Weblog - Rockwell Automation Archives - May 31, 2011 and previous
Read the original article	Rockwell Automation in trouble - read the original article. Rockwell Automation is a leading supplier of industrial automation products - Allen-Bradley and Reliance are the major companies in the group. The current management group (CEO Don Davis et al) originated at A-B. These extracts from JimPinto.com eNews trace the news and developments at Rockwell Automation from 2001.
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Tuesday, May 31, 2011 - To the contributor of the previous weblog: I wish to wholeheartedly congratulate the writer on his delightfully honest, eloquent and exacting viewpoint. Fantastic contribution (and how the truth hurts). I can't imagine just how many employees and ex-employees there are who can identify with this writer's statement. Thank you. Sunday, May 29, 2011 - RE: Thursday, May 26, 2011: Judging by the tone and vernacular of your post, I am assuming you're at a pay-grade well above me. However, you and I are seemingly both employees of this same corporation, so I feel it only diligent to provide my perspective, as it slightly differs from yours. First and foremost, Rockwell Automation, in my opinion, is not a "best of breed organization" or a "great place to work". Rockwell is a company that, in it's current form, has only existed for roughly ten years, and is struggling to find its own identity as a portfolio of brands. Nothing more and nothing less. Completely mediocre. Similar returns could be had by purchasing an index fund. Additionally, everything I have seen of this company indicates that it has no soul. The entire organization is a collection of individuals that adds no more value than each individual's technical ability. There is no collective drive in a consistent direction that generates outputs in excess of raw inputs. Secondly the only avenue employees feel they have to discuss tough issues is via this weblog. The amount of time Rockwell Automation spends trying to shape the opinions of it's employees and silence dissenters is absurd. There is no free thinking, or trust, at Rockwell. Every comment or decision must be preceded by first, second and third level thinking. You must go along and not speak contradictory to anyone you work below, or you will be seen as a complainer and eliminated. This is one of the things that makes employees feel like they are in some sort of Gestapo-controlled prison, and why they are driven to this weblog for discussion. Your own post is in this light of controlling the conversation. Regarding your "Rockwell is ethical" comment; since when is this anything more than an expectation? When is the last time you shouted in the cube farm, "Hey everyone, I met expectations!", "I received a raise in line with the Fed's COLA!". How does this differentiate Rockwell by aligning to a value driver of our customer? I do not understand why this company thinks it's the bee's knees to be ethical. Also, why does Rockwell think that the only place employees could go work is direct competitors? Is it because the organization only tries to promote engineers? Is it because you only see these companies as your competition? This narrow and inflated self worth focus is not in the best interest of the company. Overall, your comments indicate you are concerned with a few things: Shaping the collective discussion of Rockwell, both internally and externally. Maintaining a Shareholder-only perspective, with no regard to your other stakeholders (customers and employees, first and foremost; local communities next). Not actively challenging anything other than what you see appropriate, or have been directed to by your immediate supervisor. I am posting this anonymously, as you did too. Sunday, May 29, 2011 There seem to be lots of issues with regaining morale in Asia. Another loyal person was shown the door Friday with the loss of the Singapore/Malaysia leader, and that is just weeks since the Thailand leader resigned. They are taking the hit for yet another USA forced leader who has taken a growing region and flattened it out. The Organization in Asia still has no HR leader; we rely on a part time guy from the UK and so you can imagine how much focus we get. Rumor also is that we will be getting another US person to run the solutions business, despite the last one managing less than two years with questionable performance. Maybe we are the guinea pigs for the US. The story also is coming out about India, maybe more of looking for a scapegoat than getting caught with your hands in the cookie jar. How different it all looks from the record-breaking days we used to enjoy. It does show how RA has lost its way. I looked at the acquisition we made last week and when you really look, we have bought a Siemens distributor with a repair business attached. Is someone dreaming they will capture that Siemens business? Or is our CSM business about to become a competitor to our distributors again? Very, very worrying. But I guess this uncertainty does lead to higher pay because they are afraid of losing more people. Friday, May 27, 2011 I am a Twinsburg, OH employee. This week we have had very bad weather in the area. On Wednesday after yet another tornado warning the fire alarm goes off. What do the powers that be do? Send us out in the pouring rain and thunderstorm 10 minutes after a tornado warning. I would not have a problem with that if it was a real fire and everyone had to stand in the rain. Only a handful of people were told to get outside and everyone else sat dry in the lunchroom. Calls were made to a supervisor and we were told to stay outside. Way to go Twinsburg - you took the cake with this blunder. Friday, May 27, 2011 I also have been reading this blog for a while and think that the reason for more negative feed-back is that it is very human to give negative feed-back, more than positive. It does not mean that there is nothing positive to say. I would not ask people to restrain from giving honest feed-back about Rockwell. This is a good forum and I will continue to read it. Thursday, May 26, 2011 I read through these posts every week or so - and for the past few years the same themes appear to be espoused by contributors. Come on folks - you have turned this potentially excellent source of exchange into a place which consistently (dare I say SOLELY) berates/burns Rockwell. It's not getting old. It is OLD. With all due respect - I do recognize the first amendment and we are all entitled to our opinion; but I ask that we each make some sincere attempt to turn this into a respectful source of knowledge exchange. The same posts - just different days. Get over it. Overall, Rockwell is a great place to work. Rockwell is ethical. Rockwell is a publicly traded company which answers to the shareholders - for this reason, tough decisions need to be made as jobs are sourced out-of-country. Does it stink that we are losing jobs to lower cost sources/countries? YES! Is it a double-edge sword when trying to generate ROI for shareholders (particularly in challenging economic times) while reducing expenses (i.e. loss of domestic jobs)? YES! Do we find ourselves questioning senior leadership as we churn through SAP, compensation changes, re-organizations, and product delivery/quality challenges? YES! Granted - Rockwell can be a complicated and often frustrating organization; but there is a reason why we are (and maintain our position as) a best-of-breed organization. I challenge us all to demonstrate some positive posts/exchanges for a change. For those of us who send these anonymous posts while employed with Rockwell - would you rather work for Siemens, ABB, GE, Emerson, etc? With all due respect, if you are only able to breath fire - please resign your position so that a more adaptable/positive individual can join the Rockwell team. Sorry if I have vented - but I have submitted several posts in the past which run against the grain of the typical on this site. And the overwhelming negativity dilutes the opportunity for reasonable and professional exchanges. Wednesday, May 25, 2011 Rockwell Automation is well known for lots of parties and free drinks etc. and China probably tops the list in recent years . Don't get confused though. We local employees rarely get to participate; just the Managers and foreign visitors. I am sure it happens in a lot of companies. What they don't realize is that we see and we observe and rarely do we respect. The worst offenders are nearly always the most senior and they think they are buying trust. What fools they are. Wednesday, May 25, 2011 I can tell you that all seems well at RA China. Just attended their partner conference and wow they know how to throw a party. The party was free, or at least until 4 am, and I have never seen such merriment from a company who obviously must be raking in the dollars. Our partner program is not doing that well, but 10 out of 10 for the beer, wine and fun. Go Rockwell! Great break from work and paid for by this great American Icon! Wednesday, May 25, 2011 - To: Ethics Training: You might want to read up on coaching and mentoring and find a good one of either. This is not even in the zip code of ethics. It is common RA behavior and poor motivation and management practice but not unethical as it does not really break any policy or laws. As for the last advice. Listen for the bullet. It is coming. Leave before you hear it. Tuesday, May 24, 2011 - To: "ethics training": You are unfortunately missing the point. I too was a subject of such treatment and did not see the signs for what they were worth. You are being targeted for reduction by being made insignificant to even inform. The manager in question is using the tried and true RA tactics to minimize your impact, so that the decision to walk you out the door will be easy. Your best move at this time is to start looking for a job while you have one. You may also want to start looking at the severance package details. HR will try to make you sign a package that benefits them. Good luck ! Monday, May 23, 2011 I would like to have a topic added to the ethics training and to make this part of the ethics training obligatory for RA managers. I really do not think that RA is an ethical company and will tell you why. Ethics is also about respecting employees and what they do. Here just a few things that have happened to me lately: My team members were invites to a meeting where told that I am no longer responsible for a task, I was not informed/invited. It was agreed that I have region wide responsibility and it was documented with the US team in a powerpoint. I exercised this responsibility a few years, until was suddenly told that the process has changed a long time ago and that I am no longer responsible. I was the last to be informed. And informing me was not planned but accidental. It was agreed that I have a responsibility in a project and for once it was also announced officially to the project team. But the bitter end was that everybody forgot to involve me in the meetings and I had to run after what had been discussed and decided and keep trying to find out when is the next meeting. I am constantly being forgotten, walked upon and ignored. What I am responsible for nobody cares or takes notice. In my opinion high ethics in a working environment is also to respect what people have been made responsible for, and respect what they are doing, and seeing to it that the responsible persons are informed first. This is what I as a project manager try to remember every day. And every day I see that these principles are being walked upon, not just me being a victim, but many others too. Sunday, May 22, 2011 I am not sure it's lack of transparency - it's more lack of trust. The senior leadership is convinced that no one person except Keith should have all the pieces to the jigsaw and therefore only he knows what the picture looks like. What he doesn't realize is the picture is no different for most other players in this space, except they perhaps get to play as a team. The illustration is that as a Sales leader, I am responsible for a number but I am not allowed to see what is in each product business growth plan and so I can only play blind; so I play low. The neurosis about functionality comes because Keith actually thinks that sales leaders like me are incapable of running a business, and so I should concentrate on calling on customers, selling product which I can affect the quality, delivery or specifications. One can only conclude that its experience that tells him this and that experience comes from one head of sales which we all know has his limitations. The incident in India is just a result of this utter confusion, coupled with the fact that we probably pay the Indians below market so they have to seek compensation in other ways. After last years, incident we were informed India was having special reviews because they were so off-market. What do we expect when we run our company this way? I work in the USA and we take recompense another way - we work minimal hours, nod and say yes and hope that someone will rescue us. I was once proud of our logo, proud to serve under Davis and I feel bothered by having to acknowledge who runs our company today. Friday, May 20, 2011 I agree with the previous blogger - RA thinks it is above transparency. I am an employee in Asia and we know that many of our colleagues in Finance (4 leaders) were terminated a few weeks ago for gross wrongdoing. This follows a major investigation last year that the Milwaukee people undertook and found nothing. Its a symptom of our company being out of control. It's run by the function of the day, and not by one leader. In my country Finance is the leader; in India it is Sales, and in Australia its anybody. It's madness that destroys our ability to team, and our ability to attract and keep world class talent. I wonder how long it will take for the real India story to appear and how RA will brush that under the table. Frankly I hope they don't think we will win one of "the most ethical company awards this year either". The other concern is that there is no independent investigator at RA. They advertise one, but we have seen many times he acts as image protector not investigator and he certainly does not act as an independent. Wednesday, May 18, 2011 Sounds to me that RA thinks it's immune to the feelings of the decent world. The way it treats employees is just another testament of how wrong this management team is. The real issue on China five years ago is that they didn't know because they were not close to it, because Bejing is not downtown Milwaukee. This is the most under-traveled management team on the planet. How many times has the CFO ,VP HR, Legal been to Asia? Less than 10 (between them) in 5 years . Tuesday, May 17, 2011 No one is righteous or condoning this. You were simply wrong in stating that nothing had been mentioned for 5 years. Self reporting was the right thing to do. It did not take away the offense but Siemens certainly did not self-report and was caught. In fact, I was not a Rockwell employee and am not a Rockwell employee. There was publicity several years before this. Monday, May 16, 2011 Anyone who thinks that self-reporting is righteous, just & moral is probably a person that hid the information for 5 years. You do NOT fool anyone. Friday, May 13, 2011 - To "You might want to brush up on international business": Sounds like you know an awful lot about all this. And you are trying to justify it. Get a conscience! What else do you condone? Friday, May 13, 2011 You people who think self reporting is still cheating are right. But hence the difference between $400m and $1.6m. Th DOJ likes it when you police yourself. For the person who said it went unmentioned until 2006 - well, you must have been in a cave in Afghanistan. No one reports any of this until the DOJ, which is a governmental agency and moves glacially, sets down a ruling and defines the penalty. You might want to brush up on international business. Thursday, May 12, 2011 5 years that says it all. Wednesday, May 11, 2011 - Re : Rockwell pays penalty, forfeits profits in SEC settlement: This "violation" was in 2006. Why 5 years before it's announcement? The only ethics I can surmise is that the issue was left untouched until a point was reached where it had to be admitted in case it was found out in a more official capacity whereupon the penalties would have been much larger. RA plays it clever once more? Wednesday, May 11, 2011 A company with ethics? Give me a break - they break the law and because they self-report they have ethics? I think you need to take a class on ethics. Monday, May 9, 2011 Big difference between Siemens and Rockwell is scope of penalty and integrity breach. They fined Siemens $400m in the US alone and found the issues across the business. RAs was isolated to China, the appropriate people were fired and fines levied. Also, RA self-reported. Rockwell is still thought of as a company with ethics. Thursday, May 5, 2011 Leaders won't issue a statement because that means they would have to admit fault. It ain't gonna happen. Wednesday, May 4, 2011 Rockwell pays penalty, forfeits profits in SEC settlement It will be interesting to read the comments from Mr. Nosbusch Re. the SEC fine. He has always made the statement that this is one of the key differentiators between RA and Siemens, yet we find he also is fined for supposed wrongdoing . This negates his whole argument about the violations being greater by Siemens. The big difference with Siemens is that they acknowledged there was a serious problem and heads rolled. At RA the same senior leadership is in position doing the same jobs as at the time of the alleged incident in 2006. So we are at a time when the stumbling at RA are becoming too many, too often. Will anyone ever have the strength to change the top? The shareholders are obviously voting, even though some commentators think they have jumped the gun. We know our leaders read this column, so I wonder if they will issue a statement. Then we can wisely vote on our 401ks. Tuesday, May 3, 2011 From the Emerson blog, I couldn't have said it any better myself: Ego leads to the ultimate destruction of empires. This piece says it all. How Does Ego Cause Leaders To Self-Destruct? Monday, May 2, 2011 Can anyone out there give me the elevator speech of the value of integrated architecture? What is the value of RA versus B and R? Why would I pay a 40% premium? I am sure there are valid reasons but I am failing to grasp them. Wednesday, April 27, 2011 Having had time to digest the earnings call and the public charts shown on the RA website my conclusion is in line with previous posters. Growth year-on-year is broadly in line with competitors and increase in margin is one off gains in cost cutting, but is probably unsustainable .Worrying is the A and S margin decline sequentially on higher volume.vTranslate that across the whole segment and big red flag. The most startling was the fact that Asia is now growing slower than EMEA or Latin America. So I guess the posts about the effect of leadership change could be true. So when your flagship is ailing and you are slowing in the fastest economy you need to heed the warning. Take cover; these guys dont know how to grow and so the solution will be else where. Wednesday, April 27, 2011 It was an analyst call true to form, lacked confidence, lacked drive and showed yet again the parochial limitations of the senior leadership at Rockwell. The stock plunging and again catching out those who thought they were in safe hands. Of course Keith and his merry men sold out weeks ago. Wednesday, April 27, 2011 Interesting comments from Hogan at ABB on acquisition strategy. Thinks valuations are high,look at ROK, and he intimates that he sees those valuations easing. ROK also report today and all ears will be on comparison to competitors and long term outlook. My feeling is RA is running out of organic and margin growth and the bull run is over, with sharp correction in valuation in Q3 or Q4. Question will be if the value becomes attractive for predator, which is unlikely considering the pot louden of businesses in RA with no successful linkage. Eventually shareholders and Employees are paying for Keith dabbling in SSB and Software. As a side note, look at the 2011 share sales of RA execs that are at the end of their career. Not a sign of confidence as we go forward. Thursday, April 21, 2011 Well, the death knell is sounding for Rockwell Automation, South Pacific. Bob Ruff's visit here was courteous enough, but had no element of reassurance,no element of belief and no element of growth that previous regimes bestowed on us . Even the distributor meeting was below par as we saw RA going into a multi year holding pattern until a new president of Asia is appointed. All because Senior leadership in Milwaukee had their heads in the sand and wouldn't fight to keep the passion and belief we used to have . Now we are content with spreadsheets, ratios and how do you do more with less. However colleagues, do not worry, with South Pacific in growth mode elsewhere we can all get new and exciting jobs and you will know who I am when I announce my leaving. Have faith and follow. At least, if senior management read this you will get a pay raise. Enjoy the holiday my colleagues and friends. Thursday, April 21, 2011 The downward spiral continues. Product development has slowed, market share lost and we are nearly dead in the water. Whilst we take on water and begin to list, management can be trusted to rearrange the deck chairs. Cheers! Wednesday, April 20, 2011 It is amazing that Twinsburg employees are complaining about overtime when so many of us were let go. I would gladly take your place to have my seniorty and vacation back. Try starting over. You don't know how good you do have it. In all my years at Twinsburg, I know that the same people complaining about the overtime are the first people to complain when there is none. If you are so unhappy then leave and give someone else a chance that does need "just a job" right now. Tuesday, April 19, 2011 RockwellAutomation is really dying its own death. No big aquisition in recent years, no big innovative ideas, even after selling a brand like Reliance Electric. It's losing its market very fast. AC/DC drives almost fully lost. Wwhere were we 5-6 years ago, and where are we now? Sent on backfoot by companies like ABB/Siemens, and still no wake-up call. Alas. Monday, April 18, 2011 On Wednesday, April 20, Rockwell Automation (Twinsburg) will be hosting a job fair. But its not really a job fair, its a blitz to quickly bring in more contract temps (they have already been scraping the bottom of the NE Ohio barrel for the past 5 or 6 years). This is needed because the permanent employees are tired of the constant manadatory overtime. So be prepared to work your life away. My advice to anyone interested in working as an Manufacturing Associate (MA) at Twinsburg is: There is no career here, just a job. So if you absolutely have to have a job with no good expectations except experience - take a job there. Jim Pinto Note: Unwarranted extreme negativity and language not published. Thursday, April 7, 2011 Now all the readers have had an ability to state why they are better than senior leadership who have doubled the stock this year and increased dividend. What more do people want? Even the socialist organizations in the municipalityies lay off more than Rockwell. So, be content and let's make a better product before it's too late. From my view, its already too late. No innovation, no risk, no go-getters left. I predict RA with a price of less than $52 in twelve months. And so the real advice is sell, and look for a company that will win - to work for Eaton, Schneider, GE or even Siemens. Now just when RA declines below $50, buy and allow the new owners to provide the wave. It's not if, but when. Tuesday, April 5, 2011 Darwin didn't get it right! Just wondering how long it will take before folks "Get It" that there are no big things going on in Mayfield Hts except for new Kids at the top. Soon the Darwin folks can go down to the shore and wait for new products to be created from the sand.... keep waiting. The Mayfield Hts and Cheeseland products and those who design them will be gone. Sing-Some-More. Monday, April 4, 2011 I amazes me how emotional the response has been to my use of that word "PROGRESS"! But then again, some people resent that Darwin got it right. Survival of the fittest ... or industrious ... or hardworking ... not only makes sense in terms of natural selection at the plant level. It is the best (and perhaps only) solution to insuring Rockwell's continued success. Left to the laggards and slackers it would close quickly. Wednesday, March 30, 2011 It's amazing how RA employees, including the senior leaders, are so parochial and small minded. Whilst the argument on this blog discuss actions at a fairly irrelevant manufacturing site, Schneider acquires another energy service company and GE Energy acquire a major drives company, catapulting them into a position way ahead of Rockwell in the industrial space. Reality is that we at Rockwell are withering and dying. We should hope someone will buy us that has vision, hope and is brave enough to drive for leadership. I have no doubts that the discussion within RA will be small minded and tactical. Do you think the CEO has ever heard of the companies acquired this week? Tuesday, March 29, 2011 - To: PROGRESS blogger Word is that people were walked out due to substance abuse issues. So, you took half baked information and made a case for quality. Then you threatened that if quality does not improve, jobs should be outsourced and offshored. If this is your concept of effective, informed and aware leadership, you seem to be more of the problem. You have effectively caused a morale issue that was unnecessary, when a little honesty and thought could have been better tactic. Monday, March 28, 2011 When I read the comments from the manufacturing guys, it just makes me agree with leadership. I don't need to have RA-made products to sell; I need good products to sell. Frankly, it's a long time since we proved we could design or make a good quality product. I would prefer to outsource to Japan, Germany and Taiwan Saturday, March 26, 2011 - To the person comparing salary AEIP to hourly: Yes I agree that the salaried engineers put in more hours than the production personnel. However, maybe if they did their job properly in the first place, they wouldn't have to. The majority of the problems the shop floor faces are related to poor documentation: Inaccurate bills-of-materials and mistakes on drawings. It just doesn't sit well when the shop floor is constantly fixing engineering mistakes and then finding out that their AEIP is 3 of 4 times greater. It's nice that they have a 99% on time delivery rate in getting documentation to the shop floor. To bad they only have a 20% accuracy rate. Saturday, March 26, 2011 Delivery of orders is all that the "management" cares about because their bonus, stock options , performance share and other incentives are all that matters to them. People don't matter; all that matters is the size of their annual incentive package. These "leaders" ALWAYS blame others for their mistakes. The young hipster types think they have reinvented the wheel. They are in for a big fall. Remember Nero fiddled as Rome burned. And the heat is a rising @ Rockwell. Saturday, March 26, 2011 I think it is very short-sighted for someone at RA to complain about AEIP payouts of the salary staff vs. the hourly staff. On an hour-to-hour (apples-to-apples) basis, the larger % payouts to a salary employee don't even cover the extra hours they work throughout the year. Most salary-staff I know work more than 10 hrs a week that they are not paid for. If the hourly people are working harder, so are the salary staff (at least some) that provide support. The difference is, when hourly people work longer hours, they make more per hour; when salary people work longer hours, they make less per hour. It's simple math. Saturday, March 26, 2011 In this economic climate, businesses need to evolve! "Progress" is spot-on about that. This means that the management, employees, and processes all need to evolve - at all levels - to remain competitive. Obviously, some of the previous posts are from people who are very bitter, or were burnt along the way. A resistance to change in these individuals is obvious. But why? Why so bitter? Why so resistant? Perhaps the employee was not heard, or listened to, or felt neglected at one time. Perhaps the attitude in those posts seeps through in their daily work life and holds them back. I would challenge those individuals to use the same energy exhibited in their posts for positive change in their work environment. Use the systems, management and supervisors available to you to be heard with your ideas, to better your workplace. You're the best source - for you have the experience! It is very easy to criticize - it is more difficult, yet much more effective, to use the same time and energy to make the positive suggestions to help transform the workplace as you desire. Wednesday, March 23, 2011 The bigger challenge now for aspiring leaders at Rockwell is that most senior slots that will be available in the next ten years are now allocated. This means anyone that has real ambitions in the middle to senior ranks has missed out becasue history shows movements like this are very rare happenings. So it will be interesting to see who flies the nest. Tuesday, March 22, 2011 PROGRESS... Oh, is THAT what you call it? Well, we can see who posted that... a manager of course! Well Mr. Manager, what you call progress is actually the beginning of the end for Twinsburg. You are running your operations people 24-7 and in return you berate, belittle and break them down with your actions that are so against the rules of ethics and company policy. Your "process improvements" are setting us up for failure, but yet you insist it is Progress. Oh, wait, its those people on the shop floor who are the problem. They are causing all the delays and it wouldn't have anything to do with your young, inexperienced engineering staff making things worse. Let's blame everything on the shop floor people; that way you don't have any accountability for your poor leadership.... You have no leadership, you do not inspire your people, you intimidate and threaten. And let's address all those great achievements you mentioned.... How much of those are actually true? All those reports and presentations look good; but are they accurate? And you brag to the outside world of how great our quality is... What planet have you just landed from? Our quality has been getting worse over the past few years while you focus on your shipments. Who cares if the customer gets something that will fail in a few years, as long as they got something in their hands, right? Since you brought up AEIP payout, let's address that. Those folks who are working 24-7 are not seeing the same payout as you. It's appalling to think that some of the people making things worse and not better were given 10, 15% payouts last year, while the majority received 2 to 4%. I'm busting my hump everyday to get 2%, while the managers are giving themselves and their 'friends' a larger piece of the pie. Last but not least, don't forget that the "same 'ol, same 'ol people" is what ALLEN BRADLEY and ROCKWELL built their success on. The Twinsburg Facility was first to automate the plant and bring in new technologies, staffing it with people who cared about what they did, making it a great success long before any of the current management and engineers who are currently there. So those old timers you are so anxious to get rid of are a lot smarter than any of you, and have bailed your butts out of more of your bad decisions that you could ever imagine. Do NOT tread on OUR backs for YOUR success, for I do NOT wish to go down with you. Tuesday, March 22, 2011 Oh dear, yet more leadership changes. Unfortunately and predictably the decisions lack courage and vision, as evidenced by the most uninspiring leader of all remaining, who continues to linger like a bad smell in the halls of old boy power. Rock on! Tuesday, March 22, 2011 Announcement out today on who takes the lead A and S role The significance is not who but why. They have appointed another yes man who totally failed in his very short international assignment. Monday, March 21, 2011 - "Progress": Twinsburg needs to hire people period, bottom line. You cannot keep the employees you have running 24/7. Sure it is making the plant numbers look great for senior management, but employees are getting tired of it all. Employees are looking for other jobs and starting to retire early. I have heard there used to be people on a waiting list to get into this company when it was Allen-Bradley; now people cannot wait to find other jobs and get out. Why is that? Too bad Rockwell management only looks at their pockets instead having some kind of respect for their employees and what they have constantly done for this company. Monday, March 21, 2011 O.K... Let's examine this statment: "If they do not walk non-performers out, eventually you'll be walking out wondering why they moved your jobs to Asia or Mexico." So what happen to Dublin, very good at what they did and still the jobs were shipped to Mexico, where quality is.... No, can't buy it and it's clear that you are either new to the Rock or just part of the old gang in Cheeseland. Plan back in the late 70's to move AB headquarters to Hudson didn't happen, first chance to kill the union stuff in Cheeseland. Yes, Ive been with the company long enough to know the story from the top down. Sales and Marketing in Ohio, production in Mexico, Enginnering in Asia and High level thinking (?) in Cheeseland. Many people, good people have given it all, to allow AB Rockwell to be what it is today. IT is, what it is! Love the Company, best decision I ever made to job the team, just sad to see what is happening. Monday, March 21, 2011 Hey "PROGRESS", if this is the cure for the Twinsburg ops, when can we see some medicine for Mayfield? Seems to me that dragging your feet and finding reasons why testing cannot be done is not only the rule but encouraged by first line managers. If there is a reason to improve, the first pushback is from the first line management with statements of superior knowledge and experience as to why the change is not going to work. The foot draggers seem to be very industrous as to reasons why improvements will not work but cannot seem to be more productive in other aspects. I hope that process improvement is just that and not a code for reduction in high priced employees. Friday, March 18, 2011 What's going on? PROGRESS. You may not like the means, but it is obvious the pieces are being assembled to take the operation to the next level. Same 'ole, same ole' is not going to cut it in the future, especially with where the economy is headed. Disagree? Well, you can't argue with the success of this plant. Demand for product is up, service levels are increasing and lead times and costs are decreasing. You will be less disagreeable when the AEIP pays out well this year...again. If they do not walk non-performers out, eventually you'll be walking out wondering why they moved your jobs to Asia or Mexico. Thursday, March 17, 2011 What is going on at Twinsburg? Supervisors getting walked out, support staff leaving, and "old timers" wishing they would close the doors. I have worked at Twinsburg for almost 20 years and have never seen it like this before. What is going on? Wednesday, March 16, 2011 - Re March 15 post: A 1746 ENET module would make sense if it is an "adapter". I.e. it allows the CPU to be replaced for the adapter, so that the existing 1746 i/o is supplied as i/o to a controller on Ethernet/IP. That could be part of a migration plan for older SLC installations. The POINT compactlogix sounds very interesting. Sure hope that it is at a "reasonable" price point too. It could be exactly what we are looking for. Only odd that AB/Rockwell havent published anything about their intentions. In this game it is not smart to clam up. Tuesday, March 15, 2011 - To the March 5 post: A Point I/O CompactLogix is in the works. To my disappointment a 1769 ENET module is out but a 1746 ENET is coming. The new CompactLogix will have the same ASIC (processor chip) as the 1756-L7x processor. Speeds x3 the current CompactLogix processor. PLC5 is dead, SLC not far behind. I can't understand a 1746 ENET but no 1769 ENET. The Flex I/O group must be involved Monday, March 7, 2011 Rockwell makes the space more complicated than it is, just to drive the margin that is required to fund such an expensive business model. They force you to pay to use distribution, which costs around 25%. You also have to pay for the myriad of internal sales teams like OEM, Global, SSB. And then you get the privilege of paying to speak to any support engineer. How do they get away with it? Because the customer doesn't think he has options. Well, he does. All RA users could potentially save 40% of their acquisition costs with little effort, and that may make RA a better company. Try it and make yourself more competitive. Saturday, March 5, 2011 Thanks to the feedback re new PLC types. But the news does not sound that good to me. We really do not want to split into having to support parallel hardware and software platforms. I can understand that Rockwell couldn't make a smaller CPU with the full Logix instruction set 10 years ago, but surely this is possible today. And possible today means obviously even more possible tomorrow. It would be a huge benefit for Rockwell and their customers to streamline into one common code platform. If I could tell Rockwell what to do, it would be to focus hard on Logix, Ethernet/IP, and POINT i/o. For example a POINT Logix CPU would be what we are looking for. Similar to the now dropped FLEX Logix CPU. It sounds as if Rockwell is intentionally not wanting to make a single uniform platform that goes from small to huge. A comment from the previous poster seems to indicate that it is a political decision that the high-margin Logix shall be protected from internal competition "from below". Friday, March 4, 2011 About the Logix expansion, the CompactLogix will receive major expansion in the next 24 months, upward not downward, moving into the ControlLogix space. The 800 reference is the Micro800, a product from the Samsung partnership, I believe. This will replace the Pico, 1000, 1200, & 1500. The only MicroLogixs remaining will be the 1100 & 1400. Look for the death of the SLC500 line as well. RA has long lagged in the true micro-plc business. The 800 will have all new software, some open-source. The 800 software suite will program the new 800 as well as the PV Component and the PF4 family of drives. Great for the small machine OEM. On the plus side, the new PV+ V6 looks to be the product the PV+ should have been in the first place. Oh, the PV standard (550,600,1000,etc) will be gone in 12-24 months as well. Friday, March 4, 2011 I have worked for Rockwell for over 20 years. Overall it has been absolutely fantastic. Even when times are the toughest, there is no greener grass. I have had at least 10 different bosses and only one was an idiot. It took a while, but he got sent on his way. I doubt I will ever leave, but if I were to, I would never even consider working for one of our competitors. I have moments where I question Senior Management as well, but my guess is that there aren't too many shareholders that do. Love my 501K and look forward to my 901K... Thursday, March 3, 2011 - Re: Plans for 'logix' products: Try the new 800-number, and don't let them tell you it's unavailable. They are trying to confine to Asia, and sell the Western areas expensive old stuff. But, if you push you will get. Thursday, March 3, 2011 Anyone know anything about Rockwells plans for new "logix" products in the low-mid end of the spectrum? I ask because I work for a machine OEM, and we need a common platform that spans from 50 i/o to 1000 i/o. The current Compactlogix stops at L32E as the smallest CPU (ignoring the L23 "bricks"). We need something smaller than L32E, and we do not want to support additional platforms like MicroLogix. It has been awfully quiet on the compactlogix front for a long time. Generally there are very little announcements about future plans and strategies aimed at us customers. Wednesday, March 2, 2011 Does anyone know if the news on Ralph Carter was true? Did he leave? And what about the CSM and Logix successors? All seems silent. Bob Ruff is here with us in Asia and so that transition is underway. Typical though - loads of activity and then nothing. Most of the sentiment is to get out of RA and you will see defectors shortly. Saturday, February 26, 2011 - To "After five years at Milwaukee HQ". You have been with RA for only five years and started at the mid to upper management level. You are still in the honeymoon phase. You are also in the coporate HQ. Since most of RA is outside of Milwaukee and upper management access is non-existent, your perspecitive is skewed. Try working in an environment where you are constantly concerned about whether you have a job regardless of your commitment, experience or past performance. Saturday, February 26, 2011 I agree Rockwell is a great deal for Milwaukee. The unfortunate thing is with most Milwaukee cultures is that they have an inability to think national, let alone Global, and that is a root cause of most of the RA problems. Thursday, February 24, 2011 After five years at Milwaukee HQ, my impressions of Rockwell: It's afforded me career opportunities that are hard to find elsewhere in Milwaukee. I've learned an entire new aspect of my profession, resulting in good professional growth. I'm favorably impressed with the leadership in our group - as are my co-workers, based on results from the employee engagement survey. I find my chain-of command to be honest, direct, trustworthy and fair. I find senior management to be accessible, professional, and easy to work with. Maybe it's a matter of perspective, location and job, but I don't think the opinions on this blog represent the majority of Rockwell employees. Thursday, February 24, 2011 Our leaders will never admit that they may realize that they are the subjects blogged about. Their ego & survival at-all-costs prevents them from acknowledging the truth. I will continue to take pride in my work and continue to accept that they won't take any ownership of their faults & weaknesses. Wednesday, February 23, 2011 There are many great potential leaders at Rockwell. The problem is they don't go anywhere. The worst leaders are at the top, skimming the cream. Tell me, do you ever hear of a CEO direct-report leave? No. The true leaders leave because they can realize better value elsewhere. I bet your leadership in EMEA doesnt earn what the fat-cats in Milwaukee earn, and they are likely to be around for a limited time. How many leaders have Germany, UK, Spain, France had in the past ten years? I think the contributions to this blog are valid and welcome, and I do know our senior leadership reads it. But, as usual, they probably don't recognize themslves as the subject. Tuesday, February 22, 2011 Thought it might be nice to pen the flip side of the coin. I have been employed by RA in EMEA for ten years, and had the privilege of working with and serving some wonderful people. The initial leader who hired me is a Swiss German who has exceptional people skills, tons of humility and knows how to inspire people. Whatís nice is that all the people who have worked for this guy have replicated the same values within their departments. Also within RA there are many exceptional leaders who prefer to lead by example, care for their teams and deliver great quality & service to the customers. Tuesday, February 15, 2011 Thanks to the previous blogger for pointing out something to us. I have never contributed to this site because, frankly, I thought everyone was just whining. But I now know it's one of the few places that you can air your views with the chance of being heard. I too am disgusted to know the Keith and his followers make so much money on the backs of guys like me that are called "eperts", which means we work 18 hours a day for no praise and no thanks. I make them look good, without one bit of encoragement to me in 21 years. As soon as I can, I am quitting. Saturday, February 12, 2011 A sign of lack of confidence is officers bailing out of the stock. In the past week the top 5 at Rockwell people have sold over $20 million worth of stock. Not bad, and I am sure my fellow employees will approve . It is about time the staff gave a clear message to these get-rich-at-our-cost merchants. It's disgusting. Keith, at least you could have held on to your stock a little longer. Take the money and leave your keys on the desk. Saturday, February 12, 2011 GE are spot-on to put Keiran Coulton in that position. He has a real gift for translating customer needs into business propositions. He did run verticals and Global at RA. I know of a number of colleagues who will be eager to work with him, especially if GE have the cash to fund his recommendations. I wonder if this position is a place holder, as GE seriously look at their position in the Controls space, and possible acquisition of Rockwell or Honeywell. Either way, I am so pleased that Keiran has landed in a quality company. He will serve them well and we, as his past employees, are proud of his achievement. Friday, February 11, 2011 The Motley Fool has a good article, dated Feb 8, 2011: Why Rockwell Automation's Earnings Aren't So Hot Friday, February 11, 2011 Keiran Coulton is now President, Global Industries, at GE Energy - according to Linkedin. Thursday, February 10, 2011 With the high volume of stock transactions, is someone accumulating stock for a takeover? It's unconceivable that ROK is trading at fair value - it's way above it's fundamentals. Wednesday, February 9, 2011 I read Jim Pinto's latest column. I noticed that Jim listed two major causes for employee disengagement during hard times: lack of honest communications, and failure to recognize achievements. I would like to add a third RA specific cause: lack of trust by management. I cannot tell how many times my manager has walked through the area and loudly claimed his superior knowledge on all matters professional and social. It is difficult to be motivated when you realize that your best will never be good enough, and you are always second guessed. Some have tried to question the guy, only to be a target for unwarranted scrutiny, which is more a refleciton of ego as opposed to sincere consideration of issues. It is a sad day when one is treated as a mindless cog with the expectation of failure. Wednesday, February 9, 2011 Read Jim Pinto's latest column in Automation World, February 2011. This specifically discusses reasons why anonymous weblogs are so popular. Keep Motivation Up in a Down Economy. During a period of recession, leadership skills are truly challenged. The solutions derive from strong management, which motivates good people to do what it takes to win during tough times. Mechanisms must be created for the workforce to share their feelings. It's the bad times that make good companies so much better during the good times. Tuesday, February 8, 2011 The real evidence that is emerging here is the picture of a CEO who is a loner. He will appoint only people that will do his bidding, and in reality people who are not attracted to the dynamic world outside RA because they would never make it outside. So it will remain the same until one of two things happen, both of which are unlikely: First, the CEO goes; or second, RA is taken over. So RA will not die - but it will wither. Monday, February 7, 2011 If my colleague in China feels that way, just think of how we feel in South Pacific. Now that we are back as the uninvestable cash-cow and without a true career leader, it is ver possible NHP will become RA Australia. Whilst we respect Bob Ruff and his achievement, he has also shown a huge lack of cultural sensitivity and this is difficult for us to overcome. Maybe, however, with him in place the master plan is to attract our past leader back. He is already active in Asia in the GE Energy business. Monday, February 7, 2011 RA Management Career Path: 1-2 years as intern: goal ñ attend as much training as possible to limit commitment. 5-7 years engineer: goal - realize that promotion is not likely and survive RIF. 2-3 years as first line manager: goal - move fast enough to next level before expected to deliver anything. 2-5 years as product manager: goal - ingratiate self to upper management. 2-3 years director: goal - acquire outside company to compensate for lack of internal development or vision. 2-3 years VP of P&L: goal- Institute cyclical RIF to compensate for lack of business strategy; 2-3 years Senior VP: goal ñ cash stock as often as possible to limit commitment. Monday, February 7, 2011 It is most interesting to note that much of the latest blogging invovles reshuffling of the management deck. This is an exciting time, if you are on the manangement track, because you have survived the RIFs and will be rewarded with a promotion merely because of senior management attrition (Thank goodness something moves them along). This all leads to the internal joke that RA builds careers, not products. Of course, the career is in management. If you are on the technical track, HR will tell you there is a growth track, but will fall short in delivering any examples of technical leadership growth; a promotable engineer is an expensive engineer, which is target for RIF. Sunday, February 6, 2011 A month after the unprecedented changes at RA Asia, and it already feels that we are relegated here in China to being back as yes-men to RA Milwaukee. Our leader here in China has been passed over for the big job, and no one has asked or consulted us about our future. This is typically how Western companies operate, and I guess we were very fortunate to have had Keiran that thought differently. I guess the road ahead is clear, and that is we are better with domestic companies. Or maybe we will follow our past leader. Anyway, good Luck Mr Ruff! You will do your two years and go like the rest. Saturday, February 5, 2011 Keith picked yes-men, men that will do his bidding. Does this surprise anyone? Come on we know it's his way or the highway. Terrible way to ruin a company. Friday, February 4, 2011 Well, hopefully Blake will do as good a job as he did in Cambridge. He was very liked there and people were truly motivated by him. To honor him, a very important exec. renamed the new upender to "THE BLAKE". The plaque still sits there today. Congrats to him. Thursday, February 3, 2011 Well, not all of us think the news out of Rockwell USA is positive. Lipservice, again being played by Keith and appointing two BIG yes men to head up the divisions, and appointing a near-retiree to Asia. Go Keith, shows you want dynamic change. Here in the Americas we laugh at this positioning. There are so many more dynamic choices, and Keith picks the two most boring and non global in the company. Please someone buy this mess! Thursday, February 3, 2011 With eye on succession, Rockwell promotes two executives Signaling a top-level succession plan, Rockwell Automation Inc. on Thursday announced that it would elevate two long-term executives to run its two major divisions, creating a pair of candidates to eventually succeed chief executive Keith Nosbusch. Nosbusch, who is 59, has not announced any plans to retire. But in a statement, he said the appointments are "are consistent with our longer-term succession planning and leadership development processes." Thursday, February 3, 2011 What refreshing news posted on Yahoo Movement - finally at the top of Rockwell, Senior Execs being deployed Globally. We wish them well. It's interesting to see Bob Ruff go to Asia; he is the calibre that is needed to keep the momentum going. It didn't say, but I suspect he won't report to McD and so your previous blogger may be right and we should look for departures from RA. With Eisenbrown going to GPT, there are some other moves afoot, I am sure. Keith, let's hope it's not too little, too late. It could be your last cast of the die. Thursday, February 3, 2011 Interesting to see who is selling his stock immediately after the earnings release. Our loyal friend who always looks after himself and is making sure he has money in case he eventually has to leave RA. Of course, he has been doing this every year. Of course, most executives stay invested because they believe in their companies, but then perhaps management really does know that they are just lucky and so take all they can before the luck ends. It's all public data - go take a look. Wednesday, February 2, 2011 My "long-winded" prior post was an effort to identify the fact that EVERY company has it's warts - Siemens, RA, ABB, GE, Wonderware... But - again, how many of these companies compete across the board with Rockwell? How often do people compare themselves with Rockwell - as the bar is often set by Rockwell? ABB is an excellent organization; as is Siemens and others. The point was to to provide a "more realistic" and "less pessimistic" perspective on the organization and market. I would say that one out of 10 posts exhibits any sort of constructive or positive feedback. Is this blog solely for people (often times current or ex-employees) to complain and drive frustration amongst the community? There are many companies with MES, Process, Drives, Component, etc - which are "subjectively better" than Rockwell's offering! But - how many of these companies share the same breadth which is focused solely on manufacturing automation? Siemens is the only one. Breadth of Offering = Rockwell, Siemens. Ethics = Rockwell. Take a look at the bigger picture, please! I have been in the market for 15 years - all of them in either the Rockwell Distribution Channel, Solution Provider, or within Rockwell itself. I have spoken with competitors - the grass is not greener. Rockwell is a great place to work. If you want to express this on-going level of venom, then you may be more suited to work for one of those companies you hold in higher regard. Wednesday, February 2, 2011 I used to work for RA (4 years) and was caught in one of the many RIFs. I now work for a SI who has most customers in the RA fold. Recently, I needed to add a dual breaker unit to a new MCC that had just been installed. Order placed on Dec. 15 with delivery promised for March 10. What would make (2) 30 Amp 480 VAC breakers take 3 months to produce? This is not an isolated situation either. Several of my clients are actually asking us what other options they may have for future projects that would avoid RA. It's not yet a wave of discontent, but there is business to be had by other suppliers due to RA's issues. If it continues, what is left of the market in the US may be at risk. Tuesday, February 1, 2011 Your previous blogger obviously lives in a bubble that only allows he or she to see limited things. I would guess the demographic to be Mid-west USA. So here is reality: Siemes is 10 times bigger, and perhaps the reason they don't deliver solutions is that it's a mugs game. Look at SSB results. ABB doesn't need MES because it's drives and process control are works class, and by the way ABB went from a market cap of 0 to 50B pretty quickly. As for gaining market share, go get the real data on RA versus Schneider in China, or in Europe, versus Beckhoff and B&R. Also look at RA stock price versus competitors over the same period, and why - because it's a safe predictable boring stock that will be retired with it's management when it's inevitable loss of market share happens; and that is already underway. The world leader in PLC is Siemens; Drives ABB; MES Wonderware; and MCC Eaton. Tuesday, February 1, 2011 - from RA Critic and Friend: This is my first visit to this site, which I stumbled on while looking for information on Rockwell Automation, which employed me for over 20 years. To begin, I don't personally know anyone who can be more critical than I am of Rockwell Automation; maybe he/she exists - I just haven't met him. But everything is good or bad by comparison, isn't it? Like Winston Churchill said about Democracy: "it's the worst system of government in the world -- except all others". I see RA that way sometimes. They have been barking up several trees (MES, Solutions, etc.) and have failed on multiple levels. But compare them to the competition. Siemens doesn't deliver their solutions. ABB doesn't sell MES. Even SAP, who dominates their business isn't in the "delivery" business. So yes, you can say there are bad spots in RA, but compared to our competition, I think we are holding our own. I also think, in many areas, we are much better than any other vendor in our space. Our market share keeps growing world-wide. Even Germans, who are very nationalistic, are giving good regards to the Integrated Architecture of CLogix. Our MCC's are superior, and our loyalty to customers for Migration and backward compatibility is unmatched. So go ahead and trash our CEO, but our stock prices are at their highest level ever. What would you say if you owned 50,000 shares of ROK? I would say "thank you". Friday, January 28, 2011 I don't think Ralph Carter will be too sorry to leave RA . Like a recurring theme is the revolving door of real talent that will not tolerate the attitude of the 8th floor. Like many others, Ralph probably wants to contribute to something that grows and something that is exciting. I guess Eisenbrown will now run RSI, and with Mcdermott running Asia, whats next. When will this hapless leadership team realise they lose all that has promise and are left with just yes-men who can't move the company forward. Good Luck Ralph, and we know you will succeed. Any guesses who is next? Of course, we all know who won't go. Keith, enjoy whilst the clock ticks... Friday, January 28, 2011 Hail the false profits! Yesterday Rockwell announced that they have made record profits for the first quarter. This comes at the expense of the lose of 140 well paid and loyal employees losing their jobs. 10 of these employees are highly skilled, industry leading, prtotype technicians. Rockwell has decided to "out sorce" these services. Sears has historiclly used others to outsource their product developement, and a few years back was purchased by Kmart. Could this be on the horizon? Friday, January 28, 2011 Ralph Carter, vice president and general manager for the Information Software & Process Business (ISPB) has left Rockwell Automation. Another company chewed up and spat out... Thursday, January 27, 2011 It's quite refreshing to read the last post, admidst the sea of negativity and cynicism on this blog. I don't work for Rockwell and have no vested interest in the company. Thursday, January 27, 2011 - from a Rockwell Employee: I have been reading this blog for a few years now - often to gain insight into the opinions of others. That said, the majority (close to all) of these posts is cynical and negative. I work for Rockwell - and although I may not always agree with decisions of senior leadership and the admittedly slow pace of product evolution - it is a great place to work. Ethically ñ do a Google search for "Rockwell bribery" - how many results? Rockwell has been recognized three years in a row as one of the world's most ethical companies. Do this same search and replace "Rockwell" with any one of our competitors ñ ABB, Siemens, Modicon, GE ... The past few years have been stressful, I am sure - several RIFs, reorganizations and pay changes. Deliveries and SAP implementation have created some major waves in our supply chain, including our distributors and customers. With change there is always some resistance and "pain" associated - business process re-engineering (i.e. GPT/SAP) is a fundamental overhaul of how a company does business. The rigidity provided by ERP (SAP in this case) is a necessity for financial consistency - and once the dust begins to settle, significant value will be recognized by this consistency. It takes time... From a product innovation standpoint - Rockwell is an ultra-conservative company serving a conservative market. We are in an industry which demands an incredibly long product life-cycle - and the fact that PLC3, PLC2 and PLC5 are still supported, decades since their inception, is impressive to say the least. Granted, there are other companies (often niche players) with more innovative products, faster performance, more of this and that, etc. Rockwell focuses on the masses, and may often take a "wait and see" attitude when it comes to product development. That is, wait to see what the marketplace truly needs, improve upon an appropriate solution (which may already exist) and tie it end-to-end with our value chain, and sales through long-term support. Just because "Competitor X" has a specific