From the Oktoberfest in Munich, Germany - 'The History of a Safer World' - The greatest entrepreneurial story in history!
Tuesday, September 30, 2014
Sunday, September 21, 2014
The greatest entrepreneurial story in
automation history was published in August, 2013 and is available on
Amazon.com and Kindle. From Orange County, California, visionaries
changed an industry, their engineers changed the world!
The book is a tribute to true geniuses like Dennis Morin, co-founder of Wonderware, who made history as a business and technology pioneer. These leaders knew the limits of their enterprise, but inspired those who did not.
http://www.amazon.com/History-Safer-World-Triconex-Wonderware/dp/0615794025/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1411313719&sr=8-1&keywords=the+history+of+a+safer+world
The book is a tribute to true geniuses like Dennis Morin, co-founder of Wonderware, who made history as a business and technology pioneer. These leaders knew the limits of their enterprise, but inspired those who did not.
http://www.amazon.com/History-Safer-World-Triconex-Wonderware/dp/0615794025/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1411313719&sr=8-1&keywords=the+history+of+a+safer+world
Friday, August 1, 2014
Now you can be a Pinball Wizard - at Work!
The world's leading HMI was inspired by an early 1980's video game called Pinball Wizard. Wonderware visionary Dennis Morin was many things, an accomplished chef, a sailor, an artist, and a linquist. He was also fascinated by video games, he understood the technology and the psychology of gamers.
In 1986, he was also out of a job in Orange County, California, an expensive area to be unemployed. But, he had an idea, an inspired idea. Operators in factories around the world were monitoring their plants on text-based terminals....not very exciting, not easy to follow.
Morin's idea? Why not build the same flexibility into the engineering software used to control valves and temperature gauges in factories? And why not use an operating system from a still struggling startup based in Redmond, Washington called Microsoft? Operators could play video games at work, graphically designing the plant layout, just like building their own Pinball Wizard! Companies find the workers having fun at work are more productive workers! Morin understood that.
Wonderware co-founder and technology wizard Phil Huber made many trips to Microsoft headquarters to work with Steve Ballmer and his team. The work led to Wonderware's InTouch industrial-automation software. InTouch was fun to use and increased productivity! The genius of Dennis Morin was that he understood technology and psychology. He knew what would excite the worker on the factory floor and the boardroom executive.
Speaking of fun, Wonderware was founded on April fool's day, 1987 (Apple computer, was also founded on April fool's day). The founding partners were Morin, Huber, Bill Urone, Cole Chevalier, and Jerry Cuckler. Peter Pitsker became the first CEO and Dianne Castignetti became employee #7 to run the office.
After all these years, Wonderware is still #1! It just didn't just create a new market, it created a new business culture!
In 1986, he was also out of a job in Orange County, California, an expensive area to be unemployed. But, he had an idea, an inspired idea. Operators in factories around the world were monitoring their plants on text-based terminals....not very exciting, not easy to follow.
Morin's idea? Why not build the same flexibility into the engineering software used to control valves and temperature gauges in factories? And why not use an operating system from a still struggling startup based in Redmond, Washington called Microsoft? Operators could play video games at work, graphically designing the plant layout, just like building their own Pinball Wizard! Companies find the workers having fun at work are more productive workers! Morin understood that.
Wonderware co-founder and technology wizard Phil Huber made many trips to Microsoft headquarters to work with Steve Ballmer and his team. The work led to Wonderware's InTouch industrial-automation software. InTouch was fun to use and increased productivity! The genius of Dennis Morin was that he understood technology and psychology. He knew what would excite the worker on the factory floor and the boardroom executive.
Speaking of fun, Wonderware was founded on April fool's day, 1987 (Apple computer, was also founded on April fool's day). The founding partners were Morin, Huber, Bill Urone, Cole Chevalier, and Jerry Cuckler. Peter Pitsker became the first CEO and Dianne Castignetti became employee #7 to run the office.
After all these years, Wonderware is still #1! It just didn't just create a new market, it created a new business culture!
Wednesday, July 30, 2014
The Greatest Entrepreneurial Story of our Time
The greatest entrepreneurial story of our time has now sold for 12 consecutive months on Amazon.com and Kindle. Hundreds of copies sold in over a dozen countries.
And yes, the writing staff at the History of a Safer world is looking for documentary makers (and perhaps 'crowd funding') to bring this incredible story to the big screen!
http://www.amazon.com/The-History-Safer-World-Wonderware/dp/0615794025/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1406562745&sr=8-1&keywords=the+history+of+a+safer+world See More
And yes, the writing staff at the History of a Safer world is looking for documentary makers (and perhaps 'crowd funding') to bring this incredible story to the big screen!
http://www.amazon.com/The-History-Safer-World-Wonderware/dp/0615794025/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1406562745&sr=8-1&keywords=the+history+of+a+safer+world See More
A Most Interesting Man
Met this fella at the Houston airport yesterday. I noticed he was carrying what looked to be about a 2,000 year old bowl from ancient China. Indeed, that's exactly what it was. He had just returned from giving a lecture and said he prefers to carry items like this on his person rather in luggage.
