Triconex - The Architect

Gary Hufton was appointed the Director of Hardware engineering in 1985.   He was given the job, a de facto position he still holds nearly 25 years later, after the first two directors were fired.  Tepid market reaction to the Tricon prototypes and unmet schedules prompted an impatient Triconex board to change personnel quickly in the early days.   At the time, William Barkovitz Sr. was the Vice President of Sales for Triconex, and he recognized that Gary and a colleague, applications engineer Bill Chiles would be effective spokesman for the startup, so in addition to leading product development, Gary had a heavy travel schedule.  
He was born in North Carolina and moved to Southern California and obtained an EE from the California State University in Northridge.   After school, he went to work for Hughes, part of the booming aerospace industry in the area.  Later, he moved to a smaller company, General Automation, where he gained experience with control systems and found he enjoyed working for smaller, more nimble firms.  When David Smith, a colleague at General Automation, invited him to join a startup called Triconex, Gary was ready for the challenge of getting in on the ground floor of building a new product and the opportunity to make more money if the startup succeeded.   The year was 1984.  He was newly married and starting a young family, so the risks were real in making the jump.

One of the first stops for Gary and Bill on their product introduction tour was to meet Troy Martel at the Exxon testing labs in New Jersey.  Troy was leading the testing efforts for Exxon to evaluate vendors for a new safety system for their refineries.   The tragedy at Bhopal in December, 1984 sparked public outrage and new government regulations that pressured the petro-chemical companies into greater efforts to improve safety.  When Troy asked Gary and Bill if their Tricon prototype was ready to pass the Exxon tests, they replied that it was not ready.   Troy was impressed with their sincerity and told them to come back when it was.   They returned a year later and the Tricon performed sufficiently well for Troy to recommend that Exxon purchase systems from Triconex to Bob Adamski, an Exxon safety systems manager based in Baytown, Texas at the massive Exxon refinery there. 

Exxon agreed to purchase 50 systems, then renamed the Tricon safety critical controller, from Triconex in 1986, a big day for the new company.   But, there was a catch.  A big one.   A petro-chemical giant like Exxon was not going to trust a new vendor based in Orange County, California to supply their safety systems.   What if the new company was not going to survive, a very real possibility for any startup that had run through venture capital for nearly three years without returns. 

As the new CEO, Bill Barkovitz, anticipated this and had earlier forged an alliance with Honeywell, a well established supplier to industry with their Distributed Control Systems (DCS).  The alliance was signed in January, 1986 and Bill Barkovitz was appointed CEO of Triconex a month later.   Among the Triconex board members at the time was Ed Hurd, a Honeywell executive.   So, in order to seal the deal with Exxon, Triconex agreed to manufacture 50 TRICON’s at the Honeywell plant in Phoenix, Arizona.  In essence, Honeywell agreed to become a distributor for Triconex.   Even if the startup failed, Honeywell was certain to continue and could build the Tricon itself.   A partnership between Triconex and Honeywell got off to a wonderful start and a mutually beneficial alliance remained until Triconex was acquired, not by Honeywell, but by Siebe, an acquisitive London based firm, in 1995.   The first Triconex systems and many after were sold under the Honeywell name while Triconex slowly built their brand.

Next, in the History of  a Safer World, an interview with Gary Hufton, and what is he doing today?  We will ask him why did the investors allow Triconex to continue after heavy losses and an uncertain outlook.   What was the secret sauce that enabled Triconex to become the world's number one safety system? Was it the technology, the culture, or the desperation of risk taking engineers?  

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

The Founding of Triconex

Triconex was founded in September, 1983 with a business plan to build a Programmable Logic Controller  (PLC) that would serve as a safety shutdown system for factories.  The PLC would incorporate a technology in the public domain, called Triple Modular Redundancy (TMR).  The primary target market was the petro-chemical industry, particularly refineries and other plants where an accident would cause major damage.  The PLC was designed to safely shutdown a factory when an accident occurred, thus preventing further damage.  

