Honeywells Never-Ending Quest to Aid Super-Hero Users

Up, up, and away! In keeping with the red-caped theme of Honeywell Process Solutions’ (HPS) 33rd annual user-group event, company president, Jack Bolick, outlined Honeywell’s vision and commitment in his keynote address at the opening of the Honeywell User Group (HUG) 2008 meeting today at the Arizona Biltmore Hotel in Phoenix.

An introductory video featured several users who described how Honeywell’s capabilities help them improve their plants’ safety, reliability and efficiency performance. Honeywell’s mission of improving business performance includes safety in the form of layers of protection to reduce incidents, reliability solutions that increase uptime and improve production profiles and efficiency through the integration from the field to the supply chain for faster and better decision-making, Bolick explained. However all of these successes, he added, start with HPS’ understanding of users’ needs.

Honeywell Super-Hero Users

Watch this two-minute video showing how Honeywell customers are successfully boosting their plants' performances.

Bolick reported that Honeywell has achieved substantial growth in the six years since he began leading Honeywell Process Solutions, and has reached approximately $3 billion in sales. HPS is the industrial channel of Honeywell’s overall automation and control business, which increased its sales from $7 billion to $13 billion during the same period. Honeywell Process Solutions serves greenfield, brownfield and migration projects in the process industries and provides advanced solutions and life-cycle services. Bolick emphasized that Honeywell is committed to building trust and relationships while delivering operational excellence and innovative technology.

“Our life-cycle services are especially essential because they make all the other gains sustainable and repeatable,” said Bolick to the more than 1,500 assembled attendees. “For example, we can take our UOP material-science capabilities and use the resulting data to help users implement controlled process improvements that are repeatable and sustainable. So HUG is your time to tell us what we need to do more of successfully and also to let us know the warts-and-all items that we need to improve on.”

To help it secure more capabilities to serve its users, HPS has made a variety of acquisitions and alliances over the past several years. For example, it acquired AspenTech’s operator training business and Hyprotec modeling software in late 2004; Russia-based Petrocom’s advanced consulting services and solutions in early 2005; Zellweger Analytics’ gas-and-fire detection systems and InterCorr’s online corrosion detection and prevention systems and services in mid-2005; and UOP’s refinery operation solutions in late 2005. It also allied with IBM in August 2006 for field-to-ERP solutions via its Integrated-Main Automation Contractor (I-MAC) partner program. HPS also acquired PAS’ APC and optimization business in January 2007; Enraf’s transport, storage and blending solutions in June 2007; and HandHeld Products in October to 2007 to accelerate its expansion into wireless data-collection technology.

“We can predict outcome-based results based on best practices.” Jack Bolick, president of Honeywell Process Solutions, addressed how his company’s Integrated Main Automation Contractor (I-MAC) methodology can help users execute projects, set operations and business objectives, and sustain life-cycle benefits.

For instance, the Enraf acquisition gave HPS expanded capabilities in loading automation, blending and additive injection, as well as its Calibron Syncrotrak flow provers and inventory management systems. Bolick added that Honeywell’s recently extended agreement with Krohne has allowed HPS to add radar level products and expand its Versaflow Coriolis, ultrasonic, magnetic and vortex flowmeter lines. All of these moves have enabled HPS in its overarching drive to create an integrated solution portfolio that will meet its users’ individual needs.

“We’re committed to expanding our instrumentation portfolio via our Enraf acquisition and our partnership with Krohne, and we’re committed to maintaining strong R&D and MRO relations,” said Bolick. “We don’t always have to own our solutions. We can do partnerships to aid Experion Process Knowledge Solutions (PKS).”

Bolick added that I-MAC is another primary effort to aid users and improve their return on investment, and that this program goes beyond automation and beyond Honeywell also to depend on collaboration with its partners. I-MAC encompasses business, operations and automaton readiness.

“After all the years we’ve worked together, we have a database for everything from refinery to biotech solutions that can show how your application compares to others, and help us develop an outcomes-based program for you,” added Bolick. “These can be used for upgrade or greenfield projects and chart the right path to best practices for them.”

“Although we pioneered DCS, HPS no longer provides just a DCS offering. PKS is a reality,” said Bolick. “I-MAC’s project execution, operations and business objectives can enable the life-cycle sustainability users require. In fact, we can be penalized if users don’t achieve needed gains, and we may share in some of the success when they do.

“So I’d recommend learning what we can do for you this week because we’re all stronger if we can work as a global team and share data. This means we’re not just fixing one cat cracker, but now we’re optimizing the whole enterprise from the wellhead to the service station.”

Perhaps the most exciting initiative Bolick described was the latest release of the company’s integrated OneWireless solutions. “Wireless is not a means to an end, but is instead an enabler of what we’re already doing,” added Bolick. “Like from pneumatics to the DCS, it’s another major inflection in the market.”

“Wireless can help us all achieve more safety, reliability, efficiency and productivity,” said Bolick.