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Weblog - Honeywell
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Honeywell - read the original article. The Honeywell saga started first as the possible sale of the controls division to Siemens, then the merger of the whole enchilada with United Technologies and then ended a couple of days later with the sale to GE - all in less than a week! GE backed out of the merger, CEO Bonsignore was booted, Bossidy of Allied took over, and then handed over to a new, tough CEO, David Cote. Now, how is Honeywell doing? |
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Honeywell Industrial Systems - the GE-Honeywell fiasco updated Sept. 2003 in Jim Pinto's latest book Automation Unplugged. Read the Table of Contents. |
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Weblog Comments - HoneywellWeblog comments will include date of submission, most recent first.Ref - ABB weblog Sunday Oct. 5, 2008 - two blockbuster deals: Rumour mill here in Honeywell is that it could be us - lots of synergies and a significant better bet than Rockwell. The complete text of the Sunday, Sept. 7 weblog has been published, with editorial introduction, "Growth & Profit by Slash & Burn" in the 10 September 08 issue of JimPinto.com eNews. Here's the link: http://jimpinto.com/enews/sep10-2008.html#3 Thursday, September 25, 2008 I currently work for Honeywell in NY. Honeywell bought out our company in 1999. Our organization was one of the Top 50 Employers. Our Three (3) shifts of production moved to Juarez and China. Now we are a skeleton crew working four jobs and getting paid for one. People left our department but mangement indicates they can only replace them in a low-cost-center. Our work-load has quadrupled. Currently I found out Hand-Held production was laid off. I heard a few months back a new factory was being built in Juarez next to out current plant for the transfer. I hear the Engineers are next. You can kiss your job good-bye to Honeywell Taiwan. If you work up there, get the hell out now! Wednesday, September 24, 2008 Everyday I feel more like jumping ship. I miss the old days! Friday, September 12, 2008 - To the blogger Thursday, September 11, 2008 from Hand Held Products, third paragraph.... If you are being told "we cost too much", this is Honeywell code to tell you that there is probably a process or transition team in place to begin the evaluation on shutting your site down. Its been done before at Honeywell. Thursday, September 11, 2008 Wow, I have to say that these are some interesting posts. I am an engineer at Hand Held Products - sorry, I mean Honeywell now. Still getting used to it. Our site's morale is really low, which is in great contrast to the mode of growth and prosperity we were in last year. At the moment we are in the unsettling calm of the eye of the storm, waiting for production layoffs and announcement of the "right" organization restructuring for us, with both rumored or expected to begin in early October. I started searching the Internet to discover some things about Honeywell that aren't necessarily printed in Newsweek or WSJ, and certainly not told in the creepy, 1984-like internal satellite broadcasts. Seems like all I find are bad things (though I did start by Googling "Honeywell sucks", so as my friend & colleague pointed out I shouldn't be too surprised; as ye seek so shall ye find I guess). The specific post about Hand Held Products here is a bit scary, hopefully exaggerated or wrong. However, other stories about Honeywell companies seem to be coming true for us. We have had good people depart over the last several weeks who would, I believe, otherwise still be around. Open positions that need to be filled are done so by people in India or China, due respect to both nations. Travel spending I'm told is met with unprofessional angry confrontation from Honeywell corporate auditors. Our benefits cost us much more now and our various incentive programs are gone or being removed. An active Big Brother presence is being established in the form of internal security cameras and targeted Internet blockage. I could go on. The only message I get from this is that we cost too much and we're expected to eventually harm the company. (Two interesting asides. First, there are security cameras are being installed mostly in closed areas because Honeywell leaders believe people may try to start fires - yes, specifically fires, in our concrete & steel building - before Honeywell can 'fire' them, ironically. Someone's been watching too much Wile E. Coyote. Second, when I tried to visit this particular site from my work PC I could see no posts dated after 8/22. So I've immediately stopped using my work PC for anything remotely personal and I smile & wave to all the cameras that I know about whenever I pass them.) And if one thing gets me it's the surprised disdain with which the Honeywell visitors reacted to their layoff announcements. As if it shouldn't have been a surprise that you're finally being kicked out like the dog you are. As if it's a sin to expect your years of hard work, indeed life's work for many, could earn you anthing more than your last paycheck. The most valuable individual contributors to our company at all levels and the vast majority of other talent came right from Central NY (before HON I think we employed almost 1000 worldwide and peaked at almost 700 locally, a real bright spot for our rural area). With predominantly local talent - no imported scientists, no ex-blue chip CEOs, no big city turnover rates - we were a leader in our industry. Our culture and the people it attracted were at the heart of our success. The loyalty and values that Honeywell replaced with outsourcing and security cameras is largely what made us, but I bet no corporate accountant will ever believe it and no MBA-flaunting yes-man could ever inspire it. I'm trying to reconcile what I see with what the Honeywell Integration Team told us early on about growing our business and not trying to interfere with our great company culture of hard work, integrity, and family friendliness. Well, the culture is gone, ripped out in a very insulting, disrespectful way. And I guess that growing our business doesn't necessarily mean growing our teams or our site. But then to me