The founders, Jon Wimer, Brad Bylund, and Roy Aldridge, envisioned building a PLC that would charge a 30% market premium over a competitor's offering.  Customers would pay a premium because the flagship product, called the Tricon PLC, would be tested and certified to the highest level of integrity and thus a customer could justify the initial expense for a higher level of safety.

The lead founding member of Triconex was Jon Wimer, who was a sales Vice-President of August Systems, which had been the original vendor of TMR technology for safety system.  August Systems was founded in 1978.  By the early 1980's, several marketing surveys were predicting a growing market using TMR technology for safety systems.   Joining August Systems in the market were Triplex and then Triconex.

Among the marketing surveys written was one by Peter Pitsker, an automation industry veteran with a chemical engineering degree from Stanford.   Mr. Wimer read Mr. Pitsker's report, and the two of them wrote a business plan to pitch to investors.   A Los Angeles based venture capitalist and USC professor, Chuck Cole, read the plan and liked it.  Mr. Cole  had started a VC firm, with two partner name, Julian, Cole & Stein with two partners.  Mr. Cole convinced his personal attorney, Richard Riordan, a future two-term mayor of Los Angeles, to invest the initial 50,000 in the firm.   Mr. Cole's fund invested another 50,000 and Triconex had its initial startup capital.  Mr. Wimer would have to raise more money for the startup, and raising money proved to be one of his strongest talents.

Triconex began operations in Santa Ana, California in March, 1984.  Twenty people, mostly engineers took their places in a sparsely furnished office and hovered over two prototypes of the Tricon.  Among the early engineers were Bill Chile, who has been working in Alaska, Jerry Cuckler, a QA analyst from the local aerospace industry, software engineers Glen Allerman and Phil Huber, and hardware engineers David Smith and Gary Hufton.

By February 1986, the company was foundering, running out of cash and had yet to sell a single system.  Impatient board members, led by Chuck Cole, forced the company to re-organize or lose funding.

What did Triconex do to survive?   Just five years after nearly being forced to close, it was listed by Business Week as one of the fastest growing small companies in America in 1991.  The Tricon controller was firmly established as a market leader.  Triconex was expanding international operations and attracting more investors to fund growth. 

Who became the new CEO in 1986?  Why was he chosen?  Why did investors allow the company to continue?  What steps did the new CEO take to make Triconex a market leader?  Common sense rules that any business should adopt, especially in today's uncertain business climate with a rapidly changing geo-political landscape.

A Witness to The History of a Safer World

Gary L. Wilkinson has written the great American novel, volumes of picaresque verse, as well as several well-crafted short stories.  None of which has ever been published.  However, he has written many technical training manuals, user specifications, and engineering documents that describe the flow and configuration of industrial computers, and how to program the machines so they don’t catch fire and cause a ruckus.  Nearly all of this output has been published by the high-tech and aerospace firms that have employed him over the years.

It is this fusion of art and machinery that has enabled him to bring to life The History of a Safer World – a love story about business.  It is a beautiful story of men and machines that will inform and entertain you.  He has been a witness to the space and time in which these events have occurred.  He has recorded the voices of this stunning entrepreneurial triumph.  In these times, their story is more relevant than ever as a legacy on how to build and grow businesses as the story takes place during the global recession that followed the collapse of the Berlin Wall and the end of the Cold War.    

Mr. Wilkinson was born in the gritty river town of Chester, Pennsylvania, a few miles southeast of Philadelphia.  After a non-descript academic career, he joined the army.   During his military service, he continuously trained to defend his county, particularly if the expert application of mops and brooms were to be called upon. 

During the mid-1980’s he arrived at Huntington Beach, California.  At the time it was known as a center of the punk rock music scene, with skinheads and surfers warily skateboarding past each other on Main Street, which led to the pier.   There were scores of shops to buy booze and corners to buy drugs, and there was no Starbucks. 

Then, on January 17^th, 1988, something happened.  The pier collapsed into the ocean.  The city fathers used the rebuilding of the pier as a fine reason to clear out the riff-raff, some still call it the character, from the city streets.  When the pier re-opened four years later, there were designer shops, high-end condos, and upscale restaurants.  And, of course, a Starbucks opened.

