Pepperl+Fuchs and the Fieldbus Foundation

In order to show the manifold engagements of Pepperl+Fuchs in the world-wide Fieldbus Foundation network one needs to look at that organization itself, as a starting point. Fieldbus Foundation, being the driving force behind one of the leading technologies in process automation, is a non-profit association of more than 350 manufacturers and users of process automation technology. Consequently the participants in the many technical and marketing working groups are volunteers from the various member companies; the employed staff of the Fieldbus Foundation as such consists of only a few people, mainly based in Austin, Texas.

The President and CEO, Richard Timoney, reports to the board of directors, which is composed of top managers of about ten major automation technology suppliers (picture 1, Fieldbus Foundation Organization). The Technical Director, David Glanzer, coordinates several world-wide integrated working groups dealing with future-oriented technologies such as High-Speed Ethernet (HSE), Electronic Device Description Language (EDDL) and Safety Instrumented Systems (FF-SIS), just to name a few. Engineers of the Pepperl+Fuchs R&D teams are actively involved in these working groups, thus emphasizing our mission to be at the leading edge of technology.

In order to bring fieldbus technology to the market and communicate its benefits to the endusers, Fieldbus Foundation has spread a world-wide network of marketing committees and end user support groups, all of them staffed with volunteers of the member companies. While the American marketing activities are headed by Richard Timoney, for the rest of the world he is supported by two Vice Presidents, namely Hishashi Sasajima of Yamatake for Asia Pacific (AP) and Marc Van Pelt of Pepperl+Fuchs for Europe, Middle East and Africa (EMA). Under the coordination of these VPs and their respective Steering Committees various National Marketing Commitees (NMC) are actively organizing local events, seminars and trade shows. Pepperl+Fuchs is heavily supporting all these committees, e.g. Andreas Agostin of Pepperl+Fuchs Singapore acts as treasurer of the AP Steering Committee, Li Shao of Pepperl+Fuchs China is chairman of the Chinese Marketing Committee and Thomas Kasten of Pepperl+Fuchs Germany covers marketing communication within the EMA Steering Committee. In EMA, the position of an Executive Advisory Council had been created a few years ago in order to enhance the FF acceptance especially in the emerging Eastern Europe and Middle East markets. This Council consists of top managers of major European member companies and is chaired by Dr. Gunther Kegel, CEO of Pepperl+Fuchs.

 

The activities of the NMCs cover the organization of local end user and EPC seminars which allow end users and consulting engineers to share experiences and get to know the latest fieldbus developments. While the main presentations are always given by experienced users, such as Novartis, DSM, Shell, Degussa or Saudi Aramco, each seminar is accompanied by manufacturer’s exhibitions. Of course, Pepperl+Fuchs always takes the opportunity to present the latest FieldConnex® developments, such as Advanced Diagnostics, the Power Hub and its High Power Trunk concept.

Notable successes have been the Middle East End user Seminar Multaqua 2005 with more than 100 participants and the EPC events in London’s Imperial War Museum and the Netherlands.

Other milestones for EMA have been the participation at the two big German trade shows, Interkama in Hannover, April 2006, and Achema in Frankfurt, May 2006. For Achema 2006, the German Marketing Committee, with Thomas Klatt of Pepperl+Fuchs as one of the vice chairmen, spent quite some effort to organize a multi-vendor fair booth with twenty-two participating companies offering the latest in fieldbus technology. The organization of the Interkama 2007 is well under way; the Fieldbus Foundation is looking forward to welcome you at our spacious 300 square-metre-booth with refreshments and a wealth of exciting information on Foundation Fieldbus Technology.