the usual suspects win the readers’ choice awards! magazin readers choice 201… · welcome to...

The question isn’t who won,but rather why do they winand how do they do it.

by Keith Larson and Walt Boyes

Welcome to the 20th Annual Control Readers’ Choice Awards. It seems to us to be fascinating that we’ve made it with this award survey for 20 years. We are pleased with the response of readers and vendors, and we know how impor-tant this survey has become because we get the phone calls. We’ve surveyed our readers and we are pleased to present the collective opinion of over 1000 automation professionals on over 100 process automation technologies.

The survey continues to have, as we noted last year, a North American bias, but the number of responses from out-side North America continues to grow. As we have for the past several years, we surveyed not only the print magazine’s readers, but also subscribers to our digital media outlets: email newsletters, webinars, podcasts and all of the other media you can find at ControlGlobal.com.

Why is this survey important?This survey and the resulting Readers’ Choice Awards are the only completely unaided brand preference survey in the process automation industries.

As always, we pulled a random sample of end users from our databases, and we asked them, in a series of unaided (they have to write in the names—no preselected choices in

dropdown boxes) surveys for their selections among all the solution providers they regularly work with.

This means that Control’s staff has to make sure that all the various ways to name an ABB or a Rockwell or an Em-erson product are counted correctly. This is time consum-ing and requires significant knowledge of the history of the industry. Did you know that there are over 17 different ways to list what is now an ABB product, for example? One of the things this indicates is the persistence of original brands in the minds of the end users, even after name-changes, acqui-sitions, and the passage of time.

Since this is a private survey, we have control over the re-sponses, and we take great care to make sure that the survey is reasonable and accurate.

What You’re Going to SeeFor the fourth year, we’ve broken out control platform awards by discipline, and also by industry vertical. Each category represents end-user selections in the six basic process con-trol disciplines (see Table 1: “Overall ‘Best in Control’ Win-ners by Application Type”): Continuous Regulatory Control, Batch Process Automation, Safety/Emergency Shutdown, Sequential Logic, Continuous Sheet/Web Monitoring and

The UsualSuspects Win the

Readers’ChoiceAwards!

R e a d e R S C h o i C e a W a R d S

Continuous Regulatory ControlEmerson Process Management

2. Honeywell Process Solutions3. ABB4. Rockwell Automation5. Yokogawa6. Siemens Industry7. Invensys Operations Management8. Schneider

Safety/emergency ShutdownInvensys Operations Management

2. Rockwell Automation3. Siemens Industry4. Emerson Process Management5. Honeywell Process Solutions6. HIMA7. ABB8. Yokogawa

Batch Process automationEmerson Process Management

2. Rockwell Automation3. ABB4. Siemens Industry5. Honeywell Process Solutions6. Invensys Operations Management7. Yokogawa8. Schneider

Sequential Logic ControlRockwell Automation

2. Siemens Industry3. Emerson Process Management4. Schneider 5. Honeywell Process Solutions6. ABB 7. GE Intelligent Platforms8. Invensys Operations Management

Continuous Sheet/Web Monitoring & ControlHoneywell Process Solutions

2. ABB3. Emerson Process Management4. Siemens Industry5. Rockwell Automation6. Yokogawa7. Invensys Operations Management8. Schneider

Supervisory Control & data acquisitionRockwell Automation

2. Invensys Operations Management3. Emerson Process Management4. Honeywell Process Solutions5. Siemens Industry6. ABB7. GE Intelligent Platforms8. Yokogawa

Table I. “Best in Control” Readers’ Choice Awards by Process Automation Discipline


Chemicals Manufacturing

Electric Power Generation

Food & Beverage Manufacturing

Metals, Minerals & Mining

Oil & Gas Extraction

Batch Process Automation

Emerson Process Management


Rockwell Automation Rockwell Automation Emerson Process Management

Continuous Regulatory Control



Rockwell Automation Emerson Process Management


Continuous Sheet/Web Monitoring & Control

Honeywell Process Solutions

- - ABB -

Safety/Emergency Shutdown

Invensys Operations Management


Rockwell Automation Rockwell Automation Invensys Operations Management

Sequential Logic Control

Rockwell Automation Rockwell Automation Rockwell Automation Rockwell Automation Rockwell Automation

