to participate and add intelligent-sounding comments in technical discussions with the development staff and talking about CIing development to death. The comments in Lake Forest and Foxboro on his development discussion participation are now top-10 jokes and his desperation to write down acronyms is laughable. He calls System Platform a mid-size DCS and says InFusion is an open DCS. So we now have mid-size DCS, Open DCS, Large DCS, Closed DCS. Think what a customer would have to say meeting him! He also is acting head of sales for North America and the word "acting" says it. As if it's not enough to have a development head that understands only services, we also have to deal with a COO who understands only CI. Maybe we combine DCS and CI and have DCIS as our vision of distributed continuous improvement system and sell. The Hendriksson Honeywell legacy is alive and kicking. Is Wayne asleep at the wheel? Wednesday, October 5, 2011 HR remain the poorest performing part of all Invensys businesses. They are a massive distraction and a major cause of facing internally and not at the customer. For some reason HR think they are a separate operational business and even have their own STRAP and HR Ops reviews. Can HR please stop sending daily emails out on values, competencies, MYRs, i-whatever and then some. We have more focus on these than orders, sales, profit and cash. Some of us are trying to actually make the sale, deliver to customers and collect the cash. Remember what that used to be like? Perhaps we should all work from home and use the HR team to develop new products and face the customer? Wednesday, October 5, 2011 - RE: Close the Invensys - Congnizant deal: I hope we can do this. Even employees in Cognizant are not happy with the Invensys attitude. First they make products that are White Elephants and then they expect Cognizant to maintain it cheaply! The Current Cognizant Management for IOM is the same that Invensys Management once handpicked in IDC. This again goes to show how incompetent Invensys management really is. Wednesday, October 5, 2011 There are enough good things and also bad ones at IOM. The good is excellent brand, performing products, good people (not at the top which is filled with ex-IT-space guys. The problem is IOM's reflex to point inwards perpetually - restructure and integrate, again restructure and integrate, again and again, and the saga goes on. We are completely internally focussed. Fixing the customers' problems or attempting to engineer top of the market, competitive solutions against external customer needs. This is prevalent in every BU - the company as a whole. Quality of of some of the leadership is a BIG question - too many of the software (IT) guys. HR is a completely failed area in IOM, especially in some BU where the number of HR people are overwhelming, with ZERO quality and many working from home (or hotels)! One failed initiative after another, and now the so called MID-YEAR-REVIEW - which is a complete JOKE! Wednesday, October 5, 2011 The morale in still down at IOM and no one feels stable in their jobs. IOM has a leadership team that is absent most of the time. Sudipta is on his ego trip, and it seems like he is clueless about what is going on in IOM. He has distanced himself with the new LOB structure. There are number of unhappy customers in IOM, but we are focused on more processes and useless initiatives - i-deliver etc. etc. In some BU's, the bosses fly up and down every week, stay in fancy places. But the engineers' daily allowance while on commissioning sites or customer visits is cut down to a paltry sum with which one cannot sustain. All this is supposedly due to margin pressures(!). Added to this the so-called "Spirit Week" celebrations! Complete breakdown of enthusiasm, initiative. Now oNE delivery initiative! Tuesday, October 4, 2011 Interesting but unsurprising that Ulf Henricksson remains in the wilderness. Still after what Invensys paid him, he can afford to be sad and delusional! Riddett also spent a year where nobody would touch him. On his return to the US, he was fired and unemployed for over a year. To hide things, he set up a consultancy business but nobody hired him. A quick glance at his resume and you can see why. And that's before you actually meet the guy. Things must have been getting desperate as he accepted the Safetran job on a third of the salary he was getting at Pirelli. Clearly he now appears to be in over his head and sinking. He'd better strap on his parachute nice and firmly as he should be one of the first of many out the door. Tuesday, October 4, 2011 After 25 years at Controls, the same desk but three different companies, or is it four - the focus is now all about building little fiefdums. Every one is trying to grab the little bits of business we have left. 20 years ago we had good products and made good profits, so where did it all go? Poor vision, lack of acknowledgement of the commodity markets we were it, lack of a strategy for the rise of China. The corporate planes are gone (yes we had a corporate jet) but we keep doing the same old things. We keep changing Managers ( I actually liked Chan, at least he saw that there was no money in selling gas valves to Rheem) but nothing else changes. Tuesday, October 4, 2011 So what happened to the great Ulf Hendricksson? The world leader in management and leadership. After being fired from Invensys, due in large to becoming a self obsessed and somewhat delusional embarrassment, he has vanished. Eight months after his sudden departure nobody will touch him in any market. Obsessed with his visions as a global leader he even has a website that nobody reads and still calls himself a CEO - even though he is unemployed. Very, very sad, but sick individual.
This has an article, "A Philosophy of Leadership", dated May 3, 2011, with a photograph of Ulf, and a link to:
Tuesday, October 4, 2011 The posts about HR in IRNE are spot on. The problems (as usual) are in Chippenham. I understand many of them earn more than 70k per year and get to work from home half of the week. Larson is gone but the gravy train continues. Tuesday, October 4, 2011 Is it true that Riddett wants all manufacturing out of the Union Louisville plant? Rumour has it that the manufacturing in Melbourne is also to close. Visionary or just the usual follow-the-pack, short-sighted, don't-know-what-to-do leadership? What's with all the rumours of a COO role and lines of technology P&L? These have been around for months now. I can't wait to see how that would work in a systems business. Rail needs to reduce its Executive team as both revenue and profit are declining under Riddett. If we are at the stage of golden parachutes, Riddett had better get his sorted as he is the least-value-added leader in Rail's history! If Wayne doesn't see it, surely Sir Nigel can ? Talk is getting cheaper as business sinks around us. Tuesday, October 4, 2011 ' Do we have the option to work from home in IRNE? I've worked here 7 years and never seen such a policy. I'd love to work from home - lie in each morning, save hundreds of pounds a month on petrol and see more of my family. Is this option only available to HR employees or do we have equality for everyone? Why do some offices have flex-time and regularly work a four day week? I can't see the company pulling together as one with this situation. Tuesday, October 4, 2011 All your competitors must be reading this and rubbing theirs hands in delight! It would appear that Invensys is unified in only 1 way: every bit of the organization is in an ever-increasing death spiral. I've said it before - it won't last 2011 out. The only reason it hasn't been taken over already is that it will be cheaper to buy after it collapses. The iceberg has been hit, some people have already used the lifeboats and the deck is beginning to tilt. Does anyone think the 'captains' will go down with the ship? Tuesday, October 4, 2011 It's clear that the people in Invensys Rail are unhappy. It's clear that the top management is preparing to slash and burn. Face the facts people! Complain to your barber. Tuesday, October 4, 2011 I doubt IRNE even needs an MD. the business is in effect the old 'Core Markets'. All that had was a GM and some Head of's. Cant see why we need the Rolex bunch? Tuesday, October 4, 2011 The Three Musketeers (Ridett, Edmunds, and Sir Nigel) will be in Madrid during this week for an "informative meeting" with IRSE staff. Prepare for the worst! Monday, October 3, 2011 A few weeks ago some blogger said that the Southern Delivery Director won the Thameslink package. There was already an existing outstanding working relationship thanks to the hard working Invensys staff in that area. Great expertise and genuine dedication to the client - the client knows that. Please don't insult people's efforts and make out that Superman came in at the winning line to save everyone. Monday, October 3, 2011 Well, if he is good or not I hope either the VP Delivery, or some other VP, gets hold of HR. This function has been a joke for years but seems to be getting worse. Why can't they just do what they are paid to do? There was a view that when Paula Larson was fired then reality would dawn. Apparently not. The business has been galvanized by Crossfield to dig deep, and for employees to put their shoulder to the wheel and deliver. I see project, engineering and manufacturing people going beyond the normal call of duty. For example, the recent locational case required for Moorethorpe where 24 hours were worked by all the teams. Meanwhile the HR team work from home and live in a different world. It's embarrassing. Do they actually know what they are doing? The recent post about the IRNE Exec was accurate. All we need is MD, FD, Delivery Dir, Ops Dir, R&D and Commercial. The rest are passengers and should be managers not Exec. I actually thought that was what was presented originally. Monday, October 3, 2011 From my two decades career at Invensys Controls, I can clearly see we've moved our focus away from the customer and close to our own navel... Sunday, October 2, 2011 The IRNE VP Delivery will be caught out. He doesn't believe things need to change and his main priority is to get all functions reporting through him. He thinks Crossfield is a joke and won't last. Just wait and watch as his delivery operation fails to deliver. Sunday, October 2, 2011 I am amazed by our lack of leadership. Here in IRAP we seem to have completely lost the plot and for the first time in memory are making a trading loss. We have a write-down of over $16 m Australian on the Auckland contract and apparently Riddett's plan is to get Plc to fund the loss through a special provision, so as to hide the problem to prospective buyers. This borders on fraud. Sunday, October 2, 2011 - Re. Is IOM on track and in budget? For IOM to be on track here are some useful tips:
Sunday, October 2, 2011 Re:Saturday, September 17, 2011 - "It was genuinely good to notice all the support of the new V.P. delivery post on this site" Did the new V.P. delivery write this himself? It would not surprise me. Saturday, October 1, 2011 I am a former customer, then employee, customer again. The products are still good. But I do not influence within my company because of being unsure of Invensys leadership commitment to the company and how much offshoring happens. Two finance people with no domain experience managing group from London as a financial body and both new in roles. Shareholders that want EPS and so cost cuts and then three businesses that have all new leaders less than 3 years with company. Makes it difficult to decide any stability as compared to other choices. It will be watched how effective the leaders work to stabilize workforce at all levels. Thursday, September 29, 2011 Wow. The quiet structuring of golden parachutes I'm hearing about makes me both nervous and nauseous. What on earth has the current leadership done to deserve a generous payout in the event of an acquisition? Thursday, September 29, 2011 I wonder if we are still so keen on doing business with a Chinese "partner" like CSR ? There have now been 2 serious accidents this year with the latest involving a Chinese -Alstom JV. The previous high speed train crash was a CSR train. Chinese shortcuts are killing people. Is this what we want Invensys to be associated with? There is a price to pay for being a western prostitute. Thursday, September 29, 2011 Couple of points here. Just obviously keeping an eye on the current share price; have not invested in the current share shave catastrophe. It's now apparent that the people that didn't invest wouldn't be getting a return on their invested money every month. Again on the subject of the share price: This will have the wolves watching for the door to open so they can jump on the little-red-riding hood that is Invensys. I think the fact that Invensys are still making good numbers but isn't reflected in peoples salaries is an abstract way to get people out the door to cut numbers - speaking on the behalf of rail. Granted jobs are hard to come by, but you approach any other signaling firm and the difference in digits is hard to believe. Hearing that Crossfield is living like pop-star doesn't surprise me. He and Riddett are here to stable the ship and get their part of the business in shape and ready to sell. Lastly purely aimed at the R and D and implementation. Is it worth continually investing in this modular nonsense? Now, granted should it be fully developed before going to trial, it would be very good and the ideas going round are inspiring. But as always, it's a rush to get it out as quick as possible, that reason for this. Our management team drop the ball and don't think innovation is worth while. The same can be said for WESTcad and ARS. (ARF) At the time that Westcad was new and shiny, it was deemed not worthy to invest in an automatic route-setting facility. Then the IECC comes along and wipes the floor with Westcad, now that has hampered sales of Westcad Europe wide. Its the same with modular. Signalling solutions (Alstom) developed their system, whether better or not is meaningless. Their system was properly developed and is now being trialled in the UK. Back to Invensys exec. - their crowd of vp's for this and that. Having got rid of quality workers, the exec in their wisdom bring in more exec staff, bringing the numbers higher than they were before the mass exodus they had to apparently make to save money. Now they surely must be spending more on useless exec salaries. Are you taking notes, Siemens or Alstom? Thursday, September 29, 2011 Can anyone comment on how IOM is doing with the execution of the nuclear business in China? Is IOM on track and in budget? Based on the deal requirements, if this project is tracking it would be a huge positive; if it is failing, it will sink IOM and the parent Invensys. Wednesday, September 28, 2011 Employees here in IRNA all know what Riddett really is: A foul mouthed, uneducated and crude individual. Known for his far right political views and knee jerk decisions. With him in charge Rail's fate is inevitable. Wednesday, September 28, 2011 China Railways is due to spend $5m in setting up their HQ in Melbourne, Australia as part of their push in High Speed Rail. Interesting how our IRAPs Australian office is also headquartered there. Just one step closer in the change plan. Maybe it's time to get some Chinese lessons ready? Wednesday, September 28, 2011 Forget about leadership. It's all about the break-up value. We all know it. Here in the US Riddett is a known fool. Nobody would employ him apart from Invensys. With time, the reasons will become clear. Shame for the talent lost and not recovered. Tuesday, September 27, 2011 We know all the problems with Invensys Rail as well as IOM. The board is doing nothing because they are focused on the solution: Sale of the company. I have a strong feel that the sale it will be announce by end of Dec 2011. Wednesday, September 28, 2011 I agree that in IRNE it's all about short term financial performance for personal gain. I work in R&D and apparently our MD admitted it this week in a leadership event. I'm told that in a question-and-answer session with the leadership team, Crossfield stated that he only wanted success so he could improve his salary, have a new car and better holidays and his leadership team should think in the same way! Apparently they don't. All this from a man that apparently has a new Aston Martin, a Lamborghini V10 super car and an AMG Mercedes. Add an ocean going yacht, exotic watch collection including a gold Rolex and no doubt exotic holidays. From what we've heard the leadership team he was with are not exactly impressed by his 1980s greed. Management is out of touch. We are laying people off right now for short term gain for Riddett and long term disaster for the business. Wednesday, September 28, 2011 I agree with the previous posters assessment about people like Riddett not really knowing what is happening. At IRNA, recently the next generation product development cost to went up by 4 or 5 times but this has not affected the local management at the time under whose watch this happened. They continue unaffected, albeit in a different role. This reinforces the fact that all that matters is the "impression" that Riddett has rather than hard facts, unless you mess up royally. They tend to be more dollar focused here rather than caring about "your length of service or friends". In the recent IRNA R&D lay-offs where about 9 people were laid off, there were people with over 30 yrs. service, including the only person with detailed knowledge about a key IRNA product that has over 50,000 units installed base. Go figure ! Tuesday, September 27, 2011 - To the poster below, "The raft of ...": Sorry, mate, as a former IRNA employee I can assure you that you've got this wrong. The current US leadership of IR (is that an Oxymoron ?) is much more focused on the bottom line i.e. $, rather than your feelings of "thousands of hours of unpaid work or your friends". This is business and none of that is relevant - to them. This thought process tends to be much more hard-nosed in the US way of thinking than it is in UK, especially among IRNA managers. With Riddett in charge, you'd better get used to it. These are not people who necessarily think long-term or who will take the time to understand what skills/experience you bring to the table. You are mainly a number and they will rely on your senior managers to tell them about you. If that person does not talk about you in glowing terms (does not matter if this is lies or the truth) you are just a number. Unless you screw up royally, people like Riddett don't have the memory to really keep track of what they were told about you and just form a "good" or "bad" impression based on what they are told by others. So you can have a "good" impression but not do much work and be safe. These leaders have been given a task(s) and a large bonus tied to it. THAT is their focus. Not your feelings. I am not saying that your feelings are not important but rather just informing you that the current crop of IRNA managers tend to be much more hard-nosed and care mostly about themselves. Just look at what is happening at IRNA and you will see it for yourself: All the best marketing people have resigned in the past 10 months and gone to the competition. Several good IRNA R&D people have left and more will leave. Search for IRNA R&D posts below and you will see what is happening there. BTW, I do agree with your opinions ("trust your employees...") - but that is not how Riddett or the IRNA leaders think. They are the ones driving now. Tuesday, September 27, 2011 The raft of apparently self-destructive emails on this blog from Invensys Rail employees is indicative of the level of frustration and bewilderment that exists in the company. I have worked for IRNE for a very long time and never before have I felt such a lack of confidence in the management team, such a level of uncertainty about the future of the company or such frustration at the ill-judged decisions being made on how to bring the company back to profitability. It's easy to say "get a new job" - but why should we be pushed out in this way? We, the "coal face" have just as much investment in the company, both physical (thousands of hours of unpaid work over the years) and emotional (the people at work are also my friends). Senior managers seem to forget this and think that the workforce are expendable idiots who can only see their next pay packet. Get a grip IR directors! Start trusting the employees, let us know what is going on and how we can help, and you might just be surprised by how much backing you would get. Monday, September 26, 2011 - Re: There's an old Indian proverb that says, "The nail that sticks it's head up gets nailed down". Correction! This is really a Japanese proverb. Google it. Whatever the nationality, the meaning stills applies at IOM. Monday, September 26, 2011 Well we have had Chinese proverbs and now we have an Indian one. This weblog is both entertaining and educational! I would almost miss it if we get taken over! Sunday, September 25, 2011 The morale in still down at IOM and no one feels stable in their jobs. IOM has a leadership team that is absent most of the time. Sudipta is on his ego trip and it seems like he is clueless about what is going on in IOM. He has distanced himself with the new LOB structure. There are number of unhappy customers in IOM, but we are focused on more processes and useless initiatives. The Invensys stock price is at the bottom and will continue to go down because there is no clear business strategy for any of the business units. The Market is confused about the direction and Wayne is adding more confusion by not doing anything. The possibility of take over is more and more likely now as we are running out of options being a small player in the market. No one would come forward to acquire us until the board resolves the pension issue. Sunday, September 25, 2011 Here in IOM, the behavior exhibited under Ulf remains with IOM COO Freburger. Basically, you get fired if you have an independent opinion. Ulf may have been fired, but his legacy is alive and well. Sunday, September 25, 2011 - Re: Why no input from the IOM folks... There's an old Indian proverb that basically says, "The nail that sticks it's head up gets nailed down". Saturday, September 24, 2011 - Re: Where are all the IOM people? We are smart enough to keep our heads down, work and get our CV's updated, rather than airing our dirty laundry for all the world to see. Saturday, September 24, 2011 Everyday the share price is falling faster than the market and eventually it will be an easy decision for someone to acquire Invensys. Then the IOM will become just another notch on the bedpost of Siemens, or worse still ABB. At least then the CEO will not be able to take family holidays in Hawaii at the expense of every single worker at Invensys. The destruction of the last British Engineering icon will be complete and some in senior leadership will try to find their way back into the hairy-fairy software world. Let's see if the Indians reciprocate and give Sudiptas such a senior job. It's not a matter of "if"; it's a matter of "when". Pity because this blog has been amusing for years. Friday, September 23, 2011 - Re: Where are all the IOM people? Many of us at IOM are scared to say anything. You never know what may identify you. Friday, September 23, 2011 - Re: "After reading all of these posts, I now say this to you all. Find a better job." Ok. Can I borrow your magic wand, please? Friday, September 23, 2011 Spend baby spend! The end is near and the executive team(s) know this, so you can expect a continued acceleration of the "events". Be sure to keep yourself valuable to customers in order to ensure your survival after the buy-out. Thursday, September 22, 2011 Interesting - how Rail has taken over and is dominating this Invensys weblog, originally intended to serve the Invensys Automation (IOM) comments/news. Where are you all, IOM? Thursday, September 22, 2011 The reckless spending can be demoralizing. Recently overheard from this same team, cutting into costs, that at sales-excellence circle for top sales employes in Hawaii he was not allowed to take his handicapped child despite request to bear his own expenses. He was demoralized, seeing our CEO Mr. Edmunds with his children in a luxury suite for the high-price event. How can executives be noncompliant like this? Where are our strong UK board rules that board responsibility demands? Sir Chairman please intervene! Thursday, September 22, 2011 I left IRNA (idiot set of initials!) for a new company a few months back. It is smaller than Invensys, but my pay increased and I am much happier, without all the lunatic ravings and presentations we had to endure before. I was based in California and watched a revolving door of incompetent Directors and VPs come through. We finally got a great Director, who actually cared about people (he once said in a public meeting, "your quality of life means more to me than any schedule"!) and they put the most incompetent VP to-date over him. Our Director shielded us from this madman and the corporate stupidity, so they forced him out and into a parking-lot job in Sales. Within months, the buffooon VP ruined R&D, laid off a bunch of people (one guy had 38 years and was escorted out!), then "resigned". I tell all my former co-workers to find somewhere else to go. They deserve much better than this set of fools can deliver. After reading all of these posts, I now say this to you all. Find a better job. Life is too short to stay with such clueless people. Wednesday, September 21, 2011 The order book at IRAP is very strong and helping to carry to the Rail Group. What still confuses many of the staff is our structure which continues to be unclear. We don't know who is on the Executive and what direction the company is taking given the rumors that are circulating about the selloff. Most of our senior management don't take the time of day to speak to us, the workers. They are always traveling around on planes and don't even follow the Invensys travel policy of "Cheapest Flight"! How does this look to staff who slogging their hearts out delivering on the promises they have made without the real knowledge of what is involved? Wednesday, September 21, 2011 The recent post is, unfortunately, true. Delivery Directors for Scotland and the South keep the VP looking good. They keep delivering unlike the new one for LUL. The southern chap personally won Thameslink and that's from the customer, who are wary of the VP. He just produces make believe reports. The VP spends his time mainly traveling first class at what must be costing thousands a week and enjoying life. Crossfield will be relaxed until the VP tells the truth. It's all about timing. There was an articulate post a week or so ago that hit a nail firmly on the head. Can we have a business within a business? In other words five or more self-supporting units, i.e. project delivery, engineering, supply chain, commercial etc. just for the UK? I and our customer NR don't think so. Wednesday, September 21, 2011 I just got back from the annual RSSI show in Minneapolis. This is the major railroading show in the US, so it has a large presence of signaling, communications, construction, etc. presence and all the major companies like Ansaldo, IRNA, Siemens, Alstom, GE etc exhibit here. For the 2nd year in a row I noticed that IRNA displayed mostly their old products, pretty much nothing new. But GE, which a few years ago had hit rock bottom (in the US), definitely had some very innovative and new products, especially in the PTC arena - which is the future of railroading in the US. Even Ansaldo had new innovative products. It is evident that GE are resurgent and now have the strategy, talent and drive to get back to being the top supplier in the US. This is a very good comeback considering that Safetran (IRNA) had them beat from 2003-2008 (when we released the GCP4000). The egg on IRNA's face was that they arranged a presentation of their "new" products in the Innovation Theater, by invitation ONLY, but not a single customer showed up. They were also the ONLY supplier to have a "by invitation only" presentation. Everyone else's presentations were open to all. I guess this is what happens when you create a "fear" environment and huge uncertainty within R&D. As others have posted here, there are just 35 R&D engineers left in California (down from 80+), and none of them know if/when the plant here will be closed. Way to go Safetran Marketing leaders, who have created this situation. Everyone knows who they are. Tuesday, September 20, 2011 From what I have been told the IRNE VP for Project Delivery spends his time in First class trains and expensive London hotels and restaurants. Meanwhile the two main Delivery Directors, who are way ahead of the VP in capability and knowledge, keep things afloat. Tuesday, September 20, 2011 Stop complaining. We do ok every year and why should we not do well again? What is the point in fighting amongst ourselves. We have delivered on numbers and let's focus our energies there. Who cares and why bother about the execs and their lifestyles. Read the other blogs and find they all live well and our executives are not the only ones. It's the corporate world, friend. Tuesday, September 20, 2011 There appears to be overwhelming distrust and even disgust at Kevin Riddett's behavior in Rail. This is a shame as this group was, under Drummond, the jewel in the Invensys crown. The fact that this opinion seems to be universal across the UK, US, Spain and Asia is telling. Rail has been half the total profit and almost all of the cash! I won't prejudge Riddett as I have never seen him, let alone spoken to him. As we approach his first year in charge (COO then CEO) can anyone tell us one change Riddett has implemented? One bit of value he has added ? Any significant contribution to Rail's growth and profitability? These are genuine questions, not criticism. I'm reliably told that orders, profit and cash are all down. Customer confidence is at an all time low. All this on a global basis. Now this is hearsay, so only the results will show if it's true or not. I expect the half year guidance will tell us what's really happening. Monday, September 19, 2011 The new VP of Project Delivery has yet to be proven. He is only responsible for completing the almost complete LUL work and the business-as-usual Network Rail. The difficult Taiwan work and Singapore projects are being done elsewhere. Had he duped Crossfield? We shall see. He has reduced his prices significantly without reducing costs. Even then he has failed to win some recent major Network Rail bids. This VP is unproven and his mates who are posting on here should be holding their breath. So far they seem to think that reducing prices is all that's needed. Monday, September 19, 2011 The new IRNE VP Delivery is a dictator and is aggressive in his approach, not really different from the old regime. He is building his empire by appointing his mates who have no experience or proven record to key positions. He has built a clique and if you do not fit in the core and the periphery of that clique you are not good enough. This business is build on false numbers, e.g. meeting H1 commitment on cash flow means putting a stop on paying supplier invoices until the figures are declared in the City, often with serious consequences to the suppliers' cash flow and survival. Nearly every Supplier and subcontractor out there is now refusing to deal with IRNE because of late and poor payments. Is this being a responsible business? I think it's criminal and illegal. Project teams are constantly under the cloud of redundancies, yet they are having to negotiate deals with suppliers and even beg time after time to get services or materials critical for weekend possessions and commissioning. Monday, September 19, 2011- Re: "IRNE could not run a bath. Spain is great. We will be the only ones left when all others fail. You are all losers!": Oh yes, very grown up. Very constructive. Are all your colleagues as enlightened as you? Take a look at the technologies you are using. Noticed how the names start with 'West' rather than 'Dim'? When YOU have co-developed a product as time-proven and hugely successful as SSI, then you can come crowing. Until then, keep your football-terrace inanities to yourself. Sunday, September 18, 2011 Most Rail posts are missing the point. Both IRNE and IRSE have a huge hole in their order books. Without taking work from IRAP, IRSE would need to lay people off now. Meanwhile IRNE already have people in the York office with no work. Meanwhile IRAP is going nowhere with huge losses in Australia and New Zealand. IRNA is what it has been for years, a nice little manufacturing business but somewhat irrelevant. Rail has made huge investment in India that has yielded nothing. Under Drummond Rail was growing over 10% each year. Now under Riddett it's a different world, and all Rail BUs need to scale back until somebody who knows what they are doing takes charge. Sunday, September 18, 2011 At Controls, it is all about changing the names on chairs and the managers flying to endless conferences. No new products, all the R&D dollars wasted on pet projects, we now have products scattered across many segments but weak in all. In Europe for instance Eliwell was the market leader in digital controls; now it is possible to purchase similar products out of China for about half the cost. The managers of Controls have been watching this happen for years. Sunday, September 18, 2011 After Siemens announcement to quit all their nuclear industry activities, will they still be in the running to buy Invensys? Sunday, September 18, 2011 There's good and bad at IOM. Excellent brands, decent products, good people. The problem is, as ever, IOM's reflex to point inwards perpetually - restructure and integrate and follow magic-bullet fashions, rather than attempt to engineer solutions against external need. This is what Wayne appears to be trying to fix. I'd have some question marks about the quality of some of the leadership, but then again Invensys is a second-tier company so you're not going to get the best of the best. There have been rumours of takeovers by Siemens for years; I don't think anyone really thinks about it day to day. You could see Foxboro could be a good way into process apps for them, Wonderware has a good ERP integration story on the Ops Management direction, there's maybe a fit with Triconex and parts of Eurotherm. If it happens, it happens. Siemens would be buying to find incremental business, not buy market share in their own space, so presumably they'd look at continuing investment. You can't also not mention HR in any discussion of IOM though. One failed initiative after another, and breezy attempts at cool being met with stubborn indifference. Saturday, September 17, 2011 Frankly, I am still very puzzled and unconvinced why the IRAP headquarters should be moved to Singapore. For some projects in Asia-pac, they still come under the management of technical people from Spain, UK and Australia. It seems all the expertise are coming from there and not Singapore which is not strong in Rail expertise; unlike IOM which has strong local project managers. If that's the case, the value add of new Singapore management team are frankly diminished and expensive to maintain. These could actually be more better serviced out from Australia using Australia resources as much as possible . Not to mention the cost of office rental, taxes, other support personnel. Maybe this model needs review. And by the way, I am not from IR Australia, in case you are wondering why I say it makes sense the HQ remains in Australia. Saturday, September 17, 2011 I've been reading this site with great interest. Recently, this site has been dominated by INRE folks. Since I am a customer of IOM and my professional future is fairly well tied up in IOM's products and services, I was wondering what the IOM folks have to say. What have you been hearing? Are Siemens or Schneider still the leading candidates for a takeover? What do you think are the future of IOM's offerings - history's dustbin, integration with the buyer's products, or are IOM's solutions good enough to survive a takeover? Saturday, September 17, 2011 I am one of the 25-30 IRAP people who has been asked to leave this month. Why is Singapore putting on more and more VPs? This just doesn't make any sense. Good luck to the new recruits; you will need it. Saturday, September 17, 2011 Let's see if we can get this blog out of the gutter. So what impact will the sale of Ansaldo have on the price of Invensys? Italy: Finmeccanica to sell AnsaldoBreda and Ansaldo STS.
Italian engineering group Finmeccanica has confirmed that it plans to sell its rail transport engineering subsidiary AnsaldoBreda and its railway signalling and systems subsidiary Ansaldo STS. While AnsaldoBreda has a negative net worth, Ansaldo STS is estimated to be worth EUR 1.5bn (USD 2.06bn). Analysts predict that a fair price for the 60% of Ansaldo STS quoted on the stock exchange would be between EUR 9 and EUR 11 per share. US company General Electric (GE) is thought to be particularly interested in the takeover, while rivals Siemens, CAF and Bombardier are said to be watching events closely. If GE does bid, it seems likely that it will ask for a reduced price for Ansaldo STS in order to take on AnsaldoBreda as well. After the sales, Finmeccanica will be better placed to focus more closely on the defense and aerospace sectors. Saturday, September 17, 2011 - RE: "loss of SSR and the BIP you would expect to see exec heads roll": Did we loose the BIP? Did someone put a lower price in? Saturday, September 17, 2011 - Responding to: "The problem in IRNE is the conflict between the personal ambition of the Project Delivery team and what is best for the business". This is not the current problem one bit with the former UK westinghouse business. The actual difficulty is the authors of these blog reports. MD plus VP project are working real hard together to fix the legacy mess. They are not fighting for each others jobs, or anyone else's - they are trying, and succeeding, in building a stronger brighter future for all here and in the local network rail regions. Saturday, September 17, 2011 It was genuinely good to notice all the support of the new V.P. delivery post on this site - he is the one who has being traveling around & rebuilding goodwill with network rail chiefs, and is the one who has got us back in the good books with most of the UK network rail clients, which cannot be an easy ride. If it's hard and needs doing properly it seems to be given to him. From where I am sitting - fixing client relationship - winning work - sorting commissioning weekends - managing safety - sorting the overheads - LU /SSL - estimating teams - manufacturing problems - all goes to him to fix. Whilst doing that - also concentrating on regrowing the remaining internal discipline areas which will be needed for the IRNE UK rail business to operate properly. Friday, September 16, 2011 The recent posting on IRNE is spot on. Compared to 2 or 3 years ago (when the business was growing) our overheads must be way too big a percentage of our total costs. With the loss of SSR and the BIP you would expect to see exec heads roll, but we have just as many as before and (I am reliably informed) all their salaries are higher than the people they replaced. Fat cats. Surely if the business is shrinking we need fewer chiefs? Thursday, September 15, 2011 The problem in IRNE is the conflict between the personal ambition of the Project Delivery team and what is best for the business. The VP of Project Delivery has totally duped Crossfield and this will ultimately be seen in the IRNE results. Friday, September 16, 2011 IRSE sabe que IRNE no poda correr un bao. Espaa es grande. Vamos a ser los nicos que quedan cuando todos los dems fallan. Todos ustedes son los perdedores! Approximate translation: IRNE could not run a bath. Spain is great. We will be the only ones left when all others fail. You are all losers! Thursday, September 15, 2011 The problem in IRNE is the conflict between the personal ambition of the Project Delivery team and what is best for the business. The VP of Project Delivery has totally duped Crossfield and this will ultimately be seen in the IRNE results. Wednesday, September 14, 2011 I left the IRNE business a year ago after quite a few years successfully delivering projects. Even before I left, we had come to the end of the road with the existing delivery model. It was impossible to be competitive with regional delivery directors each having their own engineering managers and support functions. The overhead burden was too high and hidden by classifying everyone as a direct booking to a project. Recognizing this, some good work was done examining the extraordinarily successful delivery process in Dimetronic. In this model, projects are delivered by a Project Manager and all other activities such as engineering, supply chain, commercial etc. were provided by functions which leveraged their capability over all the projects. I was skeptical at first, but eventually realized how cost effective it was. However, the big problem from the start was the existing Delivery team. In their simple world, that meant a huge loss of status, the latter being measured by the number of people working for them -i.e. the Delivery function would of consisted 20 or so people instead of the 500+ business within a business it had become. Your current VP of Projects was opposed to this change because he saw it as career limiting. He openly stated that he intended to be MD and that this would happen by controlling the largest part of the organization when Crossfield got fired. Something that looked likely 6 months ago. So former colleagues. Your BIP is a sham. The overheads are way too high and you remain uncompetitive. Wednesday, September 14, 2011 Noted below, "Riddett is an invisible axe-man with people losing jobs in Safetran, the UK and soon in Australia." Mr. Kevin "Chupacabra" Riddett, we call him, written up in legend, lore, and song, an invisible mystery man so hideous he's the cause of all of Invensy's woes. It's not San Andreas' Fault, it's Riddett's. Puh-leeze! Stop blaming the man for the lingering, smelly, inevitable death of Invensys. It takes more than one man to derail a mega-multinational corporation (pun intended!) with as much inertia as Invensys has, and no one man is responsible for this slow moving train wreck (pun also intended!) 'Twas greed that killed the beast. Mr. Riddett and many other Invensys people are merely trying to find ways to increase profits for stake holders who already have more accumulated wealth than Smaug who demand even more wealth -- customers be damned, quality be damned, the health of Invensys be damned. Welcome to the way global conglomerates operate around the world now. Invensys is not unique and seriously, it's not all the fault of one or two people, ultimately it's the fault of stake holders who demand ever more profits with zero regard for the consequences. As a one-time English teacher in Edinburgh, birth place of Sir Arthur Ignatius Conan Doyle, I often told my students upon graduation that given the advent of globalization, they had best learn how to speak 5 important words in as many languages as they can muster. Specifically, "You want chips with that?" Wednesday, September 14, 2011 I left IRNE last month and it seems I got out at just the right time. What was a very good business has been let down by a bunch of yes-men and weak management. The UK has been very poor in standing up for itself at group level over the last few years and now we are seeing the results. Singapore is the best example; a project originally won by IRNE and in my opinion IRNE was the best company to deliver it as IRNE has a number of highly skilled people with extensive experience on delivering large mass transit projects (including the previous SMRT Singapore Contract). Yet a large proportion (and significant) pieces of the work was sent elsewhere to people with little experience in this arena (e.g. Australia) and now after realizing their mistake (eventually) the work was all sent to Spain! The group hijacked the project from the people best placed to deliver and gave to people with far less experience. If IRNE wants to redeem itself (especially in R&D) then they need to pull in some senior managers who have the balls to stand up for their business unit like they do in Spain. Wednesday, September 14, 2011 It's not worth waiting for. Here in Satetran there was no warning just chaos and confusion. Seems it's now being applied globally. Riddetts way. Wednesday, September 14, 2011 Our new IRNE VP Delivery has told his team not to worry about the business improvement plan and to just say positive things. Apparently Riddett won't last and our MD won't be a problem. The plan apparently is just to get control of every function, as he expects to be MD within a year or two! Apparently our current MD is on borrowed time. That would be the third MD in 3 years. Wednesday, September 14, 2011 Controls soaring again? Nobody who knows about this business can believe it. In all regions turnover is going down and more dramatic competent and motivated people disappeared, most fired many others left. A disaster! And the remaining are trying to defend their positions. Here in Europe there is a troupe of incompetent and well-paid salesmen who never understood what they are supposed to sell. Balcunas? Making money and playing golf..... Wednesday, September 14, 2011 WRT the "beloved" IOM VP: when was the last time he said something that we didn't immediately peg as false, drivel, or just plain uninformed? I always thought of him as a weathervane that pointed the wrong way: you could still use him to tell what was going on. You just needed to know that you'd never get the true direction the wind was blowing directly from him. Wednesday, September 14, 2011 IRNE ERP and LN what is that all about? Who is responsible for the development and roll out of the worst business tool in history (ERP). This is the product that is supposed to save us all loads of time which in turn will enable the BIP headcount reductions. I can think of a better BIP efficiency - remove this ERP team immediately, fire the responsible VP and pick up the phone to Oracle. Stop throwing more good money after bad. You have been sold a pup! Why would anyone develop a new product like this on a package originally produced by BAAN 12 years ago? Wednesday, September 14, 2011 Great to see the IRNE VP Delivery being mentioned. If you have noticed or listened to anything in the past 6 months all the successful ideas have been produced by him and his mates. He is the only IRNE Exec member who actually delivers or does anything as the rest are too busy fighting with each other to get Crossfield's attention. My advice would be to stay close to this IRNE Delivery VP and his Directors as they are the future of this business. Stay well away from the rest as when the hurricane lands in Chippenham they will not survive. Tuesday, September 13, 2011 Riddett has created chaos by dismantling Drummond's legacy but with no new ideas and nothing to replace it. Now we have the Southern Europe business doing projects in Spain, South America, Middle East, China and Singapore. Even bidding in Northern Europe and apparently Vietnam! The Northern Europe business seems to be UK only? Apparently the Australian business is in free fall. So the chaos you feel comes from the total lack of strategic intent, the organization not fit for purpose and in some cases employees not actually having a known management reporting line! R&D is a shambles with a Drummond global centre of excellence organization but with no global leader and inter company feuds. The results will speak volumes about this mess. Tuesday, September 13, 2011 So the Spanish want 95% redundancies in the UK. Presumably so they can keep their jobs as the Spanish Market is in meltdown? Over 20% unemployment in Spain and a government bail out likely. No money left for expensive rail investment. Dimetronic are living off past glory and the inevitable is coming. Tuesday, September 13, 2011 I can't see any impact from the UK Business Improvement Plan. Figures of 20% reduction in headcount were briefed. So where are the 260 jobs that have gone? Here in Projects we have a new VP that has appointed all his mates as Directors and from what I can see it's business as usual. Apart from changes in reporting lines, what has changed? What are we doing differently? Tuesday, September 13, 2011 I've worked in Rail for 6 years and have never once seen or spoken with this character Riddett. In fact I don't even know anyone in the company that has even seen him. This includes colleagues in Spain and Australia as well as the UK. Apparently he has been in charge as COO and then CEO since November last year. During this time we have had multiple town halls from our Executive team and even Wayne Edmunds. Riddett is an invisible axe-man with people losing jobs in Safetran, the UK and soon in Australia. However despite a drastic slowdown in Spain, there has been no restructuring. If he dislikes his UK and Australian employees so much, then why is he CEO? Tuesday, September 13, 2011 - Re: "It is not termed "redundancies" in IRAP state offices. Its called "reorganization": In IRNE they don't call it redundancies either - It's called "Business Improvement Plan". Tuesday, September 13, 2011 Gosh, is that what a worried IRSE is reduced to? Asking for 95% redundancies in it's sister company? First time in history. We have had great Spanish managers over our R&D in the UK without a problem; but now hatred? I suppose this sums up Riddett's lack of leadership. How is this guy still in charge? It's been a year? Monday, September 12, 2011 Under Drummond's leadership we had a unified Rail organization, inter company co-operation and a common purpose. Not perfect, but at least clear direction and strategy. Now, we have employees taking pot shots at each other on public forums. Very negative and destructive. This speaks volumes on Riddett's lack of leadership and the chaos he is creating. Monday, September 12, 2011 Controls is not a good company waiting to soar again. All the products are old and outdated. Chan Galbato closed most of the loss-making gas business and was given the sack for making a decision that should have been years ago. Hence Invensys is now stuck with the likes of Balcunas. Monday, September 12, 2011 The R&D team in Chippenham contains many talented engineers and the fact that leadership will come from Madrid won't change or damage that group. The problem with Chippenham R&D is that, with the loss of SSR, there are no serious developments required for the UK. ERTMS and ATO will come from Spain and all the UK Mainline business really needs is a new object controller that's mostly finished anyway. Years (and countless millions) were spent on DTG-R and it's time to slim the group down to a small collection of high quality engineers controlled by Madrid. This is no bad thing and an opportunity to get rid of the dead wood. As for the factory, they are a small, low-volume, niche business. Not very exciting, but are efficient and will always make money; I would keep it. Attempts to outsource will end in lost margin and poor quality. Sunday, September 11, 2011 Rotten apples? Westrace, SSI and Westlock. On board ATP and ATO. Relays. This makes up around 90+% of technology used by IRSE. All designed and manufactured in Chippenham. Sunday, September 11, 2011 IRSE's success over the past 15 years has been based almost solely on Westrace technology. The name might indicate it's origins as it was developed by Westinghouse in Chippenham. Sunday, September 11, 2011 The arrogance of the IR SE team never ceases to amaze us! Claiming that IR NE are the "rotten apples" when IR SE's core technology is all built on the developments produced by IR NE. And then putting forward such a clapped-out second-rate solution that IR lost the London SSR bid. They really are starting to believe their own lies and the top IR management are so stupid they believe them too. The IR SE president (known as the "great dictator" and widely tipped to be the one to replace the idiot Riddett soon) has only one agenda: to eliminate the rest of the company and preserve Spanish jobs, which is why he encourages this kind of arrogance. Saturday, September 10, 2011 You can give any of the Madrid team global or COO job titles, but at the end of the day they will do what's best for Spain and do not care about Rail or Invensys. With the Spanish market in free fall, they should be restructuring. There is no money in Spain, the government is only slightly better off than Greece. Instead Dimetronic are planning on doing work in Northen Europe and Asia and expecting the existing local workforce to be made redundant to protect jobs in Madrid. Meanwhile clueless Riddett, who appears well out of his depth, sits in Louisville and watches the damage happen. The Rail CFO left on Friday after a year in post. You can guess the rest. Saturday, September 10, 2011 For many years R&D Westinghouse has failed to accomplish anything. Why the whining about R&D being moved to Madrid? They have proved to deliver; results are the best proof. They are imaginative, they work hard and their love for the rail industry and being always one step ahead is what has saved rail from disappearing. Same with manufacturing, I wonder why the Chippenham factory hasn't disappeared when it is so much cheaper anywhere else. IRAP and IRSE are really fed up; they are just paying to maintain those unproductive jobs. Close it! Rotten apples have to be removed from the basket. Thursday, September 8, 2011 More redundancies coming in Chippenham R&D because work is moved to Madrid. Clearly this Riddett character does not like us Brits if he is willing to pay redundancy payouts to get rid of UK talent and at the same time recruiting in Madrid. I wonder what Invensys' biggest customer, the UK's Network Rail, think of that ? With manufacturing and R&D shrinking, are we becoming a Project Management company like Atkins or Amey? Nothing developed in Madrid will be of any use in the UK. Thursday, September 8, 2011 Whoever created this collections of Hapless leaders did do a good job because you only have to dispose of them once - and the time is coming. It's difficult to judge really who is the worst; but for me its Sudipta because he is destroying something that is still worth something. Thursday, September 8, 2011 What still baffles me in the UK Rail business is the layer upon layer of non-value-add executives, or should I call them SVPs and VPs. They don't make any decisions and they are not held accountable for anything. Hurry up and sack anyone not adding value to the business and then you will have a viable business. I am glad I bailed out and took the money a year ago. Thursday, September 8, 2011 The Invensys rot started way back with Alan Yurko who, in his infinite wisdom, decided to buy a bankrupt Dutch software company called Baan. It has always been downhill since for Invensys. If there is a pattern about management and leadership in the process control business, especially in the UK :- eg what happened to the UK based and led ICS Triplex based in Crawley? That speaks so much for UK based companies having UK board members. Most of the members are "bean counters" with Chartered Accountant designation. In a bigger picture, that speaks so much about the quality UK engineers finishing schools in the UK tertiary institutions and also those in higher management. Wednesday, September 7, 2011 Lacking all credibility, someone on September 4th said in part, "Every organization has got issues, problems, some worthless people, some worthless leaders, et al." Since Germany will eventually be taking over Rail, I simply MUST quote Wolfgang Ernst Pauli, "Das is nicht einmal falsch." (This isn't even wrong.) Prior to Invensys buying and taking over Safetran, Safetran was a perfect company that somewhere along its 90 YEARS of profitability (never a red ink year) managed to achieve sainthood. We had market share, respect in the industry, a kennel of high quality mechanical, hardware, and software engineers, sales and manager people who knew what customers needed and what customers wanted. It was children's smiles and fluffy kittens and spicy tamales for everyone. Then came Invensys. Now look at what's left of Safetran. Come on, it does not take a ritual kick in the crotch to wake up and recognize why the Irish will never rule the world, nor why Rail customers cringe when they hear the name "Safetran" or (god help us) the name "Invensys." Pointing at Invensys and suggesting "all organizations are like this" isn't even wrong. A great many are nothing like Invensys. Flee, abscond, beat a hasty retreat, blow this town, bolt, cut and run, decamp, depart, desert, fly the coop, get the hell out, jump ship, make a getaway, make oneself scarce, make tracks, retreat, scoot, scram, skedaddle, take a hike, vamoose, vanish, or (my favorite) take a powder. Wednesday, September 7, 2011 It is amazing that Wayne appointed Riddett to a CEO role in a UK Plc. Mr Riddett is quite open regarding his dislike of both the UK and in particular British people. Describing the UK as a "truly awful country that even Sir Nigel avoids by living in Portugal" and British people as "arrogant and ful of s**t, who think they are superior by wearing a tie." The British currency, the pound, he describes as "pretend money and only the Dollar real". What kind of global Executive is this? Apparently Rail's performance continues to slide and now the Rail CFO is suddenly leaving this week, refusing to work with an imbecile like Riddett. This is no longer a Riddett issue. Wayne and Sir Nigel who appointed him, have had long enough and now own it. From other posts, sounds like a similar problem in IOM with Sudipta. Wednesday, September 7, 2011 The fact that Wayne has not looked into Sudipta's hiring and promotion practices is proof that he is a spineless accountant, not a leader and certainly not a CEO. Tuesday, September 6, 201 Controls Division products are old and outdated. There would be maybe five product lines which have a future. Tuesday, September 6, 2011 - Re: Rail Spanish R&D I agree it would serve the Spanish R&D right if Siemens took over and took all the work to Germany. Reap what you sow IRSE. You're doomed to failure! Tuesday, September 6, 2011 Controls is a company with good Engineering and Sales teams. With proper leadership and direction this company can soar once again. The lack within this company lies squarely in the eyes of Upper Management. Balcunas has title of CEO however, the man running the show is no other than the CFO Hubert Gassner and all the cronies he brought with him. Balcunas is just riding high and fat until it's over. Week and a half Hawaiian trip, week of drinking and eating in downtown Chicago. Now I understand Controls is sponsoring three tables at the Ryder Cup. Not to mention the Short term incentive plan (STIP) for senior leadership. Yes that means bonus' people. Roughly $10k per head. Yet the ones that are left in the trenches are fighting with the rats for crumbs. I say bring on Siemens. Once they place the proper people up top, all will be fine. Tuesday, September 6, 2011 A few months back, the "beloved" IOM VP, nursing a nose-block told us that there were no basis that Invensys was up for sale. But the fact is that other side of this telephone conference town hall call, we were all rolling our eyes upwards and were sniggering. No one believed a word he said. Invensys has been up for sale for a long, long time... To those imbecile board members in London, quickly sort out what is required to be done. No point prolonging the inevitable. Spare us the pain the current Invensys employees have to live through seeing bad and laughable management decisions made by Riddet, Sudipta and their merry men with MBAs, six-sigmas certifications... Tuesday, September 6, 2011 Oh well, at least if Rail get sold to Siemens they will decimate the arrogant power-mad Spanish R&D organization and take it all to Germany. Every cloud has a silver lining... Monday, September 5, 2011 Is Riddett still with Invensys? This is a first. Have you guys not yet figured him out? I guess some folks just need to learn the hard way. Problem for the shareholders is it's also the expensive way. Riddett is a percentage guy. In Union Switch he was about always forcing some lame idea through, and as long as most of it was right that was ok with him. He has no idea about organizations and effective working. He believes its all about him and his dominance over others. Problem is business isn't like that and he hasn't a strategic view of anything. While short term savings are welcomed the long term damage can't be ignored. Look at what happened to Union Switch as a result of Riddett's short spell at the helm. The business halved after he was fired. Even with his father as Chairman, he couldn't be saved. Such is his arrogance he probably doesn't recognize that this was down to him. Monday, September 5, 2011 The only issue I really agree with on this blog is that Senior managers need to get out and know your staff and the projects on the ground. So, if senior managers really read this, then please get out talk to your engineers, technicians, buyers etc. You will learn something for the better. Monday, September 5, 2011 End of the month figures exceeded the forecast equals a free doughnut, YIP! The sky is the limit at INVENSYS. LOL Sunday, September 4, 2011 The latest JimPinto.com eNews - 5 Sep. 2011 - is on the web. Read this analysis, largely gleaned from the Invensys weblogs. It is clear that the path is being prepared for sale of the company. Ex-CFO, now CEO Wayne Edwards' main focus has been to carve out the pension liabilities, hitherto the primary blockage to any buyout. According to its annual report, Invensys has 5.46 B pension obligations, about 437 M more than the value of the plan's assets. Analysts value the company at more than 3B if the pension liabilities are offloaded. So, that's what Wayne Edwards is doing, clearly blessed by the Board. The company will be sold, either as one piece, or the dis-similar businesses will be sold separately. China's CSR is supposedly interested and sorely needs Rail; and Siemens wants IOM. Who would want to buy leaderless, unprofitable and non-growing Controls? All three Divisions remain in a holding pattern, awaiting the news of who the new bosses will be. Most employees wisely welcome the change. Sunday, September 4, 2011 Regarding the point on business travel. I agree, but also think that those preaching about cost should listen to themselves! Riddett is a typical example. He was over in the UK last week and now back here in Louisville for Saturday and Sunday. Guess where he is flying to tomorrow, Monday? First class back to the UK. At around $10,000 a week it's more than we can save from any Kaizen work. How is this adding value? Is this an example of good cost control? Sunday, September 4, 2011 At Business School we were taught that a company should be valued on the profit it generates, not its assets value or sales turnover or anything else. So the Controls Division is worth exactly nothing. Sunday, September 4, 2011 We have been hearing about the acquisition of Invensys by Siemens etc. right from day one in this company. Every organization has got issues, problems, some worthless people, some worthless leaders, et al. Honestly in the current situation where some European economies are in a pretty bad situation, US economy has another recession staring at it, there may not be any body to come and takeover Invensys. Yes, if Siemens buys IOM, quite a good number of people will be out in the process of integration with Siemens organization. Sunday, September 4, 2011 I laughed at the comment on the 'traveling chaps'. Another in a long line of ignorant twaddle, taking pot shots on the basis that business travel is fun and some sort of perk. Only people who don't travel on business could possible make such a stupid crack. If you like being away from home, working (or wasting your time, whatever) around the clock and generally letting your life slip away, I can only imagine how bad your home life must be. I have no respect for the SLT whatsoever but even I don't imagine they travel through choice. To paraphrase Patton or some-such who said that war isn't dying for your country, it's making some poor sod die for theirs. I'd like to think that if ever I got the power and position I'd use it not to travel; instead, I'd send some other poor idiot to do it for me. Saturday, September 3, 2011 Just like the days before the fall of the Roman Empire, the traveling chaps are on the eat-drink-and-be-merry phase as they know these "good" days are numbered Friday, September 2, 2011 I agree Invensys will be broken up and sold piecemeal when market conditions are right. In IRNE there is still a profitable UK mainline business, although this will inevitably shrink as competition takes market share and the Network Rail spend slows down. The issue for IRNE is we are out of London Underground for at least 8 years. Maybe no bad thing. We never made any money and projects like the Vic line upgrade are not going very well (big problems this week on this line). So the future of IRNE is secure, although we will be a much smaller business focused just on Network Rail. As for R+D it is about time it was dismantled in the UK. Under the previous Head of R and D it became bloated and never delivered anything. We have made more money out of local developments like WestCad than the millions spent on DTG-R, ERTMS etc all expensive white elephants or vanity projects. Thursday, September 1, 2011 IRNE Engineering is getting more farcical by the minute. We now have a "Head of Technology" who wouldn't recognize technology if it bit him in the leg. The Head of R&D sits in his office looking grim and communicates with nobody - worse than his predecessor. The development work is all drifting over to Spain who haven't got a clue how to handle it but love the power. Still, we hear that our IRAP friends are just as badly off so at least we don't feel singled out. Time to go. Thursday, September 1, 2011 Good god what were they thinking? We now have a Kentucky-based American CEO (I won't even go into the comments on Riddett as it's well documented here) but I hear he has appointed his Safetran HR VP as the global HR SVP! I'm told from HR she is a person who has never worked outside Cincinnati or Louisville! Have we finally gone nuts? Let me explain. I understand that Safetran is a small manufacturing company headquartered in Louisville, Kentucky. It makes up about 20% of revenue and less than that of profit and now is trying to run the whole business. The UK R&D team are now leaving in numbers as everything seems to be done from Spain. What a mess! Wayne and Sir Nigel, are you at the helm or just watching the damage done by your appointed amateurs? Wednesday, August 31, 2011 Whether Siemens or not, it's unlikely to be a single buyer. I believe Invensys will be broken up for sale. It's worth more that way. The urgency is to get the UK pension liability sorted. Unfortunately incompetents like Riddett and Sudipta will continue to destroy value with screw ups in APAC projects and China Nuclear. These "leaders" are not capable of the consistent performance that Wayne needs in the run up to a sale. Sudipta living in his make believe world of theoretical concepts and Riddett asking the wrong people the wrong questions. The former very intelligent but totally impractical; the latter intellectually challenged with behavioral problems. I also think that Controls might be a blocker for the break up. Who would want that shrinking business? Wednesday, August 31, 2011 In response to the Generation-X'er - I hope all of you Generation-X'ers are incredibly successful and make tons of money. I also hope you contribute the appropriate amount of OASDI and Medicare deductions so that I can enjoy my well deserved retirement after 45 plus years of employment. Good luck and Godspeed to you as well. Wednesday, August 31, 2011 Du warst ein Invensys Mitarbeiter, nicht einer von euch daran erinnern, was passiert Moore! Wednesday, August 31, 2011 No you're right of course. The Germans and hostile takeovers certainly don't go together do they? It's just not in their nature! Tuesday, August 30, 2011 I don't think we will need the German dictionary just yet. I'm sure Siemens are interested. However the UK pension is still to be outsourced and with Invensys stock close to a 52 week low and possibly under valued, Sir Nigel will want a better price. I doubt Siemens will launch a hostile bid so I'd say we are looking at 6+ months. If it's sooner then I'd bet that this years results are going to be below par. We shall see. Tuesday, August 30, 2011 I will tell you what's changed. Under the leadership of James Drummond we had a clear strategy and organization to support it. We were growing and winning market share. Then 10 months ago Riddett was promoted, out of his depth to COO and then CEO. Now we have a partially dismantled organization, no strategy and cost cutting that is destroying capability. I'm reliably told that there are now 7 major projects, globally, that are in serious financial trouble. Rail needs a credible and capable CEO. Until we get one, expect the slide to continue. Tuesday, August 30, 2011 It is not termed "redundancies" in IRAP state offices. Its called "reorganization"....Get that HR Director out in the open for a flogging. Tuesday, August 30, 2011 Ich bin ein Invensys angestellte. Yes, that's right guys. Get those English-German dictionaries ready. Monday, August 29, 2011 Has much changed in the post-Ulf era? His cronies such as Freburger, Riddett and Sudipta are all still with Invensys. So apart from Wayne's urgency to offload the UK pension and then sell the company, little has changed. Monday, August 29, 2011 If you think you have it bad with Sudipta, you need to meet Riddett. Embarrassing doesn't come close. In Asia and Europe he has been received as a jackass. Here in the US he is the least respected leader in memory. I just have to think that we are being sold and it doesn't matter who leads. Nobody would chose this idiot. Riddett himself openly says that Wayne will sell us off. Monday, August 29, 2011 This here "baby boomer engineer" can out-innovate, out-code, out-sell, out-last, and probably just about out-everything you. So watch your generalizations, punk. Monday, August 29, 2011 To the Generation-X guy, when most of the money isn't being made from products that were developed 10+ years ago you may have a point. Until then, the evidence is that the older guys did it better and more sustainably. Monday, August 29, 2011 IRAP has gone into further damage control with the news that further redundancys in Melbourne and Sydney on the way. Many of the good staff have already left and with a less than satisfactory project delivery performance, how long will it be before it returns to being just a signalling design company. Even the days of the local manufacturing is on its way out, so watch this sapce for more news in the next round of changes to be implemented. Saturday, August 27, 2011 The coming purchase of Invensys is being orchestrated by Ulf and his people. He needed to be out of the equation for legal and regulatory purposes, but when the deal is done all will see his pay out. His supposed departure was never explained. Rail will be purchased by CSR, IOM and controls by Siemens. Saturday, August 27, 2011 I too am shocked, surprised, and saddened at the cadre of yes-men and old buddies that Sudipta has brought into IOM. Let's not even get started on the lack of - ahem - cultural diversity. When Ulf promoted Sudipta to the WonderWare helm, it was a stretch then. Heading up IOM has pushed him far beyond his capacity to lead, and his key personnel choices are demonstrative of those failings. Tragic not only for IOM but for Sudipta as well, who simply needed more time to develop before being thrust into this role. He is not a bad person, just in over his head. Saturday, August 27, 2011 All I hear is people crying and complaining about Invensys. Well people, this is how they are and how most all other companies are out there. They looking for engineers that can do it better, faster, and cheaper. You baby boomer engineers are the dinosaurs of technology. The generation-X is here. So stop your crying, stomping, and dragging your feet and get with the game or accept the inevitable and join your fallen comrades. Try to keep up. The days of handouts and milking your job are over. Good luck and Godspeed. Friday, August 26, 2011 IRAP has now announced redundancies thanks to Dimetronic taking away all the Asia pacific business for themselves. 27% reduction in staff in primarily the Brisbane office. Fault lies squarely with the leadership. No vision, no balls! Friday, August 26, 2011 What a mess Sudipta has created. New organization with no leaders leading to the chaos we now see. Does he really know what it means to drive a hardware-based business? We need a big name to come in and drive some growth. IOM is going nowhere at all. Our competitors will eat our lunch. Thursday, August 25, 2011 - Re: "There are 4 of us still left, and at least 2 of us are sticking around until the bitter end." I agree that stating that *all* the best people had left was a bit of a stretch and there are about half-dozen good staff still around in IRNA California. Most of them are looking for new jobs very actively. Keep in mind that at its peak R&D was > 80 people and there are about 35 left. Out of these a previous poster said that 2 will stick around to the bitter end ? Well .... need I say more? I can also assure you that putting the blame on Invensys for this decline is very unimaginative. I fully realize that blaming Invensys R&D leadership is easy because then IRNA managers do not have to take any responsibility. Blaming Invensys (in this case) is just not factual though it is a good pass-time for IRNA managers. The decline is directly attributable to 2-3 internal managers. You know who they are. In an *engineering* company when politics becomes more important than engineering and there is a loss of personal integrity, the result is not pretty. That is what you are seeing. Don't blame Invensys for this one! Thursday, August 25, 2011 Looks like the madness continues. More IRNE redundancies. Will the last one turn off the light please? Wednesday, August 24, 2011 The company that is now known as Invensys was founded by a German-born British engineer named Augustus Siebe in 1819. So nearly 200 years later it seems as though it may well be repatriated back to its spiritual home of Germany. The question is will CSR take this lying down? Or will they put up a significant fight to acquire Invensys themselves? Are we seeing the beginning of the shift of power from the old industrial powerhouse of the West to the new in the East? Monday, August 22, 2011 "Invensys Plc may be worth 80 percent more in a breakup, as Siemens AG circles the maker of software used to run the London Undergrounds subway trains." Read the article in Bloomberg Business Week:
Sunday, August 21, 2011 - A posting below reads, "Your best leaders and engineers have left." No I haven't! There are 4 of us still left, and at least 2 of us are sticking around until the bitter end. After all, Safetran could recover from Invensys. The attempt to outsource might eventually be accepted by upper management as a dismal and expensive failure. All you people who have worked for Safetran prior to Invensys taking over, you MUST agree that working with Safetran has been your best, most rewarding job ever. Think back to before Invensys. Yes, there was nonsense and yes difficulties to overcome but that's true of ANY company that's as large as Safetran - yet I can not imagine that anyone did not enjoy working with Safetran before Invensys. We made a difference saving lives and reducing customer liability and costs, something that Safetran employees should be proud of. Our customer service and response was top notch, our products work, we had industry respect and top-ranked domain knowledge. We were #1 and to all you nay-sayers out there, we can be #1 once again if we don't give up! None of us are clairvoyant and can predict the future. Safetran could be sold to another company that understands that outsourcing R&D rarely works, or Invensys management may eventually be forced to accept the fact. Quality engineers and leaders who have abandoned Safetran or have been laid off might possibly return, if so. So don't give up on Safetran just yet. The company still has quality engineers and management people who know what customers want, what customers need, and know how to manage projects and people to get it done DESPITE Invensys. You don't walk out on your family just because a family member gets sick! And before you say to yourself, "Well Safetran has been kicking people out of the family" I have to say no they have not. Invensys has been, not Safetran. Nobody can be loyal to Invensys considering the company's horrific ethics but Safetran is family. Good family. Those who are left should not be giving up hope. There's still a good company hidden in there and if you join the thundering herd trying to leave, you may regret it once Safetran recovers. I say stick with it. Be professional, focus on the customer's needs, ignore the BS and GET ON WITH IT. And if the hatchet comes around and falls on your neck, you can be proud that you did your professional best. Damn. Listen to me preach it. LOL. I need my own cable show. Saturday, August 6, 2011 IOM Split. See the last mail from Sudipta. Seems it is the time to know how much each portion of IOM cost, ready to be sold in pieces! Need to know how if the Mid level delivery team will live, or will vanish! Monday, August 1, 2011 The Controls Division is indeed run by an ex-Account Manger. I only hope he was not the pick of the Account Managers. Saturday, July 30, 2011 Well I hear what you say about Riddett - but in reality he is a weak and effective leader that only gets air time from his position. Watch the leaders leave him; he is a loser and if not resolved then Wayne is accountable. You cannot have a racist leader like Riddett in a modern business. Friday, July 29, 2011 IRNA Cucamonga R&D staff: Did you really expect any different? Just look at the past 2 1/2 years, since 2008: Your best leaders and engineers have left. The only reason most people still work here is either you are waiting to get the pay-off when they close the facility next year, OR you live close to work with most jobs farther away so you are dragging this out as long as you can before having to commute. After having closed Manufacturing last year, do you really expect they are going to get a new facility for the 30-40 of you that are left ? Friday, July 29, 2011 My 2 cents is that we should not blame Kevin Riddett from being a one-trick pony. Everyone knows he is and has known this for at least 2 years, since he has run IRNA for at least that long. He is going to cut costs. Period. In some cases this will make sense and in others it will not. That is who he is. If you know this to be true then, certainly, many in your management know it as well. People can read other people reasonably well. The real questions are : Knowing the above, he was still put in charge of IR. So, why ? I believe, it tells you that that is what senior management are expecting i.e. cut costs. If you feel that this "cut costs" is at the expense of future growth then that tells you they are planning to "pretty up the bride" before sale. It is as simple as that. Keep the context in mind - All told, James Drummond was a pretty good leader in the 5-odd years he ran IR; we had pretty good growth. So, there has to be a reason for his departure and for someone like Kevin to be brought in. Maybe he declined from doing the dirty deeds? Friday, July 29, 2011 It is certainly not inconceivable that Invensys could be seen as a "quick fix" for the issues surrounding the rail industry in China at the moment. Whether it makes a bid from CSR more or less likely though is of course open to debate. RE:- "May you live in interesting times": Correct me if I'm wrong but isn't that supposed to be a Chinese curse? Very apt for Invensys! Thursday, July 28, 2011
"You've had a pleasant run! Shall we be trotting home again?" But answer came there none. And this was scarcely odd, because They'd eaten every one.
It's just a matter of time until all the oysters are eaten, and Invensys will find it scarcely odd since that was their intention all along. Thursday, July 28, 2011 Does Invensys, especially the rail division, suddenly seem a very attractive target for the Chinese? Excerpt from the BBC News website. 28th July 2011:
The accident is seen as a blow to China's hopes of selling trains abroad in a bid to become a high-tech exporter. Shares in Chinese rail and train builders have fallen sharply since the crash." Thursday, July 28, 2011 Invensys Rail teaches and develops good leadership & people skills. It's a shame that some management are so insecure that they have to walk around the business telling everyone how great they are and who they know. Our National Sales manager in Australia has more of his staff leaving with 2 recent resignations. All he is worried about is himself, rather than how unhappy his staff are. Isn't it time that his boss took an interest in what is happening here before no one is left? Thursday, July 28, 2011 It's IRNE's turn next, with Riddett pushing for 20% of the UK staff to be let go. How this clueless one-trick-pony got to be in charge is astonishing. Rail needs to grow and this won't happen if we continue to lay off engineering and development staff. Short sighted ineffective "leaders" like Riddett will slash and burn to cut costs and then find out that we no longer have the capability to deliver projects. Wednesday, July 27, 2011 As predicted, the layoffs occurred today at IRNA; some made sense, some didn't make sense; more to come in the coming weeks and months. The CEO extolls the virtues of a leaner, meaner, company whose best days are still ahead. No one really believes that, not even his drones. Everyone is looking, some are not even trying to hide it. The remaining employees feel like the band who kept playing until the final moments of the sinking of the Titanic. Is it possible IRNA will suffer the same fate? At this point, if you ask most of the remaining crew, the answer is a very sad yes! Wednesday, July 27, 2011 You saw it here first! As forecast, the "Wrath of Riddett" swept through IRNA California starting at just after 9AM PDT and continued for two hours as boxes of termination notices were delivered to the unfortunate recipients. When the smoke cleared, five jobs were cut which is 10% of the ever shrinking work force. In recent weeks two engineers and one project manager resigned and went off to the competition job. The new Director of R&D starts his third day watching his work force disappear. An all hands meeting was called at 2PM to start damage control. Paljug, by phone, said California will not lose any more jobs then followed with "Never say never." Just when morale was beginning perk up, the Wrath of Riddett comes to town. Rumors say Jacksonville is next but most likely California has taken a hit for the team this time. There is no joy in Cucamonga. Wednesday, July 27, 2011 Does Saturday's terrible train crash in China make it more likely that CSR will want to acquire Invensys to appropriate the Train Division to allow it access to better signaling, communication and control systems? The CSR share price has plunged recently due to one of the trains involved being built by CSR despite CSR revealing new contract orders of well over 1 billion dollars. Wednesday, July 27, 2011 - Re: Melbourne Engineering Team: I'd have to contradict the commentator regarding the engineering team being the backbone. That may be true for signaling-only projects, but your record on delivering control systems is very poor. In fact, these projects are all currently over budget and late. Perhaps this is why the supervisor was moved sideways and a new one brought in. Hopefully he'll break down the existing barriers which are currently making delivery of these projects very difficult. Tuesday, July 26, 2011 The next wave of layoffs in IRNA start tomorrow morning and should wrap up by noon PST. The employees thought they were overworked before; it can only go down from here. Riddett has encouraged an atmosphere of chaos and increasing expectations. Praise is never given as the management style is one that only criticizes employees failure to meet unrealistic expectations. Everyone is expected to be "accountable" for failures incurred by those above them. Those beneath the top management tier can't help but feel like serfs serving at the beck and call and displeasure of the lords above them. Tuesday, July 26, 2011 IRAP - The Head of Engineering should have been dispensed with a long time ago due to his complete lack of people management skills and insecurity (he never looks you in the eye when in conversation). Don't forget that he came from the UK and has created a comfortable position to globe trot and ensure that he is available to attend world sporting activities such as F1 races in Kuala Lumpur and 6 nations RFU matches in Europe to name a few - all arranged around meetings! OUT with the useless and IN with the new. Tuesday, July 26, 2011 I don't know to much about Invensys' rail business; however for the people on IOM who might say it's better for the company to be bought, just remember Fisher & Porter , Leeds & Norhtrup, Moore Products, Bailey, Taylor, etc... They were all dismantled and many people lost their Jobs. Imagine people from their 40's and up trying to get a job now. With this economy, no one is hiring now. Everybody complains about Invensys. I have been in Siemens and ABB and problems are the same or worse because of the size. I saw good people from Bailey, Taylor, Moore Products, Miltronics left with nothing, after working almost half of their life for these companies. The older you are, the faster they tell you good bye! Now-a-days at 40 you are old. I imagine being in your 50's and 60's. They buy the companies for the Market Share not for the people. They will continue selling their solutions, thats why they spend money and time to develop them. The first thing they will do its to close down and move production lines. Then they will eliminate executive positions and duplicated sales teams and offices. Triconex and Wonderware might do better, but Foxboro, Eurotherm, Control Division, etc.? These companies already have similar new solutions, excluding GE who might need more Process Automation Solutions (field equipment perhaps although its old IA might do it for them in refinery and oil business). However GE wants to get more into this kind of business? Tuesday, July 26, 2011 Re: "I sincerely hope this reborn and totally transformed company, yet with a long and distinguished tradition of engineering excellence, is not sold cheaply to foreign predators." Well, you just described Foxboro in 1990. Tuesday, July 26, 2011 The Melbourne engineering team was the backbone of the company and getting into shape to face new challenges with a sound management and supervisory structure across Australia, New Zealand and Asia. They were not perfect but delivered projects on time and thru hard graft with no help from the PMO or projects. Well, the people in charge have just decided to change all the good work and move the Engineering Manager "sideways" and recruit a unknown to his position. How to screw up a perfectly good section the Invensys Rail Australia Executive way. The grass is looking greener on the other side. Monday, July 25, 2011 Let me clarify my earlier comments about Globalization being a problem for The Controls Division. Globalization is a big problem from Invensys Controls plus the lack of any strategic vision, the lack of innovation, the lack of new innovative products, the lack of any understanding of customer needs, the lack of investments, the lack of a strong, competent and visionary management. Monday, July 25, 2011 Sometimes I just wonder how a VP of Operations can ban all his people to attend a workshop organized for IOM global participants for advanced internal tech personnel, just because it is his belief that it is useless and does not have anything to gain for his people? Since I am so far down the food chain, I just question his mental faculty as a VP. It is just as well to ban all his sales people from attending annual sales conferences. As we all knows, sales conferences are also run along similar lines sometimes even have nothing more to offer in terms of contents and "watered down" versions of technical information. Monday, July 25, 2011 Well, with the sale of the Invensys pension scheme going through this week, this heralds the start of the bidding process proper on the company itself. With recent contract wins such as the Thameslink programme and year-on-year profitability, I sincerely hope this reborn and totally transformed company, yet with a long and distinguished tradition of engineering excellence, is not sold cheaply to foreign predators. I know it is too much to hope that an engineering company would actually stay in British hands, but if it has to be sold the full value of the company must be realised. Personally I feel it may well go to the Chinese, as if it is purchased by Siemens for example that would give the German company a major presence and foothold in China which I feel would be contrary to China's increasingly aggressive economic global strategy of expansion, (and perhaps, in time, dominance?). Only time will tell. Just two questions remain. How much? And who? As the Chinese say "May you live in interesting times". Monday, July 25, 2011 I hope this company will be bought by someone who knows the industry and the importance of the products instead of being run by people who have no clue on how to invest and redirect the company. The only thing they know is how to talk and build dreams with no vision on how to get there. For the sake of giving them the chance that these dreams can be fulfilled, definitely not in the near future, will they be around to be held responsible for the results of such plans and dreams? Or will it give them time to fill in their pockets and leave after few years of service? Sunday, July 24, 2011 - News from London The Sunday Times News paper today 7/24 - Financial News Specialist insurers bid for Invensys pension liabilities Pension Corporation, Lucida and Goldman Sachs-owned Rothesay are all said to have tabled final bids for a so-called "partial buyout" of Invensys - 4.2bn (4.76bn) pension scheme that would cost the engineering group almost 500m. If the deal materializes, it will likely be the largest transfer to date of an occupational retirement fund out of a UK corporate, and could set the stage for a takeover offer from suitors such as ABB, Siemens and GE. Sunday, July 24, 2011 I quote the previous blogger: "Invensys needs Vision, Trust and a focus on execution": Well, we lack two of the three (Vision and Trust), so I guess we're screwed. And our "focus on execution" is purely on cost, not customer value. So we're doubly screwed. Sunday, July 24, 2011 Riddett has messed up in every role he has held, so why are you in IRNA surprised? Union Switch, Pirelli and Rail. Universally hated and disposed by his employees and considered an irrelevance by customers. Expect confusion, rapid changes in course and 180 changes in direction. Random organization changes with no idea how to make it work. He was and still is clueless. Sunday, July 24, 2011 Invensys is not for sale. It's too complicated to separate the parts. It's only a tweak away from being a great company and that tweak just needs Vision, Trust and a focus on execution. Invensys is way ahead of it's competitors. It has survived the pain barrier and is ready to perform as the best. Saturday, July 23, 2011 No false alarm this time; Riddett is continuing with the cuts this week. This time however it hits his home base of origin, IRNA. The promotion of Paljug to President has been kept low-key until the IRNA reorganization. This will be a busy week for internal reorganization happenings. The new Director of R&D starts on Monday; layoffs happen mid-week; with the remainder of the week spent on letting the dust settle. The only area that seems to grow with IRNA is HR. IRNA is still trying to correct errors in how much they reported for withholding in 2010. Of course it had nothing to do with changing payroll in mid-year, and was completely the fault of the previous payroll company, ADT. Whatever happened to oversight and taking responsibility for actions. Like the gross mishandling of offshore resources. All of this though stems from Riddett and his slash and burn leadership style. He only know how to create division, chaos, and cut the organization to the bone. Who knows what the aftermath will be when he is finished. Saturday, July 23, 2011 Not only about IOM hiring practices of certain nationalities, what about putting the put best practices offices and manufacturing facilities? This "man power supply" office is located in a country of high volatility and shaky instability. Traveling into this corrupted country from the time you get off the plane to the time you get out of the country, makes life frustrating. At the same time (No offenses to the quality of the people there) their passport makes life difficult not only to get traveling document, let alone work visas. IOM puts a major manufacturing factory across the US-Mexico border, were the drug cartels are fighting day in and day out on the streets. How can a visitor visit this factory? Or is it a ploy to prevent visitors from coming? You can see where our competition puts their "manpower" supply offices and factories. To say the least, IOM leadership (even the UK based board top leadership) is one-dimensional and incredibly myopic. Friday, July 22, 2011 If the pension (which is a ginormous albatross) is truly sold, then the bidding war will start in earnest. My money is on CSR or Siemens for Rail. Siemens, Schneider or GE for Operations Management and Private equity for Controls. My guess is discussions with suitors have been underway for some time and I would bet there is an announcement by the end of September or December at the latest. Friday, July 22, 2011 I overheard someone discussing a potential lawsuit on behalf of IOM employees based on discrimination due to their national origin. I think the frustration with Sudipta's hiring practices on his leadership team has reached the breaking point. I guess it was probably just a matter of time before someone got fed up. Wednesday, July 20, 2011 Selling the pension fund tells the market and competitor's that a buyout is the only way out. Will be interesting to see who ends up buying Invensys. For sure it won't be Honeywell or ABB. No visionary at the top. Both Companies have purchased firms that didn't produce growth or increased market share. Surprising fact is that Invensys is probably years ahead of Honeywell, Yokagawa, ABB in terms of software platform. Schneider Electric has been buying everything else so maybe they will snatch up Invensys. Saturday, July 16, 2011 My manager showed me an article in the current Track & Signal Magazine which show cases IRAPS new Melbourne office. Whilst a major step forward for the business, it was over 6 years in the making. We had a number of false starts over the last few years and communications and management of the shift was very poor. It was only a select few staff who were invited to the official office opening where they were wined and dined with guests. What the visitors didn't get to see was the way we have been packed into the new offices which is now all open plan. What has made it even worse, has been having to share our space with an RRL Alliance team which includes a major external constructor and consultants. Whilst there a lot of probity around this bid and we have been told not to talk to them, you can't but hear all of the discussions going during the day and the lunch time discussions where people are sharing information. Why couldn't the RRL bid team have been set up on a separate floor away from everyone or even at another location all together, just as the competition has? Tuesday, July 12, 2011 Now that the Croydon office has merged with the Euston Office and our Management team has yet again applied the apartheid rules to them and us by dividing the office space, and that the contractors are finally being terminated, I hope that all of the IRL direct non-management employees can get together and finally boot out the company council cronies and elect a trade union (RMT my preferred choice) before our 90 day redundancy notice is initiated. Tuesday, July 12, 2011 IRAP have just announced that they are making further changes to the business by pushing the Head of Engineering sideways. "Strength and Capability" is central to our ability to support the required growth and to do this another manager is being imported from the UK to manage the Engineering Team. Who will be up next? Will it be the Head of Projects for his poor performance, or R&D who have been spending up big, but not delivering on promises? Saturday, July 9, 2011 IRAP project reviews uncover major management deficiencies with how they are being managed, or the lack of and mismanaged delivery. Despite having a PMO process of sorts, even the Head of Projects wasn't able to explain why we have lost so much money on some major local projects. If it wasn't for the engineering team going the extra mile, Auckland would be a complete disaster. We can't even implement a train control system and make a real profit, which is evident in the Melbourne office. Thank goodness for the rest of the business that keeps us a float. But for how long? Friday, July 8, 2011 Guys, it clearly doesn't matter who Riddett is bdecause the Rail group will prosper without him. The real question is, how much damage will he cause before Wayne steps in? Friday, July 8, 2011 The issue with Invensys Controls is not globalization but simply the lack of any strategic vision, the lack of innovation, the lack of new innovative products, the lack of any understanding of customer needs, the lack of investments, the lack of a strong, competent and visionary management. If you think that Controls is now managed by an ex-key account manager who has found his own gold mine, if you look at the sales managers of all regions, if you think how few competent engineers are remaining within Controls, then you easily realize why Controls is constantly losing market share and credibility. This company is simply disappearing! Friday, July 8, 2011 The China nuclear projects are indeed running into all sorts of problems. A new leadership team has just been announced, following the removal of that GM who was not well received both internally and externally. He did not go down well with the staff and worse of all antagonized the big Chinese customer. That was a big no-no. A wrong choice right from the start with someone incapable and now have to pick up all the broken pieces. What a waste of time. Friday, July 8, 2011 To suggest Invensys should have won SSR because of a grater number of UK jobs is ridiculous! How much of the work would have gone to Madrid, India and so on? The winner's may be international, but they have a much more proven product, with a better integrated team having worldwide experience of installing their system. We were blown pout of the water, end of story. Our product is at least a generation behind what our competitors not only offer, but what they have been installing worldwide for several years. Thursday, July 7, 2011 Well, I have no idea who this Riddett person is and have never seen him. I have however worked for Westinghouse (now IRNE) for 20 years. It's good to see the return of real Directors, and you will know who I mean. Those that both grow the business and look after their employees. It's not a coincidence that we have just won a major framework agreement with the biggest Invensys customer NR. The Ulf legacy is almost gone except for Riddett. Thursday, July 7, 2011 Please do not even suggest that Riddett meets our customers. We are just staring to fix things and the last thing we need is a racist red-neck that knows little about the business and has had poor feedback from the few customers he has met. He is a liability. Thursday, July 7, 2011 - Re: "The UK's economy is built around bankers shuffling money around in London." I couldn't agree more with that statement as well as if you substitute "UK" with "U.S." and "London" with "New York", perhaps "Chicago" you'd be making the statement about situations back in the States. In talking about manufacturing, the previous statement regarding Germany "...It is regarded as the life blood of their economy, and German engineering is highly regarded throughout the world..." I wish this was true about North America. But the powers-that-be believe in the "service" economy, which essentially allows more ease of transferring jobs out of the country, Invensys Controls NA included. Thursday, July 7, 2011 At last, the much unwanted Singapore GM/VP for China nuclear delivery is gone. We all know there are lots problems with timelines and customer dissatisfaction. Does anyone know where he's gone to? Anyway, good riddance to him. Finally can concentrate on my work. But all of you out there should know things aren't going well. Now our dear COO is getting involved into the fray as part of the nuclear organization. Wonder if he can spend the time. Beats me. Wednesday, July 6, 2011 Personally I see nothing wrong with Siemens getting the Thameslink order. Bombardier were planning to shed 1200 jobs irrespective of the Thameslink decision. They have now announced 1400 job losses. Siemens, in contrast, will create 2000 jobs. So you could argue it comes down to this: give the contract to Bombardier and save 200 jobs, or give it to Siemens and create 2000 jobs. Fair enough, they are different types of jobs. But the demise of train building in the UK is not down to Thameslink. And frankly, all this talk about Germany being protectionist is simply xenophobic nonsense. Bombardier is huge in Germany. Their transportation HQ is in Berlin. The main difference between Germany and UK is that the Germans have continued to invest in manufacturing and engineering, ensuring they remain competitive on a global scale. It is regarded as the life blood of their economy, and German engineering is highly regarded throughout the world. The UK's economy is built around bankers shuffling money around in London. Wednesday, July 6, 2011 Luckily for us Riddett has yet to meet a single UK customer (itself strange after 8 months as either COO or CEO). Now I hear we just won the biggest and most complex signalling framework order in Network Rail history. So please continue to keep Riddett away from our business. If 10% of posts on here about him are true, then he is a serious danger to the Rail business. Interestingly many of the posts go back to the damage he caused in Union Switch and Pirelli. So a consistent track record of making a mess. Wednesday, July 6, 2011 Well I give up! Days of Riddett input leading nowhere. Customer feedback is, "Redneck American idiot". How much longer? Tuesday, July 5, 2011 I can't see any significant impact on Invensys Rail. I do think the UK is mad to give the train order to Siemens in Germany causing job losses at home. To compound things, they then also gave the London Underground signaling contract to Bombardier who with no capability other than train building in the UK (now in trouble due to Siemens) and will do the work in Germany and Canada. More job losses in the UK. Can you imagine French, German, Italian or Spanish governments doing this? Tuesday, July 5, 2011 - Breaking News 16:30 GMT Bombardier job cuts. The axing of posts follows the Government's decision to award a lucrative carriage order for the Thameslink route to Siemens of Germany rather than to Derby-based Bombardier. The company said the job cuts would affect 446 permanent staff at Derby and 983 temporary staff. A consortium led by Bombardier had been competing with one led by Siemens over a contract for 1,200 new carriages as part of a GBP 6B upgrade of the Thameslink route, which runs from Bedford to Brighton through London. "It is a blow for the workers. In this case, it was clear the company was going to make significant redundancies even if they had won the contract," said Mr Cable."But other countries seem better much at keeping orders within their own domestic suppliers. So what now for Invensys? Monday, July 4, 2011 The problem for Controls is that none of their products make money consistently. Qingdao makes cheap thermostats and normally you would just close Qingdao. However you will find that somewhere in the world there is an office and the only product they make money on is Qingdao thermostats. When Invensys was formed the product portfolio just did not make sense. Now Controls have scattered products in different markets, different regional requirements, no synergy. It is a house of cards. Move one card and part of the house falls. Monday, July 4, 2011 IPMS is a tool of limited potential. It can help both managers and employees to assess their objectives and progress. It should be used in conjunction with other management techniques. If your manager does not know what you are doing, or does not understand your work well enough to know if you are doing it well, then you have a manager problem. IPMS may hide the problem for a while, but the ultimate solution is to remove the manager. Sunday, July 3, 2011 The Controls Division problem is Globalization. Forgive me if I state the obvious. There is considerable consolidation in the appliance industry. So when Electrolux purchases a small competitor in Brazil, South Africa, Australia or where ever, that small competitor then gets the Electrolux price. So the higher margins previously enjoyed by component suppliers disappears. Secondly, when a major White Goods manufacturer moves production to China, say, that White Goods manufacturer will re-tender all the components used in its products. That White Goods manufacturer will then expect to pay a lower price, a China price, for its components. So for all components there will eventually be one low Global price. This is happening now and it cannot be reversed. That is the problem for the Controls Division. If the Controls Division is not profitable now it can never be profitable as prices are only going lower. Sunday, July 3, 2011 IPMS is fundamentally flawed because it directly ties development needs to salary review. That puts the employee on the defensive when development needs are discussed, because any weaknesses are perceived as reasons to reduce raises, not opportunities to grow and develop. And there's a big problem with the system in that it changes every year so no-one really feels it's a process they need to buy into. In fact the behavioral competency ratings this year are excellent and anyone engaging in self assessment using them will find it improves their self awareness and guides them to improvements. Any assessment system incidentally gets normalised and baselined, and the methods used to do that in IPMS are sound. I'd also agree that where it's arguably most needed, at the higher management levels, it's largely ignored. Invensys management is inconsistent in quality, prone to low level tactical tinkering, and has a limited strategic sense. Saturday, July 2, 2011 I agree with the IPMS comments. When I was a manager at Invensys, I was told by my manager I could not give an EE (for the uninitiated, "Exceeds Expectations" performance level) to anyone, despite their performance, because of budget limitations. I refused to rate one of my engineers if I could not give him an EE. I am a former employee now. Friday, July 1, 2011 Confusing point is that we still don't know who runs either IOM or Controls America. Does anyone have inside track on who may get promoted? Friday, July 1, 2011 I agree that the IPMS is a complete sham! If your boss only gets an ME from his boss the most you can hope for is an ME. Upper management does indeed cap the gradings and if by some chance you do get EE or above as an overall, grading you are just as unlikely to get a promotion or higher annual increase. Salary increases are budgeted as the previous commentator suggested and have nothing whatsoever to do with your IPMS grading. What's with the competencies? If you look at the definition of Expert it means most competent engineers should have this grading. But oh no - managers won't give you anything above Advanced as that means you have no room to improve. Friday, July 1, 2011 - Re: "The Invensys IPMS system is designed to build leaders and works well when staffs are given the support they need." IPMS is a sham. It's only purpose it to make employees believe that all of the self-assessments and goals actually will have an impact on the amount of their raise - if there is one - or the possibility of their promotion. The fact is your raise is determined months before Year-End reviews even take place, as part of the budgeting process. This is pretty much par for the course for every large company I have worked for. In my opinion, IPMS is an even bigger sham since I have been told to my face for three years straight that nobody is "allowed" to get the highest rating due to Upper Management stipulating as such. The EE rating is also few and far between (as an overall rating, not for individual competencies.) If the system is artificially capped, what good is it? Friday, July 1, 2011 The Invensys IPMS system is designed to build leaders and works well when staffs are given the support they need. What I find difficult is the blatant disregard for it by our exec team in Australia. I overhead the national sales manager complaining recently about how he is not allowed to make any decisions, he has to go to his boss all of the time and that he hasn't received any product training which is why he has to rely on the engineering team to support his efforts. This goes against the very nature of empowering the staff to step up to the challenge and take the company to another level. It's time that senior management allowed key staff like that to really prove themselves, rather than controlling them. Thursday, June 30, 2011 You won't know what Riddett looks like because, despite two thirds of his operation being based in Europe, he is based at a small factory in Louisville, Kentucky. Even better, the guy that should be in Louisville, i.e. the Safetran President, lives in Pittsburgh. Figure that one out! Anyhow take it from me, you are better of not knowing either. Thursday, June 30, 2011 I was on site and at the Wayne Town Hall. Great to see a cohesive Exec team at last with some old proven pro's and to hear Wayne speak with both humility and grace in a hot canteen. I'm positive about IRNE - it's up to us. Only disappointment was today's cancellation of the business update which has caused massive speculation about a disaster! By the way who is Riddett ? Serious question. Thursday, June 30, 2011 Well, I have to say it was great to see a real CEO in Chippenham and key members of our Executive team, including some veterans taking him around our facility. I don't even know what this Riddett person looks like. From what I've heard and read, I don't want to know. To the person who thinks profits should be given to workers, then become an owner, buy shares and they will. You are an employee and get paid to do a job. If you don't like it and think about NR (massive redundancies coming) leave. Thursday, June 30, 2011 Yes, it's true that Controls has huge AOP gap in FY11/12, especially in APAC new emerging markets like China. SEC (Shanghai Engineering Center) is collapsing and the only factory, located at Qingdao of North China, is facing red figures each month with a total about $8M loss per year. Wednesday, June 29, 2011 Again, more rumors of the sale of the Controls Division. I think you need to look at the Balance Sheet. Wouldn't Invensys be better off closing the business and selling land and building? Wednesday, June 29, 2011 Looking at this head count reduction, which apparently will be defined on the 30th, obviously means that people's jobs are in jeopardy. Again, how can this be if invensys Rail make millions upon millions of profit and with an unbelievably good margin on the majority of its projects. Again, with the size of reduction in the region of 15 to 20%, that would effectively wipe out an office in the UK? The positive of that could possibly be that Network Rail would intervene and create an Major Works office. A few years ago it was all too similar. They called it British Rail. Wednesday, June 29, 2011 Unfortunately, most people couldn't hear the so-called town hall. But if Wayne is such a straight shooter, then why is the massive profits? Not given back to the staff, rather than all back in the business. Is a pay rise in line with inflation a thing of the past? Using tactics such as looking back at the bad figures, but looking forward when it suits, predicting a bad year going forward. No sign of consistency? Apparently Network Rail will get in the region of 5%. I find it hard to believe that every other signalling firms' staff are getting paid in buttons... Tuesday, June 28, 2011 I met Wayne today on his visit to IRNE. For the first time in a long time I have some hope that this once great company might be able to survive and even flourish. All the responses I have heard to his town hall meeting are positive. Good job Wayne! Now just get rid of Riddett and we'll all be right behind you. Tuesday, June 28, 2011 Well, today we had a so-called "town hall" meeting with our CEO. All I can say is, Well done! Wayne appears to be a straightforward chap and answers directly with a sense of humour. Amazing that he managed to connect, either via phone or directly, with most of Rail employees. Considering the fact that he has only been in position 2 or so months, that's a great start. Compare this to Riddett who has been in position over all the Rail BUs since November last year and has not had a single employee meeting. If half the posts on here regarding Kevin Riddett are true, then he has no place in the Rail leadership team. Monday, June 27, 2011 The problem that Wayne and Rail will have to face is Riddett's lack of intellect. He will try to compensate by being an aggressive bully, but it won't work. He has no experience or understanding of a long-cycle global project business and that's where 80% of his sales come from. His poor judgement is compounded by a lack of gravitas or presence that a leader needs at that level. His employees consider him a joke, and the few customers he has met in his 7 months as COO/CEO are unimpressed. Most likely outcome is an aggressive reduction in headcount to try and protect shrinking margins. Hopefully this will become clear to those at the top before real damage occurs. Monday, June 27, 2011 Some things are not speculation. Have you met Kevin Riddett? I just have, and gosh, is he out of his depth! This is a serious mistake. Like most serious mistakes, it will have consequences that are (if your eyes are open) be visible now. Thursday, June 23, 2011 Everything seems to be speculation after the management decision of breaking up the group. Particularly not realized loss and/or potential extra expenditure to complete several large scale on-going rail business would be easily more than three digit million pound, but it has never been disclosed and explained to the shareholders, employee and potential buyers, may be, because such would be an inconvenient truth affecting thickness of notes on the table. Thursday, June 23, 2011 IOM revenue for the year was up 15%, and Rail was up 10% - though Rail achieved a bigger profit than IOM. The questions arise - why the resignation of respected Rail CEO James Drummond? And why the sudden firing of CEO Ulf Hendrikkson. There have been NO explanations. Clearly, with an accountant in charge, Invensys is being readied for sale, probably IOM and Rail separately. Wayne Edmunds happily announced that the pension problem was being resolved, clearing a major obstacle to a clean sale of all the pieces - with the best foot forward to get top-dollar. Read the analysis in the latest JimPinto.com eNews, 23 June 2011. Wednesday, June 22, 2011 The IRNE business is struggling with the basics. Take resourcing as an example; any improvement and best-practice has been shelved by the new projects VP and they've put the original resource manager back in the chair. The guy is keen, but has little if any understanding of the steps he follows every month. He has no ability to improve things and has some odd idea that he is setting the benchmark. He is a well-meaning dinosaur with zero ability to adapt or change to meet business need. The business is using this inaccurate data to 'plan'; what chance does it have with such a flawed approach? Wednesday, June 22, 2011 I've always understood that Southern Europe was the most profitable part of Rail. Why has the President been removed into a small, side-show role? Has he failed? Are there bad times ahead and he has jumped? Wednesday, June 22, 2011 As a former Director in Rail, Riddett had better watch out. The stock price moves on a major multiple of rails performance. Riddett appears to all, internally and externally, as a fool. I can't wait for a person like him to meet a non-white customer! Outside the US that's likely. Feedback from APAC customers is that he is an embarrassment. It's amazing that he is allowed to carry on. Wednesday, June 22, 2011 Well I spent 18 years in US and Riddett was without doubt the most despised person in the whole US operation. As his father (well respected and nothing like his foolish son) was in charge he felt invincible and threw his weight around, basically firing all those that disagreed with him and those that were more academically qualified (most people). Such a waste. If you were remotely a threat he said you didn't add value. Unusually in today's works he was also quite anti people-of-color. It's hard to believe today that this survives. If you were smart and didn't agree with his dogma, then you were fired. Basically it was kill the unions and screw the customers. His exact words. That he reached a senior global role in Invensys says more about your company than him. Tuesday, June 21, 2011 Riddett will not be making any announcements about anything. His own CFO says the guy cannot understand a balance sheet or P&L! He is busy producing an unworkable organization structure that will be a disaster. The Invensys Rail Southern Europe President has been removed from his job to a COO role that basically has no operational responsibility or accountability. Meanwhile Riddett continues to dabble in things he knows nothing about and create major tensions in an already stressed organization. Where did they find this guy? Monday, June 20, 2011 I don't think Wayne would let an idiot like Riddett announce anything to anybody. In fact, if he has any sense he will move him aside into an IOM role in NA. Monday, June 20, 2011 Can anybody tell me how many HR people left the business as a result of the outsourcing? From what I see around me, it's none. The HR VP claims that all the staff in the office no longer work for her. However they are still in Invensys and are charged back to us. HR has to be the weakest and poorest performing part of Invensys. We had hoped that with Larson's departure things would improve. Hasn't happened. Monday, June 20, 2011 I could see the end for Invensys the moment they put HR at the top table with shared services. I have since joined another rail company and guess what - they too have shared services and what a failure and a joke it is too. Why can't these people ever learn that you need people who understand the business and the needs of its people who are after all the most important asset. Unfortunately it is too late for Invensys and the only people who will make serious money are the people at the top with their huge share pots. Monday, June 20, 2011 - Re: "Gosh, we've got Riddett visiting us next week and now he is bringing his HR SVP with him. Why?": I think it is very likely that Riddett is going to announce the break up and sale of Metro products to CSR and hence the redundancies to the Taiwan staff with the HR SVP giving the usual corporate nonsense Unfortunately, the Invensys Taiwan commercial team have all but destroyed the project with their abject stupidity... IRL RIP ! Sunday, June 19, 2011 Riddett is coming to see us at the end of June. Having seen some of his correspondence to the Client, he is a complete and utter moron without even an anorexic grasp of reality. Lies, damn lies and Kevin Riddett. I can only suggest either looking for another job pronto or do a crash course in Mandarin and hope for the best ! Sunday, June 19, 2011 Do you all really think that the appointment of the CFO to the top spot and the addition of an M&A specialist as the chairman of the board signifies anything except the eventual sale of Invensys? Whether whole or in pieces, Ulf and his gaggle of yes men have cast the die by killing off anything that could have brought new organic growth and innovation to the company and its customers. The future has been mortgaged, and now it's time to sell the house and see what's left after the banks and pensioners get their pound of flesh. Saturday, June 18, 2011 IRAP is the jewel in Invensys crown. It does so well that the several of the senior management are not only paid very large bonuses, but they continue to run their business whilst working there. The Head of Projects has brought a range of staff into Invensys via a recruitment company. It's disappointing that HR can't do better than that. Saturday, June 18, 2011 Being a long term railway customer, I have followed this blog for some time now with interest. What is incredible is the lack of understanding by the products sales team now. Whilst it is always nice to receive an occasional visit from the Invensys Rail staff, they no longer seem to have either the technical know-how on what they are selling, nor do they follow through on what they promise to do. Living in a remote part of Australia, means that technical support is very important to us as we operate a world-class railway. Siemens and GE are now much better placed to service our needs, given the competent people they send and at least we get the details we need. Friday, June 17, 2011 Rail has lost some brilliant leaders such as Godfrey Dance from the Croydon office, but has also lost some truly truly awful ones. Godfrey appreciated that just because people were not working flat out it did not mean they were not doing good work and built the SCADA team to what it is now. Godfrey would not just want projects that were money making or there to keep people busy but understood that even projects that would lose money were important. Friday, June 17, 2011 Gosh, we've got Riddett visiting us next week and now he is bringing his HR SVP with him. Why? The last visit was a disaster with the client asking us afterwards if he really was the successor to James Drummond. They couldn't believe it. Neither can we. Friday, June 17, 2011 Interesting to hear that Rail Operation division is doing well and after sales support group, obviously some manager/management has realised that both of these are good revenue producers. Consider that fort 2 years, senior management decided after market support was not a core function. As for pension sell off, makes the company more viable for selling. But which parts? Thursday, June 16, 2011 Controls has been for sale for years. Nobody is interested. The team there have done very well to keep it going along at the margins they make. However there are only so many factories you can close or move to China or Mexico. Ultimately Invensys is about high end process control and not thermostats. Thursday, June 16, 2011 There has been some news report that Invensys is looking to sell the Controls Division. As a ex-Invensys Controls employee now working for a competitor, the question for me is who would buy it. There would be a due diligence process and any company in the Controls business would see what the market share of Invensys is and what profit Invensys makes on that market share. Invensys Controls would stand exposed. Also Siemens and Schneider have been mentioned as possible purchasers. Perhaps people should look at the annual reports of Siemens and Schneider, with special attention to the Return on Sales. Then ask yourself why would Siemens and Schneider want to buy Invensys. Me I am happy to pick up sales from Invensys, especially in the aftermarket, its easy and we know it. So I am sure the company I now work for won't be buying Invensys any time soon. Thursday, June 16, 2011 The real question is: Does Riddett add any value? Answer is in Europe and APAC he is a joke. Even his own Louisville team think he is a fool! You can discuss why he was appointed (was Wayne asleep?) but he was, and the damage will now happen. Shame on Wayne. Wednesday, June 15, 2011 Well, if the UK pension liability gets resolved then Riddett is probably correct and the company will get sold. Question is to whom ? Wednesday, June 15, 2011 Riddett also disclosed 20% staff reduction as part of reorganization, likely to occur within two weeks. Wednesday, June 15, 2011 Only a fool would put a new COO role in Rail. We already have a COO in Auatralia. How many layers do we need? Riddett appears to be dumb, but surely not that dumb? From what we have heard, Wayne's vision is to move back towards PLC as a holding company and the individual businesses to be self-sufficient. Why have more cost with a COO? A real COO runs the operational business with full P&L responsibility. Is that not Riddett's job? Otherwise, it's just overhead like Gary Freburger's organization used to be. Let's see if Mr Magoo has any real ideas. I doubt it. Tuesday, June 14, 2011 Riddett has told a few here in Louisville that Invensys is being broken up. However first, he says, he is going to reorganize the Rail Group with a new COO role and R&D leadership. Monday, June 13, 2011 Invensys weighs offloading 4.2bn UK pension scheme - The Sunday Times: Invensys' board is assessing proposals from specialist pension insurers Lucida, Rothesay and Pension Corporation to take over the engineering group's 4.2bn UK retirement scheme. If a deal is struck, then it will mark the biggest transfer to date of an occupational pension fund out of a UK enterprise, and might lead to a full-blown bid for Invensys. Wed, 8 Jun 2011 Update on Controls: South America is just about complete with the reorg. Moving manufacturing to India, China and Mexico. Engineering group cut down to virtually nothing. Eliwell Engineering next? Water heating segment getting massive restructuring. Also confirmed are talks have started about divesting part or all of Controls. Saturday, June 4, 2011 Things are pretty bad when even the HR line on these blogs fail to change perception. The fact of the matter is that the CEO of Invensys Rail lives in suburban Louisville, KY, while the President of Safetran (IRNA) lives in Pittsburgh (a two-connection flight from corporate headquarters in Louisville, which employs several hundred people). The new Pittsburgh office has one other employee (a former Ansaldo manager who was friends with the new Safetran president while he was also at Ansaldo), and is an excuse for the President to stay where he is. Nobody buys the line that this is a strategic plan. Does anyone really think Pittsburgh-based Bombardier employees would jump to Invensys? They openly joke about the SSR fiasco. You need to ask yourself what these two executives know that you dont, and adjust your expectations accordingly. Saturday, June 4, 2011 So is our new President coming to our HQ office in Louisville or not? The last post suggests not. How can you run a Kentucky bases company from Pittsburgh? Friday, June 3, 2011 Allow me to expand upon previous comments regarding Safetran/Invensys personnel living in Pittsburgh. Safetran intends to open a small application engineering office on Pittsburgh's Southside, approximately one-half mile from US&S' present headquarters. Other potential sources of expertise living in the Pittsburgh area include Bombardier and Stantec. While centrally located, highway access and parking in this area will be forever problematic. Public transit outside Pittsburgh's Golden Triangle is not a viable option. Surf the web and you'll discover that several key Safetran personnel living in Pittsburgh endure many hardships for the comfort and convenience of life in the Steeler Nation. For example, a 30-mile trip from the eastern suburbs to the airport is at least 45-60 minutes under the most favorable conditions. All these folks have lived 10+ years at their present address; all are modest single-family, free standing homes. Stability and connection to community count for something. Safetran's current president returned to Pittsburgh after having briefly relocated to Minneapolis in the late 1990's. Burnt once, twice shy. Those who worked for Riddett at US&S during the 1990's will recall his abortive attempt to relocate the Pittsburgh-based mechanical engineering group to Batesburg. Several who declined the offer were spitefully LO'd and later rehired. One gentleman did bite the apple, only to be sent back to Pittsburgh several years later; he now lives/works in Louisville. Since 2001, the proposition of relocating personnel has become prohibitively expensive (and financially risky) for both the employee and employer. Serious problems with pay inequity and taxation arise when relocating personnel to/from high $ areas such as New York, Boston or California. An increasing number of employers are willing to suffer the inefficiencies of allowing engineering and sales personnel work out of their homes. For jobs requiring 50% or more travel, proximity to an airport is more important than specific locality. 100 years ago the presidents of both US&S and GRS both lived in the New York City region. They visited Rochester or Swissvale only occasionally. Friday, June 3, 2011 Any Invensys business unit sold to the Chinese will be the final nail in the coffin for all the employees. Any company the Chinese purchases is dismantled and carted off to China. I am sure Invensys management will all walk away with a pot of gold while those of us who actually did the work to keep the company going will soon be on the street with pink slip in hand. Looks like Ulf knew what was going down after all. That also explains why Drummond jumped ship. The hand writing has been on the wall for some time. Friday, June 3, 2011 Got hot news that Invensys PLC has finally reached agreement with China South Rail to sell most of Invensys Rail, which will be published soon. Software part might be out to Siemens and Westrace/Switch Machine; other rail signal hardware to Chinese. Friday, June 3, 2011 IPMS is the bain of everyone's life, none functional, as it has major changes every year, so any consistency is lost. I remember making some very pointed statements in some reviews which should have got a response from HR; but nothing. Though my manager was very proactive, once things got past him who knows what happens. One year it took HR 6 months to accept, to the extent they had to be reminded so my line manger could do my 6 monthly review. Thursday, June 2, 2011 I have nothing to say about Rail - but I do as an ex-exec in IOM. Innovation was killed with IOM creation. There is nothing to gain by combining the companies but expense, and that does not work. Outsourcing - what is the cost? The Indian management style is too oppressive to foster the right atmosphere, that previously created innovation. Cronies and suck ups and those afraid to speak give the worst to those in the trenches - unemployment notices. Leadership and real character is having leaders who can be challenged, even when the vision is lacking. Invensys looks more and more like an authoritarian, lack of innovation, 70s style Japanese company every day. Thursday, June 2, 2011 Yes, I agree with some views on the "great" IPMS. It is just a "show" by HR. It is just a farce which HR has to make people do. Boss has never discussed with me on my performance over the last several years and never he has explained the rationale behind the rating. Wednesday, June 1, 2011 It's the same here in Safetran where our new President lives in Pittsburgh, 2 hours flight away from Louisville. He now plans to open a small office near his house to justify not moving to Louisville. Mean time the flights, hotels and expenses continue. Crazy! Wednesday, June 1, 2011 Invensys needs to be cutting it's unnecessary costs. Why are we hiring senior managers and Directors that are allowed to live a long distance awa ? Here in Plano, it seems all the senior people fly in first and stay in Marriott with all expenses paid. Is this the norm? Wednesday, June 1, 2011 Lots of positive feelings being talked about in UK Rail for IRNE over the new framework contracts for Network. Rail must be doing something right. Wednesday, June 1, 2011 Unfortunately, the comments about Riddett are accurate. Perhaps a little acidic, but probably fair. Here in the US it was common to hear him swear and curse at us, and threaten people. We can accept a tough leader, but one that was just abusive and dumb is hard. As an employee that talks to our major customers, I must say that Riddett is regarded as a ignorant fool. Wednesday, June 1, 2011: Read "Gary Mintchell's Feedforward" (Thursday, May 19, 2011) Invensys (the entire company showed revenues up about 9% and operating profit up 6%. The Operations Management and Controls groups showed strong results, while Rail revealed "fewer large orders." Invensys Operations Management results revealed that it has exceeded the $2 billion mark in orders for the first time at $2.090 billion. This was a 19% increase over 2010. Revenues were up 12% at $1.8 billion and operating profit was $191 million, up 31%.
Tuesday, May 31, 2011 Amazing? Both our SVP and COO say that the new CEO in Rail is a lucky idiot. Hopefully they will apply the same judgement to our own wilting IOM. Tuesday, May 31, 2011 Well, I didn't believe it at first. How could Kevin Riddett be perceived so badly? Sure, here in the US he proved to be a badly behaved and rude individual. But his confidence under Ulf is legendary. Ulf this, Ulf that. Ulf appointed me as CEO, etc. Incredible. Seems the rest of the world have also reached the conclusion that the guy is an idiot. It really is amazing. How do four independent companies in Rail reach the same conclusion? IOM reached this conclusion as well. Please keep him away from customers. God help us otherwise. I'm sorry to say it but he is a disaster. Good luck to the UK and Spain you are next. Tuesday, May 31, 2011 - Re: 'Our competitors have caught up with us': When on earth were our products ahead of the rest? Invensys has always been widely known in the industry as being a generation behind. SSR is a prime case; we bid a previous generation solution, more expensive than our competitors latest generation kit. It would have been a no-brainer for the client. We didn't even bid to use DTGR on SSR! Monday, May 30, 2011 Riddett is a sideshow on the important issues at hand. Everyone that has met him knows he is well out of his depth. The important thing is that he is kept away from customers and away from anything important. Monday, May 30, 2011 Every year, the IPMS comes out and I am shocked and amazed that we still use it. It is something right out of the '60s for Theory X mgmt. Do I care about this form? Does my manager care about this form? Do we USE this form for anything? Not at all. We just all waste a few days of back and forth time because we have to - not because it is actually good for anything. Monday, May 30, 2011 Selling to China: Looked what happened to Rover. Get the IPR, get the designs and move all back to their home country. Monday, May 30, 2011 Anyone know where is Ulf and what he is doing? Sunday, May 29, 2011 I know it is frustrating for all of us in Rail who care about the company and the customers, but the reality is the end was certain as soon as Kevin Riddett showed up. His stint at the US branch was merely a test run to insure he would do what it takes to get the company's finances in order. Riddett was brought in to improve the bottom line with ridiculously short-term tactics, then the CFO Edmunds grabs the reins and puts Kevin into the role he was always destined for. The break-up is now a foregone conclusion. The good news is that any buyer who expects real growth and long-term profits will immediately get rid of Riddett. That thought alone would justify the sale! Keep your head down co-workers and just try to last through the carnage. The new company has to be better! Sunday, May 29, 2011 Anyone close to the situation knows that IOMs results were in spite of Sudipta, not because of him. Every move he makes drives down the long term value of the company in exchange for short term results. You can only play those cards a few times. Clearly institutional investors are catching on to this game. Oddly enough, if Sudipta had a stronger, more diverse team, instead of incompetent yes-men, he might actually have a chance to succeed. But not with the people he has surrounded himself with. Saturday, May 28, 2011 Still think siemens will have their on the recent developments. Products like Westrace and possibly Westlock will help them secure more work in the UK and lots of metro projects. Riddet is clueless if he thinks CSR is a good prospect as they are not doing do well either. If it all goes pear shaped Bombardier will be looking for staff! Friday, May 27, 2011 I don't get the whole FTSE paranoia - for years, based on the size of the business only, Invensys have being able to be a FTSE 250, then 2 years ago managed to scrape in to the 100. 2 years then of being a member in the 90s out of 100 with no real prospect of massively moving up (we are too small). Then a few share price jitters and we are down to the low 100s again - if anything it is probably better to be out of the intense scrutiny as senior management were so focused on being in the 100. But as the markets go, it only takes another 10p on the share price & we will be back in - bit of take over gossip & we will be back! Friday, May 27, 2011 I just spent 4 hours today on the pointless IPMS piece of crap. I wonder how much this costs the company, because if it takes an individual this long, how long does it take "managers" to do all of their reports (assuming that they do it properly & don't just click the button)? It doesn't do any good anyway, 'cause next week I'll be doing something different so my goals will have become pointless - again. And as for the Invensys competencies - the consultants who were employed to come up with this lot must have pissed themselves all the way to the bank - once again. This is typical of our unimaginative management & useless HR. Friday, May 27, 2011 SSR was not just lost on price alone. Our competitors technology has caught up with us. LU are no fools, Bombardiers signal system works (Madrid), it can be integrated more easily, with less closures and our DTRG is now a white elephant. Have we all forgot the Jubilee Line fiasco with the software integration? We are achieving that's for sure...a demonstrate-able history of poor delivery and a headache for a clients. Hang on in there I keep telling myself, the redundancy payment will be lost. Now I hear the redundancy payment will be the statutory minimum, around 250 for every year I have given to Invensys. My only hope is that I'm one of the first to go before the job market is awash with ex- Invensys employees and that our management will (hopefully) find it a hard market out in the real world. Who on earth would want them and their array (lack) of skills. Hmmm, maybe the Chinese company that Wayne announced would buy us... Dream on. Friday, May 27, 2011 Don't hide behind Glencore entering the FTSE100 as an excuse for Invensys. If Invensys were doing as well as the management claim, then Glencore's arrival would have booted someone else down to the 250. This clearly shows Invensys were the weakest on the FTSE100. Now Mr. Riddett says he is selling up to CSR. Is he to be believed, or will he go the way of Ulf for saying it? Invensys will not see Christmas in its current form. Friday, May 27, 2011 Despite its problems, Rail still has a bottom line north of 15%. It's got good people and customer relations in core markets, and while the technology is not the best it is compensated by experience and local knowledge. A takeover by a competitor with a stronger management team would be welcome. The UK management team and the old IRG team are seriously bloated and at best only adequate. So a takeover is not such a bad thing, as long as there is a serious clear-out at the top. SSR was lost because we were beaten on price, but the client just did not have the confidence in our senior team to pay the difference; too much change and too many lightweights with no experience. Siemens please. Thursday, May 26, 2011 Guys, wake up and smell the coffee. Invensys has been booted out of FTSE 100 as its stock price was going south and no longer a candidate for FTSE 100 based on market cap. This means that Invensys stock will be offloaded by many mutual funds (if they are holding) as it may not meet their internal screening criteria. Once Wayne Edmonds solves the issue of pension, there will be many buyers coming out to get pieces of Invensys. Major share holders and board will prefer to sell the company as that is the best option they have to maximize the value. Do you think we can ride the wave of growth on the backs of Edmonds, Sudipta, Riddett etc.? They have no experience to run a company of this size and complexity. Invensys has many good parts, and eventually they will find buyers. Thursday, May 26, 2011 Well, Riddett has told his US team that the Rail business is for sale, and that makes sense. He says we are being sold to CSR of China. Who would appoint an idiot like that unless it was of no matter? What does this mean to the real workers? Thursday, May 26, 2011 Not much input here from Controls, but morale is definitely at an all time low.. Just received word yesterday that merit increases have been "deferred" with no real indication of when they might be reinstated. Oh, excuse me - they were deferred with "Warm Regards"....for many who were waiting for the last shoe to drop. It dropped yesterday. Many Resumes (CV's for you UK blokes) are in circulation as a result.... Thursday, May 26, 2011 People, all you need to do is stop listening to management spin and reading the Invensys Intranet like lost sheep. Simply search some of the financial pages on the web. They are all talking about take overs and splitting up Invensys. The web sites are factual, independent and offer a honest status of were we are in Invensys today. Don't get depressed though, the grass I hear is actually a lot higher and sight greener. Thursday, May 26, 2011 - to the "poppy cock" guy: Of course restructuring means redundancy. The figures have already been quoted on this site and all the staff have been informed. What is your point please? Invensys has only been booted out of the FTSE100 because a very large commodities trader called Glencore has just listed. Let's all try to stop exaggerating things. Thursday, May 26, 2011 - Re: "Invensys is lucky to have Cognizant as its development partner." This made me smile! While obviously intended as amusement, the truth about Invensys' failed attempts to outsource to India is far from amusing. Thursday, May 26, 2011 Agree with this being the beginning of the end for Invensys. In the financial results presentation, Wayne stated that we were close to resolving the pension deficit issue with a sale to an insurer. This has long been the only barrier to companies making a takeover bid. In IOM there is a mad dash to the Line of Business (LOB) model grouping the business into three product lines. Whilst there is a lot of spin being put on this by management, any undergraduate business student knows this is one of the actions of a company getting ready to sell. Another business school basic - if you plan to sell, get your financials in order and what better way to do that that by replacing your CEO with your CFO! Wednesday, May 25, 2011 - Countdown to break up of Invensys. Now booted out of the FTSE100 and spinning. Debut for entering the FTSE250. Our clueless management are now trying to put some spin on these pages of "Carry on as normal guys; we'll see you're alright". I would not let our management run a bath, let alone a rail company. SSR failure and still no talk of the loss with the work force who this will ultimately effect. My company shares are still falling, my job is on very thin ice and I use these anonymous pages to find out what's really happening in the company. I have worked here for 12 yrs... That says it all actually. Wednesday, May 25, 2011 - Response to Blog: To the last poster: Stop talking nonsense! You're the one who is talking absolute poppy cock. Restructuring means Redundancy in Invensys - you will find out soon enough. Wednesday, May 25, 2011 - Response to Blog: "There are many managers at Invensys." I commend this person for the wisdom and simplicity in the message. Take heed the selected few who are labelled leaders. Wednesday, May 25, 2011 The IRNE exec team are trying to turn this around. I am not a big fan, but this current team are putting in a personal effort. They may have it right we shall see. I do not believe there is an agenda to close offices. However it will depend on how we do on the NR bids. For the record I have no idea about Riddett, other than the feedback from our PM leaders that he is an imbecile. Customer feedback is also negative. CEO of Global Rail based in Louisville, Kentucky, USA ? You must be joking, a bit like placing the IOM headquarters in Hawaii? Wednesday, May 25, 2011 Well it's our week in the UK with Riddett. Feedback from the IRG team is that he continues to be a moron. He is apparently demanding mass redundancies in both IRG and IRNE. Claims our customers are idiots and that we should be raising prices. Where did we find Riddett? Are we really serious with this fool? Wednesday, May 25, 2011 That post about the tide is perfectly in line with what has happened in Rail. A small US based manufacturing company was in trouble with some bad projects and a big downturn in Federal spending budgets. The existing team stopped the project bleeding and appointed the now infamous and frankly embarrassing Riddett. Then our Fed government start spending like mad. Right place right time Riddett becomes the new genius. All boats rise on the incoming tide. Now we shall see as the tide turns. Wednesday, May 25, 2011 Where are all the haters now? IOM posts record results, double digit growth across all financial measures and no one says "despite my differences with the vision or strategy, results are the final measure--and it looks like the results are pointing to something I didn't see." C'mon people, man up! Wednesday, May 25, 2011 There are many managers at Invensys who are building reputations from being in the right place at the time of a post recession bounce-back. Sorry guys, but if you claim credit for the tide coming in, you're going to have to figure out how to stop it going out again. Things are going to become tough again this year and actual leadership will be needed. You look right across the company and you fail to see any leaders who are up to the mark. An organization that spends half its time at least staring inwards (anyone else been swamped by IPMS?) and tinkering via vanity projects isn't going to be able to take the steps needed to satisfy the external market properly. So please, leaders, cut the internal crap and reorganizations, cut the rambling e-mail speeches telling us how wonderful we are, look hard and long at what we have and what we need, figure out where we want to go, and go there. Wednesday, May 25, 2011 To the last poster: Stop talking nonsense! Everything you said is completely wrong, all UK regional offices will remain, none will become unviable, the job losses are more restructuring than taking capacity out of the business. Tuesday, May 24, 2011 There is serious on-going discussion, talking of approaching 200 to go from IRNE. Looks like the loss of SSR is a bigger deal than they let on. The UK job market is about to be flooded. Many regional office in UK may become unviable after the upcoming decimation. Monday, May 23, 2011 Invensys lucky to have Cognizant! You have to be kidding. What eventually does get delivered is obviously developed by people without domain knowledge and generally missing the key functionality required. They certainly have no concept of "Ease of Use". As for QA, everyone in the Wonderware realm knows that QA is being done in the field these days. Virtually every system that goes in needs a Hotfix or two. What Sudipta doesn't seem to realize is the huge impact timezones and language barriers are placing on the support and sales groups. Time to resolve medium to hard issues (of which there are many), now takes weeks and months, not hours & days. That hurts reputations. Monday, May 23, 2011 Well I have to say that Riddett was exactly the same here in Safetran. You have to tell him things 4 or 5 times for it get in his head. Most meetings he spent on his iPhone or iPad, usually simultaneously. Thing is, he is still here in Louisville 95% of his time running Safetran. Some global CEO. Sunday, May 22, 2011 Any indications who is taking over the Automation and Controls business? Are there any insiders left? Sunday, May 22, 2011 Invensys is lucky to have Cognizant as its development partner. Cognizant has provided technical talent and strengthened the products with their various practices (performance engineering, testing services, cloud computing, etc.). All this talk of inability and incapable Invensys management is the very reason why entire R&D should rightfully move to an outsourced partner. Saturday, May 21, 2011 I joined Invensys in Australia only two years ago and it is depressing to see what is happening - I hate to think what is to be Rail APAC combining French madness with American stupidity, We shall see Friday, May 20, 2011 When in Pirelli, it was noted that Riddett was clearly ADHD (attention deficit hyperactivity disorder). He was unable to pay attention in meetings for more than 10 minutes before he started playing with some gadgets. He needed to be told the same facts over and over again for it to sink in. He constantly needed to talk over people to assert himself. This made working for him very painful. His poor academic record was also a personal embarrassment for him and he reacted by treating anyone academically better, especially engineers, very badly. Basically he was persecuting them. His basic approach was to layoff as many people as he could and to bully and harass people. Not a pleasant place to be and a lot of talent left. I hope for Invensys this has changed. Friday, May 20, 2011 Don't even try and compare Drummond and Riddett. While neither are perfect, it's like comparing a well educated and polished international Executive with Forest Gump. I can't believe a global UK based business would appoint Riddett as CEO of it's most profitable division. He is a light weight and an anti-Brit executive with no global Rail experience. Astonishing. Friday, May 20, 2011 I have met and spent time with both Kevin Riddett and James Drummond. It is difficult to fathom how somebody of Riddett's intelligence can replace somebody like Drummond. Drummond had morals, disliked a 'cull' and looked to the longer term in all his decisions. Riddett, however, is a perfect replacement if the STRAP plan is to cull 15-20% in IRNE, followed by 5-10% in IRAP, followed by the closure of Taipei and Bangkok offices altogether. Bravo Sir Nigel - a curt and timely decision. Long live Kevin (until Q4 2012). Friday, May 20, 2011 People, please do not use Riddett's nationality as an excuse for his lunacy. His stupidity transcends his birthplace. He can't be "American-centric", because he ruined things in America as well. The entire values of the organization shifted when he took over. Want to 'get ahead'? Trash the unions in front of him, yell at your people, randomly fire anyone who makes a mistake, talk with disdain about engineers, the formula is there. When asked for an estimate, triple the time (he is clueless, so he will never know!) and when he yells, simply cut 1/3 off and look like a hero. In a meeting with him, if a peer gives a thoughtful and well-planned presentation, shake your head in disgust and say, "I can't believe it will take that long or cost that much! Can you, Kevin?". Brownie points for saying how stupid anyone in the UK is or how much more Kevin knows than any of the PhD's we have. Of course, if you have an ounce of integrity or honesty, life will suck at IRG while the human incarnation of Bill The Cat is here. Friday, May 20, 2011 Hey Ozzies. How smart is it to insult your new boss AND in the process tell him where his fanclub is based? Your numbers had better be good or you'll get the IRNE treatment. If he's half as bad as you say you should be more careful. Thursday, May 19, 2011 I am genuinely upset by this appointment as I have not seen any positive contribution that this guy has made to the company during the last six months. He does however take credit for other people's hard work and achievements to further his own career. Not a pleasant comment to make, but I'm certainly not the only person to have experienced this. Thursday, May 19, 2011 Well, Wayne has really gambled with Riddett - and not just on Rail's behalf. From the results, Rail is half of the groups profit. What a risk! Thursday, May 19, 2011 You must be joking. We are still laughing about Riddetts visit here in Australia. I don't believe it. It can't be an uninformed American-centric fool like him? Is this the new Invensys? God help us. Thursday, May 19, 2011 Riddett? Are you really serious? My God, how low do we go? Thursday, May 19, 2011 Invensys Rail, after a bad year, is still half the Invensys' full year profit. So the plan is to put the biggest idiot in Invensys Rail history in charge of the future? Whoever took the decision to put Riddett in charge has ultimately decided the fate of Invensys. What a gamble! Thursday, May 19, 2011 Kevin Riddett? You must be joking! He is a complete joke in Australia. For gods sake keep him in the Europe HQ and away from our customers. Thursday, May 19, 2011 Riddett as Invensys Rail CEO? Funniest thing I've heard in a while. Expect mindless destruction. This is the biggest threat to Invensys - period. Thursday, May 19, 2011 I can't believe it. Riddett as a CEO ? You must be joking. Well good luck to Rail as you are going to need it. You can now expect a series of endless and mostly pointless meetings that tie up the whole management team up to 2 levels below him. Riddett will rarely get off his ass and will summon everyone to the US. Think Ulf's turnaround style was bad? Wait and see Riddett. Focussing now on him rather than the customer (his ego was legendary in Union Switch and Safetran). This is the start of the Invensys tragedy. He will make a series of bad judgements based on his limited (by intellect) understanding of value and then blame all around him. After endless abuse, the good people will leave - and the rest is obvious. Expect mindless and uninformed demands for headcount reduction and outsourcing. What a crazy decision! Thursday, May 19, 2011 Invensys FTSE100 Listed Company (Ricky Tomlinson's famous saying about his "deriaire" springs to mind.) shares go up and down we all know, but IRL are sinking lower than the belly of a snake at the moment. Why O why did I take a share option? I work hard, stay focused, take pride in my company. What a joke. From my perspective this Blog says it how it is. The markets are told everything is good with the company, but the entire rail work force (other than some of the many levels, and my God there are some, of management) can see and hear what's happening. And it ain't good. Having a work force who are not represented and frightened to speak in fear of being pushed out of a job - that just can't be right. No doubt our IRL management-run agency labour will fill in the gaps when we, the directly-employed staff get our redundancy notice. It won't be long in coming I hear. 15-20% made up by those in rail. LU Contracts are non-existent and Main Line not much better. Lost bid after lost bid is being mentioned, too frequently. Any guesses out there where the redundancy's will be made up from? Let me see - LU staff 18% and 3 Main Line 6%. Conjecture it may be, but watch this space. Wednesday, May 18, 2011 Oh dear. Wednesday, May 18, 2011 Announced today Kevin Riddet has been promoted to Invensys Rail Global CEO. James Drummond has left to pursue opportunities outside of Invensys. Jumped or pushed? By who? Thursday, May 19, 2011 Well, it looks like the twat Riddett is indeed the CEO of Invensys Rail. What sheer incompetence in appointing this clueless moron. Invensys Rail is doomed. Get out now before the jobs market is flooded.
Invensys Rail announces that James Drummond, who has been President and CEO since 2006, has accepted a role outside the Group and will be leaving Invensys on 30 June 2011. He will become Group CEO of the INAER group of companies, a leading global provider of helicopter emergency services and maintenance aircraft. Kevin Riddett will succeed James as President and CEO of Invensys Rail. Kevin has been Chief Operating Officer of Invensys Rail since November 2010, having previously spent two years successfully leading Invensys Rail North America. Wayne Edmunds, Chief Executive of Invensys plc, commented:
"Kevin has demonstrated his abilities both as the leader of our US business and more recently as COO of the division. "Invensys Rail has an exciting future and I look forward to working with Kevin to build on division's success." Wednesday, May 18, 2011 As Sudipta continues to defy logic and good judgement and bring his cronies and countrymen into key roles, (great team diversity?) methinks at times that the only thing that can stop this is a well placed cricket bat, since clearly the board and Wayne seem to be frightened little kittens. Tuesday, May 17, 2011 Invensys should take a good hard long look at itself. I have been out of the Controls Division for about two years now and working for a direct competitor. The first thing I noticed when I went over to a competitor was how much more they were selling when compared to the small amount Invensys was selling. It is only after you leave Invensys that you realize how little they sell. My advice to Invensys staff: The grass is greener, thicker and higher on the other side. Monday, May 16, 2011 So much rubbish posted here. Firstly, Kevin Riddett is not the Invensys Rail CEO. I don't believe that Sir Nigel or Wayne would appoint an intellectual moron like Riddett to this level. He is a right-place-at-the-right time joke in the US. The CEO is James Drummond. Riddett has spent the last few months saying that Drummond is history; we shall see. Riddett is so obviously a fool it's embarrassing. Secondly, the Taiwan project has nothing to do with IRAP. It's still managed by IRNE. Although according to the IRAP team the VP in charge is an idiot. Sunday, May 15, 2011 Head of Projects, PMO - Who is not a qualified Program Manager? Who had his competence assessed? Does he have any comprehension of the difference between - Project, Portfolio and Program? The sad fact is that the Head of Projects read an article about Program Management in Westinghouse UK around October 2009 and decided to bring in a PMO to IRAP Melbourne. His excuse was that we had a lot of projects? It screwed things up even further when consultants with very high day rates and no knowledge base came in to put in force a PMO. Were they qualified? NO CHANCE. They were all dear friends of the HoP! No surprise in guessing where it has all gone now. Colleagues, it's all about ensuring you stick in the exec pack, draw large salaries, give yourself huge bonuses, travel around the world, personify self-importance and attend as many rugby matches in Auckland as you can. Remember the world cup is around the corner. Watch for the movements around September 2011 of our esteemed HoP holidaying with his family at the expense of all of our hard work and low pay. The answer to all this is: leave with a 2 gun salute. IOM... iShare... iEngage... iGrow....i Couldn't Give a S**t ....iResign! Saturday, May 14, 2011 For all UK based rail employees: Everyone knows that Invensys would have to shed jobs. This so-called order book that we hear is bulging is a figment of Crossfield's imagination. We are not winning anything at competitive tender and all the other s&t rivals know this and can undercut at every hurdle. Westinghouse will end up just building locs and rebs and the odd data jobs for Atkins which is the likely result for upcoming big projects. After the announcement of a further head count reduction, who would want to take such a risk on a takeover bid? Invensys share value fell by 300m and no one made any noises. More likely takeover and break into pieces. Is it a case of forming a Q at atkins or ssls front door Friday, May 13, 2011 There is no IRAP director in Taipei. I work on TTY and the foreign representatives in Taipei are IRNE staff who are the 'owners' of the project. IRAP offices provides a design service for some elements of the project. Friday, May 13, 2011 Confused? The so called "APAC Director" in Taipei is the IRNE Project Delivery Director for Asia - i.e. Just Taiwan. He has nothing to do with IRAP. Thursday, May 12, 2011 UK offices now have desks allocated for outsourced staff who come and go every few months in rotation using temporary visas. Large numbers of UK staff to be made redundant imminently. Thursday, May 12, 2011 Yet another major restructuring for IRNE, before the organisation charts from the last one have been completed. Thursday, May 12, 2011 Invensys Rail today announced 15 to 20% headcount reduction in UK to its staff. It was coming! Thursday, May 12, 2011 More redundancies advised again today. Wednesday, May 11, 2011 Yes, that is it precisely. If the Invensys values of honesty and openness were being followed, none of us would need to be here on this weblog, because we could question decisions at work without getting fired. Unfortunately you cannot say anything at work that questions a decision from above because it casts a bad light on the executives. Which makes me wonder again how some people have survived so long in this company given their history of poor decisions and the abusive way they deal with people. Wednesday, May 11, 2011 I symphatise with the blogger blogging about the not so honourable executive. AND the APAC office is in Singapore? Hmm - heard that an APAC office is being set up in Taipei by the APAC Director! (?) Such is executive excesses without control! Wednesday, May 11, 2011 - To the executive who blogged about "this stupidity" and "freedom to move on". - Addendum... There could be a small amount of whining, but it is normal. From time to time, who doesn't? Overall, Invensys employees complain because most of these people still care.If you keep quiet, bury you head down and work, then I feel sad for you. Basically it means you don't care anymore. That accounts for so many "YES" employees around. As an IOM employee, I have a useless and inept Resource Manager. My higher-echelon supervisors feel that if you do not use the Egypt Engineering people there, you are not a team player. We are being "bulldozed" to use egyptian office employees for projects. We run the projects via a telephone call and web conferencing. Using outsourced resources is not the solution to all the resourcing issues. One of my end-users felt he has been short-changed. We have visa issues for getting them into the country and even have a harder time getting them on site because of where they come from. Their quality of work ranged from okay to disastrous the majority of the time. We complained but no one listens. It seems that this Egypt office is getting a lot of immunity from blame. I cannot fathom why Invensys bigwigs ever chose to locate a "human supply" office from such a location. It is even more ludicrous of getting Skelta people to do International Marketing. Tuesday, May 10, 2011 Invensys rail Australia lost a mega job in Sydney because we do not have any construction capability, we use sub contractors and add a admin/handling fee. This makes us more expensive then our competitors. We have key people in positions with no railway experience and ignore advice from engineers. I am afraid that the future is not very rosy. Maybe it will be a good thing if Siemens bought us and got rid of the under performers (mainly the executive). Tuesday, May 10, 2011 - To the executive who blogged about "this stupidity" and "freedom to move on". If it wasn't for the attitude of hiding in the upper floor of the Melbourne ivory tower, jetting to Singapore, wasting the companies limited overhead budget, trying to influence the APAC president and suppressing (i.e., getting rid of people who have the Invensys value of speaking up) frank and open conversation, we would not have people blogging on this site. But we all know that logic and honesty are not really the core values in Invensys Melbourne any more. I want to make Invensys a better and more harmonious place to work in. I would not be blogging if I knew that the executive was honourable. Tuesday, May 10, 2011 Invensys Rail in Australia used to be the number one signalling company, and then along came a number of managers from outside of the rail industry who screwed things up. They knew better, but the results speak for themselves. We have relied on a handful of jobs to keep us going, but how long will it last? Even Alstom (new to the market) stole a mega job from us in Sydney recently, but the management doesn't seem to care. What have they done since - nothing?. Tuesday, May 10, 2011 I know a number of people that have left Invensys and are so much better off now. Bloggers, there is life after Invensys and better pay to go with it. Monday, May 9, 2011 Rail continues to be the savior of Invensys and IRAP is the leader of the pack. This is evident with our new, multimillion dollar offices in Melbourne being officially opened this week. Siemens has nothing on us and our engineering skills continue to grow. What is holding us back is the poor project capability of the company. This all despite the significant investment that has been made in the Head of Projects, PMO - a make work system and its continued under performance. We have several, significant projects with major problems, but continue to stick our heads in the sand hoping that the customer won't notice or the PLC board won't look too hard at our figures. It must be time for change. Monday, May 9, 2011 Please stop wasting time on this stupidity. We live in a country with freedom. If you hate working at Invensys, please move on. No one is asking you to suck up. Slavery doesn't exist today. Please get a life, or do some positive things and see what we can all together achieve for all of us. Monday, May 9, 2011 I work for Westinghouse Australia and have been here for a long time, I can remember the good days when HR had morals, scruples,understood the "H" in HR, supported you, kept your conversations private etc etc. Present day: You dare not go to the HR as all your details will be all over the place and will get into trouble for asking for help. The employee survey in the APAC region is being evaluated by the HR from Australia (a little bit like the fox trying to find out what the sheep think). I would like to see the APAC president sit down with individuals (no executive team members) and talk to them in the Melbourne office (no holds barred and the Invensys value of courage and speaking your mind honored). This will show his true courage to confront the issues that we all face from a uncaring, conceited and often aloof HR and executive. Invensys Rail in Australia have a brilliant chance of becoming a leader in railway signaling with some of the big companies struggling. But it is hard to soar like an eagle when you have to report to turkeys. Sunday, May 8, 2011 - From a previous blog : "There is a bunch of stuff that needs to be done So please stop complaining and start following your leader." Not sure if this was posted from someone who is from Sudipta's homeland. Anyway, please note:-
Naturally, people will follow leaders that are REAL leaders. These people are like bees attracted to honey. Currently, I have not much joy in following Ulf or Sudipta. It will not be like housefly to rubbish. Sunday, May 8, 2011 Sudipta needs to go if we want to make IOM a growth company again. His idea of integration to make IOM is a complete disaster. He has to be blamed for that. Now the new structure of LOBs is being put in place to secure his and all his buddies jobs. The Invensys board may not extend his contract but you never know. Sudipta is a very political figure, so he might convince board that he is doing a wonderful job while employee engagement survey for IOM shows a very negative picture for him. His new hire (VP of IOM Development) is another joke. He is changing software R&D into manufacturing organization. He has no clue what he is doing and also he doesn't listen to anyone. His direct reports are quietly working under him to save their high-paying jobs. He turns out to be worse than Pankaj Mody as he doesn't understand domain as well as US company culture. Everyone is focused on making quality processes rather than quality products. The processes are important but he is spending all key resources on fixing them without proper direction. Many people are wondering what he is doing here after his ineffective coffee talks with many employees. IOM results for last year will be good, but going forward it is going to be challenging with low employee morale, new structure and inept leadership. If the Invensys board isn't careful, we will lose more shareholder value. Sunday, May 8, 2011 Much of the blame directed towards Sudipta is misdirected. He definitely has made significant mistakes with his choices in his leadership team, with the Cognizant deal, and with his acquisitions. However, the real culprit in the state of IOM today is Pankaj Mody. His forcing of Archestra down the throats of WonderWare and Foxboro, by selling a load of crap to Rick Haythornthwaite and Ulf, more or less halted any real product progress in its tracks, and we're still reeling from that today. Regarding the conjecture regarding whether or not Sudipta is secure in his role - one needs to understand from whom Wayne takes his orders. This drama shall most assuredly play itself out in the next few weeks. Sunday, May 8, 2011 Sudipta is only a positional head. He is not a leader. It seems like he is the Boss, but the sad truth is that he has no influence over any of core staff because they don't trust him a bit. IOM will celebrate with fireworks when Sudipta leaves, much like Invensys did when Ulf left. IOM still seems Profitable (can be cooked) but is losing fast to competitors and that is clearly visible when the companies are compared side by side. IOM has the worst work culture of all competitors and so it has seen significant brain drain. This reflects on our recent releases that lack the upgrades and features that our competitors are offering. Saturday, May 7, 2011 There has been a lot written about the wrong decision having the IRG President living in the US when the majority of the business is in Europe (IRNE & IRSE). Has anyone questioned the total illogical decision of having the IRAP President living in Singapore when the expertise of Marketing, HR, Finance, IT, Legal, QA, OH&S are all in Australia. An extra layer (overhead) is being created, which just doesn't make any sense. Surely, it would be a lot more productive and effective having the IRAP President living in Melbourne, and the other Asian country heads reporting to Australia? Saturday, May 7, 2011 In the area of Invensys Systems that I work, we went 30 something percent over the GOAL that was set last year. Lets see what kind of raise the workers gets this year! Saturday, May 7, 2011 Dear Invensys Bloggers and Readers, I am an Invensys employee. I understand your frustration; there are a lot of things that could be done differently, but you have to remember that none of us are the big boss. Imagine if you were in Sudipta's shoes. Do you think that everyone would agree with all your ideas? Would you like to have an organization that was actively trying to stop your strategic programs? These are the facts:
We can actually make this a pretty good place to work if we just take a deep breath and move ahead. Each one of us has to take responsibility for our own words and actions. Saturday, May 7, 2011 During the so call "PRIDE" day, we got to get a little sniff of the long awaited Employees' Survey results. I suspect that the full blown results will be released with difficulties. I am actually kinda surprised to see Sudipta's better-than-expected ranking in some areas. To me, he and merry fellow country-men are still "clueless" and lack the depth to grasp the IOM market. Remember - they never worked one day in the automation control business. Honestly, some of the big wigs VPs from IOM and Rail should have been removed a long time back. Wayne may seem to support Sudipta openly, but you will never know - just like Ulf, at their higher echelon management level, they can depart suddenly. So as proclaimed, Invensys is transitioning from the "survival" mode to a "growth" mode; it is claimed that Invensys has some money in the kitty bag. We will hold out breath that Wayne and the almost "inept English-led" leaders do not go and squander away the "kitty bag" to acquire useless companies (especially from Sudipta's homeland). Same analogy as buying cheap tourist T-shirts. Friday, May 6, 2011 The rumor about Sudipta is very unlikely. Wayne has publicly supported Sudipta in just the past few weeks. Friday, May 6, 2011 Based on the previous blog about Sudipta and his merry country man, what is the Freburger? Based on his dismal and "clueless" performance on the way he conducted his town-hall meeting for the IOM NA (Oops, not supposed to say IOM), surely Wayne should sense that he does have an eon of acumen to be running the process control business for such an important market area? Friday, May 6, 2011 Just heard from inside sources that Sudipta and senior team are about to be removed. Apparently Invensys leadership will be bringing in someone from outside to "put some lipstick on the pig", prior to selling off IOM in pieces. Thursday, May 5, 2011 Well I hate to say it but, if fellow American Kevin Riddett is a leader in Rail then they are screwed. What an idiot! I didn't believe it until Miami. We thought we had it bad in IOM! Good luck, Rail. We still seem to have idiots like Riddett and our own Freburger in zero=addedvalue roles. Wednesday, May 4, 2011 I used to be an employee of Westinghouse Australia. Now I am a "corporate citizen" of IRAP. I used to listen to people softly grumble about the management. Now I try to close my ears to the shouting about the 'executive'. I used to listen to the M.D. Westinghouse Australia. Now I read the mindless dribble of an 'educated' imbecile the President IRAP. There's progress for you. Welcome to the 'new era' of the 5 P's... Tuesday, May 3, 2011 Nobody is claiming that Invensys is king in rail. In fact, globally, Invensys is a very small fish in a very big pond. But Invensys has maintained its position as clear market leader in home markets despite attempts by far bigger fish like Siemens to muscle their way in. Key reasons: product and domain knowledge. Even if Siemens did take over, there is no chance that UK projects would be delivered by Siemens engineers in Germany. Why not? Firstly, they don't have the domain knowledge. And secondly, the customer wouldn't allow it. That's the nature of the industry. It's got nothing to do with arrogance. And with regards to the comment about Siemens re-engineering the products within their own portfolio - are you kidding? You seriously think that Siemens would go through the hassle of developing their own equivalent product, to SIL4 standards, and trying to get it through the strict product acceptance process, when they could simply use an 'off-the-shelf' Invensys solution that was designed specifically for that customer? I'd love to see the business case for that approach! Tuesday, May 3, 2011 I think that part of the way in which the company made it through with such huge cash reserves is by getting everyone to work 50-60 hours a week and then by outsourcing IOM development to India, which has not resulted in better code, better products or faster deliveries. When you pay one salary and demand 1.5x-2x results, you save money for a while. But its never a good idea to keep doing this year after year. Tuesday, May 3, 2011 Why should anyone get a graceful exit instead of a golden parachute? They should be pushed off of a very steep cliff. But alas, that won't happen because the CEO would have to be pushed off with them and we know that would never happen. Tuesday, May 3, 2011 I feel some posters here are either ill-informed and/or being misled in professing Invensys Rail is king and all else are also-rans. Rail is not the only portion making money for the company. There are many areas which have kept Invensys as a whole afloat, in business, in the black, whichever term you prefer. No one entity can claim to "saving the company" as some believe. There is a whole world outside of Rail to believe Rail is the only saving grace of the company; it is the only division making money; no other company inside or outside of the Invensys umbrella can perform the same tasks. This shows nothing but arrogance and ignorance. Though I am using IR as an example, the same statement is true of America's Controls division, the IOM division, the China affiliates, no one locale can claim to have saved this company of ours. What is really telling of the mindset of some here is the belief no other company can perform the same tasks or services. This is pure rubbish! But for sake of topic let's pretend Siemens can't produce the components / services to a particular marketplace and decided to purchase the division. I ask, how long would it take for them to begin to re-engineer said component / service into "their"portfolio and cause workers & facilities to become redundant? It is very rare for a company to perform an M&A on another company that is in the same industry and not make those workers, facilities, even products redundant. This way of thinking always leads to failure. Many, many companies are no longer in existence by following that mentality. It may not truly happen overnight but once the competitors start offering the same product / service, only better and without the smug attitude, only then will it feel like the business washed away over night. Again, not trying to single out IR, as all this could be said about any division, company, around the globe which portrays that type of arrogance. The company is global and there are good & bad situations arising from being global. One good is there are products being designed and produced in many locations throughout the organization. Products once only available in one market are now on the world market and have the ability to be produced in multiple locations to serve that market. Monday, May 2, 2011 Egos abound in the senior management level - those who are given freehand to do whatever they like or love (eg. traveling on company's expenses to gain mileages for holiday trips!) There was this chap who wanted so much to be CEO APAC but failed due to incompetence; and yet this incompetence has given him a job somewhere in Asia - the cohorts of his having removed capable persons from the projects there! Monday, May 2, 2011 The morale is down in IOM and it is very hard to bring it up. Sudipta and his buddies have tried hard to turn things around but they have reached to the limit what they can do. Sudipta is going to survive on the strength of financial results (go nuclear deals) but the damage to the company and culture is irreversible. His ego is too big and his ambitions are lofty. He believes in promoting his friends and yes-men. If Wayne is reading this blog, he should know by now that if he keeps the same team that Ulf had at the business level and the same organization, he will not make any big impact on the future of the company. This is his time, in the next 6 months, to clean house and focus on growth. Monday, May 2, 2011 I heard that graceful exits (golden parachutes) are being explored for a few key IOM staffers. Please stay tuned! Monday, May 2, 2011 Well, we thought things couldn't get much worse here in Safetran. Having endured years of egotistical and often irrational abuse from Riddett (aka Mr Magoo) we now have his personal friends installed as President and VP. One of them is actually calling himself President and CEO of Invensys Rail. I thought this was Drummond's job ? What egos ! Friday, April 29, 2011 We want potential Invensys buyers to read this blog so that when they buy this company or any of its divisions, they get rid of this defunct and incompetent management that is incapable of improving, or learning, or even changing. Sunday, May 1, 2011 The interesting thing about IOM is that if you look at the natural strengths of the three main constituent businesses - Foxboro, Wonderware and Eurotherm - they don't naturally link together. Foxboro are process, big in petrochem, Wonderware are a hardware agnostic discrete manufacturing integration business, and Eurotherm is a hardware company essentially, majoring in discrete manufacturing and small batch applications requiring precision control and measurement. To find synergies in that grouping isn't easy, even if you have high levels of domain expertise. But the approach seems to have been to ram things together on the basis of very superficial connections and management will to integrate, rather than business need to integrate, and it's never been an easy fit. On top of that, you have internal rivalries, inter-company politics, hit and run careerists and a crazy instinct to restructure whenever things get tough. I can't remember a time when there hasn't been some restructuring taking place or preannounced in Invensys, and that just breeds a "head down and wait for the next change of management" culture. It looks as though that has been noticed and is being stopped. Let's give Wayne a chance to work and see what happens. Yes, there is still some residual craziness, and it doesn't appear that those responsible for some of the mess are being held to account. But let's not lose track of the fact that Invensys made it through all of its troubles with cash in the bank and in a relatively strong position. I'm proud of that. So it's time to pull together for a bit and see what we can do that's great. Sunday, May 1, 2011 No, Siemens cannot offer the exact same products. They can offer equivalent products and have even implemented their equivalent products in the UK. But the fact remains that they have not managed to secure significant market share in the UK, despite their financial muscle. Why not? Because their products are fundamentally different to those that are already in widespread use. SSI is old technology, but it is technology that is known and understood by the customer. In a conservative industry, the significance of that should not be underestimated. I would also say that delivery certainty is just as important as product. Siemens' last UK project was a complete disaster and led to them all but pulling out of the UK signalling market. Don't get me wrong, I'm not saying that Invensys has better products than the competition. But to suggest that competitors offer the exact same products and services is just plain wrong. Do you seriously think that if Siemens took over Invensys, that UK signalling projects would all suddenly implement Simis W rather than SSI or Westlock? I think the customer might have something to say about that! Sunday, May 1, 2011 Siemens can offer the exact products the current rail business offers, and does outside of the UK. As do Ansaldo, Bombardier, Thales and Alstom. There is nothing differential about our rail global offering. Nothing at all. The recent orderbook was won by under-cutting the opposition and selling products we did not have at crazy low prices (Taiwan, Singapore etc). In the UK the rail busines has a legacy product developed by British Rail (SSI) that has kept the business afloat. It's at the end of its life though and the latest Invensys products are inferior to the Alstom competition. It's difficult to see where we go post the SSR decision. Still there is money to be made selling our expert trackside domain knowledge, but our days as a technical leader in the UK are over. It's inevitable that we will lose market share in the Network Rail Frameworks. The competition has just caught up with us, end of story. The business has a future in the UK but our management overhead (properties and people) needs a radical slash back. A lean UK delivery business aquired by a more credible global technology force (Siemens?) would be a good solution for all. Saturday, April 30, 2011 Yes, the grass is greener. I left Invensys several years ago and have been repeatedly approached to return to help resurrect what was before Mike Caliels departure. The revolving door should have fallen off its spindle by now. Just make a list of the leaderless hoard that have come and gone thru the doors at Invensys. The big problem with Invensys? Incompetent management at the most senior levels, lack of re-investment in the brands (sorry, I forgot, Invensys is the Brand!) and the lack of vision. The Dow fiasco was the start, but no one has been able to come up with a way to resurrect the once great brand Foxboro, but instead, have strangled the golden geese of Triconex and Wonderware, who for the un-knowing, both grew from the same entrepreneurial minds in a garage in California, until the visions of the partners changed. Infusion was never properly defined and most likely should have been called Confusion. Greedy senior management too busy padding their own pock ets by cooking the books at year end with orders that didnt exist (LOIs) or that were overvalued. Should I go on? Bring in a leader with a true understanding of the market and a vision to match, re-invest in the brands, stop treating the visionary employees like lepers and Invensys will once again become great. It is a sad thing to behold! Friday, April 29, 2011 The last post really says it all about us here in the US. Here we are a British company with global presence, but talking like a US regional business. Like it or not the Rail business makes up over 50% of profit from 20% of the cost base and thats a after what's been said to be a poor year. A casual bit of research shows that 80% of Rail profit in outside the US. Like it or not over the past 5 years Rail kept the business afloat. I don't really care about the past, but if you read the company report and analyst data it will tell you this is true. We have had years of pointless Wonderware posts from a business that delivers less than 10% of the companies profit. Seems most of the employees have been spending their time online instead of working. Fellow Americans, get a passport and see the real Invensys business. It's much bigger than Foxboro Ma, Carol Stream or Lake Forest. These are a side show. There is a world west of Frisco and east of NYC. Friday, April 29, 2011 If you knew anything about RAIL, you would know that competitors like Siemens cannot offer the EXACT same products and services. Get your facts right before professing to the world. Friday, April 29, 2011 Though I am an infrequent reader I totally agree with the comments: "Invensys being sold rumor? Please, give me a break. " and "this 'grass is greener' garbage, the grass is pretty darn green": Also agree as well as the comments of this forum being nothing but a bunch of whiners. In reading this forum the majority of the comments / concerns are of bad management: RAIL is the darling of the business & always at the top, other businesses aren't worth a damn, the list of complaints go on and on. One thing I NEVER read about are solutions to the issues; what you are doing to make the company a better place to work? How are you finding and resolving issues? I believe the American phrase is "Monday morning quarter-back"? First, RAIL is neither the darling of the business & nor the sole money-maker. It is sporadic in making money at best; granted it was o.k. a couple years ago when the Americas were deep in recession / depression. But sooner after its up cycle, it's back in the basement. It is this arrogant, pompous attitude that is really at the core of the problems, Second, all those who want RAIL to be bought, particularly by Siemens, obviously doesn't know about M&A. The bought company is always ravaged by the buying company for market share, not so much the tech, especially when they're in the same business. Get bought by Siemens or any other company that offers the EXACT products & services as you and you'll become redundant - period. Third, if it's so bad, leave. Once your job becomes work it is time to go. You dread coming to the office, find a new office to go to. How someone thinks they're throwing away a career by leaving is a sure way to throw away a career by staying. You take your skill set, work ethic, and obvious loyalty to another company. Fourth, as stated before, this a public automation forum; it is being read by internal AND external customers, suppliers, potential customers and perhaps buyers. Do you think a potential buyer, customer or supplier wants to deal with a bunch of whining people who only offer snide remarks instead of problem-solving solutions? If you can't clean and take care of your own house, how can you take care of someone else's? Thursday, April 28, 2011 - More on the joint I/A program with Dow: Invensys and Dow dissolved their 1997 partnership to deliver a next generation system late in 2000. Invensys reported they "jointly cancelled the project", describing it as "a fruitless effort to develop a new system that was deemed couldn't be sold on the open market." (Quotes from CEO Allen Yurko, Invensys Annual Financial Update; May 31, 2001). A fundamental problem with the agreement was that apparently Dow had some unique ideas about what a control system should be, and their requirements add cost to the system. Costs that other companies are not willing to pay. Lawsuits ensued, with a settlement handled quietly behind closed doors. Thursday, April 28, 2011 I posted the comment about 'the architect' earlier. Let me say a couple things. First of all, sure InFusion is steaming pile, but it's OUR steaming pile (because of ArchestrA) and nobody can even come close to matching what it can do. Let's make it better. I/A is rock solid as a product, massive installed base that is paying the bills. Was the port a joke? Sure was but it works, doesn't it? As far as this Invensys being sold rumor? Please, give me a break. This is not the time for anyone to be buying anything, certainly not a company that is doing well and exceeding its goals. You people know absolutely nothing of what you speak. Prove me wrong, cite some sources. Go ahead. I'll be waiting. It's nothing but conjecture at best and fueling speculation at worst. As for this 'grass is greener' garbage, the grass is pretty darn green where I'm sitting. Invensys in decline? Not from where I'm looking. Invensys will go nowhere but up and has ever since I've been here. Wednesday, April 27, 2011 To the person asking about the joint I/A program with Dow. I was at the time aware of the decision making. When it was first proposed I fought this match-up as completely unfeasible. The idea was to combine Dow's home grown system with I/A. The then R&D president of Foxboro's business unit just didn't have the courage to tell the Division President that the idea was a non-starter. The President of the division (may he rest in peace) later admitted to me that he later understood it couldn't happen as proposed but he believed that once Dow was committed they would wind up an I/A customer no matter what. So IMHO they did it for the $$ without a real expectation that the Dow SIL system could be successfully made a part of I/A. Bottom line was after years of efforts and much money spent it was dropped. This type of cynical decision making was just the run up to the BAAN fiasco. BTW, every single person I know that has left for a comparable position has found the grass much greener elsewhere. I certainly have. Wednesday, April 27, 2011 Wholeheartedly agree with the last two blogs: Need the freedom to voice opinions and to be able to be honest and open without being accused of being negative, intimidated etc. and get rid of the YES culture. Needs everyone to work together between Depts., site locations etc. with the same objectives/goals and to be on the same level playing field, and not having one hand tied behind your back. Work anywhere else lucky you; others never had a choice! The loss of skills, experience and knowledge of what the customer wanted are hard to replace. I would have at a guess that most employees now treat going to work as means to live. Wednesday, April 27, 2011 To the blogger who claims leaving Invensys would be 'throwing away' 30+ years career. That is exactly the self defeating attitude that the management will love to see, why is there a perception that everywhere else is inferior to SCUK/WRSL etc. I had a fab few years in that place but it went downhill rapidly. Despite the nay-sayers and the almost religious chanting of 'the grass isn't greener on the other side, I found that with my career growing well in another organisation, in fact the grass is phenomenally greener! Take your blinkers off; if the place is so terrible to work in, do something about it, more than whine on this blog! Tuesday, April 26, 2011 While Ulf did a good job of turning around a failing business, time is needed to change the cultural damage. Fear, intimidation, micro management, and demand for "commitment" to unrealizable plans are the order of business. Wayne appears to be targeting a change in culture as well as business operation. The toxic culture did not materialize overnight. I for one am willing to support Wayne. We can each contribute by pulling back on the rhetoric in the office. Decide not to engage in the negative at work. Tuesday, April 26, 2011 I agree with the blogger who says we have no where else to get this fixed. I don't want to work anywhere else. I have been here in the rail business since SCUK was taken over by Westinghouse. Whilst I have some sympathy with the blogger who wants this to stop, he or she can't have been here very long. This has become a terrible place to work. It's not as simple as telling me to walk away from a career of over 30 years. The leadership of this business should be ashamed. The latest bunch have created a fear culture full of pathetic HQ yes-men with no experience of the industry that I and most of my colleagues have given our lives to. Tuesday, April 26, 2011 - Re: So why urinate in your own pants by writing negatives on this blog? To meet your slang: It is easier to warm my pants by doing this instead of waiting another year on a working air condition. With other words: There is no way to get it done within the company. Monday, April 25, 2011 This site amazes me. I do not often come here, but when I do I get disappointed with the cowards and negative people here. Funny part is everybody reads it, did you ever ask yourself who initiates the topics? I am proud of what I do at Invensys and I believe we are at the right path. Sure we have issues just like anybody else, but is this the place to talk about it? A public blog where your customers and competition go and amuse themselves based on your ignorance; writing here will not change anything. You and only you are in charge of your own destiny, no one else. Anybody has the power to change. I get sick of people who blame others for failure. Together we can change this company into what we want it to be. You already do this everyday. Invensys is not built out of one or two managers. It's made out of everybody, so when you come to work in the morning and pick-up the first call, answer your emails, face a customer, guess what - it's you who makes this company and what customers think of it. So why urinate in your own pants by writing negatives on this blog? Monday, April 25, 2011 - Regarding Triconix: Didn't Foxboro have a program underway, about ten years ago, to develop an I/A system that would inherently meet SIL 3 or SIL 4 requirements without needing an additional safety shutdown system such as Triconix's? The initial customer was going to be DOW Chemical. What happened? Monday, April 25, 2011 The new, nebulous organisation changes are straight out of a 70's management book. Winners - a new layer of useless managers for each LOB (line of business). Losers - Customer facing technical (delivery) problems, employees having to explain why all decisions and projects are being micromanaged by these LOB managers. Monday, April 25, 2011 Regarding the comment that the sales organization received sales compensation on the deal which is losing money: The sales organization didn't get paid on it. The margins were so low, we didn't get compensated by it. The facts are that the sales organization didn't want the deal because we are going to lose our butts on it. We have overpromised and are under-delivering. Do you think we will see another deal after we demonstrate our incompentence in delivering the solution? The only people that gained from this deal were the top executives sitting in Plano, Tx. It drove large bonus dollars for them in 2010 and now in 2011. Sunday, April 24, 2011 Just for the record, Eurotherm has certainly not been absorbed by Foxboro. One product line is badged Foxboro, that's the beginning and end of that; no employee transfer, no nothing. It's a thriving and well focused product business. It's a $100M+ business too, not all that small. Sunday, April 24, 2011 It is already clear that Edmunds is a nutless placeholder. If not, his first act would have been to remove the Indian mafia at IOM in one fell swoop. He has no aspirations to lead invensys into the future, only to monetize its past. Saturday, April 23, 2011 I don't agree with the blogger fully on the demise of Triconex... just yet. I recognise the fact that every vendor from Emerson, ABB, Honeywell is going after Triconex's market. I heard of the fact that Triconex has lost out to HIMA in the US. Triconex has weathered all sort of storms for the past 25 years or so from TMR systems in the past, like the now defunct ABB August system, ICS Triplex (now with Rokwell) and RTP. Newer systems like DeltaV SIS, which if you read in Emerson's blog has just tripped a plant big time. HIMA may have now won something big... let see about lasting power, as it is still a small privately owned company. Triconex is still Invensys's golden goose. The ever clueless Sudipta and his merry men (lately taking on board) feel that Archestra still has some future... (do they really care ?) The safety system market has somewhat changed due to a new standard of IEC61511. I have seen end-users who have tried to redesign their plant to run with SIL2 - some of them can justify to put in a Rockwell SIL2 system, which is coming in at a rock-bottom prices. That is why the SIL2 Tri-GP comes in. It is just to get a slice of the market place now. HIMA's controllers are also OEM to Rockwell. Just as ICS Triplex is OEM to ABB as TriGuard. ABB has destroyed August system totally. The power of Triconex is it's solid upgrade path of backwards compatibility. As long as Invensys has put in a creditable upgrade plans, it makes it hard for end-users to replace it in the future. I have seen some foolish end-users ripping off a small Tricon system to put in the DeltaV SIS. They are beginning to regret it. Though they dare not say it out loud. The DeltaV SIS plastic yellow box hardware on a long run is still not up to scratch, with its expensive add ons end of line diodes to cover up for deficiencies in its hardware electronics design. Do not forget, that Triconex has installations in Nuclear plants. Nuclear plants do not change for years and years. Chemical, Oil and Gas plants can come and go... When Oil and Gas runs out, where does the future of energy lie? Things are not as bad as they seem for Triconex as a whole. It is still a solid, stable product, with its ease of use, installation and setup. Time will tell if Triconex will survive. Looking at it, it still will have a future. Saturday, April 23, 2011 It would be good for us if the divisions were sold off to someone who knew what they were doing, which history has not shown to be Invensys. But asking us to stop sending negative blogs is misplaced. If some of us thought that what we post here could actively shorten the careers of incompetent people, or some of the more corrupt managers, we would be posting 5 time a day. It's the only mechanism we have to make this a better place - if we believe in what we're doing and don't want to leave. Saturday, April 23, 2011 Oh yes, those Chinese Nuke Projects. The only one that benefits is the sales team that gave away the goods for nothing. They still get a hefty commission. Saturday, April 23, 2011 One of the main providers for Invensys group has always been Triconex. A big installed base in the oil field has kept them running without any big investment for a long time. I dont know why Honeywell sold it, however the diamond mine has been decreasing year by year , even to a point of modifying their system just to keep a share of SIL 2 market, which looks to be the future on the safety sytems arquitecture. Emerson, ABB , Siemens, Rockwell, Yokogawa, GE, etc. all seems to be convinced that the safety education, risk analysis, SIL Verification studies,etc. will determine that SIL 3 is not necesarily required on most of the cases, and SIL 2 projects will make the market grow faster and bigger. The main target for the customer will be to continue complying with the safety regulations and requirements, with less investment, this will keep the customers happy. BP has already said good bye to the Flintstones era, Triconex is beeing replace by HIMA. BP just awarded HIMA Americas with a big order for several Safety PLC's (seems to be for the Gulf of Mexico). So Triconex, key company with in Invensys, has lost a big project and perhaps a good customer, which once more confirms what everyone knows: Invensys IOM continues to go down and down. It looks like BP soon will anounce HIMA to be their world preferred Safety System supplier, at least for the next years to come. So Goodbye Invensys Triconex! We know several other big chemical and oil companies which are doing the same thing. So watch out for Brazil and Latin America, because everyone has them on target. Emerson just won a complete refinery at Brazil against Invensys ( Foxboro/ Triconex). So the big question is: if you had money to spend, would it be wise for you to spend it on an obsolete company like Invensys IOM? I think the rail divison might have more future and perhaps needs less money to be profitable. Who would want to buy Invensys IOM if the core companies like Triconex and Wonderware are going down with less future on the market? Foxboro has been dead for quite a while. Eurotherm, very small company being torn apart, almost all the Eurotherm line and critical employees are now labelled as part of Invensys Foxboro. Even the old DCS 2500/ 2550, after a big loss as A2, is now again being introduce as a revolutionary new Foxboro PAC system. The problem is for customers that belives this is a nice new system from Foxboro, jo jo jo. So, we know where Eurotherm future is going, Eurotherm = Foxboro both dead, sad for Eurotherm - they have nice, new products like Nanodac, some Action products, and nice E power, Avantis, SimSci, Skelta, IMServ, etc. Difficult situation. Everyone wants to cut expenses, not to invest on these solutions. I think Siemens and ABB have better options to select from: Rockwell, Honeywell , Hima , Yamatake, Yokogawa, Alstom, Krhone, Endress, or just the Invensys Rail division could be better decisions than IOM itself. If they buy it it will be, as always, just to keep the customers installed base. They will keep just the critical employees and dismiss all others. So for the people who say, why being so negative? Are we being negative or realistic? Friday, April 22, 2011 Another.....reorganization....in IOM.....only this time it makes sense. The purpose is to make piece-portions attractive to potential buyers. Let's do our best to contribute our talents to achieve this successful purchase. The buyer will be either GE or Siemens or maybe ABB. No matter, afer the purging at least, the new management will focus on satisfying customers and thus running the business properly, without bad behaviors to artifically boost short term share price in order to attract buyers. So please, people, focus and stop sending negative blogs, especially with regard to specific management personnel. Thursday, April 21, 2011 Once it becomes apparent that the China nuclear projects are money sinkholes, (underbid, over-budget, and well behind schedule with no clear path forward) then IOM no longer will look good to potential buyers. The risk and liabilities of tremendous loss associated with those disastrous projects will make suitors run. Thursday, April 21, 2011 I think it is interesting that as a former employee of Invensys that you have incredibly inept and almost unethical people running the show here in Australia. How is it you have can have a person at Director level who is not formally educated and has made some very questionable decisions based on her dislike of individuals who she perceives as threatening and dangerous? You have a Leadership team here in Australia who have no tangible relationships with key stakeholders in the rail industry. There is a toxic culture like a necrotic cancer that is slowly eating away at Invensys and one wonders when those who matter will realise and seek treatment. Thursday, April 21, 2011 The title of the weblog is "Invensys". Surely comments on IRL are as valid as any?! Thursday, April 21, 2011 An interesting week. A very good and succint video message from Wayne Edmunds, calling for thoughtful focus and asking employees to think about what stops effective execution within the organisation. No obvious means of telling him though. So it could go one of two ways now. One way would be that examples of internally focused behaviour will be noticed and addressed, and we'll be allowed to prioritise customer focused activities over the HR initiative du jour, the increasing bureaucracy of integration, and whatever else a Senior VP has in his goal list. And the other would be that the same old people propagate the same old behaviour, we use the change as the stimulus for yet another reorganisation, and nothing changes very much. Wayne appears to be a perceptive leader, and I'm prepared to give him the benefit of the doubt. He used the word "weakness" when other leaders still trot out homilies about how we were always doing fine and we just need to take the next step which (by the way) was always planned. To correct weakness you first have to acknowledge it, so it's a good first step. Thursday, April 21, 2011 The weblog is for the Invensys company an not just for one part, as the whole company is in demise. And to say the Rail division doesn't implement automation, I think that demonstrates how much people know about Rail. This seems like someone high up in the Rail division trying to hush everything up and to stop the rumours, or should I say the facts from getting out to the people that actually produce something. Invensys will tell you something, but the majority of the information has been broadcasted here first, weeks previously. Wednesday, April 20, 2011 What is happening to IOM ? Our leaders have come back from a company-paid vacation in Miami with awards for the loss-making China nuclear projects! Meanwhile we have a COO who has no responsibility for delivery, and despite having an existing CI leader has appointed his college buddy as another CI leader. Meanwhile the COO and SVP are doing the same job! Can anybody tell me why we have these non-value roles ? Wednesday, April 20, 2011 One good reason for Rail comments is that Rail makes up around 25% of the Invensys workforce, but around 50% of Invensys' profit and most of the cash. Exclude Rail from the group and your so-called Controls group is worth nothing. Wednesday, April 20, 2011 - Re: Automation: Since this weblog and website is industrial automation focused, I do not see the relevance of having Invensys Rail related comments posted here? IOM yes, definitely. But not Rail. Wednesday, April 20, 2011 To add to the previous list for IOM Middle East:
8- New people are hired with high paid compensation packages based on who are their internal referrals in IOM and not their experience or background. At least the minimum requirement should be: read/write/speak English. 9- Promises have been said to employees by different key people with nothing on the ground. 10- No process in place. 11- Resignations will increase in the next few months. Wednesday, April 20, 2011 It is not only IOM whose leadership positions are by and large completely the wrong people for those roles. For example IRAP - Projects and Commercial Director - knows jack-diddly about railways, has no people management skills and basks in the limelight of other people's hard work and claims all the credit by jetting off to the US and accepts gifts of Carribean holidays and alledgedly claims the Auckland bid was won purely on the basis that he didn't sleep at all - Twat. Tuesday, April 19, 2011 Management doesn't care who blogs or what they blog about if they did then they would address it. Their ego does not allow their over inflated heads to even consider they have any shortcomings or faults. They have floated to the top level of their incompetence. It's like The Modest mouse Song "Float On" by Modest Mouse off their album:
Good News For People Who Love Bad News - "And we'll all float on Ok". Tuesday, April 19, 2011 - To the commenter on Agile: We are on the same page. Agile works only if you have everyone in the same place in a small group. Spreading it over continents is no process at all. When I wrote that, I realized it's kind of stupid to have a company that's selling software to help manage your processes be so clueless about managing their processes. The cobbler's children go barefoot, eh? I never would want to go back to Invensys. They paid me well, but the company is poisonous. I now make about 20K more a year, which is very nice. Even better, I don't have the stress level I did there. For those people still there, I hope you are happy and productive. If not, there are other jobs out there. Saturday, April 16, 2011 Here are 3 themes for others to expand on:
Saturday, April 16, 2011 I could not help but laugh and cry at the comment regarding: "the person who architected possibly one of the biggest piles of garbage in the history of computer software with a top level management position". Painfully true. The impact that this decision had on the company runs far, far deeper than most can ever realize. It sucked critical investment resources from other projects (the overall amount of money spent was above nine digits), it handcuffed Foxboro and Eurotherm and prevented other IOM companies from doing anything creative on their own, it create a tyrannical/dictatorial culture that forced many talented people out the door, and worst of all it generated very little customer value. That - after the final tally is taken - will be the real disaster in this sorry chapter of the history of Invensys. Whether his nationality or his personality was the reason for his continued reign may never be known. In spite of his supposed transfer to a different role, those remaining in leadership positions at IOM are by and large completely the wrong people for those roles. The damage has been done however, most of it irreparable. Friday, April 15, 2011 Rail has to shave it's margins.It's all well and good making huge profits, but clients are looking elsewhere now. Bombardier, although understaffed are preferred bidders for SSR, leaving invensys with the scraps they want to outsource, in terms of mainline. SSL have already trialled their modular system, and no doubt for a fraction of the price, so most likely when network rail see the costs, who are they going to use? Answers on a postcard? They are getting the type A frameworks that Invensys are craving and with Alstoms background with vintage geographical and newer smartlock, they have the exact same capabilities for less and I would assume the same high quality end result... Friday, April 15, 2011 A big part of the problem is that the "top" handpicked underlings that will say and do anything the top bosses program to do. Then these underlings create the nightmares that the worker bees have to live with. But guess what? Worker bees don't have to live with it. Pick a competitor and get a job with them and get even by making the original boss's life hell. If you are low enough on the food chain the original top bosses won't even notice or care you have jumped ship to the enemy. But beware, the higher up you are on the food chain the more chance that it will get very ugly. This includes lawyers, lawsuits and other shenanigans. Thursday, April 14, 2011
Comment from people who left Invensys (Middle-East/Saudi Arabia). Why? Read the policy:
Thursday, April 14, 2011 New to Rail; new to this blog; looking for facts, not gossip. No moderation, so here are 3 themes for others to expand on. Acquisition: Some predict this is our destiny. Execs may be grooming us for sale: about to strip the fat, making us attractive, easier to disband? Feel free to add your intelligence, those who know about our core business and key assets worth acquiring. Who would buy what and why? To take out a competitor? Maybe we are already destroying ourselves rapidly enough. Rail: What is our core business - just project delivery or do we develop valuable intellectual assets? Is there a natural synergy between IR groups across the globe? Do we have a future as Invensys? What strategy would make us more cohesive and competitive? Will that just make us more vulnerable to acquistion? How would you inspire and motivate us? Wayne might say the "customer is King" - but do our customers have vision? D&G: (Doom & Gloom) - for those who need to name names, let go their frustrations etc, please preface yours with "D&G". (with apologies to Dolce & Gabanna). It would just help us skip thru to the good stuff - maybe I'm a tad optimistic. Thursday, April 14, 2011 When you reward the person who architected possibly one of the biggest piles of garbage in the history of computer software with a top level management position you get what you deserve. Wednesday, April 13, 2011 I strongly urge you not to sacrifice your personal life for the company. When you come home, kiss your spouse, talk about the family & kids, don't kick the dog, don't blow up at your family, don't withdraw from your family, don't wallow in your self-pity by vegetating in front of the boob tube. Get to the gym and take it all out on the weights and machines and you'll be better for it. Just use the company like they use you. Wednesday, April 13, 2011 A bad version of Agile? Ha! I laugh in your face! Agile is a framework and NOT a process. It's very essence is centred around having a cross-functional team located in the same building and preferably on the same floor! The Invensys model of global product development, having teams working on the same product distributed over 1000 of miles, is never going to be Agile. It creates an "us versus them" culture. This means the UK hates dealing with Spain and Brisbane. Melbourne hates dealing with Brisbane. Spain hates dealing with anyone and everybody hates dealing with India! The best processes in the world are not going to break these barriers. Video conferencing (currently non existent) may help, but who wants to talk to Australia, India or Singapore at 5am or 10pm? Workshops/reviews etc. in one country means poor engineers have to fly long distances cramped in Economy, sitting next to some fat bird that takes up all your room and smells, snores, chomps food all flight long. No wonder people want to keep themselves to themselves and just focus on their little bit. How is there any hope of products ever coming together in this situation? Don't get me started on the lack of leadership on these type of projects. Wednesday, April 13, 2011 - Re: "Do not sacrifice your personal life." Hear, hear! At the end of the day, you'll still only have made your salary and the company will have recieved two employees's work out of you for the cost of one. I have done this too many times for too many companies who promised me the moon. Most of them are out of business because they kept promising everyone that the current firefighting situation would only last for a little while longer. It never ended because none of these companies ever figured out good project management or that employees weren't disposable. When the employees left and the expertise went away, so did the companies. Your life and your happiness are more important than any promise that Sudipta or anyone else makes to you for what will happen 6 months from now. Tuesday, April 12, 2011 - A short comment on Invensys-Cognizant alliance: For the present catastrophic situaton at Invensys ODC in CTS, much needs to blamed (if not entirely) on the Cognizant employees working for Invensys. This situation can be reversed only when they put their feet firmly down and say (to the CTS and Invensys managements) what could be realistic for them to deliver, based on their experience levels, milestones, ambiguity in the requirements, etc. Otherwise this tyranny continues. Do not sacrifice your personal life. Neither CTS no Invensys can really compensate you for the loss you incur. Tuesday, April 12, 2011 WRT to the Cognizant employee who posted recently about how bad the working conditions are. On the Invensys side, I have heard about Cognizant employees putting in huge amounts of unpaid and unappreciated overtime to meet preposterous deadlines from Invensys. Their reward for this behaviour was more hard work and no appreciation. It was no surprise that people started leaving Cognizant to work on other things rather than put up with Invensys's bad process. I agree: the process is garbage. It's only a bad version of AGILE. People with product knowledge are what should be saving the company. But product knowledge takes several years to pick up here. People in Invensys stay for years and years. They don't understand how long it takes for new people to figure out how to learn the software to maintain it. They are not patient with people learning it and expect everyone to know it as well as they do. I am not surprised Cognizant is sick of Invensys. Monday, April 11, 2011 - RE: The Invensys-Cognizant alliance is in trouble now. This is good new for us, the Cognizant Employees working for Invensys, and we all hope that the alliance ends. We are tired of this client (Invensys). What we get here is a lot of work desired really fast and cheap, no good salaries, no good increments, poor office environment, long office hours hitting health and personal life, hundreds of crazy immovable project milestones despite all uncertainties in Invensys requirements and external dependencies, No Onsite Opportunities, butchered morale and above all a SECOND GRADE maintenance work with no new R&D and no new Technologies. Also, a sick client who wants everything and has their own rules of what should be in Scope of projects, and incompetent managers on both sides who don't have the bones to oppose whats wrong with Invensys's expectations. And not to forget that Invensys is the Company who's executive (Sudipta) back stabbed all of us with useless promises to push us into this engagement. No wonder No one is interested in working here anymore. We are bleeding critical employees and Top performers and this is making things even more difficult. Whats worse is that some foolish managers on both sides believe that despite all this, their "Processes" and not their people will help maintain quality Deliverables. What a Joke! Saturday, April 9, 2011 I just want to get something out of my system: IOM... IOM... IOM... IOM... IOM... IOM... IOM... IOM... IOM... IOM... IOM... IOM... IOM... IOM... IOM... IOM... IOM... IOM... Now you may resume whining about Rail. Saturday, April 9, 2011 One more item of news: The Invensys-Cognizant alliance is in trouble now. Cognizant is not seeing any profits from the Invensys wing. Salaries of the Invensys Employees are very high when compared to Cognizants. Most of the projecrs are not meeting their dead lines. CTS is planning to put an end to the useless alliance. Friday, April 8, 2011 I ponder: How much of our dirty laundry does it take to be aired in order for our "management" to have some level of pride and ownership in this corporation? Friday, April 8, 2011 Apparently all the manufacturing areas at Chippenham have been assured by management that the loss of SSR will not have an impact on output, for rest of this year at least. On the other hand, not one word has been spoken to the engineering staff concerning the loss of the contract. Work it out for yourself. Friday, April 8, 2011 Let's hope Crossfield does better with the NR frameworks. Its been a long time since we had a real leader in charge. Never spoke to Crossfield in the year he has been here. Such an arrogant aloof person with no experience or skills in our business. Friday, April 8, 2011 Did Peter Bradley do the entire bid alone? Is that why we lost it? Or are we looking for a scapegoat here? Friday, April 8, 2011 The latest master stroke from Chippenham: Partly close the Croydon office leaving the engineering staff there and moving the rest to Euston. All the benefits of having all the project team in one location gone! Croydon has always been the poor relation, despite the great performance when Godfrey Dance was the Director here, we were the top performing office (delivery/margin/sales/cash). Dance built up a high performing team that we were all proud to be part of. If Drummond or Crossfield had any common sense they would bring him back to run all projects and rebuild our business. Thursday, April 7, 2011 We lost SSR because of three things:
Thursday, April 7, 2011 The losing of SSR and Nick Crossfield should go together with his cronies, some of whom are schemers and connivers who do not contribute to the organization, but instead create deeper losses and dissatisfaction from the customers Thursday, April 7, 2011 Why would Crossfield go on the result of the SSR bid? He had nothing to do with it. The bid was done by Peter Bradley in IRG HQ. Bradley so far has, like other Siemens recruits, turned out to be well below par compared to our own existing people. All have been poor, which explains where we are. Thursday, April 7, 2011 Its not all gloom in Rail. IRAP in Melbourne, now have some great new offices thanks to the HR team. They have room to grow and despite a couple of initial hiccups are so much better than the old wool store we had to work out. Mind you, this has now opened the way for the business to separate the products part of the company as part of the next step towards selling it off. Thursday, April 7, 2011 If SSR is lost, then Nick Crossfield will be out of here. He pinned his colours to this particular mast. A year of utter failure on his part. Thursday, April 7, 2011 Everyone knows Bombardier have won SSR. Its also true that they may need us to do basic trackside design and installation, but they have plenty other companies (big and small) to go to to get that done. Alternatively (and more likely) thay will come and just recruit our staff with LUL domain knowledge. The problem with our business without SSR is that the millions spent on DTG-R have been wasted and we will be out of London for years. From the 'ground floor' our overheads look bloated and there are plenty opportunities to take out management layers, starting at the top I hope. The blogs about NR frameworks are correct, they are the true future of the business, if we lose our share of the frameworks we really are in trouble. Wednesday, April 6, 2011 It's ALWAYS GOOD to lose an inept leader but what we get in replacement could be even worse. Wednesday, April 6, 2011 I don't know for sure, but I would think the lack of communication is down to the fact that there is nothing to say. I don't see any Bombardier announcements claiming they've won anything either. Add to that, it important to remember we are a public company in the FTSE and have just finished the year end. This is a time when little or nothing is said until the results are announced next month. I think it true that we have had a tough year, but looking forwards the NR bids are far more important than LU. Wednesday, April 6, 2011 NR have come to us in the past to get them out of the odd mess because historically, we had a good reputation - that reputation came and still comes from THE people that can deliver - its not Invensys logo making the difference. These days the order book is not exactly 'heaving'. Those people that made a difference are gradually getting poached or leaving to work for the competitors to get better pay and / or more security and we can't seem to keep them. It's good the odd blogger stating what they know to be the facts about SSR, but it would be very appreciated and 'expected' for the leaders to gather the people together and make a couple of announcements / clear statements. When you dont tell the people whats going on, you get rumours and morale drops. Before you say people need to pick themselves up, the question is, why have masses of top heavy boards of Kings, Directors, Chiefs, Queens and General Officers if they can deliver the minimum - a direction? Communication is poor. Everyone is too busy shuffling paperwork and planning their next promotion or buzz word to make it sound as though thehy are doing the right thing for the business. Wednesday, April 6, 2011 Lets just step back and take a breath for a second, before we all hang ourselves on the back of this blog! True SSR may be lost, but who's to say that we won't pick up some sub contracts from Bombardier? Can they deliver all that work themselves? I doubt it. Mainline is as strong as ever and with some big contracts coming up for tender and renewal of frameworks up for grabs all is not lost at Invensys Rail. True times are hard but they aren't much better elsewhere. Leave Invensys and go where? Who do Network Rail come to when a competitors projects is struggling to meet deadlines? Invensys that's who and Network Rail still know that Invensys are still the number one at delivering Type A contracts. Wednesday, April 6, 2011 Some really uninformed posts on here, regarding the LU situation. So here are some facts: LU work employs around 20% of our employees. We have LU work now until 2013 that will employ our existing staff. Most of the impact will be that we don't recruit new people. Meanwhile posts say we have lost the SSR bid. So tell me who has won it? Answer: Nobody, as it's not yet been awarded. Let's post facts rather than scare mongering. The danger is that people like the much publicised and ridiculed Riddett will now try and cut staff without knowing what he is doing. Wednesday, April 6, 2011 - To the Rail guys in the UK. Don't worry about jobs. Riddett will reduce them anyhow regardless of what business you win or lose. As said by previous bloggers, he is a one trick pony, slash employees and capability, short term improvement to P&L then move on before found out. You can just about get away with this in a simple manufacturing plant like Safetran (small number of products shipped to a small number of domestic customers). Try that in a specialist long cycle high value global engineering business and the result could be terminal. Rail is a fragile business consisting of less than 20% of Invensys headcount but 50% of profit. Letting idiots try and make a name for themselves is very risky. Wednesday, April 6, 2011 It was rumored that the IOM (not supposed to say this) has just lost a VP. He decided to call it a day and was rumored to want to return to his homeland (not to India). An inept leader is gone. Because of weak leadership from this VP, it permeates down onto the lowest level. I have an imbecile and clueless front line manager. His superiors is also equally clueless. Yes, it is correct to a certain extent that people do hire in their own image. After seeing a few e-mails from Mr Edmunds, I wonder what is he thinking now? Is he allowing Sudipta, his fellow country man and the newly appointed COO that was demoted to continue to run IOM like this? As a top man, and using his MBA training from a top business school, just by simple benchmarking IOM against competitions, surely it is obvious that IOM is not creating the good results that are required to stay afloat up there. For so many years, Invensys have only just been on survival mode. There are still some good products in Invensys' portfolio. Our competition knows what these are. Mr Edmunds and his sidekicks - if you are looking at this blog, as a current Invensys employee, do something quick and swiftly to address the tons of issues that Invensys faces internally. Invensys does not have time on it's hands. Like the previous blogger says, if the ultimate aim of the board's decision is to sell the company, do it earlier, swiftly, decisively, quickly and the sooner the better. Please spare us, the remaining competent lower level employees', the agony of seeing bad leadership that permeates all the way down. Wednesday, April 6, 2011 This website is new to me and I'm a current Invensys employee. It has to be said that I am absolutely ashamed of my fellow employees. And, clearly, my opinion is in the minority. Yes, Invensys is going through some very hard times right now and, yes, things don't look favorable. And I'm certain a few of the predictions listed here are correct. But you work here too! Be part of the solution, not the problem! I have never heard more whiners and complainers in my life. And if you don't like it, it's mass-exodus time anyway. Additionally, this blog is getting out and being mentioned in daily business and all I'm hearing is people jumping on the bandwagon, saying things like 'yes men' and spewing unoriginal thought by mimicking the whiners on this site. I get it - you're upset. Lots of changes, some inefficient management. Clear enough. But grow up. Wednesday, April 6, 2011 It is unbelieveable that the exec of IRNE can announce the loss of SER internally (even post it on the intranet) before the investors or markets get to hear about it. The loss of this contract is indeed a bitter blow. Millions have been spent on pre contract award set up and R+D, all for nothing. It also means that the technology on the Victoria Line will remain an expensive white elephant. Expect a lot of jobs to go in the next 4 weeks. Wednesday, April 6, 2011 If the loss of LU work is true, there is only one thing to say: Get out NOW, before you are lost in the sea of mass redundancies. Its a quick and the dead situation now. Wednesday, April 6, 2011 Steve Blair is departing North America and Gary Freburger is stepping in to replace him. Not shocking that Steve is leaving; he thought he was getting the CEO role when Sudipta was appointed, but Freburger going in to backfill? I see of lot of self promotion going on at IOM; this looks like another good case. Blair has no backfill? What has he been doing for the past four years? Tuesday, April 5, 2011 IR NE have lost the SSR London Underground contract. Stand by for massive redundancies in the UK. Tuesday, April 5, 2011 I was looking at the blog and was kind of disheartened to see that even when there are personnel changes at the very top level, it seems that the decisions and directions made by the new team does not help to steer the company to a better position. Maybe it too early to tell? I feel that the company does not have much more time on its hands. From now on, whatever the direction taken, it must steer the company to a better position. If it is the inept English based board of directors' aim is to sell the company finally - do it EARLIER rather than sooner. This will give the current last few competent employeess who still believe in some of the company's product a chance and be free (maybe temporary) from these imbeciles and bad leadership (including those with MBAs) that plagues all levels of this organisation. Let another bigger company ultimately run (or finally destroy) this company. No one wants to have (direct) blood on their hands... Tuesday, April 5, 2011 Tough times ahead in Rail. Apparently they have lost the bid to be London Underground's signalling supplier. This is a major blow as it's one of the group's top customers and the relationship goes back almost 100 years. Some of the workforce were told yesterday and I expect the consequences will become clearer in the days ahead. Tuesday, April 5, 2011 I was also very pleased to read the departed IOM exec's comments and think their observations accurate. As someone who used to work in the trenches, I'd like to add the following observations from the bottom rung to support the exec's:
Tuesday, April 5, 2011 Two posts recently: "No company should be dependent on securing massive contracts like SSR in order to be a viable business." "If SSR is lost, there will be hundreds of redundancies in IRNE, very painful, and it will return to being a core business based on UK rail only." Hold onto your hats / head for the exit. Tuesday, April 5, 2011 We thought we were home free here in Safetran and that Riddett must relocate to Europe where 70% of the Rail business and HQ is located. I can't recall a bigger idiot as President and I've seen a few Brit appointees. Instead he continues to sit here in his office in Louisville, tapping away on his iPad and running manufacturing. Paljug is out of his depth and spends as he always has 70% of his time in Pittsburgh where he lives. Apparently Riddett is trying to put in place an office in Pittsburgh to justify things. More costs. Must be nice for both Riddett and Paljug to have long flights paid by Invensys from where their jobs actually are. This business is wasting more money than you could imagine. Tuesday, April 5, 2011 Here in IOM it seems we are getting all the ex-Freburger expensive and ineffective people placed in safe positions within our business. ie no savings at all. Now we have to carry them within IOM instead of getting charged. My advice to colleagues in Controls and Rail is watch out you are going to get treated as idiots. Tuesday, April 5, 2011 Unfortunately Invensys has a history of putting incompetent people in significant roles. Its been a major failing of HR who have concentrated on furthering their own position rather than providing a service. Riddett and Freburger are only the latest in a long line although in fairness Riddett sets a new all time low and Freburger is way ahead of him. Add this to the fact that IOM don't need a COO and I think an opportunity has been lost. Equally the Rail team have strong BU Presidents and Riddett will add no value whatsoever. In fact he will cause problems and probably destroy capability. Monday, April 4, 2011 Putting two individuals who would be lucky to get a Plant Manager position outside Invensys, into COO roles in Project based Businesses is a joke. Neither have much of a clue about the nature of global projects or had any previous experience. On the other hand the BU Presidents that work for them have detailed understanding of customers, technology and business. As a result both Freburger and Riddett (both intellectually challenged to start with) have no credibility. You would never let either near a customer. Is this what we are reduced to? Monday, April 4, 2011 Well, it's been a roller coaster two weeks. Ulf fired, his cronies in HR and Chief of Staff also fired. Freburger, another Ulf yes man humiliatingly demoted and his team fired, although many of the latter are trying to find real jobs in the BUs. Putting Freburger into a COO role in IOM can be compared to putting an arsonist in charge of a gun powder factory. Is IOM keeping the SVP Operations as well as Freburger? Are all these EVPs, ELTs and GLT people remaining in the company? Wayne, you have made a good start, but please don't simply move all the over paid Plc people into the BGs and create extra layers with unnecessary and non-value add COO roles. Monday, April 4, 2011 The blog entry from the former IOM Executive is quite interesting. At the end of the entry he/she said there is a "Big disconnect between senior leadership and the working folks leading to the severe morale issues which show up regularly on this site". Having this aired on a public blog repeatedly is sickening. It should not be how we conduct internal affairs and cannot be helpful to our business as it undermines the confidence our customers have in our company. But unfortunately what this poster says is true. Being a current IOM employee who has worked here for a number of years, what I see in this blog saddens me. We have fantastic products that are being allowed to die, yet we still have so many professionals who believe in the products and do so much to make a difference to our customers. Our people know how to solve the organizational problems but they are not being listened to. Instead, Sudipta seems to surround himself with yes-men. I agree that he has good ideas and I believe that he doesn't really understand the incredible damage that the majority of VP-level people are doing to the company. However, if a CEO allows himself to be deceived by his subordinates and does nothing to educate himself on the reality of the damage they are doing, then he needs to be held to account. Either he needs to go, or he needs to clean out the deceptive layer(s) below him. If he has created a culture where constructive challenge or confrontation are not allowed, then the deceptive behavior will continue until he and his lieutenants are removed. We need honest leadership in our organization. A leadership that taps into the amazing human resources that IOM has and allows them to be successful. A leadership that encourages healthy discussion and is willing to hear and act on information that may not always be rosy. Wayne Edmunds, are you reading? Monday, April 4, 2011 If true (I still think it might be an April Fools joke), the decision to outsource Global Marketing at IOM to India would be the true indication that the beginning of the end has arrived. No offense to my Indian co-workers, but marketing is hardly a strength on any number of levels - skills, culture, experience. Sadly, the characters that Sudipta has surrounded himself with are utterly inept, though totally compliant to his will. Despite what we were told when he first joined us, he has essentially no knowledge or understanding of the markets we serve, our brands, and so on. He is in far, far, far over his head. The gaggle of yes men and clones who surround him are not likely to add any value in this situation. Utterly depressing to see what he has managed to do to our business in such a short period of time. Sunday, April 3, 2011 Many years ago I did a Foxboro sales training course that suggested that Marketing was the art of working out what people wanted to buy, and sales was getting them to do it. Fairly simple. Since IOM (sorry for using the acronym but the other full name is so far divorced from what the company actually sells that I don't see the point in using it) there has been no "Marketing" - especially from the Wonderware perspective. And in addtion, the distributor channel has been totally isolated from IOM - meaning that their feedback is now nil. Outsourcing Marketing to India will make no difference, as we have none now anyway. Sunday, April 3, 2011 I doubt the IOM headquarters will move to India. We now have the demoted Freburger in the non value role of COO. He will be calling the tactical shots from now on. Since he lives in Phoenix I think he will settle for the company paying for his flights and hotels in Plano. Sunday, April 3, 2011 As a departed IOM executive, I have been reading this Blog periodically with some interest. While there is a good bit of whining without a clear understanding of the facts, much of what has been said about IOM is true. For what it is worth, these are my observations from my time in Plano:
Sunday, April 3, 2011 It's not so much that the IOM technology is poor, it's that the integration is poor. It often seems to me that the points of integration are decided by execs in informal conference meetings against things which look like a good idea at the time and appear easy to do, not by allowing engineers to look at what is needed for a particular market sector and working out how to get there. The result is a succession of kludgy connections and vanity projects at worst, and at best an inwardly facing "what can we do" rather than "what do we need to do". The engineers get to pick up the pieces from often impossible promises. I don't know if the leadership team ever read this blog - probably not - but if they did, the one message I'd like to get to them is that their job is to set a directional framework, and then they should butt out and leave it to the engineers to figure out how to get there. Raise the status of the engineers in an engineering company, in other words (by the way, I am not an engineer). Because ultimately, engineering is the product, not efficiency savings or IPMS goals about convergence. Saturday, April 2, 2011 I can believe that Invensys is going to be sold. Are there indications of to whom Invensys is likely to be sold? Do you think it will be sold lock, stock, and barrel? Or is Invensys going to be broken up and parceled out? I could see this happening both ways: there are parts that different groups would want but it might be a good package as a whole if it were run smarter. Thoughts, please? Saturday, April 2, 2011 Change taking place at Invensys. More change for IOM North Ameirca in the next few days. The President of IOM NA will resign to go back to the UK. It is a good indicator that Sudipta continues to drive out team members that don't buy into his outsource plan to India. Next step, IOM leaves Plano for Sudipta's native country - it is just a matter of time. Friday, April 1, 2011 Outsourcing without definition is ALWAYS a problem. It's sometimes a case of penny wise & dollar foolish. I for one think it will be quite amusing to see Marketing done out of India. Friday, April 1, 2011 It's so important to recognize the failure of the new technologies from IOM in the MOM space. No customer will tell you this is a great solution, rather the dominant feedback is the it's too complex and too heavy. The bolt-on mentality of development and product managers is unsustainable and is losing business and creating high costs of support. Software partners can't integrate easy enough and the false promise of becoming integrated never occurs. These policies are the foundation of Sudipta's thinking when it comes to building a software portfolio. Friday, April 1, 2011 Well, looks like IOM has outsourced Global Marketing this time to India again. Hmmm... interesting concept this one. Thursday, March 31, 2011 Supporting functions are increasingly outsourced with no clearly defined service level agreement. These increases the costs, work load and frustrations among employees with no clear benefits to the company. Procurement procedures are full of red tape, inefficient and NO COST SAVING. We should measure how much we save by comparing the price we pay for a same product from the market, and not based by discounts from approved vendors, despite showing to Supply Chain how bad their vendors are supporting us, the users. Selection and reattainment of bad approved vendors still does not even acknowledge our feedback. All this increasing our costs, profit margins, and letting our competitors gain advantage. What a good way to promote "I want to work here" culture! The management (especially the VPs and Directors) must be personally accountable for all this mess, instead of jetting around and collecting mileage. Thursday, March 31, 2011 When will the vicious cycle end? Drummond doesn't fire staff because it reflects badly on him, and the acting IRNA President keeps the vegetable garden that is the current IRNA Executive staff intact so it does not reflect badly on Riddett. Everyone knows these turnips are too ripe and have started to stink up the joint, put them on the compost heap! Riddett has become a living, breathing incarnation of the cartoonish Mr. Magoo, blindly driving through life, destroying everything in his path. Two-and-Done Riddett is a one-trick pony: slash all costs of business in year 1, then slash all budgets in year 2, and run for the exit in year 3. The only Executive in Invensys history that could make HR look smart. Thursday, March 31, 2011 This is a personal request to James Drummond from multiple US employees. PLEASE do not send Ridett here. Keep him in England. This guy was only kept away from important decisions by the VP Finance who had to basically accompany him to every meeting or the current President that spent most of his time trying to keep Riddett away from the customers. The VP of HR spent so much of her time sweeping up the mess, it's unbelievable. The guy is an idiot. It's being reluctantly acknowledged here on 4 continents. What else is there to say ? Thursday, March 31, 2011 Just read the email from Wayne Edmunds and James Drummond to all Rail staff. Bit of a let down really, as we expected and hoped for a clear-out of ineffective senior Executives. I don't know about the rest of the company, but Riddett has become a joke-like figure based on stories and actual contact with our staff. Those R&D colleagues I talk with in Spain, the US and Australia are equally confused. Executives remain tight lipped. Anyway it's a shame, as senior people seem to think that Ulfs departure is a major concern to staff. Let me tell you, most people gave a huge sigh of relief and it has zero effect on them. So Sir Nigel, you have missed a big opportunity that you will need to revisit after yet more damage is done. I will remind you of this as it happens. Thursday, March 31, 2011 Drummond won't fire his leadership team because that would be a direct admission of his own failure. His ego won't allow it. Thursday, March 31, 2011 Leadership, investment (including people) and corporate culture are the key issues here. INVENSYS has been a notch potch of ego driven CEO's since Day 1 with Yurko. They surround themselves with incapable yes men/women and clones. If you look at how some of the divested non-core businesses such as APV have been revitalized and grown, especially in key markets like China under the right owner, you have to ask the question about INVENSYS starting top down. Can Rudd recreate Chubb/Kidde at INVENSYS? Or is it too far gone? Beyond saving - too small and destroyed culture. So who would make the best owners for Rail or IOM? When it happens, look closely at the track record, leadership and culture before deciding to stay or go. It has to happen. If all the options look bad - move now. Pinto is right about the inevitable. Wednesday, March 30, 2011 Jim Pinto is right on track with his prediction. Invensys must be sold now as there is no other option left, without the ability to complete in the market. The longer it takes, the less valuable the company will be as backlog is going down and China nuclear projects will generate loss. The beginning of Wayne Edmunds is very interesting. He seems to think that everything is great with Invensys with no structural changes required. This shows that he has no CEO-level experience and likely to turn out to be a weak leader. He is keeping all the same people around, regarding whom there were many negatives remarks on this blog. James Drummond let Invensys Rail deteriorate under his watch, but continues to be in charge going forward. He shows no guts to get rid of his leadership team. Sudipta has no prior experience in leading any small or large company in the capacity of CEO. He charmed Ulf into giving him this job by promising larger outsourcing and cost saving by integration. He and his friends have generated a new name for the business unit, but underneath they have completely destroyed the culture and spirit of the people. His acquisitions are simply failing to live up to expectation and his management team (other than regions) has no clue what is going on and how to grow the company. Wednesday, March 30, 2011 This Pinto prediction was easy: Invensys CEO Ulf Henrikkson would be booted before too long. Ulf became CEO in 2004. While the press thought he was good, Invensys Insiders rarely saw him, and he simply flailed around with a series of bad decisions which kept the company spiraling downwards. Clearly the company will now be sold. The China Rail noises, plus IOM's nuclear contracts in China, should interest competitors who include Siemens (reported to be ready with a big war chest), ABB, Honeywell, Emerson, and two Chinese firms. No offers yet, but they're all milling around, waiting for someone to start the bidding. Read the analysis in the latest JimPinto.com eNews, 31 March 2011.