it's no longer "our" business, it's "theirs". In the meantime I can only work here for as long as I can stand it and prepare myself for the change I reluctantly believe is inevitable and wonder if I'll go out on my terms or theirs. Thursday, September 11, 2008 - To the Honeywell S&C employee: You are absolutely right, S&C was the jewel in the crown in old red Honeywell. I worked at IAC (or whatever its current incarnation is) in Phoenix, and I remember that at one time quite a few years ago, S&C was going to fold under IAC. That never worked because S&C was much more advanced in just about any facet then we were. In many cases that was the same situation with Honeywell and A-S. Honeywell was just so more advanced in just about every facet with one of the key exceptions being accounting for cost reductions. I left 4 1/2 years ago. Good luck to you and all the great folks in Freeport (?) Wednesday, September 10, 2008 To the blogger who said, "It's about the money and about the next quarter; always was and always is." I could not disagree with you more. My comments (Sunday 7 Sept. weblog) applied to old Honeywll and Sensing & Control only. Conversations with Honeywell personnel from other facilities over the years lead me to believe that many of the ways S&C operated were unique to S&C, and the reactions from other divisions frequently varied from amazement to envy. Old Honeywell S&C understood that three things were necessary for the company to be thrive: 1. The customer; 2. The products; and 3. The employees. Each of these three legs required care and feeding, "nurturing" if you will. When each leg was strong and healthy, profits would take care of themselves. If you failed to take care of the customer, or if the product quality was poor or delivery was late, or if employees were dissatisfied and turnover was high, then performance suffered. Keep all three happy with good customer care, good products, and employess who felt valued, and the money rolled in. Allied took this proven formula and replaced it with one with a different and decidedly narrow focus: Money. Not the customer, not the products, and certainly not the employees. Just plain old Money-Money-Money and ways to optimize it. In doing so, S&C went from a technology company to being one driven purely by accountants. Customers are recognized only as a source of dollars, with the emphasis on how to most efficiently separate them from their money. Instead of products that exceed customer expectations, and are delivered on time, design and build has been offshored to the demise of schedule and quality. And finally, instead of eliminating obstacles and making it easier for employees to perform their jobs, new obstacles are erected daily. For instance, management dictates that everything from components to engineering to capital equipment must be obtained from Emerging Region (ER) sources. Price targets aren't given; only that suppliers must be from ER 12,000 miles away. Why? But, by the way, travel, at least by non-managers, has been nearly eliminated. So don't even think of visiting overseas suppliers for inspections or equipment sign-offs. It ain't in the cards. In fact, it also seems that while many of us have company cell phones, the added efficiency of being able to reach someone wherever and whenever just plain costs too much, so turn them in also. And by the way, normal phone bills lately have been running way too high, so now we're pressured to reduce phone useage. It sounds like something straight from Dilbert. But it's our reality. The irony is, management loves to talk about how important employees are. Yet if this is true, then why is morale lower than ever? If this is true, then why are employees streaming out the door? If this is true, why are employees that formerly had responsibility for multi-million dollar projects now reduced to having to sign-out pencils from the storage cabinet? If this is true, then why does management not take actions to improve morale and reduce turnover? Managment actions speak louder than words. The truth is, employees have been reduced to nothing more than pieces on a chessboard whose only function is to occupy space upon whatever square they have temporary residence. You aren't told the game, you have no say in the strategy. Other than quit the game, you have no control over your own destiny. The chessmaster controls everything. Ironically, the chessmaster seems to spend a lot of time moving pieces left and right and precious little time moving them forward. If you hired in, looking forward to a career with a strong technology company, this is disturbing. As a result, employees who once proudly claimed Honeywell as "our" company now think of it as "their" company (meaning the chessmasters.) If your association with Honeywell has only been since the Allied takeover, then it's easy to understand your comment. But to lump old Honeywell in with this current band of vandals ("always was and always is") does a disservice to those who made the old Honeywell a good place to work. Tuesday, September 9, 2008 - re: Metrologic/Handheld Forget the organization stuff because that's not your problem. Metrologic was bought for its profitability and Handheld for its patents that Metrologic needs to stay profitable. It's just that simple. Anything else is gravy and the plan already covers the case of dumping all the rest this year if we need to; it's not plan A but it is in the plan. In the short term there will be other work but only until it becomes a cost liability then it goes. In the long term it will mostly be moved overseas but little by little so the brainpower is not scared off too soon. The other posts are emotion, but the stuff about using overseas people to meet hard goals until the local help is no longer needed and training your replacements, is true. But it's gradual. Its cheaper today to outsource so that's that. It's about the money and about the next quarter; always was and always is. Welcome to Honeywell. Monday, September 8, 2008 Well not long to go now and soon I will be out of this place. Cannot believe how bad this company has become, and every year it keeps getting worse. I joined a company that was customer focused, sales orientated, management driven and forward thinking. Now we have become internally