product/feature set does not mean that the user-community truly needs it. We are not always first to the game - but we are usually the last one standing, particularly in a risk-adverse marketplace. Rockwell has tried to innovate and step outside the comfort zone. There are many products to note here, but I will forego this effort. The point is that we focus on our core competency and consistency. This is where Rockwell has delivered value to our customers when it is needed, not because it is available. Has anyone paid attention to the yearly trade magazine awards? Control Engineering, Control Design, etc? Rockwell is consistently tops in several categories ñ and top three in practically all of them. How many companies can deliver the breadth of products, services, and support which are offered by Rockwell? Siemens is in my opinion the only one; and they are not known for their usability or support. Rockwell's distribution channel is best of breed, quite possibly spanning any industry in the world. It is the envy of our competitors - and the foundation of our organization. Enough said on this topic. I apologize for the long-winded post ñ but I felt some positive and objective perspective was greatly needed on this forum. Wednesday, January 26, 2011 Other signs to look for: people in high places selling their shares, now that the stock is at an all time high. Also, when inflation begins, this companyís dividend is 1% - 2%. I would not touch anything with dividend less then 4%. They still make a few things, but buy a lot more other companies' products and put the Rockwell brand on it. Rockwell's ability to change is like a cement canoe; inflation will crush these numbers when in full swing. So take your profits and run. Watch management do the same. Wednesday, January 26, 2011 Onward and upward! Emerging markets are the driver again, and so time to buy and put all the post Xmas blues behind. The exiting Asia leadership clearly left the place in good shape, and so we should fear not as we kick the competitors butt in 2011. Tuesday, January 25, 2011 Rockwell will probably announce great earnings this week, despite all the doomsday predictions. So, how do you read it? Listen to the conference calls via Yahoo and listen for some of the following signs to see if there is a decline coming: Performance of Regions: Are they up because of bad comparison, i.e. poor 2010? Forward looking trends in emerging markets, i.e. BRICS? Performance of acquisitions. If you are an employee, listen to see if commercial expense will grow or shrink. If all is positive, then RA is the place to be. If negative, decide if those negatives mean a whole deal, especially emerging markets. As an RA follower, my take is the feeding of the fat is coming to an end. It is difficult to see how they can maintain momentum with no real product innovation or any big aquisitions. Is the stock ready for correction? Comments please. Wednesday, January 19, 2011 I think the previous blogger makes a real important point: ABB Scheider and GE make bold acquisitions in order to really penetrate a market. Rockwell buy old companies that are of no consequential size and have no oomph in the market. Hiprom, Hangsheng, Proscon, ICE Triplex, Pavilion - need we say more? Have any of those companies prospered? And, of course, there was a whole soup of software companies that have died. Oh Dear! Mr. Nosbusch, what are you doing? Wednesday, January 19, 2011 Yesterdays news about Rockwell acquisition of HI PROM just about sums up the confidence of senior leadership. The headlines say HI PROM is a major player in mining in South Africa. The reality is that they are a Rockwell Systems Integrator who are less than $50 million revenue. Mr. Nosbusch, is this your idea of substantial acquisition? Or do you not notice the acquisitions of your competitors? Why do you buy SI's when you have aging architecture, no market in large drives and all-factored IC? I think your team has lost the plot. As a $4 billion company, we should be looking at what adds at least $ 500 million a year. Unfortunately, your team disposes of people capable of thinking about growth like that. Sunday, January 16, 2011 Toeing the line and YES men go all the way to the production floor. Saturday, January 15, 2011 Having had McDermott down here for a few days in Australia, we came to the conclusion we are headed back to the wilderness. Words that where empty, and no real endorsement that we are valued. Time to go, and plenty to go to. Nice knowing you Rockwell.... Thursday, January 13, 2011 - To the RA ex-manager: I'm an ex RA too, currently working for another worldwide organization, since almost three years now. I can tell you that all the bad things one can see from inside are not so bad, if compared to the bad things you can see "from inside" when you are in another company. I hope the principle is clear. I'm from Europe, where the English language is not the only one in use... Sadly, I cannot find comments from European RA employees. Is everything OK at RA-Europe? Talking about end-users: How's CSM doing? Is it still a company in the company? Without a strong CSM, the end-user could get bored of RA on the long run... Wednesday, January 12, 2011 I am also an ex-Rockwell manager and understand a lot of the anger felt by people at the tactics used by management to push out people who do not toe the line. Not too different from other large companies though. Politics and big egos are always active at the top. The key difference for me is that Rockwell is viewed very positively by the financial community because they have extracted a lot of costs to maintain their high margins and still manage to eke out some growth. This is mainly due to their end-users who still specify Rockwell products, and not as much to their "walk on water" top sales executives. Without the strong end user demand for products which are overpriced and under performing, the quality of their executive team would be exposed. Sunday, January 9, 2011 I read the recent blogs on departures at RA, and would comment it's not a new phenomena. I am an ex-high-potential leader who believed in all the hype of developing people in change and in creativity. I got on great as long as I always said yes. The day I disagreed was the day the undermining started, the bullying started, the intimations of an end of the career. So I left and now do a rewarding job for a real leading company who values me. And yes you guessed it; I also worked for McDermottand, I can tell you of at least ten similar examples since he ran sales. In fact he has never had anyone promoted to his level because he snuffs out talent. But you know what's worse? The whole of the Nosbusch leadership team let's it happen year after year. They are a true disgrace of a leadership team and they should stop using shareholder money to pay severances to employees they engineer out. The only winners are the leavers. Saturday, January 8, 2011 It's Ok, all you guys talking about reality and hypothesizing. Reality is we lost the greatest leader this company had. We lost a change-agent, a friend and a customer advocate. In Australia he put us back on the map, now we look forward to Mcd arriving to take us backwards. By the way, we are closed this week for Australia holidays. I am hearing rumours Keiran has landed a big job at GE energy, and so maybe the light at the end of the tunnel is aquisition by GE. Hooray! Wednesday, January 5, 2011 The leadership/heirarchy of RA are totally out of touch. The more they risk in changing the substance of RA, the thinner the veneer and the more fragile it becomes. The blindness won't stop until the damage is done. As usual, it will be too late for those currently in charge to have to worry. Wednesday, January 5, 2011 I agree with the last blog. I also knew Keiran and worked for him twice. He was dynamic and I guess the outcry is we know what Rockwell could be. Picture this Great year Globally so they bring the whole GSM global leadership together in Chicago as a motivator CEO doesn't come along; instead he send a video which apologizes for quality and supply and tells the sales teams to continue to cry until it gets better. Well that was reality. What was incredible was the fact that the senior VP of GSM spent 15 minutes introducing the video and explaining that the CEO was not a charismatic speaker. Result was pity, not motivation. Professional opinion: Keith and John you insulted our intelligence. With the latest moves, you have clearly lost touch With what was once regarded as the best sales teams in the world. I guess the question, "wither or die" are quite apt in this next decade. And the answer is both - without a desperately needed change of leadership. Wednesday, January 5, 2011 Interesting how the Rockwell news is always short-lived around singular events . I am surprised to see so many comments around Keiran Coulton, who I know very well and I also know how much he put into this company. The question though is we all have doom predictions for Rockwell, we all say they should be aquired, we all say there bsiness is dying - and yet they perform ahead of the market, produce best-of-class performance for investors, and no one out there is about to or has bought them. So what are the contribuors to this blog missing? You need to understand Rockwell is a parochial, ultra-conservative company that will never excite, and will never be blessed with a dynamic leadership team. But it will pay your salaries every month, albeit not above market, and the golden few will reap the eggs of the Golden chicken and will fight to keep their places. It's reality. If it's dynamic you want, go to Schneider, Microsoft, General Electric - but stop whining. Elephants do not dance. The reason you are at Rockwell is that you too are probably just mediocre. Monday, January 3, 2011 The buzz all around Cleveland is this weblog reporting on the departure of Keiran Coulton. Apparently readership numbers are soaring and they include many of the executives. Keiran Coulton really was liked and respected. I do hope that, if the chiefs are reading, they will take time to reflect. The momentum is building. Monday, January 3, 2011 Perhaps we can get a few comments from Keith Nosbusch on the strength of feeling shown via this weblog on the departure of Keiran Coulton. It really is a sad day, but no doubt Rockwell will recover. I prefer to keep the memory of a guy who would do anything to achive the goal, but was one the the very few that cared about his people. I can tell you that we exchanged mails right up to late New Years eve, and he was still focussed because he had made a committment to deliver the quarter. It wasn't a committment to Milwaukee; it was a committment to his peers and employees. Monday, January 3, 2011 I fully agree on the comments regarding Keiran being the best leader RA ever had. I reported to Keiran as a GAM and he always did find the balance between growing the business and having a human relationship with the people who did help him as a team to achieve this growth. With Keiran gone, we are losing one of the last leaders with this long term success-guaranteed style. Sunday, December 26, 2010 Anyone know where Keiran Coulton is headed? It is not comfortable he would retire, and he had a good relationship with Milwaukee, so I doubt he got fired. Bad news for RA but great news for the industry and whoever picks him up. I heard Invensys are looking for a new EMEA President, but when the word is out I would also expect Schneider and Siemens to pursue. Wednesday, December 22, 2010 It is a sad day for RA UK today. Whilst Keiran Coulton moved on, over ten years ago, his legacy continues. His ability to really engage with employees and to allow them to be creative will be sadly missed at Rockwell. I know no one person who contributed so much of his personal life to serve his company and his people. Wednesday, December 22, 2010 Does the change in Asia? Means an end to the rapid development of new distributors? This was one of the most aggressive strategies of the past regime, and I wonder if that caused the bosses to be uncomfortable. Monday, December 20, 2010 All the very best to Keiran Coulton. He was the best leader Rockwell ever had. He was also the most undervalued. Imagine how different a place it would have been if Coulton was in McDermott's role! He gets the business, the customer, but most importantly the people! Rockwell, don't underestimate the scale of your loss. All the smart guys have gone. What is left are the Rockwell Robots - the "yes men". Coulton, enjoy Christmas, and all the best for your future! Monday, December 20, 2010 Keith Nosbusch you have it wrong. You have sat by and watched one of your trusted and capable people be minimized by an old boy buddy. We really thought Rockwell was getting it together; we really thought there was light at the end of a very dark tunnel. We have endured quality issues; we have endured supply chain issues; we have worked with no pay increase and no bonus. Keiran Coulton led a region through this. He was an inspiration to us back in USA. He proved that the ordinary guy who cared about people could achieve at Rockwell. Don't give us the blurb about retirement; this was summary execution of someone who was a threat to your cozy world, and someone who could show that Rockwell could be world class. We in our office are very disappointed in YOU Keith. Your words of encouragement and messages now look all so false and all so dim. Monday, December 20, 2010 As the calm settles after the storm and we wonder who our new Asia leader will be, McD the person who has not managed to keep a single leader in his career at GSM has declared he will run the business remotely. Ha! Ha! Not only does he eradicate his leadership competitor, but now he thinks Rockwell's engine of growth deserves remote leadership. Of course none of the Milwaukee fat-cats would move to Asia; it's beneath their status. I hope Keith sees the light and has enough pride to tempt Keiran Coulton out of retirement, so that we can plan for a real leader to evolve. The alternative is to watch as the good guys leave. Siemens, Schneider,and ABB will be grateful for the opportunity to get talent - a gift from Mr McD himself. Merry Xmas! Saturday, December 18, 2010 The mood in China is disbelief! The President was such a passionate driver. Even after he announced his sudden retirement, he immediately engaged in coaching us how to keep the momentum going. He is our friend and one of the very few foreigners to gain our trust. We sincerely hope the company has treated him right, but rumors say otherwise. We are proud and we will wait and see. We wish Keiran Coulton, our friend and colleague, good Luck! Friday, December 17, 2010 Keiran Coulton has passion for people. He has developed enviable leadership team, reshaped the landscape of RA's go-to-market strategy, grown the business for the past 3 years in AP. His successor will have high expectation from the leadership team and employees. Let us wait and watch who takes up the challenge. Good luck KC! Thursday, December 16, 2010 We are just hearing of the sudden departure of Asia CEO. I have gotta tell you that during his time here in USA, he helped my company a lot, and that continued as we expanded through into India. He is one of the few people that could balance company and customer. I remember he said to me that his passion was to build the happiest working environment, and to show that led to commercial success. We are eager here to see where he lands, because America needs that spirit. I only hope Rockwell know the magnitude of the loss. Thursday, December 16, 2010 - RE: Incentives for "the walkabouts": You have missed the entire point. Bonuses should be shared by all since the risk is shared by all. At what point do you not realize that a 10% to 50% bonus for you does not equal a 2% bonus for me? Especially considering our relative salaries. Do you honestly believe that you provide more worth than I do? If this is your sincere belief, then do not talk to me about "teaming" for process improvement or working "together" to improve the bottom line. You have clearly made the case that you deserve a bigger piece of the pie regardless of who does the work. Thursday, December 16, 2010 Rockwell Asia stands in shock and turbulence today as its President announced he was standing down. I have known him for a long time and he has put his life and soul into RA. He has built great teams, including the fantastic team we have here now. His tireless attention to people will be the biggest loss. Rockwell continues to show it is not able to retain talent, and nor does it recognize personal sacrifices that go into the job. I have no doubt the real story will emerge. KC we will miss you, and we all salute you! Thank you for the immense part of your life you have shared with us! Good Luck wherever you land! Wednesday, December 15, 2010 It is very sad to see the announcement of the retirement of the Asia Pacific President. He is a giant in the Industry and respected by many. He is also a very young guy and so there must be more. We send him our sincere best wishes for a safe and successful future. Does anyone know the real story? Wednesday, December 15, 2010 Regarding the post crying about incentives for "the walkabouts". It is just those walkabouts who through their analysis and creative recommendations have made it possible for production employees to get their bonuses. Please show a little respect and gratitude instead of whining. Wednesday, December 15, 2010 I don't know what Region the last poster was from, but here in Asia we do have engaged leadership. You ask and they always try to help. We flagged up issues on salary here in India, and they fixed it. We asked for investment - we got some. Sure there is a long way to go, but our faith is strong and we have good angels to guide. Tuesday, December 14, 2010 I couldn't agree more! I have been with Rockwell for 14 years and see it as a very positive place to hang my hat. Coming from the Emerson world before, I can tell you that Rockwell is definitely moving in the right global direction and we are currently kicking a** in our region. Thank you Rockwell for your vision to make my career that much easier. They pay me fairly as one of the sales people bringing in the orders and I have no complaints. Monday, December 13, 2010 Yes, stop complaining. I am aligned to Rockwell through encompass, and have just finished another trip supporting Asia. This time I was in Kumning, China. The passion and the belief delivered by the Asia leadership was contagious; they really get it. I talked to many channel partners who felt very pleased with how Asia is going. Thank you, Rockwell! And keep pushing. And Asia President, send me a pint of that passion! Monday, December 13, 2010 Please stop complaining - we still all have jobs! Monday, December 13, 2010 Most companies such as ABB, Siemens, etc. have continually awarded small annual raises to most employees over the years, and these don't get mentioned as big news as they are usually in line with inflation. Rockwell on the other hand has had pay freezes in place for the last 5 years, and is now bragging about how it has rewarded employees by giving them a couple of percentage points extra. Wednesday, December 8, 2010 Rockwell payouts for performance incentive were well received. Unfortunately, the people that really do nothing in this company get bonus' three times the amount of the "worker bee". Production is not king after all. How can you justify paying some of these "do nothings" $7000-8000-9000-10,000+ for walking around looking down on people? This is where this company has its greatest downfall. How can you justify paying these people $70,000+ a year? They do extremely limited 'work', while the worker b's are out putting in full days, overtime, etc away from their families to make sure they can keep up with the idiotic scheduling this company makes. Then pay these people this much in a bonus for contributing $0 to sales and productivity. Seems like a rant, but I cannot get into too many details without blowing a whistle. Thanks for the great year, good payout and to a challenging and more rewarding year in 2011! Wednesday, December 8, 2010 - Re: "long overdue RAISE": Sure enough! RA comes through again for the little guy... I'm not sure what I will do with my whopping 2.3% raise!! It's good to know that all of my hard work and long hours away from my family are appreciated by this company. Wednesday, December 8, 2010 Read the latest JimPinto.com eNews item on Rockwell: Whither Rockwell Automation? Monday, December 6, 2010 Only the top folks get their rewards, and even then we are lied to about the bonus and incentive packages. Monday, December 6, 2010 Well, today the EMEA region received their bonusses. Percentages run from 84 % (OES) to 128 % or more for the other functions (IT, HR, Finance), maximum pay out is capped at 140%. Thursday, December 2, 2010 - Re: Blog Nov. 16, 2010 - "RA released the 2010 numbers today - total growth 10%": WOW, that's fabulous!! I'm sure those of us who busted our humps to make this happen will see our fair share reflected in our long awaited "BONUS" or perhaps in our long overdue RAISE! Woo-Hoo! Tuesday, November 30, 2010 RA is making a big "push" into process (again). They think it's a large growth area for them; unfortunately they don't deliver. The first try with ProcessLogix only lasted a few years. Currently it's ControlLogix and FactroyTalkView with some process faceplates on top. All the bridge modules to FoundationFieldbus instead of a native in-chassis comm module. No Profibus PA or ProfiNet support. They call the ControlLogix an Automation Controller not a PLC and think it's a replacement for a DCS. Yes, a DCS costs more but it works as a "system" not a bunch of pieces put together. RA thinks the jig-saw approach fits more customers, but getting all the pieces to fit together costs more than the system approach. CLX is barely SIL3 (at best), SIL4 years away. The PLC3 was a better answer than CLX. Question: How many coal fired power plants run only on PLC's/PAC's? RA: Please answer. Tuesday, November 30, 2010 - Re 1757-FFLD: RA is pushing the Controlnet flavor FFLD, although I heard that 2 very large greenfield projects using this device are having major issues and the consensus from the RA people on site is that the FFLD hardware just doesn't work. Based on this we look at other vendor options for FF. Monday, November 29, 2010 - To "several well-conceived iniatives undertaken": I am impressed that someone with 20 years experience feels that new and creative initiatives are only possible with external GE talent. I understand that the RA way is growth through acquisitions, but I wonder if your emphasis on external resources is a indication that internal talent is unimaginative and incapable. You seem to have made an indictment that something is very rotten in RA (to paraphrase Shakespeare). As far as GE talent is concerned, I wonder why there is such a supply of these "experts". If GE cast off these "experts", why is absorption by RA a good thing? New initiatives by "experts" with dubious success records seems to be an unpalatable recipe. Friday, November 26, 2010 - Re 1757-FFLD: It bridges Ethernet/IP and FF-HSE to FF, not ControlNet to FF. This is a good thing though, since ControlNet has much less market penetration than Ethernet/IP. Thursday, November 25, 2010 There is always time for Reflection following the Turkey. Much is written around Rockwell. True its results are good and it tries to do the right thing, but it is an unhappy company. Senior management is content because they reap great financial rewards for themselves. That means they fight not to move around for fear of losing the golden egg. They really give nothing back to the workforce; or they do, but only when the blood sweat and tears have been given and then it always falls short. The workforce has had to put up with supply chain problems, quality issues and yet not one BU or functional leader has paid the price for their mishaps. Much has been said, or should I say ridiculed, about Sales leadership, yet the pillar of the past goes on. So don't expect change post Thanksgiving. Maybe negative change after the workers get their bonus checks. And remember, you always have a choice where to work. Good night and Happy holidays Tuesday, November 23, 2010 - To "Foundation Fieldbus for a greenfield": Are you sure it is not the ENET version with CNET capability? I thought RA was pushing the ENET version with all the updates and improvements. I did not think that the CNET version was keeping pace. By the way, do not let them foist the CN2FF on you. It is old technology with a few issues. If you have to go CNET, use the FFLD. Tuesday, November 23, 2010 Our strong numbers are the result of severaal well-conceived iniatives undertaken within the past few years, not the least being the infusion of new talent with career backgrounds at GE. Extensive management training combined with new perspectives always drives great results. As someone with almost 20 years experience at RA, I welcome the new guys and the excitement they bring. Monday, November 22, 2010 Does anyone know how Rockwell mes is doing? I heard they are knocking the ball out of the park. Monday, November 22, 2010 Unless you need redundancy, or you already have experience with ControlNet, my choice would be E-Net to FFB. The specs are the same for either gateway. Saturday, November 20, 2010 We are evaluating Foundation Fieldbus for a greenfield, large scale batch manufacturing facility. RA is promoting the Controlnet version FFLD, have any readers any experience or recommendations? Thursday, November 18, 2010 I've been reading and watching the weblog for about 4 years, since I left Rockwell. There is no corporation worth working for, there is no company worth being loyal to. Wake up. Lock in your skill sets, improve them, and move on. The only person worth working for is yourself. To do that you need skills that can be transported to another company, another business. The great orange juice company "tropicana" is working well, and your jobs heading south to Mexico, east to Poland, and west to Asia. RC used to make $60 million a month, and reports are last month they made a cool 1 million. Can't keep the lights on for that. Tuesday, November 16, 2010 Given the profit numbers they posted, there could be some serious bonus dollars for the senior exec's. Won't see those details until they file the annual meeting notice with proxy, which is usually in early December. Tuesday, November 16, 2010 Organic growth is the process of businesses expansion due to increasing output, sales, or both, as opposed to mergers, acquisitions, or take-overs. Organic growth is growth that comes from a company's existing businesses, as opposed to growth that comes from buying new businesses. In other words, it should exclude the boost to growth from acquisitions, and the decline from sales and closures of whole businesses. Organic growth strategies are built on four main pillars: revenue, headcount, PR, and quality. If you reduce headcount, or more ominously the more expensive headcount, you will increase revenue. It stands to reason that layoffs are part of the strategy for organic growth at RA. If you were to take this thought a little further, then organic growth can be achieved by either reducing expensive management headcount or excessive pay or both. Tuesday, November 16, 2010 Growth with acquisitions 2007 to 2010 USA -9 % Canada -17% EMEA 4% Asia-Pacific 21% Latin America 11% Total -2% Monday, November 15, 2010 You are killing me with these numbers. What percent of the work force was let go? How much of a cut in pay was forced on us? How many unpaid days off did we have to eat? Monday, November 15, 2010 Hooray for management! It proves that USA management can drive growth in Asia. So many skeptics think they can't. Congrats to a good all-round job. We always knew we were going down the right path. If we continue growing at this rate and Siemens stay still, we will pass them in 2,3 or 4 years. What an achievement, WOW! Wednesday, November 10, 2010 RA released the 2010 numbers today: Organic Growth fiscal, 09-10 US 11% Canada 7% Europe, Middle East, Africa 2% Asia Pacific 17% Latin America 10% Total 10% Lets all form a circle and pat each other on the back. You can view the charts for a few days on the Rockwell website: http://www.rockwellautomation.com Wednesday, November 10, 2010 - To the distributor in UK: Please don't claim the growth as your own. Firstly, the UK cannot be a growth play; it's mature, expensive and has had it's day. Secondly, you have the whole UK workforce selling on your behalf; they have no choices. So, be thankful of your privileged position. I agree that Rockwell doesn't invest in UK and won't. It will just milk the cash-cow, which eventually will be you. You also benefit with great EMEA leadership that is way better than years ago. Wednesday, November 10, 2010 I agree RA results are good, especially strength in USA and Asia. The big question is: how can they break out to much larger growth? How can they access the big opportunities, when their competitors are huge and control huge swathes of the market? To me, RA is stuck as a small player who will be beaten by technical excellence, B&R etc. or just beaten to death by Siemens. They need to be acquired - which would also solve the management issue perhaps. Wednesday, November 10, 2010 Rockwell has a tendency to downsize one year, followed by a very small growth plan for the following year. The net result is that a couple of quarters later they announce growth and start celebrating by making announcements about how they've achieved this growth through hard work. Sorry to put out your fire Rockwell, but you have not shown any growth at all. Here in the UK the Rockwell distributor brings in 60% of the total business. We have seen growth in sales of Rockwell products. However, I put this down to the hard work that we have done as a distributor, rather than Rockwell. Rockwell UK are so reliant on the distributor model and have really lost touch with their customers. We the distributor are running the show. Tuesday, November 9, 2010 Wow! Rockwell earnings release today should quieten all those naysayers. Keith and his staff are doing a fantastic job, with all regions growing extremely well. I think they deserve those bonuses for how they have courageously carried us through the Financial crisis. Onwards and Upwards for the world leader in Automation! Sunday, November 7, 2010 For those of you wondering about SAP, good luck. It is hard to use, not user friendly at all. It's a cookie-cutter program and Rockwell's immense infrastructure is being forced into it. Trying to find schematics or firmware programs is a nightmare. You can't use any of the old part numbers, SAP has to make new ones, so any part number you were familiar with will be going away. Parts start with a PN and drawings look like 1000001232. You wont be able to just look at it and know what it is anymore. There is about 200 different transcodes and trying to figure out which one you want is a challenge all to itself. And you have to get permissions to use most of them and to get permissions you need to know which sector transcode the transcode you want permission for is in. Why we couldn't just global some of the systems we are already using is beyond me; they sure were easier to navigate. But the Rockwell credo seems to be: if there is a harder way to do something it must be better. Saturday, November 6, 2010 Intel's Andy Grove on manufacturing in America Saturday, November 6, 2010 It may be bonus period but the mind-set is all wrong. If you only chase the big jobs, that "moves the needle" you have to cut margin, and have to "work for each and every order" with that mind-set. I propose "sweat the little stuff", the day in, day out, annoyances that drive our good, long term customers crazy. Take care of the little stuff and the customers will "hand you" the big jobs, knowing you work for their best interests. Yes, you still have to be competitive on the big jobs but you can get a premium (instead of low bidder) for being the "best of breed". Thursday, November 4, 2010 You can tell it's coming up to RA's bonus period. It's all gone quiet! Also, I understand the benefits of the 2008 3% cull are coming through and a large bonus is likely. Thank you, RA management. It couldn't have been achieved without you. Thursday, October 28, 2010 Rockwell is going through what they call GPT (Global Process Transformation) which means they are rolling out SAP. They don't know what they have in stock, when new stock will arrive, when they can ship it or how much it costs. On top of that moving manufacturing to lower cost countries has resulted in quality issues and delivery delays. *BUT* the stock is up, and that's all that matters to THE (ROK) CORPORATION. Thursday, October 21, 2010 Blackbelts ? Give me a break! Let's see, let's make a change just to make a change then pat ourselves on the back for screwing up the process instead of making it better. If we had half of the money that they say they have saved the company, we should not need mandatory overtime should we? This is going on throughout Rockwell. Blackbelts, along with people in positions they should not be in, have taken this company down. If you think mandatory overtime is good, you're wrong. It shows that management doesn't have a clue what they are doing and they could not care less about cost or their employees. News is that the Twinsburg plant is stockpiling product to make a move to Mexico or Singapore. Can someone from the Twinsburg plant respond and let us know? Someone I know who has close ties with a manager has said that could be true. Hello Mexico, Goodbye Twinsburg. Just like the rest of us. If you want to save what you have and not be like our Cambridge or Iowa plants, you need to unionize to try and save what you have. Thursday, October 21, 2010 The whining continues to eminate from the Dundas Debacle. Excuses are pulled from the Grand Catalogue of Rationalisations for Laziness and Incompetence. Every new idea put forth by management is rejected out of hand by the ne'er-do-wells. If it were not for those dedicated and learned managers, Cambridge would have collapsed. There is still hope that the Blackbelts will pull us through. Thursday, October 21, 2010 How can you say Cambridge went through unscathed? Lets see, Raglin closed; LV MCC moved to Milwaukee; all in all about 400 jobs were lost and also some very talented people. Your comment does not make any sense, but that's okay, you still have your job, but who knows for how long. 3 very talented employees let go in the last 2 weeks, all long-serving who helped make the Cambridge facility a great operation. Anyhow, you are either in management, or completely ignorant to what is and has gone on in Cambridge. Wednesday, October 20, 2010 - Blogger from Tues, Oct 19th - Re: Dundas Plant, Cambridge: This laziness you are talking about, did we not just have a record breaking month/year end? We have to be doing something right. Orders are pouring in, shareholders are happy, we pulled through the recesion for the most part unscathed, we even got a retro-pay raise because of this! You should count your blessings, we are very lucky. If anything brings this place down it will be the negativity that echoes very clearly in your blog post. Tuesday, October 19, 2010 Upper Management doing a good job at the Cambridge Plant on Dundas Steet. Now, that's the laugh of the Century. First of all, you must have people in management that can talk properly and understand what the heck they are saying. Secondly, there's too many managers walking around wasting company dollars. Put your clipboards down and start helping out on the floor. There's a female manager in there that knows NOTHING; I have no idea how she even got the position. Again, the lazy one's and the trouble makers get the management positions. A Union would have weeded out the trouble makers instead of the real workers. But that's too late now. All the trouble makers and non-workers are still there pretending to work. Rockwell will not last another year. The laziness of the workers is bringing the company down. Thursday, October 14, 2010 Ah, the great corporation with the psychotic mind. Having very recently personally experienced the personality of this company, it brings to mind the following clip from "The Corporation". If you watch patiently, you will see that Rockwell is one of the companies listed for behavior that would justify a long "time out" on the couch! THE CORPORATION [5/23] Case Histories Don't complain or fight it, move on. It isn't worth it and you won't win. Monday, October 11, 2010 RA is not blessed with talent that is Global. The current president in Asia is European and did an extended tour in USA. Dont know how he is rated, but people speak highly of him and Asia is doing good. Otherwise don't know anyone who has done significant time around the Globe. Sunday, October 10, 2010 I agree that the future is outside USA. Does RA have the bright talent in Asia and East Europe. Has Keith or any of his staff lived abroad for an extended period? I guess the question is are they capable of winning internationally? Or is it a slow North American decline? Saturday, October 9, 2010 - From the Oct 7 post: What do u think the future is for RA? In spite of everything RA has done, they are still the only choice for large users in the US. Some customers have tried switching to Siemens and come back. They will still have all the other players nipping at their heels, but there is no real threat from anyone. Until someone really makes an effort to TAKE the business, RA has it in N. America. The fact is the NA market has/is shrinking and is not worth going after. Everyone wants the growth areas: China/India/Europe, Middle East, Africa. That is where all the players (RA included) are moving. It's the smart move - follow the money. I don't like what has become of US manufacturing, or what it has cost in jobs but it's a snowball effect. Manufacturers move to countries with lower costs, less manufacturing in the US, more move out. The result is lower wages (service jobs instead of manufacturing jobs) so we buy more low cost items from China/India which strengthens manufacturing in those countries and weakens ours. NAFTA was the first nail in the coffin and things have sprialed down from there. Consumers won't pay more for a product made in NA, although in the long run it would provide higher paying jobs in NA. We are going to have to impose import duties on everything brought into the US, so that the well paid US worker can compete and put an end to the endless downward sprial. So what if other countries impose import duties on US made products? We aren't making anything, and they aren't buying anything made in NA. RA is doing the right things, it's our US policy makers making the mistakes. Thursday, October 7, 2010 Anyone that is different gets pushed from Rockwell. Tell me one entrepreneur that has done more than 10 years. The list will be short. Thursday, October 7, 2010 Do you really think they ousted Gelly because he was different? What do u think the future is for RA? They are doing Ok - they haven't suffered the future that people who post here have predicted for years. The stock is doing well - so where's it all going? Tuesday, October 5, 2010 The last time the RA top team was challenged was by James Gelly. His operational change tactics took the shares to $70+, but his management style frightened the living daylights out of senior management. Milwaukee strategies are sometimes akin to Animal Farm: "Four legs are good but Two legs are Better". Sunday, October 3, 2010 Interesting observation on top talent I know at a recent Chicago meeting the talk was all about Mcd replacement and the successor is on your list. I would think though, the race is the ability of the old guard to discredit these folks as they protect their jobs. Certainly in the case of McD, people will tell you he publicly snubs and puts down this pretender, and from what I and my colleagues hear, he would like to see him go. Doesnt that sound a familiar story, similar to demise of President Emea,VP Hr and President Canada - and that's only last year's record. Who knows where Keith is on this, or even HR. But clearly, the plot is underway again, we think. Friday, October 1, 2010 There are no more than three real top players. The two or three below Keith would be Frank K, Mike L and Keiran C. Keith is probably not going to make a move because they would challenge him too much, unless of course they decided to leave and that would certainly put the pressure on. The way RA works means that Keith would expect them to wait forever, and won't be aware of their full potential. I would appreciate comments from others who may be closer to what really happens in Milwaukee. Thursday, September 30, 2010 Do you think RA has the bench strength now to fill the senior leadership slots? You would have thought if they did, Keith would have acted already. Wednesday, September 29, 2010 I've always been an advocate for taking control of your situation. If you don't like the path you are on and whats going on around you, then you have the power to change it. Join the bandwagon of talented and young professionals that quickly recognize the lack of motivation and drive at Rockwell and have left for far better opportunities. There is a good old boys club at the leadership level. In due time, Rockwell is going to face a significant issue with lack of talent and leadership moving up through the company, as the old timers that have been hanging on for dear life begin retiring. Wednesday, September 29, 2010 Why are people from Cambridge complaining?!Just because they are spoiled for years and years, that's why. Look at yourself, check how much work you do in your regular hours. But - real work, not walking around with the paperwork in your hands. Nobody is bothering you, nobody is "pushing" you...And you are still unhappy? You need Union to protect you from not working. That's what they do most of the time, protecting bad workers. Good workers do not need a Union; they are "protected" by doing their jobs. We don't know how lucky we are to work for this Company. To all that don't like this Company - go ahead, try to find another job, good luck. Spoiled, spoiled, spoiled - that's who we (you) are. Once and for all - Do the right thing - start doing your jobs, don't cry anymore, people. Tuesday, September 28, 2010 You Cambridge whiners need to buck up and show a little gratitude to the managers who have dedicated so much time and effort to save your jobs for you. If you spent as much energy working as you do complaining, RA would be in much better shape, and your jobs would be much more secure. You couldn't ask for a better employer than Rockwell. I know, because I have worked for them for years and they have always treated me fairly. Tuesday, September 28, 2010 So, getting the union would save our jobs and stop the plants from closing? I bet all the auto workers are glad that the union protected them. As for the people coming in on overtime and not working (or just not working at all), I'm sure the union would be happy to see them disciplined and fired. Honestly, what would the union do to prevent the plant from closing? Monday, September 27, 2010 - Re: The Post about World Class Management: You must be one on the "good ole boys" who are overpaid and keep out anyone else. There needs to be some changes in the upper manangement, as the current ones are stuffy and behind the times. But as long as it remains the "good ole boys" club RA will continue on the same path. Why, in all these recent years of lay-offs, were none of the management boys touched? Why only the mid-level and below? Just letting 10 of these managers go would have saved how many of the other jobs? How many VP's, Sr. VP's, Executive VP's, Directors, Sr. Directors, Executive Directors does one company really need? Monday, September 27, 2010 Senior management hard working? You've got that wrong! They are working so hard that they are closing plants down. Heads need to roll on the Management Level. Time to clean house. Put management back out on the floor and make them actually work for their paycheque. Just like someone said on here "They had the chance to get a Union in" .. but they are cowards and now they are paying the price. More plants will close down and instead of pensions you will get one lump sum for the Government to tax. Monday, September 27, 2010 The reason there is no turnover of senior management is because they are world class. They are better than the competitors, hard working, diligent and really believe in people. They dedicate themselves to the RA cause and for what they do are undercompensated. Sunday, September 26, 2010 All you people at the Dundas Street Plant in Cambridge are still complaining. Why don't you just shut up and work? You all had many chances to get a Union in but you turned your noses up at it. Now a lot of you who didn't want the Union are now unemployed or still working and still bitching. You all got what you deserved. So shut up, quit whining and complaining and get back to work. Sunday, September 26, 2010 No wonder Rockwell is going down the toilet. There is NO management actually committed and knows what they are really doing. Case in point, Rockwell in Cambridge on Dundas Street. Management needs a wake up call. They are too busy walking around with their clip boards trying to look important. They promote the people who don't like to work into Management positions. They pick on the workers and let the trouble makers continue to help bring the company down. Overtime is paid to people who are NOT working, they are on the phone or playing on a computer. It's time to clean house of Management and turn the company around before it shuts down and puts everyone out of work. Sunday, September 26, 2010 September 19th a weblog was entered about SAP development. No response. We're going Global, I hope. RC is struggling with SAP at this time. Some response from those that have been through this transition would be appreciated. Friday, September 24, 2010 You are talking out of both sides. You blame the greed and price consciousness of the American - and I am telling you to look at the American worker, not consumer. I was not talking about the global worker, and I talked of no one as a serf. So, get off your under-productive, unionized and protected American behind, and provide a product worth buying. At any price! Friday, September 24, 2010 Except my friend, who cares about US jobs when I am German, Italian, Chinese or Indian? Or maybe you perceive global Rockwell employees as slaves to satisfy your US greed. If it wasn't for the global consumer, where would you be? One day you will thank the global serfs for saving your ass. Friday, September 24, 2010 The last post about buying American is surely written by a union employee. The reason people stopped buying American products is not just about price. Though the union salary structure foisted onto corporate America, coupled with the low productivity and, by the way, low quality, had a little to do with it. The fact is, people, not just Americans, have choices. So refuse salary and benefit cuts; try on a 'buy American' only campaign; sit back and blame it on American greed and the lust for low cost. Laugh at Mexican and Chinese workers, who you claim can't get it right. Or retool, retrain, refocus, rededicate yourselves to making 'Made in America' mean something. And stop complaining. Thursday, September 23, 2010 As the recent posts relate to outsourcing: we have no one to blame but ourselves. The American consumers ravenous appetite for more, cheaper goods, regardless of where they come from have led to the decline of manufacturing in the US. How many products do we buy everyday that are imported (cars, electronics, clothing, etc) and we scream for ever lower prices. We take no time to understand or take responsibility for our actions, we want to blame the evil CEO or the government for our own actions. Wake up, if you want American jobs, buy only goods that are produced here, stop shopping at Walmart, wearing Nikes made in Bangladesh, watching your flat panel TV's made in Korea. Our problems are mostly self inflicted. Face up and buy local to save US jobs, or shut up. Companies will respond to consumer demands or die. Do you want the lowest price or more US jobs? Wednesday, September 22, 2010 - Regarding blog Wednesday, September 22, 2010: Cost of manufacturing overseas also includes risk. Some areas of risk are political stability, shipping (including your ship sinking!), exchange rate fluctuations, loss of key technologies in exchange for local market access (China), criminals (Mexico), nationalization of industries (Bolivia and Venezula), poor product quality (tainted milk and other food products) and so on. Wednesday, September 22, 2010 I am challenged by the guy who thinks all we do is complain. This company continues to get less relevant because we don't have one senior leader capable of being brave on acquiring to grow, yet they draw millions from stock sales. No wonder they never move on. Only one guy can solve that issue, and he is CEO. I am challenged by people that also whine about their manufacturing plant. Well if you hadn't noticed that the quality is crap, and has been now for five years. So don't blame it on the Mexicans. I can also despair because it is now getting in the way of orders and opens the door for the Competitors. Only one guy can solve that, and he is the CEO. I guess the conclusion is that we either have a clueless CEO, or a CEO who isn't brave enough to save this company, that should be bigger than all those individuals that have had their chance and failed to live up to the vision. Wednesday, September 22, 2010 Thanks Jim Pinto, for the links. I like this part (second link): "In the current recessionary U.S. business environment, global outsourcing has a negative connotation. It means firing American workers and shipping jobs to less-developed countries where wages are lower and labor laws are more lax. The attitude among U.S. employees is understandably defensive and critical. With U.S. unemployment rising above 10 percent, and estimates of real unemployment (including part-time workers) climbing to more than 15 percent, the idea of cutting American jobs and shipping them abroad is offensive to many. The mooted "savings" incurred by outsourcers simply isn't enough to warrant the human cost." Wednesday, September 22, 2010 Globalization is the process of aligning production capacity, resources and costs to serve global markets. The old sales axiom of "follow the money" applies to production capacity and resource location. If most of the growth in consumption of a product or service is occuring in the developing world, then it is important for companies to locate production in or near those markets to align thier costs and resources to local market realities. If it costs $20 to produce something in the US and $10 to produce it in China, and I am competing against local Chinese companies selling the product for $15, then I had better build the product in China. We, as a group, seem to not mind or complain about ever-decreasing costs of goods (the Wal-Mart effect) until it negatively impacts us personally, and our customers expect the same. If we want to compete in offshore markets, we need to be in those markets and align our costs with those markets, or there will not be an Rockwell left to complain about. If you want to keep more capacity in the US, tell your friends at our customers to stop buying the lowest-cost product, or stop forcing us to deepen discounts every year to keep thier business. Most of our clients demand year-over-year price reductions. The only way to do this is lower our costs. It stinks, but it beats closing up shop and sending everyone home. Tuesday, September 21, 2010 It would be really nice if somebody will explain (to those of us who do not know) what GLOBALIZATION means. We can hear that word over and over every day, but... Does that mean moving plants from USA and North America to different parts of the World - maybe to Mexico or elsewhere? Or does that mean building more plants all over the World? Or....something else? Or, is it again just another "excuse" like "Global Warming", SARS, all kinds of "flu", etc. Hey, don't forget "There are no stupid questions - only stupid answers!". Jim Pinto Note: Please read my articles: Globalization - outmoded & irrelevant Global Outsourcing Revisited Monday, September 20, 2010 - To the author of the blog: "You have no idea how good you really have it." How hypocritical when those who have just done what you mention (some over many years of loyalty, commitment and dedication) are blandly rewarded with layoffs and redundancy. Now, what was it you were saying? Monday, September 20, 2010 - To all the complainers: You have no idea how good you really have it. RA leadership promised to give back our salaries & bonuses, they did, ahead of schedule. Had this been GE, Honeywell, Siemens, etc. this money would have been gone forever (I know I worked outside of RA for most of my career). RA is trying to globalize rapidly. Most of the projected economic growth for the next 10 years will not come from the US. Yes it can be painful, but we cannot be the old US based AB and survive long term, the world has changed. Do our leaders make mistakes? You bet, but Monday morning quarterbacking on a blog does no good. Get off your backsides and start putting in the hours the leadership team does and make a difference. This is a great company, going through a lot of change in a really uncertain time; roll up your sleaves and start making a difference instead of complaining. Sunday, September 19, 2010 Not any complaints from RC! SAP is a little problem but I'm sure it will be overcome? Comments please. Thanks. Friday, September 17, 2010 - To the progressive Aussie: You'll be progressing into a new company sometime very soon. Although some of the old distributors were performing poorly, the main reason RA got in bed with NHP and Inaco is to minimise its operations in Australia. Just have a look what happened to logistics (all of them sacked). The question is who is next? Sales anyone? There are plenty of sales people at NHP and Inaco! No need for RA to keep any! Friday, September 17, 2010 I am still working in Rockwell Automation. I have no choice, but I am very mad about only 1 thing - it's all about quantity not quality. They just pushing it towards plant shutdown process. They used to build 300 IO units in one shift in 2008, and now in 2010 one shift produces 600. No quality, just quantity. Friday, September 17, 2010 I am a former Rockwell employee who has to finally chime in here about all of the whining coming out of Cambridge. I am not a RA leadership fan and think they have set the company back 10 years. However, look at the whole world and think: Stop complaining about a free lunch and the companies poor management. I am sure your colleagues in China, Mexico, etc., where all of the jobs are going, will not be complaining about "steamed" burgers. The reason you have time to complain about a good gesture is because you are stuck in the victim-mode and are too lazy to either change the climate, or change your environment (read leave for another job). Do something positive. Remember what your father most likely taught you (which you apparently ignored) If you have nothing good to say, don't say anything. Go find a positive environment or at least work harder to change the current one. Friday, September 17, 2010 Rockwell and Fanuc announced a collaboration to integrate the Logix platform with Fanuc CNC. It has been a very long time since Rockwell has made any acquisitions - and I wonder if a Rockwell/Fanuc (Robotics and CNC) could be in the works. Also, with Rockwell's continued focus on the Process market via their PlantPAx solution - a play for Endress+Hauser would provide a best-of-breed instrumentation solution as well. Does anyone have any thoughts? Friday, September 17, 2010 To the individual who is promoting Siemens technical support - I do not feel that this is an appropriate place to "advertise"... Friday, September 17, 2010 BBQ's, Parties in chicago, and have you seen the executives stock trading? Sounds to me that RA is the place to be. And who said mediocrity doesn't have it's rewards? Thursday, September 16, 2010 Medium Voltage Center of Excellence: So does this mean no more late orders? No more "not built to prints"? No more waiting on "import paperwork"? No more waiting for parts from Mexico, because that's where (MVCE) is moving? Sorry RA management, quit blowing your own horn. Thursday, September 16, 2010 Wow, someone here in Cambridge is hyping up the BBQ... First off, it was not a BBQ. It was the same and cooked less than normal food (if you can call it that), from the cafeteria, A.K.A STEAMED BURGERS. A for effort indeed. It's appreciated and a good gesture on part of the company. I'm 99% sure though, that everyone would've loved a $5 gas card much more. Cambridge rocks, yes indeed, but not because of over-enthusiastic people like the other guy! Or because we got a free Hamburger... It's the workers who tolerate foolishness, secrecy, childishness and poor managing on some peoples parts. Wednesday, September 15, 2010 A huge thank you to everyone that helped in the planning of the awesome BBQ that was given to all Cambridge employees in launch of the Medium Voltage Center of Excellence. Cambridge employees should be proud to work for a company that puts forth the extra effort in doing something for their employees. It was great seeing the management team getting "in there" and helping out with serving, etc. Food was great, give a-ways were a great idea and can be used by everyone. Thanks again Cambridge........we ROCK! Wednesday, September 15, 2010 To the ex-distributor that thinks he know what Aussies want. Our customers want service and RA wanted growth. You provided the prospect of neither, and thankfully this Aussie is proud be be part of a growing company with great partners. I am happy to be judged by my Aussie custmers. Your position could be the reason you are EX. Go serve your new masters, and Good Luck ! Wednesday, September 15, 2010 The comments entered by the so called "proud, progressive" Aussie regarding the situation of the formerly loyal and competant Australian Distributor group, I find particularly offensive. As a proud and ethically bound Australian, and ex-employee, such comments show even more the sharp lack of ethics, and moral concience. The decision to "dump" what was essentially a succesful and growing group was deplorable. In my view, this persons inexperienced and thoughtless comments regarding the former Distributors being quick to seek new suppliers, again highlights the strong lack of market or business-practice experience. What do you expect them to do? Sit around and go out of business while Rockwell poured money into their side of the court case? Recouping monies owed is the only comment to hold any moral validity. The market will be the ultimate judge. Australians do not like what they may perceive as an unfair action. What is disapointing is to see a great company, which was formally a highly regarded division of Allen Bradley/Rockwell Automation built up and established as a key market player by local Australian management and a loyal Distributor base, subjected to ridicule because of ill-concieved decisions made off shore. Seen it before, and it leaves a bad taste which will come back to bite the perpetrators. A final word to the Aussie writer of the aforementioned article: don't get to cocky - you will be on the removalist list too. It's just a matter of time! Sunday, September 12, 2010 For the distributor in Australia who wants to perpetuate himself after losing the franchise. The fact is Rockwell is that working hard with multiple partners and are doing pretty good in the eyes of their customers. According to public court records, all they will recoup is monies owed to them, which I think is fair. Most of the distributors wasted no time in launching competitor products. I am proud to be part of this change and proud to be a progressive aussie. Saturday, September 11, 2010 The comment on the recent Chicago meeting was spot on. This senior management team does not live in reality despite having a great team below them; I won't comment on individuals but if they read this blog they should look in the mirror and act. I know many who will give them a pen for their resignation. Friday, September 10, 2010 In the Australian courts, Rockwell have just 'won' a case brought about by nine ex-partners of Rockwell. All the partners were collectively dumped by RA to pursue greater access to the Pacific market via NHP. "Losing" means a huge financial hole and possible financial ruin of the ex-partners who, for many years, represented Rockwell in the Australian market