Wednesday, March 30, 2011 While there is lots of discussion about the business in IRNE this year, in the main UK business margins have been massively successful - it is and will always be a cyclical business, but overall the NR & LUL business makes very good margins. Occasionally an NR project has difficult margins but this is always limited to a couple of M. It is the dreams of grandeur to take on projects around the the world that have cost 10s of Ms. The IRNE or Westinghouse as it was for 100 years is a pretty good business! Wednesday, March 30, 2011 Yes but, as you have said, should we have a narrow minded bigot who is intellectually challenged in charge of two thirds of Invensys profit? You'd be mad. Drummond like all leaders has his problems, god knows Ulf set new standards. But which one would you have lead you? Riddett is known as an idiot, universally and industry wide. That's some achievement. Wayne are you awake? Wednesday, March 30, 2011 James Drummond drove IRNE and IRNA to use ludicrous amounts of LCC engineering on multiple major projects - Singapore and PATH come to mind. If you fought back, you were not with the program and look out. Gun-to-the-head management. Whoever is posting pro-Drummond comments is clearly a suck-up hoping to be "discovered". Riddett may be a narrow minded bigot, but he is NOT an advocate of off-shoring customer specific and critical engineering to LCC countries. The only apparent saving grace to IRG, was that Dimetronic (IRS?) speaks-a-the-Spanish which is NOT a (current)LCC language! Wednesday, March 30, 2011 - In response to Riddett staying: My guess it is cheaper for Invensys to keep Riddett, than to fire him. Of course that does not factor in the lost (business, employees, morale, etc) cost. But for all you Drummond fans, the same guy brought you the sale of Burco and the purchase of Quantum! And there was much rejoicing in the competitive signals market. Wednesday, March 30, 2011 With all the changes going on at Invensys, some of you might be interested in the history of one of the brands - Foxboro. The book, "The Foxboro Company 1908 - 2008 - 100 Years" by Jack Authelet is available for purchase for $40(US) from one of the vendors, TR Miller. This is well worth the investment. Hey, perhaps some who have fallen would have benefited. At least they would know something of the history - not just Foxboro but the brands that make up Invensys. Wednesday, March 30, 2011 I suppose we will keep all of the $24m Freburger organization as well. Clearly ineffective and expensive overhead is acceptable. Next stop the Executive party in Miami. Remind me, are we having a change and has Ulf actually left? Or is it just Ulf out and more of the same? What a wasted opportunity. Wednesday, March 30, 2011 Well, today's email from Wayne Edmunds and James Drummond surprised a few. They went out of their way to explain that Riddett was remaining in his ineffective non-value role as COO. Looks like expensive overhead is acceptable. Wednesday, March 30, 2011 Actually, SSR will have a low level of sales next year and so will have a small effect on redundancies. However the NR business employes 70% of engineers. The consequences of the current bid could be dramatic. Wednesday, March 30, 2011 No company should be dependent on securing massive contracts like SSR in order to be a viable business. The danger is that winning SSR will lull everyone into a false sense of security. The business needs to change irrespective of what happens with SSR. Wednesday, March 30, 2011 If SSR is lost / does not go ahead, there will be hundreds of redundancies in IRNE, very painful, and it will return to being a core business based on UK rail only. The exec team won't want to stick around in that kind of world, since there'll be nothing in it for them, no shiny big project or European expansion. Tuesday, March 29, 2011 Complete BS that there is not a lot of investment in product development at IOM. However, that is only in terms of dollars spent. The results from that investment have been completely disappointing for nearly a decade. The albatross known as Archestra has sucked (many) tens of millions of dollars out of the R&D budget that could have been used on something that customers actually wanted to buy. The problem is with development leadership and product management leadership. Since Sudipta hand-selected this team, he must accept responsibility for current results; but this same team was in place long before Sudipta arrived. Sudipta would be wise to make his own changes on his team before he gets sucked into the vortex when the new leadership decides to flush the whole team. Tuesday, March 29, 2011 Any ideas why Sudipta bought Skelta? He sold the Invensys Developmentg team in India and then went ahead and bought Skelta there! All his claims about the Skelta software systems selling big in next gen IOM software have been proven hollow. Needless to say, many IOM teams are unwillingly wasting resources trying to implement his distorted vision. This deal is a remnant of the SAP integration ideology of Invensys that had caused a disaster with purchase of Baan (Invensys nearly went bankrupt then). Sudipta has failed to think anywhere ahead of these inherited ideas, and he cannot still get hang of the market in which we operate. We should let him go, just like Ulf. Tuesday, March 29, 2011 Sudpita and his staff are a real problem at Invensys, but its not the outsourcing that is the problem. That is a fact with high tech companies today. Rather, the problem is a lack of investment into products and innovation. For innovation there is a tendancy to invest outside only, rather than grow it interally. A mix is what is needed. Some of the largest companies do that, but look at their mess from aquisitions and overlap from the ERP side - Oracle, SAP, SAGE. Redundancy abounds, but they are so large that you do not see the waste from outside. Customers however are confused, and will be if the current trend persists in Invensys. Too many VPs are over their heads. Real talent needs to be brought in. Tuesday, March 29, 2011 What will happen to Sudipta, the IOM CEO? He should be eliminated along with Ulf Henriksson soon. He exported many development and QA jobs to India. Tuesday, March 29, 2011 Having read and re-read the evening standard tonight, it looks as though SSR may well be canned - any news out there? Losing SSR would be another nail in the coffin. Tuesday, March 29, 2011 Can I tell you about IRNA ? It's a nice little almost mom-and-pop shop based in Kentucky that in the new organization is last in size after the new APAC BU. It makes about 25 % of the Rail profit, but as we are a US business we get lots of attention especially as we are a manufacturing business that Invensys understands. Please do not give us Riddett back. Tuesday, March 29, 2011 Drummond did deliver the growth that he promised. Virtually all employees had some benefit as a result and hundreds of new jobs were created. This situation continues today in 3 of the 4 Rail companies whose Execs and senior managers can expect a good bonus. However the problem area is IRNE where the previous Exec team totally screwed it up. Don't forget they were in charge, did the tenders, made their forecasts. If Drummond is guilty of anything then it's believing these dreamers and not listening to the warnings and advice. So it will be a disaster if Drummond is back? You must be mad. Have you heard about Riddett? If 10% is true, then it's already a disaster. If Wayne let's Drummond keep a COO like Riddett (do we even need this non-value-add role?) then we give up. If we are going to have redundancies as rumours suggest, why have a completely unnecessary and expensive role? Tuesday, March 29, 2011 IRNA could save the day for Rail if it just allowed more autonomy from its Director-level staff. Key Directors have been running the company for some time now anyway and are doing a smash-up job. We see this in Engineering and it is impressive, especially how the (former) R&D guy worked so closely with his Marketing counterpart to generate business. Out with the waste and give these guys a chance! Tuesday, March 29, 2011 Invensys Rail are in the process of cutting back on the overhead called engineering. They are cutting the size of their Croydon office by half. The official line is half the staff there are moving to a central London office, but in reality how many people will want to move? Is this a move to drop the viability of the office below the threshold of being able to bid on jobs, and thereby close the office by stealth? The legacy of treating engineers like shit carries on. Monday, March 28, 2011 Before everyone gets carried away, let's remember that it was Drummond who brought in and sponsored Riddett. They were as thick as thieves. Drummond does have connections and a good strategic brain. He is, though, a very poor leader. He is inconsistent and has no idea how to build a functioning team. He also has a very bad temper and has a habit of shifting the blame. It was Drummond who bloated up the IRG centre and Drummond who kept offering Ulf double digit year-on-year growth that got us in this mess. He did that in order to get Ulf's job. Drummond back at the helm would be a disaster. Monday, March 28, 2011 With the announcement by Siemens this morning, re sale of Osram shares, a bid looks more likely for Invensys Rail and IPS. Clearly Ulf was hoping for the exit via Siemens, or China, to get his options up to max. Maybe he was negotiating behind the scenes again and got caught out? He's got more faces than the Clocks surrounding Big Ben. Monday, March 28, 2011 Drummond is well connected and thought of by those that count - in Invensys, the City and customer base. How Ulf, or for that matter anyone, thought for a minute that Riddett could replace Drummond is incredible. The funniest bit is that Riddett actually stated in public that he had ambitions of being Ulf's replacement - delusional doesn't come close. How do people like Ulf, Riddett and Freburger reach this level in a FTSE 100 Plc? Monday, March 28, 2011 Has anyone spotted the connection between Sir Nigel Rudd, founder of Williams PLC in 1982 (later split into Chubb plc and Kidde plc) and that James Drummond was formerly Senior Manager at Kidde PLC? Meanwhile good riddance to the Henriksson - Larson Axis of Evil! Let's get some decent management back on-board - with a track record of growing businesses not "salami slicing to greatness"! Monday, March 28, 2011
It won't be easy
I had to let it happen
Don't cry for me Invensys
And as for fortune and as for fame
Don't cry for me Invensys Monday, March 28, 2011 Invensys board should not just restrict itself to clear the management garbage at its Rails organization. It should pay attention to the entire organization and take a good look at all the major decisions made in the past few years. It is the right opportunity for Invensys to (re)enter into the spring season, the season of growth. Sunday, March 27, 2011 Riddett has spent the last 5 months telling eveyone that will listen that he was personally appointed by Ulf and that he was taking over from a broken and hopeless Drummond. Apparently everything from Drummond was rubbish, strap and aop. Riddett openly stated that Drummond was a dinosour that was not required. Now if we believe things, Drummond is back; then let's have clear out and idiots like Riddett should be the first to go. Sunday, March 27, 2011 Check in again next week. All expensive and ineffective overheads are going. Sir Nigel is now starting (belatedly) to act as a strong chairman. All COO positions should be removed and the Freburgers organization, frankly a joke, should be fired. Sunday, March 27, 2011 There's very little an Engineering company can get wrong if it follows the simple principle of getting its development engineers in front of customers, learning their pain points, and finding solutions for them. It's in the DNA of an engineer to do that, it is satisfying for them and it builds critical mass of domain expertise such that the customers first instinct is to go to the person who solved the problem last time, it's a virtuous cycle. Invensys doesn't do that. For Invensys, an engineer is an irritating piece of overhead well down the food chain. Instead of organically allowing engineers to develop and learn by solving problems (and to mix with other engineers elsewhere in the organisation), they're told to use iGrow and the rote learning of iLearn to become more employable. The killing joke then is that HR then has to mandate corporate initiatives to create an "I want to work here" culture, without grasping that the particular type of management focus in operation is removing the parts of the job which make it satisfying and feeding the problem they're trying to solve. Meanwhile engineers see their status within the organisation slipping back relative to business managers or HR professionals, and they become extremely resentful - they'll see announcements of circle-of-excellence training in Miami or Steve Jobs presenting to someone else, and they themselves having to fight like cornered rats for any real training or travel, and being bombarded with random change initiatives on top of their day work, on which they're already extremely stretched due to cutbacks. And all the time, Invensys appears to want to outsource their job to somewhere which is turning out to be more expensive and less effective, and which involves pushing the partner up an expensive learning curve on virtually every new initiative. Good for the outsource partner, bad for Invensys. It's an exclusive deal too, so we're not allowing specialists to compete to drive costs down. Outsourcing is good if it allows scalability of execution. It's bad if it removes core expertise. It's the wrong way round. Engineers and the technical sales-force are the asset. Management and HR are overheads. If managers want to get together on a leadership course, let THEM reduce costs using clunky video conferencing and use the savings to put an engineer in front of a customer. If we want to outsource functions, let it be HR (and not via a dial-up "service" which creates more work for the employee than it actually outsources). Build and nurture your income-creating assets and you have a strong future and an engaged workforce. Nothing succeeds like success. But build infrastructure with no value, and all you have at the end of the day is a worthless edifice. Saturday, March 26, 2011 I have just checked the Invensys website. That Chief Of Staff is gone. Since Invensys Rail have their wish list of leadership to be removed, I would also like to see Sudipta and his "high riding" fellow country men also send packing. They have done nothing to advance IOM (not suppose to use this abbreviation). Like one previous blogger remarked, their leadership talked and promised a lot, but delivered very little. Some of the past incidents and recent events in IOM are mindless and laughable, which shows the quality and mindsets of IOM top leadership:
Let see how this round of leadership changes will put Invensys back into a much more creditable path. Even if this is the final wish by the almost "useless" Board of Directors to finally sell of the company, Invensys still does have one or two good products that are worth keeping and developing. Invensys' competition knows what are the products. Saturday, March 26, 2011 Morale up at IRNA? I am hearing the exact opposite! Riddett is still running the show through his yes-man. Saturday, March 26, 2011 Ulf failed like lots of pseudo visionaries failed before in this business. What remains, are destroyed structures, cultures, companies and also existences. But so much worse - all the YESMEN and incompetent directors stay on. What is needed is a really strong personality who has the power and the strength to eliminate this useless middle layer. Good luck. Saturday, March 26, 2011 There are really quite a few VPs who fly around for mileages, and provide no true returns to the company. Get rid of them! Saturday, March 26, 2011 Fellow bloggers, some good news. Paula Larson and the Chief of Staff have been fired along with Ulf. It can't be long before Freburger and his organization also get dismantled. Rumour has it that Riddett will be removed, as James Drummond is now back and visibly in charge. Riddett's man servant from HR must be sweating as well. The Rail Execs I've spoken to are over the moon. Since Riddett left Safetran 5 months ago sales and profits are up and staff morale is at an all time high. The biggest fear is that Riddett will be put back as President. Friday, March 25, 2011 To the previous poster: I do not think that Tony Cornish is going to be the IRNE CEO. He is comfortable in an Engineering role and would not relish the chance of getting involved with the political madness that is currently going on. Friday, March 25, 2011 I worked for the company for just two years. I knew Westinghouse of old, but once I joined was shocked to discover what it had become; as Invensysisation continued it just seemed to be getting worse. There are still some really good people trying their best at the coalface level, but I was concerned at the general attitude. Silos, people "looking after themselves" and slapdash work; not good ingredients for a company involved in Safety Critical engineering. Certainly there is an element of "old BR: the world owes me a job but I just do what I want" and could reasonably blame the staff, but I can sort of see why it got like that. I just needed to leave. Focus was far too short term, problems escalated never seemed to get resolved, no one seemed clear who was responsible for what, focussed on project finance cost-cutting but not quality, which almost certainly would give greater savings in the long run than endless re-work. Worst of all, obviously not interested in learnng from mistakes - at best destined to repeat them, at worst they'll be a serious accident. Hope that now things are apparently changing, that those left will be able continue to hold it together and slowly recover; I don't give very high odds and it'll definitely be a hard struggle. Friday, March 25, 2011 I have to wonder how much Ulf's email about the Japanese earthquake was the final straw that got him fired, or whether it was (finally) the outrageously expensive and failed efforts to outsource R&D to India/Cognizant. As someone else noted below, most employees have Ulf and other "corporate spammers" in their email filters and we don't even see them. It seems unlikely that any emails he send prompted his release since allowing R&D to be dismantled in favor of trying to outsource to India which works maybe 2% of the time? Friday, March 25, 2011 Here's the issue with Invensys in a nutshell: when you invest, you're paying an organisation to use its expertise to generate a return. To generate that return, the organisation needs to leverage an internal critical mass of actual domain expertise, which includes the ability to create intellectual property, and the ability to find places to apply that intellectual property against need. For an engineering company, that requires engineers first and foremost. Invensys has been for many years dismantling the core critical mass and trying to outsource in the foolish belief it's overhead. And all the while creating internal structures to manage the residual core, which in turn has itself become riddled with a sense of discontent and injustice that acts against any change initiative, even the good ones. The result is that the domain expertise is dissipating, is horribly stretched and unable to react quickly to new opportunities, and the HR function and internal structures have been growing way out of proportion to their value to shareholders. Proof? Who today has the best likelihood of career progression within Invensys. A talented software engineer or an HR professional? So, if you're investing in Invensys, what you're doing is paying for first and foremost endless restructuring and to provide management layers, not the ability to apply technology to the benefit of customers. That's a heavy charge on your capital before it's used to generate profit. It's an institutionally inwardly-facing business, not an externally-facing entreprenurial organisation applying talent to solve customer problems. Now it's perfectly possible that other engineering firms run themselves on similar lines. Past a certain size you need a few MBAs and the odd HR person about the place to keep people honest. But there is a question of balance and focus, and Invensys is neither balanced nor focused. It's certainly better than it was, and even in the stampede to thumb our nose at the departing we must give Ulf credit for that. But there's a critical period ahead where Invensys may change for the better, or things just may get an awful lot worse. I'm not holding my breath for days of milk and honey on the way. Friday, March 25, 2011 Chief of Staff? Is that seriously a title? Tony Cornish is likely ro take over as the IRNE CEO, and this would be a fantastic move that would allow some engineering knowledge in an executive role again. Friday, March 25, 2011 With the departure of Ulf, we know for sure that others will be producing powerpoint slides by the dozens to discredit Invensys - just to gain a few more projects and revenue. Anyway, what lies ahead for Invensys may seemed not so clear at this moment The end-result and business consequences may "suck" for some employees. If something like this that must happen in order for Invensys to move up and step up, I am glad this is the time. If Invensys is heading into the abyss, it is time for a change. But what about the board of directors? Can anyone vote them out also? It is they who also have a hand in guiding Invensys into this mess. The new "temporary" CEO will have to re-evaluate everything and to start to dismantle Ulf's cronies and his non-performance VPs, COO, Chief of Staff, HR VPs and under-performing Ivensys Rail, IOM VPs, who promised and talked a lot but delivered very little. Time will tell if Invensys will get better or be the same again. Friday, March 25, 2011 Or "yes women", as the case may be. Ulf was simply the worst judge of executive talent of any company I've ever been involved with. The skills and loyalties he valued most were to the benefit of Ulf, not the stakeholders, companies, or employees. Friday, March 25, 2011 There will be an awful lot of yes-men shaking in their boots now, right up to VP level. They do not know how to run businesses and have been placed in positions of ineptitude by idiots above them. Time for all this deadwood within senior management to be cleared out. Fresh start, new faces, exciting times ahead - but difficult few months until final results published. Thursday, March 24, 2011 It was time for a change and a dose of reality. Corporate overhead functions had become more important than actual P&L business groups. The whole business was focussed on producing 3-ups (clean-up, set-up, start-up) for tactical short term actions. The customer was forgotten. Priority was given to HR software-driven people-management tools and reports to Plc functions. The infatuation around outsourcing is completely out of control. The recent HR deal with Northgate has no business case and has actually increased costs and reduced performance. Cronyism is rife especially in functions like ISCCI where virtually everyone either grew up together or worked together previously. Salaries in overhead functions raced ahead of both market-rate and that deserved by actual performance. New starters joined on significantly higher salaries compared to their peers. It had to end. Hopefully it just has. Thursday, March 24, 2011 Ulf's time was up. He was not adding value. All his management hires turned out to be mediocre. Look at IOM leadership. The overhead cost is bloated and there is no real plan to release any new products. Cognizant outsourcing has killed the morale in development and it will be hard to get it back to be competitive. Customer complaints about the products are growing day by day. All Sudipta's buddies are VP of something and they add no value to the business. We can only hope that new CEO or new owners make positive changes to make us competitive. Thursday, March 24, 2011 Got to say that this looks like a sale that Ulf opposed and the board approved. Ulf had to depart, and with the final results looking bad there was a need for confusion. We will see soon. Thursday, March 24, 2011 This is the most refreshing thing to happen in Invensys for years. Ulf had completed his turnaround in 2008, achieved in the main by Adrian Henner and Steve Hare. By this stage, Ulf's ego began to get out of control and the world leader image started. By 2010, people were getting worried with the comments to the press. With those on CSR, it became apparent that he had lost reality. He thought he personally owned Invensys. When real leaders like Drummond stated questioning it they were put out to grass and Ulf appointees like Riddett were imposed. The things Riddett said about Drummond are unrepeatable and I won't post them. Take it from me that Riddett told all the leaders that count on 5 continents that he and Ulf had finished Drummond off. I wonder how Riddett will (won't) sleep tonight? Thursday, March 24, 2011 So farewell, Ulf. Did a great restructuring and refinancing job, but failed to build a cohesive team from top to bottom, because of a widespread perception of cronyism at the top and a great disconnect between the Corporate Invensys and those at the coalface. If his aim was to restore morale he largely failed. He was short of the mark and not a charismatic leader. Thursday, March 24, 2011 Invensys will be sold in the next 90 days. The cull of Ulf's hangers-on will happen when the new owners have the keys. Controls will be sold. IOM radically reshaped and downsized. Rail will be stripped and integrated into the new owners' existing Rail operations. To be fair to Ulf, if a price of 370p is secured, he has delivered shareholder value; when he took over it was only 140p. Time for a serious business to be in charge now. Ulf and his team were not heavyweight enough to take us to the next level, but credit should be given where its due. Thursday, March 24, 2011 Good news about Ulf, and about time. Add Freburger, Larson and other Ulf appointees like Riddett to the list of those going. Time for a lean focussed organization. Thursday, March 24, 2011 Taking out Ulf is a start. However the ISCCI function cost is equivalent to 9 CEOs. Contrary to belief it delivers little. HR is, as almost everyone knows, hopeless. Thursday, March 24, 2011 Should it not be obvious to the uninformed, the direct involvement of Nigel Rudd in this and the appointment of the CFO to the CEO role portends an almost certain sale of Invensys, in whole or parts, in the very near future. Thursday, March 24, 2011 If Paula is not the next person to go, then there has been no real change in the company. Soon thereafter, a complete housecleaning, inclusive of Sudipta and his band of merry men, is fully in order. Thursday, March 24, 2011 The Guardian article is somewhat amusing. There's a comment in the article which says: "It's not clear why Henriksson and Invensys have parted company." Thursday, March 24, 2011 Good start. Now need to continue with the other expensive non-value-add people. Chief HR Officer, Chief of Staff, Chief Operating Officer and their expensive organizations. The HR outsourcing has been a total disaster. Apparently it may result in litigation with Northgate. IOM need to vastly reduce the number of sites and the huge central manufacturing and supply chain organization. Rail need to remove all the COOs especially (if all the posts are even half true) Riddett. Controls? Sell it. Thursday, March 24, 2011 Overall positive news. Wayne will at least bring some semblance of normality to the mess in Rail and IOM. So it took a while, but better late than never. Let's just hope that the ridiculous overhead costs are now also taken out, together with all the other bloated functions. If Invensys is to stay in the FTSE 100 these costs will have to come out. Thursday, March 24, 2011 God help us with David Thomas in charge of the finances, if only temporarily. A wetter wet blanket would be hard to find. Not much cop on the Rail UK BIP either, making about as much contribution as boiling water to the proverbial chocolate tea pot. Thursday, March 24, 2011 A good day to bury news. This was a good day for Invensys to announce Ulf's departure, with most of the media coverage in the UK taken up with analysis of yesterday's budget. I'd love to know what Ulf's exit package is. Or, maybe I wouldn't....? Thursday, March 24, 2011 Invensys plc announces that Wayne Edmunds, who has been Chief Financial Officer of the Company since 2009, has been appointed Chief Executive with immediate effect. Ulf Henriksson has today stepped down as Chief Executive and as a director of the Company. David Thomas, who has held senior financial roles within the Group since 2002, has been appointed Acting Chief Financial Officer and a permanent appointment will be made in due course after consideration of internal and external candidates. Sir Nigel Rudd, Chairman of Invensys plc, commented: "I am delighted that Wayne has agreed to take on the role of Chief Executive to lead Invensys through the next stage of its development. We have three world class businesses and a management team to match, and I am confident that Invensys is well positioned to continue to deliver value to shareholders." (yeah, right...) Trading update: At the time of the Interim Management Statement on 20 January 2011, we reported that our performance in the current year ending on 31 March 2011 was on track and that we continued to expect the Group to deliver improved performance. This remains the position today and we currently expect that the results for the year, which will be published on 19 May 2011, will be broadly in line with market expectations. Key remuneration arrangements for Wayne Edmunds: Wayne Edmunds' basic salary has been increased from 425,000 to 650,000 and his other annual benefits remain as disclosed in the Remuneration Report 2010 contained in the Group's 2010 Annual Report and Accounts Thursday, March 24, 2011 Ulf was basically misled and misguided by his own incapable YES men who are only interested in their own interests. The Next yes-man was the COO. Thursday, March 24, 2011 - Announcement released to Chippenham employees at 10.00 today: "This morning the Board of Invensys has announced to the London Stock Exchange that Ulf has stepped down with immediate effect and that I (Wayne Edmunds) have been appointed Chief Executive." etc. Thursday, March 24, 2011 So, where is Ulf going? Bye bye, Ulf. You will NOT be missed. Thursday, March 24, 2011 Ulf Is OUT. Jim Pinto has been predictinbg that he could/would not survive the year end (March 31, 2011) results.
Shares in Invensys tumbled nearly 6.4%, down 22.8p at 334.5p. Thursday, March 24, 2011 Word on the street is Drummond has left, Rail profits are 136m, 200 redundancies coming in the UK, 'IRG' hangers on to be fired or demoted back to the business units. All this talk of executives is misplaced. The Rail business is a lumbering cyclical oil tanker, always was, always will be. The increase in profits over the past few years are nothing to do with the exec team. There were windfalls in the collapse of Metronet, Spanish high speed lines and legacy Network Rail contracts. Forget about Riddetts competence, like everyone before him he will have no effect on the outcome of this cyclical business. Thursday, March 24, 2011 Why so pessimistic? All businesses change. The Rail market is expanding around the world. Better than being in defense or aerospace. These are dominated by a few players most of which are terrible employers. Invensys is not that bad compared to some. Hopefully the future will not bring big cuts, even if they do there are plenty companies around the world looking for qulaity staff. Most people within Invensys should be well placed with the right skills. May be its just the attitude. Wednesday, March 23, 2011 Can anyone tell us where James Drummond is? He used to be so visible around the Rail business. We haven't seen him this year so far. What has happened? Wednesday, March 23, 2011 The point made on Engineering is well made. We understand it's a business as well as engineering. I'm not going to defend or attack anybody here, but I happen to know that Crossfield, Barry and Threlfall are all Chartered Engineers from prestigious universities, I checked this out. I think, having known 2 of them for years that they know the business. The problem we have, if these posts are true, is that the new CEO above them has a 2 year associate degree in legal studies from an irrelevant institution in New York. You could probably buy this on the Internet. And he is leading the whole global rail business? Did he really get recruited by his father and promoted? You couldn't make it up. Wednesday, March 23, 2011 A recent post stated that they were sad and they were an engineer. The old Westinghouse valued engineers and engineering in all forms. The whole situation makes me sad. I worked there for more than 6 years and loved 5 years of it as the best working years of my life, until the polititions took over the asylum. I was forced out because I was not a yes-man, and many others have followed or will follow. So, so sad. And I am not an engineer by the way - just someone who respects the achievements made by the engineering community. Wednesday, March 23, 2011 One of the biggest changes will be the large number of redundancies in the UK R&D organisation in Chippenham. R&D was put under Spanish leadership which have moved all development to suit Dimetronic demand. Meanwhile now times are hard, the cuts will fall on UK staff while they recruit in Madrid. Wednesday, March 23, 2011 There are changes coming across Rail. Some good (new senior Executives) and some very bad (Drummond leaving and unbelievably Riddett becoming CEO). Hopefully Nigel Rudd and the Plc board will see sense and get rid of Hendricksson and other very expensive hangers-on. It's time the business focussed on adding value. There is no need for Rail with only 3000 people to have 2 COOs. In fact, in the spirit of being lean, why not have the BU Presidents report directly into the Plc CEO? Invensys is down from around 75000 employees 10 years ago, to around 20000 now. Yet we have increased layers of Executives. Hendricksson has 3 direct reports that are P&L generating, the rest, around 5 are pure overhead. What an unbalanced structure and limited span of control. Wednesday, March 23, 2011 There is a change-of-guard coming and it is necessary, certainly within IRAP. There will be times of change afoot. A fresh brand requires a fresh approach. Therefore I will be direct in my approach. The international exec commitee are closing in.... Wednesday, March 23, 2011 Reading this blog makes me feel sad. Invensys Rail (Westinghouse) may not be perfect, but I would question how many people here have worked for other companies? I have, and can tell you that in general they are far worse. Would anybody like to spend a year at Ansaldo to prove the point?! The APAC exec that I have met are (in the schem of things) not bad at all, and if people really feel that bad then just send your CV onto one of the others. P.S. I am not an exec, nor a manager. I am just an Engineer who has been around. Tuesday, March 22, 2011 The problem you guys have is that Riddett doesn't know what he is doing. We had the same problem here in the US. It was only resolved by the senior team agreeing with everything he said, but then key people just ignoring his irrational commands and doing the right thing. Riddett is a control freak in the extreme. We managed, just, to contain him in Louisville but now he is trying to run a global business. Who knows how much damage he will do? Tuesday, March 22, 2011 - Responding to "the apac exec leaving": The APAC Executive is leaving on his own volition and was not terminated by Riddett. Probably had enough of the crap like most of us, such as dealing with politicians only interested in themselves and not their teams or the business in general. Tuesday, March 22, 2011 The biggest single issue that faces Rail right now is R&D. Total chaos and costing millions. Riddett has like with other functions started to undo all of Drummonds work before it's had time to function. Now we have a completely disfunction mess. Spending millions with no leadership and unclear priorities. The CoE model has been killed by Riddett and now we have a disaster. Less than a year ago there were big announcements about European R&D now it's vanished. We don't even know who the reporting lines are. People are sat around in disbelief. Most key developments are behind. Things will now implode. Tuesday, March 22, 2011 So, who has Riddett fired in APAC? Pretty quick decision, considering he spent two days in the country and this was his first visit. Probablyhaving a COO just for the small APAC business doesn't make sense. Can anybody tell me how this organisation works? The Spanish business is now doing the Singapore projects, Australia are doing Malaysia and the UK delivering Taiwan. What sort of delivery model is this ? Tuesday, March 22, 2011 Please, can anyone shed any light on why the Australian HR director gets away with so much? I have worked in the industry for 30 years and whilst 'HR' and admin always have a degree of power, the current situation simply baffles me. The exec team dare not chellenge her and seem to cow out of her 'lair' like broken spirits. There really must be more to this story than simply a stong minded ESTJ type dominating/ bullying others? Credible thoughts appreciated. Tuesday, March 22, 2011 Pity, the "apac exec leaving" post misses out that they aren't leaving of their own volition. Sounds once again as if this post is more postitioning/spin by that very same exec. It is no coincidence that this post immediately follows Riddets meet with the execs late last week in Melbourne. Monday, March 21, 2011 Riddett's visit here in Melbourne was at times embarrassing. His total lack of understanding of the project business, the engineering and customers made some people cringe. It wouldn't be so bad if he'd listen. However adding the word "right?" after every incorrect statement doesn't actually make it so. In the same way, constantly saying "perfect" when he clearly doesn't get it, is not helpful. Monday, March 21, 2011 Well, I did read the Ulf communication and as well as the Japanese disaster; he was sharing his views on both the New Zealand earthquake and political unrest in the middle east. It did seem strange coming from a business CEO. However this is the guy that on a recent visit to China gave interviews to obscure TV stations but made sure he got copies to publish to all employees. Monday, March 21, 2011 US Business is all about reducing cost. That's all that matters. To heck with quality, career development & happy customers. Monday, March 21, 2011 To be fair to Ulf, his communication on the Japanese earthquake was to express concern for Invensys employees in the areas affected, and was to the point and well judged. Most employees will have deleted it without reading it anyway, the same as any Invensys corporate e-mail. The big problem with Invensys is that very little of what passes for strategy is outward facing. Most of what the corporate leaders do is inward looking, focuses on cost reduction rather than positioning for growth and adds very little external value. Constant restructuring, constant change, a million tiny irritations from corporate initiatives, and the result is that even good things are largely ignored. Socialcast ought to be great. It's ignored. Same for iGrow. Same for just about any corporate initiative. Just as you've got past the change initiatives du jour, HR remind you it's time for IPMS again and you're politely mandated to drop everything you're doing and set yourself 5 goals and measure yourself against 5 competencies. Somewhere in the meantime there's the unfortunate business of selling stuff to customers to worry about. Monday, March 21, 2011 I could believe they would do anything considering their track record. The lunatics are running the asylum. Monday, March 21, 2011 I actually agree with Riddett's often shared view about the ISCCI savings. Apparently according to Riddett, Freburger quotes over a hundred million dollars in savings. As he says, show me where it is? Show me the money. The ISCCI operation is a joke. Although Riddett questioning Freburgers intellect is in itself very funny. Monday, March 21, 2011 Still no sign of any quality leadership or communication on any matter whatsoever from the executive team in IRNE or from the Rail group. Not even the 'feedback' provided on this blog seems to prompt anything. Clearly they have no shame whatsoever, as long as they're being paid large sums for sweet nothing every month. This really must be the most demoralising place to work ever. Monday, March 21, 2011 Is anyone else worried about Ulf's behaviour? He is starting to act in a very strange way. He has always had extraordinary, almost psychotic self belief. However we've recently seen him giving misguided and ill judged public statements around Invensys being sold. Now we see really strange employee briefs where he seems to think he is a world statesman. He is passing judgement on global disasters as if he is the Head of the UN. There have been silly inflated job titles for his direct reports. Chief of Staff, Chief Operating Officer, Chief Human Resources Officer? I think Ulf has lost the plot. Why would appointing a totally inappropriate individual like Riddett surprise you ? Monday, March 21, 2011 Can anyone who has met Riddett, remotely imagine him as the CEO of Rail? In fact could you see him as anything more than a plant manager? Most people wouldn't put him in charge of a gas station. I suspect he will end up with Freburgers job as he spends most of his time being critical of the ISCCI organization. Ulf must know that he can't put a foul mouthed, inexperienced bully in front of customers, many of which are senior politicians. However this is Ulf, and his track record of poorly judged and executed appointments is well known. Ulf's blind self-belief means he ignores Paula Larson and basically does what he wants. Having said that, Riddett ? You must be kidding! Monday, March 21, 2011 Just heard that big changes on the way May 2011. Once the year end is past, it is time for movements. Obviously big economies needed across the board, but ..... Monday, March 21, 2011 The person who left is probably leaving because they have high moral standards and ethics. This person deserves an award for standing up for what they believe in. And it's not Invensys. Can you just imagine all the plots, shuffling and lies that go on at the top? How do these people sleep at night? Monday, March 21, 2011 One of the rail apac execs is about to leave. Unfortunately it is one of the few that seems to know what they are doing and appears to place the interests of the business and those who work in it above their own personal gain. How odd at this organization! Sunday, March 20, 2011 We had Riddett down here in Melbourne last week. I'd just like to say that previous posts about him being a crude, ignorant and arrogant individual are wrong. From what we saw he is worse than that. If Ulf thinks this guy can replace Drummond then he is delusional. Sunday, March 20, 2011 You are so right. Ulf & the leadership team only care about themselves. The sooner every employee accepts this the better off you will be. Acceptance means that you can give them back what they give you - NOTHING! Sunday, March 20, 2011 Well, perhaps it is the perfect time to write a book; "The History of a Safer World" - A Business Love Story, as Told by Triconex and Wonderware. There is already a great book published by Jack Authelet on Foxboro called 100. Friday, March 18, 2011 Does anyone really think now, that Ulf and his team care about anything other than their personal gain from Invensys? I'm sorry, but I think we will see Ulf depart soon, as I know he has been trying to find an external position for over a year. But who will have him? The only reason he is still here is that he is considered a sub-FTSE 250 CEO. Which of course he is, as most of his ELT say in private. Meanwhile the damage goes on. Thursday, March 17, 2011 The IOM China nuclear projects are making a loss. Looks good on the top line with revenue growth. However it's the bottom line that pays the bills. Thursday, March 17, 2011 No one is going to stop nuke plants in China. The horrible tragedy in Japan is a combination of horrible odds of nature & bad locations for nuke plants on or near fault lines. It may lead to more stringent and more practical considerations regarding nuke plant designs and operations. Thursday, March 17, 2011 Funnily enough, our customers value the heritage and it's a major differentiator in safety critical markets. If you are making thermostats for washing machines then you are right. I'm not saying live in the past but don't ignore it either. If you take such a short term view, the business will shrink. In IOM and Rail, it can takes years to get a SIL4 pruduct into service. Thursday, March 17, 2011- Re:'Why should we let the champagne lifestyle win?': Wake up and smell the latte! Where is the 100 years+ heritage you talk of? Its already gone, my friend? You get nothing on your resume for remaining loyal to a memory that is long passed. When is it too late? When the company is sold and the new owners asset strip? Don't kid yourselves - what value does the company have beyond its existing customer base? What new products are there to sell? Thursday, March 17, 2011 Don't be too quick to count on that Chinese nuclear revenue with what is going down in Japan today and reverberating on a global stage... Wednesday, March 16, 2011 There have been many posts related to Invensys Rail recently. But don't forget IOM issues. Sudipta and his buddies have become arrogant and make business decisions without good understanding of the impact. The effectiveness of Pankaj Mody and his team is decreasing day by day. No one knows what their roles are, except creating Powerpoint for ECS strategy. Portfolio organization is also struggling as they don't have a good handle on where to invest our R&D dollars. Rashesh Mody (Head of Portfolio) has taken a role that is larger than he can handle. The new VP of development is focusing everyone on processes like what we see in manufacturing. Let us hope it pays off. The revenue may look good for IOM due to China nuclear deals, but we will find out soon. The morale is really down and we see many key individuals leaving the company. The integration has probably save cost but killed the innovation culture of various product teams. Wednesday, March 16, 2011 On the ISCCI team it is a simple question: What did they cost ie spend and what came to the bottom line? The talk about gross savings is BS as you can't quantify it and will always end up over spending to achieve it. Bit like buy-one-for-the-price-of-two. In that case buy a thousand and look at at all your savings ! Rubbish! Wednesday, March 16, 2011 Is it really true that Invensys is now going to spend millions on a management conference in Miami? I can't believe it, as we are working hard on Kaizens trying to eliminate waste (something the customer doesn't pay for?) that is measured in thousands of dollars. Is it really true that meanwhile millions of dollars are spent on a management party? Wednesday, March 16, 2011 I have no idea how the ISCCI function survives. Apart from group-wide deals on indirect commodities, the rest is managed and resourced locally. These indirect deals only need doing every 2-3 years, so why have a full time group of expensive people flying around the world? There are loads of external companies that will do this for us as and when we need it. The CI part is a joke and I don't think anybody gets it. The training can and should be outsourced and delivered by qualified people. If we are trying seriously to improve our profitability, then let's get rid of this expensive overhead. Instead we keep outsourcing core R&D, manufacturing and engineering ! Madness. Wednesday, March 16, 2011 Why don't the jealous whiners just spend a bit more time working and less time bitching and complaining, so you can one day join us in Egypt, Africa, Miami, and some of our other strategy retreats. Besides, staying at the Four Seasons isn't all fun and games. We have to sit in a conference room almost half the day. I've had undercooked meat served to me on three occasions, and at least twice my martini arrived with one olive instead of two. With the corporate belt tightening, we've even had to share limousines to and from the airport. Wednesday, March 16, 2011 Why don't we all leave? I will tell you. This handful of ignorant, overpaid and egotistical Executives should not be allowed to destroy a proud Engineering heritage that dates back over a century in some of the companies. Why should we allow their Champagne-and-expenses lifestyle win? Wednesday, March 16, 2011 - Regarding the post about Ulf and co and Cayman Islands stuff: Just one question to all current Invensys staff: Why do you still work there? If only a tiny percentage of what has been written before on this blog is true, do those people who still work in Invensys want to have such behavior associated with them and their resume when the time comes to search for a new job? When the ship finally sinks, do you want to be one of the still sizeable crowd competing for jobs? Wednesday, March 16, 2011 All the latest posts are spot on. I have had to endure whole weeks on meetngs in USA with ISCCI and wasted the whole week at a huge cost to my business unit. I luckily avoided this last year and someone else went. They agreed with the above viewpoint. Tuesday, March 15, 2011 I can't believe the management layers that now exist in Rail. For example, I report into a supervisor, who in turn reports into a manager, who reports into an Executive here in Melbourne. This Exec reports into the Australian COO, who reports into our new President of APAC. This President reports into the Rail COO, who in turn reports into the Rail CEO. I think the CEO reports to the Invensys CEO, Ulf. That's six or seven layers of Executives, most of whom add little value, are not involved with customers, and frankly wouldn't be missed. Tuesday, March 15, 2011 I've seen the invoices for all the excess. Ulf's private jets, parties in the Cayman Islands and top suites in five star hotels. The sooner these overheads go the better. Tuesday, March 15, 2011 Arrogant bosses & their sales force always waste company money in the name of annual conferences. $200 bottles of wine, "meetings" @ strip clubs, unlimited expense reports. It's just plain WRONG. Tuesday, March 15, 2011 Well, I work in Invensys Rail and I'm told we are in deep trouble. Much has already been posted here. There are only a few real members of the leadership team with any experience. The recent although unannounced Ops change will help our MD. God knows he needs it with what he has on his plate and I hope he accepts it. Meanwhile I'm reliably informed the Exec team will fly to Miami for a US conference. Says it all really, and shows the Invensys problem clearly. Tuesday, March 15, 2011 The best example of the Plc excess was the Legal conference last year, held in a French chateau at nearly $500 a night for a full week, plus flights. Our lawyers were embarrassed. Tuesday, March 15, 2011 Ha, ha! The last post made us all laugh here in IOM. Apparently the CI VP also recruited a buddy who is on Black Belt training with him. Anybody else have the experience of CI guys flying in first class, staying a few days in the local Marriott and having a day of meaningless meetings in your plant? It happened to me 3 times last year. Just end up chewing the fat. Are these guys measured by number of visits or results? Tuesday, March 15, 2011 Don't get me started on The ISCCI organization. They charge the business over $24m in costs and measure gross, not net savings. They actually make little impact on the bottom line, but the $24m is real bottom line costs. The VP for CI is a joke. He has been in his role for years having been recruited by his personal college buddy and against the recommendation of his team. Guess what? We are currently paying for his formal Black Belt training. Not even qualified. The Supply Chain VP is OK and does his best with an incompetent team. No management skills. Tuesday, March 15, 2011 Interestingly, Rail's profit last year were actually bigger than that achieved for Invensys Plc. When considering that both IOM and Controls, whilst having a lower return-on-sales, are also profitable, there is clearly a problem. Take out the one-off restructuring costs and the problem is clear. It's the heavy overhead burden of Plc staff and facilities. The legal, HR, Finance and bloated ISCCI staff are highly paid individuals with constant business-class travel. In fact the ISCCI organization spends more than several plants. Add new amazing HQ facilities in Plano and London. Again add the fact that hardly any of these expensive staff actually live near any office, and fly business-class and stay in hotels at company cost. Unless this is resolved, then Invensys will not be competitive or a leader in it's markets. Tuesday, March 15, 2011 There are only a couple of weeks left to year end. That is what the potential buyers are waiting for - to see what state the company is in before snapping bits up. Why would any buyers want the whole thing? For many years Rail has been the bit that supports the withered basket cases that share the Invensys name. Why spend money buying all the dross, then spend more discarding them? Wait for it to fall to bits and just spend money on the good bit. The view from inside is a rudderless shell of a ship, no communications from 'on high' at all during 2011- they are just waiting. Waiting for their big payoffs and searching for another company to destroy. Tuesday, March 15, 2011 So I take it that Invensys Rail is not noted for creating an environment for employees to flourish and feel empowered, to exceed customer expectations whilst being rewarded generously via flexible and inventive HR practices? Tuesday, March 15, 2011 Rail profit of £120m does seem too low. Having said that, there is no communication in the business at all on the results, and in previous years there was a lot of focus and attention. Here in IRNE, rumours are that a big redundancy cut will be annouced in early April due to profit targets not being met. The lack of management communication is worrying, but typical I am afraid. Monday, March 14, 2011 The Rail number cannot be that low. It's well below prior year and completely unexpected. There has been no major restructuring or any other significant charges announced. This may be a clever game and the real number might be 170+m GBP! Monday, March 14, 2011 I have no idea if the 120m GBP profit is correct. However this figure has been stated in meetings by both the new APAC President and the VP for The Taiwan project. Apparently both want the IRNE President fired for leaving them this mess. Monday, March 14, 2011 I can't believe that the VP heading up the Taiwan project continues to blame all his collegues for his failure. He was recruited to manage all of IRNE APAC and now has one project, yet still tells everyone it's a Nick Crossfield problem. This person is completely out of his depth. Monday, March 14, 2011 Has anyone got any further information on Rail's profit? I am astonished by claims here that the number might be as low as £120m GBP. That's over 25% below guidance. This cannot happen in a FTSE100 company, so I don't believe it. Even Hendriksson wouldn't allow it to happen without warning. Monday, March 14, 2011 Look, don't worry chaps. We have Kevin Riddett, his man servant and our new President visiting us this week to share their intellect with us. Can't wait. I wonder how many layoffs they will want? Meanwhile, now is our chance to tell Larry, Curly and Moe what we think of our HR function and Exec team. Monday, March 14, 2011 The blog has been deemed too risky in some of the UK offices, and now falls under the 'web sensed sites' category. Like before, this will not stop people getting on to the website. They tried that for a while in Egypt, and look how that turned out. Monday, March 14, 2011 Well, it is true Invensys rail in Melbourne have moved to new premises and what a wonderful place it will be to work in! All us execc will have car parking in the building, have the best offices - HR director/manager will have the bigger office, since HR is running the company. The COO will have a smaller office. Our floor will be out of bounds to the people residing on the lower floors until summoned for "pep" talks or town hall. The town halls will be limited to staff, who are incapable of standing up to the HR and challenging them. I could go on, but the non-exec staff get the drift... Monday, March 14, 2011 What can anyone add that hasn't been already said by so very many Invensys employees? The amount of people complaining that Invensys Australia is being run by the HR director, and that management at the top seems to be paying NO attention at all, leads many of us to wonder why. Why does the company director allow the HR person to call all the shots? It causes so much raucus amongst the employees that some are very close to resigning. One can only assume that there is something very strange in the realtionships. Why else could someone in the HR director's position make so many very large mistakes and get away with everything? Strange about that isn't it? The amount of extra stress and pressure put on Invensys Australia employees is causing stress and several are taking sick leave. Where would that place the company? These questions need an answer now! Sunday, March 13, 2011 I think a Siemens acquisition might be a good thing for IRG - since it might finally force a coherent, singular strategy for group, instead of remaining a bag of disjoint local companies. But, it would be the end of the line for IOM, except for perhaps some of the well established software assets in WonderWare and SimSci. Everything else would be killed off/mothballed in short order, I'd think. Just realize that, as one of the largest (if not THE largest) individual shareholders, the CEO's interests lie with the shareholders first, not the employees, and certainly not the operating companies within Invensys. It may just turn out to be that a deal with Siemens is the right choice for the shareholders. Sunday, March 13, 2011 - To the previous blogger: "I would welcome a take over by Siemens:: Being taken over by Siemens may not necessarily be a good thing. Be careful what you will wish for. At this moment in time, it looks like the best way forward for Invensys Rail. Major decisions in Invensys are made not in the US but in your own backyard - the United Kingdom. Yes, also the North America Invensys Operation Management (IOM) VP is also from UK. At best, I felt his performance so far is dismal, to say the least. I have never seen him nor his other sidekicks managers, coming to my office for visits. His attempts to put a webcast "town hall" with his entourage of highly-paid managers was a good attempt, but viewed as a great British comedy show. He had all his managers lined up, gave them a few minutes to explain to IOM NA staffs what each and everyone is doing. To me was a great waste of time. The next IOM NA webcast "town hall show" - not sure when, but I would like to see if there are any improvement in the context and content. Put up some more numbers for the staff to see. Do not hide behind the term "Company Confidental" when you don't show numbers. Unless the IOM NA managers are afraid to show them. Saturday, March 12, 2011 IRAP is on the move in Melbourne this weekend, and at long last it has become a reality. I have lost count of how many years management had been telling us that we were going to shift into better offices. We are now splitting the business into 2 physically, and despite all of the talk about working together. This is the death-nail in the coffin for the product & services business, but that was evident with the push to off shore the production of many of the current items we sell. When I asked my manager recently what had been arranged, to advise customers about the shift, he wasn't interested (he was more interested in his FF points). We had been told one thing internally about customers being advised, but it's apparent from phone calls we are still receiving that many customers haven't been told. The split will also further confuse them. I used to work at Moore Products Company which bought by Siemens many years ago. Believe me when I say they made the company disappear in just 6 months. At the same time they also bought Miltronics company, which also disappeared. They even looked for the way of not paying our liquidation, and they scare everyone telling us they had lots of lawyers which could defeat us in any court. At the end, the State helped us and they had to pay us. They just bought us to keep the customers, not the company. So what is best for you guys - continue working this way, or not working at all? All companies have problems; there is no perfect company. Friday, March 11, 2011 I work in the UK and frankly would welcome, as most Rail employees would, a take over by Siemens. A European Engineering giant with a long-term perspective. The current American short-term stupidity says it all. What kind of a plan is it to not pay suppliers and to lay off core engineering and manufacturing skills that the competitors will snap up. This used to be an Engineering Plc. It's now run like Walmart. Friday, March 11, 2011 I am not an Invensys employee, nor do I have any inside information. However, what I do know is that if Rail achieves only £120M GBP profit then it will be Ulf's head on the block. He appoints the leaders, manages the business and gives us the guidance. For this he earns millions. If employees know this information (profit massively below guidance and prior year) and he doesn't, then he isn't fit to be a CEO of a public company at any level. Ulf is the biggest individual shareholder in Invensys. If he is not honest with guidance on Rail, then the conclusion is inescapable. Three weeks until the year end! Friday, March 11, 2011 When the employees grumble about senior managers, then perhaps they are the right ones. Business is not kind to companies that are not profitable and customer focused. How about some new values that meaning something in the business world:
Friday, March 11, 2011 Rail sale to CSR ... unlikely. Break-up and sell off ... more likely. UK watchout... Expect interest for the pieces from Siemens et al as they look to grab a bigger UK market share. Look for product IPR sell off to other consultancies like Atkins. Invensys Rail is top dog in the UK no questions so why try to beat it when you can buy it off. Thursday, March 10, 2011 Regarding Rail profitability - we will find out soon enough. 120m GBP profit looks likely, and its goodbye James Drummond. Thursday, March 10, 2011 When I started to work in BTR Rail Group, which subsequently morphed into Invensys in 101 different incoherent manifestations, we at least had leaders with good judgement and integrity. I was proud to work for Jose Martinez and Brian Crowther in Rail, reporting to first Allen Yurko and then to Rick Haythornthwaite at Group. It's all gone downhill since Nigel Smith took over Rail, succeeded by James Drummond. Fortunately, I only know Riddett by reputation, but it's clearly not getting better. Ulf has never understood the rail business; it's silly but I could never, ever forgive him for always referring to our business (his cash cow) as RAILS. I've been out doing much more enjoyable things for more than 5 years now. This blog just makes me so, so sad. Thursday, March 10, 2011 After all this blogg activity, I can't wait to see the results for Rail. Ulf has guided us on a double-digit top line growth and a return on sales of 18%. We should be looking at around 165M GBP OPBIT for Rail if his guidance is to be believed. As CEO he is committed to this. Can't wait too see the actual, as there has been no guidance otherwise. Any significant change should have been given as a warning and if not, questions should be raised. Thursday, March 10, 2011 I'm getting bored of these same-old, same-old negative comments! yawn yawn... Thursday, March 10, 2011 Good old Kevin Riddett. I'm retired now but remember his father. Riddett Snr. was an honourable man who was deeply troubled about Kevin. His son had zero attention span and no understanding of any financial data. That's why he quickly packed him off to a manufacturing role where he was harmless as it was a cost-centre. He proved he was nothing but an axe man and actually reduced sales and profits, which is why he was fired from Union Switch. Even his father as chairman couldn't defend him. His ability at Pirelli was about a global role where in fact he was a disaster at. He was brought back here to the US and then fired. The posts here are true and if need be I can contribute detail from both Pirelli and US&S. Thursday, March 10, 2011 I think the Riddett question will be a real public test of Ulf's judgement. He (Ulf) has consistently made a mess of things with Paulette making him a laughing stock. What CEO appoints a senior leader, allows her to relocate her HQ to Plano where she lives? Allowing her to select a palatial oak-and-marble facility? Selecting her husbands company to build it? Driving costs up through all the staff having to relocate? Who is the idiot for letting that happen? Now let's see if Riddett is going to relocate to Europe where Plc is located and the vast majority of business is done, or perhaps show some innovation and courage by relocating to India or Singapore. Riddett as a CEO? Don't be silly. Wednesday, March 9, 2011 Riddett must be preparing Rail for sale, or possibly even break up. He is not smart enough to have a plan on his own, and will just be following orders. Over the last 3 years Drummond put in place unified and cohesive R&D, Business Development, Engineering and Supply Chain functions for Rail. This would, over the medium to long term, reduce costs with less duplication and better leverage. It has only been in place a year. Riddett has simply removed all the management capability before its had time to deliver and so will show a short term saving. Give it 12 months and the original problem of duplication and poor leverage will again make Rail uncompetitive. Under Riddett we can expect short term vision and irrational behaviour. Layoffs are a crude fix to boost profitability so I expect they are imminent. Wednesday, March 9, 2011 I'm confused on why people continue to think Riddett is "wrong" for this job! He SHOULD run Rail because he is the best at disguising a company's true state in order to prepare it for sale! He will slash-and-burn any cost he can, cancel anything strategic and continue to run off good Senior people. This, in turn, will make Rail look good for CSR, and again Riddett will be home with a big payout. At least he made the short-term bonuses great for those of us who were planning to leave anyway! Wednesday, March 9, 2011 Watch UK Rail as further voluntary redundancies hit the headlines over the coming weeks and compulsory ones will surely follow... Wednesday, March 9, 2011 I don't believe Ulf is that dumb he'd appoint Riddett as CEO of Rail. He is currently trying to do a deal with CSR in China and the last thing he needs is an idiot at the wheel of his most important division. Remember Ulf announced Rail as having record profits last year and has said this year is in line with guidance. So we should assume top and bottom line growth. With Riddett in charge since November, who knows what could happen. My guess is a disaster. Wednesday, March 9, 2011 Paula is not a fool and I know what she thinks about Ridett. How could a female executive approve of Riddett who openly uses the word p***y when referring to women? I won't even start about his views on immigration and ethnic minorities here in the US. Wednesday, March 9, 2011 Paula Larson does not have many fans. However appointing really poor leaders is Ulf's speciality and Riddett is a classic example. Nobody in their right mind would put him in a role more senior than plant management. However Ulf recruits in his own image. You have to realize that nobody gets appointed or gets a pay review unless Ulf personally approves it. I sometimes wonder what Paula's role is. Wednesday, March 9, 2011 Why all the down? I am an Indian graduate engineer and this is the best job I have ever had. Long live the great company Invensys! Wednesday, March 9, 2011 The situation with Riddett is further reason why Paula Larson, Chief HR Officer, must go. The magnitude of the errors in key staff hiring, retention, and dismissal are simply inescapable and as global head of HR, and intimately involved in each key hire, she must accept responsibility for the poor choices that have been made. Tuesday, March 8, 2011 I agree with the last bloggers view. Riddett was recruited by his father at Transcontrol and then his again by his father who was Chairman at Union Switch. So he went from a go-fer to a VP due to his father. Found out at Pirelli, he was fired. Riddett senior is by contrast a gentleman and completely different to his ignorant offspring. Anybody else experience his outbursts against ethnic minorities? Tuesday, March 8, 2011 Kevin Riddett - The best way of ejecting this guy is to practice Gandhian Resistance. You listen attentively, nod 'yes' and then ignore whatever he said. Your blogger correspondent speaks with authority on this subject. His first encounter with Riddett was in 1986 at Transcontrol, when he barged in on a job-interview meeting without introducing or excusing himself. He ranted on for three minutes with unimportant drivel, imposing some sort of impossible demand and then abruptly left without once acknowledging the visitor. He left a vivid, indelible impression. Kevin's father was one of four employee partners who bought the remains of Transcontrol from Siemens in 1983. Beginning in 1977, Siemens tried to establish a beachhead in the North American signaling market through Transcontrol. In short, Siemens failed for all the usual reasons - lack of investment, incongruent technical standards, documentation, language and cultural barriers, etc. Working at Transcontrol, Kevin, was fresh out of a local community college with a 2-year associate's degree in criminal justice. Employed by Transcontrol beginning in June 1984, he was a go-fer who ran roughshod over his coworkers. Perhaps his personality problems could have been corrected by a firm hand at this early stage in his career, but they obviously weren't. Oddly, the elder Riddett was well regarded throughout the industry. He had been Transcontrol's accountant going back 20 years to the days of Jack Pelikan. Shortly after Transcontrol bit-off more than it could chew by winning the LA Blue line job in 1987, they were bought by clueless Italian noblemen at Ansaldo. The Italians subsequently snatched-up money-losing US&S in 1988 and installed Transcontrol's management at the helm of US&S. Things quickly turned when it became apparent that the 40-man Transcontrol organization was in no position to take-over management of the 1200-man US&S organization. The general consensus is that Ansaldo deluded themselves into thinking that Transcontrol was a major player throughout the North American market. Transcontrol's manufacturing operations in Hauppauge were removed to US&S - Batesburg plant in 1991, where Kevin Riddett was installed as VP of manufacturing. The other key Transcontrol manager was made VP of systems engineering in Pittsburgh. Upon the abrupt departure of US&S CEO Walter Alessandrini in late 1996, Riddett was made CEO of US&S. Your blogger correspondent prognosticated at the lunch table that foul-mouth, rough hewn Riddett would last only 90 days as president of US&S. That was in October; he lasted until mid-March the following year. Humbled by his error, your correspondent then carefully counted the actual working days between these dates, which totaled 91. Riddett's successor was embroiled in controversy from the start and didn't last long. None of these events are particularly significant in the long, slow decline of US&S, which mirrors that of GRS, WB&S and others. After his dismissal from US&S in the spring of 1997, Riddett rejoined Alessandrini at Pirelli. Several other US&S managers subsequently hooked-up with the Alessandrini coterie. Dismissed from Pirelli in May 2007, Riddett had been out-of-work for a year before joining Safetran in 2008. Observers at US&S were once again astonished to see Safetran select someone who they knew to be the wrong man for a position of leadership and responsibility. With the pending take-over of Invensys Rail by China's CSR, we're left to ponder who's next. Lesson learned:
Tuesday, March 8, 2011 Having been with the company since last year, its been a real learning curve experience. IRAP has some really great staff and my boss has let me run wild changing things, as he really doesn't know what I get upto. Many people mis-understand the way he has his favourites - you know, the ones that make him look good. However, he seems to ignore the others and seems to overlook their potential. IPMS is all about staff development, but how can that work when your boss won't even take the time to sit down with his staff and spend any quality time with them. Little wonder his projects area is in a real mess. It's amazing how we can cover up the sins of the company and no one seems to know or care. Monday, March 7, 2011 Well, if what you say turns out to be true, then there should be some legal investigation. As of today, Ulf is saying everything is in line with previous guidance. It is quite simple. Ulf is either right or there is some kind of fraud. We will see. Monday, March 7, 2011 A lot of these comments about the style of management are quite true, but not unique to Invensys. The days of stylish, classy managers with charisma, ability, integrity and strength are long gone. Now we are managed by a bunch of marauders who rape and pillage the company and then move on with the spoils. Managers do not have the wit or skills to manage, and they resort to "GOAL" driven coercive management, which results in misreporting of results at the lowest level. There is one Invensys plant where employees were threatened with financial penalties if they could not adjust the system to misreport "on time delivery". As long as the management could report great numbers, no one cared about the customer or the employees. "A place I want to work in" - I don't think so! Too much power in America, where this is liittle culture, style or class; where the mantra is "keep talking as eventually you might say something useful!" Unfortunately, they better keep talking as they have not achieved the goal yet. Monday, March 7, 2011 I am shorting this stock in a big way. Rail will be way down on expectation and IOM at best flat. Controls? What do you think? This stock will be 30-40% below current value in the next 3 months. Then buy quickly, as this business will be bought or broken up. Ulf has lost the plot and no longer represents anything other than his own short term personal gain. His own people are already questioning his ability and lack of of strategy. Do I know what I'm talking about? I will repost this in May/June when the inevitable happens. Monday, March 7, 2011 The most unbelievable thing is that the IRAP Sales Director manages to keep his position, despite the fact that he is universally despised by staff and customers alike. When will we turn over a new 'Page' and get people in front line positions who are actually competent to perform their duties? Monday, March 7, 2011 I hope a recent post on share value is correct, because I no longer wotk at Invensys and all I have left is a small packet of shares. Get the price up a little more, so I can sell up and forget I was ever there! Sunday, March 6, 2011 You have to understand that Ulf does not care about any of you. He is, if I remember correctly, the biggest single individual share holder. The only thing that matters to him is share price. With the amount of stock and options held by his direct reports, they feel the same. You the employee and the customers are irrelevant. Stock price is the only concern. Saturday, March 5, 2011 They fudge the numbers to make sure the numbers track their performance indicators so that their annual bonus, stock share and performance options make them even richer. I thought that cooking the books was illegal. Isn't that what the hedge fund crooks did to America? Who do I report this to? Oh I forgot, nobody cares. Saturday, March 5, 2011 Lengthy payment terms to suppliers have been a feature of the Invensys cashflow management process for as long as I can remember. They were a good thing in the recovery phase, no question about it, restoring discipline and creating a healthy cashflow. But it's worrying that late payment is being used at the end of the financial year now, if that's what's happening. It helps no-one - just creates a hill to climb at the start of the next year for the company and gives a bum steer to investors by implying performance on cash is better than it is. And fundamentally it's a bean counting trick, not something a top engineering group should be using. MBAs rather than Engineers. Friday, March 4, 2011 Perhaps customers of IRG can stop paying any money to IRG for March, as per instruction to not pay suppliers for the month of March to improve cash flow. IRG are also pushing suppliers out to 60-days payment terms; most suppliers would be happy with this, as it would be a decrease from the current way they pay (90+ days). But, of course, ask IRG and they say they pay on time. No doubt about it "IRG" are very professional and are very good corporate citizens (sure), and the leaders still get their pay on time. Friday, March 4, 2011 If you are outside of IRG/Invensys (like I am now, thankfully) the last two blogs are hilarious! (Though probably true). If on the inside, it looks like the lunatics have taken over the asylum and I would be very worried indeed. Friday, March 4, 2011 I can't understand all the criticism of Kevin Riddett. From what I've heard, he a charming and sophicated leader with an in-depth knowledge of the global rail project business. He is well connected within the industry, and has deep insight into global politics and economics. He is very numbers-orientated and understands the customers needs across the globe. Add to this great interpersonal skills and never resorting to threats or crude force. He looks the part, keeping himself physically and mentally fit. He shows humility and is a great listener. Wait a minute... that's James Drummond, who Ulf just fired. Riddett must be the guy that everybody is laughing at! Friday, March 4, 2011 - Capital Markets Day: Invensys plc is hosting a Capital Markets Day in London today, which will focus upon the Group's largest division, Invensys Operations Management. The presentations will provide an overview of the division and will focus upon its industry-leading solutions and industry-changing strategy. These, together with a global footprint, deep domain knowledge, a top three installed base in control and safety, and a long-term presence in emerging markets have created strong markets positions for the division on a global basis. Sudipta Bhattacharya, President and Chief Executive of Invensys Operations Management, commented:
REALLY! Sudipta doesn't have a clue - We haven't sold an ECS (enterprise control system) in years. Thursday, March 3, 2011 Don't give Riddett any serious thought. Ulf needs an intellectual inferior, to make him feel secure. Drummond was is fired, (according to Riddett) ired) and he was well above Ulf and Riddett in capability and leadership. You guys in Rail are about to see first hand the great selection judgement of Ulf and Paula. Good luck. Thursday, March 3, 2011 If you think Rail has problems, wait until the real IOM China nuclear losses become clear. Everything is being covered up with so called restructuring charges. According to Rail's Kevin Riddett, we need to get as much restructuring charges into this year, so we hide the real problems and they seem invisible. Also Freburger has apparently approved a total ban on supplier payments in March. How professional is that? And what does it say for the real cash and profit? How the heck do we employ executives like this? Do shareholders realise what's going down? Thursday, March 3, 2011 Speaking of junk, does anybody actually read all those SPAM emails from Ulf and Paula. The HR igrow and my learning are complete garbage. Gary Freburger saying we can have a company iPad, if approved. I'm not against progress, but this is not the way forward. How about this for an idea? HR make sure we recruit the best people, develop those with both the desire and ability, reward appropriately and make sure we treat people in a fair manner. Forget about software systems such as IPMS and make sure managers can actually have valuable interaction with their staff. We seem to have completely lost the "human" in HR. Thursday, March 3, 2011 Funniest corporate initiative ever - frantic email telling everyone to stop saying IOM and start saying Invensys Operations Management, internally and externally. Like that's ever going to stick. Why use three syllables when ten (count them) will do? The IOM rebranding has been generally positive. It looks good and fresh and a lot of the cynicism internally has been swept away. But Invensys Operations Management is a tongue twisting nightmare. We've all settled on IOM within the businesses. The customers have settled on IOM. Can I make a heartfelt request for everyone outside IOM to establish IOM as the term that's used, so that this stupidity can be swept away once and for all? The worst thing about these initiatives and e-mails is that anything looking like it comes from Invensys head office gets chucked. That means that the very good socialcast platform - has the potential really to join things up - has gone the same way. Thursday, March 3, 2011 Looks like the (Australia) execs have started to send blogs as well. If only they could listen to the staff and not worry about when they can fly business class and get upgraded to first thereby increasing their frequent flyer points. Meanwhile the Qantas Club membership provided for the staff has been cancelled and they are expected to sit around the airport with no facility to work. They should hang thier heads in shame. Maybe they will to talk to staff individually and find out what thier views are on how to improve company perfomance. An engineering company run by HR, is like lions led by donkeys. Just found out that the weblog has been barred in IRAP offices. We still have home computers... Wednesday, March 2, 2011 A view from within IOM (oops. Not supposed to use that acronym any more.) Lots of initiatives cascading down from upper corporate levels. Down at the bottom, the e-mail boxes are deluged with vague generalities. Some have merit. Others appear designed to be seen by their originators' managers. At the levels, where initiatives need to be translated to actions in order to produce results, the managers are fully occupied feeding their managers' demands for data & reports. The result is - nothing happens, except we waste our time reading all the spam. Wednesday, March 2, 2011 We spent almost 3 years putting R&D, Manufacturing supply chain, legal, HR and other functions together in Rail, and now it's blown apart. From an accounting perspective, this was good. Is there a Rail plan or not? Wednesday, March 2, 2011 Interesting comments on Ulf and his focus here. He's between a rock and a hard place in many respects: Relax the grip on the cost controls without growth and he's on the road to perdition. But without a little more of the swagger that comes from a confident organisation with correct levels of staffing in key functions, he's not going to get a lot of growth. From the IOM perspective, he's got a reasonable array of components towards a fairly compelling operations story. But, frustratingly, they haven't yet quite coalesced. A lot of the internal politics is dissolving gradually, but it's still very much the case that because staff are horrendously squeezed between their day job and a myriad of corporate initiatives - anyone for 5 new competencies to augment the 5 values? It's difficult for anyone to find time for the relatively straightforward steps needed to really join things up, while higher level leaders draw connections without detailed domain knowledge and hit blind alleys. And there is a entrepreneurial vacuum: none of the leaders I can think of have built a company from start to success and few of them try to look ahead more than 3 years. Sometimes it's necessary to take brave steps, take the fetters off spending, and entrust good people who have full domain knowledge with the means to actually innovate. That's essential in a start up situation where the rush to gain market share is the principal objective. And yet, despite having identified a new market space to play in, short term thinking and cost cutting still predominates day to day life inside Invensys. Invensys wants talks the startup talk, but walks the mature business walk. It's very frustrating. But the company is closer than ever before to figuring out what it needs to do. It's certainly not all doom and gloom. Wednesday, March 2, 2011 The post on the Australian HR director running the IRAP show is correct. Although at least someone is running things. It seems like the IRNE/IRSE sitauation is a whole bunch of people who want the title and the salary but none of the responsibility. I believe the company will come through it and is certainly no worse than the other 'subbie' companies. Wednesday, March 2, 2011 I found out about this blog recently from the exec team of IRG ANZ who all religeously view it for fear of their names appearing. What does surprise me is that the three entries so far almost appear to be written by them to try and divert attention away from their departments. Note that the blogs for ANZ only appeared after the new president toured and mentioned that he too reads the blog. Are some people getting nervous, now he declared the business disfunctional following his tour of discovery? Tuesday, March 1, 2011 If, as posted, Drummond has been fired and replaced by Riddett, it will destroy share value. Drummond is at least 2 levels above Riddetth, probably 3 or 4 levels intellectually, possibly 4 or 5 connection and influence. No contest. Tuesday, March 1, 2011 Well it's open warfare here in R&D with the UK, Spain and Australia all fighting over procession as the organisation falls apart. Shame, as we just got it working globally and now Riddett has destroyed it. The US isn't worth bothering with, as it's so basic. But Riddett clings on to who and what he knows, which is very litle. Tuesday, March 1, 2011 The Australian Rail operation is fast heading towards a cliff and many more are getting ready to jump ship with key staff having already left Engineering, Projects & Marketing and Sales. Why may you ask, given the business was once the best signalling company in the region. Communications and direction continues to be lacking. They think the odd Town Hall meeting is what the staff want, but what we really need is an understanding of where the business is going, how it is going to get there and the results to back it up. Instead we continue to see the senior management whom we look up to, fighting and empire building (in particular, Projects with the Products & Services GM and also with Engineering). New staff being brought into the business that don't know what is expected of them, and struggling given the lack of the rail experience. A national product sales manager who continually tags along with engineering staff rather than getting out to see the key customers. The key customers, whom the completion is talking to and gaining ground on Invensys Rail. Whilst the current product sales look good, this will be short lived and It won't be long before the product hold on the Australian market goes out the door. This all in the name of frequent flyer points, rather than securing new sales markets & results. R&D is also out of control and lacking any real new cost effective products. Having worked long term for a great company, its such a shame to see its demise and the MD, I mean the COO is nowhere to be seen. Maybe the other bloggers are right that HR are sailing the ship now and heading us towards the iceberg. Tuesday, March 1, 2011 It seems from the latest blogs that manufacturing in Chippenham is on borrowed time; no surprise then that Steve Barry has been brought back in. A lot of work was undertaken in the past looking at outsourcing manufacturing (as well as oodles of money spent on certain individuals travelling the globe looking for a site!); perhaps the decision has been made now? If I worked in manufacturing I would be looking to see which part of an Asda superstore was best to work in. Monday, February 28, 2011 I've just heard, probably a bit belatedly, that Geoff Campion (Rail CFO) left the company after over 20 years. No goodbyes according to IRG staff. If James Drummond has been fired, who is in charge of this mad house? Don't tell me Kevin Riddett? Monday, February 28, 2011 Has Drummond really been fired as Kevin Riddett has said? Shame, as he seemed an honourable person, which is rare in Invensys today. Monday, February 28, 2011 Kevin Riddett keeping his mouth shut? You got to be kidding, right? Sure, as a senior executive he should have been far more discrete. Especially about his boss. I met James Drummond just once when he visited us, and although a little formal, he seemed like a nice guy. I'd rather Riddett was fired than Drummond. Riddett has a huge ego and is completely unprofessional. He has told folks here in the US that there are big lay offs coming in the UK, especially in manufacturing and R&D. While at the same time he has told people in the UK that he is closing manufacturing in Louisville, as the unions are a pain. His comments in meetings about other Invensys senior people are at times an embarrassment. The ISCCI team have been really helpful to Safetran and do not deserve his comments. Monday, February 28, 2011 Some really iinteresting posts here over last few weeks. The most recent regarding added value is really good and hits the nail squarely on the head. Has Ulf added value? Yes I think he has, but should have gone at least a year ago. Has Rail CEO added value? Almost certainly not and has or should be gone. His replacement is a different question. The question asked was regarding the PMO. We I would say that nobody has ever seen anything delivered or value added by any PMO. no one really knows what it is there for..... Monday, February 28, 2011 The answer to whether Ulf has earned his millions is a complex one, but let me attempt to respond. In short, the answer is yes... and no. When Ulf took over, Invensys was a complete mess, from both a financial and strategy perspective. The company was heading towards a major financial crisis. Under Ulf's leadership, he brought the company back from the brink, and delivered good shareholder/stakeholder and employee results by salvaging the company. This phase of his tenure was completed in mid-2007. In hindsight, this is when he should have been replaced (or augmented) with a more strategic leader, more suited to growing, rather than managing, Invensys into the future. However, this did not occur, and Ulf continued to apply his operations/finance focused mindset to the company, beginning its slow decline into irrelevance. Thankfully, his regime was unable to destroy the value of the Invensys brands (and surely this was not their direct intent), allowing the company to retain some intrinsic value that may yet still be realized in a buyout. The best days of the company are clearly behind it. The organization has been "leaned" to the point of starvation in some areas, while pet projects and the golden children have been given virtual carte-blanche to spend in areas with little or no shareholder, customer, or employee return. On balance, given the precarious situation that Invensys was in when Ulf joined, I would have to say that he has earned his compensation. But the full potential of the company would have been realized if a different type of leadership had been installed 3-5 years ago. Monday, February 28, 2011 There have been resignations in the Australian Engineering group of key engineering managers. You would think that there would be questions asked but none so far. The Australian office is run by the HR director, who is devoid of all humanity and scares the hell out of the MD and the rest of the exec. They change policy to avoid paying staff and go on jollies worth a lot of money that is of no value to the company (reading from the rest of the blogs it seems to be a IR management culture). They clearly break IR rules on travel for all staff below the exec level. On a recent visit by the APAC president, the HR director would not leave his side for fear of staff being "courageous" or "owning decisions". Even el presidente made a comment about it, but is he willing to do anything? The Melbourne office is moving from its present outdated office to new offices in prestigious location and the planning of the office is disastrous, to say the least. The exec are fighting over who gets the big office and car parking, meanwhile the poor workers have to endure the effects of the indecision. We have already run out of space in the building; anyone looking at the plan would seriously question why HR has so much space considering that it should be outsourced or HR handled by the managers. There seems to be a culture of empire building by the projects group and have amassed a lot of staff with grand titles. We have yet to see any useful output from the PMO. Ulf if you had any courage or felt like owning decisions, you would come to Aus and ask to talk to the staff individually and select them yourself - instead of the HR or the exec. We know you read the weblog. Sunday, February 27, 2011 I can't believe that Ulf is still around. He must be waiting for the end and the final payoff. In his 6-7 years in Invensys, he has taken (from annual reports) around $25 million dollars from the company. Has he actually added that level of value? Friday, February 25, 2011 Like many Rail employees, I regularly follow this blog and its myriad opinions - recent postings have finally moved me to add my view. On the subject of finding fault around the company, my view is that it exists on the part of both management and employees - from empty corporate initiatives that change daily, to pockets of employees resistant to any change unless it's a pay rise. My experience has been that this pattern is typical of corporate life - something to consider for those bloggers who believe that working anywhere else is a bed of roses. The recent attacks on HR are also misguided. Yes, the performance management process is tedious, but many people to date have still found their advice helpful and professional. Besides, our IRNE HR people are at the receiving end of a farcical Invensys policy, outsourcing skills and knowledge at the expense of good service. Rather than criticising fellow departments (people in glass houses etc.), I suggest that bloggers should vent their fury at Invensys HQ (even if it falls on deaf ears due to heads being buried in the sand there). My key issue, however, is leadership. If we care for the heart and soul of our business (i.e. what makes us different), we should worry most about board-level leadership that has increasingly become its achilles heel. With a few notable exceptions, senior leaders from Ulf downwards fail to lead by example, and avoid any sort of regular or meaningful interaction with employees. They don’t even have time to walk the floor – something that can really tell them what’s going on at grass roots level as opposed to paying an agency to devise engagement surveys instead. As it is, Invensys Values have become redundant. These people want you to save money, but will not give up their first class business travel. We are one Invensys, and yet there segregated car parking places and frosted glass partitions to separate people from their leaders. People - employees and the broader management team - are treated with an attitude bordering on contempt. Like the Dementors of the Harry Potter books, some senior leaders are threatening to suck the last drops of life from a workforce who have already been through the mill. Never mind the 70s, our Rail leadership is stuck in the stone age and I've been forced to write because I'm passionate about, and inspired by, good leaders. Maybe some of the board right up to HQ level are already planning their golden exits. If not, then I suggest they read very carefully what people are writing on this forum. And, rather than get angry and trying to work out who the anonymous scribes are, they would be better using their energy to start thinking about why people are turning to blogs like this in the first place. Friday, February 25, 2011 - In response to Thursday, February 24, 2011 - "The last blogger is a perfect example of the current management ethos." I was being ironic. What I was trying to get at was the mentality of the MD's etc. But we can't change it unless the MD's and shareholders become less greedy. They tell us to save, save, save but they still spend, spend, spend. No amount of critisism or bitching will change the position we are in. The people on the coal face are getting dupped on all the time. The people in offices who work 35 hrs a week Monday to Friday complain. Yet it's not them losing here; it's the people who work weekends. the Cosses who have lost the £10 a day supplement, (that's 3 grand a year to some people) the people who have to go away from their familys overnight etc. (£15 a night). Where the fat-cats don't need this money, the hard working, work in all weather, work at any time day or night, go that extra mile. It's these people all the cuts affect. Friday, February 25, 2011 Like a previous blog, I am an ex-IRNE staff member 'forced out', and now following this blog with interest. IRNE are stuck in the past! It's the minority, but it is the ones that can influence change. Managers and exec that have left - do not forget the experienced and skilled engineers that have also gone, either by redundancy or voluntary. A blame culture exists and unless the answers is 'Yes' you are deemed to be obstructive. Dealing with change and modernisation is a way of life in a changing world. Friday, February 25, 2011 Westinghouse was always two separate businesses. One is the rump of the old British Rail project delivery organisation, steady and reliable but with gradually declining market share as competitors take advantage of the current mess and inevitably Network Rail starts to slow down. Second is a LUL Metro business, with very few brilliant people, but technology at least 3 years behind competitors and unable to compete globally. Both these businesses rely on the relationships at all levels with NR and LUL. The new 'rolex' MD needs to realise that there is a future here if we just go back to these two customers and make them happy. Thursday, February 24, 2011 Having recently been informed by a colleague about this web blog I thought I'd see for myself what all the fuss is about. Many find it depressing, and it's used as a forum for the moaners, who are simply unhappy with the state of the business. I am in agreement with you, but instead of moaning about management not listening - give them some thing listen to. Use this as a forum to share ideas on how to improve things, rather than winging about areas/staff that don't work. In regards to a recent post ref salaries of HR staff and senior members that have left the business - shame on you! You are clearly in a position to view this information and, instead of being 'discrete and confidential' (which I'm sure is a big factor of your role) you stir the pot! You should be ashamed of yourself and perhaps review your position in the company (or attend some urgent conduct training) In this climate, and the downward spiral which we face, we should stick together. Those underperforming will come out in the wash. I appreciate you may feel like the blind leading the blind, but seriously -is there any need for the useless critisims? It's just a suggestion. Thursday, February 24, 2011 If it's true that Drummond is out, Kevin Riddett should have kept his mouth shut. However it's a fact that he told all, here in the US, that he was going to remove all the global roles and that James had been fired. Ask any of the Safetran team and you will see they are pleased he has gone. Thursday, February 24, 2011 I agree with Monday's blogger that the problem in IRNE is project management and to some degree, engineering. How anyone can blame HR for our problems, whether there is 4 of them or 13 of them, is beyond me. There are hundreds of us engineers, and tens of people in the finance, project management and commercial departments, and despite all the attention from all these people, we keep losing money. HR doesn't make decisions about what goes on in a project or on the railway - engineers and project managers do. Who are we going to blame next - the cleaning ladies? Thursday, February 24, 2011 I am an ex-IRNE staff member and I occasionally follow this blog with interest, and am finally drawn to comment. A sizeable minority of the people in IRNE are stuck in the past, cannot cope at all with change or trying to modernise things, with a horrible British Rail / public sector mentality of entitlement and rights harking back to the supposed good old days of the nationalised railway - dinosaurs. I feel sorry for the management and the HR people, because trying to get anything improved or changed for the better is like banging your head against the brick wall. I moved to a competitor, where things are very different, where change is a way of life and people can adapt and be flexible, and we are winning work from IRNE that a few years ago would not have been possible. The staff need to look to themselves - they are like the miners in the 1980s, and will only have themselves the blame when it all crashes down around them. I sold my shares as well - recommend everyone does that. Thursday, February 24, 2011 Drummond has been fired and told the announcement would be in May. Riddett has told many here in the US. What a mess. Thursday, February 24, 2011 The last blogger is a perfect example of the current management ethos. Doesn't matter if the company is built on sand, just fill your pockets now and to heck with the future. It's only a matter of months before the real results in Rail become clear. Add in the IOM China Nuclear financial mess and the slow decline of Controls and the obvious will happen to the share price. Probably below £2:00 by the year end. At this stage the name Invensys will have changed. However Ulf and his chosen ones will have departed multi-millionaires. Remind me about meritocracy and integrity? Thursday, February 24, 2011 I am hearing so much junk about our bosses and UK Rail; I don't understand the problem. We go to work, we do our job to the best of our ability, we get paid, no problem. As for the fat cats, well they are better BS-ers than us, andif you don't like it change it! How? you ask. Answer "I don't know, and if I did I would have the flash cars, the reserved parking place, the Rolex watch, the private jet and not forgetting the 4 PA sitting not 20 yards away from me whilst I laugh at you all bitching about what I've got. Thursday, February 24, 2011 - Regarding the comments of 21st Feb, saying that IRNE is respected by NR and IUL: What utter bilge! As a former Westinghouse employee I recall that the 'good reputation' was oft mentioned and almost bragged about. Also there was frequent consternation among management that they couldn't understand why the company was called 'arrogant'. The reality is that IRNEis not respected anything like they'd like to believe. It's an out-of-touch organisation peddling out-of-date products. The writing is on the wall. It's not going to long before all these rumours of takeovers (to boost share price?) are revealed as 'the emperors new clothes'. To the people who criticise the critics: From my memories of the company, anyone who spoke out were punished, but there are a majority of people who care about what they do, and about the company, to try and raise those concerns somehow. The fact that the criticism continues on here is surely sufficient information that those in charge are not listening, indicating that they don't know how to fix things, or perhaps that they don't care. Thursday, February 24, 2011 - To the last poster about HR: I don't believe that there are 13 people in HR for IRNE. I believe the number to be 4. There are other people sitting in Chippenham in IRNE in HR, however they work for other parts of Invensys. As I said, having dealt with a HR Business Partner, broadly, I have found that person to be helpful and to have made suggestions about my problem that I would otherwise not have considered. I agree that the Manila bit doesn't work that well, but the people on the UK end of the advise line know what they are doing. Thursday, February 24, 2011 The last blogger on the HR subject has summed it up quite nicely; the HR department have added no value whatsoever for the past 3/4 years. The basic key functions of HR management/people management/leadership is best undertaken by the line managers themselves; this should be supported by good training (externally provided). Having HR Business Partners, Reward Policy Managers etc are a total waste of money (as is a HR Director)- just pure overhead adding nothing whatsoever of value to the overall business. Wednesday, February 23, 2011 - To the last post about HR in Chippenham: Who are you dealing with? The service I get is non-existent. Apart from 3 people, it's supposed to have been outsourced. The fact is there are over 13 people in HR and some of them are contractors. Almost all come from the previous VP of HR's last company, including the new VP. They know nothing about the business and most are very poor and expensive. In reality we have outsourced HR and then increased headcount with contractors. Total waste of money and a real burden on the business. If the HR function is supposed to be a support function, then as it is I would say don't bother. Wednesday, February 23, 2011 I think that the criticism of HR is unfair. I am a manager in Chippenham and I have always found HR to be supportive and helpful. Like in all functions, there are competent and less competent people; HR is no different. The main problem to me seems to be that some managers don't want to accept any responsibility for doing their job as a manager, and they want HR to do it for them. Having worked elsewhere, this kind of attitude is old fashioned. If we do get taken over, it will be a bit of a shock for those people - they will be expected to do even more. Wednesday, February 23, 2011 I think Ulf sees things from the inside and has the organization facing him. This is what makes him so good at turn around situations. However he appoints people that, like him, you would never put in front of customers and so is not a growth CEO. This is widely known in the City. Riddett is just another example of the same type of Executive who will try to do a global customer-facing role by facing internally and rarely leaving the US. I am told he has been in position since November last year and visited less than 10% of the global offices. As I understand the numbers, the US is around 25% of Rails sales and less than 20% of profits, virtually all from products. Nothing like the rest of the business. Riddett would be perfect for Controls but not the leader for Rail. Wednesday, February 23, 2011 P> To the Sunday blogger: "HR in Invensys is the biggest joke ever": You are spot on the money. Invensys keep cutting costs by outsourcing to poor countries which, when you are making hot water thermostats makes sense. But in the case of Rail we are mainly high-technology and safety-critical engineering. We don't want a call centre in Manila to talk about HR problems. Even our manufacturing group are very specialised and compared to Controls are not typical low-cost country candidates. Madness. Wednesday, February 23, 2011 Might as well add the appointment of the VP project delivery who was quietly shuffled off to 'market development' after 4 months. We have lost at least 20 senior executives and managers in the past 12 months, many of them experienced and seasoned professionals. It must have cost a fortune in payoffs. Drummond, who knows where he is? Seems to have disappeared after leaving such a disaster in IRNE. All the while Crossfield sits in his bunker and on the shop floor we hear that up to 200 jobs are to go soon. In order to rescue this, he needs to communicate what the real situation is. The rumours are the the VP Finance was his big mate, so may be he is next. Tuesday, February 22, 2011 I happen to know that the real reason the IRNE VP Finance left was not the state of IRNE but was the appointment of Kevin Riddett. This was the final straw. According to the VP, survival depended on winning both SSR and NR framework bids. The latter needs deep understanding of UK politics and customers. Riddett scores zero on both. That's why the VP left after 3 months. We may struggle through to win, but its up-hill and nothing to do with Riddett. Where is Drummond? Surely the company must say something soon ? Tuesday, February 22, 2011 So all these companies want to buy Invensys? Stock price goes up. Biggest beneficiaries: Ulf and his yes men. Show one piece of data that suggests there is a real takeover bid. Invensys is always under review by the big boys and always has been. Pension remains the issue. Nothing changed in the last month other than normal rumours. Tuesday, February 22, 2011 The best IRNE HR fiasco must be the recent appointment of the VP Finance. They paid a headhunter fee, paid a big golden hello, the highest VP salary in Rail, and then a golden goodbye. The chap left after 3 months of doing little. Cost to IRNE? In total, the above adds up to over £150k GBP. This for just 3 months. If R&D did something this irresponsible, heads would roll. However in the HR world, things like this are hushed up. Honest question: Do we have a more incompetent function in Invensys? Tuesday, February 22, 2011 Ah! Finally the charade that is HR in IRNE has been exposed. It always was beurocratic and arrogant. And, as for HR Business Partners - nothing but a made up US methodology that creates a "Self Licking Lollipop" culture. Those appointed to these positions are paid around £60k supposedly to advise senior managers and directors on people strategy, despite the fact that most of them know diddly squat about engineering/signalling/business... Monday, February 21, 2011 Put yourself in our customers shoes. You know how frustrating it is when you call your cable provider with a problem and you get an outsourced "expert" that can barely speak English and you have to repeat yourself and ultimately ask for a US person to solve your problem - well how do you think our customers feel when they hit the same wall with our outsourced support? Monday, February 21, 2011 Outsourcing is all OK for the almighty dollar to the share holders - to heck with American jobs. And management expects loyalty & blood, sweat & tears? Ha! Monday, February 21, 2011 I think the HR criticism is unfair. The outsourcing of payroll has been a big success here in the US and we have saved a lot of costs. Monday, February 21, 2011 The last post about IRNE is more rubbish. IRNE is way off on profit compared to the plan BUT is, for example, still producing a profit at levels that Invensys Controls could only dream of. People revolting? What a load of rubbish. There are almost 2000 people working in IRNE and probably 20-30 idiots posting on here. The IRNE problem is based in Projects and Engineering. Even then it's around 3-5 projects that are struggling out of 70+ significant projects. We still have too many managers claiming success for commissioning work even though it's been done at much higher costs than forecast. Good customer connections but hopeless business ability. The company needs business leaders. I have some sympathy for the views on HR. We all know in reality they are nothing but a hinderance to progress. I also agree that the IPMS system is a load of bureaucracy and has replaced a straight forwards face-to-face meeting and discussion. Who is the new HR person? Anybody know whether he is worth his salary? We will get there. Support your manager, each other and the Exec. It's the best outcome for everyone. However that's all in the past. Going forwards we are still well respected by both Network Rail and London Underground. Monday, February 21, 2011 Seems like the end is approaching for IRNE. Staff in open revolt, talent leaving the sinking ship in droves, technology a laughing stock, weak leadership under seige, customers unhappy, bitter in fighting the norm, no morale. Time to leave. Great job by James Drummond and his yes men. the sooner Siemens takeover the better. Sunday, February 20, 2011 The Observer, Sunday 20 February 2011 (extracts) British engineering firm Invensys is being stalked by international rivals considering a bid for the company which employs 8,000 people and is valued at £2.7bn. City sources say predators include Honeywell and Emerson Electric of the US, ABB of Switzerland, Alstom of France, Germany's Siemens and two Chinese firms, CSR and CNR. No offer has been tabled, but potential bidders are said to be reviewing their options. If one fires off a bid, a takeover war is likely to erupt, as Invensys is viewed as one of only a handful of medium-sized engineering firms listed on the stock market, making it vulnerable to a bid.
Sunday, February 20, 2011 PRP will not work. There are some great people working in the IRL business BUT if they do not have the money, then nobody gets an 'EE' in their appraisal. Simple eh!? That was always the way it worked - if the distribution graph had too many scoring highly they manipulated it back down. Great motivation there then. Sunday, February 20, 2011 HR in Invensys is the biggest joke ever. They have absolutely no idea what we do as a company and the type of talent and very specific market skills which are required to deliver complex railway solutions. They treat our professional people with the sort of contempt you would expect to witness on a motorway service station. The attitude and business understanding from these people is abysmal. We understand that our regional offices have now been given a phone booth with a hot line to an HR rep in Manila, with someone on the other end who has no authority or ability to answer anything. Then, the poor employee is referred to HR HQ who apparently have a 'cheat sheet' in front of them that states only 4 possible answers to all questions:
The IMPS system is an even bigger joke. Each year our HR lot pat themselves on the back, telling themselves how wonderful their IPMS process is. Well hello, welcome to the real world - its awful! No one enjoys the process, manager or report, the on line paperwork is over the top and cumbersome and coverts what should be a good appraisal review with real conversations into an HR stage-managed "tick in box" facade. And PRP - half a % increase for getting an EE - there's an incentive! The list of their incompetences is endless So HR, have a little think about who your clients are occasionally. You work for the Exec and the employees. Better still, get rid of the lot of them and devolve all responsibility to the line management. Sunday, February 20, 2011 I live in Chippenham and I really like wearing 'ASDA George' clothing. Can someone please tell me when they plan to close the Invensys site to build that nice big new ASDA supermarket? That means that instead of the Invensys HR team writing their poison on this blog, they can go and work on the customer services desk; something to which they are seemingly more suitably qualified. Friday, February 18, 2011 I can't figure it out. I've spent hours talking to contacts in China and struggle to find any substance to the big CSR Times partnership. Apparently they have bid a couple of jobs and won nothing, delivered nothing and in fact are doing basically nothing anywhere in the world. Also interesting is that CSR are openly talking about the agreement (note not partnership) being a mistake as Invensys technology is inferior to Alstom and Siemens. I think this whole storey is a non-event and don't know why it's had any positive effect on the share price. What is this all about? Friday, February 18, 2011 A systems approach mmm... I agree with the sentiments, but it's too vague to say this. What does the blogger really mean? I have seen many companies say this. In the Defense industry, it seems to mean they want to run the MOD. Perhaps overseas but not in the UK I hope. Peter Checkland wrote one of the definitive books "System Thinking, Systems Practice". For Rail it could cover the range from the socio-economic environment down to what widget do I need to do this task. As a company in Business (often over looked here) Invensys is definitely at the more hard end of the systems world - System Engineering. I would disagree on the signalling world being well placed here. In some ways it can hold back. Innovation and new ways of working demand a better understanding of the technology and market place. Friday, February 18, 2011 The last blogger made some good points. Rather than ramble on, here are a few suggestions:
Thursday, February 17, 2011 People on this blog seem to be in an endless loop of debate, with no positive suggestions for a way forward. You all seem to understand the business, it's history, the reason for the so called "mess" people refer to . Personally, I do not think it's a mess, but an opportunity for a different ways of doing things. The current problems - who is to blame? who is not to blame? who is perfoming? who is not performing? where the problems are in the business? the instability etc. But what I have not seen are grown up proposals for solutions, at least positive ideas for quick wins, posted on this blog, which the exec can use for the business improvement plan. We have seen in recent events in the Middle East how social media can be used for positive results and I think this blog can be used as a place for collection of good ideas, to move this business forward. This business has a lot of clever people, both frontline and management, who can drive this business to the next level. The reason why this business has a reputation for good delivery is because everyone pulls together as one, to support commissionings, and there is great ownership by all staff and management. If we apply the same unity of purpose as we do for the commissionings in everything we do, we will be a very successful business and the envy of our competitors. We need to be agile like a cheetah, quick to change, adapt and embrace new delivery models to survive the ever-changing environment, because that's what our competitors are doing. For example: Lets seek viable joint ventures so we can deliver total systems contracts. Tthose who work in the mainline have seen how hub-and-spoke approach has not worked for the client. A systems approach will solve the client's problems by giving him full systems solution. As signalling engineers we tend to understand other disciplines and how they intergrate to deliver a safe railway, and the signalling solution tend to drive the entire project strategy,and we are the last ones left in a commissioning to hand back the entire infrastructure safely to the operators. So, we have the competence and skill to lead a systems project. United we will conquer, Divided we will fall! Thursday, February 17, 2011 If I was Steve Barry, I'd want a large pay rise to join this mess. Must be the last thing he needs. However that's irrelevant. Our problem isn't in Manufacturing or Supply Chain, where we are doing well. I heard that they are winning new business from Amey. Like it or not with the majority of the manufacturing business being external to IRNE they are crucial to our business. Projects are the problem. We were told that the Taiwan project is losing over seven hundred thousand pounds a month. Apparently Kevin Riddett is totally out of his depth. I don't know what's coming next, but we are told that the so called business improvement plan (they call it a BIP) is a game and nothing really needs to change. People say they have been told to just play the game and all will be well. I hope they are right. Thursday, February 17, 2011 There seem to be a lot of changes afoot at IRG. Steve Barry being demoted or parachuted back into IRL is one thing, but there seems to be a lot more panic going on within the business. I partially agree with the bloggers who have been saying that this site is too negative. BUT they have to realise that Westinghouse (yes I will still call it that) has and had a fantastic team of workers always keen to push forward. A majority are still there and can help rescue the situation. BUT if the leadership cannot sort themselves out and actually have a strategy that they will stick to for more than 3 months, then the workers cannot weave their magic. This was once a great company - and I am only looking back about 3 years. But, to have lost 2 MDs in 18 months and 3 or 4 FDs in the same timeframe, along with just about all of the rest of the Board, is just clumsy and short-sighted by IRG chiefs. Thursday, February 17, 2011 Head office HR is to blame for many of the company's ills, not just in IRG. The Invensys HR head has been intimately involved in many of the key leadership changes and decisions, and has been wrong on just about all of them. However, she and Ulf are inseparable, so they will only leave (and act) as a pair. Thursday, February 17, 2011 How can HR be to blame? There are only about 5 of them in the IRNE HR team, so I can't see how they can have the influence to create negativity and problems through the whole business. We need to stop blaming each other for the problems that we face and work together. Every office and function has an important and inter-dependent role in getting us out of this mess. It's fine for people to air their views on this blog, at least we know the range of views of everyone, but ultimately we can only succeed if we all pull together. Thursday, February 17, 2011 The Head of Projects & Commercial ANZ is doing a great job of forcing key talent to leave in droves; senior staff that the business ill afford to lose at this time. For a project delivery company they appear to have lost the customer focus they once had. Wednesday, February 16, 2011 I have worked in mainline projects in an IRNE regional office for years, since the takeover of SCUK. For the avoidance of doubt, the manufacturiung profits are all recharged to projects at cost + profit, have been for years. It's a scam created in the days of Railtrack reimbursible projects to increase profits. Nothing wrong with that, but to suggest that Steve Barry coming back into IRNE will help us is a joke. I am sure that he knows about manufacturing, but he and his team are not trusted by most of the organisation outside of Chippenham. Wednesday, February 16, 2011 Well tonight's postings have been a real eye opener. I too have a negative manager here in projects. My friends tell me how much more positive things are in manufacturing. Is HR to blame, as I hear they are very negative about invensys. Wednesday, February 16, 2011 I have never even thought of posting on this site, but as I've now retired, feel I must. Phil Trelfall and Steve Barry are part of the team that kept Westinghouse afloat between 1999 and 2002. In fact Westinghouse survived by Steve Barry's manufacturing results in doubling sales over a 6 year period and being the the only profit. He changed working practices and was a step ahead of the rest of the company. His legacy is huge, including monthly briefs, best employee surveys, customer focus and business management. Phil was a major pusher in changing the keeping a chip off the Charles Riley block. Innovative but needs people to deliver. I don't know the rest of the Exec but hope my input is worthwhile. Wednesday, February 16, 2011 Thank you for the last post! There are thousands of people in IRNE, and a few trouble-seeking managers probably trying to protect their jobs by posting here. The problem is clearly the management team, and not the Exec who are trying to win business and keep customers. Bashing the people who are trying to make a success of the business that employs us, is beyond belief. There are very difficult times ahead (that the last Exec created) - let's hope the negative people are the first to go. Wednesday, February 16, 2011 The last two posts on the IRNE Exec are interesting. Firstly they appear to be malicious as apposed to constructive. Another view would be that Crossfield was a senior Director at Network Rail as opposed to limited Rail Experience. The Engineering leader is probably the person most respected by the Engineering community, as opposed to being a poor leader. The new HR lead is, as the blogger suggests, new - so how does he/she know that she knows little and is unproven? Steve Barry coming back might be seen as positive as one of the most experienced and modernising Execs with proven track record in manufacturing. Secondly the writing indicates that the malicious blogger is a manager and probably based in Chippenham. He/she talks about industry experience, leadership and management style. Doesn't sound like a junior engineer to me and somebody that's worked here for a few years. The fact that they appear to have knowledge of Directors day-rates, interim status and unannounced organisation changes is also interesting. This Exec is who we are relying on to get us out of the disaster caused by the previous lot. Not one of them caused the current meltdown. The real worry is that there is a senior IRNE manager in Chippenham with some HR insights that is openly posting malicious and uninformed data here. I know who gets my support. Wednesday, February 16, 2011 The VP for Finance from IRNE was a great buddy of Nick Crossfield. He must surely have been misled about the company's financial position and what the role is about, for him to be leaving after only 3 months. The grapevine is saying that he was deeply unhappy about the overall position of the business. That we can't hold on to quality people at this level, as well as our apparent inability to recruit other senior roles, is very worrying. I, for one, do not feel that there is anyone at the helm of this business steering in the right direction. To use a maritime analogy: there are a lot of people peering at the engine in the engine room, and no-one in the crow's nest looking for icebergs, or at the long-term direction of the business. To further the analogy, the issue with IRNE's exec team's approach to trying to solve the issues we face is similar to re-arranging deckchairs on the Titanic - pointless. Wholesale change is needed here. Wednesday, February 16, 2011 So, the exec team at IRNE is made up of the following:
Monday, February 14, 2011 Whatever became of the much publicized CSR partnership? This announcement on it's own gave the share price a significant boost, along with Ulf's public statement about CSR buying Invensys (later denied by the main board of Directors) which made Ulf's personal stock holding worth significantly more. However since then I can't find any information on any actual trading with this "partner". Anybody know what's going on ? Monday, February 14, 2011 Apparently the IRNE HR VP doesn't agree with the big redundancy program coming in the UK. The VP Finance has also left the business, having been here for less than 3 months. Allegedly he did not want to be associated with IRNE and the Invensys policy of not being honest with the financial performance of the company. I hear the share price has gone up today on rumours of a Siemens take over. That would be excellent for Invensys as it would hopefully mean the end of Ulf and his yes-men. However, when the truth of Invensys' financial performance gets out, which it will, the crash that follows will make it an absolute bargain. Monday, February 14, 2011 Now IRNE at last announces the VP HR is leaving and they are replacing her with an HRBP! Can't they see they need a seasoned HR Director to sit on the board and sort this mess out and not a trainee HR Director? Just shows what the MD thinks of HR. Not a lot. Monday, February 14, 2011 I've read these insertions for a number of months now and can see that not all are whiners, but genuinly concerned regarding the state of the business. The previous execs steered us magnificently into a downhill spiral and surrounded themselves with 'yes' people and hangers-on. These are now getting a shock, hence them leaving an apparantly sinking ship. I've seen this before when a large major player (in a completely different field) was downsized and reduced to almost nothing. The R&D was moved, in an effort to protect GEC's interests as they were the brains behind the new tech. Is this something that Invensys is doing, by protecting its brains before it prepares to sell a old, well-established business to new upstarts? I would like to take to task the person who claims that some in B'ham do not do 30 hours, whilst others in Chippenham struggle to do 25. This may be the case in your world, but everyone I know in the Birmingham office works hard and long hours, despite the morale being lower than low. The sheer amount of work within this office, and the lack of staff means that they work more than their allocated hours, often through lunch, often logging-on during days off. It is people like this that bring projects to fruition, on time, although not necessarily within the profit margins that Invensys demands (upwards of 25%) but flipping-well close! Please ensure you have your own house in order before deriding other offices. Monday, February 14, 2011 Constructive critism acceptable. Whining and bitching, no! Sunday, February 13, 2011 The Invensys share price is completely unsupported by the facts. Expect a big downside when they come clean. Amazing, this used to be called lying; something that this board knows nothing about! This needs an FSA investigation. Let's see who knew what, when? Sunday, February 13, 2011 - The blogger referring to the COO etc. The reality is that each business unit pays a huge amount to finance these people and gets very little back. IRL in UK pays a lot into IRG and sees very little back too. These 'overhead' ivory towers do nothing to add value. In true-CI-speak, if something does not add value - get rid of it! I wish they would do exactly that. Friday, February 11, 2011 The pattern to eliminate truth-sayers sounds like some kind of WWII mentality. Corporate "leaders" egos can't take any form of constructive criticism. They must eliminate the troops that dare to speak the truth. Friday, February 11, 2011 Do you really think that Ulf believes any of the values? Honestly? He has managed to get to the CEO position after some luck, with Adrian Henner personally doing the refinancing of the company and then Steve Hare adding a steady hand on the wheel. Now with Ulf and Wayne in charge, the obvious is happening. Rail is in meltdown and will soon be followed by IOM as it's China nuclear deals go into loss. Controls is, as it always has been, a slow decaying business. I can't believe that this business can support all the corporate overheads in London and Plano. It's madness. Ulf has stayed around 2 years longer than he should have, and now his turnaround management style is destroying established and profitable parts of the business. Have you looked at the ridiculous, titles of his so called executive team. Chief-of-staff, Chief HR Officer etc. This was apparently a British company. Its now filled with pompous idiots. We will see the unfortunate but inevitable decay from now on as fools like Ulf and his team drag the ship down. Is it just me? Freburger - A COO with no operations reporting to him? He is paid over $500k a year basic, plus bonus, and lives a two-hour flight from any Invensys office. His team adds little, if anything, to the P&L. Tell me, apart from training that could be outsorced, what does this team add to the business? Am I a whiner too? Wait until the results are announced. This bubble can only burst. Shareholders are being deceived. Friday, February 11, 2011 To the bloggers that ask individuals to come forward and communicate who they are and address the issues in person: There has been a pattern of behavior at Invensys to eliminate any individual that expresses a different point of view than that of the leadership. The behavior is not a one-off; it is consistent across all of the Invensys businesses. If leadership really wants to address these issues, the first thing you need to do is create a culture where diversity of opinions can be vocalized without fear of retribution. One of the core values is Courage. Three years ago, Ulf communicated that Courage could be defined as standing up for what you believe. In the last 18 months, his definition of courage has changed to "Owning others' decisions as your own". My interpretation of this change in definition is that leadership really isn't interested in different points of view. The reality is Invensys isn't going to be the company to change the Automation world. We are a "me too" organization fighting for market share in a world that doesn't really care if Invensys is in the game or not. We don't have the best talent in the world because we lack vision and commitment to our employees. Those of us that remain here see areas where we can leverage the business and hope something will change to give us a chance to change the outcome. Friday, February 11, 2011 I SO agree with the blogger who talks about the total lack of engagement in IRNE. Back in the late 80s, I learned about the principle, 'always treat your employees exactly as you want them to treat your best customers'. If you do this, and treat employees as volunteers, in just the same way as customers are volunteers, you will win their hearts and minds. People's loyalty, creativity, ingenuity and resourcefulness is in their hearts and minds and, boy, does this business need all of the latter. Very little of it actually exists. Unfortunately this well-understood management concept seems to have completely passed by the 'leadership' team (word used loosely) in IRNE. At the moment, IRNE is a desperately unhappy place to be because people-management is not made a priority in this business. People are beginning to act like volunteers and some of the most creative, ingenious and resourceful people are leaving or wish to leave. When your talent, upon which the whole business is based, is so disheartened, I don't think the business can be saved. Reluctanty, it is time to move on, and I recommend that everyone should do this. Friday, February 11, 2011 The post, about the 'psychological contract' being broken in IRNE, is a good observation. For all of the faults of the previous exec., they were all experienced people with empathy for the railways and did realise the importance of the engineers in the business and tried to communicate with them. There is nothing wrong with having a business focus, but the current exec is so short of experience in this industry they really 'don't know what they are doing'. It is fixable by the hiring of a few seasoned professionals at the top, with good people leadership skills. The mix in the exec is wrong, and that is at the heart of IRNE's problem. Crossfield needs to eat humble-pie and get some people in who understand what we do. I fear he is in the process of destroying a 100+ year business out of ignorance rather than anything else. Thursday, February 10, 2011 Is it just my observation, or is this weblog starting to resemble the general feeling around Invensys? The negative feeling seems to be taking on a life of its own. I don't believe I have read anything too positive [if at all] in the past few posts. I have a simple message: If it's not positive, don't post it. Having participated in team sports during my adult life and experiencing both the highs and lows, it only takes a single victory to turn around a defeatists mentality. Let's look for that victory and focus on that for a change. Thursday, February 10, 2011 It seems like this site has become a place to 'whine' about other offices. Therefore I would like to take this opportunity to take to task the individual who claims that Birmingham design office spend five hours a week on the internet. First, how does that individual know this? Second, how sad must that individual be to put that statement on this blog! Have you got a life? (Seems we are are resorting to insults). If you have an issue with certain offices, then at least have the common courtesy to come out from behind this blog. For your information, the Birmingham design office is slowly but surely having the life squeezed out of it by management who are slowly stripping it of its staff; York is seen as their preferred choice for UK based design. Once again, if you have the courage to come out and state your name, then send me your contact details and I will gladly talk with you in person on this matter. I would imagine you would struggle to take me up on this offer, as you probably lack the basic social skills necessary. Thursday, February 10, 2011 The main problem with IRNE is that the all-important psychological contract between its employees and the company is broken, and Crossfield and crew don't have a clue how to fix it - in fact, they don't even understand it, probably think that engaging your staff and building trust is just some HR thing rather than a business thing, without realising that it is what differentiates great companies from average and poor ones. I suspect that the HR VP has given up banging her head against a brick wall in trying to convince them, and so is heading off to a company that understands that you can't treat your people like cattle. Crossfield and crew could do with doing a bit of research about how to be leaders and how to get your staff on board and committed, rather than treating them like an afterthought. Thursday, February 10, 2011 What the R&D person doesn't realise is that the few of us holding things together are working from 7:30am until after 6pm, almost every day and occasional hours on weekends, with no overtime and lower salaries than him. This work actually gets paid for by customers, as opposed to being a burden. This is required to make up for the web-surfers and flexi-timers! Thursday, February 10, 2011 The person who thinks R&D people only work 25 hours a week needs to look a bit harder. The vast majority of R&D staff are working well in excess of their contractual hours, most without any over-time pay. Yes, there are people who arrive at 9:30, but these are the same people who are still there at 7pm. And there are those that leave at 4:30, but they are the ones that start at 7:30 am and work right through lunch. Wednesday, February 9, 2011 Clearly Rail has some issues. Hopefully they will fix them. However I cannot understand the general plc overheads. They have moved into a bigger, much more expensive office complex in London, compared to the previous rather low key office. People like Ulf have houses in Miami, yet work in London; Freburger and his whole (very expensive) team live thousands of miles from any Invensys office, so how does that work? Does the company spend millions of dollars flying senior staff from their homes to where they are paid to work? Remind me how this affects productivity? The usual double standards from Ulf and his henchmen. One rule for them and to hell with the working staff. Wednesday, February 9, 2011 - To "seriously worried": I thought the post was fairly accurate. It doesn't say we haven't got the ability. It simply says that these are the areas we need to focus on. To be honest I tend to agree as it is our core skill and let's face it we are not exactly winning loads of work right now. Our Westcad business and manufacturing is very profitable. The overheads must be too high with all the offices we have, but we shall have to see what Network Rail business we win in the future. This is a good business but needs to address it's core problems. We all know that some projects have people that spend half the day surfing the net and chatting. People that then also claim overtime. If we are honest we know it's true. In Birmingham, there are employees that don't put even 30 hours a week. In R&D in Chippenham, the staff rarely put in 25 hours a week. It's embarrassing to watch them strolling in between 9 and 10 am yet leaving before 4:30pm. Try and find their Director after 4:30pm. You won't. Address the real problems and this is a good business. Wednesday, February 9, 2011 Read Jim Pinto's latest column in Automation World, February 2011. This specifically discusses reasons why anonymous weblogs are so popular.
During a period of recession, leadership skills are truly challenged. The solutions derive from strong management, which motivates good people to do what it takes to win during tough times. Mechanisms must be created for the workforce to share their feelings. It's the bad times that make good companies so much better during the good times. Wednesday, February 9, 2011 I'm seriously worried now - one of Tuesday's bloggers says that rail can't do R & D, Engineering or Project Management. Oh. Better pack up and go home, since these 3 things are supposed to be what the business does. Or rather doesn't do.... Tuesday, February 8, 2011 The problems in IRNE are clear to anyone with an objective view. Firstly, R&D is too expensive, delivers late and usually with a long list of problems that need further work. Will Spain do any better ? We shall see. Secondly, Engineering is very inefficient. Designs are regularly late on both mainline and mass transit projects and have cost over runs. Project Management capability varies from average to poor. We've had several change programs over the years, but nothing has really changed. Unless these issues are addressed then redundancies will only make things worse. Tuesday, February 8, 2011 What IRNE Exec? Crossfield is clueless; the VP of Finance wants to leave; the VP of HR is leaving; threre is no VP for Project Delivery; no Operations representation; an interim VP for Commercial; no EHS representation and no R&D representation. Only the VP of Engineering has any experience. This lot are led by a COO with no understanding of this business, or for that matter any project engineering business. Is anyone surprised by the total lack of strategy or direction? Tuesday, February 8, 2011 - RE: Software quality in IOM is at an all time low: That's good for Invensys-Cognizant partnership; development jobs are safe with more patches, and this adds to Cognizant's profits quarter by quarter. Tuesday, February 8, 2011 This is getting depressing! People keep saying what will happen; I can't see this change. Will it happen all in one day? Tuesday, February 8, 2011 Apparently it is true about R & D. Having spent £ millions on a strategy to create a global R&D department for Rail over the past 2 years, and hiring lots of highly skilled engineers, it's mostly going from the UK to Spain with the loss of jobs in the UK. So much for a strategic approach. Just one example of the many changes in direction that are not thought through, and are based on the views of some paper-pusher who thinks it's cheaper for it to be done in Spain, while missing the bigger picture altogether. Spain will fall over within months, since they can't cope with the work they are doing now. How IS Sao Paulo doing? Tuesday, February 8, 2011 Most of the IRNE staff posting blogs here are not 'moaners' or 'whiners'. They are deeply frustrated at a lack of leadership, the constant change in 'strategy' and having to watch a business to which they have devoted their lives going down the drain. The problem is that this weblog is the only outlet available to people, since the leadership teams are not interested in the reality of people's experience. In Rail, most execs do anything they can possibly do to avoid talking to a person who actually works on the front line. Has Nick Crossfield ever spoken to an employee on a one-to-one basis just to listen to what is happening and what they think and feel about the business? Very doubtful, since he either looks through people, actively avoids them, or gives them the most disdainful looks. He mirrors his style on the now invisible Drummond. While the management style is based on actively avoiding any engagement with its people, then these blogs are sure to continue. Tuesday, February 8, 2011 I was told today that the UK Rail HR VP resigned last year and leaves soon. Apparently the VP Finance also says openly that the UK business is "a basket-case" and wants to leave. I think he has only been here a month or two. HR have always been a charade in Invensys. I've worked here more than 15 years and it's been a joke from day one. However now it appears cynical as opposed to just incompetent. How long before the real financial truth comes out and Ulf's financial bubble bursts? Tuesday, February 8, 2011 The Invensys values, as everyone knows, are an HR charade. They mean nothing, have no relevance in practice, and when an employee attempts to live them, there's an arrogant snicker from management. Our future depends on a leadership change, from home office through to the business leadership in each Invensys unit. Since Ulf himself is unwilling to act, the board must respond soon to avoid a potentially devastating results for the shareholders and employees. Tuesday, February 8, 2011 There is no TEAM in Invensys Rail. This has been caused by execs who are permanently looking over their shoulder (i.e. backwards) rather than looking forward and planning for success. The current batch of execs just hide behind their computer screens. As for leadership at IRG it is even worse, you cannot even enter their inner sanctum. Tuesday, February 8, 2011 Software quality in IOM is at an all time low. A lot of packages can't even be installed without major support intervention. There are so many fixes in work - it's laughable. Monday, February 7, 2011 Rail is about to stop all global R&D, instead going back to four local cottage industries. IRNE is about to make half of the R&D staff redundant. You call that progress? Monday, February 7, 2011 Not in Invensys it isn't. Here it's a case of whether Ulf likes you. There is no integrity, no meritocracy, performance is about PowerPoint, and courage gets you fired. Ulf and others of his inner circle would not survive in any other FTSE100 company. That's why they are still here, milking what personal gains they can. Monday, February 7, 2011 Overcome your fears in private? How did that work out for the Egyptian people? It's a new era of transparency, and progressive leaders will embrace, rather than suppress it. Monday, February 7, 2011 Finally some sense on this weblob regarding the UK rail business. Life ain't so bad, and its time to get going and come together as a team. Leaders come and go, some bad and some good. The only real constant is the talent in the business. In a time of economic uncertainty for most of the world, it is pathetic to hear comfortably-off people in IRL whining and moaning at how bad their lot is. Get behind the leadership and shape up or ship out; or take the consequences. Sunday, February 6, 2011 Then you have those who defend the whining, which is even worse. Overcome your fears in private, not online. Saturday, February 5, 2011 Many in upper management like to call bloggers "whiners". But the truth is that the bloggers tell the very truth that the leaders don't want spoken. Blogs are the worst nightmare for CEO's, Boards and the shareholders. The blog should be welcomed by the very entities that despise the blog. A real leader would address the issues brought up in the blog. American corporations have very few real leaders. Jeff Immelt is an exception. Saturday, February 5, 2011 The last blogs are correct: the future of Rail Europe is in the hands of those who accept change and can make it happen. Friday, February 4, 2011 I totally agree with the last blogger, You will never move foward and be a progressive individual, or business, by continuosly living in the past. The very few in the Rail business who constantly whine and moan, bring down the effort of the majority who are hard working and come to work to do a good job and earn a living for their families. The whiners are the unproductive, who sit in corners and gossip; they should be written-up for poor performance and be shown the door. The current exec. is working hard to turn around this business. Yes, there are challenges, but with your support and positive behaviour, their efforts will be successful. So whiners, start working and stop whining. Friday, February 4, 2011 The weblog comments on Rail make such depressing reading. Bloggers seem so angry and obsessed by the past, even with people who left months ago. Makes you wonder what sad bitter lives they must have. The Rail business is going through a tough time, but it has a great pedigree, is fundementally strong, respected by clients and full of talented hard-working people. Sure, the leadership has changed a lot, but the negative bloggers on this site need to look in the mirror as well. If it is so bad, if they don't like the leadership, just leave. There are plenty of other organisations to work for in the UK rail industry. Life is too short for this negative stuff. It's time for the positive pro-active folk in Rail to stand up and weed out the whiners who are day-by-day destroying your business. Thursday, February 3, 2011 Just when it looked like IOM would turn its software group around by finally replacing the terrible head of development, the chap who replaces him turns out to be worse. Mr Outsource himself. So much for new products. So much for happy customers. Time to polish up the resume, I'd say. Thursday, February 3, 2011 Instead of worrying about who got the UK Rail Group's business in a mess and trying to lay blame, I suggest more time and effort should be spent on getting the business turned around. The new COO isn't perfect, and he certainly has his faults, but the focus should be on business improvement goals, NOT on the next person to blame. Thursday, February 3, 2011 - To the person who posted on 12th December: "The problem is that the more experienced engineering staff create a bad atmosphere within the company by constantly moaning about the management." As a senior engineer I can tell you nobody with Red Book is daft enough to expect ever to receive such a deal, although some have in the past. I would welcome the company taking up your idea on getting rid of the high-paid morale-sappers by redundancy. Why not place your idea in the suggestion box? At the same time I suggest you start looking for alternative employment or maybe book yourself on a relevant training course. Thursday, February 3, 2011 Alistair McPhee and Mark Wild did not create the mess at Rail. They had both grown up in Rail and know the business well. It was James Drummond who created the mess through his appalling management style and totally unrealistic expectations, and continual efforts to do whatever he could to protect his own image with Ulf. The man would kill his grandmother if he thought doing so would save his skin. He surrounds himself with yes-men, mafia-like - Alistair and Mark had enough of being yes-men and went. Wednesday, February 2, 2011 The problem in Rail is that the UK leadership needs some big hitters. After the disastrous Alistair McPhee and Mark Wild mess, some big figures are required. Crossfield needs some heavy weights as he is clearly clueless on his own. Drummond appears to have left and there is a vacuum. Riddett is a joke if you research him. Rail is in trouble. Tuesday, February 1, 2011 My advice to IOM is to not outsource your critical business to offshore team (CTS). CTS can handle only medium/low level business. This practice was followed since 2002. In case, if IOM outsources its critical business, the output of the critical business from offshore team (CTS) is: "Invensys is under its competitor's radar." Tuesday, February 1, 2011 Well, Plymouth has already started transferring product to Slovakia. so why stop with a price sensitive product such as a thermostat? Rail is a different story, as it's saffety critical and complex. We shall see. Monday, January 31, 2011 I don't know much about the Plymouth, UK plant. I would be much more worried about the Rail plant in the UK. It must be a candidate for shipping off to a low cost country. I hear that the senior staffers have been China to look at options. Kevin Ridett likes low cost countries and is happy to ship staff out to make way for cheaper staff. Monday, January 31, 2011 Ivensys Rail in the UK has to be the most depressing and demoralising place to work. Staff are kept in the dark about what's going on and there is no communication. Nick Crossfield told all the staff that the business was going down the tubes back in October and that he had 6 months to save it. What's happenend? Are we saved? You find out more on this blog than you do from the management, who are treating staff with disdain. I suppose that we haven't been saved, otherwise we would havebee told. Just have to wait for the job cuts then. Monday, January 31, 2011 I have to disagree with the poster who says that Nick Crossfield is saving engineering jobs. Nick is a businessman and will do whatever it takes to increase profitability and will not think about staff jobs. He was all set to make 80 redundant before Christmas, and now it could be up to 200. Remember that his boss is now Kevin Ridett and he will want to please him, and Kevin will want drastic job cuts, off shoring, outsourcing and anything else to save costs, based on what happened in the US. Watch out, Invensys Rail in the UK - this is the lull before the storm and engineering won't get special treatment. Friday, January 28, 2011 I left Invensys Controls a while ago, but at that time the plant in Slovakia did not have a great deal of excess space. Certainly not enough to accomodate the Plymouth facility. I personnally do not think that this would be considered as one of the more desirable places to do business, compared to the UK which is one of the better places in Europe to do business. Wage rates are reasonable in the UK, compared to the continent. There is a disadvantage relative to eastern Europe, but it would be far down the list compared to facilities in Italy and Germany. I would not spend a lot of time dwelling on this. Thursday, January 27, 2011 Rumour is that Invensys is exiting all UK manufacturing with the Plymouth Controls plant, moving to a half empty plant in Slovakia. Can anyone confirm? Saturday, January 22, 2011 Is it Kevin Riddett you are referring to ? From what I know, he has been in the COO role since the end of November last year; but I have never seen him. I agree that Nick Crossfied has been trying to protect the UK engineering skill base. I suppose we are about to see what Riddett knows about the complexity of a long-cycle project engineering business. From his background it looks like nothing. Friday, January 21, 2011 In fairness to Nick Crossfield, he has tried to protect jobs and the engineering skill base. I'm no fan, but I think this is true. However we will probably now see the American, with no project engineering background destroy what little value is left. From what the Safetran team say, he was in the right place at the right time. He comes in as the customer base started ordering 3 times the volume compared to prior years. Just more volume making things look good. Thursday, January 20, 2011 The wheels have come off the business...
Tell us something that the staff haven't known for ages. Looks like the beginning of the end. Thursday, January 20, 2011
Invensys Drops Most in 14 Months as Unit Profit Falls Invensys fell the most in 14 months in London trading after third-quarter operating profit declined in its controls division on "softening" demand. The stock dropped as much as 29.2 pence, or 8.2%, the biggest intraday loss since November 2009, and traded at 331.8 pence, a 7.2% decline, as of 11:16 a.m. The stock has risen 8.2% in the past year, giving the company a market value of 2.69 billion GBP ($4.3 billion). The controls division "experienced some softening in demand, particularly in North America," in the three months through December, the London-based company said today in a statement. That "resulted in a small decline in revenue and operating profit" before exceptional items compared with the year-earlier period. Chief Executive Officer Ulf Henriksson said in November the company will keep the lower-margin controls unit, though it has limited synergies with the industrial and railway-software divisions. Analysts previously criticized the combination of businesses, with some saying the controls unit's sale would make Invensys a more attractive takeover target. Invensys said orders declined year-on-year in the rail division, the company's largest, "reflecting the uneven order intake" as Invensys awaits the outcome of bids for several large contracts. Wednesday, January 19, 2011 IRNE is dead in the water. Apparently Nick Crossfield is having another go at trying to re-structure the company and lots of jobs are supposed to be going. It's Nick's last chance to make an impact, having failed to do so at all in the past 6 months, and so it looks like it will be a deep slash and burn to save his skin. He's doomed to failure, since he couldn't lead the proverbial in a brewery, and doesn't appear to have the first idea how to manage big change. So it looks likely that he will be sent packing too. IRNE hasn't won a major order for months, with SSL winning everything, there'll soon not be enough work for people to do, and the best engineers are leaving. What IS keeping the share price up? Can only be thoughts of a takeover. Wednesday, January 19, 2011 Rail is in trouble. Controls? IOM has issues everywhere. In the last six months we have had 3 VP's resign in North America; what do they know that we don't? The integration of Wonderware, IPS, and Eurotherm started over 24 months ago, and absoluting nothing has changed positively for our customers or the employees. The North America IOM team is to the end of their ropes, and I know more and planning on departing. There won't be much left when the individuals that have been holding the business together depart. We have lost two senior level leaders in sales, even though our numbers are ahead of plan. Why leave unless they can see something we don't? Our President is rarely here (at HQ), and he doesn't communicate anything to anyone. We have learn through the rumor mill and other executives. It is not just rail. IOM is heading down a path with no recovery. Wednesday, January 19, 2011 This delay in payment is coming from on-high at PLC, but then is implimented at local level. RIP Westinghouse is absolutely right. When I joined the company it was cash-rich and was always seeking out deals to lower prices including shortening terms if need be. The cash cow has been well and truly milked by Invensys Rail Group which is now a sponge for any money made at local level. £ Millions being paid into the IRG element for little or no real benefit. Monday, January 17, 2011
There seem to be an increasing number of reasons to bail out of Invensys. Friday, January 14, 2011 I left IRNE nearly two years ago, mainly due to the lack of any effective leadership and the constant focus on re-invention through completely meaningless strategy initiatives. These "promised" to deliver real change to invigorate the business, but delivered nothing (but the teams were full of overpaid ill-experienced amateurs). It seems from the blogs on here that the old exec have all been cleared out (a good thing in my opinion) but have been replaced with equally incompetent individuals with no "backbone". This is all such a shame for a company that has always had great engineering capability - RIP Westinghouse. Wednesday, January 12, So Rail is for sale? The HQ is being broken up and put in the business units. It's value has been completely wasted by Invensys Plc, to prop up other parts of the group; and now completely used, it is being discarded. Ulf has only a short-term view that suits his $6m a year personal salary. Tuesday, January 11, 2011 The delay in paying suppliers at Rail is despite significant improvements to payment terms last time around - really worrying times when combined with the earlier trails below. Hold on to your hats folks! And yet the share price still holds up and holds up at a very high point - shareholders beware. Friday, January 7, 2011 The delayed payments are only the tip of the iceberg. Invensys is now facing a difficult situation. Over the past three years the order book as grown significantly. Unfortunately, that order book has a significant amount of deals that Invensys cannot deliver at the order value they quoted to the customers. In addition, many of those implementations are now failing due to the lack of expertise left within the organisation. Many customers are imposing penalties and short payments due to the poor quality and missed milestones. This is not unique to the Rail Group. IOM over the past three years has taken on a number of deals that are in the same position. What is even more concerning is the $800 million dollars in deals they won in China for Nuclear Power Plants; those deployments are now happening and there will be significant issues with those deals. Be very careful dealing with Invensys; what you see floating at the surface is only a small fraction of what lies below. Thursday, January 6, 2011 - from UK Daily Telegraph:
Invensys Rail delays payments to suppliers The decision has been heavily criticised by suppliers who now face further financial pressure after a fallow period of new works from Network Rail, which owns and operates the rail infrastructure. It also contrasts with moves by Network Rail to reduce the time it takes to commission and pay suppliers like Invensys for work. For one supplier this meant a near doubling of payment terms. "Invensys was already one of the worst payers on 55 days and now it's another 30 days." Monday, January 3, 2011 The only reason the California offices are there is because you have some upper management that wont move to Plano. The system architects are spread around, as well as project managers. Watch what happens to this group as it will be the tea leaves to read. Marketing is mostly remote, as is sales. Delivery and support can all be done somewhere else as well. By mid-March, expect the next round like each year. Friday, December 17, 2010 Does anyone in Foxboro know Chet Mroz? How is he? He just landed at Yokogawa as CEO. Friday, December 17, 2010 - Re: "But I've personally handed out a lot of 10, 15, and 30 year awards over the past 7 years. They stayed around for something..." Because people who've been here for even 10 years aren't the kind to switch to other companies casually. They're often the ones who are scared to move, don't think they could cut it at another company, or don't want to have to start working hard. One boor I know in the Wonderware offices has been pretty incompetent at everything he's ever done here, but he socializes well with people above him and knows everyone after all these years. His talent is knowing when to move to another group to avoid redundancy. He's still here, still incompetent and still moving around from department to department every few years. Wednesday, December 15, 2010 - News from Controls Europe: Does anybody know the strategy of Controls in Europe? Do they stop to play with figures and power point presentations? Sooner or later Balcunas will understand it. Wednesday, December 15, 2010 Inept management at it's best. That's all that can explain Invensys. Nothing else explains the demise of a product that one ruled the petrochemical industry. Have a life preserver reday for the sinking day because it will be everyone for themselves. Tuesday, December 14, 2010 - News from Controls Europe: The progressive disappearance of Invensys from the market is continuing; no new contracts, traditional customers moving to competitors, strong reduction of organisation ongoing, continous loss of know-how. Uauuuhh, great strategy Balcunas and Henriksson! Can someone explain this way of letting the company die slowly? What is the value for the shareholders? Tuesday, December 14, 2010 The COMPANY does not care about loyalty. Everyone is dispensable and replaceable with overseas slave labor. It's the reality that the Republicants created. Big breaks for corporate America and fat cats translate into bad times for US employees. Monday, December 13, 2010 A management which focuses on Short term financial gains is one which would like to loot the company treasure and disappear. They care (understand) little about LOYALTY. Monday, December 13, 2010 Invensys has come a long way - maybe not with the most comfortable approach but with great financial results. Sustainable success starts with happy customers who buy more and give good reference. This is what we need now. Customer success breeds financial success for the future. Short term financial focus makes management happy and loyal employees and owners unhappy. Sunday, December 12, 2010 WILL FOXBORO get SUN Ultraspac IIIi machines for I/A 8.0? . I came to know that Sun is going to use Intel chips in future for DESKTOP machines. It looks like SOLARIS on MESH (I/A 8.0) will have no takers. Sunday, December 12, 2010 The problem with invensys staff is that the more experienced engineering staff create a bad atmosphere within the company by constantly moaning about the management. If it is so bad then leave! Not likely to happen as most engineering staff are over paid and waiting for the never-to-happen red-book redundancy package. Whenever redundancies are mentioned, staff who have red-book find out what they would be paid and do nothing about it. It's as if they are chasing the mythical lottery win, and planning what to do with the cash before they have it! The company should get rid of the high paid morale sappers and invest in in-depth, relevant training Saturday, December 11, 2010 Ulf, Farr, Cote - they are all cut of the same cloth. The grass is not greener on the other side. I interviewed with Invensys last year and thought they had a good plan, but they never offered me a job. I used it for leverage in my current job with EPM. Did the trick for me. They use us and in return we must use them for our own gains. Saturday, December 11, 2010 Regarding the last post on domain expereince, you forgot Condition Based Monitoriong with Mtelligence and Mimosa, Asset Management with Avantis is done outside of california, the hmi engine for Wonderware industrial computers for CE done by Indusoft, and Skelta for workflow-done in India. Now, with all of these applications and the others below you cant help wonder why customers consider our solutions heavy and difficult to manage with so many different databases, configuration, reports, communications. The ArchestrA infrastructure is barely leveraged in most application cases and adds far more complexitiy and resources for the majority of projects where customers want just performance and production on top of exsisitng systems. It will be unlikely that these applications can become native and the duplicity remove for customers. So the California R&D is left over only to serve that infrastructure but has absolutely no industry or application domain left. Friday, December 10, 2010 - Sub: To close the Invensys R&D facilities: If some one thinks there would not be any problem on closing the Invensys R&D facilities by outsourcing to third party companies, I say outsource the Invensys Top Level Management. That should automatically solve the problem; or SELL Invensys - who ever buys it would checkout the garbage that has been accumulating in the organization at all levels, more in the recent past. Friday, December 10, 2010 It is feasible to close the California facility. Domain experience is not the key element that makes California R&D unique. Much is outsourced already to third party companies with their own domain experience. Plant communications: outsourced to Kepware, and very little to no investment into OPC by Invensys. Alarming: outsourcing to PAS; Version Control and managment: outsourcing to MDT and PAS; Manufacturing intelligence: outsourced to Tableau; Production Managment: sourced from previous Facteligence engineers in PA; Mobile: outsourced; Reporting: outsourced: HMI: India, etc. So I don't get the managers comment on domain, other than system architects and project managers which is what makes up most of the staff. Seems like its very self-serving to make a domain claim. Infrastructure is the only application being developed in the California center. Friday, December 10, 2010 - RE: closing of the California R&D facility: If there is any thought to close the Invensys R&D facilities based on the Cognizant capabilities, it's suicidal. If it comes to that stage, better sell out Invensys. Cognizant is facing an exodus (bright and experienced talent) from the Invensys ODC and the organization is unable to control this. Thursday, December 9, 2010 The information on the closing of the California R&D facility is completely bogus. I have personally seen the numbers for this and it is not feasible. The Cognizant teams are not working on anything even remotely 'domain-specific'. Not only are the engineers in california safe, but new hires are also being made in California. Anyone who knows anything about outsourcing knows there would not be new engineering hires in California if the talent was available at Cognizant. As for the slash-n-burn mentality. The Invensys Local Bonus Program reaches down far enough to touch real people, not just VPs. It was nice to have a President who actually generated those bonuses for everyone, not just brought in more touchy-feely crap. As for the people that left, it is very interesting that the people left here predicted almost exactly who would leave and who wouldn't. If even the regular employees know someone should be released, then I dont mourn the loss. Doom and gloom is easy to forecast, and engineers whining over management is nothing new nor will it ever stop. But I've personally handed out a lot of 10, 15, and 30 year awards over the past 7 years. They stayed around for something... Tuesday, December 7, 2010 Invensys did a remarkable turnaround by managing cost and increasing focus. Now the wallet is full and it is time to grow again faster than the market. How is the current managment capable in enabling innovation and risk taking in daily business? Now it is the time to show our experience and grow again because we know better than our competition what our customers need just now. Let us go for it! Our traditional customers would love to see us come back. And they will help us when we show initiative. Tuesday, December 7, 2010 What is the "story" with Invensys Rail and CSR? Is it a marrage made in heaven or hell? Partnership or CSR purchase? I worked for K. Riddett and have some interesting background on this guy. I just have to get them organized for this site. Saturday, December 4, 2010 It is time to hold on to your hats, chaps. Kevin Riddett will definitely slash and burn. Watch for compulsory redundancies very very soon in UK Rail after the voluntary route only generated a small number (50-ish I heard). It is no longer a good place to be I would suggest. As for JD - watch this space, as I suspect he will have his golden handshake by end-March; probably £1M for screwing things up - not a bad days work. Other have also left at the so-called Director level recently, with huge payouts after cock-ups too! Friday, December 3, 2010 Well, you have to give Ulf credit for being consistent in his leadership choices. Drive costs down, screw innovation, hell with human capital, let's get those margins up so we can sell this bag of bolts. What an a-hole he must be in person. Thursday, December 2, 2010 Those posting about the assignment of Kevin Riddett as the new Invensys Rail COO have not done their homework. This "unknown American" is coming from Invensys Rail North America. Mr. Riddett is no new-comer to Europe. Prior to IRNA, he was CEO of Pirelli Tires in the US and Italy and CEO of Union Switch and Signal/Ansaldo. Mr. Riddett may be unknown to many because his expertise is as corporate "Hatchet Man". Hatchet Men have a tendency to keep a low profile, to enable them to operate with stealth before their unsuspecting victims realize they are about to meet their doom. Mr. Riddett's two year tenure as Invensys' hand-picked President of IRNA has resulted in a sizable number of our work force outsourced to India, China, and Mexico. 130 union manufacturing employees, many with up to 30 years experience, were shown the door as the operation was relocated from California to a little town in Kentucky, using non-union employees with no rail experience, working for 40% less than their California counterparts. Those 130 California employees were told by Mr. Riddett that their jobs were secure, just six months prior to the announcement of the move. R&D has been cut by 25% with the possibility of more in the future. The remnant of engineers, are working 50 to 70 hour weeks (they are exempt, so no overtime) with impossible deadlines to maintain. Miss your deadline and find yourself in the parking lot with a box of your personal belongings. With the depressed job market, many are left with no other choice but endure and hope something better comes along. It is rumored that the California R&D operation will disappear when the building lease is up in 2012; however management insists this is not the case. This gives the Cognizant "visiting" personnel another year or so to continue on-the-job training from the engineers they have been assigned to shadow. It is all about cutting costs, regardless of how much quality and customer service suffers. One of the posts stated "it looks like a new low". Believe me, Invensys Rail UK is about to see how low it can go. To my colleagues in the UK, update those resumes as the Grim Reaper is coming to town! Thursday, December 2, 2010 As a loyal Invensys employee I dislike this site. However the last post is a real issue. Those producing positive PowerPoints and moving on before the lack of results are seen, are well rewarded. It's the Honeywell way. Riddett is basically hated in the US operation in Louisville, and has been lucky through our US government-spending package. He has been in the right place at the right time. Now watch how he deals with a real challenge! Thursday, December 2, 2010 We all need to remember that Ulf - and his HR wunderkind Paula - have proven to be utterly terrible judges of talent and leadership ability. This is just another in a string of poor organizational choices that this gruesome twosome has made. Wednesday, December 1, 2010 The decision to appoint the unknown American to head up rail cannot be a decision made by James; he is being pushed out. He is in the departure lounge and Ulf is just being kind and letting him hang about a bit before he heads off, having mortally wounded the rail business. The appointment of Kevin Ridett is a worry. He runs what was a mainly factory operation, and has never run a complex projects business. Hang on to your hats, engineers, the bumpy ride's not over. Wednesday, December 1, 2010 Well, looks like a new low. An American nobody has been brought in to run the Rail business. From what I can see he has zero understanding of the business. He has successfully run a little manufacturing operation based totally in the US that makes up 20% of the Rail sales and less than that of profit. He is now the main-man for the future of a global Rail projects business. Kevin Riddett? Who is he and what credibility has he with customers like Network Rail? Wednesday, December 1, 2010 Drummond has finally admitted he can't cope, so he has brought in an American manager to do most of his work. Either that, or he has realised he might have been finally found out and has brought in a new fall-guy. Fortunately we have a fundamentally excellent company of engineers who get things done despite the management team. Tuesday, November 23, 2010 So guys, how is it going ? Has Rail imploded as stated in previous blogs? Or was Ulf right all along? Has the company been put up for sale as suggested first by Ulf, then denied after he got slapped down by the board? What is happening? Monday, November 22, 2010 Hello Rail Group Executive. What's going on? There has been NO communication from any senior leader in the UK for weeks and weeks, since the new MD told us what a horrible mess he's inherited and what a hard tieme he's having. What about us, the engineers out front who are trying to deliver projects despite what you're doing? Or are you determined to let mushroom management do its worst? I guess so. Monday, November 22, 2010 We won't be better off if we get taken over. Acquisitions are fraught with danger and we're not in good enough shape in any division to be able to deal with it. Trying to go through integration processes at the moment would be disastrous, and almost impossible to unpick the mess we have at the moment. Monday, November 22, 2010 It is appropriate that we (Invensys) should give a good re-look into the on-going tie-up with Cognizant. Cognizant is just managing the show, with the help of favored folks at Invensys, than really helping us to build good quality products. Most of the deliverables from Cognizant ODC have either quality issues or missed deadlines or both, AOD we can conclude that erstwhile IDC performed better. Reliable sources in ODC reveal, current EMS management there is improving its grip further on this engagement by tranferring most of the work to Chennai. Instead they would be better-off when the quality of the deliverables is improved and the good talent is retained. AOD, lot of good and experienced talent left this engagement and we have experienced consequences. We can be better-off if some one takes over Invensys, undoubtedly they would clean-up all the messed-up engagements and the leadership. Thursday, November 18, 2010 - Re: Is Invensys different from any other automation vendor? The problem with figuring out what makes any automation systems different from another is you have to go into the details of the solution. Marketing has to dumb it down to value; but once that is done, you are left with me-too messages. I would suggest look at customers' success first. Get references on support and delivery; do a good technical evaluation and history; and frankly ignore the marketing BS because anyone can blow their own horn well. Focus on your knockout criteria first and be hard on them regarding the cost of supporting and maintaining the infrastructure and systems. Many times it requires several more servers than you expect and is not one platforms and databases but many that are just branded as one. Thursday, November 18, 2010 In response to the stock option question, you really need to contact the Corporate Secretary's office in London. This all depends on the date and plan that the options were granted under. I am a former employee as well who has old options. I don't believe the company has issued options for quite a few years having moved to stock grants. Keep in mind that the most recent event was a reverse split so when you are looking at a current price of £3 you could be comparing this to an option price of £0.3 so it could be well under water. I suspect this is probably the case. Wednesday, November 17, 2010 I am a former employee of Invensys and was issued employee stock options prior to the stock split. Does anyone know the date and details of the stock split? Also, does anyone know whether or not we can excercise these options? Thanks. Wednesday, November 17, 2010 Having been to OpsManage in Paris, there is a question that bothers me: In what sense is Invensys different from any other automation vendor? The stories from all of them that I have heard are utterly similar. I need to know who's story it is I am listening to on different venues. And they are all just stories? No real customer cases to stand up and show the end-user value. For the most part, as a customer, I do not see many collegues actually buying this stuff. Is there a market for enterprice control systems? Who is leading the market as the customer, and who as the supplier? If you can help me here I would be very grateful. Tuesday, November 16, 2010 A few of our people noticed that there was no third-party blog on ArchestrA or IAS, so they created one. In the first two weeks, we've already had over 1000 views. Here is a brief description:
(Click) Archestra/IAS blog: archestranaut.avidsolutionsinc.com
Monday, November 15, 2010 Matters in the Rail group in the UK continue to deteriorate. Apparently Drummond has parachuted his own team in above the heads of the local executive to slash and burn - doesn't show much confidence in the new MD or his new team. Monday, November 15, 2010 I too am astonised by Ulf's denial to staff today. He appears to be quoted directly in Saturday's Daily Telegraph in what also appears to be an interview with the reporter. Monday, November 15, 2010 Ulf lining his pockets before departure. The eventual 11% rise in stock will have made him millions of dollars. Unbelievable especially as the situation is dire. Monday, November 15, 2010 What an extraordinary event. CEO of a FTSE 100 company, Invensys, tells the press that he thinks a Chinese rail company could buy out his business. The share price goes up 10%, making him a small fortune. Then his board of directors deny everything! I'm astonished Ulf hasn't been fired for one of the worst examples of misinformation on a very price-sensitive subject. Monday, November 15, 2010 Nowadays, the China Government seems to have deep pockets. Like Volvo Cars, which is being sold to Zhejiang Geely Automotive Group, why not Invensys? Volvo cars now has a much bigger "playing field" as compared to the past. Invensys has some core automation technologies and expertises that are involved in railway controls, nuclear plant etc. These are some of the areas that China Government are looking at to help move China massive infrastructures forward in direction, design and expertise. If the sales DOES go through to CSR, Emerson, Honeywell, ABB and others can fight it out in the ever-difficult and shrinking core process and instrumentation control market worldwide. When they trying to "diversify" their core automation business in China, they will most likely never get any good projects in these areas. Don't be also surprised that the China government "can sponsor" green field projects to "friendly" third world governments somehow, via Invensys technologies. Don't talk about export restriction of technologies by the US Government. Lets' face it. It was never easy to enforce. Emerson can still have links and still "sell" into Iran - as can be read in the Emerson blog. In the newpapers and the media, there seemed to be a lot of resentment against China - I feel out of admiration, fear and jealousy. On paper, CSR buying Invensys is not such a bad thing - at this moment in time. At least, it ensures survivalbility in Invensys core products for the time being. At least, with the rumored takeover, Invensy can hope to get rid of some of the "one dimensional" top management - like Sudipta, Pankaj etc. - which is just like the recently concluded New Dehli Commonwealth Games debacle: Talk a lot, delivered very little. Monday, November 15, 2010 Bloomberg - Invensys Shares Rise After CEO Says Company May Be Acquired Nov. 15 (Bloomberg) -- Invensys Plc advanced as much as 8.9 percent in London trading after the Daily Telegraph reported that the company may be a takeover target by Chinese railcar maker CSR Corp., citing Chief Executive Officer Ulf Henriksson. The shares rose as much as 28.2 pence to 347 pence, the most since Nov. 4. CSR has the ìpossibilityî of buying Invensys, the newspaper reported, citing the Invensys CEO. Officials at CSR werenít immediately available to comment on the report when contacted by Bloomberg News. To contact the editor responsible for this story: Benedikt Kammel at bkammel@bloomberg.net Monday, November 15, 2010 Rumours in UK rail business are of 100 + jobs to go due to profit write offs this year. Sunday, November 14, 2010 Well according to Ulf, we are going to be sold to a Chinese rail company. I suspect this is just a ploy to raise the price as Honeywell, GE etc. are all in the game. I wonder how much stock Ulf has? Sunday, November 14, 2010 The Daily Telegraph, a national newspaper in the UK, is reporting that Invensys is likely to be subject to takeover by a Chinese rail organisation, and features an interview with Ulf. Looks like he is looking for that M & A opportunity to distract investors and staff from deep seated problems in the business. Saturday, November 13, 2010 Good newsletter. Sudipta's not a bad speaker at all, but years and years of being lied to by Pankaj, the former head of HR and lots of 2nd-level managers have led to a profound distrust by the WW troops in anything mgmt might say. The "more-more-faster-faster-cheaper-cheaper" approach that's dominated the Invensys culture in the last few years is corrosive. Combine that with plenty of examples of what happens when you speak up about anything, and you have a population who will keep their heads down, do just enough work to keep their jobs, and look for other work when it becomes available. Our turnover rate used to be 11% in 2005. Ignoring layoffs, I'm guessing the turnover rate is now at least twice that. I think Sudipta has done a good job of telling the truth, but he has a lot of damage still to repair. All we can see is that our jobs are being sent to India for a short term gain. Good capitalism, but there's nothing in it for us. Thursday, November 11, 2010 Wonderware had a future - no longer. Foxboro had a future - no longer. Eurotherm had a future - no longer. The idiots who have dreams of running a big singular company at a profit ruined the golden goose for their own ego and pockets at customers and employees expense. The bar for customers like General Mills, Proctor and Gamble, China Nuclear, Nestle, Mars, etc. must be set low because it's amazing that they would take such a gamble on this beast. Thursday, November 11, 2010 The unions were in Rail UK today for a special meeting. Not a good sign. Something bad must be about to happen.... Thursday, November 11, 2010 The good news is that Pankaj no longer runs development. The bad news is he still has too much influence. Forcing apps such as EMI onto Archestra platform before it is ready for transactional type applications is a big mistake. More generally, the ECS vision can't be realised without a transactional / service centric platform. Wednesday, November 10, 2010 In Rail rumours are all over the place. Apparently an official investigation has turned up of the UK Exec. Everybody is saying that Drummond is going to fire our new MD Crossfield due to financial irregularities. We haven't a clue what's happening. Every day things seem to be getting worse. Our project management team are telling us it's just correcting previous mistakes that go back 2 or more years. Who knows what's going on, but it's said that London Underground commissionins have slipped into next year, affecting profit. We keep being told that things are serious, but have no idea what needs doing. Wednesday, November 10, 2010 Our products will survive. The brand names might change. Wednesday, November 10, 2010 Invensys will survive. Because customers need them and their products. Hopefully innovation comes in again and revitalises the company. I love Foxboro. Wednesday, November 10, 2010 Invensys is leveraging the installed base business with proprietary technology (spare parts) to invest in reproduction of SAP at plant floor. This is a high bet, topped off with risky megadeals. What a soup. I wish there was sense to stop this nonsense. Wednesday, November 10, 2010 Invensys has decided to divest Controls. But first they need to buy something instead. What a deadlock. If they can buy something big enough, then they can hide all their mistakes into the integration. Too bad for the shareholders. The fundamental issues with Rail and IOM will remain undiscovered and the damage will be immense. Wednesday, November 10, 2010 There is no ECS business. All the revenue of IOM is coming from the traditional business. Infusion was an attempt to make I/A engineering tools and HMI with Wonderware system platforms. The attempt failed miserably. Now new development is bought in from external company with limited domain knowledge. And, on the Wonderware side, most of the applications are not working on system platforms. Invensys created a story for the stock market analysts, with no real customers to back it up. The employees and their families will end up paying the bill for the hefty management incentives. Tuesday, November 9, 2010 Good comments on your news letter, Jim! I have been trying to get my local reps to talk about InFusion. They didn't even know it existed or what it was. I found out about it through an insider at Invensys. How well is InFusion going to work if customers like me have to go begging to purchase it? Do I really want it, if it is being marketed this badly? Many good ideas have floundered from poor marketing. Where is my support going to be if nobody buys this thing? Dear Invensys, if this is the new centerpiece product, please advertise it. Don't assume that steady customers like me will go looking for it; we have better things to do than go spelunking through your organization to find it. Tuesday, November 9, 2010 Good writeups, Mr. Pinto. I would agree wholeheartedly on the difference between being a good strategist and a good executive and leader. Mr. Bhattacharya is neither. I do not think a Cisco or Oracle would go anywhere near a specialty service intensive business like IOM (hard to scale). ECS is mostly a farce. There are few real-world proof points, since many of the Foxboro people are skeptical of the WonderWare software for use in mission critical and large system use. PowerPoints and web sites are easy and cheap to create, good products are not. Monday, November 8, 2010 Read the latest JimPinto.com eNews for 2 Invensys items. Here are extracts.