focused - where internal meetings take priority over customer visits and events, process driven – where the hurdles placed in front of sales / engineering people are so numerous and complex that it is now almost impossible to get anything done, management ineptitude – where management no longer understand what we do and how we do it and are paralysed by indecision and lack of empowerment, a matrix management structure that means no one single person is responsible for anything (at affiliate level at least) and decision making is by committee which means that nothing absolutely nothing get done quickly. Forward thinking - nothing much beyond the next month; anything more is just lip service. Engineering and sales appointments take far too long to fill negatively impacting the business, HR positions, consultants and middle management positions seem to be filled immediately and now represent a relatively large percentage of the workforce who contribute nothing, absolutely nothing, the nett result is that year on year the burden of work falls onto an ever reducing number of people to compensate for the ever increasing number of non contributors. Its an utter utter shambles and getting worse. Monday, September 8, 2008 Thanks for the last posts. At Hand Held there's already been some attrition and it's been directed that those people are to be replaced with resources in India. I'd like to think that a bright future can still be had here but the writing on the wall seems to agree with what was said in the last couple of posts. It will pain me to leave, but at least I won't wait around to help Honewyell get rid of me by teaching away my modest value. Here's to life after Honeywell. Monday, September 8, 2008 We all should have taken the blue pill of get me out of here at S&C. Instead we took the red pill of broken promises and uncertain future, and now we are starting to see how deep the rabbit hole goes. Monday, September 8, 2008 - In response to the blog on Saturday, September 6, 2008: I predict you'll have a couple of years (2-3) before you say good bye to your job. Your story has been the same for many other companies (specially inside ACS). Basically it goes like this:
Sunday, September 7, 2008 The complete text of this particular blog has been published, with editorial introduction, "Growth & Profit by Slash & Burn" in the 10 September 08 issue of JimPinto.com eNews. Here's the link: http://jimpinto.com/enews/sep10-2008.html#3 I have no information about Hand-Held/Metrologic, but the situation you describe is typical, and it will only get worse. My advice is get out now if you can. Run, don't walk. The only future investment will be in China, and your facility will be allowed to wither on the vine. If you are an employee from an Emerging Region, you are part of the answer. If you are not, then you are part of the problem. The worst thing that can happen to any US-based company is that it is purchased by Honeywell. Whereas an enlightened owner would acknowledge that their new purchase must have some expertise and is somewhat good at making money and therefore allow them free rein to continue to do so, Honeywell is different. Their model assumes you must be stupid, because after all, you got bought. Therefore, being wiser, Honeywell will enforce its operating model on you. And ultimately you will be "improved" right out of existence. I work at Sensing and Control in NW Illinois. I would love it if Jim Pinto would do an expose on what Allied Signal has done to this division that once was described as a "crown jewel of Honeywell." What used to be a robust, operationally excellent, supple and resilient organization has been eviscerated. When changing circumstances require the ability to flex and respond (which is all the time) the old organization was able to quickly shift and accomodate. The current organization is brittle, breaks down, and does so frequently. Senior leadership continues its blind love affair with India and China despite neither location having successfully brought in a new program. Indeed, the present track record is failure after failure. One would expect enlightened leadership to develop contingency plans to mitigate the risks encountered when adventuring such as this; but alas, this isn't the case. Instead, this leadership takes us to the edge of the cliff with a blindfold on and promptly steps off into space. The Nanjing facility has been officially declared as "expert" despite having no experience whatsoever. The only thing they have developed is a swagger as a result of their unearned "expert" status. Leadership may know something about making money, but they know nothing about running a factory. Decisions are made strictly upon short term gain, not upon what's good for long term factory operations. One wonders what technical information leadership uses to make decisions, because they never ask for any. Only endless fill-in-the-blanks economic information. This is what happens when you have kids with an MBA degree trying to run an organization. The stream of technical talent either being laid off or walking out the door is staggering, and morale is lower than ever. Clearly, a company that wishes to remain viable would address the ongoing loss of personnel. Instead, nothing happens and the only conclusion left is that the plan is to milk profit out of S&C until none is left, and then dump it. Leadership simply does not care about long term viability. What is deeply disturbing about this is not that we can't be profitable. No, the problem is that we aren't profitable enough and we're not given the tools to be more profitable because the preconception is "we're the problem, not the answer." Apparently it requires selling a lot of additional switches and sensors to pay all those bonus checks. Since Allied took over, nothing works as well as it did before. The department eliminations and cuts are portrayed to represent cost savings. This works only because the inefficiencies that result from these losses are offset by spreading new responsibilities out among "surviving" employees. This results in lower overall productivity, but the metrics of course cleverly don't track this. Instead, the amount of productive work per employee drops below the bean-counters magic cutoff point and then it's