ABB announced its Q1 2009 quarterly financials in the press release below. It looks like, at least from the vantage of one of the most stable and secure automation vendors, the tide is beginning to turn.

ABB says the key is adaptability and flexibility and the ability to quickly respond to changing market conditions anywhere in the world. They're obviously right.

Here's the release:

Every year, I chair the ISA Marketing and Sales Summit, which this year will be in lovely downtown Boston in splendid September...go to www.isa.org for more information. The reason I do this is that, frankly, in the automation industry, as a colleague of mine recently noted, "The bar is set pretty low."

He's right, and this isn't a good thing, especially if we want to continue to gain respect for the absolutely essential work we do.

<Rant>

I'm really angry at the fact that we see regularly posts like this in many forums around the Internet:

This works perfect for me. Dont understand why this happens. Shouldn't [vendor name redacted] sort this out??? Im going to contact their sales rep about this. If it wasnt for these forums we would be lost.

I've burned lots of electrons talking about how to be a good vendor. I've even gotten some shall we say, pointed comments from vendors about being "slapped around."

Fact is, it is a two way street.

...

Hi, Dan Hebert here, Senior Technical Editor at Putman. Here's an excerpt from a recent column of mine.

Don’t tell the U.S. presidential candidates as they campaign through the heartland, because they might come after us. The chief cause for manufacturing job losses in the U.S. is not migration of jobs to low cost countries like China, India, or Mexico. The bogeymen are instead automation professionals like you and me.

The fact...

Dan Hebert here, Putman Editor. Here's an excerpt from a recent column that I wrote for our sister pub Control Design.

Many journalists don’t dig for data and don’t know how to analyze numbers using basic statistics. Instead, they present sensationalist headlines that generate visceral fears and inaccurately influence opinions.

For example, a common headline over the past few decades suggests that higher oil prices drive stocks...

Senior Technical Editor Dan Hebert here with an excerpt from a recent column that I wrote.

Was your childhood scarred by science fairs? Did you work for weeks on a project that turned out to be incredibly lame compared to other kids’ stuff that was obviously done by their engineer parents? Here’s your chance to get even.

Maker Faire (makerfaire.com) is three-year old science fair open to all ages but dominated by adult projects. It ...

Some of you (in fact, I truly hope that all of you) have noticed that www.controlglobal.com has a new look, effective yesterday.

We hope you like it. We tried to make it easier to find things, with the detailed drop-down menus from the tabs located at the top of the page, and with the features and multimedia on thumbnail bars rather than having to scroll down the page.

We'd very much welcome your feedback, especially things you'd like to see changed,...

More folks from everywhere are doing it--"it" being taking proactive steps to get the engineers and technicians they're going to need in the next couple of decades. The following popped up in my mailbox yesterday.  If folks less than a century removed from a largely rural, nomadic/agricultural society can get with the program, surely we can solve the problem here. 

KAZAKHSTAN--(Marketwire - June 23, 2008) - With world oil prices booming, it has never been more important for'Sound Off! Editors' Blog'