Monday, November 8, 2010 It is amazing where Invensys is today. They are now reporting their pipeline, which many of us that work in sales know is as accurate as throwing darts blindfolded at the dartboard. Being part of IOM, I can tell you that the leadership (Sudipta) spends very little time understanding the pipeline and what the trends are. We have a good sales operations leader that can help trend the data, but in the end, garbage in is garbage out. IOM is banking on some large deals. The problem with that is they were sold at a loss. Leadership doesn't worry about that, because by the time we have to deliver the orders they will have taken their bonus checks and departed the company. If anyone really wants to know what is happening in the business, go talk to the two layers below the regional presidents. They can see what is happening, and it scares the hell out of them. Monday, November 8, 2010 The last blogger is spot on. Where is the £9 billion order pipeline for Rail? None of the staff, including in marketing and business development, have got sight of that. If so, why cut jobs in Rail Northern Europe and why send in executives from the group to prop up the weak leadership there? Very mysterious. I thought executives could go to jail for misleading markets. Monday, November 8, 2010 I hate to say it, but I feel the stock went up on lies. The statement was specific in saying there was an £18m problem in Rail. Is this the total going forwards, or just this year? The statement also makes much about the agreement with CSR Times in China. However no orders and no profit yet. The really strange bit is the statement around a £9 billion rail pipeline. This is meaningless. We shall see as 10 out of 10 for marketing but where are the orders and sales/profit? Controls, while doing a great job in a difficult market, are almost an irrelevant. IOM seem to be a bloated low return on sales and an increasingly risky business. The increase today is not sustainable. We shall see. Sunday, November 7, 2010 The stock price will correct itself soon. The overall markets went up due to monetary policies changes by the FED in the US, an unemployment report, and rise in commodity stocks which had a greater impact than the individual report in my opinion. Sunday, November 7, 2010 What is the rationale of the stock price increase (> GBP 3.10)? It doesn't make sense with this blog articles? Is it time to buy or sell? Thursday, November 4, 2010 To the blogger who thinks that people who post messages here are p!ssing on themselves: you can get real now. The people p!ssing on us are city investors who can read through the PR and see the true position of Invensys. Going down the tubes. Thursday, November 4, 2010 IRNE launched a voluntary redundancy scheme today. This surely must be a precursor to compulsory redundancies - up to 100 apparently. I hope that James Drummond is sleeping well at night. These job losses can be laid directly at his door. His inability to accept accountabilty for failure and admit that he can't deliver the meaningless financial results that he committed himself to, means that he has to sacrifice his staff instead. Ordinary husbands and wives and their children lose their livelihood as a result of his long standing incompetence. Thursday, November 4, 2010 Invensys half-year results - not as bad a result as many of the people on this blog expected. IOM looks OK, but Rail is struggling. Controls look like it is "under control".
INVENSYS NEWS RELEASE - 4 November 2010 Further progress in achieving sustainable growth, particularly in emerging markets Highlights
Wednesday, November 3, 2010 Reorganzation must take place after the upcoming results, soon to be posted. Unfortunately that won't happen until the leadership team is changed. The Board has to do something about this quickly or the next fiscal year will fare poorly. The longer the current status-quo and path are allowed to be followed, the harder it will be to change. The suggestion on a way to structure, by Rick B below, is a good start and certainly in the right direction. The current org. structure is stiffling innovation, hiding inefficiencies, creating a poor culture, and making it difficult to attract new investment and talent. Tuesday, November 2, 2010 The problems at rail are getting worse and worse. The IRNE leadership team were hauled up in front of James Drummond for a pasting again. How much more can these human punchbags take? Tuesday, November 2, 2010 To the blogger who thinks we're p!ssing on ourselves: This is the only forum where the truth gets aired. Invensys's culture doesn't allow any form of internal debate or discussion, so frustrations inevitably get aired through the channels available. Neither is it the kind of environment where you can freely make suggestions, even practical ones that might make a difference. This is a culture that suppresses engagement. The Internet is a powerful tool, and frankly if any Invensys leaders read this and take some form of action as a result, it will be worth it. Monday, November 1, 2010 - from Rick Bullotta [rick.bullotta@thingworx.com] - formerly Wonderware: That is a very interesting comment regarding the IOM organizational structure (or overall Invensys org structure) representing an operational challenge. It's an area that I think could be key to a more effective and resurgent Invensys, and one that I suggested while I was with Wonderware a couple years ago. If you distill the business down to its core, you have basically three distinct types of businesses operating in all kinds of intermingled ways:
What would seem a logical approach would be to organize internally around those three areas, and then create externally facing go-to-market and solution delivery organizations with an industry or vertical market flavor to them. The main benefits would be that you'd get the benefit of operational efficiencies and consistencies internally, the ability to assemble and maintain a wider range of "brands" to attack different verticals or solution segments, and the flexibility for the solution delivery organizations to work with partners more easily. These solution delivery organizations would also vary, from traditional distribution models (Wonderware), to OEM sales (Controls), to vertical solutions (in rail, petrochem, nuclear, etc.). I might even go so far as to suggest segmenting/branding the IOM verticals into a nuclear energy brand, petrochem, etc... Just as importantly, I think this type of structure (internally and externally) benefits the customers more, since the software businesses, hardware businesses, and service busineses can innovate more rapidly and cleanly, the solution expertise and selling model is more focused and fit to the market, and the overall health of the company would make for a safer choice for a customer. It's somewhat of a radical concept, but one that always intrigued me and seemed like an obvious evolution. Invensys still has a great many incredibly valuable assets in its portfolio (brands, people, technology, and expertise), and I hope that the leadership can figure out how to most effectively unlock their value and bring it to customers. Best to all my former Invensys colleagues. Monday, November 1, 2010 isn't a water cooler conversation we're having here guys. The Internet is listening, including the people value our share holdings and invest in our jobs. You are p!ssing on yourselves here. Instead of whining, why not put the same amount of energy into proposing some positive solutions. Not just perfect world stuff but ideas that will work here on planet earth, including with all the constraints that managers have to deal with. Lead, follow or get off the road. Sunday, October 31, 2010 The bloggers on this page are Luddites. There's no point harking back to a golden age that never existed in the time of Cotton. The problem with Rail in the UK is that no-one wants to, or is willing to change. The rail industry has inflated salaries, bloated benefits and outdated working practices that increasingly get in the way of profitability. Some of these bloggers need to look at themselves and ask what they will do to get get the company back on track, rather than blaming others, and ask themselves whether they are willing to change the way they work. The alternative is to go the way of other great British companies and industries. Westinghouse can and will die without change. It happened at Jarvis and can happen here. Sunday, October 31, 2010 The problem with Rail is that there's no clear strategy and direction. Hours and hours are wasted on developing a STRAP which then appears to be ignored, as leaders run round and round deep in the detail of the projects. The other problem is that nothing is ever allowed to embed - if something doesn't work immediately, then it is changed. Short term-ism all the time. Sunday, October 31, 2010 Some of the bloggers here are right about the level of passion and commitment that exists in the rail group. It's a classic case of 'lions being led by donkeys', the biggest donkey being James Drummond, recently joined by Nick Crossfield. To continue the analogy, the 'leadership' team (word used very loosely) can't keep asking people 'to go over the top' and expect them to do so. Morale and motivation is at rock bottom, and Drummond and Crossfield appear not to care in the slightest. The lost productivity and discretionary effort is enormous. Come on leaders, do something radical and motivate the people, rather than running around your executive ivory tower, like headless chickens. The sad, sad truth is that there isn't an executive in IRG who knows how to do this or even recognises the importance of it. Sunday, October 31, 2010 How can it be sensible for the MD of Rail to appoint the failed projects director, on a 6-figure salary, to a role developing a critical market? Is this the reward for failure now in Invensys Rail? That's good then. Everyone with a 'PM' performance rating can expect to be promoted and rewarded for their lack of delivery. I'm also pleased that we can still afford to appoint unproven people to such roles at a time when we all know redudnancies are looming for people who are performing and delivering. Saturday, October 30, 2010 IOM isn't the other leg of the stool; it's just, well, stool. T-minus 5 days until the depth of the damage becomes visible to all. Saturday, October 30, 2010 The "reality check" blogger is seriously misinformed regarding dates of events. I've worked at Westinhouse for nearly 16 years. Back in those days we were a BTR company, and John Cotton was brought in from Westinghouse Brakes to turn around the business. I don't know the exact numbers, but in 1998 the company had made a major loss reputed to be tens of millions of pounds. A new Exec team was put in place and within a year the company was back in profit. Sure the SSI legacy helped and it was Cotton at the helm when we won 60% of the NR framework agreements. However it's also worth remembering that we were also delivering profitable projects in China and Singapore as well as London Underground. I think you will also find that the German mess was inherited from the previous MD, John Mills. I've not got rose-tinted glasses on and accept that those days were not perfect, but things clearly went to pieces when that team moved on. Remember the actual truth of our predicament has only just come apparent after McPhee and others were fired. As you say, they only lasted due to the Metronet collapse and the windfall payment. Nick Crossfield hasn't made a great start, but has clearly inherited a mess. However he has been here for around 5 months and I'm beginning to wonder if he has a plan. If he has, it would be a good time to hear it. From my position nothing has changed and I'm told our profit continues to deteriorate. Friday, October 29, 2010 It seems that Rail is in a decline; well IOM is no different. It seems that the systems business (IOM) is all being lost to the competition (Yokagowa / Emerson etc.) and I worry about the future of the company. When the current crop of projects finish, we have nothing to replace them with. Then what? Wholesale redundancies? You now have to question why this is happening? Well here is why. The M&I portfolio is woefully short, and IOM are now having to tie up with people like Endress and Hauser. How confusing must this be for our customers? Emerson has all the range in their portfolio. DCS, well this seems to be old hat now, nothing new here. It is about time the business started designing the next gen of DCS, instead of rehashing the old one. Triconex - well they are too bloody expensive, when the like of Hima, are nearly half the price. Wonderware is a funny organisation, they create some fantastic software, but as mentioned on this forum earlier this month: Is it producing ground breaking software. Simple answer NO. And then there is Eurotherm, the almost forgotten cousin. They are probably one of the only companies in IOM that are doing some innovation, as they have just released their Nano controller, and soon to release the Foxwatch (Small DCS controller). It would seem that if the small companies can be innovative then the bigger R&D teams can do so. Until someone within the business can see this, then we will never be the leader in process automation, and will continue to lose business, and market share. It is not only Rail that is in a bloody mess, IOM is too. Friday, October 29, 2010 For the situation with Invensys Rail I cannot speak; but for IOM I can. The main problem in my opinion is that the groups are not organizationally structured properly at the top level. Direct project business and shrink wrapped software don't belong under the same P&L. The business unit of IOM is doing very un-natural things and being tugged in different competing directions that are in natural conflict. This was the reason they were not combined in the first place. The reason for this situation in the first place was mainly a vision of going after larger operations projects with some of the Wonderware technology, but that is a struggle to say the least. The Best Companies in the World dont try to stiffle innovation; they encourage it.But it takes sound metrics and focus to do so. You can't have your marketing and development teams focus on indirect and direct business under the same P&L without something losing. The benefits are not there, and should be realized along with the faliure of the management that engineered and manipulated it into the current situation. Ulf and Sudipta mainly are responsible. The rest fought, or in many VP cases did not, which is an indication of their competance. Friday, October 29, 2010 While Rail is struggling and obviously in some turmoil, one can only wonder(ware) about the other leg of the stool: IOM. It turns out that the channel partners are getting more restless, not less. The Endorsed Partners who supply implementation services are much less committed than before, and looking outside at many other vendors. This is a bellweather indicator of future capability for IOM and the future for its Operations strategy. The business coordination and technology path required to be succesful here has gotten out of control and is much less coordinated than ever before. Partners are getting fedup with the shallow promises and lack of bench or support. Most of the solutions can't be supported internally, so it is getting harder and harder to convince its channel to invest or trust going forward. Friday, October 29, 2010 Apparently the VP of Project Delivery, who was removed from his role last week and sent home, has now just been appointed VP Delivery for non existent projects. Clearly this is a fine example of Nick's clear thinking and leadership. He quickly realised that this was a gap in his team and that he didn't have anyone responsible for the delivery of non existent projects. Now this has been sorted we can sleep better at night, and are back on track to releasing our potential and that of our customers, becoming one Invensys, sustainable and creating an I-want-to-work-here culture. Friday, October 29, 2010 Please identify the 'person from Invensys' (weblog Oct. 28) who shows up for meetings in Bath and adds no value, so that the situation can be corrected. Friday, October 29, 2010 Reality check for all you dreamers in the UK Rail group thinking fondly of the Cotton days. The true story is the profits in those years were propped up by a dominant position in the UK SSI market, a gift from the old BR days and the legacy skills inherited in the SCUK regional offices. Cotton and co were responsible for a disaster in Germany, buying the Taiwan job at suicidal margins just for the orderbook, multi million pound investment in failed technology (DTG-R anyone?) etc. etc. That regime (and Invensys plc) skin was saved by the collapse of Metronet. I worked in the UK rail group at the time and if Metronet had stayed afloat there is no way the whole programme could be delivered and Westinghouse would have gone to the wall. Cotton and Co were as guilty as anyone of complancency and not building enginnering resources. The UK Rail group does not need more executives, it just needed 50 or so high quality systems engineers. Until that situation is resolved the business will be in terminal decline. Sad but true. Thursday, October 28, 2010 Apparently it's a £10 million hole in the Rail profits that's got to be bridged in the remainder of the financial year; can't be done without major casualties. Look out, everyone, for that rusty knife to be wielded again. What Ulf and the muppets from Invensys don't seem to get is that firing people won't help. Everyone is working as hard as they can to deliver projects. The problem is that James & Ulf made the previous leadership team bid for work at margins that could never be achieved. There aren't enough support people already - they've already cut Admin and HR to the bone. It will be hard working engineers who lose their jobs again, losing more valuable skills that can't be replaced. Thursday, October 28, 2010 The last post on Rail makes a good point, in that the current mess can be turned around. It happened before around 10 years ago. However that was with a real Executive team (Cotton, Campion, Harding, Barry, Clarke, Riley etc). The problem we have now is that Crossfield has inherited a mess from incompetents like McPhee, and he hasn't a clue what to do. From what I can see, he is hanging his hat on somebody doing it for him. The anonymous Invensys person referred to in a previous post sits doing his email all day and is one of 3 we've had supposedly helping. In reality they fly in from the US, stay in expensive hotels in Bath, and literally sit in meetings making no contribution, or do their email. After 4 months can anybody clarify any benefit? My fear is that things will continue to deteriorate, as Crossfield hasn't a clue. Wednesday, October 27, 2010 The problem with this web log it just provides a forum for people to moan, and the real issues get hidden. I work at the UK Rail business in Chippenham and, whilst we have our problems, this place is still full of talented engineers and passionate staff. The new MD might not be everyones choice, but he has not got much to work with in his team. In the past year we have lost so many experienced executives (Riley etc) and the engineering work for LUL and Singapore just drained the finite resources we had. Nick Crossfield could do better with engaging the staff though. The guy before was much better, but he was another casualty of Drummonds panic. We are paying for the loss of so much experience. But it CAN get rebuilt. Wednesday, October 27, 2010 To put Rail's importance in perspective, last year it made over 60% of Invensys' profit and for years has been the major cash contributor. If that goes, then it's all over for Invensys. However don't worry too much, as it will also be the end of Ulf and Drummond and perhaps bring new ownership and opportunities. Tuesday, October 26, 2010 To the person who says that Rail is only one of 4 divisions, you need to get a grip and start to worry. Rail IS Invensys. Without it there is very little reason for investors to invest in Invensys stock. Without Rail, or rail profits in sufficient quantity, the company would almost certainly exprience a fall in stock price and experience a take over. I don't want to take a gamble on whether that creates staff opportunities or not. IOM's outsourcing / technology issues are a side show to the real deal - Rail has been milked dry, there's no place to hide for Ulf. The company's future is now at risk. All Invensys staff need to start asking questions about Rail at the upcoming mid-year results. Tuesday, October 26, 2010 Everyone in Rail is really worried about the quality of leadership. The new MD is dreadful - just spends his time strutting about moaning about what he's inherited. We need a leader who can take tough decisions (looks like he can do this) AND motivate and lead them (no sign whatsoever of this yet...). To be a little fair to the guy, while he's clearly out of his depth, he's inherited a bit of a mess. I'm sure he didn't join in the belief the business was in freefall. More lies from Ulf and James no doubt. Apparently the 'new' projects delivery director has got the push after only 3 months. This is the 10th (yes, 10th) senior manager to leave the business in 2010, no doubt all at great cost. It's a revolving door. There's only the HR Director hanging on from the original batch, and that looks to be through sheer determination, goodness knows why. There's some anonymous guy in from Invensys plc, who seems about as useful as the proverbial chocolate teapot, not doing a lot. There are also definitely going to be job losses in the UK business - again - it's always the front line people who suffer. Any bets on us winning SSR? Tuesday, October 26, 2010 Does Foxboro I/A Series DCS have the market share of that of Emerson, Honeywell Experion or that of Yokogawa? If it doesn't what great revenue can this suite of products generate? Tuesday, October 26, 2010 I've been with Rail for a very long time (more than 20 years) and I don't think we have ever had an MD who has become so universally loathed by the staff in such a short space of time. He inspires nobody, and doesn't exactly make us want to go the extra mile (unless its to the post box to put our job applications in...). The guy is the worst possible example of an old-school 1970's dictator. All he has done since he got here is moan about how tough he is having it, yet when Group eventually realise his incompetence and sack him, it will be us who suffer. Monday, October 25, 2010 - To "and better life with Emerson": Did you not read the Emerson weblog before making the move? I love the piece on the CEO. We should all carry a copy of his statements and show the US customers. Over the past year, Emerson laid off mostly the experts. The no-do-ers remained. Business is picking up so Emerson is looking to fill the empty spots... until the next dip. Or get ready to relocate to India. I hear the food is quite good there. Is the grass greener on the other side? We wish you all the best. Monday, October 25, 2010 The UK Rail President is a strange choice for the problems we are in. Bearing in mind that we are in deep financial trouble, the first thing Nick Crossfield does is to spend one hundred thousand pounds removing the open plan, and building a dedicated suite of offices for himself and his chosen ones. Next came the executive parking spaces for the elite. This meant that customers and other visitors have further to walk. It makes us smile when we see Nick in his made-to-measure suits, park one of his two super cars in his private space and, complete with gold Rolex, strut about the business not talking to anyone. According to the 4 PAs (yes 4, within 20 feet of each other) Nick often sits in his office with his feet up on his desk! This could be a new Wall-Street-3 movie: Greed is Good. Monday, October 25, 2010 The IOM leadership team is pushing out what is left of the experienced individuals that know the business. As a shareholder and employee, I have come to a decision to leave Invensys, which is the best interest of my family and my future. I can no longer see a path that allows my team to win, for my organization to have opportunities to grow both professionally and personally. The leadership team has become so short-term focused that there is no possible way to win in a business that requires long-term strategy. Thankfully, there are plenty of jobs in the marketplace for good team members, and I am fortunate to have a better offer, better future, and better life with Emerson. I look foward to my last day at IOM. Monday, October 25, 2010 I don¥t know who is giving all this information, but I don¥t think that this kind of comment will be positive for the employees. Sunday, October 24, 2010 So now Rail and IOM - both have become a mess. IOM only hangs on not because of the new appointments by Sudipta, but because of the experienced people left. Did you ever look at the resume of Sudipta and the other VPs? Not what you would call high-level candidates. Seems they keep themselves together only to screw up companies the land at. Sunday, October 24, 2010 I agree with the comments about the new UK Rail MD. At the recent staff briefs, he was so negative and looked like he did not want to be there. The business was once a proud world-recognised leader; now we are a sad joke. The briefings were so negative. Sunday, October 24, 2010 My thanks and respect for replying but the tools mentioned. Although very good in their own right, they only cover small areas of 61511 i.e. no FSM, software emulation or generation, full validation etc. We'll leave it there. Oh, and Rail is only one division of Invensys. Saturday, October 23, 2010 Well, anybody expecting the UK Rail MD to fix things is deluded. Nick Crossfield has been in position over 4 months, and from what we can see, he hasn't a clue what to do next. It's all well and good to tell us that we are in deep trouble and have reduced our profit by over 30 million pounds, but what is the plan? We are tired of his "it's nothing to do with me" approach. Friday, October 22, 2010 We recently bought the exSILentia safety lifecycle software from Exida. We choose exSILentia because it is the only tool we found that covers the complete IEC61511 lifecycle, from PHA, SIL determination, Process Safety Requirements Specification, SIL Verification, Detailed Design Safety Requirements Specification, Proof Test Generation, Safety Lifecycle Cost Generator, proven in use justification. In particular we are impressed by the "SIL Target selection" capability using the frequence of demands, and the integrated "independent layer of protection analysis" (LOPA). We are gradually moving from using a qualitative hazard matrix to using a quantitative analysis with LOPA.
- It comes with a huge failure rate/mode database of most, certified and non certified process equipment providing the justification that the failure rates/modes are industry best practice. - exSILentia automatically generates IEC 61511 compliant reports. - exSILentia calculates PFD, PFH, MTTFS (spurious trips) for all equipment in the loop. exSILentia does not program a PLC. This makes sense because safety refers to the complete safety function. All parts of the loop have to work properly to achieve the intended safety function, not only to the PLC programming. For example: If I have a high pressure trip, and my transmitter is set to underrange when diagnosing an internal failure, will my PLC consider underrange detection as a transmitter failure? How would you automate this? Vendor developed software tends to focus on the PLC. The objective for vendors to develop a calculation tool is to sell more kit. PLC vendors will not focus on reducing dangerous systematic failures such as ignoring the common cause in redundant structures, or assuming better than actual prooftest coverage, leading to too optimistic calculations. We also have the HIMA sofware called SILence. SILence is, opposite to the previous blogger, not based on state diagrams, is a cute toy but hardly useable for real applications. Friday, October 22, 2010 The software for generating safety system PLC logic using state-based control isn't even from Invensys. It is from a 3rd party! Friday, October 22, 2010 61511 is the standard for functional safety in the process industry. What does 61511 have to do with Rail Business? I lost the thread here. There are several packages available in the market which perform Markov-model-based calculations that translate into PLC code. HIMA delivers this TUV certified software for free with every HIMA PLC sold. Thursday, October 21, 2010 OK all you clever clogs, name one state-based tool that maps 61511 and auto-generates Tricon code - well any PLC code actually. And did any of you actually see the presentation before shooting your selves in the foot? Thursday, October 21, 2010 I wish I could believe the last post on the UK Rail business. However the MD has just fired the project delivery director and has told us in staff briefs that profit is down by GBP 35M. He also intimated that he was deliberately mislead before joining the company. Doesn't fill us with confidence. Thursday, October 21, 2010 I left the UK rail business around 4 months ago under a 'cloud'. However, I believe the intent and capability of the current leadership is right to weather the economic downturn, and implement the right changes. Thursday, October 21, 2010 Ulf is just a thug. We all know it and it will become apparent. He has destroyed value in most businesses and, most dangerously, has done it in his golden goose: Rail. Seriously bad move. Profit warning to come and goodbye Ulf. Thursday, October 21, 2010 The grand plan has not come through and probably wont. Look how much engineering effort everything has become. Hardware requirements are through the roof compared to more nimble solutions. Licensing is a mess and difficult for anyone to understand and install. There are more bolt-on solutions than one can count. I doubt the grand plan could ever be funded enough to see it through. Management has stretched product lines and people so far, it can't fund real innovation and certainly can't cast off product lines that do nothing. Many people don't realize that 80% of the revenue for software comes from support services and basic SCADA platform. All of the others combined would not amout to more than $ 5-10 million. It's not a sustainable model, even if you count the pull-through here. With Sudipta pushing, and the VP of Portfolio being a puppet with little business experience, the announcemnts at Ops Manage seem par for the course. The trend is certainly going south and is getting more steep as the company moves away from its original success. Thursday, October 21, 2010 On November 4th, we'll be seeing see what a "genius" Ulf is. Thursday, October 21, 2010 Let's take a detailed look at the OpsManage announcements:
Thursday, October 21, 2010 OpsManage'10 Conference talkks of new releases of InFusion which has integration with Archestra. Looks like the IOM products are slowly integrating with Archestra Framework. Is this move to keep the entities of IOM to stay together & do not rip off or is it a grand plan slowly falling into place? Wednesday, October 20, 2010 HRSD that's great! HR outsourced and yet we have more HR people around us and less support? Go figure. Now I have all my supervisors doing HR part time? IT outsourced! I used to walk 30 yards and talk to an IT guy who'd fix things. Now I ring a guy in India who calls the guy 30yards away who comes down and says he doesn't understand what the guy in India is saying. Go figure. There is no question, Ulf is a genius that we just don't understand. Soon others will see the same? Wednesday, October 20, 2010 State based control is absolutely nothing new. The PLC vendors have been offering this sort of technology for years. Tuesday, October 19, 2010 White paper on State Based Controls. New technology? I think not.
Tuesday, October 19, 2010 There is a good difference between giving work to the Invensys office in India and to an Indan vendor. The quality of work received from the Indian vendor is shabby and the development costs are soaring. Most of the good quality and committed employees who relocated from IDC to Cognizant have either left or are on the way out; Cognizant is unable to retain the right talent. The Invensys-Cognizant partnership is a failed venture. Any one left in the senior management who would like to correct this situation, might be too late? Tuesday, October 19, 2010 State-based control was introduced by ABB, not Invensys, about two years ago. In typical Invensys fashion, late to the party with an inferior offering, and trying to claim innovation. Tuesday, October 19, 2010 Most of the attendees at OpsManage are employees and distributors this year. Monday, October 18, 2010 The comments on Rail are not 100% accurate. Rail is still very profitable, even Northern Europe. The problem is that it's nowhere near as profitable as Ulf keeps telling shareholders. The appointment of really weak leaders, such as McPhee, were a disaster. They took the highly performing Northern Europe business and brought it to it's knees. The Rail business has been basically flogged by Ulf and Drummond for huge personal financial gain. Now all the false promises have become visible and tens of millions of pounds is being written off. Unfortunately the company has reacted by appointing people with little ability to change the outcome. The new Project Delivery Director is hopeless, and we shall see if the new MD is going to take action or preside over further decline. Either way, it's tough times ahead as Ulf and Drummond will continue to flog the horse, as it's the only way they know. Monday, October 18, 2010 The state-based control presentation on Wednesday at OpsManage is the first real ground breaking technology to be presented in a long time. If you are attending, try to catch it. Monday, October 18, 2010 The latest comments about Rail are spot on. Last week we were told that we had 6 - 9 months to save the company, before it was known that there was another massive hole in forecast profits. This is serious because it affects everyone in Invensys. We know that it means job cuts - more loyal engineers losing their jobs. The rail group in the UK is in terminal decline, and Spain is infected now too. Time to bail out boys and girls... Monday, October 18, 2010 All you guys complaining about IOM and outsourcing are seriously missing the point. The Rail Group is the most profitable part of Invensys. Investors love it, and it's why Invensys' share price is what it is. It is now in free fall, especially in the UK. There's talk of a multi-million-Pound hole in the profit forecast. Drummond has had to promise the unachievable to stave off a profit warning for the group. Start asking questions and worrying about Rail, which props up the rest of the group. Monday, October 18, 2010 IOM's main event is just around the corner: OpsManage. Have to say the numbers it has brought in is very unimpressive. National Instruments, Rockwell, Emerson, Honeywell all bring in more customers and partners over the last years. Will it now go over 2000? NI Week was over 3000 as were the other vendors. With the lack of media coverage and lack of new products or solutions to wake up the industry it would seem the numbers cant be better than last year. It must be a real struggle to make sense of IOM and the wisdom of the current organziational structure to customers, employees, and partners these days. Monday, October 18, 2010 Rail seems to be totally screwed now. The new northern Europe MD gave a long talk to the troops last week telling them all they were in "terminal decline" and we have "9 months", but offering no solutions or plan for recovery. He acts like he is presiding over a closing down sale. Time for Drummond to resign - he put them there. Friday, October 15, 2010 We need to differentiate between offshoring the system development and offshoring project engineering. All Automation companies are doing the second one (IOM mainly in Egypt & India, Honeywell in India, Emerson in India, Yokogawa in India & Philippines). But nobody other than Invensys IOM has outsourced the system development. Friday, October 15, 2010 No one questions the quality of work coming out of Emerson's offshore operations, but it is quite reasonable to question the amount of innovation coming from Emerson. There hasn't been anything substantial in a long, long while. DeltaV is getting long in the tooth Maybe not coincidentally, innovation waned about the same time the offshoring effort was complete. Friday, October 15, 2010 I have seen the last few postings. My guess is that some must be posted by people from India. Now, I don't want to be called a racist. My experience of so called "export engineers from India": You get an entire spectrum of "talent". A few are good, more are okay. But there are also a bunch of them that are not so good. It is a very cultural thing. This is exemplified by the debacle shown from the recently concluded Commonwealth Games in New Delhi. Talk a lot, promised very little. Friday, October 15, 2010 Emerson has outsourced its DCS and ESD programming to Pune, India. This office is called EEEC (Emerson Export Engineering Company). Close to 1,000 Indian engineer provide high level services to the Emerson offices worldwide. A second "back-office" in Costa Rica is in the making, as we speak. Stop kidding yourself. It is arrogant to assume that the quality level of work in India is lower than outside. Emerson has proved that more work can be processed for a lower cost, and a higher quality. Or do you see Emerson suffering? Thursday, October 14, 2010 Reliance is not IOM's largest client, nor is it Invensys' largest client. The largest client in purchase dollars is the Chinese, buying systems for nuclear plants. The vision is gone at IOM; they are a me-too, struggling for marketshare and they only thing left for them is to continue to take cost out, as there is no new value being added back to the organization. The average gross margin has decreased each year slightly, only because each year we continue to take more costs out. We have now hit a point of dimishing returns. The talent and expertise is gone; there is only one place we can go. Let's hope we are sold to Siemens, Honeywell, or Emerson. Thursday, October 14, 2010 Wrong, wrong, wrong! Technical support of a washing machine or cable model is very different than technical support for a flexible manufacturing software suite. Significant domain knowledge is required that doesn't grow on trees. Perhaps some IO Server support could be offshored, but that's about it. Thursday, October 14, 2010 - Re: "as we all know..cost incurred by communication wedge": Before Invensys, I worked for another major DCS player who has successfully shifted over 90% of its engineering work to Pune, India. In addition, the medical industry, avionics, automotive, financial institutes have all shifted to India. With my previous employer, after overcoming the initial communication issues, it works great, and is significantly reducing costs. Using an Indian back-office, is the same as using a local engineering office, except the costs for a high quality Indian engineer is $7US per hour. Everybody benefits. The local organisations have their hands free to focus on the lead engineering work and the customer interface. The "as we all know" argument has its origin in insecurity, in the fear of losing jobs. In practice, it turns out that it creates more profit, resulting in more jobs. If we want to be competitive, we have to shift the work. Besides, one of the largest Invensys customers is called RELIANCE. Give these guys some credit; without them we will cease to exist. Wednesday, October 13, 2010 Well if you are looking at costs and thinking India is cheaper, consider the real cost incurred by splitting the organisation and putting a huge communication wedge between the visionaries with the domain expertise and the people that implement it. As we all know, nothing new is being created because the overheads are so high and the resources are split all over the world. Of course I am assuming that there are still visionaries left in the organisation, after the culls? Wednesday, October 13, 2010 Cost cutting is again needed to come close to profit projections for the street. What is next? IOM Software Technical Support - move the obvious offshore. Since most development is done in India these days, having a technical support group mainly based in US makes no sense. New product requirements and bug detection can just as easily be done there. Not sure why there is any development and support centres in the US anymore, given the costs. I am not in favor of it, but since development moved mostly overseas it only stands to reason. Second area to cut - development management. Too many software architects and project managers are hurting and not helping integration and timeliness through high overhead costs and obstructive processes. Quality and delivery has not improved as a result, but rather decreased. Sunday, October 10, 2010 By all measures it would seem some housecleaning is in order.
Friday, October 8, 2010 Archestra was poorly conceived and poorly executed from the get-go, and was the brainchild of the recently demoted head of development. It never met the scalability, performance, or functionality needs of the DCS business, despite its creator's history at Honeywell. It represented a giant money pit that sucked all of the life out of other more potentially lucrative and value-creating initiatives in the company (the actual amount of dollars spent approaches nine figures). All along the way, management continued to defend it, without any real knowledge of its capabilities or status. It should have been killed off years ago. Tuesday, October 5, 2010 Wait, ArchestrA is dead? Do you mean that the technology has been officially killed, or is it just the usual mediocre technical ability that's keeping it dribbling along with limited functionality? Not having a clear picture of technological innovation is doing a better job of killing IOM than everything except the flood of departures. Tuesday, October 5, 2010 The fat lady is certainly singing in the UK rail business. All the directors are absorbed in weekly meetings with Ulf and co. We on the shop floor hear of big shortfalls in cash and sales. Surely this time the buck must stop with James Drummond. Friday, October 1, 2010 The 1st half of fiscal is over. Do you hear the fat ladying singing yet? Lets hope so. Time for a new CEO and President of IOM. Watch the reports and be assured - 'tis the reorganization season about to begin. Friday, October 1, 2010 Why is it that "ArchestrA" is essentially dead? Companies aquired cannot be expected by Invensys to go to its platform regardless. IOM cant even keep their own toolkit for extending the platform current or for native communications and its almost impossible to convince partners to build something when Invensys sees every space as their own and all others as competitive. I have to say whether its OP , third party applications, or recent aquisitions, there is no integration or optimization of systems anymore, unless some poor soul wants to take a bet on an installed base. It just costs too much to realize the marketing spin of this vision, which it seems is long gone, and lost by the same people who brought it to market. I remember Sudipta in a speech one day, after he was brought on to Wonderware, saying it was not as important to be the best, just good enough and expand our footprint. Well, that seems to be the playbook of the last couple of years and I am sure it is going forward until someone comes in that is really wants this company to provide value to customers. Seems like companies like an ERP, and Supply Chain companies play no different to the mess that SAGE, Epicor, Quest, Red Hat, etc. are in. They can't and won't ever integrate. Something has to give. Unless a major investment is made into someting that covers the aquired customers, the brands will die and so will the business. The company can't focus, it seems. IOM that is. Friday, October 1, 2010 With IOM, it's all about TEXAS. Better place to do business than Orange County and Foxboro, considering taxes and cost. It's just a shame that they dont move all operations there and give up the false intent to keep the east coast and west coast operations. This company is all about outsourcing and aquisitions now. I feel sorry for the people left, since more and more they won't be invested in, and left to fend like the rest of those out on the street in America. I find that non-US citizens like Supipta are in charge here. This is a good reason to tax companies in the US who go off-shore. Consider that when voting. Do business with US and reward those who help our employment. Otherwise, send them packing home and revoke their visas. Thursday, September 30, 2010 Ulf and the Invensys board tolerate this because the current regime at IOM is all about cost/margin management, and will sacrifice future results in exchange for near-term results. This is a common pattern when fattening the lamb for market, so to speak. With regards to the heads of development and portfolio being part of the root cause, let us not forget who they are/were. The head of portfolio knows virtually NOTHING about IOM's core businesses. He is a 'nice guy', but also a complete yes man and extremely far beyond his competency level. Yet, he was/is extremely loyal to Sudipta and therefore is kept on. Though Sudipta will quickly turn on his friends if it benefits him or for blame transference, as we saw with the head of development. They are all a bunch of poseurs who demonstrate daily that the Peter Principle is alive and well at IOM. Wednesday, September 29, 2010 I could not help making this remark about IOM top management team. The way IOM is moving along now seems too much like that of the Commonwealth Games debacle in New Dehli. Promised a lot, but failed to deliver. Wonder why the Ulf and the Invensys boards of directors are okay with what is happening. Tuesday, September 28, 2010 It's interesting to watch Invensys and its software and hardware profitablity and growth - or lack of. While expanding the software product line almost 3 fold, the company has made about the same % of business from its traditional base. In fact most industry initiatives and new software initiatives are failing but they remain, due to a lack of an exit strategy. The ROI on the other developments contiunes to falter, and the channels it uses are growing impatient with the call for more results with a product line so spread out and growing increasingly less integrated once again. Surely the top leadership has a lot to do with this and the VPs of Development and Portfolio. The outbound marketing also has hurt as its visibility has come down a lot. Monday, September 27, 2010 We hear rumours of big problems in the UK rail business at the end of the first six months of this year. It really is mushroom-management here. The new bosses have no idea how to communicate and motivate the staff. Most people here are either in fear, or looking for a new job. It's time for the buck to stop at the top with Drummond and his new mates. Sunday, September 26, 2010 Somebody wrote a month ago, "CEO Friends in Key Positions: Up 80%." This is incorrect - it is a full 100%. Tuesday, September 21, 2010 Of late, lots of key talent from Invensys ODC at CTS is leaving this engagement and the management there is unable to retain this talent. Monday, September 20, 2010 The best thing customers and partners can do to vent their unhappiness with the leadership and direction of Invensys is with their wallets and attendance to events like OpsManage. Nothing new upcoming and no buzz in the news or marketplace around anything new. One would expect very little to take place other than an internal networking event. It would seem the leadership of development and product management is a lost with very little capacitiy to focus on innovation. Monday, September 20, 2010 One need not worry about Sudipta becoming CEO. He has already reached and passed the limit of his competence and capability, and wiser minds on the board are not as easily deceived as Ulf and Paula. The true victims of this charade are Invensys's customers, employees, and partners. Wednesday, September 15, 2010 True, Rail is a much larger piece than most of the other groups in Invensys. This blog tends to draw automation folks to it, so that's why the focus on IOM. All the groups of Invensys suffer even when they all don't perform well. IOM was to bring more than cost savings to the company, but so far has not lived up to its promise for more innovation and better solutions for customers. No cost savings for customers either, or improved services. Be glad to be in Rail since at least your P&L and Development is not dilluted or screwed up. Nothing has come from IOM and I would challenge anyone to come up with any real new business or improvements in customer satsifcation as a result of it. Pure cost savings and a lot of wind and spin to the media as to its purpose and structure. Customers must surely be ready to walk if they only had much better options. Wednesday, September 15, 2010 Invensys should monitor closely its ODC setup in Cognizant, Prevention is better than Cure. Even a failure in the management of ODC, which hold lots of product development activities of IOM and IRG, from the Cognizant side could potentially affect the Invensys business. It is sensible and essential for Invensys to check the ODC issues in the early stages. Tuesday, September 14, 2010 The entire IOM Development has been outsourced to ODC/Cognizant after cutting jobs in US. And now they are screwing our plans with their inefficiency and high cost. Why should we not worry about them? Wait till the entire rail gets out sourced (Probably will happen when Sudipta becomes CEO). BTW, ODC/Cognizant also has a rail group that is fast expanding. So are you guys not losing jobs in Britain? Tuesday, September 14, 2010 You are quite correct. Wonderware are a very tiny fish in the Invensys organisation. That's the problem! Unfortunately for the people that derive there livelihood from Wonderware software, and thousands of customers that have depended on the products for many years, seeing the organisation vanish is not a pleasant sight! Tuesday, September 14, 2010 It still makes me laugh reading this blog. All the trash about Wonderware, who make about 10% of Invensys' profit. Meanwhile the rest of IOM, and more importantly Rail who make up over 80% of the profit, are in deep trouble. Who cares about ODC/Cognizant - they are irrelevant and fill this blog with rubbish. Monday, September 13, 2010 Now we are approaching the end of H1; are there any updates about the results of IOM DIvisions? This will make the difference for the leadership team. Monday, September 13, 2010 I have to agree with comments below on Wonderware - innovation has stopped. It's been 3+ years since we have seen anything other than bug fixes or OS support updates - and anything they have added, misses a key feature which makes the whole thing useless. The underlying issue, in my view, is the move to push development to IDC and now outsourced from there. The red tape, overheads, business processes, communication issues, time zones and the rest makes even the simplest task into a one year cycle. So has it really saved any money? As the old sales-VP said, Development now works at a Glacial pace! Monday, September 13, 2010 As the software talent exodus continues, those with industrial software experience and Wonderware experience are going. One wonders how long it will be before the VPs of Product Marketing will last. Seems very little has been added to benefit customers over the last year and half - either industry or shrink wrapped software. Top Talent continues to exit while key Marketing VPs micro manage and do very little other than cover themselves from the next round of layoffs and shuffle. Unless something is done soon, this does not instill confidence internally or externally. Just look at the moves by competitors vs Invensys IOM. Press around technology firsts, customer initiatives, customers success, new releases have come to a stand still over the last years. Instead now an event OpsManage is used and that has lost its appeal with very little excitement around better solutions and shrink-wrapped software for the masses. Seems like there very little new value coming for those customers who made Wonderware product and service revenue what it is today. With no new product value given to most, it will be interesting to see if the customers will stay and keep spending on services. Saturday, September 11, 2010 - RE: Few things our people at Invensys need to understand: We don't expect CTS to work for free. We do expect reasonable estimates based on rules. If we go back and dig all the former project plans provided by CTS and carefully analyze them, then we'll see that their sanctity is questionable according to popular industry estimation practices. And given that CTS has to overwork even with their bloated estimates, that indicates a pretty incompetent team. Also the incompetence of both Development and Project Managers in CTS clearly reflect in the process of Project Planning. For some projects planning is going on for months without any breakthrough on final schedule and this has caused CTS teams to sit idle and bill Invensys in the name of "reserved hours". We want to deal with competent managers who can understand technology, intended functionality, design and requirements at our levels so that we can work in a meaningful partnership to execute our plans of coming up with next-gen software that can establish us as leaders in our market space. We find CTS customer interface incapable of supporting the same. Friday, September 10, 2010 - RE: Cognizant project estimates: Few things our people at Invensys need to understand:
Thursday, September 9, 2010 - RE: The relationship between Invensys and Cognizant: Cognizant project estimates are unreasonably high. This makes project planning a mess. Some times they report months for tasks that Invensys can do in days. This is primarily because their teams are incompetent and probably also that they are using inexperienced engineers to boost their profit margins. In most projects even basic estimation thumb rules are overlooked (e.g. QA Tasks = 1/10 Project Effort, Testing effort = 1/3 Development effort). IOM Project managers should audit project estimates to control cost of executing projects through Cognizant. We already see that executing smaller projects through Cognizant is not feasible. The team in Cognizant is adamant about their estimation figures and tries to defend it with crappy arguments. Thursday, September 9, 2010 I agree with the earlier comment about Rail. James Drummond just wants yes men. The new MD in the UK has sacked anyone - costing a fortune in exit packages - who had a different style or a diverse view to his own. Clearly he only wants compliant 'yes' people in his own image. A management style straight out of the 1980s. This business never recruits leaders, only accountants who make the numbers look good and then cut and run before it catches up with them. Thursday, September 9, 2010 The management team in Invensys is completely elitist and is detached from financial reality. James Drummond flies business class from London to Madrid (2 hours) and has a chauffeur to take him to the hotel, yet makes hard working engineers who actually DO something fly for 11 hours in coach to Singapore and India. Ms Larson is flying most of the HR team GLOBALLY to Dallas for a week to a top resort hotel at huge cost. Since the whole function is a cost to the business, why don't they just tele-conference? We are supposed to be a technology company afterall. These execs have no idea - like Nero they fiddle while Rome burns. Thursday, September 9, 2010 When Invensys thinks the engineers at Cognizant ODC are no good, they'd better stop utilizing their services. ODC employees would welcome this respite. Thursday, September 9, 2010 The engineers at Invensys Development Center are no better than Cognizant engineers. They also used to fixing trivial bugs and their knowledge of computer science is zero; they are fit for BPO only. The managers IDC are simply computer-dumbs. Wednesday, September 8, 2010 The relationship between Invensys and Cognizant seems to be getting strained. While the Cognizant Development teams feel that Invensys is dealing more like a greedy client and less like a partner, Invensys management is unhappy about the stiffness of Cognizant teams in accepting Invensys requirements. (What made Invensys think in the first place that they would have same flexibility dealing with third party vendors that they had while dealing with their own development team?!) There are multiple negotiations going on over estimates given by Cognizant development teams as Invensys managers now realize that their cost of executing projects in Cognizant is going up significantly when compared to the cost of executing the same projects from IDC. Also the development teams in Cognizant are feeling the heat from tighter project schedules that Invensys is asking for to reduce their costs. Also many engineers in Cognizant are now realizing the fundamental flaw in Invensys - Cognizant business contract: The Cognizant contract rates for charging Invensys change little (~25%) from college Freshers to Senior / Consultant engineers. However, in India, a consultant Engrs salary can be 7-10 times (~900%) higher than that of a fresher. So because of huge salary difference between these two categories Cognizant makes significant profits on Freshers and makes LOSS on most Principal / Consultant Engineers! So to improve their profit margins Cognizant tends to Limit both Salary increment and hiring of Senior staff and prefers to hire and work with Junior Staff. So the so called "Centre of Innovation and Excellence" seems to be missing the latter two nouns. Because of missing career growth, cheap salary increments (when compared to competitors) and a dubious work culture, most of the good senior technical staff is leaving. There have been significant resignations and the limited senior technical staff that is remaining would be resigning in next few months. The dipping quality of Cognizant ODC staff clearly shows that this centre is only meant for cheap BPO tasks. The Invensys Engineers who keep complaining about the competency of Cognizant ODC should know that the problem is not the capability of engineers, but of the cheap engineers that the incompetent Cognizant management plans to keep. Also congratulations to Invensys! Your Management has managed to slaughter yet another goose that laid golden eggs! Wednesday, September 8, 2010 Invensys Rail, especially in the UK, is really in meltdown. The new MD in the UK knows nothing whatsoever about the railway industry or engineering or people. He is focused only on fixing things financially in the short term, with no long term vision about the business. He'll cook the books and then walk, 18 months in the job, maximum. Given what he's walked into, it could be touch-and-go whether he stays that long. His lack of leadership style is evident. It's clear that he thinks his people are merely a bad smell under his nose, since he walks past them in the corridor without even acknowledging them (he takes James Drummond as his role model, who does exactly the same). His style is right out of the early '80s - he's built up the executive ivory tower again, after the last guy dismantled it. I mean, executive parking spaces outside the front door - elitist or what? Most staff wouldn't know him if he bit them. He's not the man to turn this businss around - we need someone who is committed to engineering and people. I despair, and am actively looking for a new job after 14 years - as are most engineers in this place. Wednesday, September 8, 2010 Sad to say but the last post is so true. We openly laugh out loud listening to Ulf's lectures on productivity and lean, and then we watch as he leaves by chauffeur and in some cases private jet. Right now our lawyers are in a conference in Paris in a very expensive hotel costing hundreds of thousands of dollars. Explain that. There is no rational explanation. Egos have got out of hand. Time will tell. Most of us feel that a take over is the best thing that could happen right now. Tuesday, September 7, 2010 The last comment on Rail is spot on. Ulf's practice of making people commit to unachievable outcomes (or get fired) means that they do and ultimately business will fail to deliver. This then allows Ulf to personally justify his mono "turn around" style. Happened in Controls, then IPS and now the most profitable and cash rich Rail business is on its knees. The total write down in the UK business is around $90M over 3 years. In defence of Drummond, he is the guy that has tried to keep Ulf's destructive influence at bay. The pension shortfall is bigger than the market cap. The only reason why the company may stay in the blue-chip FTSE100 is a share price rise due to take-over speculation. Constant BS press releases are a joke. For example the big announcement regarding China nuclear order win for IOM fails to say that it's break even at best. The push for good news orders has resulted in loss making projects for Invensys. Ulf has no idea about shareholder value and meanwhile he and his fellow incompetents collect their million-dollar compensation packages. Tuesday, September 7, 2010 Nothing is really left to say here is there? With the "Main Event" of IOM coming up with Ops Manage, it will be very telling to see if the recycled ideas and lite marketing spin will rear its head along with very little new solutions exhibited. Not sure it's a user conference anymore, but a partner event. I noticed that partners who attend make up most of the attendance and its mainly to keep an eye on whats going on with Invnesys and talk directly to their peers. As in the past, a few new software solutions will be shown probably, but this will be from partners rather than Invnesys, as it has been recently. New versions of existing software that are made mainly of fixes dont pass the test of innovation nor create much buzz these days. As a result it would seem the Invensys product line is too broad given the budgets of Invensys and are barely keeping up. I might still attend, but its going to be hard to listen to the marketing spin again about IOM and how cool their solutions are and ecosystem health is when it seems to be in decline and has less confidence now from customers and partners alike. Can't wait to see this blog after the spin show. Tuesday, September 7, 2010 The comments on the issues in the rail group simply demonstrate the broader influence that Ulf and his team have had on the entirety of the Invensys portfolio. The focus used to be on excellence in products, services, and industry expertise. Since Ulf arrived, it has been on cost cutting and financial performance. To be fair, when he arrived it was essential to lean-up the organisation and restructure its finances to ensure its survival. That period of danger of financial failure has long since passed, but the mindset persists, at the expense of future revenues/earnings, since the value pipeline has been all but cut. Lest we forget that Nigel Rudd is a key part of the equation, and he is a noted dealmaker. It should now be clear that Invensys is not on any form of acquisitive path, at least not any of significance. Therefore it is reasonable to assume from the cost cutting measures and other indicators that, given the right offer, any or all of the Invensys business have a large "for sale" sign posted upon them. Tuesday, September 7, 2010 Not the IOM idea and the vision itself keeps me wondering. More the absolute incapability and ignorance of managers makes me freezing. The show is running since several months and there is nobody who recognizes these lame ducks? There is no leadership at all. There is self-praise and self-congratulations, and not to forget self-enrichment. Nothing of Sudipta's nice Mails arrives at the employees. These Mails are pure scorn for them. Nobody recognizes the number of resignations? Nobody notice the lost of talent? At the end nobody will miss this virtual construct, but the origin spirits of successful companies. Monday, September 6, 2010 - Re: UK Rail Group & others:
Wenn ich Kultur hˆre ... entsichere ich meinen Browning! Monday, September 6, 2010 Things are desperate in the UK rail business. All the good directors have been fired and there is no one left at the top who has any feeling or experience for the rail business. Just a bunch of James Drummond yes-men. Drummond is a clever guy but has out-stayed his welcome; he has lost the confidence of customers and staff and it's time for the buck to stop with him. Working here is terrible. A blame culture extends everywhere and it's always about cash and profit. It used to be about engineering Thursday, September 2, 2010 Other than cost savings, has there been any real benefit of combining the organizations of IPS, and Wonderware? So far it seems that customers don't gain, partners don't gain, product lines do gain and if anything are squeezed more, and sales synergy seems to be missing. Look at the product lines of the Wonderware channel and it's obvious that they can't handle much more; and hardware is out for most. As it should be. The are two distinct channels and to think that Invnesys can leverage each together well - thats been a faliure each time. As an investor, this IOM seems like it will foster less innovation and not more. It's a cost savings measure and makes sense in that realm mainly. But again I ask: where is the success and new business it was to create? Where are the new products into each channel? Hmmmm. Must be a real struggle to come up with substantial benefits of IOM. Wednesday, September 1, 2010 I think all US and EMEA based employees seriously need to join a different organization. Staying will just make matters worse. If your unhappy and want to make a difference in your job with customers then find a new employer. Not much can be accomplished if the situation is as is posted here; even if it's only half-right, I would think the industry would be better served as well. There are a lot of companies who would pick up the talent. Tuesday, August 31, 2010 It will not get better for Invensys until there is a significant change in the culture of leadership. "Do as I say, not as I do", has been that standard operating procedure for a long time. At IOM we have senior leaders that are in so far in over thier heads there is no possible way to recover. Sudipta and the team he has surrounded himself with spend more time on crafting a story to tell rather than addressing clients needs. Most of the team is fearful of being in the room with a client or salesperson as they might be asked a difficult question. For those of you that work closely with the ELT (Executive Leadership Team) you know that anytime there is going to be confrontation they run and hide. There is a culture of passive/aggressive behavior that starts with the CEO and filters through the entire organization. The culture of Wonderware has been imploded, and that was intended. The plan was to offshore the talent to Sudipta's native land of India. If you want to succeed at Invensys the game is very simple. Nod your head yes to whatever you are asked to do. Don't show any courage as that will get you pushed to the door. Any decision you make that is right, let your boss take credit. Tuesday, August 31, 2010 Most of the people who wanted to create MES and Advanced Apps with great ease of use were unceremoniously driven out of Wonderware by the new leaders and their minions. Leader of the pack was none other than the recently demoted Pankaj Mody who time and time again stood in the way of any developments that he didn't personally initiate, which incidentally were very few and were of little customer value. It is really a tragedy what has become of the company that Dennis, Phil, Cole, and the rest of the real Wonderware team built. It is in the hands of a misguided group of misfits who are terribly far beyond their competency levels. With the board solidly in his pocket, there's little that will displace Ooof (that's the sound of the gut punch he's given to the company) and his band of incompetent outsourcers who have nothing but a cost focus and little or no customer focus.
Entire of itself. Each is a piece of the continent, A part of the main. If a clod be washed away by the sea, Europe is the less. As well as if a promontory were. As well as if a manner of thine own Or of thine friend's were. Each man's death diminishes me, For I am involved in mankind. Therefore, send not to know For whom the bell tolls, It tolls for thee. Monday, August 30, 2010 I have noticed that there is a disconnect between marketing and the reality of Invensys product ease-of-use. Wonderware specfically. Why is it for a company like Invensys that outsources so much including HR and Development, that most often the first item that companies outsource is support. Invensys has not done such but its not something to be proud of as much. It speaks to ease of use of the software and licensing and training. My experience with Invensys is that most distribution cannot handle the advanced apps and new releases for several years, nor do they want to take the risk of investing. So one would conclude that the ease of use and configurabilty that is marketed is more marketing than reality. While the platform is viable, it is costly as far as engineering and support is concerned. To be fair the other vendors are not much better. As a consumer, I can't see how the mass marketability of automation solution is viable until companies like Invensys, who previously had a mass marketed HMI platform, can turn the tables again and provide a real sustainable platform for MES and Advanced Apps. Where is the leadership and customer focus now? Or is the CEO mantra of just good enough to snow us going to be to new standard? Sounds like a house of cards waiting for some innovative player to knock down. Same for ABB, Siemens, Rockwell etc. As vendors, customers, partners, we should should demand more not less. Monday, August 30, 2010 - Concerned: As an outsider, ie non Invensys employee or distributor, its very distrubing to see so much chaos being shouted about on this blog. I will have to say, outside of OpsManage promotion and a few aquisitions, I really have no idea about what Invensys is doing these days. I am commenting on the Operations Management side. I am most familiar with the process side of the business and have to say also it seems like the push into facilities seems far afield for this company given its focus. Also I am suprised about the push into energy managment, when the likes of ABB and Siemens seem must better positioned and experienced. There has been no news of customers in those areas at all and one would think large list of successes would have been out there by now. It's very confusing as to what this Operations Management Organization wants. I would think the VPs in the product managment and marketing groups must be held to blame for the lack of newsworthy progress. Where is the success of this new organziation? I would think it's time for accountability actions to directed at VPs now. Sunday, August 22, 2010 I know that this space was not intended as a bitch fest. But I feel I must say this. I being a long time FOXBORO employee(30+years) must speak out. I have seen Foxboro go from an industrial leader to a stumbling confused mislead entity. The leaders we had here who had a vision for the company were forced out, and VASTLY INCOMPETENT leadership were put in place. The morale here is bad; management is not liked or trusted. The culture-of-cheap has settled in. The Bristols built FOXBORO on the idea to build the best instrument that they could. Now this crowd has the philsophy: build it good enough. Our customers have noticed. Look at our market-share. Now I know the economy is bad but..... This culture that is in power which is including IPS'S version of Leona Helmsley to the present leadership and their cost cutting methods, leave me shaking my head. They tell people who already do over-and-above that they are just doing their job's. That now you have to go so far above and beyond it is impossible to satisfy management. You see, according to our illustrious V.P in charge of manufacturing, the hourly employees make too much money, get too many benefits and don't produce enough. So they think peasants salaries are out of line, but management salaries are just dandy. Well I am proud to say they made their goal - they make a cheaper instrument by buying cheaper parts and paying cheaper wages. I guess for the rest of us, our costs haven't gone up. Maybe I can tell the gas company, electric company, heating oil contractor and the supermarket to cut their prices. How about we tell the city and towns where we live maybe they will lower our taxes (good luck on that one). Management has shown a disregard for the common person. I'm on my second year with no raise. I know my job and I am good at it. I'm not the only one who feels this way; many of my fellow workers are hard working and very talented. It is just a shame that we go unappreciated and under valued. It is also a shame we have to work for a bunch of elitist jerks! Sunday, August 22, 2010 There's a great article on "How To Tell When Your Boss Is Lying" that could be valuable when listening to the company meetings: http://www.economist.com/node/16847818?fsrc=scn%2Ffb%2Fwl%2Far%2Fwhenyourbossislying Monday, August 2, 2010 - To the "marketing person" in Lake Forest: I am also in marketing and I an assure you, there are no 2 hour bike rides in my day. Call me--I'll help you take up your slack... Sunday, August 1, 2010 Safe and secure in Lake Forest? Mike Bradley ñ Gone, VP finance position eliminated, VP HR position eliminated, VP sales position eliminated, Lake Forest based marketing positions eliminated, countless development positions outsourced, middle management decimated, remaining management moved to Dallas. But yeah, those free M&Mís make this place a paradise! Wednesday, July 28, 2010
Invensys management fiddles while the company burns, and the new VP of development at IOM will continue the destructive trend. Trying to innovate without domain experience is like trying to run a marathon without preparation. A rare few can do it, most will fail and suffer greatly, and a few will die trying. Tuesday, July 27, 2010 - Marketing department here... We are used to marketing only software to a niche market that already needed our product. Meaning we are used to really doing nothing beyond a few random client stories about how they love our product. We are used to our free snacks in Lake Forest that none of the rest of you get and taking 2 hour bike rides in the afternoon in beautiful California. We aren't going to change this for anything and if you think we intend to learn about the boring rest of the business, forget it. Sudipta is from Wonderware so we are not really accountable for anything. We are safe and secure and we intend to stay that way. Tuesday, July 27, 2010 Regarding Rail (and many of the Invensys businesses), the "HR woman" is much more than that. She is Ulf's confidant, and she is not to be trusted at all, if you're wise. Tuesday, July 27, 2010 How exactly do you think the "new guy" heading development will reignite innovation? His own online profiles indicate that his specialties are in cost reduction, not output increase. Those are two very different things. He is there to carry the outsourcing flag as far as he possibly can, at the direction of Ulf and Sudipta, and at the expense of customers and employees. Tuesday, July 27, 2010 The Rail group is definitely having big problems. Diemetronic has got problems in its home market and the Sao Paulo project has problems. In the UK, the Engineering Director just got the sack - a good guy, but another fall guy for James Drummond's failings. In fact, the whole exec team has been pushed out over the past year causing massive instability. I'm hearing that there's a multi million hole in the profit forecast and that Ulf and Freeburger are personally supervising the business. James Drummond is a dead man walking - since there's no-one left to blame (unless he thinks the HR woman is the one who caused all the problems) - thank goodness since he's the one who's milked it dry. Tuesday, July 27, 2010 In defense of Sudipta, who is a marketing guy at heart, the issue isn't so much a lack of marketing output but rather, a lack of much of anything interesting to talk about. Monday, July 26, 2010 I'm hearing that the rail part of the business is in freefall, and that a profits warning is due. I guess the exec team has milked the cash cow dry... Sunday, July 25, 2010
Saturday, July 24, 2010 Dear Marketing, What happened to press releases about new products being introduced, customer wins? Promotional offers? Whitepapers of value? I don't think I have seen it so quiet from Invensys. When there was Wonderware and different management it was not the case. As a partner in sales its obvious that the company is focused on its navel and less and less on development and marketing. Seems like Ulf might have really underestimated the value of Mike Bradley vs Sudipta approach. Numbers dont lie as a track record. Not sure what the bench mark of a success is right now. Hope they have some real marketing and development folks step up and do something about it. Saturday, July 24, 2010 - RE: relocate to other engagements other than Invesys after one year completion in Cognizant: This is most prevalent in the ODC MES group. Their miseries are two-fold, from Cognizant side they are represented by useless Director (AA) and Senior Manager (MES) who never understands and addresses their true concerns; from Invensys side they are controlled by notorious gang whose intentions are directed towards defaming the ODC employees Saturday, July 24, 2010 The mismanagement of then Invensys IDC management helped Invensys to easily outsource the complete IDC development team to Cognizant. But the pitiable fact is that same management (except the ex-VP IDC) is managing the team at ODC and the team's misery is continuing there. If the leads coming from ODC are true, most of them want to relocate to other engagements other than Invesys after one year completion. Friday, July 16, 2010 Again July 25 coming up. It's two years now. The act of betrayal by then Invensys IDC management to Principal Engineers is still unforgettable. All senior technical engineers at Principal Engineer level are insulted by demoting then by one level. It is something that no organization would think of doing. But IDC management under the leadership of then Vice President shamed for nothing to do so. Through this forum, I want to convey to the members of that leadership team, 'Hey, please don't do this again to anyone again, the psychological trauma that you caused is still playing on us' Friday, July 16, 2010 As much as I hope Pankaj's demotion helps us get back on track, do we really have any reason to believe that it will? I am surprised that we keep him around as CTO since he is not a CTO. And the new guy is certainly going to increase the number of jobs moving out of IOM or definitely out of the US, that's clearly why they brought him in. I wish I find a reason to be happy about the change, but I feel much more confused now than ever. Tuesday, July 13, 2010 Don't worry, #3 has begun. One can be reasonably assured that Sudipta will not last out the year. He just traded from bad to worse in development. Talent management. Ha ha. Monday, July 12, 2010 What is IOM now? And what is it that Sudipta wants it to really become? It would be good to know, beyond the marketing spin which is nonesense and recycled over and over again. There are a lot of theories I am sure, but not much coming out from the top these days, and as a result I can't help but have similar opinions. Seems the focus of the employees is around internal strife and not around a real vision that anyone can sign up for. It's very disheartening to see so many employess on all these blogs just complain. But you cannot blame them if they work at a place that they don't believe in, or even worse, that the customers dont. The company has placed so little resources into it energy management, facilities, and manufacturing industry initiatives since the revenue quota is peanuts compared to the traditional large DCS business. Strategic Accounts managers will never spend time to grow new business. Seem that other players 1/4 Invensys' size will be posied to take the market and new business opportunity. Could be time for a new round of medium players to enter the field as companies like Invensys have their hands full and their direct and indirect channels spread so thin that they are forced to focus on a handful of programs and certainly not the number that President has dreams of. It's been said that big companies are well known for being good at a few things.
Friday, July 9, 2010 I worked at Invensys for less than a year and here is my honest opinion: The good:
Hey management, you still have chance to compete and go back to be #1. Use your talented engineers and listen to what they have to say because they are not that crazy and you are not really as good as you think you are. Monday, June 28, 2010 I'm coming up to a year since my departure (and the departure of some 40 other people) from Wonderware and I'm increasingly amazed that I put up with working there as long as I did. The pay was good and the benefits were very good but the abusive atmosphere was brutal. My new job doesn't tolerate teacher's pets and we are going to do between $10M and $18M more business this year than last year (which is not bad when you only have a dozen or so employees). I got laid off and I was out of work for long enough to relax, then I started my new job at a substantial increase. Nobody takes payoffs, we believe in operating ethically, and morale is great. I'm happy. Sunday, June 20, 2010 8 Steps How to destroy running business by a leaders vision
Friday, June 18, 2010 - Adding on to IOM-specific performance:
Market Position: Down 50% CEO Friends in Key Positions: Up 80% Industry Expertise: Down 30% Innovation: NaN - too low to measure Bad Aquisition Ratio: Up %100 (CEO is 0 for 2) Prospects for Survival As Independent Company: Down 98.9% Friday, June 18, 2010
The Invensys Operations Management numbers are not quite as impressive. Per their annual report, page 19:
Orders Down 17% Revenue Down 9% Profit Down 23% Employees Down 10% (This includes their 5th President of the Process Group in the past 10 years.) Thursday, June 17, 2010 Here's some positive news: http://www.invensys.com/media/default.asp?top_nav_id=3&nav_id=3&action=detail&content_no_id=876 Pretty impressive to keep revenues and order book up in these trying times. I do feel that the R&D side is still quite broken, though.
Wednesday, June 9, 2010 The last poster (regarding WonderWare growth) is clearly not management, or they would understand some basic finance and business metrics. Revenue growth is merely one measure, profitability is entirely another, and in this area WonderWare has likely been an underperformer. Calculate the CAGR of either (revenues or profitability) over the past five years for a more relevant statistic that gauges the performance of the current leadership regime. The real source of WonderWare's consistent growth and success of the past two decades is the best distribution and service channel in the industry. An analysis of revenues would also likely indicate a brand loyalty that results in a consistent stream of service contracts and maintenance revenue, which has little to do with new business. Much of the incremental revenue over the past 10-15 years have been the result of acquisitions, rather than organic creation of new offerings. WonderWare's primary business is also in a fiercely competitive market with price erosion underway from all directions, most notably in emerging/emergent econonomies where local competitors are often one order of magnitude cheaper with comparable functionality. In order to maintain revenue levels, the company will need to play either the acquisition game - which often is erosive to profitability - or the customer squeeze game by upping maintenance contract costs - which is erosive to customer goodwill. This is a challenging climate in which to be a leader. New competition & choice, economic uncertainty, globalization challenges, and eroding price models make it no easy task. The more immediate opportunities for WonderWare lie in cost-cutting and fiscal discipline. Monday, June 7, 2010 10 years ago Wonderware revenue was under $70 million; this past year it was close to $200 milllion and still growing in the double digits. While Foxboro has had problems overall, it is showing improvment. By the way, I am not management. Stop whining ! Monday, June 7, 2010 The first two posts for June 6 are obviously upper management wasting breath. It's the same rhetoric I heard 10 to 20 years ago, and Invensys has only gotten worse; its holdings have lost sales and market value. I left Foxboro 10 years ago and have thrived under a company that actually does allow its workers to contribute in a positive way. Invensys is a stifling "yes man" environment, whose middle-level managers are not allowed to do anything on their own. Puppets right down from the top. People leave not because they are bitter; they leave on a positive note because they want to make a difference, and that's not allowed at Foxboro. So they go where they are allowed to succeed. Answer me this: Foxboro sales on its own were $600M in 1982 and about $800M in the late 1990s. They were not reported on their own, other companies were blended in to disguise the lack of growth. What are they now? My company has had a sales increase of 50% in the the 10 years that I've been here. Don't try to BS people. They know better. Invensys is a big vacuum (as in negative) that sucks money out and leaves nothing of value. Sunday, June 6, 2010 How, pray tell, are we positioned for growth? IOM has been in paralysis since Sudipta took over - or for that matter, since Paulette took over - or for that matter since Pankaj took his role. The disaster of trying to make WonderWare work in the DCS space has cost us hundreds of millions of dollars in real costs of engineering and marketing, lost opportunities in delivering a better solution to our customers, and lost business. Rail is still a series of disjointed regional operating companies instead of a unified global force in transportation - which it could be with some support from ISYS. Appliances? Despite fits and starts and some good innovations, ISYS will not decide whether it wants to invest or divest and has it trapped in zombieland. Ulf fiddles while the portfolio businesses burn, but his hand picked board and carefully selected and placed leaders dare not turn on him. We have powerful well known brands. We have a massive amount of domain expertise in our respective business. We have a fantastic future with the right leadership. We do not have that leadership today. Sunday, June 6, 2010 You are completely correct. It appears that a few disgruntled people are making up facts. I do know for sure that most of the facts on this weblogntend to be disproven over time. On the the hand a lot of people do seem unhappy. Maybe if people with out any real facts kept quiet for a while someone whonwas unhappy could articulate why in a somewhat less overwrough way. Who knowns maybe a manager or two reads this weblog and could make a change. Sunday, June 6, 2010 You should all quit your whining and refocus that negative energy into something positive to support the company and make it better. Despite the remarks of the disgruntled few, Invensys is well positioned for growth. Most of the information posted on the blog is not factual and is based on opinions of bitter people. Get over it. Saturday, June 5, 2010 The backroom battles and tensions between the various IOM regional presidents are reaching a fever pitch of late. Something has to give soon. Who will win? Saturday, May 22, 2010 - Re Brand recognition and loss....Totally agree! But while the marketing man may have worked for Wonderware previously, he had absolutely nothing to do with the growth of the Wonderware brand - which grew selling shrink wrapped software, not services. He started the process of killing that before IOM was formed. Wonderware was grown not by Wonderware, but by the distributor channel that embraced it as their own. Where will they be in 12 months? Friday, May 21, 2010 Invensys just bought Skelta. Like they know anything about Business Process Management! Another waste of money into the software space where they have failed miserably before! Once again they will try to get a sales force that can only sell products to sell software and solutions that they know nothing about. Haven't we seen this before? Friday, May 21, 2010 Brand recognition value and loss: Congratulations, Invensys for flushing awesome recognizable brands like Foxboro, Triconex and Wonderware down the toilet. Foxboro brings in most of the cash that the rest of the company squanders on pipe dreams of becoming a solutions company when 75% of all income comes from M&I products. Every year the brand degrades a little more. Minimal R&D is put toward maintaining the edge Foxboro was famous for. Soon the products will be outdated and the brand name will be lost and your cash cow will be gone. Then what will you do? Within 5 years Invensys will collapse as this is the financial foundation propping up the regime. Go to www.foxboro.com or www.triconex.com. The logos that users have seen for generations are no longer on the website at all. Who is the marketing executive (idiot) who is so determined to flush all of these years of brand recognition down the toilet? Fire them all. For a change fire someone who deserves it. Oh yeah, they are from Wonderware; no wonder they keep their jobs... Thursday, May 20, 2010 So, the buzz is we're prepping for additional acquisitions. Isn't that just precious? Spend a boatload of the company's money, just because we have product marketing managers with no clue of what customers want and a development head who stands in the way of anything that customers actually want. And we have to buy elsewhere. Fix the problem, stop attaching more band aids. Friday, May 14, 2010 The only change that is happening with the Invensys name changes is a shrinking market share for Triconex & Foxboro. Talking of the Middle East market, it's hard to recollect when Triconex or Foxboro last won a real competitive ESD / DCS bid against the likes of Honeywell, Yokogawa and Emerson. The Invensys Middle East team has even managed what no one in the world has done: They have managed to lose some proprietary jobs to system integrators. The calibre of the CSE and TCS is abysmal and the exodus of good trained personnel continues to be replaced by nodding heads who would not know the difference between an ESD and a DCS. It's time the corporate office moves in and clears off all the dead-wood at the top and gets a lean, mean fighting outfit in place. There's lot's of business out there - but not for Invensys in it's present form. Thursday, May 13, 2010 If anyone had any expectations of Wonderware Studios delivering anything usefull in any time frame that was appropriate, they are severely deluded! One advert and one or two brochures per years is all they have ever managed, and even then those generally missed the target - the made excuses that the advert was there to highten awareness. One day they might tell the world what Wonderware actually has to offer. The Wonderware web sites have always been the most disorganised, hyped and out--of-date sites. 99% of the customers I talk to finish up hitting the Pacwest website to get support. Sunday, May 9, 2010 No one is talking about the "Tail Wagging the Dog" syndrome going on throughout the organization. At every turn, Wonderware people are being promoted regardless of skills in the position they are being put in. All others in key positions are quietly being let go or forced out. It is a witch-hunt to rid the organization of anyone who was deemed (IPS/EDS) or part of Paulette's team. Talent is being replaced by Wonderware cheerleaders regardless of skillset. When are they going to see that these Wonderware people know how to run million dollar businesses and will fail miserably with the Billion dollar businesses they are being put in charge of? When is Ulf going to wake up and see what is really going on? The decisions being made are in key areas and are purely political. In the long term this kind of crap will kill the company. Here are some specific cases where talent was eliminated as the individuals were deemed to be "IPS" people needing to be replaced by Wonderware. There were 2 individuals that single-handedly did all of the IPS rebranding. One guy did solo what Wonderware Studios takes an entire team to do. The other guy built the IPS websites and helped us in Invensys corporate with our web projects as well. He alone did what Wonderware has a team in place to do. OK, I get it, they were redundant with Wonderware. Regardless, these talented individuals were both really needed at the Invensys corporate level. God knows we need all the help we can get with Invensys branding and websites. Has anyone really looked at the terrible Invensys internal and external websites? They are a nightmare! Compare OurInvensys to the IPS or IOM intranets that are actually usable. Invensys desperately needed these talents. Now we are stuck with a crappy website and I have to outsource newsletters that could have been done internally. Those guys helped everyone in the organization and did not see IOM / Invensys boundary lines. They helped everyone as "one company" and will be missed. Losing talent that was needed elsewhere is clearly a failure of senior leadership as well as HR. Sunday, May 9, 2010 Ulf turned Controls around? You've got to be kidding me. Controls has been turned around by Mark B, despite Ulf who has been busy destroying value in IOM and Rail. Friday, May 7, 2010 Don't give Ulf too much credit for the Controls turnaround. If he had his way, we would have sold it off years ago. Ulf's days have passed, and Invensys needs new leadership. Someone younger, more driven, more passionate. Maybe an ex-GE person with good ops + strategy + execution skillls. Monday, May 3, 2010 With all the gloom and doom from the people who write on this weblog, one would not expect that Ulf has been able to turn around Invensys Controls Europe during the past fiscal year. The business will report a 5.3% ROS for 2010, up from a net loss position in 2009. Not bad for a business that supplies controls to the HVAC and appliance industries, whose shipments are down 30% since 2007. Stop complaining and look in the mirror. Saturday, May 1, 2010 - to many dear friends: Don't worry, there is a life after Invensys. I was fired a couple of months ago, and found another job in better company. By the way, I remember all good workers and technicians spending time and effort, while managers and VPs doing anything to ruins this... I did not visit this Weblog for a while now. So, reading some past posts I found this: did you see that "Sudipta" is an anagram from (or to) "Stupida" Yet another good choice for a project name... Hey another thoughts: Ulf Henriksson is onboard since 2005, so 5 years of good choice and excellent management style. Well hope his birthday cake will be as big as the results - employees mood I mean! Not easy to put 5 candles on a cookie! Have safe trip guys! Friday, April 30, 2010 Where on earth did the previous writer come up with the belief that Skelta is a 'good brand name'? It is/was a dying company that sold itself for bargain basement price. Good brand names don't do that. Friday, April 30, 2010 Invensys has the history of ruining good brand names. Hopefully Skelta doesnt fall in that category. I dont really see a connect between comparing Skelta and Cognizant in the recent posts. The acquisition is more related to a strategic (!) solutions perspective (the same old story of sensor to board room with Baan acquisition). For a company like Invensys wanting to rebrand as a solutions company, products come in as second priority. Friday, April 30, 2010 - RE: Moving IDC to Cognizant ODC to get rid of incompetancy: We (good performers from Cognizant) do not agree to this statement either. It is close to one year; even now we are forced to see and deal with the same crap every day (incompetent PMs, Dev Managers, SM and Directors). Not sure when this crap will be cleared from the organization. Wish it would be very soon; otherwise we have no option left other than leaving Cognizant. It is good that the market is booming now. Thursday, April 29, 2010 - RE: Moving IDC to Cognizant ODC is to get rid of incompetancy: Should this happen, I would be the first person to congratulate the Invensys management. But we (employees at Invensys) are still dealing with the same incompetancy at Cognizant. Invensys would need an extended arm (which is Skelta) to get rid of the Cognizant ODC's incompetancy. Monday, April 26, 2010 The work given to ODC by Invensys will become 50% after the Skelta acquisition. People in ODC with MS technologies have to look somewhere else. All MS projects at ODC will be slowly scrapped. It will be a tough time for people working at ODC. Sunday, April 25, 2010 Moving IDC to Cognizant ODC is to get rid of incompetancy. I dont think there should now be a "Strategy" to get rid of ODC. They can simply ask to ramp down on teams, and treat Cognizant as yet another vendor. Friday, April 23, 2010 The $3 million acquisition cost is merely the start. The cost of assimilating the acquisition, of creating new - and non-marketable - applications, and of attempting to train DCS sales guys to sell BPM, will make that acquisition cost seem like nothing. It is the start of another money pit. Sudipta seems to be trying to get back the luster he had when he bought Light Hammer while at SAP for the shop floor to top floor story there. Can one honestly compare an SAP sales person to an Invensys sales person? An other possible interpretation of this acquisition is that since it was small in scope, the intent is still to keep the coffers full for a potential acquirer for Invensys itself, so as not to burden the future acquirer with something larger and more complex. Thursday, April 22, 2010 $ 3 million for this company and you guys are worried about it? Wow! Where was everyone when they bought and sold Baan? Thursday, April 22, 2010 The recent aquisition of Skelta could be a strategic move to check ODC at Cognizant, at least the groups which work on MS technologies. Invensys must use this aquisition to get rid of the incompetence at ODC. Thursday, April 22, 2010 Not a suprise on the topic of aquisition. No, its not because it's an Indian company; that would be too... well too much to say. But it is because the company has aspirations too big for itself without a channel or structure to support it. I have seen other companies (like Redhill and others) grow this way, but the current management seems to not understand that they will only kill any aquistion by starving it under the bottom-line orientated, non-strategic board. Who can blame the board? This would be a bad invesment. When will the rest of us shareholders take a stand and send these guys on their way? Wednesday, April 21, 2010 CTS can now start thinking of acquiring 130 employees of Skelta under it umbrella. What shall we name this program? RE-EDGE? Wednesday, April 21, 2010
Invensys goes bottom fishing today: Paid GBP 2M ($3M) for a company in an crowded market, where Microsoft effectively gives away software for free. Worse, Invensys gets all the cost and overhead of another 120 employees, and a product that no one at Invensys knows how to sell. What a surprise that it was an Indian company; imagine how that could happen. Another smart move from the Bhatyachara brains trust. Wednesday, April 21, 2010 Looks like Invensys bought another Company today to become part of their Ecosystem offerings. Rumor is Honeywell & Emerson are having a party, since this will add to the confusion Sudipta has created with the Invensys market strategy. Turnover was about 2 million, so hopefully they didn't spend over 6 to buy it. Last acquisition was a 15 million dollar company bought for 52 million and best estimates still doing 15 million and not integrated into the sales channel. Difference is the new acquisition is in India not the States. Wednesday, April 21, 2010 Is anyone (other than the writer) aware that Invensys' fiscal-year 2010 has ended? Tuesday, April 20, 2010 I have heard from sources that Invensys Controls had a very good year in 2010 beating all expectations. Can anybody confirm that? Wednesday, April 14, 2010 Let's all accept that InFusion is a joke, and that if we want to compete we will need to create some real integration between the IOM product families and build a compelling solution that delivers what customers really want. We need to dump the albatross known as Archestra and the leadership that has foisted this crap upon us for years. Pankaj has had his chance, and he failed. It is time to move on. We have spent far, far too many engineering hours in the wrong areas and on a bad architecture that was poorly implemented. That is three strikes for the leadership, in my book. Tuesday, April 13, 2010 I have to agree with the inward focus comments. Becoming Invensys, One by Six, IPS, IOM, and many others... slogans and logos... hire, fire, re-organize. How about some slick integration that actually works and that isn't tested on customers? Managing sales so that customer expectations aren't out of line with actual capabilities thus not only protecting Invensys but also the customer. And what about being in a marketplace and not floundering on some pie-in-the-sky consulting marketplace. Invensys (IOM)is an automation provider meaning both Hardware and Software. You can't outsource both and expect to be a "consultant". Customers (plant managers) see right through that. They want the nuts and bolts and they want them to work. Simple as that. Tuesday, April 13, 2010 Customer focus? Invensys is a trading company. Yes, just a business trading company engaged in buying and selling manufacturing companies. It can only look for profits; so there is no customer focus. Monday, April 12, 2010 I am seeing a common thread here - a lack of focus on the customer, and more focus on internal politics and financial performance. That is not a sign of a healthy company. Also, customer focus does not imply listening to your handful of large customers. It means having a pulse on the overall market and customer base, a continuing and constant dialog, and a measure of the value you are actually delivering to your customers' businesses. I see none of that. The storm clouds are circling. Saturday, April 10, 2010 More comments regarding the post-Sudipta era:
Friday, April 9, 2010 Not trying to negative but, besides the increase in Invensys stock price, here is what I have seen since Sudipta took over:
Friday, April 9, 2010 Regarding the ecosystem program: Do you think it is a coincidence that one of Sudipta's long time buddies is now running it? Not. Though I must agree I think the new ecosystem programs being proposed were not the right ones for us. They should listen to customers and find out what THEY want out of an ecosystem. Friday, April 9, 2010 Why doesn't Invensys get back to the Wonderware distributer's way of treating customer's with respect and realizing that customer's pay their salaries. Heard the departed ecosystem head was hand picked by Sudipta from a competitor who was losing market share. Great pick Sudipta! Next time around, hire someone that understands sales and customer relationships. It is real simple: develop and deliver value based products that solve customer problems, and then customer's will buy. Then you have a customer for life. If Invensys spent the time with customer's that they spend in internal meetings to stroke each other's ego, they would be better off. My 2 cents. Friday, April 9, 2010 Speaking as a long-standing Wonderware ecosystem member, the departure of the head of the group is probably for the best. His proposed changes to the program (incredibly high annual fees with no identifiable ROI potential for the partners, non-value-adding reporting requirements, quotas, etc.) have alienated heretofore loyal and committed partners. Plus, the never ending game of musical chairs within the group has stalled all forward progress towards redefining the program. The program is both in limbo AND a state of flux. Hard to achieve... Friday, April 9, 2010 WonderWare is, for all intents and purposes, dead as we once knew it. It was well on its way, when Pankaj and his crew took over the reins and the white elephants known as Archestra and InFusion sucked in all of the available oxygen in the company. Looking from the top, Ulf is a terrible leader for a company in this mode. He is good at cleaning up financial messes, but does not have a strategic bone in his body. He has created a chaotic organizational structure that defies coherence in every way, and creates unhealthy competition that does not bring one single customer benefit. The moment an organization loses its focus on the customer and turns inwards, the end has begun. Invensys will certainly be parceled out or gobbled up in the reasonably near future. Thursday, April 8, 2010 How is it ever going to be possible for each region to do anything autonomously? Product comes from the central organisation. Product is what we sell. All the powerpoints in the world will only sell vapourware for a short period of time. So far we have yet to see a single thing from the regions HQ - other than "how much will you book next month?" Look at Wonderware's core products - development has stopped apart from bug fixes, and even then the development group seems incapable of merging the many bug fixes into a release version. And as for QA - Let's test it for the bugs we know about. Let the customer find the rest! Tuesday, April 6, 2010 IOM organizational structure changes ongoing. The sales regions have P&L and the corporate folks are a cost center only. With all marketing, OEM business development, industry initiatives, product management, and ecosystem development under this structure it has been pointed out that the corporate strategy lacks teeth because each region is autonomous and will take whatever strategy of investment and development regardless of the corporate public relations and talk of strategy to the market. Not sure how this will work, but its one of the reasons you wont find a consistent strategy or customer experience globally. Tough to do in any company, but this kind of organizational structure seems to make it more of a challenge. A regional approach makes sense but there still has to be a global strategy that VPs sign up for. Tuesday, April 6, 2010 - Response to March 31, 2010 weblog by "little facts and nothing but opinions": You are assuming that if one or several of us goes to management and talks about our concerns, that management will take appropriate steps. Well, if it was a company with good management personnel, these problems wouldn't have occurred in the first place! You probably are (bad) management material or haven't worked for any of the companies on this weblog. Everything is an opinion; why else do we call them opinion polls? This weblog does discuss industry; the posters are stating why their companies are not doing well, and it is mainly boiling down to the root problem which is inefficient, inactive, inbred management. Many have left or been laid off from these companies. However, there are many that still work in these companies and are watching their jobs disappear, careers coming to an end prematurely, or just plainly suffering with no end in sight. If corporations claim they are existing as an organism, and trying to be "green" and environmentally-friendly, then they should have ethics too. Corporations are always lobbying congress and "buying" votes at every political level. That's just plain proof of government for sale. No wonder our American jobs have gone overseas. Even defense contractors are taking federal money to ship jobs to Puerto Rico. Tuesday, April 6, 2010 The ultimate power struggle at IOM is taking shape and will be full of fireworks soon. Ulf's previous hand-picked choice (Sudipta) and his all-show-no-substance pals against Ulf's most recent hand-picked choice (Teemu) and his back-to-the-future/mini ABB approach. Place your bets and form your alliances, ladies and gentlemen. This should be exciting. Be sure you have a good seat! Monday, April 5, 2010 One blogger asked to have something real to say around the company. Well take this into consideration the next time making a major committment to a company for standardization. Take a good look at the bench within a company and the resources behind it. Right now as all companies are stretched thin, its even more important. Industry initiatives such as Corporate Engergy Management, Transportation, Asset Management, and even new Apps in Oil and Gas have small players behind them and lack the real global resources to take major or global. This company seems to be pushing the envelope of profitability while forsaking its future as a provider that has the legs to take it much further, or ownership that a customer would want. Be sure the contract is tight when dealing with large scale purchases. Where is the investment beyond fixes and support its own products Are its customers happy now with the changes or will they be in the future? Only sales and not profitability will tell on that front; and for all the others in the automation business. Something to consider. Saturday, April 3, 2010 - Re: Eliminating onsite coordinators from CTS. The bigger problem with Cognizant ODC and Invensys are that they are actively considering many good steps, but are unable or unwilling to implement any of them. Instead only bad measures are implemented and the responsibility for doing anything good is shrugged off by management and passed right down to the base level. If management can't take responsibilities and face the consequences of their decisions, why the hell are such cowards leading these organizations? Wednesday, March 31, 2010 As I read this weblog, it makes me wonder why it is here. I think it is just putting out crap on all the automation companies; for what? Come on, is Invensys, Honeywell or Rockwell, or any other company really that bad? Wow! There are little facts and nothing but opinions. It's a joke to see such garbage by so-called professionals. What ever happened to discussion on product or solutions? Let's discuss industry or economy impacts to our businesses! If you read this think about it. If you have a issue with Invensys or any other company, be a professional and address it within the company, or leave! Wednesday, March 31, 2010 The scummy internal politics continue. We lost a good guy at IOM who was handling our ecosystem - who got kicked out. I guess the ecosystem isn't important anymore, or you need to be a friend/bootlicker of the boss. This place sucks and I can't wait to find something else. Saturday, March 27, 2010 Invensys Rail Group is now also nosediving into terminal decline. The power-crazed directors and managers across all of the business units are in a turf-war for control and R&D is more about who has the most power, not who delivers good products. Their ineffectual leader in HQ is too busy collecting air-miles to notice what is really going on. The products being developed are already out of date and we are struggling to catch up with the competition. We are screwed. Time to brush up your CV's. Tuesday, March 23, 2010 Great News: Invensys is actively considering to get rid of the onsite coordinators from CTS. Might be the postings here that prompted the Invensys Management to reevaluate their positions. Invensys should post people with good product knowledge at Invensys ODC Hyderabad to help the Dev and QA teams to understand the requirements better. Saturday, March 20, 2010 - To "Complain, Complain" and "Working, not whining": I see you don't put your names or email here, either. If you want to post something that shows who you are and how to reach you, you might get some details. But if all you're doing is chiding the rest of us from the safety of your own anonymity, you have no credibility. Come on: if you are saying that people should speak up and you're touting the company line, you of all people have nothing to fear, right? Put a little skin in the game. Friday, March 19, 2010 - from former 30+ year employee: I for one am quite pleased to be away from the nonsense that Invensys has become. For the last five years of my career I could feel the sense of hopelessness engulf me as I walked from my car to the entrance of my building. I don't miss that one bit. Friday, March 19, 2010 Excellent writeup, Jim. I particularly found your treatment of Peter Martin's appearance at ARC quite poignant. He is a brilliant man, but sadly, has been parked on the sidelines for years now. He did his best to fill in the (many) blanks in the IOM strategy with the vision of a real-time business that he has held for nearly a decade, but the overall message remained muddled. No, this Phoenix will not rise from the ashes, as one of the press suggested, but rather, will end up as the turkey dinner on some acquirers table in the not so distant future. Henrikkson lacks the skills for a company at this juncture, Bhatychara is in over his head, and the team they have assembled is weak through and through. The leadership team lacks in vision and execution, and that is not a formula for success. Friday, March 19, 2010
Invensys IOM strategy is flawedExtract from JimPinto.com eNews #279, 19 March 2010What's the IOM strategy? Knowledgeable industry pundits like Andrew Bond (Automation Insider) and editors Gary Mintchell and Walt Boyes have tried to explain it. I suspect they are simply parroting the press-releases, with the "emperor's clothes" syndrome. Privately most admit that it has little chance of success. Hey, I can't explain it. If you can understand it, "You're a better man than I am Gunga Din"! Apparently, Ulf drank the cool-aid, and is probably getting ready to jump ship.
Thursday, March 18, 2010 If Invensys starts shuttering offices in the UK, it most certainly portends the transfer of HQ to the USA. Wednesday, March 17, 2010 Lots of noise that Invensys are considering / are shutting down some of their UK offices and relocating the work back to Paris - is anybody able to confirm this and if so which offices? Sunday, March 14, 2010 - To the person asking for specifics: There are lots of specifics, and gross violations of ethics, though this anonymous weblog is not the place to expose them. Those silly online ethics courses talked about how the appearance of an ethical violation is just as bad, but it is all do-what-I-say and not do-what-I-do here. If any of this is true and a director has been covering for illegal acts, then it all becomes a federal felony and the SEC moves in. If someone reports it to the IRS for the hefty rewards they give for reporting tax cheats, there can be an IRS investigation, too. They can even gather the information without a warrant as part of an ongoing tax investigation and then turn over evidence of crimes to the SEC. There is much could be done better here. Still, I like working here because of the products and many of the great people. I would like it better if the company ran cleaner and did all the ethical things they should. This is one of the typical problems with how things are run badly here. Saturday, March 13, 2010 - RE: You should be WORKING, not whining on this Weblog: The comment was "We all in Invensys ODC can access this site." and this does not mean that "We all in Invensys ODC do access this site." Nor does it mean "We all in Invensys ODC always access this site." Nor does it mean that "We all in Invensys ODC access this site from office network." The person asking us to be "WORKING" assumed all the above illogical conditions. The worst thing is that he may be from ODC or Cognizant management, and this really worries us because in this case we are forced to ask ourselves that why are we working for such fools? On the Other hand this guy can be one of the Invensys US guys preaching to us. In this case we wonder what happened to US intelligentsia? Have they all left Invensys already? Or are they so pissed that they don't want to represent their organization on this blog and so let the underprivileged talk instead! Saturday, March 13, 2010 - Re: "We all in Invensys ODC can access this site.": There is part of the root of the problem. You should be WORKING, not whining on this Weblog. Friday, March 12, 2010 Complain, Complain: Why not actual information? What are the leaders doing wrong? What policies, actions, decisions do you disagree with? What should change? Name names, speak the truth, but please stop whining. Most of these posta look like they are from low-level people with no real clue to what is going on in the buisness, but are pissed off that they don't get more for themselves. Friday, March 12, 2010 - Re: Wobbly heads and brown noses: For my Indian colleague, the term "brown nose" has got nothing to do with the brown color of the skin. It has a very different connotation than you think, with NO cultural, regional, or racial significance. It is offensive only to the individual who places his nose in such a way as to potential get something brown upon it. Here's the Answers.com definition of "brownnose":
Thursday, March 11, 2010 - Re: Wobbly heads and brown noses: Please don't use remarks that hurt sentiments of a community/gender/race etc. If some one, or a group of people are incompetent, say it loud. People who fall under same group support your argument professionally. For example, Sudipta being Indian-born doesn't automatically get support from all Indian-born in Invensys. In fact >90% may not like him, as like in any other groups. I request you to criticize people based on thier actions, not on any other criteria. Thursday, March 11, 2010 Invensys has got all its prioities mixed up and messed up. You look at any of the geographical regions and you have individuals ruining the organization with their own notions of how to run a company. And there are a whole bunch of freeloaders with wobbly heads which go up and down in agreement whenever the boss says something, and they get promoted. Needless to say these freeloaders would not know the difference between Foxboro and Triconex and Wonderware, but would still decide how these should be sold and serviced. Man, it's a crazy orzanization, with brown nosers getting promoted and good guys being thrown out. You can even go so far as to say that all the guys at the top now are pretty much there because they have wobbly heads and brown noses. I know of one brown noser who has hardly ever seen the inside of any customer's office and has seen business deteriorate under his stewardship; but his wobbly head keeps him afloat and even gives him promotions. Thursday, March 11, 2010 I am interested to know how the Middle East operation can be streamlined. There's a whole bunch of major projects happening out there and we seem to lag way behind the competition. Thursday, March 11, 2010 The CEO of IOM communicated that the global sales operations leadership function would be disbursed among a variety of other VPís within the organization, Finance and Portfolio taking on most of the functionality. I addition,Sudipta communicated that he would be going outside of the company to hire a leader that understood ìValue Sellingî. Apparently he doesnít think any of the sales leadership in this company understands Value-Selling and hence he needs to go outside and spend hundreds of thousands of dollars to hire someone that can teach the sales organization how to sell. Sort of reminds me of the last Global VP of Sales at IPS, when he told the global sales organization they were all incompetent. This is coming from a guy that has been in supply-chain his entire career. Iíd like to know what Sudipta agreed to buy from any partner in his career that was based on ìValue Sellingî. In typical fashion we will have to wait another 18 months for Sudipta to get his package and depart the organization, only to have another leader come in to the business to tell everyone they have no clue what they are doing. At some point we need to wake up and see, it isnít that the employees do not what they are doing. It is the leader that doesnít know. Wednesday, March 10, 2010 We all in Invensys ODC can access this site. Thursday, March 4, 2010 Hey, does anyone else have trouble accessing this Invensys weblog site from within the company network? Hmm..... Friday, February 26, 2010 Yes, Pankaj's impact on Wonderware and its brand goes back many, many years, but realize that he has had joint development responsibility for the former Simsci and Foxboro now for a couple of years as well. His biggest failings were in expending massive amounts of money and resource on that white elephant known as Archestra, which was obsolete and underdesigned almost from its inception. A reasonable ROI on those investments will never be realized. It is not possible. He also failed to recognize the importance of adjacent areas beyond HMI and control and did everything he could to suppress progress - and people - in those areas. It pains me to think what he has done to us on the MES team. He does not deal well with those who do not agree with his world view. The net result is that the combined IOM remains mostly the same company with the same solution set it had 10 or 15 years ago, with only a few small exceptions. Quite depressing, actually, since we seemt to have no shortage of ideas and talent. Sudipta has some good plans and understands what customers need now and moving ahead. He has shown a willingness to listen and to refine his views based on our input. Now he only needs to jettison one of the key weights holding him back. If he does this, we all need to get behind him 110% to show our support. Thursday, February 25, 2010 Most of the people who blame Pankaj are Wonderware folks. SimSci and Foxboro had gone through the pains of re-organization well before Pankaj and Sudipta were in charge of the place. Pankaj hadn't allowed it to happen as non-executive manager. He is no longer able to that anymore. Funniest thing is, those who protected them all these years are getting blamed for actions (retrenchments in Wonderware) he isn't taking. Cognizant is handpicked by Ulf and the Board; blaming Sudipta or Pankaj will not help. Thursday, February 25, 2010 I would also be glad to see Sudipta succeed. I have many doubts that he can do it if he cannot see the continuing damage that Pankaj and his pets have done to the people and products here at Wonderware. Thursday, February 25, 2010 What exactly has Pankaj done? Who has he driven out? Greater details will help us assess the value of these comments. It sounds like a bit of whining. But maybe there is truth as well. Thursday, February 25, 2010 +1 on giving Sudipta a chance if he can show leadership by making a change in development. I hope and pray every day that I see that e-mail announcement come through in my inbox. There will be dancing in the hall ways! Followed by new found energy, excitement and hard work. Wednesday, February 24, 2010 Regarding executive changes, personally, I would like to give Sudipta a chance. At least he has some modern ideas and seems passionate about growing IOM. As for Pankaj, I have no such patience. His time has come and gone, and he forced out some people who could have really made things better. The real test for Sudipta is whether he has the leadership to make this change and if he can do it before irreparable damage is done. If he doesn't act soon, he will lose support from many of us. Tuesday, February 23, 2010 - RE: Most of the Project Managers at IDC/ODC are good in people management only. Small corrections needed:
Monday, February 22, 2010 I don't know any of the names being mentioned/blamed in recent posts. I left Foxboro almost ten years ago. The death spiral started then or even before then. They had a world beater product... the 200 Series I/A DIN rail mounted I/O. It had everyone else beat by years. Engineering did its job, but someone in the upper echelon took a dislike to the head honcho involved in its creation and drove him out of the company and sabatoged the product launch. I didn't like him too much myself, but he delivered what should have put Delta V out of business. Monday, February 22, 2010 - RE: "The Invensys board and senior executives, acting in the best interests of shareholders, should do what is right": Does any one believe that Invensys senior executives have the vision to do what is right? From couple of years this big question is lingering in the brains of every employee of Invensys. Monday, February 22, 2010 Most of the Project Managers at IDC/ODC are good in people management only. They cannot clear even a single simple technical doubt. They come to office to enjoy tea with puff and then start ICICI direct at 10:00AM. According to them a project manager should be able to handle the project, technical skill are not necessary. IDC/ODC needs technical managers, not project managers. They neither manage a project nor help people technically. Most of them are ethernet cards without MAC address. Sunday, February 21, 2010 Stan, while I respect your attempt to find something positive, the reality is that perhaps the only way to get rid of the aptly described "toxic management" is to see a downturn in business as customers question the viability and direction. There sure doesn't seem to be any other way. We are collectively powerless, as this is no democracy, nor should it be. What should happen, however, is that the Invensys board and senior executives, acting in the best interests of shareholders, should do what is right and make the necessary changes. Sunday, February 21, 2010 Stan, I also couldn't agree more. Having left Invensys several years ago, the only reason I read this weblog is to reassure myself that I made the right decision. Invensys had the opportunity of becoming the Global Automation leader with Brands such as Foxboro I/A or M&I, Triconex, Wonderware & others. Instead, I don't think they even rank in the top 5 anymore. It is really a shame that the senior managers could not have this vision and put good people in place that understood what needed to be done to achieve this. Look at the top management at Yokogawa, Honeywell, Emerson, Rockwell etc. etc. and you will find excellent people who left in disgust, or were driven out by incompetence. I myself would consider returning and have been approached on numerous occasions to do so. Unfortunately, Invensys is not a healthy company, nor do they supply a healthy environment to work in. The passion that we all had for the products and services produced by Invensys has left. This weblog enables those who really care to vent. I truly hope that management does read these posts and figures out that their most valuable resource is the passion that their people have for this company. If they don't, Invensys will surely cease to exist. Saturday, February 20, 2010 When I first discovered this blog, it made me feel a lot better because I realized I was not the only person seeing these things. It has also been good for comparing notes. The halls are not a good place to start a conversation like "Do you think Pankaj is a complete idiot or has he shown signs of consciousness?" for anyone who doesn't want to be unemployed soon. I hope that news of the low esteem Pankaj is held in will filter up to someone who cares and also has a spine and that he will be put under close examination. I don't think it's likely, but I am hopeful that there is still someone competent in management who recognizes a true pointy-haired boss when he sees one. Saturday, February 20, 2010 Stan, this is a very good post. Too much negativity only breeds more negativity, it is true. But it is also true that there is no fixing most of these people. They have no reason to change. When you have incompetent directors covering up for their favorite managers and incompetent VPs covering up for their favorite directors, it only makes for a toxic work place. Having an art show is a fine idea which is worth trying, but it is also only rearranging deck chairs on the Titanic. What keeps me here is that it is better than being unemployed while I look for another job elsewhere. I keep my head down and avoid the worst of them, but it is hard to be motivated when the beatings keep coming and people who have been there longer but aren't doing a good job get rewards and recognition. Saturday, February 20, 2010 - Stan Abbot [sjabbot@juno.com]: I'm a former long-term Invensys employee and had my own set of problems with the way things were done ... but ... is the stuff in this blog really helping anyone or making a difference? Do you folks really feel better after reading it?
How about looking to make a change in the areas that YOU can affect, as in "Think globally; act locally." Why not get together informally over coffee (or chai), agree on some basic issue statements (an important concept), and brainstorm some new and creative ideas for effecting change? The issues can be related to business but don't have to be e.g. "How can we put together an employee art show?" The feeling of having an effect, allbeit locally, will be uplifting. And try to find some things that the company did RIGHT so you can pass along a word of encouragement. Friday, February 19, 2010 People also throw stones at hornet's nests, stray dogs that look like they might bite without provocation, and bullies. Use enought stones and you can knock down the hornet's nest, chase the stray dog away, and convince the bully that there are painful consequences to bullying. IOM management is all three of these, but not a tree with fruit. Friday, February 19, 2010 Now the Middle East region is running wihtout TSC nor MD - An organization of Delivery and 7 CSE's! Thursday, February 18, 2010 There is an exodus from Invensys Middle East. The new President who comes from a consumer electronics background is firing people left, right and centre i.e. anybody who disagrees with him. Of the ones that are left there is a steady stream of resignations. The installed base will pull along the organization for a while but the future is absolutely bleak. Thursday, February 18, 2010 No one throws stones at trees which have no fruits. Everyone throw stones at trees with fruits. Wednesday, February 17, 2010 I do not know why people are writing such nonsense in these blogs. Such situations are happening everyday, everywhere and in every company in the world. Please stop such announcements. It is a fact that that any company does not see people productive, efficient and then definietly it has to rotate responsibilities. People migh see it as bad, but others would see it good for the company. Wednesday, February 17, 2010 - Re: Any American drop out can ... That's an honest confession. If college drop out can do, and if it costs more in America, why in America? Are we going towards socialism, protectionism blah blah. We Americans are the ones who wanted the free market world, which is helping our companies selling goods all over the world, bringing money into our economy. Truthfully if we get right full share proportion to the market we have in America, that's good demand. What I mean is, if Invensys does 30% of it's total business out of America we should have 30% of the jobs. I think we do. If we want greater than our market share, then we are demanding jobs from other geographies. Will you support if a UK national rises to say that Invensys a British company should hire more of them than any one else? Wednesday, February 17, 2010 So if we all generally seem to agree that Pankaj is the bottleneck for progress, why does not Sudipta agree? At some point, the buddy-factor needs to be overridden by personal survival, which we hope is soon. Sudipta probably thinks he gets honest feedback from low level employees, when in fact everyone is scared to death of telling the truth for fear of dismissal. Tuesday, February 16, 2010 The work which gets from Invensys to either IDC/ODC is just manual work. Even any American college dropout can perform this type of work without any problem. But in America they are paid $ 5000 a month; in India it is peanuts. Much of the development work and important CR/CAR's are fixed at Invensys; only junk CR's are sent to ODC. Any new product to be released first time in the market, is tested at America only. Testing in India will be carried out with subsequent release only. Tuesday, February 16, 2010 It seems silly that Sudipta would have to protect his 'vision' against an Indian mafia. He is the head of the Indian mafia and all his little favorite people are Indian too. And if the best he can do is someone like Pankaj, then it is hardly a vision worth supporting. Tuesday, February 16, 2010 News is that potential candidates (internal and external) to succeed Ulf are currently being vetted, with the heads of IOM and IRL under serious consideration. Saturday, February 13, 2010 - Re: Americans developed process automation software.... No one is contradicting the fact that America had produced lot of innovation in 20th century. What we are talking is current scenario, not past glory. Arabs can also say when world was still battling for food they invented the number system which is foundation of modern day science (number system which we use today), Advancement of humanity happened in Africa, University system first developed in India. In fact Columbus discovered America while trying to get to India (that time, entire Europe wanted to trade with India). Leave about the past glory; India is a third world developing country in reality, and that's the fact. However it nutures ambitions to prove itself, and having met great success in areas like IT, Steel etc. No one contradicts 19th century was Europe's, 20th century was America's, 21st century is definitely for Asia... and continues... Who knows 22nd century could be Africa/Latin America's. Let us discuss current issues, or else let us go to the days of evolution where Africa is the place where first steps of human advancement happened which is basis for every thing we enjoy today. Saturday, February 13, 2010 - RE: when they were kids in the school, Americans have developed Process Automation software and hardware. Hey, my American friend, don't teach (talk) history. Be reasonable by speaking about the present and future. We (Americans) have our own (few hundred years old) and they have their own (few thousand years old) histories. Trust, it is our corporates greediness which is driving the jobs way from US. Saturday, February 13, 2010 - RE: People at IDC, all biz-units, must realize... My friend, IDC is past, ODC is present. Correct yourself first. Then don't brood over the past and be sensible in understanding the current scenario. If you have the guts, go and convince Invensys management that you don't need ODCs. We welcome and wish you "All the best" Saturday, February 13, 2010 - RE: It is close to $3M. Shame on IOM management to waste company's money like this. Invensys can post their own people at ODC DLF Hyderabad,who can definitely do a better job than the worthless onsite coordinators of Cognizant. Sure, this can cost us (Invensys) much less, ~$1M. Saturday, February 13, 2010 - Re: Why are MBAs without any domain and product knowledge working as Onsite coordinators? You should ask IOM development head why he needed MBAs/non-domains in development organization. During IDC days same management was very strict on domain experience. May be these management people are bought by Cognizant Saturday, February 13, 2010 People at IDC, all biz-units, must realize that when they were kids in the school, Americans have developed Process Automation software and hardware. They should should know this, and then they should talk about theselves. They are dependant on Invensys not vice versa. Saturday, February 13, 2010 The role of the "onsite coordinator" would be a living hell. Imagine being ten thousand miles from home, teaching someone else everything you know, so that they can steal your job and that of your neighbors. No thanks. Saturday, February 13, 2010 Why are MBAs without any domain and product knowledge working as Onsite coordinators? They are both ineffective and way too goofy. I wonder if we can pick some experienced guys from India ODC or Invensys USA for this job. If we cannot, it would be better to drop these positions, as we can easily do better without them. Friday, February 12, 2010 - Re: Sorry to say, but Sudipta does not have the backbone: It isn't about backbone; it is about protecting the individuals that support his vision. He needs all the friends he can find at IOM. The India mafia has taken over IOM; you don't have to be talented, you just need to be from the right part of the world. Friday, February 12, 2010 - RE: It is a well known fact that Invensys management is wasting our hard earned money by keeping the useless onsite coordinators of Cognizant: This is true to a large extent; guess what could be the order of our hard earned dollars getting wasted on these coordinators? It is close to $3M. What a shameless management we have at Invensys Thursday, February 11, 2010 - RE: In fact we need to post some good people of Invensys at ODC DLF Hyderabad: Yes, most of us at ODC fully agree with this suggestion. Invensys representatives who can guide us from requirements perspective and willing to be located at ODC are most wanted and welcomed than these useless onsite coordinators of Cognizant. In fact this was the original proposal per Invensys management at the time of transition. God knows what transpired afterwards, we got these onsite coordinators. Thursday, February 11, 2010 - RE: Sorry to say, but Sudipta does not have the backbone: Do not expect anything like this, both of them are holding their hands together. Moreover, Invensys can not expect the talent better than this at this juncture. Bear the burden or part away, at least others can enjoy Wednesday, February 10, 2010 - RE: O(I)DC managers to look for new jobs: Yes bosses from Cognizant and/or Invensys, we are ready for the show, be prepared to face the challenge after our exit. Most of us are ready to get out of this sickening place and management attitude. Wednesday, February 10, 2010 Sorry to say, but Sudipta does not have the backbone to fire the head of development, even though he knows it is the right thing to do. It will be more of the same for years to come until Ulf or someone else sees the light and forces his hand. Tuesday, February 9, 2010 - RE: VP of Development to be released from his role: Why just VP of Development? Our organization has many more heads like this. Do not expect any help from Sudipta either, he is busy in planning for another mess. Only right minded people, if any remain in Invensys, need to get-together quickly and throw these useless people and their strategies out of the company before it sinks in total. Tuesday, February 9, 2010 - RE: ex-IDC managers: Yes, it is a known secrete that few of the managers are like this, from IDC days. When this was pointed out even by Invensys US management, no action was taken against them. Not confident that either Cognizant will correct this type of issues as their on-site coordinators are much worse than these managers. It is a well known fact that Invensys management is wasting our hard earned money by keeping them onsite. In fact we need to post some good people of Invensys at ODC DLF Hyderabad who can help the teams there on a regular basis and eliminate these worthless onsite coordinators of Cognizant. This would be a win-win strategy for both Cognizant and Invensys. Sudipta/Pankaj takeup this matter on war-footing and atleast this could help you to succeed in this endeavor. Monday, February 8, 2010 Now I think it is right time for ex-IDC managers to look for new jobs. Most of the managers are not even aware of the product for which their group members sent abroad for training. It is very easy for team members to fool their managers and still it is very easy for managers to fool their group directors. Because managers/directors are not fully conversant with knowledge. Monday, February 8, 2010 If the IOM development group is a "mockery and a fraud", then it is a direct reflection of its leadership. It is (long past) time for the VP of Development to be released from his role, and the company can move on in a positive direction. Sudipta, please help us. Sunday, February 7, 2010 - RE: "Was shocked and surprised at a couple of the so-called "executives" Bhattacharya has brought in." Sudipta offered the APAC chief position to this person in recognition to his services for Invensys-Cognizant deal (this person is consultant to Cognizant for the project EDGE) and to execute next one (moving the Invensys engineering groups to another OSP/Cognizant) Friday, February 5, 2010 Few days back, the only managing director who achieved his target in IOM Middle East was fired, without mentionning a single reason. I hope the top management is still enjoying the Middle East collapse. Congratulations to all competitors. Thursday, February 4, 2010 The IOM development group in Invensys is a big mockery and fraud now. Rather than giving correct inputs to the teams at ODC, their focus has shifted to finding faults, to cover-up their owns. Just remember, whether you fail or make ODC fail, the loser is always going to be INVENSYS Wednesday, February 3, 2010 - Re: "In reality, more resignations were expected from GSD based": So you DO believe that domain knowledge is not necessary, and that developers for our systems can be picked up off the street. Good of you to clarify this for us all...... Tuesday, February 2, 2010 - Re: 'Now ODC resignations started like bombs in GSD': In reality, more resignations were expected from GSD based on the initial reactions from these employees when this engagement was announced. But not so. These numbers can be easily dealt with. Tuesday, February 2, 2010 - RE: Domestic vehicle quality has definitely reached parity with Japanese manufacturers. I don't want to take sides in the fight between the American Invensys team and Indian CTS team, but then I cannot resist commenting on CARS and cannot ignore such distortion of reality. To be honest, I don't read the news to figure out what is the quality of a car. With my experience on multiple car models from different manufacturers, both in India and US, I'll rank them as follows: 2009 Customer Satisfaction Survey by the most acknowledged business magazine: Toyota comes first and not only in cars (First globally in any manufactured product), then we have Honda, then FAW (China), then Maruti (India), then BMW, and I don't remember where the GREAT American Belly-ups are in this list. Mileage for same engine Capacity: Toyota scores best, then Honda, then Koreans and probably then the GREAT American Belly-ups. Reliability: Any one who studied engineering will know that the less efficient an engine, the more heat it produces and so the more is the wear and tear. So I'll leave it to you to guess the rankings. Engine refinement, Transmission smoothness, Consistency of Pick ups and ease of handling w.r.t revving/breaking: Toyota comes first, then the Honda. GM cars (Pontiac, Malibu) have inconsistent pickups. E.g You have to really slow a Malibu down before entering a parking lot, else you will hit something. You can drive a Toyota @ 30 miles into a crowded parking lot and park just right i.e. the place you want and the way u want. This is because a Toyota behaves exactly the same every time, even during sharp turns. Usable interior Space divided by Car Size: Honda First, then Toyota, then Koreans and then probably every one else who can make a car and then finally the great american Belly ups. Car Companies for Share holders in Last 2 years: Maruti (India) shares multiplied 4 times, FAW shares multiplied 3 times, Toyota doubled and GM and Chrysler Shares hit Absolute Zero (a decrease by infinite times). Regarding the news about Pedal Sticking: Do we know 1 Toyota car that had this problem?? Also a problem in 1 Toyota car doesn't make all American cars better. When the Americans come back with cars that are more efficient, reliable and refined than the Japanese, their car companies will no longer be run by the govt and the unions but by investors and capitalists. It will take America more than Obama's charming words or a Nobel prize to get out of this mess. So lets stop meaningless blogging and start working, because the world is catch up with us and not only in cars! Tuesday, February 2, 2010 Full disclosure: I currently work for an IOM competitor. Recently I took a look at the new IOM website and happened upon the executive team listing. Was shocked and surprised at a couple of the so-called "executives" Bhattacharya has brought in. His buddy from Geometric is hardly prepared to run an operation like IOM's APAC organization, and the guy he brought in from ABB was the one responsible for its Skyva debacle. Who's minding the store there? Keep hiring these kind of "leaders"! We love it! Saturday, January 30, 2010 Now ODC resignations started like bombs in GSD, which was exactly forecasted when edge got operated. Senior person in PRO/II resigned. Can anybody dare to think to replace or recruit such a talent? Even a lot of others are just waiting their turn to leave GSD. One side it is enjoyment for the US staff because their jobs are secure; on other side their work load will be tremendously increasing soon because the best talent is leaving very soon, from especially GSD. Thursday, January 28, 2010 My Reply to the blog stating Cognizant is paying up to 1 Lakh (100,000 Indian rupees) monthly salary for engineers with ONLY 1 year experience: The information you got is totally wrong. A person with 1 year experience in Cognizant is getting paid around 3.2 - 3.4 Lakhs per Annum. which is equialent to 7200 USD per year, and 590$ per month. Even in India, where living costs are less (Not really), it is enough only to fill the stomach of the employee. Nothing more. Friday, January 29, 2010 The last blogger is clearly stuck in the 1990's. Domestic vehicle quality has definitely reached parity with Japanese manufacturers. Or don't you read the news? Thursday, January 28, 2010 FYI. I moved to one of the developing countries and do not work for Invensys anymore. I agree with reasoning of the post - why GE? Always my argument is that there is no dearth of human intellect anywhere. I respect US as a country where lot of great innovators are available. Having said that, there are enough people capable of doing same tasks in India and elsewhere. One should understand why they are cheap: they are cheap not because of low quality, but due to the low cost of living. I have seen many instances where people moved from US work for quarter the salary that they used to command in the US. These are people who had US education and had been sucessfull for years in US industry. Also my other argument was, why not Invensys? If the entire competetion is doing that, and if Invensys don't do, that they may not survive. Another reason I truly believe - why there is so much backlash in IT related stuff was the reason of unmatured outsourcing in US terms. Usually US companies innovate run through it for few decades, then outsource to elsewhere. A good example was ship-building, which peaked in US later in the 80's, moved Japan and currently happens in Korea. However, as IT related stuff doesn't require much infrastructure, it moved on quickly. Regarding Cognizant hiring at very high salaries - that could not be true. The Indian market pays around US$ 10-15k per yr for one year experience, and Cognizant is not an exception. Boeing and GM life cycles are longer; they started their R&D 4-5 yrs back, and have yet to see the results. Every one knows why Boeing got delayed, and the delay was much before the outsourcing boom. It's because of poor PM in that org. I am wise enough not to say that the US doesn't have a good PM. GM's failure is not doing manufacturing outsourcing. While rivals like Ford source components mostly from India, and Toyata gets from Japan, GM hadn't been able to move quickly, and so they paid the price. Someone was debating about IP. Yes that's a debatable question when you are outsourcing to a third party. I truly believe that the success of any entity depends on how it was built and managed. How well you attracted the best talent. The same is true with IDC. My final words - let me end by saying that people had a perception that Japanesse cars were inferior to American ones in 80's, and now the most diehard American fans cannot say that. Japanese cars are better than American cars. I understand the pain it causes while technology moves away, impacting lives. But one cannot do anything except to be sympathetic. That's the charm, or the brutality, of global free markets. Thursday, January 28, 2010 What a terribly uninformed comment regarding Boeing. There is no better example of why NOT to outsource than the Boeing 787 example! Wednesday, January 27, 2010 Quoting names of companies doing R&D in India... Aren't Boeing years late with there 787...and haven't GM gone bankrupt?! Wednesday, January 27, 2010 - To the person who blogged "Sunday, January 24, 2010" regarding all the "successful" companies doing R&D in India: I'd like to Point Out that Honeywell and ABB may be currently enjoying success, but their reputations is getting as bad as their products. Microsoft is "Hit and Miss". I can't really speak of the other companies. I'd also like to point out that the USA. was the first country to put a man on the moon, and lead the world in technology, medical research, automotive, computers, etc., long before India, China, Brazil, and other counties even had electricity, let alone modern capabilities. There are a few reasons for the decline, but without a doubt, the biggest is the offshoring of jobs. It's impossible to innovate and improve things when you no longer make things. Lastly if you are so fond of other counties, perhaps you should go live in those countries. The USA (and for that matter Canada, UK, Australia and Japan) could do with one less person with such a defeatist attitude. Wednesday, January 27, 2010 Heard from one of my off-shore India collegue that Cognizant in India is doing a "mass" hiring in major Indian "Tech" cities like Pune, Bangalore, Hyderabad, etc. It was alleged that Cognizant is paying up to 1 Laksh (100,000 Indian rupees) monthly salary, which today is equivalent to about US$ 2,150 for engineers with ONLY 1 year experience. It is quite a fair bit of money, to have with India's low cost of living. If this is true, then I have doubts about the recruitment process of Cognizant in such mass recruitment scale. Going by such a recruitment method, I wonder how this will affect the quality of Cognizant work for Invensys in the long run? Wednesday, January 27, 2010 To answer "why GE?" "why XXX?", one must first analyze the behavior of corporate leadership and what drives them. Fundamentally, many US-based and global multinationals take a quarter-to-quarter, near term view of their strategic and operational planning. This is driven by their own compensation schemes, pressures from the capital markets, and by fundamental inabilities to think on a longer-term scale. Corporations in many of the emerging markets, notably those in the Far East, operate amidst different pressures and motivations and are able to think of much longer planning horizons, even multi-generationally at times. The outsourcing/offshoring trend was and is driven largely by this short term operational mentality. Most of these corporations are mortgaging their futures to meet near term financial targets. They are losing critical intellectual property (you don't believe for a minute that Indian outsourcers don't indirectly sell what they learn at ABB to Honeywell, do you?), operational flexibility, and are taking the easy way out, but one that fattens the bonuses of the top executives. There are a number of fantastic oppportunities and reasons to establish a multi-dimensional presence in emerging economies. However, short term cost management is the very worst reason of all, for all participants. Sunday, January 24, 2010 I do not comment on the efficiency of IDC. Everyone has different perceptions based on which BU you worked for. I would wish that there was no dearth of talent in India; the results depends on how you build and manage. As said, one should not bother about the comments of people getting impacted and the same holds good for IDC folks reaction few months back. It should be the business interests, not any percieved opinions. My only question is that if the entire bashing of high value creation at low cost is true, then how come most innovations are appearing with companies that are applying the above business model. To name a few: Microsoft, Apple, Google, Yahoo, Oracle, IBM etc. FYI Boeing, LHK, GM, GE are doing most of R&D in India. Don't tell me automation software is more complicated than Aeronautics, Operating systems. Even if you convince, then the next point is how come Honeywell and ABB, who operate in this space, are sucessfull with above model? It is interesting to see comments coming from Wonderware guys, not from Foxboro or SimSci, where domain is nothing more than software engineering. Saturday, January 23, 2010 - To the person who made the comment on Wednesday, January 20, 2010 about exploiting the cheap overseas labor as other so called successful companies: I just got a job offer from a friend of mine to work with him at an OEM, as he is now the lead of the Automation group there. The company is now re-building its automation group after a failed attempt to offshore the automation and controls to India. In this case it came down to logistics. Yes India has very bright and hard working people, and technologies have improved world wide communications. But it is still another country on a different time zone. Most clients want and appreciate face to face meeting and clear understanding of project scope, schedule, and challenges. You'll never get that when dealing with someone on the other side of the planet. Now if your creating a product that requires little or no customization, you might get away with that doing it in another country (look at many of the bug free products from Microsoft). Otherwise you need local people that understand local requirements. Thursday, January 21, 2010 Folks, the problems with Invensys are a shortage of real strategic direction, and an utter and complete lack of execution. Ulf, Sudipta and crew simply haven't a clue. A Power point deck does not a strategy make. It has been mentioned many times, but Sudipta's decision to bring along his band of merry men (mostly from Wonderware, and certainly short on cultural diversity) will be the death of the company. These guys are almost all lightweights and amateurs who haven't spent much time actually earning a living in 20 years, as they've been busy nursing off the teat of the cow in the Wonderware lobby. Most of them haven't the foggiest idea about the world outside. The inevitable outcome will be sad, yes, but predictable. Wednesday, January 20, 2010 - Re: "exploiting what is called value-creation at lower cost" Utter BS. We have seen "value-creation at lower cost" - it was called IDC. They weren't very good, but they were a lot cheaper on paper than the US developers. Invensys don't think about domain knowledge and they may never have. These products are hard to write and cannot be done by any old developer pulled in off the streets of Lake Forest, Foxboro or Hyderabad. The people who know how these systems work and can develop them are rare and expensive. Management is trying to sell the company to whatever fool will buy it. At that time, the SOBs at the top will cash out with a happy smile and "I'm all right, Jack!" to the rest of us poor sods. There is no other explanation for such utter stupidity. Wednesday, January 20, 2010 I feel why Invensys isn't sucessfull is because they shy away from exploiting what is called value-creation at lower cost. Invensys is still trying to do more with region based, rather than exploiting the low cost engineering/ development. Meanwhile, competetion like HONEYWELL, ABB, Siemens, Emerson have tens of thousands working in low cost countries (India), but Invensys hardly have one eighth of them. Invensys should shed inhibitions and go ahead with what the market is doing, or the competetion is doing. They shouldn't be bothered about people that get impacted writing blogs about or preaching about 'their own percieved value' which isn't anymore than emotional comments. They should invest where business is growing (APAC). Wednesday, January 20, 2010 The current state of the business is best described with this quote: "The anguish of low quality lingers long after the sweetness of low cost is forgotten." This is true for all business units throughout Invensys. All this cost saving plans (while demanding double digit growth) are done at the expense of the working base, who are still trying to serve the customers while working in survival mode. This will first come to an end, when the Top Level Management has sucked the very last penny out of the once successful companies. Tuesday, January 19, 2010 Investors are more than likely factoring in rumours regarding the disposal of the rail group, and the resultant cash such a transaction would generate, rather than the upside potential of the company. This is a "book value" play, not a growth investment. The markets that Invensys serves may be expanding in the years ahead, but as the #7 or #8 player globally, they will be an afterthought, not a first choice as a supplier when compared to much larger, more well respected brands. Were Invensys to have some unique product offerings, the situation might be different, but this is clearly not the case. The R&D pipeline is not primed with anything particularly interesting, either. The head of development has successfully killed off most of the high potential initiatives as they were not in alignment with his views or goals. Sad state of affairs, indeed. Sunday, January 17, 2010 The real effects of the IOM change won't come through the balance sheet for another year. What comes through immediately is the reduced head-count and contracting off the cost overheads (Development) so things look rosy. Watch in a year when there are no new products, no support for the existing products and no sales force able to sell the old products! Sunday, January 17, 2010 On paper, the company looks strong at first glance. No debts, oceans of pounds in bank, and in an industry that has strong growth potential. What is not visible to casual investores is that morale is low, we are looking for other work, and the domain knowledge is streaming out the door to the competition. Most investors are fools and do not look further than the current balance sheet. The company has no good future but it's present is very bright. This won't last but it will last long enough to fool people who are easily fooled. Sunday, January 17, 2010 When I read this blog and look at Invensys' stock performance, there isn't any correlation. The stock perfomance has been quite strong. So what is the flaw? There must be some good news to offset the facts described on this blog or folks are quite negative. Where is the truth? Are the Investors blind? Isn't Sir Nigel Rudd smart? Saturday, January 16, 2010 - Regarding the last post: I am an employee of Invensys Middle East and I agree completely. Everyone is taking it one day at a time and there is no motivation or any long term plan. Everybody is just thinking about the next commission or incentive he can make on orders / projects and looking at job opportunities with the competition. Friday, January 15, 2010 The Invensys Middle East operations are in shambles. Morale is below zero and the management is a joke. Invensys is no longer even considered serious competition by Yokogawa, Honeywell, Emerson and ABB in the Middle East. Worse even the customers think that the Invensys Middle East team is a bunch of jokers floundering from one mismanaged disaster to another. There are some proprietary jobs that are falling in their laps and these are highlighted as major achievements and crowed about to the powers that be who are absolutely cut off from reality. What else can you expect from a technical organization where the Finance Manager and the Supply Chain Manager call the shots? Monday, January 11, 2010 I heard that ABB is doing well and have moved most of their America- Europe activities to India / China as well. Even during the most difficult times last year they have managed to do well. I am not sure whether they also have plans to hire people. Monday, January 11, 2010 Most of the remaining people have seen the examples of their braver or incautious or naive friends who tried speaking up and are now gone. We're all just waiting for our job offers to come in and we'll leave. There isn't a good reason to speak up. No one in authority cares and the people sucking up to them at the next level are spineless sellouts. What makes me sad is that after all these years of working here, this company is falling apart. We'll never get our company back from these jerks. Beatings will continue until morale improves. Monday, January 11, 2010 - RE:On Mr. Bhattacharya's watch: This is true to a large extent. Invensys, as a company, has ceased to exist in true spirit from a year or so. Just a few individuals are managing and manipulating the entire company and driving the company to crazy ends. Who is going to bell the cat?! Monday, January 11, 2010 On Mr. Bhattacharya's watch, whilst the order book was slightly up, revenues fell and profits dropped nearly in half. Product innovation has also come to a virtual standstill, employee morale is near an all time low, buddy politics have returned to high levels, and customers have significant concern over the long term viability of their existing IOM solutions. Mr. Bhattacharya's response? To dust off the same tired ideas he espoused at SAP. It is becoming more and more clear that shareholder value would be optimised by the near term disposal/sale of the remaining components of Invensys. If a reasonable offer for the rail group can be obtained from Alstom or others, it should be accepted. Similarly, the IOM group would fetch more value today than it will a year from now. There are a number of diversified companies in Europe, India, and China who would be able to leverage IOM's assets. Mr. Henrikkson has overstayed his period of utility to the organisation, and rather than riding the curve back to the bottom again, he should, if for no other reason than personal gain, dispose of the assets of the company whilst they still have value. Sunday, January 10, 2010 I see the shares have shot up, probably in response to Alstom declaring they want to buy Rail. No doubt this would be welcomed from Invensys corporate level. Better start learning French, guys! Thursday, January 7, 2010 - RE: Once the job market revives, ODC Managers will have a hard time retaining the product knowledge. Do not exclude managers - they are also eager to leave Cognizant and in-fact would like to be the first ones (but would be interesting to watch whether their wish can succeed). Their technical and managerial inabilities to lead teams has become an open secret in Cognizant and they are finding very hard to meet the SLAs and schedules. Added to their woes, their counterparts in Invensys are busy in making their ends meet by troubling the ODC employees. Which makes it obvious that it is not a partnership deal (as announced by Cognizant and Invensys) and but appears to be parting-away deal. ODC employees beware of the danger and be prepared. Thursday, January 7, 2010 The dilution of domain knowledge isn't unique to ODC. It happened at Wonderware many years ago, mostly due to growth, not attrition. It was just difficult to find solid developers who also had domain knowledge. Only a handful remain. Wednesday, January 6, 2010 The management does not understand that domain knowledge is what made this company so good, and why the company is failing now. We are all expected to know everything about a product or project after working with the code for a few weeks. Domain knowledge takes much more than that; but telling this to your team lead or project manager shows up on your performance review as having a poor work ethic and a negative attitude. Honeywell knows the value of domain knowledge. It's why they have so many of our CVs now. Wednesday, January 6, 2010 The funny part with ODC is that Cognizant is stressing on replacing domain guys that are leaving with computer science engineers, as they are cheaply available to this services company. We see ODC and Cognizant senior management downplaying the need for domain engineers. With management asking questions if we really need domain engineers and can other software engineers be trained to do our job, we wonder if the new business objectives of ODC will hold a promising future for us domain engineers. This apprehension is fueling resignations, and while our cunning management is trying to do damage control by emphasizing the importance of domain experience, we see that they are in fact acting in opposite direction and most new hirings are not of domain engineers. Wednesday, January 6, 2010 It's now evident that Cognizant is finding it too difficult to retain the ODC employees. In Jan 2010, there have been 3 resignations in GSD, 4 in Wonderware and 3 in Foxboro. As per reports Honeywell(India) is sitting with 160 resumes from 0DC, but they are waiting for better market forces. Once the job market revives, ODC Managers will have a hard time retaining the product knowledge. Wednesday, January 6, 2010 I have heard from another exec that our leader in development has been given specific objectives that he must achieve in order to preserve his job. I hope they are measures like innovation, customer satisfaction, on time delivery and quality - not just cost. Sunday, January 3, 2010 - Re "15 Signs your workplace is dysfunctional": I think those of you who commentred on the comparison between their Invensys workplace and the 15 points of a dysfunctional workplace in this article got it WRONG. One person counted 12, and another counted 14. But I did it and got all 15. My surprise is that some parts of the group only rate 12 matches out of a possible 15. Sunday, January 3, 2010 The current executive team thinks that "long term" means two quarters ahead. I'm sure no one has considered actually MEASURING the results of these initiatives, perhaps with the exception of Mr. Freburger. As stated other times on this blog, Mr. Mody could care less whether it works or doesn't work. If it works, he'll take credit; and if it doesn't, he'll blame it on being "told" to do it. Sunday, January 3, 2010 - Regarding the outsourcing: Excellent observation. There were plenty of "slides" pointing out the benefits (cost mostly) but no looking back to measure. I guess the inititaives were not very S.M.A.R.T..... This question should be answered. Saturday, January 2, 2010 Can anyone give me an update (factual vs original business case) of the following outsourcing initiatives:
Saturday, January 2, 2010 How can Matamoros be called a "Center of Excellence". They had no SMT and very little electronic manufacturing when the consolodation was announced. Their only qualifications for being the recieving plant for the consolidation was cheap labor and available floor space. All technical expertise had to be hired. Saturday, January 2, 2010 - Re"15 Signs" article: I looked it up and counted 14 out of 15 at IOM. I did not think of when it was a bad idea to put things in writing. I thought of examples of the other 14 though, so pretty bad. Here is the link:
Friday, January 1, 2010 The description of the "untouchables" not being fired, even though they are the "responsibles", is no more obvious than at the top of development. What kind of voodoo does he have to keep Ulf and Sudipta convinced to keep him on? Wednesday, December 30, 2009 I just saw an article online "15 Signs Your Workplace is Dysfunctional". I counted 12 out of 15 for here. I particularly liked the first sign the article says: Conspicuously posted vision or value statements are filled with vague but important-sounding words like "excellence" and "quality". These words are seldom defined and the concepts they allude to are never measured. Here is the link:
Wednesday, December 30, 2009 I'm hearing that Invensys Controls lost 3 of their 4 top customers by moving Holland and Chihuahua to "One Center of Excellence" in Matamoros. Their top appliance customer has determined that Invensys will no longer quote on new business. Their automotive customer moved to another facility in Holland. Another top appliance customer is irate about lack of proper labels and is leaving. Was this move an attempt to get rid of a division that couldn't be sold or just a poor attempt at a cost savings? Sunday, December 27, 2009 $300M US is lost in Middle East champions organization! How do you doing Mr.Ulf? And the untouchables still gain more recognition? I wish to see some resposible heads fying, instead of firing only the inoccents. Saturday, December 26, 2009 Replying to the post on 17 Dec. regarding Middle East president. He is not firing & hiring. He is just firing. If you are not 100% in line with his ideas, you are terminated on the spot. I wonder who selected a president who stayed only 10 months in each of the his last two jobs. Wednesday, December 23, 2009 Few of my colleagues in Lake Forest are always complaining about the quality of work received from development groups; but how about the work done by project managers at Invensys ODC, is this of any quality? I keeping hearing from Indian staff right from IDC days that most of the time development groups end up doing project management activities. I suggest that we should stop paying for these low-quality (project management) activities from Cognizant and request the outsourcing Program Management of Invensys R&D to do atleast some justice to their positions by evaluating and taking-off this kind of low-quality work from Cognizant. Tuesday, December 22, 2009 What was the 401k match before this latest change? Tuesday, December 22, 2009 Why so negative? The 401K enhancements are a positive thing, nothing more. Let's hope for a better 2010 at IOM! Monday, December 21, 2009 The consolidation of Chihuahua and Holland Controls facilities into one "Center of Excellence" in Matamoros is not going as planned. The Holland automotive customer pulled his product quite quickly. The largest customer, by sales dollar, has disqualified Invensys Controls from quoting new business. Another large appliance customer is irate about the current performance. In spite of this, everyone would claim that all is going well. After not being able to sell this division, it doesn't appear to be holding the value it may have once commanded. Sunday, December 20, 2009 The 401K plan change is probably just as much to clear up any unvested contributions to clean up the balance sheet to make it easier for a potential acquirer to value the company. Let's not forget the pension liability issues elsewhere in the world and how paralyzing they were to our ability to invest and acquire or be acquired. Friday, December 18, 2009 Today, I received the following in my email:
Over the coming weeks leading up to this important plan design change, I encourage you to evaluate your current 401(k) saving strategy and maximize your saving opportunity within the Plan. We will be scheduling onsite educational seminars and/or webinars to help educate you on how this change impacts you and to help you understand the investment options available to you in the Invensys 401(k) Plan. Scheduling information for these seminars will be promoted beginning in late January 2010. If you need more personalized help with your 401(k) account, you can utilize our planís free retirement consultation services. Thursday, December 17, 2009 Another fatal mistake is happening in the Middle East, new President with no experience, and just manage peoples (fire, and hire). This is not good sign. Talents people are leaving, and others waiting for the best time, and the new joiners are trying to digest what is going on (but?!) Thursday, December 17, 2009 The post about the Invensys Middle East employees is incorrect. There have been employees sacked over the past few months but hardly any of those have joined Honeywell. Most of them are still desperately looking for jobs. Wednesday, December 16, 2009 The IOM CEO had better wake up. The employees that have domain expertise in the business are leaving and they can't be replaced overnight. There is no way to execute Sudipta's vision for the business if the individuals that understand the automation space pack up and go work for the competition. Sudipta, this is your wake up call. We had a CEO before that didn't understand the business; we expect more from you. Your people are the only assets that keep your clients coming back; if you lose them, you won't have a business. Reducing cost is important to remain competitive, but you can't outsource everything. You have to balance the clients needs and what they are willing to pay for. You need to start to surround yourself with individuals that understand the business and know how to execute. "Yes Men" are not what you need. Take a hard look at the individuals that have been at IOM and know what works and what doesn't work. Get their input, in fact, empower them to execute your vision. The current leadership team has strengths, but most have no experience running large organizations and there doesn't appear to be any sense of urgency. We lost a dozen good people in the last 30 days at level 3 and 4. You can't keep that pace and expect to win. Eco-Systems? Take care of your own first, sending business to your partners and expecting they will do the same in return is a noble thought, but in this ecomony it is everybody for themselves. We need to protect our bottom line and outsourcing work to system integrators who you think will return the favor isn't happening. Those SI's can barely keep their doors open in this ecomony let alone send us business. Focus on the core business and grow into the emerging markets. We all want to win, but we can't if the quality talent departs. Tuesday, December 15, 2009 Only the people in IDC are crying? What about the other Business units? Invensys Middle-east is bleeding, a lot of talent had been fired or left in last 6 months. The good news that they joined Honeywell in a week. Sunday, December 13, 2009 - RE: 'Like many other groups, this group has added problem, hopeless leadership.' Not sure about the other groups, but in MES/EMI group managers are hopeless while they were in IDC or now at ODC. Important change after moving to ODC in this group is even the group leads commitment and interest has come down considerably because their concerns regarding the managers of this group are not addressed so far. Sunday, December 13, 2009 - Re: "Wonderware, Lake Forest, has seen improvements in meeting schedule." Quoting "Maybe the few disgruntled people in ODC should resign so the rest can move on." This statement assumes that some ODC employees are voicing concerns which is affecting the morale for many others. So this person believes that most of ODC employees can be directed like a herd of sheep if no one complains about the path. Also this person knows that there are disgruntled people in ODC that are resigning and more that will resign in near future. He also knows that most employees in ODC are finding it hard to move on. So this person has to be from Invensys / Cognizant / ODC Top management. All I would like to tell this guy is the following: Most professionally sound engineers possess good intelligence and the ability to determine the favorable career path. Also many of them can think ahead of what you guys plan and so they should not be misjudged to be a herd of sheep. Of course, there is a some dirt in IDC that will move on, but will they deliver? Quoting "Wonderware, Lake Forest, has seen improvements in meeting schedule." I challenge this individual to state the schedule milestones that were met in this short time! I don't think that we are in the field of business where improvement in project "milestones" can be suggested based on a period of 3 months as few meaningful development projects can be completed in this short time. The very fact that he feels this way once again suggests that he can only belong to incompetent Invensys / Cognizant / ODC Top management! So I am not going to write on his quality improvement claim. I see most ODC employees working less than IDC as the projects that should come from Invensys are getting delayed. Also I see the scope of many ambitious projects being reduced in scope and also an uncertainty about when they will start. I think this is because of budget constraints and uncertain returns on these ill conceived projects. Despite less work everyone here is billing full 45 hours / week to Invensys. Also the resignations have recently started and in last one month we have heard of at least 11 people resigning. Most of these guys are experienced individuals who had been contributing to IDC delivery. We have to see if the rate goes up or sustains. None of these resignations were ODC Managers. Regarding better communication, we see less transparency as the Dev managers in Invensys are supposed to primarily communicate to the managers in ODC or Cognizant Onsite / Offsite coordinators and not to the Dev team directly. So its for Invensys Dev managers to judge how worthy and meaningful they find the sweet words that they hear from ODC. Friday, December 11, 2009 - RE: "We do not know why few people at IDC are crying...": Correct yourself first, it is ODC now and it is not few employees but many. If these people are not attached to Invensys and continue contributing, it is Invensys which would be crying few months from now (in case it is allowed to survive), understand this and support to improve the working conditions at ODC, if you have the guts. Otherwsie please mind your own business. Friday, December 11, 2009 - Re: "Wonderware, Lake Forest, has seen improvements in meeting schedule.": This person must be either the Invensys management representative overseeing the Cognizant operations trying to protect the job, or Cognizant representative trying to protect the Invensys order. Reality is completely different. This was divulged through this blog by many people, many times. So, many yesterday's STAR PERFORMERS at IDC, are todays NON PERFORMERS at ODC. It is true that the quality of work received from MES/EMI groups has worsened. Like many other groups, this group has added problem, hopeless leadership. Friday, December 11, 2009 We do not know why few people at IDC are crying. All is happening for good cause. If you people are not satisfied, pave way for others by leaving IDC. Let them work and achieve for the organisation. Thursday, December 10, 2009 I have to disagree with my colleague in Lake Forest who says that things are getting better in any substantial way. Our outsourcing and offshoring approach was broken before, and it is just as broken now, except that we don't have any control over hiring/firing and we've lost the few good people who know anything about our products and our industry. The quality of work we get is consistently bad, particularly in the MES and intelligence areas. We end up re-doing lots of it anyway, so what's the point? It made Sudipta look like a star, that's about it. But we'll have to pay for this short term decision in the long term. I sit back and wonder often when we lost our way. Why on earth Ulf and Sudipta cannot - or will not - do anything about this baffles us. Wednesday, December 9, 2009 This blog makes it clear that Invensys doesn't include it's employees in anything except work-load and blame. So, to some a "ONE CONTROLS" sounds like a change for the better. But be careful, because history shows that it could mean your days are numbered. History has it that by being "ONE CONTROLS", it means information sharing & collection from Control employees globally will be collected and stored in ONE location & not the existing one you know of. Head office management knows exactly what you have been doing, quoting, saying, planning, etc. ñ because they plan to reduce costs by you leaving & not being missed. Then you & your colleagues can be pressured into leaving ñ saving them money but they won't lose business (i.e. give your potential clients details and discussion notes, quotes etc. to a distributor or a different employee). Money, Money, Money only Money it's rich mans world. Let's face it, Controls were once a much bigger company with many more employees, and now its smaller and still struggling. The Dec 1st PPT for Invensys Controls says headcount reduced 39%, working capital reduced 42% and inventory reduced 49%. (Some of these numbers may include the 2010 plans). Given that the sales are via channels (OEMs, Distributors, etc) Controls might be the equipment section that was noted in the IOM PPT presentations by Sudipta Bhattacharya there Dec. 1st 2009? Wednesday, December 9, 2009 I was (and still am) very happy to leave Invensys Controls 4 years ago. Biolchini was 100% arrogant, intimidating and incompetent and we see today how very good companies as Eliwell and Eberle have been left. A part Ulf who promoted Biolchini to his position, there is also a big responsibility of human resources: do they make any Management appraisal and performance review? Wednesday, December 9, 2009 From Wonderware, Lake Forest, we have seen improvements in meeting schedule milestones, improved quality and much better communication and accountability and commitment from the ODC. Admittedly this is only true of some teams but it is gettign better. The feared attrition has not occured. Maybe the few disgruntled people in ODC should resign so the rest can move on. Wednesday, December 9, 2009 It is time for Invensys to take stock of the situation at ODC in Cognizant, what benefits Invensys has achieved as compared to this group being part of IDC - any improvements in:
Wednesday, December 9, 2009 Invensys ODC at Cognizant is about to complete 100 days (disgusting, worrisome and troublesome). Per employees at Invensys ODC, Cognizant has gifted them each a water bottle, and the gift to Invensys is unproductive person hours of ~2500. Wednesday, December 9, 2009 Can anyone guess the benefits that Invensys received in these 100 days, after the IOM development in India was moved to Cognizant? Wednesday, December 9, 2009 Any guess who could be the next CEO of Invensys? No great effort, the man who influenced to screw-up the development organizations of IOM and IRG. He has few more dreams left to be fulfilled, selling the Engineering and Project Managements groups of Invensys Wednesday, December 9, 2009 ---Flash--- Another 120 goats of Invensys (IDC) are being bought by/transferred to Cognizant. Cognizant is quite clear, their interest is to serve IOM and IRG customers by delivering end-to-end solutions rather than just developing products. In this situation it makes more sense to transfer the EEC groups of Invensys to Cognizant rather than the development groups. Wednesday, December 9, 2009 I've been an employee in Controls Europe for long time. Is still not understandable to me, what the reasons were to put a person like Biolchini in his role within Controls. The only answer could be the inconsistency of Ulf, just able to interface with sales people and nothing else; but that is still not enough. Why Biolchini? Why a person so arrogant and incompetent can achieve a position like that in Invensys? Just one suggestion to Balcunas (that is a well proven capable manager): call back in Controls all the Managers who left the Company for any reasons in the last two years and clean the sales organization. Tuesday, December 8, 2009 - Ref: ONE CONTROLS: Yes , the situation in Controls is very much difficult and none seems having new ideas . This new edition of ww organisation is probably being motivated by need to reduce management layers , difficult to see any real focus on market and customers. On Biolcini - yes, never seen so uncapable and arrogant person, his management has only generated inconsistent, not adapted strategy and phenomenal internal bureaucracy. Monday, December 7, 2009 Ulf to depart before the end of the fiscal year - which concludes at the end of March 2010. Please say this is more than a rumour. Monday, December 7, 2009 T Shape structure. Surely the beginning of the end? Sunday, December 6, 2009 I sent an email "months ago" immediately after Bernard Biochini was fired. You did not mention anything. Please note that he completely destroyed controls. Inside Controls everybody is fighting against everybody. The company is managed buy the ex "yes man" that Bernard chose because he is a stupid idiot that loves people that say always yes. No decisions are taken and all Controls Europe is completely frozen. Salesmen change cars, they spend a lot of money in lunch, dinners and they feel like kings. Motivation is lower than ever. It's not anymore a metter of engagement but of credibility. Nobody believe anymore in Ulf and in this management. Sunday, December 6, 2009 I've heard that its true that both the Managing Director and Finance Director of Invensys Rail UK (Westinghouse)have been fired. Looks like a sensible move as the company has gone downhill since both Direcrors took their positions. As for a single Invensys Rail senior team, well its been there a while now with R&D reporting on a global basis. The Manufacturing organisation has always been a global Invensys Rail function supplying more customers outside Westinghluse. Equally HR and Finance have had reporting lines into IRG. The only local Westinghouse dedicated function has been for local delivery in projects. To me this makes sense. Friday, December 4, 2009 I hear that the Finance Director for Invensys Rail Northern Europe (UK) is soon to be out of the door. This follows the announcement that the Managing Director has already been replaced. Looks like we are shaping up to have one Invensys Rail Group Executive committee, rather than one per current region (former companies WRSL, WRSA, Dimetronic and Safetran). I can see radical changes happening next year. More redundancies? Friday, December 4, 2009 Weeks ago, Ulf has announced new organisation and strategy for Invensys Controls - the creation of a worlwide organisation "ONE CONTROLS" to better respond to market. Incredible! If someone takes the announcement of two years ago, it will read the opposite strategy and arguments. This just shows how ideas are confused and how the future of Controls Divison is hard. The good news is that Bernard Biolchini has been fired and will leave by end of December. The result of his management is a drammatic lost of turnover, and more important of credibility with all customers. Internally also he has only created conflicts and a general loss of engagment at all levels. Hope the company will not pay too much money for exit package and for departure parties. Thursday, December 3, 2009 The idea of a T structure organisation is new, different, and really exciting. I think nobody has ever tried this before. Probably because it is such a bloody stupid idea that no one ever wanted to. But wait: if the T structure doesn't do it for them, there are other shapes left to waste time by restructuring into. The O shape organisation is equilateral and allows for criticism equally from all sides. The Q shape is similar but it lets management hide off in the corner. The K shape gives lots of meaningless corners and angles which they appear to like. Or they could cut right to it and just say that their management structure is one big CF. Thursday, December 3, 2009 T Structure is a normal way up T. Basically all the "boring" detail design is done by Infotech in Hyderabad, speced by "senior" engineers and then reviewed/checked by those "senior" engineers. The more junior staff have asked in the recent past where they fit into the new T shaped world - the answer was that the recent round of redundancies targetted those grades. Wednesday, December 2, 2009 "Invensys Operations Management, a division of Invensys, is headquartered in Plano, TX. Its solutions are used by more than 40,000 clients around the world in more than 200,000 plants and facilities. Invensys Operations Management's offerings are delivered under several prominent industry brands, including Action Instruments, ArchestrA, Avantis, Barber-Colman, Chessell, Continental, Eurotherm, Foxboro, IMServ, InFusion, SimSci-Esscor, Triconex and Wonderware........" Already few "prominent industry brands" have vanished, and rest are going to DIE shortly ... Wednesday, December 2, 2009 What I cannot believe is how all of this in this organisation are expected to swallow every bit of this. The Ulf, Sudipta and Co. have made it plain that they have no concern about anything but lining their pockets at our expense. But I am still unable to understand how they can say all of this with a straight face while they are all shoveling out more and faster. That they have no compunction about lying to us we all knew, but just how gullible do they think we are? Wednesday, December 2, 2009 For those of us in other parts of the organisation, would you tell us a little more about this T shape? Is that an inverted-T or a T straight up? And if the latter, it makes me think of a thin column of workers supporting that huge crosspiece of management. I also think that good engineering means that form follows function and that you shouldn't pick the goals before you do the analysis. And, yes, that you should know how to get from one to the other. Funny stuff. I think we're all having a Dilbert experience in real life. Wednesday, December 2, 2009 On one hand, Invensys is practicing severe austerity measures but on the other hand wasting lot of cash-in-hand to maintain the not so productive ODC at Cognizant. Employees of Invensys ODC in Cognizant are billing Invensys by charging to on-hold projects, since most of them have no on-going projects to charge (all the major projects are either scrapped or put on hold). Even then, Cognizant (could be on the advice of Invensys) is on recruitment spree to earn more dollars. This said, whose vested interests are being fulfilled? Perhaps the Invensys shareholders and employees should unearth the culprits. Wednesday, December 2, 2009 Inadequate and apparently shambolic planning is also present in Invensys Rail. There is a plan to restructure the organisation "for the future". The briefing passed on to technical staff was basically "This is the current structure" - a nice triangular shape, and then the next slide (in a 2 slide Powerpoint) was a T shape, with the comment "This is how the structure would be in the future - any ideas how we are going to do it?" The fact that the proposed structure revealed was literally a coloured shape on a screen is quite telling. Even more so the fact that technical staff have been asked how they can achieve the structure change. When the obvious questions, such as: "How do varying grades of engineer fit into this plan?" and "How is the transition from one to the other structuregoing to happen?" and "How long will this take?" were asked, no answer could be provided. As far as anyone can tell therefore, the "restructuring plan" consists of a coloured T shape on a powerpoint slide and nothing more. Tuesday, December 1, 2009 All IOM top management can up in name of objective is that we want to earn more money. While that is good (Of course, you don't need an MBA to come up with that objective!), the problem comes in the next stage. The methods they suggest are of little value to the customers. The basic concept of "Integrating Top Floor to Shop Floor" is more of a management Jargon and at a technical level it is neither properly defined nor desired by our customers. It just fuels some random development projects and hopes to create a market out of nowhere, by integrating the existing products so that our customer who need one product have to buy other products from us which they really don't need. The management should be trying to create better products that add more value to the customers, rather than be thinking how they can succeed in selling junk to customers. Else our customers, who are not stupid, will refuse to pay a higher price for the so called "Integrated Product", and will simply walk away. But wait a minute. How will our management, that has little domain and Industry experience, and one that does not even want to retain a development team, come up with good Ideas for better products? Once more, they will fail to deliver! Tuesday, December 1, 2009 The lack of planning is one thing, but the best plan is meaningless if you don't know how to execute. Which is exactly the problem today at IOM. The basics aren't getting completed, and we have all sorts of VP's with great ideas, but nothing that can be implemented. Too many leadership members having to sign off, and yet not one of them is accountable. When leadership is communicating that we have to hire individuals that are in India to support our business and clients, regardless of what our clients want, and are willing to pay for, you know we are in trouble. Back to basics, listen to the client, deliver on your commitments and execute what you promised to the employees, clients, and shareholders. Tuesday, December 1, 2009 Brand destruction? What about the 150(ish) years of history that was Westinghouse? Tuesday, December 1, 2009 Consider yourself lucky that none of the "planning" gets to the channel, since it is mostly a useless exercise anyway and would merely confuse and misdirect you. Besides, those doing the "planning" have no idea how the business really works anyway. They should ask us. Monday, November 30, 2009 And, of course, none of the "Planning" gets conveyed to the distributor channel (sorry, "ecosystem partners"). Monday, November 30, 2009 Oh, there's plenty of "planning". The STRAP process chews up countless hours each year, but nothing useful or valuable ever actually gets done. Monday, November 30, 2009 - Re: lack of planning: The only people who are not aware that there's no plan are the shareholders. The rest of us are all too clear on the complete lack of planning. Monday, November 30, 2009 Eurotherm first, then Wonderware. The brand destruction has begun! Sunday, November 29, 2009 Eurotherm Gone! It's begun - The end of Eurotherm as we know it, is real and it's now. Eurotherm in Australia is first. It took IPS no time at all to take the products and flatten a once good company. Is this "The first domimo falling" or is this the real Invensys plan? Previously I thought that there was a plan and it was being kept a secret but now I think that the secret is the lack of a plan. Wednesday, November 25, 2009 - Re: Indian job market upward trend: I do not think the current Invensys management cares about the company's money. If they did, by now they should have allowed/advised Cognizant to move/remove the non-productive managerial staff/employees from Invensys ODC. In the better interests of Cognizant/Invensys, for the type of work being executed from ODC the setup just requires the staff like:
Note to experienced people: Please relocate to other businesses of Cognizant or find your way. Some of the managerial staff in Cognizant ODC are indicating to their experienced staff that their continuation may be impossible in the organization in future. Wednesday, November 25, 2009 It is interesting to read the comments of 24th November. If the Indian job market is on an upward trend, where does this leave the outsourcing that Invensys Rail (Nee Westinghouse) does? To compete, will the oursourcing company (Infotech) have to up wages, thereby raising costs to Invensys? Tuesday, November 24, 2009 So far these days, I was thinking that Invensys is doing wrong selling IDC to Cognizant. But todays, Function Point training class (IDC RAIL) proved to me that they are doing right. I got answers to many questions. I am working for IDC Rail division. We are ordered to go to "Mandatory" training on function-point estimation skills. To my surprise, the trainer himself admitted that he doesn't know anything about function-point estimating technique, and he had downloaded some "video" from some website and wants us to show it. The only "eligibility" he got is that he is a Ex-Collegue and friend. This is how we are train our people. Management overseas will see that engineers are unproductive despite expensive training. If Indian management is wasting valuble resources (in recession period) for their part of kick backs, or commisions like this, why should it not be sold to CTS? Anyhow, the situations in IDC Rail are not going good. We have already seen two Senior people submitting their resignations this month, one quoting "Selling Peanuts is better than Working at IDC" openly... With the job market getting better in India, IDC rail is going to have HUGE attrition in the near future. Sunday, November 22, 2009 The person at IRL who talks about IDC's inability to innovate/create anything new should be careful - Sudipta (and by proxy, Ulf) think otherwise. They think that the great educated (but inexperienced) minds of the untapped masses are far superior to the proven minds that have gotten the company to where it is. Past results mean nothing to them, and this philosophy will be foisted upon the others in the team in due time. Sunday, November 22, 2009 I'm a long-term employee of Invensys Rail. I don't think there are too many people shedding tears in Invensys Rail about the departure of Mr. McPhee. The new acting MD, Mark Wild, is an altogether more inclusive and likeable person and is highly capable; I for one hope he becomes the permanent incumbent. I also agree with the comments here about the return of Steve Barry - another fine director. As for the IDC fuss - IR won't be handing over any real IP as IDC haven't got that involved in our real technology. IDC have generally failed to show any real innovative abilities, so they have always been given the boring stuff - V&V, low level coding etc. (they are OK if you tell them EXACTLY what to do, but don't ask them to invent something...) It's all just business as usual from my perspective - none of this really affects the day-to-day work or the strategies that are in place for the future. Saturday, November 21, 2009 I work in Safetran and as far as I'm concerned Westinghouse is lucky to have Steve Barry help them out. I know this from the year Steve spent with us a few years ago. All our managers said he was a great guy. He drove us hard and made us deliver but worked every weekend himself along side us. He knows the business and you can count on him. Saturday, November 21, 2009 Is Nigel Rudd asleep at the wheel? It borders on the absurd that Invensys is dispersing its intellectual property, directly and indirectly, at the expense of a false short term gain. Most studies have shown that in the period following an outsourcing decision, output actually decreases for a period of 12-24 months. Certainly our experiences in IOM thus far lay proof to this claim. I do not know what form of magic dust Mr. Bhattacharya has sprinkled into the eyes of Messrs. Henrikkson and Rudd, but unless these two snap out of it shortly, we shall surely find ourselves in a far, far worse position than when we began this "journey". The only possible explanation is a desire to dispense with the company shortly and an attempt at sweetening the bottom line. If this is the plan, be up front with it so that the rest of us can do our part to help prepare the company and ourselves for this eventuality. Friday, November 20, 2009 - Re: If IDC was ineffective: I am not supporting the Cognizant transaction, nor Sudipta. But want to straighten the facts about soiftware India. India is the place where most of industrial automation industry software development is happening. To quote, Honeywell employs 8,000, ABB 6,000, Siemens 10,000 and the list continues for every major automation vendor. Hope you don't articulate the theory that all these CEOs are also giving special favours to India. Please get ready to accept the dominant status of India in software development, and in the automation industry in particular. Also Invensys' biggest customer and largest implementation comes from India. The local teams who implemented these know better than any one else, even in application engineering. Thursday, November 19, 2009 - RE: Westinghouse: I think its good news that Alistair McPhee is going and so do all my colleagues. I don't know about Invensys Rail people but the announcment I received said that Steve Barry was coming back to help. For me a former Westinghouse Director with over 10 years of experience is good news. He transformed our manufacturing business into the most profitable part of the business and built a strong and competent management team. I think thats help we could use. I don't know anything about Richard Prophet but hope he is a good sales person as we need the orders. This could be a turning point. Thursday, November 19, 2009 - Re: 'Tuesday, November 17, 2009 - If IDC was so ineffective...': In IDC, each group had few effective, efficient people because of which every group had survived. These people used to be in regular touch with the stakeholders in the US and be uptodate on project matters even when the managers were not effective and efficient. It is rightly pointed here that these people are getting sidelined in Cognizant's Invensys ODC, may be in the name of protocol. Even the stakeholders and project in-changers from Invensys are not showing the same encouragement for these people, some of them even stopped responding to these employees queries. But Invensys should remember that this change in attitude would be to their disadvantage. The exodus of good talent from Cognizant's Invensys ODC has started and will increase unless the Cognizant and Invensys managements take necessary corrective measures. It is a wakeup call. Thursday, November 19, 2009 Now that Alistair McPhee is on his way out, suddenly Invensys Rail global bodies are being parachuted into senior roles in the former Westinghouse UK operation. Who will be next to follow Mr McPhee? Tuesday, November 17, 2009 - RE: If IDC was so ineffective, which it was... There were parts of IDC that were ineffective, while on the other hand there were also groups in IDC that were effective, efficient and so much more productive than any group in US or Europe, simply because India has a low cost advantage. With the Cognizant deal, the ineffective part of IDC gets stronger as Invensys loses direct control on ODC resources and so they cannot directly support the resources that are productive based on delivery. As a result the part of IDC that thrived on performance is now isolated in ODC. Also Cognizant for now fails to realize that they need to interface faster with the real productive part of ODC that is now isolated; else the delivery of ODC which was mainly sustained by a few effective resources will start faultering. Tuesday, November 17, 2009 If true (IRL development moving to Cognizant also) this is an utter disaster. A criminal investigation should be seriously considered. Someone is getting rich at the expense of Invensys employee and shareholders, and we want to know who. Tuesday, November 17, 2009 How do past actions move into the future?
