Honeywell Chief Executive Officer Darius Adamczyk wants to refashion the industrial conglomerate into a “software-industrial company.” That phrase bears a certain resemblance to GE’s declaration to refashion itself into a “digital-industrial company.” GE’s former Chief Executive Jeff Immelt said in 2014: “If you went to bed last night as an industrial company, you’re going to wake up this morning as a software and analytics company.”
But Honeywell, which like GE was founded more than a century ago, is different. While GE’s stock peaked in 1999 at $51.58 and has since been trading around $10, Honeywell’s stock is trading at all-time highs exceeding $170 — almost $140 per share more than it was a decade ago.
A central part of Honeywell’s strategy is to launch a comprehensive IIoT platform, which it bills as “enterprise performance management software.” Known as Honeywell Forge, the company unveiled a version of the software for buildings and another for industrial applications in early June. Versions for other industry verticals will follow.