Supervisory Control & Data Acquisition



Rockwell Automation Rockwell Automation Invensys Operations Management

Petroleum Refining Pharmaceuticals & Life Sciences

Plastics & Rubber Manufacturing

Pulp & Paper Manufacturing

Water & Wastewater Processing

Batch Process Automation




ABB Rockwell Automation

Continuous Regulatory Control




ABB Emerson Process Management

Continuous Sheet/Web Monitoring & Control

- - Honeywell Process Solutions


-

Safety/Emergency Shutdown



Rockwell Automation Siemens Industry Siemens Industry

Sequential Logic Control

Rockwell Automation Rockwell Automation Rockwell Automation Rockwell Automation Rockwell Automation

Supervisory Control & Data Acquisition





Rockwell Automation

Table II. “Best in Control” Readers’ Choice Awards by Process Automation Discipline and Industry

Control, and Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition (SCADA). We have broken out the awards by the 10 in-dustry verticals (see Table 2, “Best in Control” Winners by Application Type and Industry) that we serve: Chemicals Manufacturing, Electric Power Generation, Food and Bev-erage Manufacturing; Metals, Minerals and Mining; Oil and Gas Extraction, Petroleum Refining, Pharmaceuticals and Life Sciences, Plastics and Rubber Manufacturing, Pulp and Paper and Water/Wastewater.

You will see, if you compare the current results to the 2011 Readers’ Choice Awards (www.controlglobal.com/articles/2011/2011RCA.html) that there has been very little change. ABB moved into the lead in Pulp and Paper; Rock-well and Emerson flipflopped position in Water/Wastewa-ter, and other small changes.

Why do They Win?Too much should not be read into absolute position on these lists. To be mentioned in these Readers’ Choice Awards at all, regardless of final position, means that the solution provider has not only consistently provided exceptionally fine quality

products and services, but has demonstrated these capabilities to a large number of very loyal end-user customers. These are the suppliers who have consistently demonstrated excellence in customer service and responsiveness, and they all deserve congratulations for their efforts.

Branding, which is really what the Control Readers’ Choice Awards are about, is made up of several compo-nents. One, as we’ve said, is “walking the walk.” But high quality marketing and the concomitant sales effort by knowledgeable staff make up a very large component of the strength of these suppliers’ brands.

We get asked fairly regularly how to “win” the RCAs. The answer, which the person asking the question gener-ally isn’t happy with, is to spend lots of time and money providing outstanding service to a large end-user base, and communicating what you’re doing to the largest market you can. Sure, we’d like to sell more ads, but the fact remains that if you don’t market your product, and provide out-standing service to your customers, you’re hiding yourself and your light under the proverbial bushel basket. So that’s how the usual suspects “win” the RCAs every year.


The Soft Side of Process AutomationThese suppliers (Table 3) have consistently demonstrated exper-tise in software development and execution—and in providing applications expertise and high-quality customer service. Obvi-ously, since this is a brand preference survey, the top awards usu-

ally go to the larger suppliers, but note the presence of smaller suppliers like PAS, TiPS, Kepware, Mathworks and Mynah Technologies. Good branding and the strength of a supplier’s brand doesn’t just reside with the major suppliers.

Seeing What’s Going on HereOperators have to be able to see what is going on in their processes, and they need highly effective and highly reli-able ways to do that. The companies on this list (Table 4) are highly competent at hardware design and manu-facturing, and many of them have been doing what they

are being recognized for a very long time. Emerson, GE, Honeywell, Yokogawa, Invensys Operations Man-agement and Rockwell Automation each have over 100 years’ experience in effectively communicating process conditions to operators.

