Smartening manufacturers

Rockwell Automation expands across various sectors to help China's industry

When Bob Buttermore, president of Rockwell Automation China, first came to the country in 2009, he was amazed at the quality and scale of local infrastructure and how modern the society was. He said Chinese cities have seen continued rapid growth in the past eight years.

In his view, Shanghai is a great place to live and work in. The US-based industrial automation and information products provider has its China headquarters in Shanghai. "There's modern infrastructure … and there's so much going on. It's so fast-paced in China. It's a very exciting environment to live and work in."

Since its entry into China in 1988, Rockwell Automation, a provider of control and information technologies, has seen rapid growth and expansion, developing a broad footprint covering 34 offices, two manufacturing facilities, one R&D center, a software development campus, and three distribution centers.

It serves a wide range of industries in China, including automotive, tire, oil and gas, chemical, food and beverage, life sciences, mining, subway, and water and wastewater treatment.

Buttermore said Rockwell sees huge business potential in China, so will increase investments, including R&D centers, new facilities and employees in the Chinese market this year.

He has visited almost all of the major cities across China. "China is the second-largest market after the United States for Rockwell Automation, so it's a critical piece of our global business strategy. In addition, we deploy the same strategy. The global strategy we have of bringing 'The Connected Enterprise' to life is exactly what we're doing here in China," he said.

"We see the prospects in China as a great growth opportunity, and it continues to be the same. We had a great year in 2017 with double-digit growth in China. And we see the prospects of 2018 being very positive."

The "Made in China 2025" strategy, which is designed to upgrade China's manufacturing industry, has provided Rockwell with a great opportunity for cooperation, according to Buttermore.

"The Connected Enterprise" could help Chinese companies boost global competitiveness by getting products to market faster while lowering costs, improving asset utilization and reducing risk.

When a Chinese tire manufacturer planned to build a plant in the US, Rockwell helped the company with plant design to meet local safety standards. A seamless manufacturing execution system or MES in the company's China and US plants helped to ensure integrated control of both plants.

"We go work with customers that are trying to achieve smart manufacturing and help them deploy solutions that improve the productivity of their operations," he said.

The country will unveil a three-year plan to boost the development of the industrial internet. Buttermore said the company is very interested in it. "I think it's a great initiative that aligns well with what we're trying to do as a company to help manufacturers in China."

The company pays attention to localization in China. It partners with the local governments and works with manufacturers in their geographies to localize its solutions at their plants.

Before taking up his current role, Buttermore was the regional director for Rockwell Automation Southeast Asia for three years, and was responsible for sales, marketing and business operations in this region. He has gathered broad experience in engineering, operations, sales, marketing and business management.

"One of the key things from a management philosophy perspective is to treat others as you would want to be treated, show respect to everyone, make everyone feel welcome, and create a great place to work every day, (so) that people are inspired to do great work for the company and for the customers, and they have fun doing it," he said.

It's not all plain sailing when working at a multinational. Buttermore has his own method to handle setbacks.

"When you're younger, setbacks are more difficult, but as you gain experience, you try to just keep a non-emotional approach to setbacks. You have setbacks, learn from them, and then quickly go out and do the next thing," be it as a company executive, or in his career, or in his personal life.

It is important to balance work and life for Buttermore. "I work to keep a really high level of energy. And the way I do that is I try to eat healthy and work out regularly on the weekends. I get up early in the morning and stay active.

"I spend my time with my family and focus on them, whether that be coaching their sports… whether that be taking them to the mall on the weekends. I spend time with the family when I'm not working. And that's how I strike that balance."