Dear Erkki,

Greetings to all my friends at ABB-Helsinki.

Time has passed very quickly. It is now 8 1/2 years since my first trip to Helsinki. At that time, my employer (Adicon) was working for the Allen-Bradley Stromberg joint venture. The project, a communication interface between Allen-Bradley networks and Stromberg SAMI drives, was completed in 1991.

My first visit to Helsinki occurred at midsummer holiday. The (almost) 24 hours of daylight was a new experience for me.

About 1992, the Allen-Bradley Stromberg joint venture was ended, and Adicon was working for ABB directly. In 1992 and 1993, I made three trips to Helsinki. Some of my visits were long (several weeks). During the weekends, I traveled to several places, including beautiful Savonlinna. I also had time to study a little of the Finnish language, which I enjoyed.

After the ABB project ended, Adicon assigned me to a variety of projects. In 1998, I left Adicon to join Johnson Controls, Inc. I work for the part of Johnson Controls that makes controls for HVAC (Heating, Ventilation, and Air Conditioning). Johnson Controls has annual turnover of US$ 12,000,000,000. About 25% of this is from the HVAC business. (www.johnsoncontols.com).

I hope I can visit Helsinki again some day.


Best Regards,

Richard Schreiner