and developed a very good reputation in the marketplace. "Winning" for Rockwell means financial gain, satisfaction that their lawyers were better, but an ever diminishing reputation in the Australian market, highlighting their singular goal to step on the smaller companies who made them good, to achieve short term gains. Well done RA; I hope you feel good and you can sleep well in your beds tonight as some very well respected companies in and around Australia may go to the wall.. Friday, September 10, 2010 I just attended the Rockwell global kick-off meeting in Chicago. Wow, itís really time we changed some of our senior leadership. Case in point, John McDermott is arrogant & condescending and nothing more than a disappointing conduit and puppet for his out-of-touch CEO ñ a real risk to the company. Rockwell would do well by making a change here - ridding itself of one of the ìold boys clubî and showing it can transform itself. Friday, September 10, 2010 The post where Siemens solicits business on this weblog is reprehensible, and shows how a company convicted of bribery will stoop to any level. Friday, September 10, 2010 Siemens has great drives and fantastic technical support and, oh by the way it's free of charge between the hours of 8:00 am and 5:00 pm. We are more than happy to work with any customer that needs quality drive products. Please contact your local Siemens Distributor and let us know how we may help. Friday, September 3, 2010 No tech-support in the US does not surprise me. Manufacturing is dying out in the US; even RA is moving out, so why invest into a dying market? I'm sure itís a different story in China and other emerging markets. Also drives are not an RA core business. I donít understand why drives, and MCCís for that matter, werenít included in the sale of Reliance/Dodge to Baldor. Wouldíve been a much better fit. Thursday, September 2, 2010 I feel the pain of the Aug 11 post. I too have had problems lately with drives tech support. My RA rep tells me production of the 7/70/700 drives have moved/are bring moved to Mexico and the Sumner Iowa plant has been closed. I assume this is where support of these drives were located. The 4/40/400 class drives production is subcontracted to a Chinese supplier and always has been. The new 75x class drives are assembled in Mequon, just outside of Milwaukee. I say assembled because our distributor drives specialist was up there a few weeks ago and saw no manufacturing, only final assembly. We pay for 24x7 priority support, which means we get long wait times, smug/wrong answers 24 hours a day 7 days a week 365 days a year. It won't matter much since the only thing produced in the US are food & drugs and we have the FDA & USDA to protects us anyway. BTW I like my eggs over-easy. Wednesday, August 11, 2010 Looks like RA's internal problems are now hitting their customers. I'm an integrator who was called out to help replace a 1336 Plus II drive that failed. The configuration was really odd so a call to tech support was in order to help setup the drive. The manual was really sketchy on how to setup the option boards that were used. The original setup parameters were not properly recorded before the failure. I was first able to talk to a tech at AB and he got me headed in the right direction initially. I even put up with the tech newbies condescending attitude towards our situation. (I've been working with automation equipment for 30+ years..) Subsequent calls to the support group were ignored. There was no way to even leave a message. I sat on hold (with an estimated wait time of 7 minutes ) forever - over 10 times. Eventually the calls were all cut off, except for the last call I made which finally got through. After explaining my problem in detail, the person answering the phone said he was not qualified to help technically and they group responsible was not available to answer the phone and he did not know when they would be. Huh? :( I then emailed them hoping I could get some help that way. No replies. That was a week and a half ago. After banging my head for 10+ hours and altering many parameters, I finally figured out what the manual has failed to mention. The RA tech support group, at least for drives, was totally dysfunctional. Why would anyone buy AB equipment with this kind of support? The end customer witnessed all of this and they have decided not to purchase any more AB equipment for their plant. Why pay a premium for equipment that has inferior support? It's very sad as many US manufacturers have made huge investments in AB equipment. Manufacturing in the US is tough enough without an iconic company such as AB going into the dumpster. Hopefully someone will buy AB, kick the nitwits running the company out, and remember where they get their money from ... the customers. Monday, August 2, 2010 I cannot agree more with the authors comment regarding how RA treats the people it lets go. There is no point in being loyal and hardworking. Currently, keeping your job is down to whether you are under 50 or if your face fits (and thats no more more than 2-3 years considering how many management shuffles occur to keep the brown noses protected). As can be seen, the real decider is whether your RA job is in the Northern Hemisphere; in which case your screwed. The only solace to be gained is the fact that some day what happened to those who were "let go" will will happen to those same decision makers. How long for them, I wonder, is ignorance bliss. Sunday, August 1, 2010 I worked at Rockwell/ Milwaukee for 38 years in the Union. Friday was my last day. They no longer have a union. My question is... If there are still manufacturing parts in shipping that need to be sent China, Tecate, Monterray, etc. Isn't it against the law to have non-union workers ship production parts out? My understanding is that no "union" work can be done in the plant for 1 year after we leave. Otherwise Rockwell has to call union members back. We got a raw deal at the end. Rockwell dumped 140 of us on the taxpayers with unemployment. I have a hard time understanding why they did this to the last of the workers. Many people were within 1 year or less to retirement. They have had record profits. This is the WORST they treated the future retirees. How can the CEO sleep at night? They are heartless. Thank you for letting me speak my mind. I was very proud to work at Rockwell for 38 years... to be dumped out like this is a slap in the face to everyone who worked hard for Rockwell. Friday, July 30, 2010 What bothers me more (here in Cambridge) is that Managers should start dealing with people that are getting money "for free" for years and years. Instead, they are "sending" them (some of them) to different shift, even promoting them to some "coordinators" or whatever. Plus, they can work their own hours, completely different than everybody else. But, as long as they have piece of paperwork in their hands and walk around, it's all good. They look busy, and that's all that matters. Who cares if they are not doing their original job - they are acting bigger than lead hands, sometimes even than Managers. Worst thing - they are so proud with themselves. Shame, big shame! Thursday, July 29, 2010 I read with interest the comments from a Rockwell employee in Cambridge who is upset that the company managers are making things less productive in her/his work area. Is there nobody you can talk to about this problem? Also, to the person who wrote that this person should quit whining and do something about it. How do we know that they have not tried to do something about it already? Perhaps you are one of these managers that considers anybody with legitimate concerns to be just 'whiners'. It sounds to me like the person you accuse of just whining actually sounds like he/she may really care about their job and are just frustrated. There is nothing worse than caring about your company and working for managers that do not care about the company. Or managers who do look down on subordinates and don't want to hear about any problems. Sad, but it is often the case. However, not just with Rockwell. Wednesday, July 28, 2010 - For Keith Nosbusch, CEO: Your managers need to practice better "face talk" with the employees. The key to that strategy is communicating with staff at all levels. Three guidelines for keeping the conversation and information flowing: Fine-tune internal operations by bolstering internal communications. This, in turn, will strengthen the organization and culture. Reassure employees by meeting with them frequently in person for updates about the need for layoffs or other staff changes. Nip rumors before they create panic. Encourage the organization's CEO to speak candidly with employees at least monthly about company financials, results and strategies. Tuesday, July 27, 2010 To the person talking about management taking actions that were detremental to your productivity: If it is as bad as you made it sound you need to DO something about it not just put up with it! You let them mess with your productivity then there is that much less reason to keep your job here in the USA instead of moving it down to Mexico. You ever think some of management might have a hidden agenda? Perhaps they are intentionally slowing you down because they will be the ones presenting the proposal to the higher ups about the cost/benefit analysis of keeping your jobs here. The lower your productivity the more money such a proposal would appear to be saving the company in operation costs and the bigger their bonuses and promotions are likely to be. Quit whining and do something about it! Monday, July 26, 2010 As a follow up to a previous post, I am curious as to why Keith Nosbusch, the Rockwell CEO, is now suddenly is able to purchase options to buy 300,000 shares of Rockwell stock this year at an option price of $11.60 per share. These options are both considerably lower in price than options in previous years, as well as being for twice as many shares as he has ever received in any year since he became CEO. His net earnings from excercise of the options and their subsequent sale is $12.2 million for 2010. Monday, July 26, 2010 Myself and the people I work with at Rockwell Automation in Cambridge took the bull by the horns last year and organized our work area to make it far more productive, mostly by placing the materials we need to properly do our jobs where we could quickly locate and access them. For a while, things were running a lot more smoothly and we were actually starting to enjoy coming to work. Then management decided to Kaizan our area without our input. What a mess! Now we can't find half the stuff we need, and we are usually out of the other half. The agravation, disorganization and loss of production caused by these geniuses with degrees who have never done our job is astounding. But I guess that is the Rockwell way. PS. And in another department the same geniuses actually installed ceiling-high racking in a spot where forklifts have no access. The band plays on - and the tune is, Ha! Ha! Ha! Ha! Ha! Saturday, July 24, 2010 Well, I have some concrete news regarging the Rockwell plant in Sumner, Iowa, having returned home from there just this evening. I spent this last week dissassembling the last of their production equipment located there and the majority of it was loaded onto 5 semi trailers bound for Monterrey, Mexico. The remainder will follow next week on a couple more trucks. All that remains at the plant now are office equipment, a lot of stations for miscellanious equipment, and a bunch of industrial shelving that is at present about half empty. There were people actually working on the production line until 11 am Monday, after which the line was stopped and we began to take it apart. The last of the production workers left at the end of the day for the last time and the only people remaining there are those involved with shipping and disposing of the remaining inventory and parts. They were remarkable cheerful and polite to the people there responsible for helping eliminate their jobs and I felt bad about it. There is nothing I can really do about it but I promised myself that in the future if a similar job comes around I will simply refuse to do it. The job will still get done of course with someone else in my place but I have no control over that. Thursday, July 22, 2010 I have said it before, and I will say it again. The main objective of today's senior executives in corporate North America is not to do what is best for their company. The objective is to pilfer by any means possible the most money for themselves that they possibly can before they either retire or get booted out. So what if their self-centered decisions harm the company in the long run, just as long as they escape with plenty of booty for themselves. After all, these people did not build most of these companies, so what do they care what becomes of them. Now, I am not coming at this from any moral or holier-than-thou angle. In fact, knowing what I know now, I wish that I had had the foresight to grab as much money from my company as I could before leaving - and to hell with what is best for the company or anybody else. At least my bankers would call me sir! Besides, I would easily be able to afford councelling to deal with any guilty feelings about it. (Assuming I had any.) Oh, to be young again and to know that all this talk of business ethics is just a load of crap. I sure was naive back then. Monday, July 19, 2010 The comments on the VP of HR was a little unfair. You can only do a job if you are allowed to. Sure he was a puppet or probably more importantly fodder in storage ready to be chucked under the bus to prevent focus on the real problem. Look at the track record of his manager 3 HR VPs gone, 3 Finance VPs gone, Regional President Canada, Regional President EMEA gone . The only question is whose next and so my money is on Regional guys in USA and Asia and odds on for Asia or maybe he will sacrifice a function or two. Real career building stuff if you look from down here Sunday, July 18, 2010 - In response to Monday, June 21, 2010 Managers dropping their notices. The RC facility has very little of the "older leadership" left, but ahhhhhh we have the lean people to lead us (the ones have have the degrees but never got their hands or fingernails dirty). The Factory Talk and SAP operations are a joke. Sometimes takes 24 hrs to get the parts out to the floor customers are screaming, maybe 1m of product out the door for this month in shipments. Production personnel standing around with fingers up in the air, left hand doesn't know what the right hand is doing. What a JOKE! Saturday, July 10, 2010 I also work at the CDC in Champaign where they make a big deal out of quantity instead of quality. How much quality can be put out when morale is low and we have mandatory overtime crammed down our throats? It's not the whole facility that is mandated, just the warehouse. Let some of the salaried management staff give up their Saturdays and 4 to 8 hours mandatory during the week for them. We have the worst plant manager I think we have ever had; micro-manages everything that goes on there. Let the supervisors do their job. We have so much product coming in the door that our backlog hovers between 400 and 500+ a day. We have to be getting product we don't need at the time. I guess it makes other facilities numbers look good when so much goes out their doors but ours looks terrible with that much in the backlog. Someone needs to figure out what we need, not what you want to send to us. Kieth should really make a surprise visit to our plant and see for himself what's going on. I believe he has only been here once and they knew he was coming. Of course they spruced up the plant and painted everything to make it look good. Why can't it always look that way? This sounds like a good "Undercover Boss" show! Friday, July 9, 2010 Under funded Pensions are Red Flag for Investors - Greenberg: ìRockwell Automation, with a $599 million under funding. Hackel believes the company will need to find 34 cents a share over several years to get its fund whole. The company is expected to earn $2.90 this year. It was not discussed on the last earnings call.î Thanks for the no pay increases. May I have another? Thanks for a stock that never splits. May I have another? Give me a break! Do something, Keith! Friday, July 9, 2010 I have the formal notice from Rockwell on the E3 overloads not being available. My local guy tells me it is a sub-supplier who is having difficulty with a particular part. As of now, we either accept the old style OLs or delay receiving our MCCs (no real choice there). I have been promised that RA will swap out the old for new at sometime down the road but that means shuting down our equipment which I can't afford to do very often. Timing reported before the E3s will be available is 4 weeks but I don't have confidence RA will make that date. My company has literally 100s of buckets on order or ready to be released. We're starting to have second thoughts about who is our supplier for the future (and my last job was with RA, left less than 3 years ago and wouldn't think of considering anyone else even 6 months ago). Quality, Quality, Quality - it has to be there or all the quantity produced will be sitting on distributor shelves and not in use in plants. Almost forgot, along with quality is reliabliity - I need to be able to get the equipment, too. One side of me is glad that RA detected a problem and stopped production, but the other needs to know that I can get what I want when I need it. Thursday, July 8, 2010 Something positive our of global sales and marketing after years of misfires and reorgs resulting in no forward movement: Quiet exit of VP of HR who was no employee advocate and exacted no real change in his entire tenure. What did senior management expect from the puppet of the the sales leadership? From a guy who came to RA as a director of International Paper (not exactly a change agent in the world)? I bet he led the company in travel benefits and miles though. Let's ask the global regions if they saw any efficiencies or true value our of HR. Maybe the senior leaders will put HR leadership in that actually is an employee advocate. By the way, the people working directly for this guy are all road blocks and need to be changed out - quickly and loudly. Sunday, July 4, 2010 - To blog Wednesday, June 23, 2010 about lump sum retirement/pension pay-out: Will this have to be reported as "earned income" for that year when you go to file for taxes? If so, be prepared to pay lots of extra taxes! Friday, July 2, 2010 I worked for Rockwell Automation distribution center in Champaign for 13 years. Over the last 3 years, I saw the company finding reasons to get rid of many employees who had been there from the beginning, and who were faithful, dependable workers. Going on a PIP, or performance improvement plan, became an excuse for Rockwell to fire you, which is what led to me being escorted out the door. Even if your last PIP was 10 years ago, you can never have another one. We had been led to believe that you could never go on a back-to-back PIP and expect to stay working. For example, if you had one in 09, you couldn't have one in 2010. This was not the truth. My last PIP was 3 years ago for production. I was, it seems, worthy of another PIP this year, so I was fired. To be worried about it once a year when the fiscal year ended was bad enough, but now they have to be worried about it every 6 months?! I found it to be a relief when I was let go. That is no way to run a facility. I was hired because, at least at that time, quality was important to Rockwell, and I delivered that. I had perfect attendance several years, and that was important, too. Not any more. Now, it's all about quantity -- how much can be gotten out the door each day, never mind quality. How many orders can be shipped? Cut corners if you have to. They don't care about their customers, or their employees. Gone are the days of the best of the best. It's sad. It really was a good job from the start. Now, when people ask me about working there, I simply say "don't bother." Before, I always held them to a higher standard, and encouraged people to apply. Now, I wouldn't wish that on my worst enemy. It's easy for some people to say "stop whining, at least you have a job." But when that job is literally driving you to an early grave, it's better to be without one. The forced overtime on weekends with no work is what pushed me into another PIP. Rockwell was a big part of my life for a long time, and I'm happy I can say that -- but I am just another product of a failed system. I hope Rockwell thinks about what it's doing before it's too late. Friday, July 2, 2010 No, if you guys don't like your raise and are jealous of shop workers thinking that we are getting much more than you, then, please, come over, to the shop floor. You would be more than welcome to help us out. Tons of power wires are waiting for you, guys. But, no eating on the shop floor, please. BTW, for the person that wants Cambridge closed - Breaking News: Cambridge is closed. One day for the Canada Day Long Weekend! And yes, we, in Cambridge, are a Happy Family. Don't listen to some people that are complaining; that's part of their life. Most of the time those that complain the most are some of the worst workers and they don't know how happy they are to have jobs at Rockwell. Thursday, July 1, 2010 - To the bitter R-A shop floor guy: If you don't like your current job on the shop floor & you are jealous of the office folks, then I suggest you get an office job. Thursday, July 1, 2010 Shop Floor - not allowed to use a telephone. Shop Floor - not allowed to have personal conversations. Shop Floor - 10. min breaks with 50% tolerance, but watched closely. Shop Floor - Physical labor with extensive knowledge on vast applications. Shop Floor - Cross-Traning to be adaptable to every task applicable. Shop Floor - Looked down on by office staff as lesser than equals. Shop Floor - the list goes on.... Office Staff - use phone anytime and duration for personal calls. Office Staff - converse all you wish. Office Staff - Sit in a chair and use a computer. Office Staff - Do your job and only your job. Office Staff - Dressed in nice shirts to make yourselves feel good. Office Staff - the list goes on.... The point is this: Office staff are making A LOT of mistakes, and so do people on the shop floor. BUT, the shop floor has to be sharp to catch them and more so to figure them out and correct them. This is not right at all. That is the biggest beef, you will hear about floor to office. As for office, I cannot speculate. Are we not supposed to be a team working together, to build a great product for our customers? How can we win as a team and win the war on gaining business when our own battalions are fighting with each other? Maybe we should all go back, COPY and PASTE a page out of the Art of War and think about what Sun Tzu would have to say about all of this! Wednesday, June 30, 2010 I think it's time to close Cambridge. Sounds like no one is happy there. I'm sure it shows up in the product quality. We can get the same junk out of Mexico and not have to listen to the whining. At least the people in Mexico are happy to have a job; maybe they can get the quality piece right someday. Wednesday, June 30, 2010 I see TWB is hiring 2 more lean managers. How many more do they need? Wednesday, June 30, 2010 Physically we on the shop floor work harder, mentally office staff works harder. I think trhe raise should have been the same accross the board. Wednesday, June 30, 2010 Of course-because quite often we, shop workers have to do our job, plus to fix all mistakes that are coming from Office-paperwork, diagrams, etc. Why? Because the easiest is just to "Copy & Paste". I never saw any of you guys doing any power wiring, wiring, assembling and fixing our mistakes in doing that! But, we even were told that we are getting "big money" to do our job and also to check all the diagrams, fix mistakes, etc.When you guys were getting thousands in Christmas Bonuses, and us only couple hundreds, nobody complained?! We didn't cry here about that, like you do now.And now it is a big deal?! By the way - if you want more, you should fight for yourself, not complaining about us - you are just showing your "real face". It doesn't go that way, brother from the Office. If you think that you deserve more, fight it, but don't blame on us-shop workers,OK? If it was up to us, we would get at least 10% raise, and you too (OK, maybe not 10 for you guys, but 5 % for sure). Final point: Do you think that we don't deserve 2.75 % raise? If so, then complain, but don't complain against us in order to gain something for you; it's just not fair! Play fair game, please! Wednesday, June 30, 2010 3 months since the shop floor in Cambridge had a raise? Who on the shop floor had a raise 3 months ago? How much was this increase? Nobody I know got one. For everybody I work with it's been over a year. Of course you forgot to mention that your EIP;s are consistently higher than ours, while we correct your mistakes. Tuesday, June 29, 2010 Kudos to the shop floor in Cambridge. You have once again proved your point! You got a higher percentage of raise than the average salaried worker. The salaried workers as usual took it with a grain of salt as they have everything else. The two years without raises (shop, 3 months... work it out). The need to work 44 hrs before overtime kicks in (shop, 40 hrs), and you need to beg for it (shop, management is begging them to come in). But you have to hand it to them. Good for you! Maybe those union reps at the gate helped. Congratulations, and hats off to you! Tuesday, June 29, 2010 Once again, Rockwell has missed the boat. They had a perfect opportunity to increase morale even if it was just a little bit in both the office and on the mfg floor. But, as seems to be the norm with Rockwell, they messed it up again -- the mfg floor was given one rate for the pay increase and the office was given another. If they had used their brains to build a little morale by saying - anyone with a meets or exceeds expectations - you will get "X" amount. I know and understand that the salaried personnel are provided their increases based on performance but have you forgotten it's been 2.5 years since they got anything but even then it depends on your manager -- if your manager likes you get a better rate then if the manager doesn't like you. This one little gesture is a would be nice thing that could have provided a boost. I am thankful for the increase and especially since it's retro active. I still feel that a little bit of fairness would have made everyone just a little bit happier. Tuesday, June 29, 2010 - Ref : Tuesday, June 29, 2010 beginning; I left RA after 24 years in the SBB group: I wholeheartedly echo this sentiment. Middle and higher management deserve a dose of their own medecine - it's long overdue. They have for too long promoted the inept in favour of those who have the real acumen and honesty to do better. And to think, each year the same management forces employees to undertake an ethics refrsher course and sign a pledge! Tuesday, June 29, 2010 I left RA after 24 years in the SBB group (yet another name change, formally MPS, GMS etc). mainly because the US management decided to send someone to Asia with no previous management experience in this group, no experience of Asia and had never run a P&L anywhere in any business. He was to begin with my immediate supervisor, but quickly demoted me as he found out I knew more than him. Some surprise for him when, at the age of 61, I found another comany who appreciated my skills. Best thing for RA is to be bought out, and all the old management team and their cronies disposed of. Monday, June 28, 2010 Sung to the tune of "Polly wolly doodle all the day": Oh, my job went down to China Just to fatten the head vagina Singin' sittin' on my ass all day I'm one of the statistics Take a look at the logistics Singin' sittin' on my ass all day Socialism, socialism Is becoming the American way For my job's gone down to China Just to fatten the head vaginas Singin' sitting on my ass all day Sunday, June 27, 2010 Busy week here in Cambridge. I still think this is a PR thing, having the big shot come down. I really don't believe this will be an on-going thing. Sunday, June 27, 2010 Busy week here in Cambridge. Some of the leaders got came out to the shop and joined our production personnel for an hour or so. Excellent idea! It would be great if this became a monthly event or even a weekly one. It’s a fantastic way to bring down the barriers that exist between our groups. It’s a way to bring back some of the camaraderie that used to exist in the old days. Way to go! On the other hand there was that “communication” session that took place between members of some of our salaried personnel and our business unit leader. Apparently it’s only “communication” if he hears what he wants to hear. Otherwise we are a bunch of negative people who never have anything good to say. Apparently we are the only facility who are not ecstatic over the raise that we are going to get. First of all we still don’t know what we are going to get, (and frankly I don’t think it’s going to be anything that great), and second of all just in case he has not heard it is customary to get paid a fair wage for a fair day’s work! The sacrifices that have been made by the workers (not only here, but everywhere), the unpaid overtime, the mandatory overtime, the harassment, the helplessness we feel as we see our good company being flushed down the toilet by a senior management group that seems to have no clue or no idea of what it is like to be on the other side.... any way we deserve a good raise! So, at the end of the day ... excellent idea for some of the leaders to join us, let’s do it again real soon! As for the other event, maybe the next time someone wants to honest communication, we should be warned that the only honest communication is “Si señor”. Friday, June 25, 2010 Re: "member of upper management getting down and dirty taking. I am convinced this is a PR thing" PR or not, it is an attempt to bring some humility to the plant floor. I never seen it myself, but I'm sure he could've handled himself as good as any guy out there. If you think you can do better, why don't you step up and go in and do some plant managing for an hour or so. All he wants is a successfull day of production...HR is where the real problem lays. Thursday, June 24, 2010 We have both Rockwell and Siemens in our plant. Siemens has free support during the day and I can download service packs and get full access to their support site for free. The world sure has changed in the past 10 years! Wednesday, June 23, 2010 Many Rockwell end users are justifiably upset that they have to pay annual support fees and software license fees to get support as they have already paid for the most expensive products in the industry. I see some comments from other users saying that's ok, its the way the industry is. No its not. Suppliers such as Beckhoff Automation provide free phone support and free software updates and their products are far less expensive than Rockwell's. They believe such customer service is part of doing business. Wednesday, June 23, 2010 Nice to see a certain member of upper management getting down and dirty taking parts off in the paintshop. Good thing for him the parts wern't that heavy. I am convinced this is a PR thing. Wednesday, June 23, 2010 Would like to hear from the folks who feel Rockwell is doing so well. How well is it going in Mexico, I got the answer, though I would like to see how you dress up the quality issues. Twinsburg and Dublin released World class quality. Tag you're it.... Wednesday, June 23, 2010 For those beginning to buzz about retirement plan changes and options: please read the documents posted as a follow-up to the announcement. Bottom line: no changes to CURRENT pension plan enrollee's except you now have the OPTION to cash out of the pension plan with a lump sum payment. It is not mandatory. For new hires, you get enrolled in a retirement savings plan instead of the pension plan. RA is just doing what every other company in the US has been doing for years and is closing access to the old style defined benefits plan for new hires. Tuesday, June 22, 2010 How many USA based plants did Rockwell have 3 to 4 years ago, and how many do they still have open as of today? Just trying to get an idea of how many have been closed and moved to Mexico, or other non-USA based locations. It would also be very interesting to know how much smaller the existing plants in the US have become due to product being moved out of the country. Tuesday, June 22, 2010 - re:Monday 6/21/2010 retirement: I heard this was only for new hires? Or will it affect those for 2010 that have not retired yet, they have gone by there retirement dates and need to work for the insurance or whatever. The supplemental, plus pension is not enough to support their needs. 2010-2011 is a questionable year for future orders - oil,energy,cars etc. Monday, June 21, 2010 Major retirement changes will be put into effect, instead of receiving a pension it will now be a "lump sum", this is the latest announcement. Question, so if I take a lump sum, will this now be considered earned income for my taxable year? If so, heart attack time! Monday, June 21, 2010 Another manager dropped notice to leave RA, this makes two managers in less than two months. In addition, an industrial engineer also gave a short notice last week, so what kind of message is this sending? "Keith, we are not happy with what is going on" ? Friday, June 11, 2010 A major employment services company in Michigan is looking for very experienced people to hire on as Technical Instructors via contract through RWD Technologies and working as instructors on Rockwell/Allen-Bradley equipment. Travel would be at least 75%, conducting training at plantsite locations and regional RA offices. Since Rockwell directly disbanded the Rockwell Training centers concept, Rockwell is trying to meet customer demand for training. Here again, a corporation using advice from third and fourth parties in a futile attempt to provide "customer statisfaction" indirectly. As former RA employee, it is just too bad that RA had to go to this low level. Thursday, June 10, 2010 My apologies to the senior support engineer. If I am lucky enough to get one of the field service engineers or 2nd level support people I find I get correct answers with an explanation. Hats off to you guys; you know your stuff. But the 1st level support (new hires) need to learn not to spout out an answer just to get his/her call quota in. As a customer I assume the answer I will get is correct the first time. I have had senior support go the extra mile to help me when in a bind, but it's a crap shoot as to the level of support you get. As recent as 2 years ago I could depend on good info 99% of the time. Everybody has a bad day or the info they have is bad and we're all human but across the board it's not the same as the years when RA had the best-in-class support. When I pay 5% more per year for support I would expect the support to get better. I have learned to "work" the system but others in my group are not so experienced. Wednesday, June 9, 2010 As an engineer at Rockwell Automation who regularly works for the phone support group when demand is high, I felt obliged to respond to this earlier comment: "I don't call tech support; if I need wrong answers I can call about anybody and don't have to pay for the privilege." If you call RA for phone support and get a misleading answer, or one you know is downright wrong, you have every right to ask to speak with a level 2 support engineer, or a supervisor, even if that means calling back to do so because you didn't realize at the time you'd been given wrong information. In my experience, customers who ask for a supervisor because they're not happy, along with customer's whose support tickets are flagged as "Unsatisfied" get some personal attention from the leader of the support team responsible. Like any other company, RA's support team has performance metrics related to customer satisfaction. They really do want to help you be successful in your application of RA products. Just remember, we're not mind readers. If you're not happy, you have to express your dissatisfaction with the support you received and insist that the matter be escalated and dealt with, not spout off on a blog about how the support sucked and you'll never call again. If you let us and our leaders know what we're not doing well, in person, on the phone, at the time, the support team learns, has a chance to improve, and everyone receives the benefit in the long run. Wednesday, June 9, 2010 In response to my previous comments related to Ken Christensen's message...my apologies if I misinterpreted. But, I do read these blogs frequently and, quite frankly, it does get a bit frustrating to see the rampant Rockwell bashing. Ironically, this blog has significantly more activity than any other. But, they do all appear to be gripes for the other blogs as well. With respect to the support contracts - a few things: Customer service is now a profit center, much like many other suppliers; so charging for support is not uncommon. There are other benefits which many customers may not even be taking advantage of. If there are commercial concerns on pricing for support contracts; I would suggest that this is discussed with your local RA sales engineer as they can work with you. The intent of TechConnect is not to take advantage of customers - but it is an effort to fund the internal business responsible for effectively support our customer base. Tuesday, June 8, 2010 If you have been at Rockwell a while you might know that all the layoffs of the senior employees and moves to Singapore and Mexico began soon after McKinsey and company was brought on as a consultant. This is the same company that advised State Farm insurance to fight claims by premium paying members as a way to boost the bottom line. McK and co advises it clients to f*** people over to make a buck. Tuesday, June 8, 2010 RA really messed up the support. They switched from software support to phone support which includes software updates. I used to able to buy support on one or all of my software packages. Now it's all or nothing and it's based on the # of PLC's I have, not the amount of software I have. They figure the more PLC's I have the more I'll be calling tech support. I don't call tech support; if I need wrong answers I can call about anybody and don't have to pay for the privilege. I just wait until my software won't work with the new hardware then buy another package, it saves me money over the long run. RSLogix500 is about $1500, they want that much every year for support; so if I buy a new package every 3-4 years I'm ahead. The basic Micrologix software is free and we don't use many SLC's anymore so my costs are $0 now. We've heard the new small controllers will also have free software. In their defense we pay out the nose for Wonderware support so RA is not the only guy trying to make a living off of support $$. Tuesday, June 8, 2010 from Jesper M P(jmp_maildump@yahoo.dk) in response to the response to Ken Christensen's comments: That's not what he said. He used as an example a customer who had purchased $ 1800 of equipment had to buy a Tech Connect contract for $ 1500 per annum. If that is true, even you must admit that it is close to extortion. He did not say how much his own company had to pay in Tech Connect contracts, which of course he should have done. He also said that they were putting in Siemens, not just AD. And I think that Siemens is quite comparable to AB/Rockwell in the "upper segment". I have to say that I find AB/Rockwells "policy" of of charging for support either ammusing or aggravating, depending on how dependant you would be on support in an emergency. I know of no other supplier with this attitude/policy. I know that my own customers would not accept that attitude/policy. How they manage to pull this off is beyond me. Saturday, June 5, 2010 In response to Ken Christensen's comments: I am a current Rockwell employee and previously held positions within the Rockwell distribution channel - so I am keenly aware of RA; at least for the past 15 years. That said - I do not dispute the fact that RA is going through some challenges; delivery and SAP implementation is compounded by the challenging economic sitation over the past two years. Rockwell is a great place to work - I can assure you...but, like all large corporations who go through cost reductions, great people were lost over the past few yeras to the reduction in force. While there will continue to be commidty-focused suppliers, such as Automation Direct (and it is with no disrespect AD as a supplier) - Rockwell is focused on the "bigger picture" - value is not just cost of goods...it is about sustainability and cost of ownership. In the bigger picture - the automation costs are significantly lower than many of the other lifecycle costs; yet, there are individuals (such as Mr. Ken Christensen) who will switch from a value-focused supplier (RA) to a commodity/cost-focused supplier (Automation Direct)... Two companies who are polar opposites of each other - RA and Automation Direct... The value-driven System Integrators and OEMs are forging stronger relationships with Rockwell - and Rockwell has made a significant effort to forge stronger relationships with them. There is an intimate recognition that Systems Integrators and OEMs are an incredibly valuable cog in the manufacturing/automation lifecycle - the stronger SI's and OEM's are embracing the RA relationship. While I do not dispute Ken Christensen's decision to migrate to Automation Direct vs. RA...I highly doubt he was responsible "millions of dollars" in RA revenue over the $1,500 Tech Connect contract. If his decision was based upon this premise - is Ken Christensen really delivering the highest value to his customers? The stronger organizations will prevail in this economy - and Rockwell is working hard to align with these customers. Value will ultimately prevail over price...and the SI's, OEM's and suppliers who focus on the END USER's cost of ownership will remain successful... With all due respect - there are not a large number of "multimillion dollar" Rockwell integrators to begin with - and I sincerely doubt many of them are transitioning to Automation Direct for a $1,500 support contract. Saturday, June 5, 2010 Australia: Rockwell finally came clean with the guys in the store here. 18 months ago they told everyone that there were no plans for job cuts. Now they have told the stores guys that they will shut down the store later this year. What other job cuts "aren't planned"? Tuesday, June 1, 2010 As a former employee with (American owned) Bailey Controls and then with (American owned) Rockwell Automation, if Rockwell goes they way Bailey did, Rockwell (Allen-Bradley) will cease to exist. Bailey went to the Italians and they screwed things up, then went to ABB and remained screwed up. Rockwell has turned away from training there "customers" by professional educators to contract trainers, thus totally ruined Rockwell's training capabilities. Go ahead Rockwell, sell yourself out to ABB and add your name to the list of American companies lost to foreign control, not to mention, the loss of the American dream of "made in America by Americans". We will all be learning to speak "Mandarin" any way. Forget about the Swiss. Saturday, May 29, 2010 - Re: "FACTORYMATION.COM - they have TECO at 1/3 the cost of Rockwell, and it is UL listed!": You may be right but as a user who has to support an installation with a life cycle of 5-20 years we need to have parts support and a solid migration path. Our experience with these types of vendors is they are regularly dropping one model in favor of a newer one. When that happens we have no choice but to do a wholesale change/upgrade that most times is not planned for in our maintenance or capital budgets. I don't like the idea of spending more money up front but if it allows me to better plan for the future it's sometimes a small price to pay. Thursday, May 27, 2010 FACTORYMATION.COM - they have TECO at 1/3 the cost of Rockwell, and it is UL listed! Thursday, May 27, 2010 - from Ken Christensen [omniint@aol.com]: Rockwell Automation has been taken over by the accountants and has forgotten about the small System Integrators that are responsible for recommending their products. After buying their products, they do not give any technical support, which is critical for industrial applications. Our group is responsible for recommending equipment to industrial users and we have been using Allen Bradley/Rockwell Automation, resulting in sales of their equipment of several million dollars per year. Five years ago I was told by a Rockwell engineer that the accountants had taken over, and this is why we have so much difficulty getting any help; but they were going back to the old way of doing business. This has not happened and the problems have gotten worse. I was at a customer that purchased a $1,800 software product, and Rockwell would not even answer a simple question unless they spent another $1,500/year for tech-connect. We are now quoting on removing the Allen Bradley equipment and installing Automation Direct. We are a small group, but Siemens has offered to train our people on their equipment and give discounts and free software. It seems as though they have a lot of large jobs to replace Allen Bradley equipment. We have been recommending Automation Direct equipment when possible, and now with Siemens I don't think we will be using much Allen Bradley. This will be a loss of several million dollars to AB/Rockwell but I don't think they care. Monday, May 17, 2010 For the first time ever, the senior management has started to sell some of the shares they've been buying or were granted the past few years. I know that the CEO declared earlier this year that he would begin to sell his lot of 300K units, and others too have jumped on the wagon. The CEO has cashed out net this year to the tune of $14M and still has his 300K units of shares to sell. Not sure if it means anything, or perhaps is just consistent with 52-week highs. I figure top brass agrees the stock is not a good investment. Friday, May 14, 2010 On the local news this morning: All hourly production work in the 2nd street plant will be outsourced by July. Thursday, May 13, 2010 Godbye hourly production workers in Milwaukee's corporate headquarters. Notice went out today. All production work will be moved/outsourced. Sunday, May 9, 2010 I lost 15% of my stocks last year with Rockwell Automation. BUT.... I saved 15% on my car insurance by switching to GEICO.... Sunday, May 9, 2010 Somebody is obviously bad at math. A $1.65 dividend on a $60 share is 2.75% return, which is much better than you can get on most if not call bank accounts or CDs, plus you have the upside opportunity of share appreciation. Actually, it's quite a good investment if you believe that there is relatively low risk of asset devaluation. Friday, May 7, 2010 - To the person who had a question on why invest in RA stock: I don't profess to be a stock guru, but I do know why I continue to invest. First of all, a stock splitting does guarantee anything since it immediately decreases in value by half. Also, a dividend is certainly one component to get wealth, but many stocks don't pay any dividends. For me, I look for long term gain. RA has been good to me over the years. I just looked at my 401k statement this morning and I saw that the performance of this stock has returned 15.69% for the last 10 years and 29.49% year to date. This has been attractive to me over the years. Anyway, just wanted to share another viewpoint. Thursday, May 6, 2010 Would someone help me understand this? Rockwell stock has not split in over 20 years! Rockwell spilt the company in two when RA Collins was set free. The $ Billion motor business was sold-off and the total number of employees continues to decline. Why would I give someone $60.00 just to collect $1.65 (estimate) a year? Monday, May 3, 2010 I feel I need to respond to the weblog concerning project management not seeing the bigger picture, talking about the guru that left who did see the big picture. This person was the first one I saw inside of the businesses actually question the businesses about their strategies and how to tie projects to those strategies rather than just wait and be told what to do. He actually spoke up to Steve Eisenbrown and their staffs about how he saw RA business and product managers just chasing the competition with a "me too" attitude. He said publiicly on many occasions that chasing the competion's spec sheet will always keep you in no better than second place. This person truly understood where project management was an enabler for the company and not just a position of "reporting status". He knew that true project management began at business strategy development and carried into the customer's hands. He would press for requirements and question those that did not tie to the strategy. He questioned the "peanut buttering" of funding across too many development projects that the company did so that RA did many projects half-way rather than a few in the best way. He even drove the development and testing process to include agility and responding to market conditions rather than live and breath requirements that were 2-3 years old. To the person that commenting that project management was a solution looking for a problem: I agree that is what drove this person away from the company. Too many people looking to build a solution to compete with a competitor's product what came to market more than 3-5 years ago and using processes that took 2 years to implement the solution and not leading the market with new and innovative solutions with processes that could get us to market within a year. Sunday, May 2, 2010 - Re: the Camry having more American content: You need to properly define content. Engineering, Testing, Design, Financing, all of those not just for the platform, but for the components too. Then the day-to-day materials needed for operations. Go the back shipping docks in any offshore companies, and open the sea containers. You'll find Japanese oil, packaging, toilet papers, ink pens, writing paper, etc, etc. Add it all up and you'll find the assembly content is quickly over-shadowed by all the other non-American content. Don't believe everything you read. Find out for yourself. Wednesday, April 28, 2010 Rockwell Automation profit soars Extracts from Journal Sentinel, April 28, 2010 Rockwell Automation Inc. has an answer to the question of whether the economic recovery is under way. At Rockwell, the recovery has arrived. The maker of factory automation systems said Wednesday its fiscal second-quarter profit more than tripled from a year earlier. Net income rose to $137 million, or 95 cents a share, from $40.6 million, or 29 cents, a year ago. "It appears an industrial recovery has taken hold," Keith D. Nosbusch, the company's chairman and CEO told analysts on a conference call. Rockwell earnings were $111.9 million, or 77 cents a share. Revenue for the three months ended March 31 climbed 10% to $1.16 billion. The financial results beat expectations. In line with its improved earnings, Rockwell raised its 2010 forecast. Rockwell shares touched a 52-week high of $63.90. The profitable quarter was good news for Rockwell employees. Nosbusch said employees worldwide will get a pay increase this year. Rockwell plans to increase its spending on investment to support growth, particularly in technology. And much of that spending will be in emerging markets, company officials said. "Long-term prospects are bright," Nosbusch said. "I'm excited by the new opportunities we are seeing every day." Wednesday, April 28, 2010 Some great stories on msnbc.com about products made in America & products no longer made in America. The big surprise is the US auto with the highest American content: the Toyota Camry. Funny how the Japanese believe in US manufacturing but Keith doesn't practice what he preaches. Wednesday, April 28, 2010 - To the previous blog poster: Here's a newsflash for you: NO ONE got a Christmas bonus or raise last year. Did you really expect either during the worst recession that this country has seen in 50 years? Wednesday, April 28, 2010 Well, after all this great news, I hope we, the workers, can expect some bonus, raise... That would be very nice, since we did not get a Christmas bonus, no raise... nothing last year. Tuesday, April 27, 2010 Noosebutch is not concerned about quality, only in Wall Street driven profits. O.K. let him whine about a manufacturing czar and the Country cannot afford to lose production facilities. He will go where it is cheap. Cheap, cheap and anything less is too much. Tata this and Tata that, my cronies will make me FAT. Heads up on April 28. Sunday, April 25, 2010 The post about project management takes a limited view of what they call the Bigger Picture. Projects should be properly defined and have agreed-on goals before they invoke a rigorous Project Management discipline. Organizations may have problems, but they are not necessarily agile or project management problems. Actually this sounds like a solution looking for a problem. Project Management practitioners are worrying serious about their art. Thursday, April 22, 2010 For the person who was concerned about the loss of "Quality" under "AB" in Richland Center: It was removed when the sign was repainted. It was a symbol of the loss of quality within the facility. The gimmick is that it will be replaced when the quality levels increase. Stupid move, but there it is. Thursday, April 22, 2010 I guess I have been living under a rock, but I recently found out that the main person driving improvements in the project management organization left the company late last year. This was the person who was trying to get some agile processes into Steve Eisenbrown's organization. Now it makes sense why everything slowed down in this badly needed improvement area. How could they have let this guy leave Rockwell? He was the only one who understood the bigger picture. The people in charge now are the same people that have been around Rockwell for 10-15 years are more. What new ideas are they coming up with?? I understand that all that is happening now is they are attempting to implement what was already started by the guy who left and are failing at it. If they had any sense at all, they would be trying like crazy to get the guru back into Rockwell. Can't someone in the higher ranks give him a call and get him back. The ones trying to drive this improvement area now are a bunch of suckups and don't have a clue as to what is needed and how to do it. We need the big picture guy to come back in and take charge of this once again. Tuesday, April 20, 2010 The drives plant in Sumner, Iowa is closing soon; production (PF70's) moving to Mexico. Cambridge gets the new Phoenix(high HP air cooled) drives. RA only seems to be interested in engineering/manufacturing of CLX, PF7x, 2100/2400's, & Kinetix. Question: Is Twinsburg the 1756 (CLX) plant? Are all the SLC/uLogix now made overseas? What about the 500 and 800 NEMA lines? All now made in Mex? Sunday, April 18, 2010 I have worked at Twinsburgh for over 12 years now, and every time we get a new plant manager we get the same people that try to brown nose their way to the top. Most of them are so miserable in their own lives that they have nothing else to do. It's quit sad really. I say to those of you that are trying to get the new manger on your side, why don't you try to work like the rest of us and stop bossing everyone around. Friday, April 16, 2010 I just knew that when we sent all those pushbuttons and selector switches to China this was going to be the business move that would make Rockwell Automation the next great industrial conglomerate. Thank You RA management. Show Us The Money ! Tuesday, April 13, 2010 It seems that you just love to whine about the whiners! There have been no relative posts in weeks, so YOU thought you would add something to discredit people who have issues with their workplace... Oh, and for your re-buttal about finding somewher else to work like HONEYWELL, the closest one is about 4,000 miles away. What ar you talking about anyway? Rockwell Automation is the best Canadian company ever? Any company that cannot even provide their own workplace with what they specialize in making - is their TITLE a lot to be proud of? From the day people are hired, they are expected and scrutinized to fail. We whine because we see better ways; we post blogs because we need to vent our frustrations; we go to work to see people like you fumble and trip over your own tongues, trying to say hello to try and get ahead! Tuesday, April 13, 2010 This blog gets old after awhile. Cambridge, UK, Australia. Cambridge, UK, Australia. A lot of griping from a few. If you dislike Rockwell so much, then leave and find a better company. Obviously, you all have the talent to go elsewhere. Try Honeywell, Invensys or some other automation company (check their blogs first though, there seem to be similar challenges there). But, it may give you a new forum for your venting. I work at Rockwell and I may not agree with various things (especially the Yellow ribbon blog earlier) but, I "man up" and try to change them, not gripe in a forum that is predominantly 'bitchers". Wednesday, April 7, 2010 - Re: Sunday, April 4, 2010 - "Wow Rockwell Automation is really staffing up for growth in Australia." Give it a rest - "World Class" what? Smoke and mirrors again from Blackburn. Monday, April 5, 2010 Be proud of Rockwell; but Rockwell has changed its name from A-B QUALITY to just A-B. This highly recognized symbol has been around for 30+ years representing the Cadillac of MCC. Now it is gone. Take a look at the symbol on the outside of the building at Richland Center. The word Quality is gone. It is on our diagrams, labels etc. Quality has taken a different path, I guess. When they painted their building they left it off. Why? Maybe that's why some of the old employees are leaving. Sunday, April 4, 2010 Wow Rockwell Automation is really staffing up for growth in Australia. They recently brought back a world-class sales director from South East Asia, announced a new facility in Sydney, and their new distributors are hiring great people from competitors. Go Rockwell! Proud to be part of the team and proud to be Australian. Asia President visited last week and all the talk was up. Saturday, April 3, 2010 About a year ago we lost a key and talented person that had to manage three facilities (but her bosses took the credit). This person made some predictions and a lot is happening just she said it would. They are "dropping like flies in RC"; some very talented people are getting out (retiring)25, 30, 35 year employess. Hmmmmm, maybe the management that never got dirt under their fingernails might have to start doing the work? Sunday, March 28, 2010 Come-on people, you are hoping some company can come and put the spilt-milk back in the cup. We are only a second tier integrator. Allen Bradley is a memory. The ability to design and produce our own products is long gone. Our catalog is full of competitor’s products. To sit back and hope for some other interest to come in and put the light back in a burnt-out bulb is a pathetic fallacy. Hold on and CYA, because the ranks can only get smaller. Good luck to all Saturday, March 27, 2010 God Bless America! Thank you to all who have served and fought to give me the freedom to say that here! I continually hear people complaining about the loss of freedoms imposed by our government and our RA executives far removed from the reality of a local workforce. It is one thing to stand idly by as our rights and freedoms are taken from us but it is far worse to give those rights away. Employees of this company can hang their heads in shame for doing just that. Recently, I was forced to take down a few yellow ribbons from inside the entrance to our factory. The ribbons were in honor of a returning veteran. In 2008, an Allen Bradley supervisor was called to active duty. He spent a year state-side before deploying to Iraq where he spent several months. Like thousands of others, he left his family and the comforts of home and went to war. His young wife and baby were left to manage without him and to live in fear that another husband and father may not return. Thankfully, after two years of service to our country, this soldier returned home and to work at our company. Before our returning soldier had a chance to see the symbols of kindness and support, I was called to the HR office and informed the ribbons had to be taken down. Some selfish and bitter people had complained of being offended by the ribbons. I am filled with sadness that our returning vet was not allowed