Honeywell customer symposium highlights innovation and the Industrial IoT

More than 1200 people, from many of the world’s leading industrial manufacturing companies, attended Honeywell’s 40th annual customer gathering in San Antonio, Texas.

The symposium, with its theme of ‘40 Years of Innovation’, focused most of its sessions on future direction, innovations and strategies to manage operations more efficiently in the face of various business challenges including industrial cybersecurity.

During the event, Honeywell also announced a collaboration with Intel Security McAfee that will expand its industrial cybersecurity capabilities to help defend customers from the increasing threat of cyber attacks.

“The process manufacturing industries are facing a critical time in history due to a convergence of factors such as security threats, a shrinking workforce and lower oil prices, among others,” said Vimal Kapur, president of Honeywell Process Solutions (HPS). “These factors are driving a greater need for our technologies and services because they’re designed to help companies conduct operations more efficiently, and with less risk.”

The conference revolved around three core technology themes directly impacting companies’ abilities to successfully adapt to changing market conditions: digital transformation and smart operations, system evolution and risk reduction, and smart instrumentation with smart integration. Throughout the week, Honeywell executives, technology experts and customers explained how these core areas can turn technology buzzwords like ‘big data’ and ‘Industrial Internet of Things’ (IoT) into practical applications.

Bruce Calder, HPS chief technology officer, told general session attendees: “In order to run a reliable operation that continues to improve performance and business results, you will need to install smarter field devices, achieve more connectivity, collect more data and find ways to use that data to run a smarter operation.”

Calder also gave attendees a first look at HPS’s first native app for mobile devices and tablets that connects to different sources and applications across the company’s portfolio to create a more intuitive mobile experience for plant workers.

The conference agenda included a wide range of presentations from Honeywell customers, including ExxonMobil, Chevron, Reliance, DuPont, Great River Energy, Syngenta, Genentech and Valero, covering a range of topics from wireless applications and cost-effective control system migrations, to alarm management and energy conservation.

Image caption: Bruce Calder, HPS chief technology officer, addresses attendees of Honeywell’s 40th annual customer symposium.