The Voices of Triconex and Wonderware

Ron Popp spoke to the author at the Triconex Christmas lunch in December, 2010.   It was an emotional luncheon, attended by 200 team member, as the factory operation were begin moved to Mexico and over 100 people in the Irvine plant would lose their jobs by Christmas.  Now consulting part-time, he was the engineering services manager hired by Triconex in 1985.  He made immense contributions to the company by documenting the test standards and procedures for the flagship product, the Tricon safety controller.   Ron told the author about the founders, the struggles of a startup, and the eventual successful market opening for safety systems, which launched Triconex as the premier TMR vendor.
Phil Huber met the author at lunch at an upscale burger joint in the Irvine Spectrum mall two days after Christmas in 2010.   Phil was legendary as a co-founder of Wonderware who not only led the software teams responsible for the most significant product breakthroughs, but was largely credited with fostering the people-centric culture of Wonderware - including the free espresso machines!  Lesser known is the Phil, a brilliant programmer who had been chosen to work at the legendary Bell Labs after college, was also a software development manager for Triconex, first hired in 1984.  He survived the organizations cuts in 1986 and joined Dennis Morin as a co-founder in 1988.

With this resume, one expected Phil to be decades older than he actually is.  Full of restless energy and intellectual curiosity, it is obvious that he was once the youngest man in the boardroom.   Thirty years later, after working for a number of startups in the Orange County area, he probably still is.  To Phil, Wonderware was a marvelous success and a special place because of the continuing relationships, but it was one of a string of picaresque stops on an entrepreneurial journey.  He easily recalled the early days of both companies.   He was saddened at the news of some of his former colleagues passing, including Denny Harris, who passed away in 2006.    Denny had been hired away from Ford Aerospace, and is largely credited with designing and implementing the rigorous Triconex quality assurance program.
Bill Barkovitz Jr. is now the owner of Tri-Sen systems.   He is the son of the former Triconex CEO, Bill Barkovitz Sr., appointed in February, 1986, by an impatient board.   Tri-Sen, founded in 1976 by Alan Johncock and John Mitchell in La Marque, Texas, plays a role in the history of Triconex.  Bill Barkovitz Sr. purchased the company in 1993 as a growth acquisition for Triconex, to enter the market for turbo-machinery systems.   In 2007, Bill Barkovitz Jr. purchased Tri-Sen back from its corporate parent, Invensys.

Bill Jr., as he is still known by company veterans, advised the author to talk to his father for the real story.   Many legends sprang up from the history of Triconex, particularly during the 1980's when the founding engineers of Wonderware worked for him.   
Next, in the History of a Safer World, interviews with:
Bill Barkovitz Sr. - Triconex CEOGary Hufton - The Architect of the TriconPeter Pitsker - Original Board Member of Triconex and 1st Wonderware CEOBeccie Dawson - 'Corporate Conscience' of Wonderware