Tuesday, November 17, 2009 - Press release: Chippenham, UK, 16th November 2009: Alistair McPhee, Managing Director of Invensys Rail Ltd (previously known as Westinghouse Rail Systems Ltd) has decided to leave the company on 31st December 2009. Alistair, who joined the company in 2002 as Projects Director, became Managing Director in 2006 and has overseen the growth of the company in both the UK and in export markets in Europe and the Far East. James Drummond, CEO and President of Invensys Rail said "I would like to thank Alistair for his leadership and contribution to the success of the business over the past 7 years and wish him well for the future". Mark Wild, currently General Manager Core Markets, will become Acting Managing Director. Tuesday, November 17, 2009 It is now official that Invensys Rail software development is also going to move to Cognizant in early January. Hearty Welcome to all Rail friends. Tuesday, November 17, 2009 I believe that the Cognizant alliance for core development adds value to the product roadmap and product life cycle support. IOM should focus on their core strenght in the automation domain. In this competitive era, there is no point of vertical integration to duplicatee other automation vendors. Monday, November 16, 2009 If IDC was so ineffective, which it was, Sudipta had a number of options. He could have expanded capacity in the USA, China, South America, Eastern Europe, or any number of highly capable locations. One could make a strong case that domain knowledge in our industry is far higher in the USA and Europe than elsewhere. Have we already forgotten the disaster with Geometric? Sudipta's loyalties are quite clear, unlike his thinking. Monday, November 16, 2009 It's official. MD for Invensys Rail (UK) will be leaving 31st December. Sunday, November 15, 2009 IDC was operational long before Sudipta joined. Once it was decided to sell IDC, where would they look for a possible candidate? In China? It has to be in India! The important thing to note is that 400 odd developers were to be transferred. It would be best if the partner had an office in the same city, Hyderabad. Another thing to note - Cognizant is US based and headquartered in Teaneck, N.J. Maybe the Invensys people in UK should complain that the profits are going to US and not UK. So much for Sudipta's allegiance to his native country. While I have no idea of Sudipta's capability, at least let's keep the complaints meaningful. Coming to "interchangeable body theorem" - it's nothing new and wasn't invented by Sudipta or Ulf. This is the standard management mantra today (just see the Honeywell blog). When top management believes that a person with no automation experience can run the company (the former IPS CEO), why would they have an issue in applying the same principles to developers? Sunday, November 15, 2009 It would be wrong to say that Sudipta's allegiance lies with his native country as people in IDC are looking at a loss in Cognizant. I think Sudipta's allegiances lie only with himself and so he wants to take steps that look good on his resume and by the time the effects of these steps are felt by Invensys, he would be long gone to some other company (may be to Cognizant :D ). The sale of IDC is going to hit Invensys hard as the development cost of ODC will be much higher than IDC simply because ODC uses more managers than IDC and because Cognizant will like to make profit, something that IDC did not! On the other hand this deal seems to be really good for Cognizant as they get good business and they can always push their margins against a customer that is left with no other option. The deal also hit IDC employees hard as they end up losing the work culture they cherished. They are suddenly part of an organisation where client interface and business development are much more important than core R&D and domain engineering. The conditions in ODC have been described in previous blogs in much detail and they haven't changed, so they don't have to be repeated. What should be noted in ODC's perspective is that as the frustration of mistreated employees grows, the best will be the first to leave the organisation while the desperate ones will remain till last. Saturday, November 14, 2009 - Re: Sudipita truly believes in the interchangeable body theorem of development: Most of us thought that Wonderware was dying because of bad management. But it also seems that Sudipta is the man truly responsible for the big stupid decisions. The fallacy of the interchangeable body theorem is easy to prove. This belief is unbelievably stupid in the executive of a major company but I doubt that it will be a major company much longer. Saturday, November 14, 2009 - Re: "IOM decision to open up its software platform to partner development.": Methinks some spin mastering is afoot! WonderWare's platform has been among the most open and extendible since 1990 or so. This is nothing new. Just a new guy responsible for it claiming that it is something new. Would be nice if there was ACTUALLY something new from WonderWare. Sheesh. Saturday, November 14, 2009 Sudipita truly believes in the interchangeable body theorem of development and has told us so in not so dissimilar words. Of course, he is completely wrong about it. At times, I truly wonder if his allegiance to his native country is much stronger than his allegiance to the country that created the opportunities that have brought him to where he is in his career now. Friday, November 13, 2009 I have to agree about at least one thing: I think that IOM is a really good idea and I would have liked to see this in place several years ago. There's a lot of strength to be gained through all of the subordinate companies working together. If there's anyone left to develop products, it may work. Cognizant was a dumb idea. It's based on the beliefs that (1) any competent developer can work on the products without a lot of product knowledge and experience and (2) that Cognizant isn't going to really stick it hard to Invensys the day after the current services contract and (3) that the IDC developers are going to be so pleased with Cognizant that they will stay there for Invensys. None of these are true. Friday, November 13, 2009 - Re: "Invensys Rail UK Managing Director is leaving": Where did that come from? No sign of this happening at Invensys Rail UK! Methinks this might be just wishful thinking... Friday, November 13, 2009 For Sudipta's survival, he needs a chance to deliver on his vision for IOM. We can argue all day long about the Cognizant situation, but at face value, what Sudipta wants to do long term is good for the company and therefore us all, if we can get the team in place to make it happen. I just hope we can get this whole mess in development behind us and move forward. Thursday, November 12, 2009 Yes, the Invensys board should take up Invensys' top leaders abilities and the recent decisions made at their level. This is on a war footing, because company's existence is at stake. Thursday, November 12, 2009 - extracts from Control Engineering Sustainable Engineering News: Invensys Operations Management explains new approach At the annual Invensys user conference, IOM president Sudipta Bhattacharya addressed the company's recent merger of divisions and how it plans to differentiate itself in the industrial automation market. Against the unexpected backdrop of rising attendance at this year's OpsManage conference in Anaheim, USA (November 3-5, 2009) - overall attendance is said to have increased 9% this year versus last - the major theme at this year's conference is the company's focus on the new business drivers in the manufacturing market. According to Sudipta Bhattacharya, the drives are: environmental excellence, production excellence, asset excellence, and control/safety excellence. "Five years ago, the only thing that really mattered was production optimisation. Today, several issues play a key role." In response to these changes, Bhattacharya noted that Invensys Operations Management, that incorporates IMServe, Invensys Process Systems, Wonderware, and Eurotherm, has shifted its focus. Now the company stresses the issues of addressing control and safety, as well as simulation, optimisation and execution more so than it does a specific product-oriented strategy. Detailing plans for wave one, the Wonderware system platform will have core supervisory and control capabilities for all vertical industries. It will also feature a common configuration tool for HMI, MES, and mobile applications. Visualisation will also be a feature common to all applications regardless of end device used to access the application. Also key will be the system's ability to interact with any field device or I/O unit. Another issue prominently noted was Invensys Operations Management decision to open up its software platform to partner development. Partners bring specific industry expertise to the table. Wednesday, November 11, 2009 Let us just summarize the current Invensys leadership crisis with one assessment: Ulf Henriksson was the right person to bring Invensys out of its financial challenges, but is absolutely the WRONG person to lead Invensys to growth. Sadly, Sudipta Bhattacharya is not the right person either, as he lacks both experience and execution ability for a role of this magnitude. Perhaps James Drummond could fill the role, but he has his hands full with Invensys Rail at present. The board must put in place new metrics for the top level leadership that focus on growth, which will have the effect of either modifying their behavior or forcing them out. Wednesday, November 11, 2009 Ulf and his direct reports should attend a course on 'Open Approach' and 'trustworthiness'. While addressing the townhall along with Cognizant, Sudipta promised to share the terms and conditions pertaining to the moved IOM employees in the agreement. But, till today, these have not been disclosed. Tuesday, November 10, 2009 It really is disturbing how often the rumors are accurate and management's denials and obfuscations aren't. Here's a tip to management: we all of us know when you are lying. It's just that we choose not to say so to your face. But you aren't good at it (and why would we have ever told you that to your face either?). If you know what a 'tell' is in poker, one of the best-known liars in management has two of them that he isn't aware of. One is in his face and the other is not. Watch closely and you should be able to spot them. Tuesday, November 10, 2009 So it's finally out that the Invensys Rail UK Managing Director is leaving. There have been rumours for weeks that he has been fired although we can expect the usual "major contribution and thanks but has decided to seek new opportunities elsewhere, personal reasons blah blah blah". What a joke. Hopefully we can now concentrate on engineering. Invensys Rail remains a great business and the old Westinghouse company is still (just about) an industry leader. Tuesday, November 10, 2009 It is a big joke when some one says Invensys follows "open communication". Where was this when all the IOM development team at IDC was transferred to Cognizant? Most of the employees came to know this news through this website, rather than through their managers and Invensys Management. The managers outrightly denied all this to their employees. In fact Invensys could still have the paternership model with Cognizant (whose strategy is to develop and deploy a seamlessly integrated OM solution, from sensors to enterprise systems) without trasferring the IOM development team. This strategy is made clear through the ARC Briefing (Dawn of a New Era in Operations Management Solution Delivery) sponsored in part by Cognizant. So, the million dollar question remains: to whose benifit? Tuesday, November 10, 2009 - RE: "Open Approach" document: What a bunch of bunk from above, once again. Our dear leaders are far more adept at creating slogans and Powerpoints than at creating a vision and strategy for improving our competitive position and our customer value proposition. I am getting sick of this. First Invensys Values, now this. A lot of people have suggested that we need to change players if we want to make progress. But Sudipta has kept around a lot of the people who got us into trouble in the first place. Our managers are not just holding back progress at WonderWare, they also had responsibility for IPS for a while now - and where is InFusion, huh? We need new blood in there, and we have good people in WonderWare, SimSci, and even Rail who could step in and do a much better job. Monday, November 9, 2009 In June 2009, Ulf Henriksson, announced "An Open Approach" and published a document (www.invensys.com/isys/docs/ar/2009/profile2009.pdf) that states:
Cluelessness has been accused of bringing down companies like Enron. I hope some of the INVENSYS investors read this, or Ulf and Invensys managers read it. Hey Ulf, here is a tip from management 101: "It's time to put the promises into action, because promising it doesn't make it happen. And let's be clear, THE BUTT STOPS WITH YOU." P.S. You had better do a risk assessment on how exposed Invensys is from all the promises made and not kept - i.e., if anyone lost their job from a secret agenda, then Invensys is exposed. And from what I see here, it sounds like a class-action suit coming. If any-one out there can say that Invensys is now OPEN with its employees and Clients etc, don't sit there complaining about this posting. Write in and tell all the other lost souls what is happening before the shareholders, customers and other staff realise that they are also mushrooms. Monday, November 9, 2009 If we are all becoming managers, we are allmost all becoming redundant, given the work that we can see. Monday, November 9, 2009 - Re: "we're all going to become managers of projects rather than developers...": Do you really have so many projects? But the information in this page says all the major projects are put on hold. Enjoy the holidays! Monday, November 9, 2009 So it is Invensys' turn to add managers (managers for projects), WAH what a development organization, structure resembles cylindrical or rather inverted pyramid. Monday, November 9, 2009 It has been said many times here by many people, but Sudipta doesn't seem to get it yet: unless development priorities are aligned, nothing else will change. Even if Sudipta's ambitious plans are on the right track, we will fail in executing on them and will lose a lot of talented staff in the meanwhile. We still don't know what our development priorities are supposed to be for 2010. We get (bits and pieces) trickled down from Sudipta, and have another set of our own priorities. And we here yet another set of priorities from marketing. And yet another from sales and our distributors. Somebody needs to get on the same page. Sunday, November 8, 2009 - Re: Interesting message from Sudipta: First half performance was off due to "reorganizing"....please work with a sense of urgency in H2. That sounds like its self-fulfilling. "Things weren't good because we reorganized and we reorganized because things weren't good." So after we've had our benefits cut, our pension turned off, no raises, and the promise that we're all going to become managers of projects rather than developers, with nothing forthcoming from management but more smoke and mirrors and no promises, after all of that, we're supposed to trust the company and work harder. Sure, we can all do that. Sure. Saturday, November 7, 2009 Interesting message from Sudipta: First half performance was off due to "reorganizing"....please work with a sense of urgency in H2. Saturday, November 7, 2009 From The Times (November 6, 2009):
Once again, it was the rail division of the FTSE 100 automation and controls group ó which develops and installs signalling equipment and other trackside technology ó that was the stand-out performer. At £73 million, the divisionís operating profit for the six months to September 30 was 11 per cent ahead of consensus forecasts. The divisionís operating margins also continue to improve ó to 21.8 per cent, up from 21.2 per cent a year ago. True, orders were down 13 per cent but that owed more to last yearís boost from a contract for a high-speed line in Spain and a lull in procurement by Network Rail ahead of the next phase of track renewal. Encouragingly, since the end of September, Invensys has made up that deficit ó picking up its first big contract in Brazil (a £153 million deal to resignal three metro lines in S„o Paulo) and £41 million of upgrade work in America. The broader reassurance is that spending on rail infrastructure ó driven by worldwide moves to shift more freight by train, the construction of mass-transit systems in emerging markets and tightened safety standards ó shows no signs of slowdown. So why did Invensysís shares fall 10 per cent at their worst? [Note on Friday November 6 the shares were back to where they were before the earnings announcement] The culprit was operations management, the companyís biggest division, which makes and installs technology that helps processing plants ó such as petrochemical facilities and power stations ó to run at optimal efficiency. Orders dropped 23 per cent, sales fell 17 per cent and operating margins weakened from 9.6 per cent to 7 per cent. Spending cuts by oil and gas companies, especially in the US, are part of the explanation but the concern is that process equipment is the bit of Invensys in which the full effects of recession have yet to be felt. In short, it is a ìlate cycleî activity in which the long lead times behind big capital projects mean they have previously been protected from downturn. For its part, Invensys remains sanguine. The company expects a stronger second-half trading period, such that it will still be able to meet full-year profit forecasts. Given Invensysís recent record in reading its markets correctly, it should be given the benefit of the doubt. The underlying appeal is a company with a huge installed base of process equipment. Elsewhere, its controls division, which makes timers and displays for consumer appliances, should be quick to benefit from cyclical recovery. Invensys sits on net cash, now pays a dividend and, valued at £2.4 billion, is a small ó and therefore eminently digestible ó constituent in a sector dominated by US and European giants. At 290p, or 14 times next yearís earnings, the shares are a buy." Saturday, November 7, 2009 It is not just Sudipta; all the people involved in the implementation of these strategic decisions which has brought down Invensys reputation in the market should be made responsible. Invensys has wasted and continues to waste lot of money for some of the recent decisions. It is quite evident that there are no plans to start the much talked about projects (Infusion Acceleration, Mega HIstorian, NextGenSimulator, etc) in the near future but Cognizant has recruited many employees for this account. Per Cognizant these resources will be billed to Invensys from their 16th day onwards. Friday, November 6, 2009 Some of the guys who could have moved the products forward were pushed out of the company a while ago. As long as Sudipta's gang of pals is running the show, we just have to sit back and wait and watch the clock tick away. We are changing the wrong things. If we changed the VP responsible for development, the mood and the results would change nearly overnight. Thursday, November 5, 2009 Too bad we can't pull a Zilog on them. But then the Zilog guys didn't outlast Intel either. But they did prove you could make a better product. Thursday, November 5, - Re: comment on 31/10/2009 - "if there wasn't a recession I wouldn't be working here": I am sad to say this, but I doubt we can say anything now that will matter. I believe we are, all of us, for the chop soon enough. There is too much absurdity to believe that management cares about us. The midyear evaluation process is a sick joke. Who reads or cares about this? We fill out difficult forms, talking about meaningless goals solely to make HR happy. We fill out time sheets that always tell the same story about bad planning and budgets that don't matter, and nothing changes. We get our benefits cut and my pension is frozen so that Invensys can pay for trips to Aruba on our labor. We do meaningless training on company ethics practices while there are questions about how managers are handling money spent on vendors. We are told that this is a Meritocracy but people with a history of failure and abuse still have jobs. If we formed a trade union and every man Jack of us strode into Sudipta's office, we would just get eliminated faster. Nothing can be done now and I am sorry that this is true. Thursday, November 5, 2009 Should Invensys require product roadmaps after outsourcing the developemnt and project execution activities? Nay, they would not need road maps to run from pillar to post. Thursday, November 5, 2009 From what I've seen here at Ops Manage, I must agree that there is no believable roadmap for Wonderware. I've heard it all before. This is not at all surprising, looking at who Sudipta has made his inner group of advisers. I remember calling Tech Support and some of those guys answered the phone. Maybe they should listen to us a bit more, since we live with the products every day. I've been using Wonderware for almost 15 years now, and don't have any plans to change at least for HMI or historian. We've had our hiccups with some new versions, but overall it just works well and we know how to get the most out of it. Wednesday, November 4, 2009 - Responding to "Most of what is said on this blog is totally untrue." That person should look at Wonderware's software Roadmap and see absolutely nothing on the horizon for core products (i.e. the ones that keep the lights on). Development has stopped and so has the communication from management. Speaking of which, has anyone seen an organisation chart? Or does everyone report to Sudipta? Wednesday, November 4, 2009 - Responding to "Most of what is said on this blog is totally untrue." WHAT is untrue here?
Wednesday, November 4, 2009 - Re.: "what would happen if we were to form some type of Developers Union?" Based on what happened at Foxboro about 20-years ago when some small local trade union handed out leaflets outside the Neponset plant one morning ... Management will go into full DEFCON 1 status. They didn't have Predator drones 20-years ago to track and eradicate subversives but I bet they do now. Wednesday, November 4, 2009 - Response to "So a bunch of us were sitting around wondering, ... or would it make a difference?": Suggest to organize a meeting with the top invensys executive team and quiz them till they reveal the real motives behind all the recent and future happenings. Tip of the iceberg
Wednesday, November 4, 2009 - Responding to "Most of what is said on this blog is totally untrue." Is Invensys/Cognizant hiring such foolish (devoid of good sense or judgment) people who can't see/accept what is happening around? Wednesday, November 4, 2009 Invensys transferred along with the IOM team the habit of renaming groups/divisions. Now Cognizant wants to rename the Invensys ODC. Wednesday, November 4, 2009 So a bunch of us were sitting around wondering, what would happen if we were to form some type of Developers Union? Would we be all canned on the spot or would it make a difference? Tuesday, November 3, 2009 Most of what is said on this blog is totally untrue. Are you all from Rockwell or Siemens? Tuesday, November 3, 2009 It's only the economy that's been holding me back. There are a lot of development managers on the market in Orange Cty and the price is down. I have been looking ever since the first layoff in July. It is only a matter of time now until we see another layoff that hits Dev. managers hard. WW is moving all of the Dev. functions to India, and Lake Forest will become a company of architects and project managers. They think they don't need Dev. managers any more. If I have a job lined up already when it happens, I can collect a lot of severence pay and then go to the new job. But even if I just leave, I am still better off. Saturday, October 31, 2009 Keep alert for big announcements at the Ops Manage meetings in Anaheim, followed shortly by Q2/half year financial results. Should be a very interesting week for shareholders. Saturday, October 31, 2009 I find it interesting that the most vociferous of comments on this webblog come from the United States. Invensys plc is a British company and unfortunately not many of my UK colleagues seem to feel inclined to comment. What is happening to Wonderware is happening everwhere within the world of Invensys as we know it. Is it not time for people to stand up and be counted? We are doing it in Europe; it's not getting us very far admittedly, but maybe it would be a good idea to buy a few shares and attend the AGM. Everyday I am seeing colleagues who are suffering from stress. They have the 'learned helplessness' attitude, whatever they do it won't change the outcome, but when the next 'Employee Engagement' survey comes out, maybe we should all answer honestly and insist upon seeing the results. We are essentially a global company and it is about time to consolidate what we all feel. How we do that without Big Brother Invensys watching is a bit of a dilema. I would appreciate comments on this. As an aside, due to outsourcing to companies, whose people don't assimilate information, ask the same questions over again (Groundhog Day), and the additional work given to the remaining workforce, how appropriate is it to send out the I-grow email? How many of us have time to grow? We're merely trying to keep our heads above water. Once again a lack of understanding and care for the workforce. 'I want to work here' - if there wasn't a recession I wouldn't be working here. Saturday, October 31, 2009 Yes, there in no doubt in saying that it is time to optimize the Invensys ODC organization structure which appears to be in complete disorder. On one side there is a fat managerial staff acquired from Invensys, and on the other side another set of managerial staff like on-site coordinators, off-site coordinators, account management staff, talent management staff, etc., created by Cognizant. There are many redundant and unwanted positions which makes the structure look ridiculous. Simple thing to remember, not this many managers, senior managers, directors, coordinators, etc are required to maintain five hundred people and to carry out the type of work Invensys ODC is asked to do. So, lot of managerial staff has not much to contribute in this structure. May be it is a good idea to ask the managerial staff to take lead responsibilities either in development or in QA for at least one project other than just mail forwarding. Senior managers are like middle men/women, should be scrapped right away. Realize and trim it soon, the current organization structure is neither good for Invensys nor for Cognizant. Another important point to mention: Cognizant management is also making the same mistake that Invensys management made, by not directly talking to the working level staff to understand their aspirations, concerns and complaints. So far not even a single meeting is addressed by EMS group heads at Chennai involving working level staff but there were so many visits made by these heads and meetings with managerial staff in the last two months. Lot of working level employees are not happy with their managers as they contribution very little to the projects, poor in coordinating the day-to-day activities but will be ready to take the credit for the success and pass-on the blame to their staff. Heard this is very predominant in the MES/EMI group and lots of staff has complaints against their managers. Just to remind, most of the revenue Cognizant's revenue is because of the working level staff. If their needs are not taken care of, sustaining this business is doubtful. Friday, October 30, 2009 Project Orange? Of course there are more redundancies to come. Look at the orderbook. Don't make me laugh. The HR department are now known as Business Partners. What a laugh. Chief HR Officer? All they need to do is get people recruited as needed, paid on time and treated fairly. Instead they are full of mindless actvities, pretending that HR runs the business. COO that is responsible for none of the operations? What a joke. I've heard this said by senior managers. At the end of the day this Invensys problem has now infected Rail and it will go the same way as IPS and Controls unless there is a change at the top. Thursday, October 29, 2009 Sudipta's Twitter feed seems like it is written by someone in Marketing, not by Sudipta, does it not? Wednesday, October 28, 2009 A Westinghouse insider tells me that the management there are getting very jittery about these comments. Perhaps they are getting too near the truth. Take "Project Orange", for example. It has been speculated that this was to do with the current redundancy round. It goes beyond that, and even beyond round two already being planned. (Your reps are not allowed to talk about it, but look them in the eye when they deny that talks are ongoing). The ultimate aim is closure of regional offices. Oops, I should not have said that. Your management do not want you to know that. Wednesday, October 28, 2009 It is time for Invensys to open its eyes wide and measure the performance of its creation at Cognizant (Invensys ODC). This does not mean that the setup created at Invensys IDC was of any high standard. But it was far better, when compared with the setup at Cognizant. Some of the important issues reported so far:
Invensys should really evaluate whether Invensys ODC at Cognizant is a sustainable creation. Invensys needs to guide this setup, if this needs to be a successful creation. One thing is quite clear and Invensys should always remember: if the agreement between Cognizant and Invensys falls apart, Cognizant at-most would add another five hundred employees to its bench strength. But for Invensys, most of the product development activity might be halted, if there is no Plan B. As there is a strong news that IDC Rail group is also moving to Cognizant in a couple of months from now, Invensys should do this evaluation at the earliest. Tuesday, October 27, 2009 - RE Monday 26th "Friendly Channel Partners": I don't know if there are any "Friendly Channel Partners" left. Certainly in the UK this is not the case. We have integrated Wonderware ever since it was released and had a good working relationship with the local distributor and WW/Invensys directly but it has become too difficult to deal with these people with all the changes. All we have seen in the UK is price rises, price rises and guess what? more price rises. Less service (4 sales guys have left in the last 6 months and none have been replaced). What makes it even better is the sham that is their own inhouse integrator, which we keep getting told is not competitive and then we find them competing, surely the Distributor can't also be the Integrator? What a conflict of interest? How to turn off your channel in an instant, where, everything I tell you, every licence I buy will be used to your advantage to develop your own Systems Integrator business for when WW take the business back in house! How do they get away with it and what the hell are WW doing about this? Or do they not know - seems that they disbanded most of the European Channel Management and senior guys in Lake Forest? Do they even care? Hopefully SI's will talk with their feet. Monday, October 26, 2009 The intent is probably to use more friendly channel partners that may already be part of the IOM family, such as the WonderWare distributors. I don't think the WonderWare people want to be selling instrumentation, loop controllers and DCS stuff, though! No doubt though that Invensys will be cleaning up its channels to both extract margin and to get more control. Both of which are possible indicators of a future move to sell the business. Sunday, October 25, 2009 IPS seems to be trying to shift away from sales channels other than direct Invensys salesmen; in the US at least. Something happened 1 April and it seems to result in a severe cutback in sales support, discount capability, product support and just the general ability of several of these "channel sales partners" to work with them. Looks like some are even trying to expand capabilities with competing products in anticipation of Invensys cutting them loose. A few days ago a post suggested that small systems were becoming more important in the IPS mix. This move seems to suggest that customers for small systems are becoming less important. Wednesday, October 21, 2009 The head of IOM development stands idly by and allows these horrible decisions to be made, because he has no other job options. He should be shown the door, and we can all get back to the work of making Invensys a better company with better products. Wednesday, October 21, 2009 For those of you at the Westinghouse Rail facility of Invensys Rail, don't be too hard on yourselves over the Network rail problems. Do not forget that Network Rail is in turmoil at this time, and their chairman Rick Haythornthwaite (where have I heard that name before?) may be very busy as Chairman of the Risk and Regulation Advisory Council and Chairman of Mastercard Inc, and he is also Chairman of Londonís South Bank Centre, President of PSA Energy, and an advisor to Star Capital Partners Limited. It must be good to be wanted. Tuesday, October 20, 2009 It seems to be a shambles here in Westinghouse Rail. We were told today that we have lost the last 4 Network Rail bids and that the contracts in Asia are facing damages claims from our customers. Apparently its down to us not recruiting enough people, while at the same time we are making redundancies! While this is going on, there are preparations for major management conferences and the total waste of time "Together we will" presentations that people only attend because a named attendance list is kept. Without that nobody would bother. This company has been falling apart with image more important than our customer service. There used to be Directors of stature who would come around and talk to us. Two in particular were with the comapny for over 10 years and they seem to have moved to IRG over the last 12 months. I'm told by my manager that both of these Directors were responsible for making things happen. Now we appear lost. I'm also told by my manager that Invensys Rail makes up the majority of profit and cash for Invensys. God help us under the current leadership. By the way it is true that the PPP team have started a sweepstake on when he gets fired. Sooner the better as its what most are thinking. Tuesday, October 20, 2009 - Response to 'The new setup with Cognizant (CTS) ...' (Monday, October 19, 2009): Yes, the ones listed in this posting are few out of many more. It is not just Invensys losing good talent in the US but also at Invensys ODC in Cognizant, as most of the good talent are vexed with the new employer's policies, credibility, treatment they have received so far, work environment that is offered - just to name a few from the huge list (growing day by day). These people are just waiting for an appropriate timing to say good bye, unless dramatic changes happen within a few days to make them stay. There is strong news that IDC Rail group is also moving to Cognizant in couple of months from now. It is better and the right time for Invensys to remind itself: "Don't Put All Your Eggs In One Basket (don't risk everything all at once.)" Another comment to offer is: what is the best Invensys (IOM) can get from a CEO/Business President who can not imagine the market situation beyond two years? I can only wish "Best of Luck to Invensys Employees and Shareholders". Monday, October 19, 2009 The new setup with Cognizant (CTS) has a major flaw that can hurt Invensys. Going by the concept of the partnership, Invensys becomes a company of Managers who manages client requirements and oversees the respective development in India. Of course there are other functions also, like Marketing, HR etc. Here the development in India is handled by Cognizant which in turn is paid on the size of projects it gets to execute. So, if we consider that Cognizant gets a project for a specific task and it has two paths to accomplish that task; one path that takes 2 man years and another that takes 5 man years. Cognizant earns more if it chooses the path that takes 5 man years and so would be inclined to extend the project time. On the other hand, Invensys being a company of managers with limited development expertise will have no idea that other path of 2 man years exists. If Invensys would have maintained its own development team in India, they would have been glad to point out the better path as they were part of the same organization, and the benefits of the shorter path would be shared with them also. However, now Invensys has alienated most of its India development team with the sale of IDC and they are no longer interested in increasing the benefits for Invensys. While Invensys top management would like to claim that they intend to retain some experienced developers to monitor and mentor the development in CTS, the fact is that the leftover development team in US is rapidly aging and new younger replacements are not coming in. Also, as the development team in US would be taking little part in development, and as they are being treated so poorly by their own management, it's hard to believe that Invensys will be able to retain technical expertise capable of monitoring and mentoring CTS development. I can understand a retailer being a company of only managers. But trying the same in a technology company would be a disaster. The team in India had not only the experience and expertise, but also the enthusiasm of youth and continuous inflow of new engineers to provide better products in the long-term future. Not owning that team is unwise and so is to think that Invensys top management, which has no idea about this field, will provide proper guidance to this technology company. Once the experienced development mangers and developers in US who have good knowledge about our products and their technology retire, Invensys is bound to decline. Sunday, October 18, 2009 - Regarding what you'd get if you bought Wonderware: The real Wonderware assets are the same ones from 10 years ago, which are a loyal customer base and a great distribution channel, riding on the strength of a great HMI that was built nearly 20 years ago. No one would buy it for any of the more recent developments or the people. One could make a good case that Wonderware has been in maintenance mode for years, and is ripe for outsourcing all maintenance and driving great margins with the existing products. Saturday, October 17, 2009 In India, most of the Cognizant guys are creating environment outside like Cognizant acquired Invensys. They were mentioning this in interviews, while hiring the new people. New employees who are joining Cognizant and working for Invensys are in confusion after joining, and creating confusion in other people. Now, this has gone wild. Every corner of the Software industry, all other IT guys are asking us like "Is Invensys acquired by Cognizant?" Why? What happened to invensys? Are they not doing well etc... If at all they have to sell, why they have choosen Cognizant? This is really bad to hear. Invensys is a great company for ever in our hearts, even how many stupid people come and spoil its fame. Friday, October 16, 2009 Yesterday, we were offsite far enough that we felt safe talking about work. We argued if they're trying to make Wonderware or IOM look good enough on paper to sell. We were almost convinced they're selling us when one of us said "What would you get if you buy Wonderware"? If someone came in and wanted to buy us out, he'd get Wonderware, the buildings, a bunch of people who are probably not really happy but might stick around to see what happens. They would also get the source code and the right to build more. But they wouldn't be able to build new code. There are almost no developers or QA left in LF. And it would violate the contract with CTS to not use their services. So if someone buys Wonderware, they just get tired marketers and a lot of source code they can't maintain. To develop new stuff, they have to crawl to CTS and deal with a third party vendor. We ordered more drinks. If someone wanted to buy Wonderware, they'd instead look at hiring away the dissatisfied senior people here who can make a company work. Offer them a 25% raise, stock options, fund the pension, and the possibility of salary increases bigger than 3% for the rank and file. Guarantee that Pankaj will never be welcome through the doors of the new company. Do the same thing for the IDC developers now at CTS you want to keep for their experience and you suddenly have a DIY Wonderware for a fraction of the cost. And you cripple Wonderware's ability to turn out more products at the same time so no competition for a long time. This is scary and ugly. Our senior management has turned Wonderware from the industry leader into a company nobody in their right minds could want to buy. Friday, October 16, 2009 Has anyone seen the Yokogawa blog page recently? Looks like these guys have woken up. It looks like the UK MD is doing what he did previously at Invensys: sell the buildings and land to balance the books and move everything closer to where he lives. De ja vu? Wonder if the they want to hire anymore of our failing execs? Thursday, October 15, 2009 Sudipta Bhattacharya is now on Twitter, and he will be "tweeting" about work (we hope), opinions on travel, books, music and other interesting topics. Twitter is a popular social networking site that allows users provide status updates in 140 characters or less with an answer to the question, "What are you doing?" Some of you may use Twitter, and for others this is new territory. To get started, you'll need a Twitter account. Then, use the "Find People" tab and search for "Sudipta Bhattacharya" and the link should appear to follow Sudipta. His username on the site is "sudi_bhat". If you donít have a Twitter account, you will need to sign up for one before you can follow Sudipta. Go to Sudiptaís Space for a link to Twitter.com Thursday, October 15, 2009 It is nice, in a strange way, to know that the management stupidity happening here in Lake Forest, CA. is also happening in the Rail Group in the UK. Wednesday, October 14, 2009 - To the UK Rail blogger: Project "Orange" is the amateur attempt of a very poor senior management team to restructure. Lead by an incompetent managing director the whole thing is backfiring with little or no business benefits. Meanwhile as new projects plunge in the UK rail business, the PPP project team have started a sweepstake on when the managing director will be fired. Cruel? Yes, but so are redundancies. Calling the project "Orange" at the same time as the company transfered to Orange mobile phones (managed by the IT function) meant that all details of redundancies, names, costs etc. were visible to the IT department. Stupidity doesn't even come close to this fiasco. There are a couple of real directors at the top but in the last year we have lost the real thing to IRG leaving amateurs trying to lead a huge organisation, while the managing director is more interested in making self publicity videos! Who knows what the future is. IS will certainly come back under central control. My view, and that of my close collegues, is that we need a "one" Invensys Rail culture and organisation and not the current Westinghouse Way. Manufacturing is already a separate organisation with an IRG feel and culture. Walk around it and see - it doesn't even look like Westinghouse. I get a similar feeing in R&D. It's just the usual idiots like the managing director and his mate that hold things back. Having said that, what is the "new markets" bit about? Total rubbish. Our business is about mass-transit and main-line. Another stupid organisation change a year ago. So lets hope IRG get stuck in and reslove things before there is a collapse. The best people are looking to leave now. Tuesday, October 13, 2009 Interesting news from JimPinto's eNews No. 273 - 12 October 2009 For sale:
(Click)- GE will emerge as next big automation player
Tuesday, October 13, 2009 If Sudipta is allowed to execute on his vision of IOM, it can be a true success story. He needs to be given the resources and flexibility to do it, and he needs to be vigilant of those around him who may not be the right people to help him get there. Monday, October 12, 2009 Here (in the UK) some local IT staff are being absorbed into Global Invensys, whilst others are made redundant. There is to be no specialised IT support. One size will have to fit all. I gather this approach will be applied to the rail group too [currently a money-making group]. Now we are being beaten, round the head, with "project Orange". What on earth is that all about? If it to affect us, then why cannot we be told what it is? Saturday, October 10, 2009 Eurotherm in Leesburg, VA is so poorly managed, it is amazing they are still part of Invensys. The sales force continues to get screwed on commission with managments "fuzzy math". The Plastics BD Manager for NA is absolutley clueless on what is transpiring in the market. Poorly thought out marketing programs and continuous ill-fated planning will be the demize of this vertical as well. He is more concerned about his ego and covering up for his previous family-owned failures in the plastic sector. Additionally, the MACO product is so poorley designed and over-priced than any level headed engineer would even think of considering. Friday, October 9, 2009 It looks like small systems will be again important for Invensys. Eurotherm system 2550 series + Eycon, T940 etc. Will be transfer 100% to Foxboro. Now with a different plan for A2, they decided to invest lots of money on A2. It seems they are now going for the small projects (water, pharma etc.) All Eurotherm Leesburgh system structure will be now part of Foxboro, they will change the whole structure of A2, new developments are ready to go out, new service and support team, etc. They are even thinking on an A2 SIL 2 rated mainly to compete with GE MTL = EMERSON SAFETY SYSTEM. Mainly they will compete at a simnple SIL 2 market which has been growing a lot lately. It seems Eurotherm will continue being a small controller, recorder company dedicated mainly to plastic solutions. Just waiting to see what will be part of Foxboro and what will be sold out. Eurotherm has been wrongly managed; they lose their glass team - they invested a lot on it, and many people have left the company. Thursday, October 8, 2009 How will Invensys deliver RBATCH-II on SOTM, when people from RBATCH-II team have left the company? Thursday, October 8, 2009 The head of development at IOM is the primary source of many of our problems. He manages through fear, intimidation, and bends with the political winds. He lacks up-to-date market or technology skills, and it the bottleneck for progress. He is loving the Cognizant deal because it gives him someone else to blame when things are late, over budget, and buggy. He is running out of excuses. The time has come for him to move on, and I know there are a lot of us who would be excited about IOM again and work longer and harder for the company. Thursday, October 8, 2009 Does anyone think the new product delivery structure will actually deliver anything in any time frame !? By time it gets throught he contract layers, glaciers will have melted rather than moved! Wednesday, October 7, 2009 If we lose our skilled developers and testers, Wonderware is going to have a hard time making promised schedules for new products. Our technology is complex. I didn't feel rock solid until after my 4th anniversary and it still was hard for me when I moved to a few different projects after that. Does our contract with Cognizant say that they have to deliver no matter what? (Who does Wonderware contract administration. I don't know, but I would like to ask a few questions.) Wednesday, October 7, 2009 Invensys recently sold its Indian Development Centre (IDC) to Cognizant. As our associates in India are getting to know more about the new setup, it is getting clear that the partnership between Invensys and Cognizant may be heading for rough waters. While the seating, office space, food and air quality in new Indian office are all known problems, recently it was communicated to them that the work hours are increased from 8 to 9 hours/day. Given these circumstances the team in India seems to have lost both faith and enthusiasm. Also our associates in India feel that the level of monitoring and restrictions indicate that Cognizant is a company that runs BPOs, and so core R&D is something that they are new to. As the job scenario in India is good, if situation in Cognizant ODC is not changed soon, Invensys risks losing most of their India development team. Tuesday, October 6, 2009 Can you define "many". As far as I know average ratio is of 3-4 developers for each Manager. Soon may be all the empty offices will be occupied by Cognizant employees. Tuesday, October 6, 2009 There are many developers and testers still at Wonderware, Lake Forest. Are they all becoming managers? They must be trying to sell the company by cleaning the bottom line. Could any management be so stupid as to make all these decisions and think it was for the good of the company? Sunday, October 4, 2009 I find it interesting that no one has commented on EDGE. Here a program has been rolled out where we are told flat out that no new development will be done by IOM. All IOM personnel will do is create statements of work (SOW) to be given to Cognizant. When the work is done IOM will compare it to the SOW. So IOM will no longer be needing any software engineers. When current projects are done they are gone. IOM will become a company of managers. Friday, October 2, 2009 As someone who has posted a comment, complaining about the many dumb things that have been happening and are still happening, I want to say that Sudipta's recent offer of 1-1 meetings and posting his schedule is a really good thing. This is a step beyond saying that his door is always open. He's offering specific times when we can talk to him privately. I am choosing if I want to take advantage of his generous offer. My concern is not for me but for my manager, who is a great guy and I don't want to risk getting him in trouble for something that I might disagree with Sudipta about. Nevertheless, I want to give credit where due to a very good idea. Thursday, October 1, 2009 After reading many of the statements on this blog, it is obvious that there are unhappy people; but in turn there are happy people. Yes we can all agree or disagree to where things are going, but let's face it - the competition is no better. We all talk to each other. I have had many different bosses since being here, but each comes with a learning experience. Let's stop complaining about the company and get back to the technical and good things we offer as a company. We have a lot of great talent in this organization that bring great value to our customers. We are here to help our customers better succeed. Let's get back to talking about our good not anymore about the way we feel about management. It is getting real old here and much more embarrassing! Wednesday, September 30, 2009 I am pleased that you have enjoyed your career here, but this place really is falling to pieces and a lot of it is because there are people in too many places who are just plain no good at what they do. In a good company they might have been removed, but you can get away with almost anything here if you are likeable. There are development managers and product managers and website people who are all complete witless, but people like them so they stay here for decades making a mess of everything they do. Wednesday, September 30, 2009 I have really enjoyed my 20 year stint with Invensys. A challenge from the start. All the naysayers of negitivity should get a life. Managers come and go. The good ones that are not after the next rung stay and enjoy their management life, helping us that don't care to be managers. We all have to know our own limits. Step out of line and the man will take you away. Wednesday, September 30, 2009 What is it about HR advocacy for talent management? A non-performer can continue to stay in the company, while capable and competent people depart, as they want to do a good job for customer and the company, not for the selfish interests of few "Simply Antagonizing Players". The company is now disintegrating into "Internal Organization Malfunction". (read the Capital lettera). What is a job match and compatibility when a previous director of Strategic Sales Center take on a new role as Channel Sales leader? (It's like a private banker taking on the role of teller, trying to earn tiny commission by pushing insurance/unit trust sales). Is it that difficult to understand that you must have a good job fit to motivate performance? Monday, September 21, 2009 Bullying and intimidation are key to the company culture. I still laugh whenever they talk about meritocracy and integrity. Merit comes from how well you can kiss up to your boss and your boss's boss and integrity is keeping your boss happy without causing something embarrassing they have to deny. I've known a couple of people who complained to the ethics hotline over the years and were told that they looked into the complaint and there wasn't anything to worry about. It wasn't worrying about this that was the problem. It was the unethical behavior that causes a stink. Sunday, September 20, 2009 Invensys' code of conduct condems bullying and intimidation; and yet to me, it appears that it's the company's culture. We're told that IOM is a new group, but it is actually the justification for reduced costs through zero pay rises, zero expenditure, whilst intimidating staff to resign. The staff reduction creates a short term gain that has the board's bonusses paid. However if not stopped, it will actually result in shareholder pain. It's time that the share holders and the managers of other people's retirment funds take a much closer look at this bubble, before it bursts. Saturday, September 19, 2009 Most of our "Process Know How" left the company quite a few years ago, and the effects are still being felt. IPS's "Process Know How" is being shown the door on a daily basis. Sadly, our boss in development is stuck in the 1990's and hasn't the foggiest idea about what the market needs today, nor how to run a modern development team. Sudipta and Rashesh - and some of us in development - have a bunch of good ideas that will never get a chance as long as Pankaj has effectively veto power. We need a new head of development soon so that we can save this company. Maybe Ulf will figure this out soon. Friday, September 18, 2009 Wonderware's core competency is the combination of its "Technology, Process Knowhow" and "IT expertise". Such a player in the automation arena yet to be invented. Having handed over its IDC to an IT company, Invensys has also handed over its "Secrecy", which will ultimately cause it to lose to its core competency. It is almost equivalent to Technology Transfer. By this Ulf & Company have committed a sin to the shareholders and employees. Thursday, September 17, 2009 Ulf needs no pension, since he has such a massive number of shares and options of his own - and some of which he has sold. He can readily bank millions for himself, while the rest of us scrimp and save for college, retirement, and even survival. The latest change is the modern day version of 'let them eat cake'. Thursday, September 17, 2009 I just got Ulf's message about killing off the pension program in the U.S. in order to remain competitive. So few companies have a pension these days that it was the only reason I've remained with Invensys. I mean... no raises, mediocre benefits, having to pass 25 years to add to vacation. I can get that at any number of places. I guess I'll hang in here long enough to early retire and start collecting another paycheck elsewhere. Experience just has no value these days. Thursday, September 17, 2009 Ulf just announced that Invensys is freezing the pension plan on 1 Nov 2009. He made money when he sold IDC, he saved money laying off people at Wonderware, and he makes $2B revenue from the IOM companies, but matching pension fund pmts is too much money. Thanks for making it crystal clear what the employees mean to you. Wednesday, September 16, 2009 Are people on this weblog looking for new jobs? Or are they simply waiting to see what happens at Wonderware Lake Forest, CA. facility? I see small signs that support the idea of LF moving 90% of business to India. Do not know if this means more lay offs at LF or not. Monday, September 7, 2009 Does anyone know what is behind the rapid rise in Ivensys shares over the last few days? Thursday, September 3, 2009 - An interesting note from somebody at Cognizant working for Invensys ODC facility. It is quite evident that Invensys ODC facility at DLF is purely made for improving the Cognizant margins with no consideration for employeesí (working level) health. Do not be surprised when after few weeks, most of the IOM ODC employees visit doctors for knee, back, etc related complaints. Almost every one felt that the first two days were miserable, not seen in their professional career so far. As is always the case, the managers had taken care their needs and requirements very well with very little consideration for their associates. Managers greediness: there is no match for it. Wednesday, September 2, 2009 - Re: the first entry on September 1, 2009: For you as an Invensys employee who just wants to do his work, you may be right: Shut up, get your paycheck and thank God for "still" having a job. I can understand and confirm concerns of all the other people who do not dare to open their mouth, because I personally had to experience the consequences. I had been working for Wonderware for almost 12 years, I always had open discussions with my bosses, and this had been no problem until approx. 3 or 4 years ago. The new regime was put in place and the $$-driven managers did not want people with ideas and opinions other than their own. Their charter was to take care of profit and quarterly results, not about markets and customers, who finally pay their bonusses, and not about employees, who finally make it possible. My career in Wonderware ended after I had an open word with Sudipta and other LF based VPs. It was not them, who gave me the kick, but my new boss who was obviously taken to task by Sudipta. So you only can be brave in this company, if your wife has a good job and the house is fully paid. Wednesday, September 2, 2009 The restructuring of IOM is a mystery which gets murkier with every new announcement. Lack of clarity of roles pervades all over and the whole APAC/ME IOM organization looks like someone is monkeying around with no long term vision. Its unfortunate for Invensys that every new change at top in IPS in past 2-3 years has brought massive organisational changes which have costed millions without any tangible benefit and sincere employees are getting the brunt. Please stop experimentation, else this once great company will sink. Wednesday, September 2, 2009 I'd suggest avoiding the personal attacks and name calling here, as it borders on very fragile legal ground and adds no value to the discussion. There's no need for that in this forum, as the same points can be made with out it. If you think you are anonymous, think again! Wednesday, September 2, 2009 It sounds like the old Indian proverb is being followed at Invensys: "The nail that has it's head sticking up will get nailed!" Wednesday, September 2, 2009 - To the person who said that opinions should be taken to management: Management at WW doesn't want opinions - they want workers to simply put their heads down and do what they are told. As a former manager at WW, I told management above me many times what the issues were. I was told that I had a bad attitude. That my goal was to get people to "like" me and to "trust" me. I thought my goals should be to do good work that supported the customers and impacted the bottom line, delivered on time and in budget. I was told that was the wrong attitude. I left because it's not possible to try to improve the products or the company. Management doesn't want that. They actively target people who make suggestions about how to improve products or processes. These are people who are not "liked" or "trusted". It's 7th grade all over. And who doesn't want to be 13 years old again? Wednesday, September 2, 2009 It is true that invensys managers should relook at their strategies, if any, and give due respect to the working level organization, which is almost missing. A healthy organization in place will help, for sure, to take up the business challenges rather in-house issues. Wednesday, September 2, 2009 Yes, many of my peers are enjoying the paychecks and the coffee and hiding in the grass while doing their jobs as well as can be. Speaking up is a bad idea here and it is far worse than I have ever seen it in all my years here too. This may be because the people in charge know they don't know what is going on and so they fear that any criticism may expose them as incompetent so they squish anyone who criticizes and then preen themselves publicly and a little nervously. We all see what's happening, but most of us don't think its worth bringing up. Wednesday, September 2, 2009 The underlying problem that will lead to Invensys's demise is that the powers that be do not know how to assess talent. They value loyalty - or more correctly, fealty - over ability. Sudipta's band of merry men he has recently appointed are hopelessly underskilled and unqualified for the roles they have been given, but they are loyal lapdogs and in many cases fellow countrymen. Sudipta's bosses and the board are so horribly out of touch with the market and the business that they simply nod like bobblehead dolls when the anointed one makes a proclamation. It really is a living comedy show, but a tragic comedy. There are very few exceptions to the general lack of qualifications of most of Sudipta's recent appointees. As long as the paycheck keeps coming, I'm in no great rush to leave but have learned to keep my head down. I only wish somehow, someway, the board could see what utterly incompetent and unqualified people are in key roles within IOM now. Tuesday, September 1, 2009 I agree strongly. I tried to talk about this to my manager and didn't care and then to his manager, who was actively hostile to the idea that anything was wrong other than my attitude for thinking something was wrong. I'm still recovering from that myself, but the message was received: keep quiet and do my job or leave. Can I do a better job than these people? Yes. I know it because I know better than to insult my team and sabotage their efforts. My people have always turned in great performances because I support them. So with respect to the person who suggested we put up or shut up, many of us have tried to alert our managers to problems and have been hurt badly for it. Tuesday, September 1, 2009 I also was one took that chance. I spoke to my manager about what I and many others saw as potentially better solutions, and offered suggestions on how to acheive more active participation. I have many years of sucessful sales and management experience. I was told quite bluntly "They (upper management) don't want to hear it. Period. We suggest you stop now." So I stopped before the axe hit. It was very close though. I was demoted and removed from my career path. For now, I will just hold on, keep taking a paycheck home, and keep looking for other employment. It is better to be employed at a lousy company that doesn't care than be at home unemployed. This recession will end and then a lot of good people will be leaving "Brokesys". Tuesday, September 1, 2009 I was one of those brave souls who did make suggestions to management on how things could be done better. What did I get for my initiative? I was shown the door and told to turn in all my company property. The senior managers at Invensys don't want to hear any differing opinions. They want the mindless drones to do what they say so that they can take as much money from the company as they can before they leave. Itoo would love to see Invensys succeed. I think they have some great products and services. If senior management can only get out of the way, they could be very successful. Tuesday, September 1, 2009 To all the folks at Invensys or non-Invensys. Do you really have nothing better to do then to talk garbage about the company? Step up to the plate if you can do a better job. If you are one that has not taken the time to discuss your ideas or thoughts with senior managers, then do not complain. Keep getting your paycheck and thank God you have a job. If you think you have the answers and can turn things around better, then contact your Regional President, Sudipta or Ulf. Trust me folks, this is the worst economic crisis in history. Nobody has the correct answers. We all just need to work together. We can not all agree on everthing that is happening at Invensys; but if you at least discuss your thoughts/ideas with decision makers at Invensys, you at least can say I told them so. So I challenge everyone who has negative comments who work at Invensys on this blog, send your issues and solution to the issue to your top managers. You have nothing to lose! If you are one that is no longer at Invensys, I wish you well. There is a reason for everything in life. As a side note, I am not a manager in this company. I am a employee not new to the company who actually wants this to work! Friday, August 28, 2009 The only reasons for an active rumor mill in a company are when the management has lost credibility and is not telling people what's happening. At WW, the person who did the last company presentation has had no credibility for years. We listen carefully to what he says and doesn't say and then use it as the roadmap to the real situation. It works; but it would be nice to have someone we believed when he says the sun is up and didn't want or need to then go check for ourselves. If management cares about the people and the company, they should start actively responding to the rumors and concerns they see here. Something with the class of Rick Bullotta's recent post would go along way to calming fears. I'm sure they want all this noise to go away, but it won't happen. It's too late to tell us all to trust the vision for the company and make our deadlines, because it's us doing the work; and us that got passed over for raises and us that are losing most of the week off at the end of the year; and us that Ulf said he is going to reduce the benefits on while they brag about how the IOM companies make $2B a year in revenues. I don't think anyone minds make executives rich, but being kicked in the teeth while hearing that we should work harder to make the same people richer was stupid and self-centered. Thursday, August 27, 2009 I strongly agree that Rick Bullotta is a class act. My hat's off to him for letting us know more about his departure and what he's up to now. Morale here at WW-LF continues to deteriorate. It's just a little every day, but it's something we all can notice. You can feel the difference from week to week as you walk the halls. Almost everyone is wondering what's going to happen to their job, their groups, even their function - as Cognizant comes on board. As a result, too many good people are out shopping for jobs. I'm pleased to say that I've been talking to people and am in the process of leaving for far greener (in all ways) pastures. I'm very thankful to the company for the many years I've had here, but I am now thinking daily of the great relief of not working here any more. My only regret is that Wonderware's management can't see or doesn't care that they're doing this to a formerly good company. Wednesday, August 26, 2009 Is anyone going to attend the "IPS NA Client Conference" in Houston this September? Why would one attend this when Emerson Exchange is the following week in Orlando? I have attended Wonderworld and other Invensys events as well as Emerson's and there is NO DOUBT - Emerson Exchange is hand's down way better. Wednesday, August 26, 2009 Rick Bullotta remains one of the true gentlemen of the industry and a class act. Others could and should learn from and follow his example. Signed: A former Wonderware employee who knows the Invensys cast of characters well. Wednesday, August 26, 2009 - eLetter received from Rick Bullotta: Hi, Jim. I wanted to clear a few things up since there seems to be some misinformation being posted on your discussion forum.
First of all, my name has two "L's" and two "T's". ;-) Additionally, I've become hooked on the enterpreneurial/startup life, and it made it very difficult to return to the more traditional corporate world. It soon became clear that it was best to part as friends rather than continuing on in a role that was neither beneficial to Wonderware or to me. While I did not always agree with the strategic directions we were taking, I have nothing but admiration for the Wonderware and IOM team. They have people, brands, products and a market position that remain the envy of the industry. I wish them nothing but the best wherever the future may take them amidst a sea of constant change. That's just life in this day and age. As for me, I'm busy in a new startup, Burning Sky Software, which I co-founded with my business partner from Lighthammer and with the former CEO of Cimnet. We're currently in "stealth mode", but are busy working on products, positioning, and staffing up our team. We're excited about creating a new segment of the industrial software market, similar to when we helped pioneer the EMI market nearly a decade ago. It's time for some excitement in this industry, beyond mergers and acquisitions and political intrigue. ;-) Feel free to post this message in its entirety.
Kindest regards, Tuesday, August 25, 2009 Ulf loves his boondoggles. Nice resorts around the world, trips to the pyramids, south beach, golf courses. Must be nice to not care about how people perceive you. Tuesday, August 25, 2009 Very Interesting! While everything at Invensys is in total disarray, people are getting laid off and others are waiting for the axe to fall, management is partying. I mean meeting in Aruba. Sounds like they took a page out of the AIG management handbook. Tuesday, August 25, 2009 To borrow from Wonderware's very early advertising campaign: This is NOT Wonderware. Tuesday, August 25, 2009 So, they renamed WonderWorld to OpsManage; here's the tagline for the event: "The One Multi-Discipline Event Where You Can Learn How to Empower Your Sustainable Success". Wow! So many words to say so little. I'm guessing the original Wonderware marketeers didn't make the IOM cut... Tuesday, August 25, 2009 ABB in talks with Invensys? Keep an eye out for familiar Invensys faces in the Zurich airport. Tuesday, August 25, 2009 Rick Bulotta gave a great talk at our sales conference last year, with some good ideas on things we needed to do to shore up our products and get into some new areas. Seemed like everything was rosy back then. Never heard why his sudden departure. Caught a lot of us off guard, especially because we were pretty psyched up by what we saw at the S&M conference. Tuesday, August 25, 2009 In the Provience of Massachusetts, in the tiny hamlet of Foxboro, was Camelot. Camelot was a place of hard work that was well rewarded. Then came the Black Knight that supressed the Good King Ben and his brother Rex, and clouds covered the land. A curse was apon the land, a plague began taking its toll and the population dwindled. To save themselves they left Camelot. Stay and you will be rewarded with pieces of silver (the king takes his share first) and what was left was copper pennies. After many years the story is still the same. More serfs ben taken by the plague, crops are failing still, the Royal Vault is almost empty. Yet the King & his Court sailed to a far away place called ARUBA to hold Court. Many time we hear the Town Crier call out, "Hear ye! Hear ye! More work for the serfs! The King will pay many pieces of silver for services." Yet we do not see pieces of silver. What we see is people of foreign lands coming to our village, and they speak in words we cannot understand. They are taking the pieces of silver. After the new crops were planted in the spring of the year, the Lord of Camelot said, "The King will give you 3 days of rest from your labors. I know you will keep up with the work, but remember that you will only recieve 4 days wages." Yet the Lords & Ladies and Knights were provided with all the fresh meat & vegetables that could eat. A proclammation was posted in the town square:
Make yourself ready for the arrival of our good King Sudipta, on the days hence forth 24th August to 28th August, in the year of our Lord AD 1509. Come one, come all, and enjoy the pagentry. (No weapons allowed during the celebration). Monday, August 24, 2009 More distressing is the lack of board oversight or intervention with this latest travesty. Clearly the board must be complicit in a plan to systematically neuter Invensys as is being executed of late. Barring pure insanity or mental illness, the only other possibility is a specific intent to pretty up the income statement to fetch a better price from an acquirer. Any intelligent buyer should be able to see through this charade! Monday, August 24, 2009 - Re: Invensys IOM is pretty much handing over its crown jewels to Cognizant: No one is stupid. If the deal is so bad for Invensys, why did they do it? Did anyone question that it is possible someone in Invensys made a sweet deal? A few years ago, a lot of perople made good money this way. Monday, August 24, 2009 Read the latest Jim Pinto commentary in JimPinto.com eNews, 25 August 2009. Here are extracts:
Astute commentator Andrew Bond suggests in his "Automation Insider" that this looks as if Invensys IOM is pretty much handing over its crown jewels to Cognizant: all of the development for the former Foxboro, Triconex, SimSci-Esscor, Avantis, InFusion, Eurotherm and Wonderware. Wow! Back home at Wonderware in California, the source of the Invensys crown-jewels, exits are taking place at an alarming rate. Sudipta remains mum. After all this idiocy comes the latest laugh. They have renamed the long established and highly successful "WonderWorld" events for this year as "OpsManage09". One can only guess how the WonderWare sales channel will greet this gross lack of common sense. Is Ulf immune to all this noise? Or, is he just pretending to be asleep? As he was when Paulett Eberhart was creating havoc with Foxboro? The Invensys weblogs reported that he had sold off some of his stock, and that the Cognizant deal was done simply to clean up the balance-sheet prior to the sale of the company. Sunday, August 23, 2009 Is the president of Asia who is leaving, the one they just appointed? Or is this old news? I agree that Invensys is in disarray, and will continue to be until they put the right people in place globally. That probably means, bye bye Ulf... Sunday, August 23, 2009 It's clear the Wonderware organisation is now in total disarray. Two years of leadership by someone who has absolutely no understanding of, or passion for, the Automation Software market, is clearly beginning to show. Will there be a Phoenix? Saturday, August 22, 2009 It seemed like one of the turning points was when Rick Bulota was forced out last year. I felt like it things started turning bad right about then. We never really heard why it all happened anyway. I always thought he and Sudipta were friends. It just felt like more than a coincidence that we started feeling changes here in Lake Forest about the same time. Friday, August 21, 2009 I keep thinking that there's too much about to happen. Resumes are being written, projects are starting to slip, critical people are being shafted, and there's an air of uncertainty going on. In 10 days, the final employment numbers from the IDC/CTS changeover will be in place and we'll know how much knowledge has been lost by the sale - though I'm not expecting to hear this from management any time soon. But the numbers will get out, I'm sure. You know, a year ago, Wonderware had morale. Even if idiot-managers were still being aloud to run wild, employees believed in the products, in the overall goals, and the future. We wanted to try and make WW a billion dollar company. Now, everyone is just trying not to get yelled at by some jerk above them, and put in their time until the economy picks up and its safe to move to another company. The only logical conclusion is that IOM or even Invensys is being prettied up to be sold, because the management is doing everything it can, short of actual public beatings, to discourage people from staying here. Whoever buys this will be buying a corpse because all the good people are leaving. Friday, August 21, 2009 Nabil Kassem, President Asia Pacific & Middle East at Invensys Process Systems will be leaving Invensys. What is next? Friday, August 21, 2009 Regarding not making long term plans at IOM - that is because the head of IOM and his reports are completely incapable of doing so. Good business people plan on both horizons, unless there is a predetermined plan to sell the company within that period. Three years is an eternity in IOM's core businesses. Most of the major new product initiatives will span 2 to 3 times that period, and the lifecycle of those products will be 3 to 4 times that period. I am very, very concerned that we have people in place at the top now that know effectively NOTHING about our business. Time to polish up the resume and get out of here when the opportunity presents itself. Thursday, August 20, 2009 - re: long term plans: Seems to me I heard the same thing almost twenty years ago at Foxboro from someone high up in management: "Don't make any long term plans based on your continuing employment at Foxboro". So what is new? Thursday, August 20, 2009 If OSP can gain that type of knowledge on Invensys products and command it, why do not we all join the OSP then? It was made clear by IOM head that making long term plans (>=3 years) in this fast changing game plans is of no use. So, be prepared to be part of the OSP. Thursday, August 20, 2009 The old time Foxboro fellows will remember a similar situation. In the early 70¥s Foxboro transferred technology to a small Japanese company based in Yokohama. A few years later this small company became on of the most tough Foxboro competitors. Wednesday, August 19, 2009 Regarding the OSP model, let me paint a picture of the future for you. Fast forward a couple of years, and a current Invensys executive is now CEO of one of the major outsourcing partners. This OSP now has accumulated a wealth of intellectual property knowledge as well as the effective ability to hold its partners hostage to whatever commercial structure they see fit, as the cost and impact of changing would be impractical. The OSP now also offers its services to many of Invensys' competitors, and begins to develop products of its own. This future scenario is not far fetched! Wednesday, August 19, 2009 One need only look at the problems Boeing has faced and is facing with the 787 Dreamliner to know that the OSP model on complex products cannot be as effective as in-house. Our customers could likely see a stream of quality issues, late deliveries, products that do not align with market needs, and poor support responsiveness as a result of the disintermediated value chain that Henrikson and Bhattacharya are embarking upon. The only possible explanation is a desire to improve the financial statements in the short term to facilitate a higher price in the liquidation or sale of the company. Tuesday, August 18, 2009 Having worked for ICE for several years, I am dismayed that Ulf has been gullible enough to beleive in these 'Harebrained' out-sourcing initiatives. It is evident that our OSP's are transactional, unfortunately, AP & AR, particularly in Europe are more about building relationships with suppliers and customers and are less transactional than Ulf obviously believes, but hey get a good salesman and he can talk the customer in to believing anything. Invensys may be cash rich, but what happens when suppliers hold supplies, halting production, because invoices have not been posted on to the ledgers? What happens when our customers feel that Honeywell or Siemans understand their issues and can resolve them and understand them, when Invensys can't? What happens when past dues on AR increase to in excess of 15% from less than 5%, result will be a lack of confidence in the company, both from Suppliers and Customers? Is this how we build relationships with our partners? Our OSP's are transactional, therefore if the work being passed over is not particularly transactional, what do they do - put in another process which is transactional, totally irrelevant and increasing the time for processing of invoices - good move? Surely, the time must come when Senior Management realise that out-sourcing or co-sourcing (which sounds much cosier)does not work. It was not intended as a cost saving device but to improve efficiency. How is this being measured and do we really know the costs? But in any case if it doesn't work, what do we do - we move it to another country, the way it is going Invensys will soon have world dominance in failed outsourcing. Thursday, August 13, 2009 There are a number of people currently keeping there heads down and lips buttoned up at WW. They are getting work done as best they can and working business networks and waiting for the economy to improve a little. Expect the turnover rate to hit 30% in 2010. That assumes that WW will even remain where it is and not get split between TX and India as some on this list have suggested. Thursday, August 13, 2009 Well, darn - it's a suspenseful time for Jim Pinto to be on vacation! :) There is a cheap, petty, sensation-seeking crowd out here (like me) which wants to be able to find out what's happening at WW-LF. I do have some news, which I'll contribute in a separate note. Sunday, August 9, 2009 Does anyone knows what is main reason for winding up the Invensys development from India, and who are main catalysts and benifeciareis for this operation Friday, July 31, 2009 At what point in time will someone with power make a real decision? We all appreciate the reminders on how not to contract Swine Flu. What we don't appreciate is the refusal to accept the reality of the situation - HPS are strangling themselves in a muddy pool of self denial, while our competition happily skip past Bracknell, Manchester and Aberdeen with pockets stuffed full of orders from all those "loyal" customers who are fed up being treated with distain, apathy and arrogance.What's the response from the blinkered management and those covered in moss because they've not moved from their desk in last 15 years, "We're Honeywell. The stupid customer doesn't know what he's doing" Wake up! the customer knows exactly what he's doing. As St Paul found the light on the road to Damascus our faithful SESP victims have found the light of Emerson, Yoko and many others too bright to resist. Look to the example of BSA and Honda in 1960's. BSA had had a monopoly on racing bikes for years and due to arrogance and ignorance refused to believe that the new kids on the block, Honda were a real bike company. After all what could this new shiny bike offer? Better value, better reliablity, better service - but it didn't have a BSA badge. So why would any one want it? MMM! BSA disappeared from main stream within a few years, to be resigned to the nostalgic musings of those whose memories have nothing better to think on. Sound familiar? "We're Honeywell. That's enough to get business look at our history." Sorry, no marketing, no sales strategy, no connection between service and projects (in fact exact opposite with too many piggies trying to feed from same trough), no acceptance of market demands. Take OneWireless as an example, often repeated mantra that Honeywell has the best technical wireless system is lost to an unlistening public, who cares? Customers believe the Emerson hype and sales figures, which are all that matter, proving Honeywell are so far behind it's past embarrasing. You want a wireless network for your home? Do you buy Linksys Premier Home System because it's worth £1000 to get extra 5m range and ability to connect 15 devices or do you happily accept free router from your broadband supplier? I hope those with the ability to make changes are listening. HPS is sinking, morale is zero, sales team are demotivated -just tell the truth that there will be no comission scheme instead of pretending the figurs are still being worked. August and no targets set? Come on. Please stop pretending you are listening. Honesty can be hard to accept, but if you've not worked it out let me make it simple: Honeywell Attitude = No Customers = No Job for you and me. Thursday, July 30, 2009 - from "Sick in Freeport": I am completely disgusted with this company and "management" at this point. Freeport's plant 4 has always been more a place of making ones self look good and protecting ones friends rather than making parts faster, cheaper, and with better quality. Nothing has shown this more than the most recent episode, in which a team leader proved to have more power and influence than supervisors, cell leads, and the value stream manager. This team-lead knows nothing about the machines and will admit that troubleshooting is beyond their meager skills and abilities (unless you count being recently married to a cell lead in a different plant to be a good TL ability). This person is disliked by virtually all who work with them, short of the engineers and supervisors who meet them at the bar every Thursday evening. The reason for the dislike is because the TL knows nothing about how to lead, and refuses to adapt or change to new conditions that require new strategies. The TL has been turned in to HR numerous times for offenses that would get others fired, but the drinking buddies always come to the rescue. The TL has even been turned in to EEOC, but the spin doctors were there once again. This person for years has had more authority than the off-shift supervisors, and has been able to over-ride their decisions on a frequent basis. This is the only team lead in Freeport who has their own little office area, not even close to being on the floor where they are supposed to be. The TL spends hours in this area talking to their buddies and plotting against those who are trying to actually make improvements and do their jobs. This while the operators are ignored (until they make a mistake that is, then they face the wrath of the TL, who I have seen yell at and berate operators [and even other TLs] with no repurcussions). Last week this TL was told that they were being moved to another department in a consolodation of TLs. This came from 2 cell leaders and the value stream manager. The TL threw a fit. An operator would have been written up or walked to the door for such an episode (as we have been told numerous times). Instead, this TL was able to round up all their buddies to fight on their behalf, and they got the VSM to move another TL and leave this one in their position. Not only is this TL staying in the position now, but they are picking up another area as well. The other TL has no powerful buddies and, despite going to HR, will suffer because of it. The reason behind the change? Who knows, but the rumor is that the VSM came to believe the lies that this is the only person who can do the job. This is a flat out lie. This TL is the reason why this area has shown no improvement in 10 years or so. The numbers on paper may look like it has, but that's only because of accounting tricks pulled off by one of the buddies who helped to save the job. Other areas are suffering because of these accounting tricks. On top of this, the VSM has lost what little respect he might have had remaining. The morale on the floor is utterly gone. There is no morale whatsoever. To mention the name of the VSM brings groans and eye rolls, and every person I know thinks he is worthless and hurting our jobs. Virtually all think that him and one of the drinking buddies (acocunting trick guy) are the direct reason for one area moving to China later this year. Nobody believes one word that comes out of his mouth, and he cannot give a simple yes or no answer to any question. He is laughed at on a daily basis, but he is hated as well for his poor leadership, double-talk, and two-faced comments. This recent episode is not the worst episode I have seen in this company, but it is just too much on top of everything else. The announcement that the TL was moving was the only thing I have heard in the past two years that actually cheered up the operators in this area and made them feel good about their jobs and the progress the area might make in the future. Now, they are more depressed and dejected than ever before. Wednesday, July 29, 2009 As an engineer working for UOP, it's horrible to see the recent decline in quality of work due to "cheap" labor. Now, a small number of the India engineers are very good; however, a lot of them are brainess people. They can't seem to follow procedures and ask questions as needed. They make unsound assumptions and believe that anything the computer splits out must be good. What happened to understanding the technology and knowing what you are doing? It's all about pushing buttons on the computer and get an answer spit out to you. UOP's downfall will be soon. Who knows, may be the whole engineering dept will move to Delhi! Monday, July 27, 2009 The July 24 comment once again proves that the only philosophy Cote and his bunch understand is CYA and FIFO (fit in or f--- off.) They know nothing about running a factory. Hear that? When you look at the long and growing list of blunders, bewildering decisions, contradictory directives, incredible oversights, and squandered assets (both physical and personnel) it leads to the inescapeable conclusion that actually running a factory---doing all the things normally associated with valuing customers, producing quality products, and treating employees fairly---is something they know nothing about. Wozniak (president of ACS) is a classic example. She loves to brag about Honeywell's ability to design and manufacture sensors. But she's only a poseur, a pretender. The real truth is that she (and Cote) have effectively eviscerated that capability. There is nothing but a hollow shell of a company behind her bold pronouncements, and still she leads the company ever downwards. She clearly believes that if she has the ability to speak those words, then others must have the ability to make it so. They do, but it will never happen as long as management continues on a destructive path. Cote and his group need to go. Friday, July 24, 2009 The reason it went from 60 to 90 is because finance don't have a clue how things are made. All the supplier has to do is go "COD" and they will quickly move payments to 60 days or less. No, they are not going to go rushing off to get a new supplier because they don't have someone on staff to do that work. The reason for this is that Honeywell works within verticals and verticals within those verticals. All sites are vertical dependent, and then in each site the departments are all vertical dependent. So in one site the engineers don't know what the fabricators are doing and vice versa. When the logistic person in the supply chain tries to get a better supplier for a product and the benefit goes to engineering, then all 3000 managers in the supply chain find ways to get rid of the logistic person. You would think that its a benefit to the whole site and Honeywell as a whole. But alas everything must be of benefit to the cost center that pays your salary. All you have to do is leave a paper trail that looks like your vertical is saving and they leave you alone. Wednesday, July 22, 2009 - To: Outside supplier - PO's from 60 to 90 days: I think that you know how to resolve this problem as a supplier. Just jack up your future quotations up by 2% to cover your financing/carrying costs. You are lucky you got 90 days. Our site would quote 60 but pay in 120 days. Contractors were pretty pissed about this and, after awhile, would put the Honeywell site on COD. This is one of Honeywell's dirty little embarrasing secrets. Oh, and by the way...watch out for the national agreements. To my experience, national contract are always more expensive to Honeywell than what you can get locally through your own purchasing agreements. So if you are able to quote a national agreement you can make a significant premium - with little extra effort. Wednesday, July 22, 2009 It isn't much better as an outside supplier. Purchasing's latest way of sticking it to us is by changing the payment terms on existing PO's from 60 to 90 days, after the job is delivered and invoiced! Strange place to do work for. Monday, July 20, 2009 I think that "Animal Farm" would be a more appropriate book choice. Saturday, July 18, 2009 Have you read "The Jungle" by Upton Sinclair? We are reliving it at Honeywell. Friday, July 17, 2009 - RE Wednesday July 15th, blog: You sound like a guy who is not under threat of losing his job because your boss has decided to use engineering skills from India. Well listen up, those people earn under $20K a year and do not get paid over time even though they might do 18 hour days. And your bosses are charging the customer at your hourly rate. How ethical is that? Perhaps you will change your mind when you are standing in the unemployed line, while your job is being done by someone from India, and your boss is getting paid incentive based on the difference between the two salaries. Thursday, July 16, 2009 I have worked in a number of companies before joining Honeywell UK some years ago. In all my years in working in a multi national enviroment, I have never met such a bunch of backside kissing, box ticking management before. We go through pointless exercises, where even the local management see absolutely no benefit, because they have been instructed to do so from the senior management in Europe. Even local, relatively low level, appointemnts have to be agreed right at the top of the food chain. Management are constantly chasing the monthly figures, custmer service comes a very poor second. Management on day to day decision is taken from the senior management in Europe, and the UK management just do as they are told. I suppose it's a good excuse that they are "Just following orders" - now where have we heard that before? Morale is very low, but the comittment to delivering a quality product from the guys at the coal face is second to none. Ask anyone who has to do an honest days work what the situation is at Honeywell. The truth will be out! Wednesday, July 15, 2009 Ref: "If there is a perverse sort of silver lining in these clouds, it is the fact that the mind-boggling arrogance, sense of entitlement and racist condescension that was seemingly bred into most North American and Western European (especially British) engineers has really taken a hit." I'm not the blogger who made the '3rd world engineers' comment, but I am a white, North American engineer who resents comments such as yours. I am objective enough to recognize and appreciate engineering talent and ability regardless of its country of origin. Any engineer who can make a positive contribution to a project is welcome, as far as I'm concerned. However, Honeywell seems to have taken the approach of hiring inexperienced engineers straight out of college, giving them fancy titles, and calling them 'experts'. If you don't like the term '3rd world', then let's call them 'Chinese'. You want to talk about arrogance, entitlement, and condescension? I've worked numerous projects with these folks. Without any consideration towards actual experience and ability, Honeywell management has placed project after project squarely in their laps. And without exception, the advice and guidance offered has been ignored to the point where each project has serious technical flaws, is behind schedule, and requires extensive intervention(trips) from North American engineers in an attempt to salvage a small fraction of the project's original goals. I don't fault the Chinese engineers for their inexperience. But I do fault them for their arrogance and condescension towards more experienced western engineers. Then again, what do you expect when you tell a newly minted grad that he's an expert? Most of all I fault Honeywell management for their incredible stupidity to assume a poorly thought out plan such as this could possibly work. Along the way I've learned to avoid generalizations, something which you lot and your sunshine comment might consider. Tuesday, July 14, 2009 - Re the comment from June 9, 2009, ending with "Good luck with your 3rd world engineers." Goodness knows that plenty of mistakes have been, and continue to be made by short-sighted people obsessed with irrelevant Six Sigma projects and other time-wasting initiatives. However, that final comment about ì3rd world engineersî really struck a nerve with me (and I'm neither an engineer nor from the "3rd world"). If there is a perverse sort of silver lining in these clouds, it is the fact that the mind-boggling arrogance, sense of entitlement and racist condescension that was seemingly bred into most North American and Western European (especially British) engineers has really taken a hit. You lot are learning the hard way that the world actually doesnít revolve around you, and that brilliant rays of sunshine actually donít emanate from your behinds. Good on you. Tuesday, July 14, 2009 It would be most refreshing if the board of directors would get off their dead a$$es and take action before this company is completely down the pipes. Unfortunately, their past history of inactivity provides little reason for optimism. Does the BOD really do anything? Are they really just a rubber stamp for Cote? Or is it just a good old boys (and girls) club? Once you sit on enough BOD's for various corporations you no longer have to work for a living? How can a sane person watch what's happening and do nothing? Monday, July 13, 2009 If you look at how communications works in its various modes, only 7% of people actually read the written material - like the pretty colored charts on the shop floor. This is even worse if the charts are produced by people other than those that are directly involved. The committment becomes detatched and it becomes a "we" - "they" situation. The Toyota system does not work like that. There is another reason that the imported Toyota system does not work at Honeywell. Toyota makes a commitment to its employees that if they have a great idea that will not put them out of a job, they are redeployed & retrained into another position where the same great thinking can be used again. This is a powerful motivator. At Honeywell you never hear this committment from Cote. I have heard it on videotape from Toyota. Cote is always about "responding to market conditions" (code for lowest marginal cost). So great ideas most likely result in your outsourcing - as we see from many of the blog entries. Bosidy was the last one to come close to ensuring your job when he was rolling out Total Quality. I know that my TQ Facilitator had Bosidy's direct private number to take care of any Manager's resistance to the process - and he used it!. But this too has failed under Cote stand backish approach. HOS and Six Sigma have been moved to number 5 in Cote's Five Inituitives - an after thought. Yes, there have been programs and ad posters on site promoting growth idesa - but most sites can't compete at that level. As far as capital is comcerned. The process is terrible. It is more about how classy and smooth-tongued you are to make an arguement to the VP. This is the problem. The VP's are setting themselves up as the center of the universe - especially in Aerospace ISC. All attention is directed at them by site managers. So the sites see this more as a game of winning the VPs favor at any cost to get the capital funds. The capital reviews are usually setup up as a round-robin of conference calls. Monday, July 13, 2009 I have worked in Freeport, IL (home of the old Micro Switch, and now part of ACS) since the early '90s. The longer I work here, the more I see the complete lack of leadership. Leadership, by definition, means to lead. The definition of leadership in this part of the company is to lie, cheat, and manipulate people and numbers to make it look like they are doing their jobs. HOS was put in place to take advantage of the knowledge of the factory employees who actually perform the tasks. This was taken from Toyota, which has used it for many decades to be one of the world's leaders in efficiency and reducing waste. Management has turned this into a visual system to show their bosses something pretty to look at when they visit Freeport once or twice a year. Virtually no improvement has been shown in the majority of areas that have implemented HOS. This is becaue management ignores the workers who know what works and what doesn't work, and because they show no faith in the system because they do not enforce it. What could be a valuable tool to improve efficiency is instead an expensive waste of time that results in some pretty colored papers and charts that nobody looks at or uses. Some of the areas in Freeport are run by virtual cartels of 'drinking buddies' who oust anybody who disagrees with them, and who continue to promote their own who are not qualified for the positions. Truthfully, I would not put most of the 'leaders' I work with in charge of a McDonald's, let alone a large manufacturing company or a department. Many of the factory jobs in Freeport plant 4 are now in the process of moving to China and Mexico. These jobs are not moving because the employees can't compete with overseas workers. These jobs are moving because management failed to provide the equipment and support needed to improve output and reduce costs. For too many years, management routinely denied requests for automated equipment, for requests to update old equipment, and just about any other improvement that would cost money or take some sort of effort on their part. Now, a multitude of highly skilled and dedicated workers are being let go so that cheaper labor can build the parts. The sad part is that the managers who denied the improvement requests that probably would have kept the jobs here are keeping their jobs. Many of them will be promoted eventually, allowing them to destroy ever larger parts of the company in their zeal to make themselves look better. It's mind bogling to think what this company could be like if the leaders actually knew how to lead. Monday, July 13, 2009 Concerning the Honeywell weblog. Please, always remember that Honeywell is not really Honeywell anymore. It is Allied Signal hiding under the name Honeywell. And it is the Allied Signal mentality that is ruining not only Honeywell operations, but also the Honeywell name. Friday, July 10, 2009 - To: "Having been with Honeywell here in the UK for 5 years or so...." This summary is bang on! If you didn't say UK, one could have thought that you were writing about North America. Cote has presided on a stock loss from over $60 to under $30 per share. You can't blame this loss only on the recession. The lapdog Board of Directors needs to get out of the swine-fat feeding pen. Honeywell needs to be broken up for improved shareholder value. This type of breakup is already being discussed at GE because of the fiasco that GE Capital brought upon the company. Friday, July 10, 2009 Having been with Honeywell here in the UK for 5 years or so, I think have sufficient knowledge and experience to post a fairly accurate description of life in HPS today. In all my working career I have never seen such a disjointed company where the "silo" mentality is as prevalent and entrenched as here in HPS. Operations ñ sales ñ project management - HR, all have there own agendas and management structures; no big picture and no strategic thinking; and supported by an inept, incompetent and aloof management who are in the main inward-looking and provide little or no guidance. They are incapable of leadership, don't fundamentally understand what it is we actually do, and have lost the respect of the majority of staff. In fact, I would go as far as saying that swine flu is more popular than this lot. A good working relationship between sales and operations, which is fundamental to the success of any company, to use a management term is "challenging". Indeed, they are virtually at war in some affiliates. For those HR and management people who are reading this post, you are an overhead - you are neither chargeable to the customer i.e. engineering, nor do you bring in orders i.e. sales; instead you just sit in your ivory towers, presenting other people's work and achievements as your own, writing endless, pointless e-mails instead of actually doing something, and telling each other what a wonderful job you are doing ñ it's a club. Simple as that! The hurdles in place (processes as they are called) are now so numerous, complex and convoluted that getting anything done has become virtually impossible. We are losing projects in our key accounts. Winning new business is becoming increasingly difficult, with Emerson and Yokogawa in particular being aggressive commercially, and being prepared to work with customers in a collaborative approach. Much of the fault for this lies with senior Honeywell HPS management who, quite frankly, are more concerned about instigating new processes, risk avoidance, cost cutting, centralizing decision making. These are all issues which impact customer responsiveness and agility, at a time in the economy when Honeywell needs to be building bridges with its customers instead of burning them. "Growing the business" amounts to putting up prices by a disproportionate percentage, year on year, to milk the existing customers (using exchange rate fluctuations as cover) whilst employing the Honeywell Process Development pretty much universally despised by all (except the management and their toadies) to either minimize pay rises or used to justify redundancies. Management who have personal issues with employees will target those individuals using the HPD process. When redundancies are planned, guess who get Riffed first? There are many, many examples. Recent Low Lights
The net result is that a good number of Honeywell employees have forgotten who actually pays their salary. For clarity, it's not Honeywell - who are nothing more than middle men in the process - but in fact every single customer who places orders each and every year. Until the management and senior staff of this company realize this, the continued decline of this once great company, which these people are presiding over, will continue. The cost structure is far, far too high. Honeywell has too many non-contributors. The number of utterly pointless internal positions that contribute absolutely nothing to this company is beyond belief). There is too little staff with a "can do" attitude with only minimal customer focus. But for this too change will require many of these people who have directly contributed to this mess and instigated this structure to fall on their swords. So expect no change there. There are many, many outstanding employees in this company, employees who have carried this company for many many years in spite of its management defencies. Too many people have been marginalized and treated with utter contempt, to a point that they have simply lost any respect for the management of this company. Morale within the staff is at an all time low, and has gone from frustration to disbelief to anger and now contempt. The management, in conjunction with HR, continues to destroy and act in a manner that some would describe as underhanded, and others would describe as shameful. As this behavior continues, productivity continues to fall, and management continue to send out e-mails about "Growth Strategy" and "customer focus" and "doing a great job" and hold monthly "Town Hall Meetings". It's like something straight out of a Dilbert cartoon. But it's not funny its actually tragic. We, here in HPS UK, considered ourselves to be one of the best Honeywell affiliates, not just in EMEA but also globally. Now we are being destroyed bit-by-bit, and the sad thing is that management don't get it. In short, the lack of any leadership, joined up thinking and too many personal agendas at local level are crippling us. This is combined with HR (opps, sorry Business Partners) who recently employed a certain person who has said quite openly that they enjoyed "sacking people" and quotes the word FIFO ñ Fit In or F&!k Off. What is happening is nothing short of shameful. And for those senior management within the UK - if you are reading this and you genuinely want to make things better, come down and speak with the guys who are at the front-end and listen to what they have to say. But please - without the Business Partners. But sadly, you almost certainly won't. But, in the unlikely event that you do, you will probably send a middle ranking managers, who will filter and distort the facts to suit there own agendas. And the mess we are currently in will continue. Friday, July 10, 2009 - from a lifetime Honeywell employee: Ethics - what a joke! Honeywell is just a mass of defective upper managers. They don't have an ounce of caring for employees. One of the worst excuses for a leader takes advantage of everyone; Honeywell,employees, customers, contracts, for his own gain. Well that is a model for most HI upper managers; fire all your senior people so they are not a threat to uncover your lack of knowledge. Human resources is just Honeywell's legal system, and should never be trusted. Thursday, July 9, 2009 - To: "just found this site and it breaks my heart...in the UK...": Don't feel too bad. I was around at the time that Yeovil people were reduced by 1/3 or more. Managers at the time were affectionately named the "Butchers of Honeywell" - similar to the nut bag "Neutron Jack". It was unjustified to call the individuals this at a personal level since we knew their history, which was positive and strong - but it's what evil Honeywell made them do. It's like mixing matter and anti-matter. Because they could not reconcile the conflict, they couldn't live with the evil Honeywell, so they left. Wednesday, July 8, 2009 At Honeywell in Houston, it's sad to see the the organization has become so completely gutted that it is now a hollow shell with only marginal technical capability. If a specialist is needed, they fly them in from India. On one project I worked on, almost all technical staff were brougt from India to do the technical work such as configuration and graphics development. It's a shame that Honeywell management lies to the U.S immigration service saying that the workers are being brought in as 'management'. Perhaps Cote could be replaced by a far less expensive Indian 'Manager'. Tuesday, July 7, 2009 I just found this site and it breaks my heart to read it. I worked for Honeywell industrial in the UK and Europe from 1976 until I got fired in 2001 after the Allied merger. It used to be a great company and people were proud to work for it. "Integrity" was an important value, as was customer service, and it was a brilliant place to work with brilliant people to work with. I'm now reading about unmotivated, disenfranchised workers and an uncaring fatcat management. Sad. Very, very sad. I shouldn't care any more, but I do. Time I got a life. Wednesday, July 1, 2009 Honeywell has been using the bad economy as a cover to move manufacturing from North America to Asia and Mexico. Whenever Honeywell has had layoffs everyone assumed it was the bad economy and nobody has dug any deeper. We have had plans for moving the product lines for a few years and the only reason why we didn't do it was because of the adverse publicity of laying off tonnes of people in a good economy. That sort of move invites awkward questions. The moment the economy tanked we saw the opportunity to move the lines, offload thousands of workers and use the bad economy as an excuse. We are working hard and fast to get the product lines moved before the economy picks up again. Wednesday, June 17, 2009 June 18 will be the day Q3 furloughs are announced for SM, as reported from the people in the trenches at the analyst described "jewel" in the SM crown, UOP. I can understand it being necessary to prevent job losses, but it's hard to swallow, considering that Morristown is still sitting pretty. I doubt Diamond Dave cares; he just wants us to swallow. Long live the King. Tuesday, June 16, 2009 Here is the fall of Caesar, compared to the impending fall of Honeywell (Cote), as spoken by Shakespeare....
Casca: Speak, hands, for me! .... Caesar: Et tu, Brute? Then fall, Caesar! Cinna: Liberty! Freedom! Tyranny is dead! Freedom at last! Tuesday, June 9, 2009 - Re: "Maybe the really upper people can take pay cuts of 20% or more" ... This writer is bang on. Leadership starts at the top. But there are really no Leaders at Honeywell - not in the Poter sense. They are all just detail Managers - and really insecure Managers, at that. A Leader, to me, sets the stage and has the charisma, through his words and tone alone, to engage my passion and emotion where I will pickup the sword and charge ahead for him/her. It is powerful. Don't appeal to my logic. This will never work. Logic is just a method used to justify a decision that has already been made through emotion. There actually have been a few of these passionate Leaders at Honeywell through the years, but to the last person, they have all left. It makes me angry that they did not stay for an extended period to make a lasting difference. There is no such thing as a Leader at Honeywell today - inspite of all the rhetoric and creative titles. I have no idea on how many times I have been on the phone with several layers of Management, including VP's, going over the same spreadsheet or powerpoint on some minuscule detail that should always be irrelevant to a VP - just to micro manage and make sure that it is politically correct for him/her to present to the next level. How shallow can the upper layers be? Honestly, it is more painful on the nerves than the Chinese water torture. But they do it again and again and again! If you object in the slighest, you are labled as uncooperative. These are all signs of excessive control. It's a condition that kills innovation and kills caring. This was not as it used to be. It reflect the level of lack of confidence that is rising. It is growing like a cancer. Without confidence and trust, the Captain can yell out all the orders he wants, but the troops will listen only because they do not want to end up in the hole (or poor performance review). I know that these are tough economic times. I follow the details daily and research material. So, it is easy for someone to frame their response to this within the difficult economic events of the last six months. But look at the nature of the postings over a number of years. The seeds of discontentment have been planted long ago. The tree is now bearing the sour fruit. Tuesday, June 9, 2009 I guess those of us who have to retire to keep our retiree medical benefits are doing it for reasons of health. When I signed the binding contract for the old S&C pension, I agreed to take less money for guaranteed retiree insurance. Sensing & Control was a great division of Honeywell. Upper management ran the business profitably and treated the employees with fairness and integrity. Apparently the Jack Welch school of management does not teach this. Senior management, just remember: What we senior engineers know about the business and products we worked with will leave with us. Good luck with your 3rd world engineers. Tuesday, June 9, 2009 So Jack Bolick retired for "health reason"; some yes-man made a big issue about Jack's health. Evidently, Jack was just sick of Honeywell, and like everyone else that has left, their health improves drastically a few weeks later. Jack is now healthy enough to be CEO of Adura Technologies. It will just be a matter of time before he ships work off to India, like the good Dave-Cote student that he is. Tuesday, June 9, 2009 Strategy? The only strategy I see is that "Employees are our best asset" and "We have to get rid of out best assets to be successful". Honeywell has been on a one-track mindset since the downturn; "cut costs" is all they are doing. There is no thought behind it, no other concepts, and no other plans. Just "cut costs, cut costs, cut costs". That is not a strategy, it is a statement. A business is a very complex thing filled with little details that all interact. By focusing on just one detail you end up upsetting the balance and screwing up the rest of it. Cutting costs is a good move and it will help, but it is only one of many things that can be done. It gives immediate results and can be plotted on a spreadsheet which is why Honeywell uses it. Anything more in-depth and complex than that requires understanding the business. Honeywell is very top-heavy and far too authoritarian for its own good. We have people making decision on things they have never been involved in before. This is the first place I have worked where my immediate boss could not do my job. In fact, my immediate boss would not know where to begin to try and do my job. My bosses boss has even less idea and the further up you go the more they are divorced from the process. However, people 2 or 3 levels above me are making decisions on technical issues that they do not understand. I have absolutely no input on the matter which means I get the blame when a really bad idea does not work. What we need to do is to implement the 10% salary cut across the board, so that management can show their solidarity. Maybe the really upper people can do 20% or more. After all, will Dave Cote go under if he only has $20 million per year? He managed it a year or two ago. Anyway, the pay cut across the board would help, followed by a streamlining of supervisory positions. Do we really need 3 managers for 9 people? And 1 super-manager for 3 managers? Then we need to bring the "technical or detailed" decision-making back down the chain. Upper management can do what they do best, steer the ship in the right direction, but let us workers handle boiler pressure and hull stress. Tuesday, June 9, 2009 - RE: "We have not had any competitive advantage since Dave Cote joined.": At the risk of putting too fine of a point on the subject, I think many areas of the company *had* a competitive advantage when Cote joined. Likewise, I think many of the companies since acquired *had* a competitive advantage also. However, in both cases and under Cote's "leadership" the competitive advantages have been lost as knowledge and resources have been squandered in the rush to move production overseas. It's no longer about building and selling quality products, it's about achieving some arbitrarily set number at the risk of whatever it takes. Monday, June 8, 2009 We know that management reads comments on this site; the sad part is when they add comments of thier own, they still speak in Dave Cote's voice. We, the people, listen to the same load of garbage, so when some management person adds comments, you pick it up like radar. The way to make money is to sell something. Too bad the management have not got this yet. Moving numbers around a spreadsheet will not improve the bottom line, no matter how fancy the spreadsheet is. Name brands are no longer the big selling feature; quality and price is what the customers want, and the Honeywell brand name is slowly starting to stink. We have lost quality in the pursuit of making the quarterly numbers. Somebody needs to tell people like Dave Cote and his buddies in GM, and other so called big business, that their time has come to take their big millions and go retire somewhere, and let's get someone in who knows how to run a business. If there is anyone out there that thinks the current management is going to pull this company out of the downward spiral it is in, they are more stupid than the management, whose feet they are kissing. The main reason management can't share their "strategies" is because they don't have any - not because of the "potential competitive advantage". We have not had any competitive advantage since Dave Cote joined. Monday, June 8, 2009 Yes, they are two different universes. The fact is that the company must be run by the numbers, not emotion... and labor is a cost. Companies have to relentlessly push out/down costs while increasing revenues - these are direct conflicts (you can't increase sales and not increase costs). This is probably why it make very little sense to most people. Management is making tough decisions and really trying to be creative to save headcount for the upswing in the economy. It certainly seems heartless... I'm not in that management chain, I'm a worker, but I do have a little feel about how business works. There is a clear division in running the business and producing in the business. The workers will feel the pinch every time these decisions are deployed. Now, being a cost leader is NOT a sustainable competitive advantage. Cote and others simply MUST put more effort (or evidence of at least trying) into pursuing the other avenues to build and sustain competitive advantage. But it's going to be tough to do that in a multi-national conglomerate... if not cost leadership, then generically (per Porter) it needs to be: a/ Differentiation or b/ Focus (niche markets or product lines). That's going to be tough - again due to too broad of a product mixes and market range. Cote and company will need to set up some very specific strategies (like dumping products/lines... which might appear to be simply layoffs when they are not). But be forewarned, they will not be able to share those strategies as that will kill any potential competitive advantage. You can't give away the secret recipe! But cost-leadership is generic, everyone is doing it, and there is nothing secret about it. And THAT strategy is really the only one you are going to easily see. You will have to just understand and deal with that. Sucks when it's you, though.... If REALLY you want to see a better picture of what they are doing, dig through the financials (look at % changes YoY, changes in margins, capitalization strategies, cash flows, etc for each segment as well as the business in total). It *would* be very nice to see some concern for managing the gray space between running the company and producing for the company. Solidarity would go a long way at this point. Saturday, June 6, 2009 I work for ACS. We are having multiple furloughs (unpaid time off) so they can make our numbers. We made 10% growth instead of 15% so we are most likely having another week in December unpaid. We are currently moving multiple products from Juarez to China to save money. I believe it is time to move on to another company. Friday, June 5, 2009 - On the topic: Great example of the people making decisions - ISC: I'm not surprised how ISC conducts itself. VP Aftermarket Services and VP Integrated Supply Chain are known for this behaviour. They are also known for closing sites and exporting jobs to Asia and gutting the USA. These guys also use the Media Relations puppet. He uses the same tired text for all the closures. How uncreative! Friday, June 5, 2009 I am not surprised that Dave Cote doesn't show solidarity with the workers. I met him once a few years ago and I thought to myself "what an a**hole". The only person he cares about is himself. He would fire the whole company in an instant if it meant him getting a bigger bonus. He sees himself as some sort of CEO and god-like figure in the world of management. If he had another life he would fall in love with himself. The people hanging round him were like sheep, laughing when he laughed and agreeing with his every word. It was such a sad sight to see. If he is the sort of person that being a CEO turns you into, then I do not want to go any further up the management chain. Thursday, June 4, 2009 Cote and the average US Honeywell worker live in two different universes. The workers believe their jobs are to excell at manufacturing products or providing services. Cote couldn't care less about this. His job is about taking over other companies, exploiting their assets to make the numbers, and then sending the jobs overseas. One domino after another. I, too, keep waiting for any indication from Cote of solidarity with the employees. But I'm certain now that it will never happen. He views himself as a tiger in a company filled with mice. If you think for an instant that there is any care or concern for Joe Average, you're wrong. Your job is just another potential asset for him to use on his way towards making the numbers, and the heck with jobs and careers. Tuesday, June 2, 2009 Great example of the people making decisions. Corporate policy calls for a prorated bouns based on the number of months worked prior to retirement. Prior to retiring in Nov 08 I contacted HR and they confirmed I would be paid for the 11 months based on the formula in the policy. After I retired they decided not to pay the bonus to retirees, however Cote got his at $3.5M. this is paid out of a pool of money that is set aside to be devided between all "Participants". Note the response "lack of Budget" must mean more was needed for Cote. I have reviewed the concerns you have raised regarding the decision not to pay you MIP in March 2009. While I appreciate your disappointment, as you are aware, consistent with the plan documents, while you were eligible for consideration for payout, there is simply no guarantee of a MIP payout for any employee. For the 2008 MIP plan year, Aerospace ISC in the U.S. decided not to pay individuals who were not active at the time of payout due to limited funding. This decision was entirely within the ISC Functionís discretion and the decision is final. Monday, March 30, 2009 Utter B.S. regarding Wonderware staying out of MES and other areas like EMI. Since the early 90's, there was significant money to be made, and we were in the best position to capture it due to our very strong channel. However,the head of development continually stood in the way of progress in these areas, instead focusing on the money pit we know today as Archestra. The Cimnet acquisition is paying for itself just fine, thank you. The numbers are strong, better than expected, and Factelligence and EPM have helped secure/protect our strategic position in a number of very large accounts, where our HMI/SCADA business was definitely in jeopardy. Monday, March 30, 2009 ...and again on the need for measuring solutions. I pointed out the acquisition of Cimnet: one solution there would be "do not waste $23 million". It's not that people do not have better ideas, it's the fact that you cannot prevent something that you do not expect to happen. A solution would be to stick with what you do best and what got you some success in the past: data acquisition, control, etc. Do not try to play in the SAP, Oracle, IBM sandboxes. Or, at least, play along not against. So, sometimes it's just too late... Monday, March 30, 2009 To the "bean counter"...yes, of course, the financial metrics are what will determine the measure of success. But the problem to date is that Invensys leadership has created endless proforma financials without a coherent strategy to actually achieve them. Anyone can create an Excel spreadsheet to present during STRAP/AOP that says anything they like. Actually executing on a multiyear growth plan requires a very different set of skills. Most of the decisions we are making now are based on a quarter or two lookahead, not a multiyear perspective. And we will pay the price for this shortsightedness if we do not recognize it and address it. You can reduce costs all the way to zero with the stroke of a pen, but you will be out of business in a week. Monday, March 30, 2009 Foxboro released RBATCH-II batch product on SOLARIS-8. There is no information about future of RBATCH-II Sunday, March 29, 2009 The reason I call some bloggers malcontents is because I read a lot of griping but no solutions. Some of you will have access to the market and financial figures needed to sketch out a workable alternative. What are the elements of a realistic alternative strategy? What should the company look like in 5 years? What turnover level? EBITDA? How much capital will be required? How would you raise the capital? Post it on the blog and forward it to the incoming chairman. Anybody can criticize. But it take some thought and some quantification to submit a realistic alternative strategy. Unfortunately many of the ìmalcontentsî that write on this blog think that the company exist to employ them. When is the last time Invensys paid a dividend? The employees of Invensys are hired to create wealth for the shareholders. Sunday, March 29, 2009 Wonderware's acquisitions were forced by the inability to create and new and interesting products organically. Nothing new has really come out since InTouch in the early 1990's. As mentioned many times, we need a change in the development leadership; they rule with fear and have influenced our development and product directions down numerous dead ends and failed to let us move into new high value areas. Instead we spent a boatload of money on Archestra and App Server and were forced to spend more tens of millions on acquisitions because we were caught with our pants down when the competitors came up with new stuff. Anyone who dares to publicly question our misguided directions does not last long. We lost some good people in the past year who really could have made a difference. Saturday, March 28, 2009 Invensys is out of touch. After the big consolidation (again, an "inward" driven strategy more than a new proposition for the market) the goal has been stated to be manufacturing execution and enterprise interoperability. Wonderware spent 20+ million dollar to buy yet another MES product (in the last few years, we saw them changing from InTrack, to PEM, to MEM, to Factelligence), which point blank DOES NOT work. As it happened for their batch software, this is not yet integrated to the ArchestrA elephant (no matter what they'll tell you). And in investing all this money on something that clearly is not in high demand in this economy, nor it will be as the downturn ends. The offering is clueless, and often carried out by incompetent representatives. And yet you see this some-few-hundred-people outfit behave as arrogantly as they were Honeywell or Emerson. Saturday, March 28, 2009 - for the "very senior position with Siebe" who called this a blog of "malcontents": How do you expect there not to be malcontents, when management continues to make moves that negatively effect the organization and the ability to serve the customers and compete? Ulf has made numerous dreadful decisions, including hiring Paulette and allowing HQ to be moved to Dallas, hiring people like Lance Vandenbrook to lead sales, and dismissing valuable, experienced people who understand the industry and have valuable expertise, as well as customer's trust and relationships. IPS is becoming completely irrelevant to the customers and the industry. The focus under current management is entirely internal. And worst of all, they can't even execute the internal focus well. Customers don't care or look to IPS for value anymore! Friday, March 27, 2009 I stand by my comments about uninformed malcontents. I was with Siebe in a very senior position. I happen to know that Yurko (and Miller) deserves all the blame that is meted to him, and then some. Siebe used to play the game of USGAAP vs UKGAAP. In Windsor there was one senior accountant that had the "totem pole" to keep track of all the accounting irregularities, particularly sale-and-lease-back, and acquisitions. When the rules finally caught up with Yurko, he was forced out! Stephens left in disgust in 1998, and Marshall should have acted earlier. But Siebe was riding high on contrived financial statements. To put it in perspective: there was 50% between the financial results prepared according to UKGAAP and USGAAP prepared for a syndicated bank loan! Ulf may not be very good, but the value of the shares collapsed well before he came to Invensys. I have my own thoughts on the matter. But I have not seen a reasonable rationale offered on this blog that explains any alternative strategy and how it can be achieved. Friday, March 27, 2009 To answer some of blogger's questions: Invensys' market share in process (according to latest ARC analysis) is declining, to an "also-ran" position. Cash position is misleading when you consider the pension liability. It should be put to work. Why must Ulf go? Because he has no plan for moving the company forward and has made many poor key personnel choices. He was a fine choice for restoring financial stability, but now a new leader is needed. Friday, March 27, 2009 - to the blogger who referred to "uninformed malcontents", and asks "why Ulf should go": I find the comments unintentionally hilarious. Why would there be negative comments about a company that is less then 20% the total size it was just 7 years ago with less then a quarter of the total employees? I just can't imagine. This is a company that was in financial trouble when the market was booming. Does that strike anybody as a well managed company? I know Allen Yurko gets bad press in this column, for some bad decisions that were actually pushed by the the unlamented Lord Marshall, but Invensys is the classic case where a CEO that was knowledgeable but in trouble is replaced by a CEO, Rick H, who knew absolutely nothing and made things much worse. There are still some great people at IPS and Rail but the numbers drop every month and the average age increases. Too many are just trying to make it to retirement age before the inevitable take over or collapse. There are no real malcontents - just realists. Thursday, March 26, 2009 I have been monitoring this weblog for a few years. It seem to me that the main contributors are uninformed malcontents. Only one entry for the last several months seems to have any interesting information that is not complaining without any facts. That is the recent entry about the attempt to divest Eliwell. Does anybody have confirmation of that? How do we stack up vs competition in the process control industry on market share? We seem to have a lot of cash in the bank, who are the fools that say Ulf should go? Why? Wednesday, March 25, 2009 Big ISYS selloff today. Down 7% while the FTSE 100 held its own, on nearly twice the usual volume, yet no news. What might this obviously pre-informed movement portend? Sunday, March 22, 2009 I do enjoy reading this blog as it genuinely proves and reassures me that I made the right decision to leave Invensys. Having kept in touch with many of my fellow workers from the IPS glory days, I find that the cream of the group have moved on to greener pastures. Let me tell you that there is a need for the expertise of the better people left at Invensys and if you are going to leave, now is the time. The smarter, more aggressive companies are positioning themselves for the inevitable recovery, and those that do, will ride the next economic boom, grow marketshare and thrive. From what I am hearing and seeing, inwardly focused companies like Invensys, who do not understand who ultimately pays the bills, will not survive. Thursday, March 19, 2009 Yes, jobs are scarce. And yes, we need to be grateful we have them. But how would you feel when your job or your office-mates' jobs are given to completely and totally unqualified people in another part of the world purely because they are cheaper and are in a favorite location of your boss? And what does this do for our customers? Nothing good, that is for sure. Then we outsource development to people, also friends of the boss, that are not competent and we have to handhold and rewrite most of their work. Our leadership is free to do as they wish, but they need to put the customer in the picture as well when considering the impact of their choices. They also need to think about the true savings, when the quality of the work is less then acceptable and onshore resources are still needed to fix it. Wednesday, March 18, 2009 Jobs for engineers are scarce, particularly middle aged ones. It may upset your pride or sense of justice to go to work at IPS every day. But consider the alternative ... no job. It's not a vocation or even a career, but it pays the bills. Find other things in life to satisfy your higher intellectual or spiritual needs. Just fake it and make it. Do whatever you have to do to keep your job and keep taking their money as long as you can. The mission is personal survival, not the glory of IPS and its executives and stockholders. Wednesday, March 18, 2009 One time many years ago, my father went on a deep sea fishing trip with a lot of the senior management of his company. When the boat returned to shore many hours later, the unloved CEO had myteriously disappeared - overboard they presume. He was never found and never heard from again. A new, well liked leader took his place and the company turned itself around and became very prosperous. If I told you the name of this company, you would all know it. Perhaps IPS needs to arrange a fishing trip... Wednesday, March 18, 2009 Stop crying! You've got exactly what you deserved. Did you do something when you saw the wrong decisions and/or actions? Invensys has plenty of 'yes men', and I'm not sure it's only at the top management level! Wednesday, March 18, 2009 Folks, politics is an inevitable part of any large group of people, whether in a community, a company, or a country. That said, one difference inside of a company is that you don't have a vote and you can't throw your leaders out of office if they're doing you wrong (nor can you impeach them for ethics violations). It is really hard to suck it up and keep your mouth shut when you see things that make you cringe. But in this day and age, if you want to keep your job, sometimes you have to internalize it. No wonder people go 'postal' at times. Tuesday, March 17, 2009 When I started here 6 years ago this was a company where almost everyone was happy to be at work. There was a real sense of community, and trust. Now, it's turned into everyone for themselves. This isn't the same company anymore, and it's sad. I agree with the last post: if we admit there is a problem we can weed it out and work on it. However, in the current culture of so-called "open door policies", saying you think there is a problem lands you in the unemployment line. Until some real change starts at the top, we cannot fix anything down here in the trenches. Tuesday, March 17, 2009 I think the rose-colored-glasses blogger is missing the point. We could be a lot better if there was a change in leadership at a number of places in the company. We want it to be better, we really do. The politics and poor decision making that are being made at that level make it really hard to get excited about coming to work. Invensys can be a great place to work again and a vibrant, growing, healthy company. It just isn't that now. Monday, March 16, 2009 Making headway? I guess you haven't been watching the DCS market share reports. We have a lot of work to do, and the first step (like an alcoholic) is admitting that we have problems. Then we can fix them. Monday, March 16, 2009 Invensys is making headway as a company. Negative comments that are baseless and border on character assasination are just not acceptable. If anyone is unhappy with the company, they should just leave, rather than perpetuate such a negative spirit. Now is the time for everyone to work together to make Invensys a better company, not tear it down further. Wednesday, March 11, 2009 Regarding the post about Ulf leaving - let us certainly hope that he takes his 'chosen ones' with him. Not exactly a team that demonstrates or lives the 'Invensys Values' we are asked to live up to. Tuesday, March 10, 2009 With a little luck, Ulf will be gone soon and the company can move forward on its path to having a future, not just a past. And with his departure, hopefully a new leader will clean house and get Invensys back on track. Tuesday, March 10, 2009 Earlier this year, a large UK based private equity firm has offered to acquire CONTROLS for a very attractive price. Ulf has turned down the offer. Sources inside Invensys believe that going forward, Invensys will need the EBITDA from CONTROLS to shore up the other businesses. According to Business Week in September 2008, "banking sources" valued the CONTROLS business between £400-500 million. According to this inside source, Invensys contacted Carel with the view of selling Eliwell during May/June 2008. (Apparently the asking price was too high for Carel, since no deal was concluded) Tuesday, March 10, 2009 Don't forget Invensys Rail Group! Some of the user interface technology in IRG is much more capable than the corresponding WonderWare/InFusion offerings. There is much to learn between the different businesses, though large egos stand in the way. Monday, March 9, 2009 There are other parts of Invensys doing much more interesting things: See Virtual plant at : http://ips.virtual-plant.com Thursday, March 5, 2009 It would be wrong to assume that all the software needs to come from Wonderware. There are other parts of Invensys doing much more interesting things. Thursday, March 5, 2009 In theory good, but in practice it will be a problem, because people and personalities are involved. The WonderWare software, while, OK for its target audience, does not have the capability or performance to meet the needs of the DCS platform requirements or operator station requirements. So, to build something that works would likely mean that a lot of budget would be redirected from other projects. I think if we undertake this project, we need a new leader for development that does not think the world revolves around Archestra. Thursday, March 5, 2009 I think that it depends a lot on the details. Lots of potential synergy between Wonderware and IPS (which it formerly was a member) but previous efforts to port Wonderware products over to the DCS world have been somewhat less than successful (Archestra, Infusion etc). Eurotherm is an odd duck in the group. Their primary products are temperature controls for the extrusion/molding market. Hard to imagine how they would add value to the "new" IA without a significant rework of their products. Wednesday, March 4, 2009 - Re: Integration of Wonderware, IPS, & Eurotherm: Each component has its strengths and weaknesses. A good integration of products can offer advantages to customers. A key part of the secret to success will be the tools provided to build and maintain an integrated system. To build and deliver the system at reasonable cost, and to be able to maintain/modify/growth the system after installation will require tools that are friendly, efficient, and reliable. The system builder must be able to efficienly deliver good quality configuration/programming and documention. The end user must be able to live with the system without incurring excessive costs in time and training. Past experience has shown us that many complex tools, while powerful aids to the original builder, are not well-suited to the simpler requirements of our day-to-day plant maintenance. They are abandoned or bypassed, the investment in their purchase and training of personnel is wasted, and the system itself deteriorates because nobody likes to use the tools to maintain it. Remember Keep It Simple, Stupid. (KISS) Wednesday, March 4, 2009 Could be a good thing (combining those three businesses). For customers, a more integrated approach to their needs is probably welcome. Not sure they worked together in a particularly coordinated fashion in the past. If I'm a customer and can go to one place for DCS,IA,Open Software platform, applications, consulting,other products---I'd rather do that than have to deal with different vendors. Proof is always in the pudding, but has nice potential. Tuesday, March 3, 2009 So what does the assimilation IPS, WonderWare, and Eurotherm mean to the customers of those respective brands? A good thing? A bad thing? Some of both? Thursday, February 26, 2009 Yes, IDC has been around for years, but Pankaj was given a specific charter to dramatically increase the percentage of work done external to Invensys, and Sudipta is a major driving force behind this decision. He has also chosen to give outsourcing work to some companies he knows from his SAP days. Those projects have not gone particularly well, as we have had to rework quite a bit. Sudipta, as far as we can tell, looked at India alone, and did not look at China, South America, Africa, or Eastern European providers. Pankaj has good work being done in China right now. Pankaj has generally been quite practical and considerate of what is right for outsourcing and what is not, but he is being heavily pressured to go against his own experience and best judgment. Thursday, February 26, 2009 IDC was started 6-7 years ago, long before Sudipta joined Invensys. The emphasis on off-shore development has been going on for several years now. Sudipta's origin IS not tied to IDC. It is really based on copying of IT / software industry practices. India had established itself as the hub of off-shore development and so it was natural to go there. Tomorrow if the IT industry starts development centers in Africa and claims cost savings, that's where management will go next. Whether it provides the claimed benefits or not is a different story / discussion. Thursday, February 26, 2009 - N. Keith Duncan [Keith.Duncan@IPS.Invensys.com]: I am a 20 year employee with Invensys/Foxboro and have spent many years living and executing projects overseas. I currently reside in the USA and manage a number of development projects. Over all of my years with the company I have always found excellent employees around the globe, with everyone working towards the common good of the project at hand. I must take issue with your recent "xenephobic" comment. Just this past week I conducted a Lessons Learned session on a project that was jointly executed between Foxmass and IDC. I received consistent and positive feed back from the teams conerning the collaboration between the various groups. Given that this mirrored my own 20 year experience, I was very pleased. While weblogs can at time be beneficial, the anonymous nature tends to enhance negativity and not necessarily present a true picture. Please include my comments so that your readers may see a more complete picture of life within Invensys.
Regards Wednesday, February 25, 2009 Read the latest issue of JimPinto.com eNews, 25 February 2009: Meanwhile, speculation is rife on the JimPinto.com weblogs. Sudipta, Wonderware's Pankaj Mody (VP Development), Rashesh Mody (Global Product Management) and Vinay Moorthy (VP Engineering Solutions) are all from India; and a significant share of software developments are being transferred to the Invensys Development Center (IDC) in India. So turf wars and xenophobic comments are flying back and forth through anonymous weblogs. Wednesday, February 25, 2009 SimSci management at IDC, is no different from the management of other business units at IDC. Tuesday, February 24, 2009 "We could not continue to operate the plant competitively in the current economic environment. The home appliance market has dropped with the economy," said Kathy Maynard. Nonsense. IC in Holland has been a long time cash cow for the organization. So much so that its corporate fees have increased by as much as 80% in one year. Head quarters in Carol Stream has done so little to bring new business to Holland that the local employees (non-sales) have personally brought in millions in recent new sales. All of which will disappear when the operations move to Mexico. Theses new customers want the local manufacturing and will most likely drop Invensys in the coming months. It is unfortunate that more Americans will lose there jobs to an ill-laid plan that will undoubtably cost the organization millions. Tuesday, February 24, 2009 Why no InFusion software on the two deals at Qatargas and with SEPCO in Gujarat? Is there something wrong with it? Monday, February 23, 2009 There is one notable exception to the quality/capability issue at IDC, and that is the SimSci team. They do good work. Sunday, February 22, 2009 The only "zero" at IDC India is the amount of quality software that is produced. I would like to see an investigation into some of the USA and UK management and whether there are any questionable motivations for moving so much work to a place that so clearly is not capable. Saturday, February 21, 2009 News flash - Invensys Controls to shut down Holland, MI and Chihuahua plants by December. Saturday, February 21, 2009 - Re: "The ZERO was invented in India, blah-blah-blah": Yeah, right. Poor Maya... But wait, I also heard that English was invented in India, too. But the Brits stolen it. Friday, February 20, 2009 The recruitment of Software Managers at IDC is big mockery of technology. A person with civil engineering background recruited as Project Managers for PI group. He works only with Microsoft spreadsheets. A commerce (accouting) graduate recruited as documentation manager. It will be hell to ask them prepare a document by giving all necessary inputs, because their computer/IPS understanding is a VERY BIG ZERO. Project Managers from SCADA,WONDERWARE mostly will be near TABLE-TENNIS tables, I think from 6-7 hours a day. Mind they are from BAAN systems? Wednesday, February 18, 2009 I agree with comments regarding management of IDC. Most of the people close to management cannot get a job once they are given the pink slip. Most of the project managers butter top management and some how are surviving in the organization. Technically all project managers are BIG ZERO. It would be good if they respond directly to these negative weblogs. Wednesday, February 18, 2009 The end of the buisness year is approaching and I think the work force is about to pay for the mistakes that mangement has made over the last few years. Wednesday, February 18, 2009 Forget quality, forget cost. Management only cares about themselves. Most of the managers one or two levels below Ulf couldn't find a job somewhere else if they wanted to, so they kowtow to him at the expense of personal honor and self-respect. Invensys hasn't really done anything innovative since IA and InTouch. InFusion is a terrible, horrible joke within the company, since Archestra is largely unusable to replace IA. Yet those responsible still manage to survive, due to their ability to bend with the wind and bend at the waist to service their masters. Tuesday, February 17, 2009 People recruited at IDC thru referral are typically discarded from other IT companies. The referral system is a good source of income for project managers apart from their salary. Most of the people recruited thru referral leave the organization after six months. Most of the project managers are busy with other tasks. Since top management is not aware of IPS technology, they recruit low-standard people with nepotism. What can they contribute to the organization? Till now IDC has not released any product on it's own. Sunday, February 15, 2009 Management only cares about the costs and not the quality at this point. That used to not be the case. They were told by Ulf to greatly increase the percentage of development offshore, and that is what they have done. In doing so, they have failed their company and themselves by not advising Ulf that this was not the best thing to do. Saturday, February 14, 2009 Copying of public domain software by IDC engineers without understanding it's implications are common. Project managers are not in a position to identify whether it is copied from public domain or developed by IDC engineers. It is common to fool project managers at IDC to claim public domain software as the original developed code. Project managers/Senior Software enginees/Principal Software enginners at IDC are not technically sound to work in such high technology automation software. Saturday, February 14, 2009 I worked at IPS development in the US. I also had some IDC developers on the team. We did code reviews for software developed at IDC and on more than one occasion, code was copied verbatim from a public website into the product. The manager on the project was even fine with it, despite the copyright violations. IDC may have saved costs but the quality is below par in general. Thursday, February 12, 2009 My advice on leadership would be to import more execution-oriented visonaries from the wider automation field, manufacturing industry. Invensys needs the brave and razor like focus exhibited by companies such as Cisco, or Yokogawa. The process guys are too engineer-like and move too slow. There are some great execution guys out there, and with the market in disarray, Invensys could make it attractive for them to jump over. However I bet they wont; it's a DCS thing. Thursday, February 12, 2009 I would like to compare the management at IDC, Hyderabad simillar to what has been expressed at HQ. Management at IDC, is not aware of any technological advancements, leave alone the IPS technology. I can simply say that IDC, Management including Project Managers needs replacement with good technical people. Thursday, February 12, 2009 - to the anonymous blogger: What else should we add? I fully agree with your comment, and much more with your worry to be the next one.... If you are recognized, then 100% you'll be the next one to go! I just want to underline that if you simply exchange 'Wonderware' with 'Controls' (EMEA) you'll read my comment. Should I tell you all the story of competent people just fired because of their ideas? Invensys values: Courage...to be sacked. PS: I'm also commenting here anonymously because I do not want to be the next one ... Wednesday, February 11, 2009 WonderWare is not in much better shape than IPS in terms of qualified executives. Current managemrnt is a nice enough, but is in no way ready or capable of running the company! There were plenty of more qualified people to do so, but they lack the, ahem, "pedigree". Wednesday, February 11, 2009 I fully agree with this previous comment, because this applies not only to development or other HQ areas, e.g. it's also the management in the strongest Wonderware region worldwide (talking about EMEA) that behaves exactly this way. If someone reports what's really going on, he's called a moaner and is put on the deathlist. That's why we lost too many excellent people and lots of valuable expertise in the last 4 to 5 years. Senior managers in EMEA are champions in self-profiling, "Excel-sheeting" and over-administration. They don't really care about customers (except that they are keen on getting their money), nor do they care about employees as individuals (how could they do so with "zero social competence"). The poor numbers that we see actually are excused as a result of economic downturn and glossed over by exchange rates, but they are more likely a result of wasting money in the past for creating unproductive overhead, pathologic travelling, countless meetings, recruiting of replacements for "outplaced" people and not investing in strengthening our market position. Wonderware used to be an outstanding company with an outstanding culture, an outstanding reputation and outstanding people. Since the take-over by our UK-based friends, Wonderware has only been seen as a cash cow, and all attempts of integration and cooperation with IPS and others have failed so far. It's not a Wonderware problem, it's an Invensys problem. As long as our decision makers do not watch out and listen, there will be no change in the frustration of the majority of employees. What is posted in this log is less than the tip of the iceberg, believe me. Good luck, Ulf, Sudipta and others, not only in cutting costs and dedicated people, but in creating a sustainable future for us all. But you will not succeed only by changing organizations. You need to watch a bit more carefully what some of your reports and their marionettes dare to sell you! And by the way: talent management is not brainwashing people to fit a regime, but creating an organization that leverages on the skills and talents of people (as long as you still have them). PS: I'm commenting here anonymously because I do not want to be the next one ... Monday, February 9, 2009 - Re: Advice from previous weblog - "If constructive feedback has to be given, give it in a right manner and let your voices be heard thru a proper channel": What's the difference between reporting what's really going on and complaining? It's not always clear. I like what I'm doing at Wonderware and the people I work with, but the senior managers keep saying dumb things and excpect us all to believe it with a straight face. I won't make any points by telling anyone that Management doesn't know what its doing. They aren't good about listening and they tend to take things really personal. I've seen enough people clobbered for that over the last 7 years already. I don't want to be the next one. I figure I can say things out loud at work and get hung out to dry (and not have any effect). Or, I can say something here on the weblog and hope that someone at WW or Invensys reads this and starts paying attention to how the developers are treated and why so many are out looking for work. Monday, February 9, 2009 Looking at this tale of woe - the theme is clear - no-one seems to have any confidence in the Invensys CEO and his HQ leadership team. Ulf has surrounded himself with Honeywell half-wits, constantly bringing in favorites from past lives, alienating and losing the odd good-new hires, firing or emasculating the ones he doesn't like regardless of performance or their standing in the organisation - Caliel - Brown . . . He only offloads his bigger mistakes when - and only when - farce has taken hold. Remember the Football Allstars hired by Ulf to sort out APV? They were surely the stupidest man to EVER be put on an Invensys salary. How many presidents did APV have? 4 or 5 in last 4 years in Invensys? We lost count! The best thing Ulf did was sell APV to SPX - to do what he could never do i.e. fix and return a once good business to it's right place. Not that SPX are making any friends here right now; but at least they have a track record for delivering sustainable results. We can but hope we survive the treatment! PS: So when will Ulf offload Paula? Actually he can't as he needs someone to play his favorite tunes for his game of Executive Musical Chairs! Perhaps he did offload her, but she changed the termination letter from Paula to Paullette...a sleight of hand Ulf that may have missed until it was too late... Monday, February 9, 2009 - RE: Invensys share price: Saturday's Daily Telegraph, UK had the following explanation of the recent surge in the Invensys share price:
Sunday, February 8, 2009 I have to disagree about Sudipta's track record. He was the driving force behind the resurgence of SAP's interest in manufacturing, which was a significant success for SAP and for the industry as whole. He deserves this opportunity as well if not more than anyone else, and he should be judged on results, not on expectation and supposition. Saturday, February 7, 2009 Invensys stock up strong on higher than usual volume. Either a response from the UBS buy signal, or someone is accumulating. Or both. Ulf stands to make a nice payday when this thing is sold. Saturday, February 7, 2009 Bhattacharya hasn't stuck around in a job long enough in his career to have actually accomplished much, so it is impossible to judge whether he will succeed or fail. He is very good at telling people what they want to hear, but very suspect on execution. No shortage of ambition, however. Friday, February 6, 2009 - RE: "Ok you whining lot": The capabilities of Senior Management at IPS have been in decline for over 5 years. To state the truth, it has been a true Gong show. If IPS wants any hope of gaining market share, they will stop hiring incompetant "yes men" and try and recruit some real talent, or even better, listen to the people who know the most, those who deal every day with the existing customers that cling to the hope that IPS will get their act together! Friday, February 6, 2009 Though I must give props for considering Berra as your leader - that would NEVER happen! John Berra is riding out his deserved legacy of directing Emerson into the powerhouse that it is and will contnue to be. He is way too well respected in the industry to ever consider talking with Invensys. DREAM ON ! Friday, February 6, 2009 If I were to try to give it a go, I would try to lure John Berra away from Emerson to run the whole lot, and I would give let him choose who he wanted to run IPS. However, I think Invensys' days are numbered as a viable entity, so at this point, I would more likely keep Ulf while he disposes of many of the individual businesses at fair value which should substantially exceed the current market cap. What I most assuredly would not have done is to install such absurdly unqualified leadership at IPS and WonderWare as was done this week. Friday, February 6, 2009 - spinning off Wonderware: The opposite is more likely - spinning "in" WonderWare into IPS, along with Eurotherm. The combined entity will have more bulk and will sink into the ocean more slowly. Friday, February 6, 2009 UBS puts out a "buy" rating on Invensys. Perhaps the first sign of pending acquisition activities? Friday, February 6, 2009 Ok you whining lot. You complain about CEO decisions on talent. If you had the whole automation world to chose from, who would you hire in any leadership positions? Stop complaining. Help your bosses out here; or maybe you dont know how. Thursday, February 5, 2009 The "complainers" might well be the rats jumping ship. There was a strong rumor when WW was split off from the rest of IPS that it was being shopped to the usual suspects. This might be the first indication that they might follow the path of APV. Thursday, February 5, 2009 All you complainers out there, stop making fools of yourselves by writing this stuff about the company from where you get your daily bread. At least have respect and decency for the brand you work for, if not for individuals. These comments bring out the frustration you guys have in your life and clearly show that you have been a victim of identity crisis and or have not made it - where you wanted to be in your career - or have not be able to put forth your point of view in front of your managers. Its a vicious cycle, my friends. Look deep and think deep. If constructive feedback has to be given, give it in a right manner and let your voices be heard thru a proper channel. If you feel you are the so called saviours and gurus of where the company should be, stand up in front of the mgmt team and express your desire to contribute in re-building the strategy for the company, rather than these side-bar comments which simply reflect your poor attitude towards the situation. Wednesday, February 4, 2009 What a classic Ulf note. Lacking in substance and direction but full of management speak. If the IPS team thought Paulette was bad, just wait. Ulf reaffirms once again that he and his inner circle have not the slightest clue when it comes to personnel decisions! Wednesday, February 4, 2009 Bhattacharya is completely and totally unqualified for this position. This is a dark, dark day for Invensys. Wednesday, February 4, 2009 - From Ulf Henriksson, CEO, Invensys PLC:
The IA integration team, a cross-functional group drawn from all three businesses, is under the leadership of Jeff Greene. The team has now met with me and is off to a great start as they explore the opportunities that could arise from closer integration of our IA businesses. Their focus is on defining the new market space between the automation and ERP layeróand then developing the strategy that will make us the leader in that space by fully capitalizing on the strength of the people, technology and industry expertise resident in our three IA businesses. We will share more about the teamís progress as the exploration continues and more definition on this strategy becomes available. At the same time we explore our IA synergies, it is imperative that we continue to serve our clients and succeed in our own business as well. As we move along both of these paths simultaneously, Iím announcing several interim leadership changes to ensure we serve the day-to-day business needs of our IA clients and have a strong close to the fourth quarter in these businesses. Sudipta Bhattacharya , President of Wonderware, will manage the day-to-day operation of our IA business groups (Eurotherm, IPS, Wonderware) as interim Chief Operating Officer, reporting to me. Sudipta was appointed Wonderware Business President in November 2007. He joined Invensys from SAP AG, where he served as senior vice president of supply chain, manufacturing and product lifecycle applications. Sudipta holds a bachelor¥s and dual masterís degrees in chemical engineering with specializations in Chemical Plant Design, Fabrication, and Membrane Sciences. He also has a degree in business administration with specialization in Marketing, Finance, and Operations Management. Prior to his roles in the software business, he spent the initial eight years of his career working as a chemical engineer with the Tata group companies where he built domain experience in managing production shifts, plant design, simulation tools, and DCS systems. Reporting to Sudipta, and assuming functional responsibilities across our three IA business groups on an interim basis will be:
Phil Clark --SVP of Sales and Marketing In addition, the following individuals will report to Sudipta in their business-group specific roles:
Ricardo Agostinelli - IPS President for Latin America Within IPS, I have made the decision to merge the APAC and Middle East Regions (the latter will include Libya and Egypt). The EURA region of IPS will now include Europe, Russia and Africa (excluding Libya and Egypt). This regional alignment will enable us to accelerate the consistent implementation of our strategy. The new APAC/ME Region will be led by Nabil Kassem, who has been leading the Middle East Region for IPS. His experience in both the ME and APAC is strong, and he has a track record as a leader who successfully develops people and grows businesses. Lawrence Wee, who was leader of the IPS APAC region, will be leaving at the end of February. I want to take this opportunity to thank Lawrence for his contributions and wish him the best in his future endeavors. Stuart Batchelor will continue as Interim leader of IPSí EURA region. Both Nabil and Stuart will report to Sudipta Sudiptaís focus is on ensuring we finish the year strong and create momentum heading into the first quarter. He and I will meet regularly with the IA leaders to make sure we stay aligned and meet our commitments. My request to all IPS, Wonderware and Eurotherm team members is to please support Sudipta and all these leaders in their above roles and to continue to focus on our clients and their success. Thank you for your efforts to keep Invensys strong.
Ulf Henriksson Tuesday, February 3, 2009 As for the example posted about stream routing for PRO/II and ROMEO, the offshore people do not own these products, they are supposed to do what is agreed upon based on assigned projects. They are not given the responsibility to steer the products. It is the responsibility of marketing and sales. If the problems are so critical, they need to be assigned as projects with budget and resources and the problem will surely be worked on right away. Tuesday, February 3, 2009 What makes this even more curious at IPS is that the individual responsible for development was not a supporter of outsourcing or offshoring - he was sometimes strongly against it. Yet he cowered with fear when 'told' to increase our offshoring percentage, and did what he was instructed to do, knowing full well that it would not be the best thing for Invensys. But it may have been the best thing for him. Now we sit and wait for Lake Forest to shrink away to irrelevance over time. Claims that we would be the base for IP-centric development ring hollow, since he can no longer be believed or trusted. Tuesday, February 3, 2009 I used to work for Invensys and am now working for an EPC. Invensys' competitors are also doing this - ALL these are under the illusion that it saves money and can bring down project costs. I have nothing against the people from the offshore centres. All this offshoring work thing are as a result of :
Now it seems that all of a sudden, all the long term and immediate projects are to be "slowed down" or totally cancelled by plants and end-users a result of the current economic slowdown. What I see as infuriating is that the locals are being laidoff and "retrenched", but yet some of the offshore people are still hanging around. I think resentment will set in soon when this is not handled properly. Monday, February 2, 2009 How do you expect anything but a cost-cutting mindset whilst you have leadership that has no ideas whatsoever for organic growth? Notice that the insular group of leadership in the software side of the business is also highly biased towards a particular offshoring location. It certainly makes one ruminate as to whether there may be ethical concerns below the water level. As the saying goes, you can cut costs all the way down to zero, but you'll be out of business then. Invensys is certainly on this path. The only solution for saving Invensys is a wholesale change to the leadership team(s) in the various businesses. This needs to start with a change at the top. Invensys's competitors are out-manoeuvering, out-strategising, and out-executing Invensys at virtually every turn. Mr. Henriksson has done a fine job of restructuring the company's debt and cleaning up the financial messes left behind by his predecessors, but he has largely failed to create any type of unifying strategy - beyond slogans - for the company that prepares it for the future. This is not his forte, nor is it that of those on his leadership team. Attempts to unify the various automation businesses within Invensys have been abject failures, and there is no reason to believe that the recent appointment will have any substantial effect on realising a different outcome this time around. Even in these trying economic times, whilst a cost management programme is important, we must have someone at the helm who can chart a path for a viable future for Invensys and can, at the same time, identify cost management activities that do not mortgage or destroy our future. Others have highlighted the incredible waste and ineffectiveness in the HR and EH&S organisations. Talent management is a complete joke - our HR organisation has failed terribly in this task, and has created a talent development process based far more on politics than performance. Our product development results and returns of investment are well below the industry norms, and fault must be laid not at the feet of the employees, but on the leadership. These are but a few of the challenges that face the company today, and employees and shareholders deserve leadership that is prepared to face and surmount these challenges. Monday, February 2, 2009 - RE: blog "Outsourcing/offshoring sucks." Consider a simple live example, 80% of Simsci-Esscor (a group of IPS) revenue comes from the ROMeo and PRO2 products. In these products they are number of stream routing issues. Why can't onsite people try to fix these types of issues? Is it something like "onsite people do not understand the problems and agreed solutions associated with the project(s) they are working on? And blindly blame outsourcing group. Saturday, January 31, 2009 - add-on from Ex-IDC employee: Serve in heaven or rule in hell? It's hell out there in US with job cuts and bad econony. Only the guys who can rule have place here today. Unfortunately not everybody is born to rule. India/China may be heaven for now but only if you are ready to serve your onshore masters in US, are always respectful, submissive and acquiescing. Innovation has no place in your workplace. Where would you like to be? Friday, January 30, 2009 - from an Ex-IDC (India) employee: Agreed, "the outsourced/offshored people do not understand the problems, etc." Because, well, they are not made to understand by their counterpart on the other end. That is you who have the proper understanding. And why would you? You have worked hard to gain the expertize and it is the job of the outsourced guys to learn it themselves. I can assure you, that the understanding and expertize will NOT come easily because the outsourced people don't have the client interaction and other advantages that the USA guys have. They don't know the "real" problem; they just do what they are told based on some design document prepared by someone they haven't seen, or will see once in six months. So what are you worried about? The outsourced guy is just there to help the "experts" to do menial jobs. So prove that you are the expert in your field to your bosses. If you are not, then your job will be outsourced. Outsourcing is the reality of the day. Use it to your advantage or quit. Friday, January 30, 2009 I agree with you that offshoring sucks. First of all, its hard to communicate with these people. We just called a meeting at Wonderware to discuss the issues we are having. The list is huge. The senior managers do not not understand how to deal with these issues. They simply cannot solve the problems. Lack of communication, etc. And, they do not take the issues seriously like lower level managers do. Many of us pulled together to try to handle this problem ourselves. We will see what happens.... Friday, January 30, 2009 Outsourcing/offshoring sucks. Period. I don't care what company you work for, the outsourced/offshored people do not understand the problems and agreed solutions associted with the project(s) they are working on. The only reason companies do it is to save money, and even then they are not saving money because it just leads to more frustration and wasted time in communication efforts. I have worked at GE, ABB, and IPS and seen the same result at all three. Upper management thinks they are saving money and does not realize how much they piss off their own employees. Friday, January 30, 2009 - Appointment ñ SVP ñ Industrial Automation Integration Ulf Henriksson announced today that Jeff Greene, former President of Eurotherm, has been appointed to lead the IA Transformation project as SVP ñ IA Integration. Chris Bates, Eurotherm CFO will be stepping in to lead Eurotherm on an interim basis. Ulf : The IA project will define the synergistic value and options for integrating capabilities within our three Industrial Automation (IA) businesses (IPS, Eurotherm and Wonderware) and build an action plan to unlock the potential that synergies can offer to both Invensys and our customers. Comments: Interesting move that seems to be the opening shot to rebrand everything to IA. Hope this comes off better than the move to port Wonderware software over to IA customers under the infusion banner. Thursday, January 29, 2009 The applications engineers at IDC (India) with more than 15 years exp, have only 10% of the product knowledge. Without full knowledge, they raise software bugs which are not bugs at all. Thursday, January 29, 2009 "Do not under-estimate offshore operations" - the previous blog, evidently written by the offshore people. Complete BS. Thursday, January 29, 2009 Do not under-estimate offshore operations, People at offshore have good Experience, Excellent Innovative technical minds and are backed by strong leadership quality people. Wednesday, January 28, 2009 If Ulf and his brains-trust had their way, they would close Lake Forest and Foxboro and move everything offshore. They'll do it, one way or another. Tuesday, January 27, 2009 Read Jim Pinto's 2 items in the latest issue of JimPinto.com eNews, 27 January 2009: Monday, January 26, 2009 As Invensys continues to drive cost out at the expense of innovation and expertise, customers have good reason to look elsewhere for solutions. Ulf has bought in to the offshoring/outsourcing of the company, and there is little that can be done now to stop the demise of the organisation. Monday, January 26, 2009 When gold coins was distributed at IDC (India) for "100 years of Foxboro", top management resorted to all sorts of methods to grab them. People who worked for Foxboro in technical position at IDC did not receive them. People who are not aware of the difference between a "system call/library call" and claim themselves as principal software development engineers and project managers, took them most. It is pity that IPS management is showing a blind eye for IDC mismanagement. Sunday, January 25, 2009 A $250M order that is executed poorly does nothing to help a company. How can an order be executed well when you cut all the knowledgeable personnel? The real "proof" (not some copy and paste about one order) is the historical track record of Invensys, all the way back to the Siebe merger. They take good companies and ruin them through the "buddy-system" management process. All of these guys are part of the problem in world economics today; people of privilege accepting large sums of money to do a job they are not even closely qualified to do. And getting the job because you are a golf buddy of the CEO. Then filling high paying positions below you with more unqualified friends and cousins. All decisions at Invensys are short-sighted and are they are made to cover up bad management. Example, buying Baan, then having to sell a bunch of companies to balance the books so the management team looks competent to anyone who does not scratch below the surface. Remember when they rebranded all the companies to become Invensys a few years ago? How idiotic was that? Take names like APV with a 75 year client base and call it Invensys? Why? And management probably spent 2 months discussing this after hiring their friend's consulting company to review the decision. I have heard the stories from people close to this inside circle and it is laughable. The seasoned people who have an understanding of the business and the customer base are almost all gone now; a product of the many employee purges through all of the management changes. Good luck to everyone still under the Invensys umbrella. The best you can hope for is to be one of the Invensys fire-sale companies. Maybe then you can re-build the company you labored for and are proud of (ie - Foxboro). APV was very lucky to get out. Sunday, January 25, 2009 Actually, quite a few companies receive orders of that size, particularly within the China market, due to the centralized decision making and vendor selection process. Do your homework before posting next time. Saturday, January 24, 2009 IPS is becoming stronger. In some areas in the world (not in the US) Invensys is considered to be one of the healthiest Automation vendors. Below is the proof:
Friday, January 23, 2009 Sometimes Rail makes money as well. Depends on whether they are in feast or famine mode. IPS Foxboro/Triconex have the installed base and are the money makers. Been there/done that on rebranding both to Invensys. What a fiasco! The competition had a field day with that one. New and different (branding or otherwise) is commonly seen as untried and risky. Much safer to stay with the tried and true. Hard to build a realistic value proposition on repainting the flagpole. Only leadership that doesn't understand the industry would propose revisiting such stupidity! 'Tis to be expected with the consistent practice of hiring of senior people who don't have a clue but are able to talk a good game from outside the industry. The only change management that seems to be driven here is the change from consistent best practice to chaotic disruption and the latest managment fad. Friday, January 23, 2009 The Times issues a BUY recommendation on ISYS Tuesday, and the stock plummets another 6% today. With the depressed price plus the implications of the collapse of the pound relative to the dollar, why hasn't one of the US companies made a move yet? Friday, January 23, 2009 Not true. IRG is making money as well. Thursday, January 22, 2009 I'd like to know just exactly WHERE you THINK all the money is made. For YOUR information, IPS is the ONLY organization making any money. Thursday, January 22, 2009 Cash injection to revive the company or throw in the towels at the right time? At this point, it is sadly like a seriously ill patient in a hospital. Do you want to put more money in to try the latest procedure and miracle drug? Or do you just let him pass on comfortably to the next world? Emotional decision? You bet, you are talking about venerable brand names like Foxboro, Triconex and PRO2. Moral decision? Of course, you are talking about the livelihood of many people. Rational decision? It is all about ROI, cash and the poor shareholders Ulf - your call. Make a decision. Thursday, January 22, 2009 Cash injection? Invensys is sitting on over 200 million British Pounds of cash on the balance sheet. What are you talking about? IPS is the problem. Ulf let Paulette make mistake after mistake. When he finally realized what he had allowed, he had no choice but to fire Paulette before questions were asked about him. If it was planned how come no replacement is around and Ulf needs to now manage it personally? Interesting times ahead. Will Ulf now go through with the plans to destroy Foxboro products or finally realize where the bucks are made? As for Invensys being taken over? It's when rather than if. Once Ulf comes clean the stock will tank and Invensys will be history. Thursday, January 22, 2009 No way they can be preparing for an acquisition - just look at the balance sheet! I can't see anyone with half a mind providing funding for an acquisition, nor would any company worth acquiring agree to an acquisition by share exchange, given the share performance of the company. My opinion - they need both a cash infusion (perhaps from selling one or more of the remaining businesses), and MORE IMPORTANTLY they need an infusion of executive and operating management that understands the markets they are in and what they need to do to succeed in those markets LONG TERM. Wednesday, January 21, 2009 My purvey on the trading statement is that Invensys is on a track focused on cost reduction and preparation for sale, not on business growth and expansion of market share. There may also be a nearly opposite plan afoot - to undertake bold acquisitions - which shall almost certainly fail, if past performance is any guide. Wednesday, January 21, 2009 From your comments "many of the recent P1 bugs can be traced directly to work at IDC. Their expertise in our business is very minimal. Also, the development leadership is very questionable", it states that IDC is BPO (call center) company for Invensys. Tuesday, January 20, 2009 IDC is very good in QC,Testing and document generation. Technical minds for QC/TESTING/DOCUMENT preparation are excellent and very good. As for as software programming and bug fixing it is a BIG ZERO. Technical minds for software DESIGN/PROGRAMMING/BUG FIXING is non-existent. Tuesday, January 20, 2009 Stock is tanking, and has underperformed the FTSE lately. There are obviously some deep fundamental doubts about ISYS's future prospects. Watch for scattered big block buys, indicating a potential accumulation in advance of an acquisition move. Tuesday, January 20, 2009 What does everyone think about today's trading statement, and specifically the comments on IPS? Were today's comments a reflection of a horrible end to 2008, when the customer base/the whole world was sitting on its hands unsure of what to do next, only certain that now was not the right time to invest? Or is IPS a genuinely cyclical business that is set to show double digit declines for the next 2 years? Is the automation industry just a nasty boom-bust business like the power market, or are there structural grounds for optimism? Tuesday, January 20, 2009 Invensys plc, the technology group, today published the following Interim Management Statement covering the period since 30 September 2008:
Summary The global economy has continued to deteriorate since we reported our half year results in November 2008. However Process Systems achieved good order intake despite some delays in order placement by some customers and Rail Group continues to perform strongly benefitting from large government financed investments in transport infrastructure. Controls has shown some resilience but has had to contend with more difficult trading conditions. The Group results have benefitted from the translation impact arising from the strength of the dollar and the euro against sterling and we expect that our performance in the second half of the year will be broadly in line with that achieved in the first half. Q3 Performance Overall the Group had strong order intake during Q3 2008/09 with the award of three large projects bringing total orders during the period to £1.0 billion. Process Systems had good order intake, particularly in software and solutions including a £127 million order for control and safety systems for four reactors at two nuclear power plants in China. This more than offset the cautiousness of other customers in placing orders in the current uncertain economic climate. Rail Group continued to have strong order intake in its core markets of the UK and Spain, supplemented by two large export contracts, including a £123 million project for signalling and train control for a new mass transit line in Singapore. Controls saw further deterioration in global demand as many customers reduced their production and inventory levels and this was exacerbated by extended customer plant closures during December. Process Systems revenue in the third quarter rose helped by currency translation but at constant exchange rates, was negatively affected by some customer-led delays in project implementation and reduced volumes as well as pricing pressure on product sales. Operating profit was impacted by the lower volume of product sales and therefore reduced. Rail Group produced another good performance as it continued to deliver on its strong order book. Controls profitability was significantly reduced due to the lower than expected volumes, particularly in North America but it continued its good cash flow performance. Cash Flow Operating cash conversion was strong across all businesses resulting in Group operating cash conversion in excess of 90% and at 31 December 2008, we remained debt free(1) with £238 million of net cash on the balance sheet. Management There has been a leadership change at Invensys Process Systems (IPS) with Ulf Henriksson, Chief Executive of Invensys plc, taking on the additional role of acting Chief Executive of that business pending the appointment of a permanent successor at IPS. Outlook The strengthening of our order book during the period, together with the less cyclical nature of Process Systems and Rail Group's end markets, reinforces our confidence in the medium term outlook for the Group; however in the short term, we are having to manage difficult and uncertain trading conditions in some of our markets. We expect Process Systems markets, especially oil, gas and power, to remain generally stable but in the short term we are likely to experience further delays in both project and product orders and revenue as customers react to poor economic conditions. We expect Rail Group to perform strongly supported by its significantly increased order book. At Controls, it remains unclear what ongoing order levels will be following the extended plant closures by customers during December and early January and we are likely to accelerate our cost reduction programmes. Overall, based upon our current expectations for market conditions in the final quarter of the year and with the assistance of currency benefits due to the strength of the dollar and euro against sterling, we expect our performance in the second half of the year will be broadly in line with that achieved in the first half. Tuesday, January 20, 2009 Tooting IDC's horn is obviously a comment from an IDC team member. The only topic we could agree on is that there are some bright technical minds there, yet little practical knowledge. Sadly, many of the recent P1 bugs can be traced directly to work at IDC. Their expertise in our business is very minimal. Also, the development leadership is very questionable - all the way to the top. Monday, January 19, 2009 ROI on IDC hyderabad is very high. Experienced, innovative technical minds matched with good management is the key for the popularity of IDC. I see IDC becoming more stronger day by day. Surely invensys should be looking forward for investing and expanding it. Friday, January 16, 2009 Skyrockets in flight? Customer delight? Oy vey! If accompanied by music, APV employees were lucky if they were able to keep their food down. I have a newfound appreciation for the pain and suffering of APV. Friday, January 16, 2009 I have to echo the sentiment that the FIRST place to look for cost cutting would be in our ridiculous HR organization. Fat, fat, fat and very little value to the business. Paula is a personal friend and confidant of Ulf, however, so I seriously doubt if he has the nerve to do the right thing and get rid of her very high salary and high cost team. The next place to look would be the ludicrously large and expense EH&S group. These pieces of the company are bloated and ineffective and need to be trimmed by 50-60% or more, and the current leadership removed. Friday, January 16, 2009 Although it is possible and maybe even likely that Ulf would put Lance Vandenbrook in the position - as everyone knows, family and friends come before the business and shareholders with Ulf - it would be laughable. LVB knew nothing about the process industry while with APV and his Cusotmer Delight theme was a joke, he window dressed the company so Invensys could unload it for a descent price. Lance knows even less (if that is possible) about the controls and automation business. As a competitor, I would welcome - in fact love - if Lance were put at the helm. He would continue the blood letting of the remaining talent, bring in his family and friends and commotitize the IPS offering - just like he did at APV. Friday, January 16, 2009 If Ulf taps Ron Wichter, he will be making another huge mistake. Ron has come in and imposed an untenable vision for how IPS should do its business; the bottomline being that many heads of workers must roll to make financial numbers. The strength of IPS is its people and the solution for growth is to get the exception people of IPS closer to the customers to deliver high quality results. Putting in another bottomline cost-cutter with little to no knowledge of the automation industry will be abject failure leading to the best and the brightest going to the competition. Friday, January 16, 2009 Lance Vandenbrook may be a longshot but a possiblity to move up the ladder again. Family relationships seem to be the most important factor in promotions at Invensys. Did he initiate his "skyrockets in flight" - Customer Delight nonsense at IPS like he did at APV? Thursday, January 15, 2009 If Ulf sends the head of our very expensive HR organization on her way, they might swing by Houston and take the North American H/R head out the door while they're at it. There will be no need to recruit for replacements. Thursday, January 15, 2009 Ron is a high probability for a key role in the next regime. It will be interesting to see if Ulf sends the head of our very expensive HR organization on her way. That would save a lot of money and I bet she was directly involved in some of these executive hires and fires. Thursday, January 15, 2009 What do people think of the new operations guy Whichter? could he have been brought in to replace our beloved ex leader? Thursday, January 15, 2009 One point of clarification. People did lose their jobs due to the relocation. It is not a rumor. My job was not outsourced. The function was moved to Dallas. Many people have been laid off in Foxboro over the past 15 months; some of those functions were moved to Dallas, too. The relocation has been devasting to those people who have been affected. So much talent has been lost. And God help the people who are still looking for jobs in this economy. Thursday, January 15, 2009 Seems that this move by Ulf on Paulette is too sudden to have been an ongoing performance issue. His terse note and his lack of preparation as to a successor seems to indicate that this was a complete surprise. It is also worth noting that this is not his style in that he has been very tolerant of those that he obviously likes (as opposed to Ken Brown). My thought is that this appears to have been triggered by an event which must have clearly dictated this action. We may never know the whole story but rumors abound. Wednesday, January 14, 2009 Top management at IDC, Hyderabad is full of nepotism. It is true that brothers's daughter of top management was taken as trainee and then after one year promoted as software engineer. Many brilliant trainees were given marching orders. One can see third grade engineers working in IDC. Wednesday, January 14, 2009 I don't understand how one can say that no Foxboro employees were affected by the relocation; there were job losses attributable to that move and concurrent organizational changes. To introduce a strategy to grow services and consulting as complementary offerings to the existing Foxboro and Triconex brands sounds fundamentally sound, in my opinion. Ask your Triconex contacts about the price pressure they face. I suspect they'd agree that a well-crafted and executed introduction of services and consulting that provide value would be worthwhile. They probably just havenít seen such a plan yet. Phil himself sat in front of the Sales group several months ago and said ìThe problem we have (with the focus on Services and Consulting) is that we don't have anyone internally who has actually DONE this before.î What kind of statement was that? If he doesnít address the issue, who will? Maybe the EDS'ers did well in managing a steady-state services business at their last place, but it would appear that the actual implementation of such a business isn't their 'long suit'. Finally, the fact that Foxboro might not be the best facility to bring a customer misses the primary issue, in my view. It is the moribund, closed-minded, non-participative, thisisthewaywevedoneitfor100years attitude of long-time management inside the facility that needed to change. (KB was a very notable exception.) Those attitudes are self-limiting. They also tend to be invisible to those who manifest them. If Eberhart's bold move was an attempt to change that, give her credit. Wednesday, January 14, 2009 Paulett is gone and yes, there are few people that are sad about it. However, I want to at least clarify on a couple of blogs here that are false:
To the point about the relocation, I agree that Foxboro is not exactly the facility that I would bring a customer to; no offense. Lots of Foxboro employees got mad when the move occured (although NONE of them were affected). Rumors about people losing their job because of the relo were just that, RUMORS. However, people did lose their jobs because of outsourcing decisions and that itself is a shame. While I am not defending Paulett I felt it only fair to at least print FACTS not speculation. Especially since I am still an employee and care about what others read (and think) about Invensys. Wednesday, January 14, 2009 I've been involved with IPS for many years. The idea that you have to "turn around" something is flawed. This framing of the problem leads to the conclusion that we need a "fix" and this in turn leads to "fixers" selling their stories (ie: the current EDS service fixers). It leads to plans created from on high and forced down the throats of the people actually doing the work. It leads to a new team coming in and having a whack at the pinata. It leads to self serving actions of management (dallas move & cronyism). In any bureaucracy people follow power first and sound ideas second (else your head may roll ie: Phil Clark actions). It's the responsibility of management to make sure the two are together. We need leaders which listen to and understand the customer. Leaders who facilitate the people actually doing the work. Leaders which are stewards and workers which are enabled to focus on and solve customer problems. Not more plans, just common sense and great execution. An excellent contractor I've worked with at Triconex has pointed this out to me over the years. How right he is. Wednesday, January 14, 2009 As Foxboro and Triconex go so goes IPS. Many bit players in the IPS family with delusions of grandeur. But without Foxboro/Triconex and their associated installed base there is no IPS. Wednesday, January 14, 2009 +1 on Ken Brown. Wednesday, January 14, 2009 With a few of the Invensys leadership team supposedly in India this week on short notice - one speculates whether Invensys is shopping itself to Reliance or Tata... Tuesday, January 13, 2009 Ulf should take a closer look in other regions, ESP Asia Pacific. Approved cases of working relationships with friends, relatives, spouse are common, only at executives level. Tuesday, January 13, 2009 To whom it may concern: Foxboro the so called 800 lb. gorilla has been the biggest cash cow IPS has. To make a statement saying Foxboro is to blame is just dumb. If ULF HAD PUT KEN BROWN IN CHARGE THERE WOULD BE NO PROBLEMS. Get it? This mistake is on Ulf's plate and no one else's. Tuesday, January 13, 2009 The only reason for all the money spent on Plano was that Paulette would not have a significant commute and an opportunity for her husband to pull in a significant check for the renovations. This seems to have been the main consideration underlying all of her actions. Any consideration of what is good for the business is overridden by what was good for Paulette. This also could be seen in the seemingly endless number of former friends, family and associates that she brought in as vice presidents, all with dubious agendas and no apparent business expertise. Monday, January 12, 2009 Ulf could do a lot better than Gill, too. It remains to be seen what he will actually do. Monday, January 12, 2009 Ulf could do a lot worse than bring back Jeswant Gill - ex IPS Apac President - to replace Paulette. Monday, January 12, 2009 Ulf has been directly involved with most of these hiring decisions. First, Ms. Eberhart, then, Mr. Bhattacharya. Both poor choices, for different reasons. As the other person mentioned, Ulf's ability to identify leaders is seriously in doubt. Perhaps it is now Ulf that should move on, as his skill set is no longer needed at Invensys. Monday, January 12, 2009 I thought it was Mike Caliel before Paulette...? Unless I am mistaken Burnell was just VP NA and VP Sales. Anyway, every new leader after 2001 were given an impossible task of turning things around...but I think they are all well paid for it so they should not complain. Monday, January 12, 2009 I believe that the "destruction" of IPS is due to the stranglehold of Foxboro on the company's agenda. Many saw it a brilliant strategy to move the seat of power from Foxboro to Plano and many employees I met at conferences liked what they saw. Many called it liberation to be out of the shadow of Foxboro!! It was felt that IPS could without fear or favour decide it's path without the 800-lb gorilla (Foxboro) pulling it's weight to suit all IPS policies, processes and technology to suit Foxboro's unique needs! Saturday, January 10, 2009 Why am I not surprised! Burnell, two years and out; Eberhart, two years and out. Who is next? Or is it correct that Paulette was brought in to package IPS up for sale? Having met Paulette, I must admit that I do respect her and if you want to go against her very strong will, yes you could call her all sorts of things. One thing I do know, you cannot call her crooked, stupid or lazy. She was definitely blindsided by how badly the books had been cooked by a previous regime and was left with a mess to clean up by the bungling Burnell. Here is the big question? Who will buy IPS? There is life after Invensys.... Friday, January 9, 2009 The issue is the stability of management. Every couple of years a new management team comes in then leaves. Itís a revolving door. No company can achieve world class status at this rate. Ulf needs to address this issue. Friday, January 9, 2009 I worked at EDS, and Paulette was the emptiest suit I've met in 25 years at Fortune 500 companies (and EDS had a fair share of those). She really didn't know her business and couldn't make decisions. She changed her mind constantly and appeared mostly interested in the perks that went with her title as opposed to making a contribution. I am always amazed when people get so far in their careers with so little to go on ... As for her being a witch ... well, there are plenty of people who would vote "yes" on that one. Friday, January 9, 2009 Ulf wouldn't know talent if it smacked him in the head with a board. He has made numerous poor personnel choices, many of whom are still with Invensys. Friday, January 9, 2009 Word is that the rapid departure of Paulett was due to a number of significant accounting irregularities. Lots of sketchy stuff has been going on from the beginning and this is the final straw. The move to Plano (hint: customers are in Houston) with her husband winning the lucrative contract the removate the new office space. Numerous new senior staff hires with virtually no experience or value add to the business. Only core competency here seems to be the ability to focus on personal benefit with little regard for the overall IPS business. Ulf can certainly pick winners. Thursday, January 8, 2009 - Open letter to Ulf:
Please do yourself and all of us a favor. Get rid of these ex-EDS and other Plano flunkies. Move back to Bristol Park. Go back to the basics and try to get Foxboro, Triconex and other IPS divisions back to their true potential. There are still some good Foxboro managers remaining. Hire back the ones that Paulette let go if they are still available. I/A is still one of the best DCSs out there. Triconex is the de-facto safety shutdown system in many refineries. ROMeo and other optimization applications are well ahead of competition. Get a focused marketing team that can truly sell the IPS solution. Look at Honeywell, a vendor with substandard products and great marketing that is leapfrogging IPS at every opportunity. Ex-employee, now a customer. Thursday, January 8, 2009 Paulett is not a witch. She was just given an impossible task. So now what will happen to all the ex-EDS? Thursday, January 8, 2009 Paulett Eberhart, formerly President and CEO of Invensys Process Systems, is no longer with Invensys. Who next? Thursday, January 8, 2009 Paulett no longer works for invensys and I'm glad the witch is gone. Thursday, January 8, 2009
IPS management change I am announcing today that Paulett Eberhart, formerly President and CEO of Invensys Process Systems, is no longer with Invensys. I will be stepping in as Acting President and CEO of IPS with immediate effect and will be spending the next few days with the IPS leadership team in Plano working with them on their AOP reviews. I would like to thank Paulett for her efforts over the past two years and wish her every success in the future.
Ulf Henriksson Wednesday, January 7, 2009 - Regarding the Tuesday Jan 6 comment: IPS North America is not down - it is growing at a better than in the past 7 years. Get your facts straight. Tuesday, January 6, 2009 The family culture exists in IDC, Hyderabad. One can see brothers, wives ... with the help of top management. HR at does IDC does not exist at all OR they are dumb. Tuesday, January 6, 2009 IPS business is down in North America - up in Asia. Can reduction of IPS NA staff be far away? I think not. Sunday, January 4, 2009 What Invensys era? Invensys has never had an era - it is just a mediocre company with less than mediocre management collecting big salaries for themselves and large $$ payments to their spouses and other relatives (IPS). Invensys values? Are you kidding? Sunday, January 4, 2009 It would not surprise me in the least to see Invensys change hands in 2009. Whilst these rumours have been persistent for years, the fact that Ulf is nearing the end of his useful life with the company, the addition of Sir Nigel Rudd to the lead the board, the departure of Steve Hare, and the inexperienced leadership at the various Invensys businesses - with the exception of IRG - would lead one to infer that the high water mark may well have been reached. Barring some substantial turnover in the leadership ranks - at head office, IPS, and Wonderware - the best times may be behind us. Saturday, January 3, 2009 - re.:"Is 2009 year going to see end of Invensys Era?": I think the Invensys Era was over when it was still Siebe. It will likely just wither away to an infinitesimally small entity as the latest CEO discards or sells the remaining fragments. Wednesday, December 31, 2008 Is 2009 year going to see end of Invensys Era? Sunday, December 28, 2008 A shift to Windows for I/A won't happen until Archestra actually works. Saturday, December 27, 2008 If Invensys is going ahead with I/A on microsoft technologies, then what happens to the people running I/A on Solaris. Is it possible to shift them to I/A on Vista. What about applications running only on SOLARIS? Saturday, December 27, 2008 HR at IDC will have work once-in-a month. They will send a mail to employees to look into the minutes of meeting. Less amount of work, but more staff. Without any technical background,they recruit people. Friday, December 26, 2008 HR at Invensys is a bit of an inside joke. The amount we spend - and the number of senior staff associated with HR - could be much better spent on people who actually add value. It seems that many of the HR initiatives are largely hand waving and rah-rah, with no real commitment or substance behind them. Thursday, December 25, 2008 Saw something in an earlier post about I/A 8.x on Solaris. I thought that Foxboro/Invensys was throwing UNIX development overboard and moving exclusively to Microsoft's platform(s). Additionally, how have they decided to cope with Microsoft all but dead-ending XP for Vista ? By the way, I/A for XP is the best I've seen from them in a long time. Tuesday, December 23, 2008 Watch what happens next. Some bag holders are going to get caught. IPS starts a serious decline. Controls continues its, and the Rail division at best holds its ground. Can't believe there hasn't been a warning or at least appropriate guidance. This stock will be below one UK pound when it comes clean. Watch the lay offs start in Process systems. The HQ move to Texas was a joke now the bill has to be paid. Monday, December 22, 2008 Very interesting that in the past couple of weeks ISYS has not been consistently tracking the broader FTSE, and there has been a lot of volume accumulation on the downside of dips (with no corresponding volume on the upticks). Someone may be squirreling away shares! Sunday, December 21, 2008 Once support for I/A 6.X and 7.x ends. Then people has to shift to I/A 8.4(SOTM) on solaris 10. How long it will take to phase out I/A 6.X and &.X? Friday, December 19, 2008 If Invensys wants quality development process and results, Invensys needs restructuring of its development leadership, starting with the top, the source of most of the problems (or at least the impediment to fixing most of them). Thursday, December 18, 2008 If IDC wants quality engineers, then IDC must perform restructuring of IDC Leadership Team. Wednesday, December 17, 2008 I've noticed that the terms 'Ethics' and 'Values' are sometimes used in error. These terms are sometimes synonyms for 'something I don't like'. Wednesday, December 17, 2008 Two words ...... Cosourcing and Genpact..... Goodbye Foxboro, we hardly knew ye. Wednesday, December 17, 2008 So much for Invensys Values, eh? Moot point though, since Sir Nigel will dispose of the pieces in short order. Tuesday, December 16, 2008 Indians are ready to do any kind of junk work like documentation,porting and testing, so hiring them will easy at IPS. They are very good in doing all kinds of work, rather to become a specialist in one field. One can find Indian Engineers in IDC,Hyderabad viewing UNIX binary files in MS notepad/wordpad. Recruitment needs to be checked at IDC. Tuesday, December 16, 2008 The Indian bias at Wonderware is going off the charts. It is happening with our new hires (even here in the US), our outsourcing partners, we are even being asked to consider these partners first for integration work. I have no problem with talented people who have value to add to our company joining our team. I must say that many of the recent additions do not fit that description. I am uncomfortable with where we are headed and the ethics behind it.
Tuesday, December 16, 2008 - Re: "gender-neutral" comment:
The industry is supposed to be gender-neutral. Is it? Tuesday, December 16, 2008 - Re: "Invensys Process new exec team is almost all women with no industry experience." The fact that you feel it necessary to point out gender in a gender-neutral industry is already biased. Monday, December 15, 2008 Word is that IPS/Foxboro let go of the entire marketing group in Foxboro, MA - true? Sunday, December 14, 2008 What was reason for no layoffs at Invensys Development Center, Hyderabad (IDC). One can see three engineers working on the same problem. Lots of duplicate work. For Testing one CR, there will be FIVE engineers. Sunday, December 14, 2008 - Regarding "If you're not in India or aren't Indian, watch out.": Perhaps we can have ourselves naturalized as native Indians to keep our jobs? Where are those Indian men and women looking for a spouse? Sunday, December 14, 2008 Things are about to get interesting. Sales in Controls continue to drop. Process systems is rapidly loosing market share and even the sucessful Rail business is in trouble here in the US. A profit warning must be on the cards and I believe that the only reason it has not been given is the stock would have dropped out of the FTSE100. Invensys employees, especially those in Process Systems should expect major layoffs and plant closures in the near future as reality starts to dawn on the inept management. Thursday, December 11, 2008 Eddie at PAS was wise to bring in Chris. Good move for both of them. Thursday, December 11, 2008 - Re: Wonderware layoffs: If you're not in India or aren't Indian, watch out. Wednesday, December 10, 2008 Just received news that Chris Lyden has left Invensys (no surprise) to become President of PAS. At Invensys Process the new exec team is almost all women with no industry experience. I'm not sure that I'm optimistic about its survival - not so much about women, but more about leaving behind the base of the company in pursuit of being an industrial EDS- -which has now disappeared. Wednesday, December 10, 2008 9 People were laid off from Wonderware, Lake Forest. What a nice Christmas present for those families. Wednesday, December 10, 2008 Nice that someone was able to manipulate the price enough to stay in the FTSE 100. That would not be a nice welcoming gift for Sir Nigel. Tuesday, December 9, 2008 - Reuters Messaging - Invensys rallies as FTSE future safe-traders (extract): Shares of Invensys jump by 14.6 percent to top the list of FTSE 100 gainers, with traders citing that the firm is not set to fall out of the blue chip index. The quarterly review of the index measures market capitalisation as at close of trading on Tuesday, and companies that fall to 111th spot or below drop into the mid cap FTSE 250 index. The changes will be confirmed by FTSE on Wednesday and will be implemented at the start of business on Dec. 22. Friday, December 5, 2008
Excellent article in the Times discussing why Invensys shareholders should be excited about the move (employees, perhaps less so).
It will be interesting to see what changes happen within the organisation, not just the board. Thursday, December 4, 2008 If history is any indication, Sir Nigel's appointment as chairman surely portends a near term sale of Invensys. Thursday, December 4, 2008 So much for a "new Invensys"...look at the other "great" companies this fellow has been associated with and their stock performance. Uggh.
Nigel Rudd to be Invensys chairman - LONDON (ShareCast)(Extracts) Sir Nigel Rudd will become a non-executive director and deputy chairman at engineer Invensys on 1 January next year. The firm intends to make Sir Nigel chairman when the present incumbent, Martin Jay, retires following the Annual General Meeting next July. Rudd has currently got his hands full at Barclays where he's deputy chairman and senior non-executive director. He's also chairman of airport owner BAA and car dealer Pendragon. Thursday, November 27, 2008 Yes, Rick Bulota wanted to fix the issues. I was very disappointed when he left. Monday, November 24, 2008 - Wonderware question: Did Rick Bulota's leaving have anything to do with the development issues? Monday, November 24, 2008 Regarding Invensys performance, in the context of this weblog, you need to look at Process Systems, not overall Invensys. IRG continued to be strong, while IPS rev/earnings numbers were flat. The investor section on Invensys.com has presentations detailing the individual business numbers for 1H and the impact of currency on results. Sunday, November 23, 2008 Invensys reported a 13% percent improvement for the half year vs last year. Does anybody know how much of this improvement is due to the strengthening of the dollar VS the pound? Friday, November 21, 2008 - Changes at Wonderware - from a Wonderware Insider : Ulf and Sudipta are very unhappy with Pankaj. Two new VPs are being hired and one on the way. The goal is to hire people to do what Pankaj should have been doing all along. People are unhappy with Pankaj's legacy style of management (not leadership). They seek change from younger VPs. : You can expect a major change in the head count of Lake Forest staff in the near future. Friday, November 21, 2008 We are hearing that there may also be a layoff here in Lake Forest. What a nice Christmas present that would be! I hope not. We are already understaffed and stressed to the limit. Adding more people who don't know that they're doing just because they're lower cost won't help, it will be a disaster. Monday, November 17, 2008 The issue is not merely with IDC leadership - it is with overall dev leadership. A change might be well advised in the organisation at that level. Sunday, November 16, 2008 The experience certificate given by HR department "mentioning experience" never matches with the designation given to the employee. With this, One can understand the level of HR. Very inefficiant..... Saturday, November 15, 2008 The business head and project managers at IDC, Hyderabad, India are not in a proper position to evaluate their team members correctly; technically they are not capable. The result: a) A senior software engineer doing non-technical work got 10 percent hike. And b) a senior technical specialist working on three critical products, ZERO hike. Senior Invensys management(US) should look into the CV's of managers at IDC. Friday, November 14, 2008 400 laid off at IPS on Thursday, November 13. (Note: Another blogger asks: Should that be 40? Typo?) Marketing, Sales, and Development hit. I was a part of the lay off and hold no ill will, but I figured many people would be interested to know. I was labeled 'High Potential' and one of the global goals cascaded was 'talent retention and growth.' I could pontificate, but that is imprudent. The only clear insight is that all is not well if they had to let HIPO's go. Wednesday, November 12, 2008 The top management at Invensys USA/UK must be aware of the following facts: At IDC, Hyderabad you have more Software Development Managers who will do just people management without any technical assistance to their members. They do only postman job, by simply forwarding mails. 98 Percent of the technical members at IDC, Hyderabad cannot differentiate between ethernet address and IP address. Check it out yourself. Wednesday, November 12, 2008 If the IDC is that terrible, it sure took you long enough to report this problem. Saturday, November 8, 2008 The referral program at IDC is nothing but sharing money among top level. They recruit inefficient people and divide money among themselves. Saturday, November 8, 2008 Invensys Development centre at Hyderabad, India is nothing but garbage. Inefficiant HR, no Technical brains, Admin and Finance department. Software development managers don't understand, what the team members are working on. Thursday, November 6, 2008 LONDON, Nov 6 (Reuters) (extract) - Invensys reported a 12 percent rise in first half operating profit on Thursday and said it had strengthened its financial position. The company reported operating profit of 120 million pounds ($190.2 million) on sales 1 percent higher at 1.09 million pounds. It said its industrial automation business was well positioned, but it had reduced expectations for industry shipments in its controls business, reflecting recent economic events. "Overall, we expect the group to make further progress in the second half compared with the first half of the year," it said in a statement. Invensys, which rejoined the FTSE 100 index of blue chips earlier this year, was forecast to report revenue of 1.1 billion pounds and operating profit of 125.7 million pounds, according to a Reuters consensus. Tuesday, November 4, 2008 Given that ISYS is only a few pence off the HSBC target price, and earning are coming up in a few days, perhaps an interesting short play. Who has a read on the ISYS results? Saturday, November 1, 2008 But the one did all the good job for IPS mideast are forced out the company. the roots of grass roots busness was cut. Saturday, November 1, 2008 Actually as an Invensys employee in Middle east, I beleive we are doing a good job. We have taken two hudge grass-root projects a multi million dollar projects, upgrades and more. So Invensys id not declining at least in the middle east as far as I know on the other hand Invensys is rising. Friday, October 31, 2008 US bank JP Morgan (JPM) has lowered its 2009 and 2010 earnings estimates for Invensys, the FTSE 100 technology group. Earnings per share estimates for 2009 and 2010 have been reduced by 7% and 16% respectively. The downgrades are primarily because of reduced expectations relating to earnings in the Controls division in both years, and lower forecast earnings in Process Systems in 2010, which will more than defray expected gains from favourable exchange rate movements. JPM has reduced its sum of the parts-based price target to 215p from 332p. Wednesday, October 29, 2008 HSBC lowered its target from 320p to 180p. Monday, October 27, 2008 Invensys stock is 120p now. Can we buy now? HSBC is behind Ulf. He is fearless. He can hire all his buddy, HSBC will pay the bill. Friday, October 24, 2008 Party Time? Time to sell or be bought! Emerson might be down 40% but that is simply the street being down on techs or profit taking. Emerson Process Management is healthy and continues growth, taking share from Foxboro/IPS, YOK, E&H and everyone else. Be interesting to see which companies survive these financial times. I'd be surprised if IPS makes it. You gotta bet that Siemens, Honeywell and Emerson will come through - Invensys you have to wonder.... It's these time that truly exposes management or lack there of, good luck Ulf! Friday, October 24, 2008 It is party time for Invensys. every one is down. no one cares. perfomance? what perfomance? oil? nuclear? Emerson is down 40% so what? Tuesday, October 14, 2008 Did anyone else go to Wonderworld? I wanted to get reactions to the various announcements. The speakers weren't very good. The topics were okay, but the spearkers were often dull. Tuesday, October 14, 2008 I'm anticipating a down quarter at Invensys. Cost controls may help the earnings side, but revenues could be well below forecast. Monday, October 13, 2008 You'll know soon enough regarding IPS "growth". Your answer perhaps already resides in the current share price, at about 152p. The UK analysts may have already factored in revenue/earnings expectations. Tuesday, October 7, 2008 Can anyone provide any feedback to the growth of IPS. I am hearing the top line is growing in South America, USA, and APAC - is there any truth to that? Tuesday, October 7, 2008 Stock price spiraling down, well past what the overall market effects should have caused. Invensys is now ripe for acquisition. Very very ripe. Sunday, October 5, 2008 Ultimately, this whole transformation exercise - FoxMass to Dallas, hardware to software, DCS/Tricon to Infusion etc etc - will need to face the real questions...
Friday, October 3, 2008 No doubt that ABB and Emerson (and even Yokogawa) are greatly outperforming Invensys. ABB is probably a more apt comparison when considering the entirety of the Invensys portfolio. Merely recasting ones self as a technology and solutions company is easy - executing on it is substantially more difficult. While Invensys seems focused on operational improvement and cost slashing, the industry peers seem focused on expanding their global presence and market depth. Two very different philosophies, indeed. Thursday, October 2, 2008 Did anybody attend Emerson Exchange this week? What a shining example of what a company should be. One billion dollars in growth last year (not through acquisition). Sunday, September 28, 2008 - Re: "Invensys acquires Quantum Engineering. So much for shifting away from hardware!" What makes you think they are moving away from hardware? Significant parts of their profit come from selling kit. Not an informed comment methinks... Saturday, September 27, 2008 The controls business (Barber-Coleman, Paragon, Ranco, Robertshaw) has been on the blocks since the divestiture initiated by Rick. Last week the industrial controls division, a $1.2 billion company six years ago, was reduced to the shadow of the Robertshaw business remaining in Mexico which will be shuttered soon. The value destruction of this business, which supported the rail and energy group for over a decade, is almost criminal. Closing each entity within controls with a last buy or an undervalued sale because of the lack of intestinal fortitude to run them has lost stockholders hundreds of millions. Not to worry, you're still paying rent for hundred of empty offices and building around the world. Big price increases (ala Chan Dynasty) for what's left of controls customers until it's closed. Good luck rail business. I hope the Saudi's come through. Thursday, September 18, 2008 Invensys acquires Quantum Engineering. So much for shifting away from hardware! Wednesday, September 10, 2008 Wonderware is VERY small compared to IPS. And SAT is VERY VERY small compared to either of them. Monday, September 8, 2008 Any thoughts on Wonderware's acquisition of SAT and creating "Wonderware Mobile Solutions"? Sounds like quite an intersting venture for them. As Wonderware is a part of the IPS organization, yet they are acquiring new technology and taking market share, how can IPS be considered to be in decline? Or do most of these bloggers think of IPS as only Foxboro and view Wonderware seperately? Monday, September 8, 2008 While the current leadership is clearly better than Yurko (and Haythornthwaite), they have also outstayed their time at Invensys. A different type of management team is needed for the next chapter, post-recovery. Friday, September 5, 2008 I left Siebe just before it became Invensys. Yurko was still there and Mueller was COO. What happened to these two guys? The kindest thing I can say is that in my opinion they were incompetent!! I had considered going to the Serious Fraud Office, but my solicitor advised against such action. A few year later I lerned about the details of the "totem pole" and who kept it (incidentally, this guy went on the be CFO and that CEO of a large coporation). I regret not following my instincts. Friday, August 29, 2008 Having gratefully left Invensys, I can confess that there is a life after IPS. Since my departure, I have received numerous calls from past business associates, inquiring as too what is going on with this organization. The latest new management regime has taken it upon themselves to raise prices and cancel business agreements in what appears to be an attempt to increase revenue to compensate for their inability to close new orders. End users in my area no longer consider IPS as a player in the industry and I believe that it is only a matter of time before the real financial situation for this company becomes clear. With the competitive nature of the controls industry, the loss of traction can signal the end for a struggling company such as Invensys who continually tries to reinvent themselves under management with no knowledge of the industry that they are providing goods and services for. Thursday, August 28, 2008 In response to the message of 22nd June 2008, as an Invensys Middle East employee, I agree with the comments that the increase in sales figures are solely a result of the boom in oil prices. Maintenance and upgrade projects that were considered unviable till a couple of years back have been revived resulting in many upgrade orders from the installed base. This does camouflage our inherent weaknesses and there are no grassroot projects that have been won against competition. While we pat ourselves and think that we have done am excellent job, a look at the competition will put things in perspective. All major competitors like Honeywell, Emerson, Yokogawa and ABB have sales bookings about 4 times that of Invensys Middle East. And the exodus of trained and long term employees to competitors continues. Tuesday, August 19, 2008 A company in decline. We have lost a significant amount of people and important knowledge base. There are so many new faces that the place is unrecognizable. "Golden Boy" rules with fear and intimidation, and has to put out emails saying "I never said that!" while people are forced out by disagreeing with him. As the people who do the real customer contact and work leave, an oblivious senior management keeps adding SVP's and VP's to their Dallas HQ. Thank God I don't own any stock. Would anyone want to buy Foxboro now? Thursday, August 14, 2008 IPS now has an "interim VP of Nuclear Delivery". Does he get to ride the bomb down? I guess that would be an interim job wouldn't it. Wednesday, August 13, 2008 Question: Just how many IPS employees have "business" in China this week and next?........ Tuesday, August 12, 2008 What happened to Chan Galbato ?? Saturday, August 9, 2008 The IPS CFO leaving is not a surprise, however the challenge will be to retain the key business operations people while at the same time searching for their replacements in Dallas.....the next few months are critical to sustaining the business. Saturday, August 9, 2008 Rick Bullotta left?? Wow, almost exactly one year from his date of appointment. I don't have a good feeling about this whole thing... Thursday, August 07, 2008 - Wonderware: Rick Bullotta has left the building... Rick Bullotta is no longer with Wonderware as of today. He left in a very peculiar way... Thursday, July 31, 2008 I think the IPS management changes are a necessary evil. For too long, the company ran with dark-age policies and procedures and struggled to be a leader. Some people have commented about losing customer focus. I think just the contrary. I think the new Client-Care model will bring IPS closer to customers. Perhaps IPS will lose a few clients, but the overall there will be gains. I work in an area of IPS that has been on the short end of the stick for years. We were an afterthought to most projects and operations. Consider us a "bolt-on" service offering -- such a shame. If IPS had been listening to the customers and finding out what they really need, we'd have been right at the front end of all client communications and dealings. The tide is turning. There are lots of rumors about the death of "old Foxboro." Maybe it's time. IPS is a new approach, with new ideas, but it's not throwing away the 100+ years of innovation, relationships, and experience. Just because HQ has moved to Plano and many new management players are Texans doesn't mean the world is coming to an end. Cheer up. No pain means no gain. Wednesday, July 30, 2008 - Re: blog of 29 July - What's happening at IPS? Over many years, starting with what was once Foxboro, I have never seen such a performance. There is now a constant churn in the middle and upper management. The proliferation of new departments and positions leaves most of us wondering if there is any other objective than adding a few more lines to CV's for the next move. Each new player expounds "corporate goals" in the sort of general terms of a first-year MBA student. From my point of view, admittedly limited, the primary cause for concern is the lack of actions bringing benefits to our customers. We have become too internally focused. Much energy is consumed with the endless internal re-organizations. Co-ordinated, medium-term, "do-able" action plans that will benefit both ourselves and our customers seem to be missing. Our technical talent is increasingly focused on new products and "productivity" tools, instead of learning what our customers want, and delivering it. If we lose our knowledge of our customers' processes and operations, then we will just be another seller of generic hardware and software. This may be our future, but it saddens me to see "leaders" replaced by "managers" at the expense of our customers and our hard-earned reputation. Wednesday, July 30, 2008 For those who haven't heard, Invensys is closing their Controls design center in Plain City, OH. This center was responsible for designing residential thermostats, gas valve controls, defrost controls, etc. It was also the home of the smoke and CO detector design group before that division was sold off. Over the last five years Invensys has invested over a million dollars in this facility, particullarly in the test lab which was a first class organization. The equipment will be moved to the headquarters in Carol Stream, but as far as I know not a single employee has accepted a relocation offer. Invensys is losing around 30 design engineers and 20 test engineers. No word yet on who is going to continue the design work, but if I had to guess I would say that Invensys is going to squeeze everything they can out of the existing thermostat and defrost control lines, then let them die a slow death. There's also no word on what's going to happen to the manufacturing facility in Chihuahua. They spent about half their time manufacturing smoke and CO detectors (which has gone away) and the other half manufacturing thermostats. I don't see how the plant can afford to stay open much longer. Tuesday, July 29, 2008 What is your opinion on what is going on at IPS? Is it normal for a company to have so many new positions constantly being added? Should I be concerned that we are focusing too much on internal organizational structure and taking our eye off of the ball? i.e. customers, efficiencies, product development..... Or maybe it's a good thing? What's your take? Monday, July 14, 2008 I am sure your blogger of the 28th February is pleased that IPS have removed the EMEA President due to continued poor performance. Shame he will be replaced by an IT person as IPS have now issued a standing instruction to their HR departments that new employees must be from the IT industry (or be from Texas!) Sunday, July 6, 2008 Rick Bullotta is now part of the combined IPS Wonderware Development Organization. Sunday, July 6, 2008 - Re: Rick Bullotta question: Rumor has it that a direct reportee questioned Sudipta's 20% growth goal following the best growth year ever, and was summarily dismissed. Sunday, July 6, 2008 Did Rick Bulota leave WonderWare? I noticed he is no longer on the web site. I would be surprised, since he just joined them recently. Thursday, June 26, 2008 The June 23 analysis is spot on. Using the Control Magazine Top 50 Global Automation Vendor data it is pretty apparent that the current Invensys story is simply good timing. In 2003 Invensys was #4 globally with a 9.2% market share. In 2004 Invensys dropped to #6 globally. In 2005 Invensys was #8 globally and in 2006 was #9 globally with a 5.3% market share. During this time the overall market (Top 50 global automation guys) grew 40.9%. As they say, a rising tide lifts all boats. Tuesday, June 24, 2008 - from an Invensys analyst: Really good stuff on Invensys - can't argue with any of it. Ulf is interesting. I think he really does believe he can make something of Invensys beyond financial and margin recovery (and his share/options could be worth over £20m if all goes well). Also in my time of following the company (only 4 years) I think there has been a consistent tendency to underestimate them, especially by the short-termist, reactive analysts. Controls and Eurotherm still look like hard work, though Rail may be more attractive because so much new network is being built around the world and they seem to be winning their share. I look forward to the Indian/Chinese interest. I still think the pension is a barrier to any takeover and it may take towards 500p/£4bn to win over the key shareholders. Will anyone pay that or, as you say, will it just go in bits? I found Ulf very personable when I met him last year and very open. I have no idea what he is like around the company of course except I heard he is first in and last out. I don't doubt he would be better off running one of the big guys, though he may do it via a takeover of Invensys? Ulf says Invensys is a normal company now. Churning through the Invensys Annual Report and the relentless corporate crap about values I tend to agree with him (though I almost found myself nodding approval at one point!) Tuesday, June 24, 2008 I remember reading a press release some time ago boasting that the Triconex brand had been certified for use in nuclear plant control. Many are predicting a resurgence in atomic power - please comment on how Invensys or any of the other automation majors are positioning themselves to capitalize on this. Moreover, do any of the other majors have in their product portfolio a modern line of nuclear certified systems offerings? A bigger question is do they see this is a potential future profit center? Monday, June 23, 2008 JimPinto.com eNews # 250, 23 June 2008 includes analysis of Invensys results for 31 March 2008.