Turns out Michael Weber is also a resident of Huntington Beach like me. He has lectured all over the world and worked as a creative consultant on movies such as 'Forest Gump' and 'Casino'. So, naturally I told him about my published book and he gave me some good advice and contacts on how to turn it into a documentary/film.
But, the best advice he gave me? "Just do the work!" Do good work. That's what matters no matter what success or failure follows, for if your ship comes in, you'd best be ready.
http://www.discovery.com/tv-shows/curiosity/topics/michael-weber.htm
Turns out Michael Weber is also a resident of Huntington Beach like me. He has lectured all over the world and worked as a creative consultant on movies such as 'Forest Gump' and 'Casino'. So, naturally I told him about my published book and he gave me some good advice and contacts on how to turn it into a documentary/film.
But, the best advice he gave me? "Just do the work!" Do good work. That's what matters no matter what success or failure follows, for if your ship comes in, you'd best be ready.
http://www.discovery.com/tv-shows/curiosity/topics/michael-weber.htm
Tuesday, July 29, 2014
An Interesting Man - Michael Weber
Met this fella at the airport yesterday. I noticed he was carrying what looked to be about a 2,000 year old bowl from ancient China. Indeed, that's exactly what it was. He had just returned from giving a lecture and said he prefers to carry items like this on his person rather in luggage.
His name is Dr. Michael Weber. Turns out he is also a resident of Huntington Beach like me. He has lectured all over the world and worked as a creative consultant on movies such as 'Forest Gump' and 'Casino'. So, naturally I told him about my published book and he gave me some good advice and contacts on how to turn it into a documentary/film.
But, the best advice he gave me? "Just do the work!" Do good work. That's what matters no matter what success or failure follows, for if your ship comes in, you'd best be ready.
(by the way, I got the aisle seat on the plane, Michael got the middle seat)
His name is Dr. Michael Weber. Turns out he is also a resident of Huntington Beach like me. He has lectured all over the world and worked as a creative consultant on movies such as 'Forest Gump' and 'Casino'. So, naturally I told him about my published book and he gave me some good advice and contacts on how to turn it into a documentary/film.
But, the best advice he gave me? "Just do the work!" Do good work. That's what matters no matter what success or failure follows, for if your ship comes in, you'd best be ready.
(by the way, I got the aisle seat on the plane, Michael got the middle seat)
Saturday, July 5, 2014
Note: Industry Futurist Jim Pinto will cease publishing automation newsletter.
Denny Harris was a retired US military officer when he went to Ford Aerospace in Orange County, California just in time to play a significant role in implementing their quality program. This was in the 1980's when US auto companies were battered by price competition and the better quality Japanese vehicles. For D...etroit, the past was glorious, the future uncertain and the present was desperate. Lee Iacocca came along, as Chrysler CEO and nearly singlehandedly jumpstarted the US auto industry with his charisma and dedication to what made America great in the first place. He nearly ran for President.
Denny was also a dynamic and restless man. He was the type to get the job done, get it done now and do it right. He noticed an ad for a struggling startup in 1986 in Irvine, California called Triconex. The startup was struggling, had just laid off nearly 1/2 its 50 employees and fired the company founder. There was 4 months operating cash left and the rest of the company would fold, the venture capital investors would write it off as a failure, part of the risk of doing business. The initial investor? Future two-term Los Angeles Mayor Richard Riordan.
It was the perfect situation for Denny. After all, Mr. Iacocca took on a similar task and turned it around. The remaining Triconex employees, including future Wonderware co-founder Phil Huber were wary. Denny was a whirlwind, a burst of energy wrapped in military bearing. How would he fit into a startup of risk-takers who had left more secure jobs to be part of a greater good? A group of employees who had been working on a dream to build the world's first digital safety system using a space age technology known as TMR for nearly two years, living paycheck to paycheck? The flagship product was called the Tricon.
Well, Denny fit in quite well. Implementing the Triconex quality program had no margin for error, it had to exceed the requirements of Exxon, Mobil (yes, there used to be an Exxon and Mobil), Shell, and the rest of the oil sisterhood. Later, it would become the world's first Commercial Off-the-shelf controller to be certified by the Nuclear Regulatory Agency (NRC). Denny stayed with Triconex through the struggling years, the IPO, and the sale of Triconex to a British holding company, then called Siebe.
When he hired a Technical trainer who later would become the training manager, he told his new hire about an automation guru named Jim Pinto whose industry insights were being circulated on new web based technologies like email and blogs. Mr. Pinto was more a futurist than a historian, and many corporate executives were clearly unhappy with his sharp wit and predictions, particularly when it effected their quarterly bonuses. Mr. Pinto also had a history with Siebe, having sold his dynamic company Action Instruments to them. Jim published books and kept circulating his insights, at Triconex today there are Jim Pinto signed books in many of the engineering cubicles.