the greeting he deserved. I find an even deeper sadness in the fact that this choice was made by my co-workers at Rockwell Automation, not our government or unknown executives. Let's not be so willing to GIVE our rights and freedoms away! Friday, March 26, 2010 First off, for all you anti-Rockwell Automation folks, I'm an employee at Rockwell in Milwaukee, and it's the best place I've ever worked. As far as our leadership, they do look out for us, they listen. I dont believe Keith would sell us up the river; he's been a great CEO. We have a culture unlike most companies out there today, which helps us to be the most ethical company. As far as the buyout rumors, Ive heard those for years - see extracts from an article below I found on Barrons.com from today: Shares of $8 billion (market cap) Rockwell Automation (ROK) are up 20 cents at $56.06, apparently on a rumor that General Electric (GE) might be interested in the company. That's a rumor that's floated around for some time now. Oppenheimer & Co. analyst Christopher Glynn expressed skepticism in a phone call this morning: GE could do maybe a $2 billion to $3 billion deal, but not until it completes its joint venture for NBC-Universal with Comcast (CMCSA), which is expected to free up $8 billion for GE to use in its industrial business. GE shares are up 21 cents, or 1%, at $18.28. Friday, March 26, 2010 I think all this talk on CNBC is about Rockwell Collins. I read the article and saw the Webcast and in both cases they are talking about aerospace not automation. Evidently they don't realize ROK & COL are not the same anymore. Thursday, March 25, 2010 To see the CNBC story about Rockwell Automation go to this link (cut and paste). It starts at about the 10 min mark. http://www.cnbc.com/id/15840232?play=1&video=1450170544 Tuesday, March 23, 2010 So with the news today on CNBC... Rockwell Automation is a hot stock. And a buyout in the next couple of months by GE? How big are the golden parachutes for Keith and the rest of upper management? Monday, March 22, 2010 Way to go Keith. No wonder you didn't mind foregoing your two million USD bonus. Give yourself a pat on the back; while the rest of your workforce grit their teeth. Monday, March 22, 2010 As I read it. Keith's made a little over 8 million dollars on Rockwell stock since the middle of January. And I'm not talking about on paper, I'm talking about in his pocket. Saturday, March 20, 2010 So where is the present plant manager of Rockwell Canada going to? Is he being promoted up? Or moved out? Thursday, March 18, 2010 Here's the tally of recent stock trades: Rockwell senior management recent stock trades 1-Mar-10 NOSBUSCH KEITH D 97,893 $5,384,115 26-Feb-10 MCCORMICK WILLIAM T 3,502 $187,041 26-Feb-10 ISTOCK VERNE G 1,153 $61,639 26-Feb-10 ROCKWELL BRUCE M 3,502 $187,076 26-Feb-10 ALEWINE BETTY C 2,720 $145,329 26-Feb-10 TOOT JOSEPH F JR 3,262 $174,256 19-Feb-10 STUEVER A LAWRENCE 2,800 $43,400 19-Feb-10 STUEVER A LAWRENCE 2,800 $152,000 9-Feb-10 ALEWINE BETTY C 1,000 $16,960 2-Feb-10 ROHR DRALLE RONDI 3,400 $52,700 2-Feb-10 ROHR DRALLE RONDI 3,400 $172,000 TOTAL $6,576,516 Keep on taking furlough weeks, no pay increase, and no bonus and enjoy the PIP. These folks did not miss anything. This is the most manipulated stock to benefit the few for the short term. Save your own ass, because none of these people give a darn. Thursday, March 18, 2010 Having just come out of Rockwell UK over the last few days, I feel like a tremendous weight has lifted off me. I spent a number of years there and it was great to start with. But over time you realise that there is no scope for promotion and that the small-minded middle managers are oh so desperate to hang on to their jobs. I've seen many people come and go from Rockwell over the years, but one thing that remains constant is the middle management layer. It's a little club that engages in mutual back-slapping and self promotion. Me, I prefer to move into the real world. Wednesday, March 17, 2010 Chairman, President and CEO of Rockwell Automation Inc. Keith D Nosbusch sells 97,893 shares of ROK on 03/01/2010 at an average price of $55 a share. Rockwell Automation Inc. Common has a market cap of $7.85 billion; its shares were traded at around $55.13 with a P/E ratio of 39.1 and P/S ratio of 1.8. The dividend yield of Rockwell Automation Inc. Common stocks is 2.1%. Rockwell Automation Inc. Common had an annual average earning growth of 5.3% over the past 10 years. CEO Recent Trades: Sell: Chairman, President and CEO Keith D Nosbusch sold 100,000 shares of ROK stock on 01/29/2010 at the average price of 50.12, the price of the stock has increased by 10% since. CFO Recent Trades: Sell: Sr.VP and CFO Theodore D Crandall sold 1,040 shares of ROK stock on 12/06/2009 at the average price of 45.64, the price of the stock has increased by 20.79% since. Directors and Officers Recent Trades: Sell: Director Verne G Istock sold 1,153 shares of ROK stock on 02/26/2010 at the average price of 53.46, the price of the stock has increased by 3.12% since. Sell: Director William T Jr/wi Mccormick sold 3,502 shares of ROK stock on 02/26/2010 at the average price of 53.41, the price of the stock has increased by 3.22% since. Sell: Director Bruce M Rockwell sold 3,502 shares of ROK stock on 02/26/2010 at the average price of 53.42, the price of the stock has increased by 3.2% since. Sell: Director Joseph F Jr Toot sold 3,262 shares of ROK stock on 02/26/2010 at the average price of 53.42, the price of the stock has increased by 3.2% since. Sell: Director Betty C Alewine sold 2,720 shares of ROK stock on 02/26/2010 at the average price of 53.43, the price of the stock has increased by 3.18% since. Wednesday, March 17, 2010 I just read my friends comments as he typed them and would like to get a severance package and leave, too. I am not as burned out or upset as he is; I just think it would be best for my future. Like him and a lot of people. I have been at Rockwell long enough that I too don't want to just leave with nothing. However, with a severance cheque in hand, I would feel nothing but relief on my way out the door. It would be nice to work for an organized company. Even if it meant a pay cut. Wednesday, March 17, 2010 I am quite serious that I would do cartwheels out the door with a severance cheque in hand. I do not believe that Rockwell will be in Cambridge long enough for me to see retirement anyway, so I would be ecstatic about a severance package now. As would a good many others. And the problem is not pay or benefits. It is total disorganization at every level of management. These poeple quite literally do not know what they will be doing in that plant tomorrow. Of course, all the pro-Rockwell people would not know that because most of them probably just have low stress make-work jobs anyway, and don't have to actually try to produce and build the product. If the shareholders ever knew just how much money they are not making due to incompetence at the top, they would not be very happy and heads would roll. So let's face it, the purpose of every senior Rockwell executive is to suck as much money out of the company as they can before they 'Cash Out' and retire or get fired. And if their decisions to fool shareholders and land a big bonus now have a devastating impact on the company in the future, what do they care? They will be gone with their booty anyway. In short, they don't care about the company any more than most of us on the plant floors do. It's all about the money to us. Oh, to have my severance package and to be escorted out the door. HEE - HAW! Wednesday, March 17, 2010 Go read the Siemens blog. Sounds just like this one. Bean counters and management. Only difference is they are complaining about the Rockwell managers (hired from Rockwell) poisoning their company. Yikes. Tuesday, March 16, 2010 - RE: Monday, March 15, 2010 - about Australia and New Zealand: What a joke. This statement can only come from the top at RA Australia. He has no credibility throughout the industry and treats his people with contempt. RA Australia is set to disappear. Lies and more lies from RA Australia. Those butts that are being kicked are all in Rockwell Australia. Tuesday, March 16, 2010 Richland Center announced last week they are getting a new plant mangager. The way it was put out is this will now be the "Rockwell way", rotating. By the way the new one coming on board is not from Rockwell. Whooopeedo, we get em trained then they send em off. Sad thing is we have been getting new ones that are "green behind the ears" probably never got a lick of dirt under their fingernails and are book or school trained. Not like the old days when the person worked their way up from the bottom. Here we go again. When is Lyman or Keith leaving, anyone got a clue? Monday, March 15, 2010 - To the person who asked about Australia and New Zealand: I work there and it's great. The partnership with the two best distributors in the region is going well. We are seeing more investment in our future, and I feel the future looks good. There is no way we feel that our company will not keep a large presence in the South Pacific. And we are kicking the butts of Schneider, Siemens, ABB et al. Monday, March 15, 2010 No, I cannot agree with you that RA Cambridge is a great company to work for. Pay is decent, benefits are prtty standard, atmosphere is horrible. Work is work, dont get me wrong. You should earn your money no doubt. A decent day pay for a decent days work is how it should be. The complaints come from complete frustration with the decisions that are made by managers, team leads, HR, upper management, and so on. I am 100% positive that workers make mistakes, which is frustating. But the point of the "whining" as you and others put it, is not all. It's a collection of frustration that is never answered, often ignored, quite possibly, decent answers to a lot of problems that can be addressed swiftly and efficiently. The level of "whining" is a testiment to the workers that would like to see this company succeed, prosper and deveolp a better relationship with its management to become what it should be... the best! Erase the favoritism, the childish secrecy. Make a plan and stick to it, changing rules as we go, follow the guidelines that are set and you would have a much different and more efficient functioning teams to build a true quality product, so that we can all get paid! That is what business is...profit. Nothing more, nothing less. Rest In Peace William Wolosinecky! A great guy who made a great impact on myself and many more. Monday, March 15, 2010 I don't know why some people from Cambridge are complaining so much? We have decent jobs, decent pay, decent benefits.... What else do they want? To sit at home, watch TV, not go to work and get paychecks? Yes, if you don't like it - leave the Company. There are so many people that would be more than happy to work for Rockwell. Management makes mistakes, but everybody does; workers too, do you not agree? Let's be honest with ourselves first, then with everybody else. Rockwell Cambridge is a great Company to work for! Sunday, March 14, 2010 I am one of those former employees and totally agree that life out of RA is much better, less stress, more enjoyment and job satisfaction. Those 5 to go from RA UK Sales should see this as a positive move, a move to a much better life and future. Friday, March 12, 2010 So much for improved business conditions in the UK. I work for an outsourced HR company and we have recently been informed of a 5 man reduction in Rockwell's sales force. Thursday, March 11, 2010 If anyone talks to former employees, whether they quit, got fired, laid-off, or retired, those employees more than likely will all say the same,"I am so relaxed, no more stress and enjoy what they are now doing". They more than likely are saying "I had no idea I would be enoying what I am now doing and should have moved on some time ago". I am one of the many, and everyone says I look "10 years younger and look so relaxed". I rest my case. Monday, March 8, 2010 I am the former contractor who wrote the 3/4/10 post. Less than 24 hours after I wrote this post, management was alerted to it and promptly threw me out the building in the middle of a phone call with a distributor. He was such a proud peacock, he couldn't even wait for me to end my call. It was so funny to me that they would "fire" me on my last day (2 1/2 hours before I was leaving anyway), so I figured I'd let everyone in on the joke that was on me. Not only that, but they had my temp service on the phone before I even made it to my car reporting my transgression. It's amazing how someone could be reprimanded for something done in their off time, from home no less. What happened to free speech? Some would say I got what I deserved, but I'll say to them, if I really didn't want to be found out, I wouldn't have posted the blog nor would I have made myself so easily identifiable. As further proof of the incompetence I spoke of in my first post, instead of being professional and bringing me into an office to privately kick me out, the guy decided it would be best to do it in front of 7 of my co-workers. Nice. Not only that, but after they threw me out the first time, he walked away for a bit, came back a second time, threw me out again, and tried to start an argument with me, which I promptly shut down. I told him what he was doing was unnecessary and that I was going to take my things and go like he asked. Yeah, like I was gonna fall for that trick, cuss him out (and I REALLY wanted to because he was cutting up something terrible), and give the temp service another reason to fire me, too. I don't think so. At this point, my temp service wants to put the weight of their relationship with Rockwell on my shoulders, saying I have now jeopardized their standing with Rockwell. Like I would allow them to put all that on me. Nah, that one's for the birds, people. Little old me doesn't have that kind of power. If Rockwell pulls their contract (which I seriously doubt they will), that's neither here nor there to me. All that can't be because I told the truth about what goes on in the department...and look, I'm doing it again, aren't I? Talk about putting salt in the wound... Needless to say, I have already found myself another job, seeing as how I don't do unemployment. I start Monday. I can only hope that the next place I venture to won't be ANYTHING like Rockwell. Truth be told, it's not all bad. I can't sit here and say the company is crap because I didn't work in the entire company. I was only in Milwaukee Customer Care and can only speak about the things I saw and went through. Again, I leave behind an amazing set of co-workers, but management sucks! Lies, deceit, and cover-ups are all the name of the game over there. Also, to clarify, this DOES NOT speak to any of the Team Leads in the group. They are all outstanding as well and are only doing as instructed. It's sad they are involuntarily involved in the bureaucracy that goes on over there, but when they're ready, I'm sure they'll go shine somewhere else just as I will be doing next week, and if they don't, to each his own. I already know whoever dimed me out on the first post will be chomping at the bit to dime me out on this one, too. Feel free. How childish of whoever that was to do their due diligence and run tell. That was so high school of you. At the end of the day, it's no matter because karma will get you every time. Monday, March 8, 2010 - This is a message to all the "non-negative" people that keep telling the "negative whiners" to shut up and be thankfull that you have a job: There are more jobs, than Rockwell Automation; there are more employers than Rockwell Automation; there are plenty more opportunities than Rockwell Automation, believe it or not. There IS life outside of and after Rockwell Automation. You people are the ones who are stuck. People like myself can afford to take the job loss, and the severence. We have other skills, and thankfully don't have a narrow view of your flat world, that consists only of Rockwell. You must be one of the workers that basically lives there. That is unfortunate. You work to live. You do not live to work. Why do I stay? Friends, connections, and challenge I guess. And probably I would miss the everyday soap opera of the daily gossip, ridiculous decision making schemes, and mostly watching people like you non-negative guys work like there is a blue ribbon for you at the end of your shift. Ease up, do a good job, a fair and honest work day. I assure you, there are no ribbons waiting, and most do not care to listen to you. Monday, March 8, 2010 - For the last blog: Who do you think made Rockwell employees's so negative? Not just at one plant, but throughout Rockwell. I wonder if it has anything to do with Management. Ya think? Sunday, March 7, 2010 I have read all the comments by all the negative people who seem to have come through the doors of Rockwell Automation, but I have to respond to the person who is wishing for their severence package. Be careful, you might get what you wish for and then lets see you doing cartwells to the unemployment line! Saturday, March 6, 2010 Actually, there are some of us here in Cambridge that would like to see the plant closed so we can get our severance packages and move on. We don't want to just quit and leave with nothing. Still, we know that the plants future here is questionable. I have nothing against Rockwell, but I would gladly take my severance pay and go. And so would a lot of other people. And many of us have the same reasons. The total lack of organization by our lazy management and the unbelievable incompatence when it comes to ever solving any of the real problems. Many days I leave work feeling as if all I have accomplished is to bring the same old problems to the same old useless managers. And the result will be more meetings to discuss holding even more meetings to meet about passing the buck down the food chain to junior managers who just want out, too. So lay me off and give me my severance package. I will do cartwheels out the door! Friday, March 5, 2010 - To: “I work as a Contractor”: Today the world is flat (sorry to quote a book), and as a planet we are becoming more educated. Today’s’ 2 yr degree is a high school degree, today’s 4-year degree is a 2-year degree, and a masters degree is a 4-year degree. Get the picture? This is a harsh reality. The only recourse is go back to school and hit the books hard! And find a company willing to invest in the Future! This rock will NEVER FLOAT. Best of luck! Friday, March 5, 2010 What's the latest on RA in Australia and NZ? News is that senior RA managers in Aus started jumping the ship. How are NHP and Inaco performing? With NHP and Inaco completely taking over, there's no need for RA personnel. RA in Aus will be reduced to a handfull of people, ensuring NHP's and Inaco's numbers are correct. It's not like that they'll be able to do anything about it anyway. Thursday, March 4, 2010 I work as a Contractor in the Customer Care group in the infamous Clock Tower building. While I've noticed most of the comments in this forum are from people who work in the plants, I will say this: To voice one's opinion is not to be disgruntled. It is simply what it is -- management is useless. In my group, we have some good people, but the fact that seniority plays no part in the hierarchy makes no sense to me and is a dis-service to the staff. Not only that, but we, too, experience "secrets" in our group. Most of the updates we get on products are from the distributors, which is tragic beyond belief. On more than a few occasions, I've taken a call from a distributor who has given me a rundown of issues with products. Don't even get me started on the current MicroLogix catastrophe. Oy! I've seen the comments that have said - if you don't like Rockwell, quit. Well, my last day is tomorrow. Ha! My contract is up and I'm getting the f*** out of Dodge. I am so glad to get out of that place, I am throwing myself a mid-day going away party. I LOVE my job and I have the best co-workers, but it's just too much for me. I'll go over to ABB where management seems to have some sense. It is ridiculous how employees are treated in my group and I'm sure we aren't the only ones to suffer at the hands of micro-managers who want to tell you how to do your job, but don't even do theirs, like we all don't know they surf the web all day. I won't say I was a perfect employee, but I was good enough to be permanent. For whatever reason, I was told I wasn't qualified enough to do the job I've done the last 18 months as a permanent employee. Like that makes sense - why keep me that long if I wasn't qualified?? I'd prefer the truth, but somehow I think that would open them up to litigation, so I've moved on from finding out the real deal. Oh, AND they wanted to keep me another 6 months, but their glorious legal department said no, and yet I'm not qualified. Hmmmm. Thank goodness! Besides that, they want a frickin' Bachelor's degree to answer the phone. For real? I guess an HS diploma (not a GED), an Associate's degree, and 14 years of experience in call-centers just doesn't cut it over there. I don't have a Bachelor's, but I intend to get one... not so I can answer the phone, though, but so I can move into my desired field-of-choice, which is NOT a glorified secretary. That's what the lowest level reps are there. We answer the phone, take a message, and send the ticket on up the ladder. And I need a Bachelor's for that? Yeah? Ok. Damn, I think I sound disgruntled. Either way, I'm out. The powers that be don't recognize talent and dedication when it's staring them in the face, so I'll go elsewhere and let it be nurtured by a company without a set of ridiculous standards that no Bachelor's degree holder would even contemplate. Farewell, Rockwell! Thursday, March 4, 2010 - Re: To “Rockwell inventory is at an all time low.” : Amen. There is an old sales axiom that states that “you can not sell from an empty cart” - think about it no stock = no sales = no profits; meanwhile, your competition is shipping from stock and on time. You are holding open the doors for our competitors to walk in and take your business away. If you do not understand this then I would be more then happy to visit a board meeting and draw you a picture. Quite frankly, there is no valid excuse for the present stocking levels. For the record, I am not an employee of Rockwell I am in the channel and we are in the upper quartile. Wednesday, March 3, 2010 - In reply to the hockey fan: Oh man, you are delusional. You may as well fly to see the Queen and demand your country back. Oops you already have it. Sorry but that was a terrible analogy. The Canadian hockey team is not a U.S.owned entity, but RA Canada and Cambridge are. All of you whiners need to just stay off the airwaves, stay below the radar and do your jobs. If I was Milwaukee and I read this, I would figure no one is working in Canada and take the whole place as a cost savings. Guess what, your customers are reading this and wondering what the heck all of you are doing between complaints! This written by an amused non-RA employee. Wednesday, March 3, 2010 Times are tough. I have been in two companies that have experienced low-profit periods. The result is the same. Fewer people do more for less. It's just like getting your car stuck in the mud. Someone might have to get out and push, and it could involve some unsavory conditions. I have seen many people step up to this responsibility in my division of RA. Good people. However, the difference with the other companies and RA, is that here, there seems to be no regard for an employee. If you don't value your employees, the foundation of your business will crumble. It is just a matter of time. Tuesday, March 2, 2010 Has anyone see Keith Nonesuch's rant in the 2-28-10 Milwaukee Journal Sentinel? Blames most of the company's problems on the government. I guess if we all lived in grass huts or tent cites, our standard of living would be low enough that Rockwell could afford to hire us. I guess everyone needs to have excuses for their failures - but I couldn't get mine published! Tuesday, March 2, 2010 Rockwell inventory is at an all time low. This has caused a snowball effect throughout the entire company. Simple items like pushbuttons relays and disconnect swiches are delaying shipments of MCC's, drives and custom panels. These parts shortages cause major scheduling issues for the other divisions needing them need a 30mm pushbutton? Oh they are on backorder. (4 weeks) The old phrase "on a slow boat from China" that is now the delivey method! We had a cusomer call our distribtor needing a 200 HP drive in a hurry. No problem, the drive module will ship in 20 days. But that is 20 working days, which is 4 weeks, which is a MONTH! Brand X had SEVERAL in stock. My distibutors morale is at an all time low. Every order has to be handled special, expedited, appealed, re-expedited, escalated, until exasperated. Then the factory asks: why doesn't the distibutors have stock? They DID, until their replenishment order was back ordered. The amount of time spent on all of this cannot be cheaper than keeping inventory on fast movers. The inside-sales staff has the lowest morale ever; they are tired of fighting the clock tower. AB: Absolutely Broken. Tuesday, March 2, 2010 Yes, I seen the increase in ebay items but it could be worse. A Cambridge employee was terminated for selling stuff on Ebay that didn't belong to him... maybe he snuck back, lol. I doubt it, our security guards are relentless at catching shady characters and vigilant in seeing wrong-doing anywhere. On another note: Can someone please inform managemnt that it is pathetic for keeping secrets about hiring people. Seriously, grow up. Rockwell is a professional company, act like it, you are the leaders! Tuesday, March 2, 2010 I have noticed an increase of items for sale on Ebay (motor control related) stuff from AB/Rockwell. Wonder what is going on with this increase? Really found an interesting one ALLEN BRADLEY/REYNOLDS Cap/Drink Carrier Collector NWOB. Neat and sure brings back the pleasant memories of the "Good Ole Days"! Monday, March 1, 2010 Watching the U.S./Canada hockey game on Sunday reminded me a lot of the Cambridge plant. Up to 3 years ago we were aggressive in Cambridge, stood our ground and fought back the Americans just as they did in the first two periods of the hockey game. However, in the 3rd period the Canadians sat back on their heels and were bullied and out played by the Americans, just as the Cambridge plant is allowing the Americans to do to them now. So as I see it, Cambridge can continue to sit back on their heels, be bullied by the Americans and eventually lose by being closed by them, or they can fight back like Team Canada, dig in those heels, and be the Division they used to be. It is time to pull together, find a leader and step up our game. ***Go Canada Go***! Saturday, February 27, 2010 I'm employed at the RC plant & since we are "THE HUB" of re-work I saw a cabinet in the re-work area that had the serial plate exposed. It was a 2100 & the serial plate said Guadalupe. I did not know we built 2100's there or that we had a factory there? Thursday, February 25, 2010 I cannot see how Rockwell Automation can succeed on the path that it is taking. I have been with this company for a long time, and up until 2 1/2 years ago have enjoyed my job. Unless you are on the manufacturing floor you would not understand what is being told, not asked, of the employee's. We are being forced to work mandatory overtime on all shifts. (Including weekends with various hours.) Even if you want to take vacation you have to find someone to take your place or come back in to work the weekend or weekday depending on what shift you are on. (That's fair right?) The management makes up policy as it see's fit and changes it at will. Management could care less about any ones family life. I would like to see these policies in place for them. I agree with the previous blog. There needs to be a change in the upper level management, they have lost touch with reality. Allen Bradley was a great company to work for and they cared for their employee's and customers. Rockwell is about GREED and MILKING it for everything they can get, and then selling it off. You have to ask yourself, would a union help change the way employee's are being treated? Could it happen in Twinsburg? Time will tell. Thursday, February 25, 2010 - Lean SIX SIGMA's: Now to most out there, these people are a waste of money, time and an actual pain in the proverbial butt. I do see where a lot of the complaints come from, on the workers behalf indeed. I also see the need for a lot of the complaints. Did we need them, YES. Do we need them, NO. They were started off great, with fresh ideas and a thirst to help MAKE CHANGE. There was great change to be implemented, people were being asked questions, team setups, meetings, etc. The same problem with this company for the last 10-15 years. THEY WANT CHANGE, but will not spend the money, time or resources to do it, and do it RIGHT! This Cambridge facility management loves to put a nice big expensive band-aid on it three times instead of fixing it right the fist time, and actually costing them 2-3 times the amount than it would've to do it right... not to mention the aggravation. Lean Six can be a very usefull tool in the presence of someone who truly knows the jobs at hand, tasks and rythm. That is where the workers have a lot of gripe as they see these people fiddle with things they have no idea about. A lot of great ideas are proviced by the workers. Six sigma is a great tool to help bring them to life and to drive the chain of thought to be more efficient, but in the end, the upstairs managers who decline to do it because it might save them a few bucks, are to blame; not six sigma, not the workers. Look at the way this place does its traning. It is a complete joke. This is why people do not take the job that seriously anymore. Before it was like a skill; now you have skill-sets shoved down your throat. It is not about learning one thing and mastering it. It is about doing 15 things and getting something done in a matter of minutes. Tact time! that is their goal, not quality. That is why I think Lean Six fails.. Big Macs look so good on the commercials, because they have taken the time to do it right... Go to any McD's and you will find a sloppy, soaking soggy pile of a mess. Qualitative over Quantitative. Train your work force properly and thoroughly. Treat your workers like yourself! A lot might not have the education you do, but there are some people there that would put you to shame intellectually. Be fair. The employeee handbook is printed in English. All the workers can read it. Use it, follow it. It does make a difference! Thursday, February 25, 2010 I have been reading this blog for the past 4 years, and up until recently worked at Rockwell for 6 years right out of college, in engineering and sales. My impression of Rockwell when I joined the company 6 years ago was that they were the industry leading technology innovator. They were known for being high priced, but had the quality, people, products, and industry reputation that allowed them to command higher prices. Since then, I still believe that Rockwell Automation has some of the best products in the industry. But unfortunately, I saw the company crumbling from the inside. I'll never forget the video they showed us during the hiring process that detailed the long and rich history of Allen-Bradley (not Rockwell Automation). That video showed people that were passionate about their work, took responsibility and pride in their company, and worked together to build a great company. As is evident from all the comments on this weblog, today's people are FAR more interested in spending time bickering about internal problems rather than focusing on the customer needs, getting product delivered, innovating, improving quality etc. I have never posted to this weblog before. But, given my recent departure from Rockwell, in addition to what I'm hearing about the Micrologix issues, I just can't believe that the management running Rockwell allow things to continue the way they are. I could spend hours writing about the problems I saw internally; but I'm not here to complain. Ultimately, I want to see Rockwell succeed, as I still work heavily on the integration side with RA products. I think the best thing that can happen at Rockwell is a change in leadership, that has the courage to do a top down overhaul of the company and get back to focusing on the problems that are preventing them from being the great company they once were. People need to take responsibility and work together, rather than always trying to pass the buck. Wednesday, February 24, 2010 - Response to Feb 24, Six Sigma person: Show some gratitude - for what? We have never been more late on orders than we have been since we got the "sick" sigmas. funny how we were able to grow drives from 20 a month to 50 to 75 without you. Declining productivity - funny how we were about to produce a quality product at the peak of the economic boom without any help. You have more production people now working on non-productive things than ever before - graphs, spreadsheets, etc - when these people could be putting out our so called late orders. You've just move the quality problem from the test dept into assembly areas. You sigmas have done some good work, and you can see some progress. But it could be so much better if you would actually listen to the people who do the work. Wednesday, February 24, 2010 For all of us who started with the Company in the late 70's, early 80's... we did O.K without the need of six-sigmas. We gave up vacation time, worked swing shifts and did what it took to make the Allen Bradley a leader in the Automation world. It's sad to see what is now happening with the Jobs and quality. Those who helped in making it great are now being over-shadowed by folks (six-sigmas) that feel that they have a better way of doing things. Greed and Bad business decisions have killed a once great Company. Mexico is turning out to be a bad decision, just like the European design center in the 90's. Don't call it whining. Watching a great American Company turn its back on the American families that made it, is sad. They need six-sigmas in the call centers, go for it. Good luck to all that remain. Wednesday, February 24, 2010 Has it ever occurred to you Cambridge whiners that you and your poor performance are the reasona we six-sigmas were brought in? Something had to be done. Late orders, poor quality and a declining productivity would lead to closure if we had not been thrown into the breach. Instead of infantile complaining, show some gratitude for the fact that we have helped save your jobs. Tuesday, February 23, 2010 The Lean Sick Sigma was introduced to management at RC from Toyota. The spreadsheets and charts and graphs look good on paper. The spreadsheets, with many orders and their ship date and dollar amounts, and man hours, is part of SAP - looks like it will work. Only one thing, it does not show less parts of any kind. We will build and ship, never being short any parts for an order. It is a perfect world. Also in Monterrey, Mexico, should see all the new buildings being built for future customers. Interesting. It has been going on in RC for a good year and no end in sight. End-of-the-month is on. Tuesday, February 23, 2010 We are now being told RA might fill our Micrologix order. They "found" some components to make them with. I understand Arrow was their global supplier of components. Did Arrow "find" some parts in inventory, or did RA go to a secondary supplier? As an OEM, we have to look elsewhere for a dependable small PLC supplier so we can fill the orders for our customers. We've never looked elsewhere, but RA has compromised our business to the point where we have no choice. Tuesday, February 23, 2010 Nosbusch is nothing more than a flea on Don Davis' tail. If tweedle D is "Dan" from Milwaukee, good luck, POS in our book. You can have him. The rape of Allen-Bradley is almost complete. No, it is not satisfaction - more like subtraction. Monday, February 22, 2010 - In response to the post on FEB 21: "As an American, I am proud to be part of this evolution." You must be related to Keith Nosbusch, because you sound like him and must be drinking the same Kool Aid. Many of my friends (hard working blue collar types) have been laid off because of the work being moved to Mexico / China etc. That is Fact! Ask any of the workers in RC, or even workers in Cambridge who lost work. They moved work from Cambridge to RC (4R mcc sections utility sections for example) We were told in RC that more SC/PE 2 and engineer mcc orders were being moved south of the border, but at least we will be getting Canada orders in RC and then we were told AMAT is leaving RC for Monterrey and China in spite of the fact of the lack of skill sets and how RC is bending over backwards and on their knees to please AMAT. (Mandatory OT, working weekends) Something does not add up. That is Fact! Many of us don’t like the way things are being handled either in RC. That is Fact ! Now both our plant managers in RC (tweedle D and twiddle D) are getting balled out about the indirect labor and overtime that is put in. It’s funny how lean management was brought in to make things run smoother but added more indirect labor and countless bulletin boards with charts and pretty graphs. Is the customer paying for this? Can you say mismanagement? The so-called "Professional types " may make more moola overseas, but I bet you could not make a living being a "regular joe" working family man in Mexico. This whole "global vision" you rave about - let's see how you feel if your job is outsourced. Monday, February 22, 2010 You must be in your 30’s. Here’s problem with your global company look and the wonderful outcome of China, India and other lower income nations taking American jobs and you getting richer in the long run. You will end up paying for the unemployed workers through your taxes. So your net income will be lower. America needs to reinvent itself, and we can no longer be just a service-provider nation as manufacturing jobs move out of our country. Levi’s had 22 plants in North America 10 years ago, but Wal-Mart help move all that to Mexico and beyond. You can’t find a nice metal sprinkler that last 10 years anymore, because Wal-Mart got us to buy the 99-cent plastic sprinkler from China. If this country is going to get serious around sustainability, then they need to include Labor into the Sustainability categories. Reduce Carbon footprint, do more with less and reduce energy cost. When a plant in the USA closes, so does other programs with it, like Junior Achievement and Little League. People from these plants invest in the community they live in. You close the plant; you close those support groups that create the DNA for future business leaders in America. Oh wait, you must have thought the Chinese were going to come over and teach the next generation of Americans on how to do business? I left Rockwell Automation almost a year ago, and it was because of the poor leadership in the States. The stock has risen because of extreme cost-reductions; reduce investment into R&D and threat of a buyout. Rockwell Automation could be just a name in the next few years; much like a Stanley Lawn Mower (Stanley doesn’t make lawn mowers but Wal-Mart got them to sign their name onto cheap Asian lawn mowers for creditability). Are you ready to sit along side the Sprecher and Schuh salesman? That’s where you’re going, my friend, as ABB or GE buys RA and breaks it up into smaller groups and sells off pieces. How would you feel if a software company came long and created a software packaging that could program any vendors PLC? You no longer need the vender PLC software to build out your line. End users could then pick a PLC provider base on their capability and support with no worries about compatibility. That day has come. Rockwell Automation ControlLogix is a beast that is getting long in the tooth. There has been little enhancements made into the technology over the last four years and the next best thing is always 24 months out. Sunday, February 21, 2010 This weblog needs to upgrade its readership The fact is that Rockwell stock is up, because it is winning, taking market share and producing better financials than competition. Share gains in Asia and USA. Fact: A global controls company needs to manufacture globally. It isn't cheap labor; in fact professional cost in Asia is higher, as in East Europe. Fact: Those that dont spend time whining on this site are making a diffrenece, beating Global competitors, making money and enjoying the dream. Fact: US people have had it too easy and have forgotten how to compete at an intellectual level and accept they are just a part of the Globe. They don't own the Globe. As an American, I am proud to be part of this evolution and hope the Indian, Chinese and Czech will help me have a richer life. GO ROCKWELL! Born in America Raised Globally! Saturday, February 20, 2010 To the person that mentioned signing Union cards. Keep encouraging that and you'll get your wish... perhaps a Union, but you won't have a job. If you think for one second that the Americans will keep our facility open, you'd better start looking for a new job, now, cause once again... you are WRONG with your thoughts. Sounds like your ideas and dreams are bigger than actual reality. Grow up and stop whining. Go in, do your job, be thankful you have one, or move on to someplace that you might enjoy. Friday, February 19, 2010 Rockwell is getting ready to lose a lot of business due to the fact that they can not ship Micrologix controllers. A lot of Micrologix customers/OEM's also use larger CLx systems and this situation is putting them in jeapordy. Friday, February 19, 2010 ArmorStart is being manufactured in RC instead of Monterrey because as part of our agreement with the TSA/federal government (who purchases some of them), we cannot manufacture it outside of the country. Thursday, February 18, 2010 ArmorStart new product is going to be built in Richland Center. Three to six month project. Why? This going on a smaller line. What are they going to do with the 24 benches and test fixtures that have been sitting vacant for months at RC since the layoff? More personnel for many small projects. Why? What 's going on in Mexico? Thursday, February 18, 2010 Rockwell manufacturing in trouble. Tecate continues to build junk! The MCC wiring quality is very poor. Since this worked so well we moved the engineered drives to Monterey. Monterey is now up and running, but they are shippng orders weeks late. Quality is reported to be crap. Nosbush takes $10 million in stock options while the company is falling apart. When will the madness stop? Wednesday, February 17, 2010 - Re: Why is Rockwell's stock so high, when orders are down? During the boom years (before the financial melt down) the board approved the purchase of stock shares. After the sale of Reliance Motor for more than 1 billion the board allocated this for stock purchase. I think it is being propped up with the money from divestments and past earnings. Wednesday, February 17, 2010 I did enjoy the lunch Rockwell provided. But, when it comes to safety, like any other company they don't care. The only thing they care about is the money that is made. Rockwell is just lucky no one gets hurt. I really like their policy on work place violance. If it was an hourly employee that grabbed another employee, they would be fired. But, management has their own set of rules. If we can get enough people to fill out a union card, and get a union in our plant, then we could have this problem removed before someone else is grabbed. Wednesday, February 17, 2010 The issues in Cambridge can be satisfied by firing the operations manager. But, we know that won't happen as he takes his directions from an arrogant American, and we all know the employees in America have no rights. If it had been two employees acting like that, the grabber would have been suspended and after three days of sweating it out at home would have been fired. How many times have we seen that in the past? The downfall of Rockwell Cambridge is the Americans. All was well until their presence became more dominant. Canadians are "we" people, but the Americans are all about "me". As long we in Cambridge continue to allow them to have control, things will not change. Stand up Cambridge! Unite (not with a union, but together as a division) and stand up against these people that think they are smarter and better than everyone else. Stop letting them walk all over you. Tuesday, February 16, 2010 Why is Rockwell's stock so high, when orders are down? This does not make sense. What is keeping it so high for the shareholders? Tuesday, February 16, 2010 Yes, very true. We the unappreciative. We the ungrateful. We should be glad when upper management uses intimidation to motivate us. What better way to get the most out of your workers than to frighten, subdue and daunt. (By the way, intimidation in and of itself is workplace violence, let alone the actual "grab".... but I digress). It's fine to express our oppinions, but we should first check with our boss to find out what our personal views are. It's the right thing to do. If we do have a thought of our own, we should be sent home immediately, glad to have a job to be sent home from. We should encourage our leaders to make assumptions and accusations about us. It shows they love us and we should thank them for it. We should never take for granted the wisdom we are shown day in and day out by the warm and wonderful people who lead us through our work week. Thank you for the free sandwich. Monday, February 15, 2010 When it comes to a Hostile Work Environment, or Sexual Harrassment, or Work Place Violence, there is a very, very easy way to stop it. File a lawsuit. Money might talk, but BS Walks. If it is so bad, then make a move. Monday, February 15, 2010 - Training in China vs Training in the USA. The Chinese and Indian workers are working for next to nothing, in terms of our pay ranges. And even if China is a Communist country, they have certainly realized the value of their workforce. So has India. All that said, you can see the result. If you want to personally stay in the rat-race, then you have to train up. If a company won't pay for it, you'll have to. And take the time. Or make the hard decisions not to, and trust your future to the new supervisors who are 20 years younger, and 20 years faster on the draw. Find some training you are interested in, hit your passion, and find ways to make it happen. It's all you can do. Or face the results when you hit 55 and they don't want you anymore. No, I didn't have the money. I spent %20,000 on my credit card to get the training, then took out a home equity loan to pay it off. And got it all back in less than 4 months when I took a new job. Roll the dice. Change sucks. Moving is worse. Watching your company meltdown is horrible. Watching your finances burnout is worse. Adapt, Improvise, Overcome. Or be overtaken. Monday, February 15, 2010 Think about where that sandwich offered up as the reward lunch ended up... much like everything else Rockwell touches. Sunday, February 14, 2010 - In response to the blogger that mentioned I was living in the wrong era: Yup I am, I'm living in the present, 2010. It is you that is living in the past. I value the fact that I am one of the fortunate people that does actually have a job in today's tough economy, that knows how to appreciate what I have and not take things for granted. I don't expect things to be given to me. I too am the carpet that you refer to -- a rather plush one at that. Aren't I lucky that I have the opportunity to be on the floors of Rockwell Automation? Saturday, February 13, 2010 - To: Cambridge: Shut up and stop whining! You are lucky this plant is open. Your only place in the order of things is to build it and ship it. If that is too much to ask then Management will find some place less confrontational. Saturday, February 13, 2010 I agree - Lunch was OK, but... less than a month after Annual Dance (or Christmas Party) for which we had to pay $20 per person?! If we didn't deserve to get that party for free, than... No comment! Friday, February 12, 2010 - Re: Congrats Rockwell Cambridge: Well said. Always seems to be those few disgruntled people out there who want to speak on behalf of others in the company and be negative towards just about everything. Thankfully common sense prevails and most of us continue about our business and ignore these ignorant, self-centred blogs that continue to cut up the company for self-gratification. In the end we know the truth and we know who's behind the negativity. Thanks for posting a positive comments. Lunch was indeed very enjoyable. Friday, February 12, 2010 - To the author who wrote "I agree, Congrats to Rockwell Cambridge on receiving the "Crystal" award for Environmentl/Safety/Health. I'm honoured to work for a company that is able to achieve this. " Praise to Rockwell! Err, scratch that. The latter part of this contribution appears to show the author either living in the wrong era, or likes being a carpet. Maybe he/she would prefer the new period of austerity thats being hoisted upon those "internees" of RA. What an abhorrent tone, so unforgiving. How much more should people bend over before complaining? Nice approach! Grrrrrrr. Friday, February 12, 2010 A funny thing, this place we call work. Cambridge is still exactly the same as it has been for the past 3 year. Management that was almost invisible here while the Union was out front, have come back with a vengeance, dusting off their hats just waiting to flex their muscles once again. In the last couple weeks, management here has shown us their true colours yet again. They remind us that they can do as they please and get away with it. Something we did not see for almost 8 month while the C.A.W. was out front passing out cards. The materials manager in particular is up to her old tricks again, targeting and attempting to eliminate employees as she sees fit. Rockwell currently uses 3 different systems to control inventory, and every 6 months it changes to accommodate one more than the others, and as expected employees grow weary of trying to figure out where the parts are, or what system to use. So when an employee voices their opinion about how poorly inventory control is and how frustrating it is to use, they get written up and sent home for the day because this manager was offended by a word used by the employee. The very next day she attempts to get 2 more employees written up, assuming they are using cell phones, though none were seen. What I find very sad and offensive is that this manager has repeatedly tried to get multiple employees fired based on lies, and has been caught red handed, and yet still somehow keeps her job. Is that how you lost your job at A&W? "Workplace Violence: There will be no tolerance of violence at Rockwell Automation. Any assault, battery, stalking or other threatening or intimidating behaviour conducted by an employee, or directed toward an employee, is prohibited. A threat includes any expression of intent to cause physical harm to another person and may or may not include using a weapon to carry out a physical attack. "Appropriate action will be taken for any workplace violence, up to and including termination of the offender. Every threat of violence will be taken seriously and excuses will not relieve the offender of the responsibility for having made the threat." This is taken directly from the employee handbook; a passage that our manager of operations should know by heart. Obviously you missed this part in our handbook but no worries you can find something similar in the Canadian legal legislation I’m sure. Just so you know when you lay your hands on someone, it is assault. It doesn’t matter if you think they were not working hard enough or you think they were doing something wrong; assault is assault. It is “NOT!”O.K. for anyone, including management, to grab or touch another person, and you are not exempt from this rule. H.R. seems to be a little slow on this one. I wonder why. To the previous blogger: I also did not take part in the free lunch; thanks Rockwell, but no thanks. I love my job and my co-workers and believe we make an excellent product, and only wish to be paid for what I do. I will not be bought with a sandwich, and if having an opinion makes you a whiner then most of us that work here are whiners. You're more than welcome to sit there and take it; but don’t tell the rest of us we have to as well. The majority of people I know for a fact feel the same way as I do, and your blog tells me you are jockeying for a management spot and that you haven’t been employed at Rockwell very long. Keep it up there may be an opening for you soon. Friday, February 12, 2010 I agree, Congrats to Rockwell Cambridge on receiving the "Crystal" award for Environmentl/Safety/Health. I'm honoured to work for a company that is able to achieve this. Great work to all employees that made this happen. I disagree with the fact and am sorry for those that cannot accept the excellent lunch that was provided to us as employees by the company, and that they would rather have money in their pocket. Perhaps if you didn't work at Rockwell, you would be able to get money in your pocket for a while through EI and then find another way to get it other than a weekly pay cheque. You people that are complaining about how BAD things are need to get on the outside and see how fun it would be to look for another job and maybe find one that pays minimum wage with no benefits. If you are that unhappy and have nothing more to do than complain about what a cheap company and how poorly you are treated, QUIT. No one is holding you back and the company doesn't owe any one of us as employees anything. Quit your whining and appreciate the fact that you are employed. If you find that hard to do you always have an alternative. Another note.......your inconsiderate and thankless comments are a small minority of people within Cambridge, and the others that do appreciate what they have truly feel sorry for you. Friday, February 12, 2010 Are the people on here that say that companies shouldn't invest in training for their people, all rich in wealth and time? Do you not have children or family? Money and time do indeed hinder one's chance at additional training and upgrading skillsets! Let's talk about the amount of training and schooling that the Chinese spend on their employees. I'm telling you that the number is quite substantial and we as American company employees are not getting the same treatment. Thursday, February 11, 2010 Looks like Rockwell Software is doomed. 2 years to adapt to Windows Vista, which no customer will ever have the need for. No plans to move to Windows 7. No engineers/developers left (most sent packing). Why would customers want to bring this stuff into their plants when there are no future support/development plans? Thursday, February 11, 2010 Seems the Cambrigde plant has a little problem on their hand with a Senior Member who likes to grab people. I know there is a zero-tolerance policy inplace and employees have been fired for a lot less things in the last two years, that is for sure... Let's see how this incident is swept quietly under the rug. It is common knowledge that this happened, in this facility. I am not for firing someone or seeing someone lose their job, but policy is policy. What was right for one person is right for another, no matter the level of your belt, so to speak. The unfortuneate fact that is comes from the man who trys to enforce everything that is supposed to be. Wednesday, February 10, 2010 As a former employee like some of the previous bloggers, I agree with the general opinion on the senior management. They follow orders and don’t think about the consequences of poor sales strategies and poor marketing. The recent decision to move away from the RS Rockwell Software branding and base product names on Factory Talk is insane. They spend 15 years building a brand name to almost household status and then get rid of it. Talk to the customers and see what most of them think, you’d need to attend a week long course to get your head around the Factory Talk product range. On the plus side, as a consultant, I’m making money explaining this to Rockwell’s customers so it isn’t all bad news. Tuesday, February 9, Money is not an obstacle to self-improvement. There are countless free or nearly free opportunities to learn and upgrade your skills, from local community colleges to online tutorials and classes. Also, there is no better investment than in your ongoing education, so allocate some of your own money as an investment in yourself. It will often pay handsome dividends. Don't depend on your government/union/company/mommy to do it for you. Stand up for yourself. Tuesday, February 9, 2010 CONGRATULATIONS! cCongrats to Rockwell Cambridge on their recent award for Being the SAFEST place. This is a prestigiius award I understand and was given out to only two workplaces out of 200-300... They will recieve a $300,000 kickback, I hear from Work and Safety? A dinner will be provided for the people that made this possible...everyone gets a piece of cheese! not the cheese you can spend, but you actually nibble on. Oh and the good china and tableclothes are coming out as well. I guess giving everyone who made this possible a kickback only goes one way...the companies! A $50 gift card or a bonus makes too much sense, so spend it on cheese and crackers, and you wonder why CAW are allways knocking on the door there? Tuesday, February 9, 2010 - Re: the post - "Rockwell seems to be buying up controls systems integrators in the US and Canada but they are being very quiet about it. Why?" 