* Latest Invensys Results Extracts:
Click to read Pinto Analysis of Invensys Results
Sunday, June 22, 2008 As an ex Invensys employee I was quite surprised to see the year-end results. Especially after the EMEA mid year meetings and that Invensys ME was well off target on revenues for the year (Sales were close to target). Credit, where credit's due. Ulf and the Invensys employees have certainly turned the company around. However I was also wondering, (and I haven't done the exercise,) if the oil price hadn't been so high and the oil companies making such large, unprecedented investments in expansions and new plant, would Invensys have done so well? In other words, is the true performance of Invensys being "hidden" by the large amount of "additional" work coming from the oil business. Can someone advise? Tuesday, June 17, 2008 As a shareholder, I love this gossip blog. Can keep me entertained for hours. Good thing Invensys hasn't decided to offer all the weblog subscribers a means to share opinions off the public arena to avoid the public humiliation. Fortunately this doesn't seem to bother Invensys. Rumours now are that Invensys (again) will attempt an IS outsourcing. They also tried this in 2002, signing a 1bn deal with IBM Global Services. It was started off by Yurko, and later backed by Haithorneswaite. However the CIO changed some SVP's mind, and the deal went down the drain joined by millions of US$ for wasted efforts on both sides. With the VP and SVP refresh rate Invensys per tradition can deliver, I am sure that none of those exec gentlemen are around any longer, and the fact that Invensys didn't let itself outsource is a long forgotten factual bit of information. So yes, by all means, believe that IS literally is as uncomplicated as accounting and finance, and try it on AGAIN! And lets see how it will go this time round. After all, its just shareholder money. The winners clearly will be the readers of this blog. Best rgds: The holder of 22,000 still worthless Invensys share options.... Friday, June 6, 2008 Who is the new VP-EMEA of M&I? Where does he come from? Where has Franco Franelli vanished? Wednesday, June 4, 2008 Another "small" profitable center is chipped away . . . Burco, was part of the Rail Group is now gone. Who needs a few extra million dollars a year ? Tuesday, June 3, 2008 Talking of Invensys Middle East mnagement, is there such an entity? The whole setup is on auto-pilot with the only business coming in being expansions & modifications of existing systems. As they say when the tide rises everything floats including things that normally sink. Friday, May 30, 2008 Could not agree more with the comment about the EMEA Field Devices Director. Everyone who has intercated with him, will tell you he has no clue about the M&I business. His sole claim to fame seems to be his proximity to the Middle East management. Thursday, May 29, 2008 The new sales transformation has some serious issues. Several specialists are feeling marginalised and hurt. Some appointments like EMEA Field Devices Director are seriously flawed. A guy who didn't do anything worthwhile in Emerson and nothing at Invensys in ME since joining has been rewarded with a plum position of heading EMEA. This might lead to serious problems for M&I business and looks like a downslide is on cards. Wednesday, May 28, 2008 - Future of the Controls business? Pretty bleak from what I see. Europe effectively does not make any money and the relationships with major customers is not good. Asia Pac is not growing even with the relocation of customers from the other regions China, Thailand etc. Can't comment on the Americas really Which is the main part of the business but the 10-70% prices increases pushed through 18 months with no notice have not helped already poor relationships. Expect more Plant closures and consolidations and the ex Honeywell people to gather around the PLc Honeypot. Sunday, May 25, 2008 - from an Invensys shareholder: I read your piece on consolidation in the automation industry. I agree that Invensys seems rather stuck on a path of incremental growth, although listening to Ulf at the finals presentation I got the impression he's playing a long game, especially with In-Fusion. He also seemed to think he was going to be buying rather than selling, but of course he may not have much choice. As a shareholder I suppose I am reluctant to see Invensys sold, though there is a price for everything. If you had to put your money on it who do you think will take them out and when? I confess to not having a clue, though I suspect the pension liability (soon to be revised upwards and probably too expensive to be sold on) is a barrier and any buyer of the whole (rather than just the pieces) would be left with parts that did not suit them. Though often neglected, the rail division might be attractive? Sunday, May 25, 2008 The Invensys EMEA (Europe, Middle East & Africa) Field Devices Director is an ex-Emerson guy. This tells it's own story. Why will anyone leave Emerson instrumentation and join Invensys instrumentation? Saturday, May 24, 2008 Rick Haythornthwaite rises higher and higher following his "glory days" at Invensys. He is now Chairman designate of the retail side of the UK's largest real estate company. Friday, May 23, 2008 The way Invensys is looking at it's instrumentation business can be gauged from their recent appoitment of a Field Devices Director for EMEA (Europe, Middle East and Africa). If this guy does not close up their business nobody can and we in the competition are watching the fun. Friday, May 23, 2008 - from Walt Rovira [walter_rovira@teledyne.com]: In JimPinto.com eNews 23 May 08, you write: "...there are those who suggest that Foxboro's instrumentation side is for sale." Who are "those" people?
I would be interested to contact "those" people. I believe an Invensys divestiture of Foxboro's legacy instrumentation lines (pressure, temperature, flow and analytical) can significantly improve Invensys shareholder value and allow the company to focus their strategy. Friday, May 23, 2008 I would like to see some opinions and thoughts on the Invensys Controls division. With the recent sales of their reversing valve business and safety products business, what are the prospects for future growth? Are there more divestitures on the horizon? Thursday, May 22, 2008 Not that I don't sympathize with the many APV employees that come to your weblog to find some empathy amongst each other, but perhaps the Invensys weblog isn't the place for this anymore. Invensys as a whole is performing very well these days and at least in my division, Wonderware, we are all incredibly happy with the direction we are heading. Logging in to this weblog and seeing all the concerns from the APV group gives the blog a negative feel that the core of Invensys doesn't feel anymore. 4 years ago, sure, EVERYONE was on these blogs. But Invensys has changed and I for one would like to see our optimism appropriately represented in these blogs. Or if that's too much (as I understand it's always easier to make an effort to complain about things than it is to be positive) atleast having silence on the site. Pinto Note: You're right. APV news/views will no longer be posted on this weblog. Wednesday, May 21, 2008 Anyone who thinks that Lance delivers anything more than smoke and mirrors is kidding themselves. I too worked with Lance and could see his poor leadership and poorer management style. He finds ways to manipulate numbers to appear to be delivering the results. All Lance's fans were giving him props for turning APV around - he did nothing of the sort. He window dressed the company for a sale. His philosophy is the stuff that anyone can learn in business school. Operations and management at APV Lake Mills had done a fine job in the past particularly Wheelwright and Keene. Lance is a farce and he will fail at IPS. Monday, May 19, 2008 Bravo to the posts on May 18 and May 19. It's wrong to single out Lake Mills, however. Until APV figures out how to be externally rather than internally focused at ALL the factories, APV is destined to keep repeating its past. Fixing supply chain must go hand in hand. Also, there is no Us and Them. Flow is now on the hook with APV and unless the issues are corrected quickly, it will start to effect share price. If you thought previous management was ruthless, stay tuned to see what happens in the coming months. Monday, May 19, 2008 Having worked with Lance, he knows how to deliver the vision. The problem is - if the operations group doesnít deliver, the vision will become out of focus quickly. An example of this is the poor leadership at the Lakemills factory. It wonít be long before (if not already being discussed) SPX will clean that house. Sunday, May 18, 2008 APV is still a cash losing company; just read the SPX first quarter results, specifically the flow technology segment in which every cash issue directed at APV. Therefore, for every comment on the changing management and their predecessors, the employees should look at themselves and understand that no matter who is in the management team, it is the bottom line that counts. SPX is a company driven by the bottom line. Friday, May 16, 2008 Just my opinion: But I have noted a couple quotes that have been posted on this blog. If you have ever heard Lance speak to a group and are familiar with his barrage of cliches you know that he is on this blog posting. and in some cases he is defending himself. I sat in on one of his Townhall meetings at APV and he mentioned this weblog, and some of the rumors posted about closing the Buffalo office. If you want the truth about Lance read the September 11, 2007 blog; it says it all. We at APV are glad he is gone, and his useless friends that he put in management positions. Friday, May 16, 2008 - re. Thursday, May 15, 2008 - from a news reporter: HR was outsourced also. Two well respected and very comeptent Foxboro senior engineering managers are being shown the door and replaced with new faces. I don't want to mention their names here but most engineering folks know who they are. Thursday, May 15, 2008 - from a news reporter: We're hearing from IPS employees here that the Foxboro, Ma. Operation (formerly The Foxboro Company) is being not-so-gradually outsourced. Financial functions have already been sent to India. One employer told me that the companyís goal is to eliminate the Foxboro property within two years. Heard anything? Iím trying to get employees on the record before attempting to verify with IPS. One source has the workforce reduction over the past 12 months at 30 percent. Thursday, May 15, 2008 So I guess that answers the "what were they up to" question. Solid performance, getting the financial house in order, and poised for growth. Way to go, guys. Thursday, May 15, 2008 LONDON (ShareCast) - FTSE 250 movers: Invensys eyeing further progress: Bosses at Invensys expect to make further progress this year following an 18% increase in full year operating profit despite weakness at its Controls business. The firm, whose shares have been popular in 2008 so far, said operating profit for the year ended 31 March 2008 rose to £254m from £216m the year before on revenue up 5% to £2.11bn. However, orders slipped 3% to £2.04bn as an improvement at Process Systems was offset by a decline at Rail, reflecting uneven order intake, and the anticipated reduction at Controls. The Controls unit, which provides components, systems and services for residential and commercial building markets, saw orders fall 7% to £618m and revenue by 6% to £624m. It blamed most of the decline on some softening of demand in the US and Europe as housing markets deteriorate. The division makes up around 30% of group sales. Monday, May 12, 2008 Any word as to what Ulf and Sir Lance are up to? Sunday, May 11, 2008 Jim: I thought the world had simply gave up on Invensys. Glad to read your notice of system issues and that you are backup and running! Thursday, May 8, 2008 Jim, sorry to see that your web log for Invensys has ceased to exist. Perhaps you can resume it in the future.
Jim Pinto Thursday, February 28, 2008 - re: IPS in Europe and their performance: The reason - a regional president more capable of influencing the Senior management in Invensys than in delivering business results - how much longer will Invensys continue with such underperformance? The most capable regional president (Asia Pacific) left recently ñ he no doubt joined a company that rewards people who deliver rather then talk a good job ! Tuesday, February 26, 2008 Kinda makes you wonder what's next for Foxboro and Triconex. My prediction - Foxboro is now in the "dressing up" stage and Triconex is being prepped. I guess only time will tell and I'm betting that by September we'll pretty well know hot the cards are being dealt. Monday, February 25, 2008 Anyone with a brain should have been able to see that Ulf and Lance were window dressing APV for a sale for the last 2 years. They let go of all their experienced higher salaried people and did some creative book keeping to get APV ready to unload. I feel bad for all the kids and middle managers brought in that bought into Lance's BS and now will be on the street. Sunday, February 24, 2008 APV is no longer a part of Invensys. Everyone blasted Lance, yet look at the decline in APV sales since he jumped shippe or rather his buddy Ulf got him out before the sale. Who is left running APV? SPX got screwed when they purchased APV. They will soon find out. I wonder how long before SPX figures out that they doen't know how to run the company? Thursday, February 7, 2008 So Q3s came out fine in the end, but can anyone shed any light on the weakness in IPS in Europe - flat for the quarter - which they blamed on goverment/oil company squabbles holding up the placing of orders? not heard that one from anyone else in the industry, sound credible or not? Thursday, February 7, 2008 Ulf says: Today I am pleased to announce another good quarter of operational and financial performance. For ourselves and the market, these continue to be the ongoing Group-level indicators highlighting the progress we continue to make during this financial year on our journey to becoming a high performing, sustainable and cohesive company. And stocks were up 11% last I checked. Thursday, February 7, 2008 As you can see from the Q3 results they announced today, things seem to be looking pretty strong across the board. From what I can see, Wonderware is indeed doing quite well and gaining momentum, but so are many of the other parts. Invensys isn't "shrinking", it is "getting fit". Mr. Henrikkson and his team have done an excellent job in cleaning up the financial picture, refocusing the company, and the stage seems set for a reinvented Invensys. Wednesday, February 6, 2008 I hear all this doom and gloom, yet WONDERWARE seems to be the exception...lots of good buzz in the market on growth and new focus ...what gives? Wednesday, February 6, 2008 Stock tanking (again) ahead of tomorrow's Q3s, Emerson and Whirlpool yesterday talked a pretty good story (to follow on from Honeywell, Rockwell etc.), am I the only one confused? Tuesday, February 5, 2008 - to the "Not a wannabe": What company do you work for now? Maybe some of the Invensys cast-offs can join you? Monday, February 4, 2008 I used to work for a small but profitable part of Invensys and became a share holder. I wrote off the value of the shares long ago and only hold onto them in case someone with some financial accumen gets hold of the company. They said Invensys was in decline in 2001 and now it just keeps getting smaller surely there can't be much left to sell? I am suprised you guys keep posting the messages as it is obvious no one from the company in a position of authority bothers to read what is really going on. How can they keep spending on new offices and reshaping when the company continues to go down the pan. I am glad I got out 3 years ago to work for a company with real values and ambitions rather than a bunch of wannabes who are only interested in lining their own pockets. Monday, February 4, 2008 Responding to the "dancing girls" comment. Years ago, at a Wonderware Distributor Conference, the USC cheerleaders performed, and one had an ACTUAL "wardrobe malfunction". Monday, February 4, 2008 Jobs moving to India, layoffs, staff meetings in Las Vegas. What's next for Invensys Process Systems, dancing girls at the sales meeting? Sunday, January 13, 2008 - respondig to "How is Lance doing?": The only change I can see Vandenbrook has made is getting IPS NA to make the forecast. From where I am sitting he is only executing what he is told. Seems the EDS team sitting in Dallas is making all the calls. There seems to be a lot of focus on spending money on new systems, corporate offices, and meetings, not much else. Time will tell. Thursday, January 10, 2008 I am curious to know how the "hero" of APV and the one who will save IPS, Lance Vandenbrook, is doing at IPS. What chnges have occured, any improvements? Tuesday, January 8, 2008 A funnier/lighter side to the Invensys predicament was published in the letters page of the FT, see below, published: January 3 2008 - from Mr John Le Sage:
My first grandson, Keir, was born in February 2002. I subsequently bought shares in Kier Group for £4.30 and sold them for £16.60. My second grandson, born in 2004, was called Corin. I bought shares in Corin Group and they doubled. My third grandchild is due in July. I hope they don't call it Invensys.
John Le Sage, Saturday, January 5, 2008 Now that APV is gone, what will happen to the rest of the Invensys businesses? Who will be the scapegoat now? Saturday, January 5, 2008 APV gone, Firex gone. Brands and products diminishing. Share price 50% of what it was 6 months ago. Time for Ulf to get his finger out and get hold of this business and deliver for shareholders. Shape up or ship out Ulf !!! Tuesday, January 1, 2008 Monday, December 31, 2007 - Extract Charlotte Business Journal SPX Corp. has completed its purchase of APV, a manufacturer of process equipment and engineered products. When the deal was announced in October, it was valued at $510 million. APV is a division of Invensys plc, which will become a part of SPX's flow-technology segment, makes pumps, valves, heat exchangers and homogenizers for the food, dairy, beverage and pharmaceutical industries. APV has 3,000 employees in more than 40 countries. The addition of APV will bring the total number of SPX employees to 17,000 worldwide. SPX markets flow technology, testing and measurement equipment, thermal equipment and services, and industrial products and services. Friday, December 28, 2007 I am beginning to believe that Paulett Eberhart was really hired into IPS with a pre-arranged agreement with EDS. Part of the grand plan to transform/evolve IPS into something that EDS would find appetizing -
Friday, December 21, 2007 - news extract: Invensys has agreed to sell its Firex safety division to the UTC Fire & Security unit of United Technologies for $44m in cash. The deal for Firex, which makes residential smoke and carbon monoxide alarms, is expected to complete by the end of January. The business generated operating profit of $4m on revenue of $80m in the year to 31 March 2007. Invensys said the sale proceeds will be used to pay down debt, adding that Firex, together with the reversing valve business sold recently, will be treated as discontinued operations in the third quarter 2007/08 results due to be announced on 7 February. Tuesday, December 18, 2007 The IPS APAC guy is gone. But he left a black hole which many of projects has negative margent and negative cash flow. He forced out all country managers and his financial controller so he can do funny accounting. Some one better send auditor there before he leaves. Friday, December 14, 2007 Something just doesn't quite fit in about this EDS buying IPS thing. EDS, I assume, is a service and consulting company. Zero products. The only possible motivations for any IT type company to buy IPS would be Wonderware (which is technology & technology since WW sells thru 3rd party channels) and software part of IPS which would be Simsci (which is technology & products plus some consulting and application expertise). But hang on - EDS has never handled products before - so the WW and SimSci products are unlikely to be the real targets. So you are left with people expertise from Simsci. Good bunch of people but to buy over the whole IPS just for that? Unlikely although possible. Thursday, December 13, 2007 Heard that CEO, IPS APAC has been moved. IS this true? Who will succeed him as new CEO? Tuesday, December 4, 2007 The word on the street is that this partnership of EDS/IPS is going to happen and with 300 offices in the new HQ to fill, the word is soon. Triconex has been hawked around of late and as one of the more profitable divisions. What does that say for the other hardware and services divisions? Wonderware, Arhestra A and InFusion will form the backbone of the new strategy for IPS. Seems Jim's predictions are about to come true. Sunday, December 2, 2007 EDS buying IPS? It really sounds far fetched, but I suppose never say never. No matter what one may say about consulting, MES etc, 80% of any DCS company's turnover will come from where they have been coming from - EPC bid, Enduser MIV/MAC sometimes, MRO business covers the rest. The business model and selling channel are so very different from EDS and unlikely to change much going forward. Sure consulting and MES and IT integration can be good margin but if you are serious about DCS/SIS business, that is NOT where majority of your turnover is going to come from. Thursday, November 29, 2007 How much truth is there to the news about EDS buying Invensys, selling off the IA, Triconex and M&I manufacturing facilities, and then continuing to sell Triconex only (buy/resale), focusing more on services and consulting (EDS model?)? Yokogawa has partnered with Accenture, Honeywell with IBM to address this whole IT infrastructure space, and for those EDS competitors to tap the installed base of Yokogawa and Honeywell, respectively. Seems like it makes a lot of sense as the IA market is quite mature, saturated, etc, and IPS has a huge installed base for EDS to run its fingers thru. And EDS certainly doesn't want to get into being a hardware vendor, but more of a solutions provider. Also heard that the M&I business may get sold to GE... Monday, November 26, 2007 APV USA - Invensys leadership endorses "One last stick in the eye" to APV even after the sale. APV USA just went through a very badly planned "SAP Upgrade" which saw the order enter department in the USA refuse to accept orders for a week because of the confusion and lack of planning. For the last two weeks; "No way" to find parts, "no way" for order shipment updates, "no way" to get confirmations and forget trying to review new business as all were focussed on emergency situations. Give Invensys and the APV USA transitioned leader Lance V their due. They left the hard work till after they were gone, and sold what they could. That type of behavior seems to be rewarded too often. The sale of APV to SPX takes effect at the start of the new year. It should happen faster. Sunday, November 25, 2007 Reading the transcript of Q2 conference call, "InFusion is now up to order rates almost $ 200 million." That is almost one third of IPS business. I am not sure if we can trust the number. But if the number is correct, then InFusion did not bring in much of financial benefits. Saturday, November 24, 2007 The stock is tanking because people close to the company realize how poor things really are. Controls recently lost a major account here in the US. Process Systems are not generating any cash and Controls never have. Reading the posts on here IPS seem more concerned about the location of their headquarters than their customers. Meantime I believe that the Railroad business (the only business making cash) is in trouble with a major customer going bust. If I remember correctly the Railroad customer was in the UK for the London subway and was the biggest order in Invensys history, so it has to be a major blow. Selling APV was a good move but the company's silence on these other problems is strange. Could be the problems are not true and the stock is simply oversold on the rumours. Let's see if there are any announcements now that Thanksgiving is over. If the third quarter results are poor then the stock could go into freefall. Sunday, November 18, 2007 The problem is cash. IPS missed cash in Q1 and can not recover in Q2. As a result, the H1 cash conversion is only 24% and brings the group cash conversion to 69% for H1. This is more than just delay few invoices. The real problem is IPS took orders with bad cash teams to grow the top line. With 20% turn over in sales marketing force, no one can figure out what is happening. But shareholders are smarter. They know something is wrong. Friday, November 16, 2007 - Re. Stock price drop: I was surprised that the stock dropped. The last financial news release seemed positive but I guess it's a matter of not meeting the analysts expectations whatever they were. There could also be some negative things going on that haven't been made public but are known to the analysts. Friday, November 16, 2007 This morning the shares were down to 251p which puts them below their 12 month low again. Since July they've fallen 177p or 41% from their height of 428.25p. (In the same period the FTSE 100 has fallen about 300 points or just 4.5% so they can't really blame the market). I thought getting rid of APV and sorting out the pension fund was meant to improve things. Does this make them more or less likely to be a bid target? Tuesday, November 13, 2007 Moving Asian HQ to China may seem like a no brainer, but may not be ALWAYS the right thing to do. Taxation, banking and financial restrictions are many reasons why Shanghai (the "obvious" choice within China) is not always superior to Singapore, Hong Kong or even Kuala Lumpur. Contrary to popular thinking, it is very expensive to hire/retain quality people with good enough English skills in Shanghai. And Chinese are NOT as pan-Asian in their outlook as Singaporeans, Hongkongers or Malaysians - Chinese cannot manage the large and important markets like India and Korea well. So retaining Asian HQ in Spore or HK or KL may still has its merits for mid term future. Monday, November 12, 2007 Hmmm...not sure how this "Singaporean running IPS China" perception comes about. Both IPS Business Group GMs in China and all their eight sales and operation directors are born, bred in mainland Chinese. One of the GMs is probably holding a US passport, but he is Chinese no doubt. The service director is Chinese, the HR director is Chinese. The only Singaporean Director in China is the Logistic head. OK - Wonderware China is run by a Singaporean, but that is quite seperate. Monday, November 12, 2007 On the posting (08 Nov.) requesting assistance in analyzing Invensys and IPS and the process industry. How do I contact you?? [See email address in original weblog] Monday, November 12, 2007 IPS probably has the most localised management among all the major DCS/Automation companies in China. NOT THAT THIS IS A SURE FORMULA FOR SUCCESS THOUGH. May be good to have some mix of Asian/Spore/Western expats. Inject some global perspective and good mgt practice. Honestly I think if they can afford it, they would sent more expat there right away. And of course there is a good level of politics like every where else...and of course they are fighting uphill... Sure you are talking about the right company? Sunday, November 11, 2007 Most companies move their AP HQ to China in order to capture the growth there. But IPS moves in Singapore managers to manager China business with poor acceptance. IPS business is declining there except Triconex. This is a typical example of IPS internal politics over business. Sunday, November 11, 2007 "Senior Rockwell Software Exec" is not who you think. He is/was a direct report to the head of Rockwell Software, and was also with GEFanuc. Yet another industry talent added to the WonderWare team. Something must be going on! Friday, November 9, 2007 Pankaj Mody is the "father" of ArchestrA. He has been at Wonderware since the mid-90's, and has driven the product/project from the beginning. Friday, November 9, 2007 Who is Pankaj Mody and where is he from? New VP of Dev for both IPS and WW.... So Invensys is serious about keeping IPS? Thursday, November 8, 2007 It's not a "Senior Rockwell Software Exec" that is joining Wonderware; its a Branch Sales Manager in the UK who has sold a bit of MES, and is chasing the big bucks he is being offered as an "MES Sales Consultant" WITH A BIG TARGET TO GO WITH IT ! Thursday, November 8, 2007 The number one requirement to be in Invensys management is that you know nothing about the business that Invensys is in. Your pay is based on your slickness level. Dress slick, talk slick, write slick memos, always use the latest techno-jargon but avoid details. If you are highly involved in the details of the business or product, you drop down the pay scale. Thursday, November 8, 2007 - email:rupert.coull@redburn.com Is anyone out there interested in coming to the aid of a UK equity analyst who is taking a look at Invensys, and is struggling to get to grips with the entire area of Process Systems (what it does, how it does it, how people get paid for it) and Invensys' competitive position in the market? Tuesday, November 6, 2007 A senior Rockwell Software exec is also apparently leaving to join the Wonderware "dream team" as well. I "wonder" what is up there? Tuesday, November 6, 2007 Brilliant post from Monday re APV and light bulbs. It would be really funny if it wasn't so close to the truth. Maybe you could expand a bit more in another post. Has to be more from such a rich vein of under utilised talent. You did forget about the VP of Sales afterall. Two light bulbs with every 1 homogeniser sold before end Nov? Monday, November 5, 2007 - APV USA - A New Beginning: APV and SPX are a great match. There will be issues, but SPX and WCB have proved that they can manage and profit with a plan. Without support, APV USA was lost; in any event. APV is not just an EU and Far East Entreprise. There are real assets here at home. Invensys set-up the APV-USA Division for a sale without real support. Let us hope that SPX has better Vision. Monday, November 5, 2007 I wonder how long it will take Sudipta to flatten out the organizational chart at Wonderware. It some situations they have 2 VP's reporting to another VP. Good luck Sudipta. Monday, November 5, 2007 Question: How many APV execs does it take to change a light bulb?
VP Sales: Once IT get the CRM working, we can identify our installed base and run a marketing campaign targeted at replacing all bulbs, blown or not. This will provide real added-value for all our customers. VP Operations: Now the teething troubles at our low cost Chinese bulb factory have been ironed out, deliveries have come down from 16 weeks to 4. Honest! If you donít believe me I can show you case studies demonstrating deliveries - - erm, well, one example, at least. VP Supply Chain: Good news, an old friend of mine has a good supply of wax, available at only a slight premium over current market rates. To safeguard bulb production, Iíve signed him up to a 20 year deal. However, we still need to find a supplier for those stringy bits that burn down as the wax is used up. Thus, Iím submitting a manpower requisition for another 20 ëSupply Chain Professionalsí. VP Operations: Erm, bulbs are made from glass and wireÖ VP Supply Chain: Ah, ok. Clearly, we are having trouble sourcing people of the right calibre to work in supply chain. Consequently, Iím proposing we double our intake to 40 and raise the skill profile to ëSupply Chain Consultantsí. VP HR: Good plan. To further support our light bulb efforts, Iím hiring 10 ëHR Talent Partnersí. Their role will be to identify the brightest of bulbs and ensure that they remain switched on throughout their career. The ëPartnersí will be specifically aligned to the needs of our new sweatshÖsorry, ëstate-of-the-art manufacturing facilitiesí in China and Eastern Europe. The ëPartnersí will be based at our London Gatwick HQ. VP Engineering: Iím gonna fire the next person who mentions bulbs. Theyíre a load of crap! I followed all the instructions ñ compost, fertiliser, water ñ and still no light. Pah! Besides, who needs light bulbs when youíre as far up the Presidentís ass as I am.î Monday, November 5, 2007 - extract from Invensys press release: Sudipta Bhattacharya Appointed President of Wonderware Invensys today announced that Sudipta Bhattacharya was taking on a new role within the organization as president of the Wonderware business unit of Invensys. Sudipta just recently joined Invensys (August 2007) as chief software solutions officer. He came from SAP AG, where he was senior vice president of solutions management for SAPís supply chain, manufacturing and product lifecycle management applications. Mike Bradley (former Wonderware head) became president of Wonderware in November 2002. Under his leadership, Wonderware has consistently achieved over four years of double-digit growth. Saturday, November 3, 2007 The changes at Wonderware represent some of the most exciting news in an otherwise very boring industry in a LONG time. I'm looking forward to seeing what that team is working on. Friday, November 2, 2007 Sudipta Bhattacharya is one of the best leaders and straight forward execs in the entire Software Industry. It's to Mike Bradley's credit that he recruited such a known and proven superstar. Friday, November 2, 2007 I joined APV in 1966 and left after 38 years as Vice President APV Group. I have met all the APV founders, these who participe to expansion and developpments, etc...Sir Richard Seligman, Sir Peter Seligman, Madron Seligman, Peter Benson, Fred Smith and others. I remenber the begining of the end when APV acquired Pasilac and the permanent and actual war between Danish domination and the rest of the world. Finally from this time APV was more looking for internal problems and reorganisations than customers. The end was with Siebe/Invensys, to make cash and pay for Baan acquisition, APV sold all ice cream business, Burnett, Gaulin death, etc...and finally Anhydro. What is APV today, a company as many in the world able to make CIP, UHT, yoghurt lines, etc... but more expensive, without innovation, and who will be reduce to sell centrifugal pumps and homogeneisers in the future. I will continue with my APV, when APV was Crawley and not the actual. But what mean in announcement the purchase and sale of APV France? Thursday, November 1, 2007 The news of the sale of APV and the inevitable trauma that will follow will come as a shock to many in a Company that is 2 years away from its centenary in 2010. APV was formed in London in 1910 as the Aluminium Plant and Vessel Co. For the first 80-90 years the company was a world leader in Process Engineering for the food industry. Under such enlightened CEOs as Peter Benson, (Sir) Peter Seligman, and Fred Smith, it gained a reputation as an innovative and inventive Group. The writer joined APV in 1969, finally retiring 36 years later after a career that was, to say the least, interesting. The trauma referred to will be the carving up of the various products which APV supply that already exist within SPX. We well remember:
Thursday, November 1, 2007 Hey, the last statement about the Wonderware guy from Dallas was a bit unfair. Mike Bradley personally recruited Sudipta Bhattacharya to Wonderware from SAP! Sudipta just happened to live in Dallas and has no connections to IPS or the EDS people from Dallas. Mike has also known Sudipta for several years. Sudipta was the guy that helped lead SAP into the manufacturing space. He is a very bright visionary leader that will lead Wonderware into the next generation. Wonderware is in the very good hands of Sudipta and the very strong leadership team in Lake Forest, CA. So speaking of the "Next Generation" ... if Mike Bradley was Captain Kirk, then Sudipta is Captain Jean Claude Picard ... and he will lead Wonderware into the Next Generation. Watch out competition, you are definitely not going to like this change! Thursday, November 1, 2007 Mike Bradley, President of Wonderware, is out. The new boss is a guy from Dallas. Mike made a short speech to the employees, but when asked "what will you be doing next?" he didn't know and said as much. Mike always seemed the kind of guy who had a plan for things, even for his retirement. This was an ejection, not something voluntary. It's a shame, though: Mike is a good guy and he kept the spirit of fun at Wonderware for all these years, which has been an important differentiator for the company. I don't see the new guy as "fun." Thursday, November 1, 2007 Word to the wise: SPX management need to hit the ground running with a clear direction and plan for the APV business. Clarity is needed on why and what parts of APV SPX will be retained and/or phased out, etc. Thursday, November 1, 2007 Interesting - A former Applicance Controls president is a president of one of SPX's divisions. Thursday, November 1, 2007 Ken Brown left Invensys IPS. Some things are inevitable but it is still sad when it really happens. Thursday, November 1, 2007 Ken Brown left Invensys this week. It's a shame he didn't get the CEO job permanently. He is now President of a manufacturing company - parent company in Florida. Invensys sold off APV too. Once again, this proves the old adage - the easiest way to make a small fortune is to start with a large one! Wednesday, October 31, 2007 Despite the likely financial penalty of being kicked out of a cherished, defined benefit pension scheme, the long term survivors at APV were relatively phlegmatic about being sold to SPX. After all, rumours of the sale had been circulating for several weeks. Then it transpired that the current executive had pledged to stay. The disappointment was papable - the silver lining had been torn away leaving a very dark cloud indeed. SPX's No. 1 prioty should be to eradicate APV's (openly derided) executive management. They have fashioned a company that struggles to deliver the most basic of components (e.g. centrifugal pumps). Furthermore, they have completely misjudged the projects business (still around 40% ot turn-over), labouring under the mistaken belief that APV possesses world-beating standardised technologies. In reality, APV's successes here continue to been founded on long-term individual relationships and 'unsexy' hygienic engineering know-how. (Both of which, incidentally, reside with the demoralised people deserting the organisation in droves). SPX need to move quickly before the whole edifice implodes! Wednesday, October 31, 2007 - Invensys press release: Invensys sells APV to SPX Corporation for £250 million Invensys plc announces that it has entered into an agreement to sell APV to SPX Corporation for a cash consideration of £250 million, subject to customary regulatory approvals. The disposal is being made on a ìdebt free/cash freeî basis and completion is expected to take place by the end of December 2007. Tuesday, October 30, 2007 If not SPX then someone is. SPX would be a strategically good move for both companies. Reading the blog, it seems APV's star performer Lance VB's departure to IPS indicates that APV North America - APV's resurgent, but now undermanaged market sits into SPX's heartland. The timing of his departure speaks volumes about Ulf's desire to keep LVB in Invensys is well known, so APV must be on the block. APV's European base and relatively stronger China business will bolster SPX's Asian capability. Looks like a good deal for all. Just pity the middle management will be dealing with another leadership change - it will interesting to see who survives at APV given the blip of last year, yet continued failure to keep up with their competition in terms of market share, poor deliveries etc. Will SPX take control of these continued operational problems? Monday, October 29, 2007 Is SPX buying APV? Saturday, October 20, 2007 Invensys has let go its entire Foxboro-based marketing communications department, preparatory to moving to Dallas...sounds like Foxboro is being left high and dry. Just one person is left of Invensys' Marcomm unit, and he will be leaving after the first of the year. Saturday, October 20, 2007 Big re-organization in Invensys Systems including head cuts - anyone with insider stories? Are they really moving people from Fox to Dallas? Wednesday, October 17, 2007 In answer to the October 2 question about life in Rockford after Invensys, it's been a "good new/bad news" story. The good news is that the former IBS operation is no longer in an environment where we're living to refinance the debt. There's also a noticeable absence of the almost-daily e-mails about executive comings and goings. Also, the recent decision by TAC (the unit under which IBS was put) to move its systems products production from N. Andover to Rockford has meant additional manufacturing jobs in Rockford, at least temporarily. The bad news is that after all the Schneider rhetoric about buying IBS for its extensive peripheral product offering, it turns out that TAC doesn't really want these products and is happy with a limited offering of purchased products. Current plans are to outsource the piece parts production from the Rockford plant to the cheapest vendor. Long range plans are to discontinue thousands of part numbers, import actuators and valves designed and manufactured in Italy, and eventually move zone valve production to China. The Rockford plant will become an electronics manufacturing facility. Note: Also posted on Schneider weblog. Sunday, October 14, 2007 In the first quarter(FY 2007/2008)report, Ulf Henriksson made a statement about removing one layer of management from Controls and a reference to separating Global markets (paraphrase). Controls, Carol Stream (USA): the word is the CEO/Financial/Human Resources/Legal/Communications top positions have or will be eliminated by month end. Note Recent jobs ads for Invensys: VP Operation (13 plants and regional operations).VP Human Resources and Director of Sales Aftermarket. Friday, October 12, 2007 The next 12 months will be critical for Invensys. They are about to finish all their debts obligation. They have many critical decisions to make...some of which are already made - Control without a head - that should be obvious. Eurotherm needs to turnaround this year - this must be the last chance. Keep Rail and Wonderware I supposed....Now as for Fox/Tricon/Simsci - that is the tough decision to make - seems like they are serious about putting them all together from what I hear. Will they make it in the uphill fight against ABB, Yokogawa, Emerson and Honeywell? Any news how's Infusion doing? Anyone tried it? Friday, October 12, 2007 - re. ArchestrA/Wonderware: I do not understand what exactly is incredible on InTouch10 and Application Server. It is old stuff based on old technology combining some recently bought MES modules. They are not using newest technology like WPF (Windows Presentation Foundation)or WWF. It is just the combination of objects (Application Server) and graphics (Intouch). And Invensys used 8 years to launch it! If you want to see real cool stuff take a look to ICONICS Genesis64, ETM PVSSII or B&R Aprol. They are 5 years ahead! Thursday, October 11, 2007 (found in Archives dated December 20,2006) Unfortunately, it sounds like Controls is going to force customers to move to other suppliers and, in the end, they are going to be left with un-saleable assets. The Controls executives probably don't care, because they will have their bonus and will have moved on to other jobs with other companies. Only the hard working career employees at Robertshaw will be left to clean-up the mess as they turn off the lights.... Saturday, October 6, 2007 - Re: Invensys, Wonderware: Well, well - it seem as if all the critics were wrong after all. System Platform and the accompanying InTouch 10 makes for good vibrations throughout the industry. We (large steel) for one are moving from competitor to ArchestrA based applications. Good stuff, I think, even if considering the multitude of different applications, SCADA, MES, etc. New modules are great. Tuesday, October 2, 2007 Just curious if anyone working in Rockford has any feedback on being part of TAC/Schneider. I have to assume its better than how it was as part of Invensys. Wednesday, September 19, 2007 - from a real customer: Yesterday, I sat through the Wonderware 10.0 rollout and demo in Wisconsin. In a word ñ Incredible! What a positive departure Invensys Wonderware has made. But then all you user beta testers knew that a year ago! From what I can see, no other competing product comes close to this release. Canít wait to migrate. Keep up the great work. Monday, September 17, 2007 - Referring to the messages that complain about the changes/reorg that are happening in IPS right now. Do we seriously think that IPS can survive by letting life can go on as it is? The EDS folks are taking a big gamble no doubt and they may not be very familiar with the control industry - but hey look where all the industry knowledge got us. Alright, alright enough cursing of Yurko... Someone from the outside, without fear, favor, history, needs to do some major surgery on IPS. That much is clear. PA and PC have very little time - we are late by at least 3 years coming out with a new Control systems and a new Safety system. InFusion if properly done can buy us some time. Let's hope PA and PC will get it right. Just do our part. If you think they are nuts, just leave. If you are not keen but have no where else to go - do your ethical minimum and keep quiet. Please stop all those "Foxboro knows best and no one else has a clue how to fix the problem." Friday, September 14, 2007 It is quite entertaining to read the back-and-forth regarding sales leadership at APV. However, the bottom line is that it doesn't matter who is leading sales, who you have in the field and what GTM strategy is employed, if your offering is lacking. APV has bottom-shelf pumps (can't compete with Waukesha, Fristam, Tri-clover and will never overcome the brand preference and installed base). Their homogenizers are no longer the best in the market (poor design, poor quality, poor performance, no process expertise, too much $$ - not your father's Gaulin). Their PHE are overpriced and have something like 100 week lead times! Their valves can't compete with TC or Sudmo and very rarely get considered in projects. Spare parts are ridiculously overpriced and can be provided by pirates (same quality, less money). Plate companies outperform them on price and service levels. The OEMs and system integrators who do all the specifying on new projects seldom even consider APV. But other than that, the GTM and leadership is spot on. Friday, September 14, 2007 It seems that author of Tues. 9/11 comments is just telling like it is - not sour grapes. I left the company right when the new leadership came on board (I knew I wouldn't want to work for that type of management) to pursue an opportunity. Now I couldn't be happier that I got out of APV when I did. I have stayed in touch with many of my former colleagues, some who have left and some who are still there. The opinion of those people are the same; the ones who have stayed tolerate the culture and questionable management styles, do their jobs and collect their pay checks. I just wanted to point out that the views of that particular person are shared by more than a few people that I've talked with. I think it's great that the new blood is excited and proud of their new APV. But in case you don't already know (I suspect that your customers have probably told you and your order book will confirm) the present APV is nothing compared to the one before the Siebe/Invensys acquisition (pre 1997). Invensys destroyed a truly great company. Your biggest challenge now is that APV no longer has the best product offerings or the best engineering and process expertise. I still serve many of the same customers that I did while with APV, and they tell me that APV is not a company they look to for solutions anymore. APV is just another vendor now. Friday, September 14, 2007 - Regarding APV North America: It is entertaining to read this blog about leadership at APV North America. Seems like the author of the Tuesday Sept 11 blog was an individual that did cut the grade at APV and now has sour-grapes. The reality is that APV North America has improved both the top and bottom lines over the past 24 months. One measurement that tells a story about a business is employee turn-over rates. APV NA has had less than 3% turn-over in the last 18 months. Seems to me that if the business is delivering results, and employees are not leaving - something must have been working right over there. As far as what LVB will do at IPS - you can almost bet money that people will be departing, he won't keep non-performing team members, and he won't tolerate people acting like victims. I have worked for the guy. He is a real pain, but he is fair, and has high expectations. Be part of the solution and you can have a lot of fun; be part of the problem and he will remove you. (PS - I was NOT one of his buddies) Friday, September 14, 2007 What will be Monday morning "announcement" throughout Controls Europe? Dark transactions on the way? Well not easy to be sure of this, anyway since the announcement of de-globalisation at Controls, it is interesting to observe that some of ëthrown through the doorsí came back by the windows (e.g. have a look on HR). The useless matrix was translated into a useless cluster. Interesting to see that the famous Honeywell survivors will now experiment their ësuccessí at PLC level. IPS and others: The MBA (Master in Business Annihilation) will arrive soon in your locations. The Viking Circus is on the way. For sure, after having missed target in China and implemented a disaster in Slovakia, no doubt they will surprise you guys. So what could be the Monday teleconference stuff to Controls EMEA? We will make money through "services", not with products? No Kidding? Great deal! After having disgusted most of our customers with prices increases, designs issues, quality issues and so on, no doubt they will give us full confidence for "added-value services". The biggest hope is probably in the hands of the one in charge of the 'change management program'. Whoops, I forgot the Globally which is by the end of this sentence. Whatís that? To remove unskilled friends by capable guys from the 'underground'? Or to find them another title so we can make New Things with Old Guys? The NTOG theory would be verified once more. Question to Ulf: Aren't you tired to have mainly clowns around you? What about hiring a circus orchestra? That would make a nice complement and would make teleconferences far less sad! Thursday, September 13, 2007 - comments on APV North America: It seems like a large amount of sour grapes. Not everything is perfect, but it is better than 7 years ago. Much of the dead weight is gone and needed to be put aside. A certain amount of turnover in a company is a good thing, inserts new blood and ideas, APV needed it badly. Everyone wants to blame the management, but maybe they need to look at themselves. Thursday, September 13, 2007 Invensys shifting attention towards services business; will keep controls division; Siemens rumor unlikely. Published: September 11 2007 - ft@mergermarket.com Invensys is shifting its attention to focus on its services business, a company source said. Last year, a source familiar with the company said Invensys was reviewing its controls division, which had revenues of EUR 1.2bn. At that time, Invensys was thinking of either abandoning production in Europe and moving it to low labour cost countries or selling parts of it if offers were presented. The source said that there were already some interested players, but that no decision had been made yet. Today, the source said, the division had shown an improvement and Invensys has reorganized it giving it a more simple structure. A sale of the division is unlikely at this stage. The company is shifting its focus towards the services sector in order to deliver more value-added innovative engineering solutions and services with the objective of giving our customers greater efficiency and success. Wednesday, September 12, 2007 - From a Controls employee: A three ring circus without a ringmaster. Who is in charge? What is going on? Is this Invensys communications at its best? Tuesday, September 11, 2007 Here's what the folks at IPS can expect from the new VP of Sales: Ulf's buddy will come in and tell you how the company can regain it's former glory, blow smoke up your backside - telling you how it is your company and your business and that you, the same people who have been working so hard and have all the expertise, etc. are the people that will turn things around. He'll pretend to listen to your opinions, concerns and thoughts regarding what has been done wrong. He will then select a few people who will bow to him and place them in roles where they will live to report internally focused numbers to him (he will require several daily calls at any hour of day or night to report hopeful figures). He will then drive out anyone who represents the "old Foxboro" regime, regardless of how much experience, expertise and market knowledge they have. He will replace long tenured employees, who have earned the salaries they command, with young, inexperienced minions (most of whom have worked for him in the past, are his friends or are related) with low salaries. IPS' offering will become a commodity - sold by route sales people who can offer no expertise or value. He will introduce an "Excellence Program" which is nothing more than what he steals from "7 Habits". There will be a culture of exclusion - if you don't make it in to his little circle you're done. The perception that this guy knows what he is doing and that his leadership turned around APV is laughable. Just watch what becomes of APV in the next year or two. APV is in for quite an experience. Monday, September 10, 2007 The IPS HQ move to Dallas, TX. strongly reminds me of the headquarters move to Herndon, VA of a few years ago. A small number of transient top executives move or threaten to move the headquarters, they rent some space, less then 10 people move. After the inevitable next change in leadership, the "new" headquarters is abandoned. My guess is less then 3 years as Dallas makes no sense for IPS on any level. Saturday, September 8, 2007 To think that Sir Lancelot Vandenbrook (Managing Director, APV Americas) will turn around IPS with his "sky rockets in flight, customer delight" model is a joke. The APV "turn around", is a farce - increased orders doesn't necessarily equal increased profits, and APV is still struggling. The changes at APV to an increase in APV sales force was not even Lance's idea. Adding a bunch of young, inexperienced sales people to IPS will not turn things around. Wednesday, September 5, 2007 The APV NA Sales Director who made the APV NA USA turn-around successful is being sent to Dallas to rework the IPS Sales Force. This is a move to apply successful models to a group that needs to be energized. This move seems to be very positive for IPS. Tuesday, September 4, 2007 Wonderware has also hired key talent from Rockwell Software recently, and is quietly building a very strong and experienced team. Monday, September 03, 2007 - from an Invensys employee: The current regime at Invensys was brought in from EDS, from outside the industry. It's the best "straight talk" I have heard in my 12 years here. I think they are doing the right thing, breaking down the old "Foxboro vs. them" barriers, and moving the center of power from Foxboro to Dallas - which is closer to the customer and of course, closer to the homes of the EDS executives. I think its a smart move. Sunday, September 2, 2007 - from ex-employee (and now a customer): So, let me get this straight. IPS is moving HQ to Dallas. I could almost, almost understand if they had moved HQ to Houston where there is arguably a strong IPS presence. But Dallas ??? Well, perhaps this is just being cynical, and perhaps there are objective and strategic reasons, such as this - Paulett Eberhart owns property in Plano, TX - near Dallas (Click link):
Paulett Eberhart, Property Information, Plano, TX.
In the meantime, competitors are forging ahead....wireless transmitters (Emerson, Honeywell), strategic acquisitions (Honeywell buying Enraf) You know the saddest part: The technology under the IPS umbrella is truly outstanding. I/A is one of the best DCS systems out there, miles ahead of competing products such as Experion & DeltaV (and believe me, I've worked with all of these). Other IPS products such as Tricon, ROMeo are all in a league of their own. And in the meantime, these management clowns are hell bent on grinding it to the floor. Sunday, September 2, 2007 The decision by Paulett Eberhart to relocate to Dallas just shows how irrelevant she and those who came before are to the core Foxboro operation. Foxboro soldiers on, while the megalomaniacs come and go. Sunday, September 2, 2007 Paulett Eberhart has announced the relocation of the IPS headoffice to Dallas, Texas - after "detailed analysis". I expect that the analysis is limited to the distance between her own house and a major city. This decision only indicate that she wants to reduce the costs in the current headoffice of IPS in Foxboro, since Ulf will never allow costs increase. This despite the statements that "Foxboro remains the centre for development and production". Strange statement while the actual production is partly already in China and Mexico, and the development is partly outsourced to India. It would show true leadership if management would communicate what they realy think. Saturday, September 1, 2007 Invensys has announced that Sudipta Bhattacharya has been appointed as the Invensys chief software solutions officer reporting to Mike Bradley Sr., president of Wonderware. Bhattacharya will be responsible for driving strategy and growing the Invensys and Wonderware software solutions business. Previously, Bhattacharya served as senior vice president of solutions management for supply chain, manufacturing and product lifecycle applications at SAP America, Inc. Friday, August 24, 2007 Seems like more than a couple of APV sales people are jumping ship and seeking greener pastures with the competition. Who could blame them - they continue to lose orders and are feeling the void of any process or product expertise. Management just continues the beatings. Who needs it. I guess some just want to know what it feels like to be paid a bonus that they've earned... Monday, August 20, 2007 Wonderware Appoints Rick Bullotta Vice President and Chief Technical Officer Wonderware today announced that industry veteran and innovator Rick Bullotta has been appointed vice president and chief technology officer of Wonderware. Bullotta will report to Mike Bradley Sr., president of Wonderware. Tuesday, August 14, 2007 - Re: APV - Center of Excellence: APV is opening a small office in Chicago to support the "Americas" business. Office will have approximately 20 employees (Marketing, Human Resources, some Finance, and Sales Team Memebers). The Buffalo business will remain. Saturday, August 11, 2007 - Re: APV-USA: Word on the street is that "Center of Excellence" is being relocated again; from upstate New York to the Windy City. This would be a reversal from 2004 when Chicago HQ was closed. It makes sense for an independent operation; but what about the engineers that are left? Does anyone have confirmation of the news? Wednesday, August 8, 2007 Look out below! Giving it all back - how low will it go before Ulf must sell something off. APV could be on the block - may as well get what you can for it now because performance is lagging. Monday, August 6, 2007 The recent stock price runup was apparently due to expectations of better financials than those just announced for Q1 and not the Siemens rumor. Process Systems profit was the weak spot. Nothing a good layoff can't fix. Friday, July 27, 2007 Did anyone notice what little information our new 401K statements give out. What date did the fund pay out the dividend? What date were our new shares bought? At what price? The Ameriprise statements were a lot more informatitive! Monday, July 23, 2007 APV - The new sales force seems to be doing well, but expectations from management are very high. Sales people need time, (and product) to get things going. As a customer, I hope they give the new people time,(and stock products). We have seen changes, and the new sales people will be tested before they gain our confidence. If Invensys "pulls the plug" on APV this time; our patience with this supplier will be severely strained. Wednesday, July 11, 2007 Chan Galbato resigned? Wishful thinking. Though that would be a happy day. Expect that he will leave soon enough as he is fast approaching 2 years and can not squeeze another profitable year out of this mess. He will claim victory and move on to his next job. Wednesday, July 11, 2007 I heard today that Chan Galbato resigned. Can this be confirmed? Monday, July 2, 2007 Invensys Completes Cimnet Acquisition on Schedule and Will Integrate Acquisition into Its Wonderware Business Unit Wonderware is Integrating Cimnet MES Technology, Using Invensysí ArchestrA Industrial SOA, to Accelerate MES Software & Solutions across Invensys Units Invensys today announced that it has completed the acquisition of Cimnet, a Manufacturing Execution System ("MES") software company based in Pennsylvania, USA, and this acquisition is now being fully integrated into the Wonderware software business unit of Invensys. The acquisition has closed under the terms of the original agreement that was announced on May 3, 2007. Saturday, June 30, 2007 As a (soon to be) ex-Honeywell customer, I find the talk of Siemens buying Invensys of particular interest. In the past I have enjoyed a good level of support from Honeywell. But, Honeywell is now actively outsourcing much of it's development and support to low cost countries; support has (already) become slow and unreliable. If I can get back the same level of support (in the EU) by jumping to Siemens/Invensys I'll make that jump without a second thought. Tuesday, June 26, 2007 - from APV customer (United States): I will point out that the APV organization is doing a great job for my business. My local salesperson is at my site on a regular basis and is always keeping me informed of what is happening in the marketplace. The competitors to APV could learn some lessons from them. Based on what I see, it appears my salesperson is getting compensated, he has been with APV for 2 years now and seems happy to work in this organization. Bottom line: If you like what APV is doing you buy from them; if you don't like them, you will source from a competitor. Friday, June 22, 2007 - What Siemens would do with Invensys:
Friday, June 22, 2007 Any truth to the Siemens news of buying Invensys? What in the world would they do with them? Friday, June 22, 2007 - Back from the dead: BTR back in the Footsie? Don't laugh. Invensys, as the conglomerate became after it was shoved together with the similarly-ailing Siebe, is back from the brink of death to the brink of the FTSE 100. Its market value is now £3bn. There's not much there that's recognisable from the good old days of BTR - just Westinghouse, the one star within the disastrous 1991 acquisition of Hawker Siddeley. Shareholders who bought at the top have still lost nine-tenths of their money. Those who bought at the bottom - two years ago - have a fourfold return, showing once again that there is no substitute for good management. What a shame it came 15 years after it was needed. (Guardian 22-06-07) Wednesday, June 20, 2007 APV Sales Force: As a customer, I do not dismmiss the new APV sales people, they are "trying" and they may prove to be a proper addition. I do recall when APV had engineers or local "very experienced" people to call on us; but those days are past for most suppliers. Price, Performance and "above all" Timely Delivery; are the keys to the product selection process we employ. It would also not hurt APV to find a way to get involved in the small project business. At this point, the biggest issue for APV with us is "Timely Delivery". I do not understand their issues, but the sales people are the least of APV's equipment sales problem. I just could not get timely delivery of their pumps and valves to keep them involved for the last project. I hope their sales are picking-up like the previous email stated, maybe that is why delivery was an issue. All suppliers have issues, I think the new sales people need some time to help move improvements along. Tuesday, June 19, 2007 Here's what this morning's UK Telegraph had to say:
"The engineering and business services group was boosted by talk that it could be a target for Siemens at around 500p a share. Furthermore, Credit Suisse lifted its target price on Invensys from 330p to 390p following last month's results and an investor day last Friday. Evolution agreed that "a strong series of presentations by Invensys further enhanced our confidence" and argued: "The true potential of Invensys is still woefully misrepresented in the current share price." It lifted its target price by 30 to 430p. Shortly before the market closed, a director dealt in the stock, an indication that Invensys, up 7æ to 382æp, is not in bid talks." Sunday, June 17, 2007 Let's see, some new APV direct sales people come from Kinkos or Staples, while others only have experience in the label industry. APV customers find value in sales people who not only know the products and processes but are experts. The direct sales force is young and inexperienced - they don't know jack about the products they sell and even less about the processes of their customers. Striving to (or saying that you will) delight your customers is one thing, actually delighting them is quite another. Go ask the market place; start with Dean Foods and Heinz - two key customers who have recently signed agreements to have companies other than APV supply their equipment. The direct sales force is too green to know that they will not make their numbers because customers will buy from others on price, performance and expertise. You will either leave because you are making no money (APV doesn't pay their bonuses anyway) or you will be culled out because you don't hit your numbers. Friday, June 8, 2007 Regarding the comments about APV direct-sales organization being young inexperienced and not adding value. Whoever wrote this has no clue who these individuals are, and is definitely not a customer to any of these individuals. People don't generate significant double digit growth by not adding value. Go talk to the marketplace, customers are placing orders with APV because we meet our commitments. We do what we say we are going to do. Delighting Our Customers is what we do, our customers reward us with more business, that doesn't happen with inexperienced non-value-added salespeople. Wednesday, May 30, 2007 Invensys stock has more than doubled in the last year from 164p to 390p. The stock price has jumped on positive earnings news. It has been on the rise since mid March. Looking at the historical price data for this stock, I noticed that on March 23, 2007 there was a single day spike in trading volume of over 10 times the daily average. On that day over 100 million shares changed ownership at a price of 293p, that is over 300 million pounds. The market cap of ISYS.L was then about 2.34 billion Pounds. Thus about 12.5% of Invensys changed ownership that day alone. This was the highest single day volume by a lot in a long time. There are only a few options in my mind:
Tuesday, May 22, 2007 APV has indeed added many direct sales people. They are mostly young, unexperienced and low salaried spare parts order chasers. They have little or no experience or expertise in the products, processes, technologies or customers businesses. They are simply providing an APV presence with very little value add. Furthermore, they compete with their own sales channels and give away margin to get orders. The days of APV having the best people, product and process expertise are long gone. They can continue capturing the lucrative spares business for the existing installed base of equipment, if the direct flunkies can wrestle it from the pirates, who have been eating their lunch. However, without new equipment and project sales, the parts business will eventually dry up. Look for further positioning and window dressing before Invensys unloads APV. They couldn't get the right price a few years back when a deal was in the works with SPX. So people like their new leader were brought in to get the biz in shape for more lucrative sales. Thursday, May 3, 2007 Invensys/Wonderware adding to the stable instead of selling off. Sounds like they're in it for the long haul.
Invensys Agrees to Acquire CIMNET (Extract from Nasdaq website) Thursday, April 26, 2007 APV has added multiple direct sales channels to APV NA, spreading the idea of synergy to a potential bidder. Also, APV has avoided the "losing" Project Business and has focussed on the profitable parts and equipment business. Expansion of product sales has declined, due to lower project sales, but the component business has not yet felt the totality of the pain. APV has returned their email address from Invensys to APV. No investment in new products, but great focus on the profitable aspects of the business. The management has done a great job in positioning APV for the "unloading dock" of Invensys dept. Mission Acomplished - Invensys should unload another unit soon. Thursday, April 26, 2007 - 4/26/07 post on reason for share price inrease:
Extract from 04/26/2007 07:25:15 PM EDT - DAILY MAIL Thursday, April 26, 2007 The Invensys share price jumped 20p yesterday and was up a further 8.5p this morning - nearly 30p or 10% in less than two days? UK press thus far has only said "bid rumours" and "private equity interest". Saturday, April 14, 2007 Chalk and cheese, that's what it is. Guys talk it up at Foxboro and APV all you want, its the same globally, I left 18 months ago for another major DCS solution provider that wins work. The recipe is simple, there's a lot to be said for management support, something that I now get, a lot to be said about empowerment, something I now get, a lot to be said about pay rises and bonuses, something I now get, throw in camaraderie, regular bbq's and Friday arvo beer o'clock and you'll start to understand you are missing something in your life as an engineer and its passing you by. Wake up before its too late, so you can start enjoying what you do best. Saturday, April 7, 2007 I am a new employee to APV (Oct 05) and I am amazed at the negativity of this blog. I am happy I work at APV, we have a young team that wants to win and leadership that listens. We are accountable for our actions and our results. I work in North America and our business leader is very clear about expectations of the organization. Stop complaining and help solve our customers problems or find some other place to work. When I first arrived there were a number of employees that complained about all the changes. They have all left the organization in the last year and APV North America is a good place to be. We haven't heard what our final results are for the fiscal year, but we know it has been a record year for us. From what I can read on this blog, if you aren't happy at Invensys, maybe you should consider other employment alternatives. Friday, March 30, 2007 Having recently joined the company (Nov. 2005), I feel it is my duty to post on here in response to the previous log. I have enjoyed nothing but the best in benefits, mentoring, freedom to be creative, and opportunities. The company is undertaking a major movement to improve its on-boarding processes and even has a volunteer group that supports new hires. There is an air of excitement within the company. Maybe it's just me, but things seem to be looking up, way up. We are growing market share, we are hiring on a large scale, and we are releasing arguably the most exciting product to enter our industry in the last 20 years. Be positive! Be excited! If you are discouraged, take a look around and make sure it isn't your mindset holding you back, find someone who seems happy and ask them why. Foxboro is making a come-back and I have every intention of being here when our wave crests. Thursday, March 29, 2007 - regarding previous negative post: Yes. That's correct - this is just one exiting employee. A relatively recent employee, and one of four relatively recent employees in the past 6 months that have left M&I after a short stay. Believe what you want, but the retention time of new employees is poor. That speaks for itself. I understand that some have to convince themselves that its not because Foxboro is a bad place to work but rather, it must be that the "new" people that come in that can't adapt. OK, what ever keeps them going. The inevitable still looms. Wednesday, March 28, 2007 - Re. March 28 post on Foxboro: I'm surprised to hear that there is still a high level of negativity. My impression, based on a few people I still talk to at Foxboro, was that things were much better. Business was good and the management had become more humane. Perhaps this was just one exiting employee? Wednesday, March 28, 2007 I work for Foxboro and can relate to many of the weblogs I have read. There is negativity because this company is a wreck. I mean, let's face it - when the beast is going down, there is not alot of positive thoughts that will surface (no pun intended). I am happy to say that you can make a positive move though. I have. I am leaving Foxboro shortly, and am going to work for a prosperous company. My message is: when working at a company like Foxboro, you have choices. You can stay or you can leave. In spite of what many people at Foxboro believe, there is a better life beyond. I feel sorry for the people who have been here a long time and refuse to believe that... Wednesday, March 21, 2007 - re: Invensys Controls on a collision course. I read with some sense of amusement the blogs referencing Invensys Controls. If they only knew how right they are! Invensys Controls was formed by pushing Appliance and Climate Controls together at the end of 2004, following unsuccessful business disposal attempts. Each had problems which were common and of their own making. The formation was purely a cost play, expecting to capitalize on non-existent synergies. As anybody with any knowledge of business combinations will tell you, mergers are tricky, cultures are important, and political jockying is a poison pill (it is clearly apparant none of the leadership had sucessfully integrated acquired companies). Ulf, correctly sensing a lack of leadership in the group, brought in minions from Honeywell who surely could turn things around, (mainly because they had worked for Honeywell and or Allied Signal; funny how all outsiders are considered better than insiders, though Honeywell/Allied was a disaster and they are just recovering). However, these guys were extraordinarily political and, being hand picked by Ulf to lead the world, went about alienating just about everybody they could find. At this point there is practically nobody left that knows the business (warts and all) and the new leadership is simply painting by the numbers (and as noted by several writers simply waiting for the bonus payday to jump ship). Ulf's hand picked successor seldom shows up at the office, let alone at customers locations, or God forbid plants. Controls is at heart a manufacturer of OEM mechanical, electromechanical, and electronic controls. It is a shame to see such potential (speaking of the business, not the leadership) go down the drain, but that's where it going. The new manager's claim to fame will be that he has reached a level of stability (still 25% lower than when he was given the business) and surely he will speak highly of how he refocused the business to think solely of the customer. It is now likely that we will see a sad end for Controls. The only hope for the business is a sale. The customers are very uneasy - as they should be. The business hasn't reached the bottom yet; it's only treading water until the next wave. The good people who work in the business should be sainted for putting up with the incompetence, but they will likely pay the real price for the lack of leadership. It has taken many years and regimes to get to this point, but current leadership has only aggravated the situation. I am sad for the future, but I will stick it out. Who knows maybe I can capitalized on this disaster; maybe write a book similar to "barabarian as the gate", or I can call it "Idiots at the revolving door". Of course, I can only do that if I see the final chapter..... Wednesday, February 7, 2007 TAC have bought a dog in IBS (InvensysBuildingSystems). I have a long history with this company from the Robertshaw days (1986) right up to being sold like a cow to TAC (2007). I have watched this companies excellent engineering products they acquired from Robertshaw/BarberColeman be replaced with rubbish. The main reason we could not win any jobs is the I/A series controllers are so engineering resource hungry. Our customers hated them and the way it was integrated by Niagara. If we dont sell controls IBS doesn't make any money. The fundamental problem here is the products, no development whatsoever for years and they don't have their own front end. They dumped a lot of loyal Bobshaw and BC customers by discontinuing both product lines. These people used to spend MILLIONS of dollars with us. It all dried up in 2 years. On top of that the front end (Tridium Niagara) is now owned by Honeywell. So what did TAC buy? Some factories that make valves and actuators? I hope TAC have a plan to revitalize this part of the acquisition, unless they only bought IBS for their valves and actuators. More job losses to come?? Is this the last chapter or will these factories (and employees) be sold again?? Friday, January 26, 2007 Like many others at IPS, I am saddened to see the talented and respected KB dumped in favor of a bean counter from outside the industry. But Iím not surprised. This move is consistent with my perception that counting beans is all that really matters at Invensys. Perhaps Ms. Eberhart will polish the company (by rubbing out employees), but past experience suggests to me that a sale is doubtful. I think instead that weíre merely in for yet another round of fiscal smoke and mirrors. (sigh) Tuesday, January 24, 2007 Extract from JimPinto.com eNews No. 224, 24 January 2007: Invensys leadership changesSomeone on the weblog said of Invensys, "The more things change, the more they stay the same". CEO Ulf Henricksson has just appointed Paulett Eberhart CEO & President of Invensys Process Systems (IPS).Ken Brown, who had been in the position since the sudden exit of Mike Caliel about a half-year ago, was supposedly one of 3 internal candidates vying for the job and he was unaccountably bypassed. Foxboro loyalists are clearly disappointed, and are wondering what changes this new chief will bring. With a long background in EDS (computer services), Ms. Eberhart (52) has more of a financial background, with no experience whatsoever in the industrial automation and process controls business. Seems like yet another deja vu experience for fatigued Foxboro. After being left to manage a too-heavy debt-burden, Ulf has put Invensys on a somewhat reasonable financial footing again. My guess is that he is preparing for his own graceful exit by selling off Invensys for more than its current market value - still a mediocre GBP 2.4B ($4.7B), about 1:1 with annual revenue. Keeping Ken Brown in the role of President would have meant that the objective was to complete the hard-slog of returning to stability. Bringing in an outside bean-counter can only mean polishing the business to prepare for a sell-off. Another move, more sensible and long overdue, was the exit of Peter Tompkins as President of Eurotherm. He was replaced by Jeff Green who was VP of Manufacturing at Process Systems and previously with Flowserve Pumps. Eurotherm is still handled separately within the group, probably because it has only legacy temperature control widget products and is worth more as a divestiture. Whoever buys Invensys will be buying it for Foxboro (installed customer-base and market presence), Wonderware (Archestra), Triconex and other good parts of Process Systems. Any likely buyer will simply sell off Rail Systems, Eurotherm and other non-related business for whatever they can fetch. For an acquisition of this size, the only possible buyers are large, overlapping competitors: Siemens & Schneider (who need more process control); Honeywell (unlikely, because they're a direct competitor, and Process Systems is itself just a segment); Emerson (possible, though unlikely, because they're a direct competitor and don't need Foxboro); GE (unlikely, because Jeff Immelt is off buying other more juicy businesses); Yokogawa or Omron (unlikely, because the Japanese don't know how to accomplish acquisitions of this size). Who else? Your guess is as good as mine.
JimPinto.com eNews # 224 - 24 Jan. 2007
Walt Boyes' blog - Ulf torpedoes Ken Brown:
Sunday, January 7, 2007 Referring to an old weblog (Monday, April 24, 2006) on use of vulgar language: Remember these comments? The problem has been solved; there is now an automatic closer on the door into the office area, so the F-words don't get out. Yet in meeting after meeting, including meetings with mixed company, the F-words are still flying as fast and as furious as ever. The same person is still doing, it and HR is still blind and deaf to all this - they allow this to continue. Wednesday, December 20, 2006 Unfortunately, it sounds like Controls is going to force customers to move to other suppliers and, in the end, they are going to be left with un-saleable assets. The Controls executives probably don't care, because they will have their bonus and will have moved on to other jobs with other companies. Only the hard working career employees at Robertshaw will be left to clean-up the mess as they turn off the lights.... Tuesday, December 19, 2006 So if Invensys is going to exit the water heater business, who is the likely buyer? And if this speculation becomes reality, will Appliance be sold as well? Monday, December 18, 2006 The lastest blog regarding the Controls business makes me wonder "are the Appliance Controls customers next?". It has become painfully obvious that the leadership of Controls is only worried about one thing - how do I make my bonus and, at the same time, position for the next job (outside Invensys). Creating an Executive Floor at the Chicago HQ on which only certain employees have access to, management no longer visiting customers and understanding their business requirements, and the revolving door which now exists at the GM level highlights the concerns seen by customers. Now is not a good time to be sole sourced with the Controls group. Tuesday, December 12, 2006 Recent speculation has it that "Chan the Man" has decided to exit the water heating business and is now jaming it to long-term customers by instituting a 70% price increase with only one weeks notice. It should not surprise anyone that Controls is taking this action, especially when senior executives under the current leadership no longer visit customers and are only concerned about how the profit and loss statement looks. Going out in a blaze of glory has again become fashionable. Wednesday, November 22, 2006 Displeasure sitting through a Controls Group meeting? How sad that they never learn to recruit "leaders" who will give Managers and ultimately all good employees the respect they deserve for the efforts they put in. It's not just about take-home pay at the end of the month. You have staff who give 100% plus, so give them respect in return. I sat in a Invensys Controls Europe meeting some years ago, and watched a presentation by a staff member who struggled a bit with his English. But, HE WAS TRYING REAL HARD TO BE WORD PERFECT. I then witnessed the M.D. turn to this guy's Manager in view of the whole meeting and ask, "Um - is THIS GUY having English lessons or what?" How degrading and de-motivating to all those present do you think that was? Changing attitudes from above are needed in this organisation, where Bully-Boy tactics from Senior Managers have been the order of the day for for too long! Wednesday, November 15, 2006 I just had the displeasure of sitting through a couple of days of business reviews held with the Controls group. After watching this display, I have to wonder why anyone would choose to continue to work under the "leadership" provided by ICA President Chan Galbato. Leadership that relies on embarrassing and humilating the very people who have devoted time away from their families and hang tough trying to correct the mess Mr. Galbato's lack of focus and leadership has wrought. Watching this is a business school lesson on how not to provide leadership. All that was heard from Mr. Galbato was how it was the last guy's fault. A sorry excuse from a management team now in place for over a year. One has to wonder when exactly Mr. Galbato will step up. Friday, October 27, 2006 - Where did Haythornthwaite go? Extract from recent announcement: MasterCard Incorporated (NYSE: MA) today announced that Richard Haythornthwaite, a member of the MasterCard Board of Directors, has been elected as the non-executive chairman of its board, effective immediately. Mr. Haythornthwaite is a managing director of UK-based Star Capital Partners. Richard ìRickî Haythornthwaite, 49, is a managing director of Star Capital Partners, a private equity partnership focused on European capital-intensive sectors. From 2001 to 2005, he served as CEO and director for Invensys plc, and from 1997 to 2001 was with Blue Circle Industries plc, first as chief executive, Europe and Asia, and then as group chief executive. His prior positions include serving as a director of Premier Oil, president of BP Venezuela and general manager, Magnus Oil Field, BP Exploration. Rick is also a non-executive director of the main board of ICI plc. Mr. Haythornthwaite is chairman of the Almeida Theatre and chairman of the Corporate Advisory Group of the Tate Gallery. He is also a trustee of the UK National Museum of Science and Industry and a board member of the British Council. Wednesday, October 25, 2006 - Re: weblog Sept. 30: "employees that are changing this company": I wholly appreciate the contribution employees make to design, manufacturing, etc. But that is only a wish - Invensys cannot be changed by Employees. This this from one who tried for "the good of the company" but got penalized from above. In the past, many changes (sometimes atrocious) can be placed firmly at the feet of Senior Management. I for one never want to hear employees blamed for something that in many many cases left employees as the casualties, while the Decision Makers continued to thrive. Please know your facts before spouting such nonsense. Saturday, October 7, 2006 I have been watching this weblog for a few years now, not as an external investor, customer or competitor, but as a "simple" employee in a successful Invensys business unit (not Foxboro). I really appreciated Jim Pinto's log including his articles on August 15. And I hoped that all these whining guys would also read it and stop misusing this weblog as their wailing wall. But they continue to shovel their own grave (why should customers and investors trust in this company, if they only read shit?). Hey, my friends: If you are not happy with your situation, try to change it by personal and constructive contribution - one could be looking for a better company with better management, better conditions, better pay and less work. Why don't you? Don't want to loose pension entitlements? Here I agree with the log on Sept. 30: YOU may be part of the problem, too. So help to solve it. And believe me: I'm well aware of the fact, that Invensys is in no way untroubled by the "Peter Principle". But that's another story - not only at Foxboro! I'd prefer to read more valuable logs here in the future, leaving a more realistic (i.e. positive) mark of Invensys as a whole, and not only about Foxboro's "badly treated" folks. Tuesday, October 3, 2006 From what I see writen in the recent weblogs, I get the impression we can now be giddy about the prospects of Invensys moving into a new healthy future. Yes, there are some good people in place. But now, let's get rid of the attitude, "cheap is best". The customer should be the first and formost objective. This means give them the best service, the best instruments, the best software possible. Don't go with the idea that if something fails, just replace it. Make it right in the first place. All in the same place - not in Mexico, China, India, or where ever. Now listen carefully: CHEAP IS NOT THE BEST. CARE about being the best. Don't outsource because it is the current fad. Get rid of management that has no respect for their workers. Understand who manufactures the products, not some know it all dictator but your own good workers. Listen to your customers, and don't rest until they are happy. I hope I'm not just someone screaming, while everyone else knows better. Who is listening? Tuesday, October 3, 2006 I've got to laugh when I hear this stuff about being "part of the problem", and to "change the company instead of complain". These are probably from new people, or someone who has suddenly found something going right. Understandable, I suppose. Employees know - better than the management (Foxboro, at least) what to fix and how to do it. But they are completely powerless to do so. They'd love to change it, but are not allowed and, in fact, will be layoff-targets if they try to change anything. So their only outlet is to complain anonymously (this weblog is a channel) and hope that someone will listen and remove the REAL problems, which are the mid-level and upper management. Saturday, September 30, 2006 To all Invensys Employees who still have negative comments and thoughts about Invensys: You are adding zero value to the business and should consider that maybe you are the problem, not the solution. Stop blaming management and start taking accountability for your own attitudes. The employees that are changing this company are working too hard to listen to a bunch of complainers. Friday, September 29, 2006 I am a member of the IPS (Americas) customer service team and just finished a week-long meeting at one of our headquarters. I was rejuvenated, refreshed and acquired a new found respect for our leaders and the demands of their daily job performance. These folks not only have hectic days but they often work into the night so they can keep our customers happy. I also came to the realization that they DO CARE about the employees and highly value their input and CONSTRUCTIVE criticism. The thing I am now absolutely convinced of is that they not only put our customers needs above all things, but they are taking insightful action to keep them happy, secure and enormously productive and satisfied. I predict that in the next 3 years, Invensys will be a company to be envied, as well as emulated, with regards to our new business practices and processes. It's my personal opinion that IPS is well on it's way to becoming a "well oiled business machine"!!! The leaders have convinced me that they are not only sound business managers, but also that they are absolutely not going to accept either failure or sub-standard performance of our company business. I've kept track of this weblog for about the past 3 years and I'm now absolutely convinced that IPS is not going to disappear from the scene and will, most certainly, retain the lead as the world leader in our field and widen the gap between us and our competitors. To management: Thank you for all of your energy and confidence and rest assured that at least one of your former skeptical employees is now instilled with a new and expanding confidence level in our company. Sunday, September 17, 2006 I always read in this weblog ow all the comments about INVENSYS are negative. In most cases, deservedly so. The upper management has much to learn about business and how to treat customers and employees. But here in IPS (Foxboro is part) things seem to have changed. We no longer have cold, calculating, mercenary types in control. With Ken Brown as interim president, and Bob Jones taking over his former job, just maybe we have decent human beings in place. They both are very intelligent and seem to care about the people and doing business the right way. Now hopefully we may rid the company of the remaining arrogant fools. Monday, September 11, 2006 Sorry but I disagree, the negative comments are not only from Foxboro (Boston) employees. Although there may be none written in this weblog from Walsh Automation or Validation Technologies (Canada) there is nothing positive that came out of our merge with Invensys. I do agree that one by six stands for: SIX JOBS FOR ONE SMALL PAY! and if you are one of those that do have a good pay, well you are fired to lower the costs. Thursday, August 24, 2006 I don't want to spoil the positive tone lately on this forum : Invensys is doing better. Yes, that is probably true, but all automation vendors are doing better at the moment : it is just a consequence of the economic situation. Some are even in a situation that they can choose the projects they want to execute. Several of the operating companies have reduced their staffing so much in the past years, that they have to rely more and more on vendors, engineering companies. But these have also laid off people. So maybe the fact that the automation vendors have almost more projects than they can handle is not such a positive indication. Tuesday, August 22, 2006 - from Neil Dowsing - Investor: At last, some good solid positive feedback. As a small investor I have been following Invensy on an almost daily basis for 3 years now. Jim Pinto used an expression of 'took a lickin but kept on tickin'. Well I took a lickin at about the time that Invensys appeared to be on the rack. I liked the company and as an an act of faith I bought some shares with the only spare cash I had left...which wasnt much. I saw that a recovery of Invensys was symbolic of my own. I said this to Ulf Henrickson at the AGM. It helps to remember that executives are human beings too. They too have morale and take criticism personally. Henrickson said that he wanted Invensys to be a 'growth company' and said he was in it for the long haul,provided he felt he was getting results, that he was paid his worth, and that he was wanted. Thats fair enough! Employess - if you beleive in the company then buy their shares. My feeling based on what I learned at the AGM is that Spring 2008 will be a defining moment for the company when the last shackles of a destructive regime will be thrown off. Keep going all you 'good people' and make a few quid ( English), Bucks (American), out of your own efforts. Monday, August 21, 2006 The stock was making a nice up move when everyone was negative. Now even Jim Pinto sounds like Rebecca of Sunnybrook Farm. It's time to buy puts. Monday, August 21, 2006 - From an APV Employee: I'm an employee from APV North America, and I can honestly say that the leadership team in North America has turned around our organization. We are focused on the most important parts of the business - our customers! About two years ago we got another leader for APV North America, most employees felt he was just one more guy that didn't get it. I was wrong, he got it and he made all of us get it too. "Delight our Customers, and good things will happen" Good things are happening, and it is great to work for this organization. Saturday, August 19, 2006 - from APV employee: APV has many new products and processes. Some are selectively launched to clients who will purchase them (a small list) and some are sold to win contracts surprising the competition. The days of telling the competition what we are doing are thankfully over. Wednesday, August 16, 2006 - APV Update - From a customers perspective; APV has setted down and is very much trying to improve. Management is very active; and they try to address the needs of the customer. Also, the employees are trying to handle the customer's needs, at least in North America. However, the APV troops need a new product release or a new product. Their competitors arrive daily with a new DVD product releases or a new twist to a current issue. The APV effort is good but they need something new; either a process system development, or a new product; to bring to the table. That is a management or R&D issue. Investment in R&D is not only required, but it is an element of survival for APV. I wish them well. Tuesday, August 15, 2006 - Note from Jim Pinto: You know, I appear to have been pillorying Invensys for years, fueled by negative weblogs from people who seemed to have had no other outlet to complain. This review shows the positive side. Thereís an old saying, "When the going gets tough, the tough get going." There are those who complain, and those who solve problems. I am happy to present this story of the Invensys culture that "took a lickin' but just kept on tickin' ". My latest article is published on Automation.com, August 2006, as part of their "Corporate Culture Series". Just click on the links below to read it:
Tuesday, August 15, 2006 The situation at Invensys seems to have improved, and the Automation side of the business seems to be in good health. However, we seem to be going into a slide in residential new build in the US, with potentially slowing demand in the appliance market. Can the Controls business really maintain or raise its profitability? Invensys seems to have been behind the curve in pushing raw-material prices through to end customers. Can they really do it now when the economy in the US is slowing? Thursday, August 10, 2006 - Re: Question on APV July 19th: Yes, APV is improving. It is still early days yet.APV Americas did grow business there with 40% last year. In fact you see growth in every region. APV Global now shows continous profit for over half a year. It is now all about building on this growth and work on consistency. The management team is new, with a real hands-on and make-it-happen attitude. Forget about the past and stop complaining. If you think there is room to improve, make it happen. With complaining and looking to the past you won't go anywhere. Maybe that should be a message to all the complainers on this weblog. Yes, I work with APV and we all had, and still have, our share of troubles. But at least we see that with all the hard work we've put in things are really changing. Tuesday, August 8, 2006 - RE: Neil Dowsing: What a sucker. Surely Ulf would talk wit ANY investor this way. Neil probably did not talk to Ulf about the management running day-to-day operations. Monday, August 7, 2006 - Re. Neil Dowsing's comments: The negative comments on this blog come primarily from Foxboro employees. Foxboro is a small part of Invensys so I wouldn't get overly concerned about this negativity. People in the Boston area tend to complain a lot anyway. Monday, August 7, 2006 Am I seeing right? Did ISYS go to 175p this morning?
One for ten share consolidation effective 7 August 2006 Following approval of shareholders at the AGM held on 3 August 2006, Invensys plc's Ordinary Shares have been consolidated on the basis of one new Ordinary Share of 10p each (ìthe New Sharesî) for every ten existing ordinary shares of 1p each. Trading in the New Shares on the London Stock Exchange commenced on 7 August 2006. Sunday, August 6, 2006 - from Neil Dowsing, Investor: I went to the AGM last week and had a 30 minute 1-to-1 with Ulf Henrikson. He came across as some one who has his eye on the ball, is straight forward and capable. Orders and margins appear to be recovering although there are a lot of unprofitable plants that they do not have the money to close down (France and Germany). Debt has been reduced although the last bulk of it they are going to be encumbent with for another two years. The impression I have of a recovering company appears to be in very stark contrast to the ever present gloom and dispair on this weblog. Ok things were very bad up until 2004 but surely their are a few rays of light that at least someone on this weblog can pick up on. I am an investor and profit aside, I have a genuine wish to see this company make a full recovery. Monday, July 31, 2006 - from former employee and a current well wisher: Mike Caliel's exit make things differently difficult for Invensys. IPS loses its stability or the promise of it, over again. With no strong culture, IPS will have to change its flavour of business with a new incumbent head. Forget recovery; these changes make genuine well wishing employees insecure and also result in good people leaving the company. And at the same time, some new head will get in to make things even more difficult. I remember the Invensys which used to be a great place to work till few years back. Tuesday, July 25, 2006 Insiders say that Schneider's purchase of Invensys Building Systems will move most of the Love's Park (Rockford) IL jobs to Schneider's Tlaxcala, Mexico plant. Valve products will be sourced and machined in Italy due to the low raw material costs. Electronic systems manufacturing will be merged into Schneider's existing resource centers. Sunday, July 23, 2006 - Re: Invensys Consolidated Balance Sheet for year ending 31 March 2006: Good point. When I was at Invensys I noticed that they were selling the divisions that were making money. Although management claimed that it is not their core business, these divisions had a very good potential. For example Invensys sold Rexnord in 2002 for $800 million. In 2006 Rexnord was valued at 1.8billion. ( Including a 2005 acquisition of Falk Corporation valued at $295 million) This shows how poorely invensys is managed.The caculation you showed reinforces that Invensys will not survive for too long. In a way, it is better(for the employees) to be sold to other companies who know how to manage. I am sure Rexnord employees don't read this log anymore !!! I am finally an EX Invensys employee. Happy to be out. But sad I have good working friends still there loyal to the company while the management screwup things. Friday, July 21, 2006 You can map the demise of Foxboro/Siebe/Invensys to its current state when Mike Caliel walk through the door at Foxboro back in 1996. He brought with him a group of myrmidons and sycophants that were looking for personal enrichment over the welfare of the company. The lavish spending on ìManagement Reviewî Session and personal travel expenditures would have made many wondering what the prorities were at Invensys/Siebe/Foxboro. As the ìpreviousî management team was run off Mike replaced them with BOMs (Buddies of Mike) from the industry. Some of these people still fester and infect the company producing ìparadigm shiftsî and other management nonsense. I firmly believe that there is not a well run company anywhere in the world that would take on the burden of Invensys at this time. The pieces are worth more than the whole. Wednesday, July 19, 2006 Can anyone comment on any changes they have heard about at APV? My understanding is that there is a new president and that the performance of the organization has improved significantly. Rumor on the street is APV in the United States grown more than 30% in the last twelve months, can anyone comment to what is happening with this business? Thursday, July 13, 2006 - Responding to the praise for Mike Caliel on his departure: Caliel was the ultimate "player". He was "teflon" when the "going was very sticky" in 2001 and 2002. He hid from the real tough choices and played the "Invensys game". He and positioned himself accordingly to avoid any difficult situation in future years. A guy like Caliel, who has thrown so many bodies "under the truck", does not deserve the respect of "good" person who wrote the paragraph (below weblog) in support. Foxboro and IPS need a real leader that faces the issues; Quality and Performance; not a "player" who "like water",(or a snake), finds the easy path. Tuesday, July 11, 2006 I have watched this board for about 4 years now and it amazes me that nothing seems to change. The same negativity is the one constant here. But I have noticed that no one wants to do anything about it, and if there is one thing a Corporation will do, it's to ignore you until you take action. Monday, July 10, 2006 - THE DAILY TELEGRAPH (UK): Takeover rumours were rife, with hopes of a bid for Invensys resurfacing. Dealers have previously speculated that it could be a target for Siemens, but according to yesterday's chatter, the transport and energy infrastructure company Alstom could be running its slide rule over the group. The speculation saw 143m Invensys shares change hands - more than double the usual daily average. Invensys ticked up a l to 19p. Sunday, July 9, 2006 - Foxboro pay procedures: I personally think the founders (the Bristols) would be revolted and sickened by the way these people do business. I'm not saying, by any means, that Foxboro is the lone villan. But, it's a sad state of affairs that the whole industry goes about things the same way. In the earlier days, we would strive to build the best instrument we could. They would be designed to last, to work as efficiently and accurately as humanly possible. There are still instruments working out in the field that are 50 and 60 years old! They are brought in every so offen to be calibrated, then sent back to work. But now, parts are outsourced (some not all)and are received back and some are found to be faulty. But they think this is ok. They work by numbers - the bottom line. I guess what I'm saying is that we should be striveing to build the best, using the most skilled workers, knowing we'll receive the best product. Now if an instrument comes back as faulty the mind set is to just send them another. Wouldn't it be easier just to send one that works in the first place? You know, like correct engineering problems, instead of putting a band-aid on it? Make sure that parts made outside are within tolerance when received. Maybe fire the supplier when we receive sub-standard parts regularly. Maybe fire managers that care more for cost than quality. I thought this was always the first and formost concern. I think we should build the best instruments and you can count on making the most on the bottom line. The problem is this greed. Foxboro, as the rest, are run now by bottom-feeders and controlled not to make the best instruments, but the cheapest. Saturday, July 8, 2006 - re. Foxboro pay procedures: I am not disputing anything you said. Unfortunately, this is nothing new at Foxboro or any other company in the Massachusetts area. All the companies are as bad, or worse. They all get together on a regular basis and establish pay scales. All companies try to find the lowest cost worker for any given job. Why do you think most engineering job ads specify, "4-5 years experience" or some other relatively low number? Do they ever specify more than 10 years? This, of course, is to hire people in the bottom end of the pay band. It is also defacto age discrimination; but that is another story. Saturday, July 8, 2006 Recently at Foxboro, the employees were treated to an information sharing session on the subject of wages and how they went about to set the parameters for the many wage bands. I can only speak for myself in that I came away with the feeling primarilythat human resources has a very cold blooded view of the people who make the company the profits they need. But I sat there and I realised that they see us as a liability and a very heavy cost. I have heard comments by different company "toadies" talk about the work force as "fungible ants". For near 100 years, this company has valued it's work force for it's talent and dedication to quality. They (human resources) talked in this session about where you stood in the wage bands, compared to what the market was paying. There was no talk of how good or bad a worker was, no talk of skill or lack of it. The talk was simply about where you were according to to the market, and how you could be a very good and dedicated worker. Nothing else. They also said that team work didn't enter into the determination on receiving a raise. The term pay-for-performance (which is what they like to think what they are doing) does not enter into it at all. If this company could manufacture their products in a country that employed slave labor, they would do that. Sad as it sounds, right down the line from manager to president, max profits is what counts; not a company with a solid base, but one with no honor or conscience. This may sound extreme, but I came away thinking - MAYBE these cold, calculating individuals should be fired, and maybe people who are less mercenary put into place. After all, we make the products that make the money. Maybe we deserve to be given the dignity we are entitled to. I'm sorry to see that the world has become a very cold, heartless place. But most of all, I hate to see the company that has employed me for more then twenty-five years reduced to a bunch of inhuman and disloyal individuals. Thursday, July 6, 2006 - "American Printer": Ink blending and dispensing equipment supplier Rexson (Hickory, NC) has a new sister company in the food processing industry. The company's owners have acquired APV Baker Ltd. from Invensys. Britain-based APV Baker will revert to its former name ¬ó Baker Perkins Ltd., an international forerunner in the field of food industry capital goods. Rexson's current managing director, Jim Noakes, will serve as director of international operations at Baker Perkins. The current Rexson management team will report to John Cowx, who continues as chairman of Rexson Systems Ltd. Wednesday, July 5, 2006 - re. Adjusted equity: If the intanigible assets are largely "goodwill" you are correct in disregarding them but is the book value really negative? Tuesday, July 4, 2006 - Invensys Consolidated Balance Sheet for year ending 31 March 2006: As the break-up continues, it is intesting to compare the "adjusted" net equity at the end of each fiscal year. I use the term "adjusted" to mean what reamains after removing the "intangible assets". When a large, complex company such as this has been mis-managed for so long, the closet called "intangible assets" can hold many skeletons and cannot safely be considered an asset in its entirety.
2003: -663(initally) -1670 (re-stated) 2004: -782 2005: -869 2006: -896 Monday, July 3, 2006 Comments: Word is that Mike Bradley from the Wonderware unit is the likely replacement for Caliel. Any takers? Wednesday, June 28, 2006 - re. Mike Caliel: The simple and most likely explanation is that Mike Caliel was sick of the aggravation and wants a change and the opportunity to call his own shots. Wednesday, June 28, 2006 The departure of Caliel is very interesting. He was definitely a 'long term' guy. He tolerated the outrageous behaviour of Leo Quinn so it is hard to imagine he would be leaving now due to any internal personality clash. His departure could of course indicate that Invensys (IPS) is about to be swallowed by a large suitor which would eliminate his position. The other reason could be IPS is really going down the pan because Integrated Electrical Services are certainly not a stable ship for him to jump onto. Time will tell. Tuesday, June 27, 2006 - Letter to Invensys employees from Ulf:
Dear Colleagues Mike Caliel, Business President of IPS, will be leaving the Group on 7 July 2006 to take up an appointment as CEO of Integrated Electrical Services, Inc., the publicly listed IESC. I would like to thank Mike for his tremendous contribution to Invensys during the past 13 years and in particular for his success in leading IPS since 2003. He has been responsible for executing the enormous turnaround at IPS during the past three years and has seen it regain its rightful position as a leader in the process automation industry. I know that he will be missed by all those who have worked with him but I am delighted for him that he has accepted such an important role. I have asked Ken Brown, current VP/GM of Foxboro M&I to take over immediately as acting Business President of IPS. We will be conducting an extensive external and internal search for Mike's successor. Please join me in wishing Mike every success in the future. Ulf Henriksson Tuesday, June 27, 2006 Mike Caliel is leaving for a CEO position with Integrated Electrical Services, a public traded company that recently emerged from chapter 11 protection. That must tell us something about either IESC, Invensys, or Mike Caliel. I personally think Mike Caliel was one of the better things that happened to Invensys IPS. I am worried that he knows more then we do about the real problems Invensys is facing. I heard him say that he was "in for the long haul" and that was not that long ago. It shows you - the higher up the tree, the shorter the long-term memory gets. Maybe it simply did not click between Ulf and Mike. That would be too bad though because egos have destroyed bigger and better companies. Monday, June 12, 2006 - Yahoo UK Business News: Invensys (LSE: ISYS.L - news) (ISYS) Director name: Mr Ulf Henriksson Amount sold: 820,000 @ 22.00p Value: £180,400 Wednesday, June 7, 2006 - from a former employee: So Invensys has finally sold the Building Systems piece of their business. I worked for Barber-Colman, Siebe, and then Invensys for 20 years in a large field office. We had a majority market share for controls and automation systems and lots of dedicated, talented people. I knew I would eventually have to leave when I watched a video of Allen Yurko saying his intent was to "exploit the existing customer base." I know there are semantic differences between U.S. and the U.K. talk, but "exploit" still means "exploit". That was a strange foreboding, because at the time we had been doing very well for years. Yurko began a culture of treating the very best customers in the very worst way. Loyalty from the customer was reciprocated with greed. The Universe has a way of repaying greed, I believe, and it's called Never Enough. That problem soon became apparent in every department and in every facet of business. The field offices were left high and dry with disingenuous promises made by corporate managers in Sales and most often in Engineering. The people who suffered with the results were the Customers. I left Invensys just before the unrelenting debt service and poor management forced the sale of the field offices to Reps. By that time, Invensys was in such a poor negotiating position that the contracts they made were equally poor. Some Invensys Reps now sell Trane automation and other systems, quite unheard of before. I'm sure that's attributed by Invensys to compatibility of systems, but it's really just a reflection of a poor market position. If they could have nailed down those contracts, they would have; but they simply had a poor negotiating position. I am very glad that I saw that Yurko video. I literally had years to plan my exit. But still, the process was excruciating. I left in the wake of many. I probably should have waited for the severence package the field people received, but it just wasn't worth it. Invensys sucked the life out of a good company. I wish Schneider well. Thursday, May 25, 2006 - Message from Ulf Henriksson to Invensys employees: Financing for the future
Today has been an eventful day for Invensys, with far-reaching consequences. Today we made two major announcements
First, we announced our preliminary results for the year ending 31 March 2006. Generally they show positive progress on a number of fronts. Orders for continuing operations were up 10% for the quarter over the fourth quarter of last year at constant exchange rates (CER), and up 5% for the year at £2,637m (2005: £2,438). Revenue is up 5% on the previous yearís Q4 at CER, also, and revenue up 1% at CER. Revenue grew for Process Systems, Rail Systems and APV, but revenue at Controls and Eurotherm fell in line with reductions in order intake.
Operating cash flow for the year before legacy liability payments was an inflow of £228 million, against £188 million last year. Free cash inflow (before legacy liability payments) was £100 million, a considerable improvement on last yearís £39 million. Operating profit before exceptional items was up 16% at £191 million (2005: £165), and operating profit at CER was up £19 million, resulting in a margin improvement for the year from 7.0% in 2005 to 7.8%, as improved performance at Process Systems and steady performance in Rail Systems was balanced by anticipated weaker performance in Controls and a break-even at APV. The higher operating profit helped to contribute to a profit for the year of £22 million, a considerable improvement on last yearís £106 million loss.
We have also announced today the sale of our Invensys Building Systems, a part of Controls formerly known as ABS, to Schneider Electric SA for around £157 million.
There is much encouraging information in the performances of our businesses, and this allows us to take another significant step in the management of our debts and the creation of the future of Invensys.
This forms the basis of our second announcement: that we will be recommending that our shareholders agree to a refinancing, involving a rights issue and new senior credit facilities. This will be put to the shareholders at an extraordinary general meeting on June 14.
In 2004 we undertook a refinancing comprising a share placing, the issue of bonds expiring in 2011 and the creation of new loan facilities expiring in 2009. This plan gave us time and the capital to manage the businesses over the longer term. It also gave us flexibility, by removing or deferring the immediate need to take action such as selling businesses, and facilitated the ability to sell businesses from a position of greater strength. By removing uncertainty about the future of Invensys, the 2004 refinancing has given customers improved confidence to make us a partner in their plans. It gave us a chance to manage our longer-term legacy liabilities and pension obligations over the last two years. For example, liabilities have substantially been reduced and the recent agreement with the manager of our main UK pension fund has increased clarity and certainty for Invensys and the fundís members also.
We have succeeded in improving our operational performance, developing employees and recruiting more talented people. We have cut corporate costs and simplified our business structures, while investing in the development of new and exciting offerings like InFusion, the worldís first enterprise control system.
However, the 2004 refinancing was agreed at a time when Invensys clearly faced significant difficulties, and this was reflected in the cost of the debt and the burdensome nature of the restrictions placed on us. We find ourselves now able to refinance again, but from a position of comparative strength and on better terms.
The refinancing now planned will raise approximately £340 million from our shareholders through a rights issue. We will replace the 2004 credit facilities with cheaper and more flexible senior credit facilities from 6 blue chip banks, an important milestone for use in building long-term banking relationship for the future. The use of proceeds of the 2006 refinancing will be to repay a proportion of the Groupís high yield bonds (its most expensive debt) and 144A notes. This refinancing will improve our earnings, with cash interest savings of £45 million per year, and will also enable us to run own affairs more efficiently. We are becoming more like a normal company where we can now use our creativity to seek different solutions to grow and build on what we have done in the last 2 years.
June 14 is a key date in the history of Invensys. I believe that our shareholders will agree with the Boardís recommendation that this plan be accepted. Until then, as your Chief Executive, I would like to thank you for making this a possibility. Your work has given us the financial results that have made this refinancing a credible move, and the benefits it realises, in cost savings and efficiencies, will benefit your businesses and, ultimately, you.
This is a crucial moment for Invensys, and one with the potential to begin a new stage in our journey. As we move towards this moment, I ask you to carry on doing the good work that got us here, with the encouragement and gratitude of myself and my management team.
Ulf Henriksson Thursday, May 25, 2006 Invensys, on Thursday reported higher operating profits for the full year and announced plans for a major refinancing. The company said it planned to raise £341m through a rights issue, and had arranged new banking facilities of £700m. Invensys said the move, which comes two years after its last refinancing, reflected the ìconsiderable progressî it had made both operationally and financially during the past two years. Invensys, which has been cutting costs and making disposals, earlier this week agreed to sell its building systems unit to Franceís Schneider Electric for £157m. Operating margins on continuing operations improved to 7.8 per cent in the year to March 31, up from 7 per cent the previous year. Operating profit before exceptionals rose 11 per cent to £191m at constant exchange rates. Thursday, May 25, 2006 Standard & Poor's Ratings Services said it revised its outlook on Invensys PLC to positive from stable, reflecting the group's continued improving financial performance and following the announcement of a 341 mln stg equity rights issue. S&P also affirmed its B+ corporate credit and B- senior unsecured debt ratings on the group. S&P's credit analyst Jarrad Oberhardt said, 'Given the momentum of Invensys' recent performance, upgrade potential could be realized in the near term provided financial metrics progressively improve'. He added that 'the proposed rights issue represents a significant step by Invensys toward repairing its balance sheet.' Thursday, May 25, 2006 Invensys saw operating profit rise 11% as it announced a new rights issue to raise £341m. Operating profit rose 11% to £191m from £165m allowing the group to narrow pre-tax losses substantially, from £160m to £26m. Revenue rose 1% to £2.45bn. The group also said that it expected a new rights issue to raise around £341m. Overall prospects for the group's major markets remain encouraging, said the group. Global demand for process automation remains strong, while spending on rail infrastructure also expected to remain bullish. Wednesday, May 24, 2006 - Invensys Building Systems acquired by Schneider Group: Schneider Electric has signed an agreement for TAC to acquire Invensys Building Systems, a division of Invensys. TAC will be combining forces with Invensys Building Systems to establish a new, formidable presence in the market. (See TAC website). Friday, May 12, 2006 Responding to "Does any one remember one by six?" The answer is YES, every ONE of the rank & file at Foxboro is doing SIX jobs for only ONE small pay. Quite a few of our Foxboro middle management are going on another junket to California. At Foxboro, more & more is expected of the people in the trenchs in the way of saving money. The results are that management gets to take more junkets; we don't even get a "Thank You". As scary as a Siemens buy-out might be, it might improve the lot for most of the people, except the bloated management structure who are accustomed to spending money. Friday, May 12, 2006 - Comments on 2005 Balance Sheet: On the Ivensys corporate website, I was looking at the 2005 financial balance sheet. I am a very skeptical investor, so I discount the "intangible assets" as being worth nothing. Re-calculating with this assumption, the net assets, including the pension liability, come to -795. This is essentially the same as the 2004 value of -782. It looks like they reduced the "intangible assets" by about 200 at the expense of the "net assets including pension liability". Recent gains in the share price would appear to be more the result of speculation on the sale of assets (to Siemens), rather than significant improvements in the long-term viability of this company. Friday, May 12, 2006 Forgive me, but does anyone remember about "one by six"? Thursday, May 11, 2006 Invensys added 1p to 24.5p in heavy trading on talk that the company was poised to receive a bid at 36p a share from Siemens. With the pension stuff out of the way, what's to stop this? Could anyone REALLY benefit from Siemens oversight? Really? We're talking Siemens here - there's like 12 people in the world that can program an S7.... Monday, May 8, 2006 Here we go again at Invensys controls. With the addition of major ego Chan "Gal-blabo" we are returning to the days of top heavy management. Chan has publically stated he wants to build an executive team large enough to warrant an executive floor on the recently designated Carol Stream HQ. All these VP come with the corresponding large dollar paychecks. Further indication that 2006 will see another repeat of business losses likely followed by the traditional cutting of workers. Deja Vu all over again... Sunday, May 7, 2006 - On InFusion: To the fresh grad new employee - InFusion is supposed to be the product suite but Archestra is the technological foundation (adpated from WW). Archestra is NOT a product. Well at least that what I think. I have seen some of the InFusion demo and also went for some of the talks...I honestly think that they are on to something. It is more than just glueing WW over IA. There are some neat objects and modules that have been built into the WW App to make it meaningful for IA. The trick now is how to deliver it, package it, communicate it to a market that no longer sees Invensys as a serious player. I think we all agree that the communications for the past few years have been really poor. I am confused with APM, IA, Archestra, InFusion, ECS.... They need to stay with one message, one direction. Friday, May 5, 2006 - re: Vulgar language and Stalinist management at Foxboro: One would get the impression from reading this blog that life at Foxboro resembles an episode of the Sopranos set in Deadwood. It obviously is not that bad or they wouldn't be launching breakthrough products like InFusion. The management must be doing something right. Friday, May 5, 2006 - Re: Anti-social behavior within Foxboro division: Foxboro is not unique in this regard. Such behavior seems to spring from a combination of frustration, fatigue, and personal habits. Rude language is only one example, and it's a rare individual who hasn't used one of the four-letter Anglo-Saxon words, or at least thought it. I think the root of the problem lies in the rapid increase of the number of "managers". They seem to be equipped with "management" techniques but, unfortunately, many are seriously lacking basic leadership qualities. Leaders evolve and earn the respect that makes them natural bridges across the levels of an organization. These bad "Managers" only look after the "upper" side of their position. As such, they get little empathy and support from those beneath them. That extra team contribution that often makes the difference can be lost. Leadership is what it takes to build teams. Mutual respect is earned by action. It enables us to understand and accept one another's less-than-perfect behavior as we work towards a common goal. Leaders understand this and built it within their organizations. I make no excuse for bad behavior, but only seek to explain it. My point is that many of them are out of their depth and under a lot of pressure. They're more to be pitied than condemned. They will be among the first wave of casualties. The responsibility lies above them, with those who shaped the policies that hired and continue to use these individuals to further their own career ambitions. Friday, May 5, 2006 - Vulgar language at Foxboro: This is nothing new. Please, let's step into the real world. The core problem is the attitude of the existing management. Some (not all) are jus plain bullies. They respect only power, and have the Charles Colson philoshophy (you know what he said about hearts and minds). We even have some managers that put Stalin to shame. When management understand that everyone is part of the team, then maybe we might make some headway. If we are to progress as a viable company, we must purge these uncontrolable, uncouth people from the company. It means getting people in control that are willing to be responsible for their conduct and their performance; accepting blame when wrong, and going by a decent code of conduct. Does anyone have the courage to fire someone openly? I think there is a vast gulf between management and the employees, and this may not be bridged until another company buys this company. Then we will see some of these bullies fired. Tuesday, May 2, 2006 I'm a graduate who has been with Invensys only a few months (God knows how I found this blog). To me it's obvious that Archestra and Infusion are software products, not just bandaid solutions to the Foxboro system. Friday, April 28, 2006 - Re :- Foxboro System: The Foxboro system has seen marketing concept name changes from I/A to Archestra, Godzilla(???) and to now Infusion, within short period of time of the last few years. From this, I perceivedthat Foxboro has never been clear itself on what it wants to do. If you have no clarity yourself internally, let alone being able to communicate and sell these ideas clearly externally to its customers and to the market. Foxboro's main competitors (Emerson, Yokogawa, even Honeywell) has been consistent with its naming concept. This takes time, effort, R&D resources etc... which boils down to financial resources. I don't think Invensys has the financial resources and means to afford to do what it wants to do for the Foxboro systems development and its marcom activities. I believe there will only be more sporadic and "band-aid" types, with no solid and well thought out plans. Competitions does not wait for you. That is why the Foxboro system is now being subjected to competition, and will find itself being technically late in field experiences in important enabling basic technologies like Foundation Fieldbus, AMS (Asset Management System) etc Unless of course, as stated in an earlier weblog, "to swell up your bookings even if it does not make fiscal sense", the path is to look for short term means is "to dip prices to win orders" to make Invensys financials looks good for the short term. Those end-users who buy into this could end up being not satisfied with promised features not fully available or functioning properly or need constant "Quick Fixes". This is Foxboro term for I/A software patches, where each site can have different software patches for same system software releases version. A maintenance nightmare. My take is that in life, what you pay, is what you will get. Looking at the Foxboro systems reference list closely, so far Foxboro systems have few and far between new plant orders from repeat customers.
Friday, April 28, 2006 - re: Triconex: Triconex will see an increased in competition from Emerson, Yokogawa, Honeywell and even MTL (the company that started out making saftey barriers, jumping onto the bandwagon) have recently announced new safety systems. There will still be a demand TMR systems but you could have a scenerio of their market been slowly eroded from strong competitors like Emerson and Yokogawa. It has been perceived that Invensys has milking the profit out from Triconex. I guess the somewhat biggest short term gainer was no dobut Invensys. Foxboro, has also tried to ride on the "coat-tail" of Triconex, with some small success. My opinion and percption in the last few years, Invensys has been somewhat been "impeding" Triconex in slower product develpoment and releases. From the already somwhat crowded safety system market, this could hurt Triconex in the longer run. With increased competition in the safety system market, release of IEC61511, depleting oil and gas resources coupled with soaring energy prices, one form of alternative energy is still nuclear energy, is an area to move into. Traditional strong competitors of Triconex like HIMA, ICS and newer competitors Emerson have not moved into the nuclear industry yet. The Tricon is nuclear certified. This is one area of diversification that Triconex is moving into, from the already crowded safety systems market. The nuclear industry at this moment, is not in a "fast lane" moving industry as compared to chemical, oil and gas. It is one for the future that Triconex is rightly gambling on (besides the railway industry) Foxboro is on the "coat-tail" again to try gain some susccess and leverage. Purely Foxboro system being thrown into competition, with Emerson, Yokogawa and Honeywell will see the Foxboro system, as of now, not being able to hold on its own, most of the time. Thursday, April 27, 2006 - re. Triconex: This isn't an answer to your question but Triconex is a company that should do well, and would do well, if it weren't coupled to Invensys Foxboro. Its product stands alone as an additional and independent system to shut down the process when all else fails. This is as it should be. Force fitting it into Foxboro's family of products is antisynergetic (if there is such a word). Its association with Foxboro probably helps Foxboro but this is a small plus compared to a big minus for Invensys as a whole. Wednesday, April 26, 2006 How about Invensys Triconex? How do they fare these days as an Invensys business? Triconex supplies specialized (triple mode redundant)PLC systems for safety related and critical control applications. Currently, Invensys (basically, Triconex plus Foxboro) seem to be making a big push in the nuclear plant I&CS upgrade/retrofit businesss. Monday, April 24, 2006 A trip out the door for vulgar language in mixed company? At Foxboro this is a weekly occurrence and many times more than once per week. I have even seen and heard this happen when reps from H.R. (and better than 90% of the time the H.R. rep. is a female) were in the room, although they soon excused themselves and left trying to deny their very existence in the room when these things happened. When H.R.is not in the room "F" this and "F" that are very common in daily meetings and the same individual is usually the one who is doing it. H.R. looks the other way and allows it to continue on a regular basis. A trip out the door for the individual, but H.R. is just as much to blame for allowing it to happen. They (H.R.) should be aware of the consequences. To complain to H.R. about the language is like signing your own resignation or at least putting yourself in line for even more abuse. And people wonder why Foxboro IA is having problems, they should open their eyes and ears and look around. Monday, April 24, 2006 - re. Vulgar language in mixed company This is a little disturbing. In two companies that I worked for this was a guaranteed trip out the door without even getting to clean out your desk if one of the mixed company filed a complaint. Friday, April 21, 2006 - Re. Foxboro shipping used equipment: I witnessed a situation where an engineer was forced to surrender his 2-week old desktop PC, and it was reformatted and boxed up, and shipped to the customer as a new I/A Workstation. When $10,000 plus bonuses are involved in meeting or exceeding end-of-quarter shipment targets, these men have no compunction about violating the law. They have also used extremely vulgar language in mixed company in staff meetings with no fear of retribution. Professionals they are NOT. Friday, April 21, 2006 Invensys is swelling up their bookings even if it does not make fiscal sense. Does it indicate something? They have been going after business in Europe & Asia by dipping prices to win orders. Any hint what's going on with Invensys ? Thursday, April 20, 2006 - Comments: On InFusion: This industry will always be more thrilled when they see an actual piece of new hardware/card/instrument during a launch. I suppose it will always be a challenge to make a integration software/app environment/historian product launch looks credible. Demo is key - which could have been better. This InFusion first release looks to be a road towards full/seamless integration of Wonderware upper level goodies into I/A. Plus some useful toolset that will make this intergration meaningful to users. There seems to be some real products (more than just an architecture or concept thing) BUT - we need to see some good demo... But I must say that while the thought is good, this recovery path is going to be long. The challenge is for them to know how to sell these and whom to sell these to... Tuesday, April 18, 2006 - Re. Foxboro shipping used equipment. I am no apologist for Foxboro but there must be an explanation. Doing this without making the customer aware that the equipment is used or "refurbished" would be against the law, at least in the USA. I worked for a large computer company that used to do this but it was made clear to the customers that the equipment was returned from the field and refurbished to meet new equipment standards. Tuesday, April 18, 2006 - InFusion : nothing new ? I read the announcement of InFusion, downloaded a brochure from the Invensys website, read this and must conclude, that this is nothing new. Invensys announces an integration platform, just like the other DCS vendors have done (Honeywell, Yokogawa are the ones I know. Probably others have done the same). There is nothing really new on the hardware level. The new stuff is software, applications. If you compare with Honeywell: the Experion systems also claims to do the same as InFusion. The difference is that Experion is based on a new control system(C300) (of course also integrating the existing hardware (TPS, TDC3000, ...)) This announcement by Invensys looks to be just a marketing move? Sunday, April 16, 2006 Shipment after shipment of old or previously used Foxboro material is finding its way back to Foxboro and many pieces are being shipped out as new. Another way Foxboro customers are being duped; when brought to the attention of management the basic response is, "Do what your are told and don't worry about it, that's my problem." The Nuremburg defense, "I was just following orders". It might be that upper management doesn't know about this, more the pity, living in their hallowed halls spending money like drunken sailors while the rank and file struggle to get the necessary material and equipment to function. Friday, April 14, 2006 INFUSION - Can anyone explain in simple terms what this is and what is new? Thursday, April 13, 2006 - News Article, April 12,2006 Invensys introduces worldís first ìenterprise control systemî New ìInFusionî offering combines Invensysí industrial-strength automation technology with advanced information technology to create a unified real-time control, information, and application environment across virtually all plant and enterprise systems. Read several news and media accounts. Wednesday, April 12, 2006 I left Invensys two and a half years ago. As an Invensys employee, Sales Engineer, for 30 years, I lost EVERY account because of nonperformance. All my customers knew the problem wasn't local. One unfortunate customer had four different Invensys automation systems and none talked to each other. The "integration" was always "being worked on". I finally had enough and left. I went to work for a competitor and two years later I have all my customers back buying product and systems from me and the company I represent. Through all this "mess", I only lost one good customer and we are still friends and I see him regularly. He runs a plant and, lets face it, we parted work friendship when higher executives wouldn't return his calls. So, there is life after Invensys even for a used up sales engineer over the age of sixty! Wednesday, April 12, 2006 Not sure how Invensys buys product from sister Companies would result in dissatisfied Customers. This is a smoke screen. Tuesday, April 11, 2006 As an Invensys shareholder and a former employee, I am mucho interested in what happens to Invensys. Based on my personal experience within Invensys (I left in 2004) a couple of things strike me:
Sunday, April 9, 2006 Expect to see something on that Godzilla stuff albeit with a different name this week. Sunday, April 9, 2006 Not to defend Invensys here, but the previous comment about "marketing hype" is kind of funny. Try to find a company that doesn't use marketing to hype-up newly released products and offerings. Sunday, April 9, 2006 With the new name "Godzilla", it sounds like the powers that be are getting ready to split Foxboro away from Wonderware. "Archestra" is a Wonderware concept that Foxboro was never really a part of. Saturday, April 8, 2006 The previous blog on Godzilla raises an issue concerning clarity in what this company is actually selling. If you go to the web page for Foxboro and try to find detailed information about a "system" (e.g., I/A, Archestra or whatever today's name is) hardware product ... for example an I/O module enclosure with power supplies... you can't do it or at least I can't. You get lost in an endless loop of "solutions" oriented marketing hype. On the other hand, the field instruments (e.g., pressure transmitters) are clearly described and full technical documentation is available. Friday, April 7, 2006 Yesterday, I have received a copy of Godzilla white paper, Godzilla is the new name for the old product "Archestra" really there is no deference between the two products. I think it is a marketing game, they nwant to introduce the IPS to the market with such new Name "Godzilla". Thursday, April 6, 2006 Invensys stock up 1.0p again today (4/6/06) to 25p on 90M shares. People are betting big money that something is going on. Is Siemens buying the whole thing? Just a piece? Or is it some other good news not yet announced? Monday, April 3, 2006 APV announced a new President today - Brian McCluskie. Good to see he has moved fast and removed the Project Management and Engineering Directors who did nothing positive in their time at the helm of their respective fields. Onwards and upwards!!! Thursday, March 30, 2006 The Siemens rumor apparently has legs, the stock is still going up on high volume: Yahoo-UK Biz News: Mid-cap shares were similarly abuzz with bid speculation, with engineering firm Invensys up 6.7 per cent, or 1.5p, to 23.75p on talk that German industrial conglomerate Siemens might be interested. Dealers said Invensys's new pension funding plan, announced on Wednesday, could make the company more attractive to a potential bidder. Sunday, March 26, 2006 - (UK Independent) More on Siemens thing: The merger in 1999 between the blue-chip engineers BTR and Siebe that formed Invensys has been little short of a disaster. Even talk of a bid from the German giant Siemens, using the proceeds from its sale of stock in its one-time subsidiary Infineon, did little to boost Invensys, even though 176 million shares changing hands. Most traders pointed the finger at hedge funds buying the stock. Invensys gained 1.25p to 21.25p. Saturday, March 25, 2006 - regarding Siemens "planning a bid": YOU cannot be serious! Surely this is a case of wishful thinking - Invensys jumps on revived rumours of a bid approach from Siemens. This probably emanated from hedge funds across the Pond. Say no more. Invensys has a burgeoning pension deficit of GBP600m - which should put off ANY prospective bidder. The company announced in February that losses for the nine months to the end-December had narrowed to GBP32m, from GBP155m, but the performance of APV, its pump and valve manufacturer, had been disappointing. Cash flow could become positive next year but recovery is a way off. "Value investors" sits on shares at 19p and would love a bidder to knock on the door. They will have a long wait. Friday, March 24, 2006 - Evening Standard (London): German conglomerate Siemens could be planning a bid for Invensys after it was said to have bought a large stake in the UK engineering group. Dealers noted heavy volumes for Invensys, which rose 1p or 5 percent to 21p, with 160 million shares changing hands. Wednesday, March 8, 2006 Looking at the Quarter 3 results for APV it is pretty clear why the APV president was put aside. One of the comments stated that they have some warranty issues on old projects. This seems to be a recurring issue every year. The overall operational performance of APV did not improve during the last years. I understood they have a temporary president at the moment. Not sure that this is any different with the previous presidents as they only stayed for a very short time anyway. Monday, February 27, 2006 "Hopeful notes and optimistic signs" - It took many years to put Invensys in the financial shape it is in - How about giving Ulf more than two quarters to fix it. Pinto Note: Read my JimPinto.com eNews analysis (link below) Monday, February 27, 2006 - extract from JimPinto.com eNews: Since his arrival, Ulf has remained on message: build a strong team, deliver improved products to customers, remove business inefficiencies. It remains to be seen whether or not his new management team can produce the results which Invensys needs to stay independent. The end of this fiscal year (31 March 2006) will be a key benchmark of progress. Unless Ulf can pull something special out of the hat, it's likely that there will still only be "hopeful notes" and "optimistic signs". Sunday, February 26, 2006 Article in Managing Automation magazine on Invensys' 3rd quarter results is pleasantly balanced. Monday, February 13, 2006 - from ex-Foxboro employee: This all sounds so familiar. I recall that a VP (himself a short-timer) laid off 60 employees on a Friday afternoon, with no apparent connection to workload, activity or necessity (just a payroll reduction). Then the following Monday he announced that we were 'sharpening our focus' (once again - nothing left to that pencil stub), and that we would "build a world-class development organization based on valuing people". He invited comments afterward and I asked him to reconcile how he could suddenly value people after so carelessly discarding others who were desperately needed. His response was that there would be periodic reductions of the bottom 10% performers. I reminded him that these people were not "the bottom" and he had no other explanations. Not long after that, he was himself 'made redundant', as the British so coldly put it. I decided the situation was unsalvageable and was one of the lucky ones who left on my own and built a better and more fulfilling career. Thursday, February 9, 2006 - from a Eurotherm employee: Just before Christmas Peter Tompkins President, Eurotherm Group made this announcement.
Many of you will be aware that the Eurotherm management team from around the world met last week to discuss the business strategy for the coming years. This year the importance of the strategy meeting was clear. Put simply, our customers and markets are changing, and Eurotherm will have to transform its business to meet the demands of this new environment. We agreed on a vision for the company - a common understanding of our preferred future: Eurotherm will be the leading supplier of automation solutions and services in our chosen markets, harnessing the passion that people feel for Eurotherm. We will constantly search for competitive advantage and innovation to create value for our employees, customers and shareholders Our strategy for achieving this vision can be summarised in the four points below: Thursday, February 9, 2006 Does anybody know whats happening in APV since the departure of the President? Who's running the show now and what happened that he was pushed to the side?
Saturday, January 14, 2006 - (news item) Hundreds of workers have been told their jobs are under threat at Worthing-based Eurotherm. The company has started a three-month consultation with staff to discuss relocating much of its manufacturing operation to eastern Europe. Company spokesman Steve Devany said: "The cost pressures here are too great. We have no option but to do this. A lot of our competition has already moved to eastern Europe or Asia, where costs are much cheaper, and we have to be able to be price competitive. "Unfortunately, this situation is an unsettling one for our staff but we are trying to be as professional and sympathetic as we can." Friday, December 2, 2005
Managing at a Turning Point - Interview with Invensys CEO Ulf Henriksson
Invensys' new CEO Ulf Henriksson has taken the helm at a pivotal time for the process management firm. As the company regains its financial footing, Henriksson is focused on growing Invensys' technology, investing in its workforce, and making efficiency a hallmark of all its business units. Henriksson joined Invensys plc as Chief Operating Officer in May 2004 and was appointed Chief Executive in July 2005. Managing Automation's editors caught up with him to discuss the importance of honoring commitments, Invensys' burgeoning industry alliances, and the company's ongoing plan for revitalization. Excellent & informative Q&A Monday, November 28, 2005 Extract from Annual Report & Accounts 2005, from Controls Division statement by John Duerden - "whilst the process of merger integration has progressed well with some 300 indirect & overhead positions being eliminated" etc. I suppose this tells all us employees how we are regarded, if disposing of employees is seen as such a positive ! Tuesday, November 15, 2005 - GMT [Dow Jones]: Smith Barney upgrades Invensys to buy from hold, lifts price target to 18p from 15p. Says the move follows results showing rail performance was ahead of expectations "and more importantly orders continue to improve." Also notes that the controls business is better, and highlights stability in that business. Says the process continues to pick up momentum in both orders and margins. Shares closed at 15.25p. Sunday, November 13, 2005 - LONDON (SHARECAST) Invensys posted solid interim results and reported an increase in orders, writes the Sunday Telegraph. Ulf Henriksson, the new chief executive, said the company expects to meet full-year expectations and, based on last week's results, the outlook for Invensys has definitely improved. Nevertheless, Invensys is not out of the woods yet - with net debt still close to £700m and a pension deficit of more than £600m, its balance sheet remains weak. The company still has a long way to go but based on last week's results, the improvements in performance look sustainable. At this level, the shares are a risky buy. Thursday, November 10, 2005 - LONDON (Reuters - extracts): Invensys H1 operating profit up 21% Today, Invensys finished up 13.5% after reporting higher operating profits due to stronger rail orders and demand from the oil and gas industries for its products. Invensys said on Thursday first-half operating profit rose 21% on higher orders for its products and cost cuts. Operating profit from continuing businesses was £80 million for the six months to end-September compared to £66 million a year ago. Tuesday, November 8, 2005 - from Neil Dowsing: I can usually tell when an American (as opposed to an Englishman) is complaining. Most of the complaints in the weblog sound's US based, but then I wouldn't know the differance of a South African or Australian with a gripe. Many times I have wanted to bail out of this firm as I saw the shares on their gradual decline. However there is something in me that says that I should stick it out. What I want is an unbiased, accurate appraisal of Invensys across all the different businesses in its portfolio. Brandes (San Diego Investment Firm) is still one of the largest shareholder. I bet they know what is going on. So if one of you Brandes people clocks this note, here's my email address: [neildowsing@hotmail.com] - please, no hoaxers! One thing and I will say. I simply don't know about luxury management trips to China. In principle I couldn't care less what the expense bill comes in at, providing the order book offsets it significantly. But if Invensys is as lost and cancerous as some of you guys say it is, then I would imagine that in the todays ruthlessly competitive environment, I doubt the firm would have lasted as long as it has. All power to your elbow to those who never say die. As long as some of you are still out there, I'm not for bailing out just yet. Saturday, November 5, 2005 Sometimes I confuse this Invensys weblog with a physic hotline. We have some who perceive the postings come from "mostly Invensys Foxboro employees", and then some "major oil company" employees making posts regarding Invensys' strategy. Next, I expect to see a post saying "it will rain on the Foxboro plant." Unfortunately, some employees have chosen this venue to put down their company publicly. And yes, some competitors share their opinions on Invensys. Move along. I for one feel that Invensys is doing well to support their large legacy installed base, while still remaining innovative in the marketplace. It was clear to me at the recent ISA Expo in Chicago that Invensys (at least IPS) still has their act together and is following-through with their on-going 1x6 initiative. Friday, November 4, 2005 - I am Invensys (mainly Foxboro and Triconex) user: My company (major oil company) had a general meeting with Invensys some months ago. We discussed the roadmap, future of older systems, etc. Some remarks made by Invensys people struck me :
Thursday, November 3, 2005 - Response to the Nov. 3 question - is this weblog just a voiceferous minority? Invensys is not turning a profit, in spite of the fact that the work force has been cut beyond the bare bones boundry. There are only 25% of the people remaining; and yet management expects more work than was being done by a full work force. Policy procedures, documentation, training manuals have all gone by the wayside. Everyone is working beyond what should be reasonably expected from hard working people. There is no direction, no documentation. There is no one and no time to address these problems. Invensys is not turning a profit because upper and middle management is sucking the life blood out of the company. Nothing is too good for them; but let the rank and file ask for some simple basic necessities and we are told to make do with what we have. If management feels they should go on a trip to China, they simply gather up the old gang and fly off for a good time, leaving the rest of us to try to get productin out the door. How much do they spend? Well that is top secret. Unless we can prove that our request for new equipment is for a safety reason, you can forget about it because you will not get it. Where are the priorities? Invensys is sinking and Invensys management is lining its pockets and holding everyone elses head under water. And you wonder why your stock is not going up? Wake up and smell the coffee. Thursday, November 3, 2005 - Re. shareholder questions: Don't take the posts on this blog too seriously. Most of the posts are from employees of just one Invensys company - Foxboro. This company does have its problems. But it is not typical of the other companies, and certainly is not the largest. Invensys could survive and prosper without it. Thursday, November 3, 2005 I am also a shareholder, and I am hoping that the figures due at the end of the month consolidate on the previous quarter that demonstrated some room for cautious optimism. I do not know what range of operations has going in China, but a comment in the previous release on August 25th commented that Invensys China operatios were going well founded on the rapid growth in powerstations. I would be grateful for any clarification. In addition, as an investor, I cannot fail to take note of the morose correspondance that populates so much space on this weblog. I plan to attend the next AGM and bring this subject up. It's not good, or is it just the work of a vociferous minority? Sunday, October 30, 2005 - What is wrong with Invensys in China? I am a shareholder of Invensys. I am puzzled with their performance in the market. Last week I had a business trip to China and had conversation with my friends about Invensys. Invensys is just a minor player in China market, especially the ABS business unit. It sounds like the management does not really care the sales and market share there. After ABS EU was sold out in June, I guess ABS NA and ABS Asia are looking for new owners too. Am I right? Saturday, October 29, 2005 - The UK Daily Telegraph
By Josephine Moulds
Picture the scene. You are the outgoing chief executive of a once-proud engineering giant that has seen shareholder value all but destroyed under your management. It's the AGM and you're expected to speak.
Do you a) Feign laryngitis, b) Appear at the podium in sackcloth and ashes begging for forgiveness or c) March up to the podium to the thunderous power of Tchaikovsky's 1812 Overture?
On July 25 2001, Allen Yurko chose c).
Intentionally ironic or not, the choice of a piece composed to commemorate Napoleon's humiliating retreat from Moscow was apt. Investors in Yurko's Invensys had taken a beating.
Yurko created Invensys in late 1998 when, as chief executive of engineering group Siebe, he orchestrated an £8billion merger with conglomerate BTR. He had already made several acquisitions, offsetting costs by eliminating jobs and selling off non-core businesses. One such purchase was Eurotherm Drives, of which more later.
By the time Yurko announced his decision to quit in July 2001, Invensys shares languished at 70p, compared with a peak of 400p in the shares of Siebe shortly before the merger with BTR. Today, Invensys shares bump along at 13p.
Many blamed this ear-popping descent on Yurko's acquisition fever in the 1990s, citing the disastrous purchase of struggling Dutch software Baan for $709m as evidence in chief. Invensys resold the company to a private equity group three years later for $135m.
So what's the abrasive American up to these days? Following an increasingly well worn path for former corporate giants... private equity.
Yurko is a partner with Compass Partners. And so back to Eurotherm (now SSD Drives). Compass Partners bought it in 2002 from Invensys for an undisclosed fee and sold it on to electromechanics group Parker Hannifin in August 2005.
In publicity terms, Yurko moves in very different circles now. The tight-lipped world of private equity is light years away from planet FTSE, where Yurko's every move was analysed by the media. Compass Partners even refuses to confirm when Yurko joined the company. Perhaps it needs a decent PR to explain that there's a fine line between privacy and paranoia.
Yurko himself is happy to confirm that he joined at the start of 2002. But, beyond that, he wishes to say little - suggesting his move into private equity was motivated by a keen desire to stay out of the press. The Yurko of old was never shy of speaking out. On leaving Invensys, he told the Telegraph: "If there is any blame, it has got to be me. I do not expect sympathy... I am a big boy. What was my mistake? Clearly it was believing things were going to get better way too soon, but that was my guidance... the uptick did not come. I called the shot and I have to take the flak."
Honest, yes. But his popularity among current and former employees of the firm has not recovered. He is still known as "Allen Yucky Yurko" on a weblog workers use to vent their spleen. No wonder the relative anonymity - and rewards - of a life in private equity seem so attractive to Yurko.
One question remains, however. If Napoleon's retreat from Moscow symbolises Yurko's misfortunes with Invensys, is he yet to meet his Waterloo?
Sunday, October 9, 2005 The previous story regarding Foxboro SCADA Software and the Invensys management style struck a nerve. As an ex-Invensys employee I must admit that while working for Invensys, I hoped that the "let my division go" approach would eventually become reality. I was wrong. When my division was finally "let go", we decided to take a stand. After years of standing by, my Ex-Invensys friends and I started our own business. We were force to compete with Invensys, and others, at various levels. Rather than let "good hard working friends" end their careers or go to the competition, we have grown together and will continue to grow our business. This past year, our businees has been "up and down", but not one of us has earned a penny less than we had previously. Bottom Line: Invensys is not the problem, they are trying to solve their business needs. You must take the same approach and address your personal and professional requirements. Good Luck and get busy! Saturday, October 8, 2005 - from Foxboro SCADA, Rome, Italy :
Thursday, October 6, 2005 - Invensys and Censorship: Inmvensys still seems to be inclined to throw gas on the fire rather than treat the employees better. Not to worry, with the hundreds of anonymous servers that act as proxies, the employees will still be able to get access to JimPinto.com. Tuesday, October 4, 2005 The JimPinto.com website has been blocked for viewing for all Invensys India employees. Management should have better ideas than this. Advice to the Invensys India management: Improve your performance and you will see all the positive feelings reflected everywhere, including on this website. Sunday, October 2, 2005 Knowing and understanding the applications is great, and it increases productivity and quality. But a software engineer has nothing to do with cable specifications and cable trench digging methodologies. But, these are local problems and should not be generalized. The person who replied to the initial question has demonstrated the same arrogant attitude, conveying the clear message that Invensys is not the place for software experts. But please recognize that these may be local problems. People who post these weblogs should not generalize. This can create damage to the other Invensys locations where these practices are not common. Sunday, October 2, 2005 - re the weblog criticizing the Software Engineer in India: Dilbert was Right. It seems pretty obvious that the problem was the boss. There are benefits to software developers to hear about software development business practices and appliations. However, to be forced to repeatedly hear ramblings about construction and cable specifications? It seems to me that the boss was in the wrong job. Sunday, October 2, 2005 - to Foxboro mangement: OK, show us some courage and say something positive about what you have done. In other words "DEFEND YOURSELF". Stand up and be proud of what you have done and are doing. Please have some selfrespect! Be the leaders that you are supposed to be. If you cannot speak up, that's why no one at Foxboro follows you. Friday, September 30, 2005 Cable & wiring standards have an impact on Software development? If that is what you are saying, then it's easy to understand why Invensys is in serious trouble. Friday, September 30, 2005 - RE: "It was a pain for the bright software engineers to listen about cable specifications and lazy contractors." If that is honestly how they felt, maybe it's better that they left. If they did not want to listen about conventional wiring practices and how real-world applications apply, maybe they should find another line of work. There are international standards for a reason, and creating products and software that do not follow those standards in essence create useless products that are too costly to convert new customers over to. Wednesday, September 28, 2005 - Ex-invensys employee, in response to "Meeting with bosses": I was employed with the biggest software development division of Invensys outside the US, in Hyderabad, India. My ex-boss (heading a team of Software Developers and QA guys) was from the EPC (Engineering, Procurement and Construction) background. It was a pain for the bright software engineers to listen about cable specifications and lazy contractors. The manufacturing background or so-called "domain" guys were a "real-hit" in Software organization. We could relate directly to "Dilbert" kind of situations in the office! Most of the bright guys have left to explore better opportunities elsewhere. Pity from Invensys point of view, how the talent goes down the drain... Monday, September 26, 2005 - re Steve Hassell, IBM Post: The first Invensys turn-over of IT to IBM failed, period. I was with Invensys at the time. IBM's sales strategy was and is, to start at the top, get the contract from the top and threaten anyone who identifies problems. Unfortunately, the Invensys senior management who selected IBM did not leave when IBM was asked to leave. While, outsourcing to IBM seems to be favored by senior IT people and other officers, it is rarely favored by the actual workers who use PCs. Good for IBM and its management supporters, bad for regular workers; sounds like Invensys. Sunday, September 25, 2005 Yes, many excellent people did leave. But there are many left who are very close to retirement, and it is too late in life to start over again. It is these quality people who are keeping Invensys afloat, in particular Foxboro operations. When they leave (and they will) all of Invensys will be in trouble. The new younger employees are using Invensys as a stepping stone and moving on to bigger and better companies. Sunday, September 25, 2005 - To the individual who thinks that all those who complain should leave: I was a solid performer. Great reviews, delivered key pieces of business, was promoted, even volunteered to take on extra duties in other departments to assist. I really tried to adapt to the culture; but then I have found new opportunites that are better for me, my family and customers. Don't fool yourself about the "virtues" of Invensys. They don't care about their employees, and barely care about their customers. All they do is give the latest lip service of the day. Go look at the latest titles in the business section of any bookstore and you wil see the leadership of Invensys - "Get off the bus"; "Are you good or are you great?", "Soar with Eagles", etc. The bottom line is that the leadership people are in way over their heads. There is some hope now that some of the key culprits have left. Now they just need to purge more of the cancer that is killing the patient. Sunday, September 25, 2005 Yes, indeed. Many high performance people took the first option (quit) and Invensys lost some of its best people. They are now with competitors. Saturday, September 24, 2005 - edited from a weblog that evidently came from the same person who thinks some people are simply complainers: If you feel so strongly negative about Invensys, why bitch and complain? Either leave, or pick up your performance so that you might be given the chance to take on a leadership role. Friday, September 23, 2005 - from Steve Hassell:
A minor correction to the September 22 post: Thursday, September 22, 2005 Iggy Javellana, will take on the role of co-ordinating our information technology activities across all business groups at Invensys. Iggy joined the Group from Honeywell where he was VP, IT Infrastructure. Under Steve Hassell IT gotten outsourced to Big Blue, and then after a lot of pain got insourced again. Guess what - Honeywell IT infrastructure is outsourced too. Hold on tight - we could be going back2blue. Thursday, September 22, 2005 I AM surprised that any lower level people at Invensys got ANY software. I used to have to install my own private software in order to get any work done, and management certainly had the best of everything. Thursday, September 22, 2005 The weblog on Sunday, September 11, 2005 said, "Mangement at Foxboro IS the problem, the rest of us ARE the solution. We get the orders out and make the money, while mangement wastes the money." This statement is so true it is frightening. Management can find the money to go on "junkets" classified as business to places like Europe, China and Mexico; often regaling the troops with stories of wild nights and lots of drinking yet they can't find enough money to keep our computer systems running efficiently. There is no money to upgrade equipment nor to maintain adequate licenses so workers are not 'bumped off' the system every 15 minutes. Try to get prouction out the door when you have to sign up your system 15 - 20 times per day because there are not enough licenses available. Managers often get the newest and best equipment while the rest of us work with outdated hardware and software. Management is the problem. Wednesday, September 21, 2005 Now, we have to go for meetings with our NEW boss every week to discuse all projects and any new ideas. The meeting can go on and on for more than 6 Hours, and almost all PM's and Service Managers are involved. Our boss comes from a popcorn company in US, and at every meeting he has to speek about his ex-company more than an hour, and then after that the meeting starts. Tuesday, September 20, 2005 I think my former boss posted the "chuckle about disgruntled complainers". I know that guy. I know, I got tired of getting good performance reviews and a 0% increase as a reward. I got tired of working long hours for nothing in the end. I got tired of the sheer egomania of the brass. I got tired of falling behind a little more each year as I continued to earn the exact salary I was hired at. I was wrong. I should have waited for Invensys to turn the corner. Tuesday, September 20, 2005 - re: "Chuckles" at Comments: It's interesting that some management fans find this weblog funny. Most would find the "chuckles" comment somewhat weird. There was nothing funny about the way Rick, his management picks and consultant friends destroyed the shareholder value of a once great company. We find that sad, not funny. It's interesting too that these "chuckles" people only criticize the complainers. They don't insert positive comments to support managements efforts and ideas. I've never read any of THOSE weblogs here. I wonder why.... Sunday, September 18, 2005 I often visit this site to chuckle at the comments which seem to come primarily from disgruntled people. If this group worked as diligently as it complained, Invensys would have turned the corner by now. Friday, September 16, 2005 The announcement today of Chan Galbato to run the Process controls division of Invensys is right on track to continue the continuing saga of Invensys. Chan was CEO of Home Depot, Ceo of Armstrong Flooring Division, and several other notable titles. However I see not one word of any Instrumentation experience. Wednesday, September 14, 2005 - Re Small Shareholder Comments: I agree that Invensys needs to do something about refocusing away from Deutche Bank. One of the big problems in the past is that Rick, his execs and the Invensys board, forgot that they work for the shareholders, not Deutche Bank. As a result, shareholder value went in the toilet, while the banks were made happy. Regarding Ulf, so far he hasn't done much about turning Invensys around and hasn't produced a plan that anyone has any confidence in. So far, he's not much better that Rick. Wednesday, September 14, 2005 I am a small Invensys shareholder. Other than that, I have no other involvement with the firm but have been following it closely. I have developed quite a passion for this wounded company. It seems to me that Rick haythornwaite was not always held in the highest regard, but remarkably little has been said on Ulf (Hands-on) Henriksson. I however get the feeling that he might be your man. I think the road to true recovery is based on getting Deutche Bank of your back (pay off debt). Invensys is close to no longer haemorrhaging cash which an important milestone. I want to see the company pick itself up and go on to good things and remain intact. I am dismayed at the negativity that I often see on these pages. I think you have a good man in Ulf Henriksson, but his hand may be forced from time to time in a competitive environment. Stay with it, I think the worst is probably over. Sunday, September 11, 2005 - from a concerned engineer: The problem is not only at Invensys, it is everywhere. A lot of Companies are under control of bean counters who have NO involvement with the business, NO feeling about the products. They're involved ONLY with the finances and the stock price. What Invensys needs are real entrepreneurs, not just "straw men" from banks and shareholders. We need people with balls and brains, with their hearts in the right place, to care of the business and the good people who have been working there for years. Sunday, September 11, 2005 Mangement at Foxboro IS the problem, the rest of us ARE the solution. We get the orders out and make the money, while mangement wastes the money. You're right, I have never seen any positive response from management to try to defend themselves. I guess when you have done nothing positive, you have nothing to say. Sunday, September 11, 2005 Invensys management doesn't want to know what the problems are or how to fix them. Discovering and rectifying problems is not what a good employee does, a good employee ignores the problem so as not to attract attention to himself or his superiors. Many of these problems are due to lack of good (even standard) business practice, customer focus, and lack of resources. If it doesn't fit with todays "party line", it's out, and so are you. Invensys management doesn't want to improve; they want to be told that todays programme is perfect. Friday, September 09, 2005 (edited) The comment regarding facing termination if you bring a concern or problem to management are total nonsense. Some people relish bitching about a problem rather than trying to address it. Too many people who show up to work and act as if they are doing the business a favor, rather than work to improve it. It's easier to point the finger at "management". The old saying rings true: "Either your part of the problem or part of the solution." Thursday, September 8, 2005 This weblog seems to enourage people to post put continue to post mindless trolls personal attacks. My previous weblog: "Why on earth would you use this weblog forum to communicate to Invensys management about something like disaster recovery? Pick up the phone! Write an e-mail to them!" was someones personal thoughts directed directly at another post on what the company should do to help gain business. It had nothing to do with the business in any way. I thought this weblog was for information about the company not a place to slam those who voice their thoughts of the company, policies, and direction of the sales force. Personal attacks should not be posted.
Evidently, this weblog is used primarily by people who feel they have no other way to communicate. I have invited positive posts, and personally requested managers to post positive responses - many, many times. Please note: I receive several purely negative posts, and personal attacks (by name). They are NOT published. Wednesday, September 7, 2005 - response to "pick up the phone, or email management" : From personal experience, and the perception of a lot of others at Invensys, a direct approach to management usually leads to termination or constructive discharge. Wednesday, September 7, 2005 Why on earth would you use this weblog forum to communicate to Invensys management about something like disaster recovery? Pick up the phone! Write an e-mail to them! Sunday, September 4, 2005 at Foxboro has its problems but I hope this is one time management allows people to do their job properly; I am talking about Hurricane Katrina restoration. Some Foxboro offices down south were decimated and facilities including petro-chemical, water, sewer, gas and pumping stations that rely on Foxboro equipment need to be rebuilt rapidly. This should not be a time for inappropriate shortcuts and poor inspections. These facilities are vital to restoration and to helping to lower the cost of energy including oil, gasoline and natural gas. This effort will help to remove an ubeliveable burden from the entire country. This is one time above all others that management should allow people to do their job properly, to build correctly and test appropriately. As tragic as the situation is in the Southern United States this is one time that Foxboro has the opportunity shine by doing things right and helping in the restoration process. I hope all of Invensys management and personnel get to read this and understand that they are playing a vital role in assisting in this monumental restoration task. Tuesday, August 30, 2005 - RE: Rick from a former Invensys Exec.: Anyone who thinks Rick "saved" Invensys was truly out of the loop. Rick inherited a tough situation and made it far worse. He spent well north of $100 Million on worthless consultants and executive friends (including some from Enron) at a time he should have been saving money, fixing BAAN and learning about the business he was running from the managers and employees working at Invensys. Instead he trashed some of the positive things Al Yurko had put in place to try to recover from the Baan fiasco (which was pushed on him by the banks and some B2B crazed senior managers) and spent money on huge expensive managment conferences in Florida and elsewhere. Rick was a poster boy for the type of manager or politican that comes in, confirms that EVERYTHING done in the past was wrong, and that a good manager needs not to understand his business if he just follows good MBA principles. (Apparently he missed the class that said if you have large debts, you need to conserve cash and not spend wildly) Invensys 2001-2003 was the clearest case of tossing the baby out with the bath water I've ever seen. Sadly, if he had just battened down the hatches and conserved funds, Invensys likely could have survived nearly intact or at least fetched higher prices in the sell-off. Monday, August 29, 2005 - re Criticism of those who criticize Rick Haythorthwaite: The writer seems to be in Oz, with the Tin man. Rick Haythorthwaite was brought in to turn Invensys around. But he didn't; and even worse, Invensys market value became significantly less than with Yurko. Haythornthwaite was paid very well and given free rein. He didn't rebuild Invensys, but sold most of it at fire-sale prices - anybody could have done that. Sunday, August 28, 2005 - response to those who wrote negatively about Rick Haythornthwaite: It might be noticed that Invensys was in many kinds of trouble long before Rick took the reins. Just read Jim Pinto's article, or the summary of it at the top of this log. I believe Rick's actions have kept Invensys from totally crashing. Many managers have such short memories when they talk about him destroying the company - as if Allen Yurko was a mirage. As for the declaration "Ask Rick emails were routed to managers for reply... what a charade" - that emails to other management often were ignored! As an employee asking a question, would you rather have an answer, or no answer? Did you as a manager feel that the questions that you answered did not really deserve a good answer? Was the "charade" that middle management did not really consider the employee questions and the feedback mechanism to be important? A comment about those communications pieces... Mixed with the positive PR-type statements he made to the troops (you gotta let him do some of that) were the most forthright statements about the problematic areas that I ever heard/read any Invensys management make, partly because other management usually made no statements at all to the troops. Please, if any Invensys management still reads this log, know what a valuable resource you have in your employees. Respect them. They can really be part of the solution. Saturday, August 27, 2005 - from a former Invensys manager: Rick Haythornewaite's "Ask Rick" emails were routed to managers for reply. I know because I answered some of them for him. He didn't even see the email comments or replies. What a charade! Saturday, August 27, 2005 - To Tim Fredericks [tgf@tm.net.my] asking about Terminal Automation System in Reliance. To date there are around 20-30 installations of TAS in India, including at major Indian Oil companies such as BPCL. In fact in one of these govt. owned sites, a competitor was unable to deliver a terminal automation system and the project was awarded to Invensys who successfully installed it. If you are genuinely interested in hearing more about TAS, please feel free to contact Invensys India at: http://www.buyautomation.com/OfficeLocator/Office.aspx?OfficeId=255 Friday, August 26, 2005 - re former employee bothered by criticism of Haythornwaite: Why the negative comments of Haythornwaite? Well, let's see; how about his destroying the market value of the company? Or, how about the real fear by employees and managers that if they were perceived as not seeing things Haythornthwaite's way, they would be off the "team"? Or, how about about the numerous strategic blunders by him and his management friends? Or, how about his frequently missing quarterly coprorate financial targets? Or, how about his style of hiring his friends and consultants who didn't perform and produced terrible strategies? Or, how about his communication pieces which tened to be PR and BS? Or, how about simply for screwing up the company? Haythornthwaite and his friends were paid very well, given free rein, and simply didn't produce. They should have left years ago. Good riddance! Friday, August 26, 2005 - Tim Fredericks [tgf@tm.net.my] wrote: I would like to have some feedback on the Foxboro (Invensys) Terminal Automation System used by Reliance Oil in India. Why is only used by Reliance India? Why have other Indian oil companies not used them? Why is Foxboro going into this area, an area that is not it's traditional area of expertise? Thursday, August 25, 2005 - former employee of Invensys/Foxboro: I've been bothered by the various negative representations and remembrances of Rick Haythornthwaite. Obviously others saw it differently. But from my perspective (and I only saw the Foxboro realm), Rick took over a situation of immense debt caused by many unwise purchases and the mismanagement of them. He arrived in a company, which had a total lack of communication between upper and lower levels. Data flowed up in the management structure but not ideas; not much at all flowed down. There was middle-management inertia. Rick introduced some real communication avenues from top to bottom, and bottom to top, something not seen since we were managed by the Bristols. I felt that he respected the employees ... that we were more than cells in a spreadsheet. Rick actually held a number of meetings where he solicited input and listened to ideas from the front-line troops and dialogued about solutions to issues. He established weekly reports to the employees, attempting to shine some light into the darkness. He provided an "Ask Rick" email address where questions were promptly answered. This was all new stuff, an attitude not seen for years. From what I understand today, the effort regarding debt-reduction is paying off and there is hope. It will take awhile to shake the burden created by the doings of Lord Marshall and Allen Yurko, but it seems to be happening. Hopefully Rick's replacement, Ulf Henriksson, and IPS President Mike Caliel, who came up through the earlier years with that respect for employees, will be able to continue these positive directions and attitudes. Invensys/Foxboro still has a tremendous resource in the employees that remain. May they be more and more involved in a successful recovery for Invensys.
Tuesday, August 23, 2005 - Electronics plant to lose 90 jobs Invensys is shutting its factory in Bodmin and moving production to its site in Plymouth, Devon. The plant in Dunmere Road, which makes switches and thermostats, has been in the town since the 1960s. Staff got the news after a 30-day consultation period. The plant is to close by March, with the loss of 77 full-time and 10 part-time posts. It is believed some workers have been offered jobs at the company's site in Plymouth. Friday, August 19, 2005 - from a July 2005 Invensys Stock Buyer: No mention in this weblog of the Brandes Investment in Invensys (19%). Brandes have kept buying and are long term Value Investors, this must be a good indication for the future of Invensys. If you look at the long term debt profile, it is obvious that reducing this mountain must be the number one priority. I am sure the company will be around for the long term and will be able to refinance competitively come 2009. Monday, August 15, 2005 - From a former Invensys Executive: Great news - Rick Haythonthwaite's new job: he will be on UK Government committee to look at regulatory impediments to British Industry. This is appropriate, as he was a great impediment to British industry during his stay at Invensys. Thursday, August 11, 2005 With respect to previous commentary about generating cash for the banks, here's another angle that's food for thought. Deutsche Bank has very tight relationships and does a huge amount of business with Siemens. Any surprise that they are currently extracting the maximum without any regard to diminishing future prospects? That would be one less competitor and more market share and customers for the German group. Speculation? Maybe. They're certainly not doing anything to grow their investment, but rather milking it and bleeding it dry while they can. Sounds a bit like the strategy of most of the management - ever noticed how the workforce is "restructured" (made redundant) to cut costs, but the expensive management stays? Perhaps the banks keep them on as they have a common strategy. Sunday, August 7, 2005 - from an ex-employee: While Ulf and Company (and Slick Rick's regime, for that matter) may indeed show little interest in developing their existing businesses, I fail to understand why their methodology is so difficult to comprehend for so many folks. The simple fact of the matter is that they've been hired to manage/operate the Company not for the benefits of the stockholders, customers, and employeers.....but for the BANKS alone. Of course, while it can be persuasively argued that such a plan does nothing but assure the ultimate destruction of everything the Company has created over the years, one must recognize that Deutsche Bank couldn't care less about Invensys' business future in a macro sense. It cares ONLY that Invensys consistently and regularly makes its contribution toward the debt reduction plan. What happens once the debt is theoretically re-paid is completely irrelevant. Regrettably, none of that had ANYTHING to do with the goal of building (or re-building) a better Company. Friday, August 05, 2005 - re: The Eurotherm debate: The renewed debate on Eurotherm prompts me to contribute. I endorse the view that the company is suffering an antiquated management which is living in the past, savouring the present, day upon day and quite unmindful of the future. Tompkins (to be quite blunt) is taking Eurotherm to the grave. Invensys doesnt know it, being too usy with more critical problems and are quite happy collecting cash that Eurotherm generates which is only in the mid term. The fact that Eurotherm still generates cash is a tribute to its founders and original management (prior to the Invensys acquisition) for two reasons: 1/ They built a stellar brand that still holds value in some niche markets; and 2/ Because its independent country structure makes it very difficult for an incompetent management at the center to do much damage in the medium term. But thats where the good news ends. Eurotherm needs to reinvent itself quickly, launch new products, hire good people, create new marketing initiatives - all of which should be driven by the management at the center. The current central team headed by Tompkins is in no way competent to do this. And what's worse is that Invensys is unable to recognize this fact. You can therefore start expecting to see a rapid financial decline which has already started affecting the top line of in the US and European markets. It won't be too long before the bottom line is also affected. Talk to some senior country managers in confidence and you will find out why they are frustrated and won't quit and move on. It's the pension scheme that that holds them back; when an employee has spent 15-20 years the pension scheme makes it very difficult for someone to leave without leaving money on the table. So they remain stuck to Eurotherm and become a frustrated lot. Invensys may only realise these deep rooted problems when the cash stops coming. Perhaps the Invensys CEO should spend more time talking to the country managers, find out what the competition is doing and what Eurotherm is not in the market place. Or else, sell Eurotherm when it is still profitable to someone who can turn it around. Friday, August 5, 2005 Another 204 jobs have left the USA bound for Mexico. Invensys is closing the Appliance Control plant in North Manchester, IN, USA by Dec. 1, 2005 Tuesday, August 02, 2005 - from an ex-Invensys manager: I was employed by Siebe just prior to the creation of Invensys and met Alan Yurko a number of times. He did not impress me as someone suitable to run such a diversified group. Unfortunately, he also employed personnel after his own bullying style who were great at treating people like crap and telling the world how good they were. They were also very good at creating small business from large ones. They did not like being told they were wrong or looking at things from an alternative point of view. Theirs was the only way. It sure worked! I was forced to resign after my proposals were interpreted as "arguing with the President". Looks like they continued their great work and the whole organisation is now demoralized and broke. Tuesday, August 2, 2005 - Why sell Eurotherm? The reason is simple - Eurotherm is worth more by selling it. Invensys still needs cash and the division is stumbling along. Current senior management has not been able to significantly improve things or itself. This is one time I would agree with London, get rid of it - you can't run it well. Saturday, July 30, 2005 - from Eurotherm UK Employee: Why would Invensys want to sell Eurotherm? Eurotherm consistently returns a profit and pushes cash into Invensys due to the nature of its business. There is little reason for Invensys to bother with Eurotherm when its simply not needed. As we've seen from elsewhere we should be grateful for the hands-off approach to our company. We've been able to take risks and continue investment into R&D, enhancing existing products and developing new products to take advantage of expanding markets in Asia and beyond. And no, I'm not a member of the management team, but just an ordinary employee confident of his future with the company. Lets hear it from the rest of Eurotherm and defend our company (and the management) from those who can only talk things down. Friday, July 29, 2005 - From a Eurotherm Employee: The comment about Eurotherm having "antiquated and ineffective management" is simply proof-positive that paper doesnít resist ink. Sure, if people want to believe something badly enough I suppose they will. Nonetheless, the truth of the matter is that Eurotherm has an excellent management team. I think it is more probable that the person who penned that remark is either a competitor of Eurotherm or a disgruntled employee. Tuesday, July 26, 2005 - from Eurotherm employee: The latest JimPinto.com eNews mentions the sale of Lambda - which prompts the question. Is Eurotherm next ? Eurotherm was once intended to be merged with the larger process solutions division which includes Foxboro. But it has been left separate and currently stands as the smallest, separate Invensys division for which there seems to be no strategic reason except that it could be for sale. Besides, Invensys has little time for Eurotherm, given the other larger under-performing businesses and the huge debt servicing burden. In the meantime, Eurotherm continues to decline with antiquated and ineffective management. Who will buy it? Monday, July 25, 2005 - Extract from JimPinto.com eNews
The Invensys sagaInvensys seems to be chugging along with Ulf Hands-on Henriksson in charge. The latest news is that Lambda (power supplies, part of old UniTech) was sold off to TDK of Japan for $235m (£134m). On Friday of last week, Invensys shares were languishing at 13.5p, with market cap at £754 million.The ailing Invensys is now in the hands of Ulf Henriksson. He's more hands-on, and hopefully has a better chance of turning things around. Any upswing will fetch a better price from buyers, now sitting on the sidelines. Siemens, Emerson, Schneider, GE ñ there are very few farmers large enough to handle a pig of this size. All this Invensys stuff happened in the last 5 years, and yet few people know the whole story. You can read the complete Invensys saga on AIN, Australia-based Automation Industry News.
Sunday, July 24, 2005 - from Invensys employee: I have worked in Controls, and joined the company prior to the "GE" management wave. I agree that the processes that came in were long and rigorous, and at times people where held up to public humiliation. I don't condone that behavior but I would be remiss if I did not also say that Controls pre-GE was a more efficient effective organization than the one that exists today. What has changed is the migration out of several in the sales force - people who thought punching a clock was acceptable in return for six figure paychecks. Some remain but are becoming more extinct. Accountability is the single biggist difference between then and now in sales, I would agree with those who say the result could have been achieved with a better approach. But the result has been achived none the less. It is Operations that is burning this business. Friday, July 22, 2005 Two years ago Foxboro hired some very talented Coriolis salesmen in an effort to penetrate a market dominated by Micro Motion. With only two viable competitors in the US (Micro Motion and E&H) Foxboro's chances looked more than reasonable to beat Micro Motion at their own game, differentation. Foxboro gained incredible results in one concentrated, geographical area in the U.S. - hint: Where the "Eagles" fly. Most all of those accounts (probably over twenty) that were won over in a single year have slowly trickled back to their original owners. Someone should purchase that technology. Oh yea, the other huge area of success was international. Who is minding that business now? Thursday, July 14, 2005 - from an Invensys Customer: I have been responsible for our Invensys account for a few years. The one thing that strikes me reading through this blog is that I was dealing with professional salesmen as they were delivering answers to my question in what seem to be a challenging environment! I have seen significant improvement from Invensys in the last 2-3 years. That's both in quality, pricing, delivery, innovation and technical support. All of those are "day-to-day" activities managed by people. Invensys still employs very professional & knowledgeable staff. No question there. The problem is with the strategic planning. I have spoken a few times to Invensys' senior management about the direction they were taking. I asked legitimate questions that they could not answer: "What does the new structure bring to me as your customer?" Nobody could even tell me what it would bring to Invensys! I had the impression of dealing with a company that is aiming at a moving target that they can't locate. Why would I plan to work with Invensys for the future of my company if my potential partner does not have a clue where it is heading? It is one thing to lose support from the shareholders. But losing faith from your customers in addition to that puts the company in a very difficult situation. Tuesday, July 12, 2005 - from a former employee: When I was employed at Invensys I read this weblog frequently. It is amazing how little things have changed. The upper level management is still clueless and the people just below are still despotic. An example: A sales VP requires that his very large group spend hours reviewing sales data on a monthly basis, to then produce a meaningless forecast. His subordinates are frightened of him and have no intention of confronting his idiocy. They plod on as as mindless zombies hoping that "one day soon" the Invensys scythe takes him out. If it weren't so sad it would make a great cartoon. This is only one small example of "the problem" at Invensys. What kind of leadership allows this? The comic actor Joe Pesci comes to mind......
C'mon Invensys managers and motivated employees - where's your POSITIVE input?? Thursday, July 7, 2005 I have worked for Invensys Climate Controls for the past 5 years. It seems like a lifetime as we have been in a constant state of reorganization. The latest kick is the constant reporting to London to convince them that we really are going to turn this around. Here is a hint: You can't cut so many people so often that you have no one left to turn it around. And you can't stop people from doing their jobs, so that we can compile yet another review of the same data we supplied last week for management to take to convince London all will be well. I like this company; but it has reached a point where survival is unlikely in its current format. Friday, June 24, 2005 Viewing the past five years of Invensys share prices on a logarithmic scale shows a very steady 50% per year loss of value as it fell from 300p to 10p. There were only a couple of opportunities for investors to profit from sharp drops followed by a return to the relentless downward trend. There was one positive trend at the end of 2004 but it has passed and we are back "on target" near 10p. Looking at the consolidated balance sheet in the 2005 annual report, and deducting the "Intangible Assets - goodwill", I get a net shareholder asset of -792, very similar to the 2004 number (-782). It's like watching the Titanic and the iceberg on a radar screen. Thursday, June 23, 2005 As an ex Invensys employee, having just read the year end report, I can't help feeling that the city investors will be expecting the group to be sliced up and sold off. I would think the group is as low as it can get so should be on the up but how patient will the money men be, two years, three years? I don't think so. Other groups like Seimens keeping an eye on the Rail Group, etc. must be tempted to make plans soon for some easy acquisitions, always kick the competitor when they are down! Wednesday, June 22, 2005 - re: what happens in Vegas stays in Vegas: Over the last several years, Invensys has been a high roller and spender in Las Vegas; the money spent on entertainment (or what ever they called it) was impressive. Gatherings in Vegas included conventions and special events. Wednesday, June 22, 2005 - responding to the previous weblog about Allen Yurko: While I have no brief for Yurko - his deficiencies have been rehearsed thoroughly over the years on this weblog. In my opinion, you also should study the state of BTR at the time of the "merger". Despite a major programme of divestments, BTR remained a sprawling mess of unrelated businesses. It was clear that the top management team, led by Ian Strachan, had no idea what to do next. The era of accounting-driven 1980s-style conglomerates was well and truly over. Yurko and "Lord" Marshall must have seemed like saviours - at least to the BTR top management and the shareholders. Tuesday, June 21, 2005 As an Invensys employess since the BTR days, in my opinion, there is only one reason for the demise of Invensysn - Allen Yurko. His bully-boy "I will not be contradicted" attitude runied Invensys from the start. Sunday, June 19, 2005 - Las Vegas: There was a meeting of sorts in Vegas about two weeks ago. It was for a small part of Invensys that represents about 5% of the overall sales of Climate North America. If Invensys goes out of business it won't be because of this meeting. It will be because of the leadership void that the company is currently suffering from. Sunday, June 19, 2005 As a former Invensys employee, I only stop by here on occasion to rubber-neck at the train wreck of Invensys. It's good that someone posted the overall stock trend, which says it all. It's just my opinion, but this can't last too much longer. I know some of the people who are still there, and they don't care about the customer. Many managers are just hopeful about sliding into retirement, with an underfunded pension. Many seem only to care about this week's paycheck and their their severance pay. They live this out week to week. Big concerns over the direction of Invensys and its upgrade policies are driving more and more customers away. If the Las Vegas meetings are true (someone please confirm), then it may just be a last ditch pep-rally. Thursday, June 16, 2005 - From UK Daily Telegraph (extracts):
Rick Haythornwaite, the chief executive who is due to retire next month, received a total package of £1.45m against £989,000 last year. Ulf Henriksson, the new chief executive designate, received a total of £2.18m. A company spokesman said the executive bonuses were based on free cashflow, because the business had been so indebted and this needed to be rectified. The company also said Mr Henriksson's pay was partly due to the fact that he would have been entitled to large amounts of money, had he stayed at his previous employers. Rick Haythornthwaite is best known in the City for his tongue-twisting name and for squeezing a decent price out of the French when Lafarge bought Blue Circle cement. This solid foundation carried him into the wreck of the Invensys, amid hopes that he could work his magic there. Alas, it was not to be, and as hope turned to despair, the value of the company which was once in the top 10 of the FTSE 100 has shrivelled to the point where it's near the bottom of the FTSE 250. Now Mr Haythornthwaite is quitting, beaten by its intractable problems, but from the scale of his rewards last year, you'd think he was leaving in triumph. In 2003 the three top executives at the group shared a useful £1.7m, but last year that leapt to £4.7m. This includes a rather exuberant golden hello for Ulf Henriksson, who had to be lured from America, as well as bonuses to Mr Haythornthwaite. Another year of losses hardly sounds like a justification for a bumper payout, but apparently the directors are rewarded on the basis of the free cash flow rather than share price. The official line is that, without these three geniuses to oversee the refinancing, Invensys would have been Disinvensysed by now. As it is, the business is just continuing downhill. We shall have to wait to see whether Mr H gets a going-away present when he leaves next month, but after this his record is not so much Blue Circle as Black Mark. Thursday, June 16, 2005 - Re: Mike Turnbulls Comments: Mike had a good experience and there are good people and good products left at Invensys, but largely without the resources to continue development at the level of its now much larger competitors. But to get to the point, Invensys has only about 25% of the employees it had merely 3-4 years ago. Does Mike really believe 75% of the group were slackers? I wound up working, after 15 years at the company, for a manager who had no idea what I did, no interest in my past accomplishments, no real knowledge of my specialty and no interest in learning about it. In typical fashion that manager relied on outside consultants who never bothered to interview employees to learn about the job or its value. This had a predictable, result for a high time, higher compensated, experienced employee. Wednesday, June 15, 2005 - Re Michael Turnbull's comments (previous weblog): Turnbull may not have realized that a lot of good people were fired from Invensys. Rather than speculate why they were and he wasn't, Turnbull might reserve his wrath for Rick, Rick's picks for managers and Rick's consultant friends. These were the folks who destroyed shareholder value and drove away customers. For those who want to read great things about Invensys and don't mind the bias, then they should go to the Invensys website. Otherwise should talk to stock analysts, or just read the financial and business press for concerned comments. Tuesday, June 14, 2005 - from Michael Turnbull [M_Turnbull@bigpond.com]: I'm an ex Invensys employee, and left because of natural career advancement after 11 years of rewarding service. Unlike most contributors to this site I wasn't "fired", nor came close to being "laid off" - probably because I could preform. I'm ashamed at the content of these weblogs. Most comments are terse and inwardly focussed. Surely there can be some positive commentary? What about the product range? IA and Triconex are all excellent launching products to solutions. No other automation vendor has such a diverse range of gear including M&I, DCS, ESD, Plant Information Systems and APC. I suspect too much choice for sales staff and not enough expertise to sell it! Instead of moaning about senior management and the state of the organization's share price, what's wrong with getting out to the customer base and servicing it properly and selling solutions? I'm an end user now and not only is this an expectation of Invensys management, it is also a normal customer expectation..... For all of those Invensys staff complaining like old bags of swamp gas, try visiting a client and selling/servicing something - it's much easier than writing a weblog here... Sunday, June 12, 2005 - To the "sour grapes" comment:
Invensys used to be a great place to work. However, as things started looking grim, it became a game of "every man for himself". Ex-employee or not, Invensys or any other company, I personally would rather wear a paper hat and ask "would you like fries with that?". Good luck to those who remain. Sunday, June 12, 2005 - commenting on previous weblog, ex-employee-sour-grapes: I think the point here is that a company with such poor stock performance should be more interested in getting employees working, rather than days off and expensive meetings. As a shareholder, I thoroughly agree. Sunday, June 12, 2005 These ex-employees seem to think they know what is going on today. Las Vegas trips, etc. - sounds like a juicy story but as usual, it lacks any details or facts and comes off as typical fired employee sour grapes. Friday, June 10, 2005 - from an ex-employee. Is Invensys headed towards being a penny stock?