annunciatorAmetek Panalarm

2. Ronan Engineering3. Rockwell Automation4. ABB5. Siemens Industry

industrial ComputerRockwell Automation

2. Siemens Industry3. Advantech4. Pro-face5. Phoenix Contact

6. Pepperl+Fuchs

operator interface TerminalRockwell Automation

2. Siemens Industry3. GE Intelligent Platforms4. Schneider Electric5. Honeywell Process Solutions6. Red Lion Controls7. Pro-face8. Maple Systems

Panel displayRockwell Automation

2. Siemens Industry3. Red Lion Controls4. Schneider Electric

5. Eaton

Process Loop ControllerHoneywell Process Solutions

2. Siemens Industry3. Yokogawa4. Rockwell Automation5. Invensys Operations Management6. Emerson Process Management7. ABB

RecorderYokogawa

2. Honeywell Process Solutions3. Invensys Operations Management4. Siemens Industry

advanced Process Control SoftwareEmerson Process Management

2. Honeywell Process Solutions3. Rockwell Automation/Pavilion4. ABB5. AspenTech6. Siemens Industry7. Yokogawa

alarm Management SoftwareHoneywell Process Solutions / Matrikon

2. Emerson Process Management3. TiPS4. ABB5. Rockwell Automation6. PAS

asset Management SoftwareEmerson Process Management

2. SAP3. Rockwell Automation4. Yokogawa5. ABB / Ventyx6. Honeywell Process Solutions

Calibration Management SoftwareEmerson Process Management

2. Fluke3. Endress + Hauser4. Yokogawa5. Honeywell Process Solutions6. Prime Technologies / ProCal7. Beamex

design/documentation SoftwareAutodesk

2. Intergraph3. Bentley Systems4. Siemens Industry5. Emerson Process Management6. Rockwell Automation

human-Machine interface SoftwareRockwell Automation

2. Invensys Operations Management3. GE Intelligent Platforms4. Emerson Process Management5. Siemens Industry6. Honeywell Process Solutions7. Schneider Electric8. ABB

Loop-Tuning SoftwareEmerson Process Management

2. ExperTune3. Rockwell Automation4. Siemens Industry5. Yokogawa

Neural Network SoftwareEmerson Process Management

2. Rockwell Automation / Pavilion3. Gensym3. AspenTech

oPC ConnectivityMatrikon OPC

2. Kepware Technologies 3. Emerson Process Management4. ABB5. Iconics

PLC Programming SoftwareRockwell Automation

2. Siemens Industry3. Schneider Electric4. GE Intelligent Platforms5. AutomationDirect.com

SCada SoftwareInvensys Operations Management

2. Schneider Electric3. Rockwell Automation4. GE Intelligent Platforms5. Siemens Industry6. Emerson Process Management7. ABB8 Honeywell Process Solutions

Simulation SoftwareMynah Technologies

2. Honeywell Process Solutions3. AspenTech4. Emerson Process Management5. Siemens Industry6. Rockwell Automation7. Invensys Operations Management


Connecting the DotsWe shouldn’t forget that for the devices and software to be useful, somebody has to provide the information infrastructure. In Table 5, you’ll see the essential infra-structure players. There’s not much difference from last year in the basic categories here, except in the Wireless Infrastructure category where the responses mirror the

survey done in our August 2011 issue: Emerson Process Management, Phoenix Contact, and Siemens Industry are all purveyors of devices that use the IEC62591-Wire-lessHART standard. Cisco, of course, owns the 802.11 space for networking. The only ISA100.11a supplier that made the list is Honeywell Process Solutions.

input/output SystemRockwell Automation

2. Siemens Industry3. Honeywell Process Management4. Emerson Process Management5. Yokogawa Electric6. Phoenix Contact7. Opto 22