time to reduce headcount to "adjust" the number back into balance. Of course, it's only a matter of time before plummeting productivity causes the exact same thing to happen again. But someone made their metric and got their bonus. This is a company with no future, at least for non-leadership US employees. The smart ones bailed out as soon as the Allied buyout went through. Hats off to them. The rest of us naively anticipated better times. Boy, were we fooled. Unless you're among leadership, it's a different story. Live it up, and host your all-employee meetings like Cote did, from Monte Carlo. It's a great life, ain't it? Saturday, September 6, 2008 When Honeywell bought my company - Hand Held Products - late last year, it started with rosy optimism about being able to use all sorts of resources (ie: money) to fuel a new level of growth. That "Honeymoon" was short. I feel like I went into the dentist's office for a routine checkup and came to in the chair with my pants around my ankles. Honeywell has since bought Metrologic, a Hand-Held competitor. The two companies are to be combined into one Honeywell Imaging and Mobility, inside of ACS. We're all waiting to see the local new organization structure. It has already been announced that all our local manufacturing will be gone - 290 full-time and say 50-60 temps in production being laid off, and the product lines will be moving to a factory in China. Our managers say that it will be at least another month before any organization or leadership details will be revealed. A month! A few months already since things were settled? Guess they need Powerpoint training first. Meanwhile morale is sinking oh so low, and important issues are going unattended. Can others out there offer similar tales of what Honeywell's m.o. is when there is an acquisition/merger? Is the delay in presenting a simple org-chart deliberate, hoping to fuel some voluntary departures? Is it paranoid to think the delay is because not everyone will have a spot in the new organization? Does anyone have some good insider information about Hand Held/Metrologic? Like is one or both companies going to be mined for the good stuff and the people just let go? I have a bad feeling about this. Friday, August 22, 2008 Particularly in ME, local Honeywell affiliates are totally spoiling the Honeywell reputation, completely and without any ethics, morals & integrity. Honeywell is also not bothered to see strict adherence of Honeywell procedures and standards. Many talented people have already left. Not only left, they have joined competitors. Let Honeywell wake-up on its strategy in ME. Thursday, August 21, 2008 - Ref: the blog dated Thursday, August 14, 2008: It's amazing. But just by the title "VP Integrated Supply Chain" and micromanager and the business group, I recognize this person. This person was also heard on our telecoms advocating that security carry guns in conference rooms. I'm not certain the policy of this blog site in naming names, but it is high time that certain people are exposed. Thursday, August 21, 2008 In perusing Honeywell jobs at lunch today, I stumbled across the following:
We are looking for talented engineers who have decided to return to the work force full time. Assignments may include working in a lab, in a manufacturing environment, in customer-facing teams, or in project/program management. Friday, August 15, 2008 I finally resigned after several years! Now, let's see if their attorneys come after me? Low morale, no product quality, slow delivery, process after process, my integrity was being challenged daily and no light at the end of the tunnel... There is life after "Logan's Run" (Honeywell). Many GOOD people have not reached the end of their rope... (yet)... When will "They at the TOP" realize their depleating customers are the sole reason they get paid millions annually? By "cutting and cutting" everywhere; they may get "the bonus", but eventually will lose their million dollar jobs. I guess that's o.k.! With millions in the bank, it's time to retire and let another high priced financial guru do the same to a new crowd of unfortunate customers and naive employees. Wonder how Honeywell will fare against the Department of Justice lawsuit? Seems HON sold 11,000 bulletproof vests for 20 Million to the DOJ... Suit alleges that the Zylon shield deteriorates quickly under hot and humid conditions and that a HON employee knew of this issue back in 2003. Thursday, August 14, 2008 One of the big issues in the AAS division of Honeywell is the VP Integrated Supply Chain. He hides behind behind people, expecially (an extreme known micro-manager, is determined in closing North Ameican Sites, in favour of Asia. Friday, August 8, 2008 Honeywell is the worst possible thing to happen to UOP LLC in Des Plaines, IL. It used to be a great place to work. Now the morale is in the pits. Now there's talk of having to document moment not spent in front of a computer. Good people are getting out while they can. JLL has helped to destroy the morale. It won't be long before UOP will no longer be a world class company. Friday, August 8, 2008 This is a place where good working people will be illtreated and humiliated. Only those working as non-technical managers are blessed to grow and enjoy. No one cares for either products or for customers. Saturday, July 26, 2008 From Friday 16 May 08 weblog: "They are just making sure you work for the money while doing four jobs at once and getting paid for one....." This is what happened at the Victoria BC plant also. But now its sold to a Chinese company. I do not know how military technology can be sold to china though. This plant did not have the best salaries. The upper management in the US has a bad understanding of the nuts and bolts of what was being done. Tuesday, July 15, 2008 Things are changing. All because Cote and direct reports need to make his bonus! Guess Cote & Friends were never the little guys? I am trying to make ends meet. Maybe just maybe take a boat out for the weekend and not worry about spending the money due to the next round of layoffs. Or even have a cook out with friends. Times are tough! So why does it have to be 1.7 million profit. Whats wrong with 1.6? Cote and Friends.... Hope you read this blog! Just going to throw it all away for a yearly bonus. Remember who makes your money. All the little guys like me! And honestly a company I use to brag about to friends and family. I wouldn't recommend any product we make. What happens when Honeywell is so lean, they ship Cote & Friends jobs to India! One day...... Wednesday, July 9, 2008 OMG... Is this how we treat customers? Now I know why we're losing business. I guess it is also no secret that marketing at Honeywell is in bad shape. We have lost major business because of this. I think everybody needs to buckle up, things are going to get worse in manufacturing and design (maybe even R&D) in North America. Friday, June 27, 2008 Last weblog>>I just wish the people at the top would stop worrying about the next balance sheet and start worrying about what us customers think.