"Generally any share with a share price below 50p can be thought of as a penny share. Interestingly, there are almost 70 companies with market values in excess of £50m whose share prices are below 50p. These include Invensys (LSE: ISYS) that is valued at £640m". At 10p a share, and with customes jumping off that sinking ship, I would think Invensys would keep the staff working and spend money on improving the business. Maybe they are hoping to hit a company saving jackpot on the slots or blackjack tables. Sounds like a "good bye" party to me. Wednesday, June 8, 2005 Any thoughts on Invensys's divestiture of Satchwell to Schneider Electric? My take is that it was a good idea from the perspective of Invensys - merging of the Satchwell and I/A series lines failed miserably years ago. With no standardization in sight, it was better for Invensys to divest. Wednesday, June 8, 2005 - Another Invensys employee's view of Mike Caliel: It's nice to finally see a more "fair and balanced" assessment of Mike C. Some people here seem to think he is the second coming. It simply shows how desperation can lead the lost to follow just about anyone! He is the very definition of a political animal, and fits well in the shark tank known as Invensys. Tuesday, June 7, 2005 - more in support of Leo Quinn: Leo has charisma and energy. How could he ever fit into the stodgy New England style? Foxboro is a group with a loser's and complainer's attitude. A CEO and Leader should bring out the best in people. Foxboro should have embraced this but they were just too old. Go Leo! I worked for him, he motivated me. Tuesday, June 7, 2005 - Regarding Leo Quinn and Mike Caliel:
Caleil wears nice suits. Quinn works hard for stakeholders. Monday, June 6, 2005 - In response to the last weblog regarding Leo Quinn: I was fortunate enough to work directly with Leo Quinn at Honeywell and I found his leadership style both invigorating and refreshing, albeit challenging at times. I for one wish him all the best at De La Rue - Sometimes even senior leaders can't flourish when those above won't allow. As we all know, there's always 2 sides to any story. But kudos to Leo Quinn - he has clearly delivered to both De La Rue and their shareholders; as they say, actions (or in De La Rue's case - dividends) speak louder than words! Monday, June 06, 2005 - Invensys employee comments on UK Times Leo Quinn interview: The Mighty? Quinn? Leo Quinn is getting good press in the UK - if he is really as good at fixing companies, he should have stayed at Invensys and finished the job. It looks like he is still has the same old story lines, and people are still buying them! The Quinn formulae: Improve cash flow (stop paying suppliers), cut basic operating costs, fire the middle management (with industry skills), hire previously known collaborators (with no industry knowledge)and talk yourself up to anyone who will listen. "Uncommonly good with staff" - that is not what the Honeywell people I've met have said? "Likeable"? Who did they talk to at Invensys? Well, I guess he gave them the references and I am not sure the likes of Mike Caliel would say what he really thought, if asked. Best of luck to De La Rue. Monday, June 06, 2005 - UK Times Online (extracts): The Andrew Davidson Interview: Why mighty Quinn really is quids in
De La Rue is the worldís largest commercial security printer and papermaker. Quinn arrived 14 months ago to sort out the company after three profit warnings. A spate of acquisitions, designed to find new growth areas outside its mature core business, had torpedoed its financial performance. London-born Quinn, who cut his management teeth at the American multinational Honeywell, has since set about reinvigorating the famous old money-printer. Two weeks ago Quinn surprised the City with his first set of results: profits up 13% to £66m, and a promise to return £70m to shareholders. Lean and lanky, with the permanently upbeat demeanour of a motivational speaker, Quinn, 48, is good at accentuating the positive. He has imposed schemes for sales improvement and coaxing input from his frontline staff ó ideas he picked up during his 16-year stint at Honeywell, where he rose to become president of its Enterprise Solutions division. He imposed similar processes at Invensys, where former colleagues remember him as a likeable, cash-obsessed workaholic, whose e-mails were often time-marked 4am. He also flew economy everywhere, developing terrible back pain in his drive to save cash. Friday, May 27, 2005 - from a long-time Foxboro I/A system user It should be noticed that the letter written by the departing CEO of Invensys (shown on this weblog) did not contain the word CUSTOMER - not even once! Tuesday, May 24, 2005 - Stockholders the losers? Certainly they will lose; but they will survive. What about the tens of thousands of good, hardworking people who were thrown out into the street? And meanwhile, the people who caused the problems through their gross mismanagement still have nice high paying jobs today. I used to work for Invensys in California, at a division that had a wonderful product and group of employees. Many of them left not only because of the management, but also because of the daily beratings received for not meeting schedules that someone up above decided was resonable. Meanwhile, to add insult to injury, does Rick Haythornthwaite get a "golden handshake" too? Tuesday, May 24, 2005 - from today's London Times Online: Invensys hits year low after downgrade
At last week's post-results conference call with Adrian Hennah, Invensys's finance director, Lehman Brothers was unsettled to learn that the company expects no improvement in working capital this year. Monday, May 23, 2005 - re comments by Former Executive: I agree. Between the Boston consultants (Parthenon) all the ex-Enron folks with the Enron attitude, Florida conferences, lavish spending with little results, Rick's picks for execs and strategic blunders, it's no wonder that Rick failed. But the real losers are the shareholders, with dramatic losses in shareholder value. Monday, May 23, 2005 - from Former Invensys Executive: I read with interest Rick's departing message. What remains unstated is Rick's wild over-expenditure during his first year. The vast $$ employment of consultants in London and Boston, the expensive Florida conferences, the rejection of all prior initiatives, etc. The hiring of "talent" from Enron and other refuges. These substantial expenditures avoided utilizing the talented professionals he inherited (or learning about the businesses) and managed to take a bad financial situation and make it a disaster. While Yurko had left a bad situation, Rick made it substantially worse. Hopefully enough taleted individuals have survived Rick, so that a company I still care about can recover to a leadership position. While I don't think Rick is a bad person, he clearly was in way over his head, and made some very bad and incompetent choices. Monday, May 23, 2005 - from Foxboro employee in Hyderabad, India commenting on "top-down" management: I have been an Foxboro employee at IDC in Hyderabad, India, for a period of almost a couple of years. During this time I have, grudgingly, come to realize that what this Invensys weblog has been reporting about the organization is true. I have witnessed the entire gamut of inept senior management, bungled projects, irate employees and insensitive HR. It seems that the "management" here seems synonymous with creating disasters and then making matters worse through bungled correction methods. We have some great software developers who have their work cut off due to "out-of-the box" Project Management from the managers in Hyderabad and FoxMass. Foxboro division of Invensys IDC is a mockery of deadlines, projects which have to be completed in couple of months have taken all together years to complete and that too in an abysmal manner. Sunday, May 22, 2005 Looking back all the way up to March of this year, the constant underlying comment is poor management. Yes, Mike Caliel might be the saving grace, but not until he sidetracks or eliminates many of the current Foxboro upper and middle management; or finds some way to eliminate the good old boys network. Many of these middle managers are still conducting lengthy, non productive, meetings and using these forums as a soap box to berate and humiliate their employees. There is too much work to be done to waste time in this manner. Mike, we need you. Sunday, May 22, 2005 - from a long-term Foxboro division employee: I would like to caution that the future is far from certain. The continuing changes of Invensys upper management may bring improvements, but they probably will not happen over night. Our present condition is the result of several years of a "top-down" management style that implanted successive layers, each dedicated to supporting their superior's career ambitions. "Managers" flourished, but development of "leaders" was neglected, at great cost to our internal morale and our reputation in the employment marketplace. To succeed in the long term, we need to build both management and leadership within our organization. The challenge is to restore our balance and regain those strengths that enable us to offer rewarding careers to the people who can meet our customers' needs. These changes must come down from the top, along the same paths that were used by the previous regime. There will be obstacles and it will take time and cause turmoil. We may have turned a corner, but the road ahead is not straight and smooth. We are still in the (re)contruction zone, with bumps and perhaps some nasty surprises. Friday, May 20, 2005 - To the Invensys senior manager who reviewed Rick Haythornthwaite: With all due respect, but this illustrates exactly what is wrong with Invensys. You are, and have been, its leadership. How can you write a log like this, as a so-called "Senior Manager" and not take any responsibility? This smells like the "Ich habe es nicht gewusst" defense. Friday, May 20, 2005 - An Invensys senior manager reviews Rick Haythornthwaite: I have been a member of the Invensys senior management team for a couple of years and I would like to add some observations on the management dynamics at Invensys to this weblog. It comes across quite clearly when I read the comments on this site how ìmanagementî are to blame for all the problems at Invensys. I think though that the managers at all levels at Invensys are as confused and frustrated as everyone else. The Company has great people, great products - but absolutely no leadership whatsoever. Invensys has had little or no strategic direction, and what direction there has been has twisted, turned and been driven by whatever the agenda for that week was. The structure and governance of the Company has never had continuity, as regular meetings have no agendas, weekly calls are just... well a ramble through the issues, with no ideas on solution. The only senior managers who stay are those who can play the game of nodding when the time is right and then doing nothing - because doing nothing is safe. This leads to the reason why we have lost so many good people, because the guys and girls who want to see the Company succeed have become caught up in the swirling ambiguity that drives the Company, and have tried to help or sort it out. And they have become casualties or have left. So why is Invensys in this state? Quite frankly its all down to Rick Haythornthwaite. There is no doubt he is a very smart guy - articulate, statesmanlike, and he does step up to lead. Unfortunately he is all over the place. In essence my observations of Rick are that he is a very accomplished actor. Every meeting, video or presentation is a performance that Rick gives. He is not at all interested in the operations. In fact thatís unfair - he actually cannot get to grips with the operations so he delegates this responsibility, but then cannot provide a stable context within which the businesses can move forward. So he moves from act to act, scene to scene - but with no script. Rick is now moving on, and I'm sure he will get a highly paid role but Invensys was a step too far for Rick. The job was too big, the challenges too great and he has not demonstrated that his tenure at Invensys has been a success, with the share price languishing, no P&L success, and a story of meeting market expectations that are always benchmarked at the bottom of the range. So please try and put yourself in role of the ìmanagementî, they are not all evil schemers, some are badÖ..many are good, they are all having to operate and survive in a chaotic environment for a Company that many, me included, still believe can be a success. In many ways we are all in the same boat. Friday, May 20, 2005 - "Official Message" from Rick Haythornthwaite to all Invensys employees:
This will be my last Group Direct. As you will know by now, the AGM in July this year also marks the end of my time as your Chief Executive. Although I will be helping to ensure a smooth transition, responsibility for operational management and performance will be passing immediately to Ulf. When I became CEO of Invensys in October 2001, and as I looked more deeply into the company, I realised that deep-rooted issues within the tangle of businesses were making it almost impossible for the dedicated people employed by Invensys to make any headway towards recovery. Some of those talented and hard-working people are no longer at Invensys. Some have left to seek success elsewhere, with my best wishes. Others have moved with their businesses to buyers we felt would give them a better chance of success. To my deep regret, we have had to lose valuable people over the years as a matter of pure survival. Sometimes, we had to do what was necessary at that moment to survive. However, in the face of all this, we did survive. And, in doing so, we kept our promises and did our duty to tens of thousands of employees, hundreds of thousands of pension fund members, and more broadly to our shareholders and our creditors. In the process, we have also created a far tighter and more manageable group, made up of businesses with good teams in place and the potential to contribute to the long-term success of the Group. I came to an Invensys that had no way to generate cash except slashing and burning, squeezing suppliers and starving necessary investment. I am leaving a Group that applies good operational management to establish high levels of cash conversion. Of course, there is much still to do. The turnaround that has begun must be maintained, nurtured and grown. Our legacy liabilities must continue to be controlled and managed to a close. Over the next four years, Invensys must ensure that it is in a position to deal with its remaining debts from a position of strength. Lower liabilities and interest payments, coupled with improving performance, will make Invensys better able to deliver value to shareholders, invest in people and technology and continue its upward progress. Each business has its own issues to be addressed and opportunities to be taken to contribute to this broader model of success. The next stage of the story of Invensys is an operational one, where the businesses, increasingly free from the distraction of financial speculation, must continue to focus relentlessly on taking necessary steps to improve performance and control expenditure. I cannot think of a better Chief Executive to take the Group along this path than Ulf Henriksson. When we worked hard to bring him here from Eaton, it was because of his operational ability. This, coupled with his enthusiasm, his energy and his rigorous dedication to improving the way Invensys and its businesses work, has made him an increasingly compelling choice to succeed me. The timing of my own departure has been determined not by the offer of another role elsewhere, but the best interests of the Group. The time is right for a handover. For my part, I will only now start to consider what my next move will be. I wish Ulf every success in building Invensys, as I do each of you. My time at Invensys, invariably challenging, often frustrating but always instructive, has been defined by your ability to endure difficult times and to show ingenuity, tenacity and dedication as we have, slowly and with great effort, brought Invensys under control from what might have seemed an impossible position. So, I would like to thank you for your work at Invensys, not just for the last quarter or the last year but for as long as you and I have worked together. You have all played a part in this recovery, and I do not think Ulf could ask for a better work force to make his plans for Invensys reality. Rick Haythornthwaite Thursday, May 19, 2005 The changes that will occur "post-Rick" will send shock waves through Invensys and will be driven by rational cost cutting combined with pent-up political disagreements. Fat organizations, even those generating big-time cash (Lake Forest?) will feel the sting. Change is in the wind. Mike Caliel will lead it. Thursday, May 19, 2005 - UK Financial Times: Invensys losses widen as chief executive departs
Thursday, May 19, 2005 - Haythornthwaite exits: It's official. Rick H. has announced his intent to formally hand over control over to Ulf at the next AGM. Interestingly enough, the stock price ticked upwards..... (Thursday close: 12.25p) Thursday, May 19, 2005 - more on Mike Caliel: As a former Foxboro employee who left of my own free will, I too agree that Mike Caliel is the only real leader left. He is a class act and could go almost anywhere in the Industry, but he has chosen to stay. Anyone can "lead" a successful group with unchallenged momentum that was built by someone else (read Emerson). However, the sign of a real leader is someone who can lead through the downward drag from the "Invensys" of the past few years. Hats off to Caliel. You are lucky he has held so tough and steered through the storm. Wednesday, May 18, 2005 The Invensys "brain drain" started about 7-8 years ago and has continued steadily since then. Those who were capable of finding employment elsewhere have done so, and those who couldn't stayed put. Many who had left Invensys over the years returned in the golden years. The innovation level is almost zero at these days, and the "excitement level" is less than that. Anyone that says otherwise isn't here. Wednesday, May 18, 2005 - Ref "The best thing Invensys could and should do is to hire smart people": Well, there WERE smart people worldwide in Invensys, thousands of them. But they all got dumped by "smarter" people in Upper Management. And I don't think they'll give Invensys a second glance ever again (apart from those who had stock, and are watching their share value in a downward spiral). Tuesday, May 17, 2005 - Regarding the 15 May post by the long-term employee: You are absolutely correct. Upper management at Invensys has consisted of people with an intimate knowledge of mergers & acquisitions and accounting, but little of anything, else. A company responsible for the livelihoods of thousands seems to have been run by accountants and wheeler-dealers who have no clue how to add value or get a product out the door, and who are suckers for every "one-size-fits-all" scheme that comes along. The best thing Invensys could and should do is to hire smart people who can actually produce goods and services, then get out of the way and let them do their jobs. Tuesday, May 17, 2005 Congratulations to Mike Caleil and his much needed morale-boosting day off. However, becoming an ex-Foxboro employee, and after giving 20+ years of service to the company, I find it difficult to share your enthusiasm. Especially realizing that the elimination of my position became part of the "successful year". 50+ and looking for a new career. Thanks for the memories. Tuesday, May 17, 2005 - regarding the notice from Mike Caleil: Totally agree. Mike is doing an A+ job in my book. Nice to have a leader who recognizes that the people are the business. Sunday, May 15, 2005 - from a long-term employee: I've been wanting to comment on Invensys for a long time now. Please allow me to vent some of my more pungent memories - I need to go back to when Siebe purchased Robertshaw Controls and everything hit the fan. Year after year, we all wondered where all the D-Heads came from that the new owners continually hired. All of us were astonished about of how these fools got past Personnel - uh, the Department was elevated to 'Human Resources' according to the new Siebe sophisication. The newly acquired performers had no knowledge of anything that pertained to our industry. A guy named Bill came out of the sky to become the Head of the Engineering Department. He wanted all the engineers to put their Approve Drawing Changes in a filing cabinet next to their desks, each drawer with the individual's name on it. He didn't know that they needed to go to the vault and have the new revision indicated so that everyone would be included in the changes. Try as we may, he just couldn't get the concept that the operators on the line, apart from anyone else, would be aware of these changes. Good old Bill wanted to stop producing blue prints of sub-assemblies. It took the previous Head of Engineering (now relieved of his position) to give him a handful of parts and wait for him to assemble them. Bill was stupified! He said he couldn't assemble them because he had no instructions to follow! This was our man flint, now the Head of the Engineering Department. We, had two Shop Plant Managers that came in from the dark - evidently they had been there for some time. The first was Ozie - he wanted to know why we bought mulitible drills that were the same size. This over-paid recruit didn't know that drills came in machine, aircraft, stub and taper lengths, and didn't know the difference. He didn't know what a heli-coil insert or heli-coil tap was used for or why. The next one hired (Ozie got canned, something about a $5000.00 check with his name on it) was Gomez. This clean freak was an ordeal to say the least. He thought the plastic aprons hanging on the machinery at the end of the shift looked 'MESSY'. So, he collected all of them after the shift (at least thirty) and threw them away! Next morning he told them all to put them in their lockers or they would get thrown away again. Anybody knows that too much coolant remains on that plastic to run all over the other contents of someone's locker? Gomez didn't how the material was stored in the Tool & Die Department. All the 10 and 12 foot steel, brass, copper, stentor that was all marked with identification looked messy stored on a rotating tee-pee style storage. He insisted that we should get rid of all that, and whenever the tool and die people needed any, they should order it, in the 2" and 3" lengths, whatever was needed at the time. Well, so much said for the cost savings of buying 2" to 3" at a time. Obviously, it would have been stupid to consider the down time of the machine. The death spiral began long before Foxboro was acquired - they just caught up in it before the world knew of the bliss of yucky Yurko. Maybe I'll come back here and let you in on some of the scoop of 'one of the many' General Managers the we were to endure. Something about his having to move, swimming, hotdogs, hamburgers, union picnic. Even posted a bull-i-tin for help...... Sunday, May 15, 2005 - regarding the notice sent from Mike Caleil to his organization: Too bad Caleil isn't running Invensys instead of Rick or Ulf the Hatchet. We wouldn't expect Ulf or Rick to do something people oriented like what Caleil is doing. Thursday, May 12, 2005 On May 9, 2005, Invensys had a spike in volume along with an up tick in stock price. One of the local papers reported the increase in volume along with a comment about a bid from Honeywell. This comment was also report by Forbes.com. Also, an Invensys Manager stated the Building Group was becoming a stand alone Company. Any comments or feedback from Invensys weblog? Thursday, May 12, 2005 - Notice just sent out from Mike Caleil to his organization: We have just completed an important and successful year. In recognition of the outstanding professionalism, dedication and accomplishment of all of the people of IPS, Monday 23 May is a Worldwide IPS Day Off! Enjoy the day off to relax and get re-energized. We have more to do! On behalf of the IPS Management Team: Thank you for a great year! Tuesday, May 3, 2005 C'mon, if we don't post comments here, how are we to know what's going on at Invensys? Negative or not, this weblog gives Invensys people some idea about what to look for. It seems to be common knowledge about the Ranco Japan facility closing but yet no announcements have been made inside the company. Does anyone have any information about this such as where the products Japan built or still builds are going or if they are being phased out of production? Wednesday, April 27, 2005 There was a interesting article in the local paper. APV North America part of Invensys has applied for a $300,000.00 loan from the county. These would be used for consolidation. The entire APV project will be a $3 million investment at Lake Mills WI. This would create 25 new position with a average of $15.00 per hour. The consolidation will bring work currently done in North Carolina. This will give Lake Mills some where about 100 people. Lake Mills at one time had close to 1450 people. But just a lot of poor management. Just a lot of mismanagement by Invensys. Wednesday, April 20, 2005 The ABS (Advanced Building Systems) group is to be sold and so the rumour mill is running again. The potential buyer (news on this seems to indicate one possibility) is going through the process of "Due Diligence". Only months ago ABS was removed from the "Development" sales lot and restructured. This is one of the problems with the group constant restructuring and strategy changes that can only have cost millions and acheived very little. It seems that if the higher management had an objective long enough to explain to the staff something would be gained. At one point the policy was to return to core business and trim of the excess, well originally core business was controls and that was part of the sell off. Goodbye Rick, and thanks for the memories. Hope this will mean there won't be the constant change of the past few years. Wednesday, April 6, 2005 Rick Haythornthwaite is leaving - finally. According to the Financial Times, Rick will announce he's leaving by the end of the year. Too bad he is leaving the shareholders with a market value considerably less than what it was before before he came. Latest Invensys stock price 15.75p, market-cap GBP 882M. All those brash promises have come to nought... Ulf Henriksson is expected to replace Haythornwaite. Sunday, March 6, 2005 - re: comments on the March 4 posting on "Good Old Boys": While politics rather than competence pervades many companies, I can attest that there are pockets within Invensys where this modus operandi seems to dominate at the management level, i.e. the use of political "connections" to promote your career. I have seen situations at Invensys where a manager spends most of his time during the day working the politics and ingratiating himself to his boss rather than spending time with his subordinates to facilitate them in meeting their goals. These managers usually spend much of their day in overly long meetings with peers and/or bosses - their goal is not so much to coordinate specific inter-group technical/management issues, but rather to work the politics under the cover of such topics as "communications" or "process". Managers such as these manage his/her own subordinates, not through their own technical guidance or management efficacy (they don't have any), but rather by manipulating, criticizing and creating fear within their own subordinates in group or in one-on-one meetings, in the name of "improving the team". An occasional firing of a subordinate under some guise is always useful to promote this cause. A good description of such a manager would be "serial bully". But somehow, they always think of themselves as a "people person". But the one thing can always be counted on is that these managers are quick to rely on their political connections to save their skins when things go badly. Invensys has more than its fair share of these types. Sadly, it's become part of the culture. Friday, March 4, 2005 - re Jim Pinto's Note to Invensys Management: Sorry to see that Jim seems to bowing to pressure from Invensys to curtail or censor weblogs critical of Invensys. This is unfortunate since this weblog board has been an important source of critical information on Invensys; information that Invensys doesn't seem to want to be available to Invensys investors. Jim Pinto statement:
This weblog generates 1,000 visits per day. Hey! If somebody called to put pressure, at least I'd know they were listening...... :) Jim Pinto Note to Invensys management:
Friday, March 4, 2005 - Welcome to the new employee: I too was a new employee only a few years ago, after having spent many years in another industry. After only a few months I realized that most of the Invensys personnel I was working with were hard working, dedicated people. The real problem with Invensys is the management "Good Old Boys" network. A basically incompetent individual has friends higher up in the organization and they help to promote him to his full level of incompetance (the Peter Principle). As long as there were enough qualified personnel below doing the work things were running fairly well. Once the layoffs (Z9's) started and a lot of talent was lost, the quality of work diminished because there were not enough people, talented or otherwise, to keep things going smoothly. The work force has been cut to the bone and beyond, and in an attempt to "make the numbers", management wants more cuts and much more work from the few workers left on the job. Management's "One X Six" theory really means one person doing the work of six. Until management is changed, both at the top and at the grass roots level, the organization will continue on a slow but steady death spiral. Thursday, March 3, 2005 - to that "new employee": Please write back to this weblog in a year. It will be interesting to see how long it takes for you to become illuminated. Regarding long-time employees grumbling, you evidently don't realize that they are NOT quitters, and they simply want to change the company for the better. Your "love it or leave it" attitude is that of a quitter. The good people here are determined to stick it out until it gets better. These are highly employable people who love those with whom they work, and the work that they do. That's why they don't leave. It sounds like you've been listening a little too much to the "you're either with us or against us" crowd. Tuesday, March 01, 2005 - from a "New" APV Employee: It's my understanding that the new management in APV Americas has pulled together a core group of employees to help develop a plan to fix many of the issues. Is it possible that the "Happy APV Employee" has taken a wait-and-see approach, and wants to monday-morning quarterback the decisions? As a new employee, I'm excited about the changes within APV. It appears that we are getting focused on the products and services that we can deliver consistently to our customers. Since arriving to APV in the last year, I have witnessed a lot of long time employees complaining about the business. You'd think they would leave. But then you realize they are probably not employable anywhere else. My advice to the "Happy APV Employee" is to get off your horse, roll up your sleeves and get involved. It's pretty easy to sit back and complain from the cheap seats. Sunday, February 27, 2005 - from "a happy APV employee": Hooray. The latest reorganization leave us so thin on the ground in America that the new management is almost invisible. Sales meetings in small locations, small teleconferences with many absent, video conferences that are cancelled because IT isn't in that day are all good signs for the future. The last round of management have new jobs and new locations.Even R&D is a European passtime the products of which will only be exported to us at a considerable premium. We are now masters and mistresses of our own future and can expect no outside help. The future is truly ours, we only have to avoid overachieving to be left alone to give our customers some TLC. Tuesday, February 22, 2005 - re. S Vijayakumar's recent posting: Mr. Vijayakumar ignores a few key points:
Monday, February 21, 2005 - re posting from S Vijayakumar: This person suggests that this weblog we should post only positive comments, and not post anything about Invensys's problems.
Tuesday, February 15, 2005 - from S Vijayakumar: Recently Jim Pinto has said (with due respect to his honesty) that he is not paid by Emerson (or anyone else) for his views. But, it seems that he is biased in his comments about Emerson and Invensys cultures, perhaps fueled by the outbursts and negativity in these weblogs. No company which broadcasts its problems to the outside world will command respect. I request Invensys collegues to be restrained in writing. Thursday, February 10, 2005 - From Mike Caliel: Recently, I was made aware of just that type of false information in the form of a rumor being circulated that I am leaving Invensys Process Systems. Let me state very clearly that I have no plans to leave the company. Thursday, February 10, 2005 - APV Reorganization Good or Bad ? Recently APV management announced another reorganization. So called new organization is nothing but the original organization that was there when APV was stand-alone. When Siebie took over APV, it was reorganized to function as a regionalized organization. Several ìGlobalî positions were eliminated and replaced by regional heads. Now, realizing that idea did not work, Haluk Durdogan and his team are going back to the Global organization. So what happened to the ex-regional heads? Few are gone. Some got higher titles like VP. Some are given interesting new management positions. Anyone with some management background will wonder why these new positions for? Some really questionable new titles are: (1) Executive management and marketing (with loads of blah blah blah responsibilities) (2) Business development management (Yes we need these guys but not the project engineers and sales!!) (3) New management for acquisitions and divestiture (with blah blah responsibilities who will divestiture what?) (4) P5 Management (no clue) It is surprising that the Invensys management/share holders/bankers donít see that APV is really top heavy. Rationale given by the new regional manager (of course he is under a global manager) for recent layoffs that the project sales in North America is slow and he wanted to cut down the overhead by laying off project sales group. In reality North America project sales is slow because all the project sales knowledge is lost by APV past 3 years, and gained by competition who is joyfully hiring these very knowledgeable sales persons and engineers. Sooner APV will find that it is so top heavy it will not stand by itself. At that point all management who made these decisions will be long gone to begin the demise of another company. Hardworking employees (including several excellent leaders with long track record) will be left in the dark and wonder what the future holds. Appropriate quote:
-- Petronius Arbiter 210 B.C. Saturday, February 5, 2005 - APV North America Update: First, the input to this weblog has been "quiet" because no one knows the true status of operations. The 100 day plan was deemed a success (by Pres. Haluk). All "others" wonder what the heck the real deal was? New Marketing and Sales management "heads" were installed on December. In January, the VP of the new service division was released. This friday, the "sales and applications" force was cut in half. Key "experienced engineering application personnel" were released. The hopes for a real "turn-around" within the projects division have dimmed. The "Products" division is still strong, but they need resources to place their components into the projects. Senior management "turnover" has customers confused and concerned. Maybe someone else has more to "contribute". APV can still be a good company and resource for the industry. We just do not understand the "vision". Friday, February 4, 2005 - from an Invensys employee: If Mike Caliel is not leaving, then let's hear it from Mike Caliel. Thursday, February 03, 2005 - Direct from Invensys UK PR person: "I can confirm that the information in the JimPinto.com weblog relating to Mike Caliel joining Yokogawa is completely without foundation. Mike Caliel is not leaving Invensys." Wednesday, February 2, 2005 Strong industry sources say that Caliel is going to Yokogawa of his own free will. He did a great service to Foxboro and we were lucky to have him as long as we did. Ginnie Burnell is another in a long line of has-beens to surface at Invensys. Tuesday, February 01, 2005 UK insiders picked up the news that Mike Caliel, Foxboro President, might be about to take his leave from Invensys. Hmmm... does this have to do with the arrival of Ginnie Burnell from Honeywell? Monday, January 31, 2005 What is happening here? One Invensys weblog entry since last year? Did everybody get laid off? Did Invensys go bankrupt? The share price went through the roof and nobody weblogged? They are ONE and it is 2006 and I was asleep for over a year? Please tell me - the suspense is killing me, I canít take it anymore..... Monday, January 24, 2005 - From the UK Financial Times today: Invensys jumped 13.2 per cent in heavy trading volumes to 19.25p on relief over its statement that its third-quarter results would be in line with expectations. The debt-laden engineering group also announced it would be refinancing some of its short-term borrowings, giving it more breathing space to turn its business round. Thursday, December 30, 2004 - Responding to the ex-employee who was laid off right before his 50th birthday (Dec 28th weblog): I don't know the details of your situation, but at first glance, it sounds like you may have experienced age discrimination at the hands of Invensys. You are NOT the only Invensys ex-employee who has found himself/herself in this situation. If you signed the legal waiver when you were laid off, to get the additional severance, there is nothing you can do about it now. I would advise older employees (over 40) who are laid off NOT to immediately sign the waiver, until consulting with an employment attorney, particularly if some of the following signs are present:
Tuesday, December 28, 2004 After working for Invensys for 18 years, I was laid off three months before my 50th birthday. Apparently Invensys didn't want to continue accommodating my disability, as they had done for all of the years I worked there. They proceeded to hire a couple of junior people at low salaries who didn't work out. And now, the company is advertising a position for the exact skills I possess. Saturday, December 25, 2004 At our little Invensys owned company, we each got $50 gift certificates to a chain grocery store! Cost the company about $3,000. Better than nothing, but strange... Friday, December 24, 2004 - from Invensys (North Manchester): Well, here it is another Christmas. While bosses and upper management get bonuses, we get nothing. Not even the $ 10.00 we use to get a few years ago. I'd like to see other weblogs here, from other (hourly employees) from other Invensys plants, regarding what you get at Christmas time. Are all Invensys companies like this one? Thursday, December 16, 2004- Re: Foxboro Customer Satisfaction Center call center: It was run as a profit center, at least while I was in field service. Logically then some cuts would be required from time-to-time. I'll never forget calling for technical support concerning a new user interface for the WP51 workstation. It was explained to me that no help was available. There was none available because when this software product was released, TAC (Technical Assistamce Center) recieved no funds to support it! Try explaining that to a customer. Wednesday, December 15, 2004 - From a long time Foxboro employee. Re: layoffs at Foxboro: December 9, 2004 was another sad day at the Foxboro Customer Satisfaction Center call center. Five employees were given layoff notices (Foxboroís Z9 package) and escorted out the door because the center did not meet its financial numbers. These were good long time employees including former Employee-of-the-Month award winners. Any poor performers at Foxboro were let go a long, long time ago. The Customer Satisfaction Center now has semi-annual layoffs since the latest management change in 2000. Before that, under a manager who has since retired, the Customer Satisfaction Center never laid anybody off. Staff was slowly increasing until 2000. It was one of the few Foxboro divisions that were profitable. Just weeks ago the current management told everyone the center was "on track." Engineers in India are now being trained on new products and in the future will all service calls be routed to India? Will this be the end of the Customer Satisfaction Center in Foxboro, Massachusetts? Is this was management means when they state, "We are on track" ? Tuesday, December 07, 2004 - from a senior Invensys marketing guru: Many people who work at Invensys are probably not aware of the momentum and sustained customer excitement of several of our offerings. Key customers are changing their assessment from extremes such as 'Invensys doesn't get it' to 'Invensys is the only supplier who gets it'. This takes time to become pervasive - partly because customers as a whole are changing what they need. The automation business is moving out of a building block phase into an integrated offering phase - but the new phase has a greater impact on how customer workers need to do their jobs. Many customers and suppliers foresaw this change since the early 1990's - several enablers have evolved to make this a main part of the business. Friday, December 3, 2004 - Response to APV Tonnawanda employee, entry of Nov 22: On this day, (day 90 of the previously announced APV "100 day plan") the recently submitted poem, "Twas the Night before Christmas" says it all. While President Haluk is busy preparing his lists, all we can do is enjoy the Holidays and take as much of remaining vacation time as possible - as vacation time "carry-over" is no longer an option. (This is due to too much "vacation time", being paid out at "lay-off time"). As the 100 day plan is about to unfold there are three options for moving forward:
Monday, November 29, 2004 - Christmas poem - by a 20-year Invensys employee: 'Twas the Night Before Christmas
'Twas the night before Christmas, when all through the house
Not knowing that unemployment was directly ahead; My stock now was worthless and my pension was crap, So we all settled down for a long winter's nap, I sprang from the bed to see what was the matter. Away to my PDA, I flew like a flash, To see where Rick went, with all of my cash.
that job security, sniffle, how low could it go? When, what to my wondering eyes should appear, But a miniature sleigh, and eighty VP reindeer, I knew in a moment it must be St. Rick. More rapid than dot coms, so suddenly they came, And he whistled, and shouted, and called each by name;
Donít fire the accountants, our books they are fixen! And then tell The City, those profits were small! Now dash away! dash away! dash away all!" And all of us workers could only ask why, So up to the Town Hall, the promises flew, With the sleigh full of gifts, and St. Rick too.
The prancing and pawing of each little goof. As I hugged my children, and was turning around, Down the chimney St. Rick came with hardly a sound. And his clothes were all tarnished with cash and with loot; The snow on his cheeks was starting to melt, As he grabbed hold of his shiny six sigma black belt.
Since he left in a hurry from Carlisle Place! And he carried a box with a golden parachute bow, Filled with the cash that was for the VPs who we know; Thatís where Invensys will finally retreat; He had a strange face and a little round belly, That shook, when he laughed like a bowlful of jelly.
And I laughed when I saw him, in spite of mys¸lf; A wink of his eye and a twist of his head, And I knew that our company soon would be dead; And passed out the pink slips; just like a big jerk, And smiling and grinning while thumbing his nose, And giving a nod, up the chimney he rose;
îListen to me and weíll turn Invensys aboutî. Then I heard him exclaim, as he drove out of sight, "MERRY INVENSYS TO ALL, AND ENJOY YOUR NEXT FLIGHT!" Monday, November 29, 2004 - Invensys or Foxboro culture? I worked at one of Invensys California operations beginning after the first year of the change. During much of my time there (18 months) things seemed to work good. It was during the last 6 months or so that things became terrible. We ended up with a director who had a management style that is best described as an Intellectual Dictatorship. Some of the best talent has since left and projects that were due for completion a year ago are still far from finished. It wasn't Foxboro that drove, so much as it was driven by the poor choices in leadership made from the top. Foxboro is just another casualty. Friday, November 26, 2004 It is amusing that someone would say that Foxboro manangement has some how infected Invensys! I have been there from day one when Foxboro was bought by Siebe. From that dark day to now, it is like we have been infested by the worst virus that ever existed. There has been no strategy, no leadership, no inspired plan where we could have been on the road to prosperity. The new management thinks that cutting employees, and the one time savings of their salaries, is making a profit. They still have no clue that, if you please the customers they might buy more. They have no clue that there is a price to pay for success. That price is listen to customers and employees. The current management, from top to bottom, does not understand that arrogance, tunnel vision and promoted incompetence are causing the problems. The problem is not what Foxboro has done to Invensys. The problem is what Ivensys has done to the once proud leader Foxboro. It is indeed amazing what Yurko and his successors have done. Monday, November 22, 2004 - Extracts from JimPinto.com eNews: Apparently, I was premature when I reported (eNews 8 November 2004) that Rick Haythornthwaite had already stepped down from his CEO position at Invensys and handed the reins over to Ulf Henriksson. The London Sunday Times issued a confusing story that led to my conclusion. It was apparently wrong. Rick Haythornthwaite has not stepped down as CEO - yet. Instead, "boardroom sources" suggested that "there was a clear understanding that Haythornthwaite would stand down once the company was seen to have overcome the worst of its problems." Now, since the problems appear to be worsening, how long will Haythornthwaite wait? And when will Ulf push to take the helm? 
Invensys - Haythornthwaite waits
Monday, November 22, 2004 - from employee at APV - Tonawanda: The author of the comment dated November 5 on APV Tonawanda is 100% accurate. We also go day to day, knowing everything or anyone can change in a moment's notice. Our question is, with the present situation, will the new office, the "Centre of Excellence" be built? Will I be there? Many of my coworkers share my feelings. Friday, November 19, 2004 - from ex-Foxboro employee: During my 8-years at Foxboro, I do not recall a manager having ever been fired for performance. Whenever a manager was not working out, they were simply transferred to another region or to another management position. They then of course damaged yet more of the business through inept, selfish behavior. It was very exceptional to hear of a promotion into management. Foxboro has an old style approach to business. They were (are?) a top-down organization. "No good ideas flow up through the ranks" seemed to be the unspoken motto. From reading this Weblog, it's as though management from Foxboro has somehow infected the greater Invensys... Tuesday, November 16, 2004 I have been an Invensys employee at IDC in Hyderabad, India, for a period of almost a year. During this time I have, grudgingly, come to realize that what this Invensys weblog has been reporting about the organization is true. I have witnessed the entire gamut of inept senior management, bungled projects, irate employees and insensitive HR. It seems that the "management" here seems synonymous with creating disasters and then making matters worse through bungled correction methods. I have always believed that the true ethics and values of an organization are reflected through the treatment of their employees. Invensys IDC falls abysmally short. Monday, November 15, 2004 - Last news from Invensys Appliance, Thyez in France: Since this morning 4:00 AM, 95% of employees are striking. They decided also to make a tough blockade of this site in order to avoid the few still wanting to work to accede their office (around 20 guys from R&D and other depts). Site Manager and Depts Mgrs were not allowed to enter the site. Some of them were required to go and work at European H.Q. Unfortunately, strikers heard that and decided to shutdown the local servers so no way for them to open their data or their emails. Most of medias, local and national received by fax a file containing the restructuring Plan of this site, which is a closure planned by mid 2006. TV and newspapers journalists already came today for media coverage which will grow in forthcoming days. Now something which is relevant about Invensys management behaviour: the first reaction this morning, from local management, was to request to the company in charge of internal restaurant to waste all prepared food into bins! This scandalous waste was photographed by journalists. They all mentioned this to be a real shame - relevant about Management's poor conduct. Employees are really motivated and most of customers should see their production lines stopped within next days, 2 to 3 max. Many scenarios are possible. Most optimistic one: Invensys will give a suitable redundancy package in line with employees expectations. But the company is more keen to providie this for arriving or leaving top Managers. Less optimistic scenario: This site will go to into bankruptc, killing the $ 200M business. If this is Management choice, let them do it. Nobody will gain anything. Monday, November 8, 2004 - Extracts from JimPinto.com eNews: The Sunday Times reported that Invensys CEO Rick Haythornthwaite was stepping down, to give the reins to the newly hired hired-gun, COO Ulf Henriksson. Invensys employees on a broad front have reported that Ulf has visited, looked and listened, and is now making strong, corrective moves. The problem is that these new moves come after too many other changes which have resulted in a seemingly endless game of musical chairs.
Invensys - Ulf is CEO, Haythornthwaite waits
Monday, November 8, 2004 I was among the many who felt that the new GE team should be given a chance to try to bring the business back. But here we are, a year plus later, and other than poor attempts at intimidation on gap calls, and spiraling quality, it is time to call it like it is. The GE team has failed to turn this around. They have brought in more paperwork and more process, but at the end of the day all the paperwork and process is not a substitute for time in the field and quality products. The sad part of this despite all this failure and another reshuffling of the parts, the GE team remains and we are looking at another extended run of failure both in management and quality. What little talent remains will likely be heading for the door in the coming weeks and months ahead. What a shame..... Sunday, November 7, 2004 Yes, there are 11 VPs and MDs reporting to the new head of Invensys Appliance and Climate Controls. The "new" organizational structure is a matrix organization, straight out of the GE playbook. How original! Yawn... For all the talk about commitment and accountability coming from the top, this new structure will not hold anyone responsible. Who's in charge? It must be the MD. Or was it the VP? This is nothing new for Invensys. A case in point is the $50 million TS-11 and 7000 series valve debacle. Have the people at the top of the organization, those responsible, taken the fall for this fiasco? For all the brash talk, they have no idea what accountability really means. It isn't the organization, it's the attitude! Do past relationships mean more than current performance? Saturday, November 6, 2004 - Invensys appliance Controls - Manchester, IN: The exit strategy for Invensys Climate Contros? The movement of most of the workload at the North Manchester plant is continuing. The motors are starting to come in from China and that means the North Manchester plant will no longer produce them. The exit of many presses to Mexico translates to no new work and exit of more product line to Mexico. Employees are being told that the New Gen timer is our future. Is the market large enough to support our plant? Rumors of stockpiling for a December lay-off are rampant. Layoffs are now weekly. What next? Is the plant going to close? What is the impact of joining with Climate Controls? This plant is in TROUBLE. Friday, November 5, 2004 A recent weblog comment that APV is experiencing continued Invensys mis-management in regard to restructuring is correct. However, it understates how bad the situation really has become. I could not "make-up" or mis-represent the complete mis-management of APV within North America over the past 6 months. Here are the facts:
APV's customers and distributor network just watch and shake their collective heads. Customers and distributors are used to meeting a new "head of management" for APV NA every 12-18 months, sometimes it changes every 9 months, (RE: McCabe). The continued mis-management is eroding customer confidence in APV products, let alone the confidence required to purchase an engineered system. If shareholders are looking for improvement from the APV, they may see short term restructuring profits, but sustained improvement is a long way off. While tough decisions need to be made to address a company's performance, management needs to have a plan. APV employees work hard. They want a sustained plan with some stability. Wednesday, November 3, 2004 - RE: Today's announcement about the merger of Appliance and Climate Controls: The announcement showed 11 VP's and MD's reporting to the new head. The new management structure that will report into those 11 new VP's and MD's will be announced in the coming days/weeks. Doesn't the new structure look, once again, massively top heavy?. Based on the 1 to 10 rule, how large should the Invensys employee base be to accomodate all the top brass of Appliance/Climate? My estimate is about 110,000. Sunday, October 31, 2004 Lets hope it's just a Halloween scare. A Haythornthwaite replaced by an Ulf.... what kind of Trick-or-Treat is that ?? Sunday, October 31, 2004: Invensys CEO Haythornthwaite to quit Rick Haythornthwaite, the chief executive of Invensys PLC, is set to step down and be replaced by chief operating officer Ulf Henriksson, the Sunday Times reported, citing boardroom sources. The company yesterday insisted that there were no plans for Haythornthwaite to depart, but the sources said there was a clear understanding that he would stand down once the company was seen to have overcome the worst of its problems,the newspaper reported. A spokeswoman for Invensys said that Haythornthwaite will only leave the company when it has turned the corner: "And that job is not yet done." "I think there is a feeling that a different personality might be required in the future," the unnamed boardroom source was quoted as saying. "This has become quite a different company to the one Haythornthwaite took over." But there was no clear indication of when Haythornthwaite would leave. The Invensys spokeswoman said Ulf Henriksson was an obvious successor to Haythornthwaite, but added that "the Board will look at it in the round when that time comes." Tuesday, October 19, 2004 - from a long-term Invensys employee: Invensys employees stay not just because of the pay check, but because they have given a great deal of their lives to the company and do not want to walk away because of (temporary?) bad leadership. Many of these people believe that a removal of the head(s) will benefit the body of the company. Certainly this course of action would achieve a very significant cost reduction (Ulf watch out!). APV has had a new 100 day re-organisation (introduced under yet another new leader) which is about halfway through. Leadership by fear continues to pervade the organisation, with people getting fired based on observations on teleconferences! The new leadership is apparently extremely proud of the significant cost savings achieved in the last month by stopping all travel and purchasing. How much longer will Rick & Ulf put people in charge that only know how to cut costs and through such basic methods? Cutting is easy - building is hard. Leo Quinn, a previous leader, revelled in this behaviour, applauding suggestions such as reducing toilet cleaning frequency and removing tubes from lights. He didn't stay around long enough to(not)see(and smell) the consequence of such actions. It is clear that Invensys continues to stumble on under constantly changing leadership, people who are motivated by short term personal gain. The mis-guided behaviour continues, and it will not stop until the company is acquired by a strong company that will introduce stability and put in place leadership that understands the business - not just cost cutting. Will someone please buy this company and pull it out of its misery! Monday, October 18, 2004 - RE: Invensys vendor payments: I run a small business that has been selling to an Invensys division since before Invensys came along. When the payment schedule started getting too far out, I simply increased my prices. A couple of years ago they got out to 120 days, right before the end of the fiscal half. I had to put them on COD through this period, but they finally got back to 45-60 days. I try to make sure that I always have an unshipped order that I can hold back until payment for previous shipments is received; it gives me a bit of leverage. I imagine that there is some purchasing manager congratulating himself on all the money he is saving the company by delaying payment. If they only knew! Friday, October 15, 2004 - from Bob Lincoln - former Foxboro employee: Re: Previous weblog: "I get my salary on time. Did you? If you are not happy, I suggest you to find a job that you are happy with and leave NOW." This was probably written by a manager, and represents the worst of corporate America. This callous and ignorant attitude of believing that only the paycheck matters to the employee, to the exclusion of job satisfaction, personal pride, competitive spirit and cameraderie, is very revealing of the true motivation behind upper management. As long as the paycheck is the only motivation for management, they will never understand, appreciate or properly motivate employees, and the company will never succeed. Management by fear and intimidation never works. It drives away employees who are not intimidated, and makes those who are, less productive. People who are unhappy should not be bullied into leaving. They should be encouraged to participate in change to create a happy work environment. Thursday, October 14, 2004 - Norman Harvey [harveyn@sbcglobal.net] wrote - Pension benefits vs. 401K: Invensys is just reducing the future dollars required for the defined pension benefits by excluding new hires going forward (they will have only the 401K for retirement plus SS). If a current employee opts-out, then his pension dollars stop growing and again reduces Invensys contribution to the pension fund. The employee who opts-out should undestand that his payout from the plan will be reduced considerably. Those that opt-out, and new employees, should consider the 2% plus 6% feature to build a strong 401K. Thursday, October 14, 2004 - responding to the previous weblog about Invensys pensions: There is no impact on pensions for those already retired or for existing employees unless existing employees choose to take the option being offered. It is a propective change for new hires starting next calender year. Should Invensys not be able to honor its pension committments through something like a bankruptcy, your pension benefits are protected by the Pension Benefit Guarantee Corporation. I do not believe that the Company can change your actual benefit payment after you have retired. They could however change other retirement benefits, if applicable, such as Medical coverage. Thursday, October 14, 2004 - from a former 26-year Foxboro employee: Can anyone explain the pension situation as regards US employees? Is the US pension plan protected by law? How will the "OPT-OUT" program mentioned in the previous weblog affect my pension? Thursday, October 14, 2004 There is one FACT that every Invensys employees should remember. I get my salary on time. Did you? If you are not happy, I suggest you to find a job that you are happy with and leave NOW. Wednesday, October 13, 2004 Invensys just stop eligibility for pension plan benefits of all new hires hired after December 2004 in the US. They also provide an "Opt-Out" option for all employees that are currently enrolled in to the pension plan in the US. If you "Opt-Out" you get your current benefits frozen, whatever that means, and you can get a 100% match on your first 2% of 401K contribution PLUS a 50% match of the next 6% of 401K contributions. The memo that is distributed has the title: "Itís your Choice" There is a little ëfunnyí logo at the bottom of the page of an open ëopt-outí window with money flying out of it. I wonder whose money it is..... Wednesday, October 13, 2004 Sounds to me like the Invensys supplier and the Invensys employee agreeing with him are possibly some Invensys Management person in disguise. Employees might enjoy the company they work for more if there was responsible management decisions being made and they would quit jerking the chains of the employees with bad management across the board.
Wednesday, October 13, 2004 It is laughable to claim that Invensys pays "on time". They have had a stated policy for years of paying 49 days after the billing date; but those who work in Purchasing or Accounts Payable know the truth - it's usually 60 to 110 days. This dishonorable business practice has resulted in a loss of technical support for engineers from the companies who have been stiffed. Also, engineers have routinely been called and asked for Accounts Payable by suppliers, because that department uses answering machines and ducks all calls. It is a well-known, documented fact that in March and September every year, Invensys refuses to pay any bills unless a vital service or supply will be cut off. I was personally told by someone in Purchasing that they had $1M in invoices, but only $200K allowed to pay bills. I witnessed one vendor who had been stiffed, sending the same defective material into Incoming Inspection 3 weeks in a row (we had marked it so we knew it was the same part). The average employee is not only powerless to change this idiocy, they are punished in various subtle ways for offering constructive criticism when they see how the policy hurts all aspects of the company. So, many have left and continue to do so. I did. But we still lament the damage done, and know it could be turned around, but only at the top, where only ignorance and greed reign. Tuesday, October 12, 2004 Heed the Invensys third party supplier's words! As an employee of Invensys in a business unit that has been on and off the sale block for TWO years, I agree fully with this person. If you don't like what is going on, then leave. Stop being negative about your employer. Get on with your job and feel better in yourself that you have done, and are continuing to do, everything you can to make a difference. Tuesday, October 12, 2004 - from a third-party Invensys supplier: As a reviewer of this weblog, I cannot believe the sheer negativity of some of the web logs. We have completed some work for Invensys in the past and we have recently started another project for them. They have some really innovative solutions in the pipeline and are making considerable investments, also they pay on time! Move on, get another job if you are not behind the company. I thought this is what freedom and liberty is about... Thursday, October 7, 2004 - Financial Time, 6 Oct 2004 (extract): Shares in Invensys rose 12% as investors welcomed signs that its recovery plan was still on track and shrugged off news of a product recall that could cost the engineering group up to £30m. The charges will be taken as operational exceptional items over several years. Invensys is recalling about 123,500 of its TS-11 valves, which regulate the flow of gas in commercial cooking appliances, after 12 reported incidents of failure. It has also placed its 7000 Series range of valves under review following one reported failure. If part of the 7000 Series is recalled, this could cost Invensys another £5m to £20m on top of the estimated £10m cost of the TS-11 recall. Wednesday, October 6, 2004 What is the story on valve recalls? Yesterday (10/5/04) the cost was going to be 10M pounds. Today it is up to 30M. Rick H. says "Customer safety is our number one priority." I don't think he knows what is going on in the divisions. There are no longer any product safety engineers in many divisions of the company. Tuesday, October 5, 2004 - 5 Oct 04 Financial Times: Invensys added 12.2 per cent to 13æp without the help of regular speculation that Siemens was poised to bid for the engineering company. Instead, investors' nerves were steadied by a trading update which was in line with expectations. Tuesday, October 5, 2004
Rick Haythornthwaite's response: "I'm all for it." Tuesday, October 5, 2004 - from an employee who was let go from Invensys Climate North Americaa (Ranco) on Thursday September 30th, 2004: I will miss my fellow associates, but will not miss the upper and current management. Good luck to the remaining associates of the Invensys group led by Slick Rick. Don't be surprised if you don't hear the words China in the future, like we did at Plain City. Monday, October 4, 2004 - Ranco closes: Some were sad, others angry. Many voiced their frustration about losing their jobs. More than 40 employees of Invensys Climate Controls Americasí plant in Plain City, formerly Ranco North America, gathered in the parking lot of the Cornerstone Church on Thursday, Sept. 30, at noon, across U.S. Route 42 from their former job site. For many, it was their last day of work. Quite a few wore T-shirts proclaiming "100 percent American, 100 percent unemployed" and several carried signs protesting the outsourcing of their jobs. Saturday, October 2, 2004 - re: Revolt: It is too late for a revolt. Like frogs in the proverbial pot of boiling water you waited far too long. The same drawbacks that prevent a sale (like the defunct pension fund) would kill any chance at success. There might still be a few good people at the company, but most (the non-frogs) have already left. Now Invensys has only the frogs and the more recent "vulture" new hires.
This is a pessimist, defeatist view. It's NEVER too late to DO something. Friday, October 1, 2004 - Re: Sale of Invensys: The deal to sell IBS may have been scuttled due to the fact that IBS is under Invensys Climate Controls (ICC). As many problems that IBS has historically had, they still generate much more revenue than ICC. Without IBS, Invensys Climate Controls would be reduced to the light commerical/residential market, where the competition is fiercer and the profit margins are limited. I wouldn't ne surprised if ICC heads managed to scuttle this deal. One more way that Invensys inside politics have managed to scrap the value of this company. Friday, October 1, 2004 - re. revolting: Overheard at Invensys HQ this afternoon:
Rick: "Yes, they certainly are." Friday, October 1, 2004 - re: Revolt : There's precedent for such a "revolt", as the previous weblog describes it. Look at Peoplesoft forcing Craig Conway out today. The board needs to send Rick H. on his way immediately. Friday, October 1, 2004 - To the employee distressed over Invensys "bashing": No one disputes that Invensys has countless talented and devoted employees and good products. The problem, however, is incompetent executive management. A shareholder revolt and employee revolt is essential if you want to save the company. And don't wait too much longer. Tuesday, September 28, 2004 Dresdner Bank slashes stock price target (Extract - Reuter's) Investment bank Dresdner Kleinwort Wasserstein cut its price target on Invensys to 5p per share from 12p on Tuesday. By 1137 GMT Invensys shares were down 11.5% at 11-1/2 pence, the weakest UK mid-cap stock. Dealers said it was knocked by Dresdner's price cut. The bank kept its "reduce" target on Invensys shares following first-quarter results last month, and said it had cut its earnings forecasts for the company as it moved "away from the idea of a major earnings recovery". It cut its 2005/06 earnings pre share forecast to 0.2 pence from 0.6p. Dresdner analysts said in a research note: "We continue to believe that there will be no bid for the company given the ongoing operating problems and the pension poison pill. We believe that going forward the stock is likely to trade in a range between 0-15p, given its extreme volatility and we continue to advise caution." Monday, September 27, 2004
JimPinto.com - eNews commentary
The Invensys endgame approaches - Siemens acquisition
Monday, September 27, 2004 It is unfortunate that business is so bad every where. Like all companys, Invensys is trying very hard to make it. We have excellent products and there is heavy competition everywhere. It does not help, when people keep trying to bury us. It hurts the market for Invensys when people only look at the negative sides of a business. We have some great employees and they take a lot of pride in the products they build. We have lost some people through attrition, and others just because every one is always looking out for themselves. It's too bad for the good, regular workers. Friday, September 24, 2004 - Invensys takeover rumors are now in the press.
Daily Mail, Knight Ridder/Tribune Business News
Takeover talk pushed shares in the controls and automation group up 1/2p, or 4 percent, to 13 1/4p. But it is not just the speculators who have piled into this one. It is the second day in a row that traded volume surpassed 100m. Dealers with their ears close to the ground reckon the US value investor Brandes is behind a series of programmed trades put through the market by bankers at Credit Suisse First Boston. Rumour has it that the US fund manager will take its holding from 18 percent to 29.9 percent in a bid to bring the average cost of its stake down to around 35p a share.
Friday, September 24, 2004 - Sale of Invensys: To continuously bring BMS up for sale just makes IBS look like they don't really want BMS, they are just haggling for a better price. What I wish is that IBS Americas, IBS Europe and IBS Asia would be spun off into independent companies, let them sink or swim on their own. Invensys clearly doesn't know how to fit BMS into their business plan. Editor's note: Confusion exsists with these initials - IBS, BMS etc. Please clarify. Thursday, September 23, 2004 An acquisition by Siemens or Schneider electric would not necessarily be the best thing for Invensys Building Ssystems (IBS) employees. Despite having R&D money to spend would it make sense to invest in the Invensys product lines when both companies have strong, well recognised brands in Apogee and Andover/TAC, respectively. An acquisition by any of these companies would spell nothing more than a decommissioning of the Invensys product lines, and redistribution of resources from IBS to make the incumbent line more profitable. Unless either company has a sever shortage of manufacturing capacity or unexploited markets (both are international corporations and have been for a looooong time), the only results you can surely expect in that scenario are additional layoffs. The moral of the story: There are only two ways that IBS will survive:
Thursday, September 23, 2004 Neil Hume, UK Guardian (extract) There was also a buzz around Invensys, the highly indebted industrial controls and automation group. Its shares may have ended 0.5p lower at 13.25 but trading volumes reached an above-average 135m shares. Market gossips believe the company has received a very preliminary takeover approach from Siemens, the German industrial conglomerate. Siemens is already known to have cast an eye over Invensys's cash-generative rail systems business, which makes software for signals and other parts of Invensys's process controls operations. Any deal, however, will hinge on whether it is prepared to take on Invensys's debts and pension fund deficit. Wednesday, September 22, 2004 - Here's the official announcement that was just released: September 22, 2004 Dear Invensys Climate Controls Colleague: You will be pleased to hear that, following a detailed strategic review of the potential for the BMS business to develop, the Board has accepted our recommendation that BMS continue to be developed as part of the retained Group going forward. Moving forward with BMS as part of the Climate organization recognizes both its current performance as well as its potential. As part of the ongoing strategic planning process, we will look at opportunities to further realize gains from the synergies of BMS and our other businesses. We are deeply involved in building on the strength of the entire organization, making it an exciting place to work and a competitive challenger in the global marketplace, and BMS will be an integral part of this positive future.
Best regards, Wednesday, September 22, 2004 Here we go again? The sale of Invensys Building Systems was going to happen? This is the second time in the last year that the sale was supposed to happen. We were even informed through a conference call that the sale was most likely going to happen. If it was not going to happen, then why bring it up? Does this tell you how upper management is thinking? You know the sale issue will come up again. This is a very big concern! We thought we were going to be purchased by a company that has some money to spend for R&D! Tuesday, September 21, 2004 - To the September 2, 2004 Blogger - Re Building Systems Group: So much for your "hot tip" that the deal has already been done with Schneider. Maybe you should get on with your job rather than spreading misleading information. You are obviously not in the picture. Tuesday, September 21, 2004 - from an investor and observer: Invensys Financial Status:
Tuesday, September 21, 2004 Black Tuesday! Today we hear that Invensys Building Systems is not being sold. It seems Invensys decided that if one or more reputable companies were interested in this group that they should jack up the price - too bad. All of the speculation about Schneider and before them Seimens (and others too)was just a pipedream for those of us who long to be out from under the Invensys umbrella and the Climate Controls thumb. Our days are certainly numbered now, and counting down. Tuesday, September 14, 2004 There is more restructuring going on in APV. The latest justification is that they want to bring "flat" management. (we have all heard this before!) So, the group president has been replaced by a friend of Ulf (the current COO of Invensys AKA replacement for Rick H). This new group president is going on with more reorganization, and has come up with a 100 day organization! Who would do this to a company unless at the end of 100th day the company will be up for sale? Where is long term planning? Like other companies in Invensys, APV has been affected by CRS - Continuous Restructuring Syndrome. Every group president uses APV as a pilot plant to test their "new plan", not realizing this plan was tried by one of his predecessors and failed. Unfortunately, the only ones affected are the employees and their families. Tuesday, September 14, 2004 - to the comment on bankruptcy: You forget that it is actually the banks that are running Invensys, and Rick H. just does their bidding. The banks would lose way too much money if Invensys did a bankruptcy. They want the pieces of the company sold off, using that money to pay down the debt. Once the amount of the debt is low enough, then bankruptcy will be declared. In the US we have Chapter 11 bankruptcy, which just allows for the restructuring of debt. Does the UK have something similar? Monday, September 13, 2004 If I were running Invensys I would be thinking seriously about declaring bankruptcy. It would wipe out stockholder equity but that has already been 95% wiped out. More importantly, it would take the pressure off and allow time to resuscitate or sell off the remaining companies and save as many jobs as possible. Wednesday, September 8, 2004 - Merrill cuts Invensys, says needs more funds:
(Extract - Reuters News & Financial Times) The engineering conglomerate's main problem is its massive debt burden, according to the US broker. Merrill estimates that total group debt stands at pounds 1bn, and it fears that Invensys is unlikely to generate sufficient cash to pay this down for a long while. "Ultimately, we believe that Invensys needs a further substantial injection of equity, at least pounds 500m, to help stabilise its financial performance," said the broker as it hinted that the company might otherwise require a debt-for-equity swap. Such a move would wipe out a sizeable chunk of shareholder value and would be very bad news for the likes of Brandes, the US fund manager, which has steadily built up a 17 per cent holding. Given its distressed state, Invensys has been tipped on many occasions as a takeover target. However, Merrill believes such a scenario is unlikely to ever happen given the group's conglomerate structure and pension fund liabilities, which will be viewed as a "poison pill" by any buyer. Thursday, September 2, 2004 - Re: Sale of Building Management Systems to Schneider: I received information from France that the deal is already done. If this is true, then Schneider needs it only for the clients of the BMS division, and will sell the remaining companies again after 2 or 3 years. I hope that this is totally wrong, and that it stays like it is. The BMS Division has good products and employees, and it will be a great loss for Invensys to sell this segment off. Monday, August 30, 2004 I subscribe to a notion that Unions are merely a symptom of poor management. If the management were any good, there would be no need for collective barganing in the first place. That said, notice the Union talk going on in Invensys. It merely confirms that this organization is doomed. Frankly, as a customer, I'm worried. Talent is hard to attract. Once the talent that we used to know is driven away, it will take a very long time for the stench of a dying organsation to dissapate and attract new talent once again. I have little faith that the service and innovations we used to know will be possible to reconstitute after the parent company is broken up. The only thing keeping me as a customer is that the market itself is quite moribund. It seems that the innovation and support we used to know is lacking almost everywhere. Wonderware used to have that spark. Now, it's just another company. If and when another creative upstart comes along, I'm history. Monday, August 30, 2004 I heard that the entire Building Management Systems Division has been sold to Schneider; official announcement in a few days. If this is true, good luck to the ones who will try to manage all these companies as a unit: Barber Colman, Satchwell, TAC , Andover , CSI in USA , Atmostech in Finland, Controlli in Italy, Messner in Germany. Seemingly the CEO's deciding this kind of absurdity never learn from experience. In this case, Invensys itself is a clear proof that these bunches of separate compamies simply cannot work. The only truth, a sad one for the rank and file employees and middle managers, is that these people do not know the definition of stupidity. They repeat again and again the same thing, hoping that final result will be different. Probably with their oversized egos they think they know better. Thursday, August 26, 2004 - Invensys profit beats expectations
LONDON (Reuters)- extract Underlying operating profit for the retained businesses was 16 million pounds in the three months to June 30, off 5.9 percent from the year-ago quarter. Analysts on average had expected the firm to post a profit of 15 million pounds. Wednesday, August 25, 2004 - from an ex-employee: Well it's been several months since I left Invensys and I now work for a competitor. I wish I had left earlier. I stayed long enough to watch my customer base erode. I stayed as long as I did out of loyality to my customers since I was the one that sold them the "solutions" they purchased. I begged and begged for Invensys to complete the contracts. Software revisions never showed up and delivery dates pushed from weeks to months. Finally upper management wouldn't answer my calls or return my e-mails. My ex-customers like me because they know I did everything in my power to turn the Invensys battleship around. I failed. Now I am happy and my old customers are starting to buy from me again. They love the local organizations but hate Invensys. So, there is life after Invensys. Join me. Wednesday, August 25, 2004 - more on on Rick Haythornthwaite: I'm not defending Rick H., but the seeds of Invensys' demise were planted before he took over. Yes, things are worse now but Invensys was poised to crash when he arrived. I can't argue that someone else couldn't have done a better job. Maybe a stronger, more hands on CEO would have flushed out and fired all the BS artists earlier in the game. I think Rick H. is too nice a guy and that he doesn't have the mean streak needed to identify and eliminate the losers. The job really demands a George Patton or Vito Corleone personality. Is that Ulf? Wednesday, August 25, 2004 - re: Give Rick H a break: No, Rick Haythornthwaite, his picks and his consultant friends deserve to be fired, not given a break. Yes, he accepted a mess. But then he proceeded to make it worse:
Tuesday, August 24, 2004 I too have been reading this website since my departure from Foxboro-Mass. I see quite a bit of venom being spewed at Rick Haythornthwaite. The bottom line: he was given a mess of a company to try to straighten out. He did the best he could given the complexity of what his predecessor dumped in his lap and a weak economy. Cut the guy a break! Kerry will have the same problem when he inherits the Iraqi situation. Tuesday, August 24, 2004 There are two great forces that influence any company: Customers and Shareholders. Customers vote with their orders, and Shareholders with their stocks. Ultimately, these are the voices that Management hears. Speak to them constructively here. they ARE listening. Saturday, August 21, 2004 - from Steve Stone [SteveRStone1@aol.com]: I have been reading this website since my departure from Foxboro-Mass. My being let go had nothing to do with the old culture. An MBA thought he knew better. Look where he is today... It pains me to read things about unions and such. Unions never fix anything; they mask the obvious. What needs to happen is a change in the management controlling the corporation. The leaders in the UK are nowhere close to being involved in the day-to-day activities in the US. You, the people that made Foxboro, need to stand up and take charge. There is still a lot of old culture that stands in your way, but if you can be strong you can win. Keep up the spirit! Foxboro can make a comeback; you have excellent products and people! Good Luck! Friday, August 20, 2004 - more about Unions: We all agree that management has made a hash of the corporation overall, and also trashed the companies that Invensys absorbed. Invensys is a sick organisation that doesn't need a Union to latch onto it and drain what lifeblood is still left. There is a fixed pot of money to allocate and management won't cut its share, so if some of the workers get paid more, others will be fired. How exactly will the Union ensure that corporate management becomes more intelligent? How will the Union make Invensys more profitable thereby increasing the size of the financial pie to be distributed? My proposal is for the stockholders to become informed of the problems with the current management, via this Weblog and other sources. That would hopefully lead to their being replaced with a more capable group. Stockholder self interest is a wonderful motivator. Friday, August 20, 2004 - about Unions being bad: Some of these weblogs imply that a balaced argument on Unions and Individual Liberalism is "pushing unionism". I try to bring some rationality to the argument, and they seem to think it's bad. The important bits were: Invensys corporate culture in tatters, walk-the-walk. etc It is obvious that some of these comments are in an effort to sabotage a very constructive weblog. I think maybe it is time to move off this unionism debate. Friday, August 20, 2004 - to the Union busters: I've worked in businesses that had unions. Also, many teachers, nurses, police, engineers and office workers work in unions, and yes laborers also work in unions. The interesting thing is that these employees want to keep their unions. Invensys management has destroyed Invensys and destroyed the lives of many employees - just ask financial investors, most employees and customers, or just read the financial press. Most senior management people look out for themselves, their consultant friends and their management picks. Why was Ulf the hatchet hired? Why was Rick H hired? Why were all the ex Enron executives hired? Let the workers vote, and if they vote for a union, we'd all be very happy and better for it. Friday, August 20, 2004 - from a Happy Employee: While I agree that Foxboro may not be all that it was previously, it is a FAR cry from the doom and gloom that some of the "front line" workers (who are pushing union talks) make it out to be. I am one of the "front line" workers at Invensys and accept the fact that the benefits that I get are good. Better than many companies out there and worse than some. But at least I have a job. I also could leave the company and take my employment some place else. But I choose to work here. Loyalty, maybe, but it is a good job. The union chatter is painting a rosy picture of having the ability to negotiate better benefits that are hampered by upper management "10K bonuses" and perks. DO you really think that this will solve any of those type of problems? If that is indeed the case, youíre only going to increase company costs overall. Theyíre not going to give up bonuses for the sake of satisfying a union contract! SO, the REAL point is the same union statement that I have heard when I was working at other manufacturers: "I want MY piece of the pie too, whether I deserver it or not and no matter WHAT the cost to my co-workers". Wake up. How many of the "loyal" Foxboro employees that you speak of are a part of this talk? And Iím not talking about the two or three on this weblog? THE UNION WILL HURT US ALL IN THE LONG RUN! I have lived through it, felt it, and switched jobs because of it. And why are you pushing the union if you donít even work for the company? You made your choice, you quit! You need to move on. Friday, August 20, 2004 - re. Unions etc.
Wow! "polemic", "reactionary", "discursive maneover" - this is some dictionary beast. I probably have a lower opinion of management than you have, but my belief that a union is less than hopeful. It is not a panacea. Clutching at straws is natural. Thursday, August 19, 2004 - from an ex-employee: When Invensys companies (and there are more that just Foxboro) can guarantee things like continuity, security, satisfaction, career development - you know, all the MBA things that they espouse so easily - then maybe the unions have no place there. Unions generally provide strength in collective bargaining and don't extort companies to their doom. I have yet to see Invensys front-line workers OR union members, organizers or officials with 10k bonuses. I had the good sense to leave the Invensys fold about 4 years ago. But, I still have to watch the agony of my old colleagues that are still with Invensys, and they stay for various reasons. The least of those reasons for staying is NOT their inability to get other work; some of these guys are very well respected. The company that I am with would happily take any of them, but they dont want to leave. They have an investment, and they stay loyal even though Invensys keeps breaking promises. Blagging the loyal ones, the ones that deliver those technical things that Invensys does, will not fix anything. A polemic and reactionary argument on the value of unions is only a discursive maneover to distract readers of this blog from the real topic - the Invensys corporate culture is in tatters. The MBA types can talk-the-talk, but they find it difficult to walk-the-walk. Wednesday, August 18, 2004 - re. the Pro union rant: All that is needed is a bit of bread and cheese since the union whine (flavored with trite cliches)is in ample supply. Gotta love the slavery... Some other great cliches:
I do agree with your bringing up of "rain bonus's down throughout management." Have you seen the salaries of the union management? On the point of overcompensated management, corporate or union, I am equally disgusted. During a local strike the union members starved while the union management including the secretaries were getting ridiculous salaries(public record). Wednesday, August 18, 2004 I can really relate to that person who said "Oh no - if a union comes in they will close the doors." Management has been saying it for years. Usually the people who don't have the courage to stand up for themselves will say the same thing! So they say, "Let the company do anything they want to us. We can't do anything about it anyway, or if we open our mouth they will force us out the door." If the whole world was like you, there would be no freedom at all. We would be back to the time of debters prisons, indentured servents and not to mention slavery. We have lost ground over the years in salary, company contributions to insurance and for most jobs that they send overseas. We are still here in Foxboro because we are talented, reliable and what we make works. More then I can say for the majority of the outsourced parts. They won't let us speak for ourselves, so we need a union to bargain for us. We have to hold management's feet to the fire, so that we may have a liveable wage where the average worker doesn't have to scramble pay check to pay check, or even support their families without part time jobs. Invensys seems to rain bonus's down throughout management, and then tell the workers that they are not entitled to a reasonable raise. So people who run scared give up and just take the scraps they are thrown. It makes me worry to think where we would be if everyone people thought like that. Wednesday, August 18, 2004 - commenting on both sides of the Foxboro negativity debate: Foxboro has its problems. Granted, the management is bloated and generally ineffective. It needs a good housecleaning at the top. On the other hand, Foxboro has many workers who haven't woken up to the new world of American business. They whine because things aren't as nice as they were in the good old days. The fact is that it isn't nice anywhere. Layoffs and benefit cuts are the norm. Foxboro workers are well off compared to most other workers, particularly the ones without jobs. All of this debate is rather academic since the Foxboro and Invensys situation is in the end game stage. It is too late to change the outcome. Wednesday, August 18, 2004 - from a recent employee: I wonder if the person who wrote the "stop the negative talk" weblog has ever worked at Foxboro. Surely he/she would know that there ARE hundreds of people there unhappy with the direction the company has taken in the last 15 years. Unless maybe he/she is one of those blind managers pulling in those $10K-$50K bonuses. I don't see how it would be helpful to have a union, but I understand the sentiment. Foxboro historically paid about $5K less than other companies for similar positions, but the tradeoff was that there was good job security and good morale, and adequate staffing. Those have all been taken away to make very few people at the top rich. If people were treated fairly, and not laid off randomly regardless of job performance just to make numbers, and there was adequate staffing, then there wouldn't be any union talk. BTW, many companies offer better benefits. Where I am now, 401K matching is 3% vs Foxboro's 2%, and a wider variety of options, including investing in company stock. My wife's company matches 401K contributions to 5%. We both also have stock ownership plans. Our health insurance is cheaper than Foxboro's, with same or better coverage. We also both have pension plans in addition to 401K. Her company allows carryover of unused sick days from year to year (but now they are being cashed in for all employees - still better than losing them). All that is really NECESSARY is for management to give employees what they used to have: stock ownership plans/profit sharing; adequate staffing (right now it is a joke, or cruelty, depending on how you look at it); respect for hard work accomplished; and take away the threat of unintelligent layoffs across-the-board cuts regardless of individual workers' performance or job function criticality. People can't be productive and creative when they are constantly made to fear for their livelihood. That's the climate at Foxboro, and has been for years. Wednesday, August 18, 2004 - In response to "wise up folks": If you like what you have now, as many Invensys employees do, you should be even MORE motivated to see a change at the top and a fundamental change in Invensys to ensure its viability as a standalone entity. Otherwise, what kind of "deal" do you think your new acquirers will offer the employees? Suffice to say it will absolutely, positively be worse than what you have. Thus, getting the Invensys ship in order should be the first objective, and it has to start at the top. This company could be significantly profitable in less than 12 months, but the idiots at the helm don't know how to sail in rough waters. Wednesday, August 18, 2004 Enough of this negative logs trying present a doomed future. Invensys is paying our wages on time. Let's get the work done. Tuesday, August 17, 2004 I can't believe all of the negative talk that I am reading about the company. Of course when you see this much negative activity, it always SEEMS like there are hundreds of unhappy employees at Foxboro. However, the deception of the web log is that one or two people can post messages as if they were 10 or 20! I'm not saying that there are not problems, but please, make sense out of what you are saying? Union?!? My God folks, do you all want to be out of jobs? The Union is nothing more than an organization for people who want to hold the company hostage for more money and benefits! The only successful Unions left in the country are the truckers and automakers and that is because they have those companies by the you know whatsies... I don't know what company some of you are working for, but I have pleased with my benefits. Have you taken a close look around at other companies to see what they are offering? I mean MOST of the other companies because you can always find an isolated company or two that will have better benefits. I'm not saying that our benefits are the best, but they are CERTAINLY not anywhere near the worst. That's the problem with union minded people. They never have enough. Look at some of the hold out strikes that go on for 2-3 years, what happens. The company decides to close the plant and the Union workers that were making $20-30/hour are now working at Burger King because they have NO skills to do anything other than weld this one part on this one door. Boy, $7.50/hr, now THAT'S an improvement huh? Wise up folks! Thursday, August 12, 2004 I was an engineer at Foxboro, and after 13 years, I worked my way to a supervisory position (rare). I was excited and motivated. I worked 11 hour days and took work home, pushed hard to solve problems and effect positive change with manufacturing and vendor problems. This despite having to lay off badly-needed, skilled people to reduce headcount and expenses. Unfortunately, I realized too late that my boss had a different agenda which conflicted with stated company goals. I found out near the end that I was powerless to change faulty methods, and was not given the support to make it happen. I was relieved of that position after 2 years. The message was that my primary function was to make him look good, and really solving problems would not necessarily get him bonuses. I was transferred and told that I had good technical skills, but not managerial. They culd not recognize that both could exist in one individual. In contrast, I was told by Dept. members that I was the best boss they had ever had. I modernized and automated processes, treated people fairly (which had been lacking) and listened to their suggestions and tried to enact some. I had zero $$ signing authority, was allowed $1 a day per person for expenses, and was not allowed to publish a memo without my boss first approving it. If you are not a director or other high-level manager, you are basically expected to be a seatwarmer or babysitter in Foxboro. Even directors are powerless in some areas. Management at Foxboro does not want change, even when it may hold promise of turning things around. They are more interested in building empires that may be temporary, but from which they can grab lots of $$$ quickly. I enjoyed 2 more years in another position, and then moved on to greener pastures when a rare opportunity opened up at another company. Not many have been able to do that, often because the jobs just aren't near their homes. Thursday, August 12, 2004 To address the posting by the individual who throws up the "At Will" statement, look and learn. "At will" employment is NOT the catch all that allows management to hide the real reasons for terminating an employee. "At will" applies only for Legal Reasons, and most states have many exceptions. Thursday, August 12, 2004 I'm responding to the email that asserted that the employees have no right to participate or read this weblog while on company computers. First, you are absolutely correct that the company can restrict access to websites. However, it may not be a morale booster to restrict access to this website in particular. The assertion that Invensys, and Foxboro in particular, would promote hard workers from within, is patently false. I worked in FoxMass as an engineer in an "engineering company" from 1994 to 1997 and in another office of the company until 2003. Prior to that, I was a successful project manager, division head and corporate VP for other companies. During my tenure at Foxboro, I never saw a single engineer promoted to management. All management came from outside the company, and once hired, most managers were not promoted from within. Once, one of the corporate bigwigs asked me about a manager I had once worked with who they might hire. I told him that the individual was a great salesperson (this position was engineering management), but had no technical knowledge of our industry. His response was "That's OK. He doesn't need any technical abilities; we'd hire him for [engineering] management." Thursday, August 12, 2004 - Re: Free speech at Foxboro: You are right, the corporation owns and has control over the equipment within its companies. Where I beg to differ is that "if you work hard, you too will have the privilege to join management." Who are you kidding?! Most (not all) management has been brought in from outside the company, and they in turn have brought in their friends who know absolutly nothing about this business. The people in this company doing all of the work are the people in the trenches, while most of management sits in their offices deciding where next to cut heads. Maybe your time would be better spent fixing the problems that exist within your ranks. We all know how top heavy this company has become - let's see cuts at your level. How many VP's does a company need? Thursday, August 12, 2004 - Re: previous weblog, corporate rant : That message is a wonderful example of how the "new order" at the Invensys purchased companies has failed to realize that morale and team spirit are not beaten into the serfs. Teamwork and success are created by having leaders who create respect via their actions. True leaders welcome critiques, anonymous or up-front. It is data that can be analyzed regardless of the method that provides its delivery. They should appreciate criticism because it gives them an opportunity to improve themselves. A "true" engineer realizes that in any reasonably complex control system, accurate feedback is what what provides the data necessary to make the system behave in the desired fashion. An interesting part of the message: "The bottom line is that the corporation owns the place and makes the rules." Well, the current/future stockholders "own" the corporation, not the managers. They deserve to have data that is not filtered through many layers of happy faces. Ultimately the stockholders change the rules. You can continue obeying orders, trying to subjugate Foxboro, or you can be part of a respectable solution. Re: "Work hard and earn the privilege of becoming part of management." Are you serious? The members of management (an amorphous thing that changes at least monthly) must "work hard" at leaving their former companies to join Invensys in leadership roles. Why all the outside managers? Are we lacking talent? Wednesday, August 11, 2004 - Re. Free speech at Foxboro: Being a citizen of the USA is not the same thing as being an employee of Foxboro, or any other corporation. The Bill of Rights does not apply inside a corporation. The corporation owns the computers and can make whatever rules it wants regarding their use. Legally, the computers are only there for use in performing company business. Surfing the web and griping about things on weblogs are not activities that the corporation is obliged to finance. The bottom line is that the corporation owns the place and makes the rules. You are an employee at will. You can quit any time you want, and the corporation can tell you to leave any time they want. If you want to change the rules, you can work hard and earn the privilege of becoming part of management. Wednesday, August 11, 2004 Invensys is a corporation whose stock is publically traded. As such, the stockholders who have put their money into the company have the right to hear what is the truth, whether Rick H. and company like it or not. For you people at Foxboro, working in that pseudo-socialist institution, we are with you. Tuesday, August 10, 2004 Well, I quess it has come to the point in Foxboro when it's a fact of life what the people can and cannot read on their computer screens. We have been informed that "certain web sites" are not welcome on the company computers because of the negativity. The company is going to have a site where you may hear the "truth" about the 1-by-6 plan. Now free speech has lost it's place at Foxboro. After all, with the track record of management, you don't dare tell them they are wrong. They still want the bandaid approach, instead of doing what has to be done. Sorry guys, this time it has to be management's head on the block - not the employees. Tuesday, August 3, 2004 Rick H. is a weak and powerless leader, and Ulf H. is merely a hatchet man brought in to do the hard stuff that Rick does not have the stomach for. The reason that the board approved Ulf's package is that they genuinely believe that by slashing costs and continuing the disposal programme, maximum shareholder value can be achieved. That is probably the case, given the unwillingness to reinvent Invensys. Sunday, August 1, 2004
From: Invensys Anonymous (IA) Rick, in your last "straight talk" message Rick you wondered -
Rick, not everybody thinks everything at Invensys is bad, but don't try to muzzle us by saying that WE are hurting the company. Don't take as "trust" what your direct reports (or their direct reports) tell you. Dig a little deeper and listen. Rick, stop the "straight talk". Talk straight. Here is your chance. See if YOU can answer us here and now. We dare you to respond directly on this weblog, and put YOUR name on it. Friday, July 30, 2004 I worked for Foxboro almost 6-years ago. I left because there were no new system sales in my U.S. region. We lost every bid, about 12, that I know of. I talked to someone who still works in that group ñ sales are pretty much dead. Field management at the time was abandoned. We had a real empty-suit of a manager. Whenever there was controversy he would heavily discount billable time just to shut the customers up. Users were trained to complain. Service reps who did not give away their time to customers soon learned that the users did not want them onsite. This also led to selfish infighting between reps to secure accounts as utilization (onsite time) was a large factor when it came time for reviews. This manager is now promoted. He is probably destroying a lot more of the business. Thursday, July 29, 2004 - re. previous weblog - "Ultimately those that are left are those without marketable job skills." In the case of Foxboro, there are some exceptions. Foxboro has a defined benefit pension plan. It is advantageous to stay there if you have considerable time with the company since the pension is based on years of service and highest salary. There are some good people staying there for this reason. Admittedly, there are also large numbers of Wallys and pointy haired managers. Tuesday, July 27, 2004 - addendum to previous "beating a dead horse" weblog: The religion and drugs needed to animate the (dead) steeds and riders must be impressive. Ultimately those that are left are those without marketable job skills. In a less philosophical [sic] note. What is really new in the one-by-six scheme? Screw our creditors on accounts payable (streettch!) and screw our customers on accounts receivable (nowwwwww!). How much faith does it really engender when the company spends money buying back interest yielding debt? This is in lieu of investing the same pounds/dollars in hiring new employees, or building/upgrading facilities. Sunday, July 25, 2004 - Regarding past weblogs about beating a dead horse: Friends, we are not beating a deadhorse. We are winners and refuse to accept to ride on the train of losers. This company was founded by people who refuse to lose, and we have not forgotten. Friday, July 23, 2004 Since everyone that works at Invensys is aware of the critical leadership and communications failures, why keep beating a dead horse? It sure hasn't had any impact on executive management decisions! The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting a different result. Maybe it's time to shift focus. How about taking the time to say a few good words about those few managers that ARE really doing a good job? They probably don't get any recognition for the current leadership, and the current leadership will learn what types of leaders are respected by the employees. Thursday, July 22, 2004 - Invensys shareholders meeting: It seems that some of the stockholders share the same negative opinions as Blog contributors regarding the rewards given to Invensys executives. Extracts:
UK Financial Times: Rough ride over pay for Invensys
Tuesday, July 20, 2004 - Re "Ask Rick" orogram: I am writing to confirm that Rick does not respond to "Ask Rick" emails, or at least the one I am aware of. The response received was from the VP in charge of the business unit. Critically, the "Ask Rick" email was sent to ellicit responses that were not forthcoming from this very VP. How ironic. Leadership & communication are the biggest failures of this company. The negative impact this has is obvious, hence the poor morale and the volumes of negative weblogs. Tuesday, July 20, 2004 What we need is a fresh start. We hope that Invensys will be sold to a company that cares. After so many screw-ups, we don't seem to trust anyone anymore! Oh by the way, at least this weblog gives us a forum, an outlet. The "AskRick" program is a sham, not trusted by anyone - all our sincere suggestions are simply trashed. Tuesday, July 20, 2004 Is there ever a positive comment on this weblog? I guess if not, then it should be renamed "complaint log." Here's my two cents: People stay at Foxboro because they like it, whether it's pay, atmoshpere, or whatever. Otherwise I'm sure they would migrate to one of the other, better managed automation companies. I don't think many have.
This weblog is NOT intended to be negative. I receive a LOT of weblogs with negative comments which are edited out. Many totally negative messages are NOT weblogged. I publish only those comments which are sufficiently rational and represent (in my own opinion) the true status of Invensys. I have invited Invensys management (many times, up to the highest levels) to comment. No response. Again, now. I invite Invensys executives and management to provide positive feedback. More that 1,000 people visit this weblog EVERY DAY, so it's worth your time and effort. Please be positive, and give us your own positive views about YOUR company. Sunday, July 18, 2004 - Regarding the weblog about the "Ask Rick" email program : As a former senior manager of an Invensys company, be advised Rick does not answer any of the "Ask Rick" submissions. One of his assistants read each one, then pass off to the manager of the appropriate business unit with a copy to HR. Depending on the business unit manager, the question or issue may be passed to as many as 10 individuals before an answer is crafted and returned to the employee. This was common knowledge among managers and one more reason Rick is not viewed seriously or with any credibility among the business units. Sunday, July 18, 2004 I'm surprised that more of us from Foxboro are not jumping all over Slick Rick after his last comments. Instead of taking this weblog as ammo to better the business by weeding out the bad (managers) and nurturing the solid knowledge-base of the true workers, he chastises those who speak the truth about what they see happening in their company. OK, so has anyone actually used the "ask Rick" email? If you have, have you seen a response, good or bad? It is supposed to be an "anonymous" (but not really) form of contacting your top Manager. It's awfully blind of Rick H. to think we will step out and say, "please fire me," by telling him about what we see happening. It's obvious that he has no clue as to what is happening in his business, and will always side with those he has hired. I think this weblog is helping shareholders understand that, as "Invensys", their stock will always be in trouble - even though there are some great companies under the umbrella. Sunday, July 18, 2004 Rick Haythornthwiate today adressed the company via e-mail/web page. He was obviously referring to this weblog, asking why there is continued "negativity" in public forums when there are many official channels for feedback to the company. Obviuosly your "official channels" don't work Rick. You are not listening. Duh. Sunday, July 18, 2004 - Responding to whining about finding another job, from a fellow complainer: I complain regularly about about what Invensys has done to my part of the company, But at least I realize that it is my fault if I stay and pray for changes. Here is my summary of the points (from a previous weblog posting) that purport to explain why Invensys employees don't find better jobs:
When you get a mortgage and run up bills, it is your decision. It is not a "reason" to not change jobs, unless you have an employability issue. Where is it written that good, talented, hard working people should be treated fairly, humanely and with respect? If you are talented you can find a better job. Somehow, the unhappy Foxboro employees remind me of people who lived on a flood plain; when interviewed post-flood by the media, and asked why they continue to live there, they said, "This is where our home is, and we wouldn't consider moving." Thursday, July 15, 2004 - responding to the weblog that wonders why we stay: I can only speak from all my years at Foxboro. The area we live has lost and is continuing to lose good paying manufacturing jobs. This is happening because most corporations are seeking to make more money for their investors through outsourcing the work overseas, and to other parts of the country were the wages are lower. They all have the single goal to have people work for little or nothing. I stay for a good reason - survival. I pay my mortage, my electricity, gas, and of course my taxes. So when I see some twit ask, "Why don't they just leave?" it makes me angry. The elitists who happen to run the Foxboro Co. now think that everyone is expendable - except those in control. Well, we have seen what they have done and continue to do - run the company into the ground. The employees deserve more than this. They are talented and skilled and, when put to the test, generally come up with the needed answers. We resent being treated as used furniture! We resent being called names like "fungible assets", or "ants"! The people of this company, along with the rest of the Invensys companies, are good, talented, hard working people. They deserve to be treated fairly, humanely and with respect. So to the un-thinking idiots who ask, "Why don't they just leave?" - here is my response: I think YOU should be the ones to leave, because you do not deserve to be among good and honest human beings! Wednesday, July 14, 2004 Responding to the weblog - with all this negativity, why not quit?
Tuesday, July 13, 2004 - from Invensys UK: I have personal experience on the subject of "support" & "producers". "Support" starts with good intension on every ones part. Very quicky it grows, both in number of functions, and sub functions, and number of people in each function. This is mainly due to its closeness to Management. In the 80's Invensys Corporate was started with 10 people in London for a company that Invensys acquired later on. Two years from the starting time, the numbers shot up to about 300, with a cost of about 5% of group sales, adding not "zero" but negative value. "Producers" are ususally kept busy by "customers". Management also finds it easier to receive "what they want to hear" from "support". Soon after, the "support heads" start to behave like the "board of directors" in a typical British Company, busy "making policy". "Information" becomes the mode of control. "Smart Producers" feed them "managed information" as they know it is used by the "support" to control them. "Support" is similar to "civil service". The power level of each "chief support person" has two key variable; first how close he is to the top man, and second how many staff he has. As support adds no value, by definition, power is not related to value. More people means more power. More cost budget means more power. It is so sad to see the high priced MBA's splurging shareholder's money creating this. A friend of mine calls this "cartoon management". Tuesday, July 13, 2004 I work in the BMS (Building Management Services) segment of the business (which includes IBS in Rockford, IL and Satchwell in Slough UK). Yesterday afternoon BMS employees were treated to the news (through a quarterly update memo from John Duerden addressed to all Invensys Climate Controls colleagues)that our business will probably be sold. In his communication Mr. Duerden states this possibility as if it were something we've always known. He also makes the statement that BMS is managed as a separate business segment within Climate Controls. Did anyone in BMS know this? If so, why is the management of Climate and Appliance calling the shots over our operations? My thoughts are that Invensys was presented with an offer they couldn't refuse and now management is backtracking by trying to make us believe they had previously announced that they wanted to divest this business. Let us see how close on the heels of this Duerden memo the announcement of our sale actually falls! Tuesday, July 13, 2004 - In response to previous weblog - why do people stay? There are still people who stay here out of loyalty to the original company(Foxboro). I don't know how long you stay in a job, but at Foxboro people have traditionally stayed until their working years where over. At this point, a lot of the employees have been here for twenty plus years. I am among those people, and at this time the job market is so bad that we probably will stay until they close the doors. This scenario will play out if these people don't stop spending company money to hire these high priced, do nothing, know-nothing executives. Their money would be better spent on higher wages or better benefits for the employees who actually do the work. Monday, July 12, 2004 I'd like to comment on the last few weblogs: As to the "support" exceeding the "producers", this has been a long term trend at Invensys, which was always a little top heavy. Since the purges of 2000-2004, this process has accelerated. Not only are the increased cost goods and services pricing Invensys out of the market against their traditional competitors, but massive layoffs of producers has created the ability of their customers to "self-perform" engineering by hiring the best of the former Invensys employees (I work for one such Invensys hardware customer who used to rely on Invensys services). It has also spawned many System Integrators to perform Invensys services at a fraction of the cost (I've done this as well for 1-1/2 years.) I'd also like to comment on the "why not just quit" blog. The answer is that many have quit. I know of several myself who have decided that being one of the top 10% of the "producers" may keep them employed, but at the cost of doing the work of several missing producers, and with no hope for advancement or increased compensation. These folks have taken up to a year to find something better and have left, further straining those that remain. This also encourages the services customers (and some hardware-only customers) to seek other avenues, since they can no longer rely on Invensys' overburdened producers to perform in an effective, timely manner. Monday, July 12, 2004 There seems to be a lot of unhappy Invensys employees. Who is holding a gun to your head to stay? If it is as bad as the comments on the Weblog, why not quit? Saturday, July 10, 2004 In the Foxboro division where I work, I recently took a quick survey of the balance between the "producers" and the "support staff". A "producer" is anyone who directly produces a product or service we sell. Everyone else, including managers and above, is in "support". "Support" slightly outnumbers "producers". The classic, "pyramid" has become a cube. When you apply a factor for the salaries, the cube becomes an inverted pyramid. The high salaries are mainly in the management levels. The "producers" on the bottom layer are supporting an ever-growing number of "supporters". Continuously increasing the prices of our products and services to pay excess "supporters" makes us vulnerable in the market place to more-efficient competitors. The solution may seem obvious but the power to do anything lies with the managers in the "supporters" camp. Have they got the guts to do it, or are they too comfortable? Self-examination comes after the "denial" phase. The medicine may not taste good, but if we won't swallow it ourselves, the next owners will surely force it down our throats. Saturday, July 10, 2004 - commenting on the last weblog: Don't under estimate Caliel. He is better than most at running a business, is politically sharp, and has a powerful "BS" detector. As soon as the Wonderware protectorate is gone (Rick H.), Caliel will clean house and scale back Archestra to a realistic level. Plans are already afoot for "rightsizing". Friday, July 9, 2004 Well! All those people, all that cheer leading, the 6/1 talk - we don't need it any more! We have ULF! Foxboro is safe at last! We have our superhero! So, why do I feel I have to find a underground bunker and wait for the air raid to end? More of the same I guess. But we have Mike Calliel!(SIGH), who has all the answers and doesn't change a thing except put his allies in key, high-paying positions. A brand new plan of being number one by 2006! He wants to focus on the customers wants and needs, sell them service to the hilt. Oh by the way, cut cost's. We, as employees, just say: Oh, oh! That means CHEAP CITY AGAIN! They want us to work for less money, pay more of our own insurance, and work two three times as hard to increase our productivity. And they still stay away from the root causes of the problems. They have no clue how to grow a business. Can you imagine that they can say with a straight face that they want to focus on the customers wants and needs? All I say is: Yogi Berra is right! DEJA VU, all over again! Friday, July 9, 2004 - About the over paid Executives: At the Invensys Division I work for, we affectionately call them "PB's" - "Profit Burners". We have lost General Managers, Plant Managers, VP's, etc. without them being replaced and the business keeps chugging along without missing a stroke. What does that tell you? Now we're about to (within a couple of months) lose all our manufacturing capabilities and people - moving overseas for the cheaper labor cost, so they say. Quality, delivery times and service will suffer but, what the heck, more nickels for those big bonuses. Thursday, July 8, 2004 Let's all be honest. If anyone offered me the kind of money Ulf was offered just to show up, I'd be hard pressed to think of reasons to turn down that offer. Ulf is just another symptom of THE problem - a bad CEO, and an even worse Board. If an employee representative could hold a seat on the board (as key shareholders with the long term business survival as their main goal, I sure think that would be a swell idea) there would at least be some oversight and reality infused into the decision making. But let's face it, Rick Haythornthwaite is the guy who spent a hell of a lot of money on consultants to tell us that "we don't know what we don't know". So it only stands to reason that his board would view a guy whose message is "keep doing what you're supposed to be doing" as a vast improvement. Ulf would earn his paycheck if he could dump Rick H. and all the consultants, replace the board and all the business group presidents that have not delivered to their plan. Not to mention the many senior executives that collect paychecks for no value added contributions unless you count burning cash on unnecessary programs. Wednesday, July 7, 2004 There comes a time where you have to ask what Invensys can do for you, after all you have done for Invensys. If the answer is, as it has been for years now: a meager, not even inflation-beating, 3% raise - if you are lucky, then time has come to say: "You know Ulf, I think that $3.6 Million, just to step in the door, is outrageous, no matter who you are." Monday, July 5, 2004 - This is a interesting analysis that appears on the Yahoo message board for Invensys stock:
Invensys...all systems gone!
Monday, July 5, 2004 A shareholder revolution is needed! Seems like the Invensys board of directors continually makes the wrong moves. Sunday, July 4, 2004 - on Ulf the Hatchet: Looks like Ulf and Rick H are being paid very well and are defintely looking out for themselves first - forget about shareholders, customers and employees. It really is time to bring in a Union for office workers and professional employees like engineers and customer services people. Who's looking out for employees? Not Ulf the Hatchet. Sunday, July 4, 2004 - on Ulf rhetoric: Ulf asked for as much as previous leaders of this once great company have done in the past. Unfortunately, we can not give much more than we are doing now and in the past. What Ulf failed to traverse in his text book spiel was what Invensys is going to do for us other than pay us each month and hope we turn around this Company. What Ulf should have spent a lot of time on was how he and his Executives were going to Empower us, Train us, give us Vision, a Mission, and finally how he and his Senior Executives are going to lead us to the promise land. We have given and put up with this Senior Management for ever and it is time we, as employees, got something back from the deal. Or no deal! Oh by the way Ulf: How hard are our Customers and Competitors laughing at us? Sunday, July 4, 2004 "ULF!" is the sound that a lot of Invensys employees are going to be making after being punched in the stomach by Invensys's latest hatchet man. It is pathetic that happy-go-lucky Rick H. did not have the "stomach" to make these moves himself. Neither of them true leadership skills. On this July 4th, we need an employee revolution! Saturday, July 3, 2004 Thank you ULF! Here in France, we are happy to know that the recent announced decision to fire 258 employees at Appliance Controls in Thyez, France will serve to finance your 'golden hello'. Our site today have 410 employees, so make the calculation about how many will remain in few months...and for how long? Most of them are women operators, at ages which will make it hard to other jobs easily. We will publish soon how much local management will have at the end of this restructuring... All this is just confirms that Invensys executives are better at destroying, than building and getting positive results from creating what markets expect. Invensys - a dedicated-to-fail-company! Think about us, the ones working daily to finance all this. Thursday, July 1, 2004: JimPinto.com eNews: Invensys COO - big bucks, no sizzle - Jim Pinto commentary.
JimPinto.com eNews - 1 July 2004
Thursday, July 1, 2004 - Re: Ulf : Of course he is not a total donkey - he is getting two million pounds for retreading platitudes. Once again Invensys shareholders are the donkeys. I am an Invensys employee in a low level sales position. I work at the coal face. After six years of relaying to my "superiors" the simple facts re the market place only to be told that I am wrong because the market place does not match the latest management dogma I have given up. I come to work, I take the money and I have no interest in the job whatsoever. I see this attitude commonly among my fellow employees. Time and again we are handed decisions to implement which any twelve year old could see are preposterous. This culture is what is wrong with Invensys. Information flow is from the management down and never the other way. The focus is internal and not on the customer, the market. This has seen the office I work in go from having a respected position with a market share in the 60-70% range to having a single figure share today. This has happened in five or so years. Throughout that period management have promoted people universally regarded among the staff as idiots to higher and higher positions. These moves have often been regarded with open mouthed amazement. In the end I still get paid every month. Take the money......shoot the dog. Thursday, July 1, 2004 Ulf does not seem to have too much vision. This fuels speculation that, despite Rick Haythornthwait's statements, the post-Rick plan would include further sell-offs and divestitures. Question is, when does he (RH) leave? My guess is before the end of 2004. Wednesday, June 30, 2004 Invensys plc announces that it has completed the sale of its Hansen Transmissions business to Allianz Capital Partners GmbH, a private equity company within the Allianz Group, for the previously agreed cash consideration of e132 million. The funds will be used by Invensys to pay down its debt and other legacy liabilities. Wednesday, June 30, 2004 The workers of Foxboro SCADA Rome believe that the crisis of the company is irreversible. The Italian management has abandoned the company (like the TITANIC before it sank), and the Invensys management promises new sales strategies to improve the business: To reduce the sales areas ?!?. Is the SCADA is a business part of Invensys or not? Wednesday, June 30, 2004 - re. Ulf, from a Foxboro employee: Take it easy on poor Ulf. He can't be a total donkey if they are willing to pay him what this article (weblink below) says.
UK Observer - New Invensys boss to get £2m
Tuesday, June 29, 2004 - from a Foxboro employee: Thanks for the great ideas Ulf! Lets see if I got this straight. So what we need to do is keep our customers happy, get more orders, do things on time and to budget, negotiate better procurement deals, be good leaders and make sure our customers pay on time. Gee, wish we'd thought of that before. This inspired, lateral thinking is exactly what Foxboro employees need at this time. Monday, June 28, 2004 - An Invensys observer comments on the memo from Ulf Henriksson: My initial thoughts are that Ulf stepped into a no-win scenario (probably motivated by $$$ and adding to his resume). This first, key opportunity to set a new leadership tone sounds more like reconstituted text-book-speak. Ulf's poor word-smithing will not save Invensys. Leadership, innovation and bold risk-taking might. Invensys employees are rolling their eyes. And Invensys competitors must, again, be pleased this day!
Monday, June 28, 2004 - to All Invensys Employees:
From: Ulf Henriksson
Having now had the pleasure of visiting several of the Group's business units and meeting many employees, I want to share my thoughts about Invensys. But first thanks to all the employees at APV and Process Systems I have met and talked to during business reviews and town hall meetings. I saw two businesses with strong capabilities and brands, committed employees and great potential for improved performance and further growth.
A word about our overall strategy. Our strategy is about creating optimal value for our customers, employees and shareholders. This is the strategy that our Board has decided upon, and I agree with it completely. On the ground, where the work gets done, it means that our priority and our most important ability is to meet our objectives and milestones every day, week, month and quarter.
Starting this fiscal year, we will be reporting quarterly and therefore we will be judged on our quarterly performance. In two weeks' time, we will come to the end of our first quarter. To succeed in operation and execution, we must make every day a success, and not save what needs to be done until the end of the week or the month. Our motto must be "do it today!".
What can you do today to help make the quarter a success?
I have now had some time to reflect on our organisation. The organisation of Invensys as it stands, with six business groups is the most appropriate organisation for the future. These business groups are:
These businesses are our future. I see no need to change our structure and strategic intent. However, although the businesses are managed independently by their presidents, they will cooperate and collaborate when it makes good business sense to do so. Procurement is an obvious example, but there are others. John Duerden is looking at the possibilities for encouraging synergies between Appliance Controls and Climate Controls, and there may be other opportunities between other businesses. We also want the best for Lambda and APV Baker, the remaining businesses marked for disposal. They are not part of our plans, but they are still good businesses. They will remain part of our Company until we find owners that can offer them a better future, with deals that are good for them and also good for Invensys.
However, after the reorganisation we can stop thinking about the structure of the Group and concentrate on the success of the Group.
We have two more weeks to show in our first quarter results that we are winners. Let's stay the course together.
Ulf Henriksson
Friday, June 25, 2004 - Mike Bradley, Sr., President, Wonderware and ArchestrA Business Units
"I would like to correct some impressions contained in some previous
web-logs.
First Wonderware has been very profitable in the past, and continues to be
very profitable. Invensys directed that these profits be reinvested in the
ArchestrA technology development program. Therefore the combined entity
(Wonderware-ArchestrA) relied on internally generated funds for the most
part and required minimal financial resource from the parent company.
The combined entity of Wonderware-ArchestrA is now profitable.
Secondly, ArchestrA is not a "black hole" of spending. It is a vital
technology for all of Invensys. The ArchestrA technology is now being
integrated with products across Invensys Divisions, including Wonderware,
IPS (Foxboro) and APV.
There are over 150 installations of products or systems with embedded
ArchestrA technology. They include:
Also in each of these applications the customer experienced 30% to 70%
savings in engineering development time because of the dramatic re-use of
objects that represent devices (pumps, valves, motors) or objects that
represent calculations or processes. In fact, in one of the most dramatic
cases of re-use a customer took 4 months to put in his first major
application. An identical one took the same customer two months. The third
instance the customer implemented took FIVE days.
Another customer told us that he could do updates on a system that included
ArchestrA technology in two HOURS versus the two weeks it took to do the
same updates in the same system without ArchestrA.
In the case of the Yellow River, they re-engineered their 700 mile system
in FIVE months. Why? Because the sluice gates were very similar, so once
they designed the supervision of the first one, they could simply drag and
drop the consolidated sluice gate object - 70 times. They could also
remotely deploy the object over communication links, so changes can be made
to the system over their 700 mile network by deploying changes over the
system while it is running. They don't have to have someone visit each
station. THEY LOVE IT!
The other thing customers love is that the plant model built into ArchestrA
architecture gives engineers real-time data in context. This enables them
easily and logically to see and analyze relationships in real-time information
that were not obvious before.
The 2.0 release of ArchestrA system will scale from 250 I/O to ONE MILLION
I/O. It can be made fully redundant with the click of a mouse. You can now
keep graphic objects (Smart Symbols) in an ArchestrA/Smart Symbols library
and deploy changes to these objects with blazing speed. You can deploy
changes to 1000 graphics objects across 100 nodes in 1 to 2 minutes,
depending on the speed of the machines. How's that for dramatic
productivity?
The results are very impressive, but the people of Wonderware are even more
impressive. I am biased, but I believe this is the finest, most dedicated,
most enthusiastic team of people in the software industry.
So please, when you have anything detrimental to say about ArchestrA
technology or Wonderware, please check with us. If we have a screw-up in an
area, we will acknowledge it. And we will fix it. If what is being said
is not true, then we would like to have a chance to moderate that input.
Thanks for your consideration.
Wednesday, June 23, 2004
There is no need for a union. There is a need for teamwork. The biggest problem with Invensys is that everyone thinks about themselves ahead of the TEAM. The attitude is awful. Show me someone who doesn't mind losing and I will show you a loser. Invensys doesn't mind losing. Upper management better stop worrying about bonus's and start organizing a strategy to win or there will be no more Invensys.
Wednesday, June 23, 2004 - re Need for a Union:
In Invensys we've been forced to listen to the captains of the Titanic. If we disagreed we were told where we could go. And for those of us left, what did that get us?
A strong union that includes engineers and office staff is what is needed. We should at least be willing to invite in union reps and listen to what a union would do for us. In companies with good unions, how many unions were voted out by employees? Maybe that says something. Let the workers vote and decide what they want.
Tuesday, June 22, 2004 - RE: Union:
As a former Invensys employee, I can fully understand the anger and frustration toward the greedy and incompetent management. However, having dealt with unions in the past, I can assure you that a union will not fix what is critically wrong with Invensys, namely:
Monday, June 21, 2004
A union never cures everything and in todays market would probably put the nail in the coffin of Invensys. A collective bargain would be most beneficial to everyone.
Sunday, June 20, 2004
I don't think anyone thinks that a union is the answer to all the problems at Foxboro. A union can't change the dismal business situation. However, a union can help highlight management malfeasance and give the workers some protection from arbitrary and unjust treatment.
Sunday, June 20, 2004 - about unions:
We, the employees of Foxboro, have been treated shabbily for the last 10 years or so. The company pays less for health insurance, and the employees pay more, and the raises they hand out don't even cover the cost inceases. Thus everyone goes backward.
A union at least gives the employees bargaining power, someone to stand with us. I have heard a number of people say they have the answers. But, so far I doubt that anyone one does, except maybe Emersom or Siemens.
A union will help the little guy who needs a voice that management refuses to listen to. The Teamsters, or whom ever - Come on down to Foxboro. You will have an attentive audience.
Sunday, June 20, 2004
Foxboro IT has apparently been starved of adequate funding, and more importantly leadership with vision for many years. Hopefully Matt Procaccini will clean up some of the legacy mindset gripping the division and force changes quickly. If IPS is going to be 1x6, IT needs to be a driving force, providing more efficient access to data and delivery of information services to the company.
As for unions, they will be the demise of US-based IPS employees. If a union is your answer to keeping your precious job, perhaps you need to consider a government job that allows you to perform an exciting task such as filing paperwork and collecting a steady paycheck until "retirement."
Friday, June 18, 2004 - re - Union:
I agree with the June 17 post. It's obvious that senior mangement is only looking out for themselves, their consultant friends and the bankers. They don't care about shareholders, customers and especially employees.
There is an obvious need for a strong union. The union should also include professional employees such as engineers and ofice staff.
Thursday, June 17, 2004 - more on the Union subject:
The majority of people I have talked to are in favor of a Union. At the point we are at now, the people have nothing to lose. Management gives out information that is strickly tuned to their own point of view. They don't give a damn what the employees think. They don't care how they feel. We have nobody, and I repeat no one, in our corner.
Management are ruthless and cannot be reasoned with. They are finding out that Outsourcing is not what it is cracked up to be. Check out the scrap that is coming in from outsourcing, and check out the rework. If management keeps on the same track, Invensys will dissapear.
We have nothing to lose. The company will contnue to pay less and less in their share of health insurance. Our raises (if we get any) will be paltry. Good luck to the person who left. Let us try to look at our own futures. The employees have to fight for themselves. I think a unoin is the only way!
Thursday, June 17, 2004 - on the Union subject:
The point is, there is so much junk going on in Invensys - most employees are talking about it all the time - but nothing gets done. No one raises an issue to management. You are not sure whether you are one voice; not sure if the other voices will stand beside you. Walk-outs were once discussed, however dropped because you felt like you might have been the only one walking out. Maybe an official union isn't needed. But the groups need to get together and take an organized stand.
We train the off-shore people to do our job. They do it terribly, so it takes much longer for the work to be done and we have to re-work it. This simply aggravates the customers and management, so we work harder to take up the slack. Also, all the "benefits of being a salaried person" - now you work extra hours for no pay, and now no added benefits - ie, sick/personal time. It was once a privilege to be salaried; now it just means less pay for more work and they want everyone to be salaried.
Thursday, June 17, 2004
I wrote that comment about the unions sucking up the money, and I believe it's true. There are no safety or health issues at stake here (as with police, fire, mining, steel and other industries.)
I also have zero faith in the management there. That's why I left. A union will not be able to accomplish what market pressures could not. The company will just outsource more if a union tries to come in. They will never again value employees, and especially if they perceive them as union pawns, which they will, right or wrong. Invensys management hasn't a clue as to how angry and disenchanted the workforce really is.
Wednesday, June 16, 2004 - from the person who recently wrote a weblog about the low morale at Foxboro:
One person suggested that I thought the only cure was dismissals of management. Sorry, I just didn' make myself clear.
I also favor a Union, the tougher the better. But my comments are directed to that person who mentions that only the fat cats only benefit from them. Most of the benefits and wages stem from the Unions fighting for their members. These benefits eventually get around to most other workers, Union and Non-union. We must thank the Unions of this country for making our workplaces safer and more profitable for the workers.
I must say this, the old ownership - the Bristols - are long gone. There is no one watching out for us now. Does this person (who made the comments) think that this group of managers are going to take care of us? They want us to work as cheap as they can get us to. Their opinon of us is that we make too much, we get too many benefits, we don't pay enough for those benefit's, and we don't work hard enough.
These same people will in a moment of time try and ship all the work overseas. But it comes back defective, and we have to rework it. They seem to have no respect for any of us. All I want is to get across to you that you CANNOT put your hope in these managers. They are not worth it!
Tuesday, June 15, 2004 - JimPinto.com eNews - latest Pinto analysis (weblink below):
Invensys recently announced final results for the year ended March 2004: pretax loss of £368 million ($655.2 million), versus a (restated) £1.329 billion loss in 2003. Turnover fell 23% £3.89 billion. Yuck@*! On Monday, June 14, 2004 Invensys' stock fell to 16p, and market-cap fell well below the £1 billion mark (£910 million).
Tuesday, June 15, 2004
This is what William J. Ketelhut, Foxboro president, said when Foxboro acquired the Scada business from Nuovo Pignone:
Monday, June 14, 2004 - RE: June 14, 2004 weblog, "Speaking of low morale":
IPS IT struggled through the long drawn out process of Borg assimilation (Becoming One IBM) followed by the even more unpleasant (and forced) return to Invensys IT. Through it, all we attempted to remain positive, knowing Mike Quinn was fighting to not only keep us employed but also to improve the work environment.
No one is perfect, but it was comforting that within the poorly 'upper' managed walls of Invensys, one person was balancing the best interest of the workers with the business strategy. Apparently, the originators of the One-by-Six initiative do not appreciate this attitude, despite Mike's promise to save them several million dollars this year. This is a loss to all of IPS, not only Mike's team members, but also the IPS customer base, internal & external.
Monday, June 14, 2004
Foxboro SCADA Yesterday (1999):
Foxboro Scada Today (2004):
Monday, June 14, 2004 - Speaking of low morale:
Mike Quinn, the highly respected and popular IT Director of IPS has been abruptly replaced. In the wake of the IBM debacle, which he opposed, Mike was in the process of restoring a sense of purpose and self esteem to the battered and demoralized IT organization. Now he's been kicked into a corner, and IT is back to upheval and uncertainty.
Just when we think morale can't go any lower, Invensys executives find a way.
Monday, June 14, 2004
I disagree that unionization will solve anything. This just sucks money from all the workers to a few fat cats and creates an unnecessary bureacracy.
The reason a union never came into Foxboro was that it was never needed. The Bristols respected their workforce and let them know it. They knew that treating people well and valuing their efforts and individual talents is more important than a few percent here and there in salary. Most of us stayed at Foxboro so long because of each other, and earlier, because management valued us. We knew we were underpaid, but there was security and respect. That disappeared in the late 1980s, when the Bristol family's role dissipated, and then Siebe/Invensys stepped in.
Saturday, June 12, 2004 - Re Jun12 post on Foxboro, organized labor:
I agree with the comments on morale, products and take-it-or-leave management. But I disagree that the only way to repair it is management dismissal. This is only part of the cure of the Invensys problem. The rest that is needed is for increased unionization.
With a strong organized labor in place, a lot of management abuses and mistakes would not have happened. Senior management is looking out for itself, who's looking out for the rest of the workers?
Saturday, June 12, 2004
The morale of the people at Foxboro is approaching an all-time low. With a bare minimum in raises last year, most received nothing. Now management is a bit on the nervious side, fearing that organised labor is finally opening up. The employees here are tired of the hideous treatment by the management. The fear tactics, the brow beating, the general disrepect is not what the workers deserve.
We do make a good product (despite shortsighted and incompetent management). If you could remove arrogance and ego from management, we would be prospering. They really refuse to admit they have made mistakes and need to correct the situations. It now has become an atmosphere of us versus them. This should never had happened. But, with the attitude of "we don't need you" it has caused a fracture of relations between management and labor that will be very hard to repair.
To be honest the only way to repair it would be many management dismissals, but even then the distrust would still exist. A major effort with an increase in compensation, and more importantly respect, would be beneficial.
Monday, June 7, 2004
First of all, the Henriksson appointment was CLEARLY the first step in Haythornthwaite's departure. He will be gone by the end of 2004. It would be poor form to get rid of him right away, particularly after the refinancing. Rick will land softly with an announcement of a nice new position in early 2005.
When Rick has left the building, Caliel will make some significant changes. Rick is the last bastion of big-time support for Archestra (or he has to feign continued support).
Monday, June 7, 2004
The Invensys Board of Directors should be voted the worst on the planet for the following reasons:
Monday, June 7, 2004 - re: previous weblog statements about quality assurance:
"Foxboro, APV and the other companies" have had excellent quality assurance people, for more than 30 years. But they were largely driven out, or laid off, to service the bottom line. Some QA groups shrank from 20 people to 2.
Statement: "They don't have either the competency or the guts to challenge the design and marketing groups on substantive reliability, safety or manufacturability issues."
This is an ignorant statement! These people had both. What they lacked was empowerment, and authority to stop a bad product from reaching the market. Certain VPs whose career just ended, and certain Plant Managers, made no secret of the fact that they would and did ship everything that "wasn't nailed down". They would have shipped the doors and windows if it meant getting a bigger bonus!
Sunday, June 6, 2004
What Foxboro, APV and the other companies desperately need are competent quality assurance people. The existing people, at least at the management level, are useless. They only parrot back six-sigma, beta testing or whatever the latest politically correct fad at GE is. They don't have either the competency or the guts to challenge the design and marketing groups on substantive reliability, safety or manufacturability issues. This goes for both hardware and software. Maybe now that things seem to settling down, this big weak spot will get some attention.
Sunday, June 6, 2004
We hear that Mr. Ulf Henriksson is coming to Foxboro soon for a visit to understand the business. Does anyone know Ulf?
Does anyone have experience or background?
Saturday, June 5, 2004: Re - Goodarzi was not fired:
Yeah, and George Tenet left his CIA job to "spend more time with his family". Don't be so naive. Caliel had no intention of keeping Sasan Goodarzi around.
Friday, June 4, 2004 - Goodarzi's exit:
While it's true that Sasan was not the most popular and/or efficient manager, it is an outright fallacy and bad case of wishful thinking to believe he was fired.
Friday, June 4, 2004 - re. interchangeable ants:
In the old days Invensys had a personnel department. Now they call it "human resources". That's because workers are fungible resources - you can buy them in India, China, Russia or wherever they sell at the lowest price. Managers are different. They have souls and have to be treated humanely.
Friday, June 4, 2004 - On Goodarzi and othe MBA types:
MBA graduates are taught that it is the business structure, process, and business function that matters. There is an attitude that the working ants are interchangeable and when one leaves, the water level in the bucket doesn't really go down that much.
Street smart MBA graduates under stand the actual business, and because of personal experience, do well. Those that don't understand have a difficult time catching on or don't want to understand it, so they play to what they are comfortable with.
The worse case MBA graduates know the numbers, how mechanically to get there, know data, know metrics, don't care about people (intercahngeable as in a light bulb)and with actually getting the job done, they haven't a clue. So fearing, they become bullies. And, for the most part, they win short term.
The upper/middle management "team" believe themselves interchangeable. That is why you see nice serveances and excuses, You don't want to irritate a "brilliant" manager, some day they may be your boss.
So, you see middle manager good with names, and personal data of those in his glide path. If you aren't on their glide path, they don't care.
Thursday, June 3, 2004 - more on Goodarzi:
Goodarzi was good at managing the balance sheet and adding some structure to the place (all text book MBA). His problem was he did not understand the industry, or our customers (he rarely got out to the field). To make matters worse, he covered his flaws by employing a fear and intimidation style, and this didn't work, and was even laughable. Yes, it's not a popularity contest, but I've seen many tough-love managers who had a bunch of people following them up the hill. No one would pull for Goodarzi.
Caliel on the other hand can be tough too, but people will follow and stretch for him, now that he's shown he's tough enough to get Sasan out of his way. He has class. Sasan did not.
Wednesday, June 2, 2004 - more on the "Goodarzi" topic:
What great results did Goodarzi deliver over the past 2 years? In the 20 years that I've worked for this company I have never seen things as bad as they are now. Stock price the lowest it has ever been.
Wednesday, June 2, 2004 - On the "Goodarzi" topic:
Goodarzi delivered great results for Invensys in the last 2 years, and built a strong team. This is not a popularity contest; it's a business and he ran it like one.
Tuesday, June 1, 2004 - from an ex-Invensys employee:
After reading all the comments, it makes me glad that I was laid off over a year ago. I now work for a company that cares about its employees, pays very well, makes sound business decisions and actually gets things done without the use of consultants - imagine that! Talk about cost savings.....
Seriously, Invensys employees at the non-managerial level are some of the best people I have worked with - conscientious and hard working. It's a shame that so many have been let go over the years - they have been the true backbone of the company and I do not think that upper management has ever truly appreciated the talented individuals that have worked so hard to keep the businesses running. I just wish whoever is left at Invensys much luck!
Monday, May 31, 2004
Mike Caliel will now have a much broader span of influence and control, which is good. Now prepare for Caliel's rationalization of the software side of things.
Friday, May 28, 2004
With Sasan Goodarzi gone, the prospects for a recovery of the Foxboro I/A controls group are very bright. There are still many great minds there - Zuccerro, Alex Johnson. Unfortunately, Sasan decimated the M&I group and sent some good minds packing - Casimiro, Gardner, Jost, Stone - pretty much the strategic brain trust.
Sasan was very bright (Kellog MBA), but had no tact and no idea how to deal with people. Everything was from the MBA handbook with an evil twist. He was universally disliked beyond belief. He had no respect for women
and little respect for people in general. He knew this full well. Hopefully he's learned here and will apply a better style at Intuit. Thankfully, he left Foxboro before fully decimating the place!
Hats off to Caliel for standing up to this guy. We are behind you Mike! Thanks for sending Sasan packing!
Wednesday, May 26, 2004
I have to agree with the previous weblog. Goodazi's management style sucks the life right out of an organization. It would be nice to have a boss at that level who would champion our work, our products and our people instead of finding ways to cash them out. To the software firm that gets Goodarzi next, good luck....
Tuesday, May 25, 2004 - Goodarzi gone!
A new day for Invensys! There is still hope! Sasan Goodarzi has resigned (or fired?). Finally somebody read my employee survey comments. Now I can see the glass half full!
Tuesday, May 25, 2004 - re: why is Rick Haythornthwaite downbeat?
Maybe because he and his consultants, and his hand picked managers, after choosing what markets to go after and what products and services to keep now realize they made some very bad decisions and it's their fault?
Also, maybe he's feeling a bit sad after deciding to first pay off the banks, and then stick the risk of refinace on the shareholders. Speaking of shareholders, what has he done for them lately? Shareholder value is much less than when he took over. Invensys stock is in the tank, market-cap under £1B (£950M). Maybe he *should* be depressed... It makes his pending exit look bad.
Sunday, May 23, 2004
Does anyone have a theory as to why Rick H. was somewhat downbeat about business prospects during the earnings announcement press conference last Thursday? The tenor of his remarks made the stock drop. Is he trying to recapture some vestige of credibility in preparation for pursuing other interests? Is it time to wish him well?
Tuesday, May 18, 2004 - from an employee at Foxboro Measurement & Instruments:
This is the continuing saga of a company going belly up. Invensys just refi'd their debt, and paid a ton of money to the banks. And Foxboro M& I was on a course that would would have allowed it to be reborn, with some gutsy moves to recaptured lost recognition in the M&I group. But now, key people have been fired - seemingly because of their relationship to Leo Quinn, ex-COO.
Now, others are also jumping ship - the Director of M&I Product development just handed in his notice, and another key individual in Sales is going off to Siemens.
Here is the history:
Leo Quinn brought in Sasan Goodarzi, about 2 years ago from Honeywell's building controls group. This is a "manager" who believes in "micro-micro-management" M&I did not report to Goodarzi until August 2003. Leo Quinn left the company since he did not support the refi of the debt, basically out maneuvered by Mike Caliel and Sasan Goodarzi.
Then came 1 X 6. This was a new strategy designed by Sasan Goodarzi (something similar to what Honeywell did) The structure was not advantageous for the M&I group, actually eliminating the VP of the product groups. Many key people have been eliminated and now there is no one left that can guide the M&I ship through the storm back to port.
Mike Calliel is liked and respected, but now he's out of his depth with his head in the clouds. Sasan Goodarzi is running the show.
Is it now common knowledge that Rick Haythornthwaite will depart within the next few months. The big rumor is that Siemens will buy Foxboro, but people at the top claim that nothing is for sale.
And the saga continues...
Saturday, May 15, 2004
If the new 'plan' doesn't remove some unempowering dictator type management, success will be very hard - if at all achieveable.
Saturday, May 15, 2004
The Rexnord, Morganton, NC plant closure was a big mistake. The Milwaukee plant can't keep up with the orders. When they decided to close the plant, in essence they threw away 5,000 years of engineered chain building experience.
Sunday, May 2, 2004
There is one thing to keep in perspective: whether you support the changes or not, failure or success is in the hands of the rank and file. If management can't learn to treat people as human beings, but simply continues down the path tha they have been on, Invensys will fail.
Friday, April 30, 2004 - RE. another bonehead move:
I disagree. In a fluid market, Ulf Henriksson will provide the proactive pressure to relentlessly ram through implementation of the implementation plan.
Friday, April 30, 2004
So Henriksson is head of "the hydraulic division of Eaton Corporation".
(sarcasm)Precisely the kind of guy you need to lead a software and solutions company...which Invensys Process Management allegedly is becoming.(/sarcasm)
Another bonehead move from the great minds at Invensys.
Thursday, April 29, 2004 - Invensys COO appointed:
Invensys has named Ulf Henriksson as its new chief operating officer. Mr Henriksson, who will take up the post in May 21, is currently head of the hydraulic division of Eaton Corporation ñ its largest global business.
Thursday, April 29, 2004
Associated Press - Climate control company to lay off 220 in central Ohio:
Invensys Climate Controls says it will complete layoffs from its production facility about 15 miles northwest of Columbus by the end of September. Employees were informed Wednesday. The company, which makes heating and air conditioning valves, will close its central Ohio plant, eliminating about 220 jobs.
Company spokesman John Mallen said the closing is the result of competition from Asian manufacturers who produce similar parts at a lower cost. An Invensys plant in Asia will increase production to offset the Ohio closing. Invensys will retain about 125 non-manufacturing employees in Plain City, including engineers and office personnel.
Thursday, April 29, 2004
Probably the reason for no mention of the recent changes in Climate Controls UK is long overdue and that it makes complete sense. Of course there will be those that do the usual, and bitch in the background that it won't work. And that the "managers left behind" are not up to it.
Here's a suggestion : Why not stop moaning, engage the mind and adopt a can do attitude. This might be the start of a very rosy future.
Wednesday, April 28, 2004:
I see there has been no comment on here about the recent rejoining of the engineering and support departments in what used to be called Climate Controls UK. Why they werre split in the first place is anyones guess?
I am just concerned that the managers left behind are not up to it - and will take the credit when the actual department managers do the job well, but blame when it all goes wrong.
Tuesday, April 27, 2004
The Market's reaction to the Powerware sale was underwhelming with a paltry 0.25P per share rise. Now that the disposal programme is done, I guess it's time for Rick to show us that he can make something out of what's left.
Tuesday, April 27, 2004
Invensys sells Powerware unit for $560 million. Also of interest - United Technologies (Carrier) buys Automated Logic Corporation.
The first item seems to indicate that Invensys is still managing to sell off it's non-core business units (maybe climate/appliance controls is next?)
The second item seems to take anothe potential buyer for climate off the table - Carrier (UTC) was an earlier interested buyer, but now has filled that niche with ALC. That seems to leave Schneider and Siemens as the remaining worthy parties that have an interest in ICC.
Tuesday, April 27, 2004 - another Invensys employee:
There may be no negative comments, but don't be lulled into thinking everything is alright for the employees. Don't be so simple.
If Siemens takes over, many will lose their jobs, especially at Foxboro. It happens over and over again.
Don't hold all your eggs in the Invensys basket.
Tuesday, April 27, 2004 - from another Invensys employee:
The absence of negative weblog in the past days is only a silence that we could translate as : "wait and see" and hope. :)
Monday, April 26, 2004 - from a present Invensys employee:
The absence of negative weblogs in the past few days is just one of many indications of how the refinancing has helped Invensys to
get back on track. It has brought a lot of positive feelings inside the company as I see it.
Sunday, April 18, 2004 - More Siemens talk (Scotsman.com):
UK Observer: Last weekís fourth quarter update from struggling engineering company Invensys was the best news shareholders have had for two years. The company has been struggling to recover from a sales slump and faces fresh fears about spiralling interest payments.
But it recently concluded a £2.7 billion refinancing and orders have been coming for products sold by its rail signalling and factory automation divisions. Those activities interest German engineering giant Siemens, which has long been rumoured to be contemplating a takeover bid for Invensys.
There remain several obstacles before a deal can be struck with Siemens, including the large interest payments that Invensys faces under the terms of the refinancing. But a long, slow revival could be under way and Siemens may be waiting to end the nightmare for shareholders.
Thursday April 15, 2004 - Invensys Trading Update (extracts)
Invensys today confirms that full year trading for the Group was in line with expectations. Sales in Process Systems were slightly ahead. Although markets remained challenging for most of the year, the Group's greater financial stability following its refinancing contributed to a strengthening of orders in the fourth quarter. Better project controls and progress on performance initiatives delivered some improvement in operating margin in the second half.
Eurotherm's sales and orders were helped by a late pickup but operating profit reflected the lower margins of its growing Asia Pacific revenues. Sales in APV were ahead of last year, although - in line with competitors - the business experienced a late slowing of orders as major customers delayed their investments. Operating profit for the second half was also reduced by write-offs relating to prior periods, as highlighted during the recent refinancing.
Rail Systems showed good growth in sales and operating profit. Excluding the London Underground PPP contracts, the backlog decreased slightly, affected by delays in order placement by Network Rail in the UK and in the passage of the US Transportation Bill.
Sales in Climate Controls fell, largely reflecting the disposal of local contracting businesses; but overall operating profit was similar to last year. In Appliance Controls, sales recovered after a difficult first quarter to strengthen operating margins. Both businesses were experiencing improved order trends as the year finished.
Management of the Group's legacy liabilities and the ongoing reduction in corporate costs continued in line with announced programs. The disposal processes for both Powerware and Hansen Transmissions are progressing well.
Invensys will announce its results for the year to March 31, 2004 on May 20, 2004.
Monday, April 5, 2004 - from a very happy Ex-APV Employee:
The best thing Invensys ever did for me was to lay me off. While I was unemployed for a while I'm am currently back to work. The difference is that this time around I'm working for a company that values all of it's employees, not just the VP's. The benefits far exceed what Invensys offered. We get annual raises, based on performance - imagine that! There are quarterly bonuses available to the deserving employees and believe me everyone strives to be deserving. I have a pension plan as well as a 401K, the difference here being a 6% company match. Getting the picture? There is life after Invensys. Don't stick around and be caught holding the proverbial bag. Get out there and get what you deserve - leave Rick Haythornthwaite and his VPs holding the bag.
Thursday, April 1, 2004 - from a Climate Controls Employee:
The IT staff here have smug attitudes, lack of knowledge, poor customer service, etc. A new VP blocks things like weather.com and ebay.com but porn sites are still accessible. And this guy thinks he's clever, because he spent days figuring out how to redirect you to Invensys.com from dilbert.com. How about focusing on keeping the network actually running?
Wednesday, March 31, 2004 - from a current Invensys Appliance Controls employee:
Salary increases delayed!
This year our "fearless leaders" decided to delay our regular end of year (fiscal year) merit raises. This is puzzling, considering that
IAC makes "all that money", hires new VPs every month, trying to hire new people and new interns, and at the same time can't make their current employees happy by giving them raises on time. People at the top even tried to bundle the IAC with other divisions to get a better sale price because "appliance business is so solid.."
I wonder if all those VPs are left without their end of year bonuses?
Wednesday, March 31, 2004 - from current Climate Controls Employee:
Right on target with vendor payments - some 120days. This is an accounting trick learned in accounting 101; "How to get a free loan". As a concientious employee (loyal to my company) my way around this: Talk to my suppliers and let them add N% to the price for delayed payment. Keeps them happy, I get my work done, and keep my supplies on target. Yes it cost us extra and is fair to the company - try being on COD for awhile without payment approvals!
Wednesday, March 31, 2004
"One by Six" is the best example of "speaking to us like kids". Do they actually think we believe we can be number one again with the spineless, selfish leadership at the top?
Wednesday, March 31, 2004 - From a present Invensys employee:
I am currently also work for an Invensys entity that has a good healthy backlog. On one hand, we are NOT paying our vendors on time; but on the other hand, we are told that we have all this cash in the bank. It doesn't gel. What is Invensys going to do next with all thise extra borrowed cash ?
To all the Invensys bean counters - it actually makes it more "expensive" now to get good price from our vendors now, since we don't pay them on time. Are you pretending not to know this? There is an emphasis on cash flow - always since from the good old days of "75 days surges", to the "45 days surges" thing ? Doesn't it ring a bell to Invensys employees who are still around ?
Rick joined Invensys many moons ago. In his "Ask Rick" weeky messages to Invensys employee, he said that Invensy collectively has to be responsible to pay vendors on time? Or is Invensys going to squander away all this new-found money again, with the "milking" of the other profitable Invensys companies to keep the Archestra dreams alive?
Tuesday, March 30, 2004
The person who mentions not paying vendors is correct. I work for an Invensys organization which actually has millions of dollars of backlog. This would, I think, warrant paying the suppliers of at least this division. Unfortunatley that doesn't happen. It is insulting to the employees when management speaks to everyone as though they are innocent little children who can't pick up a newspaper or financial report and read the truth.
Sunday, March 28, 2004
A recent blog, apparently written by a spokesperson for Invensys, stated : "The refinancing is completed. We have the money in the bank, and we are an independent, well-financed public company, "controlled" by our shareholders, not our banks."
I would argue that banks, not the shareholders, orchestrated the refinancing. The stock price is now lower than before the refinancing. The stock price is the REAL truth of our current situation.
Thursday, March 25, 2004 - RE: Recent Rumors:
If Invensys has plenty of cash, why are they still witholding vendor payments?
The recent re-financing was a short term fix. Most people agree that Invensys Invensys will not survive with current management and the Slick Rick Strategy. One CANNOT compare ABB's re-financing and recovery to that of Invensys.
Thursday, March 25, 2004 - from a European Foxboro employee:
I see that there are several signs of change. New management, new ideas, some new enthusiasm for new products and possibilities. I don't know if this will be succesful, but I see more facts in "One by Six" than in INVEST promises.
Let's see what happens. Let's make it happen!
Wednesday, March 24, 2004 - Re: Recent rumours:
It was recently reported by one of our (Invensys') customers that they had heard a rumour that Siemens had purchased approximately 5% of our stock - or 180 Million shares - following the completion of our refinancing.
While this kind of rumour is flattering - as it is a sure sign that our competitors are worried now that Invensys is back on a sound financial footing - it is also emphatically not true.
Invensys is a public limited company listed on the London Stock Exchange in the UK. Under the listing rules of the London Stock Exchange, any party or group of parties acting together that acquires 3% or more of the stock of any UK listed company (including Invensys) must immediately announce that holding to the London Stock Exchange. There has been no such announcement from Siemens, or from any parties related to Siemens.
Currently, only a small number of investment funds have a stake of 3% or greater in Invensys - and under the above rules if they were acting for, on behalf of or in conjunction with Siemens, they would be required to make an announcement if they acquired 3% or more of Invensysí stock. Again, there has been no such announcement.
It is possible that the rumour about Siemens resulted from an incorrect article in the UK Press, which stated that our underwriters, Deutsche Bank - who have in the past advised Siemens, but in this case were working for Invensys - were unable to find buyers for £140million worth of our newly issued stock and, as a result, were left with that amount of the stock. That story was wrong. All of the new stock was taken by shareholders - in fact we had significantly more demand than there was stock available!
The real truth of our current situation is:
Wednesday, March 24, 2004 - Re: Yes-men:
I disagree. There is an atmosphere of "open debate". It seems however, from reading these weblogs, that there is somewhat of an atmosphere of "fear" still smoldering from days of Yurko. This is what keeps people in their shells and quite comfortable with staying put in the "womb of mother Invensys" (a favorite phrase I saw from a past weblog). I think things may be ever so subtly changing for the better. Perhaps the fewer weblog comments I have noticed are evidence of this?
Monday, March 22, 2004 - re. "yes men":
It is not surprising to find a surfeit of "yes men" at this point in Invensys' pending demise. Anyone in a management position would have to be a "yes man" to survive. Invensys is not a democracy with the right of free speech and open debate. At Invensys there are only two categories: "yes men" and "negative thinkers."
Monday, March 22, 2004 - from one Imserve Europe employee to another:
Your weblog (Tuesday, March 9 2004) was correct Imserve is underinvested in and full of "yes men". I too cannot see this surviving much further on. Target expectations have declined since it was taken over and revenue has dropped. The word on the floor is it`s all over in June. No amount of waffle will change this.
Thursday, March 18, 2004 - regarding "The Defining Moment" memo sent by Rick Haythornthwaitethe to all Invensys employees - see weblog Thursday, February 5, 2004 :
Up until reading this memo, I was not sure whether or not the press and investment community was treating Rick H. fairly by referring to him as "Slick Rick". The "defining" memo solves that mystery; Slick Rick "earned" his title. Never have I witnessed more BS from a CEO. There are several things - almost the whole memo - which are totally detached from reality!
Thursday, March 18, 2004 - re. Invensys regrouping Foxboro et al:
I don't know what Invensys is doing, but Siemens has been in the news lately regarding buying Invensys or parts thereof. In 1990, they wanted to buy Foxboro but lost out at the last minute to a higher bid from Siebe. Maybe the two things are related. Of course, the Foxboro of today is only a vestige of what it was in 1990 and I'm sure Siemens realizes that.
Wednesday, March 17, 2004
Invensys appears to be regrouping companies like Foxboro, Woderware, APV etc. into entities that resemble their form prior to their acquisition by Siebe / Invensys? Any insigts into this subject? Is this a preparation to sell each one seperately?Or, or is it the belief that they can function without the buden of Invensys?
Wednesday, March 10, 2004
It would be naive to think that Siemens and Deutsche Bank did not have discussions prior to the latest bailout funding. Siemens will wait for the optimal moment to move.
Wednesday, March 10, 2004 - Times Online 10 March 04:
Siemens, the German engineering conglomerate, reiterated its interest in acquisitions and again named Invensys, the debt-laden British engineering company, as a possible target.
Wednesday, March 10, 2004 - To the IMServ Europe employee:
IMServ Europe has been sufficiently funded for the past 18 months, cash is being invested into ongoing projects. The restraints applied to the Invensys group tend not to affect us as much as others. Salaries are being paid, target bonuses given etc. IMServ is allowed to operate in it's own way, because it makes big profits and Invensys doesn't want to mess that up as well. IMServ Europe hasn't faced serious redundancies since September '02, when a lot of dead wood was removed, which, as is well known, was for the best.
When the rest of the company is doing it's best to win new business and re-instate a lot of the confidence that has been lost since the assosciation with Invensys, the field staff people are not pulling their weight. Now the field staff are concerned about being made redundant, because the job can be done by those willing to go out and put the effort into it.
Those used to putting in minimum effort are worried about their own future, and are using the lame excuse: 'field knowledge being lost'. As for those who can't even spell the name of the company correctly after 4 years, they deserve to be sacked!
Tuesday, March 9, 2004 - from Imserve Europe employee:
I find this company full of spineless yes men. The employees get a raw deal, being told there are no pay increases - and salaries are going down as people are replaced. I suppose this means that Haythornwaite gets a cash bonus for cutting costs, and so do the useless management and middle management beneath him, while all the time all the skilled workers throughout the company are leaving in droves and being replaced by inexperienced lower paid workers. Perhaps the new people join just to gain work experience.
This is particularly true within Imserve Europe, which is suffering seriouse under investment and has lost nearly all its field knowledge in the office. I can't see it surviving much longer.
Thursday March 4, 2004 - Leo Quinn is new CEO at De La Rue PLC:
Britain's De La Rue Plc, the world's biggest non-government printer of banknotes, said Leo Quinn would become chief executive on May 31 when the incumbent Ian Much retires.
Wednesday, March 3, 2004 - Invensys Nearing the Sale of Powerware
Several news reports on this subject, though the Buyer was not disclosed.
Several Powerware employees expressed their delight at the prospect of being out of Invensys soon.
Tuesday, March 2, 2004
Well, it didn't take long to start adding a whole new series of Directors to the Invensys upper/middle chain of command. When things got bad, they started eliminating them. Now, all of a sudden, they are adding that level back to the chain of command. And at some point Mr. Haythornthwaite will get his sizable chunck of money for "saving Invensys".
The people not getting credit for all this are the people in the trenches, the ones who who do all the production, and the ones who make sure things run smoothly, and the tool makers and maintenance personnel. These are the people who who are asked to work round the clock. When it comes time for pay raise announcements, they tend to get the few cents more, or end up being cut out because sales targets are not hit.
I ask you, does anyone care about the people on the shop floor? Isn't it time for the upper management to pass the money down to the people who REALLY MAKE IT HAPPEN?
Tuesday, March 2, 2004
Control magazine readers have awarded Wonderware first place in the HMI and SCADA software categories as part of the magazine's 2004 "Readers' Choice Awards."
Earning 36% of the vote, with the second place winner at 22%, 2004 is the 10th consecutive year that Wonderware ranked No. 1 in the "Software, Human Machine Interface" category. The Wonderware HMI has ranked first for HMI since Control magazine began offering an HMI category in 1995. Wonderware's SCADA software earned 25% of the Control readers' votes, jumping 14% from last year's 11% second-place ranking.
Sunday, February 29, 2004 - Reuters News (extracts):
Invensys bond seen at discount to yield 10.25 pct
European investors have complained that buyers of the new bonds will be deeply subordinated in the company's capital structure and at the bottom of the repayment queue, should the company run into financial distress in the future.
The new bonds will be rated B- and B3 by S&P and Moody's respectively.
Sunday, February 29, 2004 - The Sunday Times Press Digest
Deutsche left with £141 million Invensys stake
Sunday, February 29, 2004 - LONDON (Reuters):
A company spokeswoman on Sunday said the remaining shares would go to institutions who had already committed to taking the shares. "Effectively, 100 percent of the offer is taken up by somebody - 70.8 percent by the existing shareholders, and the balance by the placees. 70.8 is very good on an open offer. It's always nice to see the existing shareholders take up so much."
Sunday, February 29, 2004 - Financial Times UK:
Invensys reduces bond portion By Charles Batchelor
Sunday, February 29, 2004 - re. Control Engineering Editors' Choice award for ArchestrA:
A Control Engineering award isn't a guarantee of market success. Many of their award winners have bombed in the marketplace. Example: Foxboro's Micro-I/A system.
Sunday, February 29, 2004 - from an Ex-Invensys employee:
Does Invensys live also by Archestra alone? It seems to me that is a huge price to pay now, if most of Invensys' current resources are concentrated towards Archestra! What about those long suffering other companies like Climate Control, and others? Don't these companies, which were once considered among the leaders in their own industries, also deserve to have more resources for development?
I just don't get it. The industrial automation market, with its slower growth and falling prices, has become a cut throat market. Looking at the size and the growth of the industrial automation market in the control systems area. Is it possible for Archestra to save Invensys? Do not forget, there are also ABB, Emerson, Honeywell, Rockwell, Yokogawa and many others going after the same piece of pie.
Saturday, February 28, 2004
People who say ArchestrA is not good for Invensys should pay attention to the fact that Control Engineering's editors awarded it their editor's Choice Award for Software Products this week at a National Manufacturing Week presentation.
In fact, customer adoption of ArchestrA technology is accelerating with repetitive rollouts on Invensys projects and new Wonderware software products.
Wonderware has been shipping the Industrial Application Server, which is built on ArchestrA technology, for just over one year. To date, more than 125 automation and information projects have been completed or are underway at leading global companies across a broad range of industries, including oil and gas, food and beverage, chemicals, pharmaceuticals,
paper, automotive, steel, electronics and utilities. These diverse customer project applications feature remote SCADA operations, plant-wide supervisory control, plant intelligence, regulatory compliance, production management and enterprise collaboration.
Recent repeat orders are coming from companies such as DaimlerChrysler, General Mills, Georgia-Pacific, Nucor Steel, SABMiller and Trusjoist, a division of Weyerhauser Corp.
In addition, Wonderware has shipped more than 2,500 copies of FactorySuite A2 (ìA-squaredî) software featuring the ArchestrA integrated development environment to customers as part of its comprehensive software support agreements.
Not bad for a one year old framework.
Thursday, February 26, 2004 - re. Engineers running companies:
Technology companies need leaders who have both technical and business skills. For the past twenty years Foxboro has been run by people who lacked technical skills and weren't particularly good businessmen either. An example of a decision that devastated Foxboro was the agreement to supply DOW with integrated safety shutdown and process control systems. The CEO's ego drove this decision - against the advice of the technology people. It cost tens of millions and, more importantly, wasted years of development time that should have been spent developing sensible products. Archestra seems headed in the same direction.
Thursday, February 26, 2004
Why don't the banks put any restrictions on Invensys? Because they no longer carry most of the debt.
Look what's happened. Invensys owed lots of money to banks; these same banks got a 108 million pound IMMEDIATE payday for handling the debt restructuring. The restructuring shifted a lot of the debt burden to investors via a rights issue of over 2 billion shares at 21 or so pence per share, and to investors in Invensys' high yield junk bonds. The stretched out bank borrowing is significant, but only a fraction of the orginal debt.
Wednesday, February 25, 2004
Leo Quinn was a good manager because he came from an engineering background to manage an engineering company. All the good engineering companies are managed by engineers; unfortunately, Invensys is currently managed by bean-counters who don't understand anything about managing a company.
Why dop we to keep a CEO who says "I am not here for long haul"? Why can't the Board of Directors fire Rick Haythornthwaite and get another CEO? Or even hire back Leo to replace Rick?
It is too bad that the banks are buying Haythbornthwaite's story. On one hand it is good that company was saved from bankruptcy in the short term. On the other hand, over the long run, there is more debt burden on Invensys. I still don't understand why financial institutions want to invest on Invensys without any restrctions how the money will be spent. Surely they did atleast do some due diligence. Most money borrowed from the banks will be eaten up by the "short hauler", who will leave with a big bonus, claiming the he is the savior. Surely look like this is another Enron in making.
Wednesday, February 25, 2004 - more support for Leo Quinn:
Hear hear! Leo was the ONE person who showed any potential for getting the mess we're in straightened out. He was the only one not afraid of exposing Archestra for what it was. There is more to the story that will unfold in the weeks and months to come.
Wednesday, February 25, 2004 - On Leo Quinn's departure:
Foxboro has not had many strong leaders since the mid-late 80s. In my opinion Leo distinguished himself by providing a clear, firm and consistent style of leadership. He asked the right questions and introduced badly needed checks and balances. He focused our attention on building the business and took an active, direct interest in our most critical accounts and pursuits. He developed productive relationships with executives in our key client organizations. Among all the presidents I've known in my 20 yrs at Foxboro, Leo was the only one who would ask us if there was any way he could help.
Friday, February 20, 2004
At Foxboro, Six Sigma and other 'cost-reduction' projects were ranked by Return On Investment. If your ROI was greater than 8 months, you could forget about it even being considered, regardless of how much money there was in savings.
Friday, February 20, 2004
The only "empowerment" associated with Six Sigma at Foxboro was the ability to get expensive laptops, software and cell phones. The Six Sigma initiative was *supposed* to be a quality initiative when originally conceived. At Foxboro it was ONLY a cost reduction method. ALL benchmarks and indicators were purely financial - money saved, but NEVER once did I see a quality indicator. In fact, quality indicator charts were removed from the Cocasset plant in 1999, probably because Six Sigma was never achieved. Customers probably asked why they leveled off at 3.8 sigma. Quality was given 2nd priority.
It's difficult to see how the average person at Foxboro could be empowered, or take any initiative, when floppy disks were rationed, handed out singly like precious objects. 286 and 386 computers were still being used in the Pentium age. Spending money for a dept of 12 was $250 per month. You cannot motivate people who are overworked when you don't give them the tools, or when you are understaffed but expected to do more in less time. My manager was proud that he only racked up 11 hours of overtime total out of 11,000 man-hours, yet our backlog was insane. Pennywise and pound-foolish.
Friday, February 20, 2004
At Appliance controls, we have been told that INVEST is no more - they are reviewing programs for what makes sense. No sharing of ideas here to save money.
Friday, February 20, 2004
Six Sigma, like INVEST, is about empowerment. Much effort has been put into having people at all levels of the organization have the ability to charter ideas and build business projects around them.
If the "armchair quarterbacks" have a constructive idea, then they should enter a project on the PTS and drive it forward.
It would be better than sitting back and playing the "woulda shoulda coulda" game. Talk is cheap.
Thursday, February 19, 2004 - Re: excess baggage and six sigma:
I think many employees tend to expect too much from "senior management". Maybe it is because they have so much power, make such exorbitant salaries and seem to be treated like deities. They are, except for their oversized egos, ordinary people who make the same mistakes and have the same human failings as the rest of us. They just do it on a grander scale.
Six Sigma is an excellent example of how people can be duped by clever con artists. Invensys is not alone in being duped by the Six Sigma slicksters. GE, Raytheon and other much higher profile companies have been taken in. Anyone can make a mistake.
Thursday, February 19, 2004 - from an Invensys employee:
It's incredible for me to believe how the excess baggage "Senior Management" at Invensys and its' companies have been allowed to run unchecked for so long. I have seen Six Sigma "Master Black Belts" make the most unfounded, irresponsbile, unplanned and unsuccessful decisions over and over and over. They say we are going to save a million by making a move, but forget to mention that, by making the move, we are going to lose 2 million! And yet, these same "decision makers" are allowed, not only keep their jobs, but replace others who are skilled and have a track record of success. I am dumbfounded by what I have seen management do (or not do)!
Wednesday, February 18, 2004 - From a 'No' Man:
I am an ex-Climate Controls employee - largely due to my NOT being a "Yes Man", and trying too hard to get the Senior Managers to accept that those with many years experience sometimes DO know better.
I sincerely hope the re-financing works, not just because I still hold shares that I would like to see being worth more than a packet of chips, but also because there are people left in Invensys that deserve a future from all the dedication they gave when asked.
Monday, February 16, 2004 - To the Haythornthwaite sympathizer:
Rick Haythornthwaite's track record is worse than Yurko's. He could not make a decision without a consultant tied to his arm. Look at the latest debacle, where he states "fees of 4% are typical for this kind of deal" - the debt restructuring. The actual fees were in the neighborhood of 14%! And even the bankers and lawyers were laughing at "bread PLC"!
Invensys is operating in pure damage control mode and the shareholders are once again forced to put up with yet another disaster. Let's put blame where blame is due. Slick Rick should have been removed the day he hired the ex-Enron team of losers.
At Climate Controls, we are tired of watching these people run the company in to the ground and still keeping their jobs. The latest lineup of losers include a VP of Excellence (thats right, VP Excellence) and a multitude of other VPs. Check out the backgrounds of these folks. Make a few calls to their ex-employers and you will find a history of broken promises and bad performance. In each instance, the groups they left behind are now flourishing once they rid themselves of these people. Now, we have that entire group running the show at Climate Controls, and guess what - the results are now worse than ever.
When will someone wake up and realize these new people cannot get the job done? The customers, vendors and employees are all tired of the lies and deception. Employees are perhaps one of Invensys's most valued assets - talk with them!
Monday, February 16, 2004 - about the "yes-men":
Guess who either put those yes men there, or kept those yes men there? Yes men and consultants are Rick Haythornthwaite's strong suit. We burned millions on both! That is what slick Rick should be held accountable for! But I guess he hired Proudfoot Consulting for that!
Monday, February 16, 2004 - departure of Leo Quinn:
Exactly what business model was Leo Quinn trying to build? Was it 'Becoming Invensys' launched by Rick two years ago? Or, was it just a 'slash & burn' approach (his nickname at Honeywell). Toughness in a COO is essential, however, taking tough decisions does not mean you destroy supplier relations, plus demean and demoralise employees at the same time. Leo did a number of good things, but unfortunately, these are far outweighed by the not so good. His lack of leadership skills (e.g. if you have been here more than 5 years you should look for another job) and the creation of a climate of fear which only encouraged 'yes men' and demoralised real contributors were the primary failings.
The company has a 'new' separate companies model, which looks very much like a return towards the Siebe model pre the BTR merger which may be a good thing. Invensys needs a new CEO/COO who has a vision (based on experience not a dream), a strategy that supports that vision and is REALLY committed to stay long term. Rick once said he was that man, but two years later...
Despite previous webloggers reservations, let's hope that the new financing will allow sufficient breathing space for a new leader to revitalise this once great company.
Sunday, February 15, 2004
I am an Invensys employee and, like others in this web log, believe that people who do not understand any of the various businesses have managed the company very poorly. However, I believe that the Haythornthwaite bashing has gone too far, and people may get the impression that he is responsible for Invensys's situation.
Anyone who has been with the company for more than 3-4 years should know that Haythornthwaite jumped onto a sinking ship. Al Yurko is still the person most responsible for the company's current woes. If I were to fault Haythornthwaite for anything, it would be his inability to see the mess he was getting into. There may be a few CEOs that could have turned the company around, but it would have been a monumental task.
Compared to Yurko and other past Invensys managers, Haythornthwaite is by far the best leader. He is a strong communicator, strong motivator, and has a keen sense for business. The problem is that the damage had already been been done. And with a bunch of yes-men between him and the real contributors, there was no way he could get a grip on the business and turn it around.
This is not intended as an endorsement of Haythornthwaite, but a reminder that the ship was already sinking...
Sunday, February 15, 2004 - Ref: the latest layoffs at Foxboro:
I would just like to thank Invensys for ending my career earlier then I was expecting. Having worked for Foxboro for over 38 years, I was one of the lucky ones who was let go for "restructuring purposes". Seems that I've have heard that before - they even lie to you when there letting you go. (Meeting their quarterly numbers is more like it).
It is true that most of the VP's, Managing directors and some managers are just yes men. They all know who they are. To the remaining employees left at Foxboro, I wish you all the best in the future but don't count on your managers to look out for your well-being - they're simply looking out for there own interest. Good luck!
Sunday, February 15, 2004
The Climate Controls Division will lose value every day going forward, unless something is done immediately to address the lack of leadership and bad management currently installed in this Division. Rick H. has the same high and mighty attitude as the rest of the top management, and therefore never listens to us here in the Americas.
Current management will destroy this once great company in just another year, maybe less. Some people have rapidly achieved what took other managers years to accomplish. The only chance for this Division is to replace the entire bunch quickly, install trust and leadership back in to the business and only then will we see a change.
Let's not forget the definition of insanity: to continue doing the same thing with expectations the outcome will be different. Rick H's is certainly continuing the same thing, and the results will of course be the same.
They are out of buildings and assets to sell and lease back. They are out of captive customers with no place to go. They are out of revenues to pull ahead. Many customers have long since figured it out. They are out of vendors, because they too have long since figured them out. Finally, they are out of time. Let's watch closely.
Saturday, February 14, 2004 - Pinto eNews, 14 February 2004 (summary):
Saturday, February 14, 2004
Having worked eight years within the Climate Controls division, my conclusion is that Invensys has excellent products in the wrong hands. The isolation between Invensys US companies and UK companies is a killer too. With this new financing, Climate Controls (though they were sidelined earlier) should approach Invensys to grab what money they could get, to hang on for sometime - till another doomsday.
Invensys has heavyweight Managers and directors for each activity, who are clueless on buisness projections or foresight. All these heavyweights are counting each day to closeup on each month to recieve their own package. Customers are sick of Invensys tales that swing by the hour of the day.
Thursday, February 12, 2004
It isn't about hollow mission, vision, or value statements. It is about execution and leadership. Rick H. has allowed the inmates to run the asylum for too long. A housecleaning at the top is overdue.
Wednesday, February 11, 2004 - from an Invensys insider:
It is too late, the damage is done. Most of the ICC plants are beyond hope, under the direction of so called experts on Lean Manufacturing and reduction-of-waste managers (all yes-men). They have made all the wrong decisions and have brought morale so low, that the plants are in terrible shape and on the brink of collapse.
Wednesday, February 11, 2004 - from an Invensys employee:
Now that we're all one big happy family and we have all of this newly found "money", in which direction do we set sail? It would appear, at least for now, hat we are lost in the Bermuda Triangle with no one at the helm. Rick H. appears to be strapping on the last life-preserver, and is about to jump overboard. Meanwhile we are left to drift.
If we're supposed to be supporting the new vision, mission and strategies of the "New" Invensys, what are they? Has anyone - ANYONE - seen or read the Vision, or Mission statements? How about our Values as a company? How about our Guiding Principles? Key Growth Initiatives? If they exist, they certainly are not widely known.
Tuesday, February 10, 2004
The only hope for Invensys is a new COO coming from this industry, given from the start the power to sweep off all the bean counters, Managing Directors, General Managers, Sales Directors and so on and on. This group of people MUST be stopped from damaging the businesses.
Monday, February 9, 2004 - from ICC employee:
No sooner are we told by Rick H. that ICC will be welcomed back to Invensys and investment will be put in to rebuild us, than our VP is telling us that this is "only partly true". Our VP states that Building Systems is still going to be sold, and further investment is unlikely. This of course is not communicated to us in any official manner, as is usual from this VP. Let's hope Rick H. now addresses the excess of underperforming VP's
Monday, February 9, 2004 - Re: new COO:
What is ironic is that Rick Haythornthwaite has waited this long. It clearly demonstrates his own lack of skill and leadership, and calls into serious question his competence for the role of CEO. I will be shocked and surprised if he is retained after the COO has had time to get up to speed.
Sunday, February 08, 2004 - Extracts from UK Independent
Invensys, which unveiled a £2.7bn refinancing deal last week, is to hire a chief operating officer to strengthen its management as details emerge of how close the engineer came to financial meltdown.
Rick Haythornthwaite, the chief executive, has started the search for a COO who will help him impose stricter controls on the six operating businesses in the new Invensys.
Sunday, February 08, 2004 - Extracts from Financial Times UK:
Back in November, Invensys did an interesting deal with its UK pension scheme trustees to bolster the pension fund. Having announced that it expected to make £1.8bn ($3.3bn) worth of disposals, it agreed that 15 per cent of the proceeds over £1bn would go into the fund. The company also agreed to resume pension contributions. Last week, as Invensys revealed a £2.7bn refinancing package including £450m of fresh equity, it emerged it would only sell businesses worth £250m. So where does that leave the pensioners?
Sunday, February 08, 2004 - Extracts from UK Independent
Friday was not a good day for Rick Haythornthwaite. Only 24 hours after unveiling an audacious £2.7bn rescue plan for Invensys, the chief executive was digesting a chorus of adverse comments from the City - and a falling share price.
"My feeling is Invensys will be capable of doing little more than tread water," said Raymond Greaves at Merrill Lynch. "We do not see an uplift in value," argued Swantje Conrad at JP Morgan Securities. Michael Hagmann at UBS said "Questions remain as to how good is the underlying quality of Invensys's businesses."
Saturday, February 07, 2004 - Interesting item on Hoover's Online:
How they must be laughing over the Invensys deal, those bankers, lawyers and
accountants, as they carve up the magnificent fees between them. I like the way
that they explain away the £108m by breaking it into bite-size chunks, as
if the odd £10m is neither here nor there. The best joke of the whole
price-gouging exercise was the assertion from Invensys chief executive Rick
Haythornthwaite that 4% of the total was "about average for this kind of deal",
but the press release let the cat out of the bag.
It inadvertently revealed that the code word for Invensys was "Bread plc", and
some muppet managed to leave it in the final version. It's quite a good joke,
although the long-suffering shareholders of Invensys, BTR or Siebe might not
find it very funny.
Friday, February 6, 2004
Invensys employees are depressed and "down" today, almost universally. Many were looking forward to new owners and a brighter future. Rick Haythornthwaite says that the "future is bright" - but he has evidently mortgaged the company to the banks, with high interest rates and even higher immediate fees. And now he will quickly exit, pretending that he is the hero who "saved" Invensys.
Friday, February 6, 2004
Investment bankers, lawyers and other advisers will earn up to £108m for arranging Invensys's £2.7bn refinancing package, in what could be one of the biggest fee bonanzas in the City of London for some time. The bumper pay day comes after almost three years in which the scarcity of merger and acquisitions activity and the intense competition for the few mandates on offer have driven down fees.
The fees from the transaction are equivalent to 12 per cent of Invensys's market value, and more than what Invensys received last summer for selling Baan.
The large fees are due to the complex structure of the package, which has taken more than two months to put together, and the fact that the banks are taking on much of the risk. The plan includes a £450m share placing, a £625m high-yield bond, and a £1.6bn five-year credit facility. The combination of the bond, the provision of a possible bridging facility and underwriting the bank debt could net Invensys's lenders an estimated £50m-£60m.
Deutsche Bank, the lead underwriter, will get the largest chunk of this. It will share some of its fees with other banks when it syndicates the debt and enlists help to sell the bonds. Morgan Stanley, Invensys's long-term financial adviser, will take the bulk of the £10m-£12m corporate finance advisory fees. Morgan Stanley, Cazenove and Deutsche, which are underwriting the equity placing, will take most of the £20m-£25m in fees earmarked for that alone, with the rest going to the institutions that have taken up the shares. Once Invensys has paid its bankers, it will write large cheques to its lawyers, accountants and public relations advisers.
Friday, February 6, 2004
Invensys unveiled a £450m share placing and £2.2bn of new credit to replace existing loans. However, following a 16.5 per cent rise in the stock on Thursday, analysts appeared less impressed with Invensys' proposals on Friday and by late morning the shares were trading down 9 per cent, or 2-1/2p, at 24p. This followed recommendations by a number of bank analysts for investors to reduce their holdings in the stock.
Friday, February 6, 2004
The banks risk some money buying new shares, but for fat fees up-front, and for even fatter interest on bonds and loans. You can bet that they have liquidation rights, ahead of anyone else. At best, they are shortsighted in not understanding that Haythornthwaite and the bunch of 30 about top managers can only destroy money.
And now, Haythornthwaite will make his exit, and go on to his next job, pretending that he is the hero who saved Invensys from the jaws of death! If it wasn't for all the employees who will suffer further mismanagement, I would look with gusto at the final and inevitable crisis of Invensys and the banks.
Friday, February 6, 2004 - Extracts from UK Guardian:
Hailing the package as a "clean break from the past", Haythornthwaite held out the prospect of being able to prepare the way for a successor and vacate the post he has held since 2001. Invensys is to appoint a chief operating officer as part of that process.
Haythornthwaite quotes:
"This is a big step. The only reason I have stuck around to deal with this mess is I actually believe the businesses to be sound."
Thursday, February 5, 2004
The loan does not even address the badly underfunded pension obligation. So what does that tell you about the "people" concerns? Or even worse, the long term rebuilding of the company under such a burden.
I would have felt far more comfortable had the company been put into receivership, all the current leadership tossed out on their ears and divested of properly. The only upside to all this is for individuals to speculate short term on the stock and take advantage of the temporary upswing and then divest yourself of all holdings before the inevitable drop.
Thursday, February 5, 2004
Rick Haythornthwaite - what part of "No one wants to be part of Invensys" do you not understand?
You have borrowed slightly more than is owed. Which means you have only delayed the inevitable. You ran the company, OK'd the policies, even setting them. You are responsible for the total demoralization of ALL divisions. Your policies still sit sour in the mouths of all the suppliers, even the customers are now fully aware of the demise of Invensys to such a state that it would take five years at the least for them to feel comfortable with your products, and that only after much investment in advertising preceded by substantial gains in product and software developement. No one doubts, at this point, that this will never happen.
The banks may be happy, but I doubt it. Everyone knows that this was forced upon them, for not to do so would most certainly have resulted in a collapse that few could afford.
Now, while most would have been pleased to have been sold at a loss, and would have suffered some cleanup by the new owners, they would have gladly suffered the consequences in order to rebuild the companies to their former glory. You have destroyed all hope with the refinacing of your infamous debacle.
Thursday, February 5, 2004 - RE: Haythornthwaite's Comments
In a single stroke, these issues have been resolved. Now we can go to our customers and say "We're here for the long term.". This is clearly BS.
Haythornthwaite has already indicated he doesn't want to move to Boston. So he only needs to show favorable First Half financials (October 2004) and abandon Invensys for "personal reasons". He dumps the eventual demise of Invensys on someone else while he accepts his next CEO position claiming he performed a miracle turnaround.
Thursday, February 5, 2004
Let's see
Excellent management!
Thursday, February 5, 2004
Rick H. states that he welcomes Appliance Controls and Climate Controls back to the Group. Here is an eye opener, Rick - we never left! We were however abondoned, shunned, staved of capital investment and embarrassed in the face of our customers and made to feel like lepers.
It is not all about money. It is about people too! Perhaps you could spend some of that refinancing on HR people to undo some of the travesties you have inflicted on your employees for the past 2 years. On those that are left that is!
Thursday, February 5, 2004
Haythornthtwaite finally admits what everyone knew from the start - that he was there to save the banks' bucks. The (new) stock holders and (junk) bond holders will now take the hit.
Thursday, February 5, 2004
Big sigh of relief here from Powerware to find we are still being sold! Better financial shape? So borrowing from one credit source to pay another would accomplish the same thing?
Thursday, February 5, 2004 - Re. Invensys refinancing:
I guess if people are willing to hand over their money to Invensys without any collateral (buyers of the junk bonds and stock) they deserve whatever happens. If Invensys has a core competency, it is the ability to burn through other peoples' money.
Thursday, February 5, 2004
When you are charged with operations responsibility (i.e. COO) tough decisions must be made, and these decisions will be unpopular. Those happy about Leo Quinn's departure are those who had a problems with change and alignment with Invensys' business model. But guess what, change is a constant and there will be a new COO in place. Quinn for the most part was successful at implementing the synergies needed throughout Invensys for the transfer to US HQ. Unfortunately Quinn's departure means more needless uncertainty at the top level at Invensys.
Thursday, February 5, 2004
Haythornthwaite states, "Financially, Invensys has never been in better shape." Appliance and Climate Controls are no longer for sale, and will be reabsorbed into the group.
The people at Appliance Controls were looking forward to detaching ourselves from Invensys. Yesterday Invensys was running out of money, and today we are in the best financial shape? What kind of investor would believe that? You don't increase your value by paying down existing debt with new debt. You only delay the inevitable.
Thursday, February 5, 2004
Curiouser indeed..... On one hand, those hoping ICC would be sold to a company that would try to grow the business may be collectively groaning under this news. On the othe hand, assuming they can finance enough working $ to straighten the balance sheets AND have some left over to pump back into (hopefully better managed )R&D, this could actually be a good thing for ICC. I am (very, VERY cautiously) optimistic.
Thursday, February 5, 2004
At last Darth Vader has been removed! Rick Haythornthwaite no longer needs the dark side! Is this the end for Leo Quinn's cronies (all those expensive VP's) and yes men? Perhaps things are looking up for Invensys?
Thursday, February 5, 2004
Climate Controls is no longer for sale? It is to be re-absorbed into the Group? We are doomed to fail now. Climate is very profitable, and will continue to prop up the groups that aren't. So, we will have no reinvenstment into Climate itself that a new owner would promise.
Thursday, February 5, 2004
Invensys is close to revealing a package designed to raise £2.5bn to meet its debt obligations. Details were being finalised on a three-pronged financing package, including a large share placing, a high-yield bond and a bank loan.
The group, with debts of about £1.6bn, is also expected to signal a shift in the disposal strategy. It is keeping several assets it had earmarked for sale. Climate Controls was valued at about £700m and Appliance Controls business was valued at £400m - both are now expected to be retained.
Morgan Stanley will provide the equity component of the refinancing package, worth £430m. Deutsche Bank is understood to be providing the debt.
Thursday, February 5, 2004
THE DEFINING MOMENT - by Rick Haythornthwaite
Today we announce a guaranteed £2.7 billion refinancing programme. This will result in a significant injection of cash into our business from shareholders and bondholders, and the addition of a £1.6 billion banking facility - that guarantees us access to further funds as we need them.
The combined proceeds from the refinancing will be used not only to pay down our existing debt, but also to accelerate our strategy for business growth. For the first time since the creation of this Group, it has the financial stability and
flexibility to manage the business for the positive benefit of our customers, employees and shareholders alike.
Financially, therefore, Invensys has never been in better shape; this enables us to simplify Invensys' historic corporate and divisional superstructures with a view to generating the maximum value. We have decided that the time is right to remove the divisional layer, 'unbundling' the Production Management Division. As a consequence, Leo Quinn is leaving Invensys.
As a direct consequence of the refinancing programme, Appliance and Climate Controls will be re-absorbed into the Group. Lambda, Hansen, APV Baker, and Powerware will still be sold.
At the real operational level, our strategy remains unchanged. It is about driving growth and good processes to effect
turnaround, while at the same time investing to build sustainability.
This is a big vote of confidence from shareholders. Together, we must now deliver on what we have promised.
Signed:
Wednesday, February 4, 2004 - Curiouser and curiouser ...
LONDON, Feb 4 (Reuters)(extracts) - Debt-laden Invensys is close to revealing a plan to raise 2.5 billion pounds ($4.6 billion) and will hold on to some units it had planned to sell, the Financial Times reported on Wednesday.
Invensys will tell investors it was keeping several of the assets it had marked for sale as part of plans to meet interest repayments. The Climate Controls unit, which was up for sale, along with its Appliance Controls and Powerware units, was now expected to be retained.
The new financing package would include a share issue, loan and a high yield bond. Morgan Stanley would provide the equity component of the package, worth 430 million pounds, Deutsche Bank would be providing the debt. Invensys is racing to raise enough to meet a 515 million pounds ($946 million) bank loan repayment in June.
Tuesday, February 3, 2004
It would be an eye opener to see the Rights Issue over subscribed. In fact it would be an extraordinary leap of faith by investors, though you would think the institutions would fully back it - The Banks run Invensys and would not want to see another embarassment befall it.
The fact that Invensys have not updated their web site, or made an announcement to the Market since early December 03, means that the buyers for ICC and other Divisions are not making the right moves or producing the $. And and why would they - the businesses are stagnant, the staff demotivated, and the customer's bewildered and seeking out competitors. And senior management is pinning their hopes and the company's future on a "rights issue" rather than a third party acquasition.
If the rights issue succeeds, then the Vice Presidents and all the Kings Men will recieve their bonuses. If not, they could all be looking for a job come March 31st (end of the fiscal year).
Tuesday, February 3, 2004
What is the take on this rights issue? It would seem to me to be somewhat of a gamble - what happens if there are too few (or no) takers in the new issue? Wouldn't that start the fire sale all the sooner? This seems to be a throw of the dice for Invensys. The concern I'd have would be, if the rights issue was successful, there would be less pressure to change the current thinking of the higher-ups.
Monday, February 2, 2004
Why is the market a plan to issue more stock? I'm ignorant of these things, but it sounds like a scheme. Why not sell more stock to pay off all the debt, and give all the VPs big bonuses?
Saturday, January 31, 2004
Extract - UK Independent news:
Saturday, January 31, 2004 - questions from an employee at the Rockford, IL. Plant:
I work at the Rockford plant. This town is becoming a ghost town as far as factories. This used to be the place to work - work was all over the place. I don't understand what is going on any more. Does any body know who is going to buy us or any thoughts on this? First they say they would tell us in November, then December, then January - and we have not heard a thing. This is usually our busiest time of the year - lots of overtime. And now they don't really want us to work overtime. We can not build any stock, because everthing we build goes right out the door. So somebody is buying a lot. What is going on? Someone, please tell me!
Friday, January 30, 2004 - To the contributor who spoke of numerators and denominators:
You are right on target, but you left out a few important wrinkles that were perfected by Invensys managers. First, what a co-worker of mine coined as "spreadsheet management". This is the belief in your own heavily massaged numbers, and that the only numbers which matter are this quarter's.
The second is Holy Grail of Invensys management - recognizing the numerator on your spreadsheet and the denominator on someone else's. A couple of examples should suffice. During the constant reorganizations, it was fairly common for a customer to want some follow up work from an engineer who was shunted to a different organization from the one he/she was in originally. The effective Invensys manager would connive to recognize the revenue from sending this engineer to the customer to do the work, but would not compensate either the engineer or his/her organization, so that the costs would show up in one place, and the revenue from those costs in the effective manager's numerator. The usual ploy was either, "Sure, we'll pay you for the extra time if the only time you can get away from your current assignments from your manager is this weekend", or "By the time you have to submit your timesheet, we'll have a charge number set up from the Purchase Order".
One last example: the company had a huge turnkey project, think 9 figures. There was millions of dollars of hardware included, but the I/O had not been finalized, and the contract required the latest and greatest hardware to ship in about 2.5 years. Once the order hit the books, the manufacturing manager wanted to immediately build the hardware to make his numbers look better for the end of the quarter. The Project Manager resisted, knowing that the hardware would be obsolete (the computers, controllers, and I/O cards were all to be changed in the next year). Of course, he lost, because although his project would take a 8 figure hit in the future, the revenue could be booked in the current quarter. The manufacturing manager looked great (he'd actually get to run 8 figures worth of hardware and be "paid" for it twice - the numerator), and the PM looked terrible 2 years later since his hardware costs (denominator) doubled.
Thursday, January 29, 2004
My sincerest apologies - to the accountants out there (you know who they are! Invensys is, for all practical purposes, run by them.)
What I should have written was; net income/capital employed = Return on Investment (ROI). In principle, however, my original statement stands. While it is obviously important to be profitable, it as at least as important to grow the revenue stream atop a slower growth or constant capital and employment base - and that we have failed to do.
To quote from Competing for the Future by Gary Hamel and C.K. Prahalad:
Thursday, January 29, 2004
After the last weblog, I would have to say thank God for the bean counters. Sales/Capital employed give you assets or capital turns, and does not have anything to do with profits. Asset or Capital turns multiplied by profit margin will give you Return on Capital Employed. Understanding the relationship of these 3 variables (Salse, Margins and Caital employed) is the real key to performance.
Thursday, January 29, 2004
These recent weblogs are truly fascinating to read! I can sense the level of passion in each entry. Admittedly, being a relative newcomer to the company, I do not have a complete grasp of the history of Invensys, to offer solution(s) to all of the problems that we face.