intrinsic SafetyPepperl+Fuchs

2. MTL Instruments3. R. Stahl 4. Phoenix Contact5. Rockwell Automation6. Turck7. Siemens Industry

Power SupplyPhoenix Contact

2. SolaHD3. Rockwell Automation4. Siemens Industry5. Puls7. Acopian7. Kepco8. TDK-Lambda

Signal ConditionerPhoenix Contact

2. Moore Industries-International3. Pepperl+Fuchs4. Acromag5. Invensys Operations Management6. Weidmuller

Terminal BlockPhoenix Contact

2. Weidmuller3. Rockwell Automation4. Wago5. Schneider Electric

Wire & CableBelden

2. Anixter3. Alpha Wire4. Leoni Kerpen5. Lapp

Wireless infrastructureEmerson Process Management

2. Cisco3. Phoenix Contact4. Siemens Industry5. Honeywell Process Solutions


Keeping the Process FlowingTable 6 shows the recognized masters of the flowmeter. From Coriolis to Open Channel, these vendors have the expertise to ease the deceptively simple process of specifying, designing and operating a flow measurement system. The recurrence of com-pany names like Brooks Instrument and Badger Meter that have long and storied pasts shows just how important longevity and

applications expertise gained from that longevity actually are. Of course, Endress+Hauser and Emerson Process Management dominate this category, because they are the number one and number two, respectively, suppliers of field instrumentation. There are other smaller companies, though, who shine, like Hoffer Controls, Sierra Instruments and Magnetrol.

Leveling the FieldLevel measurement continues to be one of the most diffi-cult of the basic measurements necessary to operate process plants, even though it is certainly the oldest measurement of this type known to us—as we’ve noted before, the oldest existing level meter is the Nilometer in Egypt, which is well over 2000 years old, and may be far older as a technology. Table 7 shows that, although Emerson Process Management and Endress+Hauser again dominate the category, there are

other, smaller companies who shine too. Companies like Krohne, Vega, Magnetrol and its subsidiary Orion Instru-ments, ISE Magtech, MTS, and others continue to make the list because their design, manufacturing and above all application expertise continue to demonstrate what we said last year was “sheer bloody competence.” End-users respect competence more than anything, especially at 3 a.m. when there’s been a failure.

Level Gauge, electrical Property-BasedEndress+Hauser2. Emerson Process Management3. Ametek Drexelbrook4. Vega Americas5. Magnetrol

Level Gauge, Float/displacerMagnetrol2. Emerson Process Management3. Vega Americas4. Endress+Hauser5. MTS 6. K-Tek7. Dresser Masoneilan8. Gems Sensors

Level Gauge, Contacting RadarEmerson Process Management2.Vega Americas3. Endress+Hauser4. Orion Instruments5. Krohne6. Ametek Drexelbrook7. K-Tek

Level Gauge, Non-Contacting RadarEmerson Process Management2. Vega Americas3. Endress+Hauser4. Siemens Industry5. Krohne6. Magnetrol7. Ametek Drexelbrook8. Honeywell Process Solutions

Level Gauge, inventory GradeEmerson Process Management2. Endress+Hauser3. Vega Americas4. Varec

5. Honeywell Process Solutions

Level Gauge, LaserABB/K-TEK

2. Keyence

Level Gauge, MagnetostrictiveOrion Instruments

2. ABB/K-Tek3. MTS4. Emerson Process Management5. Vega Americas6. Ametek Drexelbrook

Level Gauge, NuclearVega Americas

2. Thermo MeasureTech3. Endress+Hauser4. Berthold Technologies5. Ronan Engineering

Level Gauge, UltrasonicEndress+Hauser

2. Vega Americas3. Siemens Industry4. Emerson Process Management5. Ametek Drexelbrook

Level Switch, electrical Property-BasedEndress+Hauser

2. Vega Americas3. Emerson Process Management4. Magnetrol5. Ametek Drexelbrook6. SOR

Level Switch, VibrationEndress+Hauser

2. Vega Americas3. Emerson Process Management4. Ametek Drexelbrook5. Bindicator6. ifm efector

Magnetic Level indicatorOrion Instruments

2. Vega Americas3. ABB K-Tek4. Emerson Process Management5. ISE Magtech

Coriolis FlowmeterEmerson Process Management2. Endress+Hauser3. Yokogawa Electric4. Krohne5. ABB6. Invensys Operations Management