<< I work in customer support and I hear this (and far worse), directly and daily from our customer base and quite frankly, I'm getting a little tired of it. Not that I think you all don’t have legitimate concerns, but every year Honeywell gives the customer base an opportunity to make those concerns known during our Honeywell Users Group (HUG) conferences. And every year the customer base that shows up at HUG appears to be a far cry from the one complaining to the field all year. The one that shows up at HUG rolls over, get it’s belly scratched, and falls in line. If the concerns you bring to field service during the year are legitimate, then when you’re in an environment with those who can actually affect those concerns, please bring it up and hold your position until you get a satisfactory response. Only you, Mr. Customer, can change the things you see as problematic; but not if you continue to go mute when it counts. If you won’t hold your ground, don't expect change and please stop complaining. Thursday, June 26, 2008 Here in Europe, TAC used to have strong links with the people who designed and maintained Honeywell Control products. They could get problems answered very quickly. Since the migration of engineering to India/South America/wherever, communication lines have become slow and (in some cases) unreliable. I just wish the people at the top would stop worying about the next ballance sheet and start worying about what us customers think. With the changes of the past year, I'm starting to get very nervous about future product support. Saturday, June 21, 2008 - Regarding the TAC and Auto College emails: There are no current plans to move Auto College to Houston or TAC to India. That is what we've been told. Whether one chooses to believe that or not is up to the individual. I'll admit getting a straight and truthful story from anyone in leadership around here for the past few years has been interesting, to say the least. But, unless there is solid evidence to the contrary, this is what we have been told and so, it is the only story that we know. I suppose to some that will sound a little foolish, but then again, there is no more reason to believe an unsubstantiated rumor (for those loyal readers of this weblog, consider the "Honeywell to be bought by Siemens" rumor that has been around for the past five years or so and refuses to die) than a mistrusted statement; if nothing else, at least the statement can be tracked. To further elaborate on the TAC move, the comment offered about the need for a TAC reveals not only a blatant ignorance of what TAC does and why it exists, but also what is going on with our product families. That there is a need for a TAC in India, given the increasing presence Honeywell products have in supporting and controlling the infrastructure of that country, has been recognized and is being implemented. I suppose in some circles the obvious conclusion to jump to then is that they will then absorb all of the existing TAC centers and be run from one pole, as opposed to the four current. I can't say that won't happen, but I can say there are numerous and significant factors why it shouldn't. Those factors have also been recognized. Thursday, June 19, 2008 To the previous comments regarding TAC moving to India; it shouldn't be too difficult to work-out, support for existing (legacy) products has already been shipped to India (until they reach end of life), new products are bought-in and re-badged rather than developed in-house, what use would there be for TAC? Tuesday, June 17, 2008 Is it true that the automation college is relocating to Houston, TX? I also hear that TAC is moving to India. Comments please. Thursday, May 29, 2008 Here in Europe things are little better. Here in engineering, guys are overloaded and under resourced. Sales staff still awaiting their sales target!! (Yes it's almost mid year and sales staff still do not know their targets). The reality is much of the sales / engineering organizations feels isolated and demoralised, many have left and many many more are considering their positions - some people may say good - but generally that would only be management who in 2 maybe 3 years time move onwards and upwards leaving the utter chaos they have created behind them for someone else to deal with. Management like to call themselves "leaders" but there is a good deal more to being a leader than a title and sadly most of Honeywell's are not. Friday, May 16, 2008 I started working for a good company 25 years ago: "Sperry Corporation". After the merger and change to the UNYSYS company, they sold our group to Honeywell. Honeywell was actually a decent company until Allied Signal bought it. Since then it has been downhill all the way. If you have seen the movie "Logan's Run", there seems to be a parallel with the movie and managements relationship with Honeywell. People will be required to report management at the appointed time. In my case I would lose 29 weeks of severance pay. The rich management worship the Honeywell "GOD": Stock and they smile all the way to the bank. Friday, May 16, 2008 (edited) The Honeywell Vancouver site is being managed by a third-world-sweat-shop money-hungry person that does not care about anyone but himself and his bonus at the end of the month/quarter! It's sad that there are so many talented, hard working people who actually know this business inside-out, and its a shame that Corporate has decided to have this person lead what he does not understand. When