Houston -- ABB Inc. used its annual users' conference as a platform to boast about its return to profitability and to set the tone for future growth, which it says centers around its 800xA process automation platform and a more sophisticated services arm that it expects will be buoyed by acquisitions and new applications.
At the ABB 2006 Automation World Conference and Exhibition here, ABB took the wraps off its new device management software as well as instrumentation and drive products. It also previewed a beta version of a remote management application for ABB robots. Meanwhile, company officials hinted that 800xA upgrades are on their way this summer. The updated version will include incremental applications that strengthen the company's new service strategy.
"Service is multifaceted," said Bob Hausler, ABB's vice president of systems marketing, in an interview. Companies want to get a handle on maintenance of equipment as well as overall cost of ownership. That's why the new products and services coming down the pipe from ABB feature "a commitment to lifecycle management," Hausler continued. "It's not necessarily a feature set, but maintainability tools to help people deal with those issues."
The 800xA process automation system, introduced in January 2004, is built on ABB's Industrial IT framework. More specifically, ABB's Aspect Object technology acts as the glue between applications and reconciles disparate data within a common database. As the 800xA system matures, ABB is building out vertical applications and adding value to existing software, Hausler said.
The focus on services is partly driven by ABB's desire to grow North American market share, which represents even greater potential than China, said Dinesh Paliwal, ABB's president of global markets and technology. ABB's Process Business, which accounted for $5 billion of the company's 2005 revenue, supports a $15 billion installed base of equipment. "With that comes responsibility," Paliwal said in a press briefing.
With that responsibility in mind, ABB is focusing on building out services. It's an area in which the company already has a foothold. Services accounts for almost 20% of ABB's overall revenue. But there is a bigger opportunity for the company to align with customers as an outsourcing partner, taking over the maintenance tasks of instrumentation and control systems or complementing a company's engineering department, Paliwal explained.
Six months ago, ABB made a strategic acquisition of a small services company that added access to 250 new customers in the U.S. and Canada, Paliwal noted in an interview with Managing Automation. Now that ABB has reported its first profitable year since 2000, future acquisitions to complement the company's automation and process automation service business are under consideration.
The focus, Paliwal said, is on adding value to U.S. manufacturers' existing equipment. "So much has already been built and it requires more productivity. A 1% to 2% productivity gain can mean tens of millions of dollars in savings per year," he said.
Getting the most out of existing equipment was a theme that cut across some of ABB's product announcements at the show. Besides rolling out instrumentation, such as a new pressure transmitter, low-voltage drives, and a magnetic flow meter, the company announced its Asset Master Device Optimization software, which will allow an 800xA user to manage and track field devices.
Similarly, the ABB Remote Monitoring Arm, currently in beta, couples a cellular modem with a robot controller to monitor the equipment and update the off-site ABB technical support team via e-mail. The updates serve as an early warning signal that something might be wrong, in which case ABB can alert the user company's on-site staff or dispatch an ABB technician. Pricing and availability for the robot remote management software were not available.