Magnetic FlowmeterEmerson Process Management2. Endress+Hauser3. Yokogawa 4. Krohne5. ABB6. Invensys Operations Management7. Siemens Industry

open Channel FlowmeterEndress+Hauser2. Siemens Industry / Milltronics3. Emerson Process Management4. Vega Americas5. ABB6. Teledyne ISCO7. Hach Company8. Ametek Drexelbrook

Positive displacement FlowmeterBrooks Instrument

2. Emerson Process Management3. FMC Technologies4. Endress+Hauser5. ABB6. Badger Meter

Thermal Mass FlowmeterFCI

2. Sierra Instruments3. Endress+Hauser4. Brooks Instrument5. Magnetrol6. ABB

Turbine FlowmeterEmerson Process Management2. Endress+Hauser3. Hoffer Flow Controls4. Yokogawa5. ABB6. Invensys Operations Management

Ultrasonic FlowmeterEmerson Process Management2. Endress+Hauser3. GE Measurement & Control Solu-tions4. Krohne5. Flexim6. Dynasonics

Variable area FlowmeterBrooks Instrument

2. ABB3. Emerson Process Management 4. Yokogawa5. Krohne6. Dwyer Instrument7. Endress & Hauser

Vortex FlowmeterEmerson Process Management2. Yokogawa Electric3. Endress+Hauser4. ABB5. Invensys Operations Management

Flow SwitchFCI

2. Emerson Process Management3. Endress+Hauser4. ifm efector5. Omega Engineering6. Dwyer Instruments7. Gems Sensors


The Heat is On, and the Pressure TooAs always, Emerson Process Management won every cate-gory in Table 8, except Infrared Temperature and Infrared Imaging, both of which were captured by Fluke Raytek/Ir-con, a division of Danaher. Smaller companies made the

list in their niches, like JMS Southeast, Pyromation, BBP Sensors, and Omega Engineering (which was recently sold to Spectris, the large U.K.-based instrumention supplier). Moore Industries, Micron and FLIR also made the list.

Analyze This!Process analyzers continue to proliferate throughout the process industries. Both online and at-line analyzers are be-ing used much more often for quality and performance. In Table 9, we present the top honors for online process ana-lyzers. ABB continued its streak, winning four of the seven

categories in this group. Yokogawa also made a strong show-ing, as did Emerson Process Management. Smaller compa-nies like Draeger Safety, K Patents and others continued to show that you don’t have to be huge to be well-branded. You just have to both talk the talk, and walk the walk.

