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MARCH 2001 INDUSTRY NEWS

 

PAS, BAW, and TTS to Present Best Practices Seminars on Process Plant Performance

HOUSTON, TX - Plant Automation Services (PAS), Brad Adams Walker Architecture (BAW), and Technology Training Systems (TTS) will provide a two and one-half day seminar on Process Plant Performance Best Practices May 16 - 18 in New Orleans, Louisiana. Seminar topics include:

  • Designing the control room for productivity
  • Optimizing the control system for perator performance
  • Developing a productive workforce. The seminar teaches the methods in use today at the best-in-class process plants.

Seminar teachings include:

  • The critical success factors for process plant performance improvement
  • How the interrelated best practices deliver performance improvements for people, environment, and technology
  • How to integrate multi-disciplined best practices.

A brochure for the seminar is available at the following web address: www.pas.com/press/documents/bestpractices.pdf

Tektronix Announces Record Sales and Earnings for the Third Quarter of its Fiscal Year

BEAVERTON, OR - Tektronix, Inc. reported sales of $326.9 million and net income of $35.5 million, before non-recurring credits, or $0.37 per share for the third quarter of fiscal year 2001. Net income including non-recurring credits was $41.0 million or $0.43 per share for the quarter. This compares to sales of $270.6 million and net income of $20.2 million or $0.21 per share for the measurement segment in the same period a year ago.

Commenting on the strong performance, Tektronix President and CEO Rick Wills said, "I am pleased that we delivered another quarter of very strong financial results. We saw particular strength in our optical test products, logic analyzers and high-end scopes. Our new 4GHz scope - the fastest in the world, shipped this quarter and was very well received by the marketplace."

Wills continued, "We are beginning to experience the effects of the weakness in the market through a slowing in our order rate. The economic impact on many of our core customers is apparent, and we have traditionally lagged our customers in a slowdown period. At this time, we expect to see orders decline around 10% next quarter. However, our strong backlog supports revenue growth in the fourth quarter."

For the fourth quarter of fiscal 2001 ending May 26, 2001, Tektronix expects to achieve revenue growth in the 10 to 12% range over the same period a year ago resulting in revenue growth of around 20% for the full year ending May 26, 2001 over the measurement business segment results for fiscal 2000. Operating margins for fiscal 2001 are expected to be in the 14 to 15% range.

"We are focused on executing on our strategy, which is a strategy for long-term growth. We see an excellent opportunity to strengthen our position in the marketplace by continuing to deliver new capability and products to our customers, identifying opportunities for strategic investment and by aggressively managing our cost structure to deliver value to our shareholders," concluded Wills.

NACLA Annual Meeting and Training Workshop Scheduled for April

GAITHERSBURG, MD - Register now for the Annual NACLA Training Workshop and General Meeting to be held April 2 and 3 at The Hyatt Regency Hotel in Arlington, VA. The topics to be covered at this year's training workshop are:

  • NACLA's Impact on Industry, Government, and Laboratories
  • The NACLA Recognition Process
  • ISO/IEC Guide 58 - the international standard for the competence of accreditation bodies.

Highlights for the Annual General Meeting to be held on April 3rd:

  • An update on NACLA's progress and plans
  • A panel presentation by representatives of major industrial firms
  • The Federal Government's perspective, presented by several Govenment officials
  • Participation by attendees in meetings of several key NACLA committees.

For more information visit www.nacla.net.

BAE Systems Measures up for Success

The National Physical Laboratory (NPL), in partnership with BAE Systems, launched a revolutionary new Internet calibration capability, enabling access to the highest attainable standard of measurements, at the touch of a button, from anywhere in the world. Offering immediate cost savings and enhanced technical and operational competitiveness, the benefits to the whole of UK industry are expected to be far reaching.

BAE Systems' continuous development of high performance materials for products such as the Eurofighter Typhoon requires the most accurate measurement techniques, and as such made the company the ideal candidate for developing NPL's new Internet capability.

Engineers at BAE Systems have spent the last six months demonstrating the viability of Internet calibrations through extensive testing between NPL in Middlesex and BAE Systems' Warton facility in Lancashire.

Stewart Wylie, Electromagnetic Specialist, said: "Involvement in the project has led to BAE Systems making history as the first external organisation to gain direct access into NPL, through the successful demonstration of the prototype Internet system. Subsequent testing by BAE Systems has determined the shape of the production system now offered to the public."

Demonstration of NPL's first operational Internet calibration service, using its Primary Impedance Microwave Measurement Software (iPIMMS), saw the measurement of material used in the development of the Eurofighter Typhoon aircraft. The benefit of this new process is the instant calibration of the measurement equipment, eliminating the previously required down-time of the equipment for calibration, and the reduction of the previous calibration chain, from several links to only one - a direct line into NPL.