He began working for Triconex in December, 1995.   It was a magical place to work.   And, nearby, there was another magical destination called Wonderware.   In the evangelical sun culture of Orange County, the History of a Safer World began.

The Promises We Keep

"The promises we are most likely to keep are the ones made to an empty wine bottle."

Business 101 - Its the Culture Stupid!

One company started in a garage, another started in the founder's kitchen.  And both became number one independently in respective markets.   Both Triconex and Wonderware soared during a recession, tearing down barriers and creating new markets while forging intimate bonds with customers.  They were unique brands, building new solutions.  There were no boundaries, no limits.  

It's the culture, stupid!   Employees bought into it and only a few cashed out.   Not that there is anything wrong with the later, that's why they call them capitalists.  When times are good, investors are called angels, and when times are bad, they are called other names. 

The culture of employee-centric companies gave the buzz to investors, distributors, and finally customers themselves.  The marketing department could supply the party hats and swag, but it was the culture that branded them.   Products became solutions and the companies were your partners to help you grow. 

The History of a Safer World is a love story - about business.

A Chef, an Astronaut, and 3 Sisters who can really Sing!

In October of 1994, Wonderware rented the Doubletree Hotel in Anaheim for a Distributor's conference.  After the conference, nearly 700 Wonderware distributors and their guests boarded buses to a secret location.   They were going to a party and the host did not want anyone leaving the gala early with their own transportation.  They were going to a memorable party - and the location turned out to be the Santa Monica airport museum.  Even the bus ride was merry with mystery and excitement - after all - this was a Wonderware party!  The guest disembarked and entered the huge dining hall to a generous buffet and no-host bar.

The extravaganza was just beginning.  There was a buzz, growing louder, and then the roar of a helicopter arriving near the entrance.   Out of the chopper stepped Alan Shepard - the first American in space.   The buzz had become a roar and then a nonstop chant!  You could not contain the excitement, managing the guests was another matter.

Uber-salesman Jerry Brooks introduced the Alan Shepard.  Jerry Brooks spoke as if he was the coolest sales Vice-President on the planet and he was introducing his boyhood idol, who was the one man in the room who had actually left the planet on two occasions, once in orbit and once on the moon.  (For the record, Jerry Brooks had every reason to be the coolest Vice-President on the planet, he was in the 4th year of driving 50% growth in sales for Wonderware).

Mr. Shepard gave a memorable speech, with self deprecating humor and narrated a thoughtful history of the Apollo program, in which he himself played a crucial role.  He challenged the crowd during his speech to put Wonderware on the moon, and why the hell not?   Many in the audience were at an age when the Apollo space program was a pivotal childhood memory.  He even invited Jerry and his wife Roxanne to join him in Pebble Beach for a round of golf when their schedules could be arranged.  Tragically, Mr. Shepard became ill soon after and died only four years later.

After Mr. Shepard's speech, the crowd could not have been more sure that this was going to be one of the most memorable evenings in their lives when suddenly, an even greater buzz surged through the audience.  The elegant roar of a Lear jet got closer.  An announcer focused their attention once again towards the entrance. 

This time a Lear Jet arrived and pulled up to the entrance.  Then the room exploded once again with excitement.  Out from the Lear Jet came the Pointer Sisters who belt out a spectacular song and dance set performed at the height of their powers.  They were not yet a nostalgia act - they were superstars!

Sitting in the front row was the man who planned and paid for the evening, Dennis Morin.  He was throwing a spectacular party for the customers and employees who rocketed his company to 50% annual growth for the past 5 years.  He was proud, he was emotional, and hosted the party with the energy of a lion.

From David Smith, Wonderware's Marketing VP: "At the end of the evening, they ran out of booze.   Even Mr. Shepard, who had asked for a glass of wine after a long day, had to be told there was nothing left.   He was gracious about it as Wonderware executives scrambled to find him a glass of something without success."

This was 1994 and the party would continue to the next year when there were new beginnings - and departures of key figures.