'cos they want the business, thats why. The process is called wringing blood from a stone. Via the newly owned S.I. channel they can obtain larger margins on the same products sold. It's one of the final routes for maximising short term gain before subsuming the previously healthy independant business and crushing it. Monday, February 8, 2010 Who are the controls system integrators that Rockwell has purchased? Monday, February 8, 2010 - Regarding skill sets and money: Don't improve the skill sets and watch your income potential disintegrate. Pay some out and watch your income potential expand. Since when are companies obligated to keep your skill sets current or improved? I didn't realize it was a welfare program. There is a tipping point when a company won't put any more money into you. It's cheaper to hire and train younger newer trained engineers. Moral of the story: stay ahead of the curve, or get lost in the herd. Monday, February 8, 2010 Regarding skill sets.....what if the highly trained and experienced engineers would have taken the time to listen to the winds of change. And they themselves became Black Belts and Lean Experts? The moral of the story is that we are all responsible for our own skills. And if you see a train coming, get onboard, get out of the way, or get run over. And I'm not being mean. It is what has happened. The reason RA brought in all the outsiders (I was one of them), was to make positive changes that their own internal staffs couldn't or wouldn't make. With all the negative lessons learned, just think how much more improved the situation would have been if the ROK legacy employees had taken the training when it was offered, prior to the Lean 100? It was offered, and some took it. But most of those never took it and ran with it. So GE trained new leaders saw the need, and brought us in. With all the inherent issues of bringing in outsiders. One supervisor actually told me / us that he wasn't going to push his people in the cells as he was related to all of them in some form or another. Guess what, you all are reaping what he planted...the seeds of self immolation. The seeds of T2. The very cells he managed are now either in T2, or on the way there. Over the next few days, go into your plants and cells, and ask the legacy leadership why they didn't push for the change. Changes that would have saved your jobs. What do you think their answer will be? Try it. Ask the questions. All the seeds for success were planted in the late 90's - 2002. It didn't grow, no one nurtured it on the plant floor, or in the plant offices. So it flailed around. The message was: No change is possible. The Lean 100 was the last ditch effort in my opinion for local legacy to change and remain. It didn't. So T2 flourishes, so RC implodes. Not everybody can work at the dairy or subway. Look to those previous leaders, then make sure you look to yourselves. Maybe the other supervisor, who came across the desk at a Lean person, and yelled at them, and said he'd never trust the Lean people because he didn't know them, can answer the questions above. In the last 10 years, Michigan has lost over 1 million jobs, 2/3 of all manufacturing jobs are gone. Wisconsin is just a follow up story, with the same result. Good Luck! Monday, February 8, 2010 It's not the company's job to keep your skills current when they can hire someone with more skills for less money; it's your job. Take responsibility for yourself. I put myself through college to get a better job and I take classes with my own money to stay up with technology. When layoffs come, I'll be prepared with experience and current skills. Here's an interesting article about the effects of layoff's on the company, people, and the economy. http://www.newsweek.com/id/233131 Monday, February 8, 2010 The main reason for the budget cuts on engineering re-training was due to the fact of their ages. We cannot invest money into a person who is about to retire in less than 5-8 years... It's like putting a rock on a glass plate... Old engineers are mostly used for their nostalgic contributions of retro-fitting and short-cuts. Certainly not their efficiency and ingeniousness with aided tools. Bring in the new, out with the old. The new generation can grow, and morph with the newer products easily. Monday, February 8, 2010 - Re: Weblog Wednesday Feb 3rd 2010 - "The only thing stopping "old engineers" from upgrading their skillsets is the "old engineers" themselves.": Excuse me! The only thing stopping "old" engineers from upgrading their skillsets is money! I've worked for the SSB group for over a decade and in the last 5 years there has not been enough training budget money to allow engineers to upgrade skillsets. Sunday, February 7, 2010 Rockwell seems to be buying up controls systems integrators in the US and Canada but they are being very quiet about it. Why? Friday, February 5, 2010 The jobs are leaving the US; the skill-set of the US engineer doesn't matter. The jobs are moving, period. US engineer ~$100k/yr, non US engineer ~$30k/yr. Even an American trained engineer fresh out of college with the latest skill-set can't compete $ for $ with a fresh grad out of India/Mexico. The jobs RA are hiring for are NOT rocket-science, an AS/BS in electronics, electrical technology, or mech. technology/design is more than enough. A half dozen REAL engineers can do the product development/science, the others are just over-qualified technicians. RA just resells others products anyway, how much engineering does that require?? Thursday, February 4, 2010 If management is going to move the jobs that support the AMERICAN WAY OF LIFE out of the USA, maybe they can also do as Halliburton did. It is clear this is just about the last cost cutting measure to be made, other then figure out how to grow top line numbers. By the way I sold at $75.00/share I keep looking for a sign to get back in. Thursday, February 4, 2010 For all Rockwell employees in the U.S. that are losing or have lost your jobs this year be advised, Rockwell will be taking federal tax out of your severance at the 25% flat rate option. Rockwell will try and convince you that it is required by the IRS but that is not true. Rockwell has the option to either use the 25% flat rate OR they can use the aggregate method. Using the aggregate method would require some effort on their part. Unless your supplemental pay for the year exceeds $1,000,000 the IRS has two methods of withholding. The first is known as the aggregate method, in which the severance pay is basically handled just like a regular pay check and normal withholding brackets apply. The second method is a flat 25% tax (of gross pay). The sad part about it all, that they do not and did not have the decency to tell you that they are/have already done this. The decision to do this rests solely with Rockwell, not the IRS. Thursday, February 4, 2010 - Re Weblog Wednesday Feb 3rd 2010 - "The only thing stopping "old engineers" from upgrading their skillsets is the "old engineers" themselves.": What a great example of self-centred arrogance. Carry on and perpetuate the myth. RA can now continue it's campaign to rid the faithfull. One day, my friend, you will be in that exact same position. If not at RA then elsewhere. Nice to see such great affection for those that helped create your position before you. Wednesday, February 3, 2010 - Re: "The only thing stopping "old engineers" from upgrading their skillsets is the "old engineers" themselves.": THE ONLY REASON JOBS ARE BEING LOST IS.....MONEY! Plain and simple... Why build for a cost of $1, when I can have a cost of $0.10.... It has nothing to do with me learning new skills. Every one of my fellow co-working engineers and I can have all the skills in the world. It does not matter at all, but the price/cost of business. Your comment of being an indicative situation from our own actions is absurd at best, and appalling to say the least.... You obviously have a vauge concept of reality when it comes to a conglomerate-type scenario on a global level. Wednesday, February 3, 2010 The only thing stopping "old engineers" from upgrading their skillsets is the "old engineers" themselves. You stagnate, you're done. Simple as that. The previous poster's "nanny state" mentality that the union (and indirectly the company and the government) are responsible for continuing to develop their skills is totally indicative of why the jobs are leaving in the first place. Take some responsibility for your own situation, be accountable, and DO SOMETHING ABOUT IT YOURSELF! Tuesday, February 2, 2010 Keep your eye on the ball. 3/09 $18, 2/10 $49, the owners (stockholders)are making money, everything else is just noise. Laid off US employees, loss of market share in the US, just noise. Job #1, make money for the owners. Job #2, see Job #1. I feel bad for the US employees that made AB/RA what is is today, but we should thank NAFTA and the other free trade agreements for the decline. Keith is just playing the hand he was given. Do you really think a new owner will do anything different? Monday, February 1, 2010 RA Q1 2010 North American sales -18% from last year. Only real growth in Asia/Pacific. Is this the result of the new world order or the US business seeing the effects of neglect by RA management? US customers upset with deliveries, product quality, engineering/support? Product Alerts (recalls) with PowerFlex 4/40/400 drives contract manufactured by Chinese, Logix PAC(flagship product)firmware alerts. Missed ship dates on MCC's. Support/Engineering from India. SAP primary/secondary servers both down. No orders in, no orders out. The US market is ripe for the picking. Kieth promotes US manufacturing but continues to ship jobs out of the US. Friday, January 29, 2010 - Re: "Young Engineers are being hired at Monterrey by dozens. Any idea on how to stop losing manufacturing jobs?": Yes, create a non-Mexican union that will allow old engineers to go back and upgrade their skill-sets. This is what is important now - not experience, but skill-sets. Engineer #1 with 25 yrs is "laid-off", because Enginner #2 with 10 yrs also has a cross-stitching course. Friday, January 29, 2010 My thinking is that it will take just as long to get T2 up and running as it took to get RC up nd running. After all RC was opened to undercut the labor cost that was once in HQ location. Face it NA is done, EU not there, Asia is where the work is. Sales are not growing, and only cost-cuts are adding to profits. This will keep the FAT CATS in the $$ and the small guy is out of luck. Thursday, January 28, 2010 Young Engineers are being hired at Monterrey by dozens. Any idea on how to stop losing manufacturing jobs? Thursday, January 28, 2010 You have ZERO control over your destiny in this case. Thursday, January 28, 2010 - Re: Cambridge Facility: WE NEED TO UNITE! we need to become one again like we were in 1987. We all need to get along and work/strive for one common goal. If we can do this, we will see positive change happen for our wages, our life expectancy at RA. We need to be aware that out business is competitive, cut-throat and slowly slipping out of our own hands. We choose our own destiny. For the 8 hours we work, we should focus on doing a #1 quality job, then and only then can we blame management for their plunders. We all need to come together, co-ordinators, reps, managers, workers, blackbelts, cleaning staff, cafateria workers, security guards, human resource managers and even the people from downstairs! We can make our faciltiy truly the center of excellence if we focus! Wednesday, January 27, 2010 Those in RC that do not understand that their jobs are moving South, are either confused or refuse to see. T2 will take the RC jobs as soon as the workers become qualified enough to handle the complex work. Some luck may prevail, in that the folks in T2, need to develop the experience level, and well beyond, that the Tecate facility has. The original plan was Tecate, the new plan is T2 since Tecate can't handle the ETO side of the business. Maybe the skill level just isn't there. If it is, then when will it all be moved to MX? Wednesday, January 27, 2010 Yes, here in Cambridge, we are getting some new positions in some areas - "Coordinators". Some people were "hand picked' for those jobs and after they got chosen, right away they (or some of them) stop doing their previous jobs?! If these are new job position's, shouldn't they be posted so that everybody can apply?! Also, if they(Coordinators) are not supposed to do previous jobs anymore, shouldn't their old jobs be posted!? We are confused a little bit here . Wednesday, January 27, 2010 Funny how both Siemens and GE are re-investing in local custom-manufacturing in both Panelboards and MCC's. Meanwhile Rockwell is leaving for eastern Europe and Mexico. Canadian and US customers want equipment customized, fast and competitively priced. Leave the discrete manufacturing in these places, but the actual customized product such as MCC's, panels etc needs to be local to meet customer needs. Look at your pricing strategies. How many more third party panel shops can Rockwell support? Tuesday, January 26, 2010 Not a rumor, not a joke - RA announced yesterday to their employees at RC they are moving one of their lines to Monterrey MX and the employees here will have to train their over the border counterparts. There was NO mention of layoffs as an end result of this decision, but it will impact close to 40 personnel at the RC facility. So much for support of keeping the American jobs in America, CEO's leadership and shareholders of companies should be ASHAMED of themselves for NOT supporting the US economy. Sunday, January 24, 2010 Twinsburg: I don't know what happened to Abe, but managers don't get walked out, they get transferred. He had to have done something worth suing over to get walked right off the plant floor. As far as the new guy we will have to see what changes he sees for Twinsburg. I hope he has a clue because we are tired. I know we should be grateful we have jobs, but none the less we are TIRED! Logix has been working 60 hours a week since last Easter. Which seemed to be news to Abe for some reason. Abe's famous last words, "If you don't like it find another job somewhere else" I don't want to work somewhere else, I have been here for 20 years. I just don't want to work so much. Can we cut it down to 50 hour weeks, PLEASE. Staff the weekend shift already. On another point, Rockwell can't get or keep qualified people because they refuse to hire from within anymore. Used to be you could come up from the ranks and bring all of your experience with you, now they hire from Engineers up, only from the outside and these people don't have the knowledge or experience that a person who is already there has. I saw hiring practices changing to them only hiring people with Bachelors or better so I knew if I wanted to advance I was going to have to get my degree. So I did, at the company's expense I might add. Can't even get an interview. So I am taking my company paid for degree and going else where. If they can't appreciate the knowledge and experience they have under their noses I will find another company who will. I am not looking forward to the change but I don't see any alternative at this point. Next point: Rockwell is an electronic/software based company. Why are they bringing in people to build this stuff who barely know how to use a plug. You should see the temps they bring in here. Most don't even know how to use a computer. And the starting pay is the same as when I started 20 years ago. (I think there is a clue there somewhere). And while I'm on this subject, why is it that new positions appear out of no where and people are hand picked for these positions without them being posted. But they will post any other new jobs for that position if they come up in the future. This happens quite frequently and is very frustrating for those of us who are trying to get a leg up in the company. Saturday, January 23, 2010 Wow, sounds like Twinsburg has been going through the same issues as we have in Cambridge (approx 3 years of chaos). Yes, we all know when the chaos began. I really don’t know where senior management is getting their mandate from. If running facilities to the ground, and causing employee morale to be as low as I have ever seen it, then they have done their job. I am sure they will collect their big bonuses for a “job well done”, while the rest of us pull on our rubber boots and trudge on through the cess pool that they have created, and try to catch up through the backlog or work we have, when we were forced to take the unpaid days. This same senior management actually flew up here so that they could “listen” to the little people. What? Are they deaf? As far as I can tell the money they used could have been better utilized by cancelling those unpaid days. There is now a buzz about “employee engagement”, but it may be too little, too late to be effective. As far as the blackbelts go, we have some awesome blackbelts, the ones that actually were hired from within the company. They know this place better than anyone, and they know the people. They have their respect and cooperation when they need it. They have no problem when it comes to getting their hands dirty and actually listen to us, the people who do these jobs day in and day out. The ones that were hired from outside, they should have kept them outside. They are so busy gathering information, drawing plots and graphs, impeding people from actually working, and generally getting on people’s nerves. They are more of a hindrance. I bet you they don’t know what we build here. Give our own blackbelts the support they deserve, and send the outsiders back to where they belong, the automotive companies. Now, a little note to our employees……. you were all at the update meetings. Did any of you notice the chart about facility loading? Did you notice the loading at Katowice and JZE? Our management kindly refrained from mentioning them out loud, but they were there. As much, as I would love to blame management for everything, we are going to have to take some responsibility for our actions. If you’re getting paid for 8 hrs work, then do your best for those 8 hrs. Work with each other, instead of against each other. Remember, there are plenty of people willing to take our jobs. Look around you, that person who stands around pretending to be busy, is more of a threat to our facility than anything else. Don’t sink to their level. Well, I hope the people reading this, listen. It’s obvious management doesn’t. Just in case anyone in management does actually read this, please don’t treat employees like idiots. We can see through right through most things. Friday, January 22, 2010 Interesting perceptions regarding TATA? They are much more than a car maker, you should consider what part Honeywell would play in such a takeover as it is Honeywell "TATA" that does most of big H's software. I know Honeywell "own" this division but that was done mainly for convenience and to get around some issues regarding outsourcing. Honeywell and Rockwell now there is a marriage that makes excellent sense and given their collaborations in the past it might just have a grain of truth about it? Friday, January 22, 2010 Just what we need, more materials people. The materials people have screwed us up so bad that we’ve gone backwards 8 to 10 yrs, in other words, the stupid ways we have to handle materials now is the mode of operation we dug our way out of 10 yrs ago. Guess who makes the rules on how we operate the manufacturing lines, materials, not operations people. How screwed up is that? Oh, wait, to a black belt its not screwed up, its progress. There are more material handlers than there are productions folks, and we keep hiring more. The hope that the materials group would finally get their chain jerked and reeled in is now going out the window as the new planter manager is going to come in and take sides with what he already knows. He’ll be wearing grey even if its blue. Thursday, January 21, 2010 I agree with the statement that management is not being told the truth about what has been going on in Twinsburg. Marty does need to go,after all he created this mess. Blackbelts are creating not resolving the problems. Unfortunately the plant manager was listening to much to the blackbelts and not enough to the employees who know the jobs. If the new plant manager coming in continues on the same path he will not last long either.It could be Twinsburgs down fall if he cannot get the plant turned around. Thursday, January 21, 2010 Twinsburg, be careful for what you wish for before you start singing ‘ding-dong the king is dead’. Plant managers are dispensable as will the next person be, who, by the way comes from GM and has a materials background, not sure if he has any operations/manufacturing experience. Mr. Thomas continues to shove previous automakers and black belts down Twinsburg’s throat Marty, you are the one who needs to go, if you don’t, ALL of the remaining employees in Twinsburg will also be looking for new jobs when they close the doors for good. You cannot see past the smoke that is being blown past you. Management & black belt leaders are not telling you the truth. You must be delusional if you think that the plant manager was the entire problem. YOU are the problem. I would say you are doing a fine job blowing smoke past Mr. Eisenbrown... Thursday, January 21, 2010 Big news out of the Twinsburg facility today. After about 3 years of total chaos, the Plant Manager was let go today and walked out. Thank-you upper management for the move. Are the black belts next? Will the next Plant manager listen to the employees so we can turn this plant back around and make it productive again and a good place to work? Will the mandatory overtime that is being demanded come to an end? Lots of people smiling today and that was great to see. Thursday, January 21, 2010 - To "crystal clear": If Tata acquire RA, it would not be like Siemens selling to Mercedes and BMW at the same time. It would be like Siemens and Mercedes being one company -- Siemens being a competitor to BMW, not just a subsupplier. And in this busines you are not just "selling to", but "making projects together with" which is quite intimate. It would mean that BMW accept to give intimate information to Mercedes, to be dependant on Mercedes, and to pay good money to Mercedes. Unthinkable. Tuesday, January 19, 2010 Everyone in RA, like many companies, works at home after hours. Why should only sales be reimbursed for home internet? Also, would you not make customer calls in the day and CRM/emails at night anyway, so you can maximize your pay regardless. Or are you not selling, just taking orders? Monday, January 18, 2010 So let me get this crystal clear; Siemens sells products and systems to Mercedes so BMW will never use Siemens huh ? I say again: Rubbish! Sunday, January 17, 2010 The problem at Rockwell Automation is the over-the-hill executive Management staff that has been there forever. Somehow these guys are immune to change at RA. If Keith was smart he would clean house. Thursday, January 14, 2010 I have been following this Blog on and off for probably 10 years. The one thing that seems to be constant is the rumor that RA will be sold. The only change seems to be who is going to buy RA this year. Without much thought, I seem to remember Eaton, ABB, Siemens, Tyco, Emerson, GE all about to purchase RA. I'm sure I'm missing 4 or 5 others. The bottom line is that while it is fun to listen and spread rumors, the reality is that we just don't know. Having been here over 20 years, if it happens, I'd be shocked. However, stranger things have happened. Thursday, January 14, 2010 To the person who thinks Tata is just a car maker - I guess you also think GE only makes light bulbs! Look again there, sport. Tata is a very diversified company. Thursday, January 14, 2010 - To "Rubbish": May I pile on more? What the writer was referring to was a direct competitor like Tata, who is taking share from Detroit, Europe and Japan and then (if they buy Rockwell) would sell an automation solution into these manufacturers. Maybe this is why Rockwell needs to be sold. Apparently you do not understand market dynamics. Maybe Keith Nosbush should do his job, find a way out of the mess RA is in and stop writing about blogs he doesn't understand. Wednesday, January 13, 2010 - In response to "What a lot of old rubbish!": I wrote the post that you responded to. I work in a company that supply machinery to the automobile industry. So I can tell you that I know everything about gaining access to the production facilities of the automobile industry. In short, if you come from a direct competitor, you are persona non grata. Not so surprising really. The automobile industry is still enormously important for the automation suppliers. Wednesday, January 13, 2010 What a lot of old rubbish! RA has been supplying equipment and services to multiple major auto manufacturers for years. Whenever RA impliments a system they gain significant knowldge about the process. If they then do a similair system for a competitor it doesnt stop them winning further business with the original customer. Also, the auto manufacturers, while still important, are no longer the be-all and end-all in terms of the automation market. Get real! Monday, January 11, 2010 - In response to the speculations that Tata might acquire RA: I have resisted it so far, but I have to respond to this. That a major car manufacturer purchase RA, would be a catastrophe for RA. It can look as an advantage at first, for RA to use Tata's plants as a safe place for both developments and an assured income. Problem is: Every other car manufacturer will shut the doors on RA. No car manufacturer will allow a competitor inside his plants to have a close look at their manufacturing facilities. With the importance of the car industry for any automation vendor, it would be the death-blow to RA. Friday, January 8, 2010 Rockwell would be a very good fit for Tata Industries on a number of fronts. Internal applications for Rockwell technology in Tata's diverse industrial operations, a large services opportunity for TCS, and of course the Rockwell business itself, which has good upside potential in the emerging markets with the right leadership. Thursday, January 7, 2010 I find it interesting about the discussion on a company in India purchasing RA. Maybe Mr. TATA will buy them - they certainly have enough mfg to capitalize on RA. Someone will buy RA and it appears it will happen in 2010. This will certainly cause some significant changes whatever happens. Hang on to your seats and enjoy the ride... Tuesday, January 5, 2010 I work for Inaco & I think it is all good. The company has a diciplined sales process which is not everybody's cup of tea, hence those who cannot perform should not whine - just leave. Monday, January 4, 2010 Interesting comparsion. Better Buy: Rockwell Collins or Rockwell Automation? http://msn.fool.com/investing/general/2009/12/23/better-buy-col-or-rok.aspx?logvisit=y&source=eedmsnlnk0010001&published=2009-12-23 Rockwell and Allen-Bradley would have both been better off to leave well enough alone in 85'. Sunday, January 3, 2010 I read this weblog with interest and chuckle. The truth be told, the parallels between RA and several of the other struggling controls companies (Invensys) are laughable. A total lack of direction and motivation, draconion micro-management of misunderstood metrics, RA lacks the realization that an opportunity is passing them by. Have you read the article that is online called "15 Signs Your Workplace is Dysfunctional" (weblink below). Read it and post your results. RA is just another poorly managed disorganization which will be absorbed by some one with a vision (hopefully). As it is right now, the tires will spin with no rubber hitting the road! Changes can come from the bottom up - so quit whining and start fighting back. For those of you at RA with a entrepreneurial vision, there will be lots of opportunity in the coming year. And for those who have forgotton what "entrepreneurial" noun means: A person who organizes and manages any enterprise, esp. a business, usually with considerable initiative and risk. An employer of productive labor. –verb (used with object) To deal with or initiate as an entrepreneur. –verb (used without object) To act as an entrepreneur. Here is the link: 15 Signs Your Workplace is Dysfunctional Saturday, January 2, 2010 - Re - Friday December 18 entry - "Just so everyone understands the condo talk in Cambridge" You spoke to the wrong developer. Friday, January 1, 2010 Rockwell leases many buildings now; they used to own them. But, who do you think the group is that now runs these leases? Our building is leased - by whom? Thursday, December 31, 2009 GE, ABB, Emerson? I don't think so. Three other options, logic seems to be a venture capital group out of India. RA has moved engineering and support to India, and that's where the growth is (E&A). Omron is another option, RA already has ties with them in product development. Or Samsung, the OEMax line sold outside of the US is mostly (all) Samsung hardware. The soon to be announced new line of RA uLogix is Samsung hardware. All the blogs are old school thinking, this is a new world. Any of these three options could take the current hardware, add a DCS? solution and capture Asia & Europe. Note, don't forget China, someone there could be the needle in the haystack, waiting to spring into action. Tuesday, December 29, 2009 Being acquired is a natural path for Rockwell. Unfortunately RA becomes a small player surrounded by 2 or 3 digit U$ Billion energy / process control conglomerates. Also let’s remember that Rockwell is one of less capable players in terms of power distribution and energy management (that today is becoming more tied to process control); GE will complement this gap. Sunday, December 27, 2009 <> It is no coincidence that GE ended it's joint venture with Fanuc. Why would GE decide to essentially get out of the Automation business? Because they will be in it big time when they buy Rockwell. Wednesday, December 23, 2009 Who's the idiot who supposedly talked with the developer (see Friday December 18 entry - "Just so everyone understands the condo talk in Cambridge, here it is. I spoke with the developer of the site..."? Like the following entry says, the land and building are leased by Rockwell not owned by them! Lease is finished sometime in 2010 but I believe that Rockwell has the option to continue the lease (not 100% sure). Rather then telling blantant lies and trying to get a rise out of people, why not check your facts before you speak or in this case post an entry? Wednesday, December 23, 2009 Happy Holidays, all the best in New Year! Wednesday, December 23, 2009 To the Flex Office Guy The rationale is simple, Broadband is now like your utility supply. The company doesnt pay that, so why should it pay for a utility like broadband? And you can use it at the same time your wife watches TV, so your rationale is flawed. Next you will want us to pay for your dinner because you speak during eating. Hey and by the way, look at that new shiny blackberry we bought you.... Monday, December 21, 2009 First it was ABB, then Emerson, now GE I think the closer anyone gets to this imploding company the faster they run. Monday, December 21, 2009 If GE buys Rockwell there will be a huge number of casualties, and guess what? It won't be GE employees. Worst hit parts of Rockwell will be countries where there is a larger sales force comprised of account managers and specialists. Distribution will also be cut. In spite of all this, industry is beginning to recover, and companies are looking to hire people now so they are prepared for the upturn one year from now. Sunday, December 20, 2009 If Immelt is really interested in boosting GE stock price, he should look at the technique used by ITT when it was huge conglomerate. Rand Araskog separated the divisions, gave them their own stock. No one analyst could really figure out what the stock was worth due to the size of ITT. By separating the divisions out, and giving them their own stock and ticker, it became obvious what the value was. The effective stock value rose from $35 to over $200. Sunday, December 20, 2009 So Rockwell has decided not to reimburse sales employees for flex office expenses? I am not sure who did the cost VS benefit analysis on this one, but I for one would like to thank whomever is responsible for this policy. More specifically, my wife would like to thank this person as she was sick and tired of the time spent after hours responding to customer emails, doing PADRs, CRM reports, etc...in lieu of doing these things during the day when customer visits seem to make more sense. It would seem to me that the "personal time" spent after hours and during vacation responding to customer emails would more than justify the ROI for this "perk" in a given month. I would like to think that this policy was implemented to fix some of the work life balance issues that are so prevelant within much of the sales organization. However, I am sure the reasons for this policy where purely financial. Does anyone in management think for a minute that time spent working after hours at home, in a given month would not more than cover the cost of home internet? Friday, December 18, 2009 If Rockwell is taken over, or takes over another company, it won't be a "rescue". (Sometimes, David does buy Goliath, because the owner of Golaith doesn't want that product line anymore.) It will be slash-and-burn the similiar business lines, co-mingle them, to get rid of excess and un-needed headcount. If the take over is an expansion of product line to gain market spread (not market share), then there will be less slash-and-burn at the mid levels. I hope everyone who thinks they might be affected has gotten additional training in other skills. Consolidation take-overs and industry consolidations leave little room to save the careers of those affected. And with China, Poland, India, Brazil, and Mexico in the mix, it becomes even bleaker. Except for the share holders and those who get real bonuses. Friday, December 18, 2009 Rockwell does not own the building in Cambridge, they lease it. Friday, December 18, 2009 Just so everyone understands the condo talk in Cambridge, here it is. I spoke with the developer of the sit and yes there is great interest in purchasing that land where Rockwell sits so interesting that devloper is putting together a large offer to present to Rockwell Automation. Thursday, December 17, 2009 We don't need to be "rescued" by GE. As for the GE "Change" train - we've been constantly changing. Everything we do is based on numbers - if it's not the numbers of orders that are released on time, it's the number of jobs stood in one day, it's the number of orders processed in any one work center to the number of orders we ship on a daily basis. The GE train is just trying to get away from it's own mistakes in the financial area so they thought they'd go to the industrial area. Seems to me they're not too sure of what they're doing. Thursday, December 17, 2009 I believe the writing is on the wall at the facility in Richland Center too. Do some research and you will find over 40 job openings for the plant in Monterrey Mexico within the last few weeks. (Managers, supervisors, pca’s, quality and test positions, mech eng's etc etc.) Would like to hear some feedback from the other RA plants that have seen production levels drop or plant closings. I feel bad for anyone who lost jobs to Mexico. We are down over 300 workers from where we were a year ago (lots of hard working hourly workers and office types) Keith's vision of "making the world more productive and improve the quality of life for everyone" I wonder what the folks who are out of a job think of this! Wednesday, December 16, 2009 That light coming at you Rockwell guys is not some one coming to rescue you. It is a speeding (GE) locomotive called Change. Get on it, or be under it! Work, cause where this train is heading there are no under-performing people. Tuesday, December 15, 2009 GE purchasing Rockwell... does that make sense? Are there enough aligned businesses in GE and Rockwell to allow for consolidations and elimination of Parallel activities? Will the combination of the two be greater than the sum? I'm asking because I don't know. As far as the execs hanging on and cutting deep to gain some bonus on the other end, thats what Wall Street wants. Stocks don't gain for doing the right things; they gain for being seen as sexy and or on the move. And these potential bonuses are just for that - making it move. Besides, how many former GE execs are working at Rockwell? I know of 5 without thinking really hard. Its A SMOKING time to be in the executive suites, that's for sure. Tuesday, December 15, 2009 Protect Jobs? Sending 2000 jobs to Monterrey is protecting jobs? Closing multiple US sites and downsizing the remanents is protecting jobs? What line of leafy material are you smoking? Those "bonuses" have nothing to do with protecting jobs or improving customer service. They are all about getting the stock price up, even if it takes gutting the US operations to do it. Tuesday, December 15, 2009 General Electric Co. is sending plenty of signals that it's on the deal war path for industrial companies. Industrial analyst Steve Tusa at JP Morgan says Rockwell Automation could be a prime target for GE. Mr. Tusa made the case in a note Monday that GE will make a $60 per share offer of roughly $8.5 billion play for Rockwell Automation Inc. Rockwell’s stock price jumped 3.6% to a new 52-week high of $48.12 on Monday on the idea. In the past year, GE executives have mentioned Rockwell as a company they would like to own. The case grows stronger as GE chief executive Jeff Immelt has spoken more and more emphatically about GE focusing on growing manufacturing and industrial businesses instead of financial businesses. Here is the link: Is GE Eyeing a Bid For Rockwell Automation? Tuesday, December 15, 2009 - To the happy positive blogger: GE agrees with you: Rockwell’s stock price just jumped 3.6% to a new 52-week high of $48.12 on Monday due the idea to be acquired by GE. GE will make a $60 per share offer of roughly $8.5 billion play for Rockwell Automation Inc. Tuesday, December 15, 2009 You all better stop spending time here blogging and improve your job performance. WSJ and JP Morgan speculating on GE purchase of Rockwell. With their penchant for forced ranking (it will be you bloggers) and geeting rid of all but gems in the portfolio, (there are none left) you all better be looking for ways to shine or ways to depart. Hope for a non-suitor or get some flexibility for when it comes time to grab the ankles. Tuesday, December 15, 2009 These aren't bonuses. They are part of normal comp, and were probably granted years ago. You ought to be grateful that these folks burn the midnight-oil to protect jobs and provide a fantastic work environment. Stop being so negative, probably because these types of job may be beyond your reach. Monday, December 14, 2009 No Bonuses? What do you call this then? http://finance.yahoo.com/q/it?s=ROK 9-Dec-09 EISENBROWN STEVEN A Officer 2,900 Direct Acquisition (Non Open Market) at $0 per share. 9-Dec-09 NOSBUSCH KEITH D Officer 10,100 Direct Acquisition (Non Open Market) at $0 per share. Monday, December 14, 2009 - Re: Huge news for ROK Cambridge: Not sure where he got his information from but the land is zoned for commercial. Everyone knows what is being built there, it's no secret. Just another disgrunted union follower I guess, trying to spread rumours. Monday, December 14, 2009 Merry Christmas to all you negative bloggers. The reality is that Rockwell is doing OK, taking share, making money and as a result its shareholders are benefitting and to the most part its employees are secure. And before you beef about senior management, just think who took a bath with no bonuses or pay raises. Rockwell Automation the Pride of Global Automation. Saturday, December 12, 2009 Well, everything is possible, right? Is it a big deal to build the Test facility in Mexico? (Did they do it in China?) At the end, It is what it is. We all hope that this info about condo-building is wrong, but... First time shut-down for Christmas, first time no bonus, stil no info about "Annual Dance", first time in Mexico? Saturday, December 12, 2009 - Question for Dec 11 -- "No Plant in Cambridge": How do you figure that one? Turnover in Mexico is at a rate of 4% a month Mexico cannot manufacture the specialized bus needed for MV Drives No testing facility in Mexico Friday, December 11, 2009 December 10, 2009 BAS-Merrill Lynch Conference, Presented by Kieth Nosbush. Fiscal 09 Sales $4.3B, 50% outside of US. 2010 EPS -2% to -9% Today's Focus: China, India, SE Asia, Latin America, emerging EMEA Importance of emerging markets: Growth rates 50% higher than in developed economies. Bottom Line: US manufacturing is on the decline, 30% of GNP 10 years ago, 20% now (before 2009). Keith talks about the importance of the survival of US manufacturing but is moving RA manufacturing out of the US. In his defense, our elected politicians supported free trade, allowing imports with no restrictions while the rest of the world protect their manufacturing. Kieth is looking out for the stockholders, that's his job. I don't like it, but until our elected officials do something to save manufacturing jobs in the US we'll be all be working in government sponsored health care or flipping burgers. As far as a buyer goes I've heard the rumors for 2+ years. The ONLY product they have worth buying is Logix. The new line of controllers coming out are the Samsung NX series of controllers from RA/Samsung. Software is in a state of confusion/transition, EOI (PV+ & PC's) unreliable, safety controllers (other than Logix) Omron & others, just re-branded. Don't look for a buyer, nothing worth buying. In the US they are hanging on to a dying market, Seimens doesn't even care about the US market anymore, all the growth is in Asia/Pacific. RA will survive as a global player for awhile as re-sellers; but in the end will fold like a card table, no legs to stand on. Friday, December 11, 2009 Huge news for Rockwell Cambridge: 2013 - NO PLANT WILL EXIST. Just saw plans for the NEW "facility" across the street from the Dundas plant, or what used to be the Dundas plant. Gone, and replaced with a nice Condo unit...interesting! The center of MVD excellence? More like the center of non-existence! Wednesday, December 2, 2009 All that glittera is not gold. The gem that Allen-Bradley once was is now a facade. The factory is an expensive warehouse. Vision 2000 beat us up for being vertically integrated. A million square feet of what? I'm sure the sales network is more valuable than the once iconic Milwaukee campus. Manufacturing expertise and quality, a humble beginning now means nothing to greedy CEO(s) and such. Wednesday, December 2, 2009 - Re - NHP's (Aus NZ) priority is to their customers not to Rockwell: Why would NHP risk losing a customer by making them wait 6-8 weeks for a part from the U.S when they can sell a better priced product which is pretty much available straight off the shelf. Go for the competition. So it's not a Rockwell product. Customer doesn't mind and NHP doesn't care, so long as the money's coming in from somewhere! Tuesday, December 1, 2009 If Rockwell is being bought, perhaps they will see the gem that is Allen Bradley and provide better management. It's about time that higher management gets "released" - they're the one's causing a lot of the issues by making decisions that do not help the business but continues to harm it. Tuesday, December 1, 2009 Hey folks, you’re getting bought. Tremendous down-sizing continues to occur, while the CEO has told the world that the industry has bottom out? There are few executives being release from management? All this points to the direction that the buying company has told Rockwell Automation Executive Management to get the work force reductions in place before we do the deal, and you will get considerations for further employment or incentives. Sunday, November 29, 2009 Sell direct? RA has more employees in sales and marketing than in engineering and production. The US economy can't stand all these unemployed blow-hard's out of work. RA is all about margin now, gave up on the market share at any cost model. Direct sales doesn't fit with increased margin. Sure you could save money by workforce reductions in sales and marketing, but the online sales model they have now doesn't work and the delivery and payment still goes through distribution. Eliminate sales/marketing/distribution and RA has to eat the bad debt that the distributors eat now. Ever tried to collect from a contractor? They also have to actually have something in stock to ship. Inventory cost money. Direct sales is not the answer. The answer is treat the customer right, the result will be happy stockholders and employees. Saturday, November 28, 2009 Rockwell has successfully rebranded Allen Bradley into Rockwell Automation. That is NOT a good thing, RA is NOT AB. The only thing saving RA is the distribution channel. They can't sell direct. The SAP roll-out doesn't even work for distribution, much less direct sales. Distributers have to buy from other distributers just to fill orders. RA doesn't have any stock to ship from. Customers complain all the time about the the reselling of rebranded product, no support, no stock. RA markets all the hype about supply chain and manufacturing efficiency but can't walk the walk. Why can't they use all their own software and integration expertise and deliver? Call RA tech support, the answer is: we'll get back to you once we call the vendor, we don't know how it works either. RA has no support at the district level, they fired everyone. If you want to buy direct and pay for support from India God bless you. That's just what RA is hoping for. Tuesday, November 24, 2009 The amazing thing is, Rockwell could turn everything back around over night. Customers love the product. Rockwell has gotten over the greatest hurdle for any product manufacturer, BRAND RECOGNITION. They have it. Customers know it & love it. All Rockwell have to do is figure out a way to get it to the customer without upsetting them so much. So, Rockwell, here's what I propose you do: Cut back on advertising, cut back on road shows and 'going on the road' annoyances. Fix your distribution problem by... OK, here's where I get stuck - I have no idea how you're going to do that bit... Hmmm, I know - SELL DIRECT! Sunday, November 22, 2009 Rockwell still has problems getting parts. It is done internally. Why don't they contract this out? Or at least try it. Who knows, it might work. They have spent a fortune trying different strategies on getting parts in, but we still have problems. This makes it hard to run a production factory, which leads to not getting orders out to our customers-who are our bread and butter. Sales are trying to do their job. Does anyone have the answer? SAP turning on in 2010. Thursday, November 19, 2009 All the marketing hype, territory reassignments, product launches and other noise doesn't mean a thing when you CAN'T SHIP PRODUCT. The combination of the SAP roll-out and the move to off-shore production has left the US market with missed/unknown product ship dates. We are given a date, when that passes we are given another date when we are to receive our orders, when that comes and goes we HAVE to go somewhere else. Guess what, your product is not that much better, even thou we usually have to pay more for RA "quality"? You can have the best product (even though the quality has also slipped), the best story, the best sales force, and the best distribution but if you can't deliver product on time you can't keep customers. RA management have come to visit and told us this was a short term hiccup but delivery just gets worse. Thursday, November 19, 2009 Don't think the person who thinks he knows Rockwell Australia numbers either knows, or is prone to telling the truth. If he can prove his statement, maybe we at Rockwell Australia will give him a big check as a reward. Needless to say, it's easy to make claims without having to identify yourself; he should be careful as he is making them in a public forum and may be forced to tell the truth. So for the sake of a useful blog, lets keep to the facts ,the truth and be ethical. That is how we all learn. Wednesday, November 18, 2009 New Zealand wasn't broken either Rockwell, but now you've really messed it up! Get rid of NHP before they take you all the way down. This is a total disaster. Rockwell, are you listening? Wednesday, November 18, 2009 Have you seen the latest on the NHP website? They (NHP) proudly spout that they were featured on the "7.30 Report" on the ABC. Well, apart from about five seconds of film showing NHP Teresaki circuit breakers, there was absolutely no mention of NHP. Maybe the point is that the close-up shot of these circuit breakers were the big deal. Hmm, wait a sec, I thought NHP were the Allen Bradley distributors (in part) here in Australia. How come NHP can promote Teresaki breakers when they are contracted to sell Allen Bradley? As an earlier blogger suggests - the tail wagging the dog? - absolutely. Tuesday, November 17, 2009 FY10 from Keith and leadership team - one time contribution to U.S. Salary 401K accounts is scheduled for Dec. 2, 2009. (on payroll Sept.30, 2009). The contribution will be equal to 1.69 percent of your annual eligible earnings as of Sept 25, 2009.(plus any overtime paid to you from Jan 1,2009 through Sept 30,2009.) We are able to do so because we have experienced some stabilization in the markets and in our fourth quarter of 2009 revenues, specifically in our product business. No mention of a wage increase until Dec. 2009.( for 2010). Tuesday, November 17, 2009 Rockwell, can you hear us? We are your customers from Australia. Can you hear us? If so, do us all a favour. Get rid of NHP and Inaco and put it back the way it was! It wasn't broken - why did you fix it? Monday, November 16, 2009 I work at the Dundas facility on the shop floor. There are a few things that concern me after sitting here and thinking about things. First thing: Last year we waited till December until we found out we had major cuts to our benefit package. When do we find out this Year? We will never get these cuts back; but the company will rebound and be in better shape on the other side. The other thing that made me think of is the consolidation of dept. 15 and 17. If you remember, we had a vote earlier in the year about whether we wanted dept seniority or plant wide seniority for posting for jobs. It has been a while, but obviously this shows that the company did not like the outcome of this vote. Why else would they combine the two largest departments? This is almost as hilarious as this skill-set nonsense. They want to choose who goes where. I wonder how much money this CI group got for capture the moment. I think there are a lot of backroom discussions on how to take from us without us knowing. They think we are stupid; sign that card before we lose all of our bargaining power! Monday, November 16, 2009 Well, Rockwell's Australia is the leading light for the Asia pacific region. Complete nonsense! Rockwell's sales are down $40 million AUS. Inaco and NHP are down $20 mill each, so how much damage have they really done to their market. Customers are leaving them in droves, and if it wasn't for the work that was done by the original Rockwell Distributors for Australia, their markets would be insignificant. NHP and Rockwell are consistently fighting and are not teaming to help customers, as in the past. Is it the tail wagging the dog? Yes, yes and Yes. The only winner is Schneider. They are sitting back saying, "Keep on fighting" while taking market share from Rockwell. Ethics, integrity some of the key words from the past, something that was part of Rockwell. Not any more. Sunday, November 15, 2009 - Responding to employee who worked for Inaco Australia: I too worked for that company. I thought I had a career at that place; I thought I had a chance to make a real difference - to begin with. BUT, working for those report-hungry micromanagers was a lesson in military school. I agree with the other post: terrible company to work for. Rockwell sells itself in Australia; you don't need to flog the sales staff to sell this. You need to have a better support structure in place. You need to listen to your customers, carry ample stock, pay your staff well, employ more internals, make sure the internals say HELLO to the customers with a happy tone. When the place runs well without even having one sales rep on the road, that is the time to look to the external sales force for growth. A message to Inaco: Just ask the customers this one question: "Do you like us?" A well oiled organisation can ask that question without hesitation. Sunday, November 15, 2009 The Rockwell Automation Fair went well, of course , but let's see customers spend money and place many $ orders. No doubt we can talk a good talk, but can we deliver a good, safe, quality product on time for the customer. Sustainability will prevail if we can do this. 2010 will be the revelation. Friday, November 13, 2009 All the buzz was positive at Automation Fair and I certainly saw more optimism. There was a lot of positive press about Asia and very much so about Australia leading the Global growth chart this year. I guess some of the earlier weblog commentators got it pretty wrong. Anyway great fair and my vote goes to Rockwell and thats all that counts to me. Thursday, November 12, 2009 As far as China goes, Rockwell needs to give all of the 2500 orders to China and Poland to do. Richland Center has all the bugs worked out of them, so they should be no problems with getting them out. At RC there are no defects or rework or engineered problems. What a great opportunity for China, if Keith would give them the work, which also would be cheaper. Brazil also does a great job on 2500. Thursday, November 12, 2009 - from attendee at Rockwell Automation Fair: Rockwell's automation fair another huge success. It's process users group rivaled most of its competitors. Keith has done a lot of behind-the-scenes work integrating the company. I have really seen that come together over the past three years. This is not only technology, but also attitudes, terminology and vision. I didn't know if they could do it, but there are many positive signs. Lots of challenges remain. Success in China and the rest of Asia is still far off - an essential component of its future success. But they're working on it. Wednesday, November 11, 2009 The question arises: Rockwell operations are now run by former GE personnel. Is the same model used at GE the correct model for Rockwell? I have no idea if the sales and marketing are GE related, but I do know that Operations is being run by former GE folks. Thoughts? Wednesday, November 11, 2009 Why is Rockwell spending so much time and money on Factorytalk, SAP etc. ? What was wrong with the old systems? 2010 they want everyone from sales to the factory floor and out to the customer to buy into Factorytalk. Why? What happens if it crashes, or does not work, or costs to much, or losea business? What if we fail? Is anyone else out there using Factory talk? How is it working? I get the impression that one size fits all. It seems one thing is for sure: it guarantees overtime. Just come to Richland Center and check the basement amat production area. 10 hr days, Sat and Sun, two shifts. The Plant Mgr calls it high level of company stuff. Charts are set up for standard, simple, plain, low dollar amounts) orders. What do you do when you have complex eng. orders? Wednesday, November 11, 2009 Rumor is that the next set of Allen-Bradley digital I/O cards will be reduced from 16 points to 14 points, as part of a cost saving measure. Customers who use :14 and :15 bits in their applications will be shocked to find that they do not work with the new hardware. Monday, November 9, 2009 I work at the Richland Center factory where we have laid off 300 people and have had contiuos overtime throughout the last 4 months, and we were told this will last for at least the rest of this year. Does anyone else see anything wrong with this picture? Leaves one to beleive that the current management team at RA in RC don't have clue on how to manage. During the last layoff in OCT. 09 we never missed a day overtime. Thursday, November 5, 2009 Another day at the Rock comes and goes, rumors are rampant. The truth escapes the employees. Manufacturing in Milwaukee is dead - almost gone completely. No signs of life whatsoever. Plant manager or any management "No clue". They couldn't build a widget if their life depended on it. Firm up the shareholder support? Go to the Automation Fair. So sad. Thursday, November 5, 2009 I've left Inaco (distributor for Rockwell - Sydney & Brisbane, Australia) probably the world's worst company anyone would want to join. So, for me to say this is pretty big (as I no longer have anything to do with Rockwell). But, I gotta say, all this mudslinging towards Rockwell makes me think that there's some "bee in the bonnet" on this website about this company. From what I could tell, Rockwell have some huge strengths. Why continue to say "it's all over"? Wednesday, November 4, 2009 Lots of strong news coming out of Rockwell about them being sold. Coincidence: ABB moving their Control Division from Texas to New Berlin, just outside Milwaukee? Siemens AG cutting funding to Siemens USA to make a big purchase? Worlds seem to be aligning and possible colliding for the possible break-up of Rockwell Automation. Rockwell Stock at a 2yr high in a down market? Rockwell Automation upper management already planning to move on as their resumes are and have been on the street. There will be another anouncement of another Rockwell RIF to come before the new year. Watch for the next wave. Thursday, October 29, 2009 Rockwell Software has what they call Regional Information Managers, Software Solution Managers or some other hyped up title in charge of rallying the RA sales guys & distribution troops to sell the Pavilion, Inquity and Datasweep products. Mostly they send out emails looking for leads and pushing product features internally. My guess is if someone bought RSI, or they were spun-off, they would end up with these products and this highly skilled(?) salesforce. The real money is in the integration services, not the software. Dell and Xerox have recently bought companies that specialize in delivering end-to-end integration. The problem with RA is they have shed the integration arm of these formerly strong software companies to appease the shareholders in these tough times. They have to subcontract the integration to "partners" who have no clue how it should work. Another "growth by acquisition" strategy that has failed. Tuesday, October 27, 2009 IT IS WHAT IT IS... RA Cambridge now has released a successull burn down plan to catch up on the back log of MV drives. All the tools were put in place and now there will be FOCUS on better production. It can be done. It was done. It will be done. Last time there were 75 drives done. The only differences then were another full shift, 40 manpower employees, unlimited overtime, and a much better working environment. It is what it is, though. We will succeed. Tuesday, October 27, 2009 Don't read into this more than you should. Rockwell Software has no independent channel, so it is essentially valueless/dead outside of the Rockwell umbrella. Or, if it were to be sold off, it would be at a fraction of what Rockwell paid for the pieces and parts. Also, many of the execs at Rockwell Software are actively looking for new opportunities as they see the writing on the wall. Sunday, October 25, 2009 So are the former RSI products like FactoryTalk View, AssetCentre, RSSQL & Metrics part of the Architecture and Software Business within AB and not part of RSI anymore? Friday, October 23, 2009 Rockwell Software has officially decided to move its headquarters to Austin, Texas from Milwaukee, Wisconsin. When Ralph Carter (President of Pavilion Technology which was an acquisiton) took over for Keven Roach (who left the company) he refused to relocate to Milwaukee from Austin. Since then, there has been several reorganizations within the Architecture and Software business which effectively pared down the size of Rockwell Software to include just the acquired companies of Pavilion, Inquity and Datasweep. The rest of the software business moved into another organization. As of last week, the announcement came out that the Rockwell Software headquarters would move to Austin and that a few of the Milwaukee based folks would be offered a relocation package to move to Austin and the remainder would be let go in February 2010. Several of the folks offered relocation turned it down so they are now scheduled to be in the group to be let go in Feb. unless they can find a new home in Rockwell before then. It sure seems that there is a possibility that Rockwell Automation is setting this up either to sell or spin the group off in the near future. The return on the acquisitions has not materialized as expected. The charter for the acquisition was to let them run as independently as possible and see if they can mount a pile of revenue using the distribution channel of Rockwell Automation. Well, the results may just be coming in and the management of Rockwell Automation is not impressed. It just goes to show that talking about a good plan, but leaving it up to the acquisitions to execute it, does not work either. It looks like another acquisition plan gone wrong at Rockwell Automation. Time will tell. Wednesday, October 21, 2009 - JOBS: Rockwell is looking for Production Supervisor and Quality Manager. Quality manager is on Rockwell web posted; Production Supervisor is not. Both are salary jobs career band. Production Supervisor: Associate degree in supervisory management, electronics, materials management or related field. 4 years degree in industrial engineering, industrial technology or electrical engineering highly desirable. Experience Requirements: Previous supervisory/engineering experience desirable with degree, or four years experience in supervision/engineering or similar position in lieu of an associate degree. Rockwell has someone in mind in the plant; for some reason this job is not posted outside of the plant? Why? Times are slow in a tough economy and we are still hiring management? If interested, apply at Richland center. A lot of people are looking for jobs. Monday, October 19, 2009 - Why would anyone want to buy this company? ABB would have to be careful of AB/Rockwell pension dollar amount. Next year the 2010 club members retire; this was when Uncle Rock drew a line in the sand for - those certain group of people who are included in the severancve package deal.(dec31,2005) early retirement - they could save money if they cut it short. Monday, October 19, 2009 - Ref to the film "the corporation": Compelling and truthful. I left this company after many years of the Corporate people turning a blind eye to everything, and talking out of the sides of their mouths. In ref to the environmental fines of paying out the millions, this was very hush-hush throughout the company and we could not talk about this among ourselves. Corporations have an allegance to profits and shareholders, not to their workers or to our country. "Globalization" prevents our government from enforcing laws on those corporations. Friday, October 16, 2009 Everyone should watch "The Corporation" video from the Oct.15th posting. If you think RA is bad, wait until you watch this. A company actually bought the water rights in Bolivia and it was illegal for the population to collect rainwater to drink, it was legally owned by the corporation who bought the rights. Learn how corporations and governments think and work. Thursday, October 15, 2009 At Richland Center warmups in the morning, our supervisor told us we have a 80% part shortages. You wonder how something like this could happen, and why do they make charts and graphs on this problem. They have been doing lean activities and 5s and SAP to make us a better-run fine-tuned company. But if you can't get parts in here on time for customer's orders, then what are we doing here? Every month the amount to ship-out is getting less and less. This month they want 5.8 mil. We will have to slam it out in the last two weeks of the month, maybe. I can remember when buyer planners were in Milwaukee and they moved it to Richland Center because it is cheaper and supposed to make parts problems disappear. But guess what? Nothing has changed. 