Professor Dave Gardner, Director of Engineering, BAE Systems, said: "The ability to calibrate measurement equipment at BAE Systems through the use of the Internet, directly against NPL's primary National Measurement Standards, will greatly enhance our research, development and design capabilities. Enabling our engineers to carry out measurements as accurately in the field as in the laboratory, will not only generate cost benefits and a competitive advantage for ourselves, but will have a positive knock-on effect for our customers."

Bob McGuiness, NPL Managing Director, said: "We have developed the technology and method in close collaboration with BAE Systems. This partnership is proving to be a strong basis for innovation, creativity and Knowledge Transfer."

Tektronix adn GenRad Enter Development Partnership to Offer Integrated Optical Test Solution

BEAVERTON, OR -- Tektronix, Inc., a leading provider of optical network test and monitoring equipment for the communications industry, and GenRad, Inc., a global leader in electronics manufacturing productivity solutions, today announced they have entered into a joint development partnership in which Tektronix's optical test equipment will be incorporated into GenRad's functional test systems to create a fully-integrated optical test solution for electronics manufacturers.

The Tektronix OTS9000 product family, the first modular optical test system specifically designed to test dense wavelength division multiplexing (DWDM) systems at 10 Gb/s (gigabits per second), will be integrated in to the GenRad GR Versa OTÔ, a PXI/CompactPCI-based test solution designed to support functional test of optical network products in a production environment.

The modular architecture of the OTS9000 enables manufacturers to tailor an optical test system to their specific needs, and grow it for future requirements, while still utilizing the same platform and software environment of the GR Versa. The low-cost, fully integrated single-rack system is specifically designed to meet the standards of OC-192 optical communication equipment. The small footprint system, combined with the ability to test multiple units simultaneously, gives electronics manufacturers a cost-effective solution that minimizes floor space requirements.

"Where other vendors integrate and develop test programs on a case-by-case basis, our partnership with GenRad will enable us to offer communications equipment manufacturers off-the-shelf solutions resulting in faster implementation in their production line," said Scott Bausback, vice president, Communications Business Unit, Tektronix. "By combining our world-class modular 10 Gb/s OTS9000 system with GenRad's switching and routing systems, Optical Test Library and worldwide customer support, we are helping our customers to be successful through better flexibility and management of capital assets."

"Time-to-market, flexibility, and support are three critical success factors in the production testing of optical network systems," stated Jim Ficaro, Vice President of GenRad's Functional Solutions group. "GenRad and Tektronix have co-developed solutions that make these factors easier to achieve."

The GR Versa OT offers the option to incorporate the PXIscanÔ optical switching modules. These switch modules have integral power splitters, which minimize the need for external switching, instrumentation, and cabling. These features result in a tightly integrated solution that provides superior reliability, measurement repeatability, and accuracy.

Additionally, the fully integrated system is easy to operate and offers more accurate, faster test development procedures than are currently available with other systems on the market.

GenRad's GR Versa OT responds to the growing fiber optical network testing marketplace, which is expected to grow to $1.6 billion by 2003 according to the National Electronic Manufacturing Initiative (NEMI).

GenRad will demonstrate the system at the EtroniX tradeshow from February 27 - March 1 in Anaheim, CA. System deliveries will commence in Q2 of this year.

Pfizer Taps Karen Katen for a Top Post

NEW YORK -- Pharmaceutical giant Pfizer Inc. said it has named Karen Katen as president of the Pfizer Pharmaceuticals Group and executive vice president of Pfizer Inc., overseeing the company's global worldwide pharmaceutical organization.

Katen will retain her duties as president of the U.S. pharmaceutical operations, which she has held since 1995. Her new post becomes effective April 1.

Katen will continue to report to Pfizer Chief Executive Officer Henry A. McKinnell Jr.

"Karen's U.S. organization built an outstanding sales force, which for the sixth straight year has been acknowledged as the best in the U.S.,'' McKinnell said in a statement. ``She now brings this record of accomplishment to our worldwide pharmaceutical operation, where she will be instrumental in bringing to global markets the exciting near- and longer-term pharmaceutical products in our pipeline.''

Katen serves on the boards of General Motors Corp., the Harris Corp. and the International Council of J.P. Morgan & Co. She joined Pfizer in 1974.

Shares of the company rose 22 cents to $43.83 late Monday afternoon on the New York Stock Exchange. The shares have a 52-week high of $49.25 and a low of $30.

 
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