Weblog - Invensys (archive)Invensys archives - December 31, 2006 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.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 “Rick” 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. There’s 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 (“the New Shares”) 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 “Management Review” Session and personal travel expenditures would have made many wondering what the prorities were at Invensys/Siebe/Foxboro. As the “previous” 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 “paradigm shifts” 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 — 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 year’s 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 year’s £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 year’s £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 fund’s 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 world’s 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 Group’s 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 Board’s 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 “considerable progress” 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 France’s 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 world’s first “enterprise control system” New “InFusion” offering combines Invensys’ 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 doesn’t 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 – 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 ga |
Can Ulf turn Invensys around?