3/4 of our parts are made in Mexico. They package them up and send them to Richland Center. We assemble them at RC into a motor control center. Oh, this is not the first time an order was supposed to be built in RC and was built in Tecate. Customers have come to RC to witness test, or inspect orders that were built at Tecate. I find it interesting that some of the help go to Tecate to inspect there work, the person in Tecate has been in test and inspection longer than the person they are sending. Hmmm... interesting. It looks like if customers are willing to go to Tecate and buy from Tecate, there should be no problem. Rockwell wants more customers to believe in their product, no matter where it is made. Lets see how this witnessed-test works out again for the customer.... Thursday, October 15, 2009 For those who are interested, there's some information out there that may help you understand why corporations behave the way they do. A good book would be "The Corporation: The Pathological Pursuit of Profit and Power" by Joel Bakan. Joel is a Law Professor and gives a good history of corporations and how they've evolved. The books is available on Amazon.com. Here is the link: The Corporation: The Pathological Pursuit of Profit and Power, by Joel Bakan A good movie based on the book is also available to watch on Google video. You can watch it for free; same title. Here's the link: Video - The Corporation As a previous blogger had said, some have left because of their morals and personal integrity. If anything, seeing information available out there can at least give you some assurance that it's not only you that feel this way. The sad thing is that some think that if you don't agree with the corporate way of thinking, there must be something wrong with you. That's dangerous because it implies pathological thinking is the norm. Thursday, October 15, 2009 The problem is that Don Davis and Keith Nosbusch see their actions as good business practices. Nosbusch's income in 2008 was $5.22 Million; $2.45 Million of that was in stock gains; $1.10 Million was bonus. Yet they have to charge employees 25 cents for a Styrofoam cup. Their focus is that the value of the stock is the product. That's where the attention is. Over time, it works like a pyramid scheme in that things look OK for a period of time. Then it all starts to fall apart. The real growth only comes through an increase in sales, retaining customers, valuing employees. And all of that is contingent on having a good product in the first place. It doesn't appear as if they care, particularly if they intend to sell. It's a cash cow for them personally, as opposed to real leadership to steer the company in the right direction. It's become the norm, and it rots the country from the inside. The real integrity is long gone. This isn't the only company who's slid down that path. I guess what I'm saying is that the thinking is wrong, and when your thinking is wrong, but you think it's right, it's almost a lost cause. Like the alcoholic who's in denial, until he realizes that, things won't change. Thursday, October 15, 2009 - referring to Oct 14, "MCC built in Tecate even though the Customer expressed "must be built in RC": This is due to too MANY yes people that will not take a stand. We are curious to know if the new person transferring orders challenged the transfer request to Tecate and "stood on the desk of his boss or bosses boss" and questioned the decision. I know the previous person would have not only questioned it, but would have put it in writing disagreeing with the decision. Thursday, October 15, 2009 - ref the Oct 10 input: Rockwell RC has laid off over 300 employess (public info on local radio earlier this week) reasons given art the "economy". For those that work there, or other companies if they do not agree with production work in Mexico, China, Brazil or other countries, the only advice is: don't work for a company that takes any production away from their American workers. I personally know of individuals that have either quit or retired, that quietly chose to do this. And I know that this has an impact to their income. But they chose their morals on the principles of right conduct, rather than on legalities or customs of the company they worked for. The CEO's of many large companies are answering to their shareholders that usually have so much money they don't know what to do with it and are not thinking of the American workers. If a CEO cashed in $10.1m before the September 2008 market downfall, $3.1m December 2008 in addition to the $5.1m in salary for 2008, in addition to other perks (insurance, vacation, travel) - but the employees had no cost adjustment, no match to 401k, and had to give up "x" days a year without pay in addition to other losses, what does this say about a CEO of any company? The earnings of companies and their executives is generally public info and can be found on several public websites or company profile and earnings sites. Wednesday, October 14, 2009 The pending sale only makes sense. There are very few products design by Rockwell anymore; a majority of the products in their catalog are brand labeled. The business systems were converted to SAP so they can be assimilated into any modern business. The liberal distribution of "needs improvement" means that 10% of the work-force for years saw no merit increase. Holding wages low for older workers hoping to reach the brass ring of a pension, only to be harassed out the door or laid off to limit their pension liability. Don Davis and Keith Nosbusch should be ashamed of their actions to benefit their own interests above the good of a once great Motor Control Company. Wednesday, October 14, 2009 The truth came out today about a MCC order that was built in Tecate, even though the customer requested that the order was not to be built in Mexico. Now the customer is very upset and Richland Center is scrambling to send an inspector to Tecate to check for any quality issues. I can't believe this. So, I guess this phrase "customer satisfaction" is lost on upper management. This is not the first time they tried to get away with this stunt, and it won't be the last. RC has rebuilt a couple of orders within the last couple of months due to the fact that the customer does not want any product coming out of Mexico. I wish I could post some of the customer comments from the field reports that back this info up. Upper management must be turning a blind eye to this or they just don't care. I wonder if some of the other facilities are getting the same feedback? Tuesday, October 13, 2009 Public information released on our local radio station today stated that over 300 employees have lost their jobs at the Richland Center facility. This means there are 200+ left in the facility. Keith Nosbusch needs to find another home; he is "complacent" and is only protecting his job for retirement. He has nothing to worry about since when the contracts are negotiated for CEO's, and their contracts protect their families and themselves to the max! Monday, October 12, 2009 Interesting news from JimPinto's eNews No. 273 - 12 October 2009 For sale: Rockwell - whether they like it or not. Invensys - whether they like it or not. Their pension planwas under funded, and was a poison-pill for potential buyers. Honeywell - the Process Systems Division is likely to be divested by a hungry-for-growth-and-glory CEO Dave Cote. Other (than GE) Buyers : ABB - Joe Hogan (ex-GE) would find GE's Automation businesstoo small. He is more likely to be focused on Rockwell. ABB has the cash, and Joe Hogan needs to make a move. A bigger ABB would create a global alternative to Siemens. Siemens, the largest industrial company, has never been ableto make a successful acquisition. They'll be in the bidding. Schneider - one of the winners during this decade. They couldwant GE's software business to add to Citect. They may also bein the market for DCS player. Invensys would be a good fit and make Schneider a world player in software and Process Control. (Click)- GE will emerge as next big automation player Saturday, October 10, 2009 As of now, over 200 hundred workers have lost their jobs since the start of 2009 at the Richland Center facility, to go along with other plant layoffs or closings in North America. Richland Center is a small town of about 5000 and Rockwell is one of the major employers in the surrounding area. Management likes to use the economy as the reason, but when questions are asked if the plants in Mexico are laying off, upper management likes to use the phrase "we are all hurt by the poor economy". This is all lies by Keith NOBsbusch. The truth is that the company has spent millions on the facilities in Mexico to get them up and running and will continue to do so because of the cheap labor and what they have invested in their "globalization vision". Thursday, October 8, 2009 Does it really surprise anyone that Tecate would reject any product other than their own? 'Course not, they want our jobs. They reject our stuff, but they can't build a handle or a switch to save their life. Don't see us playing those games. There is enough work for everyone -- you keep the standard stuff and we'll keep the engineer stuff. Thursday, October 8, 2009 So this is how the game is played in Tecate, Mexico: reject all products coming from Cambridge even though there is really nothing wrong with them, and maybe head office will close Cambridge and move all the jobs to Mexico. Boy, it sure is getting harder and harder to care anymore up here. How about permanent layoffs and severance packages now? Lots of us would dance out the door. Cannot afford to just quit, but would accept severance pay and a permanent layoff with a big smile. Wednesday, October 7, 2009 Nothing going on here in Cambridge yet - only rumours. We'll have to see what happens; everyone is waiting for the ball to drop. Wednesday, October 7, 2009 So we see Richland has suffered the infamous RIF. What are the other casualties of the further "cost savings"? I've yet to see any postings from Cambridge, Twinsburg or any of the other Rockwell facilities that pop up here regularly. Wednesday, October 7, 2009 Hi, so here in Cambridge it is October 6 and our fearless leader has not even came to thank us for our efforts at year end. This guy couldn't care less, in fact he does not serve the best interest here in Cambridge. So the petition has gone around to the hourly employees to sign and than be presented to headoffice because if we hear "This is how we do it in Mexico" one more time, then all hell will break out. So the union was outside the doors again and management wonders why. "If I want a guy in a certain shift I just move them there, thats what we do in Mexico". Guys, we are all adults working here. Please treat us like it and maybe put someone in charge the wants to be here and stay here, not a guy worried about weather. Down for 6 hours today at work. Why no engineer on off-shifts to approve anything? Tuesday, October 6, 2009 - in response to weblog, Thursday, October 1, 2009: The new scheduler that was hired does NOT have a clue. If anyone does not understand the term "wet behind the ears" let me tell you a few. Does chaos, panic and major disorder ring clear since he does not understand when orders need to be adjusted to the proper locations, does not understand updating the systems to inform all when orders are transferred, does not understand mains and internals, CIRCE functions, intricate scheduling and forced entry processes and does not know a 2100 from a 2500, does not communicate to the parties that need to know. We can go on and on to include correct forecasting for all parties. What the heck were they thinking? Or was this another "we will take what is behind door number 3" just to see what they would get? Who ever hired this person should re-examine the qualification issues or maybe this is the "yes" person they needed to support the connection of lost reality! OMG I dread going to work, and can hardly force myself anymore after these years. For my dear co-workers that have retired or were laid off, I wish I were in their shoes, but cannot since my spouse lost a full-time job recently and is working part time for us to struggle on. Be assured though, this is not an office; it is like hell with fluorescent lighting. Tuesday, October 6, 2009 Actually, the entire executive management team at RA needs to be replaced. How this group has managed to remain in place is beyond comprehension. New fresh blood is desperately needed. Monday, October 5, 2009 20 years ago it was common practice to bring "in house" as many outside services as possible. It eliminated the logistics problems and gave much more control over the quality of the product. I never, ever understood the whole "outsourcing" idea. What good is buying something in China for $10 if it costs you an additional $15 to process and/or service the purchase? Make it here for $25, or if you're smart, $20. The cheapest is never the best. Monday, October 5, 2009 I have to agree with the comment from Oct 4. It's time to bring someone in that has vision. We have no vision, no path and no clue in what we're doing. While most large American companys are bringing stuff back to be built in America, we continue to send them overseas. We need someone at the top who can lead us into the next decade. The employees do care about the company and want to see it succeed. Give Keith his parachute and let's move forward. Sunday, October 4, 2009 It is simple - it's time for Keith Nosbusch to go. He just has it wrong. It's time he gave others a chance to restore this company. Sunday, October 4, 2009 - from the ex-Intecolor Guy: Thank you for recognizing how loyal we were to our customers. If I can share a quick story. One customer had a minor problem with his console. (I was a Systems Engineer, I conceptually designed the consoles and quoted them.) Since I had no idea how we designed this particular feature that was presenting the problem, I wanted to see it first hand. I took a trip to this customers site. As I was there, they asked about making a change to the console. (unrelated to the seal problem) It would involve a new door, and charging for it. Long story short, I sketched the new door, customer agreed to pay for the change, and get this...was so impressed that I actually traveled to his site to solve his problem, he ordered an additional 6 consoles..! Saturday, October 3, 2009 - Energy Saving Campaign: Why do we have to run every time after Siemens? We don´t have products with regenerative power supplies like Drives and Kinetix. So where´s the value for our customers? Focus and develop on strength, don´t try to copy our competition. Friday, October 2, 2009 Rockwell Automation's problem is it's past. As Rockwell International, the defense and aerospace giant, they made a living off Government contracts. Oh, sorry about the delays and cost overruns, I'll need some more taxpayer dollars. Rocket failed on launch and destroyed communications satellite, Oops, we can make you another one but it's going to be 25% more. By the way Senator here's a nice campaign contribution, thanks, keep the work coming. Rockwell Automation's customers and employee's are a dime a dozen, they can afford to loose a few, after all, they grow on tree's don't they? There's an endless supply in this big world. They've already bled the North American customers, it's onward and upward to India and China. Friday, October 2, 2009 - To the Ex-Intercolor employee: Here is how Rockwell treated the customers you were loyal to: We had a fairly large installed base of Intecolor PC's. We were having a high rate of failure with one model. I ask our RA salesman if there was a problem with these PC's. He stated he personally spoke with the RA product manager and there no know issues, but we could get still get them repaired (for a cost of course, they were out of warranty). I called someone I knew at Intecolor and was told these units all had a common problem and Intecolor had been fixing them for free before RA bought them. I presented this information to our RA sales guy who was suprised but did do the legwork to get them repaired for us. He was getting the screws put to him just like we were. The product manager just wanted to sell more PC's, to hell with the sales guy, just throw him under the bus and let him deal with the customer. Of course this is the same product manager who tells all the RA salesmen how dependable the VersaViews are. What a company! Friday, October 2, 2009 It took four people to replace the one person that was let go from Richland Center order processing. Also we are still getting behind, because those four people are not as familar or as fast and precise. Customer's complain that they do not get their orders on time. 2/3 of the orders are being sent to Tecate or Monterrey. Moterrey are a lot of GE guys from their plant. What is happening is out of our hands; they have something called the leadership team that is making decisions, that way you can not blame any one person. 68 hourly people gone soon, with no supervisors or group leader cuts. RA combine some of there product lines, but not at RC yet. 2500 is done in Brazil, China, Poland and still at RC. They are more concerned about 5s and taping the floor and garbage cans, tool boxes etc. SAP should develop some day? Friday, October 2, 2009 - To the RC comments on 10/2: The plant manager had no influence on the Milwaukee closing. The closing has been planned and underway for several years. The union environment and cost are the reason's for the closure of Milwaukee. Who else from a salary standpoint was let go in RC? Friday, October 2, 2009 - To the engineer posting Oct.1: Rockwell seems to have the mentality that a job, or position, is just some description. The personal attention given to it by an experienced person doesn't seem to enter into their business "model". A perfect example is all the failed acquisitions in the posting before yours. They seem to think you can buy success. The reality is that any organization succeeds or fails as a direct result of the mix of individuals within it. I was a casualty of Intecolor about 12 years ago. We had a very successful company, and like you, I was one of the very few who actually thought RA buying us was a good idea. (Meaning I thought Rockwell was a top notch company) Unfortunately we all found out they operated more like the mafia than a respected company. Friday, October 2, 2009 - RC cutbacks 68 hourly and 5 salary: OMG, one of the salary people that processed incoming orders in Operations was let go, she was the last one! Who's brain child was this? We have orders to be processed and release to assembly but no one with the expertise to process them for production, other than a few people that came up to do them part time. Our puppet managers go into their offices and close the doors and are hanging on for dear life. Our supervisors, who do they supervise? Not many people left. Our grim reaper plant manager will not even give us how many people have been let go in the past year. BTW, the word in the shop is he was the driving force of the close of the manufacturing facility in Milwaukee. How can the Rockwell management team look at their faces in the mirror at the end of the day? They tell us the economy is the reason. Hello, it added up to bad management decisions at the top. It cost us some very dear customers that took years to get, and of course the CEO would not admit to his wrongs, so everyone else suffers the fallouts. But do not be deterred to much; we still have Lean people left to suck up the money and our retirement pay. Shame on all of the management, from top on down, to poor decisons or not taking a stand and challenging those in charge. Friday, October 2, 2009 Guys, I don't work for Rockwell and I believe the majority of automation companies suffer similar problems. The company that I work for has interesting problems I would live to share: Clueless Management: I don’t want high management that knows everything about Bits and Bytes, the problem is the complete lack of market knowledge (competition, trends, customer, technologies). Clueless people are worst than stupid ones. The VP fever: Now everybody is VP. The guy (sometimes the clueless one above) the guy has nobody under his structure and even no team is a VP! Excess of arrogance: Worst than a clueless manager is that arrogant clueless guy that believes that knows something. Unfortunately some of them fake some know-how based on Google search; and the majority of them become expatriate where their good life sucks up the company profits Problem: The clueless manager believes in the arrogant clueless guy because the clueless guy mixes trivia with arrogance to sell intelligence (and of course the clueless guy buys that. Because he is clueless !) More MBAs and Less PhDs (equal to more Powerpoints and less solutions). Virtual solutions: Brands, Mottos and etc… ; Taking 20 years solutions and invoke values like green, energy, performance and KPIs Thursday, October 1, 2009 In May 09, a long-time co worker retired from the RC facility. (She was offered another job she could not turn down). Her announcement came as a total shock to many. Even though she had over 34 years of service to AB/Rockwell, she was the 2100 Master Scheduler and had the pulse of everything that was coming in, going out (RC) (Tecate) and (Monterrey) bill of material issues, IT problems with orders, order runs and also had some involvement with Canada when directed. She managed all forecasts and dollar operations and scheduled all engineer orders. She had to manage order uploads prior to 6:00 a.m. to about 4:00 p.m. daily, some nites at the plant until 6:00 or 7:00 p.m. to insure orders were being placed to the proper locations and bill of materials not being duplicated on the next day runs. (No she was not paid extra for those hours). She knew how to fix the problems, or knew who to contact and send in writing to get the problems fixed for all orders going to those locations. As an engineer here in Milwaukee, we miss those communications, understanding and someone keeping us in check. When she retired another back-up person took over and did about 75% up to par. Then RC hired a young person with no experience in Master Scheduling cannot seem to get up early enough to manage the new orders coming in over-night and quite a mess since sometimes the orders are being built more than once and bill of materials cut in two locations. He does not seem to get that Tecate and Monterrey are in different time zones, or that he bit off more than he can chew. In addition to this they placed him in Milwaukee and the paperwork all cuts in RC. Talk about common sense - who thought this one up? I wished we had our Master Scheduler up there in RC; she KNEW how to manage orders and "stick to her guns". Unfortunately this is how RA has operated in the past few years - by not trying to keep the employees that they have invested the thousands of dollars in. As one of the newer engineers with less than 10 years, I am so frustrated. I believed I was hired for a top notch company, and I was dead wrong. Thursday, October 1, 2009 These are just a few of the failures since RA bought AB. Bought Icom, their major software competition, took Winlinx and renamed it RSLinx which is a really a Windows skin on AB Interchange. Took the WinView name and rebranded ControlView on Windows to RSView32, both came from Dynapar in Canada who made the original Panelview and Dataliner. We won’t even mention FactoryTalkView. Intercolor PC’s, now VersaViews, massive recall on hard drives, 10% out-of-box failures, 50% don’t make it 2 years. Entek IRD, the vibration monitoring company, now called Dynamix, packaged the product in Flex IO plastic, gutted all the Entek people so no support. PanelView Plus, a CE based Operator Interface, the first version was so bad they didn’t even release it; the second version had another massive recall for compact flash cards. Almost as bad as the Versaview, very high failure rate. And my favorite the PocketLogix, an Hp CE device they put a CE version of RSlogix 500 on, they dropped it a year later. Current history is mostly software related, Bizware Scheduler, bought the company, fired everyone, no ongoing development or support. Something they call Plantmeterics, same story. The latest is VantagePoint, bought a company named Incuity, they haven’t ravaged the company yet, still trying to get it “integrated” into the FactoryTalk platform before they do. Current philosophy, buy a company with a strong product, rebrand it, fire everyone from the original company and live off it's past merits in the name of growth by acquisition. Thursday, October 1, 2009 RIFs coming to Rockwell Software next Tuesday. They are moving the headquarters offically to Austin, Texas, so several Milwaukee folks will be drawing the short straw. Thursday, October 1, 2009 Another round of RIF in Richland Center today. 68 hourly and 5 Salary Thursday, October 1, 2009 We just heard that our Rockwell Tech. Support guy was laid off today. As tough as it is going to be for him, it's tough being the customer when technical support for a big project disappears and we are left high and dry. Thursday, October 1, 2009 So how many more were pushed out the door yesterday? This is an annual activity at Rockwell with their year ending Sept. 30. Thursday, October 1, 2009 Deliberate ploy on the cutbacks - no matching 401k, no merit or cost adjustments, raised insurance costs for retirees, and the 75 to 85 point requirement for retirement a few years ago. These changes force people to leave the company voluntarily and then they don't have to worry about long term insurance and pension adjustments. It is normal for companies to make changes every 20 years or so. Wednesday, September 30, 2009 To: Keith Nosbusch Re: Cambridge If you take out the blackbelts you put in, the building works. And we know, that you know. It is profitable. Remember where the vfd's came from? And we are proud of it! Quit dancing around the sombrero and give us the support we need. We are right here, and it works. And you know it! Wednesday, September 30, 2009 - To the person who wrote the sarcastic comments on Tuesday: I guess you left Rockwell and joined another supplier, so now Rockwell are competition to you. I left Rockwell many years ago and have been a customer ever since, not only of Rockwell but other suppliers. True, there has been mistakes at Rockwell - in my view it's down to over aggresive sales targets in areas where they do not have fundamental capability - with the inevitable conclusion of not reaching customer expectations. In areas where Rockwell do have capability, I think they have easily matched other suppliers - many of whom also talk a good game but are poor on deliverables. As a customer now, with no vested interest in Rockwell, I find many of these blogs to be candid. This shows that many of the employees do passionately care about Rockwell enough to write the blogs. They only want to improve the situation. How many in your company care enough? Do they all "whistle while they work?" We are all in a deep recession and I hope you can all concentrate on delivering good customer service to your customers, and by listening to your passionate employees. Tuesday, September 29, 2009 I wonder if the Bradley brothers are resting peacefully, with all this turmoil and torment going on in the company they created? What a shame, an Icon like Allen Bradley going this way. Tuesday, September 29, 2009 Wow, I really wish I worked for this great American company. These blogs paint a fantastic picture. Strong leadership, great strategy, people centric, great products and technology, highly customer centric approach, etc... Sorry my mistake... I got that wrong... posted on the wrong blog! B.T.W. I know that senior management in Rockwell do look at these blogs.... So keep them coming... Maybe one day they will realise how deep these feelings run inside the company. Not that they will do anything about it, other than trying to track the bloggers down and publicly flog them ;-) Also... check out Linkedin - you'll see how many old RA folks have really landed on their feet. Life is far better outside the clock tower, away from the nobs that run the company. Monday, September 28, 2009 Doesn't anyone get it? All the cut backs to salary's / 401K/ yearly increases/ layoffs, doesn't anyone get it, and the stock continues to go up. They are up for sale for sure this time, and the golden parachutes will be deployed soon. They are cutting back to be sold. Its eaither ABB or Emerson. ABB has the ability to bring the rest of the global into the PLC world and they are respected overseas. Emerson has a strong product line with limited exceptance overseas and support unlke ABB. The RA management will soon all be gone. Their market share has been going down year after year with out RA concern. They continue to make the fat checks. Look out below the mud slide may run you over. Sunday, September 27, 2009 Until now, I have resisted contributing to this Weblog, but now feel compelled to write, especially as the subject of the Services & Solutions Business (SSB aka MPS) has been raised by a previous blogger. For their worth, here are my observations as to why notably in the UK the SSB business continues to freefall downwards: Pivotal to the UK Solutions Business is the issue of Leadership. The current UK based SSB Business Unit Manager has, since 2006, continued to bluff and blame his way through, demonstrating it's only his survival [finances & his politics] that matter. At the same time, this viewpoint has allowed the suitably titled Business Unit Mgr. (B.U.M.) to hoodwink and lord his ignorance (using his fake American accent) over SSB industry sectors, customers, end clients, ongoing projects and his own workforce (sympathies). Significant loss of business occurred when the European matrix based 'Silo' structure (as opposed to country-centric services model) was fashioned at the end of FY2006, beginning FY07. From that point on, commerce for the UK Solutions Business collapsed. Couple this with a total lack of customer focus and weakness in understanding of each EMEA country’s customer base (by the other countries within the SSB EMEA region) then no wonder this ill-advised strategy has failed to deliver. The middle management within Solutions Sales (at EMEA level for the UK) is abysmal. High prices are 'normal' for SSB. Excessive profit margins [otherwise called greed], disproportionate layers of management [causing gross overhead costs] plus high internal labour rates [frantically being negated by outsourcing software engineering to either India or China running consequent risks to quality] are to blame. The company mantra of "Listen, Think, Solve" is being applied solely to protect the interests of Rockwell; leaving the needs of its dwindling customers either ignored or left till last. To sum up, RA must have leadership with the skills, acumen and one-to-one business sense to regain lost trade rather than the current management (HR included) that seem to extol at implementing the negative measures and the layoffs seen by many. Sadly, as long as certain SSB/MPS EMEA hierarchy & middle management remain in place then the situation just won’t change**. What a mess. Sigh. ** Maybe this is all a deliberate ploy. If so, then this would seem to answer the question that one blogger asked over whether SSB/MPS is somehow deliberately being manoeuvred in order not to survive. Sunday, September 27, 2009 Last week a group of Milwaukee executives visited the Cambridge plant and spent 2 hours with a randomly selected group of salaried employees (non-management) in what they called an "Active Listening" session. The questions related to employee engagement, and employees were asked to give honest, open answers. Whether they were ready for it or not, this is exactly what they got. The message was clear. The Cambridge facility is broken because of inept and backwards management practices. So to the Milwaukee executives: you listened, we hope you heard us and now it's your turn. You have the power and ultimately, the responsibility to the company, stakeholders and customers to make this right. We need action and it doesn't involve balloons and streamers in the cafeteria. And if you need a second opinion, set up the same session with the hourly folks who actually build the product. Sunday, September 27, 2009 WOW! Is anyone listening? And when I say "anyone", I mean Keith and his band of merry men? It looks like the sentiments are the same, no matter where you are geographically. There is a huge gap between what the workers are saying, and what Keith is being told by the people surrounding him. Rockwell Automation needs a big shake up. There are too many groups pulling for themselves, but no one pulling collectively. On any given day, one has to decide which company they are answering to today. Is it Operations, is it Materials, is it Engineering? And where does the customer fit in all of this? Saturday, September 26, 2009 The last blogs are all too correct, unfortunatley. At the Cambridge plant, some managers are not too skilled in their managerial efforts, while "team leads" are doing most of the managing, or what they might think is managing. Working team leads are what was supposed to be. But in essence, there are power-hungry and ego-inflated people who forget what a team lead is. Instead of leading and ensuring everyone is CAPABLE of doing the job, with proper tools, parts, training, confidence, team work, engineering support, and their best interest, these people sit down, walk around trying to intimidate workers, and pushing small weights around. One dept. is run by a person (I will not say manager, as this person is clearly not suited for management) that cannot speak a coherent sentence ... it has become an ISSUE. People dread going to meetings, trying to ask questions that get the exact same answer all the time, that has NOTHING to do with the question asked. It is quite obvious that his homeland is his target and objective while here "managing" the plant. All workers are keen on his lack of interest for the Cambridge plant's best interest. This bothers alot of people, and so it should. While he is running around trying to catch people with an unsigned cart caddy, he and all others turn their heads to REAL safety issues, assembly issues, traning issues, etc... If only the customers knew the ridiculous ways these machines are built, with ZERO training, unknowledgeable staff, tools that are meant for backyard garages, etc, the list goes on.... About tools: this company cannot even provide proper tools that have been requested, literally, for the last three years. A green belt project was given out, which to me, means a system has been implemented that works, saves money and is effective. Yet, a year later are now in the works of another tool project. Maybe I should lay down some lines, mop a floor, and put a nice big 6S star above my head, and see how much of a bonus I get this year. Oh wait, no, the favorites allready are picked and Keith says no to Bonus', except his own! Saturday, September 26, 2009 I will say goodbye to RA after more than 20 years of service. It's ridiculous that they will keep on with the head-count cut while paying out bonuses for plans that 'have achieved certain performance levels'. What are those plans? I bet one of them is the 'cost saving plan' -- you just killed so many good employees to get your bonus... Saturday, September 26, 2009 Keith needs to take a good look at the managers that are milking this company dry and get rid of the whole lot of them. From experience in Twinsburg we have the most incompetent managers that I can ever recall.( Thanks for hiring all the Ford boys.) There are also a number of Supervisors that need to go too. From Black Belts destroying processes so you cannot even do your job effiencent, but then wondering why the production isn't at levels where it should be. Hello look in the mirror, management.Wake up and listen to what the employee's are telling you. A lot of people feel that we are being set up for failure by this management team. This once great company that was a joy to work for, has now become a stress driven machine that has no idea what it is doing or where it is headed. Management needs to change . Hey. Keith how about a visit to Twinsburg for a meeting with the employees without any management present? I doubt that will happen. Saturday, September 26, 2009 Well now that Keith has communicated the wage reductions, no 401K match, forced days off and likely no merit increase again this year, it is time to depart this once great company. On my 5th anniversary with this company they will receive my resignation. Do I have another job? Not yet; but I can not sit in the office any longer and see what is happening around me. It would be best for me personally to get out now and not continue the stress that is driven by poor management. Several of the VP/GMs need to get kicked out as they are sucking the company dry with some of the worst mismanagement of resources and an even poorer selection of strategic projects. I would strongly encourage some direct meetings with grass-roots employees and skip the management levels. There are some outright lies being told throughout the management ranks. There are very poor management people that are holding back true innovation because they feel it has not been "socialized". To the 30+ year employees who are VPs: please do us all a favor and retire. The company can not continue to operate the way you did so many years ago. You sit back and wonder why the 20 & 30-somethings are not staying with the company. All you need to do is look in the mirror. You are the problem in most cases. Where is the new blood in the senior management ranks? And I am not talking about new management in the support organizations. I am talking about within the product-development ranks, in particular the VP/GMs in the Architecture and Software groups. These folks (other than CVB) are would never rise to the top of any other company. The SSCB VP is an absolutely miserable people-manager and is extremely short sighted. The I2O VP is over his head and needs to go back to marketing. The Portfolio VP has no clue when it comes to his area of responsibility. The MTC VP is more a finance person than an engineering leader. Come on Rockwell Automation. Get it together. Friday, September 25, 2009 I am writing this in hope that someone passes the message to Keith Nosbsch (slim I know). On your visit to the UK next, why don’t you actually speak to members of the workforce that have not been handpicked to feed you the information you want to hear. It is all well and good you keep asking for cost saving, but no one at grass-roots level is getting to hear what your management team are personally doing. Are you taking any financial hits like the average Joe? Are they large or small? After all in the good times your rewards are large. A good manager as the ability to mix at the top level AND with the general work force (not just the people selected to be in the office on one of your visits). So, if you want to raise morale and get the workers on your side, let's see you select a few grass-roots people to meet and speak to, instead of wasting more Rockwell money wining and dining only the management. Monday, September 21, 2009 The last comment is so correct - Rockwell is so concerned about the numbers and not about their customers. We used to do field service work and keep the customers happy, and get their product right, up and running. Now we are all about the shipping dollar. Customer's are left with GMS or Sales out in the field, to contract or try and fix their problems. Customers are a shoved aside and onto the next one. How sad! There are a lot of appreciative customers who like the one-on-one attention they used to get. That's gone. Now we spend those dollars setting up global plants and manufacturing product cheaper, selling at at the same dollar amount. Let's see how the next quarter plays out. Saturday, September 19, 2009 Response to Fri. Sept 4 comments, in the response to the Siemens guy: I find your comment on this weblog being written by ex-Rockwell employee's who left on their own accord absolutely hysterical! Yes some blogs are from unhappy ex-employees who were un-cermoniously dumped by Rockwell when they decided to right size their employees. I suspect a majority of this blog is written by current Rockwell employee's who feel that management is no longer listening. People can post things here without the fear of reprisals from management. The saddest thing is that management has forgotten about the customer and is so concerned about the shareholders. It's all about the numbers. Gone are the days when you thought about what the customer wants or needs. It's the customer that helps a company grow not the shareholder. Until we get back to the thought of the customer we will continue in our downward spiral. Saturday, September 19, 2009 I'd like to open up a topic concerning Rockwell's SSB (System Solutions Business)group. This is the old IAS (Information and Automation Solutions)which later became GMS (Global Manufacturing Solutions) then to GPS (Global Process Solutions)thene to MPS (Manufacturing Process Solutions) and now SSB. This is Rockwell's engineering solutions business headquartered in Mayfield Heights, Ohio. In light of the recent layoffs, overpriced solutions and lack of business direction, am I the only one that thinks that this business is being purposely overpriced in order for Rockwell to justify closing it down? Friday, September 18, 2009 RC facility (WI) moral is so low, personnel really down. But wait, some ovetime in the facility. Keith had a big write up in the State Journal earlier in the week calling about 12 personnel back. Yippppeee for Nosbusch, he sure is a joke, most may not be aware of the Rockwell stock "trading" that took place 2008 this is where your hard earned dollars went. Friday, September 18, 2009 Seems as if the blog has cooled off over the last few weeks. Perhaps everyone is getting used to the new realities. Best wishes to everyone! Wednesday, September 16, 2009 If you are that good then you should kindly retire since they are being so unreasonable. They could just take all of your pay at once. Talk to the folks that were let go in October and your 25 cent issue will look small. Tuesday, September 8, 2009 - To the powers that be in Milwaukee: Who on earth made the decision to start charging a quarter for a styrofoam cup in the cafeteria? You continue to cut into my personal wealth. You cut my pay, you stopped matching my 401K, and my health care will be going up 12-20% next year. People are furious over this latest debacle. If its about the styrofoam, then get plastic cups, I know, you want me to bring my own cup. I get that we are trying to be environmentally friendly, but seriously, at a time like this when employee morale is at an all time low, I can't even get a cup of water from the cafeteria anymore without being charged for it. What is next - a charge to use the restroom? Do I have to start paying for my parking? The cafeteria is a profit center; aren't they making enough money? Seriously, who is making these decisions? You can't keep taking and taking; something will give and it will be that good people will leave when things improve. I know with all the problems we are facing, this is minor. But there is no other anonymous forum in which to make your feelings known, so I hope someone out there is listening. I know people who won't even go to the cafeteria anymore. A quarter for a cup; what is next? Sunday, September 6, 2009 Manufacturing all your own products is not feasible any more. RA depends on the the products they can buy from someone else to fill in the holes. Relays, IEC contactors, IEC pushbuttons, terminal blocks, photo electrics, prox’s, and others all come manufactured from someone else. It's not cost effective to do R&D and manufacturing for all those commodity items. CLX, Software, PF7x Drives, Servo's and MCC's are about the only products produced in-house. It's smart business to do what you do best and buy the rest to fill in the products to supply your customers with the complete solution. RA's strength is the North American Distribution Channel, devoted to serving their loyal, long time customers. If RA can provide a suite of innovative control hardware and branded widgets to go along, they will survive and thrive in NA. NIKE never produced a single shoe in their own plants - all out-sourced - and look at their success. At least RA keeps their core products in-house. Try Modicon, Tele, Seimens, or Automation Direct, see if they will come to your plant and help you when the chips are down. RA knows what their distribution channel is worth and demands excellence from them. Friday, September 4, 2009 - To the "Siemens guy" Monday, August 3, 2009: Of course this weblog is a great read, like a quality soap opera. The majority of the negative comments are posted by ex-Rockwell employee's who left of their own accord and went over to the "Dark Side" (that being Siemens of course) and as you are scratching around at the moment with nothing better to do, why not post stuff on here instead of getting out there supporting your Customers and winning new business. Feedback from one UK (Water Utility) Customer is that an ex Rockwell Account Manager who left to join Siemens actually lost his temper and complained about a Customer who placed business elsewhere. Hmmmm Now there's a Soap Opera in the making. Thursday, September 3, 2009 PlantPAX is new lipstick on the same pig. A couple of years ago RA had the process extensions for RSViewSE (FactoryTalkViewSE) and the SE Process Toolkit Wizard. RA tried to get the distributor specialists to promote and support these "TOOLS" but none of them wanted to spend all their time trying to make it work with no factory support. PlantPAX is the fully supported package from RA. It's no different than before, only this time instead of the US distributor specialists trying to make it work it's the RA support engineers in India. RA is trying, but it's not a drop-in DCS replacement. There is a place for a DCS system and a PLC/PAC system, but RA is trying to sell a PLC/PAC as a replacment for a DCS. In their defense the DSC vendors are trying to sell into the PLC/PAC space also. A lot of utilities I work with have both, they both have their place, but both the PLC/PAC vendors and the DCS vendors want 100% of the pie. As the old saying goes, "let the buyer beware". Wednesday, September 2, 2009 - Ref: Tuesday September 1, 2009 blogger "If people want to send an opinion they should at least be educated....... etc" It certainly shows that the inbuilt Rockwell Automation arrogance still survives. Makes one wonder; what it will take to put some sincerity back into this company? Wednesday, September 2, 2009 Be careful when talking about PlantPax. It is not a new product; it is not a DCS system; it is purely a packaging together of existing Rockwell products so they can then be called a "system". There is some engineering to ensure the packages all work together; there is also "bundled code" to help with configuration of process control systems. However, don't expect a comprehensive, or well proven solution for process plants out of the box, and definitely not one specific for your industry. RA is a loonngg way off that! Tuesday, September 1, 2009 Inaco is well placed to capitalize on the distribution changes. They have existing capability and established business. They have gained territory in New South Wales and Queensland at the expense of four previous RA distributors but have lost their potentially lucrative Perth office to NHP. I think NHP has been given a poison chalice with strong expectations in their territories but no direct access to the NSW/Qld markets which belong to Inaco. NHP has lost most of its automation agencies that it would have relied upon to maintain its (limited) automation presence in NSW/Qld. So what do they do now that they can't take on national product representation for lines that compete with Rockwell. Surely the end game is to have a single Rockwell distributor in Australia! Question is - is that NHP (most-favored son) or Inaco (global player with leverage). Tuesday, September 1, 2009 If people want to send an opinion they should at least be educated. NHP are the most successful electrical enterprise in South Pacific. Period. Inaco is probably the fastest growing automation enterprise in South Pacific. Rockwell are proud to be associated with winners not whiners. So if you are a whiner, at least try to hide yourself. History doesn't lie. These companies have great track record before Rockwell, and now with the worlds best brand - what a combination. Smell our fumes guys, coz thats all you can do. Monday, August 31, 2009 We have heard a few comments about NHP as a distributor in Australia and New Zealand. I haven't heard anything about the second distributor in Australia, Inarco. NHP has been able to sell Rockwell Products for nearly a year now and to date I haven't heard any positive feedback about them in the market. I was wondering if the Rexel-owned Inarco are doing any better. We keep hearing about the vast amount of stock being held by NHP in New Zealand. But for some reason this isn't generating an increase in customer service. Perhaps they have invested in the wrong stuff? The local Rockwell people will no doubt be very happy with good sales figures generated by NHP buying this stock during a these lean times. Their next problem will be getting NHP to generate sales as the momentum created by the old distributors tappers off. Friday, August 28, 2009 - Re: the FF project: You need to be careful of the promise of PlantPAX. It does have some nice integrated features. However, FBUS is not an integrated feature. RA has a solution that has connectivity to the platform. Thursday, August 27, 2009 - Re: the FF project: If you choose the RA option with ControlLogix, you also have a "built in" DCS option, its called PlantPax. You can find more info on the RA website Wednesday, August 26, 2009 - Re: The FF Project: Thanks for the feedback. IF RA is successful the platform will be Control Logix, so we are locked into a "PLC" based solution with RA. My personal preference is a traditional DCS, but I'm not the one writing the check. My role will be to make sure that the system chosen works. Another concern is that a lot of the equipment will come in on skids from various vendors. So who can ensure interoperability between all the equipment? FF instrument vendors include Rosemount, Fisher, E&H, SMAR. I'm familiar with very large FF projects done with Emerson and Foxboro and I know that even with the DCS companies direct involvement their were start-up issues. But they were able to assign an army of associates to get the issues resolved. With RA I just haven't seen any large projects, so that's the G2 i'm trying to pick up here. Hopefully some end users of the FFLD will post and share their experience(s). Wednesday, August 26, 2009 - For the FF user colleague: For this ammount of FF intelligent instruments (if FF is your preference), I wouldn't use a PLC based solution, and even worse, based on protocol conversions (gateways) - I'm not a DCS fan, but for the ammount of instruments you have (and FF based) I would go to a DCS platform. You will lose some of the FF benefits having gateways. Wednesday, August 26, 2009 A close friend of mine recently left RA, this person was a highly trained professional. All the work they were asked to do was about one thing "Savings". Not improvements, not finding smarter ways to do things but just "Savings". Oh, and of course, whatever needed to be done couldn't cost any money. This person worked in EMEA where workers were asked to give up a number of days per quarter as to avoid layoffs. Most people complied and guess what? Yes, indeed, the layoffs have continued unabated. The people left at RA in EMEA, well, the good ones are looking for other jobs and RA is being left with whatever is left over after the good ones leave. The SAP rollout that was boasted about earlier on this blog is a giant joke, there is nobody left on the EMEA team currently that was supposed to assist in the transition to SAP, they've either been sent back to their departments or been made redundant. Staff is demoralized and stressed out, thats not how people do their best work and this state of affairs will only be aggravated because I doubt the end of the layoffs is yet in sight. I feel for the friends I have left at RA, its not a good place to work anymore. Wednesday, August 26, 2009 - To the Potential Customer on FF: I'm astonished by the size of your project! If you are talking about a batch facility with 3000 instruments you are talking also about some thousands of solenoid valves not mentioning agitators an other things! Anyway if you have this project - the FFLD's are good as any other FF interface. The "limit" is on the FF technology itself, so you can't connect more than 10 instruments for H1 segment including not more than 6 valves on the same segment (if you want to have a decent response time). Having said that, FFLD's (ethernet or controlnet) are working fine. I'm not aware of large FF based applications but I know few small to medium size (lets say a couple of hundreds instruments). I assume you want to use FF technology for asset management purposes. I'll not argue about this but -- I personally don't like FF much. Or, perhaps the fact that I don't see the point in using FF technology and run the control algorithm inside the controller. The concept is great, but the reality is quite weak. Good luck! Tuesday, August 25, 2009 - from Potential Customer: My company is planning to implement Foundation Fieldbus at a new greenfield batch process facility. We estimate roughly 3000 instruments so it will be a decent sized project. Rockjwell Automation is one of the companies under consideration (Siemens was an early out because they do not support FF). Has anyone had any experience with FFLD Ethernet or FFLD Controlnet gateways? Good or bad? Monday, August 24, 2009 To the Siemens guy: You can read these blogs cause you don't have any orders on your plate. What's Oprah doing these days? Bet you could give us a great update. To my former RA buddies: Do you think management will continue with no-matching 401K or have another RIF and bring the matching back? That's what on their plate now. Wednesday, August 19, 2009 The Anorad NY location had a RIF of 30 out of 95 today. Tuesday, August 18, 2009 - Richland Center facility update: Congrats, glad you're going back to work. We can't even get a disconnect shipped to us. Buying most of our stuff from other sources just to keep production running. The move to offshore production was a stroke of genius. When business picks up RA will really be in trouble. Who was the customer willing to wait 16 weeks for a MCC at twice the price? I don't doubt your workmanship but the engineering has to be right. Hail, India. Our software order took two weeks only to be shipped second day for $40. Tech support told me production problems with the software. Thursday, August 13, 2009 Richland Center facility update. They are calling back people due to a million dollar order. The workers were to be off for 1-3 months, and also had to sign up for federal cobra insurance and unemployment. Seems like they are having a tough time managing, or better said micro-managing. Tuesday, August 11, 2009 "Rockwell Automation announces manufacturing solutions for the Smart Grid". When I read that, I thought it was a joke. Sorry to say that, but for me is a way to manipulate customers selling buzz words. What is the next? Controlnet reduces global warming? Monday, August 10, 2009 I would like to propose that in the next round of RIF's we consider getting rid of: One or both of our corporate jets - think how many job that would save. One or more of our SVP's - I haven't seen this level get hit in years, and think of how many jobs that would save between salary and stock options. One or more of our VP's - again, haven't really seen this level get hit much in the past years, and again, it would save jobs! The little guy gets hit over and over again; reduction in pay (let's see if upper management gets stock options this year). We have taken a reduction in pay, no merit, no bonus, no 401k match. It's time to stop the bleeding of the little guy and start making cuts where it is going to make a difference. Sunday, August 9, 2009 I am a union-worker for Kellogg's Snack Division and work in the maintenance storeroom/stockroom. A few days ago I heard that Rockwell Automation was going to implement RAAMP at our plant. Should I be alarmed, if organizing repair work was the first shift union workers job and that union worker is showing a Rockwell Automation worker how to perform part of the first shift job? I think I may be filing a grievance. Does anyone know if RAAMP has had a negative effect on a unionized maint. shop? Friday, August 7, 2009 - Responding to the weblog Wednesday July 8, 2009: So you thought I was from the U.S. Wrong, I'm from Cambridge. And my thoughts are still the same. You are all a bunch of backstabbing people, just trying to keep your jobs. You had it too good for too long. Wasting company money, while gossipping when you should be working. They still have a lot of weeding out to do in managagment before the company can actually turn around. Management helped the company go down hill by favouring the lazy workers and punishing the hard workers. I was there along with quite a few other people witnessing all of this. Clean up management at Rockwell Austomation on Dundas Street, and then you can clean up the regular workers. Oh, and say goodbye to whatever is left of dental and drug benefits.Goodbye - they're going soon, like everything else.! Som quit your whining about not losing your job. That's what unions were for. You all had your chance, but you were all foolish enough to decline it. So, suck it up, and move on. Monday, August 3, 2009 As a Siemens guy, I must say that this weblog is just a great read.... It's like a quality soap opera. Wednesday, July 29, 2009 Recently I’ve read a Rockwell paper about Sustainable Production. I still believe customers are smart enough to differentiate the real green and energy efficient solutions against companies embellishing all the old stuff and putting in a "green" package. Tuesday, July 28, 2009 Rockwell people wont post much from Asia because of the language - and hence most comments are from Australia and New Zealand, and most of those blogs are about distributors. I work for RA Australia and, whilst I was sceptical about what the Asia strategy was, I have to say its been pretty consistent for two years. It's paying off in market-share across the region, from what I can see. The management team seems engaged and actually truthful and realistic. As a result, people like me and my colleagues see a reasonable future and reasonable security. Whilst we have a long way to go with our new distributors in South Pacific, we now feel we can deliver better to our customers and that will benefit them. I also see the model has now expanded to other parts of Asia. Thursday, July 23, 2009 - For the Australian NHP post: Yes, there are definitely people interested in hearing about the region. Being able to hear the perspectives and comments from around the world is the exact reason I read this blog. EMEA posts come up fairly often, but not many posts come from the AsiaPacific region. You never know who will read these posts and turn them into a positive change. Keep them coming. Tuesday, July 21, 2009 Since I am so enraged here that I want to quit, I think I'll take my $250 gift certificate, go to Bayview Village, buy myself a new dress, see my attorney, and file a harassment suit. That's what I'm going to do. Care to join me, I'll buy lunch... Tuesday, July 21, 2009 For the blogger who starts "For all of you who are still whining over past events at the Cambridge plant: Get over it!": Lets put things in the correct context. People are enraged by others being forced out of their career through no fault of their own i.e. through broken promises, corporate opportunism and greed. Those worried and affected by job security don't bemoan matters for the sake of it. Far from it. When they see work being