ambient Gas analyzerMSA

2. ABB3. Draeger Safety4. Scott Safety

density/Concentration analyzerEmerson Process Management

2. Yokogawa3. Endress+Hauser4. ABB5. K Patents6. Thermo Scientific

humidity/Moisture analyzerYokogawa

2. Vaisala3. GE Measurement & Control Solutions4. Emerson Process Management5. Endress+Hauser6. ABB

ph/oRP/Conductivity analyzerEmerson Process Management

2. Yokogawa3. Endress+Hauser4. ABB5. Hach6. Mettler Toledo

Process ChromatographYokogawa

2. ABB3. Emerson Process Management4. Siemens Industry

Process SpectrometerABB

2. Yokogawa3. Siemens Industry4. Emerson Process Management

Stack Gas/emissions analyzerABB

2. Yokogawa3. Emerson Process Management4. Sick Maihak5. Teledyne Analytical Instruments5. Siemens Industry

Pressure TransmitterEmerson Process Management

2. Yokogawa3. Endress+Hauser4. Honeywell Process Solutions5. Siemens Industry6. ABB

Resistance Temperature detectorEmerson Process Management

2. Pyromation3. Endress+Hauser4. JMS Southeast5. Omega Engineering6. BBP Sensors

ThermocoupleEmerson Process Management

2. Omega Engineering3. Pyromation4. JMS Southeast5. Endress+Hauser6. BBP Sensors

Temperature TransmitterEmerson Process Management

2. Yokogawa3. Endress+Hauser4. ABB5. JMS Southeast6. Moore Industries

infrared Temperature SensorFluke Raytek/Ircon

2. Mikron Infrared3. Omega Engineering

infrared imaging/ThermographyFluke Raytek/Ircon

Fluke Raytek/Ircon


The Essential Elements

Outstanding in the Field

All the control systems in the world won’t work if the final control elements aren’t properly designed, installed and above all, working. Generally, this means a valve, drive and motor combination of some kind. Table 10 shows this year’s results in these categories. As always, Emerson Process Man-agement’s Fisher Valve division took the control valve cat-egory, with mentions of Flowserve, GE Masoneilan and Metso Automation. The same companies took the pneu-matic valve actuator category, too. In the electric actuator category, Rotork reprised its top ranking from last year, while

Beck joined the list. Metso Automation, Emerson Industrial Automation and Flowserve won the on/off valve category.

In electric motor drives, Rockwell Automation took the category, followed by ABB, Siemens Industry, Schneider Electric, Toshiba and Baldor Electric (a division of ABB). Baldor also took the electric motor category, which cer-tainly reflects the North American bias of these awards. Second was Siemens Industry, which after over 100 years of manufacturing motors, has finally decided to trade name the product: Simotics.

In Table 11, we list the other indispensable systems and devices that process automation technologists need and use—but don’t fit in any other logical group we’ve dis-cussed so far. These include “data acquisition,” without which no control system works, but which appears to mean different things to different users. There are en-closures, fittings, calibrators, Remote Terminal Units (RTUs) for SCADA systems, purge systems, vibration instrumentation, and last but certainly not least, weigh-ing systems and load cells. This year, Rockwell, as usual,

took data acquisition and remote terminal units. Hoke joined the instrument fittings category, while SKF and Shinkawa joined the vibration instrumentation group. Pepperl+Fuchs/Bebco was all alone this year in the purge system category.

We want to offer our congratulations to everyone who made the list, whether they were listed first or not. We be-lieve that this Award listing accurately reflects the brand preferences of end-users in the process industries, and every company that is listed here is a real winner.

Control ValveEmerson Process Management

2. Flowserve3. Dresser Masoneilan4. Metso Automation

electric Valve actuatorRotork Controls

2. Flowserve3. Emerson Process Management4. Auma Actuators5. Beck

Pneumatic Valve actuatorEmerson Process Management

2. Flowserve3. Metso Automation4. Dresser Masoneilan

on/off ValveMetso Automation

2. Emerson Industrial Automation 3. Flowserve

electric Motor driveRockwell Automation

2. ABB3. Siemens Industry4. Schneider Electric5. Toshiba6. Baldor Electric

electric MotorBaldor Electric

2. Siemens Industry3. GE Energy4. ABB5. Emerson Electric/U.S. Motors (now NIDEC)6. WEG Electric7. Toshiba8. SEW-Eurodrive

data acquisition SystemRockwell Automation

2. Invensys Operations Management3. Emerson Process Management4. Canary Labs5. OSIsoft6. Siemens Industry7. Yokogawa8. Honeywell Process Solutions

enclosurePentair Technical Products

2. Rittal3. Hammond Manufacturing4. Schneider Electric5. Saginaw Control & Engineering

Purge SystemPepperl+Fuchs/Bebco

Portable CalibratorFluke

2. Emerson Process Management3. GE Druck4. Beamex5. Martel / Beta

Remote Terminal UnitRockwell Automation

2. Emerson Process Management3. Schneider Electric4. ABB5. Honeywell Process Solutions

instrument FittingsSwagelok

2. Parker-Hannifin3. Hoke

Vibration instrumentationGE Energy

2. Emerson Process Management3. SKF4. Shinkawa

Weighing System/Load CellMettler Toledo

2. Hardy Instruments3. Vishay BLH4. Rice Lake Weighing Systems5. Thermo Scientific

Reprinted with permission from Control Magazine, January 2012. On the Web at www.controlglobal.com.© PUTMAN. All Rights Reserved. Foster Printing Service: 866-879-9144, www.marketingreprints.com.

the usual suspects win the readers’ choice awards! magazin readers choice 201… · welcome to...

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