Some universal constants still apply though. One of them is the fraction that all companies must evaluate: Net Sales / Net Capital Employed = Profit. Consider the numerator to be a company's potential for growth, expansion, core competencies, new products, new markets -- profit by doing. Whereas, the denominator is, by definition, the bottom line -- cost containment, downsizing, flattening, delayering, loss of employees through attrition -- profit on paper.
My brief experience has caused me to draw a few conclusions: In business there are two types of companies: Numerator companies and Denominator Companies. Invensys is a Denominator Company - simple as that. When it happened, I donít know. I only know that this is where we are today. We are essentially watching the numerator (sales) erode slowly and rather than trying to create new products to boost sales, we are painfully watching it slide. Our ìstrategyî (if one can call it that) is that we have ìguttedî the company of it's once proud position as an ìengineeringî company, and instead have decided to sell off market share - albeit selling it profitably with positive OPITS numbers.
God save us from the bean counters!
Thursday, January 29, 2004 - In response to the "insights" weblog:
How is moving all the factory jobs offshore saving our jobs? Is that not moving our jobs? They have already eliminated office jobs to a skeliton crew. And once the factory jobs are moved, it does not take anything to move the office jobs. Many of those jobs can be done from a distance already. Order entry, tech support, bookkeeping and others can be moved anywhere in the world easily. It is the equipment in the factory that makes the office jobs more secure. It takes money to move equipment. It doesn't take much to move software databases. If you are from the Rockford area you have seen factory after factory close lately, leaving nothing left of the company but a empty building. And do we even own these anymore? You need to rethink your logic; it is the office that is considered overhead in almost all corporations. The Loves Park, IL. facility is running at an operating cost level equal to many plants in Mexico, and with the KNOWLEDGE and QUALITY of US plants. If you check into the numbers you would find this out.
Thursday, January 29, 2004 - insights from from a longtime Invensys Building Systems employee:
The problems at IBS are not caused solely by recent management - although, goodness knows they have added some difficulties to the mix. When Barber Colman came onboard, all the employees wanted to do there was destroy Robertshaw's BMS offering. The blood shed was wasteful, unnecessary and extremely destructive. But Siebe management were incapable of stopping this activity. Eventually Jerry Frank was forced out and we lost a visionary. Where is he now? Tridium, producing probably the best integration platform in the world - and we buy it from him. Oh the irony...
What happened after that? We stopped being innovative, stopped doing anything much at all really apart from producing the same tired style of products and ignoring industry trends. Sure, IA is a good product, but on its own - not much use to us at all. It needs Niagara to make it sing.
Then came Satchwell - an old UK company, much esteemed in it's home market. They decided to cause more bloodshed by warring with the US plants. And yet again management let it carry on. It was as if they were secretly employed by our opposition! Trying to force their solution into a market that didnt want it, caused a loss of around 2 years R&D effort. Meanwhile, the shortsighted production managers in both places fought tooth and nail to keep their plants running, churning out products that should have been replaced many years before.
Where are we now? Digital Products that rely on a third party vendor to produce an acceptable integrated BMS solution.
Field devices that hark back to the 50's and 60's. Uncompetitive because of lack of R&D, and the inability of management to see that it makes GOOD SENSE to move production offshore and keep skilled jobs at home.
And all this time, we have ignored Asia in general and China in particular. One trip to Shanghai would convince anybody of the potential of this market for BMS solutions. And the willingness of Chinese factories to provide low cost production for many of the lower end products we make. Instead, our competitors did all this (and more) and are killing us with low cost, quality products, having ironed out all those production issues sometime back (remember when "Made in Japan" was a perjorative term?)
Wake up ICC! Take a good look at what we do well (and there are many things) and concentrate on them. Many users like our products - so lets provide them at the right price, and save all our jobs. Lower costs + sort out the distribution = sell more products. Its a simple equation.
Wednesday, January 28, 2004
Part of the problems at ICC are the business decisions taken by operations manager levels, such as moving products to another location in the pursuit of centralizing products, without the proper industry certifications, and without consideration to customer quality expectations. Right now we are in a brink of losing another $10M worth of business due to poor quality and late deliveries by the Mexican plant. These types of decisions are what's killing a once great engineering company.
Tuesday, January 27, 2004 - RE: weblog, "Rick Haythornthwaite's strategy is clear and Senior Management has spent a lot of time and money in presenting our future direction and strategy which ensures our survival..."
The strategy is dead wrong. That's precisely the kind of attitude and yes-men-isms that got Invensys into this mess in the first place. The time is now for some bold changes, but Rick H. and his team are not prepared to make them. They are essentially "less-men" - spine-less, clue-less, and help-less.
Many of the Invensys organizations in Production Management could have cost-side cuts in the 20-30% range and actually IMPROVE customer service and product delivery.
Tuesday, January 27, 2004 - Re: weblog statement, "No engineers were laid off nor were any key management people."
This is not true. I have seen the list. At least 33 people were laid off at Foxboro. Of these, 3 engineers (one a former manager) were laid off, along with 2 marketing people and 8 manufacturing/mfg support people, 4 customer and field service people, 10 facilities and security people, and 6 others in various categories.
As far as "voluntary retirements", these are quite involuntary. You either retire or get fired. These people had no choice as to whether to leave, only how.
Monday, January 26, 2004 - The silence speaks:
The silence from Senior Management regarding the future of Invensys Plc divisions such as ICC is in itself the concern of many people. The silence is deafening!
It is strange how this Company has changed in the past 3 years. In the old days we use to debate our strenghts against our weaker and inferior competitors now it apears we are self destructive and too negative about our own abilities and inner achievements. One senses that we have lost our way (and we can only blame that on ourselves not Senior Management) and lost our pride in this once great company.
Rick Haythornthwaite's strategy is clear and Senior Management has spent a lot of time and money in presenting our future direction and strategy which ensures our survival. It appears that we chose either not to accept it, or are too ingnorant to the realities of what it all means to us all as employees. Rest assured we can not change the direction of a global organisation the size of Invensys. But, what we can do is support this once great company to the end, and ensure that we do what it is we are paid to do - that is, satisfy our customers both internal and external. All the rest appears to be irrelevant. Trashing your own products or achievements suggests that you work elsewhere. Because, surely you are promoting this organisation's premature death, and we would rather you do that to our competitors.
Monday, January 26, 2004 - re. layoffs at Foxboro:
This is to correct a recent post about a 12% layoff at Foxboro last Thursday. The layoff was more on the order of 3% and largely comprised of voluntary retirements (so-called voluntary Z9) and numerous facilities people since that function is being outsourced. No engineers were laid off nor were any key management people.
Monday, January 26, 2004 - pro on ArchestrA:
Customers aren't standing in line to by anything these days. So, if Control Engineering gave Archestra the editor's choice award it's because the competition has nothing better to offer.
Monday, January 26, 2004 - about Archestra:
I was very surprised when I read the comment about "but Control Engineering says it is good". The only metric that will define Archestra's success is revenues and profits, and it is failing miserably on both fronts. I've even heard that some InTouch revenues are being applied to Archestra sales to shore up the numbers.
Monday, January 26, 2004 - re: ArchestrA success:
If I were a customer (which I am for Foxboro hardware, BTW) I don't think the competitors "trashing" Invensys would have any impact on me. I'd expect Invensys' competition to trash them. What WOULD impact me is the second question, "What is the future of Invensys?". I'd wait to see what that future was, and whether that future was with Siemens, Emerson, etc.
Monday, January 26, 2004 - from Invensys insider on ArchestrA:
There is a simple reason why people are not standing in line to purchase Archestra. If you were a facilities engineer, and all the Invensys competitors were trashing Invensys, would you make a capital investment of a million dollars to automate your facility? Would you invest in the future of Invensys?
Monday, January 26, 2004 - Re: ICC New products:
The biggest indicator of where ICC is going is indicative of their lack of ability to generate new control products. I/A series has only been able to generate a controller or 2 over the last 3 years, most of them looking like LON-versions of Satchwell products. The flagship controller is still the Microzone, with its limited point capacity. Meanwhile, ICC competitors are jumping on the LON protocol bandwagon with a whole slew of product offerings, many with the same Tridium front end. As a result, Invensys, which had a huge lead in its early adoption of Lonworks, has now lost its advantage and has fallen behind the pack. With no new R&D dollars for 2004, ICC will fall behind even further.
Saturday, January 24, 2004 - re: the weblog about Control Engineering award for ArchestrA:
Rather than argue with Control Engineering, just ask customers why, despite all the maketing dollars being spent on ArchestraA, all the money spent at conventions, and all the other promotion ploys, they are not standing in line to buy it. ArchestraA is definetly not in line for a People's Choice award.
Saturday, January 24, 2004 - from an Invensys insider:
ArchestrA is a good product for what it was designed. It was designed to overcome the Factory Suite problem of the various applications not working together seanlessly. ArchestrA is a central place for configuration and data movement. With InTouch, InBatch, InSql and ActiveFactory able to interact together.
The problem came when it was sold (by Joe Cowan, since exited) to Hawthornewaite as the savor of Invensys. Rick Haythornthwaite bought it, thinking it would be the crown of Invensys. Unfornately Rick and his upper managment team knew nothing about the industry and didn't realize that each of the different PMD companies was serving a niche market, with almost no overlap. Certainly not enough to build a common business.
Then all of the other parts, like Foxboro or Eurotherm, started to try and use ArchestrA in their applications. However, when an AchestrA problem would come up that needed a fix for the specific company, Wonderware would agree to the fix, but bury the needed change in the development schedule.
Well, now that Hawthorntwaite and Quinn have lost favor with the board, Cailel has popped to the surface and is making policy in the background, with the help of a select few. ArchestrA has been realized to be a Wonderware only product (which it is) and all of the other PMD businesses are scrambling to get things out the door.
However, one wonders if the cash flow will hold up long enough, or will loans begin to default? We should start to see this final act play out between now and June. Rick insists on getting his orginal, anticipated values for the pieces of Invensys, but the buyers know that if they wait the price will come down.
Saturday, January 24, 2004
For all those who doubt ArchestrA - you will have to argue with Control Engineering:
Friday, January 23, 2004
Nonsense about Archestra not starting until the Invensys acquisition. I was there. It used to be called FS3000, then a few names later, Archestra. The Wonderware distributors were kept in the dark as much as possible. Archestra will not make money. I say this on the basis that it is NOT a disruptive technology, by any stretch of the imagination. To compare it to early Wonderware and its innovation on Windows and in ease-of-use is absurd. The money spent on this white elephant is part of the reason why Invensys will ultimately displace the Wonderware distributors and take that margin for themselves.
Friday, January 23, 2004 - From a Invensys Employee:
The merge between Siebe and Btr was from day one a illusion. So many different products selling on the same market. The orginal plan to make a complete new BMS was good but the fight was already started between NW8000 and DMS. The good old HOST 8000 was a real BMS system but not running on Windos or OS/2. Solution Ultivist but it was was not a good solution. Then was there the InVue good application but not for the HVAC market. In the meantime there was Satchwell with is old fashioned BAS 2800.
The new product Sigma should be the answer unfortunally the development nothing more than upgrading BAS 2800 to a new platform. The Management decided that this was the platform based for a new productline a replacement for NW8K,DMS and BAS 2800. Most of the R&D money spend on this project after 7 years still no new hardware only gateway's to NW8K and Dms. The product mangement was only looking in the UK market and US market the rest of the world was unknown. They didn,t even know what these other countries are doing. Now days everbody see that this was a misunderstanding and that both factories going there on way. Satchwell is putting their name on the boxes again but Rockford can't while the names Siebe or Barber Coleman and Robertshaw are gone. Thanks to the Mangement based in the UK. I hope the a future buyer will split ICC in two parts independed from each other with each their own markets. This will result that the money for R&D will stay on the right place. Don't forget Tridium with I/A Series is worldwide the best and competitive solution.
Friday, January 23, 2004
I can't speak about Archestra, but the Invensys/SEC involvement in development of Wonderware began well before the aquisition. The first official release announcements of the gross misapplication known as InVue came in the late nineties. A lot of effort must have been spent prior to that trying to round the square peg. If building automation was the same as industrial automation, we would be using PLCs on air handling units. It apparantly took Invensys roughly two years after releasing WIB to figure that out, or at least admit it. Don't get me wrong here, Wonderware looks like a great industrial MMI.
Thursday, January 22, 2004 - From a Wonderware Distributor, regarding the weblog comment that "Resources have been wasted on Archestra since the mid-nineties...":
Please - people should keep some degree of accuracy if they are going to make comments in an open weblog.
To start with, Invensys (Siebe) did not even own Wonderware in the mid 90s, so any effect that ArchestrA development had was felt solely by Wonderware. The company was doing just fine until they were puchased by Siebe. As for the development funds spent on ArchestrA being wasted - that remains to be seen does it not? ArchestrA is a new technology based on yet another new technology from Microsoft. Did anyone really expect that Wonderware would announce this product to the world and the customers would beat down their doors to replace their existing systems? Not likely. It takes a long time to educate people as to why such a huge shift in thinking will be beneficial to them in the long run. It certainly cannot be done overnight. Couple that with the fact that growth in the economy has not been exactly bullish and you have the scenario we are in now.
Invensys, Wonderware and the Wonderware distributors as well as Foxboro and other Invensys companies are doing the market education that must be done in order for the product to gain the wide market acceptance that is necessary to re-coup the investment in it. There is no fast way to educate customers on brand new technology like ArchestrA, especially since they are not even educated about the technology (.Net) that underpins it.
There are many reasons why Invensys is struggling right now. To blame the Invensys decline on what was spent over the 5 years that they have owned Wonderware is completely inaccurate. No matter what figure you have in your mind as having been spent on ArchestrA, it is a small piece of the bigger picture of what was initially a $15B dollar company, and the problems they now face!
Robert Carney
Thursday, January 22, 2004 - from Invensys insider:
Layoffs will be in other Invensys business as well. The cuts in R&D are due to inexplicably inordinate amounts of money spent in development of Archestra. Resources have been wasted on Archestra since the mid-nineties, with little to show for it. The total amount spent is staggering. And Haythornthwaite bought the story.
Thursday, January 22, 2004 - extracts from several weblogs on the same subject - from current and former Foxboro employees:
Layoffs have started at Foxboro this morning. Only a few choosen groups escaped, but not many. Expected personnel cuts of more than 12%. Too much talent and knowledge is being lost - especially development and support of new products. The only question left now is: How long can Invensys continue?
Thursday, January 22, 2004 - from an Invensys employee - re: cost of poor quality:
When Erie was in Milwaukee, sales were $40 million with a respectable profit margin. Management, decided to move operations to Mexico to increase profit margins. As it turned out, this was a poor move, since quality and delivery suffered dramatically. No coincidence, then, that sales declined to $20 million. Now these operations have been moved back to Rockford, IL where quality and delivery are up again and still rising. Consequently, customer satisfaction and sales are on the rise again, with many customers stating how pleased they are that the operations are back in the US. The same situation appears to be occurring with the gas valve line in Mexico, as poor quality and delivery have plagued their sales as well. It seems that moving operations out of the States is not always the best decision.
Wednesday, January 21, 2004 - from an Invensys Metering employee:
My pension is still with Invensys? We in Metering thought that we had dodged this issue when the company was sold. But, it turns out that the buyer did NOT take on the badly underfunded pension obligation. That doesn't help us longtimers much. Guess I'd better get familiar with the folks over at the Pension Benefit Guarantee Corporation...
Tuesday, January 20, 2004
Independent UK - Invensys tumbles on rights issue jitters (extracts)
Fears that Invensys may be struggling to find enough support for its rights issue have once again hit the company's share price. John Nuttall, an analyst at Investec, said: "There is a risk that the Invensys operating businesses have been irreparably damaged and that once strong brand equity has been eroded to such an extent that shareholders might chose not to support an additional fund raising."
Some in the City believe a rights issue could prove to be the boost the company needs, giving it more time to sell the divisions it has earmarked for disposal. It has so far made only £500m from asset sales of the £1.8bn it had planned to raise. Dresdner Kleinwort Wasserstein believes a rights issue would be an "extremely sensible move" for Invensys.
This confirms what commentators on this weblog, and elsewhere, have been saying for some time. The Invensys companies are now so run down through continual restructuring and bad management, that their survival, in their present form, has to be questioned.
Monday, January 19, 2004
APV just fired anothe 30 people and reduced all salaries 3%.
Monday, January 19, 2004 - responding to the Rockford-plant (Barber Colman) employee:
I see that the Rockford employees are concerned as well as they should have been. As a knowledgeable employee of Invensys, I can assure you that your wounds are more self-inflicted than some dark English plot.
When Siebe purchased Robertshaw and then purchased Barber Colman, you would think that your managers would want to keep the best that each product offered. No way! Too many egos. There was the great Red and Blue war, Barber Colman being Blue. Rockford ensured that the Network8000 product line would prevail. Rockford management killed the DMS product line and killed the UltiVist system then banished Mr. Jerry Frank (Robertshaw Manager) to the benches. Yea! the Blue team won! Or did they? Seems that Rockford rolled out parts and pieces over the next few years. They rolled out the same IA "system" at least three different times and an InView front end that was worse than half baked. There was supposed to be a "marriage" with WonderWare. Only one problem, The Rockford Management gutted the Wonder Ware "InTouch" software and repackaged it as "InView" - garbage. Of course, "InView" is a dead product and we have lost a few customers because of it. Finally things got really bad, Rockford couldn't produce a system if their life depended on it. Rockford management went to an outside company as a third party supplier to provide a system. Who is that? Well Tridium of course. And who is the president of Tridium? None other than Jerry Frank! See if the Rockford managers had made good logical managerial decisions, we would be ten years down the pike with a good Windows based system - and really hurt the competition. But there is that ego problem.
In conclusion, Rockford will be nothing but a parts and pieces manufacturer, with a third party system. And when the company is sold, the parts and pieces will go to Mexico. Sorry.
Monday, January 19, 2004
I wonder how any investors can be so foolish as to give £ 500 m to the same CEO, board and senior executives who so efficiently destroyed some £ billions of market capitalisation?
Sunday, January 18, 2004
Could the effort to raise £500 million through new shares be a part of a Siemens takeover plan? "We'd like to buy your company, but you have too much debt (or pension liabilities)".
News of sizeable layoffs in the next couple of weeks. Archestra may be losing some of its internal support. Siemens is still sniffing around. Some internal projects which require cash have been put on hold. News reports say that Rick Haythornthwaite will be leaving soon.
Foxboro/Triconix/APV/Wonderware, etc. are good companies, with good histories, good products and great, dedicated employees. But unfortunately it's gotten into the hands of managers who don't know the market and customers and who rely heavily on "consultants" who also don't know the industry. The other day someone said that perhaps it was better when Barrie Stephens was in charge. Maybe he's right.
Sunday, January 18, 2004
Invensys is seeking to raise £500 million through new shares. The company has asked stockbroker Morgan Stanley to prepare for a rights issue to help it tackle debts of £816 million and a £700 million hole in its pension fund. A cash injection would also give Invensys more time to complete the disposal programme, according to the Sunday Times.
Saturday, January 17, 2004
I work at the Rockford plant and have been there for 14 yrs. My father worked there for 46 years.The company has been around for over 100 years - just been bought by others but still the same company. We are a good company and the people that work there are all team players. We take pride in our work and care about the products that are made. We care about our customers. Who ever buys the company will be happy with us. I just hope they take care of us as we will continue to do a good job for them.
Friday, January 16, 2004 - from an Invensys employee, Rockford, Illinois plant:
I am very angry to see what is going on with this company. The things that go on here are ridiculous. This plant could be a real money maker for someone who knows how to run a business. The best thing is for someone who is smart to come in and clean house. There is way too much un-necessary spending, and wasted time on projects that are not needed. They pay people overtime to stand around and do nothing. They pay people $20 per hour to load parts in a machine and push a start button. I have been through this before, working at a company which is a competitor, and they went throught this same thing. The problem is that upper management sees whats happening, but does nothing about it. They seem determined to run the place into the ground. With jobs the way they are now, I can't see why people are putting us all at risk of unemployment line. It's a shame!
Friday, January 16, 2004
Emerson wouldn't touch the Invensys mess with a ten foot pole with a ten foot extension. They finally divested themselves of Intellution, and lord knows, they wouldn't want to go anywhere near the mess that is Wonderware, plus there would likely be anti-trust issues in any Foxboro acquisition.
Bottom line is that there are only two realistic scenarios for Invensys - Scenario 1: A "sucker" pays a fair price and fails to do proper due diligence, or has no experience in the industries/markets in which Invensys does business. Scenario 2: A low-price sale of parts and pieces to industry insiders (or former Invensys insiders) who can do a slash and burn on them and milk them for cash. It seems that discussion relative to Scenario 2 are now occurring.
Thursday, January 15, 2004
Amazing emails on this site from Invensy employees! Some people may think that the employees are disgruntled, but it is devastating to see the waste that has been generated by having so much top management. This is totally unnecessary when we are suposed to be counting pennies and building dollars to survive. For whatever reason, Invensys likes to make the dollar shares look good, but they don't put their money in the right places! Shame on the management for destroying a great business with a great history and fantastic reputation for building top products.
Invensys needs to take a long a hard look at the upper management and realize that it is the older, wiser and dedicated employees who take great pride in building great products. We do not need to hire any more VP's. We need to go back to the basics that Foxboro was founded on!
Thursday, January 15, 2004
I have noted before: I don't think Siemens (or Schneider) would be the BEST fit for taking over Invensys.ut, for crying out loud whining about a deal on the table "not being enough money"!? How about looking past the immediate dollars, and looking at what would be the best buyer for the future of the company?!
The best senario for Invensys would be to hand over the reins to a company in the industry that can utilize Invensys' product offerings, and infuse some life back in. Danfoss, United Technologies and Emerson are all companies that fit into this category. Shareholders looking for long-term life of Invensys as an investment should push to have ISYS all but "given" to companies like these as soon as possible. Shareholders looking for a quick buck should keep throwing out wild rumours about Invensys so that it can be destroyed as profitably as possible.
Monday, January 12, 2004
Senior Invensys sources have reported that Siemens made a run at buying the company over the holidays. Apparently, the offer was rejected "because the Board wants more money". There was no information on the magnitude of of the offer.
Apparently, Invensys is now in a "major slash & burn mode" to improve the bottom-line numbers with the idea of getting a better price.
Some former insiders have also sent out probes relative to buying the Production Systems business (or parts of it). But,
Invensys leadership seems at a bit of a loss as to how to proceed. Naturally, insiders will be valuing the businesses less than "outsiders", as they know all the problems, and will be bargain shopping.
Friday, January 9, 2004 - RE: Invensys acquisitions:
Right now, none of this news bodes well for Invensys. Siemens or Schneider acuiring ICC would be a rough ride in restructuring and peeling off redundant pieces. On the other hand, having an investment group (Compass, et al.), which would be only interested in the shareholder price (forget about customer base, product development, WE NEED PROFITS NOW!) would not result in a strengthening of ICC, but would hasten its destruction as a single unit.
This is all unfortunate, since there are portions of the company that have a solid customer base, and good future potential. Perhaps the IFOs of ICC Americas can come together and offer a buyout of the company (at least the Americas portion). Similarly, could Satchwell be spun off, give it a chance to grow on its own, without the overhead management restrictions off ICC Europe?
Friday, January 9, 2004
Siemens could be interested in the Industrial Automation part of Invensys. Invensys Building Systems, that is Barber Colman in USA and Satchwell in UK are both of no use to Siemens. Siemens Building Technologies catalog is much better and wider than IBS. As far as installed base is concerned, Siemens Facilities Management people have no problems getting into sites equipped with other manufacturers' systems and gradually migrate them to their systems.
Both Barber Colman and Satchwell are rotten companies, always with positive PBT and negative cash generation, a sure signal of long lasting underlying problems and cooked up accounts. To worsen the situation, Invensys always appointed as top managers either accountants, or men completely ignorant of this specialised sector, but so arrogant they never listened to good advice. Finally, they wasted lot of energies in internal wars between UK and USA. Even purely commercial operations, like IBS Asia Pacifi, always had losses of many millions $.
On the other hand , these people destroyed jewels like ERIE in Milwaukee (a company with a strong record of growing sales, dominant market share, with positive double digits PBT and cash generation) for the sake of transfering jobs to low cost countries, putting about 200 very good American workers on the street. All this will become case studies for future courses on "Mismanagement".
Wednesday, January 7, 2004 - Re: Siemens buying Invensys:
As another weblogger said, Siemens would only buy Invensys if Invensys were in dire straits. I believe the >90% chance of Siemens buying Invensys is overly optimistic. Yes Siemens would get an installed base, but the restructuring that would be necessary would be enormous. Wouldn't Honeywell's business be a more attractive option for Siemens?
Wednesday, January 7, 2004 - Re: Siemens to buy Invensys:
I fear that the Invensys/Satchwell UK mentality would destroy any synergies that would be gained from the purchase. Satchwell UK is a completely different animal from the Siemens' German management philosophy. The constant tension and destructive direction setting between Invensys UK and Invensys US is well known. Try throwing the Germans in the mix and you have a disaster waiting to happen. Even bigger than the one Invensys finds itself in now.
Wednesday, January 7, 2004 - Re: The Siemens rumour:
My take on this is that it is merely meant to help reinflate the share price. Siemens (and Schneider) were rumoured as interested a long time ago, but then disappeared off the map. The Siemens CEO said he'd wait till Invensys was in dire straits - perhaps that's now?
As far as restructuring the debt to make ICC more palatable, what is to stop any taker from waiting until May-June, when Invensys will (by its own admission) run out of money?
Tuesday, January 6, 2004 - From the Compass web site, on Yurko:
"Prior to joining Compass, Mr Yurko was Chief Executive Officer of Invensys Plc (previously Siebe Plc) where he led the group's transformation from a small engineering group to become global electronics and automation group, and a member of the FTSE 100."
They seem to have (conveniently) missed the next part of the history! Does ANYONE reading this NOT know the problems that Yurko caused? And the mess in which he left Invensys??
Tuesday, January 6, 2004 - Re: previous weblog on Yurko/Compass:
Checked out Compass website - they currently have holdings in Eurotherm, BC, Woods Air, Flakt Air, Elixa, Necta, and Wittenborg. Hmmmm... Holdings in ventilation systems, drives, sensors - and vending machines (?) and fitness equipment (!?).
Yurko and Compass are planning to merge Invensys into what? To create what? Probably just to buy, and re-sell (which is what Compass is - a venture capitalist and broker).
Tuesday, January 6, 2004 - Re: Siemens buying Invensys:
The London Times is indeed prescient. The probability is >90% that this will happen. It may take time to structure what will prove to be a fairly complex deal. Expect cost-side reductions shortly through the Invensys businesses to prepare the proverbial lamb for market and to ensure that no additional debt load is required to operate the businesses until such a deal can be consummated. It is essential, in the interests of Invensys shareholders, that Invensys not be negotiating from a position of dire necessity; mere desperation is more acceptable.
Monday, January 5, 2004
Sunday Times (London, UK) 2004 predictions include that Invensys will be taken over by Siemens.
Monday, January 5, 2004 - Who is Allen Yurko working with:
Friday, January 2, 2004 - RE: The Yurko Invensment Group:
Is there any more info on this Yurko investment group? Who (besides Yurko) is involved, and why are they trying to buy a group that was so succesfully deflated by Yurko himself in the past?
Friday, January 2, 2004
Evidently, the Allen Yurko investment group is interested in Invensys Applance Controls, as Climate Controls. The purchase (by another party) of the Appliance Group scheduled for Decembeber 2003 was delayed to allow full review of Climate Controls by Yurko's group.
Tuesday, December 30, 2003 - the infamous Climate Controls meeting in Venice:
The December 22, 2003 weblog refers to yet another classic example of a company out of control. Climate Controls is now part of the Disposal Group. During Rick's presentation, he informed investors and shareholders the actions listed below were underway to improve shareholder value:
It is easy to over achieve budget when the people running the business are incentivized to set budgets at the lowest levels ever. Bonuses were probably paid based on these incredibly low targets.
I respect the employees that were embarrased by excess spending in Venice. And, shame on Rick Haythornthwaite for misleading investors and shareholders, and not taking immediate action to correct these problems once brought to his attention.
Saurday, December 27, 2003 - UK Financial Times:
Debt-laden Invensys was the worst performer in the FTSE 250 this year, slumping 68.7 % 16Ωp this year as it launched a fire sale of its assets. Once a FTSE 100 stalwart in its days as BTR, Invensys' £580m market cap is now dwarfed by net debt of £1.6bn - even after the disposal of its Baan, Teccor and metering units. Invensys hopes to raise a total of £1.8bn from disposals to concentrate on production management and rail systems. With a £634m pension deficit, Invensys warned it would run out of cash by June if the disposal programme fell short.
Wednesday, December 24, 2003
And here we are working at Christmas. The problem is that there are probably 3 other people, in other divisions, working on the same thing. Invensys continues with confusion, lack of coordination and vision. The Pharma market is booming, and we are concentrating on Oil. We cut an agreement with Microsoft, and they did the same thing with several competitors. I suppose some of us should feel privileged to still have a job, but people are starting to move on as the economy ramps up...
Tuesday, December 23, 2003 - Re: previous weblog:
This sounds like what Emerson, Danfoss and other well-managed companies do. When a division stops being profitable, sell it, cut your losses, and put any proceeds into the profitable divisions. Invensys seems to be doing the reverse....
Tuesday, December 23, 2003 - Re: previous weblog - I forgot another important "stop doing this" advice for Rick Haythornthwaite:
Monday, December 22, 2003
If I was good enough to tell Rick Haythornthwaite what to do to save Invensys, I would already be sunbathing in the Bahamas. But I worked enough years in Invensys to be able to tell what him what he must stop doing:
Wednesday, December 17, 2003 - re: about the weblog that people should do their "homework":
Many people who weblog here ARE indeed doing their homework. The analysts who follow Invensys do theirs, the reporters from the WSJ, Telegraph and UK Guardian do theirs, and most of the webloggers here do their homework.
One of the problems with Invensys, like Enron, is that too many peole only rely on company press releases. Maybe if there was an Enron weblog, like this one, fewer people would have fallen for Enron press releases and seen through the corporate nonsense much sooner.
My thanks to all the webloggers from around the world, who have been supplying objective information here.
Wednesday, December 17, 2003 - on nthe same subject as the last couple of weblogs:
While I do see a large amount of "venting" going on on this blog, I also see alot of people who have concerns with how the company is being run, and that there concerns seem to be ignored by the higher ups.
The comments contrasting Invensys to ABB, Emerson, et al are valid. Not to say that those companies have not had their troubles. ABB is obviously in serious trouble. However, it would be worthwile for Invensys to look at the business models of other companies that are succesful (Schneider and Emerson) and are not currently floundering in debt. The current business model at Invensys (if there even one, or is it just a day to day restructuring?) gives perception that there is just lip service to the idea of a corporate vision.
Wednesday, December 17, 2003 - To the people who reguarly complain about Invensys, and that Invensys should be more like ABB, and others:
I suggest that you do your homework on the histories of those company's before you make such public statements. It is unresearched and unfounded comments and suggestions like these that make web sites such as this a gossip center versus a place to get credible information.
After reading a great number of comments on this web site, like many of you I am a former employee, who has also seen his investment in Invensys dwindle significantly. While it is clear that the situation at Invensys is dire at best, and while I am not supportive of what has transpired at Invensys, I think critcizing people publically does little to help anything or anybody. It is meant to make those of us who are mad, feel better. I suggest we all try to find other ways of making us feel better.
Tuesday, December 16, 2003 - RE: How to fix Invensys:
The only real way to fix Invensys is to have it's divisions run by people who truly understand Invensys' products and markets, and who have the respect of its employees. Emerson, ABB and Eaton are all good examples of this.
Tuesday, December 16, 2003 - Re: Invensys bottom line - a suggestion to improve:
I'm in the enviable position of being both an Invensys shareholder and an employee. I live in Europe and relate the following from my firsthand, day-to-day experience. Double trouble for me, you may say, but I believe in Invensys. I do, really. I know it can do better - much, much better. I want to "stomp" on my competitors and to provide my customers with excellent solutions for their business problems. Invensys has excellent businesses. My customers tell me this all the time. The problem at the moment "...is the way the pie is put together" to use a cooking analogy. A simple reciepe fix and we should be on our way.
The share price I can't do much about...yet. What I can do, is to propose a small business practice change to radically increase margins. This would add at least another $50M to the bottom line within 6 months for the business unit with which I have an intimate working knowledge. How? By changing the way that some Invensys divisions sell. Get rid of the indirect method (which customers hate, by the way) and sell direct - from Invensys to customer. There are enough Invensys operations in every country worldwide with the correct profile to allow this to happen quickly and effectively.
The cull is over. The Rail and PMD focus is good. There are some truly excellent companies within PMD. It is just a pity that they have to give away 50% of the value of their Sales. It won't be easy. It will be bloody. But unless Invensys does this and does it soon, it will just be more of the same.
What do you think?
Sunday, December 14, 2003 - Invensys, the movie:
Restructuring, rebuilding, re-committment, refocused. And re-organizing (as in deck-chairs on the Titanic). This is no love story, but rather a tragedy in the making. They are not running a company, they are remaking the movie "Titanic". The life boats on this ship are being sureptitiously launched by the executive management team. The names Slick Rick, Haythornweight and Haythornwait were earned, not made up.
Watch for the debut of several new leading role actors: Bonham and Quick, with supporting roles played by Devlin, Dolan, and Ives. Directed by Rod Powell. Executive Producers: JP Morgan Securities - Mergers and Accusations Group.
Coming to a theatre near you soon (aka bankruptcy court). Sneak Preview planned on the Friday following the announcement of sale of the Climate Controls Division.
Friday, December 12, 2003
The Enron, Tyco, WorldCom, Adelphia etc. scandals should have highlighted the fact that many executives are crooks and do not run the companies for the benefit of the shareholders or the employees. Whining about Invensys management is somewhat futile. Rick Haythornthwaite is not dishonest, or even in the same category as Dennis Kozlowski. Rick's problem is that he did not grasp the depth and breadth of the mess he took over. The numerous petty crooks that ran Foxboro and the other little duchies comprising Invensys made the mess. Some of them have fled with bags of loot. Some are still looting the till. The recent blog about the despicable Christmas furlough at Foxboro circa 1993 is a small example of what has been and probably still is going on. Rick's failing is that he still does not realize what is going on.
Friday, December 12, 2003 - re "Gossip column" post:
Friday, December 12, 2003 - Re: to the person who compared Emerson, ABB and Invensys:
I think that you need to look at the financials of these 3 companies a liitle more carefully. Look in particular at Invensys's share price history.
As Siebe, prior to the BTR acquisition, the company was in a very strong position. When Yurko went "merger-mania" with BTR, and then Baan, he drove the company into the debt-pit. The interest at the then-management seemed to try to acquire as much as possible to transform the company into a mega-conglomerate, and then let the then "fast-growth" world economy help carry the debt load. This in effect was a toss of the dice that lost, resulting in the destruction of what once was a very succesful business.
I know that ABB and Emerson have made acquisitions in the past, some were succesful, some were disasterous. But I dont believe that either of these 2 ever made the wild acuisitions that Invensys went through in such a short time period.
What I hear now is that Marshall and Yurko are part of an investment group, trying to recapture the Climate Controls arm that is up for sale. My guess is that, if they succeed, they will soon after attempt to go about purchacing, merging, and leveraging debt loads on their new acquisition in order to "grow the business". I wouldnt be surprised if they even tried to re-acquire Baan from SSA. Then Climate controls wil flounder (again) and Yurko and Marshall will go (again), and the investment group will need a Hayth....... well, you get the picture.
Thursday, December 11, 2003
This webloog looks like nothing more than a gossip column. I've worked for Emerson, ABB and Invensys and I can take the company name and swap them out for all the complaints that I've heard. There are many, many employees that can add the same comments from all three companies. All three companies are very viable and have had to make hard decisions and work through them and have all survived. I guess in todays environment I'm just happy to be working for a top automation vendor and get to do what I enjoy!
Thursday, December 11, 2003
Interesting thought. With such a large pension deficit at Invensys, could a situation arise where the pension fund could own Invensys?
Thursday, December 11, 2003
Being a holder since the heady days of 300p and above, it is rather annoying both to the pocket and to the heart, to see the share price hit 15p again today. Why? Because of the inadequacies of the current management team. When the price hit 35p, the sensible thing to have done was to offer us, long-suffering shareholders, a deeply discounted rights issue, at say 18-20p. This would have solved the debt problem and the companies which make up the conglomerate could have been sold off at leisure. Instead, we got a dubious circular, scaring the investors, an EGM and then a statement saying that the resolutions were passed. Again, an ideal opportunity missed to reassure investors that progress was on track. The share price is again where it was 8 months ago even though debt has been halved and prfits from the core divisions are still being generated. Unless Rick H sorts himself out, reassures the city that he is doing everything possible, his days are numbered.
Thursday, December 11, 2003 - In reply to "the reply to the senior manager":
Well let me assure you the stakeholders are not in a great position! As an ex employee of Climate booted during head count reductions I have seen my share worth plummet from £18K to £1k so as a stakeholder I do not feel my involvement with Invensys did me any good whatsoever. Now "great for the management" - I bear witness that thats another story.
Wednesday, December 10, 2003 - to the senior Invensys manager:
I don't want to come across as a bitter employee. I have written on this weblog on many many occasions to dispute what the upper and lower levels of management are trying to communicate. I have worked for and am currently working in the Production Management Div. More directly I work for FOXBORO.
You say the sales are going well, the debt is being dealt with and everything is on track. This is great for the share holders the management and other interested parties. But I want to ask you - how is this going to impact the common worker who have always been treated as if they are liabilities. The work we perform here is first quality, as it always has been.
The products we build (not the overseas junk) always work. But it has still been outsourced, which does not give us any job security. Management minimizes our contributions, gives us no raises, no share of profits; a large portion of our health insurance is paid by us, and we are falling behind.
Much of this rosy forcast you are telling us about does not include the rank and file employees. Why do you keep failing to mention the working people? Is it easy to ignore them? To consider them nothing more then chess pieces to remove from the chess board board as you send work overseas? After all these years of making money for the company, the good, loyal and talented workers don't know how the future will impact them. You will gain much by including these good people in your plans.
Wednesday, December 10, 2003
Having only recently found this Weblog site and read through the messages, I'm getting the impression it is primarily Foxboro employees who are disgruntled. As an ex-APV employee, I can tell you - there's a great deal of disgruntlement within this group as well. Once upon a time APV had an enormous bank of sound engineering expertise with its medium and long term employees. APV is the sort of company that needs people who know intimately the industries it supplies to and its engineers and sales people worked assiduously to solve customers' problems. Then we suddenly found ourselves having to report to an increasing number of managers and VPs and, before you knew it, all those experienced people were let go. They were too old and were being paid too much. One manager came in and said at the outset that he wanted to get rid of the old guys. He brought in one or two young guys not long out of college and, guess what, they didn't sell a thing! I feel sorry for the few long-term employees still around - they've got absolutely nothing to look forward to.
Wednesday, December 10, 2003 - RE: points made by "senior manager" :
A key question: Is the volume of the Rail Systems business highly variable?? Based on my knowledge of that business it is "chunky". This is a difficult business to manage if my guess is correct. What were the sales were for the last 5 years in Rail Systems?
Wednesday, December 10, 2003 - RE:If I were Rick Haythornthwaite:
I would write to the Jim Pinto weblog and try to put a positive spin on my failures.
Wednesday, December 10, 2003 - To the Invensys senior manager:
Is it not in the best interests of Invensys shareholders to extend the disposal programme to the highest performing assets as well? It could well be argued that Production Management has "peaked" and is in an commodity-based, declining market. I think it irresponsible to allow a management team with a proven track record of dismal failure and poor strategic decision-making to "roll the dice" one more time. Best to sell off what is still of value and return the proceeds to the stakeholders.
Tuesday, December 9, 2003 - from a senior Invensys manager:
Invensys has never breached its debt covenants. In May, the Group announced a plan to strengthen its financial situation, including reduction of its debt. This program has three pillars:
The Group's deficit in funding of its pension arrangements is also not a problem unique to Invensys, caused as it was by the rapid decline in stock market prices. However, the Group's full intent is to achieve satisfactory funding of its pension schemes: contributions have been resumed and a conditional schedule of payments agreed in principle with the Trustee of its large UK pension fund to close the funding deficit. In the US, contributions to pension funds are legislated: Invensys intends to meet these payments and is currently exploring the possibility of accelerating contributions.
In its recent circular to shareholders regarding its first major disposal, Metering Systems, the Group confirmed (as endorsed by independent advisors and the UK Listing Authority), that the expected proceeds of its disposal program and other available financing would provide sufficient working capital to meet its short-term requirements. Thereafter (as stated in its Interim Results last month), the Board believes that the range of options available to it gives sufficient flexibility to manage its refinancing as necessary, going forward.
Why is all this discussion on finances necessary? The form of words is somewhat complex, as dictated by regulation under the London Stock Exchange; but the intent is simple. In the course of turning Invensys from what historically had been built as a conglomerate into a focused industrial Group, it became clear that the pace of turnaround could not provide a rapid solution to the legacy of financial liabilities attaching to Invensys. The Group would not have the resources to invest in both its key divisions of Energy Management and Production Management and achieve a strong financial footing. In this we are not alone: other companies in our sector have had to make similar choices and find new financing.
In April 2003, Invensys announced the current plan to retain those businesses where it saw the potential for greatest growth, the proof of which is already visible at Rail Systems (sales up 22% year on year). And at Production Management, with sales up 2% and orders up 3% in a flat market, recovery is also appearing.
Although sensitive to the concerns of employees, customers and investors, Invensys is confronting the issues and taking appropriate action. The creation of a smaller, more focused Invensys with reduced debts, a healthy pension fund and better performance in core markets is the key objective of the management team.
Tuesday, December 9, 2003
Previous weblog about the "furlough" just before Christmas reminded me of another great Foxboro moment. Foxboro traditionally had a shutdown the week between Christmas and New Years. It worked out to 3 days or so when the holidays were factored in. Everyone knew to keep enough vacation days in the bank to cover the shutdown, as this was "mandatory" vacation; if you didn't have any vacation left, you'd get docked from your salary for those days. Never mind that most were working 60 hours per week every week until then. The schedule was set up at the first of the year, so everyone could plan.
In the mid-90's, the day before Thanksgiving, they revised the shutdown schedule, adding a couple of days. Of course, lots of people had taken their vacations, leaving only enough days to cover the shutdown. Every one of those people had their pay docked. Merry Christmas!
Thursday, December 4, 2003 - from a former long-time Foxboro employee, regarding the Dec. 3 2003 weblog comments that, "employees will be on the streets. It's not likely that they will find comparably paying jobs soon if ever":
Unfortunately, many of my friends were pitched out long ago under this 'sink or swim' cost-cutting philosophy. It's been underway for years. That's one of the reasons I left. I'm sure that if they had a hope that it would have given any employment security, they would have grumbled but agreed to a small pay cut. Of course, they were never offered that choice. However, they knew that every sacrifice they were forced to make would only ensure that Siebe/Invensys met its targets. A VP (who was later fired) told me that a periodic 10% layoff, which is arbitrary, would be a continual way of life, regardless of need for particular services.
I also witnessed the creation of a couple of dozen vice-presidents and directors who were never needed when Foxboro was independent and profitable. To pay for them, productive engineers, craftsmen and clerical help were fired. These people pull down $250K-plus salaries and bonuses to hold useless "Town Hall" meetings at which this week's focus and core business is announced by empty-headed cheerleaders. Everyone knows that this once-fine company is hopelessly and irreversibly devastated as far as engineering, manufacturing, and support talent. It's not a question of if these people will lose their jobs, only when.
If Invensys were truly interested in cutting costs *without sacrificing functionality", they would simply cut executive bonuses. Several directors and VPs have traditionally gotten $10K to $40K bonuses, despite failing records on sales, profitability and productivity. So what were they being rewarded for? For containing cash flow by stiffing suppliers up to 110 days for payment; for counting fictional products as being built on the last day of the quarter; for outsourcing products without quality verification, then successfully burying the cost of rework stateside. One VP came up with a "furlough" plan in Dec 1993, where we were laid off just before Christmas, solely to make up for a slow October. Although November's numbers made up the difference, he would get a $40K bonus for doing better, so he actually swore at a director who suggested canceling the layoff at the last minute. The VP got his bonus; we were laid off and Christmases ruined, and bowwing money to get by. Truly a Scrooge and Marley operation.
While VPs used to brag about surpassing the $1B sales mark, this was a number that encompassed other companies such as Eckardt, which muddied the waters. If you look at Foxboro's peak year of 1982 ($603M sales, $44M profit), then adjust for inflation, they should have $1.15B in sales today, *IF THEY HAD NO SALES GROWTH*, just keeping even with inflation. However, this was about the figure with other companies folded in. In 2000, what used to be just Foxboro, had about $880M in sales, which is about -19% actual sales change since 1982, adjusting for inflation. This explains why there's nothing to brag about.
By the way, while finding a comparable job is very difficult in southeastern MA, several of us DID find better-paying jobs.
Foxboro traditionally paid $5K to $10K less than average, and also had small or no raises for the last 13 years or more.
Thursday, December 4, 2003 - re: the suggestion that, for a company making $80 - 90 million PBIT, $ 650 million is a very good price:
Really? Last I looked, the equity markets were valuing companies at astronomical ratios to profits. Even a modest valuation is a 35 P/E. Sounds like the person making this comment is a bottom feeder trying to get a deal on the cheap!
Thursday, December 4, 2003 - In response to the Vote "YES" on sale of metering business.
Anyone reading or submitting comments to this weblog is more than aware of Invensys' financial dilemna. Invensys shares are widely held, primarily by institutional investment portfolios. As a direct result, if everyone reading or submitting comments to this weblog voted "NO" on the resolution to sell the metering business it would have no impact on the final outcome. However, if you are naive enough to believe your vote really counts and have no interest in preserving certain legal rights that someday will allow you to recoup some of your losses, then by all means, vote "YES". The smaller the class, the larger the distribution.
Wednesday, December 3, 2003 - responding to the "Vote No" on the sale of Metering:
Maybe the writer is not aware of Invensys's precarious financial position. If Invensys can not raise enough cash through the disposal program, they will go "belly up". When that happens there is nothing left for a shareholder to litigate about. The 650 million US dollars for the metering business is at the top end of the expected range. For a company making $80 - 90 million before PBIT, $ 650 million is a very goog price, with payback beyond the expected 7 year time frame. Protect your investment vote "yes".
Wednesday, December 3, 2003
For those shareholders trying to decide whether or not to vote "yes" on the sale of the meter division. You should vote "NO". By voting "NO" you will preserve certain legal rights you may have once the shareholders class action lawsuit is filed.
Wednesday, December 3, 2003 - from the "if I were Rick Haythornthwaite" whose proposals included across-the-board paycuts:
I understand the comments regarding my proposal. Maybe getting rid of more middle management would reduce the need for pay cuts at the lower end of the salary range. Regardless, the result must be to cut costs quickly. Absent this, one of two things will happen:
Wednesday, December 3, 2003 - re: what would I do if I were Rick Haythornthwaite :
I read with interest the suggestion which included across-the-board paycuts. I agreed with most of what that person said, but I differ on a few items.
First, I wouldn't cut the pay of any of the remaining employees. This is already a very demoralized bunch, many of whom haven't kept up with the cost of living for several years. Instead, I'd fire even more than suggested. The problem has been for years that the company was top heavy and there was a plethora of middle management positions. When I worked there just a year ago, there were seven layers of management above me. During the purges of the last few years, the company actually added management while cutting the very people who generated the revenue to support them. There is no reason that engineering from Invensys should cost customers $200/hour when SI's are selling the same for less than half that, except that the engineers are all supporting the bloated executives and management ranks.
Secondly, I question the six month time horizon, while recognizing that at this point, the writer may have a valid point. The problem with Invensys has traditionally been that long-range planning was planning for the end of the quarter; nothing mattered but this quarters "numbers". This is why there was no employee development, inadequate documentation, lack of hardware on which to perform customer engineering, etc. However, now that the wolf is at the door, the prioritization of short-term goals may outweigh the long-term.
Monday, December 01, 2003
Without any prior warning, MicroTek Controls was notified by Invensys/Wonderware that they were ending their Channel partner agreement as of December 31, 2003, after a 13-year relationship. No explanation.
Thursday, November 27, 2003 - protesting against the pay-cuts:
First most of the people at Foxboro received NO raises this year, plus our Insurance rates went up. The problems are not the fault of the good employees. The current management does not have any long term objectives, creativity or business sense. They have been outsourcing products which costs MORE because of junk coming in from overseas. These people keep making the same mistakes over and over. So, why cut MY pay to help them out of the mess THEY created?
No, we are not all in this together. Management is not interested in our opinions, our thoughts, our feelings. In the eyes of management, the employees are expendable. Has Leo Quinn noticed that, at each meeting we have at Foxboro, no one asks any questions? This is no accident. The employees don't believe or trust anything management says. They have decreased our heath insurance contributions, and kept wages down. What is our goal? To keep this management in power?
The key employees are only waiting for the company to be sold. We are NOT "all in this together".
Thursday, November 27, 2003 - re. If I were Rick Haythornthwaite:
This is what I would do:
Thursday, November 27, 2003 - To the shareholder- re:sale of Metering Systems:
Whether the sale of Metering proceeds or not Invensys is irrelevant. Invensys is only alive because the banks keep it alive to protect the huge debts involved.
Individual divisions of Invensys have only survived this long because they had a modicum of pride in their company and its profit picture; also, because of the possibility of being sold off as a profitable business with future potential. This was done in spite of what Invensys commanded them to do in order to fit into their corporate mis-steps.
Absolutely no one wants to be a part of the Invensys future. You would have been wise to have disposed of your shares years ago. Hanging on blindly in the hopes of some future worth is like those that trusted in the engineering of the Titanic.
Thursday, November 27, 2003
As an shareholder, I wonder whether I should vote Yes for the sale of Metering Systems. Or do my shares stand a better chance with Metering still in the group? Seeing previous Middle Management and Board reccommendations that cost me my career and a whole lot of money on the share value, I can't believe that their "Vision" is always right and for the best - at least where the "individual" is concerned. It seems what normally swings those in charge is personal incentives, not the good of the company & shareholders.
Wednesday, November 26, 2003 - re. The Haythornthwaite Invensys predicament:
If I were him I would hang in there until I got thrown out. He continues to draw a nice paycheck, and the worse things get the more they will be willing to pay him to leave and keep his mouth shut.
Wednesday, November 26, 2003 - If I were Haythornthwaite:
Too bad the old Japanese practice of Hari-Kiri (or Seppeku) has fallen out of favor....
Wednesday, November 26, 2003
There are a lot of interesting comments and statements on this weblog, but all of them are focused on the negative stuff.
Can anyone tell us what Invensys and Rick H. needs to do in order to turn Invensys into a success? Any good solution oriented suggestions?
Is Archestra success a requirement for Invensys success? What would happen if Invensys sold Wonderware with or without Archestra? Does any part of Invensys generate enough cash flow in order to carry the cost of the management?
PS: I am not Rick H looking for advice :-)
Wednesday, November 26, 2003
If *I* was Rick Haythornthwaite, I would try to preserve maximum shareholder value by liquidating the pieces that are valuable now, such as WonderWare and Foxboro. Those companies are at their peak(s), and can only lose value moving forward.
Wednesday, November 26, 2003
The Haythornthwaite Invensys predicament
If YOU were Invensys CEO Rick Haythornthwaite, what would YOU do?
Apparently, Rick Haythornthwaite is hanging on. He cannot simply give up and quit now. Or can he?
Tuesday, November 25, 2003
Invensys unveils pension short-fall
Invensys has revealed a £634m($1.08bn) shortfall in its US and UK pension schemes and said it had agreed to add up to £225m during the next three years.
Tuesday, November 25, 2003 - regarding the Invensys cash position:
Not only does Invensys not pay their suppliers, (some work groups are on COD) but they also preload the receivables by invoicing customers for work or materials not delivered. This is done every quarter, resulting in the salespeople (inside and out) trying to smooth the customer's feathers as customers return the invoices unpaid.
Tuesday, November 25, 2003 - re. Invensys cash position:
So Invensys may not have the cash to meet covenantsJune '04. The pension plan is ludicrously underfunded to boot.
What does this mean in terms of the pension funds for those groups like Metering where the company sale is "in process"? Do US rules apply to those business units headquartered in the US? Do the purchasers of the businesses have to take on the responsibility for underfunded plans? Could the pension plans just fold up and die? Can anyone enlighten us?
Some of us are a mite old to start over in this regard. I guess I should plan for a second career to cover a shortfall?
Monday, November 24, 2003 - re: adverse publicity could create a panic:
I guess we should include the Wall Street Journal, analysts and several brokers who downgraded Invensys stock as being victims of "placed articles". I don't think these people are as gullable as those who thought Rick Haythornthwaite and his picks were actually capable of building a company, or selling it for a large sum. Management and their consultantd have shown they aren't capable of this.
According to one analyst who has been following Invensys "We are of the view that current disposals program will be inadequate to cover all future liabilities," said Dresdner Kleinwort Wasserstein in a research note.
If there is a panic, it was created by Invensys management with their inept PR and handling of the crisis they themselves made.
Monday, November 24, 2003 - re. news articles on a "cash crisis":
Could a potential purchaser to force a sale of Invensys at a giveaway price have placed these articles? This type of adverse publicity could create a panic amongst unsecured creditors.
Monday, November 24, 2003 - about Foxboro embracing Archestra:
Actually, the Foxboro A2 stuff is only for small systems, so if this is an affirmation of the power and scaleability of the technology, it isn't a very good one from a sister company! But enough on this topic. The real question is: When will Wonderware be sold, and to whom?
Monday, November 24, 2003 - Regarding the discussions of Invensys cash position:
As anyone familiar with Invensys accounting practices knows, for at least 60 days prior to the half year and year end marks, Invensys simply stops paying vendors and suppliers in an effort to artificially inflate its cash position. The cash position shown on the half year results is inflated. In addition, the resulting poor credit with some vendors causes increased material costs and increased shipping. Another example of creative, world class Invensys management.
Monday, November 24, 2003 - responding to the previous weblog that the UK Telegraph story was "shoddy journalism":
The Telegraph story was NOT shoddy journalism - they were only reporting what Martin Jay, the chairman of Invensys, said in a letter to shareholders this weekend. Why was this situation NOT mentioned at the presentation of results was only 2 weeks ago?
From what the previous weblog said, Invensys will have to keep its cash outflow to £192m up until June. This might be hard given ongoing trading losses, settlement of liabilities, fees to bankers and consultants for the company sales.
Sunday, November 23, 2003
If anyone cares to check, please go to the presentation made to analysts on the day of the interim results, (on the Invensys website) in the appendix on page 41 of the presentation the figures for debt financing are given. To paraphrase: of the £904m pound facility which expires June 2004, Invensys has only drawn down £515m, i.e., this is the sum that has to be repaid in June 2004. Furthermore Invensys has £327m in cash. Sale of metering will generate a further £380m odd. So even if further sale are not made until June 2004, Invensys will still have (327+380-515) £192m in cash after making the payment. Therefore the June 2004 expiry is not a real problem.
The Telegraph article is just mischief making and, in reality, shoddy journalism.
Sunday, November 23, 2003
UK Telegraph - Invensys admits cash crisis looms (extracts here)
Invensys admits cash crisis looms. Invensys, the troubled engineering firm, has admitted that it could run out of cash by next June.
In a letter sent to shareholders this weekend, Invensys admits that if its disposal programme announced in April fails, the company will not be able to meet a June deadline to repay $1.5bn of debt.
In the event Invensys cannot repay the debt, "the group would require additional sources of working capital," warns Martin Jay, the chairman of Invensys, in the letter. The stark disclosure, included in a circular connected to a deal to sell its metering business for £381m, is the first time the company has admitted the depth of its problems and will fuel concerns over Invensys's financial position.
Shares in Invensys fell 25 per cent last week after Rick Haythornthwaite, failed to allay institutional investors' fears over the firm's disposal programme.
Friday, November 21, 2003 - re. Archestra:
I am certainly not qualified to judge Archestra's technical or commercial worth. The marketplace will be the judge. I do know that Foxboro decided to embrace it whole hog. There were some formerly well respected and influencial people at Foxboro that didn't enthusiastically support this decision. They are gone - or have been given other infrastructural duties like managing programs to reduce electricity useage in the rest rooms.
Friday, November 21, 2003 - responding to Wonderware insider (there are now 44 IAS projects in major global companies):
That alone speaks volumes. If this technology was worth its salt, there would be a heck of a lot more activity than that! And from what I've been told, many of those 44 projects are in "labs" or "proof of concepts" (certainly two of the account that Invensys/Wonderware point to as their poster children fall into this category). I would also suspect that sales of IAS will be south of $1MM this year, or darn close to it. Hardly what I'd call groundbreaking.
If you could, indeed, monetize the benefits that customers are achieving, that would be one thing. But the lame press releases to date are an embarrassment to Wonderware. Archestra has potential, but it is being squandered.
Also, the observations about Pankaj Mody and team being the primary cause of the delays and the ultimate misalignment of Archestra with Wonderware's core user base are absolutely correct. The project leadership was awful. More importantly, the project was chartered and driven by engineering for much too long, not by product marketing. By the time marketing got engaged, it was too late to re-steer the ship to any great degree.
Bottom line is that it is interesting technology, for the wrong markets, with dubious prospects for profitability.
Friday, November 21, 2003
Soon I won't be an Invensys employee, and I have no opinion on ArchestrA. However, am I really supposed to believe Wonderware insider's quotes from customers? I've been in the working world for 22 years and never heard anyone say anything like that.
In what universe does someone say "Invensys' Wonderware software and the ArchestrA framework are all working seamlessly on the Microsoft .Net platform."?
Thursday, November 20, 2003 - from a Wonderware insider:
The amount of money spent on developing ArchestrA is large. Previously
quoted at $56M - and now much more as Wonderware 1)continues extensive
on-going development in tandem with Microsoft and 2)as Wonderware begins
marketing the first product built on ArchestrA - the Wonderware Industrial
Application Server or IAS for short.
In fact, there are now 44 IAS projects in major global companies that are
either completed or nearing completion. Some quotes from these same 44
customers follow:
So because the Wonderware-ArchestrA combination was allowed to run at
breakeven (or this year at a small $5M loss), the "cost" to the other
divisions of Invensys are tiny compared to the benefits as they reenergise
their products with the ArchestrA framework.
Thursday, November 20, 2003 - regarding the "industry analyst"/Archestra response:
So quickly people forgetÖ Archestra is like a phoenix that rises from the ashes of the Magellan product. The person behind the product is Pankaj Mody, he had the "concept", was responsible for the design, and was in charge of the development group (he was promoted to Senior VP). Pankaj came to Wonderware from Honeywell, complete with a new vision for the InTouch software architecture. After being given all of the funding he wanted, he promised the Magellan product in 1-1/2 to 2 years, but after 4 years, he did not have a product. Management then forced him to "cut it back to something that could be delivered in six months". The new bastardized "subset" of Magellan was called Archestra, but after another two years, he still did not have a product. Eventually, they were forced to declare the product done and ship it (this was almost a year ago). The reliability and performance are very dubious.
So where is all of the new revenue that was promised? There was a lot of hype about Magellan/Archestra from the Invensys management. According to the Wonderware white paper on Archestra (Component Architecture Model Cuts Development Time & Cost Via Reuse), "This is the Holy Grail of automation application development".
I find it very hard to believe that this abortion of a product could possibly be considered "most attractive parts to be extracted from the rubble". But this is just another opinion.
Thursday, November 20, 2003 - the "industry analyst" responds:
ArchestrA certainly raises a lot of passion within Invensys! Main reason for that, I guess, is that it has starved the rest of the group of development funds. I don't see it - and I don't reckon Quinn sees it - as a rival or alternative to DeltaV, or I/A for that matter. My comments were not meant to suggest either that it was a wise decision to pour $70m of development funds into it, or that it represents an asset for Invensys in its present form. Simply that, at the current state of play, it arguably represents one of, if not the, most attractive parts to be extracted from the rubble that is now Invensys.
Wednesday, November 19, 2003
"Industry Analyst" (weblog below about Archestera) should seek a new career. Utter garbage. There is no dramatic new value in Archestra over something like DeltaV or IA for that matter. If there was, why hasn't Foxboro embraced it full force for a next generation IA? This is not like 1990 when Wonderware brought out InTouch and with it, 2-5X productivity improvements in application development. Archestra isn't even close. The people on the Archestra team are passionate and hard working, but are building something for which there is no point or demand.
Maybe Joe Cowan, who sold a bill of goods to Rick H. and crew regarding Archestra (then unceremoniously left to sell off EXE), would try to buy it for a pittance and milk it.
Wednesday, Nov. 18, 2003 - from an Invensys observer:
Surely this Invensys saga can't go on much longer. Interestingly, you can see Haythornthwaite presenting/defending the half year figures if you register at www.cantos.com (it's free) where Foxboro/Invensys Process employees will be interested to learn from the horse's mouth that a further round of 'productivity improvements' is in the offing.
Incidentally you might note another interesting fact, for a company which purports to see its future primarily in process automation. Judging by the brief biographies on the Invensys web site, not a single member of the board has previous experience in the automation industry. And, of the executive committee, only four - Quinn, Mulvey, Siler and Whalen - appear to have experience with companies with interests in automation, and of those only one, possibly two, actually in those parts of those companies actually in automation.
Wednesday, Nov. 18, 2003 - from an industry analyst:
I'd bet on ArchestrA if it could be extracted from Invensys. There's a certain irony, it seems to me, in the fact that the rise of Siebe in the '90s was based on its acquisition of Foxboro at the time when all the hard work and money had been invested, leaving it to reap the benefits. Its quite conceivable that the same could happen again if someone could get their hands on ArchestrA, free of the remainder of Invensys.
Tuesday, Nov. 17, 2003:
UK Guardian - Sunday Nov. 16 2003 (extracts here):
Everyone knows that Rick Haythornthwaite would relish being taken out by a rival such as Siemens of Germany. And as long as the price is right, so would the shareholders - they have been saying as much for years. But there are no takers because the company is still laden with debt.
Haythornthwaite, meanwhile, has gone from hero to a zero since he joined in 2001. His reputation was built after he sold Blue Circle to Lafarge for a stonking price. But he is finding it difficult to turn around the fortunes of this dysfunctional firm. Some shareholders are talking about ditching him, but changing the captain at Invensys never seems to make the slightest difference.
Monday, November 17, 2003 - In response to the question regarding the disposal of Climate Controls and Emerson Electric.
Emerson is a well run company with a quality, well grounded management team. Recent statements from the CEO, clearly indicate they may make several "small" acquisitions.
Climate Controls is likely to follow the same path as Meters. Existing management will carefully manipulate the process, enabling them to own a piece of the company. London (Invensys House) would disagree with this opinion, stating the sale is being conducted by JP Morgan, and existing management will not be involved in the decision. Before you swallow that pill, remember: JP Morgan receives their fee regardless of who the buyer may be. Oh, and let's not forget this is the same JP Morgan heavily involved in the Enron debacle.
Most likely, side deals have been cut with Emerson for a few of the pieces, non-core to Climate's going-forward strategy.
But there is no way Invensys plc will allow the Climate business to split apart "before" the sale due the negative impact on the balance sheet.
Current Climate Controls management have stated openly and repeatedly they intend to buy the business. That's right, "current management", the same group responsible for the situation today.
It is very doubtful that Rick Haythornthwaite sees what is happening to him and the company. The victims are once again the employees, customers and shareholders.
Monday, November 17, 2003 - on disposals of Climate Controls and Appliance Controls:
Does anyone think there is much likelihood of a trade buyer on either of these businesses? Seems to me private equity finance is a more likely option. Emerson has been mentioned a number of times, but are there smaller companies in the frame? And, is Climate controls more likely to go in bits and pieces, it being, after all, a conglomeration of various businesses anyway? Interested to hear anyone's thoughts....
Friday, November 14, 2003 - from a long-time Invensys/Yurko observer:
Allen Yurko is a very sharp man who was over his head, and had a very dangerous boss in Lord Marshall who ran several companies into bankruptcy. He seems to have done well when he had the Climate Controls companies before. Who knows, maybe he can really do well if he gets them and learns from his mistakes.
Friday, November 14, 2003 - from an ex-employee of one of the many Invensys companies that have been sold off over the years, regarding post (Thursday, Nov. 13 2003) on the failure to transfer pensions after 18 months:
I stopped paying into the Invensys pension scheme (UK) in 1999, requested a transfer, and am still fighting for it to happen. The scheme is in a bad way judging by the details in the interim results. Anyone know what the legal situation is if this company goes bust? It has been selling off parts of its business for years to pay off debt and will soon have nothing left!
Friday, November 14, 2003 - responding to the previous weblog about Joe Cowan re-appearing:
Yuk! The Jow Cowan was no use to anyone - including himself!
Friday, November 14, 2003
Don't be surprised to see Joe Cowan (former Wonderware CEO), who just sold EXE to SSA, re-appear either in Invensys or to buy some part(s) of it.
Friday, November 14, 2003 - from an Emerson insider, responding to the plea for Emerson to buy Invensys CC:
I doubt it. Yurko used to run these units.
Friday, November 14, 2003 - From an Invensys blogger:
Note: I did send this same log in the Emerson blog, just wondering what insiders would think from both ends of the spectrum.
Does Emerson have an interest in ICC (specifically, the "Barber-Colman /Robertshaw/ Wonderware" of ICC Americas)?
In other words, from ICC to Emerson: "Help!, Save us from the Yurkos of the world!!"
Realistically, I see that the product fit would be good with Emerson, I guess Emerson would be wondering, however, if it would be worth the time having to institute such a large scale purge of deadwood within the organization in order to restore profitability to ICC.
Friday, November 14, 2003
History has not been kind to North American companies acquired by Siemens. Witness the Moore debacle. Maybe there will be good deals on office space in Orange County, CA. soon....
Thursday, November 13, 2003 - extract from JimPinto.com eNews, 13 Nov. 2003:
Invensys expectations slide
After failing to revive the ailing company, Rick Haythornthwaite insisted that he could raise £2.4 to £3 bn from selling off some of the best-performing Invensys companies. Now he has reduced the expectation to £1.8 bn. Ouch!
The company disposal program was supposed to have paid off bank debt of about £1.6 bn, leaving some surplus to turn around and grow what was left, making it a winner. But, now that surplus has dwindled, and profits are dwindling too. And Invensys is supposed to be moving its HQ to the US. And Rick Haythornthwaite is supposed to be exiting because he doesn't wish to move.
So, who will be running this once great company?
Well, surprise, surprise! Allen Yurko appears to be coming back; but not to run the Invensys he destroyed. Yurko is apparently maneuvering to buy some of the Invensys pieces.
Thursday, November 13, 2003
The drop in operating profit despite an increase in sales is very disheartening. They have made significant cuts in personnel expenses within the PM group. One would have thought that this alone would have increased profits without any increase in sales. Apparently, the increase in sales is due to taking on projects that lose money. This is not a good sign.
Thursday, November 13, 2003
I should hope that corporate costs have reduced to one third, given that two thirds of the company has been moved to the development division. Sounds like the old shell and pea game to me!
Thursday, November 13, 2003
So the IT staff are returning to Invensys from IBM. 18 months after the deal was made their pensions still have not been block transfered. Would it be cynical to think that this is because there was no cash in the pot?
Thursday, November 13, 2003 - from a UK employee:
What does the comment 'normalising of supplier payments' as set out in the press release mean? Paying them perhaps?
A reason for the fall in corporate costs could be that they have stopped employing external consultants to do powerpoint presentations.
Thursday, November 13, 2003 - from a loyal, but frustrated, employee:
Does "Corporate costs reduced by one third to £31m" mean that the money spent by senior management on choosing the best Business Class flights/restaurants/ hotels/ etc on their frequent trips has been brought to task? Or, perhaps it relates more to cutting (productive/experienced) heads !
Thursday, November 13, 2003
UK Financial Times - Invensys reduces expectations on disposals
Thursday, November 13, 2003
Interesting entry on the balance sheet today 'transition costs' - isn't that just restructuring costs by another name? And aren't restructuring costs just another way of saying that the management is pissing money up the wall?
Monday, November 10, 2003 - from an APV employee:
Looking for any news regarding the future of APV. Is there any chance that an outside group is seriously interested? Or, are we stuck with Invensys? One would hope the core APV products still have some value.
Monday, November 10, 2003 - in response to the Nov. 8 weblog question (current ICC setup, and hope for the future):
The only chance for this group is for an industry buyer to purchase the businesses and quickly exit the current senior managers. I would suggest the auditors use the previous comments in this forum as their due dilegence list. It will be hard to disprove any of the information logged by employees that care about the company.
The buyer will most likely involve an investment firm that is pre-arranged by the current senior managers. As yo can see by visiting their website, the re-branding effort has started. The business has started to distance itself from Invensys, now being referred to as "Climate Controls", new logo included. Why would anyone start a rebranding effort unless they were certain of the outcome?
It has been suggested that revenues for the first half were intentionally depressed to drive down the earnings, resulting in a lower price for the acquisition group, which coincindently will involve the current senior management staff.
The fox is guarding the henhouse and Rick H. has fallen asleep at the wheel.
Monday, November 10, 2003 - UK vs. US Products:
Politics and stubbornness have led to the push of UK products to the US market. I have written this observation to Rick Haythornthwaite - and he responded that internal and external experts have made him decide that the UK-products are far superior than the US products. Anyone who knows the products, knows the truth. I believe that just being closer to the decision-making (CC Europe is based in the UK) has caused this decision.
I need everbody to know that we (Europe, Mainland) have no problems applying US products: There's no problem at all with needs, units, engineering and philosophy. You can drive a US car in Europe without any problem, whilst driving a UK car could be disastrous.....
Saturday, November 8, 2003 - Re: Allen Yurko's return:
I just don't get it! Do the people bankrolling this appliance takeover of ICC WANT it to fail? Or has Yurko convinced them somehow that the destruction of Siebe was not his fault?
My experience with ths ICC while under Y has been the constant attempt of the European side of ICC to continue to try to push ICC europe product into the Americas market. This has been met with little or no success for various reasons, the chief being that, simply, there is a mismatch in needs, units, engineering philosophy in the USA that doesnt equate in the European products. Its like if US automakers tried to push cars into europe with the steering wheel on the wrong side (for european driving), or only with speedometers showing mph instead of kph.
For some reason, few European companies succeed in pushing product into the US market through acquisition of US companies. A few exceptions I note would be ABB, Siemens, and Danfoss. (Anyone know of any others?)
Q: What do you make of the current setup of ICC, and what do you see as it's best hope for the future?
Saturday, November 08, 2003 - re: Yurko's visits:
The previous weblog seemed to miss an important point. If Yurko is looking at the Appliance Controls group, he would not have any reason to be visitng the Rockford plant. The IBS group located in Rockford is being sold with the climate controls division. These are seperate groups from Appliance which is likely to be gone within the week.
Friday, November 7, 2003 - reply to the November 7 weblog about the "Yurko Tours":
When you want to buy a car (new or used) you kick the tires, right? Well, the fun team visited 2 Eastern European plants on November 6th: Trnava facility in the morning (Slovaquia, specialized into full electronic appliance boards production) and Sternberk facility in the afternoon (Czech Republic, electromechanical controls for appliance). John Santantoniou (Managing Director, Appliance Europe) was also in the tour. This is supposed to be secret, because John S. would like employees in Italy, France and Germany to believe they will keep some jobs.
Unfortunately for some, Slovaquia will produce all electronic products, while Czech will produce all electromechanical ones. The end is set for the others, and 2004 will be bad year for them.
As for the US appliance business: all is in progress in China. The Supply Chain VP discovered the China wonderland for the first time a few weeks ago. He is convinced that everything should be made here, and so he is stressing to all purchasing people around the world to subcontract anything and everything in China.
Now, about what is going on with Allen Yucky Yurko. Here (high management in Europe) we have heard that he has signed a contract with these bankers to assess the appliance business, and to help in developing the new global business plan - if they win the bid (and it seems they are close to). Remember, before causing the crash as the head of Siebe/Invensys, he was supposed to have managed Robertshaw Long Beach quite successfully.
And now the final touch: guess who will then be the head of this brand new mess, with bankers support? The end of Invensys pain is close for the Appliance world wide business! It's strange - I can't believe it will be better for Appliance after Yurko's return!
Stay e-tuned! It seems that Jimpinto.com is the best Invensys info-channel. Just review the last 6 months weblogs and compare them with the poor and late internal announcements. Then cry or laugh!
Friday, November 7, 2003 - news is coming in that Allen Yurko is visiting several Invensys facilities:
Tuesday, November 4, 2003 - Latest information from the UK Financial Times:
"Invensys was one of the best FTSE 250 performers, rising 1.5p to 31.5p on speculation that the indebted automation and controls group will announce the sale for $850m of its applications controls arm alongside next Thursday's interim figures. Market gossips believe the sale of the applications division will be followed by the disposal of another business later this month."
Does anyone know what division is referred to as "applications division"?
Tuesday, November 4, 2003
The UK Guardian has reported that there is speculation that the Invensys automation and controls group will announce the sale for $850m of its applications controls arm, alongside next Thursday's interim figures. Does anyone know if Climate Controls is a part of this group?
Tuesday, November 4, 2003 - Appliance Europe, management kicked twice by French Justice!
Lawsuits are not just in the US - the first judgement was from the French courts against Invensys!
Here is the history: early in summer 2003, the local management of Invensys Appliance in Thyez, France wanted to lay off 9 employees, from more than 400, for the saving. The procedure required by French regulations was sabotaged by local managers, especially the local HR Mgr. The local council, with support from unions and employees, decided to launch a prosecution. 150 employees (operators, technicians, engineers, supervisors) went to the local court (Bonneville city) on July 4th, 2003. The judgement was issued on July 11th, 2003: Order was given to suspend the dismissals and fines were marked against Invensys.
Then, once again, the local management decided to attack the Workís Council at the second Court (Chambery city). Again, many employees (operators, technicians, engineers, supervisors) went to the second court, while others were striking at the facilityÖ The second judgement was issued today( November 4th, 2003): first judgement is fully confirmed and other fines were marked against Invensys!
Thursday, October 30, 2003
I have been informed by an ICC Europe Italian company (now a supplier) that they and another (Controlli & Elliwel) have been grouped as a new legal company away from the rest of ICCE (presumably in readiness for a breakup/ sell off of the division).
The amateur leadership closed down my employing company in UK and cost me my career (which was pretty decent up to the BTR & Siebe merger/ Invensys farce). I can only hope that the years of share saving will one day pay off. Those at the middle/top management did very well for themselves, while at ground level we were treated like dogs!
Thursday, October 30, 2003
So - how close do you think we are to an ICC buyout? Also, why isn't Emerson on the list of potentials? I would think that ICC (Americas, at least) would be a good fit for Emerson. And they would be able to buy it realatively "on the cheap".
Although Schneider is still listed as a front-runner for buyout, I still dont see a good fit with them. My feelings are that they are just looking for more market presence in the US (a short-sighted move, if true).
What do you feel is the benefit to ICC if the buyout is an investment group (rumour is that A. Yurko may be part of a group?? - if that were true, how bizarre a case that would be!!! ) - I still feel that ICC's best chance at success would be through UT or Emerson.
Wednesday, October 29, 2003 - from an ex-employee:
When I first joined this organization (ICC North America) I thought this was a complete corporation. As time went on I noticed very bad management and communication - starting from the top (RICK H) down to the person that was my boss. I attended meeting after meeting, hearing the Invensys commanders talk about having us go to the next level, help the organization by working harder, doing more, assuming more responsibility, etc. I would hear the people in charge BS their way in and out of conversations just to avoid the real issues.
There are great people working for Invensys - I enjoyed working with them. It's the management that is in need of an overhual!
Friday, October 24, 2003 - re: Massachusetts temporary employees:
I didn't know there was a lawsuit, but Foxboro just made a few long term contract employees become permanent employees ... at reduced pay.
Friday, October 24, 2003 - about the lawsuit:
Any legal action in Massachusetts in regards to "Temp" workers would not really matter in California which has it's own laws. But California is much more protective of it's workforce than any other state. Since the policy is obviously being ignored as Invensys always does, you might be able to claim breach of contract since California defines every employment relationship as a contract.
Friday, October 24, 2003
Does anyone know the result of the lawsuit in Massachusetts in regards to temporary employees? I have been a temp for Invensys 3 years now in California, despite being told I would be hired 2 years ago. The company policy states after 1400 hours they must either hire me or get rid of me. Neither has happened. I am being deprived of my benefits, etc. My estimate is Invensys owes me several thousand dollars due to me having to pay for my own health, having no paid time off, no paid holidays, the lost of 401k contributions etc. I'm looking for insight on this.
Thursday, October 23, 2003
The metering business sale (at lower than expected price) might suggest that Wonderware will also go for less than the asking price as well (or at least that Invensys will be willing to negotiate). The timing may be accelerated now, as a result of the lower price for the metering systems business, as Wonderware's value is not likely to increase, but will likely wane over time.
Thursday, October 23, 2003
The price achieved for the Water Meter business damages Haythornthwaite's reputation as a super salesman. This is the first time the share price has actually fallen following a disposal.
Thursday, October 23, 2003 - from Financial Times (UK):
Invensys has announced the sale of its metering business to IMS Meters, a private equity-backed US buyer, for $650m (£388m). This is two-thirds of the target price - analysts had valued the unit at up to £600m. The Invensys metering business reported sales of £329 million and operating profit of £44 million for the year ended March 31, 2003. Shares in Invensys fell to 30p on the news.
The amount raised helps tackle Invensys debts - which exceed £1.6bn despite having already raised £1.8bn from disposals. Rick Haythornthwaite said: "The price obtained for this, the first of our four larger businesses for disposal, was at the lower end of estimates. Nevertheless, we are continuing to make progress in dealing with our liabilities."
Thursday, October 23, 2003
Invensys Water Metering has been sold but the management staff is intact. It will be interesting to see if things change without Rick Haythorn-weight calling the shots...
Wednesday, October 22, 2003
Invensys Metering Systems is sold for $650 million US$.
Tuesday, October 21, 2003
ICC staff getting ready for a transition as early as mid November. Grapevine has it that system houses are being developed for the future business and other commitments.
Monday, October 20, 2003 - IT'S THE CUSTOMER STUPID...
The world has changed and it's no longer about sales & marketing as usual. It's about true customer relationships, satisfaction, service and understanding and the supporting infrastructure, mentalities and attitudes which allow this to take place.
Monday, October 20, 2003
A rumour today is that Allen Yurko is planning a management buy-out of part of the Invensys disposal group. Not sure how that would go down with the city or the employees....
Sunday, October 19, 2003
I wonder how Rick Haythornthwaite and his VPs are feeling now? The recent trading update DOES NOT vindicate their strategy for retaining the PM division. With all their effort, investment and attention going into PMD, they have had little success.
Haythornthwaite's only legacy now will be to beat everyone's expectations of what he can get for the businesses that are being sold - his speciality. He won't be remembered for rebuilding Invensys. To be fair, the odds were against him; but with the exception of taking the many VP's to task, he has probably done all he could.
So was it odd or was it planned that Rick H decided to retain the Rail Systems business with the big London Underground order in tow. His "plan" may have been as simple as 1) encourage the relocation of the head-office to the US (so he doesn't have to go), 2) hand over control of PMD to someone else, and 3) leave himself as head of Rail Systems, that small standalone operation fortunately based where he wants to be.
Friday, October 17, 2003
Extracts from Wall STreet Journal article:
With Invensys now well into a fourth - or is it the fifth? - round of disposals, the general consensus seems to be that despite all the hard work and effort this company may not exist at all within a couple of years. Not that Invensys management won't succeed in turning the company round - it's just it will be hard for the company to independent for long.
And while Invensys could probably make it, the trouble is that by then it just won't have enough clout or funds for business investment. Instead, the most likely outcome is that Invensys will end up being swallowed by the likes of Siemens (SI), Emerson (EMR), Honeywell (HON) or even General Electric (GE) at a knocked-down price.
Thursday, October 16, 2003
TAC may be a "global competitor", but in the US market, they are still insignificant - as far as climate controls are concerned. TAC and CSI combined have very little portion of the US control market, being considered Tier 3 (Johnson, Andover, Honeywell, Siemens, Invensys (Barber-Colman and Trane being considered Tier 1, Automated Logic, Alerton/Novar, Delta, KMDigital being Tier 2, etc.). Schneider acquiring would not be of much help for Invensys - Schneider seems to be going down the same acquisition road that got Invensys into their mess in the first place.
What I see of most value for ICC Americas would be to be either a) spun off into an indepedent entity, or acquired by one of 2 other candidates: United Technologies or Emerson. Either of these companies could benefit from the ICC Americas without much duplication of product.
Wednesday, October 15, 2003
AFter working hard to strengthen the name Invensys, now ICC will be sold to an unknown. ICCE (England) will use the old name Satchwell, but for ICC America it is impossible to go back to Barber Coleman and Robertshaw.
This all thanks to English mangement, replacing worldwide US managers for UK managers, with the result of selling English products, instead of looking for the best solutions for customers. This also happened Siemens. Putting products together in one company always results in headaches. In both cases, there was no investment in development of new products.
I hope that both (ICC UK and ICC USA) become in depended as they were in 1998. Also, that the buyers will look carefully at which companies are using USA products, even in Europe.
Wednesday, October 15, 2003
Who is TAC? Maybe that's why Schneider might want Invensys?
JimPinto Note : In June 2003, Schneider acquired Swedenís TAC, a major player in the global building automation and control market. Regional headquarters for TAC Americas is located in Dallas.
Wednesday, October 15, 2003 - re. ICC sale:
The people at ICC think that the buyer will be an investment company rather than a competitor. They think it will happen before the end of calendar year 2003.
Wednesday, October 15, 2003 - Re: Schneider purchacing ICC:
I still don't understand why Schneider would be interested in ICC - after purchacing TAC, why bring yet another control system into the fold? Several other companies have gone through the process of trying to grab multiple vendors under one umbrella, with very little sucess. Siemens acquired Staefa and the Powers control line, those lines still compete with each other and are still not integrated to one another. Johnson Controls has had limited sucess with its acquisition of ESUSA. Invensys, when it was Siebe, acquired the Barber-Colman and Robertshaw lines; Robertshaw digital controls are scheduled for phaseout after years of duplication ant intercompeting with the Barber-Colman line. TAC itself acquired CSI; CSI is rumored for phaseout. Lesson semms to be that getting more than one vendor far a specific niche does not pay off.
As far as GE - didnt they just pay a sizeable sum for Amersham? Or are their pockets still deep enough?
Tuesday, October 14, 2003
There have been statements made that would tend to indicate the probable sale of Triconex. Awaiting more news. Hopefully the sale occurs before more core technical expertise departs.
Tuesday, October 14, 2003
Schneider reported to be the front runner to buy Invensys Climate Controls. They recently bought TACAmerica, and have deep-pockets enough to add another biggie into the Schneider portfolio. GE has also been looking...
Monday, October 13, 2003 - Invensys to net £550m with US sale
Invensys is about to announce that US-based Metering Systems has been sold for £550m. A trading update this week will confirm that negotiations are at an advanced stage. This will be the biggest Invensys sale so far.
Danaher, which has a metering business based in Washington DC, is believed to be in the running; but sources are not ruling out a VC-backed management buyout. Stay tuned.
Monday, October 13, 2003 - to the person who wants a forum:
Since you are in a IT position why dont you just create a chat area of your own? You should know how to do it since you are with IT, And by the way why dont you post your name since you are so intrested in everyone elses?
Monday, October 13, 2003
This is a response to whether IT should be a whole group within the Invensys structure, or go back to individual business units. Both have their good and bad points. With the Group IT plan, it appears that there would be a smaller budget for the group as a whole to work with, relying more on individual budgets of other "supported" groups. The unity part is good, but trying to get other departments to spend their budget money on IT initiatives has been difficult in the past and I do not see how that will change. Maybe I read into it the wrong way, but that is what my past and present experience has told me.
On the other hand going back to individual business units may give you more control as far as implementing "network" changes for the good of the company/individual units; it does lack the communication, standards, and policy that the Invensys network needs to be successful. Also the reporting structure of an IT department under Finance or any other department is not a good thing. IT should have a direct interface with upper management.
I guess "strength in numbers"; go with the Group IT structure.
Sunday, October 12, 2003 - responding to the comment "ridiculous" (previous post):
What is so ridiculous about wanting a forum to express one's views? Why didn't you post your name? Could it be that you are in the management chain trying desperatly to pull the wool over IT's eyes again? You are probably trying to make sure you have adequate coverage while you determine which IT people will be laid off?
My advice to any IT people contemplating which type of organisation IT which they would like to belong. Stay with IBM if at all possible. If not, look outside Invensys. Your future with Invensys is bleak.
Friday, October 10, 2003- re. Post about creating an IT forum:
This is ridiculous. How about you all just get to work supporting the networks, PCs, and software. There is no time or money to waste on navel contemplation.
Friday, October 10, 2003 - To the IT staffer returning to Invensys:
A piece of well-intended advice...you must be pragmatic and realize that this is, in all likelihood, a VERY temporary job opportunity. Invensys will continue to be dismantled and sold off, and ultimately, no long-term IT positions will exist as they will likely be handled by the acquirer's IT organisation. I'd be looking for other work in parallel with your return to Invensys. And to the Wonderware people, I'd start learning German.
Thursday, October 9, 2003
I am part of the outsourced Invensys I.T. staff that is being transferred back. Steve Hassell, Invensys CIO, has just presented to us his vision of a group IT department that operates like a service provider. Those returning to PMD will be organised according to this model, but the rest of Invensys will have traditional structures. However at the forthcoming Management Forum there is a last, last opportunity to change course. I think the managers and directors need to know about the willingness of the returning staff to buy into the new scheme. It simply is not going to work without commitment at every level. But, there appears to be no forum where we can have an open, honest discussion about the future IT organisation.
Is the JimPInto.com weblog able to help us? Could this site provide an independent discussion forum?
The question I want my fellow Invensys IT-ers to answer is: "Given the choice, which of two structures would you prefer to join and why?" We would, of course, need quick replies - if this is to be of value to those going to the Management Forum.
Monday, October 6, 2003
Awaiting news on the sale of Invensys Metering Systems. There were 3 active suitors: Danaher, the investment group that owns the Mueller Company, and a third investment group.
Friday, October 3, 2003 - re. Invensys moving to Boston:
It makes sense. Actually, it will be Foxboro, MA. but that's a small detail. Barrie Stephens called the Foxboro Co. the "jewel in the Siebe crown" when he bought the company in 1990. It has always been the favorite, despite over promising and under delivering for 13 years.
Friday, October 3, 2003
I can well imagine that Invensys would re-locate to Boston - the old Marcam business had it's worldwide HQ there the building is absolutely huge and almost comletely deserted. Marcam is now Invensys Production Solutions.
After the Haythorn weight has departed, who will be the new CEO?
The board (now buoyed by the booting of Lord Marshall) may look
around for a tough US manager, like David Cote of Honeywell. Or,
perhaps they already have someone in mind - someone who has insisted
that the company must be moved before he joins. Or, perhaps the new
CEO is already in tow - how about Leo Quinn?
Tuesday, September 30, 2003- Re: Schneider Electric-
The problem I see with Schneider is, as pointed out, that they have already purchaced TAC, which is already made up of 2 product lines: TAC and CSI. Adding Invensys I/A to this would result in 3 disparate product lines, with IFO's for all 3 compteing against one another. Certainly, some aspect of Invensys would complement what Schneider already has (valve and actuator lines, and pneumatics), but the rest would result in redundancy. On the other hand, TAC and CSI have a relatively small slice of the pie in the American market, whereas Invensys has a large US market presence.
Another possibility would be the other climate controls vendors. Any thoughts on whether Johnson Controls, American Standard, and the like would have the $$ to take ICS Americas? This is contrary to my idea, as this would (again) cause redundant and inter-competing systems within one company, but if Scneider is not concerned with this prospect, then neither would the other companies. Certainly JCI has the profitability and $$ to accomplish such a purchace, but would they have an interest?
Monday, September 29, 2003 - re: Rick Haythornthwaite exit:
The possibility of Rick H. leaving can't hurt, but is it soon enough? And will his possible departure lead to some of the losers leaving as well. After all we have had Enron rejects and others who have succeeded in chasing away some of the brightest engineers with policies that serve to divide the employees rather than build the teamwork neccesary for success.
Monday, September 29, 2003
Any more news on whether the Metering Systems group has been sold? The Metering Systems people have been praying for a quick sale. There is much work to do to restore the product lines within this group to their former dominant postions in the market, but hope is in the air....
Invensys move to Boston - Haythornthwaite may quit
Invensys HQ at Londonís Victoria is already seeing an exodus of staff, with between 5 and 20 a month leaving.
Monday, September 29, 2003 - RE: previous weblog - the future of Invensys Climate Controls:
What about Schneider Electric? They recently bought TAC (including the former CSI), and it seems that Invensys Climate Controls would strengthen their strategy. Henri Lachmann, Chairman and CEO of Schneider Electric commented: "This acquisition (TAC) immediately gives us a major position in a growth area related to our business, as defined in our strategy. The global building automation and control markets are at the crossroads of Schneider Electricís two core competencies: electrical distribution and automation. The strategic fit with TAC is obvious."
Monday, September 29, 2003
What is the future of Invensys Climate Controls? I don't see any likelyhood of Siemens having an interest (what would they want with all of the redundancy that would come about from such a purchace). GE - a lot of ex-GE managers have stepped in recently (?) - but how could climate controls fit into GE? Emerson - probably the likelier company, do they have the money to absorb Invensys (not the purchace, but the effort at reorganizing afterwards, which would cost much more)? Danfoss, same argument as GE, plus the effort needed in reorganizing ICC would be not as attractive for this company.
Any others, or am I missing the mark?
Sunday, September 28, 2003 - Re: the Lawsuit mentioned earlier:
I am not the one who has filed the lawsuit, but it was filed by a co-worker so I am somewhat familiar with it.
First off all I don't want to see my company sold off or damaged to a level that makes it nearly impossible to recover. But, I also can't accept the management team and the total disregard by Human Resources to what is ethically correct business behavior.
This lawsuit will devastate the company unless someone takes responsibility and puts an end to it. This goes way beyond a simple disagreement over a review, and is starting to involve State and Federal authorities. That Engineer had notified Rick Haythornthwaite 2 weeks ago about this and still nothing happens. I don't know if it is simple arrogance that leads management to ignore the obvious.
I have personally seen the written opinions from the California Industrial Welfare Comission that respond to questions made by that Engineer, If a judge agrees with those opinions (and in almost all cases they do) Invensys is in serious trouble if those charges are indeed filed, If management would come back to earth, they would be paying him off and sending him on his way.
Sunday, September 28, 2003- What is going on in Invensys Appliance Europe?
The Plant Mgr of main facility in Italy (Belluno) resigned, highly desgusted by the dark future of this poor division.
Meanwhile Lee Powel (Appliance & Controls VP world wide) went in our European H.Q. for some tough discussion with local "supposed to be" managers. Lee can't understand why US market drive almost 70 % of this business and rest of world only poor 30% left. He is also upset about purchasing results outside U.S.
As a result, some guys have been "invited to leave" with some respectable redundancy packages. Head of Marketing (Ken Fox) left and other European Managers are under negotiations to leave, not only with respectable package, but also with fancy consultant contracts signed with Invensys in order to preserve their rights to retirements (they still have some quarters taxes missing regarding local retirements funds). The eastern experiences of Appliance Europe (Slovaquia, Czech)are dedicated to sink soon as China offers much better opportunities now.
Most of things posted here on these weblogs few month ago about this division have happened.
Background to the Invensys IBM IT "partnership" relationship
Allen Yurko's "Project Unity", goes back to July 2001. When Yurko
was booted, and Haythornthwaite arrived, several senior Managers
had the clear opportunity to reverse the IBM IT decision.
Peter Tompkins of Eurotherm is directly responsible for the serious
damage done to the good IT people at Eurotherm, and Action Instruments.
He could have been a hero to his own people. Instead, he chickened out.
This past week, after damages that amount to hundreds of millions of
dollars over two years, the IBM deal was finally cancelled.
Friday, September 26, 2003
I understand that the metering division has finally been sold. They have great product and people. Hopefully, they can now prosper, having shaken off the chronic disease called Invensys.
Friday, September 26, 2003 - re. Speeding up the fall of the California branch of the Invensys empire via legal action i.e. labor law suit:
The Romans had a punishment called "decimation" where one out of every ten (10%) soldiers in a legion that disobeyed orders or otherwise displeased was terminated. Is this Invensys legal action (mentioned in the previous posting) based on the California Invensys management philosophy of giving the bottom 10% of the employees (chosen at random) lousy performance reviews? The thinking behind California Invensys implementing such a morale boosting plan must have been truly Dilbertesque. Perhaps Rick plays the fiddle.
Thursday, September 25, 2003 - more on the IBM project, and other Invensys losses.
Remember the shell game? You know, where you pay to guess under which shell the pea is? Well, this has been the Invensys coporate strategy that we have all been trying to figure out. Divisions are folded into other divisions only to be extracted and inserted into another, then extracted as a standalone. Countless times this has been done to countless divisions. Employee's wonder what they will be called next week and customers wonder with whom they will be doing business with. At the same time these divisions are pared down, monies pulled, then folded into another division again and again until there is no "Pea" only a shell.
We complain about the "millions spent" when in fact it numbers into the hundreds of millions. Remember these?
Hundreds of millions were lost on this IBM contract. What did they have to give up to cancel? Why are they in such a precarious state that they "HAD" to cancel? They surely didn't cancel on a whim. And you can bet your last dollar that IBM protected themselves while they extracted themselves from the picture.
Listen to all the inside stories of the various divisions of Invensys, the decline in every aspect of their business, product research, developement, personel, brain trust, quality control. And the recent shift of Wonderware and others to the new project in India. Where is it all going to end? Indeed there is nothing that is coming out of Invensys that sounds good, or has merit.
Wednesday, September 24, 2003 - from an Invensys employee:
I see so many negative statements; unfortunately, they are true. The stockholders and investors need to dump the management who are misleading them. For example, the company bleeds the only business units that make money, and then deny them the R&D funds that are needed to continue to innovate and compete.
The management, all the way to the top, has been aware of a lawsuit that is being filed by an engineer at a sister company. This has been going on for months. Because of managements arrogance, they have pretended that it will go away, rather than find a solution to the problem. As a result, the company has allowed this engineer to gather even more evidence and build a level of support that is frightening. I for one have stayed in the background. I saw some of the evidence that will be presented, and it does not look good at all for Invensys. California is very aggressive in enforcing it's labor laws.
Wednesday, September 24, 2003 - re: IBM/Invensys cancelled relaytionship:
It it frightening to know that all the Information that has been given to Invensys HR concerning the IBM/Invensys business relationship, is what was stated in CEO Direct on 18 Sep. 2003. There is obviosly no masterplan for the reverse transition of about 600+ IBM employees. Invensys Management really must improve the information level if they want motivated and positive IT employees back into their business.
Wednesday, September 24, 2003
I notice in the Invensys reply to the purported reduction in the salary of IT staff that a very carefully parsed "base salary" non-reduction expression is used. In the post Clinton era, perhaps I am too analytical.
Tuesday, September 23, 2003
In the beginning of 2000 things were good. Right? Maybe real good. The NASDAQ and DJIA were at an all time high. Our portfolios and retirement funds were doing exceptionally well. We had good paying jobs, nice houses, new cars and money in our pockets. 1999 was a defining year in this country. It was the year of the "Y2K bug", the year of "the Lewinsky", the year of unprecedented economic growth and the year of the impeachment among others. Company presidents were looking out for our jobs, fund managers were planning for our retirement and the president was taking care of the country. Right? Every thing was good. Better than good.
Wow, doesn't that seem so long ago? Now things really are just so bad. Right? But fortunately we have inexperienced fund managers, corrupt company executives and this shameful new president to blame. Now we are being asked to work longer hours for less pay without any job security. This is terrible. How much worse can things get? Not much. Right?
Well I guess maybe I'm different than most. I never invested my money in the stock market. I was never worth $8 million dollars (on paper). I just didn't trust the market. It didn't make any sense. It wasn't rational. I never bought into President Clinton's "new" economy. I didn't buy a grand new house, a couple of SUVs and country club membership. This so called "new" economy didn't make sense. It wasn't rational. And I most defintely didn't buy into the marketing hype in the industrial automation segment. Sure it looked like the Y2K syndrome and "new" economy was going to drive growth but all the reasoning just didn't make sense to me. It wasn't rational. And besides, this is where I make my living. I sell Wonderware. But I was certain that I needed a strategy that made sense to me. And fortunately, I came up with one that has enabled me to do very well in this ìterribleî time.
So please stop complaining. Stop whining. Yes things aren't as good as they could be. Yes some inept and corrupt managers, executives, law makers and even a president may be to blame. But not completely to blame. We are all to blame for what has happened. Did you question the fund managers? Did you question the company executives? Did you question the president? Did you gather all the information that you could, analyze it and come to your own decision or did you let someone else do that for you? Have you taken it upon yourself to find out how you can add the most value to your company?
If you are unhappy, disgruntled, disenfranchised? Then leave. Do something else. It's not doing you, the company or anyone else any good. For the people that are afraid to leave for fear of not finding another job - what does that tell you? You have a job. Many do not. Maybe it's not the perfect job. Maybe everything isn't going exactly how you would like it to but what are you doing to change that? How about the thousands of people working hard to sell, deploy and develop Wonderware-based solutions? These are the people that pay your salary. These are the ones that keep the company going. These are the ones that have blind faith in the people of Wonderware to support them. And if we can't sell the software, well, then we don't get paid. You can make the best software in the world, but unless your name is Microsoft it is not going to sell itself.
So let's just remember to learn from history and to realize that "Things aren't always as good as they seem and things aren't always as bad as they appear." Keep your head up, your mind sharp, and commit your energy to improving who and what you are. Iím certain that there will be many more bad decisions made by corporate executives but in the end the success of Wonderware rest solely in the hands of all of us. The rest we have no control over.
Tuesday, September 23, 2003 - from Chris Billimore [chris.billimore@invensys.com] Transition Project Manager, responding to the September 22nd entry.
As project manager for the IT transition, I'm very sorry that you have somehow been misled into believing that Invensys plans to offer reduced salaries to those employees transferring from IBM to Invensys. There is no such plan - the intention is absolutely not to bring people back at below their current base salaries.
Furthermore, both IBM and Invensys went to great lengths to ensure that the IBM staff affected by the termination of the contract with IBM received notification of this decision at the earliest possible opportunity - namely Thursday of last week. Indeed, in most cases, the IBM staff, who are clearly the most directly affected, were informed ahead of the local Invensys businesses that they serve specifically because we felt this was the right way to do it. IBM have now begun a formal consultation process with the impacted staff. Alongside this, we have created feedback mechanisms for staff (IBM and Invensys) to ask questions and raise concerns. There is also a FAQ document that will be posted on the Invensys intranet in the next 48 hours.
I am disappointed that somebody citing the importance of employee morale should see fit to publish incorrect, misleading and distracting content which only serves to unsettle employees further during what is already a potentially difficult time for them. I would encourage any employee with concerns relating to the transition to raise them with their IBM or Invensys management or directly with me.
Chris Billimore
Tuesday, September 23, 2003
I'd like to respond to the IT individual who's faced with the Hobson's choice of taking a 10% pay cut or leaving with no severance.
First of all, know that you are being asked to help pay for management's ineptitude. They make a bonehead decision, costing the company millions of dollars, but they suffer no consequences; you suffer the consequences.
Second, if I were in your shoes, I'd take what I could get and immediately start looking for another place to work. (Since they aren't worried about severance, I'd not be too worried about providing them notice.) True, the economy is not good, but there are opportunities out there; you just haven't had time to look since Monday. As soon as you can, grab one. Consider working as a contractor while looking. I made the switch and have never regretted it.
Monday, September 22, 2003
For an IT person being tossed back to Invensys from IBM it is very discouraging. We are being herded around like cattle with no regard for our situations. We are told we will ALL be offered positions with Invensys at comparable salaries (in parens they state "i.e. salary will not be reduced by more than 10%"). If you do not choose to take the offer, even if it is at a 10% reduction, you will receive no severance, since you were make an offer and it will be considered a resignation on your part.
This really does not help the morale of a group of individuals who, are as a whole, overworked (as IBM-ers we were told we should work at least 45-50 hours a week for 40 hours compensation) and under appreciated by management. We are the worker bees, even though most of us have gone on to get advanced degrees, but are not seen fit to be advanced within the organizations.
Saturday, September 20, 2003 - from an Invensys employee who noted that I do not log all negative comments, and saw my request for positive feedback:
Jim, I don't want to appear to just want to hurl negative comments at Invensys. But, when you receive a web log and it's negative please understand that this is what is facing Invensys employees. These good hard working people can only watch as their future is destroyed in front of their eyes. They have NO other outlet to voice their feelings.
At Foxboro we watch as defective instruments are shipped, just to make shipping numbers. Then when they return from the customer, the manager in charge says that he "can't hold anyone accountable" even though they work for him. Or, when an 8 cent cost savings causes 91,000 instruments to be recalled. (Ihe incompetent enngineer is STILL working here - that was once of his many screw-ups). Line managers or Supervisors - it doesn't matter who; their excuse is: "It's not my fault, I can't do anything about it."
Please don't hold your breath, if you think anyone in management will stand up, ready to support Invensys. No courage, integrity, honor, or honesty exists here. We know you are an honorable man and want to be fair - and so you want to hear the other side. But, when you get no response from management, the best thing that battles deception is just telling the truth. It will be on your side.
Saturday, September 20, 2003 - re. Invensys-IBM IT contract cancellation:
If this is true, maybe there is some hope that Rick H. is waking up to the realities of Invensys' prior mistakes. There's still a lot of wasteful garbage to clean up. When we hear that he has scuttled Invest, Six Sigma and all the other nonsense that these nincompoops have hid behind instead of doing real work, then there will be some hope for a renaissance.
Saturday, September 20, 2003 - from Frank Williams - [actionio@cox.net]
Jim, I follow your Invensys weblog - mostly out of curiosity .
Sadly, Invensys is a microcosm of today's bad corporate leadership.
Today's "leaders" are "me" types. They seek power for power and use
their position to enrich themselves, not stakeholders. CEO decisions
are predicated on how it effects their bonus Not many are principled people
- looking to contribute to their company or the industry they serve.
My view may seem too cynical which is counter to my optimistic view of people
and life. However, on this matter it's hard to point out a leader that seems to
be "successful" without later finding out that he cooked the books or took illegal
short-cuts.
Where are the true leaders today? Ones that I would point to with pride and tell
young people to emulate?
Hang in there -- with your eNews and weblogs, you are still a voice of reason, providing
a venue for people that usually take the brunt of poor and unprincipled corporate
leadership.
Friday, September 19, 2003 - Re: Invensys Cancels IBM IT Contract:
Just another example how various aspects of the business at Invensys were badly managed. Time and money wasted, efficiency suffered. These bad decisions cost the company time and money; to undo the bad decisions will cost the company more time and money again. This company has been in a perpertual change and reorganization mode, while the real business - developing new products, serving current and potential customers - gets ignored.
Friday, September 19, 2003
Today Rick H. announced that IBM-INVENSYS IT contract is cancelled. What a good move! Although it was blamed on the proposed sale of half of Invensys, I think it was a bad idea from the start. It was initiated by Old Schoolers, and Rick H. continued with it. At least now, he finally realized it is not working. Invensys IT people were moved in stages to IBM, and hardware was replaced by IBM hardware. Now some (not all ??) of these IBM employees will be brought back to Invensys. I wonder how much Invensys paid IBM to break the contract.
Anyhow, I think it is a good move. Without giving justification for cancellation (yes, we understand these are failed cash projects) Invensys should cancel other "Waste" projects: (1) Invest (2) Invensys University.
If Invensys invests in sales, marketing and engineering resources, the company may see the light at the end of the tunnel...
The damage caused to Invensys and its subsidiaries over the past 2-3 years has been significant! A few people deserve to be fired over this debacle!
Friday, September 19, 2003
About two months ago, all employees at Invensys Poole Rd. Raleigh, NC. were told they would be seperated from Invensys as of Sept. 30, 2003. An HR person, who has since left the company, explained what benefits they were entitled to upon seperation. They were also told that at least 2 companies and 1 group of investors were vying to buy the organization and turn it into an IFO that could keep some employees.
Was this all done to get employees to finish important jobs and not leave? Since that time, not a word has been heard about anyone buying them out, either within the company or in any newspapers. Are the employees being taken for a ride? Are there really severance packages in the works?
Wednesday, September 17, 2003 - from a former Foxboro Sales Team Member:
As a former Foxboro employee, I sadly have to face facts about the significant decline of their business. Most of the reasons have already been weblogged. But one of the main reasons is still the lack of a dynamic team. Sure, there are plenty of people who want Foxboro back on their feet, but without significant marketing they can never get truly come back. Some of the products are truly world beaters, but the big fellas have no idea how, or who to sell them to. Even the APV people do not purchase Foxboro, instead preferring to spend Invensys money on rival manufacturers equipment due to politics.
I sat in a Town Hall meeting with Rick H. where he admitted that they did not know what to do with Foxboro's Instrument division (now a seperate entity within Invensys, and not linked into Foxboro Systems). That instils confidence in the workforce, senior management not knowing what to do......
Coupled with a complete lack of funding and the inability to see longer than the Citys six months, the kindest thing possible is to break up the team and let someone else make a go of the component parts.
Tuesday, September 16, 2003 - From an ex-APV Engineer who was laid off during the last year:
I hope this provide some information for those who don't know a lot about APV, the red haired step child of the Production Management Division.
I joined APV during the height of the Invensys acquisition binge. At the time the "vision" was for APV to use itís engineering resource to implement technologies by Foxboro and Wonderware in the plant. There were talks of the "sensor to boardroom" concept, which was good; the needs for this is real. The tough job of implementing this concept, however, proved to be a lot harder.
First, due to problems before the Invensys days, many customers did not trust us to do even simple jobs, never mind the higher end, pie-in-the-sky stuff. Second, the sales force structure allowed the sales force to under-sell projects and still collect commissions. Third, we never had the right people, with the skill-sets needed to do higher end jobs, and the company wouldn't budget for necessary training.
They had some used-car-sales types running the operation. Sometime it was just insanely "Dilbert" like - one of the managers announced to everyone that "APV is now an Automation Company!" when we didn't think he could even spell Automation. Then, a sales guy sold a full "Validation" type project with almost no engineering hours included.
Sometime I wonder if they really loved this recession, so that they could blame all that has gone wrong on it. It takes years to rebuild a reputation and only minutes to destroy it. There was always "mushroom" management, and we didn't see an org-chart for over a years; no one knew who was responsible for what.
Here are my impressions on other Invensys companies from an APV standpoint:
The Good - Wonderware:
The Bad - Foxboro:
The Ugly - APV:
A final word on the Invensys buying binge. During 99-00 they were buying everyone out there for no good reason. There was never any good attempt at cross-sourcing and integration. An example: We could not get into a Wonderware training class which had spare seats without paying the full price, less 10%. I wonder if there is a "Bad Will" deduction on the financial statements, as opposed to "Good Will", because that's what Invensys got from its acquisitions.
Monday, September 15, 2003 - from Current Climate Control Employee:
Our group was supposed to attend the World Drug Mfgr Summit, but were pushed out by upper management (great sight seeing trip).
I've been to PowerWare on Capital Blvd, Raleigh, North Carolina and even if they had product in their inventory, almost everybody is being laid off. The nice looking offices in the Raleigh Forum are almost empty. It seems that they need to maximize their profits and look good to a buyer. People are easy to cut.
Rick H. already took a dose of Enron when he hired Dan Leff and Michael Mann. It seens that Dan and Mike promised to make our division a 2 BILLION $$$ division within three years. Slick Rick bought the farm. Dan and Mike brought 30 former Enron folks into the division - high $$$ jobs. It seems that Dan and Mike thought they would be able to syphon off a lot of Enron's accounts. Of course Mike and Dan didn't realize that the Enron customers had enough of the Mike and Dan Show. After 17 months, NO SALES! So the pinch was on to relieve these masterminds and their camp followers. The E-mail stated that because of the sale of our division, we didn't represent a challenge sufficient to keep Dan and Mike on-board! Bye guys!
So, what's left. After the "INVEST" garbage (this was a cost saving group that identified items that would save money - such as leave only one toilet paper roll in each bathroom to avoid toilet paper thieft) not much; we've been bled out.
I've heard that early retirement packages are not being offered because there isn't any money left. Our division was VERY profitable with 25%+ROI. Now we have to purchase items needed to complete projects, sometimes out of our own pockets. I've heard that our American pension plans are at risk with a sizable shortfall and that Invensys has no plans to correct.
This is probably why they have decided to sell all of Invensys (including WonderWare - sorry Mr. Salesman). But, I'm young and educated so I am leaving in two weeks to work with a competitor. Goodbye Slick Rick, Dan, and Mike!
I have invited Invensys management (up to the top levels) to comment. No response. Again, I invite executives and managemnt to provide positive feedback, to support Invensys. More that 1,000 people visit this weblog EVERY DAY. Please stand up for YOUR company - if you dare!
Wednesday, September 10, 2003 - re - Invensys' participation in World Drug Manufacturing Summit:
Shakespeare said:
Tuesday, September 9, 2003 - Laugh or Cry?
"Invensys will share experiences in implementing compliant process manufacturing solutions in regulated environments."
After reading this glowing report, oe has to wonder: if Invensys does such a great job, then why is it floundering and so top heavy? There is so much to laugh at or mock, as the case might be - if Invensys is so adept at running others businesses, risk management, product developement, they why are we still floundering and so little product development coming to fruition? Maybe Invensys should follow its own advice?
Friday, September 5, 2003 - Re. ex-Foxboro employee comments on pyramid layers:
The 10:1 span of control ratio is an old rule of thumb for hierarchical organization structures. Invensys is definitely a hierarchical organization so it should apply. There are obviously too many layers of management at Foxboro and Invensys. The obvious reason is that the reduction in the number of management jobs and layers has not kept pace with the decrease in the overall number of employees.
Friday, September 5, 2003 - about the previous blog post: "or that the faltering company is losing executives so fast that they are constantly hiring new ones".
This is much closer to the case. Those who "can" are finding new positions elsewhere. These are the proverbial "canary in a coal mine". Those who are much less capable are staying put in the warm and overpaid womb of mother Invensys.
Thursday, September 4, 2003 - from an ex-Foxboro employee:
I'd like to comment on the "replacement VP" theory. To a certain extent, the writer is correct. Some are replacements. Some are new jobs.
Which is scarier? The proposition that a faltering company is on an executive hiring binge, or that the faltering company is losing executives so fast that they are constantly hiring new ones? Remember who's in a position to know the actual state of the company.
Another way of looking at this is the numbers of layers of the company. Jack Welch stated that each manager should have 10 or so direct reports. Start with Haythornthwaite as layer 1 and count down to the engineer, developer, or person sweeping the floor (all are equally valued by the big I). How many did you get? When I was employed as an engineer, the answer was 7. If the structure is a pyramid (an oversimplification, as some paths don't go through all 7 levels) and assuming 10 direct reports each on levels 1 - 6, then there would have been 1,111,111 people working for Invensys when I was at level 7 a few months ago. Is that a reasonable way to look at this?
Tuesday, September 2, 2003 - re the weblog about IT and the VP Binges:
Very good post, numerous good points. With all the Enron execs at Invensys, it seems like Rick's model is Enron, not BP. Many of us believe that Rick wants to make Invensys another Enron, if there is anything left after the firesales.
Tuesday, September 2, 2003 - About IT and the VP binges.
The agenda for centralizing IT is actually the same agenda that is driving up the number of VPs. Haythornthwaite wants to recreate a culture that he understands from his time at BP. He wants a company where the corporate HQ owns the customer value proposition, and therefore drives the business.
Unfortunately, that isn't the business he runs. Invensys trades into numerous markets, which it has served best by relying on a culture that allows local control. So he is destined to keep selling companies until he has just one left, which he can then run as a centralized organisation. Except that somebody may bid for the lot - someone who understands how congomerates work. The shame of this is that money keeps bleeding away on failed initiatives. Money that could be better spent as investments in technology.
The next IT initiative will probably spawn a whole bunch more VPs.
Saturday, August 30, 2003 - re. VP jobs
The Supply Chain VP is a new job.
Saturday, August 30, 2003- Re: Sat Aug 30 posting about that VP opening
In the energy management group all the jobs except one, that I am aware of, that were filled by Enron execs were new jobs and were not replacements. These new jobs coincidentally, were created by the COO who came from Enron.
Saturday, August 30, 2003 - about that VP opening:
Did anyone ever stop to think all these VP's are replacements for those that have left, not new jobs created? When a company starts faltering, many times top management is the first to get offers to go to other companies. When they leave, their positions get refilled and the new position holders name is announced. As in typical fashion, the company does not announce they lost another executive - they just announce that they have a new one.
Saturday, August 30, 2003
Now that everyone knows that the IBM outsourcing adventure is all but over, the first rumours of the new way forward are starting to come out.
It seems that we have learnt nothing. The new model still chases the paper tiger of "one Invensys" but without the help of IBM. If they couldn't do it, how will we be able to? Who is it that wants "One Invensys"? The whole thing seems to me to be designed to look after the interests of those running IT at a corporate level - business needs don't enter into it.
We have managed, again, to mismatch authority and responsibility - Group IT will have all the former, but none of the latter. Come on guys, this ain't rocket science - there are a few areas where centralisation is useful - comms, networks etc, but most IT work is local people serving local businesses - IT isn't producing hamburgers, it's working very closely with local businesses helping them decide what they want to do next - IT is about business process, not service delivery.
If anyone from Group IT reads this - you have a couple of days left to re-think - the whole company is hoping for an outbreak of common sense - don't let us down!
Friday, August 29, 2003 - Yet another VP being sought.
This is from the Career Opportunities portion of the Invensys web site today. How many VPs can an ailing company continue to support?
Friday, August 29, 2003
Interesting article about how Baan, sold by Invensys, is faring:
Close to 800 of the approximately 2,800 jobs at Baan are being cut after two private equity groups acquired the Dutch enterprise application vendor in June, leading to fear among some users that Baan may lose valuable expertise.
Thursday, August 28, 2003 - re. New APV VP:
Am I being too cynical in thinking that the surfeit of VPs and Directors is a result of existing Invensys VPs larding the payroll with their friends? Is the scam that when they are bought out, hefty golden parachutes will be awarded to these people?
This reminds me of the scam where people pile on to buses after they are involved in minor traffic accidents so they can sue for injuries. If I am being too cynical how else do you explain it? Can anyone justify these VPs, Directors of Organizational Learning, etc.?
Thursday, August 28, 2003 - re: comments on new APV VP from Enron:
Yes, you are correct - the new VP from Enron should fit in fine. The Energy Management group is loaded with ex-Enron execs; they seem to have their own network and tend to hire other Enron execs. Maybe Invensys will become another Enron. In any case, I don't think hiring execs from Enron impresses Invensys customers, employees, or stockholders.
Thursday, August 28, 2003
APV just hired another VP for their North American divison. Not quite sure what is he a VP of. The whole thing was low key - no blanket email annoucement until this guy showed up in the office. Since he is supposed to be an ex-Enron VP, he should fit in at Invensys just fine. Oh, got to go - someone needs to work to pay for all this top management....
Tuesday, August 26, 2003 - re: Powerware benefiting from the recent blackout:
Unless Powerware sells diesel generators, I doubt that it will benefit very much. UPS systems provide only short duration backup. This power outage lasted more than 24-hours in most areas.
Tuesday, August 26, 2003
Interestingly enough, sales (revenue) of Powerware should significantly benefit from the recent massive blackout as businesses reevaluate their operational risk. Timing couldn't have been better.
"Powerware has been protecting mission-critical operations since the days when a mainframe needed its own room. That's over 35 years of experience in the power protection industry. Today, Powerware's distinction comes from applying our large system engineering expertise to more modular uninterruptible power systems (UPSs). The result is an expansive product line with advanced solutions for any application, from desktops to datacenters."
Monday, August 25, 2003
Editor Note:
Friday, August 22, 2003
I am a shareholder in the UK. I work for an Invensys company - APV Baker.
What in **** is a "director of organisational learning"? Am I biased in thinking that shrinks are running the business and not competent management? I am sure management reads this. Can someone enlighten me?
Tuesday, August 19, 2003 - re Invensys Metering:
Seems like many happy faces in the Metering Group with good news expected soon - a new owner. Hopefully with new owners, a good executive team from the owners and elimination of Invensys overhead and its senior executive bumblings, the group should do well.
However, they will not have had the benefit of a "Director of Organizational Learning"...
Monday, August 18, 2003 - from John Gardner [jgardner@gssystems.com], regarding the Wonderware Distributor conference:
We have been a Wonderware distributor for 13 years. The opportunity to leverage the considerable InTouch MMI installed base into the much larger Archestra based Application Server opportunity is very, very exciting. Wonderware has the installed base, and are shipping new products - a good start. Because of this, I thought the motivation was quite high. The MMI business has become very crowded and everybody is going after plant intelligence. With Application Server, Wonderware really does have something new.
Most people I spoke with at the conference felt good about the content of the meeting and have been well tempered by Wonderware news over the years. I think the message is hitting the target.
Sunday August 17, 2003 - Danaher bids £550m for Invensys water metering
Invensys is in talks to sell its water metering business to US-based Danaher Corporation, which is one of several bidders.
The other bidders are mainly buyout firms. Danaher is one of the leading US manufacturers of metering units and the Invensys business would make a good fit with the company's existing products.
The metering business has sales of about £550m and is expected to fetch a similar amount.
Saturday, August 16, 2003 - re: The latest WonderWare distributor meetings were just completed.
This weblog needs feedback from Distributors who attended.
Saturday, August 16, 2003 - re: Advertised Opening for Director of Organizational Learning
As I stockholder would I be willing to pay for this? No.
If I were running the company would I hire somebody like this? No.
Invensys has hired a lot of new senior people of the last few years, fired a number of non Rick type managers and decided to retain a few of the old managers. If these managers and their staff need to be trained in organizational learning, then they should not have been brought in or kept.
The company is imploding, has major financial problems, has significant reductions in revenue, and desperately needs more customer service people and engineers. Seeking to now hire someone, and spend for money on a Director of Organizational Learning, helps to explain why the stock price is so low, and still below even the proejcted breakup stock price for the entire company.
Friday, August 15, 2003
Here's an example of what's wrong at Invensys. While they are laying off engineers and other people directly involved in designing and producing products, they are hiring people for nonsensical jobs like this one. They seem to have totally lost touch with reality. This is taken directly from the Invensys web site.
Responsible to promote organizational learning that directly impacts upon the achievement of key business outcomes. The achievement of these priorities is through working closely with client groups: developing and implementing Leader Development initiatives and/or technical/functional strategies for major business initiatives. Performance Development focus on the development and delivery of human performance systems, globally, specifically standards and tools . Leader Development focused on the development of leadership capability at three levels in the organization, linking with e-Learning focused on curriculum development and alternative technologies. Organization Development supporting performance initiatives, business improvement, change etc.
Requirements: Advanced degree in Human Resource or related subject.
Wednesday, August 13, 2003 - Woodward Governor acquires Barber-Colman Dyna Products:
Woodward Governor Company announced today that it signed an agreement with Invensys to acquire its Barber-Colman Dyna Products division. Barber-Colman Dyna Products manufactures and distributes controls for off-highway diesel and gas engines and mobile industrial equipment.
Monday, August 11, 2003 - from employee at Invensys Uniontown and DuBois Water & Gas metering:
We have been told "we should expect people to visit on Thursday and/or Friday this week. We should also expect people over the next two to three weeks".
Thursday, August 7, 2003 - copy of memo from employee at Appliance Controls - Carol Stream, IL.
Starting on Wednesday, August 6 and continuing through Friday, August 15, prospective buyers will visit the facility for management presentations that will take place in Conference Room A. Walking tours will also take place throughout the building. These meetings are very important to all of us and we thank you for your patience and cooperation.
Thursday, August 7, 2003 - Final Word from'The Salesman':
I am proud of what I sell and dont't need to show anyone 'the numbers.' I make money, the company makes money. how many 'digits' is nobody's business but ours. Peace. See you in the market, where it counts.
Wednesday, August 6, 2003 - To that salesperson who was full of praise for Wonderware:
You owe this weblog an aplogy for your misrepresentations. You tried to mislead us about "other units being sold first becasue they didn't make money". I hope your sales presentations are more correct than your webpostings. Besides doing a dis-service to the readers of this weblog, you've insulted those Invensys units that were sold and DID make money.
Re your "so what": Do you know the likely new owners? You want us to believe you that any new owner will continue to support a product that is short on innovation and long on technology? Try talking to your customers and see how many believe you. Is Invensys guaranteeing full support on all products regardless of the new owner? I think not. Invensys needs cash and once something is sold, its up to the new owners - buyer beware.
You raised the issues of financials. We know you have already misrepresented key issues. Show us the numbers.
About Wonderware being a kick-a$$ product: I guess we should expect to hear that from a salesperson. But, you still haven't shown us triple digit margins, paying off the huge cost overruns on Archestra or delivered huge sales growth. It seems to me that Archestra kicks the wrong asses - the shareholders.
Tuesday, August 5, 2003 - more discussion on Wonderware, from the "salesman":
#2: You must know these imaginary new owners. Interesting speculation on your part. Yes, products would change if Wonderware were purchased. Yes, people would move out if Wonderware were purchased. But why all the gloom and doom? Maybe they would ADD products? Perhaps they would HIRE people? Maybe they would help WIDEN the gap between Wonderware and the rest. Yes, this is all just speculation on my part.
#5: Technically you are correct. However my original point remains.
#5: YOU haven't seen the financials? I said 'Wonderware' makes money.
Wonderware is indeed a kick-a$$ product. You speculate with your rebuttal.
Tuesday, August 5, 2003 - response to the Wonderware/Archestra praise:
So what if Wonderware is sold?
"It would be absolutely insane for Schneider to consider Wonderware".
"Wonderware is already severely screwed up from Invensys making the strategic decisions these days."
"Archestra is a real."
"Wonderware is profitable, makes money, is the market leader, the envy of the competition".
Those positive comments came from a salesman - clearly not a business person.
Monday, August 4, 2003 - Re Aug 4 Posting from the Archestra salesperson:
Since the salesperson raised the issues, I guess a reply is appropriate.
Item #2, #5: So what if Wonderware is sold - So what?
Item #5: Invensys sold other units first because they didn't make money.
Item #5: Wonderware (including Archestra) makes money.
Wonderware is a "kick-a$$ product".
Monday, August 4, 2003 - regarding weblog July 30, 2003 - Schneider & Wonderware:
Does this guy ever have a bone to pick with Wonderware? I would like to respond to some of his venting:
Wednesday, July 30, 2003
The latest issue of Invensys' Employee Newsletter "UP & Running" has this "Thought for the Day" :
Wednesday, July 30, 2003 - RE: Schneider & Wonderware
With the recent demise of US Data, it is no surprise that Schneider would be looking for an alternative HMI product to OEM. That said, it would be absolutely insane for them to consider Wonderware as that solution, without a tight contract that would provide access and influence for some time to come after Wonderware is sold.
Wonderware WILL be sold. While GE Fanuc is busy screwing up Intellution (and soon, Mountain Systems), I'm certain someone else is ready to take on Wonderware - although they're already severely screwed up from Invensys making the strategic decisions these days.
Archestra is a farce. There is little business justification to it, there is little customer pull to buy it, and it fails to deliver significant new value to Wonderware's core user base (local, single-node machine monitoring). There seems to be incredible denial among the Wonderware folks regarding their predicament, but it is, indeed, heading towards some type of conclusion.
I see companies like Iconics or Citect being much more likely candidates for someone looking to OEM a product these days. Good technology, minimal channel conflict, no giant egos. Wonderware is damaged goods, the brain drain is all but done, and the huge amount of baggage that would come along with the deal. Wonderware's cost structure is ridiculous, and should have been trimmed by Invensys years ago. But a liberal sprinkling of the Archestra pixie dust seems to keep them "California Dreamin'".
Monday, July 28, 2003 - from Mark Witt [cmkmwitt@wmis.ne]
Having recently been laid off by an Invensys company, I must admit I donít understand their logic. On the one hand we have Allen Yurko - shown the door after severely mismanaging the company and decimating the stock price, but comforted by a lifelong pension of roughly $500,000 per year. On the other hand, I worked for an Invensys subsidiary for 9 years as a market analyst, cost estimator, and most recently as an electrical controls designer. In the last couple of years alone, I was involved in some 150 design projects, all of which were successful. My reward was a no-notice layoff and (if I would sign a severance agreement) nine weeks of severance. Gee, thanks!
Aside from the obvious disconnect between performance and reward, I see four factors that companies like Invensys seem not to consider or even realize.
Monday, July 28, 2003
Details of Teccor sale to Littelfuse:
Littelfuse bought the company for $44 million in cash, plus a future payment of $5 million contingent on sales of Teccor products reaching $107 million for calendar year 2005.
Teccor has annual global sales of approximately $75 million. With two product groups: transient voltage suppressor devices and power switching devices, Teccor has the number one market share position in North America, and is in the top three globally for both product categories.
Invensys sold a winner, at a low price....
Monday, July 28, 2003
Bradley's division needs more than double digits revenue growth to pay for all the development expenses for Archestra. When will he produce substantially more profits? Invensys is running out of time. I fear we'll all be speaking German (or French) soon....
Monday, July 28, 2003 - re. Mike Bradley memo
Well, we learned something from Mike Bradley's memo that Invensys heretofore always deemed "classified": that Wonderware had double-digit growth in 1Q. I wonder what the growth was at the other two components of Invensys Systems, namely Simsci and Foxboro.
Sunday, July 27, 2003
Perhaps Mike Bradley might also want to give that "European salute" to Tony Lancelott at Arbuthnot Securities (who said that a bid for all of Invensys was becoming more likely). Also, his salute to Lord Marshall who said "Invensys board would of course consider an offer for the whole group". And a specially strong salute to the Invensys (mis)mangement team for destroying shareholder value and leaving the pension fund in the toilet.
Sunday, July 27, 2003 - from a Wonderware employee - regarding Mike Bradley's response to the "Wonderware and Schneider" weblog :
Speculation occurs when bits and pieces of information are divulged and not the complete details. The Schneider invitation email broadcast may have been in error. But without the details, rumors can - and will - run rampant.
Given the current precarious financial condition at Invensys, and the generality of the e-mail, a purchase interest on Schneider's part is a rational conclusion. Indeed, UK news reports have published a similar specualtion. It was a reasonable conclusion from a concerned employee.
Mike Bradley should have seen fit to ensure that all employees were informed about what was going on.
Saturday, July 26, 2003 - from Jim Pinto - responding to Mike Bradley's challenge:
The Mike Bradely email broadcast is published, in it's entirety. If any key word was edited out, let me know, and I'll insert immediately.
The "steak dinner" is hereby claimed - in a restaurant and location of my choice. Thank you!
Saturday, July 26, 2003
From : Mike Bradley, [mike.bradley@invensys.com]
I want to tell you how much fun I personally had in the "Johnny Carson" State Of the Business Meeting Skit on Thursday. I hope you had as much fun in watching our "shennanigans" as we did did in performing them. I stumbled and laughed over the very funny lines provided for me by Wonderware Studios. I was just kidding (like Johnny) when I said "Who writes this stuff?" But, the bottom line is that we presented very good and motivating news in a very funny and entertaining format.
I want to also inform you of a more serious matter. It seems that one of our team (or someone on our private intercompany email list) has taken it upon themselves to report and speculate on each and every move that we have with customers.
As some of you know, Schneider Electric was visiting us on Monday and Tuesday of this past week to discuss an OEM agreement (like one of the the current major OEM agreements). This was not a private meeting, it was on our company calendar. And inadvertently a large number of people had been accidentally invited to the meeting dinner.
Well, someone on our "ww_all" distribution list felt self-important, and speculated to the Jim Pinto website (see text of previous weblog - Tuesday, July 22, 2003 - below.
As you all know, as well as the person who speculated about our motives, the SOB was the "Johnny Carson Show" skit.
I think each and every one of us should:
And I also personally give the European salute to Jim Pinto (and the inside person trying to hurt us all at Wonderware) ... "Stick it in your ear."
By the way, I'll bet Jim Pinto a steak dinner he won't post this message without editing.
Regards,
Saturday, July 27, 2003 - Re:"Profitability starts at the bottom, responsibility rests at the top."
Fact: Every year Invensys holds back payments to vendors/suppliers for months at a time. How does this affect the bottom?
We cannot purchase parts for jobs in progress as the suppliers close the accounts. Some have terminated the accounts forever due to instability of payments.
People at the "bottom" who deal with the customer on a day-to-day basis cannot purchase parts; I know some people who pay for parts with their own money to get the job done. Often they have to pay a higher pricesince discounts are no longer available. If it is a high dollar item, then it doesn't get done. The customer then wonders why it is not fixed as usual, and excuses are made to work around the probkem.
For years, people at the "bottom" have been covering for Invensys, not wanting the company to appear in a bad light to the customer. We have "made things happen" with our own money in order to expedite the job and keep the customer happy, and keep them unaware of what is really going on.
Invensys at the "top" does not see the "customer". They only see "accounts", and deal with them with set policies, not seeing the total picture.
Formerly, we were the "state of the art". But now, without proper product developement, we are five steps back. Software is developed and pushed to the customer; then that software is almost immediately abandoned, with something else to replace it. Try explaing that to a customer who is stuck with an incomplete product.
There were at lot of people at the bottom who believed in the product, customer support, etc. But now, things have degraded so badly that almost everyone is affected by the proverbial frog-in-boiling-water syndrome. Some people are not yet fully aware that the water is almost boiling.
The "top" has destroyed the "bottom", ruined morale, and destroyed the customer base through their policies and lack of caring. Who ARE these people at the "top"?
Saturday, July 26, 2003 - about that weblog (July 26, 03) - "Profitability starts at the bottom, responsibility rests at the top."
There is some truth to that statement, but consider this: What happens when the people at the bottom DO care about the customer and try to put out a good product, but "management" tells you we are out of a certain part, so we want you to build this product with the wrong part so the customer will at least get a shipment?? They knew the part wouldn't work, they knew the customer would send it back. Is this good business? I don't think so. I would rather be honest with the customer about a delay in shipment and wait for the correct parts, than to send them bad parts just to save us the shipment.
That's just one example of what we, at the bottom, have to deal with. In this case, as well as many others, the responsibility should rest at the top. But, when the parts were returned, the top put the responsibilty on the bottom and we got blamed for "accidently putting on the wrong part". Is it any wonder morale is so low at Invensys?
Saturday, July 26, 2003
The person (weblog July 26, 03) who states that the problem my be keeping customers happy would make sense if Invensys management acted like they knew how to manage. It would take a LOT of customers to support the mis-managed company that Invensys has become.
Saturday, July 26, 2003
Having been thru a bankrupcy and fire sale at a previous employer, I find it interesting that the employees of the once great Foxboro spend so much time blaming management for their problems. Profitability starts at the bottom, yet the responsibility rests at the top. What are we missing here? Time for the paradym shift to happen. The question that needs to be asked is: What have I done recently to help Foxboro look after the customer? Remember that it is the customer that ultimately pays the bills. If not, there is always a reason, usually something that management cannot affect.
Thursday, July 24, 2003
It looks like this weblog was one of early correct forecasters that ALL of Ivensys wiil be disposed of. According to the UK Financial Times: "Tony Lancelott at Arbuthnot Securities said he would trim slightly his full year pre-tax profit forecast of about £150m. He thought a bid for all of Invensys was becoming more likely ..."
And according to Lord Marshall, the "Invensys board would of course consider an offer for the whole group if that were in the best interest of shareholders". Best interest of shareholders? How could it NOT be in the best interest of shareholders to get rid of this mismanagement team? I guess we should start learning to speak German or French....
Wednesday, July 23, 2003 - from the Yahoo UK message board on Invensys stock:
Tuesday, July 22, 2003 : Re: Wonderware & Schneider
That 'Schneider Dinner' invite included all Sales and Marketing related VP's
with one being the most Senior development type, and one notable exclusion.
No one is saying anything about what was discussed.
But some strange moves are evident. There's an SOB (State of the Business)
meeting scheduled for Thursday, with an unusual arrangement in the
'stage' area - leather chairs and a desk in place of the podium. Some of
this is being called 'preps for the distributor conference' - but that won't
be for a few weeks.
Stay tuned....
Monday, July 21, 2003 - re: Wonderware and Schneider
'Dinner with Schneider' for senior Wonderware people - Monday, July 21, 2003 - 6-9 pm. in Newport Beach. Reservations made for 9 people.
Monday, July 21, 2003 - Re: News surfacing that Invensys is talking to Schneider about Foxboro & Wonderware.
Schneider or Siemens would certainly be preferable to Invensys. But, that doesn't mean easy days would lie ahead for Foxboro/Wonderware employees. Major changes are required, both in product strategy and management structure. The acquiring company must quickly replace all the VPs and Directors and most of the managers. If they don't do a thorough house cleaning, all they will get for their money will be Power Point presentations.
Monday, July 21, 2003 - extract from UK Observer
Time is up at Invensys for the "boardroom junkie", Lord Marshall of Knightsbridge. He steps down as chairman at Wednesday's annual meeting. And it's going to be a low-key departure from the once mighty Invensys, whose independent survival is now in question.
For the record, Marshall pocketed £250,000 from Invensys last year. But his 80,000 shares are now worth a paltry £20,000, and there'll be no golden handshake or pension (non-executives don't get those). There will, however, be an intimate dinner at an undisclosed venue. Observer is assured that the meal won't be "too decadent".
The move leaves Marshall, 70 in November, clinging on at British Airways, where he has served for nearly 20 years. He has indicated that he would quit the airline (or be ejected from his seat) at next year's annual meeting.
Monday, July 21, 2003
The only thing known is that the Energy Systems sale might be announced on Wednesday (July 23). I haven't heard anything about Foxboro & Schneider. I hope to goodness Foxboro is NOT sold to the French; I hope Siemens is still interested!
Monday, July 21, 2003 - re: Schneider/Foxboro
Haven't heard the Schneider rumor, but sounds like good news for Foxboro and Wonderware - they'll be free of Invensys.
Interesting though - Foxboro and Wonderware are not in the "for sale/disposal group". The Foxboro/Schneider rumor tends to confirm previous postings here that the entire company is for sale, in pieces. This also helps to explain why the stock price went up, for awhile. I forgot what an analyst estimated the breakup value to be, I think its about 30p.
Monday, July 21, 2003
News surfacing that Invensys is talking to Schneider about Foxboro and Wonderware. Does anyone else know about this?
Saturday, July 19, 2003 - Re: Stock advances
I agree that it is interesting that what drives up the stock price is the selling off of the company. It seems like management isn't capable of increasing profits or revenue; they both continue to decrease, while management continues to be "well paid and rides in stretch limos."
Also agree that some of the acquisitions were obvious mistakes, some haven't made any money and probably won't for some time, if at all. Sorry to harp on this - but, does Invensys really need all the consultants, VPs, GMs and Presidents? Especially for divisions that are losing money?
Saturday, July 19, 2003
Isn't it interesting that Invensys stock advances every time a rumor surfaces about the sale of more divisions. Remember, years ago, when every other week there was an announcement that they had bought (usually at too high a price) yet another company that would benefit from the corporate "synergy." What happened to all the synergy?
What does this say about Invensys management competence? What does it say about the market's opinion of Invensys quality and credibility? What does it say about the value of the remaining companies?
Thursday, July 17, 2003 - Re: PIRC notes that Invensys exec. pay is excessive:
It's no surprise that PIRC notes that Invensys exec pay is excessive. That's pretty obvious. What is strange is that the National Assoc of Pension Funds (NAPR) "backs" Invensys' pay policy. Hasn't the Invensys pension fund in lost a billion dollars? And this while the VPs and others riding around in stretch limos.
Tuesday, July 15, 2003 - extract from London news:
Invensys has been accused of lavish director pay after racking up £1.4bn losses and selling its software offshoot Baan for a knockdown price. Governance lobbyist PIRC slammed its pay policy as 'excessive' and called on shareholders to throw it out at the annual general meeting on 23 July. Pirc singled out new finance director Adrian Hennah, who gets a £500,000 bonus for staying for three years.
Invensys said the National Association of Pension Funds and the Association of British Insurers back its pay policy, adding: 'That speaks for itself.'
Monday, July 14, 2003 - more about Mr. Bosse:
Let the man alone. I was once like Mr. Bosse. I thought that working hard to make myself valuable to the corporation could make a difference - whether I would keep my job, or get layed off like the rest off the other "losers" a couple of rounds before. That simply was not the case. I was laid off just a couple of weeks ago.
Despite the 60+ hours I consistently put into the job (not on paper, that was frowned upon), my position became redundant. And that's thanks to what? Was it my performance? I sure hope not, as I haven't worked so hard in my life before.
If you're like Mr. Bosse, thinking that you're untouchable and secure, face it: unless your group is sold off to a corporation that understands that building value is more important than laying off whole project teams, then you have very good cause to worry. If your division is marked, there's not much you can do to improve your situation.
Wednesday, July 09, 2003 - for Richard Bosse (previous weblog):
Dear Mr. Bosse:
Please don't break your fingers holding on for dear life. The people who write to this web site are telling honest but unbelieveable tales. They tell of a great combination of companies that were run through a grinder. These companies were bled white, enriching people who did not care for their fate. These concerned people tell the truth as only the truth can be told.
An outsider would shake his head and wonder whether someone could be this incompetent and cold. I also work for Foxboro, and I have for many, many years. I watched a once great giant turn into an impotent dwarf through careless cost cutting and ruthless dealing, with both employees and valuable customers.
Please spare me the useless banter about saving your job. Maybe he next owner might do that for you. It will most definately NOT be any of the present management. There is a statement I once heard: You can be either part of the problem or part of the solution. From my vantage point, from the disregard you have for others, you are definately part of the problem. Be aware that the solution is coming quicker than you think.
Wednesday, July 9, 2003 - re: weblog from Richard Bosse:
Bosse's comments were somewhat bizarre - he accuses this weblog of being a bitch sesion, and yet most of his post is bitching! I guess he thinks he is the only one allowed to bitch here.
This weblog has been a source of valuable and mostly correct info on Invensys. As a shareholder, I certainly appreciate the info; it's a good balance from Invensys press releases and Rick Haythornthwaite's PR campaigns. Also, most of the analysis listed has been very good and very insightful, and many times has been months ahead of what Invensys releases.
There are few companies in the world where shareholders have lost over a billion dollars. To say every company in the world has problems is like comparing a leaking rowboat to the Titanic - they were both leaking boats.
Wednesday, July 9, 2003 - from Richard Bosse [rbosse@foxboro.com]:
This was my first time at the site, and I'm sorry that I wasted 10 valuable minutes reading this stuff.
As an Invensys employee, does it really make sense airing out internal affairs and petty rumors? Every company in the world has difficulties, but not every company has them posted all over the internet for competitors, customers, and prospects to read. I would hope that Invensys employees would have enough insight to recognize that this ill-intended bitch session makes working with our customers more difficult, which in turn negatively impacts our livelihoods.
Invensys employees, do yourself a favor - find something positive and uplifting on the Internet to read. Better yet, spend the time you wasted here on something useful, like trying to pro-actively help our customers. That would help secure your job and mine. I'll never visit here again!
Wednesday, July 9, 2003
At the end of July 03 Invensys Climate Controls Europe will gather about 150 employees for three days in Venice. The aim is unclear for everybody except the VP who made this decision. Clearly, the cost is very high and the return is zero. Many have found it immoral to be there, having fun at the expenses of a nearly bankrupt corporation which has fired so many employees in the past, and so they refused the invitation.
Simple questions: How many jobs could be saved, or how many well deserved pay rises could be granted with the same amount of money? How on earth can such a waste of cash be allowed? How can Invensys management hope to be believed when they speak of "controlling costs"?
Tuesday, July 9, 2003
Des Plaines, IL. based Littelfuse Inc. bought semiconductor maker Teccor Electronics for $44 million from Invensys. Teccor is based in Dallas, Texas.
Tuesday, July 8, 2003 - from a long-term employee at the Foxboro plant:
We were informed today that, even though the ban was over, we were not getting any pay raises. Since Foxboro was bought by Siebe, and then became Invensys, we have not had a pay-raise that kept pace with the cost of living. Any small increases (typical $25 a week) were eliminated by increased insurance and other costs.
Yet, the executives seem to prosper. They seem to imply that it's the employees' fault. But all these so-called managers, awash in their own greed and denial, should just face the facts. The problems rest squarely in their laps. It's very easy to pass the blame, and to make the lower level employees suffer. I hope at least some people recognize who is responsible for the decisions that led this once proud company into this condition. What goes around, comes around....
Monday, July 7, 2003 - re: July 6 weblog about the number of Ps, GMs, VPs:
This isn't the answer to the question, but is somewhat related. According to the last Form 10-K (Annual Report for FY ending 12/31/1989)) that Foxboro issued before being aquired by Siebe there were:
Sunday, July 6, 2003 - re: July 3 weblog about debt:
This weblog raises a good question. Some of us would also like to know: What was Invensys shareholder value when Haythornthwaite took over, and what is it now? Also, how many Ps, GMs, VPs, did Invensys have per $1 billion in revenue vs how many now?
It also seems like the "standard of living" for all the VPs and Ps is as high as it ever was. Some VPs and Ps like to travel from airports in stretch-limos rather than shuttle buses.
Friday, July 4, 2003 - re:Invensys, PacSim
The pulp and paper advanced control group within Invensys has laid off two-thirds of the employees since New Year. PacSim is one of the worst purchases that Invensys has ever made in its history, as calculated by relative return on investment. Targets were projected (curve x2), and the purchase was based on project sales prior to sale that had un-achieveable targets (making curve 1/sqrt(x)). Word on the street is that the remaining folks (75 % managers of course) have about 2 months to figure out absolutely nothing. P&P solutions just don't fly. A complete shutdown is projected before the end of the summer, or earlier if someone bothers to crunch the numbers.
Thursday, July 3, 2003
Invensys will attempt to sell half it's holdings to raise $1.8-billion to help pay down it's debt. When Haythornthwaite took over, what was the total debt? And the first round of sales paid down something like $1.8-billion. What's the story?
Monday, June 30, 2003
Extract from JimPinto.com eNews - 30 June, 2003
The good part is that the saga will finally conclude. Many good
Invensys companies, and their people, will soon be settled under the
ownership of another company which has paid a lot of money for them,
and wants them to succeed.
Click to read:Invensys: the big sale starts, the dance begins
Sunday, June 29, 2003
Donovan to chair engineer's pension fund
The former finance director of stricken Invensys is to chair its pension fund on a salary of £50,000. Kathleen O'Donovan's new role surprised industry observers because she has only just retired from the Invensys board. They say the appointment, made by the company and revealed in its latest annual report, raises questions about 46-year-old O'Donovan's independence.
"It just doesn't pass the smell test," said one leading pensions consultant. "Given her company connections, is she the right person to represent all the members?"
Tumbling stock markets have blown a £1b hole in the Invensys pension fund. The ailing company's stock market value has collapsed from more than £12bn to just £730m after a series of disastrous deals while O'Donovan was finance director.
O'Donovan left Invensys six months ago. The latest accounts say that she was allowed to exercise her share options - most granted only last year but now worthless - "in recognition of her service".
Click to read:Plum job for Invensys bean-counter
Saturday, June 28, 2003 - Another reason why Invensys is going down.....
Recently, salaried employees of an Invensys division in Eastern North Carolina offered to work a 32-hour week to compensate for the lack of customer orders. Instead, blue-collar workers were asked not to do overtime, and office workers were given the opportunity to make up their time (8 hours) by working on the shop floor, to get paid for full 40 hours. Can anybody explain what cost savings a company can achieve by paying 3 to 4 times the rate for office worker to do blue collar jobs? Middle management seems confused.
Tuesday, June 24, 2003
I do not understand why Invensys needs over-paid executives to make the decision to hire banks to sell their companies. It reminds me of a freshman management class where the instructor said, "hiring a consultant is not an acceptable answer." I guess in today's world of specialization, Invensys needs to pay their management big-bucks to select the right consultant. What do you have to do to get a job like this?
Monday, June 23, 2003 - re: Haythornthwaite needs to accept responsibility:
Haythornthwaite needs to accept responsibility for his mistakes and that of his mismanagement team and consultant friends; he can't keep blaming it on the old management. This man sells companies, he does not build them. He sold Baan for a $500m loss. He has had over 18 months to turn around the company, yet he has done just the opposite. His management team, which he picked, includes a number of executives from Enron and other leading companies; and what have they done for shareholders and customers, besides paying themselves well? He talks about selling off divisions and getting out of the energy business, yet he keeps and protects the excess execs. When will he reduce all the excess Ps, VPs and GMs that he hired??
Sunday, June 22, 2003
I am not sure Rick Haythornthwaite is responsible for all the problems. Some of the projects that were started by "old school" managers make absolutely no sense. Of course Bann was the biggest mistake - a $770 million dollar mistake! If management had spent this money on Sales, Marketing and Research and Development the return would have been how much better, greater!
Who is to be punished for this $770 m mistake- Alan Yurko ? James Muller? (ex COO) Both got hefty bonus when they retired! No, it was investors and employees!
The next blunder by Alan Yurko and his yes-men was the IBM/Invensys service contract. A 1 billion dollar 10 year contract which is a major flop. Local MIS teams provided better support than IBM! And now the response time is longer too. I hope, this contract would be scraped when the group is sold.
Part of the problem is middle management too. For instance, a division in Eastern Carolina implemented a "lean" project to save cost. This "lean" project was painting the roof! Yes, somehow the local management convinced them selves that painting the roof would increase the productivity. This is the same local management, who pulled orders from April, May & June 2003, paid overtime and hired temps so that they could report higher sales figures in March 2003. This resulted in no work for the month of June and the facility went to a 32-hour workweek. Instead of admitting that the sales is down and do something about it, the local management team decided to carryover the problem to the next financial year. By adapting short-term fixes, middle management is jeopardizing long-term growth of the company. It is unfair to blame Rick for middle management blunders. He cannot be micro managing lower-level managers!
Finally, I have to agree with the previous weblog writers regarding two projects on which money is being spent (wasted). Invest and Invensys University:
Seven million pounds was paid to PriceWaterhouseCoopers to produce a bunch of Excel and Power Point presentations that have no value to customers or investors. A great deal of time and money wasted on Invest training, filling out forms and hiring Invest managers to manage the load of paper work. If Rick believes Invest is going to save the company, he is daydreaming. Spend the money on bottom line ie Marketing, Sales, and R&D. That is what going to produce real value to investors, customers and employees.
I am not sure how much money was spent on Invensys University but who wants to learn from it anyway. If management wants to learn something, may be they should be sent on an internship to Cisco/GE/Siemens to learn how to manage a company.
"If the ship is sinking first fix the leak; then paint the roof."
Saturday, June 21, 2003 - from Hesh Kagan [hkagan@attbi.com], a long-term Foxboro employee:
It seems so very unfortunate that John McKenna is leaving Invensys.
One would surely think that there was more then enough opportunity for John
to remain with the company. John knows the industry, our products,
our competition and how to run a business. He can stand up in front
of any customer and do a stellar job of representing our business,
selling our products and understanding our customer's issues. Under his
leadership the digital Coriolis product became a fabulous success.
I don't know or pretend to know why or how it came to be that John is
leaving. I do know that where ever he lands, he'll be very successful.
Friday, June 20, 2003
Invensys hires banks to sell energy units-sources
Click to read:Invensys hires banks
Friday, June 20, 2003
No one in Foxboro will miss Henry Metcalf, a petty dictator who loves too push his weight around. He was your typical sniper who would attack anyone to further his own aims. The man was universally hated at the Foxboro facilities. He wanted to outsource everything.
Mckenna maybe not the brightest bulb in the pack, but most people felt he was a straight shooter. He was more in favor of in-house manufacture, and was not hated (like Metcalf).
We all are hoping the purge can run much further, to eliminate a very incompetent base of management. Our products have ben undermined by these people who felt they know everything, while the rest of the company knows nothing. Maybe with new and inventive management in place, progress will be made. As you can tell, we the employees are eyeing other targets who we would love to see go.
Thursday, June 19, 2003 - re. Metcalf and McKenna:
Both are very smart individuals but terrible managers. Ruthless Theory X types in the worst Foxboro tradition. Their knowledge will be missed but not their personas.
Thursday, June 19, 2003
I can tell you why Invensys isn't making money. Here in North Manchester, we are always out of parts to work with. In fact, somedays they have a hard time finding jobs for all the employees to keep them busy for eight hours. Here's the kicker, even though they can't keep people busy for eight hours, they are now asking for two to four hours of over-time and mandating the week-ends. This just doesn't make business sense to me.
Thursday, June 19, 2003
This week, Henry Metcalf, VP of Operations and previously VP of Manufacturing,
was let go after 33 years. Also, John McKenna, VP of the M & I (Measurement and Instrumentation)
division, and previously President of Foxboro Canada, was let go. They were
replaced by other Invensys people whose names we don't recognize. This
signals the end of the old power structure in Foxboro upper management.
Is this the last of the old "empire builders", or the last of the old
wisdom and knowledge in a once great company?
Tuesday, June 17, 2003 - response after reading the weblog of Thursday, June 12, 2003 "FROM MEXICO":
Having been to Mexico, and having seen what products were sent from there - and especially the quality (there isn't any) - I feel that something is not right. After Invensys 'bought out' the union, they lost most of their "good" help and the remaining people were pretty upset when their wages were cut. Their quality and desire even to try went right out the door.
Anyone REALLY interested in the purchase of the Mexico operation would have to start from scratch, with some type of incentive to get the workers back up to par. GOOD LUCK!
Saturday, June 14, 2003 - regarding the June 13 post about the new managers at Invensys:
The truth is self-evident! NOT having direct management experience in the functions being managed is a recipe for failure!
Saturday, June 14, 2003 - regarding June 13 posting which supports the new Invensys:
Rick, his management picks, his consultants and his many VPs, have had over 18 months to build a new bettter company. The "old school" managers should not be blamed for Rick's blunders.
Rick and his team of management seem to have too high an opinion of themselves. We have yet to hear Rick and the rest of the management admit that they made any mistakes. Yet since Rick has taken over: the stock price and shareholder value have sunk, revenues and profits have sunk, and investor confidence has sunk, the company is on the brink of bankruptcy; and the ratio of VPs and GM has never been higher. Except for the Baan disaster, it seems like the "old school" did a better job, and with less management overhead. Many people feel that Rick and his "management culture" are the real problem.
Instilling a sense of urgency is not needed, at least for the regular employees. We all know that this may be the last year for Invensys. Rick and his team of VPs and GMs had a chance to build the company and have failed.
Now, what is Invensys University supposed to teach us?
Friday, June 13, 2003 - from a former Powerware employee:
Here is a good example of just how important ANY Invensys employee is to the company. Ability, performance,customer relationships, nothing really matters to management of this company but how to make the stock look attractive for prospective buyers.
First email of the day, (yesterday):
Friday, June 13, 2003
I am not part of Invensys "management" but I do have a few comments on Invensys University and the majority of opinions expressed on this forum:
The general tone of most of the comments is that "management" is inept and the new breed of managers does not understand the basics of the functions they manage. The truth is that they are not inept. By design, they do not necessarily have direct experience in the functions they manage. Rather, they are highly competent in implementing the new management style that is critical to Invensys's future success. Invensys must change radically in order to succeed in the future. It cannot continue to do business as understood and practiced by the "old school" managers who have been terminated or demoted. The old comfortable style of doing things is unacceptable. There must be a sense or urgency associated with every function. The new managers have this sense of urgency and know how to instill it in their subordinates.
Invensys University is part of the program to change the culture at Invensys and instill this sense of urgency. It will teach those who are willing to grow intellectually how to function in the new culture. If you cannot accept this wholeheartedly, you will not enjoy career success or longevity at Invensys.
Thursday, June 12, 2003 - from Mexico :
Our maquiladora in Mexico has one of the highest profit rates in the Invensys group, with annual sales around $80m and 19% EBIT. We have a lot of cost-savings projects running and others on the way. Most of our engineering staff have been awarded the black-belt with six-sigma certification. Lean-manufacturing initiatives are in place in every process.
We think the future is bright. Whoever the buyer is, they will have a lot of qualified human resources here, and one of the most automated manufacturing plants in the market, with a big piece-of-the-pie in the market for products that we currently assemble and ship to our customers.
Remember, after the darkets clouds and stroms comes Sunshine!
Thursday, June 12, 2003
Hey, did you notice that Invensys managers too read your weblog? I wonder why. My perception is that here you can read the truth and also have a balanced view of the future. Can you, Jim Pinto, update us on the next steps as you foresee them?
Pinto response: I'll publish any news and comments in my regular eNews. Sign-up and stay tuned....
Wednesday, June 11, 2003
Is Rick still the CEO? Well I thought he was but after reading his latest CEO Direct it doesn't appear so. He seems to have abandoned those of us left in the disposal group after perching himself on the Production Management tree and told the rest of us that he will no longer be communicating to us via CEO Direct. Great leadership!
Wednesday, June 11, 2003
As an employee of an Invensys company, I also agree that Rick and the VP-boys should take pay cuts, if not permanent vacations. Our factory in the US will begin to take an enforced 32 hour work week while our Danish counterpart will continue as usual. How many of the people who actually do the work could be fully employed without the 20% pay cut, at the cost of 1 VP? It takes more than a VP and an HR person to run a company.
Wednesday, June 11, 2003 - re: Wrong Impression of Invensys
I disagree with the post on the "wrong impression". The banks, investors, bond rating companies, financial analysts and others are correct. The company is barely solvent. The reason some good, and bad parts of Invensys are being sold is that the company needs the money, even if they had to sell Baan at a $500mm loss.
About the new "university" that Invensys is helping to found - seems like another PR ploy by slick Rick and his mismanagement team. By the time "new revenue opportunities, boost productivity, meet compliance targets, reduce costs and enhance customer service" are finished being studied, Rick will be gone. And Invensys, if it is not bankrupt, will be owned by Siemens.
Wednesday, June 11, 2003
Boy! Invensys interested in education. How about starting with it's managers,Vice presidents and grand poobas. The management seems like one giant virus infecting and corrupting each business it acquires. Where once productive and profitable businesses stood, now there are only shells. After living and surviving so many layoffs and cutbacks and inferior decisions that ruined something (that with care and intelligance could have prospered), what have they to teach?
Wednesday, June 11, 2003
One can get the wrong impression from reading these blogs. Invensys is not penniless and operating in a bare bones mode with a skeleton workforce. Read this press release. They are founding a new University with Ten Colleges. Isn't this validation of their belief that the future lies ahead?
Extract - Hoovers Online UK
Click to read:Invensys Launches Global Learning Initiative
Monday, June 09, 2003 - from Italy - in Italian, responding to the previous Italian comments:
Note : This Italian message is reviewed through an automatic language translator to assure reasonable content. We do not attempt to edit. Feedback (in English) is welcome.
Le lettere come quella del dipendente della Invensys Climate Controls licenziato dopo 20 anni sono sempre squallide e deprimenti ma questa un pÚ di pi˘ perchË evidenzia la acidit‡ e il livore di chi proprio non riesce a cadere in piedi, a farsi una ragione dei propri limiti umani e professionali e non sa fare altro che criticare l'azienda che per tanti anni lo ha stipendiato e il collega che ha fatto pi˘ carriera.
Invece di cercare qualche successo professionale cosÏ da migliorare la propria autostima, continua ad avvelenarsi con invidie e malcelati complessi di inferiorit‡.
Friday, June 6, 2003
And we wonder why Invensys is failing? I am a Climate Controls employee. There is so much in-house fighting and finger pointing going on that it is making us inept. Yes, Climate Controls has been merged a few times, yet the only whining and complaining seems to be coming out of the Ranco group. Hey, quit living in your silo. If you were to talk to any of the other groups within Climate, you will see that Long Beach too was thriving once, until it merged with Ranco. Maple Chase was also thriving, until it lost much of its infrastructure at Carol Stream. Invensys Building Systems too has been affected by infrastructure loss and change management.
What we need to do as a group is to be constructive not self-destructive. We need to put our customers first and set our personal misgivings aside. Don't you think that customers also see this web site? Get real. Yes, it is hard to wait on corporate management to see how this is going to pan out, but if there is going to be anything left at all to salvage, we need to worry about taking care of business and set personal hurt and pride aside.
Now, corporate management, please get YOUR act together so we can salvage our business, whether it is individual pieces, or the whole. Our customers deserve a lot better than what we have been giving them lately. Our credibility is at stake here. You do have some good employees left that may not fight tooth-and-nail for you, because quite frankly, you have been too easy to dissolve and not altogether worthy to support. The good employees that are left however; will fight for the customer, once all of the pettiness, finger pointing and name calling are put aside. After all, we were once very good. We can get that way again, with the right cohesive leadership. I think that all we are asking for is to quit making us the pawn in your business chess game. We want good leadership, good tools to work with, and not-too-lean working groups that survive by providing the customer with quality products, on time.
Thursday, June 5, 2003 - from India:
Why don't the Invensys people see the value-add in off-shore high-tech services, as preached by Jack Welch of General Electric. Mr. Welch overcame multiple perceptional obstacles and biases within his own company to set up a great technology centre in Bangalore.
When would manufacturing in India would make sense for Invensys? When and how would Invensys break the barriers between worldwide operations, and capitalize on this pool of experience?
Thursday, June 5, 2003
The Ranco division of Invensys Climate Controls once was a $150M business by itself, tremendously profitable, with very experienced people caring for it.
I agree with the previous weblog that controls bussiness needs people with controls knowledge and experience to manage it. But today almost all the experienced people who managed Ranco successfully for many years and made the corporation many many millions of dollars were either pushed aside, demoted, fired, or they just resigned. With every new round of re-organization, this once very successful and very profitable company becomes less and less stable, has less and less experience left.
A VP of sales who knows just about everything and everyone of this industry was demoted to a salesman; a national sales manager who devoted some 20 to 30 years to this business was asked to move his family to another city for a humiliating demotion. Several people who have been around the business and contributed to the great success of the past were treated by the new elites (buddies of the new leaders) as if they were stupid.
The marketing department, once with almost a dozen people managing the markets and products in support of a $150M business, is now down to maybe two persons in Plain City. The VP is gone, the market directors were either fired, reassigned, or resigned, the product managers were fired, and no more secretaries and marketing assistants. Suddenly, it was a bunch of VPs in California, with a failing business there and with no knowledge of this business here, telling Ranco people how we should adpot their ways. Suddenly again, it was a new group getting rid of the California group. Then it was yet another bunch to implement more new ways. Each new group is more clueless than the previous one. Now some VPs are giving orders from Chicago, some giving orders from Atlanta, and some giving orders from Richmond, and neither of them know how an air conditioning defrost board works, what an A-control does, what is a P-control, how a reversing valve should be priced. And these are the bread and butter products for the once very successful Plain City operation. The last few people here in Plain City are fed up, screwed up, and giving up.
Now, you tell me, how long can this bussiness survive with this kind of (mis)management? How long can Ranco last? This cow has been milked and milked. The owner wants to sell it. It needs to sell it, probably hoping to get a large sum of cash because of the great numbers it produced in the past. But this cow is almost dead. The blood is almost dry. The fat
is all gone.
Thursday, June 5, 2003 - about the June 5 weblog, suggesting that Emerson and Siemens have managers who are more knowledgeable about their businesses:
What makes you think that Emerson or Siemens divisions aren't run by clueless bean counters? Emerson isn't everything you perceive. They hire the IVY league MBAs and after short order, those MBSs are managing Emerson companies? How many of their divion Presidents have any industry experience? Emerson manages the bottom line by cutting, squeezing and ringing out profit. And then they unload what remains of the division.
Emerson division presidents are paid not to lose, and not to win, just be excellent at managing the financials. However, the constant focus on the next month and quarter eventually catches up. Emerson probably spends more on moving plants than on new product innovation and development. If you think Emerson has any customer focus, you're nuts.
These big conglomerates, Emerson, Invensys, etc. are creating huge opportunities for start-up, small competitors.
Thursday, June 5, 2003
There is an interesting parallel between the Ivensys saga and the story of "THE LORD OF THE RINGS". We all know who Sauron and Saruman are along with the Nazguls, Orcs and trolls. The Invensys management whips prods and drives it's lower level employees, just as the evil forces drive their slaves. They make sure that their needs, wants and treasures are taken care of. Meanwhile their slaves are given the crumbs and slop that are left over.
Again this year, under incredible financial stress, the lower level Invensys people pay the price. I work in the production management division. We have been told indirectly that the majority of people are not getting a raise. But, will our expenses and benefits stay the same? For the lower level Invensys employees, the indignities mount and they continue to be treated like Saurons slaves. I really hope the troll I work for reads this.
June 3, 2003 : UK FInancial Times
Invensys sees strong buying
Invensys has seen strong buying in recent days, since its decision to sell its Dutch subsidiary Baan. Invensys was its most bought stock in the last week. Following the full-year results,Merrill Lynch said ìthe bad news is probably now all on the table and, more importantly, in the share price." A sum of the parts (SOTP) valuation of over 30p was estimated.
Thursday, June 5, 2003
I was a sales manager in Invensys Climate Controls Europe with 20 years of experience in the sector. I stood up many times to tell top managers what was wrong with their strategies on products, channels, customers, investments. In August 2002, I was asked to prepare a document analyzing a new strategy. With a lot of good motivations, I made it clear it was wrong.
I was fired on 2nd September and replaced by the Finance Director, another clueless manager, whose only ability and capability was to be a yes man. Sales declined 11 %, everything I wrote happened.
The real problem is that this industry cannot be run by bean counters, and hired from different sectors. Emerson and Siemens are doing well because their top managers are insiders with more than 20 years of controls industry experience.
Haythornthwaite kept hiring a lot of VP without any controls industry experience and we all are looking at the result: complete disaster and well deserved.
Wednesday, June 4, 2003
It's not just Rick Haythornthwaite who should be ashamed. Somewhere along the line, some level of management should have stopped saying "yes" and pointed out deficiencies. It's going to take some time to recuperate from the Invensys form of management. Next time around, management should be more mindful of the health and needs of the individual companies before contributing to the corporate trough.
Monday, June 2, 2003
Invensys Sells Baan to General Atlantic, Cerberus for $135m.
Invensys Plc, trying to shed half its business to reduce debt, agreed on the sale of its Baan Co. software unit to U.S.-based General Atlantic Partners LLC and venture capital company Cerberus Capital Management LP for £83.8m ($135m) cash.
Monday, June 2, 2003 - Why should only Rick have to take a pay cut?
Take care here! I'm not defending him, or excusing him. He has failed miserably. But, what about pay cuts for the people below him? What about all the MDs, the Senior VPs, VPs and so on? These people have simply been using the company for their own benefit - company cars, and other perks. Haythornthwaite has kept an amazing army, just able to make PowerPoint presentations, and acheiving nothing.
What a waste ! How can Managers, Directors and others can still stand in front of employees to explain anything now? There is no trust in any senior management anymore!
Sunday, June 1, 2003 - re: More about Haythornwaite:
I agree with most of the observations made in the previous weblog. But, I disagree on just one point. Yes Haythornthwaite certainly added more new VPs, and most of these choices were obvious mistakes, but he still keeps them and their overhead. However, he either got rid of, or moved aside many of Yurko's picks. Unfortunately, a number of them were actually performing well, but didn't fit Rick's image of what he wanted; so Invensys and its shareholders paid a big price for this egotistical blunder.
Another mistake of Rick's is that he kept most of Yurko's London corporate staff for too long. A a few were only recently driven off, but too many have stayed.
I also agree with the comment on the one-month contract. It seems that the WSJ figured it out as a ploy by Rick, so that he can get out before the ship sinks. This time I think the captain should go down with the ship, since he and his friends took a problem and only made it worse.
Sunday, June 1, 2003 - more about Haythornthwaite:
When Rich Haythornthwaite took over, it was well known that Ivensys management was a total disaster - throughout the company. When he took control, he should have made massive changes in the whole management structure. This was a fact which can not be ignored, or disputed.
Virtually nothing changed. Most of the "Yurko-yes-men" incompetence stayed, and continued to fail. To compound the problems, Rick added more highly-paid vice-presidents to an already confused and "muddle-management" picture. It seemed that his policy was - when in doubt add a vice president. He cannot say that he was not told that from all sides. He appeared to be listening, but didn't do anything. His "management team" was always looking in the direction that it was a recession and a poor bussiness climate. But I guess they didn't see themselves as the cause of the continued problems, and the reason for the folding.
Haythornthwaite's "humility" cannot be be a good hiding place from the collapse. He really didn't know much about this business, and he hid behind his horde of vice-presidents, most of whom proved that he had bad judgment.
Now, agreeing to a "one month contract" proves nothing - except that he is trying to hide behind a false sense of "ethics" as he prepares for his next job. He should demonstrate his true ethics by : 1/ Taking a paycut; and 2/ Asking some of his multitudes of Vice Presidents to take "voluntary" pay cuts too.
Sunday, June 01, 2003 - Sunday Herald (extract):
Rick's humility sets example more must follow:
Rick Haythornwaite has at least a modicum of humility. The chief executive of Invensys has voluntarily moved to a one-month rolling contract to take the sting out of the 'rewards for failure' complaints that he faced. He told the Financial Times: 'This is a very personal decision. After the company agreed to the step, a weight had been lifted from my shoulders.'
But don't be too sympathetic. Haythornwaite still received a total package of £948,861 in the last year.
Click to read:UK Sunday Herald
Saturday, May 31, 2003 - To the person who doesn't understand why Rick Haythornthwaite is being critcized:
Let's see - How about his driving the stockprice to junk status? How about his mis-management team? How about growing criticism from customers? How about not turning around the company? How about record losses? How about his poor execution of strategy? How about he and his mis-managers and consultants being overpaid for poor performance? How about excessive overhead? How about his waiting over a year and half before deciding to get rid of Baan? How about his inability to build a company? etc etc.
The only group that seems to like him are the banks, who he is protecting at the expense of shareholders, customers and employees. Does Invensys really need to pay someone so much to conduct a fire sale and drive down the stock price?
Friday, May 30, 2003 - in support of Rick Haythornthwaite:
I do not understand the negative comments from weblog submissions regarding Rick H. He has been a straight-shooter from day one. He accepted the challenge and gives 100%. My division will not be a part of Invensys next year, yet I have nothing but respect for this man.
Friday, May 30, 2003
Regarding the Baan sale, insiders say that two buyers are interested. But, the hold-up is believed to be over the price wanted by Haythornthwaite, who is set on a £68m target.
Friday, May 30, 2003 - Financial Times - UK
Rick Haythornthwaite came out fighting, shrugging off a £1.4bn pre-tax loss for last year while managing to seize the moral high ground over executive pay through a voluntary move to a one-month rolling contract.
Haythornthwaite even managed a smile when told that he was being stalked by the weighty figure of Heinrich von Pierer, chief executive of German conglomerate Siemens, who has signalled interest in snapping up Invensys's rail signalling and production management operations, should they come up for sale. "He's welcome to get in touch and I'm delighted he's interested," said Haythornthwaite.
Thursday, May 29, 2003
Haythornthwaite takes a one-month contract
Rick Haythornthwaite, Invensys CEO, has voluntarily moved to a one-month rolling contract, in an unprecedented move designed to answer shareholder complaints about "rewards for failure" at underperforming companies. This switch from a one-year contract would reduce by some £800,000 ($1.29m) the compensation he would receive should he decide to leave the group, or be sacked.
We laud Rick Haythornthwaite for making this move!
Thursday, May 29, 2003
An article in the oline WSJ, "Invensys' Managed Decline Continues Apace" speculates on some good news - Haythornthwaite may be "looking to bail out just as soon as round three of the disposal program is completed."
Great, the captain of the ship is rushing to get his seat on the lifeboat, while others go down with the ship. Too bad for shareholders, customers and employees that he didn't bail out 14 months ago. Now if only his consultants, his mis-management team and their friends that they hired would also quickly leave, the company might be able to be saved. With Slick Rick and Baan gone, there might be hope for shareholders.
Thursday, May 29, 2003 - from Invensys' press release 5/29/2003 (WITH TRANSLATION):
At this point it remains difficult to predict our markets (WE ARE CLUELESS). Our focus over the coming year will remain the achievement of further progress in our own productivity (WE WILL CUT JOBS AND SQUEEZE SUPPLIERS), in order to mitigate any factors outside our control (WE DON'T KNOW HOW TO DO ANYTHING ELSE).
The Production Management team last year delivered a margin improvement of over two percentage points, excluding Baan, and expect to deliver a further improvement in the coming year, whether or not trading conditions begin to strengthen (OUR TRAVEL COSTS TO ASIA WILL INCREASE). At the same time, the Group has a major disposal programme underway and a detailed process to actively manage the reduction of its liabilities (SLASH AND BURN).
Thursday, May 29, 2003
What can possibly keep this train from derailing? Is there a savior on the horizon? Can it be Rick H? Invensys management has once again proven their inablity to correct a nightmare of their own creation. The answer is not more VP's and consultants. Correction of past sins can only come from a complete sell off. I hope those in London are proud of what they have done to once great companies. They do not desirve one penny from the board and should be given the boot with what they brought to the table: nothing.
Thursday, May 29, 2003
Amazing arrogance! £1.4B loss and pension deficit of nearly £1B. And the plan is ---? Sell off those parts of the operation accounting for nearly 70% of the operating profit before exceptions. Leaving what exactly ---? The Production Management Division with its 4% margins to fund the pension scheme?
Take a look at the cash, something is not right here. Good cash equals quality profit. Invest people are claiming £200M in Invest projects, so how does that fit into the £250M operating profit before exceptions. The final insult is the new organisation structure in which all the corporate SVPs get gently moved to similar roles in the Production Management Division so maintaining the huge overhead burden. For those people in companies set for disposal: thank your lucky stars - at least you have a chance of survival!
