“Though most manufacturing clients might have ERP, they see greater advantages in adopting manufacturing software”

While other companies are looking at the SMB for growth, Rockwell
Automation is heading the other way and targeting enterprises instead. According
to Kevin Roach this is because the company is already well entrenched in the SMB
manufacturing market. The only way for this to grow in the Indian market is to
concentrate on enterprise customers

Rockwell is not well-known in the local IT circles despite selling
enterprise applications. Can you explain why?

Historically we have been focusing on a couple of verticals more like
automobiles and food and beverages. This does not mean that we are not present
in other business verticals. Maybe we have not been effective in communicating
our offerings and strengths in the market but we are working on this.

Kevin Roach President, Rockwell Automation

Can you give some backgrounder about Rockwell Automation?

Rockwell Automation is a $5.6 billion company with 23,000 employees, of which
450 are into sales and support. In APAC we have our presence in India, China,
Japan, Australia and regions of South East Asia.

We started our Indian operations in 1985 and currently have 11 sales and
support offices with 350 employees and 100 channel partners. We have a
manufacturing execution systems (MES), competency center in Bangalore that
caters to the local and the global market.

How big is your channel network in India?

Rockwell has 36,300 partners globally and over 100 in India. Most of these
partners are non-traditional IT players catering more to verticals like
automation, food and beverages. You can say that 70 percent of our channel
belongs to this category.

The rest are the traditional IT channel that is involved in selling IT
products and services. We are looking at inducting more members into this
community, especially with the launch of FactoryTalk, our latest application for
the manufacturing segment. We have already tied up with TCS and are now seeking
tier-two solution providers.

Are there any India-specific plans for the channel?

We are looking at adding more traditional IT partners to our fold. So far we
were interfacing with over 100 partners directly, including distributors and
partners. Now we want to work closely with systems integrators as well.

We launched a program called FactoryTalk Information Solution Provider to
help manufacturers build successful plant-wide information applications and
manufacturing execution systems. There are three levels of certification in this
channel program.

One facet of the program is that it works closely with its partners for the
latter's first project implementation. This is to ensure that our partners give
exactly what the client requires. If we are able to do this, then we have gained
the customer  for life.

Partners are also coached into giving the first level of support. Besides
this, we have a post-sales service division with 100 employees, which offer
field and telephonic support.

What percentage of your business is done direct?

We do direct business with some select customers, though this is only two
percent of the overall business. Also, our target verticals are automobiles,
food and beverage that bring in almost 70 percent of the business.

What are the prospects in the manufacturing segment?

While India's GDP growing by eight percent, the manufacturing segment is
growing by nine percent. The Indian manufacturing sector has continued on the
growth path despite worries of a slowdown due to lower index of industrial
production figures for October, 2006. With almost

60 percent of the sectors recording production growth of over 10 percent, the
momentum attained by the country's local manufacturing industry has been
maintained.

How many of these manufacturing units are considering going for business
automation software?

With increased demands on manufacturers to improve quality, reduce cost,
increase productivity and meet regulatory compliance, the integration of the
factory floor with information systems is no longer a luxury - it's a strategic
imperative. There is a need for better visibility in the manufacturing business,
especially in terms of integrating disparate technology components on a single
platform.

An average manufacturing unit with a turnover of $1 billion has over 500
different software applications. There are several legacy interfaces everywhere
with no upgrades and thousands of point solutions from hundred of vendors. It is
a CIO's nightmare to integrate these together into one seamless platform. It is
precisely to ease this problem that we have introduced the FactoryTalk
application.

But most manufacturing units already have ERP in place. Why would they
need an application like FactoryTalk?

A 2006 AMR survey titled 'Managing Automation Survey' reveals that CIOs are
spending more money on manufacturing software over ERP. Manufacturing software
grew by 31 percent while ERP grew by 21 percent last fiscal. This shows that
though most manufacturing clients might have ERP, they see better advantages in
adopting manufacturing software.

What is FactoryTalk's USPs and why would manufacturers adopt it?

FactoryTalk brings together existing solutions for control, visualization,
information management and MES. It also provides a foundation for developing and
acquiring additional highly scalable, standards-based applications that give
customers insight into manufacturing operations and help them execute business
strategies that optimize production. Its applications run on our patented
services oriented architecture (SOA), which is a common set of software services
including security, diagnostics, auditing, data model, licensing, realtime date,
historical data, configuration, alarms and events.

But was FactoryTalk earlier available under a different name?

Until recently, the term FactoryTalk defined only the SOA that linked
Rockwell Software applications, including the RS Bizware suite and applications
that support RA integrated architecture. The FactoryTalk name has been elevated
to the umbrella brand, which now encompasses the entire family of SOA-based
Rockwell Software applications.

VINITA BHATIA