Services Drives Growth in an Otherwise Down Market
In the midst of the current global economic crisis, the market for distributed control systems (DCSs) will continue to do better compared to many other segments of the process automation marketplace for several reasons. Most important of these is the service-intensive nature of the DCS business. Over 50 percent of the total DCS market is now services. Most major DCS suppliers have increased the scope of automation services offered to cover all aspects of the plant operating lifecycle, and they are filling the specific gaps created by the increasing labor crisis in the process industries, now exacerbated by a wave of baby boomer retirements.
The pace of job loss in all manufacturing industries in the past few months alone has been staggering. Many thousands of jobs have been lost and will continue to be lost across the globe. Tight operating environments and reduced demand are forcing companies to cut costs wherever possible. This includes both operating costs, in which there are huge untapped opportunities, and project costs, which continue to be quite high, even in this down market. Even with recent declines, overall capital project costs remain high and many end users have postponed projects.
Strategic Issues
Both automation suppliers and end users are continuously striving to get more value out of their automation systems. Some key strategies for success in this study include:
- Automation suppliers as Main Automation Contractors
- The shift from controllers to PACs
- How PACs differentiate between PLCs, GMCs, and DCSs
- Migration strategies take on new importance in a down economy
- Using automation to cut energy costs
- The state of process alarm management in today's process plants