Weblog - Invensys
Read the original article	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.
Automation Unplugged	Invensys in Decline updated Sept. 2003 in Jim Pinto's latest book Automation Unplugged. Read the Table of Contents.
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Weblog Comments - Invensys Weblog comments will include date of submission, most recent first. Note: Jim Pinto does NOT include any personal comments, unless specifically mentioned. Most weblogs are submitted anonymously, or with requests that names be witheld. Saturday, October 8, 2005 - from Foxboro SCADA, Rome, Italy : 1999 - Bill Ketelhut, Foxboro President (at the time) said when Foxboro acquired the Scada business from Nuovo Pignone (General Electric): "With its strong presence in the European chemical, oil, and gas markets, Nuovo Pignone's SCADA business complements Foxboro's strong position supplying automation and control systems to the power and transportation sectors." 2000 - Said the manager, sent from USA: "The Invensys group is world leader in the sector. You will be the jewel of the group, the brilliant center for the telecontrol systems, the group will ensures you orders and investments". But, it was necessary to cut 60 employees of the remaining 150, exactly 40%. 2001 - The new arrangement seems to function, the products are on the market, and more new orders arrive. After a bad period for the company, the workers think there's a good future ahead. 2003 - Invensys is forced to decline important business to make money. Foxboro Scada doesn’t reach its business target. The building property gets sold and another crisis is announced. All that remains is the people, with their professionalism and obligations, which has never been undermined. 2004 - Of 94 remaining workers, 44 must go: 25 with no hope of re-entering and 19 with transfer of a business branch. For the remaining, there are no business-plans, no prospects, nothing. Invensys will not commit itself to anything. Those that remain are the "last legion" that will surrender only at the end. 2005 - During the "IPS Discovery Map" meeting, management assures Foxboro Scada workers that there are no plans for any further cuts of employees in the future. We are requested to "Build productivity by working together to develop better processes and create more value, rather than by simply reducing headcount to cut costs". September 2005 - In less than 6 months, Invensys communicates intentions to fire 28 workers (from 43 to 15). The numbers are justified with "a very bad forecast." The story is now, "cut but not sell Foxboro Scada, because Invensys still believes in Scada". The FOXBORO SCADA workers say: To defend our job and the Italian site, the only solution is to sell the Foxboro Scada to a company interested in this valuable Scada business. We have the experience, the human resource, the capability and the products to be a profitable company! 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 - 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... Thursday, September 8, 2005 This weblog seems to encourage 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. Jim Pinto response: 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! For more, earlier weblogs Read the Invensys weblog archives - see link below

Read the Invensys archive (June 30, 2005 and previous)

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