exported overseas for a pittance of a wage how can you NOT object? How confident are you that bad news won't come YOUR way? And, when it does, that you won't complain or feel let down that no-one laments over your demise? The put-up and shut-up approach doesn't need grooming, thank you. Your comments are not constructive or appropriate. Tuesday, July 21, 2009 Kudos to the individuals posting about whining. You're exactly right! First of all Rockwell isn't there to make you happy "if thats even possible" get over yourselves. Come in, do your job and go home, oh and shut up! This constant complaining is just monotonous. The thing that amazes me, is most of the same people have been complaining about rockwell forever. Do us all a favor and leave - go and find another job at this wage and these benefits, especially now. And i'll bet that when you find that perfect job you'll still be whining, still be complaining, because that is your purpose in life, to make everyone around you as miserable as you are. Tuesday, July 21, 2009 - To "Get Over It": Sounds like you got your bonus, destroyed a few careers and need to justify your existence in the management ranks. Most of us enjoyed RA and would like to get back to those days. We have heard about the green belt and black belt projects but have only seen the downside; RIF. For all the cost savings, why is there a need to reduce the work force? You should look around and realize that working in a hostile environment is only a matter of surviving. Feeling vested requires someone like you to grow individuals, teams and the company. Your need to stop justifying your existence and start justifying the team. Tuesday, July 21, 2009 I have been reading these blogs for 3 years (admittedly too much) as I want a different perspective from the standard marketing spin. My intent is to see if possible product, strategic news from employees, customers, or competitors may be useful for my own job or for dozens of my friends employed at the other listed companies. Most of us with common sense can discern good information from noise and simply smile when we see nonsense. Many posters have noted that it is skewed against Rockwell and Invensys. Perhaps some of this is deserved, of course each page is not neutral. Word choice for the headers of the negative boards with high activity include "decline, acquired" whereas safe, sterile, & low activity boards include word choice of "Bold, Strong". (Who's in marketing now?) I can take gossipy speculation..."July 5th is the date" (it was actually the planned roll-in of a business unit onto the new ERP...big whoop), Labor relations and the emotions that go along with it, and questioning of product/company capabilities. I guess I finally snapped with the silly comment for the $250 prize. Come on, every company does this (I've worked in engineering for two of these big guys) I've seen similar booby prizes for iPods, iPhones (Emerson), champagne and even cash for Siemens & ABB. Also note that many times these vendors will source marketing activities to small specialty companies who run campaigns beyond their control. Come on guys, think before you post. Rockwell has made it clear they are pursuing the process market. Why not? Their Controllers are rock solid in the discrete world. There is nothing that special about a DeltaV or server based controller that makes them holy. They handle computations for IO with various network protocols. It's the periphery (services, libraries, and install base) stuff which Rockwell doesn't have which will be their uphill battle. I would have also added instrumentation, but the E&H partnership narrows that gap. Their VFD offering is good (not great) they've really missed a big share of the market by not having a fully released sub-350kW grid tie ready for sale (although I've heard some are floating around out there). Finally the FactoryTalk group has show tremendous improvements over it's state when I joined up in 2005 (always bringing in new products and striving toward integration). Lastly the true value of Rockwell is their North American distribution network. None of the other guys come even close to that dominating defensive model with impressive coverage. Matched with an aggressive disrupting sales model for South America and Asia (yes we've all read about Australia) it shows that Sr. management is not just sitting back and collecting paychecks but putting trying to move this company to the next level - even if survival was the name of the game over the last year. No I'm not a Sr. manager, nor a marketing weenie. I'm just an engineer who has traveled the industry, carries a decent education, and uses common sense. Rockwell isn't that far off the mark of where it should be. It's not perfect but it's not the tragic mess that this board leads you to beleive. Monday, July 20, 2009 For all of you who are still whining over past events at the Cambridge plant: Get over it! If things have you so enraged - you should quit. Make yourself (and some of your co-workers) happy. If your situation or the situation of you superiors has you so irate - Leave! There are 100's of people who would love to be in your shoes - employed. Consider yourself lucky that you aren't out there pounding the pavement trying to find a job. Consider yourself lucky that you aren't working for a half-rate temp-service that farms you out to different jobs twice a week. You have it better than you know. If you decide to stay. Stop complaining! It's getting old. Come to work, do what you are paid to do and then go home. It's a simple concept. Try it! Monday, July 20, 2009 Wow, if you ask a Rockwell Plantpax multimedia CD you can win a U$250 visa gift card. Is it the right approach to convince customers that RA is playing in the process playground? I don't think so; it seems a typical retail product company. Maybe it is a subliminal reminder that RA is more a product company for candy machines than solution for refineries Saturday, July 18, 2009 Just a little update on the situation in Australia (if anyone else in the world is remotely interested). NHP are my new distributor for Rockwell, so I rang for pricing on a couple of soft starters. Although they didn't seem completely comfortable with the product they gave me price and availability on the units without any problems, they even offered me an alternative (?) in AuCom. They seemed a lot more comfortable talking about the AuCom units, and offered me a more than competitive price on them; with things in the industry being tight, this opportunity to save some money was appreciated. I am now the owner of a couple of AuCom units; I guess Rockwell have opened themselves up to internal opposition; their loss is my gain. Saturday, July 18, 2009 - Re: Lament for EJA / Wigan Facility: I made a couple of calls, and found out that the overall Project Manager and the key guy for the safety product transfers quit RA, and was not laid off as you stated. Turns out he got fed up with been passed over by senior management in favor of less competent but more politically connected people. So, he handed in his two weeks notice, and said they would need to complete the remaining product transfers without him. Since he departed it's taken 3 different people to backfill his previous role, the start up in the Dominican Republic has slipped 3 months, and there are massive amounts of customer orders that are past due that can't be built because the parts are not even set up in SAP. Sounds like maybe management let a key resource go that they shouldn't have. In the days before Functional Excellence this guy had been highly thought of and was been groomed for higher things. However, in recent years he'd been mostly moved aside by the Operations group in favor of new hires with little to no industry experience. But these new people knew how to suck up big time to the new central operations group in Milwaukee. Now that the S#@t has hit the fan, they won't admit to making a mistake, and are trying everything they can think of to restart production. However, from what I hear they are still not even close. So, to the previous post: You were right in saying it was about management playing favorites, and also is about them not knowing what is going on. Shame, as it seems another good company resource has been unnecessarily forced out by RA's bad management. Thursday, July 16, 2009 It's very amusing to see a manager "toot their own horn" on line and tell us how nice it is to have everything back to normal at Rockwell Cambridge. It is too bad though that most of the information stated in you blog is false. The toolbox re-organization green belt project you are referring to has failed miserably and cost the company thousands of dollars with no visible return. Having employees walking around looking for tools or creating downtime for other employees because they have to share tools isn't very cost effective. Appointing someone to walk around and check the boxes regularly just cost more money. Using an entire department to do a project for you, instead of your original team, cost the company a fortune. The organization of the toolboxes was not adopted plant wide because of this project and was implemented in department 17 long before this project was in the books. As for green belt projects as a whole at the Cambridge plant most boast these insane cost savings, yet the majority have cost the company big bucks and have went nowhere. Half of the original class that was trained at Rockwell dropped out. Management is to blame for this, giving out certifications like candy to anyone who can make it "look good on paper". Poor training and lack of knowledge and leadership also contributed to the problem at Rockwell. The proof is on the walls, failed and abandoned project are left posted for employees to see. Rockwell automations "Green Belt" certification is a gimmick and "is not" recognized outside the workplace. Words like "root cause analysis" are only used in jokes made up by employees to describe someone that runs the place. The company as a whole seems to be better in some aspects. I just hope it continues its direction because we definitely need to start seeing more positive changes. I truly believe our customers will be happier if the employees are, and this in turn will benefit the company drastically. Thursday, July 16, 2009 It's nice to hear some positive news about RA-Cambridge. Sounds like they are set for the rest of the year 2009. They re-design their metal side sheets, with a big green cost savings for metal material. (2100 product line) changed the tooling. Thursday, July 16, 2009 Well I would have to agree, it seems we are emerging from our difficult time. Although I believe that Rockwell took advantage of a situation and used the "recession" as a way to clean house. I also do believe that we have some great managers that make tough decisions as well. One problem though, we still have people that are team leads and nothing but a regular employee, making decisions they have no business making. Some of these people make managers believe others are not working or talking too much, or make errors just to plain make them look bad and make themselves look good and also to take the focus from their own lack of work. Our managers need to stand up to these people and tell them to get back to work and mind there own business! To talk about the Materials manager, and how "great" she is, on this weblog is actually a joke. Also talking about the tool project, also another joke. Well it sounds to me like someone is doing their best to toot there own horn. Does senior plant management know that the tool project actually fully stopped production from a FULL weekend shift. The whole crew stopped production to do this tool project for almost 2 full weekends. And countless hours of numerous employees other days. So many tools had to be bought to enable the tool project to be completed! Where is this cost saving? Countless times the manager and another employee having to leave several times a day to return a tool and get a different one. How many people does it really take to make a return and purchase? On another note, this same tool setup was already made practice in another department before the "big tool project" took place. Now onto the comment about senior management keeping only the most qualified and competent managers. I think that is a very disrespectful comment being made about managers who have lost their jobs. Some, I might add, are still with Rockwell but have been demoted. There is only one person I can think of that would write all of these comments. Everything on here revolves around one person and I find it unbelievable that you would stir the pot. One thing I can say is, it has been said before, we do stick together and do want to see Rockwell Canada succeed and remain in Cambridge. Thursday, July 16, 2009 - Re: Lament for the EJA / Wigan facility. I'm having tremendous problems getting products out of the new manufacturing facility. My customers are getting furious with me and RA in particular. Because of delivery issues, a number of them have dropped RA and are going for competitor products. They don't care about our internal problems, they just want their products. When I inquired what's going on, I found out that the lead project manager was laid off and the replacement doesn't know what he's doing. Is this another example of operations either playing favorites, or more likely not knowing what is going on. Wednesday, July 15, 2009 I would like to take this opportunity to express some positive views on RA-Cambridge operations. Too often employees may not realize how difficult it is to manage a large facility. I, for one, am grateful we have Managers that can make the tough decisions required. It seems that the Plant has finally emerged from a very difficult period. Most of the Kaizens are now starting to see a positive return on investment, some have even exceeded their original expectations – such as the tooling reorganization which was successful enough to be adopted Plant-Wide. Others have resulted in significant savings that have been applied directly to the bottom line. More and more employees are now certified Green Belts and regularly come up with ideas saving Cambridge more time and money. The Belt program is a prefect example of money well spent. The need for any further layoffs is unlikely as orders in all the remaining Departments are strong for the next two quarters, plus look as though they will remain that way well into the New Year. Most shifts are operating at the same staffing levels they had before the economic downturn. Senior Plant Management has been able to use this time to carefully select and retain only the most qualified and most competent Team Managers. As an example; thankfully the Materials Department is managed by someone who truly understands the needs of the production floor. The improvements in this Department alone have resulted in reductions in the time required to get materials, as well as solid cost savings. Transactional discipline by the employees is now common practice rather than the exception. The culture of asking the 5 whys and determining the Root Cause has also become part of everyone’s daily routine. With two new major Medium Voltage products now in production and selling well, the future of that Department alone in Canada is assured. Shortly systems will be updated to SAP and bring not only Cambridge to world class levels, but all of Rockwell Automation as well. As one of the remaining employees I am more than happy with all of the changes that have taken place over the last nine months. Only the very best of my fellow employees remain and you can feel the sense of commitment that we all have. The future for RA in Canada will only improve. I look forward to the eventual re-establishment of the EIP programs and merit raises. Rockwell is back to being one of the best managed and best places to work. Sunday, July 12, 2009 If the previous blogger is correct then I'm sorry for those worker bees in the UK that will be affected by the latest round of cuts. For the worker bees left behind then they have been left in situ on the assumption by management that they won't break until it’s their turn for redundancy. Don't bother trying to fight being jettisoned through redundancy either; matters will be as good as 99.9% sewn up. How? Well, ask yourself when a key member of UK HR Management team purportedly arbitrates on behalf of the Employment Tribunal Board then just how likely is it that errors will have been made in any of the proceedings? Topmost concern is the seemingly unwritten directive to rid RA of long timers. Better write offs for tax purposes or Lower National and Health insurance costs? Decreased pension’s cost etc? Core considerations for the business but which ignores any recognition for those workers who have given the most loyalty. RA’s actions certainly speak louder than words. Why hasn’t more of EMEA middle management been hit by redundancies yet? Isn’t that where more effective cost savings can be made; especially as RA must now be even more top heavy than it ever has been before? Finally, RA has pissed off more and more customers through lesser quality products, higher prices & mis-directed protective arrogance its no wonder that the business has resorted to feeding off itself. That is a problem created by sub-standard Business Management; not by current market conditions. Shame it’s the studious workforce - i.e. those at the proverbial coalface - that’s paying the price now more than ever. Saturday, July 11, 2009 Rockwell must use RIF lists. How else can they announce head-count reduction and then tell those affected two days later? Surely it would take more than a couple of days to decide, starting from a blank sheet of paper. Are any of the 22 going to be here at Bletchley? If so, then surely the business here is doomed - unless it's some of the useless management. We are a bit top heavy these days. This blog site seems to indicate it's the finance departpent going to be hit; that maybe logical - but this is Rockwell we are talking about. One thing with working for HR here, they are pretty safe, every quarter decisions have to be made, heads to be counted which means more work for them. So HR are probably safe - until the economy levels off. Friday, July 10, 2009 Q: What is a RIF list? A: Reduction-in-Force (RIF). Friday, July 10, 2009 Richland center is doing canada orders for 2100. Don't know why they are not sent to Tecate, MX yet, because they could handle them. For some reason, upper management is keeping on all management, engineers, and extra salary paying jobs - don't know why. Someone has to be paying these high wages. Technicians are being kept on, with assembly-lines benches (12 benches each line) maybe 1/2 full. We have 3 lines left; if you put all the day shift people on one line it would be full. For some reason they scatter the people between three lines and try to run 5-7 orders down each line. I cannot believe they don't put the people on one line and send the extra benches to Monterrey. We have a leadership team in management that makes decision? I can not see how this could be cost efficient or lean. But it keeps groupleaders,technicians and management employeed. I think Milwaukee management is sleeping. We have people on involuntary layoff for the next 3 months. We also have people on a voluntary layoff. Each week managers look at the numbers. Involuntary - you have to buy Cobra insurance; voluntary layoff you don't. RC is basically a numbers game for hourly. Good thing they have a calculator. Friday, July 10, 2009 Who says a RIF list is not legal? Get real. It happens all the time. Companies have lists of people that are HiPOTS (High Potential) and also lists of who will be let go in the next round of layoffs next month. How do you think they implement the RIF? Quit being paranoid. If you are viewed an employee who can not be replaced, then you have nothing to worry about. If you are perceived as replaceable, you may be at risk. The bottom line is that you owe the company a hard week's work and they owe you a pay check at the end of the week. To think otherwise is foolish. I have been at RA for over 20 years and enjoy working here. However, I realize I could be let go in a moments notice. The trick is to become an employee that would be difficult to put on a RIF list in your manager's eyes. You may call that 'sucking up'. I view it as survival and common sense. Friday, July 10, 2009 UK - Are you saying that 35 people on a 'rif list' will be told their job is at risk until HR decides who the 22 are? I don't believe that for a second. Why would HR scare them when there is only a risk of them going? Thursday, July 9, 2009 Thirty years ago, at my semi-annunal review I was promoted, and then laid off within ten minutes at a large computer comapny. It happens, needs change, forecasts change. I found a new job, you can too. Take your lay-off and move on. The moles, snipes & scumbags reside within every company. If you have a legit legal case against the company find a lawyer, if not find a new job. Quit Whining! I personally think that RA's quality and delivery are suffering by rebranding others products and the shift to offshore manufacturing in the hopes of increasing market share (& profit margin) outside of the US will be their demise. With a 50% market share in the US and a 10% market share in the rest of the world all the growth is outside the US. They are chasing growth outside the US to appease the shareholders, but are giving away market share in the US to achive this goal. The US customers made Allen-Bradley what they are today. But Rockwell Automation ONLY cares about STOCK PRICE. If they ignore and abuse the US customer base, ignore the customers that made them what they are today, they are destined to fail. They are willing to sacrifice a loyal and dedicated US customer base to chase a fickle global market. Seimens, ABB, Emerson, & GE are all better in process and integrated services. Do what you do best, PLC'S. Oh yea, forget about FactoryTalk Software, it's in worse shape than Microsoft. Perhaps you should rebrand it again as FactoryTalk 7 Software. Thursday, July 9, 2009 The problem is they wouldn't know "illegal" until someone in authority tells them. They're victims of what Jim calls in his book "creeping criminality". Usually when you leave a company there's paperwork to sign. It's usually an acknowledgement of severance, COBRA, etc. You're right in that they do not either have the right, nor is it enforceable,to have employees sign a "gag" order. Only the courts can do that. You can speak freely about the truth to anyone at anytime. Thursday, July 9, 2009 22 people to go from the UK. 35 people to be put on 'at risk'. First contact with those at risk to be made in the next 4 weeks. The names of the 22 will be finalised by the end of July. Thursday, July 09, 2009 I am now an ex-employee of Rockwell Automation. I was told that I had been made redundant but it seems like now that I was a victim of the RIF list. I will be taking legal advice on this matter and I would urge anyone who feels that their redundancy was not fair to do the same, as they too were probably victims of this illegal RIF list. I was a long standing employee of Rockwell and they need to be accountable for their illegal practices. Thursday, July 9, 2009 - to the person who called us "a bunch of whiney babies": You obviously are from the US. You should really get the facts before ranting like that. If you had any idea what you were talking about you would allready know 75% of the hourly employees are AGAINST a union. The only reason the union was called in was by a few disgruntles workers that were being treated unfairly. This is why they kept on coming as well. Management in the Cambridge plant is lack-luster at best. The policies and procedures are watered down with corruption and denial. The spy's and rat's are promised fortune and fame... You were right about brown nosing getting you somewhere, indeed. The food night was decent; tip my hat to them for trying! A+ for effort. All people really want are polices and procedures that are adhered too, to eliminate favoritism. When and if this is actually implemented you will then see attitudes and morale increase. The second biggest issue is the secrets! Why so secretive? If you are planning on making a new office, why does it have to be soooooo hush-hush? It is not hard to figure out when you walk by and see them working on it. If management actually practiced what they preached and put an effort into Teamwork, then we would be all better off! Wednesday, July 8, 2009 What a bunch of whiney babies you all are at the Cambridge Plant. The Union tried to get in years ago, but you all had it too good. Now with layoffs, you're all looking for the union. The management need to be trained in dealing with human beings. Their heads are too big and they don't know very much. Good luck in keeping RC open in Cambridge. As long as you have a brown nose you don't have to be a good worker. But you make the management feel good. So you should be okay for employment until they shut the doors and lock them behind you for good. Oh, and be sure to sign the paper before they walk you out the door that you will not discuss anything with media or anyone else so that you can get your severance pay. It's illegal for them to do this. Wednesday, July 8, 2009 Tropicana was the initial code name used while the plants in Mexico were being built. This was used prior to the general public even having knowledge that these plants were being built. It's become an obsolete term since the Mexico operations are now public knowledge. It appears at this time that the July 5th announcement was speculation of some kind. Tuesday, July 7, 2009 What about news in Canada (Cambridge)? July 5 has come and gone, still nothing. Lots of job postings, but still the employees feel there will be more layoffs by September. And still no information about "tropicana". For the people who want to talk business and marketing, let hear about what's going on. Don't be shy. Step up to the plate and fill us in. There were several of you that wanted to change the topic but we haven't heard much from you. We would like to know what you have to say. Tuesday, July 7, 2009 RIF LISTs are illegal. I would activley urge anyone who finds out if such a list exists to report it immediately and ensure that management are aware that the list existance is public knowledge. Anyone who is lined up for the cut, although unfortunate may be able to use such knowledge to negotiate a higher lump sum. Unfortunately it won't save your job but will make HR's job harder. After all, its clear that the personnel in HR UK are only there due to their skills in negotiating such packages so they must be used to it by now. Tuesday, July 07, 2009 As we go into Q3, the new RIFT LIST will emerge. HR in the UK are working tirelessly to calculate the figures for the unfortunate employees whos names appear on the list from the States. The UK's finance department will be hit the hardest, as they will be embarking on a so-called departmental restructure. The head of finance has been saved for now and he will now be working on an EMEA project that they have made up for him - he knows where all the skeletons are buried, just like me. If you're a team leader and not in the 'in team' in the telephone contracts department in the UK, watch out, you're name has been put forward by management to give you the push. So as you will see Rockwell Automation is not such an 'ethical' company. They chew you up and spit you out at their convenience. Keep watching, more news to come soon. Monday, July 6, 2009 Richland center plant: They were working overtime, about 30 people hourly and salary, getting ready to turn SAP on live in ESB monday morning starting time. SAP is one of their new programs. No one else was cut. Monday, July 6, 2009 Well July 5th 2009 has come and gone. Where is this big news (posted June 3rd) we were to watch for? The day is here. Posted June 4th - It's not really big news. Rockwell are just selling over to a company - it's been referred to here before a few times. Who is the person with the crystal ball? Monday, July 6, 2009 I don't know how much all these inside comments are true, but, for the simple fact that tons of the recent postings are just about the same stuff (instead of any discussions about strategy or technology) it seems that Rockwell is really poisoned. Sunday, July 5, 2009 Pity about EJA in Wigan, UK. Hopefully a few of those hardworking folks have got work with Idem Safety who are nearby the old EJA premises and who produce a similar, but much improved range of products. Idem can make them in the UK cheaper and far better than Rockwell Automation ever did. Idem is headed by an ex Rockwell Engineer of the Year. Sunday, July 5, 2009 Drove by the Richland Center facility tonight, just prior to 10:30 CST (after the fireworks here in Richland Center). The production plant is not open, (Holiday and Sunday no work) however management IS there in Operations---have not seen Sunday activity this late at nite for over 30 years. Will be interersting to hear what the next announcement will be this week who and what is the next axe to come down. Last week they let go one of the "Lean" Managers, as if they are doing very much other than colored charts and graphs. Sunday, July 5, 2009 - from the "new to this blog, and I am very shocked.....". I am not a "Newbie" so to speak. I have worked in many other industries doing many different careers for many many years, and I can tell you that no organization that runs any differently than Rockwell. Except for many of the perks. It is a business. It is going to adhere to the bottom line. That's life. If they don't make money. They close. I have been through plant closures a few times. Here is where YOU may be the "newbie". I have done the whole case senerio. Like I said before, plant closure is a lose to everyone. Newbies and those who have been there for a long time. It's a no-win situation. People who have worked here for a long time deserve to retire with their pensions and those who have not worked here as long deserve to try to get that pension or in the very least make their mortgage payments. When comments are made to close the place, I tend to get a little ticked that someone else is toying with my life. You are entitled to your feelings and I am entitled to mine. This is an open blog and I am just trying to be a little positive about a very difficult time right now. If the plant closes, I will definately survive due to my other skills from previous plant closures. Calculate your age into that new feeling of education that you may receive from E.I. because believe you me, it plays a huge part in whether or not you find new employment. Or whether the field that you choose to enter will except you or not. I am no babe-in-the-woods my friend; just someone who has been there and done that, so I am wise to the real world that awaits those who are so eagerly lead towards the negative. Maybe Rockwell will disapoint, take advantage of, kick my butt. But they are paying me quite well, and it is Work after all. Once your education is finished or your E.I. runs out - and it will run out - then when your looking for a job at $10 an hour, you will wish that you still had Rockwell. That is not just my opinion. That is just another fact. Saturday, July 4, 2009 - Ref: "I am new to this blog, and I am very shocked.....". Well, many of us were just like you - once. The fact is you play by the rules, put yourself out, make sacrifices and go beyond expectations and what do you get? After a period of 5 - 10 years you get churned for a newbiew ((like yourself). Don't count on being at RA for long. Careers don't exist, unless your face fits; you are well connected and can BS heirachy. Now you know why many at RA are disgruntled. Friday, July 3, 2009 I am new to this blog, and I have to say that I am very shocked at some of the comments made here. Some I understand, while others are just shocking.I am just a worker that goes to work every day and am thankful for the opportunity to do so. It is a very very scary place out there right now, and when I read how some people say just shut the place down, it verifies to me just how uneducated these people really are when it comes to the economy. Fact: Not a lot of work out there today. Fact: Offshoring is happening everywhere so good paying jobs are gone now. Fact: I don't want to earn $12.00 an hour anymore. (If you're lucky) Fact: We have excellent benefits Fact: I am not management Fact: I have worked for companies that you have to have someone do your job while you go to the washroom. Equal paying jobs. (Gone now) Fact: We have it pretty good here yet all I read is complaints Can someone please list some postive things about our company. I challenge everyone who reads this to actually research other companies and come up with a list of 10 positive attributes that Rockwell does that other companies don't. Yes, even UNIONIZED companies can be put on this list. By making this list, maybe then we can all be a lot happier with our jobs on a daily basis. I will give the first one: Personal days off - even unionized places lost those during concessions. I love my job. I enjoy the people. I know that there are a lot of things that are unfair; but who said life is fair? I have had job postings disappear on me. Not fair. I have lost jobs in the past and not because I didn't do my job, but because of being that number. And believe me, if Rockwell shuts its doors, you will be a number, and not a high one. So, trust me when I say BEING A NUMBER SUCKS! I hate being a number, and that is what the unions do. They make you a number. I firmly believe that everyone who works hard should be able to achieve their goals. Unions stifle that opportunity. We are a great group of people, and we have more talent at Rockwell than you can shake a stick at. So lets find a way to make it better without a union. Remember the grass is always greener on the other side. I have not been at Rockwell for 30 years, so trust me when I say that it sucks out there in the world of EI. It is not the answer. It is the spring board to hope. New careers are great but without experience you fall back to manufacturing and so many people are unemployed the good jobs are already gone. As for the barbeque. Thank you. It was free. And I am thankful for the extra 15 minutes. Long live Rockwell, and the opportunities that we all benefit from! Wednesday, July 1, 2009 Thanks Jim, for allowing us to post on your website. Why is July 5th important? Why did RA corportate notify Dublin, GA and Sumner, IA one year in advance that they will be closing their doors in 2010? When RA changed the pension clause in Dec 31, 2005 allowing certain groups of people to get the supplemental with their pension, and most of them being management at Richland Center, why 2010? Amazing - does canada have the supplemental clause in your pension? Being a profitable facility and with lean taping of our garbage cans area and telling us what our drawers in our tool carts should look like, it is amazing they survive lean-5s-8d- etc.. 2010 is an important year Wednesday, July 1, 2009 Wow! If you were in Cambridge today for the Canada day barbeque, you will know exactly what I am referring to! (Not even a Barbeque - it was cooked in the kitchen). Talk about laying it on thick! It was almost like a Monty python skit. Any intelligent employee would have seen right through it. Company cut backs? For the incredible hard times we are facing, we can't seem to find the money for new tools to do our job properly. But we can splurge for a barbeque to obviously soothe the savage beast. We have the incompetent management team to thank for the UAW at the the main gate. Don't get me wrong; the food was great, the line moved very quickly, they even gave us a 15 minute extension on our lunch. Very nice! We have never seen such enthusiasm and circus-like atmosphere in the 25 years I have worked here. The painted smiles of the managers, silly hats and the willingness to help, gave me indigestion... Without the C.A.W on our door step, I am sure that the new policies and the good food would have never been on the agenda. Just the continued poor treatment of the unprotected worker. Maybe we do need an alfa-dog like the C.A.W to keep the management muts in line. It is obvious that the management team has never taken courses in people management. Abuse of power is the biggest problem. The incompetent team lead is making far too many important decisions without guidance from the department managers. I have never been a fan of unions. In fact, it just might be the best thing for everyone involved to just stop playing the games and close the place. Wednesday, July 1, 2009 Just a lament for a great UK organisation in Wigan called EJA. This week the last production workers said good by to their plant, where the great Guard Master Safety switches were Designed, Marketed and Manufactured. The factory was ahead of its time in the deployment of Lean Enterprise and it R&D personnel sat on ISO committees determining the world standards for the design and manufacture of safety switches. Because of its agile leadership, its time from Development to Manufacture was exceptionally fast, which allowed the company domination of the EMEA Markets. Sadly it was closed because Labor costs were perceived to be cheaper off shore. Tuesday, June 30, 2009 Rockwell doesn't give a hoot about any of its centres. If the facility is not cost effective or manufacture/supply of the goods/services concerned can be hashed to return increased margins, then thats exactly what it will do. Nothing is sacrosanct except for the survival of the same mercenary heirachy incl. "jobs for the boys" via the school tie network. This is how its always been; how it always will be. Tuesday, June 30, 2009 Years ago I worked for Rockwell and lost my job, but about 1 year later took a job with a competitor (doing well). I recently spoke with an individual that left Rockwell and let Management know that he did not agree with the direction of where the Company is headed. If you have not made plans on your next job moves, or retirement, better do this soon before all is lost. Ask yourself why key personnel are leaving, including a key finance person. Why did Keith make over $5m with nearly $13m in stock options - ttal of $18m for 2008? (this info is available)on several bonafide business and newspaper sites.) The employees leaving are quietly telling Keith they do not agree with his management of the company. All of the cut backs impacts your retirement if you are vested. Monday, June 29, 2009 Commenting on a PUBLIC WEBLOG, that has no affiliation with RA whatsoever, has absolutely no bearing on the current state, or future of business for this company. That comment is obtuse. People are giving their opinions on fact. Hoping that someone who can help make changes at this plant can get the ball rolling. Why can you not understand the concept that people have rights? Voicing a concern and never letting it fester is a pro-active approach to gaining new ground. Monday, June 29, 2009 I'll say it again just to drive the point home. Petty BS is what destroyed the Duluth, GA location. That location was to be the location for all of Rockwell's Industrial Computer Business. A lot of very talented people worked there. All of that business and potential business lost. If you can't learn from past mistakes, perhaps it's time to turn the driving chores to someone who knows how to drive. Sunday, June 28, 2009 I'll thank Jim Pinto as well. He's allowed people to post here that have real concerns about the real problems they're observing or experiencing. As for the "industry professional" - understand that people who post here are "professionals" as well. The only "losers" are the ones that think only they count. If you have any experience at all, you know you find out the health of your company, or industry, by reading posts like this one. Expressing you concerns openly at your job usually labels you as a troublemaker. Doesn't have to be that way, however, that's what some of us have experienced. I also enjoyed the "ratgate" or "molegate" drama, as it so clearly illustrates what the real problem within this company appears to be. Any problem can be resolved, but only if it's openly discussed. Since most agree management reads these posts, it's the only "safe" way they feel they can express themselves. That's a good thing. I'm interested in the "mystery date" of July 5th as well, no reason to be cryptic about it. Sunday, June 28, 2009 Thank you for keeping this site open to all individuals, so that they may express there views about anything involving Rockwell Automation. In many instances this is the only forum or outlet that people working at Rockwell have. Please do not limit the responses. Sunday, June 28, 2009 I would like to thank Jim Pinto for posting the comments that are from employees of Rockwell Automation. These are from frustrated employees who are not being heard at the plantm - not union losers with petty BS. These are "CRITICAL" concerns that have been going on far too long. Everyone knows that management reads these posts, so if this is the only way to have them hear us then this is how we will get it through to them. The petty BS actually is going on at the plant and we are proving that we've had enough and will not tolerate it. To the person who some call a "rat": If you get away with yelling, with profanities, on the shop floor, this will also prove what has been written on here. That management is showing favourtism by allowing you to do it without concequences! This is also not petty BS. Most other employees would have been walked out immediately. If anyone wants to talk about sales and marketing on here, you are more than welcome to do so, but if you find there is too much BS on here, just don't read it! There are many other people who use this site, not just people who "claim" they are someone else. Saturday, June 27, 2009 - For "industry professional: OK, then, lets have your views on just how well Rockwell Automation is doing in the market place. Give us a clue! Friday, June 26, 2009 A.B. Canada pumps out massive product for Rockwell as a whole. We have been running overtime pretty much since January. Almost immune to the recession we are probably one of the only plants still making large amounts of money for the company at this time, and thing said on this blog are important to us. Sorry if you are not interested on the current topic then write something about marketing or sales, O wait I just did. Thanks again Jim Pinto for letting our voices be heard. Friday, June 26, 2009 - from Industry Watcher: "Ratgate", or "Molegate" as it is to some, had me and my colleagues in stitches. Maybe some of those "disaffected union losers", as the previous blogger calls them, should consider a career writing TV comedy sitcoms. On a more serious note - anything new regarding the cryptic date "July 5th 2009" mentioned previously on this blog? Thursday, June 25, 2009 Enough with the disaffected union losers posting their petty BS in just one small part of Rockwell, in Canada. Can you please limit topics to sales and marketing related issues? As an industry professional that is where my interest in your weblog lays. Thanks! Thursday, June 25, 2009 I haven’t worked for Rockwell in over a year, but I know that John Whibbs will be successful in any company that's lucky enough to land him. The fact that he's left Rockwell (or asked to leave) is an indication of the deteriorating condition of the company. If Rockwell really wants to get out of this mess (in Canada), they should start with the firing people who are liabilities. Wednesday, June 24, 2009 Remember when Management cancelled shifts and all those employees had to find jobs. No one was allowed to bump, and senior employees had to take lesser jobs and work our way back up. We didn't here a peep from anyone on how unfair it was. You were able to sit in your comfy chairs while the rest of us suffered. Did we complain or try to organize representation? No we sucked it up. So now the shoe is on the other foot and there's a whole lot of whining and complaining. What a bunch of hipocrites you all are. You are only looking out yourselves and care little for you fellow workers. All this innuendo and hearsay shows how pathetic you really are. Who cares about your senority and whether you end up in a job you don't like, or on a shift you don't want. You sure didn't care about us before the new year. Tuesday, June 23, 2009 RA recently sent this email announcement (extract): After 24 years with Rockwell Automation, John Whibbs has made a personal decision to leave our company and pursue other interests in Canada. His last day will be June 30, 2009. John's contributions and dedicated service have made a positive impact to our Canadian organization and we wish him well in his future endeavors. Many suspect that John knew what US Management has planned for Canada and that until Senior U.S./Canadian Management changes Rockwell Automation will not successfully emerge from the current economic conditions. John will be missed. This is a significant loss to the leadership of the RA Canada and should make Institutional Investors start taking a good look at RA operations and start asking some serious questions about its long term viability. Tuesday, June 23, 2009 And the rat speaks! A mole is someone who strategically infiltrates an organization to get information or documentation regarding secretive or sensitive information. You are not a mole. A "rat" is someone who goes into a group knowingly and willingly putting themselves out there for everyone to see and then informing the higher ups on what exactly took place. I think rat is definitely a better description of what you are. I hear that today you went on a little rampage at work, accusing not one but two people of writing about you on this site. You must have missed the crowd gathering behind gawking at you. I would really watch who you accuse and what you say to people because you might just find yourself out on the street. I think HR frowns on harassment and verbal abuse of fellow employees. You should think yourself lucky you don’t get hauled into HR because of it. Fact: You did write down how many people were in attendance at the union meeting. Now to me that does not seem like valid information and has absolutely no relevance to the questions that your friends would have asked. Unless your friend was the plant manager or a "manager friend" as you put it. Secondly, your manager friend kind of blew it for you the next day anyway. I guess she just couldn’t keep her mouth closed and told her entire material-handling team about the meeting the next day. Maybe it made her feel smart, or maybe it gave her some sense of power knowing everything that went on at the meeting, and letting the whole group know that she knew. Last, but not least. For you to sit here and write that everyone else is wrong and are oblivious to what you are and do is just foolish. You have lied and misled fellow employees and management repeatedly. You have also been involved in trying to get fellow employees fired, and have done everything in your power to claw your way up, regardless of who you have stabbed in the back along the way. I feel no pity for you. The mess your in now is of your own doing. A "coward" is somebody regarded as fearful and uncourageous; this word you use is incorrect. The word you're looking for is "courageous" - the ability to face danger, difficulty, or uncertainty, without being overcome by fear or being deflected from a chosen course of action. This includes harassment and scare tactics from your management friends. I suggest you apologize to everyone you have wronged, and try to gain a little dignity and self respect back. Then maybe, you will not be so despised by your co-workers. Remember you have another 25 years to go. Do you really want them to be the same as the last few? Tuesday, June 23, 2009 - Re: "Rat in Cambridge": We all know you'll be back! Well, I have to say you outdid yourself this time. You approached 2 people today; too bad you didn't yell at the right person. How can you expect that anyone would believe that you would have anything at all to do with a Union? These 3 people you were taking notes for; come on, everyone knows that anyone can phone at anytime to ask questions they didn't need you to go to a meeting for them. You have told people at work that the plant manager himself calls you at home when he "needs" to talk to you. This would be why nobody believes you were there other than to support management and give them information. You don't know what someone is talking about when they say you leaked information about 2 managers? Well they aren't managers anymore and you went and told people there before they even knew themselves! Everyone was talking about it before they were "demoted". You don't want to admit to it because this would show what your "manager friend" is really like. But we all know what she's like anyway. Just a manager that makes everyone else have a more difficult day, including other managers. They know what their employees are doing, and don't need you to "rat" every little thing you see and hears. Don't forget the way she deals with her own mistakes. Makes up lies about employees to try and have them fired!! As for the job you are doing now. Let's be honest now; we know that we have an employee who fell ill and one who has a very sick daughter. That has nothing to do with you being given "special assignments" so you don't have to do your own job. You were doing something (nobody really knows what) long before these tragedies and long before you had surgery. Make sure you are giving us all the facts here. Let's talk about the pressure you have to deal with. Whether it's okay to eat lunch with your "manager friend" and where you will go. Now on to the bigger fish to fry. Everyone knows that you are doing exactly what your "manager friend" did, whatever it takes to get a management job. So we know you don't really want our jobs. You just want to rat everyone out so that you look like management material. So really, it's the other managers that you are out to fry. Be careful, I think some of them are on to you two. Hopefully you get fired first. One last note. We all also know that you aren't the only "rat". We know about the other one, but I guess we talk more about you because you and your manager friend really don't care about who you hurt in the end, and what damage you could possibly do to a fellow employees family. You two have done others things besides being "rats" to obtain that reward, and I'm sure everyone knows what I mean. You have a lack of respect for the lives you have tried to ruin, whether it is intentional or not. Hopefully your "manager friend" gets to read all of this. So just remember, as it has been put before: Remember what you do and how treat other employees at Rockwell Cambridge. We stick together and will NOT tolerate your BS or your manager friend's BS either. Eventually it will all come back to bite you and we will not be there for you, except to laugh you out the door! Tuesday, June 23, 2009 I can't believe that you even wrote on here, Rat. You are a a poor excuse for a fellow employee. You are uneducated person, that has no regard for anyone other then yourself. You think anyone in that office really cares about you? I still can't believe you had the audacity to go up to another employee and start to yell at him because you thought he wrote on this Blog. Well guess what - you've got a lot of nerve. There are many of us that write on here. Go up to you're buddies office and tell him what you did. Oh wait - HR was already told. You may be lucky to even have a job by tomorrow. You just can't sneak around peoples backs that you work with. You are going to find this out the hard way. I hope you get what you deserve for messing with people jobs and lives, Rat. Time will tell! Tuesday, June 23, 2009 Thumbs up for the "mole". Actually you aren't a mole either - just going to work everyday doing your job. Isn't it amazing how people "percieve" things happening that in fact aren't happening at all. Feel free to post here anytime. Tuesday, June 23, 2009 I was wondering - if you were not at this union information meeting, then why were you taking names down? That is the question I have. If you are doing this for the company and the "bully" then where do you expect to go in this company? If you get a management position with some authority, then no employee will respect you. And when they down size, you will be the first to go because they know you can't be trusted. If you stay hourly, then nobody will want to work with you because you can't be trusted. You may not like the idea of a union, I don't really know, but the hourly employees need their rights back. The company continues to change the rules when they know it will benefit them. Tuesday, June 23, 2009 Looks like the upenders forgot were they came from. The lies and the vindictive little games are over. We will not stand for this anymore. You both have played everyone for fools and now we all see it. Your days are numbered. We as management still have some pull in Cambridge and we will see that the plant manager learns of all your lies. You are the reason people want a union. A perfect example of how things have gone wrong. Your lies and games have ruined peoples lives and morale in this building. It ends soon. Tuesday, June 23, 2009 Shakespeare wrote... the more you protest proves the guilt that you have. Tuesday, June 23, 2009 I would be the person in which you cowards are all refering to. I don't need to leave my name because you have all figured out that I am "the rat". Please get your facts straight. Firstly I would like to say to the first coward: I was not rewarded a job for being a rat. I was put in a position because I have some seniority. I was on a disability after surgery, and most importantly I was asked to step up to a difficult task because of a couple of tragedies that happened to two other employees. I feel bad for you that you would even insinuate that, when the person I am filling-in for is dealing with a very sick child. Secondly, I sat at that meeting, writing things down for 3 people that were not able to attend the meeting. I was there mostly for my own ignorance of unions. I know nothing about them to be honest. I for one have been in a very tough situation here at Rockwell for the past two years. Those of you that know me well enough (such as my "management friend") would know the struggles and disappointments I have gone through in the past year here at Rockwell (that doesn't really sound like management doing me a lot of favors). As a matter of fact I challenge any one of you to step up and do what I am doing now. There is a lot of pressure, hmmm once again, doesn't sound very rewarding. I sat in on, what? One of how many union meetings? I sat there very openly. You insist on calling me a rat (I prefer mole; much cuter). You however had to scurry over to where I was sitting and snoop through my things (I apologize, I guess you weren't snooping, because I left everything out in the open) while I was outside calling my children, and oh my goodness, supporting my, how did you put it, nasty habit.(BTW, i keep my desk drawers unlocked please feel free to sneak a peek when I am not looking). Third, i would like to say straight to the point. Someone had posted that I was involved in leaking information about two managers and the future of their jobs. To speak candidly, I don't have a clue what you are talking about. Believe what you will about me, it doesn't really matter, I couldn't care less. The only reason I am writing this is because I am getting so sick and tired of being a victim in my own company and not having any say. I am tired of having to face your little potty-mouthed, jobless cheerleaders handing out flyers when I come into work in the morning. Union or no union, I have bigger fish to fry. I just want to be sure that I have a paycheck every week. I don't work for you, I don't work for me for that matter. I work for my children and that's what matters the most! You need not respond to this message. I am sure you have some great comebacks for me. However, don't waste your time. This will be the very last time I visit this ridiculous web site. Monday, June 22, 2009 Rats are everywhere in this sinking ship. On talking about the individual who is a "rat" sure sounds like one we have here in Richland Center. She, is a very good friend of one of the used-to-be Production Managers and has been placed in many jobs that she was not qualified for, but they Always have looked out for her. Furthermore, why is she allowed to work her business during working hours and on the Rockwwell e-mail selling beauty products? Does the fact she is a very good friend of one of the managers (and so is her husband) who used to work at the RC facility say anything? Does Paris Hilton "looks" say enough and she plays the game with the majority of the men. If this was me selling items during working hours or honeying my way to the top, I would have been fired years ago. But I'm proud of my 30+ years; I go home and look forward to retirement hopefully. Monday, June 22, 2009 Richland Center facility does 2100,2500, DSY (drives) ESB (eng spec boxes)AMAT etc. and employees 380 people, minus a few on VLO. Moneterrey, Mx. is gradually taking over the orders for 2100, drives and esb. Monterrey plant has GE workers. 2500 are done in Brazil, China and Poland. 