it comes to cut costs, even when involving people that have been there longer than he has, he'll outsource pretty much all the work to whoever makes it cheaper - he is the best at that! Come on all of you people, who are still left in there waiting for packages (that will never happen) run and do not look back. He was put in charge to close the doors.Nothing else. Do you really think he will stick around for long? Let's not forget that Honeywell wants people to know that they are the best company to work for and they have the best salaries. They are just making sure you work for the money while doing four jobs at once and getting paid for one. This used to be a company that people enjoyed working for and were valued. That's no longer the case these days. And it will get worse! Friday, May 16, 2008 I work at Honeywell and will be "Riffed" at age 54. Has any more been negotiated for the bridging to age 55 for retiree medical benefits? Any comments would be appricated! Wednesday, May 14, 2008 Honeywell DCS open standards?? Currently at two Honeywell sites in Australia, Honeywell is doing everything in there power to block Emerson Wireless gateways from being connected to their DCS. The standard connectivity is serial Modbus, nothing special and a common interface to most DCS and PLC. However Honeywell is trying everything to convince these two sites that there are interoperable problems. Modbus serial is easy and open, so what’s the problem? Is it because the system lack connectivity, I think not? Or is it because these two sites have tried both wireless solutions and found the Emerson one easier and faster to set-up. Both sites want open standards HART7, but they get told continually that ISP is the way, the way to what? Seems like the old DE (Dead end) protocol solution again, locking out the competition. In the end the end users will vote with their dollars, and this time around it’s only a gateway replacement not rows of input cards that will keep other suppliers away. Saturday, May 10, 2008 I've been working for Honeywell for the past 3 years, and I've seen many bad things inside the HPS world, as I'm about to quit. I couldn't understand how management could be so bad, until I read this weblog. It's hard to face reality, as I could only imagine an employee's dissapointment while working for 10,20 or more years, and watching numbers and "double digit" profits replace people and innovation. It's plain and simple, Honeywell's soul was sold to the devil, represented by Mr. Cote's ambition and selfishness. I presenced the departure of many talented people over these past 3 years, people who represented Honeywell's real asset: Experience. Nowadays morale is low, and the "new Honeywell culture" relies on Wall street's god: Money. China, India, Mexico are the new Honeywell locations, it reminds me of the sweatshops from Nike or Adidas, and unfortunately, that's the direction where we are all going. In the meantime, I have to deal with faulty out-of-date products from Business Flex and Uniformance, not to mention the Experion fiasco, lousy TAC support (teenagers from a hotline), R&D in crisis, as many talented and experienced people leave everyday, so you'll end up with an enginneer from India who barely speaks English and has never been in an industrial facility. TDC represented what Honeywell was a few years ago, unfortunately, nowdays we work for a sweatshop, plain and simple.
Jim Pinto Sunday, March 09, 2008 11:52 AM On February 22nd 2008 Honeywell announced the closure of their Montreal Aerospace site. This started in December 2002 when Adrian Brown (she has since been promoted) made the decision to cease all OEM manufacturing of fuel controls for Pratt & Whitney Canada at the Montreal site (Leaving only Repair and Overhaul). Most of the machine shop work went to China and the Assembly and Test work went to Honeywell Rocky Mount, NC. The work would be transitioned in 6 mths (what a joke). After millions and millions wasted, that transition is not fully complete 5 years later, good luck completing it now. They actually teach a course at Honeywell headquarters based on this failed transition and what not to do. We were told to work hard to help the transition and the Repair and Overhaul work would come. They could not bring the work until the "TRANSITION" was over. Paul Vidano told everyone in a town hall meeting to "make your numbers and the work will come". Well Paul, we did make our numbers, our OTTR, our TAT, much to your surprise I suspect. Shareholders should be demanding to see the numbers on this transition, because they are in for round # 2 with this recent announcement. Honeywell says this closure is for declining work. This is true. When you have no marketing, no leadership with any power at the site level, what the hell do you think will happen. Work will fall from the sky I guess. The Air Canada APU contract should have come to Montreal, instead you ship APU's from Montreal to Phoenix to be repaired. That's really smart, considering they could be repaired literally down the road from Air Canada. That's putting the customer first, another round of applause for a great management decision. On the topic of severance. What did people get at other sites that have closed? They are calling people in with some weird formula based on your age and years of service. It's anywhere from 1,2 or 3 weeks per year of service, but you must work hard until the end and if you find a job during your severance period you have to call and report it to the company so they can stop your severance. These people are sick. Who comes up with these policies? That's for the non-unionized people. The jury is still out on the compensation for the unionized people. Paul Vidano showed up on Feb. 22 to announce this closure, along with his bodyguards. After 5 years of lies finally some truth. It's sad to see a site close because of such poor management. Sure they will say it was the big bad union. There are no strong unions, just weak management. It's funny how Pratt & Whitney, Rolls-Royce, Air Canada, are all expanding and hiring people. Good luck Honeywell with this new transition. You will need it! Tuesday, February 26, 2008 Jones Lang LaSalle (JLL) outsourcing is hitting Honeywell in Mississauga, near Toronto, as of June 2008. As