Taking on the challenge

HAILING ORIGINALLY from Latin America, Zecharies has spent much of his working life in Canada, always in roles related to electronics and automation. Eight years ago, he took the opportunity to go back to his roots and become Global Alliances Director of Sales Operations and Enablement, Latin America for Rockwell. This experience - overseeing business in multiple countries with multiple languages and interesting geo-political situations - will, he feels, stand him in good stead for the challenges of his new role.

Talking to Zecharies, it is clear that he by no means underestimates the challenges faced by Rockwell in EMEA. The region as a whole has a number of very well-established competitors in the automation space, and Rockwell’s current market share definitely has room to grow. However, Zecharies sees the positives in this situation citing the business’s ability to be more agile, focused and aggressive in achieving goals.

Resilient supply chains

Like all businesses, Rockwell has had to endure the impact of the global pandemic, disrupted supply chains and subsequent chip shortage. As a result, it has redesigned its supply chains to be much more resilient and robust, says Zecharies. The various acquisitions made by Rockwell in the past will also strengthen its position when it comes to penetrating new markets, both in terms of sectors and geographical areas.

"In North America, my focus would be on on protecting our installed base and ensuring no one takes it. But here in EMEA, it's about gaining and grabbing market share from competitors. The key is to leverage the situation to our advantage, rather than lamenting what's happening," says Zecharies

When it comes to the technologies themselves, Zecharies sees the distinction between hardware and software as becoming increasingly blurred, very much like it has in the consumer sector, although maybe at not such a fast pace.

"When you look at your phone, you don’t see hardware or software—you see an application that solves a problem you need addressed. In the automation industry, we tend to adopt trends later than consumer technology, as we are a conservative sector, and for good reason. You wouldn’t want us experimenting with the recipe for your milk or making sudden changes to the setup of a nuclear reactor. This cautious approach means we adopt technologies after they’ve become mainstream,” he says.

“The same advancements you see in your phone or car today, where hardware and software merge into seamless applications, are beginning to appear in industrial automation. Looking ahead, the industry is evolving from automation to autonomy, marking the next big step forward."

Different cultures

When it comes to dealing with the many and varied cultures found throughout the EMEA region, Zecharies feels that flexiblity will be a key component of his leadership style.

"Cultures don’t change, right? You have to be flexible enough to adapt and, rather than confront differences that may not align with your values or culture, find ways to leverage the best attributes each culture offers,” he says. “Understanding that there's cultural things that make certain countries specific, is something that, I guess by default, you need to recognise and try to work with.”

Zecharies is also mindful of the unprecedented speed at which technology is developing and the challenges that this can present to customers. Companies recognise the need for change but often don’t know exactly what they want, except that they need solutions immediately to meet evolving demands like sustainability, cybersecurity, modularity, and production efficiency. Their existing systems often fall short of these modern requirements, he asserts.

To address this, Zecharies advocates assessing current operations, ensuring equipment connectivity and communication to enable data collection. Connectivity is, he says, the foundation for future advancements. The next steps include standardizing systems for consistency across operations, centralizing management, and leveraging data analytics to optimize processes.

Ultimately, this journey leads to advanced capabilities like artificial intelligence, driving smarter, more efficient operations. And the goal is to make intelligent, scalable investments that solve both current and future challenges, Zecharies says.

www.rockwellautomation.com