Denny died from Alzheimer's in 2007. He remained friends with Wonderware co-founders Phil Huber and Dennis Morin. The later built a Fellini-esque bungalow in Laguna Beach known as the Rock House. It listed for 16 million when it was put up for sale after Mr. Morin died on the last day of 2012. Triconex and Wonderware of course, ceased to exist as independent companies in the 1990's, but their brands live on. Phil Huber continues to be a technology wizard for startups, the latest being Philadelphia based Thingworx, headed by former Wonderware executive Rick Bullota.
The dawn of automation occurred in Paris at the beginning of the 19th century. At the height of the space age, an MIT trained physicist named Dick Morley built the modern Programmable Logic Controller. During the Apollo program, a TMR based system was aboard a Saturn booster rocket. The next time a TMR based system was in the air was some 20 years later, hoisted by Tricon architect Gary Hufton and Phil Huber among others, as Triconex employees loaded the first Tricon onto a truck to make its first commercial delivery in June, 1986. Today, Paris based Schneider-Electric owns Mr. Morley's former company, Modicon, as well as Triconex and Wonderware. The executive team from Schneider, including CEO Jean Pascal Tricoire, live in Hong Kong.
To paraphrase a French saying, the more things stay the same the more things change.
Gary Wilkinson
Triconex Training Manager
Denny Harris was a retired US military officer when he went to Ford Aerospace in Orange County, California just in time to play a significant role in implementing their quality program. This was in the 1980's when US auto companies were battered by price competition and the better quality Japanese vehicles. For D...etroit, the past was glorious, the future uncertain and the present was desperate. Lee Iacocca came along, as Chrysler CEO and nearly singlehandedly jumpstarted the US auto industry with his charisma and dedication to what made America great in the first place. He nearly ran for President.
Denny was also a dynamic and restless man. He was the type to get the job done, get it done now and do it right. He noticed an ad for a struggling startup in 1986 in Irvine, California called Triconex. The startup was struggling, had just laid off nearly 1/2 its 50 employees and fired the company founder. There was 4 months operating cash left and the rest of the company would fold, the venture capital investors would write it off as a failure, part of the risk of doing business. The initial investor? Future two-term Los Angeles Mayor Richard Riordan.
It was the perfect situation for Denny. After all, Mr. Iacocca took on a similar task and turned it around. The remaining Triconex employees, including future Wonderware co-founder Phil Huber were wary. Denny was a whirlwind, a burst of energy wrapped in military bearing. How would he fit into a startup of risk-takers who had left more secure jobs to be part of a greater good? A group of employees who had been working on a dream to build the world's first digital safety system using a space age technology known as TMR for nearly two years, living paycheck to paycheck? The flagship product was called the Tricon.
Well, Denny fit in quite well. Implementing the Triconex quality program had no margin for error, it had to exceed the requirements of Exxon, Mobil (yes, there used to be an Exxon and Mobil), Shell, and the rest of the oil sisterhood. Later, it would become the world's first Commercial Off-the-shelf controller to be certified by the Nuclear Regulatory Agency (NRC). Denny stayed with Triconex through the struggling years, the IPO, and the sale of Triconex to a British holding company, then called Siebe.
When he hired a Technical trainer who later would become the training manager, he told his new hire about an automation guru named Jim Pinto whose industry insights were being circulated on new web based technologies like email and blogs. Mr. Pinto was more a futurist than a historian, and many corporate executives were clearly unhappy with his sharp wit and predictions, particularly when it effected their quarterly bonuses. Mr. Pinto also had a history with Siebe, having sold his dynamic company Action Instruments to them. Jim published books and kept circulating his insights, at Triconex today there are Jim Pinto signed books in many of the engineering cubicles.
Denny died from Alzheimer's in 2007. He remained friends with Wonderware co-founders Phil Huber and Dennis Morin. The later built a Fellini-esque bungalow in Laguna Beach known as the Rock House. It listed for 16 million when it was put up for sale after Mr. Morin died on the last day of 2012. Triconex and Wonderware of course, ceased to exist as independent companies in the 1990's, but their brands live on. Phil Huber continues to be a technology wizard for startups, the latest being Philadelphia based Thingworx, headed by former Wonderware executive Rick Bullota.
The dawn of automation occurred in Paris at the beginning of the 19th century. At the height of the space age, an MIT trained physicist named Dick Morley built the modern Programmable Logic Controller. During the Apollo program, a TMR based system was aboard a Saturn booster rocket. The next time a TMR based system was in the air was some 20 years later, hoisted by Tricon architect Gary Hufton and Phil Huber among others, as Triconex employees loaded the first Tricon onto a truck to make its first commercial delivery in June, 1986. Today, Paris based Schneider-Electric owns Mr. Morley's former company, Modicon, as well as Triconex and Wonderware. The executive team from Schneider, including CEO Jean Pascal Tricoire, live in Hong Kong.
To paraphrase a French saying, the more things stay the same the more things change.
Gary Wilkinson
Triconex Training Manager
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