has been at other sites this will be another round of layoffs and complete confusion after the transition with failed results. Another good system will be broken. Way to go , Honeywell!!! This is all part of Dave Cote's "transformation", which is code name for layoffs in North America. Saturday, February 23, 2008 Life at Honeywell-North Vancouver is nothing but living hell day in and out - you get reamed by being social and reamed again if you sit in your corner doing your job! Let's face it folks - this place is going down the tubes daily.... Senior management has no clue of what to expect from corporate next - unless of course their bonuses... and costs and more costs at the expense of the hard working individuals that have been producing and holding steady for the longest time. It has been 1 year now that the "new" and "empowered" Plant Manager came into action..... come on now - who is he kidding? We know why he is there and we also know what is plans are - get his name well known in Corporate Honeywell and at the same time push all the employees out of the door (you know the ones he does not like or thinks they are a threat) so he does not have to pay them out - he gets a bigger bonus! I just wish one of these days Corporate gives him the boot too! It will serve him right! For all th e honest, hard working employees that are still working there - get the hell out while you still can! Your jobs will eventually end up in INDIA..... Friday, February 22, 2008 Honeywell management seems confused as to their long term strategy. They are offering signing bonus's and referral fees to employees as they reload the staff with average people. I am an employee in Houston and have been keening watching this strategy for the last year. I expect these new hires will be gone in 18 months when they don't produce but upper management will remain in place. Friday, February 22, 2008 On Friday February 22, 2008, management announced the closure of the Montreal Honeywell Aerospace site as of August 22, 2008, even though the site was a good performer. The standard business lingo was given, but most people believe it was for other reasons. Thursday, February 21, 2008 Life at Honeywell is not fun anymore. People are so unsure of the future and if you cross paths with your manager beware 'cause you're job is on the line. And at the North Vancouver "center of excelence" that is a fact. You cross the key guy and you are gone. He has no respect for anyone. He will fill positions with his old buddies and has no regard for long time employees. I'm glad I don't work there 'cause all the place is now is a burning platform and he will keep it burning. Monday, February 4, 2008 Life at Honeywell in Clearwater, FL is anything but good if you're one of the great majority. We have oppressive, short-sighted management. We have small "merit increases" to look forward to. We have a massive case of "big brother" corporate trying to micro-manage and monitor everything we do. Information Technology has our business computers so overloaded with junkware and spyware that the machines are all but crippled when we attempt to use them for productive purposes. Even the fastest newest machines are hobbled by this madness! Tier 5 managers are cursed with an inability to effect changes, due to the oppressive nature of their own leadership chain. It is encouraged that anyone who wishes to get ahead at Honeywell blindly say "yes yes yes", never question a decision, and do the company's bidding no matter what the moral cost. In the end, we are left with ineffective leaders who are soft and malleable. Too much reliance is placed upon perception, hearsay, and blind faith in senior management. A free thinker is treated like a cancer. Innovation is stifled. Hard work is rarely rewarding if you refuse to toe the company line or even if you are perceived this way. Tier 5 managers are forced to rate even excellent employees as "below standard" within their group, as the "bottom 10%" is dictated by senior HR/management to receive zero raise. (This leaves the difficult situation where a superior employee in a group of other superior employees may receive a zero raise, yet a completely terrible employee may get the highest possible raise in their group of even more terrible employees.) Morale has been steadily on the decline since Allied-Signal bought us. We are continually told how we should be thankful for our jobs and that we're too costly compared to outsourcing so we should not expect too much in terms of "average" merit increases. Cost of living is also not taken into account. GE moved on long ago from the Jack Welchian philosophy of business. I figure Honeywell will only follow suit when senior members of ex-GE management are GONE from our own leadership ranks. I pray to God these folks GET THE HELL AWAY from Honeywell soon. They haven't the foggiest clue how much damage they've done to our core Aerospace business with their "one size fits all", dumbed-down management techniques. It's only a matter of time before I too follow suit after the several co-workers that have already run away from Honeywell to other places nearby.... At least I can get a decent raise when I go! Thursday, January 31, 2008 As someone who spent 21+ years at Honeywell (I left, last October), I feel qualified to give you some 411 on the "New Honeywell Culture". It sucks. Plain and simple. Back in the old days, Honeywell certainly wasn't perfect, but things really started heading south when Allied bought it and brought a corporate culture spawned at GE under Jack Welch. Over the subsequent years, under Larry Bossidy (ex-GE) and now Dave Cote (ex-GE too, I believe), things have gpne from bad to terrible for the employees. At this point, there are basically five groups at Honeywell:
Friday, January 25, 2008 Re: the big changes on the horizon in Phoenix involving Honeywell Process Solutions.... By the time the facility ends its manufacturing I'll have completed about 40 years of service. It no longer bothers me one way or another....it has been a good ride and I am proud of my participation and contribution to the business.....everybody has to leave sooner or later. The posting of Jack Bolicks announcement in the Honeywell-weblog for the most part explains those changes. Surprisingly enough, the majority of those being impacted in Phoenix are likely/hopfully to be provided positions locally within the various Aero locations. Few transfers are going to occur to the new designated locations for the various product lines. There is also a large aging population within HPS (life'rs...including myself) who will seek positions within the same industry with the competition....or retire! In my opinion, the knowledge loss, initially, will/may create small stumbling blocks along the way and any short-term impact to the customer is something yet to be determined. Funny, but the one claim to faim that Roger Fradin brought with him to Honeywell was that in the ten-year period in which he ran Pittway, he had never laid off a single employee...boy how the times have changed! Regardless of the forthcoming change, Jack Bolick has put Process Solutions back on the map and in the minds of the customers. Five years ago, nobody was even sure if the business would survive. I wonder what must be going thru the minds of Ed Hurd and Don Bogle regarding this latest change and the manufacturing closure of the Union Hills facility!? Afterall, it was the house that Ed built... sad! Tuesday, January 22, 2008 Ok, i just got laid off from HON Canada not too long ago, just before Christmas (had a great holiday...). Honeywell is an elephant when it moves it cannot step on only very specific targets most times, things happen in bunches. They don't care who says what during layoffs it's business and numbers have no feelings. In the end they know that the company has reached a very respectable status as a name and history, they think they can buy most people back whenever they want. The bigger the company the smaller you are, this family environment where people worked till thet get to 65 does exist anymore not even in Japan. Major Shareholers are the dictators we feared in the past accross all corporations. Good luck in this lawless jungle.... Saturday, January 19, 2008 With respect to the posting on Wednesday, November 28, 2007 where UOP was stated as "doomed to be ruined by HW"...I'd like to hear more. In Cote's last broadcast Jan/08, UOP was hailed as a great opportunity. It smelled as sweet as red roses. So what is really going on there?? Please speak up if you know! Friday, January 18, 2008 The atmosphere is really strange at Honeywell these days. We find that when someone finds a job at a competitor's place people actually go out of their way and congratulate the person in a very warm way and are actually very happy and want to know all the details as to how the individual did it. This was not always like this and has become rather twisted. It used to be that when someone left there was sadness and a sense of loss. People wanted to work for the place. But that was when the place was more of a family and less of a Corporation. And that environment has come about more with Cote that with Bosidy. Tuesday, January 15, 2008 Sorry to here about the new round of RIF's at HPS. Worked there for 20 years, left in '04. Allied sucked the energy and creativity out of that organization a long time ago. Best of luck to the 180 leaving soon and the 500 leaving later. I imagine there will be about 150 left to congratulate each other on how astute they are. Keep your chin up!! Wednesday, January 09, 2008 Extract of message from Jack Bolick
Honeywell Process Solutions regularly evaluates all its sites to ensure each operates at optimal capacity and provides the best delivery and quality possible. We also strive to simplify processes and reduce manufacturing complexity to better meet our financial commitments, the needs of our customers, and ultimately, secure a competitive position in our industry. As part of this ongoing process, we have decided to transition the remaining Phoenix manufacturing and assembly factory work to sites around the world. This decision impacts approximately 180 employees in Phoenix. Over the next 18 months, the following product families will be transitioned to existing manufacturing facilities:
In addition, we will continue to transition Series C I/O to contract manufacturers, and we will be transitioning responsibility of the TDC 2000 product line from the Phoenix factory to the service support operations. Separate from this announcement, we have also made the decision to accelerate our globalization plan for the Technology organization at the Phoenix site. The decision to make these changes was made for business reasons and is not a reflection on performance. To remain competitive, we must make these changes to ensure long-term growth for the business. Our focus on global growth drives us to reinforce Honeywell’s image as a premier technology leader. To achieve this goal, we must participate in the worldwide economy, open new avenues for our products and services, locate near our customers, and identify worldwide sourcing opportunities. This will allow us to be more competitive on a global basis. We will provide support for our employees during this time including, as appropriate, applying for other suitable open positions within Honeywell, outplacement services, and severance in accordance with Honeywell policy. I ask for everyone’s support during this time as we work to make these transitions as smooth as possible for employees, customers, suppliers, and the business.
Sincerely, Wednesday, January 9, 2008 I'm a machinist at Honeywell's engine division located in Phoenix, Arizona. All of the work is being systematically outsourced to Mexico and Czech Republic. They are taking the machines tooling gaging and they have the nerve to tell us we have a future here. What really makes me sick is we have hourly people that are traveling there to help expedite and train these folks in Mexico and come back with no work. They recently sent a whole department over the holiday. Now they are telling those people with 15-20 years or more experience that they have to repost for any openings. I'm talking people that have given their whole lives to this company and have worked very hard developing and optimizing these processes. I have news they are not paying these people well in Mexico in fact a lot of the workers leave to work for Walmart. You get what you pay for these days.
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