Honeywell boss maps out new directions

Istanbul – Darius Adamczyk has a reputation for delivering growth and for getting new products and technologies into the market - skills which will both be required if he is to meet his stated targets as president of Honeywell Process Solutions (HPS).

With degrees in electrical and computer engineering, Adamczyk started his career as an electrical engineer at GE. He subsequently rose to senior roles at Ingersoll Rand before being appointed CEO of Metrologic Instruments Inc. - a data-capture devices company, which was acquired by Honeywell in 2008 - and then president of Honeywell Scanning & Mobility prior to his recent appointment to lead HPS.

Asked about his first impressions of the process automation industry, Adamczyk highlighted the “criticality of customer relations” as the main difference to other sectors he has worked in.

“I have been in the compressors business, the scanners business, a lot of different industries in my career, but what is great about this industry is that we are at the core of the operations of our customers,” Adamczyk said in an interview at the EMEA Honeywell Users Group meeting in Istanbul.

“That’s a real privilege, and an opportunity for us to work much closer with them. They come to events like this, they engage us in discussions about the future and the direction of the business.

“The process automation industry has something unique here that’s, maybe, under-appreciated because this kind of engagement is not typical.”

Setting out his priorities for HPS, Adamczyk listed expansions of its capabilities and offerings in the areas of field instrumentation, support services and remote operations among the main aims.

Adamczyk wants to “dramatically increase” Honeywell’s field instruments portfolio - a goal that seems to have eluded his predecessors at the top of HPS over the last decade or so.

“In the past, maybe, we were hoping for the ‘home run’: let’s buy something that gets us everything,” said Adamczyk. “If you count on one or two feasible acquisitions, the probability of that happening is relatively low because there are so many things that go into an acquisition strategy.”

While stressing that HPS will still pursue acquisition opportunities, Adamczyk said: “Any good plan has to be based on organic growth. It has to be built internally, there has to be investment dollars behind it and it has to be sound from that perspective. I always view the inorganic component as an enhancer and an accelerator for the strategy, not a strategy in itself.”

His recipe for success instead combines organic growth and new product development (NPD) in areas such as flow and level instrumentation. This will mean a substantial increase in investment in NPD, with the aim of launching one or two entirely new products each year.

“I wish it was as simple as waving a magic wand and having a full array of every single type and configuration of field instrument, things that very very few players out there can do,” said Adamczyk. “What I can tell you is that we have a very robust plan and an NPD commitment to bring those out.”

As a sign of things to come, Adamczyk pointed to HPS’ launch of its Smartline pressure transmitter - a product he described as “a 100%, pure Honeywell development - and differentiated.

“To get there quickly, we could have a very broad partnership strategy that kind of slaps the Honeywell brand on a lot of others’ [products],” explained Adamczyk. “But that is not Honeywell. We don’t want to bring out a series of ‘me-too’ products.”

The HPS president went on to emphasise the importance of remote operations strategies, which he described as essential to building a sustainable business. For example, he said the energy sector’s drive to access oil and gas from increasingly remote areas, such as northern Canada or the Australian outback, required remote access to a skilled workforce with an optimised knowledge base.

“It’s not just an issue of cost reduction, it is about optimising resources and the knowledge and skills base.” said Adamczyk. “A sustainable business means doing more with less, protecting the environment and ensuring the safety and well being of employees. Technology can help resolve these issues in remote locations.”

With regard to customer services, the HPS boss believes this is an area where the process automation industry lags behind other sectors. The mentality, he said, is too much towards ‘break-fix-type’ service contracts. Customers, he added, are much keener to talk about enhancing their capabilities, reliability and security than about service contracts.

“It is just not good enough to supply a technology … and make a profit if a customer’s plant breaks down. We have to be there throughout the life cycle of the equipment,” said Adamczyk. “We aim to monetise our value through aligning our objectives with those of our customers and being there for the journey.”

This approach, said Adamczyk, encompasses built-in programmes that enhance client capabilities year after year, as well as partnerships based more on the outcome than set fees.

“We have a really good opportunity to look at our ‘life-cycle relationships’ a bit differently … and how we play in the market place.”

While maintaining its’ focus on complex, highly engineered projects, such as the Shell GTL or Shah Gas , Adamczyk also sees opportunities to develop HPS’ off-the-shelf product portfolio as well the related supply channels.

“That is an area where I think I have a wealth of experience in from a lot of my past roles. It is a nice fit because there is an opportunity for us to grow that segment,” he said.

“If you look at the market share we do probably have a greater [presence] in the highly engineered segment. “But we are just as interested in winning the smaller off-the-shelf kind or project as the major projects..

“We are strongly expanding our indirect channels and the greater our commitment to expanding our product portfolio the more the channel partners will be interested in carrying our line to do that.

“I have had and opportunity to speak to 130 of them [at the user group event in Istanbul], and would expect to see that double next year.”