Interview with Keith Nosbusch – President of Control Systems, Rockwell Automation

Citation

Bloss, R. (2002), "Interview with Keith Nosbusch – President of Control Systems, Rockwell Automation", Assembly Automation, Vol. 22 No. 2. https://doi.org/10.1108/aa.2002.03322bab.007

Interview with Keith Nosbusch – President of Control Systems, Rockwell Automation

Keith Nosbuch (left) and Richard Bloss

Keywords: Rockwell, Business strategy

Assembly Automation was afforded the opportunity again this year to interview Keith Nosbusch, President of Control Systems, Rockwell Automation. This is the third time AA has had the opportunity to sit down and discuss the state of affairs with the President of one of the world's leading factory automation suppliers.

AAIt appears that Rockwell Automation turnover has declined less than many of the segments you serve. How have you accomplished this feat?

KNWhile we are seeing the most dramatic decline in U.S. automation demand that we have ever experienced, we have focused on available opportunities. Our Asian Pacific business has grown six per cent and our European business has gained marginally but more importantly we have gain shared in Europe against tough competition.

We have had to adjust staff levels by about 10 per cent in the past twelve months. We are focusing our resources on core development projects. That has meant a delay in the development of some non-core products.

AADoes Rockwell Automation "look different" in different markets around the world?

NKYes, in the Asia Pacific market, except Japan, we focus on infrastructure segments such as airports, transit systems and ports, modernization of their steel industry and our most successful segment, semiconductor foundries. We tend to be more of a provider of solutions than products, the reverse of our North American activities. In Europe, our focus is on selected OEM accounts, especially firms who enjoy a important portion of their business from importing machinery into North America. We also work with selected user accounts.

In North America, we market primarily through our independent distributor network. Internationally we tend to rely more on factory offices to reach customers. We try to match distribution channels with local buying practices.

AAWhy did you say except Japan?

NKIn Japan, we have an arrangement with Omron where they market our RSView software. They have adopted the Logix architecture approach and they support the DeviceNet and Ethernet I/P communication bus protocols. In turn, Omron supplies us with certain Rockwell branded relays, electronic timers and sensors which we then don't have to devote R&D resources to for development.

AALast year you introduced the Global Manufacturing Solutions strategy. How has this concept of being a management consultant to your customers been accepted by the market? Is this a U.S. only venture or is it worldwide?

NKWe are very pleased with acceptance. We have several success stories already. The GMS activities now account for about 15 per cent of total turnover and we expect that by 2002, the unit should increase another 15 per cent. We are rolling the strategy out country by country as we are able to put in place the resources necessary to effectively meet customer management consulting needs.

AADoes the strategy of GMS mean that at some time in the future Rockwell Automation might be solely an intellectual properties supplier, much like Microsoft, rather than a hardware supplier?

NKKnowledge management is clearly a growth opportunity. While we are devoting considerable resources to development of our abilities in that area, I feel hardware will always be a very important component of the Rockwell Automation business plan. In the future we will certainly have a more balanced marketing mix of intellectual property and hardware than there is currently.

AASpeaking of hardware, are there products that may go away? Say for example the PLC-5 has been around a very long time. Will it be retired as some point?

NKPLC-5 and other products we have developed over the years may continue on for a very long time. In some cases, the support for such products is shifted to Encompass Partners who welcome the opportunity to serve Rockwell customers. To assist customers who currently operate PLC-5 products, we have developed migration/ gateway to the Logix family. PLC-5 programs can be run through the translator to Logix and the results are about 90 per cent effective with very little manual effort required to be fully operational.

AAThere is much discussion on which hardware platform is right for automation. Where do you think the question of DCS vs. PLC vs. PC-based will end up?

NKWe see customers as having different levels of comfort with the different platforms. Rockwell feels that the PC-based approach does offer the customer a single language across control, HMI and communications requirements. We see the PC-based architecture providing a seamless information flow from control to operator interface to top floor management needs. The open approach reduces the customers investment in training and hardware to meet application requirements. A common environment is a clear benefit to the customer. We see for the future that we need to offer both PLC and PC-based products. Our goal in the Logix program is to offer the customer a choice and to insure that he has a scaleable solution and does not pay a penalty for that benefit.

AAWhat does Rockwell think the future looks like for proprietary motion control vs. PC-based motion control?

NKWe have directed our motion control efforts toward incorporating motion control as a key portion of the Logix architecture. We can package all of a customers control needs into one system. We are also the leading company promoting the SERCOS drive interface. We know customers are looking for open solutions to motion control. All of the Rockwell software products are developed on the Microsoft O/S.

AAIn my mind I think of Rockwell as the leading U.S. company serving the control needs of the discrete manufacturing segment. Is there a future for Rockwell in other segments such as batch processing, continuous processing and building management systems?

NKDiscrete is our home base. Our Allen- Bradley heritage of leadership in discrete controls started almost a 100 years ago with the Bradley family and pushbuttons and motor starters. We are a factor in batch processing. It was natural transition for us and our customers from discrete applications. We enjoy a strong customer base in pharmaceuticals and fine chemicals. We have also acquired Sequential as a means to enhance our foothold in batch process applications.

We are not a major factor in the continuous process arena.

While we are not a players in commercial building management systems, where people like Honeywell and Johnson Controls are leaders, we are an important player in industrial building energy management systems. That was a nature extension of our presence in manufacturing control systems used in those industrial buildings.

We are very strong in building management systems for semiconductor production facilities, especially in the Asian Pacific market.

AAThank for this opportunity explore the control industry and the view of Rockwell on a number of issues. We look forward to examining the world of automation control again with you next year in Anaheim, CA during Automation Fair 2002.

Richard Bloss