JimPinto.com eNews (extract) - 29 May 2003:
Click to read:JimPinto.com eNews - May 29 2003
Wednesday, May 28, 2003 - from a European manager in Invensys Appliance:
The JimPinto.com weblog caused the winds of panic to blow into our European HQ! "Who did it?! Who did it?!" Our MD was close to a nervous breakdown! For sure "who" was the only concern, since nothing else could be denied! Moreover, thanks to our friend (who sent an accurate status in Italian!) we had soime "laughing therapy" to compensate for the daily stress and BS we face.
So who own us now? Well, I hesitate! Is there that much EmerÖgency to reveal the name anyway? Will something EmerÖge on Thursday, in the expected Haythornthwaite speech, to counterbalance the Armageddon financial results?
Okay, this last one is for those who still did not catch on: "Does the truth have now to Emerge..Sun?"
I'll be back soon with some more data about our new owner strategy and the ERP (employee reduction plan) for all of Europe!
Wednesday, May 28, 2003
Can the writer below please give more detail regarding the "ERP"? Timeline, projected reduction numbers, departments etc.? Also, will this be rolled out to Metering, Power and Climate? I hope the Appliance sale is good news for those remaining. The last two years have been challenging for Customers, Vendors and Employees!
Tuesday, May 27, 2003
Well it seams that some other executive don't hesitate anymore to publish some company data here, so let me tell you - Invensys Appliance world wide business has been bought! For a very good price.
Who is the buyer? It is not GE, it is not Siemens. So who? Well, my position makes it difficult - I'd be quickly identified and fired. But, I will tomorrow. It should be funny, just 1 day before all bad news to be announced to the City by Rick H. - probably the best business killer ever seen for a long time.
But remember this, the Invensys survivors in our Appliance facilities: the new owner is cannot be compared to the forthcomming new ERP (Employees Reduction Program).
So be connected to the JimPinto.com weblog tomorrow. Inform interested colleagues as well!
Tuesday, May 27, 2003 - with a direct request to publish in Italian, because "this website is our best and most accurate source of information".
Note : This Italian message is reviewed through an automatic language translator to assure reasonable content. We do not attempt to edit. Feedback (in English) is welcome.
A tutti i miei amici italiani: Attenzione! Le prossime settimane saranno decisive per le vostre occupazioni!
Non Ë pi˘ un segreto: La Morra Ë condannata...arrivederci a tutti e grazie. Lomazzo ha un rinvio di alcuni mesi, in funzione del risultato di produttivit‡ e qualit‡ di Sternberk, in Repubblica Cecca, ....e delle ultime autorizzazioni di decentramenti dei clienti! Prima del luglio 2003, 80 operaie devono essere congedate con 10 dipendenti indiretti.
Il peggiore Ë per Belluno! Un gruppo di lavoro ha il compito di trovare rapidamente 30 a 40 posti di lavoro ad eliminare in produzione prima del settembre 2003. » anche chiesto di vedere se alcuni dipendenti amministrativi e tecnici non possono anche essere economizzati... Quindi qui di 1 ha 2 anni massimi, le prime linee d'assemblaggio partiranno all'Est!
Un secondo piano di licenziamento sar‡ annunciato in Francia. Questa volta gli operai e dipendenti amministrativi saranno seriamente toccati. 30 a 50 persone dovranno partire prima della fine del 2003.
Per la Germania, Gosheim sar‡ toccato soltanto nel 2004, una volta soltanto il Direttore della fabbrica sar‡ stato sostituito da qualcuno di pi˘ concilliant per trasferire la produzione in Slovacchia e chiudere lo stabilimento.
Ecco come Invensys ringrazia i suoi dipendenti!
Tuesday, May 27, 2003 - Financial Times UK - extracts:
Invensys to sell Baan to General Atlantic
Baan is thought to have lost about $30m last year on sales of about $260m. Net assets, including capitalised goodwill on Invensys' books, are about £650m. Invensys is expected to incur a loss of about £575m on the disposal, which comes as part of a wider programme of sales intended to offload businesses with sales of £2.9bn - two-thirds of group sales.
Click to read:UK Financial Times article
Monday, May 26, 2003 - from Invensys European Appliance Division:
February employees info meeting news: market is low, profit is unexisting, world wide economy is sick....
April 3rd: email from top Europe Appliance M.D. to "carefully selected Mgrs" throughout Appliance Europe: "Congratulations for outstanding performances vs targets! Team, I would like share with you that our collective efforts resulted in outstanding performance vs. the budget and last year".
Now, future plans will be to move more manufacturing businesses to the East (Czech and Slovakia) with sites closure in Italy, France, Germany. Lomazzo site (Italy): Invensys will fire 80 operators and 10 indirects. Next is Belluno site (Italy) with some "Improvement" activities in forthcomming weeks, with a target to "clean" from 30 to 50 directs quickly. Some people will move to Czech Rep. soon. First Assy line will move in less than 1 month! La Morra (Italy): almost dead and closed!
Sunday, May 25, 2003 - UK Observer (extract):
Invensys to shock City with £1bn loss
Invensys, which is selling two-thirds of its businesses to avoid bankruptcy, will this week report a record loss of more than £1 billion and a pensions black hole in excess of £900 million.
Some analysts estimate that the company could have plunged into the red by as much as £1.4bn, and that it will write down the full value of computer software company Baan, valued in its books at more than £600m.
Other disposals may be unveiled when the UK group publishes its figures on Thursday.
The financial damage relates to redundancy costs after the company sacked thousands of workers, losses on businesses sold during the last year, as well as write-downs on existing operations that have caught the full blast of the economic slump on both sides of the Atlantic.
The red ink will be a severe embarrassment to management under chairman Sir Colin Marshall and chief executive Rick Haythornthwaite.
Thursday, May 22, 2003
Top managers at Invensys Climate Controls, Europe keep saying officially that the division will be sold as a whole. But privately they say the opposite - each individual company is for sale. But, after all, they have to "earn" their high Invensys paychecks.
After all there are not many top managers who can select the new COO of Energy Management Division, Dan Left - from ENRON of all companies! I agree with a previous weblog: Invensys will soon be only a case study of mismanagement.
Wednesday, May 21, 2003
The recent troubles at Building Systems have been caused by the new group of GE managers, who are making it more and more unlikely that Building Systems can survive. It is a shame that Building Systems can't or will not be spun off individually. Recent As clueless as the previous management group was, they were nothing compared to the new management team brought in. What a sad state of affairs for a once great company! I suggest you let the employees buy it.
Wednesday, May 21, 2003
Invensys Climate Control continues to lose quality people in sales, engineering, and marketing - primarily from the Ranco division. The new G.E. management team doesn't have a clue about what's happening. They would rather keep the YES MEN (Generally from the Robertshaw Division) that also have no clue whats going on. These regional sales managers continue to let small OEM's drop through the cracks; $25,000 & $50,000 accounts are lost to their competitors.
Sunday, May 18, 2003
Invensys appliance controls (Manchester, Indiana) has started terminating salaried personel in the past week. The reason given is that the company didn't make enough profit. Amazing thought for those wanting to buy Invensys companies - the profit figures due out at the end of May are elevated. The companies moved some of their profits for April to March. If you want a true look, check April's profits. I believe they will show a loss.
Wednesday, May 14, 2003
The management at Foxboro just amazes me! After having terrible experiences with outsourcing, these geniuses keep trying to do it. No wonder that Invensys is in deep trouble. Maybe someday they will realize that they have no control over the quality, the process or the end result - sending customers inferior products. These people are so focused on COST that they lose sight of the first and foremost concern: Customer satifaction. Sadly, there are still too many top managers who keep preaching Outsourcing.
Wednesday, May 14, 2003 - Infoeconomy: Baan sale for £68 million "imminent"
Baan will be sold by its troubled UK parent company Invensys in the next few days for £68 million.
Unconfirmed reports suggest that the two remaining bidders are SSA Global Technologies, the privately held US supplier of ERP software, and Texas Pacific Group, a US venture capital firm. A return by Jan Baan, one of the Dutch brothers who founded the company, now seems very unlikely.
Wednesday, May 14, 2003
As an ex-partner of one of the Invensys divisions, I worked closely and collaborated on products. I have been disillusioned by seeing more business and financial values being wasted during the last 3 years than I imagined possible. In my opinion, this was mostly through initial arrogance, and more recently through fiefdoms. Not so good for building trust with those that are partners in the value chain.
Are we waiting to see if Haythornthwaite is going to be able to attract new investors and try and rebuild product confidence? Or, will he simply perform what the banks think is necessary. The later seems unfortunately the more realistic route. I believe the problems are not caused by money, but rot in the middle. Meanwhile the PR machine has to go on, still being fed by the late giant on steroids. Let's hope that Siemens/GE can step in and rectify.
Tuesday, May 13, 2003
I've only been with Invensys for 2 years - what a ride! From a giant leader to a shrinking infant in two years. What is even more scary is that during this time, they have employed hundereds of VP and Consultants and Managers. And these people have been paid for devaluing the Company!
Some of the decisions were Marketing 101, or Business-for-dummies. The results are reflected in the Balance Sheet. What a shambles! And the people who are responsible are still here - go figure.....
Tuesday, May 13, 2003 - from a Foxboro employee:
The latest management discovery that will save the world is "low cost
engineering" in which we are required to find ways of sending anything up
to 100% (!!!) of our projects overseas, to save costs. Most of our
manufacturing capacity is already overseas.
Now, why is nobody talking about
low cost management? It would save a LOT more costs. The hypocrisy
and incompetence are disenheartening at best.
The Sunday Times - May 11, 2003 (extract)
INVENSYSis close to selling Baan for £68m. It bought it three years ago for £470m. Invensys is understood to be in final talks with two potential buyers, the American private-equity house Texas Pacific, and an unnamed trade buyer. Critics of Invensysí management say that the likely price shows the weakness in its planned programme of disposals.
A crucial test for Rick Haythornthwaite will come at the end of the month when the company publishes full-year results.
Thursday, May 8, 2003
Heard that Siemens was looking at the Metering Systems Group. Has anyone else heard this? We have been hopeful that an investor group would acquire us and allow us to operate. We are successful and make money, it would be such a morale booster to work for a company that has a future!
Monday, May 5, 2003 - Re: "So far Rick and his picks have protected and helped the banks ..."
The banks put Rick in place. It wasn't his cement expertise that got him the job. If he gets the banks most of their money he will have succeeded. The interests of employees, stockholders and other unsecured creditors are immaterial.
Monday, May 5, 2003
Watching Rick H, his consultants and mis-management team makes us wonder why he really was brought into Invensys and who he was there to help and protect.
If Invensys were to declare bankruptcy, then the banks (first in line) would get their money, and the shareholders would get what's left - very little. And if the company didn't fold after bankruptcy, then maybe the stock would eventually have some little value, but the banks would be out a few billion. This is what happened to Chrysler, a few airlines, and a few other British companies.
So far Rick and his picks have protected and helped the banks and have been a disaster for shareholders, customers, and employees. Invensys employees own a lot of Invensys stock. Maybe its time for the shareholders to take more control of the company.
Monday, May 5, 2003 - In response to the question regarding the validity of an employee having to sign a document in order to receive unemployment benefits.
Individual states determine the eligibility of a person to receive unemployment benefits - not Invensys, and not an unsigned piece of paper.
On the other hand, do not confuse this with a "separation agreement", by which the company pays a severance benefit of more than an individual is already entitled to receive by policy in exchange for that person giving up the "right to sue". These agreements are legal in almost every state and are a simple way to end an employment relationship amicably. To be valid, such agreements must allow a person 21 days to review it and/or to have it reviewed by an attorney. Essentially, you sign it, you receive money now; you don't sign it, you take your chances with a lawsuit that might be settled in two years. A separation agreement lets the employer pay the severance benefit (which it is not legally required to do) and feel comfortable that it won't also have to pay for a lawsuit (in many cases, a frivolous one). The company saves the costs associated with an unnecessary legal defense and the employee can get on with life. The agreements make sense, since it would be ridiculous for a company to pay money to help a person transition without some protection from having to spend even more money to defend itself in litigations, which in most cases, are lost by the individual.
Sunday, May 4, 2003
Now that the Service Manager has quit along with the Salesman and several techs, what will happen to the Chicago area service contracts? There are more contracts than the remaining techs can handle - who will supervise them? It looks like the IFO has a great opportunity grab these accounts.
Sunday, May 4, 2003
To those who went in search of the cheese: Where is it now and where have you followed it to? Where are the two individuals who moved the cheese and sent you on its quest? Is that positive-minded "factory worker" still out there?
Rick H. may try to pass the failure of Invensys off on the economy, Yurko, Iraq and a multitude of other problems. But the true downfall can be attributed to him and his choice of a mis-management team.
Friday, May 2, 2003 - RE: Invensys Invest program:
I would like to hear about other people's experiences with "Invest". Here's how is was delivered to our group: A mid level manager flew in from the opposite coast a few months ago, sat us in a room with donuts, and showed a PPT presentation. Afterwards, the manager asked for ideas. The manager recorded several Invest suggestions, and then switched gears to discuss current projects, saying how "nothing can get in the way of our project schedules". Three days later, those who contributed Invest ideas (I was a contributor), received forms to fill out and send back to the manager's admin. asst. in a few days. After studying the forms, I realized that it would take a good 40 hours of my time to do the research on my idea. I flushed the email, continued to work on my projects, and never heard from Invest again. What a waste.
Friday, May 2, 2003
I hope what is left of Invensys does well. But, I am very concerned about this: Invensys like a lot of other companies are busily cutting costs by laying off AMERICAN workers who are American citizens, and have replaced them with Engineers from INDIA working in the American location. In one Invensys company, you sign a "I will not sue" paper before you can collect unemployment - I have heard that this paper would not hold up in court if the employee did decide to pursue legal action. Does anyone know about the legal info on this subject? What are the laws protecting the American worker?
Friday, May 2, 2003 - from UK Times online
SPOTTED breakfasting together, in defiantly dress-down mode: James Maxmin, former chief executive of Laura Ashley, and Rick Haythornthwaite. Maxmin, now living in Maine, is currently pushing his first book, The Support Economy, which is all about why corporations are failing individuals. Haythornthwaite is chief executive of Invensys, a company synonymous with failure, shareholders would say. What did they have to talk about?
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/printFriendly/0,,1-37-666101,00.html
Thursday, May 01, 2003 - from Jim Hetzer, Account Manager, Invensys Foxboro:
As an ex-employee of ABB AccuRay, I know the frustration that happens when a larger company buys a smaller company without clear direction and manages it to death. However, the remaining companies that make up the Production Management group have a clear focus on process information and control, and there are many good people working to make the company responsive to customer needs. Foxboro in particular has saved process control industries hundreds of millions of dollars through their migration approach that has forced companies like Emerson, ABB and Honeywell to actually migrate instead of bulldoze their legacy systems. Give us a chance to make this work. We have been good for industry.
Thursday, May 1, 2003
Invensys spent £7m on PriceWaterhouseCoopers, for the INVEST program.
Thursday, May 1, 2003
It is not a matter of the upper management not telling everyone what is going on. It is more like they cannot tell you. If they were to tell you that would be inside trader information and there would be another Martha Stewert incident. There are laws beyond their control that limit what they can tell you as employees or as anyone else.
Pinto editorial comment:
Thursday, May 1, 2003
You can bet that when pieces and parts are sold, the last to know anything, and the least protected, will be the rank and file. I'm not griping, this is just the way it is. Those with the power always look after themselves first; it's the survival instinct.
You'd best be polishing up your resume. Or, at least be looking around - NOW while you have a job. It's a lot less stressful that way. If your job is going to disappear, it will most likely happen with no notice, or offers of assistance.
Thursday, May 1, 2003
I'm an EX-Invensys employee who was outsourced by Invensys to IBM. What is going to happen to all of us? IBM will not want us when there is no work from Invensys. This is a scary situation for us too. We don't know if we will be sold with the Invensys company, or if we will just be 'swinging in the wind'.
Wednesday, April 30, 2003
Invensys management likes to talk about focusing on the bottom line. Yet, when you look at the Invensys bottom line it looks pretty bad. Rick H, his consultants and his management picks need to accept the blame for bad strategies, bad execution and bad management. Unfortunately shareholders, customers and regular employees are paying the price, not Rick and his picks.
Wednesday, April 30, 2003 - from a current Invensys employee:
I must strongly protest the continued speculation of which Invensys
companies will be sold "when companies like Siemens are ready". As you
know, companies like Siemens and GE can often buy when they want to.
Invensys must have a set of companies that forms a base. Foxboro is a key
part of the base. Continuing to comment on this is a "reporter's
conjecture".
Invensys still suffers from having a mixture of "good" and "bad" executives,
but currently that is less of a problem because there is very little
freedom, and very high visibility. The pace of change is mixed with some
things happening too slowly and other things happening very quickly. I am
not leaving (headhunters have called many times). I like crises for the
good that comes from them, but I lament the neglect and malice that created
the crises.
Wednesday, April 30, 2003 - JimPinto.com eNews(extract)
Click to read: eNews 30 April 2003 - Invensys limps along
Tuesday, April 29, 2003 - re. Siemens can wait:
I guess Siemens can wait. It has waited 13 years. It was the runner up bidder when Foxboro was sold to Siebe in 1990. Of course, the Foxboro it will get isn't quite the same as the 1990 Foxboro. In 1990, there were 8000 employees, a good instrument product line and a promising new I/A process system business. Now there are about 1000 employees, a decrepit instrument product line and a system business that is in complete disarray.
Tuesday, April 29, 2003 - article from the Financial Times UK that supports the scenario described by the weblog below.
Siemens 'can wait' for an Invensys bid(extract)
Siemens is interested in the process automation part of Invensys, centred on its US-based Foxboro division, and also its rail signalling side. These are two parts of Invensys that the UK company plans to keep.
Mr. von Pierer said Siemens was "examining" whether to bid for those units of Invensys - such as energy management and appliance controls - that are for sale. However, he said Siemens would be "very cautious" about tabling any offer and made it clear that his real interest lay in the rest of the company. Mr von Pierer said Invensys could be forced by further difficulties to listen to offers for those parts of the company it planned to retain.
Click to read:UK Financial Times - Siemens 'can wait' for an Invensys bid
Tuesday, April 29, 2003
A worse fear (from the building automation perspective) is that Invensys may be forced to sell other divisions (process automation and rail systems) and instead, keep the building automation division. What may drive this is the fact that the potential buyers (Siemens, GE, Schneider, etc) are perhaps going to be much more interested in the process automation/rail systems lines, and not have an interest in the current "for sale" items.
For Building Systems to begin to prosper, it will have to be divested from Invensys, and brought into a competent company that focuses more on products and customers than on its own bottom line.
Monday, April 28, 2003
How do the new IFO's feel, now that Invensys has announced the sale of the Building Systems Business? What will happen to their suppliers? Does anyone have any ideas regarding who would be the likely purchasers of these businesses?
Sunday, April 27, 2003 - UK Independent - April 27, 2003 (extract)
Invensys headache heads to Chicago
The deadline for bids was last Friday. SSA, a private software company, raised $75m (£47m) earlier this month for acquisitions. Industry sources said that SSA is keen to get hold of Baan, and has the financial headroom to take on the loss-making firm. The head of Baan UK, is an ex-SSA executive. Other interested parties are thought to be Jan Baan, the founder of the business who sold it to Invensys in 2000 for £470m.
However, sources close to Baan were coy about a quick sale, and it is unclear if the bids were finalised on Friday night. Next month Invensys is expected to make a £650m provision, mostly due to Baan, when it publishes full-year results. It is unlikely to recover much of the money it paid for the business.
SG Securities does not attribute any value to Baan, and predicts sales of £250m and a loss of £25m this year for the division. But Broadview says its 15,000 customer sites worldwide could be attractive.
Invensys is struggling to reduce £1.6bn of debts and £700m of pension liabilities, despite £1.8bn of funds raised from disposals last year. It has eight more divisions up for sale.
Click to read:UK Independent - Invensys headache heads to Chicago
Sunday, April 27, 2003
Does anybody know how much Rick H. has spent on external management consultants in the last year? How much has been spent on INVEST and its bloated project tracking system? If INVEST had really delivered $200m then why the profit warnings?
Saturday, April 26, 2003
Invensys has been installing Baan throughout its companies. Let's have some of those people who were at the receiving end of this venture send in a weblog describing their nightmares with this system. Invensys insiders will understand the question.
Saturday, April 26, 2003 - To the individual that posted, "If Baan is losing money (and we have yet to see any proof) then all they need to do is cut expenses."
You have what it takes to join the Invensys "club" (see previous postings). If you are not one of the current VPs that have run one of many good companies within Invensys into the ground, perhaps you should apply for one of these overpaid VP positions.
Friday, April 25, 2003 - re: Baan's worth(lessness)
If I remember correctly, Invensys "sold" CompAir for a "nominal" sum. The precedent has been established for dealing with Baan.
Friday, April 25, 2003
Houston's Foxboro office is experienceing the beginnings of mass exodus. Top quality people are now exiting, unable or unwilling to sink with the ship. What will be left when Invensys finally realizes what it has done? Perhaps they should begin another INVEST project to find the answers.
Friday, April 25, 2003
To say that Invensys will have to pay $100m to get someone to take Baan away is ridiculous. If that were the case, why not just shut down the doors and save $100m. If Baan is losing money (and we have yet to see any proof) then all they need to do is cut expenses. I thought Invensys was installing Baan throughout their companies. If that is the case then they have a vested interest in making sure Baan stays around.
JimPinto comment:
Friday, April 25, 2003 - from a key London-based industry analyst, commenting on the JimPinto Invensys analysis, eNews dated 20 April 2003 (see link below):
We broadly agree with your comments with some exceptions:
Friday, April 25, 2003
Any thoughts on whether other companies like GE, United Technologies, or Schneider might be interested in Invensys Building Systems? The one factor as to whether IBS would be a fit for Siemens is the issue of redundancy - Siemens already has an extensive component line, a diverse process automation line and two seperate building automatiion systems (Powers and Staefa). Adding Barber-Colman, Erie, and the Building Automation line may make Siemens too inter-competetive.
Thursday, April 24, 2003
From the UK Guardian:
Click to read:UK Guardian item about Siemens & Invensys
Siemens chief executive Heinrich von Pierer also acknowledged that his company could be interested in parts of Britain's Invensys, which wants to sell assets to raise cash.
Thursday, April 24, 2003 - from a knowledgeable industry insider:
Invensys Control System Companies have raised the "For Sale" sign. Control Systems consist of the following companies (most with world wide plants):
Thursday, April 24, 2003
Well another layoff in Rockford today. When does it stop?
Wednesday, April 23, 2003 - from a "Wonder-Where" User:
Where is all this going to leave Wonderware users? A few days ago, I received the "rah-rah! Hooray for us!" letter from Invensys, telling me how focused they were on automation, and how committed they are to the future of Wonderware, et al. Although I am fairly underwhelmed by Wonderware's capabilities, (Scripting language sucks, difficult to keep track of where all the scripts are, tag refresh issues, automatically terminating scripts in the middle of loops, etc), our company has a site license that allows us to use unlimited tags on unlimited machines, etc. Because of this, we have wonderware everywhere. My concern at this point is: when the banks finally flush the Invensys toilet, what is going to happen to the remaining divisions? Do we start planning our exit strategy from Wonderware now? Or hope that someone buys it and honors the licensing agreements?
I realize that there are probably no known answers at this point, but I wnated to express my concern nontheless.....
Tuesday, April 22, 2003
OK somebody brought it up again: AchestrA - the biggest air balloon known to mankind. Luftballon in German, luchtballon in Dutch, A2 in Foxboro, MA. No matter what you call it. Nobody really knows how you make money with it. Nobody really knows what it really is. I've got to give them this: It is good marketing. You must to have it. You can't do without it.
If 'Baan' means 'job' in Dutch, then 'Haythornthwaite' must mean 'sell' in English. And we thought that the Germans had long names for their things.... AchestrA sounds German if you click your heels, could be French with some wine, Pizza AchestrA sounds good too, has anchovies though. Maybe it is like all the bubbles in English Marshall Ale - Just AIR!
Tuesday, April 22, 2003
There was a Darts competition at Invensys a month ago, between Rick & Dan Left, and Leo Quinn. The referees were the Investment Bankers. The Dart Board had all the Invensys Companies/Divisions around the board with Rail at 25 and Production Management at Bullseye. Rick went first. He threw 6, 12, 10. No score say the referees, try again. Dan's turn 5, 1, 20. No score say the referees try again. Leo did not have any darts, so the referee says Next! Rick threw 25, bull. The referees say - Winning score! Game over! The two divisions will be PMD and Rail. All the rest is up for sale.
The idea here is that Rick is playing the game, but the decisions are being made by the Invenstment Bankers who have much more to lose, and have little sentiment for the parts of Invensys. I don't know if Rick is a good darts player, but he did get a perfect score.
Tuesday, April 22, 2003 - from an industry insider:
I saw a quote from Leo Quinn in MSI Mid-Day Report April 21, 2003:
But I guess Quinn would argue that the system platform is unimportant since, "Every single thing below ArchestrA is going to be commodity." (Leo Quinn, Oct 2002 Industry Automation Insider.) And since Invensys has now given up on Baan, I guess Mr. Quinn will next confidently conclude that, "Every single thing above ArchestrA is going to be commodity."
I don't see many end users making 20 year bets (risking the maintainability of their production facilities) on a strategy that is predominately based on getting Invensys' traditional competitors to adopt ArchestrA as the conduit of information from their process control system into the business enterprise domain.
I predict the Production Management division will be sold off as soon as Haythornthwaite is willing to 1) sell off the individual pieces or 2) is willing to lower the lump sum price to enable an outside investment firm to break it apart for them. This will likely start a flurry of market consolidation. In fact, I would not be surprised to see someone buy up Honeywell's Automation and Control division before Invensys Production Management gets sold off. (Both are for sale, and Honeywell A&C would likely fetch a higher price BEFORE one of the few potential buyers commits to someone else.)
Tuesday, April 22, 2003
I'm now a former employee of Invensys. My experiences are a microcosm of the entire machine.
I worked in a very profitable office of Foxboro. But, with the latest reorganization, it was decided to move all engineering to Houston. The talk was that the real reason was that a VPs wife wanted to retire in Texas. Using this as an opportunity to eliminate the "competition" of other branch offices, a huge number of experienced, top-flight workers were axed over two years. As one of the last to go, I guess you could say that I was one of the best in the area. Profit margins on my projects were always above the amount in the original proposal (as much as 55% on one project) and customers not only asked for me by name, but wrote me into the T's and C's of the contract.
I asked my manager (in Texas) what I'd be working on next, and received an ominous silence (no returns on phone calls or emails). Shortly after, my office's engineering services was axed. A few (3) of the original group of 40 or so were moved to Field Services, and the rest are all gone.
Bottom line is that political considerations and empire-building always trump profitability at Invensys. Over the last four quarters of our existance, rolling our profits into the Houston bottom line turned red ink to black at Foxboro Engineering. But we got the ax anyway.
Monday, April 21, 2003
"Stay committed and focused on the company!" we were told just a few days ago. Then comes the announcement that most of the company is for sale. Here we are, fighting for what little payout we'll get after years of service, while Marshall and Haythornthwaite (and probably their cronies) will walk out with the big payouts. Hopefully I will have enough money to survive, before other job prospects arise.
Yes! How do I get a job as a CEO...?
Monday, April 21, 2003
Last week I was a happy new employee of a newly formed IFO. Now I am scared. What will happen to us if we are purchased by a competitor like Siemens? I wish I had the money to purchase the Rockford plant...
Monday, April 21, 2003
The Invensys.com web site states "Invensys is a global leader in production technology.". How quickly things change. Last week we were so much more like Energy Management, Software Giants. We all fear that soon the Banks may foreclose on the entire deal, and we will be in liquidation. The quicker they sell these businesses the better off we will all be.
I feel so sorry for my customers who log on to this rhetoric, only to see that Building Automation is no longer a core business. I am more than a little bit embarrassed that only two weeks ago I was telling them: Invensys is committed to you! I can't imagine what it must be like at BAAN.
Monday, April 21, 2003 - From UK Financial Times (extract):
Marshall's law
Good news for Rick Haythornthwaite, chief executive of beleaguered Invensys. He has received a vote of confidence. The bad news is that is has come from outgoing chairman Lord Marshall.
Marshall says that there is "no question" of Haythornthwaite resigning: "Rick is absolutely committed to delivering."
The Invensys CEO ought to be wary, judging by the last time Marshall made such a claim. In June 2001 he backed Allen Yurko, Haythornthwaite's predecessor. "The board is satisfied with Allen and there is no thought of making a change," Marshall said. Four weeks later Yurko packed his bags.
Sunday, April 20, 2003 - From UK Financial Times (extract):
Baan founder may buy back company
Jan Baan would consider buying back the software company he sold for £470m three years ago to Invensys in a deal blamed for precipitating the decline that climaxed in last week's decision to break up the former industrial powerhouse. Vanenburg Group, a software development company, part-owned and managed by Mr Baan, said: "We'd be stupid not to look at Baan." But it also sounded a note of caution: "If Invensys made a proposal, we would seriously consider it, but we will not actively pursue it."
Analysts have expressed concern that Invensys will struggle to recover a fraction of the amount it paid, or might even be forced to offer a cash dowry or financial guarantees to rid itself of Baan.
Sunday, April 20, 2003 - JimPinto.com eNews (extract):
Invensys - anatomy of a breakup
Rick Haythornthwaite is in a tight spot. Invensys is close to breaking banking covenants. But breakup in a bear-market will bring a pitiful valuation for shareholders. So what's a guy with a penchant for selling companies to do?
Here's the math: Invensys debt is £1.6bn, average interest 5%, adding up to £85m annually. The banking covenants require earnings (ebitda) to be 3.5 times this, or £300m. Last week, Invensys said its operating profits would be £250m this year, implying ebitda of £350m - that's very little headroom.
In addition to debt, Invensys has pensions deficits of £300m (maybe more, see below). Under the current distressed status, the conservative valuation of assets is about £2.8bn. This leaves little more than the current low £500m market-cap. So, what to do with a bag of barely profitable businesses?
Click to read: Invensys - Anatomy of a breakup
Sunday, April 20, 2003 - about the comment: "Baan is a top quality company?"
I would have to say yes, it is a top quality company. They are one of the first companies to have a buyer show interest. Attached is an extract from an article on the web - Computerwire/Datamonitor:
With more than 15,000 customer sites worldwide, Baan is bound to attract widespread interest, though the ERP market is brutally competitive and market leaders such as SAP AG (Xetra: 716460.DE - news) have tended to make progress at the expense of smaller competitors.
Baan was a poorly managed, over-staffed company, leaking huge quantities of cash before Invensys brought its independent existence to an end. Initially, it appeared a good fit with Invensys' own focus on industry but Invensys lost the confidence of the investment community. While in the current climate Baan will fetch only a modest sum, there will be relief that someone else will have the headache of finding a way to make it profitable.
Sunday, April 20, 2003
US based business units must operate under US pension laws. I've heard a number of times that US pension funds are protected by law because we are in the US. I feel sorry for the people in the UK. Are the UK unions protecting their people?
Lord Marshall is set for life. The sad thing is that he and Allen Yurko caused these problems. And we, the employees, are suffering for their mistakes!
Saturday, April 19, 2003
The Independent News article (below) brings up a point, maybe someone can clarify for me. What will happen to the pension obligations of individual business units when they are sold off? Is it typical for that obligation to remain with the old parent, or transfer to the new owner? Are the US based business units operating under US pension laws or UK rules?
If not obvious by now, I'll admit to being more than a little worried about Invensys' pension fund situation. If taken to bankruptcy, where does the pension fund stand in the queue?
You can bet that neither his Lordship nor Slick Rick will have these same worries. I'm quite sure their deals are already in place, and will be paid out regardless of what happens to the rest of us......
Saturday, April 19, 2003
UK Independent - 20 April 2003
Summary :
But now news has surfaced that Invensys may reveal a pension shortfall of more than £700m (£1B is the conservative HSBC esimate). The other problem is that the banks fear that the planned disposals are likely to involve staggered payments to Invensys, with warranties about future earnings for the businesses sold off. If too much earnings are sold for too little money early on, that might force the banks to act. This would lead to restructuring, or even bankruptcy administration.
UK Independent News news article (April 20, 03)
Saturday, April 19, 2003 - replying to the weblog: Not "Anyone can run a firesale"
Friday, April 18, 2003 - "Anyone can run a firesale!"
Anyone can run a firesale. But, Haythornthwaite is not running a fire sale. During a fire sale you sell off anything for any price. These are top quality business being sold off. This man was brought in because he manages to get top dollar for the sales he completes. That is what sets him apart from "anyone"
Saturday, April 19, 2003 - RE: How do you get a CEO job anyway?
Answer: You must join the "club". Joining the "club" is like smoking pot. The harder you suck, the higher you get.
Friday, April 18, 2003
Why Invensys could not make it's profit numbers...
Friday, April 18, 2003 - from "Left Behind at Production Management":
The inevitable breakup: I was saddened to learn that Production Management was not included in the "for sale" list. But for those expecting to be part of the divested business groups, rejoice! It can only get better for you once you are out from under the oppressive and incompetent Invensys management.
It kind of reminds me of a person with cancer. Normally, cancer is treated by trying to remove the cancer from the body. In this case, the body is being removed from the cancer. Remove enough of the viable parts, and the cancer will die. Good riddance!
Thursday, April 17, 2003
Rick Haythornthwaite isn't known for building companies - he is good at arranging firesales. The really sad part is that Invensys is a worse company now than before he arrived. Shareholder value is borderline bankruptcy, the pension plan is in the toilet, delisted from the FTSE100. Maybe its time for the man, his consultants and friends to save shareholders millions of dollars in salaries and perks by just resigning. Anyone can run a firesale!
Thursday, April 17, 2003
From : Mike Bradley, Sr. - President, Wonderware/ArchestrA
Invensys has made this radical decision as part of a full commitment to the industrial market. It becomes the only player focused solely on providing solutions for production management to the process, hybrid and discrete industries. It will have the financial strength to assure healthy long-term relationships.
Wednesday, April 16, 2003 - about the previous weblog: "The call center is over worked, under paid and not qualified for the task."
I have to say I do not agree with you at all. Please re-read your comment. How can a "not qualified" person be under paid? If they are not qualified, they should not be paid as much as those that are qualified.
The point I am trying to make is this: I feel those that are left are very qualified, and could do everything expected of them - just not all at once. If they were not streched so thin, they could do any part of their job perfectly. There are just not enough hours in a day to do everything expected, no matter how qualified you are.
Wednesday, April 16, 2003
I agree with Mr. Optimistic - why the doom and gloom? The way this company is structured at present is a joke. The Tech's and Sales Folks will be much better off; right now, the company is not aware of the talent they provide. Once these people get out of the grips of this mis-management, things will get better.
Invensys has tried to demoralize these people. These employees are tired of working around this bottle neck of incompetence. Maintenance Contracts are being cancelled daily, for non performance. The call center is over worked under paid and not qualified for the task. So hang in there - it will be better!
Wednesday, April 16, 2003 - responding to Mr. Optimistic:
I hope you are correct. But, using Foxboro as an example, I don't share your optimism with respect to the well being of existing US employees. If Invensys is sold (the best case), I think most of the commodity products will either be abandoned or transferred completely (engineering and manufacturing) to India/China. Examples: all pressure and flow products. Why would Emerson or another company with similar products want to bother with Foxboro's products? The systems business (I/A - Archestra) may survive but not as a manufacturing and product design business. It may survive as a greatly stripped down sales and system engineering and integration operation although most of the talent there is gone.
Regarding the remaining Invensys companies, there won't be any. It is pretty clear that Invensys is going out of business. The stock is rallying on the belief that the parts are worth more than the whole.
Wednesday, April 16, 2003
Why all the doom and gloom? Those companies being sold off will no doubt be purchased by someone wishing to enhance and grow that portion of their business. While they will pickup many of these prized possessions for a song, they can and will become quickly profitable. Enjoy the transistion!
Meanwhile, those companies staying in the Invensys fold will see their parent company get out of debt and in the end have more resources to focus on the needs of these organizations. Enjoy the day the debt goes away!
In the end, Invensys is a much smaller organization. However, after the ill-advised acquisitions of the 90's, they get back to a smaller focused company and will likely be a player again in the industries where they choose to play. Enjoy the smaller, more focused company!
Call me Mr. Optimistic, but I see this as good news, more good news and more good news. Have a great day!
Wednesday, April 16, 2003 - Financial Times-UK (extract):
Marshall departs another stage
In a long career in UK industry, Lord Marshall has been associated with several high- profile resignations, often in unpropitious circumstances. On Tuesday, it was his turn to take his leave of a leading company, again with a bad odour in the air.
He said he was standing down as chairman of Invensys, after four, often fraught, years. He did this as the company announced a break-up plan that marks a significant reversal from its strategy of just 14 months ago.
Tuesday, April 15, 2003 - from an employee - Manchester, Indiana
Today we met with our plant manager and were informed our division was being sold. We were informed our profit margin was lowest in the division at 7% while the rest were at 15%. We don't know if this is true. Was any other companies told the same or were we really low? I believe most of the employees are pleased to be sold, yet aprehensive about new buyers and the possibility of plant closure.
Tuesday, April 15, 2003
They announce that they are going to spin off half of the company, but don't suggest a strategy for ultimate survival. Now what?
Tuesday, April 15, 2003 - from a Rockford, IL. employee:
Upon reading today's announcement, I was immediately filled with hope for the future of our once great company (which was unfortunately aligned with the Climate Controls business group during the "last" round of reorganizations). One can only pray that a business run by competent management (with a long-term business plan) will acquire our company and subsequently restores profitabilty and morale to the marvelous workforce here in Rockford.
Tuesday, April 15, 2003
CEO Direct - Message from Rick Haythornthwaite
With the trading statement today, we announced a radical course of action for
Invensys. Today we have two core divisions. Tomorrow weíll have one -
Production Management.
We are moving most of our Energy Management businesses - together with APV
Baker and Baan - into an expanded Development Division. We will then seek
either partial or full disposal of our holdings in them, depending on the individual
cases. Rail Systems will now be managed on a standalone basis.
Sunday, April 13, 2003 - from an Invensys Rail Group Employee:
With the possibility of disposals from Invensys on the horizon at the trading update on 15th April 2003, I wonder if Siemens will be making a pitch for the Rail Group? Invensys have just got a foot in the Siemens Rail home market with future opportunities on the horizon, while Siemens have been struggling to get into the UK Rail market, with no real hope of major access. One to ponder - for a quick fire sale.
Saturday, April 12, 2003 - For the soon-to-be-former Invensys employee:
We all might be former soon. You actually were promised a pay raise effective April 1st. The whole PM division was told that no pay raises were coming until August. I;ve been reading this weblog for months now. I have written response after response, but never send any - I was afraid it would cost me my job. Here I am, living in a country that says it leads the free world, afraid to open my mouth because it could cost me my job? I do not even want to say what Invensys company I work for. Except for a few ignorant new hires and consultants, I know of nobody that actually likes or approves of Invensys management. This includes most of my management. There are thousands of honest hardworking Invensys employees that just want to keep their job because they like the company - not Invensys, but the people they work with and work for. All these people want to do is pay their mortgage or rent, get their kids through college and have their plan for retirement. They do not ask for miracles, they do not want to become something they are not. Becoming Invensys to them is like becoming the Borg: resistance is futile, you will be assimilated!
I have a message for every Invensys manager: Whatever you need to do, do it sooner rather than later. But do it in a way so you can go to sleep at night with a clear conscience. And remember you have an obligation to ALL the stakeholders in this company. Not just your boss, not just the stockholder. Most important you have an obligation to all the people that allowed you to be where you are today. These people are the people that work for you. You can demand their respect and you will never get it. If you do not have it yet you will have to work very hard to earn their respect, no matter how smart you think you are. You'd better hurry up, your time is running out.
Saturday, April 12, 2003
Filter the truth! What truth? When was the last time Invensys employees heard any truth?
Here's some truth: Within Global Services service structure there are Service "Supervisors" with no experience in the Industry whatsoever. Our customer's and service personnel are subjected to their ignorance and attitude. The only reasons many customers remain with Invensy are the service people handling their accounst. To be evaluated by one of these incompetent so-called "supervisors" is really a slap in the face. They are so far removed from the actual workings of a service department that it's pathetic. More customers have abandoned Invensys because of them and the Hub structure, than because of service personnel. If the customers were to evaluate their relationship with Invensys, a good number of the supervisors and the customer's Hub contacts would be given their walking papers.
Anyone out there in Invensys that was given an evaluation which they feel wasn't warranted should protest directly to Rick Haythornthwaite. If justice isn't forthcoming, leave Invensys, and hopefully your customers will do likewise.
There are some supervisors who are competent, and have the respect of the customers and the Techs. They are to be saluted!
"THE TRUTH IS OUT THERE". It just isn't noticed at Invensys.
Saturday, April 12, 2003 - responding to the 4/11 comment:
A "team" at "Invensys House" to filter the truth?? I wonder how much they will spend on "spin" instead of facing reality? What really surprises me is that none of the postings on this weblog are untrue. Some are very opinionated, but none are untrue.
Saturday, April 12, 2003
Well, it seems that the thought police are alive and well at Invensys. Are these narrow-minded people trying to terrorize their employees? The management of this plummeting conglomerate have now resorted to being bullies. It's a shame that these people, some of whom don't deserve to manage a hotdog stand, are in charge of the lives of thousands of peoples. We are reaching the end of the road, and all the different companies in Invensys will soon be sold. And, I suppose that these so-called senior managers will be congratulated on their accomplishments, as they depart.
Saturday, April 12, 2003
Is the world to believe that the recent Rail Systems contract is the miracle Invensys has been waiting for? And, will this cure all that ails Invensys? Are their enough competent personnel left within Invensys Rail Systems to honor this contract?
Will preventing access to the JimPinto.com website supress the truth enough for Rick Haythornthwaite's propagda to have effect upon Invensys employees?
Many believe the end to Invensys is at hand. Any guesses as to where Rick, and those who orchestrated the changes since his taking over, will surface?
Are Foxboro and Powerware soon to be cast from the "core" and disposed of? If so, in my opinion they are likely to perform much better without the Invensys influence.
Friday, April 11, 2003 - from a soon-to-be-former Invensys employee:
I'm tired of the BS. I was issued a increase in salary last week, and was told by my manager that it would be on my next weeks check. Well, next week came and the increase was not posted. So, I called Payroll and asked why my increase was not on this weeks check. Payroll stated that the increases will be posted on NEXT week's check, and that my manager misinformed me. Is my manager clueless? Or, is payroll is stalling? Or both?
Well, I just accepted a position with the IFO.
Friday, April 11, 2003
They did it! The JimPinto.com website cannot be accessed through our Invensys Intranet!
Today, many of us in Europe who were trying to access JimPinto.com had a bad surprise - an automatic message: "prohibited Internet site". Then we were directed to a webpage with our CEO directive, with headlines about our Rail contract. It's clear now that we need to connect to JimPinto.com via home access - which no one can stop.
Another comment: a team is in charge at Invensys House to find out the source of bad comments about the company. This results in people being pointed out by their managers as "dark angels".
Thursday, April 10, 2003
Congratulations to the team at Rail Systems for such a huge contract win. Let's just hope that they have the people left to deliver, without being affected by incompetent VP's. Sincerely, well done and good luck!
Wednesday, April 9, 2003
The sell off is on in Powerware, Energy management Division. And a batch of mid-level execs were let go this week.
The Alpha Group announced the purchase of Lectro, a division of Raleigh, NC based Invensys Powerware. Mark Ascolese, President of Invensys Powerware (of which Lectro was a division) commented that "Invensys Powerware's strategic focus is on our core area of expertise, and that is in our AC UPS and DC power systems business. Selling the Lectro group will make it possible to better utilize resources for product development in these areas."
"Core" today, gone tomorrow.
Wednesday, April 9, 2003
Remember when we hired Slick Rick? It was for no sell offs (like the cement business) only growth. Well, now it looks like we are right were Rick is the most comfortable. Perhaps he can rid us of many of the new VPs and GMs that have been added over the last year. It would save a fortune.
Wednesday, April 9, 2003
What is the story with Baan? Invensys spends millions on integrating Baan into their other divisions, so now they can't get rid of this "lost cause" company without spending more millions painfully removing Baan from all their integrations.
Has the upper management been bewitched into thinking that Baan will somehow become a winner if they keep shoveling piles of internal money at it long enough?
Tuesday, April 8, 2003
In response to the one who wrote: "Often better solutions come them than do the over paid factory engineers."
Has it ever dawned on you that the engineering staff is running way too "lean" to be able to spend the time needed to fully do a job properly? When you run out of people, and have no one to do the job because there are to many jobs pending, not everything gets done. This has become the way Invensys runs. They lay people off and overload their remaining workers.
Tuesday, April 8, 2003
Any news on what is happening to the APV part of the sinking ship? Is any part likely to be sold? Any suitors for it?
Tuesday, April 8, 2003
Well another layoff in Rockford. When will it stop? So many dedicated people who have put their lives & souls into the company and this is the ending prize! I'm sure there will be more coming soon - after all it's the end of the fiscal year.
Tuesday, April 8, 2003
Does anybody know what will become of the Invensys Global Services(HVAC Service).I don't know how much more the customers can take.I don't know how much more the service personal can take.It's as if we are working on our own. The IFO sure looks inviting.
Tuesday, April 8, 2003
Speaking of who gets sold and all; what about the metering systems group? They are small in comparison to some of the groups, but are very profitable year after year. Has anyone heard of suitors for this deck on the sinking ship?
Tuesday, April 8, 2003 - Re:Invensys break up.
Does anyone have any information or idea what will become of Eurotherm if Invensys breaks up? I am hopeful we will not be stuck staying with what is left of Invensys.
Pinto Comment:
Tuesday, April 8, 2003
As a customer of Invensys, I can only pray that the shareholders will set Wonderware free. They knew it was a good company when they bought it, and ever since, Invensys has run it into the ground. Wonderware cannot support the plethora of bad business decisions that have been made by Siebe, and now Invensys.
The management of Invensys has demonstrated on several occasions that they are liars, not solution providers. For those that went to the last Showcase, much of what I have said here was obvious.
Thank goodness for the strong independent, customer oriented Distributors. Often better solutions come them than do the over paid factory engineers.
Just to set the record straight. The backbone of Wonderware is the Batch product. The Batch product was a result of an alliance with SEC and Foxboro. Prior to the purchase of Wonderware, Foxboro engineers shared proprietary information with SEC which resulting in the most robust batch product on the market. This development 'sharing' continued with the purchase of Wonderware by Invensys.
Tuesday, April 8, 2003
Well done to Invensys Rail, I'm sure people there worked hard for this contract!
But I couldn't help smiling when I read in this article that "the contract would only have been awarded if Bombardier (the customer) was confident that Invensys was financially healthy." The Invensys spin doctors must have worked long into the night to make sure thay got that line into print! In fact, Invensys Rail is in the Development [Disoposal] Division i.e. on the open market! So before very long this company will no longer be a part of Invensys. Probably the customer knows this and hence the contract....
So the moral of the story is to get your company into the Development Division, then your customers will start to look more favourably at you! Maybe Rick will soon see the logic of this and re-structure Invensys into just one division. No prizes for guessing its name!
Tuesday, April 8, 2003
The Guardian, UK - April 8, 2003
Shares in Invensys soared 30% yesterday amid growing expectations that the troubled engineering group could announce plans for new asset sales as early as its trading update on April 15.
The group declined to comment on the latest speculation that parts of its energy management and development businesses - which includes the rail operation - will be sold.
Guardian UK article (8 April 03)
Invensys shares rise on £850m contract win
Invensys shares rose by more than 15 per cent on Monday after they announced a £850m ($1.4bn) London Underground signalling contract.
Monday, April 7, 2003
Anyone have any thoughts on which divisions are likely to be sold in the next round? And who are the buyers?
I had heard that United Technologies would be a potential buyer. Anyone else?
Monday, April 7, 2003 - The Times, UK
Invensys denies sell-off will lead to break-up
Sunday, April 6, 2003
Is Rick Haythornthwaite about to become a cowboy? Just as cattle are rounded up and driven to a coral prior to market, will all the different entities within Invensy be rounded up, driven under one roof and auctioned off? The Invensys round up has already started; different divisions within Invensys are being grouped within one facility. Giddy-yup Rick! Get the Invensys herd to market before your management team infects them any further.
Sunday, April 06, 2003 - Hoover's Online - Sunday Telegraph
Invensys takes drastic step towards break-up
INVENSYS, the former powerhouse of British industry, will next week pave the way for a break-up which will mark the end of the company in its current form.
Hoover's online - Sunday Telegraph UK
Friday, April 04, 2003 - Re: announcement by Leo Quinn about APV leadership change.
"It is with regret that we announce that John Gialouris, President APV Solutions & Services,
has resigned from the Company".
From an APV insider:
This guy understood the disfunctional setup at APV. He also understood that
he could not change it due to the present management structure. It is just
another sign of the Invensys revolving-door management.
Friday, April 4, 2003 - Re: Previous weblog about Baan & Building Systems
Baan blew it at Foxboro also. They designed Foxboro's 'www.invensysdirect.com' site for selling Foxboro's I/A pressure transmitters under the Invensys brand name. It had so many problems that Foxboro was not going to pay them.
Thursday, April 3, 2003 - Baan and Building Systems Americas
If the recent Baan system implemented for Building Systems Americas is any indication of the general product that Baan delivers, then it was no wonder that Baan was on the verge of collapse when Yurko bought it. I have never seen an awful, terrible, inefficient system.
I am told that this system cost $12-14 million to implement. Prior to purchasing Baan, quotes had been received for a new system that would have cost about $5 million to implement.
Thursday, April 3, 2003
Times UK: The die is cast for Invensys (extracts)
INVENSYS has the dubious honour of being the biggest faller in the FTSE 300 in the first three months of the year. The shares closed yesterday at 11p, 80 per cent lower than where they began the year.
The question now is less whether Invensysís share price will recover sufficiently, but whether the company can survive. A trading statement is due on April 15 and contract wins are likely to be announced before then, but neither event looks likely to kick-start the shares which are only worth holding for a break-up.
Times (UK): http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,748-632768,00.html
Monday, March 31, 2003
Rick Haythornthwaite and his chosen ones have finally gained respect after finally pulling Invensys together!
Saturday, March 29, 2003
Insanity may be doing the same thing over and over again expecting different results. INVENSYSITY is doing the same same STUPID thing over and over again expecting something intelligent as the result.
It's that time again - "March madness" - time for fiscal year reporting! Is this the reason why employee expenses are not paid to date, vendors and subcontractors are not being paid, and was the latest ploy not to have the corporate vehicles insurance paid until the new fiscal year? Just how many corporate vehicles are without up to date insurance documents?
To Rick Haythornthwaite and his "masters of disasters" team: What's next and what kind of propaganda can we look forward to? The call is out there to not dwell on the negative. With the current organization there is nothing else left to dwell on.
Tuesday, March 25, 2003
The definition of insanity is doing the same things over and over again and expecting different results. This would indicate that throwing a bunch more VP's at our situation won't work this time either, but I'll bet that's what we get.
Help us Obi Wan............
Monday, March 24, 2003
When you have 60,000 employees working in a dedicated manner with two objectives - Cash(Profit) and Cash Flow - and nothing else matters, then you are going to end up with 60,000 disillusioned employees, when your Company losses 75% of its Market Cap and a share price of around 12p a share.
We were focused on Cash and more cash and then more cash while Rome burned. The result (poor as it is) goes against everything that the Employment Survey came up with: focused employees, informed employees, good communication, good direction from Senior Management. It seems evident that they read the results back to front, and left out the potentially damaging questions.
Perhaps the key to Invensys' ongoing success is not so much about 'How much cash can we generate and profitize?' but, back to some fundemental business principles like Customer Focus, Human Resources, Change Management, Technical Training, and re-skilling the depleted workforce. But as we all know this costs money, money that Invensys does not have. They should have cash - given their frenzied calls for more cash and more cash. I think the Senior Management knows this and is acting to address the wilderness years of an internal focus on profit and cash that left most customer's saying: Invensys who? What? When? and Where are they??
Wednesday, March 19, 2003 - from an ex-employee of Invensys Building-Systems, Australia:
Any wonder that Invensys is in such financial strife and, as such, looks to dispose of the businesses it THINKS are under-performing? The Building-Systems business is being managed by an incompetent VP who is based in another country, and who has yet to prove he can run his own business, let alone one in a different part of the world. This VP has not only destroyed shareholder value, and a business that thrived for some 15 - 20 years before he came along, but also he somehow manages to escape the blowtorch for his failures. What next - a promotion?
Until Rick Haythornthwaite and his divisional CCO's start to hold these VP's accountable for their (lack of) performance, the employees of Invensys will remain skeptical of his plans to turnaround this company. Take action Rick, and get rid of VP's who fail to deliver results. You can watch with satisfaction how employees and managers deliver results without these bad-apple VP's, not to mention the massive cost savings to the company.
Wednesday, March 19, 2003
Here in the midwest, every day we find out that another customer has canceled a contract. With no salesmen to sell new contracts how do they think service is going to last? Now the IFO will be coming online in April, we all know where these customers are going. I don't know how long Invensys service will last.
Wednesday, March 19, 2003 - from "An Invensys Middle Mgt Guy":
Of course there is no "magical" light at the end of the tunnel. But with some good, solid business decisions: eliminating the poor past practices, divesting poor performing companies, smart capital spending, and some general belt tightenning, Invensys may not look the same next year, but I don't think it is doomed.
Tuesday, March 18, 2003
Many Techs and Sales People are tired of the poor job Invensys has done in supporting them. The company dictates how the market will be approached, when the solution is simply feedback from the Techs and Sales people. These people are very marketable and are being courted by many 'head hunters'. Within a short time, they will depart - which will mean devastation to Invensys. These successful folks will be succeeding elsewhere!
Tuesday, March 18, 2003 - from a Foxboro Australia Employee:
Here at Foxboro Australia it feels like the worst may at last be over. Some sensible management decisions are finally being made, and it no longer feels like we are ignoring our core markets while trying foolish new strategies at random. I for one have stopped lying awake worrying about whether I'll have a job in the morning. Whether our long term future is with a new leaner Invensys remains to be seen.
Tuesday, March 18, 2003
There is no magical light at the end of the tunnel. The reality is to realize what is really happening around you, and prepare yourself.
Tuesday, March 18, 2003 - from "An Invensys Middle Mgmt. Guy"
This year, March Madness is alive and well, although in a much reduced form as compared to recent years and half-years. At our location, we are doing only about a quarter of what we did last year (ship-aheads, bill-offs, etc.) and we are doing it without giving away the house (no discounts or extended terms are being offered).
Maybe there is light at the end of the tunnel.
Monday, March 17, 2003
Can anyone comment on the scope of Invensys' "March Madness?" Just wondering if, in light of the recent events, the annual "fire sale" is on full scale, as the end of the fiscal year is two weeks away.
Monday, March 17, 2003 - From The Times, London, March 15, 2003
Invensys rose 0.25p to 10.25p on talk that Siemens and Emerson are casting an eye over its process automation division, which Credit Suisse First Boston values at £448 million. Siemens is seen as a more likely buyer. Emerson, which is thought to be interested in its rivalís client base, may face US antitrust problems with any deal.
Sunday, March 16, 2003 - Re: "I don't get it".
No, neither did anyone. It was a well-designed piece of hype-generating work, if I ever saw one. It was designed to ellicit 'nice' responses from people, not obtain the truth. For instance, instead of asking whether we were happy, dissatisfied or otherwise about somebody or something, we were told a lie like "Invensys Management are right on the job" then asked to rate how true it was !? How true??
I simply refused to answer many questions as there were no appropriate answers to choose from. The results of the Invensys Employee Survey are about as believable as the last Presidential elections...
Extract from JimPinto.com eNews, March 14, 2003
Invensys continues in dire straits, with bad news coming in
day-by-day. A month after the 60% Valentine's day crash to 20p,
the stock dropped as low as 8.75p on Thursday 13 March 03 and
closed at 10.00p, with a market-cap of just £350M.
Friday, March 14, 2003 - another response to "just don't get it".
Naivete can get you killed. If you really are an Invensys employee, you are well aware that one of management's favorite games is "shoot the messenger". Most of us don't put it past them to have a way to track responses, although I'll admit it is isn't likely.
Remember whe lean enterprise was going strong? If you disagreed with any policy introduced under the lean banner, even if it was pure insanity, you were labled a "concrete head" and your future with Invensys was considered to be in doubt.
One more thing, just because you're paranoid doesn't mean they're not out to get you. The survey results need to be examined under the light of a sick corporate culture that stifles creativity and punishes initiative.
Friday, March 14, 2003
I was happy to see that Rick Haythorntwaite actually reads some comments. See his comments (to the Financial Times) dated Tuesday, March 11, 2003. I hope he reads this weblog.
Hey Rick I think you are trying your best to get Invensys back on the road to success. I've been reading these comments in the log and I find many of them interesting. Are you paying attention to them? I came across one from a former employee - see February 23, 2003. Whats up with that?? You are asked and encouraged to speak up but when you do you are fired??! Maybe you should be looking at the people that are doing the firing! Lets stop hiring VP's and laying off the people that have made it successful.
Friday, March 14, 2003 - Response to "I just don't get it":
Try to remember how the satisfied with Invensys questions were worded. Sometimes just the way they word these questions makes the outcome positive - When, and if they post the comments, which I certainly hope they will and pay more attention to those than the numbers, that is where they will get the true feelings of the team members. Also, I think many people feel much better after posting their thoughts on this weblog and discover they are not alone. Don't you? Perhaps you work in a position that you are not feeling insecure in your job and your companies future - if so - lucky you! Please spread your positive experiences with us, as you know, this weblog isn't just a place for negative comments. It is a place for all to speak freely. Apparently, people don't feel that way in most of the Invensys work place as the survey definetly pointed that out.
Thursday, March 13, 2003 - from : "I just don't get it!"
So where were all you big time complainers when the employee survey got done??? As 85% of you are, all things considered, "satisfied to be working for Invensys", I can only conclude that either:
Where did your sense of self respect and self worth go?!? May the force (or whatever it is you aspire to) be with you. You are making anybody with an honest desire to contribute feel sick.
Thursday, March 13, 2003
Invensys stock price closed at 9.25p, market-cap GBP 324.
Thursday, March 13, 2003 - (Reuters extracts):
Invensys bans pension fund exit
Invensys banned employees from exiting its pension scheme, making it the first company to say it would adopt new guidelines meant to head-off a run on distressed company pension funds. The company is trying to stave-off a run on its three billion pound ($4.83 billion) fund.
Under new guidelines laid down by the Occupational Pensions Regulatory Authority (Opra), trustees of company pensions can stop members leaving financially troubled company pension schemes by preventing them from transferring their benefits. The newspaper quoted an Invesys spokesman as saying:
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,5-609019,00.html
http://uk.us.biz.yahoo.com/rf/030312/engineering_invensys_1.html
Wednesday, March 12, 2003 - Marshall loses his FTSEs
It was a grim day for Lord Marshall of Knightsbridge yesterday as the two companies he leads were evicted from the FTSE 100 index. Lord Marshall, 69, is chairman of British Airways and engineering group Invensys, which were both relegated from the league of blue chip companies .
Guardian UK: Lord Marshall loses his place in blue chip club
Wednesday, March 12, 2003
It appears the Invensys pension plan is about to go belly-up. It's too bad they had to drag the pensions of Foxboro Company workers into their consolodated plan as their fund was being managed with a surplus. Maybe this was Invensys plan to drain off the surplus to keep their pensions above water at least for the time being.
Tuesday, March 11, 2003
LETTERS TO THE EDITOR: Invensys in perspective
Sir, Your article "Invensys troubles raise fears for software brand" (March 8) is misleading to your readers.
Long-term customers of Invensys are not deserting the company; indeed they continue to buy our products and services as normal because these provide essential improvements to their capabilities and productivity. Baan is part of our production management division but it is not, as you assert, our "flagship" software brand. It accounts for less than 5 per cent of Invensys sales. Baan UK (where you quote the head of Baan Users Group), accounts in turn for about 5 per cent of total Baan sales and therefore significantly less than 1 per cent of Invensys' sales worldwide. As of today, Baan continues to acquire important new customers. l have never sought to play down the real issues Invensys faces as it moves from an unconnected conglomerate to a focused provider of products and services in the production and energy management sectors. However, these issues need to be kept in perspective and I find it surprising that - despite conversations with our staff - the information used continues to be selective.
Richard Haythornthwaite, Chief Executive, Invensys, London SW1P 1BX
http://search.ft.com/search/article.html?id=030311001239&query=Invensys
What the Papers Say: Tuesday 11th March 2003:
VT Group (LSE: VTG.L) chairman, Martin Jay, tipped as heir apparent for top job at Invensys.
http://uk.biz.yahoo.com/030311/237/dv5hk.html
Sunday, March 09, 2003 - UK Financial Times:
Financial Times:Horror run leaves Invensys facing FTSE demotion
Invensys is poised to make a humiliating exit from the prestigious FTSE 100 index this week. The company saw its share price drop 75 % last month, marking what is believed to be the steepest fall for a company out of the leading index.
Sunday, March 09, 2003
Did the snake mentioned in a previous Weblog visit the Eastern Service Hub and turn on itself already? In the process of devouring itself it may encounter an unpleasant taste. Is the service team about to exit the Invensys Arena as other service teams have already done? Years of experience and dedication apparently have no value in the current Invensys. A mass exodus is on the way. Customers are supportive of their service teams - not the Invensys management.
Friday, March 7, 2003
I remember hearing an analogy for a company selling its assets to pay its debts. It may have been by Louis Rukeyser. Anyway, it's like a snake chewing on its tail. While it may taste good and satisfy the snake's hunger, eventually he bites into something important.
Friday, March 7, 2003
Invensys internal e-newspaper 'CEO Direct' with the title: 'Stay focused!' Some comments were too negative to post on this public weblog.
Friday, March 7, 2003
The rumours of a buyout are false, the stock will no longer be part of the FTSE 100 anyway. There appears to be endless support for the stock at 12.50p. This may be validation that the Invensys strategy may work. I think that if they just sell off enough assests to lower the debt, we will survive and then thrive as a much stronger company later this year.
Thursday, March 6, 2003
What about IBS Americas? Any idea where they fit into the Invensys picture? Any chance that a United Technologies, Siemens or, Johnson Controls would be interested in that group? Or, would they be better off being spun off "back into Barber Colman/Robertshaw", i.e. their pre-Siebe form?
Extract from JimPinto.com eNews, March 6, 2003
My advice to key managers in strong, independent companies such as Triconex: Get your management group together and attempt a leveraged buyout. You can get bank financing based on independent cash-flow, plus strong venture capital that would be willing to support a good management team.
Wednesday, March 5, 2003 - from an Invensys Tech, in Rockford, IL.
After spending a week in training in Rockford and taking a tour of the plant, it is easy to see that the hard working people are keeping Invensys running. Too bad that some of them aren't over in England, running things. We would all be in better shape. So, my hat is off to all the good people in the Rockford plant. You should be proud that you are the reason this plant is still running.
Wednesday, March 05, 2003
Invensys may scrap pension scheme
Wednesday, March 5, 2003 - from Reuters article:
Karen Olney, European equity strategist at Dresdner Kleinwort Wasserstein, said Rolls-Royce, BAE and Invensys were among companies with older, larger pension plans relative to their market values and/or net assets that investors should steer clear of.
Tuesday, March 4, 2003
So, what future for Invensys? Talks abound about a competitor bidding in and breaking up the company. Under what senario would this occur, and who would be the likely candidates to pick up the pieces?
Specifically, with the Building Systems (Americas) group, who would be likely to pick up the line, or would the group be spun off on to its own?
Tuesday, March 4, 2003 - this (not original) was posted as something that applies with eerie significance.
Monday, March 3, 2003
Invensys has hired too many outside, inexperienced managers. I work with one who seems to have no more experience than reading the GE manual on "How to be like Jack", "How to forget customers" and "How to Punish winners by treating them like losers". He could be described as a sheep, following all the others through a hole in the fence and then over the same cliff.
He has coined the new phrase "If it's working change it". Under this theory, even the part of the products group that produced extraodinary profits and cash, is required to give blood in gallons instead of pints. Slash, cut and burn now, because you are the only winning horse we have. When he exits the company soon, leaving everything in ICU, he will be humming "We are INVENSYBLE" (to the tune "We Are The Champions") and carry away a big check.
Sunday, March 2, 2003
Who is the rival competitor of Invensys who may take over? Read Hoover's Saturday Business and the Sunday Observer/Business.
Link to Sunday Observer story: "Engineer a Downfall"
Can anyone provide the Hoover web-link?
Times discussion on which companies might be interested in parts of Invensys:
Sunday, March 2, 2003
What's happening with the Service Departments of Invensys? Several locations have had their field personnel pull up stakes and their contract customers are cancelling their contracts. Could it be that they were tired of the constant diet of BS? Or, could it be that their service managers are inept as well as arrogant? Who is going to take the heat for the current state of affairs?
"Calm and robust" are what Rick H. is calling for in his most recent communication. "Business as usual" at Invensys is what the customers are to be told. Once again Rick H. appears to be totally out of touch with reality and is trying to convince everyone that all is going to be OK if the course he has set is followed.
New programs and senior management training are to start. In any of these programs or training, is common sense, or the ability to listen ever stressed?
Does anyone have an idea of just exactly what the current debt is, and how it is to be paid? Aside from the reported debt, how much more money is owed? Employee expenses not being paid, and vendors not being paid - these are two examples of debt that is not usually mentioned.
What exactly do the banks require of Invensys to meet their Covenants? Who can answer this question?
Friday, February 28, 2003
APV is a square peg in a round hole - when it comes to Invensys and the various sister companies in the Production Management Group. Problems abound, however, our business cycle is beginning to turn upward. Poor Invensys management has also badly wounded our capability and morale. It is a shame to read the same type of problems have occurred in most of the other sister companies. Most employees at APV hope that our division is sold, and sold quickly! We are is a postion to take advantage of an up-tick in our base business. It would benefit a smart buyer who mighty assist in rebuilding the core talent. Yes, I am positive thinker. Perhaps too much so. All we want is to be able to execute and perform.
Friday, February 28, 2003
Rick H. is a good CEO. But he may not be good enough to turn around a troubled company like Invensys. The biggest trouble is the confidence of employee and customer. Lack of confidence can destroy a man, and a company.
Thursday, February 27, 2003
Baan should not be blamed for its poor performance. Invensys does not know how to run the business. The market over-reacted to the trading note. Rick Haythornthwaite should be replaced to bring confidence to investors. In my opinion, Baan is a still valuable company, with a large installed base.
Wednesday, February 26, 2003
UK Financial Times article: Invensys looks at fresh round of disposals
Wednesday, February 26, 2003
Reuters article: Invensys rebounds on break-up talk
Wednesday, February 26, 2003 - from an Invensys employee :
I called a head hunter to see what my options are when the end comes for Invensys. The reply was that there are plenty of opportunities in my field, but to act fast because (as of two months ago) it was impossible to find qualified people. Now the market is filled with Invensys employees, looking to abandon the sinking ship. When I replied I was an Invensys employee, there was a slight pause and then the response was, "Oh okay, I have placed many Invensys people, and will be able to help you." My recomendation is to follow this advice: Act now or sink with the ship.
Tuesday, February 25, 2003
Here's an amusing thought: which business is blamed for all the ills of the organisation and yet still maintains essentially the same management as when it was taken over? Baan. Which is the fastest growing region in the world todate and yet there is little or no presence in that market? Asia-Pacific. Which region then went and built a new headquarters in one of the highest cost countries in the same region? Singapore. But who runs that region? Please dont rush to the organisation charts as it may have changed by the time this is read!!
Yes the last weblog is correct - that the spin doctors and politicians have found a home in our company. How do we know that? Because top management lacked courage. Instead, they appointed their own cronies into key positions. Note that most of these people are on nice contracts and so dont care what happens to the business.
Software is a business of confidence, and if there is no confidence there is no sale. So, congratulations to those inspired commentators on Baan - you made a nice prediction come true. You must all work for SAP and Oracle, as they use the same internal statements to sell against Baan. At Invensys, we are good at internal self-destruction. How many times have we competed against each other?
Also which Software unit which was bought by Invensys had a $100m turnover, and now has far less than that? Invensys proved with Marcam it could not run a software business, and so they went out and bought another one Baan. Neither was understood and neither was supported. Instead, all they faced was internal bickering and a refusal to act - apart from cutting jobs. And the people cut were the knowledge workers who could have turned it around if given a chance.
Each unit has its own horror stories. Instead of bagging the last man in, we should face our own truths which are equally bad. Mirror Mirror on the wall who is the fairest of them all. Do you honestly believe that if Baan were to be sold that suddenly the share price would rise like Lazarus on the back of outdated products and poor sales organisation?
Monday, February 24, 2003
I really find it incredible that everyone that is somehow connected to Invensys, somehow always finds out that you can't win. It's like riding in a bus and finding out the bus driver left. Whether it's Eurotherm, Wonderware, Foxboro or the infamous Baan, they all have the same opinion and the same experiances. It's sad that they refuse to learn.
Businesses should grow but the management downsizes. They cut show a gain from the cut, but no real growth. They look to outsource with no clear plan. The people who are put in charge are heavy-handed and ruthless. They say thanks for the effort, then they lay people off as if all the troubles come fom undeneath.
When Rick Haythornthwaite took over, he said there would be a new vision, a new focus. All we have seen is the same people in charge. They know just as little as before. All I see is a tremendous amount cowardice. Rick needed to clean many of the upper and middle management out of the picture. He never did. It's like fixing your car with brocken parts. They don't work, they couldn't do the job before they are not going to do it now. We see no new ideas, no enthusiasim, no drive to succeed. It's time to sell everything, and for Rick to take the door.
Rick Haythornthwaite, YOU failed for lack of courage. It' a shame - we thought we had a small chance. But you showed us that you're just like the rest.
Monday, February 24, 2003
I was recruited in 2000 by Wonderware, an Invensys company, to work as a Regional Sales Manager for Wonderware in Europe. Prior to this I had spent several years with a Wonderware distributor and was well qualified, with comprehensive product knowledge and market awareness.
In the two years I was with the company I lost count of the number of times Wonderware was 're-structured' and the same for the various operating groups it belonged to. I had three managers of increasing ineptitude and felt increasingly like a powerless passenger on a runaway train waiting for the inevitable.
The saddest thing for 'the troops' was the morale ebbing away and the cynicism growing as we watched incompetent management trampling each other in the fight for a place at the trough.
Sunday, February 23, 2003
I am a former worker who enjoyed my many years at Foxboro until the end came. I guess I worked too hard, spoke my mind, gave my open opinions to my managers when asked and was encouraged to do so - only to find out that these were the actions which were held against me. Management doesn't want to hear the truth; perhaps because they can't handle it. I cared too much about my company and its products. I tried to stop the poor quality when I could, but I failed.
I still have a vested interest in Foxboro as many of my closest friends remain - and my pension. I still hold out hope for a once thriving corporation and I dream that one day I may return. But I see my dreams fading with each new VP hired. I think Foxboro should get rid of these highly paid VP's immediately. They are hiring on average 3 per week - RIDICULOUS! I don't care if they were part of the 'strategy' or not. Its' time to change the strategy, the boat is sinking and - WE DON'T NEED THEM NOW - THEY DON'T KNOW WHAT WE DO! By the time they figure out what needs to be done it will be too late! Getting rid of them should affect the cash flow immediately, in a positive way.
Let the company continue to increase sales with its sales force and service force. Encourage this by offering stock options. This may be a joke at this time, but I think they may be surprised at the difference in attitude if you are offered a part in the company you are trying to save. This may also be another way to generate revenue for this once very top-of-the-line company. Let development continue as it is (too bad we have lost many of the key people) but encourage the remaining ones to work on the current releases as best they can, making them the best releases. Push out the release dates; because of the loss of VALUABLE knowledge we can't make them. This must be done to ensure the releases are high quality. Don't give them dates they can't make without the product suffering.
We have been crippled by the cuts at the company in the past two years. Moving our software maintenance responsibilities to India is a huge mistake. This may save $ in the short time, but it takes the Indian engineers much, much longer to hopefully correct an issue, and it takes us longer to determine if they did fix it or not. THIS WAS NOT THE TIME TO DO THIS!
We have also moved some of our products to India for further development - ANOTHER MISTAKE! Wake up! Invensys management people are cutting off their nose to spite their face! They are cutting off the legs of the company and expecting it to win the race with its competitors. Please listen to the workers - they know what needs to be done.
It seems that in Invensys, the rich are getting richer and the middle class are moving to the poor. Now there are rumors that the PENSION fund is in jeopardy! Please, Rick Haythornthwaite, help! Pay attention to the workers; get rid of those new vp's until things get better.
Extract from JimPinto.com eNews, Feb. 22, 2003
Friday, February 21, 2003
In response to branch managers buying the field offices. The reason the branches were bought by some employees is there is nothing of value left. In other words, no one else would buy it. The most profitable pieces were already sold off (ie:parts and service) eighteen months ago. It is not true that "no employees were retained". I think the retention rate is more like 75% for the new field offices.
Let's hope the stock continues it's fall so that someone with vision will buy the company and rebuild it.
Thursday, February 20, 2003
In reply to the "Rick situation": I doubt that Rick Haythornthwaite can even confirm where the problem forecasts originated. The Building Systems group can't even get their sales numbers for the year since the changeover to Baan software. Will heads roll? Haythornthwaite may be the first.
Thursday, February 20, 2003
Does anyone have any thoughts on the Rick Haythornthwaite situation? His recent about-face on the trading update cost him all his credibility with the investment community. Did he deliberately mislead the investors? Or is he the victim of incompetent or deceptive underlings that failed to keep him informed? If it's the latter, why hasn't he started to chop some heads?
Thursday, February 20, 2003
I work for a company in the Invensys group, so take anything I say with that in mind. Here is my take:
Thursday, February 20, 2003 - response to the answer about buyout of branches by Managers :
Regarding the February 19 comment: "The Managers who buy these Branches have the interests of their collegues foremost
in mind." After encountering 6 management regimes, I have never met an Invensys manager that had an interest in anything more than lining their own pockets. Sometimes the efforts required were correctly tied to positive business activities. But, most were short sighted. In my opinion, the ones I know do not operate fairly.
Wednesday, February 19, 2003 - in answer to the question regarding the buy-out of branches by Managers:
The Managers who buy these Branches have the interests of their collegues foremost in mind during the transition. They know the potential and ability of existing staff members, and seek to further their opportunities by ensuring the business transition is in everyones favour. No conflict of interest there to be sure.
A third party buyout usually results in an outside company slashing and burning to reduce costs, which means Staff cuts. Look at the US Branch buyouts and how many original Invensys employees were retained. NONE.
Tuesday, February 18, 2003
I was just wondering if anyone out there could explain: How do managers who work for Invensys wind up purchasing the branch offices? It seems like a conflict of interest to me.
My question: How could the primary concern of these managers be to benefit the company that employs them, when they are looking to acquire the assets of the same company?
Sunday, February 16, 2003
"Invensys out of control" and "The St. Valentine's Day Massacre" were a few of the phrases Hoover's used in it's Sunday article (click on the link):
http://huknews.hoovers.com/fp.asp?layout=displaynews&doc_id=NR20030216670.4_b599004467629b4c
Sunday, February 16, 2003 - From The Independent - United Kingdom:
Haythornthwaite blooded by ongoing Invensys road crash (extracts)
Lord Marshall of Knightsbridge may not have to worry much longer about the ban recommended in the Higgs review on holding more than one FTSE 100 chairmanship. British Airways has been heading for relegation from the index for some weeks now, and after yesterday's calamitous profits warning, so too is Invensys, the other FTSE 100 company where he is chairman.
For Rick Haythornthwaite, now a year into the job as chief executive of Invensys, the profits warning was a first, made all the worse by the fact that only last week the company had said it had no plans for a trading update. After that, the City was entitled to take the view that trading could not have changed markedly since the last statement. No such luck. "It is clearly a blow to credibility", Mr Haythornthwaite conceded, "and I do not like the feeling".
For Lord Marshall, on the other hand, another Invensys profits warning is all in a day's work. There have been so many of them since he brokered the merger between Siebe and BTR that formed Invensys back in 1999, that the City has long since lost count. Mr Haythornthwaite knew he was taking on a big challenge when he joined Invensys from the comparative calm of the Blue Circle cement company, but he cannot have had any idea just how big.
So what's the explanation for the speed with which Invensys travelled from everything being fine on the ranch to second-half profits being 25 per cent lower than anticipated? For what it's worth, it is that March is one of the company's key sales months and it is not until you get quite close to it that you know for certain how things are going to turn out.
Well there's a thing. Mr Haythornthwaite has already done all the structural changes he thinks necessary and even though things are plainly bad, he doesn't yet think them so bad that he needs to tear up the chosen strategy. In essence, that strategy hasn't changed very much since the days when Ian Strachan ran BTR. The task has long been that of casting off the company's past as a conglomerate and transforming it from a product-based enterprise into a solutions provider.
Since the merger, Invensys has lost 95 per cent of its value, making it more akin to a technology stock than an engineering company. Mr Haythornthwaite is new to the company and therefore still enthused by its complexities and extraordinary mix of businesses, but even he must he starting to wonder whether Invensys might not be better off dead than alive.
Extract from Financial Times : 14 Feb. 2003 (posted 16 Feb 2003):
Invensys said second-half operating profits could be 25% below previous guidance of about £143m because of negative currency effects and disappointing trading at a number of businesses. The shares fell 17-1/2p to 19-1/2p, cutting more than £600m from Invensys's market capitalisation, which was £700m at Friday's close.
Rick Haythornthwaite, chief executive, said the warning was "clearly disappointing. It masks the substantial efforts and progress that we are making in the businesses to deliver a recovery."
Sunday, February 16, 2003
Invensys sure isn't out of the woods. They're so deep into the woods there's no chance of ever getting out. The roller-coaster ride the stock holders have been on is about to end. One last plunge and it'll be goodbye!
Rick Haythornthwaite's "team" has been in place and has been relaying to him what he wants to hear, rather than reality. What does Rick expect? Surely not the truth! There hasn't been much truth in this orginization for some time now. Those that knew the business and told the truth were let go. So, to Rick and his "team": We told you so!
The Pinto Weblogs would have provided a better insight to what was happening with Invensys rather than the reports put forth by Invensys leadership. Maybe now people will realize that Rick is a turn-a-round kind of guy. Just not the kind of turn-a-round everyone was looking forward to. Rick turned around and turned his back on stockholders, and on the old timers who may have helped the business survive.
There may be no value to the Invensys stock, no pension and no money to pay debt and vendors; but I bet there will be a substantial sum of money for Rick's severance! Any doubts?
Sunday, February 16, 2003 - from Harry Moore (no email provided):
I have worked for Foxboro/Invensys as a machine grunt for the past 27 years. I don't mind standing on my feet on a concrete floor all night, or using coolant to keep tools from overheating (that has made the skin peel off of my hands - I wonder what it does to my lungs), or getting a 6% pay increase over the past 8 years (total, not each year).
What I do mind is that for at least the past 5 years, is that there always news about a lay-off. It adds to the pressure of producing more parts, running more machines, making no mistakes - those things will put you closer to the top of the lay-off list. I feel this company just wants to work you till you drop then use your body to grease the wheels. I will continue to be the best of the best (I still work here so I must be among the best). But I feel the end is near. How can those at the top make such poor decisions, and be so handsomely rewarded with bonuses that would take me 30 years to earn?
I wonder if upper management knows how adversely they have affected so many peoples' lives. All I want from Invensys is some job security - not this day-to-day water tourture. Somehow, someway I will try to find a way to work faster and better then I ever thought I could.
Your loyal employee
Extract from JimPinto.com eNews, Feb. 14 2003
Sunday, February 09, 2003 - Extract from UK - The Sunday Telegraph
Sadly, we fear there is further bad news in the pipeline. For starters,
Invensys has a serious pension fund deficit - estimated to be £250m. The
weak dollar is also a problem, since Invensys derives some 50 per cent of
it profit from the US. SG Securities estimates that the group "loses"
£1.25m for each cent shed against sterling.
Fears that the company could be hit by a string of asbestos claims have
also knocked the share price, although Invensys insists that it has no
asbestos liabilities. We have learned that Invensys has already
become embroiled in at least one asbestos case in the UK.
Invensys faces a tough few months, despite Haythornthwaite's best efforts.
Sell.
Sunday, February 9, 2003
CBS 60 Minutes just had a segment on Montana Power. Did anyone out there watch it and did they see the same parallels with Invensys that I did? Robert Gannon and Rick Haythornthwaite must have come out of the same mold. Attempting to make that end run around the share holders is only one of the slick moves common to both of them. Gannon is another example of an executive being rewarded for failure just as management at Invensys is.
Wednesday, February 5, 2003
Yesterday there were more layoffs and furloughs at Foxboro. Rumors have been going around (as reported in the British press) that Invensys was going to issue yet another profits warning. Invensys denied the rumor. To avoid having to issue a profits warning, Invensys will force the remaining core companies to deliver earnings no matter what it takes. The prognosis is death by a thousand cuts. The employees at these companies are engaged in a real life version of the TV game "Survivor". The only difference is that there is no grand prize for the last one left standing - except the honor of turning off the lights.
Tuesday, February 4, 2003
Haythornthwaite is naive to think that Invensys can be a software giant like Microsoft, with the Baan baggage bought by Yurko.
Now the Invensys management seems to think they can pull themselves out of this steep decline by going on world tours to tout their accomplishments. They should spend less time on tours and get back to running (not ruining) the business.
Tuesday, February 4, 2003
Invensys doesn't have to worry about being on the New York Stock Exchange. At the rate they're going, there won't be any stock to trade. The company will be sold off. For those still holding on to Invensys' stock - GOOD LUCK!
Does anyone have a clue as to how Slick Haythornthwaite plans to pay the outstanding debt?
Monday, February 3, 2003 -
Invensys, which was scheduled to be listed on the New York Stock Exchange last year, has turned its back on the US stock market despite having more than half its 5 billion GBP sales and workforce in America. Shareholders were told that any listing would be deferred until there was an improvement in the market.
Friday, January 31, 2003 - posted by "a former long term employee":
I find it amusing that there is yet another employee survey being conducted at Invensys. Since 1995, we must have seen at least 3 employee surveys with results that were mostly unchanged from survey to survey. There was even a major study initiated by a former president in 1999 to identify an organizational structure that would make the systems division (read that as Foxboro) a world class company. The implementation was left up to divisional managers who had their own adjendas. Needless to say that few of the survey based recommendations or the study conclusions were implemented. The corporate culture is still dominated by backbiting, ass covering and short term financial results. It's an inward looking culture that has lost touch with customers.
A constantly changing sales force prevents the building of long term customer relationships and thereby cuts off that deep contact needed to "feel" the pulse of the market. Product development continues to be driven by "I Think" marketing that is predominately influenced by the engineering 'wizz kids' thinking up new and wonderful products that have no market. There is still a philosophy that the latest wizz-bang technology will sell itself. Sure, a company needs innovation, but create something that customers need. Invensys doesn't know what customers need.
The employee attitudes will change when the business becomes viable. The business will become viable when it actually develops and offers products that meet market needs. Invensys will only figure that out when decision making at management and employee levels focuses not on this month's budget or incentive pay, but on customer relationships.
Sunday, January 26, 2003
The survey is complete. Now we have local bosses pushing the new INVEST program. They believe they can get the associates to come up with new ideas on how to save Invensys.
They should have waited for the survey results. If the survey reflects what I believe it will reflect, they would know that no help will come from their associates without some sort of incentive attached.
Sunday, January 26, 2003
The Invensys Employee Survey is supposed to be an opportunity to make Invensys a better place to work. Why wasn't there a survey while there was still a strong knowledgeable work force and an Invensys that showed some promise?
Rick Haythornthwaite seems to think that we have made great progress to becoming Invensy, and that we are starting to think and act as a unified group. Not only an ocean seperates Rick and I, but a world (his is not real). After the survey is completed, workshops and discussions are to follow. If members of Rick's management team are to conduct these discussions and workshops, Invensy will be in further trouble.
Rather than relying solely on the survey, Rick would have been better off reading Pinto's Weblogs. The Weblogs would probably be a more accurate way of determining WHAT'S WRONG WITH THE PRESENT INVENSYS. If every survey was filled out truthfully, they would undoubtedly show Rick's leadership to be a failure. As an auctioneer he might rank a little higher.
Thursday, January 23, 2003
Right on Norm! (see weblog below).
Rick Haythornthwaite and Dan Leff has paid us a visit to encourage us to be team players to help them get out of the hole dug by Mr. Allen Yurko. He is stuck with his love for Energy Systems and Software and will not let the profit hog BAAN go.
The purchase of BAAN has been dragging the companies finances since and doesn't show any signs of improvement.
Who knows how much longer they can finance a bad decision.
Of course the new solution is to move to China now as a manufacturing base for products.
Large reversing valves now being made in China now. The medium and small valves are still being produced in Plain City, but looks like they may be next to go. More jobs going out of the country.
I guess they don't understand the more jobs they send out of the country reduces the amount of product that can be purchased in America. I don't see any Chinese or Mexican laborers being able to buy the products they manufacture on the wages they are being paid.
Monday, January 20, 2003 - Norman Harvey [harveyn@sbcglobal.net] wrote:
Much of what I have read applies to the USA market.
We have experienced the same impact of misguided management for the past three years. Managements focus on cost reduction has reduced the company to a shadow of what it was.
Samples:
Sunday, January 19, 2003
I've listened to many points of view on Invensys - there is one common thread: That Management is the only cause of Invensys' problems.
Management ok's cost savings, causing a recall that will cost millions! But the people that are responcible are still in place and making key decisions. They made plans to manufacture overseas, only to have sub-standard parts come in to be scrapped. Still no one suffers for the blunders made.
The only ones that suffer are the lower level employee's who have nothing to do with the decision-making process, and are blamed for the sin of others, while the management hides their envolvement. I believe that someday these people will be held accountable. I hope I have a job when this finally happens.
Sunday, January 19, 2003 - in reply to Weblog posted Jan. 18:
Poor employee attitude is the direct result of poor management! With the Invensys of late, if an employee arrives at work with a positive attitude in the morning, most assuredly within the firt few hours, that attitude will be destroyed by something management has decided upon for that day.
Intelligent & productive decisions by management would help produce a positive attitude.
Management needs to know what they are supposed to be managing. In many instances within Invensys, management is totally clueless when it comes to knowing what they are supposed to manage, and a comedy of errors is generated on a daily basis.
Stupidity in management decisions does not help generate revenue or a positive attitude among employees. Unless this is realized, revenues will dwindle and attitudes will only get worse.
Saturday, January 18, 2003
From reading these posts it sounds like everyone expects management to make a change in the attitiude of the company. My feeling is change starts from within. You can blame someone else for creating your bad attitude; but YOU are the one that needs to make the change in your attitude for the better. It won't change until you decide to let it change.
You have 2 choices.
Saturday, January 18, 2003 - Another Invensys employee
C'mon folks! Don't you see the irony in the posting of January 14th? Where is your sense of humor? The author just wanted to say that the survey will not change anything and that the "senior management" will not take the employees' opinions into account. According to the poster, the survey is just another try to keep the "normal employees" quiet and give them the feeling of being respected in this company.
Time will tell whether he/she is right. But the survey clearly shows that the upper management has concerns about their reputation inside the company. This might (also) be a consequence of the recent postings in this weblog...
In his recent letter to all Invensys employees, Rick said that he did not join Invensys just to lay off people, sell Invensys in parts and proclaim 60-day surges. Well then, let him prove that he has the qualities to lead Invensys in another way...
Anyway, thanks again to Jim for giving us this forum!
Friday, January 17, 2003 - from yet another Invensys employee:
Seeing how the survey is ongoing and the results will not start to be tallied until at least January 24th, one wonders how this employee got the "results" of the survey?
Wednesday, January 15, 2003 - from another Invensys employee.
Could the Invensys employee who shared the 'advance copy' of the employee survey, please explain how he can be 'generally satisfied with his pay and like his job' when
Tuesday, January 14, 2003 - posted by Invensys employee :
Employee Survey. Advance copy of results and the company's response:
Positive:
Monday, January 13, 2003
What I really wish would happen is that Invensys would stop hiring so many presidents - this has such a negative affect!
We are cutting costs by turning off computer monitors; saving paper and computer supplies; even in our software releases we are cutting back on the amount of software we send out - all trying to save money for the company!
But, we save a penny and they blow a million! The ridiculous things we do - why bother? They hire a president and a fraction of the salary alone wipes out any efforts we have made. We haven't changed any immediate management in our area - I'm not saying get rid of them. But I think line management could be shuffled around to different groups within their organization and make a difference in the operation of those areas. They would already know the overall business and bring changes which would probably be very positive. But NO - managers are running around like chickens with their heads cutoff trying to make 'I Projects', so that they all look like they are doing something. This is all taking away from the important issues at hand. Its very sad. It looks as though they are all trying to do 'stuff' just to justify their jobs. Why? Just look at our work - we shouldn't have to prove all of this again and again!
Ridiculous! Everyone is trying to please the big men. If you really wanted your company to succeed, wouldn't you be willing to cut your own pay by a % ??? Our benefits have been cut to a ridiculous level. Why? I would never have hired into a company offering such a package. You give, give, give - and - well you are lucky to have a job!
I have a job and I really like what I do. I just hate what has happened to this company I work for and how they are treating their employees. I imagine that they would read this and think I was just a complainer - an employee who can't handle change. Well, well that's not right! I simply want these people to do what they get paid for.
Look at the recent survey! Amazing is all I can say! If they don't have a clue after all the 'town hall meetings' and then the "askRick" emails, then I don't believe they have been listening at all!
Sunday, January 12, 2003 - Responding to Weblog Jan. 1 2003:
Those individuals in the midwest who originally were the Chicago Branch, have survived because they are survivors and have a history of surviving management decisions that would destroy weaker individuals. If they are to continue on as an IFO, they will succeed. Rick's team might have done well to follow the example of the Chicago Branch. Instead, he let two incompetents take control and peddle their line of BS.
I think they feared the Chicago Branch and it's history of success.
When they went on tour to visit the original Branches they had a book with them (WHO MOVED THE CHEESE). Well, it was Rick Haythornthwaite who moved the cheese with the hope that all would follow that cheese. While moving that cheese those entrusted with it gradually started losing it. The non-survivors still blindly followed that cheese until it was all gone and so were they. The survivors, the Chicago Branch being one, foresaw what was coming, picked up some of the cheese that had been lost, cultured new cheese and successfully survived.
In a previous Weblog mention was made of the Service Department. Too bad an IFO didn't take them over. That department is laughable! Just look at the team Rick H. has running it. Outsmarting the company was also mentioned. To outsmart Rick H's chosen team isn't much of a task. Outsmarting the incompetent is easy.
Saturday, January 11, 2003
Rick Haythornthwaite has sent out emails and communiquÈs urging us to participate in an Invensys-wide employee survey. We are to be candid. Results are to be consolidated by an independent firm to guarantee confidentiality. I wonder how many jobs we can save if we dispense with the third party firm and just post the results directly on Jim Pintoís website.
Monday, January 6, 2003
As a customer of Invensys, I can only pray that the shareholders will set Wonderware free. They knew it was a good company when they bought it, and ever since, Invensys has run it into the ground. Wonderware cannot support the plethora of bad business decisions that have been made by Siebe, and now Invensys.
The management of this company has demonstrated on several occasions that they are liars, not solution providers. For those that went to the last Showcase, much of what I have said here was obvious.
Thank goodness for the strong independent, customer oriented Distributors. Often better solutions come them than do the over paid factory engineers.
Saturday, January 4, 2003
Rumors have surfaced also that in January there will be another round of layoffs within the Production Management organization. The two names at the top of the list are Wonderware and Avantis. I also know that Foxboro is included in that list.
This move makes sense because a number a products were released by Production Management in the third quarter; a lot of those products were on their final release with maintanence being moved to India. Put two and two together for yourself.
Friday, January 03, 2003 - summary (about the Wonderware rumor) from key industry analysts and observers:
Invensys has made a big deal about their new collaborative architecture, ArchestrA - they seem to be betting their future on it. Some people are under the impression that Baan is the key element of ArchestrA, but it is not. Wonderware is the glue that is intended to bind Invensys' multiple offerings together into the so-called cohesive ArchestrA package. Also, the Wonderware organization is the main support arm of the development. What would Invensys have left if they do this?
On the surface, it makes no sense - GE just bought Intellution. How does the Intellution transaction price compare with the rumored amount of $0.5B for Wondeware? But, GE has been buying at high prices recently. Could Lloyd Trotter (head of GE's Industrial Systems' $5-6B business) really want into process automation this badly? And would he be able to influence CEO Jeff Immelt this way?
Thursday, January 2, 2003
Rumors are circulating around Lake Forest of Wonderware being sold to GE for about $0.5B. I'm wondering if anyone has heard anything...
Thursday, January 2, 2003
On a different note. Now that Baan has been stripped of its connections to the rest of Production Management, how long before Rick Haythornthwaite announces that it is for sale, or it has been sold?
Wednesday, January 1, 2003
I agree with the December 25 weblog: the real workers have been the service techs at Invensys. They do not get the credit they should. Along with some really great customers, the service techs are one of the reasons the service department made it for a year past - since the corporate decision to split service and construction.
There is no reason for any praise for those individuals managing the IFO's. They can take the bulk of responsibility for the company failures. These people are left intact in the midwest to this day, receiving nice incomes. The company knew about the tactics after October 2001 - to destroy the service department of Invensys. This all because of ego. They pulled many, many shenanigans with the customers, jobs, paperwork, etc. The service department was left in shambles. They purposly went out of there way to find service personnel other jobs, so that the department would be left with no one to run it. Their egos were so bruised by the corporate decision, that they instigated schemes of non-service to contract customers. They went to customers deviously, told them inside information and relayed the message that there would be no one left to run service. They had so much personnel on their side that they had time for "customer relations".
The service department was left with a skeleton crew, if anyone at all. It's a shame for a company as big as Invensys, that the top personnel would allow, and still allows these people to remain in the corporation. RICK H. DOES KNOW AND HAS BEEN TOLD WHO THESE PERSONS ARE! They certainly outsmart the company. They will now have their own company and the money making contracts.
Invensys had a bad first-half, with CEO Rick Haythornthwaite under
fire for bad cash flow. His poor excuse (quote from an interview
published on the Invensys website):
Monday, December 30, 2002
I have been with Invensys for 3 years. I can answer the question regarding why the new IFO's are cutting heads now and not before: this is because when people were being dismissed or quit the company, corporate management would not allow the branch to rehire. So management had no choice but to keep the people they had.
Saturday, December 28, 2002
Does anyone know -
Friday, December 27, 2002
With the initial announcement of the decision to transition the Branch businesses in Building Systems America to independant (IFO) ownership, there was a substanatial amount of optimism that the new IFO's would employ the majority of the existing branch office personnel.
With the sale of the Philadelphia office, this thought has changed. Many veteran employees have been notified of their terminations on January 1. What I really find curious, is that the same Managers who were running the Branch business are now, as the new IFO, downsizing and cleaning house of apparently low performance people. Why were these people not terminated before? Maybe if the deadwood would have been cleaned out, the Branch businesses would have survived.
How many times have you heard: ...make decisions and run the business as if it were your own....spend money as if it were your own.....? It would seem that as Invensys Managers these rules were not followed, but as new business owners the reality is setting in.
Wednesday, December 25, 2002
I have been following this site on Invensys for about 3 months now. I've read a lot of truth on this company. From a customer view the only thing going for Invensys is the service people. They are way over priced, you canít get parts (everything is obsolete by the time it is put in and is working right), they have no salesmen (at least that know what's going on or are willing to stop by), their management will tell you anything you want to hear as long as the end result is helping them out. How is it you buy parts cheaper through other companies than directly from Invensys?
If it wasn't for our service tech, we probably wouldn't still be with Invensys. He's been our only contact with Invensys over the last 5 years. He's been salesman, information link, and the only one willing to tell us things honestly, Yet he's not sure how long he'll have a job. Yep keep smiling and love your job! Easy to say when your at the top and don't have a clue on what's going on. If management wants to hear what's really going on with Invensys why not send out a questionnaire to all of your customers and find out who is responsible for keeping your company around. It sure isn't the management.
Signed: Fed-up but locked in.
Saturday, December 21, 2002
The Building Systems business in Loves Park has been restructured to death and is now being completly dismantled. First, the parts business was removed from the Branch offices. Then, they removed the Service business which has now been completely destroyed by an amazing group of incompetent boobs. These changes have now resulted in the selling off of the Branch businesses.
The only satisfaction from this, is that the new IFO's will be able to restore the business that Invensys managed to destroy. They will resume parts sales and will take back the Service business that was removed and then destroyed. The Facility Solutions group will be the next bunch looking for jobs, and rightfully so. I doubt that many of the Facility Solutions people need waste their time applying for jobs with the new IFO's.
Saturday, December 21, 2002
I would like to highlight that being negative on Invensys policies does not at all mean we do not love our work or we are not doing our best. It simply means that we think with our head and do not blindly believe everything we are told by Invensys top management.
Friday, December 20, 2002, from "An Invensys Middle Management Guy":
I happened upon this site while searching for Invensys news the other day and have read some of the comments with great interest. I am a positive person (maybe too much so sometimes) and like "the factory worker", I love my job. Although I don't agree with many of the "policies" of the past: holding payments to suppliers, shipping orders ahead to attain revenue targets, etc., I am optimistic that some of Rick's recent promises will come to fruition, and we will slowly turn this company around.
I DO think we will see some further divestitures, but I continue to do the best I can in my position to make my company look as attractive as possible. I will continue to monitor these entries, and respond to various comments as they appear.
Happy Holidays to all!
Friday, December 20, 2002
Jim, I agree with your answer to the last message. I am appalled there is someone still willing to believe that someone or something featuring the word Global can really work. Ask someone who attended the so called training in strategic selling or is involved in vertical markets if these programs are working.
The simple truth is that this bunch of companies called Invensys cannot work, as 95 % of mergers and acquisitions in the last 20 or so years have not. The only healthy growth is organic; but, to have it you need competent and motivated staff. The competent people at Invensys tend to be in their 50's and these have been fired by the thousands. The few survivors are demotivated. The conclusion is that inevitably Invensys will be forced to sell everything piecemeal.
Thursday, December 19, 2002 - To Jim Pinto:
After the sale of "non core businesses" around the Invensys world and further debt reduction, does your article re: The eventual piecemeal sale of other businesses and eventual break up of Invensys still stand for you?
I think Rick's message is clear and the upper management team focused on consolidation and especially the Global Account Management Program and return to customer focus will eventually return shareholder value. Is it then true that Invensys would be a good share buy or hold right now?
Jim Pinto response:
Wednesday, December 18, 2002 - From Jim Pinto :
OK, Invensys people - time out on this theme.
Wednesday, December 18, 2002
Everyone appears stressed out. Let us all take a chill-pill, relax and turn our energy tosomething positive.
Relax, take some time off over Xmas and come back clear and focused. Else, go elsewhere.
Wednesday, December 18, 2002 - from the Factory Worker:
If I were to identify myself that would make me a brown-noser - so I do not benefit.
I was not using the overtime comment as a rub in your face comment but instead a comment on how things are starting to turn around with the company. I have not had overtime in over 3 1/2 years and have had the same delayed or minimal raises along with title changes and more responsibility.
Crying about your situation does not improve the situation.
Tuesday, December 17, 2002 - specifically for the "Factory Worker":
We don't know who you are - but please give me a break! After all that these people have done to the workers at Foxboro: decreasing our benefits, giving us pitiful raises, making working conditions increasingly harder to deal with, ad nauseum!
Big deal! You're getting overtime, and a lot of others are NOT. Many are surviving paycheck to paycheck. So, hooray for you and tough for everyone else? The majority of the people stay to survive. Trying to hold on, with the hope of a possible sale to more reasonable owners. You're a good example of the selfish stooges that got this company into the trouble it is in. I hope you enjoy yourself in your capacity as a brown-nose for management. I'm not surprised that you don't identify yourself - your fellow workers can't tolerate people that put themselves first, and above everyone else.
Monday, December 16, 2002 - from "Invensys factory worker":
Sorry to burst your bubble but the factory worker is still here. Ive just been busy working trying to get the product to customers. In the area I work, orders have increased and I have been working overtime to help meet those orders.
What I dont understand is why everyone complains. If you dont like your job and the decisions being made around you. Go find a new job. I have been raised that it is more important to enjoy what you do and get moderate pay than hate what you do and get great pay. Why would you want to be miserable 8+ hours a day when you can enjoy life 24/7? I say stop your complaining and get another job. Leave the rest of us who enjoy our jobs and want the company to grow to do just that. If you stay it will be of your own choosing and then you have no one to blame but yourself if you are miserable.
Sunday, December 15, 2002
Thank heaven for Tecumseh! Maybe they can turn Fasco around. If they can't, then Invensys ran us down.
Saturday, December 14, 2002
I used to work in a product based company of Invensys. We were continuously told that the future was in systems and products were commodities. Our projects for buying good product companies were rejected and a string of Systems Companies were bought in Europe, to be placed under Satchwell the so called Flagship. In the last 6 years Satchwell always had negative cash generation and so also the newly bought companies. Satchwell had, to be honest, no alternatives because their products have bad quality and poor design.
Now I read on the Invensys website an interview with Rick Haythornthwaite discovering at last the great truth - that the whole Building Sytems division is losing money because of the contracting units. So now they will sell the contracting units, but only to discover that the remaining products, with a few exceptions, are bad. Not commodities, but bad. Also, the top management who produced this awful result is still in place and even promoted.
I think that the final disaster is not far away. Rick Haythornthwaite's interview is filled with platitudes and false information. Baan is clearly to be disinvested, and the so-called horizontal programs with very low quality execution. Haythornthwaite is optimistic, or naive, if he believes everything he is told. The cash flow indicator is the only one that cannot be cooked and that is terrible.
I agree with a previous weblog: Invensys will never generate the cash to service the residual debt .
Friday, December 13, 2002
Well, all of the factory workers are gone. They have gotten rid of them and used the saved money to get more non-money making Vice Presidents. It is amazing how top heavy a company can get. Then they wonder why they can not make the budget. I hope they are still around in the next few years.
Thursday, December 12, 2002
Is "FACTORY WORKER" still out there?
This site has been kind of quiet. Why? Anybody left at Invensys? Everybody that is left give up? Maybe this is the calm before the storm. What is left to sell and what is the TRUE debt still to be paid?
Sunday, December 1, 2002
Now that Slick Rick is done selling the profitable "non-core" pieces, we will see how the unprofitable "core" pieces will be made to generate the cash to service the $2.3B debt that remains.
Sunday, December 1, 2002
Responding to Weblog Nov. 26 (meeting in Amsterdam)
It shouldn't have been a surprise that Branch Contracting Operations would be up for sale. In the U.S. it has been known for some time. THE so-called "core businesses" are not immune to disposal. CORE TODAY GONE TOMORROW!
In Europe were the Branch Contracting and Service Operations functioning together or were they split?
Responding to N0V. 26 Weblogs (Rexnord & Fasco)
Best of luck to those at Rexnord & Fasco. To be out from under the dictates of Rick Haytornthwaite and his team must surely be a relief.
Saturday, November 30, 2002
As we slowly watch APV Lake Mills decline it brings a deep heart to watch a factory go from over 1450 people to now around mid 50's. It is about every month that we hear about another bunch of sales and key personel being let go. But there is still the old group still there. Doing the same old run down thing. There now has been a new plant manager transfered in. All we hear is that he is trying to run 2 plants - Denmark and USA. How does this save or gain? Again the APV just goes down. Will Invensys ever wise up to what is going on? But as it looks now it must be another write off. How can a plant be run with few products? Will APV survive? Maybe they should be looking into the old ideals that are still there. No products, No work, No people, No ideals. NO APV
Thursday, November 28, 2002
Rexnord is now finally out from under what undoubtedly appears to be one of the most misguided companies I have ever been associated with. I believe that someday, in the near future, many business schools will be using this company to teach students how one company can destroy the lives of people and the future of commerce in every aspect of their doing business.
This is my opinion based on my experience with this organization. I am relieved that it is hopefully over now. It doesn't mean that Rexnord will succeed; but, under the leadership of the Carlye Group I for one have a great desire to now be a better Rexnord than the world has ever seen. Why? Because they want it to work and they mean it.
Wednesday, November 27, 2002
As of this afternoon Fasco has been sold to Tecumseh Products. We are very thankful that we have finally sold before Invensys has run our good company into nothing. It has been a few very tough years under Invensys managment.
For those of you that are still with Invensys I wish you the best. Hopefully many of the remaining so called core companies will stay intact.
Tuesday, November 26, 2002
Why so quiet about the sale of Fasco DC Motors? Last I heard, it was in final sale stages. Does anyone know what's going on, and why no news?
Tuesday, November 26, 2002
Just heard that in a meeting in Amsterdam it was announced that Atmostech in Finland , Messner in Germany and Saas in Denmark , all units of Contracting branch of Invensys Climate Controls Europe run By Dave Le Sage, are for sale . These companies were bought in the last 4 years , Messner just in 2001 . First time I hear that units belonging to the so called core business are for sale.
See JimPinto.com eNews - Monday, November 25, 2002
Monday, November 18, 2002
Rick Haythornthwaite has committed the number-one sin in software development: he announced to the world how great ArchestrA is two years before it is due out. Now all of Foxboro's and Wonderware's customers are waiting for the new stuff. In the meantime the sales are going down hill. Existing plants in the world are already automated; they have things working and lord knows engineers don't want to mess with something that works. So all Invensys has done is give them more reason to wait.
The markets have caught on to what a number of us have known: Invensys is selling the profitable parts for cash and hoping the economy will turn around so that the other parts would float on a rising tide. OOPS!
Invensys will continue its slow spiral down, as it slowly runs out of cash. The banks will keep it afloat because they want their money. If the economy does turn around, then Rick will look like a savior for holding things together. More likely, come next April, when year-end figures are released, Invensys stock will fall further.
What can we as employees do? Simple: go in each day and do our best to keep things afloat just a little longer...
Monday, November 18, 2002
I think the bottom line is that this Company is so torn down and impossible to reconstruct that its days are numbered. The inability of Ivnensys to effect change in the eyes of its "customer facing" employees, and the customers themselves, will lead to its demise. No one knows the name Invensys, none of its employees truly knows what business it is in and no one truly cares one way or the other. Its past and present senior management has fantastic ability to say one thing and do another - usually nothing.
Monday, November 18, 2002 - from a top industry analyst:
The Invensys numbers are horrible; margins, cash flow and returns are awful by any standards.
Europe is really dragging Invensys down. They have the typical European approach - all the restructuring and cuts in the USA while keeping the costs (and overhead) in Europe. So, what are they going to do when the divestitures are all done? The core businesses aren't improving enough to get the premium performance that Haythornthwaite is hoping for.
The "new" Process Management at Invensys is not doing much, other than keeping prices low and buying business. This gives them some positive PR and internal gratification, but doesn't appear to have much real meat or benefits for the customer. They are still spinning that same old "plant floor to board room" BS which no one really needs or can use!
And yet Rick Haythornthwaite keeps trying (as he must) to spin the positive. He'll grow tired of trying to turn this around and will bale pretty soon.
Sunday, November 17, 2002
The latest Blogs are getting downright silly. Everyone should understand that Rick Haythornthwaite was brought in to do one thing: sell off all the Invensys companies and get back as much of the creditors' money as possible. He is not there to build a high technology company.
As employees, your best hope for personal survival is that someone will buy the company you work for. The best way to make that happen is to make your company look as good as possible. Creating a "core" is just grandiose talk to keep the value of the companies comprising the core from collapsing. We all know that what's going on is a sham but remember that a successful result is good for you as well as the creditors.
Sunday, November 17, 2002 - Factory Worker (invensys_factory_worker@yahoo.com) responded:
It was not suggested that field personnel were not team players. Just that they need to reevaluate what they consider to be their team.
Every area took hits with the layoffs some of the areas included engineering, marketing, training center, security and maintenance just to name a few. Iím not sure who you consider to be the surgeons and nurses.
As far as the seeds being cared for, it takes everyone to help them grow. Pointing fingers as to who forgot to water them last does not help the seeds grow at all. Everyone in the company from the temp to the CEO needs to present the company in a positive light and encourage all others within the company to do the same.
Sunday, November 17, 2002
For the "factory worker":
To suggest that Invensys field personnel are not "team players" and are self centered is ludicrous. The field personnel are the "frontline" of an organization. Trying to maintain customer relations, defending the product as well as the company, trying to promote future sales of product and service, and believe it or not hoping for the continued success of the company. Give that frontline the proper ammunition and you'd be amazed at how they operate. They are well aware of what it takes to make a team and that's why they are in the front line trying to protect and promote their company. BUT, you can't send the field out unarmed or armed with deception.
Layoffs are part of the business environment and in some instances inevitable. The climate in which these layoffs take place is the problem. Would you opt for an operation in a hospital whose CEO laid off all the surgeons and nurses? Will your factory job survive if their are only MBA's and factory workers left?
The seeds of an apple core are capable of producing fruit only if certain conditions exist and care is taken to assure that growth. Currently with Invensys the fruit is being nibbled away and the core with its seeds is being discarded where there is no chance for growth.
The interim results may or may not be factual, but something is surely making Invensys stock and reputation fall. The fact that disposals are ahead of schedule would be welcome news if the divisions disposed of were not profitable and a financial burden. The question still remains: What will have to be disposed of next and what will be left? Let's return to the afore mentioned hospital: they already have no surgeons and now they are going to dispose of the operating rooms, treatment rooms and layoff the nurses. What does that hospital have left and what is its worth?
Sunday, November 17, 2002
There once was a sheep ranch. That ranch when managed properly by an experienced rancher and ranch hands produced the highest quality wool and breeder stock. The sheep knew this and were content. They took pride in their reputation for producing the highest quality wool and trusted the rancher and his crew.
The rancher had a son who had gone off to college, got his MBA, and chose to remain in the city. He never did appreciate the ranch or learn anything about it's operation.
The rancher died and his son inheritted the ranch. Because of his ignorance, the son replaced all the ranch hands with his city friends (all professionals with MBA's).They took over the ranch and partied hard. Believing that their degrees would compensate for their ignorance, they failed in providing properly for the sheep.
Soon the health of the sheep was suffering due to lack of care and this reflected in the quality of wool they were able to produce. The sheep in everyway they could tried to make the son and his friends aware of the problems. Observers offered advice, but the son and team were above taking advice. So,the party continued on!
Sheep were becoming uneasy and the son decided it was time for a pep talk. Being advised that all was well, his friends would respond properly, and we are all in this as a TEAM, the sheep were led to their pens. Some time elapsed and no changes in the way the ranch was being managed had taken place. Sheep now were dying and the wool quality failed to the point that it wasn't marketable.
Now, that there was no income, the partying son and his chosen ones had run up a big debt and the creditors were after them. A plan was needed and the son's friends were called in. Secretive whispers ensued. The very next day the son once again addressed the sheep. Once again the TEAM concept was introduced. WE ARE A TEAM were the last words the sheep ever heard as they were led onto trucks headed to the slaughter house. The other members of the TEAM (the son and his friends) disposed of the ranch land and went off on their yachts. YEAH TEAM!
By the way, outsiders had to be brought in to assist with loading the sheep on the trucks, because neither the son or his friends knew which end to lead on the truck first.
Saturday, November 16, 2002 from Factory Worker (invensys_factory_worker@yahoo.com)
In response to various comments:
>>As far as working together as a team, the field people have always been team players for the most part.<<
How can the field people work as a team if you donít include the customer care, tech support, engineering, production, sales and the many other areas needed to get product into the customers hands? It is this very thinking that your group is the most important part that causes trouble.
To have a full-blown game you need more than just those on the floor of the stadium. You need those that mow the lawn, make the balls run the scoreboard, sell the hotdogs and everything else that makes the game worthwhile. With the attitude that our group is more important than the others "for the most part" makes the game little league.
>> When you keep laying off the loyal people that have serviced these accounts for years, you are showing the customer that you are unstable, and probably not worthy to be given the chance to compete for additional work! <<
If layoffs caused people not to buy from a company there would be virtually no businesses left in the world. MCI, GM, McDonalds, Motorola, and American Airlines are a few recent ones that had layoffs that come to mind. Would you ever buy or deal with any of these?
>>The link to the Invensys website for their interim results surely presents nothing positive<<
A few points you probably overlooked:
Yes, I am still here - "the factory worker".
>>Once the fruit of an apple is disposed of, the core is discarded and left to rot. Rick mentions reducing Invensy to the core businesses. Will these core businesses be left to rot? <<
You and others might look at it like the core is something you dispose of, but the truth is, the seeds in the core have the ability to grow an orchard and produce more fruit than the one bit of fruit you sold.
Saturday, November 16, 2002
As far as working together as a team, the field people have always been team players for the most part. The unstable management has taken the wind from most people sails. We are trying hard to keep focused and take care of our customers. But with every piece of our integrity being whittled away, it becomes harder each day to maintain this. We are concerned we will become just another number to Invensys. They keep trying to fix what was not broken.
It becomes increasingly evident that what really matters, the customer, is not being taken into consideration. When you keep laying off the loyal people that have serviced these accounts for years, you are showing the customer that you are unstable, and probably not worthy to be given the chance to compete for additional work!
Saturday, November 16, 2002
If you truly want the company to not only thrive but excel all expectations, everyone must work together as a team.
Friday, November 15, 2002
There hasn't been much traffic on the weblog for Invensys since the request for positive input. The link to the Invensys website for their interim results surely presents nothing positive. Recent market reports on Invensys aren't positive. It was even reported in one of the financial papers that "Slick Rick" lost his cool. Would positive results have caused this?
Are the few people who previously went to bat for Invensy on this site still with Invensy or did they get terminated? If any of you are still out there, let's hear from you.
Round two of the "GREAT SELL-OFF" is underway. Roughly half the debt down and half to go. What will be left of Invensy and what will it's worth be?
Once the fruit of an apple is disposed of, the core is discarded and left to rot. Rick mentions reducing Invensy to the core businesses. Will these core businesses be left to rot?
Thursday 14 Nov. 2002
November 14 2002 - Financial Times:
Thursday was the day Rick Haythornthwaite lost just a little of his cool.
The chief executive of Invensys - known as 'Slick Rick' because of his smooth-talking manner - showed uncharacteristic exasperation at the reaction of the stock market to lacklustre interim results from the controls and engineering company.
Complaining that analysts and investors are looking for "bad news stories", Mr Haythornthwaite insists the 25 per cent fall in the company's shares is unwarranted.
Haythornthwaite said Invensys would cut less than a thousand more jobs from
its core units to help it meet the margin targets of 8-10 percent in
production and around 12 percent energy management.
LONDON, Nov 14 (Reuters) - Shares in Invensys Plc dived by a third on
Thursday as its first-half earnings, outlook and cash management
disappointed investors, who ignored the UK engineering firm's assurance that
debt was no longer a problem.
The company's stock plunged 32 percent to 42 pence by 1320 GMT, off an
earlier 12-month low of 40 pence. Volume rocketed to more than 280 million
shares after Deutsche Bank placed 60 million of them at 41-1/2 pence each,
dealers said.
Thursday, November 14, 2002
Interim results for 6 months ended 30 September 2002:
Thursday, November 7, 2002
You want good news for Invensys? Here it is - Joke Cowan has left! The "Peter Principle" has never been more evident! The man was totally over his head and was micromanaging to the detriment of EVERY business unit in the organization.
His new company EXE probably hired him thinking he was a big shot at Invensys - I have no doubt he'll drive them into the ground too!
Wednesday, November 6, 2002
There may be light at the end of the tunnel after all. Ron Bostic, VP of Global Services, from the Powerware division, seems to be a breath of fresh air for the Building service division. This man sounds like he knows what he is talking about. Time will tell.
Sunday, November 3, 2002
The never-say-die Invensys people got laid off on Thursday & Friday of this week. 60 people got the on news Friday (1 Nov 02) in Rockford, IL. The hub in Virginia got the news on Friday; the telephones were turned over to the answering service at 2:00pm Midwest time. I'd be surprised if there are any never-say-die people left.
Sunday, November 3, 2002
How can you not be negative? Tell this to the 60 employees that were laid off at the Loves Park plant, the 100+ tech and union craftsmean that where laid off across the nation, the 3 hubs which will be shut down and their people laid off, and all the customer service reps that were laid off.
Sunday, November 3, 2002
BAAN has had internal successes within Invensys. As an example, Foxboro has been using BAAN software and a BAAN designed web site to sell its pressure transmitters direct to customers under the Invensys brand name. This has been up and running for more than a year.
Sunday, November 3, 2002
JimPinto.com editorial request: C'mon, Invensys people - let's not make this into a forum only for negative feedback! Where are those positive, never-say-die Invensys people!?
Sunday, November 3, 2002
More on the same theme :
If morale and attitude aren't bad enough already; employees weren't being reimbursed for their expenses. That's not all. BAAN is now being blamed. That's right-BAAN. The same BAAN that Invensys is trying to promote. You'd think that BAAN could be circumvented and payment would have been made to the affected employees.
There is another Invensys wonder product in the works: "WONDERHOW".
Sunday, November 3, 2002
Rick Haythornthwaite and team introduce "WONDERWHERE".
"WONDERWHERE" is the total business solution, employed in every niche of Invensys operations.
Thursday, October 31, 2002
There are without a doubt a lot of very good local factory workers and local management at Invensys. By working together we can make a difference, we can be successful.
If you are one of our customers, how are we doing? Are we listening to you? Are we giving you what you want? Have we kept our promises to you? If we have not, then shame on us. YOU are our future. You are the food we eat, the homes we live in, the cars we drive. Without you there is no us. All I can say to you is that we come to work each day and use the tools given to us to produce the highest quality product that we can so you get what you want when you want it. If you are not satisfied, please yell & scream! We in the factory want to hear you, we need to hear you, we want to fix what is wrong!
We have no control over the upper management of this company. But, we do know that we want our customers to be satisfied with us. For those of us that really care, it hurts to read all of the bad things people have to say about our company. We take pride in what we do and want to do what is right; but, until I found this website I had no idea how others felt.
I challenge those in upper management to make the right decision. That may not always be the best for short-term business, but it is what is right for the longer-term. Take off the blinders and take out the binoculars - be commited to us for the long haul. Be good leaders and we will follow! We will listen and we will perform above any level you could imagine!
Families don't turn their backs on the other family members when things get tough; they work TOGETHER to fix the problems and go on. For us to satsify our customers, we cannot be looking over our shoulders everyday, wondering if we are the next to be cut. We owe it to our customers to be commited, and to work together to satisfy them. They should be #1 on our priority lists!
It is said that you should RESPECT your superiors. Please remember - RESPECT is earned, it is not just given!
A Loves Park Invensys employee, and proud of it!!
Thursday, October 31, 2002
I think that most of the local management is trying to keep the Invensys companies going, with the resources they have; they are struggling to keep their departments in tact. However, the decisions which affect the work force are being made by a much higher level of mgmnt who are influenced by the bottom line and bottom line ONLY.
Jobs are being moved to third world countries to cut costs. This is also happening in many other corporations in this country. I think this is a short term solution; the money they save short term will end up costing them more later, when they find the lower cost workers will not beable to produce the quality products fast enough (learning curves etc.). By the time they realize this, it may be too late.
If the people of this country don't start doing something about it we will no longer have any hi-tech positions. Manufacturing is about gone; Hi-tech is on its way out. Our government needs to step in and stop this mass exodus. Some countries don't allow this to happen; they protect their work force.
Thursday, October 31, 2002
Responding to weblog from the "factory worker":
Putting on the blinders and hoping that everything will be taken care of by the current upper management won't play-out in the current state of this company. What is being done to market the Invensys product line? The Invensys name has more recognition now because of these weblogs. Step into U.S. supply houses and see if the products Invensys producers are displayed or if the counter person is familar with the Invensys name. Name recognition in this business is important and Invensys definetly doesn't have it.
Where are the factory workers that were employed at the sold off Invensys divisions? Did they remain quiet until the axe fell? Being complacent isn't going to change anything and since management won't listen to their employees, this forum is an alternative.
With the proposed sell off of the Branch Contracting Operations, if I were a factory worker, I'd be questioning this move. Has there been a rush by Independents to procure these branches? If not purchased, who will opt for using the Invensys product line in the areas served by these branches?
The climate at Invensys is more favorable for raising mushrooms than manufacturing. The old saying: "keep them in the dark and feed them bullshit" is appropriate for describing managements treatment of employees.
Wednesday, October 30, 2002
Everyone complains about the management of Invensys. You are just as much to blame as the management. I am a factory worker for Invensys and am proud of the work I do. I see the local management doing what they can to keep the company from falling down in a bad economy. The decisions that are made are made by those overseas that are unaware of the quality of the workers in the facilities in the US.
This is to you the Invensys employees - by posting things that show negative on the company only puts your own job at risk. How you ask?
Negative news about your company hurts sales, poor sales means below estimated earnings, below estimated earnings means you are out of a job. Wake up people it is not management that is causing the crumble of Invensys. It is in effect your own grumbling in public forums. If you really wanted your company to improve you need to give a positive outlook to those who might need your product. If you can show the buyer that there is quality products built by quality people there is less of a chance you will be unemployed.
You need to accept just as much blame as those who are making the decisions on how things are run. While upper management is trying to save what they can of the company by selling off parts of it to pay off debt, you are destroying what is left by your negative words.
If you really believe in your job and what you do like I do you need to get rid of your negative attitude and act like you want to save your job. Your attitude will not only end your job but mine also and I donít want to hold you responsible for my unemployment.
Pinto editorial comment: Hooray! Thank you !
Wednesday, October 30, 2002
The morale at Invensys has hit rock bottom at the Loves Park plant. Everyday there's a new rumor that layoffs are comming.
Wednesday, October 30, 2002
Evidently, Invensys seems to be trying to utilize their own companies to justify aquisitions. Recently, the Loves Park Plant switched their software system over to utilize BAAN software for inventory. Now they have forced themselves into a costly marriage to the Baan product (3 days shutdown for the switchover); is order/delivery/accounting more, or less, stable than before?
Tuesday, October 29, 2002
Another positive: Foxboro's DIN-Rail mounted 200 Series IA Fieldbus Module I/O has been on the market for over two years. It is an order of magnitude better than anything on the market.
Tuesday, October 29, 2002
Responding to the "two positive things" weblog:
1. The holdings that were disposed did generate revenue. How will the loss of that revenue be compensated for? Was the sale price of these holdings at a "bargain basement price"? What's left to sell in order to pay the next note? What will be left after that?
2. The award for the flowmeter was good news and showed what can be accomplished by those who know. Too bad Foxboro may be on the auction block and many of the employees responsible for the development of this flowmeter may have already have been axed. What happens with a team when all the players are gone and only the managers remain?
Congratulations to those responsible for th development of this flowmeter!
Tuesday, October 29, 2002
Two positive things:
Tuesday, October 29, 2002
Does the following scenario lead toward something positive?
Tuesday, October 29, 2002
When and if something positive happens here at Invensys I'm sure someone would e-step forward. It would be welcome if there was some positive news for a change. But, alas - nothing posistive has happened in a year since the re-org.
It is rumored that the powers-that-be have a choice: to pay payroll or pay the vendors. Expense checks have not been issued since the switch to Baan, 9-27-02 to the present.
On Sunday October 27, 2002 - Jim Pinto wrote :
This Invensys weblog traffic is at an all-time high, with several thousand hits per month. I'm a little uncomfortable that comments are always negative. To maintain a balance, I hereby request ANY Invensys people who are POSITIVE about their company to e-step forward and provide some of your positive thoughts and ideas about your company.
At the ISA panel session last week (Dick Morley's Last Retort - Wed 23 Oct) I expected to meet Sasan Goodarzi, president IMAPS, but he didn't turn up. I had hoped he would give us a positive slant on Invensys.
Anyone reading this, please forward to Goodarzi, or at the very least, an Invensys HR person. Surely it would help them to read what the employees are thinking and saying.
Sunday, October 27, 2002
It shouldn't be long and you'll be saying goodbye to Invensys automation. Since the split of Branch Contracting & Branch Service, it was just a matter of time. Now that the Branch Contracting is attempting to become independently owned, that should be the end. What would entice any Independent to front for an organization such as Invensys. Surely, Invensys products will not be the industry's choice with any Independent Field Operation. If given away, some branches won't entice Independents to take control of them.
To those who still believe in Rick and his team, YOUR DAY WILL COME!
Saturday, October 26, 2002
To the Oct. 17th guy complaining about the belly achers:
Cowan appears to have taken your advice and gotten out of town. It will now be interesting to see what happens out in California at Wonderware now that their protector is gone.
For those of you at Foxboro I hope you don't get caught in the reorg. that is coming on 11/1. If you do I wish you the best.
Has anybody else noticed that after a year of selling companies and cutting costs our stock price is only 30 pence more than when Rick came in to Invensys to save us all?
Saturday, October 26, 2002
Facility Solutions is in the process of disbanding. With the layoffs of union personnel, the unavailabity of parts, and the company technicians not being reimbursed for their expenses, it would seem the end is near for the service departments. Those that are left have increased workloads, low morale, and the job of trying to convince the customer that everything will be OK. Invensys has no focus or the necessary management to salvage this once profitable sector of business.
Wednesday, 23rd October 2002
Joe Cowan has left Invensys to become CEO of EXE Technologies. Sasan Goodarzi, vice president of IMAPS, will report directly to Leo Quinn, as will Cowan's reports at Baan. Quinn assumes the leadership role for Wonderware, Avantis and Invensys Manufacturing Systems organisations.
Frankly, Joe Cowan was over his head, and recognized that he was "drowning".
EXE Technologies provides fulfillment, warehousing and distribution software for e-commerce and traditional distribution channels. EXE had $ 75m sales, $ 50m loss in the past year, with a market-cap of about $20m. Joe Cowan does not have the management muscle to help them, and will simply drive EXE deeper into trouble. Look for Cowan to exit within a year (if that).
Wednesday, October 23, 2002
Invensys was never "a respectable and sought after company". If this weblog is referring to Siebe (surely not BTR!) it was an acquisition-driven juggernaut with questionable accounting practices. It was always going to get to this point.
We need to sit back, let the economy normalise, and see how it performs now that it is focussing on core activities, rather than acquisition accounting.
Monday, October 21, 2002
Responding to Weblog of Thursday, Oct. 17:
The people who are reading & responding to these weblogs on Invensys are the reasons why there is still something functioning at this company, something remaining to salvage. It has been those with no history in this organization that are destroying what remains. Those with a company history are being treated as the outsiders and purveyors of negativity.
How do you NEW GUYS ON THE BLOCK think?? Yurko was one of the NEW GUYS and what positive results did he achieve?? Haythornthwaite is the NEWEST GUY ON THE BLOCK - and what positive results is he producing? He seems to be heading towards liquidating the company. Think about this: Some positive results and positive direction by the NEW GUYS might generate positive attitudes among the employees.
Let's be thankful that there are some "old regime" employees left. They are preventing the changes that are destroying the remaining parts of Invensys. The old regime is being treated as the intruders. Remember, it is the old regime (prior to Yurko) that made Invensys a respectable and sought after company.
So, to the author of the Oct. 17 weblog: Try to give us something POSITIVE to digest! Blindy following the dictates of your leaders can be disasterous for us all!
Saturday, October 19, 2002
Recent posts criticizing management and the ones criticizing those doing the criticizing agree on one thing: that at Invensys, management is, at best, irrelevant to getting things done. Ignoring management and just doing what needs to be done is a good idea in principle. Personal survival may make it difficult to do. They may be irrelevant, but they are still dangerous. The best solution would be to just get rid of them all and not replace them. Morale and productivity would improve and think of the money it would save in salaries.
Saturday, October 19, 2002
As a former Invensys employee, I agree with the previous comments that life is too short to stay in a job situation that you hate. However, to those who believe that courage and values are what is needed to survive the current situation with Invensys management (not to mention the situation of the past 3 years), you should re-read your "motivational handbook," especially the chapter titled "Ignorance is Bliss."
Friday, October 18, 2002
I sincerely support the contributor of October 17 in converting all the negative energy that hangs around this weblog into something constructive. It is not a matter of brainwashing to try and make things better, but of character, courage and values.
If every day you come to work is the living hell that it is made out to be by some people on this weblog, you just owe it to yourself to get up and leave! Life is too short to be miserable every working hour!
The passive-agressive behaviour of these complainers is a main contributor to why people like us, who truly believe we can make a difference can not grow and multiply and overcome the many barriers that still lie ahead of us!
Thursday, October 17, 2002
My guess is the person who forwarded the Thursday,October 17 Weblog is somebody who is associated with Invensys for a very short time. If that is true, it's amazing how short a period of time it takes to "brainwash" an individual. That persons initials may not be RH or LQ, but they may be EG (Extremely Gullible)or WB (Wears Blinders).
As far as kicking a man when he's down, if that is in reference to Rick Haythornthwaite or his management team, they are the ones kicking and trampling businesses within Invensys, the businesses that are viable despite the current leadership.
Working together to make things better would be welcomed, if there was something to work toward. The destructive force set in motion by Rick H. can lead to nothing but the total downfall of Invensys. To sell the remaining divisions to someone interested in something other than liquidation, would allow those employees who have ridden this roller coaster to show that they are self-motivated and very capable in their respective fields.
The great DEMOTIVATORS (Allen Yurko, and now Rick Haythornthwaite and their management teams) remind me of Nero. What was Nero doing while Rome was burning? Those who want the company left to them haven't yet paid their dues in this business and more than likely aren't capable of surviving in this business.
Thanks to Mr. Pinto for providing this forum.
Thursday, October 17, 2002
The sooner Invensys gets rid of the bellyaching nobodies who spend their time contributing to this weblog instead of getting on with their work the better. It's easy to kick a man when he's down. Instead of wasting time and effort on complaining, let's work to make things better. Don't rely on your management to motivate you - do it yourself or get out! Nobody is compelled to work here. Leave the company to those of us who see a future here.
No my initials are not RH or LQ. Just someone who cares.
Wednesday, October 16, 2002
Well the bean counters having really got it down to a science now. At Foxboro it has been decided that we can no longer afford to have the Halloween party for the employee's kids because it would cost to much and take to much time. I mean we all ready have half the light bulbs removed, have to worry about leaving the doors open to long, are recycling the office supplies of the people let go and any other cost saving measure that can save a dime.
So the only thought left is: Rick H. get off your backside declare us bankrupt and sell off the pieces so that we can get on with our lives. This pretending we are a company is for the birds.
By the way Rick you keep saying that all of that cash from selling of businesses is paying off out 3.1 Billion Pounds debt. So what is our current debt level? I'll bet its not 1.6 Billion Pounds which about what it should be if all that cash went to debt.
Wednesday, October 16, 2002
Within Baan, there is currently a big uproar due to the fact that the group around Joe Cowan has cut our incomes. Variable pay and/or bonuses are only to be paid if Baan has a positive EBIT including restructuring charges. So, the remaining folks within Baan even have to pay for the restructuring and Joe Cowan can play with his numbers as he likes to. This kind of cost cutting is clearly illegal since it breaks the contracts of most of the employees.
There is only one exception to this rule: Account Managers and Sales Executives are allowed to earn their bonuses with no regard to the EBIT rule. But what if no consultant/presaler is motivated to go to the customer because he takes no advantage of the deal he is closing together with the account manager? This shows the limited view of Baan's current management. They have no ideas how the business is made...
Wednesday, October 16, 2002
In response to the Web Log from Italy: Not only Italy but all of Invensys is suffering the same fate. When "BEAN COUNTERS" take charge of technological firms, the result is what is being experienced by Invensys. Pretty soon there will be no beans left to count and there will be a flood of "BEAN COUNTER" and management resumes hitting the marketplace. What a disaster!
Wednesday, October 16, 2002
In my humble opinion, there is a complete loss of focus by Invensys management - resulting in a complete loss of confidence by the folks working for them.
Upper management is saying all the right things - like taking care of the customer is #1 - but all we seem to do anymore is crunch numbers on spreadsheets to justify our existence. And, what's up with having (by my count) four different consulting groups advise management in the past six months to a year? Isn't that a confidence builder!?
Monday, October 14, 2002
Here in Italy, the local Invensys unit Controlli has been forbidden to continue to sell Micronet systems, whose exclusivity has been granted to Sidat, local distributor of Satchwell, just bought by an ENEL (former electricity monopoly) subsidiary.
The merged sales network of Controlli and Eliwell (40M Euro sales)are now led by a man whose only working experience is Financial Controller. Controlli was a unit consistently giving in the last 5 years PBT and operating cash around 20 % of sales. I heard some rumor too that new organisation of Invensys Climate Europe is meant to facilitate the sell off of all contracting businesses in BAS. I heard too the same is true for US Contracting branches.
Friday, October 11,
For those Invensys employees who fear subscribing to Jim Pinto's site, but do access the Web Logs, it might be a good idea to Web log the Centenary Issue. An even better idea would be to Web Log that issue for not only Invensys, but for Honeywell and Siemens too.
Note : All JimPinto.com eNews issues are on the web - Index at:
Thursday, October 03, 2002
Invensys is still faltering and Merrill Lynch is a little slow in realizing that. If anyone believes Invensys stock is undervalued, they must be out of touch with reality. The Invensys "fire sale" unloaded some profitable businesses to pay down their debt and the remaining businesses don't seem likely to score profits sufficient to move the company ahead. The remaining debt, instability, lack of qualified management, and morale of employees doesn't make for a bright future. If anything, Invensys' worth seems to be OVERVALUED. Anyone who is willing to stick with Rick for six will likely be disappointed well before then.
Monday, September 30, 2002
Invensys Attitude Alert!
The Building Services Sales of Invensys is about to spread "attitude". Now that "attitude" has replaced good sales practice and customer relations, Invensys is about to spread that "attitude" to New York, New Jersey, Pittsburg and Toronto. This will be accomplished by expanding the territory of the current Midwest Regional Sales Manager. Well, they're on their way to "Global Attitude"!
Invensys Trivia:
Q: Who was the Laurel & Hardy team that rode into town and introduced Invensy Building Systems to their new way of doing things and disappeared into the night. Were they also involved with Honeywell??
LONDON, Sept. 29, 2002
NY-Times story : Invensys Is Selling Parts Unit
Invensys, a maker of factory controls that is based in London, has agreed to sell its American auto parts unit to the Carlyle Group, a buyout firm, for $880 million in cash to reduce debt.
Carlyle will also invest $33 million in the American unit, the Rexnord Corporation, which makes clutches and brakes, Invensys said.
The sale will help Invensys meet its goal of reducing debt by £1.5 billion ($2.3 billion). The company, which lost £869 million, or $1.4 billion, in its 2002 fiscal year, is selling acquisitions after slumping profits threatened loan agreements with banks. Moody's Investors Service cut its credit rating to junk in February.
weblink: http://www.nytimes.com/2002/09/30/business/worldbusiness/30CARL.html?ex=1034349588&ei=1&en=c63315089f1b8034
On Wednesday, September 25, 2002 - commenting on the Honeywell UK move to request a 5% rebate from all vendors on all business done with Honeywell during 2002 and 2003 (see Honeywell weblog) - this comment was logged on the Invensys weblog:
Let's give the Invensys financial wizards some help. They can follow the Honeywell lead as they have done in the past and add their own twist. The 5% vendor rebate mentioned in the Honeywell weblog can be employed BEFORE THEY REFUSE TO PAY THEIR VENDORS! In their way of computing that would reduce the amount of debt that they won't pay!!! Then, to top Honeywell they can tack on a 5% incease to all their contract customers for the privilege of being a "PRIVILEGED CUSTOMER".
Tuesday, September 24, 2002 - referring to the complaint by an Invensys vendor:
Mr. Higdon unfortunately joins the list of vendors to be taken by Invensys. Put nothing past the Invensy management. Vendors, employees, contractors and even their customers are all apt to be taken advantage of.
Why do words such as trust and attitude keep surfacing in writings or conversations involving Invensys?
Take into consideration that Invensys is heavily in debt, is sponsoring a major golf tournament, is hiring more and more executives, etc. How can a vendor expect payment?
Mr. Higdon in his weblog mentioned maturity in the management at Invensys. Just like that payment he didn't receive, he won't be receiving any maturity in the management at Invensys. There is none!
Sunday, September 22, 2002
What's in the future for Loves park? Moving of some manufacturing back from Mexico was a ray of hope. Is this manufacturing facility for sale?
Manufacturing, sales and service were once working in concert. Not anymore. It's almost as if each sector is on it's own and struggling for survival. Being able to provide a quality product and quality service was once a strong point. The quality product and quality service are available, waiting to surface. What's keeping them from surfacing is attitude. The attitude of the sales supervisor and the service supervisor are smothering what could once again surface.
Some manufacturing came back to Loves Park, maybe it's time to send some management to Mexico!
On Saturday, September 21, 2002, an Invensys supplier - Edward L. Higdon [ehigdon@onemain.com] wrote :
A little background on how a supplier gets treated by Invensys.
We supplied a set of custom modifications both fixtures and solder
systems to Invensys - this was the old ECM Motor Plant, which has
now been reduced (not surprising) from 740 employees to 40.
While the cost savings were both obvious and substantial I have never
been so under supported by engineering staffs.
Assigned engineers were too busy to become actively involved.
The experience with Invensys was a real stomach turner. When they came
to buy-off the machine we discovered a whole series of items not properly taken into account.
While we could run production, it didn't fit their needs. We put the project on hold,
redeveloped it, I went to their plant and offered a cancellation, they kept the order in place.
When the machine arrived at the plant the "General Manager" informs me she doesn't like it and wants
changes. The plant is only available 8 hours a day and it takes 1 1/2 hours to warm the solder pot.
The criteria is changed every time we had a successful run. Finally after twenty days I have the
successful runs and a power surge blows the controls. Anyway, 60 days later, I leave the plant
after completely redesigning the system four times. The plant manager offered a total of
four thousand additional dollars from the original deposit to complete the contract.
Invensys had shut the original plant down and moved the machine to a reduced facility with an air evacuation
unit (against my advice) four times the size required and were bothered by the "temperature"
variations. Gee Whiz! We have built and installed systems for 19 years. I have never..EVER..
experienced such indifference to a vendor that was fully committed to solving issues and
delivering goods. The machines are in operation today.
I could never trust Invensys again to meet their commitments to payment or to follow through on their word.
Gross "impunity" is my only possible description of their behavior. Forget the contract. Payments
so late they didn't matter anymore, e-mail cut-offs(obvious filtering), absolute refusal to reply
to requests for explanation, refusal to return merchandise unpaid for etc.etc. What gives?
I realize plants are going through downsizing but pervasive attitudes of the vendor as the enemy
aren't going to take us anywhere.
Playing "Not Invented Here" after the vendor arrives at the plant requires maturity in the
management that I simply never experienced. I've bought or designed in far more dollars of
Invensys products than they have ever purchased from me. That's at an end! Is the customer always right?
Edward Higdon
On, Friday, September 20, 2002, a cynical, long-term Foxboro employee wrote:
To emphasize their belief that you can't have too many VP's, Foxboro created another one, Michael S. Bradley, today. How many VP's are there? Nobody knows for sure - it seems that there's no such thing as having too many.
Foxboro had 8,000 employees and 8 VP's in 1990, just before selling out to Siebe-Invensys. That's a VP/employee ratio of 1/1,000. What is the ratio today? An order of magnitude higher. How many hard-working people will get fired to pay for this new VP's salary?
Sunday, September 15, 2002
Thank you, Roy Slavin, for your remarks! (JimPinto eNews, Sept. 15, 2002, Slavin comments published below)
The managements of TYCO and Invensys have wreaked a lot of havoc, with a lot of people. These people simply don't believe in Truth - only in the bottom line, driven by their own personal greed. There is no compassion, or respect or any humane tendencies. If the profit isn't right, then they lie to fabricate the numbers - to pad their bonus checks; their own survival and greed at any cost!
They report that shareholders are angry, 2,000 jobs must be cut. Invensys (and Tyco) cut numerous jobs, mostly just plain people working week to week. Families are ruined; homes are lost; people with pride in themselves and their jobs are gone. Good people are told that they are just overhead, and their jobs are cut.
One wonders what Allen "Jerko" is thinking now - is he ashamed? Or perhaps he simply doesn't care, because he has gone on to other things in his lavish lifestyle. And what about the managers and executives who are still here at Foxboro, the yes-men who blindly obeyed Yurko's every whim and never ever questioned his follys? Well, those same people are brown-nosing the current hierarchy. Everyone of them is sucking up to the next level in an effort to save their own job. If you don't kiss-up, you're accused of being a trouble-maker, and you'll probably be on the next hit-list. And yes, the yes-men-hit-men are scouting around, looking to find out who is giving you news.
Honestly, I've never been a whiner before. I'm simply looking for another job. In the meantime, (as Slavin says) thank you Jim, for giving us a forum!
Saturday, September 14, 2002
Roy Slavin [royslavin@cox.net] ex-CEO of Wonderware, Siemens
Industrial Automation and other prominent US automation companies,
wrote:
"I think your site gives many people a place to vent. You pay more
attention to them than their own managers. You probably know more
about their business than their own managers - which touches the
core issue. Most of the people who manage these companies know
nothing about the product, customers, industry, or even fundamental
technology. The clueless CEO's are hired by Boards who know even
less. It is truly the blind leading the blind.
"By far the worst group of idiots in the industry are at Invensys and
Tyco. They have done more to destroy the industry than all the others
combined. Did you know that Allen 'Jerko' and Dennis 'Kos-liar-ski'
started their careers at the same company where they learned their
financial engineering skills? The 'real', behind-the -scenes story
of the BTR merger and Baan acquisition has never been told - it is
too unbelievable. The utter destruction of AMP, Potter and Brumfield
(Siemens electro-mechanical group), et al that were captured by
Tyco is sinful. Unfettered greed and ego is frightening and
sickening to behold.
"Almost every person working at those companies HATE management.
They have endured endless cost cuttings, endless reorganizations,
endless consultants, endless crap. The only thing they haven't
had is good management: leaders who know something about the
products, industry, technology. What are the people who are
stuck in those companies to do? The only practical solution
is to simply stop caring. How sad.
"I was told that Invensys is conducting an 'internal investigation'
to discover who is 'leaking information to the outside'. I assume
this means YOU since the other analysts in the industry wouldn't
have the balls to repeat it.
"Good luck. Keep at it."
Thursday, September 12, 2002
A well functioning organization doesn't need a pep talk. A well functioning organization will be energized from within and the members of that organization stimulate one another. The fact that a pep talk is needed says something about that organization and it's leadership.
This forum wouldn't be used for criticism if suggestions within the organization were acknowledged. If it is believed that management positions were filled by the smartest and hardest working people, be real!
Some of the smartest and hardest working people in the Invensys organization were let go because they were a threat to the "SCHMUCKS" currently in charge. It was the old management that was proven and orginally made the different divisions attractive to investors.
To hell with the pep talks and propaganda! We've been on a steady diet of this BS since Yurko and the new regime is here hacking away at what is left.
Did the CEO turn around his last company or arrange for it's sale and run?
Thursday, September 12, 2002
I heard this from a friend who works at Foxboro. He was at a department "pep talk" where the subject of people criticizing "upper management" was discussed. Here's what his manager said:
Tuesday, September 10, 2002
In response to the weblog on Foxboro dated 9/10/02: As for who to trust in any Invensys owned company; don't trust any management post-Yurko. The truth hasn't been a strong point with this organization since then. There is a circle of "GOOD OLE BOYS" in upper management who have not exactly been telling the story as it is.
Remember when management was stressing the team concept? The management had the employees running the bases for them, fielding for them, and going to bat for them, but neglected to tell them the game they were participating in wasn't baseball. Then there was the call to treat the company as your own! What a crock!!!
More and more Invensys owned companies are hoping to be sold. The reason for this being to get as far away from the managerial low-life that has infiltrated Invensys since Yurko.
Monday, September 09, 2002
I am so concerned for the future of The Foxboro Company - since linked with Invensys.
We read Mr. Ricks emails and his new management appointees emails and they always seem to point to service being the strong hold of the company and where we should concentrate our efforts. Also the 60 day surge is doing so well, we won't have to cut any personnel..... We actually got this in an email - and then the next day 3 people were cut in the service group, and rumors of more to come. We just don't know who to believe any more. You certainly can't depend on the management information emails. These are coming out so fast and furious it makes you spin.
The best thing that could happen to Foxboro is for someone to buy us and let us do our jobs. We have great products which need to get sold - but we hear sales is next too. What is scary is this is happening everywhere in the US! What a world! Before you know it we will all be cooking imported hamburgers in a fast food chain. And all of our Engineering and high tech jobs will be in India, where the labor is cheap. And the stock holders can get richer and richer, we will get poorer and poorer.... Isn't globalization just great for Americans?
Monday, September 09, 2002
I have been closely following Invensys' plan to sell off the Rexnord unit. Who are the latest suitors interested in buying Rexnord?
Saturday, September 07, 2002
All is not well in the Invensys midwest service arena. Fielding complaints from unpaid vendors and dissatisfied customers is becoming commonplace. Just to go out and function without making excuses for why the Hub didn't respond to a call and schedule appropriately, why it takes so long to obtain parts that are readily available, why the cost of parts is so high (some customers compare cost and the markup seems absurd). why? why? why?
As if that isn't enough, you're expected to answer to an arrogant and incompetent service manager that has no idea what customer relations are and definetly no clue as to how to conduct himself in this a business environment.
Reward for failure didn't end with Yurko. That was just the start.
It's becoming increasingly embarassing to represent this organization and the only hope may be in its sale. It's a shame to see customers with such a huge investment in Invensys Automation Systems treated so poorly. Some customers have already sought other alternatives to Invensys.
On Saturday, September 07, 2002, this was blogged:
Appears that some truth about the direction of Invensys is surfacing and it isn't coming from the management. Management teams have definetly destroyed many divisions within Invensys that in the past had been successful and more than likely would have remained so if not for the intrusion of reorganizing teams brought in to fix what wasn't broken. These teams have removed the heart of some divisions and left them to die.
Customers are still confused about all the name changes, phone contacts and lack of prompt response to their concerns. Customer satisfaction in some divisions is something only mentioned and for the most part is non-existent. Customers and especially so-called prefered customers are only to be taken advantage of. Trust that had been created over the years is rapidly disappearing because of the attitudes the new Invensys displays.
The "HUB" concept was introduced and as I understand it, the hub as in a wheel is at the center. It is supposed to hold the wheel together as well as transmit force and direction to the wheel. The Invensys Hub is more like the center of a centrifuge. Like a centrifuge, all that was originally at the center is cast off as the centrifuge continues to operate. Will Barry Safranek and Jim Seymore allow the Invensy Hubs to operate as a centrifuge and sling off everthing?
On Thursday, September 05, 2002, this was logged:
Announcement of Kathleen O'Donovan's replacement:
On Thursday, September 05, 2002 this was blogged:
I'm a current Invensys employee - from the way things are going, I will soon be a former employee.
There has been a restucturing of the service and construction department; they seperated and put up a brick wall between the two. This is the brian child of one of the brain-dead ex-Honeywell managers we hired. It was annouced today that the constuction division (which answers to Mark Putnam's, David Gill's and Patty Nichols's organizations - I guess one of those cardboard-core companies) has been sold off to independent locally owned contractors.
The reasons given:
On Wednesday, September 04, 2002, a frustrated Invensys insider wrote:
Invensys's "core businesses" seem to be to ruin morale, break off customer relations, lose contracts, not give answers to employees. We wait for weeks, or months, for parts that should be delivered overnight. There is a lack of real world knowledge in the Invensys parts dept. They keep telling us they are going on line with Baan. Who are they kidding? They can barely keep things straight now! We will ride it till the horse drop, then get on another horse.
On Wednesday, September 04, 2002, an Invensys insider logged this:
This is in reply to the question "What exactly are Invensys's core businesses?" It is just a joke! Any resemblance to companies either living or dead is purely coincidental.
Prior to D-Day the Allies created a phantom army (14th Army) and put it under the command of Gen. George S. Patton to give it status and credibility. The idea was to deceive the Germans into thinking Allied forces were much stronger than they actually were and that the landing in France would be at a site much further north at Pas de Calais. This Army had cardboard tanks, trucks, artillery, etc. Phony radio and telegraph transmissions were created and the plan worked. It was code named "Operation Quicksilver". The Germans didn't believe the main invasion would be at Normandy even days after it happened. This kept them from diverting their main forces south to Normandy until it was too late.
Rick Haythornthwaite's plan is similar. He is creating a Phantom Core Invensys complete with cardboard divisions, programs, strategies, etc. This is to deceive buyers into thinking Invensys is much stronger than it is. Otherwise, they would offer "knacker's yard" prices. This plan is code named "Operation Quicksand". Of course, this cardboard core will fold in a wink once the disposal program is done. RH knows it. Lord Marshall knows it. It doesn't matter. The idea is to make the best deals they can and salvage as much of the creditors' money as they can. The creditors are calling the shots, not the stockholders.
On the question of Invensys' core business, this was weblogged on Tuesday, September 03, 2002:
What exactly are Invensys's core businesses?
Invensys classifies itself as a vertical company. Does this imply that it is easier to topple?
Invensys also refered to itself as a virtual organization. Does this mean they aren't for real?
Does anyone know how Precision of Indiana fits into the Invensys structure? Are they due to take control of sales and service for the midwest?
On Wednesday, September 04, 2002, an Invensys insider provided these comments regarding the press comments by Invensys' Ms. Scarth, (see below) :
After reading the comments by Ms. Scarth, I get the feeling that I'm reading about a press conferance by some third world Minister of Propaganda!
This arrogant, snobbish authoritarian fails to grasp that this ship is down at the bow and sinking fast. As I mentioned in other emails, this out-of-touch management still thinks they are right! Ms. Scarth mentions profits next year; if things continues at the same rate, there will be no next year for Invensys!
Most of us are surprised at the brazen attitudes demonstrated here! "Denial" seems to be the main thing. The majority of the employees don't trust this management, and it's time that they should go! The Invensys employee's best and only hope is a sale, and a total ownership and management change! Our spirits soar when we hear a rumour about a sale.
It's sad to see that we have degenerated to this - when we feel that our own management (both Foxboro and Invensys) has become the enemy. We can only hope for a sale and a large broom to sweep this pack of wolves out the door!
Thanks for listening, and thanks for giving us a forum!
On Wednesday, August 28, 2002, someone asked:
Invensys has been taking a long time to find a buyer for their Eurotherm Drives unit. Word on the street is that Danfoss, Baldor and GE are the last bidders. Does anyone have more info?
On Sunday, August 25, 2002 we received this synopsis of a press interview with
Victoria Scarth (senior vp, corporate marketing and communications).
Ms. Scarth is one of 3 people at Invensys (the other two are the ceo
and cfo) who speak to the press about financial matters.
The Invensys companies for sale are posted on our web site, this is the only
list.
The five-year goal for Production Management is to be in the 15% range.
A sale to Siemens is absurd. Possibly Siemens started this rumour.
By the way, there's no possibility that GE would ever be interested in
Invensys. GE stays away from software-based companies like us. Over 50% of
our revenues are from software and that scares GE away. They like
nuts-and-bolts companies.
This did not cause a cash flow crisis, but shareholders lost confidence and
the story got out of hand.
We admit that when Rick Haythornthwaite came in, he was not a 'Baan convert.'
Sure we've been through some problems but we're past them now. The financial
press got the story out of proportion. Baan is on solid ground and
definitely not for sale. It's $400m now and has the potential to double to
$800m.
Baan has 6000 installations including the world's largest manufacturers
(Boeing, etc) The new link up with Wonderware for real-time control in
manufacturing will be a killer app.
On Monday, August 26, 2002, a Eurotherm UK insider wrote :
Once proud Eurotherm is shrinking - in sales and every respect. The management stinks and morale here is awful. Invensys will evidently sell Eurotherm, if they can find a decent buyer. Any inputs?
This latest strong "news" came from several sources :
GE and Siemens are reported to be vying to buy Foxboro and other Invensys "Measurement & Control" assets.
Pinto Point:
Recognizing Siemens' interest, Invensys will try to stimulate interest from others. GE has been buying other smaller companies recently - they appears to still have interest to go into industrial automation. Strangely, GE old history seems to be repeating itself (after several abortive attempts to get into the process automation business).
On Thursday, August 22, 2002 a top Invensys insider wrote about the Forrester commentary that BAAN should be sold by Invensys:
Forrester's report is nonsense - a very bad piece of research! We'll issue comments soon.
Invensys cannot afford to sell Baan if it resulted in a loss.
On Thursday, August 22, 2002 - after reading the Forrester suggestion that BAAN should be sold off by Invensys, an industry observer wrote :
Not many people have faith in Invensys. I wonder who paid Forrester to write this article?
On Thursday, August 22, 2002 an industry observer sent this news item :
More than 6,000 manufacturing firms license Baan's supply chain software, but despite Baan's innovative products,
Invensys lacks the focus to make a success of Baan.
Forrester Research believes that heavyweight, cash-rich vendors like PeopleSoft and Oracle will acquire Baan for small change. Today, Invensys struggles with a 41 percent year-on-year decline in operating profits, and, under Invensys' ownership, Baan will not deliver positive results because Invensys will fail to restructure its software businesses; software is a specialist business -- not a hobby; and Baan will struggle to increase license revenues," said Forrester Senior Analyst Charles Homs.
Invensys never took the time to create a single integrated suite with the software solutions it owns: iBaan, PRISM, Protean, Wonderware, and Xebic. As a result, users suffer from a ragbag collection of software with high operating costs and nonstandard user interfaces. But Invensys lacks the financial muscle to rearchitect its software assets.
Instead of waiting for Invensys to make a move, Forrester believes that Baan should create a sell-off task force that will enhance Baan's prospects for sale by:
Few vendors have the cash or the stomach to buy Baan. Which will take the plunge?
Forrester suggests that the buyer should/could be Microsoft, Oracle or PeopleSoft.
On Thursday, August 22, 2002 - *EXPERIENCED* wrote about Honeywell buying Sensor Systems:
It's a sad state of affairs to see Sensor Systems being run by a bunch of young, arrogant, inexperienced yuppies without a compass - but itís an equally scary thought of Honeywellís toxic management style!!
On Tuesday, August 20, 2002 an industry analyst wrote about the Honeywell purchase of Sensor Systems from Invensys:
This supports the theory that Invensys is forced to sell profitable businesses to get needed cash in the probably vain hope of taking the dogs that are left and magically transforming them into gold! Other key buyers looked at this and declined.
IMHO, Honeywell drew the short stick on this one. My belief is that: a) the roughly 15% operating profit is over stated and, b) that Honeywell will destroy this profitability within 24 months (witness Measurex and almost every other acquisition Honeywell has made).
The deal follows the $425 million sale of Invensys' battery business to EnerSys Inc., a Reading, Pa.-based competitor owned by a Morgan Stanley Private Equity fund, and the $505 million sale of its flow-control business to Irving, Texas-based Flowserve Corp.
On Thursday, August 15, 2002, a Foxboro employee wrote :
I have to comment on
Foxboro's "March Madness" and other recently reported weird things that have
been blamed on Yurko and Siebe/Invensys.
My observation is that most of the
funny business that goes on at Foxboro is home brewed and is not a result of
any edicts from above. I'm not a Yurko admirer and I wouldn't claim that he
was a spendthrift but he wasn't totally unreasonable. He gave Foxboro
reasonable funding to develop products and modernize manufacturing. The
Foxboro management squandered it.
Instead of new products and efficient
manufacturing they produced grandiose nonsense like Six Sigma and other
marketing/propaganda campaigns trying to pretend they were big shots like
Jack Welch instead of martinets in a second rate company in a backwater
industry. My criticism of Yurko (and now Haythornthwaite) is that they he
couldn't see through the BS and bluster and realize that the Foxboro local
warlords were taking him for a ride. These guys are the same ones (or their
carefully groomed direct descendants) that ran Foxboro into the ground
before Siebe came along.
On Monday, August 12, 2002, an Invensys employee wrote:
I work in service. How can the management of Invensys expect to keep contract customers if they won't let salesmen sell contracts? How do they expect to run Chicago service from Virgina? Customers are not very happy - I deal with them everyday. They don't know who to call, or who to talk with.
On Monday, August 12, 2002, someone from the UK wrote :
Does anyone know who is buying Fasco Motors? That's another good Company that Invensys has brought down by their new type of management.
All I can see here is that Allen Yurko has sold a lot of books on how to improve the companies he (mis)managed....
On Thursday, August 08, 2002, an irritated long-time Foxboro insider wrote in disgust:
Jim,after reading that feedback in your eNews from that yahoo in communications, do you wonder why we are having problems?
These people who lead this corp. all have the same attitude. If it doesn't work today, tommorrow or five months from now, they will think it's worth another try. These brilliant managers are arrogant and never at fault. THEY choose to blame their subordinates, or anyone handy.
These people consider us gullible, telling us their stories while they take away our benefits. What you heard about false shipments is still true. We see this every quarter - even now. We see much more then our uneducated eyes are suppose to see!
In other words, these people are not fun to work for. In time they will destroy what is left of Foxboro!
On Wednesday, August 07, 2002, a high-up Invensys insider wrote:
"Kathleen O'Donovan (CFO) is very clever but she really is going soon - it was announced at
the AGM. She manages to dislike a lot of people which can make her hard
work for some.
"Lord Marshall is still there just to annoy us - I can't think of any other reason.
"Keep on writing!"
Regarding the Compair sale (see below), this was logged on Thursday, August 01, 2002 :
I believe that Compair was sold for the price of a few
beers in an English pub. This information was from the Australian Managing
Director of Rexnord who says he can't wait to be sold off and no longer under of the
control of Invensys. Compair had been on the market for several years.
Invensys must be getting desperate.
On Thursday, August 01, 2002, this was weblogged:
How can a company performing so poorly, boast about being an international production technology and energy management company that specializes in helping companies improve their performance & profitability?
Following the performance and profitabilty of Invensys should definetly be an indication of how well qualified they are to help others. Perhaps, they themselves are in need of help. Will that help come before 2006 and will there be anything worth saving?
On Wednesday, July 31, 2002, someone asked :
I have heard that Invensys has sold off Compair for a ridiculously low price do you know how much this company was sold for?
Pinto Comment:
Yes, Compair has been sold - to Alchemy (noted to be bottom fishers - price not idsclosed, though Invensys retained an 18% share - management also has a stake.
Frankly, the price was probably ridiculously low, through it is is probably better for Compair and its employees.
See extract from press-release on Compair website:
A deal agreed between venture capitalists Alchemy Partners and Invensys has positioned
compressed air equipment manufacturer CompAir for profitable growth and ends market
speculation about the long-term future of the business. The deal also sees four senior
members of CompAirís management team taking a personal stake in the business, while
Invensys retains an 18 per cent shareholding.
On Tuesday, July 30, 2002, "call me anonymous" weblogged :
"The "unnamed employee" who mentioned padding the sales figures at Foxboro Environmental touched upon a general practice used in manufacturing as well. So, not only were the sales figures "cooked", but also the production figures. The Foxboro fiscal year began with April 1 (how appropriate). With the coming of Siebe and continuing thereafter, the month before the fiscal year close became known as "March Madness". The factory would be working overtime to produce material to the point where expedited orders and development prototyping were impossible to schedule. There was always spectulation among employees as to where some of the material was shipped, which customers were invoiced and where some of that "RMA" material returned to the factory came from around the second or third week of April.
Mention to any employee "March Madness" and you get a deep chuckle in return.
On Tuesday, July 23, 2002, Larry Lawver [ScienceOfficer@compuserve.com] from Rexel, Central Florida, weblogged:
The BAE division of Invensys was acquired by an excellent airport baggage systems company (and one of my best customers), G&T Conveyor, of Tavares FL, during June.
I'm interested in comments about this acquisition.
On Tuesday, July 23, 2002 - a former Invensys employee wrote:
As ex-employee of the Invensy, Foxboro Environmental Operations (sold off to Thermo), I can tell you for certain that upper management padded the books at the end of each and every quarter. This practice was very common place from the mid 1990's to the day they were sold.
They would force their sales representatives to place orders before the end of the quarter and then remove them from the books after the quarter numbers were in. As I understand it, this resulted in some big bonuses for the GM's of EMO. Whereas this was great for the GM's and Alan Yurko, it was very detrimental to the rest of the group. The result of this practice led to lay-offs, reduced inventories to the point of not being able to function in a productive manner, and just general low morale throughout the division.
This practice sucked the life and money out of a very good division of Foxboro. At the very end, it was a horrible place to work.
I still have friends that are working for other Foxboro divisions of Invensy and the tale is always the same.
I'm am continually amazed that Invensy has survived this long. I'm also surprised that some employee has not taken them to court for some for their practices.
On Wednesday, June 26, 2002, this comment came on the Invensys weblog:
See the weblog comment on Rockwell Automation dated 6/14/02. Amazing how the automation industry is being destroyed!
On Thursday, June 20, 2002, this message was weblogged:
CAN THE DOWNWARD SPIRAL OF INVENSYS IN THE U.S. BE ATTRIBUTED TO EX HONEYWELL EMPLOYEES WHO ARE INVOLVED IN RESTRUCTURING EFFORTS? ARE THESE THE SAME EMPLOYEES THAT CONTRIBUTED TO HONEYWELL'S PROBLEMS?
VENDORS ARE WAITING FOR PAYMENT AND SOME DIVISIONS ARE UNABLE TO PURCHASE GOODS THAT ARE VITAL TO THE SURVIVAL OF THAT DIVISION.
COMPETENCE IN UPPER MANAGEMENT OF SOME DIVISIONS IS TOTALLY LACKING AND THOSE DIVISIONS ARE DETERIORATING. IT APPEARS THAT GROWTH IS NO LONGER IN FOCUS AND THOSE IN MANAGEMENT ARE THERE JUST TO MIND THE HOLDINGS TILL THEY CAN BE AUCTIONED OFF.
In response to an eNews item (May 27, 2002) about Invensys Chairman Lord Marshall of Knightsbridge, a UK observer wrote :
"Lord Marshall is Chairman of British Airways, not British Aerospace. The latter, now known as BAe Systems, would be horrified."
"Just like a bad penny I have turned up in the "Land of Automation" once
more. However this time the only person who will make me redundant, for the
fifth time, will be GOD, my wife, bank manager or myself not necessarily in
that order.
"After I fell through the safety net during a belt-tightening exercise at
Foxboro Australia, this left them without sales representation for Field
Measurement and Control in the state of Queensland. I did the arithmetic
and decided that I would go out on my own. I am now the Official Exclusive
Queensland Representative for Foxboro FMC Products, with my own company:
FoxAus. My clients of 20 or so years are buying the same brand product,
from the same salesman, at the same pricing structure, same supplier,
technical backup, etc. The only difference is that they are dealing with
FoxAus not Foxboro.
"I will keep in touch and let you know how my fledgling Automation
Company progresses."
On April 17, 2002, an Invensys supplier wrote :
I've been following your stories on Invensys for a year now.
Here is another grass-roots anecdote. Insiders tell me that outgoing
Foxboro email is monitored for any mention of your name - urban
legend or truth? who knows.
Are you aware that Invensys (Foxboro is the unit I deal with) is
either selectively or summarily not paying its vendors? Makes one wonder
if the big April 1 cash nut came off suppliers' backs ? My company
is owed 200K - I know others facing similar backlogs.
No notice, just the scheduled checks don't arrive.
I've learned from my project manager (inside Foxboro) that approval
to pay half of my bill went today to Metcalf (!) Pretty high level approval
for what should be a rather routine matter - my contact says he was told
all vendor bills are being "looked at."
There are, of course, no fans of Allen Yurko anywhere in this part of the world.
- and morale inside is awful.
Do you know about the semi-annual "black hole" Every year for the
past 8 years I've done business with this outfit, they turn on a "black hole"
2 months long at the runup to end of fiscal year and midyear where no
bills are paid at all. We've all learned the hard way that if you
invoice at the wrong time, payments age 4 months. (i.e., 2 months black hole
plus the "official" 55 day aging schedule.)
Do you know that for the past year, before Purchasing will even deal with
the suppliers (other suppliers report similarly) they demand 15% off the top.
All our work is fixed-price, much of it is passed through via sales
orders directly to Foxboro customers. So after they ask me to quote
a body of work, and mark it up to the customer, then they insist I cut my
original quotation.
On April 12, 2002, a former Foxboro employee (name witheld) wrote:
"A friend at an Invensys company told me about your website. You have quite a following at Invensys and Foxboro! I enjoy your comments about Invensys; as a former employee of an Invensys group company I know what it feels like to be 'Invensysed'.
"You should look at the recent sell off of the Brook Crompton company by Invensys. The company was turning over $280M per year it had assets of $70M and, was sold off to a competitor for $17M ($10M in cash and $7M in debt take over), Brook Crompton as a whole company was losing $1M per month but if you look at the structure of the company and the underutilisation of those assets this could have been turned around.
"You will find that this is an example of a company (Invensys) that is in crisis and, is in desperate need of funds to bail it out of the mess that the previous CEO left, and, if current actions are any indication the new CEO is no better.
"You should also look at the sale of the Rexnord group and the Fasco group Invensys is divesting of these companies also. And, it may also be worth your while to look at the business practices of the Singapore based group that purchased Brook Crompton this group has a reputation of unethical conduct. "
On April 09, 2002, a Foxboro Australia employee wrote:
"Invensys has the 'one hand doesn't know what the other hand is doing' problem.
I previously mentioned to you that we had seen a flurry of activity regarding
our Invensys network connection, most of which achieved nothing. Well, I've had
'our' IT guy back to fix it and we do have the old system back again however no
word on the Invensys connection.
"I thought that things were at least 'in the pipeline' until I received this
today (see below). I am now convinced that we haven't achieved 'communications'
yet. The flurry of activity must have occurred by word-of-mouth (someone
locally probably saw a CC of my email and decided to act on it before their
butt was kicked - this would explain why they haven't followed-up yet - nobody
in Australia has received anything from head office at all).
It appears from the attached text (see below) that Invensys HO haven't even attempted to
answer my questions, let alone address the problem. At least I no longer
receive sales calls...
"Thanks for your enews, always interesting, always informative. Your comments
have certainly stirred up some issues - I've noticed that management 'actively'
ignore your site (and your opinion) as though they are afraid of something.
This is one thing I hate about corporations - perfectly normal people rush to
defend an indefensible, impersonal corporation when it makes dumb decisions.
It's as though they're saying: "I know it's wrong but I'll stand by the
corporation anyway" as though they will somehow benefit when the kaka hits the
fan. As you and I know, unless you're on the Board, there are no guarantees. So
why do the other 20,000 tow the line when it wouldn't make a toss of
difference? Got me beat...
Item referred by above:
Apologies but I have recently taken over the Ask Rick and Ask A Question
functions and on updating the database noticed that you do not seem to have
received a reply to your question. Today, I have forwarded your note to
Elizabeth Barrett, Head of Messaging who will reply to you direct.
Regards,
"Yurko made a complete mess of the Invensys, particularly by firing far too
many people far too quickly. A lot of the problems were self-inflicted. But
Allen refuses to admit his blindness, insisting that his problems were
exacerbated by the economic slowdown.
"When I asked Allen what he would do now, he said he would retire to play
golf. But that was BS - at 50, he is too bull-headed to retire. Private
equity firms like Compass have become a retirement home for many executives
who have departed from corporate life. Allen Yurko is probably paying to be
a member of the club, while he waits for his next opportunity. And I'm sure
there is some board somewhere which will be blind enough, or stupid enough,
to hire him."
Regards the praise for Emerson's Delta V during Rick Haythornthwaite's
strategy presentation, Mike Alsup of Emerson [Mike.Alsup@EmersonProcess.com] wrote:
"I finally got into the archived section and transcribed the full quote
about Emerson's Delta V.
Rick Haythornthwaite: "One of the things I heard everywhere I went was we were being taken to the
cleaners by Emerson and DeltaV. I think Emerson has done a fantastic job
with DeltaV. But when one looks at what they've done with that, it is less
about functionality, it is more about marketing and approach."
"Invensys is still in denial concerning DeltaV and their failure to keep
pace with technology, but at least they know who the leader is!"
Jim Pinto feedback:
In talking with an insider at Invensys, the clear understanding there is
that Emerson did a major and strategic leapfrog with DeltaV & PlantWeb. He
used a sports metaphor, saying that DeltaV/PlantWeb was conceived and
developed by geniuses, with a coach like Vince Lombardi and a quarterback
like Bart Star. Strategies have given way to tactics, and the halfback
(Emerson sales management) is now running the ball down field.
Investor response: Shares slid 12%, closing at 97p.
Here is a summary of the Haythornthwaite strategy:
The UK Sunday Telegraph reports that Yurko quit Invensys without any
severance pay; it did not mention his handsome pension payment, which he
had arranged to become fully vested by the age of 50 (about a month after
he had made the "arrangement"). Yurko left Invensys at the end of January
(presumably with full pay up to that time) - and a couple of weeks later,
he turns up at Compass.
Yurko had told friends that he was going off to play golf, and was "wooed"
to join Compass by Paul Soldatos of Compass, evidently on the golf course.
Apparently Mr. Soldatos had not read the UK newspapers when they reported
the mess that Yurko had caused at Invensys.
The newspaper report goes on to say that "Compass is keen to capitalize on
Yurko's deal-making experience. He masterminded the £9.4bn takeover of BTR
by Siebe to create Invensys and was responsible for many of the smaller
deals that enabled Siebe to grow." Nowhere is it mentioned that BTR Siebe
had turned sour under Yurko's direction, with a plunge to less than 10% of
its former value.
One former Yurko confidante whispered in my e-ear that Yurko had used his
pension payments to "buy" a Compass partnership. What happens is - you put
some money into the "private equity" fund and become a "partner".
Now, wouldn't it be funny if Yurko uses Compass' money to finance purchase
of Baan, or a bankrupt Invensys? That would indeed merit a Pinto poem. Stay
tuned...
|
Keep Motivation Up in a Down Economy.
With a stock trend like this (from Bigcharts, Invensys stock price 1988-2005 - makes a great mountain range picture) why would there be "sour grapes"? I think most people who were laid off (in this case the current Invensys employee poster makes him/her self feel better using the word "fired") were grateful to have been "released" right away, rather than to wonder day in and day out whether they would be around for another ration of abuse. If you think you've got it made, that's great!
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