Dec. 13--When you think of power plants and refineries, chances are you picture big metal valves and knobs and dials with needles that workers in overalls are always trying to keep out of the red.

But Invensys Process Systems is trying to bring those old-school industries into the digital age, increasing their efficiency while reducing the chances of explosions, meltdowns and other worst-case scenarios.

Plano-based IPS, which was assembled in 2001 as a subsidiary of British firm Invensys PLC, in many ways resembles the other technology outsourcing companies based in the Dallas area.

Paulett Eberhart, president and chief executive at IPS, was previously a top executive at Plano-based Electronic Data Systems Corp., the big outsourcing firm bought by Hewlett-Packard Co. earlier this year.

But unlike Affiliated Computer Services Inc., Perot Systems Corp. or EDS, which generally focus on revamping the tech infrastructures in corporate offices or government agencies, IPS is much more blue-collar.

And a lot of IPS' work in "process automation" is designed to never be noticed, said Larry O'Brien, research director at industry consulting firm ARC Advisory Group.

"Most people don't give it much thought until something goes wrong," he said.

"You usually don't pay attention to chemical plants and refineries until something blows up."

In addition to automating the critical -- and often dangerous -- functions inside an oil refinery or nuclear power plant, IPS' technology also allows those functions to be remotely monitored from a PC on a desk in an office on the other side of the world.

IPS does have plenty of competition -- including giants like Siemens and Honeywell -- but business is good for the subsidiary right now.

"IPS has had a good year so far," Ms. Eberhart said.

"Orders for the first half of our fiscal year were up 10 percent compared to the same period last year, and they were up 23 percent in the second quarter alone. Our gross margin is also up, and our sales pipeline has more than doubled since April."

IPS doesn't have a big footprint locally yet, with only about 60 employees in Plano and over 500 in Texas overall.

But globally, the company has more than 7,500 workers and about $1.6 billion in annual revenue.

IPS hasn't had to do any layoffs in response to the economy, but business trends are shifting a bit.

Company spokesman Tom Clary said that while some large projects are being delayed, those customers want to make their current operations more efficient.