PlantSuccess Newsletter

Volume III, Issue 22

7 October 2003

Dear Subscriber:

Its October and the Atlanta Braves, after going from worst to first in 1991 have completed another amazing season. Many fans are spoiled by the almost inevitability of reaching the playoffs for the 12th consecutive year an amazing feat. Manager Bobby Cox celebrated 1900 career wins; hell see 2000 soon. Greg Maddux had 15 wins for the 16th year in a row beating the record set by Cy Young. Catcher Javy Lopez set the record of 42 home runs as a catcher while seldom being behind the plate for Maddux. John Smoltz, super-starter prior to elbow surgery, was on the injured reserve the last month of the season, recorded an ERA of 1.12 and 45 saves plus a gutsy performance in game 4 of the playoffs against Sammy Sosa. The team includes only four players from 1995, the only year in which the Braves won the World Series.

Great pitching beat anemic hitting and the Braves season ended early. The loyal fans of the Chicago Cubs fans enjoyed a playoff victory for the first time since 1908!

Braves fans may not like the final standing at the end of each season and the players dont brag about not reaching the World Series; there isnt a professional team in any sport that doesnt recognize what it takes to maintain this level of performance for so many years, a great example of sustainability a trait that carries high value in the commercial world as well.

Another sign of October is PlantSuccess recruiting a roster of outstanding speakers for a unique conference focused on the successful use of information technology by owner-operators in the chemicals and pharmaceuticals industries. For the 5th year, industry leaders like Air Products and Chemicals, BP, Dow Chemical, DuPont, Johnson & Johnson, Merck, Rohm and Haas and others contribute the experience of their innovative managers to speak to their techniques for exceeding current industry requirements -- sustaining best practices while driving plant performance.

Jim Porter, DuPonts VP of engineering and operations, and keynote for the inaugural PlantSuccess, returns as keynote with the address: Six Sigma and Best Manufacturing Practices: Delivering Powerhouse Performance. Although youll find it in NHL training, Powerhouse Performance is not limited to ice hockey.

John Hamilton, Managing Director, Global Technology Department and Executive Director, Partnerpoint for the U.S. Chamber of Commerce joins us as a speaker at Thursdays buffet lunch.

Partnerpoint (http://www.partnerpoint.org/) is a global meeting point for executives in telecommunications, information technology, e-business, media, the Internet and related technology-intensive industries. It empowers you to find new partnerships, explore innovative business models, assemble new value propositions, and reach new customers at the scale and speed you need. Partnerpoint promotes cooperation in areas such as marketing/branding, mergers/acquisitions, joint ventures, distribution arrangements, professional services, financing, transfer of know-how, and R&D. With thousands of companies and more than a hundred business organizations already registered from around the world, Partnerpoint is a powerful networking tool to help you find people to help you grow your business. The U.S. Chamber of Commerce, the largest independent business federation in the world, powers Partnerpoint.

A complimentary six-month subscription to Partnerpoint (valued at more than $150.00) is being made available to all attendees of PlantSuccess Northeast 2003

Join PlantSuccess 15 16 October at the PHL Airport Marriott for the 5th anniversary conference in the Philadelphia area. Join us for another unique series of actively moderated sessions and lively discussions of topics important to everyone involved with process manufacturing. Visit www.PlantSuccess.com to learn more about PlantSuccess, to review and download presentations from previous conferences and to register online.

Join PlantSuccess for a chance to win Tungsten T3, the latest and greatest member of the Palm Handheld family. Attend both days of the conference and be with us for the closing lunch when the drawing and presentation are made.

Best regards,

Carl. Howk, Chairman

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Current Links

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Immelt's Four Rules For Fostering Innovation

Companies must engender an environment where innovation can take place in order to succeed, claims the GE chairman and CEO in a keynote address at the recent Emerging Technologies Conference at MIT and reported by InformationWeek. Immelt cites:

  1. "Good leaders prepare the organization to innovate.
  2. "Pick the right places to innovate."
  3. "Good leaders know how to make innovation pay for innovation."
  4. "Know how to use size as an advantage."

"Innovation is a social imperative today and never was it more important," Immelt said. "I think the only answer for us today is innovation." READ MORE.

Revenue Projections Improving; Cost-Cutting Measures Have Decreased

In its second annual survey of industrial indicators, GlobalSpec, Inc, the industrys largest online technical product resource for the engineering and technical buying community, has found that businesses in the industrial sector are generally optimistic about revenue projections compared to last year. Further, the percentage of companies planning to cut spending has dropped substantially compared to 2002.  READ MORE.

The PlantSuccess Newsletter generates a substantial number of visits to our website, we welcome the interest and the access to previous issues of the Newsletter which are available there. If you'd like to share this newsletter with a colleague, just forward a copy. Subscribe or cancel by sending a request to Carl.Howk@PlantSuccess.com

Full links to Volume III, Issue 22 Newsletter articles:

1. http://www.partnerpoint.org/

2. www.PlantSuccess.com

3. http://www.informationweek.com/story/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=15200356

4. http://www.globalspec.com/News/ShowPressRelease?PressReleaseID=47

5. http://www.globalspec.com/

6. www.PlantSuccess.com