2500 have many connection points and you can not move them around or add to units. Very hard to run wires up the wireway to top or side wireway to terminal blocks going through a control plug also. Future units need to be installed at the beginning. People out on VLO save their vacation days, what is going to happen this fall Oct-Dec. when everyone wants to use their vacation days. Did any of the employees from the two plants closing in 2010 get offered jobs in WI facilities? Monday, June 22, 2009 The young work force does not challenge me; it is the butt kissing that makes my stomach turn. I guess when I was hired I was under the impression that I should shut up and listen to my elders, Learn about the product from the older work force and do good work. I guess if kissing butt and being a fake is what it takes, then I will have to lower my standards, which I would prefer not to do to compete with them. I can charm and BS with the best of them and not care how the company goes. Thanks for opening up my eyes. This will make me a better person. Too bad the 8 hr. days drag out so long at work, but I guess I will be like all the green astronauts. Monday, June 22, 2009 Do not use the ombudsman's office. I have first hand experience with them. The first thing they do is "notify" the person or persons you are having problems with that there is a problem. Then they tell them "who" you are!!!! This is not a privacy first office! Do NOT contact them unless you want to lose your job! Monday, June 22, 2009 Well, TechEd is going on now down in Orlando, FL. It would be interesting if senior management looked around at the RA attendees and see how much money is being wasted. Why would finance people attend or HR folks? I guess they are there to teach courses on our hardware and software. No wonder we have troubles. Spending money on expenses for the wrong people to attend. Where is finance reviewing the spending for this event? If they are not doing it proactively, then the money is already spent. Oh I forgot, finance is attending the event!!! They are just as guilty as the other folks who attend that are not customer facing. Monday, June 22, 2009 Maybe the younger workforce is challenging you due to their willingness to change. A 35 year veteran in absolutely worth their weight in gold, if they get involved in the change. If they stand in the way, their value goes from positive to negative. They become a liability. Especially in these times. I recall overhearing this comment one day from a supervisor: "I can't and won't challenge the employees, they are my neighbors, and my family members". Thoughts like that get plants downsized or worse. Monday, June 22, 2009 12 years is a green-horn? Wow! I thought that kind of requirement was saved for astronauts, not assembly work. Regarding watching the mighty fall. They don't fall. They have skills. They leave and go somewhere else for more money. Monday, June 22, 2009 - from the guy from Duluth, GA again. Although what I said about Ombudsman's office is true, and yes, the investigators do work for Rockwell, Rockwell is under no obligation to act on what Ombudsman's office recommends. That's the kicker. When I looked into the "legal"issues related to the Ombudsman's office, this is what I found: They keep no records of their investigations, and they are "barred" legally from testifying in court. In my own mind, when I think of the Ombudsman's office I think of Mom. Instead of calling Ombudsmans office, call your Mom. Well, she'll look into it, if she believes you were wronged, she'll side with you, but in reality she can't do anything about it. So just cross out the word "ombudsmans" office and replace it with "Mom's" office. Same thing. In case anyone might be interested in the results of the investigation, I'll quote, "I know they disagree with you, but the results of our investigation are that your termination was inappropriate". I understand their HR department well. When you have to go to the feds for protection, the line between public corporation and Mafia blurs, you no longer can tell the difference. Unfortunately, that's been my experience. Fact is, it doesn't have to be that way, it was their choice. Once it goes into criminal territory, it becomes a DOJ issue. Monday, June 22, 2009 Does anybody knows anything about the future of EMEA folks here? It would be very interesting to know about that, many of our "big" Customers have plants down there. Having such feedback would explain regarding the next future as well..... Sunday, June 21, 2009 As I read about Sumner-Iowa, Dublin-Georgia - with plants closing in 2010, I am sure they have all facilities figured out when they are going to be closing them, based on transfer of work to lower cost markets and Rockwell Automation North American-based facilities operating below capacity. Our facility(RC) used to ship $12-18 milion a month, now we are down to $ 5-6 milion, through no fault of our own. But engineering product line are being built in Tecate, MX and sc-pe2 orders built in Monterrey, MX. Yes, maybe it is cheaper and that's what it is all about. We also have people with few years of service back-stabbing older seniority people, trying to make themselves look very job-performance knowledgable. Management is buying into it. Years of dedicated service (35+) does not mean anything, when green horns with 12 years know it all. How you treat the old individuals who made A-B the Cadilac of the MCC world should come into play. But guess what? They are cutting there own throats by believing in these green-horns and shipping jobs south of the boarder. Let's hope that they also pass the cost saving onto the customer, at a lesser price than the American dollar, when it is made in Tecate or Monterrey. Starters have been made in Mexico for years now. Hopefully the customer got a discount price. Someone had to pocket the money. Why do you think I shop at Walmart,versus a local store? Because it is cheaper price. Respect of the older personnel has to be earned, not given out freely. This will either make or break this company. Saturday, June 20, 2009 Cambridge has a proplem... When sides are being formed, it's clear that a battle is on the way. Saturday, June 20, 2009 Well, let them promote those two to management (or at least salaried) positions. After all, we know how easy it is to get rid of salaried employees (whether it's with good reason or not). I can't see Rockwell Automation letting this go on at one of the few facilities that is actually doing well. If Operations is causing all this havoc, there should be a change soon! And then.... watch the mighty fall! Friday, June 19, 2009 Call the Ombudsman's office first. They'll investigatate your complaints very quickly. They're very objective and complete their investigation in about a month. They're very helpful. You'll be assigned an investigator, and you can call them to check on progress, etc. My experience with them was very pleasant. They'll present their findings to upper management above the plant level. At that point, it's up to upper management to implement any changes, based on what the investigations discover. The advantage of using the Ombudsman's office is that often a problem can be resolved before the "trainwreck" happens. That's why it's there. By using the Ombudsmans office, you are seen as someone using the right tool to resolve a problem you see as detrimental to the business. That's been my experience. I'm the guy from Duluth, GA. In my case the "trainwreck" already happened, and once things get to that point, nothing can save it; it's gone. So if you're thinking of calling them, do it now. They really are good and effective before a problem get's out of hand. Friday, June 19, 2009 Yes, I agree. There are no ethics with some managers and friends. One employee was to be laid off and was written up for missing two days from the previous year (which was done, over and dealt with) - and then literally kicked out of the buidling by the manager being talked about. This employee is still home "laid-ff", while people with less skills, and senority are doing their job and other jobs they used to do. I guess a grudge can go a long way when you have some power. Why is this? Is this not a direct violation of ETHICS? Nope, it's not a violation, if you DO NOT PRACTICE THEM! HR is absolutley useless to talk to. All they do is shake their head, "yes, yes, OK, yes..." A lady that worked for HR actually quit and was quoted as saying, "This is the most corrupt and unprofessional office I have ever worked in; I have to get the hell out of here." THE OMBUDSMAN: A paid Rockwell employee, paid by ROCKWELL...hmmmmmm. The chances of someone actually winning are worse than OJ's chances of people actually believing he's not guilty! Friday, June 19, 2009 What is the name of the Canadian equivalent of the US's National Labor Relations Board? Ask them to intervene and investigate. You better contact them. You need to know the rules, and fast. Friday, June 19, 2009 - Concerning the "person": Has it not occurred to anyone that, whether or not her and her buddy manager use this information to help management, this is a direct violation of the ethics training we all take. This not the first time these 2 have done something like this to further their own goals. Unless something is done, it won't be the last. Is management gonna stepup and prove to us that all that they have been saying and promising lately regarding truth and better relations between us and them is not just smoke but a realization? Can they deal with these 2? I think not; so perhaps it is time to involve the ombudsman and not just a few of us... Thursday, June 18, 2009 The proof is in the management. I must admit it is funny to see the head of production at the Cambridge facility scurry around frantically trying to oust union supporters and making us all watch anti-union videos on company time. I also enjoyed the facts-sheet that was created by management, telling us about the big bad union, which I later found out was mostly the plant production manager’s opinion not fact. It's amazing how easily people believe someone based on their position; all you have to do is pop a Rockwell logo on it and it must be true. I am baffled though, at why a group of people would continue to follow someone so blindly, especially after being beaten down by that same person so many times before. Now let's talk hypocrisy. I found it very odd why the plant supervisor would come all the way down to my work area to question me about the union. He opened the conversation with: "What do you think about the union?" to which I then stated, "I am undecided". The next question was the best because, after he said "Really", he then said, "I hear you’re a big union supporter". This coming from a man who says "don’t believe rumors", but starts a question with "I hear". Good leading question, by the way you've just proven to me yet again how dim-witted you think we are out on the floor. It is also funny that you would question me about the union 1 week after I attended a union meeting that you told us all to go to. Now let's talk about the rat. Well I do know where you are getting your information from; even though I didn’t let on that I did know. Everyone at the meeting knew you had sent the little rat in to take notes. We looked at her notepad when she was out having a cigarette - nasty habit. She had written down how many people attended, who asked what, pretty much who was naughty and who was nice (too bad you're not Santa). These are the people you have in mind for management and currently have in management positions, and you wonder why people are handing pamphlets out front? Well little rat, you have definitely ostracized yourself once again from the rest of us. I just can’t wait until it comes back to bite, and someone higher up realizes how unprofessional and uneducated you really are, and that you got to where you are based on trickery over people skills. I can see from reading this webpage I am not the first one to talk about you. H.R. - what can I say about you guys? I thought I got lucky the day the plant manager had questioned me because it just so happened that the U.S. had sent another H.R. guy down to listen to everyone's problems. I thought for sure he would see how it really was now up here. To my dismay, he and our own H.R. manager just listened and nodded at me, after I told them about the scare tactics that had taken place out on the floor. Then they proceeded to tell me about all the good things they plan on implementing - thanks for listening. It's ok though, it just solidifies my outlook on management at Rockwell. When will corporate see that by leaving the splinter in (plant manager) it just spreads the sickness and infects other areas (the rest of management) and creates a poisonous atmosphere? Thursday, June 18, 2009 It is hard to believe that this blog is just starting to deal with the deep seeded and long term cronyism which runs rampant in Rockwell. All you needed to do during FE was look at the marketing group. It was full of moving people out for retribution, moving people aside and posting friends to plush director jobs when they had ZERO experience and no clue as to what marketing was or did. I cannot fathom that this is the first time people are commenting on a common practice. Publicly, HR says that this does not and cannot happen - but behind closed doors, the practice exists and is allowed to continue under the nose and with the help of HR. Maybe it is new to the field but this is a 101 course in Milwaukee. Hide your friends and dump your enemies. Not too many more friends to hide anymore. Wednesday, June 17, 2009 Just like the great substance-addicted singer from "The Doors" sang: "This is the END, my Friend." Get out before they force you out. There is life after Rockwell. Reality will hit you like a rock. Most customers really do like Rockwell, but they have to use it or pay for the services they will never use. Rockwell I believe is looking to sell more off and make their books look good by laying more people off. Wednesday, June 17, 2009 Keep in mind that while "this person" has not only be placed in jobs that have never been posted, or gone through the proper determination of qualifications, she has also been left on the Hourly Pay Scale at Labour Grade 6, which is significantly more then the correct rate the current position she holds should be paid at. That position should be paid under the Career Band A scale. This should further demonstrate how all the management rules from Rockwell, before current management took over, have been thrown out. I would think that the other employees doing the same job for years and with more experience, but at a much the lower rate of pay would be more than a little angry. Perhaps the Rockwell Ombudsman would be interested in hearing from some of her fellow employees. Problem is for various reasons she is one of the "protected" employees. This is a perfect example of how current management has destroyed the concept of fairness within the plant. Hard to believe someone in the U.S. can’t see that it didn’t have to come to this horrible situation. All that needed to be done was simply following established RA guidelines, procedures and polices instead of ignoring them, and instead of promoting and rewarding certain employees to become simply a "secret police" and turning RA Cambridge into a perfect model of an 18th century sweat shop. Little wonder there is Union talk. Wednesday, June 17, 2009 It won’t matter if RA-Cambridge decides to certify a Union or not. U.S. corporate has already decided to move the manufacturing to Mexico. Unfortunately they haven't learned from their experiences in Tecate, JZE and Katowice. This consolidation of manufacturing will prove to be a huge and expensive error. Perhaps having a Union in RA-Cambridge will simply protect the hourly workers while the operation winds down and ensure the employees get all the monies that they deserve. If you don’t believe me ask the RA-Cambridge General Manager what the project code named "Tropicana" means. Wednesday, June 17, 2009 - Response to RE:This Person posted on June 16: I used to work for Intecolor/Rockwell in Duluth, GA. That plant closed down in 2001. We also had a "person" who did the same thing to me personally. Unfortunately management listened to her, she even got a promotion, although she didn't know what she was doing. I was fired, based on the false allegations. Long story short, Rockwell had planned to close down Manufacturing, keep Sales, Marketing,Engineering and Tech Support, if I recall correctly. Even though I was fired, I saw the memo from corporate describing the plan. Once corporate got my story, and investigated. They closed the plant completely. Still to this day I have an outstanding Defamation of Character claim against Rockwell, and had to get the US Dept of Justice involved as I was literally run out of town. Use this real world example of what could happen. Unfortunately by the time management understood they were being "snowed" it was way too late. "Informers" have their own agendas, and it's never the companies. Tuesday, June 16, 2009 - RE: This "person": There is nothing we can do for this person. It's already too far gone now. She has "friends" on the floor who actually believe they can trust her and they tell her things that other employess are saying. First person to catch wind of this information is her Manager friend, who makes sure all the right people hear about it. She is rewarded by being given jobs that are made just for her, even when they've been told that she doesn't even know what she's doing! Huge favoritism. This manager has caused enough trouble of her own around the plant, but still manages to be there. We all wait for the day the she is "escorted" out the door!!! These are the type of people that upper management seem to want around Rockwell Cambridge, and this is part of the reason why company morale and trust is at an all-time low. Management knows that in a place this large there are going to be personalities of all sorts; so when are they going to accept that? They need to worry about whether the work is getting done, and not try to prosecute every employee about every petty little thing they hear about them. If this doesn't stop and the "person" and "manager" friend aren't stopped, it will just snowball. Not that it hasn't already but it's just getting worse. We also have employees on the floor that for some reason feel that they are bosses as well. When is management going to realize that these people who run and tattle about every little thing are only doing it because of lack of doing any work themselves. They take the spotlight off themselves and talk about other employees doing nothing, talking too much, or what ever they can drum up, just because they get a pat on the head like a good little pit bull! These people make it almost impossible for the employees to come to work and even tolerate a couple of hours! Wow, they are really going to get a lot of work done now, aren't they! Put a stop to these pit bulls (or pit bullies) and tell them to get back to doing some work themselves instead of acting like 6 year-olds. We know that Rockwell was considered the "country club" of all Rockwell plants; but now it's being called "Alcatraz". Everyone knows that they can't stand around and relax like the old Rockwell days. But now this is all getting carried away. Put some trust back into your skilled employees and let them get the job done the way they used to, with pride and perfection. Then you may see the changes that you're looking for out there on the floor. Monday, June 15, 2009 Like the Huey Lewis song says: "I'm taking what their giving cause I'm working for a living". And that is about the truest statement ever made regarding working for a wage. You take what they give. There is only one way out of this mess for most of us: training, education, and skill sets. Reinvent yourselves - absolutely. Do something. Sitting around and yacking about it isn't going to put food on your table. Go to the local colleges, take welding, paint tech, computer tech, lab tech, health care, equipment repair, automotive repair, electronics, plc programming, hydraulics, machine controls, etc. The thing that truly amazes me is that many of the workers at Rockwell just don't get how skilled they really are. How small of a jump is it to go from assembling these systems to being able to debug them? Heck most of you already know how they work, how they are wired, and the products in them. How much of a reach is it to be able to wire homes and businesses? Or repair machine controls in factories? One or two courses, coupled with the knowledge you already have, could easily unlock a new future. People who do this, who take responsibility for themselves, and see their worth, will be well rewarded. Do you have any idea how much I'd give for a maintenance tech that could read wiring schematics, and be able to plug a laptop into a plc and debug a machine problem? And I'm only talking 24 volt or 120 volt systems, nothing like the systems you all work at. The other ones who might be well rewarded are the survivors of this economic battle (and it is a war, get used to that thought), who stay at the companies they are with today. Percentages are lower with this tho. And you have no way to help yourself out of the mess. As many leave, the remaining become worth more, but only if the company survives. Otherwise, you'll be the one looking at others that left early, and got the first jobs available. The ones who lose are the ones who won't make the required leap to the next level. You'll be left in the dust, wondering what happened, and getting bitter. As far as your little informer friend; read the Labor Relations Laws. They are published on the government websites for both the US and Canada. Read them well. As far as getting a union, go ahead if you want. Understand this: the very 1st thing the union will likely do is negotiate with the company behind closed doors for automatic withdrawal of the union dues from your pay. That is their highest priority, to get that piece of the pie. My personal experience suggests this is the case, and is my opinion based on that experience. Good luck with your futures! You can make them, or have them made for you. Monday, June 15, 2009 In the South Pacific there seems to be more emphasis on keeping our Orion opportunity tracking package up to date and accurate, when you don't get the information from our distribution channel. At the same time, they expect us to report on what's happening in the region, when we are not allowed to see what our new distributor are selling to OUR customers. It's like them asking you to drive in a race, then they say "here's a blind fold - wear it" and expect you to win and feel confident. The focus is in the wrong place. It's getting too hard. Monday, June 15, 2009 As a former employee, it is poor morale and a lack of trust that our management are good stewards of this company called Rockwell Automation, that's killing the ROK. There also seems to be no accountability for the executive leadership team. When was the last change at the executive level (7 years ago)? For you folks that are talking union: Slap yourself in the face; understand that you are part of the problem with America. We rank 25th academically around the world. That means there are 24 other countries better educated than the USA. We need to reinvent our value in this world. Unions will only fight that change. The quicker our country goes through chapter 11, the better off our kids will be for it. If you shake our country like an old couch looking for loose change, nothing but credit card bills would fall out. You get it! GO RE-INVENT YOURSELF, PEOPLE! Sunday, June 14, 2009 All this talk about a union in Cambridge. As a recent former employee, if only the employees were treated with respect, rather than a clock number, perhaps the situation would be different. If the two at the top understood this, boy, how things would be different. Saturday, June 13, 2009 Yes, true, we all know who this person is, but I am just curious on what it is exactly, we hourly employees can do to help her? We cannot negotiate anything, barter services or demand anything? I do think it was a mistake to do what she has done, as it has completely alienated whatever respect was left. Not that it matters I guess, as we all still go into work the next day, and the day after, collect our paychecks and do the same thing over every week... She will, I will, you will, everyone will. My point: Does it really matter that management knows who was there, what was said? NO.... Saturday, June 13, 2009 When somebody records people's names and the attendance figures at a union meeting, it just shows what she is about. And management better beware, as this lady desperately wants into management. If she will betray us to get ahead, don't you think she would do the same thing to her superiors in management? People like her do not change as they move up the ladder. So be careful if you are ever 'her' boss in the future. You will be next. She could not have made it any more obvious. And as for the 'employee' reps who attended; people actually groaned when they saw them pulling into the parking lot. What does that say about our representatives? Friday, June 12, 2009 Do you think that having a union in Cambridge will help? Do you understand what the term "Globalization" is? If a union ever got in, Rockwell will close Cambridge down in like the blink of a eye. You can then get your minimum-wage job without any benefits after your UI runs out. Friday, June 12, 2009 For those who are laid off, you might want to look at Emerson or Yokogawa. They both have excellant reputations as a good place to work. You will be respected there. Yokogawa is actually in a growth mode and not laying people off. Friday, June 12, 2009 - Regarding the Cambridge plant Union meeting: There is a certain person that attended the union meeting who reported back to management regarding who was there and what questions were asked. This person has already in the past leaked information received from management to "hourly" employees, regarding very sensitive information. There were managers that were being either demoted or fired and this person told people on the floor. Now this person is working on management's side to report back all information from fellow employees. Everyone knows who this person is. It is pretty sad that you put yourself right in front of everyone this time. Everyone knows what you do, so you had to go to the union meeting to dig up what ever you could so you could run back to management and say "look what I found out!" Just remember that if you keep this up it may come back to haunt you some day. We "hourly" employees stick together and feel each others pain and try to help each other when in need. You may find yourself in a situation where you need these people to help you, and remember what you have done because they may not be there for you in your time of need. Friday, June 12, 2009 The security guards are the transition support. They support you when you are transiting from being employed to becoming unemployed. So simple. Wednesday, June 10, 2009 Glad they're getting transition support. Let's hope this won't be another "escorted out by security guards" fiasco. Wednesday, June 10, 2009 - Rockwell to close plants in Iowa, Georgia - Associated Press (extracts): Sumner, Iowa – Rockwell Automation Inc. said it will close its plant in Sumner in northeast Iowa by the end of 2010, affecting 163 workers. The Milwaukee-based company notified workers Tuesday, saying the work will be moved to existing plants in Wisconsin and Mexico. Rockwell Automation also announced it would close its plant in Dublin, Ga., by July 2010, affecting 145 workers. Company spokesman said the closings are necessary to remain competitive. The plant in Sumner opened in 1995. Wednesday, June 10, 2009 - Dublin plant to lay off 145, close next year - From Macon.com (extracts): The Rockwell Automation plant that opened in Dublin 30 years ago will close next year, impacting 145 workers. Employees were notified Tuesday that the operation would face a phased closure beginning in October and ending in July 2010. The Milwaukee-based company, which opened the 190,000-square-foot Dublin facility in 1979, provides industrial automation power, control and information systems and services to other manufacturers. It runs two shifts a day. The company also plans to close its Sumner, Iowa, manufacturing center by December 2010, affecting 163 employees. Work done at the Dublin facility would be sent to existing plants in Ohio and Mexico, according to a news release. The company announced in 2005 that 200 workers would be laid off during a three-year period beginning in 2006, which occurred. Peak employment at the Dublin plant was “about 600 employees a few years ago”. Employees will receive severance packages and transition support. Rockwell Automation Inc. employs about 20,000 people and serves customers in more than 80 countries. Tuesday, June 9, 2009 I understand that Rockwell facilities in both Dublin and Sumner will be shutdown/closed for good as of April 2010. Any news on Twinsburg and Highland Hts closing? Monday, June 8, 2009 - To the blog reporting that Anorad Israel has no profit: You are absolutely right; first time of not meeting AOP (it is pouring on all of us around the globe) no profit after 11 years of covering Anorad US disasters investments. First action is "lets cut the bleeding leg", without thinking what will happened to the entire body... This is the the difference between being right and wise. As mentioned, RA management need to take the Ethics classes again and again. Sunday, June 7, 2009 It’s a crying shame that despite the fact the MV voltage business is apparently doing quite well in these tough economic times, the hourly personnel at the Cambridge plant feel that they even have to talk of a union. We have a great group of people in Cambridge, and even with the loss of Dept 16, we continue to be very busy, as can be seen by the cancellation of the unpaid day. It’s too bad that they feel so helpless, that they feel they have no one to turn to but the one group of people that have quite instrumental in the loss of jobs in the area. Look at other companies in the area. Without naming names, how many jobs have been lost even though (and probably because) they were unionized? We used to have a facility where anyone could walk in and talk to either management or HR when they felt they had an issue to talk about. Obviously that was in the past. I do hope that Milwaukee is looking closely at us and determining when the deterioration started. I hope that they look back and see what has happened to the once wonderful place to work at. When canning employees with up to 35 years of dedication to a company became fashionable. When decimating a whole HR department, and replacing them with robots that obviously care more about what the business unit managers have to say, than what an HR department is supposed to do, which is to look after a company’s employees. This is definitely one time that I hope Milwaukee has a good look at us and helps us to get out of this mess. It’s obvious that we have no one up here to do it. We are supposedly one of Rockwell’s best. If you walk around up here, it’s easy to see why. We have some of the most dedicated employees, both salaried and hourly. We are an example to be followed. Look at when it started to go wrong, and fix it. Meanwhile, I hope that our employees hang in there, until such a time. Sunday, June 7, 2009 I'm an ex-Rockwell employee from way back and would have to agree with the last post. Until management understands that you will not get good output from employees by treating them like animals you'll never be successful. The wonderful degrees, the black belts, that all sounds good, but is it accomplishing anything? Many years ago I used to train new Mechanical Engineers (not at Rockwell). I was a Mechanical Designer (meaning an ME without a degree). The reason I was chosen to train was that all my programs got completed on time and usually under budget. I'd spend two days with a new ME teaching him how to interact with other employees, that was the key to my success. Yes you must have the technical skills, but it's how you treat the people in your organization that determines the success of it, and your own. That's real teamwork, not just an "idea" to shoot for. If this organization ever gets that, it can go far forward. Like the last post said, if you beat your dog, it will bite you; but if you pet it, it will do anything for you. It has nothing to do with pay, but has everything to do with respect. Sunday, June 7, 2009 I too work at RA in Cambridge. Less than 20% of employees want a UNION. It is a stupid idea for numerous reasons. For most people, the biggest one is paying out approx. $1,500 each so other guys can ride around in their Lexus; no thanks. A union cannot stop a business from closing, paying you more, etc. Unfortuneatley, unions are abused by lazy jerks, and people who just use it to their advantage. With that being said, the RA plant is full of favoritism, deception, lies, unethical practices and manipulation. A union would definitely put an end to this, but at a great cost, financially and figureatively. I think it is time for management to wake up, smarten up, listen and be pro-active in creating a positive shift for the employees. The atmosphere you guys created certainly isn't working; try again! If the "bullies" had any sense, they would take the advice given to them and run with it. What is the worst that could happen? People hating you more? Remember, a dog will do more for you out of love, than fear! Saturday, June 6, 2009 I work at Rockwell Automation, in Cambridge. Recently the CAW has been trying to help us get organised. I was'nt a union person, but the way this place is run is like a jail. It is time we had someone help us fight this bully. When the union showed up to hand out flyers he did not go out there himself, he sent 2 woman out to try and get rid of them. He has no problem being a bully to the employees. But he cannot stand up too people outside the plant and tell them to leave. Thursday, June 4, 2009 It's not really big news... Rockwell are just selling over to a company ...its been referred to here before a few times. Thursday, June 4, 2009 July 5th, start of year end quarter. Who does this affect? Wednesday, June 3, 2009 Don't know what the July 5th 2009 post means, but if it's what I think it is, I can't wait. Wednesday, June 3, 2009 The day is here: July 5 2009. Watch the news. Tuesday, June 2, 2009 At RC they announced more changes, looking for volunteers to be laid off for three months ---- number of employees unknown, and if they do not get the desired number (only they know) who knows what the next cut will be. They cannot answer many questions. We are all saying, between June and December 2010 is when the doors will be "locked" at this facility. The new plant manager is the "Grim Reaper"--yup that's what we call him. I do not understand, we have all of these business high-to-do's that have degrees but do not know "beans" of operating a business. The high falutin business types bigshots in them fancy cars blame the economy. I say mostly bad business decisions and to avoid eating crow, they punish the ones that pay their wages. The man on the street knows more since they are the ones that get the dirt on their hands. Tuesday, June 2, 2009 To the May 27th comment about the Anorad closing: I don't want to go into specifics on a public site like this, but I can say with all certainty that the Israel operation was not making profit. To say otherwise is simply not accurate. I have been very close to this situation and I am not just a representative of RA management. I just wanted to clear of any mis-statements on this site. Thank you. Thursday, May 28, 2009 I struggle with the thought that Ops alone created the morass you describe. Are you really saying the GE team so overwhelmed everyone that Sales, Engineering, Supply Chain, HR, and the Executive branch all went along without thought? Cows to the Slaughter? Basically you're suggesting that the Operations branch is stronger than Keith Nosbusch and all the executive teams combined. I do doubt that everyone went thoughtlessly to Abileen for Ice cream, if you know the story. Now if you suggested that the Ops team had experience in building similiar and competitive systems in offshore situations, and they advised accordingly, I'd buy that. After all, the Monterrey site manager is from across the road from GE Monterrey, if it's still the same dude. Its just a bitter pill of reality to comprehend that most of the competitive systems of RAs are made offshore. And while RA's entrance into the offshore race is late, they are following the same-ole same-ole playbook. That book was written by Motorola, GM, GE, etc, etc. What is somewhat disconcerting is now the Voice from Washington, the Great Pooba himself, is saying that he's going to reverse these trends. Well, he just might. All he has to do is make the dollar weaker yet, and lower the minimum wage to $3 an hour, and it'll reverse. With an additional trillion bucks in debt, it might just happen. The only failure that the offshoring will run hard into, will be engineering quality and sales accuracy. And those are the same failures that plagued the other plants. Your note mentioned that the plants are there to "Serve". You suggest disparity in your thought processes of how a team is supposed to work. Designs are supposed to make sense and be able to be built. Customer demands are supposed to be accurate, and when don't make sense, sales is supposed to ask sometimes hard questions. And the timeline is supposed to give procurement time to buy the parts, inside lead time. And manufacturing is supposed to bring it all home. Tough to do when the REAL failure rate on unit build is 90%, not the reported 20%. But hey, its all supposition on our parts anyway. The die is cast, and the mold being filled. But as your note pointed out, the finger pointing has started, the rocks being thrown through glass houses. Failure is immiment, so the camps are segregating into warring factions. Like the proverbial truck load of noncommitals going to Abilene for Ice Cream, when they get there they might just ask why, and won't be able to figure out who really wanted to go anyways. Thursday, May 28, 2009 The culture and conditions witnessed at the plants can all be traced back to the crack Milwaukee Operations Leadership team. Ops leadership believed the manufacturing facilities were staffed with "incompetents" who under-preformed, and went about eliminating everybody they could get their hands on. It's no accident that nearly all the manufacturing facilities have new Plant Managers/leadership who deploy the "Thomas(GE) manufacturing philosophy" to the fullest. This from a bunch of people who also drove Ford into the ground! The sad truth is that the Operations Group has turned the plants into nothing more than crude labor camps with Plant Managers who know nothing about the product/customer, and run the plants purely on the weekly numbers. Before anybody jumps in, and asks what else the plants should be measured to. I would also introduce the almost complete separation of Business and Operations, and the indifference of the Operations group to Business Requests (New Product Introduction, Prototypes, Pilots, etc) and Customer Requests (Specials, Customs, quick delivery, etc). The operations group are forgetting their purpose, and for whom they serve. The Operations group wants to operate like a contract manufacturer to the exclusion of everything else. I have news for them, they are not that good! The decision to close plants such as Eden Prairie, Manchester, Milwaukee, Wigan, etc and move production to low labor cost countries like Mexico and Poland is a pure Ops decision, with little input requested from the Business leaders until after the decision had been made. This is a highly flawed strategy that won't even provide short term cost savings they so desperately claim, and is doomed in the long term. Customer service is already suffering, with major and long term customers already complaining about the shoddiness of the product after it's been transferred. Again, sadly this strategy will only increase as MORE plants and good people are to be sacrificed to a deeply flawed manufacturing philosophy. If I could provide some advice to Keith, it would be to put an end to this empire building group within the company. Please don't let it continue. Rockwell needs a group that can work with the Business, not set itself up in isolation. Thursday, May 28, 2009 - Re: Union The Cambridge facility needs a union as much as they need more picnic tables out in the orchard, so the disgruntled employees can sit out there and complain and bicker about everything that's wrong with the company and how they could do it better. "Why do they do this, why do they do that." Complain, complain, complain, that's all you do. My question is: If the place is so bad, why do you all come in so early to sit on these picnic tables and complain? Is the union going to solve all your problems? Maybe you should sit in on a management meetings and find out what really is going on. You may find out that they are actually trying to run a company. The objective of management is certainly not to see how we can make your lives miserable by "sliding" somewhere you don't want to be. It's to make a profitable business, so we all have jobs. Come on people, in a perfect world you all wouldn't be working in manufacturing, am I right? You chose your future. Now make the best of it and work together to make the Cambridge facility number 1. Enough of the complaining. Do something positive for a change. Otherwise, if you chase Rockwell out of Cambridge, you'll find out what a real paying manufacturing job is all about, without all the perks and benefits that are thrown in. Best of luck to you all if the union gets in. Pick up the paper and read the classifieds under good paying factory jobs. They are not there unless you're an educated, skilled person. One question to the union: With all that money that the employees are going to be dishing out to you off their pay checks, Are you going to make sure they find another job when you chase Rockwell out of Cambridge? Answer: NO. You've already chased every other manufacturing job out of this region and Canada. Thursday, May 28, 2009 Wonder why they need a Warehouse Supervisor in Memphis? I heard they were going to close it down and move it. They only have a one year extension lease that is up in November. Wednesday, May 27, 2009 Rockwell is closing both Anorad Europe and Anorad Israel. But why? Still making profit but it seems that it was not good enough. We all are curios if Mr. Nosbosch has follewed the ethics training, NOT! Friday, May 22, 2009 The recruitment firms in Milwaukee have been having a field day for 2 years. It has become a running joke with them. Friday, May 22, 2009 - Re: Shocked if someone in management did not log the Sunday, May 17 posting: Well, be shocked then. Because it wasn't a management person who wrote that. Just someone with a lot of experience. Sorry guys, it's a horrible world for manufacturing everywhere right now. Even the Chinese are out sourcing to Vietnam. Massive outsourcing, and many jobs. Because its cheaper. Factories are easy to build, and relatively cheap. And the equipment moves easily. If the stickers on the product were truthful, they would say Manufactured in Vietnam/India/Pakistan, Packaged in China, Sold in North America. So, be shocked that the one blog did not come from management. Friday, May 22, 2009 Is Rockwell getting ready to offload some senior management? The mood in Milwaukee would suggest so. As difficult as it is, the CEO can't get to his cutbacks by killing any more troops, or closing any more plants and with a potential mass exodus on the cards from the ranks; he may sacrifice some senior guys to appease the workers. The recruitmant firms are having a field day with the people let go so far. This could be a good chance for the up and coming talent to take the reins. Or will they chicken out at the last minute? Keep close top the news as it will happen fast. Thursday, May 21, 2009: A change in attitude, in addition to an "open" environment, might bring respect back. Thursday, May 21, 2009 I thought the Arena software and the Factory Talk package were both very good tools. Thursday, May 21, 2009 I would be shocked if someone in management did NOT log the last posting (Sunday, May 17, 2009). Sunday, May 17, 2009 Cambridge Union note & Reply to the earlier blog from a teacher: Unionization means different things to different industries. As a teacher, you have one of the best types of jobs to be unionized. Very tough to outsource and very entrenched in the local psyche. You have little to worry about. Your product is hard to package and ship. For a manufacturing site, its a different story. Products that have high value, and can be easily shipped, can be outsourced. And are being outsourced. Just like cars, that have high value, and high labor content, have been outsourced. The large systems made by RC and Cambridge, have very high value, and value density. They can be easily shipped. And are heading to Monterrey, India, Katowice (sp), Brazil, China, and in some case, across the street. I am not union bashing. I am saying that high value products can and will be outsourced when the local climate is not as business friendly as a foreign climate. Your advice, while well intentioned, does not readily apply to industrial solutions. One of the largest issues facing the CAW and UAW is a perception by the average joe on the street. While average joe loves to think about himself being a UAW or CAW autoworker, he senses an arrogance. An Arrogance on the part of those same workforces that he wants to be part of. An arrogance that says I get paid well, I get great benefits, I get lots of time off, I'm protected no matter what (and they have been), so basically the heck with everybody else. That is what average joe wants, and yet average joe can't deal with. That is why average joe wants the American car companies to see and feel serious pain. So when you talk about your great benefits, great pay, great time off, all you're doing is building frustration against yourself, by your audience. One other thing to consider. Here in the USA, many people got very tired of hearing the same thing from teachers. Teachers that abused their union rights, and their benefits, and their tenured positions. Poorly taught students by poorly behaved arrogant teachers. So laws were pushed for options and Voucher schools were started. These alternative schools are excelling at their standardized testing results. The teachers get paid far less than their state mandated counterparts, and the state schools are suffering severe cutbacks. So beware the trap that awaits the arrogant, gloating, inefficient labor pools, no matter where they are from, or what they do. Please study the subject at hand, and understand the situation. The advice you give could cost jobs, and could take food from the tables of families, wives, and children. I didn't create this brutal reality, but am well versed in it. Sunday, May 17, 2009 Why say too much about Rockwell Automation's newest product? It's a new technically advanced Vortex. Feel my pain. RA Employee, has your plant closed yet? Feel my pain. The Blackhole is Rockwell's newest product. It will vacuum up all of the American production and send it to Monterrey, Mexico's newest Rockwell Automation, Monterrey. Feel my pain. By the way Monterry has one large Tec de Monterrey, technician college. Not bad actually; feel my pain. Ah, Monterrey, with it's beautiful Sadle Mountain. Feel my pain. But my dear Monterrey counter-part, I hope you make it to the factory. To much drug violence in the street for me. So, good luck, live well making my products that I used to make. Feel my pain. Sunday, May 17, 2009 Stay clear of Production Center and Arena. Production Center (in its Datasweep incarnation) is a dead end, and Rockwell hasn't done a thing with Arena since it acquired the company. Check out Simio.biz if you are seriously considering Arena. And write your own MES in Visual Basic for 1/10 the cost of Production Center. Saturday, May 16, 2009 Did anyone hear about the Anorad plants (owned by RA) in Israel and the Netherlands being closed? I believe some 80 employees lost their jobs. What is next? I can only hope the severance is good... Saturday, May 16, 2009 Union dues at $150.00 a month. Obviously this entry was probably posted by the company. Union dues are nowhere near that. Try calling the union office if you want the facts! Saturday, May 16, 2009 If people enjoy a 40 hr. work week, safe workplace legislation, sick benefits, workers rights, paid holidays, government health care, etc. etc.; then they should not be bashing unions. And as for the argument that there are now laws in place to protect workers, consider this - the average wage of a labor lawyer is $450.00 an hour. So if the company decides to break the law and screw you through wrongful dismissal or whatever, how many of you working class people can afford to pay a labor lawyer $450.00 an hour to represent you in a battle that the company with lawyers on staff will drag out for years? Saturday, May 16, 2009 The FT Suite is a set of products that depend on FT Services. Some use the FT services more than others. To the best of my knowledge AC uses FT Directory, Data Services(RSLinx Enterprise) and Security. The FT Suite is only slightly more integrated than the BiZware Suite. Actually the FT Suite is for the mose part the BW Suite remaned and infected with FT Services. (Same pig/different lipstick) Arena is a simulation package and is another RA acquisition, I think anout 03-04 timeframe. Saturday, May 16, 2009 As a German insider, I totally agree with the latest blog - stating that R9ockwell technology is too old. We are facing all the major competition here, and I guess RA is three years behind in the core product segments. Market share is very small in the biggest OEM market, and I cannot see clear plans or strategies to align to German or European business behaviour. Secondly, I miss innovation and market leading products and behaviour to come out of the role as a project driven supplier. Change attitude and success will come back. Friday, May 15, 2009 First I will say I don't work at Rockwell - but my brother does at the Cambridge facility. I'm a teacher here in the Cambridge area, and would like to say that peoples first mistake is that when they hear the word Union, they think of Autoworkers, and that is so wrong. This countries most professional jobs are people that are run by Unions - teachers, doctors, nurses, goverment officals, police officers, firefighters. So for people to think a Union is a bad idea, than look at these jobs, not jobs in the auto industry. I enjoy my Union - lot's of time off, great benefits, early retirement and all the jobs I listed have this. So if you want to continue to work with no Union go right ahead. But just remember what is the reason we only work 40 hrs a week, and the reason why we get vacation time: that was all started by the Union. Maybe people could say what they feel. Thursday, May 14, 2009 Hello, Richland Center! Nice to see you join in! There is sooooo much I'd like to say. Unfortunately cannot. You all know that you need good designs to make good product. Just keep letting engineering know that. When they get it, you might get good drawings etc. Don't blame the black belts. They're only as good as they're directed. The hang-over effects from the party of the 1990's are due to too many Harvey-Wallbangers to drink. The bigger the party, the bigger the hangover. And the economy has been on one big party since the 90's. The bubble burst. So take the pay and the hours, and find a clubhouse to order another Harvey-Wallbanger, or have a Lettuce Wedige. Live large or live lean, take it as it comes along. Bad times are coming, and in many ways, its not your own fault. A scott-free existence isn't what its all cracked up to be. And the whole thing sounds like its running like a Gran Turino with a bad exhaust and a smoking oil pan. You've very complex systems to build, like a good Scotch, a lot goes into it. It's not a champagne product for sure. Get as much training as you can, so you can take it with you when you go. Its not as easy as Walmart to be sure. Thursday, May 14, 2009 Does Production Centre include the Factory Talk Suite? Is Arena software still available? Owned by Rockwell? Thursday, May 14, 2009 Midway through FY09 Qtr3... Look out for the next block of lay-offs. Good luck everybody. Monday, May 11, 2009 Rockwell Automation is selling too much "Cost of Ownership" with no new technology in the wings. Uphill selling for my former co-workers. RA is always 18-24 months out and never living in the present day. Mgmt views ROK as a stock that delivers dividends and presents "low risk" to it stock holders. When will RA invest in anything beyond software? This company will be bought by an investment group soon and split up to sell. Hmmm, not a bad idea. Get these Milwaukee Community College Grads out of mgmt. Sunday, May 10, 2009 There are no unionized Rockwell sites aside from Milwaukee and Wigan (UK) and both are being stripped of manufacturing (in Wigan's case, it is being closed). So any work being sent to the US is being send to non-union sites because nothing is moving into Milwaukee. Sunday, May 10, 2009 ProductionCentre is RA's name for Datasweep, a company they bought in 2005. (Look in company news 2005 on the RA website for info.) It has an installed base with some large companys. I don't think Tracker/Cordinater was ever installed anywhere and was made obsolete with the purchase of Datasweep. Friday, May 8, 2009 Voting for a union at the Cambridge plant, is futile.I am just a worker Bee, and would love to see some change for the better towards a lot of good, hardworking, honest people. But all unions are good for, are lazy, trouble making workers who will no doubt abuse the system. As well as paying for these union dues, which I hear cost a lot of cash, about $ 100-150 a month...OUCH! The plant will shut down, with or without the union, at some time, since as the management of this place is horriffic, at best. There are too many "bosses" and not enough of the proper bosses making boss decisions. Rather pathetic, actually. In addition, the ridiculous "morale" talks managers give the "children", is a joke! I thought making up the rules as you went along stopped at 8 when we played snakes and ladders. I guess having no real management experience, qualifications or education mean nothing. Unionizing this plant will definitely make it shut down faster. I myself will not be voting Yes to unionize it. I feel in the long run, it's in my best interest to just sit back, put a decent days work in, smile and just shut up, watching everyone else go crazy, wasting their time valuable own time about this menacing brick-and-mortar building. Friday, May 8, 2009 Anyone have any comments on Rockwell Software's Production Center software? We are thinking of investing in it. Though to me the software seems to be heavily reliant on script and seems to have little or no integration with the rest of the suite. I am familiar with Rockwell's tracker and co-ordinator; is this still available as it seems to have far more synergy with the rest of the suite? Friday, May 8, 2009 While I am a frequent visitor to this site, this is my first entry. I am still on the fence as to whether or not to vote to unionize our Cambridge plant, which will be gone in three years anyway. (In four years, the site will be a strip mall.) I have been pondering this since I learned of it a few weeks ago. (I was actually accused by one manager of promoting it because, he says I was heard talking about it. But everybody is talking about it! Still, it is sad that there are such people in the company.) Anyway, it seems that one day I think it is a bad idea and wouldn't accomplish anything anyway; then the next day I think 'what have we to lose, really?' Still, there are people with mortgages and kids and stuff, and I often think about them. But then I think of how unfair the company has been to those they laid off months ago, yet kept on a string with temporary recall after temporary recall, so that these people have now used up over half of their Employment Insurance eligibility while they are unable to get another job. The reason for that is that a temporary lay-off from Rockwell around here is like the 'kiss of death' for getting hired elsewhere, because another company will figure that you will just go back to Rockwell come the first recall, so why hire you at all? And if these people quit, they are not entitled to any E.I. benefits at all. So I am uncertain as to what to do. However, I do resent the company having meetings and telling concerned employees that if they wish to know more about unions or the CAW they 'need' to talk to Rockwell management. That is totally misleading. If anything, we should be getting as much information as possible from neutral sources - as each side will have an agenda to bash the other. Oh, what to do? I wish they would just lay me off and give me my severance package. In fact, I dream about it 24/7. Then again, perhaps it is time I became pro-active and forgot about the severance package and just started considering other options - so I don't eventually end up with a minimum-wage job at the aforementioned strip mall. Sort of like the old saying - "Pay now, or pay more later.) Friday, May 8, 2009 Automation goods have become cheaper, but technically more difficult to take ownership of. Software licences have become more expensive and support has become more expensive. Technical users and SI's cannot get a return on IP investment because manufacturers reps farm the accounts as soon as they start to mature, and so the techies leave or do other things leaving the manufacturers without the real value-add stream. You can farm a business model for only so long, until you have to give back something to your customer base, or you end up in this mess. Thursday, May 7, 2009 To the person wanting to know if the work out of Cambridge is going to a place that is unionized. I don't know about Ladysmith but I do know that Richland Center is NOT union. I believe that most of the factories that used to be union are now closed because Rockwell wanted to eliminate the union. I personally have never seen the union do any good for anyone. I have a relative that worked for a place that you had your choice of whether you were in the union or not; this person choose not to join the union. They got pay raises quicker and more benefits than the people who were in the union. So don't run and jump into the union until you have checked into it very closely. Thursday, May 7, 2009 Twinsburg management does not get the whole morale issue. They think that by bullying people we will respond with a let's-get-it-done attitude. Maybe the Twinsburg management should read the clips on the rain page about power and the bullying of people and how this does nothing but hurt the company in the long run. Keep up the tactics and the company will continue to decline. Thursday, May 7, 2009 I agree, years ago we had our own tool boxes and did not have an issue finding the right tools to work with. But, oh my the area looks such a mess with all the tool boxes. So along comes another great idea, shadow boards, oh how pretty they look. Now if we can only train the kids to put the tools back in the correct cut out. There will be a class on shapes next week, stay tuned. Hey how about the stress management clips on the rain page? If managers and supervisors would just stay in their offices and leave us alone, there would be a lot less stress. Hey one more thing. How did we go from reduced hrs., to pay cuts, to layoffs to 401k matching funds taken away, to attendance bonuses taken away, back to asking for overtime, then back to mandatory overtime all in a couple of months? Hello, is anybody in charge? Anybody? Thursday, May 7, 2009 Twinsburg really needs to get their act together. Last Thursday supervisor was told we needed to have people do overtime Friday and Saturday. Monday, we come in and weekend people are there also doing overtime. WHY? We didn't have enough work for everyone to do and our main 2 "money lines" have been down all week long! This company doesn't make any sense. Work overtime on weekend to not have work during the week. Pitiful way to run a company. In the past, up until last fall, we worked overtime regularly and even mandatory overtime 7 days a week fairly often. Same thing would happen then too, told to work overtime on weekend, then come Monday morning we didn't have enough work or we would have to make what we did have last all day long. Very poor management and way to run things. Our own plant manager had a meeting with us last week that basically told us that he himself, made the decision to end the quarterly "bonus" for perfect attendance. This was not a Rockwell decision, he stated that other plants are not doing this, that he decided on his own this was the best thing for Twinsburg. WHAT!? How is that the best thing for Twinsburg? Everyone's morale is already so low and then he has to go and take the very last thing some people had left. The measly $150-200 they might still get for the year or $500 if they actually made it all year without taking a personal day. Now, come on. There aren't that many that actually meet that anyway. The amount of money that they "saved" by ending the last 2 quarters has to be pretty insignificant in the grand scheme of things. Yet, they are taping floors, making shadow boards, taking photos of people's desks (to keep in their area to show them what it should look like at the beginning and end of every day-everyone keeps their areas nice and neat anyway is this really necessary???)installing new mezzanines, chained fence area in warehouse, painting, putting new carpet in, new water purifier machines, cameras everywhere and are making all kinds of "improvements" and apparently are going to be doing the remodeling/painting off and on all summer long according to management. The quarterly bonus for attendance was really the last thing some people had left and they took that away too. Wow, I mean, it was already bad enough. Instead of raising morale or trying to they just hurt it even more. Now, people that never take time off or call in sick are doing so and really, what did management expect? There is now no more incentive. Management really needs to take a long hard look at how they are treating the people they have left. Thursday, May 7, 2009 I'm sure some of the people bashing the CAW are really Rockwell senior managers trying to slay a growing monster. Good luck, boys. But remember, you gave birth to it. Things did not have to go this way. Thursday, May 7, 2009 The company can use this website to spread misinformation. (Actually, anybody can.) So if you support unionization, check with the CAW to confirm any rumors. As well, I heard that the jobs being taken out of Rockwell Cambridge are mostly going to a unionized plant in the States? Anybody know if this is fact? Also, I will be voting for the union if the opportunity ever arises. Something I thought that I would never do. I am sick and tired of being afraid of this company. At least with a union, even if the company leaves shortly, then we would get some sort of fare compensation. As it is now, this company could not care less about any of its employees - nor do the shareholders. Sad, but that is where we are now. Lastly, there are three categories of employees in the plant now. Pro-union, anti-union, and undecided. Yet all three groups do have one thing in common: they all no longer believe a single word that either the plant manager or Keith Nosbusch say. In both cases their messages are viewed as nothing more than the company propaganda message of the day. Actually, they're quite funny. We all get a good laugh out of them. Wednesday, May 6, 2009 The CAW are not holding a rally tomorrow. This is a trick by the company to see who shows up so they know who is supporting the union. That is why there is no m